Hunted

XXXX. The Awakening

She was home, lying in her bed with Kylo next to her, their legs and arms tangled in each other as they lay panting from their recent exertion, Kylo smiling at her and rolling over to kiss her.

"You make me feel like a different person," he confessed, stroking her cheek. "When I'm with you it's like all the pieces in my life that never fit anywhere else finally have a place. Here. With you."

Serela woke from her dream. It had been a memory--an imprint in her self conscious of happier times--however brief they had been.

Nestled in her arms, his warm cheeks snug against her chest, was their son. The result of those same times she dreamed about and remembered. Gingerly, she turned him towards her more so she could lay on her side and face him as he slept on peacefully. Miraculously, he had started sleeping through the night almost immediately, a fact that astounded both of his grandmother's, especially Leia, who informed her that Kylo had kept her awake for hours almost every night for the better part of his first 2 years. In the weeks that had followed his birth, Serela and Leia had grown even closer. The unexplained withdrawal of the First Order troops and any immediate threats to security for the time being had left her with more free time to spend in the medical bay with Serela and her grandson, as well as checking in on the progress of her son.

Owing to his early arrival and low birth weight, Dr. Kalonia had opted to keep both Serela and the baby under her direct care for the foreseeable future. Once his weight was up, she said they would be able to return to the room she had shared with her mother. Until then, Serela entertained a constant stream of visitors in her room in the medical bay. Rey and Finn came at least twice a day, Leia as often as she could. Luke was more unpredictable, sometimes he came once a day, other times he might come 5. It was always without warning, though his visits were always welcome. Poe was the least regular of all of them, in the 4 weeks since Ben had been born, he had only been by to see them a handful of times. Each visit he always made an excuse about being busy with training the more inexperienced pilots or running drills with Snap Wexley, but Rey told her in muted tones one evening that his general demeanor had changed. Instead of the cheerful, likable Poe Dameron everyone had been used to, they were usually met with his sullen, withdrawn twin.

She tried to stuff away her guilt over how much a role she played in that change, but took the advice of everyone to leave it alone, accept that he likely visited as much as he could bear to, and concentrate on her son.

All her questions for Dr. Kalonia about Kylo were met with vague answers.

"How is he?"

"Still the same."

"Do you need more of my blood?"

"We already took half a pint 3 days ago Serela, we can't take anymore from you right now."

Frustrated, Serela had been tempted to push herself out of this bed and go find him herself. It was the medical bay after all, how far could he be? When she expressed this to Reha and Luke however, they quickly hastened to change her mind, "Kylo is no longer here in the medical bay, love," Reha's words were a shock to her.

"Where is he then?"

Luke answered her, "He's been taken deeper underground within the base to remove more of the threat should he awake and the serum has not worked as we intended."

"When will we know if it's worked though?"

"When Dr. Kalonia and her team believe that we have done the best that we can for him."

Now even more exasperated with the vague answers, Serela glanced down at the small face of her son, his shock of dark hair soft to the touch and she nuzzled the top of his head, noting the way his frail hands grabbed for her cheeks.