While She Is Here in My Arms

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Chapter 1: Awkwardness and Angry Dad

"I do not like that man," Anakin fumed to his wife.

"Now, now, love. Let's give him a chance," Padmé gently scolded him.

"Padmé, he flirted with our daughter in front of us!"

"Yes, he did, but, as I recall, you attempted to flirt with me in front of my parents."

"That was different."

"How?"

"Well...it just was!"

"You just don't like it because the girl is your daughter. If my father had thought that you were actually flirting with me, he would have shot you, most likely."

"Marvelous idea! Can I borrow your blaster?"

"No, Anakin. You need to try to get to know him."

"Why should I?"

"Because Leia likes him. He seems to make her happy. And you want her to be happy, right?"

"That's not a fair argument. Anyway, he seems to me to be a bit of a scoundrel."

"My father would have classified you as such."

"Would you stop comparing this to our relationship?"

"When you stop acting like a hypocrite. And remember that we married behind my family's back. Do you want Leia to do that?"

"Of course not!"

"Then I suggest that you try to like Han Solo."

At that moment, Luke poked his head into the kitchen. "Mom, Dad, is everything all right? You're taking a long time."

"Yes, everything's fine. Your father and I are just having a heated discussion."

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Does it happen to involve Han?"

Anakin gritted his teeth. "Yes, it does."

"Ah. I like him. I think Leia does, too."

Padmé nodded. "Well, your father doesn't."

"Mmm hmm. I see."

"What does he do for a living, Luke?" Anakin asked.

"Maybe you should ask him, Dad."

"Just don't interrogate him, Ani," Padmé admonished.

"Who? Me?" he asked with an innocent look on his face. Padmé rolled her eyes and picked up the bowls of ice cream she had originally left the dining room to prepare. "Ani, get the pot of caf. Luke, get mugs."

"Yes, ma'am," they answered, following her back to the dining room. She stopped in front of the closed door. "So, who's going to be a show off?"

The door swung open. "Thank you, whoever did it."

"I did," Luke said with a grin. The three walked in and saw Leia and Han laughing at something one of them had said. Padmé raised her eyebrows. "What's so funny?"

Han stopped long enough to say, "Her Highnessness was just telling me about some of the pranks she and Luke pulled when they were younger."

"And, Leia, why aren't you putting your siblings to bed like I told you to?"

"Oh. Well, Uncle Obi-Wan offered to take them. He told them he'd share some embarrassing stories about Dad."

Anakin coughed. "He certainly has an impressive stock of those."

She giggled. "Yeah, but I have a couple, too, you know."

"Such as?"

"The fact that I realized that you were my dad within a month of moving in with you, but you took nearly six months to figure it out." Leia winked.

"They've heard that one too many times for it to be embarrassing."

"The number of times I've told it doesn't seem to affect how red your cheeks get whenever I bring it up."

"Anakin, just let her have this one," Padmé said. "We won't have peace until you do."

He sighed. "Fine. So, Han, what is it that you do for a living?"

"I'm a pilot, sir. I fly for anyone who pays me enough. That's how Leia and I met, actually."

"What's this?" Padmé asked.

Leia quickly cut in. "Oh, I kind of crashed my starfighter on a random planet and destroyed my comlink on the way home from a mission-"

"Jedi or Senate?" Anakin asked.

"Jedi. Anyway, I managed to find a nearby city, and I went to the docking bay to find a ship to bring me back to Coruscant. I met Han and his copilot, Chewbacca, and they took me. They dropped me off at the Temple, where I met Luke-I think you were in a Council meeting or something, Dad-and the four of us went for a quick bite to eat at Dex's. It was fun, so we decided to meet again. Uncle Obi-Wan and Luke were called away on a mission at the last minute, but the three of us went anyway."

"And you never thought to inform your father of this?"

"Anakin!" Padmé scolded. "Not now."

Leia pursed her lips. "Daddy, please? Save it for later?"

Anakin let out a rush of air. "You know that I can never tell those big brown eyes no."

She grinned. "Thanks."

Padmé then cleared her throat and attempted to diffuse the tension in the room. "Han, Leia mentioned your copilot is named Chewbacca. That sounds like a Wookiee name."

"It is, Mrs. Skywalker. Chewie and I go a long way back."

"Call me Padmé, please. May I ask how you two met?"

"Of course. I was flying my ship alone, when I was tractor beamed by a group of slavers. Well, I might not be the greatest person in the galaxy, but I absolutely loathe slavery. So I prepared to defend myself (and hopefully rid the galaxy of some scum). Four of them broke into my ship, and I dispatched them rather quickly. Well, without going into too much detail, I managed to kill most of the slavers and free their slaves, many of whom happened to be Wookiees. Chewie was one of them, the only adult that the slavers hadn't killed among a large group of children. So we flew the ship to Kashyyyk, and we dropped off the children. I planned to leave him there, too, but he insisted on coming with me and swore a life debt to me. We've been best friends ever since."

"That's quite an interesting story, Han."

"Yes. Gives me a greater respect for you," Anakin added. Everyone but Padmé gave him strange looks, but her face held understanding and remembrance. "I was born a slave on Tatooine," he elaborated.

The twins blinked. "How…" Leia began.

"Did we…" Luke continued.

"Not know that?" they chorused.

Obi-Wan, who had just walked into the room, blinked. "I will never get used to that."

"None of us will," Anakin said. "And you didn't know because it never came up, and I usually don't like to talk about my past."

"Well, that's definitely true," Leia agreed with a small smile.

The family (plus Han and Obi-Wan) continued to exchange stories and memories for a few more hours until Han had to leave. Leia quickly volunteered to show him out (much to Anakin's consternation), and she returned alone after a couple of minutes. "Now, young lady," Anakin said firmly, "we need to talk."

A/N: So, here's the long-awaited (I hope) sequel to "Light Up the Dark"! It picks up a couple of minutes after the epilogue. Also, I've got a new SW story that's a Rey and Kylo Ren time travel story! Please go check it out! It's called "One Wrong Step."

Also, about the title. For "Light Up the Dark," though I never mentioned it, the theme song (in my opinion) was "In My Arms" by Plumb (Look it up; it really seems like a Daddy!Anakin song.). This story's theme song will be "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. A line in that song is "So I'll dance with Cinderella, while she is here in my arms." It's basically a song about a dad dealing with his daughter growing up and eventually getting married. Since that's the type of thing this story will cover, I thought the title fit.