Fortunately for Kenna, the morning sickness was not as bad once she passed the four-month mark. It settles to a level of tolerable annoyance, often buried under planning for Dustil's visit, or preparing a room for the babies, or learning how to really fly the Ebon Hawk. She knew enough to keep it steady, sure, but there was a reason Carth was the only one to occupy the pilot's seat while they were saving the galaxy. Now, in between assignments, her husband was attempting to remedy her inability to be solely responsible for the ship.
The fact that she already knew the basics-how to keep the ship steady, how to engage or disengae the hyperdrive, how to power up and down-helped a lot. Carth didn't have to start from scratch with her. That didn't mean she was perfect, however. It turned out flying the ship was a lot harder than fixing it.
"No, Kenna, you don't want to turn that sharp." Carth reached over and adjusted the angle of the turn.
She resisted the urge to smack his hand away. She knew what she was doing, honest she did, it was just a tricky thing to turn enough but not too much. "Why not?"
"Because if you were going any faster making a turn like that you'd lose control of the Hawk," Carth explained patiently. Kenna was easily frustrated right now, her slowly expanding belly, sore back, and still mildly upset stomach all conspiring to make her as grouchy as possible at the earliest oppotunity. On a good day, she could fend it off until afternoon. Today was apparently not a good day. "Kenna, relax. You don't have to instantly master everything."
Kenna pulled one hand off the controls and rubbed the palm against her eyes. "I know." Her voice was edged in irritation as well as weariness. "But..."
"But people expect you to be able to do anything," he finished for her. "You don't have to do everything, love."
"I know that, but how do you explain the Savior of the Republic not knowing how to fly her own ship?" If she trusted herself more with this thing, Kenna would have turned to look at him, however, she settled for darting a quick glance in his direction as she asked.
Carth grinned. "You had a ruggedly handsome and talented pilot at your disposal, remember?"
"I remember the talented part..." Kenna teased, grinning impishly at him as she brought the Hawk in to land. It was a little bumpier than it should be, Harder than Carth would have landed it, but for Kenna, it wasn't bad at all.
"Not bad. Keep it up and maybe you'll be as good as me someday." She smacked his shoulder-hard-for that. "Ow!"
"Serves you right," Kenna huffed, grinning as she stomped down the boarding ramp with as much pretended-indignation as she could muster,trying-unsuccessfully-to hide her grin. Carth laughed and followed her, catching up easily. She couldn't walk as fast right now, a fact he ribbed her about to no end.
"Slowpoke," he teased, pairing it with a kiss on the cheek so he wouldn't get smacked again.
Kenna sighed in exasperation and made a face at him. "You're asking for it, flyboy."
"That's why you love me."
"No, I love you 'cause you're adorable."
"Hey-"
Kenna cut off his protest about her choice of adjectives with a kiss, pushing him back against the wall as it went deeper.
"Y'know, beautiful, there's other people here," he whispered.
"Let 'em look," was her uncaring retort.
Until he finished, "I think I see a reporter."
Then she sighed, pulled back, and resumed walking, hand still loosely clasping his. "Well, then. I'll just have to wait until we're home, won't I?"
He loved it when that tone crept into her voice. "I guess you will."
oOo
However, the wall holo was beeping with two missed calls and two messages when they returned. Kenna pressed the button to play the back as she stripped off her outer tunic. Rolling her now-freed shoulders, she tossed the tunic in the general direction of the couch. She didn't particularly care if it made it or not.
The first message was from Dustil. He'd booked passage and would arrive on Coruscant within a week. Kenna sighed with relief. The last they'd heard from him, he was having trouble working a visit into his schedule. He'd gotten a job working with the restoration project on Telos, and his work hours were ridiculous, his boss not the type to give week and a half leave for a family visit. She almost didn't want to know what he'd had to promise to finally finagle the time.
The second message was from Bastila. She and Kenna had been playing holo-tag for two weeks. They always seemed to miss each other, and Kenna refused to leave this update about the number of new Onasis on the way in a message. However, this time Bastila was informing Kenna that she would be unoccupied and available to 'chat' for several hours.
"Hey, Carth, if you really want to eavesdrop on me and Bastila, here's your chance."
"Think I'll pass on that, beautiful. I'm not feeling particularly curious at the moment." Carth pulled off his boots and slouched in one of the chairs in the living room. "You can have the bedroom. And I swear not to eavesdrop."
"How noble of you," Kenna chuckled as she headed in the direction of the bedroom.
oOo
The nerves hit as she plunked on th edge of the bed and punched in the code to call her friend. Bastila had not reacted well to the news Kenna was pregnant. It was anyone's guess as to how she'd take the news it was twins. Kenna shuddered to think of the possible response. Still, better to get it over with. Besides, it's not like I can do anything about it now.
Bastila answered on the first ring. "Kenna. I see you got my message."
Kenna nodded. "I did. Sorry it's been so hard for us to catch up. We were trying to work things out for Carth's son to visit, and Mission's been dragging me all over the place to go shopping for stuff for the babies' room." She almost winced at the slip of her tongue, but then realized hearing 'babies' sounded the same as 'baby's'. "And, um, on that topic, when I went to the doctor to make sure the baby was okay, I found out something else."
"What is it?" Bastila frowned in concern. "Is there something wrong?"
Oh, no, nothing like that." Kenna shook her head, tucking back her hair. Those rebellious strands were finally long enough she could manage to keep them out of her face most of the time.
"What then?" Suspicion was creeping into the younger Jedi's tone.
"It's twins."
Silence. If not for the image of Bastila staring at her incredulously, Kenna would have thought she'd lost the connection.
"Bastila?"
"I...I'm sorry." Bastila cleared her throat and-Kenna could tell-swallowed most of what she was about to say. She felt it through their Force Bond. Bastila was borderline furious. "I'm just...that is hard to grasp," she finally admitted.
"Why? Twins aren't that rare. And if you're mad at me, let me have it. I can already sense it through our Bond," Kenna reminded her. The irony of her finally being the one to sense an unwanted emotion did not escape her.
Bastila shook her head. "No. I've given in to anger before, and said and done things I regretted later as a result. I'll not be so weak this time. Besides, my anger will not change the facts. However, I can tell you, this is not going to go over well with the Council."
"You're going to tell them?" Kenna fought down her own wave of anger, even as she felt Bastila's bleed away.
"Of course not. I can't believe you would think I would do such a thing. But you will have to tell them. Or they'll find out some other way and you will have even more for which to answer."
She was right. Kenna had to admit that. "Well, I...how am I supposed to tell them?"
"My advice? Just send a short, essentials only message. A datapad, perhaps. Don't appear in person, don't contact them this way, just give them the news without any form of you there for them to turn on in the emotion of the moment." Bastila smiled slightly. "Unless you enjoy Master Vrook's lectures far more than it appears you do."
Kenna shuddered at the mere thought. "No. I'd rather avoid that, thanks."
"I thought so. Are you...feeling alright, if I may ask?"
Kenna nodded. "You may, and I am. I had really horrible morning sickness, worse than most because it's twins and because I'm a Jedi, until about three days ago, but now I'm feeling better. I think I've eaten more in the past few days than I did in the three weeks prior to them."
"You do look rather thin," Bastila agreed, "But there is also a...glow that I can detect even with the lower quality of the holo screen."
Kenna blushed. "Am I that obvious?"
"Yes. Out of curiousity," Bastila bit her lip-the surest sign of a mental debate-then finished, "how did Carth take it?"
"I think thrilled would be an understatement," Kenna laughed, "As would overjoyed, ecstatic, and any other word you could think of that means anything similar. I've never seen him happier." She smiled. "Even when we got married. And that's okay. I feel the same way."
Bastila smiled. "I'm glad. Now, I shall let you go. I'm sure you have things you need to do, and Master Allorn asked if I would teach the Younglings class."
"Oh?" Kenna chuckled. "Lucky you. Cute kids, some trust, apparently the Council is convinced you aren't going to fall again."
"At least not anytime soon," Bastila agreed, a hint of something wistful in her eyes. "I shall talk to you later, Kenna."
"Mm-hm." Kenna nodded and ended the call. She was just standing up when the unit beeped again. Chuckling when she saw the ID, Kenna punched the button to accept the call. "Yeah, Mish?"
"Do you like green or yellow better?"
"What?" Kenna shot the Twi'lek a confused look. "Mission, where are you?"
"A baby clothes store. Do you like green or yellow better?"
Kenna sighed, having a feeling she knew where this was going. "Why?"
"Cuz I found the cutest outfit ever in here, and I know I can't get it in pink or blue since you don't know whether it's girls or boys, but would you rather green or yellow?" the teenager repeated, juggling the outfits in question along with her comm unit.
"Mission."
"Yeah?"
"It's twins. Get one of each."
"Oh, yeah. I guess that would work too," Mission grinned sheepishly. "Sorry to bug you."
"Not a problem. I feel a little better knowing what kind of mischief you're up to," Kenna teased. "Oh, and Mission?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't go too crazy."
"Oh, don't you worry about that." There was something in her tone that made Kenna very, very worried.
But she just sighed and ended the call before wandering back out to the living room. "I've come to warn you," she teased as she sat down on the couch, shifting aside her crumpled outer tunic.
"Oh?" Carth opened one eye to look at her.
"Mission's shopping for baby clothes."
"Oh." He winced.
Kenna laughed at his expression. "Maybe it won't be that bad."
"And maybe Malak wasn't really evil, and maybe Canderous and I will actually get along someday, and maybe the Council won't be mad at you."
"How'd you know about that?" Kenna narrowed her eyes. "Did you eavesdrop?"
Carth grinned. "My lips are sealed."
"Oh, really?" Kenna pushed off the couch and move to his lap. "I think I can unseal them." She kissed him, drawing it out for a long moment before she pulled back.
"You know, woman, your tatics are just evil," Carth whispered. The rasp edging his voice made something inside Kenna shiver in delight.
"You don't seem too terribly bothered," she whispered back.
"That's because I know it works both ways." His kiss was just as drawn out as hers had been, Kenna's fingers digging in to his shirt, his running up and down her arm.
Kenna finally pulled back, reluctance clear on her face. "Well, back to reality."
"Honey," Carth chuckled, "there's nothing for you to do right now. This can be reality."
She grinned at him. "I like the way you think. But we should probably either lock the door or hide in our room. I don't know when Mish's getting back, and I'd rather not get caught by her again."
"I vote hide in the bedroom." Carth waited for Kenna to get up before pushing out of the chair. "There's one thing that puzzles me, beautiful."
"What's that?" Kenna shot him an 'I'm-wise-to-you' smile, but played along anyway.
"How is it that someone as brilliant as you can't land a ship smoothly to save your life?"
"Rat!" Kenna plunked down on the bed and launched a pillow at him.
"Real mature," Carth smirked as he picked up the pillow and joined his wife on the bed.
"Well, one of us has to be the adult," Kenna ribbed, poking him. Carth caught her hand as she tried for another and intertwined his fingers with hers as he kissed her again. "And you complain about me playing dirty," she mumbled, running her fingers through his hair and making both of them sigh with pleasure.
"I'm a quick study, beautiful."
oOo
They stayed in their room until they heard Mission come back and holler for Kenna.
"Well, let's go see what kind of damage she's done." Kenna pushed off the bed and offered Carth a hand up.
He shook his head. "Nope. She wants you, Ken. I'm staying right here."
Kenna sighed in mock disgust and made a face at him. "Coward."
He chuckled. "No, just horribly out of my depth when it comes to baby clothes."
"But what about Dus-"
"That was all Mori." Carth sighed. "I got redeployed two days after he was born. Gone for seven months, back for two, then gone for another three."
"Oh." The single syllable squeaked out sounding very small.
"Go see what Mission wants to show you."
She would have read him the riot act-several times over-for shutting her out like this but she'd done the same thing every time she omitted a detail she didn't think he could handle when telling him about her dreams or memories or whatever the hell they were. Every time she chose to carry something alone. He was entitled to something he carried alone, if things were going to be fair. So she settled for a quiet, "No angsting. That's an order." uttered with a teasing grin and a kiss on the cheek. Then she left the room. "Alright, Mish, what do you wan-whoa." Kenna's mouth dropped open at the sight of the living room.
The couch had disappeared under a mountain of shopping bags, and the chair now held a worn out but grinning ear to ear Twi'lek who giggled furiously at the look on Kenna's face.
"Mish, didn't I tell you not to get too crazy?" the Jedi finally demanded, one hand resting against her stomach, mentally calculating whether the twins would be capable of wearing all those clothes before they outgrew them.
"Well, yeah, you did," Mission admitted with a devious grin. "But you failed to define 'too crazy'. Is it my fault if our definitions differ slightly?"
"Slightly? Mission there's enough clothes here for a small army of kids! I'm touched you're so excited about the twins, but this is a bit much."
"Well, that's my job," Mission retorted, somehow managing to smirk innocently.
"Your job? Dare I ask what that job might be?"
"Weeeeellllll, if I'm gonna be Auntie Mission I gotta spoil 'em just a little bit," the teenager replied sweetly.
Kenna groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Mish..."
"And I'm gonna show 'em how to pick locks, and hotwire speeders, and-"
"No."
"Can I at least teach 'em pazaak?" Mission pleaded.
"No."
"Please?"
"I think I'm getting a headache. And just how did you afford all of this?" Kenna gestured toward Mission's pile of loot.
"Um, I hit a pazaak den first. Cleane out about six of the nerf-herders in the place before they wised up and kicked me out."
Kenna groaned again and pinched the bridge of her nose. Alright, lessons I've learned today: How to land the Hawk, that Carth can play just as dirty as me, and never. Ever. Let Mission go shopping unsupervised again. Ever.
A/N: Yay for mush and Mission! She is gonna have so much fun with these kids. Probably help them drive their parents insane. Now I wanna skip straight to after they're born. But no. First Dustil's visit, then the babies come. Patience, young lady, patience. *evil grin* All kidding aside, I'm rather pleased with this. I sat sat down with nothing this morning, only managed to write for three hours before I had to go to work, and finished whe I got back-and I'm managing to post on Thursay! Yippee for me! *happy dance*