Title: Choose Your Battles
Fandom: Rogue One/The Force Awakens
Rating: G
Length: 1,005 words
Author notes: I took the prompt in the direction of "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
Characters/Ships: Jyn Erso/Cassian Andor, Hope Andor (ofc), a bit of Poe Dameron
Summary: Hope Andor is entirely too much like her parents.


Note: It's my headcanon that the Andor and Dameron families are basically the same age and so became tight-knit friends with the kids growing up together, leading to Hope and Poe being bffs and calling each other's parents "auntie" and "uncle."

It takes Jyn and Cassian only minutes after first hearing the gossip and rumors spreading through the Resistance base to make it back to their quarters, but their daughter is already there, sprawled dramatically across the sofa, a datapad lolling from one hand.

“What happened?” Jyn asks as soon as the door is closed, arms crossed over her chest.

Hope looks up. “Another disciplinary notice,” she sighs, offering the datapad. “I'm grounded for two weeks.”

Cassian takes the datapad wordlessly and scrolls tensely through the readout.

“What is this, the third one?” Jyn asks. “You don't seem to be taking them very seriously. Do you want to lose your spot in the squadron?”

Hope rolls her eyes as she drags herself up to a sitting position. “It's not like I'll actually be down for the whole time. As soon as something happens and they need pilots, they'll call me back. They don't have enough people to be stingy.”

“Hope, you can't think like that,” Jyn admonishes. “Don't press your luck.”

Hope's eyes go to her father, who's finished reading the report. “You guys always told me there was no such thing as luck.”

“Exactly,” he affirms, placing the datapad down on the table. “Which is why you need to be smart and think about what you're doing and how it's going to affect you and the rest of your team. Though, given what it says here...”

Hope jumps on his hesitancy. “Right? I saved Poe's life! And they're disciplining me for it!”

Jyn frowns. “Tell us exactly what happened. I want to hear it from you.” She grits her teeth against the hopefulness on her teenager's face; the girl knows she's so close to getting the tougher parent on her side.

“A group of us were out on a survey flight on the edges of the star system,” Hope begins eagerly. “We were on our way back when a pair of TIEs came in out of nowhere. The commander told us to stay in formation and jump home, but they were fast, and before he could react, they were behind Poe and shot out his engines. While everyone else jumped away, I broke formation and stayed to cover him. I saved his life,” she insists again.

“I doubt that's exactly how your commander sees it,” Jyn sighs, picking up the datapad for herself. A quick scan shows the same basic story, much more strongly worded as well as the words of the disciplinary order. “You know how important it is to follow orders, Hope.”

The girl snorts. “Yeah. Exactly like the two of you always did. Like I haven't heard a thousand times about how you saved the galaxy by going against what the Rebel council ordered.”

Exasperated, Jyn turns to her husband. Say something.

Cassian takes a deep breath before sitting down next to his daughter. He puts a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Hope, sweetheart, you're right. Your mother and I disobeyed orders, and it turned out well. But you're ignoring the rest of the story: we barely made it back from Scarif. We lost a lot of brave men and women there and a good part of the small fleet we had at the time.”

Hope looks away, her jaw set.

“Hope, listen to me.” She looks back, clearly unhappy. “You have to choose your battles, mija. In this case, yes, you made the right choice. You disobeyed orders but still managed to save both Poe and yourself. But what if it had been different?” Jyn can tells he's trying to hold back emotion, but his voice cracks just a little. It's hard not to go to him. “What if we had lost both of you?”

“So you're saying I should have left him behind to die?” Hope spits.

Cassian sighs and stands again, the earnest moment broken.

“You don't know he would have died,” Jyn insists. “Poe is one of our best pilots.”

“And no one ever lets us forget it,” Hope says, rolling her eyes.

“Just, tell me you understand what we're trying to say,” Jyn tries again, hoping her desperation doesn't bleed through.

For a just a moment, the facade of petulant teenager cracks, and Hope looks up at her parents, really looks. “I understand,” she says. “But I'm not going to obey orders I don't believe in. I'm just not.”

Cassian sighs again, but there's a smile edging at his lips. “We wouldn't expect any different.”

The door beeps, announcing a visitor, and Cassian goes to answer it. Hope stands, too, and Jyn gives in to her emotions for just a moment – she pulls her daughter into her arms and whispers, “I'm just glad you're safe.”

After a hesitation, Hope hugs her back. “Yeah. I'm sorry you were worried.”

They part, and Cassian come back into the room, Poe Dameron trailing behind him. Jyn pushes a smile onto her face. “I heard you two had a busy day.”

Poe runs a hand through his dark hair and throws out one of his roguish grins. “Nothing we couldn't handle.”

“Right.” Jyn looks between the two of them, deciding there's really nothing to be done now that it's happened. “I'm glad you're both safe.”

“It's nearly dinnertime,” Cassian announces, breaking the tension. “Would you like to stay, Poe?”

“Sure. Thanks, Uncle Cassian.”

Cassian nods and takes Jyn's arm, leading her toward the kitchen. As they leave the room, Hope's voice drifts after them. She's already ranting at her best friend: “Even they don't understand. This is a Resistance, isn't it?”

Jyn stops in her tracks, and Cassian actually laughs. “That sounds awfully familiar.”

Jyn's teeth worry at her lip for a long moment. Emotions war within her. “I'd be proud if I wasn't so terrified she's going to get herself killed.”

Cassian rubs his wife's arm gently before tugging her once more toward the kitchen. “She's a smart kid, Jyn. We've taught her all we can; we have to trust her to make the right choices for herself now.”