Han opened the door and immediately insisted no one discuss politics or military operations tonight. Luke and Kess gladly agreed. Leia was under a lot of stress; more so than everyone else. She seemed to feel that holding the lump of her belly kept the stress from bleeding into the baby, but they all knew that wasn't true.

As Threepio set out dinner on the square table, Han stopped Leia by the shoulders, kissed her on the forehead, and ordered, "Stop working now."

With a sigh, she acquiesced. Leia put her datapad down on an end table and stepped over to sit down for dinner.

But Luke stopped her next. "Can I try something?" He hovered his palm politely in front of her body.

Leia stopped her feet and nodded. She took her hand away from her belly so Luke could put his palm on it instead. Kess watched him close his eyes and concentrate for a moment. Soon, Leia's shoulders drooped.

When it was over, Luke pulled his hand away and gave her a grinning scold. "You need to meditate more often." He moved to the chair around the corner from Kess and sat down.

"I know." Leia groaned and moved to a chair too. "I don't have time right now."

Han whined as he sat down. "You never have time! That's the problem!"

Luke nearly laughed, comically widening his eyes. "Is that Han? Promoting meditation?"

"Well, now, wait a second—

Leia laughed freely. "He's got you there!"

Han continued to defend. "That's not what I said."

"I heard it," Leia teased him, picking up her water glass. She eyed Kess. "Did you hear it?"

Kess smiled at all this. "Yeah, I heard it."

Han drooped his head from his shoulders.

Luke assured the man, "Your secret's safe with us."

They dismissed Threepio and food got passed around like any regular home. Han began the conversation with a gesturing index finger. "Now, I know I said no business, but—

Leia rolled her eyes as she filled her plate.

Luke scoffed at the man. "No. Don't. If you do it, she's going to do it too. Don't open that door."

Han gestured his palm now. "But this isn't exactly business. This is more like . . . family. Kind of."

Leia was in good humor. "Yes, well. The lines between them are growing blurry these days."

Luke talked over his bite. "Just spit it out."

Han narrowed his eyes directly across the table at Kess. He took in a deep breath and blurted it. "Artoo."

Kess opened her mouth—

Luke rolled his head on his neck. "Oh, leave her alone."

Han shrugged both hands.

"We gave her a hard enough time about it on the trip," Luke complained.

Kess lifted her brows over at Luke. "You mind if I answer the man myself?"

Luke blinked.

Kess turned to face Han down across the table and took a fast sigh before she began. "I got the chip today. Wedge is going to let me use Rogue Group tools to install it after hours. We need a static mat and all the grounding equipment—

Luke's brows went into his forehead. "You're already on it?"

Now Kess shrugged both hands and squeaked back at him. "Of course I'm already on it! It's Artoo!"

Luke blinked back and settled in his chair with an open mouth. He looked at Leia across the table who in turn eyed him back. Her grin was deep, quiet, and secret as she cut out a bite.

Kess turned back to Han and finished. "So, yeah, the chip, the grounding equipment. And Rogue Group has an astromech diag we can use to test him with." She looked to Leia. "It'll help if we could have Threepio there too, to make sure his memory is intact."

Leia shrugged easy. "Say the word."

"I understand they were wiped together last time?"

Luke nodded. "That's what Threepio said. I don't think I ever asked Artoo before."

"Well, that's good. Then Threepio can spot check to make sure everything is still there." Kess finally turned her attention to her food and started cutting up a bite. "Not that we can really do anything about it if it isn't, but at least we'll know what he's missing."

Leia squinted. "What's the risk exactly?"

"If he got even the slightest zap when we removed his memory, or when we reinstall it, we could fry bits of those chips. The only time you want to remove memory chips on a droid is when you want to wipe it."

"We weren't grounded when we took them out," Luke noted with concern.

"We were a little." Kess told him. "I have one wired into my combat boots for that very reason."

"But I'm the one that took out his chips."

"But you were also connected to me," she pointed out.

His tongue went into his molar. "Oh yeah, huh."

Kess chuckled at him. "If you think I didn't take every precaution on that boy, then you really underestimate how much I love you."

Luke's eyes shifted to her at that. He grinned harder, flushed a little, and turned his eyes down to his plate.

Kess rolled her eyes at him and found Han staring at her. The other man was lounged back in his chair with head cocked and one elbow on the armrest.

"What?" She smacked. "It's not like it's a secret!"

Han shrugged his hand, "Hey, I didn't say anything."

Leia added with a chuckle, "Certainly not a well-kept one."

Kess scratched her ear, suddenly embarrassed for having said it.

"Relax," Leia assured her softly. "Han and I figured it out before the two of you did."

"Oh? I'm not even sure when we figured it out," Kess murmured.

Han crooned a new smile. "I'll tell you when I figured it out." This got everyone's attention. "'A pretty Vader'." And he threw his head back with a hard laugh.

Luke dropped his eyes into his palms and cussed under his breath.

"What? When did that happen?" Kess crooned.

Leia set her elbows on the table and motioned across to her brother. "On the Frakkan system. When we figured out you were this Usak thing they were after," Leia smiled to retell it. "Somehow we got onto this comparison if they turned you to the dark side, and Han said, 'But she'd be awfully short for a Darth Vader.'" And Leia began to laugh so much that Han finished for her.

He thumbed at Luke, "Then this one says, 'But she'd be a pretty one!'"

Han and Leia both laughed freely at it. Luke was now rubbing his eyeballs with both sets of fingers but his shy smile was obvious. Kess was entirely complimented, and it seemed the icing on the cake that this group, herself included, could laugh so easily when Vader was referenced. She teased just to have something to say. "Guess I was the last to know, huh?"

Luke brought down his hands and shrugged them. "I had my reasons."

Kess nodded at her food and cut another bite.

"But you weren't." He said, eyeing her as he picked up his glass. "If you think about it."

Kess stared at the air for a beat, stared at the memories, and sipped her water with a soft grin. "Yeah, I guess not."

Leia eyed Luke, "When are you going to let Wubak in on it?"

She didn't mean Wubak specifically, but the Newsnets in general: the public. It mattered.

"No politics," Han barked at his plate.

Leia set her elbow on the table and gestured. Her smile was sly. "This isn't politics, this is about family."

Han rolled his eyes and shook his head. He stuffed a bite into his mouth.

Leia's brown eyes smiled across the table at her brother. "It doesn't have to be a formal announcement."

Kess began to wonder if she had any vote in this matter, but she realized all Leia's questions were directed at Luke only because he was the most reticent of the two. Now that Kess opened her senses for it, Leia was paying just as much attention to her reaction as she was watching for Luke's.

Luke hiked a smiling whine, "What do you want me to do? Make out with her at a restaurant?"

Now it was Kess's turn to hide her eyes in her fingers.

Han spread a palm to the side and announced it with flare, "And for our next segment, Jedi porn!"

All four of them spit out a tight flushing laughter.

Han scratched the top of his head. "It'd make for some good vid watching at least."

Leia tried to guide the topic back, "I just want to be careful with the timing of it."

Han talked with his mouthful. "Leia's fantasizing how many Imperials we can distract with a juicy vid clip."

Luke put down his fork. "A vid clip of what?"

Han looked at Luke with hand-shrug, "Well, we could resolve this whole thing by just pulling the security camera from the circuitry bay."

Luke's hands paused mid-bite. His eyes bulged to globes. Kess buried her face further and cussed a screaming whisper.

Leia didn't need expert Force skill to detect that splash of panic. The hard, guilty warning on Luke's face was classic.

Han just stared down 'Junior' with a lifted brow of daring and held it with confidence.

Luke lowered his chin and stared from under his eyebrows. "You don't have a camera in the circuitry bay."

Han angled his head, fighting a dirty grin, and turned smug eyes to Kess.

Luke slapped down his fork. "Say that you don't have a camera in the circuitry bay!"

Leia found herself laughing so hard she had to turn away from her meal and curl over in to her own lap to contain it.

"Of course not," Han rolled his head on his neck. "But now I wish I had."

Luke scoffed and began to breathe again.

Kess found Leia's eyes peeking through her snicker at her.

Flushing more, Kess murmured an attempt at defense. "Told you it was a bad idea."

Han pointed hard at Luke and flashed at Kess. "It was his idea?!"

Luke crooned back at him. "It's not like you haven't done it!"

Han shrugged comically, "Well, no. I'm just proud of you, that's all."

Leia watched from behind her fingers, trying not to laugh and flush herself. Han was poking the topic only to break the ice about it. Luke rolled his eyes and grinned with embarrassment. He wasn't as uncomfortable as Leia expected, but the discomfort was palpable. And Kess was hiding behind both full palms.

Perhaps the couple wasn't yet ready for this. If they made any public release, either formally or 'accidentally', Leia knew what the first question would be, and the public would ask it over and over until they got an answer. Leia accepted that sex in the circuitry bay didn't mean wedding bells were ringing, but it certainly had the reputation as a step in the right direction.

Kess put her hands in her lap and stared only at her food. She tried not to giggle when she pleaded, "Can we talk about something else?"

"Politics!" Leia smiled with a flare.

"No politics!" Han shouted back a smile and returned to his food.

"How about Obi Wan?" Leia asked. She looked around the table for consensus. This seemed to ease Luke and Kess both. She opened her senses for their reaction to this topic and eyed Kess politely, "May I take a closer look at that locket?"

Kess put her fork down and fished it out. "Sure." She unhooked it from her head and handed it over.

Han squinted at it as it passed from Kess to Leia. "That's a wedding locket?" His face twisted at the simplicity and quaintness of the thumb-sized teardrop.

Kess shrugged it off. "It's a Tatooine thing. They're hand-made out of bone so that no two are alike. The detail of the carving is supposed to represent the dedication of the suitor."

"It's beautiful." Leia smiled wistfully as she looked it over. She lifted it with a squinting smile. "Obi Wan made this?"

Kess shrugged comically, "That's what was implied."

Leia handed it to Han for a look and watched Luke secretly eye the thing as it passed from hand to hand. Her brother pretended not to think about the symbolism of it as he cut out another bite, but a moment later, awestruck eyes hovering at the air gave him away.

Leia smiled bigger.

And before they caught her at her revelation, she turned the chatty topic back to Kess. "What was your grandmother's name?"

Kess wrapped the necklace back over her head and grinned sneaky. "Wanna take a wild guess?"

Han didn't need to think. "Kesselia Kenobi."

Kess pointed. "Bingo."

"What was she like?" Luke asked.

Kess thought about that and smiled it out. "She was like . . . she was like him. Tea drinking, book reading, grumbled every time the Empire was on the news. . . . And now I don't even know if she was my grandmother. This is so weird."

"Well. If they named you after her," Leia noted, "that has to mean something."

"Yeah, I guess so." Kess was uncomfortable.

"Y'know what I think?" Han started—

But Leia interrupted him. "Y'know what I think?" (They needed to shift topics before the other two clammed up.) She stressed it with all seriousness as if she was ordering an attack. "I think it's time for cheesecake."

Han got up to get it just so Leia wouldn't call Threepio back out, and the two of them launched into a friendly argument about using 'Goldenrod' for his designed duties versus the incredible need to tune down the droid's babbling while he did them.

The cheesecake was gorgeous, with berries and fruit drizzle across the top, but Leia fetched a jar of hot fudge too. She distracted them with her own pointless babble about where to get good cheesecake, what were the best flavors, and stood over Kess's shoulder to pour the hot fudge over her little slice because it was an 'essential ingredient'. She noted how Luke and Kess both eyed her as if she was up to something, but she covered it well. She was up to something.

Though the woman hid it well, Leia noticed Kess was still reserved with a few extra Ps and Qs about being a guest amongst them. After the disastrous way they treated her at the last dinner, Kess earned that right. But now Leia was determined to make up for it. Luke may not have yet decided it yet, but Leia did. It was time to start convincing Kesselia Kenobi Lendra she was one of the family.

Leia kept the chatting on lighthearted topics, soon asking for Kess to regale tales about Obi Wan's secret Jedi training of her and Nik. She watched Kess brighten with ease to talk about a younger Obi Wan training a nine and a seven-year-old how to defend themselves in fistfights at school. When she explained how Nik complained that Grandpa wouldn't teach him how to punch, Kess darkened her voice to imitate. "Now, now, lad. Use these skill only for defense,"

And Luke chimed in with her, "Never attack."

The couple shared a laugh and launched into smiling antics about their similar memories of the man.

Leia and Han shared devious eyes. Han already knew what she was up to, and secretly nodded in agreement.