Thanks for reading! Also, if anyone knows any Star Wars White House AU's send them my way. President Leia Organa is my new favorite thing.

Chapter 6

Admiral Cassel was a good guy, but he was unwaveringly patriotic. None too amused by Luke's comment he flew them both in silence. It wasn't until Luke realized that they they'd missed the turn for his apartment that either of them spoke. "You need to take B9 for my apartment."

Admiral Cassel raised a dark eyebrow at Luke, but had to quickly turn back to where they were going. "Sorry kid, but I'm not taking you home. C-3PO is a nuisance, and certainly not fit to discipline a rebellious teenager."

"I'm not being rebellious!" Why did everyone think Luke was just trying to get his father's attention? He knew that wasn't the case, so why didn't anyone else. Luke had just gotten fed up with the tales they offered at school and swept up into a cloud of negativity. If he was really trying to get his father's attention, which he was not, he'd do something like give an interview or, you know, call his Comlink. Honestly, no one seemed to understand Luke at all and it was frustrating.

Especially because all the adults seemed to think Luke was just in denial. Admiral Cassel, the coolest adult Luke knew only snorted in disbelief as he continued to navigate their way through traffic. Sighing to himself, Luke attempted to meditate, but ended up more wallowing in self-pity. Missing a practice was enough to keep you out of a meet, and Couch Dug was already mad enough at Luke as it was.

After what felt like an hour, they finally pulled up to the Imperial Center Security Center and found an empty landing pad. Luke went to grab his bag and hop out of the speeder, but Admiral Cassel caught his shirt. "Wait a minute Luke, I want to speak with you."

Luke sighed, but turned towards the Admiral. After all he'd left work to help Luke out; it wasn't fair to be rude to him. "Are you alright Luke? You seemed off on the way here. Almost… well like how your father gets?"

Luke wasn't quite sure what the Admiral meant until he remembered that to most people Vader seemed cold and… dark. He truly was only ever friendly or kind to Luke, reserving either respect of bitter disapproval for the rest of the galaxy. It was the way the Dark Side worked and if Luke was acting like him…

The teen didn't want to believe it, but he gently focused on the Force. Much to his disgust he felt the darkness pounding around him. He had been meditating after all, just in the Dark Side. Luke felt sick. He hated the feeling of the Dark Side, hated it, even if he knew it wasn't objectively evil. (Or so his father said. Everything Luke had read in the Jedi Temple begged to differ. That didn't mean Dark Side users were objectively evil-Luke knew his father could be good-but Luke knew on some level that the Dark Side of the Force itself was just… just wrong.)

And yet he also knew that someday he'd be asked to use it, focus it, for the betterment of himself and the Empire. That fact was one of the many Luke tried to ignore as he pushed away the Darkness for now and focused himself in the Light. Quickly he felt better, lighter, and offered the Admiral a small smile. "Oh, you know, I'm just really upset to be missing out on Geometry. All those shapes…"

Admiral Cassel laughed, but still looked at Luke suspiciously. "You know I'm not mad at you, right? I don't mind having to go pick you up; it's nice to get out of here sometimes. Yes, I disapprove of everything you said as we both know it's not true, but I'm not mad at you. I was fourteen once too and I know how hard it can be. You're just lucky we all know it's just talk, or I'd be locking you in a cell and not just binders."

Luke stared at the Admiral, thinking the man was kidding, but felt no deception in the Force. "Please tell me you're kidding?"

Admiral Cassel laughed again, but shook his head. With one hand on Luke's shoulder he walked them through the halls up towards his office. Luke had been here many times before, and knew the way well. He also knew all the secret Force-sensitive passageways that spies used, and where the most interesting criminals were being held. Perhaps it was for his own good that the Admiral set Luke down in the waiting room a binder connecting his hand to a chair. At least Luke still had his writing hand free to work on the school work he was missing. Once he finished that Luke attempted to meditate, figuring that sooner or later his father would hear about this little mess and Luke would need all the patience he could get. Plus his little brush with the Dark Side earlier had bothered Luke. He didn't like how close he was to the Darkness, and spent time pushing it away and inviting the Light Side in.

Luke knew that his father had hated meditation for a long time, but he loved it. It wasn't just sitting still and repeating the Code in his mind (though sometimes he did do that.) No, Luke's mind wandered, guided by the Force. It was during meditation that Luke got his best ideas and figured out the solution to his every problem. Sometimes he wondered if it was truly meditation or just thinking, but he didn't really care. He felt better afterwards and that was all that mattered.

"Oh, hello."

Luke's eyes fluttered open and he marveled at the sight. Before him was a young woman, his age probably, dressed in an ornate white gown. Her beautiful brown hair was styled equally as majestically in two large buns around her ears. She looked like a princess, and Luke wondered if, perhaps, that was what she was.

"Um, hi," Luke muttered forcing himself to blink. She'd probably be really, really concerned if he just continued to stare but she was so beautiful. She reminded Luke of the pictures he'd seen of his mother…

"I didn't expect to see someone my age here… especially not in binders. Should I be concerned? I didn't think they normally kept dangerous prisoners in the office levels."

She was making fun of Luke and he knew it, but the teen blushed red. This was certainly not the way to make a good impression on someone so beautiful and stately. "Oh, yeah, they don't. I just uh… I kind of got myself suspended from school and my father is offworld but Admiral Cassel is watching me and doesn't want me to get in any more trouble so… I'm not dangerous, I promise."

The girl chuckled at Luke, sweeping her hair back behind her shoulders. "So this is the Admiral's office? I swear I've gotten turned around a dozen times. It will probably take me an hour to get back out of here after my meeting."

"I could show you the way out!" Luke offered, his smile beaming bright. The girl laughed, and Luke realized she was staring at his hand caught in the binder. Smirking to himself Luke focused on using the Force to unlatch it, something his father taught him years ago. The girl seemed genuinely impressed and so Luke smirked. "I have a number of talents you'll find. I'm Luke by the way."

"Leia."

Ah, she truly was as radiant as the flower. "Nice to meet you. So go have your meeting with the Admiral, and I'll show you around afterwards."

Leia pursed her red lips, sizing Luke up. Finally she answered with a giggle, "I don't know. You might not be a dangerous criminal but you did get suspended from school and locked in a binder for a reason."

If Luke hadn't spent the past hour focusing on the Light Side he might have scowled, but instead the teen grinned. "Oh, that was nothing. It's not like I got in a fight or something. I just said a couple things my dad will probably kill me for saying. It was a really bad morning."

"Sounds it," Leia sympathized, and her smile lit the Force. There was just something about her. Luke couldn't quite put his finger on it, but she just seemed… special. Important even. "I should go tell Admiral Cassel that I've made it. If your father hasn't shown up and killed you before I get out perhaps I'll take you up on that offer of a tour. I'm not very familiar with any of the buildings on Coruscant yet. I haven't been here since I was a little girl, and back then I just trailed after my father…"

Luke, being the oblivious teenage boy he was, didn't catch the sadness in the way she trailed off in the end and dumbly asked, "Oh, where is your father now? Is he going to kill you for talking to me?"

"My father died when I was eleven," Leia admitted effectively killing the smile on Luke's face. Suddenly he felt not only stupid, but incredibly rude. "He, he ah broke if neck. Or they say he did .I don't… sorry, I shouldn't say things like that. The idea that a senator could be assassinated and it be covered up… it's treasonous."

"I'm suspended for treason you know. Apparently my accusations about imperial officers murdering children are ill-fitted for an Empire Day play."

It was a stupid thing to say to a stranger. Leia seemed nice, but joking about treason…that wasn't something most of the girls at Luke's school would do. (Well, Leah would, but Leah wasn't really a girl.) Yet Leia had admitted to treason first, and actually full on laughed at Luke's confession. "I don't know, I think that's a play I'd like to see. Something with the truth in it…" Leia's eyes flickered towards the cameras that watched them, and she grew visibly uneasy. "Um, not that what your play originally had wasn't true. I'm sure they were very right in suspending you for comments like that. It was very wrong."

For a second Luke got offended, then he recognized the cameras as well and felt bad. He could get Leia in real trouble for talking about stuff like that so casually. "Um, you should probably get to your meeting the Admiral is probably…"

"Waiting, yeah. I hope your father doesn't kill you Luke. I think I would really like that tour."

Luke smiled, staring at her as she went. Leia was truly the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, and Luke had been noticing things like that as of late. It wasn't like with the other beautiful girls though. Luke didn't want to get to know her; he felt as if he already did know her. Of course that was impossible but…

Luke jumped as his Comlink buzzed, and he groaned. Apparently his father had entered his day cycle and heard the news. Knowing that the longer he put it off the worst it would be Luke stepped into one of the empty offices and answered, even more concerned when it was a Holocall and not just audio.

Darth Vader stood in miniature holograph from looking ready to kill. Luke didn't need the Force to tell that his father was furious. Despite wearing a mask and having no facial expressions, it was written all over his face.

The pair stared at each other for a second before Luke sighed, "I know, I know, I'm a disrespectful idiot who dishonors you, myself, and the Empire. I just… I couldn't stand listening to all those lies! You taught me the Jedi Code, what was I supposed to do, sit there and listen to it recited wrong?"

"Yes," Vader replied coldly. "You are privileged beyond belief, especially when it comes to knowledge. You should have known better than to question your teacher. In the future I expect you not to question it when what I have told you and what your school tells you don't coincide. But, while I'm concerned about you defending the Jedi, I am more concerned by your comments about the Emperor and myself."

Luke flinched and rubbed his neck. "Yeah well it's the truth."

"It is not," Vader answered simply. He had no patience for the rest of the galaxy, but for Luke he had infinite patience. He had to or Luke would not have survived so long. It wasn't that hard to be patient with Luke anyways. He had an inferiority complex a mile long and saw that which was gray as black and white and that which was black and white in shades of gray. His father simply had to make things clear for Luke, and reassure the teen that he was important, probably the most important teen in the galaxy. "The Emperor does not wish for your death. He has always been one of your greatest supporters. In fact he heard about your words before even me and actually laughed. It appears he finds your treason amusing and wishes for you to spent Empire Day with him."

It took all of Luke's willpower not to physically groan, but when he spoke it was a whine. "But what about Tatooine!"

"I'm sorry about your trip, but I have already contacted your aunt and uncle. Even they see that honoring the Empire of the Galaxy's invitation is more important to a trip to that dust ball."

Luke wanted to cry. Not only could he not go and see his old friends and home but he'd actually have to spend time with the Emperor. Luke hated the Emperor. Whatever his father said the Sith Master did not like Luke and the teen hated him. Palpatine was a horrible person and he terrified Luke.

But it wasn't like Luke was actually being given a choice. Sure he could disobey his father and get on the transport anyways, but what good would it do? Someone would just come after Luke and then he'd have the two most powerful people in the galaxy furious with him. It would be a terrible idea. "Fine."

"Good," Vader was relieved not to have to fight with his son from across the galaxy. Surely he'd be in for an especially moody teenager when he finally returned, but it was always nice when he and Luke got through a conversation without fighting. "Now, what in the galaxy led you say that the Empire kills children?"

Of all the comments Luke had made, that was the one he knew for sure was true. He'd seen his father kill with his own eyes, and it was disturbing. "I just uh. I hear stuff you know. And on some planets the recruitment age for the Stormtrooper academy is 14 and I've knew people on Tatooine who died of starvation or thirst and I was angry so I blamed the Empire even though I know nature and the rebels are responsible but…"

The Force doesn't usually work over Holocom, but Luke and his father shared a special Force bond. Even at this distance Vader could sense things from his son he wouldn't have been able to were Luke someone else. "And you were discussing the Jedi Temple because…"

"Um, well we're talking all about the Jedi because of Empire week," Luke offered trying to avoid the topic of the play. For some reason he still wanted to be in it and knew his father would never allow that should he know the subject matter. "And then someone said that there were hundreds of Jedi there but…"

Vader cursed Kenobi one more time knowing very well that the dead Jedi master was responsible. If only Luke had never seen that tape… "We never discussed what Kenobi showed you all those years ago, did we?" It took Luke a moment, but finally the teen shook his head slowly. "Luke, what I did to those younglings was wrong, and yet it had to be done. The Sith and the Jedi are natural enemies, I swear that is why we fight so often. Those younglings were old enough to know but one thing, and that was to fight Sith. Their deaths provided a foundation of peace for the Empire, yet I regret it. Sometimes the Dark Side takes control of a person and they go too far, as I did. But I do not sanction the slaughter of innocents. We do not waste lives."

It was a vast oversimplification on Vader's part, and on some level even Luke knew it. The Emperor and Vader truly cared little for individual lives. Perhaps they had specific people they would not see dead, such as Luke, but they didn't really care if innocents died so long as the Senate didn't find out. But it was true that, since meeting Luke, Vader had begun to regret his actions of that day, and so there was enough truth for Luke to believe it.

"I know. I shouldn't have said any of those things I did but I was in a bad mood and lost control myself. I'm… I'm pretty sure I touched the Dark Side and it made everything different. I couldn't control myself and so I think I understand."

As concerned as Vader was to hear that Luke was unknowingly touching the Dark Side, he was glad to know that Luke understood. "Good, then this discussion is closed. And I think missing your trip is punishment enough. You are to stay with the Admiral until I return to Coruscant and I have already arranged for you to be back in school tomorrow without further punishment there."

"Thank you." Luke was getting off light and he knew it. Honestly anyone else would have been killed for such comments. "And I'm sorry. I'm sure it must be hard for you when you get news like this."

"Everything about you is hard on me Luke, but that can only be expected from my son. Just keep your head down and don't get in any more trouble until I return or I will not be so lenient."

Luke nodded and shut down the call, moving back towards the waiting room where he sat waiting for Leia. Okay, so perhaps showing her around the complex was exactly the sort of trouble his father had just forbidden but… well you can only expect so much from a fourteen year old boy, now can you.