Room 529, Saturday Late Morning
Tahiri didn't usually sleep in late; she'd been up for a few hours, looking the room over and figuring things out for her little redecorating project. Her desk was going to have to get moved if there was going to be room for that table she wanted to put in, and maybe she could just shove the dresser into the closet? Of course, she'd have to move everything out into the hallway for a while at least while they worked on the floor . . .
Having a project was good, and this one had kind of taken over her attention. She wasn't complaining about having a distraction from more uncomfortable trains of thought.
Yeah, like that was going to last.
There was a tap at her door.
Then another.
And another and another and another. "Mommy, open the door."
. . . okay, that was definitely unexpected. And weird. Mostly weird, especially how whoever was at the door didn't feel like anyone she recognized, but still a bit familiar. Also, hyper.
Tahiri went to the door, opened it a crack, and looked out. And down.
"Who are you looking for?" He'd said 'mommy.' She was going to stand here and tell herself there was no way he meant her.
The little boy in front of her gave her a "duh" look that probably looked very familiar. "You."
"Um," Tahiri said. She definitely recognized that look. And the accent. "You. But. I think I would remember that."
He tilted his head at her. "Are we playing a game?"
"You tell me," Tahiri told him, and stepped back from the door to let him in at least. She was, mentally, a little bit stuck on 'seriously, this is kind of impossible.' "Because wow, you sound a lot like me."
"Daddy says that all the time," the boy said cheerily, hopping through the doorway. "'specially when I start asking a lot of questions."
"Right." She was pretty sure her face was going to freeze this way. Tahiri left the door partway open and leaned against the frame, staring at him. "My turn to ask questions, though. What's your name?"
"King," he said. "But I'm gonna be a Jedi."
". . . I so did not name you," Tahiri blurted out.
"Daddy did," King said. "He said it's funny for his timeline 'cause the government doesn't like the Jedi."
"For his timeline." There was just no way Tahiri's face could possibly get redder right now, because that pretty much answered her next question. "What did I have to say to that?"
Maybe she should call Ben right now? Or maybe when she was done flailing to death.
"That just because Jaina's got a title doesn't mean everyone else wants one," he said, nodding.
"Jaina has a title," Tahiri echoed, and went over to sit down on the edge of her bed. Drop down onto it, more like. "I am really, really confused right now."
You know, because she hadn't been before.
"You should make me breffest," King advised. "That'll make you feel better."
Manipulative little child.
And it was working, too. Even if Tahiri was still stuck back on the impossibility of this.
"What do you usually, um . . . have for breakfast? Do I make you breakfast?"
Mommy seemed confused. King was totally going to press his luck. "Sugar cereal," he said solemnly. "And caf."
Mommy (!!!) was very confused, yes. But not that confused.
"Nice try, but I kind of doubt that." Tahiri couldn't help grinning. Cute little brat. "I bet I can probably scrounge up some waffles or something from the common room. And I think I should, um, call your daddy."
. . . ow. That kind of hurt her brain.
"YAY DADDY!"
King was still working on his inside voice.
"Ow," Tahiri said, reaching for the phone. "Try not to be too loud around, um, Daddy, okay? He's a little jumpy these days."
She wasn't sure Ben wasn't going to freak out anyway, she realized as she dialed his room.
"Skywalker," Ben replied, sounding completely awake.
"Ben, it's me," Tahiri said, and she probably sounded more than a little shellshocked. "I think you should come up here. There's something . . . well, interesting you probably need to see."
"...how interesting?" Ben asked slowly.
Tahiri glanced over at King. "The special Fandom kind."
"If it's another kriffing gremlin..." Ben muttered before hanging up.
Cranky mood or not, he made it to Tahiri's room in pretty close to record time.
"Hello?" he said, sticking his head through the open door.
"Hi," Tahiri said, biting her lip nervously. "There's, um, someone here who wants to see you."
"Daddy!" King cried, launching himself at Ben's knees.
Ben's eyes threatened to bug out of his head.
Tahiri laughed nervously and gave him an apologetic look. "Ben, this is King," she said.
"King?" Ben repeated, wrinkling up his nose. "Whose idea was that?"
"According to him? Yours," she said, giving him a it sure wasn't mine look. Force knew, her ideas would probably have been worse.
Ben wondered if he drank a lot in whatever bizarro dimension this kid must have come from. Because really.
He crouched down in front of the boy, trying not to look as completely freaked out as he was feeling. "And Tahiri's your mom? This Tahiri?"
The answer was more important than he knew how to express.
King could feel the tension--he was Force-sensitive, after all--and his forehead wrinkled up. "Yes," he said, nodding. "Can I have breffest now?"
Tahiri still hadn't quite convinced herself this was happening, but she managed to reach out and put a hand on King's shoulder. She could already tell he'd end up being taller than her. Sigh.
"Surprise?" she said weakly to Ben. "I was going to get him something to eat, unless you want to . . ."
Ben shook his head, still looking like he was this close to fleeing. "You're a better cook than me."
He guessed. He was useless in the kitchen.
Tahiri wasn't much better. "Do you want to stay with him while I go find something in the common room, then? Because otherwise I'll have to raid Hurley's junk food stash -- and no, King, don't get any ideas about that."
"Can I raid Hurley's junk food stash?" Ben asked with the first twinkling of humor she'd probably seen from him in a while.
"Yes," Tahiri said, because she was just that glad to see any flash of humor from him these days, "but don't let him have any Cosmic Brownies."
"Deal," Ben said. "Come on, King. Let's jump on Mom's bed while she's making breakfast."
Ben was such an excellent influence.
"If you two knock things over," Tahiri began, and boggled a little at herself. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Ben, do you want something too?"
There was no guarantee whatsoever that what she came back with wouldn't be burned or soggy or still frozen in the middle, of course.
"I could eat," Ben said with a smile that was noticeably less forced than it had been.
"You're lucky I can levitate three plates," Tahiri said, and ducked out of the room to raid the common room.
True to his promise, Ben and King began jumping on the bed.
Ben almost laughed out loud, even.
". . . boys," Tahiri said in playful exasperation when she came back with three plates of . . . well, Pop-Tarts and Tater Tots. There hadn't been much to choose from. "I'm amazed you haven't hit your head on the ceiling yet, Ben."
"He did twice!" King tattled gleefully. "He said hell! Oooooooh! He's in trouble!"
"Ben!" Tahiri exclaimed, looking completely scandalized. "Not in front of our --"
And now it was her turn to have her eyes bug out.
And Ben totally fell off the bed, yeah.
He didn't say a bad word this time, but boy was he thinking them.
Tahiri managed to set the plates down on her desk as she let out a little growl and hoped she hadn't taught King any swear words in Tusken.
Was going to.
Something.
"Ben, are you okay?"
"Fine," Ben mumbled. "Just an idiot. King, am I allowed to say idiot?"
"Yes," King declared, making note of the noises Mommy had made. He bet he wasn't supposed to know those words either.
"Boys," Tahiri said again with a tiny grin. "King, help your dad up and come get food, okay?"
Eventually she'd realize how domestic this sounded and be disturbed. Right now she was still stuck on 'boys.'
King reached over and grabbed for Ben's hand with the assurance that his dad--no matter how weird he looked right now--would always reach back.
And Ben did, though the effort of taking the hand showed a little in his eyes. "What'd you make?" he teased lightly.
"The Pop-Tarts don't have frosting, at least," Tahiri said sheepishly. The Tater Tots, on the other hand, were definitely still a little frozen in the middle, as she found when she bit into one.
"The frosting's the best part," Ben said, snagging a Tot off of Tahiri's plate.
"Hey," Tahiri objected, "those are mine." She wasn't really objecting, though.
"And there weren't any left with frosting. I think someone beat me to them."
"You think we're not the only ones with a visitor?" Ben asked.
Tahiri extended her Force-sense a little bit and shook her head as she held one of the plates out to King. "I think we're not the only ones who got a surprise this morning, definitely."
And what a cute little surprise he was, too, even if she still wanted to flail when she looked at him.
"'ankoo," King said politely even as he tried to stuff every Tater Tot on his plate into his mouth at once.
"No, King, try not to choke," Tahiri said, thinking it was probably a futile objection. She gave Ben a shy grin. "He's definitely yours."
"I don't eat like that," Ben said.
"But you eat that much," Tahiri told him.
Ben couldn't argue with that. "Better not mention the shops in town that sell S-W-E-E-T-S, then," he said.
"SWEETS?" King squealed, spewing Tater Tots everywhere. "I want ice cream!"
Somehow, Tahiri shouldn't have been surprised that King was a smart kid.
"So completely your kid," she said, once she discovered she could in fact facepalm and giggle at the same time. "I'll take you for ice cream later, okay?"
"Is it later now?" King asked.
". . . and so completely mine, too," Tahiri added, turning bright red. Because wow, did he ever sound like her.
"This is..." Ben sorted through a looooot of adjectives in his head before settling on "...different."
Too weird? she mouthed at him. Her face still felt like it was on fire, and she reached down to tousle King's hair.
Little bit, Ben replied, feeling incredibly guilty as he admitted that.
For me too, Tahiri assured him; she felt pretty guilty about it too, but for a tangle of completely different reasons.
Ben swallowed hard, then reached his hand out towards hers.
Tahiri's eyes widened, but she reached out to brush her fingers tentatively against his.
He didn't flinch and he didn't pull back. It was progress. Very, very slow progress.
"Take a breath, there," he said to King who was eating the Pop Tart like he'd never seen food before.
Which, yes, was a lot like Ben.
As much as she wanted to squeeze his hand, Tahiri didn't push; she just let him stay in contact if he wanted to. That was hard, as impatient and impulsive as she was.
"Listen to your dad," she added to King. "He's an expert at eating that fast without choking."
"Can we race?" King asked. Because that would be astral!
"No," Ben replied immediately. "You'll get a stomachache."
"See? He knows what he's talking about," Tahiri told King. "If you want to grow up to be a good Jedi, listen to what he says, okay?"
"'Kay," King said, nodding. "Can we go play now?"
She'd clean up the Tater Tot mess later, Tahiri decided, or maybe Hurley's mouse droid would do it. She knew (because it hadn't been that many years ago, and didn't that just make it even weirder) what it was like to have that much energy to burn.
"Sure," she said, grinning down at him. "Come on."
[OOC: Preplayed with the awesome momslilassassin. Establishy, NFI, OOC totally okay!]
Having a project was good, and this one had kind of taken over her attention. She wasn't complaining about having a distraction from more uncomfortable trains of thought.
Yeah, like that was going to last.
There was a tap at her door.
Then another.
And another and another and another. "Mommy, open the door."
. . . okay, that was definitely unexpected. And weird. Mostly weird, especially how whoever was at the door didn't feel like anyone she recognized, but still a bit familiar. Also, hyper.
Tahiri went to the door, opened it a crack, and looked out. And down.
"Who are you looking for?" He'd said 'mommy.' She was going to stand here and tell herself there was no way he meant her.
The little boy in front of her gave her a "duh" look that probably looked very familiar. "You."
"Um," Tahiri said. She definitely recognized that look. And the accent. "You. But. I think I would remember that."
He tilted his head at her. "Are we playing a game?"
"You tell me," Tahiri told him, and stepped back from the door to let him in at least. She was, mentally, a little bit stuck on 'seriously, this is kind of impossible.' "Because wow, you sound a lot like me."
"Daddy says that all the time," the boy said cheerily, hopping through the doorway. "'specially when I start asking a lot of questions."
"Right." She was pretty sure her face was going to freeze this way. Tahiri left the door partway open and leaned against the frame, staring at him. "My turn to ask questions, though. What's your name?"
"King," he said. "But I'm gonna be a Jedi."
". . . I so did not name you," Tahiri blurted out.
"Daddy did," King said. "He said it's funny for his timeline 'cause the government doesn't like the Jedi."
"For his timeline." There was just no way Tahiri's face could possibly get redder right now, because that pretty much answered her next question. "What did I have to say to that?"
Maybe she should call Ben right now? Or maybe when she was done flailing to death.
"That just because Jaina's got a title doesn't mean everyone else wants one," he said, nodding.
"Jaina has a title," Tahiri echoed, and went over to sit down on the edge of her bed. Drop down onto it, more like. "I am really, really confused right now."
You know, because she hadn't been before.
"You should make me breffest," King advised. "That'll make you feel better."
Manipulative little child.
And it was working, too. Even if Tahiri was still stuck back on the impossibility of this.
"What do you usually, um . . . have for breakfast? Do I make you breakfast?"
Mommy seemed confused. King was totally going to press his luck. "Sugar cereal," he said solemnly. "And caf."
Mommy (!!!) was very confused, yes. But not that confused.
"Nice try, but I kind of doubt that." Tahiri couldn't help grinning. Cute little brat. "I bet I can probably scrounge up some waffles or something from the common room. And I think I should, um, call your daddy."
. . . ow. That kind of hurt her brain.
"YAY DADDY!"
King was still working on his inside voice.
"Ow," Tahiri said, reaching for the phone. "Try not to be too loud around, um, Daddy, okay? He's a little jumpy these days."
She wasn't sure Ben wasn't going to freak out anyway, she realized as she dialed his room.
"Skywalker," Ben replied, sounding completely awake.
"Ben, it's me," Tahiri said, and she probably sounded more than a little shellshocked. "I think you should come up here. There's something . . . well, interesting you probably need to see."
"...how interesting?" Ben asked slowly.
Tahiri glanced over at King. "The special Fandom kind."
"If it's another kriffing gremlin..." Ben muttered before hanging up.
Cranky mood or not, he made it to Tahiri's room in pretty close to record time.
"Hello?" he said, sticking his head through the open door.
"Hi," Tahiri said, biting her lip nervously. "There's, um, someone here who wants to see you."
"Daddy!" King cried, launching himself at Ben's knees.
Ben's eyes threatened to bug out of his head.
Tahiri laughed nervously and gave him an apologetic look. "Ben, this is King," she said.
"King?" Ben repeated, wrinkling up his nose. "Whose idea was that?"
"According to him? Yours," she said, giving him a it sure wasn't mine look. Force knew, her ideas would probably have been worse.
Ben wondered if he drank a lot in whatever bizarro dimension this kid must have come from. Because really.
He crouched down in front of the boy, trying not to look as completely freaked out as he was feeling. "And Tahiri's your mom? This Tahiri?"
The answer was more important than he knew how to express.
King could feel the tension--he was Force-sensitive, after all--and his forehead wrinkled up. "Yes," he said, nodding. "Can I have breffest now?"
Tahiri still hadn't quite convinced herself this was happening, but she managed to reach out and put a hand on King's shoulder. She could already tell he'd end up being taller than her. Sigh.
"Surprise?" she said weakly to Ben. "I was going to get him something to eat, unless you want to . . ."
Ben shook his head, still looking like he was this close to fleeing. "You're a better cook than me."
He guessed. He was useless in the kitchen.
Tahiri wasn't much better. "Do you want to stay with him while I go find something in the common room, then? Because otherwise I'll have to raid Hurley's junk food stash -- and no, King, don't get any ideas about that."
"Can I raid Hurley's junk food stash?" Ben asked with the first twinkling of humor she'd probably seen from him in a while.
"Yes," Tahiri said, because she was just that glad to see any flash of humor from him these days, "but don't let him have any Cosmic Brownies."
"Deal," Ben said. "Come on, King. Let's jump on Mom's bed while she's making breakfast."
Ben was such an excellent influence.
"If you two knock things over," Tahiri began, and boggled a little at herself. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Ben, do you want something too?"
There was no guarantee whatsoever that what she came back with wouldn't be burned or soggy or still frozen in the middle, of course.
"I could eat," Ben said with a smile that was noticeably less forced than it had been.
"You're lucky I can levitate three plates," Tahiri said, and ducked out of the room to raid the common room.
True to his promise, Ben and King began jumping on the bed.
Ben almost laughed out loud, even.
". . . boys," Tahiri said in playful exasperation when she came back with three plates of . . . well, Pop-Tarts and Tater Tots. There hadn't been much to choose from. "I'm amazed you haven't hit your head on the ceiling yet, Ben."
"He did twice!" King tattled gleefully. "He said hell! Oooooooh! He's in trouble!"
"Ben!" Tahiri exclaimed, looking completely scandalized. "Not in front of our --"
And now it was her turn to have her eyes bug out.
And Ben totally fell off the bed, yeah.
He didn't say a bad word this time, but boy was he thinking them.
Tahiri managed to set the plates down on her desk as she let out a little growl and hoped she hadn't taught King any swear words in Tusken.
Was going to.
Something.
"Ben, are you okay?"
"Fine," Ben mumbled. "Just an idiot. King, am I allowed to say idiot?"
"Yes," King declared, making note of the noises Mommy had made. He bet he wasn't supposed to know those words either.
"Boys," Tahiri said again with a tiny grin. "King, help your dad up and come get food, okay?"
Eventually she'd realize how domestic this sounded and be disturbed. Right now she was still stuck on 'boys.'
King reached over and grabbed for Ben's hand with the assurance that his dad--no matter how weird he looked right now--would always reach back.
And Ben did, though the effort of taking the hand showed a little in his eyes. "What'd you make?" he teased lightly.
"The Pop-Tarts don't have frosting, at least," Tahiri said sheepishly. The Tater Tots, on the other hand, were definitely still a little frozen in the middle, as she found when she bit into one.
"The frosting's the best part," Ben said, snagging a Tot off of Tahiri's plate.
"Hey," Tahiri objected, "those are mine." She wasn't really objecting, though.
"And there weren't any left with frosting. I think someone beat me to them."
"You think we're not the only ones with a visitor?" Ben asked.
Tahiri extended her Force-sense a little bit and shook her head as she held one of the plates out to King. "I think we're not the only ones who got a surprise this morning, definitely."
And what a cute little surprise he was, too, even if she still wanted to flail when she looked at him.
"'ankoo," King said politely even as he tried to stuff every Tater Tot on his plate into his mouth at once.
"No, King, try not to choke," Tahiri said, thinking it was probably a futile objection. She gave Ben a shy grin. "He's definitely yours."
"I don't eat like that," Ben said.
"But you eat that much," Tahiri told him.
Ben couldn't argue with that. "Better not mention the shops in town that sell S-W-E-E-T-S, then," he said.
"SWEETS?" King squealed, spewing Tater Tots everywhere. "I want ice cream!"
Somehow, Tahiri shouldn't have been surprised that King was a smart kid.
"So completely your kid," she said, once she discovered she could in fact facepalm and giggle at the same time. "I'll take you for ice cream later, okay?"
"Is it later now?" King asked.
". . . and so completely mine, too," Tahiri added, turning bright red. Because wow, did he ever sound like her.
"This is..." Ben sorted through a looooot of adjectives in his head before settling on "...different."
Too weird? she mouthed at him. Her face still felt like it was on fire, and she reached down to tousle King's hair.
Little bit, Ben replied, feeling incredibly guilty as he admitted that.
For me too, Tahiri assured him; she felt pretty guilty about it too, but for a tangle of completely different reasons.
Ben swallowed hard, then reached his hand out towards hers.
Tahiri's eyes widened, but she reached out to brush her fingers tentatively against his.
He didn't flinch and he didn't pull back. It was progress. Very, very slow progress.
"Take a breath, there," he said to King who was eating the Pop Tart like he'd never seen food before.
Which, yes, was a lot like Ben.
As much as she wanted to squeeze his hand, Tahiri didn't push; she just let him stay in contact if he wanted to. That was hard, as impatient and impulsive as she was.
"Listen to your dad," she added to King. "He's an expert at eating that fast without choking."
"Can we race?" King asked. Because that would be astral!
"No," Ben replied immediately. "You'll get a stomachache."
"See? He knows what he's talking about," Tahiri told King. "If you want to grow up to be a good Jedi, listen to what he says, okay?"
"'Kay," King said, nodding. "Can we go play now?"
She'd clean up the Tater Tot mess later, Tahiri decided, or maybe Hurley's mouse droid would do it. She knew (because it hadn't been that many years ago, and didn't that just make it even weirder) what it was like to have that much energy to burn.
"Sure," she said, grinning down at him. "Come on."
[OOC: Preplayed with the awesome momslilassassin. Establishy, NFI, OOC totally okay!]