One Step at a Time

One Step at a Time - Part 10

A/N: Another chapter??? YES. YES INDEED. There's a reason I'm focusing on this fic right now, and I think it will all come together swimmingly (I apologize for being vague, but I PROMISE THERE'S A REASON). As always, thank you to the stupendous @Teletraan_1 for beta-reading this chapter for me and screaming with me about this story!!!

"Pssssssst."

Chuckles was jolted awake by a persistent tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. Sitting bolt upright on his bunk, he whipped his head around to find Nita staring at him with wide eyes.

"Nita, honey wh-" A pudgy hand slapped over his mouth, and the tiny Pantoran held a finger to her lips, glaring at him as though he'd walked into some holy place and started obnoxiously shouting.

"Shhhh!" she warned. "You'll wake Arni!"

Chuck's eyes flicked to the bunk, where he could still hear Arni snoring uninterrupted.

A thermal detonator wouldn't wake that kid.

"And why don't we want to do that?" he mumbled around Nita's fingers.

"It's a secret, so you gotta stay quiet."

"Ok," he whispered. "What's the secret?"

Nita stood on her tiptoes, and Chuckles leant down, propping himself up on one elbow so she could cup her hand to his ear, whispering loudly. "Tomorrow is Arni's birthday."

Chuckles's heart fell and then began to race.

You don't even know when their birthdays are. What a kriffing idiot you are. You never even asked.

"How do you know that?" he asked cautiously, trying not to allow the guilt seeping through him to show.

Nita rocked back on her heels nervously. "We... we were kind of arguing last night. They told me I was only five and didn't know everything, and I told them they were only ten and couldn't know that much more than me. And they told me they wouldn't be ten for much longer. Then they told me it's tomorrow." She bounced on the balls of her feet, some of her apprehension seeming to fade at the prospect of planning a surprise. "Do you think we should do something for them?"

Chuckles rolled onto his back, scrubbing his hands over his face as his mind fumbled with all of the information that had been dumped on him while he was still only fractionally conscious.

Arni's birthday is tomorrow. They're turning eleven. Maker. At least Nita's not holding a grudge about whatever they were bickering about. They seem to be doing that a bit more often lately.

He turned to look at Nita. "Why didn't they say something sooner?"

She shrugged. "They didn't want you to make a big deal out of it since you've been so tired from your job."

Chuckles couldn't deny that was true. He'd survived his first week in the mine, but he hadn't experienced this much muscle soreness since his days as a cadet. He'd admittedly worked extra hard this week to impress Anj and the crew, always taking on any additional work and lending a hand where he could. He felt he'd impressed her, but most nights, he'd barely managed to limp home, collect the kids from school, muddle through an easy dinner, and often collapse into his bunk before either of the younglings were in bed, unable to keep his eyes open a second longer. He'd tried to stay in the pilot's seat to sleep, but after the first night, tossing and turning and adjusting to try and give his sore muscles some relief, he'd wound up with a crick in his neck and a poor attitude he couldn't shake, so he'd surrendered to the pull-down bunk. And he'd slept marginally better, even if he'd still woken up sore.