Chapter 12
The ride to his upper level apartment seemed to take longer then normal. Patience, ha! Leia had run off and Luke was missing too. This could only mean one thing … they were both up to no good. It was always that way when the twins were doing something together. Even when they were very small children, when they were together and quiet, somebody was going to pay.
Finally the doors to the turbolift opened and Anakin rushed into his family home.
"Padme!" he shouted into the foyer. It echoed back at him, but he heard no answer. She was probably off being a consultant to someone, somewhere. Blast, why wasn't she here now.
He went to the kitchen, but she wasn't in there so he headed up to their bedroom. Finally he found her putting clothes away in the closet. He didn't know why they had a droid, because Padme refused to even use the droid's services.
"Where are they?"
"Anakin, what are you talking about?" Padme asked hanging another dress delicately on the hanger and then placing it in the closet.
"The twins," Anakin said to her no hint of smile crossing his face. He was in a very dower mood at the moment.
"I don't know," she said gently and continued with her work. "Have you tried their comlinks?"
"They aren't answering and that means they are up to something. They said that Luke left the temple almost two hours ago with Leia."
"You are over reacting, as always," Padme scoffed at him. "Maybe they wanted to spend a little time together. It must be hard to be twins and be apart so often. It's not like their jobs let them get together very often."
Anakin stopped and peered at her, narrowing his eyes. He reached out with the force. At first he felt nothing, no glimmer of anything out of the ordinary, but then he caught a spark. A spark of happiness that should not be there. Padme knew where they were and she wasn't telling him. He was her husband and she shouldn't be keeping secrets from him, even if he did tend to overreact.
"You know where they are!" Anakin said and pointed a finger at her finally letting a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
Padme looked away from him and hurriedly placed another dress into the closet. "I don't know what you are talking about. How would I know where they were?"
Anakin looked at her again, his eyes telling her that he knew what was going on. There was no way you could fool a jedi master for very long. And Anakin was known to be an excellent liar, so trying to pull the bantha wool over his eyes was a little difficult. You couldn't fool a master.
"Why won't you tell me?" he pushed edging closer to her.
"Because you are just going to act rashly. You've been acting like an idiot ever since Han Solo came into her life. I want you to stop this right now," Padme said putting her hands on her hips like she was scolding him. "I won't have anymore of this. If you must know where they are, well Leia decided that she would marry Han and they've gone off to do it in privacy. She wanted Luke to go with her and that is where he is. Are you happy now?"
Anakin's stomach clenched. He had driven his little girl into the arms of a man that he wasn't sure about. A smuggler. He'd seen the way smugglers acted and he wasn't sure that Leia knew what she was getting into.
"Do you know what this means?" Anakin asked her.
"Yes," Padme finally said flopping down on the bed and sighing. "It means that she is growing up and that she is happy. I don't want you to meddle in this anymore. Think of her for once Anakin and not of yourself. I know it can be difficult to let go, but you have to."
Anakin shook his head in the negative. There was no way he was giving up without a fight. He would bring the whole jedi order down on Han Solo if he had to.
"Where are they?" he asked again, his patience wearing thin.
"I believe they are over at the chapel on the other side of the senate building. I gave them the ring you gave me so that she would at least have something to remind her of her marriage. I would hope that is would show her the way a good marriage is supposed to go, although now I'm not so sure," Padme said.
Anakin swooped from the room not hearing Padme calling after him. He would get there and stop whatever this nonsense was and Leia would return home. There was no doubt in his mind. Now all he had to do was get there before they were married and he already was at least 10 minutes behind them.
