A/N: For those of you who did not get my message on my Christmas fic, no I am not dead. I got caught up with real life and that delayed all of my fics, and then I focused on my Christmas story to finish it for the holiday. But, I'm back. Real life is still keeping me busy, but it should calm down at the end of the month and more regular updates should occur for my fics.

Chapter 13

With the Force, Anakin and Padmé were both able to increase their running speed so that they out ran Sidious' followers. However, despite the distance they were creating between themselves and their enemies, Anakin and Padmé did not slow down. They had to reach the safety of their starfighters so they could analyze the eye drops, but more importantly report back to the Jedi Council with the threat of the Sith.

"Can you see our ships yet?" Padmé shouted at Anakin who was charging through the underbrush a few paces ahead of her.

"We are coming up on the clearing now." Anakin shouted back, a smile spreading across his face as his familiar yellow colored starfighter came into view. However, any relief at seeing his familiar ship was short lived when the Force cried out a warning to both him and Padmé.

"R2, no!" Padmé shouted at the little droid in response to the danger she could feel approaching. R2D2 had started moving to his spot inside her ship when it had seen Padawan Skywalker and his mistress dash through the underbrush. The little droid had stayed outside of the ship so he could come to his mistress's aide if needed, much to the disapproval of R4P9 who had remained in his spot in Anakin's ship as he had been ordered. "R2! Move!" Padmé shouted and she began to sprint towards her droid, a hand held palm up as she called upon the Force to help move him to safety. However, she was stopped when Anakin's strong arms grabbed her about the waist and held her against him.

"Are you crazy?" Anakin shouted at Padmé's over the roar of two incoming missiles that were aimed directly at their ships. "R4, R2, get out of there!" Anakin shouted towards the two droids, but the shout was futile for in the next instant the missiles hit their starfighters with a deafening explosion. Before he could shield himself or the woman in his arms, the shockwave of the explosion threw both Jedi padawans backwards towards the thicket of trees they had recently plowed through. Neither Jedi knew the fate of their two droids as Anakin blacked out as the back of his head connected with a tree, and in his arms, Padmé was rendered unconscious as an unidentified chunk of something smacked into her forehead.

Anakin groaned in pain as cold droplets of rain shook him from his unconsciousness. The weather was a nuisance, but the most nagging issue was the pain at the back of his head. Anakin brought his right hand to the source of the pain in an effort to ease the ache. Still groggy from the blow to his head, Anakin could not fully recall how he had ended in this latest predicament. All he knew was he needed to get himself off the ground and remove whatever dead weight that was lying across him.

As his conscious mind started to take in more of his surroundings, he was able to realize that the dead weight was soft and warm. Confused, he took his first good look at it and was startled by what he saw. "Padmé!" Anakin winced as he called her name while trying to push the two of them up. He grew concerned when he received no answer from his fellow padawan.

"Padmé?" Anakin repeated as he finished propping himself up and then moved to turn Padmé towards him. "Are you all right? Are you hu…" Anakin's eyes grew wide with shock as he turned Padmé towards him and he caught sight of the bloody gash in her forehead. "Padmé!" Fear trembled in Anakin's voice as he shouted at her to wake up. The only thing that held his terror in check was that he could see the regular rise and fall of her chest, indicating she was still breathing. Leaning closer to get a look at her wound, he attempted to examine it, but just as it had awakened him, the falling rain drops shook Padmé awake as well.

Raising her head to stop the periodic splash of water droplets to her wound, Padmé failed to realize that Padawan Skywalker was moving closer to her and both of them cried in agony as their foreheads banged into one another.

"Watch it!" Anakin shouted grumpily, raising both hands to his head to alleviate this new pain.

"You watch it. You bumped into me." Padmé hissed back with her own indignation as a blinding white light flashed behind her eyes in response to the pain she felt.

Anakin groaned as he added, "I should have never gone on this mission with you. You are intent on trying to kill me."

"I'm trying to kill you!" Padmé shouted before hissing in pain and reflexively pressing her own hand to the gash in her forehead that was starting to throb. "How about you are trying to kill me! You were the one who tried to confront a Sith Lord who tried to electrocute us!"

"I could have stopped him!" Anakin growled out his previous response to this argument. "But you had to interfere. And then…" Anakin drew out the last word in exasperation before continuing. "You had to take those vials from the Sith's followers and sent an army of them chasing after us."

"We got away, didn't we? Better them than the Sith. At least they do not have Force abilities." Padmé answered back while closing her eyes to will the pain in her head to ease.

"Yeah, well then you tried to run towards the missile atta…" Anakin's angry retort died at his lips as he finally recalled the events that had brought him and Padmé to their current situation. Staring out at where their starfighters used to be, all that remained was a large crater and a tangle of smoldering metal.

Following Anakin's gaze, Padmé momentarily forgot about her injury as she caught the scene of mangled metal. "R2!" She shouted and attempted to push herself up so she could look for her droid.

"How long have we been unconscious?" Anakin spoke with horror as he pushed himself up as well. He rose just in time to catch Padmé who had nearly fallen over with her first few steps as the bump to her head had thrown off her equilibrium. "Careful!" Scanning the area for any of the Sith's followers, Anakin was relieved not to find any of them. However, he remained cautious as he used all of his senses including the Force to warn him of any new attacks. Not knowing how long he and Padmé had been unconscious, given the change in the weather, Anakin had no way of knowing if the Sith's followers had hidden themselves to prepare for an ambush.

"Let go of me!" Padmé shouted and shrugged away from Anakin's touch. "We have to find R2!"

"What about R4?" Anakin asked indignantly, not wanting his own droid to be forgotten. He was careful not to turn his gaze to her as he continued to watch for any incoming attack. Although he could sense no one nearby, something did not feel right to him.

"We'll find him too, come on." Padmé started to walk forward, but she was beginning to suffer from dizziness due to her injury. The dizziness caused her to sway and almost lose her balance once more.

Groaning in frustration, Anakin strode towards Padmé and scooped her up into his arms. "You are in no fit state to be walking."

"I'll be fine, let go." Padmé's eyes narrowed in indignation as she pushed at Anakin's shoulder.

"No. We've done things your way and nearly been killed; now it is my turn. We will look and see what we can salvage and then we will have to find some shelter so we can both heal from the latest injuries you have inflicted upon us before forming a new plan."

"So now you want to make a plan? I seem to remember you saying we did not need a plan." Padmé tried to raise her eyebrows in a mocking gesture, but the movement pulled at the wound on her forehead causing her to grimace in pain.

Anakin rolled his eyes at the woman in his arms. "We would not have needed a plan had you let me kill the Sith."

"He was trying to kill you. And if you are going to be ungrateful for me saving you, then next time you face him, I promise I will not interfere." Padmé's tone was cold and clipped as she spoke. She tried to cross her arms over her chest to show her indignation, but Anakin chose to start moving toward the wreckage of their starfighters and the sudden movement made it feel like she was lurching forward and she reflexively wrapped her arms around his neck to make sure she would not fall over.

The muscles in Anakin's back stiffened as he felt Padmé grab onto him. It was an unexpected response from her as well as the shiver of some unknown emotion that coursed through him and caused his heart to beat faster. Perhaps it was the continual anger from their constant arguing compacted by the pain he felt in his head, Anakin tried to rationalize his feelings away. However, in the end he decided to focus on the disaster area before them as he carried Padmé through the light rainfall to see what they could salvage from their destroyed ships. Unfortunately, nothing was left from the missile attack except for a few smoldering pieces of twisted metal. The only thing that remained of R2D2 was his domed top. The rest of him was missing, as well as R4P9 and based on what little remained of their destroyed ships it was likely they disintegrated in the blast.

"R2…" Padmé choked back a sob and buried her face into Anakin's shoulder as her eyes caught sight of what remained of her droid.

For some unknown reason, Anakin felt his heart clench at the hurt in Padmé's voice. For some reason he felt a need to take her sadness away, but he did not know why. After all the arguments they had past and present, his emotions did not make sense. He loathed her, so he could not fathom why he should feel anything but contempt for her. Maybe it was his own grief at losing R4P9 that made him feel this way, but he did not have time to dwell on this thought as the rain started to fall harder, drenching his and Padmé's Jedi robes. "There is nothing here. We need to find someplace to settle down for the night." Anakin's tone was gentle and soothing, no longer showing the anger he usually displayed towards Padmé.

"But, R2…"

"He's gone." Anakin winced as he felt Padmé bury her face into his shoulder once more to stifle her cry of mourning over her fallen droid. "It will be all right." Anakin said the only thing he could think of, but he did not wait for a response before striding off to find them some shelter from the rising storm.