AN: 'Tis here! Another chapter! Now, the italics in the last part are all quoted from New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II P: Refugee and III: Reunion. The referenced quote at the end comes from New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory I: Conquest. Thanks to everyone for reading!

The steady thump of his heart seemed to be echoing in her ear, making her drum beat in time with it. Or, was that the mysterious pounding in her heart? No matter where it was coming from, it was with her and it refused to leave. She shouldn't have felt haunted by it but she did because the prospect of going to see Anakin was just too daunting. She wasn't ready, but would she ever be?
Corran, Mirax, Han, and Jaina all sat crowded around her, coercing her but gently. She heard their assurances, comforts, promising her everything would change when she saw him again. And part of her believed that. She brought to mind the future she'd imagined for herself so many times, even before Anakin had died. It was a future that was intertwined with Anakin's, half belonging to him. It was their future, to live together. She let it go only that far, trying to imaging that still playing out, but she couldn't. Something was different, too different. It was her- and she was sure that that future was not possible when Anakin didn't know who she was anymore. He'd held her together after her Shaping, but without him- she'd fallen apart. She was no longer the Tahiri he would remember nor Riina but something just as ugly and even more depressing. How was she supposed to introduce that person to Anakin? Besides that, Tahiri wouldn't what to do when she saw him. Unconscious Anakin was one thing, but when he was awake- she was already predicting the overwhelming onslaught of feelings that would bring up. It was too much and her mind was racing with the overload.

"How is she feeling?" She became aware of Leia's presence joining the group and her whispered question to her husband. She couldn't draw herself out of this abyss, though.

Han sighed. "You might want to try talking to her."

That Tahiri could manage. Talking to Leia had always been easier. In the earlier days following Anakin's fall, she'd recognized the dark feel to Leia's aura, the way the Force ebbed with a pain that would never fade, a wound that would never scab over and fully heal. In those days, she'd empathized with that hollowness. She still did, now just empathizing with the scar that was left over. Tahiri had one too, a scar nearly identical to the one Anakin's mother wore. She could talk to Han and Leia. It was the large group looking in from the outside that set Tahiri on edge. But Han and Leia were family. Not the closest thing she had, but family.

Leia sat beside her and must have waved the others away because it was only a few seconds before Tahiri was left alone with just the two Solos. "He's asking about you," were Leia's first words and Tahiri's heart skipped a beat. Two, three. She forced herself to suck in a breath and her heart restarted. "He's worried about you. He wants to know that you're okay."

"What did you tell him?" Tahiri managed to squeak out. Her throat was tightening against the tears she was holding back.

Leia hesitated. "I probably didn't handle it like I should have. My first thought was to come get you. Tahiri, he needs to see you."

"He wants to see someone that I no longer am."

"And how do you know that won't get back a piece of your old self once you see Anakin again?"
"Because Anakin is in no position to anchor me like he did after Yavin."

Leia shrugged. "Who knows? All I know is that you're scared- and I get that! But Anakin wants to see you and you've been waiting for this kind of healing since he died. Nothing could heal you like this. You miss Anakin and now he's back. I know it's scary but, Tahiri . . . he's here!"

Everything I want back. The desired antidote to my miserable existence. The end to my depression just open for the taking. Seems too wonderful to really work.

But the hum of Anakin's revived and healing aura pulled at her like a tractor beam, slowly reeling her in. She could almost see him, almost delusion herself enough to see his icy tender eyes staring at her with an unmatched warmth already. The idea of cheating death, cheating the Vong and everything that happened on Myrkr was just too appetizing. And all of a sudden, Tahiri felt like the young girl she'd been back then, sucked back to that time. She was young, still hanging on to hope, a hope stored in a boy who wasn't quite yet a man but whom she was falling in love with. Her best friend. It had been so long since she'd been able to claim such an innocence; she'd lost that as soon as the Vong had found her on Yavin IV and begun her Shaping. Then, her young and naive self had forever disappeared. But Anakin had saved her from that- saved her from Riina, from the monster the Vong had built inside of her, from the torture she'd suffered at their hands. He'd built her back up, built her a new shell to protect her from all that pain. However, all of that had fallen down, been crushed, the moment Anakin breathed his last.

This can be a new beginning, a new start, a revival of everything that was before. Before the Vong, before the Shaper, before Myrkr. The thought was just too delightful, too wonderful, too- perfect. And nothing so good had happened to her in too long; Tahiri had forgotten what it felt like to have hope. And to be happy.

Her tears fell off her cheeks, collecting in her open palms- she'd held them in fists for so long. Tahiri fell to her knees and Han and Leia caught her, held her, embraced her, reminding her that they were her family, that they'd always been, that they always would be. That embrace was everything to Tahiri.

Her tears now dripping steadily from the corners of her eyes, she managed to squeak out, "I need to see him."

Leia nodded and lifted her up for a proper hug. Tahiri melted into the reassuring gesture but was lost in her own world, her own whirling thoughts and she hardly realized it as Han and Leia took positions at her sides, gently and slowly guiding her down the hall. It was hardly even a blur to her. All that she was aware of was herself, her feet taking shaky, hesitant steps and Han and Leia's arms holding onto her. Until he found her. She immediately noticed his familiar touch reaching out to her in the Force as he became aware of her presence. His touch was filled with such an excitement, relief- and then a muffled fear. Tahiri figured this to be the moment he recognized the difference in her. But then his fear suddenly vanished and all Tahiri sensed from him was- another feeling she hadn't felt in so long: the feeling of being reunited with her best friend. It was warm and freshly thrilling, like the sudden rush that came with a double-shot of spice in a cup of caf. Or, that sparkling high once a dose of glitterstim kicked in for an addict. It was still there; she was still consciously aware of it as the hug caught her attention. It was warm, assuring, like when you don't expect new times to feel like old times. She felt his embrace before her feet got ahead of herself and she broke free of the Solos' hold. Her palm planted flatly against a cool entry pad.
And there he was.

She swallowed, her stomach catching up with her, but then her body relaxed just as quickly. The expanse of her awareness beyond herself and Anakin turned to a fuzzy, dim background. She saw him sitting there and when his gentle, ice blue eyes turned to hold hers . . .

She felt free. Something in her released, loosening something that had been clenched too tightly for too long. It fell back into place. Tahiri couldn't think, couldn't register anything, but some of her feeling returned when she realized that she'd darted to his side, grabbed his face, and allowed her lips to speak without words. It didn't last long; it didn't need to. But once she broke the connection and took her first breath, consciousness was lost to her.

Anakin stared wide-eyed over the edge of his bed, registering the basic details first after this- interesting reunion. Tahiri was out cold, lying in a lump on the floor. He looked up to his family. Leia looked shocked, worried, and hurried to the woman's side while Jaina was shocked but laughing. As for Anakin's father, Han was frowning, pulling credits out of his pocket and handing them over to Jaina. Leia caught this and scowled, tugging on the bottom of Han's pants. "Han! Help me!"

"Is she okay?" Anakin asked as Han and Leia carefully lifted Tahiri.

"She's out cold," Han reported and he carried her limp body across the room to lie in a reclining seat. "But she's okay."

"Well. That wasn't exactly the 'hi' that I was imagining," Anakin stated glumly.

Leia, who had only made it to the room in time to see Tahiri lying on the floor along with Jaina and Han, returned to her son's side and asked, "Did she say anything? Did you say anything before she-?"

Anakin shook his head. His frown disappeared, replaced by a pure look of awe and worry. "No. No, she - came running in and . . . " He suddenly smiled. "She kissed me. And then she was out."

Nervous laughter bubbled quietly from Leia. She took a seat on the edge of Anakin's bunk, reaching out an arm to brush along his. "Anakin, what happened to you on Myrkr . . ."

"My death."

Leia nodded. "Your death was really hard on Tahiri. I don't think it's in my place to really explain, but it was as hard on Tahiri as it was on us. It devastated her. She never got over it, Anakin. No matter how she further responds to all of this, I just want to make sure you know that. This isn't going to be easy for her either. These years since the strike team mission have been rough on her."

"You think I need to be warned?"

"I think that you're going to be startled when you start to see how hard it was on her."

"So, you're warning me."

Leia hesitated, though she knew it was true. Everything and everyone around Anakin was so new and Leia ached for him, didn't want him to become overwhelmed with how completely foreign it all was. Including Tahiri. Especially Tahiri. " . . . Yes."

Tahiri Veila's mind was a prison. She'd been living in a prison for fourteen years- since Anakin died. Since that time, she'd suffered periods of insanity, the prison gates closing and suddenly becoming a psychiatric ward. She was still familiar with the desperation that would sweep her over, the burning need for some kind of relief, a break. A step back from the reality she woke up every morning to. Anakin is still gone.

Seeing Anakin now triggered memories of every desperate day she'd had.

Why am I alive when the one I love is dead?

"I would never hurt either of you! You're my family!"

"I didn't call you by your name, Tahiri. I called you Riina."

"Outwardly she seemed okay; she appeared to be holding herself together."

"But then Anakin died, and that must have changed everything."

"Only Anakin's intervention had saved her."

"We are bound together, you and I. This is a fate we must accept."

"We have to help them learn to live together. We must teach them how to become one."

"I don't want to lose who I am."

My guilt calls out to me. My love is dead, and I am alive. And I carry with me the kiss he wanted me to share with him. I told him to collect it later, but there was no later. Was there?

Was there a letter now? Was this the later that she'd been searching for? The one she'd foolishly believed Caedus could provide her in one trip of flow-walking? The later she'd desperately held onto hope for so many years.

Had 'later' finally come?

Tahiri came back to in an uncomfortable, medcenter chair. She looked up and Anakin was the first thing she saw. He wasn't looking at her; he was staring, watching her in anticipation. "Hi," he greeted softly. Her heart skipped a beat. Her throat locked up, rendering her of the ability to respond. Even if she could, she wouldn't know what to say. Too much time had gone by- time during which Tahiri had shed so many tears just imagining the last 14 years and the future she'd lost with Anakin. Now, however, later had come. And though the last 14 years were past her, the future was still open for the taking.

"Anakin." It was all she could manage, the only intelligible word her mind could muster. But he beamed at her in response. "Tahiri."

She blinked, completely and utterly lost for words. Thank goodness Anakin had become more talkative since they'd reunited on Yavin. Cracking a lopsided smile that made Tahiri's stomach flip, Anakin began talking- as if they hadn't lost 14 years together. "You look . . . different."

Tahiri allowed herself to breathe as she found her relief. Words- easy, simple, ironic and memory-filled words- came to her. "Older maybe? I'm 28 now. Last week."

"Happy birthday."

"You should have thought of it then, but thanks anyway. Dummy."

Now, Anakin's smile reached his eyes, illuminating his aura with pure and unrestrained joy.

The words of the old joke had come so easy to Tahiri and it surprised her so much that she actually laughed. It felt so good, so right. Another feeling she missed.

"You're, uh, still barefoot, I see."

Tahiri still remembered her next reply but her throat locked up again and her laughter and smile disappeared, replaced as she broke into hysteric sobs at his side. "Anakin! You have no idea what it means to see you again! How hard it's been!"

"Hey!" He seized her hand and held it still between his own. His grip was warm, not cold like it had been when Tahiri had held his hands aboard the Trickster, on the way to Hapes. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm back."

Tahiri pressed his palm to her cheek.

"Somebody must have missed me if I earned a kiss for a 'welcome back'," he tried to joke.

"That was for the one I denied you on Myrkr. A thousand times, I could have killed myself over that."

Anakin's face drooped with his discouragement. "That isn't funny, Tahiri."

"I'm not trying to be funny."

Tahiri smiled for him. "Should we try again?"

Anakin reached for her hand back. "Come here."

Tahiri sat on the edge of Anakin's bunk, leaning forward, cautious not to hurt him. She drove straight in and was slightly startled when her mouth met his foreign thick beard. She chuckled, backing away. "I don't know if I can handle the beard, Solo."

"Well, deal with it for now and kiss me because you owe me a good one, Veila."

Freeing herself of every chain that had been holding down her heart, Tahiri obeyed and leaned in to give Anakin the kiss she'd spent 14 years dreaming of giving him.