Crimson Tears

Chapter 5

By aznJEDI13


Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Anakin and Amidala and everyone else. Heck, he owns just about everything in the story. This is purely for fan enjoyment.

Notes: This takes place during the Clone Wars. I must warn you right now that I'm not a big fan of Anakin turning into Darth Vader so it probably won't end with anything like that. I hope you like this; I've been reading too many ami/obi ones I was sooooooooooooo mad. That was completely random and I'm going to write a bunch of stories to rebel against them!

I hate love triangles but I write them because it's a plot twister. Right now I have no clue if I'm going to add it or not, actually I have no clue if I'll even finish this one. I don't really know where its going so this is a really questionable story. ENJOY! Feedback is REALLY appreciated.

Thanks to everyone who left a review! Please continue to do so. I was so shocked, I've never had so many reviews and I enjoyed reading them over and over again so please continue! I like long reviews too!!!

Italics mean flashbacks and sometimes they mean thoughts. It depends on the context and the way they are used.

//also means thoughts or something of the past.//

Sorry for the confusion.

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'…Its tearin' up my heart when I'm with you,
but when we are apart I feel it too…'



//I've found him, Padme, I have…not dead, but alive…//

Her pace quickened. Eagerly, she was trying to wedge her way out from in between millions of aliens. Noises erupted around her from all directions, but she did not hear them. She pushed people and they pushed her back. She rubbed shoulders with a strange green woman and brushed the backside of a large man.

But she did not care.

She had to get to him. She had to.

//You must come immediately. There are things you must know, closing you must have, I'm sorry I wish I could say that it would be a happy reunion. But I'm afraid it would not be. I have already spent many restless nights in tears.//

She ran as fast as her five foot two frame allowed her to. Ignoring the explicit comments and slanderous whispers from the surrounding crowds of people. She heard bits and pieces of their gossip.

Is that the senator of Naboo?

My, what is she thinking?

For the first time, she did not care what they said. She did not acknowledge the tongue sharp words they spoke. She kept her focus, she had a goal and she did not care what hindered her path as long as she reached that goal.

Obi-Wan's words continued to echo through her mind.

//I wish I could say more. But words cannot express what I feel. And writing what I see in him will not do justice to your own sore eyesight and writing how he is could do nothing more then confuse you. I do not wish the same insomnia that has plagued me to plague you. I cannot describe what has occurred and I will not try. I did that once and I cannot do it again. I believe this time, you must see him and believe whatever you must, but with your own eyes and not through mine.//

Obi-wan was in sight. She could see him. His back was slightly hunched over and his head hung low. His robe was wrinkled and dirty. His eyes tired and weary with heavy bags under them. For the first time, his eyes did not light up when he saw her.

He was so far away though he felt so close.

A small child ran into her, startling her. He looked up sheepishly and then cringed, "I…I'm sorr...sorry…ma'am."

Despite her saddened mood, eager persistence, and detrimental determination, Padme managed to smile. Kneeling to his height, she patted his shoulder and spoke softly, "It's all right."

He tried to smile, but looked afraid for his life. He stood there, clutching a furry stuffed animal that slightly resembled a wookie.

Her brows creased in consternation, "Where's your mother young one?"

"I…I don't …know…but …she…to…told me not…t…to…talk to...str…stangers…"

Padme smiled. "Well she's absolutely right…"

This time the boy cocked a smirk, a smug smile with a hint of the same sadness Padme felt. It was a smirk almost identical to the smirk of a young boy that had won her heart. She noticed though, almost quite suddenly, the boy frowned and hugged his wookie doll even tighter.

She brushed a stray strand of hair away from his eye, "What is the matter?"

He looked at her and then looked down at the ground, "Can you take me to the med center?"

He shied away from her hugging his doll even more. Padme's face wrinkled in concern, "Why?"

"M…my m…mom…w…works th…there…"

Padme smiled, "She does? That's great, I was just heading there myself…" Padme's voice faded away as she stood up and looked around. Then she smiled and looked back at him, "It's just, I don't know how to get there, but I do know someone who might…how about we go find him?"

The boy only nodded.

Padme raised in eyebrow at the boy sudden discomfort, "Don't worry, he won't bite," she sighed, "How about I carry you?"

The boy smiled as she lifted him up, she held him gently and began to walk toward the waiting Obi-Wan. Then quite out of the blue, the boy spoke bluntly; "Do you have children?"

Images flooded her mind, of nights they had spent in each other's arms discussing the topic of one day, after the war, having little Skywalkers to keep them busy. He had insisted they be Jedi and she had insisted they be politicians. In the end, they came to the mutual conclusion to wait and see what kind of children they did have.

She remembered going to sleep dreaming of blue-eye blond haired boys covered with mud ruining the Naboo decorative in her furnished apartment and Anakin standing nearby, as her mouth dropped to the floor, laughing.

The young boy stared at her as she absentmindedly had stopped walking and had completely tuned out, "Lady?"

In hearing this she snapped back to reality, "I'm sorry," she smiled and continued walking, "No, I don't have any children…"

He looked at her; "Do you want any?"

Sadly she replied, "At one point, I thought I had…" Her voice trailed off.

"There's Ben!" the boy pointed straight at Obi-Wan who smiled sheepishly at her.

She laughed, she should have known. As soon as she put the boy down, she remembered why she was there. She remembered what she had to do. When she didn't acknowledge him, Obi-Wan immediately frowned and dismissed the young boy.

The senator spoke in a tone he could not condone, "Where is he Obi-Wan?"

Her pace finally quickened, ignoring the breath that stopped in her throat.

Obi-Wan frowned once more, "Padme, wait…I have to explain something to…you…" His voice faded as he began to lose Padme. She had seen the sign to the med center and walked faster then ever, even more determined to find Anakin now.

Obi-Wan cringed, "Padme!" He then sighed loudly, "Padme, please…"

She walked right on, ignoring his continuous pleas.

He was too tired, too weary to keep up with her, "Padme, wait…" his voice trailed off in a whisper as he stopped talking and closed his eyes in pain as he spoke, "Please…"

She escaped him, leaving him alone in the crowd.

And he collapsed there no longer ignoring the fatigue that invaded his weary body and he could no longer ignore the pain and wear that weak mask of content.

She was here and a burden was lifted from his shoulders.

Tears escaped him. He cried for Anakin, he cried for the Jedi, and he cried for himself, but most importantly he cried for Padme.

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As soon as she found his room, she rushed right in. Ignoring the attendant that tried to persuade her to talk to Master Kenobi first and she had quickly escaped the nurses that had tried to contain her and keep her away from his room.

She had run from them as though she was running for dear life. Which she was, she was running for dear life – Anakin was her life.

Soon though, she would regret their shouts of warning and curse her own incompetence.

When she reached the room, she was appalled.

There he was, sitting in a chair by the window.

His golden curls of celestial beauty waved in an unnamed pattern. His posture was straighter and unwavering, and stoic in his own way. Yet there was a flicker of emotion that beamed from his incoherent presence.

Her breath was caught in her throat.

He was beautiful.

She longed to see those potent baby-blue eyes. Eyes whose intensity rivaled the intensity of the twin suns on his home planet.

Her hand rested on her chest in fear and anticipation.

"Anakin…"

He turned at the sound of his name. For the first time she saw those eyes she loved so much. He was just as she remembered. Just as perfect as he had been that day he had said goodbye one last time.

Yet he was not stunned by her appearance or shocked that she was here. He looked at her as if she was anyone else. No, he looked at her in a different way.

She spoke not half as eager as she had been the first time, "Anakin, its me, Padme."

Silence.

A long, emotionally pentrating silence, one that was inevitable.


His brows creased in confusion and he looked at her quizzically. Then spoke in that voice she had longed to hear for so long, "Do I know you?"

Tears – all she felt was tears.

Now that voice would plague her sleep for days to come.

She choked back a sob and then spoke, her voice breaking, in a tone that resembled a whisper, "You don't remember me?"

Silence.

Another silence, one that sent chills running up her spine.

"No."

To be continued…

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