AN: Shout-out to Artemisarrow, the best beta in the galaxy.

You'll be alright,

no one can hurt you now

– "Safe and Sound", Taylor Swift (feat. The Civil Wars)

"Come on, Kassie. Come to Mama."

Maul watched with bated breath as Kassandra turned towards her mother. The one-year-old was standing on her feet, gripping the sofa, potentially moments away from taking her first steps. She seemed to consider it, before letting herself fall back on her rear, turning over and crawling instead.

Eldra sighed, but kept smiling at the little girl as she held out her arms, ready to welcome her. Since Kassandra wasn't looking at him, Maul let himself roll his eyes. "Why won't she do it?"

"Let her walk in her own time," said Eldra, as she pulled her daughter into her lap. "She's more likely to fail if you hurry her."

"Perhaps she needs more motivation." Maul didn't move from his position on the sofa and reached towards his pup's wolf toy that was lying on the floor. He lifted it with the Force before throwing it across the room. "Have her fetch it."

"If you insist." Eldra placed Kassandra onto her feet and pointed at the toy. "Go on, Kassie! Go and get Wolfie!"

Kassandra's gaze followed her mother's finger and landed on the toy wolf. She babbled in response, but didn't move her feet. Instead she reached out her hand, and the toy began to float slowly towards her, wobbling from lack of skill. She laughed when the toy was in her arms.

Eldra raised an amused eyebrow at Maul.

He sighed, but couldn't find it in him to be annoyed. His little pup was already strong with the Force, and he couldn't be prouder. "I encouraged her to use the Force. You merely encouraged her to crawl."

"Ha-ha, very funny, but we're trying to get her to walk, remember?" she reminded him.

"You're the one who was "advanced" ahead by your Jedi," said Maul. "Just apply the same methods. With as little Jedi platitudes as possible, if you don't mind."

Eldra rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant when I said that. I was moved into a higher Clan because of my advanced skills in the Force for my age, not because I was able to walk before everyone else. I don't even know if I did or not; I can't remember that far back. But anyway, Obi-Wan and the others were three years older than me – except for Siri, who's only a year older than me. She was moved up, too, mostly for the same reasons but also because she got into a fight with Bruck Chun and kicked him in the choobies…"

She started rambling, a habit she'd developed recently whenever she started talking about her old life. When she'd first started doing it, Maul had thought he would feel anger towards even a single mention of the Jedi, as had been the case when he'd first met Eldra. But instead of igniting the fires of rage within him, Maul soon realised that those flames had… dimmed.

His anger towards the Jedi was still there, as was his desire to kill them, but it wasn't as strong as it had once been. It didn't take him long to figure out that the strength of his anger had waned since meeting Eldra, and even more so since Kassandra's birth.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to hate either of them.

But that wasn't the only reason, he supposed. He'd come to see that he had no personal motive for hating the Jedi. He only hated them because his master told him to; because his master had shown him what the Jedi had done to the Sith that had come before them. The vision he'd experienced on Malachor – feeling hundreds upon hundreds of Sith being struck down without mercy – had installed in him a sense of vengeance, but it wasn't his own. That thirst for revenge belonged to the Sith who had died over a thousand years ago.

"Maul, look!"

The young Sith retreated from his thoughts and looked back over at Kassandra. She was on her feet again, staring at him with a big grin on her face. The noises coming out of her mouth were not words, and yet Maul knew she was trying to communicate with him.

Then, she stepped forwards. Paused. And took another step.

She was wobbly, but determined. Neither Maul nor Eldra dared to say a word, not until Kassandra reached her father and extended her arms out to him. He slid off the sofa and embraced his pup, pride overwhelming him.

Deep in his mind, a voice that sounded like Eldra whispered that this was all he needed; he could take his family and run, far away from the Sith and the Jedi and live peacefully on a different planet. There would never be a risk of his daughter being taken by Sidious, he would never have to face the order to kill the woman he…

Maul pushed the voice away. He was the apprentice of the most powerful being in the galaxy. And what was more, he had been chosen to fulfil an important destiny; to destroy the Jedi and restore the Sith Empire. It was what he'd been preparing for his whole life, and he could only do this alongside Sidious. He couldn't throw this away.

He had to remain by his master's side. Eldra didn't understand just how important this was to him; she would probably never understand. But he hoped that one day she would at least understand why she and their daughter needed to stay with him.

A life without them was one he couldn't face.

"Your offspring is nothing but trouble."

Eldra held back her laughter as she put her dirty bowl and spoon into the sink, ready to be washed up. "I offered to clean up after her, Venny, but you refused."

The droid shooed her away and turned on the tap. "You have no idea how to clean properly, and you cannot even put the cleaning products back where they are supposed to go! No, no. Leave the cleaning to me. But please tell me organic offspring grow out of this messy phase."

"Eventually. After several years." She left the kitchen before Venny could voice his displeasure at this timescale.

In the main apartment area, the screen was switched onto the Sports Channel. The Galactic Games had begun, this year being held on Onderon. And since the Opening Ceremony a few days before, Eldra had been glued to her seat. It had become a tradition to watch the games with Obi-Wan, Siri and the rest of their Clan, in between their missions and Temple studies.

She wondered if they were all watching right now.

The commentators on the screen were talking about the Fathier race that was about to start. Eldra had heard it all before, so she instead turned her attention to Kassandra, who was sat on the floor surrounded by building blocks. She was lifting them using the Force, the blocks wobbling in mid-air, before she placed them on top of each other to create a tower. Eldra smiled at her daughter's progress.

Maul was sitting next to the child, recording the display onto a Holocron.

Eldra hated that he needed to do this, but she kept telling herself that it was better than the alternative, which was the Sith master coming to take their daughter away. Still, the very thought of that… monster watching Kassandra even via Holocron fed her urge to track him down and tear him to pieces (an urge that was pretty strong already). And it was a constant reminder that their family wasn't going to stay whole forever.

She had traded one waiting game for another.

And Maul still wasn't listening to her. She reached up to fiddle with the red garnet hanging around her neck, something she always did instinctively when contemplating the conflicting feelings she held for the young Sith. Sometimes she could strangle him for being so stubborn, but hated the thought of hurting him (seriously hurting him; their sparring sessions didn't count).

It wasn't all that worried her.

Maul finished the recording and got to his feet, leaving Kassandra with her bricks. He noticed Eldra and must have seen the warring emotions on her face, because he crossed over to her with a worried expression. "Eldra?"

"Kassie still hasn't said her first word," Eldra told him. She nodded back to their daughter, who had stopped playing with the bricks and was instead watching the Fathiers racing on the screen. "She's over a year old, and while she's babbling, she should be saying a few basic words by now."

"Then she's a late talker," said Maul. "Experts on the HoloNet said that could happen."

"Those same experts also said a child shouldn't be trapped inside all day, every day, especially inside the same four walls." Eldra gestured to the apartment. She could see the annoyance building in Maul's eyes, but she didn't stop. "Kassie needs fresh air – which granted, is in short supply on Coruscant anyway, but still. And she needs to interact with other children her age. Either one of these could be stilting her growth, hence her lack of talking."

Not only that, but Eldra also had no idea how her daughter would react if they ever managed to re-enter society in the future. But she didn't voice this thought to Maul; she was certain that would only send him over the edge.

But he was at least listening to her and considering her words. "I could take her out onto the landing platform. She likes watching the ships and speeders go by. As for interacting with other children, I could ask the droid to create a holographic image of one."

Eldra shook her head. "No, Maul. She needs to interact with living, breathing children, not a fake image that isn't really there."

"What do you expect me to do? Hold a playdate?" He threw his arms up in the air. "The only other option is to kidnap a child, but I doubt that would meet your Jedi standards!"

"You know what I'm asking of you, Maul." Eldra kept her voice low; Kassandra hated it when they argued. "Your daughter deserves to grow up free."

"She is free."

"If this is freedom, then I'm Jabba the Hutt."

"Ree!"

It took a few moments for both her and Maul to fully comprehend what they'd just heard. Eyes wide, they turned towards their daughter.

Kassandra was clapping at the screen, which was now showing a full-scale protest. They were a normal occurrence at the Games whenever the Fathiers raced, and always involved two groups. One group protested for safer measures, to prevent Fathiers and their riders from dying in racing accidents.

The other group protested against racing altogether. They argued that it was animal cruelty, and that the creatures deserved to be free.

"Mama!" Kassandra looked over at her parents. "Da!"

"She's talking." Maul watched his daughter with a mixture of pride and awe. "She's…"

"Ree! Ree! Ree!" Their daughter turned back to the screen and started clapping again.

Eldra looked at the chanting protestors on the screen, and realised what her daughter was trying to say.

"Free! Free! Free!"

"Free. She's saying 'free'." She was tempted to point this out to Maul, maybe try and convince him that this had to be a sign from the Force.

But before she could, Kassandra waved her hands around in excitement and knocked over the tower of bricks – and they were falling towards her.

Eldra and Maul both moved at the same time. She reached out with the Force to stop them in mid-air, while he dived forwards with speed she didn't know he possessed. He grabbed their daughter and rolled them both out of the way; he hadn't even noticed that there was no need to act so quickly.

With Kassandra safe, Eldra let the bricks drop to the floor. She watched as Maul sat down on the sofa and immediately started fussing over their daughter, checking her over for any signs of injury or distress. But Kassandra had barely reacted to the incident; she just settled herself in her father's arms and kept watching the screen.

Taking a seat beside them, Eldra stroked her daughter's head between her growing lekku. The swirls were growing with them, and Eldra gently traced her fingers along the patterns.

Maul at least knew to protect Kassandra from any immediate dangers. Meaning there was hope that he would protect her from the greater danger that lay ahead of them.

And though she hated it, all Eldra could do was wait.

The scream pierced his dreams and violently yanked him back into the real world.

It only took a second for Maul to realise who had woken him, and he immediately scrambled out of his bed and charged towards the quarters Eldra still shared with their daughter. When he raced inside and opened their door, he felt the dark presence of his master hovering in the air.

Kassandra was standing in her crib, clutching the bars with an iron grip and had tears streaming down her face. Eldra was on the floor, leaning against the wall and holding her head. She'd been thrown from the bed.

Maul didn't hesitate to hurry over to his pup and scoop her up into his arms. She curled into his bare chest, taking comfort in his warm, protective embrace. Her three little horns were pressed against his skin, but he didn't care. "Da…"

The word clutched at his hearts, and he was filled with an untameable desire to seek out his master and tear him limb from limb for daring to go near what was his. But Maul knew that he couldn't; the man was his master, the one he was to rule beside when the galaxy was theirs. To destroy his master was to destroy his destiny.

All Maul could do was hold his little pup closer. He sat down on the bed, rocking her gently and muttering comforting nonsense in her ear.

Eldra came to sit next to them. "I woke up when she started tossing and turning. She was still asleep when she screamed. Before I could wake her up, she accidently pushed me out of the bed with the Force. Maul, was it…?"

"He came to her in her dreams," he said.

Her eyes widened. "He can do that?"

Maul only nodded.

Turning her head, Kassandra reached out an arm towards Eldra. "Mama…"

Eldra moved in closer, and Maul shifted so he could encircle one arm around her, too. She looked up at him, her eyes fearful and her expression filled with a silent plea. One he had always denied. He didn't speak, because he didn't need to; she already knew what he would say. Instead he leaned forwards to press his forehead against hers. He let his eyes slip closed.

They couldn't leave. He was like a starving man, and they were his food. His sustenance. Without them, he would die.

He just needed to figure out a way to keep them with him while also staying loyal to Sidious. He couldn't let his master take them, and he couldn't let them leave. The solution was seeming more and more impossible as the days went by. And if Sidious was already invading his daughter's dreams…

Maul pulled them both closer, a possessive growl escaping from his throat.

"I'll stay with you tonight," he told Eldra.

She nodded, and began to pull back. He held onto her tighter.

"Maul, at least let me lie down," she said.

He hesitated for a moment, before realising it would be hard to lower himself down while holding the both of them. So he let her go, but kept Kassandra in his lap.

Eldra laid back onto the bed and made herself comfortable, before gesturing for Maul to do the same. He carefully laid Kassandra down in between them before laying down himself, wrapping his arms around both of them. Their daughter was still awake, clearly shaken from her nightmare, but she had calmed considerably with her parents either side of her. Eldra gently stroked two fingers in between the child's lekku while also humming her usually lullaby in order to help her go back to sleep. Maul watched her silently.

When Kassandra finally drifted off, Eldra turned her attention to him. "Maul-"

"I know. I will do what I can to protect her. I promise."

The Twi'lek sighed, before she settled down and closed her eyes. Knowing he would be unable to sleep, Maul simply watched the two beings who had crashed into his life and stolen his hearts.

And if Sidious had his way, they'd both be gone.

More and more Maul felt like he was being backed into a corner with no escape.