Din sat on the bench in the cargo hold, forearms resting on his knees, head lowered, mind reeling from all the information Ellie was sharing.

Ellie paced the cargo hold, gesturing wildly to express her obvious upset with the whole situation. "This woman I found used to be the secretary for this other woman who used to be queen until she became a senator, which...how do politics even work in this world? Anyway, this woman named Padme met this Jedi named Anakin Skywalker and they hooked up, even got married although the Jedi weren't allowed to marry or have lovers apparently, which historically has just been such a good idea to deny people their instincts and desires."

Inhaling a deep breath, Ellie quickly checked up on the child to make sure he was still asleep, which he was, and then she continued her monologue. "So they're secretly married and he knocks her up but meanwhile he was all buddy buddy with this other guy from Naboo, the supreme chancellor Palpatine, who incidentally became the evil emperor Darth Sidious." Another deep breath. "This woman wasn't sure how Anakin was involved but she knew he was involved with the destruction of the Jedi. Very, very few Jedi got out alive as far as she knew and she had no clue where any of them were."

Ellie stopped pacing and looked down at Din with an expression that was both supremely pissed off and heartbroken. "So poor Padme dies for reasons and Anakin becomes Darth Vader, I don't know how that worked but he just became this big bag of dicks who spent most of his time killing innocents with his super duper Jedi powers until some two decades later his son Luke Skywalker, who everyone thought had died with his mother shows up to kick his ass. And then he dies and the evil emperor dies and Luke Skywalker may or may not be a Jedi now."

Din had trouble comprehending all he was hearing. These were the people the armourer claimed were the child's kin? Din didn't like that idea at all. Then again, the armourer had told him it was ultimately up to him to decide who the child's kin were and where to place him. Which meant he could simply decide that Ellie was the child's kin and since Ellie worked for him they could all stay together.

Din knew he did not want to give the child up. Nor Ellie, to be honest. His life had taken a decidedly strange turn recently but he couldn't deny that these events had given him a sense of fulfilment and purpose and even happiness he'd never had before.

"Listen," Ellie said after visibly calming herself down. "I've been thinking and I don't think you should give Yanto to these people. If you don't want him anymore –"

"I agree."

"- then I will gladly take him off your hands...wait, what?" Ellie looked down at him with wide eyes. "You're agreeing?"

Din smiled and nodded his head. "Yes, I don't like the sound of these Jedi so I'm keeping him. And you're his babysitter, so I'm keeping you, too."

"Yes, thank you!" Ellie threw herself at him and give him a brief hug which Din could barely return before she pulled away from him with a huge grin. "That went easier than I thought. I was prepared to make lists with bullet points and stuff to convince you."

"No need. The facts speak for themselves." Din got up and stretched for a moment. The hunt had been a fairly straight forward one but he'd still had a tussle which had pulled something in his shoulder. "You can train the kid, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I've got some ideas where to begin but I'd rather not do it in a spaceship while in space," Ellie said with an almost embarrassed smile. "Both our powers can be a little volatile so it would be best if we found some solid ground out of the way of anyone else. No need to let people see what Yanto or me can do."

Din considered this for a moment. "I know a place. We'll drop the bounty off on Nevarro and between that bounty and your bag of credits we should be able to take some time off." He gestured at the bounty he'd frozen in carbonite.

"Wait, that's an actual person?" Ellie stepped closer to the bounty and poked him in the forehead. Then she looked at him with a chuckle. "I thought you'd picked up some frankly hideous wall-art but I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to insult your weird taste in art."

Din laughed and then almost tripped over the pile of purchases. "Did we really need all of this? It seems a little excessive."

Ellie gave him a look of sheer disbelief. "A potty and some toys and clothes are not excessive. Jesus, Din, you are so lucky you found me so that poor child no longer has to poop in an munition container."

Laughing again, Din had to admit Ellie may have a point. When it came to the day to day caring for the child, Ellie seemed to have a better idea what to do than he did. He really was lucky to have found her. "Tell me about your day. What did you see in the city?"

And Ellie was off telling him about everything they'd done. Din listened while he helped her sort through her purchases and put them away in some of the crates lining the wall. He enjoyed her sense of humour and colourful descriptions of their adventures.

Soon they decided to turn in so they could get up bright and early and head towards Nevarro. Din slept well, dreaming of wandering a beautiful city with Ellie and the child. In his dream he wasn't wearing a helmet but for some reason it didn't bother him. That was until he woke up the next morning and wondered why he would dream of such a thing.

The child had snuck inside Ellie's bed again, one large, green ear covering some of Ellie's tousled black hair. Din stared at them while he fastened the last of his armour.

"Bleep bloop," sounded from near his feet.

"No, R3, he is not your new master," IG said as he climbed down the stairs. "I have fixed the droid. He is a R3 mini unit. Similar to a R3 full size unit, but much smaller. Built for extreme stealth while collecting data. I have added a few nursing and protection protocols similar to my own."

The little droid peered up at Din for another moment until it noticed movement on Ellie's bed. It rolled over at once. "Bloop bleep bleep."

"Yes, the small green one, that's the one," IG said while Din looked on in disbelief. Another fucking droid. It just had to be another fucking droid. And the child was already awake and climbing out of bed, greeting the droid with excited gurgles, so he couldn't conveniently drop the thing down the garbage shoot and be rid of it.

"Oh, you fixed it," Ellie said and immediately covered up a huge yawn with her hand. "What a cute little fellow. What's his name?"

"He responds to R3. Breakfast?" IG already got a crate of food down while the child dragged his new plush wookie out of bed and showed it off to the droid, who poked at it with a metal appendage that appeared from a hidden compartment. Much to his amusement, Din noticed that all three were about the same height. He wasn't the only one.

"Oh my god," Ellie said with the sappiest expression on her face. "Look at them. Have you ever seen anything more adorable?"

Din remained quiet but privately he had to admit the trio of baby, droid and stuffed wookie were pretty darn cute. What had his life become? He was a Mandalorian, a bounty hunter of great repute and here he was getting sappy over a droid and a stuffed animal. He didn't mind the feelings he had for the child, but the rest of it? Yeah, no, he wasn't sure what to make of that.

The child toddled after the bleeping droid, stuffed wookie dragging behind him.

"Time to try out that new potty, Din," Ellie said with a huge grin as she stretched out on her bed. "Go on."

Sighing he got the potty down and manoeuvred the child out of his pants and onto the thing while the small droid bleeped at him in confusion and poked him in the shin with a metal appendage.

"Stop that," Din growled while the child went about his business.

"Bloop," said the droid and poked him again.

"I will sell you for scraps."

"Bloop bloop." More pokes.

Meanwhile, Ellie was rolling around her bed with a pillow pressed over her mouth to hide her laughter.

And yet, while Din was questioning his sanity he also realized he had never felt this happy before.

The journey to Nevarro passed quietly. They made a quick stop for fuel and Ellie insisted he spent some of her credits on the ship, so Din had all the tanks emptied and professionally cleaned before filling up on water. He also had them check and fix all hydraulics.

The child seemed endlessly entertained by his new friend the R3 droid, which made Din feel slightly guilty for isolating the kid so much. It was necessary for a time, of course, but he vowed to allow the child time to socialize whenever possible.

Ellie fiddled around with the new holocaster she'd bought, trying out the different entertainment programs it provided. Later that evening after Din had eaten dinner in the cockpit he climbed down the ladder and found everyone seated on Ellie's sleeping pad. Ellie in the middle, the child in her lap, Venom as a torso and head on one side and IG on her other side with R3 right in front of her.

"Come on, this show is pretty funny," Ellie said, waving him over and urging IG to move over to make room. Din thought about refusing for a moment, just on principle, but then he wondered why he would do that. He had nothing else to do.

So, carefully, he sank down beside Ellie, his leg pressing against hers. The child looked up at him with a bright smile and Din gently stroked his hand over the little green head. The child briefly leaned into the contact before focussing his attention back on the holo-show.

It involved a simple, animated story of two young brothers, their sister and the family loth-cat getting into one misadventure after another. It was filled with slapstick, the brothers and sister coming up with the worst possible plans while the loth-cat, who was the smartest of the bunch, had to constantly save the day.

The child giggled uncontrollably and Ellie wasn't much better. Even Din found himself chuckling from time to time. More than once during the show Din discretely glanced at the company around him and wondered how this had become his life. He used to value his privacy, he used to crave being alone in his ship, travelling from job to job, earning enough credits to look after himself and nothing more.

And now here he was, sitting in his ship surrounded by his kid, a young woman and her alien companion and two droids and he felt more at ease than he ever had when he was still alone.

They reached Nevarro the next afternoon. Yanto and wookie went into the pod, and after R3 spent five minutes blooping loudly in protest, Ellie picked him up and added him to the pod, much to the child's delight. It barely fit.

Sighing, Din shook his head and got the carbonite bounty ready for transport. Greef Karga greeted them with a big smile and a full purse for the bounty. Cara took one look at the overcrowded pod, punched him in the arm and called him whipped.

"Where are you off to next?" Cara asked as she and Ellie had a drink after their business with Greef was concluded.

"Sorgan," Din replied. "Ellie needs space and time to train the child so we'll spend a few weeks there. You want to come?"

Cara seemed to consider his offer for a moment but then she shook her head. "Nah, I'm doing good here. Greef fixed that issue with my chain code and I've got steady work here."

After some more small talk with Cara they made their way back to the ship while meeting up with IG, who had gone his own way to buy some groceries. Ellie insisted on visiting the jawa junk shop before they left.

"We need a camera," Ellie told him, gesturing at the overfilled pod. R3 bleeped at her in confusion. "We need to document these moments."

And so into the junk shop they went, and Din got to listen to Ellie's, admittedly not that bad, attempts at Jawaese as she haggled with the jawa owner over a small camera that still appeared to work.

After the camera was purchased, Ellie spent an hour photographing the child and friends in the pod, IG-11, himself, and even Venom who she coaxed out to pose with the pod for a moment. Din let her have her fun and could even admit to himself that having a picture of his kid might be nice. To that effect he took the camera from Ellie, told her to stand beside the pod and took a few photos with her in it.

They travelled to Sorgan at a sedate pace, for once not hurried along by work or being hunted for the child. Moff Gideon was still out there but the bounty on the child had been called off, at least for the time being. Greef Karga had promised to contact them immediately should that change.

Sorgan was as green and lush as he remembered and he found a spot to park the ship that was private but still within walking distance of the settlement where he first met Cara. They walked there first thing, since Din wanted Ellie to listen around to see if there were any threats to the child or them they should be aware of.

They sat down at a table and ordered tea for Ellie and bone-broth for the child. Din picked him up out of his pod and sat him on a chair, ignoring R3's bleeped protests. Ellie, meanwhile sat perfectly still while a little frown of concentration appeared on her brow.

After a few moments she leaned towards him. "No threats I could find, but see that guy in the blue coat?" She nodded her head to the left and Din noticed a non-descript guy playing a game of cards with two other men. "He's a rapist, wanted on at least five planets. Venom will take care of him tonight. He's hungry anyway."

Din leaned back. He'd been ready to ask her if there was a bounty on the guy's head so he could take him in but this worked, too. He didn't want to think too much about what it meant for Venom to 'take care' of someone, but really, he hunted and killed people for a living so who was he to judge?

Once they were back at the ship, Ellie roped him into helping to train the child. "We need a bad guy, Din. So put on your acting shoes because you're it." Ellie handed him an object that very vaguely resembled a pistol and that she'd put together from a piece of metal, some twigs and lots of tape. "We're not using a real weapon," she said after he chuckled at her creation. "It might go off accidentally."

"Okay, little bean," Ellie said as she situated the child in front of her while Din stood across from them near the treeline. "This is a bad guy." The child gave her a dubious look. "Yes, I know he's your dad, but we're playing pretend so right now he's a bad guy with a weapon." Ellie urged him with a gesture to raise the weapon, which Din did, feeling not at all like a fool.

"When someone points a weapon at you it's important to disarm them as fast as you can. Like so." And with a flick of her wrist, her invisible power ripped the not-weapon out of his hand and into the trees.

The child gurgled in excitement while Din was impressed. That was a very useful trick for the child to know so he hoped she could teach him. While Din went to retrieve the not-weapon, Ellie told the child what to do.

Raising his little hand, the child narrowed his eyes in concentration but before anything could happen Ellie interfered. "Okay, little bean, I see what the problem is. You're trying to use way too much power at once. There is no need for a hurricane when a gust of wind will do. Try to use the smallest amount of power."

The child seemed to contemplate her words, and while Din wondered if he'd even understood, the child raised his hand again, narrowed his eyes, flicked his wrist and tossed Din at least six feet to the right. He landed with an oomph.

"Din!" Ellie came rushing over at him, but Din sat up and waved her off. At least he tried to, but the shoulder he'd pulled during his latest bounty protested fiercely and he hissed in pain. "Oh my god, let me see that." Ellie pulled on his armour, but Din caught her hand.

"Not here." He never took off his armour, save for on his ship. Ellie seemed to understand and with a small smile she helped him to his feet. They found the child, with R3 at his side, looking at them forlornly.

"It's not your fault," Ellie assured him while she picked him up and gave him a gentle hug. "This is why you need to practice. That's how we learn." The child buried his face in her neck and sighed.

Din placed his hand on the child's head. "I'm fine, kid. You'll get better at it. We all have to start somewhere."

Inside the ship the child sat on Ellie's bed, hugging his wookie. Ellie helped Din out of his upper armour while IG brought over the medical kit.

"I just pulled something. It was already bothering me days ago. There's a jar with cream that works well."

Ellie found the jar and opened it while Din turned his painful shoulder towards her. Feeling Ellie's hand rub the cream into his skin did more than just ease the pain. It reminded him that it had been a long time since someone had touched him for reasons other than violence. Only the child did, but that was different than Ellie's soft hand stroking over his naked skin.

"I'm going to put some on your neck. Is that okay?"

In reply Din tilted his head so Ellie could reach. The helmet remained firmly in place but it still took his breath away to feel Ellie's hand slide under the side of his helmet and up his neck, her fingertips brushing against his jaw. No one had touched him there since he was a child and now Ellie stood in front of him, one hand on his good shoulder for balance while the other caressed his skin in ways that drove him a little bit mad. Din inhaled a shuddering breath to try to calm his body.

"I think that's enough. I'll put some more on tonight." Ellie wiped her hand on a towel while she stepped back.

Din wasn't sure he would survive another of these little sessions and he was reminded that he hadn't actually gotten laid in many months. Man, he was in trouble when Ellie was starting to have this much of an effect on him. "Thanks," he managed to mutter as he pulled his shirt back on.

"It's strange," Ellie said as she sank down on her sleeping pad, pulling the child in her lap for a hug. "His power seems to be all or nothing. He seems to have no sense of moderation." She frowned for a moment. "I wonder if there is a manual for Jedi training. Like a book for beginners."

"There might be," Din offered, putting his armour on piece by piece. "Or the empire might have destroyed all of those books."

"Yeah, it might be impossible to find books on Jedi."

Din considered her words for a minute before something occurred to him. "Actually, I might know a place where to find books on Jedi."

"Where?" Ellie asked with a confused look.

"Coruscant."