Chapter Text
Making foolish choices was never something Quinn tried to excel at, but he’d been doing a damn good job of it lately anyway. Failing to admit the extent of his wounds sustained on the Transponder Station, even to himself, was stupid - and not only was it stupid, it kept him from operating at peak efficiency. Even now, the wounds on his back nearly screamed with each movement of his arms. They’d have to stay, however - there wasn’t enough time before they reached Korriban for him to crawl into a tank, and it wasn’t that serious.
Or so he would continue to tell himself, anyway.
He was seated on the bottom corner of one of the cots, uniform shirt folded neatly next to him and leaving on display a rather impressive array of burns and blaster wounds. Some were fresh, the pale flesh around them still inflamed by the insult, but there were some that were older and still painful, on more than one level.
When the door of the medbay opened he didn’t bother looking up, focused on carefully applying the kolto to a blaster wound on his arm that if, left untreated, would affect his combat abilities in the future. Such a thing was unacceptable. It was more than likely Jaesa, as there was no chatter accompanying the door opening and the footfalls were too soft to be Pierce or Broonmark.
“Quinn.” His head jerked up when he heard his name in his lord’s voice. She stood in the doorway, almost as if hesitating, head tilted as she regarded him. Apparently deciding something, she stepped into the room far enough for the door to close behind her. Her head remained tilted, her expression calm, but she didn’t say anything else yet.
“My lord, I apologize, if you require use of the medbay I will move to my quarters and --” Quinn was already starting to stand, but he stopped when she shook her head.
“I am not injured. You are.” Her lips quirked in a momentary frown. “Turn around.”
“My lord, my injuries are nothing you need concern yourself with.”
“I can decide that for myself, Quinn. Turn around.” Danaiya’s words had an edge to them now, something that was definitely more an order than a request. Reluctantly, he slid off the edge of the cot and turned his back to her, glancing over his shoulder after allowing her to assess his wounds in silence.
She did not say anything to him, but she didn’t need to - the disapproval in her expression was words enough. Stepping around him, she grabbed the medical supplies off the bed. “Don’t.” He let out a quiet sigh but bit back his protest before it could even fully form.
In truth, Quinn had not anticipated her ever touching him again - at least not in a way that wasn’t strictly related to performing her duty - and perhaps this was that. He did not know who she planned on bringing along with her to face Baras in the Council chambers - he had assumed, as on Corellia, it would be either Jaesa or Vette. In light of that, there had to be more important matters for her to attend to, matters that didn’t confuse personal feelings quite so much. “I appreciate your concern, my lord, but don’t you need to prepare for when we arrive? Surely Jaesa could see to me.”
“Is that what you’d prefer?” It sounded like a casual question, but after traveling with his lord for this long, he knew that in this particular tone it was about as casual as a sarlacc pit.
“N-no, my lord, I merely thought --” His words were cut off when her left hand moved over his shoulder and she pressed a finger to his lips. Quinn would not have predicted such an intimate gesture and for a single. irrational moment hope flared to life in his mind, hope that things were not as broken between them as he’d thought. As he’d feared. There was also no preventing the blush that bloomed across his face, even if he’d wanted to, and her expression shifted to the smallest hint of a smile.
Danaiya’s hand moved back to where it could focus on more productive things, and Quinn was surprised to see - or more correctly, surprised to feel - that she actually knew how to properly treat the wounds. She’d expressed interest in learning a while back and he’d shown her some basics, but with everything else that had gone on he would have expected she’d forgotten.
It occurred to Quinn that he was also starting to make a habit of being wrong, especially where his lord was concerned, and that was a little distressing in and of itself. He could feel the haze from the kolto starting to nip at the edges of his mental acuity and fighting against his lord’s apparent desire to help him soon became a more distant thought. She worked in silence, the only sounds coming from the distant roar of the ship’s engine as they tore through hyperspace and their breathing.
“Do you love me?” It was asked so quietly he almost missed it. Her hands did not stop working, applying the kolto with a delicate touch that most would not think she possessed - though Quinn himself knew better.
The question cut through the soft haze of healing and with no small amount of confusion he turned, facing his lord with a furrowed brow, regret poking at him when she withdrew her hands. “My lord, I --” He fell silent when she lifted a hand, bandage still trapped between her fingers.
“It is a simple question, Captain.” There was very little emotion in her tone, giving Quinn very little to read. “Don’t overthink. Just answer. Yes or no.”
“Yes.” The answer came without hesitation, but when he started to continue, she held up her hand again. He frowned, just a little, but since the Transponder Station he was very wary around her - afraid that he might say or do the wrong thing and cause her to reconsider her easy exoneration of his betrayal. Her hand then turned, making a spinning motion, and he turned back around, giving her the proper angle to resume dressing the wounds on his back.
Danaiya said nothing else, gave no explanation for why she would ask him such a thing, and he might have been imagining it or maybe it was the kolto wanting him to make a fool of himself but her touch became more like it had been before he threw everything away.
The silence between them stretched on and he closed his eyes. What was he expecting? That she would tell him how she felt? Something, anything other than the silence - he felt like it was smothering him.
Her hands moved to rest on his shoulders and pushed gently, a silent order for him to turn and face her. His lord’s expression was still calm and she was giving none of the normal cues that this was simply a façade. She leaned up on her tip-toes and when that wasn’t quite enough height, she levitated and, as he stood there stunned like some sort of fool, Danaiya’s lips pressed against his forehead.
When she returned to solid ground he could do nothing more than stare. And blush, that damned blushing again, and when she smiled it was a little brighter this time. Even still, she turned and headed for the door, pausing for a moment before pressing the panel to open it. “You will need to rest as much as possible before we reach Korriban, Captain.”
“You intend for me to accompany you to confront Darth Baras, my lord?”
“You need this as much as I do.” Danaiya looked over her shoulder at him. “Our passion makes us stronger, Quinn, I told you this.” She opened the door and turned to leave, pausing for one more moment. “When he lies as a smoking corpse at our feet, we will be free. Both of us.”