Dear Diary,

Daddy is coming home tomorrow! I haven't seen him in a very long time, and I'm excited! Mama says he's fighting bad guys so we can be safe, but I don't like it when he's away. I miss him. I hope he'll stay for longer than he usually does. Mama says she doesn't know. I hope he'll be be here long enough to go on a picnic like we all used to when I was little. I think Myri would like that too.

Wedge's hand shakes as he puts down the little book of flimsi scrawled with blue pen that had caught his eye on Syal's study desk and looks up at his wife. “What am I doing?”

Iella leans her elbows on the counter and gazes back unflinchingly. “What you have to, Wedge. The Republic needs you out there for this war effort, and it's where you want to be.”

His heart twists. “I want to be there with the three of you.”

Iella's expression softens. “I know that, dear heart, but you also want to be where you can do the most good, and you know that isn't here with us.”

Wedge frowns. He knows she's right.

Iella steps around the counter and folds him into her arms. “You're doing the best you can. And with you out there fighting those bad guys, we have a chance of winning this war sooner and having you back home sooner. The girls will understand that someday.”

Wedge hides his face against her as he murmurs, “But they're hurting now.”

“So be with them as much as you can. You're here now.”

Wedge nods, squeezing her tight. “I love you. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here to talk reason to me.”

“Fall apart utterly,” Iella teases gently. She tilts his head back and leans in for a kiss. “Go. I know you put them to bed twenty minutes ago, but they're probably still awake. They've been so excited to see you they haven't slept properly in days.”

Wedge stands, decision made, and hugs Iella before stepping across the apartment and easing open the door to his daughters' room. He hears whispers for a second that abruptly cut off when a sliver of light shines across the carpet. Iella was right.

“Daddy?” Myri asks, and Wedge smiles as he ignores the way it makes his heart ache.

“I think you two wanted another bedtime story?” he says, keeping his voice steady as he leaves the door half open and goes in to settle himself between their beds. He takes his datapad out of his pocket. “What would you like me to read?”

But Syal is already sitting up in bed excitedly. “Tell us one of yours!” she insists.

“Tell us how you saved and your friends saved Coruscant from the Empire!” Myri specifies.

For a heartbreaking moment, Wedge wishes he had more than war stories for them. But he can use what he has, make it a happy tale about a decisive victory, let his little girls have a hero in their daddy. And their mama. He begins to speak.