Nov 2002 Disclaimer 1: It all (SW) belong to Lucasfilm, I don't own it.

Disclaimer 2: The song is by Martina McBride and I don't own that either :P I removed one line "It happens to alot of men" because it didn't fit in the context of the story.

Part 13

*I was sure I'd never find someone, To heal the damage you had done, My poor heart would never mend.*

"Padmé?"

She didn't look up as the knock sounded on her door followed by a soft, familiar voice. One she'd always associated with her husband. "Obi-Wan." She didn't look up; simply let him look. She was obviously pregnant, and he hadn't known. At least, she assumed he hadn't known. She looked up then, her eyes red and swollen, deep bags giving her eyes a sunken appearance. She looked straight at him, turning to give him a full profile of her body and he sucked in a sharp breath.

"I had hoped I was wrong."

She felt the strangest sinking sensation in the vicinity of her heart. Obi- Wan was appalled by her physical condition. "Why?" her voice was reedy, thin, as if she had no substance. She wanted to cry at how far she'd fallen. She was but a shadow of her former self; a ghost of the woman who'd saved a planet. Where was her strength, her conviction? The answer was easy enough. Anakin had taken her life with him when he'd left.

"It complicates things." Obi-Wan stepped towards her, offering her his arm. She accepted it, leaning on him as he helped her to the comfortable chair beside her bed.

Her ankles were swollen from standing too long and she couldn't recall exactly how long she'd been standing there. She glanced back at the window. The sun was shining. The last she remembered, it had been raining. Had she been standing at the window all night? Most likely. She looked up at him as she settled into the chair, putting her feet up on a convenient cushion. "How does it complicate things?"

"Anakin is searching for you."

She froze. Anakin? Her heart leapt, jumping for joy at the thoughts. Light instantly jumped into her eyes, as if a spark of something had been ignited. "He is?" her mouth went dry when she realized the concerned, almost frightened tone in Obi-Wan's voice. Why would Anakin searching for her be a bad thing?

Obi-Wan nodded. "He's changed Padmé. Anakin's been influenced by the darkside of the Force."

Her breath caught in her throat, the joy she'd felt suddenly drying up and turning into anxiety. Darkside? Her Ani was a Sith. No, that wasn't right. She shook her head. "You have to be mistaken, Anakin would never... he couldn't..."

Obi-Wan grasped her hands in his. "He would and he did, Padmé. I've been charged with finding him and trying to turn him back."

"Let me help." She begged softly, pleading with him as her heart pounded painfully. She wasn't sure what she could do, but she had to try. "Please?"

"The best way you can help me is to hide yourself away." His eyes were serious as they searched hers and her heart almost stopped. He was serious, deadly so. "If Anakin has to come to me to find you, maybe I'll have a chance of turning him back."

She looked down at her hands as she tugged them from his grip and folded them neatly on her stomach. One of the twins kicked, and she almost smiled. Almost. "What will happen if you can't turn him back?" her words were whispered, filled with dread. She really didn't care if Anakin was a Sith, not really, all she wanted was her husband back. But if he was a Sith, was he really Anakin?

"I may have to kill him."

Her head came up sharply. "No!"

Obi-Wan recoiled. "I may not have a choice."

"There's always a choice, Obi-Wan, please, don't kill him, don't kill Anakin!" She knew she sounded hysterical but she didn't care. Her heart was already in tatters, bruised and bleeding from the beating it had taken, Anakin's death would surely kill her.

"I promise I'll do everything I can to bring him back to you, Padmé."

She thought she'd finished shedding her tears, but somehow, more found their way to the surface. "Thank you." She whispered. "Anakin would never harm me, Obi-Wan. You know that, right?"

"He's no longer the man you knew, Padmé. Now you have to worry about your child as well."

"Children."

His brows rose and she saw she'd caught him off guard. Somehow, she found a small smile, her hands rubbing her stomach. "Twins. I'm going to have twins."

"Skywalker twins." Obi-Wan inhaled sharply, seeming to come to some great epiphany, but didn't voice his thoughts. "All the more reason to get you to safety. If Anakin finds out about your children, he'll come for them and for you. His master will insist on it."

A chill raced down her spine. Anakin would try and take their children away from her? No. Never. Not her Anakin. He wouldn't do something like that to her, even corrupted by the darkside, would he? She swallowed hard. "Bring him back to me, Obi-Wan," she told him softly. "I want my husband back."

Obi-Wan nodded his accept to her silent capitulation. She would follow his directive and go into hiding. Not because she wanted to, but because she trusted him to bring her husband back to her. And if disappearing brought Anakin back to her arms, that was what she had to do.



Two weeks later, Padmé was smuggled into a high security, low visibility home on Alderaan. She was disguised as a pregnant widow of little means whose husband had died in the clone war, as the war was becoming known. In a sense, the cover was all too real for comfort. She was easily established in one of the higher rooms, keeping her away from ground level, though she had run of the grounds if she wished it. There was a staff of four women, all old handmaidens to retired Queens of Naboo, and none of them would betray her. Settled in her new room, she looked out across the lush landscapes of the Anderaanian lower plains.

Tears came to her eyes and she turned away. Grassy plains held too many memories of her time with Anakin. The reminders tugged on a heart that was already dying. If Anakin didn't return to her... she swallowed hard, moving to the bed and carefully laying down. He had to return, he just had to.



Obi-Wan's voice, his words, resonated through her being like an explosion from a thermal detonator. Anakin is dead. She wanted to scream, the rage and throw things, demand that he take back the words. She didn't want to hear them, couldn't stand them, yet she was paralyzed. Her body went numb, loosing all feeling as she stared at him, her mouth slightly open. She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Her heart was broken, shattered. She felt it stop, felt it crack and implode in her breast as the words echoed through her mind. Anakin was dead.

"Padmé..."

She held up one hand, unable to deal with his sympathy. She would be giving birth to Anakin's children next month and their father was dead. They'd never have the chance to know the fun-loving man who'd sired them. She closed her eyes, feeling the last of the pain begin to coalesce in the vicinity of where her heart would have been. Slowly, it seeped through her frame, beginning to deaden any feeling that was left. Ice stole over her heart, encasing it completely in a protective coating and blocking off her emotions from her rational mind. When she opened her eyes, she saw Obi-Wan recoil.

Slowly, she rose to her feet, gently massaging her lower back, her feelings safely bottled away with her heart and love. Anakin was gone and with him, her willingness to live. Carefully she turned her back on Obi-Wan and settled herself on her bed. "Thank you, Master Kenobi." She told him quietly, her tone a clear dismissal.

She heard him get slowly to his feet and leave the room. Her eyes stared sightlessly across the room at the blank wall and saw nothing. He was gone. He was truly gone. Slowly, she closed her eyes and curled around her round belly as far as she could. Anakin's legacy would be in his children and though they would never know their father, they would know love. But no man would ever come near enough to hurt her again. She was certain her heart would never recover from this tragedy. And she wasn't sure if she wanted it to.