Chapter 16

For a while they walked hand-in-hand toward the Palace Complex. Neither of them had said a word. Nomi could tell, almost feel, Luke was thinking about something. The only way to know is to ask.

"What are you thinking about?"

Luke tightened his grip on her hand. "About whether we can go tomorrow and pick up your things from your aunt's house tomorrow." Luke and Nomi stepped into the turbo lift that would take them to, what was now, their apartment.

"Are you sure you want me to go and get it?" Nomi asked him.

"Why wouldn't I?" Luke was confused by her question.

"I didn't know if maybe your fight with Leia this morning may have made a change in your decision." Nomi looked down at her boots the entire time. She didn't want to look him in the eyes.

"Didn't you just here what I told Mara? 'Nothing holding us back.'" Luke gave her a reassuring hug. "Leia's little out burst just showed how immature she is taking this whole thing. She'll come around. Trust me."

"I just don't want you two to be at odds with each other." Nomi said, still looking at her feet.

"Just give it a couple of days. The kids will drive her and Han crazy and they will be happy to see us again." Luke said with a smile.

"Let's change the subject." Nomi said.

"Okay, what about?"

"How about we go somewhere today?"

Luke chuckled, "Like where?"

"I don't know. Pick some place. Wait I know!" Nomi said excitedly.

"Where?"

"We are going to go out for dinner." Nomi said as she typed the code to unlock the door.

"Uh huh. And may I ask where it is we're going." Luke walked in and lightly folded his arms on his chest.

"You can ask but I'm not going to tell." Nomi looked at him with a sly grin.

"Nomi and Luke stopped by earlier today. They wanted to talk to you." Han said as Leia began getting ready for bed.

"Okay?" Leia acted as if it was no big deal that her brother had come by.

"I know what you two are fighting about."

"And?" Leia wanted to know what that was supposed to mean.

"Leia, you have to let Luke grow up. He needs to make his own decisions. That may even if that includes him making mistakes." Han said as he sat down on the corner of the bed.

"Han, they are living together. And here, in the Palace, around our children." Leia was so sure that this was the wrong thing.

"Leia, neither one of us know this may actually help Luke."

"Han Solo, how do you figure that?" Leia said in an angrier voice than before.

"Maybe she wakes him happy."

"How can she make him happy?" Leia said with an almost disgusted look on her face.

"It's part of his life before we came along. It reminds him of the good times back on Tatooine and reminds him of his Aunt and Uncle. She makes him talk about things he wouldn't tell us. Maybe there are things in his past that he need to work at and she's just the person to do it." Han said trying to convince Leia. "Plus, I thought you liked her."

"She is nice and all. I did like her when she was staying here."

"It's no that you don't like her, it's that your just not crazy about the way they are going about things." Han said.

"Han, since when did you become the master of the mind?"

Han was taken aback. Is she trying to tell me I'm going soft? "I think tomorrow I'm going to spend the day with Lando. Threepio can watch the children, right?"

Leia chuckled; any time Han started to feel 'soft' he would visit or try to get in touch with Lando. "Threepio and Artoo can handle it."

Nomi lay in bed starring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. So she rolled over to face Luke. He however was sleeping like a baby. Nomi just rolled her eyes at him. Luke stirred and woke up just enough to sense that Nomi was awake. He opened his eyes quickly, just to scare her.

Nomi saw his eyes pop open. She took a slight gasp of air and sat up. When she saw his grin she knew he was subjecting her to one of his jokes. "Luke Skywalker! That was mean!" Nomi grabbed the pillow she had just been using and threw it at his face. "You scared me half to death!

"I was trying to see if I scared you, you'd be able to sleep." Luke paused, "if its Leia's and my fight don't worry."

"I don't think it's the fight. Something feels different." Nomi sat up and thought about what was different. "My pillow!" She hopped out of bed to run into the common room. When she came back she had a small pillow.

Luke was now sitting up and leaning against the headboard of the bed. "You never told me why you sleep with that thing."

"Well, this pillow is actually Jaina's. She let me borrow it. Mine is still at my aunt's house. You'll see it when we go and get it tomorrow." Nomi lay back down. Everything felt like it was suppose to. She had her pillow and the love of her life with her.

Luke laid down so he wouldn't be hovering over her. "That's not what I asked. I said why."

Nomi had her eyes closed. "I don't know."

"When did it start? That could have something to do with it." Luke told her.

Nomi stopped and thought when did I start sleeping with a pillow? Nomi opened her eyes to stare into Luke's blue ones. "It was after I lost Nicka." Her tone of voice was sad and she felt like she wanted to cry.

"Nicka?" Luke didn't kno who she was talking about. She had said the name as if it had been one of their mutual friends.

"That was the name I had picked out for the baby. I sometimes refer to her by the name instead of the baby." Nomi just closed her eyes again and held the small pillow closer to her stomach. She squeezed her eyes and tried to keep the tears from falling.

Luke put his arm around her waist a pulled her closer to him. He felt that she pulled back a little at first but then didn't stop his attempts to pull her closer. The only thing between them now was the little pillow Nomi had in her arms.

Luke knew that any mention of the baby would make Nomi tear up. He hated to see her like this. He always did. He pushed a stray hair behind her ear and kissed her on the forehead.

Nomi could feel Luke giving her reassurance through the Force. Soon she was calm again and very tired. Well you're scaring me, in a weird way, made me tired. Nomi chuckled to herself. Soon she was asleep with her fiancé holding her close.