The cloudy darkness of unconsciousness confused yet oddly comforted the child. A vague malaise begged him to rest but loneliness left Grogu longing for Mando— for anyone, anywhere but this void. He had been this way for how long— he couldn't tell. Ever since the bad guys came after Mando's new ship—that's the last thing he remembered. Was Mando okay?

An icy fractal of fear broke through the blackness— a disturbance in the Force. It felt close. Grogu edged nearer. It felt familiar, but wrong. Grogu concentrated on the chilling intuition. He recoiled in fright as the revelation came to him— Mando was not okay.

Din's bad reaction to the drowser shot wore on. Threatening yet unintelligible voices had alternated with distorted dreams for hours. A sense of dread had steadily grown. Din's limbs ached with exhaustion, yet they would not move. Every nerve in his head felt frayed—wired and worn at the same time—his brain nearing its breaking point. Din could feel each breath get more labored and more shallow. He couldn't get enough air as his lungs wearied.

Din fought for air. He willed himself to simply breathe but nothing changed. Like his arms and legs, his lungs wouldn't respond. An odd sense of calm replaced Din's distress. Was it the apathy of imminent death? Was this it? No. It felt different than the cold carelessness as he waited for the asylum doors to open when he'd first arrived bleeding out. The calm changed to peace. It grew into a warmth. Subtle strength replaced exhaustion.

Grogu focused all his might on the Force connection he had established with his dad. Something was wrong with Mando, and even from this dark, scary, lonely place that he didn't know how to get out of, he had to make it better.

As his strength returned, Din resolved to fight. He curled his finger, a motion natural to him from firing his blaster. It worked. He flexed his knees. The jolt of pain from the wound on his leg freed him from drug-induced paralysis.

Din opened his eyes and sat up with a gasp. Sunlight beamed though the windows. Morning light glared off of the metal bars of a hospital crib.

"Grogu?"

The still comatose foundling lay in the crib parked parallel to Din's bed, his green claw lying limp, outstretched towards Din.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Worry flooded the Mandalorian's mind as he remembered that Akili had planned on taking Grogu for a scan. Had the results been bad and had she brought the baby for a final goodbye? Had there been an escape and had she left Grogu with him for protection?

Din scooped the kid into his arms.

Grogu focused harder on the Force connection to his father. He could feel his efforts working. The connection suddenly grew stronger. The vague tingle of the Force flourished into the warmth of physical touch, of Din's arms against his back. It's the first time he'd felt anything since being in this dark place.

"Hey buddy, are you okay?"

Grogu could hear his dad. He opened his eyes and blinked tiredly as he gazed into the comforting familiarity of his father's visor.

Din cradled the kid against his chest.

"You're back."

He stifled a sob. A tear fell onto his T-visor as he cherished every detail of Grogu's innocent eyes and attentive ears.

"You had me worried."


Akili hefted two heaping bushels of fresh fruit onto the asylum's kitchen counter. She admired her harvest from Bedlam's groves: meiloorun fruit salad would be the on the breakfast menu.

Patients filed into the cafeteria as Akili spooned fruit into bowls. She glanced up from her work. The cafeteria buzzed with conversation that seemed louder today than usual. Patients that normally sat alone conversed in animated clusters.

Akili kept a watchful eye on the patients as they filed by the counter for their food. A group that she was wary of lagged at the back of the line. They weren't troublesome enough for the high security wing, but they weren't benign either, often intimidating other patients and getting into the occasional brawl. The hair stood up on the back of Akili's neck as they approached.

One of them, a trandoshan, flicked his gaze away as Akili made eye contact. Akili excused the behavior, simply the trandoshan's usual tactics amplified by rumors of the Mandalorian.

"Hey!"
The trandoshan grabbed Akili by her collar, his reptilian claws dragging her halfway across the counter from which she served breakfast.

"Let go!" Akili braced with one hand while flailing for then finding the zaprod on her belt with the other.

Electricity crackled from the weapon's prongs "Set me down or I'll use it!"

"Where's the Mandalorian?" The trandoshan hissed. "You can't keep hiding him and he can't get away." He threatened.

Akili gripped the zaprod. "I'm warning you!"

The trandoshan dropped Akili, grabbed his bowl of fruit, and stalked to his table. "None of us will get away." An ominous threat rang in his words.


At the sound of light footsteps echoing off of the hospital's hallways, Din looked up from cherishing his son. Akili stepped into the room, then stopped. The tired lines on her face smoothed into a wide smile.

"He's awake?"

"Yes." Din looked down at Grogu then back to Akili. "Is he alright?"

"Looks promising." Akili pulled a penlight from her pocket. "Let's find out ." She shined the light into Grogu's eyes.

The baby held his claws to his head, buried his face in Din's belly, and began to cry.

"Hmm." Akili said, her hands balled on her hips, the perplexed wrinkle back on her forehead. "He looks okay but he seems to be in pain. There's one more test I have to do to make sure nothing serious is going on."

Akili held up a finger above the baby's head. "I need him to follow my finger. Can you get him to look at me?"

"Grogu." Din patted the baby's back. "Can you look at the doctor for me?"

Grogu hid his face further and protested with a wail.

"My armor." Din suggested. "The ball."

When Akili returned with the silver knob, Din had calmed the child, holding him tenderly to his chest.

"Grogu" Din turned the kid to face Akili. "There's your ball."

Akili held the ball above the baby and to the left. "Grogu, look!"

Grogu stared at his favorite toy. Akili moved it to the right, then below the baby, then to the left. Grogu kept his gaze on the ball. He raised his hand and narrowed his eyes in concentration. The ball trembled in Akili's fingers, then sailed through the air into Grogu's grasp. The baby squeaked with glee at the chance to play with his favorite toy.

"Grogu passed his exam" Akili said. "Now what about you?"

"Me?" Din questioned

"Your leg. I need to check it."

"M'fine"

"Prove it then. Let me check it." Akili challenged.

Din huffed in consent. He held back a pained gasp as Akili prodded the wound.

"Looks good. No infection." Akili said. "Now let me see you walk."

Din stood. The wound pained, but he managed not to limp as he crossed the room.

"You and Grogu are both improving." Akili reported. "Get a healer on your home planet to take out the stitches in two weeks. I'd still like to watch Grogu for another few days to make sure there are no complications."

Akili crossed the room to the cabinet of medications. She unbuttoned the top few buttons of her shirt, pulled an empty cartridge out of the cybernetic implant in her chest, and popped in a new one full of the liquid that kept her alive. Before leaving, she stopped short of the door. "I'll be back in a bit."


Dust sparkled in midday sunbeams as patients Kaan and Eelo swept the floors of their ward.

"You heard Akili brought in a Mandalorian?" Kaan asked as he swept a pile of detritus along the aged floorboards.

"I don't know if it's true or not." Eelo said. He leaned his broom against the wall and lounged on his bed. "But I do know that there's a big bounty on some Mandalorian that travels with a child."

"A child?" Kaan stopped sweeping. "Melk told me he saw Akili last night with a baby that looked like the Jedi Master Yoda."

"No way!" Eelo scrambled to his feet and pulled his bed away from the wall. He pried a loose tile away from the baseboard and retrieved a datapad from the hole in the wall.

"You have another one?" Kaan chuckled. "I thought Akili already took your datapad."

Eelo shrugged as he tapped the screen. "Look at this." The datapad displayed a picture of Din and Grogu, along with the massive price on their heads.

"If that's them" Kaan speculated, "everyone here could get out, split the credits, and live comfortably."

"We can't do it alone." Eelo challenged.

"That transoshan Krull" Kaan thought aloud. "He almost beat Akili this morning trying to find out about the Mando. He and his friends would help. And anyone in high security would help."

Eelo waved his datapad like a magic wand. "I can hack high security. Open their cells."

"I've been hearing about that Mandalorian nonstop." Kaan said. "Enough of us want to do something about this. We have a plan. We've got to let the others know."

Eelo stood, datapad in hand, and a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's do it."


Din laid his sleeping son in the crib, then just stared. Grogu was okay. He could have died, they both could have, but now they were alright. The relief of the realization brought with it a pleasant drowsiness. Din could finally let down his guard, if only just a little, and rest.

Din lay down, still propped up on one elbow as he gazed in gratefulness at Grogu, soaking in every aspect of the baby's perfection, basking in the reality that they were safe.

Familiar footsteps broke the quiet of the peaceful moment— Akili.

Sunbeams sparkled on beskar as Akili strode into the room with an armful of armor and freshly mended flight suit.

Din sat up. "You fixed my clothes."

"All by hand." Akili pantomimed holding a needle and thread. She laid the armor behind a privacy curtain in the corner of the room. "Go put it on. Let me know how I did."

Din crossed the room to the curtained cubicle. A subtle limp was still evident when he didn't try to hide it.

"It...looks good." Din said after a few moments behind the curtain. He stepped out into the room, all of the beskar in place. "You did a good job."

Akili shrugged. "I've done enough surgeries to know how to sew."

A burly shout echoed down the hallway followed by a terrified scream, a clattering crash, and trampling footsteps. Akili's eyes widened and her face went white.

"I'm going to see what that is." She said, her voice small. "You stay here."

Akili hurried away. Din clutched a sleeping Grogu to his chest. His other hand came to hover above his blaster. He set the weapon to stun, just in case, as he waited for Akili to give the all clear. More footsteps pounded in a faraway hallway. Shouts echoed from all corners of the building. Akili didn't come back.

"Don't worry kid, I got you." He whispered to the child who slept against his breastplate. "Let's go see what's going on."