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Chapter Text

Baze wasn’t sure what noises were coming from his mouth. But it was deep sounds of anguish that left his throat. Chirrut had collapsed in his arms, repeating his mantra over and over, but his voice was slipping away as Baze shot left and right around him to keep the troopers away. Baze started reciting the mantra as well as he clung to the side of Chirrut’s robes. 

Just as Baze had given up, feeling the breaths from Chirrut slow down, he leaned forward and blocked them from any coming fire. They had served. Though hard, their years had been good together. Baze had kept his promise to never leave his partner’s side. He wouldn’t, he would stay right beside him for the rest of the time the Force gave them. He laid down his blaster and clutched Chirrut’s hand while continuing to recite the mantra. 

Just as a trooper lined up his shot to deliver the ending blow to the guardians There was a harsh sound of engines right above him, and before he and his other soldiers could move out of the way, an imperial cargo ship crashed down on top of them. The noise made Baze look up for a moment as he watched the cargo ship doors open. His first thought that it was more troops to storm the beach, but something in his instincts told him that thought was wrong. 

In the next moment, Bodhi Rook came tearing out of the cargo ship. He held up a large blaster.

“MALBUS! IMWE! COME ON!” Bodhi demanded. Baze almost didn’t believe his eyes, but one glance down to Chirrut, who was smiling wide, even as he was slipping in and out of consciousness, told him that this was not their day to die. 

Baze lifted Chirrut the best he could and carried him quickly into the cargo hold. Bodhi followed them in and secured the hold before running back into the cockpit. 

“Buckle Chirrut in! Melshi back guns, Tonc get in the copilot seat and man the forward guns,” Bodhi commanded them. Baze gave him a shocked look, Bodhi’s newly found confidence seemed to falter for just a moment when he said, “Please” in a small voice. Baze broke out into a relieved smile and got into his position. 

They made their way around the base shooting down as many AT-AT’s as they could. Bodhi would pull them down, open the cargo hold and one or two of their team would run in. He was able to pick up five other men besides Baze and Chirrut. 

As they stopped near a tree clearing, Bodhi stopped the ship to avoid rapid-fire from a different ship. He opened the back and pulled Sefla in. At that moment a grenade followed them into the ship. Sefla gave him a look, all the blood drained from his face. Bodhi’s determined face did not change when he grabbed the grenade and tossed it as hard as he could across the field of fire, landing back in the direction it came from. 

“WELL DONE, ROOK!” Sefla yelled. 

“We should go!” Melshi yelled as Pao ran onto the ship. 

“No, not yet,” Bodhi said, pulling up towards the base citadel.

“What are you doing?!” Melshi exclaimed. 

“I’m going to get Jyn and Cassian,” Bodhi said without a change in emotion. “Tonc, open comms with Red 5 and ask for an assist on the left side of the Citadel.” 

“Rook, this whole place is going to blow,” Melshi yelled. 

Bodhi slowly moved his eyes to Melshi. “I’m not leaving this planet without them. So get back to your station and cover our backs,” he said in a low voice, very different from his own. Melshi huffed but retreated back to the cargo hold. 

Cassian clung to Jyn, as she did to him.  A strange sense of calm overwhelmed both of them as they watched the world tear apart around them. They had completed the mission. Whether the plans were actually in the hands of the rebels or not was a different question but they had done everything they could to help. In these last moments, Cassian clung to the only thing he knew was real. It prevented him from falling into the coma his body was desperately pulling him into. But he was going to be there for Jyn. He had promised that he was with her, and he intended to keep that promise. 

Jyn was empty of tears. After all this, she felt complete. They had done it. For the first time in a very long time, she was genuinely proud of herself. She was grateful that Cassian had decided to hold her in this moment, but she could feel the blood seeping through his shirt onto her arm. She counted his breaths as she waited for the blinding light that was moving across the sea to consume them. His words beat through her head. Not that her father was proud but I believe in you. He had kept his promise and she was grateful for that. 

They were all but deaf from the sounds around them, but something in Jyn’s soul told her to open her eyes. She looked up and saw the beat-up imperial ship landing only around 30 yards from their spot on the beach. The back opened without powering down and Baze rushed out. Jyn’s scream in shock stirred Cassian to turn his head in panic, instinctively covering her with his arm. 

The sight of Baze beckoning him to the ship was the most shocking thing he had ever experienced. He had never been happier to see this giant man. Jyn stood up, pulling him up to her so she could help him get to the ship. Before she could halfway drag him anywhere, Baze was lifting Cassian like a bag of potatoes over his shoulder and running onto the ship. 

As soon as Baze threw Cassian on to the seat beside Chirrut, Pao was shutting the hold and securing the door systems. "CLEAR!" his voice gargled out. 

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Bodhi's voice rang through the hold and Jyn grabbed a bracing bar beside Cassian's seat. 

What happened next was probably more dangerous than anything they had done that day. Bodhi drove the ship towards the atmosphere and as soon as they were in space he jerked the ship in hyperdrive. 

Jyn could feel her insides try to tear apart and let out a yelp. The noise that left Cassian was nothing short of a scream. After a few moments, they jerked back out of hyperdrive and broke into the atmosphere of Yavin IV. 

Bodhi managed to land it near the forest edge as smoke alarms and exhaust sensors started blaring. As the ship tumbled to a stop in small plumes of smoke, everyone immediately started to leave the ship. 

Baze carried Chirrut out in his arms, bearing the weight remarkably as he headed to the medics on standby. Jyn coughed hard several times as she tried to pull Cassian up over her shoulder. He was losing consciousness and every time he went to stand he would wince and stumble. Bodhi found them and threw his other arm over his shoulder. They pulled each other away from the smoking ship and to the medics.

Chapter Text

Base medics had tried to keep Jyn and Bodhi out of Cassian’s recovery room four different times before one of them just handed over the passcode. Bodhi started having a panic attack every time he was anywhere out of view of Jyn, Baze, or Tonc. If he didn’t know the status of Chirrut and Cassian at least four times a day Tonc would have to go hunt him down in the storage rooms and calm him down. 

Jyn was more aggressive than Bodhi. She demanded to be in their rooms when she wanted, she demanded the status reports and had conned one of the younger health care recruits into thinking that she was a commanding officer and their statuses had to be sent to her datapad every time they were checked. 

If she wasn’t trying to gain information about missions around the Death Star and Saw Guerera’s army, she was sitting at Cassian’s bedside, or Chirrut’s on the rare occasion that Baze left him. 

Chirrut was in a forced coma to sit out in a bacta tank until his wounds were healed. Cassian was in a similar state until the blaster wound healed and he had his hip replaced, from there he drifted in and out of consciousness for a week. He recalled the beeps of droids and systems sometimes, various people coming to check on him. But constantly was Jyn doing something in the room, whether it was reading, straightening up things in the room, or badly meditating.

There were times Jyn just sat and stared at him, willing him to wake up and be grumpy, quiet Cassian. The one person that could tell her and the others what to do in the rebellion.

Sometimes she tried to meditate with the Force, but she ended up making herself frustrated and would give up halfway through. Sometimes Cassian would wake up just enough to watch her a few moments without being able to say much. 

He was always so relieved when he opened his eyes and it was Jyn. It brought everything to reality, that the Rogue One mission had actually happened. That he had done something that mattered. That Tonc, Sefla, Melshi, and Pao were still alive. That Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze were there and he hoped were still alive. 

“Is this Captain Andor’s room?” 

Jyn looked up from her datapad and saw a young woman. She was near the same age as Jyn but she looked like some kind of goddess in her all-white outfit and dark hair in elaborate braids around her crown. 

“Yes,” Jyn said simply. Her mind flashed for a moment to the thought that this might be Cassian's significant other and suddenly she would be unnecessarily intruding on this couple 

“I was hoping he was awake. I wanted to thank him. Are you his nurse?” she asked in her naturally authoritative voice. 

“No. I’m Sargeant Erso. Cassian is-...” She paused. She wasn’t sure what to say: her friend, her comrade, superior.

“You’re Erso! I was hoping I would find you as well. I’m Leia Organa,” she said holding out a manicured hand. 

“Oh. I know you,” she muttered out. Leia was of course a major leader in the Rebellion, but Jyn had met her as a child in a meeting with their parents. 

“Well, I certainly know of you. Thank you for not bowing, your comrade Rook seemed to be confused about my Princess rank.” 

“Bodhi was a deserter of the Empire, and he’s been having a lot of anxiety since the mission. He’s still getting used to talking to normal people,” Jyn chuckled. 

“I understand. I came here to give Andor and you some news.” Leia stood a little straighter looking over to Cassian. Jyn turned back to look at him, almost like he would have woke up but he was still asleep. “Should I wait till he wakes up?” 

“I’m not really sure when that will be. He’s been in and out all week, but he hasn’t said anything. He had surgery a few days ago so, hopefully, he’ll wake up in the next day or so,” Jyn explained. Leia nodded sadly and moved towards him. 

“I wanted to tell you both that we have devised a plan to destroy the Death Star with the plans. We’re going to execute it in two days,” Leia told her simply. 

Jyn nodded understanding, not exactly sure how to respond. “What's the plan? What do I need to do?” was the first thing out of her mouth. 

“I want you at the bridge with me. I need someone that is going to stand with me and help get things done the right way,” Leia said. 

“I’ll be there, but I don’t think you will need me to command a room, Your Highness. You will be surrounded by-” 

“Yeah, a bunch of men that want to tell me what to do and maybe passive aggressive Mon. You and your team are heroes. We need you to inspire. Show them what we’re fighting for.” Leia cut her off.

“I don’t know if we can do that.” 

“I know you can. Everyone told me about how you and Andor got them to join your team. Sefla was very convincing about how well you would do with the troops.” 

Jyn considered this. She was still feeling the effects of the mission herself. Her scars were barely healing, and her own panic attacks were just starting to recede to what she was comfortable with. She hated to admit it, being such an independent person, she didn’t want to do it without Cassian. She knew that Bodhi wasn’t in the state to try and lead anything, much less be trusted since he just recently joined the Rebellion. Chirrut and Baze might have some sage words of wisdom but Chirrut still being under and Baze not willing to leave him, that excused them from the equation. But Cassian was a leader, he was a captain, he could lead troops in his own right. Even if Jyn gave the best speech of her life to inspire and recruit, his endorsement is what would convince people. She kicked herself mentally for thinking it for the millionth time in the past month, but Jyn needed Cassian. 

Leia glanced between Jyn staring at Cassian and him sleeping. “We don’t need the men to tell us what to do, Erso,” Leia said almost angrily. Jyn looked back at her slightly aghast. 

“It’s not quite like that, Your Highness.” 

“They're always telling us to do, or we wait for them to tell us what to do. It’s so frustrating. We could do it better than any of them if we wanted to,” Leia started to ramble, putting her hands on her hips.

“Your Highness, I can assure you, no man is telling me what to do. We’re all a team. We’ve been through something incredible and I just wouldn’t feel right doing this without them.” 

Leia considered the answer for a moment before she said anything. “I think I understand. I have recently found my own team, of sorts.” She looked Jyn right in the eye when she spoke, Jyn wasn’t sure if this intimidated her or impressed her. 

“I’ll be there,” Jyn said after a few moments of silence. “And I will hope that Cassian is awake by then to join us.” 

“Good,” Leia gulped, in obvious relief. “I hope he is too.” She nodded and started to leave. “By the way, call me Leia or Organa. The next person that calls me ‘Your Highness’ or some variation will probably get a blaster to the face. Ok?” Leia added as she started out the door. 

“Good, I don’t know how long I could keep that up.” Jyn chuckled as Leia nodded and left. 

When Cassian finally became fully conscious, he thought no one was there. He slowly started to sit up and register where he was. He also started to register the parts of his body that were still in pain. He unhooked one of the tubes from his neck and one from his nose. He pulled off the cords near his hands and sat all the way up. He groaned at the stiffness in his body from lying still for so long and adjusted his eyes to the soft emergency lights. It must have been late at night because he didn’t see any of the medical attendants milling around and all the main lights were off.

Cassian suddenly panicked. He needed to find everyone, see who made it. To make sure everyone was alright. He turned to try and roll off the bed but then he saw he wasn’t alone. There was a small chair near the corner of the room. Jyn was curled up as tight as she could be in the chair. Cassian smiled to himself that she was there. It relieved his panic that she was there and it seemed like she was alright. When he went to get up he groaned at the pain in his side but tried to keep quiet not to wake Jyn. But the weight on his legs threw him off balance and he fell into the side of the bed. Jyn jerked awake, her hands balled into a fist as she leaped from her chair. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw Cassian leaning on the bed. 

“Cass!” she gasped and grabbed onto him. “You’re awake!” she gasped in surprise, as she helped him to sit up on the side of the bed.

“Sorry, I just woke up.” He winced at the pain in his legs. She held his arms until he had settled. He finally relaxed for a moment and looked back up at her. 

“How do you feel?” she asked hurriedly, scanning over his face and arms. 

“Awake. How long was I out?” He rubbed the many hours of sleep out of his eyes. 

“Two weeks,” Jyn said, running over to his medical datapad. She started punching for a nurse to come and check him. “They should have been alerted. Do you feel dizzy? Are you nauseated?” she asked, coming back to him and checking all the tubes that were still hooked up to him. 

“No, no I don’t think so,” he sighed heavily. 

“I should go get someone,” she grumbled. 

“Jyn, wait,” he said and grabbed her arm. She stopped her rushing and looked at him. His dark eyes were alert as she locked eyes with him. His expression was somewhere between happy and concerned. He moved his hand from her arm to her hand and squeezed it tightly. Hearing him say her name seemed to put her in a trance. 

“We’re alive,” he muttered. She nodded. “You’re ok?” Taking his turn to scan over her as he took her other arm in his hand.

“Just a few scratches,” she said, leaning slightly into his touch. 

“Who… um… who made it?” he managed to ask. 

“Bodhi, Baze, and Chirrut. Um... Tonc, Sefla, Pao, and Melshi. The rest…. They’re heroes,” she said with a heavy sigh. He nodded at this and tightened his grip on her arm. 

“So it was a success.” His face brightened slightly. She nodded with a sad smile. 

“They have plans to destroy it tomorrow.” 

Cassian closed his eyes searching for clarity. His mind was racing. He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. He didn’t know if he should go find Draven and sign up to join the mission. Should he go find Bodhi and the others and go check on them? 

Jyn gently moved his hand from her arm and touched his face. He snapped back to her and looked deep in her ever-changing hazel eyes. “You’re ok,” she added a smile to her whisper. He smiled back. A medical droid came whirling into the room and quickly pushed Jyn out of the way. She moved and waited for them to scan him. 

“I’ll be back after your scans. I promised Bodhi that I would tell him when you woke up,” Jyn said and left before Cassian could stop her.

Chapter Text

The mission was underway. Jyn had kept her word and stood with Leia at the briefing. Leia was sure to give the Rogue One team credit for getting the plans. Jyn was starting to like Leia more with every interaction. Jyn followed her out to the hanger to watch the pilots take off. Bodhi had volunteered to join, against Jyn’s wishes, but he was given an old A-Wing to fly out with the rest of them. Jyn and Tonc were fusing over Bodhi’s droid systems as they prepared to take off. She noticed Leia talking to another blonde haired pilot and realized that must be part of her ‘team’ she had mentioned. 

Tonc was trying to convince Bodhi for what seemed like the tenth time that he didn't have to do the mission. 

As if they needed more of a sign that the Force was working in their favor a familiar voice came echoing through the hanger, “Jyn! Bodhi!” 

Jyn looked at Bodhi then slowly turned her head towards the voice. Chirrut was slowly walking into the hanger, with the assistance of Baze and his staff, Cassian was behind them, with his own temporary walking staff. Baze looked beyond concerned, almost aggravated, as his arms herded Chirrut forward. Jyn smiled at Bodhi before leading the charge over to them. Jyn wanted to cry at seeing this blind man hobble towards them. She knew that she had barely known them a few weeks, but it was almost like the Force wanted her to feel bonded to them. 

Baze let Jyn hug Chirrut and Bodhi awkwardly patted his shoulder, to which Chirrut lovingly patted Bodhi’s cheek. 

“My time alone with the Force has ended. I was guided back for this very event!” Chirrut proclaimed. Jyn couldn’t help but laugh at what she halfway believed was nonsense. 

“All pilots boarding,” a voice announced. Bodhi looked nervously at them. 

“Good luck, little brother,” Baze said to Bodhi, mirroring the way he had said it to Jyn before. This seemed to boost his esteem and he ran back to his ship confidently. They all left the hanger and Jyn clutched Chirrut’s hand to guide him to the bridge. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked. 

“Stronger than ever in the Force. The time away has given me clarity on many things.” He grinned. She sighed a laugh and squeezed his hand as she led him to a chair. 

Jyn and Cassian stood beside Leia as they listened to the comms come in from the field. Tonc stood nearby pacing and stopping every time Bodhi’s voice would come through. They all exchanged looks as the events unfolded. There came a point that Luke had lost cover and Bodhi and some of the others were having to pull back.  

“I need cover!” Luke shouted out. Jyn saw Leia tense up. She instinctively grabbed her hand and Leia squeezed back. But a different voice came over the comms in excitement.

“You’re all clear kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home!” the person yelled. Leia’s face lit up. 

“Han,” she gasped out happily. 

In the next few moments, they pulled back and reported they were returning to base. The next thing they heard was a massive explosion. They all ran outside to see the explosions of the space station that was the Death Star. There were screams and shouts as everyone cheered. 

Jyn watched Baze embrace Chirrut. Sefla and Tonc patted each other on the back. Leia hugged Jyn before running back towards the hanger. Jyn started to follow her but Cassian caught her hand. She turned back to him, a grin plastered on his face that matched hers. 

“We did it,” she whispered as he pulled her to him and leaned his cheek against her head in a hard embrace. 

“We did,” he whispered back. She sighed into him and tried to contain everything she was feeling somewhere in her memory so she could get it back at some point when she needed to feel happy. She pulled back to look at Cassian’s face, not holding back the happy tears that started streaming down her face. She giggled as he wiped a few of the tears away from her cheek. She leaned into his touch with a soft appreciative sigh of contentment. She opened her eyes again and saw that he was staring intently at her. He seemed to be taking in every little detail of her face as his thumb gently rubbed her cheek. She felt a heaviness in her chest as she looked into his deep dark eyes. 

“What is it Cass?” she finally managed to ask after a few moments. He broke into a smile and suddenly his lips were on hers. Jyn absorbed the shock of the moment and leaned against his arms as she wound her arms around his neck and he let go of her face and clutched her waist. 

It was like Jyn had been in a dark room for a long time and someone had turned on a light. For some reason, it was a surprise. It was like it was part of her instinct to be kissing him now. It was in her nature now to run her hand softly through his hair as his hands tightly grasped her waist pulling her even closer to him if it was possible. The one kiss turned into several kisses without pulling away from each other. After a few moments, Cassian pulled back from her lips and loosened his grip on her waist. He looked her straight in the eyes for another moment before she pushed away from his completely. 

“We should go see Bodhi,” she blurted out and immediately wanted to take it back. Before she could stop herself she turned away and started jogging back to the hanger. 

Chapter Text

Once the Death Star was destroyed, the general feeling on base was relief and happiness. But there was still a fight. Darth Vader and the Empire still were out there and they still were oppressing billions across the galaxy. Though the missions tended to be shorter now, they were still necessary to show that the Rebellion was ready for anything. 

Cassian had spent three months in recovery on base. His job was to organize the secret intelligence transmissions into something that the rebels could act on. It was essentially a desk job, which he wasn’t quite used to, but was grateful for the time to fully recover. The only time it really bothered him was when everyone from the Rogue team was gone. 

After proving his skills in the Death Star battle, Bodhi was called on often for airstrikes and teaching the rebels about the different machinery and weapons the Empire were using in cities like Jedha, sending him back and forth on many missions. 

Chirrut and Baze were sent on recovery missions to different areas where there was evidence of oppression and torture, especially with children. 

Jyn was being called on to try to make contact with the extremist from when she was with Saw. She was on base pretty often, but was in meetings or transcribing messages like Cassian.

Jyn often sat with Cassian in one of the makeshift offices to transcribe messages. It was long dull work but Cassian was happier to just have someone willing to sit with him in the quiet, especially Jyn. They hadn’t kissed since that night, but that was fine by Cassian, he had caught her off guard and everything was so fresh. He was more than happy just having her sit with him quietly or lean on him when she got sleepy, hug him when she felt some sort of relief, anything to keep her near.

The only thing that did bother him was that she was one of the few females on base, so Cassian had to watch some of the men on base fawn over her and look at her like they were going to make her theirs. Like she was some sort of obtainable object. He hated it when they tried to flirt with her. Sometimes she would respond with quips. Sometimes she would get aggravated at them and be cross sending them away. She never sent Cassian away, she could be cross with him, but she still returned to him. It made him at least feel like she was more than just his comrade. That he had a little more right to be with her than the other flirtatious men on base. They had survived a planet blowing up together. 

 He used to be so miserable going day and day out not being able to be himself, always on the run hiding. But now he had this team that knew who he was, and was for the most part happy with him. 

After three months, he was released for duty and was immediately put on a mission two star systems away. They were easing him back into duty by making it a few weeks, but that still meant having to leave without much notice. 

He was given an A-Wing to pilot for the journey since he no longer had Kay and it was only going to be himself. As he packed up the ship Jyn came jogging into the hanger. 

“You’re leaving,” she said simply as she approached. Cassian couldn’t help but smile that she was coming out to see him off, or that’s at least what he thought in his mind. 

“Got the command this morning. They’re sending me to the Nima system for a few weeks to gather some intel,” he explained, dropping his bag and approaching her. 

She wrinkled up her small little nose in distaste. “By yourself?”

“Well, with Kay being gone, I don’t really have anyone else to go.” Unless I asked you. The rest of the statement threatened to leave his throat as he looked down at her concerned hazel eyes. 

“You obviously know what you’re doing and they cleared you for duty,” Jyn muttered. She didn’t want to be so concerned with his safety, she was never like that before when she was working with Saw. But Cassian was something different. She knew he cared for her. She knew that he wanted her safe. She also knew that he supported her, he stood by her as a leader and a follower, and she did the same. 

Jyn acknowledged all of his actions as respect and admiration, but she also knew that there was a big possibility that he thought of her as more. She had convinced herself that the kiss was merely a strike of emotions from their success. But the way that he looked with those dark eyes at her sometimes made her stomach flop. 

“I suppose so,” he replied pushing his hair back so he could look at her better. 

“Do you have everything?” she asked, turning her attention away from his eyes and to the ship. 

“I think so.” He picked up his bag and threw it into the cockpit. 

Jyn hesitated with her next question. “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?” 

“Just a couple of weeks, Draven says he wants to ease me back in, but it's one of my own informants so I need to go,” he explained. 

“Oh… good. Just- um…. Be careful,” she said, stumbling over her words. Cassian smirked and looked down at her. It felt like he was baring into her soul. 

Cassian wanted to kiss her again. Just a goodbye, he thought. It would be harmless and hopefully not pushing any bounds. 

“Andor! Why aren’t you up in the air? You are supposed to be there by tomorrow morning!” Draven came stomping into the hanger. 

“Heading out now, Sir,” Cassian shrugged at Draven. The general huffed and folded his arms. 

“I’ll see you in a few weeks, Cass,” Jyn said quietly. Cassian smiled and grabbed her hand. 

“Adios, Jyn,” he said and squeezed her hand once more, giving his commanding officer a side glance, resisting kissing her in front of Draven. He saluted Draven and climbed up in the ship. 

Once his ship was out of view Draven turned to Jyn. “I don’t really care what is going on here Sergeant, but keep it professional,” Draven grumbled. 

“I’m not sure what you mean General.” Jyn felt a slight blush creep up her cheek. 

Draven dramatically rolled his eyes. “Good evening, Erso.” He nodded and left her to watch the fading dot that was Cassian leave orbit. 

-----------------------------------------

Cassian was more than happy to return to base. His intel was misinformation that the rebels already had, so the mission felt like a waste. He had to repair the old A-Wing they gave him twice just to get it back to base, and he had spent the last two days eating old Nima stew. 

He was happy to see the base again, but his aggravations weren’t going away. Once he landed, instead of having the ability to unpack or try to find anyone, he was pulled into meetings to discuss the intel he got. After a few hours of having to re-explain himself several times, he was finally dismissed. 

He knew he was on edge, being tired and hungry. He knew he should just grab something to eat and go straight to his quarters and try to sleep. But he wanted to see whoever was on base and check-in. He really wanted to see Jyn, making sure she was fine would help him sleep better.

Cassian got a tip from one of the droids that she was heading to the mess hall for dinner. He started that way but came upon a sight that should not have bothered him as much as it did. Jyn leaned against the hallway wall smiling and talking. Wedge had an arm outstretched propped up against the wall right near her head. He was standing over her slightly imposing. But what bothered Cassian the most was how close Wedge was to her along with how he kept looking her up and down, like she was some type of possession. 

Cassian wanted to just keep going, grab food, and go to bed. Jyn was obviously fine with the situation, Cassian had no doubt that she could defend herself. 

“Hey,” he let out a little aggressively. It caught their attention and Wedge leaned away from Jyn quickly. Jyn ignored Wedge and jogged up to Cassian. 

“Cass, you’re back,” she said in almost relief. 

He nodded. He wanted to just pull her in and drag her back to his quarters and just hold her a while. But the smug look on Wedge’s face made him think differently. 

“Yes, I’m back. How is the team?” he asked instead. 

“They’re fine, Bodhi and Tonc just got back from their mission, I was going to catch up with them at dinner. Baze and Chirrut are off-world right now but they will be back this week,” she explained. Jyn could tell something was off with Cassian, he seemed hesitant and he didn’t want to meet her eyes, a shift in his regular long staring moments with her. 

“Right. I think I’ll just grab a meal bar and go to bed. I’m rather tired,” he told her, still avoiding her eyes as she followed him into the mess hall. 

“Good to see you back, Andor,” Wedge said as he passed by. 

Cassian nodded at him and mumbled some Festian curses under his breath at him and went past. Cassian soon found Bodhi and Tonc, who greeted him accordingly. 

“You going to eat, Andor?” Tonc asked as he sat down with Bodhi. Before he could respond Wedge was back at Jyn’s side. 

“Are you going to come eat with me and the squad, Jyn?” he asked leaning towards her again. 

I’m right here, Cassian wanted to spit out at him. He knew he didn’t really have a claim to her, but he thought it was obvious that Jyn and Cassian had something between them. But Wedge knew that they were a team, and they had been separated a while, at least he could respect that. 

“No, I’m fine here. I want to talk to my team,” Jyn said a little coldly. 

“At least join us for some drinks later. I know how much you like that Bastian mead.” He winked at her. Cassian glanced at her and turned back to Bodhi and Tonc. 

“Glad to see you back, guys. I’m going to bed. See you all in the morning,” Cassian grumbled to Bodhi and Tonc as Jyn talked to Wedge. 

“Are you sure, it’s decent food tonight,” Bodhi asked, confused as to what was happening. 

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted,” Cassian responded before walking to the kitchen and back to his quarters.

“What was all that about?” Tonc wondered quietly to Bodhi. Jyn had finally shrugged off Wedge and gone to get her food.

“What do you mean?” 

“Andor being all standoffish with Jyn and Wedge,” Tonc paused. “Do you think he is jealous of Wedge?” 

Bodhi looked at him with some concern. “Did Cassian say something to you too?” 

“Uh… no…”

“Yeah, he rants about it all the time to me and Chirrut. He doesn’t like how all the men look at her,” Bodhi said offhandedly. 

“Are Andor and Jyn even together?” 

“Well, they’ve kissed, and they spend all their time together when everyone’s on base. So yeah, I would say Cassian and Jyn are together.” 

“Wait, Andor and Erso are together?!” someone exclaimed behind them. Kes was passing by behind them. He grinned and quickly jogged off to his own new love, the best pilot in the Rebellion, Shara Bey. 

“I have a bad feeling that Kes Dameron knowing might be a bad thing,” Bodhi stated to Tonc, who had worked with Kes often in the past. 

“I don’t think it's a good thing,” Tonc sighed.

Chapter Text

Jyn noticed for the rest of the week Cassian was avoiding her. She wasn’t sure what she had done wrong, but she trusted Cassian enough to tell her if something bothered him, she knew she would tell him if he had done something. He was still fine with her sitting with him while they did transcriptions, he didn’t talk very much, but that was never his MO anyways. 

She also noticed that some of the guys that tried to annoy her, like Wedge and Kolpi, were leaving her alone, which she was secretly thankful for. 

One afternoon she was helping Leia with some old contacts they wanted to look back into. Han came sauntering in, Jyn assumed to annoy Leia. 

“Oh, hey, it’s Erso,” he exclaimed and threw down some packing slips in front of Leia. 

“What is this?” Leia scoffed at him. 

“Ten containers of Imperial Steel. Got it off a trader before they could get it to the Empire supply chain,” Han smiled proudly.

“This is very valuable Han. How did you do it?” Leia asked handing part of the slips to Jyn. 

“Ah you know I can’t reveal the secrets of the mastermind, Your Worshipfulness. But I did have help from your man, Erso.” 

“My man?” Jyn asked. 

“Yeah. I hear Andor finally put a claim on you. He’s an alright guy, a lot shader than he comes off.” 

“Wait. Put a claim on me?” Jyn spat out in frustration. 

“Oh, sorry, uh yeah. I was talking to some of the guys and Kes said that y'all were together.” Han leaned on the desk near Leia. 

“Is that what that kiss was about?” Leia asked, trying to ignore Han. 

“What- no. That was just… you know… celebratory. We were all happy.” 

“It didn’t seem like it was just celebratory.” 

“We were all happy, Leia.” 

“So you two aren’t together?” Han asked.

“No… not technically. He hasn’t asked me anything, it was just one kiss.” 

“I don’t know much about whatever kiss you had, but I know a guy doesn’t act like he does with you unless he’s trying to get somewhere with the girl. All your moon eyes at each other,” Han chuckled. Leia shot him a slight glare. 

“Get somewhere? Claiming me? Leia. I’ll get those reports back to you. I have a Festian to talk to,” Jyn said in exasperation before stomping out.

“Now look at what you have done,” Leia grumbled at Han. 

“What?! I just said what everyone was thinking,” Han fussed. 

Jyn stalked down the halls asking a few people where Cassian was until she finally found him in his ship. He was running maintenance checks through all the systems, something K2 used to automatically run but now it fell to him to do. The ship was being held in the far hanger for ships that were not used as often, so it was mostly empty except for the mechanics looking for parts. Cassian intended to get the old ship back and running so he didn’t have to use the A-Wing anymore. 

He could hear Jyn stomping from across the hanger so it didn’t shock him when she boarded. He assumed that she had been aggravated by some kind of work thing or something else that annoyed her and she came there to just be angry. So when she spat out

“What the hell, Andor?” It did startle him. 

“What’s wrong, Jyn?” he asked, looking away from his datapad. 

“You’ve claimed me?” she almost spit out. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Han said that you put a claim on me and you want to get somewhere with me. Kes is telling everyone that we’re together.” 

“They are what?! I never said that. I don’t know what Han would know about claiming but he needs to shut his mouth. Hijo de punta, ” he hissed. 

“And what about Kes? Why is he telling everyone we’re together.” 

Cassian pursed his lips. He didn’t know why Kes would say that, but Kes was his closest friend, and pretty much knew everything he felt about Jyn. He honestly wondered if Kes would have started a rumor to make Cassian confront Jyn, it was a very Dameron move. 

“I don’t know Jyn. I guess he saw all those guys flirting with you and wanted them to stop.” 

“Flirting with me? No one was flirting with me.” 

“That’s a lie and you know it. When I got back, Wedge was basically asking you to run away with him.” Cassian was finally frustrated enough to be cross with her, turning away from her with his datapad. 

“He was not! He just talks to everyone like that. He just wants to be a friend. You know how annoying he can be when he wants something.” 

“And that’s the whole problem Jyn, he wants you.” Cassian put down his datapad and turned back to her. 

“So what? That doesn’t matter much because I don’t want him. But Wedge isn’t the problem here, Cassian.” She moved towards him. Cassian locked eyes with her but didn’t say anything. “You are putting some kind of claim on me, and you haven’t even said anything about us being together like that, Cass,” she continued. 

“I didn’t put a claim on you Jyn. But I did kiss you! After everything we’ve gone through, I thought that was enough to tell you what I want.” Cassian stepped into her space, fire in his eyes, his common dialect slipping, and his accent growing with frustration. 

“One kiss is just one kiss Cassian. I still don’t know what you want and I-” Jyn started to ramble and Cassian caught her arms in his hands roughly.

“Maldita sea, te quiera, Jyn,” he almost shouted. Jyn searched his face for the meaning of the words that came out of his mouth. After watching her confused eyes soften, Cassian loosened his grip on her arms and let her go. He had to take control of his frustrations. He had said it and she didn’t even know, he quickly realized. 

“I don’t know Festian,” Jyn said quietly. “Will you tell me what you said?” 

Cassian looked away from her eyes, his stubbornness getting the better of him. But Jyn placed one of her small hands gently on his cheek. He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch and looked back at her. “I want you Jyn. I want us to be together,” he sighed, letting his eyes close.

Cassian had expected a wave of relief to come over him when he finally told her. Like a weight had been lifted but instead, he was struck with panic. She was very quiet.

Jyn knew this. Somewhere in her stubborn mind, she had pushed back this very evident fact. And now, everyone telling her this fact and finally hearing it from Cassian, in his own words, twice, she did feel relief. She moved her hand that was on his cheek to the nape of his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair. The last time she had done that they had been on the beach, waiting for death. This was the opposite. She wasn’t waiting for death this time. She was waiting for her new life with Cassian to begin. 

She pulled him a little closer to her and leaned up. His eyes opened as she changed their positions. He realized what was about to happen, but waited for her. She slowly leaned up and kissed him. It was soft and timid, followed quickly by something with more passion. Jyn was never good at instigating affection, so she never knew quite how to lead. But it was more than enough for Cassian.

Cassian was more attuned to letting his passions control the situation, instead of trying to plan out the steps of the process. Once he knew Jyn was comfortable with what was happening he took the lead and wrapped his hands around her waist. 

He kissed her like he was chasing her. Her body arching into his while her head tilted away from him, urging him to hold her tighter. She tangled her hands in his too-long black hair he had been growing out. She could feel the slight groan from his chest when she did this and she tightened her grip on his hair and shoulders. He took a fist full of the back of her shirt, thankful she wasn’t doing fieldwork today or she would have had her armor vest and jacket on. 

Maker, he’s a good kisser, Jyn thought to herself as their small kiss turned into an intense dance of their mouths against each other. She was sure it would turn into more, at least that’s what felt like was happening. Cassian broke from her mouth and she almost wanted to shout and pull him back until he caressed her cheek and neck with his lips. He reached her ear and stopped. 

“I told you what I want. Do you want the same thing?” He whispered in her ear, an encouraging thumb tracing the small of her back. She chuckled at that feeling. 

“Yes, Cass. I want you…. Or how do you say it? Te qi-era?” she struggled out. Cassian smiled wide, his eyes full of laughter.

“Te quiero. Don’t worry, we’ll work on that, mi Estrella,” he said and kissed her head. 

“You’ve called me that before. Estrella. What does it mean?” 

Cassian chuckled again and looked away for a moment. “It means, my stars,” he whispered, kissing the palm of one of her hands that was near his face. 

“I thought you were making fun of me all this time.” She shook her head. 

He laughed and held her a little closer. 

“Say it again,” she whispered. He ran a hand up to her bun and released it from its clip. He intertwined his hand into her soft hair and rubbed her scalp, pulling her ear close to his mouth. 

“Estrella,” he whispered. She sighed deep and warmly before pulling him back down to her lips to kiss him again. 

Cassian knew one thing at that moment: he was going to keep kissing her; he was going to kiss her and hold her until she told him to stop. He prayed to the Force that she didn’t tell him to stop.

Chapter Text

Quarters on Hoth were sparse at best, beds carved out into the sides of walls in tiny rooms that served as places to sleep. Most people didn’t sleep for long because of the cold and preferred moving around to keep warm or congregate in the Mess Hall where most of the warming vents pushed into. 

Jyn had just returned from a three-week mission tracking down a supplier on Moraband. Though the fighting was all and good for the Rebellion, they couldn’t survive without resources. In typical Rogue Team fashion, she had barely slept the entire trip. After greeting her makeshift family of Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and some other her other new friends around the base, she was given dinner in the mess hall and promptly fell asleep near one of the heating vents on one of the walls in the Mess Hall. 

Cassian was exhausted. His mission went fine, a few bumps in the road but nothing he couldn’t handle. He wanted to get it over with, he hated taking missions without his team, but sometimes it just didn’t work out.

The ship landed on Hoth, the coldest planet in the galaxy it seemed. The only upside to the planet’s temperature is that Jyn was always cold, and therefore always ready to share body heat. Most nights they were together they would share a bunk, his bed was always too cold when she was away on a mission.

Cassian was going to find her, but his stomach had other plans and was starting to sound like it was trying to speak Wookie, so he changed his destination to the Mess Hall. 

After getting himself some food, he spotted his team over by one of the walls and happily walked over, only to find Jyn leaning against the wall asleep. 

The others were talking quietly so as to not disturb her. They greeted him when he sat and asked a few questions that he answered, but he was trying to eat as fast as he could. He was tired and so was Jyn. They both needed rest and the wall of the Mess Hall was hardly the place for it.

When he‘d finished his food and cleaned up his space, Cassian scooped the still sleeping Jyn up and carried her to their room. He got a few looks on the way there but he only shrugged at anyone who stared and kept going. Once in the room, he took off his outer layers, adding his jacket to the blankets on the bed for an extra layer, and Jyn’s shoes and climbed into bed. He was quick to fall asleep, his arm around Jyn’s middle. 

She was still cold when she fell asleep, even with one of the issued jackets and a blanket. This planet was relentless when it came to temperature. But at this moment she was warm. Finding this warmth was what stirred her. Though falling asleep could be easy for her, staying asleep was the hardest part, her mind always jumping to the worst possible thing. She pulled in a harsh breath and opened her eyes. 

She was in one of the bunks. She was covered by a few blankets, her own issued jacket, and on top was another familiar coat. She realized she was not alone under her coverings, she was leaned against someone warm. Her heightened senses sent her into a defense mode realizing someone was behind her, but she quickly worked out the one person it could have been. 

She turned over and saw Cassian, who must have just returned from his own mission. In the soft emergency lights of the room, she saw the dark circles under his eyes, soot across his forehead, and a new tear in his shirt. 

Jyn was still getting used to the fact that he wanted her. So many people had abandoned her, but for three years he stuck by her, and in the moments they could not be together, he always returned. She loved all of the team, they were her family, she even found herself having friendships with many of the others on the base like Leia, Luke, Han, Chewie, Wedge, Shara, and Kes. 

But Cassian was different. He was home. Her senses settled when he was around. She didn’t have to be on high alert all the time because he was there for her. She found herself missing him slightly more than the others when she was away. 

Cassian was a person that could be quiet for hours, but he could say a million words in a touch. For a spy, and therefore an exceedingly private person, he was an extremely affectionate person when he found someone to be comfortable with. Jyn was lucky enough to be one of the few that he felt that level of comfort with. When they were around each other he was often finding reasons to touch her, whether it was the brush of hands as they worked on something together, leaning on her in exhausted moments, their private embraces, or full-on holding her when he felt the world crashing in on them. 

She knew that was how he showed his affection, and though she could convey her own emotions with physical touch, she did not give them away as freely as she thought Cassian did with her. 

But in the cold of the planet, and seeing him after several months, she touched his arm softly, letting his skin warm her hands. She closed her eyes and decided to ease back into sleep when Cassian started to move around and quickly pulled her fully into his arms and pressed against his chest. The warmth almost shocked her more than the actions. He lazily pressed his head against hers and left out a low heavy sigh. 

“Welcome home.” She whispered to him. He hummed out a long satisfying sigh at this and tucked the blanket closer to them. “How did the mission-” she started to ask but he tangled one of his course hands through her hair. 

“In the morning please.” He mumbled out. She nodded and tucked her head into his chest. 

Chapter Text

Cassian just finished his briefing with Draven when he heard the familiar whirring of the old imperial Rogue One ship. The ship was suffering from the harsh conditions of Hoth, the frost seemed to settle on its engines quicker than some of the other ships. Jyn and Bodhi had quickly gone planet jumping to get some supplies for some of the failed heating systems. When it landed and was secure Cassian waited for his people to exit. 

Bodhi came hurrying off first and jogged to the deck to start unloading the ship. Cassian then watched Jyn come down the ramp, but she wasn’t alone. 

She was followed by a tall black droid with gold patches across its chest and arms. It was a KX series, similar to K-2SO, but it was newer and slightly more banged up. Jyn seemed to be having some kind of conflict with the droid as it followed her, but she saw him and her eyes widened. 

“I didn’t know you would be here,” she stuttered out as he approached them. 

“Finally, Cassian, tell her that the base is not on Hoth,” the droid spoke, it was Kay’s voice that came out. 

Cassian stood very still and looked the droid up and down. “Kay-Tu…. Jyn…. How did you….?” He tried to ask, looking between her and the droid. 

“Your vital scans are normal Cassian, why are you acting so strange?” the new Kay-Tu asked. 

“I had caught him the last time I was in Moraband. I mostly smashed in his register system, but I had a technician there upload his old system. He was finally ready when I got back. I was hoping that I would have time to clean him up before I showed him to you,” Jyn explained. 

“Cassian, don’t let her touch me with a scrubber. She will pull all of the paint off,” Kay said looking over his new exterior. Cassian couldn’t help but laugh relieved to have back his old friend. 

Jyn rolled her eyes and looked over to Bodhi who was having trouble with his comm pad. “I’ll give you two time to get reacquainted,” Jyn said and went to go help Bodhi start to get the supplies off the ship. 

“Reacquainted? What is she talking about Cassian? I’ve known you for five years,” Kay said, turning to Cassian. 

“We have a lot to discuss,” he said to the droid and led him to the tech area to check his systems. 

Later Cassian came into the bunk room that was shared with his Rogue Team. Jyn was cross-legged across the bunk that they usually shared together looking at some sort of report on a datapad. 

“Hey,” he said quietly. Baze was fixing something on Chirrut’s cloak as Chirrut meditated in a corner. Baze gave a gruff nod in his direction. 

“Captain! I hear you have been reunited with our dear droid friend!” Chirrut said excitedly. 

“I did,” Cassian smiled at his friends and then turned to Jyn. "I actually wanted to talk to Jyn about him."  If Jyn could sink deeper in the bunk she would, keeping the datapad in front of her face. 

"Jyn…" Cassian smirked at her, his intent eyes bore into her until she broke. 

"I know what you're going to say. It honestly wasn't that dangerous. He was doing transport checks and I just sorta hit him,” she answered his silent inquiry. 

He only looked down for a moment and held back a laugh then looked back up at her. His dark eyes beaming with admiration and slight mischief. Jyn looked anywhere but Cassian's eyes. They were one of her greatest weaknesses because they could spend hours not talking but looking into his eyes was like reading a novel of thoughts between them.

"You've been looking for one for years and I saw the opportunity and I took it. You needed a new droid. I always get-" she stopped, slightly embarrassed at her next thought. 

"You always get what, Estrella?" Cassian asked softly, taking a step towards her, his face still threatening an amused grin. 

Jyn noted the similarly amused look on Chirruts face at the mention of Cassian's private nickname for her in Festian. 

Baze caught the slight panic in his ‘little sister’s’ eyes and nodded. 

“Come on Chirrut, let’s leave these two to sort out their feelings,” Baze said, getting up and stretching and pulling Chirrut up from his spot. 

“But it was just getting interesting!” Chirrut said with a laugh, as Baze pushed him out the door. 

“See you at dinner,” Baze commented and pushed the door lever closed. 

Jyn’s eyes followed them out and then she turned back to him. "I get worried when you go on missions by yourself. And you missed Kay. There are not many things to do right now on this bloody frozen planet, but I could do this and make everyone a little bit happier.” She tried to sound confident but she knew she was blushing, despite the temperature. 

Cassian kept his eyes on her, not letting go of the smile that felt permanently adhered to him. 

“You're always running off getting into danger and I know Kay-Tu will keep you safe no matter how annoying he is.” 

“Jyn…” Cassian tried to get her to stop rambling, but she continued. 

“And you're always trying to make everyone happy and do things for everyone else, especially me, and I just wanted to do something for you. And I just-” 

“Jyn,” Cassian said slightly louder, even though it was still full of affection.  

“I just… I did it because...Well….” She stumbled over the right way to say things. She knew what she wanted to say but if her saying it terrified Cassian as much as it did her, she wasn’t sure if he would take kindly to it. 

“I love you too, Jyn,” he said before she started stuttering again. She took a deep breath and unclenched her hands. Part of her wanted to smack the grin off of his face, but the rest of her was just relieved. 

“You do?” She asked softly, her own smile growing. 

He nodded and closed their distance. “Of course I do.” He wrapped a warm arm around her waist. She quickly touched his cheek, and he instinctively leaned into her touch. 

“I love you, Cass.” She needed to say it herself to make it feel real. He kept looking at her with a look of contentment before he pulled her closer to him. 

He kissed her with a different type of tenderness than he had before. Jyn felt completely safe in his arms, just as she always had. At this moment she was completely content. Cassian, rebellion spy, war hero, intelligence officer, loved her and she loved him back.  Rebellion, war, giant frost planet: nothing was going to get in the way of this. Jyn suddenly pulled away, realizing the one thing that could.

“Where is Kay?” she blurted out. 

“I took him to tech to get him updated on the Echo Base and any new information. Why? Miss him already?” Cassian teased. 

“Do you think they could make me a commander in his system, so he’ll actually listen to what I say,” Jyn grinned with a mischievous look in her eyes. Cassian laughed and held her a little tighter. 

“I think that would take more than a few updates, but I’ll see what I can do,” he said and pulled her back into their embrace. 

At dinner, Cassian pulled himself away from his love just long enough to see how the updates on Kay were going. She was happily talking to Luke and Wedge about some crystal reserves that might be under the Hoth surface caves, so she didn’t seem to mind his absence.

When he came through the tech area, the new Kay was pacing for the technician to check his diagnostics. Kes Dameron was leaning against the desk with Pao. 

“Commander Dameron, what the hell? You're back!” Cassian said, happier than he should have been to see his old friend. 

“Captain Andor, you son of Fest!” Kes chuckled at his bad joke and embraced Cassian, with a hard pat on his back. 

“Speaking of sons, how’s my godson?” Cassian asked, referring to the now 6 month baby of Kes and Shara, Poe Dameron. 

“Growing! He’s amazing, Shara’s amazing,” Kes said with some sadness in his voice. 

“Are you going back?” 

“Trying to. They wanted me to help get started on a new base on Endor. Shara’s chomping at the bit at getting back too.”

“Of course she is,” Cassian chuckled. 

“I see you got a new Kay-Tu! How did that happen?” Cassian nodded and turned to Pao. 

“Jyn got him,” Cassian answered before turning his attention back to the technician. “How is it coming, Pao?”

“He looks to be in decent condition. Erso left a pretty nasty dent in his back, but besides that he’s working great, got him almost ready to go,” Pao gurgled out in his dialect, typing on a datapad. 

“Good, thanks for getting him updated. How are you feeling Kay?” 

Kay made a slight scoffing noise. 

“What?” Cassian asked, fondly responding to his old friend’s attitude. 

“Did you not hear Pao, Jyn left a dent in me! And you went three years without a new exterior?! How did you even fly the ship?” Kay smarted off. Cassian rolled his eyes.

“Don’t complain about Jyn, she’s the only reason you're even on now.” 

“Yeah Kay, don’t talk bad about a man’s girl.” Kes nudged Cassian’s arm. 

“I am not looking forward to hearing about what you two have been doing for three years,” Kay commented as Pao made him stand still for some adjustments. 

“Well I hate to tell you Kay, but between them sharing bunks, having moon eyes for each other all the time, and now that she’s got you a new exterior, he’s gonna marry Jyn at this point.” Kes chuckled. 

Cassian smiled pushing his hands in his pockets. “Kes is right, I think I will have to marry her,” Cassian said looking at the ground then up at Kes’ expression, who was grinning like mad. 

"Oh no." Kay let a long exasperated, mechanical sigh out. 

"Don't repeat that Kay. I don't want her to know anything." Cassian whipped around at his droid. 

"Well, that seems rather redundant." 

"I want to make sure everything is good, maybe if we get to move to a better planet. Just don't repeat any of this conversation," Cassian responded sternly. 

"He's trying to be romantic, leave him alone," Kes defended Cassian. "Wait till I tell Shara!" 

"You can't tell Shara either. It doesn't leave this room," Cassian said with a hushed tone. Kes grinned wide, reflecting on his own wife and child, excited that his close friend was getting ready for a similar life. 

Chapter Text

Jyn, Sefla, Tonc, and Pao had been grounded on Moraband for over eight months. During that time Cassian and Bodhi were flying all over the galaxy finding recruits and new informants. After the Battle of Endor, both of their missions were crucial to building the New Republic. But the extended time away from their usual companions was taking a toll on the troops. 

Cassian would distract himself with rewriting reports, something he used to do when he would be in hiding for a long time. Jyn had taken to altering blasters and weapons, a trick Saw had taught her. Bodhi was constantly threatening their covers by insisting on helping anyone that needed it. Tonc had become quite proficient at making needlework patches, Jyn had found. Sefla would cook for nearby villages as Pao fixed anything and everything that was broken. 

One lone night, as everyone was going to bed, Jyn turned over on her side to Tonc still awake stitching together some kind of new patch on a piece of green cloth. It was a rebel symbol modified with the Captain insignia. 

“What are you working on?” She asked sleepily, leaning over to his bunk area and leaning her head down. Tonc had quickly become one of her closest companions over the years as they often ended up on missions together. 

He smirked. “A gift.” 

“For whom?” She yawned and tucked her makeshift pillow under her chin. 

“Someone I think they are going to make captain soon,” he hummed quietly. 

“Who?” She pushed a little bit to get him to talk, just for her own entertainment. 

“Rook. From the reports we’ve been getting, they’ve been doing good work. I’m assuming they would do that… if they haven’t already,” he grimaced. 

“That’s a very specific gift. What is it?” She inquired about his sour expression. 

“Do you think he would tell us if he got promoted? I’m assuming he would tell you…. You would tell me wouldn’t you?” he rambled slightly. 

Jyn groaned and rolled back over. “I swear to the ancients, I hope we can go back soon, if only for the reason for you two to mack already. You’re driving me insane, Stordie.” She covered her face with the pillow. 

“Don’t call me that. You know I hate that,” he grumbled. 

“You like it when Bodhi calls you that,” she teased, making him miss a stitch. He shot her a side glare and fixed the stitch. 

“Well, I suppose I should call you Estrella.” He did a bad accent when he said Cassian’s nickname for her, making it sound awful. 

“That’s different and you know it,” she growled. 

“Don’t call me Stordie, and I won’t call you that.” 

“Fine,” she scoffed and threw a rude hand sign at him. 

Sefla came stumbling into their little bunk camp they had made during their time there. 

“Will you two hush about your ‘boyfriends’,” he growled tiredly and opened his datapad. 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Tonc said, followed by glares at Jyn.  

“Sure whatever, are you ready to see them or not?” Sefla asked, not even trying to hide a smile. 

“Wait, what?” Jyn shot up from her bunk and Tonc stabbed his hand with the needle in shock. 

“We’re going home. All units are being called back to base for reassignments. Transport will be here at 0500, we’ll have to stay up through the night, but let's start breaking down everything and securing the area.” 

Without even direct orders, Jyn and Tonc jumped up from their spots and started breaking down their camp and securing all security measures in the area. 

------------------

It was 0300 on base and Cassian still couldn’t sleep. He was close to resorting to death sticks again but resisted the urge. He scrambled out of his bunk and paced the halls. He hoped that she was sleeping better than he was. He had never spent more than a couple of weeks from her since Echo Base. They had been lucky enough to spend the longer missions together. It wasn’t that he needed her to be in the bunk with him to sleep. It was more so knowing she was safe and comfortable, only talking once a week over long-winded tele-messages was going to be the death of him. There wasn’t much he could do. While he had some control over what missions the team took, but sometimes they had to do what they were told, even though they hated it.

He needed to talk to Draven or one of the other generals about future assignments, especially under the New Republic. These last eight months was the first time that he thought about the offer of retiring from fieldwork and working for intelligence in the New Republic. Both Leia and Mon had offered.  

Cassian admitted to himself that he had thought about the solution to them being separated more than a few times. There was really only one thing that could possibly change the assignments they got. Married couples, more often than not, were sent on missions together. And Cassian wanted to marry Jyn. He had for a while. The only thing holding him back was that he wasn’t sure how she’d respond. He didn’t think she’d reject him, but maybe she wasn’t ready to settle down. He thought about domestic life in the capital, or nearby for commuting, working regular hours, going home every day. Building a house, making Festian stew once a week, and curling up each night with Jyn. Leia would find Jyn some kind of job she liked within the Republic, perhaps in intelligence or strategic planning, perhaps even as a representative. They could share every evening, tell one another about their days, and argue over whose turn it was to do the dishes. She would insist Chirrut and Baze would retire and live nearby so they could check in on them. Bodhi would rise in the ranks and visit often, as well as Tonc and Sefla. There would be a standing dinner with Leia, Han, Shara, and Kes. Just a family dinner of sorts to check-in and visit. Perhaps they would bring the kids…. Perhaps then Cassian and Jyn could try for one….

Cassian knew he needed to stop thinking this way. He knew it was all too impractical, and he wanted desperately to stop thinking that it was even a possibility. But as things were starting to settle, and he watched Shara and Kes settle down together with Poe, and some of the others start to leave active duty and have other jobs and families across the galaxy, the more he questioned if it could be a possibility. But he did know one thing: He was going to ask her to marry him. He had made up his mind this time. 

Cassian had been asking Baze and Kes how he should propose and their answers varied greatly. Kes thought he should do something romantic, take Jyn somewhere nice and propose there. Baze thought something simple was the way to go. Neither felt right to Cassian, but he was starting to irritate Kay. The droid had offered to ask Jyn for him to get him to “shut up about it already”. Cassian had to order the droid to not say anything, and then threaten him with a blaster to get him not to say anything. Though the blaster had been a hollow threat since it was Jyn that had gotten him this Kay. But Cassian figured he’d know the right moment to ask, no matter how long that took.

The other part of his want to stop thinking about it was that he hadn’t told Jyn pretty much any of this plan. He had talked to her about getting out of active duty a few times, but then something else would come up and need their help. He knew she wasn’t against a calm domestic type of life, she spoke fondly of the little bit she remembered living on a farm for a while as a child with just her parents. And it wasn’t like this was rushing their relationship. It had been a few years since he told her that he loved her on Hoth. They were slightly more private about their relationship around the base, but it wasn’t a secret that they were together. But both of them had been raised and forged by the rebellion to be warriors of some sort, would they even know how to act in a settled life? If Han Solo can settle down and help raise a kid, surely I can. Cassian told himself. 

“Captain Andor.” A voice caught him off guard as he paced through the communications area, where a few of the night staff were still milling around. 

“Yes,” he addressed the young man. 

“I was told to tell you that Commander Sefla’s Moraband team has been pulled for return transport and should be arriving by 0900 this morning.” He trembled slightly when he spoke, obviously a newer recruit. But as the information registered he tried to hide his giddy smile. 

“Thank you, Ensign. Please let me know any further information about that team before they get here.” The boy nodded and went back to his post. Cassian tapped his feet on the ground a few times, putting his hands behind him back and striding away as the leader he should be. But once out of the eyes of the newer recruits, he jogged back to the bunk room he and Bodhi shared. 

-----------------------

At 1100, the aircraft tasked with extracting Sefla’s team and a few others landed on Yavin IV. In their excitement, Tonc and Jyn were gripping one another’s hands, almost assuring each other that they were actually there. 

“So are you going to do it?” Jyn asked quietly as they traveled through space. 

“Do what?” he asked, he didn’t have to, he knew what she was talking about. 

“We’ve talked about this Tonc. Bodhi doesn’t know how to read between the lines. You have to be absolutely upfront or he won’t get it.” 

“I know,” he groaned. 

“He literally probably doesn’t even realize that you are interested. Just go in there and tell him point-blank.” 

“I know.” 

“Just run in, grab him, and kiss him.” 

“I can’t just kiss him Jyn,” he grumbled. She sighed at this. It wasn’t the first time they had had this argument. 

“Coming in for a landing in 10 minutes,” Sefla’s voice rang through the cabin. Jyn gave Tonc’s hand another squeeze and they watched the descend onto Yavin. 

Once they landed, it was a task to unload supplies and make sure they have their datapads turned in. “Generals want to see us Tonc,” Sefla told them and Tonc quickly went off with him. 

Chirrut and Baze were the first to greet Jyn. She clung to both of their hands as they updated one another. Both had been offering combat training for those who wanted it. They had also been helping new Force-sensitive individuals find help with Luke and his new temple. 

Cassian was stuck in a meeting with the generals, but he continued to glance at the transport screens. Their transport was two hours late and Cassian was ready to grab Kay and whatever ship he could find and go get them. Finally, he saw the alert that Sefla’s ship was landing on Pad 3. His leg started shaking as he waited for the generals to finish their discussions and excuse them. As he was leaving he ran into Sefla and Tonc. 

“Glad to see you back,” he told them quickly. “Oh and congrats Tonc,” he muttered as he ran away. 

“For what?!” Tonc yelled after him, but he would find out soon enough. 

Cassian almost sprinted to the hanger when he skidded across the floor. There she was, talking to Chirrut and Baze looking relieved and happy. She didn’t look different, she was still Jyn, hair pulled up in a bun, petite shape, her funny smile that distracted him. He saw Baze point towards him and she searched the room for him. He didn’t wait for her to find his eyes for him to start towards her. She found his eyes and started walking quickly towards him. 

Cassian knew how she felt about public displays of affection, but he hoped eight months without seeing her would excuse his actions. He met her by grabbing her face and neck, a little aggressively and bending down to kiss her. He wasn’t sure how long they were there kissing in front of everyone, but Cassian ignored the whistles and comments coming from their comrades. He didn’t care who saw, he had her back and she was safe. He pulled back and she was blushing. She glanced around the hanger at their friends making comments. 

“Cass-” She started but he kissed her again. She melted slightly in the familiar touch of his arms engulfing her as they had many times, but it felt so good after all this time. 

He pulled back again but held her face in his hands. 

“Welcome home, Estrella,” he whispered, leaning his head against hers. 

“Thanks, love,” she sighed, wrapping her hands around his wrist. “Miss me?” she teased, a twinkle in her eye. He grinned at this and kissed her head. 

“Oh, you know, not much. I had Bodhi, and you know what a great substitute he is,” he joked as he transitioned his hands from her face to her shoulders to lead her through the base. She clung to the side of his shirt as they walked. 

“Where is little brother?” She asked. 

“In the mechanics’ area. He busted the converter on the Rogue ship the last time we shipped out.” 

“Tonc wanted to see him. I hope he catches up to him,” she sighed, hoping Tonc was going to take her advice. 

“Oh, Tonc got called in before the generals. He’s getting promoted to a Sergeant Major. Sefla put in the request months ago and they just got around to approve it,” he informed her. 

“That’s fantastic! What else have I missed?” She asked, hoping he could just talk for hours, she didn’t realize how much she missed the sound of his voice. 

--------------

Cassian and Jyn were settled in the mess hall for what could be lunch. Jyn was starving as usual and she was happy to catch up with Bodhi. He was rambling on about one of the missions Cassian and him had been on as she ate, happy to be back with her little family. 

She spied Tonc scramble through the doors, searching the room. 

“Oh there is Tonc!” she yelped. Before she could get up to congratulate him, Bodhi was running towards him. 

“Stordie!” he yelped, excited to see him. Jyn silently laughed at how Tonc lit up hearing the nickname now. Bodhi pulled him into a hard hug. It had taken Bodhi a while to get used to the idea of physical embraces after the incident with Bor Gullet, but in the past few years, he was now one of the most affectionate of the group. 

“I missed you, Stordie,” he said, still excited. 

“I missed you, Bo,” Tonc melted slightly, clinging to the back of his shirt. 

“Come on, Tonc,” Jyn whispered to herself, hoping to the force Tonc would finally make a move.

“What did you say?” Cassian inquired as he watched Jyn watch the Tonc and Bodhi exchange. She glanced at him but didn’t say anything as she returned to her food. 

“Come have something to eat,” Bodhi told Tonc, pulling out of his embrace and grabbed Tonc’s arm. 

“Wait.” Tonc pulled Bodhi back towards him. There were not many people in the mess hall, since it wasn’t a regular mealtime, only a few people lounging about besides Jyn and Cassian. 

“What is it?” Bodhi started to ask but he was swiftly cut off by Tonc pulling him in and crashing into his lips. The new-found confidence from Tonc’s promotion and the fact that Bodhi’s face was right there, free for the taking. He ignored the whistles similar to what Cassian and Jyn had received. 

“Finally,” Jyn mumbled, grinning to herself. She looked over at Cassian, mouth slightly agape. 

“Did you know about this?” he asked with a chuckle. 

“Know about! Love, I made this happen,” she laughed. He laughed with her. “I just hope Bodhi will respond kindly,” she muttered. 

“Oh, he will,” Cassian responded squeezing her hand. 

“What do you know?” She eyed him. He eyed her back and winked without giving a direct response.

The kiss was clumsy at best, but it softened as Tonc pulled away to gauge Bodhi’s reaction. 

“Oh,” was all Bodhi could manage to say from the shock. 

“I made Sergeant Major,” Tonc told him, immediately kicking himself internally for not coming up with anything better to say. 

“I know,” Bodhi gulped, his cheeks burnt red. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while,” Tonc said blankly, wishing his brain would catch up with his mouth before he said anything else stupid. He looked down at his hands in nervousness. 

“Can we do it again?” Bodhi asked. Tonc stalled for a moment and looked back up. Bodhi was smiling, the cute innocent one that Tonc admired so much. 

“You want to kiss me again?” Tonc asked, a catch in his speech as he managed it out. 

“Yes, I would,” Bodhi chuckled, squeezing his arm. Tonc smiled back but glanced around the room. “Come on. Let’s go.” Bodhi smirked and grabbed Tonc’s hand, recognizing the slight embarrassment of being intimate in the mess hall of a base. He led him out and they disappeared towards the mechanics base. 

Chapter Text

Cassian held Jyn close in their bunk. He always slept better when she was near, but he slept the best when they shared their bunk. She’d fallen asleep as he told her about his last mission. He’d slowly switched from his mission to whispering sweet nothings into her ears. 

“One of these days,” Cassian whispered, mostly to himself, “I’m going to work up the nerve to ask you to marry me, Estrella.”

“And when you ask me,” Jyn mumbled back, “I’ll say yes.”

Cassian froze for a moment. Had he really heard that, or had he fallen asleep and dreamed it?

“What?” he breathed like if he was too loud he’d wake up and find it was in fact a dream. And he wasn’t sure he could bear that.

Jyn’s eyes opened slowly, clouded by exhaustion but clearly awake. “When you ask me to marry you, I’ll say yes,” she repeated. “So don’t keep me waiting for too much longer.”

“Then marry me, mi corazón, and make me the happiest man in the galaxy,” Cassian whispered back.

“Yes,” Jyn said, tilting her head up to catch his lips. When she broke away she added, “But not right now, I’m too tired and cozy to get up. Maybe in the morning, we can get married.”

Cassian chuckled, not really believing her, she was about to fall asleep. He’d ask her again in the morning to marry him, but for now, he’d sleep. He pulled Jyn just a little bit closer, making her hum a little. He smiled and relaxed, drifting off for the night.

----------

The next morning, when Cassian woke he almost forgot what had happened the night before. But one look at Jyn and it came back. He smiled to himself, half glad that she’d been mostly awake and half glad that he knew she felt the same. Asking her the second time wouldn’t be so hard now. 

Jyn started to wake, she could feel Cassian staring at her. “What?” She mumbled out, her voice a little hoarse from sleep. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Will you marry me, Estrella?” Cassian asked for the third time.

“I told you last night that I would,” Jyn reminded him. “And I’ll say yes every time you ask me.”

Cassian stole a kiss quickly, and then spoke, “You did mention something about getting married today.”

Jyn winced, “Yeah, but there’s so much that we have to do. I don’t need a big wedding like Leia and Han, just us is enough. But we don’t have rings or anyone to marry us, or anywhere to get married...” Cassian stopped her rambling with a kiss, before getting out of the bunk.

He started to rummage through his things before pulling out a pair of rings. His mother’s and his father’s rings, in fact. “I have rings, my parent’s rings, and now our rings.”

Jyn was touched. She’d never really had time for romance in her life. She’d always been on the run, but now she’d found love and she wanted to hold onto it as tight as she could.

“As for who can marry us, why not ask Chirrut, he’s a Guardian of the Whills, probably the last one. Plus, he’s part of the team.”

Jyn nodded, agreeing. It would be nice to have Chirrut marry them. It would be personal. “Let’s get married in the caves, with all the crystals. It’ll be beautiful,” Jyn proposed. She’d loved the caves since they found them on the planet they were stationed at. Cassian nodded in agreement.

“Well, then let’s get married today, love,” Jyn smiled. 

“If you’re sure,” Cassian said.

“Of course I’m sure, put on your best and I’ll put on mine, we can find Chirrut and he can marry us off base.”

Cassian nodded, springing into action, and Jyn doing the same. They both put on their best clothes, which were what they’d worn to the award ceremony after they’d healed from Scarif. Cassian was dressed first and went to find Chirrut, while Jyn went to swipe some food and drink from the mess hall.

Cassian found Chirrut in an empty room meditating.

“Chirrut!” Cassian called, breaking the older man’s concentration and his chanting.

“Yes, Captain?” Chirrut asked, a little annoyed at being disturbed, but he could feel something was happening with the Captain. The Force was strong this morning.

“Jyn and I need a favor,” Cassian began. “I proposed last night and Jyn said yes.”

“Congratulations!” Chirrut smiled, he’d been hoping this day would come soon. 

“We’re getting married today, and we’d like you to do it.”

“That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it Captain?”

“Why wait? We’ve waited long enough. And we just got done with a war, who knows what will happen tomorrow.”

“Ah, very true.” Chirrut nodded, understanding. “I shall prepare then. Where should I meet you?”

“Down in the caves, with the crystals, in about an hour,” Cassian answered before he turned to leave. “Oh! Keep this between us, Jyn doesn’t want to make a big fuss.” 

Chirrut nodded, and tried to go back to his meditations, but found himself far too excited for his friends. He needed to tell Baze the news.

An hour later Jyn and Cassian made their way down to the caves, both nervous and excited. Sure this was all very spur of the moment, but it was something they both wanted to do, so they saw no reason to wait. 

It didn’t take them long to find Chirrut, especially since Baze and Bodhi were also there, dressed as nice as they could. And Kay was standing near Chirrut.

“What? Why are you guys here?” Cassian asked he thought Chirrut would keep their secret.

“Chirrut said you were getting married and we wanted to be here for it,” Bodhi said, sitting on a smooth rock. “We are a little offended that you didn’t tell us yourself.”

“Yes, Cassian,” Kay agreed. “We’ve only been friends for five years, why would you invite me to your wedding?”

“I’m sorry,” Jyn cut in. “That’s partially my fault. I didn’t want anything fancy.”

“You’re family, little sister, we want to be here,” Baze put a hand on her shoulder and she smiled at him. “Besides, we‘re all sick of Cassian trying to figure out how to propose to you. We need to make sure he actually goes through with the wedding.”

“Baze!” Cassian could feel the heat rush to his cheeks. 

“Enough,” Chirrut cut in, “let’s start.”

Jyn and Cassian stood looking at each other in front of Chirrut. Baze and Bodhi sat on smooth stones, watching. And Kay stood slightly behind Cassian, holding the rings Cassian had entrusted him with as they’d gotten ready to start.

Chirrut began: “We are all one with the Force, it surrounds us and binds us together. It binds us as allies and enemies, friends and rivals, brothers and sisters. In life, there is the Force and in the Force there is life. The Force is eternal and with it so are we. The Force has brought you together, and now it binds you together. You are with the Force from your first breath as an infant to your last breath, and you are now one together in the Force.”

He held his hand out to Kay and the droid handed over the rings. 

“This will be a physical representation of your bond together. Please present them to each other.”

Jyn picked up the larger ring and Cassian picked up the smaller one, both simple bands with no real extravagance, perfect for the pair of them. Jyn put the ring she held onto Cassian’s finger and Cassian did the same for her. 

There was a brief moment of silence before Chirrut said, “And now seal your bond with a kiss.”

The pair blushed, though they’d kissed before this was oddly embarrassing, but they leaned towards each other and kissed.

They only broke apart when they heard a sniffle. When they looked at Baze and Bodhi, Bodhi was crying.

“I’m sorry,” he wiped his eyes, trying to stop the tears. “I’m just so happy for you guys!”

Jyn and Cassian laughed before they hugged the man, pulling Baze and Chirrut into the hug as well. 

“Now, we celebrate!” Jyn laughed.

The team enjoyed the food that Jyn had swiped earlier, a simple little picnic in the caves.

Chapter Text

Jyn and Cassian had been on a mission for weeks. They had made progress tracking the locations and intent of the separatists. The mission was more successful than the last few they had so they had to keep going. The only unfortunate thing was Jyn had become progressively ill as time went by. 

She was constantly ducking behind things, or finding refreshers and getting sick. She barely wanted to eat anything but bubbling coruscant water.  Cassian thought it better to meet up with Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze on Taris to update them on their plans, but he was also hoping that they might convince Jyn to go back to base to get over whatever flu she had contracted. 

Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze waited patiently for them on the ship on the outskirts of one of the nearby towns. 

“Did Cassian tell you what Jyn might have? Is it that Neivian flu? I heard it’s pretty nasty,” Bodhi inquired as he watched for them. 

“That would be awful. I guess we would have to take her to one of those Neivian doctors. I bet it was something she ate. She never actually looks at what she’s eating you know,” Baze said casually. Chirrut seemed to huff in amusement. 

“Well, you seem quiet about the issue. What do you think it is?” Baze leaned towards Chirrut who casually got up and moved away from him. 

“The Force knows what is happening to Jyn, and the force will guide her on the right path,” he said simply and sat down on the ground to meditate. 

Baze huffed at that. 

“I guess it could be something bad she ate, but I feel like two weeks is a long time to be so sick.” 

“Depends on what you ate,” Baze added to Bodhi’s thoughts. 

“Very true.” He nodded to Baze. But then he leaned a little to the side. “You don’t think she’s… ya’ know…. with child?” Bodhi gulped down the statement as if she was already there to hit him for even considering that. 

Baze hollered in laughter. “Little sister pregnant?! Ha! Jyn Erso would rebuild the Death Star just to destroy it again before she tried to have a baby of her own.” 

Bodhi agreed to this and shook off the fear of getting hit, but he took note that the typical slight smile on Chirrut’s face seemed to grow at the mention of a baby. 

------------------------

Cassian soon landed a speeder by the Rogue ship and hopped out with Jyn and Kay. Baze took a careful inspection of Jyn as Bodhi and Cassian downloaded information from their mission to the comms link back to the base. He noted how pale she looked and had her sit by Chirrut. 

Instead of insisting Jyn tell him about the trip and how her meditation was going, as he usually would, Chirrut carefully reached over and held her hand. Jyn sat up, it felt like Chirrut knew exactly what was happening and Jyn felt the comfort wave through her. 

“Drink this and eat this.” Baze came back with a travel canteen. Jyn sniffed it and smelled the familiar aroma of the tea Baze made regularly. He had handed her a protein bar of some sort, but it smelt awful. 

“Thanks, but I don’t think I can eat this Baze. Not while my stomach is still like this.” She placed a hand across her side, the smell alone was close to having her sick again. 

“Try the tea. It will help,” Chirrut told her quietly. Jyn looked over at him and that he had a firm concerned face. She took a sip and it seemed to instantly calm her queasiness. 

“Better?” Chirrut asked. 

“Yes, so much better. Thank you, Baze,” she said after a few moments. Baze nodded and sat down on the ground with them. 

Cassian soon came out with Bodhi and he looked at Jyn sipping the tea. 

“We have everything transmitted. Kay and I will head back to town and tie up the ends the next few weeks and then we will head back. Jyn….” He hesitated as her intense eyes met his. 

It wasn’t that he was afraid to make the suggestion to her. It was more so he was terrified at her reaction. “Jyn, I think you should head back to base with the others,” he said confidently.

The slight twitch on her face and her now narrowed eyes brushed away the little bit of confidence he had. “You can’t tell me what to do Cass,” she hissed, already in a bad mood from being sick for so long. 

“I’m not Jyn. I just want you to get assessed. Something is going on. And you won’t even let Kay scan you.” 

She huffed at this. “He’s not updated, he even said his scan would be wrong until we got him updated.” 

“Bodhi is downloading his new driver update now on the U-wing. Please let him scan you when it’s done.” Cassian kneeled down in front of her. 

“I’ll get better, it’s probably that Neivian flu stuff.” She brushed it off and took some more sips of the tea before she started to feel sick again. 

“That’s what I said it might be. Baze thinks it’s something that you ate,” Bodhi gave the matter-of-fact reply. Jyn rolled her eyes at Baze. But Chirrut squeezed her hand once more like he was trying to tell her something. She just wasn’t quite sure what it was. 

“I think we should still do the scan though,” Baze added. Jyn shot him a look that he felt could stop his heart, but she softened quickly. 

Cassian moved closer to her side and sat down with her. “Please Jyn. for my sanity, at least do the scan. And if it’s nothing serious, we’ll keep doing our mission. If it is something bad, we can go and get you healed before the next one. We can’t have you running around infecting an entire city with the foreign flu if it's the Neivian flu.” 

Cassian was right about that. They were still not fully aware of all the native creatures on this world, and Jyn would be devastated if it was her fault that people got sick. 

She gave out a long sigh but nodded. “Alright, I’ll let Kay scan me.” 

Cassian nodded and took her free hand and kissed the backside of it. “Thank you, mi alma.” 

Once Kay was finished updating and spouted out a few unneeded probabilities, he was begrudgingly ready to scan Jyn. “I’m in agreement with Malbus, I think it is something she ate. She has disgusting eating habits.” 

“That’s quite enough. Just do the scan you hunk of metal,” Jyn grumbled as she held out her hand. 

Kay huffed and pricked one of Jyn’s fingers to analyze her blood. After a few moments of quiet, while Kay’s systems did their algorithms, suddenly Kay clicked back to normal. 

“Well, I hate to say it. I truly do,” he started to say. 

“What is it?! What’s wrong?” Cassian asked frantically clutching Jyn’s shoulder like she might fly away. 

“Congratulations, you're pregnant,” Kay said unceremoniously. 

The ship was quiet for a long time. It seemed that everyone was in shock! 

“Are- are…. Are you sure? Should we scan it again?” Jyn uttered out. 

“With my updated hard drive, there is only a 2% chance that I might be wrong. The probability of you being pregnant currently is 98%,” Kay told her. She looked down at the floor. 

“I knew it!” Bodhi said suddenly after a long moment of silence. 

“No you didn’t,” Baze rolled his eyes. 

“I said she might be with child. You’re the one that said she would rebuild a Death Star just to destroy it again before she had a baby.” 

Baze and Bodhi began to argue, but Chirrut moved forward and pressed his hand into Jyn’s shoulder. It was as if he was breathing in her anxiety and evaluating it. 

“You have been blessed by the Force, dear little sister,” he said softly. Jyn wasn’t sure if it made her feel better or not. 

She finally looked up from the floor and to Cassian who was motionless. He was so still that it felt like he wasn’t breathing. She desperately needed him to look at her, but she couldn’t even get out anything to get his attention. 

“98%,” Cassian finally said, looking up at Kay. He needed to be sure.  

“That’s what I just said Cassian. 98%,” Kay responded annoyingly.

Cassian sighed out and then turned to Jyn. Suddenly his arms were around her waist and she was lifted slightly in the air as he turned with her. 

“Cass!” she yelped out and grabbed his shoulders. He put her down and kissed her hard. 

“Cass!” She gasped out again, not sure what was happening to him. Chirrut was grinning like mad, already feeling the joy from Cassian. 

“We have to get back to base. Bodhi, let's get ready for takeoff,” Cassian suddenly commanded, like he was back in front of a troop. 

“Wait, what?” Jyn pulled back from him. “We can’t leave Cassian, we have to finish the mission." 

"Mission’s done. We got the intel we needed. I'll send someone back to secure anything we left behind. K2 plug back into the comms and tell them that Sergent Erso will need a medical assessment as soon as we land. Rook, I swear to the ancients, if we don't have a smooth ride I'll skin you and feed you to a bantha." Cassian had reverted into Captain mode as they got the ship up and running. He hurried around helping Bodhi boot up the engines. 

He turned back to Jyn for a moment and gave the top of her head a peck before she could say anything. “Estrella, I want you to sit in the cockpit. Less turbulence. Hopefully who won’t get sick when we go into light speed,” he told her sweetly and then went to secure the hatch. 

“Cass, love, wait” She tried to get him to stop running around but he seemed too occupied. 

“Baze, secure the blasters. Then you get buckled in,” he ordered and started to the cockpit. 

“Cassian! Stop for a second!” Jyn raised her voice as everyone moved around her. She glanced around at her small outburst and then grabbed Cassian’s hand and pulled him off the ship to get some space from the others. 

“What is it? Are you going to be sick?” Cassian asked, running a hand across her cheek. 

“Cassian… we’re… gonna have a baby. Just give please…. Give me a moment to process. Don’t you need a minute? I’m…. Cassian, what are we going to do?” She wanted to cry but her mind was spiraling. 

“Jyn, mil alma.” He brought her close to his chest. “We’re going to have a baby,” he sighed happily. Jyn could feel the affection in his touch. 

“You’re happy?” Jyn was confused, how could he be so happy right now, she was panicking, why wasn’t he? 

He pulled her back and looked at her face. He picked her up and swung her around in his arms again.“Jyn. I’m going to be a father. My wife, the love of my life, mi corazon y alma, is carrying my child, mi familia. Of course, I’m happy,” he nearly shouted with enthusiasm. 

He grinned wide, it was the stupid one he had when he first said he loved her. It brought her panic down and she felt the happiness herself. 

“Cassian, I want to finish the mission,” she said suddenly. 

“Jyn, no, we need to have you assessed.” Cassian’s grin went away. 

“Cass, they’re not going to let me do anything when the medics inform the generals of my situation. We need to finish this, then I promise we’ll go back. We’re done with the main part anyway.” 

Cassian thought for a moment. She was right in saying that they wouldn’t let her do anything if they knew she was pregnant, he remembered how weird everyone was with Leia when she had Ben. 

“Fine, three days. We will stay for three days to finish up packing and stop all the transactions. And they’re staying on the planet until we leave,” he compromised. 

“Fine. We’ll need to head back to town,” she said rubbing her hands. 

“Wait, Estrella.” Cassian caught her waist once more and gave her a sweet kiss. “Te amo, Estrella,” he whispered and held her for another moment more. 

“I love you too, Cass.” She smiled, comforted that even if she was scared about being a parent, Cassian seemed to be shaking with the idea of being a father. 

After the three days, Cassian kept his promise. He didn’t talk about the baby much until they were off-planet and headed back to the base. Jyn couldn’t decide if she found his new tendency to herd her endearing or annoying. 

Once they got back to base, she decided it was annoying. The base medics met them upon arrival. Draven tried to intercept Cassian as he tried to follow Jyn since she was escorted by Baze towards the medical ward. 

“Andor, Erso, report to the briefing room,” Draven commanded as they walked by. 

“Sergeant Erso needs medical assessment,” Cassian said simply, moving quickly past him. 

“Is she critically injured?” 

“No, but she needs to be seen.” Cassian didn’t look at the officer as he trudged forward. 

“Well, then you can come to give the briefing on your own while she’s in there.” Draven shrugged. 

“We’ll give our briefing when she’s done with her assessment.” 

“Captain Andor, as your commanding officer, I’m ordering you to report to the briefing room. Your mission is of great importance,” Draven said walking beside Cassian at this point. Cassian stopped and looked back at the officer. 

“Sir, I understand the importance of the mission, but I need to be with Sergeant Erso during this assessment. You should have all the information from the comms sent from the Rogue ship. As soon as we are done with the doctors, Jyn and I will report to our superiors immediately.” Cassian wanted to curse at Draven. He wanted to curse at Draven for many things over the years, so this wasn’t a new feeling. 

“Is she that sick? What happened out there Andor?” Draven looked confused as Cassian started to march away once more. 

“We just need to get her checked out,” Cassian grumbled. They reached the medical ward before he could get rid of Draven. An older woman in a midwife smock came through the corridor. Draven looked between her and Cassian for a moment. 

“Is Erso pregnant?!” Draven suddenly said. 

“We will report to you later,” Cassian said one final time and went in. 

Chapter Text

Bodhi pulled his A-Wing out of hyperdrive so hard that they brushed the bottom of the ship over the trees on Yavin IV. Cassian jerked up from his seat as Bodhi skidded the ship across the tarmac of the landing pad of the base. Before it precariously slid into place, only a few feet from Shara Bey’s ship, Cassian was out of the cockpit and sliding down the side of the ship to the ground. When his feet hit the ground he was running as fast as he possibly could to the medical ward. His only thought was on her. Bodhi powered down the ship and jumped out after his comrade. 

“WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA ROOK?! You almost hit my ship!” Shara yelled as Bodhi jerked off his helmet. 

“Sorry Bey!” Bodhi yelled back sheepishly, avoiding the rage of Shara. 

Cassian flew down the hallways of the base until he saw Chirrut sitting outside the medical ward, legs crossed, his staff placed protectively over his lap, reciting the guardian mantra. 

“Did I miss it? Are they ok?” Cassian asked breathlessly, before jerking open the ward doors. Chirrut smiled as Cassian’s footsteps approached and stopped chanting. 

“Baze is in there with her. She is doing well so far,” Chirrut answered in a calm voice just before a loud guttural scream was heard throughout the hallway from the ward. Cassian’s heart stopped at the familiar yet concerning sound of his wife’s voice. “Perfectly normal,” Chirrut added, at the sound. 

Cassian took a deep breath pushed through the doors. 

Bodhi came running down the hallway just as Cassian disappeared behind the doors and stopped by Chirrut. 

“Are they- is she- how is-” He started to huff out, trying to catch his breath while trying to control the anxiety he had for his friends. 

“She is doing fine. It is now just a matter of waiting,” Chirrut said calmly, another scream echoing out of the ward. Bodhi took a few deep breaths but eventually settled to sit beside the old blind man, tucking his head between his knees to try and manage his nerves. 

Cassian walked in on an unusual scene. Two medical droids milled around Jyn, preparing their tools for birth. The newer KX droid, modified with the old K-2SO system, was following around one of the droids, absorbing the information of what was happening. Jyn was almost growling in pain. Her face red and sweaty, tears streaming down her face. Baze was holding on to her shoulder and one of her hands as she progressively leaned forward over her swollen stomach. Kay-tu noticed him first. 

“Finally. She hasn’t stopped screaming for the past hour.” He gave a long sigh. 

“Kay-tu-” Cassian started. 

“It does show that the probability of her pain level is high. I did not think you would make it so I took it upon myself to start her labor coaching. I keep reminding her to breathe, but she doesn’t seem to want to listen.” 

“There he is, little sister,” Baze said, pulling away from Jyn. 

“CASS!” she managed to call out, mid-scream. He rushed over from the spot he was frozen in, to the side opposite of Baze. “Where were you?!” Jyn half cried at him. 

“I’m so sorry, querida. We flew here as fast as we could when we got the comm,” he tried to explain as she sobbed in pain. He wasn’t quite sure she wasn’t trying to crush his hand when she squeezed it between small fingers, but if it gave her any comfort at this time, he would handle the broken bones later. 

“Here comes another contraction. You are two minutes away from pushing Lieutenant Erso,” one of the droids informed them.

“This seems to have higher peak Jyn, your pain level will be much worse than the recent contractions,” Kay-tu informed them. Baze grunted at the droid as Jyn gritted her teeth and let through another scream deep in her throat as the contraction reached its peak. She grabbed Cassian’s jacket collar and pulled him to her face. 

“I swear to the Force, if you don’t get him out of here I will shoot both of you,” she huffed out before letting out another low grunt. Cassian nodded and looked to Kay-tu. 

“I need you to go tell the general that Bodhi and I have made it back.” 

“Fine, but my advice may prove to be invaluable during this time,” Kay-tu said before Cassian shot him another look, prompting him to leave the room.

Bodhi listened to Chirrut hum his mantra, which calmed him to an extent. A few people had come by and asked if Jyn was doing alright, Chirrut would tell them the same thing over 

“She is doing well for the situation.” And go back to chanting. The screams continued but suddenly Chirrut stopped chanting and stood up. Just as he reached his full height the screaming stopped. Bodhi looked up from his spot and stood up with Chirrut. 

“What is it, Imwe?” He almost whispered in fear. After a few soft moments of silence, Chirrut’s concerned face broke into a full grin. At that moment Baze burst through the doors. “She’s here,” Chirrut said before Baze could open his mouth. 

“I could have at least said it,” Baze sighed at his partner.

“But yes, she has arrived.”

Bodhi went to ask his next question but Baze patted his shoulder. 

“Jyn is doing fine as well. I’m afraid to ask how you got Cassian here so fast.” 

Bodhi shook his head. “Just don’t ask to fly the A-Wing for a while.” Baze gave out a loud low laugh. 

Cassian counted the toes of the tiny baby in his arms. Ten perfect pink toes. When she clutched his finger he counted those. Ten perfect fingers to match. 

The droids finished tending to Jyn and pulled away to clean their machinery. Jyn’s exhausted eyes drifted to her husband and their daughter. In her exhaustion, her heavy eyes drifted close but she managed a smile. Cassian pulled his eyes away from his little bundle and he gently walked back to Jyn’s side. 

“You are amazing,” he whispered to her. She nodded in agreement as he placed a kiss on her forehead. 

“Is she alright?” she asked, looking at Cassian's arms. Cassian tilted the baby for Jyn to look at. She ran a soft finger over the newborn’s small features. 

“You have visitors if you are ready,” one of the droids calmly informed them. Before Cassian could object, trying to give Jyn a chance to rest 

“Let them in.” Jyn waved her hand. 

The room filled with their little makeshift family. After a share of hugs and cheek kisses, they all stood around Jyn holding the newborn girl. There was a moment of comfortable silence as they all looked fondly at one another. Through all the hardships and pure torture that they had faced since meeting years ago, it was hard to imagine that something so small could have the usually vocal group enraptured into complete silence. Jyn looked up at all her friends' eyes and reached over to squeeze Chirrut’s hand. 

“Are you ready to hold her?” She asked softly. 

“I have never been more ready!” Chirrut exclaimed, holding out his arms. With the help of Baze, Jyn placed the baby into Chirrut’s arms and placed his hands out to where he could support her tiny frame. Chirrut grinned and, as softly as he could, ran his finger along the baby’s features. With each feel of a new part of her face, he would chuckle. The baby cooed at his gentle touch. “She will be strong in the force!” Chirrut proclaimed. This proclamation did not mean as much from him, because many things were strong in the Force according to him. 

“Of course she will be,” Jyn hummed sleepily. Baze lifted the baby up in his arms, already the proud protector of his new family member. 

Bodhi stood wide-eyed next to Cassian, who hadn’t stopped smiling since everyone had come in the room. 

“Alright, pilot, are you ready?” Baze said moving over to him. 

Somehow Bodhi’s eyes got even wider in panic. “I’ve never-I don’t- I don’t know how to hold a baby,” he finally managed to stutter out. Baze scoffed and pushed Bodhi into a nearby chair. 

“Hold out your arms,” he demanded and placed the baby carefully into his arms and guided Bodhi’s hands around her just as he had done with Chirrut. 

Once she was in his arms, Bodhi felt like he could feel the planet shift. The Rogue Team, as they had been deemed by the rest of the rebellion long ago, was the only family he ever had. The most affection for another person came from the connections he had with the other four adults in that room. Jyn was his protective sister that would speak up enough for both of them. Cassian was his studious and serious older brother that made sure he did what was best for his personal well being. Baze and Chirrut, their surrogate parents that doted over them, while still scolding them like they were children when they did something wrong.

But this was different. This affection that was overwhelming him was a sense of protectiveness and hope. He was going to make sure she never had to feel the hurt that he had, or her parents had. A quiet vow possessed his mind. ‘I will always be there.’ He went to say her name but then realized he didn’t know it. 

“Oh, what is her name?” he asked in an almost whisper as Baze came back over to pick the baby up. 

“Oh, we hadn’t decided yet,” Jyn responded, suddenly concerned. 

“Well, I had an idea, I thought you might like. It’s simple and short like you wanted.” Cassian moved over to Baze and the baby. “I was thinking her name would be Kay,” he said with affection. 

“No! You are not naming my child after your droid.” Jyn was suddenly not as drowsy. 

“But it’s a nice name, and K-2SO has saved us more times than I can count. Without him, there would be no baby, Jyn,” he defended his decision, but quickly regretted it when he saw the fierce grimace on Jyn’s face. 

“I thought you were going to name her after your mother?” Bodhi asked Jyn to break up the tension. 

“Her middle name is Lyra. We agreed it would be too painful for a first name.” Jyn softened her voice to Bodhi. 

A few moments of discussion went by with everyone throwing around names. The baby became fussy and let out a few short cries behind the sound of everyone arguing.  Baze chuckled at all of them as he slowly bounced the baby in his arms, which seemed to calm her. 

“For a little ray of sunshine, you sure are going to be causing us a lot of emotions. Our little ray of light in this strange galaxy,” Baze hummed to the cooing baby as he sat in the chair beside Jyn. 

“What did you just say?” Jyn asked, watching the old tender man. 

“She’s like a little ray of sunshine, isn’t she?” Baze said as he started to hand the baby back to her mother. Jyn smiled for a moment. 

“I like that,” she gave a small chuckle. 

“She will be the ray of hope for the future, just like little Poe and Ben,” Chirrut said. 

“That’s it,” Jyn said, staring at the now sleeping baby. 

“What is?” Cassian asked, pulling away from telling Chirrut they were not going to name her after a former guardian named Jernilo. 

“Her name, that’s her name,” Jyn said without pulling away from her child. 

“Jernilo? I’m not sure that’s the best option Jyn,” Cassian said with wide eyes. 

“No, no. Her name is Rey,” she informed them. 

Jyn was getting what sleep she could over the few days she stayed in the ward. Cassian was thrilled with this decision, knowing his partner was exhausted. He took the new baby Rey and walked her around the hallways near the ward, trying to calm her fussing. Kay had stationed himself outside the ward. When Cassian came out he looked to him for instructions, whether he would do as he was told was a different story. 

Cassian tilted his head and nodded for Kay-tu to follow him on his walk. Kay understood and quickly followed behind. He had seen the infant from afar when Jyn finally let him come in and see her. But Cassian led them out onto the base, letting the sunshine gleam on her, and he turned to his droid companion. 

“Alright, get ready to hold her,” Cassian said, holding her out. 

Kay-tu registered this request, but it took a long pause in his system to accept. Cassian didn’t wait from the register and put her in his arms. His system recognized the basic anatomy of the child and how to properly hold her with a narrow probability of her falling or him hurting her. 

He looked over her face, and his system produced a sketch of what she looked like and registered it with the medical information from the other medical droids. 

“Kay-tu, open your protocol records,” Cassian said, reaching for Rey. “I need to fix your protocol.” Cassian pulled out a droid protocol scrambler. Kay-tu pulled away from him, still holding Rey.
    “Those things are invasive and demeaning, and the past will show that it can do more harm than good.” Kay-tu swatted him away. “I’ll do it myself,” the droid insisted and started adjusting his coding algorithm. There had always been profiles associated with Cassian as COMMANDER. DEFEND, PROTECT, ASSIST. HUMAN CARETAKER.

In the past few years, the protocols JYN ERSO: DEFEND, PROTECT were added to his algorithms. 

There were even protocols to assist the other members of the team if Cassian deemed it. As he looked down at the infant squirming in his mechanical arms, it seemed that her needs outranked the others, even Cassian. He changed his coding within a few moments. 

REY ERSO-ANDOR: COMMANDER. DEFEND, PROTECT, ASSIST: AT ALL COST. HUMAN CARETAKER AFTER CASSIAN. 

Cassian listened to the new protocols and waited for Kay-tu to switch back from this records mode. 

“Is that sufficient?” Kay-tu asked. Cassian nodded and reached back out for the infant. 

For a moment Kay-tu did not hand her back, he just looked down from Cassian to Rey. 

“Do you want to walk with her for a bit?” 

“It is important to children's development to create bonds with those who will care for them. With you and Jyn’s absurd amount of missions, I have calculated that I will be caring for Rey 48% of the time,” Kay-tu informed him, as he tucked Rey a little closer to his metal chest. 

Cassian cocked an eyebrow. “Sure Kay. You hold on to her for a bit.” 

Kay-tu nodded and walked along the path with Cassian. 

“I tried to name her after you,” Cassian said, rubbing the crick in his neck. 

“I am glad that you did not. That would have been incredibly confusing. I like her name, it is easy to code and can be recognized in many dialects.” 

“I’ll have to tell Jyn that you approve,” Cassian laughed. 

“Please do not. She will power me down again.” Cassian continued to laugh at this. 

Chapter Text

The Republic base seemed to talk in heavy tones. The attack on Yavin brought heavy losses. Cassian had been brought in as an analyst, the situation gripping supporters of the Republic in a state of panic, in need of security and strategy. At some point, Pao leaned into Cassian and quietly told him the news that too many people would know already. 

Shara Bey Dameron had died in the fight. 

Cassian felt a small part of his heart turn dark. Shara was family. She was like a sister. Her spirit and fire was a bright star in the rebellion and in their lives. His own heartbreak was physically displayed on his face, but that’s not what mattered at the time. 

“We can’t find Poe, Andor. And no one has been able to comm Dameron. No one has told them,” Pao informed him.

A lump grew in his throat. He didn’t even respond to Pao before he pushed his way out of the room. A few people tried to approach him, but he quickly brushed them away. 

“Andor!” Han yelled. He was dirty from recovering people from the attack, his eyes wild with panic. “Shara-”
    “I know.” Cassian choked out. “Where’s Poe?”

“No one can find him. He was on base while everything was happening, but L’ulo says no one could find him.” 

Cassian nodded and patted his arm. “I’ll find him.” He said simply and pushed away. 

If anyone would know where the little scared Poe Dameron would be it would be Cassian. 

Cassian wasn’t lying when he had told Jyn he had been a part of the Rebellion since he was 6 years old. He knew what was happening to Poe’s innocent heart and mind. The years of mental abuse he gave himself by numbing himself to pain after being warped as a child. Cassian needed to make sure that didn’t happen to Poe. He needed to ensure that Poe Dameron, no matter what, would have someone to understand him and fall back on for the rest of his life. 

It didn’t take Cassian long. Besides being a spy, he knew his godson, and at that moment he knew where he would feel safe. He left the main part of the base, which was being overrun by recovery vehicles, staff, and victims. Cassian went to the far garage where they kept old spare parts. In the far corner of the old bunker room, Cassian could hear the sniffles of a little voice.  He slowly maneuvered himself under an old TIE fighter interior that had been stripped for parts. 

Poe was curled up in a ball behind the pilot seat. His little black curls, messy and dirty, still shined in the emergency lights. 

“Mijo,” Cassian said quietly. 

“Leave me alone,” Poe muttered out. 

“Alright,” Cassian said with a long fake sigh. He sat back up and leaned against the wall. He sighed heavily and patiently waited for Poe to stop crying. It would just upset him more if he tried to drag him out. Cassian waited a few moments after Poe’s sniffles subsided. He heard a small clatter and Poe finally crawled out. 

Poe’s bright dark eyes seemed confused that Cassian was still sitting there. He decided to sit beside him. “Someone said my mom is gone,” he said quietly, picking up a rock and squeezing it like he was going to crush it. 

Cassian remembered the moment he realized his father was dead. It was different from this. When his father died, he had the confirmation of the dead body bloodied on the ground. Though it was traumatic, it was a confirmation for him that his father was never coming back. It was different for Poe. He was never going to have that confirmation. He was never going to see Shara’s face again. Cassian wasn’t sure if this was worse or better.

“Is it true Tio Cass? Is she…” Cassian watched Poe search for the right word in his seven-year-old mind. Cassian could see that Poe already knew the answer to the question. Cassian wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, tear up something, throw rocks, but he needed to be there for Poe at this moment. 

He nodded. “Your mom didn’t survive the attack,” he said simply. Poe seemed cold and numb to the statement. Cassian figured he had probably been crying for hours at this point. 

“Can I talk to dad?” Poe asked, in his still small voice. Cassian furrowed his brow. They still hadn’t made contact with Kes yet. He wasn’t sure if he survived the attack or not. 

“Not yet. He hasn’t made it back to base yet. But as soon as he does we’ll go talk to him,” Cassian told him, trying to be comforting. 

“I really want to talk to him, can we go find him? I can fly a ship! Mom taught me!” Tears brimmed Poe’s eyes again as he clung to Cassian’s jacket. Cassian started to say that they can’t do that but then it struck him. 

“I don’t think we can, but I think I know someone who can. Come on, let's go find Tio Bodhi,” Cassian said, suddenly leaping up. The excitement in Cassian’s idea seemed to give Poe some enthusiasm and he quickly started running back to the base hanger. 

They found Bodhi in the hanger, he was helping people get to the medical ward and carry supplies. He dropped the bag he was carrying when he saw Poe. He didn’t hesitate to bend down on his knees and gather the little boy in his arms. Cassian could tell he had been crying by the redness around his eyes. 

“Bo, can you find my dad?” Poe asked without hesitation. 

“I haven’t seen him. Has he made it back to base?” Bodhi looked between Cassian and Poe in confusion. 

“He hasn’t, we were hoping you might be able to do a ground sweep of the direction he went and see if we can do an extraction,” Cassian explained putting a hand on Poe’s shoulder to steady his rapid shaking. 

“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll get the ship, I’m sure there’s more troops out there,” Bodhi said hurriedly leading them towards the ship. 

“You can take Kay, he can help. I think I should stay with Poe,” Cassian told him in hush tones. Bodhi nodded in agreement. 

Tonc was ordering ground troops to supply pods to help with the wounded when he saw Bodhi and Cassian marching confidently towards Bodhi’s U-Wing with Poe trailing behind them. He jogged over as Bodhi started detaching the charging and fuel lines from the back of the ship. 

“What’s going on? Where are you taking the ship?” he said, a slight panic that Bodhi was about to do something reckless and attack back or something equally insane. 

“Dameron and part of his troops are still on the east mountain and haven’t sent a comm through in several hours. I’m going to fly over and scan the ground to find them,” Bodhi informed him. 

“Bo you don’t have to do that,” Tonc said stepping up towards Bodhi with a glance at Poe.

“Stordan, I’m taking Kay, I’ll be fine.” Bodhi brushed him off to open the hatch moving away from Cassian and Poe. 

“No Bo, Dameron just got delivered by the recovery team,” he said, stepping even more into Bodhi’s space. Bodhi stopped what he was doing and looked back at Tonc. Bodhi was afraid of what came next. 

“He’s in critical condition,” he whispered, trying to keep his eyes from looking back at the little boy clinging to Cassian’s jacket. He reached out and squeezed Bodhi’s forearm, finding his own comfort in that.  Bodhi nodded, understanding what that meant. 

Bodhi resisted the urge to fall into Tonc’s arms and be held at that moment. He, unfortunately, resisted that urge too much sometimes. Bodhi and Tonc turned back to Cassian and Poe and gave Cassian a distressed look. He dropped down on a knee and got eye level with Poe. 

“So, Corporal Tonc knows where your dad is,” he said in a light comforting voice. 

“You do? Can I see him?” Poe piped up looking at Tonc. 

Tonc felt like part of his heart was going to break as he looked into the eyes of the little boy that just wanted his dad. Bodhi came to his rescue and grabbed a hold of Poe’s hand. 

“Poe… your dad has been badly hurt. But he is in with the doctors and they are working on him. So we can’t go see him until they’re done. Ok?” Bodhi spoke softly as Poe looked down at their hands. 

“Do we know how…?” Cassian thought in his mind how to phrase what he wanted to say. 

“I haven’t gotten a full report. Poe, buddy, I’m going to go get a report from the doctors and see how long it will take until you can see him.” Tonc found confidence in the possibility of answers for the poor little boy. 

“You will come right back?” Poe asked. 

“As soon as I talk to them, I promise,” Tonc patted his hand on Poe’s shoulder before jogging away. 

“Why don’t we send a comm to Tia Jyn and them while we wait?” Cassian suggested holding out his arms, offering to pick up Poe. Poe nodded at this and let Cassian pull him close. 

Poe laid his head on Cassian’s shoulder as he slowly made their way through the base to a free office. He noticed over a few moments Poe’s clutch on his shirt loosened. As if it was all at once, Poe went slack in his arms. The exhaustion had finally caught up with him and he had passed out asleep in Cassian’s arms. 

Once they found a place to send out comms he quickly typed in the number to his home while still holding Poe in his lap. A small hologram of Jyn popped up on the pad, she was holding the two-year-old baby Rey in her arms, looking sleepy and frantic. Cassian’s heart swelled at the sight of them, safe and healthy. 

“Cass, oh thank the Ancients, I was so worried,” she rushed out in her accent. 

“Are you two alright?” Cassian looked over the figure and made sure he didn’t see a scratch or anything, even though they were four planets away on Fest. 

“We’re fine. Cassian what happened? I’m getting all kinds of reports, but nothing is making sense,” she said in almost a hushed tone. Cassian assumed that Rey was asleep as she slumped into her mother’s shoulder. 

“A band of Separatists attacked Yavin in a last-ditch attack. It blew the west base to shreds. There was a battle and… our losses were heavy.” Cassian glanced down at Poe. 

Jyn scrunched up her face in frustration. “So… she’s… it’s true,” Jyn uttered out as she saw the sleeping Poe leaning into Cassian’s chest. 

“It’s true.” Cassian nodded to her. Cassian desperately wanted to be there to mourn the death of one of their closest friends in the arms of his wife. 

“What about Kes?” she asked quietly. 

“He’s in critical condition. We’re waiting to hear from the doctor.” 

Jyn nodded in understanding. 

“Will you bring him here, or should I come to get him?” Jyn said with little hesitation. Cassian admired his wife’s immediate need to make sure Poe was safe, ready to adopt the galaxy's orphans, and give them a new family, just as their makeshift family had. 

“I’m not sure how long they will want me to stay. I will try to have a game plan by morning.” Cassian tried to comprehend what the Republic’s new senate would want to do next. 

“I’ll come to get him tomorrow. He doesn’t need to stay there during all this.” Cassian knew that Jyn had decided what she was doing before he even talked to her. Sometimes this frustrated him that she was so decisive and was headstrong about those things she had to be that way with, but it was also one of the top reasons he loved her. 

“Rey can stay with Chirrut and Baze and I’ll fly in tomorrow morning on the V-Wing,” she informed him. 

He could already see her scheduling out what she was going to do in the morning to make sure she was ready. As impulsive as she was, she was incredibly good at planning. 

“Then I will see you in the morning, Estrella,” he said quietly, lightly patting Poe’s legs. 

“You will. I love you,” Jyn said slowly, trying to look into his eyes as well as they could through the comms. 

“Te amo Estrella. Give Rey a kiss from Papi,” he sighed, missing his baby girl.

“You can kiss her, change her, play with her, make her food, whatever when you get home,” she said with a chuckle. Hearing any sort of happiness in her voice gave Cassian enough hope to get him through the rest of the night until he could see her in person. 

“Tomorrow, love,” Jyn said quietly.

“Manana, mi alma,” Cassian sighed out, almost near tears. 

Cassian was able to find a suitable bunk to lay down the sleeping Poe. He resisted the urge to lean up against the wall beside the bed and go to sleep himself. But Poe was surrounded by what remained of the Black Squadron, heal so made Kay stay with Poe.  Cassian knew he would be safe until he could get the news from Bodhi and Tonc about what happened to Kes. 

He wandered towards the medical ward when he saw Bodhi and Tonc speaking in hushed tones close to each other, Tonc gripping Bodhi’s forearm, something he noticed Tonc doing a lot. Cassian wondered if that was a good way of keeping Bodhi focused since he knew that Bodhi still had a tendency to drift and get distracted sometimes. Bodhi always seemed more focused on Tonc when he was talking. Bodhi glanced over and saw Cassian coming their way and pulled slightly out of Tonc’s touch. 

“Any news?” Cassian inquired. 

“He’s in a bacta tank. Broken arm, cracked four ribs, one lung collapsed, heavy blood loss from several open wounds...” Tonc explained. Cassian nodded and pushed his hair back. 

“Where’s Poe?” Bodhi asked, looking around the corridor. 

“I put him in a bunk with the Black Squadron. They’ll look after him till I can get back. Jyn will be here in the morning,” he told them. 

“She can’t join the fight right now. What about the baby? Chirrut and Baze wouldn’t let her, would they? I know she’s capable but Rey is still so young. Maybe if I talk to her-” Bodhi started rambling and looking around as his thoughts scrambled. 

“She’s not joining the fight, Bodhi. She’s coming to take Poe back home. An active recovery base isn’t a safe place for a grieving child. He’ll do better to stay there while the senate figures all this out and Kes has the chance to recover,” Cassian explained, patting Bodhi on the shoulder in a brotherly way. That did seem to work as far as grounding Bodhi, perhaps Tonc was on to something. 

“Good. That’s a good idea. Poe needs someone. Are there any other children on base, maybe we can take them to some safe homes? I’ll gladly provide transport and care until we can get there,” Bodhi rambled slightly. 

“We can find out Bo, until then they will want you to transfer supplies,” Tonc said in a steady voice. This seemed to be something they had already been discussing from Cassian’s observation. 

“Let’s see what we can help with tonight for now,” Cassian decided. 

The rest of the night was spent making sure any of the wounded were assessed and making an inventory of how many people and ships they had lost. After a while, things started to die down so Cassian returned to Poe. Poe was sprawled out in the small bunk, so Cassian sat down on the floor. He placed his sweaty head on the side of the cold bedframe and tried his best not to think about all the losses they were going to have to deal with.

He tried not to think about how his friends were killed or injured. He kept his focus on Poe, and how he was going to help him. He was grateful that he wasn’t in this alone. Eight years ago, he would have been alone, still just a spy. He would have been sent on some dangerous covert mission to find out what the separatists wanted. He would have been isolated from knowing anything that happened after tonight and quickly shipped out with Kay to whatever star system they thought they could gain intel from. There was no way that he could have helped Poe, or even fully want to, as he had been so broken off from that type of emotion. 

But now Cassian had Jyn. He had his family of Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and some others. He had his little girl. He had something to ground him, something that gave him a reason to refuse those types of covert missions that kept him months, sometimes even years, away from contact. Now he could help Poe, help provide him with some stability, even if that means shipping him home to Fest with Jyn. 

The next morning Cassian was woken up by Poe trying to peel his eyes open. Cassian groaned and sat up. 

“Tio Cass. I’m hungry,” Poe said. The little boy's wide eyes told Cassian that he was still processing what he had been told the night before. Cassian was still processing himself.

“Let’s find you something to eat, mijo,” Cassian yawned and helped Poe out of his bunk.

By the time he found Poe some water and a protein bar, Cassian was getting the alert that Jyn had made it onto base. He made his way to the hanger and watched Jyn clumsily land the V-Wing, she never was very good at flying on her own. 

Once she landed and secured the ship, she scrambled out. Cassian let go of Poe’s hand so he could run out to meet her. She dropped to her knees and pulled Poe into a tight hug against her chest. Cassian slowly made his way over and could hear Poe starting to sniffle again, Jyn holding back her own tears. She looked up at Cassian and reached out a hand to hold his. She squeezed it tightly as she squeezed Poe with the other arm. She let him stay against her chest for a while till he leaned back. 

“My momma is…” Poe stuttered out between heavy tears. 

“I know love. Have you seen your papa?” She pushed some of the matted curls away from his face. 

“No. He’s really hurt. Tio Cass says he’s in the med-i-ca ward,” he stuttered out. She turned to Cassian to read his eyes. He gave her a slight grimace and shake of his head, to answer the question if he was alright. She understood and turned her attention back to Poe. 

“We're going to go talk to the doctors and see if we can see your papa. But I want you to understand love, it’s going to take a while for him to get better. Until then, would you like to come stay on Fest with Me and Rey? Chirrut and Baze will be there too.” She tried to have an encouraging yet sympathetic tone. 

“If- if- it’s ok with my dad.” He said looking between her and Cassian. “Do you think Babu will teach me how to shoot his big blaster?” he asked with what enthusiasm he could muster. 

“We’ll see what we can arrange. Let’s go get your stuff, Tio Cass will go talk to the doctors for us,” she said getting up from the ground. She turned to Cassian before they started off to find a transport to the Dameron house near the base.

“Are you alright?” She asked, touching his cheek. He leaned into the touch as he always did and smirked.

 “Trying to be.” 

She nodded and kissed him quickly before sighing and starting off with Poe. 

Cassian wasn’t sure of letting Poe see Kes in the bacta tank, hooked up to all those machines, looking more like an experiment than his father. But Jyn insisted it would help Poe understand that he couldn’t stay with Kes until he healed. After Poe asked an array of questions, Jyn, and the medical droids, answering all of them patiently, Poe seemed ready to go home with Jyn.

Jyn patiently loaded Poe onto the V-Wing once he was ready to go. He was quiet in the co-pilot’s seat, which was unusual. Poe was normally a bundle of energy, but now he was quiet and subdued.

“You alright there, Flyboy?” Jyn asked quietly. 

“Yeah,” mumbled Poe, still staring out the window at the stars.

“Hey,” Jyn put the ship on autopilot and turned the captain's seat towards her nephew. “You can cry, it’s okay. I wasn’t much older than you when I lost my mom.” She wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone, that she knew what it was like to lose a parent. “She tried to stop a bad man from taking my father back to the Empire, and they killed her for it.”

“Does it get better?” Poe watched Jyn’s reflection in the glass.

“Eventually, but it’s a whole lot easier when you have people who love you and that you can count on.”

Before she could react, Poe spun into his chair and launched himself into Jyn’s lap, crying.

“Don’t worry,” she comforted, running her fingers through his curly hair. “It’s gonna be okay, I promise.”

Poe stopped crying before they reached Fest but stayed on Jyn’s lap for the rest of the flight. He’d even started to get some of his humor back and critiqued her piloting ability, which needed some work.

When they landed, Poe ran out of the ship, his energy back. He wanted to see Rey and ask Baze if he could learn to shoot the big blaster. 

Jyn was glad that he seemed happier, but she knew he wasn’t over his mother’s death quite yet. It was easy to pretend you were okay when there were other people around, in a new place where your troubles felt far away. But it would still take time for the emotional wound to heal.

Jyn finished shutting down the ship and walked in to call Cassian. She knew he’d want to know they’d made it safe, he worried about her when they were apart, though he’d never admit it. And she’d never admitted that she worried about him too.

“Hey,” she spoke to the blue hologram. “We made it back safe and sound.”

“No problems?” 

“None,” Jyn smiled as Cassian seemed to relax. “Poe is trying to get Baze to teach him how to shoot his giant blaster.”

Cass chuckled a little. “I think the generator for that thing is as big as Poe.”

Jyn smiled, and there was a pause. 

“So, I was thinking that maybe I could give Poe his birthday present a little early,” Jyn broke the silence. “I thought it might cheer him up and take his mind off what happened. It is done, and he’s here, so why not? Right?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Cassian agreed. “Maybe in a couple of days Bo can fly us over and we can all be there to give it to him.”

Jyn smiled. “Perfect!”

Cassian’s head turned, clearly hearing something on base. “I have to go, they need me in a meeting,” he explained. “I’ll work on trying to come home in a few days and let you know.”

“Goodbye, I love you,” Jyn smiled, though it was a sad smile. She missed being there with him, but she wouldn’t trade the life she had now for anything.

Almost a week later, Bodhi landed the A-Wing on Fest. They’d managed to get a couple of days off, it hadn’t been easy but when Cassian mentioned Poe, Draven gave him the time. 

When the ship landed, Poe ran towards the hatch, eager to see his uncles and maybe ask about his dad.

“Tio Cass! Tio Bodhi! You’re here!” He shouted, jumping into Cass’s arms for a hug. “How’d you get away from base? I thought you’d be stuck there FOREVER !”

“Well,” started Cassian, “I told Draven that the best pilot in the galaxy needed me and he couldn’t say no.” Cassian lifted the boy up and walked towards the house.

“I’m not the best, not yet,” Poe remarked. “I don’t have my own X-Wing yet or a droid to help me.” 

“You hear that Bo?” Cassian said to his friend. “He doesn’t even have a droid to help him yet.”

“Hmmm…” Bodhi pretended to ponder. “That might be a problem. You gotta have a droid if you’re gonna fly an X-Wing. Droids come in real handy in a fight. Never underestimate a droid.” Bodhi winked.

“Welcome home, Cass,” Jyn greeted when the trio came inside.

“Didn’t want to come out to meet us, Estrella?”

“I think Poe did a perfect job welcoming you home,” Jyn kissed Cass’s cheek and then Poe’s.

“Now, where’s my little sunshine?” Cass asked.

“She’s in her crib,” Jyn told him. When Cass started towards his daughter’s room, Jyn scolded him. “Don’t. I just got her to fall asleep. If you’d called before you left I wouldn’t have but you forgot to tell me when you’d be here.”

Bodhi laughed and Cass winched, he knew he’d forgotten something. But he’d been in such a hurry to get home and see Jyn and Rey that calling had slipped his mind.

*I’m not good at filling time so I’m gonna write the part I wanted to get to*

After dinner that night, Jyn disappeared into her bedroom and Cassian sat on the floor with Poe and Rey. The boy was making her laugh by holding soft stuffed toys in her line of sight and wiggling them around. 

Cass had warned him not to be too rough with Rey, she was too little to do a lot. Poe seemed to have taken it upon himself to look out for the little girl after Cass had told him that.

“Okay, Poe,” Cass said when he spotted Jyn standing in the doorway of their room. “I know your birthday isn’t for a little while, but we decided that you should get your present now.”

“Really!” Poe’s head shot up and he accidentally dropped the stuffed Ewok on Rey, but the little girl only giggled and began chewing on its ear. “I can really have my present now?!” Poe looked between his aunt and his uncle. 

“Of course,” Jyn laughed. “We thought it might cheer you up some.”

“You’ve got to close your eyes so we can bring it in,” Cass instructed.

Poe shut his eyes and covered them with his hands to prove that he wasn’t going to peak. Then Jyn rolled the present into the room, leaving it just before the boy.

“Alright, mijo, open your eyes.”

Poe opened his eyes and saw a small round droid sitting in front of him. It was a white BB unit with orange details. The little droid beeped at him and he looked up at his aunt and uncle.

“This is for me?” He whispered. “You got me a droid?”

“Well, we found him and Uncle Bo worked on fixing him up. But he’s as good as new now and all yours, sweetheart,” Jyn smiled.

Poe looked at the droid for another moment before he lunged forward and hugged its round body.

“Nice to meet you, buddy,” Poe told the droid. “I’m Poe!”

The droid beeped in response.

“Well, BB-8 were gonna be best friends. I promise!”

Chapter Text

Mando Encounter

The hustle and bustle of the open market place seemed like the perfect place for Poe to further his training of mischief with little Rey. Jyn and Cassian had a good grasp of the market area so they let Poe walk around with Rey ahead of them, as long as they could see them. Poe was trying to show Rey how to pull a prank on a vendor involving a string and some fruit, but she didn’t seem very interested. 

Instead, she seemed fascinated by a little green person moving around slowly through the market. It was a very small thing and Rey being the happy little child was, she bent down and giggled at him. 

“Hello! I’m Rey!” She exclaimed in her little five-year-old voice. The little green creature smiled at her and cooed. “What’s your name?” She asked when it didn’t talk back. 

The creature cooed again and let out what sounded like a giggle. 

“What did you find, sunshine?” Poe asked, coming up behind her. “Oh hello there.” Poe bent down with Rey. “Does it talk?” Poe asked, holding out his hand. 

The creature poked his fingers and cooed.

 “What are you?” Poe wondered and looked around. 

“Kids, did you want some melons?” Jyn came up behind them. “Oh, you’ve made a friend. Who is this?” Jyn smiled down at the kids. 

“He doesn’t talk. I think he’s lost,” Poe told her. 

Jyn bent down and looked around for someone that would look similar to what she was assuming was a child. “Where is your parents little one?” Jyn reached out her hand and the child started to cling to her hand. “Come on. Let's get Papa and see if we can find this little one's parents,” Jyn said and offered her arms out for the child. It happily took the offer to be picked up. Jyn carried the child while Rey and Poe ran ahead of her to find Cassian. 

Jyn felt someone's presence behind her as she followed the kids. Suddenly someone grabbed her arm. She instinctively wrapped her arms tighter around the child. 

“Hand over the kid. He doesn’t belong to you,” a slightly mechanical deep voice said in a quiet voice. 

Jyn looked over and saw the shiny steel helmet of a Mandalorian. “Does he belong to you hunter?” she said snidely. She never liked bounty hunters since she was hunted down so much after she left Saw. “Or are you just making a profit with him.” She patted the sleepy child against her chest protectively. 

“Hand him over,” the Mandalorian said again. 

“Did you kidnap him? Where are his real parents?” she spat out. 

“I don’t have to tell you the whole story, woman. Hand him over.” The Mandalorian reached for a pistol blaster, but before he had the chance to pull it from his holster he heard the familiar sounds of a blaster taken off of its safety. 

“Whatever bounty you are getting isn’t worth a blast to the back, hunter,” Cassian spat out as he moved out from the shadows with his blaster only a few feet from the Mandalorian’s cape. 

The Mandalorian stood still and raised his hands. 

Right at that moment, a tall muscular woman with dark hair came moving around the corner, her rifle drawn at Cassian. "I literally can't leave for ten minutes and you're already in trouble," she sighed as she moved closer to Jyn. 

Jyn protectively put her arm around the child and glanced over to where Rey and Poe were in the open market, away from them, looking at melons and trinkets. She unhooked her baton and activated the stun circuit. She accompanied this action with a glare to the other woman. 

Cassian moved his blaster between her and the Mandalorian. 

"Hand over the kid, lady," The woman demanded in a much harsher tone than Mandalorian. 

“I’ll triple whatever you're being paid for the child,” Mando signaled for the woman to stand down, but she didn't back away. His confident demeanor broke slightly as he panicked. 

Cassian narrowed his eyes and moved around the side of The Mandalorian towards Jyn. When he caught Cassian’s rough face he sighed. 

“Es bueno verte otra vez, Andor,” (Good to see you again) his voice broke through the helmet. 

Cassian lowered his weapon and relaxed his shoulders at the sound of his native language, realizing who was before him. 

 “Nuevo atuendo? No te reconoci, Mando,” (New fatigues? I didn’t recognize you)  he said as he holstered his weapon. Festian always seemed to roll off his tongue better than any of the other languages he knew. 

"It's alright Cara," Mando said, straightening back up. 

Cara lowered her weapon slowly, still keeping her glare stuck on Jyn. 

Cassian nodded at Jyn's baton. She sighed and deactivated it and hooked it back onto her belt. 

“You are doing these types of deals, are you, Mando? I thought it was outside of the code,” Cassian said looking between him and the child that was sleeping in Jyn’s arms. 

“No, it’s not like that. Check his neck, he’s got the signet. He’s a part of my clan,” Mando explained. Jyn gently fished out the end of a cord necklace and did find a small Mandalorian pendant that had been chewed on, looped through the cord. Cassian saw it as well and nodded. Mando approached and she handed the child over with a slight glare to Cara, who was exchanging her own glare. 

“Compañera?” (Partner) Mando nodded to Jyn as he holstered his own weapon and cradled the child. 

“Esposa,” (Wife) Cassian responded with a nod. Cassian motioned his head to Cara.

“Compañera.” Mando seemed to cock his head with a sigh. 

“Estrella, this is Mando, he’s an old associate. Mando this is Jyn Erso, my wife,” Cassian said with a nod. 

“Mum, Papi!” Rey came running back up to them with Poe trying to keep up. 

“I didn’t take Cassian Andor as a family man,” Mando said with a slight chuckle. Cassian shrugged as he picked up Rey. 

Cara suddenly looked star-struck. “Wait! You’re THE Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso!” She exclaimed taking a few steps forward. Jyn instinctively pushed Poe behind her as the tall woman began to loom over them. 

“Mando! You didn’t tell me that you knew THE Rogue team. Sergeant Erso, you are an inspiration. I am just honored to meet both of you,” Cara started grabbing Jyn’s hand in a forced handshake. “Your story made all of us ready to fight. The other troops would share it with all the new recruits. How you and Cassian broke into the Imperial base and took down Krennic, and you scaled a tower just to get the plans transmitted. And Bodhi Rook flying around taking down Stormtroopers and saving everyone. AND THE GUARDIANS!  I just can’t believe that I am meeting you,” Cara rambled on excitedly. 

“It’s nice to meet you as well, um. I didn’t catch your name,” Jyn mumbled out as Poe jutted out from behind her and ran up to Mando. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m Cara Dune. 99th Platoon. I was a shock trooper,” Cara showed off her tattoo. Rey went to reach for it in amazement, but Jyn held her hand back. 

“Sorry. Rey is still learning about boundaries,” Jyn sighed at her child who seemed to think the world was hers.

“Oh, I don’t mind! I like my tattoo too. I got it with the rest of my platoon when I first got recruited.”

“Why?” Rey cocked her head to the side. 

“Good way to remember who my friends were.” Cara smiled wide. Though she struggled with interactions sometimes, she really did like children and their curiosity without judgment. “I have this one too.” She said leaning her face in and showing Rey her tiny rebel alliance symbol on her cheek. 

“Whoa! That’s the alli-an-cance sign! Papi taught me about that. Mum do you have one of those?” Rey wiggled excitedly out of Jyn's arms. 

“Not like her’s,” Jyn said quietly. Cara laughed at the little girl not looking up at her from the ground.

“You’re really big!” Rey continued without missing a beat, her thoughts always running into each other.

“Rey, darling, that’s rude,” Jyn scolded her. 

“It isn’t the first time someone has called me big,” Cara laughed loudly. 

“I want to grow up to be as big as you! Mum, can I be like her?” Rey commented, getting onto her tiptoes. 

Cassian eyed Jyn’s face at this and chuckled loudly at her comment. Jyn grimaced and patted Rey’s head. “If you eat your vegetables.” 

Poe was intently examining Mando’s armor. 

“Can you see in your helmet? How do you breathe?” Poe hurriedly asked him. 

“Uh. I can see through the visor. I have a filter for breathing,” Mando responded, slightly confused. 

“Can I see?” he asked. Cassian stepped in then and grabbed Poe’s shoulder. 

“Poe, you're not being respectful,” Cassian said in a disciplined tone. 

“I can’t take the helmet off. I’m a Mandalorian, we have to keep our helmets on because of our creed. No one can see our face or we can’t be a Mandalorian anymore,” Mando explained in a slightly monotone voice. 

“Whoa, so no one has ever seen your face?!” 

“Not since I was a little older than you.” Mando shrugged. 

“That’s so cool,” Poe said in amazement. “Can I be a Mandalorian?” 

“You would have to join the clan. But I think you might want to be a bit older before you decide that. There are many things that you have to give up.” Mando grumbled slightly. 

“Poe, mija, I think we have bothered Mando and Cara enough.” Cassian finally attempted to reel in both of the children. 

Mando nodded, grateful for the interception. Cara grimaced at having to give up the little bit of attention she was getting from the kids. 

“Wait! Can I play with the baby?” Rey asked in a hurried voice. 

“Mija, I think the baby is sleepy, let him go back with Mando to rest,” Cassian told Rey. 

“But Papi, he has the Force! Like Master and Benny and Mister Luke,” she informed him. 

Cassian looked from Rey to Mando in confusion. 

“A baby? I didn’t see him do anything,” Poe said, folding his arms. 

“Are you sure, love?” Jyn asked Rey, but one look at her face told Jyn that Rey was telling the truth. 

“How does she know?” Mando asked a little aggressively. Cara placed a protective arm over the Mando’s shoulder, blocking him from Rey. 

“Rey is sensitive to the Force. She must have sensed him,” Jyn explained. 

“Oh.” Mando pulled back his aggression as he turned. 

“Who is his master? My master is Chi Chi. He can’t see, but he’s really cool,” Rey started to ramble as she struggled out of Cassian’s arms. 

“He doesn’t have a Master.  We don’t come across too many Force users lately,” Mando explained as she approached. 

“Oh, I bet he would like Chi. Benny trains with Mister Luke, but he is strict. Mum, can we ask Chi if he can train him?” Rey goes up on her tiptoes to try to see the child over Mando’s arm. 

“I’m not sure.” Jyn looked concerned now. 

“Mando, they might help.” Cara quietly leaned towards him. Mando cocked his head towards her considering. 

“Mija, let's give Mando some room. We need to get back to base anyway,” Cassian said, trying to gather up his excited little girl. 

“But papa-” Rey started. 

“We haven’t even picked out our melons, Tio,” Poe complained. 

“Well, come on. Always a pleasure Mando. Take care of your little one. Dune, it was nice to meet you. Perhaps we will see you around soon.” Cassian said as Poe dragged him in the other direction. Jyn started to follow but stopped and turned back. 

“Here is our comm link,” She stopped them and showed her cuff. Mando stared at it quietly and opened his own cuff and downloaded the file. 

“If you need any help with your little one down the road,” she tried to keep his eye contact for a moment but could quite figure out if he was looking at her or not from the mask. 

“Thank you.” He quietly nodded and walked away with his sleeping child. Cara nodded to Jyn before she went after her family. 

The whole way back home, Poe talked of nothing but the Mandalorian. He kept asking Cassian questions about the stoic man.

“Have you really never seen his face?”

“No, not once.”

“How did you recognize him then? How did you know you were meeting him and not another Mandalorian?”

“He had different armor, more beat up and worn down, but very distinctive. Most of them decorate their armor. I guess he hasn’t had time to decorate his new armor.”

“He was so cool!”

“Sure.”

And it wasn’t just on the trip home that Poe talked about the Mandalorian. It was back on base as well. He told the other children about the stoic bounty hunter, though there wasn’t much to tell.

Then one day, Poe came out of his room with an old blanket tied around his neck and a homemade helmet on his head.

“Whatcha doing, kid?” Han asked when he saw Poe.

“I’m gonna be a Mandalorian!” Poe declared, slightly muffled by the helmet.

“Alright, have fun,” Han said, not really thinking Poe was all that serious. “No killing anyone, okay, Mando?”

“Got it!” Poe marched off to find his friends, and Han went to tell Leia what the kid was up to now.

Everyone humored Poe, thinking that he’d soon give up when he found another idea to entertain him. But it was going on two weeks now and Poe hadn’t taken off his helmet. Kes said he even slept in it.

Ben, on the other hand, thought that it was oddly childish of the older boy to parade around with a glorified bucket on his head. He also couldn’t quite figure out why he was so upset about all the attention Poe was getting. It wasn’t that he was upset that everyone was giving Poe attention, it was only sometimes when he got annoyed. But Ben had a plan to end this silly game of Poe’s.

After lunch, Poe was in the hangar with Bodhi, Tonc, Cassian, and Kes. Rey was nearby with Jyn and Chirrut. Poe was still in his armor, following Cassian and Kes around. 

Ben had been sitting off to the side meditating or at least pretending to meditate. He was waiting for the perfect moment to enact his plan. When Poe started to run around, dodging imaginary blasts from Kes’ blaster, he knew it was time. 

With one quick thought, Ben used the Force to tangle the cape Poe was wearing around his ankles, sending the older boy headfirst into the side of the ship Bodhi was working on. 

Everyone was concerned for Poe, but none were sure if they should actually remove his helmet. They knew, eventually, he’d take it off on his own, but it would be mean to make him ‘stop’ wearing it now, however they needed to know if he was alright. 

It was Rey who decided to do something. 

Jyn had come rushing over when she heard the clang of the helmet hit the ship, and Rey had been brought along. The little girl wriggled in her mother’s arms when she saw her friend laying on the ground. Jyn was forced to let her daughter down, or drop her.

Rey walked over to her friend and peered into the helmet, taking it half off, while asking: “You okay, Poe?”

Poe slowly sat up, taking the helmet off as he did.

“Rey!” the boy whined. “You peeked! Now I can’t be a Mandalorian anymore, you saw my face!”

“But I’ve already seen your face, Poe,” Rey said, using her child logic to justify checking on him. “‘Sides you hit your head.” Rey grabbed Poe’s cheeks and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “All better, right?”

“Yeah, all better,” Poe laughed.

“Alright,” Kes interrupted, “let’s go make sure you’re all better.”

“Aw, dad, not the medical droids!” Poe whined as his dad picked him up.

“Yes, the medical droids, you hit your head, Flyboy,” Kes reminded him. “We gotta make sure your brain is okay, or you might not get to be the best pilot ever one day.”

“No!” Poe protested, “I AM gonna be the best pilot! No matter what!”

Ben supposed his plan had worked, Poe wasn’t going to be running around with that stupid helmet on anymore, but he was still irritated. He frowned deeply, glaring in the direction Kes had carried Poe. He was brought out of his scowling by a light tap on his cheek. When he turned, he found Rey had wandered over.

“Don’t frown, Benny,” Rey smiled at him.

“I’m just frustrated, that’s all,” Ben assured her.

“Okay,” Rey said, as she sat next to him. “Whatcha doing?”

“I’m trying to meditate,” Ben explained. “To help me focus on the Force.”

“I’ll sit with you,” Rey announced. “I’ll be quiet, promise.”

“Okay,” Ben smiled, his irritation seemed to wash away and he was finally able to concentrate. At least he was able to concentrate until Rey fell asleep and slumped against him.