Surgery

Seeing Obi-Wan was different than wanting to see him. He looked at Obi-Wan, and really saw him. The last time , he had just wanted the old man to save his daughter, he had been receiving sensory input he wasn't seeing with his own eyes and even though his breathing asparagus did the breathing for him he could see his former mentor. Obi-Wan was old, and his eyes, they seemed older than the universe itself, and sadder than the passage of time. Yet, he was filled with that old familiar hate. He saw Kenobi standing there on the platform and memories came rushing back to him.

You have done well, Anakin. It will not be long before the Council recognizes your talents as I have.

I have been arrogant, I've disappointed you. I haven't honored your teachings.

You are strong and wise, you have become a greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be. Goodbye, Old Friend.

I have failed you, Anakin. I have failed you.

Obi-Wan.

It was said you would bring balance to the force, not destroy it. That you would destroy the Sith not join them. You were my brother, Anakin, I loved you.

I HATE YOU!

All those emotions rushed to the forefront as he in a moment of rage and betrayal, reached into the force. "Kenobi," he sputtered and drew out his arm and began choking him.

"Anakin, Ani, no. Let him go." He couldn't see her, he couldn't see anything but red. Kenobi, he had taken his wife and children from him, and now, he had come to play up to Padme, like he cared. On the banks of Mustafar, before he had torn his heart out, he had called out to him, asked him for help, and he had abandoned him, left him on the banks of Mustafar for the Emperor to torture. Padme reached out and put her hands on either side of his face. And he felt her soft skin, he could smell her hair, it smelled like the flowers from Naboo, she smelled of some Nubian perfume. He felt the dark side recede as he looked at her and he lowered his hand, dropping Kenobi to the floor. Kenobi rubbed her throat for a moment as he came forward slowly.

"Have you decided to kill me, Anakin?"

"I haven't decided yet, The twins need you."

"And is that the only reason I still live?"

Anakin had slipped, he'd stumbled, and the dark side had gained control of him once again. He pulled Padme into his embrace and lowered his lips to her ear. "Thank you. I'm sorry, Padme."

"We knew this would be difficult for you. Come along, we've wasted enough time." He was shocked when she still put her hand into his and walked along the corridors. Memories of the past clouded his vision. He was standing there with his first dark apprentice.

You're training made me strong enough to escape you, not obey you.

Yet here you are. My most deadly creation.

You lie! You never wanted this. You can't have. Once Juno has been rescued, your facility will be destroyed. You with it, if there's any justice.

There is no justice. Only power.

He had thought he had been so right. Anakin Skywalker had believed in justice, Darth Vader didn't, there was nothing but power...until Padme. She had brought Anakin back from the dead. He was led to meet the Doctor.

"Anakin Skywalker, if you will please follow me?"

"Yes, of course. My wife will accompany me."

"We seek to make you comfortable." She began explaining how they would first fix his internal organs and then once he was healed regrow him limbs. The first step was to get him breathing normally, on his own. The took off the asparagus and hooked him up to one of their own, and began to undress him, seeing the mechanical limbs. They put him under, and the last thing he saw was Padme's smile.

Four hours later the surgery was concluded. Dr. Nightshade sat down with Obi-Wan and Padme. "I am really disturbed at what we found."

"What is it, will he not breathe on his own?"

"He will, that's not what disturbs me, Mrs. Skywalker. Your husband is healthy, his organs would have repaired themselves long ago, but there was poison injected in his lungs. Looks like it was fed to him intravenously. It was blocking the organs from getting the nutrients to repair itself. He should have been breathing on his own fifteen years ago. I don't know who did this to your husband..."

"The Emperor..." Padme whispered tears filling her eyes. "Poor Ani."

"He will be better much sooner than expected, all we had to do was run a detoxification, and he should be find, Mrs. Skywalker. We will have to keep him on a liquid diet, but I would like to see him on solid food in three weeks. It will take some time for his organs to breathe again, for lack of a better word."

Padme stood up and hugged the woman. "I'm so sorry, I'm just so happy he's okay."

"Oh, Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered. "If you could excuse us for a moment, Doctor."

"Yes, of course."

"Padme, it's my fault."

"What is? Did you poison him?"

"No. When Anakin choked me, I saw it again. The day that's been haunting me for fifteen years."

"I have a feeling that day has been haunting him as well."

"He called out to me, Padme, and I was so hurt, so consumed with my own pain, with what he had done that I didn't hear him, I didn't help him. I abandoned him. I left him to the Emperor."

"He should be in recovery. Obi-Wan, you are so selfless, sometimes, you need to think about yourself, you need to care for yourself. Where are the twins?"

"Luke has been send on a mission to rescue a Jedi, and Leia is recruiting members for the Rebellion."

"Have you told them?"

"No."

"Anakin won't lie to them. He's going to tell them. And they should know, to prevent them from following that legacy."

"I am but a friend."

"You are more than that," she squeezed his hand and turned to find Anakin. She sat there not holding his mechanical hand, but stroking his chest and watching the rise and fall of the chest, nothing aiding his breathing. There were nurses round the clock, ready to help should he need it. Two hours later, he opened those blue eyes of hers and smiled.

"Hey," he stated sleepily, almost dreamily.

"Welcome back, stranger," she drawled slowly, lost in his eyes once again.

"I dreamed that we were on Naboo with Luke and Leia, we were in the Lake Country and they grew up with us."

"That would have been nice."

"Yeah, Palpatine was gone. Dead."

"It will happen, Ani."

"And Mom was there, she was telling them embarrassing stories of when I was a child. I still miss her, Padme."

"I know, Ani." He scooted over carefully and she climbed up to lay beside him.

"It's been a long time since we've just laid like this, no war, no politics, nothing to do, nowhere to go."

He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, and then they heard someone clearing their voice. "Sorry, Master," he stated and Anakin blushed before his eyes froze, and hardened like crystals. Obi-Wan entered with his head down.

"I came to see how you were feeling."

"Fine, no thanks to you." Obi-Wan hung his head as he moved slowly to a chair. "We need to talk, Anakin. We can't take you into the heart of the Rebellion, which is where Luke and Leia are."

"I will find them myself," his voice was low, but much stronger already.

"Did you tell him?" Obi-Wan asked Padme. Anakin struggled to sit up, pushing off the feeling of weakness to glare at his fomer mentor.

"How could you have betrayed me?" he shot out as the room begin to shake.

"Betray you?" Padme asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"The two of you were carrying on behind my back. You are always too close to the ones you love."

"Ani, no, never. I love you, only you. Is that what you thought?" she thought back to his words. 'You will not take her from me.' "Oh, Anakin, how could you even think that."Suddenly, Anakin passed out., his head falling back to the pillow.

"Padme, are you sure you are safe?"

"Of course. He was shocked on Mustafar."

"Shocked? He killed you."

"No, he didn't. He thought he did too. It wasn't Anakin."

"Then who was it?"

"I don't know, all I could feel was cold, death."

"The Sith. Anakin has joined the Sith."

"I know that, but I'm telling you it wasn't Anakin."

"Then Sidious..." Obi-Wan trailed off his thoughts stringing together. Sidious wouldn't have wanted Padme alive, she was the one piece of Anakin that would always remain good and true, he got rid of her, and Anakin fell in line. Anakin was going to kill him.