A/N: Ahh… the weekend. It's a wonderful thing. It means more updating and I'm sure we're all glad to hear that. So anyway, I know that some of you are really looking forward to Vader's appearance in this story and so I'm happy to announce that he will be coming in really soon!

Chapter Five

Luke stayed in his room for a while. He didn't want to go out for fear of running into Japhonan or Lizzian. But after a while, he started to get hungry. Luke tried to ignore it but the hunger kept getting more intense. He should've expected it; after all, he hadn't eaten anything that morning.

Luke looked at the clock on one of the bedside tables. It was one hour into the afternoon. Had he been here that long?

Luke rose from his sitting position on the bed and walked to the door. He opened it slowly and stuck his head out to look into the hallway. No one was there. Cautiously, he stepped out and began walking to the end of the hall where the stairs were.

On his way, he couldn't help but notice how nice everything looked. Everything from the lights to the carpet was all very expensive and it felt like he was in a five star hotel. Luke felt very out of place in his high class surroundings. These people were obviously very rich.

At the end of the hall, Luke came to the balcony type thing that looked over the first floor of the apartment. Still no one in sight. He rushed down the stairs and went quickly through the open living room and made it to the kitchen door in no time.

Inside the kitchen, Luke went through the freezer unit and came out with ingredients to make himself a sandwich. He was half way through making his masterpiece when the door opened and Lizzian came in.

"Oh there you are," she said. Luke dropped what he was doing and took a few steps back.

Lizzian looked to the boy, then his half made sandwich. The boy was looking at her with his adorable eyes. She smiled. "Don't let me interrupt. You can keep making your sandwich."

Since the woman said he could make it, Luke decided to wait until she left. For some reason, he'd grown up in the habit of wanting to do the opposite of what anyone told him to do.

"You know," Lizzian said. "If you were hungry all you had to do was tell me and I could have made something for you." The boy didn't say anything. He just stood there watching her. "Well, if you don't need anything, I'll leave you to make your sandwich." The lady turned and left.

Finally, Luke thought. He went quickly back to his sandwich. When he had finished, Luke put it on a plate and escaped to his room to eat it.

…

Japhonan looked up from the book he was reading when Lizzian came into the room looking upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Because it was obvious that something was wrong.

"It's the boy," she said, sitting down in one of the chairs. They were in Japhonan's favorite room; the library. "He's so quiet and secluded. I'm afraid that it's going to be a while before he says anything if ever."

Japhonan put the book down and looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "I think I know what we can do to help him."

Lizzian grew interested when she saw the gleam in her husband's eye. "Japh, what are you thinking?"

"Tomorrow, what are you doing?"

This didn't answer her question but still she answered, "I'm meeting with Secay Alhap and a few other senators to discuss the Empire's Anti-Alien law."

Japhonan nodded and smiled. "That's perfect because I too have a meeting at the Senate."

Lizzian shook her head. "I still don't know where you're taking this."

"I have an idea that if the boy was around more people, he would begin to see what he's missing by refusing to communicate with other people."

Now she understood. "I see, you want us to bring him to the Senate with us tomorrow?"

"Why not?" Japhonan replied. We need to keep an eye on him anyway. It'd be a good experience for him.

…

The next day, Luke was surprised when the man and lady came into this room two hours before noon and told him that they were going to the Senate, and he was coming with them.

At first, Luke didn't want to go, but he'd be bored if he just stayed in the apartment all day anyway, so he decided it wouldn't hurt to come along for the ride. It'd be something to do.

It was a short ride to the Senate. Japhonan and Lizzian lived really close and it took hardly any time to get there. When they landed, Luke followed them into the large building. He was intimidated by the size of it.

Inside, there was red carpet and long windows that went along the side of the halls. If you looked out, you would see dozens of floors below you that made up the gigantic Senate building.

Not wanting to get lost, Luke made sure to keep up with the other two. They walked for a while until they came up a few floors to a set of double doors. Lizzian turned to Luke.

"Okay darling, you stay right out here next to these doors, alright? Japhonan is going to be right upstairs in another meeting but you're to stay right here, okay?"

Luke didn't change his expression. She stood there for a few seconds, and then went inside the doors. Japhonan smiled at him before leaving for his own meeting. This left Luke alone outside the doors with nothing to do but watch the people walk by.

He slowly sat down. Normally, Luke would go off on his own and find something some way to entertain himself but this was such a large building, he feared that he would get lost and someone would see him, think he was an orphan and send him back to the FHF or something and he had to avoid that.

"Are you supposed to be here?"

Luke jumped at the sound of the deep voice next to him. He looked up and saw a black mask staring down at him. Luke didn't get around much, but he wasn't stupid. It was Darth Vader.

Luke stood up quickly and stared at Darth Vader. He was terrified but didn't know what to say… plus he'd promised himself that he wouldn't talk to people so that was out of the question anyway.

"Answer my question," Lord Vader said in a compelling voice.

Even if Luke hadn't made the promise not to speak, he wouldn't have been able to anyway. Without a second thought in mind, he edged his way to the other side of the hall and then suddenly burst into a run. He didn't look back and he didn't stop going. There was no way he was talking to Lord Vader no matter what promises he'd made.

…

Vader watched the boy go. It was a typical reaction of any child that saw him. Normally Vader would just ignore children. But this particular child had something about him. Not just figuratively. It was a slight aroma of the Force that surrounded this child. Vader had wondered, just wondered why the boy had been sitting outside those doors.

Perhaps his parents were taking part of a meeting in there? That was probably it. Though Vader had noticed that this boy wasn't as nicely dressed as most of the other senator's children.

With this settled in his mind, Vader walked on and forgot about the boy… for a while.

A/N: Woo! Vader's first appearance! I told you it was coming soon. I want to update tomorrow, but don't expect anything. I have a party to go to and I don't know if I'll have more time until next weekend. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Please review!