I've been waiting to write this short little chapter for a while. Heh heh heh...

Reunion Pt I

UNSC Space Port Alpha 3, New York City
October 29, 2557 5:32pm

The woman sighed as she looked up from her desk. It had been a hassle for all of the flight organizers, since ships had been coming and going all day. No one wanted to sit still.

Fortunately for them, the return of the UNSC Infinity had pretty much cleared up most of the traffic in their area. Unfortunately, there were mobs of people waiting to go up into space to see the legendary ship.

"I brought ya some coffee," Beatrice said, rolling over in her office chair. They shared on big, curved desk, and there were six of them scattered around the room, each one serving different functions. "You look tired, Pad."

She nodded and took the cup of warm liquid. "Emily and Jeff called in sick, so I worked their shifts, along with mine," she replied, then taking a big swig of the coffee.

Beatrice frowned. "So you've been working for a whole twenty-four hours?"

"Twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes," she corrected, and set the mug on her desk. "My fingers hurt from typing, my butt is numb from all this sitting, my legs fell asleep hours ago, and I have a headache. But, I could use the overtime pay."

"Padme, Padme, Padme," Beatrice muttered, shaking her head. "You really need to stop working yourself so hard. You need a vacation."

Padme smiled lightly, then rested her head on her desk. "Maybe. I assume that you want to tag along like last time?"

Chuckling, Beatrice shrugged. "Can't hurt, right?"

"It might, you remember what happened last time, with the burbon and the vacuum?"

Beatruce burst into laughter. "How could I forget? And like I said, I never knew there was a cat right there. Completely out of my sight."

"Because you were like, a gazillion times over the legal limit," Padme added, joining the laughter. "I'm sure that the spahgetti sauce is still stained on the wall."

"It was not a gazillion times, it was only seven," Beatrice told her. "And the spahgetti sauce was on purpose."

"Sure," Padme said, nodding. "Seven times the legal limit?" she then asked, looking up. "Wouldn't that kill you?"

"The Martin family was built to drink," Beatrice said proudly. "We can drink more than any other normal human. My grandfather once drank down over fifty shots of tequila in one sitting, and was still able to drive after that."

"How's that even possible?"

Before there was answer, hords of people came through the doors, each one heading off to one of the desks to get reservations to hotels or rental cars. They were all Marines or ODSTs and even a few Spartan IV's getting off the Infinity for the week. "Time to get to work," Beatrice grimly noted.

"Never again," Padme said, banging her fist on the desk. She was flopped over on top of it, somewhat asleep. "Never again, never again, never again."

It had taken them over five hours to get each and every UNSC personnel to where they were going, and they only took one-tenth of the entire ship's crew. The other organizers took the rest, and were still finished before they were.

"My shift's over," Padme continued, rolling off her desk. "I'm going to fall asleep right here. Don't disturb me." There was a pause. "Can you throw me my jacket? I'm cold."

Seconds later, her black wool jacket came flying over, and landed a few feet from her. "Thanks." She snatched it up, and curled up under it. "I'm not moving until I sleep."

"Oh, this again?" Beatrice asked, gathering some things into her purse. "Last time, Bowers got so mad at you, I thought he was going to explode."

Padme weakly chuckled. "That's how he got his nickname Beetroot. That's color of his face when he gets mad. I'll worry about him later."

Beatrice slung her purse over her shoulder. "Okay then, I'm outta here. See ya on Monday, if you don't get fired." She walked off, and Padme smile, able to rest her eyes for a long night's sleep. Actually, it would be around twenty minutes, since that's when the janitors came around to clean up before opening again.

For once, there was a calm silence in the building. Nothing but the hum of the air conditioning and heaters. Padme smiled and closed her eyes.

It seemed like hours, but it was only minutes when she heard boots cloming down the hall. She groaned and pulled her jacket over her head, not wanting to have to do anything but sleep.

"Um...Is there anyone here that can get me accomdated?" the man asked.

Padme tensed. She knew that voice. But...how? What? She didn't know weather to rejoice or cower. After all, this was the man that killed her. But she knew there was still good down in him somewhere. Slowly, she peeked out from under her jacket. "Ani?"

"Padme?" Anakin stared at her, eyes going wide. They stood in that awkward silence for several minutes, then... "What...how...when...what..where...what?"

"How did you get here?" Padme asked, standing up. She was uncoordinated from her lack of sleep, but she didn't show it. "How?"

Anakin shook his head, still speechless. "I don't know. When I died in the other world, I woke up here..."

Padme nodded. "Same here." Once again, there was a deafening silence. "So, um, how have you been?"

"Fine." It was still awkward. "Look, I need to get this out of the way. I regret what I did back then. I was angry, and I couldn't control it." Anakin sighed, and looked down at his boots. "If you don't want anything to do with me, after what I did to you, I'm fine with that."

"Ani..." Padme said, reaching out and grabbing his hand. She wasn't surprised when she felt the cold steel of his metal hand. "I forgive you...if you really did have some good in you, like I told Obi-Wan."

Anakin mused it over, and excluding the Death Star, the Death Star II, cutting of Luke's hand, kidnapping Han Solo, and the deaths of millions of rebels, he didn't do anything evil...wait, what would all that leave?

"I did kill the Emperor," he finally said, "and saved our son."

"Luke?" Padme asked. A fond smile came over her lips. "Why do you tell me what he's like over dinner? At my place?"

Anakin smiled. "I think I would like that very much."

Padme's Apartment
October 27, 10:34pm

Padme's apartment was not the best, but not the worst. It was on the sixth floor of a tall, state of the art condominum. Every thing was either black or white, styling with the modern style.

"...and I tried to get onto the Human-Sangheili peace council, considering my background on the Senate," Padme said, taking a bite of her pizza. "But those assholes wouldn't allow it since I wasn't in the UNSC. I could negociate better than any of them."

"I don't doubt it," Anakin said, chuckling. He stopped, and his smile faded. "What are the odds?"

"Odds of what?"

"The two of us, together again, getting a new life," Anakin replied. "Do you know what we could do? We can get a fresh start. The two of us. I'm no longer bound by the Jedi Order, I can marry, have kids, the whole nine yards. It's a new world for us, literally."

"You're right," Padme acknowledged. She set what was left of her pizza on her plate, and stood up, extending her hand to Anakin. "Why don't we start this new life together properly?"

Anakin's smile returned. "Why not?" He took her hand, and she led him to her bedroom. Not much more needs to be said, right?

Next Time, on From Dark to Light;

Obi-Wan and Galen break into the ONI facility in order to rescue the other Jedi trapped in there, while Anakin faces a tragic revelation.

Chapter Recap;

Anakin is reunited with Padme!

This chapter probably isn't one of my best, but I still hope I did somewhat good. Okay, maybe not enough romance, but this is a critical chapter.