Hey guys, happy Easter! Hope you're all stocking up on chocolate, I personally plan on getting fat this year. I hear it's in for the Spring season.

Okay so first thanks to my reviewers:

SongofRoland, Imperial warlord, Angie, De Hunter, Jedi Knight 13, ILDV, Golden Feathers Edward, Kamia6 and Mireilles3

And to Bikiluf I am relatively new to the whole Star Wars universe so maybe how I phrased it was wrong and if so I apologize but also just to explain, I did some research and to be perfectly honest I can't remember where I got my final answer but according to an interview George Lucas did if Anakin had not been ripped apart as the case were and been encased in the Darth Vader suit, depleting his natural Force ability, he would have been the most powerful Jedi of all time. So from that I figured it was safe to assume that Anakin, if he had lived as Anakin Skywalker would have been more powerful than Luke. I hope that clears that up but if you find different results let me know.

Okay also I have only seen two or three episodes of the new star wars series and because of that Ashoka won't be appearing in this story because I don't feel I know her well enough yet to right her, but I will be using something from her.

Okay so after that here is the next chapter of Fraught.

Chapter Three

******

The streets of Coruscant were filled with people, dancing, drinking, singing; celebrating. There wasn't a person who wasn't there, having the time of their lives, and if they weren't on Coruscant, they were on Naboo or Corellia or any number of different planets. Tonight the entire galaxy celebrated. It had been a year, one whole year since the discovery that Chacellor Palpatine was a Sith Lord. A year since the Chosen One struck him down with his weapon and fulfilled the prophecy, bringing balance to the Force. One whole year since the Clone Wars ended. This is why the celebrated.

It wasn't a national holiday, the newly elected Chancellor Bail Organa had not instructed anyone to celebrate, to take time off work, or decorate their homes or businesses but he did discourage the fact either. Nor was he working while the people he served danced in the streets, he was celebrating his own way, at home with his wife and their newly adopted daughter.

The Jedi watched from a distance, monitoring for security but most of them too took the time to relax, smile and be grateful for Anakin Skywalker. The boy that they had nearly refused. During this time they also thought of Qui Gon Jinn, the stubborn Jedi Master who in his last moments of life had given the task of training the boy to his young Padawan Obi Wan Kenobi. Some smiled, others shook their heads but all remembered and all noted their happiness. This was their celebration. Peace.

Anakin Skywalker had saved the Galaxy, everyone knew it, and it was his name they praised as their words began to slur from too much alcohol and their feet began to ache from too much dancing, he was the one they wanted to lift off his feet and carry through the skies of the distant planets. He was the one who should have been celebrating the most. After years of doubt he had completed the prophecy, he had vanquished the Sith. He had saved them all. He barely noticed.

While the people cheered, Anakin's heart fell deeper inside his body, it began to slow and the passion and excitement that had once filled his veins and life was no longer boiling, it was barely a simmer. People chanting his name, two years ago he would have lived for it, now it was like none of it was happening. Anakin couldn't celebrate, because for him there was nothing to celebrate or be happy about.

It had been a year since he had killed Palpatine.

It had been a year since he had ended the war.

It had been a year since his wife and daughter died.

No, for Anakin Skywalker, there was nothing to celebrate, there was nothing to be happy about, there was just the constant reminded of what was missing from his life as the hole in his aching heart only grew.

Anakin walked through the busy streets, his hood up, making himself invisible, he did not want to be bothered tonight, he did not want to deal with the people who adored him, with the women who threw themselves at him, with the children who idolised him. He just wanted to be alone.

He entered Dex's diner to find it empty, only Dex stood behind the counter drinking a yellow liquid as he polished off a chipped dish.

"Anakin!" he exclaimed surprised by the visit of the most famous Jedi, "What are you doing here, why aren't you lavishing in the attention of your adoring fans?"

Dex tried to make a joke of the whole thing, Anakin had always been loved the people, he was The Hero With No Fear, and back in the day Anakin had loved it but now even Dex could see that Anakin had changed and that all of it meant nothing to him. Dex had known Anakin since he was stubborn and prideful padawan and to see the sudden change in him worried Dex to no end. Obi Wan had said he was maturing; Dex didn't need to be Force sensitive to know that Obi Wan didn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth. There was something wrong, but nobody knew what.

"Just not in the mood tonight," he said as he sat down in a corner booth, "Could use some food though."

"Sure, no problem." Dex said softly as he threw the towel over his left shoulder and started towards the kitchen.

Anakin smiled weakly, "Thanks."

It was all Anakin could manage. He sighed as he placed his hands down on the cool table, he stared at his gloved hand, mechanical and unfeeling, and thought back to how many times he had damaged it in the past year. Dozens, maybe more, he truly had lost count of how many times he had repaired it and how many holes he had fixed in the wall of his apartment. He clenched his hand into a fist as he thought of his home back in the Jedi Temple, he made it a point to refer to it as his home whenever he thought of it but after a year it still felt nothing like it, still strange, still foreign. He knew of course that his trying was futile he would only ever have one home and that home was in the Senate building in the arms of his beautiful wife.

He clenched his fist harder. His home, the home that he had shared with Padme, was no longer his. After Padme's death Jar Jar Binks had succeeded her as Senator but he had refused to accept Padme's former apartment, it now belonged to another senator from Scipio. Anakin, for no other reason, longed to hurt this senator in whatever way possible.

Anakin sighed and unclenched his fist. Padme wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want any of it. He sighed again as the bell above the door rang, shrill and loud. Anakin heard the glass shatter in his ears. He closed his eyes and tried to push it out, it grew louder.

Obi Wan sat down in the booth on the opposite side, so he was facing Anakin. He smiled as he picked up one of the menus. Anakin didn't, couldn't, smile back. Obi Wan pretended to examine the menu he'd memorised years ago, really he examined Anakin. There were bags under his eyes, exhaustion wreaked from him, he was losing weight not that he seemed to be aware of it and every time Obi Wan saw him Anakin's life seemed to be draining away more and more. The mischievous spark that once danced in his blue eyes wasn't there anymore. They were just empty.

"Quite the party going on, isn't there?" Obi Wan said as he folded away the torn and well worn menu before looking out the window at the hustle and bustle of the packed streets.

Anakin merely nodded.

Obi Wan suppressed a sigh and he kept up his attempts to lure his friend into conversation, to resurrect the man he had once known, "I'm surprised you managed to make it here" he said lightly, "I swear I was nearly lifted off my feet and carried here just for knowing you!"

Anakin looked out to the street, a smile tugged briefly at his lips, it lasted mere seconds and it was clearly forced. Obi Wan let out a breath as Dex approached carrying two plates filled to the brim with food. The two Jedi had been coming to Dex so long that he didn't need to hear their orders anymore; he always knew what they wanted.

"Thank you," Anakin said quietly as he accepted the scorching plate from Dex, both he and Obi Wan noticed that when Anakin took the plate he took no notice of the searing pain that should have been shooting through his hand. They both ignored it as Dex placed Obi Wan's plate down on the table.

"Thank you Dex," Obi Wan said, "Did you see me come in?"

"Nope but where one is the other isn't far behind." He said explaining how be knew to bring a meal for Obi Wan as well.

"Rather true, I suppose," he said as he picked up his eating utensils, "Shouldn't you be out enjoying the festivities?"

Dex nodded, "I should, but I didn't want to leave this place but with you two here I suppose it's in good hands," he gestured to Anakin, "You hear this guy supposedly saved the entire Galaxy?"

He left the diner with a laugh, Obi Wan smiled and he returned his gaze to Anakin who was picking at his dinner. It was something else Obi Wan had noticed, even if Anakin was the one who suggested eating he never seemed to be hungry or like he actually wanted it eat he just knew he had too. Anakin used to devour his food in minutes now he barely finished half of what was on his plate.

Obi Wan sighed, Anakin was so different, so changed that sometimes he barely recognized him.

"You look tired," Obi Wan commented as he took a bite of food. Obi Wan had been treading carefully with Anakin over the last year, he had hoped that Anakin would be able to recover from the loss of Padme Amidala but Anakin only seemed to delve further into depression. Many of the Jedi said he was finally maturing after the Clone Wars had ended and Obi Wan agreed with them although he knew it not to be true. Anakin was not maturing, he was… dying?

"Tired?" Anakin repeated softly, "Do I?"

Obi Wan nodded, "Yes, has something been keeping you awake at night?"

Yes, nightmares, visions of Padme's death, Leia still in her womb. Anakin wanted to tell Obi Wan these things, he wanted to be able to share with his best friend, his brother the dreadful truths that haunted him every second of his now pitiful existent but he stayed quiet, he kept his secrets because the truth was no good to him now and disappointing Obi Wan was the last thing he wanted.

"No, I can't say there is."

Obi Wan smiled and nodded as he took a bite from his food, he hadn't expected Anakin to come forward with his emotions and turmoil immediately he knew it would take time, Anakin was stubborn and he would only admit his troubles when he felt he had no other choice, but Obi Wan knew just by looking at his friend that Anakin would never, ever admit it. Every day he was more closed off, he would never speak and therefore never heal. Obi Wan would have to pry the secret from his slow beating heart.

Obi Wan let out a sigh not that it was noticed by Anakin, he was busy gazing out at the streets. Obi Wan stirred the tea Dex had brought as he considered his next move, it was bold and Anakin's reaction would in no doubt be a bad one but Obi Wan felt it had to be done because Obi Wan knew it was the heart of what affected Anakin.

"There is to be a memorial for Seantor Amidala on Naboo is a few days, to mark the first year of her passing." He told Anakin quietly and he watched in dismay as Anakin's jaw locked and his fist clenched.

"They say a painting of her is to be erected in the Palace, I hear it's magnificent." He said as Anakin closed his eyes the image of his wife was still imprinted firmly on his eye lids, it was her voice that was growing distant. Sometimes even in his dreams her last words would falter and there would be only silence. Anakin feared that she was disappearing. It was like she was dying all over again and again he was powerless to stop it.

Anakin thought of the holo that was buried inside the pocket of his cloak. The night before the Naberries had arrived to collect Padme's things, he had taken away all holo's and erased C3PO's memory of him, he took away the evidence of him being in Padme's life. It was like he had never existed to her.

But she existed to him in these blurry images that did nothing to capture her true beauty, her compassion and empathy. All the reasons he loved her. The holo was nothing, it barely provided it him with a memory of her. When he looked at the holo all he could see were pixels that made up an image. It wasn't Padme.

Padme was dead.

He felt the tears build behind his eyes and with all of his might he pushed them back, willed them not to fall but it seemed impossible. Padme was his weakness, then, now and forever.

"Will you be attending?" Obi Wan asked as he noted the change in Anakin's composure.

Anakin shook his head, "I don't think so."

Anakin hadn't been on Naboo since Padme's funeral and he had no intention of returning.

"May I ask why?" Obi Wan asked him leaning forward on the table, "You two were such good friends and she always spoke highly of you, why would you not want to attend a memorial in her honour?"

"Because I don't!" Anakin snapped banging his clenched fists so hard on the table that the plates jumped.

Obi Wan leaned back in the booth afraid of the sudden burst of anger that had come from his friend, he knew that bringing up Padme would be hurtful but after a year of Anakin slowly dying before him he knew he had to go for the pain, he had to help him overcome it, he had to bring Anakin back to life.

Obi Wan sighed and as much as it pained him he said, "Is it because she was pregnant?"

Anakin fist clenched tighter. Leia. Having to discuss Padme was bad enough but bringing Leia into it went beyond any realms of any pain that Anakin had never known before. The pain he felt under both Dooku and Palpatine's sith lightening was nothing compared to this.

"Don't," he begged.

Anakin knew Obi Wan was only trying to help him but he couldn't bear to be helped. He knew something was wrong with him, he knew he wasn't well, but he didn't want to get better, life wasn't worth living without Padme, nothing was worth anything without Padme by his side. He knew he still had Obi Wan, his best friend and brother but Anakin could barely see him beyond Padme's face, could barely hear his voice above the shattering glass. He tied to see the good in life, but what was once good was meaningless now.

"Just don't." he begged again his voice as soft and as hollow as the day Padme had died.

"Anakin please," Obi Wan begged back, "You're my friend, my brother I just want to help you. Please, just talk to me."

"What good will talking do?" Anakin asked him looking down at his full plate.

"Anakin, nobody not even her own family knew she was pregnant just because she didn't tell you doesn't –

"I knew she was pregnant."

Obi Wan gasped and he leaned back into the booth once again, stroking his beard, "H-how long did you know?"

"Since the day we stopped Dooku, she told me when you gave me my glorious day with the politicians." He smiled a little but it quickly evaporated, "She was so happy."

Obi Wan nodded as he looked at Anakin who was locked in the memory of Padme, there was a shadow of joy on his face but it was quickly replaced by fear, regret and sadness.

Obi Wan swallowed hard and he asked a question whose answer he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Were you the father of her child?"

Anakin lifted his head and he looked Obi Wan directly in the eye, his blue eyes were glossy and glistening, filled with unshed tears, "What good will talking do?" he asked again, "Padme is dead, no amount of talking can change that."

"Maybe if you talked about it, it would help you, help you get passed your grief, help you move on."

Anakin shifted in his seat and he took raggedy breaths, "Hypothetically if I had been in a… romantic relationship with Padme, if I had loved her, if she had loved me, if we had conceived a child together and that child died with her mother as I watched helplessly, what difference would telling you that make? It wouldn't ease the pain of knowing my child never got a chance to live, knowing that I'd never see the face of the woman I love again, will talking about it change that? Will admitting that I had a daughter with Padme Amidala bring her back? It won't. Talking will do nothing. Padme and Leia are dead! Dead! So what's the point?"

Obi Wan watched as Anakin told him what nobody was supposed to know, the sex of the unborn child and her name. Obi Wan swallowed back a lump in his throat as he digested the fact that his brother had a lover, a daughter both of which were now dead.

"Anakin…" he started to say but Anakin had already risen to his feet and was out the door of the diner, tears streaming down his face.

Obi Wan watched as he wiped tears from his own eyes and pinched the bridge of the nose as he considered the way Anakin and Padme had looked at each other of the years, he should have seen it, he should have stopped it. If he had maybe Padme would be alive right now. Maybe Anakin would be too.

******

Anakin spent the night walking the streets. For all the people who were celebrating him nobody seemed to notice him as he walked passed. They were all too intoxicated.

Anakin knew what he had said back at the diner to Obi Wan was a mistake, he should have feigned ignorance, he should have acted as if it was jealousy of her unnamed lover that prevented him from attending, he should have done anything but what he did, which was admit that he had fathered Leia and had been involved with Padme. At least he didn't say he was married to her.

He wondered what Obi Wan would do with the information, but his wondering was only brief, he spent the rest of the night imagining what Leia might have looked like had she been born and trying to recall the exact details of Padme's voice. On both counts, it was hard and he failed.

When the sun had risen on the next day Anakin returned to the Temple, it was quiet; everyone was still asleep for that Anakin was grateful he didn't want to deal with anyone. Anakin didn't want to return to his chambers in case Obi Wan was waiting for him but he didn't want to stay on the street so he wandered the halls of the Temple aimlessly, trying to remember if he told Padme he loved her the day she died. He couldn't.

Eventually Anakin turned a corner and stopped his breath catching in his throat at what he saw. Children. Younglings. He was at the nursery, the place he had avoided like a sickness for the past year. Anakin tried to turn away, tried to run but his feet were glued to the floor as he watched the younglings play.

Swallowing, he moved closer against his will and saw there were nine in the room, using blocks and training lightsabers to play with each other. He watched them with a heavy heart, he wondered if Leia would have been Force sensitive, what toys she would have liked to have played with.

"See you here before, I have not."

Anakin turned his head to see Yoda hobbling towards him. Anakin bowed and shook his head, "No Master, I don't think I've ever been here before."

"I did not think so. Yess, hmm." He said as he turned to look at the children, "Here quite often, I come."

Anakin knew Yoda liked children, it was why he chose to train the Younglings but Anakin never knew why Yoda liked the company of the children so much, he wasn't sure if anybody did.

"May I ask why Master?"

Yoda chuckled under his breath, "New hope in every child, there is. The sins of the past not matter. Yesss. In each child a chance for a better future, there is. For peace, a chance. Great destiny, perhaps. The next Anakin Skywalker, one child could be."

Anakin nodded although he hoped that no child would become like him, it wasn't a fate that he wished on anyone.

"You here tonight, what brought, hmm? Yes, hmmm." Yoda asked him as he smiled on at the children, some of which waved when the saw him. He waved back.

"I don't know Master." He admitted looking to the ground.

"Great place to find an answer, I find that a child's mind is. Still innocent and pure, it is, not tainted by war or doubt or fear. Yes, hmmm. If an answer you seek this is the place to find it, it is. Hmmm." He said as he moved some of the rubber balls around with the Force delighting the Younglings who clapped and smiled and gurgled.

Anakin watched the balls as they flew across the room the younglings crawling after them, laughing joyously as Yoda chuckled to himself. Anakin smiled briefly as the balls landed and the younglings all picked one for themselves and started to suck on them or roll them in front of themselves. It was then that Anakin noted another youngling, about a year old with sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes. Anakin tried to contain his gasp as he looked on at his son, who was creating a tower out of the blocks. There was an extra set laid out beside him, which he had not touched.

Yoda followed Anakin's gaze.

"Luke Tano, the boy your Master found outside the Temple, he is. Strange boy, yes, hmm. Lays out a second set of blocks, he does, always, like waiting for someone he is, play with them, he does not let the other younglings."

"W-why is that?" Anakin asked as he watched his son continue to build a structure that looked familiar to him.

Yoda moved inside the nursery and although Anakin didn't want he followed the aging master inside, it was like his feet had a mind of their own. Anakin could see Luke more clearly now, his hair was a dark golden blond, wavy just like his, his eyes were a sparkling blue, bright and full of life already. He looked him, Anakin realized. His son looked like him.

"Know not, do I, his home a memory from, perhaps." Yoda said thoughtfully.

"L-Like," Anakin stuttered, "Like he's waiting for someone from home to play with, like a… a sibling?"

"Make sense, a sibling would. Herh herh herh."

Some of the children began to surround the Master and he began to play with them using the Force, he was so distracted by them that he did not notice when Anakin stayed in the nursery and watched as Luke completed his structure, one that bore a striking resemblance to the Lake House on Varykino.

A single tear slipped down Anakin's scarred cheek as Luke looked up and gazed upon his father for the first time in a year. The little boy grabbed a block from the second set, a set Anakin would always believe had been intended for Leia, in his chubby little hand, pushed himself to his feet and took a few shaky steps until he was standing in front of his father. He gazed up at him in adoration, like he recognized him, and he handed him the little blue block. Anakin smiled and took it from him. Luke smiled back, revealing his four teeth.

"His first steps, those were." Yoda said from a distance.

Anakin smiled at him and then looked back down to his son, "Thank you Luke," he said, the boy smiled again, bright and wide, and in an instant Anakin saw Padme as if she were standing before him. Luke turned and walked away, stumbling once and crawling the rest of the way back to his structure. He pointed at one area of the building and if Anakin was right about it being Varykino then Luke was pointing at what had been his nursery.

Anakin smiled and clutched the block in his hand as if somehow that little block had reminded him.

His wife still lived in their son.

It had been a year since his son was born.

For the first time in almost a year Anakin didn't hear the shattering glass.

******

Okay so that was chapter three, I hope you like it. Please review.

Anna