The Clone Wars One Shots

Elite Part 4

You woke up late the next morning with a throbbing headache and spotty memories of your experiences a few hours earlier. Despite sleeping past noon, you were exhausted. Goody. You were surely in for a fun day.

You rolled over with a groan, clutching your head, and were met by a dark and empty room. The rest of the squad was already gone. Or perhaps they hadn't come back at all. You couldn't be sure. You had no memory of even getting here.

You spotted a bottle of painkillers and a glass of water next to you, and you immediately forced two pills down, chugged the water, then lay back down with a pained groan, rubbing your face.

You didn't remember much from the night prior. It all started to fade after a few shots.

ES-03 had refused to leave you alone, as usual. He had gotten handsy, so you chucked a drink at him. You smirked at the foggy memory.

Crosshair was there. He was upset, but you couldn't remember why.

You remembered convincing the Commander to hang out with you, surprised when he accepted your offer.

You couldn't recall much beyond that. Except for getting up in the middle of the night to puke your guts out. You thought someone else had entered and rubbed your back reassuringly, but you were still dizzy and disoriented, and hadn't seen who it was. Frankly, you had no idea who it would have been. The only people with access to the refresher you had been in were the other elites, and you didn't think any of them liked you enough to do that.

Oh, how wrong you were.

Despite this mystery, you couldn't bring yourself to wonder about it, more focused on hoping that you hadn't done anything stupid during your bar hop.

A sinking feeling in your chest told you otherwise.

After you managed to build up the willpower to drag yourself out of bed and into a set of fresh clothes, you emerged from the barracks to find Crosshair fiddling with his prized firepunch rifle in the hall. He didn't look up as you approached.

"Sleep well?" he cooed with a smirk, adjusting the scope of his rifle.

"Shut up," you grumbled, massaging your temples. "What happened? How'd I get back?"

"You passed out," Crosshair said simply, refusing to meet your gaze. "I brought you back. Didn't want... anyone to get any ideas." He practically snarled his last words. The fury radiating from him made you shudder.

"Oh..." You said quietly. Something told you he was lying, or at least not giving you the whole truth, but you didn't question it, more grateful than anything. "Thank you, sir."

Crosshair finally looked over at you, cocking an eyebrow. "I thought we agreed that we were past that?"

You were silent for a moment, confused. Then the moment came flooding back - the moment you formed an agreement with the usually bitter Commander. "Well... yeah..." you admitted, scratching your neck awkwardly. "But I wasn't sure if-"

"Just call me Crosshair. It'll be easier for both of us."

"Alright," you whispered, suppressing a tiny smile when he sent a smirk your way. "Well, thank you. I didn't do anything stupid last night, did I?"

Crosshair hesitated for the briefest moment, and panic flared up inside you. He chuckled at your expression, then responded coolly.

"Don't worry," he assured you. "I wouldn't consider anything you did to be stupid."

"That's a relief..."

"So," Crosshair drawled with a teasing smirk. "How's the headache?"

"About as bad as yours is going to be if you don't shut up about it," you growled, in no mood for his crap.