The Child That Changed Everything

Chapter 10

Amidala had been adjusting nicely.

She trained with Kylo every other day. Hux taught her the history of the Order and the fall of the Galactic Empire. She had been a lot more talkative as of late. Phasma had been watching her more often while Hux and Kylo were elsewhere. She played with Millicent and overall seemed happy.

There were still times when the training was too much on her. Kylo tried to help her control her power but it was diferent from what he had seen before. She sometimes would have meltdowns and then not remember doing or saying anything that she had done. Kylo had explained to Hux that it was something to do with the Force, that sometimes it overwhelmed her, and she didn't know what to do with it. Kylo only told Hux that they had to treat it as if it was normal, to still disaplin if needed. They thankfully hadn't had to do it recently, but it was still hard seeing his daughter in pain. She definitely seemed more comfortable with Kylo on this type of stuff. Hux didn't take it personally but there was still that wall.

Hux had never been the comforting type. Kylo had a gentle patient voice when he willed it and Hux was more serious and more controlled. He wasn't Brendol, he knew he would never become the one thing he feared, but there were still times he would look in the mirror and see his father.

He didn't want Amidala to go through the same things he did as a child. He wanted to comfort her to the best of his abilities and be there for her. He knew it was the anxiety talking but still he just wanted to do more.

Hux looked over to the clock beside their bed, it was a quarter to two.

"Kriffin Hell."

He looked up at the ceiling, the same ceiling he had been staring at for the past three hours. Kylo was still asleep beside him, taking most of the sheets with him. Hux was usually too warm anyway, with his tank top and pants. Kylo had teased him about it before, but it was an Academy thing that he just never grew out of. 

He tried closing his eyes, trying to shut down his brain. It had worked for all about five minutes until he heard muffled crying. Hux opened his eyes, looked over at Kylo thinking it was him having a nightmare again, but he was still sound asleep. If it wasn't Kylo then it had to be-.

Hux got out of bed, quickening his haste over Amidala's room. Hux peeked in to see the sheets of her bed sprawled all over the place and she was nowhere to be seen. Hux knew she was still in the room, still hearing her muffled cries. When Brendol had a bad day or had his drunk outbursts, he always ran to the Academy's storage closet or, under the bed.

Hux got down, leaning on his stomach, face to the bedroom floor, seeing the faint outline of Amidala under the bed with her stuffed Stormtrooper plush.

"Amidala, what are you doing under there?"

He tried to sound as soft as humanly possible, trying not to come off as he was mad at her anyway.

She seemed to move her head in his direction making eye contact for only a second. He didn't know how to go about this. He could just let her be and go get Kylo to help her, but he needed to do this.

"Amidala love, can you please come out from under the bed, it's only me, you don't have to be scared."

It took a couple of minutes but eventually he heard ruffling and saw her edge out from under the bed. He sat up, expecting to let her get up on her own but soon realized that he wouldn't be getting up at all. Amidala had crawled over on his lap, putting her arms around his neck and clung close to him. Hux started to panic when she started crying again. He thought about getting Kylo again but just kept telling her it would be ok.

They sat like that for several minutes, Hux telling her that it would be ok. In all honesty he didn't quite know what to do, he hoped she would go back to sleep and forget about all this, but something was tugging at Hux's mind to ask what was wrong. Try to get her to communicate and talk out her feelings.

Hux stood up, Amidala still in his arms, moved to her bed and sat down, leaning against the wall. He got comfortable and pulled Amidala close to his chest. He waited till she quieted down to ask her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

She seemed to burrow into him more, only wanting to know that her father was there.

"There was a girl, the one dad told me about, she kept calling me, she had a blue lightsaber and I thought....."

Hux didn't realize Kylo had told her about the Scavenger, she was bound to learn eventually but if she was being pulled away from them.

"What did you tell her?"

Hux wanted his voice to come out as smooth as possible, not accusational but the most nonchalant he could possibly be.

"I told her I would never leave you or dad, that, that I would kill her for what she did."

Hux relaxed, Amidala seemed to relax too. He wouldn't lose her just yet; she was smart, but the Scavenger would just have to try harder.

"My mother used to tell me that we cannot change what happened in the past, we can only hope that the Future will be better."

Hux nudged Amidala's head up to look at him.

"-You will show them, you will be the brightest star in the Galaxy and no matter what, know who you are an don't let anyone force you or tell you differently."

She straightened up and put her arms around his neck, squeezing with enough force to know she meant it.

"Thanks Papa."

Hux paused, looking down at her. She called him, she finally trusted him. Hux started to feel tears swell in his eyes but pushed them down, she had already been through enough tonight.

"No problem love, why don't you try to get some sleep, it is way past your bedtime."

He moved her off his chest and tucked her into bed. She already seemed to be dosing off by the time he made it to the door.

"Goodnight"

He left the door cracked and moved into their living room to spot Kylo sitting on the couch. He looked worried; he must have woken up once he realized Hux was not in their bed anymore.

"Is she ok? I felt a disturbanse in the Force-"

"She called me Papa Kylo, can you beleive it! Stars, I thought she would never do it, but she did and-"

Kylo smiled, smiling back at Hux's enthusiasm. He knew how much it had been bothering him as of late, he's just glad she finially trusted him.

Hux slowed down, slowly breathing, trying to calm himself down. Funny thing was, that he could not stop himself from smiling. He knew that it was very late though, and they all neded to get some sleep.

"Sorry...........She's fine, just a little nightmare-."

Hux sat down next to him, putting a hand on Kylo's thigh. He looked up to see Kylo smiling at him like a damn idiot.

"What?"

Kylo shifted to pull Hux into his arms carrying him bridal style.

"Kylo put me down right now, I swear to Maker!-"

Kylo leaned in to kiss him on the lips and then continued to carry him back to their room. He was the Grand Marshal of the First order, husband to the Supreme leader and most importantly he was a father. He hoped that it would never change, but as his mother told him, the last day before leaving Arkanis, we cannot change what happened in the past, we can only hope that the Future will be better, but Hux just hoped their future would turn out alright in the end.

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." - Yoda (The Phantom Menace)