Chapter 4

Anne woke up far too early considering the time that she had gotten to sleep. She had been so exhausted that she had fallen asleep in her clothes so she just had to re-do her ponytail before quietly leaving the room that she and Padmé were sharing.

"Good morning." C-3PO said when he saw her. "I did not properly introduce myself last night. I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations."

"I'm Anne Sparks." Since she was talking to C-3PO, Anne decided to ask him a question that she had never been able to figure out the answer to. "Why is it human-cyborg relations? Cyborgs are humans, they just have mechanical enhancements."

"Oh." The light from C-3PO's eyes flickered. "I must admit that I do not know. It's part of my programing."

"Oh. Thank you 3PO."

"You are most welcome. May I help you with anything else?"

"Is anyone else awake?"

"Young mistress Beru is currently in the kitchen."

Beru had her back to the door and was working at the stove when Anne got to the kitchen. Anne knocked lightly on the wall by the door opening and the other woman turned around. "Do you need any help?" Beru rolled up her sleeves where they were beginning to fall over her elbows.

"Yes please. Normally Shmi and I would make breakfast together but…"

Anne nodded. "Just tell me what to do."

They worked in silence for a while before Beru asked, "Are you a Jedi?" Anne nearly dropped the jug she was holding.

"No. Why would you think that?"

"You're dressed like one." Beru gestured at Anne's robe with the spoon she had been using to stir a pot of blue porridge-y stuff.

"Oh, this isn't mine. There was an accident and now I don't really have anything. Anakin lent me this because none of Padmé's clothes fit." Thankfully Beru didn't ask what the accident had been.

"Which star system are you from?"

Anne added a spoonful of grey powder from the tin Beru had given her to the jug. "Padmé and I are from Naboo. Anakin lives in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Have you always lived here?"

"All my life. What's Naboo like?" Anne stirred the drink in the jug.

"Where I live? Green. There's a lot of water. Lakes, rivers. The Gungans have a city underwater."

Beru took a stack of bowls out of a cupboard. "It sounds dangerous, having so much water lying around." Anne smiled.

"Well I did nearly drown once, but it's no more dangerous than living in a desert."

By the time they were finished making breakfast, everyone else in the homestead had gotten up and gathered around the table except for Anakin and Owen, who were still sitting with their parents.

"I'll bring them something," Beru said, standing up with two filled bowls already in her hands.

"No, I'll go." Anne took the food from her. "You were up before all of us, Beru, sit down and relax."

"She's right, Beru," one of the men said before she could protest. "You and Shmi are always on your feet. Take a break." Beru reluctantly sat back down.

Anne carried the food out of the room and was glad that she was holding the bowls tightly when Owen turned the corner and nearly ran into her. The splitting smile on his face told her all she needed to know. "They're awake?" Owen nodded.

"Yes, both of them." Anne smiled and put one of the bowls into his hands.

"Good. Is Anakin still with them?"

"Yes. I was just coming to tell everyone. I can bring him breakfast." Anne shook her head.

"I'm already going. I'll see you in a bit."

"Alright."

Anne ducked into the kitchen to grab two more bowls of food. She dropped off one of them with Cliegg, who was sitting up and looked perfectly fine except for the fact that he was missing a leg, before heading down the hall to the room that Anakin had brought Shmi to the night before. Anakin was sitting beside the bed and his mother was sitting up against a stack of cushions. "Good morning." Anakin looked up as Anne entered the room. "I brought you breakfast."

"Thank you." Anakin nodded. "Mom, this is Anne. Anne, this is my mom, Shmi."

"Good morning, Shmi." Anne smiled as she gave them the bowls of porridge. "You look better." Shmi smiled and despite her injures she looked beautiful in the dim light.

"Only thanks to my son." She took Anakin's hand and smiled at him. "My boy has grown up." Anne slipped out of the room. The two of them had ten years to catch up on, she wasn't going to interrupt.

"We're going to have to leave soon. Today." Anakin tightened a bolt on the machine he was fixing. "We'll get in trouble if the Council finds out we were here."

"It's only been two days," Padmé pointed out. "Surly you can spend some more time with your family." Anakin snorted.

"I would get into even more trouble for that. Jedi aren't supposed to have outside attachments, Padmé ."

"You said if they find out. They don't have to know."

"I can't lie to the Council, Padmé ." He put down the wrench. "And I'm surprised that you're suggesting it. You're a Senator; shouldn't you be following the rules?" Padmé shook her head.

"Well, some of your rules are a little bit much. How can you have no attachments? You have Obi-Wan,"

"He's my Master."

"You have me,"

"You're my friend." Padmé raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't that an attachment?"

"We can have friends," Anakin protested, "But the Order is our family." He picked up the wrench again and went to work on another bolt. Padmé made a noncommittal sound and slid off of the work bench she had been sitting on.

"I'll go find Anne and tell her we're leaving." Anakin nodded.

"I think she's checking on Cliegg."

They had trouble pulling Anne away from her patient but when they managed that they just had to say goodbye to everyone and then they were on their way. Anakin's mother insisted that they take C-3PO with them, despite the fact that the droid was one of the only things she had left of her son, and stood at the entrance to the homestead waving to them, to Anakin, until they were out of sight. R2-D2 was the first onto the ship. He made a noise that was like a sigh before plugging in and getting the ship warmed up. C-3PO clanked up the ramp and looked around. "Oh, this is a ship? How interesting."

Anakin went straight to the controls. There was no way he was going to risk having to let Anne fly again, not until she got more practice. He stopped behind the dividing line between the controls and the rest of the ship when he saw the holocom flicker to life. The blue image of Obi-Wan wobbled for a moment before settling.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan said. "I need you to transmit this message to Coruscant." Anakin fully entered the cockpit and flipped the switch that would cause the transmission to be made. Padmé and Anne came up behind him and all three of them settled in to listen to what Obi-Wan had to say.

"I have found Count Dooku on Geonosis. Jango Fett led me here. I need help to capture Dooku and the Separatists that could be with him. My location is—wait." Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber and began deflecting blaster bolts. He backed out of view and was replaced by a droideka before the image disappeared.

"Uh oh." Padmé and Anakin looked at Anne, who had her eyes squeezed shut and was muttering under her breath. "This is early. Is it early? How many days are in a month?"

"Thirty-five," Padmé said automatically. Anne opened her eyes.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Anakin asked.

"Yes, but I thought it would be later. You fly, I'll talk. We have to get to Geonosis."