Normally she would be asleep at this time, so I wondered what was preventing her from sleeping. "What are you still doing up?" I asked leniently as I spoke in a soft, moderate tone of voice to indicate I was merely curious and not in any way scolding her for being awake since it had been a long day full of unexpected events, throwing her routine completely out of sorts, and I propped my hands up on my hips. She looked back down at the white blanket with violet flowers on it as she shrugged unresponsively. I figured I would try the same method I'd used to entice Kali into conversing with me, asking questions, since it had been effective to some degree. "Can I sit?" I asked as I stepped closer and pointed at the bed. In answer, she nodded wordlessly. "Look," I sighed, wondering how to begin as I held my hands up to her and sat down in front of her, my legs hanging off the edge of the bed. I concluded I'd start with acknowledging her feelings which had made her stomp away from me. "I'm sorry I got onto you in front of your siblings and our guests earlier," I apologized, recognizing that would be embarrassing for her since I would've felt similarly. "I shouldn't have done that." I shook my head, confessing my mistake. Then, I thought about how I could've approached the situation better in case there was a next time and let Ria know the plan too so that she could be prepared for what would happen and even remind me if she noticed me about to react wrongly again. In that way, we could both improve and hopefully avoid any further unpleasant confrontation. "I should've taken you aside privately," I admitted as I nodded shamefully. Then, I explained to her the reason I reacted the way I did so that she could formulate her own better response independently for next time, if there ever was a next time. "I just know that your cousins' home life isn't the greatest and I really wanted to make them feel welcome and you stealing Ansa's food didn't do that," I said as I shook my head. "It's not a nice thing to do, I need you to understand that," I said sternly. "Yes, Mama." She nodded, still looking down at the blanket, refusing to look up into my eyes. "I understand that," she said obediently and I hoped she wasn't simply going to be robotic now, devoid of any personality after I had it stripped from her. "Thank you, sweetheart." I leaned down to try and meet her gaze as I squeezed her shoulder with my hand. She had no reaction to my sign of appreciation though. "I appreciate you listening and your respectfulness," I told her exactly what I was grateful for as I lifted her chin with my finger and her blue eyes blankly stared back at me, giving no inklination as to how she felt about my apology. "Are we good?" I asked as I tediously held my arms up at my sides, open for a hug. "We're good." She nodded as she fell forward and collapsed into my torso, thankfully returning the embrace. "I just wish I had someone to share my room with," she abruptly switched topics. "You do?" I asked as I scrunched up my nose in disgust, not able to understand why she would, at this age especially, not want her own room. "Yeah," she leaned out of the hug and looked up at me. "They're all in there together while I'm in here all alone." She pointed across the hall where Armani, Kali, and Kai would be and then gestured around her room where she and I were the only occupants. I scoffed at the irony of the situation, how I wouldn't even be caught dead saying such a thing at her age, especially not after growing up on Kamino where there were endless rows of barracks all in the same room. "When I was your age," I said reflectively as I leaned back against the bed with my palms. "All I wanted was my own room," I said wistfully as I zoned out on the wall across from me, picturing the barracks in my mind and swinging my legs back and forth off the edge of the bed. "I had to share with your Auntie Rebel, Uncle Rex, Uncle Wrecker, Uncle Fives, Uncle Cody, a whole bunch of people," I summed up the lengthy list of clones I had shared quarters with so long ago to save time, plus, Ria didn't know any of those other people, they were long gone by now. I could sense that she was becoming bored with my nostalgia though, so I thought of a solution to her dilemma as I looked down and my stomach caught my eye. That's when an idea hit me. The nursery was certainly too crowded with the triplets to support another child's vast collection of toys and clothing, much less a place to sleep, and unless Ash and I planned on allowing this baby to live in our room until it became an adult, Ria's room was the only one available. It was still only an idea for now though because, if Rebel really was only staying a week, then her room would be available. "Soon though," I placed both hands on my lower abdomen as I looked over at Ria. "You'll have a new baby sibling that we can maybe see about letting you share your room with." This was the first time I'd told her she was receiving a new sibling and I watched with delight as her face lit up, unable to wait until Ash returned to break the news to her together. Besides, I doubt Ash would've wanted to be involved in the reveal since the news was associated with bad memories. "Really?" She asked eagerly as she scooted towards me and locked her hands together underneath her chin. "Yep." I nodded. "Oh my goodness!" She squealed and sprang out of bed, spinning in circles, pumping her fists as she leapt into the air and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, making me giggle uncontrollably. "I'm so excited!" She screeched. "We'll put the other bed here," she sprinted to the opposite end of the room and gestured to a narrow space between the wall and her dresser that wasn't near big enough for a bed, but the sentiment was there. "And there's room in my closet for all their clothes." She darted over to her closet across from her bed and opened the door, gesturing to the wooden rod that ran horizontally across the length of her closet and was bolted to both walls at opposite ends of each other. It was halfway weighed down with hangers while the other half was empty. "We're gonna stay up all night telling stories and-" she began breathlessly as she bounded through her room again, but I was forced to cut her off before she reached peak excitement to remind her that it remained only a possibility for now and that nothing was definite and especially not immediate as her true motives for wanting someone to share her room with emerged which was that she wanted an excuse, or rather someone to blame, for staying up past her bedtime. "Slow down there, missy." I held my hands out towards her at arm's length, my palms facing her. "Remember, the baby is still going to be a baby for a while," my statement didn't make any sense I realized as Ria tilted her head at me in a confused manner since I'd just been repetitive of myself. I thought of a way to explain to her that the baby wouldn't be able to interact with her for at least a few months and it would be even longer before the baby could actually swap stories with her. It would also still be quite a few months before the baby would be born. I now realized I should've waited until closer to the baby's due date to tell her she was going to be an older sibling since she would be anxiously awaiting her sibling's arrival for an even longer period of time now. Suddenly, I remembered we had a live example of what babies were like here at the rebellion to help Ria understand what her sibling would be like when she first met him or her. "Like Leia's new twins," I snapped my fingers as the realization hit. "And they probably won't learn to talk until they're at least about a year old." I wrinkled my nose up in displeasure at the extensive wait time to match Ria's reaction to that piece of information which was to groan in indignation and slouch her shoulders disappointedly. I decided to tell her the rest of the downsides to having a baby sibling while we were on the subject, they would also be the reasons for my hesitancy in instantly agreeing to allow her baby sibling to share a room with her. "They're gonna need a lot of attention too," I informed her as I nodded, remembering Ria's insistent demands when she had been an infant. "They're gonna cry a lot during the night, and need to be fed every few hours," Remembering the cries made me realize it would be impractical for us to have to go into the next room to fulfill the child's request while at the same time risk waking Ria up when it would be far easier and less dangerous for the baby to sleep in Ash and I's room as Ria had. "So they're gonna need to be close to Appa and I for at least the first few months," I explained as the list of reasons increased, continuing to shrink the likelihood of them being roommates, but I didn't want to dash her hopes completely by denying her request, especially not before hearing Ash's opinion on the matter. "So it's only a maybe for now and something I'll need to talk to your Appa about," I postponed making a decision until her father returned. "Okay," she shrugged, immediately and surprisingly accepting the postponement as she crawled back up into bed and propped her feet up in my lap. "When will he be back?" She asked impatiently as she plopped her hands down in her lap and looked up at me as I wrapped my arm around her waist to prevent her from tumbling off the bed. Mentioning him in our conversation made me painfully aware of just how much I missed him. It felt as if he'd already been gone longer than he had when he'd left on his mission three years ago because we hadn't separated on good terms like last time and at least last time he'd attempted to contact me everyday. This time, I knew he was purposefully avoiding contacting me since I knew he had the ability to, unless something had gone wrong, but I assumed he'd stay with his father for at least a week and he'd been there a few days already. Of course, I couldn't know exactly when he'd be returning since he hadn't told me, so it was down to my best guess. "Hopefully in a few days," I responded as I rubbed her back in a circular motion with the palm of my hand. I felt my throat gradually closing up, threatening to suffocate me if I didn't allow the tears accumulating in the corner of my eyes to spill down my cheeks. I couldn't allow Ria to see me cry, she couldn't understand what was wrong even if I did explain it to her and I needed to be strong for her so that she could view me as a pillar to lean on whenever she felt this way. I couldn't contain the tears much longer though, so it was time to say good night to Ria and ensure she fell asleep just like her cousins. "Do you need help falling asleep?" I asked, exceptionally chipper, overcompensating for the crack in my voice. "Yeah," she nodded and fell back against the mattress, her head hitting her pillow. "Can you do the thing?" She asked as I pulled the covers up to her chin and I chuckled, knowing exactly what thing she was talking about. "Yes," I smiled as I nodded. "I'll do the thing," I told her as I sniffled, swallowing the tears, and brushed her hair back from her forehead. "Close your eyes," I instructed as I flapped my hand up and down in front of her eyes to signal her eyelids to shut and they complied. "Now, imagine a large green field with a brown wooden fence down the middle of it," I said in a soft, soothing tone of voice as I began, as Ria called it, "the thing". The thing was not something of my own creation, but rather of Rex's. When I was a child and had struggled with falling asleep on Kamino due to the booming thunder claps, he used to rouse my imagination, painting a scene in my mind before beginning to steadily count and that was what always caused me to grow drowsy and lull me into a restful state, but the setting was always an important factor to luring sleep too. I watched as she squeezed her eyes shut, striving to imagine the scene and I smiled amusedly, doing everything in my power to refrain from laughter which would disturb her imagination. "Do you see it?" I asked before continuing and she nodded, her lips pursed as she concentrated. "Now, faithers start coming up to the fence wanting to get to the other side and they start jumping over it and we start counting them as they hop over," I said slowly as I watched her features already beginning to relax. "1, 2, 3…" I counted aloud at a rhythmic pace. Soon, about half a minute later, I could tell from listening to her breathing pattern that she was asleep. "...28, 29, 30." I stopped counting and leaned over her to kiss her forehead before standing up and returning to Rebel as I'd promised. "Okay, I'm back," I announced as I entered the room and Rebel whipped her head around to look at me with a gigantic smile on her face. Her wide hazel eyes stood out against the fuschia eyeshadow Patricia had applied and her smile was accentuated by the pink lipstick she had spread on Rebel's lips. Patricia was still kneeling in front of Rebel, looking at her annoyedly due to Rebel's squirming. I smiled back at Rebel's beauty as she was breathtakingly gorgeous as always of course. "All of the kids are in bed and taken care of," I assured her as I dusted my hands off, brushing my palms past one another. I stepped closer to Rebel as she held her hand out to me in an inviting manner and I took it just before Patricia jerked Rebel's chin in her direction again and looked at her sternly, raising her eyebrows, warning her of what would occur if she unexpectedly moved her head again. As I massaged Rebel's hand, I felt something sharp stab me. I gave a silent yelp of pain as I looked down to see what had poked me when I beheld the sparkliest engagement ring I've ever seen in my life. I gaped at it, slapping my palm over my heart and saw that it was in the shape of a star, round with numerous points projecting from all angles as it glittered in the light. I knew Rebel's engagement ring to Sawyer was an amethyst and she didn't wear that ring anymore, so this ring could not have been a gift from him. I knew her engagement ring from Thrawn was dull, ordinary, and square and I couldn't have imagined her willingly wearing anything from him, so that possibility was crossed out. That left only one option, Benji had proposed to her! More excitingly, she'd accepted! I bit my lip so hard I thought it might start bleeding as I closed my eyes and tried not to squeal or squeeze Rebel's hand so tightly her bones broke. I wanted to confront her about it, but I wanted to introduce the subject casually as she'd apparently treated it since she hadn't made a big deal about it and I thought of how I'd see Benji earlier interacting with Ansa and I'd wanted to tell her about the adorableness, only now I'd address him by what he actually was to her. "There was quite a touching scene between your fiancé and your youngest daughter," I said slyly as I slid my hands away from hers to prop them up on my hips. Rebel flashed me a glance, gripping the armrests tightly with her hands as she looked at me. "How do you know we're engaged?" She asked incredulously. "Please," I scoffed and waved my hand through the air. "As if I could ignore that giant ring on your finger," I gestured down at her ring finger on her left hand and she followed my gaze, picking up her hand with her other hand and holding it close to her face as she smiled at it adoringly, a smile that was beyond elated, incomparable to any of her other smiles. I've never seen her so happy. "And your even bigger smile," I commented quietly as I now looked solely at her and not her ring. "You're engaged?!" Patricia asked in a high pitched voice as she jumped up from her kneeling position and dropped the container of blush that had been resting in her flat palm as she curled her hands into fists on either side of her head, trembling them side to side. Rebel gave her a timid nod as she gnawed on her lower lip. "OMF!" Patricia squeezed her eyes shut as she squealed and spun in tiny circles as she stamped her feet and pumped her fists in the air. "That's so exciting!" She exclaimed and bent down to Rebel, propping her hands up on Rebel's knees before hugging her briefly, having to stoop down a considerable amount and rapidly shooting up again and resuming spinning. "Congratulations!" Sabine cheered as she clapped her hands together and stood up as well, giving Patricia a hug once she had dizzied herself from twirling around. "Thank you," Rebel said calmly as she situated her hands in her lap elegantly. "When's the wedding?" Patricia asked as she pulled away from Sabine, but kept her arms around her, and looked down at Rebel, excitement flaming in her eyes. "We don't know." Rebel shook her head. "We want to have it as soon as possible so that we can be married before I leave, so it's probably going to be a small wedding." Rebel squinted at the small space between her index finger and thumb as she held them centimeters apart in front of her face, indicating just how small the wedding would be. Rebel had planned to leave in only a week which gave us exactly that long to plan the wedding, but that was only a few less days than Ash and I had to plan for our wedding, surely we could do it in that amount of time. "We're eager to help in any way we can." I willingly offered our assistance as I looked at her reflection in the mirror since I was standing behind her chair, my hand on top of the back of it, wanting to reach down and hug her from behind, give her a shoulder squeeze, a head pat, anything, but I didn't dare to. "Thank you," she said appreciatively as she looked at me from the reflection in the mirror. We shared a long look through the reflection as if she were trying to communicate with me telepathically, but we'd been apart for too long. Whatever message she was attempting to transmit to me, I didn't receive it. "I'll do your hair!" Sabine gasped in realization as she raised her hand, stretching her arm up as far as possible. "I'll do your makeup!" Patricia released Sabine as her hand shot up towards the ceiling, mirroring Sabine's as she offered her talents as well, recognizing the wedding as an opportunity to do so. I didn't possess any specific talents that would be useful for preparing for a wedding, but I would do everything in my power to make Rebel's wedding day everything she desired it to be. "I'll take care of anything else you might possibly need," I said as I bowed my head to my sister in servitude. "I knew I could count on you," Rebel said gratefully as she looked at my reflection in a loving way, still seeming to want to convey a confidential message, but Patricia interrupted my deciphering. "Well, what do you think?" She asked as she grabbed hold of Rebel's wrists and pulled her to her feet. She walked around to stand behind Rebel and grabbed onto her shoulders, pushing her towards the full body mirror hanging on the wall and held her in place there as Patricia watched her reaction in the reflection over Rebel's shoulder. Rebel pressed her palms up to her cheeks and squished them together, testing to see if it truly was her own face as Patricia anxiously awaited the verdict, nibbling on her lower lip and holding her hands together underneath her chin. "I love it!" Rebel shouted as she bounced up and down and spun to face Patricia. "Yay!" Patricia clapped happily at the outcome of Rebel's assessment. Suddenly, Ansa toddled in, her eyes half open as she was half awake and she stumbled straight over to her mother with her arms flat out at her sides. "What do you think of Mama's new hair?" Rebel asked as she lifted Ansa up once she'd reached her legs and face planted straight into them. Rebel bounced the ends of her hair with her flat palm to display her hair's new springiness to her daughter as her other hand was being used to hold Ansa against her hip. Ansa stared at her mother for a long time through glazed eyes, then made a decision and responded to her mother's overall new look with a thumbs up before collapsing and leaning the side of her head against Rebel's heart. "Aww," I cooed as I tilted my head and leaned it against my hands that I held locked together, my fingers intertwined. Rebel winked at me, a motherly signal that she was going to tuck Ansa into bed, as she strolled past me and exited through the door. Patricia, Sabine, and I stayed in the refresher to clean up. We put away makeup, scissors, and nail polish where they belonged and tossed dirty towels in the washing machine and threw empty bottles of hair dye away and swept up spilled makeup and restored Rebel's chair to its place of origin before concluding that everything was in its proper place and parting ways. I hurried off in search of Rebel, assuming she would be in her room, and saw that the door was cracked open, the lights dim. I took the partially open door as an invitation and slowly nudged it open to peek in. I observed Rebel on the bed, her legs folded into her lap as she faced the door with her eyes closed, her hands resting on her knees and her chin held high with her back rigidly straight. She appeared to be meditating as she took deep, peaceful, controlled breaths. I'd never seen Rebel meditate before, it was rather mesmerizing and calming to watch her chest rise and fall as she inhaled and exhaled even though all she really appeared to be doing from the outside was sitting there and breathing, it was what was going on inside that was intriguing and mysterious. She gradually began to smile and I realized she could probably sense me watching her. Suddenly I registered that I was just standing here staring at her with my mouth open and my presence was probably disturbing her concentration. "Oh, sorry," I apologized as I looked behind me to ensure I wouldn't trip on anything and I backed out of the room. "Is this a bad time?" I asked awkwardly as I began to shut the door to try and help her return to her previous state although her focus had probably already been broken and it was all my fault. "No," she shook her head as her eyes remained closed. "It's okay," she assured me. "Your presence soothes me," she said with a shy smile and gestured for me to come closer, pinpointing my exact direction even while her sight capabilities were non-existent. I smiled at the reassurance that I could bring her a sense of tranquility and stepped towards her, closing the door gently behind me. I sat down on the bed next to her cautiously as she stayed in the same position and I decided to attempt to copy her since her meditation session wasn't complete yet no doubt since I'd interrupted it or perhaps it could be ended whenever she deemed necessary, I wasn't sure. I knew I was incapable of meditating, but I thought if she wasn't quite finished yet, I could at least enjoy the quiet with her or perhaps the position she was in generated some sort of serene feeling inside of the person that would help me remain silent and composed as she completed her meditation session. I suppose the real reason though was that I just wanted to feel connected with my sister. I wanted to share an experience with her the most intimate possible way I could. I looked down at her bent knees and mimicked her, bringing my legs up onto the bed and bending them at the knees with the soles of my feet pressing against my inner thighs. Wait, is it right foot over left? I questioned internally as I looked down at her leg placement and then at mine to spot any differences. Or is it left foot over right? I began to switch which ankle was draped over which as I noticed there was a clear difference in the way Rebel and I had our legs. Or does it matter? I wondered, but then I decided it didn't matter as it became too much trouble to lift my leg and my squirming was probably more distracting to Rebel than anything. Next, I looked at her hands as I straightened my back and rested the backs of my hands on my knees with my fingers pointed up at the ceiling as I pinched the air. I noticed Rebel's palms were on her knees though, her fingers pointed down towards the mattress, so I flipped my hands over and relaxed them on my knees. There, that's better. Finally, I faced towards the door, the same direction as Rebel and closed my eyes. After a few moments, I heard light snickering and cracked one eye open to peek at Rebel on my left. She had both eyes open now and was looking at me as she held her hand over her mouth to conceal her laughter, but was failing miserably at it. I opened both eyes and looked around, wondering what was so funny, when she bursted out laughing even harder. That's when I realized it was me she had been laughing at. I felt my cheeks burn as I realized she had probably been listening to my thoughts that whole time and, from that, had probably seen me struggling in her mind's eye with how to assume a meditative posture. I swallowed hard with embarrassment as I looked back at her and glared. Eventually, she settled down and patted my shoulder, uncrossing her legs and allowing them to hang off the edge of the bed as her posture slouched and she looked down at her feet as she swung them back and forth. I realized I had probably cut her meditation session short, but I hoped she'd gotten what she needed out of it since I knew she only meditated when she was feeling particularly stressed since she hated sitting still for a long period of time. "Feel better?" I asked. "Much better." She nodded, sounding relieved. "It's been a while since I've been able to use the force," she commented and I was curious to learn why since I knew she loved to use the force, it made her feel safe and powerful. Surely she wouldn't just be too busy to use it, perhaps she just had no use for it these days. "Why so?" I asked as I scooted closer to her and leaned back against the mattress with the base of my palms. "Master made me take force suppressors everyday," she answered as she continued to stare down at her feet ruminatively. I assumed 'Master' was Thrawn. I cringed at the name she was forced to call him. It was so unnatural for her since the only person that used to be able to dictate to her was herself, only she could control her destiny. I reached out to wrap my arm around her comfortingly, but I didn't want to trigger any more trauma for her, so I jerked my hand back as I wondered what kind of side effects the force suppressors carried and how they were administered, but I was almost afraid to ask. "I couldn't even lift a paper," she whispered as she began to tremble and wrapped her arms around herself. I bit the inside of my cheek in order to release some of my rage against Thrawn and I took a deep, shuddering breath as I exercised my jaw, witnessing how scarred she'd become. I needed to know exactly how bad his treatment of her had become so that I knew how best to comfort her. The extent his abuse had risen to also mattered in whether or not I'd permit her to return to him after this week was over. Of course, I'd try to keep her here as long as possible regardless, but if she'd become so weakened that she was unable to stand up for herself any longer, I couldn't allow her to return in good conscience. I'd rather Thrawn bring an entire fleet here in search of her and the secrecy of the rebellion be compromised than leave Rebel alone with him any longer. At least we'd have a better chance of survival against him than Rebel would alone. Even if she used the argument that she was the creator of the rebellion and, therefore, had the authority to secure its fate, I'd inform her that she was no longer the leader, I was. "What else did he do to you?" I asked through clenched teeth. "Are you sure you want to know?" She asked as she finally looked up at me and I nodded wordlessly, sitting up straight to assume an optimal listening stance. "Okay," she puffed out a sigh after inflating her cheeks with air. "Well, uhh…" she went silent as she ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "He, uhh," she glanced over at me and gulped. "Kept track of me," she swung her hand in a versatile, circular gesture. "If you know what I mean," she muttered under her breath discreetly as she leaned towards me and I felt my eyes widen in horror. "And only spent the night with me when I was, uhh," she swallowed again and snapped her fingers as she searched for another appropriate yet discreet word. "Well, you know what I mean," she chuckled nervously. "But he doesn't know what I've done." She leaned away from me as she moved away from the uncomfortable subject and locked her lips together, shaking her head. This intrigued me. "What've you done?" I asked. "I can't have kids anymore," she said emotionlessly. I never expected Rebel to do such a thing, then again, I never expected Ash to do such a thing either. I supposed it was a reasonable decision though, she already had far more kids than she ever planned on having and had evidently accepted she'd remain with Thrawn for the rest of her life and obviously didn't want to spread his genes to any future generations, but now that she was marrying Benji, I wondered if she regretted her decision at all. "What if you and Benji want to have kids?" I asked. "Then," she said unsurely as she shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." She looked up at me and I tried to give her a reassuring smile while I subconsciously thought about all of the horrors she must've endured being with Thrawn that had driven her to make such a bold decision. "Thanks for listening," she said gratefully and I nodded, silently communicating that, of course, I would always listen to anything she had to say. I compulsively reached out to the top of her head, wanting to feel again how soft the texture of her hair was and, in this instance, I didn't stop myself before making contact with her scalp. I combed through her hair with my fingers, dragging my nails down the middle of her scalp. "That feels good." She closed her eyes and I smiled, thankful that my touch hadn't caused her discomfort. I removed my hand from the top of her head and laid back against the bed, propping the pillow up against the headboard and leaning against it. She opened her eyes and cocked her head at me, wondering why I'd stopped. I chuckled and patted my collarbones with the fingers on both of my hands as I smiled at her welcomingly. She smiled back at me and crawled across the mattress and in between my legs, laying down on her back on top of me, her head on my chest. I resumed brushing her hair with my fingers, allowing the deep purple color to slide between my fingers. "I really do like your hair," I commented absentmindedly as it reminded me of her favorite color and how her hair used to look at the dawn of the rebellion with her purple tips, she looked like herself again. "It suits you," I told her. "Thank you," she murmured drowsily as she turned on her side and snuggled her cheek deeper against my heart, hugging her arms around my torso as she became comfortable with me again, remembering I'd never do anything to hurt her. I lifted up my body slightly to allow her to wedge her hands underneath my back, then I lowered myself against the mattress again and wrapped my arm around her torso to rub her back as I continued brushing her hair. I smiled as I craned my neck to look down at her and watched her eyes slowly shut as she drifted off to sleep. I definitely wanted to spend more time with her, as much time as possible, so I figured it would be best if I made plans with her now, making my reservations early so that no one else could steal my Rebel time. I thought browsing for a wedding dress would be a good outing for the two of us since she would, of course, need one, but I decided it would be unfair of me to monopolize her time as soon as she got here, so I would allow Benji to have her to himself tomorrow so that the two of them could enjoy the day as fiancés before being thrust into the flurry of wedding planning immediately the day after their engagement. "Do you want to go wedding dress shopping the day after tomorrow?" I asked, choosing the next available date. "Yeah," she said through a yawn as she nodded. "That sounds fun," she remarked, her voice slurred with sleep as I noticed a contented smile spread across her face and I felt an overwhelming amount of love for her swell in my chest. I sat forward and leaned close to her ear. "I love you," I whispered to her as I continued to stroke her hair and I heard her begin to snore. Even though she hadn't heard it while she'd been awake, I knew she felt my love for her since she felt comfortable enough to let down her guard around me and even fall asleep. So, in a way, her snoring was her way of telling me she loved me too. After giving her head a few more gentle pats to ensure she was in a deep, indistruptable sleep, I scooted out from under her as I arose from her bed to secure her a decent night's rest without my inevitable tossing and turning to disturb her. I draped the blankets over her shoulder and tucked them underneath her sides, bending down to press a soft kiss against her temple before heading back to my room to get some sleep myself. After I'd finished preparing to climb into bed though by brushing my teeth and changing my clothes, I quickly found that sleep eluded me as I lay there on the mattress on my back, staring up at the ceiling. It felt too unnatural to have the entire bed to myself, I realized, pinpointing the reason my body refused to accept the spell of sleep. I rolled over onto my side for the hundredth time as my eyes fell on the bookshelf next to Ash's side of the bed. I was pursuing the book spines as my eyes strained to perceive the words printed on them through the darkness, hoping the effort would drain me of any ounce of consciousness I had left, when I suddenly skimmed over the familiar book title that I recognized as the bedtime story Ash frequently read to the children when they were younger. I sat up in bed and tugged on the chain suspended from the lamp on my right to illuminate the room as I received an idea. I thought perhaps if I read myself a bedtime story, especially one familiar to me because of Ash, I could eliminate two birds with one stone. Since it was one Ash often read, it would give me the impression that he was actually here and also since it was a text specifically designed for inducing sleep, I could target my insomnia by reading it. It was a long shot since it was a story intended for children, but it was the only idea I had. I flung the covers off of me and walked over to the bookshelf and pulled the book out of its slot, holding it against my chest as I carried it to bed with me. I crawled back into bed and flipped the covers back over my legs as I opened the book and began reading. About halfway through the short composition, I started having to shake my head every so often to refrain from toppling over and collapsing face down into the mattress from boredom. No wonder this was Ash's favorite book to read to the kids, it must've put them to sleep instantly. Suddenly, Rebel's body landed on top of mine and knocked the air out of me. I began to ask her what in the universe was happening as I looked at her laying on her stomach on top of mine as we faced each other, but she jerked the book out of my hands before I could utter a word. She flipped to the very last page and read the final line, spoiling the conclusion for me. "And they lived happily ever after, the end," she recited as she held the book just out of my reach as I groped for it, trying to snatch it out of her grasp. She smirked at me evilly as she closed the book and blindly tossed it to the side of the room with one hand and with just the flick of her wrist. "Pay attention to me now," she commanded as she hammocked her chin with the backs of her fingers from both hands and batted her eyelashes at me innocently. Her forced appearance of innocence made me giggle as she scooted closer to me with her elbows against the mattress and she bent her knees so that her feet were up in the air, the soles of her feet facing the ceiling. After a brief nap, apparently all of her energy had bounced back and there was no way she was escaping my attention as she was still laying directly above me. "Okay," I chuckled, complying with her demand as I propped myself up against the headboard and out of my supine position and she scooted back from me to allow me room to sit up, still laying on her stomach and propping her chin up with her hands. "You have my attention now." I patted her head and she yawned, attempting to hide it behind her hand. "You're tired," I observed as my hand lingered on the top of her head and impulsively my fingers began combing her hair backwards, away from her forehead. I assumed she wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping in the same bed as me anymore and would instead prefer to sleep in her own bed, so I permitted her to return to her room for that purpose. "You don't have to stay here," I said as I continued to brush her hair. "You can go back to your room to sleep now, if you want," I offered, shrugging one shoulder. Rebel sat up and crossed her legs in her lap as she squinted her eyes at me in disapproval. "There is no way I'm letting you sleep by yourself," she declared decidedly. Her assertiveness made me feel as if I were her inferior. "Sir, yes, sir," I said submissively as I nodded and gave her a two fingered salute. "Sir?" She asked as she looked down at her chest and hooked her pointer finger around her shirt collar and looked down inside at what most definitely set her apart from being called 'sir' and what most definitely allowed her to classify as a 'ma'am' instead. She looked back up at me with one of her eyebrows raised after ensuring she still had them and found even herself incapable of keeping it together as her mouth twitched up into a smile. I snorted with laughter at her facial expression after ensuring she still had them underneath her shirt as I collapsed onto the bed, losing the ability to breathe as her laughter synced up with mine. After quite a few moments of uncontrollable giggling and after we'd regained our composure, I decided to amend my statement to better suit her gender. I settled on a more gender neutral term since I thought she was still too young to be addressed as 'ma'am'. "Okay then, trooper." I held up my hand to her as my palm faced her and I looked up at the ceiling since I couldn't look at her or else I'd start laughing again. I felt the full weight of sleep crash down upon me as the intense surge of laughter had drained me from all of my stamina and I yawned. "We should go to sleep so that we won't be exhausted tomorrow," I informed her of the prudent course of action, but whether or not we would take the advice was another thing. I left the decision on whether or not to accept the suggestion up to her. She nodded and clambered over to lay beside me and wriggled under the covers as I pulled the chain on the lamp to deactivate the light. The next thing I knew, I awoke standing at the altar in a wedding dress in front of Jacen dressed in a sophisticated tuxedo as I held a bouquet of flowers in my hand. No, no, no, I thought as I looked around at the surrounding forest and the officiant standing to my right. This cannot be happening! I screamed in my mind as Jacen took my right hand, smiling as he either seemed to ignore my panic or my face didn't show it. "Do you, Rue," the officiant gestured at me. "Take Jacen to be your lawfully wedded husband?" He asked as he gestured to the man in front of me who smiled expectantly. "I do," I said automatically, apparently not wanting to disappoint anyone since I knew what I was expected to say. "Do you, Jacen, take Rue to be your lawfully wedded wife?" The stranger asked as he had shifted his body to face Jacen. "I do," he answered, nodding. "I now pronounce you husband and wife," the notary officialized as he raised his arms to the sky, his palms facing upwards. "You may kiss the bride," he authorized as Jacen leaned towards me to do so and I immediately reared back my head as I panted before waking up for real. I sat up straight, feeling myself drenched with sweat as I gasped in raspy breaths and clutched my chest. "Hey, hey," Rebel shushed comfortingly as she patted my back and I realized she was hugging me. "You're alright," she assured me as I grabbed her wrist and squeezed it just to ensure she was real. "You're safe," she whispered into my neck as she rubbed my back up and down and I wrapped my arms around her, returning the embrace. She waited until my breathing had slowed and evened out before she pulled away from me. "You never have nightmares," she recalled as she cocked her eyebrow at me skeptically. "What's going on?" She asked as she situated herself into a more comfortable sitting position with one of her hands leaning against the mattress and the other resting in her lap. I bit my lip and looked down at my lap ashamedly, unsure of how exactly I would explain the context for my nightmare. "A lot has happened since you left," I mumbled as I fidgeted with my fingers nervously, refusing to look up at her, not because I might laugh, but because I might cry this time as I realized exactly how much she had missed and how miniscule our problems were compared to hers, but she'd asked and she'd updated me on a portion of her life, it was my turn to do the same, no matter how frivolous of a problem mine was in comparison. "I think it's time to catch you up," I said as I finally looked up at her and she nodded in agreement. "Two years ago," I held up two fingers. "A man named Jacen joined the rebellion. He's the one who helped us discover and destroy the plans for Thrawn's tie defender project," I said to connect Jacen's identity with something she already knew since I was confident she had heard of our success in that endeavor being in the same proximity as Thrawn day after day. "He also sorta had a crush on me," I cringed as I shrunk away embarrassedly and lifted my shoulder to shield my face. "And I guess I kinda liked him too because I just had a dream I was marrying him," I confessed as I interpreted what I assumed my dream had meant and I planted my face into my open palms. "Force!" I cursed as I smacked my forehead with my palm. "What is wrong with me?!" I shouted. "I'm the worst wife ever!" I whimpered and pressed the base of my palms up against my forehead again, rocking my head side to side as I groaned. I thought of how I'd never once questioned Ash's loyalty to me and now it was him who was being forced to doubt me as it seemed there could be no other explanation for the child I was having. "No, you're not!" Rebel slapped my arm. "Don't say that about yourself," she scolded as she pointed a disapproving finger in my face and propped her other hand up on her hip. Her simply denying that fact though didn't make it untrue, it'd still damaged our bond of trust and specifically betrayed that pact Ash and I had made together to never move on from one another, intentionally or not. "How could I break my promise to Ash?!" I cried as I pulled my hands away from my face to finally meet Rebel's gaze once again as she visibly gulped, her eyes wide as she had obviously interpreted my promise to mean the marriage agreement. "Well," she glanced off to the side uncomfortably as she pulled on her fingers to pop them. "You didn't actually do anything with him," she stated, sounding convinced as she shook her head. "Did you?" She asked warily as she looked back up at me judgmentally and I realized her skeptical attitude towards me was perfectly reasonable since I sounded so guilty and we had been apart for a long time, she didn't exactly know what kind of person I was anymore, nor did I know what kind of person she was anymore either. Although, I hoped I hadn't changed too much in her opinion, I still wanted to be the reliable older sister she always looked up to, but her assumption was still a possibility, no matter how much I wanted to avoid thinking about it. "That's the problem," my breath caught in my throat as I felt tempted to cry. "I don't know," I heard my voice crack as I tossed my hands up in the air as a shrugging gesture. "What do you mean, you don't know?" She asked critically, her voice harsh and unsympathetic, which I deserved, as she leaned towards me with one eyebrow raised. "How could you not know?" She asked scornfully. "Well, I always refused his offers to take me out on a date and usually he respected that, but I think, towards the end, he started to become impatient and more forward with his requests." She seemed confused by the ladder part of my statement and I figured I had to tell her at some point or another that I was expecting and there was no better time than the present as it also explained why I wasn't sure if anything had actually happened between us or not and would hopefully resolve some of her confusion. "I'm afraid he did something to me because, Rebel," I addressed her, emphasizing the seriousness of the situation as my bottom lip trembled. "I'm pregnant," I confessed. "What?!" Rebel's eyes lit up as she focused on only the positive news. "That's amazing," she cheered, waving her hands in the air. "Congratulations!" She hugged me and I realized she still wasn't entirely caught up, so the announcement of a new arrival was only a cause for celebration and rejoicing to her, not additional evidence to support something suspicious going on between Jacen and I. "No," I shoved her away from me by her shoulders. "You don't understand." I shook my head wildly as I sniffled. "I don't know if it's Ash's or Jacen's." I wasn't sure if he wanted me to be divulging private information about our relationship, but Rebel was my sister, I told her everything. Surely he would understand that. She went silent as she thought momentarily while working her jaw muscles. "Well," she sighed strenuously. "If this guy did do something to you," she said hatefully through clenched teeth as she closed her eyes. "It wouldn't be your fault," she assured me as she laid her hand on my shoulder and reopened her eyes to look at me. "And he'll never do it again because I'll kill him," she promised as she punched her palm with her other fist. I smiled at her protectiveness of me that I matched when it came to her, but I knew the pain of being incapable of exacting vengeance on your sister's abuser and I didn't want her to have to carry that burden around like I did, so I informed her the deed had already been done. "You can't," I shook my head. "He's already dead," I told her factually, emotionlessly. "What?" She sighed as what she had said was more like the beginning of a different question than a question by itself, but had been interrupted by the exhale. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut as if to reset herself and looked up again, but avoided eye contact. "What happened?" She asked as she tried her question a second time. "Did-did Ash kill him?" She met my eyes again and stuttered as she made her inquiry. "I don't know," I admitted as I shrugged. "You don't know?" She asked in disbelief and I sighed as I began my explanation, already knowing how late this topic of conversation would cause us to stay up. "I'm sure you heard that we blew up the Death Star," I said as I hoped the news wasn't a shock to her. "I heard." She nodded as she straightened up proudly and smiled. "Congratulations." She gave me a subtle, respectful bow to which I smiled. "Thanks," I said bashfully as I didn't want to assume the majority of the credit for the success since it was mostly due to the team's efforts and sacrifices, some quite literally. "Well, originally, the plan was for Luke to travel down the main trench to the thermal exhaust port and fire a proton torpedo down the opening which would send a chain reaction down to the reactor and blow up the station," I explained the initial plan to her as I watched her reaction to our strategy closely to see if she thought it was a good one. She was nodding all while she listened as her chin rested on her hand, her index finger and thumb on either side of it, so it seemed to me that she agreed with our plan of action. "In case that didn't succeed, the backup plan was for Hera to drop Jacen and General Kenobi off in the main hangar and task them with blowing up the main reactor from the inside, but that was only supposed to go into effect if I gave the order," I said circumstantially as I held one finger up to Rebel, establishing the reason Jacen was on board the Death Star when it exploded. "Well," I began regretfully as I felt I was dominating the conversation. "I put Ash in charge in the event that we got disconnected since I stayed behind at base," I said as the account continued to tumble downhill, providing the reasoning behind my suspicions of it being Ash who'd put him in the deadly situation. "And I don't know if we did end up getting disconnected or if Ash just ended the call manually, but I couldn't contact him." I shook my head. "The story I'm told is that we were losing badly so it was a consensus decision to put the backup plan into effect," I said skeptically as I pointed to myself by poking my heart. "But I'm not so sure I believe him," I held my hand out and tilted it side to side. "Even though that's what Ahsoka says too," I concluded, my trust in Ahsoka shaken too now. "Why would Ahsoka lie to you?" Rebel asked about our friend and commander curiously. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," I said desperately as I gestured at Rebel, grateful she and I possessed the same thought pattern. "It doesn't make sense," I shook my head as I tutted by clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth and looked off to the side, unpleasantly reminded of Ash and Ahsoka's hug while we were discussing the subject of her. The thought of her now repulsed me as if she'd actually committed some great offense against me by hugging him. "Unless she and Ash got together or something during their trip," I grumbled in disgust as I picked at the comforter with my fingernail. "Oh, Rue," she said compassionately as she rested her hand on my knee. "Ahsoka would never do that to you," she reassured me as she patted my knee and shook her head. "Neither would Ash," she added. "He loves you too much," she explained the reason supporting her assertion as she reached up and squeezed my shoulder, but it had been too long since I'd personally felt and seen evidence of his love. Her own opinion wasn't enough to convince me anymore. "I don't know," I murmured stubbornly as I stared down at my lap, the evidence suggesting otherwise springing to my mind and overpowering any competing evidence. "They were out there together for a really long time and I saw them share a rather passionate hug after they got back from the Death Star mission," I said as I side eyed her and wrapped my arms tightly around myself. "Why don't you ask him if he's telling the truth about what really went down at the Death Star and if there's anything he wants to tell you about Ahsoka?" She asked and I scoffed at how easy she made confronting him about Jacen or about the possibility of him cheating on me sound. "Easier said than done," I remarked as I swiped my hand through the air. "I can't ask him about the Death Star because he got really suspicious about why I was so sad that Jacen had died," I informed her as I painfully remembered the lack of comfort he'd given me while I was mourning. "So he'll be irritated that I'm still thinking about it because it'll be like I'm still thinking about him," I assumed. "I can't ask him about Ahsoka either," I shook my head as I thought about how ironic it would be for me to accuse him of anything. "Not when I look like the guilty spouse here," I pointed down at my barely pregnant stomach. "I'd be such a hypocrite," I said quietly as I looked down at my belly and rubbed it with my thumb, never feeling more disconnected to the stranger inside. Normally, I felt as though I already knew every detail imaginable about the child before I'd even met them, but now, it was different. "If you don't mind me asking," Rebel introduced her imminent question as she looked down at the mattress and rubbed the comforter with her hand. "Where is Ash?" She asked, looking up at me. "He's at his mother's funeral," I answered on instinct, forgetting Rebel hadn't been updated on the wellbeing of Ash's family yet, as I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on top of them. "Millie died?" Rebel gasped in horror as I nodded, keeping my gaze fixed on the blank wall in front of me. "Oh, Rue." She snuggled up next to me and wrapped her arm around my torso as she leaned her head on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she apologized, rubbing my arm up and down. "I know she was like a mother to you," she sympathized. "She was so sweet." Rebel turned her face towards me while sitting to my left and propped her chin up on my shoulder. "What happened?" She asked as she wrapped her other arm around my front and locked her hands together around my other shoulder. "Heart attack," I responded lethargically, my voice muffled as it was difficult to speak without being able to open my mouth to a certain extent since my chin was still sitting on top of my knees. "That's awful!" Rebel exclaimed as she leaned back and slapped her palm against her chest. "Does she have a history of that in her family?" She asked and I furrowed my brows as I mentally revisited Ash's family history. "I think so." I lifted my head before nodding this time. "I know Ash's grandfather, the one he got his middle name from," I looked over at Rebel and gestured towards her, knowing she'd remember how excited I'd been after finally learning Ash's middle name from his mother as Rebel nodded attentively. "Millie's father, he died when Ash was really young." I looked back at the wall. "I'm pretty sure it was the same thing." I squinted as I strove to remember, but I couldn't. "When will he be back?" Rebel asked the same question Ria had asked me earlier. "I don't know," I shook my head and began nervously chewing on my fingernails, my anxious mannerisms piercing through as I was far more unguarded around Rebel than I was around Ria. "He's been gone two days already, but he hasn't contacted me once," I said irritatedly. "I'm really worried about him," I whined. "Why aren't you there with him?" Rebel pryed as she cocked an eyebrow at me. I gave her a terrified glance as I wondered if she'd be able to sense my dishonesty through the force. "Someone had to stay behind with the kids." Since I wasn't particularly professiant at thinking on my feet or coming up with lies, I resorted to telling the same old untrue excuse I'd been telling everyone who asked me that question to hide the fact that our fight had been the real reason. "I'm sure anyone would be happy to babysit for you. I know Ally is just dying for an opportunity." Rebel offered a solution along with a viable babysitter. "I bet," I smirked, reluctant to tell her that was a well-known fact amongst most of the rebels since I wanted her to feel as though she knew Ally best since she would soon be her step-daughter. Suddenly mustering the ability to think quickly on my feet, I blurted out an excuse to explain why I'd stayed here while Ash had gone to Ord Mantell. "I just didn't want to leave them for too long and I didn't know how many days we'd be gone," I said with a shrug and I knew she'd understand since she knew how distressed I'd been on Naboo when I'd left them alone with no prediction on when I'd see them again. "How are the kids?" Rebel asked while we remained on the subject of them and I opened my mouth to answer just as she asked another question. "How's Cole?" She asked specifically as she smiled widely and grabbed my knee and shook it. I felt my heart sink to my stomach as my jaw snapped shut and I remembered Rebel still didn't know what had happened to him. "I haven't met him yet." She shook her head and tears stung the backs of my eyes as she continued to talk about him. "Force," she cursed as she prattled on and looked down at the bed we sat on, stroking her chin thoughtfully with her index finger and thumb. "He must be about the same age as Ansa, Aaron, and Apollo, right?" She asked as she looked up at me, her calculation complete. "He would've been." I nodded and smiled broken heartedly, envisioning Ansa, Apollo, Aaron, and Cole playing together, imagining what could've been. "What-what do you mean?" Rebel stuttered as she spoke and placed her hand back on my shoulder. "Rue," she grabbed both of them seriously as a tear slid down my cheek and she wiped it off, cupping my face with her hands. "What happened?" She demanded through clenched teeth. "I lost him," I admitted in a strained voice. "When I was five months pregnant," I sucked in a shuddering breath. "I had a miscarriage." My voice cracked and I became completely unraveled as I began to sob, burying my face in my open palms. "Oh, Rue." That was all Rebel could say as she hugged me. "I'm so sorry," she apologized as she rocked me in her arms. That's when Rebel finally got her answer to her question, the brutally honest answer as everything came bubbling up to the surface. "Ria hates me, she never listens," I complained as I struck the mattress with my hand. "Kai's mad that I can't teach him how to tie his shoes, he's always glaring at me," I whined. "Kali refuses to talk to me," I wiped my eyes with my forearm as even past grievances about Rebel's children surfaced. "She's always pranking me," I griped as I remembered how she always used to team up with her brother and orchestrate genius pranks with mainly me as the victim. The only reason I ever knew Kali was the mastermind was because Armani usually tattled on them if she caught them in the act in time. "Armani is the only one who's ever nice to me," I said pitifully. "I don't know what we did to deserve her," I said gratefully as if we were both her mother. Before Rebel was spared from a complete vent of all my feelings, I let one more complaint slip. "My marriage is falling apart." I gasped as if trying to suck the escaped words back inside my mouth, but my attempt failed. "Your marriage?" She asked as she pulled out of the embrace. "What's going on between you and Ash?" She inquired as she crossed her arms. "N-nothing," I stuttered as I scooted away from her and wiped my eyes dry again. "I-I overshared." I mirrored her, crossing my arms as well. "Rue, you can't overshare when it comes to me." She shook her head. "You can tell me anything," she said compassionately as she pointed to herself. "It's nothing. We're fine. Don't worry about it," I snapped at her curtly. "Please don't do this," she begged. "Don't shut me out." She shook her head again. "Let me help you," she implored as she held her empty hands out to me and I looked down at them, concluding I had nothing left to lose since I was already this far in. "Ash's back on drugs." I looked up at her as I revealed the root cause of our issues. "What?!" She screeched, pressing her palms up against her temples as her jaw hung wide open. Now that I'd revealed a fraction of the information, I couldn't seem to make the words stop. "I don't know when he started or why or how much he's been taking or how often or how he got them even," I shrugged as all of the unknowns piled up and seemed to tower over me when I stacked them all up on top of each other. The only solace that I found was that I knew at least one thing about this latest development, though it wasn't a particularly comforting piece of information. "But I know he took some with him," I said as I held one finger up. "He left some here by accident though and I had it analyzed," I told her. Although Ash relapsing was upsetting enough and enough of a reason for our marriage to be falling apart, the deeper reason was because of his actions due to the pills. "It's really strong stuff, it's messing with his personality." I groaned, feeling queasy as I remembered the recent events and pressed my palms up against my stomach. "He spanked Ria for the first time just because she was annoying him and he yelled at me, actually yelled at me," I emphasized as I pounded on my heart with my fist. "He told me to grow up and quit wasting time on the rebellion." I looked down contritely, unable to bear the horrified look on Rebel's face. "He's smoking again too," I admitted impulsively, unable to control myself from telling her everything as she'd said to do. "Hard stuff like death sticks," I said and Rebel looked appalled and furious. I chuckled humorlessly at how dysfunctional our family probably sounded after her long absence. "We're hopeless without you, Rebel." I pulled my knees up to my chest again and laid myself over the top of them. "Mama?" A tiny voice called from behind me and I perked up, turning to look over my shoulder as I saw Ria standing in the doorway, her stuffed tooka under her arm. "Yes, baby?" I asked as I smiled at her. "I had a nightmare," she said shyly as she swayed side to side, staring at Rebel who was a stranger to her. "Okay, come here." I waved her towards me and she shuffled over to the bed, but was too short to climb up, so I lifted her up onto the mattress and sat her down in between Rebel and I as I brushed her curls with my fingers. I thought of how ironic it was that we'd both experienced a nightmare on the same night and I looked up at Rebel who'd thankfully rescued me from mine as she was watching Ria adoringly. "You know who's really good with nightmares?" I asked as Ria looked up at me and I contrived a way for the two of them to bond. Ria shook her head cluelessly. "Auntie Rebel," I answered as I pointed at her and Ria looked in the direction I'd pointed, seeing Rebel waving at her with a friendly smile on her face. "She just helped me through one 'cause, you know," I shrugged. "Mama still gets nightmares too." I patted Ria on the back and she crawled towards Rebel as she held her arms out to my daughter invitingly. "Yeah," Rebel cooed softly as she lifted Ria into her lap. "Nightmares aren't so bad." She situated her niece in the pit between her legs and faced her forwards. "We can get through them, right?" She asked rhetorically as she leaned over Ria's head to see her face and she nodded while smiling. "What was yours about?" Rebel asked as she laid back against the headboard and combed Ria's curly locks with her fingers. After Ria had explained, in great and dramatic detail, every event that had occurred during the course of her dream, she passed out against Rebel's stomach, the talking obviously wearing her out. "She's an angel," Rebel whispered into Ria's hair lovingly as she held her in her arms. "An angel, you say?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Ria, thinking of how unangelic her disrespectful attitude was. "Huh," I scoffed as I looked down at my crossed arms, the pink hair tie around my wrist that stood as a symbol of my friendship with Ansa catching my eye which caused me to realize that, out of all the children I knew, she was the most angelic. "You wanna switch?" I asked rhetorically as I chuckled. Rebel gave a lopsided smile at my joke as she stared down at the blankets thoughtfully, seeming distracted. "Obi-Wan is really gone then?" She asked quietly. I gulped, knowing that would be tragic news for her to receive since he'd trained her in the ways of the force and I had only briefly mentioned him as I was relaying what had happened to Jacen. I felt terribly selfish for only focusing on the death that had impacted me more personally and not breaking the news to her earlier and in not such a sudden manner as well as for not pausing during my story to comfort her. "I'm so sorry, Rebel," I apologized as I rubbed her back. "I'm sorry too." She nodded as she returned the apology and refused to look me in the eyes. I watched her in her grieving state and desperately sought out a new topic of conversation to steer her away from her mournful feelings as I felt my own brewing inside of me, memories of the bearded warrior resurfacing the longer we remained on the subject of his death. "What else has happened?" I asked myself aloud as I sniffled and wiped my eyes, seeking recent developments to discuss. "Leia got married and had her twins," I said as I remembered General Kenobi's niece and her children, which led me to think about the other children the rebellion would soon be welcoming. "Oh," I snapped my fingers. "And Hera's pregnant too," I informed Rebel. "It's nice that you won't have the only newborn in the rebellion," Rebel commented as she noticeably gestured towards my stomach. "I guess so," I replied unenthusiastically as I shrugged and looked down at my belly. "Blue Wrecker," Rebel randomly blurted out, reminding me of the time we'd swapped out Wrecker's body wash for blue dye as a prank and I belted out a laugh before suctioning my hand to my mouth to stifle my laughter as I heard Ria groan in her sleep and saw her roll over onto her side as she still laid on top of Rebel, my cackling disrupting her slumber. "Oh my force, Rebel!" I whisper-yelled after removing my palm from over my mouth as she bit her lower lip and began tickling me. "Stop," I commanded through an abundance of uncontrollable giggles as I swatted away her incoming ticklish fingers that she wiggled at me. "You're gonna make me wake up Ria," I warned in a whisper as I pointed down at her and, thereafter, held my finger up in front of my mouth vertically. Rebel pouted teasingly at my discouragement of her fun as she crossed her arms and glared at me, but smiled before shimming underneath the covers and sliding into a flat position on her back with Ria still on her stomach. We lay there still for a long moment, both staring up at the ceiling, both silent, knowing the other was awake by listening to the pace of each other's breathing.