One Endless Night - A Mandalorian Fanfic

Chapter 20

Hello friends! I'm afraid it's been a long time since I updated. I ended up needing to take a little time away to get a handle on real life stuff. But I'm back! I hope you are all well and healthy. Enjoy!

Happy Reading!

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Yara woke with a pounding a headache. She blinked and tried to figure out why she was half hanging off her bed. It took her another second to realize Mando was still in her room. He was sitting on the floor with his back up against her bed, one hand up as he held her hand in his sleep. Yara had rolled over onto her side, her body curled around his shoulders to be as close as possible. At some point the kid must have come in, because she didn't remember him being there when she fell asleep, but he was now curled up between her stomach and Mando's shoulders.

There was no way for her to separate herself from the two of them without waking them both. Mando got so little sleep as it was she didn't want to disturb him. She closed her eyes and focused on her own breathing. She could hear the hum of the hyperdrive engine running and she tried to piece together her fractured memories. Images of the night before became foggy after she had returned to the healing baths for the second time. She could only catch flashes and feelings. It reminded her of her powers.

Humiliatingly, the thing she did remember clearly was throwing herself at Mando. Or rather she remembered Mando holding her away from him as she tried to press up against him. She would have groaned aloud if she wasn't so afraid of waking the other two. Her pounding headache hardly seemed like punishment enough for what a fool she had made of herself.

She felt when Mando woke, his fingers tightening around hers a moment before he moved. She pinched her eyes shut, and feigned sleep. She didn't know how she was going to face him after all that had happened, and the ship was too small to avoid him. She might as well vent herself out the airlock.

Mando was incredibly gentle and surprisingly silent as he untangled their fingers and slid away. She breathed for a few moments, thankful for the moment of peace. Then she felt small, cool hands touching her face and a quiet coo. She opened her eyes to see the child staring at her. He chittered excitedly when he saw she was awake and she exhaled.

"All right, Green Bean," she agreed and she sat up. "Go on, I'll be right there." The child jumped down from her bed and scampered out of her room.

She heard the door to the fresher open and Mando walked past her open door. He hesitated for a moment in the doorway, his large frame filling the space as his helmet pointed in Yara's direction. "How are you feeling?" he asked. As usual his voice betrayed nothing and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Yara pushed herself to her feet and picked up the kid so she had something to focus on other than her humiliation. "I'm okay. I have a bit of a headache," she added sheepishly.

"I'm not surprised," Mando said. "What do you remember?" he asked carefully.

Yara swallowed. "Some," she confessed, then because she wasn't willing to lie to him she pushed on. "Pretty much everything until I went back into the baths," she said. "Then everything else is pretty much gone." The child wiggled in her hands, and she obligingly put him down. He tottled over to a stack of crates and began climbing them.

Mando nodded. "When they realized we were there they turned up the drugs in the steam. I was worried it was too much," he said and he took a step closer to her. His helmet was tipped slightly to the side and she could knew he was looking her over, looking for any evidence she was unwell.

Yara frowned. She hasn't realized how close she had come to overdosing. She had vague memories of Mando carrying her through the city. Then later of him holding her against his slick armor in the fresher as his hands moved over her skin trying to rid it of any remnant of the drug.