Working Parts
Pairing: Echo x F!Reader
Summary: There was always something about Echo that drew you to him, you had no idea that he'd feel the same way. But when he shares his past with you, you know you want to be there to comfort him in the future.
Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, pregnancy mention, lots of angst, but it's also so soft
Notes: This was written for the @cloneficgiftexchange run by @ghostofskywalker and this fic was written for @jedipoodoo , I hope you enjoy!!
Prompts: "You're okay, I'm right here." ||"I won't leave you." - and you also included that you love stories about parenthood and pregnancy, so I did my best!
Word Count: 3.4k
Read on AO3 Here
Taglist: None, let me know if you'd like to be added!
Masterlist
The first time you saw Echo, he had just disembarked from his ship, visiting his brothers and his sister. You happened to be near the landing port, and you looked over just as he descended the ramp, and from there you knew that you wanted to meet him, to get to know him.
But you also knew that you weren't really the type to walk up to someone new, especially here. You were new enough to Pabu, the idea of putting yourself out there when you had just come here to hide from the Empire just seemed counter intuitive. It wasn't as if you were in any kind of trouble, after all, you were a mechanic and if anything would be an asset to them, but it seemed safer to stay out of sight, you could think of only a few things worse than being forced into the Empire.
“His name is Echo.” You heard a voice ring out from beside you, making you jump. You turned to your right, the voice had come from another one of the new arrivals, you had only learned that his name was Tech a few weeks prior when he walked into your shop looking for parts for his ship.
“W-What?” Your voice was still flustered from the sudden scare.
“I assumed you would want the name of the person you were so obviously staring at.”
“No, I–” You began to protest before sighing, knowing it was pointless to argue.
Tech waited for you to continue your sentence, but when you didn't, he adjusted his goggles and walked over to greet his brother.
“Like he'd want to meet me..” You muttered to yourself, but almost as soon as Tech made it over to Echo, the latter had turned his head to face you. That was your cue to turn and leave, not wanting to make him uncomfortable with your apparent staring.
~ ~ ~
The second time you saw Echo was a few months following the initial visit. He and his brothers had all come by your shop. Tech had placed another order for his seemingly never-ending tinkering, and the others - whose names you had finally learned - decided to accompany him.
You were surprised to see them all there in your little shop, but especially surprised to see Echo. It seemed that his visits to Pabu were few and far between.
You did absolutely everything you could to avoid staring.
When you were busying yourself with re-organizing drawers of miscellaneous parts, you heard your name being called out from behind you. It caused you to jump and knock over a pile of bolts onto the ground.
“Oh kriff, sorry about that.”
You turned around slowly, trying not to let the embarrassment show in your face, only to be faced with the one you were internally trying to avoid.
“Don’t worry about it.” You said, a bit too shakily..
“That is your name though, right?” He asked, and when you nodded, he smiled. “Good to know, I’m Echo.”
“Nice to meet you.” You forced a smile back.
The tallest of them, Wrecker, wandered up to the front counter to join the two of you, and slapped a hand across Echo’s shoulder.
“Weird you two have never met!” He laughed, “I mean, Echo always just stares at you whenever he sees you, so it’s nice you finally have a chance to talk!”
“...Thanks, Wreck.” Echo sighed, and looked at you with a slightly guilty expression.
You smiled and shook your head in reassurance to his unspoken apology, knowing you were guilty of the same thing. This almost gave you hope that your desire to get to know him was mutual. Almost.
Before long, the others approached the counter to collect their order and purchase the additional parts they had gathered in your shop.
As they left, Echo took one last look toward you before ducking out of the building, and you got to work cleaning up the bolts you had knocked over.
Kriff. You sighed to yourself.
~ ~ ~
The time between Echo’s visits seemed longer and longer the more you eventually started getting to know him. You would never admit it out loud, but you even began to miss him when he wasn’t around.
He was kind, and he was quick-witted; he definitely matched his brothers' sarcasm and humour. And when the evening sun shone on him, his eyes almost appeared to glow gold.
It didn't take long for you to completely fall for him, he had a way of speaking that invited you in, he was charming and confident, certainly the type who could have any girl he wanted.
For that reason, in addition to his frequent trips off-world, you decided not to say anything to him about your feelings. At least you wouldn't pine after him when you didn't have to see him every day, you had figured.
You had put the kettle on one evening and began sorting through your to-do list for the next day, getting lost in your thoughts when a loud knock on the door startled you out of them.
Cautiously, you walked to the front window, peering out to see who could possibly be visiting, when you saw Echo standing on your front steps, looking around nervously, with his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
You unlocked the door and opened it.
"Echo? What are you doing here?" You didn’t even realize he was on-world.
"I uh.. was just nearby and wanted to say hi." He was shuffling his feet a little, and his tone was hesitant.
Everything you had thought of his confidence seemed to fizzle away with his words, but still you smiled.
"Hi," you repeated in greeting.
"Right well.. I should just.." He sighed, "I had a whole idea of what I was going to say but..."
You shook your head, still smiling. "I just put the kettle on, would you like to come in for some tea?"
He breathed a sigh of relief, "I'd love to."
Echo entered your house slowly, as if he wasn't fully sure if he was actually welcome.
"Make yourself at home," you told him, reassuringly. "Tea should be ready soon."
"Thank you." He sat down on the sofa, taking in his surroundings.
Your living room was warm and inviting, it certainly felt like you. He smiled, eying some of the photos on the wall.
He knew fairly early on how he felt about you, the fact that you seemed just as nervous as he was when you had first met gave him courage that you might even feel the same way. You were smart, you knew your way around all the working parts of any droid or ship on the planet. Something that he almost felt was humourous, given the fact that it made up most of him too. But more than that, his own darker thoughts figured that meant you’d want nothing to do with him. For that reason, he could never be open about his feelings toward you, but he had enough of hiding it. This revelation was what brought him to your door.
You returned to the living room holding two tea cups, and you set his down in front of him before sitting down on a nearby armchair.
"So what did you have to say?" You asked when you were settled.
"I'm sorry?" He asked, taking a sip of his drink.
"You said you had an idea of something you wanted to say."
"Oh, right I-..."
He looked down at the teacup.
"I guess I just wanted to talk to you. We’ve been getting to know each other, but I feel like I still don’t know much about you."
You smiled, "Well there's not much to know. I came to Pabu after the Empire began occupying Lothal, opened up my shop, and have been here ever since."
"I see. Not the worst place to escape to," He noted. "Do you er... Anyone special?"
You could feel blood rise to your cheeks at his question.
"N-No, not really. Do.. you?"
"Nah, me neither." His admission brought a feeling of relief to you. He had a sad look as he continued. “Not really sure it’s in my cards. Part of me always kinda wanted a family, especially after meeting Cut and Suu, knowing that some clones out there are living comfortably, but..” He trailed off.
You wanted so badly to comfort him in some way, but you didn’t know how. Anything you thought of saying would only reveal your feelings toward him, and you weren’t really ready to do that.
It grew silent with neither of you knowing what to say.
Eventually, you spoke up, figuring the best thing to do was to change the subject.
"What do you think of Pabu?" You asked him.
He thought about his answer, then he looked at you earnestly, with a spark in his eye that you couldn't quite place.
"Honestly? I know I’m gone for long periods of time, but… It's getting harder and harder to leave."
"You could stay." You blurted out without thinking, and you quickly tried to recover, "I mean, since the others live here and all.."
You mentally facepalmed at your outburst.
But instead of poking fun at you, you heard a quiet chuckle.
"Maybe I will, after my job out there is done."
Your curiosity got the better of you. “What is it that you do when you’re away?”
“We help lost clones find places where they can be safe and comfortable, and above all, free.”
You smiled, “That’s really noble.”
“It’s the least we can do. Rex and I both feel like we’re only alive today because of the blood our brothers spilled for us, so it’s only fair that we use that to help the ones still out there.”
“What was the war like for you?”
He paused and looked down at his cup. “It’s kind of hard to say.”
You waited to see if he would continue.
“It took me and my squad a long time to even pass the training drill to leave Kamino. They used to call us the Domino squad because we always seemed to fall one after the other. When we did finally get deployed, we were sent to an outpost on the Rishi moon and in our first real battle, we lost three of our men.”
“I see…”
“After that though, Fives and I were taken into the 501st under Captain Rex, where we eventually were made ARC Troopers, but after that was the Citadel.”
“What happened?”
“I got blown up.” He stated, his tone was laced with almost dry humour but he wasn’t laughing. “Seps got me and turned me into, well, this. And now I’m here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that Rex and the boys found me on Skako Minor, but I still get nightmares about it sometimes.”
He looked over at you, and his expression turned sympathetic after he saw how upset you looked.
“I guess I unloaded there, sorry.”
“Don’t be, I’m glad you told me. I just wish I knew what to say.”
He smiled a half smile at you, “I appreciate you listening.”
Without really thinking, you moved closer to him, wrapping your arms around his neck in a tight embrace. You stayed there for a moment, and soon you felt his arm reach around you, holding you there.
~ ~ ~
After that night, your relationship with Echo changed. He trusted you, you knew that just from the fact that he was willing to tell you everything about his past.
When he’d arrive on Pabu, he always met you with an embrace, and more times than not, he’d show up at your house to discuss his missions and any news you had over a cup of tea.
And one of those nights, he had finally confessed his feelings for you.
He didn’t work up to it in any sense. Instead, when you opened the door to let him inside, he stood on the doorstep, holding a bouquet of flowers out to you.
“What’s this?” You said smiling at the gift.
“I love you.” He announced, a faint blush growing across his cheeks, he was slightly shaking, but his eyes were serious.
“You- What?” Was all you could manage to say in reply. You heard him, but you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.
“I have for a while now. I knew from the start that I had feelings for you, but.. Ever since the night where I told you about, well, everything, I knew how deep those feelings were. If you don’t… Feel the same way, that’s okay, but I needed you to know.”
“Echo…” You managed to say, quietly. “I do feel the same.”
“What?” Echo was surprised, and he immediately believed he misheard you.
“Come in, please.” You said, and all but pulled him into your house. “I love you too.”
“But why? I.. Since when?”
“The same time as you.” You sighed and stood closer to him. “I’ve always had feelings for you, since we met. And when you opened up to me, when you trusted me with your past, I couldn’t ignore it anymore, but I always thought I was alone in it, so I couldn’t bring myself to tell you.”
He smiled softly and placed his hand on your cheek, drawing your face closer to his.
“You’re not alone. I’m right here with you.” He told you before he closed the distance, pressing his lips to yours, and you wrapped your arms around him, smiling into the kiss.
Echo broke the kiss before you both ran out of air, but still he held you close to him, pressing his forehead against yours.
“I’m relieved that you feel the same way, but I would understand if you didn’t, with me being this.”
“Oh shush,” you told him. “You’ll need a mechanic to keep everything in order.”
He smiled at you before placing a kiss against your lips once again.
~ ~ ~
You felt him tossing in the bed next to you. Another nightmare, you thought to yourself.
He was getting them more frequently, and it worried you. It had been some time since he was rescued from Skako Minor, but the memories he had of his life before that had never quite faded. Memories of a life he could never quite return to. And you knew that something else was causing him stress. His nightmares grew more frequent ever since you had told him that you were pregnant.
He was happy to be on Pabu with you, to start a family with you. But you knew it was still a hard adjustment for him. Not just living on Pabu, but everything since waking up from the stasis chamber he was put in. Everything that he had told you about all those years ago still haunted him to this day, and you wished that there was some way that you could help, but he had always told you that just being there with him was enough.
All you could really do in these moments was to try and calm him down, gently ease him out of his nightmares, try to get him to talk to you about them when he woke up, but sometimes it was easier said than done.
You lay next to him, rubbing his back gently guiding your hand up and down next to the cybernetics, attempting to soothe him from his nightmare without waking him. He stirred gently under your touch before his eyes fluttered open.
"Fives!" He yelled as he lifted himself up off the bed.
He took a moment to look around, eyes adjusting to the dark room.
"Shh.. You're okay." You whispered to him.
He fell back onto the bed, turning to look at the ceiling before turning to face you.
"You should be sleeping." He said quietly, "I didn't wake you, did I?"
You shook your head, "No, I was already awake."
He sighed and pulled you close to him, you adjusted yourself so you could rest your back against his chest, and he held you there, with a hand rubbing your belly gently.
"I dreamt about the Citadel." He began. "Only instead of me getting hurt, it was Fives."
You could feel his breath get shakier, and you intertwined your fingers with his.
"I couldn't protect him. I couldn't protect any of them. Fives, Cutup, Droidbait, Hevy... I'm the only one left."
You could tell from his voice that this wasn't entirely about his nightmare, and you turned back around to face him.
"Echo.." You gently reached your hand up to rest it on the side of his face.
He wouldn't meet your gaze, his eyes became fixed on your belly.
"What if I can't protect our child?" He asked quietly.
"You can't think like that, I know you'll do anything for them."
"But what if I can't?" He sighed, "You deserve someone you can rely on, someone strong to stand beside you. A good father for your children."
"And I have him." You reassured him. "Echo, everything you've described is you. I know you're afraid, and it's okay to be. In a couple months, we'll have someone else to look out for, but I know we'll be able to do this together. I didn't know them, but I know that Fives, Hevy, everyone would be so proud of you, for everything you've made it through, and everything that is coming our way."
He sighed in frustration, clearly not hearing your words. “I won’t even be able to hold them properly without hurting them. How am I supposed to take care of a child?”
“Because you’re not doing it alone. Echo, I’m still here. I’ll always be here, we’ll be in this together, just like we always have.”
You pressed your forehead against his. "I'm right here with you."
Echo nudged his forehead into yours gently, and pressed a kiss against your lips.
"Thank you, mesh'la. You always know what I need to hear. I'm.. sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry. Anytime you need to hear it, I'll be here. I won't leave you."
~ ~ ~
If there was one thing Echo didn’t need to worry about, it was whether or not he would be a good father.
He was nervous about it, of course. His nerves couldn’t be calmed until the moment he looked into the big brown eyes, his eyes, on this tiny person. His insecurities and worries all melted away from that moment onward.
He had a bit of practice with Omega, but fatherhood really came naturally to him. You remembered hearing a joke once that it was the Mandalorian genes, but to you, it was just how Echo was. He was always kind, gentle, and caring, and these traits became even stronger once your child was born.
He was a perfect father, perhaps a little overly cautious at times, but caring all the same. You remembered laughing at his idea to wrap a soft blanket around his scomp link so that it didn’t dig into your child’s skin, but he did it anyway.
And he was proud that his child had such a loving family, the other batchers became the best uncles overnight. Hunter and Wrecker immediately took to doting on and fawning over your child, Tech took to adding all kinds of child safety measures to the Marauder, and Omega was ecstatic to finally be an aunt.
You knew that there was still a part of Echo that he tried his best to keep hidden that longed to see the other members of the Domino squad be part of your little loving family, to watch your child grow up, to play games with them, to teach them to fly, to tell them stories about their dad that even you haven’t heard, to just be there, to be alive, but all you could do was reassure him that, wherever they are, they were looking out for him, and the new addition.
From there, everything seemed to fall into place. Everything made sense.
Echo had told you once, all that time ago that he had wanted a family of his own, a dream of his and yours that became reality with you by his side.
The two of you were working parts, you helped each other move and grow, and you would continue to do so for as long as you could.
