It was one of those foggy days, but not the ones where you do nothing and the day passes by in an instant, no. This was the kind where Din knew he did something, and something important at that, but wasn’t exactly sure what he did or why, and at this point there was nothing going through his mind but the need to sleep. He was tired. 

But he’d been lying for almost an hour now and couldn’t seem to drift off into a dream. He didn’t want to check the time, but he knew it was well past midnight. He had gotten back from his mysterious mission pretty late too. Everything ached - his head, his arms, his legs; it seemed the entire galaxy weighed down on him, and yet he couldn’t sleep. Din tried to recount what had happened that day; maybe tiring his brain would prove useful to his efforts. He closed his eyes… 

But he couldn’t remember anything. It was as if everything that had happened was so minimal, or just as maximal, his mind drifted to more pressing issues, like where his next stop would be. He was on Scarif right now, he knew that. It was mainly abandoned after the Empire fell, a landmark of their destruction all those years ago, which is why he brought the Child here. He knew he would be safe; no one would find him here on an empty planet on the Outer Rim. Yet he vaguely remembered running into a settlement, and they asked for something he couldn’t remember. What he did remember was that whatever happened, it took ages and didn’t make him happy, which is why he opted to remain settled on the Crest despite being offered lodging. He felt at home here on his old, battered ship. Which is where he was now, somewhere in a remote part of the forest where he wouldn’t be noticed for quite some time. 

Trying to think wasn’t very helpful, and it made him more awake than he felt before. He sat up as much as could in his cramped quarters with a remorseful sigh, avoiding bumping into the baby’s hammock. But the baby wasn’t asleep either, and the hammock rocked gently back and forth as the baby shifted. Din raised his head just enough to see if the Child was ok, and to his surprise the kid sat straight up, almost as if he was waiting to be given attention. 

Little womp rat, Din thought to himself, smiling wearily. The Child had his ways of softening the Mandalorian’s heart, even when he was incredibly tired. 

“Guess you can’t sleep either, huh?”

A small coo in response. That’s a first, Din jokingly thought. Usually, the Child fell asleep quite quickly, but even he was having trouble tonight. 

“Alright then”, Din winced a little as he raised his arms to get the Child down from the hammock, “I guess we’ll have to figure out a way for both of us to sleep.”

He sat for a few minutes in silence, thinking, as the baby quietly prattled to himself and played with a loose thread on a part of Din’s armorless sleeve. Maybe if he spoke to the kid, it would help? But what would he talk about? He pondered on the idea of talking about what they would do tomorrow, before realizing there wasn’t anything they had to do tomorrow. Then it dawned on him. 

Perfect. 

“Well,” Din began as he gently set the Child down before lying down next to him, “We could talk about all the things we’re gonna do tomorrow.”

The Child cuddled in close to the Mandalorian and let out a curious sigh, not sure if this would exactly be uplifting. After all, the Mandalorian had spent the entire day taking down an army of merciless invaders on his own, and the Child didn’t think he’d ever seen his father so drained.  But he held out hope - maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. 

“For starters, we’re going to explore this forest. We’ll go on a little walk to see how many different plants and creatures we can find,” Din relayed, hoping for some sign of joy from the little kid, and to his delight the Child giggled softly. He took that as a sign to continue. 

“There aren’t a lot of people here, so I’m sure we’ll find a lot of different creatures. Uh, I think I saw some pretty interesting plants too, so we can check those out if you want. And maybe I’ll let you bring back a small treasure you find, like a small rock or something. You know… for you to remember this place. It better not be another pet though, I’ve had enough trouble with those,” Din laughed. The Child wasn’t as amused, but Din kept talking. 

“And if the climate isn’t bad, we’ll eat outside in the warm sun and you can play for a while too. We’ll have a quiet picnic and not let anything bother us.”

Din felt himself light up as he thought about and talked about the next day, how he’d finally have a little bit of time to himself. He’d always been told in the past to take a break, but always by people who had different intentions of what a “break” was. For Din, just getting to spend some time with the Child was all the vacation he needed; he felt the happiest in those times. He looked over at the small being, only now realizing the small hand wrapped around his index finger. He smiled warmly as the Child looked up at him with his big and now, very tired eyes. Din felt his own eyelids getting heavy. 

“You… can be a child for a while,” he whispered fondly as both he and baby drifted off into a calm and peaceful sleep.