In Command (#1 Post-Order 66 Series)

In Command - Part 30 - Epilogue

A/N: Hey everyone! Since originally posting this fic, I decided to retcon this ending in order to write more Rex and Senna. If you don't want to read anymore about them/want to see what the original ending was, then feel free to keep reading. I just didn't anticipate loving these two as much as I did, so they'll be getting another fic titled "Reunion"!

The sun twinkled through the thinning curtains, chasing the last sleep from the older man's amber eyes. He groaned slightly, shifting on the mattress as he moved to a sitting position, working the stiffness from the previous night out of his joints. Scooting towards the edge of the bed, he pulled on the shirt that he'd haphazardly tossed over a chair the night before along with his work trousers and boots.

He slowly made his way to the kitchen, peering out the window as he made himself breakfast and caf. The weather seemed like it would be cooperative today, which was excellent news. He'd been putting off tilling the fields for a while due to the storms, but it seemed today would finally be the day. He sighed, sopping the last of his breakfast from his plate with a piece of toast and draining the remaining drops of his caf. As he set his dish in the sink, he heard a speeder pull up outside. Jek and Shaeeah shouldn't be over yet to help. They said they'd be over sometime in the afternoon. Suspiciously, he pulled his blaster from its hiding spot on a shelf near the door and silently stepped up to peer out of the peephole. The Empire had been gone for several months, but old habits die hard.

He watched as a hooded figure shut down the bike and stepped off of it. They were slender and tall, and they didn't appear to be an obvious threat. The visitor kept their head down as they made their way to his door, raising a gloved fist and hesitating before knocking. Carefully, keeping the blaster out of view, he opened the door a crack.

"Who are you?"

"I'm looking for someone," a female voice said.

"Yeah, a lot of people are looking for someone nowadays, so you'll have to be more specific," he grunted.

The visitor lifted her head and blue eyes pierced him from beneath the hood. His blaster clattered to the ground inside the door and he leaned heavily against the doorframe. Reaching up, she lowered her hood. Her brown hair was now streaked with grey, weaving a silver line through the long braid that hung over her shoulder. Her face was more scarred than the last time he'd seen it, one of the more prominent ones a cut across her lower lip, but her azure irises burned with the same intensity they had all those years ago.

"Hello, Rex," she said quietly.

"Senna," he breathed.

She smiled shyly, shrugging her shoulders. "Got any caf?"

-------------------------

She sat at his kitchen table, tapping her fingers idly as he made caf. He wasn't sure what emotions he felt, but he was overwhelmed with all of them. Turning, he slid her a mug and the sugar bowl he kept on his counter. He noticed her leg was bouncing again, presumably from the same nerves he was feeling. She flashed a grateful smile at him. Filling her mug and then his own, he sat down heavily across from her. The silence hung between them as she put sugar into her mug and took a sip. It felt infuriatingly normal to him, and he wasn't sure where to start. You have some nerve showing up here, more than twenty years later. Where the hell have you been? Why are you here now? He took a long sip in order to stave off the conversation that was imminent.

Finally, she broke the silence. "So...a beard?"

"Twenty years, and that's the first thing we're going to talk about?"

"I mean, it's different. I think I like it. What happened to your hair?"

"What happened to yours?"