Disclaimer: Not making any money off of this thing. That goes for the whole story.
Story Summary: Obi-Wan volunteers to raise Luke and Leia. It's more than he bargains for, but he manages alright—until Darth Vader discovers them.
Chapter Summary: A brief look at some parts of the twins' relationship with Obi-Wan before the story really starts. This is just an establishing chapter so you are all clear on how it is with those three before good ole Darth shows up.
A/N: Alright guys, I haven't written in this fandom for ages, so if it's not that great don't kill me. I think I've gotten better since the last story I published here in Star Wars. At least I really think this one is better than the other Star Wars story I wrote.I have the first three chapters written so updates should come fast.
Prologue
Leia Skywalker was screaming her lungs out and Obi-Wan Kenobi was terrified.
He gingerly opened one eyes, and then the other. His hand automatically flew to the small shelf beside his cot to find his lightsaber. He was out of his room and in the hallway within three seconds of Leia's first wails.
What in the galaxy was wrong? He didn't even know babies could scream that loud.
He hesitated in the doorway to the twins' room, lightsaber at the ready. It was odd…somehow he couldn't see or sense anyone but the twins in the room.
As he crept closer to his deafening charge, a terrible odor wafted up his nose.
Oh. She only needed her diaper changed.
Again.
That was the last time he bought that brand of baby food.
Obi-Wan sighed wearily and plucked the tiny infant from her crib.
"There, there," he said soothingly as he carried her out of the room. "Leia, please, settle down, you'll wake Luke."
He flicked on the light and met his own gaze in the mirror. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, he was unshaven, and his hair was flying in all directions. Quite simply, he appeared frazzled.
Obi-Wan pinched his nose and prepared to change his third diaper of the night.
As so many things do, it had seemed like a good idea at the time—he'd blanched at the thought of Anakin's children being sent to live on some unknown planet, far away from each other and any fragment of the life they might have had. It had saddened him horribly to picture them never knowing, never learning anything about their history.
And so he'd spoken up.
"I'll take them, Master," he'd suggested hesitantly to Yoda. And then, noticing Bail Organa look as if he wanted to say something, he'd continued babbling for ages—probably something embarrassing, luckily by this point he didn't even remember what he'd said.
And Yoda had agreed. "Take them you may, young Obi-Wan," he'd said.
Obi-Wan's first reaction was shock. It hadn't lasted long, of course. Two burping, screaming, smelly babies were hard to ignore.
It had also seemed like a good idea at the time to raise the children on Tatooine. Where, after all, would Anakin hate most to go? Where would he be least likely to find them?
He hadn't remembered the miserable heat, the way the sand got everywhere and scratched him and how if he went outside at all he'd come back looking like a lobster who'd been hammered with a tomato. He hadn't remembered the way his mouth dried out so fast and how he'd have to travel sixty miles to a rather seedy part of town—with the twins—every time he wanted supplies or food.
And sometimes, when he woke up for the sixteenth time in one night to comfort a baby for no apparent reason, he wanted to contact Yoda and beg him to take the babies back. Anything, anything to get himself a decent night's sleep. That's all he wanted. Peace and quiet. He'd had noise enough to last him a lifetime.
But there were, of course, little moments that made it all worthwhile. Luke had learned to smile a few months earlier, and every time he did it Obi-Wan could only see Anakin. And Leia was like her mother, smaller and darker and beautiful.
And then Obi-Wan wouldn't have given them back for anything.
Contrary to his expectations, things grew even more difficult as they learned how to talk. Unfortunately, if Anakin was any indicator, the teenage years were sure to be the worse—and those were yet to come.
They didn't have a holovision, and no one lived close enough to visit, but Obi-Wan read them enough books for them to know that most children had a mother and a father. Obi-Wan was scared the first time Luke asked him why they only had a daddy. He'd had no idea what to say.
In the end he'd told part of the truth. He'd held them both and told them of what good people their parents were, and how much they'd loved their children. And he'd even told them a bit more.
Obi-Wan told them how much he had wanted them as his very own children, and how much he loved them. He'd told them that the reason they never talked to anyone was because they were hiding from a very bad man.
And later on, when Leia had asked him how her mommy and daddy had fallen in love, he'd told her that, too. It had been like a fairy tale, and she'd loved it. A Knight and a Queen.
They knew everything but the ending.
When Leia was four years old she began having nightmares.
It happened nearly every night. Sometimes Obi-Wan would hear her screaming and hurry to the twins' room to wake her up. It was terrible to watch her writhing on the bed and screaming.
Like her father.
And sometimes it would take ages to wake her, no matter what he did. Sometimes he didn't manage to wake her at all, and he was forced to watch her shriek in horror for what felt like forever before her breathing slowed and she returned to semi-peaceful sleep. He could never make himself leave while she was trapped in her hellish dreams. And she would never speak of them while she was awake.
Sometimes she didn't even scream, and sometimes she was able to wake herself. These nights she would glide to Obi-Wan's room down the hall, and she would wake him. He would hold her and hug her and chase her nightmares away—more than he'd ever been able to do for Anakin.
She would curl up beside him, and he would never be able to sleep until he heard her breath grow heavy with sleep and felt her tiny muscles relax. Only then did he allow himself to sleep as well.
The only nightmares he ever had were of Anakin.
Luke had never had nightmares. Not as a four year old, not as a five year old. When he was six, he dreamed of his mother, but he didn't know that it was her.
He was anxious to tell someone, but Leia had woken up screaming again last night, and she and Obi-Wan were still asleep. Obi-Wan woke up only about an hour after Luke, but Leia was still asleep. Luke felt slightly guilty about how happy he was that his sister was so exhausted from her nighttime episode—he felt never got any time alone with Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan poured them each a bowl of cereal, and sat cross-legged on opposite sides of their low table. Obi-Wan stirred his cereal with his spoon, staring off at something Luke couldn't see. Luke worked methodically at his own cereal, carefully spooning identical sized bites into his mouth until he decided that Obi-Wan had taken enough quiet time.
"I had a dream last night," he said matter-of-factly.
Obi-Wan finally looked at him, concerned. "What? Why didn't you wake me up? I wouldn't have been mad." Obi-Wan stifled a yawn and attempted to shake off the fog of sleep.
"It wasn't like Leia's kind of dream," he said importantly. "It was happy. But Leia woke me up from it."
"Oh." Obi-Wan relaxed considerably.
Realizing he was loosing Obi-Wan's attention, Luke said, "There was a lady who looked like Leia grown up and she talked to me."
"Hmm. That's nice."
"She said shewas named Padme. I know her," Luke continued, glancing up at Obi-Wan's face.
Obi-Wan stared at him rigidly, hands trembling. "It was happy?"
"Uh-huh."
Obi-Wan stood abruptly, turning away as he went. He poured out his nearly full bowl of cereal and walked away.
Obi-Wan knew it was wrong to avoid Luke. Luke was a child, Luke had done nothing, and it was his job to care for Luke.
But Luke at nine years old looked like Anakin. He talked like Anakin, and his mannerisms were of Anakin.
And Obi-Wan hated to be around him.
Leia looked nothing like her father. She had dark hair and dark eyes. She sounded like Padme when she spoke.
But she laughed like Anakin. She smiled like Anakin, and she cocked her head at Obi-Wan's jokes in exactly the same way that Anakin did.
Obi-Wan pretended not to see it.