Skywalker Apartment [Thursday afternoon]

[auroryborealis]

Rory's maternity leave didn't start for another month, but she was starting to wish she'd somehow arranged it earlier. For all that she loved her job, she hadn't really anticipated how much fun her commute would be near the end of her pregnancy. Or how much she'd love having to get up four times during a meeting. Or how hard it'd be to bring her

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[likesscoundrels]

Funny how Rory's feeling was absolutely correct. Leia had talked to Jaina and Ben the day before, and was still trying to work through her feelings about what she'd learned about her father. Talking to Rory was definitely on her agenda because she knew Rory had known Anakin when he was younger, before he'd been Vader, and then after, of course, and she'd still married him.

So she'd left the island to make her way to the apartment, knowing Anakin wouldn't be there since he'd be in Fandom teaching. Ethics. Oh irony.

She knocked on the door.

[auroryborealis]

"Door!" cried a little voice through...well, the door, followed by the sound of little feet running over. A moment later (Rory didn't exactly hop off the couch these days), Rory turned the knob, and the expression on her face wasn't exactly one of surprise, but resignation. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to see Leia. It was that she knew why she was here.

Juliet didn't, though. "Leia!" she shrieked happily, flinging herself at her alternate-universe-half-sister's legs in glee. Oh, to be two.

Rory was a bit more reserved. "I thought you might be stopping by," she offered with a small smile. "Come on in."

[likesscoundrels]

Leia bent down to scoop Juliet into her arms and hug her. "Hi, Juliet," she said, giving her a smile that wasn't entirely forced.

When she stood to look at Rory, she blurted out, "You're pregnant." She hadn't realized she had another alternate-universe-half-sibling on the way.

[auroryborealis]

"No one told you?" Rory asked, eyes widening as she winced. "Oops. Um, yeah, I'm due at the end of May-ish."

"Mommy's fat so big sister can find her," Juliet assured Leia.

"Little brother," Rory corrected in an undertone. "She's in for a surprise."

[likesscoundrels]

"Congratulations," Leia said, a little dazed by the surprise of finding out her father was her worst enemy and his second wife was pregnant. One extreme to another was going to make her head spin.

"He must've told you what I found out then," she said, keeping her tone neutral while Juliet was still there.

[auroryborealis]

Rory nodded, biting her lip a little. "Juliet," she said, a little falsely bright, "Mommy and Leia need to talk. But you can watch the TV now. I think Dora's on."

Juliet immediately squirmed to be set down, and Rory changed the channel on the TV. "It'll keep her occupied," she added apologetically. "Do you want some coffee or anything?"

[likesscoundrels]

Leia gave Juliet a kiss on the cheek and set her down, then nodded at Rory. "Yes, thank you," she said. "I haven't been sleeping well."

For obvious reasons.

[auroryborealis]

Rory led the way into the kitchen once she was sure Juliet was otherwise occupied, and dug around in the cabinet until she found some non-decaf coffee. "I can imagine," she replied after a moment. "I was the same way. But I had Luke at school, at the same time, and he helped. We kind of went through it together."

[likesscoundrels]

She felt a twinge of guilt when Rory mentioned Luke; instead of going through it together, and helping him through the loss and replacement of his hand, she'd come here to confront Anakin. He was probably worried sick about her now.

"That's what I want to know," she said quietly, watching Rory make the coffee. "How did you get through it?"

[auroryborealis]

Rory was quiet for a moment, remembering. "I did everything I could to bring him back," she answered softly, shrugging. "He was Vader, then. I yelled at him, I cried, I didn't sleep...it was really hard. But I had a goal, you know? To get Anakin back."

[likesscoundrels]

"But getting him back -- and knowing what he'd done?" Leia said. "He chose to do what he did. How did you get past that?"

[auroryborealis]

"I didn't want him back-back, at first," Rory replied thoughtfully. "I mean, it was never an effort to get my boyfriend back. I just wanted to restore him to the Anakin I'd known. He chose everything he did as Vader...but he chose everything he did after, too. His capacity for good is as great as his capacity for evil, and his...desire for redemption is what drives the man you know here." She glanced over at Leia. "I can't tell you your future, but I can tell you that Darth Vader is a terrified, very unhappy man. He doesn't like the choices he's made. And he's trapped. And the version of him that I married was at that breaking point while he was in Fandom, so I did everything I could, along with his son, to remind him that he could change his mind."

[likesscoundrels]

"I don't know if I'll have that luxury back home," Leia said. "There's too much at stake with the rebellion to waste time trying to change his mind. He cut off his own son's hand. I don't think family ties matter much."

[auroryborealis]

Rory was silent for a long moment, pouring the coffee and getting out the creamer from the fridge.

"Then don't worry about mercy," she finally said, setting the cup before Leia and meeting her eye. "But that's how you deal with it. You know that he's in there, and you know what he's done. When I was meeting with Vader every week and trying to bring him back, there were days when I told him I couldn't wait until Luke killed him, too. He deserved it. And he knows that."

[likesscoundrels]

Leia picked up the cup, letting it warm her fingers.

"After he came back...how long was it before you could look at him without seeing the mask?" she asked slowly.

[auroryborealis]

"Months," Rory answered immediately, her voice soft. "He worked hard at it, too. He knew I couldn't look at him like I used to, but it was something I had to come around to on my own. It helped that I'd known him before. Seeing him smile reminded me of the boy I'd known, and...seeing him with Luke helped." She shrugged, and added, "I'm sure it'll be different for you. His Leia has never taken it well."