Uninvited Guest

"Hurry to bed, you three!"

Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin sat up and looked at their bedroom door at the same time. Their mother knocked on it from the other side. "Are you in bed yet!"

The three scrambled to their beds and pulled the covers over their heads. The droid parts they, or rather Anakin, had been working on were left in the center of the room. The bedroom door slid open. Leia poked her head into the room. She glanced at each child individually before noticing the pile of parts on the floor.

"Would anybody like to explain the little experiment on the carpet?" No one spoke. "Get it up. Now."

"It was Anakin's idea!" Jacen whined from under the covers.

"I don't care," Leia said. "Get it up. If it's still there in the morning, then you're all grounded." All three children jumped out of bed and practically threw themselves onto the pile. Leia smirked as she stood back and let the door slide closed. With a verbal command, she ordered all the lights to dim before walking into her own bedroom.

Her husband Han was already half asleep. She carefully lowered herself onto her side of the bed and propped her foot against the table next to the headboard. She wiggled her toes as she examined the nail she had broken earlier against the edge of the dinner table.

"Figures," she whispered to herself. "This is the first time we've all eaten together in a month, and I choose that time to break a toenail." She reached for the clipper and began to rectify the offending nail. When she was done, she reached over to turn off the table lamp. Just as she did so, she felt a ripple in the Force, followed by what she thought was a presence. She didn't instantly recognize it, though it did feel familiar. She reached into her children's room with the Force and panicked when she discovered the presence was there with them. She heard them scream for about three seconds, but then she calmed a bit when her children actually felt excited, and happy, about their visitor.

Careful not to disturb Han, Leia slipped out of bed and ran to the children's room as quickly as she could without making noise. She could hear laughter from the other side. Perfectly relaxed now, she placed her ear against the door to listen.

(X)

"Hurry up," Jaina urged as she lifted an armful of mechanical bits and stuffed them into the box. Jacen complied silently. Anakin, however, stayed in bed to watch. Jaina rubbed her hands together as she climbed back into bed. "You were a big help, Anakin," she commently sarcastically. Anakin said nothing. He was too busy staring at a corner of the room.

"What are you looking at?" Jacen asked as he climbed into his own bed. Anakin's response was simply to point at the corner. Jacen and Jaina glanced towards where he was pointing. A glowing blue figure was standing there. He appeared young, about his early twenties, with unruly brown hair that barely reached his shoulder. He was dressed in Jedi robes with his hands tucked into each other's sleeves. The children stared at him for a moment, then glanced at one another and screamed.

The apparition lifted a finger to his mouth. "Hush! Quiet!" The children continued screaming. "I said quiet!" the apparition demanded. Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin instantly ceased screaming. "Feel better?" he asked. They nodded.

The spirit sat on the edge of Jaina's bed. "This isn't how I hoped our first meeting would go. Sorry about that."

"Who are you?" Jaina and Jacen asked at the same time.

The spirit flashed a wopsided grin. "I'm Anakin Skywalker. Your grandfather."

There was half a second of silence before the children squealed again, but this time it was from excitement. Jacen and Anakin leapt from their beds and onto Jaina's. Anakin Skywalker cringed at the thought they might try to tackle him. He jumped from the bed as Anakin Solo threw himself towards Anakin Skywalker. The spirit backed away and held his hands up.

"Don't move! You can't do that!"

Anakin Solo pouted. "Why not? Uncle Luke lets us jump on him."

"Yes, but your Uncle Luke is alive and solid."

"Oh." On a whim, Little Anakin reached out with a single finger to poke Big Anakin. Little Anakin's finger slid through a little ways before Big Anakin noticed and pulled his robes away.

"Stop that!"

"Anakin!" Jaina called.

"What?" they both responded.

Jaina rolled her eyes. "Not you," she said while pointing to her grandfather. "I mean you." She pointed to her little brother. "Get back over here."

Little Anakin took his time in complying. He crawled onto Jaina's bed and snuggled against her side. "Tell us a story," he said against her arm.

"A story?" Big Anakin said. He thought for a moment. "What kind of story?" he asked with a tinge of suspicion.

"The one about the lost bantha cub!" Little Anakin suggested.

"No!" Jacen said. "You always con Threepio into telling you that story. I want to hear a story about when he was Darth Vader!"

Big Anakin groaned as if he had eaten Hutt food. "No!" Jaina added. "I want to hear about when he fought in the Clone Wars!"

"Darth Vader!" Jacen protested.

"Clone Wars!" Jaina insisted.

"Darth Vader!"

Clone Wars!"

"Darth Vader!"

"Clone Wars!"

Big Anakin placed both hands against his head and sighed. If he didn't know better, he'd swear he was getting a headache. "Is this what I missed by not raising my own children?"

(X)

Leia covered her mouth to avoid being heard. She choked down the urge to laugh at the idea of Anakin Skywalker being physically and verbally assaulted by a pair of six-year-olds and their five-year-old brother. She cleared her mind and focused with the Force to make herself calm down enough to continue listening.

(X)

"Darth Vader!"

"Clone Wars!"

"Darth Vader!"

"Clone Wars!"

"Enough!" Big Anakin finally shouted. The children stopped bickering and looked at him in shock. "What?" he asked uneasily.

"You're going to wake up Mom and Dad," Jacen whispered.

Fine time to start whispering, Big Anakin thought. "If they're awake, it's from your screaming. Not mine."

The children began to pout again. "Please don't do that," Big Anakin unconsciously begged. "If you stop, I'll tell you about the time Obi-Wan Kenobi and I rescued Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous."

"Palpatine?" Jaina asked. "Wasn't he the Emperor?"

"Uh, yeah, but he wasn't at the time, and no one knew he was a Sith Lord yet," Big Anakin quickly recovered. "Besides, it's a cool story."

"Okay," the children said in unison.