Chapter Text
Cody sighed, aggravated, made the executive decision to say 'kriff it' and deal with the rest of his frankly ridiculous workload in the morning, and switched off his datapadd, shoving it roughly away. As he stood, stretching out his sore back while he walked down the hall of his apartment, he made a mental note to punch Diamond next time he saw the shabuir in the flesh. When he had allowed Diamond to talk him into taking the role of DSCF Warden off his hands so Diamond could go and traipse around waging Naberrie's war against slavery, it would have been nice if he had bothered to mention Cody would be responsible for basically getting the whole thing off the ground. Arranging a staff and getting the facility built was the easy part; ensuring they were meeting the legal standards for the treatment of prisoners, and even what standards actually applied thanks to Diamond's forays into other sectors of the galaxy, was a legal quagmire that in turns made him so frustrated he wanted to tear something apart with his bare hands and fathomlessly thankful Senators Amidala and Chuchi were still willing to take his calls. Sweet Ka'ra, sometimes it made him actually miss the GAR, and Diamond at least deserved a solid punch just for making him think such a cursed thought.
A light spilling into the hall made him raise an eyebrow and pause, peering into his son’s room. It was hours after Arreru was supposed to be in bed, what was he doing...?
Cody smiled at the sight of his new son studiously working on a datapadd of schoolwork, a surge of fondness unfurling in his chest as he leaned against the doorway. Arreru didn't even notice, his brow furrowed as he scowled at the 'padd. Must be maths; for all his cleverness, Arreru struggled with the subject. Absently, the thirteen-year scratched at his jaw, wincing when he brushed a sore spot where his jaw spurs were starting to come in. Cody chuckled, tawny eyes snapping up to him in his doorway with a sheepish droop of ears.
“It’s late,” Cody chided lightly. “Math will be there in the morning.”
He nodded mutely, gaze dropping and immediately turning off the padd obediently. Cody’s smile faded. Arreru still was frightened to go against any direct instruction, even phrased as suggestions; he was still struggling with freedom, and the distinction between parent and master. It reminded him too much of reconditioned shinies.
He started to speak again, when the door chimed.
Cody frowned, looking toward the door curiously. Who could that be? He glanced back toward Arreru, offering him a quick smile before moving off to answer the door.
Gree stood there, haggard and grief-stricken. Cody’s heart dropped. He knew Gree from the creche, they had trained together as cadets; not batchmates, but close. For a time they were squadmates, and baar’vod. While they had grown apart after their assignments, him to Kenobi and Gree to Unduli, they had had a few chances to work together over the war; he had not been surprised when after the vote, Gree had taken up with Barriss Offee. He had seemed happy when Cody worked with him on the Council.
His first thought was that something had happened to Barriss.
Without hesitation, he reached out, sliding a hand over the back of Gree’s neck and bringing him in to press their foreheads together in a comforting Keldabe. Gree let loose a harsh sob, shifting to bury his face in Cody’s shoulder; Cody let him, gently guiding him in the apartment proper and to the couch where they sat heavily, leaning against each other. Gree’s shoulders shook with great, wracking sobs while Cody held him, humming Vode An and doing his best to not remember the dark days of their training. They had often sat together like this, them and the others, on a bunk or huddled against a wall, when the harsh demands of their trainers, of Jango, of the Kaminoans, all grew too much, and held each other as they wept silent tears of frustration and pain, offering them to a cruel and uncaring universe. Cody had hoped those days were done.
But here they were again.
Cody wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that before Gree’s sobs tapered off, his vod going warm and heavy against him; for a moment Cody was worried he had gone to sleep and he was going to have to move his heavy shebs before Gree spoke.
“Barriss left me,” he whispered in a tear-roughened voice.
Cody felt his own face fall, and held Gree a little tighter. Force. “Why?” he hazarded a question.
Gree inhaled a shuddering breath. “Because she’s pregnant.”
Cody frowned, confused. “But-?”
“She said,” Gree elaborated haltingly, never rising from a choked whisper or from Cody’s shoulder, “She said she finally understood how one can fall to the Dark, with our child. She said she had to choose, and she did.”
Cody swallowed dryly. “What did she choose?” he asked softly, though he already knew the answer.
“She chose the Light.” Gree had never sounded so... bitter. “She said she would return to the Temple and bear the baby, and if it was Jedi, give it to their creche, and if not, send it to me.” A lone, rough sob escaped him that made Cody’s heart ache. “So I may have lost my child, too, today.”
Cody inhaled sharply. Memories of his own fear when he adopted Arreru flooded his mind; worry his birth family might find him, take his son away. He had comforted himself with making memories, enjoying the presence of Arreru in the moment; Gree had no such comfort.
So Cody held him, comforted him as best he could, and knew it was not enough.
Ahsoka Tano was the one to bring her.
When Cody answered the door to find Rex's old Commander standing there with a small bundle in her arms, she had only to glance at his shocked expression before she sighed in irritation.
"Barriss didn't comm ahead like she said she was going to, did she?" The Togruta woman frowned thunderously. "Of course she didn't. You know, I used to think she was so mature...!"
What was clearly the beginning of a rant was cut off by a thin whine from the bundle in her arms. Abruptly, Ahsoka went silent and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly; despite being as Force sensitive as a brick, even Cody could see the righteous anger drain from her.
When her face was serene again, she looked down to the bundle and smiled softly, cooing something in what Cody assumed was Togrutan. The whining ceased, and she looked to Cody again. Her smile became weary.
Cody swallowed dryly. "Is that...?"
"This is Mira," Ahsoka answered his half-asked question. "Daughter of Gree Offee, if he wants her."
"She is mine."
Cody startled at Gree's voice, whipping around; his brother stood there, his face stone, voice conviction. But when he held out his hands, reaching for the child, they shook.
Cody stepped aside, allowing Ahsoka entrance; the young woman strode in with her graceful Jedi walk, approaching Gree and placing the baby in his arms without hesitation. Something in Gree’s eyes went vulnerable and soft as the child was placed in his arms. Hand still shaking, he gently pulled back the dark green blanket she was wrapped in, revealing her face.
She was so tiny, Cody observed distantly as he drifted closer. He had handled babies before, but mostly in passing in the creche. Even for an infant, though, she seemed small. Her face was round and chubby, a pale yellow-green, with a little button of a nose and pursed lips, black curls crowning her head. Her eyes blinked open when the blanket was moved, revealing big blue eyes.
Gree’s breath caught, and Cody closed his eyes with a pained sigh. She looked just like Barriss.
She began to cry, her little face pinching. Cody opened his eyes again in time to see Gree startle, looking to Ahsoka in panic, but she merely laughed merrily. “You gotta think happier thoughts,” she advised Gree lightly, leaning in close to brush the backs of her fingers over a soft cheek and coo, “It’s alright, Mir-bear, your daddy’s just a little overwhelmed. Haruu, haruu, little one.”
Cody frowned thoughtfully.
Experimentally, he stepped to Gree’s side, giving his brother a reassuring smile when Gree turned his panicked look to him and clapping a supportive hand on his shoulder before looking back down at Mira. He had no idea how the Force was supposed to work, but... He concentrated, focusing on good memories, memories that made him smile. Pranks and spars as cadets, praise from Jango, deadpan jokes with Kenobi. The first thrilling moments of battle that felt perfect , because this was what he was made to do, before men he was responsible for started dying. Arreru smiling up at him, tentative trust in his eyes for the first time. Sharing a bed with Gree.
The good feelings, the happiness and contentment and pride, all welled up in him, and he imagined pushing them at Mira, blanketing her with them like armor or a shield.
Slowly, her cries tapered off, though she remained whimpering in vague distress. Her blue eyes seemed to focus on Cody, her little hands grasping weakly at him. Cody smiled, offering her a finger to clasp.
“There you go,” Ahsoka praised brightly, beaming. “You’ve got it, Cody.”
Cody chuckled, turning his attention to Gree, who was staring at the three of them in turns, looking bewildered. Cody outright laughed; for all that Gree was one of the smartest brothers he had ever met, he was lousy at anything involving intuition and emotion. Cody met his eyes, his hand on Gree’s shoulder sliding to grasp the base of his neck instead, giving a gentle squeeze. “Hey, you remember that time we stole a bottle of Correllian whiskey from Kal Skirata’s quarters, got drunk off just a quarter of the bottle, and decided it would be a great idea to try to graffiti a lartie?” he asked. Ahsoka laughed delightedly, but neither man acknowledged her.
Gree snorted a startled laugh, his eyebrows shooting up, but Cody could tell his thoughts had been neatly redirected by the non-sequitur. “You mean you and Wolffe thought it was a good idea,” he corrected mildly. “I just got dragged along for the ride.”
“I remember it differently,” Cody shrugged, but there was teasing in his smile.
Gree rolled his eyes, but a smile in return tugged at his lips. “You were also twice as drunk as I was.”
Mira chose then to interject with a soft little burble. Both men looked down at her, Gree’s shoulders relaxing to find she had calmed completely, and was drifting off to sleep.
“She’s Force sensitive, isn’t she?” Cody asked softly, wiggling his finger. Mira kept a firm grasp on it, so he kept his curled hand hovering over her, protective.
Ahsoka shrugged. “A little. Not enough for the Temple to keep her, but it appears she is particularly sensitive to the emotions of those around her. Very similar to a Zeltron empath.” She bit her lip, hesitating, before offering gently, “When she’s older, if she needs training, the Naar will be happy to help. So would the Educorps.”
Gree nodded in acknowledgement, but did not look up from his daughter, his expression soft wonder. Able to tell he was compromised for the time being, Cody quietly took point, looking back to Ahsoka while keeping his hands on Mira and Gree. “Do you have her things?”
Ahsoka nodded, removing a cross-body bag from her shoulder Cody hadn’t noticed yet and offering it to him. “Her paperwork, a few essentials. She doesn’t have anything beyond that.”
Cody nodded, releasing Gree just long enough to accept the bag. “Thank you for bringing her here safely,” he thanked her. Gree nodded his agreement, but still did not look up.
Ahsoka offered them a watery smile. “It’s the least I could do for her. For all of you.” Her eyes dropped down to Mira again, her hand lifting to brush the backs of her fingers against Mira’s cheek once more. Something longing flashed in her eyes before it was gone, and she spoke softly. “May the Force be with you, Mira Offee,” she offered, a Jedi’s blessing, and then she stepped back.
“I should be going,” she sighed reluctantly. “Master Plo is expecting me.”
“Safe travels, Ahsoka Tano,” Cody replied. “Tell Kenobi I said he should comm me soon. I’d walk you out, but...” he wiggled his fingers again, and smiled helplessly when Mira made a miffed little grumble in her sleep, clutching his finger tighter.
Ahsoka smiled teasingly. “No worries. I can see you’re a bit held down,” she chuckled. “I’ll pass on the message to Obi-Wan. Bye, boys.” She offered them a jaunty little salute and breezed out of the apartment on graceful feet.
Silence fell in the wake of her departure. For a long while, they both simply stood there, watching the baby sleep and feeling the universe reorder around them, with Mira Offee the tiny center of it all, a newly discovered twin star to Arreru Alverd.
Eventually, Cody roused himself enough to gently remove his finger from her chubby, weak grasp, Mira giving a put-upon sigh but releasing him. He chuckled, giving Gree a last squeeze to his nape before releasing him too and turning to place the bag Ahsoka had given them on the table.
“Cody,” Gree called weakly, and Cody winced to hear his brother sound frightened. “Cody, what am I supposed to do with her? I... I have no idea how to be a father.”
Cody went back to him, facing him this time, and cupped both hands over the back of his neck, pressing their foreheads together so their gazes locked, sandwiching Mira between them. He tried to radiate confidence and contentment for her so she didn’t stir again, and offered him a reassuring smile. “First thing, Commander, is stop panicking,” he offered, mock stern. “How much battle experience do we have between us? A hundred? A thousand? More? I’ve personally overseen an entire war front as Kenobi’s second, and I know you’ve done similar for Unduli. If we can handle entire fronts at once, a baby is nothing.”
Gree snorted a laugh, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. Cody smirked victoriously. “Here’s the plan. We’re going to look over her paperwork, then file it. Next we’ll requisition some supplies from the creche quartermaster, and when Arreru gets home, turn the spare room into a nursery. You barely sleep there anymore anyway.” His thumb gently began to stroke along Gree’s jawline. “After that, we will raise her as a warrior, in the way of our House. Like we will Arreru.”
“She’s not like Arreru,” Gree protested. “What the Hells are we going to do when she gets older? When her Force powers become stronger?”
It was a point. Raising a natural-born was different from raising vod’ike, he knew, and Cody was under no illusions as to the difficulty of the proposal. Not only was she natural-born, like Arreru, and they were getting her when she was still an infant, unlike Arreru had been, she was also half a different species, a different gender, and Force sensitive to top it all off. Still...
Cody shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
Gree wet his lips, hesitating for a moment, then breathed out, “That’s an awful lot of ‘we’. A lot of raising warriors together.” Cody hummed noncommittally, inviting Gree to press on, which he did after a minute. “Is that a proposal, Commander?”
Cody held his gaze, letting the question hang for a moment, before answering seriously, “Do you want it to be?”
Gree inhaled, exhaled, looking stricken and conflicted, before he abruptly relaxed. “Yes.” He offered Cody a tremulous smile. “I will share my daughter with you.”
“And I will share my son with you,” Cody replied softly. “ Our children.”
“Our children,” Gree agreed. He swallowed audibly, then nearly whispered, “We are one when together, we are one when parted. We will share all. We will raise warriors.”
Cody repeated the vow, solemn and quiet. Without releasing his hold on Gree, he looked down at the sleeping infant between them, smiling softly. “I know your name as my child, Mira Offee.” She squirmed in Gree’s arms, yawning, and Cody couldn’t help a chuckle as he observed his new daughter. When he finished, he looked back up to Gree, his smile slipping into something more tender, unspoken words flowing between them. He tilted his head, kissing Gree softly, a quick press of lips before retreating. Gree’s breath hitched, his new riduur hesitating only a moment before following, taking a turn initiating a chaste kiss.
It wasn’t passionate or wild, like some riduure. No, what Cody felt settle between them was... comfortable. Comforting. Solid. Like a blanket or the reassuring weight of armor; like being held as you slept. Like an ascention line that you knew was solidly anchored, and could trust to hold your weight despite how thin and delicate it looked. It was perfect.
Naturally, this was when Arreru entered.
He froze in the open doorway, ears drooping a bit in a gesture of embarrassment and eyes wide. If he were human, Cody was sure he would have been beet red.
“Um...” he squeaked out.
Cody laughed, stepping to Gree’s side and dropping one of his hands to rest on Mira again, the other remaining cupping Gree’s nape. “Arreru,” he called lightly, “Come meet your new little sister, Mira.”
Immediately his eyes zeroed in on the green bundle in Gree’s arms, shocked wariness in his face now. Gree he had had months to get used to; but this was something else. He cautiously advanced, peering searchingly into the bundle. Gree tilted her a bit, allowing him to see her face.
Arreru peered at her with distrust, like she was a small animal that might bite if provoked. “Sister?” he asked.
“Yes,” Gree nodded, though he was wary too; anticipating rejection, Cody realized. He squeezed Gree’s neck again, hoping it would help settle him.
If Arreru noticed, he gave no sign, focused entirely on Mira, examining her carefully. “Cassius has a little sister,” he mused thoughtfully, giving a slow little nod. “She’s ok.”
Cody couldn’t help his huff of laughter. “Glad you approve, ad’ika.”
Arreru flashed them a cheeky smile, and for a moment the family resemblance between him and Cody was unmistakable, before fading back to wary thoughtfulness as his sharp gaze flicked between the two men consideringly.
“Are you riduur now?” he asked bluntly.
Gree stiffened under his hand again, and Cody did his best to project a soothing air for all three, meeting his son’s eyes with a smile. “Yes,” he confirmed simply.
Arreru accepted this with another little nod, then met Gree’s eyes steadily. “Are you my buir too, now?”
Gree swallowed audibly, looking like a startled porg his eyes were so wide, but after a long moment nodded slowly, breathing out at a barely audible decibel, “If you want me to be.”
Cody held his breath and prayed to the Force.
Arreru considered this for a long moment, then nodded again, a shy smile spreading over his face.
Tension released from both men in a great whoosh, Cody giving a relieved laugh. Gree huffed some sound halfway between a sob and a laugh, uncurling one arm from around Mira to reach out to Arreru instead, the thirteen-year eagerly moving forward to wedge himself between his buire under Gree’s arm. Gree hugged him close, bending to press his brow against Arreru’s, Cody just barely able to hear him murmur, “I know your name as my child, Arreru Alverd.”
“Gre’Buir,” Arreru hummed happily in reply.
Cody beamed, unable to resist placing his free hand on Arreru’s shoulder and bending to press a kiss between his son’s ears when Gree lifted his head, Arreru returning his grin.
“Force,” Gree laughed, sounding near tears as he shook his head incredulously. “Two children in one day.”
“And a husband,” Cody couldn’t resist chiming in, Gree’s eyes lifting from their children to meet his own instead. “A whole family.”
Gree husked out another laugh.
Naturally, that was when Mira chose to wake, squirming in Gree’s arm and giving a burbling, curious cry, clearly woken by the strong emotions surrounding her, but not distressed by them. All three of them looked to her with surprise, no one quite sure what to do next.
“Shh,” Cody took point with a quick glance at Gree, smiling down at her. “It’s ok, Mira.” He looked down to Arreru, asking him, “Arreru, can you take Mira for a bit while Gre’Buir and I take care of some things? Take her with you to your room while you get started on your study.”
“Lek,” Arreru agreed readily, taking her from Gree, as familiar with handling babies as Cody was; he helped in the creche often enough. Gree gave her up with only a moment’s hesitation, clearly reluctant but realizing at the same time as Cody that he was the most emotional one here, and therefore probably the one bothering Mira. Arreru left without any fanfare, shooting them a curious glance as they disappeared down the hall.
The second they were gone, Gree’s frame shuddered, and Cody drew him in, tucking his face into his shoulder and holding him tight as he cried.
“I thought I had lost her,” Gree sobbed. “I thought she would never know my name, or I hers.”
Cody swallowed thickly and let him cry.
He would have stood there with Gree all day, but trooper habit was too firmly engrained in them both. After only a few minutes, Gree had pulled himself back together, stepping away, Commander Gree settling over his emotions as he cleared his throat and wiped his face.
Cody offered him a smile, the mask cracking just enough for Gree to return it. Abruptly, Gree leaned back in, pressing a kiss to Cody's lips that he happily returned. "Thanks," he sighed.
"Anytime," Cody hummed, and they turned their attention to the bag of Mira's things.
Ahsoka had not been lying when she said there were nothing but essentials. There were a few one-piece baby jumpsuits, diapers, a few quick-warm packs of Miralian infant formula, a folio of flimsi paperwork, and that was it.
"Met reconditioned troopers with more personalized gear than this," Gree muttered with a frown.
Cody shook his head and opened the folio. Inside was similarly sparse; just a birth certificate and a one-page medical record clinically detailing her birth and the results of a midichlorian test- high, but not Jedi levels. Cody frowned when he noted they were both dated three days before. He knew that the trip from Coruscant to Cin Vehtin took three days by itself; Barriss must have given Mira to Ahsoka, and Ahsoka boarded a ship, within a few hours of her birth. Had Barriss even held her before she sent her away?
His frown turned thunderous when he noticed the information for the mother was left blank on the birth certificate. No, he concluded. She probably barely even looked at the child, he thought with a surge of anger on his daughter's behalf.
He started when Gree suddenly snatched the certificate from the folio. He watched as Gree produced a stylus from somewhere and carefully filled in the empty portions of her certificate, then erased and replaced the information in two other places, before handing it back to Cody. Curious, Cody looked it over, and felt his breath catch.
In the slot for the mother's name, Gree had written in 'Cody Alverd'. The father's name he had also changed, to 'Gree Alverd', and at the top, where before it had read 'Mira Offee', it now read 'Mira Alverd'.
"Spares us the adoption paperwork," Gree grumbled brusquely, but when Cody looked at him, he saw the wary vulnerability in his face.
Despite being angry at her a moment before, it felt... wrong to just write Barriss out like that. "Are you sure?" Cody asked him gently. "Not that I mind, but do you really want to repay Barriss that injury?"
Gree winced, but nodded stiffly. "Barriss made it clear. She wants neither of us. I will not carry the name of a woman that does not want me when I have a man who wants me right here. Same for my daughter.” He met Cody’s eyes, and softened a bit at Cody’s concerned frown. “Mira will know her name,” he offered quietly. “If nothing else, Barriss was my General’s Padawan. A fellow Commander and leader of our brothers, and a friend. A fierce fighter and compassionate healer. Despite... everything,” he took a shuddering breath, “Serving with her was an honor.” He nodded firmly, decided. “Mira will hear the name Barriss Offee. And if one day, when she’s grown, she asks, seriously asks, her mother’s name? We will tell her. But for now? She is ours, and no one else’s.”
Cody swallowed thickly, but nodded. It was fair. “Ours,” he agreed, and carefully tucked the flimsi back into the folio, pretending not to notice Gree’s shoulders relax.
A sudden thought made him snort. Gree raised an eyebrow at him. “What clan do we belong to?” Cody asked wryly.
Gree’s other eyebrow went up, a proud and stubborn glint entering his eyes. “Well I’m Forty First, and you can take that from me when you kill me,” he declared, his tone teasing despite the seriousness of the words.
“Well I’m Two Twelvth, and so is Arreru,” Cody parried, equally teasing. “We officially outnumber you, and we need some unit cohesion here.”
Gree huffed a laugh, standing from the table. “Not sure we need it that much,” he chuckled. “Come on. We’ll argue on the way to the Records Office.”
They still had not decided by the time they returned, paperwork- including an official declaration of riddurok, and a name change form for Gree- filed with the Records Office and supplies requisitioned from the Quartermaster in tow. While they were there, one of the crechemothers had noticed what they were getting and loudly congratulated them, and they had ended up plagued with congratulations and advice from a swarm of fellow parents that seemed to spawn from nowhere. They had ended up needing a hovercart for everything that was pressed upon them, the parents insisting it was all ‘absolutely necessary’, and though both men doubted a pile of comfort plushes twice the size of her was ‘absolutely necessary’, among other things, they had rapidly mutually decided this was not a battle worth fighting and gracefully accepted both defeat and yet another plush.
They walked in on Arreru sitting on one of the couches, a large pillow on his lap with Mira reclined on it, the infant sleepily tracking Arreru’s hands, which were gesticulating in light, flitting movements as he spoke softly.
“...But you are a child of Leia, little sister. She who is Unfettered, who breaks her own chains. You are born free and always will be. Our aliit will ensure it. I will ensure it.” His conviction rang in the declaration, and the two men exchanged proud grins and nods of agreement.
They would ensure it.