Disclaimer: All charactes belong to George Lucas/Disney. I'm just having fun with them, for free.

A/N: This story is a oneshot which was written for a Disney challenge at TFN

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Greater Good

Anakin Skywalker felt utterly foolish. It might have something to do with the situation. At the highly dignified age of 21 he shouldn't have had to sneak out from the apartment he shared with his Master Obi-Wan in the Jedi Temple like an unruly kid. Not that he hadn't done that before, though. The difference was that 'before' he had actually been an unruly kid. Now he was a married man and as such he should have been able to go straight to his wife's, no their, apartment by the end of the day. Nor should he have had to sneak into her apartment late in the evening.

Well, he'd got a lot of practice in doing that recently.

He was greeted in the door by C-3PO, the protocol droid he had built all those years back on Tatooine.

"Master Anakin, it's a pleasure to see you. Do come in. I will inform Miss Padme that you are here. Please take a seat," the droid said, with all his built in politeness and friendliness.

"I managed to bring this over myself," Anakin sighed quietly, following the droids advice. He knew fully well that following the -well- protocol was the easiest way to get rid of the talkative and meddling droid.

"Anakin, you're here! I'm so glad to see you."

His beautiful wife beamed towards him, and threw herself in his arms, all soft skin, unruly chestnut curls and a broad smile.

"I was sort of hoping you would drop by this evening," she said with a teasing smile, "so Threepio has been out fetching some dinner for us."

Surely he had. The table was ready with candles and sparkling glass and plates. The soup smelled deliciously, and so did the main course. After living on ration bars for the last week, he almost drooled by the smell of it. It tasted just as wonderfully as it smelled.

They were half-way through the dessert, a rich flavored baked fruit with blue ice, when Padme looked up at him.

"Anakin," there was a slight tremor in her voice, "I have something to tell you. Something important."

"Oh, what is it?"

She had seemed so happy the entire evening but now she somehow looked like a forlorn child, and it made his heart twist in agony. He couldn't stand seeing her nervous or unhappy. She was his Padme, his angel, and she should always be happy and smiling, at least if he could help it.

"It's…I…we…," she stopped for a moment, and he took her hand over the table.

"What is it? You are making me nervous."

"Anakin, we are…I am…we are going to be parents in eight months from now."

She stared anxiously at him over the table. Except the table wasn't there anymore. In his eagerness to take her in his arms and just hold her tight, he sprang forward, the table tilted over and the floor was covered with the rest of the food, including droplets of soup and small pieces of fruit.

"What? We are, I mean you are…are you sure?"

"Yes. Yes I am. Are you…happy, Anakin?"

"Happy? Of course I'm happy. This is wonderful. I'm going to be a dad. I will teach her to jump and run and duel and…"

"Her? You mean him?" Padme interjected, clearly amused by her husbands enthusiasm.

"Her!" He stated determinedly. "I'm sure it will be a girl with her mother's beautiful brown eyes and dark curls." And by that he scooped her up in his arms with a steady course for the bedroom.

"Oh, no, Master Anakin, what have you done now?" Threepio's exasperated sigh was almost human when he entered the dining room and saw the mess 'Master Anakin' had created. Then he called for a cleanbot. After all it was below his dignity to do housecleaning.

….

'beep—beeep-beeeeeeep'

Anakin turned in bed and tried to pull the pillow over his head to keep the annoying sound away.

'beep—beeep-beeeeeeep'

Oh, no! It was his commlink and he didn't even need the Force to know who was calling him at this time of the day, well night actually. He jumped out of bed and set off for the table where his comm had ended up the evening before, and immediately found his legs entangled in the bedsheets, resulting in a less than dignified dive onto the floor.

'beep—beeep-beeeeeeep'

He managed to free himself and finally reached his commlink.

"Yes, Master. No, Master. I just needed some fresh air. What? You mean now? Yes, Master, I'll be back in a moment."

He switched off the comm and turned to find his clothes that had been scattered over the entire floor. A rather sleepy Padme looked up at him from her bedsheets which miraculously still seemed neat and almost without a wrinkle.

"What was it, Anakin? Or maybe I shouldn't ask - I heard who it was," she said drowsily.

"You're right," he sighed, "I'm sorry. I would have liked to stay. So very, very much. But it seems to be for the greater good I have to leave you again."

"'Greater good'? I am your wife! I'm the greatest good you are ever gonna get!"

Her voice had a teasing undertone now, clearly trying to make his departure less sad, and without skipping a beat he looked at her still slim waistline before answering: "…and even greater will you be, in about 7 month's time."