Chapter Text
Obi-Wan poured milk into the two steaming cups of tea with a flourish. He never used to take his tea this way, but now that they had fresh eopie milk every day, why not? They'd bought a used churn from some junk traders and learned how to make butter; it improved toasted flatbread immensely.
"I'm growing too accustomed to the finer things," he said, and his Master's chuckle rumbled in the kitchen, though the ghost did not form.
"What a decadent life you lead in your hermitage."
"Sabé?"
The scent of rominaria flowers filled Obi-Wan's nostrils as he approached the open 'fresher door, where she stood at the sink rubbing lotion over the swell of her stomach to prevent stretch marks. At full term, she looked bigger than he remembered Padmé being--and she'd carried twins--which alarmed him slightly. Surely there was no chance…? He shook off the thought like dust from a rug; he'd only sensed a single life in the Force. Nevertheless, the amount her skin had stretched to accommodate the growing baby made it most impressive to him that there were none of the spidery white marks Mari Starfall described. Not that they would mar her any more than her other scars. Sabé had done her due diligence with the lotion.
"How do you know it's actually prevented stretch marks?" he asked. "What if you just didn't get any?"
"We'll never know." She rubbed the last of the lotion in, then twisted the cap back onto the bottle.
As she turned to exit the 'fresher, a gushing arrested her. One hand braced against the door frame, the other pressed to the side of her belly. A wet spot spread over the hem of her nightshirt, and Obi-Wan followed her round-eyed gaze to the floor, where a not insubstantial amount of clear liquid puddled at her bare feet and spread toward his.
"Is that--?"
"My water broke," Sabé said in a strained voice, as if it were difficult to breathe.
His gaze darted back up to her face. "Another contraction?"
She nodded. Obi-Wan glanced at the kitchen chronometer. Twenty minutes since the last one. This had been going on for over an hour now, since the first pang roused them both from sleep. He'd sensed the shift in the Force even before he felt the physical movement in bed beside him, as Sabé sought a position to relieve the pain.
The contraction seemed to last for ages, but finally she gasped with relief, released the door frame, and straightened up.
"I suppose this means we're having a baby today," she said.
"So it would seem."
For several seconds, they stared at each other, processing this turn of events. She'd passed her due date two days ago, yet the birth had still seemed like a distant event. Now it was here. They both broke out grinning, then leaned toward each other for a kiss.
"We should get you back into bed," Obi-Wan said afterward, reaching for her arm.
"I'm standing in a pool of amniotic fluid. You are, too. We should probably deal with that first."
"Ah." His feet did feel sticky. "Yes, we should." He held up a hand, and the towel from beside the sink came to it. When he crouched to wipe her feet, Sabé laughed and carded her fingers through his hair.
"I think I'll just take another sonic shower. I've got time." She peeled off her nightshirt and underwear and stepped into the shower. Before she turned it on, she said, "Call Mari, will you?"
Obi-Wan cleaned his own feet and the floor as best he could with the hand towel. By the time he'd carried her soiled clothes down to the laundry unit in the cellar, pausing to circle today's date in red--their child's birthday!--the sonic shower had shut off. As he brought her a fresh nightgown, which seemed a logical thing to wear for labor and delivery, Mari Starfall's tinny voice crackled through the small speaker of his comlink.
"Is it baby time?"
"Her water just broke, and she's having regular contractions."
"I'll get my supplies together and be on my way."
No sooner had Obi-Wan slipped his comlink into his pocket than Sabé grabbed his arm as another contraction began. When it ended, he tried again to get her back in bed, but she wanted to be on her feet for as long as she was able. According to the holobook Mari loaned her, it would help the baby move downward in the birth canal and keep her contractions progressing. She went over her checklist of supplies, which were mostly already gathered and ready, and Obi-Wan fetched what had not been.
Over the past several weeks, their tiny living room had been transformed into a nursery. The Starfalls brought over a speederload of old baby things: clothes, nappies, linens, and toys, mainly, but also a cradle, which occupied the position where the dining table had been. ("We'll just have to be uncivilized and eat at the coffee table," Obi-Wan had said.) Sabé sewed curtains for the row of windows on that wall, to help the baby nap during the day, and Obi-Wan built a mobile out of scraps he'd found, featuring Tatooine and its moons, verdant Naboo, and Coruscant glittering with city lights. They'd temporarily packed up the contents of the display table so it could serve as a changing table. ("Permanently, in this case," he'd remarked of the spider-like vacuum droid, though Sabé argued that it would come in handy when they were too busy caring for the baby to sweep the floors.)
She had another contraction in the midst of their preparations. This time, she consented to rest for a bit. Obi-Wan reheated their forgotten tea and brought a light breakfast of buttered flatbread and sausage, for she'd need all her strength today. He sat beside her on the bed while they ate, watching her belly writhe as their baby shifted around in preparation to leave her womb. Eager as he was to meet their child, a part of him would miss this.
"Are the contractions terribly painful?" he asked.
"I've experienced worse," Sabé replied, and he knew she wasn't simply putting a brave face on it. "We'll see if I change my tune when they're coming harder and faster." Her wry half-smile faded. "It's all been so much more difficult than I expected."
Obi-Wan tucked her hair behind her ear, then pressed his lips to her temple. "I hope you know how much I admire the way you've borne it all."
Her dark eyes misted. "Do you really think so? Only I've felt like such a mess. I was sure you must be questioning the wisdom of having a child with me."
"Never. I only worried that you regretted putting yourself through this, after everything else."
Tears leaked from the corners of Sabé's eyes. When Obi-Wan brushed them away with his thumb, she caught his hand and kissed it. "It'll be worth it."
Despite the pain not being unbearable, the contractions did tire her. She managed to cat nap between them for the next hour or so, until a particularly strong one awoke her.
"That felt like less than twenty minutes," she said after she'd caught her breath.
"That's because it was eighteen."
At the whirr of a landspeeder engine, Sabé insisted on getting up and going with him to greet Mari. Somewhat to Obi-Wan's surprise, Sim had come with her.
"Are the kids at home by themselves?" Sabé asked.
"Wulfric and Dayne can hold down the fort till Mari's mom gets there," said Sim. "I thought Ben might need some moral support. Or torve weed," he added with a wink.
"Don't even think about it," Sabé gritted out through her teeth and another contraction.
After it passed, Mari went inside with her while the men unloaded the vehicle. In addition to small overnight bags, given the likelihood of Sabé's labor extending into the evening, they'd brought crates of supplies, including--as usual--food.
"That's most generous," Obi-Wan said. "You needn't have done that."
Sim waved him off. "Yes, we did need. Believe me, you guys aren't going to want to think about cooking for a few…" He paused, then amended, "…for a while."
As was so often the case, the kindness of their friends touched Obi-Wan. And he was glad to have an experienced father here. So far Sabé was fine, yet he was well out of his depth, and the twins' birth hovered like a specter. Any number of complications might yet arise.
The women's chatter and--slightly surprising--laughter greeted the men when they went inside. Sabé, much to his relief, appeared to be nothing but glad for her friend's presence, and was not dwelling on those who were absent. Mari approved of the birthing supplies they'd acquired. She'd brought a few of her own things: herbs that would bring pain relief later and a curious-looking stool with a hole in the bottom, which she informed them would come in handy when Sabé got to the pushing stage.
"Which, I'm sorry to tell you," she said, eyes twinkling, "won't be any time soon."
For most of the morning, the Starfalls kept largely out of the way. Mari harvested some vegetables from the garden--including Naboo lettuce, which had produced a bumper crop--and puttered in the kitchen while Sim made himself useful around the farm, completing the outdoor chores Obi-Wan had all but forgotten, taking extra time with Mitali and her calf. They'd named him Marut, for he'd been born in a storm.
"I was a little surprised when you called this morning," Sim said, returning to the hovel. "Kinda thought Sabé'd decide to give birth all on her own like Mitali and only call to announce the baby was here."
Although Obi-Wan and Sabé chuckled, they exchanged a significant glance across the room. They hadn't shared the full circumstances Marut's birth--only that they'd opened the barn door after the sandstorm to discover that Mitali had delivered her calf. It made for an amusing story, a happy outcome of a disastrous event. All was well that ended well, and neither of them was keen to relive the terror of those days when the helpless awareness of the animal's suffering stirred up anxiety about their own child.
"Considering that the eopie birth was meant to be my crash course in midwifery," Obi-Wan said, "it seemed wiser to call the professionals."
"I'm sure I would've been in good hands," said Sabé. Her eyes rested softly on him for a moment, then widened, pupils dilating with pain.
Obi-Wan went to her at once, kneeling beside the bed and rubbing a slow circle in the small of her back as she sat forward with the contraction. After it was over he started to withdraw, but Sabé said, "Oh, please don't stop."
He sat on the edge of the bed, slightly behind her, where he had a better angle to massage her.
"You're feeling the contractions in your back?" asked Mari, getting up from the chair at the foot of the bed.
Sabé nodded. "And between contractions."
"Back labor," said Mari said. "I had it the worst with Gunnar. Massage helps a lot." She gave Obi-Wan a look of approval, then pivoted toward the kitchen. "So does alternating hot and cold compresses. I'll go make some. Would you like a cup of tea, too? It can help with the muscle tension."
"That sounds lovely."
By the time Mari had prepared everything and returned with a heat pack for Obi-Wan to hold against Sabé's back, she was in the grip of another contraction. They were ten minutes apart now.
Time passed strangely, not in hours but in the minutes between contractions. Even as the intervals decreased, the duration of the contractions increased. By noon, they were coming every five minutes and lasting for nearly a minute at a time. (He only knew it was noon because Mari made lunch.) Sabé bore it courageously, the pain alleviated somewhat by the backrubs and Mari's remedies--although heat was unbearable to her now, as the temperature climbed with the twin suns. She still managed to get up and walk around the hovel; in fact, she seemed more comfortable on her feet than in bed. But Obi-Wan could see and sense her endurance flagging. She still had a long way to go, despite being close to what the pregnancy book termed "active labor." Mari encouraged her to eat a little flatbread and fruit, but Sabé could only manage to swallow a little water, the contractions nauseating her.
Standing on the cool tiles, she leaned her head against his shoulder, arms draped around his neck, while he wrapped supporting arms around her, fingers massaging the backs of her hips. They swayed slightly; between contractions, she joked, "We look like awkward teenagers at our first dance."
"Well, it would be mine," Obi-Wan quipped.
Sabé laughed, but it became a moan as her belly went rigid.
"Breathe," he told her softly. "Visualize the pain exiting your body with the breath."
She raised her head, and her narrowed eyes gave him the impression the only thing she was visualizing was possibly punching him in the face again. So Obi-Wan conjured the image of his hand on her back passing through the particles that formed her, skin, sinew, and bone, until he found the dark coiling pain and drew it from her.
"What was that?" Sabé asked, the tension having relaxed from her face. "And why didn't you do it sooner?"
Obi-Wan glanced at the Starfalls, who were staring. "Er, it's a technique for controlling other people's pain." He rubbed the back of his neck, which felt warm. "I didn't think of it right away because I've primarily only used it for battlefield triage."
"Well," Mari said, "if I ever have another baby, I know who I want to have around."
"Are you thinking of having another baby?" Sim asked.
His wife just smiled at him. Sim initially looked dazed, but after a moment, the expression changed to one of delight.
To Obi-Wan's dismay--though not so much as Sabé's--the next contraction revealed that his use of the Force had only controlled her pain during the previous one. So, he again reached in and took it from her…and again, and again…until the contractions came so close together and lasted so long that he had to be in a nearly constant state of meditation. It was a familiar, comfortable place for him to be, immersed in the light that transcended physical existence, but Sabé took no comfort in it.
"You may as well go smoke torve weed with Sim!" she snapped at him one interval when he'd returned to awareness. She needed him to be fully present, his voice murmuring words of encouragement, more than she needed pain relief.
"I'm sorry," he told her. "I just hate to see you suffer…"
"Should've thought about that before we decided to have a baby," she ground out through her teeth.
Obi-Wan was rather taken aback.
"Oh, this sounds familiar," he heard Sim say; Mari shushed him.
There was no time for hurt feelings. Sabé vomited. Her body began to shake uncontrollably as the pressure in her pelvis mounted.
"It's transition," Mari said. After examining her progress, she announced, "Almost time to push, Sabé!"
Almost time. That sounded encouraging, so Obi-Wan said, "Our baby will be born soon, love." He brushed Sabé's sweaty hair back from her forehead, kissed her, and said, "You're doing wonderfully…Your work is almost done."
She broke down sobbing. "I can't, I can't! I haven't done anything yet, and I'm already so tired…"
Obi-Wan looked to Mari, at a loss. She smiled at him and sat at the edge of the bed. "It's totally normal to feel like this at this stage. But you can do it, Sabé."
"I can't."
But despite her assertions, she bore down instinctively.
"Sim, the stool," Mari said. "Ben, help me get her up. Ben."
"That's you, young one," said Qui-Gon's ghost, hovering in front of where Sim placed the seatless wooden stool Mari had brought. "Breathe."
Obi-Wan did, and gave the same instruction to Sabé as he and Mari hoisted her out of bed.
"Yes, deep exhale," Mari added. "Picture the baby sliding further down the birth canal every time you release your breath."
When Sabé was settled on the stool, Mari knelt in front of her on a sheet Sim had spread over the bantha rug. Things were about to get messy, Obi-Wan realized. He batted away an unwelcome image of the sterile operating theater on Polis Massa where Padmé had delivered Luke and Leia.
Sabé gritted her teeth and groaned with another contraction. He clasped her hand, and her fingernails bore into it. He allowed himself to drift into the Force to take away a measure of her pain, but not so fully that he couldn't hear Mari telling Sabé to place her free hand at the top of her abdomen, under her breasts, and to focus her strength there.
"Work with your body…It knows what it's doing."
Her body might have known what it was doing, but it took a long time to do it. An hour crawled by, then two. Shouldn't the baby be out by now? Was something wrong?
"This can take a while," Mari said. Had he spoken aloud? "I pushed for three hours with Gunnar. The good news is that you're two-thirds of the way there."
She tried to grin up at Sabé, but Obi-Wan could see the cracks in Mari's outward calm, sensed the heightening of her anxiety in the Force. He didn't ask, not wanting to alarm Sabé. A few minutes later, the answer presented itself.
"The baby's crowning," Mari said as Sabé panted and pushed. Obi-Wan would've expected more excitement to accompany this announcement. "Sunny side-up. No wonder you were having back labor. The back of the head was pressing against your tailbone."
"Is that a problem?" Obi-Wan asked.
Mari shook her head. "Just keep breathing, Sabé. Slow and easy so you don't tear. Reach down if you want. You can feel the top of the head."
Obi-Wan cringed at the mention of tearing, but Sabé did as Mari instructed, possessed by an intense resolve that showed no trace of her earlier breakdown.
"Head full of hair," she managed to grunt out. "Like Papa."
He gave her hand a light squeeze, then hers clamped around it with the next series of pushes. Even if he'd tried, he couldn't have let go of the physical to reach into the Force for her pain. It would be wrong to miss anything of this moment.
As it was, it still didn't seem real that Mari could be saying, "The head's delivered," or that he could be peering down from his place at Sabé's side to see the tiny, scrunched up face emerging from her body.
"Dark hair," he told Sabé, who couldn't see over her belly. "Well, I think. It's wet and…gooey."
There was a heart-stopping moment when Mari told Sabé to hold up. The cord was looped around the baby's neck, but she slipped it easily free, and they breathed again, and after another series of pushes, the little body slipped out into Mari's waiting hands. With a final heaving sigh, Sabé slid off the birthing stool as Obi-Wan eased her gently onto the floor leaning back against him. He was vaguely aware of a lusty cry, and beneath it the sound of both of them laughing, until Mari placed the baby, unwashed, cord still attached, and naked, on Sabé's chest, and they all fell silent.
"He's beautiful," Mari said, wiping away tears. "I'm so happy for you two." She moved off with Sim to give the new family a private moment.
He.
"A boy," Obi-Wan said, a knot in his throat.
"You dreamed of a son," Sabé whispered. "Ben Jinn Kenobi."
Ben Jinn Kenobi. "Hello there, young one." He stroked Ben's hand, and the tiny, perfect fingers curled around his thumb. "Pleased to meet you."
Ben lifted his head up much more easily than Obi-Wan had known a baby could be capable of and stared at his parents.
"His eyes are blue," said Sabé, grinning at him.
"For now," Obi-Wan said, but he couldn't help but smile back. "Definitely dark-haired, though." He leaned in and kissed her, slow and deep, hoping he could convey the depth of love and gratitude for which he had no words. When she drew back to return her gaze to their son, he asked, "Are you all right?"
"Never felt better," Sabé replied. "Or more exhausted."
Eventually, Mari returned to tend necessities. She brought a sterilized knife, which she offered to Obi-Wan for cutting the umbilical cord. It felt a momentous act, separating them by this last physical thread which bound Ben and Sabé together, but when he looked up at her, he saw that Mari had helped her put the baby to her breast, and he'd begun to suckle. They stayed like this for some time, until Sabé's contractions began again--with much less intensity--for the delivery of the afterbirth. She placed Ben in his arms, and Mari told him to go bathe the baby. At first he hesitated to leave Sabé, but when Mari commented about how the placenta made a nutritious broth, he made haste to the kitchen.
"Surely she's only joking about the broth," he murmured to Ben as he wetted a clean, soft cloth.
"She's not," Sim said.
Ben did not enjoy his bath and made his opinions on the matter loudly known.
"A child of the desert already?" Obi-Wan babbled to the baby. "One day you'll come to appreciate how lovely water baths are. Your mother will tell you tales of the lakes of her homeworld, and you won't believe them. Maybe one day we'll take you there…We could visit the Gungans in their underwater city…"
"You're a natural at this," said Sim, surprised that Obi-Wan already knew how to diaper and swaddle an infant; he'd had to learn when he brought Luke to Tatooine.
With his newborn son nestled in his arms, he didn't notice much of the flurry of activity around him. The afterbirth delivered and disposed of, Mari helped Sabé clean up, change into fresh clothes that would be easy to nurse in, and settle into bed. Obi-Wan relinquished Ben to Sabé but remained with them as the Starfalls dealt with everything else. He didn't even notice that the sky had long since darkened through the windows, or that his stomach was growling until Mari and Sim brought over plates laden with eopie steaks, fried potatoes, and salad. There was even a bottle of champagne, which produced a fountain of green foam when Sim uncorked it.
They clinked cups together with their friends, toasting the health of Ben Jinn Kenobi.
It wasn't the prolonged meal they were accustomed to having with the Sim and Mari , for Sabé was nodding off at the table even though she had a heartier appetite as he'd ever seen. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, Obi-Wan and Sim stepped outside to smoke a torve weed joint, then the Starfalls retired to the cellar, wanting to be nearby in case Sabé had any trouble during the night.
For the first time, they were alone with their son.
"Has Qui-Gon seen his namesake?" Sabé asked as the baby slept against her heart.
Obi-Wan nodded across the room to where his Master's form shimmered near the front door. "He says the honor would make him weep, if he were corporeal. Also, he'd have the leftover eopie steak."
Sabé snorted with laughter. "Did he really say that last bit?"
"Honestly, Obi-Wan," said the ghost. "Such mischief is unbecoming for a new father."
"It's the delirium," Obi-Wan replied, yawning.
"Sleep while you can," Qui-Gon said, fading away, "for all too soon, I feel you'll wake again."
The End