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Romance was something that had always been a mystery to Cal. Contrary to popular belief about the Jedi, he was well aware of what love is. So when he began to have feelings for Merrin, he knew that it meant he loved her. But what he didn’t really understand was how to be romantic with somebody. He knew he was in love but he wasn’t sure how to make her feel loved. Although, he figured he was probably doing something right as Merrin kept moaning his name underneath him as he made love to her.
The way she ran her fingers through his hair and cradled his face, letting his name leave her lips in a gentle sigh as he thrust into her, it made him lose himself in his love for her the same way he lost himself in the Force when he would meditate. In a way, this was a form of meditation for him. Forgetting about the world around them and only focusing on the task at hand. Making Merrin feel good by giving her all of his love.
A love that Merrin was thoroughly enjoying feeling as her back arches as he brings his mouth to her neck and leaves a hickey there. She gripped the bed sheets in her hand and spread her legs wider, enjoying the extra space that Cal’s new bed allowed them. She was so happy he had sold those old bunk beds that used to be in his room in Pyloon’s Saloon and used the money to buy an actual bed. And not just because the extra room made sex more enjoyable but because now there was room for the two of them to sleep comfortably together, even on the nights when Kata would join them. Which had been nearly every night since she had joined their crew.
And she couldn’t blame the poor girl. The death of a parent was always a traumatic thing. Having both lost parental figures, Merrin and Cal could easily relate. Which is why they were glad that Kata didn’t have to process this grief alone like they did. And despite the two of them spending a lot of time with her, the poor girl did seem quite lonely. There weren’t many children around on Koboh her age for her to play with. An issue that Cal and Merrin were hoping to remedy with their coupling tonight.
Sure Kata would still be quite a bit older than whatever child they conceive either tonight or in the coming months. But, it’s at least something. And something is always better than nothing. Another factor as to why they decided to expand their family now. The Empire was still a threat as it had been for years. But despite that, they had managed to find a little pocket of happiness here on Koboh and Tanaalor. And if they let the Empire scare them away from pursuing happiness in their lives, then it didn’t matter how many stormtroopers they killed or star destroyers they took down. By making them put their lives on hold to exhaust themselves in an endless battle, then they’d win every time.
So they decided to pursue the future they wanted to have together now, in spite of that, in order to recharge their hope and by extension their energy and drive to continue to fight the Empire every day. And it allowed them to multitask in a way because allowing themselves these moments of happiness was both fighting the empire in a psychological sense, and it allowed them to have some much needed alone time together, as most couples craved.
And oh did Merrin crave it. And she craved it even more with every kiss that Cal placed on her neck, and along her collarbone, and between her breasts. Even though he had pulled out of her and that was slightly annoying, Merrin couldn’t help but smile and watch as he held her hips and kissed down her stomach. The sensation of his stubble against her smooth skin, making her sigh as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back to rest further into the pillow more than made up for the loss of his cock inside of her. And she smiled again as she felt his path continue downward, the destination obvious as his head disappeared under the blankets, yet still making her gasp and her back arch in shock and pleasure as he kissed her lower lips.
She moaned and gripped the pillow in her right hand and grabbed the back of his head with her left hand. Panting in pleasure and staring at the ceiling, her vision blurry with lust as his mouth worked its magic against her cunt. But as much as she loved this, it was unfortunately counterproductive to the task at hand. So she lifted up the blanket and he looked up at her curiously from between her legs, briefly pausing his work to focus on her question.
“What do you think you’re doing down there?” Merrin asks him.
“Making Kata a sibling.” Cal says against her lower lips before kissing them again, making Merrin moan and arch her back as he begins to lick her clit.
“That is not how you make a baby Cal Kestis!” Merrin playfully teases him and kicks his shoulder.
Cal quickly climbs back on top of her and wraps his arms around her back, holding her against him while he resumes the proper position for the goal they were trying to achieve.
“I know.” He tells her. “But I want to make sure you feel good during the process.” He says before kissing her again and getting back to actually making the baby.
Merrin moans into his mouth as he resumes his thrusts again. Digging her nails into the back of his shoulders as she claws at them from the quick pace of his thrusts. But it was just what she needed. And soon both of them came together. Smiling and softly making out as they came down from their highs.
Cal rolled off of her and onto his side as she turned on her side to face him. Cupping his cheek in her hand and he gently kissed her palm before leaning in and kissing her. Cradling her cheek just as softly, if not more than she had held his before resting his forehead against hers, and gently rubbing his thumb against her cheekbone as they both calm their beating hearts and enjoy this beautiful moment of love together.
Cal and Merrin stepped out of the quiet of his room and were immediately overwhelmed by the smells and sounds of Pyloon’s Saloon. The sounds had improved with the upgrade of the DJ droid. And the smells… could still use a little bit of work but were also an improvement.
But neither of them cared. To them it was home. Just as they were at home in each other’s arms. Cal placed his hands on her waist and pulled Merrin closer to him and kissed her again. Both of them deciding to linger in their love a little longer as Merrin wrapped her arms around his shoulders again as she accepted his kiss.
Then they heard the soft sigh of a droid in front of them. Cal smiled and looked down, already knowing who it was.
Sitting down by their feet facing away from the door was Cal’s little droid, his legs sticking out in front of him as he flexes his s-comp links in boredom.
“Hey little buddy?” Cal asks and kneels down next to BD-1. “What’s wrong?”
“BD hates it when you kick him out of your room!” Kata exclaims.
Cal and Merrin look up to see Kata standing in the doorway from the main bar area.
BD beeps sadly in agreement with her.
“Does he?” Cal asks and looks at BD.
“Yes! Look at how sad he is!” Kata says and holds up BD-1 to Cal and Merrin.
BD-1 makes the cutest sad eyes he can with his big lenses and Cal just shakes his head and takes the droid from Kata, holding him up to his face and whispering in a stern tone…
“You know damn well why you weren’t allowed in the room BD.”
“You nasty!” BD-1 chirps at him in binary.
Cal shakes his head and lets BD-1 climb on his back.
“Very.” Merrin agrees with the droid and gives Cal a kiss on his cheek before going out to the bar.
Kata giggled as she watched her parents act all lovey dovey before Merrin went away. Cal was going to follow her but then Kata grabbed his hand and whispered “Psst!” loud enough for him to hear.
Cal turned and knelt down to her level while BD-1 hopped off of his shoulder and went over to Merrin who was standing by the bar near the doorway.
“What’s up Kata?” Cal asks.
“When are you going to take Merrin out on a date?” Kata asks.
Cal laughs and messes up Kata’s hair a bit.
“Merrin and I go on plenty of dates.” Cal tells her.
“Beating up stormtroopers doesn’t count!” Kata argues and stomps her foot.
“They count to her.” Cal says, pointing his thumb to Merrin and Kata crosses her arms and pouts.
“You know what I mean!” Kata argues. “An actual date! Not a mission date! A date that my mom and dad used to go on or the couples in holo movies! You and Merrin are in love so you have to take her on one of those dates!”
Cal laughs again and gives Kata a hug, finding her insistence that he take his girlfriend out on a proper date adorable.
“Oh Kata, that's so sweet! But I don’t think Merrin is a ‘date’ kind of girl.” Cal tells her.
Unfortunately for him, Merrin was within earshot, and whips around to immediately dispute that claim.
“And what makes you think that Cal?” Merrin asks him in an angry tone that makes his cheeks flush. “Because I am not a normal girl you think that I wouldn’t want to put on a pretty dress and make up and be wined and dined by a handsome man such as yourself?”
“You think I’m handsome?” Cal asks, his face lighting up at her unintended compliment.
The way her nostrils flared in frustration at how he completely ignored the rest of what she had to say quickly killed that joy though.
“Right! Sorry! Sorry! Not the point!” Cal immediately apologizes before he gets set on fire by her magick. “I just… never thought you wanted that.”
“Well did you ever ask?” Merrin asks.
“Uh…” Cal says and scratches the back of his neck.
“Idiot.” Kata mumbles under her breath and rolls her eyes, making Merrin giggle.
“Well, no.” Cal sighs with a shrug. “I’m sorry for assuming that. But even if I did know, it’s not like I can take you out anywhere where you could get all dressed up like that anyway. Because to put it frankly, neither of us can afford it-”
“Says who.” Merrin says with a shrug.
“Wait? You can? ” Cal asks, shocked at Merrin casually revealing that she’s sitting on way more credits than he thought she had and letting the anxiety of why she wouldn’t tell him that wash over him.
Then Merrin summoned some green flames in her hand while her eyes began to flicker the same green color and Cal let out a sigh of relief as he understood.
“I believe this should cover the cost should it not?” Merrin jokes and smirks.
Cal let out a short laugh and shook his head as Merrin extinguished the flames with a flick of her wrist and her eyes went back to brown.
“Oh it definitely would. But then that leads into the second reason as to why I can’t take you anywhere nice which is that all the fancy places in the galaxy are run by the Empire and we, although more specifically me , have wanted posters all over the place so the second we start threatening people at these places we’d get recognized and instead of enjoying a nice free meal together we’d be fighting for our lives!” Cal explains to her.
“Well at least we’d still look hot doing it.” Merrin says softly with a shrug.
Cal tilts his head and arches an eyebrow at her.
“I’m just saying!” Merrin exclaims with her hands up in defense. “Don’t worry, I understand the reality of the situation. But a girl can still dream, can she not?”
“Yeah.” Cal says and holds her hand. “She can. Always.” He assures her and gently rubs his thumb on the back of her hand.
Merrin smiles and leans in to kiss him until she’s interrupted by Kata jumping up onto the counter in-between them.
“And there’s got to be a way for her dream to come true!” Kata demands.
“Hey! Kid, get off the counter! Monk just wiped it!” Greez exclaims and tries to shoo Kata down off of the counter but she just kicks his many hands away while continuing to plead her case to Cal and Merrin.
“Cal! How can you say you love her when you don’t even try to do something to make her dream come true!” Kata accuses Cal.
“Whoa hey! That’s taking it a bit far there Kata!” Cal argues with the little girl and picks her up off of the counter to appease Greez and holds her in his arms. “It’s not like I don’t want to make Merrin’s dream a reality but the reality is it’s just too risky to happen right now with the Empire out to get us!”
“Well so is having a kid but you two are doing that despite the Empire so why not this too!” Kata exclaims.
Merrin and Cal gasp and look at each other then back at Kata.
“W-who told you we were trying to have another kid?” Cal softly asks Kata as he sets her down to stand on the floor and kneels down to be at her level.
“Nobody did.” Kata says. “It was just obvious. I mean why else would you two want to be alone in your room whenever you get the chance?”
Cal and Merrin’s eyes widen as they look at each other, their faces draining of color as they worry that Kata may know more than she should about where babies come from at her age.
“Naaasssttyyyyy!” BD-1 screams in binary as he runs across the counter past them as Greez now tries to shoo him off of the counter.
“You’re obviously waiting for the space stork to come by and bring you a baby!” Kata exclaims and Cal and Merrin simultaneously let out a huge sigh of relief. “Which is going to take a long time because space is huge! So honestly getting into a fancy restaurant despite the Empire seems like a way easier task than sitting in your room bored together waiting for a baby!”
“Well, it’s definitely not boring!” Cal laughs and looks up at Merrin who was looking at him with a stoic expression that made his heart drop to his stomach. “It’s not boring right?”
“Cal Kestis, given who I am as a person do you really think I wouldn’t tell you if I was ever bored in our bedroom?” Merrin reminds him with her arms crossed.
“Fair point.” Cal agrees before turning back to Kata. “And this may shock you Kata, but that space stork has a higher chance of showing up than a nice restaurant I could take Merrin out on a date to does.”
“Wow. Really?” Kata asks, her shoulders drooping in disappointment.
“I’m afraid so.” Merrin says and kneels down beside her, placing her hand on her shoulder.
“Are you kidding me?!” Greez exclaims, coming over to the disappointed trio with a look of disbelief on his face. “I can’t believe you guys would say this when there’s a great establishment not too far from here that’s perfect for a romantic evening for a young couple!” Greez exclaims.
“Really?!” All three of them exclaim, their spirits rising with hope.
“Where?!” Kata asks excitedly, jumping up and down.
Greez looks taken aback before clearing his throat.
“Uh…here!” He says and gestures to the saloon and as quickly as their hopes rose. They fell. To the sound of Koboh crickets and a fritzy jukebox playing music.
“Uh…Greez… Merrin said she specifically wanted Cal to take her to a nice restaurant.” Kata sassily reminds him, much to the amusement of Cal and Merrin who both snorted with laughter at Kata’s insult.
“Hey this place is nice!” Greez argues back.
The rest of them all look around with a grimace on their faces and Greez sighs.
“Nicer than it was before anyway…” Greez says and shakes his head. “Could definitely still use some improvement though. But at least the rooftop garden looks great!”
Kata gasps and everyone turns to her.
“That’s it!” She exclaims happily. “You and Merrin can have a fancy date in the garden!”
Cal and Merrin turn to each other, gauging their reactions to this idea. Merrin gave him a small smile and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear.
“Well, I’m up for it if you are?” Cal asks and takes a step closer to her, swearing he could see a slight tinge of green on her cheeks.
“Yes!” Merrin says excitedly “I would like that!”
“Great!” Kata shouts from in between them. Grabbing Merrin’s hand, she starts to lead her upstairs.
“Where are you two going?” Cal asks.
“To get ready!” Kata shouts back.
“Wait, we're doing this tonight?!” Cal exclaims.
“Yes!” Kata shouts back and Merrin shrugs at Cal before letting Kata take her upstairs.
BD-1 beeps and trills in excitement and starts leading Cal back into his room to get ready. But before they go in they hear Merrin shout something from the top of the stairs.
“Cal Kestis! If you wear a poncho on our date I’ll kill you!”
Cal froze in place and looked at BD-1 then back at the top of the stairs.
“Would you really-“
“Wanna bet?” Merrin cut him off.
“Nope! Got it, no poncho!” Cal shouts back at her.
“Well… I’m gonna need a new outfit idea then.” Cal says and scratches the back of his neck. “Got any ideas buddy?”
BD trills yes and they go into his room.
Cal came outside wearing his favorite outfit. His blue vest and white shirt underneath it with his brown pants and boots. Sure it may not have been the “fanciest” outfit but it was the nicest thing he had and he did also clean it and freshen himself up too so he hoped he looked presentable enough for Merrin as he came out on the roof. He wasn’t expecting Merrin to look so beautiful though.
She had not only freshened up herself but was wearing makeup and a gorgeous satin red dress with a matching red shawl.
Cal’s jaw was hanging on the floor. He had seen her with makeup before. False eyelashes, smokey eye, blush and lip gloss were nothing new to him. He’d seen her play around with those looks before but those looks combined with that dress! He didn’t even know she owned that!
“W-where did you- H-how did-“ Cal stammers and Merrin giggles.
“I came across it on a mission and decided an imp wouldn’t mind if it went missing.” Merrin says.
“So you stole it?” Cal asks.
“It looks better on me anyway.” Merrin shrugs.
“It definitely does!” Cal says, still staring at Merrin in awe. “If I knew you had something like this I would’ve taken you out to nice places sooner!”
“Well now you know, so do it!” Merrin insists.
“I’m doing it right now!” Cal laughs and places his hands on her hips and Merrin smiles as he pulls her in close.
“I helped with her makeup!” Kata asks Cal from behind a fire pineapple plant. “Isn’t she pretty?!”
“She’s beautiful.” Cal says and tucks her hair behind her ear.
“And you’re looking very handsome yourself.” Merrin compliments and runs her thumb along his freshly shaven cheek.
“You know what else is looking good up here?” Greez asks and gestures to the garden table and chairs he had set up for them.
He lifted up the silver dish covers that were hiding their meals.
“Ta da!” He cheers.
“Scazz steaks?” Merrin asks Greez.
“Gourmet scazz steaks!” Greez tells her.
“Oh how lovely!” Merrin says and cuts a piece to try it.
“Did you go easy on the salt this time Greez?” Cal teases.
Greez hits Cal in the leg.
“Just focus on your date!” Greez insists.
“It tastes great Greez!” Merrin compliments.
“Psst!” Kata hisses at Cal to get his attention without Merrin noticing.
Thankfully she was too enraptured in her steak to notice.
“What?” Cal whispers.
“Her chair!” Kata whisper shouts and points to her chair and does a motion like she’s pulling it out.
Cal immediately runs over and pulls Merrin’s chair out for her and she smiles and takes a seat. But before he leaves her side, he hears music fill the garden. He turns and sees BD-1 turn on a romantic song. And then Cal just can’t help himself. He holds his hand out to Merrin and smiles.
“May I have this dance?” Cal asks.
Merrin blushed and took his hand.
“You may.” She says and stands up.
She places her hand on his shoulder and he places his on her waist as they begin to sway to the music.
“Oh but the food’s going to get cold-ow!” Greez complains until Kata stomps on his foot to stop his complaining.
Merrin brings her hands up to run her fingers through his hair. Just like she had done the night before. And he looks at her with just as much love in her eyes as he had when she was laying under him. And just as he had done the night before, he pulls her in close with his hands on her waist, and leans in to kiss her.
“So romantic!” Kata says dreamily, holding her hands together against her cheek as she watches her adoptive parents rest their foreheads together and sway to the music.
Then she heard sniffling and whimpering next to her and turned to find Greez rubbing his eyes.
“Greez, are you crying?” Kata asks.
“What? No! There’s just a lot of pollen up here and it’s aggravating my eyes, that's all!” Greez insists.
Kata smiles and hugs the Latero from his side.
“It’s okay Greez. Seeing them happy makes me cry too.” Kata tells him and rests her head on his shoulder as they watch the happy couple dance together.
Merrin smiled as Cal held her hand and let her twirl before pulling her back into him.
“I think we should try to have these dates more often.” Cal suggests.
“I’d like that.” Merrin agrees and rests her forehead against his. “I’d like that a lot.”
Then they kiss and resign themselves to linger in this moment of love for as long as they can.