A/N: Hey, I'm able to update from my laptop here! Yeah!
Chapter 20
Entirely too many hours later, a screaming baby was put into Siri's arms. And suddenly all the long painful hours in the med center were worth it. She supposed all new mothers thought this, but Isabelle, for the baby was a girl after all, was absolutely perfect. She calmed down after a minute of being held by her mother, and Siri was able to appreciate her big eyes and round little arms.
Obi-Wan was beaming by her side. "We did it," he said in awe. They certainly had gone through the birth of a child well, even if Siri was currently feeling nerve endings she didn't know existed.
"Yes, I did, and I thought that it would never end," Siri said. "Those who told me that childbirth wasn't as bad as it's made out to be were absolutely lying."
"But you did great, and she's perfect," Obi-Wan said. He had been great and stayed calm throughout the labor.
"Isn't she?" Siri asked. "I'm just watching her hands and eyes. That makes it all worth it."
Isabelle's parents, even though they had so much to say to each other and were absolutely exhausted, just couldn't stop watching her at that moment. This lasted until Siri's mother came in to see the baby.
"I know this is family time," she said. "But I just couldn't resist the chance to see my new granddaughter."
"You're family," said Siri. "And you have to meet Isabelle." Siri held the baby to her, but almost felt sad when her mother took Isabelle. She couldn't stand her baby to be out of her arms for even a little while. This protectiveness of the baby had certainly happened quickly.
"I'll have her back to you in a minute," said her mother, who could sense that. "She's perfect, honey. She's got your long eyelashes. And you do realize the head shape will quickly get to normal."
"Oh yes," said Siri. "That's what the medic said."
The three adults just about cooed over Isabelle, who didn't seem to mind being held by her grandmother, for a minute. Siri was close enough she could count that there were ten fingers and ten toes. Not to mention she couldn't mention the three of them having a closer moment than bonding over the baby. It felt great to know she wasn't alone with Isabelle, as she'd never even changed a diaper in her life.
And the next day they were discharged from the med center and were sent home. That was, of course, when the real work of having a baby at home started. Being so used to being successful on missions, Obi-Wan and Siri realized that they had a lot to learn and were glad that they were normally high energy people. They found that they had six weeks off missions to feed Isabelle every four hours and keep her entertained and happy in general. Luckily Isabelle turned out to be a relatively easy baby who smiled and gurgled often. They were even able to give her a bath without too much screaming. She just had trouble sleeping through the night, so Obi-Wan and Siri had to take turns getting up to feed and rock her.
This lasted several nearly sleepless nights, and then they decided that Isabelle should sleep in the bed to keep her parents from having to get up as long in the night. The first night this happened, Obi-Wan and Siri were on either side of her watching her sleep.
"I just can't get over her cute little snores," said Obi-Wan. "It's really such a cute sound."
"I can't get over her gurgles," said Siri. "And I think she has your nose."
"I think you're right, and she had your eyelashes." Siri knew that Obi-Wan liked her long eyelashes.
"That's what my mother said." Siri had been so exhausted at that point she was proud that she could remember what her mother had said in the med center.
"And she'd absolutely right." Obi-Wan was just beaming at the two of them. It was such a perfect family moment that Siri never wanted to end, as much as she knew it would.
They just laid there for a minute when Siri's comm buzzed. Siri got out of bed carefully, so as not to wake the baby, and answered it.
"Is this Siri Tachi?" a voice asked that sent chills down Siri's spine. Unless she was absolutely mistaken, it was Jenna Zan Arbor.
"Yes, it is, but how did you get this frequency," Siri almost hissed into the comm. How dare that woman ruin such a perfectly wonderful family moment. It occurred to her that for some reason, Zan Arbor was trying to get her to go after her. She must have some purpose or trap in mind.
"Never mind how I found you, I just wanted to let you know what my plans are," Zan Arbor said.
"Assuming I believe you, what are your great plans?" Siri asked, turning to the bedroom to see if Obi-Wan had noticed anything wrong.
"I plan on destroying the K-Directorate offices for getting in the way of my plans too many times," Zan Arbor replied. Her voice was even icier than Siri remembered, and she had to think quickly to keep up with what she was hearing.
When she processed what she was hearing, Siri was shocked both at what Zan Arbor was supposedly about to do as well as that she would say anything to Siri about this beforehand. "And why are you telling me this?"
"Because I know you won't be able to resist trying to stop me," she answered. "I want to get you out of the Temple."
This was quite the dilemma that Siri wasn't sure she had a lot of time to solve. On one hand, she wasn't interested in following Zan Arbor's instructions or playing into any possible trap of hers. On the other, she couldn't just let the K-Directorate offices be destroyed. Not only did she not like the idea of people in general losing their lives or livelihoods, her father's life could be potentially at risk. She'd risk any trap of Zan Arbor's to not let that happen, especially as she was capable of taking care of herself.
"If you don't want the K-Directorate offices to be destroyed," Zan Arbor was saying, "Meet me next week at a time and location I'll give you near their building."
"Why should I bother?" Siri asked, already knowing the answer.
"Because I'm up for a fight with a Jedi. You win, I won't destroy anything. You lose, and K-Directorate is no more."
"Send me the info later," said Siri. "I'll meet you if you aren't back in prison by that point, but I've got to get back to my family now." Siri turned off the comm at that point and went back to Obi-Wan.
"How do you have any idea of what she's actually planning?" asked Obi-Wan. "For all we know, K-Directorate is in no danger and you're being led into a trap. She probably is using you to get revenge on me." Siri had to admit that this made a certain amount of sense. Still, she couldn't let her father be in danger if there was anything she could do about it.
"I can't just ignore the comm. What if my father is in the building when it explodes?"
"So tell him you got the comm," Obi-Wan said. "Let him and K-Directorate decide what they want to do about it."
Siri made a mental note to comm Simon in the morning and tell him exactly what Jenna Zan Arbor had told her. They deserved to know what could very possibly be coming in the next week.
"Oh, I'm doing that for sure tomorrow," Siri told Obi-Wan. "But what if K-Directorate can't find Zan Arbor in time? I have to go, even if it is a trap. It's such a perfect opportunity to send her back to prison."
"You have a new baby and you want to take off so soon after that woman?"
"It's not that I want to, it's that I couldn't live with myself if I don't do anything and it turns out that I could. You do realize that my father's life could be at stake because of her latest insane scheme?"
"Yes, I know." Obi-Wan sighed. "And I know your conscience will never rest until you get to the bottom of this. It's just that I wonder how Jenna Zan Arbor is sure enough about that to comm you."
"Jedi reputation?" Siri asked.
"I suppose," Obi-Wan said. "Hopefully K-Directorate can take care of this before we have to get involved though. Do you think you can sleep after that interruption?" Obviously that hadn't been getting enough sleep as it was, and it was almost starting to worry them.
"I'm tired enough that I just might." Siri knew that she had to try as it wouldn't be too many hours until Isabelle woke up.
After that, all three of them went into a restless sleep until Isabelle woke up at about 0400. While feeding and rocking her, Siri's main regret was that Simon would be sure to be asleep at that hour, so she wouldn't be able to comm him until the morning. Naturally she hadn't been able to get the strange threatening comm out of her mind. She had a dream of fighting Zan Arbor near the K-Directorate buildings when she was woken up by Isabelle. Siri had woken up before she found out who won, but she remembered that Zan Arbor had a lightsaber. This was strange as Siri didn't see how she could have possibly obtained one in waking life.
Going back to sleep, she hoped that she'd be able to continue that dream and would be able to beat Zan Arbor. In any case, Zan Arbor had to know that K-Directorate would be on her in the morning. What was her plan for avoiding them?