Partners | The Mandalorian

xv

"Are you a Twi'lek?" Calidora asked, looking at the Mandalorian from her laying down position on her cot. He was rummaging through his weapons cabinet.

"No." He said.

"Did you ever show your face to Xi'an?"

The Mandalorian titled his head and stared at her for a second, knowing this many and these type of questions were highly unusual for her.

"What's with all the questions?" He asked and Calidora sat up, the child sleeping in his carrier next to her.

"I'm curious." She shrugged.

"You're never curious." He knew her.

"I guess meeting someone from your past made me more interested in you." Calidora said, thinking of her feelings towards the Mandalorian.

"You weren't interested before?" He disappeared behind the open cabinet door for a second before reappearing again.

"Not in the way I am now." She looked him over, more interested in him now than she ever was before.

The Mandalorian caught her looking at him, and her tone of voice. He smiled under the helmet, know that she couldn't see.

"Bold." He said, half complimenting her candidness, half happy that she thought of him like that. "Was it Xi'an that made you realize I'm good eye candy?"

Calidora laughed as Din kept doing whatever it was he was doing.

"You seem to attract women no matter where you go." Calidora said, thinking of Omera and Xi'an, now herself, and the Mandalorian shook his head because she was right.

He surveyed his cabinet, content with what he was looking at, then looked at Calidora, who was staring back at him from the floor.

"Come." He said and Calidora got up to walk towards him.

"What?"

"Pick one." He motioned to the empty cabinet.

Calidora's eyebrows raised. She wasn't expecting that. Looking over the cabinet, she admired all the staffs, grenades, and other weapons neatly presenting themselves to her.

"Pick one?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the cabinet.

"It's a gift." The Mandalorian crossed his arms. "For you to keep."

A small smile crossed her face as she looked at each individual item. But, steady with a blaster and shit at hand to hand, she reached out for a blaster.

"Not that one." Din said, and Calidora rolled her eyes before grabbing the one next to it, identical.

She weighed it in her hands, comfortable. Felt the distance of the trigger, good. And posed real quick, knowing she looked cool. She loved it.

"Thank you, Din." Calidora looked up at him with a smile. She looked at the T slit in his helmet, but wanted to actually look into his eyes for once, just to thank him properly.

"You just wanna stare at me the whole day?" He asked her and Calidora laughed, saying yes. "You have anymore curiosities?"

Calidora thought. He never answered her last question.

"Did Xi'an ever see your face?" She asked, her smile turning into a serious expression.

The Mandalorian was silent for a moment.

"Are you asking because you wanna know, or are you asking because you wanna see my face."

"I wanna know." Calidora said. "I know people try and take off your helmet, I know they hate that they don't know what you look like. I wanna know if Xi'an ever saw your face because you wanted to show it or because she wanted to see it."

Then it was quiet. The Mandalorian unmoving and Calidora couldn't tell if he was looking at her or somewhere else entirely. Then his head moved towards where the child was sleeping, then back to her. His hands grasped the sides of his helmet and started to lift it. Calidora put her hands on top of his and held them there, confusion written all over her face.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Showing my face because I want to." He said and shooed her hands away before taking off his helmet.

Calidora felt the need to close her eyes or at least shield them. She was so used to it every time he said he had his helmet off that she had to force herself to look at him.

"Wow." She gaped. "I definitely didn't think you looked like this."

Tanned skin, brown messy hair, slightly flattened from constant use of the helmet. Brown eyes and a soft beard, his face littered with small scratches from the fights he's been in. His eyes pulled into small wrinkles as he smiled. He was not Twi'lek.

"Thanks." He said. "That definitely helps with esteem."

Calidora didn't have a quip back though, she was still in awe of his beauty. The added factor of knowing him for this long, and not knowing he looked like this was hitting her in the face.

She placed her hands on his rough cheeks, mouth sill slightly agape as her thumbs stroked his skin. The Mandalorian raised the hand that wasn't holding his helmet to hold onto her wrist.

"Why do I feel the urge to kiss you now?" Calidora asked and the Mandalorian laughed. Calidora liked how he looked when he laughed.

"Maybe later." He said and stepped out of Calidora's touch, placing his helmet back on so she was left only with the impression of what he looked like. "Right now we need to get those credits you hid."

Calidora nodded.

"How's Bellassa?" Din asked. "What are the threats like?"

"Besides the proximity to Corellia, there isn't anything special about it."

"Population?"

"Slim"

"So we'll have a little quiet?"

"Looks like."