CHAPTER FOURTEEN- EPILOGUE.

Four months later.

"Lux. Lux, wake up."

Lux stirs from his deep sleep. "Soka, we have fudge brownie ice cream."

"It's not that. I think the baby's coming."

Lux sits up straight. "What?"

"I've been having cramps for about two hours now and something tells me it's not false labor." Her eyes widen, and she clutches the covers in a death grip.

Lux jumps out of bed and grabs the closest pair of pants he can find.

"Get your mom!" Ahsoka wails.

"Let me get some pants on first, Soka!"

Once he finishes zipping his fly, Lux starts to struggle to fasten his belt buckle.

"Lux, hurry!"

"I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying!"

Just then, Hero opens the door.

"All right, I don't know what kind of game you two think you're playing at four in the morning, but you woke up my Katooni. Can you please try to keep it…what's going on here?"

The contraction ends, but Ahsoka's entire body is still tense.

"Hero," she says calmly. "I'm in labor."

….

Three hours later and Ahsoka's water has yet to break.

"This isn't the worst part of labor by a long shot," Mina tells her. "But it's certainly the most boring and nerve-wracking."

To soothe Ahsoka's nerves, Hero puts on their favorite movie and Steela massages Ahsoka's shoulders while they watch Mean Girls. Lux is instructed to go take a nap while he still can.

"Is that better?" Steela asks, her eyes glued to the screen.

"The movie's better than the one I was watching before. That one could have been called The Panic Routine of Lux Bonteri." Ahsoka says and then she gasps, resting her hands on her belly again. But this is no normal contraction. This time, it's different.

All three women pick up on the sound of something dripping onto the floor.

"W-what just happened?" Ahsoka asks.

"Ahsoka," Steela says evenly. "Your water just broke."

"Oh. So, I guess I can't take that bath then?"

"No! We're taking you to your room!"

….

While the ladies were watching the movie and Lux was napping while he still could, the rest of the crew had been frantically preparing for the new arrival.

Tandin is heating water on the stove while Rex and Saw change the bedsheets on Ahsoka and Lux's bed to waterproof plastic ones. Sierra covers the floor around the bed with plastic sheeting, and Hutch lays down maternity pads while Katooni fetches more tape, more sheeting, and some clean towels.

Meanwhile, Mina makes a cache in the corner of things she prays they're not going to need: an emergency oxygen tank, local anesthetic, and a suture kit. Right as she sets aside the shoelaces for tying off the cord, Hero and Steela lead Ahsoka into the room.

"Ahsoka, how are you doing?"

Largely assisted, Ahsoka lays down. "My water just broke."

"Sierra, wake up your brother." Mina orders, zooming off to the bathroom to scrub her hands and put gloves on. She snaps on her gloves just as Lux zooms into the room to wash his hands.

"Okay," Mina announces after she checks. "You're about four centimeters dilated."

"How far along is that?" Lux asks.

Ahsoka glares at him. "You know this. I can't start pushing until I'm at ten centi—AUGH!"

Well, Mina thinks wryly. Things are just moving right along.

"Everyone but Lux and Rex, leave the room."

…

To the experienced eye, Ahsoka's labor is textbook perfect. To the woman currently in labor, it's mortally terrifying.

Lux can't do much besides coach Ahsoka through the contractions and offer his hand for her to squeeze.

"Lux," Ahsoka pants after a particularly nasty pain, "I feel like I need to push."

Rex turns around. "You can't push yet. You're not fully dilated!"

"Well how much bigger does this get? It's just - AUGH!"

Rex glances between Ahsoka's legs and goes pale.

"What?" Lux asks, and then shouts from Ahsoka squeezing his hand.

"Ahsoka, don't move. Mrs. Bonteri! We need you!"

Mina rushes through the doors and snaps on a pair of gloves. "What is it?"

"Well," Rex states matter-of-factly, "I can see the head."

Ahsoka loses it.

"I want Padme!" she wails. "I want my master! I can't do this!"

"Yes you can!" Lux cheers.

"Stop talking, Lux!"

"Ahsoka," Mina coaches, "You're almost there. All you have to do is push. On three, you bear down as hard as you can. One…two…"

Ahsoka pushes.

"Good. Now do it again."

Ahsoka pushes again, and the baby's head emerges. Rex quickly swoops in to suction its mouth.

"One last time, Ahsoka."

"I can't do this! I can't!"

Luckily for everyone in the room, Mina remembers a similar utterance spilling from her own lips, and what her mother said to her.

"Yes you can! I did it – twice! Just one more push and your little baby is lying on your chest. One…two…three…"

The crushing agony disappears, and the air fills with a baby's cry. Ahsoka looks up at Lux, who's beaming down at her.

"You did it, Soka. The baby's here."

Rex ties off the cord and hands the scissors to Lux for him to cut it.

Ahsoka leans forward to catch a glimpse of Mina and Rex cleaning the baby.

"W-what is it?" she asks.

Rex hands her the baby, wrapped in a swaddling blanket.

"It's a boy."

With extreme care, Ahsoka tugs the hood of the blanket down a little bit to peer into the face of her newborn son. The baby's face is wrinkled and splotchy red, but his big eyes open and seem to look at her.

"Hi," she manages. "I'm your mommy."

"What are we going to name him?" Lux asks, gazing adoringly at his son.

Mina smiles as she finishes writing down the date and time of birth. "If I remember correctly, your favorite baby name was Tavin."

Ahsoka nods. "It was. I vote for Tavin John Bonteri."

Lux strokes the baby's cheek with the tip of his finger.

"Tavin John, welcome to the world."

….

The name Tavin lasts for about five seconds, until Hero hears it.

"He's too cute to be a Tavin," she announces. "I'm going to call him Tav. Or maybe TJ."

His proud parents dote on him, Sierra and Katooni vie for babysitting duties. Saw insists that "Baa!" is a legitimate attempt to say "Saw" and not a request for a bottle. Hero wonders if she and Hutch could have a biological child when Tav is older. Steela easily fills the role of "the cool aunt." Saw is right by her side as "the cool uncle," but Tandin and Rex are just as guilty as the Gerreras when it comes to Tav getting away with murder.

He will grow up surrounded by his loving parents, his grandma, his cousin Katooni and his many aunts and uncles, but there is one who watches him closer than any other.

That one is his guardian angel, his grandfather the good man, watching down from the heavens with a smile on his face.

A/N: After the loss of one crew member comes another…the baby is born!

If you didn't already notice, this story is marked "Complete". I will probably write another story in this series, as I can't seem to put this AU down, but it will definitely take a while before that one comes out.

Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, StarwarsRulz, and Beth for your reviews. And speaking of which, please leave a review on your way out. Reviews = new story, yes?

Until next time,

Lux's Sister