Wedge saw Luke frown. "Something wrong?"

"I think Leia is irritated."

They were about to walk by her apartment door. "The normal kind of irritated, or something abnormal?"

They stopped in front of her door. "Well, it's kind of hard to tell, but… I guess I should see what's going on." Luke swiped his key card and they stepped into the foyer. "Leia?" They kept walking through the main entertaining area and down a hallway with bedrooms and offices. They could hear two voices coming out of one of the offices. "Sounds like she's talking to Brianna."

"That explains the irritation. I didn't know she was here."

"She's not. She must be on Yavin."

As they came up to the open door, they could hear the argument.

"I need you to be here for this event."

"You don't need anything. You want."

"Fine. I want you to be at this event."

"And I already told you three times, I'm not coming. I'm busy."

"I already told the Director you were coming."

"Not my problem. Un-tell him I'm coming."

"You can visit your sister anytime. This is a one time event."

"I already promised her I was coming."

"So, un-tell her you're coming."

"Yeah, you wanna know where you can shove that idea?"

Wedge snuck a glance at Luke. He was listening but not moving. Their arguments always just caused him extra anxiety. He tugged on Luke's sleeve. "Come on, let's go," he whispered." The argument continued.

"Why are you being difficult?"

"I dunno. Maybe because you're being unreasonable?"

"I almost never ask you to come to events anymore. I never had this problem with your father."

"Oh, don't even start Princess, you don't wanna go there."

Wedge had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. "Luke, come on," he whispered again.

"Your father never said no to me."

"Of course he didn't. You wouldn't let him."

"He could have said no any -"

"Like hell! I watched him try to tell you no many times, and you never budged. He had always already promised something to us and it was always my sister who lost out the most. If you think I'm gonna let you pull that crap again, I've got a spaceport to sell you on Alderaan."

"Luke…" Wedge tugged a bit harder.

"How dare you -"

"Yeah, I dare. I dare because I'm the sister who actually gives a shit. And don't you dare tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. I know what Wedge asked you to do."

"You don't know anything!"

"I know everything!"

Luke finally let Wedge pull him away from the door while the argument continued. Wedge kept glancing at Luke as they excited the apartment and continued down the hall to Wedge's apartment. Luke just frowned at the floor as he walked. In the apartment and in the kitchen, Luke sat down at the round dining table.

"Do you want some water?" Wedge asked. "Ot tea? I'll make tea." They had literally just gotten coffee down in the lobby. But Wedge didn't know what else to do. He knew what question was coming. He stalled, taking too long to select mugs and heat water while Luke just sat. Wedge wasn't much of a tea drinker himself. But he started keeping some on hand, especially after Luke moved back from Yavin. He sifted through what he had, as if there were several options to choose from. There were only two. An herbal one and a black one. Should he go with the caffeine or no caffeine? Probably no caffeine, that was better -

"What did you ask Leia to do?"

"What? Oh, that, yeah. It was, you know, it wasn't - it shouldn't have been - a big deal, you know." He went back to pretending to select a tea.

"Wedge, what did you do?"

Luke's voice was calm and even. Wedge sighed. This wasn't a conversation he'd ever intended to have. But, there was no avoiding it, not when Luke was that direct. He pulled out a couple of herbal tea bags and set them on the counter while the water heated. He sat at the table. "I just… asked her to give you a break, that's all. Some time for yourself, to spend with your kids. Nothing crazy. A couple of weeks."

"When was this?"

"It was maybe three or four weeks after the end of the Yuzong Vong war. Everything was chaotic. Leia was jumping into rebuilding everything. You were trying to help her, deal with what was left of the Jedi order. Your kids were mad because they hadn't seen you in four years. I just asked her to give you some space. That's all."

"You know I always ask you not to argue with her."

The whistle went off for the boiling water. Wedge got up, poured it to steep, and sat down again. "It wasn't supposed to be an argument."

"But it turned into one."

It was definitely a statement and not a question. "She was upset. She thought you should be doing more. And she was upset about Jacen and Anakin. How they left. Or turned. Whatever. She wasn't able to spend time with them. She thought it was your fault."

"It was my fault."

"But even if it was, it wasn't one your kids should have had to pay for. But the more I tried to explain, the more upset she got. It…it wasn't supposed to be an argument."

"So you told Brianna about it?"

"Not right then. It was several years later. It was one of my trips to Yavin to visit you. I was frustrated about something and I never wanted to vent to you, and she was there so…" Wedge shrugged. "I ended up talking to her a lot actually."

"Did you…tell anyone else?"

"I - well." Wedge got up, poured the steeped tea into mugs and brought them back to the table. "I -"

"Who else did you tell?"

Wedge sighed. "I talked to Mara."

"You talked to Mara?"

"I thought maybe Leia would like the idea better if it came from her. But I guess Leia had already talked to her, so Mara just accused me of trying to do an end-run around Leia - which I kind of was - and told me to mind my own business."

"She never mentioned that to me."

Wedge shrugged.

"Did you tell anyone else?"

Wedge winced.

"Who else?"

"Han was in the room when I tried to talk to Leia. He followed us around the apartment while she yelled at me. I tried to talk to him alone afterward, thought I could get him to convince her. He gave me this big spiel about how great it was that I was always your best advocate. But he agreed with her and he needed to support her, and I needed to stay out of it."

"Who…who else?"

Wedge sighed again."

"Corran."

"Corran?" Why Corran?"

"He was actually the first person I talked to. I suggested he offer to you and Leia to take on some of your work, just for a bit, just so you could have some time. Apparently he and Mirax had promised Booster help with something so he told me he couldn't. That's when I went to Leia directly, then Han, then Mara. I went back to Corran a second time, about a month later. He said again he couldn't do it, but wouldn't even give me a reason. I still don't know why."

"Any - who else?"

Wedge shook his head. "No one. Mirax was in the room the first time I talked to Corran. But I didn't know anyone else well enough to ask, or anyone I could trust with your privacy. Except Kyp maybe, but I knew Leia would never accept that, so I didn't bother. I didn't know what else to do. I guess… I guess I gave up. I tried to show up for you myself as much as I could. It seemed like that's all I could do."

"But, why didn't you tell me?"

"What could I say? I'd just asked four of the most important people in your life to help you, and they all said no. I didn't want you to be upset with them. I didn't want you to feel resentful. I know how dangerous you think that is. I didn't want to make things worse. But, I guess they got worse anyway."

Wedge watched Luke frown at his untouched tea. In hindsight, there probably were some things he could have or should have done. "I'm sorry. I should have told you."

"You weren't necessarily wrong."

"Too many people have kept things from you over the course of your life. I shouldn't be one of them."

"Wedge, I'm not upset with you."

"I'd understand if you were."

Luke reached over and put his hand on Wedge's arm. It was still a bit weird to see him without a glove. "Sometimes, putting some distance between the event and the discussion really is the best thing."

"What do you want to do? Go back and talk to Leia?"

Luke pulled back. "No. Not - not while she's probably still angry with Brianna. She did get a bit personal. I need to think about that some more."

"She is weirdly protective of you."

Luke took a slow sip of his tea while he seemed to contemplate a new thought. "You have a key, right?"

"A key to what?"

A very tiny smile touched Luke's lips and eyes. Wedge groaned. "Really? Jokes? Now? Yes, I have a key."

Luke's smile got bigger. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I was just thinking," he said, turning serious again, "maybe it's time I moved back into that apartment. I know you didn't like the idea of me living by myself when I came back from Yavin, but maybe it's time."

Wedge nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. You want to do it now?"

"No. Maybe tomorrow? I think she'll be out tomorrow."

Wedge couldn't blame him for wanting to avoid her for the moment. "You want to sleep in the guest room tonight?"

"If that's okay."

"Of course that's okay."

Iella seemed to realize something was off as soon as she came home from work. Wedge quietly told her he'd explain later, but that Luke was going to stay for dinner and spend the night. She didn't ask any more questions.

After dinner, later in the evening, they were relaxing in the living area. Iella had some HoloNews on in the background and Luke was reading. There was a knock on the front door.

"It's Han," Luke said, before Iella could finish checking the camera.

"I'll get it." Wedge stood up and went to the door. He opened it, and sure enough, there was Han standing in the hallway. "Oh, hey," Wedge said. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just, uh, is Luke here?" Han tried to peek over Wedge's shoulder into the apartment.

"Yeah. Why, is everything okay?" Wedge wondered what, if anything, Leia had told him. It hadn't seemed like she'd noticed them earlier.

"Yeah, yeah, you know, we just didn't see him come in so, thought I'd check. I figured he was here, but, you know."

"Yeah, he's here. Is…Leia okay?"

"Yeah, you know, grumpy from work, I guess."

Wedge nodded. "Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah. Well, you know, just wanted to make sure everything was okay. I'll, uh, see you later."

"Good night."

Han took one more peek over Wedge's shoulder, then left. Wedge shut the door. He stood there for a moment, then let out a long breath. He went back to the living room.

"I think it's safe to say you still have less stuff than me," Wedge said as they brought in the last of Luke's boxes. It wasn't actually much more than the couple of trunks they'd brought back from Yavin. Luke had bought a few things on their past couple of trips to Naboo over the past few months and he had a box of new, blank journals that he'd gotten for his birthday several months ago. It had been Iella's idea and she'd enlisted Mirax to help her find them and Camie to pick them up. The box had been all wrapped and Luke even shook it a little to see if anything rattled inside. He had practically cried when he opened it up. It was all kind of adorable.

"At least I have plenty of space for my almost zero possessions."

"You should probably invest in some better lighting though," Wedge said as they walked back into the hallway.

"It's always been dark in here."

"Have you even been in here in the last ten or eleven years?"

"Just once, not too long ago actually," Luke said. "I was up early to watch the sunrise and I realized Brianna was in here and irritated about something. So I came in to see what was going on."

"What was she doing?"

"Making pancakes."

"She was irritated about pancakes?"

"No, she was irritated about politicians, I think."

"Oh. That's understandable. Did you help her fix it?"

"I don't know. I never really followed up on it. I think it had to do with whatever she was helping Iella with."

"Well, in that case we'll never know." Wedge nodded toward the far end of the hall. "What's in that space down there? I don't think I've ever been in there."

"Just an empty, spare room, I think." Luke walked down the hall, running his hand along the wall and other bedroom doors as he walked. His room was at the near end of the hall, where it snaked back toward the living room and kitchen. Next was Brianna's room. Luke lingered a moment at Yvonne's door, then pulled his hand back. They passed Corey's door. They got to the end of the hall and Luke opened the door. "It's just a spare bedroom. I think it's -" he stopped and looked around. "- not at all what I thought it was."

The room was huge, like it used to be two rooms and a wall got knocked out. A portion of the northern wall was floor to ceiling windows, looking out over Coruscant. But the rest of the walls were completely covered with foam padding. Racked in a near corner were a variety of practice sabers of different lengths and styles. Next to the rack were a pile of foam padded stools, some circular, some square or oval, some tall, some short. A few were steps of various sizes. There were speakers set up at several points around the walls.

"It's like her personal practice space," Wedge said.

"This definitely did not used to be here."

"For all you know it could have been here for almost fifteen years."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Guess you better get used to it. Maybe she'll let you use it when she and Elena aren't here."

"It's been a minute. Who would I practice with?"

Wedge almost said Corran, then realized that might not be the smartest idea right now. "You could practice by yourself. I always liked to watch, back in the pre-Hoth days. Tycho seems to enjoy watching her teach. I bet he'd like watching you practice."

"Hm."

Luke didn't seem keen on that idea. He'd always been a bit self-conscious about people watching him practice.

They walked back into the kitchen and Luke opened the refrigerator. "Somehow I expected there to be more in here."

"She probably doesn't keep it stocked when she's not here. Do you want to buy groceries?"

"Places deliver, right?"

Wedge shrugged. "Pretty sure." Suddenly he thought of something and started opening up kitchen drawers.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to remember which drawer it was. … Ah, there it is." He rummaged around in the last drawer and pulled out a small card. "Here."

"Are you really giving me a key to my own apartment?"

"I presume you don't have one. How did you get in here before?"

"Brianna opened the door. After I stood out in the hall for a few minutes wondering if I should use the Force to open the door or see if Leia had a key. Or, ask you for your key."

"This was before sunrise?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, you definitely need a key." Wedge placed the card squarely in Luke's hand.

Luke turned the key over in his hand, just looking at it. "Was there…anything else?"

"Anything else, what?"

"There's the key." Luke held it up. "There's this…favor…you asked of everyone. The whole medcenter platform…thing. Is there anything else?"

"No." Wedge frowned. Then it hit him. "No! No, I swear, I don't make a habit of this."

"I'm not asking what it might be. Just if there are any."

"There's nothing! These aren't just random decisions."

"I know. That's why, if I were to trust anyone to keep something from me for my own good, it would be you."

"That situation shouldn't even exist."

"But sometimes it does."

"I'm not doing it again."

"You can't promise that."

Wedge sighed and shook his head at the floor. Because Luke was right. Wedge looked up at him.

Luke smiled and put his hand of Wedge's shoulder. "Come on, let's see what grocery delivery is like."

Later in the evening Wedge heard a knock on his apartment door.

"Five credits says it's Han again," Iella said without bothering to check the hall camera.

Wedge signed and got up to open the door. Sure enough, there was Han again in the hallway. "Hey, what's up?"

"Hey. Have you, uh, have you seen Luke?"

"Not for a couple of hours. Why?"

"All his stuff is gone from the apartment."

"He's probably in his apartment."

"What, the one across the hall?"

"Yeah."

Han narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Something you want to tell me?"

Wedge shrugged. Luke wasn't ready to discuss it, so he sure wasn't going to say anything.

Han gave him a few curt nods. "Okay. Fine." He walked away back down the hall.

Wedge closed the door and sighed. He walked back into the living room. Iella was looking at him. "What?"

"It's a good thing the Republic never needed you to do real diplomatic work."

"Cute."