Author's Note: These drabbles all take place in the happy AU that branches off at the end of Enter the Foreign, where Anakin wasn't an idiot and didn't turn to the dark side. :P
I want to give a very special mention to Gabri Jade for her excellent OC Jade family, who served as the inspiration for Partake. Thank you for letting me borrow them just a tiny bit, dearest! (And be sure to check out Gabri's story Renewal, as well as the other stories in her Renewal!verse series, which features a world where Mara Jade's family escaped the Emperor's order to kill them.)
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Week Three
post-RotS – 47 ABY, Happy AU
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11. Inlay
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She finds the box nestled deep in her great-grandmother's closet. The wood is smooth to the touch, almost as smooth as the opalescent material that swirls across the lid, creating a simple design that contrasts prettily with the dark stain of the box. She reaches for the silver clasp, wondering what treasures lie within…
"There you are, Allana."
She looks over her shoulder at Grandma Padmé, her hand still lingering atop the box. "I was looking at your gowns when I saw this." She traces her fingers across the milky white inlay. "What's inside?"
Her great-grandmother smiles. "I'll show you."
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12. Outrun
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Han Solo hadn't actually meant to challenge his future father-in-law to a race. For all his outward bravado, he wanted Leia's dad – famed Jedi and Hero With No Kriffing Fear Anakin Skywalker – to like him. How was he supposed to know the old man would be touchy about his vintage starfighter and its ability to handle the rigors of a smuggler's run?
A flash of yellow and polished chrome shot past the Falcon's cockpit, and Han pointedly ignored the way his sole passenger, his would-be brother-in-law, leaned over his shoulder to mutter, "I thought you said this thing was fast?"
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13. Withdraw
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"You're sure about this?"
Jacen smiles at his twin. "You know I am."
Jaina sits down beside him and looks him in the eyes, as unrelenting on the ground as she is in the air. She presses a hand to his heart. "You'll always be a Jedi Knight in here. You know that, don't you?"
He covers her hand with his own. "Maybe. But I think this is for the best. Stepping back and finding my own path."
His sister cocks one eyebrow. "And does that path by any chance lead to Hapes?"
Another smile, wider this time. "It might."
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14. Partake
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Mara stares down at the data file, hands trembling as her vision begins to blur.
"I know it doesn't change that they're gone," Master Anakin is saying, his voice and demeanor unusually subdued. "Nothing can ever do that, but I thought maybe… if you could have this piece back…"
A grandmother who danced, a father who worked with his hands, a mother who must have held her close, once. A wedding holo, and she sees her own smile and her own eyes gazing back at her. There is more, but she stops to look up at Master Anakin.
"Thank you."
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15. Uphold
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"It's up to you now, Padmé."
"You don't know that. You've always come back to me before. Why should this time be any different?"
"I'm not as young as I used to be."
"As if that matters for a Jedi. How old was Master Yoda when he fought in the Clone Wars? Somewhere in the eight-hundreds, as I recall?"
"I don't have that kind of time."
"Time… It went so fast. I didn't think it would, but now we're here…"
"I know, my love. I know."
"Promise me you'll try, Anakin. Promise you won't give up."
"I won't. I promise."
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