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Hux sat across her desk, unsure.
Dr. Bastion eyed him warily. "What is the matter, General?"
"I have some questions."
"About your health?"
"In a roundabout way." When she huffed and went to stand again he added, "about the well-being of the ship."
Fixing him with a stern look, Dr. Bastion said, "This is the one time that we focus on you, General. Not the ship."
"It's only to do with the ship because my well-being affects it." He nearly ended in a question, but hastily, if awkwardly, covered it.
"Fine. What is it, then?"
"Recently, I convinced Commander Ren to allow me to assist in the raising of his new daughter."
"Yes?"
"I perhaps exaggerated my child-rearing capabilities."
Dr. Bastion's face twitched, as though she were trying not to smile. He was fairly certain she didn't even know how. "It has been many years since I've had a child that young in my care," she admitted. "However, I was your doctor as a child."
"I've been trying to forget." Hux mumbled.
"Yes," she shot back dryly. "Every year since, conveniently."
"Just a few questions." His pleading look made her pause. General Armitage Hux did not plead. He negotiated. He attacked. He overtook.
Not with her, of course. She knew too many ways to flatten him.
"You get two. And then we perform your yearly examination."
"Of course," Hux agreed, reluctant. He mulled for a moment, looking more panicked as the million questions he had all rose in equal importance.
"Time is short," she pressed. "We now only have time for one question."
He opened his mouth to protest, but wisely thought better. Instead, he asked, "What do I do?"
"About helping with the baby? Have you changed your mind?"
"No! Of course not. It was my idea, I had to convince him. I'm not sure how to help. What do I do?"
"Whatever needs doing. Cleaning, feeding, providing for her, making certain the proper droids are in place for when you're gone. Eventually, she'll need education, connections, a place to be trained into. You'll be there for all of it."
Hux's eyes grew larger as she went on; he hadn't even thought that far ahead. She would chide him for it, but she could hardly blame him. A newborns' care was so all-encompassing it was hard to imagine it would ever end.
"How?" He breathed.
Bastion stood, snapping her uniform straight. "You'll figure it out, as you need. Like all parents do."
"But I'm not," Hux began.
"You agreed to raise a child with him. Congratulations, you're a parent. Now, as we agreed, it's time for your physical. Come General."
After he left, Bastion took a moment to remember the last time Commander Ren had been in her examination room.
The new father had come to her, desperate, sleep deprived, doubting his ability to properly care for the squalling bundle he presented with. It had taken something more than sharp commands and curt dismissals to calm them both. She honestly hoped this child's upbringing would be vastly different from his own and those around him.
The look on Kylo Ren's face, as the tiny hand had grasped his finger and the baby smiled at him for the first time, gave her high hopes.
Bastion shook herself. Too many patients to see; she had no time for sentimental nonsense.
But if her step was a little lighter, or she gave quarter where there generally was none, there was no one who would dare call her on it.
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