Repairing Beyond Ambition - Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order fanfic *EDITING*

Chapter 43

As Cal neared the ship, he found that Altheeda was still working on top of it and her silhouette became clearer. He craned his head up as he watched the fiery sun mix with the warm tones of her hair, just about making out her furrowed brows as she tightened a bolt. She hadn't yet noticed his presence, he did not want to disturb her and decided to wait until she had finished what she was doing. BD-1, on the other hand, decided to speed things up and performed a sequence of loud beeps.

She immediately glanced to Cal's direction until she registered his appearance and locked eyes with him. She wasn't as tense as she was in the morning, yet there was still apprehension in her demeanour. BD-1 decided to give the pair some privacy and beeped his exit, scuttling through the entrance to the Mantis.

"Hey, Cal."

"How's it going, Theeda?" He spoke, rooted to where he stood.

"It's getting there." She gestured. "What about your progress?"

"Does being tossed around in the sky by a large creature with wings sound like progress?" He joked, trying to break the stiffness between them.

"That was you?" She immediately stopped her work.

"You saw it?"

"It was making a lot of noise. If I'd known that was you up there..."

Her voice faltered, almost as if she was holding back and taking considerate care in the words she used.

"I'm glad you're okay." She managed to say.

Cal smiled with gratitude. He watched as she began to tidy her tools back into her tool box that was placed in front of her and he lightly cleared his throat.

"Can we talk?"

"I was hoping you'd say that." She nodded as she closed up the box.

Once she slung it on her back, she slid down the side of the Mantis and landed effortlessly on her feet before walking a few steps towards Cal, patting off beads of sweat from her face with her sleeve and getting ready to listen.

"The morning was a lot more awkward than it needed to be." He admitted.

"Yeah, I could feel that. It's my fault."

"I didn't help things either."

"It was a tough situation to be put in." Altheeda folded her arms. "We weren't expecting to be questioned about it."

They both became quiet, their uncertainty preventing them from moving the conversation forwards. Cal eventually was the one to pluck up the courage to directly speak on the issue.

"I just don't want it to be like that. We're allowed to talk to each other and be friendly."

"Define friendly." She asked curiously.

He paused and he could already feel the energy shifting. Neither of them really knew the answer to that question or wanted to answer it, they still cared for each other in the way they couldn't and the pair of them knew it.

"Well, you know, like...uh-"

She gave him a look and shrugged at him, but he was determined come up with an answer.

"Okay, right!" Cal exclaimed, quickly steering the conversation back to a comfortable setting. "You even said it yourself. We need to keep professional but we can still joke."

"I need an example."

"Like... Cere and Greez?"

Altheeda stared at him for a moment, failing to hold in her laughter.