The Last Word
"Okay guys. This is for real this time. Chop chop." Big Anakin clapped his hands together as if to herd the children to bed. To his surprise, they jumped into their beds without hesitation. Jacen pulled his bed covers over his head. Big Anakin could tell he made no efforts to fall asleep. With a wave of his hand, Big Anakin Force Pulled the covers back to expose Jacen's head. Jacen grabbed them and pulled them back to his chin.
"What is your deal?" Big Anakin asked.
"I know what's wrong with him," Jaina teased. "He's afraid to go to sleep. You scared it out of him."
"He did not!" Jacen insisted. "I'm just more comfortable this way."
"I bet you are," Jaina continued.
"Jacen, don't tell me you're afraid of monsters under your bed and stuff," Big Anakin said.
Jacen shrugged. "Okay, I won't."
"Jacen! I'm embarrassed. No Skywalker has ever been afraid of what's under his bed."
"How would you know?"
Little Anakin giggled hysterically. Jacen scowled at him. "Oh, shut up!"
"All right you two!" Big Anakin nearly yelled. All three children hid under the covers again. "Seriously, Jacen, you don't honestly believe anything could get at you in here, do you?"
"I don't know," Jaina continued to tease. "You got in here. Why can't anything else?"
"Well, that's a bit of a stretch."
"Are you the only one who could have popped in here like that?"
Big Anakin opened his mouth as if to say no, then stopped in thought. "Um, no."
"Then there are others who could come in here like you did?"
"Um, yes."
Jacen sank even further beneath the covers. Little Anakin giggled again. "I know what's wrong with him. Your stories will give him nightmares."
"They will not!" Jacen said.
Big Anakin waved his hand dismissively. "That story about the kid whose head fell off wasn't real. It never happened."
"Who told it to you?"
"One of my friends when I was a Jedi Padawan. Why?"
"Nothing." Jacen rolled over as if to go to sleep. "Good night!"
Big Anakin shrugged as if he'd been offended. "Fine. What about you two?" he asked Jaina and Little Anakin.
"I'll just pretend I'm asleep," Little Anakin. "Mom will never know the difference."
"That's my boy!" Big Anakin praised. "What about you?" he asked Jaina.
"Don't ask me," she said as if she were expecting to get into trouble. "I want some peace and quiet. You just like to get us into trouble."
"So I've been told. Remember that I haven't touched a single person or thing in this entire apartment."
"Well, a bunch of stuff still happened."
"And why is that?"
"Because we did it for you!" Jaina suddenly gasped when she realized what she said. "Oh. Nevermind." She ducked under the covers and sighed.
"I guess this is it then," Little Anakin said. "Now you just have to go away."
Big Anakin raised his finger. "Show some respect, or I'll tell you another story."
Jacen instantly sat up. He realized too late that the covers were still over his head. He pulled them down. "No! Don't say anything! We'll be good! I'm going right to sleep!" As quickly as he had popped up, he lay down again and feigned sleep.
"Wimp," Jaina muttered.
Jacen heard her anyway. "I am not a wimp!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Enough!" Big Anakin demanded. All three children stared at him as if he had hit them. "What!"
"You scolded us," Little Anakin said as if his feelings were hurt. "We're supposed to be your partners in crime."
Big Anakin nodded. "I know, but Jacen is such a wimp."
"Am not!" Jacen protested.
"Oh yeah?" Big Anakin asked with a wicked look. "Then," he thought for a moment, "what about . . .that monster under your bed!"
Big Anakin held his hands out. Before Jacen could react, his bed rocked back and forth violently. All three children squealed until Big Anakin released his Force Grip. When the comotion finally died down, the children glared at Big Anakin as he laughed at their expense.
"You're such tools!" Big Anakin continued laughing until he realized the children's expressions of anger became fear. All three pulled the covers over their heads again.
"Uh oh," Big Anakin said. He turned just enough to see Leia over his shoulder. "Hey!" he said as if it were the first time he had seen her.
To his surprise, and dismay, she remained perfectly calm. "That's enough. Say goodnight." Big Anakin stared as if she had spoken in a language he didn't understand. "I said, say goodnight," she said.
Big Anakin folded his arms. "And if I don't."
Leia maintained her calm demeanor. "I'll tell you a story about the first time I saw a sandy beach, and the first time I was in the Imperial Senate, and the first time I bought a flashy wardrobe."
Big Anakin raised his hands in concession. "All right, I give." He turned back towards the children and raised his arms as if giving a great speech. "All right, you little Tuskan Raiders, I have to say goodbye."
The children sat up. "Nooooo!" they whined in high pitched voices.
"Go to bed!" Leia ordered. Pouting as usual, the children lay down again.
"It's all right," Big Anakin said. "If you're good, I might come back, but this time your Mom wins."
"Oooooooooh," the children said with obvious disappointment. With a wave of his hand, Big Anakin used the Force to ruffle their hair.
"All right guys," he said as he backed out of their room behind Leia. "Good night, sweet dreams, and don't forget to make your parents miserable on my behalf."
Leia glared at the ghost before acknowledging her husband and brother in the living room. "Don't mind me," she said to them. "I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. If either of you disturb me, I'll kill you."
She continued on to her bedroom. Luke glanced at Big Anakin as Big Anakin motioned towards her and mouthed the words, "Your sister's insane." Luke broke into a laugh, which quickly died when Leia turned her glare to him. He casually turned away, and she moved on with the ghost in tow. They both disappeared into her bedroom.
"What do you want now?" Leia said as she threw herself onto her bed. "I'm not as eager as my children for your company."
"I noticed. Not to mention your kidneys seem to be on vacation now."
Leia moaned as she kicked her bedsheets away. "Now you're just being a pain in the ass on purpose."
"Hey!" Anakin raised, and lowered, a finger to Leia's nose. "Don't sass me, young lady!"
"Oh, now you're trying to discipline me. Why bother?"
"Because I am your father!" Anakin suddenly froze as he thought for a moment. "Where have I heard that before?"
"I have an idea." Leia threw the pillow at Anakin. It sailed through him and landed on the other side of the room. "Drat it!"
"Go pick it up!"
"Why?"
"Because you threw it."
"Big deal. It was Han's pillow anyway."
"Fair enough."
Leia groaned as she threw herself against her pillow. "Do I have your permission to lose consciousness now?"
"Go ahead. Makes no difference to me, your Highnessness."
Leia moaned like a zombie at the reference. Rather than comment on it, she curled into a fetal position and planted her face into her pillow.
"Leia," Anakin said. She groaned again in response. "Leia?" Another groan. "Leia?" More groaning.
Anakin thought for a moment. Then he leaned over her head and whispered, "Mal'ary'ush."
He jumped back as Leia's hand shot up and flashed an obscene gesture at him. "Hey!" he said. "I said don't sass me, missy!"
Leia wrapped her arm around herself. "Whatever," she mumbled as she finally managed to drift into slumber.
"Leia?" Anakin leaned over her again. When she didn't respond, he respectfully backed away. He waved his hand at the bedsheets and Force Pulled them to her shoulders. "Good night, or morning."
"Good night, Father," Leia said.
Anakin stared at her for a moment, as if he were sure he had not heard her correctly. Then he raised his hand. Leia felt a light playful smack against her head. She sat up with a reprimand on the tip of her tongue, but she never got to say it.
Anakin was gone.
"Damn," she said. "He got the last word." She lay down again and listened to the silence. "It's quiet. Too quiet." Leia mentally chastised herself. She refused to admit that she missed him. Instead, she stretched across the bed and finally went to sleep.