Princess Leia Organa awoke in perfect, featureless darkness. She rolled over and groped for the lamp. It wasn't there. She felt her way to the edge of her bed, where she knew her bedside table and lamp should have been. But they weren't there. She felt all around the whole mattress, just to be sure. It definitely wasn't there.

She stood up and started to walk towards the wall. When she was fairly sure that she had walked at least twice as far as she would have had to in order to reach the wall, she turned around and tried to return to her bed. But somehow, it was gone.

She was immensely confused. Deciding that any direction was as good as any other, she kept walking in the same direction.

Groping her way through the blankness, she wondered what kind of a dream this was. She was fairly sure it was a dream. There was no other way to explain it.

She ran into nothing, and the darkness was starting to seem endless.

She was beginning to wonder whether she should call out when she saw another darkness; this one a shade or two lighter than the rest. She walked towards it. Slowly it came into focus.

"Luke!"

Luke looked up from where he was sitting and stood, walking towards her. "Leia!"

She began to run, throwing herself around his neck. He held her gently for a few moments. "Are you all right?"

"I think so. What's happening?"

Luke released her, but maintained a grip on her hand. "I don't know. Don't let go of me, if you do, we'll lose one another."

Leia shivered, "Did you lose someone else?"

Luke shook his head, "Not someone, just my surroundings when I first woke up. I'd rather avoid losing anyone.

Leia nodded, "I agree."

"Do you think all this darkness means something?"

She knew Luke had shrugged. "I'm not sure. It could mean a lot of things."

"Do you think it could have anything to do," Leia paused for a moment, steeling herself, "With our father?"

"I already told you. I don't know. Maybe we'll find out." He sounded discouraged.

"I'm sorry. What should we do?"

"Maybe you were doing the right thing, looking for answers. We should continue with that. But remember, we can't let go of each other."

"I won't forget. I couldn't if I tried."

Luke started walking again, gently pulling Leia through the darkness.

Suddenly, there was a stabbing pain in her ankle. She gasped. Luke stopped walking.

"Leia, are you all right?"

"I think I twisted my ankle." She squeezed her eyes shut, holding back tears.

Luke lowered her to the ground and knelt next to her, still holding tightly to her hand. She felt his hand on her ankle and gasped.

"It's okay. You're right, you twisted it. Can you stand?"

Leia brushed her own hand against her ankle.

"Can you see it at all?"

She felt Luke's breath on her skin and knew that he was bending very close. "Barely."

"Is it swollen?"

"Yeah. Not much, but it's going to swell more."

"This is a crazy dream."

"You're right." She felt Luke's hand leave her ankle, and knew he was groping around for whatever she'd tripped on.

"I think it was your foot."

"It's this blasted darkness. I can't see a thing. Even the Force isn't responding properly."

Leia dragged herself to her feet, knew her brother was standing too. She began to walk, resolutely ignoring the pain.

"Leia, you're not walking properly."

She stopped paying attention to her feet for a moment, and almost fell. "I'm not?"

"No. You're practically skipping."

Leia nodded, and made an effort to walk normally. After a few moments, however, her brother reached for her other hand and pulled her against himself, holding her up.

"I'll be all right," she protested, pulling away.

"No, you won't. We don't know how long we'll be here. Don't wear yourself out."

Leia relaxed and allowed her brother to lead her.

"Luke, is it lighter over there?" Leia gestured into the darkness before remembering that he couldn't see any better than she could. She took his free hand and pointed it in the direction of the dark grey spot. She knew Luke was squinting towards it.

"Yeah, it is."

"We should go that way. That was how I found you. You were a slightly lighter bit in the darkness."

"You're a little bit lighter than the darkness too."

"So maybe there are more people over there?"

Luke nodded slowly, "Looks like more than one person to me."

"Maybe they can explain this to us."

"Yes, maybe."

"Then let's go that way." Leia took off with more enthusiasm, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

Several minutes later, Luke spoke again. "Are you feeling better, Leia?"

Leia paused for a moment to think about it, "Yes, I think I am doing better."

"That's good."

"Do you think that bright spot has gotten bigger?"

"Yeah, I think it has."

They walked a few more minutes. "I can see our hands now, can you?" Leia asked.

As Luke turned to see their hands, she could see his face too.

"I can. Do you see a couple of people over in that grey?"

Leia squinted into the darkness. "Yes I do. I think they're coming our way. We're not moving towards them as fast as the light seems to be getting closer."

She was surprised when Luke started to run towards it. She was pulled along after him. After initially tripping, she managed to catch up with her brother.

"Sorry, Leia. I don't like the darkness; it makes me feel like I'm drowning. I just want to get to whoever that is."

"I'm not upset. I agree with you." She sped up as well.

Suddenly, Luke released her hand with a shout of, "Father!"

She watched him race towards one of the people who was running towards them. He reached out to Luke, who was considerably ahead of Leia at that point, and swept him up into the air with a cry of joy.

Leia looked at the woman, running alongside their father. "Mother!" She whispered. She raced into her arms, clinging tightly to her.

After several moments, she pulled back out of her mother's arms. As soon as there was space between them, Luke slipped into the space and hugged his mother too. Leia looked unsurely at her father, and he moved forward to hold her for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Leia. I never meant to hurt you." Her father said quietly.

Leia didn't move her arms around her father, though. When he released her, she moved back to her brother, taking his hand again. She didn't know why she did it, exactly, she simply felt somewhat less nervous of losing him into the darkness. Luke had reached for their father's hand too, and Vader had taken his wife's hand, catching onto the feelings from his children.

Anakin was beaming at Luke and holding his hand very tightly, judging from how Luke's fingertips were turning dark purple. Luke seemed not to notice.

Leia's mother took her hand, completing a small circle, facing one another's light rather than the darkness.

Luke looked at their mother, "What's your name?"

She smiled, "I'm Padme Amidala."

Leia gasped. Luke turned to her, nonplussed.

"You were the queen of Naboo! And then Naboo's senator!"

Padme's smile widened. "Yes."

"Oh," Luke murmured.

Leia was still fixating on her mother. "You've always been my hero!"

Padme smiled again.

Leia felt Luke's hand loosen on hers, and saw their father releasing Padme. The boys drifted off, but Leia barely noticed.

She was too involved in her mother. They sat down on the floor and spoke happily about politics. Finally, it occurred to Leia to ask why they were there.

"It's your birthday, Leia, yours and Luke's." Padme answered. "Families are supposed to spend birthdays together."

Leia nodded, "Oh, yes. I- thank you, Mother."

But Padme was smiling over her shoulder. Leia turned, and saw her brother sitting on a slab of tangible darkness, speaking animatedly to their father.

"It's nice to see him like that. He's been so serious since…" She trailed off.

"I know," Padme consoled. "That was part of why we brought you here."

"Where is here?"

"Somewhere I could bring the two of you. We can't really bring you into the Force with us until you've died."

"That wouldn't be a good way to celebrate our birthdays." Leia smiled.

Padme shook her head, also smiling. "Not, it wouldn't be. How are things between you and Han at the moment?"

Leia scowled, "If I had any intelligence there wouldn't be anything between us."

"Have you been fighting again?"

"Is it that obvious? Did you and Father fight?"

Padme looked again at her son and husband. "We didn't have a lot of time together. We did fight, occasionally. Never for very long."

Leia sighed, discouraged, "Maybe I should end it with Han."

"Why have you been fighting recently?"

"It's Han. He's such an idiot. There are times I think I was right when I guessed that he only cared about money. Well, money, and that scrap pile he drags us around in. We haven't spoken in over a week."

"Why don't you ask your brother to speak to him?"

"I have."

"Was Luke able to get some information?"

"No. He came back and told me that Han was just very busy." Leia sighed heavily.

Padme nodded gently. Leia felt a tear on her cheek. "I just want it to work out with Han. I love him, Mother. I can't imagine loving anyone else. And whatever can be said against Han, he hasn't dated anyone else. We fight, he wanders away, but he comes back without needing to break up with some new girlfriend."

"He really cares for you, Leia."

"I wish he acted like it consistently. I mean, even if he'd broken up with me forever, I'd be able to find another boyfriend and not feel bad about it. But he always comes crawling back after a few days."

"He's not used to having the responsibility of a relationship with someone who doesn't owe him a life debt. Chewie tolerates everything he does for just that reason. And men bond differently than women," She added, looking over Leia's shoulder to where Luke and Anakin were exchanging playful blows.

Leia smiled. "That's for sure." She turned to watch them as well.

Luke and Anakin exchanged blows for a while before Anakin suddenly dragged Luke off the slab of darkness, and they rolled over and over on the floor, laughing, punching, and kicking. At last, Anakin rolled off of Luke and they lay side by side staring up into the darkness, laughing and panting.

Leia stood up, taking her mother's hand and leading her over to the boys. Padme started to drag Anakin into a sitting position. Luke grabbed the back of his father's tunic, and Leia took hold of her father's other hand, working to haul the two of them upright. For a moment, she completely forgot their quarrel.

When Luke and Anakin were both sitting up, Padme spoke, "The children should be getting back, Anakin."

Luke's face fell, and Leia felt her stomach drop. She didn't want to return to the Alliance, now that she knew her family was waiting for her. Anakin too looked disappointed, but he nodded.

He kissed his son's cheek and wished him a good night. Then he turned to Leia. Leia looked at him appraisingly. He reached out and kissed her cheek, clearly waiting to be slapped away. Leia didn't slap him, though. Then Padme kissed each child, and they were sent back to their beds.

When the children awoke, they had a private conversation, thinking of their parents, and when they were done, they both cried. Leia was just wiping the last tears from Luke's eyes when Han found them. He stared at them for a moment.

"Luke had…" Leia paused, trying to think of a way to explain that would both satisfy Han's curiosity, but also keep their secret, "He had one of the dreams he has sometimes."

Han nodded knowingly, "About your dad?"

Luke blinked hard, squeezing out a couple more tears, wiped them away, and nodded.

"Come on, Chewie and I've been working all week to make this the best birthday of your lives." Han said, as eager as if it were he the surprise had been made for.

"So that's why you haven't spoken to me all week! I thought you were angry with me!"

Han gaped at her, "No! That's not it at all! Come on!"

Luke stood, and pulled Leia to her feet. They trailed after Han, but they both knew that it was already the best birthday of their lives.