Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, this is purely for fun.

The Orphan Club

Luke's internal clock was messed up.

Or at least, he imagined that was the reason he was awake on Yavin IV in the dead of night. As of last night, he'd had his pick of people to hang out with and party and his choice of where to sleep. He'd ended up bunking with Han and Chewie in the Falcon, where he was able to convince the two to turn the heat up. Chewie even offered to sleep next to him, since Wookiees had higher temperatures than humans, and he had a fur coat. Luke had turned that down. He'd never shared a bed with anyone other than his aunt and uncle when he had nightmares as a child, but he didn't think it would be the same. He imagined Chewie rolling over and crushing him in his sleep, unaware of the danger. And waking a Wookiee – even in an emergency – wasn't something Luke wanted to do.

But everyone else had fallen asleep and Luke had tossed and turned for the few hours he'd tried to sleep. At one point, he had fallen asleep and even dreamed. But he'd dreamed of fire and of people yelling. A lot of it he couldn't identify: a snowy mountain and the sound of a woman weeping, a lava bank and a man calling, "Don't try it!" before the sound of painful screams, a woman whimpering and then whispering, "There's good in him," and babies crying. But those were fading from his memory, he couldn't recall them very well and by breakfast, they would surely be forgotten. The images of his dream he did remember and remember well were of the smoking home he'd once had, of his only family…

Luke wrapped the blanket tighter around him and looked at the practically deserted hangar. After his dream, he had left the Falcon, searching for some form of peace. He wondered what time it was back home, if the suns had risen over the homestead.

A pit in his stomach formed when he thought of home. He wanted to go home. Who would have imagined it? Luke Skywalker, finally away from that dust ball of a planet, a hero even, was homesick.

He looked down at the floor, the gray slab had virtually no markings at first glance. But up close, he could see different scratches and marks. He looked at a long scratch, superficial in depth.

He no longer had a home.

It wasn't that he couldn't go back. It was possible for him to go back, but it was a bad idea. The Imperials had been there before he'd done anything against them. He couldn't go back now that he'd rescued an Imperial prisoner, destroyed TIE fighters and their pilots, and destroyed their monstrous killing machine. His friends probably thought him dead.

Besides, to whom would he go back? His aunt and uncle were dead.

A shuddering sob escaped Luke and he put his hands to his face. He pressed his knuckles against his eyes, as if to staunch the flow of tears. If pressure could stop the flow of blood from a wound, why did salt water escape his eyes?

He remembered his uncle carrying him around on his shoulders. Of Uncle Owen teaching him a few tricks about the vaparators, of mechanics, and helping him with his spelling. He recalled Uncle Owen showing up to school to chastise Fixer for breaking Luke's model starship, Luke hadn't even told his Uncle about that.

He remembered Aunt Beru teaching him to cook, even engaging him and Uncle Owen in a flour fight when they were supposed to be baking dessert for a party. Her consoling him time after time. He remembered her tutoring him and Windy on math and rewarding them when they brought their marks up. He remembered that she was the first person to willingly ride with him when he started to fly. She didn't even mock him for the turn he'd nearly botched.

He'd managed to choke his feelings back for all this time. He'd nearly lost that control when Ben died, but now he truly lost all control.

"Hey," Leia touched his shoulder and sat down next to him.

Luke jumped under her touch, at her voice, and felt shame burn him. He wiped his eyes again and wondered if it would be worse to wipe his nose on his sleeve or to leave it as it was.

"I couldn't sleep either," Leia tugged the blanket away from his shoulder and wrapped the two of them together. She took his hand.

"Do you miss home too?" he asked, voice hoarse and shaky.

Leia nodded and tilted her head down, her long hair slid forward to shield her face and escape the loose elastic band she'd tried to contain it in. Luke reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Where is home for you?" she asked.

"Tatooine – or it was. The Empire killed my family."

Leia nodded, "Mine too – all of it." She sighed and he rubbed his thumb against the hand that held his. "I was adopted, you know?" He blinked in surprise. No, he hadn't known that. She saw his surprise. "Huh. Well, it is a big galaxy. I didn't try to hide it, no one did. I did a lot of charity work and fundraising for kids who needed to be adopted. I always intended to look into my adoption records when I came of age but…" she sighed. "I didn't have the time and now I guess I'll never know."

"My parents died, my aunt and uncle raised me," Luke offered. "I know my father's name was Anakin and I thought he was a pilot on a spice freighter. Ben told me he was a Jedi."

"And your mother?"

Luke shook his head. "My aunt just told me she was beautiful. That she came from a world much different than Tatooine. She said she was beautiful…generous and caring. But she remembered her clothes and hands the best. She remembered that her hands were soft, not work worn like…well, everyone else in my family. That she had soft clothes of gentle, expensive fabric." Luke felt another sob rise in his chest. "I never asked what her name was. Now I'll never know."

Leia leaned her head against Luke's shoulder. "My mother used to take me mountain climbing. It was our holiday, we'd go trekking. My father hated it, said he'd had enough of 'roughing it' during the Clone Wars when he'd go on relief missions. My mother always teased him for it, called him a 'city boy'." Luke watched as Leia closed her eyes tightly. "I'll never see those mountains again."

Luke felt like a complete womp rat. He was crying over his family but Leia had lost everything. The Empire hadn't just killed her family, they'd destroyed her whole world.

He hugged her tightly. "It won't be for nothing," he promised her.

"I know it won't." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Before I came out here, I was looking at paperwork, I thought it would distract me. One form I saw asked about 'next-of-kin'…"

"You could put me down," Luke offered. Then hastily added, "I mean, if you want. Just until you –"

"Thank you," tears appeared in Leia's eyes for the first time. Her political training had served her well; she could hide her emotions more easily than Luke, who wore his heart on his sleeve. "You can put me down too. You don't have your family, I don't have mine…."

"What the hell is this?" Han asked behind them. They jumped and turned around, the blanket falling to the ground.

"Couldn't sleep," Luke answered.

"Couldn't sleep?" Han repeated in disbelief. "After all that about turning up the heat, you don't even stay to use it? I'm about to die of heat stroke and you're out here snuggling!"

"Captain, I highly doubt you're going to die of heat stroke, you aren't even sweating."

He was, however, shirtless and wearing a pair of pants with quite a few wears and tears.

"Yeah, well….you worried Chewie, Luke," Han ignored Leia's observation. Leia's expression suggested that Han was lying and that he was the one who had been worried about Luke.

"Sorry," Luke apologized.

There was an uncomfortable pause and then Leia piped up, "We'll apologize to Chewie, but this was the meeting of the Orphans Club and –"

Luke stared at her in confusion. Was she really going to blatantly ignore the color of Luke's face? The obvious tear stains? That her own eyes were puffy and red?

"No, it isn't," Han rolled his eyes. "I happen to be the club president and our meetings aren't for another two standard hours."

Leia scoffed, "No one would vote you president, but very well. Shall we move our meeting to a more hospitable location?"

The more hospitable location ended up being the Falcon whereupon they voted Leia president of the club, Han vice-president (because he'd argued about Leia having presidency and being a princess, almost loudly enough to wake Chewie - and no one asked how Chewie could have been worried when he wasn't even awake) and Luke became secretary/treasurer. Luke asked if Chewie could join, but Han shook his head. Chewie still had his parents on Kashyyyk. The first order of business was to read the minutes of the "previous meeting", where Luke explained what he and Leia had talked about before Han interrupted them. Han skipped the homesickness and offered to have them put him down as next-of-kin because of the three of them; he was the only one with a ship capable of transporting more than two people. Also, Luke technically didn't own the X-Wing. It was his X-Wing, but issued to him by the Rebel Alliance. So, in a way, Han was the only one with a ship on standby, which mattered the most in situations where next-of-kin needed to be notified.

Shrewdly, Leia didn't ask if that meant Han would join the Alliance or not.

After that, Han proposed a game of sabaac, the official game of the Orphans Club. They played for a while and Luke fell asleep at the game table.

Han studied his cards and then looked at Leia. "You know, princess, you can be a lot of fun when you're not bossing me around."

Leia smiled sweetly, laid her winning hand down on the table, and said, "You're not so bad yourself. Thanks for not embarrassing Luke." Or me, she thought.

Han looked at the cards and then got up to get some credits. He counted out some of them and then handed them to Leia. "We weren't betting any money."

"Nah, I'm behind on my dues. I figure at our next meeting, we can move that the dues be used to buy Luke some clothes, since he has nothing. You at least have a wardrobe available here."

Leia's eyes widened at Han's generosity. "I'm behind on my dues too," she agreed with him. "We'll bring this up at the next meeting."