Rough Day by guardianangelicas

Rushed

This story doesn't belong to me. It belongs to guardianangelicas on AO3.

The first thing you see when you blink your eyes open is... green.  Green, and sideways.  Three little fingers, grabby as usual, clutched onto a strand of your hair and tugging.

Gigantic, pitch black eyes blink slowly at you as you focus your vision, lifting your head just slightly from where it's resting on a balled-up, makeshift pillow.  The baby coos at you, a musical and happy sound, tugging your hair once more as you take in your surroundings.

The cot you're laying on is pulled out of the hull just partially, just enough to bathe your legs and the lower half of your torso in light while the upper half is still in the confined within the tight space inside the wall, but that still doesn't explain how the kid got in here with you.  How did he climb—?

Something—a hand—comes down to thump over your ankle, not too hard but not really overly concerned about it either.  "We're here," grunts a modulated voice, interrupting your adorable little alarm clock.

Ah.  That's how.

You immediately reach out and scoop the baby up into your arms just because you can, turning him around and holding his back to your chest as you cuddle him on the bed.  "Okay," you sigh dreamily, kissing his wrinkly, hairy yet somehow also completely bald little head and gently smushing your cheek into it.

You settle back down with the kid for another few hours of rest, only a hand thumps down on your ankle again.  "Come on," Mando's voice drawls through multiple layers of metal.  "Let's go.  Karga is waiting on us."

Your eyebrows pull together, just as your little, little spoon starts to wiggle in your arms.  "What?  Who's us?"

"Us," he repeats shortly, pulling the bed the rest of the way out of the wall by your ankle but slowing it to a gentle halt right before it can reach the end of the tracks.  "Now hurry it up.  And stop smothering him."

You groan and sit up in the brightly lit hull, blinking around at the... remarkably tidy ship. 

It wasn't like this before.  Where's all the clutter?  The first aid kits strewn about?  The excess pieces of gauze and tape on the floor?  The... the blood on the walls?

Your eyes fall to the corner near the hatch almost immediately, the sight of... The Incident.  Only you find it completely spotless, not a single thing out of place.  Come to think of it, you don't think you've actually ever seen the hull cleaner than it is now, even when you've spent literal days working at it.

There should be blood there.  There was a pool of blood there.  Wasn't there?  There was a pool of blood right there, right in that little space between the—

"Hey."  Your jaw is caught in a gentle grip and pulled left just a little, and you suddenly come face to face with a metallic visor.  His helmet is nothing but sharp angles and your own warped reflection staring blankly back at you, but his hold is steady and his voice is soft through the modulator.  "Us.  You, me, and the kid.  Right?"

You blink at him, suddenly reminded of the child held in your arms.  And then you nod slowly at him, hearing the baby gurgle softly near your chest as he looks up at Mando.

"I'm not leaving you today," he tells you, moving his hand up to cradle the side of your face.  "But I also have to meet up with Karga.  It won't take long."  He jerks his helmet to gesture over at the open hatch, before looking back at you and brushing a thumb across your cheekbone.  "So let's go.  Okay?"

You nod once more.  "Okay."  But then you remember the blood all over your hands and clothing.  "No, wait, Mando—I have to change clothes—"

"No, you don't," he interrupts.  "Come on."