Last time: They gathered supplies for the twins and new X-wings.

Now: Lana is growing stronger.


Chapter 14- Powerful Force User

"Are you sure you have everything?" Halla asked her daughter as Oppie and Kait loaded up their speeder to leave.

"Yes mom." Kait said, to the third time she had asked. She walked over and hugged her. "I'm sure I'll see you guys soon."

"Alright, travel safe and give us a call when you can," Halla said as she hugged her back tighter.

"I will. You guys stay safe and enjoy being retired." She said with a smile.

"Oh we definitely will," Halla said, pulling away with a large smile on her face. She glanced over to Oppie as Taren approached him. "And you look out for each other, okay?" She asked her looking back at Kait.

"Oh, definitely." Kait said with a slight blush.

Halla giggled at that.

"Well, Oppie, you take care, alright?" Taren said as he stopped by the side of the speeder.

"You as well, Mr. Messan." Oppie said, holding his hand out to shake.

Taren chuckled. "Please, call me Taren. You don't need to be so formal around me," he said, smirking at him as he grabbed his hand to shake.

"Thanks Taren. It was great to meet you." Oppie said.

"You too," Taren nodded as he let go of his hand. "You know when Kaity called us and told us she was bringing a guy with her, I was skeptical as the last guy was an ass. However, getting to know you these past few days has shown me that you are definitely not that. You are a great man, Oppie, and I can see the dedication you have to your family and your work. Just promise me you will take good care of my daughter. She is all we have now."

"I will, I won't let anything happen to her." Oppie promised. "And thank you."

"No, thank you, son," Taren said smiling at him. "You both travel safe. And hey, hopefully someday we can go shooting or laser golfing again." He added with a chuckle.

"I'll look forward to it." Oppie said with a smile, "and then you can continue my golf lesson."

Taren laughed at that. "Oh 'cause you need it, son." He said through a laugh. "Alright, take care." He patted Oppie on the shoulder as he moved over to say bye to Kait.

As he moved over to Kaity, Halla moved over to Oppie. "It was such a pleasure to meet you, Oppie," she said, smiling at him.

"You as well Mrs. Messan." Oppie said. "And thank you again for sharing your recipes with me."

"Of course. I hope your family will love them when you make them all for them," Halla said. "And it's Halla." She reminded him with a smirk.

"Okay, Halla." Oppie said with a slight smirk of his own. "Maybe next time we can get everyone together and you can make them for everyone?"

"Oh I would love that idea," Halla exclaimed excitedly as she clapped her hands together at the thought. "We can plan the details later. But I do hope to meet the rest of your family soon, especially your adorable niece and the twins when they arrive."

"We'll make it happen." Oppie promised.

"Yeah," Halla cheered before chuckling. "Alright, you two should get going. Have a safe flight and be careful." She said as she pulled Oppie into a hug.

Oppie returned the hug only slightly awkwardly. "We will. Thanks Halla."

"You are more than welcome," Halla said as she pulled away. "And sorry. I'm a hugger."

"I noticed." He said with a slight chuckle.

Halla chuckled at that as she stepped away from the speeder to let him finish loading up.

"Alright, see you later, baby girl," Taren said as he pulled Kait into a hug.

Kait hugged him back. "See you later dad."

Taren patted her back before pulling away. "He's a good man and he's a lucky guy to have you with him. I mean I would know, I've got you for a daughter," he said sweetly. "Watch each other's backs out there."

"Thanks dad." Kait said with a slight smile. "And I'll let you know if we get any interesting cases." She said.

"Oh please do," Taren said with a nod. "I always love to hear about your cases. Plus with a Jedi by your side, I'm pretty sure your stories are going to beat some of the best from my days." He chuckled.

"Yeah." She said with a smirk, and she started walking around towards the driver door. Oppie started getting in the passenger seat.

Taren stepped back and went to stand next to his wife on their front lawn. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Bye," he said as he waved them off.

"Bye! Drive safe!" Halla said as she waved too.

"Bye guys!" Kait said as she started the speeder and began to pull away. Oppie just waved back at them.


As the speeder pulled away, Taren and Halla watched it disappear down the street before turning and heading inside.

"So what did you think of him?" Halla asked after a moment. "I can tell Kaity really likes him."

"He's a good man, a very good one at that," Taren said, smiling at his wife. "Kait is in good hands. I like him a lot. He will make her happy."

"I think he already does," Halla said simply with a smile as they headed inside.


"They were nice." Oppie observed as they drove.

Kait shrunk into her seat a little. "Yeah, I can't believe mom dug out all those photos though."

"What? It was nice seeing you as a kid." He said with a smirk.

She glanced at him. "At least my complexion is better now." She grumbled.

"It was cute." He said with a bigger smirk.

"So when you guys went shooting it was okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think your dad likes me. He didn't aim at me or tell me to go down range or anything." Oppie commented.

Kait looked over at him briefly. "You have a weird sense of humor." She observed.

"Yeah, sorry it runs in the family." He said with a grin.

"Sure does." She observed.


Cien was folding the onesies and putting them away in the dresser that was in the new nursery. A pink one, a blue one, the one with the small droids on it. She realized after a moment she was humming that same song again and immediately stopped, trying to place, yet again, where she had heard it or what it was. Kyr was right, it seemed too happy and up-tempo for something the Sith would have as music. What little music she had heard as a Sith growing up had been the chants from the various Sith worshippers that had been at the temple. She folded the next onesie, this one had small ducks on it as she pursed her lips, trying to think of what the song was from.

A set of giggles came from the doorway to the room as Lana suddenly appeared. She had a big smile on her face and was holding her dolls hand as she stopped in the entry to the room.

"Hi," Lana said in her usual adorable tone.

"Hello Lana." Cien said, "what are you up to?" She asked.

Lana babbled at her as she was still struggling with forming full sentences. But the words 'Mama', 'Dada', and 'play' were the only clear words she said.

"You're playing with your mother and father?" Cien asked with a confused look.

"Ye," Lana said, nodding as she came into the room.

"What game?" Cien asked as she folded yet another onesie.

"Furss," Lana said, waving her hand as if to mimic the Force.

"Force?" Cien asked, "were you training?"

"Ye," Lana said, excitedly.

"How did it go?" Cien asked.

"Goo," Lana answered as she looked at the clothes. "Wa do?" She asked her curiously.

"What am I doing?" Cien asked to clarify.

"Ye," Lana nodded.

"I'm folding Noah and Roselyn's clothes." Cien answered.

"Oo?" Lana asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Your cousins." Cien answered. "My son and daughter." She answered as she picked up a small pink beanie cap and furrowed her brow, not remembering getting it at the store.

Lana looked around the room. "Wer day?" She asked as if they were in the room and she couldn't see them.

"They haven't been born yet." Cien answered her, now looking at a blue beanie and wondering when they had been added to the basket.

"Oh," Lana said, kind of sadly.

"They'll be here in a few months." Cien said, looking down at her with a slight bit of bemused worry seeing how dejected she sounded.

"Eally?" Lana asked, now excited.

"Yes." Cien said simply. "Can you sense them now?" She asked, a little curiously.

"Uh," Lana looked around again. But after a second, she nodded. "Ye."

"Really?" Cien asked curiously, furrowing her brow.

"Dink so," Lana said. She then pointed at Cien's stomach. "Dare."

"Yes." Cien said. "I'm sure they can't wait to meet you." She said as she put her hand across her stomach.

Lana moved over to her and reached up as if to touch her belly, but she was still too short to reach.

Cien knelt down, curious what Lana would do. Lana placed her hand on her belly and giggled as she gently moved it around. After a moment, she looked up at CIen.

"You eat dem?" Lana asked, innocently.

Cien coughed, trying not to burst out into laughter. "Yes, I did." Cien said, mischievously.

"Why?" Lana asked, curiously.

"Because I like the taste of small children." Cien growled as she reached for Lana.

"No!" Lana giggled as she tried to run.

"I'm going to catch you!" Cien said, getting to her feet awkwardly to go after her.

"No!" Lana giggled as she ran around the room.

"Come back here!" Cien demanded as she chased after her.

Lana just kept giggling as she tried to dodge Cien as she awkwardly tried to chase after her. However, Lana ended up running into a corner.

"I've got you now!" Cien said with a smile, and only slightly out of breath.

"No!" Lana squealed as she pressed into the corner, her giggling continuing.

"Come here, dinner!" Cien said as she reached for Lana.

Lana turned about as if looking for an exit to run again, but Cien got her.

"Excellent!" Cien said, "you will serve me well, alongside the mashed potatoes!"

"No, me no foo," Lana squeaked as she squirmed in Cien's arms.

"Lana!" Sasha's voice called from the hallway, sounding less like she was playing and more like she was… upset, maybe. "Where are you?"

A second later, both Sasha and Viran ran into the nursery looking disheveled.

"There you are," Viran said, looking right at Lana.

"Is everything okay?" Cien asked them.

"Not exactly," Sasha panted. She pointed at Lana with an accusing finger. "She… is strong with the Force."

"Like crazy strong," Viran agreed with an over exaggerated nod.

"Well we knew that." Cien said, looking at them confused.

"Yeah, well we were doing a little training exercise in the training room to practice her skills and she started throwing a tantrum. Then she turned the room upside down," Sasha explained.

"Really?" Cien looked down at Lana, who was now hiding behind Cien's leg with her little arms wrapped around her knee.

"Yes, really," Viran said. "You should come see this."

"What did you do Lan'ika?" Cien asked, looking down at her after she had looked up at Viran.

Lana shook her head as tried to hide behind Cien. "No."

"Lana, sweetie, you're not in trouble," Sasha tried to say as she smiled at her daughter.

"Mad," Lana said, pointing to Sasha and Viran.

"Lani, we are not mad at you. We are just surprised," Viran explained as he came over and knelt down before Cien to look around at his daughter. "Now come here." He opened his arms wide to her. He gave her a big smile.

Lana looked up to Cien, still unsure. Cien just nodded to the young child. Lana came out from behind Cien and walked over to Viran. He scooped her up into his arms and gave her a big kiss on the cheek as he stood up. That made Lana giggle.

"What did she do exactly?" Cien asked, still a little confused.

"Exactly what I said. She literally turned the room upside down," Sasha said, seriously. "Come on, you need to see this." She gestured for her to follow.

"Okay." Cien said, following Sasha out the door.

Viran followed after them, carrying Lana. Sasha led them all to the training room. When they got there, Sasha opened the door and then stepped aside to let Cien see what she was talking about.

Cien looked at the space with wide eyes, looking at the mess. "Whoa." Was all she said.

The entire room was a mess. Crash mats, practice droids, training gear, and all the other furniture was not in its rightful place, and instead were knocked over or half across the room in various piles. Sasha folded her arms across her chest as she nodded.

"Now do you understand?" Viran asked her as he adjusted the little trouble maker in his arms.

"Yeah." Cien said.

"Hey guys are you done with the - whoa," Kyr said, coming through the door with his newly restored blaster pistol. "Did you two have a fight or, like, do something else in here?" He asked Sasha and Viran, looking around at the mess.

"No, she did this," Sasha said, pointing to Lana who was trying to hide her face in Viran's neck in embarrassment.

"She's a very powerful Force user." Cien stated, looking at the horrendous mess. Viran and Sasha nodded heavily in agreement.

Kyr looked at Cien, then down at her stomach with a concerned expression. Cien met his gaze and realized what he was thinking, and she slowly looked down towards the twins as well. Viran and Sasha did too.

"We are definitely going to have our hands full," Sasha said, bluntly. Viran nodded at that.

Cien just gulped as she felt a little kick.


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