“No!” She cried, watching him fall back, Han grabbing him before he could hit the ground. 

“I think now would be a good time to leave, Reina!” He shouted, dragging the wounded Cassian backward into the hangar. Reina traded her lightsaber for her more trusted blaster and fired wildly into the crowd of Nira’s henchmen, dodging their shots as she ran. 

“Han!” She screamed.” Get K-2 to override the doors!” Even from her distance, she could see the droid hacking into the controls. “Close them! She ordered. 

She was yanked backward by Nira, who landed a punch to her stomach. 

“The Besai’s have a pretty price on your head.” She spat. “It’s time you went back to being Zane’s bitch.” The doors were nearly sealed. Reina was running out of time.

“Never.” She growled, firing her blastor into Nira’s chest and watched her body slump over. She pushed the corpse off of her and slid under the closing door just in time for it to lock. 

“They’ve already started to disassemble your ship, so we’re going to have to take mine,” Han called out. Cassian groaned in pain as he was dragged towards the large metal ship. It wasn’t ideal, but it was all they had. 

“We need to get out of here before-” Cassian winced, unable to speak. Reina took his face in her hands, tears of guilt welling in her eyes. 

“I’m so sorry.” It was her fault. She had gotten cocky and Nira punished him instead. Cassian, seeing the distress in her face, mustered a smile. 

“I’ve had worse.” Reina helped him onto Han’s ship and the door began to close. Chewie yelped as Han flipped switches and slammed buttons in the cockpit. 

“I’m going, I’m going!” The stressed smuggler yelled back.

“Reina!” A new, yet horrifyingly familiar, voice cut through the chaos, silencing everything else to Reina’s mind. 

“No.” She whimpered, turning to the closing ship door. Zane stood at the door of the hangar bay, his eyes red with determined fury. 

“What is it?” Cassian asked pulling himself up just in time to see the man greedily reaching out as the door closed. Han took off, barely able to keep the ship from getting pulled in as well. “Reina?” Cassian’s voice seemed far away, drowned out by the jeers and cruel laughter. 

Her breathing became rapid and her body moved without her. She lifted Cassian, draping his good arm over her shoulder and taking him into the larger room of the ship. A voice that sounded like her own called for Chewie. When the Wookie joined her to help tend to Cassian’s wound, she felt the panic overtake her. She stumbled into the cockpit, choking on the air as she tried to breathe. 

“Hey, do me a favor and don’t throw up on the-” Han turned to look at her and his snarky tone turned to sincere. “Are you okay?” Reina looked back at him with the eyes of a frightened child. 

“He was there.” She finally gasped. Han turned the ship to autopilot and crossed the cockpit as she slunk to the floor. 

“Take it, easy kid.” He knelt and reached out to touch her shoulder, but thought better of it. He’d seen old fighters have attacks like this at some of the bars he frequented. When the memories were too much. “Try and take deep breaths. What happened back there?” Han had been too busy preparing the ship, he didn’t see the eldest Besai son viciously stalking his prey as she escaped. 

Reina calmed herself down enough to catch her breath. She hadn’t had a panic attack like that in years. When she allowed herself to feel happiness with Cassian, she didn’t realize that the other feelings would break out of their numb, suppressed state. 

“Zane.” She spat, the name venom on her tongue. Han nodded in understanding. While conventional comfort was far from his forte, there was one thing he was very familiar with. 

“Do you want a drink?” 

-

Ignoring the advice of his droid and whining Wookie, Cassian stood and walked about the ship until he found Reina sitting with Han in the cockpit. Compared to earlier, Reina’s behavior had changed completely. She was bright and… giggling?

“Cassian!” She exclaimed, tripping on her own feet as she stumbled towards him. He caught her before she could go too far, making a pained moan as her impact hit his shoulder. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for ages.” Her words were breathy and slurred. Cassian gave Han a furious glare. 

“What did you do to her?” He held her up with one arm, taking in the heavy scent of alcohol on her breath. 

“You know,” She gulped. “I haven’t had Ardees since I broke into Varan’s stores when I was fifteen.” Reina snickered, pushing away from Cassian and leaning against the wall. “He chained me to the courtyard wall for five days. Can you believe that? Five days!” She continued to laugh and Cassian’s expression grew darker. 

“She was upset, so I offered her a drink.” Han shrugged. “She’s been through a lot.” 

“And getting her drunk erases that?” Cassian shouted. 

“No, but it helps to forget,” Reina said somberly, her previous giddiness fading slightly. “At least for a little while.” She lifted the flask, offering it to him. 

“Come on, Andor.” Han chuckled. “We won’t reach the next port for at least a few hours. Sit down and have a drink.” Cassian looked at Reina’s drunken smile and sighed, taking the flask from her. 

Chewie joined them and the four sat in the cockpit as Han told them stories of his smuggling adventures. As much as Cassian hated to admit it, it was actually kind of pleasant. It was almost as if they were a group of old friends, reminiscing about easier days when they had no worries or cares, even if they had. The worries and cares then seemed trivial now. But sitting there, listening to the charismatic- if not somewhat obnoxious- smuggler talk, Cassian took Reina’s hand and felt the first moment of calm since they had left Emre’s home. And he didn’t want to let go.  

-

“It was Zane,” Reina said suddenly as they laid down on old sheets rather than sleep on the cold metal floor. It was her idea that they try to rest before reaching the next port so they could regain their strength. “He was the man on the ship.” Cassian’s face contorted with a strange mixture of rage and concern. 

“How did he find you?” Reina shrugged. 

“Nira must have contacted the Besais when she called the Empire to come for you.” The two sat, Cassian groaning when he accidentally hit his shoulder. The sling on his arm made moving increasingly difficult. Reina felt another wave of guilt. “I should have known I wasn’t enough.” 

“Reina-” Cassian sighed. 

“I’m broken, Cassian.” Her voice was sad, but mostly, it held acceptance. “The Force would ever want me.” He put a hand over her heart, keeping his eyes locked on hers. 

“There’s something in you.” His voice was insistent and sincere. “Something special.” He wrapped his good arm around her waist and they leaned in, their lips moments away from- 

“Perhaps next time ‘Something Special” will be useful in preventing injury.” K2 mocked scornfully. “Like Cassian losing the use of his left arm.” Cassian tried to stand, scrap metal on his mind, but Reina held him back. 

“Leave him.” She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. “You need to rest.” As the two laid together, Cassian took a deep breath. 

“It’s been nearly four months since I found you.” His breath was warm on the back of her neck. 

“Four months of being free.” She added. Four months of Zane and Varan searching. A few more seconds in the hangar and she would be on Zane’s ship on the way back to Tatooine, alive or as a corpse. Perhaps her time of happiness, her time with Cassian, was running out.