Star Wars does not belong to me. Just Skylar & Co.
Big thanks to emjalen and Delta808th for reviewing!
Coruscant, three and a half weeks later...
Kenna wrung her hands anxiously as Tessa piloted her and Griff to her former sister-in-law's apartment. The younger Kiffer woman wanted nothing more than to tell her aunt to turn them around and head home. But I've put this off for too long. Wreck is Griff's father and I promised myself that I would never keep my child from his dad. Not in the way that Mom kept me from my father. I won't do that to my baby...
Even if she was still scared of how Wreck would take this. She hadn't exactly told him about Griff's health problems. I should have told him. It's too late now...
Griff, mercifully, had zonked out halfway through the ride, so he wasn't going to pick up on his mother's anxiety. Her son may have been behind in his development, but he was smarter than a lot of people thought. When Kenna had come home from seeing Wreck for the first time in a year, she'd been so upset and Griff had immediately sensed it. Her normally wiggle worm of a son had spent the rest of the day just cuddling with his mama. Kenna smiled at the memory, turning around and reaching back so that she could gently brush Griff's red locks out of his face. The one year old stirred but didn't wake.
Kenna turned forward and resumed wringing her hands until Tessa's right hand clasped her forearm, "Relax. Everything's going to be fine, Kenna."
The younger woman stilled, but turned her glance toward the window, "You don't know that, Tessa. Wreck doesn't... I didn't tell him about Griff's health. All the hospital bills. What if he doesn't...?" A single tear traced down her cheek, followed by a few others. Kenna turned around again to watch as her son continued sleeping peacefully. She just couldn't imagine anyone turning their back on their own child. But Wreck did. And I had thought that he wanted a baby.
"We won't know until we at least try, Ken." Ken. Only Tessa called her that. And only Wreck and his sister called her 'Kenny'. "And it will be over soon anyway. We're here."
Kenna said nothing as Tess landed their beat-up old speeder. She maintained her silence as she and her aunt exited the speeder and Kenna leaned back in to gently extricate her son from his baby seat. She turned around and her heart literally jumped into her throat as she found herself face to face with Wreck. He'd come up behind quietly, as silent as only a commando could be. She backpedaled, but only succeeded in hitting her back on the frame of the speeder. She winced and Griff stirred again, but this time he was jostled awake by her sudden movement.
Vaguely she was aware of Griff's little green eyes opening, but her own green gaze was glued to Wreck's face as she clutched their baby closer to her. She pressed her back harder against the speeder, but, of course, it didn't move out of her way. She was stuck where she was.
Face to face with her ex-husband.
Wreck, seeming to realize that he'd startled her, backed away a few paces. "Sorry, Kenny. I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly. Little Griff, who was looking at his mother in confusion, instantly turned his little head towards Wreck when the man spoke.
Kenna tore her gaze away from her ex-husband so that she could watch her son's reaction, readying herself for a quick escape should Griff show any signs of stress. The last thing she wanted was to finish another day in the emergency room of the nearest medcenter. So caught up was she in the man and child that, even though she saw Skylar come out of the building and greet Tessa, she didn't pay any attention to the other two women at all. Not even when Gabriel came out and joined the two.
Griff's little eyes were wide as he watched his father. And, even though her baby was only a year old, Kenna knew full well what he was thinking. She'd been there. Granted, she'd been much older when she finally met her dad, but the situation was almost the same. It's one thing to see a picture of your father, another thing completely to finally meet him in the flesh.
They just stood there for several minutes as Kenna watched her son and ex-husband stare at each other. A small smile played on the sergeant's face as Griff pulled one of his indecisive faces, sticking the tip of his little tongue out as he cocked his little head and squinted his green eyes. Then... "Dada?" the little boy said quietly.
Wreck beamed at the boy who gave him a big toothy smile in return. The man reached to take him from Kenna's arms, stopping just before his fingers touched the baby. "Kenna? May I?"
Kenna clutched Griff closer to her, shaking her head, but Griff had other ideas. He reached for Wreck, squirming so hard that Kenna was beginning to lose her grip. "Dada! Dada!"
And right then, something happened that eased her fears completely. Wreck sobbed. It was a small sob, quickly bottled up, but it was a sob nonetheless. He wasn't the same man she'd divorced all that time ago, that much was certain. A few tears ran down the man's face and Kenna instantly felt guilty. "G-go... She cleared her throat, "Go ahead, Wreck. Hurry, before he makes me drop him."
Wreck did, but slowly, so as not to startle her again. He cuddled the baby close, pressing a gentle kiss to Griff's forehead. "Yes, ad'ika. I'm Dada. And I love you so much. I'm so sorry." He turned his brown gaze to Kenna, "I'm sorry, Kenny. I shouldn't... I..." And for the first time since they'd met, he actually started to cry.
Griff, unsure, patted his little hand on his father's jaw, making Wreck look at him again, "Dada? Wong?"
Wreck looked to Kenna for the translation. She smiled softly as she moved closer so that she could smooth her hand over Griff's head, smoothing the baby's flyaway hair. She was still jumpy and ready to pull her baby from him should he change his mind, of course. "Griff's asking you what's wrong. He picked that up from Tess after I came home from..." She stopped, biting her tongue. Judging by the guilty look on his face, Wreck knew very well that she was referring to their reunion a little over three weeks ago.
"L-like I said, Kenny. I'm sorry. I know that doesn't change what I... what I did to the two of you, but I want to make things right. I'm not the immature jerk I was back then, and I hope you can find it in your heart to give me a chance to prove it to you."
She stepped back, but still close enough to yank Griff from him should she have to, "Just one chance, Wreck. That's all you get. 'Cause you don't even deserve that." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the expression on Wreck's face made her instantly regret it. Well, it is the truth...
But did I say it because it's the truth, or because I wanted to get back at him?
Teanna lay on her stomach on the floor, pulling a face as Griff tried to eat the head of her stuffed nerf. Eww! "That's gross, Griff!" she whined.
Mama chuckled from the sofa were she was reclining. Mama hadn't been feeling well lately, and, at first, Tea was scared because she thought that she was going to lose her mother like she kept losing her uncles.
But I know better now. It's the baby's fault. It had been a month since Daddy had told her that she was gonna be a big sister and the little Togruta girl still didn't like the idea. She didn't mind having another baby like Griff around. Like Briika, he was her cousin. Which meant that the two of them had different mamas and daddies than her and she didn't have to share hers with them.
But just because she didn't like the new baby didn't mean that she could be mean about it. She still helped Mama because it wasn't Mama's fault that she kept getting sick. And I promised Daddy that I would be a big girl. Daddy's counting on me.
I want Daddy. Shortly after her parents had told her about her uncles in Aran, her daddy had been called away on another mission. And he'll be gone for two more months. It's not fair.
Griff giggled again, reaching towards her and grabbing her right lekku in his chubby little hand. "OW!" she screeched, pulling away from him and jumping onto the couch with her mother, out of her newfound cousin's reach. "That hurt, Griff!"
Little Griff started to cry and was immediately scooped up by Uncle Wreck who gave her a disapproving look, "You can't yell at Griff, Tea. He's just a baby, he didn't mean it."
Tea sniffed, "But that hurt, ba'vodu."
Mama gently caressed her still throbbing headtail, "I'm sure it did, but Griff's still a baby. He doesn't understand and it's our job to teach him. You can't teach if you're yelling, okay?"
Tea huffed, causing Kenna to actually chuckle, and the little girl could tell that it didn't sound right. The younger woman with the dark green tattoo looked very nervous. But Tea didn't really care. "Is it gonna be like this with Brii and the baby too?"
That elicited chuckles from the grownups in the room, but Tea just growled under her breath. It's not funny.
Sky laughed with her two brothers and the two women at the children's antics, but her mind was elsewhere. She rubbed her belly as had recently become her habit over the last month. Her mind was on what Kenna had told them about Griff's condition. It practically broke her heart that Kenna and Griff had been through so much. She'd been sending some creds to them over the past year, as an anonymous donor by Wreck's request, but that apparently hadn't been enough to help.
"Why don't you move in with us?" she asked, knowing full well that the stubborn Kiffar woman would turn her down. Kenna had done that once before, shortly after she'd married Wreck. And it looked like she was about to do it again.
"I don't want to intrude."
"Intrude?" Wreck gave her a disbelieving look as he settled on the floor with Griff and beckoned to Tea to join them. "Where did you get that idea?"
"I'm not exactly family anymore, Wreck. You of all people should know that."
Cordav fixed Kenna with a stern glare, "You most certainly are still family. Things may not have gone the way we would have liked, but we'll never stop being there for you and Griff. Or Tess, for that matter. Deal with it." And my boys think I'm stubborn.
That seemed to soothe her sister's frayed nerves somewhat, "I appreciate the sentiment, Sky. But I'll have to think on it." Judging from the glare that Tessa was giving her niece, Skylar didn't doubt that the older Kiffar wouldn't let Kenny get away with turning them down.
Sky continued rubbing her belly as her mind wandered to Fives and what he might be doing at the moment. Stay safe, cyar'ika.
Earlier, Kot had decided that it was probably best for him to go out for the evening. He'd turned down Sky's offer to accompany him, citing that it was probably for the best that she and Gabriel be with Wreck when Kenna brought Griff to the apartment. He'd reasoned that he didn't need to be there for the first time that Wreck met his son, since he hadn't really known Kenna. He didn't want to overwhelm the Kiffar woman, he knew what it was like to be overwhelmed. One step at a time. I'll properly meet her and the kid when they're ready for it.
Which explained why he was in this particular bar drinking water instead of doing so back home. He adjusted his sling that still held his now healed arm stump to his body. They were still waiting on his prosthetic, turns out he wasn't the only soldier needing one.
Kot looked around him. He'd chosen this seedy bar because part of him hoped that he might actually bump into Katarcca. But he wasn't in luck, not a Wookiee in sight. It was then that he noticed that the place was seedier than he'd thought. There were women on stage singing and dancing. Wearing clothes that bordered on provocative and that instantly made him disgusted. He'd only spent time around two women, not counting the kids. But those were two strong and level-headed women at that. And they'd taught him that all women were to be respected, not to be lusted after like the dancers on stage and their boss were certainly hoping for. Those girls can do so much better than that.
He shook his head and got up to leave when he noticed something happening in a corner. The rest of the customers either didn't seem to notice, or didn't seem to care that a very drunk Tholothian male had cornered one of the waitresses who was dressed similarly to the performers. The girl, a blue-skinned Wroonian in a low-waisted floor-length skirt and almost skimpy bikini top, was clearly protesting the scum's advances, but the guy wasn't giving up. Everyone ignored her pleas. Everyone, except for Kot.
Who just couldn't stand there and do nothing. The commando got up, stalked straight toward the two, and proceeded to deck the Tholothian with his remaining hand, hitting the drunk hard enough to render him unconscious.
The entire bar grew quiet as they watched him with bated breath. But Kot could care less that all eyes were now on him. His eyes were on the very frightened Wroonian, who wasn't as young as he thought she was. Seventeen, maybe eighteen at the most. He'd first thought that she was a little younger.
Regardless, she was still a minor. What's a minor doing working in a place like this? Minors didn't really exist in the clones' society, every one of them, from cadet to commander, were capable killers. But, thanks to Sky, the former trooper knew enough of civvie society to know that someone as young and clearly as innocent as this girl shouldn't have been working in a bar. But they were on the cusp of Coruscant's Underworld, so that explained it a little. She probably has nothing else to turn to...
"Are you alright, Miss?"
She looked up at him, her yellow eyes wide in fear as she tried to press herself further into the corner.
ad'ika = little one
ba'vodu
cyar'ika = sweetheart
Please R&R.
