Last time: The Trio returned home and shared a few tears.

Now: Everyone tries to settle into their new normal.

Chapter 11- Three Months Later

After that conversation between Oppie and Sasha, they had returned to Haven about a day later to find Kitsu and Illara already in the process of fixing the house with Zeran. According to Viran, after the destruction of the Bloodstorm, they had contacted Kitsu and Illara to inform them of what had occurred. That they had rescued Sasha, that they were on their way home to Haven, and that Kyr had died. They were devastated to hear the news of Kyr's death, but they agreed to meet at Haven. So when they returned to the house, Sasha was immediately taken to the medbay to recover from her injuries where she stayed for a week. During that week, Zeran came by with a midwife from the nearby town to meet with Sasha, Viran, and the Xiv head medical droid to discuss the rest of her pregnancy and what to do when the time came for the baby to arrive. The others continued to clean up the house and repair the damages.

During the clean up, they had decided to upgrade the security system as they all knew that even though they were back home, Ikari was still out there. They knew that she may at some point come to try and take Sasha and the baby again as they all knew that she still wanted the child, but they couldn't let that happen. Not again. So they prepared for every possible situation and for Ikari's possible arrival. Hopefully, she wouldn't. Hopefully, she would just leave them alone and focus on her Empire. But they had to be realistic. They also avoided going on missions or jobs as they wanted to make sure that they were prepared if Ikari tried anything. That way there were plenty of people to go up against Ikari and her forces. And they had been at this for three months.

For three months, Kitsu, Illara, Oppie, Viran, and Sasha stayed at Haven doing mundane tasks to keep themselves busy, but also remaining alert just in case. The only outsiders to come into the house were Zeran and the midwife, Reya. Zeran would come by and help take care of a few things around the house with Tac and Oppie. While they did that, Reya would be with Sasha and Viran in the medbay or their bedroom to help the young couple prepare for the child by going over everything they would need to know from the weeks leading up to the baby being born to labor to the years that follow. Reya was a wealth of knowledge. She even brought Sasha some maternity clothes and items as Sasha's bump was growing larger with each passing week and she didn't have the supplies she needed as she got closer and closer to the due date. And now with only about four months left, Sasha was grateful for Reya's help.

Speaking of Reya, she was due to come by today in the next few hours. She had mentioned last week that the next time she would come by would be the day that they would find out the gender of the child. So while they waited for her to arrive, they were all spread out in the house. Kitsu and Illara were in the training room working through some hand to hand combat. Oppie was in the kitchen making dinner with Tac observing him. And Sasha and Viran were sitting on the couch in the living room where Viran was giving Sasha a foot massage as her feet had started to swell and hurt due to the pregnancy.

Oppie was in the kitchen, he was preparing something light since everyone was kind of excited for the news of the baby this evening, in addition to the nerves that had been weighing on everyone, waiting for Ikari to lash out at them, which seems like an inevitability. He looked up as Tac suddenly spun his dome around, and turned abruptly to head towards the hangar.

"What is it?" He asked the droid.

Tac just whistled something vague to him about needing to go recalibrate the house defenses. He had done a lot of work on them, programming them, and he was constantly tweaking it. Oppie paid it little mind, since Tac had taken to the project with gusto and was constantly working on them. A chance to marry his love of, potentially, blowing things up and protecting the family. If he didn't know droids better, he would have thought the little astromech might have buried himself in his work because he missed Kyr so much. Oppie paused while he was cutting as that stray thought once again reminded him of Kyr's absence, and he needed to take a moment to collect himself.

Several minutes later a roar of engines resounded through the house, someone making a close pass. It instantly put Oppie on edge, he dropped the knife he was using to slice vegetables and rushed to the window. A nasty looking, sinister fighter that could only belong to a Sith came in low over the house, circling for a landing and reflecting the light of the sun which was near to setting. Oppie's heart stopped. Ikari was here, this was it. He had made a habit of keeping his sabers on his belt due to their unease, and his hands instantly went down to the twin hilts as he tried to keep his anger in check.

He walked out of the kitchen, instantly back in his protective mood. He saw Sasha and Viran on the couch. "We have company." He almost growled.

Viran stood from the couch, producing his own saber from his belt and a glare on his face. Sasha straightened up, a protective hand on her belly, as she slipped back on the flats she had been wearing a lot recently. She looked at Oppie worriedly.

"Ikari?" She asked, concerned.

"I can't think of anyone else who would be flying a ship like that." Oppie said grimly.

"Come on, let's get you to the safe room," Viran said as he held a hand out to her to help her from the couch. She took his hand and pulled her carefully to her feet. He then looked at Oppie. "Go get Kitsu and Illara. I'll meet you guys down there." Viran then led Sasha out of the room and down to the safe room.

Kitsu and Illara came in as if summoned by their names, putting on their buckets. "She here?" Kitsu said, hefting her rifle, there was only one 'she' she would refer to with that tone.

"Yeah." Oppie replied, turning to go to the door.

"I'll set up on the roof." Illara said with a malicious smile.

Oppie turned to go to the door, Kitsu at his side.

"What are we facing?" Kitsu asked. She'd already heard the story so many times, but she wanted to know what she could expect from Ikari.

"A Sith Acolyte." Oppie said, grimly. "I got the sense she thought she was more powerful than she actually was, she wasn't able to defend herself from a Force push. But don't underestimate her."

"Hey, I always edge on overestimation, that way I'm only disappointed in a good way." Kitsu said as she checked the charge on her rifle. They stepped through the door, fanning out into the forest so they could approach more stealthily in the fading light of the late afternoon. The fighter just sat there, not disgorging troops, not doing anything. It didn't look big enough to have brought any troops, actually.

"Tac." Oppie called into his comlink. "Are there any other ships coming down? Troop transports or anything?"

Tac whistled back a negative.

Oppie glanced at Kitsu, who also looked back at him. Ikari was overconfident, but they had expected her to show up in force, maybe with a couple of Star Destroyers in orbit. Not a single lone fighter. She couldn't be that overconfident, could she?

Viran came up behind them a moment later, saber at hand. "She's safe," he informed them.

Oppie nodded grimly.

The hatch slid open, and all three of them tensed.

Sasha stood in the safe room, staring at the camera monitors in the room that allowed her to watch the scene happening outside. She watched tensely as the hatch opened. Her eyes widened as she looked at who walked down the ramp. Turning on her heel, Sasha rushed out of the safe room, as fast as she could move.

As one, Oppie, Viran and Kitsu's jaws slacked in shock as familiar copper plates walked out of the hatch and down the ramp, carrying a bag. Kyr looked up at the house, then up at the fading sun, and then turned to look directly at them in the forest. Then he raised his hand and gave a friendly little wave in their direction.

"What the hell!" Illara shouted over the comline. "You guys want me to just shoot him?" Their voice asked, incredulous.

Oppie was the first to step forward, Viran and Kitsu closely following.

Kyr looked at them. "Hey guys. Expecting someone else?" He said as he eyed the weapons still in their hands.

"Kind of," Viran said, a bit uncertain. "Remove your bucket and show us your face. We need to be sure this isn't a joke."

"Oh come on Sport. The joke is what would confirm it." Kyr replied. But he dropped his bag and reached up and removed his buy'ce, the familiar face of their brother was smiling at them in amusement.

Kitsu was the first to rush forward, and she nearly bowled him over with a hug. "You piece of osik!" She said as she hugged him tightly, and Kyr embraced her in return and closed his eyes, happy to be back.

Viran moved towards him next as he placed his saber back on his belt. "You trying to give us a kriffing heart attack?" He asked, annoyed.

"Oh come on, you guys don't like surprises?" Kyr said with a laugh as Oppie and Viran finally got close.

As Kitsu stepped away, Oppie stepped forward to give him a tight hug. "Su cuy'gar vod." Oppie said quietly.

"Don't ever call me Ke'vaan again." Kyr responded quietly with a smile. Oppie patted him on the back and pulled away.

Viran moved in next and hugged him. "It's good to see you again bro," he said as he patted Kyr.

"You to Vir." He said back.

Illara landed with a flash of their jetpack and ran up, landing a hard punch on his unarmored bicep. "Don't ever do that again shabuir!" They yelled, and then glanced behind them and stepped back as Sasha approached, and Kyr nursed his shoulder like it had been hurt.

"Kyr…" Sasha voiced as she approached behind the group. She had a hand to her mouth as tears brimmed in her eyes. "No way…"

"Not the first time, Sash'ika." He said with a grin, and he stepped forward to give her a hug.

Sasha buried her face against his armor as she held him tight, even despite the large bump between them. "We thought you had died. And if you ever do that again, I'll kill you myself," she threatened with a tease as she found herself smiling and crying against him. She then pulled away a moment later, smiling up at him with tears of joy on her cheeks.

Kyr stepped away and was startled as behind him Tac had finally arrived, and tightly wrapped his grasper claw around the Mandalorian's leg. He patted the little droid's dome, "I missed you to bud." He looked at the rest of them. "I'm sorry guys. Ikari needed to be dealt wi-" he stopped speaking as he looked back at the ship.

Another Mandalorian had appeared at the hatchway, looking over the scene. In the fading light of the sun her silver armor caught even those faint rays and shimmered with a golden sparkle that reflected like a beam of summer's light itself, and the plates had a very similar interlocking trauma plate design to Kyr's. Her face was hidden behind a buy'ce, and her flight suit was such a dark black it absorbed whatever ray of light didn't glint off her armor. She stood at the ramp, waiting to be introduced.

Sasha stared at the other Mandalorian with a puzzled look. She could sense the Force coming from her person and it seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite put a finger on who it was or why they were with Kyr.

Kyr cleared his throat after a slight pause. "She and I go way back. You met her, though I don't know if you'd remember. She helped me take care of Ikari." Kyr said behind a studiously passive face.

Everyone except Kyr exchanged a confused look at him and between each other.

The other Mandalorian shifted her gaze to look at him, and some tension bled off of her as she relaxed slightly. "Helped you take care of Ikari?" The other Mandalorian said after a moment. "I was the one that killed her you jerk."

Kyr just smiled.

Sasha immediately recognized the voice and clapped a hand to her mouth as her jaw dropped.

She took her buy'ce off, a straw colored ponytail uncoiled and flipped to the side of her chest as she smiled at Sasha. "So about teaching me sabacc…" She trailed off.

"Cien…" Sasha barely uttered as she stared in shock. She then moved forward as a smile and more tears broke. "Cien!" She came towards her and wrapped Cien into a tight hug. Cien embraced her tightly in return, closing her eyes and happy to see her friend after so many months.

Sasha pulled away and looked her over. "How? We thought Mendax killed you. And what's with that armor? It looks great, by the way," she spouted off.

Cien looked over at Kyr who walked over to stand next to her, and was still smiling. "It's a bit of a story…" She said, trailing off.

Oppie looked between the two of them with a smile on his face, and covered his hand with his mouth.

Kitsu stepped over and elbowed Kyr in the side. "What is with the armor? She one of us now?" She prodded.

"No, she just stole the armor." Kyr replied, straight faced.

"Kyr!" Cien turned and smacked him on the shoulder. At that, Kitsu stared between the two of them.

Viran, who had been standing in stunned silence, finally moved towards Cien, his face unreadable. Like the last time he approached her this way. Kyr tensed beside her, not sure what to expect. Once he was within arms length of Cien, he did something no one expected.

He pulled her into a hug.

Cien was shocked as her arms stayed at her side, and then she slowly brought them up to embrace Viran back. Kyr relaxed and stepped back to give them a little space.

"Thank you," Viran whispered as he hugged her. "You saved Sasha and my child. You kept your word. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I'm sorry for my behavior before. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry. I forgive you for everything. But do you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive," she said quietly, still shocked.

Viran nodded as he pulled away, actually wiping tears that he had been crying. "Then can we start over? Friends?" He asked carefully as he held out an extended hand to her and a gentle smile on his face.

Cien looked at the extended hand, and back up to Viran with tears brimming in her own eyes. She stepped forward and gave him a hug. "Yes."

Viran was startled by the hug, but welcomed it as he patted her gently on the back before pulling away a moment later. Sasha appearing at his side to take his hand and smiling at both of them.

Cien stepped back and her own hand found Kyr's.

"This calls for a celebration!" Kyr said, "Who wants chili?" He asked.

"No!" Sasha, Viran and Oppie said at the same time.

"Besides, Oppie was in the middle of making dinner before you showed up," Sasha said. "How about we go inside and you both tell us what the hell happened over these past couple months?"

"What I was making won't cut it, we'll do something else." Oppie said, "but yeah this is a story I want to hear."

As a family, they made their way back up to the house and into the living room. Once they were back inside, everyone settled and looked towards Kyr and Cien with interest. They began their tale, albeit carefully omitting a few choice details.

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