His Father's Eyes
by
Kara
Rating: G
Spoilers: Episode II, assumed for Ep
III
Summary: Luke had his father's eyes.
When he was small, he asked for stories about his mother. He'd curl up in her lap, fingers wrapped around a fold of her skirt, and listen for hours to the little she knew about his mother's life. She and Owen always disagreed about how much they should tell him, about how much Obi Wan should be allowed to see him. Owen had even wanted to adopt the boy as their own. But she owed Padmé that much, owed the memory of her brother and sister in law some small measure in their son's life.
So she told her boy about the woman with the dark hair and eyes, the strong woman who knew how to use a blaster and who wasn't afraid to fly. And that was enough, because it wasn't information that he wanted, it was reassurance. He asked most often if she loved him, and how much she loved him, not yet understanding that no amount of love for her son could have saved Padmé Skywalker. Luckily, that was all he asked, since she didn't know much more about the sister in law she met but once.
The requests changed when he went to school, when he discovered speeders and flying craft. When Owen gave him his first T-16 model, and he learned that boys went to their fathers for comfort, not their mothers. Then came the questions that were harder to answer, especially as stories of Darth Vader's exploits hit even their Outer Rim planet.
And Luke went to Owen with scrapped knees and tears. He would still curl up at her side sometimes, plucking at her skirt as he asked for one more detail about his father, one more tie to the man that Anakin Skywalker had been. Owen never gave him much, and she was always afraid to give him more. What if the boy followed the path of his father? What if the same Force powers bred through? She knew from the moment Owen first put the T-16 model in Luke's hands that their boy would leave them someday. And she knew that Owen would hold the boy close for as long as he could, because even if he wasn't their son in name or in blood, he was still their son all the same. But you can't take the stars out of a pilot's eyes, and Owen never seemed to realize that.
Their bright boy, with his father's eyes and his father's dreams… She hoped the stories would be enough someday, on the inevitable day when he would know the truth about his father and mother.