Paralyzed
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A/N-thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. I have been neglecting this story a little in favour of my other one, I'm sorry about that. Here's the new chapter….
Chapter Fifty-Seven-Miscommunication
Rose wanted to kill whoever had termed it 'morning sickness.' She felt like she had the most terrible hangover all the time. She was nauseous and liable to vomit at the slightest provocation. And it lasted all damn day. How could anything so natural feel so bad? She saw Armitage looking at her with that familiar hangdog expression. He was only worried about her. She knew that. But the terrible frustration she was experiencing at the situation she had found herself in only added to her misery. She blamed him. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. She just couldn't help it. And worse still she hadn't told him. She couldn't. Not when she hadn't accepted it herself. Despite all her best efforts to the contrary, even with all the precautions she had taken, she was pregnant. And the thought absolutely terrified her.
"Rose, please, my love." Armitage begged her again when he saw her face pale. "You're clearly not well. This has been going on for two weeks now…"
"I told you I'm fine." Rose snapped at him. "Just leave me alone, Armitage. I am sick to death of you hovering over me all the time." She stormed away from him, guilty tears already glazing her eyes at her harsh treatment of him. She just couldn't help it. She was just so scared.
In the distance Rose saw Ben Solo coming toward her; his attention focused on a datapad he held in front of him as he walked. Following behind him were the twins, clutching their toy lightsabers in their hands. After seeing their parents sparring with each other one morning with their own sabers, the twins had kicked up a fuss, demanding they wanted their own. Rey had firmly told them the weapons were not toys and only trained adults could use them. Exasperated when they wouldn't stop complaining, she sent the twins off to bed early, hoping that would be the end of it. Aleia, being the chief mischief maker, had awoken her brother in the middle of the night and the two had gone on a midnight expedition in search of the fabled weapons. They snuck into their parent's room, their eyes going round with glee when they saw Ben's saber flung carelessly on the floor beside the bed he shared with Rey. As usual he was wrapped around Rey, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.
Shushing her brother, Aleia had picked up the dangerous weapon with both hands, letting out a small giggle as she switched it on. Her giggle soon turned to a shriek as the red plasma blade shot out, humming madly like a swarm of angry insects. She quickly dropped it and hid behind Tai, who was quaking in his boots with fear. Their daughter's terrified shriek had awoken Ben and Rey, who shot of bed in alarm when they realised what had been going on. Ben grabbed his weapon, switching it off quickly, his heart hammering madly as he watched Rey scoop up the twins in her arms and hastily inspect them for damage. Thankfully no harm had been done but the close call shook the couple to their core.
The twins weren't the only ones who got a good scolding that night. Ben got one too. Rey was angry that he had been so careless as to leave his weapon lying around for the kids to pick up, especially knowing how keen the twins were to have one of their own. His guilt weighed heavily on him; it took him a while to come to terms with what could have happened. Rey forgave him after a few days but it took him longer to forgive himself. As for the twins, Aleia had placed the blame all on her brother, despite Tai's protests to the contrary. Rey wasn't fooled by that. She knew who the real instigator was.
Even though the twins had gotten a fright, they still remained fascinated with the sabers. Ben and Rey made sure theirs were locked away when they weren't using them, but the twins continued to pester them about having their own, until their grandfather, Kuruk, had come up with the simple idea of mocking up a pair in the image of the originals. So, on their third birthday, the twins were gifted with replicas of their parents lightsabers and they had carried them around with them ever since.
Rose loved the twins-she had babysat them often enough-and was their third favourite person after Chewbacca and Kuruk. Today, however, she just wanted to avoid them. She tried to sneak past them and Ben but Aleia had already spotted her. Letting out a loud squeal of excitement, Aleia began to charge toward Rose. As usual Tai followed in his sister's footsteps. Ben raised his head and smiled absently when he saw his kids running toward Rose. He was surprised to see Rose shy away from the children's enthusiastic greeting. And was that a glimmer of tears in her eyes?
Hastily Ben called out to the twins. "Hey, give Rose some breathing room, guys."
Aleia gave him a very Reyesque look before reluctantly complying. Instead she spun around and challenged Tai to a duel. Soon the intrepid pair were engaged in a mock battle. Ben watched them in amusement for a while until he saw Aleia pull the same sly move on her brother that Rey often did when they were sparring. She ducked under one of Tai's swings and curled her foot around his lower ankle and tripped him up. Tai lost his balance and fell heavily on his butt as his sister started to giggle. He glared up at her in annoyance. "Daddy! Ally cheated!"
Ben chuckled as he leaned down and reached for his son's hand to pull him up. "You need to be more observant, Tai. I can show you some moves. It's obvious someone has already showed your sister some." He looked pointedly at Aleia while he waited for her to reveal her mother had been giving her some tips, but she maintained an innocent look which indicated to Ben, Rey must have sworn their daughter to secrecy.
"How do you do it?"
Rose's question startled Ben. He had completely forgotten she was there. "Um…do what?" He asked as he dusted Tai's tunic down with his hand.
"I don't know." Rose continued apprehensively as she focused her gaze on the twins. "Be so calm. Know what to do. You and Rey took to this whole parent thing so easily."
"Hardly." Ben's cheeks grew warm as he remembered the near catastrophe with the lightsabers. "We've had our moments."
"But you worked through them." Rose persisted. "You're a team."
"Yeah." Ben's eyes softened in that special way when he thought about Rey. "We're a team."
"Daddy!" Tai whined as he tried to claim his father's attention again but Ben was still focused on Rose.
"Are you okay, Rose? You look a bit peaky."
Rose could feel the familiar nausea welling in her throat. She faked a smile and made an excuse to leave before she threw up in front of the poor children. "I'm fine. Honestly. I'll catch up with you all later. Bye."
Ben watched her scurry away as realisation dawned-Rose was pregnant. He wondered if Rey knew. He filed it away in his mind, intending to ask her later. Glancing down at his children he gave them a wide grin. "Who's hungry?" He asked.
"MEEEEEEE!" The twins screeched together, bouncing on the balls of their feet.
Ben and the twins' next encounter was with Hux. They saw Armitage sitting in the canteen by himself. It was an odd sight seeing him alone. He was almost always with Rose. He had grown his red hair out of its short crop and it was now almost to his shoulders. He wore it in pulled back in a low ponytail. His overalls were covered in grease, a sure sign he had been working on one of the X-wings. Armitage looked so downcast and miserable that Ben was keen to avoid his former rival but then he remembered his revelation about Rose.
"Go and choose whatever you want from the buffet." He urged the twins.
Aleia and Tai eagerly ran off to do his bidding, heading straight for the sweet treats. While his children were occupied, Ben pulled up a chair and sat down opposite Armitage. "Hey." He said in greeting.
Armitage raised his head, looking to the left and right of him, thinking that Ben was addressing someone else. Solo never usually sought his company and he was immediately on the defensive. "The fleet is all in working order I can assure you. I have performed my duties- "
"Quit it, Hux." Ben cut in testily. "I'm not here to give you a performance review."
"Then why are you here?" Armitage was still full of suspicion.
"To ask you how you are." Ben tried to keep his tone even. Even though they had been on the same side for years now, the guy could still rub him up the wrong way.
"Why?" Armitage was genuinely confused.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Because you're sitting here by yourself looking like the worlds about to end. And they say misery loves company." He added.
"I'm not miserable." Armitage denied weakly.
Ben sighed irritably. "Come on, Hux. You look like death warmed up."
"Thanks for the compliment." Armitage sneered.
"You know what I mean." Ben growled. "Jeez, you are hard work. I can see something is troubling you. I think you could use a…. a…." He couldn't say the word 'friend.' "Someone to confide in."
Armitage swallowed thickly as he considered Ben's offer. He could really do with some advice and it wasn't like he had anyone else to talk to. He didn't really have any friends of his own. He knew that most of Rose's friends merely tolerated him for her sake. He supposed Solo was the best he was going to get. "Rose isn't well. I'm worried about her." He finally admitted. "She's been feeling nauseous for the last two weeks and for the last couple of days has been throwing up constantly. I tried to get her to see the doctor but she refuses and gets very temperamental when I plead with her to go."
"Rey was like that. She didn't like me fussing around her." Ben answered, smiling wistfully as he recalled Rey's constant mood swings when she was pregnant with the twins.
Armitage glared at Ben in disgust, thinking he wasn't taking his concerns seriously. "I'm not fussing. This is not like Rose. I know she likes to be independent but she's ill…"
"Hux, pregnancy is not an illness. You just need to be…. hey…. hey…are you alright?" Ben suddenly noticed that Hux's pasty features had turned an alarming shade of grey and he realised that Hux didn't know. Before he could say more the twins came running over to him, their plates piled high with sugary snacks. "Hey, kids, just give us a minute." He said to them.
Armitage pushed his chair back and rose unsteadily to his feet. "I've got to go and find Rose." He mumbled.
"Hux, just wait." Ben tried to stop him but the twins were already whining and trying to claim his attention. By the time he was able to focus again Hux had gone. "Me and my big mouth." He berated himself internally, not realising he was broadcasting his thoughts straight to Rey.
"Ben Solo, what have you done now?" Came her telepathic reply.
A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.
