For Old Times Sake

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Thessa Kai"] | Squirt

Stepping out of the hover taxi with gifts in hand, Dirks made his way to the Dashiells' residence. Seemed the CEO of Salacia Consolidated was indeed doing well for himself. Good for him. Hopefully it would translate into good things for him too. The Rendili was really looking forward to see where this all took him.

To say that Hutch was a bit nervous was an understatement. It had been what, five-six years since the former Rebel had seen the Galan. He was over what they had once had, but still… Thee was the one who got away.

Hutchinson double checked the address Judah had given him back at his office before pushing the door chime button; giving the gum in his mouth a few extra chews as he waited for someone to open the door and greet him.

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

Makai giggled.

"And I should keep you washing all those x-wings you got me more often," she quipped, handing Judah a stack of dishes to set for the table as the bell chimed.

Makai squealed. "DING DONG!" Little feet thumped against the ground and pitter-pattered to the door. "Mommy's going to get it," she gave Judah a look and shook her head once at their son's speed, aqua-lips curling into a half-smile. He wasn't as easy to watch as he used to be. Following quickly after the little man who tried to reach the doorknob but couldn't.

She swung the door open, the smell of cookies and seafood gumbo wafted out the door. She braced herself for the man on the other side. Iced-azure gaze took him in and her actions didn't hesitate. She stepped forward and embraced him like a friend, no, like a member of the family.

"Hey Hutch. Welcome to our home." Makai stared from Thessa to Hutch and edged shyly behind Thessa's legs as she pulled away from the hug. Little chubby hands gripped the back of her dress as he cautiously peeked up at the tall stranger. The Galan bit back a laugh and rested her hand gently on the top of Makai's shaggy-hair. "Hey Makai, wanna meet Mommy and Daddy's friend? It's okay, he won't bite."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]



"After all these years I'm still on X-Wing wash and wax duty?" Judah took the plates with a bit of mock disbelief. "Think I'd get a promotion or something..." Maybe he could drag himself down to the hangar later and take care a few of her ships. Thessa had a decent collection going on now so it would take days to get them all done.


Judah watched their son race out like a banshee with Thessa following after. Grabbing a cookie, he did his best to stuff it in his mouth while coming out to greet Hutch. If the Tadpole caught wind of him sneaking one before dinner he'd never hear the end of it. Just as he was rounding the corner, Thessa was trying to introduce Makai to their guest.


"Careful, I've heard otherwise. Tragic bite and run cases sweeping through parts of the galaxy Dirks has been through."

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Thessa Kai"] | Squirt

Dirks braced himself when the door opened waiting to see who greeted him. He was half expecting a slap across the face when Lil' Mano showed hers, ever beautiful as it always was to gaze upon with those memorizing iced-azure eyes front and center easily dangerous pools to drown in. But then Dirks was pleasantly surprised when the Galan just stepped forward up onto her tip toes and wrapped the tall Rendili in a warm, inviting hug, welcoming him into their home like he was part of the family over for Sunday dinner.

Tensing at first, then relaxing and letting the breath he didn't know he was holding out, Dirks gave his former love a one-handed hug around her back while the other held a couple handled-gift bags. The ruggedly handsome ex-flyboy flashed his best smile at the mermaid as he pulled back and regained his prior stature.

"Hey Thee… Thanks for having me over. You sure smell good. I mean, the food smells real good," Hutch grinned, then hazel eyes moved down to the little mop top kid clinging to his mama's skirted leg. Gods he was a cutie. The little boy had a whole lot of Thessa in him and an appreciable amount of Judah too. They were blessed, very blessed.

Dirks squatted down and softened his smile as he looked at the hybrid Galan. "Hello Makai… I'm Dirks, but my friends call me Hutch. I used to fly starfighter's with your mommy and daddy. This is for you," he said, then handed over one of the bags to him; making sure his chubby fingers had ahold of the handles before standing back up, then stepping past the threshold and further into the residence so the door could be closed.

"Nice place you've got here, nice little family too," Hutch mused in good spirits, then pulled out a bottle of white wine from the bag with a Chateau Le Star Winery label on it and handed it to the Salvager.

"All rumors I assure you, bro, but those cookie crumbs on your shirt are definitely fact," he smirked, then looked over to Judah's better half and handed her the bag in it's entirety. "And these are for you… Your favorite chocolates, course sharing is allowed."

The Rendili winked of course.

Spoiler

OCC: Inside the bag for Makai are two things; this and this. Couldn't help myself.

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

"Presents!!!" Makai promptly forgot his shyness, grabbed the bags from Hutch and stomped off to open them. Thee laughed, then returned her gaze to Hutch. "Mmm, chocolates. Thanks."

Makai somehow heard that word while he was busy tearing into his presents. His little head perked up. "Chocos?"

"These are Mommy's chocolates and she might share them after dinner."

Makai grunted and returned to present opening.

Thee shook her head at Judah's cookie crumbs and walked toward the kitchen. "Can I get you anything to drink, Hutch?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]



"Thanks Dirks, you didn't have to bring anything."



Favorite chocolates? Thessa hated chocolate, except when she was pregnant with the tadpole and couldn't stop eating it. Unless chocolate was some odd Hutch-Thessa thing and Judah preferred not to even think about that in the slightest. Makai was busy ripping into the little building set. They had just built the Battle of Hoth not too long ago, at least this was much, much smaller.


Judah followed behind and stuck the wine in the refrigerator while Makai appeared at his side, wordlessly holding up the little bag full of plastic parts. It was code for : Daddy, put this together. The scruffy CEO turned salvager took the bag and carefully opened it, glancing back at the picture on the box before looking back at Dirks.


"Find the place okay?"

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Thessa Kai"] | Squirt

"An ale if you have it thanks, otherwise water is fine," Hutch answered, taking a good look around at the Dashiell's residence as he made his way further in. It definitely wasn't just a place to live. It was a home, their home. Good for them.

"Yeah no problem… The taxi driver knew exactly where it was," he chuckled, then added. "Actually, the island seems pretty easy to navigate. I got myself an apartment over on the canal. It's only about ten minutes from Salacia HQ so won't be a bad commute at all. Now I just need to arrange for some form of transportation here. I had to leave my swoop bike behind on Rendili when we made the mad dash to evacuate the planet when the Sith took over… "

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]

Grabbing an ale from Judah's stash, she handed it over to Hutch. She grimaced at the word 'sith,' face paled a shade. She and Judah had gone through their share of torture with the darksiders. Experiences neither of them liked to talk about much.

Grip tightened on the big pot of seafood gumbo as she stirred, to keep trembling hands from betraying her.

"It seems like all the bolters, weapons, and training can't prepare you for what those fethin' darksiders can do. Maybe Judah has a mode of transportation he can share in the garage?" She turned to look at her husband. He had a bunch of gadgets and there might be some used swoop-bike the salvager could spare.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]



Having assembled the little X-Wing fighter, Judah handed it over to his waiting son, who promptly started to 'fly' it around the kitchen. He didn't miss the look on Thessa's face, the way she immediately went to make herself busy. The Sith were a hard topic to swallow in the household. Sliding up next too her, Judah gave her hand a squeeze before placing a quick kiss on her aqauamarine lips.


"Actually, I've got something that will be perfect for you Hutch." Judah had won a lot of swoop bikes shortly before Makai was born. Five of them. One of those naturally went to Thessa, yet he had kept the others to tinker with or use for parts here and there. If he remembered correctly, a complete bike should be under a sheet in the garage.


"I've got a swoop bike sitting out there. I'll show you after we eat because I'm fairly certain it needs some new fluids, maybe a new spark plug. Its been out there for a bit."


"I wanna help you and Unca Hutch."


"You can help us. Right now, you can go put away your toys and scrub your scales for dinner."


Little feet ran away, disappearing up the stairs as Makai made X-Wing noises to go along with his movements. Only their son.

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Thessa Kai"]

"Really? Wow, that would be astral. You know how I like to tinker. I do appreciate all you two are doing here. I mean the job, the warm welcome, sharing your son, and now the bike… You guys are truly good friends. Thanks," Hutch smiled, expressing his heartfelt feelings with an appreciative nod.

Being called "Unca Hutch" by the Dashiell's son, even if it was a casual kid thing, melted the Rendili's heart. He missed his own nephew, and of course didn't have any kids of his own… Dirks hadn't found anyone that he wanted to settle down with except for Thessa, but of course that boat had sailed long ago due to his own stupidity. Did he want a family… maybe someday, but right now Dirks was okay with just being the adopted uncle. And, those duties would be taken seriously.

"Makai sure seems like a great kid. You guys have done well with him. If you ever need a baby sister, I'd be glad to watch him."

When the hybrid Galan came back from washing this 'scales', Hutch was waiting for him by the dinning table. "Hey Squirt… Mind if I sit next to you?"

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

The food was on the table. Thessa laughed as Makai shook his shaggy-curled head and climbed up into the chair next to Unca Hutch. He inherited his father's hair, so he needed many haircuts. Thessa added it to her mental list of things to do.

Who knew a snub-nosed fighter captain would put haircuts at the top priority of her to-do list?

She still had no regrets.

Passing around the gumbo and other food, she focused her attention on their guest. "So Unca Hutch, any lady friends we should know about?" The question was innocent on her part. She couldn't imagine the flyboy single for long. She wouldn't have said this a few years ago, but he deserved someone good.

Her thoughts turned to a certain, ginger-haired friend.

She also deserved someone good.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]




"Girls have cooties." Makai was solemn about this, looking at Unca Hutch as his Mama mentioned lady friends. "Cept for Mama, 'cause mamas don't got 'em."



"I think your Ma got a shot for her cooties before you were born. Doctors said something about dangerous mother-to-son cootie transmission."


Judah couldn't help but to chuckle a little and reached for his ale, shaking his shaggy head slightly. Not one to really drink, however, the alcohol was helping the semi-awkward situation a little. While his wife poked around in Dirk's love life, the salvager wasn't so sure the newly minted CSO was a one woman man.


"I've got the perfect woman for you to go on a blind date with. Just say the word. That is, if you don't have any cootie laden lady friends tying you down."

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Thessa Kai"]

Dirks loaded up his plate. The food looked and smelled even better than when he first arrived as now it was in front of him. Why was he so surprised at that? Maybe the former flyboy just couldn't get over how comfortable Thee seemed being domestic, and he wasn't be chauvinistic either.

The Rendili still remembered when the Galan pilot first had joined up with the Rogues… Lill' Mano had been a fish out of water, no pun intended, but very endearing with her quirks. It had been fun teaching her the human side of things. One of the reasons he'd fallen for her… Better not dwell on that, Hutchman.

The lighthearted family talk was cute until it came to him and was asked about his love life. Had Dirks been alone? Not often, but was he lonely or longing for something more than one nighters and casual relationships, perhaps. Hitting thirty had made the ladies man take notice of where he was in his life journey. The Rendili just hadn't found anyone yet really that he wanted to do that with, or maybe it more that he was afraid of commitment and hurting someone, again.

"Nope, but you'll be the first to know if there is, sister dear… And I'll definitely pass on the blind date business, thank you very much. Been there, done that, no way."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

She smiled at Makai from across the table. "Your dad, for once, is absolutely right. Cutie free." Makai munched on some kale leaves, loving them just as much as his mother, much to Judah's, probably, chagrin.

She shot Dirks a half grimace/smirk at her new nickname. Sister was good. It was safe.

Driftwood brows lofted at Judah's comment. "Oh, the perfect woman, huh? Who is this perfect woman you have in mind?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Thessa Kai"] | [member="Dirks Hutchinson"]



Judah watched his son stuff the leaves into his mouth like they were going out of style. Not many parents could say their kid wolfed down salad leaves like a champ. Then again, how many parents had kids that wanted kelp juice every morning? Makai probably got a lot of that from Thessa. Hybrid Galans seemed to be just as fond as the full-blooded kind.



"Excuse me, perfect woman for Dirks. I didn't mean a perfect woman in every way gracing our 'verse. Also, am I the only one that heard Thess say 'you're right' ?"



"Since blind dates are out, there is no reason to bother saying who. Unless I want to dig myself a deeper hole."

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Thessa Kai"]

It was great to see a kid eating his veggies, course the little half-merman was so like his mother. Dirks wondered what a child of theirs maybe would have looked like… About the same except for the mop top of curls probably. The Rendili stopped that run-away train of thought right in it's tracks as it was headed for a river crossing with no bridge and gators chomping at the bit below. Then, the former flyboy ate his kale too as he still had a fondness for it from the old days.

"That's one way to interrupt it, Farmboy… thought right doesn't always mean you're right. But the statement is correct, I don't see a cootie on Thee," he acknowledged with a smirk, then took a long sip of his ale.

"So now you've got my curiosity piqued just because I like to see you dig deeper holes while I watch," Hutch chuckled. "Shall we play a guessing game as to whom this "perfect woman" is for me? I'll start… Blonde, brunette, or redhead?" he asked, then scooped up a spoonful of the gumbo and shoved it into his waiting mouth, giving a sideways wink to Makai as he did.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Thessa Kai"]



"Different hair colors have different cooties?" Makai asked seriously once he had swallowed a mouth full of kale. Little ice-blue eyes were wide as his brain tried to make sense of it all. Eyebrows knitted together as he looked between the adults before wolfing down more food, waiting on his reply.


Judah meanwhile nearly choked on his dinner. What was this, Frat House Hour? The pit he had dug was more like quicksand now and Judah felt himself being sucked in deeper and deeper. However he wasn't going to buy into Dirk's game of 'guess the blind date'. For one, the ex-Flyboy had never met the woman(to his knowledge) so it would end up a pointless guessing game.


"Call me crazy, but I don't like sleeping on the couch in the garage. In order to keep that from happening, we're not going to play the blind date game. I'm sure you're doing just fine getting women on your own. Getting off that subject, I'm sure Thess has tons of questions for you, its been awhile since she's seen her little brother."

 

[Thessa Kai]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] [member="Judah Dashiell"]

A single driftwood brow lofted at Judah. Really. The man started this whole thing and obviously had someone in mind for the Rendili. And now he wasn't going to spill who it was?

She took a healthy sip of water to disguise her frown. Makai continued munching on his dinner and playing with his napkin.

"Come Judah. You've made us all curious now. Who did you have in mind, from earlier? Was it Becky from accounting?"

Her grin faded as a more thoughtful look transitioned on her face.

"And yes, Dirks. How are you? Really. I want to hear details. I mean, appropriate details for a toddler."

She winked as Makai clapped his hands.

 

[Alleycat]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Thessa Kai"]

"Ah, right, sorry… " Hutch nodded apologetically to Thessa, giving the young hybrid a side wink though with the message everything was cool.

"I'm good. Not much to tell really. Been living off my ship mostly since leaving Rendili, grabbing free lance security jobs here and there, some really exciting and not for prime time, and others boring. I'm glad I'm here though. Would really like to settle for a spell. Put down some roots again. Happy to be back with good friends."

He finished off the last of his food, the pushed the plate away.

"So how about you guys. What's on the horizon for the Dashiells, hmm?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Dirks Hutchinson"] | [member="Thessa Kai"]



Makai smiled a little at the wink, more food already in front of the boy. Shovels full of kale and seafood were disappearing like the boy had been starved all day. Judah was fairly certain he would need a second job to kept the boy fed by the time he became a teenager.



"Ceto is a decent place. It won't be your Rendili or Gala but its quiet and fairly laid back. We've really taken to the place over the years. Won't find a better tropical paradise this side of the 'verse is my opinion."


Judah shifted a little and raised an eyebrow at Thessa. What did the future hold for the Dashiells? To be honest, he didn't have a clue. There was always work with the business. Makai to raise. Adventures to be had. A grin directed towards his wife slowly appeared. Since he didn't have a real answer there was only one thing to do -- tease Thessa.


"Well, I've got a plan to keep Thess barefoot and pregnant -- mainly in the kitchen. I figure three more kids in a five year span, right darlin'? I'm going to need them in fifteen to twenty years to help run the corporation. Makai can't do it all on his own."


"Yes I can!" Makai seemed to protest the very idea of siblings. "I don't wanna share." A small pout appeared on aquamarine tinted lips.