Take Me Far That Road

Chapter 8 - I Wanna Be Somebody to Someone

Author's Note: This is the final chapter! There's only an epilogue next week, but other than this, the fic is done. I hope you enjoyed the journey! :D

~ Amina Gila

He finds Omega sitting outside on the ramp not long later, knees tugged up to her chest, looking... genuinely miserable.

"Something wrong?" he asks, tentatively balancing on the edge of the ramp beside her. It's still weird to look after her, to try to take care of her when he's never had someone do that for him. Not the same way, anyway. Hunter took care of him, but he was young, too. He wishes he could have what she does.

"When I left Kamino with Hunter, I thought everything would be fine," she mumbles, not looking up. "Now... I don't know."

"Well," Crosshair says slowly, "What did you think it would be?"

"I thought I'd feel... different. This is where I wanna be, but I don't know if I'll even get to stay here."

Ah. That. Crosshair still thinks about it all the time, but to be honest, he can't imagine living without Omega now. She's been here the entire time he's been back, and it's the world he's getting used to. He doesn't want her gone. He – he wants her to stay. To be here, not to have to leave her behind somewhere.

"If we're settling down, too, there's no reason we can't be together."

"Hunter's never said anything about it again."

"He's afraid."

"Of what?"

"He nearly died for you," Crosshair points out, "He has a right to be."

She looks away from him again, and the quiet feels depressing. Omega, he's realized, swings back and forth a lot between being energetic and depressed. It reminds him a bit of himself, if he's being honest. He often feels like that too, now. "I... keep thinking about what Echo said," Omega ventures finally, "About helping people. If there's someone who needs us, how can we not help them?"

She's so young. So naïve. So – but if she wants them, she won't be able to stay like this. They've all made sacrifices for each other, and Crosshair would never take back any of what he's done for his brothers.

It doesn't matter if Mayday died – it hurts, but if that's what he had to endure to get back home, he doesn't care. And if Omega is going to stay with them, to be one of them, she will have to be ready to make the same sacrifices. Even if it hurts, and he doesn't want to ask that of her.

"Because it doesn't matter," Crosshair tells her bluntly, and Omega freezes, jerking upright to look up at him. He can't tell if she's more hurt or stunned by the bluntness.

"How can you say that?!" She sounds hurt.

"They're not part of our squad."

"But – how can you not care? About anyone?"

Crosshair sighs. "My brothers are more important than anyone else. It's not that I don't care. I have other priorities. The ones I care about. That I would die for." He pushes himself up, turning to head back inside and pauses in the doorway, because he can't leave her just like that. Not when she's brooding, even if he has no idea what to say to her. "So are you."

He sees her freezing and sitting up, looking up at him, but Crosshair doesn't look back. He's not going to face that little thing right now. He doesn't know how Omega managed to grow on him so much.

***

It's later in the night cycle when he finds that he's too restless to sleep and decides to approach Hunter, who's in the cockpit on watch. "Can't sleep?" Hunter asks, looking at him as he settles into the co-pilot's seat.