"I cannot believe that you don't remember hamburgers," Mindy said as she plopped down a tray of food in front of him. "Hamburgers are the food of the gods. I'm like 100% sure of that."

Anakin shrugged, putting down his new phone to inspect the burger. It looked edible enough—it was made of something Mindy had called a 'cow.' Anakin wasn't sure if he'd ever had the food under a different name, but looking at the burger in front of him, he wasn't seeing an similarities except for the veggies on top. He gingerly picked it up and bit into it, immediately savoring the juices and spices that flooded his mouth.

Mindy was right: this was divine.

"And that isn't even the best burger out there," She went on, before she launched into an explanation of her favorite burgers. Anakin began to tune her out—Force, the woman could talk! He didn't even understand half of what she was saying, and he kind of didn't want to figure it out. For the thousandth time since they'd dropped Padme off back at the house, he wished Padme had come with them. After the doctor's appointment had ended, the exhaustion on Padme's face was so obvious that both Mindy and Anakin insisted that she get rest back at home, but now Anakin was stuck with a chattering Mindy as she dragged him to multiple stores to 'attempt' to put his life back together. Now Anakin was ready for a rest.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Anakin snapped back to reality, meeting Mindy's dark eyes. She smiled in amusement, but he could see the seriousness in her face.

"I'm sorry, who?" Anakin asked after swallowing another bite of his burger.

"Padme." Her amused smile turned into a knowing grin. "You totally were. I can tell. You've got a major thing for her."

Anakin opened his mouth to deny it, but he quickly shut it. He couldn't deny his love for Padme any more than he could deny that the Force existed. He had hidden their love for his whole life, but he could never openly deny his feelings. They were part of who he was. So instead he chose to remain silent, hoping that Mindy would drop the subject, but knowing that she wouldn't.

Mindy's grin faded. "Look, you're hot, she's hot, I totally ship you two, but you gotta know some stuff before you continue pining after her."

Anakin frowned. "What does 'I totally ship you two' mean?"

"It means I totally want you to become an item." When Anakin still looked confused, she rolled her eyes. "It means I think you would be a good couple. You take everything so literally."

"Oh."

"Right. Anyhow, you should know that Padme is super stubborn," Anakin held back a snort. She had no idea how much he already knew that. "And she is also super focused on her studies…like, annoyingly so. I mean it's great for her, she's always at the top of her class, but it also means that she barely has a life outside of school. It's hard enough for me to get her to do stuff on the weekends. That's why she's never had a boyfriend. Like, ever."

Anakin was totally okay with her not having any other boyfriends. It was selfish he knew, especially since he really didn't deserve her, but he couldn't help but still view her as his wife. Even if this Padme had never married him, he couldn't fathom her being with someone else. The thought made jealousy flash through him, boiling his blood. He didn't say any of that though. Instead he said, "Well that actually doesn't surprise me. She's always…I mean, she seems like the type to put her responsibilities before herself."

"Ridiculously so." Mindy rolled her eyes and sipped at her drink. "Anyway. Just be aware that she might take forever to even say yes to a date with you."

Anakin remembered Padme's resistance to being with him back when he was protecting her. He had been open about his feelings from the start, but she had insisted that they put duty above their relationship. It had taken a near death experience for her to finally agree to be with him, and even then it was mostly at her insistence that they keep their relationship secret. More and more Anakin was realizing that this Padme was still very much the same as his Padme.

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Thanks for the warning, but I don't think I'll be pursuing her."

At this Mindy looked surprised. "Why not?"

"Because," He hesitated. He hated how much he was hesitating lately, how unsure of himself he was. Darth Vader was never unsure of himself, but Anakin certainly was. "Because I'm not…I'm not whole." He finished, deciding that technically that was the truth. He had lost a fundamental part of himself when he had turned to the Dark Side, when he had lost everything he truly loved. Darth Vader had given him power and control, but he had also taken away his ability to love freely, to treat others with respect and kindness. He had down awful, unspeakable things. But Darth Vader and his power had filled the void in his heart. Now that Darth Vader was gone and Anakin had come back to himself, he felt that void in him like a raw gaping wound that would never fully heal.

But of course Mindy assumed he meant that he was not whole without his memory. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to pretend that I understand what you're going through, but here's the deal: you can't put your life on hold and keep throwing yourself a pity party. When life knocks you down, you get back up. If it knocks you down again, you get back up again and punch it in the face." She stabbed her pointer finger at him. "Don't waste time worrying about what Padme will think of your issues. Worry about dealing with your issues and building a life for yourself. Man up."

Now it was Anakin's turn to blink in surprise. No one had spoken to him so bluntly in years. Darth Vader had been one of the most terrifying men in the universe. People were afraid to tell him anything straight up. Even his master had been smart enough to tread carefully around Vader when he was in a mood. Only Luke had been blunt with his intentions with Vader, telling him that he didn't believe that he was completely bad, and that he wasn't going to give up on him.

And now here was this girl, who barely knew him, telling him to 'man up.' Vader would have choked her. Anakin was impressed. Slowly he began to smile. "Alright," He said, "I'll think about it."

Mindy grunted, going back to her food. "Good. And if you do ask Padme out, just so you know…" She pointed her fork at him. "If you hurt her, no one will find your body."

Anakin's grin widened. "Got it."

Mindy nodded. "Now, let's talk about that hair…"


"We're home!" Mindy called as they entered the house, carrying bags and bags of clothes. It was evening, and the sun was setting, casting the inside of the house into shadow. Anakin was exhausted—he had no idea that clothes shopping could be so tiring. He didn't understand why women seemed to enjoy it so much. He himself had wanted to quit hours ago, but Mindy didn't like any of the plain clothes he picked for himself. "You gotta show your stuff if you want to get the girl," She'd insisted as she tossed out his selections. He had to admit, being Darth Vader was easy in terms of clothes choices.

They didn't hear a response as they squeezed through the hallway and out into a kitchen that was no longer filled with boxes but instead meticulously cleaned and organized. Mindy stopped, her eyes narrowing as she set the bags she carried on the floor. "Typical," she grumbled, "She never listens."

Anakin also set his bags down, suspicion growing inside of him. "Padme?" he called, heading into the living room that was also now clear of boxes and completely set up. Padme sat behind a large screen, fiddling with cables, cursing under her breath as she compared what she was doing to a diagram on the table next to her.

"Hi," she grumbled, not looking at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked, curious despite the fact that he could tell even from this angle by the way her shoulders slumped that she hadn't gotten the rest they'd told her to get.

"I'm trying to hook this stupid cable to the TV." She said, sighing in resignation. "I can get everything else working on it, except that." She finally looked at him, and when she did her jaw dropped open. "Whoa."

Anakin shifted nervously, feeling out of place. "What do you think?" He asked timidly. He wore a black button up shirt slightly opened at the collar, with what Mindy had called "blue jeans." But perhaps the biggest change was his hair. He had noticed that men in this world tended to wear shorter hair, so when Mindy told him that his old hair "was so 2003," he couldn't help but agree that a change needed to be made if he wanted to transition. That, and he wasn't used to having so much hair anymore.

So he cut it. It wasn't as short as he had it back in his Padawan days, but it was still shorter than before. He liked the way it was now, but it still surprised him to look at his reflection whenever he passed something reflective.

Padme's face began to turn red. "Well…wow. Just, wow. You're g…" she straightened and cleared her throat. "What I mean to say is, you look great." Anakin couldn't help but smile at her flustering. He'd never heard her so tongue-tied before. It was really cute.

"Thanks," He said before turning to the diagram on the table. "Mind if I try?" He had figured the phone out pretty quickly. Surely he could figure out the TV.

Reminded of the offending contraption, Padme scowled. "It's all yours." She said, sitting down on the couch. Anakin picked up the diagram and began to study it and the back of the TV while Mindy entered the room.

"I thought you were supposed to rest," She said, throwing Padme an accusatory look.

Padme shrugged. "I tried, but I kept thinking about how the house wasn't close to ready and orientation is in two days. I'm not going to have time to completely finish this house if I didn't get a head start on packing. So I worked on that instead."

"Well don't come crying to me when you pass out from exhaustion," Mindy grumbled as Anakin began to work on the TV. "And now you're making the amnesia guy work on our TV. Fantastic."

"He asked to try. The worst that could happen is that he can't get it to work and I have to call the cable guy to come out here tomorrow."

"Well whatever. Anyway, doesn't he look like a super model now?" She paused, looking at Anakin. "Super models are people who are so hot they make a living off of having their picture taken in magazines and fashion shows."

"People waste their money on that?" Anakin asked, trying to picture what that sort of life was like. He hadn't liked feeling like his life was on display for people when the Republic had used his fame as the "Hero With No Fear" to boost their support in the Clone Wars, and he'd hated how the Emperor had used Darth Vader and his suit to install fear in the galaxy any chance he got. He couldn't imagine putting his life on display for money.

"Of course they do, and I'm glad they do. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to fantasize being with them." She grinned.

"Well I think he looks really great," Padme said, answering the original question, pulling out what Mindy had described as a 'tablet computer.'

"Stop being modest, he's H-O-T."

"I think I got it," Anakin interrupted, moving out from behind the TV. "Give it a try."

Padme picked up a remote and pointed it at the TV. A split second later it turned on, filling the room with noise and light as moving, colored pictures appeared on the screen. Anakin stared in amazement at the device, technical questions immediately filling his head. "Holy crap, you're a tech genius!" Padme exclaimed before he could voice any of those questions.

"It's just hooking up the cable," Mindy pointed out, "It's not like he built a space ship."

"You didn't know how to hook up the cable either," Padme retorted, "And besides, he didn't even know how to send a text message this morning. Now he effortlessly hooks up the cable within minutes. I wonder what else you can do."

Anakin shrugged, but he smiled wide. He couldn't help but show off his technology skills—it came as easily as breathing to him. That wasn't going to change no matter what world he lived in.

"We can figure that out later," Mindy said, "Let's watch a movie."

"A movie?" Anakin questioned.

"It's like a play, but it's on the TV." Padme explained. Anakin nodded: he had been to a few plays in his lifetime, but he'd never been particularly interested in them. There was never enough action.

"We should totally watch Star Trek!" Mindy said, going to the cabinet underneath the TV. "If you were a Star Trek nerd, maybe this will help jog your memory if you watch it."

"That's actually a pretty good idea Mindy," Padme did something with the remote, changing the TV so that it went blue. A few seconds later, a symbol showed up on the screen and another machine underneath the TV began to whir. A few seconds later, Mindy placed a disc inside of that same machine. Anakin watched in fascination, sitting down on the couch next to Padme. She laughed. "Yeah, you're obviously a tech nerd. You can play around with it later if you want."

Anakin nodded, his attention completely absorbed in the screen as the movie began to start.

It was like nothing he had ever experienced. He'd seen plays, he'd seen holograms, he'd used various com systems, piloted space ships, but this…this was amazing! As the movie played, more and more technical questions popped into his head, and he voiced them aloud. How did they do that scene? Are you sure this isn't real? How did they make the ship look so real? Are you sure those aren't real aliens?

Mindy answered the questions as best she could, but for most of his questions she didn't have any answers. Anakin barely noticed when Padme finally fell asleep beside him. It wasn't until he climax of the movie when her head fell against his shoulder did he notice. As it always did, her closeness caused him to become hyper aware of her presence, and he held absolutely still as she slept, suddenly worried that if he moved a muscle, she would wake up. He was so concentrated on keeping her comfortable enough to sleep, that the rest of the movie passed by in a blur, and by the time the credits rolled, his arm was numb where her head rested.

"Man, she's totally out." Mindy whispered, turning the TV off. "I don't think you're going to be sleeping on the couch tonight."

Anakin glanced down at her sleeping form, his heart stilling. How many times had he watched her sleep in his arms? Countless times. It had always been a sight that calmed him, reminding him that despite the tough exterior Padme sometimes used, she was still innocent, and it was that innocence, that purity, that he had wanted to protect.

It was no different now. Still, her head was positioned at an awkward angle, and he knew that if he didn't move her, she would be sore in the morning. "I'm going to take her to her room." He whispered.

"Okay," Mindy whispered, "I'm going to check to see if we have an air mattress for you to use in the meantime." She got up and left, leaving Anakin to carefully and quietly scoop Padme up into his arms and head to her room.

Holding her for the first time in twenty four years…it took his breath away. Again he had to stifle the urge to hold her forever like that, safe and protected in his arms. He had missed feeling her soft curves, missed smelling her scent lingering on him long after she had pulled away, missed leaning down to kiss her…

He stopped his train of thought. Stop it Anakin, he chided himself as he reached her room, quietly pushing the door fully open with his foot, waking her up with a kiss, especially when she doesn't remember you, is an extremely bad idea.

He silently crept into the darkened room, wishing that his eyes would adjust just enough so that he could see the details of it, before he set her carefully down on top of a king sized bed, tucking the white sheets around her. She shifted, murmuring something, but she didn't wake up. He stood there, watching her for a moment, fighting the desire to climb into bed and continue holding her.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, his voice tight. "I never deserved you, but especially now…" He sighed, about to turn away, but stopped himself. He couldn't help it. He quickly leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, his lips barely brushing her skin. "I love you Padme." He whispered, "I always will, no matter what."

Before he could give in to more temptation, he turned and left the room.


"Are you an Angel?" Padme turned towards the voice to find a young boy, perhaps about nine or ten, sitting on top of a counter.

Padme smiled cautiously, not sure that she heard the boy correctly. "What?"

"An Angel. I've heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They live on the moons of Iego, I think."

She approached him, her smile widening. It was nice to see, that even surrounded by the corruption on the remote desert planet of Tatooine, there was still innocence and goodness in people. "You're a funny little boy."

The scene blurred, and she was aware that she was still speaking with the boy, and he with her. When the scene before her cleared, she was looking around at the cluttered store. "I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for…for what, she didn't remember. "I don't fully understand. This is a strange world to me."

She looked back at the boy, who studied her intently, his blue eyes squinting. "You are a strange girl to me."

The scene blurred again, and a man entered the room, wearing a worn poncho, passing a fumbling…thing with floppy ears. "We're leaving," he said brusquely, heading out the door to the shop. Padme began to follow, but she turned, her eyes on the boy as she walked backwards out.

"I'm glad to have met you, Anakin." She turned around, barely catching him calling, "I'm glad I met you too."


Padme jolted awake, staring up at the ceiling of her room, breathing hard. It was still dark in her room, and when she glanced at her alarm clock, bright red letters blinked 4:36 AM at her. She frowned, trying to remember when she ended up in her room. The last thing she remembered was Kirk sneaking onto the Enterprise, and Mindy periodically commenting on the various attractiveness of the actors before drifting to sleep on the couch. Had she woken up and stumbled into her room without remembering? Or had Anakin picked her up and tucked her in? The thought made her blush as she sat up and stumbled towards her bathroom.

After taking care of business, she took her time washing her hands, her mind replaying the strange dream over in her head. What on earth had that been about? She wondered, trying to make sense to the dream. It was probably silly to try to make sense of a dream—dreams rarely made sense anyway. But still…the boy had been so clear to her, with his blonde hair, clear blue eyes that matched Anakin's…and they shared the same name…

"Stop it," Padme chided herself in a whisper, "It's just a dream." She turned off the water and climbed back into bed, closing her eyes. Just a very odd dream.


Anakin rolled off the uncomfortable air bed and onto his feet. It hadn't been his best night sleep, but he supposed it was better than sleeping on the hard ground. However, he was pleased that he had another night free of nightmares. He'd had nightmares since the awful nightmare that had led to his downfall almost twenty five years ago. It was a blessed relief to be finally free of them.

Could Padme have something to do with it? He wondered as he headed out to the kitchen to find the said presence already preparing breakfast. "Good morning," He said, leaning against the door to watch her.

Padme cast a glance over her shoulder and smiled. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes thank you. You look like you did as well."

Padme frowned distractedly, her thoughts elsewhere. "Yes, I did." She hesitated, "Did you take me to my room last night?"

Anakin tensed, immediately wondering if she was upset that he'd done so. "I did. I didn't want you to be sore in the morning."

"Oh," Padme relaxed, "Well thank you for that." A silence passed between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Instead, it was comfortable, just as it had usually been between them back in their old world. Anakin recalled times similar to this, when he would wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking, and Padme would greet him with a kiss before handing him a plate. Sometimes they talked about various things, big or small, but sometimes they just sat in comfortable silence. Padme would read reports, and Anakin would be looking at a debriefing or something. At some point, Anakin would find Padme's free hand under the table and he would hold it, tracing light circles on her skin with his thumb.

It was crazy how much he remembered those details, even all these years later.

"Say," Padme started, "Didn't you say your mom…"

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

"Well what do you know?" Padme smiled, taking the pan off of the stove before heading to the door.

Anakin stood frozen to the spot. Somehow, with everything that had gone on the day before, he had lost track of time.

His mother was here.

He heard the sound of the front door opening. "Well hello!" He heard Padme say, "I'm Padme, Anakin's friend. It's so nice to meet you."

"It's wonderful to meet you too," the sound of her voice snapped Anakin out of his frozen state and he began to follow after Padme on unsteady legs, his heart thumping wildly in his chest. "Thank you for helping my son," She continued on as Anakin rounded the corner. She broke off when she saw him, her hands flying to cover her mouth. "Oh Anakin," She started to say.

Anakin was running now. Padme jumped out of his way, surprised, but for once he hardly noticed. All he could see was his mother. Her graying dark brown hair pulled into a bun. Her sun-kissed skin. The laugh lines around her face. Her dark brown eyes filled with so much love and kindness that Anakin could just melt looking into them.

He took all of this in within the seconds before he reached her, scooping her up into his arms, holding her close and tightly. "Mom," he croaked, squeezing his eyes shut tight. "I missed you so much."

He could feel her wrap her arms around him, her hands stroking his hair. "My boy," she said, whispering. "I'm so sorry this happened to you."

He tightened his grip on her just a little, wishing suddenly that he could tell her what really happened, but knowing that even if he could, ultimately he wouldn't for fear of rejection. He already feared Padme's rejection—he didn't know what he would do if his own mother rejected him.

Eventually he lowered her back to the ground, reluctantly pulling away from her to look down at her. She had seemed so big and strong when he was a child, but now he towered over her. He already knew that she wasn't as strong and unbreakable as he'd thought.

The moment however, was soon ruined.

"Anakin," A new, very familiar voice called, making every muscle in his body tense up. He sucked in a breath, his stomach suddenly rolling so hard that he thought he would throw up. His body began to tremble, and quickly he dropped his hold on his mother as he looked up to meet the warm blue eyes of none other than his former master.

"Obi-Wan," he breathed.


DUN DUN DUN! Another major character has been introduced! How will this confrontation go?! You'll just have to see :)

Wow! I am so grateful and humbled by all of the reviews I got from the last chapter! Seriously, I woke up, rolled over in bed, checked my phone this morning and BAM! Tons of notifications. I love reading your reviews! I keep saying that, but they're seriously the best.

Speaking of which, I got a very interesting, very good question: Does the Star Wars movies exist in this universe? The answer is sadly, no. I mean I guess if Anakin needs some extra cash, he could totally sell the script and make it a thing, but as of right now, most of the people living in this world has any knowledge of the Force existing or that there's a whole other galaxy where space travel is an actual thing.

Also, the particular Star Trek movie they watched in this chapter is the first remake J.J. Abrams did. Now I know that a lot of people in both fandoms have an issue with the other fandom (like, some people have serious issues with the other), but I happen to enjoy both. My parents are huge nerds, so growing up for me was full of both of these franchises. I really liked what J.J. did with the Star Trek reboot, and I'm super excited to see what he does with Star Wars. That being said, I sat at my keyboard for a really long time trying to think of how Anakin would react to what some would view as the Star Wars franchises mortal enemy franchise, and I decided that Anakin would probably care way more about how they made the movie rather than the actual movie itself. He may change his mind once the novelty of TV and movies has worn off on him, but right now he just wants to know HOW they did it. Haha!

I loved the suggestions on Yoda! I now have an idea :D Thank you guys so much!

Anyhow, I know this was a long authors note, but I like to address things as they come up in the story or in reviews. If you ever have non-spoiler questions, I will always answer them.

Thanks for all your support! I couldn't do this without you!

Review!

~Sarah