Hux awoke with a pounding, splitting headache just above his forehead. He grimaced and pressed his hands to his forehead, hoping to give himself some sort of solace. "Son of a bantha," he moaned into the pillow. It had been years since he had a proper hangover.

"That's what happens when you drink vodka like it's water, Grand Marshal."

Hux looked up in surprise. Aurelia was in bed next to him, lying on her side watching him. A small smile ticked at her lips. "I thought you'd come back last night, but I didn't think you'd be carried back by our new Empress."

"Mmm," Hux groaned. "Forgive me. I haven't been quite right since waking back up." He struggled to sit up. "Mind, body. It's all wrong. Not that I'd ever take well to Ren usurping my marriage and child while I was half dead." Irritation at his hangover roiled over into rage at his wife. He could see her backing against him for reassurance, unknowingly grabbing at his tunic in a bizarrely intimate manner.

"Stop," Aurelia said, sitting up. "Let me call a medical droid."

"No. Why does he care about you? Why bother? He never did when I was alive." Hux had half a mind to laugh at the statement, but scowled instead. No, things still didn't sit well with him. Kylo Ren never took an interest in anyone but himself and have scavenger girl.

Aurelia pursed her lips for a moment. "He said it was his fault you were on the mission. Kylo feels responsible."

Hux rolled his eyes and made a noise of disgust.

"The baby is Force sensitive. She's really strong, he says. I believe him. And she knows when he's near." Her hand caressed her stomach. "He's going to teach her how to control it as she grows up. So she doesn't end up like him, he said. He really cares about her."

The words soaked in and Hux weighed the many emotions he felt, trying to decide which one served him best. "And about you?" As soon as the words had been spoken, he wanted to leave the room or plug his ears. He didn't truly want to know the answer.

Her face fell slightly. "Well, I don't know. He got my stupid meal plan from your datapad and tried to make me eat that stuff. I couldn't help but feel like he was afraid of me, or getting too close to me. For a little while I wondered if he was going to steal the baby, but that's when he said he didn't want her to grow up like he did without help." She wrinkled her nose, finding the humor. "So really, I'm an extension of our daughter to the Supreme Leader. Nothing more."

Once again Hux couldn't pick an emotion. Relief made him giddy while irritation prickled. His communicator lit up and he snatched it from the mattress, thankful for a break from the churning emotions. "Hux."

"Grand Marshal! Good. You sound alive enough. It's Jory. Listen."

Hux pulled the device back and looked at it in confusion. "Jory? I'm returning to duty on the morrow, I hope. Is this about-"

The woman's voice was frantic. "It can't wait! I looked into some files after you turned up alive because I was curious and had a weird feeling, you know? Okay, so like, the pirates weren't raiding. It wasn't random. They were looking for you."

Hux sighed. The conspiracy theories were bound to happen, but this was faster than he expected. "Nonsense. I wasn't supposed to be on the ship. I took Kylo Ren's place at the last minute."

Jory tutted. "Okay, listen. You know Aurelia's ex husband? The one you killed at your wedding?"

"I could hardly forget," Hux seethed.

"Cool. Good. Okay, well, Vero passed inside information to the pirates when he was on the ship. There are communication records of it! He was here for weeks. Assumed the identity of a trooper he killed and threw in the trash compactor." Jory's voice was shaky. "A security team is going through the records now, looking for outbound messages that could be from his associates. He's dead, so there are obviously other moles on board that led to your death and are not probably gonna try to kill you again."

Hux's stomach dropped. That evidence was damning. "Put a security detail on my quarters and I'll have a team look into it further to determine whether any moles remain." He set to switch off the device, but then paused. "Thank you," he added.

Nothing ever seemed to go well for Armitage Hux.

In the week following his return to the First Order, Hux avoided Kylo Ren like the plague. Ironic, Ben mused as he watched Hux depart the conference room as if it were on fire, doggedly avoiding eye contact. The one person I wished I could bring back from the dead, and now here he is, wishing I was dead.

Kylo could hardly blame the man. If he were lost in a mission and came back months later to see Rey seeking solace in Hux? Well. He certainly wouldn't have reacted as passively as his grand marshal had, that's for sure. Still, the frigid coolness made Ren second-guess his involvement in Aurelia's pregnancy and her daughter's life. The child would need him, but maybe not, if she had two caring parents.

Scowling, he wondered what that would have been like. Han Solo scavenged and Leia Organa played politics. The fact that they had a son was hardly known, or so he felt. Aurelia would treat her daughter well, and surely Hux would know what awaited him should he mistreat the Force-sensitive girl growing inside his wife.

Perhaps they wouldn't need him, after all. The thought cooled him and he sighed. All the power and hard learned lessons in the world with no one to pass it on to.

A young lieutenant standing in front of him reached up onto her toes and cleared her throat, hoping to catch his attention. "Supreme Leader?" She waved a hand before his face. "Supreme Leader? Hello?"

"Hmm?" he replied, still distracted with the prospect of losing Hux's daughter as an apprentice.

The girl nodded. "I hate to bother you, but you said we could come to you with any information regarding the traitor Vero and I-"

"Yes," Ben interrupted as he grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. "What is it? Tell me everything."

Aurelia waved from the table in the officers' mess hall. By now the officers begrudgingly accepted her presence and hardly spared a rude glance at her. "Hux!" she called.

He smiled at the sight of her. Adjusting back to a life that had gone on without him was strange, but they managed. Still, he couldn't bring himself to face Ren. Not yet. Mustering the will and want to talk to him man to man was a seemingly impossible task. In time, he reassured himself. In time.

"Are things back to normal for you yet?" Aurelia asked through a mouth full of spinach. She washed the greenery down with a fried potato wedge.

The food choice made Hux chortle. He'd given up entirely on trying to dictate nutritious foods for her, instead assuming the body would crave what it needed. Still, he couldn't help but cringe when she came to bed with a frozen sweet. "All normal once again, yes," Hux replied. "I think so." Then he hesitated. "Have you heard differently?"

Aurelia never answered. Commotion broke out near one of the doors. Chairs scraping on the floor and thuds of bodies hitting the ground mixed with shouted orders and cries of pain. Hux was on his feet before he could process what he was seeing.

"Evacuate and guard her!" Hux roared to a nearby officer. "Nothing happens to her. See to that." He watched until she'd been ushered through a door, two guards flanking her, until he turned his attention back to the chaos.

So Vero's moles had found him at last.

A small squad of humans wearing First Order uniforms were moving swiftly through the crowd, cutting down officers left and right with electrostaffs as they marched toward him. The officers that wore them fumbled for their weapons, but were caught largely unaware. They weren't at war and no one expected a revolt.

Hux imagined there was some executor of Vero's estate out there offering the final reward for his death. Bastard, he thought. The fact that a single drunken exchange with an administrative employee shot him on such a strange life trajectory. Sure, he imagined Kylo Ren would one day kill him, but not a random half-wit's team of assassins.

Hux pulled his blaster and got a shot off, dropping one of the moles, but another assailant was on him, knocking the gun from his grasp. Hux moved to engage him hand to hand but a third attacker swung his weapon. Death, he realized as the weapon swung wildly toward him. He couldn't react quickly enough to think anything but that. Death. Oh, kriff.

Impact knocked him backward, but the blow itself was painless. Hux held his breath, uncertain why this death seemed different than his near death after the attack. Bracing himself, he opened his eyes and found himself on the floor with a flurry of activity happening above him.

Kylo Ren stood with his arms outstretched, crying out in effort as all three assailants levitating, bodies contorting unnaturally with each millimeter Ren flexed his fingers. When there was nothing but broken bones and expressionless faces, Ren let his arms and the bodies fall. He exhaled and sat heavily upon a tabletop, utterly spent.

"You saved me?" Hux gasped. He tried to ignore the grotesque corpses on the floor. "Why? I can't say I'd have done the same for you."

Ren used the Force to roughly pull him to his feet. "You've been dead once. I didn't like how things went to shit around here without you." He glanced away and feigned interest in the bodies on the floor. "We found Vero's men," he added darkly. A soft chuckle came to his lips.

Hux dusted himself off and pretended he didn't notice the violent tremble in his hands as he did so. He stepped over the bodies and immediately regretted doing so. There was no way to ignore the sickening angles and distorted features. Hux had done his fair share of assassinations, but these were enough to make his stomach turn. "So we did." He caught Ren's gaze. "Really. Why save me?"

"I can't work with those mook milkers. And your daughter should grow up with both of her parents," Ren added. Blaster fire and shouting from the doorway drew his attention. When troopers finally made their way into the room, Ren glared at them. "About time. Clean this up."

"My daughter?" Hux repeated as the troopers obediently dragged the bodies away.

Ren held his gaze. "A child with that magnitude of connection with the Force cannot be left to her own devices." His lip trembled for a moment. "She needs you to support her. The power will be a burden. No one should be left alone like this!" He huffed and turned to storm out the door.

Whether is was the near-death experience or a moment of clarity, Hux called after him. "Ren!"

"What?" he said over his shoulder. He lingered in the doorway and tried to ignore the way the troopers stared at him.

Hux took a few deep breaths and tried to calm the adrenaline pulsing through his veins. "I would like for you to instruct my daughter in the ways of the Force."

"You owe me nothing, General." Still, a smile came to his lips.

"No. But I owe that child everything. And kriff, I'm a grand marshal, damn you."

Six Years Later

The redheaded girl bounded onto the bridge, giggling and squealing. A commander raised an eyebrow and looked up to a lieutenant, who didn't dare smile in the presence of commanding officers.

"You're not supposed to be here," Hux warned, scooping the girl into his arms anyway. "War is no place for a child. Go play. I'll be home soon."

"Uncle Ben says it's better to be prepared for war and not have to have one." She beamed ear to ear. "I had to tell you what I did, Father! I moved the heavy things today! The big kid things! I didn't even have to think too hard. Are you proud of me?"

"Infinitely, darling."

Giggling, she poked Hux in the cheek. "I bet I could move you. Ben said I should try it and surprise you when I get stronger. He said you'd like it."

Sighing in exasperation, he shook his head. "How did you happen?"

"Mother says because you like her freckles."

Hux cleared his throat and ignored the amused stares from the bridge crew. "Yes, well, I suppose that's true. Now go home. I'll be there in a few minutes." He set her upright and gave her a gentle push. "Don't get into any trouble on the way!"

The Supreme Leader strolled onto the bridge, ruffling the girl's hair as she ran past him. "Grand Marshal."

"Supreme Leader," Hux greeted him. "How is Rey feeling?"

Ren snorted. "Big. I trust you'll have things under control should the baby come overnight." The statement seemed to stress him out and he grimaced.

"Of course." Hux offered a lopsided grin. "You'll be fine, Ren. You haven't ruined my daughter entirely yet, so I'm certain your own child will turn out decently enough. After all, it'll be half Rey."

"The girl will be fine," Ren muttered. "It's the delivery I'm worried about. For Rey. For me."

Hux laughed aloud, a hearty chortle. "That's right! You're connected somehow, aren't you? I believe you'll be the first man to experience labor pains." Hux went so far as to clap the black-clad man on the shoulder fondly. "Funny how life turns out."

"Supreme Leader Solo?" someone called.

"You'll be all right. Keep in touch," Hux said, turning. "I'm going home for the night."

Ren nodded and headed toward the lieutenant.

"I'm home," Hux called.

The orange cat wove between his feet as he strode into their quarters.

Aurelia looked up from the counter, where she was chopping some exotic vegetable from the last planet they visited. "Did you hear? Rey thinks the baby is coming tonight. She said Ben is is wreck." She smiled as Hux stepped over their daughter, who was on the floor. "Remember the night before she was born?"

"Mmhmm," Hux nodded, watching his daughter moving small pieces of furniture around with her mind. "Thank the stars I'm not Force sensitive."

"We should have waited to have another until we knew how strong she is," Aurelia laughed. "And now the Solo baby! I hope Ben can handle three of them." Her small baby bump brushed against him as she pressed a kiss to his neck.

"He deserves every gray hair they'll give him." Hux watched his daughter levitate a cat toy as Millicent batted the air for it. The girl's steel eyes were focused on her task, her hand flexing and conducting the Force. Then she giggled and suddenly the cat's paws left the ground. Millicent yowled.

"What did I say about moving the cat?" Aurelia warned her.

"She's not hurting her," Hux added.

The little girl giggled and pushed the cat through the air toward him as Aurelia tried to muster a sigh, but instead giggled. He winked as he lifted the feline into his arms. Not so many years ago, Hux could never have fathomed this life for himself. "Strange how life turns out, isn't it?"