𝐑𝐄𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 - 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫

- 𝐎𝐍𝐄

"ONE, TWO, THREE," the voice of vana kenobi echoed through the saloon as she covered her eyes with her hands. omega challenged vana to hide-and-seek, a game that she learned from suu and cut's children. vana, of course, indulged in the game even though she could feel — through the force — where omega was.

"what round is this? 7?" cid, the trandoshan that ran the saloon, inquired. vana just laughed, shaking her head.

"actually it's round 10," she whispered as she continued on her search for the blonde girl.

"good grief," cid shook her head as she went about her business, letting the jedi and the little girl do their thing. they'd been there a while since there weren't many missions for the bad batch to complete. with crosshair out of the empire's hands, rampart had to come up with something else, something that was taking longer than they expected.

vana continued her search, opening cabinet doors, room doors, and behind objects. she checked all of omega's previous hiding spots: a cabinet behind the bar, under cid's desk, omega even hid in plain sight thinking she could outsmart the jedi. she was wrong.

vana meandered into cid's office, keeping her senses keen. she knew omega was in there; she didn't know how she missed it the first time. vana checked cabinets, closets but the one place she didn't check was the ceiling. vana looked up, seeing a panel that had been slightly moved.

"in the ceiling, really?" vana called up, crossing her arms. the panel moved and omega's feet dropped down. the girl dropped into vana's arms and was set down in front of her.

"i had to get creative, what took you so long?" omega asked as she walked out. vana scoffed and shook her head.

"'what took me so long', whatever," she huffed to herself, following the little girl out. she met eyes with hunter, who was sat at the bar with echo. omega went to play a game of holochess since cid got her into that. vana sat next to hunter, crossing her arms over her chest.

"where was she this time?" hunter asked, lifting his cup to his mouth.

"the ceiling," vana answered without reaction. hunter nearly spit out his drink.

"what?"

"she's fine, told me she had to get creative," vana chuckled, giving the worried sergeant a grin.

"she got creative alright," he agreed, shaking his head. hunter always was protective over omega, especially since there were two bounty hunters after her. there was a silence between the two of them as they watched omega win round after round of holochess. it was amusing, that's for sure, but there was something else on hunter's mind. ever since he and vana had that conversation, every time he made eye contact with her he froze. his heart skipped beats and he got nervous, and with his heightened senses, it was intensified. it was easier when they were on a mission since they had a common objective, but when things were casual, hunter didn't know how to deal with his feelings; he's never had these kinds of feelings before.

vana watched the expression on hunter's face twist with deep thought. she smiled but didn't comment on it. she looked back in front of her, watching as wrecker and crosshair entered the saloon, wrecker holding two buckets of mantell mix. her eyes lingered on crosshair, not in any way other than paranoid. she knew he had his chip removed, but she's seen him kill people, and she knew he remembered that. vana kept telling herself not to dwell on his past, making him a villain in her mind, but there were points where he was hard to trust, and he knew that.

"he's not gonna hurt you, ya know," hunter's gruff voice entered her mind, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"i know," she sighed, "i'll get over it eventually," she told him, and though that was true, she didn't know how long it would take for her to heal from the events of order 66. she watched as wrecker gave omega a bucket of mantell mix, cheering her on as he did so. vana knew eventually they'd get a mission, but she hoped whoever could wait; she needed this.

______
aannnddd there we go folks! chapter one is done. a little fluff before we get into things as usual. i do want to thank you for your support on home. i don't know what else to say or do other than saying thank you a million times. i hope the sequel meets your standards equally. enjoy!