#corrie guards

“Hello, cyare.” Fox attempts a smile.

“Fox… What are you doing here?” You ask him, trying not to glance at Nell who’s standing on the other side of the door toward your hall closet, with her blaster trained on you.

Gripping your elbows tightly when you cross them, you try to keep your shaking hidden so Fox doesn’t notice and try to come in. Your heart clenches at the sight of him, though. It feels as if the universe is playing some sick game on you.

“I needed to see you… to explain.” He looks like he wants to reach out toward you.

“This… this isn’t a good time, Fox. I’m sorry.” You start to push the button to close the door but he reaches out toward you and you push his hand away as Nell starts to step toward you. “Go away.”

“What? After you come into my office today, you suddenly don’t want to speak to me?” He looks desperate to understand.

You shrug your shoulders. “I heard a woman’s voice and panicked… but I realize now how dumb I was and I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

“You won’t even let me explain?” He searches your eyes.

“There’s nothing to explain. I understand you’ve moved on. I- I have too.” You lie.

“You have?” He murmurs.

You nod your head, just praying to the maker that he doesn’t see through your lie. He looks away for a second and you take that time to glance at Nell. She motions for you to get rid of him.

“I’ve got to go.” You slam the close button before he can say anything else, and the door slides shut.

Staring at the door a moment before acknowledging Nell, you attempt to gather your thoughts and then turn toward her.

“What’s the plan here, Nell? You gonna shoot me?” You ask her.

She raises the blaster toward your face. “This obviously wasn’t planned at all. I don’t want to shoot you.”

Think… Think… Fox used to tell you that if you ever found yourself in trouble, you should try to buy yourself more time. You look at Nell’s cup of tea on the counter.

“Listen… There's no reason that this needs to end badly, Nell. I understand why you did what you did. I do.” You start to subtly search with your eyes for your comm.

Where did you put it?

“We needed the Senate’s attention. You figured out how to get it. Do I agree with you? No. I’m sorry. I wish I did. If we use violence like that, we’re no better than the Republic using the clones as weapons.”

There it is. You see it across the room on the end table by the couch. Trying to keep Nell calm, you hand her the cup of tea and she reluctantly takes it as you lead her to the couch to sit.

You keep talking as you walk behind her, around the couch, stepping in front of the comm so that she doesn’t see it, and silently comm Fox, muting it so you can’t hear him, but he can hear you.

“Listen… Nell… You’re one of the best friends that I have… that bomb that you set off at the protest that day got everyone’s attention.” Fox listens to your voice, confused. “It got the Senate’s attention, it got the Jedi’s attention… It even got Palpatine’s attention. You should be proud of yourself.”

Nell… Your partner with the Clones Rights group… That explains why you were acting strange.

“Kriff… Kriff kriff kriff…” Fox rushes, hanging up to comm his brothers and General Skywalker.

He just hopes they’re not too late.

Nell listens to you as you continue to lie and feed her ego, just trying to keep her calm, buying yourself time until you can come up with a better plan or Fox shows up with backup. She seems to be calming down. She’s still holding the blaster as she sips the tea out of that silly fox mug that you got for Fox. You’re sort of glad that you didn’t throw it out or give it to Fox when he came for his stuff all those months ago. It’ll be a nice last reminder of him in case Nell does decide to shoot you.

Fox is standing outside of your apartment building when Thorn, Thire, Hound, and Stone show up with Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.

“What’s the situation, Commander?” Anakin asks, looking up at the building.

Fox explains what he heard through the comm, about Nell and the bomb. He tries to keep the panic out of his voice so that the general doesn’t have anything to use against him if he suspects Fox’s involvement with you.

“And just how does this girl have your comm channel, Commander?” Anakin asks Fox with a quirked eyebrow, clearly amused.

“Uh. Well, you see, sir… She kept getting arrested and I was tired of… doing paperwork so I told her if she needed help…” Fox starts rambling, clearly terrible at trying to lie.

He doesn’t even have to look at his brothers to know they’re definitely going to give him shit at some point after this is all over. They all look pretty serious currently, staring up at the building and then waiting for General Skywalker’s command. He forgot how much they cared for you. Thorn is your best friend. He should thank Thorn later for taking care of you while he was being stupid the last six months…

All this time… wasted… time he could have spent protecting you from this sort of thing happening. He owes you the biggest apology of a lifetime. He just hopes he gets the chance to apologize.

“Ahsoka and I will rush the bomber. Commander Fox- you and your men just make sure that your riduur gets out safe.” Skywalker winks at Fox. “I assume you know which apartment is hers?”

Fox doesn’t have time to play stupid, because he nods and follows General Skywalker’s lead up the stairs to your apartment, leading him to your door.

“You’re lucky you fell out of love with Fox when you did.” Nell tells you.

“I never stopped loving him.” You correct her.

She stares at you for a moment, a little shocked that you corrected a person holding a blaster toward you. You shrug. There’s no point in denying it. You love Fox more than anything in the entire galaxy. Broken up or not broken up, nothing would change that.

“I don’t think it’s possible for me to stop loving him.” You tell her, tears suddenly springing to your eyes.

All these months, wasted, when you could have been together. And now… death is staring you in the face and you didn’t even get to tell him you loved him one last time. Maker, how stupid you’ve been. If perhaps you’d just listened to Fox when he begged you to stop all of this… you wouldn’t be in this situation.

“What Fox and I had… was beautiful… Maybe we’ll be lucky to find each other again in another life.” You look at Nell, fully, in the face. “One where maybe he’s free from the Republic and I’m not stupid and I listen to him the first time.”

Nell puts the tea cup down on your caf table and then stares at you for a long moment. She seems like she wants to reach out toward you, but you just stare right back. She’s going to do what she wants to do.

She stands up. “I’m going to leave Coruscant… start over… your speech about another life has me thinking… maybe there’s more to life out there in the galaxy.” She tucks the blaster back in her pants and you let out a breath you didn’t even realize you’d been holding. “If you don’t come looking for me… maybe we can let this all go?”

You nod and then she nods, heading for the door, which all of a sudden opens forcefully that only a Jedi could have done. You and Nell both glance at the door in time to see Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano rush in, pushing Nell to the ground.

She stares at you, wide eyed and shocked. “You tricked me.”

“I’m sorry.” You murmur.

Fox rushes in immediately, toward you and you let out a soft whimper as he pulls you into his arms, not even caring that a Jedi general of the clone army is in the same room.

“I’m so sorry-” You both rush out.

“No, cyare… I’m so sorry… I should have been here to protect you.” He cups your face so that he can look you in the eyes.

“You’re going to regret this.” Nell glares at you.

“That’s enough.” General Skywalker warns her, his voice going dark.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Skywalker had a little dark side to him. You don’t have time to dwell on it because Fox pulls your face toward his so you don’t have to watch them take Nell away.

Fox’s fingers caress your cheeks and you can’t stop staring up into those familiar brown eyes that you missed more than anything.

“We’ll just go then…” Thire starts to push the other guards out.

Thorn takes off his helmet and pats you on the back. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“Me too.” You breathe. “Thanks for being there for me.”

“Anytime.” He smiles.

Thorn then pats Fox on the back with a nod. “See you later, vod.”

Fox nods back before Thorn leaves your apartment. When the door shuts, you look up at Fox again, just glad that you get to be near him again.

“I love you, you know. I never stopped.” You tell him.

“Neither did I.” He promises you, pulling you into his arms.

“But, that senator…” You murmur, running your hands up the cool plastoid.

“Just a friend who hates Palpatine as much as we do.” He smiles, softly.

You nod, trusting him. He rests his forehead against yours, closing his eyes, breathing you in.

“I missed you so much.” Your voice breaks and he crushes his lips to yours.

Finally.

You run your hands up the plastoid armor until you reach his curls, curling your fingers through them. He sighs into the kiss, his lips slightly trembling like he may cry. Pulling away only slightly, to make sure he’s alright, he’s looking down at you sadly, tears in his eyes.

“What is it?” You whisper.

“I’m just so angry with myself…” He whispers back. “I should have been here… I could have stopped it…”

“Fox… let’s not do this right now.” You murmur. “Let’s just be here. We’re both okay. We’ve been apart long enough… I promise you, this wasn’t your fault. Let’s just be together and then we can figure out the rest, alright?”

“You’re right…” He nods, smiling down at you, starting to lean in to kiss you again.

A knock on the door tears you apart again. With a groan, you pull away.

“Don’t go anywhere.” You smile at Fox.

“Never again.” He promises you.

Dragging yourself away from Fox, you answer the door, finding a panting Thorn and Stone, trying to catch their breath. Stomach in knots, you quickly glance over to Fox.

“What is it?” Fox is instantly at your side.

Thorn and Stone glance at each other, clearly not wanting to be the one to deliver what is obviously not good news.

“I’d rather not ask again.” Fox steps in front of you, protectively.

“Nell escaped…” Thorn’s eyes shoot to you.

“How is that possible? General Skywalker and Commander Tano had her.” Fox asks them.

“She was with a Sith.” Stone tells Fox.

“A Sith?” You ask, confused and Stone and Thorn nod.

It’s becoming more and more clear that you truly did not know Nell at all. Your friend turned out to be a terrorist and now, a Sith sympathizer? You think back to her threat before Skywalker took her away.

You’re going to regret this…

Her words ring loudly in your head and as if you and Fox never spent all that time apart, Fox reads your face and tucks you into his side.

“You two are to stand outside her door. I want a constant watch right here. No one comes in and no one goes out unless it’s run by me. Is that clear?” Fox switches into his authoritative voice and under normal circumstances, you’d be turned on by it.

Right now, you’re actually a little afraid. You’d heard how awful the Sith were if you stood in their way. With no hesitance, Thorn and Stone nod and Fox gives you a reassuring squeeze before stepping away to speak into his comm.

“Don’t you worry. We deal with this shit all the time.” Stone nods to you, trying to reassure you.

“You know, when we’re not arresting you.” Thorn teases you, trying to lighten the mood, which you appreciate.

You give him a small smile and lean against the armrest of your couch. Fox looks up, startled, all of sudden. Before you can ask him what’s wrong, there’s a loud ‘BOOM’, and you’re thrown against the wall unexpectedly. As you start to lose consciousness, you think you see someone in a speeder outside where your balcony used to be, wielding a red lightsaber.

Then, everything goes dark.

“Hey Mayday,” Harley spoke, grinning at him. “I see you look sleepy, as usual.”

“Shit, Harley,” he shouted, almost spilling his caf on his armour. “Don’t scare me like that next time.”

“Oh cheer up, Mayday. You’re so uptight sometimes.”

He rolled his eyes at his sister as he focused on the computer screen in front of him. Harley and Mayday were quite close together, their friendship going back to Kamino where they were both in the same batch.

Unlike Mayday, Harley was a clone of Krystal Mereel, who had darker skin, a flat nose, and frizzy hair, which was dyed in pink and blue to match her favourite comic book character, who was a popular villain. She was cheerful and feisty, who tries her best to give positive vibes to her brother, despite not asking for one.

That doesn’t mean he hates her, though. They do love each other, but at the same, he gets annoyed by her never-ending speech about things that he doesn’t even want to hear about every second.

“Mayday,” she snapped her fingers constantly in front of his face, catching his attention. “Are you there?”

“Yes, Harley, I’m here,” he answered, deadpanned. “Also, don’t you have a job to do right now?”

“I’ll do it later,” complained Harley, sitting beside him. “Besides, life is too short to worry too much on small things, you know.”

He just sighed at her remarks. As much as she makes a good point, their superior, Commander Fox, would have a big headache dealing with a slacker like her. As Mayday scrolled through the HoloNet, he received his first call from someone. Oh my God, I wonder who’s calling right now?

“Coruscant Call Centre, how can I help you?” he replied to the call, with a fake smile plastered on his face. He prays for the call to end as soon as possible, but alas, that is only a dream that is unachievable for a clone like him.

“Hey, is this Coruscant Call Centre?” a deep, male voice asked, which made one of Mayday’s eyes twitch. No, this is the Children’s Department, thank you very much.

“Yes, sir,” he refrained himself from making a sarcastic comment in the morning. “This is the Coruscant Call Centre. How can I help you, sir?”

“Uh yeah, I think I have a situation here.”

It better be an urgent one, or I’ll kick your ass. “What kind of situation, sir?”

“Well, you see, I just returned home when I found a tooka destroying my couch.”

Harley and Mayday exchanged looks of amusement and held in their laughter. “Well, sir, that’s tookas for you. They love scratching things, especially couches.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not my tooka.”

“Well, in that case, sir, may I suggest you call animal control? I’m sure they know how to address this problem.”

“Oh, well, alright then. Thank you for your time then.”

As the line was cut off, both of them burst into laughter as Mayday filled up another cup of caf. “I must admit, that was hilarious.”

“Yeah,” Harley laughed along. “I mean, a tooka somehow ending up in your house and ruining your couch? That makes a good comedy on the NecFlic.”

“I agree with you, Har, know nowadays, it’s difficult to find good series down there, if you know what I mean.”

“That is true,” she shrugged, chewing on her toffee sweets that she stole from Thorn’s candy bowl, without anyone noticing. “Nowadays, it’s just lousy sequels for lousy movies and cancellation of actually good series.”

“Yeah, like what happened to Days Ahead? That was the best sitcom, but NecFlic decided to make the second ‘Kissing Scene’ movie instead. I mean, that movie was shitty and problematic.”

“Let’s not talk about that movie,” she scoffed. “Romantic comedy, my ass. It wasn’t even that good anyway.”

“Yeah,” he smiled, when he received another call, which made him breathe. “Coruscant Call Centre, how can I help you?”

“Hey, is this Coruscant Call Centre?” a high-pitched, male voice spoke. Mayday blinked a couple of times before he could answer his question that was asked millions of times. He was a few seconds away from tossing his comm right across his room, but that would spell decommission for him and his job.

“Yes, this is Coruscant Call Centre. How can I help you, sir?”

“Just wondering, but what do you do for a living?”

“Say that we shove people’s ass for a living,” Harley mouthed, inserting her fist inside her mug. 

“Well, sir,” Mayday decided to ignore his sister’s remarks. “We’re here to answer your calls and do our best to help you out with your problems, big or small.”

She slapped her forehead and let out a groan. This is going to be the most exciting conversation I’ll ever watch outside NecFlec.

“Oh, well, I have a couple of problems that I need help addressing.”

“Okay then, sir,” Mayday took a deep breath. “What kind of problems do you have for us to solve?”

“Well, it’s about this girl I saw in school,” the recipient began his story. “Her name is Veronica, and she’s really popular in school and I think I have a humongous crush on her. How do I let her know that I love her?”

For a moment, Mayday was speechless. This man, no, not a man. He’s too young to be a man. Well, this boy dares to call up the Coruscant Call Centre, which was meant to reach out for urgent help, to ask for dating advice to woo a girl that he hardly knows? His fish clenched on his desk and the smile on his face disappeared. 

He only had two hours of sleep. He just finished another round of coffee, and he needs another right now so that he can give a smack on the boy’s head. Some people just want to create chaos in the world, and this boy is the perfect epitome of the word.

“Look, kid, if you want dating advice, then go ask someone else,” Mayday scolded the boy. “This call is only meant for emergencies, okay? Good day.”

He cut the line and took off his helmet, rubbing his temple with his fingers. Harley, who was watching the entire skit, chuckled at his misfortunes. “Well, Mayday, I hate to say I told you so, but yeah, I told you so.”

“Do you ever shut up, Harley?” he replied, in a snarky manner. “Do you?”

“Admit it, Mayday,” she nudged his ribs. “You could have put down that call when you had a chance but no, you decided to go on and ended up with some stupid kid who has hormonal problems, Mayday, so yeah. You should have ignored them.”

“Whatever, Harley. It’s not like you helped me or something.”

She chuckled at his remarks. “Oh, please. I asked you to tell him that we shove people’s asses for a living but you didn’t do that.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. As I said before, you don’t help that much anyway.”

Harley tightened her lips. He knows what he’s referring to, and she had no other choice but to bring it up in their conversation between them. “Look, Mayday, if it’s about that stupid mug that you drank coffee with every day then-”

“Actually, yes, it is about that mug that you broke it.”

“Oh my gosh, vod, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to break your favourite mug.”

“Well, you did,” he turned to his computer. “And you owe me a new mug because of your carelessness.”

“Mayday, I got you a new mug two weeks ago,” Harley pointed out. “I mean, it even has your name written on it twice.”

He glanced at his mug, which says ‘Mayday, Mayday’ twice and twitched his lips. “Well, it’s a terrible mug that you got me.”

She jabbed her fingers on his forehead, prompting him to yelp dramatically. “Ouch!”

“I didn’t even hit you that hard,” Harley stuck her tongue out. “You’re such a drama king.”

“And you're the most annoying piece of shit I’ve ever encountered.”

“Why thank you, smartass.”

“You’re welcome, asshat.”

Before Harley could open her mouth, she and Mayday heard another phone call. With another sigh, he took a seat and answered the call. “Coruscant Call Centre, how can I help you?”

“My tooka is stuck on the tree,” an old lady told him. “Could you help me, please?”

He gave a glance to Harley, who bobbed her head in approval and gave a thumbs up. “In this case, I will redirect you to the fire department of Coruscant so please be-”

“Actually, sir, my grandson tried to climb the tree to grab my cat and now he’s also stuck as well.”