Chapter Text
WARNING: this part does mention being sexual assault, if this is a triggering topic for you please use caution when reading.
Din’s PoV
I had just picked up a couple of new bounties to go find, I need a little extra money for me and the kid. We had just landed on a fairly remote planet on the outer rim. The perfect place for some who had a high bounty to be hiding out. I made sure the kid was asleep before leaving. It was dark here, probably the middle of the night. I didn't know much about this bounty only that it was a female.
I held the tracking fob in my hand as I walked it beeped more than it had when I landed. I was getting closer. A small town was coming up, she was probably somewhere in the town.
The tracking fob led me to a multiple occupancy living building. I slowly made my way through the halls of the building. Everyone here seemed to be asleep. I came across one door and the fob began to beep, even more, she was in there. I got ready to bust the door but I heard a voice from inside.
"If you want to come in, just knock. I don't want to pay to repair the door." A female voice called.
Then the door suddenly unlocked and swung open. Hesitantly I stepped in to see a girl sitting in a chair with a book in her hand on the other side of the room.
"How'd you open the door from way over there?" I asked.
"Magic." She replied not looking up from her book.
"Is that a tracking fob?" She asked, folding the corner of the page she was on and closing the book.
"Yes." I said. Why was she so calm?
"Then I guess take me." She said with a sigh and stood up. It was only now that I saw her slightly rounded stomach. She was pregnant. This was turning out to be one of the oddest bounties I’d ever had, and me and my old partner had some pretty stranges ones in the past but nothing like this.
"I'm not going to fight you and make this harder on me or my baby. We'll get enough when we get back." She said now holding her wrists out for me to cuff.
I grabbed my cuffs and put them on her, still questioning this whole situation. There was something more that I didn't know about this bounty.
"Are they too tight?" I asked. I mentally decided that if she was going to be this cooperative, I could be a little less harsh on her. She shook her head no.
"Hold I need to grab something." She said turning back around to grab her book and key.
"I need to leave the key at the front desk." She said, her voice now void of all emotions.
I stayed quiet for a second then sighed.
"Oh what the hell," I mumbled. "I have a few other bounties to pick up before I drop you off, so you'll have to stay on my ship for a few days. You may want to pack a bag with some extra clothes.” I knew I couldn’t put her in carbonite like I do with other bounties, I didn’t know what it would do to the baby.
She gave me a look that was somewhere between shock, confusion and uncertaincy.
“Give me the key I'll go put on the front desk. Then we can leave." I said holding my hand out for the key.
"Why?" She asked with the same look
"Don't ask questions, just do it before I change my mind." I said.
She dropped the key into my hand and I made sure the cuffs were set so that I could walk the distance to the front without her getting pulled along with me. When I came back she was having trouble zipping the bag with her cuffed hands.
"Here." I said stepping up and zipping it for her then taking the bag and carrying it myself. I reset the cuffs so she would be forced to stay somewhat close. I also didn't want her to trip though since she was pregnant and had shorter legs than I did so I did try to slow my pace some.
Once we were on the ship I offered her the unused small cot to sleep on, but she insisted that she wasn't tired. She asked if it was okay with me if she sat in the cockpit with me as I flew to my next bounty. And that's how we ended up here sitting silently as I flew the Razor Crest through space.
"So was I your easiest capture ever?" She asked.
"Well yeah. Most bounties will fight with everything they have not to be captured or have people protecting them from being captured." I said.
"I am willing to bet most bounties aren't three months pregnant either." She said with a joking tone.
"Yeah that's a first too." I said allowing a small laugh out. She seemed like a good person why did she even have a bounty?
"Why do you have such a high bounty, or any bounty for that matter, on your head? You seem like a decent person." I spoke suddenly before I could stop myself.
"Why do you have full beskar armor? It was taken away from us a while ago." She said trying to avoid the question, but I wasn't focussed on that, she had said "us".
"What do you mean ‘it was taken away from us’? Are you a Mandalorian?" I asked.
"Clearly not, you've seen my face. I have no armor." She said, a sudden nervousness in her voice.
"Well then you used to be, otherwise you wouldn't have said ‘us’. ...Why'd you break the creed?" I asked. I couldn't imagine someone breaking the creed, not after everything that has happened to the Mandalorians.
"I didn't." She snapped and the calm mood that had once surrounded vanished.
"Clearly you did. Why?" I pressed.
"I didn't break it! I was forced out of it!" She yelled. "And to answer your question I have such a high bounty because I killed an ex imperial officer, a very good one with a very rich boss. I left him lying there with a knife in his neck." Her voice returned to a normal volume.
I switched the ship to autopilot then turned to face her. "What do you mean you were forced out of it?"
"I was a bounty hunter.” She took a deep breath before continuing, “I had gotten injured while collecting a bounty. I was bleeding out when this guy found me he told me he was a doctor and offered me some help. I let him but on one condition, he swore not to remove my helmet. He agreed. He picked me up and took me somewhere. I had lost so much blood that I had passed out and had no clue where he had taken me.
When I came to, I was strapped down to a cold metal table. He had stitched up my side. All my armor was gone, including my helmet, all I had covering me was a thin sheet. I can’t remember how long I had been there but I knew I had to get out.
Someone finally came in and I guess they had some sort of compassion in them or something and I was able to convince them to loosen my restraints, then once they were gone I slipped out of them and put my clothes and armor back on, it was sitting in a pile in the corner of the room. The guy who took me was stupid enough to leave all my weapons in their holsters. I left the room and tried to find an exit. That's when I ran into the officer, he pulled a blaster on me but before he could shoot he was down. I killed him without a second thought. Then once I finally got out of the building, I ran.
I found a ship, stole it, and flew off that planet. I took my armor off as soon as I was safe, it felt wrong to have it on. About a week later I found out about my bounty. Turns out the guy who took me was a crime lord. I tried to just lay low for a while. Then a month after that I found out that I was pregnant. That's when I moved to the outer rim systems. I had just gotten to that apartment a week ago. I've been moving constantly to hopefully not get caught. A guess that didn't work." She said with a dishearted chuckle.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I shouldn't have pressed on." I said. I was genuinely sorry to hear about what had happened to her. The Mandalorian had been the ones to save me if some had forced me to break the creed I'm not sure how I'd handle it.
"So why'd you become a Mandalorian?" She asked.
The questions brought all my memories of that day to the surface. I seriously considered turning back around and not answering her but she had just opened up to me, the least I could do was return it. I told her about the day my parents died and the Mandalorian took me in. I could tell by the way she listened that she was a compassionate person.
"I can only imagine how hard that must have been. Especially being so young." She said, her eyes softening, her voice was filled with genuine sympathy.
"What about you?" I asked.
She sighed. "I think I've opened up to you enough for now." I knew she was partly poking fun but was also serious about it.
I nodded, knowing better than to push further. She didn’t want to share that, and I can respect that. I couldn't help but think that there was something familiar about her voice. Like I had heard it before, but I knew that was wishful thinking. I was just hoping to have someone from my past here with me still.
I was brought out of my thoughts by her yawning.
"You should go down and get some sleep. I unlocked the door to your cot." I said.
She didn't protest this at all, just stood without a word and carefully climbed down the ladder.
After she was gone I took out her tracking fob and held in one hand, just looking at it. I wasn't sure what to do. I knew I couldn't bring myself to hand her back over to the man who had done so much to here. I also knew I couldn't just drop her anywhere, she didn't have much and eventually wouldn't be able to protect herself from other bounty hunters that would be sure to come after her. My only option left was to let her stay with me and the kid. I shoved the fob back into my pocket before I let myself think anymore into it.
The planet that my next bounty should be on was close by so I took the ship off autopilot and flew it down into a landing bay. It was still night time so I should be able to get at least a couple hours of sleep before the sunrises. I shut off all the flying functions on the ship before leaving the cockpit.
When I got off the ladder I saw the kid starring up at me.
"You should still be asleep." I found myself talking quieter than usual.
He cooed and looked over to where the girl was sleeping. I didn't know her name.
"Keep it down, she's probably asleep. Like you should be." I said trying to be as quiet as possible and bent down to pick him up.
As I stood, the sliding door to where the girl was staying slid open. She stood there now wearing shorts and an oversized shirt. She rubbed her eye and squinted at me.
"Who the hell are you talking to?" She asked.
"No one." I said quickly.
Her eyes went from my helmet to the child in my arms.
"Then who's that?" She asked smirking.
I didn't say anything just stepped to put the child back in his holder. I could feel her eyes watching my every move.
"I'm sorry he woke you up." I said turning back towards her.
"It's okay. He's not one of your bounties, is he?" She asked, there was a slight concern in her voice.
"No. He was but, I couldn't leave him. I rescued him and now he's under my protection until I can find where he belongs." I said and she nodded, knowing that is how things worked with the Mandalorians when it came to Foundlings.
"You wouldn't happen to know what specie he is, would you?" I asked slightly hopeful that she might know.
"No idea. But I can tell he's special." She said a slight mischievous look on her face.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"I’m not sure, but there’s something about him." She said, she reached out to him and his tiny hand wrapped around her finger causing her to smile gently down at him.
I knew what she was talking about. "The hand thing..."
She looked at me confused.
"Nevermind." I said shaking my head.
She turned her attention back to the creature holding her finger. "The hand thing? That sounds like some type of magic or something."
“I guess, in a way it is.” I confessed.
“Well, it’s late I should get to sleep. Goodnight little.” She said softly to the kid after he let go of her finger. She turned to me and gave me a slight nod.
And with that she turned swiftly and closed the door to the cot she was sleeping on. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like her attitude. There was something oddly familiar about her but I couldn't seem to place it. Part of me wanted to keep her around, but another part of me knew I needed the money for me and the child, and yet another part of me knew I couldn't let her go back to the man who had put the bounty on her but I could just drop her off somewhere. She had no money, and even if she did it wouldn't help much because she'd have more bounty hunters coming for her. Sure she used to be a Mandalorian, but she's pregnant and won't be able to fight off attacks soon. To say I was conflicted was an understatement.