A/N: I decided to continue this story, hope you like it!

His brother.

Han spent the first night of his leave back at the Imperial palace, in Luke's bedroom, on the opposite side of Luke's huge double bed, watching the young blonde while he slept. Luke had fallen asleep an hour or so ago, but Han stayed up and lay on his side, propped up on one elbow as he looked at the kid as he slowly inhaled and exhaled, studying every line of his brother's features.

His brother. That was the part he still couldn't get over. His little brother. If he hadn't seen the blood analysis himself, he never would've believed it, Luke looked nothing like him. He still couldn't figure out how Vader made the connection.

His brother. He'd been an only child growing up, and that was enough of a struggle for he and his mother to get by. He grew up in an area where all the other kids seemed to have brothers and sisters out the ear. He'd been able to grasp the concept he was adopted, but he didn't understand why that meant he couldn't have a sibling too. Trying to imagine his birth parents had been largely an exercise in futility, but he often wondered what it'd be like to have a brother. He'd always figured if he did have one, he'd look just like him. Han gazed down in awe, still trying to get it through his head he was really related to this kid. His brother, he'd had a brother and otherwise would never have known it, would never have discovered where he came from, who his family was. It wouldn't have taken anything for him to turn down the interim job at the academy, and it wouldn't have been anything for Luke and Vader to come there after he'd gone. They came so close to never meeting, never finding out the truth.

Luke took a slightly deeper breath and his eyes started to open. They blinked a few times, trying to see clearly. He saw the man hovering over him and tiredly asked, "Han?"

"Go back to sleep, kid, you're dreaming," he replied with a smirk.

"What're you doing?" Luke rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing. You okay?"

Luke closed his eyes again and nodded.

"Didn't have another nightmare, did you?"

Luke shook his head.

"Good, go back to sleep."

Luke settled back against the pillows, but he opened his eyes a slit and said, "Han..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna join the academy when I'm 18, Father's going to finally let me."

"They need you, kid, you wouldn't believe the rejects they're passing through today," Han told him. "Maybe you can help me and whip some of them into shape for me."

Luke groggily nodded, looking asleep again already.

Darth Vader had known the minute Luke and Han met that there was something between them, he couldn't tell at the time just what, it was obvious Han Solo was not Force sensitive. But he knew he needed to find out more about the young captain, then it became obvious he needed to keep this man close to the Imperial palace.

Initially he'd thought Luke's reaction to Solo's presence was a mere hero worship, the man wasn't much older than Luke but he had accomplished so much during his time in the Imperial Navy already, his potential as a member of the fleet was unlimited. No doubt Luke looked up to this man as a symbol of what he could become when he joined. He allowed Luke to sit in during Solo's reports, he'd figured the captain would be a good influence on Luke.

As it became obvious something was developing between his son and the newest member of the star destroyer fleet, Vader was skeptical, but not concerned. He was always there, the two were never alone, and if he suspected anything was wrong he could crush the bones in Solo's neck no problem. At some time Captain Solo's visits became longer, once he delivered his reports to the dark lord, Luke was always insistent about asking the captain questions about joining the academy and what Solo did in the Navy, or insisted on showing something to the captain that he'd built. It would've been cute if Luke was a little kid, maybe Vader should've found his blatant infatuation with the captain a bit alarming, but through the Force he could sense no threat to his son's wellbeing from this man.

One night Solo came to the palace officially on leave but to deliver a new report, and as he was off the chrono for a couple days, Luke begged his father to let Solo stay for a while. The captain had no previous engagements and it was alright with him, it just happened to coincide when Darth Vader was due for a conference with the other members of the Empire. When the conference was over he saw that the captain's speeder was still docked outside and the palace was unusually quiet. Vader made his way through the rooms, turning up no sign of either man. He went to the second floor to check Luke's room, and what he saw stunned him.

They were both asleep on Luke's bed, the door opening and his entrance had failed to rouse either of them. Solo was sprawled on his side facing the door, Luke had rolled over on top of him in his sleep. The scene caught the dark lord off-guard and while he was trying to figure out just what in the hell was going on, he noticed something that made him pause.

Captain Solo had been to the palace a couple dozen times over the months, during which time Vader saw as much of the man as he'd cared to. From the moment the three of them met at the academy, something struck him as familiar about the man but he couldn't place it. Now...now, if it weren't for his life support suit keeping everything regulated, he would've sworn his heart was pounding against his chest wall.

Luke had inherited his looks from both his parents, Vader saw his features and his late wife's in that young face. Captain Solo bore almost no resemblance to Luke whatsoever, but there was something there he remembered, and then it hit him. He remembered his life before he was Darth Vader, he remembered his early life on Tatooine, he remembered his mother, he remembered, his grandmother. It wasn't a very strong likeness, but he realized now that Captain Han Solo bore several of the same features his grandmother had possessed.

It...it simply couldn't be. It wasn't possible. The child he and his wife had given up when they were younger than Luke...he remembered Solo's service record, there were a lot of blanks in his file about his early life before he joined the flight academy. He was a Corellian, that much was established, he had grown up on Corellia...it was presumed therefore he was born on Corellia, but what if he wasn't? When he and Padme gave their child up, they had no idea who adopted him, where he was taken, they didn't know, they hadn't wanted to know. Giving up that baby boy, their first child, their only child for what was to be seven years, was the hardest thing either of them had ever done. They decided they were better off not knowing, the truth of who took their child and what became of him, might be more than either of them could bear.

And yet...he was the right age, he was eight years older than Luke, he was one of the best pilots of his generation, as had been true of Vader back when he was still Anakin Skywalker. What if it was true? It was too fantastic to believe, that by pure chance, his firstborn son...could've found his way back to him...could be sleeping right beside his younger brother right now. It couldn't possibly be true, but what if it was? He had to find out. For the time being, it was obvious nothing happened here, he backed out of the room and let the two sleep. The next morning he heard them scrambling in Luke's room as they realized what had happened, he couldn't resist being right there when the door opened and Captain Solo came rushing out, he practically knocked the dark lord down before he skidded on his heels and jumped to attention, his eyes wide with panic, "Sir!"

"Captain Solo, don't you have somewhere to be during your leave?"

"Yes," he answered, his eyes still huge and his brain too scrambled to offer anything but an honest answer.

"Then I would suggest you get there."

"Yes sir."

Even he was entitled to have a little fun with the men serving under him. Just before Solo reached the stairs he turned and called after the younger man, "I expect your next report on schedule as usual."

Han turned back, his eyes still big but now part of the panic was replaced with confusion, as it slowly dawned on him he wasn't about to be killed. "Y-yes sir."

Vader turned to his son, who looked mildly panicked but nowhere near as much as the captain, and inquired, "Well, Luke?"

Luke rolled his eyes, "Father, don't be ridiculous, nothing happened. Han's not like that."

"You are a very trusting child, Luke, sometimes too much."

"Nothing happened, Father, I was showing him my model ships and the new droid I'm building, and we talked about what'll happen when I join the academy and we fell asleep." There was a pause before he asked, hesitance in his voice, "You're not going to take him off the fleet for this, are you?"

The thought hadn't occurred to him, even if it had, he couldn't take that chance. He had to know if he was right. He had to find out if there was any way that that man...could possibly be...his son.

"Don't worry, Luke," Vader told him as he patted his son's head assuredly. "Captain Solo will still be welcomed here."

He just had to be sure to get the man alone so Luke wouldn't eavesdrop on their conversation. He had to find out everything he could about Captain Han Solo to know if there was any chance this could all be true.

"You..." he turned to his son and commented, "You're becoming rather close with Captain Solo, aren't you?"

Luke looked up at his father's lenses and answered simply and determinedly, "He's my best friend. I can't talk to anyone else about all the things I do with him, he gets me."

Yes, sad to say, despite Vader's attempts to raise Luke to be as normal as possible after his mother died, his son had a reputation as being a bit of an 'oddball' compared to the rest of the kids his age. He tried to make friends over the years, but they were few and far between, and none of them, Vader knew, were all that close. Luke got used to keeping to himself as a defense mechanism, and no doubt he'd hoped being part of something as big as the Imperial flight academy would change things, but Vader knew it was a hard experience for someone so young when they were as sheltered as Luke was. Regardless of whether Vader's suspicions about Captain Solo proved to be true, he was the only person who seemed capable of coaxing Luke out of his shell.

The next time Captain Solo stopped by the palace to give his report, Vader managed to get him alone and made inquiries about his early life. It was obvious the man was puzzled by the subject but he was as detailed as he could be: he'd grown up on Corellia but he didn't know where he was born, he was adopted as a baby by the woman he knew to be his mother but he'd always known she wasn't really his mother, he never knew anything about his birth parents and he assumed they were both dead. It wasn't much to go on, but it still lent credit to the possibility. Now, every time he saw that face, he thought of his grandmother, and it just seemed impossible the answer could be anything else. He waited until Solo had paid a few more visits before he told the young man his suspicions, obviously Han had found the whole thing hard to swallow. Who wouldn't? The whole thing just seemed so ridiculous, but he listened to Vader's story and the dark lord saw the doubt and the question, the consideration that it could possibly be so.

Finally, the blood test had confirmed his suspicions, Han Solo was his and Padme's firstborn son. He'd known this revelation would be more of a shock to the captain than it was to him, he wasn't sure what to expect, maybe Vader shouldn't have been surprised that Han's reaction was to run. He'd clearly accepted his life as it was long ago, accepted he'd never know where he came from, and this just blew everything he knew all to hell. Vader almost felt sorry for dragging him into this and forcing him to acknowledge his true heritage, it was a shock unlike anything he'd ever known, but Han had a right to know.

It was a shock to Darth Vader as well, so many things ran through his mind. Telling Luke would be difficult, but he had a right to know he had a brother, just as much as Han had a right to his true heritage. Vader was willing to do whatever was necessary, he would announce the identity of his firstborn to the entire galaxy, he would move Han in with them at the palace, his eldest son was entitled to everything Luke was, especially to know where he belonged, to have an actual family, a true home.

Han's questions when he finally returned might as well have been a vibroblade twisting in what remained of his flesh body. He knew it was only to be expected, Han had grappled with these questions his whole life, he wasn't just entitled to know the truth, he was entitled to make the questions and accusations hurt, to give back some of what he'd been dealt his whole life of endless questions and no answers. The two of them started off with a very complicated relationship and Vader knew it would take time for them to find common ground. He could wait. There was another issue, telling Luke. He wasn't looking forward to that, but his second-born had a right to know the truth, he just hoped the three of them together could deal with what came next. In all honesty, Vader wouldn't have been surprised if when Han left that night of the blood test, he'd never come back, and if it hadn't been for Luke, he probably wouldn't have. But as Vader concluded early on, the two of them needed each other, and Han knew it too.