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Aug 9

Country Roads - Chapter 11: Whiplash (Pt 2)

🧡Country Roads Masterlist🧡

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🌪️ Chapter Summary: April sixth, twenty twenty-something: The day you and your Spaceman became friends. 🌪️ Pairings: Fem!Earthling!Reader x Din Djarin 🌪️ Word Count: 16.8k 🧡 Author's Note: Oh em geeeeeeeeeee. I'm SO excited for this chapter. I'm saving most of my thoughts for the end of the chapter, where you will also find chapter warnings as well if you need them. 🎵Chapter Soundtrack🎵 "Ruin the Friendship" - Taylor Swift AO3 Link to Ch 11

Chapter 11: Whiplash (Pt 2)

What was he doing? Here in this moment, what was he doing?

This entire day had been charged with too many emotions, and it was difficult to determine which one was currently making his heart beat rapidly. His warring emotions alternated between being trapped here versus taking it as an opportunity to take a break - as if he even knew how to take a break. Then there were his confusing, rapidly growing feelings for Dorothy. Then they found his helmet. Now, it was because he had just watched something diminish in Dorothy's eyes after you learned he had killed before. Din had prepared himself for that. He knew a healer, someone who was as kind as Dorothy, would never approve of his lifestyle.

However, what he hadn't prepared for was the feeling of your hands that were currently touching his bare skin. Time seemed to slow for a second time that day. Every neuron in his body was acutely aware of your soft hands resting on the sides of his torso. With every swipe your thumbs made, it seemed to make those neurons race, only making it increasingly difficult to regain control of his body with every stroke.

"So what are you gonna do?"

That was the question of the year, wasn't it?

A question he had difficulty finding the answer to, because the problem with having every neuron and atom hyper aware of your touch was that it slowed some of his cognitive functions. To him, it felt like you were moving in slow motion, and your voice sounded muffled, like you were speaking underwater.

"I don't know," Din managed to force out, throat feeling gritty as the words scraped their way out.

That was the honest truth. He didn't know. He didn't know what he was doing at this very moment, and he sure as hell didn't know what he would or even should do once this moment had passed.

Din knew what the Creed said. He also knew that he left your question of what he would do if he were on Tython somewhat unanswered. He knew that if he were where he was supposed to be, if he weren't here, he would have put his helmet back on. Despite that going against his Creed, he would have found some way to make penance for being seen without his sacred helm. Stars, he was going to have to do that anyway once he figured out a way to get them off this backwater skughole.

But here in this moment, he wasn't on Tython, or within possibly an entire galaxy of Tython, the Outer Rim, or the Children of the Watch.

He was here. He was here on Earth, with your hands touching places that had never been touched by another before.

"Well," you began, clearing your throat, "if you wear it all the time here, it might bring up some complications."

His mouth went dry as his attention was drawn to your lips, memorizing how they moved. His mind urged him to reply, but it was almost painful to force himself to get out, "Like?"

"Well, for starters, that's just not a thing here," you began with a shrug. "If you want to go out in public dressed in your normal attire, you would draw a lot of attention. People would talk even if you were out and about wearing your armor and cape sans helmet, but with the helmet, you're gonna draw a lot of unwanted attention to you and Grogu." Just from his one public outing with you at the Maker-forsaken place you called Walmart, he'd figured that much, but hearing you confirm his suspicions only made his stomach twist further. "But it's your decision. I'll respect it either way. If you decide to wear it, I'll do my best to keep you hidden on the farm. Not sure what Cassie and Rosie would think, and I can only imagine the lecture from Rick I'd get the first time he caught you in your get-up on a tractor."

How had they gotten so lucky to have ended up on your homestead? Of all the primitive planets he could have ended up on, he ended up here. Your people had barely touched the stars, and hadn't made first contact with any others that may be in your Milky Way. Yet here you were, willing to listen to his stories, respect his religion, treat him and Grogu with kindness and compassion that was unexpected, especially once he realized how primitive you and your planet really were.

And if Din Djarin was going to be stuck here for some undetermined amount of time, in a place where he needed to be Din Djarin the human and not the Mandalorian to protect Grogu as well as himself, shouldn't he get to experience all of those things that humans take for granted?

"Also, if you decide to wear your helmet and all of your armor again, I think you're gonna regret it when summer comes."

Something about the way you said that and your laugh broke through his murky, spiraling thoughts, because despite his shower, he could still remember the warm, humid air this afternoon, and that was wearing (for him) practically nothing. "It's not summer already?" he asked, but his heart leaped into his throat at the beautiful sound of your laugh.

"Oh, Spaceman," you tutted quietly.

If he would have to make penance for his time here no matter what, then why shouldn't he let himself experience something he would have never experienced otherwise?

It was like there was something in his very blood that called him to you. He'd never experienced a draw like that to anyone before.

Well, if you counted following the urge to go against the guild to take the kid back from the Imps, then maybe almost anyone. But that was his head telling him that was the right thing to do.

You were different.

This was his heart leading him to you. It was as if his blood sang and thrummed in his veins the longer he was in your orbit. With your thumbs rubbing along his skin, and your eyes looking up at him like that, how could he not want his first kiss to be you? Someone kind, compassionate, funny, and beautiful, someone who had listened to how he had killed, and could still look up at him like that.

And then there was your prediction of storms for this evening that had come true. What if there was some kind of natural phenomenon that occurred with your storms, that created wormholes or portals to his galaxy? If that were the case, what if there was an opportunity to return tonight? You'd already told him that you wanted him to take it and not worry about paying off his debt. However, the question wasn't if he would go back, because he was - whether that be tonight, tomorrow, next week, or, Maker forbid, longer - he was going to follow through on his promise to get the kid to his Jedi.

No, the question plaguing him now was whether or not he would regret not taking this chance - this break - and not taking full advantage of it.

Could he do something so out of character? Well, out of character for him. For someone like Din, who had dedicated his life to The Way, to the Children of the Watch, to the guild... It was difficult to remember the last time he did something for himself. Stars, when was the last time he did something because he wanted to, and not because he needed to?

"Dorothy?" he somehow managed to get out. There was something in your face that seemed to register what he was going to ask before he asked. His kriffing traitorous heart kept pounding, driving him onward like a battle drum leading soldiers to battle. "You said something last night… What if…" he tried, but couldn't go through with it.

How was he supposed to broach that subject? What would you even think? Suddenly, every want that he had rationed in his head left, and he had to hang his head to hide his face from your view.

"What?" you prompted. Din shook his head, more disappointed in himself for not following through with his haphazardly thought-out plan. Evidently, he wasn't quick enough to hide the heat that flared on his cheeks, because he could feel your knees squeeze his thighs, weakly attempting to prevent him from pulling away. As if he would even if he wanted to. "Nuh uh. You can't get all adorable and embarrassed on me now."

Adorable? Is that how you saw him? Adorable, like some kind of child or infant Tooka Cat? Din snapped his head to fix you with a glare. That was a distinctly un-Mandalorian descriptor. Powerful, intimidating, and a whole other list of words came to his mind before he would allow himself to be called something weak like adorable. When your smile only widened at his glare, Din gripped your hips to pin you to the table as he growled out, "I'm not adorable."

"Right," came your immediate snarky response. "You're not adorable. You're a big, terrifying bounty hunter," you agreed with a nod, but there was no part of you that appeared to believe any of that based on the sarcasm dripping from your voice. "Which means you're not embarrassed by anything, so you might as well tell me what you were gonna say. I promise I won't make fun of you."

Din studied you closely. Would you keep to that promise once you learned he had never kissed someone before?

"But would you pinky promise?"

The easy, teasing smile dropped, and you sat up straighter at his question. "Depends on what the pinky promise is for," you said, giving him a skeptical once-over when you realized he was being serious.

He was frozen. Everything inside him seemed to drive him to you, trusting him to follow his instincts, while some tiny rational part of his brain screamed at him to stop. His mouth went dry as he tried to pick which road to take. Take the chance that he wasn't misinterpreting this moment, or walk away, even though he was in too deep now to do so without making things awkward between you.

Your hands slipped from under his shirt, and he had to close his eyes as he felt your fingertips ghost his lower abdomen as you pulled away.

It was the next moment when you prompted him with a soft, "Din?" that was the final match strike that set fire to the cowardly path, burning it down and leaving only one option forward.

You.

"Kriff it."

The storm could be heard amping up outside, and your eyes widened in time with the lightning and subsequent thunder as he brought his hands up to hold your head between his bare hands.

In that moment, he wasn't sure you were breathing; hell, he wasn't even sure he was breathing. His eyes were locked on yours, looking for the slightest indication he had crossed a line. He dropped his eyes briefly to your lips before returning to your eyes. Your cheeks were flushed, and your eyes had darkened ever so slightly, but there was only the same nervous, wanting look he saw that reflected what he felt.

Thunder rumbled outside, crescendoing as he slowly inched closer to you. He watched with eager, terrifying anticipation as your eyes fluttered closed and your lips parted just before his nose brushed against yours…

The moment shattered when a loud crack rang through the house. It took Din's mind, sluggish from processing a million different thoughts, one second too long, to realize it wasn't lightning striking too close to your home, but rather the screen door closing. Your eyes shot open at the violent sound. He held back a groan, because if the door snapped closed with that much force, that meant that either the womp rat made a break for it, or someone had taken advantage of your naïve tendency to leave your kriffing door unlocked.

"Dorothy, I swear to the Maker, I'm gonna teach you to lock your doors," Din rasped, and felt relief flood him when you cracked a smile, but made no move to immediately pull away from him.

"Honey, I'm home!" came the unfamiliar voice of another woman, bringing temporary relief that he wasn't going to have to chase the kid outside in the middle of the storm.

Your face blanched between his hands at the greeting, and the shattered moment became unrecoverable when your hands went to his chest to push him away from you.

"Shit. Cassie," you muttered under your breath right as a woman with blonde hair appeared from around the corner.

The blonde took one look at you and him and needed no further explanation of what she had interrupted.

The blonde's gaze slid from you to him, raking her light green eyes up and down his body. "Well, hellllooooooo talk, dark, and handsome," she greeted him with what could only be described as a purr, making his face flush at being caught in such an intimate moment.

"Cassie! What are you doing back a week early?! I've been trying to get a hold of you all day!"

"Yeah, babe, it's called a surprise, but it seems I don't need to explain what a surprise is to you."

You all but jumped off the table, and Din couldn't help but note that you were avoiding him, further deepening his embarrassment of the whole situation. Were you intentionally avoiding him because you were embarrassed to have gotten caught about to kiss him, or were you intentionally avoiding him because you were embarrassed of him?

"Cassie, listen, it's not what it looks like," you tried, but there was no fooling anyone in the room.

"Sure, sure," came your roommate's quick, patronizing response. Din tried to school his features, regretting that he didn't have his helmet to hide them from view of the world as your friend's attention shifted to him and he tried to drown out the groan that escaped you. "Please tell me this is the sexy weirdo you texted about the other night."

"Cassie!" you hissed.

"You definitely got the sexy part right," Cassie purred again.

Now he wished that every scrap of armorweave and beskar (with the exception of his helmet) that was currently in his room upstairs would magically appear on his body, hiding him from your friend's gaze.

Finally, you turned your attention to him, and Din wondered which one of you was more embarrassed. Your face was a shade of red he had not seen on you yet, and his… well, Din was not sure his face ever felt so hot before. Your eyes looked to him with remorse as you mouthed, "I'm so sorry."

Your friend continued, not missing a beat, to prolong this endless, mortifying moment. "Here I was all worried you were driving yourself crazy with Rosie and I gone, but it seems you found someone to help with the loneliness," she taunted, wagging her eyebrows at you. "Hopefully he's filling another hole or two that I can't fill for you, too," she finished with an evil smirk and a wink.

"Jesus," you groaned, covering your face with your hands. "Cassie, really, it's not what it looks like. If you would just give me a second with Din, I can explain."

It took Din a second longer than he would have liked to admit for him to recognize all of the implications of your friend's words. Maker, please give him a moment without your best friend's scrutiny so he could find the closest sarlacc pit and walk into it to avoid any more of this painfully awkward interaction.

Judging by the wide, devious grin on your friend Cassie's face, Din knew that the Maker was not listening to him.

"Oh, I know exactly…" Cassie started, but then her words faded when her eyes dropped to the wound on your calf.

If Din thought his introduction to your friend was uncomfortable before, it was nothing compared to the tense moment that followed.

Cassie's eyes took in the room, missing nothing. They saw his helmet and cleaning supplies, the broken bowl you'd dropped that now lay in pieces on the floor, before returning to your calf.

"Okay, maybe I don't know exactly what's going on," she began quietly.

Din was not a small man. Clocking in at just over six feet tall without his armor, along with broad shoulders and a body that had been built and carved for a life of bounty hunting and putting his life on the line, he knew that he intimidated most. In fact, that was intentional. However, now, as your best friend, who was easily an entire foot shorter than him, squared her shoulders and marched into the room to come to your defense, Din Djarin suddenly felt very small.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Cassie demanded, glaring daggers at him.

Cassie never got the answer to her question as a shrill, piercing scream from the living room interrupted the moment.

Din looked between you and Cassie, trying to figure out what had caused such a shrill noise, and then his heart dropped from his chest when he realized Grogu was in the next room over.

The three of you all sprinted out of the kitchen and across the hall in the direction of the scream, only to immediately come to a halt at the sight of a small girl clutching something in her arms. You and Cassie collided into each other as you crossed the threshold, and Din had to grip your waist to keep you from toppling over when he couldn't stop in time and knocked into your back.

The three adults in the room stared at the scene unfolding in the living room.

Din took in the small child standing in the middle of the room. Her skin was a shade lighter than his, with even lighter brown hair done in pigtails with pink ribbons, wearing a pink shirt with some sort of pink-and-purple ball decorated with glitter. He watched the girl's hair dance in the air as she twisted, with an enormous, excited grin on her face, and Din decided that this must be Cassie's daughter, Rosie.

You let out a muffled, amused snort, right as his eyes landed on what the girl had clutched tightly against her chest.

Grogu.

The kid's eyes seemed to almost bulge out of his head by the ferocity of Rosie's grip as the girl squeezed the womp rat's tiny body against her chest with all the strength her tiny arms could muster.

Grogu's eyes looked pleadingly to him, but Din was content to let his charge get a taste of his own medicine.

"Tití!" the girl squealed, resting her cheek on top of Grogu's head. "I love her!"

Now it was Din's turn to try to restrain his own snort while you had to cover your mouth to muffle your laughter. Unfortunately, between her daughter speaking and your movement, it was enough to break whatever spell had fallen over Cassie that stunned her into silence.

Cassie directed her bewildered face to you for answers. "What the hell is that thing?!" she demanded. Only, when her eyes dropped, Din realized too late that he was still holding your waist. "Get your paws off of her!" Cassie snapped, slapping at his wrists until he released you. "What the fuck is going on here?" Cassie demanded again, and pulled you away from Din. "Rosie, drop it!"

"No!" Rosie whined, clutching Grogu even tighter against her, forcing a grunt from the tiny green toddler. "Tití, does she already have a name? If not, can I name her?" the girl asked, pausing to release Grogu just enough to put her hands under his armpits so she could hold him directly across from her face. "Imma name her Berta," the girl breathed out. "I promise to love her forever and ever!" she squealed before clutching the kid against her chest again.

"Rosie," Cassie snapped. "I'm serious. Drop the sewer goblin now," she ordered, and Din watched as another wave of confusion washed over the mother's face before she looked to you again. "Is that thing wearing Rosie's baby clothes?" she demanded, apparently realizing that he was still in the blue shirt with the cartoon dog that was currently on the TV behind them, and then did a double take. "Wait, are you actually wearing my clothes? What the actual hell? Am I in an episode of The Twilight Zone?!"

"Cassie, take a deep breath -"

"A deep breath?" Cassie interrupted with a scoff. I come home after a week, and you are hooking up with some dude on the kitchen table, while simultaneously hosting auditions for the reboot of Gremlins in our living room!" Cassie argued before quickly returning her attention to her daughter. "Rosie, I'm not gonna say it again. I don't know what that thing is, but put it down. Now."

"Maybe a Gremlin with alopecia. I thought he looked more like a radioactive Furby," you commented, smiling at Grogu.

"Dorothy," Din sighed, because now was not the time for your quips, but his baritone voice put an end to the brief banter.

When Cassie's furious eyes snapped to you, you held up your hands and took a deep breath. "Cassie, I need you to listen to me," you began, keeping your voice calm, as if you were approaching a feral animal.

Rain began pelting loudly against the house while the thunder seemed to endlessly rumble in the background as Din watched you interact with your best friend and her daughter, knowing that if you couldn't win the blonde over, he and Grogu would be lucky if they could even sleep in the barn tonight.

"Dorothy?" she gasped, apparently affronted by Din's name for you. But what else was he supposed to call you? He couldn't read your karking English, so he couldn't read your name on the plastic currency you showed him. Also, you had told him to call you Dorothy. It wasn't exactly his fault that he'd been too exhausted in the moment to tell you were being sarcastic with him. "I'm gone for a week, and Dorothy is the best fake name you could come up with? I'm so disappointed in you."

"Cassie," you rolled your eyes, then pinched the bridge of your nose to gather yourself. After a fortifying breath, you turned to the squealing child. "Rosie, sweetie," you began calmly, ignoring your friend for the moment to focus on your niece. "His name is Grogu, and if you want to continue loving him forever and ever, you're gonna need to dial the love back just a little bit."

Rosie pouted, but accepted your suggestion with a reluctant shrug before placing Grogu back on the floor. Grogu looked between Rosie and Din with his mouth open, looking unsure of the small hurricane that had just descended on him. After a second, he let out a quick spitting noise before he toddled to Din, who immediately scooped him up.

"Tití?" the girl began with a childlike, sweet, innocent voice as she looked up at him holding Grogu in the living room. "Why is there a man who isn't Uncle Rick here?"

"Yes, Tití," Cassie growled out, putting her hands on her hips. "I would also love to hear the answer to that question."

"I thought you and Mommy said that this was a boy-free zone?" Rosie asked, tilting her head to mimic Din's own head tilt when he learned that particular house rule. "You said Uncle Rick was exempled from that rule 'cause he's family."

"Exempt," Cassie corrected, but her eyes were still locked on yours, searching for answers. "But yes, baby, you're right. This is supposed to be a boy-free zone, but I'm sure Tití has a perfectly logical explanation for us."

All eyes were on you as you stood slack-jawed and speechless in the living room. You briefly looked to Din, who had decided it was in his best interest to keep his mouth shut while he studied the three women in the room with him. After another second of silence, Grogu's gaze moved to study Rosie, who smiled and eagerly waved at the green toddler once Grogu's bug eyes were on her. Cassie, however, was drilling into you with a gaze so intense that he wouldn't be surprised if you disintegrated on the spot.

"Okay," you breathed out, nodding while you wrung your hands together. Din watched as you were undoubtedly trying to formulate an answer that wouldn't end in your disintegration. "Okay, right, remember how there was a tornado a few nights ago?"

Cassie nodded as the kitchen timer rang out, making you jump. However, when you moved to take care of it, Cassie held up a finger, stopping you. "I've got it. You're not going anywhere until you explain yourself."

Your panicked eyes went to him for help. "What should I tell her?" you whispered, likely scrambling to figure out some logical explanation for him and Grogu in the precious few moments you'd been given to regroup.

"Don't ask me," Din hissed quietly, risking a glance back at the kitchen to ensure your friend couldn't hear them. "She's your friend."

"I don't like it when Mommy yells at me either, Tití," Rosie sympathized with you as she rested her head against your hip and wrapped an arm around your thigh.

Din watched the sweet moment and couldn't help but relax slightly to see you melt for the small girl.

"Thanks, sweetie," you murmured, wrapping an arm around her.

"If you want her to stop, tell her she has a booger hanging from her nose, and that will get her to go to the bathroom for a little bit," Rosie suggested with a sly smile.

"Rosie!" you scoffed, unable to smother your snort or your smile.

Din smirked at the conniving little girl. She seemed to have her mother, and you figured out.

Unfortunately, the brief reprieve of levity dissipated when Cassie marched back into the living room and fixed you with a serious look, one that wanted answers, and wanted them now.

"Alright, you were about to explain how the tornado that tore through here the other night ended with," she paused to sneer in his direction, "that."

"Right," you sighed, gripping Rosie tightly against your side for support. "Okay, here's the deal: I'm going to explain everything to you, and you're not allowed to talk until I'm done." Cassie's brows rose at your demands, but you carried on before she could interject. "You've been my best friend since kindergarten," you reminded her. "You know all my tells, you know I would never lie to you, or Rosie, and most importantly, I would never invite someone to stay in our home who would hurt either of you."

"What do you mean, invite someone to stay?" Cassie prompted.

"Grogu's staying here?!" Rosie gasped, jumping up and down at your side, appearing as if she was vibrating in excitement.

Your and Cassie's responses came at the same time.

"No."

"Yes."

Din braced himself for the boot when Cassie's jaw ticked at your answer.

"Cassie, listen to me. I know what I am about to say is going to sound insane, but I swear to you this is the honest-to-goodness truth." There was a tense moment between you and your best friend as the two of you stared each other down, but eventually, Cassie blew out an annoyed huff of air before motioning for you to continue.

"I got home early from work Wednesday night and went to take care of everyone before the storms came through. It took longer than I would have wanted because I couldn't make the equipment fit in the barn," you began, but Cassie's hand rolled, prompting you to skip the unnecessary nervous rambling expose and jump straight to the answers she wanted. "Right, the sirens went off right as the sky turned pitch dark. There was the most crazy lightning that I've ever seen in my life, and that's when I saw it - the tornado. It started hailing, and I probably should have just sprinted back to the house, but I thought the truck would be faster. Cass, the tornado was so close that I could see it in the neighbor's field, and every time it lightninged, it looked closer and closer. So, I'm in the truck, trying to get it into gear when this wild green-blue lightning lit up the sky! I swear I've never seen anything like it before! It was so bright, I had to pop the truck into neutral because I couldn't see anything -"

Din's attention shifted from analyzing your friend to you at your description of the events right before he landed on your truck. You, who could predict storms because of your "bad leg". You, who had allegedly been here all your life and was accustomed to the weather and climate, had never seen lightning like that? Din filed that piece of information away for when he was hopefully able to extract some additional data from his helmet.

"Babe," Cassie interrupted you, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It storms here. Tornadoes are not a new thing for us," she grumbled, dropping her hand to cast her wary eyes to him. "However, strange men in their pajamas and hairless sewer goblins in our house are."

You risked a glance at Din, but he shrugged. He had a very sinking suspicion that anything that came from him would be unwelcome at the moment. When you looked at Rosie, the ornery girl gave you a conniving smirk before she motioned to pick her nose. You gave your niece a warm smile as you pulled her hand away from her face before returning your attention to her mother.

"See, I thought that it was lightning, because it was storming, and that makes sense," you began cautiously.

"Riiiiggghhhhttttt," Cassie drew out, nodding for you to continue.

"But I don't think it was lightning after all. I think it was some kind of… wormhole."

Din took in a deep breath and held Grogu closer to him as he awaited your friend's reaction.

Cassie blinked at your answer, her face a blank mask as she asked, "Excuse me?"

With a deep, fortifying breath of your own, you nodded to show her you were being completely serious. "I mean, I'm not a space expert, so I'm not sure if wormhole is the appropriate terminology," you continued, still wringing your hands together. "But whatever it was, I think it dropped them," you paused to nod at him and Grogu, "on my pickup."

Cassie's head slowly swiveled to redirect her focus from you to your guests, standing awkwardly beside you, watching everything play out with wary eyes. "I thought you said it was a random chunk of storm debris that ruined the truck?"

"A random chunk of storm debris dressed in a cape and a full suit of armor, but yes," you agreed, giving Din an apologetic smile.

Cassie's eyes flicked between you and Din as she processed what you were trying to tell her. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that a tornado dropped some dude on your truck - not even just dropped some dude on your truck, dropped him so hard he totaled your truck," she reminded you. "And he is up and walking around like nothing's wrong -"

You interrupted Cassie with a finger, indicating to her to wait while you extracted yourself from Rosie's embrace to go to Din's side. When you reached him, you gave Cassie a pointed look before you lifted the left side of his shirt to his chest, exposing the deep blue and purple marbled bruising that still painted his torso. Your display seemed to do the trick, though, because Din watched as Cassie's jaw dropped.

"Shit," Cass muttered, still gaping at Din's chest, even after you let his shirt drop to cover him from view.

"If he wasn't wearing his full armor, I probably would have had a dead man on my hands," you said, giving him a quick, relieved glance that wasn't the case.

"It's okay, Mommy," Rosie piped in, breaking the shocked silence that settled over the living room. When everyone turned to look at the girl in pigtails, she scratched her nose as she looked up at him and Grogu. "He just got hurt, and she was just helpin' him. Tití is the best nurse in the entire world," she proclaimed, making a warm, sincere smile spread across your face. "She always takes the best care of me when I get sick or hurt. Did Tití take good care of you too, Mister?"

Din nodded, giving Rosie an amused smile as he replied with, "The best."

He didn't need to lie or alter his answer to get leniency from your friend, because it was the honest truth.

"See, Mommy? Tití was just doing her job."

"That's about the only part of her story I'm not having a hard time believing," Cassie muttered, as her piercing hazel eyes locked on yours. "The part I'm struggling to grasp is where the whole wormhole thing came from."

"Right, so this is the part where I'm gonna need you to believe me," you said, and Cassie's look softened ever so slightly when she caught your pleading face directed at her. Taking another deep breath, you closed your eyes and rambled out your answer so quickly Din almost couldn't make out what you were saying.

"Because they aren't from here," you started, taking another deep breath. "I think that they were brought-here-from-another-planet."

The only sound in the living room was the sound of the thunderstorm raging outside, and after another minute of silence, Din risked moving his gaze from you to Cassie to gauge your best friend.

Cassie gaped at you with a dumbfounded look before saying, "I'm sorry, for a minute there, it sounded like the godmother to my child just told me that she genuinely thinks a wormhole opened up during a tornado, and dropped a couple of aliens from another planet on her truck."

"That is pretty much the gist of it," you agreed with a nervous cringe while Din fought the urge to let out a groan at your tact (or lack thereof).

"Is this some kinda joke?" your friend asked, looking between you and Din with Grogu still in his arms, her face blank, giving nothing away. "Like you're secretly filming this little prank with your phone?" Cassie asked, flicking her hazel eyes rapidly around the room.

"Nope. No pranks here."

Cassie's head tilted as her eyes fixed on him, while Rosie's mouth dropped.

"You honestly expect me to believe that aliens landed on our farm?" Cassie's skeptical voice asked until her eyes landed on the small table in the room. Her head tilted at the scorch mark that streaked across it. "What happened to the coffee table?"

Din attempted to subtly shake his head, trying to silently tell you not to answer that question.

Either you didn't see him, or you decided to go ahead with the whole truth because, without hesitation, you answered your friend. "He shot it with his phaser."

"Blaster," he corrected with a sigh, resigned to let whatever happen, happen.

"Whatever," you waved him off. "Actually, when you called to check on me after the tornado, your phone call woke up Mister Shoot First And Ask Questions Later over here up, and he shot my phone. The coffee table was an innocent bystander. That's why I needed a new phone."

Your friend's brows rose almost so high into her forehead they disappeared while she stared at you in shock.

Rosie's awed gasp filled the room, and her pigtails dropped back as she tilted her head up to gawk at Din, who towered over her with Grogu still cradled protectively in his arm. "Is that true?" she whispered. "Are you guys really aliens?"

Looking between the small girl's light brown eyes and her mother's hazel ones, he wished that he'd taken off in search of that sarlacc pit when he had the chance.

When Din looked to you for guidance, and you shrugged, as if to say, "What's there left to lose?" Din looked down at the awestruck girl standing before him. "Every word your… Tití," he paused, quirking an eyebrow at you, "said is true," Din acknowledged.

"It's Spanish for Auntie," you explained with a quick shrug.

He smirked at your explanation and returned his attention to Cassie's daughter.

Rosie's mouth fell open, and when Grogu gave her a nervous wave, she returned it. "This is the best day in my entire life," she whispered, making you and Din smile.

"Rosie, baby," Cassie started, giving Din and Grogu a wary look as she walked to her daughter. "Why don't you go to my room and get your bath ready?" she suggested, lovingly stroking the back of her head. "I need to talk to Tití and her guests for just a sec."

"Okay, but the aliens will still be here when I'm done, right?" she asked, turning her hopeful pout to you.

"Yeah, Sweets," you assured her, but Din didn't miss her mother's brow raise at your answer. "At least for tonight."

"Yay!" Rosie cheered, clapping excitedly. "I need to show Grogu my toys!" she announced as she began to walk toward the hall to head to her mother's room.

At the mention of the possibility of toys, Grogu's ears perked, and he looked to Din as if asking for his permission.

"Let's give it a second, kiddo," he suggested quietly, giving the kid's back a comforting pat, not wanting to get his hopes up.

Cassie's hazel eyes eyed him up and down again, but this was not the suggestive, appraising look from earlier. No, this was the kind of look he recognized in himself as he sized up an opponent.

"How about you and I go talk on the porch?" Cassie suggested, nodding for you to join her in the hall.

"Cass," you sighed, turning pleading eyes to your friend. "Wait! I - I can prove it to you!" you exclaimed before turning around to head toward the stairs.

Din's eyes widened at the thought of being left alone with Cassie for even a second, but you ignored his silent pleas to limp upstairs. Once you had disappeared from view, he returned his attention to your roommate.

"You can stay right where you are, and keep all of your tentacles to yourself," Cassie warned with a pointed look.

Din rolled his eyes as he heaved out a sigh. "I don't have tentacles."

Cassie held her hands up and shrugged, but he could tell she didn't quite believe him.

"Rosie," she sighed, directing her attention to her daughter who was apparently still lurking in the hall. "I thought I told you to take a bath?"

"But I wanna see proof that they're aliens!" she whined, forcing an eye roll from her mother.

Thankfully, he was saved from any more awkward interactions by the rapturous sounds of your footsteps coming quickly down the wooden stairs. Din let out a relieved breath when you trotted back into the living room with your hands full.

"Phone," you began without further explanation, passing off the comm device to your friend.

Cassie's head tilted as she examined the shattered comm, one hazel eye visible through the hole made by his blaster bolt.

"And this is his currency," you continued, holding your cupped hands with the three different currencies he'd shown you his first night here. "Currency, Cass. He couldn't believe that my credit card was real. He can't even read -"

Oh, not this again.

"I can read!" he hissed, not about to lose points to your friend because she thought he was an idiot.

"Right, he can read; he just can't read English."

Cassie finally pulled her attention from the hole in your comm to ask, "Then what language does he read?"

"Ar-aruba, no, wait, that's not right. Aure -"

"Aurebesh," Din supplied flatly, hoping to speed this disaster along.

"Right, Aurebesh," you confirmed with a nod.

Cassie's eyebrow twitched as her gaze fell to the credits in your hand. "That's a poker chip. I think," she said with a frown, pointing to the Calamari Flan.

"That's what I said!" you agreed with an excited nod.

"Cool," Rosie whispered. The girl had snuck back into the room to get a closer look at your hands. "Can I touch it?" she asked, pointing to the credits.

"Sure," you said, lowering your hands for the girl to get a better view. Cassie opened her mouth to likely voice her concerns, but you stopped her. "It's fine. I promise."

Rosie picked the Calamari Flan and held it between her thumb and index finger to examine it up close. "Ew," she giggled and scrunched her nose. "It's sticky."

"Okay, that's enough show and tell for tonight," Cassie cut in, taking the credits from you and Rosie before depositing them on top of the table along with your destroyed comm. "Rosie, go wash your hands, and then get your bath going."

"Ugh," the small girl sighed dramatically as she spun away.

Cassie looked at him, then Grogu, before returning her attention to you. "Babe," she whispered, her fake smile not fooling either of you. "I'm not saying I don't believe you. You've been through a lot in your life, and while I thought your mental breakdown would have been years ago -"

"Best friend card!" you declared, or rather shouted, loudly, thrusting an index finger at your self-proclaimed best friend.

"Seriously?!" Cassie seethed, thrusting a finger at him and Grogu. "That warrants you pulling a best friend card? You've known him - them - it - for like a day."

"Best. Friend. Card." You and Cassie stared one another down, while Din tried to figure out how he'd gone from Tython to this. Figuring out whatever the hell a best friend card was would have to wait.

The room went silent as you and Cassie stared each other down. Grogu seemed to shrink in his arms at the tension in the room, but before any of the adults could say anything, Rosie's voice came from the hallway.

"Does anybody else hear that?" came her alarmed question, and when Din turned to see what was wrong, he caught the girl staring down the screen door.

The whole house seemed to hold a collective breath as they all tried to listen for what the girl had heard.

In the brief pause between the rolling thunder, Din's brows furrowed when he picked up the slow windup of a siren in the distance.

Cassie darted to snatch the device off the table you'd used to control the display for your movie - was that only last night?

"Tornado sirens," you explained at his confused look.

After Cassie pressed a couple of buttons, the animated dog was replaced by a human man on the screen, wearing a crisp, stiff-looking outfit, with his sleeves rolled up as he pointed at the map behind him. Din studied it, recognizing that the massive amount of red on the radar was not a great thing, but aside from that, he couldn't read the words scrolling at the bottom of it, or any of the town names. Hell, he didn't think he could pronounce half of the names the man was reading off with intense urgency. However, he did understand the words he said at the end.

"We have a confirmed sighting of a tornado on the ground by our storm trackers. If you are in the path of any of those towns, you need to take shelter now."

"I told you the pop-up storms could pack a wallop," you grumbled under your breath.

"Rosie, looks like you're gonna have to wait on that bath. Put your shoes back on," Cassie ordered, already moving to join her daughter in the hallway.

"C'mon," you sighed. "That goes for you too."

Din looked back at the display with the radar and the numerous red polygons flashing as Dorothy pushed him toward the hall.

Rosie had already slipped into her shoes and was waiting for the adults to get their shoes on while she looked out the screen door.

Everyone froze, preparing for the worst, when the girl let out a shocked gasp.

"Alfredo!" the girl screeched before sprinting out the screen door.

"Jesus fucking - Rosie!" Cassie screamed after her daughter while trying to tie the laces on her first shoe.

"Alfredo?" Din asked, bewildered by what could make a seven-year-old run into a storm like that.

"Her chicken," you growled out. "Rosie!" you shouted, making Din and Grogu cringe, as you frantically tried to put your shoes on.

A chicken? He really needed to get off this planet before he too was sucked into the insanity that seemed to be a common theme for the people living in this house.

Din ground his teeth as he thrust Grogu into your arms, slipped into his boots that were still caked in mud, and barged out the door after the girl toward the chicken coop without even bothering to tie his laces.

Lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the gravel road, and the small girl in the bright pink shirt who was running through a downpour, with sirens blaring in the distance for a kriffing chicken.

"Rosie!" Din barked as he ran after her, squinting through the rain, feeling each individual drop cut at his skin like tiny glass daggers.

"Not without Alfredo!" Rosie screamed without looking back.

Din growled and picked up his speed, reaching the pen right as Rosie slipped into the coop.

"C'mon, kid!" he grumbled at the gate to the pen, hoping to expedite her efforts to find her precious chicken. Din risked a look back and found you and Cassie alternating between staring after him and shouting dramatically at one another. "Rosie!" he commanded with a booming voice that normally did the trick when Grogu was misbehaving.

Rosie appeared from inside the coop a second later, pigtails drenched from the rain with one very bedraggled-looking white chicken in her arms. "Alfredo is my best friend," the girl explained as her small legs jumped the two steps down and sauntered to the pen's gate where he was impatiently waiting. "I had to get him."

Din sighed and closed the gate behind the girl. The white chicken squirmed in her arms, the massive amount of white plumage on top of its head now flattened from the rain, and Din realized it was the same chicken Grogu had taken a liking to earlier.

"Alright, you've got your chicken, let's go," he ordered, bending over to pick up the girl and her chicken, but Rosie frowned and stepped out of his reach.

"Mommy told me to never go anywhere with strangers!" she yelled over the booming thunder.

"Rosie, your mother is right there," he reminded her with a point to where you and her mother were both screaming and motioning for them to hurry. "And I'm not a stranger. I'm friends with you, Tití, remember?" he tried, hoping to gain some favor.

Rosie shrugged and held the chicken closer to her chest. "You're still a stranger to me," she pointed out.

"Maker -"

"What are you making?" the girl asked, tilting her head curiously at him.

Din fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Okay, so your mother told you not to go with strangers," he said, and the girl nodded. "What did she tell you to do if a stranger ever tried to grab you?"

"To scream as loud as possible until someone came to help," she answered with an innocent blink. "Why - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Rosie's high-pitched scream echoed louder than the thunder and lightning as he nabbed her along with her karking chicken and sprinted for the shelter.

One of Din's eyes twinged at how long and loud the tiny girl could scream, but he didn't let that, or the chicken pecking at his chest, stop him.

Lightning struck the field to his right, and the answering, roaring thunder that followed immediately after was loud enough to make even him jump. The sound was enough to finally get Rosie to stop screaming in his ear, and instead, the small child wound the arm that wasn't clutching her precious chicken around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder.

"I've got you, kid," he told her, bringing one hand to protect the back of her head as he made the final sprint to where you were waiting for him at the storm shelter.

When he was close enough, you and Cassie jumped to open the shelter doors.

"Rosie!" Cassie exclaimed in relief and accepted her daughter and the chicken when Din passed the girl to her mother.

One glance at you, and he was about to panic when he couldn't see Grogu, but you grabbed his hand to pull him to the shelter. "He's already inside!" you yelled over the rolling thunder, and Din's shoulders sagged when the small light on your friend's comm device illuminated the small, scared-looking womp rat looking up at him from the floor of your shelter.

With a breath of relief, Din offered a hand to help you down the ladder before jumping in after you.

"Where is the lamp?" Cassie grumbled as you both worked with the small lights on your comm devices to try to see, working in tandem to close and bar the shelter doors.

"It's still inside from the last storm when the house was without power," you answered her, flicking your small light around the dark, underground shelter. "Are all people, Furbies, and chickens accounted for? Anyone hurt?" you asked, letting your light linger on Rosie, Cassie, Grogu, Alfredo, and lastly him.

"Wet and out of breath, but I'm fine, Dorothy," he answered with a nod.

He caught Cassie's brow twitch at his name for you, but thankfully, her fury was temporarily redirected at her daughter.

"Rose Cassandra Rivera-Clark, what the hell do you think you were doing going after a chicken -"

"His name is Alfredo!" Rosie corrected, getting just as angry as her mother was.

"When there is a tornado heading for us!"

You nudged his ribs with your elbow, and Din could see a faint smirk on your face in the dim lighting of the shelter. "I know what you're thinking," you whispered. "And, yes, she did partly name her daughter after herself," you snickered.

Din smirked when Cassie directed her light at you and fixed you with a stern look.

"Oh, don't think tall, dark, and handsome going after my kid in the middle of a storm has suddenly made me forget that you think that fucking aliens were dropped on your truck by a tornado," she snarked before returning her attention to the girl glaring daggers back at her. "Rosie," she tried again, taking a breath to calm herself. "You could have gotten hurt -"

"But Mommy, Alfredo is my best friend in the entire world!" Rosie pleaded, showing her mother the drenched chicken in her hands before placing him on the ground. "He's my best friend, and you and Tití always say we never leave our best friends behind."

Cassie blew out a long, frustrated breath, casting a glance at you, but you just shrugged. "Well, you got me there, baby, but really? Alfredo is who you're gonna risk your life for?"

Rosie shrugged. "Look at him," she said, pointing to the white, soaking-wet chicken that looked half its normal size.

Naturally, the kid picked that minute to glom back onto the poor creature, making it squawk.

"See! Grogu loves him too!" Rosie giggled.

"Kid," Din sighed, giving Grogu a pointed look when the kid looked up at him. The last thing he needed was for Grogu to inadvertently do something to Rosie's precious chicken. "Go easy on the chicken," he prodded, glaring when the kid spat at him. "Remember how you felt when you were in his place not that long ago?"

"Bah," the kid grumbled before releasing the chicken.

"Oh my god, it can talk," Cassie gasped, staring at Grogu sitting on the ground in front of her.

"Tití?" Rosie asked, with another curious tilt of her head. "What's that?"

Both you and Cassie moved your lights to the back corner of the shelter, but Din closed his eyes because he already knew what the girl had found. When the Maker still refused to provide a sarlacc pit to put an end to his misery, he opened his eyes to find Cassie's light directed at him.

"Let me guess," she began flatly. "He has a robot sidekick who got damaged from landing on your truck too?"

"I don't work with droids," Din snarked back.

"Ooooo. Touchy," Cassie shot back with an evil smirk, clearly pleased that she'd managed to zero in on one of his triggers.

Thankfully, you placed a comforting hand on his forearm and stepped between them before his temper snapped.

"Cassie, stop," you ordered, squaring your shoulders as you stared down your best friend. Again. "You wanna know how I got hurt?" you asked, shifting your light to the graze on your calf. "It was from that. It fucking shot me." Cassie's face paled at your admission. "That thing was chasing after Din and Grogu right before they got dumped here. It must have been close enough that it got sucked into the wormhole, or whatever brought them here. I found it trapped under some trees from the tornado out in the field. Din saved my life."

Cassie seemed to relax slightly at hearing that, and her hardened demeanor softened ever so slightly when she looked at him.

"Tití," Rosie's quiet voice broke through the silence, and the girl came to stand before you with wide, scared eyes. "Did you really get shot?" she asked, chin wavering slightly.

"Oh, Sweets," you cooed, dropping to kneel on the ground so you could be closer to the girl's height. "I'm fine. It's just a graze. Remember how you tripped and fell during soccer practice and scraped your knee up? It kinda feels like that." The girl seemed to mull over your analogy, but didn't seem quite to believe you. "Thankfully, I was up high because I was riding Jack, or it might have been worse, but Jack and I just got a tiny little graze."

"Jack!" Rosie gasped. "Is Jack okay?!"

Cassie snorted at the girl's question, making Din quirk an eyebrow at the other woman's reaction. "Baby, Jack is a terror. I'm sure he's fine. He's too mean to die." Din scoffed at your friend's comment, and the blonde gave him his first real smile. "So, you've been acquainted with Sir Jackass, I take it?"

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, making your friend laugh.

You and Rosie shared an eye roll, but you put your hands on the girl's shoulders. "Jack is fine. I am fine. Everyone is fine."

Silence settled over the underground shelter, occasionally punctuated by Alfredo clucking and pecking at the dirt ground in search of food. The chicken moved around, unfazed by the fact that his life was in mortal peril only a few minutes ago. When you moved to stand up, Cassie went to help you, but Din beat her to it. You gave him a thankful smile as you brushed the dirt off your knees.

Din returned your smile with a brief one of his own before turning his attention to your friend, just in time to see her daughter swat at her hip. Mother and daughter had some sort of silent argument with one another. He looked to you for an explanation, but you simply shrugged.

"Fine," Cassie finally relented, making Rosie turn and give you and him a beaming smile. "Cassie," she grumbled, reluctantly offering him her hand over her daughter's head.

"Din," he offered quietly, accepting her hand with a quick shake of his own.

"Since I'm apparently outnumbered here," Cassie continued, fixing you and then Rosie with an annoyed look before returning her attention to him. "And seeing as how you did run out in the middle of a storm to go after my kid, you can't be that bad," she acquiesced with a shrug. "Then I suppose that you and -"

"Grogu," Rosie supplied for her mother, her attention already focused on the womp rat who was clocking the chicken before realizing he was the one being watched.

"Then I suppose that you, Grogu, and all of your tentacles can stay upstairs for the night," Cassie offered.

Din rolled his eyes at your friend's sarcastic offering, but before he could say or think anything, you were poking his shoulder.

"You have tentacles?"

April sixth, twenty twenty-something

"I can't wait to finally leave this place," you murmured.

The sunlight filtered through tiny holes and cracks in the barn's roof, illuminating the dust particles floating in the air. The silence of the barn, with the background soundtrack of clucking chickens and singing birds, was a blissful reprieve from the stifling silence of your home.

Cassie shuffled from somewhere, and you smiled as she crept down, lying flat on her back, feet in the opposite direction from yours, her head resting beside yours. The two of you had climbed up to one of the supply shelves in the barn to escape the heavy emotions in your home. The small shelf wasn't particularly comfortable, but it had been yours and Cassie's secret hiding spot since you were kids.

"One more year," Cassie said with a nod. "We're gonna be seniors next year, and then we're out of here."

"I'm never coming back." At Cassie's disbelieving look, you defended yourself. "I'm not! The second we get into college, I'm getting a job in the city so I can afford to stay there in the summer. Besides, we'll be so busy with training and soccer camps that it will be hard to come home anyway. We're gonna be playing with college-level athletes. There's no place to train here that will keep us on that level."

"Whatever you say, babe," Cassie snorted and moved her head to stare up at the barn roof.

"What is that supposed to mean?" you snarled, propping yourself up on your elbows to glare at your best friend.

Cassie's hazel eyes slid to yours before she said, "Just big talk coming from the girl who got homesick when we went to a week-long soccer camp last summer."

"I wasn't homesick!" you defended, feeling yourself getting riled up by your friend's comment. "That was the longest Cody, and I had been away from each other. It wasn't because I missed them," you growled, thrusting a finger in the direction of the two-story farmhouse the two of you had escaped from for some fresh air. "College will be different. I'll have you and Cody. That's all I need. Once I'm out of this house, my parents won't even miss me."

"Yeah, they will," Cassie countered, shaking her head.

"My dad couldn't even show up for my own birthday dinner, Cassie," you reminded her, hating that you could feel tears brimming in your eyes at the memories of the disappointing embarrassment of last night. When Cassie opened her mouth to argue, you cut her off. "Oh, right, he did show up at the very last minute. He was so drunk he couldn't even walk straight. Of course, he couldn't wait until after Cody and his parents left to make his grand entrance! He had to get there right as we were eating cake and make a total ass of himself! It's a miracle that Cody and his parents don't hate me."

"Please," Cassie scoffed, waving away your comment with a lax hand. "You and Cody have been together since you were twelve - I mean this from the bottom of my heart, but it's honestly disgusting," she teased, and you gave a weak shove to her shoulder before collapsing against the wooden planks again. "His parents adore you. They aren't gonna hold your dad against you. I, however, will never forgive Pops for taking my slice of your birthday cake."

You giggled as your best friend crossed her arms over her chest. "It was a really good cake, if that helps."

"Well, I'm glad the birthday girl got to enjoy some of it. It took Cody and me all day to make that cake."

"Wait, that's where you were all day yesterday? At Cody's?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize I needed your permission to go somewhere, Mother."

You rolled your eyes at her snarky response. "You've literally been here for two weeks. I don't remember the last time we spent more than a couple of minutes apart - And that's only because I started locking the door when I went to the bathroom." The two of you shared a quiet laugh at that. "So, yeah, I was kinda surprised when I got back to the house from doing chores, and my brother told me you left."

"Has it really been two weeks already?" Cassie asked with a frown. "See, talk about your parents not even missing you. I told my mother I was spending the night at your house two weeks ago, and she hasn't even bothered to see if I'm still alive."

"I'm sorry," you murmured, nudging your forehead against hers. "I'm not complaining."

"It's okay. I'd rather be here anyway," she whispered. "One more year, right?"

"One more year," you confirmed with a nod.

"Just," your friend began, and then abruptly stopped, almost as if she was hesitating to say whatever was on her mind. Something very unlike her. "Just promise me one thing," Cassie finally began, rolling to look at you with serious eyes. "If you and Cody decide to get engaged, promise me you'll wait until after we graduate from college to get married."

"Cassie," you huffed out a weak laugh. "I just turned sixteen. No one is talking about getting engaged or married."

Cassie gave you a dubious look and shrugged her shoulders. "You two started dating in middle school and are still together. Don't tell me you haven't even thought about it."

"Well, of course I've thought about it," you admitted with a blush. "But thinking isn't being serious about it. We're still in high school. There's too much I want to do before we settle down like old people."

"Exactly!" Cassie nodded eagerly and moved to sit cross-legged beside you, so you mirrored her position and squeezed her hands when she reached across for yours. "I mean, I'm not saying you can't get engaged or married. In fact, I insist on it, but there's no need to rush into it! We're getting ready to go to college. We have plans. The second you two get married, you guys are gonna get a place for just the two of you, and then there's gonna be kids, and -"

"Whoa," you stopped your best friend and shook your head at her downward spiral. "While I appreciate your blessing, you are getting a little ahead of yourself."

"I'm not. You two are soulmates, and my two best friends in the entire world -"

"But me more than Cody, right?"

"Duh," she answered with an eye roll, making you smile as the two of you held hands. "It's been you and me since kindergarten, babe. No man, not even Cody, will ever force us apart. Now, I've become fond of Cody, and I'd go so far as to admit that I've tolerated him -"

"Tolerated?" you barked out in a laugh. "You were friends with him first! And then when I told you I had a crush on him, you were the one who set us up! I'm still mad at you for forcing us to dance together at the end of year middle school dance!"

"I didn't force -"

"You quite literally shoved me in his direction, making me trip -"

"But then he caught you before you fell to the ground! Tell me your twelve-year-old heart didn't think that was the most romantic thing ever?"

With a pointed look, you reminded her, "It was until you told Cody, and this is a direct quote, mind you, that if he didn't dance with me for at least one song, you would make it your personal mission to check and tackle him at every soccer practice until his butt spent more time on the grass than his feet would."

"And how many times did he dance with you?"

"Three," came your quiet, bashful reply.

"See, he was only on the hook for one of those. The other two dances were all him. Though I'm not sure I could call the two of you awkwardly shifting in one place on the gym floor dancing, but that's not the point," Cassie countered, giving you a little wink. "The point is, the three of us have plans, and as much as I want to see you both happy, I want to make sure we get to experience life outside of this place. Because even though we're best friends, the second you and Cody get married, everything is going to change -"

"Cassie -"

"Best friend card!"

You blinked as you processed her words before asking, "Huh?"

"Best friend card," she repeated, gripping your hands tightly in hers. "Think of it like a yellow or red card. If one of us pulls a best friend card, the other has to respect their wishes."

"And your best friend card is…"

"That if - no, when you guys get engaged, you have to wait till we're done with college to get married. That way, we can still follow through on our plans of living together, being friends, and experiencing life -"

"Cassie," you stopped her, tugging on her hands to pull her in for a hug. "You're always going to be my best friend in the entire world. No matter what happens with Cody and me, there will always be a space for you."

"Even after you get married and have kids?" she asked, and you squeezed her tighter when you heard her muffle a sniffle.

"Even after we get married and have kids," you confirmed. "I promise that I will always have a room, or a couch, or an inflatable mattress for you."

"Thank you, but you know I would just make Cody sleep on the couch, or wedge myself between you two in bed."

Of that, you had no doubt. And as exciting as your future looked, you couldn't help but wonder what spooked Cass. "What's got you so worked up about this? Did Cody say something?"

"No," Cassie answered, as she pulled away from your embrace. "His mom mentioned something about how she couldn't wait for grandkids while we were baking yesterday, and I laughed at her, but Cody had this look… I gave him shit for it, don't worry."

"Good," you laughed, despite the blush creeping up your cheeks again.

"He really loves you, ya know?" Cassie said with a smile.

"I know," you acknowledged with a dreamy smile.

"It's disgusting."

"I know," you agreed, and the two of you chuckled quietly.

The sound of a truck honking made you both frown, and suddenly your bad mood returned when you caught your dad's new truck in the gravel drive, hauling a trailer.

"What's that about?" Cassie asked, eying your dad's truck through the slats in the barn walls.

"No idea."

"Wanna go walk past him and give him the cold shoulder?" Cass suggested, wagging her eyebrows to entice you.

At your snort, you followed Cassie down the ladder, but stopped her before she could exit the barn.

"Hey, just so you know, when I do think of the future, it's not just Cody I think about - I think about you too." Cass gave you a bright smile at your admission. "Cass, you're my family. I'm not gonna give you the boot just because Cody and I get married and have kids. Besides, I always pictured us buying houses next to each other." Cassie giggled at that. "We can see each other every day. We'll be there to help each other out. I always assumed we would be raising our kids together -"

"Bleh," Cassie gagged, making you raise your brows at her disgusted look. "I mean, you and Cody have as many crotch goblins as you want, and I will love each and every one of them like my own, but I will never have kids. They are disgusting. My cousin told me that she pooped while giving birth to her kid. In a room full of strangers, her husband, and her mom."

"Ew," you grimaced.

"Right?"

A piercing whistle pulled your and Cassie's attention to your dad waving from beside his new blue truck, with the trailer hitched up, parked between the house and the barn. The two of you shared a look before shrugging your shoulders in sync and began trudging down the gravel driveway side by side.

"What were you girls doin' in the barn?" your dad asked with a friendly smile on his face as you approached.

You shared a look with Cassie before you both silently turned your scowls back to your father.

Your dad let out a dejected sigh and nodded. "Cass, you mind givin' us a sec?" he asked, nodding toward the house.

"Actually, I do mind," Cassie shot back, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. "Kinda like how we all minded when you showed up and made a complete ass of yourself last night." Before your dad's embarrassed sigh finished, she added, "I also minded when you stole my slice of cake."

It took everything in you to keep your face schooled in a blank, neutral expression when you really wanted to high-five your best friend.

"Alright," came your dad's quiet acceptance as he held his hands out in surrender. "I suppose I owe both you girls an apology for my behavior last night."

"You owe our entire family, and Cody's, an apology for your behavior last night," you snapped back, convinced steam was coming from your ears with how angry you were with him.

Your dad nodded and turned his tear-brimmed eyes to you. "I slept on Rick and Rita's couch last night after your mother kicked me out of the house. When I left this morning, I stopped at the Jones'."

"You did?" you asked, sharing a surprised look with your best friend.

"'Course I did, baby girl. Coulda done without the colorful language, but Cass was right. I was an ass last night. Brought them some bagels and the missus some flowers. The three of us had a little chat, and I told them the same thing I'm fixin' to tell you."

Cassie let her arms unfurl from her chest. Your hands instinctively reached for one another to prepare yourselves for whatever your father was about to say.

"Rick and I had a long talk this morning, and, uh," your dad's head fell, and he shook his head before summoning a deep breath to look you directly in the eyes again. "I'm gettin' help, baby girl," he husked out, an errant tear slipping from not just his eye, but from yours as well. "Rick's gonna take me to one of those rehab places in the city."

"Really?" you rasped, clutching Cassie's hand in a death grip.

"Really," he nodded, sounding more confident this time.

With a deep breath, you gave Cassie's hand a firm squeeze, and at your signal, she let your hand go. As you released the air from your lungs in a nervous rush, you flung yourself at your father, gripping his neck tightly as your arms clung to him. "I'm so proud of you, Daddy," you murmured, letting the tears fall when his arms wrapped around you in a comforting embrace.

"Thank you, baby girl," he whispered, placing a kiss on your head before letting the hug fall. "Figured it was about time I pulled myself together," he said, turning to give a nervous shrug to Cassie. "Especially seeing as how I've picked up a third kid these last coupla weeks."

You and Cassie shared watery smiles before your best friend gave your father an accepting nod. "It's about time, Pops," Cassie teased, and more tears filled your eyes when you watched your best friend and father share an awkward embrace. "You still owe me a slice of cake," Cass reprimanded as she returned to your side.

The three of you shared a moment of chuckles while you wiped the tears from your eyes when all three of your attention were drawn to the trailer behind you when a loud stomp sounded from its depths.

"Do you have something in there?" you asked, trying to catch a peek through the slats.

Your dad gave you a giant smile and nodded, excitedly rubbing his hands together. "Now, I know this is gonna seem like I'm sucking up after last night, but the truth is, I've had this one in the works for a few weeks," came his cryptic answer before he motioned for you to follow him to the trailer's back gate. "The Clydesdale breeder I got Bonnie and Clyde from called me up a couple of weeks ago, offering me a deal on a whoopsie."

"A whoopsie?" you repeated, voice flat as you attempted to figure out what your dad was talking about.

"One of his mares ended up getting knocked up by the wrong stud," he explained as he worked on opening the trailer. "The stud's owner was supposed to take him, but it's been three years, and he hasn't heard a word from the other guy."

You and Cassie shared similar skeptical looks as your dad opened the trailer up.

"His mamma was my buddy's best Clydesdale mare, and his daddy was a Percheron. I think he's gonna be even bigger than Clyde is," he said, sharing an excited grin with you as he walked inside the trailer. "My buddy named him Blackjack, but you can name 'em whatever you want."

Your jaw dropped at the massive three-year-old black colt as he followed your father's lead out of the trailer.

"You're telling us he's gonna get bigger?" Cass asked, looking just as dumbfounded as you.

"Oh yeah," your dad nodded, smiling at the shiny black behemoth walking beside him as he slipped his fingers under the red halter to scratch his cheek. "These draft horses can grow until they're seven or eight."

You had no words.

The horse's eyes locked onto yours, and you were stunned silent.

When your dad stopped petting him, the Percheron cross bobbed his head excitedly before crashing his enormous head into the dead center of your chest. "Hey," you whispered, wrapping your arms around his head to return the hug.

"May not be a fancy red Mustang car like Cody's parents got him for his sixteenth birthday last summer -"

"He's perfect," you interrupted, sharing another smile with your dad before resting your head on top of Jack's head as he nuzzled his muzzle into your chest. "Thanks, Daddy."

Your hands gripped Jack's head, only for you to blink awake from your dream to find that you had a pillow gripped between your hands instead of Jack's.

Your face scrunched as your brain debated whether or not to go back to sleep when you realized your mattress didn't feel like yours. When you forced your eyes open, you were immediately greeted by a pair of hazel eyes staring you down.

"Geez," you groaned, wiping the sleep from your eyes.

As they came back into focus, you found that you were in Cassie's bed, and both of you were on your sides, facing each other under the covers. The quiet sounds of someone snoring made you search for the sound, and you found your niece sprawled out on top of the sleeping bag on the floor, perfectly content to "camp out" for the night in her mother's bedroom.

"There's a man in our house," Cassie whispered.

"I know," came your sleepy reply as you returned your attention to your friend. "I can't believe you made me sleep with you."

Cassie lifted a single, elegant eyebrow at your comment. "Put yourself in my shoes," she countered. "With the exception of the random text about a sexy weirdo staying the night with you, you gave me absolutely zero heads up that you had company. Which, for starters, was a red flag for you. You have never brought someone back here -"

"How do you know?" you defended, but at Cassie's challenging look, you deflated. "Wait, is the whole reason you came home early because you thought it was weird that I brought a guy home?"

"No," Cassie answered, quickly shaking her head. "I came home early because my mother and I got into a big ole fight, and I waited till she went to sleep and packed up the Jeep and left in the middle of the night."

"What did you and your mom fight about this time?"

"Bup bup," Cassie stopped you, wagging her finger at you. "You don't get to change the subject right now, ma'am. Aliens trump senile mothers." You rolled your eyes and moved to sit cross-legged on the bed, and Cassie moved to mirror you. "Okay, I'm going to ask you this once, and only once: Do you really believe the whole alien story?"

You let your face fall into your palms to smother a groan. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?" you asked, braving a peek at Cass through your fingers.

"Yes," Cassie answered, making you hide your face and groan into your hands again. "But," she continued, grabbing onto your wrists to pull your hands from your face. "That is mostly because you have put up with me since kindergarten. I don't think you're crazy because you helped a stranger who was hurt and his weird goblin pet. But you're my best friend. We're the closest thing either of us has to a real family. You're the godmother to my child. There is literally a piece of paper that is signed and notarized that gives you custody of my kid along with taking possession of everything I own in case something tragic happens to me. So, you'll excuse me for being protective of you."

"So protective that I had to sleep on a completely different floor of my own house?"

"Well, I needed to make sure your alien and his tentacles weren't somehow doing some kinda mind-control voodoo on you," she countered, making you glare at her. "I can't believe you used a best friend card on me. For a guy."

"It wasn't just the guy," you defended, ignoring Cassie's skeptical look at your statement. "It wasn't," you tried again. "It was for a guy and his adorable alien kid."

Cassie shook her head. "I can't believe you've been harboring aliens in our home, and you kept it a secret from me."

You nibbled nervously at your bottom lip before gathering the courage to ask, "So you believe it? That they're aliens?"

"Well," Cassie cringed, "Din not so much, but Grogu?"

"Right?" you whispered, sharing an excited smile with your best friend. "Cass, you should hear Din's stories! They are unbelievable. And you should have seen him at Walmart. It took me a couple of days to come around to the idea, and getting shot by a robot probably sped up that decision, but there's no way he can be making it up."

When your smiles faded, Cassie tipped over to check to ensure Rosie was still sleeping soundly before turning her attention back to you. "So," she began with a whisper, leaning in closely. "Tell me everything."

Your brows furrowed at her question. "What do you mean? I basically told you everything when we got back inside over cold chicken."

"Babe," Cass groaned and shook your shoulders. "I know what I walked in on last night," she prodded.

It was your turn to groan now. "Cass -"

"Oh, no, you're not getting out of this. You were looking at that guy with fuck me eyes -"

"Jesus," you groaned again, covering yourself with the blanket.

"C'mon," Cassie tried again, ripping the blanket from your body. "I need all of the details! The sex must have been, and I already hate myself for saying this - out of this world."

"God," you groaned, rolling your eyes at the terrible pun. "Cassie, it wasn't like that," you tried to explain, but could already see this was a losing battle.

"Sure, sure," she responded with mock understanding. "You were just about to go to pound town on our kitchen table - Which, by the way, I'm torn between being disgusted and never being more proud of you."

"Oh, brother."

"And I know you," Cassie continued, ignoring your embarrassment as she carried on with her delusional ideas. "You are not the kinda girl who would bang someone for the first time on an item of furniture that wasn't a bed. So - Tell. Me. Everything."

You sighed at Cassie's too joyous face and rolled your eyes. "For the last time, it's not like that. Din is - and well, I -" you stumbled over yourself before finally finding the right words. "We've spent a lot of time together over the last few days. I don't know. We just kinda… clicked."

"Is clicked code for he has a big dick?"

"Cass," you hissed, leaning over the bottom of the mattress, relieved to find Rosie still snoring and drooling, blissfully unaware of the lewd conversation happening in the room.

Cassie smiled and clapped her fingers quietly together. "It's bigger?"

"Oh my god, Cass, stop. There is no secret code. We never… ya know."

Cassie blinked, her face morphing into one of disbelief as she reached to grab the pillow you had slept on last night. "Are you telling me that you've had that gorgeous man in our house all to yourself for days and you haven't jumped his bones?"

You shook your head at your friend's question. "That's exactly what I'm telling you." At Cassie's speechless look, you rolled your eyes. "Believe it or not, it is okay to be friends with a guy without wanting to jump their bones."

Cassie stared at you with a blank look on her face for approximately two blinks before she took the pillow in her hands and smothered your face with it, pushing you back against the mattress.

Your muffled voice struggled against the pillow. "Cassie!"

"Admit it!"

"Admit what?!" you tried again, swatting at your friend with your hands while she continued to smother you with the pillow.

There was a brief reprieve from your attempted murder at the hands of your best friend when she lifted the pillow from your face, allowing you to take a full breath.

"Admit that if I hadn't walked in when I did, you would have been punching a one-way ticket to pound town," Cassie said, threatening you with the pillow again.

"Don't," you said lowly, pointing a finger at your best friend.

"Then admit it," she challenged.

The two of you had another showdown before you caved with a sigh. "Okay," you began, holding your hands up, already regretting whatever you were about to say after catching Cassie's shit-eating grin. "I admit that if you hadn't walked in when you did…"

"Yesss…."

"I would have… let-him-kiss-me," you finally got out, face flaring in embarrassment.

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Cassie squealed. "I knew something was going on between you!" she cheered, struggling to keep her voice quiet so as not to wake Rosie.

"Alright, calm down," you grumbled. "I said I'd kiss the guy, not go to pound town with him."

"Yeah, but that's more than you've ever admitted wanting to do with someone since -" Cassie cut herself off abruptly, catching the hurt look on your face.

The room suddenly became quiet. Too quiet. The air shifted, taking your smile along with it, reminding you that May was right around the corner.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, reaching to hold your hands.

You accepted her silent offering of support and nodded. "It's okay," you whispered, keeping your eyes directed to your joined hands. "It's probably for the best that you got back when you did," you tried again, with a sad shrug before finally looking up at your friend. "It was an emotional day, and I think he was just getting caught up in the moment. I mean… look at him, Cass."

"Oh, I did."

"And look at me."

Cass gave you a chastising look. "Babe, I am looking at you, and your tits look great in my cami, by the way."

With a heavy sigh, you gave your friend a pointed look. "Even if something did happen between us… he isn't gonna be here forever," you whispered. "And I - I…"

I can't have my heart broken like that again.

"Sweetie," Cassie sighed, gripping your hands tightly. Before you could cry, she pulled you in for a fierce hug. "Can I tell you something without you crying or getting mad at me?"

"If I tell you no, will you drop it and we can pretend we never talked about it?" you asked, voice muffled by her shoulder at least instead of a pillow.

"Not a chance," she said, smiling as she put her hands on your shoulders and pushed you so she could look you in the eye. "If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it a thousand more until you believe it, ya hear me?" When she narrowed her eyes, you reluctantly nodded. "It's okay to move on," she whispered. "Whether that be with that gorgeous man - I mean, really, he literally fell out of the sky onto your truck -"

"Cass," you sighed.

"Right," she agreed with a shake of her head. "The universe basically dumping a man in your lap aside," she continued with a gentle squeeze of your shoulders. "You've been through so much in your life. Honestly, I'm impressed you're still standing."

"Wasn't that your second best friend card?" you reminded her with a tired look.

"Yup, and I've got one more that I'm hanging onto." She gave you a warm smile and moved her hands from your shoulders to hold your face between them. "The thing is, I know you're strong enough to do whatever you want and make whatever decisions you want."

Tears sprang to your eyes at your best friend's words, but she swiped them away with a silent swipe of her thumbs.

"But I'm here to tell you that it's okay. It's okay to kiss a stranger, or put yourself out there and have another relationship, or be a hermit the rest of your life," Cassie continued with a reassuring smile. "Whatever you do, you're the one in control of your future. I'm just here for emotional support."

"Cassie," you stopped her, shaking your head. "You're more than that. You're the sister I never had."

"Then as your sister… please don't be mad at me, but take the fucking chance," she pleaded.

You grabbed her hands from your face and shook your head. "It was just a heat of the moment thing."

Cassie quirked a brow at you but gave in with a shrug. "I'm not so sure it was that simple," she countered with a smile. But when you opened your mouth to argue, she said, "Babe, I popped whatever that moment was, and then we had about a thousand moments after that, and trust me, it wasn't my ass he was checking out when we climbed out of the storm shelter last night." That pulled a glare from you, but Cassie wasn't hearing it. "I know, and I have a great ass."

"You do," you agreed, sharing a smirk with your bestie.

"Thank you," she said, holding her chin high, but tossed you a teasing wink. "Listen, after we all came back inside and you told me about the armor and the helmet over before we went to bed, I got to thinking - After everything I saw last night, all I can say is that he must have really felt something for you if he was willing to take his helmet off for you."

You froze at Cassie's words. So much had transpired between then and now that you must have left out the part where Din losing his helmet was an accident, and in fact, you were the first person to see his face for practically as long as you'd been alive. Which meant… if he'd never removed his helmet before…

"But," Cassie continued, pulling you from that particular train of thought for the moment, "I guess the next question I have is what are we gonna do with a couple of aliens?"

"Right, we didn't get to this part last night," you began, giving Cassie a nervous smile. "I kinda offered him that room upstairs and cash under the table if he agreed to be our farmhand. For however long that may be."

"Farmhand?" Cassie asked, seemingly mulling over your offer. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

With a smile, you nodded your head and said, "No more early morning chores."

Cassie's eyes lit up at that.

"Does that mean Grogu is gonna stay here too?"

You and Cassie shared a look, and both leaned over the bed to find the seven-year-old wide awake and looking up at you with an excited grin.

"How long have you been awake?" Cassie asked her daughter with a knowing look.

"Since you told Tití that Mister Alien was checking out her ass," she revealed with a grin.

"Language," you and Cass scolded simultaneously before you fell back onto the bed with a groan.

"Rosie, remember what I said about my bedroom? And it being a safe space?" Cassie asked.

"Yes, and what is said in this room doesn't leave it," she parroted back.

"That's right," Cassie confirmed with a nod. "So that goes for you too. Got it?"

"Fine," Rosie heaved a sigh as she climbed onto the bed and sprawled her body across yours. "So if Mister Alien is gonna stay here, that means Grogu is staying here too, right?" she asked.

You huffed out a laugh and brushed the girl's unruly hair back with tender fingers. Her light brown eyes had tiny flecks of green in them that caught in the early morning light filtering through the curtains, making them appear to sparkle.

"Yeah, Sweets. Where Din goes, Grogu goes."

"Yay!" Rosie squealed, and you shared a smile with her mother.

"Well, you better go wake up the help," Cassie said with a wink. "I'll start the coffee."

Din stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom you had offered for him and Grogu.

Sleep had been somewhat elusive once again for him, but this time, it was his nightmares that woke him and not the unfamiliar sounds of your house. After a few hours of tossing and turning, he finally gave up and started staring at the ceiling, hoping the soft, rhythmic snores coming from the crib beside him would eventually lull him to sleep.

However, now that the sun had risen and the downstairs slowly came to life, he decided it was best to stay holed up here for as long as he could.

With a sigh, he rolled over and immediately found his helmet resting on the table beside his bed, pulling another sigh from him. When his helmet didn't give him any answers, Din gave up on his plans for sleep and sat up.

The second his feet hit the wood floor, he heard footsteps treading lightly up the stairs and down the hall. They came to a stop at his door, and after a second, someone knocked softly at his door.

"Come in," he murmured, scrubbing his face as you opened the door.

"Hey," you whispered, holding a mug of caf as you crept inside. "I thought this would be a peace offering of sorts after last night."

Din smirked and patted the bed beside him, accepting your peace offering with grateful hands.

"Cassie and I talked, and as long as we haven't completely scared you off and you're good with being our farmhand for the unforeseeable future, you've got yourself a deal," you said as you took a seat on the mattress beside him, stopping to smile at Grogu, who was sleeping soundly in his crib.

Din gave you a skeptical look that vanished the second he took his first sip of caf and let out an almost pornographic moan.

"Yeah, Cassie makes even better coffee than I do," you admitted with a smirk. "I'm sorry about how everything went last night," came your unnecessary apology. "Cassie is maybe a touch overprotective -"

"Dorothy," he stopped you. "It's fine."

"Well, regardless, she is currently cooking up an apology breakfast for you, and wants to try and start over."

"She's off to a good start," he murmured, holding up his mug before taking another sip.

"Um, since you're staying, I thought I'd go over some rules of the house," you began, turning to face him on the bed. "First, the water heater can only handle so much. It was fine when there were only two of us here, but now that Cassie and Rosie are back, just know that after two showers, it takes the water heater about an hour to heat back up. And let me just say that if you thought Cassie was angry last night, then you don't want to cross paths with her if she has to take a cold shower."

With a smirk, he nodded. "Noted."

"For Rosie, we are pretty strict about screen time. She can have an hour a day on the weekdays, and the weekends she can have two. And she is gonna try and pull a fast one on you, but that is split between all electronics - the TV, her mom's iPad, basically, if it has a screen, and she looks like a zombie, it counts as screen time," you explained with a pointed look, and he nodded while he took another sip of caf. "On school nights, bedtime is eight thirty. On non-school nights, she can stay up until ten, but we usually try to run her ragged; otherwise she'll never go to sleep."

Din's eyes slid to the kid still snoring soundly in his crib. He couldn't remember the last time he had a regular routine like that for either him or the kid. Maybe it would do them both good to find a routine while they were here.

"Oh, also, Sundays are family day," you announced with a nod.

"Family day?" he asked, suddenly feeling very out of place.

"Yeah, Cassie and mine's schedules are a little crazy, and Sunday is usually the one day a week we have the entire day together, so we try to make the best of it. The three of us do the outside chores together. Then we make a point to work on the house for a bit. We set a timer and clean something in the house for an hour. Then, to reward ourselves, we do something fun. And every Sunday ends at the kitchen table, sharing a nice dinner together."

"Right," Din nodded slowly. "And Sunday is?"

"Today."

He nodded again, trying to figure out what he was gonna do with the kid today when your shoulder bumped into his.

"Which means once you and Grogu come down those stairs, you're about to spend an entire day with us," you whispered, wagging your eyebrows at him.

Din frowned. "But… But I'm not - We're not -"

"Nonsense. Farmhands are family around here," you corrected, and Din ducked his head, unsure what to label the strange feeling in his gut. "Maybe we'll go to the space museum, or something else that interests you. I promise some things on Earth are worth seeing and experiencing. Hopefully, I'll get to show you some of it before you have to go back."

Din took a deep breath and nodded, finally turning to you. "Thank you. I'd like that."

Your hand reached out to rest on his shoulder, and Din found himself instinctively leaning into your touch. "I'm gonna do my best to help you find some answers, Din," you murmured, squeezing his shoulder. "I have no idea where to begin, or what I need to be asking, but with your help, I bet we can figure it out together."

"Thank you," he replied quietly.

The two of you continued to stare at each other until you both broke away with nervous, slightly embarrassed smiles.

"Um, can I ask you something? Something that might be a little embarrassing for the both of us?" When Din gave you a curious glance and nodded, you took a deep breath before asking, "Last night… if Cassie hadn't come home… Were you... Were you about to kiss me?"

Din's cheeks flushed, and he had to look into his coffee mug, unable to take your sharp eyes studying him any longer.

"Am I right to assume that if I'm the first person who has ever seen your face, then you probably have never kissed anyone before?"

Din stared into his mug, trying to draw strength from the warmth seeping through the ceramic between his hands. "I'm sorry," he eventually managed to get out.

"Oh, no, Din," you sighed, moving your hand to rest on his forearm. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. It's just…" You faded, and with a sigh, gripped his arm. "Hey," you whispered, "look at me."

Din hesitantly turned his head to give you his full attention, and you let his arm go to sit cross-legged on his bed, giving him your full attention.

"You could ask this question to a hundred different people and get a hundred different answers, and I know you didn't ask for it, but this is my opinion," you began with a soft blush. "For me, kissing someone should be something special. Especially your first kiss. It should feel like the whole world stops, and your heart is gonna explode right out of your chest. And yesterday, well, I kinda got the feeling that finding your helmet started a countdown of sorts for you." Din's brows furrowed at your assessment, but you just shrugged. "I think you saw an opportunity to cross something off your list, so to speak, before you have to go back to being the Tin Man again," you explained. "Your very first kiss… that should be with someone special. You shouldn't do it just to get it out of your system."

Din remained silent, because while you weren't wrong, you weren't entirely right either.

"And while I'm flattered that you would even consider kissing someone like me… I'm not that kinda girl, Din. I don't want to be an empty box you tick off on a list -"

"Dorothy," he tried, shaking his head to stop you, but you held up your hands to keep him from saying more.

"It's okay. I just wanted to clear the air if you're gonna be here. We can start fresh and just chalk yesterday up to an emotional day," you offered, and Din contemplated your offer. "And, if you're okay with it, I'd love the chance to be your friend," you offered, holding your hand out for him.

Din looked at your hand and then up at you, and for a moment, there was something more that flashed across your face, but was immediately covered by your smile. "Friends?" he asked, blowing out a nervous breath.

With a nod, you said, "Everyone needs one."

Din smirked at that and shifted his mug to his left hand so he could accept your offered hand with his right. "Friends," he agreed.

And there in that moment, sharing a real smile with you, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Okay, now that that's settled, I'm gonna change for the day. Finish your coffee and prepare you and Grogu for a day with three very fun girls," you said with a grin. "Rosie is already awake and practically vibrating to see Grogu again," you said, and the two of you shared a quiet chuckle.

You moved to sit up from the bed and paused to smile at Grogu before turning to look back at him. When you leaned closer to him, the smile on his face fell as he watched you close the distance in almost slow motion.

His breath caught in his throat as your lips landed on his cheek for a brief, chaste kiss, and just as soon as it started, it was over. In his next blink, you were somehow already heading toward the open door to his room.

You paused at the threshold. You turned back to give him a beautiful smile, and Din had to remind himself to take a normal breath.

"Welcome to the farm, Spaceman."

🌪️ A/N #2: Chapter/Story Warnings: This story will touch on alcoholism and addiction, along with some other heavy subjects that we'll get to in future chapters. Please consume content at your own risk. If you, or you know of someone who is struggling with addiction, please know there is help. In the US, there are resources available at (remove the spaces) www dot samhsa dot gov. Just know that you are not alone, and Clan ✨Stardust✨ is here.

Soooooooooo.... I hope the chapter title of "Whiplash" was an appropriate one 😅 But life be like that sometimes. Y'all, I'm just gonna prepare you now: Dorothy has gone through some shit in her life, but the important thing to remember is that she came out the other side. Also, my favorite comedies also have some tragedy to them. That's just life, folks. However, I left a few breadcrumbs at the end of chapter two in the form of some plural words that might point to a certain Spaceman eventually getting through to Dorothy 😉 Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed the last two chapters as much as I've enjoyed writing them 🧡 Also, if you have read one of my other stories, HIH, you may recall that I like to do things in "Acts". So, thank you for making it to the end of "Act 1". Hopefully, you'll want to stick around to read about shirtless Din on a tractor for "Act 2" 🌪️

🧡 Tag List: @racheldon @leeroyjagginz @djarins-cyare @higgsvoidout @abandonedreaper @brunlocc @foreignbrunette Please drop a comment or send me a message if you'd like to be added to the tag list 🧡

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Next chapter in series - Chapter 12 (coming soon)

#omg I need to get on track with this fic #reblogging so that I don't forget

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