Author's Note: I am just loving the attention this story is getting! I love hearing all that you have to say! It really encourages me to keep pushing on. I know things are a little slow right now but they will start picking up soon, I promise! Please hang on for me! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warnings: Language, OOCness, unbeta'd.

Word Count: 6,701

"Yes, thank you, Galdrina," Padme says. "I appreciate the help. I think you may have just saved a woman's life today. I am in your debt."

A blue image of an older woman with her hair pulled up tightly into a bun on the top of her head, bows a bit, modestly. "Please, Senator Amidala, think nothing of it. This is not only my job, but my pleasure. I suggest that once she is well enough to travel that she come and see me on Naboo, there I can give her proper medical treatment, first hand. I wish I could come out to you to make it easier..." the woman trails off.

Padme shakes her head. "You are fine, Galdrina. I understand why you can't. It's not your fault."

The older woman turns away for a moment, as if on cue, and starts to cough into her hand so heavily it shakes her entire body. She is turned away for a few moments longer, trying to get herself under control before she finally looks over at Padme again, looking exhausted. She folds her arms in front of her and says, softly, "I thank you for your kind words, Senator."

"Rest now, Galdrina," Padme says, kindly. "I will call again if I need anymore help."

Galdrina bows a bit. "Of course. Best of luck, my lady." Galdrina looks at something that Padme can't see and looks like she's going to say something more. She considers for a moment before looking back over at Padme. "My assistant may be finishing up sooner than he expected. Perhaps he will be able to stop by on his way back. But I will have to see."

Padme nods slowly, considering her words. "Thank you." Padme ends the call and closes her fingers around her holo-communicator. She looks around Shmi and Cliegg's room that Cliegg allowed her to use so that she could speak with Galdrina in private and not keep an exhausted Shmi awake.

Their room is relatively large in comparison to the rest of the houses and Anakin's old childhood home that she visited when they first met. It's simple and clean. There is a neat bed with two nightstands on either side. One has a lamp, a clock and a few small items that are too far away for her to be able to accurate make out, while the other one also has a lamp and a picture, old and worn, framed beautifully in a intricate steel frame with swirls and hearts decorating it. Padme already knew what it was a picture of before she got close.

It was a young Anakin. It had to of been taken not long before she arrived on Tatooine with her jedi guard and basically stole him away from his mother. He was smiling broadly in front of his rusty swoop bike. The one of the suns is shining into his eyes, giving him a squinted look, but he's showing off all of his pretty white teeth.

He was so cute and innocent. He knew nothing of the cruelty of the galaxy outside of Tatooine. He didn't understand then what kind of ugly galaxy they lived in without the right people looking out for it. He knew nothing of Jedi other than their splendors and righteousness. He didn't hear of their code and think about the hypocrisy of it all. He didn't hate the only man in his life who loved him whole-heartedly because of the machinations of an evil, evil man. He isn't so utterly terrified that he's going to lose everything that he is willing to betray everything he's every believed in, and everyone, because of it.

He lost his mother to death. Countless Clones died under his command. Ahsoka left the Order because she was disillusioned about the Order, much like he was. He felt like he lost Obi-Wan in a very emotional sense. He felt detached from his master because of Palpatines words planting doubts in his mind and his heart. In a way, Palpatine had killed Obi-Wan. At least to Anakin, he had.

Padme gently touches the photo, making sure not to smudge it, seeing as it is very tenderly cared for and loved. She turns away and looks around again to continue surveying the room.

There is a bookcase filled with books on one wall, then on the other, opposite wall is another, but this one is filled with a bunch of half-finished little electronic pieces set up proudly on the shelves. The little gadgets are crudely made with rusted parts that were carefully cared for so that they would last. Nothing was pretty, but Padme had to wonder if given time, if the inventor would be able to finish his childhood works. They were nothing overly impressive as far as Padme could tell in an aesthetic sense, but Shmi displays them like they are trophies.

Because she loved the inventor. Padme can understand that. He's a very difficult person both to love, and to not.

Padme heads for the door, lightly closing it behind herself as she walks back toward the living room that they've made into a make-shift bedroom for Shmi while she's resting. It's close to the only bathroom in the house. The kitchen and they can open the windows a bit and let in the cool night air to help pull her fever down. Padme stops in the doorway to see Beru lightly feeding a bit of bread and a few gulps of water to Shmi before letting her lay her head back down on the pillows and rest up some more.

Cliegg sits at her head, kissing her temple and pushing her hair back, whispering lovingly. Anakin holds her tiny, pale hand between both of his. Padme offers a little smile to them before walking over to where Beru is sitting on the couch next to Owen and sits on her other side.

"What did the doctor say?" Owen asks, looking around the quiet brunette to the Senator.

"She said that all we can really do now is wait for her to get stronger. Once she's strong enough, or her condition declines suddenly, we will be able to move her," Padme explains.

"To where?" Cliegg asks, looking over his shoulder at Padme.

"Naboo," Padme says. "It's my home."

Owen and Beru both share a look. Anakin looks up at her, grayish blue eyes mistrusting, warning her not to give away too much. Anakin doesn't know these people. He doesn't trust them. A part of him must still be under the impression that Lars bought his mother against her will and until she says otherwise, he's going to keep believing it. Padme doesn't see it that way, and maybe that's because her time on Tatooine happened to be luckily pleasant because of the Skywalker family, but she knows that it's a cesspool. Anakin knows it's a shitty place to live.

Now that Anakin is older and knows more about the way the galaxy works, he's not nearly as quick to trust as he once was. Especially when it comes to his mother. There is no way he's just going to take Cliegg at his word. Not until his mother confirms it.

Padme knows they are good people, having been able to spend some time with Beru and Owen while Anakin, Cliegg and the rest of the men were off to rescue Shmi both times. She believes that they are some of the very few, honest people on Tatooine. Padme thinks back to the other second time she was here. Cliegg had been so badly hurt trying to rescue her, Padme knew when he said that he loved her, that it was the truth. It was on his face and in his eyes. He loved her so much and believed that she was dead. Or worse.

She can understand Anakin's hesitance, though.

"I met Anakin and Shmi for the first time about ten years ago," Padme says, calculatedly. "We were stranded on Tatooine and needed help the Skywalkers took us in and even helped us get off of this planet and be able to ultimately return home. I am the Senator of Naboo and Anakin is acting as my body guard." Anakin shakes his head a bit, pale eyes flashing dangerously.

She locks with him for a moment, waiting until his metaphorical hackles lower a bit before she continues, "Having Anakin by my side again made me want to come back here. I wanted to see Miss Shmi again and I knew Anakin would to. They were both so kind to me when I needed them, it's only natural that I return the favor."

"You're a Senator..?" Beru says softly, her dark eyes wide. She looks over at Owen again. They must not have a lot of good politician around. Padme can, unfortunately, understand that.

"Yes," Padme says, "but I am here as a friend. Anything I can do to repay Anakin and Shmi's kindness, I will."

Anakin lowers his eyes a bit, lightly caressing his mother's hand, the corner of his mouth twitching a bit.

Now that everything is starting to slow down and all they can do is wait on Shmi and keep an eye on her, there is no need for them to be all hyper alert anymore. Beru, delicate as she can be in this lifestyle, looks worn and tired. She has been leaning on Owen since they both sat back onto the couch. She looks contemplative for a moment at Padme's words before her eyes droop closed.

Cliegg looks over at her before his eyes lock with Owen. "Go ahead and go to bed, Owen. Beru, too."

Owen looks hesitant, like he wanted to insist that they stay up a little bit longer, but one look at Beru and he knew that he couldn't at least deny that she needed to sleep. He slowly moves to stand up, waking Beru, before he pulls her to her feet and leads her deeper into the house where their room is to settle down for the night.

Padme leans against the arm of the couch, feeling her own eyes droop closed. It's been a good couple of days since she's gotten a good night sleep. She slept better on the ship from Naboo to Tatooine. She trusted Anakin so with it just being him, she was able to finally get a few hours of peaceful sleep before she took over so that he could sleep a bit, other than that, she's been very restless or simply unable to sleep.

She's exhausted.

At some point, Anakin must have convinced Cliegg that he needed to sleep as well, because when Padme opened her eyes again, Shmi is sleeping on her side with her back to Padme, and Anakin is slowly moving her into a better position. Instead of curled up against the arm of the couch, he's helping her spread out. She lowers onto her back and looks up at Anakin. It's dark out with only a bit of light from the dim candles provide any light.

Exhausted, Padme reaches out and lightly touches his face, feeling the smooth skin of his cheek. The dim candles cast long, flattering shadows across his young, handsome face, darkening his pretty eyes.

Anakin's right hand covers hers and he presses it tight against his cheek. "Rest a little bit longer," Anakin says softly, voice barely breaking the silence that has settled over them.

"When you get tired, let me know," Padme says, just as softly, her thumb rubbing at his cheekbone, feeling the smooth skin there. He doesn't seem ready to let her have her hand back just yet, and she misses these moments. Nearing Anakin's fall, the loving moments that they got to share with one another became so limited it feels like she hasn't been able to just gaze lovingly into his eyes or touch him leisurely in forever. She misses those moments more than anything else.

It's not when he's saving her life or she's saving his, or even when they are having sex. It's in these moments, just staring into one another's eyes, that she loved him the most. She felt the strongest pull in their connection with one another in those moments.

"I will," Anakin says softly, staring down at her, his eyes locked with hers.

Padme loves Anakin. She really does. When he turned his back on the Jedi, Padme felt this great pain in her chest, her heart, and her soul. She was so broken over his fall that she felt like she no longer had a place in this galaxy. She was even willing to turn her back on her own children. She never imagined how much Anakin had ahold of her. She loved him so much that his betrayal lead to her own betrayal of her children. Luke and Leia didn't deserve that. They had done nothing wrong, yet they were abandon by both their mother and their father. It was just so wrong.

Yet with Anakin in front of her once more, the love in her chest swells up again.

Padme brings her other hand up to cup his face, wanting nothing more than to stay in this moment with him. It's been too long since he was just this close to her, staring into her eyes and seeing her. She wanted nothing more than to protect him and be with him. She loved him so much and was honestly terrified losing him to Palpatine. She wasn't going to allow it to happen.

If she could save him, she would happily die in his place.

"I love you," Anakin whispers, so quietly that Padme had to wonder if she was hearing him whisper in her memories or if he actually said it aloud.

"What?" She whispers back, blinking a few times to force the sleepiness away to be able to focus on his face.

"Ever since I was a little boy, I have loved you," Anakin says. "You were all I ever thought about all of these years." His lips part a bit, like he's going to say something more, but then he stops. His steely blue eyes study her face for a moment before he says, so softly she has to strain her ears to hear him say, "Thank you for letting me come here. If you hadn't..."

"Your mom is alive," Padme says, running the pad of her thumbs across his high cheek bones. "Don't think about anything more right now."

Anakin closes his eyes, his long lashes casting thick shadows on his cheek bones and her fingers. "Thank you."

"I'm going to rest for a little bit longer," Padme says softly. "When you are tired, wake me, and I'll look after her, okay?"

Anakin nods, reaching down with his right hand and runs the side of his pointer finger along the length of her left cheek bone. It's in that moment that Padme realized that he wanted to kiss her. She wanted so badly for him to kiss her, to relish in this moment even more, but she smiles at him, and he smiles back, realizing that she noticed his desire. and knows why he's being rejected.

Shmi is still there and isn't out of the woods yet. They still had to look after her. Whatever was going on with them - and mostly in part what Padme wishes is going on with them - is going to have to wait until Shmi is doing better. For Anakin, she would wait forever. And the way she sees it, she owes Shmi, big time, offering her the courtesy of not sucking face with the child she hasn't seen in ten years while she's sick not three feet away is the least she can do.

Padme caresses his face one last time before pulling her hands back and rest them on her belly. Anakin pulls away and goes back to his mother's side. Padme adjusts herself on the couch a bit more, finding it very uncomfortable but she's too tired to even care, and slips back into slumber without much preamble. The dream wasn't very restful, but she was feeling a bit better when she finally woke up about dawn.

Shmi was sleeping peacefully where Padme last saw her earlier the night before, and Anakin was speaking with C-3PO about where to safely dispose of his mother's bloody bandages in the next room. He must have just changed them for her.

Padme sits up slowly and stretches, feeling a tightness in her back, neck and shoulders, probably from sleeping on such an uncomfortable couch all night. She rolls her shoulders a bit, trying to loosen them up before she stretches again, waiting for her vertebrae to all pop so that she can relax again and push herself to her feet. She reaches up and feels her hair, it's starting to come out of it's bun but it's not too bad. She spares a quick moment to straighten it up before walking over to Shmi to check on her. Her breathing is easier and her fever seems to be going down.

She's getting better already.

Padme smiles a bit, over-joyed that this was somehow going well before she heads into the small kitchen.

"I will dispose of these properly, Master Anakin," C-3PO says, taking the bag filled with soiled bandages. He turns to see Padme and jerks, happily. "Mistress Padme! Oh, good morning!"

Padme can't believe she actually missed C-3PO's chipper attitude all the time. No matter what, there was always a degree of joy in what he said and did. That, or he was terrified of something, but he was mostly positive and Padme always appreciates it.

Anakin turns to look at her and his face lights up, happily. "Morning," he says softly, the light from the suns filtering in from the window next to him shows off his beautifully tanned skin, a thousand watt smile and sparkling gray eyes.

"Good morning," she says softly, unable to get over how beautiful he looks. Anakin never seemed to really care how he looked, he grew up with so much more on his mind, but to Padme, he was absolutely beautiful.

"You should get some rest," Padme says, leaning against the doorway, over Anakin's shoulder, she can see Owen and Beru walking around outside, checking out the moisture vaporizers. She can hear the refresher going in the other room. Lars must be getting cleaned up. When Shmi is up and feeling a bit better, she's probably going to want to clean up a bit. That'll also make her feel better. The little bit of a sponge bath that Beru and Padme gave her to clean her wounds isn't enough to make her feel better, that much Padme can tell.

Anakin looks outside, squinting a bit at the heavy rays from the two suns. C-3PO looks between the two of them before jerking and making a slow turn toward the door.

"I should dispose of these. If you will excuse me," he says slowly, looking between the two of them. Padme offers a little smile while Anakin nods his dismissal. C-3PO nods with his whole upper body before heading outside.

"Thank you, 3PO," Anakin says quietly as the robot passes.

"You are most welcome, Master Anakin," C-3PO says, closing the door behind himself.

"She seems like she's starting to do better," Padme says, casting a slow look over her shoulder toward the living room as if he didn't know who she was referring to.

Anakin nods, looking into the living room as well. The way he turns with his back toward the window, Padme can see the dark circles under his eyes. He's been up too long too. He still appears to be very alert, but there is a bowing to his shoulders that belies his tiredness. Padme also didn't fail to notice that he's missing his dark cloak.

"Thank you again," Anakin says. "If you hadn't insisted that we came..."

Padme shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest as Anakin leans back against the sink behind him. "Don't think about that," she tells him. "Just try and get some sleep now. And no nightmares."

Anakin looks surprised, like he had somehow forgotten about his nightmares. "That's right," he says, eyebrows pulling together. "My dreams... they were true."

Padme looks around, wondering what she should say to that. She was kind of just making this up as she went along, but while she kind of had to play stupid a little bit, she could maybe offer up something to think about. "Is it the Force?"

Anakin looks confused by that. "What do you mean?"

Padme reaches up and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear that she missed when she redid her hair. She sighs, knowing that her hair is the last thing that she should be worrying about, and really it is, but it's almost like she wants to care a lot about it as an excuse to not have to explain herself. Not because she doesn't have an idea of what to say, but she's starting to get this weird feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.

Anakin's eyebrows pull together. "Something is troubling you," he says, he pushes away from the sink to step closer.

She's not sure why she has this weird feeling, but she shakes it off for now. "You were right about your mother. And it came to you in dreams? Is there really any other way to explain it?"

Anakin stares at her, his eyes telling her that he wasn't blind and missed her ignoring his words in regard to her feelings. He looks like he's going to try and circle back to what could be bothering her, but then seemed to consider otherwise and think about her own words. He sucks in a chest full of air through his teeth before letting it out.

"I don't know. There is the ability to see things through the Force, and if one is powerful and trained enough, they can enter a meditative state and be able to see into the future..." His eyebrows pulling together. He takes a moment to really think about that, pale eyes lowering to the floor, unseeing. Padme doesn't say anything more, just stares at him, that feeling in the pit of her stomach growing. "Do you think..." Anakin says softly, eyebrows pulling together even tighter, "...that maybe I did see something through the Force?"

"I don't know," Padme lies softly. "That's something you can talk to Obi-Wan about, right?"

Anakin nods. "Yeah..." he says slowly, then he looks up at her and says, more firmly, "Yes." Padme smiles at that. She wants Obi-Wan's and Anakin's relationship to stay strong. She knows that she can't control the outlook that they have with one another, but whenever she was with them, nine out of ten times, they were good with one another. It's only when he comes back to Coruscant and is flustered and talks with Palpatine that the real deep rooted friction between them rubs raw each and every time.

Padme's not sure how she didn't notice it sooner. After she told Anakin about being pregnant, his anger toward both Obi-Wan and the rest of the Jedi, hit it's boiling point. She should have known though, throughout the entire war, every time Anakin returned to Coruscant and spoke with Palpatine he would always seem angry and confused. She never put the dots together. She can't believe it. She feels so completely blind for not seeing what was right in front of her.

A part of Padme had to wonder if Anakin kept trying to tell her something about this growing anger in him and she never paid attention to him. If she was so preoccupied with the next relief effort, or bill, that she wasn't offering him the attention he deserved. She loved him, and their time together was precious to her, but their time together wasn't always dedicated to just each other, regardless of what she wanted. How many times had he come home looking for her, only for her to be doing one thing or another, so he went to speak to Palpatine about his problems rather than her? How many poisonings could Padme have deterred if she had just put more things on hold for Anakin?

"I'm going to get a bit of sleep," Anakin says softly, looking exhausted. Padme forces her thoughts away and nods.

"Go on," she says. "I will stay with your mother. I'll wake you if I need you."

Anakin nods, walking past her into the living room. He stoops down next to the pillow fort that they build up around Shmi and kisses her cheek, gently rubbing her shoulder, being mindful of her wounded back before dropping himself onto the couch that Padme occupied not a half hour earlier. Whereas Padme fit pretty well on the couch, Anakin's long legs practically hung off the other side, but like Padme was earlier, he was obviously too tired to care.

Once Cliegg gets out of the refresher, he comes out to see Shmi and sits by her side for about an hour before he has to return to the farm but he insisted that if she woke up and was coherent, or if something happened to call him immediately. Beru came in not long after Cliegg went out and stayed with Padme as they looked after Shmi.

Padme and Beru talk about all sorts of random things, anything to keep them occupied. They would stop every once and awhile to wipe down Shmi's sweat, change her bandages on her feet, wrists and back, and give her food and water. She slept through pretty much the entire thing, except for when she eats and drinks. She doesn't have many lucid moments, especially with the fever still prevalent. Thankfully it seems to be going down, but they are still going to keep being careful with her.

Cliegg came in a few times to check on Shmi and Anakin was so exhausted that he didn't move once while he slept. Padme stayed with Shmi almost the whole time Anakin slept with the exception of once, when she got a call from Galdrina's assistant. He said that he would be willing to come to Naboo to see Shmi, but it would be at least a day or two before he got there. Padme was relieved that they wouldn't have to wait for Shmi to just get better and that someone would be able to come and see her. Someone professionally trained.

Padme would like to believe that she knew what she was doing, but would feel a lot better if someone who actually spent a great deal of time studying in the practice would be able to come to see Shmi.

It was late afternoon when Shmi finally woke up on her own and actually sat up.

"Please," Padme heard Beru say from the kitchen where she was putting their dishes from lunch into the sink, "don't move around too much, Shmi."

Padme scurries into the living room to see Shmi sitting up slowly. Beru has her hand on Shmi's shoulder, while Anakin had jolted awake and was watching her with his hands out-stretched toward her, about ready to grab her if she needed him to.

"I'm okay," Shmi says softly, patting Beru's cheek. Shmi rubs at her forehead for a moment, probably trying to think through the fever before looking over at Padme, as if seeing her for the first time. She squints for a moment, as if trying to put a name to her face. "Padme?"

Padme honestly couldn't believe it. Shmi actually remembered her? Someone she met once, ten years prior for just a few days and now ten years later, she was able to put her name to her face. Padme was fourteen at the time, she knew that she was pretty grown up, but she knew that she had changed some over the years. It was impressive that Shmi remembered her.

"Hello, Miss Shmi," Padme says softly. "How are you feeling?"

Shmi rubs at her forehead again. "I'm okay," she says, offering a tiny smile. "How are you, sweetheart?"

Padme laughs, walking over and kneeling down next to Beru. "I'm doing great now that you're awake," Padme says, the relief obvious in her voice. She feels like a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She looks over Shmi's shoulder to see Anakin with a faint smile on his face.

Shmi follows her eyes and stares at Anakin, her own gray eyes wide. They start to water and she holds her hand out to him. Anakin gets up and sits on the ground next to her. Shmi wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him as tightly as her frail body can. Anakin puts one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist so that he doesn't irritate the wounds on her back.

The next two days go by in a flash. Everyone got to celebrate that Shmi was up and about. Beru and Padme helped Shmi into the refresher to hopefully clean her up better that Beru and Padme could. Padme made sure to check with Galdrina's assistant and said that it was fine so long as it was set at the lowest setting so to not hurt her.

They finally got her out of her dirty clothes and into fresh, clean ones and from there they moved forward slowly. They gave her a small plate of food to eat and water to drink and she finally went and settled herself in her bed. Lars spent a little bit of time along with her, but ultimately Anakin ended up in there with her, talking quietly. They had ten years to catch up on and Padme knew that their days together, for now, were limited. They would have to be leaving for Geonosis soon, so Padme let them have as much time as possible together.

She's not sure how long they actually spent talking, but Shmi seemed really tired even during her late lunch, early dinner. But Anakin stayed in there with her for a few hours before finally leaving so that Lars could be with her, and look after her for the night. Beru and Owen went to bed for the night while Anakin and Padme just sat on the couch, side by side, in silence. Padme's not sure when, but she fell asleep with her head on Anakin's shoulder. At some point during the night, she woke with Anakin's arm around her shoulder, leaning against her too.

Padme looks at the hand dangling in front of her face, it was his right hand. She took a moment to stare at the long pale digits, feeling this horrible sense of loss. She laces her fingers through his and snuggles closer to him. She wished that she could somehow prevent Anakin from losing his hand. She didn't want him to keep his hand because she had any sort of problem with his having a metal hand, but because of the shame he felt when he lost it. Like he was less of himself without his dominant hand.

Padme didn't think it was anything to be ashamed of. She thought he was amazingly impressive without his actual hand and couldn't understand really where the shame came in, but she didn't want him to feel it. He fought against a strong ex-Jedi like Count Dooku and survived! Padme thought that was an amazing feat, yet Anakin didn't feel the same.

Padme just didn't know how to help him. How could she stop him from losing his arm? She wasn't there for the fight against Dooku. She wasn't even a Jedi, she wouldn't be able to fight him even if she was there. She doesn't know what else she can do. She doesn't know how she can help him other than through her pull on the Senate.

Hopefully, that can be enough.

Galdrina's assistant, a handsome young man named Doreen, came the next day to check on Shmi. He gave her some medicine and taught her and Cliegg how to clean her wounds, and checked on them for her and tidied them up a bit more to his own satisfaction. He was a kind, smiley man who worked diligently and went beyond what Padme would have asked of him. He stayed for almost the entire day to care for Shmi, who seemed embarrassed that she was the center of attention, but it was obvious that after his treatment and medical care, she was already starting to feel better. Her fever broke almost immediately and she was able to walk around on her feet without much pain.

Everyone was thankful and he even left medical supplies behind for the Lars family. Antibiotics, ointment, blood supplement pills and something to help her sleep should she start having nightmares from her ordeal. Shmi was very modest and thankful, but Padme could see that the older woman didn't think she deserved such kindness. Her head was bowed and her cheeks were painted red the whole gave them his holo-communicator's number so that if anything happened, they would be able to get ahold of him.

Padme tried to remember if she ever really spoke to Galdrina's assistant. She had seen him in passing before, but because of her status, it was always Galdrina or one of the other top physicians on Naboo that she went to when there. That was the first time she got to actually speak with him. It's crazy how one choice can alter so many different people's lives. No matter how big or how small.

Padme sees Doreen off, eyes turned up toward the sky until his ship is gone. She's not sure how long she was out there but the heat of the two setting suns felt good and she was used to the coarseness of the sand against her revealed skin. Padme closes her eyes and lets her shoulders droop. So much is different. Shmi Skywalker is alive, and Doreen says that she's strong, she's already healing nicely. Padme can only hope that this good news keeps up.

"She loves him."

Padme jerks from her thoughts and looks over at Anakin, who managed to sneak up on her while she was day dreaming. "What?"

"My mother," Anakin says, staring out over the golden waves before them. "I asked her if he was good to her. Lars, I mean. She said he was. That she loved him."

"That's good," Padme says. "She deserves a nice man who will treat her well."

Anakin nods slowly. "I agree. I just... I worry about her. She's so kind, anyone could easily take advantage of her. I don't want her to get hurt."

Padme doesn't respond, figuring that he didn't need her to say anything. He has all the right to be worried about his mother, she just went through quite an ordeal and has had a very tough life, it's scary to think that she's finally happy and safe and that all of that could be taken away from her. Padme can understand why he would be so scared for her. Padme doesn't blame him.

"I think..." Anakin says slowly. "I think Lars is a good man. If my mother says so, I'll believe her, but I'm going to check in on her, just to be safe."

Padme nods slowly. "I bet she would much rather you come see her so that you can be together, rather than check in on her husband," Padme says airily, giving him a sideway glance.

Anakin's face scrunches up a bit but he doesn't deny her words. "Maybe," he concedes. They lapse into silence. Padme and Anakin just stand side by side, staring out over the endless dunes and sea of gold that stretches as far as the eye can see.

"What are you thinking about?" Padme asks, not pulling her eyes away from the scene before her.

Anakin lets out a low sigh. "How much I hate sand."

"Didn't you hear the council?" Anakin asks, leaning back against the pilot's chair. "They told us to stay here on Tatooine for the duration of the mission."

Padme turns around in the co-pilot sit to face Anakin, her finely manicured eyebrow perked upright. "The Jedi council does not order me around. You are more than welcome to stay here, Anakin, but I am going to help Obi-Wan."

Anakin stares down at her, an honest war within himself of whether or not he could obey his orders and stay on Tatooine where is mother is still healing, or uphold his mission and stay with Padme. He casts a long look over the moisture farm toward his mother's home and rolls his shoulder back. He nods and stands up.

"Alright," he says. "Obi-Wan needs us. Let's go."

"Your mother," Padme starts, wondering if that was part of the reason for his hesitance. He was very close to losing her a few days ago.

"-Is in good hands," Anakin says. "I trust that they will be able to look after her." He doesn't wait for her to ask anymore. He exits the ship and heads toward the house. Padme sets the coordinates into the ship's navi-computer before following him out to help him pack up their things. Padme doesn't mind lugging their suitcases into the ship while Anakin says goodbye to his mother. Padme says her own farewell. She shakes Cliegg's and Owen's hand but hugs Beru. She was able to spend more time with her this time around and actually found the girl quite pleasant and lovely to be around.

"Please take care of yourself," Shmi says, squeezing him tightly.

Anakin nods, burying his face in her shoulder. He takes a moment to kiss her cheek. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too, Ani," Shmi whispers back, her voice thick with emotion. It's like saying goodbye to him all over again. She doesn't want to let him go again, especially since his reasoning was, "my master needs our help" which implies danger. She's scared that he'll get hurt.

She kisses his cheek a handful of times, giving him one more strong squeeze before finally letting him go. She gives his face one more loving caress before turning to Padme and opening her arms for Padme to walk into. She does, somehow not surprised by the woman's openness.

"Please look after my Ani," Shmi whispers, her voice shaking in Padme's ear. She is starting to get stronger already, but she is still very weak and is probably going to be heading straight back to bed after this, if she can sleep through her worry. "Please." There is a tinge of desperation in her voice.

Padme hugs the dainty older woman back as hard as she dares. "I will. I promise."

For the Reviewers:

1. Khalthar: It's starting to become obvious that things are changing, simply by saving Shmi's life, people who weren't in the story before, are in it now. The differences are starting to show, but what affect with they have on the future, I wonder. You're right, only time will tell.

2. riml: I think it's a beautiful relationship term to use for one another. When Anakin first saw Padme, he thought she was a beautiful angel. Whenever Padme needs someone to help her, or look after her, Anakin will be like a guardian angel. A part of her is very aware that it is there, but the real impact will come to her when Anakin goes up against Dooku. Will history repeat itself, or is there more change to come?

3. PATR10TJD: Aww, thank you! Shmi didn't find her way to Naboo now, but something tells me she's going to find herself there one way or the other. I promise that this isn't the last we've seen of the Lars family. :D

4. Guest: You're welcome! I kind of did it for myself too. XD