Thanks for reading. Just a side note: If you think Luke and Leia's relationship (In canon or this) is weird or impossible, obviously you are not a twin. There is a connection there without the Force, and I cannot imagine how the Force must amplify it.

Chapter 7

Luke was playing on his Datapad when Admiral Cassel and Leia walked out of the office. Leia smiled brightly upon seeing Luke was still there, but the Admiral was just shaking his head. Luke blushed as he followed the Admiral's gaze to the unlocked binder.

"Have you spoken with your father yet?"

Glad to have something to say, Luke nodded. "Yes. He didn't even kill me either," the teen added, which just made Leia giggle. Admiral Cassel looked between the two teens, and got a knowing smirk on his face which only made Luke blush more. "He wants me to stay with you until he returns, something about me not blowing up the planet… I hate to inconvenience you but…"

"It's no problem," Admiral Cassel reassured the teen. He'd known Luke for a long time, and liked the boy a lot. Sure Rickon got into a lot more trouble since befriending Luke, but Luke was a good kid. He was just a good kid with a Sith for a father. "I need to finish up a bit of paperwork and then we can go."

Luke nodded. "I'll just wait here then," he told the Admiral glad to watch the man disappear back into his office. Turning back to Leia he grinned, "So tour?"

As brightly as she'd been smiling before, she seemed nervous now, and her eyes kept flickering to the security cameras. Obviously she hadn't forgotten about their earlier conversation that could get them both convicted of treason. "I should get home but perhaps some other time?"

"Sure, and I'll even show you where they keep all the security footage," Luke told her, his smile turning into a grin. Leia's eyes grew wide at his suggestion, and Luke ran his fingers through his hair in the universal gesture of 'cool'. "But whenever you come back will be fine."

Apparently it was Leia's turn to blush because she grew bright red as she said, "You know, Winter won't be expecting me all that soon so perhaps we can go today. You're sure this is allowed though?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure it's not, but that's okay, after we're done no one will know," Luke admitted grinning and grabbing Leia's hand. She looked ready to pull away, but there was a sort of spark when their hands met. They both stared at each other, eyes wide, and Luke realized she'd felt it too. She had felt the Force, and probably had no idea she could.

"Come on, I'm going to show you something incredible," he promised the beautiful teen pulling her out of the offices and down the hall. A few stormtroopers patrolled, but Luke and Leia fit right in and easily got past them. Once they were alone, Luke reached into the walls with the Force and opened the door to the secret passages. His father had showed him how to do so years ago, telling Luke that they were the safest way for him to travel in any Imperial building after Luke had one too many encounters with Grand Moff Tarkin's questions. There were passages for Force-Sensitives in every building built since the formation of the Empire, and Luke often took advantage of them. Sure, every time he went through them there was the chance he'd run into an Emperor's Hand or an Inquisitor, but usually they were empty. Surely he'd be fine showing Leia through them.

And the awe on her face was certainly worth it. What could Luke say? He liked impressing her. "How did you do that?"

"It's a little trick I picked up from my father. There are a lot of things you know when you live in Imperial City," Luke told her, attempting to sound mysterious, but actually sounding a little bit ridiculous as his voice cracked halfway through the second sentence. Leia laughed at him, and Luke was glad the darkness of the passages hid most of his blush. "Come on, the cameras are this way. Oh, and don't worry about what you say while we're back here. This is how all of Palpatine's spies come and go, so there are no cameras."

Leia nodded, and followed Luke through the dark passages. Once or twice she'd hear something that sounded vaguely like footsteps, but the voices bothered her the most. Leia could hear everything that was being said in the offices and halls behind the door, she could even usually see who was speaking, and yet they all seemed oblivious to her and Luke's presence. Sure she'd known the Emperor had spies but for them to be able to do this… it was making Leia paranoid.

And then there was Luke himself. She knew almost nothing about him, and yet was trusting him explicitly. For all she knew he was one of Palpatine's spies, sent to test her loyalty. Maybe her earlier confession was enough poof for the evil Emperor that Leia was a rebel and Luke was leading her to her death. Sure Luke seemed to be only her age, but she wouldn't put it past the Emperor to have teenagers working as assassins and spies. It would explain why he seemed so friendly with the Admiral, and how he could use these odd passageways.

But she trusted him. Despite all paranoia and logic telling her that trusting some Imp's son wasn't a good idea whether or not he meant to be a spy, Leia did trust him. Every time she looked at him there was just this sort of spark and then when their hands met… It wasn't like that with other boys she liked. Leia was actually pretty sure she didn't like Luke. Sure he was cute but not that sort of cute. Actually, he reminded Leia of how a little brother was supposed to be, even if he was probably older than her and certainly not her brother…

"Here, I want to show you how to open these passages… in case you ever need a quick escape or just to be left alone, you know?" Luke called to her, jutting Leia from her thoughts.

Luke secretly was terrified he was about to look stupid because she wouldn't be able to do it, but he had a strong feeling that Leia had some Force-Sensitivity. From his readings Luke knew that the Force often worked a bit differently among girls, but he just had this feeling, almost as if the Force itself was telling Luke she had it. "I want you to put your hand on the wall and imagine the lock within."

Leia did so, but found it impossible. "How can I know what type of lock it is?"

"Just imagine, trust your instinct and pick whichever lock feels right, okay?" He gave her a moment to find the lock before continuing. "Now imagine it opening."

"This is ridiculous, how could picturing an imaginary lock opening open a real lock?"

Luke almost said 'the Force', but realized dropping that burden on Leia would probably not be very kind. "These locks work on mental energy," he told her and it wasn't exactly a lie. The Force was a form of mental energy, sort of. "So if you imagine and believe it will work it will."

Leia continued to scowl, until suddenly she stopped. Luke could see the moment where she felt the Force around her, connecting her to the lock. As soon as she focused that energy the door opened, and she beamed. "That's amazing. I didn't know they made locks that worked like that. They only keep out people who don't know they're there and how they work, but let through everyone who knows. That's pretty smart."

Luke would have to admit to the whole Force thing if he corrected her, so he just nodded. Inside though he was reeling. He couldn't believe Leia was Force-Sensitive. So often those with the ability found themselves recruited by the Hands or the Inquisitors, and yet Leia was smack dab in the center of the Empire and flying completely beneath the radar. It was incredible. "Come on, we're not that far from the…" Luke cut off as one of the passageways besides them opened.

Once again Luke grabbed Leia's hand, placing himself between Leia and the new arrival. He was terrified that it was some Inquisitor coming to take Leia now that she'd proven her skills, but was slightly relieved when he saw a very human looking face. Only slightly relieved though because that face was lined with flaming red hair and a very disapproving gaze.

"Skywalker."

"Jade."

"I thought your father was offworld. What are you doing here?"

Whatever her words said, Luke could feel her staring at Leia. Mustering up all the famous Skywalker courage he stared Mara Jade right in the eyes and said, "I'll tell you if you tell me."

Her eyes grew tight, but, unable to break through Luke's superior shielding, she carried on her way letting Luke and Leia go theirs. Once she was gone Luke let out a huge sigh of relief, and Leia whispered, "Who was that?"

"I probably shouldn't tell you but… Her name, or at least one of her many names, is Mara Jade. She works as a spy for the Emperor, or I think she does. One doesn't get many answers from the likes of her."

Leia had gotten that, but it was still odd. "She looks younger than us! What is she, 12?"

"Or 13 probably. Look, this is the Empire, nothing and no one is ever what they seems. We're going to delete security footage because we were both stupid enough to admit that in public."

Luke's words were more treasonous than anything else he'd said that day, but they made Leia relax. She honestly believed that Luke was just one of the few on Coruscant who saw what the world really was. It was too bad his parents were Imperials though. He'd make a good Rebel… Well maybe someday he still could be. Many members of Leia's Rebel Alliance were from Imperial homes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have questioned you, but it scares me. I thought I knew what I was getting at here on Coruscant but then I find out that there are little girls spying on me through walls and I…"

Luke smirked a bit, opening the door that led them to where all the footage was stored. "Welcome to the Galactic Empire. Come on I don't want to still be back here when Jade does some research and figures out that you should not have been allowed back there."

"Are you going to be in trouble?" Leia asked climbing out of the walls behind Luke. She didn't get a reply right away, probably because Luke was busy talking to three stormtroopers who were probably guarding the footage. She couldn't hear much at all, at least not until Luke raised his voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOUR POST BECAUSE YOU'VE ALREADY LOST A PRINCESS?" Whatever response the guards came up with must not have been good enough for Luke because he continued, "WELL I'D SUGGEST GOING OUT AND LOOKING FOR HER INSTEAD OF STARING AT SOME COMPUTER SCREENS IF SHE DISAPPEARED FROM SOMEWHERE ON THE 6TH FLOOR!"

Luke said something else Leia couldn't hear, though she thought she heard the word 'father'. Whatever the case the three troopers disappeared from the room and Leia came out from behind the shelves that hid the passage doorway.

"So you're a princess? That's cool," Luke told her grinning as he sat down and tried to find the proper footage to delete. He needed an access code password to get in, but figured his father probably had access and entered his father's details- a long complex access code, and then "LukeAmidala" as the password. (His father was nothing if not predictable.) "You know my mother was a queen, so that kind of makes me a prince, but it was an elected position so not really."

"No I guess that wouldn't count, would it?" Leia admitted shaking her head. She should have known Luke would figure out which princess the stormtroopers had lost. "Yeah, my mother is Queen of Alderaan and I'm their princess. That's why I was talking to the Admiral. My mother is visiting in a few weeks and I need to figure out matters of security. I'm not really a target; no one knows me. My mother on the other hand has been a target of rebel attacks before." Of course she was targeted on purpose to make it seem like Alderaan had reason to hate the Rebels, but Leia couldn't exactly tell Luke that.

She didn't need to though, because Luke seemed to believe the story. Not that he was paying all that much attention to her. He was going through and deleting the footage of their first conversation and then something else… it looked like Luke talking to a Holo but Leia wasn't close enough to see who, probably his father.

"We're good, though once I show you back to the upper levels we shouldn't be seem together again. Just in case we can't hold our tongues."

Leia nodded, and opened the door that led them back into the tunnels. She couldn't figure out why Luke stared at her as she did, but she took it as an opportunity to ask her own question. "So this father that almost killed you for treason but decided against it… I'm assuming he's important, but I don't recognize the name Skywalker."

"It was my mother's name," Luke rubbed his neck anxiously as he tried to brush the question aside. He liked Leia, a lot, and mostly because she was unafraid to speak her mind about the Empire. Surely that would change if she knew who Luke really was. Most people didn't understand that A- Luke could keep things from his father, and B- that the Emperor, not Vader, was the true evil. "But yeah, my father is pretty high up in the military. High enough up that all the Stormtroopers are convinced I can have them transferred to mall security or something if they disappoint me."

That narrowed down the list a lot for Leia, but in a way it narrowed it too much. Luke just didn't seem like the son of a Moff, which meant there had to be someone Leia was forgetting, and he didn't seem ready to tell her. She couldn't blame him either, not when she wasn't admitting to things like why she was on Coruscant.

Both more anxious about saying something they shouldn't, they made their way back through the passages in silence. When Luke finally told her this would be a good place for her to get out Leia wondered if she would regret not learning more about Luke. "I hope I get to see you again Luke."

"You too Leia. Stay safe, and if you ever need to use these passages and you run into someone back here just tell them it's none of their business who you are but that your ability to be back here proves you have the right to be, okay?"

Leia nodded, though Luke could tell his words didn't make much sense to her. Still, as she disappeared back into the normal hallways Luke knew he was glad to have met Leia. She was certainly something, even if Luke couldn't quite come up with the right word for his feelings.