Vestara was not prepared for the storm of emotions that issued from Ben at her pronouncement. Shock was first, followed by alarm, nerves and pleasure in a nanosecond.

"You're kidding me, Ves. How can you know? We didn't even do it 'til a fortnight ago."

"Master Katarn was probing me with the Force, trying to find out which of the three things I had just told him had been untruthful. He suddenly gasped and asked me, gently, to accompany him to the temple medcenter."

"Dad's going to be pleased about this."

"You sure he won't kill me?"

"Ves, like all grandparents, he will obey the golden rule: no killing your first grandchild before birth."

"That was not how it was on Kesh."

"This ain't Kesh, Ves, and you know it."

When Ben's parking of his speeder appeared far more haphazard than usual, Luke knew something was wrong. He had felt a pulse of shock rock through the Force minutes previously, and his first thought, the thought of a man who had spent his entire life on the front line, was that they had been attacked. The fact that Ben, as he flipped from the speeder, had looked shell-shocked, had prompted him to reach for the trauma-pak, and begin sprinting down the corridor, grabbing his comlink as he did so.

When he arrived, though, the fact that Vestara was not bleeding or dying prompted him to speak bluntly. "Ben, what the kriff has happened?" he demanded of his son

"You're not going to believe this dad," Ben began. "I'm going to be a father." He hugged Vestara and kissed her.

Luke, however, was somewhat unimpressed.

"Damm it, Ben. Comm ahead next time, or you will need a blasted med-speeder for me. I nearly had a heart attack when you arrived."

"Dad, what about the congratulations bit?"

"When I was your age, Ben Skywalker, kriffing about like you and Vestara have been, even with protection, would have been considered shocking and immoral behaviour, especially without any announced plans. The fact she's now pregnant, in my day, would have just made it worse, as far as adults were concerned."

"Dad, I…"

"Never meant her to get knocked up with your kid?"

"There was no plan involved, just both of us enjoying each other's company."

"Master Skywalker," Vestara broke in. "would it be best if I just…" suddenly she broke into tears.

"No, Vestara. I won't ask that of you. No father would. If I had even mentioned that to Mara…" he paused, and both of the Ben and Vestara felt a wave of melancholy pass through the Force. "Well, she would have treated that idea with all the scorn it deserves. Life is too precious to throw away for convenience."

At their askance looks to each other, Luke continued, "However, my approval comes with a big catch. You two, despite your ages, are going to be married before the child is born."

Ben was visibly shocked, and his Force presence betrayed his alarm, not at marrying Vestara, but at the concept of marriage at his age.

"Dad, I…" he tailed off sheepishly at his fathers look.

"Any questions, Ben Skywalker?" Luke challenged.

"No."

"Vestara?"

"No issues, master Skywalker. None at all."

"Good. Unlike in a novel I read years ago, I will not be marching you to the nearest chapel at saberpoint to sort this out. I will leave it as a test of your capabilities to organise your own wedding"

As Luke left the room, extending a sense of indignation into the Force, Ben simply hugged Vestara, and muttered in her ear. "We need to think of a name."

"I'll handle baby related issues. You are more accepted here, and can quite easily organise things, and avoid court hearings if things come up." She replied.

"I know all about that. Only Solos can find more trouble than Skywalkers by accident."

"So you told me," she said, pulling him close. "I hope I can break that trend."

"Don't count on it, Ves."

Then he kissed her, fully on the lips. They stood, embraced, for about ten seconds before breaking off.

"I need to go see a man about a ring." He whispered to her, before flipping into his speeder and zooming off.

By the time Luke had reached his bedroom, he could not hold in the laughter he had been concealing in the force. After several minutes, his plan for solving a drought on Haffrin seemed a lot less important than the drama in his own household.

"Only a Skywalker," he told himself. "Only a Skywalker could manage to create a mess this size out of such whole cloth. You leave one alone with a girl, and three weeks later, you've got a mess the size of a Hutt that's fallen from a high walkway." He smiled. "Still, it could be worse though, they could both still be in custody."

As Ben parked his speeder however, he little knew that someone, or something to be more precise, was watching him through the scope of a sharpshooter's longrifle, and was only waiting for him to stand still for a few seconds before taking the shot.

Don't panic. In his future, death is not.