Coruscant was very loud.

Luke peered out of the window in his bedroom, leaning heavily on the ledge as he stared down at the speeders racing around below. The traffic hadn't woken him up, couldn't with the sound muffled, but nonetheless, so far, something always seemed to make him stir at this time of the morning.

He glanced at the datapad. that he'd propped up on the window ledge while he'd rested his folded arms on the ledge and his head on those while he knelt up on the bed. His eyes flickered to it again and he hummed at the result.

Dates were confusing. When the Empire had been in charge everything had a different date, but Tattooine had never taken that on. And while years were a bit baffling to him, days and months were less so. Or rather a specific day and month.

He knew how to feed in information to the datapad. That was easy. And there were the results. Fifth month, fourth day by the Coruscant calendar.

Which was today.

Luke glanced back, across the room with scattered toys that Mom had sighed at last night and at the door that they'd left ajar. They'd only been in the new place for ten days and there was a workshop downstairs that made it a billion times better than Naboo, but there wasn't the lake and the ability to just run outside and squidge the mud between his toes. Still, he knew the route to their room and he padded off. Through the door and down the hall, and they weren't far away, just a door away.

They were sleeping when Luke pushed the door open. He held onto the edges for a moment, unsure as he watched.

Dad was lying on his front, arms under the pillow and head on top. The join of the metal arm to his shoulder could be seen clearly and his hair was a messy dark golden cloud around his head. Next to him, but less obvious was Mom under the sheets, curled up tighter and her head turned towards Dad, an arm on his back. She was a bit tanned from their time in Naboo, but still not as dark as Dad.

He liked it when they were like this. Warm and safe and Dad radiated being content. Slowly, he padded over and then crawled over so that he was by the bed, peering at Dad's face.

Dad sighed. Then he reached out without opening his eyes and Luke felt a gentle tug upwards as his arm reached down and curled around Luke, pulling him up and into the bed without effort. Dad turned as Luke was tucked up next to him and Luke snuggled close, enjoying how warm and cosy it was. He tucked his head into the nook created by Dad's chin and neck and sighed.

He drifted for a while. The relaxed air made him want to stay there forever. He thought that he probably fell asleep too for a while before he blinked and wriggled, turning away. Dad made a noise that might have been disapproval and dropped a lazy kiss on his hair before Luke sat up.

Mom, at some point had rolled away from them and lay on her back, one arm flung out. Luke made to reach for her, but Dad caught him and sat up before standing, Luke still in his arms on his hip.

Luke rested his head on Dad's shoulder as they went to the kitchens. Dad put on some water to boil, the tea a ritual they'd all taken up while on Naboo. He stood, stroking Luke's back for a moment.

"It's the seventieth orange sun day," Luke said, watching the water.

"I suppose it is," Dad said with some quiet surprise. "What made you think of that."

"My birthing day."

Dad stopped. Not that he'd been doing much of anything anyway, but he stopped and Luke hummed, tracing a scar just under Dad's left collarbone. The tip of a lightsabre, Dad had told him once merrily before pretending to act out the battle with Luke.

"I'm eight now," Luke added, in case that helped.

Dad leaned to lift Luke off his hip and to sit on the counter. He was still taller, but he bent a little so that they were eye to eye. "Eight, huh?" he asked.

Luke nodded.

A stool was pulled close and Dad sat on it almost absently, keeping his eyes on Luke. "Do you feel older?" he asked.

Luke had never thought about that. He tilted his head to one side and hummed. "Can I pour the tea?"

Dad smiled a little.

Xxx

Mom was happy and sad. She often seemed to be a mix of the two at the moment and there were patterns that brought it on. Talking about his birthday seemed to be one of them. But she laughed as they flew through the rings of one of the moons and seemed to sprinkle dust around them as they went. Dad even let Luke steer for a while and showed him the controls while Mom interjected and pointed out things that Dad didn't know like the braking and landing gear.

But as the day went on, Dad started to feel darker and gloomier even as Mom lightened and seemed to put aside being sad. That was until she started to notice Dad's terse replies and her gazes to him became sharper.

Old Ben was waiting for them when they got back. He stood on the landing pad, his cloak billowing in the draft created by the traffic. As they landed, Dad sighed heavily and stared down through the viewer.

"Delaying this won't help," Mom warned as she took Luke's hand. He huffed a little keeping his gaze on the controls because how often did he get a chance at piloting.

"Mom," he whined at her. "Can't we go up again?"

She always smiled at the name. "Soon, baby," she assured him. It made him groan and pull against her hand, tipping his head back. He caught a glimpse of her rolling her eyes but she didn't move despite him pulling on her.

He tugged harder.

"Don't," Dad said, pushing his at his back so that Luke rebalanced. "Don't hurt your mother."

Mom wasn't that fragile. Huffing, he leaned forward and rested heavily on her. "Wanna stay here," he pleaded and she stepped back a little, but smiled down at him even as Luke felt Dad's mood dip suddenly lower.

"Luke," Dad snapped and picked him up solidly. "Don't be difficult."

Luke sulked as they left the ship and went down the ramp. Old Ben stood waiting and he was staring at Dad. "Anakin," he started to say.

"We're off the ship," Dad said to Luke firmly, catching his chin to make Luke look him in the eyes. "We're going home. Stop pulling at your mother."

Luke let his eyes slide to Mom who looked almost annoyed. "Ani," she chided. "You hardly need to-"

"Promise me," Dad said and he turned Luke's head again so that Luke had to look back at Dad. Slowly, Luke nodded. Dad let him slide down and a gentle force push sent him over to Mom who reached out with her hand again.

"That was hardly necessary," she snapped at Dad as she took Luke's hand. "Master Kenobi, he's in a foul mood. I wouldn't bother." And with that warning, she pulled them along the landing platform to where Captain Typho waited with a speeder.

"Are we waiting for Anakin?"

"No." Mom followed Luke down into the speeder.

Xxx

"He's a child, Ani. He was tired and he wanted to fly with you. That's hardly a need to treat him as if he was hurting me."

"He pulled at you."

"He's eight! And he's my son too. It's the first birthday that we've ever had with him and you couldn't keep your temper in check-"

"No, you had one with him and it kriffin' killed you."

There was a long silence. "Don't you dare put that on him,"

"Of course I don't. But…I saw…I can't lose you like that."

"You won't."

There was a long silence and then Dad sighed. "You want more," he said after a moment. "More kids."

"Yes." Then: "Don't you?"

As far as Luke knew, Dad didn't reply.