Happy Halloween! Have a treat! Some nice fluffy story. No tricks here I swear!
I DON'T OWN STAR WARS.
Anakin was roused from his almost meditative working haze by the smell of something cooking.
He set aside his tools and stretched his back and arms. He opened his bedroom door to a heartwarming sight.
Leia was coloring on the floor in her books with Luke sprawled out next to her. They were passing crayons back and forth without speaking. Once in a while, Luke would let out a laugh.
Padme was in the kitchen singing while an old radio he kept in there played a tune. "Don't expect me to cook every night, Ani. I'm not going to serve you all the time."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Angel." Anakin leaned down and hugged her with one arm.
Padme stiffened and slid out of his grasp. She did it with her usual grace so he almost didn't notice.
Anakin frowned. They had a ton of things to talk about. "Anything I can do to help?"
Padme let out a laugh. "Ani, I've seen you cook. I'd rather not be sick for the rest of my time here."
"I've gotten better." Anakin protested her lack of faith in him. "I can make ramen and mac n' cheese pretty good now. I can even boil a hot dog. What is for dinner?"
"We are having spaghetti and you can butter the bread, then." Padme pointed to a bag of french bread and a tub of butter sitting on the counter.
Anakin grabbed one of his rarely used kitchen knives. Obi had gotten them for him as a gift when he saw 'the most pathetic excuses of knives I have ever seen' set he was using before.
"Padme?" Anakin cut the bread in half as best as he could.
"Yes, Ani?" Padme was stirring something on the stove that smelled awesome.
"After the kids are in bed, can we talk?" Anakin noticed the surprised look on her face. "Or not. We can just call it an early night. I've had a long day. Leia woke me up at six in the morning. We can always talk tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is good." Padme poured some dry noodles into a pot of boiling water.
Anakin noted her reluctance to be around him. Anakin grit his teeth. If they were going to work things out, she would have to get used to him. Plus he really missed her and wanted her back in his life in whatever way she wanted.
Dinner went smoothly and was probably one of the best meals Anakin had ever had in his life.
Soon, they ushered off to bed two sleepy children. It was a miracle that they had lasted this long. Anakin knew Leia had been up even earlier than he had been and the short almost but not quite two-hour nap in the car was not enough sleep for her.
Anakin pulled the covers up around Leia's chin. Leia was in her bed. Luke was on an air mattress on the floor. Padme was with Luke.
"Daddy?" Leia whispered.
Anakin's heart clenched in awe every time his little girl called him that precious name. "Yes, Little Angel?" Anakin brushed some hair away from Leia's eyes.
"Are you happy?"
Leia's innocent question made tears spring to his eyes. "I am very happy. Thank you so much for doing this for me."
Leia leaned up and kissed his cheek. "You're welcome, Daddy. Good night. I love you."
"I love you too Little Angel." Anakin leaned down and kissed Leia's forehead.
Anakin stood up from his kneeling position at the side of Leia's bed. He looked over at Padme and saw her running her hand through Luke's hair and humming softly.
"Can you sing Mama?" Leia yawned partway through her words.
Anakin leaned in the door frame as Padme closed her eyes and began singing out loud. It was your normal little lullaby tune for children but Padme put her own twist on it.
Anakin listened to the soothing melody until both children's eyes drooped and they were off to dreamland.
Anakin held out a hand to help Padme up off the floor. "That was a pretty song." He complimented.
Anakin led her to his bedroom. "You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch. I just need to grab a few things from my dresser."
Anakin fiddled with the finicky dresser drawers.
"Anakin?" Padme's voice sounded tired. "I am really happy to have found you again. I'm just scared and angry at my parents and hurt that they would even dream of doing this to me and my family. But mostly, I'm scared. I'm scared you are going to leave us again. I'm scared that I'll fall right back into your arms and just forget everything I've done and…"
Anakin stood in front of her and drew her into his arms. It felt amazing to hold her like this again but Anakin tamped down his wonder. "Padme, I swear on my life that I won't let anyone or anything separate our family ever again. I'm never willingly leaving you. If you want to live in North Carolina, then Leia and I will pack up and move back there with you. I'll sell my shop and think of something to do in North Carolina that I will like."
Anakin noticed Padme's shoulders heaving. Anakin held her tighter as his angel wept tears of hurt and sorrow.
"I've got you, Angel. I'm not going anywhere." Anakin murmured to her until she began to sway. Anakin tightened his grip. He looked down to see Padme with her eyes closed and leaning against his chest. Her head was tucked into his shoulder.
"Angel? Padme? Padme?" Anakin jostled her until she sleepily opened her wide brown eyes. "Come on, you need to get ready for bed."
Padme stood up and gathered some things from her suitcase. Anakin went back to the dresser and managed to pull out his pajama pants and (reluctantly) a T-shirt.
"Do you need the bathroom first?" Anakin watched as Padme held her nightclothes to her middle.
"I was going to shower so you can use it first. I'll wait." Padme sat on the edge of Anakin's bed.
Anakin smiled at her and left the room to the bathroom down the hall. He quickly got dressed in his clothes, tugging at the collar of the shirt. It was uncomfortable. He was not used to sleeping with a shirt on.
Anakin made his bed on the couch. He laid down when the shower started up. He now knew why Obi always complained about his couch. It was near impossible to get comfortable on. The padding was okay when you sat down, but laying on it was awful.
Anakin shifted a few times before settling against the cushions on his back. He felt drowsy and tried to stay awake until he was sure Padme was sleeping too. It failed. He was asleep before the shower was even turned off.
Padme woke to an unfamiliar bedroom. She panicked for half a minute before remembering the events of yesterday. Padme fell back to the bed in relief.
The bed smelled like Anakin. His soaps and natural scent with a hint of mechanical grease that he always seemed to cling to him.
Padme thought about yesterday. She knew things were not totally worked out. Padme's heart ached at the gentle way Anakin soothed her fears last night. His promise of never letting their family be separated again was almost too good to be true.
Padme could sense the truth in his words, though. She had no doubt that if she wished it, Anakin and Leia would follow them to North Carolina like some romcom movie. Padme had a small flashback to watching The Parent Trap. Especially the ending.
Padme stretched as she heard soft stirrings from the living room. She got up and quickly went about her morning routine. She opened the door, intent on getting to the bathroom to apply her makeup, brush her teeth, and do her hair with a mirror when she ran into a solid chest in front of her.
Muscled arms caught her before she could hit the floor. "Are you okay? I swear I was about to knock."
"I'm fine." Padme pulled away from Anakin and smiled. "You said you wanted some Latkes?"
"If you don't mind… I'm not the best cook." Anakin gave her a sheepish smile. "Honestly, the only reason Leia and I aren't overweight is that my mom and Obi try to give us a 'healthy meal' as much as they can. That and we go to the park a lot."
Padme brushed past Anakin. "Let me finish and then I'll start on them. I bought the ingredients I needed last night."
"Oh, Angel? Obi is going to watch Luke and Leia for a couple of hours this afternoon. He is leaving tomorrow to go hang out with Satine at her family's vacation home here and he claims he is already packed and can spare three hours to watch them."
"Anakin? Anakin, wait." Padme knew it was rude but she interrupted his rambling. "Why is Obi going to watch the kids?"
"Well, we have a date. Obi suggested it. I wanted to show you a few places around town and maybe take you out for a late lunch?" Anakin sounded unsure.
Padme felt her heart slowly begin to melt. "Okay. Sounds fun. What time are we going out?"
"One to three?" Anakin offered.
Padme gave her agreement to the idea and headed for the bathroom.
Padme was just finishing up cooking breakfast when two grumpy four-year-olds entered the kitchen. Well, one grumpy four-year-old.
Luke was bright-eyed as he always was in the morning. Leia, on the other hand, was scowling and clutching an old-looking hairbrush and some ties in her fists.
"Good morning, Mama." Luke chirped. "What's for breakfast?"
Leia grumbled and thrust the brush in her direction. "Can you do my hair? Please?"
The please sounded like it was tacked on the end like an afterthought.
"How about after breakfast, I can do your hair, Leia?" Padme poked at the first fried potato cake in the skillet she was using to cook them. It was almost done. "Luke? Can you please go get your daddy for breakfast?"
"Yes, Mama." Luke hurried out of the room.
Leia climbed up in a chair off to the side and watched her.
Padme tried not to be self-conscious as she deftly flipped the first one out of the pan and set it on a paper towel covered plate. She scooped more batter into the pan with a popping sizzle. While the food was cooking, she got out some peanut butter, sour cream, applesauce, and cream cheese.
The whole time Padme was working, she felt the wide-eyed gaze of Leia on her.
"Which would you like Leia? Since Luke and Anakin are taking a while, you can have the first one." Padme winced as soon as the words left her mouth. Presenting so many options to a four-year-old would not go well.
"What do you like?"
Leia's seemingly innocent question startled Padme. She had no idea that Leia would want to be like her. She would need to sort that out soon.
Given the circumstances though, she really shouldn't be that surprised. Leia had spent her whole life thinking she was gone. She would only have stories about her and that was if Anakin felt like sharing. Then Padme comes into her life and she must be near ecstatic and would want to be like her to make sure she stays and…
Padme shut down that thought. That was too much and too psychological this early in the morning. "Luke likes his with applesauce. Why don't you try that first and if you don't like it, we'll try my way? Okay?"
Padme spooned a small amount of applesauce on top of the latke and gave it to Leia. She checked on the one in the pan and carefully flipped it. "I'll be right back. Do not touch the stove, okay, Sweetheart. It's really hot."
Padme waited until she got a nod of agreement from Leia before hurrying from the room, wondering what her two boys were up to.
Padme came to a stop in the living room. Luke was leaning over Anakin's side as he showed the little boy his work on a burnt-out laptop.
"And this is the circuit board. This is what makes the whole thing work. Every command you give it comes from here." Anakin explained.
"Why is it black in spots?" Luke reached out to trace a part of the board.
"That's what I'm trying to fix. Some of the wires got overheated and melted a little. It would be better to buy a whole new laptop but the guy is really attached to this one." Anakin set the circuit board down when he caught sight of Padme.
Padme stood with her hands on her hips and fondness all over her face. "If you two techies are done, breakfast is ready."
"Mama! I think it's burning!" Leia called as smoke started pouring from the kitchen.
Padme gasped and ran back to the kitchen. She had completely forgotten she had one on the stovetop. She was too caught up in watching the display that father and son had put on.
Padme yanked the skillet off the burner and thrust it into the skin. She flipped on the water as smoke rolled from the pan. "Anakin! Get the kids out of here!"
The smoke alarms went off and Leia screamed and clamped her hands over her ears.
Windows were opened and fans were turned on. Luke and Leia were seated on the couch far away from the kitchen. Anakin was using a potholder to fan the air near the smoke detector.
Padme stared with dismay at the ruined skillet. The latke was stuck to the bottom of the pan and there was no way it was coming off without a long soak and a ton of elbow grease.
"Do you have another skillet?" Padme turned to face Anakin with a hopeful look on her face.
Anakin shook his head. "Sorry. No. Not a cook. Remember?"
Padme put the stopper in the sink and began letting some hot water flow into it. She poured a bit of soap onto the skillet and set it in the quickly filling basin.
She sagged against the counter. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted some latkes this morning. I'll clean the pan later."
"It's okay, Angel. We can always go…"
There was a knock on the door. Padme straightened up. "Who's that?"
Anakin shrugged. "I don't know." He headed for the door. "I'll check."
Anakin opened the front door. The person on the other side made Padme fill with nerves. She had some explaining to do.
Leia pouted.
Breakfast was ruined. Leia really wanted another one of those potato things. She really loved fries and they tasted almost similar.
Leia crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her daddy's mess on the table. There were wires and tools and two computers that had been taken apart. Parts were everywhere.
A knock on the front door had her looking up. Leia's daddy answered the door.
"Mom?" Her daddy sounded surprised.
"Grandma!" Leia got down off the couch. She almost ignored Luke's frozen shy form.
Leia felt a wave of fear that stopped her in her tracks.
What if she doesn't like me? What if she hates me and acts like them?
Leia scoffed. She's gonna love you, Luke. Stop worrying. Now come on. I want a hug.
Leia ran for the front door, dragging Luke by the hand behind her.
"Grandma!" Leia called again.
Luke's hand was ripped from her grasp before she reached her grandma. Leia looked behind her to see Luke hiding behind their Mama.
Leia shrugged. Luke would see eventually. She ran for the multicolored skirt and wrapped her arms around Grandma Shmi's knees. "Hi, Grandma! You have to meet Luke! He's kind of scared and shy but he's awesome and he really wants you to like him."
Luke sent Leia his anger.
Leia poked him back with annoyance. She stared at Luke and sent him her exasperation at his stubbornness.
Come on Luke. She's not like her. Please. For me? If she starts to treat you like her then I will defend you but that isn't going to happen so come on.
Luke edged out from behind their Mama's legs. "Hello." Luke's voice was quiet.
"Hi. You must be Luke." Grandma Shmi was nice to Luke.
She knelt down on the floor in front of him.
Luke ducked back behind their Mama. Leia saw their Mama run her hands through his hair.
That brought to her mind that her hair was still not done. It hung down her back in tangled knots.
"Mama? Since breakfast is ruined, can you do my hair now?" Leia pulled on her mama's pant leg.
"Breakfast is ruined?" Grandma Shmi was helped up from the floor by Leia's Daddy.
"Yes. I got distracted and a latke burned Anakin's only skillet." Leia's Mama answer Grandma's question calmly.
Grandma was quiet for a moment. She studied Leia's Mama. "You can have breakfast at my house. I do have more than one pan. I even have a griddle."
Leia was confused at her Grandma's words. She didn't know what a griddle was and why did she feel the need to say that she had more than one pan. Daddy had more than one pan. There was the mac n' cheese pan and the hot dog pan. Daddy used the mac 'n cheese pan for noodles too. That was two more pans.
"Give us thirty minutes?" Leia's mama looked over in Leia's direction. "Actually make that forty."
"Mom? I thought you were on vacation with Cliegg until Wednesday." Leia's daddy sounded confused.
"Obi called. He said that Padme and your son was alive. He told me that it was a long story that I might need a drink for. I decided to cut my vacation short and come home." Grandma laid her hand on Leia's daddy's cheek. Grandma was crying as she spoke. "I am so happy for you. My little Ani. These past few years have been so hard for you. I had to see if it was true for myself. Cliegg understands. He's the one who offered to come back."
"Thanks, Mom." Leia's daddy hugged Grandma.
"Mama?" Luke's voice was a little bit louder than what he used to say hi to Grandma. "I'm hungry."
"I'll meet you at the house. Cliegg is out in the car. We drove all night to get here." Grandma gave Leia a hug. She made a step towards Luke, who shifted back towards their Mama. "Bye. See you in forty minutes."
Grandma Shmi left their home.
Leia blinked up at her parents. "I'm hungry too."
"Go get dressed and I'll do your hair." Leia's mama sounded upset. "Oh, I need to pack up the batter and I'll need to…"
"Angel. It's alright. I'll help Leia and Luke get ready. You worry about the food." Leia's daddy led Leia down the hall to her room.
Leia was worried about Luke and she was hungry. Luke's hunger was spreading to her and her tummy growled.
"Stop it, Luke!" Leia glared at her brother. "I'm already hungry."
Luke quickly looked at the ground and pulled back from Leia. Some of Leia's hunger faded and she felt bad.
I'm sorry Luke. Leia apologized. I didn't mean it. Leia reached out and sent him love and happiness and all the good things she knew how to feel.
She felt Luke send her some love back. Leia kept sending him all her happy feelings as she got dressed, as her mama did her hair for the first time, and as they loaded up in Daddy's truck and went off to Grandma Shmi's house.
Luke felt warm. Leia was sending him so much love and happiness that he felt near to bursting with it. It was almost as much happiness as he felt when he thought his heart was going to fall out of his chest.
Luke felt a little braver as they rang Grandma's doorbell.
"Anakin. I'm so happy for you."
Luke froze as a tall man answered the door. He had hair on his face and it was grey.
"Grandpa!" Leia ran right for the man. The man picked her up with a laugh and gave her a big hug.
Leia squealed with laughter. Luke wished he could be like that.
"Grandpa? You have to meet Luke." Leia was set on the floor.
Leia ran over to him. Ready, Luke? I won't let anyone hurt you.
Luke felt braver by Leia's love and faith that they would love him. "Hi. I'm Luke." He introduced himself.
"Hi, Luke. I'm Cliegg but you can call me Grandpa if you like?"
Luke decided he liked this man. "Hi, Grandpa." He tried out saying the new name. He decided he liked that too.
"Come on, Leia, Luke. You guys can come with me." Grandpa turned to Luke's mama and daddy. "She wanted to talk to both of you. She's in the kitchen."
Luke hesitated for half a minute. Leia sent him a burst of good feelings and he followed Leia deeper into the house. He sent one last look at his Mama before following his grandpa and sister.
Luke found out that they were headed to a playroom. It had all kinds of toys and some of them were made from wood. They looked awesome.
Leia headed to a play kitchen and began playing with all the fake food and small pans.
Grandpa stood by Luke. "What do you like, Luke?"
Luke spotted some wooden toys. He walked over to them and sorted through them to see what kind of toys Grandpa had. There were animals and people and dinosaurs and trains and boats but there were no space ships or planes.
"Do you have any space ships? Like a plane but it can fly in space? I want to be a space pilot." Luke explained more when Grandpa seemed interested.
Grandpa asked a lot of questions about what kind of ship Luke wanted. Luke told him eagerly.
"You seem to know just what you want." Grandpa sounded like Luke had done something amazing.
Luke looked at the floor. He shot a glance over at Leia who sent him a cheerful burst of excitement. Luke took a deep breath. "When you are riding in a car for five days you have a lot of time to think."
Grandpa froze for a moment before letting out a loud laugh. Luke jumped. Grandpa quieted down. He still laughed but it was softer now.
"I know just what you went through. Do you want to hear of the time that your Grandma and I traveled for four days to see a moose and it turned out to be something completely different?"
Luke nodded and sat down in a bean bag chair that was just the right size for him. Grandpa began his story.
Luke laughed as Grandpa told a story after a story. Luke really liked Grandpa. He was funny and had a lot of good stories. He told some about Luke's daddy when he was younger. He told stories about his own son Uncle Owen. He told stories about when he was Luke's age. He even told stories about Leia when she was a baby.
Leia came over halfway through the stories. She sat next to Luke and listened quietly.
See Luke? I told you they were nicer than our other ones. Plus, Grandma likes you too. I know she does.
Thanks, Leia.
For what? Leia sounded confused.
For everything. For helping me be braver. For not giving up on me. For being there.
I will always be here Luke. And you are brave. Grandpa likes you. You did that all on your own.
Luke eyed his Grandpa as he watched them.
"I feel like your two have something special," Grandpa told them. "Don't ever let that fade. You two deserve all the happiness you guys can get. Don't let petty things come between you."
Luke was confused by his words.
Grandpa let out another soft laugh. "You'll understand one day. Don't worry." Grandpa made a show of smelling the air. "Now, who wants breakfast. I think your Grandma might have some fresh orange juice in the fridge."
Leia jumped up and ran for the door. "Me! I'm starving!"
Luke followed Leia as she ran through the house. He was running too and for the first time, he didn't look around for someone to scold him. Grandpa was nice after all. Leia was with him. She would help him. Luke had both of his parents and he was happy.