Hey, sorry, I know its been a long time. More soon after this one as well. :D

Chapter Seven:

The Failed Prophecy

Three years after Rebirth of the Light. . .

Life also seemed so complicated. Even though Anakin was eager for the weeks ahead, when it would just be him, the twins and his wife at the cottage, he was already regretting Obi-wan's choice to stay behind. The Jedi Master was so much a part of his life now, it felt strange knowing Kenobi would not be there to turn to whenever Anakin needed him to be.

But he was right, of course. Eventually, the Jedi would come, along with Master Yoda. They had to start making plans. There would need to be some plan of attack, some way to coordinate the Jedi's efforts with those of the Alliance. Even though the war had been subdued over the past two months, Anakin had no doubt that Imperials were simply waiting for the time to strike. There was something their enemies knew that the rebels did not. It was bad enough he could no longer sense the Emperor through the Force; now he had to be concerned with the entire Imperial fleet showing up and attacking the rebels in full force.

If anyone could plan a defense against that kind of offensive, Obi-wan could. Not only did he have the ear of the Alliance council members and Master Yoda, he had been a general in the Clone Wars and knew his way around a battlefield.

If Anakin regretted not being the leader and warrior his former master was, he ignored it and focused on the days ahead. Days when he could run and play with his children; could eat in the kitchen with them, and a thousand other things he had missed in their lives. Days he knew could very well be short and few, if the events in the galaxy turned against the rebellion. But Anakin would make the most of them, cherish every moment, both day and night, till war called him away again.

Complications: he would be glad to see Obi-wan when they met again, but it would mean it was time to leave his family and join the fight.

Anakin sighed, and tried not to think about it.

"You've got that look on your face again, Ani."

"What look?" Grinning, he turned to his wife sitting next to him in the speeder, the wind whipping stands of hair from its binding and into her face. She looked back at him, so much love in her eyes.

"That look you get when you're confused or frustrated about something. What is it? Tell me."

She reached across the seat and poked him in the ribs, teasing. Anakin tried to scoot away, even as he focused on keeping the speeder straight. Grinning, he fought her off with a free hand, but she was persistent. "Argh! Padme, stop it! Do you want us to crash?" She laughed, knowing he would never let that happen, but stopped tickling him.

Force, it was good to be able to laugh and joke with his wife, to be able to touch her in even the most casual manner and not have either or them pulling away in embarrassment and frustration. It was like all those years they had physically been apart had melted away overnight. It brought memories of the days they spent in the fields of Naboo, wrestling in the grass and teasing each other. Force, they had been so young then.

Looking at his angel, Anakin realized they still were young. Not so much as they had been before, but less time had passed then he might have thought. After all, he was only in his min-twenties, and she only four years his senior. Had it really been all those years since becoming man and wife? Anakin had thought himself old, with all he had faced and forced to overcome, all the death and war he had both seen and caused. Surely he should have been even more wrinkled and gray than Obi-wan.

Yet at the moment, he felt like he was little boy again, on his way to becoming a Jedi.

How we change, he thought, brushing the strands out of his wife's face and bending down for a quick kiss. Padme giggled, but didn't shy away.

Alone with Padme for the next few weeks. Anakin grinned, and gunned the engine.

He saw the grove of trees first as they came over the hills down into the little valley, then the little cottage that had grown into a house, and the ship waiting faithfully not far off. As they crested the hill, Anakin took a deep breath and let it out slowly at the sight.

Home.

Though he wasn't sure when it had become 'home' and not just a house, Anakin had to admit it was the only home he had ever known he was glad to return to. It wasn't a slave's cell or a Jedi's impersonal quarters or the formal rooms of the Naboo estate. It was the place his children had been born and raised, where Anakin had found himself and lived in something as close to peace and contentment as he had ever known.

As a Jedi, and as a young man who despised his homeplanet, Skywalker had never understood the songs the refugees sang about missing their homes, wanting nothing more than return because that was where their souls resided. Now he felt he could sing one of those songs. Here, he would always return. To this house, and this family. This was home.

They parked out front and the twins hoped out of the back, no doubt excited to be home after being gone so long. Leia ran to open the door for her mother while Luke helped Anakin unload the droids. He looked around and sighed.

"Glad to be home, son?" Anakin pulled out one of the bags and handed another to his wife. Luke reached in for one too, though it was obviously too heavy for him. Chuckling, his father took it from him before he collapsed from the weight. "You get to sleep in your own bed tonight, in your own room. No more cold, empty rooms like on the base."

"I'm going to miss the other children in the village." Leia mumbled, scrambling in the speeder to get her Wookie doll out of the back seat before she forgot.

The boy turned his bright gaze from the house and looked at his father in that way that always reminded Anakin of Qui-gon Jinn.

"Where are you gonna sleep, Dad?"

Anakin hesitated, then glanced up at Padme. She shrugged, then smiled, clearly leaving it up to him to explain to his children. Not that they were any where near old enough for that discussion yet. But 

they had grown up probably thinking all parents slept apart in different rooms, though for different reasons then those that had kept their mother and father apart.

He wasn't sure what to say, as Anakin didn't know the answer himself. It was too soon to share the same bed as Padme. For all their loving looks and gentle clasping of hands, they were still very much strangers in some ways.

Deciding it was best to compromise, Anakin cleared his throat. "Well, I no longer have to sleep in the cubicle, Luke."

"So you're going to sleep in Mom's room with her?"

Anakin gulped. Force, just how much did his son know?!

"Um, eventually, yes. But tonight, I think everyone will be happy to. . . umm. . . just have their own beds tonight, after sleeping in a strange place for so long. Mom's going to want her bed to herself. But, yes, Luke. Mom and I will share a room together."

Leia didn't seem the least interested in the conversation and after finding her doll, gave her father a hug. "I'm glad we're home, Daddy." Then she turned and ran inside, past a blushing Padme.

But Luke continued to stare at his father till Anakin felt a little embarrassed and uncomfortable, like he was a Padawan again facing down Obi-wan's questioning. But Luke didn't seem to be accusing him of anything and finally just nodded before turning away.

Anakin let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding before looking to Padme, still standing in the doorway, her cheeks red. Catching his look, she laughed then stepped over to pull him into a hug.

"It's okay, Ani. He's just worried about you. Luke doesn't know anything."

"I hope not!" Anakin exclaimed, looking mildly distraught. "He's just a boy! Where could he have gotten ideas like that?! I read those baby books you gave me. Kids don't grow up that fast!"

"Well, he had been hanging out with the pilots in Home One's hanger. . . "

When her husband looked like he was about to collapse, Padme laughed and hugged him again before grabbing the bag he was desperately clutching. "Oh, calm down, Ani. I was only kidding. But, were you serious, about sleeping somewhere else tonight?"

Trying to shrug aside his surprise at the uncomfortable conversation a moment ago, Anakin sighed. Lightly brushing his hand against Padme's as she took the bag from him, he smiled shyly. "I think, for the time being, it might be best. Just to . . .you know, get used to thing again."

"Things haven't changed between us that much, have they?"

"I just. . . I just need a little time, love."

"And you didn't want to feel like you were rushing me into anything." Padme turned, dragging the bags to the door. Anakin jumped around her, momentarily rejoicing in his new mobility, and held the door open for her.

"That too, but I didn't think you'd pick up on it."

"I've lived with four Force-sensitive people in the same house for three years now." She kissed him as she passed, smirking slightly. "I've had to develop a few defenses of my own, you know."

Grinning, Anakin closed the door behind him and breathed in the scent of home.

"Daddy, look at me! Look, Daddy! Look! Daaadddddyyyy!!"

"Just a minute, Leia." Anakin called, knowing he should be exasperated by the tone in his daughter's demanding voice. But he grinned instead and raised up from where he had been laying in the grass in the backyard, staring at the clouds.

His little princess took a step, then spun on her toes, no doubt some sort of dance step she had made up on her own. When she was finished, she dropped the little curtsy her mother had taught her and grinned, mouth full of little baby teeth and eyes full of proud glee.

Laughing, Anakin stood up and ducked under the hanging tree branches to his daughter. "That was wonderful, Leia!"

"Mommy taught me! She said she used to dance at big parties and wear real pretty dresses! She was a queen! I want to be a queen!"

"Maybe one day," her father smiled, "Right now, you're my little princess. When you grow up, you can be anything you want."

Leia thought about that, before looking seriously up at him. She looked like her mother even more when she did that, the way her brow creased and her lips pulsed. It made Anakin's heart ache, thinking of how beautiful she would be when she was older. An angel, like her mother, if not a queen.

"Anything?"

"Anything," the Jedi promised, wanting to give his little girl anything her little heart desired.

Eyeing him with the intensity only children can, Leia asked, "You don't want me to be a Jedi like you and Uncle Obi? Luke is gonna be a Jedi."

"Oh, is he now? Not a prince?"

"No! Not a prince." She said in a huff, like her father obviously should have known this. "Luke said he's going to be a Jedi, just like you! But he says he doesn't know why."

Bending down, Anakin looked at his daughter, wondering. Luke always kept those sort of things to himself, not so much because he was still so young, the twins' third birthday passing the day after they had arrived, but because the boy was always quiet. Ever since he had started talking, Luke had said things that were both extremely intelligent for his age, and frightening at the same time. Somehow, the boy already knew about the war and that his father might go away. Luke understood that Anakin had, at one time, been someone else and they had been lucky to get him back, and that it was very important the Jedi be restored.

How Luke knew all this, Anakin didn't know, but it worried him that his son had such strong insight.

But as little as Luke spoke of things like what he wanted to be when he grew up, Leia spoke even less of the things her brother told her. Their parents watched them sometimes, and noticed that whenever 

Luke spoke to his sister, Leia listened very carefully and always nodded with understanding. But she would never say anything about it later. Their whispered conversations were as secret from their parents as the thoughts and emotions the twins shared across their mental bond.

This was the first time Leia had openly spoken to her father about anything Luke had said like this. Now, she seemed to hesitate, obviously thinking that maybe she shouldn't have said anything.

"It's okay, honey," Anakin encouraged, hoping she might say more. "Luke wants to be a Jedi, but he doesn't know why?" Leia nodded, biting her lip. "Why doesn't he know, Leia?

"Luke. . . Luke says. . .he says things aren't the way . . .the way that. . ."

"The way? What way? Leia, what does Luke say? What does he mean?"

"Things are different. But I like things this way, Daddy! I don't want it that way! I don't, I don't!" Her little eyes filled with fear and she looked about to cry. Instinctively, Anakin reached out and pulled his daughter close, whispering soft words to calm her. "I don't, Daddy. I don't, I don't."

"I know, princess. I know."

But he didn't. Anakin didn't have a clue what his daughter was talking about or why Luke might have said it. The clairvoyance of his son had always worried him, but now that fear increased. What did Luke know? What 'way' had things meant to be that they weren't now? Anakin desperately wanted to go ask his son, but knew he wouldn't get an answer. The boy would just stare at him, like he didn't understand.

"I can be a Jedi too, can't I, Daddy?" Sniffled Leia, wiping her nose on her sleeve and staring up at him with big brown eyes. "Uncle Obi is a Jedi. And Luke is gonna be a Jedi. Can I be a Jedi?"

"What about being a queen?" Anakin sighed, glad for the change of subject but wishing he had found out more.

"I'll be the queen of the Jedi!"

Laughing, wondering what Master Yoda might say to such an arrogant and yet utterly innocent statement, Anakin picked his daughter up. "Well, if you're going to be a queen, you have to know how to dance. Here, I'll show you. Stand on my feet, like this. And see, when I move my feet, you'll come too. See, we're dancing!"

Leia laughed and clung to her father's hands, dancing with him slowly under the tree.

Padme watched them from the backdoor, smiling. She had been meaning to call them in for lunch, but seeing them that way, it would have broken her heart to interrupt. Her husband's laughter echoed across the yard.

Returning to the kitchen, she packed the sandwiches in a basket along with some fruit and brought it outside. Shaking out a blanket, Padme sat and watched father and daughter till they noticed her and came over.

When Luke wandered over from where he had been digging in the flowerbed, Anakin stared at his son curiously, wondering. But Leia refused to meet her brother's gaze.

Caslia