Love From Afar
Anakin Skywalker meditated as his starfighter traveled through hyperspace. He and Obi-Wan were racing toward Coruscant, where the Separatists have struck and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was abducted.
As worried as he was for his friend and mentor Palpatine, his concern was primarily for his wife.
Anakin, hurry home! Come back to me!
It was a faint whisper, but it was real as though Padmé were standing right beside him. She sounded so desperate, so anguished. Anakin's eyes blinked open, his heart beating faster, sweat breaking out on his brow and upper lip. "No, please, she can't be in trouble. Not while I'm out here," he muttered.
Artoo, in his socket on the side of the starfighter's wing, beeped and hooted inquiringly. Anakin could see through the viewport the droid's dome turning. The astromech monitored Anakin's life signs to ensure the cockpit's life support equipment worked properly. The change in heart rate, the sudden rise in adrenaline, the increased blood pressure alerted the droid.
Anakin glanced down at the readout that translated the droid's concerns. "I'm all right, Artoo. I just had a little bit of a strange dream, that's all."
Artoo hooted something that sounded like, "Oh."
Anakin took a deep breath and calmed himself. Any surge in emotion was also likely to attract Obi-Wan's attention. Already his former Master was suspicious of his relationship with Padmé. Obi-Wan believed attachment made a Jedi vulnerable to the wrong kinds of emotions and therefore interfered with his ability to serve in the Order. Anakin wanted to prove that theory wrong; he would show that he could love and still be a Jedi.
Besides, there truly was nothing he could do now. And when his fighter pulled out of hyperspace, he would have to focus on the mission. But he needed to know, needed to make sure, that Padmé was all right.
Staring at the streaks of light outside of the fighter's viewport, he reached across the light years in the Force to find the brilliant presence of his wife. Once again, she felt different somehow. He couldn't quite feel what it was; it was indefinable. Yet she was alive and well. He could feel her anxiety and fear. She had always been so strong, but now she needed reassurance. How he wished he could take her in his arms, hold her close to him, and tell her it would be all right.
But through the Force and the bond of their love, he could at the very least send her thoughts to comfort her. He sent her memories of peaceful days on Naboo, of times spent together, promises of a future beyond the war, and all of the love in his heart.
"Please be strong, Padmé," he whispered. "Obi-Wan and I are on our way."