Author's Notes: Thanks so much, kayladie and Jade the Sith, for your kind reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying this third installment so far. Jade, I tried to e-mail you earlier to say thanks, but it kept saying error. And don't worry-no Kyp here.

Disclaimer: George Lucas owns SW. I write for fun, not money.

Fear Part 2

It was late when Anakin set the Naboo Angel down by the lake retreat. He was yawning as he exited the ship. King Tripday had offered him a room for the night at Theed Palace, but, tired as he was, Anakin had been anxious to go home. He had been separated from his family for over twenty years. His own fault, of course, but he wasn't going to be away from them one minute more than necessary now.

As the front door opened and Luke came to greet him, Anakin felt glad he'd made the effort to return as soon as possible. He loved all his family, but his son was special. He owed every facet of his new life to Luke and ever since his redemption seven months ago, the two of them had been almost inseparable.

Luke should have already been asleep by now, though. It was past midnight, and Anakin was sure his son had been awake since early morning.

"It's late. You should be resting," he lovingly scolded even as he set down his bag and embraced the boy.

Luke stepped back and smiled at him. "You knew I'd wait up when you called and said you were coming back tonight."

Anakin shook his head. "I told you not to if it got too late." There was a note of affectionate resignation in his voice, though.

"Since when have I been an obedient son?" Luke joked. "Besides, 'too late' is so vague. You'll have to be more specific than that."

Once again, Anakin shook his head, but he had to admit he was glad Luke was there to welcome him. He picked up his bag and they went inside.

The giant Wookiee Chewbacca came to the hall to greet him as well. Chewie had been staying with them since Han and Leia's wedding several weeks ago. He barked softly.

"Thank you, Chewbacca. So you waited up, too, hmm?" Anakin glanced around. "Are the padawans asleep at least? They're a little young to sit up this late as a matter of course."

"Yes, they went to bed hours ago," Luke replied. He hesitated, then added, "It was kind of a busy day."

He really hadn't wanted to break the bad news immediately upon his father's return, but Chewie thought Anakin should be told right away. Although the Wookiee hadn't said so, Luke suspected one reason he'd stayed awake was to make certain Luke told him.

Chewie needn't have worried, though. Luke had already learned the lesson that bad news was better shared. He'd just wanted to wait until morning before sharing this bad news, but Chewbacca had been rather insistent and Luke had given in.

Anakin noticed the more somber note in his son's voice. He looked at him sharply. "What happened?"

They told him how Luke and the padawans had returned from their first lesson to find the hateful graffiti on the terrace doors. Before they had finished, Anakin had rushed to inspect the damage himself.

"We've already cleaned it up, Father," Luke called as he and Chewie followed. "It's all right now."

Anakin took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He'd always had trouble with his quick temper, but he had grown much better at controlling it since he had rejected the dark side at Endor. He didn't want to do anything to risk opening that door again, but the idea that someone could have done such a mean-spirited thing, directed against his son, his friend, and his students was enough to make him angry. "No one was hurt?"

"No, thank goodness," Luke told him. "Gil wasn't home from school yet, Chewie had gone fishing on the other side of the lake, and the droids were upstairs. Of course, that also means none of us saw anyone, either, so we have no idea who's responsible."

"Did you call the security guards from the village?" Anakin asked.

Luke sighed, "Well, we debated whether or not to do that, and we finally decided not to. It didn't seem like there was much they could do, and we were concerned about feeding the hostility against us."

Anakin looked puzzled so Luke elaborated. "You remember, just last week the local holonet news was asking why it was even necessary to reform the Jedi. We're supposed to be the guardians of peace and justice. If we run to the local guards for help at the slightest hint of trouble, we're going to look pretty silly. And the people who don't want us here will say that we have no purpose. How will we help other people if we can't take care of ourselves?"

"I guess you're right," Anakin conceded. "But I think this kind of vandalism is more than just a hint of trouble."

After a moment of silence, he asked, "How did the padawans take it?"

"Gil was ready to hunt down whoever did it and make them sorry. Tera was mostly indignant. I think Elissa was a little scared. She and Threepio suggested we take our first visit to Coruscant soon."

"Tomorrow we'll need to see about taking precautions. I don't want anyone trespassing here again," Anakin said grimly.

Chewbacca growled softly, and Luke answered. "It's already taken care of, Father. Chewie, Artoo, and I spent the afternoon putting up an electrical fence around our boundaries. Anyone who crosses it will set off an alarm in the retreat. At least we'll have some warning."

Anakin nodded. "Sounds good. Thanks, Chewie."

Again, the Wookiee growled softly, and then patted Anakin's shoulder.

"I'm glad to be back home, too. Good night to you as well," the older Jedi watched with a smile as the Wookiee moved past them towards the stairs, heading for his bedroom.

It was good to have friends, he reflected. People who cared about him, enjoyed his presence. It had always been a rarity in his life. Few people had cared for him unconditionally. Always he'd felt he had to earn approval and fellowship.

Padme had been one of the few who had truly loved him and accepted him for who he was. He'd come to realize that Obi-Wan had genuinely cared for him, too, but when he'd been growing up, he'd felt the sting of his master's criticism more sharply and taken it more personally.

The result had been that he'd been terribly insecure. He'd hidden it under a façade of arrogance, but inside he'd always lacked confidence in himself. A trait Palpatine had played up when winning him over.

If only he'd had friends like these, a group of people he'd felt loved and accepted by, perhaps it could have made a great difference in his life.

At least he had them now, though, thanks to Luke. Anakin reached over to lay his arm around his son's shoulders. "Are you all right, son?"

Luke nodded. "I'm fine. It was a little upsetting, but it could have been worse. I think we handled everything okay."

"I don't mean just the graffiti," his father continued. "I mean you've been under so much stress the past weeks and months, with everything that happened on our mission, and you were worried about teaching the padawans alone, and now the graffiti on top on everything else. I don't want you to start bottling up your emotions again."

"I'm not," Luke assured him. His father did have some cause for concern, he knew. During their recently completed mission searching for two missing women, Luke had begun suffering flashbacks and nightmares of his traumatic history with his father.

He had tried for weeks to keep it from Anakin, not wanting to cause him any more guilt, but the burden had taken a high toll on Luke. He had become exhausted, underweight, and on the verge of a breakdown before he and his father had finally reconciled at Bespin. He was only now fully recovered.

Or as recovered as he would be. The scars would probably never disappear completely. In fact, Luke had had another nightmare about being trapped on the Death Star with the Emperor and his father as Vader a few nights ago. But it was the first nightmare he'd had since the last trip to Bespin and he'd handled it very differently.

When Anakin sensed his pain and came to find out what was wrong, Luke had openly shared the nightmare/memory with him. They had talked about the experience a long time and Anakin had sat with him until Luke fell asleep again. The memories were difficult for both of them, but together they could heal each other.

Now Luke leaned against Anakin for a minute and repeated. "I'm okay, Father. If I get upset about anything, I'll come to you. I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Anakin remarked. He pulled Luke to him in a quick hug, then released him. "Come on, it's very late. We're not going to be in any shape to teach tomorrow if we don't get some rest."

They turned off the lights and went upstairs. Luke, Anakin, and the rest of the family when they were at the retreat, had their bedrooms on the second floor. The padawans lived on the third story.

Chewie's door at the end of the hall was closed, but Anakin spoke silently in his son's mind anyway as they climbed the stairs. //On second thought, why don't you sleep in tomorrow morning and I'll get up early with the padawans? You've had a rough day.//

//You're just as tired, I'm sure, Father.//

Anakin shook his head. //Not really. My meeting with King Tripday wasn't until after lunch so I slept late in the morning.//

Luke turned to him suddenly. //Oh, I wanted to hear about your meeting. What did he want?//

//Nothing he couldn't have said over the communicator. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Also, tomorrow I think we need to talk with the padawans. They need to understand why some people are concerned about the Jedi reforming, and how to deal with their own emotions.//

Luke just nodded tiredly.

Anakin reached over to ruffle his son's hair. //Go get some sleep before you fall over. See you in the morning.//

Luke grinned. //Okay, but not too early.//

TBC