(I hadn’t planned on officially entering @codiyoweek , since I’m not an experienced romance writer, and I also didn’t have a lot of time this January—but Mimi was kind enough to say I could hop aboard for the “Free Day” slot, if I wanted. So, I hope everyone enjoys this short but sweet little piece of family fluff! 😊💜🧡💜🧡 You can also read it on AO3, if you prefer.)
Rating: G
Characters: Cody, Quico (fanbaby), Riyo
Description: Marshal-Commander Cody has never surrendered before. But there’s a first time for everything….
~~~
Cody slinks behind the barrier in the room. His opponent is coming. He lies ready to spring. Good soldiers always prepare for fights like this.
He has been called many things, through his career. Brave. Loyal. Tenacious. A pillar of strength.
He has blown through waves of clankers, perched on crab-droids’ heads and mown them down, punched commandos’ shells with his bare hands.
There is one phrase he has never once uttered, during the war: “I surrender.”
…Cody’s opponent is coming. He must be swift! There will never be a day he gives in. He nearly cartwheels out from his hiding place, arms extended for battle—his hands, curiously bare of their gloves now, curiously splaying, as if to tickle—but his opponent gets to him first, tiny blue hands reaching for his middle.
“YUUUUUHH-hhuuhh-huh-huuuuAAAWWWW!!”
Cody lands on the hotel-room floor, weighed down by a baby half-Pantoran, her arms crawling as mercilessly as buzz-droids upon him. Cody cries helplessly, a little tear of mirth slipping out the corner of one closed eye. Baby Quico’s voice rises just as high in merriment, and her father finally, deliciously, lets the forbidden phrase slip from his lips. He surprises even himself with how sweet it tastes—sighing it out, in an affectionate lilt.
“I surrender!...”
***
Evening comes, and Riyo returns to the hotel room. The Senate session that brought them here to Coruscant is over now, and they’ll be returning to their cozy home on Pantora in the morning. Cody and Riyo had worried little Quico would be scared or fussy, this being one of her first trips off-planet; but they’d agreed that they’d have to start sometime, what with her mommy still being Senator. And with her daddy’s strong clone arms to protect her, how could she be frightened of new surroundings?
The two have apparently spent the whole day romping around this small burgundy room, hiding behind couch-cushions and small tables and surprising each other. Now, though, baby Quico has apparently played herself into an absolute stupor, and lays snoozing on her father’s belly (no doubt full of treats from the refrigerator, judging by the wrappers strewn around them). Cody is sprawled atop the bedspread, feet to the pillows and head hanging upside-down over the soft edge of the mattress.
They’ve been watching cartoons—some cute show about a baby massif and her brother—and Cody is calmly letting their squeaky voices and antics lull him into a similar stupor. Eyes half-closed, and black curls falling slightly downwards with gravity. Quico’s own golden eyes are already tightly shut, and her own purple ringlets flutter ever-so-softly, as she rises and falls with Daddy’s soft breaths.
Riyo raises her blue hand to her lips, trying not to alert them to her presence with the titter. Her heart swells. Her little family is frankly ADORABLE! She finally moves into the picture, her velvet dress-edge trailing quietly against the carpet. Cody’s eyelashes blink blearily, as the glowing little upside-down holovision screen is suddenly blotted out by his wife’s torso.
“Caught sleeping on your post, my brave Commander?” Riyo titters again, but the broadness of her smile reflects her love. She bends over her husband’s head—those huge golden eyes, always so enchanting to him, waking him up long enough to chuckle in return.
Cody sighs richly—a deep trill of enjoyment, as he stares back up at her. But soft, oh so soft—low enough so as not to wake the precious bundle on his midriff. “…I surrender!”
Marshal-Commander Cody’s second surrender is sealed with a kiss, pressed from the air—Riyo bending over him, so that they look like an intertwined pair of candycanes, joined at the lips.
