Work Text:
Jyn sulked around the police station, lounging at Officer Draven’s desk while he impatiently called Saw Gerrera again.
Jyn Erso was 14. She had been living with Saw for 3 years after her father had been commissioned to work on the new satellite station orbiting above them. Her time in Jedha City had been fraught. Galen’s absence had set Jyn and her brother Bodhi on the path of “troubled children”. She scuffed her boots against the floor. Draven was one of the nicer cops she had dealt with, at least. He gave her a soda and a candy bar and awkwardly draped his coat around her. It was midwinter and her coat had more holes than fabric at this point.
She heard someone say her name in a low, unfamiliar voice. She expected Saw to appear, but as she thought about it, she realized she hadn’t seen him in a few days.
She looked over and the man asking the lady at the desk for her was a stranger; a tall man with long dark hair tied loosely back away from his face. His outfit was dark. He met her gaze across the station and she found when their eyes met that she trusted this man. This was unusual, because Saw told them to distrust most adults.
He walked over to Draven’s desk to sign whatever release paper or whatever it was. “Baze Malbus,” he said gruffly, shaking the cop’s hand firmly. Jyn watched. “Jyn’s brother. Saw sent me.” He showed Draven a piece of paper.
“Seems to be in order.” Even if it weren’t in order, Jyn expected they’d let her go anyway. All she’d done was steal a couple of shirts. “You’re free to go, Miss Erso. Hopefully we won’t see you again.”
“Don’t count on it,” she said, handing him back his coat and exiting the station with her mysterious new brother. “So, who are you, actually?”
“An acquaintance of Saw’s,” he said, opening the door to a battered looking pickup truck for her to clamber in. Bodhi was already sitting in the middle, waiting for her, looking anxious.
“Where is Saw?” Saw was a lawyer in environmental law, though his reputation as an anti-establishment rabble-rouser was the legacy he had created. He was in the middle of very public litigations against the government, and very paranoid about it.
“On the run, I think,” he said. “He’ll be safe soon enough, but for the time being you have to stay with me.”
“How did Draven not know that?” she demanded.
“If Saw doesn't want someone to know something, they won't know,” he said stoically. “I got Bodhi to pack some things for you so you can stay at my place. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
Baze took them out for burgers, and ‘a little’ hungry became starving. If he was surprised by how much her tiny frame could pack in, he didn’t show it. “You have school?”
“No, winter holiday,” Bodhi said through a mouthful of chicken wing. “We go back next week.”
Baze made a noise that she expected was agreement. Then he turned back to Jyn and gave her a once-over. “That coat looks like shit,” he said.
“It was Bodhi’s,” she said, mildly offended as she clutched the worn fabric.
“Saw lets you go out like this?”
“Saw doesn’t ‘let’ us do anything,” she replied, feeling a little heated. She set down her bacon cheeseburger. “And he hasn’t been around all week, anyway.”
Baze was just nodding along. He didn’t say much else about it, just finished his food and took them to his apartment. It was clearly a bachelor’s place, but Bodhi had clearly been attempting to neaten up the extra bedroom, where a mattress on the floor and a thick blanket next to it would serve as their bed.
“Saw will call me when you can go home,” he said. “Or just randomly appear. You know Saw.”
She did know Saw. He had been an inconsistent guardian at best. When they were younger he had made a concentrated effort to be around for them, but the older they got, the more his less reliable nature had manifested. Now that Bodhi was 16 and capable of taking care of them, Saw’s trouble was catching up to him. Jyn couldn’t figure how Baze factored in to Saw’s brand of trouble, but he did have the look of someone that would associate with Gerrera.
Galen had been a good parent, though changed after Lyra’s death. A little more distant, a little strained, but his efforts counted. When he adopted Bodhi, their family felt complete once again. And then he had to leave.
Jyn knew, through all the bitterness and loneliness, that both Galen and Saw loved them in their own ways. Galen saved money for the off chance either of them ended up in college; Jyn thought he’d be optimistic to imagine they stayed out of jail, at this point. Saw kept them safe and fed, defended them from unfair treatment at school, and let them raise themselves how they saw fit.
Bodhi gambled and grifted, Jyn fought and stole.
She had no idea how the new puzzle piece, this supposed Baze Malbus, fit in. But she thought he might be an important part of it in time.
“What do you think of him?” she asked.
“He’s quiet.”
Jyn liked quiet.
--
The next day, Baze cooked bacon. “I have work. If I give you cash and drop you off, will you buy yourself a new coat?” he asked, not facing them but clearly talking to Jyn.
“Sure,” she said.
“Buy it,” he added.
She finished her bacon quietly, exchanging a look with Bodhi, who shrugged awkwardly. They waited for Baze to get ready for work. He was efficient in this area; a five-minute shower and then he was almost ready, walking into the main room buttoning up a black shirt. An ordinary person would have seen an undershirt as he did, but Jyn was not an ordinary person and she could see the lightweight bulletproof vest.
Bodhi was on the phone, not paying attention, so Jyn kept silent.
He handed them each a hundred bucks and they loaded back into his truck and he drove them down to the nearest mall.
“Call me when you’re done,” he said. “I’ll be nearby.”
“What is it you do, exactly?” Jyn asked as she got ready to get out of the truck.
“I work at a bank,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
She didn’t comment, just slammed the door behind them and caught up with Bodhi. Bodhi’s abundance of nervous energy meant very rarely did he standstill, which meant that the much shorter Jyn was constantly struggling to catch up.
“What kind of bank requires their employees wear bulletproof vests?” she asked Bodhi, who looked up from his phone, startled.
“What?”
“Baze was wearing one under his shirt.”
“I mean, he’s friends with Saw. There’s no telling what he actually does,” Bodhi said, looking uneasy. They went in the mall and did as they were told, buying winter clothes (and, okay, stealing a few small knickknacks for themselves here and there.) and getting lunch after a torturous few hours of walking around. Security guards loved to follow them around, but this time they were behaving.
“Maybe he’s a hitman for the mob,” she offered up over a slice of pizza.
“Why would Saw send us to a hired killer?” he asked. Bodhi was very smart, but he didn’t understand Saw quite as well as Jyn did. Jyn knew Saw would do anything to keep them out of the foster system, even leave them in the care of sketchy people. It didn’t seem logical to Bodhi, but it was how Saw operated.
“Why would Saw know a hired killer?” she responded.
“I mean, it’s not exactly out of character,” he said, and she had to agree with him. Once they had their fill of food court snacks and shopping, Bodhi called Baze. A few minutes later, they stood outside in the cold with their bags, and he pulled up.
He dropped them off at his apartment and went ‘back to work’ after fixing himself a sandwich, and Jyn went to task carefully washing all their newly obtained clothes. She and Bodhi tidied up the apartment, a gesture she hoped Baze would interpret as ‘thanks for letting us crash’, but was really an excuse to snoop.
They found a suspiciously large knife under the couch, but nothing else.
“I’d assume his weapons stash is probably in his bedroom,” Bodhi commented, admiring their good work in cleaning the place up. This didn’t dissuade Jyn’s suspicions, but she felt better that they weren’t sitting on a couch lined with guns or anything.
--
A week passed and Saw had not made contact, so Jyn and Bodhi prepared to go back to school by going by Saw’s house and getting more of their things.
Only, Saw’s house had clearly been ransacked.
Not that the place had ever been clean, but this was clearly the mess of someone who had been searching for something. Maybe it had been Saw, before he’d left, or maybe it was whatever Saw had been running from.
“Oh no…”
Jyn grabbed her brother’s hand and squeezed it. They got their school books and more of their clothes and met Baze outside. He was on the phone, and he handed it to Jyn when she walked out. Her heart jumped into her throat, because she knew what she was about to hear.
“Hello?”
“Jyn!”
She didn’t say it, but it was Saw and the relief between she and Bodhi was palpable. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just wanted you to know. I can’t tell you much, but someone is very upset with me.” He laughed, as if this was business as usual. She guessed that for him, it was.
“Can’t you go to the police?”
“It’s better this way.”
“I miss you. Bodhi misses you.”
“I miss you too. Look, Baze is going to look out for you and I’ll call to let you know I’m fine. When I come home, you’ll be the first to know. Work is just a little crazy right now,” he said, his tone changing. Clearly someone was now listening. “This case is stressful, I had to get away for a bit. But I’ll call soon.”
“Okay. We’ll see you soon,” she said, trying hard not to feel too upset. Saw liked to take cases against the Big Guys (corporations, the government, whoever). He defended the underdog, though sometimes his priorities were a little skewed, and his methods were usually questionable. But he always tried to do the right thing, and she respected him.
Bodhi wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Baze took them back to his apartment.
--
“You’re their guardian?” the principal asked, incredulous at the sight of Baze in his gym clothes, with his hair tied back in the messy bun Jyn had taught him to perfect, at least one tattoo visible underneath his sleeve.
He nodded.
“Ms. Erso has been fighting.”
“He pushed me first,” Jyn insisted. He had been insulting her and Bodhi, and when she had told him to get lost, he had shoved her, albeit very gently. That was enough, though, and now he was sitting in the hall with blood covering his front from where Jyn had slammed him into a locker.
“She’ll be suspended for the rest of the week and serve a Saturday detention,” he said, exasperatedly.
“Fine.”
“Bodhi can go home for the rest of the day as well, but isn’t in trouble.”
“Fine.”
Baze signed them out of school and took them for ice cream. “He deserve it?” he asked.
Jyn nodded.
He got extra sprinkles for her ice cream cone (Gummy bears for Bodhi), and she was far too cool to admit that she was delighted by that.
--
Saw had called twice in the three weeks since his first call, mentioning very little. As long as he was alive, that was enough. Galen Erso had texted Bodhi a few times, too, which was typical. In space, he had very little downtime to make contact. He came back on-world two or three times a year, so hopefully he would visit soon.
Baze had been an agreeable guardian. He didn’t ask many questions; signed permission slips, bought tickets to R-rated movies, cooked dinner, and very little else. He didn’t require a lot of them. “Don’t get arrested, don’t run from the cops and bring them here, and don’t do drugs in the house,” were his cardinal rules.
Jokingly, one day, Bodhi decided if they were staying here much longer, they needed better sleeping arrangements for their shared bedroom. They came back with bunkbeds, and all three of them laughed as they set them up.
“Top bunk!” Jyn declared, slapping a band sticker on the railing to denote ‘her’ bed.
Bodhi went out alone to buy a set of sheets, Jyn not wanting to go out. Baze was home, reading the paper in the living room with the television going in the background.
“What do you really do?” she asked, plopping down next to him, and fussing over her eyeliner.
He turned and looked at her, his usual deadpan expression in place. “Told you, I work in a bank.”
“You wear a bulletproof vest to work, don’t work normal bank hours, and keep a Bowie knife in between your couch cushions, Baze,” she pointed out, pulling out the aforementioned knife. “I know a criminal when I see one. Saw does all kinds of weird shit.”
He sighed, his nostrils flaring. “Private detective.”
“Why’d you lie?”
“Not a lie, sometimes I work for a bank,” he said gruffly. “Don’t question it.”
Jyn nodded, going back to her makeup mirror. “So, you know the cops in this town, then?” she asked.
“Kinda.”
“That’s why Draven let you take us even though he couldn’t get in touch with Saw,” she concluded.
Baze shrugged. “Saw wrote you a note, but it probably helped.”
Jyn laid back on the couch, making herself comfortable, kicking the solid mass that was Baze as she shifted around, stealing the remote and trying to find a good movie. “Well, we’re stuck together now, so you should start being honest with us.”
“Want to know where I keep my guns?” he asked, and she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“Duh!”
“Too bad, little sister.”
She kicked him again, and Bodhi walked in with their shopping and a big bag of takeout. “I love this movie,” he said, jumping over the back of the couch and squishing Jyn’s legs. “Budge up,” he added to her, setting their food down as Jyn curled up, making room on the couch for her other big brother.