AN: The ending scene in the training room was inspired by a similar scene in sunalso's Buffy fic 'Hunger', which can be found on AO3.

Just a child who cannot know

that danger follows where I go

– "Suddenly", Hugh Jackman

Eldra stirred from her sleep at the sound of crying.

The first thing she saw when her eyes opened was the holoclock on her bedside table. It took a few moments for her to process what time it was, and when she did, she sighed. Not much time had passed since Kassandra had been fed, and she'd only changed her daughter's diaper around twenty minutes ago. Which meant that Kassandra was just being fussy.

Another presence entered the room, and her daughter immediately stopped crying.

Unable to keep from smiling, Eldra turned over and said, "That confirms it. You're not sleeping, are you?"

Maul was gently rocking Kassandra in his arms, stroking her little head with two fingers in an attempt to sooth her. It wasn't the first time Eldra had woken up to her daughter's tears, only to find that Maul had beaten her to it.

The Zabrak was emitting a low purr, and Eldra had learnt not to draw attention to it. She loved the sound too much for him to stop out of embarrassment.

"I can function on little sleep," he said, and he didn't need to tell her how he had grown used to that. She could make a pretty good guess as to why, and it definitely involved his master. "Rest, Eldra. You need it more than I do."

She raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Funny how you never show up when she needs her diaper changing."

The young Sith wrinkled his nose. "I have standards."

"I wanna be mad, but I honestly don't blame you." Eldra shrugged. "I swear her last diaper contained the origins of the dark side."

They shared a chuckle before they were content to stay in silence, Maul comforting their daughter while Eldra watched. Her gaze shifted between Kassandra and the tenderness in Maul's eyes as he beheld the creation they'd made together.

It had become increasingly obvious since the birth two weeks ago that the Sith apprentice cared for his daughter. He only showed it in subtle ways; there was no cooing, nor were there playful games of peekaboo or anything else of the kind, but that was expected given the type of person he was.

She could tell he was bewildered by his own feelings, sometimes overwhelmed by them, but she couldn't deny what she saw. The emotion in his eyes whenever he looked at Kassandra… It confirmed in Eldra's heart that there was a little bit of good in him. Covered in darkness, but there, and knowing this made it easier for Eldra to get through every passing day.

But she never forgot that he could do more; that he could let them go so they were away from his master, or even come with them. And while she told herself that he had to take baby steps, she feared that so long as he was under the influence of the Sith, he would never let them go.

It didn't take very long for Kassandra to drift back off to sleep in her father's arms. Though it was clear that Maul was tempted to continue holding her, Eldra had told him that their child needed to learn to sleep in her crib. So, he gently laid her down, before he placed his daughter's grey cuddly wolf next to her, which Kassandra latched onto immediately.

(The first time Eldra had seen him holding the toy, she'd forced herself out of the room so as not to wake their daughter up, and laughed hysterically at the sight of a Sith Lord holding a cute little cuddly toy.)

Eldra settled back down in her bed and muttered a tired, "Goodnight" in Maul's direction. It took her a few moments to realise that Maul hadn't left the room, so she opened her eyes again and found him staring at her.

"You know, watching people sleep is creepy," she told him.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. His fingers started fidgeting and he looked down at them. "I… It won't be long before she wakes up again, so…"

She rolled her eyes when she realised what he was asking, but it was with a smile. "Come on, then." She patted the bed beside her.

The wave of happiness she sensed from him almost caught her off-guard. (And Sith Lords shouldn't be this endearing, what was even her life anymore?) Maul quickly laid down beside her, and his arm immediately snaked around her waist and pulled her against him. He began purring again.

Eldra instinctively relaxed; she'd long accepted that his presence comforted her.

"No funny business," she told him. "Not only can we not do that with Kassie in the room, but Venny said I can't go back to any kind of physical activity until six to eight weeks after the birth."

"You should know by now that this… bond between us goes beyond the physical."

Eldra didn't respond, because she did know. And it hurt all the more, knowing that she needed to be prepared to fight to the death at any time to protect her child; knowing that she might have to one day kill Maul if that was what it took.

The feelings of loss and devastation that came with the thought of killing Maul scared her. Because she wasn't supposed to feel that way about her enemy. The bond wasn't supposed to go that deep.

It couldn't be helped now. Finding herself living beyond the time limit she thought she'd had, Eldra treasured the time she spent with her family, knowing that it could come to an end at any moment. But before a certain physical activity could resume, she needed to take care of something.

"I looked into birth control," she said suddenly. There was really no right way of broaching the subject, so she figured that coming right out and saying it was the best approach. "I don't regret having Kassie, but I don't think I could go through that again. Trying to keep myself calm and happy in the face of something I thought would be inevitable… It drained me."

His fingers started stroking the back of her neck. "I understand."

Eldra let out the breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. And a little bit of her began to hope. If Maul understood how much she'd struggled during her pregnancy, surely that meant he understood just how dire their situation was?

They had only three years before he would once again be faced with the same choice: to save his family or serve his master.

All she had to do was convince him to make the right one.

Maul was watching over Kassandra when his commlink beeped, startling him.

He was hit by a wave of dread. It had been six weeks since his daughter's birth, and his master hadn't contacted him once. This in itself wasn't unusual; he could sometimes go for months without hearing from his master. And it could just be a regular update, or Sidious could have a mission for him…

But Maul couldn't shake the fear of what his master could demand. Though he had agreed to let his apprentice train the child, he could change his mind at any time.

And if that happened, Maul didn't know what he would do.

Looking at his commlink, Maul realised that it wasn't a summoning. Sidious only wanted to speak to him over the comm. Maul looked back over to his daughter; she was lying on a matt on the floor, beneath an arch full of toys hanging down. His pup was staring up at them in awe, and making noises like she was trying to communicate with them.

Satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere, Maul shifted in his seat so his back was turned, and answered the comm. "I am here, Master."

"Negotiations with the Trade Federation will take up much of my time," said Sidious. "I may be out of contact for many months."

Maul didn't understand why, but hearing this relieved him. "I understand, Master."

"All I ask of you," Sidious continued, "is that when you begin training the child, record your progress on a Holocron and send it to me."

His relief was short lived. Maul should have known that things wouldn't be so easy; that his master wouldn't let him train Kassandra unsupervised.

He knew what his master required of him. He knew that the sort of training he himself had received would be the training Sidious expected him to provide for Kassandra. And the very thought of doing anything of the sort to his pup made him sick to his stomach. Besides, she was his daughter. He would train her his own way.

How to justify that to his master was another matter.

But he had time to think of something. Kassandra was much too young to begin her training. "Yes, my master," was all he said, and the connection ended.

Maul turned back to Kassandra, who was waving her hands around and trying to grab the toys above her. She seemed especially fixated on the wolf that was hanging from the centre of the arch. Maul smiled; it appeared his daughter already had a favourite animal.

From the hallway, Eldra emerged with the droid behind her. She smiled down at her daughter, but left the child to her own devices and sat down next to Maul, while the droid continued into the kitchen. "Well, that's all taken care of. Venny said I should wait another week or two before we resume… certain activities, so the birth control has time to kick in."

"What about sparring?" Maul asked.

"Don't worry. I plan on thoroughly kicking your butt later today." She smirked.

He tried to mirror her expression, but wasn't feeling it. While he was excited to get back to sparring with her again, his mood was still dampened by what his master had ordered him to do. And thanks to their bond that was ever increasing in strength, Eldra noticed almost immediately that something was up.

"It's nothing," he told her, before she could even open her mouth to ask.

Eldra looked down at Kassandra before turning back to Maul. "If it's your own business, then I won't pester you about it. But I have a right to know if it concerns Kassie."

Maul sighed. She was right. "My master wishes for me to record her training on a Holocron, so that he may keep up with her progress."

The Twi'lek's face turned hard. "If you mean to give her the same sort of "training" that your master gave you-"

"No."

She blinked, surprised. "Then how will you be training her?"

"I will train her to use her emotions," he said.

Eldra scoffed. "Because teaching a toddler to use her anger sounds like a great idea!"

"You didn't have a problem with this before."

"I'd take you training her over your master any day," she explained. "And teaching her to, I don't know, lift building blocks with the Force is one thing. But teaching her to be angry all the time because it's the only way she can get things done is unhealthy and a one-way ticket to the dark side! I'm not having you corrupt her!"

Maul bared his teeth at her. "Then how do you wish for me to train her? As a Jedi? Because that's what it sounds like!"

"Even normal children are taught not to give into their anger!"

Their voices had gradually been increasing in volume, but they didn't realise it until Kassandra started to cry. Maul immediately hurried over to her and scooped her up into his arms. He rocked her and stroked her head, trying to soothe his pup and ignoring how every time she cried, it felt like he was being stabbed in one of his hearts.

It wasn't until she'd stopped crying that he turned back to Eldra. All of her anger had evaporated, and she was watching them both warmly. Maul himself found it hard to stay mad at her when he noticed her thumb slowly rubbing the red garnet she still wore around her neck.

Maul sat back down again, their daughter still in his arms. He knew that Eldra was only concerned about their pup, but he refused to let her Jedi sensibilities get in the way of raising Kassandra. Nevertheless, arguing about it would get them nowhere.

Wanting to change the subject, he said, "Since we can begin sparring again, may I suggest we try forms of hand-to-hand combat? Are you familiar with Teräs Käsi?"

"Yes." She nodded. "It's taught at the Temple, but only if you wished to learn it. I was more interested in mastering as many forms of lightsaber combat as I could, so I never learned. I only learned the more basic levels of hand-to-hand combat."

The thought of her being vulnerable without a weapon struck Maul with a spike of fear. That would never do. "Then I will teach it to you. How much do you know about it?"

"It was created to combat Jedi," she said. "Siri and I would sometimes watch Joclad Danva and Anoon Bondara sparring, so I'm familiar with a few of the moves."

"Good." Maul nodded, mostly to himself. "If the droid can watch over Kassandra this afternoon, we shall begin your training today."

He would make certain that she could defend herself against any and all opponents. And one day, he would give their pup that same training, ensuring that she could protect herself when he wasn't around to do so.

Eldra didn't know why she'd ever turned down learning Teräs Käsi back at the Temple. She took to it like a Mon Calamari took to water, and four months after Maul had started training her, she was giving him a worthy challenge.

Eldra threw a punch at Maul's face, which he dodged with ease before throwing a counter punch. They both wore huge grins, and Eldra almost laughed when she realised how much fun she was having. It had been easy to forget, after months of pregnancy, how much she'd relied on training to provide her with a distraction from her worries.

And whenever she thought she was having too much fun, she would just remind herself that the training allowed her to prepare for the fight she knew would one day come. She had no idea if she'd be able to defeat the Sith master, but she had to try.

At least the training sessions had given her hope that Maul wouldn't be torturing their daughter into compliance. But on the other hand, there were still moments that worried her, like whenever he gave their daughter what she wanted when she angrily demanded it with screams and tears. It reminded Eldra that Maul didn't know any better. He'd had a terrifying upbringing; had been groomed by a Sith Lord to become the perfect weapon. It was understandable that he wouldn't know any other way to raise a child. But she realised that she couldn't use it as an excuse, and she certainly couldn't let him do the same to their own daughter.

But there were times when he got things right.

They traded blows before Eldra jumped and attempted to land a kick on his shoulder, but Maul grabbed her foot and sent her to the floor. She kicked against his grip, forcing him to let go, before rolling into a stand and rushing him again. Staying low to avoid his punches, Eldra managed to dive behind him and grab his arm, before she flipped him over her head.

Laughter filled the training room.

Eldra glanced over at the special seat Kassandra was strapped into, and smiled. Their five-month-old daughter was enthralled by the fight, not even the slightest bit afraid of the loud noises and the sudden, violent movements. Perhaps because it was her parents fighting. Eldra made a note to let Kassandra watch them more often, at least whenever they sparred without lightsabers. Venny usually watched her whenever they trained, but he'd had other matters to attend to that particular day.

Realising what her daughter was laughing at, Eldra smirked down at Maul. "Looks like she's on my team."

"Only because you're the one who gives her food," said Maul, smirking back at her. "And you know what they say: don't bite the hand that feeds you."

Eldra straddled him. "Then you should feed her more often."

"I don't exactly have the right equipment for it." He nodded to her breasts.

She rolled her eyes. "We have bottles. And I don't think that's why she's routing for me."

"Oh? Do enlighten me."

Her smirk widened. "It's because I'm better than you."

Maul growled, but it was playful – he was actually being playful? – before he managed to encircle his arms around her and flip their positions, so he was the one straddling her. Eldra just grinned and kicked him off, sending him sliding across the floor.

Kassandra laughed again.

"See?" Eldra nodded towards their daughter.

There was no frustration in Maul's expression when he jumped to his feet. He actually looked giddy, if that was even possible. "I'll soon tempt her to my side."

"Good luck."

The fight began again. When it became clear that Kassandra only laughed when it was her father getting tossed about, it didn't take long for Eldra to realise that Maul was letting her throw him around a lot more than he normally would. Purely to make their daughter laugh.

Eldra made a note to kiss the life out of him when their training session was over.