Note: Basically, once I started imagining hot single dad Anakin Skywalker, I couldn't stop :) This was inspired by an "imagine your otp" prompt that I can't for the life of me find again, and it was supposed to be a quick oneshot but it mushroomed into 7k because I was having so much fun. Another quick note: There really was no way for Padmé to be the twins' biological mom in this AU, so their mom is some random other woman who took off after they were born and is not present in or important to the story.
If Anakin had known at the time how much he would later come to be grateful to Leia for punching one of her classmates in the face, he probably would have been less annoyed when he got the phone call.
He'd gotten back from work a little after five, and Ahsoka Tano, a high school student who picked the twins up from school every day and watched them until he got home, had told him that they were both acting strangely. Apparently, they'd kept their mouths clamped firmly shut on the way home from school no matter how many times Ahsoka had tried to get them to tell her how their day had been, and they'd eaten their after school snack and done their homework in silence before disappearing to their rooms for the rest of the afternoon
Anakin had assured a concerned Ahsoka that he'd be able to find out was wrong—they'd never kept anything from him before—and she left as Anakin began to make dinner.
By the time they were halfway through the meal, he could see what Ahsoka had meant. Anakin's mac and cheese could usually fix any problem either of his children had, and yet Luke simply pushed his around on the plate, looking glum, while Leia chewed hers anxiously and wouldn't look at her father. Deciding that enough was enough, Anakin had just opened his mouth to ask them what was going on when the phone rang.
He didn't recognize the number and strongly considered ignoring it so he could get back to his kids, but his sense of responsibility (which had been more or less nonexistent until he'd become a parent) won out and, sighing, he picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, may I speak to Anakin Skywalker?" said an unfamiliar woman's voice on the other end.
"That's me," said Anakin. "Who's calling?"
"Padmé Amidala. I'm Luke and Leia's teacher. I meant to call earlier in the day, but I got tied up after school this afternoon."
"No problem. I only got home an hour ago anyway," said Anakin absently, but he was surprised. He had no idea what reason Ms. Amidala could have for calling him in the middle of dinner. He saw her from a distance most mornings when he dropped the twins off at school, but he had never spoken to her; the twins raved about her enough that if he hadn't seen her with his own two eyes, he wouldn't have believed she was real.
"Oh, that's right. I always forget most jobs don't get out as early as mine," she said with a little laugh.
Anakin gave a polite chuckle in response, but he was impatient to get the call over with so he could return to the twins' mysterious problem. "Anyway, uh, is everything all right?" A thought occurred to him. "Have they been causing trouble in class?" He couldn't picture it. Luke was the sweetest kid on the planet, and Leia, though she'd inherited Anakin's temper, was generally much more self-controlled than Anakin himself had ever been. Their kindergarten and first grade teachers had gushed about what pleasures they were to have in class, and though that year's parent-teacher conferences hadn't yet taken place, Anakin had been sure their second grade teacher would say the same.
Ms. Amidala sighed. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm afraid Leia got in a fight with another student during recess today."
"What?" Anakin squawked. He whirled around to stare at the twins, who had both dropped their forks and were staring nervously back at him. "She would never—what happened?"
"She told me it was because he had made Luke cry, and Luke was crying so that may have been true. Unfortunately, I can't condone punching a fellow student in the face no matter what the provocation was."
"She punched him in the face?" Leia turned ashen at Anakin's raised voice, and Luke started gnawing on his fingernails.
"She did. Anyway, Mr. Skywalker, school policy dictates that I have to schedule a meeting with you and Leia to discuss this. In fact, Luke should probably be there as well since he seems to have been involved in the whole thing. I'm sorry," Ms. Amidala added, and she did indeed sound very sorry.
"No, I understand," said Anakin, still not quite able to believe his ears. "What day would be good for the meeting?"
They planned to meet after school the next day, and then Ms. Amidala apologized again and hung up. Anakin put the phone back and returned to his chair at the kitchen table, his face like a thundercloud. The twins looked at him fearfully.
"That was Ms. Amidala on the phone," he began, as if they didn't know perfectly well what the call was about. "Leia, she told me you got in a fight at school today, and you punched another kid in the face."
Leia's lower lip wobbled and she looked down at her feet. Luke, ever the sensitive one of the pair, started to cry. "It wasn't her fault, Dad," he sobbed. "She was just sticking up for me."
Anakin pulled his son onto his lap and hugged him close until his tears subsided into soft hiccups, but he turned a stern gaze on Leia. "Is it true, Leia? Did you punch the boy? You'd better be honest with me, young lady."
"It's true," she mumbled, still avoiding his eyes.
"Leia, look at me." Anakin waited until his daughter's anxious brown eyes met his hard blue ones. "That was very wrong of you. You can't go around punching people every time they say something you don't like." He had to admit, he often wished that wasn't the case, but Leia didn't need to know that.
"But Matt was really mean to Luke," the little girl protested. "He made him cry, Dad."
"If someone does something mean, doing something mean back to them doesn't fix anything," said Anakin. "You have to be the bigger person, and sometimes that means just walking away instead of trying to get even." Then he looked at Luke, figuring he'd better find out as many details of the story as possible before their meeting with Ms. Amidala the next day. "Luke, what did Matt say to you?"
Luke hid his face in Anakin's shirt and didn't answer for a long time. When he finally did speak, his voice was muffled. "He said—he said the reason we don't have a mom is because she left because she—she didn't want us."
Anakin had always thought the phrase "seeing red" was just an expression, but at that moment it felt like the entire room actually did turn red as he clutched Luke tighter and tried to process his words. "He said what?"
"See," Leia said, but she didn't sound triumphant. Instead she looked like she was about to cry, and Luke's eyes were also welling up again. Anakin was going to kill this Matt kid.
He pulled Leia onto his lap too and hugged both of them so tight that they started protesting. "You listen to me," he said fiercely. "Your mom left because she wasn't ready to be your mom, but I know if she could see you both now, she'd be very sorry she missed out on getting to spend every day of the past seven years with you. Matt doesn't know what he's talking about. Besides, I love you more than enough for two parents. Being your dad is the best thing that's ever happened to me. Okay?"
They sniffled and nodded, and Anakin kissed the tops of their heads. Then he remembered the meeting. "I'll be picking you up from school tomorrow, and all three of us have to talk to Ms. Amidala about what happened. But afterwards, we'll go out for ice cream."
The logical part of Anakin's brain that tended to speak in Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice told him it wasn't a good idea to reward your kid with ice cream after she'd punched her classmate, but as he saw his tearful children start to cheer up, Anakin resolved to let them get two scoops each.
Within an hour of arriving at the office the next day, Anakin had told Obi-Wan the whole story. They were both accountants for an insurance company—Anakin because he'd needed a stable job when he'd become a single dad trying to raise twins, and Obi-Wan because for some reason he seemed to actually like accounting.
"I can't say I agree with your decision about ice cream," Obi-Wan said rather disapprovingly, indeed sounding just like the logical part of Anakin's brain. "On the other hand, I can't exactly blame you for it, either. What an awful thing for them to hear, and from a classmate! His parents ought to be ashamed."
"I know," said Anakin. "I swear, if I ever get my hands on that little bastard…"
The rest of the day passed quicker than usual, although that was likely due to the fact that Anakin was leaving three hours early so he could make it to the school in time for his meeting with Ms. Amidala. At two o'clock, he bid Obi-Wan goodbye and jogged out to his car.
Anakin arrived at the twins' school just as the bell rang, and he quickly went inside and headed towards their classroom. There were a few kids still filing out when he got there, so he waited until they were out of the doorway before stepping inside.
He spotted Luke and Leia immediately; they were sitting at one of the tables together, looking nervous, though they perked up slightly when he smiled encouragingly at them. "You must be Mr. Skywalker," someone said.
Anakin turned his head and his jaw nearly dropped as he was confronted with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long, curly brown hair and warm brown eyes, though at the moment she was looking rather solemn. Anakin dazedly wondered if she was some kind of angel, then realized she was waiting for him to speak. "Um, yes," he coughed, sticking out his hand for her to shake. "Anakin's fine."
She took his hand and smiled at him; Anakin thought he was going to pass out. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Anakin. Thank you for making time for this."
"Of course. Nice to meet you, too, Ms. Amidala."
"Please, call me Padmé."
"Padmé," Anakin repeated, liking the way the name rolled off his tongue. He was still feeling extremely caught off guard. He'd seen Ms. Amidala—Padmé—nearly every morning for the past three months, and while he distantly remembered noting offhandedly that she was pretty, he had somehow never before realized exactly how pretty.
Padmé smiled again and gestured at the table where Luke and Leia were sitting. Anakin awkwardly attempted to fold himself into one of the child-sized chairs, his knees sticking high into the air. Padmé took the remaining chair, somehow managing to look graceful while doing so, but in his defense, Anakin thought, her legs were quite a bit shorter than his.
"I trust we all know why we're here," Padmé said gravely. She seemed to be mostly addressing the twins, but Anakin found himself nodding along with them as though he, too, was a child in trouble. Stop it, Anakin. You're the adult here, he scolded himself, though he didn't really feel like one in his tiny child's chair. Padmé continued, "Leia, can you tell us what happened? Don't leave anything out."
After a moment, Leia began to speak, dutifully reciting the tale. Anakin clenched his fists when she said what the other boy had told Luke, and he saw Padmé's eyes widen; that part was clearly new to her. "Thank you," she said when Leia had finished. "Luke, is there anything you'd like to add?"
Luke shook his head, looking miserable. Anakin reached over to give his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
Padmé turned her gaze back to Leia. "What Matt said to Luke was very disrespectful and unkind, and I will be speaking to him about it. However, that doesn't make what you did okay, Leia. I understand that you just wanted to stick up for your brother, but it's not nice to hurt people no matter how much they hurt you first."
Leia nodded, looking ashamed. "Dad said you have to be the bigger person and walk away," she offered in a small voice.
"Your dad is a very smart man," Padmé replied, bestowing that beautiful smile on Anakin once again. "Leia, I want you to write an apology letter to Matt and give it to him tomorrow."
Leia sighed and looked at Anakin, silently begging him to get her out of it, but he just nodded at her and she returned her gaze to Padmé, looking defeated. "Okay."
"Matt will be writing an apology to Luke once I talk to him about this," added Padmé, which seemed to cheer Leia up a little. "Now, would you two mind waiting out in the hall for just a moment so I can talk to your dad?"
The twins obligingly got up and went outside, leaving Padmé alone at the table with Anakin, who felt even more ridiculous sitting in his miniscule chair now that the kids were gone.
"I had no idea that's what Matt said to them," Padmé said in a low voice once Luke and Leia were out of the room. "They wouldn't tell me yesterday. I shouldn't be saying this, and don't tell them I did, but…I can't really blame Leia for reacting the way she did."
The corners of Anakin's mouth turned up slightly; he felt vindicated. "Thanks for saying that, Ms.—Padmé. They were both really upset about it."
Padmé nodded understandingly. She hesitated for a minute, then began tentatively, "Their mother—"
"She's not in the picture," Anakin said shortly.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
He shrugged. "Don't be. It was a long time ago, when they were still babies. We're better off without her, all three of us."
She nodded again, then gave him a small smile. "This incident aside, they really are great kids. You've done a wonderful job with them."
Anakin returned her smile, pride warming his heart. "Thanks. That means a lot." After a moment's pause, he added, "They both adore you, you know. They're always talking about how smart you are, and how nice, and how much fun your lessons are. Actually, they've talked you up so much that I was a little nervous about finally meeting you in person."
Padmé laughed, and Anakin could've sworn she was blushing. "I hope I lived up to your expectations."
Feeling rather bold, Anakin smiled and said, "You exceeded them, actually."
She was definitely blushing now, and so was he, and they sat there blushing and smiling at each other until Anakin came to his senses, cleared his throat, and said he'd better go since Luke and Leia were still waiting outside. Padmé thanked him again for his time and wished him a good afternoon, and a moment later he was out in the hall.
"What did she want to talk to you about?" asked Luke curiously.
"We were just chatting," Anakin responded. "Nothing exciting. Now, who's ready for ice cream?"
The twins cheered and practically dragged him out to the car, but he couldn't help but cast a final backward glance towards Padmé's classroom before they disappeared around the corner.
Padmé let out a breath as soon as the door had closed behind Anakin. She dropped her head into her hands and cursed herself for acting like such an idiot. She hadn't really been prepared for the encounter—she vaguely recognized Anakin, having seen him drop off Luke and Leia in the mornings, and had always privately found him rather attractive, but actually seeing him up close and talking to him…well, it was a different matter entirely.
She shook her head to clear it and heaved a sigh. You exceeded them, actually. Had he been flirting with her? No, surely he was just being nice…but he had definitely turned red after he'd said it.
Get it together, Padmé, she told herself sternly. You're a grown woman, not a thirteen-year-old with a crush.
She shouldn't be thinking this sort of thing, anyway. Dating a parent of two of her students would be highly unprofessional, and Padmé was nothing if not professional. Not that she'd been having any thoughts of dating Anakin, of course. He probably wasn't available, anyway; just because he was no longer with the twins' mother didn't mean there wasn't someone else in his life.
Giving herself another silent rebuke for being so ridiculous, Padmé stood up and began tidying the classroom in order to distract herself. Still, in the back of her mind she found herself almost wishing Luke or Leia would cause more trouble so she'd have an excuse to see Anakin again.
"I almost wish Luke or Leia would cause more trouble so I'd have an excuse to see Padmé again," Anakin told Obi-Wan the next day, having filled him in on the Skywalkers' disciplinary meeting adventures.
As far as Anakin had ever been able to tell, Obi-Wan didn't seem to have any kind of personal life, which was convenient for three reasons. One, he was always more or less willing to listen to Anakin talk about his own personal life. Two, he was always available to babysit on the weekends in case Anakin ever bothered to go out and actually have a personal life. And three, it gave Anakin the freedom to invent all sorts of dramatic backstories and secret double lives for his friend, which were made all the funnier by the older man's exasperated huffs and denials.
"Don't be irresponsible, Anakin," Obi-Wan chided. "She seems to have been remarkably understanding about the whole situation, but I doubt that would hold true a second time."
"You're right," sighed Anakin. "Okay, let me ask you a question—a hypothetical one, since Padmé's probably not even single, because, seriously, how could she be? But just hypothetically, would it be morally wrong to date your kids' teacher?"
Obi-Wan considered the question. "Hypothetically, it might upset your kids, and it might make their classmates tease them, and it might make the other parents accuse the teacher of showing favoritism to your kids over theirs, and it might negatively impact your kids' education if the relationship were to go south. Other than that, though, it wouldn't be morally wrong at all."
Anakin glared at him. "Thanks a lot."
"I'm just being realistic, which is something you should try to do more often." He gave a pointed glance at the spreadsheet on Anakin's computer which had remained untouched for the past half hour.
"You're no fun," Anakin whined. "I just came over here for some advice, and now you're attacking me."
"Better to be attacked than fired, which you would be if anyone ever bothered to come in here and make sure we were being productive."
"But they never bother, because they know you'll keep us both on task." Anakin heaved another dramatic sigh and pushed off Obi-Wan's desk to propel his swivel chair back over to his own desk, knocking some of Obi-Wan's papers askew in the process and causing the other man to scowl at him.
The sounds of typing filled the otherwise silent room for several minutes until Obi-Wan said, "It's almost December."
Anakin's fingers paused above his keyboard. "And?"
"Aren't parent-teacher conferences always in December?"
Sometimes Anakin thought Obi-Wan had a better handle on his life than he himself did. "Oh yeah, I completely forgot. Hey, that means—"
"You'll get to see Padmé again soon after all," Obi-Wan finished. "Just the two of you, alone in the classroom…"
"Wow, dirty mind much? I wouldn't have expected that of you."
"What? Oh, that's not what I meant—"
"I can't believe I forgot conferences were coming up," Anakin said again, interrupting Obi-Wan's protests. "Bless you, Obi-Wan." And he returned to his spreadsheet with renewed vigor.
Every day for the next several weeks, Anakin made a point of smiling at Padmé when he dropped the twins off at school, and he was pleased to note that she smiled back every time. Sometimes if he was really feeling daring, he'd approach her and make conversation for about thirty seconds before having to dash off to work. Things were going very well, in his opinion, though Obi-Wan always laughed at him when he bounded into the office announcing that not only had he talked to Padmé, but she'd actually wished him a good day before he'd left.
"If I'd known 'have a nice day' was such a grand romantic gesture I would've asked for your hand in marriage a long time ago, since you've said it to me nearly every single day for the past eight years."
Anakin sniffed. "This is serious," he said as Obi-Wan continued to snicker. "I can't believe you're trivializing my love life like this."
"Oh, is that what you call it? I'd call it stalking your children's second grade teacher."
"I don't know why I even tell you anything."
Leia's apology letter had gone over well, as had Matt's, so the whole ordeal had been put behind them (but Anakin still harbored a grudge against "that little punk Matt" even though his kids seemed to have let bygones be bygones). In what felt like no time at all, it was the second week of December, which meant only one thing: parent-teacher conferences.
The elementary, middle, and high schools were all closed for the day, so Ahsoka was available to babysit while Anakin was at his conference in the morning and work in the afternoon. Luke and Leia had been looking forward to it all week; they were excited to have the day off and to get to spend even more time with Ahsoka than usual. Anakin had been equally eager, though for rather different reasons.
Friday morning, Anakin drove over to the school in high spirits, though he was also nervous, a combination of the thought of seeing Padmé one-on-one again and the worry that she'd say the twins were horrible students, even though he knew the chances of that were slim to none.
He parked the car and gave his reflection one last check in the mirror—he'd put a little extra effort into his appearance that morning, not that he would've admitted it had anyone asked. Taking a deep breath, Anakin got out of the car and walked once again in the direction of Padmé Amidala's classroom.
The door was ajar when he arrived, but he knocked lightly anyway, and Padmé's voice came floating out, inviting him in. "Hi," said Anakin, smiling in greeting.
"Hello." Padmé returned his smile, as breathtakingly beautiful as ever. "It's nice to see you again, Anakin. Please, have a seat."
To Anakin's relief, there was an actual adult-sized chair set up on the other side of Padmé's desk, and he sat down as she settled herself in the chair across from him. They briefly made small talk before Padmé said, "I just want to start out by saying what wonderful children Luke and Leia are. They're a pleasure to have in class."
Anakin swore he was going to start a list someday of all the teachers who told him that. "Thank you. I'm glad to hear it."
"Leia's classmates all look up to her," continued Padmé. "She's a real leader. And Luke is so kind and friendly. He always makes sure to include everyone when they're playing at recess…"
And so it went for the next half an hour. Padmé hardly had a bad word to say about either of them, though she did mention that Leia could sometimes be too assertive and Luke had a tendency to daydream, both of which Anakin already knew. He dutifully took notes the whole time, partly for his own benefit but mostly because the twins always insisted upon hearing exactly what their teachers said about them.
"Overall, I could hardly ask for two better students," Padmé was saying as the conference drew to a close. "They're both very bright. I think they'll go far."
Anakin swelled with pride. He knew his children were the best, of course, but it was always nice to hear someone else say so. "Thank you. And I just want to tell you again how much they love your class. They told me the other day that you're the best teacher they've ever had."
Padmé beamed at him, and Anakin felt his stomach do a backflip. "That's very kind of them. It was lovely to talk to you again, Anakin—and under better circumstances than our last meeting."
Anakin laughed. "Ditto." Checking his watch, he realized with some disappointment that he was due at work in fifteen minutes. "I have to be off now, but thanks so much for your time."
"It was my pleasure," said Padmé, and she walked him to the door.
Anakin had just placed his hand on the doorknob when a wild impulse overtook him. He swallowed nervously and turned to look at Padmé. "Actually, Padmé, I was wondering…I was wondering if maybe you'd like to have coffee sometime?"
Her lips parted in surprise. Anakin's face felt like it was on fire, and he thought he was going to throw up. What had he been thinking? This was a terrible idea. But then Padmé turned slightly pink and said, "I'd love to."
"Really?" he blurted out. Smooth, Skywalker. Real smooth.
She blushed harder and nodded. "Would next weekend work for you?"
They made plans and exchanged phone numbers, and Anakin left a few minutes later with a spring in his step.
"You will not believe what just happened," he nearly shouted when he burst into his and Obi-Wan's office fifteen minutes later. And before Obi-Wan even had the chance to ask, Anakin was excitedly telling him everything.
"Sounds like you had a much more eventful morning than I did," Obi-Wan remarked, smiling. "That's great news, Anakin. And I suppose you were right about the hidden meaning of all those 'have a good day's," he couldn't resist adding.
Anakin was walking on air all day—until about two-thirty, when he suddenly said in horror, "What am I going to tell Luke and Leia?"
Alarmed at the outburst, Obi-Wan swiveled around to look at him. "The truth?" he suggested.
"But what if it goes badly and I've gotten them all worked up for nothing?" Anakin chewed his lip, thinking. "All right, here's what I'll do. I won't say anything to them for now, but if I get a second date, then I'll tell them everything. How does that sound?"
"Fair enough, I suppose. Now, you'd really better get back to that spreadsheet."
The next week flew by, and Saturday dawned cold and snowy. "How do I look?" Anakin asked anxiously as he ushered Obi-Wan, who had offered to look after Luke and Leia while Anakin was on his date, into the house.
"Like you're going to pass out," Obi-Wan informed him, "but otherwise good."
"Obi-Wan!" The twins came barreling around the corner and threw themselves into Obi-Wan's arms. He and Ahsoka were tied for favorite babysitter.
"You two have gotten awfully big since the last time I saw you," he told them.
Luke giggled. "But it's only been a few weeks!"
Anakin turned to his kids. "I'll be home soon. Be good while I'm gone, and try not to torment Obi-Wan too much."
"We won't!" Leia promised, and they immediately marched Obi-Wan to the couch and began arguing over which Disney movie they should watch.
Chuckling, Anakin headed outside, got in the car, and drove towards the address Padmé had given him. She lived in a small building a couple towns over. Anakin called up to her apartment to tell her he'd arrived, and she came outside a few minutes later wearing a fashionable winter coat and boots, snowflakes already starting to stick in her long hair.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they got in Anakin's car.
"I thought we could try this nice local place I always go to," he replied, and Padmé told him that sounded perfect.
Ten minutes later, they were walking into the coffee shop, bringing a gust of cold air with them. They picked out a table by the window, and Anakin helped Padmé out of her coat and draped it over her chair before doing the same with his own. They were heading up to the counter to order when a voice spoke.
"Skyguy? Is that you?"
Anakin's head jerked up at the familiar nickname, and there was Ahsoka Tano, standing behind the counter. He'd forgotten she worked here. "Um, hey," he said a little awkwardly.
Ahsoka's surprised gaze fell on Padmé. "Hi, Ms. Amidala!"
"Hi, Ahsoka."
"You know each other?" Anakin asked, confused.
"Of course," said Padmé with a little laugh. "When someone's picking a student up after school, they have to check with me first, and Ahsoka picks up Luke and Leia every day."
"Right," he said, feeling foolish, and also rather embarrassed that his kids' babysitter had caught him on a date with their teacher.
Padmé ordered first, then moved to the side to wait for her coffee. Anakin placed his order, and as soon as Padmé was out of earshot, he leaned forward and hissed, "Don't you dare say anything to the twins about this, Snips."
"They don't know you're on a date with their teacher?" she whispered back.
"No!"
Ahsoka shook her head disapprovingly, but promised not to mention it to them. When their drinks were ready, Anakin and Padmé returned to their table and easily slipped into conversation.
"So, you're an accountant?" she asked after a few minutes spent discussing the weather and the holiday season.
He nodded. "Yeah. Not exactly what I would've pictured myself doing, but it pays the bills."
Padmé looked at him curiously. "What would you have pictured, then?"
Anakin gazed out the window for a moment before looking back at her. "I always dreamed of being a pilot," he admitted. "Not for, like, a commercial airline or anything like that, just for fun. I think I liked the freedom of it—the idea of just being able to go off wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted. But that was out of the question once the twins came along, obviously. I had to grow up for their sake, since their mom refused to."
Padmé hesitantly covered his hand with her own, and Anakin smiled shyly. "Do you ever wish things had, I don't know, turned out differently? So that you could've been a pilot?"
He considered the question. "No. Because that would mean the twins would never have been born, and I can't—I don't even want to imagine a life without them. Or else it would mean their mom had stayed around, and I can't imagine that either." After a moment, he asked, "What about you? Did you always want to be a teacher?"
She laughed. "I wanted to be president."
"Of the United States?"
"Yeah." Her eyes twinkled merrily. "I was a big dreamer. I thought if I was president, I could help people, make a difference in their lives. I think that's why I ended up as a teacher, actually. Making a difference in a smaller way."
"But still an important one," Anakin added, feeling his respect for her grow tenfold. Not for the first time, he thought in amazement that Luke and Leia really hadn't been exaggerating all the times they'd sung Padmé's praises.
They sat talking together for another hour, then another one after that, until they were the only ones left and realized they were preventing the place from closing for the day.
Anakin drove her home and walked her up to the front door of her building. "I had a really nice time," Padmé said shyly.
"So did I." Anakin bit his lip and asked, "Maybe we could do it again sometime?"
She smiled. "I'd like that."
Hesitatingly, Anakin reached out to brush a snowflake from her cheek, and he left his hand there as he leaned down to kiss her. Padmé kissed him back and brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders as he moved his other hand to cup her face. They stood there for a minute, snow drifting down around them and dusting their hair and clothing, before breaking apart, flushed and smiling.
"The twins are probably wondering where I am," said Anakin reluctantly. "I'll see you at school Monday morning."
"I'm looking forward to it," she replied, the two of them still smiling like idiots. After another long moment, Anakin forced himself to turn around, get back in his car, and head home to his children. His children who, he now realized, he was going to have to tell about his date, since a second one was in sight.
Anakin waited until he and Padmé had concrete plans for a second date before sitting the twins down at the kitchen table one night and telling them that they Needed To Talk.
"What did we do this time?" asked Leia, while Luke looked nervous; in their experience, nothing good ever came of Needing To Talk.
"What? No, you didn't do anything. It's about something I did, and am planning to do again." Anakin took a deep breath. This was almost as nerve-racking as asking Padmé out in the first place had been. "Remember just before Christmas when I was meeting a friend one day and Obi-Wan came over to look after you?"
They nodded. "We watched The Little Mermaid," Luke recalled.
"That's right. Well, I didn't quite tell you the whole truth. I was actually meeting Ms. Amidala, and we were going on a date."
Generally Luke and Leia didn't look all that alike at first glance, but as their jaws dropped and eyes widened in identical expressions of shock, it was very clear that they were twins. "What?" gasped Luke.
"You went on a date with Ms. Amidala?" exclaimed Leia. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I should have told you," Anakin admitted, "and I'm sorry I didn't. But I figured, well, your dad going on a date with your teacher would probably be a little weird for you, and I didn't want to upset you for no reason if the date ended up not going well and we decided not to see each other again. Except it did go well, and we're going on another one this weekend, so I wanted to tell you two about it and see what you thought. Are you okay with it?"
Luke looked surprised. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"
"Ms. Amidala is the best," added Leia, beaming.
Anakin smiled back at them, relieved. He was sure if they'd been even a year or two older, the situation would definitely have bothered them, but as far as the seven-year-olds were concerned, they loved Anakin and they loved Padmé, so they didn't see why they shouldn't love the idea of them loving each other. Indeed, Luke asked next, "Are you going to get married?"
"That would be so cool!" said Leia, looking thrilled at the thought.
"Uh, it's a little soon to be thinking about that," Anakin said hastily. "We've only been on one date. But I'm really glad you guys are happy about all this."
The second date turned into a third and then a fourth, and that evening it was Anakin who was on the receiving end of a We Need To Talk. "Everything all right?" he asked Padmé, feeling nervous. Was she going to say this had all been a horrible idea, and she didn't actually like him at all, and she never wanted to see him again?
"I was just thinking," she started. "I was kind of concerned about going on a date with you when you first asked, since you're the parent of two of my students, and I was worried it might be inappropriate."
"Oh." Anakin's heart sank. She was going to end it. He should've known it was too good to be true. Obi-Wan was right, he should try to think realistically more often, because if he'd thought about this a little more he would have realized how tricky the situation was and he never would have asked her out at all.
"But the thing is, I really like you, Anakin," Padmé continued, blushing slightly. "And I thought, who cares if other people think it's inappropriate? None of this affects how I do my job, or how I treat Luke and Leia in the classroom, or any of the other students for that matter, so really, I don't care what anyone else thinks."
Was she saying what he thought she was saying? "Won't you get in trouble?" he asked.
She shook her head. "The school doesn't have any kind of policy about this. Sure, the other teachers and parents and the administration might all grumble a little, but they don't have the grounds to actually do anything about it. I checked."
Anakin grinned. "You did?"
Padmé turned a deep crimson. "The day after I met you," she admitted, and Anakin laughed in delight. Once her own chuckles had died down, Padmé took a deep breath and said, "Basically, what I'm saying is…I want to have a real, actual relationship with you."
Feeling like his heart could burst, Anakin reached out and took her hands in his own. "Me too," he said, and he leaned in to kiss his girlfriend.
Luke and Leia didn't have much of a reaction to the news, as they couldn't really see the difference between going on dates with someone and actually dating them. They could see how happy Anakin was, though, and that made them happy, too.
Eyebrows were raised the first time Anakin kissed a blushing Padmé on the cheek in front of numerous other parents and teachers after dropping the twins off at school, and while they became a hot topic of gossip for a time, the whole thing blew over soon enough when it became clear that, as Padmé had told Anakin, their relationship was not interfering with her ability to do her job.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan was delighted. He insisted it was because Anakin was his friend and Obi-Wan wanted the best for him, though Anakin suspected he was equally glad to no longer have to put up with his lovesick whining and pining. It came at the price of increased babysitting duties as Anakin and Padmé began spending more and more time together on the weekends, but Obi-Wan didn't mind; he loved the twins.
He did mind, however, one night a few weeks later when, long after having put Luke and Leia to bed, he was dozing on the couch only to be rudely awoken by the front door slamming loudly. Anakin and Padmé had just arrived back from their night out, and Padmé was currently pressed up against the door as Anakin kissed her passionately. He pulled away as he heard someone clearing their throat, and he and Padmé, both startled and a little abashed, turned to see Obi-Wan standing with his arms crossed.
"I'm assuming you had a pleasant evening?" he asked, clearly suppressing a smirk.
"Very pleasant, thank you," Anakin coughed, as Padmé straightened her hair with as much dignity as she could muster. "How were the twins?"
"Perfect as always," replied Obi-Wan. "We had a tea party. It was a big hit with the stuffed animals, or so I was told."
Anakin snickered at the image before turning to Padmé. "Why don't you head upstairs? I'll be up in a minute," he murmured in her ear, making her shiver. Then he added helpfully, "It's the door without any princess stickers on it."
Padmé laughed before mounting the stairs, leaving Anakin alone with Obi-Wan. Anakin beckoned the other man closer and whispered, "Hypothetically, would it be morally wrong to—?"
"I really don't want to know the end of that sentence," Obi-Wan cut him off. "Besides, if I said it would be morally wrong to do whatever undoubtedly morally wrong thing you're about to do, would it stop you from doing it?"
"Probably not."
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. "I'll see you on Monday." By the time Obi-Wan left and shut the front door behind him, Anakin was already halfway up the stairs.
That night, he was especially glad that the twins had always been very sound sleepers.
"Dad, wake up! Can we have pancakes? You said you'd make them last weekend but you didn't, so you promised you would this weekend instead. Pleeeeeease?"
Padmé's eyes fluttered open. She yawned, rolled over, and sat up to find two seven-year-olds staring at her. "Ms. Amidala? I mean, Padmé?" asked Leia in surprise. Padmé had told the twins to call her by her first name outside of school, though they still sometimes forgot. "What are you doing here?"
Luckily, Anakin, who had also been woken, came to her rescue. "Our date went very late last night and Padmé was too tired to drive home, so she slept here," he explained smoothly. Padmé hid a smile; his words technically were true.
"Oh," said Leia, nodding, as if this made perfect sense. "Well, hurry up, Dad, we're hungry!" And they were gone as quickly as they'd come.
Anakin groaned and flopped back down. Padmé laughed. "You'd better go before they burn the house down trying to make pancakes themselves."
"That almost happened once, actually," said Anakin, grinning. "Stay for breakfast?"
"I'd love to." Anakin sat up once more, gave Padmé a lingering kiss, and obligingly went downstairs. Padmé rummaged around in his drawers and threw on one of his shirts, which was almost a dress on her, then followed him.
She stopped in the doorway for a moment to take in the scene in front of her. Anakin was shuffling around in nothing but pajama pants, getting out a frying pan and fiddling with the oven as Luke and Leia excitedly stirred the pancake batter, both with streaks of flour on their faces. Padmé smiled broadly, thinking that her heart had never felt so full, and she walked over to join them.
Three Years Later
"It'll be the best vacation ever!" Luke said excitedly. They were going to Disneyworld that summer to celebrate Luke and Leia finishing elementary school. "And maybe next summer once you're married—"
"Luke! Dad said not to say anything!" hissed Leia, and kicked her brother under the table, but she didn't need to; Luke's expression of delight had already been replaced by one of horror when he realized what he'd said. Padmé had dropped her fork and was looking wide-eyed at Anakin, who was at a loss for words.
"Could you give us a minute, please?" he said in a voice of forced calm after several moments, and Luke and Leia obediently dashed out of the kitchen. Anakin slowly stood up and walked over to Padmé's chair, her gaze following him closely. He took a deep breath and dropped down to one knee in front of her, and she gasped.
"I was planning to do this as some grand romantic gesture," he said. "I hadn't figured out exactly what yet, but I can assure you it would have been very grand and very romantic. But now the cat's out of the bag, and I haven't even had the chance to get a ring yet, so…"
Glancing around, Anakin grabbed a relatively sauce-less strand of spaghetti off Padmé's plate and fashioned it into a ring as she started to laugh. He offered it to her, grinning, and said, "Padmé Amidala, I have quite literally been in love with you since the day we met. Will you marry me?"
"Yes," she replied immediately, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face as she reached out to take the spaghetti-ring and place it on her finger, not even minding the sliminess. "Of course I'll marry you, Ani."
In the other room, Luke and Leia, who had been eavesdropping, beamed and high-fived each other. "Just think," said Leia smugly. "It's all thanks to me punching Matt in the face."