"Armitage…" The girl quirked her head to the side blinked at him like she had something stuck in her eye. She gave a wide, toothy smile that was distinctly familiar to him. She was about to ask for something.

"I need a new pair of work goggles."

He wasn't going to say no. He couldn't remember ever using the word when Cerys had asked for something. He was beginning to think the word evaporated out of his vocabulary every time he saw her. She knew this, but she was at least polite enough to pretend she didn't.

"Don't you make your own money now? Why do I have to keep buying you things?"

"Well… I mean yes, I do, but I spent the payment from my last job on a larger case for my tools…"

"Aren't you in the middle of a repair job? Get them to give you an advance."

She bared her teeth, her tongue pinched between them, "Well I would but… I sort of already did so I could order more tools for my new case…"

"Brilliant. Didn't I just buy you new goggles six or seven months ago?"

"Yes – well - but you haven't seen these new ones. They're a huge improvement." She slid her datapad across the table, the specs of the new-and-improved goggles on display. She'd come prepared. Of course she did. She was his daughter, after all. "They actually do some voice responsive computing, so if I'm in the middle of a project and I need to figure something out but I can't use my hands…" She swiped around on the screen, showing him images of the new feature. "It's almost revolutionary, really. I mean look at that…"

Armitage nodded, "That's actually pretty neat…"

"Right?! I mean look…" She started rambling about the different uses. If she were anyone else he'd be certain she was feigning excitement and interest just to churn up some empathy in him, but she always got this genuinely excited about little things.

"So…"

He shook his head, waving a hand. "Yes, yes of course just order one for yourself."

She straightened up to her usual, reserved posture and raised her eyebrows. "A wise investment, Armitage."

"Hm…" Mila peered over the girl's shoulder at the screen. "Oh… are those the new ones? I've been wanting to get a pair of those…"

The two women looked across the table at him, grinning.

He sighed. There really was no hope. "Mila… you're up early." The sun was just starting to rise. She usually slept for a few hours after the sun came up.

She walked around the table to him, "You woke me up. It would be fantastic if you would not to turn the lights on when you wake up before the sun…"

"It might be good for you to wake up a little earlier…"

"Mmm…" She pretended to think about it as she slid into his lap. "We both know that won't happen." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cerys sneaking away to give them some privacy. He wished that Mila wouldn't do this in front of her, but she had warned him when she took both he and his daughter in in that she was not, and never would be, a motherly type.

He caught Cerys' eye with a discrete nod and held up two fingers behind Mila's back.

Cerys grinned at him and nodded, leaving them.

It had only been 5 years since both women became part of his life. On one hand, it had flown by. It seemed not that long ago that he was looking through a transparent protective shield of a New Republic prison, breath caught in his throat as he looked at a face that he'd never seen before but was somehow distinctly familiar. He'd felt a sort of crushing sadness mixed with sheer panic as the little girl, holding back tears, told him the name of her recently deceased mother. Vale Mazelle, a woman he'd had a brief, illicit affair with nearly a decade before.

On the other hand, that little girl had changed so much in the past 5 years that it also seemed like an eternity had passed. Her nymphish little face had grown cheekbones and she was taller. She really wasn't a little girl any more, though he tried to deny it as much as possible.

Mila, the woman who had broken him out of the New Republic prison and orchestrated his faked death so both the New Republic and First Order would stop chasing him, served as a sort of grounding figure whenever everything seemed to move too fast. She had barely changed at all. There was a brief period of distress a few years prior when she came home one evening with pink hair (When he had expressed his concern, Cerys, 14 at the time, had informed him he was too old-fashioned. Mila had told him to fuck off.), but other than that next to nothing had changed. She barely appeared to have aged, and certainly had not aged at all personality-wise.

Mila wrapped her bare legs around his waist and burried her face in the back of his neck. "Where do you think you're going?"

He clasped his fingers around her ankle and closed his eyes, trying to log the feeling into some permanent memory storage section of his mind. She'd already managed to drag him back into their bed once. He needed to get up. "I have things to do Mila. I need to…"

She growled a little, pushing her face to the side of his neck, nuzzling into his beard. "You need to what? It's raining outside. What could you possibly have to do that is better than this?"

He let her pull him back into bed. "I wonder that every time I get out of bed."

She smirked against his skin and flipped on top of him, pushing his chest down into the sheets. "Tell mr, whatever happened to the man who wanted to rule the galaxy?"

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her down onto him, kissing her. It'd been one of the biggest questions on his mind for the past several years. He still hadn't quite found the answer to it. "I think he's just been… terribly distracted for a few years."

"Hm… The real question is: Is he happy being distracted?"

That was the thing that never failed to amaze him: he never would have thought, in all his life, that he'd be happy living some quaint, quiet life in the backwoods of some secluded little planet. Honestly, he never thought he'd be happy at all. Somehow he'd landed somewhere entirely unexpected and unwanted and somehow disturbingly perfect.

"Armitage…" She nudged him when he didn't respond, "Are you okay?"

He buried his nose in her hair, "Yes. No. I'm more than okay."

"If you continue down this path, Armitage, I may start to think that you are a nice man."

"I certainly wouldn't want that."

She laughed, "I am a little worried about you though."

"How so?"

"That girl is going to break your heart."

He frowned. "Cerys? What do you mean by that?"

"She is growing up."

"And?"

"And she is going to leave us. You do everything you can to keep her from exploring the universe, but she has far too much of you in her to not want out eventually. Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't gone completely mad on this little planet."

"I have good reason to not send her off to… explore, or whatever it is you think she wants to do."

"I am not denying that. But you know this is true. She is a young woman now. You have to let her go at some point."

He didn't like to think about it, though he was entirely aware that it was true.

"She will probably want to go on one of Ren's adventures…"

He couldn't stop a pained "Unf…" from escaping his mouth. "Don't say that." It was the only thing he really couldn't stand about where he'd ended up. Somehow, after so many drastic changes, Ren was still in the picture. He had Mila's sister to thank for that. They'd been… well, he wasn't entirely sure what their status was, but for lack of any better way to explain they'd been physically (and possibly emotionally?) involved since Ren and Hux departed from the Order.

Mila laughed, "I am teasing… sort of. He would be happy to take her."

Hux rubbed his face, "No. No. Just… no."

The oddest thing about Ren being in his life was that Cerys had developed some sort of bond with the man. She referred to him as her Uncle, a concept that Hux found utterly terrifying.

"Speaking of Ren, have you seen him recently? I haven't seen him in some time… Has he visited my sister?"

"Not in months, as far as I know."

Mila was the one frowning now. "They got into a fight, last I heard…"

Mika and Ren's arguments were by no stretch of the imagination unusual. The two were completely unstable as individuals; as a couple they may as well have been deemed radioactive. They had somehow managed to stay together all these years. Mika had remained on the planet with them, while Ren did whatever he was doing around the galaxy and frequently returned to the planet to visit. Every few months the two would argue and Ren would storm off, then reappear a few weeks later like nothing had happened. He'd never disappeared for a few months though.

"Those two…" He shook his head, "It's like watching a train wreck in really, really slow motion."

"Mmm… I think they are more stable than you give them credit for. They just need to run their relationship differently than most. They need more space."

"Is that what you'd call it? Speaking of your sister, it's been almost a week since I've seen her. We're due in for a visit soon."

Mila rested on his chest, running her fingers through his hair. It made him tired. "I am sure we will see her today or tomorrow. You're turning grey, you know?"

"Mph… don't remind me."

"It is not bad. I like it."

"That makes one of us."

A few minutes later he fell asleep to the feeling of her fingers in his hair.

When Cerys finally saw the two of them again, it was early afternoon. They did this from time to time, disappearing into their room for half the day and leaving her to fend for herself. She tried not to acknowledge it, half because she really didn't want to think about it and half because Armitage was clearly very bothered by the fact that she was aware of it.

After a few years of living with the two, she came to realize how good Mila was for him. She was fairly certain the man would have given himself an aneurysm by now without Mila. She was a little more centered than Armitage. She had a way of dragging him away from his more extreme habits and reminding him to lighten up and live a little.

Cerys was in the kitchen with Mika when the two reappeared. Mila was excited to see her sister; she usually visited at least once a week but it had been nearly two whole weeks since they'd seen her. Mila had always been protective of her sister – she was blind, and for some reason Mila took it upon herself to be her sister's guardian. Not that Mika really needed a guardian. She was remarkably competent.

Mila hugged her sister. "Where have you been? You have not come to see us in so long."

Mika gave an awkward smile. "It has been raining… I haven't really wanted to go outside."

"That is an excuse. We're only a 20 minute walk away."

"Well you could come visit me. Or have you been too busy fucking?"

Armitage rubbed his face, leaving the room. He didn't have much of a tolerance for Mika's uncensored outbursts. Mila looked at her sister with her mouth hanging open, then laughed. "Oh… okay we will come visit you next time."

Mika frowned, picking at her fingernails.

Mila looked to Cerys, an eyebrow raised. Mika was almost never in a bad mood. Something definitely felt off. She switched to their native language. Cerys had, much to Mila and Mika's delight, begun to pick up on the language a few months after beginning to live with them. She still wasn't fluent in it, but Mila and Mika seemed to enjoy coaching her. They rarely spoke the language around Armitage, who was perpetually irritated when he couldn't understand what was being said in front of him.

"How long has it been since you've seen Ren?"

The question certainly didn't help Mika's mood. Her frown deepened. "I do not want to talk about him."

"It's been months since we've seen him around here."

"The last time you saw him was the last time I did."

Mila nodded, watching her sister closely. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Quit pestering me with questions."

"I was about to start lunch," Cerys said quickly, before Mila could ask another question. "Stay and eat with us, Mika."

Mika grunted. She looked very tired. Cerys could remember years ago when she first met Mika, she'd always worn these huge goggles to cover the scarring around her eyes, and kept her three cybernetic limbs covered all the time. She'd once gone off on Armitage for walking into the room when she and Mila were repairing a wiring issue on her arm. But she didn't seem so shy about any of that anymore, at least not around them. She still kept her cybernetics covered in public, but never wore the goggles anymore. Instead she wore dark tinted eyeglasses to make the scarring less noticeable. In their home, she would even take off the glasses and gloves.

Cerys started cutting up food. Mila idly chatted with Mika, and Armitage finally rejoined them. She threw the veggies in a pan, heating them until the fragrance started to fill the room.

"What are you making?"

Cerys glanced over her shoulder, about to brag about her concoction; Mika was a sick shade of green.

"Ah… should I shut the heat off? Are you okay Mika?"

Mika stood quickly and sprinted from the room, her hand over her mouth. Cerys was silently thankful she visited often enough to know the layout of their home without seeing. She could be heard vomiting in the bathroom down the hallway.

Mila looked down the hallway after her sister, her fingers pressed to her lips. Cerys turned the heat off. She wanted to check on Mika; clearly she was not feeling well at all. But Mila put up a hand to stop her, shaking her head, "No… Just… stay out here for a minute." She scurried off down the hall to the bathroom.

Armitage looked a little disgusted. "Pleasant. I think I've lost my appetite."

"I hope she's okay…"

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "You're joking, right? She's missing three quarters of the limbs on her body, can't see, and has literally had her skull crushed before. I'm sure she's fine."

Cerys couldn't hide a smile. Mika always made the claim that Cerys was like a perfected version of Armitage: smart, clever, analytical, and with the much needed addition of a sense of humor. While she appreciated the sentiment, she'd always thought Armitage had a fantastic sense of humor, whenever he chose to show it.

Down the hallway, Mika was suddenly sobbing, gasping something in their language so quickly that Cerys couldn't understand it. She caught a few words: Ren, mentioned several times, and afraid.

If there was one thing Armitage had never been able to handle, it was tears. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "What are they talking about?"

"She's talking too fast, I can't understand." She didn't want to mention the few bits she did understand. Out of context, it seemed very bad.

He frowned, tapping the table. "I'm going for a walk." He grabbed a coat from the closet and made his way out the front door so quickly it was almost comical. She hadn't been able to figure out why he got so anxious around tears. She'd come to the conclusion he didn't know how to handle them: on one hand, he found them weak. On the other, he was sincerely concerned.

She tried to remember if she'd ever seen Mila cry. It must have been one of the reasons he adored the woman so much.

Cerys packaged up the food for storage and cleaned the area. By the time she finished, she could see Mila pacing up and down the far end of the hallway.

"Everything okay?" She called down the hallway.

Mila put a finger over her lips, coming down the hallway to her. "Shush. She's in the spare room. Where is Armitage?"

"He went for a walk."

Mila frowned, looking increasingly concerned. "How long ago?"

"Maybe ten minutes ago… he should be back soon. You know how he gets with crying. Mila… What's going on? I couldn't understand her. Is Ren okay?"

Mila waved a hand, "Oh… yes, Ren is quite okay. We will discuss when Armitage gets back."

"Does she need anything?"

"No. Well… yes. But no, don't go into her room. She just needs some time." She paused. "I need to ask her something." She returned to Mika's the room.

Cerys had a bad feeling about the situation. She wasn't sure she entirely trusted Mila when she said Ren was okay. Why else would Mika be so upset, sobbing about Ren? And none of them had seen him in months… She couldn't imagine if something happened to Ren. She'd always wished, since they first settled on this planet, that he would live here permanently, with Mika. She'd asked him once, when she was much younger, why he wouldn't just stay put. He told her that it just wasn't in his ethos to stay in one spot long, then slid in a snide comment about "The General's" ignorance in not letting her go explore the galaxy more.

She sincerely wished Ren and Armitage got along better. For as much as she loved Ren, she hated his constant critique of Armitage's… well, everything. Even more than that, she hated that he referred to him as "The General". She'd always been well aware of who her father was; she'd seen his infamous speech once when she was a little girl. Somehow her mind had separated them as two as different people: The General, terrifying and vengeful, and Armitage, reserved, slightly neurotic, and brimming with an endless amount of something he would never admit was love for she and Mila.

Armitage returned and hung his coat perfectly in the closet, glancing down the hallway, "It's… quiet."

A door opened and closed down the hallway, and Mila joined them, a smile on her face. "Sit." She shooed them into seats, then sat opposite them. "So…"

Cerys was utterly confused by Mila's smile. She'd convinced herself something utterly horrible had happened to Ren.

Mila tapped her fingers together nervously, inhaling sharply as she tried to think of the words she wanted to use. She looked at Armitage, then at Cerys, "So my sister is pregnant."

Both she and Armitage let out an "Oh!" at the same time, but in very different tones.

Armitage rubbed his lower lip, "It's Ren's?"

Cerys kicked his ankle under the table. "Of course it's Ren's!"

He shook his head. "Right. Right. But she's certain it's Ren's?"

Mila rolled her eyes. "Armitage, really. Yes. It's his."

A wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. "Oh dear…"

Cerys forced herself to stay seated. "Does that mean Ren will be coming back soon? Oh, he's going to be a fantastic father…"

Armitage looked like he might fall out of his chair.

"Well," Mila was trying not to laugh at his expression, "That's the thing… Ren left two months ago, before she knew…"

"Does he really not even leave contact information for her?"

"You know how they are, Armitage. Of course he doesn't leave contact information."

He frowned. "I can't fathom how he functions…"

"So," Mila spoke over him, "How do you two feel about a little… trip?"

"Oh! To find Ren? That sound fantastic… we haven't used the ship in quite awhile…"

"Ah… Absolutely not. What are we supposed to do? Run around the galaxy trying to find him?"

"Of course not." Mika came out of the hallway. "I know where he is. I think."

"You think?"

"He has a home on a small outer rim planet, not too far from here. I'm not certain he is there, but it would be a good place to start."

"To start? Do you even know where he lives on this planet or are we supposed to search the whole damn planet?"

"Armitage." Mila leaned on the table, looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "I am helping my sister. You need to decide if you are going to help."

He frowned at her. He was always so resistant to leaving their home. "Mila…"

Mila leaned back and crossed her arms. Cerys tried not to laugh. They did this sometimes. They may have been the two most pigheaded people in the galaxy; when they were at ends she and Mika liked to make bets on who would give in first.

Armitage would lose this one. His expression said he already knew.

He sighed, "Fine. Fine."

Cerys bit her lip to stop herself from letting out a whoop. She hadn't been off planet since they'd settled here, years ago. At times, she thought she might go stir crazy. And she could tell Armitage felt it too, he just would never admit it.

Mika clapped her hands, "Good! So…"

Armitage cleared his throat, "But we need a plan. We're not just…"

"I have one, actually."

Armitage looked floored by Mika's statement. She was generally not one for making plans. "Really? Do tell?"

She wandered to the table and sat next to her sister. "So… What is the fastest way to track down a Force user?"

Armitage looked clueless. He'd always been vexed by the whole "Force" thing. He was a very practical, grounded person; something as spiritually based as the Force was nothing more than a frustration to him.

"Really? Nobody knows? We find someone who can feel his presence. Another Force user."

Armitage nodded, "Ah… Brilliant. Let's just head into the village center and ask around. I'm sure someone can point us in the right direction…"

Mika sighed loudly. "It really is too bad you have no sense of humor… that was almost funny."

"Mika… he's not wrong." Armitage mouthed a thank you to Cerys when she agreed with him. "It's not entirely easy to find Force users."

Mila was biting the tip of her thumb. "Actually… It might not be a half bad idea. Let me speak to some of our old contacts…"

"I'm not sure how much I like that idea Mila…" Armitage warned.

"You are joking, right?" Mika smirked. "This sounds utterly exciting… reaching out to our black market contacts to find a Force user…"

Armitage looked like he was in pain. "It sounds like an utterly awful idea."

Mila was already typing a message into her datapad, "Too late. Let's just see what happens."