Twin Heirs

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia Van Derveld hadn't wanted to have her children on Figaro Favoura IV's moon. There wasn't a doctor - at least not what she'd been raised to call a doctor - and she just didn't feel comfortable delivering her first babies with just family present.

And some of her new family might be a bit jealous of the twins, and so it had been decided that it was safer all around to have the birth off planet.

Coruscant was deemed not too far away, and besides, if you're going to find a doctor, why not some of the best in the galaxy? Although, she couldn't help but wonder about Diego's timing. He'd agreed reluctantly to the idea of a doctor, but they'd left a week later than planned, and she wasn't sure that she would last the three day trip to Coruscant.

Gia looked sideways at Diego, trying not to have to shift her body. She'd finally gotten comfortable in bed, and he was sitting in a chair by the edge. She tried not to look at her body - it was hard to imagine that she'd been a size six before the pregnancy! And now she was as big as a Hutt.

Diego had been a dear, very accomodating to all her needs, although she'd become more self reliant than usual since her... change. The hum of the hyperdrive punctuated the silence, and she voiced her thoughts.

"I suppose you're worried about the Guardians."

[Diego Van Derveld]

"That and more."

Diego shifted restlessly in his seat. In a bit of a facade, he spent a few seconds scrutinizing his fingernails, but it evaporated as he looked up, the concern still evident.

"I don't think leaving home was a good idea. Igor's delivered more than a few babies in his time."

When he could see that his concerns weren't enough to change course, he nodded, drumming his fingers on the handgrips of his chair.

"I've called ahead, and arranged for some protection. It should be enough for the stay."

[Gia Van Derveld]

She nodded. They'd already argued strenuously about the value of Igor as a midwife, and Gia had finally put her foot down. That dead looking thing was not delivering her children. Igor might be a capable butler, tailor, and who knows what else, but the thought of ...it seeing her... She blushed again just thinking about it.

When she'd gotten light headed from shouting, Diego had finally relented. He seemed to like the fact that she'd grown a bit of a backbone. Gia liked it too, although she still felt uncomfortable making her views known.

Gia reached across to him, lightly touching his drumming fingers. "It'll be enough. You are enough protection for me."

[Elena Van Derveld]

A room away, another Lupine lay, feigning sleep. In truth, she couldn’t have gotten a wink if she’d tried. A rumbling, twisting pain had been growing in her gut for the past hour. She kept her eyes closed, though, contenting herself with listening to the conversation between husband and wife for a short while. It wasn’t good enough, though. Soon enough she was bolt upright in the bed, eyes wide open, pulling clothes on. Within a minute, she was lingering in the doorway between the small sleeping quarters and the room in which the mother-to-be was trying to relax, the room that smelled of anxiety and worry. She wordlessly moved towards the pair, concurrently squeezing each on the shoulder, to show her support. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion but somewhere in there, there was love too.

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Perhaps."

Diego looked back to Gia, and steeled against the doubtful look on his face, instilling confidence in both her and himself again.

"We'll be there in moments. Is there anything you need?"

He glanced up to Elena, hoping she'd take the cue and be attentive to her while he piloted their ship to the starport. She'd practically been Gia's shadow during the final trimester. It was good to see. At last, his family was coming into being. If one tried hard enough, you could almost ignore the scars beneath the surface.

[Gia Van Derveld]

She looked up at Elena as her step-daughter squeezed her shoulder. It was bizarre that this woman who was at least her own age was her husband's daughter, and Gia knew that her own mother would never have approved of the situation.

But she was dead, on Corellia, and Diego and Elena were not. Gia smiled at Elena, her friend. It would never be a mother-daughter relationship, and neither tried to make it so. It was comforting to have another woman with her during this time, too.

Gia squeezed Elena's hand as she answered her husband. "I would like some water, I think."

[Elena Van Derveld]

A nod, and she was off to find what had been asked. While she stood in the kitchenette, running the tap until it was cold enough, she thought of how things had changed in the past year or so. While they had made a valiant effort at rallying a band of troops to counter the Force users, and – of course – Vega’s bastard brood, they had made little head way with their campaign. Instead, Diego appeared to have turned his attention fully to the task of recreating the once glorious family that her maker had torn to shreds.

Glancing down, Elena saw that she was holding the glass so tightly in her hands that her knuckles had gone white. She quickly dismissed the thought of her ‘brother’, taking in a deep relaxing breath.

“Here you are,” she carefully gave the glass to her stepmother, offering with it a smile.

“Not long now. How are you feeling?”

[Diego Van Derveld]

The ship began to trundle through the criss-crossing skylanes of Coruscant, decelerating as it descended. It aligned its path, and sank gently to an open deck at one of the city planet's many starports. As the bulk of the craft transitioned gently from repulsorlifts to landing struts, the trio could see two speeders waiting just outside the landing area, their exteriors dark and windows tinted. Five blonde-haired people stood beside the speeders, dressed in plain-looking clothing.

As the landing craft powered down, one of the five in the welcoming committee ran toward the lowering gangplank, just as Diego made his way down it.

"Everything here is ready."

The man spoke in a floral Naboo accent, and looked like a living propaganda poster.

Diego smiled, nodded, and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Good. Help me get her to the speeder."

"Of course."

Diego ran back up the gangplank, followed by the posterchild for whatever Master Race he was creating.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia reached out to Elena as the ship settled on the duracrete. "Here, help me up." She grabbed at her stepdaughter's wrists, pulling herself into a sitting position and getting her legs off the side of the bed. "I hate to be so much trouble..."

Diego appeared at the doorway with another man she didn't recognize. Her eyes fixed the newcomer with a trace of fear, but she quickly realized that the man never would have gotten on the ship if he had any intent for harm. She relaxed again, and Elena provided the support for her to reach her feet.

Gia put one hand on her lower back and the other just under her huge stomach. "I'm ready." She smiled at her husband.

[Elena Van Derveld]

Elena too eyed the newcomer with a wary glare – which he apparently did not notice, in spite of looking directly into the woman’s eyes and smiling. She brushed away the anxiety and concentrated on helping Gia, their new Aryan friends making the task of getting the Lady Van-Derveld to her waiting carriage an entirely less stressful job.

[Diego Van Derveld]

With obsessive care, Diego and his counterpart eased Gia down the gangplank, and across the tarmac. With Elena providing the necessary support, the group approached the trailing speeder, helping Gia into the expansive back seat of the sedan. Once she was secured and comfortable, the group took their positions. Diego's assistant took the driver's seat, while Diego rode shotgun with an autoblaster slung in his lap, vigilant for any threat. Elena played midwife in the back seat, consoling Gia in ways only another woman could.

The other four lupine acolytes piled into the lead speeder, and both began to pull away from the port, accelerating down a major thoroughfare towards their destination.

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia wriggled around in the backseat of the speeder, shoving a small pillow between her lower back and the seat. "I can't believe there are two people inside me. No, wait, I take it back, I can. They feel like they're duking it out right now..."

She reached for Elena's hand, placing it over a bulging spot on her extended stomach. "Feel that?" She grimaced uncomfortably.

[Elena Van Derveld]

“Well, one things certain- they’re definitely Van-Dervelds,” Elena smiled weakly, trying not to look out of the windows of the speeding vehicle, for fear that the nausea already rising in her stomach would get worse.

[Commander Zemil Vymes]

Another night, another beat. I swam my cruiser into the neon currents up, down, and all around. There was eternal bustle on Coruscant. Rush hour didn't exist. Rush was the norm.

A cup of lukewarm caf and a half-smoked cigar was my only company tonight. I'd opted to go solo this week, giving Nobbei a chance to look into a little Ithorian trouble. It looked like a cold trail, but it needed to be done. In the meantime, the city rushed.

I spotted a pair of matching sedans ascending to a skylane from a nearby starport. It stank in an obvious, nagging odor of suspicion. If I ever believed in coincidences, it might not bother me as much. So much for abandoning cynicism.

"Station seven, I'm trailing a pair of Sorosuub XJ99 sedans. Black. Trailing speeder's plate is One Whiskey Alpha Juliet Seven Two Nine Tango. Come back with record, over."

[Diego Van Derveld]

beep beep beep beep beep...

Diego fished into his pocket and pulled out a chiming comm device. Opening it, he pressed it against his ear.

"This is Diego."

"Sir, we are being trailed by a police squad car."

He pulled the comm away, and glanced back to Gia momentarily before returning it to his ear.

"You are sure about this?"

"Reasonably. He's stayed on course for five kilometers."

The Lupine leader paused, running his other hand across his dense stubble.

"Hit the southwest lane at the next interchange, and decoy through Coco district. Meet back at the hospital when you can."

"Understood."

Diego snapped the comm shut, and put it away. Turning back to his wife, he placed a hand on top of hers.

"How are you holding up?"

[Gia Van Derveld]

Gia grinned at Elena in agreement with her comment, and then listened to the tail end of Diego's conversation on his commlink. Decoy through the Coco district? Concerned, she leaned forward as much as she could, and put her hand on the back of the front seat.

Diego twisted in the seat, and put his hand on hers. "How are you holding up?"

She smiled a little, "Pretty good, considering your sons are fighting on my spine. Are we taking a detour?"

[Diego Van Derveld]

"Our escort is."

He followed his words up with a smile to reassure her.

"Don't worry. We'll be there in no time at all."

Even still, the Lupine leader flashed Elena a "be on the lookout" look. He wasn't about to take any chances. Not with Gia. For this cop's sake, he would be wise to move on.

[Elena Van Derveld]

That look was familiar, and Elena was hard-pressed to hold back a groan at the sight of it. It seemed they couldn’t do anything without running into some kind of trouble. As she looked out of the speeders window, she couldn’t help but feel a growing pity for Gia and the almost inevitable stress she was going to be put through by whatever was warranting their decoys detour.