An Evening At The Palace...
by mrs~*~kenobi
a.k.a. ~queen of hearts~
Standard Disclaimer: (This is gonna be a doosy...) the characters belong to Sir Lucas. the Powerpuff Girls is a trademark of Warner Bros. I think. Jerry Springer belongs to himself. Z-Men, Podracer, Austin Powers: The Jedi Who Shagged Me, and Titan A.C. are spoofs of X-Men, Gladiator, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Titan A.E. Moulin Rouge is copyrighted by Twentieth Century Fox, and Shrek is copyrighted by Dreamworks Pictures.
AN~ this fic takes place a few days after "A Relaxing Day With The Kids...", so that's why some of the same things that are mentioned in that are mentioned in this story, too. enjoy! :)
~*~
"Hey, Obi-Wan, glad you could come tonight," Anakin said, ushering his former master into the Palace living room. "Take a seat."
Obi-Wan sat down in an armchair, looking about the messy room, obviously handiwork by Luke and Leia. "So what's going on?"
Anakin dropped down on the sofa. "Aw, not much. Well, not much since I last saw you, anyway."
"Daddy!"
Anakin glanced over at Obi-Wan and rolled his eyes. "Looks like one of my offspring is summoning me," he grinned, then called back, "What is it?"
"Can you come in me and Luke's room?" Leia yelled back.
"Why can't you come in here?" he asked.
"'Cause Luke's stuck!" she shouted at her father.
"I'd better see what this is all about," Anakin said, getting up from the couch and heading towards the twins' room.
Obi-Wan followed. "Your kids never evade me of a laugh. I wonder what this is all about."
The twins' bedroom door was open when Anakin and Obi-Wan approached. "Now what's the matter?" Anakin asked as soon as Leia appeared in view.
"Luke's stuck!" she replied, a worried look on her face.
"What do you mean? Where is he?" her father replied, confused. Looking around, Luke was nowhere in sight.
Leia led her dad over to the twins' bunk beds and got down on her knees, pointing underneath the bottom bunk. "See?" she said. "Luke's stuck."
Anakin got down on his knees next to his young daughter and peered under the bed. Luke's tunic was snagged on the bed frame.
"How did you do that? Why did you crawl under there in the first place?" Anakin asked Luke.
Leia spoke up. "Our racquetball rolled under the bed so Luke went under there to get it. Then he got stuck."
Obi-Wan stood nearby, trying not to laugh at the humorous sight of Anakin looking under the bunk bed and talking.
"Couldn't you just climb under and un-snag your brother?" Anakin asked Leia, sitting up a little bit, agitated that the solution to the problem seemed easy.
"No," she blurted. "Because Luke won't fit."
Anakin smacked his forehead and groaned. "Then how'd he get under there in the first da...uh, darn place?" he inquired, catching himself at the last minute.
Leia shrugged. "I dunno. I was trying to find the flashlight for him when he crawled under." Then she looked at her brother again. "How did you get under there in the first darn place, Luke?"
"I don't know! I got under the bed, but then I couldn't get out from under the bed! That's how I got snagged," he told his sister.
Anakin rose to his feet, looking over at Obi-Wan, who was trying very hard not to laugh. The Jedi rolled his eyes again. "Well, this shouldn't be too hard," he said.
Anakin concentrated for a moment, taking deep breaths, then the bunk bed started to levitate. "Crawl out, Luke!"
Luke darted out from under the bed. Then the twins watched in amazement as the bunk bed slowly settled back on the carpet again.
"Wow! How'd you do that, Daddy?" the twins asked in unison.
"You'll learn one day," Anakin grinned, then lifted his son and daughter off the floor, one under each arm.
Walking back into the living room with Obi-Wan, Anakin dropped his children down on the sofa and clicked the holo-vid onto the cartoon channel.
"There. Now watch," he said.
"Noooo!" Luke yelled, as the Powerpuff Girls came on. Leia bounced up and down in excitement. Luke ran off. "I'm not watching that, Daddy!" he exclaimed.
"I know your feelings, Son," Anakin called back.
Leia scowled at her dad. "Powerpuff Girls is better than your dumb stuff," she said.
"It probably is, knowing your father's taste," Obi-Wan said to Leia.
"Obi-Wan!" Leia exclaimed, noticing him for the first time, jumping into his chair for a hug.
Obi-Wan laughed. "You just now noticed me?"
Using the Force, Anakin slyly 'snatched' the holo-vid remote from the coffee table and flipped the channel.
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!
"Shut that off right now, Anakin Skywalker!" someone from the other room shouted.
"Aw, man, I never get to have any fun," Anakin whined jokingly as Amidala walked into the room, then forgot all about the holo-vid.
"Oh, Amidala, you didn't have to get all dressed up for me," Obi-Wan said as she walked into the room. Amidala was wearing one of her most dazzling evening gowns of navy and burgundy charmuese.
"Oh, ok, I'll throw on some rags, then," she joked. "How are you, Obi-Wan?"
"Oh, fine. Never better," he replied.
Amidala sat down next to Anakin on the sofa. "Did the twins get into another disaster? I heard Leia yell for you a few moments ago."
"Luke got stuck under the bed. Don't ask me how," he replied.
"He was getting a racquetball," Leia piped up. "It rolled under there. Luke can't catch at all. He's always missing all of the time. So I told him to go under the bed and get it," she babbled.
Before Amidala could reply, Luke bounded into the room, hauling a toy lightsaber after him. "I'm going on a mission to save Mommy!" he said excitedly. "See my lightsaber?" Luke brandished the prosthetic sword. "I wanna chop up a bad guy the way you did, Obi-Wan!"
"Well, that was a very long time ago, Luke," he told the youth. "There aren't anymore bad guys to chop up."
"Aw, damn!" he exclaimed. Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows.
"Luke, watch your mouth!" Amidala scolded. "Where did you hear that word?"
"From Daddy," Luke said, pointing at Anakin. "He yelled it the other day when you told him to hang up that picture of me and Leia as babies on you and Daddy's bedroom wall. He missed the nail and hit his thumb."
"Didn't I tell you to watch what you say when the children are around?" Amidala said to her husband.
"I didn't know they were there," Anakin said. "When were you watching me hang that picture up?" he asked Luke.
"It was when me and Leia were trying to find our pres -" Leia elbowed her brother. "Trying to find our CARDS," he recovered, smiling innocently.
~*~
A while later, Luke and Leia sat on the sofa, playing with their Z-Men figures. Amidala had gone to answer a holo-phone call, and Anakin had went to take a quick shower before dinner, leaving Obi-Wan alone in the living room with the twins.
"Ha, Ha! Rogue beat Nightcreeper up!" Leia exclaimed. "You lose, Luke! That means I get your dessert at dinner!"
"Nu-uh!" Luke argued. "You used Rogue's power punch, and that doesn't count because you said no using special moves." He reached over and took hold of Leia's 'Rogue' action figure. "For a girl, Rogue is neat, though. Hey, isn't that the name of the movie you saw, Obi-Wan?" Luke asked, turning to Obi-Wan, who was watching holo-vid. "Mooing Rogue?"
Obi-Wan looked over at the boy, confused. Then he realized what Luke meant. "Moulin Rouge," he corrected.
"What's it about?" Leia wanted to know, jumping off the couch and into Obi-Wan's lap, eager to hear another of his stories.
"Oh, you wouldn't be interested in it, Leia. It's a movie for grown-ups," he said.
"You should have went to see Shrek," Luke put in. "It's probably better than Mooin Rouge or whatever."
"I saw it advertise on the holo-vid and there was something about it on a talk show," Leia said. "It looks pretty. That guy in it looks just like you, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan laughed. "I was just thinking the same."
"Only you are getting beard and you don't gots dark ca-lored hair," she said.
"Perhaps I should go as him for your Mommy's next costume party," Obi-Wan snickered.
~*~
"Toys are a girl's best friend!" Leia sang at the top of her lungs. She was bouncing around the living room, trying to mimic scenes from Moulin Rouge. Turning to Luke, she bellowed, "I'm leaving the Mooing Rouge! I don't love you at all, Duke!" Leia tossed her dress-up feather boa around her neck and pointed to Obi-Wan. "Christian loves me! He LOVES ME!" Leia giggled and jumped into Obi-Wan's chair, giving him a big hug.
"Yeah, uh-hu, whatever," Luke replied, flipping the channels on the holo-vid. "Duke Luke's going to watch holo-vid now." He switched the Dance music channel on, then started bouncing up and down on the sofa in-sync to the music.
Anakin walked into the room and doubled over at the sight. "What the heck is going on in here?"
"Well, let's see. Leia's pretending to be in Moulin Rouge and Luke's over on the couch bouncing all over the place while Dance music is blaring from the holo-vid," Obi-Wan told him.
"An acute observation," Anakin said jokingly. He reached over and turned down the holo-vid a notch. Luke, who was jumping all over the room and waving his toy lightsaber to the music, stopped. "Hey, why'd you do that for, Daddy?"
"Mommy will have a fit if we have the music up too loud," Anakin said, fishing under the sofa. A few moments later he produced another toy lightsaber. "Come on, Luke, let's duel!" he challenged.
Meanwhile, Obi-Wan was still bombarded with Leia bouncing in his chair, asking him all sorts of questions about the movie. "Did you like Mooing Rouge, Obi-Wan?" she asked.
"It was okay," he replied, then looked over at Anakin and Luke, who were dueling with their toy lightsabers. "Hey Anakin!"
"Yeah?" he asked, stopping to turn his attention Obi-Wan. Luke whacked him in the mid-section.
"You're dead!" Luke said. "I win!"
Anakin tumbled to the floor, pretending to be dying. "Look what you made me do!" he said to Obi-Wan, joking.
"Well I'm over here with Leia smothering me with scenes from Moulin Rouge! At least you get to duel!" he replied.
"It seems I have some very unruly children in here!" a new voice proclaimed. It was Amidala.
"Oh, come on, dear, we're just having fun with the kids," Anakin whined.
"Thought of coming to dinner?" she asked.
Anakin sat up. "Did the cook prepare it?"
Amidala looked slightly confused. "Yes..."
"Oh, thank the Gods," he replied, breathing a sigh of relief. Turning to Obi-Wan, Anakin said, "Good thing for that. If it was Amidala's cooking we'd have to send you home sick."
Amidala rolled her eyes.
~*~
"Can we have dessert in the living room, Mommy?" Leia asked her mother after the meal was over.
"I don't know...last time I let you and Luke have dessert in the family room, you both spilled peach cobbler on the sofa and it took me all night to clean it up!" Amidala reminded her daughter.
Leia stuck out her lower lip in disappointment. "Oh yeah..."
"Oh, come on dear, give 'em a second chance," Anakin spoke up. "We can all eat dessert in the living room. I'll turn on some Jerry Springer and we'll make a night of it."
"No, no, and NO!" she replied at the mention of that degrading show.
Obi-Wan just looked on the scene with an amused smile.
"Fine, fine! We'll cozy up to a movie. It's Friday night, there's bound to be something on."
~*~
Ten minutes later, the party of five were seated comfortably in the living room. Amidala had donned her glider rocker and was crocheting a long afghan, Anakin, Luke, and Leia were settled on the sofa with key lime pie slices in front of them, and Obi-Wan was occupying an overstuffed armchair.
Anakin flipped through the movie channels, trying to find something good on. Leia read the movie titles as they came up on the screen.
"Podracer," she read as Anakin flipped to the action movie channel.
"My life story," he joked, remembering the movie was about a man who was of high nobility forced to Podrace.
"I wouldn't go that far," Obi-Wan replied. "You wanted to do it."
Anakin stuck out his tongue and flipped the channel.
"Austin Powers: The Jedi Who Shagged Me," Leia reported.
"All right!" Anakin exclaimed. "I love this movie!"
"If I recall correctly," Amidala said, looking up from the afghan, "It's rather too sexual for the children to watch."
"Never gave 'em the big sex talk, huh?" he replied, switching the channel.
Before Amidala could answer, Leia, uninterested in her parents' squabble, piped up. "Titan A.C."
"A.C.? " Obi-Wan questioned.
"After Coruscant," Anakin replied matter-of-factly.
Luke, who was licking his plate, looked up. "Titan A.C.? All right!"
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at Anakin. "You took them to see this?"
"Yep. Cool movie, huh, kids?" he said.
The twins didn't answer. They were already absorbed in the movie.
Obi-Wan snickered. "I'll take that as a yes."
~*~
Luke and Leia were bouncing up and down on the sofa when the credits appeared. "Can we buy it? Can we Daddy? Can we?!" Luke begged.
"It's on the holo-vid all the time," Anakin replied. "Why do we need to buy it?"
"So we can watch it everyday!" Leia squealed.
Anakin glanced over at Amidala and stifled a laugh. Still sharing a glance with her, he replied to the kids, "Mommy would go bonkers if you watched it everyday."
"Then we'll watch it every other day!" Luke said.
"Okay. We'll buy it." Anakin grinned over at Amidala.
~*~
Leia was tearing through the living room while her parents and Obi-Wan, who was still living on Coruscant, were in discussion about recent events within the Senate and the Jedi Temple.
"Luke can't catch me!" she yelled.
"Wanna bet?" Luke, the stronger of the two, lifted his sister by the waist and tackled her on the sofa.
Right in the middle of "So when we decided to spy on Master Yoda to find out for ourselves - " to the extent of something Obi-Wan was saying, Leia clicked the Dance music channel on. Loud techno and percussion blared from the holo-vid's speakers.
"Dance with me Obi-Wan!" Leia said, diving into his arms Luke was already back to waving his toy lightsaber around to the music and jumping on the sofa.
"Luke, get down!" Amidala scolded as Anakin just watched Obi-Wan swirl Leia around.
"All right!" Anakin shouted above the racket. "No more kids left to chase!"
Amidala and Obi-Wan looked at each other, then looked at Anakin. Without a word, they both dropped the squirming kids into his arms.
~*~
A very weary Anakin and Amidala had just put the twins to bed and were escorting Obi-Wan to the door, who was leaving.
"Thanks for the eventful night," Obi-Wan said as he slipped on his Jedi robe.
"If you thought that was bad," Anakin said, "You haven't seen anything from those two yet!"
~*~*~
el fin
~*~*~
please review and tell me if you enjoyed! :)
mrs~*~kenobi
