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“I’m so sorry, did I wake you?”
In truth, Hera had definitely woken him. Zeb could sleep through anything, but Kallus had almost two decades worth of lessons on the dangers of heavy sleeping he was combating. Getting to sleep wasn’t an issue, but staying there...the slightest thing had him up and alert, and the Ghost was not a large ship. Sound carried. Which was how he found himself in their shared common area, watching Hera sob into a cushion.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Zeb was snoring in my ear again.” He lied, and Hera laughed, wiping her eyes with the back of the hand not resting on her distended belly.
“You’re full of it, everyone knows he stopped snoring after you started making him wear those nose strips to bed.” Damn, but the woman was brilliant. “But thanks for lying.”
“My pleasure.” While he was up, he might as well make some tea. There had been an entire crate of a brand he’d preferred as a young man on Coruscant, before caf became the drink that dictated his daily life, that had been on an Imperial ship they’d raided a few days before and to his delight, not only could Hera keep it down, she seemed to actively enjoy it. “Tea?”
“Stars, yes.” She groaned, leaning back against the couch. She wasn’t telling him not to dote on her, which was a change of pace.
Three weeks after the reclaiming of Lothal, Hera had woken up sick to her stomach. They’d all been a little under the weather that day after splitting a pot of what had turned out to be tainted stew at a local restaurant, so she thought little of it. Then it happened again, and again, and again. It had taken full-body examinations from three medical technicians before Hera would believe that yes, she was definitely pregnant.
And yes, it was definitely Kanan’s.
And yes, she was definitely keeping it.
Kallus handed her a mug of tea, no sugar, the slightest bit of honey. “Let it sit a minute, you’ll burn your tongue.” The skin of Hera’s hands was slightly thicker than that of a human, so she could hold the mug just fine, but their tongues were virtually identical. She sighed, patting the spot next to her.
“It’s a good thing you’re up, actually. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
That could be a good sign, or a truly terrible one. With Sabine on Lothal and Kanan...no longer of this plane, Kallus had become Hera’s sounding board when it came to matters within the rebellion. Then she’d started sharing petty gossip with him, and that’s when he knew that they’d truly become friends. Pushing the tear-soaked cushion to the side, Kallus sat. Hera sighed again, staring into her tea.
“So about the slug.”
Hera had a number of creative nicknames for her unborn child which, for the most part, she seemed absolutely thrilled to be having. She’d told him candidly that since they’d assumed that Twi’leks and humans couldn’t breed, she and Kanan hadn’t been particularly careful in their physical relationship. She’d then made a number of colorful assumptions regarding Lasat physiology, and he’d actually felt his brain shut off.
“Yes?” Kallus watched as one of her hands left the mug, wandering down to her belly again. At just over five months into a pregnancy she’d assured them all would be at least eleven months long, Hera was only just beginning to show.
“I want to be on Lothal when it comes, so Sabine can be there.” He nodded, even though it worried him. The Empire hadn’t struck back at Lothal yet, but who knew what the next few months would bring. The poor baby didn’t deserve to be born in a warzone. “And if anything should happen to me, I want my family to raise it.” The way Hera looked at him, the way her hand moved from her belly to his wrist, it made him feel that she wasn’t talking about Cham.
“Hera-” He began, but she tightened her grip and he paused.
“If this had happened at any other time, I don’t think I’d have known what to do to prepare for the worst. Sabine is responsible, capable, but she’s still just a child. I couldn’t ask this of her, not now. Beyond her, the only people I’d trust with this life Kanan and I made are on this ship.” Hera turned to him, putting her mug down entirely so she could grab him by the shoulders. “So I want you to promise me right now, Kal, that if I die, you and Zeb will take my child someplace safe.”
Kallus tries to imagine himself with a baby in his arms, and he can’t. It’s easier to picture a pink-skinned toddler, lekku flapping behind them as they run on chubby legs, Zeb close behind. He doesn’t know where they’d go, what place could be safe enough that the Empire wouldn’t be able to find them, but he wouldn’t have to figure it out alone. He wouldn’t have to figure any of it out alone.
“I’m not sure I can speak for both of us, but my war will end with you, if it has to.” Hera snorted, picking up her cooled mug of tea to drink deeply.
“You can absolutely speak for Zeb. He’ll go wherever you go, told me so himself.” Kallus drank his tea in silent contemplation as Hera continued to talk, switching subjects to the state of her pregnancy. “It’s terrible. I can’t sleep, most things make me sick, and just last night, I had a dream that I was going to give birth to a Loth-wolf. A big green one!” He chuckled along with her, taking her mug once she seemed done with it. The tea had been warm enough, and soothing, and they were both feeling pleasantly sleepy.
“If you give birth to something large and furry, missy, we’ll need to have a long, serious talk about what you lot got up to on this ship before I started living here.” Hera howled with laughter, pushing herself up off the couch. “Go get some sleep, we’re supposed to make a run on a supply ship heading to Eadu tomorrow, and that’s deeper in Imperial space than I’d prefer to be right now.”
As they walked out of the common area and towards their rooms, Hera turned to give him a little side-hug. Kallus smiled, but said nothing. She knew what she meant to him, and how grateful he was that she had accepted him. “Goodnight, Kal.”
“Goodnight, Hera.”
Though he’d been quiet leaving and coming back in, Kallus still found Zeb awake when he went to return to their bed. He was laying on his stomach, but rolled to his side in an effort to give his lover the room to get in. The bunk was dreadfully small with the two of them in it, but Zeb refused to banish Kallus to the top bunk.
“Y’smell like tea.” Zeb mumbled, nosing at his jaw. “Hera wake you up again?” Kallus hummed, scratching the back of Zeb’s neck lightly.
“Yes, but it wasn’t the worst thing. She’s decided that if she should die, we’ll be gaining custody of her baby.” A visible shock ran through Zeb’s entire body, and the hair Kallus had been petting fluffed up in alarm.
“And you agreed to it?” He sounded startled, though there was also an undertone of something...pleased. “Never took you as the paternal type.”
“I wanted to put her mind at ease.” Kallus replied with a shrug. “Besides, her exact words were that she wanted us to take the child somewhere safe. There is no place that’s completely safe from the Empire, but I figure we can do our best if the time comes.” He went back to soothing and scratching, and soon Zeb was emitting a low purr that vibrated their bed.
“We’d find a place.” Zeb said eventually, long after the idea of continuing the conversation had left Kallus’ mind. “There’s a place we can go, us and the sproglet. We’d make it work.”
Though he didn’t vocalize it, Kallus was glad Zeb had that much faith in him, and in the universe. There simply wasn’t a place the Empire hadn’t touched; its arms were simply too long and plentiful. But with just a word from his Lasat, he felt like he could believe a safe planet existed.
“Hera said you’d follow me anywhere.” Kallus said softly, his head pillowed on one of Zeb’s arms. The purring only seemed to increase.
“To the ends of the universe.” Zeb confirmed, and Kallus felt his breath catch in his chest. It was awfully soon to make such grand statements. He wondered if it was another cultural difference. “Only right. You followed me into a whole new life.” Which, to be fair, he had.
“I-” Kallus was at a loss for words. Well, not exactly. He had an idea of what he wanted to say but...it had barely been a handful of months. And yet here was Zeb, swearing a kind of fealty to him like it was the easiest choice he’d ever made. So if he could do it... “I do believe I love you, Garazeb Orrelios.”
“Yeah,” he replied, openly pleased now. “I’ve been able to smell it on you for ages.” And that was a conversation for another day because no matter how good Lasat noses were, there was no way they could smell emotions. “In case it wasn’t clear though, I love you too, Alexsandr Kallus.”
He sealed his statement with a pair of little sucking kisses, placed directly on the back of Kallus’ neck, which caused him to shiver. Zeb chuckled at his physical response. “Eadu!” Kallus hissed, rolling over so that his poor neck wouldn’t be in danger anymore. “Big, big supply carrier. We need to be top of our game.”
Zeb muttered something that sounded like I’m certainly top of something, then sighed and kissed his forehead in defeat. Suddenly, his ears perked. “But after the supply run-” Kallus made a low purring noise, something he’d picked up from Zeb, and the Lasat shook.
“Exactly. After the supply run.”
Kallus rolled back over, fitting himself against Zeb snugly. For his trouble he was given a final soft nip to the shoulder, and then Zeb was settling down. He found it was easy to fall asleep like this, the overwhelming warmth and safeness he felt in their bed better than any Imperial-issue sleeping pill he’d ever forced himself to take.
“Goodnight, dear.” He said with a small yawn, but got no reply. Zeb was already asleep again. “Goodnight, love.” Kallus said again, but softer. He smiled to himself, content, and closed his eyes.
Sleep came near-instantly, and all was well.