Fic: Sooth (Rogue One, Cassian/Jyn)

[rivulet027]

Title: Sooth
Fandom: Star Wars Rogue One
Pairing: Cassian/Jyn
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Star Wars. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Cassian wakes up in a cabin with Jyn.
A/N: Written for scatteredmoonlight for the multifandomtropefest.


Sooth:

Cassian wakes up to an apologetic look on Jyn’s face. His body aches. She’s easing him into a bed. He can’t tell if he’s tasting bacta on his tongue because it’s the only thing he can smell or if it’s actually on his tongue. Jyn sits slightly behind him, using her body keep him sitting up as she offers him a cup. His hands shake as he tries to take it.

“It’s water, let me help you,” she tells him tone matter of fact, practical.

“Safe?” he manages to ask. This isn’t a ship. This isn’t Yavin IV. This isn’t a base he recognizes. It looks more like a wooden building. There are trees visible out the window. He wishes he could smell something other than the bacta.

“For now, I’ll explain after you’ve gotten some rest,” she reassures.

He squeezes her hand weakly and lets her help him with the water. Then she’s tucking him in and he tries to stay awake, he has so many questions, but him limbs feel heavy and his eyes close.

The window is open when he wakes up and he breathes in the scent of trees and dirt. His eyes dart around the room. He’s on the only bed. There’s a dresser and desk near the bed. There’s a small table with four chairs and a kitchen. There are two doors. There’s also a fireplace. Cassian stares at it. Is it an actual fireplace or a fancy space heater? Cassian can’t tell. There’s a large recliner in front of it.

“There’s a porch too, with rocking chairs,” Jyn tells him. She helps him sit up and drink more water.

“Where? How?” Cassian shakes his head. He really thought they were going to die on Scarif. “Jyn, who else made it out?”

“Out or off Scarif,” she stalls.

“What happened? We were as good as dead. Did they get the message?”

Did they succeed? He had to listen to Kay sacrifice himself for this mission, he needs it to have been a success. Cassian’s not really sure what to do with that thought. He never thought he’d be the one to outlive Kay.

Jyn stills, staring at him a moment with her face unreadable. She wets her lips. Cassian struggles to sit up so he can face her, but she shakes her head and eases him back down.

“Jyn?”

She squeezes his hand. “I’m going to get a chair so we can talk, but if you get tired sleep and we’ll talk when you wake up.”

Cassian squeezes her hand back and closes his eyes for a moment. When he wakes up it’s already dark out. He groans in frustration, then sighs in relief when he’s able to sit up.

“Refresher or soup?” Jyn asks him.

Cassian settles his feet firmly on the floor and frowns.

“I have supplies,” Jyn says quietly. “If you can’t stand there’s a urinal.”

Cassian blinks at her. “That’s good to know.”

“You should be feeling a little stronger by now though, but falling wouldn’t be good for you and Dr. Myder probably isn’t going to make it back up here to help me get you back in bed,” Jyn informs him.

“Dr. Myder?” Cassian frowns. He doesn’t know that name. “Jyn, where are we?”

“Alandria,” Jyn tells him as she sinks down onto the bed next to him. “Let’s do questions over soup so it’s still warm.”

Cassian presses his bare feet against the floor. He ignores the chill and accesses himself. “Would you help me stand?”

She helps him lever himself up. He manages a tentative step and then another. His whole body still aches. The walk to the refresher is slow and Jyn is next to him the whole time. Thankfully he can manage on his own once he’s in there. He starts to make his way to the table when he’s done.

“I could bring the table over to the bed, don’t wear yourself out,” Jyn advises as she moves to help him.

Cassian agrees. Walking to the bed is painfully slow. He sinks back onto the bed grateful that Jyn is there to help him. He’s already exhausted again. He watches sulkily as Jyn brings the table over, then a chair, then bowls, the soup, and a loaf of bread. He’s grateful his hands aren’t shaking anymore. At least he can feed himself. He waits until Jyn slows her eating to ask. “How did we end up here? I remember going down the elevator and then waking up here.”

“There was a rebel spy on the base, Gotou. He said he knew you and you recognized him before you passed out. He recognized Kaytoo and started looking for you. He brought us here because it was close and he knew Doctor Myder wouldn’t turn us in. Then he went back. He had some minor burning so maybe they’ll believe that he went right to a doctor. Cassian he had Kaytoo’s head so I don’t know how damaged it is, but we might not have lost him.”

Cassian stares not sure what to do with the hope flaring in his chest at the thought that he might not have lost Kay. “Where?”

“With your cloths, in the dresser,” Jyn tells him. “It was morbid having him sit on top of the dresser.”

“Felt like he was judging you for not having him already fixed?” Cassian finds himself teasing, even though he can’t know for sure that this means he’s got Kay back. His head could be damaged too much.

Jyn shudders in an over exaggerated manner, then reaches out and grabs his hand. “He’s there. I know you backed him up before we left, but I had the doctor check and he’s in there.”

Cassian breathes a sigh of relief. He wants to ask to see Kay now, but they’re both still eating so he forces himself to wait. “Do we know about anyone else?”

Jyn shakes her head. “I was busy with a medkit and Gotou didn’t say. They fired the Death Star.”

Cassian rubs a hand over his chin and takes a deep breath. Jyn nods. They’re both compartmentalizing for now. They just need to work the task in front of them until they can get safely back to the Rebellion.

“You had a limp,” Cassian comments, then clarifies. “On Scarif.”

“Bacta, I’m fine. You’re the one that had broken bones and internal bleeding,” she informs him. “You probably should’ve been in the tank longer, but the Imperials are looking for anyone that made it off Scarif so we’re being overly cautious.”

“We need to be,” Cassian agrees. “It doesn’t hurt to breath.”

“Doctor Myder knows what he’s doing. This is his cabin. It’s shielded so they shouldn’t be able to scan us and the trees are dense here so unless they decide to grid pattern search the woods we should be relatively safe. If not there’s a dock just down the hill with a boat hidden in what’s set up to look like a fishing shed.”

“This isn’t his first time hidden someone,” Cassian concludes.

“That was my thought.”

After dinner he asks to see Kay. Cassian feels something in him settle when Jyn hands him what’s left of Kay. He brushes his fingers over Kay’s face and resists the urge to hug him close. He watches Jyn poke at the fireplace with a sigh. They both agree the smoke would give them away, but there’s also a portal heating unit. It warms the small space. He manages to protest when she settles in the recliner.

“Plenty of room in the bed,” he tries to reason.

She smiles at him. “You’re so exhausted your words are slurring, but I guess it’s better to be right there if you need me.”

She wraps Kay up carefully and puts him back in the drawer before settling into bed with a datapad. Cassian falls asleep listening to her read. He wakes up with his nose pressing against her back and his arm around her waist and their legs hopeless tangled. She shifts the blankets higher over both of them and then wraps her hand in his. She squeezes. Cassian protests sleepily.

“Refresher, food, and meds,” Jyn pushes. “Then you can take a nap.”

Cassian presses a kiss to her shoulder and agrees. She stills, then turns to look at him slowly.

“Thanks for not leaving me there or here,” he manages.

“I wouldn’t be able to find the Rebellion without you,” she reminds, poking at the sentiment that is weaving between them.

“You would,” his voice is soft and fond, and Cassian can’t remember the last time he used this tone and actually meant it.

“I’m not sure…” she trails off then swipes at her eyes.

“You’d want to; even if it’s just to know who lived and died.”

Jyn huffs and twists her necklace. “I didn’t think any of us would make it out alive and I want it to be worth the lives we lost, but it was the Death Star and we had to try.”

Cassian wants to ask if the mission was more about her father, seeing through his plan till the end, but then she’d been on Jedha when the Death Star had been used for the first time. She’d seen firsthand what it could do. They all had. To have faced that twice and lived, the thought makes Cassian’s breath catch in his throat. He takes Jyn’s free and squeezes. “If we knew Gotou had been transferred there maybe we could’ve gotten the files from him, but we worked with the intel we had to get the best possible results.”

“At least we tried,” Jyn concludes.

“At least we tried,” Cassian agrees.

Dr. Myder bustles in after breakfast when Cassian is sliding back towards sleep. He’s a Sullustan with a slightly haggard expression and wearing a tie-dyed color lab coat. He brings more medicine and food. He examines Jyn first who watches the man with concern. Then he scans Cassian and advises, “Get up and moving as much as you can, but rest when you’re tired, just don’t spend all day in bed. We don’t want you developing pneumonia.”

“Is there something wrong?” Jyn asks when he’s done examining both of them.

Dr. Myder rubs his hands together then busies himself making them tea.

“Did the Imperials threaten you?” Cassian worries.

"They didn't even contact me yet," Dr. Myder reassures as he sets the teapot on the stove then sighs, “It’s too horrible to put into words, but you should know. The Empire has destroyed Alderaan.”

“Destroyed how?” Jyn demands as she begins pacing the small space. Cassian forces himself to sit up, watching both of them.

“Blew it up,” Dr. Myder moans sadly. “They just blew it up. There’s not even enough of it left that there would be anyone to rescue.”

Cassian grips the side of the bed.

“Bodhi was describing it as a planet killer,” Cassian mutters inanely.

“To blow up a whole Core world,” Dr. Myder shakes his head. “Then to try and justify it…”

Cassian catches Jyn’s eyes, then takes her hand when she passes close. He squeezes her hand. They tried. Maybe the plans got out? Maybe there’s still hope? She stares at him, eyes stormy. He takes a deep slow breath. She follows suit. They listen to Dr. Myder and drink the tea he makes them. They can’t fall apart in front of him. After he’s left Cassian gets up and makes his way to the recliner. Jyn grabs the blanket off the bed and joins him.

“I can’t imagine many Alderaanians will want to serve the Empire after this,” Cassian ventures as he runs his fingers over Jyn’s palm.

She slides her fingers over his. “It might not be easy or safe for them to leave and not all of them will want to run to the Rebellion.”

“There will be those that do,” Cassian continues.

“They might need help,” Jyn concludes.

Their fingers curl around each others as Cassian admits, “I just don’t know if Doctor Myder will do more good here as a potential place to safely bring someone that’s hurt or if we could use him on base.”

“We’d probably need to ask the medical staff and Intelligence,” Jyn says.

“We need more information and to gauge where he’s at,” Cassian nods.

“So we concentrate on getting you back on your feet,” Jyn says. “Then we find the Rebellion and see how we can help.”

It goes unspoken that then they can finally know who died on Scarif and if the plans actually made it off the planet.

Jyn’s lips quirk up. “It’s funny to feel like I have a home to go back to. How much trouble are we going to get in for going rogue?”

“Depends on if we succeeded or failed, either way Bodhi probably just inadvertently named a squadron.”

Jyn laughs, then frowns. “Do you think he made it out? Do you think anyone but us made it out?”

“I don’t know,” Cassian admits. “The plans were transmitted, we know that much.”

Jyn lets him nap and he wakes up to sandwiches and more soup. After eating they sit out on the porch. The trees are huge, some of their bases wider than Cassian is tall. Jyn reads as Cassian walks the length of the porch, then sits back down again. He resists the urge to pace.

“You’re not used to being still, are you?” she teases gently.

“Still yes, without a mission no,” Cassian admits.

“We sent the data. They have it,” Jyn says as if saying it will make it true.

“I hope,” Cassian agrees before he gets up to pace the porch again. He wonders if he should ask if there’s another data pad. He studies the two stairs leading off of the cabin.

“I’d rather you not try uneven ground yet,” Jyn says as she glances up from her datapad.

“Trying to decide if practicing going down to the boat would be beneficial or just leave footprints,” Cassian sighs.

“Get a little stronger first.”

“I’m moving,” he points out.

“Don’t wear yourself out,” she advises as her eyes drift back to her datapad.

He sighs and sits back down in the rocking chair. She hugs a knee and makes the rocking chair she’s sitting in move back and forth in a gentle motion. He rocks for a moment, then paces when his eyes start to close.

Jyn waves the datapad. “Do you want one?”

“What’s on it?”

“This one’s all fiction,” she shrugs. “Haven’t looked at the other one yet.”

He sighs and sits back down. She smiles at him slightly.

“What?”

“When was the last time you got to rest?”

Cassian’s lips quirk upwards as he remembers Kay insisting that he needs a vacation for optimal functioning. “I don't take much downtime.”

“Should I be taking notes so Kaytoo will believe me?”

Cassian laughs. “Maybe you should.”

“Tired?” she asks.

He sighs. “I’d like a shower.”

“Maybe a bath.”

“I’d end up exhausted,” he protests.

“If you need help tell me and I’m at least going to be standing by in case you do,” she tells him.

He opens his mouth to protest, then sighs. He nearly died and he’s tiring easily. It’s safer to have her nearby. After he’s in the shower she strips down to her underwear in case she needs to step in with him. He washes as swiftly as he can and he means to get out as soon as he’s done, but he stills as he washes the last of the soap away. He closes his eyes again and enjoys the warmth for a moment. She’s holding up a towel for him as he steps out. He manages to get dried and back into his clothes before the exhaustion hits him. He grumbles in frustration, but Jyn wraps an arm around him and walks with him to the recliner. She covers him with a warm blanket then gets dressed. She cuddles in close to read while he naps. He falls asleep with his arm around her waist, and his forehead against her shoulder. He falls asleep warm with the smell of her permeating the cocoon of their blanket.

The second data pad is full of romance novels. Jyn frowns at her datapad. “I’m finishing this one, then we can trade if you want.”

Cassian shrugs still looking through the datapad to see if he can find anything useful.

Jyn crosses her arms and gives him a mock stern face. Cassian raises his eyebrows.

“If you want Kaytoo to count this as downtime.”

“It is downtime,” Cassian insists before he starts reading a novel about a time traveling former Jedi who falls in love with a pilot that rescues her.

That night they fall asleep holding each other. Jyn wakes up screaming for her mother. Cassian sits close, watching as she shakes not sure if he should touch her or not. She takes a deep breath and hugs herself. He waits till she looks at him, then reaches out slowly. Her fingers bunch in his shirt and he can feel the wetness of her tears as she leans her head against his shoulder.

“He’s dead,” she bites out. “That asshole killed my mother, but you killed him. He was going to kill me, but you climbed up that tower and killed him and he can’t hurt me anymore.”

Cassian holds her close as he points out. “He tried to kill me too.”

“He almost did,” she whispers. Her lips brushing against his skin makes Cassian shiver.

“We’re alive,” Cassian manages.

She pulls back to look at him. Their eyes meet briefly before hers drift down towards his lips. “Thank you for killing Kennic.”

Their eyes meet again. Cassian takes a slow breath. He reaches out slowly and brushes her remaining tears away with his thumb. “Do you think you can sleep?”

She nods and lays back down, holding him close. He falls asleep running his fingers through the ends of her hair.

Their time falls into a routine. They take turns making meals when they’re hungry and Cassian walks and tries to exercise until he’s tired. Jyn read and Cassian naps. Neither of them mention the growing casual intimacy between them.

Then Doctor Myder makes it out to the cabin to check on them and let them know the Death Star is destroyed.

“We did it,” Jyn says sinking to the floor.

“You father’s plan worked,” Cassian smiles.

“It was worth it.”

“It was worth it.”

Their eyes meet. Cassian smiles through watery eyes and Jyn smiles back. She stands so she can hug him close. Her lips brush against his forehead. He tilts his head and she leans in. His fingers stray into her hair as their lips meet. It was worth it.