How to Take an Empire

Part Nine: Chapter Seventy-Seven: Mé

"Bu—"

Winter stopped her protests as Ahsoka cried out through another contraction. By the time Ahsoka had her bearings about herself, all three children were gone, and they'd closed the door to the bunk behind them.

She sat back on her heels with her thighs spread. Another contraction seized her entire body, and she tossed her head back and gritted her teeth through the pain and the pressure in her lower pelvis. She gained enough wits about her after it was over to reach between her legs and feel the top of a head. A hairy head. Good. Not feet. Now confident that she didn't have to worry about a more complicated birth, she placed her hands on the top of her thighs. Fire burned between her legs as the next contraction began to push out the rest of the head.

Wishing for some type of comfort, anything that would ease the pain or help take her mind from it or just assure her that everything would be fine, she began to reach out for the familiar coolness where her connection to Vader lay. An instinct for as long as she could remember. When she was in pain or scared or overwhelmed or anything and didn't know what to do, she'd reach out to the one person that would at least comfort her, if not find a solution. So many times during the Clone War, she'd done it. And if she'd been able to reach him, he'd not only respond, he'd drop everything to get to her. Now, she could connect with him across star systems. He'd definitely give her the comfort of his presence from just a few levels up.

She managed to collect enough wits to stop herself. Now was not the time for selfishness, no matter how much she wished Vader could be here right now.

A few more contractions and Ahsoka felt the head come out.

She panted heavily, mentally bracing herself for the next contraction while keeping her body as relaxed as possible.

"Almost there," she panted.

The next contraction came. Ahsoka felt her body give a little involuntary push. The next moment she felt the rest of the body slip out, and then laying between her thighs on the soft towels was her baby.

The world had pretty much slowed and felt distant around her ever since she entered the painful throes of labor. But for one moment, the world disappeared as she looked down at the slimy coated being between her legs. Not crying. But eyes wide open and blinking and body squirming as it adjusted to the new world around them.

And then Ahsoka remembered where they were and what was going on and let out a relieved sigh that it was over and reached down to pick up the baby and hold it against her chest. When the baby let out small whimpers, it prompted Ahsoka into action.

"Are you cold, little one?" she asked aloud, running a warm hand back and forth over the baby's body. She summoned one of the towels Winter had left in the corner to her hands and used it to pat her dry before grabbing another to cover her.

Slowly and very gingerly, Ahsoka managed to sit all the way back on the bunk before sagging half-sitting up against the blankets bunched at the head. For a moment, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Then she opened her eyes and finally looked down to inspect the little body in her arms.

She was tiny for a newborn from a singleton pregnancy that seemed to take after her human father rather than her togruta mother. But togruta babies ran a little smaller than humans at first. And Luke and Leia had probably been about this small when they were born. Her eyes were blue, but Ahsoka wasn't particularly surprised by that. She would have been surprised if they were any other color. Her skin was a deep bronze, the color having filled in some in the minutes since she'd been born, but there were no visible markings that she seemed to have inherited from Ahsoka. At least not yet. The most peculiar thing about her was her pale white, wavy locks. Ahsoka was sure that coloring was from her somehow.