Chapter 20

Nomi sat straight up and tried to catch her breath. She looked to her left and saw Luke was fast asleep. That wasn't a dream that was a nightmare. She couldn't seem to catch her breath. She got up out of the bed and headed into the kitchenette. She was drinking a class of water when Luke came in.

"You okay?" He asked her as he stood in the doorway.

"No." She said as she took another sip from the cup.

Her answer startled him, "what's wrong?"

"I had a dream." She just looked into her glass and kept her back to him.

Luke could sense that it had scared her. He walked toward her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She winced because of the pressure that he put on the blaster wound. He loosened his grip on her a bit. "What was it about?"

"About me. And my dad." She didn't continue.

"What happened?" Luke said trying to convince her to tell him. She didn't say anything. "Please tell me."

Nomi turned to look him in the eyes. She had been crying and there were tear tracks down her face.

"I was standing in front of him. He was standing there, telling me all these things. I don't remember exactly what he was saying. But I just stood there. Then he asked me was I ever going to get married. Then all of the sudden…." Nomi was trying to keep from tearing up. She rarely let dreams affect her like this, but this one was different. It was too real. She took a deep breath and continued. "I had my lightsaber in my hand. I told him 'I am getting married.'

"He asked to whom. And I said 'you remember him. Luke Skywalker. He used to live on Tatooine. I know you remember him. I know you didn't want us together but were going to be.' And as I was talking I started to spin with the lightsaber in my hand. Then when I got finished I stopped. I looked and he had this look of pain on his face." Nomi couldn't hold it in any longer. "I stabbed him. And he died right in front of me."

Luke pulled her close and let her cry into his tunic. He tried to comfort her through the Force but it wasn't helping. He had never seen her like this before. She was worse than when she had told him about the baby. He wasn't exactly sure how to help her. So he just let her cry on his shoulder.

She calmed down and they walked into the common room and sat on the couch. "It's okay, it was only a dream." Luke tried to assure her.

"No it wasn't. It was too real." Nomi wiped tears from her face again. She noticed that Luke was trying hard not to yawn. He's so tired. He had a busy day. "You can go lay back down if you want. I just can't go back to sleep right now. I'll be fine. I'll just watch some of the holonet."

"I'm fine." Luke reclined on the couch and pulled Nomi with him. "I was supposed to have an early meeting with Leia and a few of the other Senators but I don't mind blowing them off."

Nomi turned to Luke. "Wait. From what I've been told, you blowing off a meeting will be big news. You should go. Plus, you don't want Leia to be even madder at you."

"She'll get over it."

"Luke!"

"What?"

"I can't believe I heard you say that! You should try to make things better with her. I mean I admit that I'm not happy about the way she reacted. But if I had found out about one of my brothers, the way she found out about us, I'd be mad too."

"Don't worry about it. I'll worry about Leia."

Nomi just rolled over to face the holonet set. Luke would stroke her hair and put a strand behind her ear. Luke looked at his chrono. It was the fifth morning hour. Soon Nomi was asleep and Luke was not far behind.

"Senators, I'm extremely sorry about today. I was not informed that Master Skywalker was not going to be here." Leia said in a rather annoyed tone.

This isn't like Luke at all. It's that girl. He's changed since she's been here. He needed to be at this meeting.

"Well please inform Master Skywalker that we were sorry that he was not able to attend. And that we shall reschedule this discussion. And Leia we hope he's alright." One of the Senators said.

"I'll let him know. I plan to pay a visit to him after the meeting is adjourned."

The meeting lasted a few more hours.Leia left and no one dared to get in her way. Han had been waiting outside with the kids. He took a step to give her a hug but saw a look in her eyes and quickly rethought that decision.

"Leia, what's wrong?"

"Luke!"

"Is Uncle Luke okay?" Jacen asked from his mother's side.

"He is fine, don't worry." She said to Jacen. Jacen was satisfied and walked to join his siblings. Leia looked up to Han. "He's fine until I find him. Then we might have a funeral to go to."

"Leia, calm down. What happened in there? Did Luke say something about the fight in front of everyone?"

"Luke never showed!"

"Well I'm sure he probably had a good reason." Han was trying to stick for the kid, somebody needs to.

"Yeah, and his 'excuse' is sleeping in his bed."

"Leia."

"I'm sorry Han, but this was important. He could've called or something."

"You're right he should've called but then again you haven't been real nice to him lately so I might understand it if he didn't."

"Me? You're blaming his not contacting on me?" Leia just rolled her eyes and turned from Han. "Come on, kids. Let's go home."

The kid better have a damn good excuse. Han quietly followed Leia and the kids.