Please see first chapter for disclaimer and other info
A/N: In celebration of graduating today and receiving a Bachelor of Arts (English Literatures and History) I present this to you all. I am immensely proud of myself as I hope you all are of me.
Chapter Four: The Rescue
Both Padmé and Anakin stared at the guard until it occurred to Anakin that somebody had come to their rescue. "Who is it?" he demanded, making his way to the bars and holding them. This perfected his look as docile prisoner. Padmé sighed loudly and crossed her arms, waiting for the inevitable. The guard simply motioned for the elusive visitor to enter the room. Anakin's eyes lit up as his son entered the room.
"Luke!" Padmé said, dropping her aggressive stance in relief. She joined Anakin and smiled as Luke made his way to the bars.
"For imposters you two sure do look like my parents," Luke joked. "And from the amount of screaming I just heard, you certainly sound like them too." Padmé had the grace to look embarrassed but Anakin kept his head held high, ignoring the good-natured jibes from his son. Luke's face then turned serious. "Seriously guys, what happened here? There are reports all over the Holonet that imposters were being detained."
"The Holonet has caught wind of this? KRIFF!" swore Anakin, ignoring the glare from Padmé.
"Dad, where's your lightsaber?" Luke asked curiously. "Weren't you always the one that told me a Jedi's weapon was his life?"
"That was Obi-Wan. All I said to you was to keep your lightsaber with you or something bigger than you will eat you." Anakin ran a hand through his hair. "And Stevie is on the ship," he admitted sheepishly.
"You said that to our son?" Padmé interrupted forcefully. "I might as well have married a crazy man from Kessel!"
Turning from Luke, he remembered his previous argument with Padmé. "Turns out you didn't marry me in the first place."
Anakin Skywalker's Galactic Dictionary
Awkward: The act of feeling insecure and out of place due to extenuating circumstances. For example, continuing an argument in front of your children about why you were the Chancellor of the Republic's lover thereby admitting aforementioned child was a product of a sordid and illegal affair.
Anakin felt awkward for only a moment. After the words had escaped from his mouth, having completely bypassed his brain, he witnessed something so rarely seen before. Padmé had tears in her eyes. Anakin had made her cry.
Trying to take control of the situation, she turned around to face Luke, angrily wiping the tears from her face. Luke shot his father a negative Force-wave, successfully making Anakin feel like the biggest Sith Lord in the galaxy.
"What happened?" Luke asked, taking his mother's hand through the bars.
"Everything was fine until we went to the security check-point," Padmé started. "It turned out when the administration droid found an error in our marriage certificate. Your father and I are not legally married Luke."
Luke looked confused for a moment. "An administration droid? I didn't see one of those when I came in."
Not wanting to aggravate the situation with Padmé, Anakin decided to communicate silently with his son through the Force.
I blew it up.
"You blew it UP?" Luke said out loud, startling Padmé.
"It was an accident." Anakin said weakly in his defence, realising that he didn't actually have one.
"That is why we were arrested. You mentioned the Holonet? Has my office issued a statement regarding my whereabouts?" Padmé asked, going from crazy wife back to Chancellor. Once again admiring the change in demeanour, Anakin stood back and let the politician work her magic.
"Both your office and the Jedi Temple have refused to comment. Nobody but Leia and I knew of your real whereabouts," Luke supplied. Padmé nodded, working out a plan in her head.
"So the only thing that has leaked is that two people pretending to be us have been arrested. Yes, this will work to our advantage. Once your father and I get things sorted here we simply need to issue our own statement about our whereabouts...Naboo on a retreat or perhaps Tatooine visiting your father's family. Alderaan..."
A loud bickering coming from the doorway interrupted Padmé's tirade. All three Skywalkers craned their necks to spot the one and only Leia Solo arguing with the guard posted at the door. "I am Senator Leia Solo of Alderaan and I DEMAND you let me in to interrogate the prisoners!"
"I am sorry Senator but the detainees already have one visitor, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker."
A second voice piped up, "Listen, my wife is a very powerful Senator so I suggest you let go of your pompous only-a-mother-could-love attitude and let the lady through." Han Solo. Anakin mentally smacked himself for putting himself in a position where his fate depended on Han Solo. Then surprisingly, a third voice joined the chorus.
"You WILL let us through to visit the detainees." Anakin faintly recognised the female voice. Judging by the red blush that suddenly appeared on Luke's face it could only be one person. Mara Jade: girlfriend extraordinaire.
"I will let you through to visit the detainees," the guard replied, moving to allow the three new visitors through. Leia led the way, purposefully bumping into the guard as she made her way. "Thanks," she replied sarcastically and ran towards the bars.
Mara and Han remained against the wall, Padmé eyeing the former as her daughter grabbed her hand through the bars. "Why haven't you busted out of here?" she quickly asked Anakin. He threw his hands up in response.
"I was trying to be civil and gentlemanly!" he replied, ignoring the smug look on Han's face in the corner. "Or I may have left my lightsaber on the Coruscant Wings."
"But Dad didn't you always say, keep your lightsaber with you otherwise..."
"Okay that's quite enough Leia," Anakin snapped not wanting Padmé to hurt him for being a terrible father.
"Well Paps, you and Mom have certainly gotten into a mess. Good thing Leia and I happened to be watching the Holonet when the story came up," Han remarked, enjoying this far too much for Anakin's liking.
Something unnerved Anakin about the extra addition to the family reunion. He had seen the look Padmé had given Mara as she walked in. It was the same look he had once given Han. A smile threatened to creep up and he battled it with every fibre of his being. Now was not the time to bask in the scowling glory of Padmé Skywalker, the mother-in-law.
"We've spoken to the guards outside. They have agreed to let the 'imposters' into Jedi custody," Leia said. "As long as there is a Jedi for each of you and I am present, we will all be free to leave on the condition that you two be prosecuted according to Republic law and never be allowed to return to K'Larna again."
Anakin turned to Mara. "You are a Jedi?" he asked, noticing the lack of a lightsaber. He could feel the Force emanating from her but as he had not seen her at the Temple he had disregarded her potential Jedi status.
Mara smirked in response. "Something like that," she replied dryly. "Now if you Skywalkers don't mind, I would like to get off this rock sometime soon."
Luke smiled apologetically to his parents. "We'll be right back. We're just going to get you signed out. We'll have to take you in cuffs unfortunately."
"Great, just perfect." Anakin muttered under his breath. Mara, Luke and Leia left, leaving a very smug looking Han to guard them.
"Thank you for coming Han," Padmé said appreciatively. "Both Anakin and I appreciate it."
He and Padmé clearly had different ideas on what appreciate meant. Sure, if to appreciate meant to rue the day something like this happened, then yes, Anakin Skywalker DID appreciate it.
"Not gonna thank me, Dad?"
Of all the ungrateful things Han Solo had ever done, this was the worst. The amount of times he had flown halfway across the galaxy to rescue his sorry behind and this was the way he repaid him. As soon as he was reunited with Stevie, somebody was going to get a limb hacked off.
"Thank you Han," Anakin said through gritted teeth.
Moments later Mara stormed in, holding two pairs of cuffs. Behind her trailed the guard. "Nice job you did on the droid," she commented as the guard opened the door. "Thanks," Anakin replied, turning around as his hands were placed in cuffs alongside his wife.
Moving behind Padmé, Mara put her hand on her shoulder. "By the way, Your Excellency, I'm Mara Jade. It's an honour to meet you."
Luke and Leia joined them and Luke took his place behind his father. "Thank you, we can take it from here," Leia snapped at the guard, leading the "detainees" out of the jail cell.
Anakin felt his cuffs become loose as Luke gently manipulated them with the Force. Mara did the same to Padmé.
"We came here on the Falcon," Luke said as he shoved his father in front of the guards for show.
"You're not too old to be smacked," Anakin hissed and felt Luke try not to laugh.
"Dad I managed to get the ship released into our custody but the two of you are not allowed to fly it," Leia said apologetically as she and Han walked in front of the quartet.
"Then who is going to fly it?" Anakin demanded, fighting the urge to break out of the cuffs.
As they reached the spaceport, Han walked towards the direction of the Coruscant Wings. "Me."
"You will not fly my ship!" Anakin yelled, causing other visitors to look at them.
"Anakin, you're causing a scene!" Padmé hissed, reverting back to crazy wife mode.
"Padmé, he is going to do something to my ship," Anakin whined, feeling the need to stamp his foot and pout much like Leia had done in her youth.
"I am sorry Dad but that's the only way the Wings gets off K'Larna," Luke said.
"Can I at least have Stevie?" Anakin asked hopefully.
"No," Leia said sternly, sounding eerily like her mother.
Anakin sighed knowing he had lost the battle. In defeat, he hung his head down low and ignored the whispers of the onlookers, the smirks of his children and the death glare of his 'pretend wife'. What was to come was even worse—the decision he and Padmé were going to have to make.