For candor1

[open_rebellion]

Poss. stuff in the lull between Death Star 1 blowing and the Battle of Hoth:
• Jyn+Cas (and however many of the others we want) survive Scarif; as soon as they get back to Yavin 4, Cas is stuck in a bacta tank, and after a while in a medical coma, he finally wakes up—to find Jyn is still there…?
• Cas likes to climb the Massassi ziggurat, maybe Jyn climbs up one with him; and/or they go for a hike in the jungle…
• Alliance is looking to rehome survivors of Jedha and Alderaan, J+C could help survey planets…?
• Alliance needs more members, C sent back out as recruiter if Jyn wants to join…? (could involve being in a city together)
• reunite on Hoth after getting separated during the evacuation of Yavin…?

Anytime:
• the process of figuring out how to get these crazy kids to sleep in the same room (if they want to)
• they're already sleeping in the same room when one wakes the other with a nightmare
• something purely fluffy like realizing they both have atrocious eating habits, or one does and the other tries to help them with that

Comments

[candor1]

He set back his head, because she told him to, though he didn't quite relax.

But that was okay. A sudden smile bloomed on his face.

"Good," he said. Understatement of the millennium.

His thumb moved on the back of her hand, consciously or un-. "And you're still here."

[open_rebellion]

The smile did wonders for his appearance, and a small smile appeared unbidden on her own face. It was good.

She looks back down again at his second pronouncement. "I don't know if they'd let me leave," she said, which was true, but it was also true that she was worried about him. She had to make sure he would live, partly out of curiosity and partly out of a complicated tangle of emotions that Cassian now evoked that she didn't want to examine too closely out of fear of what she'd see. "Is that all right? That I'm here?"

[candor1]

Maybe a bit too fast and emphatic: "Yes." The second, regaining some composure: "Yes, of course."

I don't know what I would have done if I'd woken up and you weren't.

He quietly breathed through his nose and got a grip; and frowned a little at the other thing she'd said: "Wasn't that your bargain with Mon Mothma? Help us and you'd go free?"

—Not that he wanted her to go. He just wanted it to be her free choice, if to stay.

[open_rebellion]

"Well. That was before I commandeered a crew and a ship on a suicide mission that we were expressly forbidden from," she said. No one had said 'court martial' and she's pretty sure if she wasn't technically enlisted they couldn't, but she's also sure if they wanted to, they would.

She looked up from where her hands held his. "And they said you were alive," she added, a little bit of truth.

[candor1]

He gave a slight, mirthless smile. "Technically, I did that." Not to take credit—it had absolutely been following her light—but in terms of the one who'd sworn oaths and had the actual authority over the others. "And, technically, we weren't expressly forbidden. The mission was unsanctioned. It didn't go against preexisting orders. I left that meeting before anyone with the authority to give me new ones would have the chance. It was also undertaken in the face of the Council's proposal to disband the Alliance and surrender to the Empire. You know what would have happened to all of us without you?"

[open_rebellion]

"Nothing good," she muttered. Wobani was still fresh in her mind, and that had been for petty criminals. She couldn't imagine actual political prisoners lasted long enough to even get to prison, certainly nobody with a rank in front of their name. "It doesn't matter," she decided. "You were still out."

[candor1]

Nothing good. Indeed. It ran through his head nonetheless:

Known leaders like Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Dodonna, Raddus, Draven, would be imprisoned and executed. The traitor Bodhi Rook would be turned over as a condition of surrender and made a painful example of. The Guardians and most of the SpecForce volunteers would refuse to cooperate and keep fighting, but without the resources of the Alliance, mainly they'd be finding a more palatable way to die. In order to keep K-2SO from being restored to factory spec and turned back into an Imperial weapon, Cassian would destroy him, himself; then also join the Guardians.

It doesn't matter. She already knew or didn't need to hear. You were still out. And then what she'd said before, belatedly catching up to him: they said you were alive. He looked at her, feeling his heart pound a little more. "You stuck around… for me?"

[open_rebellion]

Her heart was going to come crashing through her rib cage at any moment. She was sure of it. It seemed crazy that she could do all she'd done, but this, right here, scared her more than storming Imperial data banks or trying to find Saw Gerrera again. It was an unusual level of self-awareness that Jyn didn't particularly allow herself to indulge in -- but what else had there been to do in the waiting?

More to the point, what was there to say? "I... yes," she said, because it was the truth. She was too tired for equivocation.

[candor1]

His heart was right there with hers. His eyes fell to their still-joined hands; wondering if he dared to keep holding on, not at all prepared to let go.

"…and now?" he said at last. His mouth was dry. It wasn't fair of him to put all the answers on her; at the same time, felt he needed further information before figuring out what on Fest to say or do, himself.

[open_rebellion]

'And now' indeed. Jyn swallowed, and gave a careless little shrug. "I hadn't actually made it that far in the thought process," she admitted. If he weren't hanging on to her hand or were cold to her, the answer would have been easier. She wouldn't have even needed to answer this question right now.

[candor1]

He nodded slowly. Looked once more at their hands; made himself let hers go. "Well, thank you. I'm glad you're here. …If I can help at all with figuring out what comes next."

[open_rebellion]

She never would have thought to describe the feeling as empty-handed, but here they were. She didn't hold on. "You should worry about yourself," she said, not unkindly.

[candor1]

"I know what happens to me. Victory transmutes sin. If I'm courtmartialed, Draven will testify on my behalf. I may get demoted but I don't think I'll be imprisoned. I don't mind getting demoted." And of course, whether he'd stay with the Alliance or not wasn't even a question.

—Or was it? because his eyes were on hers again and what he said next was— "I know I don't need to worry about you. You can take care of yourself. But… do you have to, this time? Couldn't we… I thought… we were a good team. I'm… I'd… if there's any way… the prospect of going back to… being without that…

"Things are different now, for me. I don't want to go back to how I was before. Even if I could. And a big part of that… was getting to… work… with you.

"What you do next needn't have anything to do with me. But what I do next… if… you're… okay with it… I'd kinda like to have something to do with you."

Clear as mud? Roger. But the look on his face and in his eyes was a little clearer.

[open_rebellion]

She'd meant whatever other recovery was ahead of him, but he was clearly feeling better as he got on a roll with... whatever this was. A confession of some kind? It wasn't clear at first, but the more he spoke, the closer they came to his point.

Whatever they've got him on for pain, it's just got him looped. He doesn't know what he's saying. Or that's what part of her said, the part that told her to run, hide, that one is plenty to look after, because everyone left anyway. But his eyes were clear, and it wasn't as though what he said were incoherent ramblings. Her chest hurt.

But she didn't want to leave him. Not out of guilt, or feeling indebted. "I don't know what's next either," she agreed finally, visibly uncomfortable with what she wants to say. "But I think -- I think that would be all right?"

[candor1]

A smile broke onto his face. Parts glad, hopeful, and relieved. (It crinkled his eyes pleasantly, as before. Unlike before, it also made him look younger.) He felt idiotic for letting go of her hand, but ah well. "Okay. …Thank you." And the Force.

[open_rebellion]

By the time her heart slowed down (why was this the scariest thing she'd ever done?) she was smiling as well, and she touched his hand again. "Now that's cleared up," she started, "I mean it, you have to concentrate on letting whatever you did to your body heal."

[candor1]

(Right there with you. He hadn't fumbled for words that badly when he'd had a hand in an interrogation droid and a blaster in his face.)

Her touch did something hard to pinpoint but tangible to his smile. He again crooked a finger to brush hers, back. Gently, with humor; also genuine regard—how entirely ready he was, any time, to follow her lead: "Yes, ma'am."

[open_rebellion]

The feeling was just as difficult to name inside Jyn -- but maybe it was enough to let it be a fragile, wild thing for now. "Don't mock me, Captain," she returned, just as seriously as he was.

[candor1]

He didn't have the capability for anything right now except honesty; and that was all that was in his voice. "I'm not."

No… he really wasn't.

What he was was starting to drift off again.

[open_rebellion]

There was a peculiar twinge in her chest, right where her heart sat under her rib cage. "Stop arguing and rest," she told him softly, squeezing his hand. "I'll be right here."

[candor1]

The squeeze of her hand made him feel safer and more comforted than any amount of painkillers. His fingers tightened for a moment on hers, back; and, per orders, he put back his head and closed his eyes.

Though his grip was gentle, she could move away the instant she wanted to, this time he didn't let go of her hand.