Rey was asleep when I eased open her door, her skin yellowed and exhausted rings of purple under her eyes. Her hair was still up, pieces of it sticking out of the messy bun on the top of her head. She stirred when I walked in, and gave me a sleepy smile when she saw me. Fuck, she was gorgeous.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hey." I said, sitting in a rickety recliner by her bedside and taking her hand in mine.

Her dark eyebrows pulled together. "You're here."

I nodded.

"How are you here?" Her voice was raspy and weak, and I grabbed the cup of water off the table next to me. I offered it to her, moving the bendy straw toward her lips.

"The Kings were apparently feeling merciful, given the circumstances." I told her as she drank. "They agreed to reconvene in a few weeks."

She relaxed against her pillow, and I put the cup back on the table. "Just like that?"

I nodded again. "I'm going to send the results of a paternity test as soon as they're available, since that's what this is about." I couldn't keep the edge out of my voice, but I was still angry. Even more so now, since I'd missed my daughter's birth due to their stupid meeting about a pointless war. I looked around the room. "Where's Mali?" I wanted to see her, hold her, meet her since I still hadn't.

"They took her for routine checks." Rey told me, and I hummed my understanding.

"How are you?" I asked, rubbing the back of her hand with mine.

"Sore, mostly." She said with a sigh. "I wanted to take a shower while she was in the nursery, but I'll need to call the nurse to help."

"I'll help you." I said, standing. She squeaked in protest, but I was already in the adjoining bathroom, and turned the water on. I made sure she had what she would need, checked the water temperature, and went back for her.

"I can call the nurse." She said in a small voice, but I didn't move, holding my hands out to help her up. With a heavy sigh, she moved the blankets, and sat up, putting her legs over the side of the bed. She took both of my hands and stood, a grunt of pain escaping from between her clenched teeth. I helped her into the bathroom, and she tried to shoo me away. "You don't need to see this."

I cocked my head to the side, my face crinkled in confusion.

She sighed. "I'm bleeding."

"Yeah." I said, not understanding what she was getting at. She just had a baby. Of course she was bleeding. "Like I've never seen blood before."

"And, I look…" She blushed. "Different."

Oh. She didn't want me to see her. "Ok." I breathed, and walked out, closing the door to give her her privacy. She had me call the nurse to help her out of the shower and once she was dressed and tucked back into her hospital bed, she asked for Mali.

"I'll page for Nadia." The nurse said, and promptly left.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Nadia is a lactation consultant." Rey explained. "She's working with me to learn to breastfeed."

That was a subject that I was completely ignorant of, so I said nothing. It was her body, and her breasts, so therefore, her decision.

A soft knock sounded at the door, then the nurse walked in, pushing a clear, plastic bassinet. My heart skipped a beat. She stopped, and scooped up a bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. She looked at Rey and my wife nodded toward me. The nurse turned as I sat up and attempted to protest, saying that I didn't know how to hold her, but the nurse smiled and laid my daughter in my arms.

I'd seen her through the Bond when she was born, and had thought those feelings of love that had consumed me were it. I'd been a fool. Now, holding her, I felt my entire being shift. If the axis of my existence had been Rey, now it was the tiny girl in my arms, my sense of gravity no longer centered on me, but on her.

Mali blinked up at me, her blue eyes locking with mine, and the phantom Bond I'd felt since getting Rey back clicked into place. It was so much stronger than the Bond I had with my brothers, even more than the Bond I had with Rey. It wrapped around my heart and reconfigured its beat. And, once again, I was awestruck, staring at her in amazed wonder. How was it possible to love someone so much? How could someone so tiny so irrevocably consume my entire existence? And, why was I so happy about it?

She wrestled her arms out from under the blanket she was wrapped in, and stretched, yawning the biggest yawn I'd ever seen, and I smiled at the face she made. I caught one of her hands with my middle finger and brought it to my lips to plant a gentle kiss on her tiny fist. She grunted, and started to whine, turning her head to the side.

"She's hungry." Rey told me, reaching for her, so I carefully stood and handed Mali to her.

Another knock sounded.

"Come in!" Rey called.

"Looks like I'm just in time." A woman said, completely ignoring me as she moved toward the bed. She pulled at the front of Reys gown, exposing her breasts. I blinked, taken aback, but Rey seemed not to mind as the woman helped position Mali. The woman was maybe in her mid forties, with dark, wavy hair and kind brown eyes. Her bright red lipstick matched the color of her scrubs perfectly. "Remember, use this hand to support your breast." She instructed, "And when she opens her mouth wide enough quickly move her on - great! How does that feel?"

Rey made a face. "Fine."

"You should not feel any pain." Nadia reminded her. "If you try to nurse when you're feeling pain, you'll end up injuring yourself."

Rey frowned. "Then, I need to try again."

"That's fine!" Nadia assured her. "We can try as many times as you need."

They tried again, and again, until Rey told her she had it and Nadia happily walked out of the room.

Rey covered her face with her free hand and after a moment, I saw her shoulders start to shake.

"What's wrong?" I asked, going to her.

"I don't know why I can't get this." She sobbed.

I stared helplessly, completely lost as to what was going on with her.

She sniffled, and wiped under both of her eyes. "I can't get the latch right."

"Do you want me to get Nadia?" I offered, but she shook her head.

"I've been working with her since Mali was born."

"You mean all day?" I asked. It hadn't even been a whole day. Mali was only eighteen hours old. Rey gave me a death glare that could cut steel. "I'm only suggesting," I amended, showing her my palms. "That learning could take practice."

The anger faded from her face, leaving her looking tired and miserable. Her attention went to Mali. "I'll keep trying."

They were released the next day, and since the palace was still being used by people and businesses that had been displaced during the battle, we went to the townhouse. Beau chose to keep her apartment, and with Vic moved entirely into the basement, we were able to turn the bedroom across the hall into a nursery.

Weeks ago, Aplek and I had painted the walls lilac and set up the white furniture that Rey picked out. She glided back and forth in the rocking chair with her feet propped up on the matching ottoman as she tried nursing Mali again. After she laid her down in her crib, she positioned her pregnancy pillow around herself, and was asleep almost immediately.

I had prepared myself for the first night with Mali, but I'd obviously been a fucking idiot because I had no clue what to do. Every few hours, Mali would wake up screaming. We would both get up, and I would get anything that Rey needed while she tried to nurse.

By day three, we were both on edge from stress and sleep deprivation, but Rey was an absolute mess. Not only was she still healing and in pain, but her hormones were haywire. She was constantly paranoid that she wasn't making enough milk, that Mali wasn't getting enough. And, to make matters worse, she still couldn't get a good latch. One night, she fell into hysterical sobs, and told me to give Mali a bottle.

Caring for a newborn was a serious learning curve, but watching my wife completely fall apart wasn't something I could endure. I made the mistake of mentioning her therapist one night as we were getting ready for bed.

"I have too much going on, right now." She said, wincing as she applied nipple balm and pads under her nursing gown.

"Well, new moms need help too, sometimes." I offered.

She stopped, giving me a look that told me I'd fucked up. "I don't need help." She snapped.

"No, not help like help." I said, trying to save myself, but only digging a deeper grave. "But, you know, depre-"

"Don't. You. Dare!" She yelled, pointing at me, her eyes blazing. "I am not depressed!" She snatched up her pillow, and stomped into Mali's room, where she slept that night.

The next morning, we took Mali to her five day check-up. On the way to the pediatrician's office, I sighed. "I'm sorry about last night."

"I'm sorry, too." Rey said. "I just get so crazy defensive, I think everything is an attack."

"I would never-" I started.

"I know." She assured me. "You were just trying to help, and I took it the wrong way."

I opened the office door and held it for her. "I love you." I said as she walked by me.

She stopped. "I love you." And rose up on her toes to kiss me. Some weight lifted from where it had been sitting on my chest, and I sighed in relief, following her.

When the pediatrician asked about nursing, Rey tearfully admitted that she was still having issues. Another lactation consultant was called, and I hadn't thought it possible, but this one was even more cheerful than Nadia. Annoyingly cheerful. Her name was Daevanie, and she immediately had Rey try to nurse. She commented on the fact that Rey had injured herself by trying to nurse through the pain she was feeling, and watched while Rey tried to get Mali to latch.

"I see what's happening." Daevanie said, and Rey looked up, her wide eyes hopeful.

"You do?"

Daevanie nodded. "This is an issue I see with a lot of new mommy's. May I touch your breast?"

Rey nodded, and Daevanie repositioned her. "Baby isn't opening her mouth wide enough, so your latch isn't as deep as it needs to be. What you should do is rest your nipple on her chin - like that, and wait for her to open her jaw."

They were both silent while they waited.

"See, her tongue is over her bottom gum?"

Rey nodded.

"Try now."

She did, and Mali latched on. Suckling noises filled the room and Rey's face fell. She looked up at me and I held my breath, waiting.

"It doesn't hurt." She breathed in relieved disbelief. I slowly exhaled, sending a silent prayer of gratitude to the Force. Her face crumpled and she started to cry. "I'm sorry!" She sobbed, wiping her face as she looked up to Daevanie. "Thank you so much!"

"No, that's great!" Daebanie told her. "I'm glad I could help!" And she left the room.

Rey smiled down at Mali, tears still sliding down her face, and softly started to hum as she gently rocked. I took a deep breath, the rest of the tension easing as I watched, lost in her happiness.

I sent Daevanie a dozen roses everyday for a week.