Chapter 4: Reach an Agreement

When Zorri entered the guest room, she found it empty. Glancing to her right, she spotted a light going on within the adjacent bathroom, and she followed it. Heels clicking on the tiles, she stopped when she saw Kira climbing into the tub for a warm bubble bath. Sinking beneath the suds, Kira froze when she caught sight of the beautiful bounty hunter.

"I don't need any help," she stated warily.

Zorri threw up her hands in placating surrender. "Not saying you do. Although, I can appreciate a girl drawing her own bath at night. I bathe at night too." She held out that little tidbit as a peace offering, hoping that Kira's ire at Poe would not extend to her by mere association.

Kira's frown softened as she reached for the soap to lather up. "I'm a big girl. I can wash by myself," she repeated. Zorri contented herself with taking a seat on the cool floor of the powder room, watching while also trying not to hover too much. If Kira came to her, she would be there. The little girl might not admit it, but she needed someone to be there for her. Thinking back to her rough childhood on Kijimi, Zorri knew a bit about what that felt like - to need an elder, someone wise and caring, looking out for you.

Zorri's keen instincts were proven well-founded a few moments later, as she pretended not to notice Kira struggling with the shampoo bottle. Letting out a huff of frustration, Kira finally held the bottle out in her aunt's direction.

"Can you please help me wash my hair? Like how Mama does?" She almost whispered it, like she was embarrassed. Zorri tried to put Kira at ease with a smile as she scooted next to the tub. She had to whack the base of the shampoo bottle to get enough out, before moving on to lathering and digging the substance into Kira's scalp with care. Zorri ran her fingers through Kira's long, blonde strands tenderly, admiring how they caught the light.

"You have the most beautiful hair," she confessed. Leaning into her touch, Zorri sensed Kira blush.

"Thank you," she got out meekly. Zorri paused in her scrubbing to fill a small bucket with water and dump it over Kira's head, before breaking in a new shampoo bottle and starting the scrubbing process again.

"A lady should always wash her hair twice." What Zorri didn't say was that she did this to feel extra sexy, as she knew the scent of her own shampoo drove her husband mad.

Kira softly slapped her hand into the bath water, causing a gentle splash. "Mama says my hair is the same color as my great-uncle Luke's."

"Skywalker?"

"Mm-hmm," Kira nodded simply.

Zorri smiled, running her hands through Kira's long tresses as she finished scrubbing. "Well, I think it's lovely." Taking the bucket, she doused Kira again, watching the soapy suds trail down her body. "There. All clean."

Kira stood up in the tub, and Zorri fetched a towel to wrap her in. The bounty hunter wasn't sure what compelled her to do it, but she even scooped the little girl up into her arms and carried her into the guest room and to her bed. She helped Kira get dressed in pajamas - a nightgown of Zorri's that had shrunk in the wash. Zorri had an appreciation for some of the finer things in life, and fashionable nightwear was one of them - once again, another seductive tactic to tease Poe.

Zorri tucked Kira into bed. Before she could stop herself, she kissed the little girl's cheek. "Good night, sweetie."

"Auntie Zorri?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Can you please tell Uncle Poe I'm sorry? For fighting?"

Zorri nodded. "Of course. He's pretty sorry too, you know. Don't worry - I bet you two will make up in the morning." And the bounty hunter quietly closed the door behind her.

It normally took quite a lot to leave Zorri Bliss Dameron shaken. A bounty hunter was almost required to build up a fearless personality, in her line of work.

And yet now, a mere thirty minutes with a child had filled Zorri with a love and longing that left her absolutely terrified.

Whenever she and Poe had before squabbled about having babies, Zorri had been adamantly opposed to her husband's deep desire to raise a family. And she had had damn good reason, steeped in her own dangerous experiences: babies were something to love only to then become something to lose. She did not see any benefit in creating something which could serve as easy leverage against her by her underworld enemies - of which there were many. Poe's insistences that he had the fighting skills and now the political power to defend their children until his last breath had not dispelled Zorri's fears.

But now, her bonding moment with Kira had managed to take Zorri's whole domestic worldview and turn it completely on its head. She actually felt a simmering jealousy for Rey - something that was relatively easy, as, in the brief time they had been acquainted and associated, neither woman had felt much affinity for each other. Their whole initial meeting on Kijimi could attest to that. At best, Zorri could only feel for Rey a grudging admiration - for her skills as a fighter, and now, her status as a mother.

A status that Zorri suddenly found herself yearning for, and actively considering.

Poe must have noticed a change in her demeanor, even if he couldn't read her tempestuous thoughts, when she appeared in their bedroom, for he was at her side in an instant.

"She's asleep," Zorri murmured quietly. She shivered at Poe gently rubbing his hands along her arms. He peered at her searchingly.

"What is it?" he crooned.

Zorri willed herself to look him in the face. "Do you still want children?"

Poe blinked in surprise at his wife's uncharacteristic willingness to bring up the topic, but then he sank onto their bed heavily. "I thought I did. Now I'm not so sure." He ran a hand over his face. "I think I'd be a rotten father. Kira probably hates me."

"She doesn't," Zorri soothed with a soft smile. "She told me to tell you she's sorry. And you'd better be ready to tell her the same in the morning." Her grin broadened despite the stern admonition.

"What brought this on?" Poe asked. "You asking about having kids, I mean." He dared to hope at the answer to the question, but he still felt the need to inquire.

Zorri fiddled with the purple cape attached to her chrone armor. "I... I think... if you still want us to... get pregnant... I'm willing to try." She glanced to him shyly. Poe seemed to have lost the ability to speak.

Then, he was laughing and whooping and picking her up, spinning her around. Zorri shrieked in delight as she threw her arms about his neck.

"I... I thought this was the reaction people have when they actually are knocked up," she laughed. Poe cut off her chuckle as he cupped her face and passionately crushed her lips against his.

They stood there for many moments, kissing again and again, until Poe began dive-bombing Zorri's neck. Started to slip her cape and armor off in a carnal need to undress her. Zorri's eyes went wide.

"K...Kira..." She gasped, thinking of their surrogate niece in the next room.

"She won't wake up," Poe hissed confidently.

"I don't care - we have to be quiet," she giggled, as the last of her armor fell away and she stood naked before him.

Picking her up by her bum, Poe braced his wife against the wall and brought his straining erection closer to her folds. He was immensely satisfied to find that she was already very wet. At his wife's panting nod, he pushed himself up into her walls and began to thrust, working up a rhythm as Zorri threw her head skyward and arched her back with a moan.

"P...Poe," she gasped, writhing and wriggling against him. "Give me a baby... place your baby inside me..."

"Oh, God..." Poe groaned and he pounded all the harder, spurred on by words he never thought he'd hear his wife say. His body quivered as he drew close, and he growled. "Zorri, I'm..."

She grinned impishly. "Come deep inside me," she whispered.

"Fuck!" Poe grunted, slamming his release deep inside Zorri's walls, his legs turning to jelly as he staggered against her. Somehow, he managed to carry her back to their bed, where Zorri fell asleep straddling him.