Several Months Later

"I can still help with recruiting, Leia," I groan, following her into the command bridge of our starship. She halts and turns on her heel, only to look pointedly at my round, swollen belly. She glances back to my face and raises her eyebrows. My cheeks warm.

"Absolutely not. I won't risk it," she denies, for the 4th time today, and the 23rd time this week. She moves to continue her path out of the ship. I scowl and thrust my hand out to her shoulder, willing her to turn back around.

"It's different this time, Leia. You know how important it is to me," I plead, feeling a burst of triumph when her face softens. "This planet, I need to see. If you'll let me come this one time, I won't ask again. I promise."

When I first found out, I was absolutely petrified to tell Leia, to tell anyone, that I was carrying her grandchild. But when I'd finally mustered the courage, admittedly one of the harder acts of bravery I'd ever committed in my life as a Jedi, it had all been worth it. I'd never seen her smile so much or so beautifully in all the time that I'd known her.

Leia grabs my hand and squeezes. Understanding clouds her features.

"You can come. But you have to stay right at my side the whole time, under heavy security," she relents, sighing. Her gaze flits down to my swollen belly again.

I'm not due for another month, but as soon as I began to show, Leia refused to allow me to accompany them on any missions. Even the non-dangerous ones. Due to my itch for adventure and love for combat, these last few months cooped up on the starship as my abdomen safely grew have felt the longest in all my years.

Longer even than the time I had spent cooped up on a certain enemy starship, denying the feelings I still harbored for the one person who had turned every one of my hopes on their heads- and squandered them.

The small, quick heartbeat that took over the spot in the back of my mind where his used to reside seems to thump louder in response to my thoughts of him. I stifle a smile.

As someone who had trained to become a Jedi, I had always expected to never get to experience this beautiful part of life. For that reason, I refused to admit to myself just how much I had actually come to desire it. And though he had broken and destroyed me in so many other ways, some that would probably never be fixed, I could at least thank Kylo Ren and the stars for this one blessing he had been able to give me.

"I'll get my things," I say to Leia. An excited grin already splits my face, despite the feeling of the Force heating around me, as if in warning or sense of foreboding.

-

A soft breeze blows my short, once-again-natural brown curls from my face as we enter a market deep in Hanna City, the capital city of the planet Chandrila.

The same planet where Leia bore her son and raised him, with Han, until he was shipped off to become a Jedi.

Marco is a close and comforting presence at my side, well aware of everything I'm feeling as I take in my soul mate's birthplace and home planet for the very first time. He's the "bodyguard" Leia assigned to me for the recruiting mission, though I'm sure nothing in the galaxy would have kept him from my side even if she hadn't.

As my dearest friend outside of Nikana, he'd become more than a little overprotective of me from the moment I'd told him I was pregnant.

"Where did you say our booth is?" a hooded Rey asks Leia, falling back to her other side from her spot scouting ahead. Finn is a few paces ahead of us, hand near his blaster as he weaves through the clusters of people on the street.

"Near the corner," she replies quietly. Rey nods once then looks to me, giving me a kind grin.

"I'm so glad she finally let you come with us," Rey says. Leia sends her a teasing glare before she marches ahead to rejoin Finn at scouting.

"You know, I had Ben weeks before his due date. I was new to the senate, and he was the reason I missed the signing of the Galactic Concordance. It was the only thing in the galaxy that I would've missed the Empire's surrender for," she pauses, amused at the memory, and I smile faintly, despite the story's subject.

"He was born with a head full of that jet black hair, you know," she mentions, and I laugh, resting my clasped hands on my belly. Then her eyes suddenly glaze over, and she's no longer looking at me. "I fell in love with him the second I laid eyes on him," she mumbles.

I feel Marco place his hand comfortingly at the small of my back, and I frown as I take in the general's sudden mood shift. I open my mouth to offer kind words when she suddenly perks up. We've reached the corner, Rey and Finn already behind the booth, and I follow her to it wordlessly.

-

I'm sitting on a chair in the shady area of the booth, just behind Leia. She's hidden her face beneath a hood as she works with Rey and Finn to recruit new members for the Resistance, hidden in plain sight at a ceramics booth in the city market. Marco is beside me, holding a Holo pad for entertainment, and my canteen. I shift in the chair, frowning. Sweat lines my brow, despite Chandrila's mild climate.

"This chair is very uncomfortable," I mutter, careful not to alert Leia of any discomfort. I glance at my friend. The chair's support is so horrible, it's started a dull ache in my lower back. I'd been experiencing aches like this one since I'd begun to show, and I'm sure this is nothing out of the ordinary.

"Do you want to go back to the ship?" he asks, mildly concerned.

"No, of course not! This is the last time I'll be outside it for months," I deny. When he turns away, I grit my teeth at the throb that pulses through me.

"Are you all right, miss?" the Rodian man before the booth asks, and it takes me a moment to realize he's addressing me. Everybody in the booth freezes and turns to me instantly.

"Yes, yes I am," I lie, so I won't have to be rushed back to the ship while my concerned companions fuss over me, subsequently putting an end to my final escapade outside its walls just as quickly as it began.

However, I am unable to hold back my wince as another throb in my lower back lances through me. Everyone catches it, and Leia's face pales.

"We're leaving. Now," she grits out, her voice dangerously low. My heart sinks, but the feeling is forgotten just as the pain darkens. I squeeze my eyes shut, sucking in a breath, when I have the faint sensation of warmth between my legs.

My eyes fly open, meeting Leia's, and the color drains from my face.

After seconds of quickly barked orders, Marco is gathering me in his arms, holding me to his chest bridal style, and reality sets in.

The pain grows from unbearable to agonizing as Marco sprints down the streets, each impact of his bouncing footsteps like knives plunging into my abdomen. I clutch the front of his shirt, my gritted teeth the only thing holding back a scream.

After several more moments, the pain is fading, though I'm fully aware that the respite is likely brief.

"Marco," I rasp. Tears are leaking from my eyes, damping my sweaty cheeks further.

"You're gonna be okay, Lyra," his voice is strained, his terror palpable. "We're taking you back to the ship, we're gonna make it just fine."

Trembles wrack my body as I gaze up at him. He won't meet my eyes.

"The baby, Marco. It's too early," I sob. My heart pounds as I await the next contraction.

I'm not ready. I'm not ready for this. And the baby... isn't due for another month.

"It's going to be okay-"

"I can't lose the baby, Marco, it-it-" my voice cracks. It will shatter me completely. Those are the words I don't say, but I know he fills in the blanks. He pauses in the middle of the street, and Rey and Finn's incredulous shouts immediately ensue. He searches my eyes.

"You won't lose the baby, Lyra. You're both going to be okay. I promise," he whispers, then swiftly kisses my head, before breaking out into a dead sprint again. My pounding heart slows, just a little, at the reassurance.

Then my mind is traitorously drifting to a memory of a padawan with warm cinnamon eyes and a sweet, teasing smile, just seconds after he'd snuck another soft, unbidden kiss to my head. I tremble harder at the memory, a well of sadness tugging at my petrified heart.

I could lose my baby. I could lose my baby, and be left completely alone.

And my love is missing the birth of his child. He is not here, at the moment I need him most.

I'm close to spiraling even further when a new contraction slams through my body, and all thoughts outside of the agonizing pain immediately disperse.

"You'll be okay," Marco whispers.

-

Hours later, I'm in a private room in the med-bay, a nurse monitoring my progress at the end of the bed. Leia is at my side, clutching one hand, and Marco is at the opposite side, clutching the other.

"At the next contraction, we're gonna start pushing," the nurse says. I turn to Leia, my eyes wide, terrified.

"You're almost there, Jedi Master. You've been so strong," she encourages, smiling a little to ease my hesitation. My heart swells, and with the little strength I have left in my weakened state, I squeeze her hand.

"You've been like a mother to me, ever since I was small, ever since I had my whole world ripped away from me. You showed me what real strength is. I feel so honored to have you at my side," I manage to say, though I've never felt more exhausted in my life. Realization seems to dawn on her face, along with a very strong sense of emotion. She raises my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles.

"You have no idea how much that means to me," silver lines her eyes. She looks poised to say something else, and I furrow my eyebrows.

    "What is it?" I press. She purses her lips.

    "Now really isn't the time to-"

    "Tell me," I demand.

"Lyra, we know who your birth mother is," she admits. "She's alive, still out in the galaxy somewhere."

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out.

My birth mother. The very one who had shown up on my father's doorstep one day with an infant huddled in her arms, and gave me her final teary goodbyes. The woman who I'd spent my entire life wondering about, dreaming about, fully knowing she might not wish to be found by the baby she had once given up.

Concern crosses Leia's face, but I am spared of having to say anything by another contraction, the final contraction, ripping through me in brute force.

I scream, while the nurse simultaneously orders me to push. The next minute or so feels as if it lasts hours, yet milliseconds.

    The pain loosens its grasp suddenly, and Leia exhales. The room is so, so silent, and I squeeze my eyes shut, suddenly unable to bear it all.

    Finally, a small wail shatters that silence, and my eyes fly open. The heartbeat is at the back of my mind, and while it is quick, it is also blessedly strong and assuring.

After already having survived a lifetime's worth of obstacles before even seeing the light of day, Aelin Alderaana Solo was born. I bite back a sob as she is placed, mewling and so gloriously full of life, in my arms.

-

AND THAT'S THE END!!

Wow, I can't believe it's over! We did it!

How are we feeling?

I wanted to wrap up all mentions of pregnancy and birth in one story part, because I know a lot of people are frustrated by that trope/ how often it happens in Kylo stories, so in this way it could be included but not too much or too annoying. At least I didn't make Lyra get pregnant after her first time, like a lot of stories out there ;) (making fun of my 15 year old self who did this exact thing in another, unnamed Kylo fic, wink wink)

Also, this is the best place to do it, so here is my reminder announcement that there is going to be a book 3. I will be adding an additional post to this story with the title and description as soon as I have it all worked out, so be ready for that!

I'm excited to get started on the awesome conclusion I have planned for Lyra, Ben, and now Aelin's story, ahhhh

Be on the lookout! Your support has meant the world to me, so thank you for everything! Can't wait to see you all in the next book!

And don't forget to vote, comment, and share, of course! I love you all.

kait