AN-Ah! It's been forever since I last updated. But I've been so occupied with transferring schools and all, so I didn't get the chance to write anything new for a while. But finally, a new chapter!

Enjoy!

"Tale of Darth Plagueis, what does it say?" Inquired the wizened grand master.

"It was the tale of saving the dead…..how to save the ones you love from dying."

The room was silent as Yoda digested the news.

"Save someone, you wanted?"

"…Yes."

"Who, may I ask?"

"…my wife."

Insecurities

A deeply troubled sigh escaped the former sith as Obi-Wan nodded in silent support. Yoda slowly blinked at the younger man, "save from what, hmmm?"

"…..apparently from myself."

"Explain."

"I-I started having dreams around this time in the last timeline. Dream of…Padme dying in childbirth." Another mournful sigh was released by Anakin. "They reminded me so much of the dreams, no premonitions I had of my mother dying, that I just-I panicked and lost it. I was so consumed by fear of losing one of the most precious people I had that I accepted the willing hand of the devil." A deep sense of shame washed over Anakin. "Now I realize how foolish I was. I felt like I had no choice." Anakin looked to Yoda, "the jedi would not have helped me. At least, that was what I thought at the time."

Yoda pondered this confession as his ears drooped, deep in thought. "Sadly, right you might have been. Helped you, the jedi might not have. Shames me, to confess this, it does." Silence reigned over the three figures. "But now, it is no longer the case?"

"No, so far I have not had a single dream. I don't actually know whether to be relieved or not. I don't know if this is a good thing."

"Well, it's always good to look at the positive side of things," Obi-Wan genially patted Anakin on the back. "These absent dreams means that the future has changed much. Hopefully for the better."

"Yeah, hopefully," was the absentminded reply of the former sith.

"You don't seem very surprised that Anakin mentioned he was married. And to Senator Amidala, no less," Obi-Wan commented thoughtfully.

Yoda hummed. "Deep bond Skywalker and Amidala have. To hear of his marriage, surprising it is. But to the senator, it is not."

"But now that Sidious has partially revealed himself, we can bait him," Obi-Wan supplied.

Anakin stiffened. The very thought of having to venture to the dark side, the temping abyss of power and manipulation…..he didn't want to go back. Already abandoning the dark side and reclaiming the light had been no easy feat. He didn't want to be a part of that consuming cesspool of negativity once more.

The former sith felt a comforting hand settle on his shoulder. He turned to look into Obi-Wan's understanding eyes, "We won't let you fall again, Anakin. We'll be right beside you this time. But this must happen."

Anakin nodded reluctantly, then once more with more conviction. Obi-Wan was right. It needed to be done. He was the only one in the position and power to fool the sith master. And it needed to be done by him and him alone.

There was no time for hesitation.

"Soon Sidious will execute order 66. We must be ready. Have the preparations been complete?"

Yoda nodded at the former sith's enquiry. "Implemented extra order, you already have. Informed all jedi, we also have. To be cautious of the clones, they now are."

"Anything else?"

Obi-Wan chimed in, "we have contingency plans placed for the jedi to make a hasty escape whenever the order is executed or not. In the off chance that our extra order does not work, then at least we will have a safe alternate that some of the jedi may escape from the execution order. Lastly, we are now transferring the younglings and padawans to a more secure and private location. If all else fails...they will be future of the remaining jedi."

A somber mood filled the room at the last comment. Hopefully, it would not come to that.

Anakin glanced at the chrono on the wall and started in surprise. It was much later than he expected. He should be heading home by now.

That sudden thought depressed him a bit.

It was still fresh in his mind. The way Padme had avoided answering him. It was like a slap to the face. Rejection by her was always the most painful. Anakin almost didn't want to go back home. Doing so might mean confronting her.

But by now she would probably be asleep, so the confrontation would be moved to a later date.

With another sigh, Anakin bid the two in the room goodnight and began his journey home.

Apparently, Anakin was very wrong. Padme sat awake, waiting up for him once more. With furrowed brows and a determined set of eyes, Padme approached her husband.

Anakin, expecting a confrontation, looked to the ground with tired eyes and a weary body. He didn't want to fight tonight. With that thought in mind he looked up and was about to voice out his weariness, but Padme beat him to it.

Raising up a hand in a halting motion, Padme spoke, "I didn't come here to fight. Just to talk." She then held out her hand as a peace offering. Anakin looked at his wife for a moment before looking down towards the proffered invitation before finally stepping forward and accepting.

She smiled a little at this.

Slowly Padme led her cautious husband towards the veranda as they both sat down facing each other, both hesitant to be the first to speak.

"I-"

"Padme-"

"….."

"…."

She smiled sadly at him. "I don't like this distance between us."

"Same here." Husband and wife accepted the silent apologies. The two gave each other shy looks as they adjusted their positions to a more conformable and intimate position. Padme rested her head on his shoulder as she laid back against his chest.

"I'm sorry for earlier. I would never pick my job over my family. It's just that-I…I've been in politics and political affairs ever since I was a little girl. To just drop everything after so long is a little jarring and difficult. I never meant to make you think I was second-guessing. After all," she looked up at Anakin, "when I was trying to get you to open up to me when you first arrived in this timeline, I did say that we should just forget everything and live a life outside war and politics. I can't believe I just backed out of that just because I have you with me now….it's selfish."

Stroking his wife's arms soothingly Anakin spoke up, "you are the least selfish person I know. And I also have to apologize. Asking you to give up what you love isn't really fair. It's because of what I am that we have this conflict."

"What you are?"

" A jedi, sith….a force sensitive person in general, I guess."

"Anakin, what you are is no concern of mine. If you were not human or even a female, I would still love you. Because I love who you are, Anakin, not what you are."

A genuine smile lit up the former sith's face as his smile suddenly because mischievous. "So an alien female, eh. I bet you would love me as a Twi'lek dancer."

Swatting his chest playfully, Padme settled into his arms again. "My family will always be first to me…..and I know I can never fully give up the senate, but my job will never take precedence over those I love…..when they're born I'm going to cut back on my work."

"I can handle that. I never wanted you to give up what you loved, I just didn't want it to take over your life as it once did."

Padme kissed his jaw lovingly, "I'm not going that let that happen. After this is all over, let's take a nice holiday, just the four of us in Naboo. No troubles, no strife, and no conflicts."

Anakin beamed. "Yeah, I would like that."

The future looked just a little more optimistic.

AN-I know this is a really short chapter but I'm still quite busy with transferring schools. So even updating will not be as often (though I'll try).

Hopefully I can get a new chapter up not long from now.

Thanks again for all your support, for those who are still following this story!