Ok, so I know I just published another Star Wars fanfiction a few days ago. I'm going to keep updating that one; I just got this plot bunny stuck in my head and it wouldn't go away. I plan for this story to span all of Ben and Rey's lives up to the Force Awakens, including Ben's turn to the Dark Side.

As it says in the description this will be a Reylo story-non related.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of its characters. All rights go to Disney and Lucasfilm.

Enjoy!

8 years after the Battle of Endor

The first time Luke heard the knock on his front door, he assumed it was just a tree branch of some kind. The Coruscant government had made initiative after initiative to 'beautify' the city planet; it wasn't so uncommon anymore to find a park here or a community garden there in between high rises and buildings older than the Old Republic. In fact, Luke had two saplings planted outside his own house-though they were still too young to call themselves self-respecting trees. In any case, this wasn't the first time he'd been called to the door because of a stray tree branch so he didn't give the noise a second thought.

The second time he heard the knock, five minutes later, he began to wonder if it was a postal carrier. He got all kinds of packages and memos these days-most of them good, a few of them bad-ever since word had gotten around that he was looking to train a new group of Force sensitive children to become the first Jedi Knights of the new Order. Although it was rare for postal carriers to be making their rounds this late at night… "Leave it on the front porch!" he called, making a mental note to remind himself to pick it up in the morning.

Five minutes later, he heard what sounded like a baby crying.

Of course, he knew it was a cry belonging to a human baby. Leia and Han's son, Ben, was two years old now-and he liked to cry every time Luke came to visit for reasons unknown. For a few minutes he was just stunned into silence. This wasn't a sound he was accustomed to hearing on a nightly basis. This was precisely the reason he'd bought a house on the very edge of the city limits-so he could actually get some sleep at night.

Maybe he was imagining things.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, the baby cried again-more insistently this time. It seemed to be coming from right outside his door, curiously enough. Reluctantly he forced himself to stand up and walk to the front door, the cold from the tile floor biting through his thin leather slippers like rows of teeth. "Who's there?" he called, stopping outside the door. There was no reply, though the baby continued to cry. Carefully, he opened the door-and froze automatically.

There was a small wooden basket sitting on his front doorstep. And in that basket was…a baby girl.

For a minute, she stared at Luke and Luke stared right back. Slowly, her crying dwindled from full blown sobs into tiny little hiccups as she looked at him with tiny brown eyes. Luke looked her over carefully; she had a mop of what looked like brown hair on the crown of her head and was staring up at him intently as she carefully sucked her thumb. A blue and pink baby blanket was crushed in her fist, though she was wrapped in layers of other blankets to shield her from the night chill. Pinned to the front of her outfit was a note. Feeling a specific feeling of cold dread in the pit of his stomach, Luke carefully unpinned the note and read it: Her name is Rey. Please care for her to the best of your ability.

"No." Luke said quietly, rubbing his forehead with the back of one hand in frustration. He couldn't care for a child. He didn't have the time, nor did he know the first thing about raising a baby girl. For a second he was tempted to slam the door on her and hope the problem would resolve itself by morning. This was the kind of thing that happened in children's stories-not to real people. But the girl-Rey, his mind corrected itself mutinously-kept looking at him and he found himself unable to abandon her just like that.

He knelt down next to her cautiously, praying to every deity he could think of that she wouldn't start crying. "Hello. Where do you come from?" He didn't expect an answer and he didn't get one. "I'm Luke Skywalker. Your parents couldn't have dropped you off with a worse guardian." There was nothing for it. He would have to take her to child services in the morning. They would know what to do with her. They would place her in good hands.

The girl kept looking up at him, almost curiously, biting the soft skin of her thumb as she squirmed to get out of the basket. For the first time, Luke wondered just how long she had been inside of it. Using extreme caution he picked her up, trying to hold her the way he'd seen Leia hold Ben and guessing wildly the entire time. "Would you like to come inside until I figure out what to do with you?" However conflicted he might be, he wasn't going to let the baby freeze to death in the cold night. The baby didn't respond of course, but he got the feeling that she would tolerate that idea if she needed to.

They went inside and he set her down on the couch in the sitting room, piling some cushions underneath so she wouldn't fall off. He took the chair across the room and kept looking at her, waiting for the Force to reveal the course of action he should take. Jedi weren't allowed to marry or have children; he'd learned that in his training. But technically his father had already broken that rule…and looking after a baby girl because her parents wished it wasn't the same thing as having a child himself. Were her parents ever going to come back for her-or would they just expect him to raise their child? He didn't know for sure and the entire thing was giving him a migraine. "Would you like some tea?" Could babies even have tea? Probably not, he decided. She would need some kind of formula. Unfortunately, he didn't have any of that on hand. And what about diaper changes? The baby just continued to look at him stolidly.

"Okay then." he replied. "Are you tired?" She certainly didn't look tired. In fact, if anything she looked more awake than he did. "Who are your parents? Why did they abandon you?"

She still looked at him curiously and he realized he was getting nowhere. Great. Just great. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

Finally she cocked her head to the side slightly and looked at him as though she were seeing him for the first time. "Mama?"

"Uh…no. I don't know where your mother is." I was kind of hoping you did.

"Mama?" she asked again, more insistently this time.

"I'm sorry. I don't know." he replied again.

Her face began to crumple again and alarm bells began to blare inside his head. He'd seen enough of Ben's tantrums to know what was coming next.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Rey started to wail.

Kriff. He surveyed his apartment, filled with books about the old Jedi Order-but it held nothing even remotely useful for caring for a crying baby. "No, no-please don't cry. We'll find your parents again, just please don't cry-" If anything, that seemed to make her wail harder.

That was it. He was going to tell the experts. Maybe they would know what to do.

~SW~

He could only imagine how surprised Leia was to see him on her doorstep at close to midnight with a screaming baby in his arms. Of course, she'd seen Luke in all kinds of strange situations over the years-so this probably wasn't too much of a stretch. "Do I want to know?" she asked tiredly.

"No, you probably don't. How do I calm her down?"

"You'd better come inside. She's going to wake the entire neighborhood at this rate." Luke was more than happy to comply.

He always marveled at how clean Han and Leia's house was, even with a two year old living inside of it. Everything had a place-you always knew where you could find a new bottle of formula, a new can of baby food, or even a better hyperspace motivator. It was cleaner than his house at any rate-and he lived on his own. Calmly, she took Rey from him carefully and looked her over with a knowing eye. "When was the last time she had something to eat?"

"I don't know. She just appeared on my doorstep about half an hour ago."

"She's probably hungry-and scared, if what you're saying is true. Was she abandoned?"

"I assume so. Apparently, I'm supposed to look after her."

Leia looked like she would have laughed if times were different. "Then I suppose you should learn how to feed her. What's her name?"

"Rey-and who said I was going to raise her?"

She pointedly ignored him, placing Rey in Ben's high chair and taking a bowl of scrambled eggs out of the refrigerator, letting them heat up in the microwave for a few minutes. "She should be old enough to eat regular foods-but you'll want to start slow. Introduce soft foods first-cooked vegetables and fruits-" She grabbed some of those too. "Breads, and soft cereals to see if she can manage those. It's simple once you get the hang of it."

Easier said than done. He watched the eggs heat up, the rotating disk inside the microwave going around and around to properly cook the eggs on all sides-and tried not to think about how gigantic this mess really was. "Leia, how can I take care of her? It's not like I have the time-"

"So you're taking her to child services in the morning, then?"

"That's the plan. I've never taken care of a child before."

"You could at least give it a couple of days."

He sighed. "Tomorrow I have a meeting with the archivists and next week I'm off to Aqualish. Things aren't slowing down any time soon. It just wouldn't be practical."

"Caring for kids is never practical-but you don't know what you're missing until you've tried it. Ben would love a cousin-but it's your choice, of course. You should do what feels right. Now come on-the food's ready." She grabbed one of Ben's bibs out of a drawer at the back of the kitchen and fastened it around Rey's neck effortlessly before pouring some of the food into a bowl and handing it to Luke, along with a bottle of leftover formula.

Tentatively, Luke scooped a bit of the scrambled eggs onto the tip of the spoon and held it out towards Rey. As soon as she could reach it, the baby ate the food eagerly. Her tears dissolved to hiccups, until she was no longer crying at all.

"She likes you." Leia said. "You must be doing something right."

"How did you and Han manage with Ben?" This had been hard enough. He couldn't imagine having to keep her cared for, out of trouble, and with a clean diaper-much less think beyond that. What about when she had to go to school? What about playdates? What about…actual dates?

"Through lots of trial and error. I would not recommend it." She ruffled Rey's hair, who giggled excitedly at the sudden attention. "She really is cute, Luke."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I know she is. That doesn't change the fact that she's going to ruin my life."

"Stop being so dramatic. She's just a baby."

"For now."

Luke managed to finish feeding Rey without any major mishaps. It took almost thirty minutes; by then Rey had relaxed to the point where she even giggled when Luke wiped the last remnants of carrot off her forehead. God knows how it got up there. He wasn't sure he even wanted to guess at this point.

Just then, Han came downstairs and looked only mildly surprised at the scene playing out in his kitchen. "When did that happen, Luke?"

Luke took that opportunity to tell them both the full story, handing them the note to examine carefully. "I think I'm going to take her to Child Services in the morning. She seems sweet…but there's no way I can take care of a kid right now. There's too much to do what with the Jedi Order and all-"

Han didn't seem convinced. "Sounds like you're scared."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not scared. It's just not the best thing for her-or for me." He wasn't going to let them talk him into this. If it didn't work out, he didn't want to be held responsible for ruining some little girl's life. "Where's Ben?"

"I finally finished putting him to bed. He wanted to hear another story about the Rebellion and he wouldn't go to sleep until he did."

"He certainly loves stories."

Han nodded, eyes filled with pride. "That he does. He's going to be a regular pilot when he grows up, you know."

"Just like his father." Leia replied, glancing over at Rey to make sure she was still playing peacefully with a foam mobile Han had found in a box of Ben's old things. "She looks like she's getting tired. You should probably go now, Luke-before she falls asleep altogether."

Luke nodded and stood up, picking up Rey with a newfound ease. As she looked up at him with those curious eyes and that button nose, he had to admit that she was pretty cute-if only because all babies were cute. He almost regretted having to leave her before he'd even gotten the chance to get to know her-but it was for the best. "I'll holovid if I need anything."

He hoped he wouldn't need to do that too much.

~SW~

Rey was asleep in his arms by the time he got home. Lacking a cradle or even a spare toddler bed, he made a nest of blankets and pillows for her on the couch so he could watch her while he worked on a stack of papers he had to get done before the next day, when he would be meeting with some old archivists from the original Jedi temple to have some rumors about the location of the First Jedi Temple answered for him. For a couple hours she slept peacefully, chest rising and falling as she made her way through the landscape of a pleasant dream. By hour four Luke could even forget she was there. This might not be so bad, he thought tentatively. For a minute he actually considered what would happen if he adopted her; how his life would change in an instant and never, ever be the same.

He was just about to turn in for the night when she woke up screaming.

It seemed like a full-fledged panic attack-her cheeks seemed completely red and tears ran in streams down either side of her face. "What is it?" he asked, picking her up carefully and setting her on his lap. He wasn't sure what to do with a crying baby and he didn't really like the idea of calling Leia at such an ungodly hour. For kriff's sake, he wished she could just tell him what was wrong.

"Want…Mama!" the baby managed to choke out between sobs, making his chest thrum painfully. He knew how that felt.

"I know." he replied, trying to rock her gently the way Leia sometimes rocked Ben when he simply wouldn't go to sleep. "You know, sometimes I want my mother too." She gave him a look that clearly indicated she thought he was lying. "It's true." he continued. "But unlike you, I don't remember my mother. She died just after I was born. It gets better, you know. Don't worry. You'll see them again-and until then, I'll help you. Okay?"

She nodded once, laying her head down against his chest and ceasing to sob. His heart went out to her; in many ways, they weren't so different. They were both orphans, left in places they didn't belong.

Maybe he did have time, in between all of his meetings and things…just to check on her every now and then. Maybe he didn't have to give her up right away. After all, her parents had asked him to…Luke, stop it. Easier said than done, when the baby was in his arms breathing deeply as she slipped into sleep's warm embrace. Even so, he held her a little closer, in spite of herself. "Don't worry." he said, more confidently this time. "I'll look after you. We'll find your parents." He hoped he could keep his word. Maybe he could try it, just for a week. Just as an experiment of sorts.

Something inside of her stirred-he could feel it in the Force. It wasn't much, little more than a twitch, but it was enough to give him pause. It was exactly the kind of Force pull he'd been trained to detect; it usually meant a life form had Force sensitive capabilities. That was impossible though. She was a baby-surely she was too young for the midichlorians to manifest yet. His finger lingered on her forehead for just a split second longer, waiting for something else…some kind of repercussion, perhaps. Something to tell him that he wasn't imagining things. It never came. Conclusively, he thought he must have imagined the whole thing in a haze of sleep depravity. He knew he should get some sleep or he'd be exhausted come morning, but he didn't want to risk setting Rey down anywhere for risk of upsetting her.

Somehow he managed to fall asleep on the couch, sitting upright with a baby in his arms. A baby he'd somehow, inexplicably, managed to grow to care about.

For reference, Ben is about two in this story and Rey is about twelve months. Next chapter will have Ben in it.

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