AN: it feels so good to be writing Din and EJ again! I missed them. Thank you guys for supporting me! Lmk what you think by reviewing :)

The Breaking Point

I woke up to the sound of tiny feet padding against the floor. I sat up and stretched, waiting for my eyes to adjust and for those tiny feet to appear. With a whoosh, the curtain flew open and in came the child. He rubbed his eye, tiredly, before realizing I was looking at him. Baby cocked his head in a question, like he was asking if he could come in.

"C'mere, little one," I whispered, trying not to disturb Din, but of course that wasn't going to happen.

Din jerked up beside me. "What's going on?"

Baby toddled over, his arms opening to be picked up. When he was close enough, I scooped him up and held him close. His little body slowly relaxed against mine.

"We have a visitor," I answered, still quiet even though all three of us were awake now. Din sighed heavily next to me, knowing why we had a visitor, and probably feeling utterly helpless. Unless I was just projecting my feelings onto him.

Suddenly, he flung off the blankets and got up.

"Where are you going?" I asked, as Baby sat up, watching him go. His clawed hand reached out for him to return.

"Maybe I can fly the ship faster off of autopilot and we can get to Byss quicker…" Din explained, gathering his armor from the ground.

"Din, he doesn't need you to get him there faster. He needs you to hold him and tell him everything's going to be all right," I replied. Din wasn't looking at us, so Baby put down his hand, watching him with his wide eyes. Finally, he looked over at us, contemplating what to do. Okay, seems like I wasn't projecting my feelings, but it also seemed like Din didn't know what to do with these said feelings.

"Maybe there is something I can do," he repeated himself and left our room. I sighed and looked down at Baby, who brought his wide eyes up to mine as he let out a low garble.

"It's going to be all right," I said to him, bringing his head back to my chest. I sat with him while his breathing slowed again, hoping Din would return once he thought he thought about what I said. I know Din wanted to do something to help, but getting to Byss faster wasn't going to make the terror go away right now.

I was beginning to nod off when Din finally did return. I smiled a sad, knowing smile when he walked in, armor still in hand. He placed them back on the ground and carefully got in bed, as to not wake Baby.

"I can't make our projected time come any sooner," he said in defeat. Gently, I put the sleeping child down in the space between us and scooted down so I could be comfortable. I turned to Din, who was still sitting up.

"It was a nightmare. I would think from what's gone on in his past, not what's going to happen in his future," I replied in a soft tone. This wasn't the moment for it, but Daddy Din was a turn on. "I know you want to do something, but I think the best thing right now is to do what feels like nothing, and just be here for him. Comfort him, tell him it's going to be okay."

"But can't I just do all I can to make it okay, instead of just telling him?" Din asked.

"I think you have to even it out a bit. Tell him it's going to be okay right now, try to fix it in the morning," I answered, before adding, "He wanted you. Yeah, I love him, but the two of you have something I will never have."

"I'm not sure about that," Din put in, looking very pointedly at me. Well. It felt very pointed.

"Sometimes a kid just needs his daddy to scare the monsters away," I replied.

"I'm not his father," Din said, sounding sad over this fact.

"But he is currently your foundling. And what does that mean?"

"That I'm to protect him. Keep him safe."

"Sounds like a father to me," I finished, but he just sighed. "Father figure," I corrected myself. "Does that make you feel better?"

"And when we find his kind, or a Jedi? What then?" he asked, a different tone coming to his voice. A… raw, emotional one.

I swallowed then, because I understood the question. I really, really understood it.

"Then we make the decision that is best for him, like real parents do," I answered, with tears stinging my eyes. I reached my hand over the child and found Din's, giving it a squeeze.

"We'll do whatever's best for him," I repeated, to Din or myself, I wasn't sure.

We made it through the night. Din and I got a couple more hours of sleep before Baby was up like a little alarm clock. The day began like all the days have been since we boarded the ship at Tatooine, like our little freakout last night never happened. Baby was his usual bubbly self and I channeled it. I could only assume Din was back to himself, but unless he voiced it I would never know for sure.

This day passed very slowly and I was torn between being anxious to want this whole thing to get going and wanting everything to stay the same, for this to become the norm. I knew with how elusive the Jedi were and how seemingly nonexistent Baby's kind was, it wasn't. Hard times were coming.

Finally, Din announced over the comms that we would be landing soon. Baby and I put away the toys we'd been playing with and joined him in the cockpit, strapping ourselves in for the descend.

Looking through the window, all I could tell so far was how dark the planet was, with the sun slipping over the horizon. There were small cities lit up in contrast and we landed in between two of them.

The sun was barely anything over the edge of the planet, just enough for us to still see where we were going, but the light didn't last long before we were in utter darkness. We made it into one of the cities, with scattered street lights showing the way. In the shadows, there were red eyes following us. Okay, I didn't like this one bit.

The three of us didn't say a word, as all three of us heard the growling from the red eyes and we didn't want to provoke them. None of us said anything till we walked up to a graffitied building with a guard outside.

"We're here to see Gor Koresh," Din announced. I was slightly distracted by the art covering the building, but I got my act together and brought my gaze to the Twi'lek guarding the door. He looked at the child, though his expression didn't change. He brought his eyes back to Din.

"Enjoy the fights," he finally said in a deep voice, opening the door as he did so. Cheering entered the quiet streets. After a shared glance with Din, we entered the building to find a fight club. There was a rink in the middle of the room, with seating all around.

There were two green, pig-faced creatures currently in the rink. I watched the spectacle as I followed Din, who walked confidently down the stairs. I tried to allude the same vibe, but I don't think I was pulling it off.

Baby watched the sport in near wonder, flinching when their swords hit. We wordlessly followed Din to the front row, with me at least trying to hide the 'what the hell am I doing here' that had to be stamped across my forehead. Still wasn't succeeding.

Finally, we made it to the front, and sat next to a Abyssin, who Din must have known to be Gor Koresh. He didn't even turn his one eye to us when he said, "You know this is no place for a child."

I wanted to agree, but Din knew the room better than I did. "Wherever I go, he goes," he answered. I tore my eyes away from the commotion to focus on what we're doing. It was very hard for me.

His response caused Gor chuckled, "So I've heard." He still didn't look at us. He was more into what was going on in the rink than what was beside him. Or maybe he had already sized us up and thought we posed no threat… hopefully not, because that would be a big mistake on his part.

Din continued on, like he had Gor engaged in the conversation. "I've been quested to bring him to his kind. If I can locate other Mandalorians, they can help guide me. I'm told you know where to find them."

Still not tearing his eye away from the fight, Gor replied, "It's uncouth to talk business immediately. Just enjoy the entertainment."

Baby and I glanced back to the rink, but Din stayed focused on the Abyssin. He wouldn't show it, but I had a feeling he was gorwing impatient.

"Bah! My Gamorrean's not doing well. Kill him! Finish him!" Gor suddenly exclaimed, before adding to Din, "Do you gamble, Mando?"

"Not when it came be avoided," Din said. He seemed a little too… calm. Like he was actually preparing for something.

Gor laughed again. "Well, I'll bet the information you seek that this Gamorrean's going to die within the next minute and a half. And all you have to put up in exchange is your shiny beskar armor."

Din gave him a look, and I bet he was starting to see where this was headed. At least, I was. "I'm prepared to pay you for the information. I'm not leaving my fate up to chance," he said. The Abyssin returned a similar look and brought his attention back to the rink.

"Nor am I," Gor replied.

And that's when all hell broke lose.

Suddenly, Gor brought out a blaster and shot one of the Gamorrean's, and then there were about five guns on our heads. I brought out mine, but Din stayed still. The arena quickly emptied, not signing up for what was about to go down.

Gor smirked then. "Thank you for coming to me. Normally I have to seek out remnants of you Mandalorians in your hidden hives to harvest your precious shiny shells." He let out another chuckle, like we were the idiots… but I had way more faith in Din than I did these guys. "Beskar's value continues to rise. I've grown quite fond of it. Give it to me now, or I will peel it off your corpse."

But Din didn't flinch at the threat. Not gonna lie, though, I was starting to sweat with all the blasters pointed to my head. I didn't like that.

"Tell me where the Mandalorians are and I'll walk outta here without killing you," Din replied in an unwavering voice.

"I thought you said you weren't a gambler…"

Just then, in a quick movement, Din went to activate something on his armor. Oh, it was about to go down… even Baby knew it. He clicked the button on the prim to shut it, and then's when Din said, still in a firm voice, "I'm not."

Sparks suddenly flew from his armor, exploding in front of Gor and his henchmen's faces. I turned around, to shoot at the guy behind me, while Din kicked Baby's crib away. I moved onto the next one when I was suddenly grabbed from behind. His arms went around mine, forcing my gun down, and he began dragging me backward. Away from my gun, away from Din fighting… I don't think he even noticed I'd been caught. I struggled but he was stronger than me.

Whatever had me continued to walk backward with me in tow, through a swinging door, before suddenly turning around and flinging me against a bunch of shelving with hard equipment. Very hard equipment. The impact took the air from my lungs and I crumbled to the floor. I looked up at my attacker, one of the Gamorrean's, towering over me.