Unexpected

chapter ten: normal

Echo groans as he rolls over in bed, turning on his side instead of his back. Hold on a second. Bed? He quickly sits up to find himself in the barracks and furrows his eyebrows. Why is he in Fives's bed? He looks at the bunk below him to find Kix passed out and becomes even more confused.

"Look who decided to wake up!" Jesse teases. "We're heading to breakfast. Wanna join?"

Echo's eyes scan the room. "Where's Fives?"

"He must've gotten an early start." Tup shrugs.

"I'll catch up with you guys." Echo says. His four brothers head out and he jumps down from Fives's bunk.

His armor is still on? Could everything that happened with Elara have been a dream? A nightmare?

He decides to head to the medbay to find out and is shocked to see that Elara is no longer here. Maybe he's going crazy. On his way to the mess hall he runs into Fives and Rex, who seem to be whispering to one another.

"Captain." Echo adresses Rex. "Fives." He looks at his brother.

"Echo, we were just talking about you." Rex says. "General Kenobi has gone to confirm the Senator's claims of this so called Death Watch. He should be back within the week."

Echo's eyes widen. So it wasn't a dream. "Where's Elara?"

"She's been moved back to her quarters. The Senator requested that she been treated by a proper doctors." Rex explains.

"Moved? But she was in pain! I thought she had to stay here so that the Senate didn't find out about-"

"If they found her here it would've been worse." Rex cuts him off. "Fives saw to it personally that she got to her quarters safely and without raising any suspicion."

Echo's head turns in Fives's direction and Fives meets his gaze.

"I'll catch up with you two later. Stay out of trouble." Rex says before walking off to meet Commander Cody.

"I appreciate you helping her." Echo speaks as they walk to the mess hall. "I tried staying awake but.." He sighs.

"Yeah, she made me bring you to the barracks before I helped her." Fives chuckles and Echo blushes.

"So you two are getting along then?" Echo asks.

Five sighs. "I wouldn't say that." He's been thinking about Elara since he returned to the barracks this morning. His mind wanders back to the blue paint on her bedroom floor and he turns to his brother. "When you and Elara disappeared the night we were dispatched.." He begins, earning Echo's attention. "What exactly happened?"

Echo laughs. "Did Hardcase put you up to this?"

"No, I.. When I brought Elara to her quarters I saw some flakes of blue paint on the floor." Fives admits.

Echo's laughter stops and he faces his brother. He sighs softly before turning to continue walking. "Nothing happened." He says. "Well, something happened but not what you're thinking."

"Spill!" Fives urges him curiously. The last thing he wants is to hurt his brother over a girl. If he's going to avoid that, he needs to know what's going on between them. "I won't tell Hardcase, I swear."

Echo stifles a laugh, but gives in. He can't keep anything from Fives even if he tried. "Well she knew I was leaving that night so she brought me back there for us to have some time alone." Echo explains. "It wasn't very eventful, all we did was lay in her bed until I had to leave, but it was.."

"Meaningful." Fives finishes his thought.

"Yeah." Echo smiles softly. "It was meaningful."

Fives smiles at his brother—despite his aching heart—and pats him on the back. "I'm happy for you, Ec. You finally found a good one."

Echo blushes. He turns away as they reach the table where the others are sitting and joins in the banter. Once Echo's back is turned, Fives's smile falters for a moment.

"Hey Fives! Where ya been, vod?" Hardcase yells.

"I was helping Rex with something." Fives forces a smile again as he joins them.

The boys immediately begin to tease Fives about his friendship with the Captain but he shrugs it off. More now than ever, he can't get those deep blue eyes off of his mind.

*

"These wounds are.. Nothing like I've ever seen on a handmaiden." The doctor says. "How did you come about these again?"

"I tripped in the courtyard and landed in some slashvines." She lies.

The doctor hums and gently presses against the wound in her side, causing her to wince aggressively. "Well the cuts on your leg and forehead have healed beautifully. I wish I could say the same for your side." He places a small bottle of medication on the nightstand after applying a bacta patch to her side. "I'll be back tomorrow morning."

Elara nods at the doctor and sighs in relief when he's gone, no longer needing to hide how much pain she's actually in. She grabs the medication from the small table and quickly swallows four pills, not realizing that taking a double dose would leave her with an empty pill bottle.

A knock on her door causes her to look up from the small bottle. "Who is it?" She yells.

"A friend." The voice responds.

Elara jumps up in her bed and quickly curses herself as a pain shoots through her. She glances at the orange astromech beside her and gestures for it to unlock the door.

Once the door opens, the familiar body of armor with a blue handprint on the chestplate steps into the room. Echo removes his helmet once the door is closed and sets it down.

"You've got a droid now?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Just until I'm on my feet again." She smiles as she pats the space beside her.

Echo begins removing his armor and carefully sets it on the floor. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I'd feel a whole lot better if you hurried it up and got your butt in this bed." She teases.

Echo blushes and sets his last piece of armor down, leaving him in just his blacks. He carefully lays on the bed and Elara turns her head to look up at him.

"How was Ryloth?" She asks.

"It was a kriffing nightmare." Echo says, making her laugh.

Laughing, evidently, causes pain in her side as well. She winces as she controls her laughter and presses a hand to her side as Echo gives her a worried look.

"But it wasn't as bad as when I saw Rex running off of that ship with you in his arms." Echo continues and she looks back up at him. "What were you doing on Mandalore?"

Elara sighs. "It's a long story."

"I've got time." Echo smiles softly at her as he gets comfortable.