AN: This is another of my favorite chapters to writes. Why? Well you can read it and you'll see. I'm not spoiling a thing. Just know that you all are going to love this chapter.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Seven

"She did what?" Vader asked abruptly stopping his task of fixing a kitchen appliance for Ahsoka.

"She had a race and the speeder of the boy she was racing exploded and totaled one of your speeders. If she hadn't felt something was wrong, the boy would have been killed," Ahsoka added as she felt Vader's fury.

"Where is she?" Vader asked setting down his tool. "Leia!"

"Vader wait a minute," Ahsoka said following him as he started to go up the stairs to his daughter.

"I can't believe her. She's done a lot of reckless things and I admit I let her get away with them. But this is crossing the line," Vader said starting up the stairs and then muttered, "One of my custom speeders. Does she know how much they're worth?"

"Coming from the guy who was podracing when he was nine years old," Ahsoka said dryly as she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Besides, who cares about what she did to your custom speeders. You can just replace it. But right now she's spooked."

"She should be. She almost killed herself," Vader said snatching his arm away even though he had stopped his ascent.

"Do you wonder how she knew the speeder was going to explode though?" Ahsoka asked pointedly.

Confusion flashed in Vader's eyes before his frown became deeper in realization.

"She used the force," he said. "What did you tell her when she asked you?"

Ahsoka sighed. "She's not falling for that intuitive child thing anymore. She knows it's something and one of those boys called her a freak, a girl with freaky jedi powers at that."

"Remind me to pay him a visit later," Vader said still more perturbed with his daughters actions than concerned about her growing force power.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Vader! We have to tell her something, that this is all normal. She thinks she's crazy. I mean how is she supposed to explain that she hears something like a whisper in her mind instructing and guiding her?"

"No," Vader said stubbornly.

Ahsoka groaned in frustration. Her former master was even more stubborn and unreasonable as a Sith. Vader started to go back up the stairs but Ahsoka ducked under his arm and blocked the way. Vader raised an eyebrow at her, sighing impatiently.

"Move," he said to her.

Ahsoka crossed her arms. "Make me."

Vader stepped up to the next step. "Don't tempt me."

Ahsoka became very aware of how close Vader was to her and it wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The years after Vader's surgery had done something to their relationship. Sure they argued still, but it wasn't like before where there were heated emotions of hurt and betrayal behind them. Sometime after the surgery, they had come to some sort of understanding with each other. She didn't know if it had happened after she admitted he hadn't killed Padmé or in the few weeks after they had decided that for Leia's sake they would try to get along.

Along the way, it wasn't that they needed to get along. It was like they wanted to get along. Not that Ahsoka would ever admit it and if Vader felt the same, he sure as hell wasn't going to say anything either. It was the reason any time they tried to argue it ended up with Ahsoka almost playfully challenged him to do something and Vader almost playfully challenging her to try him. Normally, she might call him on his bluff (sometimes that wasn't wise) and she started to do so before she noticed that he was looking at her in a peculiar manner. A little embarrassed all of a sudden, she averted her gaze before walking back down the steps past him. She heard him turn to follow her, his feelings not exactly clear in the force.

"What now?" Vader asked irritated. It was always something with her. It was over a decade of knowing her and he still didn't understand her sometimes.

"Don't look at me like that?" Ahsoka said picking a book off the shelf in the living room and curling up in the corner with it.

"Why not?"

Ahsoka sighed, giving Vader an annoyed look. "Because it makes me uncomfortable. Happy?" she asked not knowing the effect she was having on Vader by saying that.

Vader stared at Ahsoka for a moment, and it was impossible to keep a smug smirk from appearing on his face. Ahsoka felt his smugness and look up at him with a sigh.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just that Padmé said something similar to me," he said, smirk still in place.

"That doesn't explain why you're so smug," Ahsoka said turning back to her book.

The smirk dropped from his face and he looked at her before turning to go up the stairs to talk to Leia.

"She said it because she didn't want me to fall in love with her and she didn't want to fall in love with me," he said not waiting to see her reaction. He didn't need to. She was obviously stunned through the force.

That was good, Vader mused. While Ahsoka sat and brooded over that, he could have a talk with Leia without her trying to protect the girl. It's not like he was going to do anything to her anyway.

Leia's room door was open and she was looking intently over some math homework. Vader never knew why she found it so hard. She had to know some kind of higher mathematics to mess with engines and calculate the speed a speeder was going to have after she modified it. Then again, it probably wasn't in engineering language.

"Hey daddy," she said as she closed the book.

Vader started to sit down on her bed and then noticed how messy it was. Apparently the girl had been trying to juggle studying for many different subjects at once. If she only put half as much effort into school as she did modifying and fixing old speeders…

"Let's take a walk princess," he suggested.

Leia jumped off her bed and grabbed a jacket out her closet before leading the way out her room. On her way towards the door, she noticed Ahsoka wasn't anywhere in sight and questioned her father about it.

"She might have gone out. She rarely gets a chance to do things watching you all day," Vader said but he knew darn well his comment had gotten to her. He would talk to her later though.

Leia accepted the answer as she went out the door but had the feeling it was something else. Her father was tense about something and she just wished her guardians would stop being so stubborn and admit they liked each other. It was that simple.

"So why did you want to take a walk?" Leia asked starting down the side of the street.

"I can't just want to take a walk with my daughter?" he asked with a small smile.

"You never do things like this just to do it," Leia pointed out. "I have to beg you to have lunch in the park. Ahsoka told you what I did today, didn't she?"

Vader sighed. "That was a very reckless stunt of you."

"It wasn't the first time I've raced that boy before," Leia said to him. "I got in trouble for racing on school grounds before."

"When did this happen?" Vader asked stopping to look at Leia who was looking as innocent as ever.

"All the time, but Ahsoka never banned me from doing it. Today was the first time anything like that happened," Leia muttered trailing off at the end.

Vader sighed. So Ahsoka was to blame for Leia getting away with racing like that. He wondered if it ever occurred to her to mention it sometime.

"Ahsoka told me you told her you knew something bad was going to happen and stopped the race."

Leia looked down at the ground. "I don't know how it happened. One minute I was winning the race and the next minute something told me to stop and get away… like a whisper. The next thing I knew I was stopping the race and walking away from the speeders. I knew Stanton would chase after me and so I was leading him away. We stopped and the speeder exploded. If I hadn't stopped the race Stanton… he would have died."

Vader didn't say anything as he waited for her to finish.

"I know I don't like him. But I don't want him to die. And he didn't understand… I don't even understand it," Leia admitted trying to keep the fear out her tone. "It's always with me though and it always whispers to me. It told me I had a brother named Luke. It showed me that he had blonde hair and blue eyes like you."

Leia looked at her father.

"I do have a brother don't I?" she asked.

Vader sighed. "Yes."

"Where is he?"

"It's complicated Leia…"

When he spoke like that, Leia knew it meant her father didn't want to talk about it and so she didn't say anything else about her brother.

"What are the whispers?" she asked him. "Is it bad?"

Vader knew right then he could no longer avoid explaining the force to Leia.

"It's not bad Leia. In fact, it means you've inherited more from me than just my bad temper," he said dryly

"I don't have a bad temper," Leia said haughtily.

"And you haven't gotten in trouble for fighting for your friend's honor in school?" Vader asked with a small smile.

Leia blushed and Vader put an arm around her shoulder.

"Having the power to tap into the Force is nothing to be ashamed of princess," Vader assured.

"The Force?" Leia asked.

"Yes. It a living energy that binds everyone and everything together in this universe and people like you and I can manipulate it to our advantage as well as hear its warnings," Vader explained simply. "One day in the future, I will teach you how to use the force."

"What about Ahsoka?" Leia asked.

"What about her?"

"She can use the force too," Leia replied simply. "But you and her use it different. That's why you don't completely get along or at least you try to act like you hate each other, but you don't."

Vader looked at Leia curiously. She seemed to know a lot more about people and their feelings than she was letting on. Then again, she knew more about everything than she let on, and though Ahsoka didn't see it or turned a blind eye to it, Vader didn't.

"What are you trying to say princess?" he asked.

Leia shrugged. "All I know is that I don't feel complete hate from both of you and you say you tolerate each other, but it's not that either. There's something else. I just don't know what it is."

Vader paled. He himself had been denying what was there for months now, maybe even years, but here his little girl was sensing something and if she could feel it then perhaps it was something he had to stop ignoring it and admit something was there.

"You think you feel friendship then?" Vader asked. "I assure you, we aren't friends."

"It's not that. Me and Lana are friends. But what I feel from you two is different. It's like being friends but different…" Leia said trailing off and just like that she was done with the situation and looked at her father. "Can we go get ice cream?"

Vader looked at Leia peculiarly before slowly nodding his head. She turned around and began to skip back home so they could take the speeder into town. She was in a notably better mood than earlier, but Vader couldn't shake the feeling that his daughter was up to something.

He was shaken out his thoughts when she said, "I'll drive daddy!"

He reached out with the force to stay her in place, ignoring her protest as he walked ahead of her and then released his hold.

"I haven't forgotten about the fact that you stole one of my speeders and managed to destroy it," Vader reminded and Leia's face fell.

"But daddy! It wasn't my fault," Leia defended.

"I'm taking your keys," Vader said referring to the keys to Leia's speeder bike.

"No fair!"

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Ahsoka sat in the tree in the backyard after having tried in vain to meditate her troubles away. She hated how she was feeling. She hadn't felt like this in nine years. It was feelings like these that made her try to stop Anakin on Mustafar, that made her defend him before the Jedi even when she knew he was guilty, and what made her steal his daughter away and run to find him, even when she knew it was likely he would kill her.

But this was preposterous. Darth Vader was not Anakin Skywalker or were they just the same person but one was a very dark and evil version of the other? She sighed as she tossed the idea in her head. It was impossible. Sith had no good in them, but then why did Vader care for his daughter, the child that was conceived when he was Anakin Skywalker, so much? She remembered fighting in the clone wars where her job was just to kill the enemy, but then one day on these mission, she saw that these people who the republic said were evil had families to go home to, people they themselves were protecting.

And then she went with Padmé to visit one of her separatists friends and found out that they weren't just the ruthless enemies that thought the republic was corrupted (looking back on it, they had been right). They too felt the sting of war and the pain of loss. So was it possible that it was the same with the Jedi and the Sith?

If Ahsoka thought about it the way the Jedi taught her, then no, they weren't. Sith were selfish beings who turned their back on each other and only cared for themselves. But Vader wasn't like that. He was a sith because he wanted to help make the galaxy a better place and thought dictatorship and forcing a way on people was the way to go, but that also fell into the natural sith lust for power. Enough was never enough.

However, when he was with Leia, there was no empire to run and no power to make sure he kept. He was just Leia's father.

Ahsoka sighed. Vader wasn't the conventional Sith and Anakin hadn't been the conventional Jedi. In that respect, the two were exactly the same. She sighed. This was so confusing.

"Ahsoka," the object of her musings said and she fell out the tree in surprise. Her jedi reflexes kicked in though and she landed on her feet, albeit shakily.

Vader steadied her by putting his hands on her waist. She pulled away and turned to face him.

"What?" she asked.

"I told Leia about her force ability," Vader said blunt and straight forward as always.

"It took you long enough," Ahsoka said.

Vader glared at her but otherwise ignored her. "I sense she is now curious about it even more now and so I want you to watch her closely when I leave. She may try to experiment or she may just come right out and ask you to teach her. You are not to show her anything."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "I know that already."

"She's also very curious about Luke. She said the force told her of his existence. She asked me why he's not here with her, but I don't even have the answer to that," Vader said looking at Ahsoka expectantly.

"I told you before. I didn't have time to get him. It was either try to grab him and risk not getting either one or taking Leia and running. I had no choice," she mumbled.

"That's not what I mean. I want to know why you brought Leia to me in the first place," Vader asked.

Ahsoka shrugged. Explaining that to Vader was crossing dangerous territory and she had a feeling he knew that.

"It's what Padmé would have wanted," Ahsoka admitted.

"Even after she rejected me," Vader said bluntly.

"She never rejected you," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth annoyed at Vader. "She rejected everything you had done. But I don't think she would have purposely kept the twins away from you. If there was one thing she knew, it was that you would always protect her. She knew that even after you hurt her. She asked about you all through her labor, thought there was good in you."

"And so you did it because of your closeness to her?" Vader asked and Ahsoka merely nodded. "The other jedi didn't seem to think that way."

Ahsoka sighed as she started to walk back toward the house. "They didn't understand. Hell, I didn't really understand even though I like to think I did. I just knew how I felt," she said starting to walk toward the house.

"How did you feel?"

Ahsoka turned to look at him with a sharp look and said, "It doesn't matter anymore. It was a long time ago."

"I doubt it," Vader said simply.

"And when did you come to that conclusion?"

"Because Leia wouldn't sense it if it was something from a long time ago," Vader said walking towards her.

Ahsoka turned fully to look at Vader stunned. Leia was an incredibly intuitive girl and knew more than she ever let on to Ahsoka. Ahsoka humored her though. She acted like she didn't notice when Leia tried to play innocent, but the bad part about doing that was that Vader could use that against Ahsoka to his advantage.

It was likely Leia hadn't really said anything at all and had been very coy and elusive about whatever it was as always. But still…

"What did she sense?" Ahsoka said.

"She couldn't put her finger on it," Vader said honestly as he traced the markings on Ahsoka's orange-red skin.

"Then why are you so concerned?" Ahsoka whispered not caring how close she and Vader were again.

"Just curious," he said and closed the distance between their lips.

Ahsoka didn't stand frozen in shock at what he had done. In all honesty, she had been expecting it and so she kissed him as he kissed her. It was only after Vader put his hand on the small of her back that she really realized what she was doing and stopped herself.

She pulled away and on instinct she bared her predator teeth in a snarl at Vader before turning on her heel and yelling, "What in sith hell are you trying to pull?"

Vader followed her into the house retorting, "If I'm going to be accused of something, I'd at least like to know what it is!"

"This!" Ahsoka said whirling on him when she stepped into the living room. "One moment you hate me because I'm a Jedi, the next moment you're treating me like a drill sergeant, and then you're sitting there leading me on kissing me. Force damn it. What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Vader asked.

Ahsoka put her hand on the screen door, fully intent on locking him out the house for the rest of the night but Vader held it firm. She cursed that he was stronger than her.

"No it's not. You're excellent at giving mixed cues. You drive me insane Vader. I never know what you want!" Ahsoka snapped exaggeratedly.

Vader sighed. "I don't know either to be honest."

If anything, his response set Ahsoka off more. "I am not going to be your play thing Darth Vader," she said and Vader couldn't recall a time she had used his full Sith name. "I'm not going to be your secret whore that you only barely tolerate during the day and dog when you don't want to be bothered."

Ahsoka tried to close the door again but Vader held it again.

"Is that what you think?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" Ahsoka snapped trying in vain to close the door again. "You're a Sith. Sith aren't supposed to feel anything but evil emotions. You're not supposed to know anything about love. Leia's supposed to be your only exception and even then you'll never admit to it."

"Jedi weren't supposed to love either. In fact, Jedi and Sith have the same view on love. It's a weakness," Vader explained.

Ahsoka cursed. He had a point, but that didn't mean she was giving in.

"And you don't think the same?"

"I was never a conventional force user," Vader admitted growing tired of Ahsoka trying to close the door on him and pushing her back so he could come inside.

Ahsoka grudgingly admitted he was right about that too.

"That still doesn't answer my question. Whatever," Ahsoka said sighing. "It doesn't matter. I'm-." she was cut off as Vader kissed her again, but this time a little more forceful than before and she very nearly, very, very nearly, lost all conscious thought and succumbed to his advances on her.

The small part of her frozen mind that was working took over, and she managed to pull away from him, but Vader's arms were still locked around her waist. The only thing keeping them apart was her hands on his chest… his very defined chest. Ahsoka shook her head and focused.

"Be rational," Ahsoka said to him and then noticed Vader's raised eyebrow. That's when she remembered he wasn't rational. This proved it. She sighed and instead said, "Well at least think about it. I'm a Jedi and you're a Sith and no matter how you try to justify it, we're enemies. The only thing uniting us is Leia and Padmé. Nothing more and nothing less."

Vader loosened his grip on her but didn't completely let her go. However, Ahsoka felt better now that she didn't have to push against his chest to keep him back.

"You used to love me, didn't you?" Vader asked. "That's why you disobeyed the jedi and brought Leia to me."

Ahsoka sighed. Vader certainly wasn't stupid, and she wondered how long he had been tossing around this idea in his head, certainly longer than just that evening.

Finally she admitted, "If it clears your conscience, then at one point, I did love you. But that was a long time ago when you were a different man, a Jedi Knight. Any lingering feelings I had for you are long gone now. The only reason I stay here is for Leia and if she weren't happy, I'd take her and run without hesitation."

Vader paused to look at her for a moment and then let her go. Ahsoka smoothed out her clothes and stormed out the room and up the stairs. A few seconds later, Vader heard the door to her room close. He himself didn't know what had come over him and decided that he too would retire to his bed early. This adjustment was getting more complicated than he had ever anticipated.

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AN: I told you that you were going to like this chapter. So what did you think? This is nowhere near the end of the story though. I've got twelve more to go so sit tight and be patient because the rollercoaster ride is just getting started. I had a ball with these next few chapters (grins mischievously).

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!