Epilogue

1 year after the burial of Padme Naberrie Skywalker's bones in the garden at Varykino

In a shuttle approaching the safe house/prison on the Varykino estate

Anakin Skywalker sat back and closed his eyes. On the one hand, it had been a long journey and he was thoroughly tired of being manacled to the chair in the prison cell in the shuttle. The shock collar around his neck chafed, irritating his tender and scarred skin.

On the other hand, the chair was at least comfortable. It was padded and tall enough to support his lengthy frame. A flick of the Force would recline it back substantially, allowing him to sleep relatively easily. Every three hours, his jailer came in and released him, allowing him to walk around, eat, drink, and use the refresher. His oxygen tank was carefully monitored and his medical needs tended to promptly. Certainly, he had treated his own prisoners for more cruelly when he was Darth Vader.

Nevertheless, he was very happy to be almost 'home', which is to say his prison at the Varykino estate on Naboo. His wife's family had graciously allowed the New Republic to fortify and augment the facility where he lived, and he was now a comfortable prisoner there most of the time.

He felt the shuttle shake just slightly as it went through its landing sequence. He suppressed a groan of irritation. In his life as Darth Vader, he had been accustomed to being transported in ships piloted by others, as flying his own shuttle was considered beneath his dignity. But back then, he could choose his own pilots, and strangle them if their flying was beneath his standards. He didn't miss the strangling (really, he didn't!) but he did miss picking his own pilots. Sometimes these shuttle pilots seemed picked more for their availability than their skill.

There was a rather hard thump, and he knew the shuttle had landed. He stretched out his Force sense, pleased to be in familiar environs again.

Anakin stiffened. Luke was here. And Leia! And her Corellian husband. And their twins! Family reunion!

His pale and scarred face wore a big smile as the door to his cell opened. Ahsoka Tano stepped in with the code cylinder in her hand, and smiled in response.

"I sense your family is here, Skyguy," she said, reaching over and unlocking the manacles and taking off the shock collar.

Two guards were standing at the door, blasters drawn, but by this point his guards were obeying protocol, not acting out of fear. Anakin had been careful to be the model prisoner in all situations, to ensure that his children would not be caught in a political crossfire over his continued existence.

Anakin stood up slowly and walked out into the main shuttle cabin, then down the ramp. At the bottom stood Luke, smiling happily. The two men exchanged a manly hug, and then Luke turned to Ahsoka and took the code cylinder from her, scrawled a quick signature on a datapad she handed to him, and smiled.

"Ok, Ahsoka," he said, "I'm officially on guard duty now. Have a good vacation."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, "Good vacation, right. I will probably get pulled into some thoroughly tedious meetings about the Jedi Temple or the New Jedi Order or be asked to type out reports in for some missions five years ago that I can't remember anyway…"

"You should go somewhere fun, Ahsoka," said a new voice, "Not Coruscant."

Anakin looked up at Han Solo, whom he had sensed approaching.

They exchanged courteous nods. Their relationship was strained but polite. That was more than could be expected, and Anakin was grateful. He had, after all, tortured the man, frozen him in carbonite, and shipped him off to be killed by a vile Hutt Lord.

Ahsoka arched an eyebrow, "Got any good ideas, Solo?"

Luke tilted his head toward the house, and said softly "They could be at it for a while. Shall we go in the house?"

"Good-bye, Snips," Anakin said with a smile, and got a grin in return from his former padawan, even as she and Solo plunged into an animated discussion of possible vacation delights.

"Are you more of an urban girl? Or would you prefer some crazy adventure climbing up precipitous mountains or swimming through cold underground streams?" they heard Solo say.

Luke chuckled, then gestured for his father to proceed him into the house. Outside his official prison home, there were certain rules that Luke and Ahsoka and the other Force sensitive jailers always followed. Keep the prisoner in sight at all times. Never turn your back on him. What had the potential to be humiliating and painful had turned into rather a game. Again, Anakin was grateful to his son, who had made his indefinite imprisonment so much better than he had any right to expect.

And now it appeared that he would be spending substantial time with Luke, as he was taking over "jailer" duties.

The vast majority of the galaxy still believed that Darth Vader had died while fighting and killing the Emperor. However, a select cadre at the highest level of the Alliance knew of his survival. Anakin didn't know the details of the discussions among the New Republic leadership, but knew that execution had been a very real possibility. However, in the end, the decision was made to imprison him, with the understanding that he might still be publicly tried for war crimes. Anakin, in turn, had given all possible assistance to the New Republic.

The last two weeks, Anakin had been held on Coruscant so that various leaders could conduct intensive meetings with him concerning the Imperial warlords who were fighting for control over the remains of the Imperial Fleet. There was particular concern about a brilliant strategist who had emerged from the Outer Regions, a Chiss named Thrawn.

The galaxy was still in turmoil, though much had improved. The decades of human domination with Palpatine as Emperor were gradually subsiding. The new Senate was well represented by all races. There had even been inroads into Hutt Space, where the Hutts had enslaved so many for so long.

Perhaps his children would see the slaves of Tatooine freed.

Anakin stepped into the safe house. The building had been expanded over the last year, along with the enclosed area around the house. It was now an enclave not just for him, but for the occasional New Republic emissary or official who needed private discussion with the former Darth Vader. In addition, there was ample space for Anakin's guards and Force trained jailer. There were bedrooms, two pleasant kitchens, a dining room, refreshers, and two meeting rooms.

He turned right into the main living area of "his" section of the house. He stopped a meter in, and gazed in wonder at his grandchildren. His granddaughter Brehana (named after Leia's adoptive mother) and his grandson Ruwee (named after Padme's father, who had passed on in the last year) were sitting on the floor gazing at each other with rapt attention. He shook his head in amazement. He could already feel the intense Force bond between the six month old twins.

Anakin felt a familiar ache, knowing that his own twins' bond had been stretched and damaged by 19 years apart. But they were the best of friends now.

His daughter Leia was sitting on a couch, feet on a stool, brow furrowed as she hastily read a datapad, even while she absently wiggled a baby rattle with the Force. The twins took turns looking at one another and then at the rattle. At the moment, they were quiet and happy, but Anakin knew from very limited experience that they could go from calm to ballistic in 20 seconds flat. He was truthfully in awe of his daughter, who had managed a difficult pregnancy and a 4 week preterm birth while also helping build the New Republic from the ashes of the Old. Of late, of course, she had been primarily busy with her twins who were, according to Luke, usually sleeping through the night now.

Leia apparently finished the document because she looked up now and her face broke into a welcoming smile.

"Hello Luke, Father," she said, and stood up to give her father a careful hug, and her twin an enthusiastic one.

Of all the miracles in the last year, his current relationship with Leia was the greatest. There was still strain, still pain, but Leia had chosen to forgive him. And despite his self-loathing at his crimes against his daughter, Anakin had forced himself to accept her forgiveness. The greatest bridge between them was Padme Naberrie Skywalker. Leia had a passionate, aching need to know more about her mother. Anakin was all too ready to spend as many hours as his daughter wanted talking about Padme, describing not just her political acumen and legislative brilliance, but her personality, her likes and dislikes, the good times of their marriage. By tacit agreement, they had only discussed the terrible encounter on Mustafar once. The rest of the time, they kept the conversation on more pleasant topics.

"Luke," Leia said rather urgently, "I've got a report I absolutely must finish and the twins have been crazy. Can you and Father watch them for a few minutes? Han has to make a quick trip to the nearby village…"

"Of course, Leia. If they go completely nuts, I'm sure you'll sense them. Are they liable to get hungry?"

Leia eyed her offspring somewhat dubiously, "No, they've been fed, changed, and had a nap recently. They should be calm as a pair of fat shaaks. But you never know with these two."

She knelt down on the floor and gave each baby a kiss. They wriggled and giggled as she said, "You two be good for your uncle and grandfather, Ok?"

"We'll be fine, Leia," Luke said, and waved her off.

She smiled her thanks, and left the room.

Anakin sat down on his favorite chair while Luke flopped onto the floor next to the twins. The little ones weren't crawling yet, but they showed so much excitement at having their uncle nearby that he used the Force to gently lift them close.

The ensuing conversation therefore took place in the midst of babies tugging Luke's hair and yanking on his clothing.

It was a testimony to how much Anakin had mellowed that he enjoyed that aspect of their interaction instead of finding it at all annoying.

"So what are you permitted to tell me about the galaxy, Luke?" Anakin asked, a little wryly, after they had spent some minutes enjoying time with babies.

Luke and Leia weren't allowed to share state secrets with their war criminal father.

Luke smiled and then looked thoughtful, "I actually have something rather momentous to tell you, Father."

Anakin sat up and focused in on his son. Now that he was paying more attention, he could sense the underlying vibration of excitement and…a little trepidation, in his son.

"I'm listening," Anakin said with a reassuring nod.

"I… met a girl," Luke said, and actually blushed a little.

Anakin stiffened in surprise. Luke was handsome, well connected politically, and the foremost Jedi Knight in the galaxy. One of the definitive conclusions drawn by the current Force users in the New Republic was that the "no attachment" rule of the Old Order had been unhealthy. There was therefore no barrier to Luke forming a romantic relationship and even getting married someday.

In fact, Anakin knew from Leia that many a rich, beautiful young woman had thrown herself at his son. But so far, he had been totally impervious to such feminine charms. In fact, Leia had bemoaned that fact more than once to her father.

Given Luke's embarrassed reaction, his father knew it behooved him to tread carefully.

"That's … nice, Luke. Tell me about her," he said invitingly.

Luke paused, took off his lightsaber and tossed it to his father, "Can you hold onto this? I don't want one of the twins getting to it."

Anakin grinned. What would the New Republic officials think of that? They would have a collective heart attack. But inside the "safe house", the normal security rules didn't apply. He set it on the couch beside him, away from possible questing baby fingers.

Absently, Anakin floated a water bottle from the corner of the room into his hand and opened the cap. One of the challenges of his damaged body was that he grew dehydrated quickly. He drank a slug of water.

Luke continued a little shyly, "Well…she's a Force sensitive, a pretty strong one. She's got a wicked sense of humor. She's a good pilot. She's intelligent. A hard worker. A decent mechanic. She doesn't…she doesn't kowtow to me. I have so many people who just get weird around me, Father. Some venerate me, some hate me, but most people have a hard time treating me like a person. I don't want to be treated as a god or a demon or some kind of surreal, mystical creature who is going to go all Master Yoda on them at the blink of an eye. I know my life will never be entirely normal, but if I ever get married, I want it to be an equal marriage."

Anakin looked startled, "Are you already talking about marriage?"

Luke shook his head, "Oh no, but my point is that I am not willing to even consider a romantic relationship if marriage is out of the question. I don't want to just have a 'fun' dating relationship with someone. I see what Leia and Han have. I'm not sure I'll ever be blessed the way they are, but I'm not going to waste my time with some rich, pretty girl who is focused on dating me as a social trophy."

Anakin nodded, impressed. In his own day as a Jedi, romance and marriage had been forbidden. His relationship with Padme had developed in secret, with much uneasiness and guilt and worry. Luke was walking a new path, and obviously had given considerable thought to the question of healthy romance.

"Is she attractive?" Anakin asked idly.

"Oh yes, she is gorgeous. I mean, looks aren't everything. I know that. But wow, she is just amazing looking. Beautiful red hair, green eyes, tall, athletic. I guess you could say I thoroughly appreciate the way she looks."

Anakin smiled at this. He remembered, fondly, his first sight of Padme. He had been only 9 years old and thought she was an angel.

"So," he said as he took another drink, "What is the young woman's name?"

Luke hesitated briefly, and said, "Mara Jade."

Anakin choked so suddenly that the water in his mouth arced out and sprayed against his startled grandchildren. They both looked at him with wide eyes, then smiled in joyous amazement.

Luke looked worried as his father's coughing fit continued. He started to get up, but Anakin waved him off.

"Mara Jade?" Anakin whispered in outrage, when he could get the words out. In the old days, he would have boomed those words, but his vocal cords wouldn't allow it, "Mara Jade?"

Luke looked rather alarmed, "Father, don't strain yourself…"

Anakin stood up and began pacing with rather Vader-like strides.

"She's an Emperor's Hand, Luke. An assassin! I don't suppose she told you that."

"Of course she did," Luke said soothingly, "Father, please calm down!"

Anakin shook his head in exasperation.

"See what happened when you let yourself be locked up?" he reproached himself silently, "Your son falls for an assassin!"

After another few minutes of pacing, Anakin felt calm enough to sit down on the couch again.

With a resigned sigh, he asked, "Where did you meet this oh so lovely lady, Luke?"

Brehana tipped over at this point and fell on her side, squawking indignantly. Her uncle and grandfather were briefly distracted, but once Luke had set the baby back on her padded bottom, peace reigned again.

Luke continued cheerfully enough, "I actually met Mara seven months ago. There was this painful ball on Coruscant. All these rich, powerful, influential people came and were mingling and dancing and eating expensive food and drinking too much ritzy alcohol. Leia dragged me to it since I am the galactic face of the New Jedi Order. She was very pregnant with the babies, and she pulled out the twin bond stops to get me to go. Said she needed my 'support' and all that. I'd prefer to battle a rancor than go to a fancy dress ball. But I did it. I dressed up and went, just because I love my sister so much. I tell you, at times like that I really do feel like a hero."

Anakin chuckled in spite of himself. He too had despised such events, both as Anakin Skywalker and as Darth Vader.

"And Mara Jade was there? That's astonishing given her history as a servant of Palpatine's."

"Yes, she was there, though as someone else. An invitation had been sent out to someone who was visiting family on Corellia, and Mara got hold of the invite and disguised herself enough like that person to get into the ball."

Anakin's brow furrowed, "Why did she do that?"

Luke looked uncomfortable, "Well, to be blunt, she tried to assassinate me. She had smuggled a vibroblade in a boot and tried to stab me through the heart. Fortunately, the Emperor skimped on her Force training so I sensed the attack and disabled her without anyone being hurt. It was quite the five day wonder on the Holonet, though. There was screaming and outrage and yelping about poor security. Some of which was legitimate…the security was a bit weak…"

He trailed off as Anakin fixed him with a wide eyed, shocked gaze.

"She tried to kill you," the former Sith Lord said.

"Yes, she did," Luke said, and added, "But in her mind, there were good reasons."

"And you are in love with her," Anakin continued, fixing his son with a basilisk stare.

"I'm not in love with her, Father, no. And she's not in love with me. But we are very good friends. I thought I should give you a little warning just in case our relationship does develop to the point that we end up sharing a life."

Anakin shook his head in despair, "You know, there is a word for what you have. I can't remember what it is called, though. A desire to rescue people. It's some kind of weird psychological disorder. First you rescue me, your insane Sith Lord father. Now you want to rescue the foremost Emperor's Hand, a noted assassin…"

"Father," Luke interrupted, "Can I just tell you what happened after her attempt to kill me?"

His father sighed and waved a vaguely encouraging hand.

"So of course the New Republic locked Mara up. I sensed her Force sensitivity and was curious as to why she made an attempt on me, so I went down and visited her. Repeatedly. She was totally silent for about two weeks, and then she started yelling at me. Like I said, I don't get enough honest people and she was honest about her total loathing of who I was and everything I stood for."

"Palpatine brainwashed her very thoroughly," Anakin pointed out.

Instead of looking discouraged, Luke brightened, "Exactly, Father! She'd been brainwashed! And here's the interesting thing. She had a really close Force bond to the Emperor and she 'saw' him die, including the moment when my lightsaber cut through him in the Palace on Naboo. I'm the only Force user around with a green lightsaber so she figured I was the culprit. And of course I was, though if you hadn't lured him to the right place, we couldn't have killed him. Anyway, I told her yes, I killed him, and she yelled some more. But after about a month of conversation, we started really talking. She had a lot of training in analyzing situations to help her carry out operations for Palpatine. Within a few weeks she was willing to look at the data on who Palpatine was, how he operated, his true motivations. I won't go into all the details of our discussions for privacy and time reasons, but within a month she was absolutely convinced that Darth Sidious was a vile despot who had been manipulating and using her for her entire life. I pulled a few strings and convinced the New Republic to let her go. Fortunately, her true name had been kept off the Holonet and her disguise was good enough that she wasn't recognized during her attack on me.

"She started working on Coruscant for a rather brilliant information broker named Talon Karrde. I'm not on Coruscant all the time, of course, but we try to spend time together when we can. And at least on my side, my attraction and admiration is only growing."

Luke paused, and blushed slightly again, "And I'm fairly certain she reciprocates."

Anakin continued to stare at him in disbelief.

The silence was broken by the twins, who started fussing in sync.

A moment later, the door opened and Leia stepped in, looking much more relaxed.

"Thanks so much for watching them," she said cheerfully, "I got that report done. And now these little squeaks are probably about ready for their next meal."

She then looked at her father and brother, sensing the obvious discomfort radiating from Anakin.

"Is there a problem?" she asked hesitantly.

Anakin turned his head toward her slowly.

"Your brother…" he said, "just told me about his relationship with Mara Jade."

"Ah, I was wondering when he'd have the courage to tell you," Leia said with a smile, even as she picked up her babies and bounced them a little, "She's an interesting person."

"You can't seriously tell me you approve of this relationship," Anakin said, appalled, "She tried to kill him!"

"Yes, but her reasoning, while flawed, was logical based on the information she had. I think she's a good fit for Luke, though of course there is plenty of time to see if it works out. Han and I took 3 years to realize we were a good match. They have time."

"I will say, though," Leia added with a twinkle in her eye, "I've already started putting some feelers out to House Naberrie about a possible wedding here. Just in case."

Luke grinned and lurched to his feet, putting an arm around his sister.

"Thanks, Leia."

Anakin could only drop his face into his hands with a groan.

Author Note: Those of you who read my "Trial of Luke Skywalker" epilogue probably have realized I have a thing for babies. They are so cute! I couldn't resist some fluffy baby antics, plus giving Anakin a near heart attack.