AN: Okay. New Story! Yay! This is so exciting as I've been talking about this one for months now. It was so cool. But before I start a little background. This story stems from my one shot Sisters through Love where Ahsoka helps Padmé through her pregnancy, battles her feelings for her master and then when he turns to the dark side, essentially turns on the Jedi to take his children to him, but only succeeds in taking Leia.

The beginning of this story takes place five years later and Ahsoka is in hiding with Leia while Vader makes periodic visit. This story explores Ahsoka and Vader's relationship to each other as they try and work out the relationship they should have as a Jedi and Sith, the relationship they used to have as comrades, and their relationship in regards to Leia, who was a really fun character to write…

Okay, enough rambling. Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter One

"Ahsoka. When is daddy coming back for a visit?"

"Tonight princess," Ahsoka said as she led the little girl through the market.

The brown haired girl nodded her head as she looked in wonder at the various foods, every now and then grabbing a piece of her favorites for her guardian to buy.

"Ahsoka," she said again.

Ahsoka laughed. It never ceased to amaze her how many questions the girl asked. She was a very curious child, more than most children, and very intuitive.

"Yes Leia," Ahsoka sang.

"What does daddy look like?"

Ahsoka dropped the fruit she was picking up. "Why do you ask that darling? You know what he looks like."

"No," Leia said grabbing the fruit from the ground and putting it back. "I want to know what he looks like under…" Leia trailed off. She wasn't ever supposed to tell anyone who her father was, but Ahsoka never said anything about mentioning the suit he wore.

But Ahsoka didn't need her to continue. She had known what the girl meant all along but wanted to make sure. A former jedi didn't live with and take care of a little girl since she was a baby and not know what the girl was usually thinking.

"Hold on a minute," Ahsoka said paying for the food and then taking Leia's hand as they walked back home.

"So what does he look like?"

"He's… He was very handsome."

Leia sighed. "I know what he used to look like. You showed me. What does he look like now Ahsoka? And why does he wear that mask? I hate it. I want to see his face."

Ahsoka winced. She knew this would eventually come up. It had been five years since Anakin's accident on Mustafar, five very long years since he became Darth Vader. The years had been difficult initially. Ahsoka didn't know what to do in a house all day with a baby, one that wasn't hers no less. Initially she had been very angry with Vader and because they both had to get her being a Jedi and he being a Sith, they had many difficulties. While it wasn't the way it used to be and Ahsoka knew it never would be, they came to an understanding of sorts. that understanding being Leia.

"Maybe you should ask your father those questions," Ahsoka replied softly.

"Why can't you answer them?"

"Because it's very personal."

"What's that mean?"

Ahsoka sighed. It was obvious Leia wasn't going to leave her alone until she got some semblance of an answer.

"Because he was hurt really bad because he made a choice some people didn't like," Ahsoka finally replied.

"They were trying to punish him?" Leia asked tilting her head in confusion. "But why does he have to wear that suit. You punish me when I do something you don't like."

"Not like that," Ahsoka said trying to figure out a way to word it for the girl to understand. "He did something different. You see, adults can't simply be put in a time out when they do something wrong. Anyway, he got hurt trying to defend himself and to stay alive he has to wear that suit."

Leia gasped and stopped walking, saying softly, "Someone tried to kill daddy, didn't they?"

Ahsoka cursed. She had been trying not to say that, but she guessed in a way she had.

"It's alright Leia. The important thing is that he's here now."

"Not all the time," Leia grumbled as she started walking with Ahsoka again.

"He's here as much as he can be without anyone knowing. If his boss finds out about you, he won't like it."

"Then daddy should quit his job," Leia declared.

Ahsoka smiled sadly. "I wish he would too."

They approached the medium sized house on a nice sized piece of land. The neighbors waved at Leia and Leia waved back with a wide grin. Unknown to Leia, the neighbors actually worked for Vader and watched over Ahsoka and Leia. Originally, Vader wanted to build a large estate on a little know isolated planet with security officers and everything Leia could want, but Ahsoka shot that down on the grounds that Padmé wouldn't want Leia to have that kind of life, isolated from society. Padmé would want Leia to live as normal a live as possible. That was the day she learned Padmé was going to be a touchy subject for Vader for a while and she wondered if she hadn't been tending to little Leia at the time if he would have lashed out at her. Instead he left the room in a huff and didn't talk to her for a few weeks. He finally relented and they had found the planet they were currently on. Instead of building an estate though, he built a small subdivision placing assassins, spies, and their families around them to live, not far from a bustling town that reminded Ahsoka of what Padmé told her about Naboo.

Ahsoka had to hand it to Vader, it had been a good compromise. Not only did the neighborhood seem normal being that Vader invited the families of the people he hired, but also Leia enjoyed playing with their children and it was perfectly safe for her to run about the neighborhood.

"Threepio! Artoo! We're back," Leia shouted running to the kitchen to find that Threepio had prepared her a meal.

"Here you are miss Leia. I'm sure you want to eat before your father arrives," Threepio said to her.

Leia sighed for a moment and then dug in. Ahsoka knew what her sigh meant. She wanted to have dinner with her dad and not have to eat without him or before he came.

Ahsoka sat to join her as the girl played with her food more than she ate with a sigh.

"What's wrong?"

Leia sighed. "Nothing Ahsoka…"

Leia was silent for a while before she suddenly sat up, brightening considerably. She jumped out of her chair and ran out the back door. Ahsoka smiled, standing up to follow her outside. Artoo came from the garage to follow along with Threepio.

"Daddy," Leia yelled running up the ramp of the shuttle to meet Vader as he came down. She jumped into his arms and Vader caught her in one arm as she hugged him around the neck.

"Hello princess," he said to her and Leia giggled as she let go of his neck and jumped down. She reached up to grab his hand and led him to the house where Ahsoka was waiting on the porch.

"Master Vader," Threepio said. "So good to see you again. When you're here Miss Leia is such less trouble than usual."

Artoo made a comment in response to Threepio and then said hi to Vader. The Sith Lord then turned to look at Ahsoka who coolly nodded her head to him and he did the same. The longer they didn't talk the better. They usually ended up arguing over one thing or another anyway.

"Come on Daddy. I have something to ask you," Leia said trying to pull Vader into the house and to the living room.

"Slow down princess," he said as Leia tried to tug him away from Ahsoka.

"I trust there had been no disturbances in the time I was gone," he asked.

"With all your spies around here, you'd know even if I didn't say," Ahsoka replied with a small smile.

"True, but it never hurts to double check," Vader said and then followed Leia to the living room.

No doubt Leia wanted to find out what Vader had been up to and where he had been in addition to what presents he had brought her. But Ahsoka had a feeling she wasn't as worried about that today as she usually was. Today she wanted to ask her father something else.

"What is it Leia," Vader asked sitting the girl in his lap.

Ahsoka almost laughed. Bigger men wet their pants at the sight of Darth Vader, but here a little five year old sat in his lap, but that was because she knew his true self. Ahsoka had a feeling Leia didn't even notice the mask, which was more than Ahsoka could say for herself…

"Can you do something for me?" Leia asked happily.

"Depends on what it is," Vader said knowingly. Leia had cornered him with that phrase before and Vader learned that sometimes 'anything' was unreasonable.

"I want to see your face," Leia declared.

Vader stiffened completely even his breathing seemed to slow down a little though Ahsoka was sure that was supposed to be impossible with the regulator. Vader couldn't say he hadn't been expecting it eventually. He knew one day she was going to ask, but he had expected it to be when she was older, not so young.

"Why do you ask?"

Leia looked at her fingers and began to play with them.

"I went to school yesterday and I noticed that all the other children who have parents don't wear suits like yours and they're usually the same species… although some are only half human… Anyway it made me wonder what you really look like. Can I see?"

"I… No Leia," Vader said.

"Why?" Leia asked him. "Ahsoka told me you had an accident and someone tried to kill you, but I just want to see you for…" Leia counted on her finger. "Three seconds maybe and then you can put the mask right back on."

"Princess," Vader said trying to be gentle, but that was hard to do with the voice box, however Leia could feel his gentle tone through the force and leaned on Vader.

"Please Daddy! I won't ask you for anything else. You don't even have to send me presents on my birthday and I won't cause any more trouble for Ahsoka," Leia pleaded.

Ahsoka laughed as she came to sit in the love seat across from them. "I doubt it little one."

Leia glared at Ahsoka and then turned back to her father.

"No Leia," Vader replied preparing himself for the tantrum that was sure to follow. "And that's final."

He wasn't disappointed. Leia groaned, stomped her foot and stormed to her room. Ahsoka sighed, gaining Vader's attention. She leaned her hand on her hands and raised her eyebrows.

"Is her request really too much to ask?"

Vader glared at Ahsoka. "Don't even start with your lectures. I'm not in the mood."

"You're never in the mood for anything," Ahsoka replied dryly crossing her arms.

"Watch it. Don't make me change my mind about not killing you," Vader warned.

"Yeah, yeah Anakin," Ahsoka said to him. "You wouldn't kill me. I'm the only one you trust with Leia.

"Try me?" Vader warned pointing a finger at her. "And don't call me that. That name no longer has any meaning to me."

Ahsoka knew when to back down. Vader was prone to volatile mood swings and she preferred not to be on the receiving end of them. Instead she calmed down and looked at Vader again.

"Why do you insist on staying in that cheap excuse for life support of a suit. You could get your hands on much better prosthetics, where you wouldn't have to wear that mask. Leia would enjoy being able to take you to town and show you around instead of being stuck in the house to spend time with you," Ahsoka noted.

"We're not discussing this again," Vader said firmly.

"Why not?" Ahsoka asked.

"Can't you ever do as you're told?"

"Learned it from the master," she said pointedly and then continued. "Besides, I don't know what's stopping you. You certainly have the money for it and it wouldn't be that hard to do it under the emperor's nose."

"I don't doubt it. But I have no time to waste over such trivial matters. There are more important things I must attend to," Vader replied.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Excuses, excuses. You're just punishing yourself for what you did to Padmé, punishing yourself because you can't find Luke," she said knowing she was crossing a dangerous line. When he didn't lash out at her, she continued, "But you're punishing your daughter now. Besides, Padmé wouldn't want you to punish yourself like this."

Ahsoka felt Vader's annoyance through the force. There was a reason he avoided her when he was here. She always spoke hard truths to him whether he wanted to hear them or not and in turn, he irked her with his distance and properness.

Vader stood up. "I'll take care of Leia for the remainder of the evening. You may take some time for yourself."

Ahsoka stood up and glared at him. "I take care of Leia because I want to, not because I work for you."

With that Ahsoka left leaving an exasperated Vader in her wake. He'd rather be commanding incompetent imperial officers all day long than be around his former student to be honest. She always awoke a long buried side of him that he didn't want to admit was still there because it proved that perhaps the power he now held wasn't worth everything he had given up and lost. Leia did the same, but Leia was his daughter and she was allowed to do that. Ahsoka was an entirely different matter.

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AN: I remember when I was first writing this, I had to get the strain between Ahsoka and Vader's down. I remember I was trying to put a strain on it and make them get along at the same time, but no matter how I wrote, they never seemed to get along unless it was to do with Leia. But that was a good thing, because I had to keep in mind that no matter what relationship they used to have, they're technically enemies now. Irked me to no end, but I obviously got over the hurdle because I've posted the story. So this is just the beginning and I hope you enjoyed it. Review Please!