Chapter 27

Luke wanted to run down the hallways of the palace but knew he shouldn't. He would walk quickly though. He felt he had been away too long. He had missed Nomi terribly. He had to admit the last time they spoke he wasn't the most pleasant.

He had wanted to apologize to her. He, at first, wasn't excited that Nomi had decided, without discussing it with him, to adopt Ramey. Its not that Luke didn't want to, he just wished she would've asked first. He was truly excited; he'd be like a son. I

Luke had a box in each hand and his bag on his back. He held one present for Nomi and one for Ramey. Luke came to the apartment and opened the door. He expected Nomi to run and meet him, but she didn't.

"Nomi! Nomi!" Luke called through the apartment. He walked to the bedroom and everything was just as neat as he had left it. She might be with Leia. Even though he highly doubted it, Ramey may be playing with Jacen and Anakin. Luke pulled out his commlink.

"Leia?"

"Luke? You're back!" Leia's excited voice came over the comm.

"Yeah, I'm back. I was wondering if Nomi and Ramey were up with you."

"Ramey? Who's Ramey? Mara's up here, Nomi isn't."

"Have you talked to Nomi since she got back from Tatooine?"

"No, she hasn't come back yet. I didn't think she was due back for a while longer."

"She was supposed to be back a week ago. I'm coming up." Luke shut off the commlink and ran to the repulsor lift which took him up to Leia's level.

Luke didn't care, now, about running down the hallway. Leia met him at the doorway. Mara and Han were sitting on the couch when he walked in. "None of you have heard from them? At all?"

"Them? Luke you're not making since." Leia said concerned for her brother and soon to be sister-in-law's welfare.

"It's a long story, but to cut it down, we were adopting Ramey. They were supposed to be back a week ago." Luke looked down at his feet in concentration.

Mara looked at Han and Han looked at Leia. Each ones eyes saying, 'you do it, you're closer to him.' Leia finally spoke up. "Luke?"

Luke looked to his sister. She seemed sad, why he didn't know. "Yeah?" Leia looked to Mara. Mara's eyes grew wide in a 'you want me to give it to him?' way.

"Um, Skywalker, I took Jaina and Jacen down to the apartment about a week ago." She reached into her pocket to pull out an envelope. "Jacen found it. I wouldn't let him open it. I think it's a holodisk." She handed it to him.

"We'll just step out." Han said as he led Leia out of the room and Mara followed into the kitchenette.

Luke waited until they were out of ear shot. He pulled out the disk and proceeded to play it.

Nomi's face quickly appeared. Luke at first wondered if it was a ransom. But based on her face he felt no fear coming from her. She forced a smile and then began.

"Luke, if you're watching this that means you got home safe. I'm so relieved. Oh Luke," she stopped. Her eyes dropped to the floor. Luke could feel pain radiating off of her. She looked back at the screen and there were tears in her eyes. "Luke, I, um." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm not coming back." The second the words left her mouth the tears that were once in her eyes began to race down her cheeks. She looked as though she was going to be sick, or maybe she is.

What does she mean she isn't coming back? She continued, "Luke, I know this is sudden but," she couldn't complete her sentences. "I know that you didn't want me to adopt Ramey, but I'm all he has. I can't," she swallowed hard; "I won't bring him to Corusant. He won't adjust the way you and I did. He's only a child. I'm taking him to Naboo. I'll send for my stuff." Why didn't she ask me to come with her?

As if reading his mind, "Luke, we both know you couldn't come. Your duties keep you too busy. You couldn't just completely forget them. That's not who you are. Maybe, this will be for the best."

Nomi glanced down at her hands. Luke could tell she was fighting tears. "Nomica, Gavin's leaving," a deep voice said in the background. "I'll be there in a second, don't let him leave yet." She turned back to face Luke. "Gavin has the ring if you want it back." At that sentence the tears rolled down her face faster than before. She stood up out of view but Luke could still hear her sniffles as she turned off the recorder.

Luke sat back, confused. He didn't understand, and a part of him didn't want to. Somehow he knew that things weren't going to work out, but that didn't mean he didn't want them to. Luke went to put the holodisk back into the envelope when he noticed something inside. He pulled it out, it was her ring.

He held the engagement ring in his hand and starred at it for a little while. That may be the last time he would ever see her again. This ring was one of the few connections he would have to her. He put the ring back in the envelope and put the holodisk inside as well. He slipped it into his pocket.

He placed his elbows on his knees and the heels of his hands into his eyes. He wondered why the tears didn't come. He felt even worse that they weren't. Soon a hand came and was placed on his shoulder.

Luke looked up to see a little face starring back at him. Jaina was standing beside him with a concerned face. "Are you okay, Uncle Luke?"

Luke placed a kiss on her cheek. He picked her up and put her in his lap. He gave her a tight embrace, "I'm fine."

"Do you promise?" Jaina said as she gave him a strange look. She pointed her index finger at him.

"I promise, Jaina, I'm okay." Luke was surprised when he realized that he wasn't lying.

Nomi sat on the edge of the medical bed. They had been on Naboo for barely a week. She had woken up every morning sick and hadn't been to do much of anything. Javon had made her go to see a healer. The wedding is in one more week.

Nomi would have refused him for the eighth time had he not gotten Ramey to help him. She thought most of it would be from her subconscious. She just left the man she loved and in two weeks time was starting another family with someone else. Her father was dead, and she still considered it her fault. Now, he died for no reason.

A medical droid rolled in, "Miss, I need to draw some more blood for testing."

Nomi bit her bottom lip as the needle punctured her skin. She tried to think of anything else as she felt the needle withdraw.

"I'll have these results in just a moment," said the droid and then he rolled away.

She wished things could've been different. She was almost positive that they finally had a second chance. She felt anger building up when she thought about how it was her that had cut things off. She hated herself for it. But it had to be done.

She sent her feelings into the Force. This reminded her she'd never have anymore lessons from Jacen. Jaina would never run to meet her. She would never again get to watch Anakin get aggravated with the 'grown ups' and storm off to work on something mechanical. She knew she'd never form a friendship with Leia. She wasn't sure, but she thought she might just Han's smart-alecky comments. She'd never get to work on those wedding plans with Luke. She'd probably never see Mara again.

She wiped a lone tear that was streaming down her face. She wondered if Luke hated her. She quickly dismissed the thought, that's not Luke. She missed him, it had been almost four weeks since she had seen him last. She knew that by now he had gotten her message.

Even though it seemed she tortured herself by thinking about everything, she'd always feel like a little bit of the weight would be lifted off. She finished thinking about her loss when her gain called.

"Nomi, are you there?"

A small smile came to her face at the sound of the voice coming through the commlink. "I'm here, Ramey. Is everything okay?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Do you know when you're coming home?" His voice had a tinge of worry in it.

"I'm fine. I'm not sure when I'll be getting home. Aren't you having fun with Javon?"

"Yeah, he took me out to see the lakes!" His voice said quickly and excitedly.

A healer walked in about that time. "Ramey, I have to go. I'll talk to you when I get home."

"Okay, Bye."

"Your son?" The Healer asked.

She didn't feel like going through this explanation again. And the papers were official two days ago. "Yeah. He's a little worried about me."

"That's so sweet. Well, I came to talk to you about the results of the tests."

Oh Sith! Nomi visibly swallowed. "And?"

The healer looked down at a piece of paper. "All the tests came back negative, except for one."

This is worse than I thought. I'm gonna die and Ramey will be left all alone, again.

Nomi looked at the healer in anticipation. The healer's face split into a grin. Is she sadistic? "The pregnancy test came back positive."

"The what!" Nomi felt her mouth getting dry. She was sure if she wasn't already sitting she would've fallen. "When?"

"Based on how far along you are, it could've been as soon asfour weeks ago."

Luke.

Luke was sitting on the couch in his apartment. He hadn't slept well, but things were getting better. Leia would stop by with the twins everyday. Han tried to set Luke up; Luke has the brains to refuse him.

Gavin had just left with the last of Nomi's things. Luke could feel tears again, but he pushed them back. Luke rubbed his eyes and headed for the kitchenette. Before he got there he heard the door pager.

Luke really didn't feel like visitors but he didn't want to be rude. Luke dragged himself to answer the door. As he palmed the door he found a familiar face on the other side.

"Hi, Mara." Luke said trying to hide his feelings.

"Hello to you too, Skywalker." Mara pushed right passed him to enter the apartment. She grabbed the boots that were sitting in a door way and threw them on the floor beside the couch.

Luke was sitting there looking at her like she had lost her mind. "What are you doing?" He said annoyed.

"Come on, get dressed." Mara said standing over him and giving him a demanding look.

"Mara I really don't feel like going out tonight. I'd just rather stay here."

Mara sat on the couch next to him. "No, you're coming out. You've been in this apartment too long. And don't say you like it here because there isn't that much to do. And you didn't have that much food the last time I was here. So come on. Put your boots on and let's go."

"No Mara, I want to stay in tonight. Maybe some other night."

"Fine then, I'll just stay here." Mara said as she propped her feet on the table in front of them.

"Mara."

"No, I'm not going to let you sulk around this apartment. Now come on." She picked up his boots and handed them to him.

"If I come will you leave me alone?"

"We'll see." Mara replied.

Luke pulled on his boots and proceeded to follow Mara out of the apartment. Almost immediately after stepping out he felt his spirits lift a bit. As they walked down the hallway Mara began telling jokes and little stories about what had been happening with Karrde.

The more Mara talked the better he felt. She even got him to smile before they had reached the repulsor lift. As they waited to arrive at the bottom floor, Luke put his arm around Mara's shoulder.

He gave it a slight squeeze, "Thanks for getting me out tonight."

As the doors slid open she walked out and turned back a bit to look at him. "What are friends for?"

A/N: I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who read and reviewed. And to let you know i ended it this way for a reason! You'll see.