Anakin sat meditating in the middle of the ship's lounge, stretching his awareness through the galaxy that they knew. They were coming home. Excitement swept through him at the thought of seeing Padme again, it had been so long. Negative thoughts came with the positives, threatening to darken Anakin's mood. What if Padme thought he was dead? Well he had disappeared for eighteen years. Did she marry someone else? Is she still a Senator? Is she even alive? What happened to our galaxy in the past eighteen years? Did we win the war? Or did we lose? Was the Sith Lord found? Was Dooku destroyed?
"Anakin." Obi-Wan called from the cockpit, "Go check the null quantum field generator. The red light is on again."
"Again?" Anakin asked in annoyance. "I just fixed it!" He exclaimed as he got up to grab the toolkit.
Obi-Wan ran a hand through his graying hair as he watched the stars fly past. "Just be glad that we have a ship." Obi-Wan called back.
Rolling his eyes, Anakin went to make some adjustments to the generator. Fifteen minutes later Anakin walked into the cockpit and plopped himself into the copilot's chair. "This ship is in serious need of an overhaul."
"Well we still have fourteen more hours to go until we reach Coruscant, she's got us this far already." Obi-Wan commented. "Only fourteen more hours and we'll finally be home." Obi-Wan repeated mostly to himself.
"How much do you think things have changed?" Anakin asked, looking at Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan shrugged his shoulders. "Eighteen years is a long time Anakin."
Anakin sighed and looked out of the veiwport. "It is going to be strange to be back, to see so many changes. I hope…" He paused, the ache returning in his heart. "What if Padme remarried, Master? Or she's dead? I don't know if I'll be able to handle that."
Looking at Anakin, Obi-Wan smiled. "You can handle it Anakin. You have grown and matured a lot in many ways these past eighteen years. I'm not saying the changes you and I will no doubt face is going to be easy to handle, but I know that you will be able to adjust to the changes."
Nodding, Anakin checked the readings on the console to make sure the generator was still functioning properly. "Everything is running normally, Master. Why don't you go to bed? I'll keep watch over the readings for a couple of hours."
Obi-Wan stood up and laid a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Don't dwell to much on what may have happened since the last time we were in our galaxy, Anakin. It is not healthy." With that said, Obi-Wan left the cockpit.
Anakin turned in his chair and watched his Master limp to his cabin. Anakin frowned in concern as he saw his master favoring his left leg again. The injuries that Obi-Wan had suffered when they had fought Vergere had not been serious, but every so often Obi-Wan's right leg would fail him. Pressing his lips tightly together, Anakin turned around to work on repairing the communications device that repeatedly died every time they had attempted to send a message to the Temple. He would not let thoughts of Vergere's treachery make him angry, to hate Vergere would mean that Vergere would win even though she is dead.
Leia's eyes slowly blinked open as her eyes adjusted to the low light of the room and she became aware of her surroundings,"
"Good morning, sweetheart." Han said as soon as he saw that she was awake.
A smile appeared on Leia's face as she turned over on to her other side where Han was sitting on a chair near her bed. "Han."
Han kissed her on the lips before she could continue and then pulled away. "Missed me?" He asked with his infamous grin.
"Nerf." Leia responded and sat up. "When did you get back?"
"Oh, around o-three hundred." Han got up from his chair to sit on the bed and Leia cuddled up next to him. "A little earlier then I had anticipated." Han wrapped his arm around Leia and held her close. "But I don't mind. Now why don't we go eat breakfast? Mara is cooking something up."
Leia wrinkled her nose and moved away from Han. "Perhaps you better go make sure she doesn't ruin breakfast while I go get washed up." She headed into the refresher and then poked her head out a few seconds later. "Han, I don't see you moving."
Chuckling, Han stood and headed for the door. "As you wish your worshipfulness."
Leia rolled her eyes and shut the fresher door. "Nerfherder." Forty-five minutes later Leia exited her bedroom to find Mara and Han sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. On the table was a bowl of scrambled eggs, a plate of sausage, toasted bread, butter and jam.
As Leia sat down beside Han, she saw that her plate had already been filled up. She sent a silent glare at Mara, but was ignored as Mara dug into her own plate of food.
It was a quite breakfast and once they were done Mara began to clean up and Leia and Han went to go sit on the couch in the living area.
As soon as they were sitting comfortably together on the couch, Han broke the silence. "What are you thinking about Leia?"
Leia lifted her head from Han's arm, a smile on her lips. "I'm thinking about a lot of things. Right now I'm thinking of how glad I am that your back. I missed you."
"Perhaps you should go with me next time." Han suggested.
Laying her head back on Han's arm and closed her eyes. "I can't, I have a lot of work that needs to be done. I'm already behind."
"Then why don't you hire someone to help you? Then we can spend more time together." Han suggested.
"We're at war Han, we don't have the luxury of that time."
Han moved his arm so that Leia could rest her head against his side and he wrapped his arm around her. "There have been no battles for five months so far. We should take this opportunity to be together while it lasts. In fact, Lando has a little place he owns on a planet not to far from here. I am sure he will let us use it, for free, for about a week or so."
"But I have so much to do." Leia protested even though the idea sounded appealing.
"Let someone else do it for a while." Han replied, kissing her on the lips. "You deserve a vacation and I could use one myself too."
Leia looked up into Han's eyes and then slowly nodded her head. "Okay, but it will take a while to find someone to take over for me for a week."
Han smiled and kissed her again. "I am sure that you will be able to find someone."