Extended Family

A/N: I wrote this a couple days after seeing RotJ for the first time ever, so if some of the details are wrong, I apologize. Hope you enjoy, please read and review!

It was all over, the Empire had been defeated, everything the Rebels had been fighting for years to accomplish, had finally happened. Word of the Empire's destruction had spread through the galaxy quickly, planets all over had held huge celebrations in response. It had been a lot of fun and excitement, but that was a few days ago, and now everybody was tired and weary and just wanted to go home. Which actually posed an interesting question, where was home? For Han Solo it was an easy question with an easier answer, home was and always would be on the Millennium Falcon. But with no need for Rebel bases anymore set up across the galaxy, a lot of people were suddenly faced with a dilemma they hadn't been privileged enough to wonder for many years: where were they going to live? Where were their permanent residences now that they could actually set them up, and didn't have to keep two steps ahead of the Imperials all the time?

It was a good question and Han was just glad he didn't have to come up with it. As it was his bones felt tired and he was enjoying a steady trip back with Chewie, Leia, Luke, the droids, and oh yeah Lando too. He was just relieved to be traveling, he thought they'd never get off of Endor. There wasn't anything worse than trying to say goodbye to the Ewoks. They'd been at ends with one another initially but once they joined forces the small humanoid bears hadn't wanted their visitors to go. Han would bet anything he had they spent three hours just hugging them all goodbye, apparently Ewoks could be a very emotional species of people when they wanted to be. Then they'd boarded the ship and discovered a few had sneaked on to try and leave with them, and emptying Falcon of their newfound friends had been a taxing experience in and of itself, they'd get two off, three more would scamper up the boarding ramp to try and slip past the wookiee and the humans, and every single one of them would need another hug goodbye.

Han rubbed his eyes but wasn't sure if he felt tired or not, or if he felt wiry. He was still coming to terms with the fact he'd been carbon frozen and an ugly decoration hanging on Jabba's wall, for an entire year. To him it felt like only yesterday that son of a bantha Vader had done that to him, but everything had changed so much, everyone had changed so much, and now, this new revelation that Luke and Leia were twins. Not only that, to be brought up to speed that Vader was in fact Luke's father, the once legendary Jedi Anakin Skywalker, somewhere in the Corellian's mind he could hear himself whistling as he slowly tried to grasp all this data.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to sleep, or not, but he felt like he had to do something, he had to get up, move around. He'd never felt anything but at home in the cockpit of his ship, but right now he couldn't concentrate on piloting the Falcon across the galaxy for anything.

He turned to the man sitting behind him and said, "Lando, take over for a while, I need...to do something..."

"Sure thing, Han," Lando got up and moved over to Solo's seat alongside Chewie.

Han dragged his tired bones out of the cockpit. He didn't know if he wanted to sleep, or if he wanted to get a hot cup of caf to stay awake, or if he wanted to get a shower, but he felt like he had to get up and do something, that he couldn't just stay in one place for very long.

He did however momentarily pause in the lounge when he saw Leia curled up asleep on the sofa.

This right here, this felt to the smuggler like he'd won some major prize, like karma had finally given him a break for once in his life. That he knew once and for all that she was his, and now they could actually be together. That in itself was mind blowing, but there was so much more than that at stake now. Jabba was dead, Vader was dead, the emperor was dead, everybody was finally free, they were safe, they could do what they wanted now, live out their lives as they saw fit, with no fear of anybody coming after them. It was a strange feeling and he wasn't sure how long it would take them to adjust to it.

For that matter...there was something else Han felt that he needed to tend to right now. The one member of their party who had become withdrawn fairly early after takeoff from Endor and retreated to the bunk room to be alone.

The room was dark when he entered but he could still see the skinny kid in black clothes slowly flopping around in the bed.

"Hey Luke," he said as he headed over to the bed, "how's it going?"

"How'd you know I wasn't asleep?" Luke asked, sounding put out by this fact.

"I can hear you thinking in the cockpit," Han joked, and added a little more seriously, "what's the matter?"

Luke sighed, "Just...a lot of things to think about."

"Yeah well I imagine there's a whole lot of that going on in the galaxy right about now," Han said as he sat on the edge of the bed. "Oh..."

Luke's black glove was gone and Han found himself staring at the hand with the black marks and minor damage to it from the fighting. He knew he was staring and tried to stop because he could feel Luke's eyes on him, watching him stare, but he couldn't look away fast enough.

"Sorry..." he finally said as he looked the young Jedi in the face, "Leia was catching me up on what all's been happening in my absence, I...I'm sorry..."

Luke shrugged dismissively, "You get used to it after a while...it looks bad but it's still functional...still, I need to get it looked at when we get back."

"Yeah...uh...I'm, sorry, that I wasn't around for that," Han said.

Luke shook his head, "It doesn't matter." He breathed in a slow inhale, and told the smuggler without looking at him, "He had one too."

"What's that?" Han asked.

Luke slowly looked at Han and explained, "Vader...my father...he had one too...during the fight, I cut his hand off...it was just wires and metal...same side too...we apparently had more in common than I thought...how's that for irony?"

"Ah...I'll be honest, kid, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that," Han told him, "but I gotta tell you...you're a bigger man than I am, anybody did that to me...I wouldn't be so forgiving."

"And that way lies the Dark Side," Luke said almost mechanically, "anger, fear, aggression, Yoda told me all about it."

It then dawned on Luke that Han had been carbon frozen for much of what had taken place after Luke had first gone to Dagobah to find Yoda and train with him. He spent a long time catching Han up on some of the things that he'd missed over the past year, and included his return trip to Dagobah, only to find Yoda old and sick and dying.

"I mean," he suddenly broke up the conversation, "he was 900 years, he'd lived a full life, still..."

"It had to be hard for you," Han said, knowing from the way Luke talked about him that he'd found a friend in that annoying short green man.

"I'd told him that I'd come back and resume my training...and I never got there...and when I did, he told me I'd already learned everything I needed to know, he just told me to stay there so I wouldn't find out the truth about my father." Luke looked at him sheepishly and shrugged, "I mean it kind of makes sense, but it doesn't...I guess it's what Ben would call 'truth from a certain point of view'."

"I don't remember the crazy old man ever saying anything like that," Han shook his head.

"He appeared to me after Yoda died," Luke answered as if it was the most normal thing in the galaxy.

Han kept his mouth shut and merely nodded, acting like he understood when he didn't have a damn clue, but knew it wouldn't do him any good to ask.

Luke became unusually silent after that, and Han wasn't sure whether to probe or not, but after a minute or so, he couldn't take it, and asked, "You okay, Luke?"

"He saved me," Luke said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Vader died, saving me from the Emperor," Luke told him, and recalled the events leading up to Darth Vader's death.

When he finished, Han just looked at him and said, "You said there was still good in him, I guess you knew what you were talking about after all."

"I didn't want him to die," Luke said as he fell back against the pillow, "I wanted to save him from the Dark Side."

"He killed the Emperor to save you, it sounds like you did," Han pointed out.

"I know, but not like that...that's not how I wanted it to happen," Luke told him.

Despite the dim lights in the room, Han was not oblivious to the small shine they cast as two tears slowly rolled down Luke's face. His voice was strong as he told the Corellian, "I'm not mourning my father...not what he was...I don't think anyway...I don't know..." with each sentence he sounded more and more unsure of himself. "A few days ago, everything was clear, it all made sense...and now...I just feel like I don't know anything anymore."

"Well you gotta admit, kid, a lot's happened in the past few days to adjust to, it's going to be a little confusing," Han said, "especially for you. I mean did you even know Vader was your father before Yoda told you?"

Luke glanced down evasively and reluctantly answered, "I didn't want to believe it...but I tried to figure out why he would lie about something like that, and I couldn't think of any reason...I suspected it had to be true, but Yoda was the only one who could say for certain. It all feels real, but it also doesn't."

"Trust me, kid, grief's a funny thing, it'll take you to some pretty damned places, make you think all kinds of things you never thought about before," Han said, "sometimes all you can do is let it, and eventually you'll find your way back...besides, you got all of us to help rein you in."

Despite the pained expression on the young man's face, Han did detect a trace of a smile as Luke told him, "I'm really glad you're back, Han."

"I'm glad to be back, kid...granted time kind of stands still when you're frozen in carbonite...but you still get the sense something's missing. So...Leia's your twin sister?"

"Apparently," Luke answered.

"Huh...well then it's a good thing I came along when I did, isn't it?" Han asked. "Or this family would've gotten a whole lot weirder."

Luke turned his face to the side and let out an embarrassed laugh by Han's unspoken innuendo, and choked on another laugh as he forced out, "And it only took you four years to do something with it."

"Hey, your sister likes to play hard to get, luckily for her I like a slow chase," Han answered.

Luke buried the side of his face in his pillow to muffle his laughter.

"Hey, you know something?" Han asked. "If I play my cards right, we might get married someday...then that'd make you my brother-in-law."

Luke turned back towards Han and said quietly, "I'd like that."

"Me too," Han admitted.

Luke looked towards the ceiling and sighed, "I can't believe how much my life has changed in four years, it feels like a century since I was living with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, when I first met you...everything has changed so much, and so fast...I feel ancient...I've felt like I was Yoda's age...but now..." he shook his head, "I don't know...suddenly I feel like that moisture farm kid again, just all...confused, and no idea what I'm doing."

"I wouldn't knock it," Han told him, "I've done some of my best work like that."

"For four years my life has revolved around helping the Alliances defeat the Empire...and now that it's happened...I feel like my life has no meaning anymore...what am I supposed to do now?"

"Oh I don't know," Han replied sarcastically, and looking down at the kid through one eye he added, "find a girl...get married...start a family...something crazy like that."

A small laugh escaped from Luke's lips.

At some point Luke felt his eyes close, though he wasn't asleep yet, but he didn't have the strength to stay awake. He felt the mattress shift as Han laid down beside him on the bunk, he didn't care, if he had to guess, the smuggler was probably as exhausted as he was after the last few days they'd had.

Luke did however find the strength to open his eyes when he felt a hand on the back of his head.

"Han?"

"Hm?" the Corellian sounded almost asleep.

Still that didn't little to alleviate the questions racing in Luke's mind as he asked the older man, "What're you doing?"

"Heh?" Han grumbled. It was a few seconds before Luke felt the hand move and heard the smuggler, a little more coherently, "Oh, sorry, kid. Apparently being frozen for a year makes you a little weird."

"Well if we don't mention it to anyone, I doubt they'll figure it out," Luke replied.

"Huh?" Han turned towards him, and the two had a good laugh at that.

Suddenly Luke scared the hell out of Han by lunging towards him and gripping him tight enough the smuggler could hardly breathe.

"Don't leave us again, Han."

Somehow Han didn't feel surprised. That oh so serious, disciplined, determined Jedi was gone, and here was that young and scared farm kid again, as if Han had known he'd pop up again when the time was just right.

"It wasn't really my choice, kid," Han reminded him.

It didn't matter.

"I know," Luke groaned, "but don't do it again, we need you."

If Luke didn't sound so terrified, Han would've laughed at it all. But there was nothing funny about the tremors he could feel pressing against him as they surged through Luke's body. It sounded to Han like he'd missed a hell of a lot in the last year after all. He hugged the younger man and replied, trying to sound his usual joking self, "Well it's always nice to be needed."

Somehow the kid's grip got even stronger as Luke clung tighter to him. He looked at Han and told him, or tried to tell him, but stumbled on the words, "You know...you were more...you were the...you're..."

Han had a pretty good idea what the kid was trying to say, that he was the only real father figure Luke had had in his life, and the Corellian told him, "I appreciate it, kid, of course you realize then if I do marry your sister, this family's going to get a whole lot weirder anyway."

A small combined laugh/sob worked its way loose as Luke pressed his head against the smuggler's shoulder.

"Hey, listen to me, kid," Han said, "it's all over now...it's going to be okay."

"Aww, look, Chewie," Leia said from where they stood in the doorway and saw the two men asleep in the same bunk, "our little family's all together again."

Chewbacca grunted something in agreement and added something in an inquiring rumble.

Leia smiled as she looked at her brother and the man she loved and said simply, "No, let them sleep, they've earned it. Come on." She turned and they left and headed back to the cockpit to join Lando for the remainder of the flight.