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Gat groaned and reluctantly opened one bloodshot eye. His face was stuck to the cantina table with some sticky liquid he hoped was just spilled alcohol. His hangover pulsed like a malevolent dwarf star. It was all her fault. It always was.
He gingerly pulled his face off the table and winced as the lopsided feeling on having half his right hand horn missing, made him feel like he should be leaning to one side. A hand crept up unbidden to rub the smooth surface of where it had been neatened up all those years ago.
Gat was thirty now; old enough to know better than to try and solve his problems in a downmarket cantina like this one. He was still unsure of the exact path of the night, but he knew it was probable another argument with Sera that drove him from their ship, the Freebird 2, and into the nefarious clutches of the alcohol vendors on this piddling little dust ball. At least this time, he knew where he was and was in possession of all of his clothes and credits which was a nice surprise.
Judging by the position of the sun (the damn thing seemed to be glaring at him no matter which way he looked), it was early afternoon so in theory Sera should have had enough time to calm down.
Deciding that copious amounts of caf was needed to keep on living, Gat stumbled out of the cantina in search of the tapcaf down the street where that lovely busty waitress worked.
---
Gat had been wrong. Sera was still fuming. The seventeen year old paced agitatedly up and down the rec room that ran along the central section of the Starwind class yacht they called home, muttering angrily to herself.
Anzhuvethik, the Squib who had started repairs on the ship, then an abandoned Imperial transport vessel, peeked out of the adjoining dining room. Wisely deciding that the best thing to do would be to attempt to appease the scary woman with gifts fit for a splicer/droid tinkerer, Anzhu fled the ship.
Sera forced herself to stop for a moment. Her temper appeared to have been one of the few things that had grown as she got older, she was maybe only an inch or two taller than what she had been when she was with the Imperials on the Vector and still as skinny as a street thief.
This latest Argument (she firmly believed that their altercations fully deserved a capital letter), had been entirely unexpected. Usually she knew why they snapped at one another; but this time she really didn't have a clue. It wasn't even like anything really out of the ordinary happened.
The previous night, she'd woken up from another nightmare; same as every night for the past six years since those monsters had scooped her and Ra'at up to be experimented on, once the Imp scientists had realised that Vader's poison had leaked.
To be fair, that particular dream had been worse than normal. It had had a visceral realism to it that she hadn't had to endure for a year or so.
In fact, just thinking about it now was enough to make her skin crawl. In the dream; she hadn't been able to get to Gat in time to give him the anti-virus and he'd died in the prison barge, Purge's, infirmary with everyone else.
Of course that hadn't been the worst part.
The worst of it was he had been one of the first of the plagued ones through from the Purge. He was the one at the front of the ravening mob, sharp teeth bared and ready to tear into the flesh of the survivors from the prison barge.
She'd tripped over Kale's body this time; after he'd jerked out of her grip to take the blaster bolt that would have hit Dr Cody in the stomach. Sera had hit the dream durasteel hard and choked as the teeth of the former inmates sank into her skin.
After that, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon, so she'd decided to go to the crew galley they'd recently refitted and make herself a drink.
Of course, that's probably where things started to go wrong she reluctantly admitted to herself.
The light had been on in Gat's room, she could see chinks of light through the gaps where the salvaged stateroom door didn't fit quite right. She mentally added that to the giant list of fixes and upgrades they still needed to make to the ship to get it back to where it would be perfect.
Sera tiptoed to the door and knocked timidly, nightmare still fresh in her mind. She heard Gat mumble something and pulled the door open.
There was a vaguely humanoid lump in the centre of the bunk underneath a giant mound of blankets. She tried to speak, but only a nervous squeak came out, Sera cleared her throat and tried again, "Gat?"
Another mumble.
Sera padded across the freezing floor in her bare feet. 'Remember to add fixing the environmental controls in stateroom 4 to the list.'
She nudged the Gat-shaped lump, "Are you awake?"
"No." A red-skinned hand reached out and grasped Sera's arm before pulling firmly.
She yelped as she tumbled sideways into the bunk. Sera found herself dragged under the blankets and smiled up at the sleepy ex-con who yawned and opened one eye reluctantly. "S'up kiddo? What are you doin' up so late?" Gat's sleep-roughened voice rumbled over Sera as she burrowed closer to her unofficial guardian.
"Nightmare."
Gat closed his eyes again and tucked her slight form against him, resting his chin on her head, "Go to sleep kid, I've got you now."
Sera sighed and let herself relax back into sleep, reassured that someone was there to take care of her.
Sera snapped out of her recollection as the timer beeped to signal her awful pre-packed meal was cooked. She pulled back the foil and winced as the escaping steam scalded her fingers.
'It wasn't even like that was the first time.' She mused grouchily, picking at her dinner.
Of course; it was probably what happened the morning after that had rumpled his calm.
---
Gat groaned and downed the dregs of his second mug of toxically-strong caf.
He had no idea how to fix this. He toyed with the idea of getting in touch with the Doc, but didn't think he was quite ready for that.
Gat dismissed the thought of calling his sister-in-law; she had never moved past blaming Sera for not being able to save Ra'at; even though Sera had been a child at the time.
She wasn't a child any longer though; and that was the real issue. Gat had played the 'Uncle' card for so long now, he was deeply ashamed of what he had almost done. What he had wanted to do; if he was honest, wasn't entirely adverse to thinking about still doing; and what he found himself thinking about again...
---
Gat sighed and buried his nose into her hair, enjoying the somewhat familiar fruity, but not overly perfumed scent. He smiled, although he couldn't remember picking up a date when he was in town.
'Must remember to get her off the ship before Sera wakes up. Don't want her trying to marry me off again.'
Keeping his eyes closed, he ran one hand down the length of her spine, moulding her to him, and using the other to gently tilt her head up. As his lips caressed hers, the nagging sense of strangeness flared up as his questing fingers realised that his 'date' was not wearing the skimpy synthsilk underwear that the ladies he tended to entertain favoured; they were wearing a lumpy, badly-knitted nerfwool jumper in fact. A jumper that he knew Zahara Cody had tried to make for almost a full year as a lifeday present for Sera.
Sera!
Oh Kriff.
---
Sera sighed and sipped from a bottle of sweetwater, she bet Gat was hungover in some alley somewhere feeling guilty and sorry for himself.
There were days when she really didn't understand him. It was just a kiss for Force's sake!
In fact I should be the one who's upset! After all, he's the one that said it was terrible!
"Oh well, sulking isn't going to get the chores done."
Sera chugged down the last of her drink and carried the leftovers to the small crew galley outside of the cockpit.
It was Gat's turn to cook and clean this week, so she and Anzhu could work on the ship.
Sera's mind wandered as she waited for the Freebird 2's computer to warm up and sync with her datapad. Of course it would wander to the most inappropriate subject...
---
Sera was in that wonderful somnolent state between being asleep and awake. She was warm, almost too hot; which was odd as she knew she and Zhu hadn't finished the repairs to the environmental systems and the 'Bird tended to run on the cold side - not an issue for the furred Squib, or for Gat, who seemed to naturally run a few degrees hotter than human norms.
But it was usually too bloody cold for Sera's taste. She also thought her blankets felt heavier than normal. Perhaps she'd fallen asleep in the lounge area again and one of the boys had brought her more blankets.
Ah well; five more minutes wouldn't hurt. No one was pounding on her door, or poking her to get up, so why not try and snooze a little longer?
Besides...she was having a really interesting dream. Sera snuggled into her pillow that seemed pleasantly warm too.
She was dreaming of her knight in shining armour again. The one who would never lecture her about behaving, and was always there when she needed him.
They were dancing in a club somewhere and he leaned in to say something and she kissed him, or he kissed her. It wasn't really important who did what; all that mattered was that it was wonderful.
Sera sighed and focussed on the sensation; lord knew when she'd get the chance to do that for real, her overprotective nursemaids seldom let her out of their sight when they were planet side.
Sera wondered idly when dreams became so vivid you could actually feel someone caressing your-
---
Sera was jolted out of her musings when she felt a small hand on her arm. It was Anzhu, back from a day's haggling. Hopefully he'd have brought back something useful; there were no traders more determined than Squibs, but the Force knew they were easily distracted by shiny pieces of junk.
---
The Devaronian had waited until the last moment to return to the ship, in no better state than he'd woken in that afternoon. He'd bought some of Sera's favourite foods from one of the speacialist human food vendors on the way home. Hopefully she'd accept his dinner based apology so he'd duck the inevitably awkward conversation.
He snuck aboard the Freebird 2 via the seldom-used crew ladder on the starboard wing of the yacht, figuring she'd either be in her room, or her lair in the aft engineering dock, trying to repair any number of the droids and other bits and pieces they'd acquired thanks to their unique trader Anzhu.
Luck was finally on Gat's side; he made it all the way to the large galley that had been retrofitted to serve the Imp soldiers when the 'Bird had done her brief stint as a military transport, without running into Sera.
The Devaronian pulled the pack filled with goodies from his shoulder and started to unpack. "Anzhu?" He called out, voice sounding gruffer than usual.
A pitter-patter of small feet preceded that all too cheerful, "Yeah Mr Gat boss?"
Gat rubbed the back of his neck, "Is Sera still mad?"
The tiny alien shrugged, "I dun know. She was singing in the 'fresher a few minutes ago."
Gat shuddered, a musical virtuoso she was not. Swift on the heels of that thought came an unbidden memory.
---
Moments after the terrifying realisation that he was kissing Sera, his Sera, and not some random floozy, Gat's eyes shot open and he tried to stop.
Tried being the operative word. Sera had wound her arms around his neck during the kiss and dammit she was kissing him back! She wasn't supposed to do that; she was practically still a child!
Gat shook her shoulder gently, trying to wake her up. Slowly her eyes fluttered open and her muddy green orbs locked on his brown ones.
Gat watched awareness bleed into her sleepy gaze, turning to surprise as she realised she was plastered to him. Every inch of him. Sera whimpered, but didn't pull away. It was that little noise that finally galvanised him to sit up and take a moment to panic.
Every girly holomag he'd read when at Dr Cody's (the only other reading matter had been medical journals and he'd never been that bored) indicated that their first kiss was supposed to be important for humans and he was sure that she must be terrified; Force knew how they'd ended up in this position, but she'd clearly been looking for some comfort and he'd taken advantage of her like some sort of monster.
He had then of course done the wrong thing. He'd panicked, told her that it was a terrible mistake, jumped out of his bunk and ran away.
---
Gat sighed and jumped as he heard Sera's voice behind him, "Hey Zhu, how about you go pick out a few holos to watch over dinner? I just need a quick word with Gat okay?" He didn't hear the Squib's response, but heard his claw-tipped feet skittering away.
'Damn, there goes your shield Gat.' He thought as he heaped an extra portion of noodles in a thick and sticky sauce onto Sera's plate as a precaution. He nearly dropped the ladle when she appeared next to him, "Sithspit Sera, you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days you sneaky-" he stopped as he realised she was covered in dust and had an adorable smear of grease on her face. "Anzhu said you were in the 'fresher, but it think you did it wrong. You're supposed to come out cleaner than you go in."
Sera rolled her eyes, "I was in the 'fresher," she paused and stepped up to the sink, washing her hands, "to fix it. There was a buildup of residue in the pipes that was causing the pressure problem."
"Oh." Gat relaxed, perhaps he'd get through this in one piece, women had always been a mystery to him and it distressed him no end that the little foul mouthed tomboy he'd taken under his wing to initially find out what she knew of his nephew who's family crest band she wore; was swiftly growing up into a foul mouthed woman.
One who seemed to staring at him like she was waiting for him to say something. Kriff! He'd been spacing out when clearly she'd been saying something.
"I'm sorry." There, that was a safe bet to be the right response.
Sera sighed, reached up and tugged gently on his unbroken horn, bringing his head down to her level, "Gat. I will say this just one more time. Stop apologising. It's not a big deal, it was my fault for just assuming I should still run to uncle Gat when I have a bad dream." She grinned, "Besides, you should be more worried about the traditional gift for a human's 18th nameday," Sera released her grip and jerked her head toward the holomag on the dining room table, Hot Ships, "I was thinking something sporty; in red maybe?"
Gat straightened up slowly, incredibly confused.
"Is this my one?" Sera gestured to the plate heaped with her favourite dishes and Gat nodded helplessly.
Sera smiled up at him, "You're sweet for an idiot," she picked up the plate and turned to leave the galley, turning back to see Gat picking up a can of his favourite ale, "Besides Gat, you were my third proper kiss, so you can stop fretting."
The sound of Gat choking on his ale followed her out.
---
Throughout the whole of the holo, Sera could sense Gat's impatience. He clearly was struggling to wrap his head around her little revelation in the galley.
She was surprised that he managed to eat anything, given the amount of times she caught him staring at her. 'Serves him right for being such an idiot.' Sera thought to herself as she struggled to open her bottle of sweetwater.
Gat was stunned to say the least. Who had it been? He needed to know so he could give them a beating. She was far too young for that sort of thing. Given all the bantha crap she'd had to go through so far in life; she deserved to be taken care of for once.
Gat watched her struggle for a while before he plopped down on the nerfhide couch beside her; plucking the blue glass bottle out of her hands. He twisted the cap off with ease and held the precious drink out of her reach, "Ah ah, I'll trade this in exchange for you telling me who they were."
He bared his sharp teeth in a devilish grin. They barely even noticed when Anzhu left in search of dessert.
Sera pouted and made a grab for it, but Gat's longer arms kept it well out of the way. "Fine!"
Sera slumped against his side in temporary defeat, "There was you,"
Gat growled and made as though to chug back her drink himself.
"Okay, okay! I don't know why you're so obsessed with this, but fine! My second was Trig," Sera blushed; the frightened kid from the Purge had certainly grown up to be just as handsome as his older brother Kale had been.
Gat relaxed slightly, both he and Dr Cody had thought the kids would end up together eventually; and that was good - it meant something right came out of that hellish experience. The Devaronian held out the bottle and Sera reached for it, but before he relinquished the hard-won treasure, he held up a finger, "I'm probably going to regret asking this; but who was your first?"
Sera winced; she'd really hoped he wouldn't ask this one. "Um, before I answer this one; promise you won't freak out, or blow a head valve okay?"
Gat made a non-committal noise Sera hoped was a yes, "Well. You remember who your favourite Corellian smuggler is?"