Author's Note: You guys do not know how excited I was every time I saw another person respond to this. You guys are the best.

Guest review: No, Qui-Gon still died. Pretty much all the major changes were shown or at least spelled out. The only thing that really changed was Anakin's attitude.

At least, until the last scene...

Anyway, on to the chapter!

Chapter 2: Aftermath

Mace touched Anakin's shoulder. "Anakin. It's over. Well done."

Anakin didn't respond for a moment. He lay there, staring at Mace apathetically. Finally, he sat up.

"Palpatine's dead?" He sounded like knew it already, but he had to check.

Mace nodded. "His body vanished, but I know I got a killing blow. He's gone."

Anakin still didn't respond. Mace studied him for a minute.

"I'm going to tell the Senate what happened. You should go back to the Temple."

Anakin nodded. Mace turned his attention to locating his lightsaber, which had flown away when he was knocked over. Anakin didn't say anything until after he had found it.

"I shouldn't have come."

Mace straightened up and looked at him. "Why not?"

"I wasn't any help. I- It was almost too hard for me."

Mace paused for another moment. "I disarmed him and backed him into that corner just before you came in. He'd killed three Masters, he nearly killed me, and suddenly I could disarm him easily."

"What do you mean?"

"He wanted to appear helpless when you came in. It would have been much harder to subdue him without that."

Mace turned away to the three fallen masters, and knelt down beside them to confirm what he knew. The Sith had struck true, and all three were dead.

Anakin brushed past him, and left the room.

Mace had told him to go back to the Temple, but Anakin had no intention of doing that. There was only one place he was at all interested in being at right now.

His speeder was still waiting for him. He hopped in and flew off, driving at speeds reckless even for him. Angry shouts followed him, but he ignored them. He wasn't going to crash, and he didn't care about anyone's opinion of him right now.

Flying relaxed him. It was easier to immerse himself in the Force, forget everything else. He reacted to what happened around him without really processing it, instinctively dodging and weaving. When he reached Padmé's apartment, he almost wished it was a longer trip. Almost.

Mostly, he was just glad to be there.

Padmé hadn't noticed his speeder approaching. She was standing just beside the door, adjusting her cape. She turned when he came in.

"Anakin! I just got called to-" She stopped as he stepped towards her and hugged her fiercely. "Ani? What's wrong?"

"Palpatine's dead."

She pulled back and looked at him, her eyes wide. "What? What happened? Who-"

"He was the Sith Lord. Mace killed him."

Her mouth dropped partway open. "Palpatine- A Sith Lord? Truly?"

"I wish I could say no."

"How?"

"I don't know. I never suspected it."

"Nobody did. How did they find out?"

Anakin closed his eyes. "He told me he knew how to save you. He gave enough clues that I could piece it together."

"Oh, Anakin, that must have been so hard. I know you were always close to him..."

"It was hard. I'll survive."

Padmé didn't spend more time sympathizing. She could tell he didn't want it. "That must be what this emergency session is about. I got the call minutes ago, I was just about to leave."

"Mace said he'd speak to the Senate."

"Would you come with me, please? I need moral support."

He nodded. "Of course. Let's go."

The Senate was not happy. Anyone could have heard the discontented whispers, and Mace could feel the waves of annoyance through the Force as well. Speaking with politicians was never a Jedi's favorite job, and tonight was worse than usual. After all, he'd called them in from their evening engagements, and none of them wanted to hear more about the war. They waited, extremely impatient, for everyone to arrive.
When they were all there, Mace moved the Jedi pod towards the center podium.

"It is my duty to inform you that Chancellor Palpatine is dead. This afternoon, it was revealed that he was the Sith Lord we have been searching for, and so I and three other Jedi Masters came to his office to arrest him. He resisted arrest, and in doing so killed the masters that came with me. In the end, I was able to subdue the Chancellor, but it was clear even then that it was impossible to capture him safely. I took it upon myself to execute him in the name of justice." He bowed slightly, and moved the pod back. There was a stunned silence from the entire Senate, then flurries of whispers as they tried to process this.

The Chancellor's aide recovered first. "Really, Master Jedi? Our own Chancellor, elected and endorsed by the entire Senate, a Sith? This is a farfetched tale. I assume you have proof?"

"Anakin Skywalker, who originally discovered the Chancellor's secret, can verify it."

"Ah. Of course. Do you have any more... substantial proof?"

"I do not understand. What more is required?"

"You see, Master Jedi, the late Chancellor told me, not too long ago, that he feared a plot by the Jedi to seize control of the Republic. He told me that you had grown fond of your military power, and you planned to kill him and take control of the Senate. Given your absolute lack of proof, aside from the testimony of another Jedi whose loyalties are suspect, I am forced to conclude his fears were well-founded."

"I do not tell a lie, Senator. I can show you the lightsaber wounds on my fellow Jedi, now unfortunately deceased."

"Who is to say that you yourself did not murder them in your lust for power?"

"The security tapes, then. Those should show the proof."

"Unfortunately the senator kept no cameras within his own office. Unless you can produce more solid evidence... The Chancellor's alledged weapon, perhaps?"

"It fell out a window during the course of the fight. I do not know where it is."

"How convenient. Under the circumstances, I am forced to place you and all your fellow Jedi under arrest for treason. Appropriate orders will be sent to the clone commanders. You will come quietly or you will be killed.

"WHAT?" Mace thundered. The Chancellor's aide did not even seem to notice. He was calmly pressing buttons, and Mace lost all his pod controlls.

There was nothing more to do. He sat down on one of the chairs, feeling utterly defeated.

In the Nubian pod, Anakin and Padmé looked at each other in horror.

Anakin paced through Padmé's apartment, while Padmé sat on the couch, looking pale.

"What are you going to do, Ani?"

He stopped. "I'm not going to turn myself in, but I... " He sat down opposite her, head in his hands. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what I want to do."

She came to sit by him. "We'll figure something out. We always have."

He looked up at her, and put his arms around her. "Of course we will. I just need time to think. Tomorrow, I'll have everything figured out."

Shaak Ti was practicing her forms when her comlink went off. She shut down her lightsaber and went to pick it up. "Master Ti."

"Shaak, this is Mace."

"Mace! How did your confrontation-"

"Palpatine was the Sith. He's dead, but he killed the others first. The Jedi are declared traitors and are to be arrested."

"What!?"

"Don't kill anyone. Don't let anyone be captured. You're in charge; I can't get to you and the rest of the Council's away. May the Force be with you."

"And you," she said automatically.

Her comlink faded to static. She stared at it for a long moment, then drew herself together. "Serra!"

The Jedi Knight shut down her lightsabers and came over. "Yes, Master?"

"We're leaving Coruscant, all of us. Inform the flight wing to start prepping all the ships we have with a hyperdrive. I'm going to give the general announcement."

"We're... What? What in space has happened, Master Ti?"

"I'm not sure. If Mace Windu escapes, he can tell us more. Until then, we follow his instructions."

"Yes, Master Ti."

Obi-Wan looked around and smiled. The droids were gone, driven off of Utapu. Grevious was dead. A clear victory for the Republic. He shut down his lightsaber and wandered over towards Cody.

Cody was conferring with someone by commlink, probably informing Coruscant of their success. He stopped a few feet away, waiting for him to be done. After this battle, commendations were definitely in order. Possibly even promotion.

No, he reminded himself. Clones didn't get promoted. They were trained to their positions, and they knew every bit of strategy to excell at their job. Nothing more.

Cody's conversation ended, and Obi-Wan stepped forward to congratulate him.

Cody spoke first. "Hello, sir. The droids are all gone. Well done. Ah- I regret to inform you that you're under arrest."

Obi-Wan froze for a moment, trying to figure out if he'd heard that last bit acurately.

"What?"

"New orders, Sir. You're to be placed under arrest. Your lightsaber, please?"

Obi-Wan still failed to move. He stared very hard at Cody, hoping that the commander would drop the punchline soon. He didn't. There was a rather awkward pause before Cody nodded a trooper forward to take Obi-Wan's lightsaber out of his unprotesting hand.

"This way, please, sir."

He followed, still dumbfounded. He probably wouldn't come back to himself for another hour or so.

Fortunately, instincts took over. They were walking beneath Grevious's ship when he jumped impossibly high, pulling his lightsaber to him. He landed on the ramp of the ship, and walked inside. With any luck, he'd have three minutes or so before they figured out where he'd gone and caught up with him.

Now he just had to figure out why his clones had tried to arrest him.

Padmé slept fitfully that night, and half the times she woke up, she heard Anakin pacing in the living room. It was confusing; three times she'd wake up to him apparently asleep beside her, and then the next two he'd be pacing. The first time, she tried to convince him to sleep. After that she just gave up.

When she woke up for good, he was up, meditating on the balcony. She came outside, sat, with quite a lot of difficulty, on the floor beside him, and waited for him to acknowledge her.

It took him much longer than normal. Finally, he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"Did you figure everything out?"

"Not everything. But I know what I'm going to do." He rose easily, then smiled down at her struggles to get up and reached out with the Force to help. She rolled her eyes at him.

"As a matter of fact, I am still capable of standing up without help."

"Of course you are, Madame Senator."

"Stop that."

He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes again, and turned to go inside. He followed her, and when she looked back his expression was serious again.

She sat down on the sofa, picked up a data pad, sighed, and put it back down again.

"What's wrong, Angel?"

"I checked my messages this morning. All the best Senators are resigning in protest of yesterday's announcement, and Jedi all across the galaxy are being arrested and rounded up as we speak. Some of them... It's said that some of them have been killed, even. It's horrible."

He was quiet for a minute. "Do you want to hear my plans?"

"Of course. Always."

He sighed, and pulled his lightsaber off his belt. "I'm going to leave the Jedi. It's hard to think of leaving all of them to their fate, particularly now, when everything's in upheaval, but..." He glanced at her, then looked back down at his lightsaber. "I thought long and hard about my priorities last night. I joined the Jedi to do good, but now... They'll be too busy surviving to do anybody much good. And..." Now he turned back, and looked her straight in the eyes. "I want to spend every moment I can with you. I want to raise our daughter, I want to see all her first words and first steps. I want to be there, with both of you. I never was a very good Jedi, but maybe, just maybe, I can be a good father." He tossed his lightsaber onto the table in front of him and sat, glancing at her occasionally, waiting for her reaction.

Padmé hadn't expected any of that. She sat for a moment in quiet shock, looking down at the lightsaber now sitting beside her data pad.

"Maybe... If I resigned, in protest, like everyone else... You and I could both get lost in the chaos. We could slip off to Naboo, and you could teach flying, maybe, and I could take care of our son, and we could be... Normal. Happy."

He smiled down at her. "You would be willing to do that?"

"Would you?"

He leaned down to kiss her. "I think we have a plan, then."