Chapter 16 - Settling in Home

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: In which Anakin wonders who the Sith is, Ahsoka meets Padme, and she talks to Obi-Wan. :D

~ Amina Gila

Anakin paces back and forth outside the Chancellor's office, wondering what exactly it is he wanted to talk to her about. Something about how she was reacting to the thought of seeing him seems off. She shouldn't have been acting like that, even if she has no love for politicians. Anakin can get her wariness to talk to Palpatine to a point, but her reaction shouldn't have been so outright violent.

Unless...

"Don't underestimate him. He has the entire Jedi Council fooled."

"First off, I don't think you could keep it a secret. Secondly, he'd notice you weren't acting right, and one thing would lead to the next, and it wouldn't be hard for him to figure out."

"You think he needs to know what I told the Council? You think he cares?"

Could Palpatine really be the Sith she's talking about? It would make sense, but that's impossible. Or is it?

Anakin tries to push the unsettling thought to the back of his mind for now. The implications are too disturbing, and frankly impossible. He'll have to contemplate it later. At the very least, there's obviously someone close to him who has ties with the Sith. But if he doubts his friends, who is he supposed to trust? The Jedi, who don't even trust him? Most definitely not.

He feels guilty for considering it almost immediately. The Chancellor was the man who looked out for him when he had no one else.

After what seems like forever, the door finally slides open and Ahsoka walks out, looking slightly shaken, but she seems more angry than anything else. Maybe he shouldn't have let her go in there so quickly. And this is why he can never train a padawan. Not only does he not have time, but he doesn't know how to handle one.

"Are you alright?" he inquires hesitantly.

"If by alright you mean alive, yes, I'm fine," she all but snaps, turning and stalking several feet down the hall before pausing to glare out one of the windows. His doubts from earlier begin to surface in his mind again for a few moments, but he pushes them back. Right now, he needs to deal with this. He can think more about that later.

Anakin eyes her for a long moment, waiting to see if she's going to say or do anything else other than not-really look out the window. She doesn't. This isn't working. The hostility between them is making him exceedingly uncomfortable. Things were never supposed to be like this. On hindsight, he doesn't know why he thought she would trust him, or that it would change the fact that she spent her life as a Sith on the opposing side. Of course, she has serious personal grudges against people. He needs to change the topic, and since she won't talk, he'll just have to start. A sigh escapes him as he approaches her.

"Ahsoka, how about I take you to meet some friends here?" Anakin suggests finally. He gets the feeling she's not going to want to tell him anything else about whatever is wrong right now, so it's probably best to change the topic. He's thought about this before, and he honestly thinks it would do the former Sith apprentice a lot of good to be around Padme. Besides, they're both girls. Padme could help and understand Ahsoka in a lot of ways he couldn't.

"Hopefully not just a Sith puppet," Ahsoka mutters darkly.

Anakin clenches his jaw in irritation. He's trying to help her, but it doesn't seem like she's being very receptive of that right now. "I assure you Padme is not a Sith puppet." He doesn't manage to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo?" Ahsoka perks up instantly. Her anger seems to disappear, or at least fade significantly. "You know her? I mean... I guess I knew that. Sort of. But I've always wanted to meet her." There. Good mood perfectly restored. And that seems to be a good sign. If Ahsoka trusts Padme, that means she's completely free of the influence of the Sith. Anakin doesn't risk thinking about what that must mean about Palpatine. Either something is wrong, or Ahsoka holds a serious grudge against him for reasons he can't understand. She's not that kind of person, though, so something must be wrong. Or at least she thinks something is. Though to be fair, Dooku probably did fill her head with a lot of nonsense about the Republic, so...

"Come on, I'll take you there," Anakin decides, gesturing for her to come. The Togruta hurries along behind him as he walks down the halls in search of the familiar office. He'd prefer to go there alone, but he can some other time. For now, him and Padme will have to stick to their 'just friends' act. He's grateful the distance to Padme's office isn't too far so they don't have much time to get curious looks from passersby. He hopes the Council's decision to grant Ahsoka immunity didn't make the Senate too upset, or any of the times they come here, she won't be in for a warm welcome. If that happens, he'll probably switch to taking her to Padme's apartment sometimes instead. Now that's a pleasant thought.

Finally, they enter. Padme is alone, working on some of her paperwork, like she always seems to be if she isn't in a meeting. "Anakin!" she exclaims happily, then pauses when her eyes land on Ahsoka where she hovers behind me.

"Padme," Anakin greets her, "This is Ahsoka Tano, the former Sith assassin."

"Senator Amidala," Ahsoka acknowledges politely, "I've always hoped to be able to meet you someday, if you have time right now."

"I have a few minutes," she informs.

Ahsoka smirks slightly. "At least our first meeting wasn't on the battlefield."

Padme laughs. "I wouldn't have expected a former Separatist to be this excited at meeting a Republic Senator."

"Your efforts at trying to bring a peace treaty to end the war aren't exactly unknown among the Separatists," she responds, "There are many of them who do appreciate it and want the war to be over as much as you do. There's just as much destruction going on there as there is here."

"I know," Padme nods, "I know some of them personally. If the Republic hadn't made it impossible to negotiate with Separatists, there may already be peace by now."

Ahsoka's expression darkens, and she shakes her head. "There would have been peace long ago if not for the Sith Lord behind the war. Whenever a deal is about to be reached, he orders Dooku or someone else to do something on one of the sides so that the deal is cancelled. He needs the war to keep going until he can accomplish his plans." She pauses, glancing around for a moment, as if half-expecting someone to be overhearing the conversation. She's being awfully jumpy but given that both her and Dooku have said there's a Sith Lord somewhere in the Senate, it's not surprising. Besides, she's technically a traitor to the Separatists now. She gave everything she worked for at a chance for... he doesn't know, if he's being honest. The Jedi may have offered to help her adjust to a normal life, but that doesn't make up for everything they've caused her in the past.

"Just saying... I didn't bring you here so you could chat about politics," Anakin interjects.

"Well, don't worry," Ahsoka chirps, "There's not a whole I could say about it anyway since most of it makes no sense to me." Oh, good. At least someone agrees with him. He can't stand being around the Senate for long. It's full of corruption, and he can feel it so strongly sometimes.

"Well, if you have any interest in learning more about it," Padme says to Ahsoka, throwing Anakin a grin. "I can assist you with that. I'm sure you would like to be somewhere other than at the Temple all the time for the indefinite future."

"I'll think about it," Ahsoka agrees. "Though I'm not sure how wise coming here would be. There's going to be a lot of people who don't want me around."

"True," she concedes, "But if that becomes a problem, you could always come over to my apartment."

Ahsoka brightens instantly. "Sure."

**w**

"Where's Anakin?" Ahsoka asks first thing, eyes darting around Obi-Wan's apartment. Anakin has his own, but he still seems fully intent on living in Obi-Wan's, which isn't surprising. Anakin's the only one in his apartment, and it would have to be rather lonely there by himself. She certainly finds her apartment here pretty lonely as it is. She's been staying there ever since she returned from the meeting with Palpatine, trying to get herself to calm down. Being around him always seems to leave a tangible feeling of darkness in the air around her, and apparently even when he's shielding himself, it's no exception.

"He went to the Senate... again," the Jedi Master replies.

She frowns. "Hopefully not to visit Palpatine again." He'd have to be crazy if he did that. He was only there several hours ago. She wants to tell Anakin the truth. He deserves to know. He should know, but it's too dangerous to tell him. There's nothing she can do about it right now. Maybe eventually, but from how often they see each other, it would be suspicious if Anakin suddenly stopped going to see Palpatine as much. She won't be able to tell him anything until there is some sort of proof to take him down, which is frustrating to no end. Anakin would be the best option to find the evidence they need, but he won't even be looking for it since he doesn't realize he needs to. Even so, she won't risk him like that. Either him or herself. She can just hope Anakin has the sense to not mention a word about Sidious to him in the meantime.

"He didn't say, but I don't think so," Obi-Wan answers, a faint smirk on his face before he continues, "I think he went to visit Senator Amidala, actually."

"Really? He just visited her earlier this morning also," she muses. What could he be doing there again? She could tell from the first encounter that they were obviously awfully close, so it's probably not all that surprising he wants to spend more time with her. Anyway, it's probably for the best he's not here. She needs to talk to Obi-Wan alone. "You need to keep Anakin away from Palpatine as much as possible," she informs him, expression grave.

"I have tried," Obi-Wan says, his expression turning serious. Ahsoka can sense his concern, even though he's trying to hide out. "I try to discourage Anakin, but he sees the Chancellor as a friend. I always have had a bad feeling about it, but it's too late to act on it now." Of course. Sidious has had control over Anakin ever since he came to Coruscant over a decade ago. The worst part is doing anything about it now would make the Sith Lord very suspicious.

"It's too dangerous," she blurts out. "You already know who he is. We can't warn Anakin. It's too risky!" She pauses for a moment before continuing. "Sidious wanted to talk to me earlier to threaten me. He told me not to tell anyone who he is, but... if Anakin knows, Sidious will figure out." There's part of her tempted to do it anyway.

After all, it would be better not to risk someone as powerful as Anakin, even if it means she would probably die in the process. In any case, she cares about him far too much to lose him to Sidious. If that happened... she's not sure she'd even be able to handle it. And, she may not care much for the Republic and the Jedi, but that doesn't mean she's willing to let the galaxy fall to an Empire under Sidious with Anakin as his new apprentice. He's probably going to have Dooku killed. She shies away from the thought, not wanting to dwell on it. Even if Dooku practically betrayed her, she doesn't want him to die.

Besides, there's no saying she would die even if Sidious did try to have her killed. She's a fighter. She has to do this, and she'll find a way. Something needs to be done. At least Obi-Wan needs to know everything. He can try and help Anakin. He knows him far better than she does.

"Sidious has an interest in Anakin," Ahsoka says finally. "He wants Anakin to replace Dooku and become his new apprentice. Years ago, we could have stopped it, but now..." She shakes her head, lowering her gaze. Silence hangs over the room, the atmosphere far to gloomy. Anakin is so light, even with all the darkness she knows is there. He's a good Jedi, the best actual Jedi she's ever met. The thought of him being dark is so... wrong. She can't let it happen. She doesn't quite understand how protective she feels of him, but then again, it was him who brought her here. She has to repay him for it.

"I was afraid of that," Obi-Wan admits. "It would seem logical to want the Chosen One on his side."

"Don't let it happen," she requests quietly. "He's going to need you now more than ever. You're the only one who can save him from himself." The conversation is far too heavy for her liking, but the topic needs to be discussed.

"I will help him," Obi-Wan declares more fervently than she would have thought possible from him, "If he needs me, I will be there for him.

"I hope so," she breathes. "I hope so."

Ahsoka steps over to the couch, sitting down. Obi-Wan picks up his datapad, returning to whatever he was doing before.

Ahsoka lets her mind wander over the events of the past week. Looking back, she knows it now, what she didn't want to believe while she was still Dooku's assassin. She always was a slave. She's never been allowed to follow her own freewill, not until now, and now she's lost without a true purpose. She doesn't even know what to do with her life anymore.

The only person she has to miss from her former life is Asajj. The two of them had been about as close friends as any Sith could be. Asajj helped train her, and there were times that they were sent on missions together, at least in the very beginning when Ahsoka was starting to get experience and before the Jedi had discovered her identity.

That brings her back to remembering the years she spent as an assassin. She's killed so many, destroyed so many lives. Yes, it was Dooku or Sidious who ordered it, but she still did it, even though she should have known better. Images swirl through her mind, attacking and cutting down the clone troopers, helping to kill several Jedi – even if it was generally the droids with her that fired the final shots.

Does she even deserve the second chance she's being given? She can't help but wonder. Does she really deserve to have Anakin, or Obi-Wan, or even Plo to care about her at all? She's killed men from the 212th and the 501st on multiple occasions. Force, Anakin and Obi-Wan should probably hate her for it, not be trying to help her. She doesn't deserve any of this. Maybe where she really belongs is back down in the prison cells here. Or maybe dead on the battlefield.

"You seem troubled," Obi-Wan suddenly remarks.

Ahsoka looks up, slightly startled. She hadn't realized that he'd been paying any attention to her anymore. He seemed lost in his work, and his attention is just a jarring reminder of how wrong this is. "I don't deserve this," she mumbles.

He pauses a moment before answering. "What you did those years wasn't you, Ahsoka."

"I know," she says glumly, "But I still did it."

"It wasn't your fault," Obi-Wan points out. "You had no choice but to obey Dooku." Well, maybe not, but it still feels like it. She should have... done something. At least she could have tried. "If you had opposed him, he would have killed you."

"He would have, eventually, anyway," she objects, looking down. The image of her vision not all that long ago flickers through her mind. "That's what all Sith do. Unless he's planning to overthrow Sidious with his assassins, he's gonna betray them all someday." It's not something she likes to think about, but she knows it's the truth. She tries not to think about Asajj being killed by him just because Sidious ordered it. If that happens, she might decide to go take down the Sith Master then and there. Asajj has been her only friend for years, and Ahsoka is not at all appreciative of someone trying to kill her.

"And yet, if it didn't work out like it did, you would have nowhere to go," Obi-Wan reminds.

True enough. She never would have come to the Republic willingly. It was probably only thanks to Obi-Wan's convincing the Council that things didn't go badly. Regardless, she needs to stop dwelling on the past. The past is in the past, not the present or future. Except right now, her future is completely gray, with no indication of which way she should go. For the first time, the only one who can answer all of her questions is the Force itself.

Ahsoka does know one thing, though. Whatever happens, they have to stop Sidious. She will never, ever allow the Sith to create their Empire. She'll either stop Sidious or die trying. Ahsoka isn't a Sith anymore, but she's not a Jedi, either. She would never hesitate to kill someone not worthy of living. She'll do what she needs to do to accomplish her mission, and even though it's rather vague and will be far from easy, it's better than nothing. At least she has a goal. And after that? Well, she'll worry about it if she survives.

On the bright side, despite all that, at least she knows one thing with certainty. Obi-Wan – and Anakin once he knows the truth – will stand beside her until the end.