"Baze."
The larger man felt a gentle push on his shoulder. The man groaned and moved to try and burry himself more into the pillows and bed. It was then he realized that Chirrut wasn't in the bed anymore with him.
A couple of seconds later, Baze felt the other's hand on his shoulder, pushing it with a bit more force this time.
"Baze, wake up," Chirrut said patiently.
"What is it?" Baze grumbled, wanting anything at the moment but to be awake.
Chirrut's comment as he was doing up his shoes came out off-handedly and too casual for Baze on the subject matter.
"The twins are not in their beds."
The larger man immediately sat up in the bed.
"What?!" he asked, confused and worried, immediately moving out of the bed and almost tripping over his own feet in his hurry as he was quickly making his way out of the room to check for himself.
Chirrut, on the other hand, was still calmly tying the laces to his shoes as though it was a normal morning where he would go for a walk as the sun rose, taking his own time.
"How do you know they're gone?" Baze asked, now moving into the hallway and towards one of the guest rooms that the kids were in to see if the fact was true for himself. His steps were heavy as they echoed in the silent hallway.
"I heard them walking down the hallway and out the front door, of course," Chirrut answered calmly, as though that was the only and most obvious answer.
Baze found the door to the guest room open and he pushed it all the way so that it was easier to see inside. The night-light was still on, gently moving colours around the walls and ceiling of the room. And sure enough, just as Chirrut had said, neither of the twins were in the bunkbeds. Their blankets were twisted and looked as though they have been thrown and moved from tossing and turning before being pushed off.
"Then why didn't you stop them?!" Baze asked, his voice rising as worry started to set in. His heavy footsteps were now making their way back down the hallway but past the doorway to their room, moving towards the front door. The kitchen's light was still on and from that he could see that there were two pairs of children's shoes still at the doorway.
As he heard Chirrut calmly moving from their room, Baze walked through the kitchen area before something caught his eye when he went past the window above the sink. Almost mid-step, Baze froze before he took a step back, looking out the window and his beating heart started to calm.
Sure enough, he could just see the faint outlines of Aidan and Amalia as they sat on the ground together, looking up at the dark night sky.
Baze let out a small sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxing a little. At least they didn't go too far. Baze didn't know if he had it in them to go on a search party for those two kids for hours. His heart was pounding for not even a minute and Baze already felt out of breath.
Chirrut slowly made his own way to the kitchen, walking with ease as he knew the way and where Baze probably stopped. It seemed that Chirrut did not have the same worry and memory that immediately came to Baze's mind, but then again Chirrut had always known how to keep a clear head when Baze couldn't.
The blind man stopped beside him, looking as though he was staring out the window at the two as well before he placed his hand on Baze's shoulder in comfort.
"I'll make us some warm drinks, you go out and talk with them," Chirrut offered in a gentle voice. "Something tells me that they need someone to lean on at the moment."
Turning his head, Baze only stared at Chirrut for a moment before he nodded and confirmed, "alright. They shouldn't be up this late though."
"Neither of them sleep well these days," Chirrut reminded him, his hand falling back down the other man's arm as he turned to get out four mugs.
Meanwhile, Baze cringed at the thought of why the twins couldn't sleep and he easily reminded himself that since…well he hadn't been able to sleep well either.
The large man moved towards the front door of the small house, putting his shoes on without complaint. While Aidan and Amalia didn't put on their shoes, it was at this point it was a habit for him.
"I'll be out with you shortly," Chirrut called softly from the kitchen as Baze finished tying his shoe. He had gotten used to his husband's eerie timing that he barely even noticed it anymore.
Baze didn't say anything else as he opened the front door and quietly shutting it behind him before he made his way over to where the two were sitting. As he walked, he saw the two cross-legged on the ground, neither had looked back on him yet, as though they didn't hear the door open. However, Baze knew that they did. Sounds echoed out here a lot and in the silence of the night, you would have had to be deaf not to hear the door.
"What are you two doing out here?" Baze asked the two gently, taking steps closer to the two.
Aidan turned to look over his shoulder at their uncle, but Amalia kept looking up at the vast and deep blue of the sky and sparkling stars. Her long black hair was still in the braid that Chirrut placed it in before at bedtime.
"We couldn't sleep," Aidan admitted quietly, looking down in passive guilt and shame that immediately made Baze's heart sink.
Moving a little faster, Baze was soon right behind them, wanting to sit beside both but knowing that the twins wouldn't want to be too far apart. Staring at them, he was once again reminded about how similar they looked to their parents. Amalia resembled Cassian a bit more, though Baze always thought it was because the two had the same smile, with his hair but with her mother's fierce and loving eyes. Aidan, however, was more of a mix of the two, having his mother's hair and cheeks while having his father's nose and eyes.
"I'm not angry that you two are out here," Baze told Aidan, not wanting the young boy to feel bad, "but if you couldn't sleep why didn't you get me or your Uncle Chirrut?"
Amalia shrugged slightly, still not looking at him. Her voice seemed far off as she answered, "we didn't want to wake either of you up."
Baze stared at her for a moment. She felt guilty about leaving too, but even so, Baze knew that they did not regret their decision to sneak outside.
To be honest, it was quite nice out here at night. Because they lived a little far from the city, it was easy to see the clear and bright sky of either clouds or stars. And often the light hills of the space around them often had fireflies dancing through the air and near the ground. The grass was thick and comfortable and there was a vast space for the two children to play. It was quiet, remote, and peaceful. The only thing that he didn't like about the area was that there was usually a cold wind at night and he worried about the twins being outside in only their pajamas.
"Why did you come out here though?" he asked them gently.
For the first time, Amalia looked down from the sky and she looked over her shoulder at him for a moment before making eye contact with her brother. Finally, she looked back at him, a frown on her face and in her eyes.
"Whenever we couldn't sleep, Mommy and Daddy would take us outside to look at the stars."
Feeling his heart sink at the answer, Baze rearranged himself on the ground so that he was sitting cross-legged, getting more comfortable. He remembered memories of when the whole family would visit them and a couple of times he heard the family leave to go outside before coming back in after twenty minutes or so. The man was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Aidan lean back and to the side slightly so that he could lean against Baze's legs. The man's large hand came to stroke the four-year-old boy's mousy brown hair. As Baze thought about that, he realized that it would only be a matter of months before the twins would be five.
And their first birthday without their parents.
Baze could remember when the twins were born.
Kark, he could remember when Jyn and Cassian first told him and Chirrut that she was pregnant, and when they informed the two that Jyn was having twins. He remembered the mixed feelings about that second revelation. The first time he didn't need to use the Force to know that Jyn was a little nervous, but he saw how both were a little surprised and taken back from the news. He knew both were happy, but he could imagine their surprise about suddenly having two babies instead of one. It made them want to push faster into paying themselves out of the Rebellion. One child was enough of a handful. Thankfully the leaders were understanding in giving the parents a short leave before the babies were born and longer ones after; Jyn getting a three month leave and Cassian a two month leave. As well, Leia was definitely willing to offer anything they asked after the retrieved the plans to the first Death Star and saved multiple planets from destruction.
He clearly remembered the two boarding with them, Jyn leaving after the first month to spend the rest of her leave on the base with Cassian so that she was closer to him while he was with the resistance. But for that first month he clearly remembered how all four of them, five when Bodhi visited, were both over-joyed and exhausted from the twins. K2 was not exactly happy that he was basically turning into a droid that would only fetch them coffee at multiple hours during the day. While that first month was hard on the parents, he knew that they were glad they were with supporting family to help them along in the sudden new life they were given. One day, after a matter of hours, they were suddenly parents and handed two babies and any responsibility they thought they would get, the reality of it was a thousand times more. But whenever one of them needed a break, or to get some much needed and dearly missed sleep, at least it was easy to hand off the twins to Baze and Chirrut for a couple of hours. In the end, though, that month did help Jyn and Cassian to set up a routine and to get the support they needed in those early days where Baze was sure they felt like they were losing their minds.
Chirrut was so much better at it than he was. Baze didn't know if Chirrut was reading books without him knowing or if he just had a remarkable naturally tendency over watching the twins. However, as much as Baze could remember being exhausted during that time, it was also one of the best memories he had where their created-family was together and Baze got a lot of time with the twins when they were first born.
Those days seemed so long ago, yet as though they only happened yesterday. After that, Jyn and Cassian tried to bring the twins down as much as they could for visits, or they would drop off the twins to stay for a couple of days or a week when the parents knew that they would be off on longer missions and Bodhi couldn't watch them.
But those good days seemed so far away.
And here they were, the twins staring up at the stars as though they were begging to see their parent's faces through them, as though they were begging for any type of normalcy that they had only eight days ago.
It hadn't been fair to them, but then again there was nothing fair about what happened.
Baze moved his hand gently down Amalia's braid and she leaned into the touch slightly, though she was still looking up at the stars, as though they would come down and wrap themselves around her and make her feel safe again.
At the same time, Aidan was slowly sliding down more to the ground, almost laying down on it while looking up at the sky with his head still leaned up against Baze's leg. Baze moved a hand through his hair as well.
No, it hadn't been fair to them. It was supposed to be Jyn and Cassian's last mission, or at least their last major ones. They were down to the last couple hundred of credits they needed before being able to buy themselves out of the rebellion. They made plans to stay with Chirrut and Baze until they could find a place for themselves. They were even looking at houses on the planet before it happened. The whole family was excited that within weeks, maybe even after that mission, they would have been able to live a whole new life.
But instead the mission left them with a crashed ship from an air assault with the Empire on the planet they were getting supplies from. It left them with Mothma telling Baze and Chirrut through a holo message that Cassian was reported dead on impact and that they couldn't even find some parts of Bodhi's body, much like K2's. It left Jyn in a coma and fighting for her life, one that she lost while in the Base's med-bay two days after the incident. Chirrut and Baze were able to see her one time, but that next norming they entered the med-bay and saw her bed empty and they instantly knew.
It left the twins as orphans.
Both Chirrut and Baze knew that it was always Jyn and Cassian's wish that if anything happened to them that they would take in the twins, and so far they were acting better than Baze thought, but their personalities were suffering. Aidan was more passive and he was very quiet now. Amalia constantly went back between being upset to a point where she can't find her voice to acting out in frustration as her mind tried to process what was going on. Both on multiple occasions asked to see their parents and each time the small speech he and Chirrut would give them did not get any easier. They hadn't allowed the twins to see Jyn before she died. The image of Jyn laying in the bed with multiple bacta patches on her with tubes and machines all around her, the image scared Baze. He didn't want that to be their last memory of their mother and have it haunt their nightmares.
Aidan's voice broke him from his thoughts and he turned to stare down at the boy. In the back of his mind, he also heard the door open, meaning that Chirrut was on his way to sit with them as well.
"Sometimes on certain bases we were in space or couldn't go outside, but Mommy was always able to find the biggest window we could look out of to see them," Aidan told him.
"Yeah, Daddy always said that each star was a soul with their own story," Amalia agreed, her voice small and distant. "Sometimes they would tell us stories about them."
Baze nodded and Chirrut was close enough to answer them, "did he? Well, your father was right. Each beautiful star has it's own beautiful story."
Baze looked behind him to see that Chirrut had his hands full. Over one arm he held the familiar two blankets that were on the twins beds and he held two mugs in each hand. Leaning down, Chirrut placed the mugs on the ground so that he could get to the blankets. Handing each of them their blanket, Chirrut gave Baze Aidan's while wrapping Amalia's blanket around her. As Baze draped the blanket on the boy, Chirrut was already sitting down behind Amalia, moving her to sit on his lap to help keep her warm. After that, he was already handing out the softly steaming mugs. Baze watched the twins take a mug with two hands, smiling a little at the warmth that they felt on their small hands. As Amalia took a sip of her drink, Baze took the cup that Chirrut was offering to him. The warm mug felt nice in his own hand, and the taste of the beverage made him smile slightly.
As Chirrut took a sip of his own mug, he wrapped one arm around Amalia before setting the mug down when he finished. He moved his head up as though he was looking up at the stars as well.
"Do you see the brightest star, little ones?" he asked, a small smile on his face as though his eyes could see the beauty and wonder of the sky.
As Baze set his mug down, both twins nodded as they stared up at the night sky and at each twinkling star that they could see.
Feeling Amalia's hair as she nodded, Chirrut continued, "then you see your parents. No matter where you are, what planet you are on, if you see the brightest star then you will know that they are watching over you. They are together, as the one star, and so is your Uncle Bodhi."
There was a thoughtful silence between the other three as they stared up at the stars. Even Baze had to admit that the view was beautiful. No matter how many times over the years that he looked up at it, he was always still in awe of the view.
"But we can't see them in the day," Amalia told her uncle, her tone one of sadness.
"That doesn't mean that they are not there. Just because you can't see the stars doesn't mean they are not there, it just means that the sun is too bright. But they are, and will always be there, just like your parents," Chirrut told her gently. "Your parents' love for you is boundless. They will always be with you as a bright and shining star."
Baze smiled a little, his gaze moving to look over at his husband. Thank goodness that Chirrut was good at this stuff. Baze was never that good at comforting people when they were upset or when going through things like this.
"I miss them," Amalia told them weakly.
Baze watched Chirrut hug her tightly to him.
"Me too, Little One, but they will always be around," Chirrut told her.
Baze looked down at Aidan and saw that he was looking up at the stars, his gaze set as he thought about something that Baze did not know.
"Do we have to go in, Uncle Baze?" Aidan asked him.
The man shook his head.
"No, we can stay out here as long as you like," he answered.
It didn't matter to him. He'd stay out here all night with them if they wanted.