#look. someone had to yell at jango for abandoning his whole ass daughter and I have a perfectly placed AU for just that kind of thing

[tatooines-ghosts]

Look, I Had To Write It After I Made That Other Post Being (Somewhat Facetiously) Mad At Jango For Being A Bad Father

(The other post)

We're going to say this is in the no Jedi Allowed AU, but without it actually BEING in the No Jedi Allowed AU. Does that make sense?

Spoilers for The Bad Batch Episode 9 Below!

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Anakin had picked up rather quickly that she was not, in fact, the first human female the Kaminoan cloners had gotten a chance to study. She was the first mature adult female, the first pregnant one, but not their first female entirely. She'd picked it up in overheard snatches of conversation in the medical ward, in the discussions the doctors and researchers had when comparing Anakin's data to Shila's and then to an unnamed third party - they didn't think Anakin understood Kaminoan, but she had picked up on their language quickly.

Truth be told, Anakin didn't think much about what this unnamed third party might have been. Their data could have come from any number of previous study subjects. She had learned quickly that the scientists liked to collect any data they could, so it made sense that they would want to compare what they learned from her and Shila to whatever they had collected in the past. She didn't think about it much until Shila ran off, again, to explore corners of the cloner facility that she shouldn't be in, again, and encountered another little girl in the company of the cloners.

When Anakin had finally caught up to her little sister, she was surprised to find Shila playing with a girl who couldn't have been more than eight years old. At first, she didn't look like a clone, until she introduced herself and Anakin got a good look at the girl's face. There were differences, but she would be damned if this girl didn't share some DNA with Jango - she'd seen his face in all stages of life around often enough in the last several months. Even with some changes to the bone structure and the blond hair, there was some Fett in her.

"Ani!" Shila called, running over to grab her sister's hand and drag her over. "Come meet my new friend, 'Mega!"

"Hi," the girl waved shyly, though her eyes shone with excitement, "I'm Omega. Who're you?"

"I'm Anakin, and you know my sister, Shila."

"Where did you come from? You're not clones."

"No, we're not. But... you are, aren't you?"

"Yep."

Shila bounced over to the girl again, taking her hand. "'Mega's my new friend! Can we introduce her to buir Jango?"

Anakin opened her mouth to say 'no' because she was almost certain someone would object to this particular clone just disappearing, but there were no Kaminoans around to seek permission from and Omega was quick to ask, "Can I? I don't get to meet many new people! Just Kaminoans."

And Anakin sighed, because there was, unfortunately, no denying a request given no only by her sister's pleading eyes, but Omega's eagerness and almost-desperation to not be separated from new people so quickly. "Sure, it can't hurt. Who's you're caretaker? Send them a message to let them know where you've gone."

Anakin led the way back to their apartment while Shila asked Omega a number of excited questions, and Omega answered as best as she could. Anakin got the sense that the clone was actually more excited to have new people to talk to than Shila was for a new playmate. As they walked, and Anakin listened, she began to harbor new suspicions about Omega's origins, but she wanted to wait until she had more information before saying anything.

When their front door came into view, Shila ran ahead, dragging Omega with her, chattering excitedly about introducing her to buir Jango and vod Boba, and showing Omega her room and her toys. Anakin trailed in after them just in time to step into the main room to find Shila making introductions between Boba and Omega, and to spy Jango standing in the kitchen looking particularly pale and shaken.

Upon spying Anakin's arrival, Jango moved quickly across the room, took her by the arm and pulled her away from the children and into the hallway. "What is she doing here?" he hissed.

Anakin yanked her arm from Jango's grip. "Shila ran into her in the facility. What's it matter? Who is she?"

"Nobody."

"Well that's a fucking lie." Anakin glowered. "Try again. I know she's a clone. I suspect a clone of you, she looks enough like Boba."

"I... she... she's not important. She's nobody."

Anakin narrowed her eyes. "She's your daughter, isn't she?"

"No!" Jango's eyes went wide and belayed his lie. "I... I didn't ask for her!"

Anakin repeated his words in a dangerously low whisper. "Didn't ask for her?!" She grabbed Jango, pulling him farther away from the still oblivious children, pulling him into her room and closing the door behind them to ensure they could not be overheard. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Jango growled, pinching the bridge of his nose before saying deliberately. "Part of my payment from the Kaminoans was an unaltered clone. A child of my own to raise. I told them I wanted a son. They created both and son and daughter in case I changed my mind. Obviously I didn't."

"So you just... left her in the care of the Kaminoans? You just abandoned her!" rage flashed through Anakin, and without thinking she hit Jango hard on the shoulder. "How could you do that?!"

"Why are you getting mad at me about it? I didn't ask for her to be made, she's not my responsibility!"

"Yes she is! Look, I understand why you detach yourself from the other clones, they're soldiers, there are literally millions of them and they were created to be soldiers, but there's nobody else like Omega, is there? She's never going to be a soldier. She's never going to be like any other clone."

"They never should have made her. They could have terminated her, disposed of her!"

"She's a child! She's your child!"

"Why are you so upset about this? She means nothing to you, you just met her!"

"Because where I come from, nobody asks for their children! Do you think my mother wished for me to be conceived? Do you think we wished for Shila? Do you think I wanted to get pregnant? it doesn't matter if you have one child or two, or ten, if you're luck enough to have them and keep them, then you godsdamned better love them or at the very least take care of them!"

"Anakin, it's not the same! Omega was cloned, not conceived."

"And so she's left to face the whims of the Kaminoans and never know what it's like to have a family because she happened to be made the wrong gender, is that it?" Anakin's voice went cold, her eyes steely. "How dare you stand there, having brought me and my baby into your clan, and having vowed to raise Shila like a daughter, when you were going to abandon your own biological clone simply because you didn't ask for her to be made."

"What would you have me do? Adopt her into the clan? Tell her and Boba and Shila where Omega really came from? Explain to the girl that she was unwanted from the moment of her creation?"

"That's your decision to make, alor. But I don't think it reflects well on your familial integrity for you to abandon one daughter in favor of an other. How long until you decide you don't want me around, or Shila, or my baby? You didn't ask for us, either."

Jango opened his mouth to protest, but Anakin didn't give him the chance to speak. She pounded her fist into the door controls. "Get out."

Jango shut his mouth. he fixed Anakin with a long hard look before stepping past her, into the main room - ignoring the calls of Shila to come meet 'Mega - and out the front door.

"Where's he going?" Boba asked, staring at the door that had closed behind his father.

"He's going to think about some things." Anakin said, forcing a bright note to her voice and settling into the couch beside Shila.