The beach, Wednesday morning

[betterthanaplan]

The island had not yet lost its collective mind to paintball. The beach was peaceful. Duke was watching the waves.

It was a lovely morning.

[open!]

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[thatwaslucky]

And Rey at least was doing better this week when she got there right on time and greeted him with a, "Good morning."

[betterthanaplan]

Duke leaned back on his hands and smiled up at her. "Hey. I'm thinking meditation this week?"

He was feeling very chill, okay?

[thatwaslucky]

"That works for me," she said, taking a seat across from him. "Good week?"

[betterthanaplan]

"Not bad," Duke said. "Kinda quiet, really. Got a new tattoo." He lifted his arm to show her the pair of caterpillars on the inside of his arm. "You?"

[thatwaslucky]

"I like it," she said, peering at his arm. "It's a better week. I went hone fir the weekend."

Figured out a new trick.

[betterthanaplan]

"Oh yeah? Another resistance mission, huh?"

[thatwaslucky]

"No. Just needed the break," she said, and shrugged. "Last week was hard, I wanted to talk to Leia. It helped."

[betterthanaplan]

"Glad to hear it. I've done a couple extra sessions with my therapist, myself."

Claire hadn't even blinked. There was apparently a similar trouble up in Haven, so 'other people saw my nightmares' was old hat for her.

[thatwaslucky]

"It was definitely healthier than the hangover," she admitted. "Did the sessions help?"

[betterthanaplan]

"They . . . didn't hurt. You know, other than being exhausting."

[thatwaslucky]

"That's... good, right?" Rey asked.

[betterthanaplan]

"It's good," Duke assured her. "I don't know, there's something about just -- being totally honest with someone. Someone with no stake in what's going on around here, you know?"

[thatwaslucky]

She nodded. "Why i went home."

[betterthanaplan]

"Kind of wish I could hang with this Leia chick. She sounds cool."

[thatwaslucky]

"She is," Rey smiled. She loved Leia a lot. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's around for Parents Weekend."

Because Rey had dropped a dad-sized bomb on her.

[betterthanaplan]

"That'd be very cool," Duke said. "Pretty sure I won't be getting Nathan again this year. Might see if Gloria wants to come along, though."

[thatwaslucky]

"I'd actually really like to meet her," Rey admitted.

[betterthanaplan]

"Everybody should meet Gloria," Duke said, with a slightly doofy smile. "I tell you, if I was fifty years older. . . ."

[thatwaslucky]

"You've said that before," Rey said, grinning.

He was going to make her ship it anyway at this rate.

[betterthanaplan]

Duke laughed. "Well, it bears repeating. You'll see."

[thatwaslucky]

"I look forward to also developing a little crush on her," Rey teased.

[betterthanaplan]

"And I look forward to maybe getting attached to Leia, too."

[thatwaslucky]

"I feel like that'd be very easy," Rey said. "But I'm biased."

She was trying so hard not to lean into the space mom thing while also knowing Leia absolutely thought of herself as her space mom.

[betterthanaplan]

“What’ll be really cool,” Duke mused, “ is if we can get Leia and Gloria talking to each other.”

[thatwaslucky]

"I'm sure we can manage that," Rey said. "Because now it has to happen."