Playing the Game

Grinning, Luke carefully and quietly crept around the corner. Time to play the game, what with the rapid approach of his birthday. It was an old game, and he no longer had much chance at playing it, but he just wanted to play it, sometimes.

His partner in the game? That would be Wedge, who, having just stumbled out of bed, was making himself a cup of caff.

"Caffeine….need….." The young man mumbled sleepily, falling across the table with a great yawn.

"Hey, Wedge!"

Wedge started as Luke jumped around the corner, eyes turned wide, one hand clutching his chest. "Jeezes, Luke, are you trying to kill me?"

"No," he replied innocently, still grinning.

"Have a seat…." Wedge managed to mumble, and Luke did so. "How long have you been up for?"

"I dunno," the young Jedi shrugged. "A couple hours."

Wedge stared at his crono, his brain finally catching pace with his eyes. "At 0600 in the kriffing morning?" Finally, he had to ask, "What are you grinning about?"

"Hey, Wedge, do you want to play a game?"

Pause for a yawn. "Yeah, sure, Luke."

"Okay!" Luke grinned, anxiously rubbing his hands together. He leaned one forearm on the table, resting his chin on the balled fist of the other arm. "Wedge," he began, "how old are you?"

Wedge blinked. "Eighteen."

The broad grin dropped. "Ah, jeeze, Wedge, you aren't supposed to tell me."

Wedge merely blinked again, highly confused. "But you asked me!" He shook his head, trying to comprehend it. "Anyway, can we play the game now?"

"That was the game, and you lost!"

A few more blinks. "Ummm…."

"Forget it," Luke shook his head, getting up from the chair. "I'll find someone else to play with."

…

"Wait, did she shoot at you before, or after you slept with her?"

"Ummm…." Wes paused for thought. "Before."

Tycho blinked, staring at Janson. "And you slept with this woman?"

"She had really great legs."

"Oh."

"Hey, Tycho!"

The grinning young Skywalker came bounding up to his comrades, who caught his infectious grin.

"Well, hey, Luke!" Wes smiled.

"What's up, Luke?" added Tycho.

"Do you want to play a game?"

Tycho and Wes glanced at each other. "Sure," the former replied.

"Okay!" Luke's grin grew wider. "How old are you?"

Tycho and Wes shared another confused look. "But…but you know how old I am…"

Luke's shoulders slumped. "Just play along."

"But his birthday was last month."

Luke sighed, clearly defeated. "Never mind…." And he skulked away.

…

"I'm telling you, flush beats full house."

"You're full of it, Klivian, you know you are!"

"Hey, guys!"

The four heads turned in the direction from whence the noise had come. There was a generally chorus of, "Hey, Luke!" before the game absorbed them once again. Luke pulled a chair over, straddling it as he watched. Finally, he grinned, eyes set on Hobbie. "Hey, Hobbie."

"Yeah?"

"How old are you?"

Blinking, the young man answered, which finally pushed the young Jedi over the edge. Rising from his chair, he angrily stormed from the room, crying, "You all suck at this game."

A long moment of silence followed.

Hobbie was the first to break it. "Wait…I'm confused."

Wes soon followed, dignifiedly replying, "Please allow me to say…..what the hell is going on!"

…

Luke had stomped away and to his own quarters, where he promptly flopped onto his bunk. No one knew how to play the game. It wasn't that hard. He'd played it for years with….his father.

The young man rolled over, tightly shutting his eyes, trying to forget about it. He just wanted to play it, sometimes….

…

Stealthily, the small boy snuck through the halls of the Imperial palace, deadening his steps with the aid of the Force. Carefully, he palmed open the door to a small, dark room, a bed with a small lump in the center taking up most of the space. Carefully, he crawled onto the bed, poking at the lump.

The lump rolled over, groaning, to reveal the little red head of Mara Jade, trying to sleep. "Five more minutes…."

"Hey, Mara….." Luke whispered patiently.

The young girl blearily opened one eye, blinking. Taking one look at the person trying to rouse her, she quickly rolled back over again.

"Marrraaaa……"

She knew full well that the annoying whine and the incessant poking would not stop until she gave in, so she finally answered, "What?"

"Do you know what today is?"

"No, now leave me alone." She paused to open one sleep filled eye, staring at the crono. "What are you doing up at 0600 in the kriffing morning?"

"Do you want to play a game?"

"No!" She quickly pulled the covers up over her head, and no amount of begging and whining could make her emerge from her warm, small cocoon.

…

"Good morning, Father."

Vader glanced down at the small blond child that had seemingly just appeared at his leg. How did that boy manage to sneak up on everyone? "Good morning, Luke," was the reply, and Vader started walking on again. Luke quickly increased his pace in an effort to keep up.

"Do you know what today is?"

He did, and paused, looking down at his ecstatic son. He never forgot what today was. "No," he lied. "Why don't you tell me?"

"Why don't you guess?"

"Would you like to play a game?"

Luke's blue eye lit up, his small face spread in a grin. There was only game that they ever played on his birthday. "I'm seven today, Father. How old are you?"

Vader couldn't help but relent, deciding that there was time enough to pause and play their age old game. He quickly knelt down to be on eye level with the boy. "Guess."

Luke scrunched up his face in carefully thought. "Thirty nine."

"Try again."

"Sixty nine."

"Not quite."

"A hundred!"

"Higher."

"A thousand!"

"You're getting close!"

"You can't be a thousand, Father," Luke shook his head knowingly. "No one's a thousand."

Stiffly – he was getting old, wasn't he? – he rose, and continued walking, Luke trying to keep pace. "I'm sure there are people out there that are one thousand. The universe is very big and very old."

"Will I ever meet someone who's a thousand?

"Maybe."

"Will I live to be a thousand?"

"Maybe."

They walked on in companionable silence, Vader trying very hard to squash the light hearted feeling in his chest. "Don't you have lessons to go to?" he casually reprimanded.

"Do I have to go today?

"You have to go everyday."

Luke pouted briefly before giving in. "Yes, Father." Stalking away, he was paused by his father's voice.

"Happy birthday," he reminded, and Luke smiled again.

…

"Um, so, do you think we made him mad?"

"He seemed pretty mad."

"Well, I don't get why! I mean, he just asked us how old we were."

"Luke's kinda weird like that."

"Hey, shut up, Tycho!"

"What? I didn't mean in a bad way!"

The small group outside the pre-mentioned Luke's door were trying to be quiet. They were failing miserably. Finally, confused by the dull murmurings he heard outside, Luke opened the slider door, only to be met with the four surprised and somewhat apologetic faces.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, hi, Luke," Wes grinned sheepishly.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"What are you talking about, Hobbie, I sleep here."

Tycho punched Hobbie's arm, muttering, "Moron."

"So," repeated Luke. "What are you doing?"

They scuffled their feet for a few seconds before Wedge nervously asked, "So….do you want to play a game?"