SUMMARY: When meeting up with a slaver who had information on where Gideon may have taken Grogu, Din comes across a peculiar little slave.
WARNINGS: Slave!reader, Fem!Reader, Teen!reader, soft!Mando, angst (A LOT), fluff, cuteness!!!, mature language, typical violence, dad!Din, trauma and all the bad things that come with slavery @.@
~ There is ONE 鬼滅 の 刃 (Demon Slayer) reference in this.
WORDCOUNT: 1.5K
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Big, shiny armour was all you could see as you opened the door.
You silently gasp at how tall your new visitor is, taking a few careful steps back. The strange man in the helmet tilts his head to the side, taking recognition of your much, much smaller form.
After a moment’s silence he nods his head once, before carefully stepping around, in such a gentle manner it has you dumbstruck. If it had been any other one of your master’s friends they would have pushed you into the wall laughing as they stumbled in.
Weird...
“Aaah! Mando!” Exclaims your master. Maker, you could just gag at his sickly voice.
“Dru,” Mando greets.
Your Jablogian master hobbles over to this Mando guy, his thick double chin bobbing up and down as he stumbled across the hall.
“Have you brought the money?” Dru seethes, freckles of saliva spraying from his mouth as he spoke.
The Mando nods his head and places a pouch of what you could only assume were creds, into his rough hand.
“Aaah, very good, very good, now come, let us eat and talk about your little green womprat” He suggests, clapping his hands twice. Your breath hitches momentarily as you rush to your masters side. “Get us something to eat.” He snarls, shoving you into the kitchen.
You stumble in and fall with an oomph. Quickly you force yourself up. Master did NOT like to wait. Grabbing a cutting board and knife you begin slicing a few fruits into small shapes, Just the way master liked it. You slide the fruits off of the wooden cutting board and into a rather big bowl, sprinkling some orange and lemon juice on top of it, for extra flavour. To finish off you pour two glasses of red wine before walking out.
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You gently place the tray of food and wine on the small table before your master and ‘The Mando’ The Mando quickly thanks you in a timid voice, but does not make a move to grab anything to eat.
Weird...
“Took you long enough!” Dru practically yells, snatching a piece of fruit and shoving it in his mouth.
The Mando menacingly cocks his head to the side, staring at Dru in such confidence it was almost scary.
Dru chuckles nervously and pushes the bowl across the table, encouraging The Mando to take a piece.
He still makes no indication of wanting to have any.
The man in the silver helmet pushes the bowl back to Dru, refusing his tempting offer.
“Thank you for your communication.” The Mando offers, before stepping out of their small booth and making way for the exit.
“Wait!” Dru yells in desperation.
You knew that voice, he was hungry for more of his credits.
“Please, mr. Mandalorian-”
Mr. Mandalorian?
“I will come along with you and save your green son, if you can pay me for my service.” He tries.
“No, thank you.”
Mr. Mandalorian gives you a quick glance from behind him, and stutters in his confident strides to the door. However, with a quick shake of his head, he leaves the mansion.
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“YOU IDIOT!” Screams Dru.
“It’s your fault he didn’t stay!”
You quickly duck as another spice tray is thrown at your head.
“You weren't doing things right! You-you were standing wrong! You....you chose the wrong wine! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” He screams, slapping you hard enough on the cheek to send you to the stone floor.
You whimper, but allow no tears to pass.
“I’m sorry, master.” You barely say above a whisper.
Dru scoffs incredulously, eyeing you in disgust.
“Sorry won’t cut it. I think it’s time I sold you off to someone else, and get me a more useful slave. What do you think...Y/l/n?”
You’re about to answer when a powerful punch is delivered to your stomach. Once again you crumble to the cool floor, willing the pain everywhere to go away.
Of course..it does not.
A forceful kick is swung and landed to the side of your head, and that was the last grip of reality you had before you mind swam into unconsciousness.
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“Get.....need....bandages......quickly...”
You could distinctly hear someone speaking, but the sound of your breaths and your heartbeat were too loud to decipher what they were saying. You strained your ears even harder to try and make out some of what the person was saying, wanting to gain some sense of your surroundings.
“I need some bandages, and get some bacta too!”
Hey...that kind of sounds like....The Mando?
You force your eyes open, instantly regretting it as a sharp hot white pain shot through your skull.
You whimper and let your head lull against someones arms.
“Shhh, it’s ok, you’re ok.”
An arm moves across your waist and pulls you a bit to closer to-
wait
was someone holding you?......
Was that the smell of smoke??
Your head was spinning and The Mando must have noticed because his thumbs begin to gently rub at your temples, avoiding the wound left by master-
Where was master Dru?
“Where...master....” You groan.
“He’s gone, you don’t have to worry, ok, just try to open your eyes, take it easy though.”
You do as you’re told and slowly blink your eyes open, this time the pain is dull as you do so.
You’re greeted with a familiar tilt of a silver helmet, and a few unidentified people behind him.
“Good, now keep your eyes open, can you do that?”
You don't respond, only keeping your eyes open for him.
“Good.”
“I’m going to check for a concussion now. I need you to answer my questions as honestly as you can.”
You do nothing in response.
“Ok.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?” He ask, holding up 2 fingers.
You copy his fingers and hold out 2 of your own.
“Ok, good.”
“Do you know your name?” He asks, voice gruff.
You don’t say anything, just staring blankly at the void of his visor.
“Can you tell me your name?” He repeats, giving your bruised arm a gentle squeeze.
~~
Din watches the slave with intent.
He was starting to believe she really did have a concussion, until she reached for her pocket.
She fished out a small coin and positioned it in between her index finger and thumb, then she tossed it in the air and caught it with direct precision.
Tails...it landed on tails.
“I’m Y/n.” She admits.
Maker it felt so long since she had said that name to anyone.
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5 days later...
“Is she still using that coin?” Cara asks, as Y/n played in the fields with Grogu.
“Yes.” Din admits, head hung low.
“That is so strange.” The ex-shock trooper chuckles.
“What do you think it means?” She questions.
“I have no idea, she uses it at least three or four times a rotation.”
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Fennec says with a smirk.
“Y/n! c’mere.” The assassin calls.
Cara and Din exchange glances of confusion, but nonetheless play along.
“So..” She starts.
“Tonight, I am going out to eat dinner, because Boba is a horrible cook. I’m thinking of wearing normal attire, but there’s this really pretty dress. Which do you think I should go with?” She asks, a gentle smile playing on her mouth.
Same as always, Y/n pulls out her small coin and tosses it in the air.
She catches it and flips it onto her palm.
Heads.
“The pretty dress.” She murmurs.
Fennec smiles once more. “Thank you, you can go now.” She whispers. And off she went, back into the meadows.
“The coin is her decision maker.” Cara gasps.
“Obviously.” Fennec scoffs.
“She was a slave...she doesn’t know how to make decisions for herself.” Din ponders, putting the puzzle together.
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Later that day...
“Y/n.. Can I talk to you, please.” Din asks, gently, as not to startle her.
She brings her lucky coin to her hands and flicks it up, however, Din catches it in midair.
“Let’s make a bet.” He offers, leaving no room for the teenager to say otherwise.
“If the coin lands on heads, you make your own decisions from now on, and have the freedom to act as you feel is right. And you throw the coin into the nearest ocean as far as you can.”
Din could see the internal struggle through her eyes, the desperation of her wanting to grab the coin out of his hand and hide away from the rest of the cruel world.
“Hey, it’s ok, I’m going to help you, adi’ka.”
“D-Do I really h-h-have to throw i-it in the o-cean? I-it’s the only thing I-I-I-I have left of my f-f-amily.” She stutters as tears well in her eyes for the first time Din had ever seen.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, adi’ka [little one], don’t cry, no i’kaad [baby], you can keep it...we’ll just...put it in a locked cupboard and whenever you want to hold it, you can, ok?” He whispers, holding her in a gentle embrace.
“Ok.” She sniffles.
And although hard at first, she learnt she had a choice, because her buir never gave up on her.
Little One Universe (Was supposed to be a one shot but as usual, I got carried away) (also it is not in chronological order, and doesn’t follow the original Star Wars timeline because it is a fanfic and it is mine and I decided to have fun with it)
Warning: In this Universe, the age gap between Obi-Wan and the reader is significant. Obi-Wan has not only completed Anakin’s training, but the Padawan’s as well before any romance occurs. Any and all allusions to romance happen strictly after the reader is an adult. That being said, I won’t apologise for my daddy issues that only Obi can solve
Little One** : First installment of the Little One series. Obi-Wan hasn’t seen you in a few years since the start of the Clone Wars. But now the war is over. If only you weren’t so lovely.
Trials and Tribulations: Obi-Wan braids his Padawan’s hair for the last time before her trials.
Peanut Gallery: Your first off-world mission brings with it new experiences (pure fluff)
Come Home to Me: Sometimes relationships get a little rocky (hurt with comfort)
Among the Blues and Greens: You realise you’re in love.
Pumpkin Spiced Spotchka: Halloween over the years.
In Sickness and In Health: Obi-Wan’s oh moment.
Next to You: (Set before the events of the first Little One installation, and is the first of several plot-centric fics.) Shortly after her trials, Obi-Wan comes to a rather horrible realisation regarding his Padawan. Well… Former Padawan now.
What The Moon Knows: Under Coruscant’s moon, Obi-Wan finds attraction in the midst of a long-standing friendship.
We Could Form An Attachment**: Direct sequel to the very first Little One post; titled Little One.
Romantic Dreams Must Die: A look into Little One's experience during the war, and a look into what the future might hold.
—————
THE MANDALORIAN
Series
Credit For Your Thoughts: Touch Starved!Din Djarin X Reader
CURRENTLY ON HIATUS. - I needed to take a break and by the time I came back, I wasn't happy with the direction I went in. Not sure when the next update will be, if there will be one. But I still hope you all enjoy :)
A03
Spotify Playlist
Being a Mandalorian was anything but easy. It was hard to make attachments when you couldn’t share your name, your identity, or your face. People didn’t trust you, and you couldn’t trust them. When he gets attached to you, the Mandalorian starts to think that it might be easier than people seemed to think.
But he failed to realise nothing in life is ever east. Especially when you’re not brave enough to face it.
In other words: Din’s past comes back to haunt him. The Child doesn’t seem to mind.
Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions of injuries and scars, smut, dark!din ish because canon din isn’t actually all that good of a person, and canon typical angst
Summary : Din's foundling is a wild thing and poor him has to do his best and parent them.
Warning: I am not really that wild so I did my best to show that they really don't have any boundaries in life lol. I hope you enjoy :)
It only took Din a day after taking you in to realize how much of a handful you would become. Sure, he thought that you were just a little on the hyperactive side…. He was quickly proven wrong.
“Stay put. Stay quiet.” Din sat you on the co-pilot’s seat of the Razor Crest. He was making last minute preparations for their departure off-planet. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” You hummed, swinging your legs in the chair as he walked off.
He made his way over to the sleeping quarters to check on Grogu. The Mandalorian was unable to make a proper check up as the ship suddenly jerked, tripping Din over his feet and face first into the floor. His armor rang loudly in his ears, disorienting him for several clicks before he managed to make a proper stance and run to the cockpit. There, he found you sitting in the pilot’s chair, his chair, a wild grin on your face as you gripped the controls.
You made a disappointed grunt when Din tried to pry your hands off of the controls.
“No!” You swatted at his hands in an attempt to stop him but he overpowered you quickly, landing the razor crest in a fast manner. The pit was silent except for the occasional beeping of machinery.
Din suddenly turned to you. “What was that?”
“You took forever!”
Din paused a moment, seemingly in disbelief despite not being able to see his face. “I was gone five seconds.”
----------
“Y/N! Stay put. I’m coming to get you.” Din stood at the base of a dune, staring up into the sky where you were. He had turned away for one second the next thing he knew was you got nabbed by local thieves who’d made a surprise attack, taken up into the air by one of them mounted on their cruisers as others surrounded him.
“No shit!” Your voice rang from above.
Din was quick to overpower the group around him. They were equipped with menial weapons that were nothing compared to his beskar. After throwing the last of the men to the ground, Din made a move to activate his jetpack when a body fell to his feet. He paused a click, seemingly unaffected by the sudden crack the body made and looked up at the cruiser where you sat alone.
To say that Din was proud would have been an understatement.
“Good job kid,” Din beamed underneath his beskar. “Sit tight, I’m- hey- wait- NO.”
Without giving Din a chance to finish his statement you dove into the air. You had no parachute or jetpack on your own. Instead you dawned a crazed grin on your face and a light in your eyes as you fell closer and closer to the ground. Your mouth opened to yell in joy, but instead made an “oof” sound when Din caught you midair.
“STILL ALIVE!” You exclaimed, dangling upside down from the way Din managed to catch you.
“Maybe if I drop you you’ll have some sense knocked into that head of yours.”
-----
Din thought that after the endless lectures you’d come to realize that you were to stay put where you were told as he went into battle. He quickly realized he was wrong when amidst the soldiers was speck of (H/C). He paused for a moment, unsure of what to think as he scanned the area for whatever it was he saw. Blasters grazed his helmet and hit a droid behind him, Din quickly straightened up and turned to the fallen droid before diverting his gaze back to whoever shot the fire.
There you were, carrying a blaster almost twice your size with Grogu swaddled on your back. And you were… laughing?
“Y/N” Din began marching towards you too.
“I wish I could have seen the look on your face.” You wheezed, jumping up and down. Din worried for the blaster in your hands and whoever was unfortunate enough to receive the next shot, most importantly whether it was to be on purpose or not. “Guess you weren’t ready for me to save your butt just now. You’re getting slow Din!”
A blast shot out of Din’s weapon as a soldier advanced toward the two children. You barely made a reaction as you were in the middle of spinning in joy.
“Where did you get that? I- Y’know what- nevermind. Go back to the ship. We’ll talk later.”
“But we like it here-”
“Now.”
You looked at Din a moment with a small frown. It quickly concerned Din when he saw that frown turn into a toothy grin, but before he could say anything a cruiser zoomed past him and all he could do was watch as you somehow mounted the vehicle mid-air, laughing with a wild glint in your eyes,
“No. Kid get off. No, no- Y/N! Hey!” Din broke into a run and followed the cruiser as you taunted him by sticking out your tongue and shooting the blaster recklessly.
---
The Mandalorian was assigned to hunt down a Bosa that had been terrorizing a peaceful farming village. After leaving you and Grogu to the care of the villagers, he spent the next several days tracking down the beast before he finally found it. What he was not expecting to find was you taunting the trapped beast with a metal pole and a blaster by your side. How you managed to trap it, Din didn’t know. He didn’t even want to know how long you waited before sneaking out of the village. But he turned to find Grogu nearby watching, giggling wildly until he fell over.
Din tried to call for you, but you didn’t hear as the beast roared loudly at you. You bore a crazed grin and screamed back at the creature, your face unnecessarily close to its mouth, and laughed wildly as you poked the creature with a stick. Just as the creature was about to try and bite you from it’s trap, Din picked you up and carried you and Grogu away from the creature.
“Can we cook it??”
----
With the amount of trouble you’ve caused for Din he’s learned to do a routine checkup to make sure that you had all of your limbs intact as they should be. With the amount of trouble you went into, from taking big falls and getting hit by a dewback -long story- he realized that checkups were a necessity as you probably had more mishaps and adventures than you let on.
“YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE.”
“You need the bacta kid,” Din was hot on your tail as you ran away from him and the bacta spray in your hands. He quickly put you in a corner. “Aha. C’mere, it’ll only sting a little.”
He took some steps forward and knelt down, opening his hand so as to invite you to allow him to put the spray on your arm. For a moment, he saw your eyes soften and thought he finally got through to you.
“SNEAK ATTACK.”
Seemingly out of nowhere you smacked a metal breastplate against his helmet and made a run for it as he was disoriented.
---
For obvious reasons, Din had to find a lock for the armory. He took you and Grogu with him to the local market close to where they were given room and board for the night.
“Put it back.”
Your hand froze, holding a blade in your hand. You quickly stuffed it out of sight even though Din was ahead of you and wasn’t looking in your direction. “Put what back?”
Din stopped after a few paces, his attention turned to a fruit stand and began to pick up some and check to see if they were ripe. “What happened to the credits I gave you?”
“I lost them.”
A sigh. Din wasn’t surprised. “How?”
There was a pause.
“Gambling.” The largest smirk spreads across your face.
Din whipped around. He blinked for several moments and enunciated each syllable, tone almost sarcastic and defeated as though he was trying to not believe what you’d said “Gambling?” You nodded enthusiastically. With a sign, Din decided that he didn’t want to deal with any interrogation and cause a scene, instead he grabbed your arm to lead you in front. “We’ll talk about it later. For now, you in front until we get to the ship.”
The clan made their way down the marketplace until Din steered the troupe to a vendor with an array of weapons on her stall. You were left admiring the pieces as Din made his business. He needed some information regarding his next bounty and thanked the vendor afterwards, paying a little extra for her cooperation before turning to you.
“What?” You stared up at him with widened eyes.
Din held his hand out, “C’mon.”
You stared at his hand for a moment before sighing, fishing a small bomb out and placing it in his hand. The vendor watched wide eyed but said nothing as Din returned the ware to her and returned his gaze to you. “All of it. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
A moment. Then a sigh as you find that you had no way out of it. You pulled out all of the wares you’d stolen from the stand alone, putting them all on a considerably big pile on the stall while the vendor quickly retrieved them to put away.
“There.” You huffed, crossing your arms and turning away from Din.
“Thank you.” Din’s tone was sarcastic.
“Yeah, no problem rust bucket.”
Din shook his head and turned to the woman, “I’m sorry. My foundling hasn’t broken their habit of stealing. I hope you can understand.”
After he made you apologize to the vendor he took you by your arm and walked you back through the streets and towards the ship. He sighed, “I don’t know why I bring you to the markets. If you don’t stop this you’ll end up stealing from the wrong hand. And then what will you do?”
“Die probably”
---
Din knocked on the door of your sleeping cot. It was early morning and he needed you to help him with some preparations for the next trip off planet.
“Y/N. I need you to help me out with inventory. Can you come out?”
The door made a hiss before opening and you bounced out of the hull and zoomed off, ready to tackle the tasks. You were usually ecstatic to go off-planet, despite Din’s dismay as he knew it meant you’d find yourself into more trouble. He chuckled a moment and was going to walk off when the datapad on your bed caught his attention. He picked it up a moment and gazed at the screen.
You perked up at his voice while you were on your way to the storage below the floorboards. “Kid, what’s this?” He had the screen facing you, showing detailed maps of star destroyers and other military projects.
You gave the screen a glance before disappearing under the floorboards, your voice echoing louder from beneath. “I was just messing around a bit with some channels and found that.”
Din stared at the pit where you were for a moment before walking off into the cockpit, falling into his chair. He found himself facing an unprecedented predicament in which he was faced to call for Bo-Katan to inform her that his foundling had hacked into the Empire’s system.
Pairing: Din Djarin x Fem!Reader
Warnings: Some implied talk about pregnancy, tooth-rotting sweetness
Word Count: 1.9k
Tags: Fluff, domestic fluff, dad!din, established relationship, clan of four
Thank you to my beta reader @princessbatears
Idea was pulled from this set of HCs I did a little while ago :)
As you finished up with the shopkeeper you could hear the usual chatter of the younger Mandos as they dispersed from the training yard. They had stayed longer today for some extra hands-on training with the alor’ad while the littler ones had already gone home.
The days quickly were becoming shorter as fall settled over the little village. The sun was already starting to set, coloring the sky in a wash of blue fading into gold. Leaves were also starting to change color as the evenings grew cooler, the need for sweaters and cardigans more apparent. That, and also how much more snuggly you could convince your riduur to get in with you under thicker blankets.
Shifting the basket on your arm, you went out and walked back to your yaim. Enjoying the crisp scents in the air, the local farmers started to bring in the harvest of the late fruits and the wheat that had turned golden in the fields.
You passed by the familiar-looking homes, all plain and lime-washed in different shades of cream, white, and ocher. Some of the doors were painted in clan colors and patterns rather than surnames while others, like your own, remained plain and unassuming. Your neighbors were from various Mandalorian clans and tribes had their ways of maintaining a balance of community and privacy.
One of those ways was having homes that were set up with solid outer walls that surrounded the inner rooms and walled-in courtyards and garden areas that afforded even the more strict followers of the creed spaces to be unhelmeted with their aliit.
Entering your home you could immediately hear giggles emanating from further inside.
Setting the basket on the counter, you quickly put the cold-sensitive items away in the conservator. Blue milk, the soft cheese, and the fresh meat from the farm all got stored away, while the jogan fruits got put into the wooden bowl on the counter. You then took a quick peek at the dough you’d left to proof earlier in a warm spot and were pleased with its progress. It would be ready to knead and shape soon before baking into loaves, but you could come back to do that.
Right now you wanted to check in on the giggles along with the deep voice you knew to be Din.
“Gar gemas got bid munit, ner ad’ika. Could almost have braided it.” Din said in a mix of Mando’a and Basic. “Bic cuyir guuror gar ba'buir’s gemas.”
There was another round of giggles at the words as you heard a bit of toddler babble you couldn’t make out clearly. The source of the words was easy enough to locate and you leaned against the doorframe leading into the bathroom.
Din had commandeered a chair from the kitchen and little Valen was sat on the booster seat. His little bare feet, which looked rather dirty — you made a mental note that issue would have to be addressed later with a thorough bath — dangled in the air, kicking slightly.
Your riduur had wrapped a soft towel around your youngest’s neck and shoulders, tucking the ends into the front of Valen’s shirt to keep it secure. Your two-year-old’s hair was heavily dampened until the curls, which he had gotten from his father, were easier to handle.
Scissors flashed and snipped, Din using his fingers both as a comb and a safety guard as he got your baby’s hair back in order. Valen’s dark brown locks had gotten to the overly fluffy stage, just like how Din’s hair would get. The curls had grown a lot from his first hair cut just a few months ago, until and your ad’ika was constantly pushing his hair up or to the side so it was out of his eyes. So your riduur had taken to upon himself to remedy the situation.
You couldn’t help but grin at the domestic sight.
Din had his reading glasses on — the dark frames only highlighting his eyes — was in a pair of comfy sweatpants, a loose-knit shirt tucked in at the front, highlighting the slightly soft belly he had. Your two little ones were both with him. Briika currently sat on top of Din’s bare foot, his little green arms wrapping around Din’s leg and giggling as his makeshift ride took him around the bathroom in circles around the chair Valen was on.
“Bu!” Briika squeaked when he saw you as he clung to Din’s leg. Large green ears perking up as his large brown eyes grinned up at you.
Din and Valen both looked up and grinned, three dimples on display between the pair of them. It still bowled you over how much Valen looked like your riduur, it made sense of course since he was Valen’s father, but to see the evidence every day? Valen’s eyes the same shade of rich brown, skin almost the same shade of golden brown, and the hair? Your baby was almost a carbon copy of his father.
You knelt down to pick up Briika after he hopped off Din’s floor, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as you picked him up. “Hi, sweetie.”
“Mama! All gone!” Valen said proudly with a grin, a bit of cut hair held up tightly in his chubby fist to show you.
Thankfully, for your riduur’s health, Din had not cut off all of your son’s hair. You would have probably cried if that had happened.
“It is! Your daddy did a good job with your hair.”
Din grinned at the compliment, setting the scissors on the counter and started to brush any stray hairs off of Valen.
Ni, bu! Ni!” Briika begged as Din swooped Valen up with a shriek of laugher from the two-year-old.
“You want me?” Din asked, holding onto Valen, who was still giggling, in one arm.
“No! Ni gay-ma!” Briika said, gesturing wildly to his head with a clawed hand.
It took a moment before the toddler talk clicked, “You want a hair cut too, verd’ika?” you asked.
“Lek!” He grinned widely, pleased at being understood.
Din and you had to smother a laugh, Briika’s little green head had some wispy hairs but they hardly required a haircut.
“Switch with you?” Din asked with a wink sent your way.
You nodded and passed Briika over to your riduur before Valen was placed in your waiting arms.
Valen’s soft arms and legs latched onto you, his face immediately seeking out the crook of your neck. You shifted his weight to sit him more firmly on your hip, so you could brush a hand over his now shorter and already drying curls. Your riduur had left it a little longer the top of his head while the sides were a bit closer cut, so much lighter but still plenty of length left to keep your baby’s waves and curls.
“Hi, honey, did you have a good time with Daddy and Briika?”
Your sometimes quiet boy nodded his head, smiling up at you. He was just happy to be held for the moment.
“That’s good,” you said, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Valen giggled and kissed you back on your cheek, it was slightly damp but perfect all the same, his hand fisted tight into the soft knit fabric of your cardigan.
Briika sat as still as he could on the seat as Din put a large hand onto his head and carefully made a few snips of the scissors. Din barely took anything off at all with how little hair he had.
“There we go,” Din said as he took off the towel he had wrapped around Briika, having made sure to give him the full haircut experience. Both kids admired their haircuts in the bathroom mirror for about thirty seconds before they were ready to be doing something else.
Leaving Din to sweep up the shorn hair with his two little helpers, you went back to get the bread dough sorted out and get dinner started. It never got old to you how they both followed him around like baby ducklings, always wanting to “help out”. Even if they often got in the way, making a chore take twice as long, but he always took it in stride.
You watched in amusement as Din got your little ones settled into the cozy living area. A colorful stacking toy needing put together, a fun way of helping develop finer motor skills.
“Want me to help?” Din asked.
“No, I do! Bri do,” Valen said emphatically with a concentrated frown aimed at the blocks.
Once he was sure they were good, understanding they wanted to show off how they could stack the blocks all on their own, Din got up and sent you a wink as he came into the kitchen.
He pulled you in, hands searching and sliding under your cardigan to pull you in close.
Humming in pleasure at the warmth of his embrace you leaned into him as you posed a question after a moment.
“Sooo,” you drawled as you carefully moved his glasses from his nose, nestling the frames into the wavy of hair on his head. “Think we can handle another one?”
Din’s brow quirked, his mouth curling in apparent understanding even as he proceeded to play dumb, “Another what?”
“Another ad,” you supplied, smoothing a hand over the expanse of his chest.
The firm muscles, covered by the waffle-weave of his shirt, shift under your hands. He may be in his early forties, but his profession — and probably also running after you and two kids — kept your riduur well away from a sedentary lifestyle.
You felt the please rumble in his chest before his lips were swooping in and kissing you until you were clinging to him and breathless. Your eager riduur’s nose pressing into your cheek as you felt his hands pull you in even closer. He backed himself up until he could lean back against the counter. Your body slotting against his, molding together perfectly with contented sighs.
He pulled away only after pressing more kisses all over your face. Over your nose, cheeks, and chin until you were laughing at the tickle of his patchy five-o-clock shadow. His one hand settling heavily on the swell of your ass.
“I’m going to take that is a yes?” you teased, leaning further into his chest. Your arms snuck under his, coming around his sides so you could slowly rub along the planes of his back.
Dark brown eyes twinkled at you, the answer already written there.
“Elek, yes.”
He looked like he was about to say more when you both jumped at Briika and Valen shrieking, a huge clattering sound coming from the living area.
Both your heads whipped around to look and the tension that had come into your bodies immediately fled when you saw what was going on. The two littles had, apparently, gotten tired of stacking the blocks and thought it would be much more fun to knock everything over if the screaming laughter was any indicator.
Din pressed another kiss to your forehead before asking wryly, “Still sure you want to have another?”
You nestled your head into the crook of his neck before answering, both of you watching the children stacking the blocks back up so they could push them over again.
“With you? Definitely.”
Translations:
Alor’ad - captain
Buir(e) - parent(s)
Ad - child / son / daughter
Kute - bodysuit worn under armor
Yaim - home
beroya - bounty hunter
Ad’ika - little one / son / daughter
Gar gemas got bid munit, ner ad’ika - your hair got so long, my little one
Bic cuyir guuror gar ba'buir's gemas, ner buir - It is like your grandfather's hair, my father
Ni, bu! Ni! - Me da! Me!
Riduur - spouse
Elek - yes
Summary: Din’s latest acquired skills of parenthood are put to the test and Rey’s newfound awareness only grows worse... until a certain someone steps up to help.
Rating: Gen (Platonic)
Word Count: 5.4k
Previous Chapter ~ Masterlist
Rey wakes with a harsh startle, unable to catch her breath.
She was too hot… way too hot! She violently throws off her blankets to rid herself of the suffocating fabrics and pulls in a harsh gulp of air. She leans forward to press her sweaty palms to the cool metal surface of the hull and follows them with her head to rest her clammy forehead there as well.
All she can remember are the pulses of interweaving light sparking red and orange like the flames of a fire… then black and white, clashing and warring with echoes of banging metal and the cries of dying warriors. Then there was Mando, and then no Mando; like he had never been there to begin with. And the whole time, she remembers the dark and painful sting of the baby’s projection crying out to her. Loud, painful cries always accompanied by an aftershock of buzzing and tingles. She couldn’t sever the strings from her mind and whatever spell the baby had put upon her was jerking her around like a puppet and she hated it.
The voices seemed to follow her too, although now they were only quiet whispers that she couldn’t decipher, and no matter how hard she rubbed at her eyes or ears they wouldn’t go away.
She felt exhausted. Her eyes stung and her face ached like it did when she just had a good cry. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep and hope the dreams wouldn’t follow her, but she knew they would. She could still feel that buzz dragging down her spine and nestling itself into the back of her neck.
It wasn’t a foreign feeling, but it was so much more prominent than what she was used to. She’s always had a small little twinge at the back of her neck, and a tiny tickle in her tummy, but yesterday all of a sudden it just got worse than it’s ever been. She knows when it happened… but she doesn’t know why it did.
It had been a sudden rush of something when Mando got thrown down by that hairy monster, and she’d been frozen in place lying in the squishy dirt where he’d pushed her and the baby out of the way. She watched him, the confidence that Mando would fight his way out diminished into fear which spurred a gush of warm tingles shooting to the tips of her fingers, like they were suddenly encompassed by the lick of flames from a fire. Still, she couldn’t seem to make herself move. And then the baby… he did something, she know he did, because as soon as the beasts feet lifted from the ground she felt that annoying itch in her teeth quite literally shatter into a cacophony of darkness, fear, and pain; she could feel everything. She could feel the baby, she could feel Mando, she could feel the wooly monster hovering in the air, and she could feel the tiny lizards skittering away from the scene. Everything. And it was so loud, and it scared her.
She shudders at the memory, then recalls another event the day before just before she went down to bed. The same thing happened… when she touched the baby. Only that time, instead of the darkness and fear having an unspoken face, it took the form of that familiar scene she’s encountered far too many times in her sleep recently.
Was the baby bad? He didn’t seem bad… but whenever she was around him she unwillingly fell prey to a fear and pain that she knew didn’t belong to her… but maybe he was just scared and lonely just like she was before Mando found her, and maybe she could help make him feel safe and happy again. He didn’t have reason to be scared anymore. Not with Mando there to protect them…
Speaking of… where was he? All the times she’s woken up on the Razor Crest, he was right here. She looks around one more time, just to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the eye, but nope, he wasn’t there. He must still be up in the cockpit with the baby.
It makes her a bit nervous, being around the baby again, but maybe if she didn’t touch him just yet things would be okay. The whispers were still just a little too loud ad she didn’t want to make them worse again.
She pulls her usual blanket over her shoulders and creeps up the ladder. The door hisses open for her and she shuffles in with her head dropped, gaze staring at her small toes.
“Did I wake you?” Mando asks softly without turning around in his pilots chair.
Rey shakes her head even though she knew he couldn’t see her. She was too busy staring at the tiny green baby peering out at her from his pram with a small coo. He was awake now.
… and her teeth start itching again. She hates it.
She turns from the baby, pulling her shoulders up and rushes further into the cockpit, right up to Mando’s chair. She hopes maybe he’d let her sit with him again. It was nice… he had made all the whistling whispers go away before when he held her, and the universe was quiet when she was around him… even now it was just a little more bearable.
She doesn’t want to ask though… so she stands beside him with her blanket wrapped tightly around her as she waits for him to figure it out for himself.
Finally, he gives into his curiosity and turns his head to look down at her. His head tilts to the side in question as it usually did when it came to her.
“Are you hungry?”
She shakes her head.
“Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head again.
“Thirsty?”
It spawns the same result.
Suddenly she caught a whiff of frustration from Mando as he shifted slightly in his seat.
“What do you need then, kid?” And that time the frustration was clear in his tone, and she felt like standing down, but she was stubborn… and she was feeling lonely and sad again and Mando was the only solution she could think of. She didn’t want to have to be by herself anymore; not after having to do it for so long on Jakku.
So, she took a single step forward and snuck her hand out from the blanket and placed it on the metal piece of Mando’s leg, staring up at him with big eyes and doing her best to communicate her need for comfort through the thin air of the cabin so she wouldn’t have to open her mouth and make the words say what she needed them to, because really, she had no idea what she needed. Everything was just a big old warbled mess and she couldn’t make any sense of it anymore!
Mando shifts slightly and his left shoulder slumps while his right leg angles further inward, and she knows he’s hesitant and confused.
“You want to pilot?”
She shakes her head. He wasn’t getting it… and he probably wasn’t going to without her telling him what she wanted and she just can’t do that.
She didn’t want him getting more irritated either. So, she sighed, and her chin dropped to her chest. She turns to walk away, sad she wasn’t able to fulfill her goal.
She doesn’t get very far though. Mando grabs her by the arm and pulls her back to where she was, right beside his chair without looking. He presses a button on the console while he adjusts a few controls then slowly turns his chair to face her, giving her his full attention.
He’d never done that before…
His back hunched slightly, to be better aligned with her eye line, and his elbows rested precariously against the metal covering his thighs as he tilts his head down at her.
“Tell me what’s wrong ad’ika.”
It was a bit of a startling contrast from the rigid Mando she’s grown used to, and she ends up biting the inside of her cheek and turning her gaze to the ground when a sudden wave of shyness washed over her.
Then Mando grabs her hand with his warm leather fingers, giving it a small tug to pull it away from her lips, where she was obliviously soothing on two of her fingers. His other hand lifts and he gave her a soft chuck beneath her chin to force her gaze up at him.
“I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong, ad’ika.”
Rey doesn’t know what’s wrong either! And that’s the problem! All she knows is she feels small and sad, and so, so very alone and scared. And this time she knows these feelings now belong to her… these were her own fears and memories pushing against the seams of the tight knot she’d tied around them in her mind. It had acted like a dark void for so long, knowing that if she ever ventured down that path, she wouldn’t be able to find a way out. And because of it, now she could feel this unknown weight pulling her down deeper into that cavern of dark thoughts, obstructing any light that tries to shine through. It only got worse when she came into the cockpit, so now she knows it’s because of the baby, and-and she doesn’t know how to fix it.
Mando soothes a thumb just below her eye, along her cheek.
“Don’t cry,” he pleads with her, and just like that the dam breaks.
The tears fall as the pressure finally finds its release. She reaches her arms up at Mando, forgoing any care she might have had earlier in her desperation for that alluring relief of safety.
Next thing she knows, she’s being lifted off her feet and settled into a warm embrace. It’s instinctive what she does next, because she doesn’t ever remember doing it with anyone before. She wraps her arms securely around Mando’s waist and nestles her face right into the cowl of his cloak. The hard ridges of his beskar armor and helmet, poke at her, but it wasn’t enough of a nuisance to deter her actions. The soft fabric soaks up her tears and she curls in closer as her sobs begins to slowly die down.
“Is this what you wanted, kid?” Mando’s voice took on a foreign sense of worry and affection and a large hand rested on the flat of her back, nearly covering it entirely as he rubbed soothing circles up and down her spine, chasing away the weighty pinch of tingles that have collected there for what felt like so long.
Rey didn’t want to admit that this is exactly what she had wanted, but she shrugged anyway, pulling her arms tighter around his waist to soak up as much warmth and serenity that she could before Mando could change his mind.
“Hey.” The rough edge to Mando’s voice returns in a stern scold, and Rey pulls back quickly like the metal of his armor had burned her. She flinches away from him, thinking she’s done something wrong. “I thought I told you to leave that alone.”
Mando’s hand doesn’t leave her back, instead it negates his words as he tries pulling her back into the embrace, using his other to situate the blanket back around her shoulders so she was still nicely cocooned against him. It was confusing, so she turns to look at him, unsure of why he was scolding her so suddenly when his actions spoke the opposite.
He wasn’t looking at her, instead his helmet was turned to the side, and she followed his gaze. She sees the baby standing on the console, just a foot or so away from falling right into Mando’s lap beside her. He’s holding out something round and shiny towards her in his claw. He looked sad with his big eyes drawn together by the big wrinkle at the top of his head.
Mando reaches out to grab it from him, but the baby was quick and pulled it out of his reach, closer to his body, and shoots him a look. His ears pull back, and his big eyes narrow to accompany a threatening purr. Mando grunts, and the baby turns away from him, ears wilting once more and eyes growing big and wide as he holds out the little metal ball towards her again with a soft coo.
On impulse, she reaches out to take the offered gift. Then she remembers the night before and she pulls back with a jerk and she stares at the baby in horror of what she had almost done. She turns back into Mando, falling against him and smushing her arms protectively between their chests.
“She doesn’t want it kid,” Mando says gruffly, and it’s followed by a sad coo.
Rey feels bad, but she doesn’t want the tingles to get worse if she touches the baby again… not when they’ve finally gone away again.
It’s okay… safe.
Her body goes stiff at the warm sentiment echoing in her ears, and she sits up a little more.
Warmth… no more tingles… she could feel him. It wasn’t like the other whispers.
Safe.
The presence blotted out everything else, acting almost as a shield for her own mind and she didn’t realize how much everything else had been weighing down on her until it was gone. She sagged forward against Mando, eyes almost instantly going droopy as she was finally able to relax. She peeked her head out at the baby… the cold press of Mando’s chestplate chilling the heat of tears on her fac and she looked up at the baby. His little ears quirk up as his head tilts to the side.
“Baby?” She squeaks.
He gurgles at her with a happy smile and he extends his arm to offer the ball once more.
This time she takes it, slowly and tentatively, but she takes it, fingers brushing momentarily against one of his tiny claws. And instead of a wave of alarm and panic, it’s an even stronger sense of warmth and security that rushes over her, almost like the physical connection had solidified the mental one.
Safe… goes the whisper again.
Rey hums, tears instantly drying and she shivers as the residual tension flushes through her.
“Thank you,” she whispers, feeling the lulling pull of exhaustion.
She pulls the ball close to her face and rolls it around her fingers. The metal was chilly to the touch, but it wasn’t bad… and she shut her eyes,
Her sleep hadn’t been restful before, dreams filled with noise and chaos, but now things were quiet…
She feels the small tap of a tiny claw caressing her cheek. She blinks open to find the baby right near her face, perched on Mando’s opposite leg. Two more small taps of his claws, and then a rush of soundless relief and everything goes dark.
***
“Kid?” Din shakes her shoulder when her small body suddenly slumps against him like every muscle in her body had given out.
She doesn’t move.
“Kid!” He shakes her harder. “Rey.”
She snuffled, a small hum which evolved into a quiet chirp. Her head tilts just enough for him to spy the relaxed smile she wore. He turns towards the baby.
“What’d you do to her?” He asks it, eyes narrowing suspiciously beneath his helmet. He’s seen the uncanny power the small child was capable of.
He plucks him off his lap by the back of his tunic and drops him into the pram like he did earlier, and tilts Rey’s head to the side with a soft grip on her chin, just to double check nothing was amiss where the baby had touched her. He found nothing and he gently pries the small ball from her grip and screws it back onto the gear shift and stands from the chair. He adjusts Rey in his arms, grasping the blanket that had fallen off her shoulders and tucking it back around her as he hikes her up onto his hip like he’d seen other parents do with their small children. And he must admit it is much easier to carry her this way. Much more efficient.
He treks back down into the hull, toeing at the jumbled mess of blankets spread across the floor. He bends to pick up a handful of them and uses his elbow to press against the control panel and open the door to the small storage space he uses as his own sleeping quarters.
He uses his free arm to arrange the blankets along the hard metal, hoping this way she might sleep a little better than she had on the floor. He lays Rey down on the blankets gently and he tucks the blanket around her sides then brushes away the hair in her face. He stares for a couple moments, still warry and unsure with the circumstances, but she looked at peace and nothing seemed wrong. So, he stepped back and closed the door.
He hopes she wakes before they land. He doesn’t want to have to deal with the aftermath of leaving her behind on the Crest. By his luck, she’d probably wander off on her own in search of him and end up getting hurt or taken by a skanky slave trader. Nevarro was not a crowd for unaccompanied children.
Din forces himself to trudge back up into the cockpit. He’s met with a mischievous baby mouthing on the same metal ball, and the beep of a transmission on his dashboard.
“I thought I told you to quit that,” he mutters, pulling the child, yet again, from the control center and dropping him back in the pram. Mischievous, this one was. He falls into his chair with an irritated grunt and spins towards the controls, quickly flipping through several switches now that Nevarro can be clearly seen through the viewport of the Crest. As he gets the the ship back on course, he plays the transmission from Greef.
He grips the controls tightly, stretching the cramped muscles of his fingers as he adjusts his grasp. He knows he’ll regret what he plans to do.
***
Din stares at the baby as they both sit down in the hull of the ship while they wait for Rey to wake. They’d landed in the shipyard on Nevarro half an hour ago, and Din could feel himself growing antsy as the minutes passed and Rey still showed no signs of waking up no matter how much he tried to shake her awake.
“What did you do to her?” He mutters, turning his head down to the silent child. He looks back up at Din with a curious tilt of his head and quiet chirp.
Din sighs. He braces his elbows on his knees and laces his fingers together as he stares at the closed quarters Rey slept behind. Whatever spell the child had put her under, it was definitely doing its job.
“You’re hard to read, kid. Not sure whether to hurl you off this ship or thank you…” He sighs and drops his head. “I could tell she didn’t sleep well.”
The baby cooed at him, and he felt the tap of a tiny claw patting his leg. Din looked at him and the kid stared at his visor with his big eyes, and his ears twitched while his head tilted to the side with a curious chirp.
“How long will she stay like this?”
He doesn’t know why he asks, the baby couldn’t kriffing talk for Maker’s sake…
But then the child’s big eyes slowly close and his ears pull back slightly as his small face morphs into the same expression he saw him make just before Rey fell into her deep sleep.
His eyes snapped back open, then blinked slowly like he was in a daze and Din reached out a hand to steady the little guy when he wobbled precariously.
He heard a quiet rustle from the compartment Rey was sleeping in, and he glances between the baby and the storage bay.
There’s no way…
He stands slowly from his crate and moves towards the compartment. And when he opens the door, sure enough, there she was, awake and rubbing at her eyes as she yawned.
She looked up at him and squinted with a small smile.
“G’mornin’.”
“Good morning,” Mando huffed in astonished amusement. “Are you feeling better.”
Rey sits up and continues to rub her eyes as she nods. “Yeah… tired though.”
Din pauses, thinking this might be the perfect excuse to leave her behind on the ship without her fighting him every step of the way. “I have to leave with the kid. Why don’t you stay back and sleep?”
Rey perks up, because of course she does, and she shakes her head adamantly. She vaults herself out the container, rushing for the clothes she had folded neatly in the corner, then to the fresher to get changed out of her sleepwear.
Din sighed.
It was worth a shot.
He turns around to face the kid, moving towards one of the storage cabinets overhead to retrieve a couple ration bars for whenever Rey decided she was hungry during their trek. He didn’t know how long they would be away from the ship.
He would have quickly eaten one himself while she was getting ready, but the child was there. So, he would just have to wait until tonight after Rey went to sleep.
He does break off a small piece though and offer it to the child as a silent thanks. He gladly takes it, mouthing on the rubbery piece of food.
When Rey joins them, he holds out the rest of the bar towards her.
“Would you like to eat now, or later?”
“Now please,” she exclaims excitedly, reaching out to grab the ration greedily. She takes one large bite, chewing viciously at the portion in her mouth then holds it out towards Din to share.
He shakes his head slowly, a small smile growing beneath his helmet and he reaches out to push her offered hand back down then uses his hand to gently pet her hair in thanks.
“I can’t remove my helmet, remember?”
Rey frowns, opening her mouth to speak while she still chewed.
“Why not?”
“I’m a Mandalorian. This is the way.”
She swallows.
“Oh,” her brows furrow and she stares down at the bar in her hand. “So, if I want to be a Mandalorian I have to wear one?”
Din nods.
“Can I still eat?”
He chuckles under his breath.
“Yes, you would still eat. You just can’t remove your helmet in front of someone else. You would have to eat alone so no one sees your face.”
Rey stares up at him, completely crestfallen.
“No one can ever see my face?”
Din shuffles on his feet. He knows the answer, but the matter regards his willingness to disclose it.
“Well…” he hesitates. He did not want to discourage her form becoming a Mandalorian; she would grow to be a skilled fighter, he knows it. Yet, he wonders if it were the best choice to reveal everything so soon. There were still so many variables that could change…
“If you were to become a Mandalorian… then only I would be able to see your face.”
Rey squints at him and asks the ever-dreaded question of “why?”, and he sighs.
“You would be my… my clan…” You would be my child. I would be your father. We would be Aliit.
“Oh,” she muses, frown dissolving as she thought about it and took another bite of the bar. “So… does that mean I can see your face too?”
Again, Din shuffles awkwardly. “Eventually.”
Rey grins at him, a wide smile to show off her missing tooth. “Then we can eat together! You won’t have to eat alone no more.”
Din blinks, a sudden sting piercing his eyes. “Yes.”
His answer is clipped and short, but Rey doesn’t seem to mind.
He turns his back to her to lift the baby off the crate and into his floating pram. Then, without looking back at her, he gestures with his hand for her to follow him and she obeys, trotting up to his side near the hanger door as she gnawed away at the remains of her breakfast.
***
Rey follows along beside him as they navigate their way through Nevarro once more. She holds onto his cloak, and he’s glad she does judging by how distracted she becomes with the baby. Any prior fears or grudges she held against the creature long gone as she giggled and poked him. The child loved it, cooing and laughing and chasing after her hands when she’d reach in to tickle him.
She trips over her own feet a couple times but is otherwise able to remain upright.
And about halfway into their trek, she tugs on Din’s cape.
“Can I ask a question?”
He nods.
“Where are we going?”
He turns abruptly into a small alleyway, his cowl tightening around his neck as his cloak is pulled taught by Rey’s ill-preparedness to change directions so suddenly.
“We’re dropping the kid off,” he answers, helmet nodding to the side to gesture towards the pram following beside them.
“What?” Rey whines, “I thought he was gonna stay with us.”
Din doesn’t respond. He knows she won’t be happy with any answer he gives her and simply lets her protest continue in vain. They descend a small staircase and come upon a heavy door. He bangs on the metal with four loud knocks and then flexes his fingers to loosen the cramped muscles… he felt strange.
“Whoa!” Rey jumps back when the small droid pops out of the pillar beside the door.
Din holds up the card to be scanned and the door unlocks and opens with a hard screech. Out walk two storm troopers and Din can hear Rey’s audible gasp then immediately steps behind him. They stare at the baby then gesture for them to follow.
Rey grabs his hand and tries to pull him away from the door. “Mando,” she hisses, “those are storm troopers! They’re bad guys!” The baby voices his agreement with a disgruntled squeak, and the remaining storm trooper outside, waiting for them, stares at her.
Din wasn’t a fan of their piercing stare and he steps to stand between his gaze. Then he grabs Rey’s wrist and gives it an encouraging squeeze. He moves her hand to rest at the side of his belt, folding her fingers around the leather.
“Stay close,” he orders, and leads them through the dark threshold.
Rey watches the trooper that follows them in. She hangs tight to Mando’s belt
“Easy with that,” Mando grumbles, and Rey turns her head quickly to see the storm trooper in front grab the baby’s pram.
“You take it easy,” the trooper snaps back, walking even faster and pulling the baby even further from them.
Rey doesn’t think when she does it, she just senses the sudden wave of distress. She lets go of Mando’s belt, surging forward to grab the pram to try and yank it out of the troopers grasp. “Let go!” She grunts, tugging even harder.
“Hey!” The trooper rounds on her, pulling out a blaster aimed right at her head.
It all happened so fast she has to question if it actually happened. Mando grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the way so quickly it hurt her shoulder. He didn’t let go as she was shoved behind him. His blaster was already lifted, standing off against the trooper.
“Keep that brat in check Mando,” the trooper eventually muttered, slowly lowering his weapon. Mando follows his lead and soon they’re continuing down the hall once more, but now Mando had a tight grip on her arm.
He was mad at her…
She frowns and gives a small tug to try and loosen his tight grip, but he doesn’t budge.
“Yes!”
They enter a large room and Rey cranes her head to see the owner of the excited voice. It was an old man with white hair… she didn’t like him.
“Yes, yes, yes!” He approaches the cradle as she and Mando come to a stop just behind it. Then a guy with glasses rushes up to join the old man and they both stare down at the baby.
Rey wants to jump in front of him to protect him from the two strangers, but Mando must have sensed her plan because his grip tightens even more around her arm and he tugs her even further behind him. It twisted his arm in a weird way, but he didn’t seem to care. Now she couldn’t see what they were doing, but she heard the baby make a sad noise and her skin tickled with a wave of panic.
“Very healthy. Yes.”
She frowns. She wanted to know what was going on! The tingles were just getting worse and worse and she knew that the baby was scared. She tried tugging out of Mando’s grip again, but he didn’t let up.
“Your reputation was not unwarranted.”
“How many fobs did you give out?”
“This asset was of extreme importance to me. I had to ensure its delivery…”
Rey shivers, mouth going dry as she peeks out to see the old man walking away from them, headed for a long table in the middle of the room.
“…but to the winner goes the spoils.”
Mando follows him slowly, and Rey is tugged along behind him. She didn’t want to leave the baby alone, but Mando was just leaving him there! She didn’t know what to do.
She saw the weird man with the glasses grabbed onto the cradle and pull him away. Rey gasped and the baby looked at her with a fearful whine. He was scared.
She revived her effort to pull away, tugging with an angry fervor and whined with an angry grunt when the effort proved fruitless.
“Now who is this?”
She feels Mando go rigid and slowly his grip on her arm loosens enough for her to step out from behind him. She’s sure to use her best glare as she comes into view, and the old man chuckles. She wasn’t going to be scared of him.
“I have to say, I did not expect a man of your distinction to be caring for a child.”
Rey looks between the old man and Mando to determine the best opportunity to bolt to the baby and save him from the mean old man.
She forgot how good Mando’s reflexes were though. As soon as she jumped into action he grabbed the back of her tunic. She fought him, the growing desperation of the baby’s tenor urges her to act.
“Let me go!” She tries reaching back behind her head to slap at his hand. When that doesn’t work she twists and pulls, which only ends up tangling her in her own clothes.
Nothing was working and the baby was leaving now. He stares at her, looking sad… and Rey slumps with defeat. She failed. She failed to protect her new friend.
“He’s scared,” she pleaded. “Mando don’t make him go. He doesn’t wanna go with them. Please.”
She quiets when she sees the angry scowl the old man shoots towards Mando. “How unprofessional, bringing a child of this disposition to such a significant business dealing. I expected more from a man of your reputation.”
Mando didn’t move or say a word for a long time. Rey stares at him with tears growing in her eyes. She refused to cry in front of these people. So, she moves forward to hug his waist in a last ditch effort to convince him not to leave her new friend behind.
But he ignores her and reaches up to close the canister holding his hefty payment. It seals with a hiss and a click and he lifts it from the table then grabs her wrist with his other hand, prying her off him.
“Couldn’t find a sitter.”
And with a shrug Mando turns, walking past the troopers, and headed for the exit. Leaving the baby alone in the hands of these people with the dark hearts.
All this talk about Din needing to adopt a certain little girl from Jakku inspired me to do a quick drabble. Obviously, I got carried away, so for your own amusement and consideration: dad!Din & foundling!Rey
Warnings: brief mentions of child trafficking, family fluff
• Boba has claimed the throne on Tatooine, and Din is laying low, avoiding Bo-Katan and other responsibilities involving Mandalore and the kriffing darksaber.
• He checks in with Cara, Greef, and Peli occasionally, seeing where he can help out, as a way of thanking them for helping him in his time of need.
• Fennec cleans up house, releases slaves, and comes across a young slave girl, Rey.
• None of the ex-slaves claim her as their kid, saying she's alone, an orphan.
• Fennec asks Boba what they should do with her, and he suggests she look for Din, knowing that the girl's background might hit a little close to home with him, but also could be a chance for Din to heal after having to let Grogu go.
• Unwillingly, Din adopts her after much bribing from Boba and Fennec: "She needs a home." "You wouldn't let a little kid just live their life on Tatooine alone, would you?" "What would your clan think if you ignored this foundling?"
• When Din stops by to visit with Cara and Greef in Nevarro, he has Rey with him.
• She always sits on his shoulders holding onto his helmet. Din had her promise to never lift it up because "it's important to me, ad'ika" and left it at that, and Rey never breaks her promises. She's had others betray her when she was sold into slavery, so she always promised herself to never break her promises. Din has been her protector for a few weeks now and gained her trust quickly when she quizzed him about Mandalorians and asked, "why do you wear that shiny helmet all the time?" Learning about honor, discipline, and compassion for the widowed and orphaned that the Creed emphasized was enough for her to trust Din with her life after being abandoned and sold like property.
• Walking through Nevarro, Din and Rey cross paths with a certain general and pilots flanking her (and of course Din doesn't keep up well with who the heroes of the galaxy look like -- hell, he didn't know who Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker were until Cara and Greef explained to him they were legends that he basically has on speed-dial now).
• He recognized one of the pilots, Blue, whom he encountered on the icy planet with the Frog Lady, and hoped to avoid an awkward "mAy ThE fOrCe Be WiTh YoU" encounter again, so he tried to haul ass through town.
• However, Rey had other ideas, and wanted to tell "the nice lady general" that she liked how her hair was styled and "Din, do you think she would show me how to make my hair swirly on the sides of my head?"
• Din tried to figure out a way to gently tell Rey that "the nice lady general" was probably too busy to explain hair techniques to a six year old, but the general must have overheard their discussion and walked in their direction.
• "Hey, Mandalorian!" The pilot exclaimed happily to Din, reaching out his hand for a shake, that Din unwillingly returned.
• "Oh, General! This is the Mando I was following a while ago that I told you about. How's your ship by the way?" Smiling up at the young girl on Din's shoulders, amused, he added, "and did you have another kid since I last saw you?"
• "Destroyed," Din flatly answered, "and uh - yeah, you could say that."
• "What's your name, little one?" the general sweetly asked the girl, who suddenly became shy, fidgeting with Din's cape underneath her.
• Din picked up on Rey's bashfulness and patted her leg lightly, "it's okay, ad'ika."
• "Rey," she quietly answered, "what's yours?"
• The general smiled kindly, stretching out her hand for Rey to shake, "it's Leia, and it's a pleasure to meet you and your father," winking at Din, who felt his face blush at the mention of his paternal relationship with Rey, and embarrassed at not realizing who the general was until now (Leia knew what she was doing, she enjoyed teasing people, a trait that Han loved to point out).
• Rey giggled as she shook General Leia's hand, picking up on her teasing. It looked as if Rey made a new friend who liked teasing her buir as much as she did.
• Clearing his throat, Din prompted Rey, "isn't there something you'd like to tell the general, ad'ika?"
• "How did you make your hair look like that? Could you show me and my buir how?" she excitedly asked Leia.
• Chuckling, Leia agreed, only if her buir would allow it, to which the Mandalorian shyly obliged and replied, "only if we aren't taking up your time, ma'am."
• Leia waved her hand to shush Din, shooed away the pilots, and insisted she could spare the time.
• Humbled, Din watched as the general sat with Rey as she braided and twisted her hair, noting how she effortlessly did it, and so he could help Rey learn to eventually do it herself.
• He listened to the general talk to Rey about her own child with long black hair.
• "He can be a grump like his father, but if you met him, I think you'd teach him how to open up and enjoy life more," to which Rey giggled, "he sounds like my buir. He's quiet and grumpy, too, especially when I wake him up each morning!"
• Laughing, Leia replied, "maybe our paths will cross again and you can meet my sweet Ben."
• Din didn't miss Rey's blush at that statement and could only groan at the thought that he signed up to not only be her guardian, but would have to be the one to explain the kriffing birds and bees to her when she was older.
• Kriff, he didn't know if he could handle all of that responsibility... especially after having to experience empty-nest syndrome since Grogu was picked up by the Jedi.
• But when he came to sit down near his ad'ika once the general finished braiding and pinning Rey's hair back, he saw the young girl smile so brightly, he realized...
• As long as he could provide a better life for her -- no matter the heartache he might experience in return -- it was worth it. If she could have that innocent joy that she wholeheartedly deserved, then he did his job well. As her buir.
They called the episode “The Believer” and yet Din went against everything he believes in to save his son and if that isn’t peak parenting then I don’t know what is.
