Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.

Setting: AU galaxy where Luke has been raised by an uninjured Darth Vader, (I might do a back story on that later).

Reaching up as far as he could five-year-old Luke Skywalker's fingertips could just brush his father's elbow. "You're not cold," he stated decisively.

Vader turned to look at his boy and saw confusion in the small features. He bent down and picked Luke up, putting him back down on the desk in front of him. "No, I'm not."

"Snakey's cold." Luke continued, dumping his pet on his father's lap.

Vader looked at the snake. Most people would have expected a child's first pet to be a pitten, or some other cute, fluffy creature. When Luke had asked for a pet, however, Vader had told him that he could have a snake or a fish. He was far too busy to vacuum pet hair.

The snake had quickly become Luke's best friend, going everywhere with him. This relationship had been helped along by the fact that the snake liked vegetables. Vader had only found out about this unusual aspect of Luke's pet recently. Shortly afterward it had occurred to him to wonder what was happening to the live feeder mice that he had been giving Luke to feed to the snake if "Snakey" had been eating Luke's vegetables. The answer, he was thrilled to discover, was that they were living in a box under Luke's bed, eating any vegetables the snake didn't eat. Vader had returned all the mice to the pet store, much to Luke's indignation.

Getting bored of waiting for a response Luke pressed his father, "Snakey's cold."

Vader looked up at his son, "I am sorry that your snake is cold."

"Why's Snakey cold?" Luke asked reaching down so the snake could slither back onto his arm.

"Your pet is cold because he is a cold-blooded reptile."

"Then why are you warm?"

"I am a warm-blooded mammal. That means…"

"That you make your own heat. I know that." Luke interrupted.

"If you already know, why are you asking?"

Luke changed the subject, "You know how I came to the prison with you yesterday?"

"I know that you stowed away on my ship and that you talked to a rebel, two things I have told you again and again not to do."

Luke nodded eagerly, "Yeah, then. The guy I talked to, he called you a cold-blooded monster." Luke frowned in confusion, "But you're a warm-blooded human."

And that's exactly why you weren't supposed to come, thought Vader, "The rebels are not the smartest beings in the galaxy."

"But he helped me with my homework and it made more sense. I got all the answers right." Luke smiled proudly.

"He helped you or he gave you the answers?" Vader asked doubtfully.

"He taught me better than my teacher." Luke rolled his eyes.

"Your tutor is the best in the galaxy. I doubt that this rebel of yours was better."

"I don't think he would like you calling him 'my rebel'," Luke said defensively, "And he was. Why did he know all about my math if he couldn't understand who you are?"

"Rebels may be good at math, but they do not understand the way of the galaxy. They think that I am evil." Vader didn't mention that sometimes he couldn't help agreeing.

"You're a hero." Luke announced, "But he was hurt. Something had cut him real bad and there was no one to make it better. Moving hurt him. I could see his bones, it was scary."

"The man you talked to is the monster. He would kill you if he got the chance, just because you're my son."

Luke looked down at the snake that moved slowly between his fingers, "He didn't seem mean. He helped me with my homework. He talked to me like I was a grown-up."

"He was lying. He wanted to seem like he was your friend so that he could hurt you." Involuntarily Vader's mind moved to the Emperor.

"He got close enough to give me this." Luke reached into a pocket and pulled out a filthy, crumpled letter. "He said to give it to his family. He said they would be wondering where he was."

Vader took the letter out of Luke's hand and opened it.

"Hey! That might have been private!" Luke exclaimed.

"I need to check that it doesn't contain information about the Empire." Vader read the letter, nothing important, just sappy things like 'Oh, I miss you so much, blah, blah, blah.' When he looked up there were tears in Luke's eyes.

Oh, no, don't cry! I never know what to do when you cry! Out loud he said, "Luke, if I make sure that this letter gets to his family, will you forget that you ever met him?"

Luke nodded, but he didn't think he could ever forget the man with the sad smile.