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Jyn stared out the window as she watched her sons Jaq and Lev and daughter Biva play in the yard with their Uncle Baze and their cousin Shona, Bodhi and Vexei's daughter. Their childhood was the best she could think to give them, one where they did not have to worry about where the next meal would come from, or when they would be sent on the next mission.
The Andor children were growing up in a time of peace, surrounded by loving family who would do anything to protect them
Today was the anniversary of the day she'd lost her family, when her mother had been killed, when her father had been taken by the Empire. Since that day, she'd effectively been an orphan. Saw had tried to treat her as best he could, but his group couldn't afford anyone who couldn't fight, and so she'd traded dolls and toys for knives and blasters.
It was a childhood she hoped her children never asked about.
Cassian had remembered the date, and had held her tightly that morning before the children were up and either of them had to head to work, soothing away the tears that Jyn let come after all this time. Tears had been a luxury she couldn't afford as a child, and at one point she might have thought all her tears had run dry. A life of peace and of seeing her children grow, and fearing what they might one day face brought tears to the forefront again.
"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" Bodhi's voice drifted over to her, and she turned her head to see the man she considered a brother leaning against the counter, holding a cup of caf in his hands. His eyes drifted out the window, watching his daughter play with her cousins and uncle. "Some of them had a pretty rough beginning, but now...now I hope we give them the childhood I always wanted."
Jyn tilted her head a moment. "Wasn't an easy time for any of us, was it?"
Bodhi shook his head lightly. "With you and Cassian losing your parents, and living under the Empire. My family was always afraid, I remember that, but I tried to put it to the back of my mind. I wanted to fly. I thought if I could fly maybe I'd find a measure of freedom." He shook his head. "All I got was a family that refused to ever speak to me again after I joined the Academy."
Jyn nodded, recalling what Vexei had told her about their encounter with Bodhi's blood kin.
She smiled sadly. "We can't really ever replace the family we lost, though I think it is safe to say we built a new one."
Bodhi smiled a little. "When did Rogue One become our family anyway, Jyn?" He turned his gaze towards her. "I mean, by the end of the war, I don't think any of us questioned it, but in the beginning, well, after Scariff for me, it felt like I was home."
"You were," Jyn said softly. "We were. You all became my family the day you followed me to Scariff, knowing we would probably all die. And then when we didn't, I don't know if I could have gotten by those first few months without you, or Cassian, or Baze and Chirrut."
"They were the stable ones," Bodhi said with mild amusement. "Perhaps the rocks we all clung to even when we weren't sure of our own relationships. Baze adn Chirrut were there, always there for each other."
"A good example of how a relationship should go," Jyn added. "Taught me a lot about relationships, and how much I wanted to be with Cassian. How to be there for each other through the good and the bad."
"And we've all had those ups and downs," Bodhi nodded. "Your capture, Vexei almost dying on me.." He shuttered a bit at that. "Though even then, I knew I wouldn't be entirely alone. No matter what, we still have this family. Like Vexei's people say, family is more than blood.
"So we do," Jyn agreed. "Maybe we should celebrate that tonight, instead of me mourning that past I can't change. Celebrate Rogue one, celebrate our family."
"Agreed." Bodhi set his coffee down and pulled Jyn into a hug. "Thank you, little sister."
"Thank you, brother dear," Jyn replied into his shoulder.
Rogue One was family, and always would be.