Padmé's tears were dry by now. Her face had a salty trail that went from her eyes to her neck, but she didn't seem to care about it. She was focused on the fire before her where her mother, once flesh and bones, was turning into ashes. Shmi had once told Padmé that if she died, she wanted her ashes to be thrown to the dessert wind, that way her spirit would be free and she would be able to follow Padmé wherever she was.

Now Padmé was grown and she didn't believe her mother's words, but she wanted to accomplish her wish. Now she was in the dessert, on the same spot that Anakin had found her. He was standing on the other side of the fire.

Anakin was staring into Padmé's eyes. The flames were being reflected on her glowing eyes, and gave her usual brown color a yellow-golden tone. Just like the night she had confessed Anakin that she loved him. This memory made Anakin lower his head, remembering how unfair he had been with her that night, where he almost lost her friendship.

Padmé noticed that Anakin was sad about something, and she hoped it wasn't for her. She stood up and walked towards him. Then she kneeled next to him and grabbed his hand.

"What is it, Ani?", she asked in a low tone. Her voice was still shaking though she had stopped crying hours ago. Anakin looked up at her.

"I'm sorry about my behavior the other night in my room. I acted like a hipocrit, and you didn't deserve that. I've realized that my feelings towards you have changed, in a good way", he answered. Padmé lowered her head.

"You don't have to say this because my mother's dead, Anakin", she said in a hard, but at the same time sad tone. Anakin shook his head and looked into her eyes.

"No, Padmé, please don't think that I'm saying this because your mother died. I'm saying this because it's true, and I'm a fool for not telling you before", he explained.

"Tell me what, Ani", she whispered. Anakin smiled at her and cupped her face.

"That I love you, Padmé", was his reply. Padmé froze, she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. She blinked a couple of times and tried to speak.

"W...what?", she asked dryly. Anakin caressed her face tenderly.

"I love you". He leaned over to kiss her and she returned the kiss, lost in his embrace. This was a strange day... First, her mother died and then Anakin said that he loved her? Padmé had a strange mix of emotions build up in her heart, this was far too weird.

After a couple of minutes, Padmé remembered that they were in front of her mother, or what was left of Shmi, and Padmé broke the kiss. Anakin wrapped her arms around her and let her back rest on his chest. They kept quiet and they didn't move at all, the only motion that could be noticed were their chests, while they breathed in a peaceful pace. Soon after that, Padmé fell asleep and Anakin, not wanting her to freeze to death, covered her with his cape. Minutes later, he followed Padmé and fell asleep.

*

It was the middle of the night, and Padmé woke up shaking. But it wasn't her, because she wasn't cold at all. She turned her head to see a pale Anakin, his chin was tremmbling and he had purple lips. He was freezing to death in the cold Tatooine night. Padmé tried to wake him up inmediately, afraid that he had passed out already.

"Anakin, Ani, wake up!!", she said as she slapped him on the face, but it was useless: he was uncontience. Padmé brought her hands to her face and covered her eyes. "Oh, Force...", she said over and over. Suddenly, an idea came up to her mind. "The Force!!", she said excited.

Padmé kneeled on the sand and concentrated hardly. Slowly, Anakin begun to lift from the sand and floated towards the speeder. Padmé carefully sited him on the co-pilot's seat, and when she made sure that he was fine, she ran towards him and covered him with a blanket she found under the seat. She made sure that the blanket was covering every inch of his body before she jumped on the pilot's seat and drove away. She turned her head once to see her mother's 'grave' for the last time and headed to Mos Espa.

After asking the salesman that gave Anakin the speeder where was his ship, she headed towards the spaceport. /My, this city has changed.../, Padmé thought as she reached the hangar. When she got there, two guards and Sabé were outside the ship, pacing in the sand, apparently waiting for their master. When they saw the co-pilot's seat on the speeder, they rushed to it and brought Anakin inside the ship to his chambers.

*

"Ouch!", Anakin yelled when he felt the needle on his arm. A medical droid was giving him a shot for hipothermia. Anakin rubbed his arm once the droid was finished and look around him. There was a worried Padmé sitting on a chair nearby. She stood up and sat on Anakin's bed.

"How are you feeling?", she asked softly. Anakin frowned.

"I hate needles...", he complained. Padmé smiled and turned to Sabé and the guards that were in the room too. Anakin blushed.

"He's fine", she said. There were a couple of relieved sighs and the crew exited the room, leaving Padmé and the senator alone.

"Why didn't you tell me that they were in here too? That was so embarrassing...", Anakin said. Padmé laughed at him and kissed his forehead.

"There was no time to warn you, you were too busy complaining like a baby", she teased. Anakin was about to say something but a smile defeated his pride.

"Yeah, I guess you're right...". He was about to say something else when a powerful coff invaded his mouth. After drinking a glass of water Padmé gave him, he calmed down.

"You better have some rest or you will get sick", she warned.

"I hope I didn't catch a virus or something...", Anakin added a little worried. This only brought a smile to Padmé's face.

"Tell me: what kind of virus can you get in the middle of nowhere? It's jusnakin", she said amused. Anakin rested his head on the pillow when he realized she was right. He was getting very grumpy and he was only 24...

A couple of hours later, Anakin opened his eyes. Padmé was still there, and she was siting on the floor, meditating. But it seemed that she was having a hard time trying to, because her breathing was hard and her eyes were tightly shut. Anakin noticed that she was muttering something through her clenched teeth, and that she was beggining to sweat. She was angry at something, but Anakin couldn't put his finger on it.

Then, he remembered what Padmé had done: she murdered, in cold blood, many Tusken Raiders, leaving their childs with no parents. The little ones would only last a couple of days without having their parents feeding them and protecting them. How could someone like Padmé do such a thing? She looked so inocent and peaceful, she was such a charming woman, so good and concerned for others.

/Well, obviously not for Tusken Raiders, that's for sure/, Anakin thought.

"I heard you", Padmé said all of the sudden. Anakin sited up straight and looked at her.

"I'm sorry", he said a little embarrassed. Padmé opened her eyes, and they had that dark look from other times, but the darkness soon turned into light, and she was looking kindly at Anakin now.

"Don't worry, it's alright...", she said. Now she was the one embarrassed. What did Anakin think of her now?

"Padmé, I'm not judging you for what you did, and I never will, because that's not my job. Whenever I would hurt my sisters or cousins when I was little, I always felt guilty afterwards", Anakin said, but he paused when Padmé sat by his side. "And my mother always used to tell me that to be mad is to be human". Padmé squeezed his hand in apreciation.

"Thank you, Anakin. But still... I feel terrible, you know why?". Anakin shook his head. "Because I don't regret what I did. Funny, isn't it? I feel terrible but I don't regret it... I'm so confused", she said as she brought her hands to her face.

"Confused how, Padmé?", Anakin asked.

"I'll be honest with you, Anakin: I think that I'm slowly being pulled to the dark side"