AN: Still laid up, so I still have time on my hands, which gives me time to work on this like I should have a while ago. Anyway, been doing some work on the next installment, but took some time out to do the edits to this chapter so I could get it out to you this week like I wanted. You will find that i skip ahead at times leaving out parts of the story. As this is based around the movie it should be easy to figure out most of what happened. I didn't see those sections as that important to my story so I don't bother writing them and move on, plus I don't want to waste time telling large chunks of stuff that happens more or less like it does in the movie (and I'm sure you don't to waste your time reading that either), or only has small changes that aren't important to the story. Anyway as always thanks for favorites and follows, and enjoy.
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Chapter 4
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Their trip to Naboo had been brief. After checking in with the queen, they paid Padme's family a quick visit, and then with a ship lent to them by Padme's parents, they departed Naboo in secret for Tatooine. It had been several months since Anakin had last seen his mom in person, and even longer since Padme had seen her. Shmi simply adored Padme, and dotted on her whenever she visited. While they hadn't officially been dating that long, they had formed a solid friendship not long after Anakin joined the order, and she had joined him on many of his visits to see his mom.
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Anakin had tried many times to convince his mom to leave Tatooine, but she refused. She'd spent most of her life being moved from planet to planet by her various slave masters. Tatooine was the longest she'd been on planet possibly ever; it was the closest thing she had to a home. Then there was Clieg.
His mom had met Clieg while still a slave and fallen in love with him, and at the request of Anakin, kept her relationship a secret from Watto. When the time came that Anakin was able to free his mom, it was Clieg that was the face of the transaction. Having never met Clieg before, Watto didn't know the sort of leverage he had in the negotiations which was part of Anakin's plan; Anakin didn't want to give his former slave master one credit more than necessary.
Clieg made a good living off of moisture farming, his family had a history of it, and even owned a fairly nice plot of land. It had been Clieg that had helped Anakin get the last of the money together to buy his mom's freedom. Anakin had had very little doubt about Clieg to begin with, and his help in freeing his mom sealed the deal. Then when he married Shmi that was just a bonus, and a welcomed surprise to even Anakin.
Part of him wished that Clieg had come along when he was still just a child and been a dad to him then, but there was no point on dwelling on that. In addition to his mother finding love, she got a family again. Clieg already had a son, Owen, whose mother had died when Owen was still a child. Shmi had come to love him like a son, and he had come to love her like a mom. Anakin knew he could never be there for his mom like he truly wanted, but knowing she had Clieg and Owen was a great comfort to him, even if it meant she wouldn't uproot the family and move off Tatooine.
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As Anakin and Padme's speeder pulled up to the Lars homestead Owen came out to greet them.
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"Hey, why didn't you tell us you were coming. I'd have come in to town and picked up myself if I'd known." Anakin liked Owen, again he wished that he'd known him sooner in life. As it was they got along just fine, but they weren't and probably never would be brothers, just step brothers.
"Couldn't, we're trying to stay off the grid as much as we can." Anakin told him, as Owen without hesitation grabbed their bags out of the speeder. "Between the council and someone trying to kill Padme, we really don't want to risk our location getting out.
"Someone's trying to kill you?" Owen turned his attention to Padme.
"Yeah, they already tried and failed twice. I have my suspicions who's behind it, but nobody believes me. The Jedi are looking into it, so in the meantime I'm supposed to be in hiding with Anakin as my bodyguard."
"But Padme's not one to run and hide, so I convinced her to take a vacation instead and let them think she's hiding."
"Well you know you're more than welcome here, but I should warn you first, I recently proposed to Beru." Owen informed them.
"Congratulations." Anakin and Padme both replied.
"Thanks, but Shmi has caught wedding fever and has already started going crazy planning it. Beru's Moms are right there with her in it too, along with David." (AN: No that is not a typo, I said moms plural, explanation is coming right up along with a thing or two about my OG character David.)
"David's her uncle, right?" Padme asked. She'd met Beru a few times, both of her moms once, and heard mention of an Uncle David, but never met him.
"Technically he's her father. He was good friends with Kara and Piper having known them both for ages, even introduced them to each other I think, and when they wanted to start a family they talked him into being the donor. After that he was always part of Beru's life, but as more of an uncle than a father."
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They all continued their conversation as they went into the house. No sooner had they entered Clieg came running out of the kitchen followed by a flying piece of unidentified fruit, or possibly a vegetable -between the distance, speed, and splattered remains it was tough to tell.
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"What'd do?" Anakin asked teasingly.
"Anakin good to see ya son. Your mother is trying to starve me to death. She caught me in the kitchen stealing just a taste of the roast Wamp Rat, and chased me out with a Meilooorun.
"Aren't you supposed to be on a diet?" Anakin asked.
"The doctor's a quack. Doesn't know a thing about what he's talking about."
"So, your blood pressure and cholesterol aren't high?
"I've got to side with my mom on this."
"We Lars men have always been like this and survived just fine."
"Dad," Owen cut in, "Your great, great, great, great, great uncle doesn't count, he was a doctor with access to leading edge medicine, and he only lived five years longer than you are now."
"So, Roast Wamp Rat," Padme cut in trying to change the subject, "That takes a lot of work to make tasty, not your everyday meal, what's the occasion?"
"Beru's Moms and David are coming by for dinner." Owen supplied, "I'm personally planning to get outta here the second my plate is cleared so I don't get roped into any of this wedding planning stuff. I think they're looking at dresses tonight."
"Yikes, if it's not too much trouble maybe I'll join you." Anakin said shuttering at the thought of being under the same roof as that sort of talk.
"There's a pod race going on just outside of Mos Espa, I'm supposed to meet up with Huff and Jula Darklighter to watch it. If you don't mind hanging around with them your welcome to tag along."
Anakin knew the Darklighters vaguely. He couldn't say much on Jula, but Huff seemed a little full of himself. It didn't matter though, they were tolerable company. "Sounds good." He told Owen.
"Wish I could join ya boys," Lars told them, "But Shmi will kill me if I'm not there for any of this planning, as if they'll listen to what few opinions I have anyway. Frankly I'd be just fine if they decided to elope."
"They will do no such thing," They heard Shmi shouting from the kitchen. "Quit planting ideas in his head." She continued to scold Lars as she emerged from the Kitchen.
She stopped her scolding the second she noticed Anakin.
"Anakin, you didn't tell me you were coming." She gave her son a giant hug.
"Couldn't, Padme and I are trying to maintain a very low profile, and it would have taken too long to get you word through the chain.
"Well I'm thrilled to have you here anyway.
"And Padme, it's been too long dear. How have you been dear?"
"Busy. Lately I've been pushing to defeat the Military Creation Act."
"I've heard a few whispers out here about that. Many out here worry that if the Republic creates an army they'll use it to take control of the outer rim worlds. Of course, that's just the crime lords who've been running these worlds. The people don't hear too much about it, and what few are mostly slaves who worry they'll be forced to fight the Republic. They all dream of escaping or Ekreth taking down their master, and being forced to fight would surely mean they're death."
"Well if it makes them feel any better, if I fail and this army is created it will be used against the separatists only." Padme tried to reassure Shmi.
"Yeah, the Republic has to many other things to worry about and ignore to bother with systems that still have slavery." Anakin snarked, and as much as Padme wanted to say something, she knew she couldn't say anything, he did have a bit of a point.
"Well by the looks of things, you two just got in. Why don't you go put your stuff in the guest room and get washed up. Dinner will be ready soon."
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Anakin and Padme did just that. Just as they sat their things down something outside the window caught their eye. A golden droid was going about messing with the moisture vaporators.
"Is that?" Padme asked.
"I think it is," Anakin confirmed and the two of them headed outside to investigate.
They found the droid checking on the evaporators just as before.
"3PO?" Anakin said allowed.
The golden droid stopped what it was doing straightened up and turned to face him.
"Master Anakin. How lovely to see you. And Mistress Padme. I must say I'm quite surprised you recognized me with my new gold plating."
Anakin let out a chuckle, it was just like 3PO to want to brag about such an upgrade.
"When did this happen, when I was here three months ago you still had the silver."
"With the assistance you give to Mistress Shmi she has been able to help Master Lars with the farm, and with the increased collections they needed a negotiator and of course I was the natural choice, so they got me my new gold plating to look more respectable in my dealings."
"Good for you. Are you still able to keep up with the work Ekreth sends you or is it too much with the new responsibilities Mom and Lars have given you?"
"I assure you, I am perfectly capable of handling it all. The slave network is just as strong as it ever was. Why just the other day the final preparations were put into place to liberate a compound holding approximately 100 Wookies. Contact is being made with their clan chiefs, so they can each send a representative to meet them once they land on Kashyyyk."
"I'm very impressed, handling all that, negotiating sales for Clieg and still working on the evaporators." Anakin praised the droid.
"Well I normally would check on them later, but Mistress Shmi is having important company over tonight. Master Lars's son Owen is now engaged to his girlfriend Beru, and her parents are coming by for dinner and to discuss plans for the wedding. There is much planning to do for it, and I simply do not have time later to check on the evaporators since I will most certainly be needed to help with the planning."
"Well then we'll let you get back to work."
"Thank you, Master Anakin."
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The droid returned to his work as Anakin and Padme headed back in.
A short while later Beru's family arrived and they all sat down to dinner. Anakin felt right at home and though his only true relative in the room was his mom, it felt to him as if all the others were part of his family too.
Padme was a little less comfortable, she knew Shmi plenty well, and had gotten to know Clieg, Owen and Beru well enough to be comfortable with them. She knew Kara and Paige but was still trying to get to know them. Then there was the new face at that table. That had to be Beru's uncle/father.
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"It's David, right?" Padme asked trying to get to know the man.
"Yes, it is. And You must be Padme Amidala. I've wanted to meet you for so long but can never get an appointment."
"An appointment for what?"
"To discuss your wardrobe silly. I was devastated when you didn't pick my dress for your coronation. I designed your predecessor's and had desperately hoped you'd pick mine. But then when I saw all you've chosen to wear, oh, I just knew you needed my help."
"Um, I think I missed something here." Padme said confused.
Anakin stepped in to try and clear things up, "David's one of the eight gay warlocks that dictate the rules of fashion."
"I am not a warlock." David protested.
"Yes, you are." Owen countered. "You managed to convince the best fertility clinic on Coruscant to help Kara and Paige conceive Beru pro bono! There is no way you did that without being a warlock."
"So, you're a fashion designer?" Padme asked trying to sift through all the silliness going on in the room.
"Yes, and while I do have a sizable following I am not as influential as they make it seem.
"Though I would be if somebody would let me publish a fashion section in Jedi Monthly." He added speaking directly at Anakin.
"And I've told you, your fashion section doesn't fit with what I do with Jedi Monthly." Anakin defended. "It's satire, nothing about it is serious. Even Kitster's art's and leisure section is over the top. Sure, he hides a few kernels of actual legit content in there; but mostly the entire section is nothing but him finding new ways to promote Menace of the Opera."
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Dinner continued on with conversations going on between everyone, and when it was over Anakin and Owen headed off to the pod race. Anakin invited Padme along, but she chose to stay behind and look at dresses with the others. She had also quietly told Anakin that she intended to give David a piece of her mind for insulting her fashion.
Once they arrived they began walking around looking for a good spot to watch from. The Darklighters had picked a lousy viewing spot, but close to where all the side action would be. Neither Anakin nor Owen had any interest in that. Along the way he noticed his old slave master Watto. He sent Owen on to find a good spot telling him he'd catch up shortly; Anakin wanted to see what Watto was up to- he was sure it was nothing good.
The Toydarian was trying to convince some poor Twi'lek into placing a sucker's bet. The racer's official odds were going off at 10,000:1. The Twi'lek was very uncertain, and Watto finally convinced the Twi'lek to let a chance cube decide whether or not to make the bet. Red, yes, blue, no. Anakin watched as the cube rolled; he knew Watto's tricks, the cube only had one blue spot and was weighted to land on red, and once the bet was placed and the Twi'lek had trouble covering the bet, Watto would step in and loan the money at a high interest rate that would land the Twi'lek in his debt; a slave in all but name- Anakin didn't like that anymore than actual slavery. As the cube rolled Anakin reached out with the force to nudge the cube to roll just a bit extra so it landed on blue. Watto was outraged, grabbed his chance cube and turned to fly away. Not looking where he was going he flew right into Anakin.
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"Hey, watch where you're going." Watto sneered at Anakin.
"Excuse me, but I believe it was you who bumped into me."
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Watto looked up at Anakin ready to get into it with him but held back as he tried to figure out why the face of this stranger looked so familiar.
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"Ani? Little Ani?" Watto said amazed as he looked Anakin up and down. "You sprouted huh?" Then noticing the lightsaber at Anakin's side added, "A Jedi! Whattaya know! Hey... maybe you could help with some deadbeats who owe me a lot of money."
"No." Anakin answered firmly. "Make no mistake, while there were plenty of other slave masters that treated their slaves far worse than you, you were my slave master, and for that reason alone I will not do anything to help you get richer. But because you didn't treat me as horrible as they do, I'm going to give you this advice.
"I pay attention to what happens out here still, and I'm sure you've noticed this trend also. A lot of slave owners are meeting with terrible fates. If you don't get out of the business I wouldn't be surprised to see you meet the same fate."
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Anakin didn't give Watto a chance to respond as he walked away. He meant what he said; Watto hadn't gotten out of the slave business but wasn't high on his list of priorities; there were slaves who were forced to live like animals, starved and beaten regularly for no reason other than for their master's entertainment. Watto fed his, and gave them houses to stay in in the slaves' quarters. The houses weren't glamorous, but they kept the occupants warm and dry. On top of that, Watto was a crafty one and had found ways to keep Anakin's people away from his slaves. One or two had been liberated, but the lengths that he'd gone too had been very extensive and hard to make happen. Anakin was now seriously considering taking his old master down, Watto trying to use him like that felt way too much like he was still a slave.
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Anakin was busy pondering this when he saw Owen running up to him.
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"Hey, what happened, I thought you were trying to find us a good spot to watch from."
"I think I saw your master." Owen informed him.
"What? Why would Qui-Gon be here of all places. He's supposed to be off on Nal Hutta tracking down a lead on Darth Maul."
"I don't know what to tell you; I could be wrong, maybe it's not him. I've only seen holos of him, but it sure looks like him, and he was near the official betting terminals."
Anakin sighed, "That's him. I have no doubt about it.
"He swore to me after I bailed him out of Canto-Bright's jail he would stop gambling. When we get back to Coruscant I'm staging an intervention for him."
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Owen led Anakin to his master. Just as he'd expected it was indeed Qui-Gon that Owen had spotted.
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"Master Qui-Gon what are you doing here?" Anakin asked disappointed.
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At the sound of Anakin's voice Qui-Gon stiffened and turned to face his padawan.
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"Anakin, what are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be on protection detail for Padme?"
"Okay, one, that's a long story. Two, how do you know about that, but we'll come back to it, because thee, I asked you first. What are you doing here, you said you were done gambling."
"This one is a sure thing; the force has shown me the winner of the race. There is no gamble here, I cannot lose, therefore I am not gambling." Qui-Gon explained.
"The force told you? Just like that time on Mallestare when the force told you who the winner of that pod race would be, only for them to blow up right at the start of the race."
"That was one time, and more importantly it is the only time I've lost a bet on a pod race."
"That's not a valid argument, the only other time you bet on a pod race was when I won the Boonta Eve Classic. Now give me all the money you have on you."
"I will do no such thing. You are not my master."
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Anakin had been through this before, but this time he was ready with a counter that he never had before.
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"Master, you can cooperate with me and hand it over, or I can tell the council about this little run in. You're supposed to be off following a lead on Maul after all."
"Very well, but just how am I supposed to get off planet, I did not arrive in my own ship."
"I'll buy you a ticket back to Coruscant. Now hand it over."
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Reluctantly Qui-Gon handed over all his money to Anakin who with Owen took Qui-Gon to the nearest star port and arranged for his transportation back to Coruscant.
Along the way Qui-Gon filled Anakin in on the Darth Maul situation. It turned out that Maul had been killed some years earlier by Count Dooku, shortly after leaving the order, and no longer being a part of it, or believing in them, decided not to inform the order. Dooku had kept a correspondence with Qui-Gon and told him of this. Qui-Gon had kept this secret using it as an excuse to get away from time to time. Anakin understood this all too well and promised to keep his master's secret. Qui-gon also told Anakin how the council had sent out a message to him to inform him of Anakin's protection duties and all that had been learned from Obi-Wan's investigation.
Anakin was especially interested in the part about Kamino, and that it actually existed; he knew there were going to be a lot of questions asked about how he knew about it, questions he wasn't sure how or if he could answer; or how he could do so without revealing is secret identity.
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In the morning he caught Padme up on all that had happened, while she told him all about the "conversation" she'd had with Dave about her sense of fashion. The highlight for Anakin was hearing how Beru had taken Padme's side. It was a perfect morning in his book, until R2 came rolling in with news of a transmission from Obi-Wan.
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AN: And that is chapter 4. Admittedly not my best in terms of humor and crackiness, but what can you do, some chapters just don't work out like that. Anyway, I have 1 more chapter and an Epilogue to go. The Battle of Geanosiss is coming up, and I have some really great bits in that. I once again hope to have chapter 5 done and posted sometime next week. If I can get both done in time I will post them together, but no promises are being made on any front.