Ad’ika // Chapter 2
Protector
Warnings: none
Summary: Din, after learning that he’s going to be a father, attempts to adjust to his new role.
Din Djarin has always been a protector, but ever since he’s learned about your pregnancy, he’s been down right overbearing.
Din is like an extension of yourself, a shadow that hovers, always looming over you. And while you love him dearly, it’s absolutely suffocating. In fact, it’s about the sixth time that morning he’s almost run into you as you walk through the market for supplies. The nearly empty market, because Din woke you up at dawn and just about demanded you go early to avoid the crowd.
You look behind your shoulder, trying to be patient. You are unsure, however, if it’s the pregnancy or the metal man wearing you thin.
“Can you stop that?” You snap. Din places his hands up in front of him, a weak attempt at an apology. You give him a huff and continue down your way, looking for the garment vendor you normally frequent here.
“Ah, hello, Miss!” A pleasant voice calls out to you and you smile. Ellie has always been kind to you, putting away things that she thinks you may like. “And your Mandalorian is here too, I see.” She offers you both a sweet smile.
“Hi, Ellie,” you greet in return, your mood lifting as you wander over to her stall. “How have you been?”
“Oh same as always, honey,” she replies. The older woman glances over you briefly before looking at Din standing closely behind you, his hand at the small of your back. “I have something I think you’d like!” Ellie exclaims as she turns to look for the scarf she saved for you from a previous shipment. She yelps in surprise when she turns back around, a blaster in her face.
“Mando!” You yell, placing your hand on his arm in an attempt to temper him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“How do you know we can trust her?” His voice hard and cold, a voice you haven’t heard since you first met him.
“You’re being ridiculous, Ellie is a friend!” Your grip tightens on Din’s arm. A warning for him to back down. Din lowers his aim but does not holster his blaster.
Ellie looks between the two of you and let’s out a light laugh. “My, my. Your Mandalorian is as protective as ever.” She shakes her head as she brings the brilliant burgundy scarf to the counter, as if she wasn’t just at the receiving end of a Mandalorian’s weapon. The woman is unwavering.
“I’m sorry about that,” you sigh. You admire the fabric in front of you, rich in color and silky to touch. “Oh this is beautiful.” The old woman did always have an eye for quality.
“It’s quite alright,” she says. “I remember when I was carrying my firstborn, too. My husband never left me alone.” She gives the both of you a knowing look.
“How did you know?” You ask in surprise.
“Call it a woman’s intuition, but you’re positively glowing, my dear!” She replies before she lets out a chuckle. “That, and Mando hasn’t let you leave his sight. Even more so than usual.”
Heat rises to your cheeks at her observation. “We are expecting,” you whisper to her, not exactly sure why you dropped your voice but you felt like it was too soon for other people to know.
“You’re going to be a wonderful mother,” Ellie remarks with a smile. “You already are! Where is your little one?” Right on cue, the child pops up from the bag you’ve been carrying him in.
“Hi, baby!” Ellie waves at the child as he babbles and waves his small hand back to her. “Such a sweet thing, and looking bigger than last time!”
“He is growing,” you tell the older lady. “Eating more and more every day too.” You bounce the child up a little higher for Ellie to take a look. She reaches over the counter to place her hand on his head but before she can get to close an armored body puts himself between you.
“That’s enough,” he says as he crowds you and the baby further behind him. Ellie shakes her head and laughs before you can chastise him.
“Oh don’t worry, I understand. Just make sure these get to them okay?” She folds up the scarf she had showed you earlier and placed a stuffed toy on top. “A present for the good news. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to celebrate anything.”
“Ellie...” you start, trying to pull out credits to pay her. She raises her hand to stop you.
“Please, dear, it’s fine. Save it for your growing family.” She hands the items over to Din before giving him a pointed look. “Now I expect you to treat her like the princess she is, okay? One bad word about you and I’ll have to teach you a lesson.” She shakes a pointed finger at him.
“Uh...yeah. Of course, okay.” Din manages to rattle out and you can’t tell if he’s nervous or embarrassed.
“We’ll see you soon and thank you for everything!” You call out to the woman as you tug Din’s hand to pull him away.
You place your arm in his as you walk down the market, looking for any last minute wares you may need before returning to the ship.
“You are in so much trouble when we get back,” you tell him through gritted teeth, sending a saccharine smile here and there to other vendors you have befriended over the past months. Din says nothing back in reply, but you can hear something that sounds an awful like a nervous gulp behind his helmet.
You make it back to the Crest late in the morning and Din seems to drag his feet more and more the closer the ship comes into view. He practically crawls up the ramp as you wait for him in the entrance bay.
“Well?” You ask him with a raised eyebrow, knowing you don’t have to explain your question. Din rubs the back of his neck nervously.
“Well, you see...” he starts, not entirely sure what to say. He’s overprotective by nature and he can’t help himself. Not when it comes to protecting you and the kid. And now that he knows your pregnant with his child it has become even worse. He’d keep you locked up in this ship if he could but he knows you’d probably try to light him on fire if he did.
You sigh, knowing you won’t get a response. Din hasn’t let you out of his sight since you told him the news. Just the other day, you accidentally cut your finger preparing a meal for the child and Din nearly had a meltdown. He forced you to lay down for the rest of the day and anything sharp and possibly dangerous to you was stowed away. You had indulged him then because he was such a mess of nerves. But you know now though that Din will probably send himself to an early grave if he keeps this up.
“Hey,” you say as you take a seat on a turned over crate putting the child next to you. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Your voice now soft, the anger from earlier having disappeared.
Din takes a deep breath, willing himself to share his fears. “I’m...scared,” he says honestly after some time. The look on your face must tell him something because he is quick to add to his words. “Not of being a father, Mesh’la. You have given me something I never thought I could have and I am forever in your debt for it. I’m scared of losing you. Of losing all three of you. I...my parents...” Din starts, trying to form a coherent thought but the lump in his throat only grows bigger; making it more and more difficult to grasp at words.
Realization dawns on your face and you get out of your seat to wrap your arms around him. His parents. While you know he considers his Mandalorian tribe as a family, the way he lost his parents was traumatic, to say the least. You understand now his need to protect.
“Shh,” you soothe and you feel him slump against you as you press him to you. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“You have so many other things to worry about, I didn’t want to add to the list,” he admits. He places his head lightly on top of yours as he heaves a great sigh. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”
“Din, we’re going to be fine. I’m pregnant, not injured or invalid. I’m still just as capable as before,” you argue.
“You deserve to be waited on hand and foot; not living on a ship, jumping from planet to planet. Not having to worry about when our next pay day is or if our lives are in danger. I feel like I’m failing you and our children.”
“Din Djarin, you absolutely are not. You have to trust me when I tell you I’m happy. So happy. I know we’re not exactly leading conventional lives right now but who cares? I’ve got you, the kid, and with another one on the way...isn’t that enough?” Tears prick your eyes and you try to blink them away. Damn hormones.
Din wipes them away quickly. “It’s more than enough, beautiful,” he murmurs softly. Carefully he places a hand on your stomach; still not showing to the world, but you both know. Not to be forgotten, the child walks up to the both of you and attempts to crawl up Din’s leg, a new tactic he’s learned to get your attention. Din laughs as he picks up the child and tucks him in his arm.
“Want to feel ad’ika, too, kid?” Din allows the child to lean forward and he places a small green hand atop his father’s. He coos happily before blinking up at you both in wonder and time seems to stop for a moment.
“What the...” you start. “Did you feel that too?” You ask Din in amazement. He can only nod back to you in response. You look down at the child, his small hand still on Din’s. “Did you do that, little thing?” You ask him and he babbles and smiles in response.
For a moment, when the child connected himself with the both of you, a sense of calm and happiness filled the entire ship. It was so fleeting it was almost missed, but it was definitely there. You place your hand over theirs and smile.
“He’s happy and knows he’s very loved already,” you tell him and Din visibly relaxes as he fully takes in the moment.
“He?” Din questions.
“He.” You affirm. “You already let the kid get away with everything, I can’t even imagine how bad you’ll be with a daughter.” You crack a smile, imagining a small girl with Din wrapped around her tiny finger.
“I do not,” he scoffs but you can tell he’s smiling under his helmet. He pulls you closer again, wrapping his arms around you and the child, still in awe at how lucky he is.
If he had been told when he first became a bounty hunter that this was his future he would have never believed it. He still doesn’t sometimes, when nightmares of the past wake him in such a cold sweat that he almost forgets where he is. It’s on those nights he reaches out for you, to make sure you’re real. But those nights have been coming farther and fewer in between. Another thing to add to the long list of reasons to thank you for.
Your sweet laugh brings him back to the present, and a sense of calm washes over him again.
“Don’t worry, you big softie, your secret is safe with me.”
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