Keeping her arms wrapped securely around her dad's waist, Leia couldn't believe that he had come to rescue them. Now that they were alone, they could finally talk, and she had so many things to tell him. It felt like a lifetime ago that they were taken from Bakura. The last time she'd seen him had been when he'd told her off, coming home late after ditching Luke after school. It seemed like a million light years ago.

"I missed you so much dad," she said, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her face into his stomach. "I'm sorry, everything that happened has been all my fault."

"What's all your fault, my dear?" he said, picking her up with his strong arms and placing her on his hip.

Hiding her face in the crook of his neck, Leia couldn't bear to look at her father when she confessed what had happened on that fateful day.

"The reason why Luke and I were taken is because I used the Force on Dumbon and broke his arm when he was being mean to me and Nadira. When I came home from school, I didn't tell you or mom about it, but I'm sorry. I already told mom and she said it was all in the past," she started to cry and was glad that none of the other adults on the ship could see. "But I'm so sorry."

Luke was still hugging dad around the waist and her brother patted her back to comfort her. Her father held them both close so that they melded together and Leia cried even harder as relief and exhaustion poured out of her. Finally, her and Luke were safe and her emotions were running high.

"It's alright my love. These events would've happened sooner or later," he adjusted her weight on his forearm. "You are both so brave for enduring all you've gone through. Your mother and I are so very proud of you. And, you are the best young Jedi I've ever trained."

"Really?" Luke said.

Sniffing into the material of his shirt and leaving an even wetter patch on the damp material, Leia nodded, not wanting the hug to end. Relief, love and joy at being reunited flowed through their Force bond, and she could see that he was not upset with her at all. Just like mom, he had forgiven her instantly. Leia's tears began to dry up as her dad sent waves of reassurance to her and Luke through the Force.

Since all three of them were still sodden from the rain on the walkway, dad made sure they changed into their spare academy clothes and dried their hair in the fresher. Then he went to change, coming back into the room in a familiar peasant outfit from Bakura that looked out of place on the high-tech space ship. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, being apart from him for even for a few minutes had made her nervous, as if he would disappear.

Running over and clinging to him again, Leia and Luke refused to release him and so dad waddled to the bunk with them glued on, sitting down and wrapping his arms around them both.

"First things first, I need to know if your mother is alright."

They nodded and Luke spoke up first. "Mom's alright, and she's had the baby now."

"She pooped her out just fine," Leia added, remembering how babies were born.

A mixture of emotions passed over her father's face and he breathed out a sigh of relief before laughing slightly at her phrasing. "Her?"

"It's a girl," Leia said, grinning at seeing his happiness. "A little baby sister."

"A girl…" he breathed in shock, his smile blossoming into a huge grin that lit up his whole face. "And her name?"

"June, but we all call her Junie. Mom said you both picked it before," Luke informed him, leaning against his chest.

"Yes, we did," he said, looking with unfocused eyes at the wall as if his mind was hundreds of parsecs away. "Where is she now? Is she with Darth Vader?"

Leia nodded. "Yeah, they're on Coruscant, in the Imperial Palace."

"Vader told me mom spends all day with Junie looking after her," Luke said.

"Vader has been speaking to you since you left his ship?"

"Yeah, we talk sometimes over Holo call. I even sent him a present!"

"A present?"

"Luke made a statue of the Emperor with clay and glitter and sent it to Coruscant for him," Leia informed him, playing with her hair.

Their father looked very surprised, but she didn't know why. "What a thoughtful thing to do Luke," he patted his head and her brother beamed at the praise. "Tell me children, what's happened since your mother arrived on Vader's ship? I'm completely in the dark."

"Hmmm," Leia cast her mind back. So much had happened since then. "Well, firstly Vader took us to meet his Master, the Emperor."

Father's whole body tensed beneath her and Leia looked up, noting how sharp and concerned his face had become, just like when she'd told mom about meeting him.

"The Emperor?"

"He made us fight Vader with the Dark side, the same thing they taught us at the academy," Luke said. "It was horrible, but we haven't seen him since then. We were okay afterwards, because Vader took us to mom and we weren't afraid anymore."

He stroked Luke's hair, worry on his features. "What happened after that?"

Luke began a high-speed retelling of events, leaving no detail untouched. "…And then Vader took us on a tour of his real star destroyer ship and we got to play inside a real Lambda-class T-4a shuttle! Then we saw the bridge and Vader flew the ship around and it was so wizard. Then we were cooped up in the apartment, but the serving droids were nice. I even had shuura cream donuts for the first time, they were amazing. It had blue sprinkles on it shaped like stars, and mom said I could only have one donut but FN-84 gave me two!"

"Luke, get back on track," she reminded him.

"Oh, so then we were in the apartment for ages, but Vader took us out on more tours of the ship, and can you believe it dad, we got to fly a TIE Reaper! Not just watch him fly it, but fly it ourselves! And we got to shoot garbage with the laser cannons!" Luke was standing up on his knees now in the bunk, demonstrating the shooting and the explosions with his hands.

"Then we were made to leave mom to go to the academy," Leia continued for him as he was occupied by making sound effects. "We talked to her every evening, and then about a week ago she told us Junie had been born."

Dad had been listening intently to their recounting. "It sounds like Vader took an effort to get to know you. What did you think of him?"

"Mom said he was evil…but…secretly, I didn't think that. He was nice to us…" she said, trailing off.

"I tapped on his mind shields," Luke said, falling back down and draping himself over dad's legs.

"You did what?" he asked incredulously.

"I was curious!"

"That was a very dangerous thing to do Luke! He is a Sith!"

"The Force told me to do it…"

Leia looked back and forth between them. That excuse had been used many times when they were younger and up to antics, but this time it had been true.

"He wasn't angry at all," Luke hastily defended himself. "He even covered for me so mom wouldn't be mad at me."

Dad frowned. "What did you sense when you entered his mind?"

"Nothing, it was so well shielded like a fortress, I couldn't sense any emotions at all."

Placing a hand on his chin, where he would've stroked his beard if it was still there, he looked deep in thought for a few moments. "Leia, you said your mother told you about her past when she was a queen. What else did she tell you?"

Leia twirled her hair around her fingers and looked up into his kind, familiar eyes. She didn't want to tell him what they had found out, but she knew she had to.

"Mom told us about Anakin Skywalker and how he was her husband before," she paused, watching his reaction. "She told us that the Emperor made him evil and so he became Vader, the monster. And then Vader did bad things, and you saved mom when we were born. Then you and mom fell in love…"

"We know…that Vader is our other father," Luke continued for her quietly.

Leia could feel her father's hurt and brought her arms up around his neck for a hug. A warm hand stroked her back and she sent reassurance through their bond of how much she loved and adored him, just as he had done for her earlier when she was crying.

"But we love you the most dad," she said, hugging him tight.

"No one else will ever be our father," she heard Luke say beside her.

Sighing, he drew them both close. "Me and Padmé were going to tell you when you were a little older and could understand it all properly. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"It's alright," she said, eager to reassure him.

"You two are the greatest thing to ever happen to me."

"Really?" Luke asked.

"Really."

"What about mom?"

"Her as well."

"What about Junie?"

"Her too."

"What about-"

Leia looked down and saw a hand clamped over Luke's mouth, preventing him from continuing his annoying questions and they laughed.

"You're the best dad in the whole galaxy," she said.

To her surprise, his eyes were shining like he was about to cry. With exception to the time mom had revealed that she was pregnant, Leia couldn't remember ever seeing her father shed a single tear. Looking closely at his beloved face and touching his stubbly cheek, Leia sent more love and reassurance through their bond and patted his hair to comfort him.

"I've missed you both so much," he said with a watery smile.

"We missed you more," Luke said, snuggling closer. "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Can we have a baby brother next instead of a girl? I don't want any more girls after this."

Dad laughed, a wonderful sound. "We'll see."

"Where are we going now?" Leia asked, moving down to press her face against his chest.

"To a rebel base on Dantooine. We'll be safe there. Children, I know it's hard to get your head around, but you must keep Vader being your biological father a secret. People don't know that Anakin Skywalker became Vader," he stroked her back.

"So, it's ok to say Anakin is our real father, but not Vader? And that you're our foster father?"

"Yes."

They nodded in understanding. Leia hoped she wouldn't slip up; it was confusing enough as it was without having to keep some parts a secret.

"Mom said that she's going to look after Junie until we can all see her again. When will that be? Are we going to go back home to Bakura when mom comes back? Can we rescue her from Coruscant?" Leia asked.

"I don't know. We will have to take things a day at a time," dad's voice rumbled in his chest.

"Why don't we send a ship there in the middle of the night and mom can jump on it? Like how we just did?" Luke asked.

"I think she might have difficulty jumping onto a ship with Junie in her arms."

"Oh yeah," Luke yawned. "What if we gave her a jetpack?"

As they talked about how to rescue mom, dad shuffled down in the bunk so they were lying horizontally. Since they'd been rescued in the middle of the night, Leia wasn't surprised when she began to feel sleepy, despite the thrill of their adventurous escape. The ship's air was a little cold and stale, with a metallic taste to it, and so she pressed her face into her father's side, breathing in his warm familiar smell and feeling safe for the first time since being parted from mother.

After a while the conversation died down and she realised Luke had fallen asleep. What a baby.

"You should try and get some sleep Leia," dad's voice drifted through their bond, speaking into her mind. They rarely talked like this, partly because it took a lot of concentration for her and Luke to reply with their current skill level.

"I'm not tired," she replied with effort, though she noticed it was easier than before. Perhaps her Force powers had improved more than she realised after being at the academy.

Despite her reluctance, the gentle thrumming of the engines and the feeling of safety had her fighting to keep her eyes open.

Blinking awake, Leia realised she'd fallen asleep. Alarmed, she remembered where she was and what had happened. Her half-conscious mind scrabbled for the presence of her father and was relieved to find him there beside her with his arm protectively around her, snoring softly. Peering over his chest, she saw Luke was still asleep too. How long had they been out? She felt groggy.

"Dad," she patted his chest, wanting to go and look at the ship and meet the captain. Sleep was boring compared to that. "Wake up."

The snoring continued and she patted him a little more firmly, then quite roughly. Nothing.

"Wake up!" she shouted through their bond.

"Leia!" he admonished, tutting.

"Can I go meet the captain?"

"Patience," he murmured, already closing his eyes to go back to sleep.

Feeling the opposite of patience, Leia was reminded of a hundred other times she'd tried to get her parents out of bed for an exciting reason, and they'd just rolled over to go back to sleep instead. She couldn't understand it. Pouting, she pinched Luke's cheek to wake him up. If both of them wanted to go, he'd have to come with them. She didn't want to let dad out of her sight just yet.

"Ow! Leia!" he smacked her hand away with a frown. His face was all pink and crinkled from where he'd been pressed against dad's chest.

"Let's go explore the ship!"

That worked. Luke's eyes lit up and he was awake within moments, jumping off the bed and searching for his boots. Leia joined him, knocking the air out of dad's stomach as she crawled over him to get off the bunk.

"Come on!"

Breathing heavily out of his nose, dad sat upright and ran a hand through his short golden-brown hair. He looked very tired, but smiled at seeing them shoving on their boots and he obliged them happily.

Wanting to hold his hand and stay close to him in case he somehow disappeared, the three of them headed back into the main room of the ship, following thick bunches of wire that ran along the walls like snakes. Leia remembered the main room from before, and looked around eagerly at the geometric walls, fitted panels, colourful switches and piles of storage crates and canisters that were stacked about. The gentle creaking of metal and mechanics reminded her they were currently travelling in hyperspace.

Bathed in warm white lighting, Mace and Caleb were playing a game of dejark at a semi-circular bench in the corner of the room whilst Artoo and Chopper watched. With fascination, Leia observed a holographic creature fighting and killing another one. Caleb winced and she guessed he'd just lost one of his monsters to Mace.

"Have a good sleep?" Caleb asked, looking over with amusement at Luke's pink cheeks and bedhead.

The two of them nodded, feeling suddenly shy again in the presence of two real Jedi.

"How long until we reach Dantooine?" father asked them.

"About six hours yet," Mace replied.

"Six hours?" Luke whined. Artoo beeped in a way that sounded like a chuckle.

After talking with the two Jedi, who weren't as intimidating as she thought, they had some breakfast in the galley with Artoo and dad enjoyed a cup of caf. Then they headed to the cockpit. The door slid open and revealed a small room, brightly lit in flickering shades of blue by the rushing lines of hyperspace outside. It felt like the ship was completely still and it was space that was moving around them, but of course it was the other way round.

The captain was busy monitoring a vast array of dials, switches and buttons in many shapes and colours. Remembering flying with Vader, some of the controls looked familiar.

"Captain Syndulla, meet Luke and Leia," dad said, guiding them forward with Artoo in tow.

"A pleasure," a beautiful Twi'lek lady turned and offered her hand. Leia was fascinated by her, as well as by Sabé, who seemed incredibly cool for a grown up. "Call me Hera."

"Do you fly this ship all by yourself Hera?" Luke asked, craning his neck to see the controls.

Hera smiled at him. "Yes, the Ghost is my best friend. Do you like ships Luke?"

"Ships are my life."

"Obi-Wan was telling me you want to be a pilot?"

"Yeah, me and Leia are going to fly and see the whole galaxy one day!"

Dad took a seat and Luke scrambled onto his lap before Leia could. Patting Artoo's dome, she glanced shyly at the two women who were everything she suddenly wanted to be.

"What was mom like when she was younger?" Leia eventually asked Sabé after building up the courage.

The woman smiled warmly at her and indulged her in some tales from Naboo that Leia drank up. At some point she found herself near Sabé, then sitting on her lap as she listened. How amazing that her mom did all these things before she was even born! But then Sabé mentioned that Obi-Wan and his Master, a Jedi called Qui-Gon, had saved them during a blockade, and she asked about that, eager to hear about the first meeting of her mom and dad.

"Well, we were being taken hostage by the droid army of the Trade Federation in Theed, and the Jedi leapt down from a balcony and wiped out our enemies like they were nothing. I believe that was the first time Obi-Wan met Padmé, though she was in disguise as one of the queen's handmaidens at the time."

"Yes, that was the first time," dad nodded, listening to her recounting the event.

Luke was now listening as well, his eyes as round as hers at hearing such brave heroics. It was as if their parents were suddenly characters from one of their bedtime story books.

"Wow, mom must have been so amazed!" Leia said, pretending to swoon with her hand over her forehead.

The adults all laughed. It was exciting being part of such a grown up and interesting conversation, but soon Leia became bored when they started to talk about various unknown people on Dantooine she hadn't met, and so she went to retrieve her data pad from her backpack to draw.

Coming back into the cockpit, she leaned against dad and opened up the drawing she'd done the other night. Wanting to show him, she shoved it in front of him.

"Dad, do you like my drawing?"

"Very nice Leia, is that our home with a cannon on the roof?" he asked, amused, wrapping his arm around her.

"Yes. And these are all my other baby sisters," she pointed to the sea of baby girls.

"Your other ones?"

"Yes, you and mom are going to make loads more and they can all live with us," she grinned.

Dad blushed and Sabé and Hera exchanged amused glances with him. Sensing something more interesting than the buttons he was looking at, Luke came over and looked at the drawing.

"They're all sisters? That's far too many!" Luke said, horrified.

"And who's that?" dad asked.

"That's you. You and Luke are standing on the table because you're scared of all the girls."

He laughed, pulling her in. "Scared?"

"I'm not scared of them!" Luke insisted.

"Who's that?" dad smiled, pointing at a figure amongst the trees.

Leia without thinking, laughing in her dad's arms answered. "That's Anakin."

Father became still. "Anakin?"

"…Yes."

"Why have you included him in your drawing, my dear?"

"I… thought he might want to be there too," she said, suddenly afraid that she'd upset her foster father by including her biological one, but it was still difficult for her to understand.

His face was unreadable for a moment, then he kissed the side of her head and she let out a relieved breath. "You are very kind Leia. What a nice thing to do."

"Thanks dad."

Sabé was looking at her with empathy, and Leia wondered if she remembered Anakin from when she and mom were younger before he became Vader. There was certainly a lot of things she could find out from her, things her father might not be willing to speak about.

The rest of the journey seemed to stretch on for eternity. After asking her dad a million and one questions about Qui-Gon and what he was like as a Jedi Master, Leia entertained herself by drawing the scene of them rescuing mom and Sabé with their lightsabers. Later on, she and Luke were taught how to play dejark by Mace and dad, and after pestering Caleb, he even played hide and seek with them for a bit, which Hera seemed to find extremely amusing.

After that, she and Luke had embarked on the next chapter of their Mandalorian game, with Artoo and Chopper as their new sidekicks. Sitting on Luke's back and making him run around the ship as her tauntaun, they escaped from a stormtrooper battalion under heavy fire. The game was just getting good when Luke had tripped over a wire and they both fell down hard on the grated floor. Dad told them they weren't allowed to run after that and so Leia became increasingly bored and eager to land.

Just as her and Luke's constant 'are we there yet' questions were starting to get on everyone's nerves, she heard a loud beeping from the cockpit and ran in expectantly.

To her amazement, the cloudy blue and white tunnel ahead suddenly retreated back into bright white lines and then disappeared altogether, lurching them forward into a sudden view of Dantooine that almost filled the entire cockpit window. They had arrived!