baby steps

Chapter Seven

XXXI—Nightmare (I)

The kid had a gun pressed to his head, his big eyes looked up at The Mandalorian, for some reason couldn't move. "Dadda," the kid said. The man pulled the trigger and a blast turned to kid to dust.

The Mandalorian reached forward but he was falling. Guns rung in his ears and screams echoed.

The Mandalorian woke up with a start. He clambered out of bed, his blanks fell to the floor and he rushed to see the kid. It was a dream but it was so vivid, the look on the kid's face was recycled from when he gave the kid to what was left of the Empire.

The kid opened his eyes as The Mandalorian picked him up and held him close. He could feel the kid breathing, safe and sound in his arms.

He forced himself to take deep breaths. The kid cooed tiredly.

"I'm sorry, baby," The Mandalorian said, feeling slightly stupid. The dream wasn't real but his panic was. The kid looked up at him and raised his ears. "Yeah I said I was sorry, don't get used to it."

He set the kid down and tucked him in again, ignoring the smug look from the kid.

XXXII—Babyproofing

The Razor Crest wasn't exactly child friendly. The Mandalorian didn't do much about it for a while but when the kid climbed up onto a rope hanging from the wall, looking at him like this was a game The Mandalorian knew something needed to be done, little did he know this would start a mini war.

The Mandalroian put all the ropes and other things out in the open behind doors and sealed them shut.

The kid faced this by figuring out how to open his doors, The Mandalorian found him hauling the rope out.

The Mandalorian put the rope back.

He woke up to the kid gnawing on the rope. He picked up the kid and put the rope away, yet again. He felt like he'd one but the kid had moved on to climbing.

He scaled onto any surface available and the ones that aren't. The Mandalorian came down from the cockpit to find him knocking wiring off a shelf to stand there.

He leaned in the doorway, trying not to give the kid any attention. The kid looked him dead in the eyes and knocked off more.

The Mandalorian picked up the kid and carried him back to the cockpit. "You know for something so small you sure know how to cause trouble."

The kid didn't say anything.

The Mandalorian put all his important and dangerous stuff behind doors or on high shelves the kid couldn't get too. But the kid had that funky power of his and even managed to pry open the locked doors using it.

He held the rope and wiring and tilted his head up of The Mandalorian, almost expecting praise, like this was a game. "This is not a game, okay," he took his things back only to have the same thing happen again a few hours later, this time the weapons were out in the open.

The Mandalorian sighed and put the repuler back but let the kid have the rope. This was a losing battle.

XXXIII—Sewing

The only reason The Mandalorian had a needle and thread was because of possibly medical emergencies, he didn't actually know how to sew.

The kid had torn his little coat along his arm, from guess what? Climbing, snagged it on a harsh edge. The kid looked down at his coat and up at The Mandalorian, eyes pleading and had the nerve to shiver.

The Madalorian had long given up on denying he was wrapped around the kid's little finger. He took off the kid's coat and bundled him in a blanket at he got to work, how hard could this be?

Hard.

The Mandalorian took way too long to get the thread through the needle, The kid's big eyes watching everything.

The Mandalorian knew he wasn't doing this right but couldn't figure out how, he nicked his finger twice and the stitches looked wrong once he finished. And it didn't hold, he must not have pulled it tight enough.

The thread was fraying and so was the coat around it. The seamstress he took it too only raised an eyebrow when he brought it in.

He held the kid against him, safe and mostly hidden. "It's my son's favorite."

"Of course," she said and took it into the back. She came back only several minutes later with it sewn like knew.

The Mandalorian paid her and when he put the kid back in his little coat he got a happy coo and and, to his surprise, a hug.

XXXIV—Jealousy

The Mandalorian ended up back in Sorgon, only for a day, he told Omera and for the kid, who was currently playing with the happy kids. The Mandalorian kept an eye on him as Omera bounced a small little girl.

"I'm babysitting but would you mind watching her for a moment, I have to handle something?" Omera asked.

The Mandalorian nodded and took the baby in his arms, she settled against his chest and arm, just like his kid. The girl started to cry and villagers looked over at him. He shushed her and rocked gently, he was used to random bursts of emotion.

The baby didn't settle, he knew there were a few eyes on him, almost unconsciously drawn to the noise and more consciously drawn to their outsider visitor. He started to hum, the same broken lullaby he remembered.

The baby girl calmed down, her face flushed and crunched up. He kept humming and rocking her until he felt a tug on his cape. The kid gazed up at him, arms outstretched, wanting to be picked up.

The Mandalorian would never hear the end of it if he dropped one of them so he shook his head. "No. Go play."

The kid stopped his foot, where did he learn that from?. The Madalroian shook his head again and the kid tapped The Mandalorians foot and whined.

"No. Go and play."

The kid turned his back to The Mandalorian and made little, pathetic noises, like he'd never received an ounce of attention in his life. "Oh come on," The Mandalorian crouched down and adjusted the girl to pick up the little one.

The kid's mood changed at the drop of a hat and he snuggled close against The Mandalorian, nestled in the crook of his arm.

Omera was extremely amused when she got back.

XXXV—Sugar rush

Was he a bad parent? The Mandalorian wondered that as the kid ran around the village, Omera had given The Mandalorian a pie and The Mandalorian shared some with his son. The sugar must be too much because he was crazy now.

The kid was waddling as high speeds and The Mandalorian followed him around, he picked him up a few times but the kid was hard to hold onto. The kid was hunting frogs one moment and randomly moving another.

The Mandalorian didn't know what to do besides wait for it to pass. The kid was amusing himself to a while before he turned to The Mandalorian and curved his ears up, listening to something.

The Mandalorian picked the kid up and held him high over his head, arms up as far as they go. The kid laughed and didn't fight him. "I got you!" The Mandalorian lowered him and raised him up again. "I got you."

The kid was laughing his crazy little head off and The Mandalorian got an idea. He gently tossed the kid up, only a little bit, and caught him with ease. He did this over and over again until the kid was over it and back to hunting with a very short attention span.

The Mandalroian followed him, he'd spent nights doing worse.

And when the kid crashed, his eyes drooping and waddling back to The Mandalorian he just took them both back to their borrowed cabin and set the kid down in his crib carefully, so as not to wake him.