CHAPTER THIRTY

FRUSTRATION

"WHAAAAAAAAT?", Shmi yelled at Obi-Wan. Her face was red, and tears were welling in her eyes.

"You can't be a Jedi anymore". Obi-Wan remembered himself telling Anakin these very same words, years ago.

"What do you mean? I AM THE CHOSEN ONE!!", she screamed. Obi-Wan shook his head.

"I'm afraid you are wrong", he said, almost teasing her. As much as he loved Anakin's family, he really disliked Shmi.

"Then if I'm not the Chosen One, who is?", she asked resting her hands on her waist. Obi-Wan gave her a serious look. Shmi realized what he was telling her. She shook her head several times before she talk... screamed at Obi-Wan all over again. "THAT'S A LIE! ANAKIN CAN'T BE THE CHOSEN ONE!!!!!"

//There go my eardrums...//, Obi-Wan thought as he covered his ears with his hands. This little girl had a very powerful voice!

"I'll leave you alone now, so that you can cool off a little bit", he said. Shmi threw him a pillow using the Force, but he closed the door before it hit him.

*********

Padmé rushed to the hangar in her house. Shmi was arriving today, and she figured she wasn't going to be very happy about Anakin being the Chosen One and not her. The ship's plataform opened, and a very frustrated Shmi walked down, wearing ordinary clothes, not the Jedi robes she had worn since she was three. Padmé fought the tears when she saw her little girl's face. She was so sad. . .

"Mommy...", she whispered before she collapsed in her mother's arms. Padmé held her tight and whispered comforting words into her ear. Shmi shook her head at her mother's words, she didn't like what she was telling her.

"How can anything good come out of this?", she asked between sobs.

"Just let time pass by, honey. You'll be fine. Now give me one of those smiles I love". Shmi looked at her mother and gave her a weak smile. Padmé tickled her on the ribs and Shmi laughed. Padmé joined her. "That's my girl. Now let's go inside, Anakin prepared a surprise for you, and...", she was interrupted when Shmi stepped back.

"I don't want to see him!", she said in a rough tone. Padmé stroked her cheek, but Shmi moved turned her head. Padmé sighed.

"Why don't you like Anakin? he's been so kind to you in all these years", she asked softly. "Come on, tell me. You always tell me everything, we always tell everything to each other. Don't you trust me anymore?"

"No, mom! It's not that. It's just that... well...", she started to say, but she stopped. Padmé grabbed her hand, encouraging her to continue. "You are always together". Padmé was shocked, but she smiled at her daughter.

"No, that's not true. We also spend time with you, and your brothers and Leia. We are a family, Shmi".

"Yes, I know that, but the rest of the time he's always with you", she complained.

"But Shmi, we are married, we are husband and wife, that's normal".

"I know, but...", she sighed. "You know when I say that he's holding me back?". Padmé nodded. "Well, he's holding me back from you, he doesn't let me get near you. I want to be with you all the time".

"But Shmi, you can't have me just for you", Padmé said smiling. A tear rolled down Shmi's cheek and Padmé wiped it.

"And why not?", she complained crying.

"Because I also have Luke, Leia, Kobby and Ani. And you have them too, so why don't you try to spend more time with them?". Shmi kept looking at her mother in silence. "You will find out that you have wonderful brothers and sister, and a father..." Shmi was going to say something but Padmé shushed her before she said something that would hurt her. "Yes, he IS your father, whether you like it or not. Honey, Anakin is a wonderful person, and he has so much love to give, why don't you take it?". Shmi sighed.

"I don't know...", she said. Padmé smiled, Shmi was finally loosing up. Shmi looked at her mother and returned the smile. She was going to say something when Kobby appeared in the hangar. He was running towards them, with a wide smile on his face. he wrapped his arms around Shmi tightly, and she returned the embrace.

"Shmi, I missed you!", he said very excited. Shmi laughed and kissed her little brother's head. Padmé smiled and wrapped her arms around her children and squeezed them. The kids screamed, begging her to stop, but they were laughing so hard that no words came out, only laughs.

Shmi looked at the hangar's door, still laughing, when she saw Anakin, shyly leaning on the door frame with a smile on his face. She stopped laughing, so did Padmé and Kobby when they noticed the tension. Shmi slowly walked towards Anakin. His smile disappeared when he saw her walking to him, with a serious look on her face. They were standing right in front of each other, when Anakin turned his head, not able to look at her. He was expecting hard words from her, he knew she was going to hurt him again.

Suddenly, Shmi raised her arms, trying to reach Anakin. He looked down at her with his eyes wide open. He bent down and Shmi hanged her arms in Anakin's neck, holding him. He straighten up and held her tight, smiling, disbelieving what was happening. Shmi kissed his cheek and looked at him.

"I love you, Shmi", Anakin said in a kind voice. Shmi smiled at him.

"I love you too, daddy"