Chapter Sixteen – Holdparents
"Would you mind telling me why you tried to kill yourself? I mean, come on Adra! You can't just go and steal Fel's ship."
Adra listened tiredly to Face as he repeated the question, in different forms, to her for the twelfth time. She was slightly annoyed that he couldn't stop asking long enough for her to get a word in, but want of sleep provided an excuse not to yell. Face was pacing in front of her, muttering to himself. As Adra watched him mutter himself to silence, she forced her head to come up with something.
Sarcasm being the only thing withstanding her need for sleep, Adra put it to use. "Will the excuse of hormones suffice? Or do you need a deeper explanation? I did it because I'm an insane pilot who happens to be good with computers and who also happens to be your fiancé and carrying your child. Get the holograph? Glad. Good for you. Then I'll see you later because I don't feel like listening to your reply."
Face opened his mouth to reply but Adra was already out the door. Her strides, now full of a momentary spring of energy, swept her away towards her quarters. Gaeriel's Force-presence brushed hers, but Adra didn't reply past a return brush through the Force. Not only had he been right about her truly needing to tell the rest of the squadron before the happy day came when she couldn't fly, but Face also had a point to relate to her dress. With a sigh, she pressed the control panel once more, this time through the Force, and continued towards her bed. She flopped down on it, on her back of course, and stared blankly at the darkened ceiling. She hadn't even thought to brighten the lights. Why bother? She would probably end up spending the night puking in the all-too-heavily lit 'fresher once more.
Again, the door comm interrupted her thoughts.
With a groan, the tired pilot rolled up from her place and pressed the controls with the Force. Face entered the room just as Adra heaved a sigh at the sight of him. The door slid shut, cascading the rooms into darkness once more. In spite of the darkness, Adra kept a close watch on Face through the Force. He stood in one spot for a moment, seeming to adjust to the lack of light, but then was walking towards her. Deciding she wouldn't win this 'debate' by avoiding him, as Face Loran had that uncanny ability to just keep finding wherever you were, she waited until he was a few paces away before saying anything.
"So now I suppose I have to get another earful over my 'insubordination' and lack of ability to listen, yes?" Silently cursing her sarcasm for being her autopilot when she was tired or drawn thin by her emotions, she hoped to herself that Face would look past that to get to the bottom of why he'd come straight after her.
The bed she was still sitting on sagged a bit further as Face sat dawn next to her. "No, I'm not going to be a commanding officer over this. I'd just like to know what prompted what could be aptly termed our first major argument since Nicola played matchmaker with us." While easily audible, his voice was definitely lacking its joking air that it carried when he was goofing off with the squadron. Instead, it sounded like he genuinely wanted to know the answer.
Adra sat in silence for a moment, thinking about that subject once more. A slow smile crept over her face as she found her answer. She slumped back on her back once more, staring again at the blank ceiling even as she spoke. "Because it's been the first time since Nicola hooked us up that I've been insecure enough to need someone to lash out at."
The truth of her words hung in the air for a minute, lightened ever so slightly by the footsteps sounding down the halls of the headquarters. At last, some reaction came from Face: he fell back on the bed to lie next to her and, though she wasn't really trying, Adra could feel the mischievous attitude he'd adopted washing over her through the Force. Nothing past making her laugh, that was for sure. Even as she dug deeper in the Force, she felt fingers tickling her sides. Try as she might not to give in to laughing, she failed miserably. The tickle torture didn't stop, even as she rolled on her side, scrunched up in a laughing ball.
"No...stop..." Adra's breezy words came out between gasps for air between laughter. Face stopped, as ordered, and it took Adra a minute to stop laughing.
"Better?" Face's voice asked his question with child-like innocence, his presence in the Force echoing with fun. Adra nodded, though he couldn't see it, and offered a soft 'mmhmm' as she repositioned herself so that her head could rest on his chest.
* * * * *
Congratulations by the way, on the upcoming birth of your children. Jade's voice rang through the Force inside Nicola's head, startling her slightly. Sitting up abruptly, she frowned slightly.
Thanks, but what the vong do you mean by 'children'? She sent the thought back.
You mean you didn't know? Jade sounded a bit shocked.
Jade, what are you talking about?
Something like a sigh was given through the Force. Just follow. With that, Jade's Force presence became 'smaller'. Still a bit confused, Nicola's own Force presence followed suit and both the woman's minds headed towards Nicola's womb. And with it came Nicola's discovery.
Shocked, Nicola leaned back against Bror. How could she not have noticed this before? She was such a sithin' koochoo not to have! She was going to have twin girls.
Running his fingers through her hair, Bror waited patiently for her to explain what was going on. Struggling to collect her thoughts, Nicola finally worked out the appropriate words, or rather, in this case, word.
"Twins."
"What do you mean, 'twins'?" Bror asked curiously.
"I mean twins, as in, I'm having twins, Afyon."
"Oh." That silenced him for a minute or two. She closed her eyes, simply enjoying her husband's reassuring presence.
"Are they both girls?" He murmured softly in her ear. She nodded slightly, not wanting to talk.
"Nicola, we need to talk later."
"About what, Bror?"
"About what'll happen to our daughters after they're born. About what happens if both of us were to be killed." She stiffened slightly. "It's not like it's impossible. Granted, we are Jedi, but we're also New Republic pilots. Most NR pilots have rather shorter life spans than most."
Nicola sighed and sat up. "Meaning we need to talk about holdparents and our girls' future incase we aren't there."
"Exactly."
"Actually, now that you mention it, I've got a few ideas about holdparents. Let me bounce a few names off of you and you can tell me what you think….."
* * * * *
Iella Wessiri Antilles smiled slightly as she took a sip of wine. The Afyons had commed her earlier, asking her and Wedge to come to dinner with them and the soon to be Lorans. Though she had been a bit surprised by the request, she had agreed and at ten minutes to 1700, had dragged Wedge out of his office to come here.
Currently, the woman who had asked them here, Nicola, was reaching for her husband's wineglass. Frowning slightly at her, Bror shook his head and lightly batted her hand away. Next to them, Adra and Face were going through a nearly identical scene. Though she was by no means Force-sensitive, Iella could easily see the agreeable happiness and love running between the two couples.
Iella and Wedge exchanged glances. They recognized the scene all too well, as it had been them about nine or ten years ago when she had been pregnant with Myri.
Glaring one last time at Bror, Nicola finally appeared to gave up and took a sip of her water. Swallowing, the young redhead pilot put her glass back on the table and cleared her throat. That brought some sort of order to the quiet gathering, though Adra made one last ditch attempt to take the wineglass in her fiancé's hand from him. As Nicola cleared her throat, however, Adra appeared to let it drop and turned her attentions to her friend.
"Alright, I'm sure you're all dying to know why Bror and I asked you here, other than to free us all from Janson and Kell for a night." Iella cracked a smile and the three pilots laughed.
"But anyways, Bror and I were talking yesterday and we decided that we should probably make plans in case both of us are killed." Adra half glared at her friend, obviously wanting her to get the point. Returning the glare, Nicola went back to her original train of thought. "Okay, fine, I'll cut to the power cable now." She turned towards Iella and Wedge.
"Iella, you were like a mother to me, especially back during my wild and crazy Targeter days. Wedge, whether you like it or not, as General you're all the pilots' substitute Dad."
"Please tell me we're not including Janson in this!" Wedge said quickly, his expression a bit horrified.
Nicola gave a short laugh before replying. "No, Janson doesn't count. But anyways, Bror and I would like you guys to be holdsparents for our daughter when she's born."
Iella felt her jaw drop in absolute shock at the former NRI agent's words. She hadn't been expecting anything like this. Actually, she hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this. She glanced over at Wedge who seemed to be just as stunned.
"Nicola, Bror, I- we- I-" Wedge stammered, gesturing towards Adra and Face, who had raised eyebrows in undisguised shock as well. Nicola merely nodded and gave them her most annoying, all-knowing smile.
"Just wait a minute, Wedge, and let me finish my thought. Just wait a sec," Nicola then turned to face her best friend and her fiancé. "Adra and Face, what can I, well, we, say? You've both been out friends for a long, well, not that long-"
Bror coughed lightly. He'd known Adra for almost a decade, courtesy of a Master who stayed near the Temple.
"But anyways," the young woman continued, "Bror and I would like you two to be holdparents to our other daughter when she's born."
It took Adra only a moment to figure it out as she jumped out of her seat and ran to give her friend a huge hug.
"I knew it! I just knew it!" she said excitedly.
"Knew what, Adra? That we-" Face started.
"No Face," Adra cut him off. "That Nicola's going to have twins!"
Smiles broke out around the table as the statement took effect on first Iella, then Wedge, and lastly Face.
Grinning, Wedge grasped Bror's arm across the table. "Good luck with three Nicolas running around the house, Bror."
Laughing, the Alderaanian rolled his eyes. "Oh, I think, I'll manage. If not, I can always go hide in the Temple for a few days."
Nicola disengaged herself from Adra's grip and crossed over to Iella. Smiling, the two women embraced, Iella having to bend slightly as she was over average height and Nicola was well under it.
"Thank you for everything," she whispered in Iella's ear.
"You're the one who took all the risks back then, Nicola," Iella gently reminded her.
"No, not just that. For being there for me and agreeing to be one of our daughter's holdparents."
"Nicola, it's an honor to us for you to have asked us. Not many pilots and Intelligence agents ask their commanding officers to be their child's holdparent. Just remember not to lose your temper with your children. And whatever you do, keep them away from the simulators until at least age 10, or they'll become little Ari and Aurra Solo or Myri. And that's when you get the scare of your life. Ask Celtic the next time you see her."
Nicola laughed and pulled back from Iella, heading back to her seat. "I'll keep that one in mind. I don't need to be scared every time I go up in the air, wondering whether or not my daughters, Bror, and I are all going to survive."
Iella smiled and took another small sip of her wine. "I'm just glad that Syal hasn't started bugging Wedge to be able to fly with the Twin Suns or in Vanguard. I've already got to worry about Wedge and Myri."
Turning around, Wedge grinned at her. "Oh just you wait. Syal will start begging eventually. Probably before she turns 12."
Shaking her head sadly, Iella smiled slightly. "And I have no doubt that you'll be encouraging her."
Wedge nodded gleefully. "Of course! I need to work on having the Antilles clan outnumber the Solos and Skywalkers, and it's going to take awhile."
Rolling her eyes, Adra commented from across the table, "Good luck with that, Wedge. They've already got over 15. And you've got 5, and that's counting Jag and his siblings. Although...it might be something interesting to see if Jaina ended up marrying Jag. Their kids would end up tying the Antilles' and the Solos together."
Laughing, the group went back to their meal. The joking continued through dinner about pilots and the betting on who would end up being the better pilot, Ari or Aurra, once Han and Wedge were finished training them. Normal conversation for a Rogue, four Wraiths, and the head of New Republic Intelligence.