"Diana. Come on!"

Diana smiled and laughed at her friend Elise. Elise rolled her eyes and tugged at her hand. She led her through the busy Italian restaurant and out onto the rooftop patio.

"Happy birthday!" The group shouted once Diana stepped onto the rooftop. Diana smiled and couldn't help the redness come to her face as she looked at her surroundings.

Her closest friends were standing around a long rectangular table that was set with flowers and other plants. Their lunch was meant to be a surprise to Diana, but it was hard to get much past her.

"Thank you, guys." She drew out with a cheeky grin and began to walk to each of her friends. She hugged each of her friends and they began to sing Happy Birthday to her.

Elise walked from the opposite end of the table with the cake in her hand. She sang too and it wasn't until she was a few feet in front of Diana that she noticed her cake was not a cake. It was a small metal box with a bluish glow in the middle. It couldn't have been more than 6 inches across each way. Two candles lay on either side of it and were rapidly melting down.

Diana frantically looked to Elise and then to her friends. She had a feeling something bad was going to happen when the candles completely melted.

"Make a wish!"

"Blow them out!"

Before Diana could blow at them, an explosion came from the box.

Diana woke with a startle. She slowed her heavy breathing and stared at the darkness of the ceiling above her. Her dream was an almost exact memory of her 28th birthday, but the box, that damn metal box haunted her dreams.

She didn't know how long she lay there, and she didn't have any desire to move until she realized that she was laying down, in a bed.

Diana looked around at the bedding and pillows. The dark sheets were not familiar to her. She noticed the long rounded rectangular window to the right of the bed and saw the passing stars in the black sky of space. She must be on the Mandalorian's ship.

The last thing she remembered was their encounter on Navarro with the other bounty hunters and her being strangled by the giant. Diana felt her neck and touched her tender skin. She slowly stood up and looked around the room. It was much like her quarters except she noticed shelves and a closet of sorts. She saw that not much was in them. She hit the button to open the door.

Across from her was Mando and the child sitting at the front of the ship. She saw the child's ears perk up at the sound of the door opening but Mando made no movement. She silently closer to them and stopped a few feet back to look at the space ahead of them.

"How are you feeling?" The Mandalorian asked. He hadn't moved still but the baby turned in his carriage to look at her.

"Alright… neck is a little sore." Diana answered and again she touched the most tender parts.

Mando turned in his seat.

"You should eat something. We'll be at Sorgan soon."

"What is Sorgan?"

"Another planet with not much on it. I think it will be a good place to lay low for a while." He informed.

Diana nodded and looked at his shielded face. She moved to sit at the empty chair on her left.

"Although I told you to stay at the cantina, thank you for helping me with the other bounty hunters." Mando said. Diana raised a brow at him. She didn't expect him to thank you.

"You're welcome. Thanks for saving me from the big guy. How did we get away? I don't remember."

Mando turned back around and maneuvered his ship some before answering. Diana watched him do so before turning her attention to the darkness outside the ship.

"Other Mandalorians came to help. The two that you helped in the cantina, too."

"Ah. Did you send those other Mandalorians to me or did they actually need help? If you did, I appreciate the help, but I can find business on my own."

"I told the other Mandalorians there was a medic. They came to you on their own."

Diana stayed silent and brought her knees up to her chest in her seat. Her mind began to wonder some and soon she began to nod off into sleep.

"You can sleep more in my bed. We'll be at Sorgan in a few hours." Mando offered. He looked at her through his peripheral. He watched her blink a few times and it seemed that she was thinking about whether or not to take him up on his offer.

"Thanks." She quietly said and gave him a small smile when she stood and moved back to his quarters.

Mando looked back at the empty chair for a moment longer. He sensed she needed her rest and could tell that she was drained from the past few days. He noticed the bruising on her neck almost immediately when he first saw her. It was bad. Mando glanced down at the child and was surprised when he was already staring up at him. With a sigh, Mando returned to functioning his ship. He couldn't wait to be back on solid ground.

Sunlight woke Diana. She squinted her eyes to see past the glare in the bedside window and was surprised when saw an immense amount of tree cover below them. They were landing soon, and this must be Sorgan.

She threw herself out of the covers and joined Mando and the child back at the front of the ship.

"This is Sorgan?"

"Yes."

"Nice to see some nature for a change." Diana said. She peered below them and saw lakes and dense forest as the flew by. She couldn't help but feel a little excited at a new but more humbling environment.

Mando safely lowered them down into a clearing and began to get ready to head out.

"Where are you going?" Diana asked. She was still seated in the same position when they landed.

"To the town."

"So, we're coming with you." She stood. Mando opened the hatch and turned to face her and the child. "If you seriously think I'm staying in this ship when there's greenery and fresh air right out there. You are delusional." She said with no hesitation. Diana picked up the child and carried him out with her.

Mando watched her silently. Once outside, Diana put the child down and observed the area around them. With a sigh, he followed them out and closed the hatch.

The smell of trees delighted Diana as she followed Mando to town with the child beside her. Shortly after, they entered a small area lit with teepee-looking establishments. She recognized the one they entered as a restaurant. It was sparsely populated with a very open interior. The smell of noodles filled Diana's nose. The three of them sat at a table in the corner. Diana did not notice Mando looking at another woman opposite them.

A woman began to approach them.

"Welcome travelers, can I interest you in anything?"

"Bone broth for the little one."

Oh well you in luck. I just took that down a grinjer, so there's plenty. Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?"

"I will take one, please." Diana added.

"No, thank you." Mando said to the woman.

Before the woman could leave, Mando cut in, "That one over there. When did she arrive?"

He nodded to a dark-haired woman sitting at the table across from them. Diana turned to look and gathered her appearance. She was a bigger woman with some metal armor and tattoos. She looked like a fighter.

"I've seen her here for the last week or so." The woman stammered.

"What's her business here?"

"Business?" She laughed. "There's not much business in Sorgan, so I can't say." Diana watched Mando with confusion as he tossed her a small bag of coins. She wanted to ask why he was being so nosy about her, but she decided to wait until the woman left.

"Well, she doesn't strike me as a log runner." The woman chuckled as she picked up the coins. "Thank you sire. I will get that bone broth to you as soon as possible and I will throw in a flagon of spotchka just for good measure." She finished enthusiastically and left.

"What was that all about?" Diana asked him. She glanced to the woman he was talking about, but she was gone.

Mando suddenly stood and told Diana to watch the child. She stared at him wide-eyed as he left the restaurant. She closed her slack jaw and turned to the child. The child could clearly see how frustrated she was.

"I don't understand him, little one." Diana murmured to the kid and shook her head.

It wasn't long until their bone broth was served to them. Diana took the spotchka for herself as well. Diana relished in the warm soup. It immediately comforted her as it hit her mouth and fell into her stomach. It was one of the more familiar dishes she's had since being away from Earth, so it didn't take too long for her to finish it. The child on the other hand still had some of his steaming bone broth.

Once done, she silently watched the child slurp his soup and after some time, she couldn't stand waiting around for the Mandalorian anymore.

"Follow me, little one." She said to the child and together they left the restaurant. It was quiet outside and Diana began to circle around the restaurant. It wasn't long before she heard scuffling coming from behind the restaurant.

She stopped at the sight of the Mandalorian and the fighter woman falling from the roof and onto the ground. The watched them wrestle some more before pointing their blasters at each other. Next to her, the child slurped his soup.

Mando and the woman slowly turned their heads to them.

"What they hell are you guys doing?" Diana asked with one brow raised. She cocked her hips and placed a hand on each one. She felt like a parent scolding her children for roughhousing.

Mando sighed and looked at the woman he was just fighting.

"You want some soup?"

The four of them returned to their table and ordered more spotchka. Diana was confused. Did Mando always fight random woman and then invite them to his table?

The woman – Carasynthia Dune – was a former rebel shock trooper for the rebels from Alderaan. While Diana was beginning to become tiresome of the woman's stories – primarily of the civil war, she gathered some information that would be useful to her about the history of where she was.

"I hope you didn't do that to her neck." She said. She nodded to Diana's bruising. They were dark purple and green and in the exact shape of a hand and fingers.

"No, another bounty hunter." Mando answered.

"Look," Cara began. She glanced to both Mando and Diana. "I knew you were Guild. That's why I came at you so hard."

"Yeah, that's what I figured."

"Well, this has been a treat. Hope I didn't ruin your bone broth and spotchka dinner together." She said as she stood. "but one of us is going to have to move on, and I was here first." She finished her drink and walked away.

Diana cocked her head and watched Cara leave.

"Well, looks like this planet's taken." Mando said to Diana and the child.

"What was all that?" She asked. She whipped her head to look at him.

"What?"

"Do you always just fight someone you see at a restaurant?"

"I could tell she was a shock trooper. She could have been a threat."

Diana made a sound that she understood. She finished her drink and watched the child as he slurped up the last of his soup.

"Shall we head back?" She asked the Mandalorian. He turned to her and slowly nodded his head.

By the time they reached his ship, it was already dark. The woods carried an eerie sound to them, and Diana was happy that she wasn't doing this alone.

"So, are we going to just stay here for a while? Or is that not the plan anymore." Diana asked Mando. They sat outside of the ship. He was fixing up certain parts while Diana lay on the floor of the open hatch. The child sat on the ground between them.

"We'll stay for a little. Cara wanted us to leave. I can probably find another planet similar to this."

"I can tell this planet is small with not many people. I'm not sure if I can find much work here." She added.

"It'll be temporary."

Diana let her head fall back onto the metal and she looked at the exposed stars above her.

Here she was, on a new and completely foreign planet, with nothing to her name, in the care of a Mandalorian. She let out a deep sigh.

"You okay?" Mando asked. He separated himself from the piece of metal he was working on to glance at her.

"Yes… just thinking."

"About what?"

Diana was surprised he asked. She didn't expect him to take any interest in her thoughts or emotions.

"I don't know. I guess just what I'm doing. Or what I'm not doing. Honestly, I'm just still pretty lost."

As if that wasn't the understatement of the year, she thought. Mando continued to watch her. She hadn't move from her position and was still looking and speaking into space.

"You'll get where you need to be. Whether that's here or back on Earth."

"I just don't know whether to keep trying or if I should… settle down here. If returning to Earth isn't possible, I can find a life somewhat similar to what I wanted before."

"What kind of life is that?" He asked as he continued his work on the metal. Although he was keeping himself busy, he took every word Diana said seriously.

Diana laughed before answering. "I don't know, the cliché have a family, live somewhere nice, travel. It seems pretty far-fetched now. I'm adjusting to life here though. Sometimes it feels like I'm in a video game with some of the shit that goes on."

Mando had paused at her mention of having a family. It was something he wanted as well, but not for a very long time.

"How old are you?"

Diana grew silent at his question. She stared blankly at the stars and began to feel heated emotion rising to her cheeks.

"30 in a few days." She answered quietly. Her eyes began to well with tears and a single drop fell from her right eye.

She tried to not give much thought to it. This was not at all how she imagined her thirtieth birthday to be. She thought she would be vacationing somewhere with her friends and possibly with the man she had just started seeing when she left Earth.

Mando stopped what he was doing. He was not good at handling other people's emotions nor their problems, but Diana struck a chord in him.

"What do you usually do for birthdays on Earth?"

"Parties, dinners… something nice." She trailed off. Diana wiped the tear from eye and tried to flush out any other sad emotions. She couldn't cry. Especially now, not in front of the Mandalorian.

She heard the clanging of metals and assumed he had continued his work. They were silent the rest of the evening. It wasn't until much later that the Mandalorian finished up his work. He nearly forgot that Diana was still laying on the exposed hatch door.

He approached her and found her sleeping. He didn't have much space for others to sleep in ship. There was one pull out area that can sleep one other but instead of putting Diana to rest there, he gently carried her into his own quarters.

He removed her shoes before pulling his sheets over her body. The bruises on her neck seemed to glow and stare at him. He didn't like that she was so injured – nearly killed from helping him. He didn't know it himself just yet, but he would soon feel much like a protector to Diana – and eventually more.

Sorry for the delay. Hi and welcome to all new readers :)