In the privacy of his hyperbaric chamber, free of his wretched mask and breathing pure oxygen into his ruined lungs, Vader finally turned on the datapad that he'd brought with him. The screen came to life and after entering in his highly encrypted, carefully thought out, and definitely not personal in any significant way password – 5853 – he quickly closed a few meaningless tabs, the contents of which contained worthless political news, threatening letters from various organizations of little meaning, and the new allotted budget for the Imperial Navy for the pending year– until he found the page with his email.

There were only two new additions to his inbox – the first looked like an email from one of his spies on Coruscant and was marked as IMPORTANT and the other was from the Forensics Technologies department, the subject line reading Video Files.

He clicked on the second one instantly, eyes briefly skimming the message that accompanied it.

****Original Message****

To: Supreme Commander Darth Vader of the Imperial Navy

From: Quinlaw Farsher, Lead Investigator of the Forensics Technologies Department of the Imperial Warship, Executor

Date: Selona 17th, 0ABY, 2200 hours

Subject: Video Files

Lord Vader,

As per requested, the technologies recovered from the Owen Lars homestead, located at the Great Chott salt flat of the outer rim desert planet known as Tatooine, have undergone several extensive and thorough examinations, looking for additional critical information on the life, activities, and training of the Rebel Terrorist known as 'Luke Skywalker'.

It is our regret to inform you that the discovered material offers no relevant information as pertaining to the current whereabouts of the criminal in question, information regarding the Rebel Alliance, and likewise does not suggest at which point the Lars/Skywalker became involved with the before mentioned terrorist organization, prior to them acquiring the droids suspected of containing information critical to the safety of the Galactic Empire.

At your request, we have included the following video files, of which there are three, in this email for you to view at your convenience. However, we understand that your time is valuable and feel to inform you of the individual contents:

18BBY07029 – First-Steps – 0.1EPEG

11BBY10013 – - 0.2EPEG

01BBY05007 – "Threading-The-Needle" – 0.3EPEG

After careful and thoughtful analysis, and after reviewing the spending records, tax history, and the financial history of the Lars family over a twenty year period (pending availability), and after taking into consideration the overall condition of the home upon our arrival, which appeared to have been largely ransacked of the abandoned valuables after the execution of Lars and his wife, it is the belief of this department that the family in question lacked the financial status as to afford them many luxuries common in the Core Worlds, and as such, additional information is unlikely to be found/recovered at this present time.

A comprehensive list of our team's data acquisition efforts of the Video Recorder is included below.

• Manual Acquisition

• Logical Acquisition

• File System Acquisition

• Physical Acquisition

Additionally, a list of the most frequented contacts initiated by members of the Lars family has also been included:

• Biggs Darklighter/Darklighter Homestead

• Tosche Station Outpost

• Camie Marstrap

• Laze "Fixer" Loneozner

We apologize in advance for the lack of helpful information regarding the current whereabouts of Luke Skywalker and/or the plans and whereabouts of the Rebel Alliance. It is the pleasure of this department to assist you in any possible way moving forward.

Regards,

Quinlaw Farsher, Lead Investigator Forensics Technologies Department

****End Message****

The lack of information regarding the Rebel Alliance was hardly surprising and despite what he'd allowed the investigators to believe, hadn't been his targeted goal anyways. He knew just as well as anyone how quickly the Jawas and Tusken Raiders moved in on abandoned homesteads on Tatooine. That anything of value had been found at all was a small miracle in and of itself.

And the fact that videos – actual videos of Luke – not just some terrible holo of barely acceptable quality, had been among the recovered items, could only be an undeserved act of mercy from the Force itself.

Because contrary to the admittedly justified concerns of the department conducting tests on the recovered technology… the enclosed videos were of great significance to him and for the longest time, Vader could only bring himself to stare disbelievingly at the titles, his heart pounding oddly in his chest as he worked up the courage to click on one and get a glimpse of what had been taken from him.

First Steps

Target Practice w/O. Lars

"Threading The Needle"

After deliberating for a few more seconds, Vader realized it wasn't really even a question of which and finally clicked on the first, making sure that it played in Fullscreen mode and in the highest possible quality.

A scratchy, obnoxious sound came out of the speakers as the video began to play. The camera lens was instantly distorted and moving every which direction as someone was swearing quietly to themselves, switching settings and obviously trying to get the thing to work properly.

"Owen – Owen, quickly!"

The one wielding the camera, his step-brother in another life, sighed with the patient long-suffering tolerance of a tired family man. "Hang on… I… almost – got it!" The picture cleared and focused, facing a small kitchen and then shifting towards an open doorway. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

Owen passed through a few small rooms, the camera frame unfocused and catching nothing of note as he moved with a speed that suggested his exasperated exterior was only for show. Finally, after a few seconds, he stepped into what must have been their living room, as it was more spacious than any other room yet, complete with a few couches and some precious, potted plants placed here and there. Vader only had the vaguest recollections of having stood there himself.

In the middle of the floor was Beru and she was squatting down with her arms extended outwards, a brilliant, happy smile lighting up her face. Vader felt the stirrings of impatience as the camera lingered on her for a long, long moment.

"You look beautiful, Beru."

"Owen!" Beru exclaimed, blushing and laughing when she noticed where her husbands attention was. "Not me! Luke – quickly, before you miss it!"

And finally – finally – the camera angle turned away from the young woman and towards – Vader felt his heart stutter in his chest – a small, tow haired child with bright blue eyes. He was so little – a year, at most, maybe even younger. Still pudgy with baby fat, all wrinkles and little rolls of skin, his son had just pulled himself to his feet with the assistance of a nearby chair. There were various toys scattered on the floor around him.

The baby was beaming up at the camera (at Owen, not Anakin, some regretful voice whispered), bouncing slightly with the excitement of holding the rooms attention.

"Luke," Beru called for his attention and the baby instantly twisted his head to look for her. He laughed then, slapping the chair with his hands. "Lukey, come on! Come to your Auntie, you can do it, sweetheart." She wiggled her fingers, beckoning him closer.

Luke stuck his fingers in his mouth shyly and then after making sure all the attention was completely on him, he let go of the chair, balancing carefully on his feet. For a moment, he rocked backwards as if he might fall down but then – then, he stepped forward, wobbling but still upright… and then he took another step… and another… and another, making it halfway to Beru before plopping down to the floor. He waved his tiny hands in the air, smiling and laughing as Owen and Beru instantly erupted into cheers in the background. Beru moved forward and swept Luke up into her arms, kissing him on the cheek and praising him over and over again, much to Luke's obvious delight.

Owen set the camera down, leaving the lens to record at an awkward side angle, barely capturing him as he stepped forward, congratulating "little man" on his big accomplishment, leaning in close to gently pet the child's hair as he shared a look of obvious pride with his wife.

"I told you it was worth coming home early for." She teased. "And I was right."

"You were definitely right. Of course, I was taught that women usually are."

"Whoever said that was wise indeed – oh, Owen," Beru shifted Luke to sit on her hip, bounding him slightly as she pointed. "The camera."

"Shoot –" Owen made a weird face, dashing back to where he'd abandoned the recorder. He picked it up and turned it around so the lens was looking at the table. "Let me just turn this – ".

The video ended.

Vader instantly hit the replay button, skipping forward to where Luke first came into frame and then rewatching the whole thing. It was both horribly painful and yet somehow still utterly miraculous to watch his son taking his first steps and a long dead part of him longed to have been there in person.

He replayed the video for a third time, admiring Luke's obviously superior motor skills and balance, knowing in his heart that his son had been an absolutely brilliant child.

He pressed play a fourth time, counting those four, wonderful, tottering steps with baited breath, hoping beyond hope that Luke would take a fifth, even knowing that he wouldn't.

He pressed play a fifth time, thinking the sound of Luke's laughter was the most wonderful sound he'd ever heard, before pressing pause on Luke's smiling face as he slapped the chair with his tiny hands in excitement.

He stared… stared and stared and stared, drinking in the sight of that little face, his heart full to the brim with unnamable emotions and at the same time feeling equal parts devastated and… absolutely livid.

Because all of this was wrong.

It should have been Padme calling for their sons attention, laughing and happy and encouraging him as he took his very first steps. It should have been him holding the camera and complimenting his beautiful wife and watching his son with so much love and pride. It should have been their home, far away from Tatooine, from on Naboo, surrounded by mountains and trees and a beautiful lake instead of that wretched sand filled desert.

He should have been there.

For all of it – for Luke's birth, for his first steps, his first day of school, his birthdays, everything.

And this – pressing REPLAY on a three and a half minute video was the closest he'd ever get to experiencing those moments.

Everything he had done… everyone he had killed, everything he'd endured… it had all been for the safety of his family. To keep them safe, to ensure their future. He'd given up everything for them…. and for all these years, it had all been for nothing because Padme was dead, killed by his own stupid, reckless, arrogant hand, and his unborn child with her.

Everything he'd hoped to save, he'd destroyed and he'd hated himself for all these years for the actions that had turned him into a monster. And perhaps the worst sin of all, was that he'd believed Palpatine – trusted that lying, traitorous, son of a Hutt – and continued to serve him, the skrag, thinking the man was all that was left and all the while, his child had survived. Had been kept hidden from him and given to people who only barely qualified as relatives, forced to grow up on a planet that Anakin had won the right to escape from and on which his son never should have had to set foot on.

I told you it was worth coming home early for.

That was what Beru had said.

What was he doing on the day this was recorded? What stupid, pointless task had he been assigned when his son – his only child – was across the galaxy, learning how to walk?

Vader doubled checked the date on the video and wracked his brain, trying desperately to remember what he had been doing.

And… he couldn't.

There was nothing.

He didn't remember because whatever it had been, however he'd spent his time… it hadn't been important.

The datapad suddenly timed out with the lack of interaction and the image of his infant son disappeared with a black screen. He instantly went to switch it back on – needing to see it again (and again and again) and still wanting to watch the other two, which promised to be just as gut-wrenchingly wonderful (horrible) as the first one was. Vader paused before he could press the power button though.

Because, for the briefest moment, the eyes that were reflecting back at him from the screen, on that scarred, pale face that he loathed to see and had avoided as much as possible for almost twenty years… were blue.

Closing his eyes, Vader dropped his head back against his chair, and felt a single tear slip down his cheek. He was aching with remorse, regret, and a grieving the loss of everything that had been taken from him and knowing deep in his heart there was no one else to blame except himself.

He should have been there.

A/N I was just writing a blurb for Moments in Time and then I vibed with it and this is what it turned out to be. Here's to hoping that I pulled it off.

Kudos to anyone who can guess what the meaning of Vader's password is. ;) I made up EPEG (E for Empire, get it? lol) and the fake dates on the video files are mostly random numbers.

Will probably come back and edit this a little more at some point. Hope you enjoyed it!