ARCHIVED TWHLAY Bonus II:I
ARCHIVED
The Way He Looks at You Series
Cal Kestis Week Bonus Content: In Another Life
Chapter I: You're Doing Great
Masterlists
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Chapter Summary
Tumblr celebrated Cal Kestis Week, I used the dialogue prompts for each chapter.
This chapter uses: "You're doing great!"
This mini series is what life could have looked like if Reader (lovingly nicknamed "Light" by Cal) had never lost her memory in the final battle of 'The Way He Looks at You'.
Rating: 18+
Words: 1.2K
Trigger Warnings: Chemical Pregnancy
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Cal shifts against the rigid cast-plast chair in the Imperial Hospital waiting room. It’s been hours of no news or communication from the hospital staff. All too afraid of getting on the bad side of the Thirteenth Brother to risk passing along information in his most desperate time.
He understands, but his freckled hand twitches for his lightsaber each time a passing nurse gives him the runaround. He should know something about her condition by now. She was unconscious, but not impaled, only head trauma. There is no need for surgery to take such a ridiculous amount of time.
The scene floods Cal’s memory: pulling himself from the wreckage, digging to find her unconscious body, still breathing, air coming in small gasps. He should have checked to ensure the Jedi was dead, but there wasn’t time, not when Light’s life was hanging in the balance.
Cal couldn’t stop the tears that poured from his eyes, creating streaks of clean skin in the dust coating his face. His hair and clothes looking much the same, the vibrance of his black Inquisitor’s uniform and fiery red hair, muted.
He cried in anger, and fear, as he flew Light, propped up in her usual seat in the Scythe, to the best Imperial hospital in the galaxy. She was beautiful still, despite the blood pouring from a cut hidden in her hair, matting it. Her black dress and cloak painted gray with permacrete debris, no longer marking her as the property of an Inquisitor.
The nurse from before exits the hospital room. Her cropped dark hair and no nonsense expression makes the Inquisitor feel about a foot shorter. He stands, approaching her with caution, hoping she is here for him.
“Inquisitor. The surgery is complete. I have good news and bad news.”
Her words are short and to the point, presenting an obvious choice.
“The bad news. Please, don’t tell me she’s dead.”
“Well, you’ve spoiled the good news. The patient lives. She should be awake soon.”
Cal lets out the breath he was holding, relief flooding his body, loosening the knots that gather between his shoulder blades.
“And the bad news?”
She purses her lips a moment before speaking. “You’re aware she was pregnant?”
He nods.
“The pregnancy was early, almost too soon for us to catch. The stress of the cave-in has terminated the pregnancy.”
Dead air sits between the Thirteenth Brother and the Imperial Nurse. Cal’s fingers twitch for his lightsaber again, but he resists. Killing this nurse won’t replace the loss of a child. His child, no matter what the Jedi said. How dare Theo stake claim on not only his woman, but his child? If the cave-in didn’t kill him, Cal will. It’s his fault for stalling the couple, leading to the losses of the day.
Cal is not entirely innocent in the entire affair, if he had simply left with Light when they reunited, there would have been no battle, no cave-in, no panic-stricken flight to the hospital, no loss of a child he would never know. Tears well in his lower lids and Cal resists them, ending the conversation with this nurse.
He laces his voice with venom. “I can see her now?”
She nods, points at the door behind her, and leaves.
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Cal steps inside the sterile room, pressing the door shut with a click. He pulls the privacy curtain; the scowl falling from his face, revealing wide eyes, a frown, and the curse of tears daring to fall. He lets them and dashes to Light’s side, kneeling on the floor beside her bed, his large hand bringing warmth to her icy fingertips. The saline drip keeping her extremities cooler than he would prefer.
Cal uses his free hand to tuck her further beneath the thin hospital blankets, cursing their poor quality. In his annoyance, he unclips his own thick cloak, nearly throwing the soiled material over her now clean body. But he stops, instead tossing it over a nearby chair.
His mouth falls to her open palm, kissing her repeatedly in prayer. “Please wake up, I can’t lose you too. We lost the baby, and I now realize how much I loved knowing that something existed that was both of us, our creation. I will make him pay for the loss he has caused our family.”
Light shifts as his frantic words reach her ears. Her eyes still closed, forehead wrinkling in confusion of the words and a severe ache in her head. It feels like a ship fell on her. She did fall out of the sky in a ship, similar, but what happened next? The fuzzy memories are still too difficult to decipher.
“Light? Please wake up, I’m here. I won’t let anything bad ever happen to you again. I’ll protect you this time.”
Cal Force-pulls the nearby chair, scooting as close to her as possible, brushing a few stray hairs off her face.
Her eyes flutter, followed by a wince, then she peeks them open once more, squinting in the white light. “Cal?”
He sniffs, before a smile splits his face, hot tears falling onto their joined hands below. “Yes, Light, I’m here. You’re here, you’re okay. I’ve got you.”
She lets out a low groan as her eyes open further, her vision blurry and painful. “What happened? Am I in a hospital? Is everyone okay? Theo?”
Cal’s smile falters at the name of his enemy. “There was a cave-in from the explosions at the base. You were crushed beneath the ceiling. We all were.”
Worry spans her forehead, broken only by another sharp reaction to the immense pain. “Were there any casualties?”
Cal’s mouth gapes, trying to find the right words.
Light’s expression softens, “Theo…”
Cal’s jaw snaps shut. “Do not speak his name to me. He is the reason I almost lost you, the reason we lost…”
Her eyes search his for information, widening in understanding. “I caused another loss…”
Cal squeezes her hand. “No! You didn’t do this!”
Her face reddens. “I did! I’m cursed! Everything I love dies eventually! I can’t keep anyone I love alive! I’m a failure…I’m still failing!”
Cal’s expression hardens. “You’re wrong, Light. You’re not failing, you’re doing great. You were just dealt a bad hand. It was I who failed you. I was selfish, allowing us to linger when danger was nearby. I should have taken you home immediately.”
There is a long silence as she processes the barrage of new information. Cal’s heart breaks, knowing he should have done more. His mind pulls towards the near decade of being an Inquisitor, assuring him the fault lies with the Jedi. But deep down, he knows the Jedi did not force him to stay on that base. It was Cal’s selfishness that led to Light laying in the hospital bed before him. He is no hero, not since turning to the Dark Side.
Light’s left hand touches her lower belly, tears forming in her eyes. Cal pulls her into his arms, taking care to not do further damage. Grief surrounding the couple as they mourn the loss of a life they’ll never know. The room is silent apart from the shuddering breaths and beeping monitors.
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