The house shook under a rumble of noise, and for one wild moment, Anakin was back in the war and he was under fire-

"Anakin!" Padmé's voice and a hand on his shoulder brought Anakin back to reality, and to the realization that there was one heck of a thunderstorm raging overhead. A flash of lightning illuminated the room as bright as day, and baby Grace wailed in her bassinet. Padmé slipped out of bed a picked up the squalling newborn, crooning softly and bouncing her gently.

A second flash of lightning, close on the heels of another spectacular rumble of thunder, and the bedroom's door flew open. Leia was through the door first, Luke and Jinn right behind her. The three darted to the bed, yelping as thunder rolled again. The flash of lightning that followed allowed Anakin to see their faces, tiny, white, and terrified.

"Daddy, I'm scared." Jinn said.

"Can we sleep with you?" Luke and Leia asked together.

"It's just a storm." Anakin said. It didn't stop him from holding the covers up and allowing the children to climb over him and into the middle of the bed, between him and Padmé, who had Grace on her chest. Anakin grunted as a little knee hit him in the chest as Jinn scrambled over him, groaned when Leia managed to elbow him in the nose, and gave a pained "oof" as Luke hit him in the diaphragm with both knees and tumbled onto the mattress next to Jinn. All three of them were giggling madly, the storm forgotten.

The next window-rattling crack of thunder had the trio yelping and burrowing under the blankets. Content now that she was with Padmé, Grace slept on, oblivious.

"It's just noise." Padmé assured the children, rubbing their backs as the three arranged themselves. Luke was pressed close to Anakin, and Jinn was sandwiched between his older siblings. Leia was snuggled into Padmé's side.

Anakin rolled onto his side to make more room for the three bed hogs. "I was ten, the first time I saw a thunderstorm."

"Really?" Three pairs of wide eyes turned to Anakin, the storm, with its rain pounding on the roof, momentarily forgotten.

Anakin nodded. "Yes. It was the first time I was off Tatooine. Master Qui-Gon took me to Coruscant." Anakin smiled at the memory. "It never rains on Tatooine, so when I saw all that water falling from the sky, I thought we were in big trouble. When I heard the thunder, I thought that the Temple was under attack. But it's just noise."

"Will it hurt us?"

In the dark, it was hard to tell who had asked the question, but Anakin knew that all three of them wanted to hear his answer.

"Not while you're with us, it won't." Padmé beat him to the punch; surprising Anakin- he'd thought she'd fallen asleep already.

"Okay." The children seemed to take the answer very seriously. They fell quiet for a moment before they started wiggling again, squirming around each other until they found comfortable positions.

The rest of the night passed quietly as the storm raged outside.

STAR WARS

Chronologically, this takes place before chapter one. This is my attempt to get back into the swing of things, and start thinking like Skywalkers again and to give my muse a kick in its lazy butt so I can get Change of Destiny's sequel off the ground. On that front, if you want to know more about the prospective sequel, check out chapter 22 of Change of Destiny.

Should I post a teaser, or should I just wait and start posting normally?

Thanks for reading and (hopefully) reviewing!

-CommChatter