Responding to your other fluff drabble request, @ladylucksrogue ! 💙
This ended up being more of a Cadence character exploration, with a hint of angst and a dash of fluff mixed in. Hope you like it!
For reference, the prompt was: “I told you to take care of yourself.”
Also wanted to mention, just in case, that there’s a mild description of injury.
You can also find it here on AO3.
☁️ Take Care of Yourself ☁️
Echo breathed a sigh of relief when Cadence’s freighter, the Atonal, came into view. After months of seemingly endless battles, the 501st had finally been granted shore leave. So of course Echo commed his partner as soon as he received the news. She was already waiting for him at one of the community space ports when he arrived on Coruscant.
The Atonal’s ramp was already lowered and waiting when he arrived. The instant his boot made contact with the ship, a thick layer of tension seemed to lift off his shoulders. He made his way into the freighter and towards the central area of the ship. Only to stop dead.
At least a third of the flooring had been pulled up and the durasteel plates had been shoved into one one corner of the room.
Her head immediately popped out of one of the holes in the floor. About half of her auburn hair was pulled back, away from her face; the remaining strands falling around her face, clearing having escaped her hair tie. Cadence shook off the hair that had fallen over her eyes, revealing her face, which was spattered with dust, oil, and… blood.
“Echo!” she chirped. “Watch your step!”
“Obviously.” He stood there a moment, trying to decide which part of this scene to address first. “What are you doing?”
“I’m adding more panels,” she stated simply.
He blinked. “You hadn’t already?”
“Not in here. Not yet, anyway. It just takes forever because of all the wiring.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t much of a concern.
She cocked her head. “Yeah, why?”
“You have blood on your face.” He began carefully making his way across the broken floor towards the hole she was working in. Once he was closer, he spotted the source, an open laceration above her left eyebrow. “When did that happen?”
“Oh this?” She tapped the injury with her hand, making herself to wince. When she brought her hand back down, there was fresh blood on her fingers. “Blast. I thought it had stopped bleeding.”
“How long ago did that happen?” Echo asked.
She shrugged again. “Maybe sometime this morning.”
Morning was over six hours ago. “And you didn’t treat it or anything?” He barely held back an exasperated groan. “When I last saw you, I told you to take care of yourself.”
“Says the guy who spends most of his life in a war zone. Echo, I’m fine.”
“You won’t be if that gets infected,” he pointed out. He held out his hands to help her out of the hole. “Let’s just get that treated.”
“But I’m not done with the panels.” Despite her protest, she let him pull her up.
He guided her over to one of the benches affixed to the wall of the ship and gestured for her to sit. Then he fetched her first aid kit and came back to sit beside her.
“You know…” He paused as he began gently cleaning her wound. “Sorry,” he said when she winced again. He always had to remind himself that her pain tolerance wasn’t anywhere close to his or even that of a regular soldier.
“You know,” he started again. “Wouldn’t it be easier if you didn’t have to use the panels?”
“Well, yeah, but you know that’s not an option for me,” she huffed. They’d had this conversation before. “Besides,” she continued in a lighter tone, “I like installing them.”
“I know.” He wanted to say more, but it wouldn’t be anything they hadn’t discussed already. “Just promise you’ll at least treat yourself the next time you get injured.”
They sat in comfortable silence as he finished cleaning her wound and applied a bacta patch.
“Thanks,” she said, once he was done. “What would I do without you?”
“Get an infection,” he said flatly.
“I worry because I love you and-” The rest of his words caught in his throat. I hope you’ll never have to be without me. It wasn’t fair to say that. Every time he deployed, they both knew he might not return.
Cadence furrowed her brow when he cut himself off, but then almost immediately her features softened with understanding. “I love you too.”
Her gray eyes met his brown ones and for a moment, all they could do was stare at each other, committing as much of each other to memory as possible, while they could. Echo leaned forward to kiss her, making sure to tilt his head, so as not to bump her injury.
They broke apart after several minutes and the moment was over. They’d done this plenty of times now and they both knew that discussing it would only dampen their time together.
“Do you want to help me put the floor back together?” she asked, in a brighter tone.
His lips pulled apart into a soft smile. “I’ll do anything, as long as it’s with you.”
@snips2112 @aknightreaderr @queen-of-mandalore @snarkyfina @cyarikacyare @solodoodless @detectivecrash @whyamismall
Dividers by @thecutestgrotto
