Look at that, I broke my chapter 13 curse. I was looking back at some of my old fics and realized that my long ones never got past chapter 13. I guess that was the point where I ran out of steam. Luckily, in this case I had a good majority of the story written up before I even considered posting it anywhere. So running out of steam will not be an issue.

In other news, shit gets dramatic!

Huge thanks to everyone for reading and leaving a review and faving and following the story! You guys are the best! I'm glad you're enjoying this little story as much as I am!

I hope you enjoy the next few chapters!

-Becks

PS - be sure to check out Echos this weekend. I've got a Rogue One tie in, plus a party! It'll be fun!

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Chapter 13

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Trouble was brewing. Anakin could sense it. Something had been bothering Obi-Wan for a few days now, and he had finally worked himself up enough to confront Anakin about it. He wandered into her room late in the evening. Anakin was perched on the edge of her bed, elbow deep in R2-D2.

"Another upgrade?" She could hear the amusement in Obi-Wan's voice as he leaned in the doorway.

"A tune up."

"Isn't that the third one this month?"

"No, I haven't been able to give Artoo a tune up in months. I've been too busy."

"I recall you having it opened up last week."

"That was an upgrade, this is a tune up," Anakin resisted rolling her eyes. Droid upkeep wasn't that hard to keep straight. "Did you want something, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan stepped fully in the room, and closed the door behind him. "I need to ask you a question, Anakin." The mirth was gone from his voice.

Anakin pulled her hands from R2's innards and began cleaning them off with a heavily stained cloth. "Then shoot." Her easy smirk belied the cold dread creeping into her stomach. Whatever Obi-Wan had to talk about was not going to make an easy conversation.

"You weren't…" Obi-Wan paused, discomfort evident on his face. "You weren't attacked on Mygeeto, were you?"

"Well, I didn't just wander off in the middle of the battle, take a four hour nap, and give myself a black eye."

"I know you didn't Anakin, but I'm… unsure of the ways they tortured you."

"What makes you say that?"

"I've known you long enough to know when you were lying."

Anakin almost laughed. If only he really knew.

"And your story doesn't match up with your… timeline." Obi-Wan gestured to Anakin's stomach. By now it was quite expansive, and nearly impossible to hide.

"How would you know?"

"Master Che told me."

Anakin couldn't help the anger that flared through her. "So much for doctor patient confidentiality."

"Vokara confided in a Council member when she became concerned about a Jedi Knight breaking the Code. You're lucky she chose to come to me rather than anyone else."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, Anakin." Obi-Wan held out a placating hand. "I'm not here to accuse. I'm here as your friend. I just want to know the truth."

"You already know the truth. You know what happened on Mygeeto." She tried to keep the cold edge off her voice. "Why are you making me tell you again?"

"Because it's nothing short of a medical miracle that you're four weeks ahead of schedule if we assume everything started on Mygeeto." Obi-Wan snapped back. "Vokara may be a Jedi, but she is also a doctor. She knows what she's doing." He released a small sigh, and spoke softer. "Anakin, I'm not here to fight with you. I just want to understand so I can help you."

"The best way you can help is to stop asking questions. Don't poke this rathtar, Obi-Wan."

"You know I can't do that, Anakin."

Anakin sighed, the fight leaving her. It was replaced with heavy guilt and cold dread. "I can't tell you the truth. You would either have to betray my trust, or betray the Council. I won't put you up to that decision."

"That decision is not yours to make, Anakin."

"It should be!" Anakin snapped again, shooting to her feet. "They're my children Obi-Wan. They don't belong to the Jedi, or the Council, or anyone else. They're mine! And I will do everything in my power to keep them safe."

Obi-Wan stepped back a half step, raising appeasing hands. "Calm down, Anakin. Nobody wants to harm your children. I'm not here to get your confession. I told Master Che I would look into her suspicions; that will keep her happy for the time being. I just wish you could trust me enough to talk to me. I only want to help you."

Anakin deflated, and sat down on the edge of her bed, her arms wrapped around her stomach. "I'm sorry. I just have to keep them safe."

Obi-Wan sat beside her and gingerly placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I understand."

No, he really didn't He hadn't the slightest clue what she was going through.

Anakin took a deep breath, banished that bitter thought, and raised her head. She stared pointedly at R2's silent form, avoiding Obi-Wan's eyes. "Vokara is right. My children weren't conceived on Mygeeto."

"So what did happen on Mygeeto?"

Anakin's arms relaxed around her stomach, and she put a hand over where one of the twins was kicking. "Mygeeto was the first time I sensed them, when I realized there was life inside me. And when the Separatists captured me and tortured me, I thought I was going to lose that life."

"And after all that, you still didn't tell anyone?"

Anakin snorted derisively. "Who was I going to tell? The clone medics? It's not like they stock pregnancy tests and prenatal vitamins in their field packs. By that point we were so busy, there wasn't a good time to bring it up. I figured I would be okay, so long as I avoided any bodily harm." She paused, and softened her tone. "For what it's worth, I was going to tell you… eventually. At some point you would have found out or it would have become dangerous for us. I just wanted to delay the inevitable Council involvement."

"You think that I would have involved the Council? That I would have brought them down on you?"

"You're on the Council, Obi-Wan. You are the Council; it's involved in everything you do."

He was stung by her mistrust, she could sense that. Obi-Wan was loyal to his friends, but he was also loyal to the Jedi. She knew that in a battle between her personal comfort and the whole Jedi Order, Obi-Wan would betray her.

Anakin crossed her arm around her stomach defensively. She continued barely above a whisper, looking away from Obi-Wan. "Besides, I wanted to wait and make sure there weren't any delayed effects. I didn't want anything to happen this time."

"You've been pregnant before?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously.

"A few times. I would feel something. I knew something was there, but for whatever reason they never stuck. They never lasted more than the first few weeks. But this time I knew it was going to be different. I could feel the difference and I couldn't… I couldn't lose it this time."

"W-w-who? How?!" Obi-Wan spluttered. Had he really not noticed Anakin had been sleeping around that much?

Anakin shrugged and stood up, moving to her work bench. She began reorganizing her tools, digging ones she needed out of the box, putting others away. "It was a lot of different men; nothing serious or more than once. Usually happened when we were on separate missions. It wasn't like I could get a prescription for birth control… accidents happened."

"Anakin!"

"You wanted the truth, Obi-Wan. You're getting it." Anakin shot Obi-Wan a sidelong glare. This time it was Obi-Wan's turn to sink down onto the bed. He pressed his fingers to his temples.

"I cannot believe you, Anakin." His voice was low and even, but Anakin could hear the underlying anger.

Anakin didn't bother with a response. She sensed that Obi-Wan had more he wanted to say. She fiddled with a spanner, waiting for Obi-Wan to gather his thoughts.

"I just… I cannot…" he looked up at his former apprentice. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"What do you want me to say, Obi-Wan?" Anakin snapped. She threw the spanner down onto her workbench and began pacing around the room. "Do you really need to hear the words come out of my mouth? I'm sorry I'm not the perfect Jedi you wanted me to be! But nine year-old me didn't care about things like celibacy."

"Anakin, the Code expressly forbids attachments. We've been over this before!"

"There was no attachment, Obi-Wan. It was just anonymous sex!"

"Oh, that's even better, Anakin. You're a Jedi Knight! You're held up to a higher standard."

"Yeah, well I'm sorry I can't meet your standards. But I'm not you, Obi-Wan," Anakin's voice turned cold, and biting. "And I never will be. So stop trying to turn me into you."

Obi-Wan sprang to his feet. "All I've ever done, Anakin, is guide you and help you grow into the Jedi you are today."

"And what a wonderful job you've done," Anakin spat back, gesturing down to her stomach. It was an unfair jab. She knew she'd still be pregnant with or without Obi-Wan's training. "So much for your guidance."

The comment struck Obi-Wan like a slap across the face. She saw it had hurt him, and for once he was at a loss for words. Probably holding his tongue before he said something equally hurtful.

"You and the Council have been grooming me ever since Qui-Gon found me on Tattooine. You've been trying to force me into this role of the Chosen One. You held me to higher standards than any one ever had to meet, and you're still doing it. Look at Vos, and all he did with Ventress, and yet he's still a Jedi. I've never been allowed such flexibility. You took my padawan, you're trying to take my children, and you hold the threat of banishment over my head like an executioner. Just swing the blade, Obi-Wan, or put it away, because I'm done playing this game."

Obi-Wan met her glare and took a long, shaking breath. "We will accomplish nothing if we have this discussion when we are both clouded with emotion." He said flatly. "But this is not the end, Anakin." Without another word, he whipped out of the room.

Anakin almost wanted to spit for how calm he pretended to be. He wasn't perfect! If he could just show human emotion for more than thirty seconds he'd realize that too. She glared darkly at the closed door.

Obi-Wan was becoming a problem. A dangerous problem.

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XXXXXXXXXX

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Obi-Wan stormed through the halls, earning more than a few questioning and offended looks in passing. This wouldn't do. He shouldn't be wandering around in such an emotional state. He ducked into a side room – meditation chambers, how fitting – and sat down, dropping his head into his hands. He took several deep, calming breaths and then several more when they didn't work.

Why was Anakin getting so hard to talk to? Weren't women supposed to get emotional and open when they were pregnant? It seemed that the farther Anakin went, the more closed off she became.

The chamber door's opened and Obi-Wan looked up to ask for some solitude. The request died in his throat as Tera Sinube shuffled into the room. The elderly Master eased into a seat with a low groan.

"You stormed past in such a mood you upset the younglings," he chuckled softly. "They had never seen you so angry. What is troubling you, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan's eyes turned back in the direction of Anakin's room, one hand rubbing at his beard. He breathed a soft sigh, finding his anger dissipating by the second. "Sometimes I wonder if we pushed Anakin too far, too fast."

Sinube chuckled warmly and leaned forward on his cane. "Jedi have been asking the same of their apprentices since the dawn of the Order. Ready or not, they have yet to cause any irreversible damage."

"Damage to the Order, perhaps not. Damage to the person though…" Obi-Wan trailed off and dropped his hands into his lap.

"What is concerning you about Skywalker? Why is she any different?"

"Well, she is the Chosen One."

"Is she?" Sinube asked with a raised eyebrow. "I've never held much to prophecies, such fickle things. The older they get the more muddled they become."

"Master Qui-Gon thought she was… I think she is. It's just… she's still so young. She was barely twenty when she was knighted, and with everything that' going on with her and with the war… at her age I was still a padawan."

Sinube studied him critically. "You and Skywalker are Jedi forged in drastically different fires, Obi-Wan. You were raised in the Temple; taught, trained, and knighted in a time of peace. You were given the time and freedom to learn and grow and strengthen. Skywalker has been in the midst of struggle all her life. She was born into it, grew in it, thrived in it, and all before even knowing the Force. She was knighted in a time of war and has not known peace since then. She has constantly had to prove herself in the fire. To expect her to follow the same path as you is folly." His eyes grew distant and melancholy. "Jedi like Skywalker burn bright and fast," he stated soberly.

"Surely she's not burning out already."

"Even the brightest stars die, Obi-Wan. From the beginning, it was clear that Skywalker was never fated to follow a typical Jedi's life. It is possible that her time with the Order is drawing to a close. She can only go where the Force leads her."

Obi-Wan nodded letting the elder's words sink in. "Thank you, Master Sinube. Your wisdom has helped greatly."

Sinube slowly got to his feet, his joints popping audibly with the effort. "I will leave you to your meditations, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He wished, not for the first time, that Qui-Gon was still alive and he could ask his old Master for advice. He was hesitant to go to another Council member for advice, for the time being he wanted Anakin to stay out of trouble. But… perhaps Master Sinube was right. Maybe Anakin was destined to become a lost Jedi.

He may live out the remainder of his life seeing her, not in the Temple halls and training rooms with her children, but as a bronzium bust in the archives. A constant reminder that the Jedi are not perfect.

A constant reminder that he had failed.

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XXXXXXXXXX

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Padme was quite enjoying his morning off. He rarely had anything resembling free time, so he was savoring his precious morning hours. He had just settled down on the veranda with a hot cup of caf and some light reading, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun, when his personal communicator started chirping. Confused as to who would be calling for him at this early hour he reached over and answered.

"Yes?"

"Is Anakin with you?" Obi-Wan's voice was tight and worried.

"What? No. Why would –"

"She's missing."

"Missing? No she's probably with the Chancellor."

"Chancellor Palpatine reported her absence. She didn't show up to her meeting with him this morning."

"What?!" Padme's mind scurried to grasp the situation. Anakin wasn't one to up and leave like that, especially with the babies on the way. If she was gone, that meant something had happened to her. "Why would she do that? No, no it doesn't matter. Can you meet me here? I can help you look for her."

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

Padme abandoned his caf, and hurried to get dressed. By the time he returned to the veranda, Obi-Wan's speeder was landing. The Jedi leapt out of the cockpit and looked around, as if he was hoping Anakin would be standing there.

"When was the last time you saw her?" he offered as a greeting.

"Not since yesterday morning, she was sitting in on a meeting I had with the Chancellor." That wasn't entirely true, Anakin had seen Padme over their lunch break, but the nature of that visit was not something he was going to share with Obi-Wan. "When did you see her last?"

"Last night, around seven."

"What happened?" Padme prodded.

Obi-Wan scrubbed his hand across his face. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept well the night before. "We had a… confrontation last night. It didn't end well."

"A confrontation? About what?" Padme was beginning to panic. There were few things he imagined would spark a real fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan; one that didn't end well and carried over to the next day. Her marriage would be one of those points, though.

Obi-Wan crossed his arms tightly, and glanced away from Padme. "The father of her children."

Padme's heart stopped. He searched Obi-Wan's face. Did he know the truth? Best to play it safe, just in case. He'd already exposed their secret to one person, he wasn't about to make the same mistake again. "What do you mean?"

"What did she tell you about the conception?" Obi-Wan asked quietly.

Padme frowned, trying to remember what story Anakin had told the Council. "Not many details; a Separatist captured her. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it. I wasn't going to press, but I put the pieces together."

Obi-Wan began pacing about slowly. He took the time to choose his words carefully. "The truth is a little more… promiscuous than that. She was never attacked by Separatists… but she broke the Code. Many times. It deteriorated from there."

"You went after her with that? Her breaking the Jedi Code? No wonder she's gone!" Padme tried to keep his emotions in check, but Obi-Wan had essentially threatened his wife.

"It wasn't supposed to escalate like that. I only meant to talk to her, find out the truth. I had hoped she would trust me with the truth. I wanted to help her."

"You threatened her, Obi-Wan. Don't you think she had enough on her plate right now without expulsion from the Jedi Order looming over her? For gods' sakes she's eight and a half months pregnant!"

"I know; which is why I need your help finding her!" Obi-Wan stopped his pacing, and looked at Padme earnestly. "Nobody else knows she's missing. I want to keep this off the Council's radar. They have enough to worry about without launching a manhunt for Anakin, and I don't want to draw extra attention to her right now."

Padme took a deep breath to calm himself. "She probably just stormed off somewhere in the city to cool off. She might already be back at the Temple by now."

"Artoo is in her room and under strict orders to contact me as soon as she returns. She's not there."

Padme took a minute to think, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Searching the entire city with just the two of us is going to be impossible. There has to be someone else we can bring in on the search. I can get my staff to help, that'll add a few bodies. And Bail Organa would help. He's known about Anakin's condition since Garel."

Obi-Wan nodded. "My clones are on R&R right now. I can ask a few of my officers to keep an eye out for her. I just don't want this to turn into a huge spectacle. The less attention Anakin draws to herself at the moment, the better."

"I agree."