Disclaimer: If I owned either story I wouldn't have a disclaimer here now would I?

"The bonds that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each others life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof." Richard Bach

Warning: Will be slash. Of the male/male variety. Eventually. After several more chapters. Maybe.

Safety: Chapter 2 – Introductions

Despite having been woken by the loud shrill of the kitchen timer, Shmi was feeling rather refreshed, and lounged lazily for a few moments. Or as lazily as she could with such a loud noise being emitted in the other room. The good thing about stew, was that a little bit longer on the heat wouldn't hurt it at all. All sense of fatigue left her quickly when the alarm stopped, and she sprang from the bed, her eyes wide at the thought of someone else in her house. She eyed her partially open door warily as she strained her ears to hear any movement outside her door. The only thing she could hear was her muffled breathing and the blood pounding in her ears. Why would anyone break into her house? She had nothing of value. Maybe they were after Harry? Harry! Was he alright? She had to move. To make sure that her little boy was okay. She wouldn't let anyone hurt him anymore.

With that resolve she moved over to her door on light feet, pushing it gently so as not to make a noise. There was nothing abnormal in the room bar one little boy, with clouded over eyes, standing on a chair at the stove with a wooden spoon in his hand that he was using to stir the stew. Shmi blinked in shock. She hadn't herd him move the chair. Either he had moved it while she was sleeping, which seemed unlikely, or he was very used to moving around silently. Shmi watched him for a moment, as he reached out a hand and opened the cupboard by his head, reaching in only for him blink at the cupboard where his hand was resting against her cups. His other hand remained on the spoon, continually stirring the stew with out the spoon ever hitting the side of the pot.

He withdrew his hand from the cupboard after closing it without a sound, a perplexed look on his face. Shmi let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. He had reacted to the timer going off and had tended to the stew. A soft sob escaped Shmi's lips as she realized that he must have been used to tending the cooking for years for him to have reacted with such quiet and careful movements.

Harry turned as soon as Shmi made a noise, turning on his heels, only to loose his balance and fall off the chair. Shmi didn't think she had ever moved so fast in her life. As soon as she saw her boy tipping backwards she was moving towards him. She knew that she wouldn't be able to reach him in time, but she was going to try.

Harry hit the floor with a thud, his mouth open in shock. Shmi was already there, kneeling at his side, her hands hovering over him wanting to check him for injury but not wanting to touch him in case she made any injury worse. Harry moved on his own, rolling onto his side and coughing a bit, trying to regain his breath. He was getting rather tired of not being able to breath. The pain he felt from the fall and having his breath stolen from him was far less than what he felt after Dudley or Uncle Vernon got a hold of him. Gentle hands rolled him over onto his back and doe brown eyes stared down at him.

"Are you alright?" Harry sat up, tensing up slightly when a hand was placed on his back, and looked around confused, wiping the sleepers from his eyes. It was Shmi. Harry had thought she had been a dream. That his chance to escape the Dursley's was a dream. But beautiful, kind Shmi was kneeling next to him, with her hand on his back to help him sit up. Harry could feel himself relaxing as he leaned sideways into Shmi. He fought back the tears of relief that he could feel welling up in his eyes. He had done enough crying to last a life time. He was going to stand up for himself and convince Shmi that she wanted him here. That she didn't need to let the Dursley's know he was here.

Shmi wrapped her arms around her boy in a tight hug, rubbing her cheek against his feather soft hair. He was safe and unharmed. And that at the moment was all that mattered to her. She pulled away, moving her hands to his face, rubbing her thumbs across his cheeks.

"Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere are you? You should be careful around the stove. You could have burnt yourself. You also shouldn't stand on chairs, or you might fall, like you just did. Why didn't you come take a nap with me? Where did you sleep? Are you hungry?" A loud grumble erupted from Harry's stomach at the mention of being hungry, interrupting Shmi's inquiry. Harry and Shmi simply stared at each other, Harry's cheeks slowly turning pink, causing Shmi to grin. "It would seem as if you would like some food." Shmi could swear that if she smiled any more her face would split in two. "Harry why don't you move the chair back to the table and I'll dish up some food for us."

Harry and Shmi stood up together and went to do their respected tasks. Shmi quickly pulling out two bowls and ladled up some stew for the both of them, as Harry grabbed the chair, taking it over to the table with out dragging it on the floor, and setting it down with out a sound. Grabbing the bowls and a couple spoons Shmi turned towards the table, seeing Harry standing next to one of the chairs, his small hands playing with the tie of the shirt that he was wearing.

"You can sit down you know." Shmi meandered over and took a seat, setting a bowl in front of herself and one in front of the chair next to her. When Harry didn't move Shmi picked up her spoon and started eating, blowing softly on each spoonful so as not to burn her tongue. She smiled around the spoon in her mouth as she saw Harry climb into the chair and pull the bowl toward himself. They ate in silence, thoughts running at a fevered pace through Shmi's head.

What had Harry done while she had taken a nap. It was clear that he had reacted to the timer going off in his sleep, so he had been sleeping as well. But where had he been sleeping? She didn't sleep heavy enough to have no noticed him entering and exiting the bed. Had he slept at the table?

They remained in silence for a bit after they had both finished eating. It was Harry that moved to take the bowls to the sink, but was stopped from even grabbing Shmi's bowl. "You don't have to do that Harry." Shmi took her own bowl and plucked Harry's from his hands, looking down into it when she realized it was heavier than it should have been. Harry hadn't finished his food, hadn't even eaten half of it in fact. "Are you really finished?" At Harry's shy nod, the shards of shattered hope dug deeper into Shmi's heart. It would seem that Shmi's fears about his malnutrition had been correct. Meaning she had no idea how old her boy was. The question of his age fell from her lips as the cleaned the dishes in the sink. Six. He was only six. According to him he would be seven in a couple months.

She wasn't going to let him go back to his family. Tomorrow she was going to talk to Pi-Lippa and discuss what they could do with the boy. Hopefully her master would allow him to stay here, with her. Her house was small but she would make room for him. They would just have to get another bed for him and he would come with her during the day to Pi-Lippa's. Pi-Lippa would probably want the boy taught about electronics, like Shmi was being taught.

Harry still wasn't sure what to make of Shmi. She treated him like Aunt Petunia treated Dudley. He sat at the table, staring at Shmi's back as she washed the same dish for several minutes. He needed to figure out how to best convince her to let him stay here. The buzzing in his ears was coming back, growing gradually louder the longer he thought. But he couldn't let it distract him. He had to stay here. He didn't think that he would be able to convince her that he was useful, as she wasn't letting him help around the house at all.

As if sensing his thoughts the buzzing in his ears suddenly increased in pitch and volume, cause Harry to clench his eyes shut and hold his hands over his ears. No matter how hard he pressed on his ears the buzzing wouldn't be drowned out. His head fell with a soft thump onto the table as he gnawed on his lip to prevent him from making any noise. It hurt so badly. Harry could swear that his ears were going burst. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but didn't dare move due to the pain.

"...Ry!...Ha...Ar...kay..." Was someone trying to talk to him? He could here a little bit but the buzzing was drowning out what they were saying. What was going on? Harry pried on of his eyes open and glanced at the person at his side. It was Shmi. Of course it was there was no one else there. But she was concerned about him? The Dursley's had never been concerned when he was injured. But she cared. And everything would be alright.

It stopped. The buzzing was gone and he could hear again. Harry slowly pried his hands away from his ears, lifting his head fully to stare at Shmi. Her mouth was moving but Harry wasn't listening. Everything would be alight and that was enough for Harry to lay his head back down on the table and drift off to sleep, a small smile on his face.

Shmi was baffled as she stared down at her sleeping boy. She had turned to ask him where he had slept, to find him apparently in pain. He hadn't responded to anything except for her hand on his back. She had been frantic, and just as she had set her resolve to call Pi-Lippa to see if they could get him looked at by a doctor he had turned and looked at her. All signs of pain gone, minus the bite marks on his lip. She wanted to know what happened, but he had put his head back onto the table and fallen asleep! What a thought. One minute he's in pain and the next he's off in his dreams.

Shmi sighed and strategically gathered her boy into her arms and took him into the bedroom. She still didn't know a lot about him, like where he had slept that evening. But she could wait until morning to get her answers, and he would be sleeping in a bed tonight! She tucked him into her bed giving him a kiss to his forehead before she headed back out the door, turning off the lights and closing the door behind her. She still needed to put their dinner away and make sure that his clothes were cleaned for tomorrow before she headed to bed herself. She was going to do all that she could to make sure that he stayed with her.

When Harry woke the next morning he was warm and curled against something. He was also laying on something soft, which was hurting his back a bit. He tried to shift and get up, since his bladder felt like it was ready to explode. Only to find his movements impaired by an arm. Harry followed the arm up and looked upon the sleeping face of Shmi. He felt calm, as if everything was how it was supposed to be. Except that he still had to go to the bathroom, rather badly.

After gingerly moving Shmi's arm so that he could escape, Harry rushed out the bedroom door and pulled a fast U-turn, heading into the bathroom. Once he had finished, he entered the front room and was still a bit to sleepy to really feel surprised when he saw Shmi at the kitchen counter. She turned and started towards him, causing him to take a step backwards, his back hitting the door that he had just closed.

"You're clothes are in on the bed. Let me just shower and then we'll have some breakfast before we need to head out." Shmi gracefully placed her hand on his shoulder, pulling him slightly away from the door so that she could slip around him and into the bathroom. Harry could hear her turn the shower on as he moved toward the bedroom, preparing to get dressed and make breakfast for them.

When Shmi exited the bathroom after showering and getting ready for the day, she was greeted with the sight of little Harry, wearing his too large clothing, once again standing on a chair at the stove. His small voice spoke up before she could make a sound.

"I'm not sure what to make for breakfast. I didn't recognize any of the foods in your frigerator or cabinets." Shmi walked up beside him to see that there wasn't anything on the stove. "So I wasn't able to cook breakfast for you."

"You don't have to cook breakfast for me sweety." Shmi moved opened the refrigerator and pulled out some eggs.

"I know. But I wanted to. You made dinner for me." Harry fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "What are those?" Harry questioned as he eyed the two fist sized, round, blue speckled eggs that were in Shmi's hands. Shmi handed them over to Harry so that she could reach over and pull out a skillet, setting it on the stove and turning on the fire under it.

"Eggs. So don't drop them. They're hard to clean up." Harry looked at the eggs in his hands, his brows furrowing with confusion.

"They're blue. And bigger then normal eggs. What laid these?" Harry handed one of the eggs over to Shmi when she held out a hand for one. She deftly cracked it on the side of the pan and dropped the inside of it into the pan. "And the center is green!" Harry traded the whole egg for the shells in Shmi's hand and watched as she did the same to the second egg.

"These are urusai eggs." She reached over and pulled out a spatula from a drawer, quickly scrambling the eggs. "What kind of eggs do you usually eat?"

"Chicken eggs. They're smaller and white, though sometimes we get brown eggs. And the center part is yellow." Harry peered at the now green scrambled eggs. "What's a oreasay?"

"Urusai. Can you hand me two plates? They're in the cabinet by your head." Harry quickly did as she asked and watched as she divided the eggs up into two portions and put each portion on a plate. "They're reptavians from Tatooine." She set the pan in the sink and grabbed the plates heading over to the table? "Do you like salt or pepper on your eggs?"

Harry quickly moved the chair over to the table and sat on it, shaking his head and looking at the green eggs on his plate. He had no idea what reptavians where or where Tatooine was, but he wasn't about to ask questions before he was fed. Questions at the Dursley's often meant not getting food.

"I've never had eggs before." Shmi's was completely flabbergasted. She could understand never having had chocolate before, but to have never had eggs? They were filling, cheap and healthy, the perfect food for slaves. The only thing that might be more filling, cheaper and healthier was gruel but only the worst masters gave their slaves that. Harry was already spooning some eggs into his mouth. "They're weird tasting." His nose crinkled though not in disgust. Shmi stood up and grabbed the pepper off the counter, sprinkling a little of it over both of their eggs.

"Try it now." Shmi ate some as she watched Harry try the newly seasoned eggs. "Better?" At Harry's nod Shmi went back to her food. Only to be interrupted when she realized something. "Harry?" She questioned. "Did you say that you usually had chicken eggs?" Once again Harry simply nodded as his mouth was currently full of eggs. "As in the birds from Earth?" Another nod. "Harry, those birds have been extinct for a few hundred years now." Shmi stared at Harry as he turned his head and stared back at her, swallowing the last bite of his food. He must have been really hungry to have finished so quickly.

"What does extinct mean?" Harry picked up his plate and carried it over to the sink. Shmi finished her eggs as she watched him take the chair over to the sink and scramble up it, washing his dish before putting on the rack to dry. "If you're done I'll do yours too." And so Shmi took her plate over to Harry watching as he skillfully washed the dish clean and set it aside to dry.

"Extinct means that they're all dead." Harry was now washing the pan and spatula that she had used to cook the food with. "It means that you can't get chicken eggs anymore." Once again Harry's brows were furrowed.

"Aunt Petunia got eggs just the other day at the store." He licked his lips. "Maybe you can only get them in London." The pan was cleaned and set a side.

"You're from London?" Shmi grabbed his hand and led him back over to sit at the table. "From Earth?" Harry was looking at her as if she were dumb.

"Of course I'm from Earth. People can't live on other planets." Shmi sat down with a rather heavy sigh.

"You're not on Earth. You millions of light years away from Earth." They were both stunned. Shmi because Harry didn't know about the other planets, although that could be because of his age. But he spoke as if he knew of the other planets. Perhaps his masters had made him believe that he was on Earth. That would explain how they were able to have slaves as Earth was part of the republic and slavery was abolished. "This is Piroket in the Arkanis sector."

It was difficult for his young mind to comprehend what Shmi was telling him. This wasn't Earth? Of course it was Earth. Humans hadn't even traveled out of their own system yet. How did they end up on planets millions of light years from Earth? Perhaps humans had just developed on an parallel yet technologically accelerated path on a planet. But no. Shmi knew about Earth. Harry curled his small hands into the soft cloth of the shirt he was wearing. And yet, maybe this was a good thing.

Harry smiled shyly at Shmi. He wouldn't be going back to the Dursley's. There was no way for him to go back to the Dursley's because they were on Earth and Harry wasn't. He was free.

"Harry. We need to go now. I need to go and take care of my master now." Shmi glanced at the clock. "I'm going to be late as it is, but I'm sure that showing Pi-Lippa your adorable face will be enough to distract her for a bit." Shmi headed back into the bedroom for a moment, returning with two coats in her arms. She threw one over Harry's shoulder before doing the same to herself with the other coat. "We'll have to stop by on the way home and grab some clothes for you." Shmi was greatly amused by Harry wearing her coat. She had chosen a shorter one so that it wouldn't drag on the ground, but it still managed to reach his calves, and the sleeves completely swallowed his hands.

With the mention of getting Harry his own clothes he knew that Shmi had every intention of keeping him with her. Harry pulled one of the sleeves up to free his hand and grabbed hers, pulling her out the door and down the street, barely giving Shmi time to close and lock the door. He was very much excited to be able to spend the day with Shmi and he would get to meet Shmi's master. She had said that her master was kind. Would she like Harry? Harry came to a sudden stop, causing Shmi to almost run into him. What would happen if Shmi's master said that Harry couldn't stay with her?

Shmi could do nothing but smile at Harry's back as he pulled her down the road. She was simply glad that he was pulling her in the right direction as he seemed rather deep in his thoughts. She almost tripped as she reacted instinctively and sidestepped him when he came to a screeching halt.

"Harry?" Shmi tugged on his hand, urging him to continue the way they had been going. "We really do need to hurry." It was Harry's turn to be pulled along, his small legs easily moving in a hurried pace to keep up with Shmi's longer stride. Shmi could tell that something was troubling him and questioned him about it was they navigated through the small city to Pi-Lippa's dwelling.

Upon hearing Harry's fear of Pi-Lippa not letting Shmi keep him, she squeezed his hand lightly assuring him that he would melt Pi-Lippa's heart the moment she saw him. And in the off chance that Harry wasn't allowed to stay with Shmi, they would leave. Pi-Lippa didn't keep a tracker of Shmi so she could essentially leave at any time. But Shmi had had nowhere to go if she had wanted to leave. And she didn't want to leave. Pi-Lippa was more a valued friend, and Shmi would say that she was more employed by Pi-Lippa, though she wasn't payed, than owned.

They rushed along in silence after Shmi's declaration to leave if Harry couldn't stay with her. They both marveled at how lucky they were to find each other, and by the time they arrived at a large building, both had smiles on their faces.

Shmi lead Harry into and through the building, almost pulling him off his feet at one point when he stopped to stare at what he could only see as a space ship. His head was moving every which way trying to take in all the new things. There were robots! Some of them looked humanish with two arms and legs, and others were cylindrical that were rolling around. And aliens! Most of them where short, though taller than Harry, furry humanoids with large ears and faces. Over in a corner was a big slug looking alien with arms. And Harry thought he saw a glimpse of a green alien going up the ramp of the space ship.

Shmi carefully navigated through the hanger, being extra careful as Harry wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, and knocked on a door in the back. Entering when she herd permission to do so, pulling Harry in and closing the door behind him.

Sitting at a desk was another of the furry aliens, though Harry could tell this one was distinctively female and rather old, having an almost waif like appearance. She was staring at him, unnerving him to the point that he stared down at his shoes, hands idly playing with the cuffs of the jacket that he was wearing.

"Good morning Shmi. And guest." Her voice was rough, though not unpleasant on the ears. And despite her frail appearance it was strong and commanded attention. She moved some paperwork aside and made a gesture at the chairs across the desk from her. Shmi pulled Harry over to one of the chairs and sat him down before moving to the side of the room where there were some cabinets.

"Good morning Pi-Lippa. How are you feeling this morning?" This was Pi-Lippa? Shmi's owner. She wasn't anything like what Harry expected. But he hadn't exactly been expecting to see aliens. "Are you feeling any better?" Shmi had grabbed a bottle of water from the cabinet and gave it to Pi-Lippa, the concern she felt almost tangible. Pi-Lippa opened the water and took a small sip from it, clearing her throat after she had swallowed.

"Not at all." Shmi frowned at that response, hovering by Pi-Lippa. "I'm old Shmi. I'm expected to feel under the weather. It comes with the age. Now take a seat. I fear that you are worrying our guest." Pi-Lippa winked at Harry as Shmi sighed taking a seat. She knew that there really wasn't anything that she could do for her master. "Now what is your name young man?" Harry chewed on his lip, looking at Shmi, and with her nod answered the question. Pi-Lippa opened one of the drawers behind her desk and pulled out a book.

"Can you read young Harry?" At Harry's nod Pi-Lippa handed Harry the book and Harry read the cover. The adventures of Beedly the Bard. "Shmi and I need to discuss some boring adult things. You can either remain here or you can go outside and read. There's a couch just through that door." Harry hadn't noticed the door that was half hidden behind a cabinet when he had first walked in. "Either way you can keep the book." Harry once again nodded but made no move to get up and leave. He had the feeling that they would be talking about what to do with him.

Harry cracked open the book listening as Shmi talked about yesterday with half an ear. He flipped through the pages, not really reading nor listening though getting bits and pieces of both. He was a little over half way done with the book when I noticed that it was silent in the room. He glanced at Shmi to see her smiling and him, and turned his head to look at Pi-Lippa, who also appeared to be smiling.

"You're right Shmi." Pi-Lippa now had a serious look on her face as she stared at Shmi. "He is adorable." With a heavy sigh Pi-Lippa stood up and hobbled over to the cabinet, pulling out a drawer and riffling through some papers. "Alright kiddo. There's bad news and good news." Her voice was even rougher as if she were frustrated. "Bad news is that I'm going to have to attempt to find your owners or family or whatever." A whine came from Harry's throat and Shmi reached over to pat his knee. "The good news is that you can stay with Shmi until we find anything." Pi-Lippa continued without pause. A noise of triumph came from her as she grabbed a stack of papers and headed back to her desk. "And the better news is that I don't have to try to hard to find them." Harry felt devastated. Pi-Lippa knew the Dursley's and she was going to ship him back there.

A broken sob escaped him before he could stop it and he wrapped his arms around himself trying to curl into as small a ball as possible, the book sliding off his small lap and landing with a thud on the floor.

Pi-Lippa watched on in horror and the boy seemed to crumble before her eyes. From the way Shmi had talked she thought he would have been happy to know that he probably wouldn't have to go back. It was Shmi that came to the rescue realizing the double meaning in Pi-Lippa's last sentence and moving to gather Harry in her arms, rocking him softly.

"Oh honey. She meant that she wasn't going to try too hard to find them. Not that she knows them." She smoothed her hands through his flyaway hair. "We're going to do what we can to keep you here with us." Harry snapped his head up to look at her, almost smashing his head into her face.

"You mean it?" his voice was so hopeful. "I won't have to go back to the Dursley's?" Shmi shook her head, looking sad. She glanced over as Pi-Lippa to see her completely engrossed in her paper work.

"We have to let people know that we found you. And if the Dursley's come forward to claim you then there's nothing we can do to keep you here." Harry sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he may have to go back. "But we don't have to let many people know that you're here." There was something in her voice. "Nor do we have to remind people about it." Mischief. It was all Harry could think of when Shmi said that. She moved her mouth close to his ear and whispered so quietly that Harry almost missed it. "And if they come for you we'll run and never look back."

Shmi placed a kiss on his scarred forehead and moved Harry back to his chair, picking up the book and placing it on his lap. Harry opened the book again, flipping back to the page he thought he had left off at as Shmi moved back to her own chair. It was a short time later that Harry was distracted from his book by a sound from Pi-Lippa. It appeared that she was done with her papers.

"So here's the deal." Pi-Lippa steepled her long fingers together looking at Shmi and Harry with a gleeful, almost maniac smile on her face. "I'm not gonna claim Harry as a slave." She quickly held up a hand to prevent Shmi from talking. And judging by her open mouth, Shmi had something to say about that. "We're going to make people think he's a new slave. But the transmitter device will look like it's activated but won't be. We'll have to make sure that it can't actually be reactivated as well." Pi-Lippa's grin almost seemed malicious now. "Unfortunately if you get sold or traded I can't guarantee that they'll keep you two together. Not that I plan on ever selling either of you." Shmi sat in shock. It was genius. With a transmitter that appeared to work but didn't Harry could leave when ever he wanted. Pi-Lippa gave Shmi a hard look and continued. "I trust that you can make a transmitter for him?" Shmi shook off her shock confirming that she could do it. "Good. I'll have Dukan bring a transmitter to you in a little bit. There's nothing that you really need to do today so you can work on that. Make sure you bring it to me so that others don't get suspicious before you put it on him." And with that Pi-Lippa dismissed them.

Harry closed his book and followed Shmi out the door. Before shutting it Shmi turned to Pi-Lippa.

"If you need anything or start feeling worse let me know. Even if it is just to help you find your cane." Shmi quickly closed the door smirking, cutting off Pi-Lippa's rant about young people and whipper snappers. Harry had no idea what whipper snappers were but he didn't think he was one. Was he?

Shmi lead him over to a work bench that had one of the robots on it. Harry boggled at it. Was it sleeping? Did robots sleep? He doubted it. And judging by the fact that the chest compartment was open and suspiciously empty looking Harry doubted it would be up and walking around. Was it broken? Maybe it was dead. Did robots die?

"Alright Harry." Shmi pulled up a chair and had Harry sit on it. She reached over and stole the chair from the work bench next to the one they were at. Harry wondered if anyone would be missing their chair in a bit. The bench was empty so Harry didn't think anyone used it. "What do you know about droids?" Harry blinked at her confused. He had no idea what a droid was and voiced his knowledge aloud. It was Shmi's turn to blink. She pointed at the robot. "That's a droid. Didn't you have any with the Dursley's?" She made a confused sound when Harry shook his head indicating that this really was the first time he had seen a droid. Shmi pulled a screwdriver off the wall behind the bench.

"Pay attention now. I'm only gonna go over this once." And with that she started pointing out all the different parts of a droid, specifically in the arm that appeared to be half missing, the pieces laying around it. She informed Harry of the purpose of each piece and answered any questions he had. About twenty minutes into her lesson a red skinned man with horns walked up to them with a sneer on his face. He handed some kind of metal bracelet to Shmi before leaving them quickly. Shmi continued on as if nothing had happened, though Harry was a momentarily distracted with the mans appearance.

Once Shmi had finished with the parts in the arm, she skillfully unhooked the other arm from the rest of the droid, setting the arm and screwdriver on the empty bench next to them. She stood up, moving her chair out of the way before rolling Harry to the bench that now had the arm. She looked at the arm and grabbed a couple more tools off the wall setting them on Harry's bench.

"I want you to see if you can take it apart. Name all the pieces that you can remember as you do. Don't worry about breaking anything, and if you have any questions just ask." Harry stared at Shmi as she stared back at him before sitting down and wheeling herself over to her bench. Harry watched her as she studied the cuff that the man had brought over. Turning it over several times in her hands before reaching for a wrench and starting to take the outer casing off.

Harry turned back to look at the arm and tools, thinking that it looked exactly like a human arm would if it were metal. He tentatively lifted the arm up, studying it from each angle before setting it back down. He then looked over the tools. None of them looked like the one that he would need to get the casing off. He turned toward Shmi, watching her fiddle with the cuff for a bit before clearing his throat. Once she looked up at him he timidly told her that he wouldn't be able to get the casing off. The grin on her face was one of pride as she handed over the correct tool. Harry turned back to the arm and cautiously started taking the arm apart, naming the parts under his breath as he went. Once in a while he would turn to ask Shmi a question.

He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice when Shmi left. It wasn't until she set down a plate of something next to him, spooking him, that he set aside his tools and parts.

"Lunch time." Shmi said in a sing song voice. Sitting back down at her bench and digging into her food. Now that the food was in front of him Harry realized that he was rather hungry, although the food looked like a mush of brown with a few slices of something blue next to it. He was pretty sure that the bright blue thing on his plate was fruit, but the only fruit he knew of that was blue was blueberries. And this looked more like an orange, with electric blue pulp. He looked over to see Shmi eating while still fiddling with her contraption. Giving a shrug Harry started eating the food, being cautious as to not spill any of it. It honestly wasn't that bad and Harry didn't think he would mind eating it again sometime.

Once finished Harry had no idea where to take his dishes and so looked to Shmi for guidance. She was also done and seemed to be waiting for Harry. She stood up and grabbed her own dish starting toward the other side of the hanger.

"Come on Harry. I'll show you were the kitchen is." Harry tried to follow her as she wove between the fast paced movements in the hanger. It was only due to Harry's small size and experience with Harry hunting that allowed him to keep up with her. She moved through a door and into a larger room, that to Harry's amazement was louder than the hanger. There were tables all around and a bar over to the side. Everywhere Harry looked there were aliens eating and drinking strange foods. Shmi guided Harry up to the bar where she placed her dishes, and Harry stacked his on top. A small light purple alien, with a long snout like nose, was behind the bar and Harry watched as it flew over to them on small wings, grabbed the dishes and put them in a small window behind her.

"Hello Nilna. I want to introduce you to Harry. Pi-Lippa just bought him and he'll be staying with me. Harry, this is Nilna. If you ever get hungry come talk to her and she'll get you straightened out." Nilna leaned over the bar, using her long twiggy arms as leverage and peered down at Harry.

"He's too skinny!" Nilna exclaimed with a slight snort in her voice. "But that won't last long." Harry could hear her muttering under her breath about skinny spit-fucks as she flew away to help another customer. Shmi leaned down and informed Harry that he probably shouldn't come in here to get food on his own. Nilna might never let him leave if she got a hold of him.

As they headed back out into the hanger and back to their work station Shmi made sure to steer them over to the restrooms. It was as Harry was washing his hands that trouble occurred. The red horned being from before entered the bathroom, sauntering over to Harry as soon as his eyes landed on the boy.

"You're Pi-Lippa's new slave?" Harry was surprised to find himself pressed against the wall before he could finish nodding his head. "Slaves like you need to be taught their place. Pi-Lippa treats you scum too nicely." Harry knew better than to struggle. He had been through this before with his family and struggling always just made things worse. If only he could convince the buzzing in his ears that staying still was a better option. It was as the horned man was raising his hand to strike Harry that the buzzing reached it's heightened pitch and Harry decided that anything that the man did to him for struggling couldn't be any worse than the pain his ears were in.

Harry kicked out with his feet suddenly and landed on his bum when his captor let him go out of shock from being hit, although Harry hadn't felt his kicks connect. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Harry scurried out the door as quickly as his legs could carry him and got a face full of cloth as he ran into Shmi. Upon seeing his frightened face she picked him up and carried him over to their station. As they reached it Harry could see the man across the room with a glare on his face.

No matter how much Shmi questioned, Harry refused to speak about what had happened. He had learned early on at the Dursley's that things would only be worse if he talked to someone about it. Shmi relented with her questions and turned back to her work after informing Harry that if anything should happen he should go directly to herself to Pi-Lippa. She would be talk to Pi-Lippa about this when she checked on her before they left.

Shmi found herself done with the tracker only a few hours after lunch, and looked over to see Harry fast asleep at his work station. His head resting on his arms and the parts of the arm scattered around him. Tomorrow she would teach him how to clean all the parts and see if he could remember enough to put it back together. Her eyes roved over the parts and she immediately stopped a faulty piece, as well as a piece that was going to need to be replaced soon.

Shmi figured this would be a good time to go talk to Pi-Lippa, but with Harry being so disgruntled after lunch she was hesitant to leave the boy alone. Especially while he was sleeping and defenseless. She was hesitant to wake him, though she knew it was the best option. Both so he could defend himself if anything happened and so that he would be able to sleep later tonight. Shmi shook Harry's shoulder until he started at her with blinking eyes.

Once she was sure that he was fully awake and understood to come to her or Pi-Lippa if anything happened she grabbed the transmitter and went to have a visit with Pi-Lippa.

Harry let out a jaw cracking yawn as he watched Shmi walk away. He couldn't believe that he had fallen asleep like that. He had needed to break himself out of the habit of naps after he had learned how to walk, and was put to work at the Dursley's. Ever since he got here he had been really tired, and he was rather surprised that he hadn't fallen asleep earlier. Maybe he was coming down with something. It would explain why there was a buzzing in his ears once in a while. Harry sniffed his button nose. It didn't feel like he was catching a cold.

With nothing left to do Harry started renaming all the pieces of the droid that he could remember. And it wasn't long before he herd Shmi calling his name and beckoning him over to Pi-Lippa's door. Harry hastened over, his shoulders stiff, feeling eyes on him until the door was closed behind him. Once in he took the seat that he had sat in earlier and waited for the others to start.

It was Pi-Lippa that began, explaining about the transmitter and the modifications that Shmi had made to it. Designed to make others believe he couldn't leave when in fact he was, for all intent and purposes, free. Pi-Lippa handed Shmi an envelope and let them know that they were free to leave for the day, advising them to spend the time buying necessities for Harry as all the contacts that she could get a hold of had no idea who the Dursley's were.

Once Shmi confirmed with Pi-Lippa that she didn't need anything, they headed out the door and onto the busy streets. Shmi reached down and grabbed Harry's hand as she did not want him to get lost in the hustle and bustle. Harry had not been prepared to see so many people on the streets and both the other times he had been out the streets had seemed almost deserted.

After a brief stop into a clothing store, Harry was now the proud owner of several simple sets of clothes. They were a little large on him to allow room for growth, but they didn't hang off of him like Dudley's clothes. And his shoes fit his feet and didn't give him blisters. Harry never put much importance on his clothes, but he felt like a whole new person wearing his own clothes. He felt like for once he could be a normal little boy and not a freak.

Note: After beating my head against the proverbial wall that will be the second part of this chapter for a few weeks I have decided to post this.

Clearing things up: Yes, Anakin will be born. This is set in both the past and the future. Harry disappeared in 1985 (past) and appeared in 45 BBY(future). Anakin will be born in 42 BBY. (Thanks, Phynixfire for catching that mistake.)