Treasured (Book 2)

Battle Stories

"Anakin, I have something to tell you," Padmé sang, walking her fingers up to his shoulder.

"What?" Anakin asked, drying his hand on a towel in the kitchen.

"I'm pregnant!"

"Again?"

"What are you talking about? It was only once."

Anakin put his hands behind his neck and sighed.

"April Fools,'" they said in unison.

"I wish we never knew about that holiday," Anakin said.

Luke and Leia zoomed past them in the kitchen.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Anakin called after them. "Not in the house! Outside." He jerked his thumb toward the balcony. "And be careful not to fall off."

"Anakin," Padmé said disapprovingly.

"We won't," Luke and Leia sang in unison. They ran off after each other again.

Padmé looked at Anakin.

"What? It was just an April Fools' joke," he said, trying the excuse out.

She stared at him, and he laughed. He clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"What?" Padmé asked, unamused.

"I don't know." He started to walk away.

"Now you sound like Luke," Padmé said.

Ahsoka walked in the living room carrying a stack of filled envelopes. "Hey, later can you help me pay these bills? I'm still not really sure how to make the payments."

"What do you mean?" Anakin asked, sitting down on the couch.

"I don't know. I'm just...unsure."

"Okay. Yeah, I'll help you later."

"Meeeewww." Luke came in carrying one of his hundred toy ships, making a bunch of noises.

"Hey, Luke."

"Yeah, Daddy?"

"I'll take you into a real battle next time I go. Which should be really soon."

"Really?"

"Of course. And that's not an April Fools' joke, by the way. Your mother already played that one on me."

"Cool! Who will we be fighting next time? Count Dooku? Oh wait, he's dead. What about Asajj Ventress?"

"She's in prison, little dude."

"Oh. What about Hazel Dessen?"

"She's in prison, she's weak, and she doesn't fight any battles in ships, anyway."

"Then who else are we going to fight?"

"I don't know, Luke. Wait a second. The old, ugly spider I defeated years ago-he has a cousin. We might battle him, he wants lightsaber crystals like all of the other doofuses in the galaxy. We'll be able to take down his ship as quick as lightspeed travels."

"What are you guys talking about?" Padmé asked, walking in with Luke's lunch on a tray.

"Awesome stuff that girls don't like."

"Okay."

"Ewww! Mommy, I told you I don't like these vegetables," Luke complained.

"Even your sister doesn't complain about those. Eat up, or they'll be consequences." She walked away to the kitchen again, where she and Ahsoka were talking.

Anakin raised his eyebrows at Luke. "You'd better. You know how this one gets if you don't do what she says," Anakin warned, gesturing to Padmé.

Luke laughed.

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"Ani, can you get Leia please?" Padmé called from the kitchen.

"Sure. Hey, Princess, lunch is ready!" he yelled out to the balcony from the couch.

"That's not what I meant! I said to go get her, which means you walk out to the balcony. Not be lazy and yell from the couch," Padmé said.

"Oh, waa, waa, so what? Why does it matter?" Anakin rolled his eyes.

Padmé shook her head.

"Hey, can you tell me about some battles you were in a long time ago?" Luke asked hopefully.

"Of course," Anakin replied, leaning back. He paused. "Do you have a request?"

"Any good stories about Admiral Trench, that old spider?"

"Luke, honey, you're only 6 years old, he can't-" Padmé protested from the kitchen.

"Yeah. Years ago, back when I was 21, I took this ship, and it was as long as the height of this apartment building, probably. It was a secret stealth ship. So I could turn on the stealth, which basically means I turned on an invisibility cloaking device, whenever I didn't want Trench to see me. I fired away, and it his big old cargo ship, but theirs was sort of ray-shielded, so it was hard to hit them. Old Trench fired big missiles at us, and I led the missiles around to hit his ship instead. In seconds, his ship was completely destroyed; blown up. The rest is history. And now, here I am, 29, and I'm still living. I was never hit by those missiles, which was truly a miracle."

"Awesome! I want to be with you when you do that once!"

"Yeah, well...you probably will be soon."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now eat your lunch before it gets spoiled. And don't worry, I'll never run out of stories to tell you." Anakin smiled a little.

"Can you tell me more later?"

"Of course. I said I'll never run out."

Luke smiled as he shoveled a forkful of lunch into his mouth and thought about how awesome his dad was. He wanted to be like him someday. For sure.