TITLE: Expecting the Unexpected

By Jemmiah

Authors Note: The Character of Lilith Demodae was created by the author of the same name, and used with her permission as part of the ongoing Jemmiah Chronicles series.

"I like what you've done with this place." Lilith looked appraisingly about the kitchen in Jemmiah's home, admiring the smart finishes and little individualistic touches her Corellian friend had added to make the area more interesting. "It's smart. And it looks like it's been lived-in, which I always think is good. Can't abide these stupid all-chrome surfaces that people have everywhere…makes it look like they've been stolen straight from a restaurant or something. Not to mention the ghastly people that have 'em. It's like they're just there for show, and the idea of actually doing any cooking in them is obscene!"

"Yeah, I know the kind." Jemmiah agreed, pressing her hand to the small of her back. "The ones that look like they'll have a coronary if you so much as breathe anywhere near a shiny work surface."

It had been hard work getting everything the way she had wanted it, and had cost her a not inconsiderate amount of money to do so, but finally things were starting to fall into place. The old house was beginning to feel more and more like a place where Jemmiah felt comfortable to live, and whilst the instinct to preserve as many of the good childhood memories she had left to her initially warred with the need for a clean start, Jemmiah had decided to sweep away the cobwebs of her past and begin again. As a concession she had left the old attic playroom untouched, the books and toys scattered on the floor the way they had been since that fateful day she, her mother and brother had left Corellia…

"Bedrooms still need done." Jemmiah chewed thoughtfully on her lip. "Haven't a clue what I'll do with them. Not thought it through at all. Tell you the truth," she gave a sheepish shrug of her shoulders, "I think one or two people think I'm nuts living on what is a partial building site. Rela tried to talk me into moving back to Coruscant whilst the work is done, you know? Get someone to project manage the whole thing."

"Makes sense." Lilith nodded.

"But I rather like seeing the whole thing through. Watch it coming to fruition. It's been interesting."

Lilith offered Jemmiah a melancholy smile. "But lonely, surely? Just yourself and nobody else here in this old, empty house with nobody to speak to? I mean…it must be tough on you right now, what with giving up the swoop racing and of course…"

Jemmiah's face blanched but her chin raised itself resolutely. Obi-Wan always told her she ran from her problems: this time however she refused to do so. What good would pretending do her now? She could hardly run away from the situation, not when she had so much time alone to spend thinking over the whole miserable situation.

"Jonas' death." Jemmiah stated matter-of-factly. "You can say it, you know. I won't break into a million pieces."

For a moment Lilith looked directly behind Jemmiah, as if searching for the courage to ask something that had long been troubling her.

"Why did you give up the swoops?" She wondered, hesitant to continue with what must surely be a troublesome and painful subject. "You said when Jonas had died that you wanted to throw yourself into you racing, to give you a focus…a reason. Kriff, I even tried to persuade you to take time out but you were adamant that it was exactly what you needed. Then you just gave up."

Jemmy grunted. "The new laws on the drugs you can and can't take came into effect. Whilst I was fine to race with the medication I used to be on, the new combination in effect prohibited me from continuing. I considered challenging the laws," her expression soured as she recalled the day she'd handed in her swoop licence, "but it would have done no good. I guessed someone was trying to tell me it was time to pack it all in. Besides which there are new kids getting into it now who will very soon be beating all my records: and I don't want to be around when that happens. I'm twenty six now and already I feel as if I'm old enough to be their mother!"

"Kriffing nonsense, if you'll forgive my colorful exchange." Declared the ex-smuggler defiantly. "You've got more natural talent in your little toe than these whippersnappers will ever have in their lifetime!"

Jemmiah picked up a cloth and began to rub aimlessly at the food prep-unit. "It's done now. Finished. No going back. I'll look on my swoop days as an interesting chapter of my life, and I'll cherish the memories for as long as my own mind holds out! Now I'm going to concentrate on other things: like getting this house the way I want it! What with my swoop money and my own inheritance…and the money I got from Jonas' estate," she lowered her voice respectfully, "I find myself in the position of being a merry widow! At least that's how everyone seems to view me…like I'm some prime piece of real estate just waiting for the highest bidder. I think everyone sees me as the most eligible person on the planet right now and between you and me," she tapped her nose, "it's getting right on my…"

"Yes, well." Lilith coughed. "I can understand that."

Jemmiah looked about her. "Where's your other half? I thought he was supposed to be coming with us?"

Lilith replied with a dry, faintly amused snicker. "Dragging his feet? Made all manner of excuses to get out of it! 'You girls take an age to get ready', he said. 'I'll give you a four hour start and then maybe you'll be ready to go by the end of the performance!' Not that he wanted to go anyway: I had to practically arm-lock him into agreeing. Corellian opera is not Jake's idea of a good time."

"I can imagine!"

"Then," Lilith drew herself up to her most intimidating height, "he tried that old 'someone-has-to-stay-and-watch-the-kids' routine! I never thought I'd see the day when Jake would willingly volunteer to stay in and watch the kids: he must be absolutely desperate! But when I pointed out that NAN-1 and MICK between them were more than capable of looking after them his argument sorta petered out." She made a swift check of her chrono. "Should be here in less than an hour or so. That time enough for you to get into your frock?"

Jemmiah looked Lilith up and down. No, not Lilith - Samla, she reminded herself sternly. She'd spent so many years referring to the woman as Lilith Demodae that getting used to calling her Samla Jivinan was nigh on impossible. But Lilith, if she noticed, never made any mention of the fact or intimated that being referred to by her old nom-de-plume in any way put her out. Tall, sturdy, with a determined glint in her eye, there was little that could visibly have pointed out to anyone the hard life the woman had been forced to lead. Which was good, because that was the way that she wanted it to be…

"You look smart." Jemmy sighed. "And as for me getting into my frock - I'll be lucky."

Lilith turned from where she had been admiring the quirky spiral light fitting to where Jemmiah stood mournfully winding the cloth in her hand.

"What do you mean?" She asked her curiously.

"Oh, nothing really." Jemmy's mouth twisted to one side; "it's these fragging pills I'm on. Yeah, they've really worked, which I'm grateful for, but they've made me pile on the weight. My ankles are pretty swollen too. In short I'm a wreck. Back's been sore for the last few weeks…went to the doctor for all the good it did me."

"And what did he say?" Lilith demanded.

Jemmiah rubbed once more at the small of her back.

"That it's an unfortunate side effect of the medication - and that it would eventually recede once my body had gotten used to it. In the meantime I would just have to suffer until it cleared itself. I guess what can't be cured must be endured…"

"Well," Lilith reluctantly pointed at Jemmiah's middle; "I hadn't wanted to say anything but you do seem to have put on a few pounds."

"Tell me about it." Jemmiah disparagingly prodded at her stomach. "What I want to know is when it's all going to stop! I mean, am I going to go on and on expanding until I look like a life-size inflatable Hutt? The doctor says it's all fluid, but I feel like a water bed!"

Lilith clapped her friend on the arm. "Don't you pay it any heed. These things all take time - besides which you're really not so fat." Her eyes swept uncomfortably up and down Jemmiah's body, making her cringe slightly. "Say, you're not maybe…I mean you couldn't be pregnant, could you?"

Her words fell to the ground like a feather tied to a stone weight; a silence ensuing in which the only sound that could be heard was the feint grinding of Jemmiah's teeth.

"I'm not pregnant." Jemmiah replied with as much dignity as she could muster. "I can't have children. An-Paj told me as much after we came back from that nightmare on Urior. The stuff the gave me to keep me alive rendered me sterile, so the chances of me ever expecting the patter of tiny feet are zero."

Lilith averted her eyes momentarily to the floor. "I'm really sorry, Jemmy. I had no idea."

"Yeah, well." Jemmiah tided away a long strand of her hair behind her ear, similarly unable to meet Lilith's gaze. It wasn't as if she'd ever wanted children, but the ability not to be able to have them had somehow made her feel useless…imperfect. And Jonas, despite his vows to the contrary, had been so devastated to find out the truth when she'd told him that he'd become quite cold to her…almost a different person. "I didn't make a habit of telling people. Not exactly the sort of thing you drop into general conversation, is it? Anyway," Jemmiah pulled a face as she rubbed at her aching back, "I guess it's hardly important right now. I'm going to get changed: if I can find anything suitable that fits me. Too much good living since I packed in the swoops - that's not exactly helped. If this blasted back of mine would just behave then I could maybe just get on with things…"

"What's wrong with your back?" Lilith cocked her head to one side, strands of light reddish brown hair falling into her eyes.

"It hurts." Jemmiah grimaced. "Never been right since I came off the blasted swoop at that midnight track session a few years ago…"

Lilith watched Jemmiah walk out of the kitchen, still furiously rubbing at her back. Poor girl was still getting over the loss of her husband, she thought, and all the little annoying ailments that one picked up over the years would no doubt seem magnified when one had so much free time on which to dwell upon them. Maybe she was just missing the swoop racing? Lilith didn't feel particularly convinced that Jemmy had been so happy to give it all up…

"You've not seen my new bathroom." Jemmiah called from upstairs, interrupting her thoughts. "I quite like it, even if I say so myself. I've got two other bathrooms fitted that are attached to the bedrooms but this is the main one, with a standard fresher and a huge bath and separate shower unit. I need somewhere suitably palatial for Snordle and Snawl to sit! Got heated tiles on the floor, too!"

"You've really gone to town, haven't you?" Lilith's lips pursed in an amused smile. "So, you've got three fresher rooms. How many bedrooms do you have?"

"Er…" There was a slight pause as Jemmiah seemed to mentally count them up. "Nine? I think…or did I maybe count one of them twice? No, I think it's nine."

"Nine?!?" Lilith's jaw dropped in the direction of the floor. "That's not a house: that's a hotel!"

"I didn't ask for them…oh, kriffit. Where are my earrings? I laid them out earlier so that I could just…ah, there they are!" Lilith walked to the bottom of the stairs so that she could hear Jemmiah better. "They were part of the house! I did think about turning one of them into a library. Recreate the temple in my own house - minus Jocasta Nu, perhaps! Maybe minus all the busts as well…always thought those were a bit freaky."

Lilith ran her hands over the polished wood surface of the banister that lead up to the second and third floor of the mighty house, suddenly beginning to see little hints in the décor that led her to believe there was more truth in Jemmiah's words than she'd at first given credit. Maybe she was joking about the library, but Lilith decided she'd be a Gundark's Auntie if the staircase didn't possess more than just a throwaway resemblance to the mighty spiral staircase at the Jedi temple. The muted colours and tones just screamed 'Jedi' straight at her: all it was missing were a few elegant marble arches and Lilith could have sworn she was back on Coruscant in the heart of the temple itself. Missing it, was she? Missing Obi-Wan? Recreating a home away from home?

"So," Lilith said as she paused beside a giant, empty cannoid basket lying underneath the stairway, "have you heard from Obi-Wan of late?"

The question seemed to surprise Jemmiah judging by the sound of silence that followed.

"Not for months." Came back the somewhat suspicious reply. "Not since after Jonas died. I sent him two messages but to be honest…I didn't feel really comfortable talking to him. We had a bit of an odd parting when we last met. Not angry or anything like that: just a bit…"

"A bit what?" Lilith asked, prodding at the dog basket with the toe of her shoe.

"…Strange. We didn't really resolve anything in the end. Just said that he thought I should try and work things out with Jonas if I could."

Was that wistfulness, Lilith wondered? And to whom exactly was the wistfulness directed: at her late husband or at the Jedi Knight? Clearly there was more going on than was being said - and Lilith resolved to discover the truth by the end of the day!

"Anyhow, I guess after Jonas died I wanted to keep Obi-Wan at arms length for a bit. You know how overprotective he can be - and since Qui-Gon's death he's sort of slipped into this dual-purpose role of guardian and…friend." She chose her final word with such deliberate care that Lilith's sharp ears could not help but pick up on it. "I mean, it's nice to have people care about you but sometimes Obi-Wan takes it to extremes. Not that I've ever seen him do the same with anyone else: he's just a Jedi through and through. Never lets anything get under his skin…never lets anything rattle him. These days he's almost superhumanly perfect. Does everything by the book, just like a Jedi should. And he wanted to marry me once?" Jemmiah gave an ironic bark of laughter. "I couldn't think of anyone less suited to being the wife of a Jedi Knight, could you? How could I have possibly come up to his standards? I'd be forever letting him down…"

"Pah, Jedi!" Lilith replied scornfully, wondering if she should be nosy and look around the rest of the house whilst Jemmiah was busy getting ready. "Not my idea of husband material. Then again," she screwed up her brow as she contemplated the matter, "I'd never really have said Jake was ideal husband material either…shows how wrong you can get! Besides which, the Jedi have brought in that rule now which has banned marriages except in certain individual cases. If your Kenobi fellow wanted to make you his wife now," she continued wryly, "he'd have to leave the order to do it."

Was that a sigh? Lilith placed a foot on the end of the stairs, waiting for Jemmiah to continue, but there was no audible reply. Did she really still carry a torch for her one-time lover? Surely that was over years and years ago? And if it wasn't then there was little Jemmiah or anyone could do about it: Obi-Wan was very much married to the Jedi order, and had an apprentice of his own into the bargain. Casting a glance around the as yet unfinished house, Lilith tried to imagine Obi-Wan and Jemmiah as lord and lady of the manor, wondering if she could picture the two of them living a quiet and happy life in relative obscurity on a less than fashionable and largely agricultural part of Corellia.

Most disturbingly, Lilith was pretty certain that she could.

"My life has moved on, Lil." Jemmy's voice became suddenly stronger, as if fired-up by a newfound resolve. "I'll always care for Obi-Wan in my own way: I couldn't stop that if I tried. Qui-Gon always said we had a bond from day one. But he has his life now and I have mine…and I'm going to start by putting my house in order. Literally, once the plaster work on the master bedroom is completed and the…"

Her voice immediately twisted into a scream: a sharp howl of pain, one that had Lilith running up the stairway to the bathroom three steps at a time. So intent was Lilith on finding out what was wrong with her friend that she overshot the bathroom and headed down towards the spare bedrooms on the second floor.

"Jemmy, kid - whatever's the matter?" The tall woman knocked open the nearest door with the flattened palm of her hand. "Kriff, where's the frelling bathroom?" She could hear Jemmiah's gasping breath back the way she'd came and turned herself about, her feet pounding over the newly laid floor carpet. "Jemmy, are you okay?"

"Shoozer…"

"Jemmiah, you're scaring me!" Lilith yelled, spotting the bathroom with the yellow plasti-duck sign lying crookedly to one side on its pin. "Hang on, I'm coming! Do you feel unwell again? Do you want me to fetch a doctor?"

"Lil…help me here. I feel absolutely…kriff!" Jemmiah yelled again. "That kriffing hurts. Lil, I think I'm dying!"

Lilith burst open the door and instantly spotted her friend doubled up in pain, one hand against her stomach and the other steadying herself against the bath. She ran to her, instantly supporting the girl with her arm, keeping her voice low and steady so that she might help calm the situation. Pale faced and ill, Jemmiah shook against her, clearly unwell and desperately afraid.

"Did you take your medication today?" Lilith demanded. "Think, Jemmy! It's important."

Jemmiah nodded dumbly, biting down on her lip.

"Okay…how long have you been feeling like this? Did it just come on suddenly or have you been feeling rough for a while?"

Jemmiah took a big, half-sobbing breath, trying not to show any fear infront of Lilith.

"It's been rough these last…eight hours or so." She screwed her eyes shut. "I thought it was just trapped gas or something…maybe a bit of colic. Hell, Lilith…it's so painful!"

"I'll call a medic. We'll get someone over here as soon as possible…hang on." Lilith heard the sound of an approaching speeder heading up the driveway towards the house. "I think that's Jake! I recognise the sound of that souped-up collection of junk and wires! I'll get him to call for a medic and then I'll come right back…"

"Lilith," Jemmiah grabbed hold of her friend's hand, clinging onto it as if she were her last hope, "don't leave me…please…"

"I'll be right back, sweetheart. I absolutely promise you that…" Lilith squeezed hard against Jemmiah's fingers, allowing the girl to hold the gold rail of the bath with both hands. "I'll just shout downstairs and tell him to…"

And then, unexpectedly, something happened to turn the whole situation right on its head.

"…Frelling Corellian opera, anyway. Who goes to see that stuff anymore? Not like it's Sam's type of thing anyway, and I wouldn't have put Jemmiah down as an opera buff either. So why are the insisting on dragging me off to see this damn thing?" Jake groused, stepping out of the speeder and placing both booted feet squarely on the beautiful, newly laid crazy-pattern path at the front of the house. "Unless they just want to torture me! Yes, that's probably it. Every time those two get together something freaky always happens and I get caught up right in the middle of it!"

One thing was for certain; his wife was not going to be happy on seeing him turn up wearing his scruffy spacer's garb. Explaining that NAN-1 had ruined his only decent suit whilst attempting to remove the creases with a hot press would equally not sit well with her. Hopefully it would however serve as a perfect example of why they should never have considered leaving the metal maniac in charge of their precious children in the first place…

"JAAAAAAAKE!" His wife's voice could be heard throughout the open window of the second floor. "Get your kriffing hide in here this instant!"

Jake Jivinan blinked, staring up at the window, at which there was no visible sign of anybody.

"Kriff, she can see through walls now." He groaned, trudging reluctantly up the path to the door, which obligingly swung open the moment he reached the magnificent facade of the building. "This gets weirder and weirder by the minute…okay, here comes the condemned awaiting his execution…"

From the top of the stairs Jake heard a blood-curdling shriek.

"What in seven Corellian hells is going on!?!" He shouted, hanging back at the foot of the landing.

"That's not possible!"

"Jemmiah," Lilith began, trying her best to comfort the frantically sobbing Corellian, "I don't care what the doctors told you, or what An-Paj told you. I know what my eyes are telling me: you're having a baby and you are having it right now!"

"But I can't be!" Jemmiah shouted hoarsely, feeling on the verge of panic.

"Your waters have broken! There's no getting away from the fact…I know about these things because I've gone through it three times myself! Trust me: I'm an expert!" Lilith replied, desperately looking about her for inspiration. "Okay, just relax."

"How am I supposed to relax when you tell me I'm having a baby!!!" Screamed Jemmiah, trying to ignore the terrible pains as best she could. "I don't believe this is happening…I won't!!!"

"You can't just close your legs and wish it away - it doesn't work like that." Lilith pushed her face confrontationally into Jemmiah's sight. "Listen to me, Jemmy. Looks like you're not going to be alone in this big old house of yours for much longer. I don't care how much you don't like it: you've got to accept the fact and get on with it! You can worry about the hows and whys and wherefores after it's all over but all you are doing is causing yourself a whole load of stress and that is not doing yourself or the baby any good…"

"This isn't happening." Jemmiah leaned her head against Lilith's shoulder, weeping incessantly. "It can't be…"

"Kid," Lilith sighed, hugging the girl towards her, "Is it so very bad? Looks like Jonas left you a little reminder of himself. Isn't that a good thing?"

Jemmiah seemed to freeze rigidly in Lilith's arms.

"Nine months…nine months ago…how can it be? I mean, he was there and I was away…I don't understand. Not unless of course…" Jemmiah's breath seemed to catch in her throat. "Of, kriff! Lilith…it couldn't have been…"

"What is it?" Lilith asked, concerned by her friend's confused babbling.

"Obi-Wan! I spent a whole week with him…before I went back to Jonas. Anakin was away at camp and we…I…"

"I can guess." Lilith drawled, blowing out a deep breath. "You sure like to complicate matters, don't you?"

It didn't matter who the child's father was at the end of the day. The only fact that mattered - the one that Lilith was having the most difficulty making Jemmiah understand - was that the child was on its way. Rapidly, if the timing of the contractions were anything to go by.

"Look, this can wait. The baby evidently can't." Lilith pulled Jemmiah slowly to her feet. "You're going to have to get in the bath."

"What?!?" Jemmiah screamed once more, this time in shock. "I can't have it in the bath! I paid thousands of credits for it!"

"It's the bath or the floor, Jemmy!" Lilith was becoming exasperated. "Junior is not going to wait much longer to put in an appearance…and where the hell is Jake?!?" She helped Jemmiah to lower herself into the bath, slowly rolling her dress upwards. "Okay, just try and relax for a moment. Looks like I've been designated midwife…I'm going to get Jake to fetch some things. Don't go away…"

The joke did not seem to go down particularly well, Lilith noted. Then again, she didn't expect that she would laugh in the same situation. Jemmiah had woken up that morning cheered in the thought of spending a night at the opera, and there she was; stuck in a compromising situation with her legs hanging over each side of the bath, having a baby she didn't even know she was expecting!

Lilith charged once more out of the room, only to confront her husband at the top of the stairs.

"About time!" Lilith snapped. "There's been a change of plan. We're not going to the opera."

"We're not?!?" Jake's face lit up with ill-disguised delight. "Err, I mean…oh, dear. We're not?" He forced his lips to fall into an insincere imitation of disappointment. "Why have the plans changed?"

"Because," Lilith rolled up her sleeves, "We're having a baby instead."

Jake blinked. "What, now?"

"Yes."

"Can't it wait until we get home?" He asked her hopefully.

"Not us, you nerfwit!" Lilith growled at him. "Jemmiah! She's having a baby, and we are going to have to be the hospital team until the medics show up. Go call them, and then when you're done you can come back and pace up and down outside like you usually do in situations like this." The ex-smuggler eyed her husband balefully. "Oh, and bring me some hot water and a basin, hmm?"

Hearing Jemmiah's frightened cries from inside the room the blood suddenly emptied from Jake's face .

"How can you not know you're having a baby?" He asked Lilith, the recognised expert when it came to such feminine matters. "I mean, surely you can't not know?!?"

"It happens." Lilith moved a few paces back towards the door. "Occasionally. Although usually the child is very small so it's not noticed so much, and for whatever reasons the other telltale signs are absent. I think in Jemmiah's case all the symptoms were explained away by a not very observant doctor who thought that it was just the side effects of her medication. That and a nasty case of bloat."

"Bloat?" Jake repeated, as Lilith retreated back to the bathroom. "What's she supposed to have eaten? A Bantha?"

"Just go and call the medics!" Lilith yelled from behind the door, her voice rising in mild panic. "Otherwise the chances of US ever having any more babies, or the chances of you ever getting to practice, are null and void!"