Author's Note: Here's the next installment of my responses to the Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy prompts! Today's prompt: Cuddling in a blanket fort. Which, of course, calls for a domestic AU with an adorable little Andor-Erso running around. (Or is it my addiction to cliche tropes...?)
As always, come say hi on Tumblr! I'm RxbxlCaptain!
(Special note for this one: my Spanish is rudimentary at best, so if any of my translations are horrifically inaccurate, please please tell me. I'm more than willing to change it!)
"Cassian?" Jyn called as she stepped into their house. She set their groceries from the local market onto the table. Traditionally, Cassian made the weekly shopping trips for their household, because, of the two of them, Cassian was the only one who knew how to cook. Where Jyn considered mixing together two different ration packs cooking (or, at least, sustenance to keep them alive), Cassian could combine flavors, fruits and grains and delicacies that Jyn had never tasted, into a concoction that made Jyn honestly enjoy eating. Of the two types of cooking, their daughter, without a doubt, preferred Cassian's. And there wasn't much Cassian or Jyn denied their little Lyra.
Which, incidentally, explained why Jyn took charge of this weekly market trip.
Lyra had awoken with a fever that morning. Nothing serious, just a few degrees above normal, but the four-year-old was miserable and clingy. Once Cassian picked her up, she refused to be out of his arms. Jyn, far from being annoyed, understood perfectly. After all, when she was upset, there were few places she enjoyed more than Cassian's warm embrace.
What worried Jyn now was the lack of response from either her husband or her daughter.
"Cassian?" Jyn tried again. "Lyra?"
This time, Jyn heard an answering giggle and a low shush coming from their sitting room.
Following the noises, Jyn poked her head around the corner. Cassian must have worked every ounce of parenting magic he possessed in order to get their sick little girl giggling like that. A smile grew on Jyn's lips at the thought, only growing wider as she walked into the sitting room to find, not the normal arrangements of couches and tables, but a blanket fort covering the room. Two couches had been moved, their backs now facing each other, a few feet apart, the quilt from Lyra's bed draped between them. Pillows covered one entrance, but Jyn could spy Cassian's long legs escaping their fort on the far side.
"I wonder where they are," Jyn drawled, joining in on their game. A quiet giggle told her she did it well. "Maybe I'll check Lyra's bedroom…"
Jyn stalked off, certain to make her footsteps loud on the wood floor. She clumped all the way to Lyra's room, knocking loud enough to ensure both Cassian and Lyra heard it, before sneaking back, her footsteps now quiet. Jyn may not have spent years working in intelligence like her husband, but Jyn knows how to be stealthy. She paused outside the sitting room to hear if Lyra had believed her act. After just a second of waiting, Jyn was rewarded with her daughter's thoughts.
"Papa? Do you think Mama's still looking?"
"Your plan worked, mi amor," Cassian answered her, doing much better at keeping his voice low. "We threw her off."
Lyra didn't get the chance to answer. Jyn darted across the room and pulled away the door of pillows. "Found you!"
Lyra jumped, obviously startled, and Jyn began to feel guilty. Perhaps she should have given a warning before coming in…
But Lyra was in her father's arms, and that was more than enough for the girl to trust in her safety. Only few seconds after Jyn invaded their fort, Lyra let out a loud laugh and cried, "Mama! You found us!"
"I'll always find you," Jyn reassured her as she moved from Cassian's arms to Jyn's waiting ones. "Anywhere and everywhere."
She met Cassian's eyes over their daughter's head, watching as his eyes filled with a deep sense of protection over his girls. During her pregnancy, they spent hours dealing with the remaining pain from their childhood. Pain of abandonment, pain of the weight of the world on their shoulders, pain of blaster shoved into their hands. Most importantly, they used those hours deciding how to keep their child away from each and every threat.
So far, they succeeded.
Lyra never questioned if her parents were coming home at the end of the day. She never worried about where the next meal would come from.
No, she crawled into her parent's bed after a bad dream and was soothed back to sleep by her father's steady voice and her mother's gentle hand on her back. She healed from a fever in a blanket fort Cassian lovingly made for her.
Jyn urged her eyes to reflect the affection she felt flowing through her so that Cassian could see. Like always, he understood.
"Mama, come join us," Lyra pulled back from her mother's embrace and grabbed her hand.
At her core, Jyn remained a rogue who bristled at the idea of orders, but, still. Some orders were much better followed. This was definitely one of them.
Cassian scooted over, pressing his back against one of the couches, to give her give her space to join them. When she situated herself, Cassian laid his arm over her waist, snuggling her close to him.
"Mama," Lyra demanded Jyn's attention again, "Papa made me magic juice. It made me better."
Judging by the slight flush to Lyra's cheeks, Jyn assumed the fever wasn't gone, just Lyra's discomfort. She threw a smile of thanks back at Cassian. "Papa always knows how to make people feel better, but I do know one other thing that would make the magic juice work even better."
Lyra's eye grew wide at the idea that not just one but both her parents knew magic. "What's that?"
"A nap."
Immediately, Lyra's eyes tightened. "No."
"Lyra…" Cassian implored, immediately getting cut off again.
"I don't wanna leave the fort." Jyn never bothered to guess if Lyra inherited stubbornness from her or Cassian; the trait ran strong through both sets of genetics.
"What about a compromise?" Jyn began before all of Cassian's hard work on improving Lyra's attitude was undone. "What if we take a nap in the fort?"
"Will you and Papa stay with me?"
At Cassian's shrug of agreement, Jyn nodded. "We'll stay with you, Lyra."
Cassian reached for the pillows Jyn had removed from the entrance earlier, handing one to his daughter and one to his wife. Jyn, meanwhile, pulled a light blue knitted blanket over Lyra. With a quick glance around the minimal space in the fort, Lyra grabbed for her favorite stuffed animal, a fuzzy Wookie toy Han Solo had gifted Jyn and Cassian when she first discovered she was pregnant. Despite Jyn's best attempts otherwise, the toy quickly became one of Lyra's favorites, so that Jyn was forced to stifle an eye roll at the animal on a regular basis.
"Close your eyes," Cassian requested, his voice gentle in the dim light. "I love you. Sleep well."
"You have to close your eyes, too," Lyra's sleepy voice reminded them. They moved their heads to the second pillow to appease the girl. She's going to be so spoiled, Jyn thought with half a smirk. Somehow, she didn't mind that prospect. Cassian's warm arm tightened over her waist as they watched Lyra's eyes close and her breathing slowly even out, the Wookie tucked securely under her arm. Jyn resisted the urge to reach across the small space between them to move the dark hair that had fallen into her daughter's eyes.
They lay in silence for a few minutes, allowing Lyra to drop off before risking speaking. Finally, Cassian leaned forward to place a kiss on Jyn's temple.
"Thank you for creating magic juice," she smiled, loving the image of her husband, once a hardened intelligence officer, cajoling their toddler with what was probably medicine Lyra would traditionally hate.
"All in a day's work," Cassian's low voice thickened his accent. "She calmed down well after getting it."
Jyn hummed a quiet response, gladly accepting another kiss from Cassian.
"You know," Cassian began, seeming suddenly hesitant. "She could probably use someone to play with, other than us."
Jyn decided to play ignorant for a minute. "You mean like the whole village full of kids down the road?"
Cassian cleared his throat. Jyn was sure he'd wanted to bring this up for some time. "I mean like a little brother."
The thought brought a smile to Jyn's lips. Immediately after Lyra was born, Jyn, the harsh realities of pregnancy and delivery still fresh in her mind, had shut down Cassian's attempts to discuss another baby. The argument hadn't been pretty. No wonder he seemed worried to bring it up now.
"Well," she began, casually leaning back against the pillow and grabbing Cassian's hand. She moved it down from its spot on her ribs to her abdomen. "I can't promise it'll be a boy, but will this one do?"
Cassian jerked up onto his elbow, his casual demeanor gone in a second. His hand tightened under hers, expanding to cover more of the skin of her abs.
"Really?" He beseeched, staring down at her. "Tell me you're not joking."
She smiled at the eager expression on his face, eyes wide. He looked like it took all his effort to suppress a smile. "I'm not joking," she confirmed, her voice low but traces of pure joy slipping through.
Jyn had only a second to enjoy the wide grin spreading out over Cassian's face before he swooped down to capture her lips with his. The kiss was sloppy; it's hard, after all, to kiss while a smile overtook your face.
"How long have you known?" Cassian demanded eagerly, his hand now rubbing small circles over where their baby rested.
"This morning, actually. I thought I might be, but the trip into town today confirmed it for me."
The smile hadn't left Cassian's face once, which was perfectly fine with Jyn. No expression better suited him than bright eyes and lines on his face caused by laughter rather than stress.
Cassian moved down, placing his head next to his hand. He lifted Jyn's tunic lightly, as if that one cloth barrier was the only thing separating him from the baby.
"Te quiero mucho, pequeño," he whispered, and Jyn's heart expanded to twice its size, just like it did when he performed the same ritual with a baby Lyra. "Te queremos tanto."