a/n: Nameless obvious characters add some sadness to stories, I think. Not that I wanted this to be sad, but it sets a mood that I thought was really different in a weird way. Comp death killed three previous versions of this chapter, and none of them started or ended like the one here. Hope this meets your expectations.

Clandestine Moments ---

X. Endings

Standing in the open doorway, a tall man in a long, flowing robe watched the man and woman that stood together by the window, enjoying each others silent company.

In his own time he had done such a simple thing, enjoyed the company of a lover not only because you loved them, but because you loved everything about them. He had spent time with his beloved in such a manner, quietly watching the city in its business as everyone else's lives flew past without a second glance at the people in the window. But that had been long ago and the past was buried in all of her glory on a planet far away that he would never again see or touch.

The man by the window, Han, took in a deep breath and sighed happily. The woman, Leia, smiled and leaned further back against her partner. It was clear that the routine was familiar, each motion echoing the motion of the other in a rhythm that was like a dance, only no one else heard the music, and no one else knew the steps. It fit.

"They'll be home soon," she said softly into the silence of the room.

"Guess we better enjoy ourselves while it lasts," he smiled.

The man in the robe chuckled to himself. He knew the feeling of borrowed time all too well. In his own day and age he had lived for the stolen moments and the simple affections that no one else was meant to see. He had loved and he had lost. And what he watched now was a testament to the good that came out of mistakes and sorrow that had been enacted for the wrong reasons.

"Do you think things will be like this when they've all grown and gone away?"

Han turned his princess around and locked arms to hold her in place. Fixing her with a wicked stare, he could only hope that they would always be as they were.

The man in the robe knew all too well that things changed.

"Things don't always stay the same," Han said. "Gotta make the best of the time you got left."

"Always the optimist," she grinned.

"Hey, I'd say things worked out pretty well for me. I have you, don't I?"

"There's that Solo charm."

The man in the doorway recalled similar conversations from his memory in a different time and different place. He remembered the same smile, the same blush that he saw mirrored on the woman before him.

A door release in the other room caught the two lovers by almost-surprise. A flurry of footsteps carried three children with dark hair and lively spirits into the bedroom and into the waiting arms of their parents. Moments of praise over accomplishments was followed by the declaration from the smallest of the Solo children, a child named after a corrupt soul born again in redemption.

"There's a man in the doorway," Anakin proclaimed.

Four eyes turned to stare at an empty space, void of life forms.

"There's no one there," one of the twins said in response.

"Yes there is," Anakin protested. "But he's leaving."

Leia looked down at her youngest son, curious at his complete lack of guilt as far as lies were concerned. She knew the truth when it was being told.

"Forgiveness," he stated with a nod. "And love. Always love."

Han gave a worried glance to his wife, but her gaze flickered back to the doorway and the translucent, fading shape of a man that she had never fully understood. Cold shame and the pain of loss drifted through the room in a slow, yet urgent manner.

"Yes," Leia breathed. "Everything."

Whispers of happiness and joy and the peaceful resolution of a life half lived in sorrow blanketed the room. Even Han who was not sensitive to such elemental feelings could almost relax in knowing that something almost spiritual had taken place. And the man, Anakin, who had watched silently from the doorway, disappeared from sight. His memory lived on.

Forgiveness. Love. Endings

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a/n: Yes, that concludes Clandestine Moments. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed. It made me feel thirteen kinds of good inside to know that I made someone's day. And even though you never reviewed (HEATHENS), I appreciate the hit count. But don't think that means you're off the hook (DEVILS).

Look for more stories in the future.

It's a fanfiction sin to read without reviewing.