Padme waited anxiously at the hatchway of her small ship. It's a good thing Jedi fighters are small, or we wouldn't have room to land, she thought. Still, the way it was almost pushed into the bushes in an attempt to make room spoke of Anakin. I hope he didn't just push the whole thing, Padme worried. He could hurt himself at this point, especially with what's happened. The extra stress of Obi-Wan finding out wouldn't help Anakin's health or the twins.

As soon as the pilot announced a safe touchdown, Padme slammed the button that sent the gangway down and raced off it before it even touched the grass. She waved to the cockpit and the ship took off toward one of the more populated areas on the planet, where it would stay until the senator commed them and said to come pick her up. Quickly, she ran down the path and the front door opened to meet her with a very anxious and very pregnant Anakin waiting in the doorway. She slowed just enough to keep from slamming into him and hugged him. It was a bit more awkward than before, since she had to bend over the large bump that was the twins and hug him around the shoulders, but the warm arms around her own shoulders were still comforting.

She felt his tense muscles relax, and realized just how worried he was about all of this. "Hey," she comforted, touching his cheek with her hand, "we'll be fine. I'll talk to him."

Anakin nodded and grasped the hand resting on his cheek. "He's in the twins' room," He informed her as he tugged her inside. They stopped before the closed door and Padme felt her husband tense next to her.

Smiling, she ran her thumb over his knuckles and suggested, "Why don't you wait for us in the living room? You can practice meditating." And calm down so you don't hurt yourself or the twins, she didn't say, but Anakin heard it anyway. He smiled, still nervous but a bit sheepish, and walked back down the hall. Padme took a deep breath to brace herself, and opened the door. Obi-Wan was sitting in front of one of the windows in a pose Padme knew from experience with her husband meant he was meditating. She also knew it was rude to wake a Jedi from that state. So she sat down on the bed, trying to think of something to say that would make the Jedi more sympathetic towards her family.

She didn't have long to wait. Relaxing his posture and opening his eyes, Obi-Wan slid out of meditation and frowned slightly when he saw her. "Padme," he greeted, nodding in her direction. She almost flinched at the rather cold greeting. Usually she would have hugged Anakin's old master. Now she just nodded and got up to sit in front of him.

"What did Anakin already tell you?" she asked.

Obi-Wan studied her and it made Padme want to bolt. What was he looking for? "Why did Anakin fall in love with you?" She flinched. She could hear the real question there. Why did Anakin break the Code for you?

But Ani had told her why, a few nights into their marriage, before the real world crashed back in. "Do you know when I started falling in love with you?" He had asked.

She'd laid her head on his shoulder and guessed, "Was it when you asked me if I was an angel?"

Vibrations rumbled through her head as the shoulder it rested on gently shook with laughter. "No, it was the first night on the ship. I'd just said goodbye to my mother, and you comforted me." He kissed the top of her head and rested his cheek against it.

Padme pulled her mind out of her memories and faced the slightly accusatory stare of the Jedi Master. "Because when he needed someone to love him, I did." When the glare didn't lessen, she continued. "Both of us fought against our desires for a long time, for years."

"Then why didn't you just keep fighting?" Obi-Wan scowled at her, getting to his feet and walking away. "You could have resisted," he finished.

But Padme wasn't just going to let him go. Anakin needed her to convince him and, she realized she wanted to. Obi-Wan was belittling what she had with Anakin and what they'd gone through to get there. "It was war," she said, louder this time," and we knew both of us could die, almost any day. We didn't want to have regrets." But Obi-Wan was still scowling. "There was enough death and pain in the world already, we just wanted some happiness, we never…" She broke off and rubbed at her eyes. She hated thinking about that time. "We never thought it would lead to children."

"But how could you let him do this?" the Jedi asked, and Padme noticed that he wasn't scowling anymore. "Senator, you had to know this was wrong."

"By what standard?" she countered. "The Jedi Code? Because Anakin has used the Force every step of the way and no one ever saw him going dark. Actually, I think this stopped him from turning."

Obi-Wan scoffed. "Senator, you don't understand the Force."

"But I understand Anakin," she interrupted, silencing the man. "Before he got the idea to transfer them to himself, I was worried. He was so angry, Obi-Wan, at everything." Memories flooded in, of when he came back from a mission furious with the world. There were times she thought he would just up and abandon everything, take her to a planet where no one would find them, and shut the rest of the galaxy out. She buried her face in her hands and her next words came out muffled. "And then, after he stated having those dreams, I didn't know what to do," she admitted. "Then something seemed to change in him." A hand rested on her shoulder and she looked up into Obi-Wan's face, once again warm. "The helplessness drained away and he didn't seem so angry anymore."

"Was that while he was researching?" he asked.

Padme nodded. " And then, after the transfer, he…" A smile, so bright it startled Obi-Wan, broke across her face like dawn." Obi-Wan, I'd never seen him so happy, not even on the day we were married. Even with all the new things we had to worry about, he was always happy in one way or another. You must have noticed it before he left and came here." The pensive look on his face relaxed her slightly. So he had noticed.

"But he still broke the Code," Obi-Wan persisted.

"Then maybe the Code needs to change," she said, and went back into the living room with Anakin. There was nothing more she could say.

Well, I've had a whirlwind of a week since I posted last. My family visited and dragged me all over San Diego. I went to more places in that one week than I have in the whole month since I moved here! Still, it was a lot of fun. Please Review!