Chapter 22

She had woken up and Luke wasn't there. She knew he was still in the apartment. She felt like she was going to be sick. She had a pounding in her head. Her eyes were swollen. She got out of bed and felt as if she was going to fall over. She decided she needed fresh air. She opened the doors to the balcony of the apartment. She let the wind blow in for a little while. It's getting ready to storm. Nomi walked out on the balcony. It was a light misty rain.

She didn't want to go inside. She felt that the weather was outwardly showing how she felt. She was angry at herself for her father's death, lightening. She was sad about it, rain. She felt guilty, thunder. The rain began to come down harder and she allowed her tears to flow more freely.

"Nomi? What are you doing out here? You're going to get sick." Luke's voice was full of worry and concern. "Come on, let's go inside." He walked up behind her to pull on her arm.

Nomi just pulled her arm back. "I need to stay out here for a little while." She said barely audible above the storm.

"No, you need to come inside." Luke said putting more force into his voice.

"I'm not going in yet." The tone she used showed there was no room for discussion.

"Nomi, you can't blame yourself." Luke said trying a more comforting tone.

"Damn it, Luke! You heard Gavin! It was the way I handled it!" Nomi stopped to clear the lump that was growing in her throat. "I wanted to hurt him! I didn't think!" Nomi took a deep breath. "Damn it! Why didn't I think?" She asked herself.

"You can't do this, you'll make yourself sick." Luke said and but his arm around her shoulders.

Nomi shrugged his arms off. "The man is dead, Luke. I think I deserve to feel a little sick about the whole thing."

"Nomi."

"Luke, just go inside and go to bed." Nomi said quickly and in a harsh tone.

Luke knew that she needed him to be there but she voiced a different opinion. "Alright, I'll be inside if you need me." He said in a low tone. He turned and walked inside. He couldn't even begin to try to sleep. He walked into the common room and sat on the couch.

She seemed so distant. He knew that this was a hard time for her but she had never really pushed him away as she had just done. Anytime she had remotely tried she would quickly run back and apologize. But not this time, Luke thought to himself.

Luke knew he'd drive himself crazy if he thought along those lines all night. He sat on the couch and began to watch the holonet.

"Senator Organa Solo, please tell your brother and his fiancé we are so sorry to hear about the loss." One of the Senators, that Leia didn't recognize, said.

"Loss?" Leia hadn't talked to Luke in quite sometime. She hated to hear about family matters from the gossip of Corusant.

"Master Skywalker didn't inform you? I thought you would've been the first to know. Well besides those that heard the fight this morning."

"I haven't heard from Luke all day. What happened?" Leia was worried. He said 'loss' that means someone died.

"A young pilot stopped by their apartment this morning. He told, but more like yelled for the whole building to hear, that Master Skywalker's fiancé's father had died. The young man accused the girl. From what I hear she was pretty upset. That's why I wasn't surprised not to see the couple here tonight."

"Luke hadn't told me. Maybe I'll go visit them tomorrow and make sure they are all right." Leia said more to herself than the senator.

"If you do please send along my regrets."

"I will." Leia saw Han coming from across the room. He walked up to her and handed her a glass of wine. He took a shot of his Corellian whisky.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Han asked.

"Nomi's father died."

Han nearly choked, he began to cough. "What?"

"I'm not sure. It's something one of the senators told me. I'm not sure if its true but it would explain some things." Leia said looking at her glass. If it hadn't been an official function I would've much preferred Han's drink. She took a sip of the liquid in her cup.

"So what are you going to do?" Han asked as if it were no big deal.

"I think I'll stop by tomorrow and make sure they're okay. See if they need anything." Leia said.

"And?" Han asked.

"Offer my help if they need it."

"And?" Han asked again.

"'And' what, Han?"

"I was thinking apologize."

"That may be pushing it."

"Think about it. Aren't you tired of holding this grudge? It's been three weeks let the kid off. Plus I'm tired of telling the kids they can't go hang out with their uncle. It's not fair to them Leia."

"You miss Luke." Leia said as if she was accusing him of a crime.

"The kid's part of the family." Han tried to use as an excuse.

Leia loved it when he let his soft side show, even though it didn't happen very often. But that's what makes it even more special. "I'll talk to them tomorrow." Leia said as she gulped down the last bit of her wine.

Luke had slept on the couch that night. Nomi had asked him to. He had a feeling she just wanted to be alone. He couldn't understand completely why though. He thought she would've wanted him there to comfort her. But she didn't. He wished there was something he could do for her.

He woke up and went into the refresher unit for a shower. Afterwards he went into the bedroom for a change of clothes. Nomi was curled up on the bed. She seems so small and helpless. Luke could sense she was still asleep. He didn't know exactly what time it had been when she left the balcony last night.

Luke snuck to the dresser and retrieved a tunic and pants. He made his way back to the refresher to get dressed. Luke sat back down on the couch and turned on the holonet. He quickly shut it off when he heard a knock at the door.

He was wondering who would stop by this early in the morning. He soon recognized the Force signature. It was Leia. He didn't want to answer knowing that all he would receive would be a lecture from her. But he knew that she had sensed him awake already.

He pressed the code on the key pad and the door slid opened. "Hi, Leia."

"Hi, Luke."

Luke could sense the sympathy and guilt flowing from Leia. "What are you doing here? I thought you were mad."

"I'm sorry Luke; I shouldn't treat you like you're a child. You need to make your own decisions; I just have a hard time trying not to help you. I'm sorry about those things I said to you the other day. The things I said about you and Nomica were rude. I was angry, I guess, at the thought of my brother growing up and not needing me any more."

"It's okay. Leia, I'll never 'not need' you. Even when we do get married I'll still need your and Han's help. If not even more so then." Luke said to Leia with his innocent farm boy smile clearly on display.

"Where is Nomica? I want to apologize to her, too."

"She's still in bed. There's been a death in the family." Luke said glancing down at his feet.

"I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Her father had a heart attack." That was all Luke was willing to tell her now. "She's not taking it good."

When Luke said the last part, Leia felt his emotions change a bit. "Luke, is everything okay?"

"Let me come out there." Luke walked into the hallway and allowed the door to shut behind him. "I'm not sure how things are going."

"Do you want to go for a walk so we can talk?" Leia could tell he didn't want to talk about things inside for fear of Nomi hearing and upsetting her. She could sense that he wasn't too thrilled about discussing it here in the Palace hallway.

"No, I need to be near in case she needs me. Nomi's father had the heart attack after he got word of the announcement of our engagement. She thinks it's all her fault."

"Oh, I'm sorry. This engagement hasn't been the happiest, huh?"

"No, it hasn't." Luke paused for a moment, thinking about the night before. He knew he could ask Leia for advice. "Last night, she asked me to sleep on the couch."

"Was that a good or a bad thing?" Leia personally thought it to be a good thing but she could tell this was bothering Luke or he wouldn't have brought it up.

"I'm not sure." Luke said, looking, again, down at his bare feet.

"When did you find out?"

"Yesterday, mid-morning. Her cousin, Gavin, came by and told us. He seemed pretty upset as well."

"Are you both going to the funeral?" Leia knew it was a touchy subject by the look Luke gave her.

"I don't know if she's even going. Its tomorrow and she hasn't left the bedroom since she found out. The funeral's going to be on Tatooine. I'm not sure she wants to go back there. I'm not sure I want to go back there. Sith, I'm not even sure she wants me to go back there with her."

"It's okay Luke." Leia said as she put her hand on her brother's back.

"I'm not sure she's going to be okay." Luke said in a distressed voice.

"Only time will tell." Leia said as she started to rub Luke's back to comfort him.

Luke needed a change of subject. "How are Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin doing? I haven't seen them in almost four weeks."

"There are all fine. I swear everyday they ask, 'when are we going to go see Uncle Luke'. And I felt awful everyday when I told them 'not today'. Once Nomica is feeling better you should both come up and see them."

"We'll do that. I'm going to go back in and check on her."

"Okay. I should probably get home too. At the least, both of the twins are awake and Han's by himself."

Luke chuckled at Han trying to chase around the two children and trying to get them to sit still. "Alright. Maybe we'll see you tonight, or something."

"Okay, bye Luke." She gave him a hug and walked back down the hallway. She felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She could tell Luke was feeling the same way. She was glad they were on speaking terms again.