Ye olde shuttle parking [early afternoon]

[sith_happened]

After hours of sweaty work, Anakin had finally gotten the hyperdrive working again.

He's slept through most of Sunday--he'd needed the rest--and was looking almost like himself again.

Except for the nervous twitch he was developing as the time Rory normally showed up got closer.

Blurry - Puddle of Mudd

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory did show up on time, as per usual. "Hey."

No, not nervous at all, nope.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's expression softened as he popped his head out of the hatch, a swipe of oil across his cheeks. "Hi, you."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Hi," she said back, blushing immediately for no real reason.

[sith_happened]

"How's Vladdie?" Anakin asked, wriggling out of the hatch and shutting it with a firm "clunk."

Not that he was hoping that "oh, he moved to Tibet," would be the response.

Much.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"He's asleep. It's the middle of the day," she said, scuffing a foot.

[sith_happened]

"Is he still a toddler?" Anakin asked, running a hand through his curls.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "He was normal as of yesterday."

[sith_happened]

He gave her a ghost of a smile. "This place, huh?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea what that was," she said, shaking her head. "Aside from exhausting."

[sith_happened]

"You're okay, though?" he asked, snapping instantly into Overprotective Anakin mode. "I'll take him if you need to catch up on sleep..."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"No, no, seriously, I'm fine," she protested, turning shy again. "He's much quieter as a puppy, you know."

[sith_happened]

He gave her a soft smile. "I remember," he said, holding eye contact for a heartbeat too long. "The hyperdrive's fixed again."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Good," she said softly. "Did you break it again?"

[sith_happened]

"I broke it pretty throughly last week," Anakin said, cheeks going red. "It took a while to fix it."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"You shouldn't break your toys," she said lightly. "Where are we headed this week?"

[sith_happened]

"There's a pair of nebulae over in Cassiopeia I wanted to check out," Anakin said, cheeks flushing, "but if you don't want to go that far, that's fine too."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"That sounds fine," Rory said, hopping aboard the shuttle and moving to her usual seat.

[sith_happened]

Anakin took a moment to smile about how comfortable Rory looked in that chair before strapped into the pilot's seat himself. "You know how this works," he said. "Fire it up."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory smiled and started the sequence. "I think I'm going to ask Grandma and Grandpa for one of these as a graduation present when I'm done with college," she said, nodding solemnly.

[sith_happened]

"Only if I'm there to see the look on your grandmother's face when you do it," Anakin insisted with a smile as he punched the coordinates into the navicomputer.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Of course you'll be there," Rory said without thinking.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's entire face lit up. "Good," he said softly.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I mean...." Rory colored as she realized what she'd said. "I mean, you wouldn't miss my graduation, right?"

[sith_happened]

"Of course not!" Anakin said quickly, hiding his disappointment in her reply by fiddling with a dial that didn't need fiddling. "I think we're far enough away from Earth now," he said after an uncomfortable pause. "You can put us into lightspeed now."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Wheeeee," Rory said, trying for enthusiasm as she shifted into lightspeed.