Wrapped Around Her Finger

by Nansi Alexander (nansi_alexander@yahoo.com)

Category: AU, Romance, Humor

Pairing: Q/O

Summary: Our boys end up surprised in more ways than one

Series: Sequel to "Surprise" Followed by "Crisis"

Notes: Thanks to Annie who, as usual, provided excellent beta services.

"I could refuse the assignment." Obi-Wan remarked, pausing in wiping some of the food off Darshan's face. She waved an imperious arm in the air and sent a container of mashed icea root slamming onto the floor. From her seat in the high chair, she looked at the resulting mess with a great deal of undisguised pleasure for a six month old.

"I don't think she likes your main course," Qui-Gon laughed, and cleaned it up with the air of having done the service before. Which he had, at least once a day. "You'll only be gone a few days, surely?"

"The Niveddi heir's marriage ceremony is a week from now - all they want is a Jedi presence to witness it and once that's done, I'll be home. Yoda thought it would be a nice, easy way to get my feet wet again."

"Very true. No need to refuse it. I can manage madam for a few days, although we'll miss you." Qui-Gon tossed the remnants of the icea root into the recycle chute, and sat back down at the dinner table, pausing to drop a kiss on his daughter's dark hair in passing. "Dar and I will be fine.

Obi-Wan had his doubts about that. Though carefully shielded from his lifemate, he was beginning to worry just a little about Qui-Gon's lack of a bond with their daughter. Though he certainly pitched in with care and feeding, there was a definite - reluctance - on his part; he still handled Darshan as though she was crystal that would fracture at a loud noise. He had no doubts whatever, though, about how much Qui-Gon loved their child, he just seemed at a loss on how to connect with her. Well, he mused, perhaps a few days without Obi-Wan to fall back for baby duty would do Qui a world of good.

Darshan studied the food on the spoon thoughtfully for several long seconds. Then she carefully and quite distinctly said her very first actual word: "Ick."

Qui stared at her, awestruck. "You said a word! Just wait until you can tell Obi-Wan!" Another thought struck him and he added, "Ick? Don't most babies start out with Dada?"

Darshan regarded him in what he would later swear was long-suffering toleration. "Ick," she pronounced again.

"Fine." Qui-Gon regarded the disgusting blue stuff on the spoon with not a little doubt himself. On impulse he tasted it. Revolting. "Ick."

Darshan found that immensely funny. Her round baby face lit up and she crowed with laughter.

Qui-Gon found himself joining in, and removed the blue stuff, container and all, to the garbage chute. Inspiration struck, and he rummaged around in the cooler, looking for the container of pudding he knew was somewhere in its depths. "How about this, little one?" He held the dish out to Dar, who sniffed appreciatively and registered her approval. "Um."

Just then the comm unit bleeped.

"I'm going to answer that and then you and I will have some of this pudding, all right?"

Darshan smiled at him.

He didn't give a thought to the consequences of leaving one highly active, intelligent baby momentarily unsupervised with a large dish of chocolate pudding.

Some askew law of physics must have been operating, Qui-Gon thought, returning not five minutes later to find both his daughter and the better part of the kitchen covered in rich, dark chocolate goo. There surely hadn't been enough pudding to be spread around this vast an area, had there?

As he watched, in fascinated horror, Darshan dipped a hand into the bowl and, with deliberate precision, lobbed a large blop of pudding straight at her father. It hit Qui-Gon mid-chest and the little witch found the resulting splat uproariously funny, if her crowing was anything to judge by.

"All right. That's it." Qui-Gon scooped her out of the high chair and, with rather less grace than was usual, headed for the fresher.

Dar seemed to find this interesting.

Not stopping to indulge in his usual fears and worries -- that he, too tall, too clumsy, too large, too lacking in experience, would hurt her, drop her, cause something disastrous to happen -- he talked nonsense to the laughing baby as he stripped off her chocolate sodden clothing and his own. "Might as well do both of us at once, Darri." He tightened his grip on her and stepped into the shower. Sonics probably would have done as well, but he liked water and Dar thoroughly approved. She waved her arms under the spray and then patted her tiny hands together in glee, before grabbing ahold of his beard with amazing strength.

Qui-Gon automatically reached out with Force tendrils to bind her tighter to his chest. Her eyes went round as she felt the extra security wrap around her and she released her death grip on his beard and rolled her head against his chest, then laughed up at him. Qui called a bottle of baby shampoo to hand and worked a bit of it into her hair, then angled her under the shower spray until the soap and pudding were sluiced away.

A few minutes later, squeaky clean, out of the shower, he was wrapped in an old toweling robe, rubbing the water out of Dar's hair, and not even noticing that he was handling her with the assurance Obi-Wan usually displayed. What he did notice was the way she was looking at him, gazing up, blue eyes full of trust and happiness. She looked at his mate like that all the time, but this was a first for Qui-Gon. His heart swelled until it seemed it filled his chest. In awe, he gently tapped her tiny nose, then bent to give her a brief kiss.

Dar beamed at him and said her second real word ever: "Dada."

Obi-Wan considered taking his lightsaber to the chrono alarm and then decided it would take too much energy and he'd have to get out of bed to use his 'saber on the annoying device anyway. He'd arrived home late the previous evening, a day early, thank the Force, and done nothing more than drop his travel pack in the common room and fall into bed to an energetic and enthusiastically warm "welcome home," from Qui-Gon. Which he minded not one bit. It was just that though normally an early riser, he was still timelagged and wanted nothing more than to curl up and go back to sleep for about a week.

"Up, sleepyhead. You've got a debriefing with the Council in an hour."

"You don't have to sound so indecently chirpy, Qui. I thought you hated mornings?" Obi-Wan, nevertheless, sat up and swung his feet onto the floor.

"I find they are not so bad, you know."

Obi-Wan's brain began to switch into "On" mode and his eyes widened just a little when he took in the sight before him. Qui-Gon was already dressed for the day, and Dar was in her baby pack, her bright eyes peaking at him over her father's shoulder. "Dada!" She said quite plainly

"She's talking!"

"Our surprise for your homecoming."

"Dadadadadadada..." Dar sang, quite taken with her own performance. Both men began to laugh.

Qui-Gon looked smug. "She also says 'Ick.'"

"What?"

"She says 'Ick' - if she doesn't like something. You know that mashed planari root is really disgusting. Have you tasted it?"

"Well, no, but...wait a minute - she says "ick"?" Obi-Wan began to grin. "Well, she also looks like you. I'm beginning to wonder if she's inherited anything from me at all."

"I fail to see a connection," Qui-Gon tried to sound lofty, but didn't manage it. For one thing, Obi-Wan looked pretty appealing all sleep-mussed like that, and for another Dar was trying to pull the hair at the back of his head out. "Stop that, sweatheart, Dada likes his hair where it is."

"Ick."

Obi-Wan fell back on the bed laughing.

Later, at breakfast, he found further developments. Qui-Gon fed Dar without being asked, and did it without any hesitation at all. Obi-Wan used the unexpected freedom to actually drink two cups of hot tea in a row and check their schedules for the day. He had a debriefing with the Council, then there was a message from Bant asking him to help teach beginning lightsaber techniques to the senior initiates.

"You've got a Philosphy class of senior Padawans in half an hour," he commented to Qui-Gon, "and I've got the Council, so do you want me to drop Dar at the creche?"

"Oh, no, ah, actually, she's been going to classes with me."

Obi-Wan put the datapad down. Carefully. "Going to classes with you?"

Qui-Gon's cheeks were a bit pink. "She likes them."

"Of course. Most six month olds adore the more complex aspects of Jedi Philosphy. And the senior Padawans?"

Qui-Gon wiped Dar's face clean, and lifted her out of the high chair. "They don't seem to mind. Not that it would matter if they did."

Obi-Wan hid a smile. "Of course not. You are the Jedi Master."

"Exactly. Er, they've actually got extra TK practice in the bargain."

"How so?"

"You know those soft chewy toys you got her? Well, she's learned to throw things so..."

"So the senior Padawans catch them using their Force enhanced TK abilities and levitate them back to her?"

"Precisely. And they do it very well, don't they sweetie?"

Dar beamed at her Dada and then looked over at Obi-Wan, seeming to really register his presence for the first time. A moment's pause and then a large smile lit her face.

Holding out her arms, she pronounced her third, full, real word: "Paabi."

fin