THE MANDALORIAN FELT UNEASE LIKE HE'D NEVER FELT BEFORE. His heavy steps echoed as he paced the short perimeter of his ship, trying not to glance at the unconscious body of his bounty companion.

It was beyond him how she had managed to survive such a hit from the trap imploder on Hoth. But surely enough he felt her pulse, and immediately carried her seemingly lifeless body into the ship and onto her bed, which is where she remained.

Despite his frazzled mind and distressed composure, he managed to escape the barren planet, and search for the closest habitable landing space in the hopes of finding medical help.

He halted his pacing, planting himself in his pilot seat as looked at the state of his ship.

The little plant she insisted on watering daily, scattered food wrappers dotted around, an array of dangers and interesting blades laid on every possible surface of the ship.

She'd entered his life of solitude as a nuisance. She was nothing but a setback to the way he usually worked. She was highly irritating, loud and incredibly fierce.

Yet as she lay unmoving, she ship was filled with a sickening silence. There were no complaints, no sarcastic comments. Mando wasn't sure whether he was ready accept his space without her in it. Somehow, she had destroyed his demeanour - yet made a place of her own in there.

Her absence was the cause of his unease. He didn't like it.

The Mandalorian's head fell into his hands with a sigh, but quickly shot up at the sound of a distant groan. Within an instant, he rushed to her side, cape following in grand pursuit.

Mia held a hand to her throbbing head as she made out a familiar Beskar helmet through squinting eyes.

"Don't tell me you died too, Buckethead." She groaned.

Mando didn't realise he was holding his breath until he heavily exhaled with relief.

"Assessing blood levels." Spoke a robotic voice.

Mia almost jumped as a light blue Astromech droid rolled across the ground to her side.

Before she could react, it extended a sharp needle into her forearm.

"Ow!" She screeched. "What the hell is this thing?"

It bleeped and rolled back hesitantly, "Blood levels steady."

"Nursing droid," said Mando. "First one I could find."

Something wasn't adding up, she thought. A nursing droid like this wouldn't have been strolling through the snow hills of Hoth.

"You went into the base?" Her eyes filling with alarm and panic, "The Queen, did you follow them?"

"Didn't have to," he said, "Thanks to you, we've got live tracker updates on the location of her ship."

With a hand on her pulsing head and hiss from the pain in her abdomen, Mia sat up straight to catch her bearings. She didn't like feeling this helpless and unaware of their situation. But she was relived to learn that she managed to do at least one thing right - they were one step closer to the end of their mission because of her stupidly brilliant idea.

"As for the droid," he continued, "I found him on Nar Shaddaa, which is where we are now."

She looked up, daze and confusion painting her hazel eyes, "Were on another planet? How long was I out?"

"About a day." He said, watching uncomfortably as the droid prepared some more medicine for Mia. He never trusted droids. But today, he grudgingly had no choice.

The spherical droid revealed an out-folding compartment draw from its side containing a couple of small pills. It rolled towards her with a series of bleeps.

"Only because you asked so nicely." She said before grabbing the tablets, making a face as she quickly swallowed them.

It bleeped once more in response, causing Mia to crack a smile.

"He does have a very judgey face, doesn't he?" She teasingly agreed with the droid, grinning up at the masked Mandalorian.

He held her gaze for a second before tilting his head towards the small droid, "Get on with it." He snapped.

A cup of water and a shot of painkillers later, Mia was slowly coming back to her senses. She sat upon her bed, long brown hair trailing untamed down her back.

She thanked the droid with a playful tickle on the head to which it gleefully bleeped a response. BB-7P was the name she could make out on it's side. Judging by its scratched exterior and slightly crooked antenna, she assumed he wasn't treated so well on this planet - it cost her nothing to show him a small kindness that he probably dearly lacked.

Mando watched with a tightened stomach. He felt a sense of discomfort at the kind of gratitude she was showing a circuit wired being. She obviously didn't share his despise. However, he had to admit that without the droids help, Mia could have very easily not made it.

It saved her life, and for that he refrained from kicking the spherical mechanism through the trash shoot.

Mia prepared herself to stand, but before her body could manage to lift itself from her bed, Mando startled her by taking seat beside her.

She stilled as the side of her leg touched his. Despite the appearance of his thick armour, she felt the heat radiating from his own body.

Suddenly, she felt an urge to move closer - realising just how long it had been since she had experienced basic human contact on this expenentionally long mission.

He looked down at his feet, elated that she hadn't moved an inch. For a moment, he just wanted to feel her beside him after experiencing what it was like to have her not there at all.

"That was close one." He said. She could detect layer of sadness in his low, gravelled voice.

"No matter how much I hated the snow, I think it saved my life." She replied, "If the detonator wasn't buried that deep beneath it, you would have been scraping Mia guts off your armour."

He shook his head slightly, "Do you have to be so graphic?"

Her full lips spread into a sheepish smile, "Sorry, life-threatening situations really mess with my head," she shrugged, "I have to laugh about it."

She didn't want to think about how her life was almost gone in an instant. About how she could have never seen her family again. How one stupid mistake, one literal step out of line could have been the end of her entirely. It scared the shit out of her.

Mando met her gaze, Mia was so close she could see every detail of her own reflection through his helmet visor.

"Well don't let it happen again." He said.

"Sounds like you care." A playful smile creeped on her face.

She could almost picture him rolling his eyes behind the helmet.

"I'm a man of honour." He said, "And if I can ensure a successful mission with all counterparts returning alive, I will."

"I think that was bucket-head language for 'I care'." said Mia.

The BB unit bleeped in Mia's direction to which she let out a laugh. "He is a stubborn little shit isn't he?"

"When your work's done here," he said down to the droid, "There's nothing stopping me from selling your parts for credits."

Mia rolled her eyes, reassuring the BB unit. "He's smiling behind the mask, I swear."

He glared at her and she grinned.

Mando turned looked between the two with unease. They were getting along far too much for his own comfort.

"Well, rest assured Mando," Mia tucked her hair back, "I'm not dead yet. We've got a job to finish first."

"About that," he said "We've gotta lay low for a while, execute a plan of action."

"Why do we have to lay low?"

He turned, for the first time noticing the flecks of gold in her brown eyes from such close proximity. "Healing."

She scoffed, "I'm healed. Let's get on with it."

Her shoulder lightly brushed against his as she moved to stand up, but as she did, a sharp pain shot through her middle causing her to drop with a cry.

Missing the ground by inches, Mando's gloved hand formed a tight grip around her arm, pulling her upright and softly seating her back on the bed.

"It takes a little longer than that to heal a broken rib." He said.

"A broken...?"

Her hands instinctively found their way to her middle where she found a tight white bandage wound over her shoulder and over her rib cage.

She threw her head back with a groan from both the pain and the nuisance of having an injury at such a pivotal point of their bounty mission.

"That's just great." She sighed.

The Mandalorian exited her room before saying, "I'd take a broken rib over splattered Mia guts any day."

A smile found its way to her features as she managed to influence her crude style of language onto him.

He hated to admit it, but she was influencing him. For better or for worse - he wasn't quite sure yet. But he had come to realise one thing for sure. He hated the feeling of thinking she wasn't going to make it, of seeing her lifeless body in the snow. He despised the knot in his stomach that appeared every time he pictured returning home without her.

He did care. Just a little.

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Sorry for the mini hiatus! Been super busy this month but I'm hoping to get back on my grind and give you guys quick updates!

Hope you liked this one