Ummmmmmmm lets see, oh yeah! See 1st chap for disclaimers
Hey! I invite you all to take a gander at one of my reviews before you leave your review for this chapter. It almost made me feel bad, but then I realized that the person just wants attention, so take a look so he/she feels noticed.
No one in particular: I'm really glad I've made it on to your exclusive list!
Heidi M : Well you're getting at least part of the family in this chapter!
Rebel Diosa: Well, I had planned on making Jaina a pilot, but I hadn't planned a face off, maybe I'll do a little "Friendly" competition though, you never know.
Lady rogue: Yeah, I was tired of all the dumb/jerk/moron Lando fics. I mean look at the movies, he was slime, but he was way cool slime!
ShortySC22: Well, I guess you can see what Han's reaction is.
Remanants: HI!!!
Cammy: My aren't we a tad hyper? Favorite five hmm. 1. Jar-Jar, 2. Wicket, 3. Sebulba, 4.Bruck, and 5.Boss Nass (If you really want to know the real five I guess you'll have to read the next chapter)
BTW: My info on Wookie physiology is a tad (more like a lot) rusty, so don't go too hard on me. Oh! For the sake of (somewhat) brevity All of Chewie's words will be in quotes around parentheses "( )" to show that he's not speaking in basic.
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Anakin knew the look. It was the look of "I'm up to something." And right now, Lando was wearing it. The grin was infuriating. He'd lived with Qui-Gon's sardonic smile, Ani's cocky beam, Obi-Wan's satisfied smirk: but that grin was exasperating.
Thank the Force was all Anakin could think when Lando excused himself from the cockpit to go make a personal call.
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Lando thrummed his fingers on his desktop. "Come, on, come on."
"Solo, here"
"Han ol' buddy."
"What do you want Lando?"
"What makes you think I want something?"
"I know that look."
"Hmph. To tell the truth I have a small favor to ask."
"I knew it, I just knew it. What do you need this time? A pardon for running over an ambassador's rose bushes?"
"Nah, it's just that I have this… friend, and he doesn't have anywhere to stay, and I was hoping you'd like to meet him."
"You mean he doesn't have anywhere to go and you thought Money bags Han could put him up during our private get together?"
"Ah, old Buddy don't put it that way. He's a great kid. A hell of a pilot. You'll love him I promise."
"I doubt that, but seems how I have the feeling I don't have a choice, why don't you bring him along?"
"I knew I could count on you. See you in a couple days then."
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Anakin growled something rather crude under his breath. Lando was going to some business meeting and had insisted Anakin attend. So, they were hiking to the hotel when Lando "realized" he forgot his bag. Hence, Anakin was trudging back to the landing pad to get Lando's bag IN THE RAIN!!! Biting back a curse that Qui-Gon had taught him, Anakin grabbed Lando's bag and started running towards the hotel.
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Lando grinned as he sat down in the sitting room of Han and Chewie's hotel room. He figured he had at least fifteen minutes before the kid got there. The idea had come to him on the spur of the moment. He wanted to be there when Anakin arrived, so he could observe the kid's reaction to seeing Han and Chewie.
"So, where's the wonder pilot?" Han asked as he sat down across from Lando.
"He's bringing the luggage. Han, the kid is great, you really should give him a chance, huh?"
"Lando, I thought the purpose of this whole get together was to avoid people like that kid. To just be us, not helping out unfortunates who would like to use our names to help themselves along."
"Han, this kid's not trying to help himself he's just…"
The door chime interrupted Lando. What did the kid do? Run all the way here?
Chewie quickly volunteered to answer the door. Han was always crabby around Anakin's birthday, and the "wonder pilot" didn't need to feel the brunt of it.
Anakin stood out side the door waiting. Lando appeared to be doing business in a rather plush place. Exactly what type of business would he conduct in a penthouse suite anyway? He placed a look of calm across his features as he felt a presence approach the door. Funny, it seemed familiar somehow.
The door swished open, and Anakin found himself towered over by a Wookie. Anakin fought down a wave of nervousness. He knew that Wookie, and where the Wookie was, so was Han Solo.
Chewie sniffed the new comer. A low growl came from his throat. The scent was very familiar. It had changed as all human's scents did, but it had stayed basically the same even through puberty. He knew that scent as well as if it was his own cub.
Han was about to give Lando a scathing remark when he heard a strange, strangled noise come from Chewie. The noise was quickly followed by very sloppy speaking. What Han could make out sounded like "cub," found," "missed," "been," but most of it was gibberish. Glancing once at Lando, he sprinted towards the door.
Anakin used the Force to calm himself. He needed oxygen and panicking was not going to help that. At the moment, he was being squeezed be a giant Wookie, his feet dangling off the floor. It was funny; hysterical was never a word he would have used to describe Chewie.
Lando fought back a triumphant cheer as he photographed the look on Han's face. Pure and utter shock was an expression that Solo never wore, but seeing Chewie bawling unintelligible phrases while hugging a young man had done it.
"Chewie, CHEWIE, let the kid breathe." Han said as he recovered from his stupor.
Chewie set Anakin down on his own two feet.
"What was that all about? You loosing your marbles?"
Chewie started to explain, but couldn't seem to string a sentence together.
"AWW, your worse than Leia. Next you'll be eating Bantha steaks with chocolate sauce and turning the cooling on in the middle of a Hoth winter."
Chewie managed to choke out one word, "(Anakin)."
"Anakin? What do you…" Han's face paled as he looked over at the boy that Chewie had set down.
Blue eyes, Brown hair. He was tall. His nose was shaped more like Leia's, His face like his father's only softer. The family resemblance was incredible.
"Aww, hell kid, where've you been?"
Anakin was about to answer when he was again assaulted with a hug. This time, though, his father was crying into his shoulder instead of a big, furry Wookie.
"Not that I want to interrupt this beautiful moment, but I think that we should take this party into the room." Lando's voice cut through the haze of emotion.
Han released Anakin and nodded his assent to Lando. The four shuffled into the apartment. Anakin sat by Lando with Han and Chewie sitting across from them. About halfway through his kidnapping, Han stood up and stalked over to the window.
"I can't take this. I think I need a drink."
Anakin looked him in the eye. "Then why don't we go to a bar?"
Noticing the looks he got, Anakin added to his statement. "It's not like I've never been in one, besides I think this might be easier to take when you're drunk than when you're sober."
Han gave a wan smile and Chewie chuckled. It was amazing how quickly they had put Anakin in the same category of his siblings: highly proper, law abiding, politically correct, public figures.
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Anakin bit back a sense of déjà vu as he stood mixing Obi-Wan Kenobi's famous hangover mix. He'd been mixing the very same thing the day this latest turn in his life started.
He smiled. When they went to the local bar, they had gotten a private table in the back. It had been very tense. Tense, until Anakin grabbed Han's third drink, tasted it and swore that it was mixed weak. Apparently listening to Obi-Wan and Anakin debate the proper amount of alcohol in beverages had paid off. It had broken the ice for the rest of the evening.
Resisting the urge to throw a tidbit on the floor for the dog, Anakin moved out of the mini-kitchenette and into the common room to start his exercises. He took a deep breath and touched the force. After all the years of being half-on, the amount he could reach now almost made him heady. For a second, he could almost feel his master dong the same motions along side him.
Han stood and watched Anakin. The kid had a fluidity to his movements that Han had only seen in very few of Luke's Jedi. It was a major point in favor of the kid's story. He'd said that he had been raised by three cloned Jedi. Although he hadn't mentioned names, Han could see where that would be true. You couldn't do the moves the kid was doing without being heavily trained for a few years.
"You're up early." Anakin's melodic voice jarred Han out of his thoughts.
Han grunted. The kid certainly was spooky enough to be a Jedi. He was starting a conversation with someone he couldn't see while doing some sort of funny exercises.
"Yah, well just remember that if you ever get up and the wrong end of you is hanging over the fresher, you had too much to drink."
"I made something to drink for you and Lando. I wasn't exactly sure what cures a hangover for a Wookie."
"Thanks. Would you mind…" Han stopped. Anakin had already stopped his exercises and was heading to the kitchenette.
Gotta be a Jedi.
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Anakin took a deep breath before he went back into the penthouse. He'd left the other three alone to discuss him without any distractions from their subject. He only hoped they believed his story. Cloned Jedi was a topic that seemed far fetched. In fact, his whole life seemed far fetched. That was why he omitted Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Ani's names. He didn't need his story to sound even less plausible. After all wouldn't it be a little suspicious that he was trained by Kenobi on a ship with his own grandfather?
"(We thought you got lost.)" Chewie greeted him.
"I thought it best to give you time to contemplate." Anakin replied in his best diplomatic tone.
Han shook his head, "Look, Anakin, I don't know how your mom or Jaina or Jacen or Luke or anyone else is going to react. But I for one know my own kid, no matter how little time I had with you. So, Lando, Chewie and I are going to stand behind you. You got that? After all, us smugglers need to stick together."
Anakin smiled. It felt oddly good to have Han on his side. It was like he'd won the first part of a battle. Not that his story was accepted, but that his father had accepted him.
Lando chose to interrupt the fuzzy moment. "Since we've decided to all get along, I suggest we get along. I'll call up the port and get permission to leave. I think we should get her highness her baby as soon as possible."
