Precipice by shadowsong26

Homecoming: Chapter 6

The ship the Kallidahin had given Anakin was a little bit smaller than the Twilight , and not as fast (not yet, at least-as soon as he could scavenge the parts he'd need, he would fix that), and it wasn't all that well armed (another thing he planned on upgrading as soon as he could), but he'd made a point of installing the best shields he could, given the resources he'd had on Polis Massa.

But the ship, which he'd decided to call the Waterfall, would get him from Point A to Point B. For now, that was the most important thing. True, the medics here wanted him to stay another week or so, didn't think he was strong enough yet, but his ship was ready. He was ready. It was time to go.

So, he'd loaded himself and Artoo and Leia and their things onto the ship and left a message for Obi-Wan- Went to the farm, will contact you soon. Which was vague enough to not screw him over if someone unfriendly came calling, but hopefully Obi-Wan would be able to figure it out.

Still, he hesitated for half a breath. His eight-week-old daughter had never seemed so small, or so fragile, as when he was taking her to one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy on a ship that wasn't perfect yet.

Which had led to him sitting in the cockpit, Leia in the special rig he'd set up in the copilot's seat where she'd be secure, staring out of the hangar, the ship silent around him.

You know why you have to do this, he reminded himself. Stop kriffing stalling.

"Okay, princess," he said. "Ready to go on an adventure?"

Leia babbled a little and smiled at him, which helped a lot to calm him down. It had every time, since she'd started doing that about a week ago.

And once you're settled, I can get to work.

Artoo beeped a question at him.

"Yeah, buddy, let's get going." He steeled himself and finished his last few preflight checks, then hit the ignition.

The Waterfall hummed to life around him, and with that familiar, friendly, happy-working engine sound, the last of his worries melted away, at least for the moment. Flying always did that for him.

He maneuvered them out of the hangar bay and through what little atmosphere the surface of Polis Massa had, out into the stars.

"I love asteroid fields," he told Leia, tossing her a quick grin. "They're a challenge."

She babbled and kicked at her seat but stayed secure.

"Watch this, princess," he said, moving the Waterfall into a graceful spin that cleared one of the asteroids by an exhilaratingly slim margin.

And then froze for half a second.

What am I doing? I am showing off for my eight-week-old child, who can't even understand what I'm doing yet, while she's riding with me, oh, hells, I am the worst parent ever-

"Kriff!" He tugged on the yoke and narrowly avoided a collision with another asteroid. "Uh. Sorry."

Artoo whistled a reproach at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm paying attention now." His heart was pounding. It took a few seconds for it to get back to normal.

He navigated the rest of the way out of the asteroid belt, carefully, and got them into hyperspace with no further incidents.

Anakin sighed and sat back in his chair. "That was fun," he said. "Okay, new rule: don't get carried away like that again. At least not when Leia's with me."

Leia yawned next to him, drifting off to sleep. The soft humming-or maybe just the vibrations themselves-of the hyperdrive seemed to soothe her.

Good to know.

He stared out at the swirling sky, trying to relax himself. He had six hours to kill until they got to Tatooine.

"Want to kick my ass at dejarik again?" he asked Artoo. "Or I could try meditating or something…" That would probably be more useful, assuming he could focus.

Artoo blew a raspberry, showing what he thought of that idea.

"Dejarik it is," he said. "Go easy on me, all right?"

The droid's response was a mechanical equivalent of rolling his eyes and pulled the portable set out from one of his compartments, setting it up to play.

You know, I was considered a tactical genius, Anakin thought, staring down at the dejarik board and trying not to actively sulk at it. Or at least halfway decent at it. I should be able to beat my kriffing droid at this stupid game.

And yet, for the fifth time in a row, Artoo had managed to maneuver him into what was shaping up to be a humiliating defeat. Even the breaks he'd taken between games to tend to Leia, make sure she was clean and happy and fed, weren't enough to regroup and regain some ground.

Just as he was considering giving in to the inevitable, the console beeped at him.

Saved by the bell.

Artoo beeped a smug question at him.

"I am not surrendering," he said, blithely ignoring the fact that that was exactly what he'd been planning to do. "I have to get back to flying now, that's all. If we'd kept going, I would've won this one."

The droid gave a disbelieving chirp but deactivated the board and put it away.

"I would so!" Anakin said, strapping himself back into the pilot's seat. Then, glancing back to make sure Artoo was otherwise occupied with the navicomputer, he whispered to Leia, "Hey, let's not tell Uncle Obi-Wan about this, princess, okay?"

She just blinked at him and cooed softly.

He wrinkled his nose at her. "Ah, nevermind." He turned his focus back to piloting, dropping them out of hyperspace and into orbit around Tatooine.

Already, he could feel his shoulders tensing up.

He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, trying to release the anxiety along with it, with...mixed results.

"Okay. Mos Eisley." Closest spaceport to his stepfather's farm, and fewer people actually knew him there. Except possibly from the news. How much of the news filtered all the way out here, anyway?

I'll keep my face covered, just in case. Not something he was really looking forward to. Full-face masks made him claustrophobic. But he'd put up with it, to get Leia to safety.

Landing was a breeze-almost suspiciously easy. No one asks questions here, he reminded himself. As long as you bribe the right people, anyway. And he had a small supply of credits for that. With any luck, between that and hiding his face, he'd be all right.

"You should probably stay with the ship," he told Artoo. Not a lot of people could tell one astromech droid from another, but he'd rather keep the possibly recognizable members of his party to a minimum. Especially with Leia along.

The droid beeped an accusation at him.

"No, of course not," he said. "But if this explodes on me, I might need you to come pick us up."

Artoo mulled that over for a minute, then asked another sly question.

"I am not!" he protested. "I mean, yeah, okay, my track record with things exploding is-just shut up."

He snickered but promised to stay and settled himself in to quickstart the ship if Anakin called.

Anakin gathered up Leia, a couple stuffed toys the Kallidahin had scrounged up for him, a blanket, and some water, pulled on his cloak, and slipped out of the Waterfall to bribe the appropriate authorities and make his way to the Lars homestead.

He arrived just after the first sunset, with the second more than halfway there, riding an eopie. He'd've preferred a bike, but the animal was more discreet, and cheaper to rent. There was a pretty blonde woman standing on the porch, watching the sky as he approached. He recognized her as his stepbrother's girlfriend (maybe wife now?), though it took him a minute to remember her name.

Beru. Right.

She called into the house as he dismounted, hitting the eopie with a Force-suggestion to stay put while he figured out how to juggle Leia, his supplies, and staking the animal in place.

Just when he figured it out, Owen Lars came out of the half-sunken house.

He hadn't changed much in the past three years. A little older, a little harder, but that same guarded wariness coloring everything he did and thought.

"Can we help you, stranger?" he asked.

Anakin reached up and dropped his hood back. "Um. Hi."

Owen blinked. "Oh. It's you." He was even more guarded now, which Anakin completely understood. The one time they'd met hadn't exactly been-

He closed his eyes and swallowed his mother's grave burning at the edge of his perceptions, coming perilously close to unlocking things he couldn't face right now.

Leia fidgeted and whimpered a little in his arms.

Beru immediately softened. "You two should come inside," she said firmly.

Owen didn't argue.

"Thank you," Anakin said, quietly.

Beru flashed him a smile, and he followed her and Owen inside.

"How old is the baby?" she asked.

"Eight weeks," he said. "She's, uh, her name's Leia. She's, my daughter."

"She's beautiful," Beru said. "Can I hold her?"

"I-uh." Every instinct he had wanted to cling even tighter to his precious baby girl. Mine.

Remember why you're here.

"Okay," he said, and placed her in Beru's arms, trying not to let his reluctance show too much.

She smiled up at him again, then turned all her focus to the baby, humming softly. Anakin caught a faint thought drifting out from her, a kind of wistful, endless longing, an aching emptiness.

He tightened his shields.

Owen led them into the kitchen. "So. Anakin. What brings you back here?"

Right to the point.

Okay. I can work with that. Anakin pulled his attention away from Beru and Leia. "I... how much do you know about what's happening-what happened, to the Republic?"

"Not a lot," he said.

Beru looked up briefly from playing with Leia's toes. "But what we've heard isn't good," she said, somehow managing to keep up a lighthearted, sweet tone.

I need her to show me how to do that, Anakin thought, admiringly. If he could figure out how to have important conversations without distressing Leia…

"What did happen?" Owen asked.

Anakin hesitated for a second. It would take time-and energy, and, as ashamed as he was to admit it, emotional stability-he didn't have to explain everything. What do I leave out?

"Did the Republic really fall?" Beru asked. "Did the CIS win the war, or…?"

"No," he said. "Technically, they lost. But really...really, everyone lost. The Chancellor has formed an Empire." His mechanical hand tightened into a fist on the table. Breathe. Calm. There is no passion, there is serenity. "Things are going to be worse now. Even if the war is officially over, even if things are...less chaotic. They're gonna get bad."

Owen and Beru exchanged a long look.

"So, you're going to fight him," Beru said.

"Yes."

"We can't," Owen said abruptly. "I don't know what you want from us, Anakin, but we're not soldiers. We have our lives here."

"I know you do," he said. "And I wouldn't-" All right, maybe he would have asked, if he'd thought it might do any good. They needed all the active help they could get.

But this is just as important.

"I'm not asking you to help fight," he said instead.

"What, then?" Owen asked.

Anakin glanced over at Leia and Beru. "I can't...I need her to be...safe."

His stepbrother and sister-in-law went quiet.

"I know I shouldn't-" He took a deep breath. There is no emotion, there is peace. "You barely know me. I have no...no claim on your aid. The war was...awful, and I was a part of it, a big part, and things are just-it's going to be even uglier, at least for a while. And you'll be-I'll do everything I can to protect you, to protect this location, but I can't...I have to fight, and Leia is...she's so little. And I need...I need your help." He closed his eyes. "I need your help," he repeated, in a whisper, then forced himself to go on. "If she could...if she could stay with you, just sometimes, just while I'm…"

It was too much. He realized that now, should have realized it sooner. He shouldn't have come here. He had no right to impose on him like this. And there was what Beru had felt, her immediate, bittersweet adoration of his daughter, and he…

How many people am I going to hurt, before I'm done? he asked himself bleakly.

"Of course, she can," Beru said firmly.

He looked up at her, half-convinced he was hearing things.

"You're family," Owen said, simply. "So is she. This is what families do."

He sagged a little. "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you."

Beru frowned a little, then passed Leia carefully to Owen and put a tentative hand on Anakin's. "Stay here tonight," she said. "You look exhausted, and we need time to work out all the details, anyway."

"I'm fine," he said, but he didn't pull his hand away. "But...all right."

She beamed at him and squeezed his hand. "Good. We still have some food left from dinner, are you hungry?"

"I-uh, I should feed Leia," he said, reminded. It had been a couple hours since the last time he'd stopped to do that.

"Not what I asked, but that's probably a good idea, too," she said, then stood up and started going through the cabinets.

Owen passed Leia back to him. "Show me how?" he asked.

Anakin blinked. Well, if she's going to stay here, he will need to know. "Sure. Uh, there's milk and a bottle in my bag."

He nodded and went to retrieve the supplies.

A tranquility Anakin had never really known fell over the room; not even when he'd been a child, before the Temple. Not even with Padmẻ. One that was warm and comforting, domestic and loving.

Leia will be safe here. Despite everything-everything that had happened to her, the thought rang absolutely true. He knew it, deep inside him, as sure as he knew the suns would rise in a few hours. As sure as he felt the Force singing through him with every breath.

This place, this farm, was safe.

Anakin let that thought sink into him, hoping it would worm its way past the worst of his fears and stay. And, if only for a moment, as he showed his stepbrother how to feed his child, he slowly started to relax.