Room 317 [afternoon]
After being woken up by Amy at entirely too early in the morning, Luke had fled to his room retreated to his room to study and change.
This was going to be a loooong weekend.
Dawn was still pretty darn speechless. She and...No, really.
"No, really." She glanced down for what had to be the tenth time since she'd been found.
"Yes, really," Jolee said for the tenth time, sighing dramatically as they walked. Her mommy was sometimes extra-clueless and everyone said she had to be patient until her mommy caught up.
She was bad at patient.
Then, a familiar Force signature registered, and she went zooming ahead and was pounding gleefully on the door. "Daddy!"
Not again.
Luke closed his eyes and reached out in the Force.
Not Amy.
Uh-oh.
He opened the door. "Hello?"
Jolee tilted her head back to grin up at him proudly. "Hi, Daddy. I found you."
Luke crouched down. "You did!" he praised, smiling and hiding any internal flailing.
He glanced up. "Hi, Dawn," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Um?"
Um just about covered it, actually. She swallowed hard, then fidgeted.
"Hi. This is Jolee. Um."
"Summers Skywalker, Mommy," she threw back sulkily over her shoulder. Her mommy always forgot that part. Then she threw herself at daddy's knees, who always remembered.
"It's the 'portant part."
"It sounds like the important part," he said, running his hand through her hair. "Um. Does Sam know about her?"
Because that wasn't going to be awkward at all. He remembered how well his father had taken Nik's arrival last year.
Dawn may have fidgeted a little before shaking her head. She mouthed not yet at him.
Fantastic. Luke swallowed hard and smiled at Jolee. "Have you been a good girl for Mommy?" he asked.
Oh, look, a weetiny eyeroll. "I'm always a good girl for Mommy."
Except for when she wasn't.
Truthfulness was still a work in progress.
"Except for when you aren't," Luke filled in, hiding a smile. "When did she find you?" he asked Dawn. "Jo and I had a hyper surprise really early this morning."
"A little bit ago, in my room," she explained, still boggling a little bit. "You and Jo, huh?"
She couldn't help grinning, since that seemed much more likely, even if Jolee wasn't that horrible. Just mildly terrifying. "What's her name?"
"Amy," Luke said, grinning. "She's, um, kind of loud."
Jolee's eyebrows drew together as she frowned. "Who's Amy?" she demanded.
Not good.
"Your sister?" he tried.
"Don't have a sister." She kept right on frowning. "Or a brother."
Which was something to complain about however she looked at it.
Dawn sighed and squatted down to Jolee level. "Maybe not at home, but here, there might be. It's just for a little while, okay?"
Her lower lip was still sticking out in a way that both parents would find familiar.
"Okay," she said finally, scuffing her shoe on the floor. "Can I play in Mr. Giles' store today? I'm allowed to play with monkey paws now!"
No, she wasn't.
"No, you're not," Dawn said, staring at her offspring (pouts like that didn't lie), then glancing over at Luke. "Monkey paws are not for playing."
Then, just in case, "Or for eating, I don't care what Uncle Spike says."
"Ew," Luke said quietly.
"The only Uncle Spike food I can get is onion thing," Jolee recited. "And no drinks."
"Does Amy have a lightsaber?" she asked. Because if she did and Jolee didn't, that wasn't fair at all.
"No lightsabers until you have two digits in your age," Luke said quickly. He looked at Dawn. "So...like last year, then? With the random kids showing up?"
"I guess so, yeah," Dawn nodded, glancing at Jolee. "I guess in her world, we're all, y'know, y'know?"
Yep. That part was still weird.
Jolee was nodding vigorously, used to the way her mom spoke by now. "I'm not random, Daddy. I'm Jolee."
He really used to be better at this part.
Luke grinned and tousled her hair. "Yes, you are," he said.
And if it distracted from the weirdness of him and Dawn--which kind of made sense, making things even more weird--bonus.
"What do you want to do today, honey?"
The answer was immediate. "I wanna fly!"
Yes, definitely a Skywalker.
"I bet we could get Grandpa to open up the flight simulator," Luke said, eyes sparkling. "How does that sound?"
And making Anakin's brain break was always entertaining.
"Can I fly in the simulator? Like, me flying, not Grandpa flying and me watching?"
It was a better solution than what he'd come up with when he'd been Jolee's age. "I think we can do that. Want to podrace?"
That didn't have pedals for wee feet to miss.
Dawn just shot Luke a look.
"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!" Jolee, on the other hand, had reached for her daddy's hand to start pulling him towards the simulator, wherever that was. "I want to podrace like the big kids. Can we go now? How far away is it? Do we have to wait? Where's Grandpa Anakin?"
Luke chuckled. "He's probably at home. Do you want to go find out?"
He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that.
"Yes, please!" She bounced in place. "I want to fly, and then maybe later we can go patrolling?"
"No patrolling," Dawn answered immediately, wondering exactly how much of this she was going to have to tell Sam and not looking forward to it. "Possibly never ever."
"But Mommy," Jolee whined. "I'll be goooooooood."
Whining was genetic, too. Who knew?
"I'm, uh, okay, here's the thing," Dawn leaned down to whisper, glancing at Luke occasionally. "I get scared lots of times, and I need you to stay brave and be near me so your, uh, daddy can go fight the bad guys without worrying about us, 'kay?"
"Aunt Buffy would let me," Jolee made up, sulking.
"I don't care what Aunt Buffy would or wouldn't do," Dawn shot back, hands on her hips. "I'm apparently your mother, and if I say you're not going, you're not going."
Wait. When exactly had she become her mother?
Jolee stomped her weebitty foot and glared up at her. "No!"
Well, that was screechy.
A little help here? Dawn decided to see if Luke was telepathic, and hoped (rather belatedly) that Jolee wasn't.
"Yes." She said firmly, looking down into Jolee's eyes. "And if you stomp your foot at me again, no flying."
"There would be absolutely no flying," Luke said, taking a page from his father's book of glares. "Another display like that and you'll also spend ten minutes in time out."
Jolee's big blue eyes filled up with tears. Daddy rarely used that tone of voice.
"Okay," she said, sniffling and moving closer to Mommy.
"We know you can be a good girl," Dawn said, actually knowing nothing of the kind, even as she rested a light hand on Jolee's head. She really was cute, in her own unique way, "and that you really want to go flying. How about you take a little nap, then we go find your Grandpa, and see what happens after that?"
Jolee nodded, then lifted her arms in the universal sign for "pick me up."
"Okay," she said.
"See, now you're killing me with cute," Dawn bent over to lift the little girl, grunting as she settled her against her hip and smiling as she felt Jolee's head nestle in to her shoulder and her arms tighten. The hugging was nice.
Lowering her voice, she asked Luke, "So, need some alone time, or can she nap here and you come get me when you're both awake again?"
"She can nap here," Luke said, waving Dawn into his room. "Saves us from awkward conversations with Sam for a bit."
"I'll take care of it," she promised him quietly as she walked in. "Where should I put her?"
"Who's Sam?" Jolee asked, trying not to yawn because she wasn't tired. Nope.
Luke pointed Dawn towards the bed. "One of Mommy's friends," he said quietly. "You might get to meet him later."
Or not, but Luke didn't think he'd be that lucky.
"He's nice," Dawn added. She didn't add that the little girl would like him, because, well, based on her reaction to the mention of Amy, sharing wasn't one of her best things yet and she finally seemed to be calming down.
There was a bit of hanging from Dawn's neck, then Jolee fell to the bed with a plop and a lot of giggling. "You'll get to meet lots of people while you're here, I'm sure."
Luke nodded. "Once you take your nap," he said, touching Jolee's cheek.
She squinched her eyes closed tightly and curled up on her side, since this nap would lead to Grandpa and flying, which were good things. Three seconds later, her eyes popped open again. "Are you gonna take a nap, too?"
Luke shot Dawn an amused look, then stretched out on the bed. "I am," he promised, "but you have to close your eyes and not peek to make sure."
Jolee uncurled enough to wiggle over until she was next to her daddy, then snapped her eyes shut and curled up again. "'kay, daddy," she said around a big yawn, "I'm napping now."
She was asleep for real about five breaths later.
Dawn couldn't help smiling from her spot by the bed. They really were cute together. "So, are you really gonna sleep, or just slide out?"
"I'm going to sleep," he said softly. "I don't want to lie to her."
Because of course Luke would be worried about that.
"I should have guessed." Dawn sat carefully down on the end of the bed, reaching for the edge of a blanket to drape over Jolee. "Are you going to tell Jo?"
Luke nodded. "It's better to hear it from me than the radio," he said.
Then there was facepalming, followed by a muffled, "It's Saturday. Sam and Dean have radio tonight."
"We're kind of dead, huh?" he said softly, trying not to wake Jolee.
"Wellll," she considered, "he took it sort of okay last year when my and Dean's son showed up...this is kind of like that, right?"
Which didn't mean Jo wasn't going to kill her.
Luke nodded. "They should understand."
"Right. I'm sure they will." What? "How about I go tell Sam, and you find me when Jolee wakes up?"
"It's a date," Luke said, then went red. "Plan," he amended hastily.
"Plan!" She confirmed, also blushing slightly. "I'll, ah, just go, then."
Then she fled like a fleeing thing.
This was going to be a loooong weekend.
Dawn was still pretty darn speechless. She and...No, really.
"No, really." She glanced down for what had to be the tenth time since she'd been found.
"Yes, really," Jolee said for the tenth time, sighing dramatically as they walked. Her mommy was sometimes extra-clueless and everyone said she had to be patient until her mommy caught up.
She was bad at patient.
Then, a familiar Force signature registered, and she went zooming ahead and was pounding gleefully on the door. "Daddy!"
Not again.
Luke closed his eyes and reached out in the Force.
Not Amy.
Uh-oh.
He opened the door. "Hello?"
Jolee tilted her head back to grin up at him proudly. "Hi, Daddy. I found you."
Luke crouched down. "You did!" he praised, smiling and hiding any internal flailing.
He glanced up. "Hi, Dawn," he said, raising an eyebrow. "Um?"
Um just about covered it, actually. She swallowed hard, then fidgeted.
"Hi. This is Jolee. Um."
"Summers Skywalker, Mommy," she threw back sulkily over her shoulder. Her mommy always forgot that part. Then she threw herself at daddy's knees, who always remembered.
"It's the 'portant part."
"It sounds like the important part," he said, running his hand through her hair. "Um. Does Sam know about her?"
Because that wasn't going to be awkward at all. He remembered how well his father had taken Nik's arrival last year.
Dawn may have fidgeted a little before shaking her head. She mouthed not yet at him.
Fantastic. Luke swallowed hard and smiled at Jolee. "Have you been a good girl for Mommy?" he asked.
Oh, look, a weetiny eyeroll. "I'm always a good girl for Mommy."
Except for when she wasn't.
Truthfulness was still a work in progress.
"Except for when you aren't," Luke filled in, hiding a smile. "When did she find you?" he asked Dawn. "Jo and I had a hyper surprise really early this morning."
"A little bit ago, in my room," she explained, still boggling a little bit. "You and Jo, huh?"
She couldn't help grinning, since that seemed much more likely, even if Jolee wasn't that horrible. Just mildly terrifying. "What's her name?"
"Amy," Luke said, grinning. "She's, um, kind of loud."
Jolee's eyebrows drew together as she frowned. "Who's Amy?" she demanded.
Not good.
"Your sister?" he tried.
"Don't have a sister." She kept right on frowning. "Or a brother."
Which was something to complain about however she looked at it.
Dawn sighed and squatted down to Jolee level. "Maybe not at home, but here, there might be. It's just for a little while, okay?"
Her lower lip was still sticking out in a way that both parents would find familiar.
"Okay," she said finally, scuffing her shoe on the floor. "Can I play in Mr. Giles' store today? I'm allowed to play with monkey paws now!"
No, she wasn't.
"No, you're not," Dawn said, staring at her offspring (pouts like that didn't lie), then glancing over at Luke. "Monkey paws are not for playing."
Then, just in case, "Or for eating, I don't care what Uncle Spike says."
"Ew," Luke said quietly.
"The only Uncle Spike food I can get is onion thing," Jolee recited. "And no drinks."
"Does Amy have a lightsaber?" she asked. Because if she did and Jolee didn't, that wasn't fair at all.
"No lightsabers until you have two digits in your age," Luke said quickly. He looked at Dawn. "So...like last year, then? With the random kids showing up?"
"I guess so, yeah," Dawn nodded, glancing at Jolee. "I guess in her world, we're all, y'know, y'know?"
Yep. That part was still weird.
Jolee was nodding vigorously, used to the way her mom spoke by now. "I'm not random, Daddy. I'm Jolee."
He really used to be better at this part.
Luke grinned and tousled her hair. "Yes, you are," he said.
And if it distracted from the weirdness of him and Dawn--which kind of made sense, making things even more weird--bonus.
"What do you want to do today, honey?"
The answer was immediate. "I wanna fly!"
Yes, definitely a Skywalker.
"I bet we could get Grandpa to open up the flight simulator," Luke said, eyes sparkling. "How does that sound?"
And making Anakin's brain break was always entertaining.
"Can I fly in the simulator? Like, me flying, not Grandpa flying and me watching?"
It was a better solution than what he'd come up with when he'd been Jolee's age. "I think we can do that. Want to podrace?"
That didn't have pedals for wee feet to miss.
Dawn just shot Luke a look.
"Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!" Jolee, on the other hand, had reached for her daddy's hand to start pulling him towards the simulator, wherever that was. "I want to podrace like the big kids. Can we go now? How far away is it? Do we have to wait? Where's Grandpa Anakin?"
Luke chuckled. "He's probably at home. Do you want to go find out?"
He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that.
"Yes, please!" She bounced in place. "I want to fly, and then maybe later we can go patrolling?"
"No patrolling," Dawn answered immediately, wondering exactly how much of this she was going to have to tell Sam and not looking forward to it. "Possibly never ever."
"But Mommy," Jolee whined. "I'll be goooooooood."
Whining was genetic, too. Who knew?
"I'm, uh, okay, here's the thing," Dawn leaned down to whisper, glancing at Luke occasionally. "I get scared lots of times, and I need you to stay brave and be near me so your, uh, daddy can go fight the bad guys without worrying about us, 'kay?"
"Aunt Buffy would let me," Jolee made up, sulking.
"I don't care what Aunt Buffy would or wouldn't do," Dawn shot back, hands on her hips. "I'm apparently your mother, and if I say you're not going, you're not going."
Wait. When exactly had she become her mother?
Jolee stomped her weebitty foot and glared up at her. "No!"
Well, that was screechy.
A little help here? Dawn decided to see if Luke was telepathic, and hoped (rather belatedly) that Jolee wasn't.
"Yes." She said firmly, looking down into Jolee's eyes. "And if you stomp your foot at me again, no flying."
"There would be absolutely no flying," Luke said, taking a page from his father's book of glares. "Another display like that and you'll also spend ten minutes in time out."
Jolee's big blue eyes filled up with tears. Daddy rarely used that tone of voice.
"Okay," she said, sniffling and moving closer to Mommy.
"We know you can be a good girl," Dawn said, actually knowing nothing of the kind, even as she rested a light hand on Jolee's head. She really was cute, in her own unique way, "and that you really want to go flying. How about you take a little nap, then we go find your Grandpa, and see what happens after that?"
Jolee nodded, then lifted her arms in the universal sign for "pick me up."
"Okay," she said.
"See, now you're killing me with cute," Dawn bent over to lift the little girl, grunting as she settled her against her hip and smiling as she felt Jolee's head nestle in to her shoulder and her arms tighten. The hugging was nice.
Lowering her voice, she asked Luke, "So, need some alone time, or can she nap here and you come get me when you're both awake again?"
"She can nap here," Luke said, waving Dawn into his room. "Saves us from awkward conversations with Sam for a bit."
"I'll take care of it," she promised him quietly as she walked in. "Where should I put her?"
"Who's Sam?" Jolee asked, trying not to yawn because she wasn't tired. Nope.
Luke pointed Dawn towards the bed. "One of Mommy's friends," he said quietly. "You might get to meet him later."
Or not, but Luke didn't think he'd be that lucky.
"He's nice," Dawn added. She didn't add that the little girl would like him, because, well, based on her reaction to the mention of Amy, sharing wasn't one of her best things yet and she finally seemed to be calming down.
There was a bit of hanging from Dawn's neck, then Jolee fell to the bed with a plop and a lot of giggling. "You'll get to meet lots of people while you're here, I'm sure."
Luke nodded. "Once you take your nap," he said, touching Jolee's cheek.
She squinched her eyes closed tightly and curled up on her side, since this nap would lead to Grandpa and flying, which were good things. Three seconds later, her eyes popped open again. "Are you gonna take a nap, too?"
Luke shot Dawn an amused look, then stretched out on the bed. "I am," he promised, "but you have to close your eyes and not peek to make sure."
Jolee uncurled enough to wiggle over until she was next to her daddy, then snapped her eyes shut and curled up again. "'kay, daddy," she said around a big yawn, "I'm napping now."
She was asleep for real about five breaths later.
Dawn couldn't help smiling from her spot by the bed. They really were cute together. "So, are you really gonna sleep, or just slide out?"
"I'm going to sleep," he said softly. "I don't want to lie to her."
Because of course Luke would be worried about that.
"I should have guessed." Dawn sat carefully down on the end of the bed, reaching for the edge of a blanket to drape over Jolee. "Are you going to tell Jo?"
Luke nodded. "It's better to hear it from me than the radio," he said.
Then there was facepalming, followed by a muffled, "It's Saturday. Sam and Dean have radio tonight."
"We're kind of dead, huh?" he said softly, trying not to wake Jolee.
"Wellll," she considered, "he took it sort of okay last year when my and Dean's son showed up...this is kind of like that, right?"
Which didn't mean Jo wasn't going to kill her.
Luke nodded. "They should understand."
"Right. I'm sure they will." What? "How about I go tell Sam, and you find me when Jolee wakes up?"
"It's a date," Luke said, then went red. "Plan," he amended hastily.
"Plan!" She confirmed, also blushing slightly. "I'll, ah, just go, then."
Then she fled like a fleeing thing.