Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. In my dreams doesn't count, sadly. (:

Chapter 2

The next day, it snowed. Soft clouds of flakes fell softly around the sloping lawn of the Jedi Academy on Yavin. Most of it melted before it hit the grass, but, because most of the equipment for the new library was fashioned of metal or plastoid, Katherii's overeager cousin still insisted she had to do her work.

Grumpily, she stood outside in the cold, her leather-worn jacket growing sweaty from the physical work as she left her thick goggles over her eyes, welding two halves of a metal piece of shelving back together.

She couldn't see anything through the huge glasses, but a crunch on the near-frozen yellow grass let her know someone was coming up behind her. She killed the fuse and the shower of sparks faded from view as she lifted her goggles from her straggling hairdo and set them down on the shelf.

"Hey, Kathy, babe!"

"Lanie!" her face broke into a grin when she saw who it was. "Wassup, love?" she spread her arms wide and felt his arms wrap around her jacket in a fierce, hearty embrace. Gagghhh, she loved this guy. And the snow falling around them as their jackets pressed together in the cold made it all the more satisfying to be close to him. They weren't officially together yet, but hey.

He started to pull away, but she kept her arms around his waist, locked in a tight grip as she looked up at him expectantly. "Doing anything fun tonight?"

He snorted. "Why else would I come and find you when we're off of class?" His voice dropped to a low whisper. "We're just hopping over to the 'works tomorrow night. Can you come?" His voice shifted to pleading. "All the folks'll be there."

"Ha!" Katherii shoved him playfully in the chest. "How many is 'all the folks'? You know I'm only in if there's a big crowd."

"Who cares?" Lanie took her hand, rubbing it affectionately. His voice dropped to a romantic tone, slow and husky. "You could make the whole party, just by yourself. You and me. Maybe bring out the racers. It'll be wild."

Katherii's heart beat faster, and she struggled to keep up a neutral front. "Aunt Leia will be leaving for Coruscant that night," she whispered. "I can come up with a good excuse to stay behind, I think. We'll see. If they let me say goodbye at home, while they're all out—I could just—disappear."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Lanie kept hold of her hand, making no move to leave.

Katherii smirked. "I'll see you, too."

She pressed a hand to his arm, moving firmly away from him before turning back to her welding. He turned to leave, disappointed she hadn't kissed him first.

She'd save that for later.

...

"POUND, POUND, POUND!"

It was an exact replica of what'd happened the day before.

Only this time it was much more serious.

"Dad! Open up!"

Han poked his head out the door, wide awake despite the cold and the lateness when he saw the urgent look on Anakin's face. The Three Moons shone brightly overhead, but a soft darkness still pervaded the area.

"Did you leave Katherii at home tonight?" Anakin was breathless.

Han looked alarmed. "Yeah, why?" his brow furrowed.

Anakin groaned, looking a tiny bit ashamed. "I just found out some of the Padawans have some kind of mischief planned up by the plant for tonight. Something about racing, something about vandalism, something about 'party goods', etc."

Han blinked, half realizing what he was saying and half not. "What…?"

Anakin gave him an exasperated look. "Dad, Katherii's practically a ringleader of this group."

Han looked a little scared. "You're not going to trust me that she's safe in bed where she belongs?"

Anakin shook his head slightly. "Go check if you want," his voice was almost prim.

Han looked like he was about to move, but he didn't. "What are we supposed to do about it?" he challenged.

"She's your niece!"

"She's your student!"

"You wanna go try to haul her out of there? I mean, she acts like she knows what she's doing but she IS only fourteen. She could get seriously hurt."

"You're right," Han decided, frowning. He grabbed his coat and nearly barreled out the door after his son.

"Of course, you could always call the police," Anakin suggested as they headed toward one of the speeders parked in the street.

Han's comlink buzzed at his side. He stared down at it, then slowly looked up at Anakin. "Good idea," he replied sarcastically.

...

"Why'd you do it?"

Katherii didn't look up at her uncle as he sat beside her on the bench. Staring down at the sling that held her fractured arm in place, she shifted wordlessly to the left, leaving a space between the two of them.

When Han didn't say any more, she finally lifted an eyebrow and muttered, "Why shouldn't I have?" It was stupid, but she didn't really have any better excuses at the moment.

"Well," he replied, surprisingly sounding somewhat calm, "the most important reason is that you could've gotten yourself killed."

She could've come up with a not-so-lame response, but she didn't feel like it right now. "I could've gotten myself killed this morning while walking to school in a rich and benign neighborhood. A speeder could've come along unexpectedly and smashed me into a flatcake."

Han sat there for a long moment before getting up, slowly heading out of the room. Katherii hung her head.

Then he stopped.

Changing his mind, he headed back over to her, shifting so he was sitting next to her on the bench again.

Annoyed, Katherii got up and walked around to the other end of the bench. Why couldn't he just leave her alone?

Sure enough, he got up, followed her, and sat down next to her again.

Angry this time, Katherii stood and walked around to the OTHER end, but he followed her AGAIN! She switched directions in an attempt to push him away from her, but he moved next to her again. Katherii clamped her lips shut. She would NOT laugh. She would not. This was not funny at—

"STOP!" she finally screamed, throwing herself at him. Weakly, she hit him on the chest with her good fist, still trying to choke back her laughter. Han was trying not to laugh himself. "Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop! Just leave me alone!"

"Why are you running away from me?" Han exclaimed, stopping her fist gently with both of his hands.

"Because! You're—big, and mean, and scary…and I don't like—"

"And all the police officers our there aren't as scary as me?"

"No!" she insisted.

Han burst out laughing.

Katherii laughed too at first, but then she got angry again. He was trying to manipulate her out of her shell, and she wasn't about to have it. Frustrated, she quieted, turning away from him and storming over to the corner of the room.

Han stopped, sighing heavily. "Look, kiddo, we've got talk about this."

Katherii narrowed her eyes and didn't turn around. "If you have to know," she said bitterly, "I did it because of how I feel. And how I feel is none of your business. I couldn't explain it to you even if I tried, anyway."

Han quieted, not knowing what he could say to that.