As Rain's pregnancy reached almost the end of its first trimester, she finally passed her required number of work hours. Meanwhile, Ben and Aubrie set about getting their own documents. In the end, it proved almost insultingly easy- all they had to do was follow Eilana Rene, the same officer who had processed them through to farming to meet Rain, once she had knocked off work for the day. One mind-trick later, and Ben and Aubrie had two signed and stamped work-release forms and travel permits ready to go.

In the meantime, more news came about increasing mine accidents, one of which they had heard claimed the life of Gavyn, Tyler's father. Ben hadn't known the man well, of course, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for Rain's ex-boyfriend.

Finally, the morning came around when they would be scheduled to leave Jackson's Star and make for Alderaan. Ben woke to the feeling of Rain's soft, warm lips on his, her hand sliding down under his shorts. Ben felt himself smile against Rain's mouth- his girlfriend's increasing libido had become obvious in their last few weeks together. Through research they had done after finding out Rain was pregnant, they had discovered it was perfectly normal, even healthy for women to have sex during pregnancy. They had both taken full advantage of this discovery, but Ben still found himself surprised by Rain's increased sex drive, though she was now twelve weeks along.

"Right now?" he asked.

"Right now", Rain affirmed, as Ben felt himself harden beneath her hand.

Once they were naked, Rain sunk down around him and let out a strangled moan. Neither of them lasted long- once Ben sat up, his mouth and hands closing around Rain's nipples, she almost immediately shuddered in her orgasm with another moan, which in turn triggered Ben's climax inside her.

Rain placed her forehead against Ben's, panting. "Tell me it will always be like this."

"It will always be like this, and it will only get better", Ben said, his hand cupping Rain's jaw as he kissed her, feeling her respond with enthusiasm.

After they showered together, they dressed and left for the breakfast hall, hand in hand. Aubrie and Andy were already waiting for them. They had had different reactions to Rain's pregnancy- while Andy had responded with his usual cheerfulness, Aubrie had offered her congratulations, but Ben had sensed her hesitancy behind them.

Later, he had spoken with her, and he had not been happy with what she had to say.

"If the Empire finds out who we are, they will come after us", Aubrie began. "I always knew that, but… now Rain and your baby will be in danger as well. What are you willing to do to protect your unborn child?"

"Anything. Everything."

"Would you turn to the dark side, if that was what it took?"

"Of course not-" Ben started, then suddenly stopped himself. I don't know, he had realised, and that unsettled him deeply in the following weeks. When he placed his hands on Rain's belly and reached out with the Force, he would sense his child's heartbeat, and feel a love so incredibly overpowering, he knew without a doubt that if he had to, he would lay down his life for Rain and their baby without hesitation. But what would he do to keep them alive? He didn't know, and he hoped he would never find out, though he knew it was naïve to think he wouldn't.

As the four of them ate breakfast together that final morning, sitting through Andy's increasingly horrible jokes, Ben felt Rain's hand give his a reassuring squeeze as they sat together. Ben let out a breath.

It will be okay. We will get back to Alderaan, then we will figure out what to do.

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As they set off for the Processing Department's office, Rain walked with her hand in Ben's, trying to contain the bubbling excitement within her. She was going home. She couldn't believe, really, how much her life had turned around in the last few months. She hadn't felt her baby move yet, but she knew it wouldn't be long. She had been experiencing an increasingly volatile cycle of morning sickness and sexual arousal the last few weeks, not to mention regular cravings for the ice cream the cafeteria offered, and she was always feeling terrified and excited at the same time at the prospect of becoming a parent. She was only twenty-five, Ben was only twenty-six, and they had known each other for less than six months, but she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would not leave her or their baby. That knowledge strengthened her resolve as they walked towards Processing.

"Andy!", Aubrie suddenly called out.

Startled, Rain turned around, seeing her brother head towards some men playing a shell game.

Dammit. She quickly let go of Ben's hand and darted over to grab Andy, pulling him away from the game.

"What? What did I do?"

"It's a scam", Ben said to him.

Rain nodded. "That's right. The ball's never under the cup that you pick."

"But how am I going to get the money?" Andy asked.

"Money for what?" Rain was confused. Andy had never needed money in all the time they had been on LV-410.

"To pay for the horse. When we get back to Alderaan."

"You… need a horse?" Rain asked. Now she was even more confused.

"I… I wanna call it Rainy. You… you get it? Rainy."

"Yeah, no I like it, it's good", Rain rubbed Andy's arm in reassurance, but she was starting to feel worried. Aubrie may have healed Andy after Bjorn's attack, but in the months since then she had noticed Andy increasingly drifting off. Unfortunately, neither Aubrie nor Ben had any idea how to stop it from happening.

"Would you watch him?" She asked them as they reached Processing.

"Of course", Ben replied, as he kissed her for good luck. Rain briefly returned the kiss, then headed inside.

Fortunately, the line didn't take very long to get through.

"Full name and occupation, please", the Imperial Processing officer asked her.

"Marie Raines Carradine, ma'am. Farming", Rain replied, as she handed the woman her identity documents.

"It's about my travel papers. I've met my quota, and I should be free to go now. Right?"

"Go where?"

"Alderaan. It's where my brother and I come from, originally."

"Where are your parents?"

"Uh…", Rain was caught off-guard by the question. "They died. Lung disease from the mines. It's just me and my brother now."

She waited patiently as the Imperial officer continued typing at her computer… and then handed Rain's documents back.

"I'm sorry, but you're not eligible for contract release yet. Due to a shortage of workers you are being transferred to the mines."

She said it so casually you would think she had been discussing the weather, but Rain immediately felt sick to her stomach.

"Wait… what?! No, no, no. I reached the required hours. You have to let me go", she pleaded.

"Unfortunately, quotas have been raised to 24,000 hours. You will be released on contract in another five to six years."

"I'm twelve weeks pregnant", Rain said, feeling the tears threatening to spill over. "M-my baby won't make it if I'm working in the mines, please…"

The officer looked momentarily startled, then regained her composure.

"Discuss your condition with your new supervisor. Next!"

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Ben immediately knew things hadn't gone well when he saw Rain stumbling out of Processing. He could feel she was in shock, and as he went to meet her, she took one look at him and burst into tears, wrapping her arms around him and shaking. He hugged her back as well, but it wasn't long before Rain pulled away from him to vomit the contents of her breakfast onto the ground.

As Ben gently moved Rain away, towards a nearby bench, ignoring the looks of disgust they were getting at the sight of his retching and weeping girlfriend, he carefully sat Rain down and knelt in front of her.

"What happened?"

"I-I-they…" Rain started, then choked up and started crying again. Ben quickly sat down next to her, pulling her against his chest.

After a further five minutes of Rain sobbing, gagging and stammering out what had happened, Ben felt his hatred for the Empire increase. They were willing to send his pregnant girlfriend down into the mines? No. Not on his watch.

'It'll be okay", he said, cupping Rain's cheeks at he gazed into her teary eyes. "I will fix it, alright? You are not going down the mines. You are coming with us. You will not spend one single day down there. Okay?"

Rain nodded, sniffling. He could feel her relief at his words, and after offering her his water bottle and a cloth to wipe her mouth, he felt her starting to calm down. Rain then dug around in her bag and brought out some mints she had bought from the market, when her morning sickness had started to emerge.

"Do you want one?" she offered.

"Sure", Ben replied, smiling at her to try and cheer her up. Aubrie took one as well, and they stayed there in silence for a moment, chewing. Ben had already figured out a new plan. That night, he would follow the officer who had rejected Rain's travel form, then-

Ben's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Rain's comlink going off. As she answered it, Ben was surprised to realise the message was from Tyler.

"Hi Rain. Something's come up, and I think you should know about it. Come by the trailers, and bring Andy."

Rain switched the message off. "Should we see what that's about?" she asked.

Ben shrugged. "Sure, why not? Can't be any worse than what just happened."

He enveloped Rain in his arms, gently kissing her forehead, then her cheeks, then her lips.

"We'll be alright", he said, pressing his forehead against Rain's. "I promise."

"I know", Rain smiled, as she kissed him back.

The four of them set off for the trailers, Ben wondering all the while how Tyler would react to the sight of him and Aubrie. He wouldn't be expecting them, but there was no way Ben was leaving Rain alone, so if Tyler and his family didn't like it, Ben was more than willing to mind-trick them into liking it.

As they reached the trailers, Ben saw Tyler's cousin Bjorn seated outside the Harrison family's home, playing a game on a device, as a masked figure welded objects next to him.

"Hey!" Rain greeted them.

Bjorn looked up, then cursed as his game failed. "Er… s'up, Rain? Long time no see."

The masked figure flipped her helmet up to reveal Navarro. "I told you she'd show up. You owe me five bucks."

Ben could sense the guilt coming off Bjorn as he looked at Andy, which turned to confusion as he saw Ben and Aubrie.

"Who are you?"

Ben was surprised. Bjorn didn't remember him?

"Uh… Max Felian? This is my sister, Amara? We kind of… met… on Empire Day?"

Ben suddenly saw Bjorn scowl as the recognition hit him, and felt his anger.

Let's hope he doesn't take a swing. That might end… awkwardly.

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Rain suddenly heard Tyler call out.

"Andy? Why did the blind miner fall down the well?"

"Why?" Andy replied, looking up at where Tyler had appeared.

"He couldn't see that well."

Even by Andy's standards, that was terrible, Rain thought. "Please don't encourage him", she called out.

"Alright", Tyler said. "Head inside, I'll be there in a second."

She saw Tyler glance at Ben and Aubrie, and suddenly felt nervous. How would he react if he found out she was pregnant with Ben's child? She put the thought aside, as they all headed in. Tyler didn't need to know. None of them did.

Entering the trailer, Rain saw Tyler's sister washing some dishes.

"Hi, Kay."

"Rain!" Kay hugged her. "I missed you! And I know my brother missed you too", she added.

Then Rain saw Kay's eyes widen as she looked past her. "Max? Amara? What are you doing here?"

Rain's mind went blank for a second, before remembering Ben and Aubrie's aliases.

"I invited them along", Rain explained, as she heard Tyler come up behind her.

"I'm really glad you came", Tyler greeted her. "Uh… hello again", he said to Ben and Aubrie politely, though Rain could read her former boyfriend well enough to know he wasn't overly happy at her current boyfriend's presence. Had he already guessed that she and Ben were together now?

Rain decided to defuse the tension she was feeling. "I heard about your Dad", she said to both the Harrison siblings. "I'm really sorry."

She was, for what it was worth. Gavyn had not been a perfect man, but Rain had never wanted him dead.

"Yeah, well", Tyler replied, "between the hailstorms and the new diseases every cycle-"

"Yeah, everybody's dying, right", Bjorn interrupted. "So, should we show her?"

"Show me what?" Rain asked.

Tyler motioned for her to sit down, and as she did, so, Tyler opened up an image on a nearby computer.

"Okay, so… last night, we were loading up the last few bits from a salvage job, about two hundred miles off the ground. Then all of a sudden-"

"Beep be-de-beep be-de-beep beep beep", Bjorn interrupted.

Tyler grimaced, then continued. "The hauler picks up this beacon, so Navarro tracks it, and it turns out, there's this big We-Yu ship drifting right above our heads."

"Drifting?" Rain asked.

"Decommissioned. Abandoned", Navarro clarified.

"Some old relic, it's probably damaged or obsolete", Tyler said.

"Like that guy over there", Bjorn nodded towards Andy.

"Bjorn!" Tyler chastised his cousin.

Rain, meanwhile, felt like hitting him. Clearly Bjorn hadn't learned his lesson since he'd attacked Andy, and Rain found herself secretly wishing Ben had done more to Bjorn than simply pin him to the ground.

"Ok, just… just tell her", Kay said softly, trying to diffuse the situation.

Tyler turned back to Rain. "Why are we all sitting here, waiting for travel permits that the Empire are never gonna give to us, when Dad's hauler has enough power in it to get us to Alderaan?"

You want to go there too? Rain thought. The dread was slowly setting in. If Tyler and his family wanted to go where she planned on going, there would be no hiding the fact that she was pregnant… and eventually, no hiding who Ben and Aubrie really were, she realised, to her horror.

Nevertheless, she tried to remain calm in her reply. "Because Alderaan is ten parsecs away, and we can't make that trip without hyperfuel?"

Tyler nodded. "Decommissioned ships still carry tons of functional equipment."

"And the scanner shows that ship still has hyperfuel in it", Navarro finished.

Rain was stunned. "You… you want to break in to a Weyland-Yutani ship and steal highly regulated equipment?"

"Before someone else does", Kay replied.

"You guys are insane", Rain laughed incredulously. She couldn't believe they were even considering this.

The Weyland-Yutani company, which had been around for decades, was a business that was primarily based in scientific research. They had had an outpost on Alderaan when Rain was little- in fact, their trash heap was where Rain's father had found Andy. Rain didn't know much more about the company than that- but she did know it had been brought under Imperial jurisdiction since the end of the Clone Wars, and that was enough to make her think twice. If the Empire took notice of this… Rain couldn't bear thinking about what might happen.

But there was no dissuading her friends, Rain could see.

"Of course we're insane", Bjorn said to her.

"Are you… gonna help us?" Kay asked her.

How?

"Sorry, what… what do you need me for?" Rain asked the group.

"Andy", Bjorn said after a pause. "We need to use Andy."

"Andy?" Rain was confused.

"He's a Weyland-Yutani synthetic", Tyler explained. "He can access the terminal on the ship to get us in and out without a fuss."

"It's the only way to get in", Navarro added on.

"What happens if we get caught?", Rain suddenly heard Aubrie speak up. As all eyes suddenly turned to the youngest person in the room, Aubrie explained herself.

"If the Empire finds out, not getting a travel permit will be the least of our worries."

"Right, Rain and her weird friends aren't coming", Bjorn threw up his hands in mock despair. "How about we just take Andy, then?"

"I'm not sending my brother up there alone", Rain said curtly, as she felt the tension in the room heat up again.

Bjorn grinned. "He's not your brother, though, is he?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Tyler yelled at him.

"It's true though, isn't it?" Bjorn carried on cheerfully. "He's not your brother, he's just We-Yu damaged goods that your Dad found in the trash-"

Rain suddenly felt Ben brush past her as her boyfriend grabbed Bjorn by the front of his shirt and shoved him back into his seat.

"Unless you want a repeat of last time, I suggest you shut your mouth", Ben said. His tone was quiet enough, but Rain could practically see the icicles hanging off his words, and Bjorn shut up.

Rain had had enough, anyway. "Max, stop", she suddenly called out, using her boyfriend's alias. "Come on, we're going home."

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As they walked out of the trailers, Ben suddenly heard Tyler calling after them.

"Rain! Rain, wait!"

Ben turned around to see Tyler following them.

"Listen, I know my cousin can be a dick sometimes-"

All the time, according to Rain.

"-but he's right. About some of it. You need to wake up."

"Don't talk to her like that", Ben said. He could feel his anger bubbling, as Rain laid a comforting hand on his arm.

"It's okay", she soothed him.

Ben felt ripples of jealousy emerging from Tyler. "Look, I'm sorry, but… the Empire is not going to give us anything. You know as well as I do we have to take it."

Tyler kept talking. "Rain, I just… I don't want to end up like our parents. Do you?"

There was a pause, as Ben started to sense the conflict within Rain. He could sympathise- the Harrison family may have had their differences with Rain, but they were still her friends.

"Is it as easy as it sounds, this plan of yours?" Rain asked.

Tyler nodded. "You won't even have to get out of the Corbelan. That much I can promise you, okay? Come on- what do you say?"

Ben had seen far too many well-thought-out plans during the war go to pieces to be fully on board with what Tyler was saying, and he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Rain and I will discuss this in private", Ben said, motioning to Aubrie to follow them. As they walked a short distance away, making sure nobody could overhear them, Aubrie immediately spoke up.

"This is crazy", she said. "Even if their plan goes off without a hitch- and I doubt it will- it will likely attract attention from the Empire. Attention that we don't need."

"I know", Rain said. "Maybe… maybe we could go back to Processing? Maybe you could get travel permits for all of them?"

Her eyes were pleading with Ben, but he had to shut it down.

"I'm sorry, but… securing permits for you and Andy is risky enough. Securing them for four more people… there's no way that doesn't attract attention as well."

Rain nodded, but Ben could sense her disappointment.

Ben mulled it over. "Do you want them to come with us?"

Rain laughed in response. "If you'd asked me this morning, I would have said no, but… seeing them now… I don't want to leave them behind. Not even Bjorn, weirdly enough."

Ben could sense Rain's stubborn determination within her. He knew he couldn't say no, even if he wanted to.

"Alright. We will go along with Tyler's plan."

"We will?", Rain asked, incredulously.

"We WILL?!" Aubrie screeched, even more incredulously. "And what if it goes wrong?"

"Then you and I will take charge, and… convince the others to follow whatever new plan we come up with."

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"Right, take a good look out the window, because the way I see it, we are never coming back", Tyler called out.

As the Corbelan, the Harrison family's ship, prepared for take-off, Rain found herself sitting down in the cockpit and fastening her seatbelt, wondering in bewilderment as to how she had ended up here.

The ship lifted off the ground, and Rain suddenly found herself shaking like a leaf as the ship ascended through the clouds.

Please let this go well. PLEASE let this go well. Please let this go-

She felt Ben's hand suddenly, gently squeezing hers as he sat next to her. Rain moved her other hand to cover his, and smiled at him gratefully. No matter what had already happened, or what would happen, she considered herself very lucky for having met him, and even luckier for knowing what it was like to be loved by him.

She hoped their baby would live their life knowing just how loved they were.

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As Ben saw Bjorn get up from his seat, light a cigarette and take an extra-long drag, he heard the laughter echo around from the others, even from Aubrie, and wondered if Tyler's plan would really go off as well as he had said.

Ben hoped so. He really did. He reached out with the Force to hear his child's heartbeat, and let its rhythm comfort him as the Corbelan rose above the clouds.

As the rays from LV-410's sun suddenly filled the ship's cockpit, Ben closed his eyes and let himself relax in their warmth.

"I'd forgotten what a sun looks like", he heard Rain whisper to him, as she used her free hand to cover her eyes.

"When we get home, you'll see the sun every day", Ben reassured her.

As he saw Rain smile in response, Ben slowly stroked her hand with his thumb. They would be on Alderaan, soon. It would be alright.

And if it wasn't… Ben had hidden his lightsaber inside his jacket, and he knew Aubrie had done the same with hers.

Whatever stood in their way… they would defeat it.