A/N: So mid-week upload plan fell through, and this epilogue probably isn't worth waiting a week for, but...hey ho! Sorry! Enjoy the wrapping up of loose ends!

Chapter Forty-Four – Epilogue.

"Oof, Ben! You're getting too old to climb on me."

Sabé smiled, watching Leia swing her five-year-old son down from where he was trying to ascend a pile of crates, using her back as a ladder. Despite Leia's maternal authority, Ben didn't seem at all deterred, giggling and escaping her grasp to try again.

Ben had been born just under a year after the destruction of the second Death Star. He had inherited Leia's dark eyes and hair, and her Force sensitivity, but he was starting to look like Han as he got older.

Sabé and Gregar had met up with Leia and Leith in the hangar of the Senate Complex on Hosnian Prime, where Leia served as a senator once more. After her lapse in control in facing Vader and Palpatine, Leia had been hesitant to use her Jedi abilities, not wanting to be tempted down the same path that Anakin had taken. It had made her cautious with Ben too, unsure if she wanted him to be trained the way Obi-Wan and Yoda would probably have wanted. As the boy grew older, however, it was seeming more and more likely that she'd have no choice. He was shaping up to be as powerful as his grandfather.

Although Leia never forgot the more spiritual side of her training, she preferred the work she could do in politics to following a dedicated Jedi path. Along with other Alliance and planetary leaders, she had spent the six years since Palpatine's fall forming the New Republic.

By contrast, Sabé had found it impossible to go back to being a senatorial aide, and she and Gregar had pooled their resources and bought a ship, starting a new path as respectable bounty hunters. Despite being one year off sixty, Sabé found she was still capable of hauling in her targets, and Gregar was still one of the best soldiers she'd ever served with, if a little less mobile than he had been in his youth.

Leith swooped in to run after Ben, grabbing him by the arms and lifting him up so his little legs kicked. "Not so fast!"

Leia smiled at her half-brother. "Thanks. He's a handful!"

Leith had settled on Hosnian Prime too, working as a flight instructor for the pilot academy that Wedge ran. He'd been more than happy to accompany Leia to see his father, even if he'd been roped into uncle duty.

"Where's Han?" Gregar asked.

Leia shrugged. "Off on some excursion with Chewie. He should be back in a few hours."

They'd all gathered in the hangar to meet Kira, who was due back from a six-month trip to Luke's Jedi academy, where she'd been staying as a guest tutor. That was the official story, at least. Sabé had also heard the gossip versions, which speculated on Kira and Luke's friendship in a way that made her feel strangely nostalgic about the days the HoloNet would spout stories about Padmé.

She'd heard nothing to indicate that there was something between them, and she trusted that Kira would tell her when – if – there was something to tell. Not that she would mind if it was true. Luke was a fine young man, steadily growing in confidence as he settled into his role as a Master.

When she was not helping Luke teach his students, Kira worked as an agent for Leia, dealing with trouble from Empire sympathisers, or taking care of anything else that Leia didn't have time to personally deal with. It meant that Sabé didn't see her often, although they kept in touch over the com. She was looking forward to actually seeing her daughter in person, assessing with her own eyes that Kira was well.

Leith hoisted Ben up on his back, trotting around like a tauntaun while Ben shrieked with laughter. Gregar chuckled, but looked a little wistful. Sabé wondered if he wanted a grandchild. She hadn't heard any gossip about Leith, but then he wasn't a semi-famous Jedi knight.

"You're getting heavy, buddy," Leith complained, crouching to let Ben hop off.

"He's going to tower over me by the age of ten, I'm sure of it," Leia said, making them laugh.

A one-person ship swept into the hangar, making a smooth landing in a free bay. The canopy opened and Kira tugged off her helmet, blowing strands of hair out of her face. The group moved over to greet her, but Leith was ahead.

"Hello, stranger," he said smiling.

Kira vaulted down from the cockpit, not bothering to wait for a ladder. She grinned, and they collided in a hug.

"Six months is a really long time," he added into her shoulder.

"I know, I'm sorry." Pulling back, she sent him a little apologetic look before clutching his jacket lapels and kissing him.

Sabé raised her eyebrows, glancing at Gregar. "Did you know about this?"

"I did not," he responded, sounding equally stunned.

Sabé smiled, wrapping her mind around the idea. Leith was wonderful, and a credit to Gregar and Padmé. If Kira was happy, she was happy.

"Huh," Leia said quietly beside them. "I owe Han twenty credits."

Sabé became a grandmother at the age of sixty-four. Already enraptured, she gazed down at the bundle in her arms, all scrunched pink skin and tufts of dark hair.

"Everything we've been through, Gregar," she said softly, unwilling to wake the new arrival, "did you ever imagine we'd share a grandchild?"

"No." He smiled, running a light finger over the downy head. "She's beautiful."

"She'll be a powerful Force wielder," Sabé said.

"How do you know?"

"Obi-Wan had a vision once, years ago before Kira was born."

"Do you think he's here now?" Gregar asked.

Sabé smiled. "I hope so."

Lying back against her pillows, Kira looked exhausted but content, clinging on to Leith's hand.

"He's here," she said with certainty.

Sabé's smile widened as a memory circled her. "You always did know that," she said. "I always had warning when he was coming to Alderaan."

"I did that on purpose," Kira said deadpan. "So you'd always know when to look prettiest."

"Your father, thankfully, never cared whether or not I looked pretty."

Gregar snorted. "That's not true. I caught him admiring you more than once when you weren't looking. Even before you two finally admitted how you felt about each other."

"Well you could have told me," Sabé said in mock exasperation. "Would have saved me a lot of angst."

The baby shifted in her arms, little mouth opening and closing. Sabé handed her back to Kira.

"I think she's hungry."

Kira accepted the bundle, discreetly shifting her medical gown while Gregar politely looked away.

"What's her name anyway?" Sabé asked.

Kira and Leith smiled at each other. "Rey," said Leith with a proud beam.

"Welcome to the family, Rey," Sabé said warmly.

It was a strange sensation. Panic and grim acceptance, blinding light, a rush of intense heat, then nothing but cool nothingness. Sabé floated, trying to make sense of it. Then the feeling of warm hands on her shoulders, arms slipping around her until she was pressed against a chest, feeling fabric against her cheek.

"It's all right. I've got you."

That voice. So wonderfully familiar, absent from her life for so long.

"Obi-Wan," she said, realising then that she could speak. "You were right."

"It has been known," he said, the dry, amused tone that she'd missed so much.

Sabé pulled back from him, looking up into his face, seeing it unlined, his hair the sandy-red she remembered from long ago. He smiled at her, and she knew that she'd have been sobbing if she was still in her body. As it was, she felt too peaceful to cry.

"You're young," she pointed out in wonder, reaching up to run her fingers down his cheek.

"So are you."

Sabé tore her gaze from his face, glancing at her hands, noting that they too were smooth, untouched by age. It was a strange experience, as she'd been in her sixties not five minutes before.

"The ship exploded?" she asked, struggling to remember.

"Yes," he said gently.

"So Gregar…"

"Yes," he said again. "He's at peace. Padmé is with him."

Sabé smiled a little at that. "Will I ever see them again?"

Obi-Wan nodded, his palm warm on her cheek. "If you want to."

She leaned into his touch. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, my love."

He kissed her, and her sense of peace shone brighter, making her feel complete in a way she hadn't in life for years. Still, an old ingrained instinct had her worrying that things would follow the pattern they always had.

"Obi-Wan," she said, drawing back to meet his clear, azure gaze. "Is this forever?"

"Yes," he answered her earnestly, "this time we have forever."

Years later, Leia stood and let the sting of her latest loss join the dull ache of all the others. She'd endured so many, she wasn't sure how she kept letting people in. But the new Resistance recruits kept coming, kept fighting, kept endearing themselves to her, and she never stopped caring about every single one of them. Occasionally there would be one that meant a little more, hence her soft spot for Shara and Kes's boy, Poe. But when she heard a name she'd never expected to hear again, her heart clenched with the old pain.

When the Millennium Falcon touched down, she stepped forward, wordlessly wrapping Rey in a warm embrace. Leia hadn't seen her since she was very young, and she hugged her tight, trying to silently apologise for the years she'd spent alone on Jakku, wondering how she'd find the words to explain that Kira and Leith had done what they had to in order to protect her.

When the wrong people started to take an interest in the new offspring of one of the Rebellion's Jedi heroes, Sabé and Gregar had stepped up to track down the threat. They won a few years of peace for their family, but had lost their lives in the process. When their enemies surfaced again, Kira and Leith had fled for Rey's safety, hiding her on Jakku, fully intending to deal with the threat and come back for her. They'd been killed trying, before they could tell anyone where they had hidden her.

They hadn't died in vain though, Leia thought, drawing back to study the young woman, who had remained safe despite her tough upbringing. She saw Kira and Sabé in her face, Leith in her eyes, felt Obi-Wan's strength in her Force signature. The daughter of her friend and half-brother, the granddaughter of her Master and handmaiden, her step-father and her own mother. Leia made them all a silent promise. However many years she had left to live, she would watch out for Rey, and ensure that she never felt alone again.

Somewhere in the Force, a Jedi and a handmaiden smiled.

The End.

A/N: And that's it! We started this story with Leia, and we end with Leia. Seems fitting somehow. Apologies to the Reylo shippers, Rey and Kylo ended up cousins in this universe. I don't think that'll be the case in canon, though. We'll see come December :)

Those of you with good memories may have noticed that Kira and Leith's reunion was a throwback to Sabé and Gregar's from chapter four. Albeit a more romantic version.

Thank you to everyone who has read and favourited. Huge gratitude to those who left a review. Sadly review culture seems to be less of a thing these days, so I really appreciate everyone who made the effort to reach out. I think I may have at least one more Sobiwan one-shot left in me, so keep an eye out for that at some undefined period in the future!