Maul and Ahsoka live uncomfortably together awaiting the ultrasound, and struggle to come to terms with the situation. Maul is both terrified and floored by the hospital visit. He worries for Ahsoka's safety. Sidious and Vader sense a disturbance in the Force.

It had been four days since Maul's arrival on Tatooine, and neither Ahsoka nor Maul had said a single word to each other. Not that she was angry at him, but that Ahsoka worried by saying anything to him that Maul would become enraged. She did leave him after all, something half of her regretted and half stood by- but the silence was becoming intolerable. They orbited each other like two planets, now tied to one another for the rest of their lives, but no longer together in an uncomfortable limbo. It made them both deeply sad.

Nonetheless, today was the day that she hoped would prove that the child she carried belonged to Maul. Besides proving it to him, she was independently excited to see her daughter with her own eyes for the first time. Please, please let there be horns by now, she thought. Ahsoka knew nothing about Zabrak biology, or how her own intertwined with his, or when her horns would develop. Part of her wished that her horns would be visible already to prove it to Maul, while the other half of her hoped they developed after birth. She shuddered at the thought of the former, and what that would feel like.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught Maul gazing at her intently as she made coffee, in that same longing way he had since his arrival. His expression was one of curiosity, worry, suspicion, and awe. Whenever Ahsoka caught him staring like this, Maul's eyes would meet hers for a split second before evading her as though he were looking at something else all along.

"You're really bad at pretending you're not ogling me," she said sternly. Maul's eyes glanced back at her warily.

"I wasn't ogling," he argued gently. In reality his eyes cast over the small convex of her abdomen like a magnet. Sometimes the angle made it so that he was sure she wasn't pregnant at all, but other times there seemed to be an ever so slight bump across her torso. Maul's mind raced with a million thoughts and scenarios about what grew inside her, vacillating between intense hoping and dismal anger.

"I wouldn't know, you haven't said a word to me since the first day you got here," Ahsoka murmured.

"It's been mutual, has it not been?"

"I suppose it has been," she sighed tiredly. Ahsoka had many questions for Maul. Do you forgive me for leaving? Do you want her? Where are we going to live? How are we going to raise her? What about the Empire? Are we going to be together again? She had only been too nervous to ask them in the first place. The Maul in front of her was not the same man she had left over a month ago. Now there were walls between them, ones forged from fear and anger and abandonment, walls she never wished existed despite creating them herself. Behind his walls she knew there was a murderer, an evil side, a Sith Lord. That was not the side of Maul she wanted to know, nor the Maul she fell in love with.

"Are you nervous about the ultrasound?" she asked him.

"Yes," he answered quickly.

"Well don't be. She is yours. I know you doubt me, and I don't blame you considering it's technically impossible, but I have only ever been with you."

"I am nervous even if she is mine," he breathed, trying to wring out the shakiness in his voice betraying his persona of being unemotional. Maul had never considered having a child or being a father even prior to losing the part of him that would allow such a thing. Complicating the matter further, he was now having a child with a woman who left him, who he was not with anymore romantically, on a planet with his arch nemesis in a checkmate for who would kill whom first. He wondered about many of the same questions Ahsoka had. He wondered if he would be a good father, or what a father was supposed to do in the first place. He wondered what it all meant for him and Ahsoka, and their plans for overthrowing their masters.

In short, Maul was absolutely terrified. Luckily for him, so was Ahsoka.

"I'm sorry, I know you weren't planning on this," Ahsoka murmured.

"If what you say is true, there is no need to be sorry- neither were you. I know you would not have chosen this pregnancy or foregone it purposefully if the opportunity were obtainable the natural way," Maul sighed. This made Ahsoka's brow furrow.

"I don't know, maybe at one time… But not like this," she muttered sadly. Maul's attention piqued.

"You would have wanted a child by me?" Maul asked incredulously. Ahsoka blushed a bit.

"I never thought about it to be honest. Before Master Yoda confirmed she belonged to you, I didn't want to keep it… I thought someone had… crawled into our bed, or drugged me, or… I don't know," she trailed off in disgust. "But then I found out she was yours." Anger seared the bond on Maul's end. He pictured Ahsoka panicking in the infirmary on Jedha, vile images and scenarios flitting through his head of what she could have been imagining then.

"No one would have so much as laid a finger on you and lived. I would never have allowed such a thing to happen to you," he snarled with conviction. A faint smile danced on the edges of Ahsoka's lips.

"I know, that's why it was so confusing and disorienting… I didn't know what to think. Once Master Yoda said she had horns, I felt so relieved, but so guilty. I'm sorry this happened, even though it's neither of our faults, but it is my fault that I left… Maybe I could have handled things better," Ahsoka choked out. Maul's heart was a pang of pain. Does she regret leaving? He wanted to ask.

"Why didn't you come back? After you found out? I would have been there for you, protected you and the child. Why didn't you return?" he asked bitterly.

"I thought about it many times. I even turned the ship around for forty-five minutes once, but changed my mind and went back on course. I was angry about Anakin, and I didn't want our child growing up on a resistance base under the threat of the Empire finding her… I was afraid of how you'd react," Ahsoka murmured. Maul wanted to embrace her right there, but restrained himself. Instead he let out a deep sigh. If Maul were in her shoes, who's to say what he would have done? She was right too that he most likely would not have believed her, and there would have been no way to tell until the child was far enough along to visibly see. His month of pure rage and pain mellowed into the start of an understanding.

"You were right in that it would've been probable for me to disbelieve your pregnancy given my… situation. If the child is mine, you know I will take full care of both you and my daughter to the fullest extent of my capacities."

"Thank you, Maul," she replied quietly.

He wanted to be with her so badly it hurt. Maul clenched his jaw and looked away from her painfully. It was still too early to think of winning her back, the pain of their break-up still raw. Nonetheless, his hearts skipped a beat at the prospect of being together again with Ahsoka and their unborn daughter, even if it was only as a caretaker.

"If," Maul reiterated. His suspicions still reigned supreme, but luckily, the time to know for sure had arrived.

xxx

Maul and Ahsoka had cloaked themselves for their protection, slowly making their way through the dregs of Tatooine until they reached a rundown adobe building that was supposed to be a hospital. Maul wrinkled his nose at the dusty interior of it, skeptical that the place wouldn't collapse at any second in its dilapidated state.

Wings fluttered, and with a gust a Geonosian female with thick glasses flew out to greet the pair.

"You must be Kira for the ultrasound?" the creature asked.

"Yes," Ahsoka answered, using a fake name.

"Come," the doctor beckoned her. Maul followed behind as they were led into a small room in the back. A chair was sprawled out flat next to a monitor, where the creature beckoned Ahsoka to lay down. After some instructions, Ahsoka pulled her cloak up to reveal her abdomen. Maul's eyes washed over her nervously. His palms were sweating in anticipation, his hearts racing. I'm either a father or Ahsoka has lied to me, he thought anxiously. Both options terrified him, but he prayed fervently that the child was his.

"It's not the fanciest equipment in the world, but it'll get the job done. This gel is cold," the creature warned as she smeared an electric blue gel on her stomach. Ahsoka flinched a bit at the icy sensation, which quickly melded over her skin and warmed. The creature fiddled with some controls, and took out a long wand shape.

"Can you test for DNA before a child is born?" she blurted nervously. The Geonosian glanced judgmentally at her and then Maul back and forth a few times before answering. Ahsoka was annoyed by this.

"Yes, if you so wish we can extract a DNA sample in the womb afterwards. It will cost you extra," the creature said. Ahsoka nodded and let the doctor continue. Maul and Ahsoka's eyes latched onto the monitor as it clicked on, a pixelated collection of black and blue blobs being indistinguishable as she began. Ahsoka noticed Maul was trembling slightly.

It will be okay, she thought to him in the Force. Maul gave no reply.

"It's a girl," the doctor said after a small shape began to appear on the screen. Ahsoka's eyes filled with tears of joy, while Maul's heart continued to race. Shortly after, a small humanoid figure came into sight.

"Oh my!" the doctor exclaimed. Before she could continue her sentence, Maul interjected.

"What? Is something wrong?" Maul demanded in a panic.

"No, no, she looks healthy. Do you see her face? She has quite the set of horns," the doctor noted. Ahsoka and Maul's untrained eyes darted across the screen until the doctor pointed at it, moving the wand to get a better view.

"Do you see her nose right there? And her eyes? Right above there, she has a small little lekku forming, although I've never seen a Togruta with horns. What species is the father? Actually, nevermind, that's really none of my business," the doctor murmured to herself nonchalantly. Sure enough, despite the grainy screen, several small horns were budding out of the top of their unborn daughter's head. A wave of relief washed over Maul, followed by feeling as though he were going to pass out. I am the father of Ahsoka's child. Ahsoka is carrying my child. Ahsoka and I are having a daughter. Together, he thought in a panicked daze.

"Maul?" Ahsoka murmured concernedly. His fearful eyes locked with hers, calming his breath slightly. Suddenly he broke their gaze and snapped his head to the doctor.

"Do every test you can on her to make sure she and the baby are healthy. I want everything noted- any nutrient deficiencies, whether she's underweight, her blood-"

"I have a client after this," the doctor snapped unceremoniously, cutting Maul short. Ahsoka could feel a short burst of annoyance before he reached into his cloak and slapped a handful of credits on the table. The doctor eyed the pile of money before answering.

"Done," the doctor said, and scurried away to gather whatever equipment she needed. Ahsoka smiled at Maul, any reservations in protecting her and the child dissipating into a possessive need to ensure Ahsoka and their daughter's safety.

"She's going to look just like you," Ahsoka murmured. Maul was too in shock to reply, not knowing whether he should feel happy or saddened by that.

"I only wish she has your everything else," Maul breathed shakily. I'm going to be a father.

xxx

Ahsoka could sense that Maul was pleased that the child was his. Despite this, she could also sense an intense fear in him, the tension taut in the air between them. Maul was frantically carving between the throngs of people, subtly pushing away the strangers from arm's length of Ahsoka using the Force to ensure some gap between them in case someone were to bump into her accidentally. Maul tried to mask his acute paranoia, his plans for destroying Sidious and Kenobi melting away from the fiery goal that put itself at the forefront of everything: keeping Ahsoka safe.

"Maul, slow down," Ahsoka complained after him as he led her through the crowd. He gave no response, but when they passed the turn to go towards their hut, Ahsoka dug her heels in the sand.

"Where are we going? The hut is this way," she argued.

"I'm taking you to Dathomir."

"No, you're not," Ahsoka replied in a mix of defiance and confusion.

"Yes I am," he growled lowly.

"No, you're not! I'm not leaving Obi-Wan, or Luke, or Rex. Why would I go to Dathomir?"

"Do you honestly believe you are safe on Tatooine? Do you not remember being nearly killed by sand people? Do you think you're safe being with the most wanted Jedi in the entire Empire and the son of Skywalker? If his position is compromised, you would be executed on spot. You're not safe here. I'm taking you home," Maul snarled at her.

"I'm safer with them than anywhere else in the galaxy," Ahsoka snapped.

"You're safest with me," Maul challenged.

"I'm not your property, Maul."

"No, but that child is mine, and I am demanding that she be taken somewhere where I am certain she will survive."

"Like the rest of the Dathomirians?" Ahsoka challenged. She saw Maul flinch at this, and suddenly felt immensely guilty. A few seconds of silence passed between them before Ahsoka broke it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Ahsoka murmured, placing a hand gently on him. Maul shrugged her off and remained petulantly silent, and she sensed in him there was something he was not telling her about wanting to take her to Dathomir. "You're frightened by something," Ahsoka noted in a whisper. In reality, something much darker worried Maul about the child that he did not want to frighten Ahsoka with.

"Maul, what's wrong? You haven't said anything since we left."

"I do not want to alarm you unnecessarily, but it is vital you are taken to Dathomir," Maul said flatly.

"What's bothering you?" she asked gently.

"The presence of her horns is concerning to me. I know of no hybrids from Dathomirians involving a Togruta mother. My species has evolved to carry a child with horns, yours has not," he sighed as tactfully as he could. Maul feared losing her above all. "Do you understand what I am afraid of?" he asked.

"You're worried I'm going to die in childbirth?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yes."

"Oh," Ahsoka whispered. In reality Maul also worried about carrying it, health complications arising afterwards, and the Empire finding the child even if both of them were healthy. Above all he couldn't lose Ahsoka. He refused to entertain such an idea.

"Talzin would know. If there is a risk of losing you by carrying this child, I will not allow it," Maul growled. Ahsoka's eyes widened.

"You want me to get rid of her," Ahsoka asked in shock.

"No, but if your life is at stake because of it-"

"I will not," Ahsoka choked out firmly.

"You could die, Ahsoka!" Maul snapped.

"So be it then. The Force would not have created her if she wasn't meant to be. There must be some reason for the Force to join us like this. I will not abort her. She is my daughter, it is my body, and I am not your property" Ahsoka argued. They stared tensely at one another before Maul sighed, his shoulders shrinking down in defeat.

"I will not lose you again," he growled firmly, trying to hold back his emotions from dripping down his face. He looked like a cornered tiger, his fearful eyes darting around anxiously. His entire world, his only reason for being was her now- a soft, mortal Togruta hiding from the unstoppable Empire in an endless horizon of lightyears filled with those who would kill Ahsoka without a second thought. It terrified him, and Ahsoka could see the helplessness in Maul's face. Tentatively, she pulled him into her embrace, burying her head into his chest. He smelled like leather and soot, the heat coming off his body enveloping her. Ahsoka had missed the feel of him against her, his smell, his voice. Maul stood in shock for a few moments.

"You worry yourself too much. It will be okay," Ahsoka murmured reassuringly, although she too had worried about carrying a half-Zabrak. Maul sunk his head into her shoulder, his reservations about showing his emotions breaking. He wrapped himself tightly around her, holding onto her like it was the last time he'd ever see her. Maul sobbed quietly into her neck, tears streaming down Ahsoka's face as well.

"I'm so sorry I left, Maul. If I could take it back, I would," she whispered.

"I forgive you… Just, promise me you won't do it again. I… I could not bear it a second time," he choked out before continuing, "Every second of my waking without your presence was a hell unlike any I have endured. I would rather endure another decade of that trash heap hell than one day of this kind of hell without you, wondering where you were, if you were alright, why-" he cut himself off, his voice breaking along with Ahsoka's heart as she listened.

They held each other like that amidst the bustling Tatooine crowd before pulling away. Maul's pained yellow eyes bored into her watery ocean blue ones. He wanted to kiss her but refrained. Ahsoka sensed the longing between them and finally closed the month-long gap of pain. His lips met hers passionately, his hands wrapping into her lekku as he pulled her closer.

"I never wish to be parted from you again, do you understand?" Maul breathed raggedly.

"Neither do I. Are we…" together again, she wanted to say. Instead she meekly said it into the Force.

Yes, if you will have me again.

Ahsoka nodded, and Maul picked her up in his arms tightly.

"I love you, Maul," she murmured tearfully. Maul kissed her deeply.

"I will always love you, my lady."

xxx

The only sound between Sidious and his young apprentice was that of Vader's heavy robotic breathing. He had summoned Vader several minutes prior, but unlike many of their meetings discussing the Empire's growing invasion of the galaxy, Sidious let the silence fill the room. In that silence something was unusual- something in the galaxy had changed somewhere, a small rift in the Force.

"Do you sense it?" Sidious's raspy voice echoed.

"Yes, master," Vader replied after a long pause. In reality, there had been something off in the Force ever since his rise to power. Something he could not quite put his finger on, a whisper of a thorn in his side, like a scratch you can't quite itch or an ember that does not want to go out no matter how hard one blows. Now, that scratch had become noticeably prominent, the ember catching on to a small flame.

"There has been a disturbance in the Force… something unnatural, as I'm sure you have sensed in the weeks prior. I have received news today that is most unsatisfactory," Sidious growled. Vader's interest was piqued, but he gave no inclination of the sort. Sidious beckoned for Vader to come forward, clicking on the hologram where a Genosian woman was gasping for breath.

"My dear, I do hope you have caught your breath by now," Sidious muttered facetiously.

"Yes, my Lord," she coughed.

"Good. If you will be so kind as to show Lord Vader what you have found?"

"Y-yes! Yes," she said quickly, pulling up a grainy photograph to the hologram. Vader looked at it unresponsively, the quality of the picture being hard to distinguish.

"An ultrasound?" he rasped. A pang struck through Vader's heart, the last time he remembered seeing such a picture had been Padme's. He quickly shook the thought from his mind. Those were the old days, Anakin is dead, as is Padme, he reminded himself.

"Yes, and not just any. Will you please identify the anatomy of this fetus?" Sidious growled impatiently. The Genosian woman shook her head vigorously.

"Y-yes, I am aware there is a bounty on the Zabrak by the name of Maul. This child is of Zabrak descent, there is no doubt. The mother was a Togruta who entered my office with a man in a cloak. I believe this was the man you are looking for, and his unborn child. As soon as I saw the horns, I knew you would have a hefty reward waiting for me," she explained triumphantly, a wide smile plastered across her face. Suddenly it hit Vader.

"So you understand now, my apprentice? Who this child belongs to? What must be done?" he smiled wickedly. Vader nodded slowly.

"Where are they?"

"Tatooine," Sidious replied. The name of his home planet sent a shiver down Vader's spine.

"I will leave at once, Master," Vader growled.

"Good. Target Ahsoka Tano first. If that child survives, it will be strong with the Force, and could cause us problems in the future in addition to Maul and Ahsoka. Destroy it."

"Yes, Master," Vader murmured obediently. The Genosian woman huffed impatiently, waiting for Sidious and Vader to finish their discussion to collect her rightful reward.

"When will I receive my credits, my Lord?" she piped in. Sidious smiled, turning to her.

"Now," he replied. For a split second the Genosian woman smiled too before she felt a familiar pressure on her throat. Perhaps she regretted her decision to inform the Empire, but if she did, she didn't have long to regret before her life withered to a crushed heap on the ground.

"Leave no witnesses, no one must find out about the child's existence," Sidious snarled to Vader.

"Yes, Master," he replied a final time before leaving for his ship.