"No go, Daddy! No leave Eli!"
Mitth'eli'vanto's big brown eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. Mitth'ras'safis shook his head.
"I told you two you should have done this sooner. Now he's traumatized."
Ignoring his brother, Thrawn knelt in front of Eli. "It's all right, my sweet boy. Mommy and Daddy are just going out to eat and see an art show, remember? You're going to stay with Uncle Thrass. You can play and eat your supper, then have your bath and go to bed."
Thara knelt, too. "Mommy and Daddy will be back when you wake up in the morning."
"What are you going to do when he's old enough for school?" Thrass asked.
"He will understand in time." Thrawn lifted his trembling son. They had never truly been separated before. Whenever duty had called him to take his ship, the Springhawk, off-world on various missions, he simply brought his family along. Eli had no concept of his parents leaving and returning or of being cared for by anyone else.
"Eli come, pwease. Eli want Daddy - Mommy."
"Sweet Eli, we would like to take you with us, but it will be quite late. You would have to stay up past your bedtime." Thara stroked his hair.
"Daddy! Mommy!" Sobbing, Eli buried his face in his father's chest.
"You will be all right," Thrawn repeated. He held Eli a moment longer, then slowly handed him to Thrass.
"All the emergency contacts are by the comm system." Thara handed Thrass a small box. "Thrawn measured out his medicine already. It's all in the little cup. Just give it to him right before bedtime."
"Don't worry. I can handle this." Thrass shifted his sniffling, trembling nephew to one arm. With his free hand he took the box and waved toward the door. "Now get going. You don't want to be late for those ancient tapestries and modern junk sculptures and we have a bachelor party to start." Thrass gently jiggled Eli. "Right, Eli?"
"Goodbye, Eli." Thrawn kissed the top of his head. "I love you."
"Take good care of our baby." Thara kissed Eli's cheek and rubbed his back.
Thrawn offered his arm to Thara and led her out the door. A wail reached their ears as they walked to the tube car, bringing them to a halt.
"Perhaps we should stay." Thrawn looked over his shoulder.
Thara sighed. "It won't get any easier."
"We could bring him."
"You know he needs his sleep."
"I could carry him so he can sleep."
"Thrawn." Thara squeezed his arm. "He'll be fine. Thrass is with him."
With one last lingering look, Thrawn held open the car door for Thara. He stepped inside, tearing his gaze away from the house, even as his thoughts remained fixed on Eli.
Thrass set the medicine case on the kitchen counter. "I think we have time to build a block tower or two before we eat."
Eli's only answer was another sob.
"I know you love the number blocks," Thrass tried again. "We can build a number castle."
"Eli sit on Daddy, pway bocks," the little boy wailed. "Daddy leave Eli!"
"Daddy will come back to Eli." Thrass rubbed his back with firm, circular strokes. "Sometime grown-ups go places by themselves. But your mommy and daddy will come back."
"Daddy have awts," Eli protested, pointing to a painting on the wall.
"I know," Thrass soothed. "You're getting to be a big boy, Eli." Even though you're still a tiny Human. "It's time for you to learn something very important: Mommy and Daddy will always come back to Eli."
"Always?" Eli repeated, his sniffles slowing.
"Always."
"Eli make one tower."
Thrass sighed in relief as Eli settled on the floor of Thrawn's office with his number blocks.
"Wed one, bwue two, lellow free. Do again." Eli chattered to himself, lining up sets of three blocks.
Thrass leaned over for closer look. Not bad for a Human child.
"Do you like making patterns, Eli?"
Eli frowned. "What patters?"
"Doing it again the same way."
"Eli like again."
Thrass scooped up a handful of blocks and stacked three reds, one green, two blues and one purple in a repeating pattern. Eli gazed at the blocks, his eyes narrowed in an uncanny imitation of his father. He tapped the second set of blocks.
"Again! Weds, gween, bwues, puhple." He clapped his hands. "More, pwease."
Thrass chuckled. Eli might be lagging behind his Chiss peers in speech development, but he was clearly doing quite well with numbers and patterns. Retrieving more blocks from the basket, he created three more patterns for Eli.
"I think it's time I make you some supper, young man." Thrass rose from the floor and stretched stiff muscles. "Be a good boy like your daddy says you are while I go to the kitchen."
Eli nodded solemnly.
Thrass returned to the kitchen. Thara had a meal for both of them in the cold storage. All he had to do was re-heat them. He pulled the two plates out and turned the cooker to the "warm" setting, then sat down to wait while it reached the proper temperature.
Crash!
The sound echoed through the house, reverberating from the office.
"Eli!"
Thrass dashed into the room. Thrawn's large chair lay on its side behind the desk. Eli lay in a heap under the chair, his eyes wide with shock.
Swiftly shoving the chair aside, Thrass knelt beside him.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Leg."
Thrass carefully examined him for signs of spinal injury before picking him up. "What happened?"
"Eli make Daddy again."
A dozen number blocks were lined up on the desk.
"I see. Next time you want to reach something high, ask for help."
"Eli sowwy."
Thrass placed Eli on the desk next to the blocks. "It was an accident. It's all right. I shouldn't have left you alone. Now, I need you to be very still while I check your leg."
The little ankle was bruised and swollen, twisted under the chair when Eli fell.
"We'd better get you to a medcenter."
Thrass lifted Eli and hurried out to his tube car. They sped through the tunnels to the nearest medcenter. When they arrived, Thrass was relieved to see only a few other people in the waiting room. He would get Eli treated quickly, then feed him, medicate him and put him to bed before Thrawn and Thara returned. He would calmly explain what had happened, including his own timely response. His brother and sister-in-law would understand.
He hoped.
"This salad is excellent." Thara speared a dressing-covered leaf. "Such a subtle combination of flavors."
"Yes." Thrawn's gaze was vacant, looking at her without seeing.
She knew where his thoughts were. What else would he say yes to?
"I've been thinking of dyeing my hair purple with green highlights. It would be lovely with my skin tone, don't you think?"
Thrawn blinked. "A clever strategy. However, I prefer your natural hair color."
"You're worried about Eli."
"Thrass will take good care of him. I'm not worried. I simply miss him. He ought to be here in my lap, sharing the meal with us."
"We could comm and talk to him."
Thrawn pursed his lips. "It could be upsetting to him to hear but not see us."
Thara nodded reluctant agreement. "We'll comm when he's in bed and check on him. Let's go see some art."
"He has a bad sprain, but no broken bones," the doctor told Thrass. "He will probably be unable to bear weight on it for about six weeks."
Six weeks. Fortunately, Thrawn carried him most of the time anyway.
"Are there any treatments to speed up the healing process?"
"None that I would be comfortable using with a Human child. I've wrapped the ankle to stabilize the injury. Tell Thrawn to bring him back in two weeks and we'll re-evaluate."
Thrass nodded and thanked the doctor. He carried Eli back to the tube car and strapped him into the seat.
"One, two, free, four, five." Eli happily counted the stars on his "good patient" sticker. Thrass smiled as the tube car slid along the rails.
"Fwies!" Eli giggled, pointing out the window at his favorite fast-food restaurant. "Fwies, pwease?"
Thrass started to say no. Eli had a balanced meal waiting for him at home, after all. But he had had a trying evening. A little spoiling wouldn't hurt.
With Eli's meal stowed safely beside his seat, they headed home. Thrass was sure Thrawn would have indulged the little boy, too. Maybe Eli would eat some of the food waiting at home. The food.
In his single-minded focus on Eli, he had left the food on the counter and had left the cooker on. They reached Eli's home and Thrass drew a relieved breath. No smoke poured from the windows. No fire alarms sounded.
He scooped Eli out of his seat and turned toward the house.
Boom.
A low rumble filled the air. Thrass tucked Eli back into the safety of the tube car and hurried into the house. The glass door of the cooker lay on the kitchen floor. Eli's food dripped down the front of the cabinet. Everything else seemed to be in order, except…
Eli's medicine. The box was nowhere to be seen. Thrass raked a hand through his blue-black hair. Grabbing a pair of cooking mitts, he carefully picked up the door and turned off the cooker. Satisfied that the house was safe, he retrieved Eli from the car. Tucking him into his seldom-used highchair, he propped his tiny ankle up on a chair and a stack of pillows.
"One…two…free," Eli counted his fries as he ate.
Thrass turned his attention to the cooker. The door was still in one piece. To his surprise, it snapped easily back on its hinges. He found a towel and cleaned up the cabinet and the floor.
There was still no sign of the medicine box. Thrass stared at the small, tidy kitchen, wondering where among the cabinets, cooker and cold storage unit an entire medicine box could be concealed.
"Eli, where is your medicine?"
"Eli not know." The little boy finished his last fry and started on his sandwich.
Thrass sat down at the table with a sandwich of his own. "Thrass doesn't know either."
"Daddy know. Daddy know everysing."
"Your daddy's not here right now, and you have to take your medicine."
A ding sounded from his questis. He pulled it out and smiled.
How's the babysitting going?
He should have taken Lorana up on her offer to help, he thought ruefully.
Quite well. Aside from Eli's sprained ankle, a minor kitchen explosion and missing medication.
Oh dear. Should I come?
Do Jedi powers help one locate lost medicine?
I'm coming.
If you're busy, you don't-
Thunk.
Thrass's message was left unfinished as a box landed on his questis, popping open and spilling medicine across the small screen. He scooped up the bottles, saving about half the contents. His questis was another matter.
"Light!" Eli pointed up.
"Yes, the medicine fell from the light fixture." Thrass wiped up the medicine and found the sealed cup with Eli's premeasured dose. "I suppose, all in all, the situation could be worse. I think it's time for your bath."
He lifted Eli, taking extra care not to bump his ankle on anything, and started for the bathroom.
"Hello! Anyone home?" Lorana Jinzler's cheerful voice floated from the front door.
"Back here," Thrass called.
Eli waved to the petite Human woman who appeared in the hallway.
"What's this about lost meds?" she asked.
"I found them. Actually, they found me. And my questis."
"Ah. I'll look at it in a bit. I take it that we're about to have a bath?"
Thrass nodded. Lorana followed him to the bathroom that had been set up for Eli's special use. He placed Eli on the changing table.
"Did Thrawn and Thara leave pajamas out for him?" Lorana turned the water on and adjusted the temperature.
"They're in the bedroom. I'll get them if you'll start undressing him."
Thrass hurried to the Master bedroom, where Eli allegedly slept in a curtained-off toddler bed. He was fairly certain that Eli actually spent most nights tucked in bed between his parents.
The pajamas were lying on Thrawn and Thara's bed. Returning to the bathroom, Thrass found Eli sitting on the changing table in his diaper with Lorana gently stroking his hair as she held him close.
"Eli like Lowana," he cooed, leaning into her caressing hand.
"Oh, you do, do you?" Thrass arched a blue-black eyebrow. "I saw her first, you know."
"Eli like cuddles." Apparently, he felt an explanation was required.
"So it's Human cuddle time?" One side of Thrass's mouth turned up in a smirk. "Lorana, you should start referring to yourself by your name. It would be cute."
"Lorana's Cheunh is a little better than a two-year-old's." Lorana returned his smirk.
"A little. You still haven't got my name right, though."
Lorana rolled her eyes at him. "Would you turn off the water and check the temperature?"
He moved to the tub as she unfastened the little boy's diaper. Thrass suspected that a little encouragement from Thrawn would have Eli out of diapers in no time. His brother was simply not ready to let go of Eli's babyhood.
"It's ready."
Lorana put Eli in the tub. "You're such a sweet boy! Do you want your ships? Look, this one looks like your daddy's ship!"
Watching them, Thrass smiled. Of course, all Humans were babies in way- precious, lovable, adorable babies. And he wouldn't change them for the universe.
Thrawn tried to focus on the exquisite painting. The profusion of colors and juxtaposition of sharp angles should have been fascinating. But he could think of nothing besides Eli.
"He must be asleep by now." Thara's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Let's call."
Thrawn looked around. He had seen all the most important pieces. His usual insights were lacking tonight. They could always come back.
"I have a better idea. Why don't we"-
"Go home? Yes, let's. I want to see my baby boy."
Thrawn opened the door and held it for Thara.
"Thrawn? Thara?" Thrass stepped from the darkened hallway. "You're back early. I was just going to comm you."
Thrawn's heart constricted. "What happened? Is Eli all right?
"He's going to be fine." Lorana joined Thrass, slipping an arm through his.
"Going to be?" gasped Thara.
"Where is he?" Thrawn demanded.
"In bed." Thrass motioned down the hall. "He had a tumble."
Thrawn dashed past him, followed by Thara. They found a drowsy Eli curled up in his bed with his favorite blanket. Pausing at the side of the bed, Thrawn looked at Thrass.
"He was playing in your office." Thrass swallowed. "I stepped out to warm the food. He climbed on your desk chair and it tipped over."
Acting on instinct, Thrawn scooped his son up out of the bed. Eli whimpered in pain and Thrawn held him tightly.
"He sprained his ankle," Thrass continued. "I took him to the medcenter. The doctor said not to let him walk for at least six weeks and to bring him back in two weeks for a re-evaluation."
Thrawn had no intention of letting Eli walk. Possibly not ever again. He clutched Eli to his chest, gently cradling the injured leg. He barely heard Thrass explaining how he had left the cooker on and spilled half of Eli's medicine.
"His nightly dose was still there," Lorana added. "All in all, I think Thrass handled things quite well."
Quite well? His tiny, baby son had a bruised, swollen ankle. He had cried out when his father had picked him up. Clearly, Thrawn's previous policy of no separation had been wise. He pressed a kiss to the little ankle. Eli blinked sleepy eyes up at him.
"Daddy back! Eli happy." He burrowed into his father. "Uncle Frass fun."
"You had fun with Uncle Thrass?" Thara caught one of Eli's hands.
He nodded. "Make agains."
Thrass smiled sheepishly. "Patterns. We made patterns out of the blocks."
"Eli show Daddy." His brown eyes were wide with excitement as he pointed towards the office. "Pwease?"
"In the office. He made you something," Thrass explained.
The chair lay on its side behind the desk. Thrawn doubted that he could ever sit in it again.
"See?" Eli pointed to the desk. "Eli make Daddy again."
"It's a lovely again, my Eli."
Eli straightened in Thrawn's arms, reaching for Thrass. "Uncle Frass, help Eli?"
A lump forming in his throat, Thrawn held Eli out to his brother. Thrass took him hesitantly. Eli leaned over the desk.
"Weds, bwues, lellows, puhples- again!" He beamed as he pointed out the pattern. He looked at his father.
Thrawn swallowed, feeling both sadness and relief. Eli was growing up and although he would always be a small, fragile Human, Thrawn realized that he could trust others to help care for him and teach him. Along the way, he, Thara and Eli would encounter more pain, both physical and emotional, but they would truly be all right.
"Daddy!" Eli stretched his towards his father. Thrawn pulled his son into his arms. He would start letting Eli grow up. Right now, he just wanted to hold his baby.
"We appreciate you coming over to help Thrass," Thara told Lorana. "I know Eli loves seeing you."
"It's my pleasure," Lorana assured her. "Eli's so precious."
"Thank you- we think so. As long as we're all here and it's still early, why don't we make it a movie night?" Thara smiled at Thrass and Lorana. "I'll make snacks- I'm sure you're both hungry."
They all settled onto the conforming couches with their snacks to watch one of Lorana's favorite movies, an old Chiss myth about a hero saving a princess from a legendary creature. Thrawn nestled close to Thara and snuggled Eli against his chest.
"Eli love Daddy," a sleepy voice whispered. "Eli love Mommy. Daddy, Mommy, Eli."
"Daddy and Mommy love Eli very, very, very much." Thrawn hugged him close and kissed his soft cheek. Growing up could wait. And even though it had to come, Eli would always be his little boy.
Author's Note: I just love Baby Eli. I'm glad he had fun with Uncle Thrass in spite of the sprained ankle. I based my portrayal of Thrass (and to some extent, Thrawn) on Timothy Zahn's Outbound Flight. He appears in the Ascendancy Trilogy I think, but at the time of this writing I have only read (listened to) the first one in that trilogy. So, this Thrass is Legends Thrass.
I hope you enjoyed reading this fluffy story! I'm teacher, specifically of Littles, so I probably got a bit carried away writing little Eli, but I like it. By the way, Eli's speech development is actually fine for a human toddler, although he should begin to use more mature sentence structures around age three. I just think Chiss children are developmentally ahead of humans, so I included that element.
I might add a few more vignettes (that's fancier than one-shots) to this AU later, so let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading and God bless you!