Varykino

"So," Leia asked, pulling out her holopad and frowning down at a list. "I have a list of Imperials of interest and would like your current information on them. Xizor?"

"Ani killed him two months ago," Padme said. "Slave trader. Ick."

"Admiral Thrawn?"

"I have been meeting with him, not in person of course, and he has agreed to retreat to Chiss space and work with us. He is pretty smart and doesn't really want to go toe to toe with Ani."

"Mas Amedda?"

"Dead."

"Sate Pestage?"

"Still on Coruscant, more or less running things…"

"Are you all right?" Luke asked.

Sola Naberrie, who had been staring in wonder at her sister Padme and niece Leia, with the occasional quick glance at the hulking figure standing guard at the living room door, shook her head and turned to gaze at her nephew. "Not really."

"I am sorry," the young man said sympathetically, and let his gaze shift to his two cousins, who were seated on either side of their mother. "I know this has to be a great shock."

"Yes, it is a shock," Pooja said, leaning forward to wave an index finger at her newly met cousin. "First, Ryoo and I remember Anakin Skywalker, not much because we were small children when last we met, but a little. He was nice. He was kind. How did that happen?"

"Long, long story," Luke said. "Long. Painfully long. Painful story, actually. I mean, we can talk about it, but maybe not now."

"And then my sister comes back from the grave, effectively," Sola said, breaking her silence.

"Yeesssss, I mean, she didn't actually die," Luke pointed out.

"She apparently was pulled forward in time 23 years. Forgive me for not thinking that was an option."

"No, I get it," Luke said sympathetically. He paused and then said, rather shyly, "I hope you don't mind me showing up. I spent my childhood without having any blood relatives, and I have to say that collecting an entire family is really awesome for me."

This prompted Sola to reach out and take her nephew's hands in her own. "I am overjoyed that you and Leia and Padme are part of our family. I just am a little uncertain about … about…"

"Anavader," Luke suggested.

"So yes," Padme said, raising her voice to get the attention of her sister, nieces, and son, "I think that the galaxy is more or less righted and the Alliance can move forward without Anakin rushing around killing everyone. Admiral Piett is a decent fellow and can handle Executor in our absence."

"Where are you going?" Leia demanded.

Anakin pushed back the hood of his cloak, which prompted Leia and the Naberries to gasp in horror at the sight of his scorched face, with burns everywhere, with an oxygen tube running into his nostril.

"Father and I are going to go away somewhere and try to work on his healing some more," Luke said firmly.

Leia glared at him and said, "When were you going to tell me this?"

"Now," her brother said simply.

/

Varykino

Six Months Later

"What about elections?" Sola demanded.

Pooja took a bite of blue milk pudding and said, "Well, elections will happen in a year or so, but for now we are just calling back everyone we possibly can who was sent away when the Senate was dissolved. Of course, some people are dead, or busy with other things..."

"Like Cousin Leia?" Ryoo commented, grinning. "I don't know everything, of course, but I keep hearing rumors about her and Luke dicing slavers up."

"Yes, the whole Skywalker family definitely has a thing about slavery," Pooja agreed, grimacing expressively, "and I can't blame them. Did you know Uncle Ani was a slave as a child?"

Her mother and sister nodded solemnly. Padme had made a couple more visits in the last six months and shared that aspect of the former Vader's history.

"So yes, it will be good," Pooja continued, just as Luke Skywalker walked into the room.

"Hi!" he said nonchalantly. "Do you have any more blue pudding? Did you know that on Tatooine that we call all desserts 'pudding'? Maybe it's because that's the only dessert we usual have."

"In the kitchen," Sola said, waving in the direction of the cooling chamber. "Help yourself."

"Thanks," her nephew said, and wandered off.

"Do you ever feel like Varykino has become a public hotel without anyone telling us?" Pooja asked with a wry smile.

"What can you do when your near relatives can open locks and jump three stories?" Ryoo asked, entirely rhetorically.

"Padme!" Sola cried out, leaping to her feet as her much younger sister entered the room.

"Sola!" Padme replied, hurrying forward to give her sister a hug. "Are Luke and Leia here yet?"

"Luke yes, Leia no."

"I am here, actually," Leia remarked, stepping in from the balcony which was attached to the living room.

Luke stepped in with a container of blue milk pudding floating in the air beside him, and the twins embraced.

"Where is Father?" Luke demanded.

A tall cyborg strode through the door, and Luke yelped. "Father, you have hair!"

"I do," his father said, running a mechanical hand through his half inch stubble. "The Kaminoans are miracle workers."

"You do look much better, Anakin," Sola said, gazing in wonder at her brother-in-law. He did, too; his face was still scarred, but the scarring had been noticeably blurred. Furthermore, his ears looked reasonably normal and, most importantly of all, he no longer had a breathing tube up his nose.

"I feel much, much better," Anakin replied, casting an affection gaze on his son. "Thanks to Luke; he is such a close genetic match that the Kaminoans were able to sort out a great many of my physical issues."

He hesitated and then turned an uneasy look on Leia, who, as usual, was keeping her distance. "Princess, I congratulate you on your marriage to Solo."

"Thank you," Leia replied, pinning on a prim smile. "It was pleasant not having you there."

Pooja winced at this obvious verbal dig, and Padme said hastily, "But I wished to tell you our exciting news!"

Everyone turned to look at her, and Luke, wide eyed, said, "Are you…?"

"Yes!" she cried out. "I am pregnant!"

"So am I!" Leia declared.

/

Varykino

9 months later

"Where is the caf?" Han said, staggering into the living room with red eyes and deep lines of fatigue carved into his forehead.

"Kitchen," Luke said, gesturing in the correct direction.

His brother-in-law lurched back into the room a few minutes later and collapsed onto a chair, where he closed his eyes and gulped down the caf. Luke wandered into the kitchen and made a fresh carafe of caf, poured two large mugs, added blue milk, and wandered back into the living area just as Anakin staggered in looking so tired that he might fall over.

"Caf," Anakin whispered.

Luke handed over one mug and steered his father over to a couch adjacent to Han's chair. Then he sat down as well, and all three men slurped down their drinks, lost in their own private worlds of exhaustion.

"I think I am going to die," Han finally remarked idly, rubbing his forehead.

"You think you are going to die?" Anakin retorted, "I'm at least a decade older than you, and a quadruple amputee to boot!"

Han waved his cup in his father-in-law's direction and growled, "Our girls are louder."

"Acoustically, yes. In the Force, no," Anakin snapped back.

"I think both sets of twins are about the same in the Force," Luke said helpfully. "I mean, when I drop my shields at two a.m., and my little brothers are howling, and my little nieces are screeching, they are all super loud. You probably just hear the boys better because they are your kids, Father."

"Do you mean to say," Han said, breathing heavily and staring in awe at Anakin, "that you have to listen to your kids both with your ears and with freaky Force magic?"

"Yes," Anakin said in a woebegone tone.

Han lurched awkwardly to his feet and wandered over to grab his father-in-law's cup. "You like blue milk in it, right?"

"Yes," Anakin replied, looking startled, as well he might. Not surprisingly, Han Solo was not particularly fond of Anakin Skywalker's former alter ego, Darth Vader, considering the man had tortured his wife, Leia Organa. But in the midst of extreme exhaustion engendered by newborn twins, it seemed that compassion outweighed revenge.

Han strode back into the kitchen and emerged in a few minutes. He had just handed a cup over to the former Sith Lord when a red haired beauty sauntered through the room and made her way over to Luke.

"Hi, Farmboy," she said in a sultry voice.

"Mara," Luke said, pressing a long kiss on his wife's lips.

She returned the kiss with enthusiasm and cast an expert eye on her male relatives by marriage. "Kids up a lot last night?"

This was met with a communal groan until Han said, with a sudden twinkle of glee, "Yes, they were. And just think, one of these days you and Luke will be up every second hour to help with newborn twins. So enjoy your sleep now, Mara!"

The newlyweds of three months exchanged horrified glances, and Luke said, "We won't necessarily have twins."

"Of course you will," Anakin said, as cheerfully as he could considering his exhaustion. "It is a Skywalker family tradition."

/

Varykino

One year later

"I am going to die," Luke Skywalker said, swaying up and down the carpet of his bedroom with his daughter on one shoulder and his son on the other. "I am absolutely going to die."

Mara Jade Skywalker, who was curled up in an exhausted ball on the bed, said, "We both are, but they are worth it."

Luke planted a kiss first on one bald head, and then the other, and said, "Yes, they absolutely are."

Author Note: And finally, that is the end of this arc! They all lived happily ever after!