I am not the owner of Star Wars: if I was the owner of Star Wars, I'd be too busy sunbathing on my yatch to write fanfiction... Actually, I'd totally be on said yatch, writing fanfiction just for the fun of it. But that is not the case. Enough with the rambling, I present: story! (Yay)
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It was not the first time the former Queen Amidala had been in danger thanks to her tireless efforts in the senate, and the older Jedi privately thought it wouldn't be the last, either. Much like the last time; her defence was debated, argued over for some time, and then a plan was selected. Precisely the plan Yoda had first suggested, predictably enough.
Once more, Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker were selected for the task of guarding her. They did have the advantage of previous good work recommending them, after all. Granted, their last protection detail of the former Queen Amidala had also produced a few very interesting - to say the least - side results, but most Jedi didn't know about that, now did they?
Besides this, the last time Padme's life had been threatened, Qui-Gon Jinn had been sent on a tangent which might have got him taken captive or even cost him his life, had he been on his own. As it was, Carriel and him and proven a highly unpredictable force of nature together and had escaped unharmed. This time, he was on hand to help his former student. Naturally, Carriel Sheer joined them as well, as the annoying - but highly effective - big and little sister that she truly was.
Master Windu had just finished laying out the plan in Amidala's living room - the Jedi were to watch from there, sensing any danger which might befall the woman they guarded - when Anakin snapped. "That almost saw her killed last time," he argued angrily. His sister rolled her eyes at him. "Really, Ani," she shook her head. "I'll take the twins. I will stay with them and keep them safe. You and our masters will wait here. Good, solid, official plan." She stared him down. "No one will know that you're not really out here, now will they?"
"Quite," Qui-Gon agreed. "You stay with Padme, but if anybody should ask about it later, we all need to have master Windu's plan clear to us." "Clever, we must be, and vigilant," Yoda inserted peacefully from where he leaned onto his staff, "more than one enemy, you must face."
"Lies lead to the dark side, so beware," Carriel translated, unasked. Yoda looked up at her, smiling slightly in a way indicating he was really rather proud of her perceptiveness, as well as just who she was growing up to become. Qui-Gon's expression was not very different, the two Jedi also not-so-secretly enjoying the young woman's snarky insightfulness, but Obi-Wan looked slightly strained. His family was sometimes a bit too loose with the rules for his liking.
He told his former master as much when they sat together in the living room; Carriel having disappeared into the twins' room some time ago, and Padme just having retired to her own, Anakin with her as a silent shadow.
"I know you have always been a little more straight-laced than I am," Qui-Gon acknowledged, softly, meeting Obi-Wan's eyes steadily but with little challenge. "I know that you know, how I have always found it far more important to solve problems and stand by the course of right, as is our task, than following rules laid down for guidance. It remains very important never to stray into evil, but life is generally not as tidy as rules tend to presume."
Seeing how the younger Jedi was on his way to interrupt, Qui-Gon held up a hand. "I know rules are there for a reason, but sometimes, we have to choose between a rule and what is right, never the less. What you should acknowledge - as I do - is that it is you, with your mind on the rules while ours are not; who keeps us on the right side of straying too far, while we make these calls. We are not disagreeing with you; you are merely our anchor." He smiled, noting how Obi-Wan pondered his words; heeding them. "Though my pardon, son; you are not merely anything: you mean the world, same as they do." They both knew who they were, to the father of three (or even four, these days, counting Padme) in all ways that mattered.
Obi-Wan had never before seen it in that way; looked at their life in that light, and he did relax, knowing now that his former master did understand, and that his thoughts were indeed heeded. In the grand scheme of things, that was all he needed to know. So often, he had felt like his concerns were ignored, and all he had really needed to know was that they mattered, when the older Jedi took a decision on how to move forward. Looking back, he thought that maybe, he could understand Qui-Gon's reasoning. He had never, after all, doubted his former master's wisdom.
"Anakin?" Padme sighed, looking up at her husband. She had been trying to seduce him - the opportunity to keep him an entire night with her under this convenient and easy a cover was irresistible - but while he was not trying to escape her by any means, he was paying her seduction very little attention.
They were lying together in her bed - it should be theirs, but she couldn't rightly name it thus - Anakin resting flat on his back, not tense but not relaxed either, in that familiar attitude which likely meant he was focusing on the force. Listening, sensing, whatever you wanted to call it, but his mind was definitely not on her. Well, that was unfair. It was, just not in the way she wanted it to be.
"You're not very… into this, are you?" She sighed; it was not really a question. Now, finally, he looked at her, his gorgeous eyes - never losing their pull on her, even after all this time - full of apology. "I'm sorry - I swear it isn't you. I just can't… I need to focus, to see any danger coming, and I don't think I could stop thinking about it anyway, even if I tried…"
"I understand…" resigning herself to her fate, Padme curled up close, resting her head on Anakin's chest. He cradled her with an arm around her, pulling her close. She noted his laser sword just within reach on the edge of the bed: not that he'd be held back from his weapon by distance, should he need it. Nobody had told her, but she still knew; her husband was one of the most powerful Jedi they had, and she was certain nothing would pass him, even if he was distracted. No, the greatest danger with seducing him would be getting caught by the two masters outside, if danger did appear and they had to enter the room. Not that Anakin would forgive himself for his lack of discipline, even if no harm came to her, like it wouldn't.
Anyway, Anakin was the best pillow in the world, and she could be content just with hearing him breathe and listen to the slow, steady and strong beat of his heart, as she drifted off to sleep and he kept his watch in an admittedly very comfortable way.
It only took two nights before her enemy was vanquished: barely enough work for four Jedi, as it were.
