Author's Note: Disclaimers may be found in the first chapter.
Second chapter of the day, as promised! My time, it's 8:30 PM, and even for east-coasters, it's before midnight :)
I have some more difficult writing to do now. I'll try to get it up as soon as possible. Thanks for hanging with me, everybody! – Kaitie
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"Are you sure you can take the ship down by yourself, and take off again if necessary?" They were five minutes from landing, and Obi-Wan had suddenly thought of this minor point.
Padme smiled at him. "Well, I can try. This button makes you take off, and this one makes you land, and this makes you go faster. Right?"
Obi-Wan thought she was teasing him, but he wasn't completely sure. How could he fight Vader knowing that Padme had no idea how to fly a ship? He couldn't give her a crash course now – he mentally groaned at the bad pun – in five minutes. Oh, make that four.
His panic was interrupted by a hand on his arm.
"Relax, Ben. You think I could have been married to Ani and not know how to fly?" She laughed. "Ani taught me how to fly anything and everything, and pronounced me ready for the skies. I may not fly as fancily and fast as Ani did, but I think I can manage."
She was laughing at him! He fought a smile of his own, despite the circumstances. "Well, if Ani taught you, I think I'll just take Luke with me. He'll be safer, anyway."
Padme smacked his arm, and Luke giggled, not catching on to the joke, most likely, but enjoying the sight of his mother and Ben acting like kids. Then he caught what Obi-Wan had said, and started jumping up and down excitedly. "Can I come, Ben? Can I really come?"
Obi-Wan smiled down at him and ruffled his hair. "I was joking, Luke. I need you to do something more important."
"What?" Luke asked, wide-eyed.
"Look after your Mommy for me?"
Luke scowled. "I'm not stupid."
Oops. He squatted down until he was on eye-level with Luke. "Really, Luke. The bad man is trying to find her. If I tell you to, you have to take off and take care of your Mommy without me. Can you do that for me?"
Luke looked at him for a minute, thinking. Then, without warning, he threw himself into Obi-Wan's arms, knocking them both backwards. Obi-Wan managed to put an arm back and catch them, and then he hugged Luke back fiercely.
"You take care of yourself, promise?" Luke asked. "Make the bad man go away, and bring back Leia?"
Obi-Wan heard Padme walk away, and hoped she wasn't taking this too hard. He hated to leave her without a protector, both from Vader and from the hard worlds out there. Tattoine would be quite a new experience for the former Queen.
He turned his attention back to Luke. "Luke, I can't promise you that I'll becoming back. But I promise you that I'll do my very best." He hugged Luke one more time. "You will be a great man, Luke. Never give in to anger, never give in to fear, never give in to hate. Never."
Luke looked up at him with eyes that were suddenly wise. "I promise," he whispered.
Obi-Wan felt a bump, then realized that Padme had landed the ship. He put Luke on the ground gently, then stood up. They were by the gangplank door – once he pushed the door button it would be time to face Vader. Yet he hesitated.
Padme appeared from the cockpit. Her eyes were dark and tired, Obi-Wan noticed fleetingly. "Goodbye, Obi-Wan." Luke went over to her; automatically, Padme's arms went around him. There they stood, and he was leaving them to the whims and dangers of the galaxy. He felt a wave of despair flash over him; he was going to his death, and he had failed. Failed Padme and her family; failed the Jedi Council; failed Anakin in the last way he could – ensuring that his children grew up the way Obi-Wan should have helped Anakin grow up.
"May the Force be with you." It was Padme's voice, quiet amid the stillness, powerful.
A second later, Luke's baby voice echoed solemnly, "May the Force be with you."
Obi-Wan blinked back tears. They were right, of course – the Force would determine his path, as it would theirs. He could only hope that their path lay along happier roads than his.
"Goodbye, Padme, Luke." He cleared his throat; it was a trifle hoarse for some reason. "May the Force be with you."
He pressed the button for the gangplank.
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Bail Organa was very tense. Vader could see the veins tensing in his neck, his jaw tighten, his eyes wary. Yet the man remained perfectly, unbearably polite, without seeming cowed in the least. Politicians, Vader sneered to himself.
"Are you certain that you do not wish to retire to the palace, Lord Vader? I am sure that you will be more comfortable there, than in this hangar."
Vader reached out again with the Force, futilely trying to locate the child. When he completed his sweep of the hangar, he turned again to Organa.
"Viceroy, I believe I have told you that I wish to remain here. You will make things much simpler for both of us if you refrain from asking again."
Organa inclined his head in a slight nod. "As you wish, Lord Vader." He clasped his hands in front of him, a nervous gesture that somehow seemed graceful. "Shall we discuss the Emperor's business, then, Lord Vader?"
Vader opened his mouth to reply, but a small ship flew in and landed near them, its engines cutting him off. Strange. I thought the freighters were to divert to the next hangar. This isn't a freighter though – perhaps it has special clearance.
He waited for the engines to shut off, then continued. "Perhaps your bodyguard would be more comfortable standing over by my bodyguard, Viceroy."
Organa looked startled. "This is my cabinet, Lord Vader. They advise me on major decisions…"
Vader's hand slipped down and fingered his lightsaber.
Organa's eyes followed his, and Vader thought his shoulders sagged a little. "My lords, if you would be so kind as to leave me alone with Lord Vader?"
They bowed silently and withdrew. Vader allowed himself a moment to smile at their fear.
Then he focused back on Organa. "Now, Viceroy…"
Suddenly he stopped. The Force had flamed, close by. Surely not the child…
Then he saw Organa's eyes widen as if he had seen a ghost. And then a quiet voice in his head, across a bond that he thought he had long since broken. Vader.
Vader whirled, the snarl Obi-Wan both on his lips and projected across the bond.
At the bottom of the gangplank of the little ship, Obi-Wan stood, lightsaber lit.
Vader smiled and advanced towards him.