Chapter 12: Babies

"AHHHH! Holy Force, Poe Dameron, you are gonna pay for this!"

It was crowded in the delivery room, about ten month cycles later. Rey was sitting up in bed, doubled over, her feet in stirrups and swearing like a spice runner high on deathsticks. Adem Hux gamely held his wife's hand, but fought the urge to wince. He knew that Rey could whip up a bit of a temper; perhaps he should have been more prepared for that once she went into labor. If she was this cantankerous serving as a surrogate to Neek'o and Poe, he did not want to imagine what she would say or do while perhaps someday bringing their own little bundle of joy into the galaxy.

Bearing down on another contraction, Rey sat back with a huff. "I don't even know why I agreed to this..." she grumbled. It would have been adorable if it wasn't also so scary.

Leaning against one wall, Finn chuckled. "Little late for that." She sent him a withering glare.

Rose had the presence of mind to actually answer the question, smoothing back the plastered bangs on Rey's forehead. "Because you are an incredible loving and generous person and Ben would be proud of you."

Even though she was happily remarried, hearing the name of her first husband was like a magic word for Rey. She brightened up, if only a little, the ghost of a smile sneaking its way onto her face. Ben would be proud of her, wouldn't he? Even if he had never particularly liked Dameron, the biological father.

At this present moment, Rey didn't either, as another contraction ripped through her. "Your balls are mine when I get out of this, Poe! DAMN YOU!"

Seated in chairs at Rey's beside, Neek'o was deeply amused, whereas Poe appeared legitimately fearful. "You'll protect me from her, right?" he turned to his friend's husband.

Adem only let out a strained giggle though the tight teeth of his grimace. "Sorry, bub. You're out of luck."

"The baby is crowning, Master Jedi!" Dr. Kalonia called, who was serving as the midwife. "PUSH!"

Rey bore down with an agonizing scream, then another as with a final heave, the large baby boy came shrieking into the world. Kalonia quickly whisked him away to clean him upon the umbilical cord being cut (Neek'o performed that honor).

At last returned to his fathers, Poe could only hold his son - named Kitt - with abject wonder. Turning to the woman who had birthed him, who was biologically speaking the mother of his child - a woman who had once vowed to hate him and leave him unforgiven for the rest of her days and his - he could only nod in deep respect, too overcome with emotion. "Rey... thank you. For my son."

Rey herself appeared surprisingly pensive as she nodded slowly. "You're welcome," she expressed conciliatorally.

The Damerons' election to permantly settle on Ajan Kloss came as a surprising, but welcome, decision. For Rey, it was a great relief, as she was able to watch her biological son from afar. She had never had any doubt that Poe and Neek'o would be able parents, which they proved every day.

So, it also came as a surprise when, only six months after giving birth to Kit, Rey made the decision to become pregnant again - this time through in-vitro fertilization so she could have the baby of Ben Solo, her dearly departed first husband. The move seemed a little soon too many, and if it was spurned by a case of post-partum depression, neither Rey nor Adem let on. The vials containing Ben's sperm had been entrusted to Dr. Kalonia in a frozen sperm bank, shortly before the couple got married. Both vials were ultimately injected into Rey.

Rey was overjoyed to find out that both sperm had fertilized with her eggs, so that she was carrying twins. Though the children being brought to term were once again not his, Adem catered to her every whim dutifully.

Finally, when little Kit Dameron was only fifteen month cycles old, Rey spent the better part of a long night giving birth to her and Ben's twins: a boy and a girl whom she named Jacen and Jaina.

All of her friends came by to congratulate her, including the Damerons and the Ticos. Little Kit was starting to utter simple words, including Rey's name. He was beginning to identify her as somewhere between an aunt and motherly figure; someday, Poe promised, the truth would be told to him about what he was to her.

Once the twins had been taken down to the NICU, a tired but happy Rey turned to the pilot. "Can I talk with you alone?"

Poe blinked. "Sure," he agreed, passing Kit off to Neek'o. Once the pilot and Jedi were by themselves, Rey all at once took his hand, tears in her eyes.

"I forgive you. For all of it."

Poe's jaw dropped. Maybe Rey was still feeling the effects of the birthing drugs, but all the same, he hadn't expected this. "Really? Even for...?"

She nodded. "I think your penance has been paid. You're the reason I was even able to have Ben's baby. And... I am proud to be the birth mother of your child."

There was a loud sniff, which Poe wiped away noisily on his sleeve. Squeezing her hand, all he could manage was, "Thank you."

Rey had watched her husband, over these past two months. With Kit, they hadn't needed to worry about their homelife changing forever, but now with Jacen and Jaina, their little apartment on base was becoming crowded and busy. Adem raised and cared for the twins as though they were his own. He had passionately understood why Rey had not wanted to waste this chance to have something of her first husband to remember him by. Adem deserved to have the same opportunity, to parent a child that was his in all ways...

And so it was, as they cuddled up in bed and watching Rey's two-month old babies sleeping in the bassinet, she blurted out, "Adem, I want another baby."

With his wife curled into the crook of his arm, Adem glanced down at her surprise. Rey just smiled up at him, content and sure. The grin growing impish, she pushed Adem flat on his back and languidly moved to straddle him. Rocking her center against his hips, she felt him tent and stir at her touch with a moan.

"Rey..."

She just smirked with excitement and bent down to tenderly kiss him. "You've been so patient and supportive of me. Now it's your turn. Let's make a baby."

And together, she and her husband spent hours upon hours making sweet love...

Adem's patience was quickly rewarded. Rey fell pregnant once again almost immediately, to the shock of nearly all their extended family and friends. With Jacen and Jaina's first birthday fast approaching, Rey went into labor for what she maintained was the third and final time. Like Kit before, it was not an easy birth.

Adem, the proud and expecting papa at last, paced nervously outside his wife's rooms with only Poe, Neek'o and Finn's jokes, Rose's soothing words for company. When the midwife finally emerged into the hallway to admit him, and confident that the twins were in fine care with their friends, Adem dashed in to see his wife.

Rey was sitting up in the bed, face scrunched and red-faced, as it had been for the last 11 hour cycles. The tears slipped past her eyelids and down her cheeks and Adem quickly pecked them away, diving for her face, her cheeks, her lips.

"Mmmm... I'm - I'm sorry," she whimpered, as her husband finished kissing her. "I - Hmmmm... I didn't want to leave you out there..."

"It's all right, love," Adem expressed, squeezing her hand. "Just focus on what you need to do."

"Are you ready, Mrs. Solo-Hux?" the delivery nurse asked.

Gripping Adem's hand like a vice, she nodded. "Yes."

"OK... PUSH!"

Rey nearly crushed her poor husband's hand as she growled, bearing down. Off and on, this continued for another hour cycle until at last, with a final shout, Rey slid the baby out of her.

"It's a girl," the midwife's voice broke through the haze. An exhausted smile working its way onto her face, Rey and her husband beamed into each other's eyes as they leaned in and kissed.

"Bridget?" Rey confirmed the name her husband had picked out weeks ago.

Adem tearfully nodded, kissing her lips again. "Rey, thank you so much. You're amazing. I... I love you."

Playing with the nape of his neck, Rey softly touched her lips to his again. "I love you too, you handsome man." Seeing his lovesick expression, she couldn't help but chuckle. "Want to let our friends in? Finny looks like he's ready to bust down the door."

"I'll go get them," Adem laughed, moving into the hallway.