Fame and Fortune

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Han Solo stood in the cool night air and leaned against the equinoid fencing, taking a swig directly out of a bottle of Whyren's Reserve as he gazed over the green pasture enveloped in darkness. There hadn't been much left inside the bottle when he'd pulled it from the liquor cabinet or he would have also grabbed a shot glass to bring along, since he really didn't intend to get drunk - just pleasantly buzzed. He thought back to the evening, still in disbelief that Leia was back in his house. In his bed. It didn't seem real, even five timeparts later.

They had talked for a long time before she fell asleep in his arms, notably without them making love. Once Leia was asleep, Han had carefully extricated himself from her arms to go take a walk and think. Leia had repeatedly apologized for 'using' him back on Hapes, which he found absurd. He'd wanted her every bit as much as she had wanted him. And if she felt guilty, he was feeling his own sense of guilt over her being banished from the Consortium and losing custody of her daughter. He'd seen holos of the little girl, of course. She was beautiful and angelic looking, like a miniature version of Leia. Isabell bore little to no resemblance to her arrogant, stupid father, Isolder, which pleased Han a great deal. During their lengthy conversation, Leia had also informed Han that several weeks ago she'd contacted a lawyer on Coruscant to get the ball rolling on filing for custody.

Han had been completely serious when he told Leia he would do anything to get Isabell away from the Hapans and back where she belonged, with her mother. He realized with a pang that he wished he could have been Isabell's father. He took another drink from the bottle of whiskey, thinking dourly, If things would have turned out different, if I wouldn't have died because of that damn carbonite poisoning me, I could've married Leia. I would never have let her marry that Hapan slime-boy, even if I would've had to kidnap her.

"Things will still work out, if you allow them to run their course."

Dropping the bottle to the ground, Solo spun around and put his hand on his thigh, the place he used to wear his blaster without fail. Nowadays he seldom wore it, mostly because Lando and Pruitt had endlessly harped on him about how it 'didn't look good for his image.' So, of course, there was no blaster to grab and Han mentally swore at himself for listening to 'his handlers' as they liked to refer to themselves, even within his earshot.

A human male had been standing slightly behind him and off to one side. Han took a quick step back, putting distance between them, painfully aware he had absolutely no place he could take cover to protect himself if this man was armed and dangerous. For some bizarre reason, this man glowed... blue? And Solo could see the equinoid barn through this man. Han shook his head, trying to clear the effects of the alcohol from his brain. Just when he thought he was hallucinating the entire thing, the young man with curly blond hair spoke to him again.

"She desperately needs you. Be her rock, Captain Solo. Just like you've always been her rock."

This stranger knew his former name? How? Who was he?

The apparition smiled. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Anakin Skywalker."

It took Han a few beats before his brain put two and two together. "Luke and Leia's father."

It wasn't a question, but the apparition answered him anyway. "Yes."

That admission didn't calm him much, so Han took yet another step back. "Darth Vader."

"Unfortunately, I called myself that name for many years."

Suddenly Han's fear morphed into anger and outrage. "Why are you here? Killin' me wasn't good enough? Now you have to come and haunt me? Go fuck off!"