Disclaimer: Oh, if I owned Star Wars . . .

A/N: I'm sorry I've been so sporadic in updating this, I simply have a crazy life. There's maybe, maybe two more chapters I can squeeze out of this - you'll know it's over when I title a chapter 'epilogue'.

Dedication: To my boys! Said being my adorable rats. If you don't like rats, go to rmca.com and read Mouse Knight. It rocks, and will make you look at rodents in a whole new way!

Chapter XXIII: Reunion

"Anakin!"

It was one spontaneous cry, torn from the throats of two distraught parents and one Uncle. Anakin was, as was predicted, mobbed, although through the hugging and kissing and crying and yelling (during which Mara shut the door in order to keep the entire galaxy from finding out about Anakin's return) Anakin managed to keep a firm hold on Tahiri's hand. Mara took the chance to talk to the other two, less spectacular returns, making sure Jaina and Jacen were alright - and exclaiming over Kievnur, who had backed herself into a corner and was growling. It took both the twins most of the loud reunion to get the shook out of the corner.

As the exclamations died down, and Leia managed to touch all three of her children at the same time, just for reassurance, Luke got up and crossed over to Mara. "You're more to thank for this than we thought about, hmm, love? Thank you."

The redhead smiled. "No thanks needed, Luke. He always was may favorite."

Luke made an insulted sound, and Mara laughed. Ben was smiling fit to break his face - what better place than a room so filled with joy for the poor Force-sensitive child, who'd been exposed to all the sorrow, fear and anger since the Solo children vanished in one form or another. This one time, though, was enough to undo all the negative effects.

"Hey - where's Sannah?" Tahiri glanced over the group, noting the Melodie's absence. After Anakin, Sannah was next on her list of people she wanted to see.

"Tionne and Kam kidnapped her when he got out, and I hope she stands up to interrogation better than the twins did," Luke teased, and Jacen, amused, scoffed.

"I think she could manage that." Zekk grinned. "After all, these two caved almost immediately."

"Oh, thank you for your support!" Jaina whacked Zekk's shoulder. Han and Leia rolled their eyes indulgently at their children and their friends.

"Hey! Do I get to see my cousin, or not?" Anakin slid out of the retinue of family, Tahiri following, and walked up to where Mara was holding the baby. Then his blue eyes glazed, and he looked up at Luke, one hand poised above Ben. After a moment his eyes focused on the world again, and he grinned up at Luke. "Oh, and Uncle Luke? Obi-Wan says he's honored."

Luke started, then smiled. "One of your messages, Anakin?"

"Yeah. For you and Ben."

The Skywalker family, leaning against the door, made quite a peaceful sight. The peace was broken, though, when Luke cleared his throat. "You do all realize that this knowledge can't go beyond the people in this room, who already know?"

"What?!" Leia looked sharply up at her brother, who nodded slowly. "Why not? The whole New Republic should know Anakin's come back! It might restore confidence in the Jedi, in the people, that we can beat the Vong against terrible odds!"

"And it might make others who have loved Jedi wonder why Anakin came back when their son, or lover, or sister or friend, did not. This cannot go beyond this room. That it was possible at all is, as far as I can tell from what Mara's told me, a huge fluke. We burned Anakin's body, and even then it had already begun to decay, and no Jedi would displace another's being and take over their body by force. The New Republic will just have to take confidence in the return of Jacen and Jaina."

"Luke's right, Leia. We can't take the chance," Han agreed, tugging on his son's long hair and grinning the irresistible, lopsided Solo grin.

"So, Anakin," Tahiri wrapped her arms around him from behind and lay her head on Anakin's shoulder. "you're gonna need a whole new life. Step one: new name."

"He could be another long-long Skywalker sibling," Luke winked at Leia, who rolled her eyes and gave her twin a little shove from across the room.

"Hey, careful now, he belongs to me," Mara shot her sister-in-law a look, and the room promptly descended into laughter. Not that anything had necessarily been funny, but it seemed a more comfortable release than tears. Once the laughter died down, Mara took up her husband's point. "Look, Tahiri's right. He can't be Anakin Solo anymore, but he can't just appear out of nowhere, either. I mean, we're in the middle of a war, where did he come from? We can't just say he was another Jedi trainee - none of the Jedi know him. So where's a fourteen-year-old fully trained Jedi come from?"

It was Tenel Ka who offered the solution. "Although it is mainly the women among the Dathomirans who train in the Force, we have lately begun to recognize the trait in males, and some have been trained. He could come from anywhere on Dathomir - escaping the matriarchal society, perhaps, or a mistress he did not care for. There aren't many transports to the world, true, but I doubt anyone would think to check up on the story - and if he were a male looking to escape, he might have stowed away, and with the Force, not gotten caught."

Jacen snaked an arm out and around Tenal Ka's shoulders. Luke, Mara, Leia and Han exchanged a glance. "That just might work," Luke considered. "In fact, that would work rather well. We can give him the room next to Tahiri's, it's been empty since she regressed, so we don't have to worry about displacing anyone."

"That work for you, Anakin?"

"Yeah, as long as we work out the details. It won't help if we have conflicting stories on what happened to me."

Tahiri, her head still on Anakin's shoulder and running her fingers through his hair, grumbled. "You still need a new name. Something we won't think about saying - something you won't have trouble answering to."

Anakin considered. It was a chance few humans got - the chance to choose their own name, to begin a new life without leaving behind the friends and family of the old one. "I - I'll have to think about it. I wasn't really doing that, before, I was just focused on getting back here, but now that I've done that, I guess I have to plan out who I'm going to be."

"You will always be Anakin Solo to me," Tahiri whispered, and he lightly squeezed the arm she had across his shoulders.