If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice? –Richard Bach
**
The night before….
It wasn't the movement that awoke Luke, but the fact that she was no longer there.
He lay there, waiting in the darkness to see if she would return, knowing in his heart that she was really waiting for him.
Go to her, Luke, the gentle lilt of Schurke Canaille whispered in her ear. She needs you. A slight chuckle. After all, sometimes it's more important to be a friend and not just a lover, rather than a Jedi Master…
**
He found her standing at the window, gazing sightlessly over the city and out towards the ruins of the Jedi Temple which even at this late hour, was a hive of reconstruction. The money – nearly half a billion Credits that had been hidden away from the Empire by his late father-in-law on behalf of his friend Anakin – were in part responsible for that, but in the depths of her despair, Aubé seemed to neither know or care.
"Bé?" Luke murmured gently, not expecting a reply. He padded across the room, footsteps as soft as feather falls until he stood directly behind her, a hand reaching out, but not touching her. Not yet. "Aubé…"
Still looking out beyond, only a slight quaver in her voice betrayed the tears that hadn't fallen. "He came to Pem… that night. After, I mean… My father had chased us – Kay, Toa and myself – away early in the day. He said it was ghoulish… a death watch. I heard giggling, and voices… At first I thought Pem was just talking to one of the other Masters…"
Luke only stood there, waiting silently as Aubé suddenly rounded on him her eyes blazed with a mixture of hurt and anger.
"She does that, a lot, especially when you're not here!" she threw herself at Luke, her fist pounding on his chest. "Damn you for leaving us! Damn you both!"
Luke caught her, as bursting into sobs, she fell into his arms. "I'm sorry!" she wept. "It's not you I'm angry at…"
"It's all right, Bé…" Luke crooned softly, cradling her close. "I'm here… I always am… even when I'm far away."
Gently, he lowered her to the floor, holding her close while she wept, and in that moment, he truly envied her.
That's right, Bé, he thought to himself as he tenderly stroked her hair. Go ahead and grieve. When I lost my loved ones – Aunt Beru, Uncle Owen… Ben… Yoda. Even my own father and the son I never knew – at first there was no time, and then I became 'Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master', and there was no place for it…
Soon enough, the storm passed, and sobs gave way to soft hitches.
"I… I'm… I'm sorry, Luke" Aubé croaked at last from the safety of his arms. "N-n-not very Jedi-like, am I?"
Luke smiled, and wiped away an errant tear with his real hand. "That's all right, Bé," he smiled wryly. "I've had a lot more practice." With a grunt, he rose, and started as Aubé gripped her belly, a flurry of kicking ensuing as if to remind them both that there was still life between them. "Are you all right?" he asked, concern evident in his eyes.
"Yes, I think so," Aubé replied with a grumble. "But there's no sense in trying to go to sleep for a while – once he gets going, it's like a battalion of cadets on parade through my insides!" She sighed. "I'm going to look like hell tomorrow…"
"You'll look beautiful," Luke admonished her gently, even as he scooped her up into his arms. "Come on, let's go sit on the couch for a little while and see if he calms down."
"I can walk you know!"
"Save your energy," Luke replied, nuzzling her ear. "You'll sleep better for it, I promise."
Within a few moments, Luke had placed Aubé on the couch, and after checking on their sleeping daughter, returned with a warm bantha – wool blanket to spread over the two of them. With one arm wrapped protectively over her shoulders, and the other hand resting gently on her active, swollen belly, Luke pulled Aubé into a safe embrace.
"Tell me something about your father, Bé," he murmured. "Tell me something that I don't know about him."
"You should ask my mother," Aubé sighed, closing her eyes. "She said that back in the day, he was a real piece of work – a Corellian to the core…"
"Even as a Jedi?"
"Especially as a Jedi," Aubé giggled despite herself. "Mother said that Pappa's Master despaired of him, even after he was Knighted. I guess he and your father used to sneak out of the Temple and race swoops down in the lower levels…"
Now it was Luke's turn to be surprised. "Anakin Skywalker – rode swoop bikes? I knew he was a pilot – a good one from what I've heard…"
Aubé nodded sleepily. "Yeah... I guess he taught Pappa and a few others a few tricks – not all of them, Pappa said that Anakin kept most of the best maneuvers to himself, but still…"
For nearly an hour, Aubé shared memories of her father, many of them involving Anakin Skywalker, until her voice grew tired and she began to fade. Thankfully, even the baby had calmed down enough that Luke suggested that perhaps it would be a good time for all of them to try to get some sleep.
"I think I can, now, Luke," Aubé mumbled into his chest, no longer protesting the idea of being carried around. "Thank you…"
"Thank you, Bé, " Luke replied softly.
"For what?"
For Pem, and Tamallin, and our new son, and for giving me my father back… he thought, For showing me how our loved ones never really leave us, how they live as long as we remember them,
He said none of this aloud, however, but instead, he only kissed his wife, and whispered one word in her ear.
Everything…
**
But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time. – [b]Mitch Albom, [/b]The Five People You Meet In Heaven