THE WORLD'S NOT WIDE ENOUGH

"Dal?" Lux knocked on the 'fresher door. "Are you okay in there? Everyone's getting together for supper."

There was a shuffle behind the door. "I'm fine. Don't wait for me."

"Why would I not wait for you? Are you sick? You've been in and out of the 'fresher all day."

"I'm not sick, I'm…" Dalla opened the door but made no move to leave the 'fresher. "Everything's okay. Go ahead and get something to eat."

He wouldn't be swayed. "I wanted to talk to you anyway. We haven't gotten a chance to since our disagreement and …"

"I'm sorry about that, Lux. I overreacted. I know none of those things were going through your head when you proposed and I should never have insinuated you'd stray."

"And I should have considered your feelings in that situation as well. Of course you would be hurt. For a second there I was thinking like Saw."

"Saw's the precise reason we can't fight amongst ourselves right now," she sighed thinking of the headaches Saw Gerrera was causing all over the center. "I accept your apology if you'll accept mine."

"Thank you."

An awkward pause passed between the two.

"So if you're not sick, are you tired?" Lux asked. "Do you want me to take you back to the palace to lie down?"

"Nope." Dalla couldn't help but smile.

"What is it then? You're not sick, you're..."

"Pregnant."

Lux stopped.

"Are you serious?"

She nodded. "I took a test just now to be sure and it's -."

"Yeeesss!"

Dalla watched hiding a smile behind her hand as her husband bounced up and down like a kid on Salt and Light, cheering.

"We've been blessed. Oh gods, thank you. Thank you so much!" He left off bouncing and trained his sights on her.

Dalla too would have thanked the salt gods for this wonderful gift a second time, if she didn't have other concerns.

"Don't knock me over!" she shrieked half a standard second before Lux tackle hugged her.

…

The others heard Lux cheering from the dining room and Ephraim and Talia, as well as Kason and Rayala smiled at each other knowingly.

"What in force's name is Bonteri yelling about?" Saw grumped.

"You could ask him," Ephraim suggested.

Saw scowled and soon found a target for his bad mood when Lux and Dalla walked into the room flushed and grinning. "What's got you so happy? Did Dendup croak?"

The grins vanished. "What the - Dendup is like a grandfather to me! How could you suggest that I'd be happy at his -?"

"Lux, please get me a ginger ale," Dalla interrupted. "I need it. Please. Right now."

Lux reluctantly left for the kitchen and once he was gone Dalla stabbed a finger in Saw's direction.

He raised his hands. "What?"

"You're a dead man walking, Saw." This came from Zalyanov Skimanos, the Lasat mercenary Saw had first recruited to his cause.

Saw rolled his eyes and went back to his food when Lux returned with the ginger ale and he and Dalla went to go sit next to the Harkons.

"Jyn is a great little helper," Kason said, trying to defuse the tension. "When you leave -."

"Jyn's coming with me." Saw grabbed the little girl's shoulder protectively. "She's not one of the refugees; she's my daughter. She stays with me."

Kason raised his hands to avoid confrontation. "She said so earlier. I was just going to say that we'll miss her. She's a sweet child. And she and Maia are practically inseparable."

Saw supposed the girls were sitting next to each other, which was better than Jyn had done for making friends in the past.

"Jyn," Zal said conspiratorially to the little girl. "Has Saw ever told you about his friends from Onderon, who can scare even him? There were two of them, the woman over there and then Dara -"

Saw glared and Zal dropped the topic. "Anyway, I don't think we'll be planetside much longer. Just long enough to pick up some new recruits and supplies, right?"

"Right." The sooner Saw didn't have to breathe the same oxygen as Lux Bonteri, the better. "Dahna talked to me. Soon as she has her baby, we're ready to go."

"Where are you going?" Maia piped up from next to Jyn.

"All over," Saw answered and went back to his meal. That was vague enough not to cause him problems if Bonteri had overheard.

Zal still had other questions. "Why are we leaving after Dahna has the baby?"

Saw flashed his gaze toward Bonteri's end of the table. "Just wait."

…

It was a long labor, long and boring for a young girl who'd been given an epidural early on and now had nothing to do but sit in the med center bed hooked up to an IV and machines monitoring her vitals and the baby's and the contractions that only slowly increased in strength and regularity.

Dahna switched off the holo screen with the remote and groaned. "Ugg! Is he ever coming out."

"It won't be much longer now." Rayala, who was taking a turn sitting with the girl, tried to encourage her.

"You don't really know that do you?" Dahna asked.

"No." Ray frowned apologetically. "I've never actually been through it myself. Even if I had I've heard it can really vary from female to female, even from pregnancy to pregnancy."

Dahna nodded. "But you want kids right?"

"Kason and I aren't able to conceive."

"You knew that before you got married."

Rayala smiled. "Aye. My older sister is a nurse. She is married to a human also. He's Kason's cousin. Dalla's younger brother."

"Oh." Dahna put it together. "I heard somebody say cousin and somebody say sister-in-law. Wasn't sure how that all worked. And Myat said you and your sister were slaves for a while too?"

"Not as long as you were. I'm so sorry you had to endure that. But… aye." Rayala sighed. "We were taken while we were children. They planned to sell us as a matched set."

"Myat and I were broken up when I was really little. I never imagined I'd ever see her again."

"It's a miracle you were reunited with family, especially going through something like this."

Dahna half smiled. "It's hard to remember what life was like with a real family. The other slaves at the Hutts' palace, they were my family for so long." She rubbed her belly and Rayala wondered if the girl was thinking of the baby's father. "Of course we weren't allowed to get too close to one another. Sometimes they allowed for or even arranged for relationships to begin if they thought they might get another free slave out of the bargain. But then…"

"Did you love him? The father?"

Dahna shrugged. "Hardly knew him. I think his master wanted to reward him for service or something. Mine thought I might be good breeding stock. So he might get something out of the deal. They're not getting what they wanted though. They're not getting my baby. That's all I care about."

"I think you are very brave to give your son life even though he wasn't conceived under the best circumstances. If you decide to keep him, I think you will be a wonderful mother and we will do everything we can to make sure that you have what you need to raise him." Rayala told her sincerely. "But if you do wish to place him with someone else I… have all the information you need to find a reputable agency to help with the process. Kason and I and your sister and Saw and everyone else here, we will support you no matter what you choose."

"Thank you." Dahna hastily wiped tears from her eyes. She squirmed uncomfortably in the bed.

Rayala glanced at the monitor. "It says you're having another contraction. Are you feeling the pressure?"

"Yeah, it's…" she squirmed again. "It feels different, lower, kind of like my body wants me to push."

Rayala hopped up out of her chair ready to run for help but the med droid had also been keeping track of the monitors and it rolled into the room. She stepped back and let the professional do it's work.

"Ten centimeters dilated and fully effaced," the droid announced.

"What does that mean?" Dahna looked small and scared.

"It means that it's time for your baby to come." Rayala gave her an encouraging smile. "Would you like me to go and get your sister?"

"And your husband." Dahna squirmed again uncomfortably.

"You want Kason here as well?" Rayala couldn't take the time to consider what that might mean.

"Yes. And quickly I don't think it will be long."

"Alright. Aye, Of course." Rayala hurried out to the waiting area "Myat it's time!" The Twi'lek rushed past her back into the birthing room. Then Ray turned to her husband, reaching out her hand to him. "And she wants both of us there as well."

He took her hand and stared. "Does this mean?"

"I don't know. She just said she wants us to be there."

Myat called out to them. "'Urry! Eet ees 'appening now!"

…

Shortly after the sun set, a squalling Twi'lek boy was lying in Dahna's arms.

"You did it," Myat grinned at her sister and the baby. "Dahna, you did it."

"Congratulations," Rayala helped the medical droid finish its initial cleanup. "Whenever you're ready, if you still want to, then I can show you the different adoption agencies. But if you decide otherwise, we —."

"I don't need any of that." Dahna shifted on the bed so she could face Kason and Rayala. "I saw you with Saw's little girl, and with the other kids. You're amazing with them. You're good people, and you've been with me since I got here."

Kason blindly grabbed his wife's hand and held it tight. "Do you mean…?"

Dahna held out the little boy. "Were you still looking to adopt?"

Rayala clapped her free hand over her mouth and made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. "Are you serious?" She gasped through her fingers.

"Do you like him?" Dahna's lip wobbled a bit but she still held out the baby.

Kason let go of Rayala's hand and took the baby in his arms.

"We love him," he said, almost choking on his emotion. "He's perfect."

Rayala touched the little boy's hand like she wasn't sure he was real, and he curled his hand around her finger. That was all it took for her to melt.

While the new parents marveled over their son, Myat patted her sister's shoulder.

"I deedn't zink so at first," she admitted. "But you did ze right theeng."

"I know I did." Dahna relaxed into the bed, watching the new little family. "And I'm going to do it again."

…

"His name is Ryon Blackwell," Rayala announced in a whisper so she wouldn't wake the sleeping newborn.

"Congratulations," Talia cooed over the baby. "He looks so happy there. You can tell he belongs with you two."

Ryon fussed a little and the Harkons led the new parents out of the room to help them set up the baby's crib and put him down, leaving Dahna with Myat, Lux, and Saw's partisans. Dalla had left the room a bit earlier, presumably to throw up.

"The medical droid hasn't given me the all-clear yet," Dahna said to Saw. "Once it does I'll be ready to go."

"Go where?" Lux asked.

Saw looked ready to answer for Dahna but she spoke up first. "I'm going with Saw. He and his partisans always need more people, and if I can help get rid of the Empire who helps the Hutts get away with enslaving beings -," This she practically spat. "Then I'm going to do it. If I can help just one slave get away, then I'm going to do it."

"Dahna, please," Myat begged. "There's plenty to do 'ere. So many of zees refugees need 'elp!"

"I wish I could stay with you, Myat. But I can't just stay here while the Empire gets away with this. This is my life, I'm going to go with Saw and nobody is going to stop me!"

Myat stared in shocked silence at her sister but she didn't make a sound, nor did anyone else for a while.

Unnoticed by the adults Maia Harkon hung back with Jyn and watched wide-eyed. It was like one of her pirate novels come to life.

"If you want to go with the partisans that's your choice," Lux said, though it sounded like he was grinding the words out. "But you can't leave right away. You've just had a baby; you need time to rest and recover before you leave."

"Why?" Saw asked. "She can rest on the ship or at my headquarters. We have bunks."

"I've never seen your headquarters or your ship, but I'm willing to bet every credit to my name that it's far more restful here than there."

"Oh, quit your concerned act, Bonteri," Saw snapped. "You want her to stay here to give the Empire more time to get over here and arrest my people."

Lux turned around very slowly until he was facing Saw square on. "What did you just say?"

Just then Ephraim poked his head back around the corner. "Have any of you seen… Maia! Come on, we don't want to keep your mother waiting."

She went grudgingly but looked back at Jyn. "I'll see you later?"

Jyn glanced up at Saw but he didn't seem to have even registered the distraction so she nodded at her friend before the Harkons hurried away.

"We all know what you're doing," Saw crossed his arms over his chest, still focused on Lux. "Spend enough time here to make the people like you, then run off back to Coruscant and sell them to the Emperor piece by piece. Start with the jungles, then chip away at Iziz - tell me, are you going to go with the Highlands or the North next? Dalla's probably going to want to know. I know I do."

Lux stabbed his finger at Saw, almost making contact with his armored chestplate. "You want to know what I'm doing? I've been here protecting Onderon, trying to keep her out of the hands of the Empire, while you've been off doing salt-gods-know-what, salt-gods-know-where! If any one of us is selling out Onderon, it's you!"

"At least I'm doing something about the Empire instead of standing back watching from the cushy palace!"

"There's more than one way to do something. We have to choose the way we fight."

"And I picked the way that actually works."

"I've heard about what you do that 'works.' How's that working out for your reputation?"

"What a highborn thing to care about, a reputation."

The two men tensed like they were going to throw themselves at each other, and they probably would have had the door not opened at that moment and all sixty-two standard inches of Dalla Blackwell walked in on the impending disaster.

"Enough!" Dalla shoved the two men apart with all her strength and stood between them. "Salt gods, enough! You two have done nothing but fight since you met up, and I'm done dealing with it!"

"You know what I'm done with?" Saw snapped.

Dalla glared at him with her most terrifying expression and Saw fell silent in the face of the northern woman.

"You're the one who's starting it!" She shot back. "Lux, you're letting him drag you into it and that's just as bad, but Saw's the root of the problem."

"Hey, I -."

"Sawyer Drokko Gerrera, can you not pick a fight for one second of your life?"

Saw's mouth opened and closed like a fish's, but he made no sound. Neither did any of the other partisans in the room.

"What is your problem with Lux?" She demanded. "Ever since you met you've done nothing but pick at each other and insult each other and tear each other down. If Vader and the Emperor were in this very room with us you'd still fight Lux. Now I wasn't there to see the beginning of this so tell me, Saw. What did he do to you to make you hate him so much?"

Saw looked around the room for help and settled on Zal, who raised his hands in surrender and gave him a "leave me out of this" look. If Lux had been foolish enough to speak he'd have called him a smart man. Few could rein Dalla in when she was like this.

Dalla didn't even leave time for Saw to respond. "You know what? I don't care. I don't care how this started, or why you hate each other so much, all I care about is that Steela and I have been cleaning it up since the beginning. Breaking you up, sending you to the other side of the base to cool down? Playing referee for you since before you two even saw each other face to face today? I walked out of this room for one minute, and you were about to fistfight. I am pregnant! I'm busy growing a person. I'm supposed to be putting my feet up. I'm supposed to be calm." She pointed furiously at herself, closed in on Saw's personal space, and roared: "Do I look calm to you?"

Saw stared at her in shock. "You're pregnant?"

Dalla rolled her eyes. "Aye Saw, I'm pregnant."

"B-but, whose is it?"

Dalla's jaw dropped.

"Whose is it?" She repeated. "What do you mean, 'whose is it?' It's Lux's, of course! Who else's would it be?"

Some of the others in the room started slinking toward the door to escape, but Saw chose that moment to exchange the shovel he'd been using to dig his grave for a Mining Guild crawler. "Lux's? You … with Bonteri?!"

Realization dawned on Dalla and she clenched her hands into fists to keep from exploding. "Sawyer. Drokko. Gerrera."

"Oh my gods, Dalla!"

"Oh my gods, Saw!" Dalla waved her left hand, making sure Saw could see her wedding ring. "Lux is my husband! How did you not know that? Have you been living under a rock or did you willfully tune out every news holo coming from Onderon for the last three years?"

Saw stared at the ring, then at Dalla's belly, and then at the rest of her.

"How could you?"

Dalla raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what?"

"How could you?" Saw repeated. "You were Steela's friend. You know she loved those jungles; they were everything to her. And then you turn around and marry the person who helped the Empire burn them to the ground? How could you sell out like that?"

"That's not how it happened. We don't know how the Empire knew where those bases were, but I assure you Lux had nothing to do with it."

"Who told you that? Bonteri?"

"I knew that long before we were married. He is not evil incarnate and he is not throwing in with the Empire. He left Coruscant once his term was over and he hasn't gone back!"

"No, he hasn't. He's staying here so he can be the king and then do whatever he wants with Onderon. What's he going to do, strip it bare? Sell it to the Empire? Both? You know how this works and you went along with it! You, of all people! You're helping him get away with everything he's going to do. Once it starts happening, no one's going to be able to stop someone who's married to the Lady of the North and has a direct heir! Why? Why are you letting this happen? Why are you letting history repeat itself?"

"I'm letting history repeat itself?" Dalla laughed harshly. "You're actually repeating it. You and your fantasy obsession with Soniee Ordo!"

"Leave her out of this!"

"You purposefully kept Soniee from her husband so you could be with her yourself. You knew Korkie still loved her and yet you made no effort to contact him, or to let her know that he did. You let her live with her broken heart for your own selfish reasons and you know who helped her reunite with Korkie? Lux!"

Saw's jaw dropped. "She's alive?"

It seemed to throw Dalla a little that he didn't know but she pressed on. "Aye, she is. No thanks to you."

The shock wore off and Saw launched back into rage. "And you didn't tell me?!"

"Why would I tell you? You've no right to know Soniee's business."

"I loved her!"

She scoffed. "You loved the idea of her."

"What do you know about it?" He spat. "Love is a transaction to you. You made that clear when you proposed to me." He shot a smug look to Lux, who didn't react. Dalla opened her mouth to respond but Saw didn't let her. "And what business of it is yours? She's closer to me than she ever was with you. She would have come to me."

Dalla debated telling him for a second and then gave it up. "Soniee is our daughter's godmother. She is family."

Saw choked on whatever he planned to say. Only after a full standard minute did he choke out "What?"

"Soniee. Is. Our. Daughter's. Godmother." Dalla repeated. "She came north for her birth and we arranged for Korkie to come up at the same time, where they were reunited."

The shock wore off. "You sucked Soniee into this?!"

"What do you mean, I sucked Soniee into this? We invited her to come see our child! And what even is 'this?' Salt gods, you haven't made sense since you walked in the room!"

Saw clenched his hands in fists. "You can sell yourself out, Blackwell. I don't care what you do to yourself anymore. But you dragged Soniee over to the Empire right along with you."

"We did not!" Dalla roared. "We helped her and Korkie hide from the Empire. There are no records of her ever being on Onderon for Ros's birth. We covered all of our tracks, Saw. We would never put Soniee in danger!"

"You don't have to give her to the authorities. You've made her part of your side. She'll never use her powers to help free Onderon if it means tearing down her godchild's claim to power!"

"Is that what this is all about?" Dalla asked incredulously. "Soniee using her powers to help your partisans?"

"There's no other way!"

Saw lunged and grabbed her throat.

"That's the only way!" He bellowed, volume shaking the room. "Nothing gets through to the Empire besides violence and power. Just like nothing else apparently gets through to you!"

Dalla scrambled for her dagger with one hand and batted at Saw's wrists with the other like she didn't know which one would be more effective.

"What the hell, Dalla?!"

An inhumanly deep voice bellowed "Saw!"

Saw's head snapped back from a punch in the jaw and he stumbled backwards, releasing Dalla.

Lux stood between them with one hand in a fist and his face purple with rage.

"You lay a hand on my wife," he growled. "I'll kill you."

For the first time ever, Saw feared Lux Bonteri's wrath.

"Dalla, are you okay?"

"I'm fine and the baby's fine." She coughed and picked herself up from the floor. "Let's go."

Zal stood at the back of the room ready to jump into the fray if Saw said the word and he raised his eyebrows for permission. Saw shook his head.

Dalla placed a hand on Lux's shoulder to reassure or even restrain him. "Lux."

Lux glared at Saw with pure rage for a second more and then nodded agreement. "Aye, let's go."

"That's it?" Saw asked, still shaken over what he'd done and what Lux was about to do. "You're just going to walk away?"

Dalla glared at him. "We were willing to talk with our friend," she snapped. "But he's gone. We don't know who you are anymore."

The royal we. Saw's heart sank. Bonteri used to say that in the early days, before Saw's momentary delusion that he was something more than a spineless senate errand boy. And now Dalla was saying it too.

He gave his jaw one last rub and then straightened up, the physical pain replaced with hot betrayal. Kriff Lux Bonteri. He'd taken Saw's sister, his love, his jungles, his planet, and now he'd taken his last friend and made her just like him.

Or maybe he hadn't had to do anything. Dalla and Lux were lordlings. They'd been lordlings all along.

"I should have let Rash have you both." he snapped and stormed out of the room. "Who the Dxun are you?"