Notes: This was written well before ROTS came out, so there are no real spoilers. Thank you for reading. Feel free to review this fic, but do not flame me.

"It seems we never meet under happier circumstances, Senator," Obi-Wan Kenobi murmured with a small smile.

Senator Amidala, former queen of Naboo, had to agree with the Jedi. "You are right, Master Kenobi. This is the third time we have met, and the third time you must protect me."

Obi-Wan shook his head, now serious. "Not just you, m'lady." He looked down at the bundles of joy she held in her arms.

Two babies.

Leia and Luke Skywalker.

Amidala followed his gaze. "What will happen to them?" she asked bluntly.

"Both children will be adopted into the homes of trusted allies. Leia will remain on Alderaan. Luke will go to Tatooine."

There was a brief silence as Amidala digested this information. When she was done thinking, she lifted her dark eyes to meet his light ones. "And where will you go?" she asked quietly.

He sensed the importance of the question. Would he be leaving her too? Abandoning her to a life where she would be alone, devoid of any of the people dearest to her?

"I will be going to Tatooine as well. To watch over Luke," he added, wanting her to understand that he was not leaving her by choice, but to protect her son.

"It is all right, Obi-Wan," the Senator assured him, laying aside all pretenses of formality due to the personal level of the matter being discussed. "I know this must be done." Amidala drew in a breath before continuing. "However difficult it may be."

The Jedi knight nodded. "Thank you for understanding, m'lady." He bowed before her, and she dismissed him to tend to her children.

Once safely inside his room, Obi-Wan reflected on his conversation with the Senator. "'However difficult it may be,'" he repeated to himself. "And it will be difficult, Padme," he grimly acknowledged, able to guess what lay ahead, even without using the Force. "It will be."