Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. Just my Oc. Writing fan-fiction for fun.

Chapter Nineteen: Family

There was a debriefing happening with Admiral D'Arcy and the remaining fighter pilots. Poe and the others had gone, but Elle stayed with her mom. Poe had paced back and forth before Elle pushed him to go with the others. She'd been the only one left that survived the blast. They lost everyone, including Admiral Ackbar.

And there were no more leaders to lead them. The Resistance was falling apart, and Elle couldn't help but feel slightly responsible for it. She was sitting outside her mother's room, where her mother laid in a medical white gown with her head wrapped in a bandage.

She leant her elbows against her knees and folded her hands together. She leant her chin against them, and tried to hold back her tears.

"Oh my stars," a voice said, startling her in the hallway. Elle blinked, and turned to face where the voice came from. "My have you grown."

Elle frowned. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

The woman with purple short hair, and a gray gown bit back a bashful smile. She folded her hands in front of her. "I'm sorry, where are my manners. I'm Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a friend of your mothers. And you must be, Elle."

"She never mentioned you," Elle's frown deepened, as she cast a slight glance to the window peering inside her mother's room before she flicked back to the purple-haired lady.

"I see we have much to catch up on," she replied with a light smile on her face.

"I'm really not in the mood," Elle said, turning to face the room.

"Elle," she stepped forward, making Elle close her eyes, wishing the lady would disappear, but it didn't seem to be happening any time soon. She was as real as the Raddus.

"I'm your godmother."

Elle spun in her chair to look up at her.

What?!

This skinny old woman in front of her was her Godmother?!

She took a few steps forward and hesitated, looking down at the empty chair.

"May I?"

Elle's eyes drifted sideways to the empty chair then at her.

"Well, you're my godmother, so sure, why not?"

A silence slipped in between the two women, whether it was uncomfortable or not, Elle wasn't sure. She was really just trying to keep her head from above water at this point.

"As godmother, she entrusted me with many secrets. I was her closet ally and friend during some trying times. We did try to stop this," Holdo said. She couldn't stress it enough. People were mad at her. Irate with her. She understood that completely. She still had a job to do. And she hoped one day that people would understand, and hoped her speech was enough to keep things moving smoothly into transition with her own plan. She noticed that Elle wasn't with the rest of the Resistance and had been at her mother's the entire time.

Understandable.

But did Elle understand how much?

Elle didn't say anything, so Holdo kept going.

"It was a bit of a shock to hear that you'd gone over to the Dark Side. There were rumors you'd turned, gone dark, but I didn't believe it was true."

"Why not?" Elle whispered, her voice tight with raw emotion inside of her.

"Because of who you are," she said.

"She wanted to tell me before the explosion," Elle said, looking at her mother's body on the medical bed, hooked to wires, recovering from her heavy ordeal. "She never got the chance to."

"You remember how Leia and Luke got separated?" Holdo asked. "One child remained on Tatooine, the other on Alderaan, separate, and hidden from their father, Darth Vader?"

Elle nodded. "Of course I know the story, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Elle," she said, making Elle turn to face her with just the tone of her voice in one sentence.

"You're a Skywalker."

Elle closed her eyes and swallowed hard, wishing and pretending she just didn't say that out loud.

She shook her head. "What? That's impossible. I mean, I…grew up on D'Qar. I played with my brother many times when we were little, a-and…I always knew my parents as Han and Leia Solo…." Elle said, as though she was trying to wrap her head around the huge blow she just took to heart.

"Ben is your first cousin. Luke is your father."

Elle didn't want it to be true. But the feelings and thoughts in Holdo's eyes that stared back at her were clear. It was honestly the clearest moment Elle's ever been in, in a long time. At least, things were starting to become clearer within her muddled hazed mind.

"Why, why the name change? Why would I be raised as an Organa-Solo?" Elle fought to find her words through the haze in her mind.

Holdo looked at her hands within her lap a bit bashfully. "Maybe I should let your mom tell you the rest when she wakes up."

"If," Elle said softly. "Please, tell me Admiral." She was tired of the lies, and tired of the past being somehow cloaked from her, though her moth- she cringed, and paused at that. Aunt. Leia was now her Aunt. She promised her to protect it. How could she, when she was still so lost herself?

"You can call me Amilyn if you'd like," she said, wondering if that'd make it easier on her.

Elle inhaled sharply. Baby steps, Holdo, baby steps, Elle thought to herself.

"Admiral?" Elle gave her a small smile for her to continue.

"Oh, very well," Holdo said, and continued. "It's a long story."

"And you got time, right?" Elle guessed, sensing Holdo was stalling for something else that was weighing on this woman's mind.

Holdo pressed her thin lips together.

"You and Ben became close. Like brother and sister, almost. Leia saw you were a Force-Sensitive too. So, she sent you to train under your father at the Jedi Temple. She couldn't bear to separate you two."

"Something happened the night we were there, Admiral," Elle said softly. "Something terrible. I'm not really sure what happened. But, he saved my life after the temple was almost destroyed. He offered me a chance of freedom. I asked him about Uncle Lu...about my dad, he said he didn't make it. So we fled. And then..." she sighed, closing her eyes, unsure if she should tell Holdo the rest of what Ben told her what truly happened the night they fled the temple and nearly burned it to the ground. It'd been too painful to think about what her father could've tried to do to her broth-cousin. Now, she understood why he was so tired. He was tired of the lies too. She really thought Ben and her were done for. Until Snoke showed up and found them, taking them in as his own. That's when everything became cloudy again.

"Well. There you have it. I was his sister, Admiral. I would've followed him anywhere."

"Exactly. He knew you as his sister. You two were connected, bonded. As an older brother, he would protect you no matter what, make sure no harm would come to you, even if you had to go with him to the Dark Side," she said. It was a dirty trick, but a safe one. It was hard to explain, complicated, but it'd worked. Elle was here now, wasn't she? But Holdo had to try and help her understand the situation as best as she could. She was no Leia by any means, but she'd tried her best to be a friend, and do anything for her.

Holdo closed her eyes painfully, and regretfully before she continued Elle's history lesson.

"As the daughter of the great Master Luke Skywalker, and legend, he asked your mom to look after you. And in turn, should anything happen to her, she asked me to be your godmother. He wanted you to take on the family name of Organa-Solo in case anything happened."

"When I was on Kylo Ren's ship, seduced by the Dark Side, I was having nightmares, visions of an island surrounded by water. And I heard his voice calling out to me, and trying to reach me. At first I thought I heard Mo….Aunt Leia's, I don't know, maybe it had been both, a bit of a mixture perhaps, but it was my father's wasn't it?" Elle asked.

Holdo nodded. "Yes. Both, I'd like to think. Leia loved you so much. She wanted to protect you just as much. I'd like to believe he was trying to reach you, too, trying to bring you home to us as your father."

"Who is my real mom, Amilyn?" Elle asked.

Her eyes lit up a bit when she called her by her first name, but then fell to sorrow. She looked down, almost shamefully as if she'd blamed herself for it.

"Her name was Mara Jade. And she was beautiful, and a powerhouse. She worked on many covert operations for us. She was the best."

"But?" Elle prompted.

"But part of why your father and his sister went into such great lengths to cover up your identity was because of her. They used as many cloaking methods within the Force as they could muster into concealing you from the Dark Side. Elle," she paused, waiting for Elle to look up at her and stare into her eyes. Elle gulped a little, drowning in the information at hand. She blinked, ready to hear more. "Your mother was killed by a Sith. Rumored. Luke searched galaxies for her killer, before Leia prompted him to start training new Jedi before he spiraled out of control. The loss of her weighed heavily on his shoulders, and he blamed himself for many years."

"He did?" Elle asked, swallowing back a thick lump that had formed in the back of her throat.

Holdo gave her a firm nod.

A shiver ran down Elle's spine. She felt sad. "So, I'm not a daughter of a smuggler am I?"

"Well, not Han's, but your mother was. Her skills were one of the reasons why we recruited for her covert affairs with the Dark Side."

Holdo gave her a small smile.

Elle smiled too.

Elle let out a sigh as if she'd been holding it in for a long time.

"Wow. Luke is my father," she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully, letting it all sink in an mull over before it suddenly occurred to her. "Did Han know the truth?"

Holdo nodded. "Yes. He knew. And he loved you so much. He was going to raise you and treat you like his own daughter no matter what. He would protect you, and Ben at all costs. Leia wanted to raise you in a family environment, a safe environment and D'Qar was one of the safest places in the galaxy."

Elle hummed lightly at that.

"They were worried that the plan went sour when you disappeared, but I held hope. It's what Leia would've done in her younger years when I traveled with her during our diplomatic missions together. I knew because of who you were, you'd stay strong, and climb out. You and your father, Luke had a bond too. He wanted to protect you from all of this."

"Didn't do much good did it?" Elle asked softly. "I still went dark."

"Yet," Holdo gave her a smile. "You pulled out just in time, mama," she gave her a wink, and Elle turned bright pink.

"How'd you know?" Elle asked.

Holdo chuckled, and motioned a nod at her, noticing that Elle was holding her stomach for comfort.

"You're already a natural."

"I guess going Dark was better than a permanent death?"

"Now you get it," Holdo nodded approvingly at her. "Look, Elle, the way I see it, is that you didn't kill anyone while you were over there, did you?"

Elle shook her head. "Well, maybe one general."

"And, I bet he was asking for it right? Self-defense?"

"Yeah. But I didn't do anything to stop Kylo Ren, which is sometimes just as worse."

She'd been afraid. Sad. Tormented. And then she almost killed Leia. She very well could have.

"I almost killed her, Amilyn," Elle whispered.

Holdo looked at her and then at Leia's body. "But you didn't. And she'll pull through. She's one of the strongest people I know, Elle. I promise."

There was silence for a little bit that fell through. Elle gulped and looked down at the floor. A strange thought occurred to her at a time like this.

"You know, I haven't even told him yet."

Holdo let out a sigh. "Let me guess, flyboy?"

Elle's rosy cheeks turned bright red like a strawberry. Again she nodded at the woman.

"What am I going to do? I don't want him thinking anything else but the mission at hand," Elle said suddenly in a rush. "A-and what are we going to do? The First Order is still trying to wipe us all out! We have to get away from here, a-and I can't very well much fly much longer, can I?"

Holdo saw her stressed outburst, and held her hands that were flying about her face all over the place. She grasped onto them. "Elle, honey, calm down. I have everything under control. The fighters are at their posts where they should be, on standby."

"Standby?" Elle bit back a frown.

Holdo looked down, avoiding her eyes.

"We're figuring it out. We always have a plan," she replied, trying to keep her calm. Too much stress could not be good for the baby even if it was a little powerful bean. "Look, you have to tell Poe eventually. Maybe you should go to his post, and let him know, Elle. He has a right to know."

Elle tried to read the woman's face, crinkled with worry. There was something going on that she wasn't telling her. But coming up with nothing, she eventually nodded. Damn her. She was right.

"Yeah," she said. "Among other things. And my aunt?"

"Threepio will look after her," Holdo said. "And Admiral D'Arcy'll be checking on her every hour of the clock for any changes. I promise we'll alert you when she wakes up. Go take care of family matters."

Elle nodded. "All right," she let out a sigh and ran her hands over her aching, stiffed neck before she stood up along with Holdo at her side.

She turned to her, a small smile on her face. "Do you think he'll be freaked out if he knows I'm a Skywalker now?"

Holdo let out a small chuckle. "Go."

"Okay," she held up her hands, and turned down the corridor to go find Poe.

"Elle?" she said, catching her in mid-step in the middle of the hallway.

Elle turned around. "Be that spark of hope that I know you are. That I know came from your father, Luke Skywalker."

Elle swallowed hard and nodded before she took off again.

Holdo looked after the girl, giving her a smile of hope.

~*TLJ*~

A/n: So...hopefully that made sense! And that you liked the twist. :) More Holdo/Poe/Elle goodness in the next chapter!Thank you for following, favoriting, and reviewing, especially the recents!