"Vette, you need to calm down." Cassius said, resting his hands on Vette's shoulders as she sat on the sofa in one of their apartments on Dromund Kaas.
"Calm? CALM? DID YOU JUST TELL ME TO CALM DOWN?!" Vette yelled at him, obviously not really mad at him. "You don't EVER tell a girl to calm down, you glorified executioner!"
"That was uncalled for." He said, trying not to lose his own temper.
"So was telling me to calm down!" She shrieked.
"HEY!" Cassius snapped, voice booming in the small room. Vette immediately stopped her hysterics and sank back into her seat. "That's better," Cassius said, taking a calming breath. "Now, let us both just… talk about this. You began feeling ill a few days ago and when it didn't go away, we took a scan just a few minutes ago and…"
"I'm pregnant."
"Yes."
"And isn't that terrifying to you? You're the Emperor's Rage-"
"Wrath."
"-and we both know I'd be the galaxie's shittiest mom. How are we possibly going to raise a kid together?" Vette was starting to work herself up again, but Cassius gave her shoulders a tight squeeze, and she began to relax again. "I just, I don't see… I don't know how we're going to make it through all this. We're not exactly the epitome of the ideal Imperial family, are we? A human Darth and a former Twi'lek slave, raising a kid together? How could this possibly work out well?"
"First of all, it shouldn't be biologically possible-"
"If you start talking about science again, I'm going to shoot you in foot."
"So anyway…" Cassius continued, admittedly scared of his wife. "But… I want to try it nonetheless. No matter how difficult it's going to be on you, or on me, I'm going to try my damn hardest to make it easier. Hell, if it meant making you feel less pain I'd give birth to the damn thing myself."
"Oh, don't make me imagine that." Vette pleaded, laughing anyway.
"I'd never make you do anything." He said with a small shrug. "I've got a well-developed sense of self-preservation, as it happens. I'd just like you to consider it. Obviously it is ultimately your decision, but I think you ought to give it some thought."
"I really don't know, Cassius," Vette said somberly.
"You never call me Cassius." He pointed out.
"Only when I'm serious, Reek brain." She said, rolling her eyes so hard they nearly got stuck. "And do I seem like I'm joking right now?"
"With all of your sarcasm, it's hard to tell."
"Right… remind me why I married you?" She asked, feigning boredom.
"Dashing good looks? Charm? Power?"
"Right… talking about things that you do have."
Cassius gave a mock gasp. "You wound me, Madame! And to think, I thought you loved me." His eyes had lost the hard look from before, and a small smile was beginning to wrinkle his features. Vette too was beginning to adopt her normal carefree attitude.
"Ahh, pssh. You're alright, but I'll admit I always had a thing for Jaesa."
"I didn't know you could read my mind, my dear."
"What, you dream about me and Miss Pure as the Driven Snow?" She started laughing, nearly forgetting their dilemma.
"Please, even Broonmark probably dreamt about that." Cassius said dismissively.
"Better him than Pierce."
"I'm pretty sure his dick is just another gun." At this, Vette burst out laughing, and Cassius quickly followed suit, letting out a light chuckle. As she started to come down from the laugh, Cassius grabbed Vette in an embrace and gave her a single kiss, holding her close. As they came away from the hug, he gazed into her eyes, and her face got soft.
"So…" Vette began, her cheeks turning a darker shade of blue. "I, uh, I guess that maybe this wouldn't be such a bad idea, huh?"
Cassius smiled warmly. "I don't think so, no. Obviously it is still entirely up to you, but I really do think that we could make it work. I am completely and utterly in love with every arrogant, snarky, sarcastic part of you, after all. I'm in it for the long haul, whatever happens."
"Wow, really knocking me out with those compliments."
"I'm trying to be comedically romantic, Vette. Work with me here." Cassius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.
"Yeah, yeah, love you too, asshole," Vette replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Cassius! CASSIUS! CASSIUUUUUSSSSS!"
"WHAT?!"
"Can you come give me a foot massage?!"
…
"CASSIUS!"
"Yes, YES, Vette, I'm COMING!"
"Oh, and could you go to the store and bring me some truffles first?"
"What kind?"
"Doesn't matter!"
"Oh my… fine!"
"What's the problem?!"
"You always say this shit! I'm gonna get halfway back from the store, and then you're gonna call me telling me that oh, you've changed your mind, you want the green ones or the small ones or the ones with swirls on the wrapper! And then I'm gonna have to turn the goddamn speeder around in the absolutely God-awful rush hour traffic and go all the way back to the store just to get the right fucking truffles, Vette!"
"Well, it's not my fucking fault!" Vette yelled at him furiously. "You want to blame someone, then blame her! She's the one who's got my fucking liver in a headlock, or maybe you can blame yourself for breaking the biological limit, you fucking RANCOR!"
"Alright, ALRIGHT! For fuck's sake, this asshole in your stomach is tearing us apart. I'll just go get a fucking variety bag or some shit. I'll eat the ones you don't want, okay?"
"Fine, fine, whatever. Just… hurry up, alright? I still want that foot massage, dick!"
"My pleasure, sweetie."
"Um, Cassius?" Vette called from the bedroom.
"If you ask me for another fucking foot massage, I'm going to go sleep downstairs!" He called back.
"Don't be an ass!"
"Well, what is it?"
"My water broke, asshole!"
"Oh, sure, your- wait WHAT?!"
"Yeah, Emperor's Fury, you heard me!" Vette shrieked at him.
Suddenly, the fifty-seven books Cassius had read on childbirth didn't seem to matter, as all memories of what to do in this situation seemed to disappear from her mind. He felt himself beginning to sweat, and used the Force to enhance the velocity of his sprint upstairs. He burst through the door to the bedroom, scooped Vette up with a yelp from her before she could say anything to him, and sprinted back down the stairs towards the garage.
"Cassius, calm down!" Vette yelled as he plopped her in the backseat of their shuttle. "We're fine, we're fine, it literally just broke! We can take it slow!"
"The sooner we get to the medcenter, the better!" He told her, putting in the automatic navigation for the Dromund Kaas medcenter. Cassius sat down next to Vetter and took her hand in his, trying to calm both of them.
"Would you just calm down?" Vette asked anxiously, very obviously not calm herself.
"Alright… alright… just clear your mind."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, remember a couple years ago when I insisted that I sort of… connect us using the Force?" Cassius asked. Vetter rolled her eyes slightly and nodded. "Well, that was actually real, not just some gimmick. And I can sort of… tap into your feelings."
"Why are you bringing this up now?" Vette snapped as their shuttle brought them closer to the medcenter.
"Patience." He said, gripping her hand tightly. "I can sort of… channel your pain, like I do with other emotions. But instead of making me stronger, it's just going to make me feel what you should be feeling. Do you understand?"
"Not really."
"All you really need to understand is that you should be feeling a lot less pain than you normally would. I could take on most of it, so that you'd just feel a… mild annoyance."
"So… what? You're just gonna take my labor pain away?" Vette meant it as a joke, but her smile faded when she saw the look in his eyes. "Oh my god. You're actually gonna take my labor pain away?"
"That's correct."
"But isn't that widely considered to be the worst pain a person can experience?"
"Also correct."
"After I recover from all this, I am so making this up to you…" She smirked at him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Why don't we just worry about that later?"
"AAAUUUGHHH!"
"My lord, please calm down! Take deep breaths!"
"RRRGGGGGG!"
"How far apart are the contractions?" The doctor asked Vette.
"How the fuck should I know?" Vette asked.
"Forty seconds." Cassius said through gritted teeth.
"Time to start pushing, miss." The doctor said, relatively calm.
"OH SHIT!" Cassius yelled, squeezing Vette's hand to try and anchor himself, only causing himself more pain.
"Cassius, are you alright?" Vette asked, more out of courtesy than anything else. Cassius just looked at her with exasperation before giving a grunt and a curt nod.
This went on in a similar fashion for what seemed like ages to Cassius, but in reality couldn't possibly have been more than five to ten minutes. Vette could hear him muttering to himself: "Nothing matters but Vette, nothing matters but Vette, you're fine, you're fine, nothing matters but Vette…" Finally, with one last push from Vette and a bellow from Cassius, it was over. He collapsed in the nearest chair, shivering and sweating profusely, taking long, shuddering breaths. He actually went so far as to remove his tunic, which Vette had no idea why the idiot would have kept on during childbirth, leaving his top half clad in only a short-sleeved undershirt. Looking at him like this, Vette was reminded of one of the reasons she married him. However, she was quickly distracted by the wailing coming from between her legs.
"It's a girl!" The doctor announced.
"We already knew that, or maybe you thought we were trying it the old-fashioned way?" Vette asked tiredly.
"Hey, you don't get to pick up an attitude with me, Twi'lek!" The doctor snapped at her, forgetting for a moment that Cassius was standing next to him.
"What did you just say to her?" Cassius asked, releasing Vette's hand and scowling at the doctor.
"What? I didn't mean to-"
"Just… hand her her daughter, and then get the fuck out." Cassius snapped at him. The doctor, showing remarkable intelligence, handed the still crying baby to Vette before backing away slowly for fear of being choked. "Nurse?" The nurse turned to him, somewhat terrified. "Since your boss is quite obviously incompetent, would you just mind finishing up?" Cassius continued glaring at the doctor as he ran away. Hastening to comply, the nurse grabbed the necessary equipment to sever the infant's umbilical cord, briefly took her away to be washed, and handed her back to Vette clad in cloth.
Vette could feel her eyes beginning to water. "Cassius… she's beautiful, isn't she?" She gave the little girl a kiss on her forehead, and a tear ran down her cheek. "We made this. I can't believe she's here now, in my arms…" She started shaking, smiling sadly as more tears trailed down her face. "You made my life a living hell for nine months, asshole. You're lucky you're so damn cute, dick…"
Cassius smiled broadly, embracing her from behind. "Seeing as I half-gave birth to her, would you mind letting me hold her?" Vette laughed through her tears and handed the child over to him wordlessly. He unwrapped the blanket slightly, and could see that she was tangled in her own little lekku. His heart melted a little, and he slowly, delicately, untangled her. "She really is beautiful, Vette… aren't you glad we decided to keep her?"
"Well of course I am, numbnuts. What kind of question is that?"
"Alright, alright, I got it."
The nurse came back into the room, smiling lightly. "Do my lord and his lady have a name for the baby girl?"
"If you tell me to name her Jaesa, I'll shoot you." Vette said irritably.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Cassius reassured her. "I'll leave the name up to you, darling."
Vette stayed quiet for a long while, looking intently at her daughter. "Tivva, I think." She said after a long deliberation.
Two years later, Cassius and Vette were shaping up to be better parents than either of them thought they'd be, although Cassius was frequently dealing with the Dark Council's bullshit. Vette had taken on a minor abuse of her husband's power, smuggling goods off of Dromund Kaas to rebel colonies. Cassius knew, of course, although he pretended that he didn't.
Although, unfortunately, Vette wasn't able to spend every day fighting the Empire, which fucking Jaesa already did. She spent days at home with Tivva, teaching her the very early beginnings of how to be a snarky little shit. One day, while Cassius was off meeting with the Dark Council, Vette was watching Tivva play with her toys for the umpteenth time, and had regretfully forgotten to bring something to entertain herself. Adorable as Tivva was, there was only so much toddler watching a person could handle, and Vette could feel herself drifting off to sleep.
She was about to pass out when a light weight collided with her foot. Her eyes snapped open, and she found Tivva's favorite toy, a stuffed bantha, at her feet. The kid must have dropped it or thrown it or something. Vette bent down to pick it up when, to her amazement, the toy began moving of its own accord, gently floating up and over into Tivva's waiting hand. Tivva then continued playing like nothing had happened. Vette was initially astonished and impressed - she had a Force user for a kid! How cool was that? However, as she continued thinking about it, her excitement turned to horror as she realized what would eventually happen.
"Vette? I'm home!" Cassius called, walking into their apartment and spotting Vette on the sofa with Tivva in her arms.
"Emp'ror's anger…" Tivva said, giggling.
"Did you honestly teach her that?" Cassius asked.
"Maybe it's genetic." Vette suggested. "Speaking of which… does… um… is the Force kind of… hereditary?"
"Not at all. It's random, really." Cassius told her. "It all depends on the midichlorians of-"
"Skip the lecture, professor." Vette told him.
"Alright. But why do you ask, then?"
"Okay, but first you have to promise not to freak out." Vette said, taking a deep breath.
"I promise."
"Tivva's Force-sensitive."
"What in the-" Cassius cut himself off, remembering his promise. "Oh. Oh no…"
"Exactly. They're going to take her to Korriban!" Vetter told him frantically.
"And hell, we live on Dromund Kaas! They could find her any day now, and-"
"I won't let it come to that, Vette. You know I won't." Cassius said softly.
"Yeah? Well, guess what? Try as you might, you can't fight off every other Sith on the planet."
"Really, you don't think I can?" Cassius asked. "Watch me. Think they'll fight one by one or do I need to take on the horde?"
"Cassius, this is serious!" Vette said sharply, shutting him up. "I appreciate the attempt at humor, hun, but this really isn't the time. We need to think of some way to get her out of the system."
"Yes, yes, of course, you're right," Cassius said sternly. "My apologies. Obviously we can't allow her to be taken to Korriban. I won't have my little girl corrupted and turned into another Darth Baras or Darth Zhorrid. But we obviously can't hide her powers forever; one way or another, people will find out."
"So where's a place we can take her that's accepting of her Force-sensitivity and willing to train her to use it correctly?"
"I'm honestly not sure such a place exists in the Empire." A smile that didn't reach his eyes crept onto Cassius' face. "Heh, the only place I can really think of in the galaxy off the top of my head is Tython."
"What, the Jedi training planet? That'd be perfect!"
"Yes, exactly. But obviously we can't send her to Tython." He looked at her and his smile fell. "Wait… can we?"
Tython was a beautiful place, to be sure.
Too bad it was so damn difficult to get to.
As Cassius and Vette walked through the lush vegetation surrounding the Jedi Temple, the only thing on Cassius' mind was if they would turn Tivva away just because of who he was. He still couldn't believe that infiltrating the heart of the Republic was as easy as putting on normal clothes (horrible starchy pieces of shit), making one's way on board a civilian freighter, and slowly changing ships until they got where they wanted to go. No wonder the Republic was losing.
The halls of the Jedi Temple too were rather beautiful, a sharp contrast from anything one might find on Korriban or Dromund Kaas. Here everything had a sort of soft look to it, with lots of rounded edges, browns, and whites. It seemed designed to calm people down as they walked through it and provide a feeling of home, unlike Sith structures' sharp practical lines and dark marble and steel. Perhaps it would have worked, too, had Cassius not been so paranoid that something might go horribly wrong. Vette was actually calmer than he was, somehow, and she had to hold onto his arm to keep him grounded. Tivva was draped over her other shoulder, gazing in awe at all the lights and Jedi they passed on their way.
The stairs up to the Jedi Council chamber were certainly lengthy, but to Cassius they could never have been long enough. Not for this. The grand doors were already open, and the three of them stood at its threshold, looking in at the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. To think, if the Emperor knew what his Wrath was about to do… "D'you suppose we just… walk in?"
Vette shrugged. "I guess so. I'm not exactly proficient in how to ask a bunch of our greatest enemies to adopt the biologically impossible hybrid child of the Emperor's personal enforcer and his Twi'lek ex-slave. Are you?"
Cassius gave a dry laugh. "I suppose not. Honestly, the more I think of this entire situation, the more ridiculous it seems. In this kind of situation, I don't suppose it would be entirely inappropriate to just… let ourselves in?"
"Yeah, sure. Fu- I mean, screw it."
"Screw it." Tivva echoed, giggling.
"You see what we're doing to her?" Cassius asked, shaking his head as he walked inside.
The Jedi Council was standing inside, in discussion about the elusive Emperor's Wrath who now stood before them.
Master Kiwiiks was currently giving a short speech about him, as it happened."We must do something about-"
"Master Kiwiiks, it would seem that we have a few visitors." Grand Master Satele said, cutting her off. "Greetings. I am Grand Master Satele Shan, and this is Master Bela Kiwiiks." Master Kiwiiks bowed slightly. "Over there in the corner is Master Idyrira Nal'Varra, the Barsen'thor and her… friend… Master Emeric Talloran, the Hero of Tython." Master Idyrira bowed politely, and Master Emeric narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his scowl lost in his beard.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Master Idyrira asked, her brow furrowing across her tattoos. "I can't help but think that we've met before."
"Well, um… we may have fought before." Cassius told her. His comment elicited a snarl from a Trandoshan standing next to Master Idyrira.
"No enemies of Scorekeeper's Herald have yet to live." He said in Trandoshan.
"Calm yourself, Qyzen." Idyrira told him, resting a hand on his shoulder. "None of us are infallible. Continue speaking, pilgrim."
"I think that Master Emeric and Master Timmns may know me as well." Cassius admitted.
"My name has not yet been said." Timmns pointed out from his own seat. "Perhaps we have met before."
"We have. My name is Cassius Telvanni, better known as Darth Cassius… the Emperor's Wrath." As soon as he finished speaking, every Jedi in the room ran to the front of the Council Chamber and drew their lightsabers. "Oh, please… my daughter is here; do we have to fight?"
"We kind of actually do need to fight!" Emeric shouted at him, brandishing his lightsabers. "My honor demands it!"
"Master Emeric, calm yourself!" Grand Master Satele told him, still holding her own saberstaff. "While this man may be our enemy, we must speak with him to find out his purpose, if nothing else."
"Grand Master, we cannot listen to him, and we most certainly cannot trust him!" Emeric insisted. "If there were ever a Sith who must be struck down, it is he! We can't just pass this chance up."
"Jedi never seek out fights," Cassius reminded him. "Don't you think you might be doing something seriously wrong if your sworn enemy knows the Jedi Code better than you?" Emeric looked as if he were about to say something, but his shoulders slumped.
"Bah, fine. Speak then, Wrath. Tell us why you would be so brazen as to make your way to the home of the Jedi, at the heart of the Jedi Council, where there is no chance of escape. This should be rather entertaining."
"My word, Master Emeric. Still feeling a little bitter over how I fended off both you and Master Idyrira by myself, are we?" Cassius said with a smirk. It quickly faded, however, when Tivva clambered her way across Vette's chest and rested her head on his shoulder. "Er, anyway… I really should explain myself. All I ask is that you hear me out completely before you decided what to do with me.
"Well, as you are surely able to tell, I am not here alone, but rather with my family. I don't know if any of you had a family before entering the Jedi Order, or perhaps started one since-" He cast a sidelong glance at Satele- "but I assure you that under no circumstances would I ever put those so close to me in this much danger were it not absolutely essential.
"The problem that has befallen me and my family is that our child here, Tivva, has proven to be Force-sensitive." Master Timmns inhaled sharply, and Cassius glanced at him. "Yes… quite. Anyway, as I'm sure you know, within the Sith Empire, as soon as a child's Force sensitivity manifests, they are taken from their homes and sent to Korriban, or first a preliminary holding location if they are very young, like Tivva is, to be trained at the Sith Academy and molded into Sith. Her sensitivity has manifested before she is even able to speak in complete sentences, which leads to the inference that she has an extremely high midichlorian count, and therefore the potential to be very powerful.
"I would rather die than see her taken away from me and raised by those sadistic monsters that they have teaching the Acolytes." He sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He lifted up his tunic slightly, revealing a scar across his torso. "They sent me, a fresh-faced recruit, into a cave full of fully matured Tuk'ata to kill the Alpha and retrieve its brain. And for what? So a fat, clinically insane minor Sith Lord who was hopped up on stims the entire time could get his paper recognized. I couldn't let that happen to Tivva."
"We can't-" Emeric started to go off on a rant again, but Idyrira quickly cut him off.
"We can take her on, Emeric, and it is not only possible, it is our duty." She told him. Emeric shut up again, realizing his fallacy for the second time.
"You do realize that you would never be able to see her." Master Kiwiiks reminded him.
"I'm well-aware of that, but I couldn't bear the very thought of her becoming some forgotten corpse in a Tuk'ata den, or even worse… end up as a Sith."
"But you're a Sith. Do you hate your own kind that much?" Emeric asked.
"Yes. Yes I do."
"But… but…"
"Emeric, be silent." Satele chastised, deactivating her lightsaber and motioning for the rest of the Council to follow suit, which most did without any qualms, except for Emeric. "Very well, Sith. We will take your daughter, and teach her the proper ways of the Force, which I suspect you have tried your best to follow on your own."
Cassius nodded solemnly and took Tivva from Vette, holding her in his arms for a moment before carefully setting her on her own two feet. "You be good while we're gone, alright?" Cassius said, crouching down to eye-level with her. She nodded slightly, looking a bit confused and clutching her toy bantha to her chest. Cassius smiled sadly. "Okay. Daddy loves you." He placed a small kiss on her forehead, and she giggled. Vette knelt down next, gave Tivva a hug, and booped her nose once, smiling as Tivva laughed again. Neither of them cried.
"Lord Cassius," Satele said, gently but sternly. "It is time for you to leave. We will not stop you from departing Republic space, but if you ever infiltrate again we will be forced to neutralize you. Do you understand?"
Cassius nodded again. "I do. Vette… it's time."
"Yeah… yeah, I know it is. Bye, Tivva. I love you so much." Vette slowly stood up, took Cassius' arm, and the two of them turned and walked out of the Council Chamber. Tivva looked after them, more confused.
"Momma? Daddy?!" She called after them, and began to toddle along in their stead, getting halfway to the doors before Idyrira came up behind her, picking her up and holding her close to her chest. Tivva began to cry, calling after her mom and dad more and more as they got farther and farther away. Unable to listen any longer, Cassius used the Force to yank the double doors closed behind him as he crossed back into the hall.
Neither of them cried leaving the Jedi Temple. Neither of them cried on the shuttle to the Republic fleet, nor on the freighter to Nar Shaddaa, not even in the spaceport walking to their ship's hangar. Only when he sat down in front of the Fury's galaxy map did Cassius finally allow himself to cry - silent, heavy sobs that wracked his whole body. Vette came in a few minutes later, and the two of them simply held each other and wept.
They stayed like that for a long time.