When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you
without flinching – they are your family. ― Jim Butcher

"What took you so long?"

Ren's tone was annoyed.

He was buried waist-deep into the belly of the escape pod of their ship, rustling with whatever had broken inside. He'd discarded most of his clothes on the ground all around him, his skin and wife-beater sweaty and dirty from the black grease and the dust carried by the wind.

Hux eyed Ren's broad shoulders with a displeased grimace. All that gratuitous display of rippling muscles was totally unnecessary, but then again, utterly unnecessary showing-off was Ren's questionable trademark.

"Dealing with these primitive creatures is more difficult than I expected." Hux dropped the bag with the food to the ground and tried to sneak a peek at what Ren was doing. "Did you manage to fix the pod?"

"Not completely. We're going to need a new– " Ren trailed off and froze. A moment later he emerged from the belly of the pod and stared at the basket Hux was still holding. "What's that?"

Hux felt slightly taken aback. Of course Ren could sense the child.

"A baby," he replied matter-of-factly.

Ren's eyebrows furrowed. "Come again?"

"A baby, Ren."

Ren stared. His scar stood out starkly against his pale face, whose only trace of colour was a faint flush over the cheeks. For reasons that completely escaped Hux's understanding, Ren looked oddly attractive like that – messy damp hair and everything – and Hux was a little offended by the disarming unintentionality of such a wonder. He was so used to considering Ren an irredeemable man-child with self-control issues that somehow it was a mild shock to suddenly see him as a full-grown man.

"Hux." Ren looked at him like he thought he had lost his mind. "How did you come into possession of a baby?"

If Hux had been as puerile as Ren, he would have thrown the basket at him to enjoy the change in his stupidly blank expression once he discovered what was inside. Being a dignified man with a sense of propriety, however, forbid Hux to stoop to Ren's level. Instead, he opened the basket with both hands and offered Ren a view of its content.

Ren didn't drop his gaze from Hux's eyes for long, awkward seconds before finally glancing down. Hux's lip twitched in smug delight when he saw the surprise on his face.

"It was for sale at the market," he explained. He picked up the baby from its improvised crib and moved aside the folds of the shawl enveloping it. "She," he rectified. "She and her siblings. She's the only survivor. I couldn't..."

"I see."

Hux arched his brows.

"You seem to have a weakness for hopeless creatures discarded by their own families."

Hux scoffed. "I think she's half Damantine."

"I can see that myself."

Obviously.

Damantine looks were quite unmistakable, if one knew what they were looking at. That was the point, actually: most people nowadays ignored the existence of the Damantine. Once a prosperous, cultured people, they had been decimated and reduced to slavery because of a very specific peculiarity of their race, which happened to be highly valued across the galaxy: they were strongly connected with the Force. By the time the Jedi had managed to put an end to their miserable condition and set them free for good, there were so few of them left that they were commonly considered extinct.

"It's plausible, isn't it?" Hux searched for a sign of assessment from Ren. "Her features are definitely human, but her skin, her hair..."

"Yes," said Ren wistfully, scanning the squirming bundle in Hux's arms with a strange light in his eyes. "I can feel…" His forehead creased, eyes narrowing with concentration. "She's shielding herself."

Hux gaped. The child was a newborn – she couldn't be older than one or two months, really… how could she be so powerful to be able to project a shield?

"She's scared of us," Ren added. "Humans scare her. It was her human mother who sold her."

Hux was barely paying attention to him. All he had registered was that the infant was exactly what he had hoped she would turn out to be. If they found the right buyer…

"Do you have any idea of how much a Damantine is worth?" he breathed greedily. There were finally chances he could split ways with Ren and forget ever meeting him. "There's… what? A few hundreds of them left? Even if she's not pure-blooded, we could make an awful lot of money out of her."

"She's definitely strong with the Force," Ren confirmed absently. His attention was completely absorbed by the child. Hux had never seen that expression on his face. He looked… fascinated.

Hux cleared his throat impatiently. "I know a guy in Canto Bight. He could put us in contact with the right people."

"Cantonica is too far from here."

Hux felt a vein twitch in his temple. Ren hadn't even blinked. He was still staring at the little thing in Hux's arms as if he were trying to see through it. Irritated, Hux put the baby back into the basket and adjusted the folds of the shawl to cover her, then glared pointedly at Ren: "Is that an inconvenience to your tremendously busy agenda?"

x

Ren was nervous.

Reaching Cantonica was going to take a lot of stops and a lot of long pauses, since they couldn't afford enough fuel to get straight there, and their best (and only) option was to find someone who would take their all too noticeable Silencer in exchange for something more practical and more low-profile. It was annoying, because that included sticking around with Ren much longer than originally planned, but Hux was willing to endure some extra annoyance if the outcome was as rewarding as he expected, even if that meant humiliating himself posing as a beggar in the smallest village he had ever seen. On Naboo, of all places.

From where they were, Hux could see Theed, human capital of the planet, perched on top of its highland, blissfully crawling with wealth and commodities. And showers. Hux would kill for a shower and some soap right now.

"We need to give her a name."

Hux stopped in the middle of the street. What nonsense was that?

"What?"

It took him a second to remember they were supposed to be basically invisible so he shut his mouth at once, concentrating his perplexity in one single glower in the direction of Ren's back. He was sure the bastard would sense it, anyway.

Ren turned around: "A name, Hux," he repeated, as if talking to a child. "Her personality is already forming. She needs a name to create her identity. Without it, her development will be compromised. She'll whither like a severed flower."

With a vague sense of unease, Hux looked down. He had the baby girl strapped across his chest with an improvised wrap made with Ren's dirty wife-beater: she was peaceful, sound asleep. It was an odd presence over his breastbone, so light it was easy to forget of it was there, yet so pleasantly warm it was impossible to forget it.

They'd tried to leave her on the ship, but as soon as they'd walked away from her, the whole place had started rattling and the lights flickering, so they'd had no other choice than to bring her with them.

"Fine," he huffed impatiently, and spread one arm. "Pick a name then."

"You should choose it."

"Why would I?"

Ren stared. No one was paying attention to them: Juuna was a small village and its inhabitants were mostly farmers and shepherds. Two humbly dressed foreigners were no big deal among them.

"You found her. You brought her here. She's already formed a bond with you."

Hux rolled his eyes. "What the hells are you talking about?"

"The silver in her eyes," Ren explained with a nod towards the baby. "It intensifies when she looks at something she likes."

"Why would she like me?" argued Hux. He was offended. Really, it was crazy to even consider the idea. "She can't like me. I'm going to hand her over to the highest bidder as soon as I can… She must know."

"She does," Ren replied unaffectedly. "She doesn't care. She was terrified among all those dead creatures at the market and you took her away." Then, after a brief pause he added: "She's grateful to you."

Hux scoffed. He didn't believe a single word, nor he believed Ren could actually feel what the baby was feeling. He lacked the physical and psychological strength to put up with this Force bullshit right now.

"Well, I couldn't care less about what she's named," he spat, and, as if to stress his point, he pulled the sling over his head and handed out the child to Ren. "She's just trading material. You pick a name. Whatever you like."

There was a very awkward moment of stillness during which Ren simply stood there and Hux remained frozen in that uncomfortable position, waiting for Ren to take the damn baby, which suddenly seemed much heavier. Hux had to personally place the infant into Ren's arms, and even then, he had a feeling it probably wasn't the smartest move: Ren was big and strong – maybe too big and too strong to be entrusted with such a tiny and fragile thing. He made to take the baby back, but Ren's arms had gently folded around her and he was now looking at her in the funniest way. It was a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty and… fascination, perhaps?

"Aurel," he said slowly, like caught in some sort of trance. The baby cooed sleepily at the sound. And then... It was just a split second, but Hux could have sworn – Ren almost smiled.

"Why," Hux wrinkled his nose and brushed past Ren along the street "She certainly seems to like it."

x

Against all odds, Juuna turned out to be the right place for their business. It took only a couple of attempts to find someone who could point them to the right people. Cantinas were always a good source of that kind of information and Hux was not disappointed when he asked the bartender if there was someone in town who was interested in some top quality ship stolen from the First Order.

Ren had snorted at that – he wasn't exactly thrilled to abandon his personal ship, but they couldn't afford stupid sentimentalisms. He would get over it, sooner or later. Besides, Hux had give up his whole high uniform to finance their escape, and that was something he had dearly treasured. All he'd kept were his boots, and he wasn't going to let go of them any soon.

"There's someone who can help you just at the edge of the village," the bartender was saying, pointing a thumb behind her shoulders. "It's the lil' cabin nestled into the mountain. They're smugglers. They'll fence anything you bring to them. You can tell 'em Guhr Xen sent you."

Much to Hux's chagrin, the man's utter lack of discretion didn't bother Ren whatsoever: he just thanked and left without further questions, adjusting the baby – Aurel – against his shoulder. He couldn't carry her like Hux had because the sling wasn't large enough to fit around his stupidly sturdy torso, so, when she'd started whining a little, he'd settled her into the crook of his neck and just walked on like it was an ordinary habit. Surprisingly enough, the baby had calmed straight away.

It wasn't long before they found the cabin: as promised, it was isolated from the rest of the village, its structure merging into the rocky side of the mountain as if it had just grown out of there – among cascades of dark ivy, on a bed of sandy dirt with splotches of grass and flowers here and there.

When they knocked, a voice asked from inside: "Who's there?"

A Coruscanti accent. Not exactly common in this part of the galaxy.

Hux stepped closer to the door: "Guhr Xen said you can help us?"

Something clicked and the door opened, revealing a dark-haired woman with icy blue eyes and sharp features.

"Hello," she greeted with a half smile that made Hux's skin crawl. She was rather attractive, but something in the way she smiled – her teeth, perhaps – made her look kind of predatory. She studied both Hux and Ren for a moment. She seemed suspicious until she noticed the baby. "Come on in."

"What is it?" asked another voice from somewhere inside the house.

The woman closed the door and turned to answer: "We have guests. Prepare some tea"

Hux genuinely hoped that wasn't a coded phrase for something else, because he really didn't want any trouble and he really could use a nice cup of tea after all this time.

Inside, the cabin was much more luxurious than it was on the outside: the floor was polished stone, the furniture beautifully carved in the local white wood. A lot of the objects on display on the many shelves running along the walls looked antique and quite valuable.

The woman led them into a spacious living room and gestured to sit on a wooden bench by the wide window facing the woods. A moment later, another woman appeared, carrying a tray that fulfilled Hux's hopes: tea, finally. She was very tall and curvy, strikingly beautiful, with long copper hair flowing down her back. She was at least ten years younger than the other one, who must have been in her forties.

"So," the dark-haired woman sat down on a chair across the small coffee table while the other handed out the steamy cups she had just filled. She smirked at Ren. "What's your name, hot stuff?"

Hux decided to ignore that the woman had just implicitly stated that Ren was the hot one and focused on a much more serious issue: their identities. They hadn't prepared a cover story. He was quite certain these ladies didn't give a damn about who the two strangers in their home were and what they had done, but leaving behind any sort of trace was too dangerous, even if it was just a print in someone's memory.
Unsurprisingly, Ren proved himself to be a very prompt liar: "I'm Adar." He nodded sideways towards Hux. "My husband, Nall."

Hux chocked on his drink. He coughed furiously, spluttering hot tea all over himself. Next to him, Ren (with an admirable aplomb, Hux begrudgingly admitted) started rubbing soothing circles on his back.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Hux's ears flared. He gave Ren a killer glare: "Yes. Thanks."

The ghost of a smirk curled a corner of Ren's mouth. The bastard was enjoying himself.

"My name is Karelia," said the dark-haired woman, apparently satisfied with Ren's answer, then grinned up at the redhead. "My wife, Daleel."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Daleel beamed at them. She was really gorgeous. "What's the little one's name?"

Hux was incredibly relieved Ren had insisted so much to name her. "Aurel."

"Aw." Daleel watched the baby yawn on Ren's lap with longing in her eyes. "Can I hold her?"

"I don't think– " Hux began, but Ren had already stood to pass Auren to the woman, who welcomed her in her arms with a smile so bright it seemed to lit up the whole room.

"Look at her, Rel." She turned to her side to let her wife get a better view. "Oh, I miss having babies around."

"Don't you even think about it, love," Karelia warned playfully. She watched her wife hum a lullaby to the mesmerised child, sheer adoration painted all over her face. "That kid is hungry," she stated after a while.

Hux arched his brows. How could she tell? They'd had Aurel for less than five ours and she hadn't cried once.

"How–?"

"The blue in her hair is fading. That's Damantine for crazy wailing. How long hasn't she eaten?"

Hux barely registered that the woman could recognise Damantine looks. He shared a nervous look with Ren. They were supposed to know, weren't they?

"Stars," Karelia shook her head in disbelief. "Worst parents ever."

"This is not– we're not–" Hux was stuttering. He wasn't really sure what he should say: support the parents theory and automatically make himself and Ren actual worst dads ever, or plainly stress they were not, in fact, the baby's parents and jeopardise their cover.

Karelia put down her cup and pointed a finger at Hux: "Look, Ginger: the little one is with you. As far as I'm concerned, you and Brooding Hunk are her parents, right now."

"What he means," Ren cut in, silently begging Hux to shut the kriff up. "Is that we just took her in. This is... new to us."

Daleel offered them an indulgent smile. Her wife, however, threw her head back and groaned as judgingly as humanly possible.

"Do you even know what Damantine babies eat?"

x

Blood, apparently.

Kriffing Damantine infants ate blood.

"Good quality blood contains all sorts of nutrients," Daleel was explaining, shuffling up and down the little kitchen in the back of the house. She had retrieved some sort of small bird from the backyard and, just like that, had snapped its neck without even blinking. Now the poor creature was being plucked clean all over its tenderest spot. "I'm sure Aurel would be happy with milk, too, being half human. We can see what she likes best."

Hux had been seated on a stool by the wooden round table, the baby comfortably ensconced in the crook of his arm. He was still nervous about this whole situation, especially because Karelia looked like the sort of woman that could kill you in your sleep and make it look like an accident. He trusted Daleel, though: she seemed really good-natured and sincerely glad to have he and Ren as guests. It would probably be a bad idea to stress they had urgent business to carry out. Also, they actually needed to learn how to look after Auren if they wanted her to make it to Canto Bight alive.

This inescapable truth, however, didn't make the feeding process any less disgusting. Naively, Hux had reckoned the blood would be drawn before the baby could have it; he hadn't expected the whole bird to be fed to her and still less had he expected four minuscule white canines to spring from Auren's rosy gums and dig into the animal's neck with such gusto.

Even Ren seemed bothered by the sight – which was a relief, since Hux himself was very close to retching. He'd seen a lot of gore in his military career, but a baby girl suckling blood out of a dead bird? That was news.

For a while the four adults in the room watched in silence as the baby ate. The two men appeared to be the only ones to be grossed out by the crudity of such a show.

"My father was a slaver," said Karelia at some point. She was perched on top of the table beside Hux and Auren. Ren was standing right behind, but Hux felt his pose shift. "He had a couple of hundreds Damantine slaves in Bellante."

Coruscant, thought Hux triumphantly. I knew it!

"Your father must have been very rich."

"He was." Karelia's eyes were hard and cold. "He was also an arrogant bastard."

Hux was very curious as to why a Coruscanti heiress had ended up living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. It would be impolite to ask straight away, of course. "How did you two meet?"

The two women cast each other a look.

"Daleel was a maid in my father's palace," said Karelia. "Both our husbands were abusive jerks, so we slit their throats and ran off together."

Hux gulped. So much for women preferring poison for their murders.

"I think she'd done," Ren intervened, crouching down to remove the drained bird from Auren's tiny fangs; all four of them disappeared as soon as there was nothing left to bite. Ren tried to wipe her mouth with his fingers, but it wasn't very effective.

"Here." Daleel gave him a clean cloth. "Use this."

Hux wasn't really comfortable with Ren bent so close over him, even if he was doing something as harmless as cleaning a baby's face. There was something wrong with that closeness – with Ren's gentleness. Ren was a weapon. He was powerful and unpredictable and couldn't be trusted to care for infant, yet here he was, doing of the most human things imaginable – being unimaginably human.

These musings were abruptly interrupted by a couple of children bursting through the door screaming. Very loudly.

Ren straightened up in front of Hux, blocking his view of the newcomers. He didn't move until the children stopped in front of Karelia's scolding glare.

"What did I say about running indoors?"

The children's face fell.

"No running indoors," the older said with a shrug. It was a girl, slim and sharp as Karelia, with the same blue eyes and sassy attitude. She must have been around twelve.

The boy, chubby-faced and ginger-haired, pouted.

"Guys," said Daleel, gesturing towards her guests. "Would you please behave and say hello to our new friends, Adar and Nall?"

The kids finally acknowledged there were strangers in their kitchen. "Hi," they mumbled together.

Karelia introduced them: "Our daughter Kahli and our son Benjen."

Hux didn't really know what to do. He had never been around children, nor he remembered much about being a child himself. Both he and Ren opted to simply smile. A little falteringly.

The situation was rapidly slipping out of hand. They had come for business. Why were they sharing platitudes and making friends? They did need friends. They needed a ship. Urgently.

"Your baby is very pretty," said Kahli.

"Huh." Hux wondered what he was supposed to reply. It wasn't like he or Ren could take any credit for Aurel's apperance. "This is not– "

"Thank you," Ren cut in with a polite nod towards the girl. "You're very pretty, too."

Though Ren had expressed himself with his usual colourless tone, the girl giggled delightedly. "I like him, mama."

Again, why was Ren the popular one around here?

After the children ran back outside, Daleel fetched a large cushion where they put Auren to sleep. Hux returned to the table feeling free and oddly empty.

A bottle of wine of some sort had been taken out, along with a set of tall crystal glasses. Despite the humble facade, these people were wealthy.

"So," Karelia began, uncorking the bottle to fill up each of the glasses. "Let's get down to business."

Notes:

So, my inspiration is kind of taking control and this story is getting longer every time I post a new chapter. I started this as a one-shot and look where we're going. Oh, well.
I haven't written a multichapter fanfic in a very long time, so this is a surprise for me as well, but, hey, these two dorks are adorable and I just enjoy writing about them so damn much.
Once again I'm posting in the middle of the night and there may have been some faults in my proof-reading... bear with me.
Please, if you enjoyed this, a comment, even a short one, would make my day. Thank you in adavance to everyone who's going to take a a few seconds of their lives to leave a review.