Sabine woke up, sprawled out in her bed, noticing a distinct lack of family members. Interesting, despite having moved into a bigger home where the kids could have their own rooms, there was always at least someone in her bed with her. It wasn't often that she woke up alone, especially nowadays. Although, she was really never alone these days. Sabine thinks to herself as she rubs her swollen belly.
Sabine carefully descends the stairs to find her family. She had to be very mindful of her bump as she walked down the stairs. She was due to deliver any day now, and it was hard to see her feet under her. But she made it down, albeit slowly. And sure enough she hears her children's laughter and her husband's voice coming from inside her studio. She can't help but smile and rub her belly.
"I can't wait until you're old enough to hold a paint can." She whispers to her baby.
She walks inside and leans in the doorway, smiling as she watches her kids diligently painting on their canvases with Ezra instructing them.
"Wow! These look great guys! I'm so happy you're putting in all your effort on these paintings for mom!" Ezra exclaims.
For mom…they were making these…for her? Oh now she was absolutely going to cry. Stupid kriffing hormones. She mentally curses and wipes her eyes.
"I bet she's going to love them! I can't wait for you guys to show her. She's going to be so happy!" Ezra encourages.
"Okay! Then I'll go show her now!" Lu'na declares and takes her painting off the canvas and runs over to Sabine.
Ezra's back was turned to the doorway so he didn't see his wife standing there. Which is why he was surprised when he heard Lu'na say: "Look mama! I painted you and the baby a lothcat!"
"Oh wow! Lu'na that looks so great! Thank you! I love it!" Sabine praises.
Ezra turns around and sees her standing there and gasps.
"Whoa, hey what do you think you're doing up?" Ezra asks and puts down the paints and walks over to her. "You're due any day now the doctor said you had to stay in bed."
"The doctor also said I'm supposed to get out of bed every now and then too." Sabine reminds him.
"Yeah to go to the bathroom, not risk falling down the stairs." Ezra says.
Sabine rolls her eyes as she allows Ezra, as per routine at this point, to once again pick her up in his arms bridal style and carry her towards the stairs to take her back to their room, just as he had done every day since her prescribed two weeks of being bedridden had started.
"You know you're really starting to worry me." Ezra tells her.
Sabine lets out a short laugh and rolls her eyes.
"Cyar'ika you've been worried ever since you found out I was pregnant. And you've been fussing over me ever since too." Sabine adds.
"Oh don't act like you don't love having your sexy Jedi husband waiting on you hand and foot throughout your pregnancy. I know you do." Ezra tells her. "I saw those thirsty sketches you have of me in your sketchbook."
"You looked in my sketchbook?!" Sabine shouts at him.
"Well I uh…" Ezra stammers, sensing he's made a mistake.
Making Sabine angry on a regular day was dangerous enough. But making pregnant Sabine mad could prove fatal!
"It was us!" Icarus says, rushing up the stairs with Lu'na to defend their dad. "We wanted to show him the sketches you made of us when you were visiting Hera but we uh…opened the wrong page."
"Oh." Sabine says, looking away as her cheeks colored. "Well, that's okay then."
Ezra laughs.
"You know, I'm starting to think you keep escaping from bed because you just like it when I carry you around." Ezra says jokingly then notices Sabine blink a few times before looking away from him.
"I-I mean it's…nice." Sabine says softly and Ezra smirks.
"Mama why do you keep getting out of bed when you're not supposed to?" Lu'na asks.
"Because I'm lonely and bored up there." Sabine tells her.
"But you have the baby with you. You're not alone." Lu'na says.
Sabine laughs at her daughter and rubs her swollen belly.
"Well, the baby's not exactly great company right now since she can't even talk yet." Sabine tells her.
"She?" Ezra asks. "You still think it's a girl?"
"I know it's a girl. I may not have the Force but I do have mother's intuition. And it's telling me that this little bun in my oven is a girl." Sabine insists.
"Alright, well I'd love to have a girl, so I hope you're right." Ezra says.
"I thought you didn't care about the gender?" Sabine asks.
"I don't. I just said that to be a supportive husband." Ezra says.
"Aw, Ez." Sabine says and pecks his cheek.
Then they hear sniffling and turn to see Lu'na looking sad.
"I thought I was your little girl?" She asks.
Both of their hearts break.
Ezra sets Sabine down on her feet at the top of the stairs and then reaches down and scoops Lu'na into his arms while Sabine hugs them both, soothingly stroking her daughter's hair.
"You are Lu'na!" Sabine says.
"Yeah and you always will be!" Ezra adds. "I know we've said this to you and Icarus before but we'll say it again and we'll keep saying it forever if we have to so you two never forget. You are just as much our children as the baby is. Just because Sabine is growing the baby in her belly doesn't mean we love it more than you or don't want you anymore. You and Icarus will always be our children and we will always love you! No matter how many kids we have-"
"MANY?!" Sabine exclaims, and Lu'na giggles, knowing her dad messed up again.
"I haven't even pushed this one out yet and you're already talking about having more?!" Sabine shouts.
"I…I uh…" Ezra stammers.
"If you weren't holding our daughter right now I'd have half a mind to push you down the stairs for that!" Sabine threatens and Ezra gulps and holds Lu'na tighter.
"Papa put me down you're squeezing me too tight!" Lu'na requests.
"Can I hold onto you a little longer? Your mom is scaring me." Ezra begs.
Sabine rolls her eyes.
"Ez, come on, you know I was just kidding. Now put her down." Sabine requests.
Ezra sets Lu'na down and then picks Sabine up again even though he didn't have to because their room was right next to them but he wanted to anyway.
"You know I didn't mean it like that right?" Ezra asks.
"I know exactly what you meant." Sabine assures him as he sets her back down in their bed. "I just think it's fun to scare you sometimes when I'm bored."
Ezra scoffs and gets her tucked in.
Sabine reaches for her glass of water and accidentally turns on the holo disc showing her the photo of Ezra and his parents from when he was younger. Sabine smiles at it and so does Ezra once he notices.
Ezra stares at it thoughtfully, reaching out to affectionately rub his hand over Sabine's belly and she smiles as he does so and places her hand on her bump to join his.
"They would have loved you." Ezra says after a few moments of silence.
Sabine squeezes his hand, supportively and Ezra smiles and sits on her bedside.
"They would have loved Icarus and Lu'na too, and this little one." Ezra says and rubs his hand over her bump again.
"I'm sure they would." Sabine agrees. "Especially since we're naming this little one after one of them depending on the gender." She reminds him.
Ezra smiles and gives her a quick kiss on the lips before fluffing her pillow. A little too much. So Sabine smacks his arm.
"Ezra! That's enough. I don't need you to go overboard." She tells him.
"It's not going overboard it's taking care of you! I'm the reason you're in this condition after all. The least I can do is take care of you." Ezra says. "I highly doubt that one all night long romp in our bed was worth going through all of this." Ezra says.
"It definitely wasn't." Sabine groans as she holds her belly and re-adjusts herself.
She notices Ezra's dejected look and scoffs and shakes her head in amusement.
"That doesn't mean it wasn't good." She tells him, feeling her cheeks heat up as she recalls the memories of how he had ravished her that night. "You know you never disappoint."
"I work very hard not to." Ezra says and runs his hand through his hair.
"And it's noticed." Sabine says and runs her finger along his forearm a bit. "And very appreciated."
"You're welcome." Ezra says and starts to get up but then Sabine stops him.
"Hey." Sabine says and takes his hand, pulling him back to her. "I need something else." She says with a grin.
Ezra smiles, having an idea of what that was.
"What else do you require m'lday?" Ezra asks and Sabine giggles.
"A kiss." She says.
Ezra smiles and cups her cheek and kisses her. He rubs his thumb along her cheek and holds her lips to his. One kiss turned into another. And another. And another.
It was rare that they got a moment alone in their house to indulge in each other like this. So when a moment like this arrives, indulge they did.
Just the two of them, their lips, the baby they made together, the baby's water breaking-
Sabine gasps and breaks the kiss as she feels it. Ezra looks down and when he sees the water all over their sheets he looks back up at her with excitement and fear on his face.
Sabine smiles at him.
"Finally!" She exclaims happily before groaning loudly as a contraction came.
"Finally!" Ezra cheers as the doctor hands him his baby. "Finally after 8 months of your mom keeping you all to herself I finally get to meet you!"
Sabine tears up as she watches Ezra hold their baby in his arms. He was crying too, which only made her more misty eyed.
"Hey there Mira, it's me. Your dad." Ezra introduces himself and sits down in the chair with her.
She wriggles in his arms and lets out a little grunt as she opens her eyes to look at her dad.
"Hey, you got my eyes!" He notices. "I hope the rest is from your mom though, my eyes were the only good part about me, you got lucky in the gene lottery little one."
"Hey!" Sabine says in response to her husband's self depreciation. "Don't say that! You have plenty of other good parts. I love all of them."
"And I love all of yours too cyar'ika." Ezra says to her.
They hear a knock at the door and smile when they see Hera and Zeb come in with the kids.
"Where's the baby!? Where's the baby!?" Lu'na shouts and looks around, trying to spot it before seeing her dad on the chair holding a blanket burrito in his arms.
"There!" Lu'na shouts and runs over to Ezra.
"Hey! Slow down there little lothcat." Ezra says and holds out his hand to her. "Babies are very delicate. You have to be slow, and talk in an inside voice, okay. Now, do you want to hold your baby sister?"
Lu'na's face lights up.
"Yes!" Lu'na cheers.
"Shh!" Ezra says.
"Right sorry!" Lu'na whispers. "Yes."
Ezra stands up and lets Lu'na climb into the chair. He then instructs her how to hold the baby and Lu'na smiles as Ezra carefully places Mira on her lap.
"Hi Mira." Lu'na says to her. "I'm your big sister, even though I don't look like you. Oh and my eyes glow in the dark too. So do your brother's. I'm just telling you now so you don't get scared when you see that when it's dark in our house, like mom did that one time and nana Hera too when she babysat us for the first time."
"Nana…" Hera mutters and rests her hand on her forehead. "I'm never going to get used to hearing that. I'm too young." She sniffles and Zeb gives her a comforting shoulder rub.
Icarus and Jacen went over to check on Sabine in her bed.
"Are you doing okay mom?" Icarus asks.
"Yeah." Sabine says. "Just tired, and sore in places I didn't think I'd be sore." Sabine says and winces as she adjusts herself in her bed.
"I heard you screamed a lot." Icarus says.
"Yeah, I did." Sabine affirms.
"Mom said you broke uncle Ezra's hand." Jacen says.
"I didn't break it!" Sabine says. "I just…squeezed his hand a little too hard while I was pushing and now he's wearing some bacta bandages on it and he'll be fine."
Mira starts to cry in Lu'na's lap.
"Oh no!" Lu'na panics. "Does she not like me?"
"What? No why would you say that? She loves you Lu'na!" Ezra assures her and takes his daughter from his other daughter. "She's just crying because she wants her mom right now."
Ezra hands Mira back to Sabine and she smiles at her and gently bounces her to quiet her cries.
Ezra kneels down beside the bed and looks at his daughter with nothing but pure love in his eyes.
Hera wipes the tears from her eyes as she looks at the beautiful sight before her. Then she hears Zeb sniffle beside her.
"Zeb, are you crying?" Hera asks.
"No. I'm not crying. I just got some fur in my eyes that's all." Zeb lies.
Ezra can't help himself and he kisses Sabine.
"I love you so much." He says to her.
"I love you too." She replies.
Ezra looks back at their baby and lets out a short laugh.
"What is it?" Sabine asks.
"It's nothing, it's stupid…" Ezra says and shakes his head.
"No it's not." Sabine says and cups his face in her hand. "You can tell me anything you know that."
Ezra sighs and kisses the inside of her palm.
"Okay. I just…I looked at our daughter's eyes and they're blue just like mine. But that also reminded me of Thrawn and then I remembered that I kind of miss him and given how we were each other's lifeline for ten years I just…I feel kind of sad that he isn't here to meet her." Ezra explains.
Sabine gives her husband a sympathetic smile and kisses him again.
"I could just call him." Icarus suggests and Ezra smiles.
"Icarus our holo's don't have that kind of range. We can't call him." Ezra reminds him.
"I know. But the one I have from Csilla does have extended range. I used it to talk to Eli this week." Icarus explains.
"WHAT?!" Ezra shouts.
Mira starts crying and Ezra winces.
"Sorry baby girl." He whispers to her.
"What?!" He shouts again but softer. "You had that the whole time and never told me!?"
"You never asked." Icarus said simply.
"Well call them now! We've got to tell them about the baby!" Ezra urges.
Icarus pulls out the device and calls Thrawn.
His image appears in holo form and Ezra smiles.
"Hello Icarus." Thrawn greets. "Why are you calling me at this unscheduled time?"
"Because Ezra has something important he wants to show you." Icarus says and hands Ezra the device.
Thrawn couldn't help but smile a bit when he saw Ezra.
"Bridger, it's been awhile-" Thrawn starts then frowns when he sees Sabine in her bed, holding a baby behind Ezra.
Thrawn pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Ezra, is that a baby?" Thrawn asks.
"Yeah!" Ezra says. "It's-"
"Yours. I gathered." Thrawn says and rolls his eyes. "Well that didn't take long. Just as I expected."
"I knew it!" Thelma shouts from somewhere in the background, unseen. "The baby maker always works!"
"Thelma it's been two years since they left!" Thrawn reminds her. "There's absolutely no way the baby was conceived that long ago!"
"No but they made love under the blanket and were later blessed with a child. It still counts!" Thelma insists.
Thrawn groans and rolls his eyes before face palming.
"Her name is Mira." Ezra tells him and brings the device closer so that he could get a closer look. "Look she has my eyes!" Ezra exclaims.
"Yes. I can see that." Thrawn says and smiles at the baby. "Very cute. I pray she has her mother's brain and not yours."
"Hey!" Ezra says and Sabine laughs.
"I agree. We should all pray for that." Icarus says and he and Lu'na nod.
"My own children…" Ezra mutters and clutches his chest as betrayal stings his heart.
"Well, regardless, congratulations to you and Sabine on your child. I hope she grows up to do great things. And with parents like hers I'm sure she will." Thrawn says.
Ezra sniffles and wipes his eyes.
"Oh don't tell me that made you cry." Thrawn mocks.
"Sorry, it's just been an emotional day." Ezra sniffles.
"I can see that." Thrawn sighs.
"You should come visit sometime." Ezra suggests.
"Given my history with Lothal I don't think that would be wise but…for you…perhaps I could sneak in some time." Thrawn shrugs. "I'll call you again sometime later. Goodbye Ezra, for now."
"Goodbye Thrawn, I'll see you around." Ezra says and signs off.
Sabine places her hand over his and Ezra squeezes it before kissing her again and looking at their family all gathered in the room together.
"Do we have a weird family?" Sabine asks Ezra.
"Yeah." Ezra says. "But, I love it as much as I love you."
"Yeah…I love it too." Sabine says and kisses him before they both turn back to their baby, and think about what chaos she'll add to the mix.
Ezra and Sabine had no idea what they had done in their lives to deserve this, but they would spend every day for the rest of their lives cherishing it, as would the rest of their family, forever.
The End.