Luke looked up as his father entered. He felt rather bad about having had Han run after them, and stop them, so that he could talk to the man, but he was desperate to know him. As he entered the room, however, Anakin wore the same concerned, slightly frightened, expression as before and Luke couldn't help questioning whether his motives were fair.

"Hello!" Luke said.

Obi-Wan greeted him cordially, and Anakin nodded vaguely.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, looking into Anakin's face.

He was answered with only another nod.

"Will you sit next to me again?" he asked hopefully.

Anakin sat, carefully taking Luke's hand, almost as though he thought Luke might crumble to pieces, "Will you stay still so you can heal properly?"

Luke obediently fell back into the pillows.

Han took a seat on Luke's other side while Obi-Wan remained standing, looking at the others with an expression of great confusion. Luke smiled eagerly at his father.

"Where are you from?" he asked, mostly because he was at a loss as to what question to ask without giving away the future.

"Ah… I'd rather not talk about that. You know how it is, right?"

Has he guessed? Luke wondered, How could he possibly guess? But he nodded, "Yeah, I do."

Anakin gave him an extremely forced smile, "Why don't you tell us something about yourself?"

If he has guessed, then he wants everyone to know, "Uh, I'd rather not talk about it, you know how it is, right?" he joked.

Anakin nodded and smiled a little more easily, "I'm glad you haven't lost your sense of humour."

Luke grinned, "Han's tried to separate me from it, trust me. No luck for him so far!"

Much to Luke's relief, Anakin actually laughed, "You can't be much worse than Obi-Wan."

Luke looked up at Obi-Wan, still somewhat thrown by his appearance, and tilted his head, "Really? How bad can he be?"

"Believe me when I say, pretty bad," Anakin answered.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, "I don't even mind, I'm just glad to see you smile."

"Someday, you'll know, Luke. I've got the strangest feeling you already do."

"Do? Do what?" Luke asked, startled.

Anakin's smile faded, replaced with a look of extreme confusion, "Know how bad Obi-Wan's – or should I call you Ben?" he asked, casting a glare at Obi-Wan, "Know how bad his sense of humour is. By the way, that wasn't funny."

"It wasn't meant to be a joke, Anakin, I did that for your own good, even though I knew it'd make you furious," Obi-Wan gave Anakin a dark look, "Maybe even turn you to the Sith."

"Um, may I speak to you privately?" Luke asked Anakin, "It's kind of personal and… I think you'd understand better than the others."

Obi-Wan and Han both opened their mouths to object, but Anakin waved them off, "I told him to come to me if he needed to talk about anything he's been through. I promise, I can take care of myself," he said sarcastically.

Han started to refuse to leave Luke, but Obi-Wan turned him away, "Anakin will be most insistent about this."

"Ah, okay," Han said slowly, "Take care of yourself, Luke."

"Please, it's not like any harm's going to come to me in the middle of the Jedi Temple, Han."

Han nodded hesitantly and left with Obi-Wan.

Luke looked up at his father, starting to feel nervous again. What if he had just misread Anakin's reactions? He certainly didn't want to give away who he was if he could avoid it.

"How are you healing?" Anakin asked, kindly, and arbitrarily, enough.

Luke pulled his shirt up a bit, "I'm doing okay. Better than I thought I would, based on the methods you're using."

"What do you mean 'the methods we're using'?" Anakin asked, sounding confused.

I mean that they're ancient methods, literally from before I was born, I think, but I didn't mean to say it! "Oh, it's just, where I come from, we usually use some witchcraft too," he answered quickly.

"Really?" Anakin gave a short laugh, "What a coincidence, it's the same where I grew up. Hold still."

Hold still? Does he really think he can do witchcraft? Just because they do it on Tatooine doesn't mean I believe in it! Luke fought not to squirm as Anakin gently laid a hand on the healing wound. As he closed his eyes, Luke nearly screamed. Then he watched in amazement as the last traces of the wound faded, and Anakin opened his eyes.

"I bet it's never worked for you before, has it? The Force. It can be kind of fun to mess around with, but don't tell Obi-Wan I did that or he'll be furious."

Luke smiled, but he felt it die as he thought of the words Anakin and Obi-Wan had exchanged.

Anakin put an arm around him, "What's wrong?"

Luke leaned on his father, closing his eyes. He hoped he wasn't outstepping his bounds, but Anakin had offered, and besides, he needed the comfort.

"I miss my family."

"I understand," Anakin said gently, putting his other arm around Luke.

He must know. On some level he must know. He must! "Do you miss your family when you're away?"

"Jedi aren't allowed to have families," Anakin answered, and Luke noticed that his voice had become softer, sadder.

"You had a family, didn't you? What happened to them?"

Anakin put Luke down and looked away, "I had a mother, before the Jedi found me. I lived with her longer, and grew closer to her, than Jedi usually do. They didn't know what to do about our bond, so they abandoned her, and hoped I'd forget."

That's nothing like the answer I expected. I was kind of waiting to be told that my mom ran off. "What happened to her?"

"The tuscans killed her," Anakin said, and Luke sensed him starting to get angry, in a far more Vader-like way than he was comfortable with.

"I—," Luke faltered. Looking again at the broken expression on his father's face, he hugged the man again, burying his face against him, "I'm so sorry. I- I didn't mean to hurt you."

Anakin held him tightly, and when Luke tried to move, he only clung tighter. Luke closed his eyes and relaxed against his father, who stopped moving and sat still, holding him. Slowly, he relaxed, and let Luke go.

"I—," he faltered, "I'm sorry. No one else ever seems to care as much as you. Well, maybe one person."

"Obi-Wan?" Luke guessed.

"No, a mutual friend, but that's beside the point. I'm sorry for that display, I'm supposed to be stronger than this. I meant to help you with whatever's bothering you, but I'm just adding to your troubles. I'm sorry."

Luke sat up again, from where Anakin had laid him back down, "You're not hurting me," he said, and found himself smiling, "I like being treated like this. I'm really glad you trust me enough to tell me these things when they're obviously personal. I mean- it's a lot more faith than people usually put in me. I'm used to being lied to."

Anakin frowned.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Somebody's got to be the scapegoat, right?"

Anakin sighed, "I wish that wasn't true."

Luke shrugged, "Don't we all?"

"What did you want to talk to me about anyway?" Anakin asked, clearly trying to push aside the subject.

"Oh, I was just wondering what you and Obi-Wan were talking about. When you called him Ben?"

"That. He pretended to be dead and no one thought to tell me that he was doing just fine playing bounty hunter. I'm still upset about it, so I try to make light of it whenever possible. I keep hoping I'll get over it and stop having to act."

"Oh, I understand."

"Really?" Anakin asked skeptically.

"Yeah, I've got some things I really can't tell my friends. I mean, I love them very much and… that's why I can't tell them."

Anakin nodded, and Luke had the strangest feeling that he understood a thousand times more than he let on.

"Who are your friends, other than Han?"

"Oh, just people from home. Leia, Wedge, Mon Mothma, Deena, lots of people."

"Do you feel comfortable enough to tell me where you're from now?" Anakin asked politely.

Luke bit his lip. He hadn't meant to say so much, but there was no going back, "Oh, we're a little organization. Where I come from… there's a lot of oppression," he faltered, unsure of how to proceed.

Much to his relief, Anakin was nodding, "I know how that feels."

"We don't really have a specific base right now. I wandered off, Han came to rescue me, and we got lost." In the time stream.

Anakin nodded, "Good for you for standing up to them."

He praised me! He actually praised me! I've always wanted to hear him say something nice, even something arbitrary, and he's praising me for disobeying him in the future! Of course, he doesn't know about that, but still!

Luke grinned at his father, "Thanks. I've…" I can't tell him who he is to me. I can hardly say any of the things I want to say to him! "I've never had a friend like you before."

Anakin smiled, "I've never had a friend quite like you either. Stay close, I won't let anything hurt you again."

He wants to protect me! He only wants to do it because we're friends, but… he actually wants to protect me! He actually cares about me. I've never had a parent who cared for me before.