He's here! Ben's mind announced, as they pulled out of lightspeed.

The violet atmosphere of Dagobah was barely visible from this point, but the young Jedi knew full well the electric charge that brewed inside atmosphere. He and his father had hidden a small time on the planet, furthering Ben's training before they had decided to hunt for the Jedi. What startled Ben was a streamline cruiser, of obvious rich construction that followed Dagobah's rotation.

Terrified heartbeats past and his hand drifted to the hilt of his mother's lightsaber, before he realized that the cruiser was not moving to intercept and had not sighted them as soon as they had exited hyperspace.

Obi-Wan must have read his discomfort because he rested a hand on his shoulder, in a startling likeness to the way his father had. "It is Bail. No need to worry."

"Who's worried?" Ben said with forced cheerfulness, making a concerted effort to release his anxiety. This wasn't his time. A foreign ship did not necessarily mean that the government had betrayed them and he would be handed over to the Yuuzhan Vong as he and a number of his fellow

Jedi had before. There were no Vong. But that doesn't mean you aren't in a dangerous situation. Everything hinges on you, Skywalker. Stop jumping at shadows.

"No one is hunting you here, they're hunting me," Obi-Wan said, his mouth twisting with an air of self-derision.

Ben shook his head, gazing at the cruiser before him. "I've jumped from one bad situation to the other. The Jedi hunted down. Why did my fa..." he stopped short, unable to relay his fears, not even to himself. "But our situation couldn't change. You and Anakin and Master Yoda, and whatever

number of Jedi Knights are spread throughout the galaxy; you still have time to alter the future. This can be fixed, because it has been fixed before." Tentatively, he cocked a smile. "Or would have been."

"What aren't you telling me young Ben?" the older Jedi asked him, gauging him with his azure his. "You willingly render my future as it might have been, but reveal so little of yourself."

"There is little necessity in you knowing my past," Ben answered equitably.

"If we are to work together then we must trust each other," Obi-Wan pointed out.

His entire life Ben had lived in the midst of war, had experienced little respite's in that continual scavenge for peace with the Yuuzhan Vong, had watched, sometimes helplessly, as members of his family, friends both young and old, were slaughtered. His own mother, killed on the cusp of salvation, his father sacrificing himself so that Ben could live long enough to cross the barriers of time. There was no happy ending for him, there was just the hope for a better future for those he had lost. How could he explain this to someone who had not experience that utter desolation?

Swallowing, he shrugged. "You're a good man, Obi-Wan Kenobi, I had no doubt in that. But there are areas inside of me that no person, sometimes not even myself, can tread. The only thing I need to trust you to do, is make right what was to be wrong."

Kenobi shut his eyes and Ben could feel the older man gathering his thoughts, arranging his emotions. For someone who wanted Ben to be so open, Obi-Wan was locked tighter then a pressure seal. "I don't know how much help I'll be. Perhaps Anakin has strayed too far from my reach."

"Then it's my job to breach the distance," Ben chirped in. "Which means, I'll tell Anakin we've arrived."

"And I'll contact Bail."

"We've arrived," Ben told the young man who was a handful of years older then himself, the man who would become his grandfather.

An energy wall separated the two Skywalkers, the past and the future, from one another. Ben did not miss the analogy in that. He had already broken the barriers of time, but he had the feeling that breaking the barrier between his grandfather and himself, plus the one between Anakin and Obi-Wan was going to be a difficulty that he had never truly appreciated. How had his father approached it with as much unfailing faith as he had.

"You won't be able to hold me forever," Anakin hissed at him, the crimson energy wall, emphasizing the apparent anger in his young grandfather. "My Master will not be forgiving, but if you help me escape, their could be a place for you in the Empire."

Ben feigned eager earnestness. "Then why don't I just help you hijack the ship, take Obi-Wan captive, and cart the three of us before Palpatine.?" Solemnity took over Ben's boyish scarred features. "And how long before your Emperor finds the two of us a threat?" Now playing a considering look, Ben added, "But you are the one who is held captive, he'll probably choose me. Though from your perspective this might seem like a terrible idea, now."

"He would not push me aside. I am the Chosen One." Pride puffed the taller man before him and Ben had to hold on to his calm. He could feel the power radiating from Anakin, but it was like throwing a slab of permecrete; easy to dodge if skilled enough but perfectly able to flatten you like

a hotcake.

"Unless you were chosen to get captured you're failing pretty badly," Ben pointed out unforgivingly.

He saw Anakin tense as though ready to pounce. "You've tempted fate, coming here."

"So you've accepted the truth, that I will be your grandson?" Scepticism had become a palpable essence, a friend of sorts, in the last two lonely years. "That my father will be your son."

Considering, Anakin answered, "You are a part of me, but distorted. A distant relative no doubt. But my grandson? I can't believe that you've come back through time."

Ben snatched the lightsaber from inside his tunic, the one he had taken from Anakin. "See this?"

"My lightsaber," Anakin identified.

With a nod, Ben then removed the lightsaber hanging from his belt. "How about this one?" Through the crimson haze, his grandfather squinted at the hilt. After a moment his eyes widened and flicked to his lightsaber yet again. "No two Jedi's lightsabers are alike. Now I could have pulled parts from the ship and have made a passable lightsaber, but what are the odds that it would turn out identical to your own."

"Who are you really?" asked the older Skywalker, still struggling against his disbelief.

"A ghost," Ben said. "A specter now because my future will change. You would have survived that battle, Anakin, but something intrinsic inside of you would have been lost. The Jedi would be hunted and brought to near extinction by you. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and your two twin children the only

ones to survive."

Ben waved the two identical lightsabers, one his grandfather's present, one Ben's future. "Obi-Wan took your lightsaber from that battle and gave it to my father. Dad eventually gave it to my mother when he began her training. After she died, it was passed on to me."

"Were you there?" Anakin asked, the subject leaping course.

"Was I where?" asked the confused teenager.

Those ice-colored eyes, that had held nothing but all-encompassing hatred and anger, dimmed to an old pain and sadness and lowered to the ground. "Were you there when your mother died?"

Shaken by the question, Ben had to quash the instant memory that rose to his mind's eye. He did not want to relive that moment, when he had to center on his efforts to change the future. "It's not important."

"You want me to believe you, answer the question," Anakin commanded.

Narrowing his eyes into a glare, Ben answered, "I was! But I don't see how that will convince you of the truth you already know as fact." He pocketed Anakin's lightsaber and replaced his own. "We'll be landing soon. Now we can transfer you easily, without having to render you unconscious or we can do it the difficult way, with you enjoying another lump on the back of your head. Know that if you try to return to Palpatine I will kill you."

With his words, the softness in Anakin's features reverted to that sharp anger. "How very Jedi of you?"

"Yeah, if I were a Sith, you'd already be dead."

Padme had just finished feeding Leia and resting her next to Luke, when Bail knocked at her door. Weary as she was, she was glad for his presence. He had been a staunch supporter even before the entire galaxy began to fall apart around them, a distraction to keep her mind off of Anakin and Obi-

Wan and her desire for the Jedi Master to bring her husband back to what he had been.

However, his measured expression caused her heart to beat rapidly in her chest. She knew the game face of a politician, had worn it often enough, to recognize that Bail had not come with good tidings. "What is it Bail?" she asked, a thousand 'what if's' swimming in her head.

"Perhaps we should sit," he said, his dark eyes troubled and kind.

She liked this even less, but obliged, leading him to the small bank of cushions that lent itself as a sofa. Together they sat and Bail pressed his hands together in front of him, leaning forward, avoiding her glance. "Obi-Wan and Anakin have returned Padme." He stopped her as she made to

go to them. "There's more."

Slowly she relaxed back against the cushion. "He's a prisoner isn't he?"

Bail nodded, running a hand through his jet hair. "For the moment."

"Does he know about Luke and Leia?" she asked, hurtling past her grief.

"I don't believe Obi-Wan has told him," Bail answered simply. "They're moving him now, but I'll escort you to meet with Master Yoda and Obi-Wan if you'd like."

Gratitude caused tears to well up in Padme's eyes. "Thank you, Bail," she said, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. "Will I be allowed to see him?"

"That will be up to the Jedi, though Padme, I wouldn't recommend it," Bail said with some hostility. He had been supportive of her but he did not want her to be exposed to her husbands evil. Anakin had already damaged so many lives, as a friend Bail did not want to see that happen to her or her

children.

She sighed. "He is still my husband, Bail."

"That can change, Padme. Not many knew of your marriage you could have it annulled," Bail explained. "Find someone else to entrust your happiness to."

"Someone like you?" she asked bitterly.

He scowled at her. "I'm married for Force-sake, Padme."

"I love him, Bail," she admitted, feeling in some small way that she was betraying the Republic, the Jedi, her very people for such an admission.

"Even if he isn't the same man you married?" he asked gently.

She buried her head into her hands, if only she could blind herself to the consequences to the actions around her. There had been something inherently dangerous about loving, Anakin. She had known it then, that night he had professed his love and she had felt her own burgeoning inside of her, but she had so hoped to be able to block the night from him. A fairy tale, she had hoped for. Where the brave Queen kept the favor of a good Knight. She had believed too much in that fairy tale.

"I don't know."

Silence permeated the room around them, even Luke and Leia were quiet in their bassinet. She should have seen what was happening to Anakin, should have seen it before their marriage when he'd tried to save his mother and ended up slaughtering an entire tribe of Tuskins. Except part of her hadn't been able to deny his righteous anger. They had stolen something so precious from him that day and it hadn't just been his mother. He had become very much like them in that moment, holding the power of life and death in his hands. And she had missed it entirely.

"The Jedi will be waiting," Bail reminded, breaking the silence quietly, yet it reverberated in the room as echoing as a thunderclap. He cocked his arm, planting his fist at his hip, offering again his stalwart support.

Standing, she looped her arm through his.

"M'lady," Obi-Wan greeted her, kissing each of her cheeks. Padme instantly noticed his weariness, the bruises that were just beginning to fade under beard, mustache and firm skin.

Bail had lead her into a small conference room, one he used as his diplomatic headquarters during the war. Master Yoda stood a small distance away and it wasn't until Obi-Wan's stance moved away that she saw the teenaged boy with red-gold hair and ocean eyes standing behind the Jedi Master.

She stiffened and shot a questioning look to Obi-Wan. "Oh, pardon me, Padme," Obi-Wan stumbled over his words awkwardly, looking at the boy behind him. "This is Ben..." he trailed off.

Shooting the older man a wry grin, Ben bowed before her. "Jade. Ben Jade. I'm afraid I was left rather stranded and Master Kenobi offered his assistance."

"Ben this is Padme Skywalker, the wife of the man I told you about," Obi-Wan introduced her, his demeanor much repaired.

The boy's eyes turned to credit chits briefly, before he nodded. "Then I offer you my sympathies," he said a sense of sadness and wry amusement in his tone.

Frowning curiously at him, Obi-Wan quickly diverted her attention. "How are the twins?"

"Sleeping," she answered, eternally confused. "What of Anakin?"

"Twins?" Ben Jade asked, his eyes suddenly centering on her belly. "They're already here?"

Obi-Wan faced him. "I thought you knew."

Jade shook his mane of red-gold locks. "I didn't know when. Padme may I see them?"

Reluctantly, his grandmother brought him to her cabin where he could sense the two familiar yet oddly different auras of his father and aunt. It was dark in the room, but Ben was not afraid of a little darkness, it had been his constant companion for the last two years. And it was only a nuisance to the pair of bright lights that were the presence of the two babes at the end of the room. They called to him, tugging on his slow approach.

Padme followed closely behind him, started and more then a little concerned that he had made such a request. He could not explain it to her now though, not when for the first time he knew what it was to have a grandmother, someone soft and caring, even when she didn't know who he was.

Coming to the bassinet, he peered over the edge and his breath hitched in his lungs. I didn't expect this, he mused, as his hand reached out to the little baby boy reposed in sleep. He rested his finger in the tiny hand and felt the grip, the instant connection between father and son. Sith kill

him, his chin trembled at that moment and he the years of being hard and surviving for his father made him wish he could cry at that moment.

"Dad?" he whispered.

This wasn't his father, not yet. But the tiny babe still responded, he felt a tiny waft of the Force, tentative and wild reach out to his mind. Still he could not allow the tears to come. The Yuuzhan Vong had made sure that his grief was poison. I love you, he sent out along their tiny connection. Now his shoulders shook with restrained sobs and he momentarily forgot about his future grandmother behind him.

"This isn't fair," he hissed. Was his mother somewhere out there now? If he reached out far enough would he feel her presence too? So close and yet forever away.

"What was that, Ben?" Padme asked, her voice now full of compassion. Was that where his father had gotten it? That unfailing belief in doing the right thing. Ben felt he was very much bereft of that compassion.

He cleared his throat, pushing his grief away. "It isn't fair that you must hide you and your children, Lady Skywalker."

"Life is rarely fair," Padme ventured, her hand coming up to touch his scarred cheek. "There is something familiar about you Ben Jade. Have we met?"

Without thought, he leaned into her touch. "No," he answered shortly.

Padme was nothing like his mother. There was a smooth regalness to her, a dignity that Mara had held, but his mother had been as hard as he was. She had lived a difficult life and had suffered because of it. Yet he had always known the amount of love she'd carried for him. The ex-Emperor's hand hadn't been soft, she had been softened. But Ben had loved her more then anything. And he had known how much his father had loved her. How he missed them both?

"You must have been in the hardest parts of the war," she said, her fingers now playing over the red, scare-lines, on his face.

"Sometimes, I feel, I never left it."