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Omega flinches.
She doesn’t mean to. She doesn’t even know why she does it, not really. She knows who the threats are and who they aren’t (usually, she’s getting better) and she knows Wrecker isn’t one of them. She understands that who he was for those terrifying couple minutes is not who he is as a whole. She understands what the chips are. She understands (with a part of her soul that just seems to understand more than even she does) that the way Wrecker felt during that moment is not how Wrecker feels now.
She understands this. Knows this. And flinches anyway.
Wrecker freezes, his hand hanging in the air, his eyes hurt and sad and oh so guilty as he takes a step back and then another.
They stare at each other and Omega’s stomach rolls. She feels clammy and nervous for reasons she doesn’t understand. She should be better than this. It hadn’t even been that bad. Not really. Sure it had been dark and scary and Wrecker had been enormous in a way he’d never been before, but it hadn’t been that bad. The ending had been happy. Wrecker was himself again. She should be better than this.
She opens her mouth, Wrecker opens his, “Sorry,” they both say simultaneously.
She blinks. Wrecker blinks.
“What’re you sorry for?” Wrecker talks in the same manner he talks to Tech. Confused and frustrated.
Omega fidgets in her seat. She looks down at her hands, they’re so small. They’d almost shot Wrecker. They’re shaking and she doesn’t know why.
“Omega?” Wrecker says softly and she looks up.
How could she have been scared of him? How could she have flinched away? He’s big, sure, but right now he looks so small and unsure and how could she have been scared of that?
She hops off her seat. He takes another step back. They both freeze and Omega feels like something’s been irreparably broken.
“I’m sorry for flinching,” she says softly. “I’m not scared of you, I promise. I don’t want to make you sad.”
Despite this Wrecker looks sadder now. Sadder and smaller as he hunches his shoulders in and clenches his hands together.
When he doesn’t respond, she talks again.
“What are you sorry for?”
He jolts up at this and she can feel his disbelief simmering in the air. Can understand it just as easily as she can see it on his face.
“What am I sorry for?” He gruffs. “ What am I sorry for? Omega I almost killed you! I was going to kill you. You were there and small and scared and I didn’t even care. I didn’t care about you er Hunter er Tech er Captain Rex, all I cared about was makin’ sure you all died. That I made sure you died. I just wanted you dead!” He keeps taking steps back as he speaks and there’s a sharp clang as his armor makes contact with the ship’s hull. “I didn’t care.” He says again. “I wanted you dead,” and it’s such a painfully mewling sound that it causes her to take a step back.
It’s a mistake. Wrecker halts, stares at her, and looks crushed.
She has just enough time to have the irrational thought of—I don’t think Wrecker’s ever said so many words in a row—before the clone slides down the wall with a clang. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t look at her. He goes to put his head in his hand, stops, freezes, and then drops it down onto his knees instead. Because of this it takes her longer than she would’ve liked to realize he’s crying.
Her stomach churns as the sound. Horrible and pitiful and distraught. She’s never seen one of the Bad Batch cry before. She doesn’t think she likes it.
Tentatively she makes her way to him and then sits down by his side. Gently she wraps her arms around his and rests her head against him. He heaves next to her, loud, terrible sobs that she wishes would stop, but she doesn’t say anything. For a long while she just sits there, feeling the coolness of his armor through her shirt and listening to him. She doesn’t know what to say to make this better. She doesn’t think anything will make this better. But she so desperately wants to try.
“Wrecker,” she mutters softly as he quiets. “I’m glad you’re here.” He doesn’t say anything but she continues anyway. “You’re strong and brave and loving and I’m so happy that I know you. I don’t care what happened on Bracca, what I care about is that you’re okay. I don’t blame you for what happened and neither do any of the others. We understand that you couldn’t have helped it. I understand that you couldn’t have helped it. And...and I hope that someday you’ll be able to understand that too.”
She waits again, but nothing happens. Then the sobs quiet and start to teeter off and with a gulp she confesses.
“Back on Kamino, before all this, I used to imagine what it would be like to meet all of you. I would lay in bed and just dream about what you would be like. The Bad Batch. The unique clones. The clones like me. I’d come up with pictures and moments and it would be perfect. I used to think that a life with all of you would be better than anything I could imagine.”
Wrecker’s voice is soft. “And what do you think now?”
“I think that those dreams don’t compare. This here, all of this including you, is something I wouldn’t change for the world. I love it here. I love Tech and Hunter and Echo and I love you. And even after everything that's happened I still love you.” She hugs him tighter. “So please don’t be sad. I just want you to be okay.”
And all at once Wrecker moves and he’s gathered her up in his arms and he’s crying again, but it feels different this time. Less manic and more cathartic and she wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his neck.
He’s squeezing just a tad too tight and she thinks she might have bruises later, but she can’t bring herself to care. Not over the soft chorus of I’m sorry’s and thank you’s. Instead she sings back it’s okay’s and you’re welcome’s until Wrecker pulls back.
He looks at her, eyes bloodshot and soft, and he grips her shoulders tightly.
“I love you too kid,” he says and Omega’s face breaks into a grin.
She tosses her arms back around his neck, buries her head into his shoulder, and whispers softly in response, “See what’d I tell you? Better than anything I could have ever imagined.”