(Part of Dad Vader & Son series, fits after "Itty-Bitty Baby")

Little Luke has a bath

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The dark silence of deep space was soothing. Vader hadn't always found it so; most of the time it bored him, a necessary evil to reach a destination. But the crew of the Perilous deserved a respite after the weeks-long skirmish with insurgents in the Outer Rim, and so he had plotted a longer than necessary route to their next assignment. The crew would have time to recuperate and tend their wounded, and he would have more time to spend with his toddler. Luke had been quite content to stay in their quarters, babbling at length to his father and TeeCee, although not all his conversations were completely intelligible. The child had a wonderful mind that –

"Pardon, My Lord."

He turned slowly to look at the very nervous, very junior officer who had better have an excellent reason for interrupting his important contemplation. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

She stood her ground despite Vader's frown. "The Maintenance Chief says there is water in the corridor outside your quarters –" She stopped and touched her ear, listening and then relaying: "It appears that the leak is coming from your – Oh. I see. My Lord, he also says there is an unclothed personage – Ouch!" The lieutenant yanked out the earpiece and held it up.

Vader could clearly hear shouting: ("Personage?! It's a naked baby! There's a naked baby in the hall and it's dripping wet! I can't – Officer! Officer! I need an officer! I don't have the damn door code!")

"Tell the Chief I'm on my way." He was certain he heard the sound of titters from the bridge crew, but chose to ignore it in favor of retrieving – well, presumably his son, unless other small children had stowed away on the ship unbeknownst to anyone.

His boots squished in the thin layer of water that was creeping along the main hall. Orange floater cones had been set up by the maintenance crew, and they were traveling along slowly as the water perimeter expanded. His eyes closed briefly and he sighed. TeeCee was going to have a lot to explain.

When he rounded the corner, he came to a sudden stop. There was –

"Why is my child sitting on the floor?" he roared. "In water?! Without clothing?!"

Two luckless troopers who had happened upon the scene were standing frozen between little naked Luke and the Maintenance Chief, who was kneeling and trying to peer under the door. "Sir, we –"

"DADDDDDDYYYYY!" Luke shrieked. He raised his arms – not to be picked up, but instead to slap his hands in the enormous puddle surrounding him. From the looks of the troopers' armor, he had splashed them several times already.

"Sir, we couldn't – He's all wet! We would – We were afraid - He would – He's slippery!"

"You're dismissed." Vader shook his head as he removed his cloak. "And no report about this incident." He bit out the words to be certain they understood it was their well-being at stake. Then he turned his attention to his son. "Luke. Where is this water coming from?"

Both his son and the Chief answered simultaneously.

"Baf!"

"From the head, where else?" The Chief pushed himself to his feet. His pants and shirt sleeves were soaked. "Hah! You got a bathtub in there? …Sir?" he added belatedly.

Vader didn't bother to reply because the answer was obvious. Anyway, it was only a small tub. Child-size. Not capable of producing this much water. Unless the tap had been left on and was draining the water storage system. He wrapped his son in his cloak and lifted him in his arms.

"Need the door code, sir."

He punched it in to allow the man to enter, then turned his attention to Luke. "What happened?"

Luke sucked his lips together and held his breath, then released both with a pop. He did that a few more times. Pop! Pop! Pop!

"All right, that's enough. Luke. Answer me. What were you doing?"

"Baf!"

Bath. "All right, but why aren't – Why is there –" Honestly, he didn't know what to ask. "Why aren't you in the tub?"

Luke sighed and rolled his head back. "Hadda pee. TeeCee say no pee in baf."

"That's right, but why –"

"Found it, sir!" A small tsunami came flowing out of his quarters, overtopping his feet as it continued on down the corridor.

"Wook!" Luke pointed, giggling. "Boats!"

"Those are emergency cones," he explained pointlessly. "Luke, where is TeeCee?"

"Mmm…?" Luke hummed and flopped his head from side to side. "Baf!" he finally decided.

"I know that, but where –"

Oh.

No.

Cautiously he stepped inside. The fluffy rug he'd placed so Luke would have somewhere to play was soaked. There was water under their beds, seeping into the closet, swimming around his desk –

There was no point in inventorying the damage. Water was everywhere. He hoped it hadn't leaked between decks because that would require an explanation he wasn't ready to share with any more crew members than absolutely necessary.

Although given the speed at which shipboard gossip spread, that worry was undoubtedly already superfluous.

"Chief, is there a droid in there?"

"Sure is." The man exited the bathroom (which could no longer be considered merely a 'head' because of the extensive remodeling he'd had done so Luke could be with him). He was grinning and dragging TeeCee by one shiny-wet arm. The droid's 'lifeless' body scraped along the floor, and Vader winced. He didn't need to have a Vision to see that this would take many hours of repair. If TeeCee could even be repaired.

"Oh-oh." Luke scrunched against his chest, hiding his eyes. "TeeCee oops!"

"Oops is right," the Chief said cheerfully, no doubt delighting in the report that he would be (would NOT be) entering into his log. "Also –" he whipped around the hand that had been hidden behind his back "- I dunno what this is, but –"

"DIGA! Gimme!" When Vader nudged him slightly, Luke added: "Gimme pwease."

"Sure, kid."

Before Vader could stop him, the Chief had shoved the soggy plushie toward them. Luke grabbed it and squeezed, soaking his father's tunic with even more water.

"Luke…." What could he say? He couldn't scold his baby when that sunny little face was beaming up at him. "At least you're clean."

"Cween! Diga cween too!"

"Yes." He pushed the waterlogged plushie away from his face. "Chief, can you hand me a towel?"

"You betcha." The man ducked into the bathroom and reappeared to drop a towel over Luke's head. "You need a babysitter," he said with inappropriate casualness – until Vader realized he was addressing the child, not his commander.

Vader splashed his way over to a chair and sat, holding his son on his lap and enveloping him in the fluffy, totally non-regulation towel. Luke yawned, ready for the nap he had every day after his bath.

He kissed the top of his son's head. "Chief? Any indication of the problem? Broken pipe?"

"Nah. Your droid appeared to be trying to fish this out of the drain." He held out a small object.

"Ducky!" Luke exclaimed, and Vader wondered why the hell he'd ever decided to buy a ridiculous yellow rubber duck for his baby boy just because it was cute.

Said baby boy smiled widely and grabbed his tunic, squeezing Diga and Ducky in between them. "Wuv you! Wuv Ducky! Wuv Diga! Wuv Wuke!"

"Wuv Luke," he echoed.

Right. That was why.