Author's note: Well this is the second to last chapter before the epilogue. But wait there's more…my next story will be called Stray Bullet and a summary of that story will be included in the epilogue author's note. Aren't you proud of me, I've upped my updating time! Now you don't have to wait that long anymore! Ok I'll shut-up now. Here's the next installment of Mutual Marriage! Miss Pippin OUT!
Anakin, Padme, and Siri paced in front of the council chambers; well at least Anakin did since he was going to be the first to enter.
"Well folks I'm sorry to say but it seems our Hero With No Fear now is scared of the Jedi council!" Siri announced with an air microphone to her lips while sitting quietly next to Padme.
"I don't understand how you can just sit there making fun of me like that! We both might be expelled from the Jedi order today and you're making fun of me for it!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Wow Padme he really is nervous he just repeated himself!"
"I did NOT!"
"Anakin calm down, I can feel your tension and I'm not even a Jedi!" Padme got up slowly and waddled over to Anakin to put a hand on his shoulder. At her touch Anakin visibly relaxed. "I know this is hard, but trust me if you get expelled, we'll get through. We always have, don't worry."
"It's just that this is my dream Padme, I don't want to lose it, but I will give it up willingly if they make me choose. I promised that when I married you."
"I know and if that does happen I think we should do like I've always wanted, move to Naboo where we can raise our family in peace." They kissed passionately forgetting that Siri was in the room. Siri looked away and awkwardly cleared her throat.
"Well now that sappy soap opera moment is over, it seems that it's our time to go in." Anakin was about to make a smart remark when the door to the chambers opened. A young padawan stepped out and told them to enter. As they all entered, Obi-Wan stood up to go stand next to them. Anakin looked to each of the council members faces to see surprise on each of their faces. He could understand considering that they requested the hearing in his name and here he walked in with a senator a Jedi knight and Obi-Wan, who was a part of the council stood to join him.
"Sense I do that much to discuss we have." Yoda said.
"Yes master and that's why I asked for an audience today." Anakin stated.
"Please continue young Skywalker" Mace Windu prodded.
"Well Masters the reason I have requested an audience today to ask you to rethink the attachment rule." He looked around the room yet again to see many looks of surprise except for both Yoda and Mace Windu. Yoda looked pensive, while Mace Windu kept the same intensive stare he always had. Obi-Wan then picked up where Anakin left off.
"You see Masters, we looked up the old records, and we believe that this rule was made unfairly." Obi-Wan continued. "With respect Masters, you have made this rule under the pretense that it will lead to the dark side, but this shouldn't determine the decision. Everyone is different and we have known Jedi to turn to the dark side for many reasons."
"You do remember the story of Xanatos Du Crion Obi-Wan. Your own master taught him, and when he found out who his father was, he betrayed the Jedi and joined him even though he was corrupt. Qui-Gon was crushed, you wish to change this rule Obi-Wan, but it wasn't just one cause that changed the minds of the council, Obi-Wan, there were many reasons that this rule was changed." Mace Windu said.
"What Obi-Wan means to bring up Master Windu, is the aspect of marriage." Padme stepped in. "We believe that certain Jedi can handle the responsibility of both upholding duty and marriage which is why we are here today. For the past year and a half, we have been surveying many Jedi in the temple, and have found that many share these thoughts with us. Not only are they in agreement with us, but they are married with spouses and some with children. They found themselves in the same predicament that I found myself in three years ago. That we had fallen in love with a Jedi and that Jedi felt the same. After talking to these Knights and Masers we have found that they've tried to push these feelings back with as much will power as they could. Most held out for a couple of years, the longest someone held out was about 15 years before finally giving in. These loyal Jedi stand in front of you today." Here Siri gestured to Obi-Wan while he stepped forward grabbing Siri's hand. "While I understand why this rule was put in place I think it should be revisited, and so do all of these people who are tired of leading secret lives." Padme stepped forward with the flimsy full of the signatures from Jedi masters to their wives, to some of their children before stepping back to stand beside Anakin grabbing his hand. They weren't alone for both Kit Fisto and Adi stood up from their seats to go stand beside the couples.
"Much have you given the council to think about" Yoda said. "Please wait outside the council chambers while the council decides your fate you shall." As they started to leave and the council members went to their seats, Yoda called out. "Stay you will young Skywalker include you in this decision we shall." Shocked, Anakin went to sit in a guest seat
oOo
Now Siri was the one pacing out front of the Jedi council chambers.
"Siri really there's nothing to be worried about, they're just going over what we gave them to think about that's all." Padme said.
"Yes but what if they kick us out Padme?"
"Try to think positive, with all the signatures on that petition if they kicked you out then they'd have to kick off all the other married Jedi to be fair."
"Still you never know, the council's decisions always surprise me."
"Siri I believe in Obi-Wan's negotiation skills, he's moved some of the most stubborn senators I know into believing his point of view, and I know that Anakin will fight just as hard to keep your place in the order which showed from his incessant pacing before we went into the chambers." Siri finally plopped down next to Padme.
"I guess you're right, the only thing we can do now is wait for the verdict. I'm going to meditate while we wait." With that Siri went down on the floor into a meditation pose while Padme pulled out a datapad from her bag. She had been reading up more on pregnancies since her due date was close by. She had noticed that she was abnormally large for a regular pregnancy at seven months and she wondered if she had counted wrong. Padme had not visited a doctor, trying to keep it a secret until the Jedi council changed the rule, but it had been difficult. She didn't anyone, not even Siri about not seeing a doctor because then Anakin would learn of this and he would worry.
They continued like this until Obi-Wan, Anakin, Kit Fisto, Adi, and a couple more Jedi masters walked out of the council chambers.
oOo
Anakin had never been one to follow the rules much so you can imagine his surprise when the council asked him to stay for the meeting. The meeting that followed though had to be the most suspenseful meetings he had ever attended.
"The first item I think we need to address here is how long each of you has been married." Mace Windu started the meeting off.
"Master Obi-Wan, go first you should." Master Yoda stated.
"Well masters I must say that I have not been married long, only a year and a half, but in that time I must say that the experience is one which I would not trade for the world. As most of you know, Siri and I confessed our love for one another when we were very young, and once our masters found out, we were placed in front of the council. They gave us a choice, either the Jedi or love, and I have to say that was the most difficult choice I have ever been faced with. Both of us chose the Jedi order believing that since we were so young that our passion for each other would go away in time, but for me it never did."
"You see Siri and I separated for a while. She went on an undercover mission, and during her absence I became a knight with a padawan of my own, but I never forgot her. It wasn't until after she came back with a padawan herself when we decided we could be friends since we had gained enough self-control. As you recall we were sent on a number of missions together, but it wasn't until that mission to save the inventor that we truly spoke our feelings again. Siri was in a life-threatening situation, and if it wasn't for the timing of my arrival she would have died. As it was she was seriously injured, and spent a lot of time with the healers after that mission. When finally Siri was released, she confronted me and we talked. I confessed that I still thought of her often and to my surprise she did too. We eloped two nights, erasing the memory of the priest. A week after our marriage I told Anakin, and was surprised to find that he also shared a marriage. It was after this announcement from him that we decided that the attachment rule should be reexamined." Obi-Wan ended here and the rest of the council questioned him.
"What exactly made you agree to get married?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked.
"You see Masters; I meditated on this decision for quite a while before deciding that it didn't feel like a wrong thing to do. When we married, again I meditated and tried again to find something wrong. Nothing was, in fact when the council forbid my attachment to Siri when we were young, that in itself felt wrong. Later on I realized that it was the will of the force, as Master Qui-Gon, called it that Siri and I be united. I believe that it was the right choice for both of us and I do not regret it."
"Has there been a change in your role as a Jedi after your marriage?" Plo Koon questioned.
"Yes master, but not in the way that you might think. I felt complete after my marriage, and I think that it made me more determined to my duty. You see I had something more tangible to fight for, and while we all fight for peace, that isn't as tangible. I had her to share my joys and sorrows with on an entirely new level. As much as a friend can do the same thing, it isn't the same. We are bonded in a way different from any other I have ever known."
"If Siri was killed on a mission, would you turn to the dark side because of it?" Mace Windu asked.
"This is also something I greatly meditated on Masters. When Qui-Gon was killed, I came very close to touching the dark side of the force. I know what it feels like to lose someone strongly bonded to you. As I will feel incredible grief over her death I can't assure you that I wouldn't go to the dark side over it because I have seen many other Jedi fall to lesser issues. Yet there will be others there to support me during that time, and with their help I know I will be able to get through. With marriage there comes a risk like in all scenarios. There is always the risk of the dark side, but I think that I have a more solid foundation from marriage that I would have without it."
"Thank you Obi-Wan, young Skywalker up next you are." Yoda motioned for Anakin to stand in the middle of the room. Nervously Anakin complied.
"I have been married now for about three years." He started out. "I kept my marriage a secret from everyone including my master. Padme and I married after the Battle at Geonosis when I was escorting her back to her planet of Naboo. You see masters, I met Padme when I was nine on Tatooine. I knew then that I loved her, but I was a nine year old boy going to become a Jedi. I didn't say anything about it to my master, but I thought of her often during my early Padawan years. It was when Obi-Wan and I were assigned to protect her from the assassination attempts on her that I truly realized that my love was pure and real, not puppy love. I was sent on my first solo mission to the planet of Naboo to better protect her when I confessed my love. She told me that she didn't feel the same way and I respected her wishes to repress my love. It wasn't until Geonosis that she told me that she felt the same way, but wanted me to stay within the Jedi order. We thought we were about to die, considering we were being sent into an arena. Imagine our surprise when we lived."
"It was Padme who brought it up again on the way back to Naboo. I had decided that she had been about to die, and that since we survived, we weren't going to do anything. On the ship Padme told me that though she had been about to die, she truly meant what she said on Geonosis. Padme proposed the idea of marriage, and I agreed. We quietly married on Naboo with C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses. Not even Padme's family knew about her marriage, like Obi-Wan, I mind-wiped the priest after the ceremony. It was brutal to keep such a huge secret from my master even after I was knighted, but I thought I knew he would never accept it. The night Obi-Wan told me of his marriage, I told him of mine, now knowing that I could trust him. This was the deciding factor for me that the attachment rule should be altered. My former master has followed the rules to the line, and knowing that this rule he broke, reassured me that what I had done had not been wrong."
The council again asked Anakin the same questions as Obi-Wan, and like him, Anakin answered accordingly. After his period of time, Kit Fisto was called upon, as was Adi, and a couple other masters, who admitted they had spouses of their own at home. Finally the council dismissed all the married Jedi on the council, and Anakin telling them to wait for their verdict.
oOo
"So what happened? What did you say? What do you mean Plo Koon's married?" Siri bombarded Obi-
Wan with questions.
"Whose nervous now huh Siri?" Anakin said being snarky.
"Shut it Skywalker it's none of your business what my emotions are, you can blame it on hormones!" Siri said angrily.
"Calm down everyone!" Obi-Wan said, sending a wave of calm to both his wife and his former padawan.
"Wait you mean to tell me Siri's pregnant too?" Anakin asked in shock.
"I thought you told him?" Siri now turned on Obi-Wan.
"I thought I did, it must have slipped my mind. You can't really blame me, there's just so much going on, the war, this council meeting,"
"Well I can understand that." Siri said.
"Ahhh!" Padme cried out. Anakin rushed to her side immediately.
"What's wrong?" he cried.
"I think someone's coming a little early!" Padme gasped.
Author's Note: I know I know left a little cliff hanger, but it was necessary this chapter was getting too long. Plus I'm also sorry this chapter wasn't that funny but this one had to be boring in order to keep the story flowing.