Harry2: Thanks. And how do I do that, cuz when I wanted to post all I found was normal section, but then again maybe I've missed it…could happen.
The Queen C: I would not worry abut Padme, she will get her love, in the sequel, the problem is I don't know exactly who yet.
Eliza: Attack of the Clones. Yes.
Important author's notes are at the end of this chapter, please read them!
Chapter 1: Rescue
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is growing up.
--James Baldwin
Still fuming about the PTB, Whistler, and fate in general, Buffy was marching through the desert, which did not ease her crankiness, and she was developing a headache and a serious case of sunburn. Well, her rapid healing was taking care of that, but still, it was not a pleasant experience.
Spotting a light in the distance, she warily sneaked closer. And gasped. There were more of the critters that attacked her earlier, some of them kids by the look of them, but that wasn't what had made her gasp. They had a prisoner. A woman. An older woman, who was strapped to a pole, and who had obviously been physically abused.
Slowly sneaking towards the woman, she managed to get to her without being detected. She put her hand over the woman's mouth so that she would not make a sound. The woman looked at her with pained eyes. Buffy held her index finger to her mouth and the woman nodded weakly. Slowly reaching out, Buffy untied the woman's bonds; when the woman was free, she lifted her up in the fireman carry. Then Buffy bore the woman away from the camp.
Seeing that the woman was awake, Buffy asked the questions that had been nagging at her since she had woken up.
"Where are we? What is your name? And what were those things? Were they demons?" she asked in one breath.
The woman looked at her strangely, and then slowly and with visible effort replied, "My name is Shmi Skywalker. We are on the planet Tatooine. And those were Tuscan Raiders. Demons live only in fairy-tales."
That still does not make any sense to me. Wait a minute.
"Tatooine, I've never heard of a planet with that name."
Shmi looked at her again. "Well, Tatooine is poor planet and far away
from the central planet of Coruscant and who are you?"
"Oh sorry, my bad. I'm Buffy Anne Summers and I came from the planet Earth."
And I come in peace, live long and prosper stupid Andrew and his obsession with Star Trek, my wound is still aching and if we don't find shelter soon, we'll fry into crisp bacon from this heat.
"I've never heard of Earth before. But then again I don't know of a lot of planets in the Republic." Buffy bit her lip at that and then sighed.
"And I doubt that anyone else here has heard of it either wait, Republic, other planets don't tell me that you people use star ships for travel?" At Shmi's nod, Buffy groaned.
Oh, that is just swell I have problems driving a car let alone a star ship. I want to go home stupid fate, stupid PTB...Stupid desert, stupid two suns.
"Uh, Shmi? Do you know where we are going, 'cause I don't. And if we don't get to some kind of shelter soon." She trailed off.
Shmi looked around her, and then at the position of the sun. How she did it without going blind from the harsh glare, Buffy did not know.
"My home is a couple of miles west. As for shelter, when I was captured they took me by some caves. We can find shelter there."
"OK."
Naboo, Lake Country
Anakin was standing on the balcony overlooking the lake and lush greenery, but he did not see the beauty of nature on Naboo was filled with; his thoughts were on his mother. The nightmares about her were getting more clear, and he was torn between his need to reassure himself that his mother was all right, and his duty to Padme. Then he sensed a presence behind him Padme came to the balcony. When she saw Anakin she turned to leave.
"Don't go," Anakin's voice stopped her. She turned and looked at him
"I don't want to disturb you," she replied.
He did not look at her. "Your presence is soothing," he said.
"You had another nightmare last night."
He took a calming breath.
"Jedi don't have nightmares."
"I heard you."
Anakin took another deep breath and opened his eyes.
"I saw my mother." Then he slowly turned and looked at her. "She is suffering, Padme. I saw her as clearly as I see you now."
He turned away, took a few steps, thinking, and then came to a decision. He sighed and turned to face Padme again.
"She is in pain." He took a deep breath and then turned back to Padme.
"I know this breaks my mandate to protect you, Senator, but I have to go," Anakin said urgently.
Padme saw the worry on his face. "I'll go with you."
"I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice."
Tatooine, Lars' farm
Anakin and Padme arrived at the farm where his mother lived. They came upon a droid that was working on some machine. When the droid saw them it approached, waving.
"Why hello my name is C-" it started.
But Anakin recognized the tall droid. And finished his name.
"3PO."
"... Oh my maker! How wonderful to see you! And miss Padme! What is it you're here for?" It asked, happy to see some familiar faces.
"My mother is she here?"
"Oh... I think it's time you came inside."
Tatooine, Lars' farm an hour later
Two tired, dirty, hungry, and thirsty figures were approaching the farm; they had traveled most of the night to get there.
Seeing their salvation so close, they moved at a faster pace, to the point of running, so eager were they at the promise of safety, food, drink and peaceful sleep. They barged inside with such force that they startled the occupants of the room.
Both parties were staring at one another; although the occupants were staring mostly at the older dark haired woman. Finally, her patience running thin, Buffy had had enough of the staring and decided to put an end to it.
"Hello, people, how about you stop with the staring and gaping like a bunch of stupid fish and ...oh, I don't know, help us."
That put everybody in motion. Anakin hugged her mother and since his mother was supported by Buffy he hugged her as well. Buffy did not like this particular situation.
"Look, you're cute, but still, if I feel hands on any bad places..." she trailed off. Anakin reeled back in shock.
"Okay, now that I have your attention, would you please take care of Shmi, she needs immediate care," Buffy continued, and suddenly an older man, a man who was obviously his son, and his girlfriend whisked Shmi away. Anakin wanted to go with them, but his senses were telling him that something was wrong with this girl she was in pain.
And then the young woman turned to regard him and Padme. "So," she said nervously, biting her lower lip, "Who are you?"
Anakin watched her closely, and wondered at the change in the girl, first she was this strong, imposing woman that fired sharp orders, and in the next moment she was shy and insecure.
"I'm Anakin Skaywalker, this is Padme Amidala. And who are you?"
"Buffy Ann Summers."
"Buffy ..." he trailed off, but she stopped him with a glare. "If you even think of making fun of my name you'll get some seriously ... what the hell are you smirking about?'' she crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him.
Anakin just shrugged,
"I was wondering where that girl that barged in here went?''
Buffy just rolled her eyes and smiled. '' Look, sorry about that, but I'm a bit grouchy.''
When Buffy carefully seated herself on a tall chair, Anakin noticed an ugly looking wound that, although half-healed, looked very painful.
"You're wounded," he said to her. Buffy shot him a quick glance, then shrugged.
"It's no big, it will heal it just itches a little." That got her a glare from the tall young man, which annoyed her a bit. If she was truthful to herself, a lot of things were annoying about this guy... how he talked, walked, looked, stood and other million things that were ... and she had known him for what, a couple of minutes.
"This wound does not look good," he said, and started to look through some containers in the room. It needs to be seen to." He pulled something out of the last container and came closer to her. Buffy shifted and opened her mouth to reply, but then Anakin put a small device with some sort of goo in it on her wound.
Buffy yelped, but soon the pain grew less and she could tell that the wound was healing. Craning her neck so that she could look at Anakin's face, she was a bit startled to find the annoying stranger so close.
"Thank you," she said softly, and then she jumped of her seat. She didn't count on Anakin taking a hold of her hand to help her down. And then something unexpected for both of them happened.''
They both felt a tingling sensation coming from the place that their hands met. Both of them looked at each other in mutual shock, and when their eyes locked, they could not look away; they each started to drown in the other's gaze in their soul.
Padme was watching the display with a worried expression; she didn't know what was going on with Anakin and Buffy.
They have been staring at each other for three minutes without blinking she thought, with no small amount of curiosity, is this young woman a Jedi and Anakin's feeling it, or is she something else entirely?
Finally the rest of the family arrived, without Shmi. This ended the staring contest. The man in the flying chair flowed closer to Buffy.
"Thank you for helping my wife come back to us. I'm Cliegg Lars." The old man pointed to the younger one at his side. "This is my son Owen, and the girl with him is his girlfriend Beru."
Owen nodded at her in greeting, and his girlfriend said hi to Buffy, shyly.
''All these matters will have to wait, because you, my dear girl, need rest. We'll talk later." Cliegg continued, and Beru invited Buffy to come with her.
Tatooine, Lars' farm, night
All was quiet in the in the room, until a rapid heartbeat was heard. Buffy snapped awake. Quickly sitting, she turned on the light and ran a shaky hand through her hair, trying to calm her breathing. The nightmare had been so real, but then again, they always were. Slipping off the bed, she wrapped herself in a robe that Beru had lent her and went to get some fresh air.
At the main door she encountered a problem; she did not know how to open it.
This is just swell, she thought grouchily. And prepared herself for the no doubt frustrating task of figuring out which button opened the door.
But luck was on her side this time; her movement woke someone up. Buffy whirled about when she heard a sound, only to see a droid that she hadn't met before.
"Hi," she said.
"Umm, who are you?"
"I am C-3PO, human-cyber relations, Miss Buffy. How may I help you?" he asked. Buffy smiled. Finally, some help.
"Well, I need some air, as in outside, and I don't know how to open the door." The droid moved forward and pressed a button, and the door opened smoothly, with barely a sound to mark the movement.
"Thanks 3PO." She smiled.
"You're welcome, Miss Buffy. I'll leave the door unlocked. To get inside, you press this button,'' he explained, pointing at a button that was hidden outside. "But do stay in the yard, Miss; Tatooine can be very dangerous at night."
"Thanks again and I will."
The door slid shut behind her when she turned and started to walk around, looking for a spot where she could sit. Finally settling on the high wall that surrounded the small yard, she jumped onto it and started to walk toward where it touched the building. When she reach that point, she sat and braced her back against the building.
She did not know that her peace would be short-lived.
Anakin woke up and went to kitchen to fill himself a glass of water. "Hello C-3PO," he greeted the droid. "What are you doing?"
"Master Ani," 3PO said, delighted to see his maker. "I'm waiting for Miss Buffy, she went outside."
Anakin raised an eyebrow at that, and then, deep in thought, joined Buffy outside.
He found her sitting on the wall, watching a shooting star, but just when he wanted to ask her something, she said.
"Star light, star bright, what should I wish tonight.'' Then she giggled softly, but there was a hint of sadness in that laughter. Then she surprised him again.
"Planning on saying anything, or are you gonna stare at me the whole night?" she asked him without turning.
Then he said something that he did not meant to say, at least not out loud.
"Well, you're beautiful. How could I not."
Her head whipped around at that, and their eyes locked again.
He could not look away, but again neither could she.
Suddenly Buffy came to her senses and the only thing she could think of to block the intense, strange, and confusing feelings that were coursing through her with the force of a tornado was to close her eyes.
Anakin kept looking at her, waiting patiently for her to open them. He did not have to wait long before she cracked them open into tiny slits.
"Do you do this often?" he asked her. Her eyes opened fully and she hopped down from the wall and started pacing. Then she stopped and whirled back to face him again.
"No I don't do that often. I don't stare at a guy I just met like that. I don't get that feeling like I've known said guy my entire life. And I so don't fall over my head in love with ..." then she realized that what she was abut to say, and abruptly shut her mouth. "Never mind," she mumbled, and looked away.
"I didn't ask you about what is happening between us. I meant, do you often go out in the middle of the night?"
She looked at him and blushed, "Uhg ... You wanted to know ... well yes, that I do often … and us, there is no us …nothing happening here."
He just looked at her, annoyed. "You said it yourself, and I feel it the same as you."
"Well, you can forget abut that.. I was not thinking and I was saying that hypothetically about some other guy." She said, flipping her golden locks and staring at him defiantly.
Anakin eyes narrowed. "Did anybody tell you that you are infuriating?" he growled out.
She just snorted. "Says the guy who is annoying me beyond all reason."
Then she made as though to walk back inside. Anakin blocked her path. She tried to outmaneuver him, but her robe got caught on some metal and yanked her backwards. The unexpected pull caused her to lose her balance; she flung her arms wide trying to grab onto something to prevent her fall.
And landed directly in Anakin's waiting arms and then they were kissing, first innocently, and then more passionately, until everything around them seemed to stop existing.
Finally breaking their kiss, they were breathless, but still holding each other. Buffy rested her head on Anakin's chest, right under his chin.
This is nice … and feels safe…. and what I am doing? She quickly jumped away and ran as fast as she could inside and all the way to her room.
When the door to her room slid silently closed she suddenly felt weak. She slowly sank to the floor and hugged her legs, resting her chin on her knees.
The next morning, Beru came to wake Buffy up, telling her that breakfast was on the table, and then left Buffy to dress. Her own clothes were ruined, so Beru let her borrowed some: brown pants, high black boots, and blue shirt with a darker blue jacket. Using a strap from her T-shirt, she tied her brushed and clean hair into a high pony tail. Then she went to the kitchen with not small amount of trepidation. When she got there, Anakin was not present. Feeling relief and a small bit of dsappointment she sat down between Padme and Beru.
"So Buffy, where you are from?" asked Padme curiously. Buffy looked at the dark-haired girl, debating how to answer that question.
"From another dimension." She decided to go with the truth; besides, she didn't know anything about this dimension.
Everyone stared at her. "Or planet Earth, USA, California, in the city of Sunnydale." She said, a bit amused at their expressions.
Then with a sigh she told them about the burst of energy that transported her to this planet and dimension. And about how she is unable to go back.
"So I'm kinda stuck here," she finished her story. She did not tell them about her Slayer status; as far she was concerned, she was retired as a Slayer.
"I'm a Senator in the capital," Padme started, "I'll help you, besides it will be easier to learn abut living here in the capital."
Beru, Cliegg and Owen nodded. Then Cliegg urged the machine that he was sitting on closer to Buffy.
"We would be glad to keep you here, but Miss Padme is right, you'll learn best in the capital. And you'll be safer there than here."
And so it was decided that Buffy would go with Padme and Anakin when they left.
As they ate their breakfast, Anakin entered the kitchen, closely followed by a barrel-shaped droid.
"R2-D2 says that there is a message on our ship; we have to leave," he said, and went to say his good-byes to his mother. Buffy and Padme quickly stood up and said their good-byes. Then the three humans and two droids boarded the ship.
Orbit of Genosis Buffy chatted with Padme the whole trip trough hyperspace, trying to ignore Anakin who was sitting in the pilot's chair, his long legs stretched before him, watching the two of them. It was driving her nuts. And from the smirk that had crossed his face a couple of time he knew it. They were on rescue mission, to save Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Master and Anakin's teacher.
Suddenly the swirling light on the screen disappeared and they were again looking at normal space, and right before them was a huge reddish-yellow planet, their destination.
Anakin landed the ship expertly in the white smoke coming from one of the openings, and they started to prepare to exit the ship.
Padme turned to her two companions.
"Follow my lead, as a senator maybe I can come up with a diplomatic solution. But just in case, Buffy, you'll need a blaster." Padme gave Buffy a small blaster. "Do you know how to use it?" she asked, remembering that Buffy, due to where she came from, would not know the things she herself took for granted.
Buffy looked at the blaster. "Once I used a rocket launcher, but gun-type thingies no, I mean I can shoot with a crossbow, but…"
Then Anakin stepped forward. "You know how to aim?" he asked, and at her nod he continued. "Then you just point this end," he tapped the barrel, "at your opponent and press this little thing, it is called the trigger, and it will fire." Then he added with a smirk, "Any idiot would know that."
Buffy glared at the smirking young man, but before she could retaliate, Padme hissed his name and pulled him away.
"Anakin, what are you doing?" she admonished. Anakin just shrugged. With an annoyed sigh Padme turned to a scowling Buffy.
"I'm sorry Buffy, he is not normally like this. He is probably just worried abut Master Kenobi," she assured the other girl. Buffy relaxed her stance and smiled at Padme.
"It's OK. Apparently some bug crawled up his ass and died there, but I'm good," she said sweetly, "now we better get a move on."
They exited the ship together, followed by 3-CPO and R2-D2, and walked the short distance to the door. Padme opened the door and they entered the dark hallway.
Whoa, this place is, like, creepy. And my senses are going on high alert something is watching us, Buffy thought.
"We are being watched," she whispered quietly. Anakin only nodded his agreement, but Padme looked at Buffy strangely.
"How do you kn…?"
"She can sense them," answered Anakin. Then he turned his head to the side. "Wait." He whirled around, drawing his lightsaber and cutting the alien that had been sneaking up behind them in half.
Soon the hallway was full of winged aliens; some attacking, some running away.
Padme managed to open the door to the other room and they retreated into it, but the doors suddenly slid closed, and the catwalk they were standing on started to move. Padme lost her balance and fell, Anakin managed to grab the door step and Buffy grabbed on to him and immediately started looking for a safe place to land.
"We should do this again sometime" she heard Anakin say.
"When this is over I'm so gonna hit you," she said in mock anger. And then they both jumped down.
"This is bad," Buffy muttered. She was chained up, and so were Anakin and Padme, in some sort of carriage.
Ben Hur much, she thought , all we need is some lions, wolves, elephants, bears... and I probably just jinxed things.
"Don't be afraid," Anakin said. Buffy glanced at him but didn't reply. But Padme, who was looking a bit off replied.
''I'm not afraid of dying."
''I've been dying a little bit everyday since you've come back," she told Anakin.
Buffy turned away, her eyes narrowed in to slits. They are together and he…Men.
"What do you mean?" He asked, glancing at her.
And now he is pretending that he does not know what she is asking him, just like Parker did it with me. And to think that I was falling for this guy, why do I fall for guys that are jerks, evil, brooders … Buffy cringed at Padme's next words.
''love you. Truly and deeply."
Anakin heaved a deep sigh and glanced at Buffy who had her back turned to them, standing regally with her arms crossed across her chest.
"Look," he said, turning to Padme, "I do have a feeling for you and I care deeply for you, but…" he trailed off.
"You don't love me," she whispered sadly.
"No. Not like that. I've cared for you since I was ten years old, but I'm in love within somebody else," he said honestly, not wanting to cause pain to the woman he truly cared for. But she needed to know.
"Oh," she whispered, and then glanced at Buffy, who was still facing the wall. She looked back at Anakin.
"Do you love her?" she asked.
"Yes. I don't know how or why, but I feel like I've known her my entire life, and I know the difference between the love I felt for you and the love I feel for her."
''And how,'' her breath caught, and then she continued more strongly, "do you feel abut me?" She needed to know.
"When I first meet you, I saw a beauty beyond imagination; I thought that I had found the Angel that pilots talk about. The memory of you, knowing that you were close, helped me through my training. In a way, you were my link to my home. And I loved you dearly but when you refused me it didn't hurt me as much as when..." he took a deep breath. "I love you, Padme, but I'm not in love with you."
"Thank you for your honesty Anakin," Padme said softly. The carriage began to move, bringing three tense people to the arena.
They were led past a man chained to a tall post. He was looking at them as Anakin passed him.
"Don't worry Master, we sent the massage forward just like you asked us to, then we came to rescue you," Anakin said as they were being chained to the rest of the tree posts.
"Good job," the man said sarcastically.
As soon as the door opened, four creatures came out into the light.
Buffy stared at them with disbelief. What is this ...mutant ZOO, a praying mantis bug, a tree horned bull thing, a spider-eyed cat thing and some sort of hyena with spikes …. Wait, I saw a couple of those on Tatooine, with the Tuscan Raiders and the hyena thing is gunning for me … this is NOT my day.
"I have a bad feeling abut this," muttered Anakin. Buffy shoot him a look.
"Really, you don't say," she replied, her voice laced with sarcasm.
"Relax," said Obi-Wan. "Concentrate."
"What abut Buffy and Padme?"
"Padme seems to be on top of things "But before he could say more, Buffy turned to the post, grabbed the chain that bound her to it, and gave a vicious yank with as much strength as she could muster.
And then she was free …
And the creatures were on them…..
To be continued ….
Author's note!
OK things between Buffy/Anakin went insanely fast, but there is a good reason for that! And it will be explained in chapter 2. Let just say that there was some meddling, and that Buffy won't be a happy camper when she'll found out.
Now please even if you normally don't review, please vote, with whom Padme should end up in the sequel.
Obi-Wan (Star Wars)
Connor (Angel)
Wesley W. Price (Angel)
Xander Harris (BtVS)
Spike (BtVS)
Oh and I'm going on vacation for two weeks! So there won't be any updates until I get back.