The doorbell rang and Jedi exploded into loud, excited barks, leaping up from the kitchen floor and racing towards the front door, his claws slipping and sliding. Anakin winced at the loud noise, mentally cursing the little creature that Mindy had convinced Padme to name Jedi.
The dog was anything but a Jedi, and not just because it literally could never become one.
"Anakin, could you please grab Jedi?" Padme called as she went for the front door. Anakin suppressed a groan but nevertheless went after the creature, picking it up from around Padme's legs where it had shoved itself. It wiggled in his grasp, and continued to bark in Anakin's ear. Anakin clenched his teeth to keep himself from snapping and lashing out at the thing. Padme, who just thought that Jedi was the most adorable thing to ever walk the universe, would not appreciate that.
He carried the wiggling dog away while grumbling, "I can't believe I'm jealous of a dog," to which he was met with a loopy, toothy, stupid grin from said dog.
He carried it towards the backyard, vaguely noting that Padme had opened the door and was greeting people. He passed through the living room where Mindy sat, working on homework. As she always did when she saw Anakin around Jedi, she smirked. "Control the Jedi, Anakin." She said, obviously holding back laughter at her own private joke.
Now Anakin did audibly groan as he opened the back door and dropped the thing outside, slamming the door before it could race back in. "Is it too late to name it something more appropriate?"
"Yup. He already responds to that amazing name." Anakin scowled—Mindy may have called a truce between them, but she was still…different around him. And he was pretty sure that she had suggested that name to Padme just to annoy Anakin.
It was working.
"A Jedi is supposed to be calm and in control. That thing," He scowled at the door where the puppy was giving Anakin a pleading look, "Is anything but that."
"He's a puppy, Anakin." Mindy said, turning back to her work. "He's supposed to be like that. He will calm down with age."
He'd believe it when he saw it.
"So this is the infamous Anakin," a new voice said, and Anakin's attention was pulled back to the entrance of the room. There stood Sola, smiling mischievously at Anakin. Padme was not with her, but he could hear her voice in another part of the house.
He had met Sola once while on Naboo protecting Padme as a Padawan. Sola was about as tall as Padme, with straight brown hair and the same loving, dark eyes as her sister. There were many similarities between the women in appearance, but Sola had always had vastly different aspirations than Padme. Even in this world, Sola had broken away from family tradition to become an actress, but Padme still talked about her as a loving sister and trusted friend.
Back in his galaxy, she had also been obsessed with Padme's love life, particularly when it came to him. From the look she was now giving him, that was evidently not going to change in this world.
"Yes," he said, playing dumb, "And you are…?"
"Oh, sorry. My name is Sola." She crossed to him and stuck out a hand in greeting, "I'm Padme's older sister."
"The one who is Thor's girlfriend," Mindy helpfully added, although Anakin only vaguely remembered that conversation. "Say, any chance that I could meet that hottie? Maybe steal a kiss?" She gave Sola a playful grin, to which Sola rolled her eyes. Apparently she was also used to Mindy's antics.
"Not anytime soon." She turned her full attention back to Anakin, sizing him up. "So, how long have you and my sister been a thing?"
"Sola!" Now Padme was entering the room, trailed by two little girls…who Anakin also recognized as Ryoo and Pooja, Sola's daughters. He had also met them in his galaxy, and they'd loved to play with R2D2. They both looked the same as he remembered them as well, with Ryoo standing much taller than her younger sister and having dark, straight hair, while Pooja always had a little smile and light brown curly hair that rivaled Padme's natural curls.
It felt like he was seeing them for the first time, and he half expected to look down and find himself wearing his Jedi robes and Padawan braid.
If Padme and I had children, he wondered before he could stop himself, would we still have Luke and Leia?
The thought was so painful because he realized he wanted to be their father so badly, that he immediately shut it down. He wasn't going to get back with Padme.
"We're just friends, I told you." Padme was scolding her sister. Padme apparently agreed with him.
Sola gave her a disbelieving look. "Right. I'll give you guys," she paused, thinking, "Three months."
Padme scoffed. "Isn't that a little soon?"
"Please, I met, dated, got engaged, and married my husband within three months. If it's meant to be, it'll happen." Sola grinned.
Padme let out an exasperated sigh, a blush rising onto her cheeks. "You are more embarrassing than mom and dad ever were."
"That's my job."
"No, your job is to go to that reading. If you don't go, you'll be late."
Sola laughed. "Getting rid of me now, huh? Well, I see how it is." She turned back to Anakin, "Take care of my sister."
"SOLA!" Padme seriously looked like she was going to kill Sola, and Anakin couldn't help but start to laugh. That only made Padme's blush deepen as she grabbed Sola's hand and dragged her out the door.
Even when Sola had left, Ryoo and Pooja looked at Anakin curiously. "Hello," He said slowly, not sure if they wanted to talk to him. He was a stranger, after all, and he wasn't exactly good with kids…
"Hi," Ryoo said, giving him a smirk. "So you're dating Aunt Padme?"
Mindy, who had been silent for the whole interaction, now burst out laughing. "So who does Padme's family want her to date, Anakin? Can you tell? Because I can't."
Anakin clenched his teeth, deciding to ignore Mindy. "No. We're just friends."
"Not according to mommy," Ryoo said skeptically, but she dropped the subject anyway. "Aunt Padme says she has a puppy. Where's the puppy?"
It was an effort not to scowl again as Anakin opened the back door to let the beast back in. Predictably, since it never did anything calmly, it rushed in yapping its head off as it reached the girls. The girls squealed in happiness though and fell to their knees to pet it.
By this time, Padme returned, looking composed but still a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that," she said, going over to the media center.
"It's not a problem. That's what families are for, right?" Again, he couldn't stop himself from wondering how he would have reacted to his children's love interests had he chosen the right path in the first place. He didn't think he would have reacted well.
Again, he put that thought out of his head.
"Apparently." Padme found what she was looking for and turned back to the girls. "Look what I found!" She held up a DVD case that was labeled 'Frozen,' causing the girls to gasp in excitement, completely forgetting about the dog.
"YAY!" They squealed so loud, that Anakin couldn't help but cringe at the noise, and they rushed to Padme to try to grab the case from Padme's hands.
Padme laughed, holding it out of their reach. "I have to put the disc in, then you can look at the case. Go sit down on the couch."
Ryoo immediately did as Padme asked, giggling with excitement. Pooja, however, paused as she passed Anakin, looking up at him with big blue eyes. "Hello there," Anakin said awkwardly, trying to smile.
A wide smile spread across her face in return and she grabbed his hand. Anakin wasn't sure what she was doing, but she was only five, so he let her lead him to the couch. "Watch with us Uncle Anakin," She said, patting the cushion next to her.
Instantly his heart melted, and he yet again wondered what it would have been like to have Luke and Leia at this age. Would they have sought his presence to do even the simple things?
"Oh Pooja, Anakin isn't your uncle. Maybe he doesn't want to watch a princess movie…" Padme began, glancing apologetically at Anakin, but he held up a hand to stop her.
"It's fine, she can call me what she wants. Besides, I haven't seen once of these cartoon things Mindy won't stop talking about. It'll be an experience." He said as he sat down in between Ryoo and Pooja. Pooja instantly curled up against him, her eyes riveted to the screen that was now on the main menu.
Padme blinked in surprise at Anakin's reaction, but her eyes warmed as she smiled. "Okay, don't blame me though for what happens: they worship this movie."
"But I don't," Mindy said, shutting her laptop and getting up. "You can have fun being stuck with this," She paused when the girls shot her a glare, "uh, wonderful movie. I'm going to go be stuck with homework." She left without a word, and Padme took her spot.
"Prepare yourself Anakin." Padme said, a knowing smile on her face that immediately made Anakin start to rethink his decision to stay.
And it turned out, Anakin should have left with Mindy.
When the movie began playing, Anakin was yet again struck by how different it was. This was animated, and yet there were so many details and realistic qualities that Anakin opened his mouth and began to ask Padme how they made it, but was quickly shushed by the girls on either side of him, so he closed it.
And then the singing began.
He hadn't expected that. He opened his mouth to ask why they were singing, but then the girls started singing along so loudly, he would have had to shout to be heard. So instead he looked at Padme like what am I watching? To which she grinned and mouthed, told you so.
It kept going. More singing between an actually good plot line, but they were randomly singing. Who did that? No one who wasn't being paid. Oddly, he had a very strange picture of himself as Darth Vader singing his feelings at random, but it was so bizarre that he shuddered and buried that thought deep, deep down.
And then there were talking snow men…although he did like Olaf in some strange way. And then singing rocks, singing rocks… he sincerely hoped that Obi-Wan never found out that he'd watched this movie, because he just knew that Obi-Wan would never let him, the former Sith Lord, live it down that he watched…whatever this was.
When the movie ended it was dark, and Anakin sat between the giggling girls just dumbfounded. "Again, again!" Ryoo shouted, and yet another shudder crawled down his spine at the thought of watching it again. Did all parents in this universe have to suffer through these sort of movies over and over again? He did not envy those parents.
"No Ryoo, it's time for bed. We don't want to be tired for Disneyland tomorrow, do we?" Padme asked as she stood, turning off the TV.
"NO!" Pooja shouted, instantly standing up. "We're going to be pretty princesses and meet Anna and Elsa!"
"Yeah!" Ryoo agreed, also standing.
"Well then you better get into bed." Padme smiled, and she hadn't even finished that sentence before the girls shouted goodnight and ran out of the room.
"I think you probably would have liked the Lion King or Treasure Planet more than that particular one," Padme said when they were gone. "I promise there are other good Disney movies."
"Do they all sing randomly?" Anakin asked, making Padme laugh.
"Most of them, yes. But they can be really catchy, some of them."
"I still have that 'Let It Go' song stuck in my head." Anakin grumbled, and Padme laughed harder.
"Well if you want, you can come with us to Disneyland tomorrow." She said it nonchalantly, but…did he detect a little hopefulness in her voice? "I mean even if you don't remember the movies, it's still pretty fun and everyone should go there at least once in their life. They call it the 'Happiest Place in the World" and…well, I'm rambling, but it really would be more bearable if you came with us tomorrow."
Another blush was creeping up on her cheeks and Anakin couldn't help but smile. She was so sincere and hopeful, it was impossible for him to say no. How did she always manage to do that to him? He didn't think he would ever know the answer. "Okay, I'll go."
Padme's eyes lit up and the smile she gave him was blinding and so beautiful that his heart clenched, and yet again he had to restrain himself from taking her into his arms. "Great!" she said, her voice full of excitement, "We're going to have so much fun!"
And for once, Anakin believed her.
The next morning Padme rose early to help the girls get into their Elsa and Anna dresses. Ryoo was Elsa, being the oldest, and Pooja was Anna. Padme took pictures of them on her phone and sent them to Sola before she led them out into the kitchen where Anakin and Mindy waited. Mindy had run to get donuts so that they could make a quick getaway to attempt to beat some of the crowds.
As soon as the girls saw Anakin, they began to giggle. Wearing a gray button up shirt and jeans that looked very good on him, even Padme couldn't help but feel her heart race at the sight of him.
"Hi Uncle Anakin," Ryoo said, and Anakin glanced up from his phone to smile at them. He knelt down in front of them, taking each of their hands.
"Well hello, am I in the presence of royalty?" He asked playfully, but the girls absolutely loved it. They broke into more giggles. "Well it will be a pleasure to escort you two ladies." He said, and watching him smile at her nieces, being so genuinely kind and almost fatherly, Padme couldn't help but notice her knees going a little weak.
Pull yourself together Padme, she thought as she grabbed her keys. So he was great with kids. Big whoop. Plenty of guys were. But watching him with Ryoo and Pooja…she felt, she felt…
She felt like she was missing something, something very important.
Shaking the feeling off, she herded everyone out the door and into the car.
When they reached Disneyland, after a very long drive, Padme purchased the tickets and they headed into the park. "Okay, so we need to get some fast passes…" she began, but Mindy cut her off.
"Ben says we gotta take tons of pictures because he thinks it's hilarious that Anakin is here with us." Padme gave her a weird look, not sure why Ben would think it was that funny, but Anakin sighed as if he had expected that.
"Okay, fine, but can we please stay focused?" She didn't know why she bothered to ask. The girls were practically jumping with excitement and were chattering to each other consistently about what rides they wanted to go on first, and Anakin was looking around him at the colorful, curious world that was Disneyland.
"Is Disneyland its own country?" he asked.
"No, but it might as well be." Padme sighed, "Seriously. We need to get fast passes if we want to make the most of this trip, so let's stop getting distracted and go, okay?" Goodness, it was like herding cats, Padme thought.
They purchased fast passes for various rides and began their day. She had been to Disneyland plenty of times as a girl, and she had even gone once with Sola and Ryoo when she was a toddler. But now she was the responsible adult and being there brought back pleasant memories but with the girls wanting to look at everything and do everything there was to do, Padme realized that being there with children was much tougher than she thought.
But what really made her day was watching Anakin's reactions. He was like a kid himself. He wanted to know how each ride worked, and although he didn't understand most of the references, he was still fascinated by the culture of Disneyland. "Is that a man in a giant mouse suit?" He asked when the girls met Mickey.
"Yes."
"But why?"
"He's the mascot of Disney."
"If you say so…"
Or… "That's not what Space feels like," He said after they'd gone on Space Mountain.
"It's just a fun ride. How would you know what space feels like anyway?"
He cleared his throat. "It's just an educated guess."
Or… "These blasters don't have actual bullets, how am I supposed to shoot anything?"
"You just point it at the little lit up targets and pull the trigger. The machines do the rest."
He'd looked pretty doubtful at that, but he and Padme had ended up having the exact same high score when they finished that ride.
He enjoyed Indiana Jones, and voiced interest in watching those movies immediately when they got home. He enjoyed the Haunted Mansion. He liked all of the roller coasters and really wanted to know how those worked.
But Padme's favorite ride she went on with him was the tea cups. They all squeezed into the cup, and when Padme explained that Anakin could turn the wheel in the middle to make it go faster, he took that challenge whole heartedly. He made a silly face at the girls and began to turn the wheel as fast as it would go. Normally Padme would have been squeamish, but this time she hardly noticed. All she noticed was the bright smiles on the girls faces as they screamed at Anakin to make it go faster and Anakin as he laughed and turned it around and around.
Mindy, however, did not enjoy that experience as much as Padme did. She had to run to the nearest restroom to throw up. She understandably refused to be in the same car or row as Anakin again.
Anakin did not, however, enjoy waiting in line to see Anna and Elsa. Even with a fast pass, there was a line to meet the two princesses. She could see the impatience in his eyes, and she didn't think it helped that there were plenty of little girls singing "Let It Go" over and over again as they waited. Still, whenever Ryoo or Pooja looked up to talk to him, he always had a smile for them.
Padme had to admit, she really was impressed. Here was a guy who was clearly going through a lot, more than Padme could ever imagine. And yet he was kind to her nieces as if they were his own nieces. He smiled for them even when it was clear that he didn't want to. And it was…it was…
Well, as Mindy would say, it was really hot.
Finally it was their turn to meet Elsa and Anna, and the girls immediately went to meet their heroes. Mindy took pictures while Padme took a moment to stand next to Anakin. "You're really good with kids."
Anakin looked genuinely surprised. "You really think so?"
Padme gave him a look like he was crazy. "Of course. Have you seen yourself with Ryoo and Pooja? And they adore you. I think they might even have a little crush on you." She elbowed him playfully and that got a small blush to rise onto his cheeks.
"Well…uh, I just…." He cleared his throat. "I would like to think that, um, if I ever became a father ag…became a father," Padme frowned, wondering what he was originally going to say, but listened as he continued, "I would be the best I could be for them." In a quieter voice, he added, "They deserved that."
Padme opened her mouth to ask what he meant by that, but by then it was already time to move on.
They saw Anna and Elsa in a sing along show after that, and Anakin did actually look miserable as he was surrounded by lots of children singing along with their favorite princesses. When Elsa began to use whatever special effects that made it look like she was actually using her ice powers (and it really did look real), Anakin's entire frame froze up and it looked like he was about to leap from his seat and spring onto the stage to fight someone. Padme began to lean over Ryoo to ask what was wrong, but Mindy got to him first, grabbing his shoulder and shouting, "It's just a special effect, it isn't real! She's not using that hocus-pocus Sith Lord magic or whatever."
Wait, what?
Anakin seemed to understand it though, and after he squinted his eyes at the actress on stage, he seemed satisfied that it wasn't real and he calmed.
What was that about? Padme wondered, but she didn't get a chance to ask.
Finally the day began to come to a close. Pooja was so tired, that she had a hard time walking, and Anakin eventually picked her up and put her on his shoulders. She hugged his forehead, looking around the park tiredly. "We have one more ride," Padme said, "And then we can go home."
"Which ride?" Mindy asked with a yawn.
"Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Oh, I love that ride." Mindy said, perking up a little. "Hold up Anakin, I want to take a picture and send it to Ben."
Anakin stopped walking for a second to let Mindy take a picture of him with Pooja on his shoulders. As soon as she was done, his strained smile turned into a scowl. "He's going to have so many pictures to bribe me with later," He grumbled, but Mindy sent the picture anyway.
By the time they got to Pirates, the line was actually fairly short as most people were leaving the park. They were fairly quickly loaded onto a boat. "You'll can't sit on the front two rows," the worker told them as they approached the boat, "Those two rows are reserved."
"That's fine," Padme said as she helped Anakin settle the two girls between them. Pooja yawned and leaned against Anakin, looking like she was going to sleep through the ride.
"I think Ben could totally scrapbook an album out of these pictures," Mindy was saying as she began to flip through the pictures on her phone. Anakin turned around just enough so that he could shoot her a glare.
"I bet you and Ben are plotting a lot of ways to blackmail me," He was saying as the worker ushered a group of people into the first two rows of the boat. Padme frowned at one of them. She couldn't quite see his face, but he looked familiar…
The ride started, and as they pulled away Anakin turned back around, grumbling something about being teamed up on. Padme hardly heard him. She just kept staring at the white hair of the older man sitting directly in front of us. "Jolene," he said, and as soon as he spoke, Padme instantly knew who it was, "Make sure to get a good photo of Johnny and I on this ride." He was referring to the boy sitting next to him that Padme knew wasn't related to him.
Senator Palpatine.
Anakin seemed to recognize his voice too, because his whole body froze and he stared at the back of the man's head with wide, furious eyes. If Pooja and Ryoo were not sitting next to them, Padme wondered if Anakin would have jumped up and tried to throttle the man. He wouldn't have gotten far, because when Padme turned around, she saw that in the back row were two Disney workers in plaid shirts that were clearly meant to be both tour guide and temporary bodyguard for the politician. They would have stopped whatever Anakin tried, but still…Anakin looked ready to kill someone right about then.
He turned to face her, and she suddenly saw worry creep into his eyes. He mouthed quietly, "Don't say anything."
Padme frowned. Honestly, she herself didn't think she had enough restraint to say something nice to the senator. She knew what he was doing. Her parents, his rivals who were running against him, were well liked because of their strong family lifestyle. Senator Palpatine was an older man, never married, and never had children, so that was not a perception he had. But if he could go to Disneyland just long enough to take pictures with some hired kid he would claim was related to him in some way, he could point to those pictures as evidence that he too was a family man in order to get votes from her parents voters.
Needless to say, she was not happy with that.
Anakin slowly began to look around to see if there was any way to turn the ride around, but Padme knew that was impossible. They were going to have to somehow get through the fifteen minute ride without being noticed, and this time Padme agreed that they should go unnoticed. She didn't feel like getting into a political argument with her parents rival in front of her nieces.
And given Anakin's reaction to the senator, she really didn't want to have to hold the man back from a fight. This time, it would not end well for Anakin.
Thankfully, Ryoo and Pooja were tired enough not to make too much noise or draw too much attention to themselves. The majority of the ride was calm, but Padme worried that when the drop at the end came, the girl's screams would cause the senator to look back.
Padme seriously wished they had just gone home.
It was the longest ride of her life. Anakin seemed to get more tense with every minute that passed, and he looked like he was either going to kill the man or jump into the disgusting water to get away from the situation. But every other second, Anakin caught her gaze and mouthed, "Don't do anything. Don't say anything. Do not draw attention to us."
He really, really didn't like Palpatine. Padme wondered what Palpatine had done to Anakin before his memory loss to elicit such a strong, negative reaction from him.
Finally the drop came, and thankfully the girls only giggled a little bit, being too tired to do anything else. As the boat came towards the unloading area, Anakin gently turned his body so that he was both hiding his face from Palpatine and hiding the girls' faces too. His eyes pleaded with Padme, asking her to do something to hide herself.
She turned around to face Mindy, who was also giving Palpatine a strange, untrusting look for some reason. Padme didn't remember Mindy ever really having major political feelings towards Palpatine, but the way she was looking at him… Padme had never seen her look at someone with so much distaste. "Hey, uh, can I check to make sure I didn't drop something back there?" It was a lame attempt, Padme knew, but Mindy met her eyes, instantly understanding what she was doing.
"No problem, look all you want. I'll keep an eye on the unloading." Padme looked at her gratefully and pretended to look for misplaced items.
They stayed like that as the boat stopped and they felt the group in front of them moving out of the boat. "We're clear," Mindy whispered, and immediately Anakin picked Pooja up in one arm and took Ryoo's hand in his free hand, helping her out of the boat. Padme followed after them, Mindy close behind.
Padme hoped that Palpatine had decided to ignore the picture counter. She hoped, with the park closing, that he was going home. But as they made their way to that area, Padme saw with a sinking feeling that Palpatine had indeed stopped at the picture booth, his wallet out to purchase more 'proof' of his family man status, but what bothered her even more was that he seemed frozen, staring at the pictures on the screen.
"If we hurry," she whispered, "Maybe we can sneak around them before they notice us…"
Padme hadn't even finished when Palpatine turned and their eyes met.
Anakin, Padme, and Mindy froze. Ryoo bumped into the back of Anakin's leg and she protested a little, but the adults didn't even notice. What they noticed was the older man looking between Anakin and Padme intensely, as if he were seeing two criminals rather than two normal people. He frowned, and his gaze lingered longer on Anakin, before his cold gaze moved to Padme. A shiver went down her spine as he suddenly smiled that politicians smile. "Padme Amidala," He said in what most would have considered a friendly voice. "It's been a while. It's been five years, hasn't it?"
Padme forced her own political smile, a smile she learned from her parents. "It has been. What a pleasant surprise." She looked pointedly at the clearly bored kid that was standing next to his secretary. "And who might this be?"
"My nephew." Generic answer, no specific names…yeah, he wasn't related. Padme felt anger begin to choke her. "And who," He asked, looking specifically at Anakin, "Might this be?" His voice was still pleasant on the surface, but Padme could hear a dangerous edge in it.
Anakin had managed to wipe off the murderous glare, but Padme could still see it in his blue eyes. "This is my friend Anakin," She said, "And my friend Mindy." She motioned to Mindy, but Palpatine didn't even give her a glance. He was still focusing on Anakin as if Anakin was the most interesting person alive.
"What a pleasure to meet you," he said softly, and Padme couldn't help but feel like the air between the two men was so intense, lightning could have struck between them.
"The pleasure," Anakin forced out between gritted teeth, "Is mine."
Padme cleared her throat. She had to get them out of there, now, before Anakin lost his cool. He looked on the verge of doing so. "Well, we need to get going. We have a long drive ahead of us. I'm sure we'll see each other throughout the election season." She began to walk, making it clear that they really were leaving. Anakin didn't hesitate to follow, pulling Ryoo close to him and hiding Pooja's face from Palpatine's direct view as if Palpatine knowing their faces would somehow physically endanger them.
Palpatine didn't bother stopping them, but as they passed him, he made sure to meet Padme's eyes and smile that cold, bone chilling smile. "Yes," he said, "I believe we shall."
Special thanks to my friend Carlie for helping me with details on Disneyland! She worked there for two years and I haven't been for YEARS so she helped me with some details.
I loved writing this chapter because Anakin was SO freaking FUNNY to write. Disneyland is a totally different experience for the Former Sith Lord, and Frozen really wasn't the right movie to introduce him to. But still, his reactions made me laugh and the Disneyland sequence with him and the girls were so cute I kept squealing and it took me longer to write as a result. BUT THEN PALPATINE! D: He now knows Anakin IS IN THIS UNIVERSE. So that plot line is moving along, slowly but surely.
So guys. Next chapter? It's going to be MAJOR. I mean, I usually have major things happening, but trust me. This one is going to be MAJOR MAJOR. I'll try to update asap, but I'm going to want to get it just right. So...be prepared.
Review! I love your support. Don't ever feel like I don't want your reviews, because I totally do. They make my day. And I know I need to reply to some of your private messages, but I PROMISE I will do that tomorrow as I have already stayed up too late to update this. My bad. I'll probably be sorry for it in the morning.
Love,
~Sarah
