A Bumpier Road

by Darth-Lex

Anakin and Padme in an AU AOTC and Episode III (with lightside and darkside endings)

2. Part Two: Chapters 13 to 27

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Anakin slid the silver strongbox into the corner of the cabin lounge on the starship.  Courtesy of the Jedi Council, inside were hundreds of thousands of credits on datacards and an equal amount of hard currency in shimmering aurodium ingots and coins.  As he walked out the back of the ship and down the boarding ramp, he replayed the last few minutes in his head.  Master Windu and Obi-Wan had come to the Senate spaceport to see him off.  After some general instructions, Mace had passed Anakin the container.  And then he had spoken the words Anakin could not shake: "Anakin, the Council authorizes you to proceed under extraordinary conditions on this mission."

Extraordinary conditions.  In his entire ten years at the Temple, not a single mission by any Jedi, even those led by Council members, had received that approval.  Ordinarily, a Jedi must act with integrity and honor.  A Jedi must do no more harm to his opponent than required to subdue.  Except with extraordinary conditions.  The euphemism created because the Council cannot bring itself to say what it really means: by any means necessary.  Lie.  Cheat.  Steal.  Bribe.  Mind tricks against innocents.  If attacked, simply "kill and escape" without consideration.  Anakin sighed as he reached the building.  They've spent the last ten years reining me in and warning me about the pull of the dark side.  Now they authorize me, of all Jedi, for extraordinary conditions on my first mission alone.  This is way more dangerous than I thought.

Padme rode the turbolift up to the spaceport floor alone.  She'd said her goodbyes to Dorme, Jar Jar, and Typho in the lobby downstairs, and Artoo had gone ahead with Anakin hours earlier.  She looked at her reflection in the transparisteel.  If anyone saw me, they'd mistake me for a servant.  She had a large travel bag in each hand and a smaller one over her shoulder.  Her hair was up in combat braids; the last time she'd done that was the Battle of Naboo a decade ago.  She wore a light blue flight suit, not quite as tight as Anakin's, but with no loose ends or folds that could become caught on the equipment in the constricted quarters of a small starship.  I'm scared.

The turbolift door opened on the small hallway to the landing platforms.  Anakin was waiting to meet her, still dressed in his black flight suit.  Seeing him standing there, calm and confident, drove most of the fear from her instantly.  He reached out and took the two bags from her hands and led her toward their platform.  "She's a good ship," he told her.  "Almost brand new.  In excellent shape.  And with all the aspects we could want."

When the door to their platform slid open, Padme stopped in her tracks and gasped.  "The Blue Hawk."  There had been unconfirmed stories of the ship for months in the Senate, and some purported designs had circulated among her colleagues, but the judicial department and the Jedi consistently had refused to confirm or deny its existence.  Now it sat on the platform in front of her. 

The Blue Hawk was shaped like a pyramid tilted on its side.  The larger back cabin sloped forward to a point.  The cockpit was in the front, with lasers to either side.  Just back from the cockpit, a quad laser cannon gunner pod extended up from the ship.  Further back along the wings, a pair of large lasers was mounted on each side.  The ship, true to its name, was painted a dark shade of blue.  It had no Republic or Jedi insignia anywhere on it. 

"So you heard the rumors," he chuckled as they walked toward it.  "Four lasers fired from the cockpit.  The cannon.  Shields.  A hyperdrive.  Boosted communications equipment.  Room for a crew of four, so we'll actually have some extra space.  We have Senate and Jedi codes, but the default signal is a private schooner.  And no automatic tracking signal to Coruscant."  He led her up the ramp.  "A quick tour, then the longer one once we're at lightspeed?"  Padme nodded. 

"In the back, just storage lockers and containers."  A few paces up the narrow cabin hallway, he motioned to the right.  "A small cabin lounge.  Across the hall," he said as he entered the room, "are the bunks."  Two bottom and two upper bunks extended from the walls, leaving the room very cramped.  Anakin opened the sliding bin beneath the left-hand bunks and dropped in the two bags; Padme handed him the third and he included it too.  "The refresher's there," he pointed to the closed door at the other end of the bunks.  A few more paces up hall, it curved to the right and then into the cockpit.  Artoo whistled a happy greeting from his perch next to the starboard console, where he was working hard as usual.  The pilot's seat was forward, with two co-pilot's seats to either side at the consoles behind it.  In the back of the cockpit was the short ladder to the gunner's pod. 

Anakin put his hand on her shoulder.  "There is a great disturbance in the Force relating to our departure this morning.  The Council and Obi Wan and I all sense it.  It is almost certain that the starfighters who attacked the cruiser will have enough information from security breaches to attack us as well."  She nodded.  "Three of my close friends from the Temple will be flying Jedi starfighters with us out to the hyperspace lanes.  If our four ships are attacked, they will be no match for us.  And Artoo will be ready to take us into hyperspace at any moment, should the need arise."  He squeezed her shoulder gently.  "I won't let anything happen to you, Padme.  I promise."

The rational part of her brain told her she should be frightened by what she had just learned, but she wasn't.  "Okay.  I trust you."

He smiled.  "If you're willing, I'd like you to take the cannon.  It will clear out any trouble that much faster."

"Yes.  Let's get them.  I'd like to retaliate a little."  It's about time.  I'm ready for this.  Senator Amidala strikes back.

"While we fly up, check out the controls a little, get used to them.  And be sure to strap in securely; we'll go straight to hyperspace."  As he pulled his black gloves off his belt and put them on, she touched his arm. 

"Thank you, Anakin," she said softly. 

He smiled.  "Thank me when we're at lightspeed."

---

As the Blue Hawk lifted out of the atmosphere to the low orbits, Padme disengaged the trigger locks and flicked on the switches for the cannon positioned above and in front of her head.  Strapped in tightly to the seat, she swung it side to side with her feet and pulled the handles around to practice aiming the lasers.  Her targeting computer beeped to life and immediately locked a safety code on the three Jedi starfighters just behind them.  She'd trained on gunner cannons as Queen, and after the recent assassination attempts Typho had made her practice again in a simulator.  Despite that background, she'd never actually fired one in combat before. 

Over the headset, she heard the four Jedi preparing to engage.  "Torch ready."  His friend Gina, the best pilot of the three, he says.  Red hair.  "Spike ready."  Couldn't they be a bit more creative than this? Zabraks have horns.  Come on.  "Gundark ready."  That's Ellina, from the Lightsaber Competition.  After seeing the ferocity of her fighting, I can see why.  "Roger.  Balance ready," replied Anakin.  I don't get that.  I'll have to ask him.

The four ships rose toward the outer orbits and the hyperspace channels.  After another minute, the computer alarms sounded as twelve enemy fighters broke from various places in the traffic patterns and approached while locking their aim.  "Stay in attack formation," came Anakin's calm voice over the channel. 

The twelve incoming starfighters swooped at the Jedi.  Out the transparisteel viewports of the gunner pod, Padme watched the three maroon starfighters burst by overhead and open fire.  Her targeting computer alerted her to an open shot to the near starboard.  She swung over hard and squeezed the triggers.  The loud concussion of the alternating laser cannons thundered in the gunner pod and shook her ribs.  She cracked a smile as the enemy ship exploded in a ball of flame. 

She looked down again at the computer.  The tally in the corner showed seven enemies remaining.  I'd hate to ever have to fight against Jedi.  She swung around to take aim at an opponent to port, but Anakin took their ship in a tight loop.  She looked forward to see him come out of the maneuver just as three different enemy starfighters crossed paths.  In the instant they were lined up, Anakin unleashed a terrifyingly intense burst of shots from the four lasers he controlled, decimating all three.  Wow.  When she looked down at the computer again, only two enemies remained. 

Frekk's voice popped in over the headset.  "Ready to head out, Balance?"

"Negative," Anakin answered in the Blue Hawk's cockpit.  With his left hand, he pulled the headset away from his mouth and covered the mouthpiece.  He yelled over his shoulder to Padme in the gunner pod.  "These will be yours."

"Copy," she replied softly over the headset. 

As his black-gloved hands adjusted the knobs on the control sticks, he spoke again over the channel, his voice unusually deep and dark.  "I'll take them myself.  Cover me."

Anakin flew around in a loop again as the three Jedi starfighters pinned the last two enemies.  When the Blue Hawk arced into alignment, Padme's computer beeped at her.  She swung gently to starboard and opened fire, then threw her momentum to the side and blasted away to port.  Two explosions and hoots of triumph from the Jedi followed. 

"May the Force be with you, Anakin," said Gina over the channel.  "Good luck," chipped in Frekk.  "Be safe, Ani.  Please."  Ellina's voice sounded sadder, more desperate than the others, but Padme brushed it off.  Anakin signed out for the Blue Hawk.  "Roger.  Thank you.  We'll see you in no time."

A second later, she heard Artoo whistle a loud affirmative beep.  The ship shuddered just a bit before the stars outside the gunner pod viewports lengthened and stretched to infinity. 

Padme sat still for a moment, eyes closed, and took a few deep breaths.  She'd heard many stories about the exhilaration of combat, but she'd never felt it until now.  The Battle of Naboo was her only real experience, and back then she'd had so many things on her mind: her group, Sabe's group, the Gungans dying on the plains to buy them time to attack the palace, the two Jedi fighting the hideous warrior, little Ani flown out of the hangar on autopilot after clearing the destroyer droids in the hangar for her.  This time was completely different.  It was just us: me and the Jedi.  No one else was in danger, no one else at risk.  And we beat them easily.  What a rush!

Padme unhitched herself and climbed down to the cockpit.  Anakin had risen from the pilot's chair and greeted her.  "How do you feel?"

"I feel great." She smiled.  "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How'd you get your callsign? I understand the others, but not yours.  Why Balance?"

He laughed.  "You know about the prophecy, right?"

"Well, I know of it.  Qui-Gon thought you were the Chosen One.  What does it mean?"

"The prophecy is about the battle between good and evil, the Jedi and the Sith, and the ultimate triumph of the former."  He winked at her.  "It speaks of the one who will bring balance to the Force."

"I see."  She laughed with him at his friends' joke.  When they finished, her tone became serious.  "Thank you, Anakin.  Thank you for saving my life, and for getting me out of here safely."  She stepped over and embraced him.  This is nice, she thought, to be here with him.  I feel safe.  Maybe even happy.  And, most importantly, I'm not alone in this.

Anakin was surprised by the affection in her emotions.  I'm glad she's not frightened.  She seems to be okay.  And this seems to help.  A few seconds later Padme broke the hug. 

"So, let's have the rest of the tour."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It took a few hours for Padmé to learn how to operate all the equipment on the Blue Hawk.  The last stop was the pilot's chair.  As Anakin explained a few unusual features of the ship, Padmé interrupted him. 

"I'm not going to be doing any of the flying, Anakin," she laughed.  "You're the best pilot in the galaxy." 

"I like to think so," he chuckled along for a second.  "Seriously, Padmé, you need to know how to fly this ship.  If anything happens to me, you need to be able to get away.  Fighting with the Force is very tiring, or I could be injured.  It might come down to you." 

"Okay."  Padmé's heart sank.  She felt completely confident he would protect her, but even he wasn't sure he could do it.  And something else occurred to her.  "I would never leave you behind." 

"Promise me you would."  He stared hard into her eyes, trying to reason away her trepidation.  "Do you remember, leaving Mos Espa, when the Sith Lord attacked Qui-Gon and we took off?  If he hadn't made it to the ramp, Obi-Wan would not have looked back.  My duty now is the same as theirs: protect you, even at the cost of my own life." 

"What if I don't want that?" 

"Think about it.  If Qui-Gon had been killed on Tatooine, staying behind would have left all of us there at the Sith Lord's mercy.  And if Qui-Gon had won, he'd simply have found another way off Tatooine.  With you away in your repaired ship, all he would have had to do is make a single transmission to the Temple."  His gaze remained intense.  "It's the same for me.  If you don't leave and I die, all you do is needlessly sacrifice yourself.  And if you leave and I end up fine, I'll meet up with you again soon enough.  Promise me you're willing to do this." 

Padmé looked deeply into his blue eyes.  "Alright.  I promise."  She sighed and turned away.  Don't you dare put me in that position. 

Anakin regretted making her upset.  Yet the conversation was necessary, and it was better to have it now than later in the heat of battle.  He quickly changed the subject to try to cheer her up.  "As I said, we'll be at Naboo in two standard days, about dawn local time in Theed.  Are you ready for some lunch?" 

"Yeah.  That would be nice." 

He motioned for her to lead the way.  As she stood and walked past him, her left arm inadvertently brushed his chest.  Her heart began to race.  Why am I reacting like this?  It's nothing.  An accident.  It didn't mean anything.  She quietly took a few deep breaths as they walked down the hall.  What?  Did I want it to? 

Anakin had attributed the contact to the cramped confines of the cockpit, so he was confused by the emotions coming from her.  She seemed nervous about something, although not the warning about the dangers they faced.  Hmm.  Well, if it's anything important, she'll tell me. 

In the lounge, Padmé pulled the small table over in front of the long padded bench along the wall and sat down.  Anakin retrieved two packaged meals from the cabinet and put them in the warmer.  He picked out two bottled drinks from the cooler and tossed her one.  While they waited for their food, he sat down on the other end of the bench. 

To him, she felt apprehensive in the Force as she spoke.  "Anakin, can I ask you something about your Jedi powers?" 

He smiled.  "Of course.  They're hard to explain, but I'll do my best." 

"The abilities to read emotions, and read minds, and control minds.  Are they the same, or different?" 

"If you're worried whether I've ever used them on you, this ought to reassure you."  He leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him.  "Reading emotions for Jedi is like the way you see colors.  When you walk around, your eyes catch everything, but none of it really enters your consciousness.  Only if something unusual sticks out, like a bright fluorescent shirt, would you even register it.  All the time I'm picking up emanations of emotions from people, but only at the most basic level.  Happy.  Sad.  Angry.  Tense." 

"That doesn't sound much different than what I can tell about someone, if I look closely at them." 

He chuckled.  "That's probably right, it's just even easier for me." 

"But you can use the Force to find out more too, right?" 

"Well, sort of.  Like you could actually focus on a specific person and see they've got a red shirt and blue pants.  Without much extra effort, I can reach out in the Force and get some details.  If someone feels angry, I can figure out if it's revenge, or hate, or frustration, or disappointment.  Doing that still wouldn't tell me exactly what it is that made them feel that way.  I could concentrate very hard to try to literally read their thoughts.  It's extremely difficult to do and almost takes meditation.  At least for me.  On the other hand, implanting a suggestion in someone's mind is actually easier, because you don't need to know precisely what they are already thinking.  You just drop a new thought in and try to convince them to do it."  He snickered.  "Unless it's something they otherwise wouldn't want to do, there's no point to bother with the Force."  He sensed more concern emanating from her. 

"And you've never used a mind trick on me?"  She was trying to smile, but she was worried. 

He laughed.  "Oh, no.  They only work on the weak-minded.  You'd fend it off easily." 

"I guess."  She didn't sound convinced. 

Anakin waved his bottle gently in the air toward her.  "Padmé, it looks like you spilled some juice on your shirt.  You'd better take it off right now." 

Padmé blinked hard several times, scrunched her forehead, and shook her face back and forth very quickly.  I see what he means.  It sounded like a persuasive idea, but I knew it was a trick.  I knew not to do it.  She looked up at him.  "Nice try.  You would have liked that, wouldn't you?" 

Anakin blushed.  "Um, well, I guess.  I knew you wouldn't do it.  It was something I assumed you don't normally do just because you're asked."  That was really, really dumb.  It could have offended her a lot.  At least she doesn't seem angry.  Just then the warmer beeped.  "Lunch is ready."   

---

After they finished eating, Anakin sensed again that Padmé was nervous about something.  "What is it?" 

"Oh, well, I want to ask you about something on Naboo.  I know my safety is the top priority, it's just…"  She stopped in mid-sentence and sighed. 

"Tell me," he responded peacefully.  "I won't be upset.  I promise." 

"Do you remember my royal handmaiden, Rabé?"  He nodded.  "She's getting married the evening we'll be arriving," she continued.  "It's a big bash at the royal palace, and everyone will be there.  Sabé is maid of honor and Saché, Eirtaé, and Yané are the bridesmaids.  She asked me to be one too, but with the debates and everything I told her I couldn't."

"And you're wondering if it would be possible for you to go?" 

"Yes.  I'd bring you with me, of course, as my date."  Was that the right word?  Should I have said escort?  Too late now.  She stood up to clear their small trays.  "At the palace the security is extraordinary anyway.  And when I was considering going before, Sabé and I already talked about a plan because she is going to Coruscant the next day, and she could decoy for me again.  So even if we tipped our hand that I was on Naboo for the wedding, no one would think I was staying there, so we could still hide in the countryside." 

"Give me a second."  Anakin closed his eyes and reached out into the Force.  He didn't sense any disturbances about her idea, or about their arrival at Naboo generally.  He opened his eyes and looked at her.  "Well, this wouldn't be as safe as going straight into hiding, but it sounds like it will work.  And it must be really important to you or you wouldn't have asked.  How about this?  When we come out of hyperspace, call down to Sabé and Jamillia and see if we can land at the palace and keep our presence secret until the last possible moment.  And if we leave the next morning, then the opportunity for anything to go wrong should be tiny." 

She grinned broadly.  "Thank you so much, Anakin!  This is really wonderful!"  She put her hand on his arm and her heart started to race again. 

Why is she happy and nervous at the same time?  I just don't understand her emotions at all.  "You're welcome." 

"Actually, there is one more thing." 

He laughed.  "What's that?" 

"Um, well, I'd like to go see my family for lunch.  And we could stay at my parents' house for the night."  I can't believe I just invited him to stay over at our house!  What am I doing?  It hasn't even been three whole days, and I'm treating him like he's my best friend.  We could just stay in the palace.  And I'm not sure… 

Before her confused emotions overwhelmed her, Anakin interjected.  "That's fine with me."  She met Mom on Tatooine.  In fact, she was with us longer than we'll be in Theed.  It'll be interesting to see what her family is like.  He rose and headed toward the cockpit.  "I'll see if we can cut a few more hours off the hyperspace jump.  Let me know the arrangements once you've talked to everyone when we arrive, okay?"  He winked at her as he disappeared into the narrow cabin hallway. 

"Absolutely."  Padmé leaned backed on the bench and sighed.  What is it that I want?  I've been through an awful lot the last few weeks.  Sure, my nerves are calmed and I haven't been sick since I've been with him again.  I just don't know if being safe is clouding my better judgment. 

---

They spent the rest of the day sitting on the bench in the lounge, reading and talking.  Anakin reviewed a lengthy Jedi dossier on Naboo, provided to him for help in planning their security.  He shared with Padmé many items he found amusing or misguided; as he expected, the Jedi could have benefited from a little bit of simple conversation with a well-informed local.  Hoping not to fall too far behind in the official business, Padmé studied several of the dozens of Senate reports she had loaded into a datapad. 

Just after dinner, the exhaustion from staying up all night to prepare the ship finally took its toll on Anakin.  He said good night and went to bed.  Hours later, Padmé walked quietly into the bunks.  He was sleeping peacefully on his back in the right-hand lower bunk, sheets drawn up to his chin.  She quickly pulled a nightgown from one of her bags and changed in the refresher.  As she finished brushing her hair, the realization dawned on her.  I'm all alone with him.  In the middle of hyperspace.  I guess it's a good thing I trust him completely.

She slipped into the lower bunk opposite Anakin's and watched his slow breathing and serene face.  A lock of hair was out of place, resting oddly on his forehead.  In the small room, she easily could reach over and brush it into place without stretching.  No.  First you have to decide how you really feel.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Anakin woke up first.  As he shook the cobwebs from his mind and stretched out into the Force, he glanced over to the other bunk.  Padmé was laying on her right side, facing him, her left arm out over the sheets and cupped under her cheek.  He watched the sheet rising and falling slowly as she slept and noticed her mouth turned up in the tiniest of smiles.  She's so unbelievably beautiful. 

After a minute, he became uncomfortable at his own gazing on her, so he rolled out of bed in his nightshirt and shorts and went to the cockpit.  Everything was in order, Artoo reported.  Anakin headed back to the refresher.  I'll wait to have breakfast until she gets up.  His stomach growled.  I hope that won't be too long.  But I'll let her sleep as long as she wants. 

Anakin found the datapad with the report about Naboo and sat down in the pilot's seat.  He propped his bare feet up on the console and started to read again.  At some point he dozed off, and he was awakened by her presence in the Force coming up the cabin hallway toward him.  He managed to lift his head from hanging upside down over the back of the chair just before she walked in. 

"Good morning, Ani," she yawned, eyes closed, as she stretched her arms wide and then ran her fingers through her hair. 

Anakin thought he probably was gawking, but he couldn't help himself.  She had not put on a robe.  The way the nightgown falls down her shoulders, over her chest, hugs her hips…  Oh, boy.  Before she opened her eyes, he pulled himself together.  "Good morning, Padmé.  Did you sleep well?" 

"Yes.  Yes, I did," she grinned.  "I haven't slept that soundly in months.  And you?" 

"Like a baby.  On sedatives." 

"Have you eaten?  I can make breakfast," she proposed. 

"I waited for you," he replied.  "Let's see what options we have." 

---

They spent the day reading, playing sabaac, and sharing more stories from their lives the last ten years.  Once again, Anakin tired first.  He showered and went to bed.  Tipped on his left side, looking up at the ceiling, he sensed her approach and heard her tiptoeing into the room.  "It's okay," he said quietly.  "I'm still awake." 

She turned and smiled at him.  "I decided I was tired too.  I'm going to clean up and go to bed."  She bent down and retrieved a nightgown from the bags in the sliding bin under her bunk.  "Don't wait up for me," she teased. 

"Yes, of course.  I won't." 

A few minutes after he heard the shower cut off, he had nearly drifted off to sleep when he sensed a wave of anxiety flow out from refresher.  I wonder what's bothering her?  When it didn't subside, he raised his voice to reach through the closed door.  "Padmé, is everything alright?" 

Her voice sounded chagrined.  "Um, yeah.  Well, sort of.  Um, this is embarrassing.  I forgot my nightgown out there." 

He looked over at her bunk and, sure enough, her neatly folded nightgown sat perfectly positioned on the corner of the bed.  "No problem.  Just crack the door a little."  He pulled his arms out from under the sheets and started to concentrate. 

Inside, Padmé tried to wrap the towel around herself.  Even though she knew he would only stick his hand in far enough to pass it to her, she was upset by how far down her chest she had to put the towel for it to hang low enough to be decent.  We'll need to get those nice big towels for the lake retreat.  This doesn't work at all.  With her other hand, she carefully reached over and manually opened the door a few inches.  To her surprise, the folded nightgown floated effortlessly into the refresher with no part of Anakin in sight.  She snatched it from the air and closed the door.  "Thank you, Anakin," she called to him. 

"Sure," he responded.  He sensed her emotions immediately calm, even turn to happiness.  That was a good idea to use the Force.  It really made her more comfortable and eased her nerves. 

She stepped out of the refresher and slipped into her bunk.  "Thanks again," she laughed as she pulled the sheets up over her.  "I don't usually forget things like that."  Although I bet you wish I'd come out here in the towel, don't  you?

"If that's the toughest thing I need to do for you while we're away," he chuckled as he rolled over onto his back, "I'll be very happy indeed." 

Padmé reached her hand over and held his left forearm.  "You've been a perfect gentleman to me, Ani.  I want you to know how much I appreciate it."  Does he like this?  I do.  Oh, I so wish I could sense emotions like he can!

Anakin hoped she couldn't feel his pulse racing.  "You're welcome.  You've been a wonderful companion on this trip.  I know it's been cramped."  Please don't take your hand back, not yet. 

She squeezed his arm.  "It's fine.  We'll have plenty of room tomorrow.  You know, for running away to hide, this has been really fun."  She wanted to tell him how happy she was, how safe he made her feel, but she stopped herself.  Don't go too fast.  You'll scare him away.

"I agree.  You're so much more enjoyable to have around than Obi-Wan!"  They laughed together.  And so much better to look at. 

Padmé withdrew her hand and shrugged down under the sheets.  "Good night, Anakin." 

"Good night, Padmé."  You really are an angel.  My angel.

---

Anakin rose early, changed into his Jedi robes, and grabbed a quick breakfast bar from the cabinet in the lounge.  He went straight to the cockpit and prepared to bring the Blue Hawk out of hyperspace.  Padmé joined him a bit later.  She wore a simple blue casual dress.  She sat down in the starboard co-pilot's chair and strapped in. 

He looked over his shoulder to her.  "Ready?" 

"Definitely!" 

He shifted a control stick and the stars popped back into their proper shape as small dots.  The blue and green planet of Naboo rushed into place in the cockpit viewport.  "Perfect!"  He reached over and patted Artoo on the dome.  "Great work, buddy."  Artoo beeped and whistled a happy acknowledgement. 

"I'll pull us into a high orbit.  In this ship, no one will detect us.  You can start making those calls; the ground transmitter is plenty powerful." 

"Fantastic!"  Padmé immediately began to dial a code on the holographic communicator.  After about half an hour, she had made the arrangements with Sabé and Queen Jamillia. 

Anakin walked back into the cockpit from a quick run to the refresher.  "We're all set," she informed him.  "We can land at the palace and keep the ship there.  We're going to surprise my family; Sabé checked that they're in town but won't tell them I'm coming.  We'll go to the wedding, sleep at my house, I assume, and then leave first thing in the morning." 

"Works for me," he said. 

A little while later, Anakin brought the Blue Hawk down gently on a less frequently used landing platform at the royal palace.  They walked together down the landing ramp.  Waiting for them a short distance away in a palace guard's uniform was a dark-skinned older man with gray hair and a short gray beard. 

"General Panaka!"  Padmé rushed over and embraced him.  "I thought you'd retired years ago." 

"I did, Your Highness," he kidded.  "But for big parties like tonight, they always hire on some extra help.  So I supplement my very generous pension with a little spare change to lavish on my grandchildren." 

"That's wonderful," she laughed.  "And this, you may find it hard to believe, is Anakin Skywalker." 

Anakin shook Panaka's hand firmly.  "Nice to see you again, sir," he bowed. 

"How could I forget?"  He smiled at Anakin.  "Congratulations to you, young man.  You must be quite the Jedi if they trust you with our planet's greatest treasure."  Padmé blushed, and Panaka only chuckled at her.  "To the Naberries' then?  I have a small speeder to take you there right away." 

"Yes!  Please!"  Padmé squealed with delight. 

Anakin felt her joy explode into the Force.  This was the right decision.  It will make her so happy. 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Panaka dropped them off right in front of the house.  Anakin was surprised.  For the home of the parents of a two-term Queen, he had expected a large mansion or maybe even a small palace.  Instead, the simple single-story house looked no different than the others in the quiet residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. 

Padmé led him up the stairs.  She smiled as she turned over her shoulder.  "Are you ready?" 

He laughed lightly.  "Does it matter if I'm not?" 

"No."  She rang the doorbell. 

After a brief wait, a tall slender woman a few years older than Padmé opened the door.  The look of shock on her face was priceless and she clearly was speechless. 

"Surprise!"  Padmé chirped.  She reached out and hugged the woman closely.  When she pulled back, Padmé looked to Anakin.  "Come in." 

He followed her into the foyer and the door closed behind them.  A woman's voice called from further inside.  "Sola, who is it?"  Around the corner walked a middle-aged, slightly overweight man and his thinner wife.  When they saw Padmé, the man smiled as big a smile as Anakin had ever seen, and the woman pulled her hand to her mouth as she gasped audibly.  Padmé ran to them and embraced them together.  The man remained composed, but Padmé and the two other women cried. 

Anakin nervously shuffled his feet and looked at the floor as he waited.  When the hug ended, Padmé waved him forward.  She looked at her family.  "This is my friend, Anakin Skywalker.  Anakin," she told him as she motioned to each of them respectively, "this is my father, Ruwee Naberrie, my mother, Jobal, and my sister, Sola." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you," he bowed. 

"I'd introduce you to my husband, Darred, and our two daughters," Sola said, "but he's taken them out for a holiday weekend."  Anakin nodded.

Ruwee cocked his head, then smiled.  "I thought I recognized that name.  You're the little boy from the blockade crisis, aren't you?"

Anakin blushed.  "Yeah, that's me." 

"I remember Padmé telling us you were training to be a Jedi," he commented.  "I guess you're doing well." 

Before Anakin could respond, Jobal interrupted, looking very worried.   "Padmé, why are you traveling with a Jedi bodyguard?" 

Padmé didn't want to upset them, but she couldn't bring herself to lie to them either.  "There were more assassinations attempts, Mom.  Ones that didn't make the news.  I've been ordered by the Chancellor to go into hiding until the Jedi can capture the assassins and ensure my safety on Coruscant." 

"Oh, that's terrible," lamented Jobal as Ruwee held her close and tears ran down Sola's face again. 

"It'll be okay.  Please don't cry," Padmé pleaded with them.  "We left in secrecy, and no one knows we came to Naboo.  We're here just for today, so I can go to Rabé's wedding after all.  I thought we'd stay here tonight.  We have to leave right away after breakfast tomorrow."  I can't tell them where we're going.  If I do, it puts them in more danger than if they know nothing. 

"Of course you can stay here," Ruwee grinned.  "We haven't given away your room quite yet." 

"I'll get lunch started," laughed Jobal. 

"Great!"  Padmé smiled, hoping to brighten the somber mood in the room.  "After we eat, you and Sola can help me pack a few things, and get dressed and everything for the wedding." 

"Sounds like a plan," Sola added. 

Just as they were about to head to the dining room, Ruwee put his hand on Padmé's arm.  "Sweetheart, what were you planning to have Anakin wear tonight?" 

"I hadn't really thought about it, Daddy," she replied.  "I guess I assumed he'd wear his Jedi robes." 

"Oh, honey, that won't do at all," Ruwee laughed.  "It would be very out of place.  Don't worry.  I'll get right on it.  Anakin, follow me.  We'll meet you in a minute." 

Ruwee led Anakin to the viewscreen communicator in the study.  He dialed in a code, and a few seconds later a man about his age appeared.  "Peter, I'm so sorry to trouble you at home on your day off." 

"Ruwee, you know it's never a bother to receive a call from you.  What can I do for you?"  Peter was a small, lean man with slicked-back black hair, gold spectacles, and an unusually pointy nose on his well-tanned face. 

Ruwee smiled.  "My little girl is home, just for the day, for the big wedding.  Her escort is a Jedi, and we don't have anything suitable here that fits him.  We're just about to sit down to lunch.  I was hoping you might be willing to help us out after that." 

Peter winked.  "I would do anything for my goddaughter, you know that.  Meet me at my shop in an hour." 

"Thank you, brother Peter."  Ruwee and Peter exchanged a quick hand signal, which Anakin surmised was an old university fraternity secret of some kind. 

"My pleasure as always, brother Ruwee." 

---

After lunch, the three women worked together in Padmé's bedroom.  Sola was helping Padmé prepare her elaborate hairstyle at the vanity.  Jobal was moving back and forth from the closet and dressers, holding up various pieces of clothing that Padmé might want to pack into the two travel bags lying open on the bed. 

Eventually, Sola turned the conversation away from Rabé's wedding.  "I knew you stopped dating Jacen Organa last month.  When were you going to tell us you're seeing Anakin?" 

Padmé glared at her sister in the mirror.  "Sola!  There's nothing going on.  Our relationship is strictly professional." 

"Really?  Taking someone as your date to a wedding is a pretty serious step." 

"It's not a date!  If I didn't take him along, I wouldn't be able to go."  Padmé shook her head carefully at the short red dress her mother was holding up for her. 

Sola snickered.  "Nice story.  Say what you want, sis, but I've never seen you look at Typho like that, and he certainly never looks that way at you." 

Padmé almost stood up in anger, but wasn't willing to start over with the hair.  "Mom!  Tell her to stop." 

"Sola's just concerned about you, Padmé," Jobal laughed.  "I am too.  You know what I think about letting politics overwhelm your life and refusing to be close to anyone.  I won't lecture you again."  She walked over and put her hand on Padmé's shoulder.  "Anakin seems like a very nice young man.  If you think there might be something there, go for it.  It's about time you started thinking more about yourself." 

Padmé shuddered involuntarily.  Her mother's words and the aged Jedi Master's admonition rang through her head.  "Too much about politics, you worry, young Senator.  Too little about yourself."  What, are they conspiring now?  That's all I need, Mom and Yoda in cahoots.  "Yes, Mom, fine."  She sighed loudly.  "It's been five days.  Before that I hadn't seen him in ten years.  Don't you think you're pushing me a little too quickly?"  Thank goodness they don't know to call me on that.

Sola leaned in as she continued to hold back the long brown hair.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to upset you." 

"Me too," Jobal apologized. 

"It's okay," Padmé replied softly.  "I overreacted."  She nodded to Jobal about a skirt and matching blouse. 

"Well, that about finishes off the bags," her mother announced.  "Let's figure out which dress you should wear tonight, shall we?" 

Padmé and Sola grinned.  As they considered the multitude of options, Padmé kept her other thoughts to herself.  Maybe it's not a conspiracy.  She thought back to Qui-Gon's lecture on Tatooine about the will of the Force.  "Nothing happens by accident."  Maybe it's time I stopped trying to find an explanation for how Anakin came back into my life at the precise moment I needed it.  Maybe it's time I just accepted that he did.

---

Anakin exited the dressing room and stood in front of the full-length mirror.  He had no objection to the black shoes, the navy blue pants, or the formal tails on the matching tuxedo jacket.  But the frilly white shirt belonged on a waiter, and the accompanying gray vest with slim red stripes puffed it out even more.  The high, stiff collar on the jacket reached almost to his ears.  And the glimmers of gold and silver on the shoulders resembled a mockery of military epaulettes.  "I look ridiculous." 

The two older men laughed heartily.  "Very perceptive, young Jedi," Peter's gravelly voice cackled.  The tailor had found a garment in his racks that fit Anakin nicely after only a few quick adjustments. 

"You see, Anakin," Ruwee explained, "weddings are something of an event on Naboo.  Each woman tries to make herself as beautiful as possible without committing the affront of overshadowing the bride.  So in walking that fine line, it is our responsibility, as husbands or escorts, to be as unobtrusive as possible.  Long ago, the men of Naboo hit upon this traditional attire as the perfect solution.  Tonight everyone will look at Padmé, not you." 

Anakin laughed with them.  "In that case, gentlemen, mission accomplished!"  He didn't say his other thought.  I'll be looking at her too.

Peter walked over and pulled out the two sides of the jacket.  "On your right are some pockets.  On the left, I'll sew your lightsaber to the interior with a few threads.  That will hold it in place for you without revealing its presence to anyone.  And you'd still be able to break the threads easily if, heaven forbid, you should need to use it." 

Anakin nodded as he shrugged off the jacket and tossed it to Peter. 

Ruwee approached and handed Anakin a small stack of folded handkerchiefs.  "Keep these with you tonight, son.  Padmé always opens the floodgates at these things.  She'll need them."  The two men chuckled as they sat down and waited for Peter to return with the jacket. 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ruwee and Anakin arrived back at the house as Jobal was coming down the hallway into the main entryway.  "We thought maybe you'd fallen into a game of sabaac with Peter or something," she teased her husband. 

Ruwee grinned.  "We just took our time, that's all." 

"She's ready.  We've called the palace for the transport.  They'll be here in a few minutes." 

As the couple whispered to each other, Anakin saw Padmé coming up the hall.  Despite his Jedi willpower, he almost collapsed to the floor.  Padmé wore a stunning dress of shimmering red, yellow, and gold.  The corset clung tightly to her chest, her shoulders and arms completely bare, while at her hips the dress billowed out in folds that constantly shifted colors as she walked.  Her hair was pulled back in a seashell spiral, strands of gold filament holding the style in place, with a thin lock of hair falling off her forehead on each side of her face down to her exposed collarbones.  Anakin leaned his right hand on the wall to hold himself up. 

Padmé didn't seem to notice as she addressed Jobal.  "We'll be back late tonight.  Don't wait up.  We'll say goodbye at breakfast in the morning."  She turned around.  "Are you ready, Anakin?" 

"Uh huh," was all he could gurgle in response.  Padmé took his left hand. 

The sirens of the military vehicles shattered the calm evening air.  Ruwee opened the door and Padmé led Anakin out.  Four speeders with mounted laser cannons bracketed a small armored carriage that stopped at the foot of the stairs.  Two palace guards jumped from the rear of the hovering vehicle and opened the side doors for them.  The young couple stepped carefully down the stairs and hopped together into the transport.  Padmé waved out the window to her parents as they sped away toward the palace. 

"You look…"  Anakin paused, struggling for the right word.

She smiled and winked from her seat across from him.  "Like an angel?" 

His heart soared.  She remembers!  He chuckled.  "Um, yeah.  Maybe.  Well, not really."  She looked hurt.  "No," he continued, "it's just that angels are young and innocent.  That's not exactly how you look tonight."  Oh, blast!  I hope she doesn't take that the wrong way.

Padmé blushed.  "I'm glad to hear you say that, Ani.  You see, there will be some old, well, rivals of mine at the wedding.  Mean-spirited girls who told me I'd always be a mousy little bookworm who would never be beautiful and never find someone who was interested in me.  I think I've got them on the first.  Will you play along with me tonight on the second?" 

Anakin was relieved she wasn't angry, but struggled with her request.  Play along?  Can I handle that?  I should tell her it wouldn't be playing at all for me.  But I'm not sure I'm ready to tell her I feel this way about her.  He laughed to hide his discomfort.  "I'd be happy to.  Oh, this should be a lot of fun!" 

After a few more minutes, they arrived at a back entrance to the palace.  Sabé met them just inside.  She and Padmé kissed each other on the cheek and hugged lightly to avoid disturbing their dresses and makeup. 

Padmé pulled Anakin forward.  "Sabé, let me reintroduce you to Anakin Skywalker." 

"Anakin?"  Sabé's face displayed her surprise.  "My goodness, you've grown!" 

He smiled.  "It's a pleasure to see you again, Sabé." 

"Let's go.  They're waiting for us at the chapel."  Sabé led them quickly down the hallways.  As they turned into a broad and high main hall, Anakin heard a distant sound of a trumpet call.  "Queen Jamillia's being seated," Sabé explained.  "You're next." 

They stopped just outside the chapel door.  Anakin peeked inside and was stunned.  Almost four hundred guests in sixty rows filled the room.  He noticed one usher leaning in to the conductor of the brass ensemble.  He felt Padmé loop her left arm through his right.  Then a swift, powerful snare drum flourish cracked into the air.  Ten seconds later, a very similar trumpet fanfare began.  "Row four, with Jamillia," whispered Sabé as two ushers opened the doors for them. 

Anakin followed Padmé's lead as they walked slowly and deliberately up the aisle.  Heads turned and gasps and murmurs filled the air as the crowd recognized the fanfare and the woman.  Padmé whispered to him without turning her head.  "The first fanfare is for a retired Queen.  The second is for the sitting Senator."  About halfway down the aisle, the horns switched to a more martial call.  To Anakin, it seemed like an eternity before they reached their seats next to the Queen. 

As the bridesmaids and groomsmen entered, it dawned on Anakin that he and Padmé had been the last guests to be seated.  Wow.  I guess she's a more prominent person here than I ever realized.  When Rabé came up the aisle on her father's arm, Padmé reached over her left hand and grasped Anakin's right tightly.  Sensing in the Force her growing lack of composure, he carefully reached his left hand into his jacket and withdrew one of the handkerchiefs.  He slipped it gently into her lap as he squeezed her hand back.  "Thank you," she whispered appreciatively in his ear as tears began to run down her face.  

---

For dinner at the reception in another hall of the palace, Padmé and Anakin were seated at the bridesmaids' table with Sabé, Saché, Eirtaé, and Yané and their dates.  Anakin enjoyed their company, and Padmé's presence in the Force shined brightly with happiness and fun at getting to spend so much time with her old friends. 

After dessert, hands in his lap, Anakin kept to himself in the chair next to Padmé as dozens of dignitaries and past acquaintances came over to talk to her.  He concentrated on remembering an etiquette course from several years earlier in which he had learned most of the common formal dances likely to arise tonight.  Soon he was able to draw on those memories and feel more relaxed.  Plus, he decided, I can always use the Force.  See things before they happen, like Qui-Gon used to say.  I'll look like I know way more than I actually do. 

Even as the music started from the orchestra and the other four young couples walked onto the dance floor, Padmé was stuck talking to a woman about her age with long red hair and a light green dress who was standing next to her.  One of the old rivals, I bet.  Padmé's sure radiating displeasure at this.  Anakin smirked to himself and tapped the woman on the arm with his left hand, and she looked down at him.  "You look thirsty," he told the woman as he gently lifted the fingers of his right hand off his leg, "you should go get another drink." 

"You're right.  I do need another drink," the woman intoned calmly as she turned and walked away. 

Padmé jumped up and kissed him on the forehead.  "You're my hero!  Let's dance!"  She reached down and took his hands and dragged him toward the dance floor.  He barely was able to get the jacket off before he was too far from the chair to throw it back there. 

For almost an hour, Anakin and Padmé danced smoothly through the crowd.  He was best at the waltzes, and between her dancing skills, the Jedi lessons, and the Force they did remarkably well at everything.  It was by far the most fun either of them had experienced in a long time. 

He stood holding hands with her after a vigorous two-step when the conductor took the microphone to announce the next request.  "This one is for all you couples out there, young and old.  To the Chosen One and his date, from Eirtaé.  This is 'Across the Stars.'" 

Anakin's heart skipped a beat.  There are only six people in the room who understood that.  He leaned down to Padmé as the soft sounds of the violins began the tune.  "We probably should sit this one out.  It might send the wrong impression." 

Padmé looked into his blue eyes.  She stepped forward and clutched her hands to his upper back and pressed her body close to his.  "Let them think whatever they want."  She rested her cheek on his left shoulder at the same time a lone oboe lifted the first strains of the haunting melody through the cavernous room. 

Anakin wrapped his arms around her waist and rocked her gently.  She needs this right now.  I can feel it.  He let out a deep breath very slowly.  Whatever she wants.  I can't refuse her.  And I want it too. 

Padmé held Anakin close, reveling in the sensation of his body against hers.  She had not felt this happy, this at peace, this safe in many years.  And I've never felt so comfortable with a boy.  Well, a man.  Whatever.  It's like I've been around him all my life, like he's my oldest and dearest friend.  Or maybe more than a friend.  I don't know.  I don't know what I want.  I don't know what he wants.  And I certainly don't like being confused like this.  In fact, I hate it.  So I might as well find out. 

When the horns soared into the melody a little later, Anakin felt a short, wet sensation at the base of his neck.  What was that?  He felt it again: a soft, gentle kiss.  Is she trying show something to somebody?  He scanned the room with his eyes.  Then he realized that the way her head was positioned, no one could see it anyway.  She meant it only for him. 

He wanted desperately to pull up her face and kiss her lips, but that would be obvious to everybody, and she had not been.  Instead he squeezed her tighter in his arms.  She squeezed back and ran her hands over his shirt down from his shoulders to his waist and up again.  They danced holding each other firmly until the music ended.  Padmé kissed his neck lightly a third time right before she lifted her head off his shoulder and stepped back.  They stared deeply into each other's eyes.  Anakin was so immersed in her gaze he forgot to try to read her feelings in the Force. 

And then another fast dance began.  Padmé took him by the hands and they whirled away into the crowd.

---

The military vehicles, sirens off, delivered them back at the Naberrie house well after midnight.  Padmé waved her access badge over the front door panel and they stepped quietly inside.  With the Force, Anakin muffled the sounds of the door opening and closing.  He stretched out his feelings, determined the others were all asleep, and motioned with his hands to signal that to her. 

They tiptoed down the hall.  The room he had been given for the night was before hers, so they stopped in front of the door.  She leaned in and looked up into his eyes.  "Thank you for agreeing to today," she whispered to him.  "It really means a lot to me."  Her eyes welled up. 

"You're welcome.  Anything for you."  He saw one tear trace gently down each of her cheeks, and he could sense in the Force that she did not want the night to end.  Anakin leaned down and kissed her forcefully on the lips.  Padmé kissed him back intensely and grabbed both of his hands in hers.  Her presence in the Force blazed with happiness, weakening his knees. 

Although it was probably only a few seconds, Anakin had no idea how long it was before they broke the kiss and stepped back.  "Good night, Padmé," he mumbled. 

"Good night, Ani," she replied over her shoulder as she scampered down the hallway to her room.  

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Anakin got up right after dawn when he simply couldn't sleep anymore.  He knew the others would not rise for a few hours, so he took a long shower, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and some comfortable pants, and packed up his things.  He clipped his lightsaber to his belt and walked out to the rocking chair in the sitting room.  As he rocked himself gently, he pondered his feelings.  The last time I went down this road, it didn't work out so well.  I was just having fun, and Ellina fell in love with me.  I won't make the same mistake with Padmé; it would kill me to hurt her like that.  He chuckled to himself.  Although this time maybe it's me who has the stronger feelings.  I've thought about her every day for ten years.  I doubt she's done the same; she might be interested in the fun, but not a relationship.  I have to be careful not to assume she feels the same way I do.  She might not. 

He continued rocking as he dropped into the Force for his first real Jedi meditation in months.  He had no idea how long it was before a light tapping on his shoulder drew him back to reality.  He opened his eyes and saw Sola standing in front of him.  "Good morning, Sola."

"Good morning, Anakin," she said quietly.  "I'm up early too.  Would you like to help me prepare breakfast for everyone?" 

"I'd be happy to," he responded. 

"Thank you."  As he rose to his feet, Sola put a hand on his arm.  "Anakin, I want to tell you something.  I know my sister better than anyone else in the galaxy does.  She almost never opens up to someone the way she obviously has with you.  Take good care of her, okay?" 

"I will," he smiled.  "I promise." 

---

For her entire life in politics, her parents' home had been a place of refuge, of her family's love, of a part of her life it always hurt to leave.  That made it all the more difficult for Padmé as she finished getting dressed in a loose shirt and pants and closed up her travel bags.  This morning, for the first time ever, she wanted desperately to leave immediately.  Keep your composure during breakfast, that's all.  It'll only be an hour.  Then she could be alone with Anakin again. 

Her brain ran wild as she walked slowly toward the dining room.  I want him to know how I feel.  I need to tell him that I don't regret our kiss last night.  That I want to kiss him again.  That, more than anything I've ever needed in my life, I need to talk to him alone.  Now.  She stopped for a second to collect herself.  I've got to watch it.  After all that denying I did yesterday, I can't concede defeat to Sola now.  I'd never hear the end of it.

Padmé sighed forlornly as she turned the corner.  When she saw him standing there, helping Sola set out the food, her heart leaped with joy. 

---

They barely made it through breakfast without giving themselves away.  What passed for restraint was little winks, smiles, and covertly brushing hands under the table.  Padmé read the intensity in his eyes and knew he had not changed his mind about her.  Anakin could sense in the Force that her feelings had not changed either. 

After what seemed like a lifetime, breakfast ended and their military transport arrived.  Padmé hugged her parents and Sola goodbye, while Anakin shook their hands.  Sitting inside the carriage again, their suffering continued.  With guards on alert, the best they could manage was to sit next to each other and surreptitiously hold one set of hands as tightly as they could.  At the palace, they went straight to the Blue Hawk and boarded. 

She tried to grab hold of him in the narrow hallway, but he gently stopped her with a hand.  He took her left hand in his and led her toward the cockpit.  "I know," he whispered.  "But they expect us to take off right away.  So we need to do that.  No delays."  The pain shooting out from her tore at his heart.  He kept his control.  "I'll set it on autopilot once we're clear of the city.  Just another few minutes." 

"Okay," Padmé's voice cracked as she strapped in to the starboard co-pilot's seat. 

Finally, with the ship cruising toward their destination and Artoo monitoring the flight, Anakin unlatched his straps and stood up.  Padmé rose too and led him to the lounge by both hands.  She was radiating anticipation and happiness like a supernova in the Force, and he squeezed her hands firmly.  As the door closed behind them, she slammed him into a rough embrace and an incredibly passionate kiss. 

---

Padmé had selected a secluded retreat in the mountains, and they both had reviewed the information about it during the flight.  Spread around a large lake, villas were available for rent.  Although theirs was hardly the most sinister or immoral purpose for which the facility had been used, they were glad the proprietors were well known for complete discretion.  Nevertheless, as Anakin brought the Blue Hawk down on the landing pad a short walk from the villa that had been indicated to them, they agreed they needed to use an assumed name.  Their cover story would be that they were married yesterday and on their honeymoon.

Padmé pondered.  "Well, Amidala and Naberrie are out.  Other Senators' names too.  Skywalker, obviously.  And I suppose any Jedi names.  Hey, what's Master Yoda's last name?  Could we use that?" 

He laughed.  "You know, I have no idea.  I don't even know if he has one.  He's just Yoda."  The engines cut off and the repulsors released the ship onto its landing gear.  He flicked the switch to lower the ramp.  Then he closed his eyes and reached out into the Force.  A soft whispering answered him, calling a name again and again.  "Got it!"  He stood and headed toward the bunks.  He unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and slid it into the deep pocket in his pants so it would not be visible. 

"Are you going to tell me?"  She poked him in the ribs as she followed. 

"No.  It's a surprise.  Oh, by the way," he teased, "the Jedi are picking up the tab for this."

Even though their mundane attire dispelled any hint of a Jedi and a Senator, they pulled their cloaks around them and raised the hoods to hide their faces.  Greeting them was an older man with a datapad and two young porters.  Anakin had slung his two bags over his shoulders and carried four of Padmé's in his hands.  He set them down to the side, and she added the large and small bags she had. 

"Welcome," said the host.  "And you are?" 

"Vader," Anakin answered. 

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Vader," the man responded, his voice perfectly measured like he dealt with not-actually-married couples all the time.  "I trust you will enjoy your stay." 

"Here is my deposit," Anakin told him as he passed over a datacard.  "We will be staying indefinitely.  The deluxe luxury package is sufficient.  We don't need security or nighttime servants, only secrecy."

The man's eyes bugged out when he saw the amount Anakin had transferred.  "Yes, yes, of course." 

Anakin turned to the porters.  "You may put her bags in the larger bedroom, mine in the smaller."  A brief wave of relief came from Padmé in the Force.  I thought it might make her uncomfortable if I didn't say that, and the servants don't care one way or the other.  He flicked two aurodium coins to the teens.  Their faces lit up, and Anakin knew it was probably the largest tip they had ever received.  The boys hustled away immediately.  

"The staff will take your lunch order at the door," the host offered.  "And do not hesitate to contact any of us if we can provide any assistance." 

"Thank you," Padmé said as she took Anakin's hand and they began to walk across the lawn to the villa. 

The young woman waiting for them smiled.  "And what may we prepare you for lunch?" 

Without looking to Padmé, Anakin answered.  "Two roasted shaak steaks, medium well.  Your finest local mint tea.  And shuura fruit for dessert." 

"Yes, of course."  The servant turned inside. 

Padmé was staring at him from under the hood.  "Those are my favorites!  How did you know?"  She put on a falsely stern face.  "I thought you promised not to read my mind." 

"Oh, no.  Much simpler than that."  He grinned.  "Sola told me some things while we were preparing breakfast.  Apparently she thinks I'm good for you." 

"Well, that's very nice, but I think for myself," she kidded.  She pulled him by the hand up the long staircase to the veranda overlooking the lake below.  They walked to the rose-lined balustrade and took in the beauty of the place.  Simultaneously, they faced each other and drew down their hoods. 

Anakin stared deeply into her brown eyes and felt like he was being pulled into a wonderful black hole.  He cleared his throat.  "Hello, Lady Vader." 

"Hello, Lord Vader."  Padmé lost herself in his blue eyes. 

He took a deep breath.  "From the moment I met you, all those years ago," he began, "not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you.  And now that I'm with you again, I've never been so happy in my entire life.  Every time I look at you, I can't breathe.  It's the most amazing…"

"Stop talking, you fool," she whispered as she put two fingers to his lips to cut him off.  "You had me at hello."  She replaced her fingers with her lips.  They kissed softly at first, then deeply, then softly again.  It was the first time they had kissed while touching only their lips, and it made their emotions that much more powerful. 

Quite a few minutes later Anakin sensed a servant coming toward them from inside.  He pressed her lips strongly one last time with his and pulled away.  The young woman came through the door into the sunlight.  "Your lunch is ready." 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Anakin?"  Her voice drew him out of his slumber.  He carefully cracked his eyelids and discovered the shades were drawn and his room was not very bright.  He tipped his head and looked at her in the doorway. 

"Good morning," Padmé said as she tied off her robe and walked the few steps across the hall into his room.

"Good morning," he croaked as he sat up in bed and straightened his nightshirt from its uncomfortably twisted position. 

"Did you sleep well?" 

"Yes.  I certainly did."  In fact, he hadn't felt this refreshed in years.  Yesterday, they were both utterly exhausted from the stress of their last days on Coruscant and then staying up late for the wedding.  After lunch, they had come back to the rooms and laid down for a short nap on their respective beds, not even bothering to pull down the sheets.  Luckily, the staff had checked on them in time to prepare a late dinner before leaving.  And by mutual agreement, they went straight to sleep again. 

"Me too.  I feel like a completely new person."  She yawned and stretched out her back.  "That mattress is fantastic." 

"Any mattress is great compared to the ones in the Jedi Temple," he chuckled. 

She smiled.  "I thought we could go swimming today.  Would that be alright?" 

"I grew up in a desert, remember?  Anything with water is a treat." 

---

They swam all morning in the lake.  When they finished the picnic lunch the cooks had packed for them, they laid down on their huge towels on the sandy beach until the food settled and they could swim again. 

Anakin rested on his back in his long swim trunks, looking at the clouds.  Padmé leaned over and put her right hand on his bare chest.  He looked at her.  Conservative in cut, the two-piece swimsuit nevertheless flattered the curves of her body. 

"Can I ask you something about the Temple?"  She began to run her fingertips slowly around in circles. 

"Sure."  He lifted his left hand and traced a thin line along her arm. 

She blushed a little.  "How do the Jedi possibly handle all of those teenagers and people our age?" 

"I'm not sure I understand the question."  

"I don't know.  Saché always tells me I missed out by doing my studies as Queen in the palace instead of being able to attend university on campus.  I know she was a bit on the wild side in her day, but I would think the raging hormones would be a problem." 

He laughed.  "It's one big coed boarding school, huh?" 

"Something like that, I guess." 

"You're more right than you realize," he replied.  "Of course, the official line is that a Jedi must control his or her emotions, and so romantic entanglements and physical relationships are strictly forbidden."  He smirked.  "I'll tell you a secret, if you promise to keep it."

"I promise," she smiled as she leaned in, eyebrows raised. 

His hand slowly stroked her side from her arm down to her hip and back.  "Although they rarely show it publicly, the Jedi are pragmatists too.  So any Jedi of age, male or female, can take a specially developed contraceptive injection, once annually.  For the vast majority, it's a moot point because they never do anything.  All my friends get it.  Because it's habit, I think." 

She thought she caught his meaning, but asked anyway.  "But you don't?" 

"No.  It just doesn't sit well with me.  Maybe if I'd been raised in the Temple, and grown up with all the medical treatments and vaccines and such they're accustomed to, it wouldn't bother me." 

She laughed and changed the subject back.  "So it's a hotbed of passion after all."

He smiled.  "No, I don't mean to overstate it.  There's some, but not very much." 

"So tell me, Skywalker, are the girls all over you?" 

His heart sank.  He knew she didn't mean anything by it, but he didn't want to lie.  "I'll tell you, if you tell me about your old flames too." 

"Deal," she agreed as she drummed her fingers on his breastbone. 

Anakin explained his short-lived fling with Ellina, starting with their first kiss in the closet, their skullduggery in the Temple, and their breakup when her emotions got the better of her.  His conscience told him he should tell her about the one night too.  His guilt about his loss of control, and his fear of Padmé's reaction, told him to omit it, which he did.  When he finished, he reached out in the Force for her reaction.  She was happy and amused. 

Padmé held up her end of the bargain.  She began with Palo, then her string of failures on Coruscant.  And she admitted Jacen Organa was the first one she'd ever started to fall for, although breaking it off had been the right decision.  Then she ran her fingers up his chest again and brushed them over his lips.  "No one has ever made me feel the way you do, Ani.  You make me feel safe, and that allows me to be happy.  I know it's only been a week, but it's wonderful being with you." 

"I've never felt this way before either," he told her.  "A Jedi's life is never any fun.  And you make me feel so happy, so alive."  And, I don't know why, so powerful. 

Padmé leaned half of her body on his and kissed him gently.  Anakin deepened the kiss and ran his hands over her back.  He shuddered suddenly when she reached down and tickled his sides.  "Stop it," he cried out. 

"Make me," she demanded as she made it much worse. 

He tickled her in retaliation and quickly they ended up in a sand-coated, uncontrollably laughing mess. 

"It's time we got back in the water, my Lord," she grinned as she spit the granules from her mouth and wiped in vain at her eyelashes. 

"Fabulous idea, Lady Vader."  He inadvertently licked his lips.  He tried to wipe the specks from his tongue with his hopelessly covered fingers, which only made the problem worse.  "Blasht!  Thish ish thwhy I thon't like thand!"

---

Padmé stared up at her bedroom ceiling.  The beams running across were intricately carved wood.  The patterns and designs entranced her.  Little details fascinated her brain.  But none of it distracted from the principal subject on her mind: Anakin Skywalker. 

The more she thought about him, the more she kept coming back to Qui-Gon Jinn.  The gentle older Jedi had somehow followed a path in the Force no one else could see.  He had perceived the value in Jar Jar's friendship long before anyone.  The Force had drawn him, of all the shops in Mos Espa, straight to Watto.  And he had known, or maybe foreseen, that Anakin was not only their ticket off Tatooine, but also the Chosen One of the ancient Jedi prophecy.  She had challenged him every step of the way, and yet all he had ever done was calmly ask her to trust his judgment and, by implication, the Force.  After all these years, she could still hear his voice.  "Nothing happens by accident."  "It is the will of the Force."  "May the Force be with you."

She sighed.  What am I doing with my life?  In the last eleven years, she had grown from being a happy, outgoing girl who loved her many friends, studying, and politics to a somber, aloof woman focused exclusively on an intense, stressful, and miserable position in the Senate.  Is this even worth it anymore?  As Queen or Senator, she had closed herself off from almost everyone.  It was simple expediency with most politicians, because she did not trust them and they did not trust her.  Yet she had taken it one step further, driving away perfectly good people like Jacen.  Mom and Dad, Sola and Darred, Ryoo and Pooja.  Sabé, Saché, Rabé, Yané, and Eirtaé.  Dormé and Jar Jar.  She started to cry.  They're the only people in the galaxy who know anything personal about me.  My only friends. 

And then there was Anakin.  I've spent about two weeks with him in my whole life, half of that a decade ago.  He's been back in my life for seven days.  Yet something in her soul powered her straight into his arms.  She was a different person with him, in a very good way.  Not quite a split personality, but a happier persona.  Lady Vader.  It's as if I'm really her, not Amidala.  The woman Padmé Naberrie should have become instead.  Her own thoughts shocked her as they raced through her mind.  It's like I have a chance to start over, to turn back, to be the person I always wanted to be.  A lover.  A wife.  A mother.  She balled her hands into fists and slammed the bed over and over in frustration.  I wish Qui-Gon were still alive.  I could use his help right now. 

---

Anakin stacked the four pillows in a tower and propped up his head.  He gazed out the open balcony doors at the stars and their reflection in the still water of the lake.  If it weren't for the dark gaps of the hills and trees, it would have looked just like the viewport of a starship in space, surrounded by the constellations.  Like Padmé, he was deep in thought.  His mind struggled with two powerful, yet seemingly conflicting, destinies. 

For as long as he could remember, he'd had visions from the Force about Padmé.  Not always about her, exactly.  Early in his life they were indistinct images of a girl, or a woman, or simply feelings of true love and happiness.  A week before that day when she walked into Watto's shop with Qui-Gon and Jar Jar, he'd had a dream of his wedding and the woman he would marry.  So he recognized her instantly when she came through the door.  And once she found her way to him, the visions became more detailed and emotional.  There was no other woman for him in the galaxy. 

Yet he also had a destiny as a Jedi.  Visions of that future were more infrequent, less crisp.  Many of them were dark, terrible, and disturbing.  And even though he resisted many of the Jedi's teachings and philosophies, he had come to accept the Order as part of his life.  After considerable meditation and reflection, he was convinced Qui-Gon had been right: everything that had happened ten years ago was the will of the Force, to bring just the right Jedi to just the right place at just the right time to find the Chosen One. 

Then why, he wondered, could the Jedi not accept the one fact that was so plainly obvious to him it boggled his mind they could not see it too?  That everything that had happened ten years ago was the will of the Force.  That it was no fluke, or coincidence, or quirk of fate that made Padmé the object of Qui-Gon's mission.  It was her they were protecting precisely because it was not only they, but also she, who had to be brought to Tatooine to find him. 

Anakin began to cry.  He believed in his heart they would never let him be with her, that they would not make another special exception for him, not on something this significant.  The Chosen One would have to choose between his visions, between his destinies.  The only way to reconcile them would be for the Jedi to change and accommodate him, something he felt he could not reasonably expect. 

He very rarely tried to use the Force to see the future.  It required an intensity of concentration and focus he almost never was able to achieve.  And Master Yoda's admonition discouraged much utility in the enterprise anyway: "Always in motion, the future is."  Despite all of this, Anakin decided he would try tonight to see the future down each of the paths before him, to see if the Force that had so many times shown these destinies to him would offer any guidance in choosing between them. 

Anakin breathed slowly and deeply and cleared his mind.  He drew more and more of the Force into his body until he felt as though he were incandescent with its power.  He peered with his mind toward the stars outside, seeking visions of the future.  As he searched, he asked the Force to show him what would happen if he chose Padmé, or if he instead chose the Jedi.  After a few minutes the Force opened up to him, but not as he expected. 

Their wedding: he in Jedi robes, Padmé in a white dress. 

Their wedding again: both of them all in black. 

Padmé holding an infant son and daughter, sobbing, sitting with Obi-Wan and Dormé.

Padmé holding an infant daughter, sitting with him, and a boy with sandy hair, and a girl with brown hair. 

Standing in the Council chamber, all the members dead but Yoda, who flickers in the air and vanishes. 

Standing in the Council chamber, Yoda's chair empty in front of him, Mace motioning him to take it.  

Himself, middle-aged, gravely crippled and all alone. 

Himself, middle-aged, holding Padmé in his arms on the balcony of the villa. 

The boy with the sandy hair, much older, kneeling over him, crying. 

The boy again, kneeling before him along with the grown-up brown-haired girl, being Knighted as Jedi. 

Standing with Yoda and Obi-Wan, as outsiders observing a far-off victory celebration in a forest. 

Standing with Padmé in the grass, watching children and grandchildren celebrate a family reunion. 

When he opened his eyes, his heart was pounding in his chest and tears were flowing down his face.  There were two possible futures for him.  And the message the Force had sent him was clear as crystal: the choice was not between Padmé and the Jedi.  It was something else.  Something else entirely. 

CHAPTER TWENTY

Padmé sat up in bed and ran her fingers through her tangled hair.  Three small yellow birds sat on the railing of her balcony, singing loudly.  Her heart sang with them.  When she finished in the refresher, she walked across the hall through the open door to Anakin's room.   

The bed was empty.  For a second she panicked.   Then she realized he was in the refresher.  What is it about me?  Why do I always assume the worst?  She sat down on the edge of his bed facing out the balcony doors and waited. 

Anakin sensed her presence in the Force.  He grinned broadly as he waved open the door.  "Good morning, Padmé." 

"Good morning, Ani," she responded happily. 

It suddenly occurred to him that her calling him Ani didn't bother him anymore.  It wasn't a diminutive for a little boy.  It was a sign of affection.  He could feel that in the Force.  And it made him happy.  "So, what do you want to do today?" 

She stood and faced him.  "Oh, I don't know." 

"We could go riding in the meadow," he suggested.  "And have another picnic, maybe at the waterfalls." 

"That's a great idea!  But first I want a big breakfast downstairs.  I'm famished!" 

---

Anakin's stomach was so full it hurt.  He wanted to stand up and move the blanket off a small rock that was poking him in the back, but that was more effort than he was willing to expend right now.  So he pushed the discomfort out of his mind and looked at Padmé. 

She had fallen asleep next to him on the blanket in her sundress, her head nuzzled against his left shoulder, her right arm along the ground, her left hand under his shirt on his breastbone.  His left arm was completely pinned down by her body and was starting to tingle.  He very carefully slid it out from under her and rested it instead on her bare back.  He sensed in the Force how calm and content, even truly happy, she was with him. 

Yet his lingering doubts about his own feelings wouldn't go away.  The disaster with Ellina was like an impossible itch in his mind.  I really hurt her.  And I certainly hurt myself.  I thought everything was fun, and I was blind to her emotions.  And then I lost control.  It really couldn't have been any worse.  Well, unless she's…  But that's impossible, she said so herself. 

Anakin let out a deep breath, hoping it would take his guilty conscience with it.  I don't want to hurt Padmé, and I don't want to get hurt like that again.  But I'm so happy with Padmé.  It's so wonderful kissing her.  And yet I'm scared if we go much further, things will be worse, not better.  He brushed his fingertips along the skin of her lower back.  She shifted ever so slightly and seemed to press against him more. 

Anakin didn't perceive the thought coming when it appeared in his brain.  Wake up, idiot.  This time is totally different.  You love her.  He almost bolted upright.  He was stunned.  Drawing on the Force, he restored calm to himself and slowed his frantic heartbeat back down.  He closed his eyes and considered it again.  It's true.  I love Padmé.  I always have.  I always will.  I love her.  He opened his eyes and looked at her face resting so happily on him.  I love her. 

---

By the time they had figured out they'd ridden too far from the villa and turned back, it was too late to avoid the pain.  Now the hammock on the veranda was the only piece of furniture in the place that didn't aggravate their soreness.  So after dinner they had laid down in it together and she finally had explained the Separatist crisis to him.  As she expected, he found boring in the extreme the entire debate over central authority and local control, free trade and protectionist subsidies, and redistribution of wealth from the Core to the Outer Rim. 

Padmé was looking at the stars when she realized Anakin had fallen asleep.  His head was on her belly, his arms around her waist.  I can't remember a time I've been this happy. 

For all her trying these three days at the retreat, however, the rational part of her brain had not been silenced.  You barely know him.  You haven't been with him long enough to have any true feelings for him one way or the other.  It's just the safety.  The fun.  The physical attraction.  The atmosphere at the wedding.  The physical contact.  She sighed, but the admonitions didn't cease.  You'd have felt this way about Jacen, if he were here with you instead.  Or anyone else.  It's the surroundings.  The free time.  The mood of a place like this. 

She reached down and brushed his hair.  Her fingers found his thin Padawan braid and played with it.  She gently traced a line behind his ear and around the side of his face. 

And then she realized her heart was pounding, her face was burning up, and she had a powerful sense of longing in her abdomen.  She brushed her fingers in his hair again as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.  No.  Those thoughts are just excuses to avoid the truth.  It's him.  It's only him. 

She sighed and shifted in the hammock just enough to wake him.  "Ani?" 

"Yeah," he answered very groggily. 

"We should get up.  It'll get chilly out here." 

"Okay."  He leaned up so he could kiss her. 

She laughed when he flopped straight onto his bed without changing or using the refresher.  "Good night, Ani," she whispered to him as she turned toward her room.  No reply.  He was already asleep again.  I love you, she smiled to herself without saying it aloud. 

---

The next day they went swimming again in the morning.  After lunch at the villa, Anakin decided it had been far too long since he had done his Jedi exercises or lightsaber practice.  He picked a relatively flat space on the sloping back lawn of the villa.  The building and the trees, the lake and the hills beyond, and the bright blue sky were the perfect environment for meditation and concentration.  Padmé pulled over a chair and started to read Senate reports from her datapad.  The sunlight and the fresh air brightened her mood too.  And then Anakin distracted her completely from the task at hand. 

First he stretched his muscles while clearing his mind.  Then he ran wind sprints, jumped and tumbled, did chin-ups from a tree limb and pushups in the grass.  Finally, he walked quickly to the Blue Hawk and returned with four small gray balls in his hands.  She thought he was about to juggle when he tied a bandanna over his eyes.  He tossed the spheres into the air, where they hovered with a soft hum.  The blue lightsaber hissed out simultaneously with a ridiculously intense outburst of small laser bolts.  She watched in awe as he blocked and parried, dived and jumped, spun and whirled, and leaped inhumanly high back flips.  Not a single shot from the training remotes hit him. 

It was about two hours from start to finish.  He took the remotes back to the ship before he walked over to her.  "Did you get a lot read?"  His voice was very tired and his clothes were soaked through with sweat. 

"Yep," she lied.  Three pages.

---

Padmé smoothed out the wrinkles in her nightgown.  She walked to the vanity and brushed her hair until it hung long and straight around her face and down her chest and back.  She reached into her jewelry box and took out Anakin's pendant.  She pulled it over her head, then used both hands to brush her hair out from beneath the chain.  The glint of the silvery sheen in the starlight made her smile.  

When he walked into her room to say good night, Anakin's eyes caught the pendant instantly. 

Padmé was startled by the look on his face.  "Ani, are you okay?" 

"Uh huh." 

Confused, she stepped over in front of him.  "Ani?"  

He was totally unresponsive.  "Yeah." 

She raised her voice and spoke sharply.  "Anakin!" 

Finally, his mind snapped back to reality.  "I'm sorry.  I just can't believe it." 

"Believe what?" 

He reached out and lifted the pendant between his thumb and index finger.  "This." 

She smiled.  "You were right.  It brought me a lot of good fortune." 

"I can't believe you kept it."  His voice was a whisper.  "I can't believe you're wearing it."  The look of understanding finally appeared on his face.  "You love me."

She reached her right hand up and traced her fingers along his cheek.  "I know." 

He gulped hard and swayed in the air like he was about to tip over backwards.  Then he collected himself.  "I love you too."  He stroked her face with his right hand the same way.

They looked into each other's eyes and saw no surprise at all, only relief that they had finally spoken their feelings.  He gently took hold of both sides of her neck and leaned down to kiss her.  She kissed him back with a new degree of intensity, and the fireball of her love in the Force almost physically pushed him back from her.  He ran his hands around her back and pulled her close, and she snuck her hands up under the back of his nightshirt. 

Then she drew her lips away and leaned her face against his chest.  "How did I ever live without you?" 

He chuckled. 

"What's so funny?" 

"I thought I was the one who could read minds."  He kissed the top of her head.  "I was just about to say I don't know how I ever lived my life before you came back into it." 

She sighed.  "Ani?" 

"Yes?" 

Her voice was barely audible.  "Will you stay with me tonight?" 

"Of course." 

She kissed him gently on the lips.  "I'm not ready to…"

He cut her off with a kiss.  "Me neither."

She squeezed him even tighter and kissed his chest through his nightshirt.  "Thank you." 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

After a long day of hiking in the nearby forest, they lay next to each other on the sofa across from the flickering flames in the fireplace.  Padmé's hands rested on his shoulders, gently rubbing his muscles through his nightshirt.  Anakin's left hand cupped her head; his right fingertips ran up and down her back, enjoying the sensation of the silk nightgown.  Her love in the Force shone far brighter to him than the burning logs.

After a few minutes, Padmé ended their deep kiss and looked intensely into his eyes.  "Ani, what are you going to do about the Jedi Code?" 

His blue orbs grumped and looked away.  "Why'd you have to bring that up?" 

"We have to talk about it eventually." 

"Do we?" 

"Yes."  She brushed her fingers through his hair. 

He sighed.  "I know.  You're right."  He blew out a deep breath in frustration.  "I've pretty much fortified myself in forbidden territory at this point.  It's not as though the physical part matters all that much to them.  Quite a few Jedi take that path, if briefly, at some point in their career.  The problem, to the Council, is how much I love you.  I care about you more than anything.  I love you so passionately it hurts.  They would never let a Jedi maintain those feelings." 

She kissed him quickly.  I don't want to.  But I have to say it.  Her voice was somber.  "So this will be the one great time for us.  When we're summoned back to Coruscant, we'll call it off.  I won't let you abandon your future for me." 

He glared into the air.  "No!  I won't give you up too," he shouted.  The sudden, violent anger on his face and in his voice scared her.  He felt the fear in the Force and saw it in her eyes.  He squeezed her tightly and dropped his voice to a hush.  "I'm sorry."  He kissed her.  "Do you remember what you said to me, in your apartment?  About how the Jedi were torturing me by not letting me visit my mother?"  She nodded.  "You were right.  I hate it.  It eats at me inside every day.  I would rather die than go through that again, if they took you away from me too." 

"I don't want to lose you either," she sniffled.  "But what choice do we have?" 

"Choice."  He laughed darkly.  "Choice.  It's theirs, not mine." 

"Ani, I don't understand." 

"If they compel me to decide between being a Jedi and being with you, I'll pick you.  There are many other things I can do besides train as a Jedi.  I could win a lot of Podraces.  Or fly a starfighter in the Republic navy, or for a private army.  Or stay at home and raise a Senator's children."  She smiled and kissed his cheek.  "Any of those would make me happy, with you in my life.  But without you, my existence would be meaningless.  Even if I became the greatest Jedi ever."  As he spoke to her, his mind raced.  Are you sure about this?  She's been in your life for ten days.  Are you really willing to throw it all away for her?  Yes.  Yes, I am.  The pull of the Force has always been stronger for her than about being a Jedi.  She owns my soul.  I will love her forever.  I need to be with her forever.  Nothing else matters.

She kissed him on the lips again.  "So what will you tell them?" 

His voice became profoundly serious.  "They can keep their precious Chosen One if I can keep you, or they follow their stupid Code and I walk away." 

"I'm not sure that's the right thing to do, for either of us," she replied, "but maybe you're right."  Padmé's mind was struggling as much as Anakin's.  Aren't we being completely irrational?  How can we know this will work?  What if he leaves the Jedi for me and things don't work out between us?  How can we commit like this so quickly?  Because it's meant to be.  The will of the Force, I think.  I can't live without him ever again.  I truly deeply love him.  I won't let anything break us apart.  The galaxy can work around us!

He leaned in and kissed her again.  As they deepened the kiss, their combined love in the Force almost completely overwhelmed Anakin's consciousness.  It didn't, however, because the small rock of guilt in the back of his mind wouldn't allow him to set his feelings loose. 

Abruptly, he broke the kiss and rocked back an inch from her.  It startled Padmé.  "What's the matter?" 

"I need to tell you the truth." 

"About what?" 

He looked into her eyes.  "About Ellina." 

She matched his stare.  "It doesn't bother me.  I've told you that many times already." 

"I slept with her, Padmé.  Once.  On my birthday this year."  He wanted to hold the gaze, but his body pulled his eyes away to the ceiling.  "It was a mistake.  I knew at the time I shouldn't, but she was there and I just…" 

She cut him off by kissing him very passionately, for long enough he had to gasp for air when she released him.  "Ani," she whispered, "I don't care.  You're not perfect.  No one is.  I don't feel any less love for you because you saw someone else before me."  She could see he wasn't convinced.  "Would it matter to you if I'd been with someone?" 

"No.  Well, I would be jealous a little of them, I think.  But it wouldn't affect my love for you." 

She laughed.  "Then why in the world were you afraid to tell me?" 

He finally looked back into her eyes.  "I don't know.  I felt I'd betrayed you, I guess."

She kissed him gently on his forehead.  "I certainly never made a conscious decision to save myself for you, Ani.  I wouldn't hold you to a different standard." 

"Okay."  He pulled her close again and kissed her neck very lightly over and over. 

Padmé sat up and cleared her throat.  Anakin felt a strange quirk in her presence in the Force, and sat up next to her to see her blushing fiercely.  "What?" 

"Um, I was just wondering something.  But I'm too embarrassed to ask."  She looked at the floor. 

"Oh, come on now.  You can't leave me hanging like this," he teased.  "My mind will run wild.  I'll become insanely curious and drive you mad." 

"Alright," she responded as she looked into his eyes again.  "Um, when you were, you know…  when you…  I can't." 

"Padmé, I love you.  Tell me.  Please."  The plaintive look on his face tore open her heart. 

"When you…  with her…  Oh, you know what I'm talking about.  Do you use the Force?" 

He buckled over with laughter. 

"I don't see what's so funny," she scolded as she stood up and glared down at him. 

"I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry," he said as he tried to regain his composure.  "It's just not at all what I expected you to say." 

"I'm glad I could amuse you."  She spun away, a hurt tone in her voice. 

He reached up and pulled her by the hands to back to him, resting his chin on her stomach and gazing up at her.  "I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have laughed.  I love you more than I ever thought possible, okay?"  She nodded.  "Yes," he told her quietly.

"Hmm?" 

"The answer to your question is yes." 

She pulled his hands and brought him to his feet.  "Will you show me?" 

---

As she lay on her back, hands holding the sheets to her chin, Padmé's arms, shoulders, and face glistened in the starlight trickling through the trees outside the open balcony doors.  Anakin was utterly enchanted by her beauty as linked his left hand into her grasp.  She tilted her head over and kissed him gently. 

"I love you, Padmé Naberrie," he whispered in her ear.  His fear that he would immediately feel regret, like he had weeks ago with Ellina, had proven unfounded.  In fact, he was emboldened, not saddened, about his feelings for Padmé.  And in the Force, he could sense she felt the same way. 

"And I love you, Anakin Skywalker," she cooed as she reached up and brushed the hair on his forehead back into place. 

He sighed very heavily and propped his head up on his right hand.  "Padmé?" 

"Yes?" 

"Will you marry me?"  His voice was quiet.

She heard him clearly but was in shock.  "What?"  In the Force, it registered as a feeling of complete incomprehension. 

"Will you marry me?" 

This time, she was the one who couldn't help laughing.  "Ani," she giggled, "you don't have to ask me that just because…" 

He cut her off with two fingers from his left hand on her lips.  "No.  You have it backwards.  I never would have, not with you, until I already had made up my mind about this first." 

She stared at him, still overwhelmed.  "Are you serious?" 

"Deadly." 

"Really?"  She started to cry tears of joy.

He kissed them off her cheeks.  "I know we have some issues to work out before we could tell anyone, or get you a ring to wear, but even if we have to keep it a secret for a little while, all that matters to me is what the two of us know."

She kissed him deeply again despite her crying, and in the Force her confusion fell away, leaving only her love behind.   "Yes.  The answer to your question is yes." 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

As darkness fell the next day, the cooks and servants from the villa snickered among themselves as they boarded the retreat's transport back to the nearby town.  For newlyweds (if that's what they are), the Vaders (if that's their real name) certainly hadn't fit the typical pattern of guests.  Their first five days, they rarely spent any time in the villa, instead taking advantage of the numerous opportunities for fun and relaxation around the lake.  Then today they never even emerged from the bedroom and asked to have three gargantuan meals delivered and retrieved at the closed door.  Usually, of course, it happened in the opposite order. 

---

The last rays of sunlight fell away, and the soft blue hue in the lower sky became complete.  Anakin and Padmé stood in their bathrobes on the balcony of her room, drying each other's hair with enormous plush towels.  When he finished hers, Anakin neatly folded the towels and hung them over the railing.  Padmé looked out over the lake.  She reached her arms behind her and pulled him to her back, wrapping his arms around her waist.  Anakin rested his chin gently on the top of her head. 

"How are we going to make this work?"  In the Force, she felt calm but nervous. 

"Master Yoda's the expert at seeing the future, unfortunately, not me," he sighed.  I can't tell her what I saw.  I just can't.

"Seriously, Ani, I'm really worried about it." 

"I meant what I said," he replied, making his voice as soothing as possible.  "I'll give the Council a choice.  They can let me be with you, or I leave the Order.  It's that simple." 

"Is it?"  She coughed twice and wiped her mouth on the fluffy sleeve.  "What makes you think they'll just give up?" 

He squeezed her tightly.  "I'm not saying they won't make my life miserable first.  Obi-Wan will try to reason with me until the bitter end.  I might even have to physically make him stop, although I hope not." 

"Me too," she whispered. 

"And certainly the Council will do everything they can to dissuade me from leaving."  He chuckled.  "You know, even if they say they'll let me be with you, they'll probably constantly assign me far away and try to renege on their agreement.  Maybe I shouldn't even offer to stay." 

She spun quickly in his arms and put her hands on his face.  "You have to.  Even if you don't want to, do it for me.  If they'll let you remain a Jedi, I insist you grab that opportunity.  You could always leave later if they break a promise to us.  I'm willing to risk any hassles they might try if you can have the chance to stay." 

He kissed her softly three times on the forehead.  "Okay.  I'll let them choose." 

"Thank you, my love," she smiled.  Then she frowned.  "I'm not sure what I should do." 

"What do you mean?  What is there any question about?" 

"Oh, I worry about my obligation to my constituents.  When they elected me, they didn't vote for the wife of a Jedi.  They certainly didn't vote for the wife of a man who left the Order.  Look where that took Dooku.  And they voted for a full-time politician, not a mother."

"People's lives change, Padmé.  Even politicians'.  I mean, I read all the time about Senators who get divorced, or have affairs, or worse, and nothing happens to them.  And you're young.  They can't possibly expect you to stay the same forever." 

"I know."  She tugged open the top of his robe just a bit and leaned her face against his bare chest.  "The law on Naboo provides for a special retention election.  I could request one." 

"See, there you go."  He kissed her forehead again.  "So once we get back to Coruscant, we'll see what the situation is like and then pick a time as soon as we can to go to the Council, and you can tell the Loyalist Committee maybe.  And then we take it from there." 

"I love you so much," she sobbed.  "You always make things that seem so awful to me just disappear." 

"I love you too, angel," he whispered as he kissed her lips very softly. 

"Are you an angel?"  Padmé's presence in the Force erupted with a surprisingly intense happiness.  She leaned up to his ear.  "Call me that.  Forever." 

He smiled at her and lifted her feet a few inches off the ground as he spun her back inside.  "I'm totally exhausted," he announced.  "Can we go to bed?" 

"I hope you mean only to hold each other and sleep," she replied expectantly. 

"Oh, most definitely yes," he giggled. 

---

In the middle of the night, Padmé woke up abruptly, her heart pounding in fright.  Her mind told her a noise had jarred her awake, but she didn't know what it was.  She lay there for a second.  Then the bed shook and Anakin cried out. 

"No!  Mom!  No!"  His voice was filled with desperation and fear. 

She rolled over quickly and rocked his shoulders firmly.  "Ani, wake up!" 

He shivered violently and sat upright in the bed.  His eyes popped open and he gulped for air. 

She softly brushed her hands on his back.  "What's wrong?" 

"A nightmare.  A horrible, terrible nightmare."  He lurched like he was about to vomit, but he didn't.  "No.  Not really a nightmare.  A vision from the Force." 

"About what?" 

He slowly lowered himself onto his back and looked at the ceiling.  "My mother.  She's in tremendous pain.  Dying, maybe, I'm not sure.  She's been tortured, or nearly murdered, or something.  And I felt it as vividly as if it were happening to me." 

She kissed his cheek and caressed his chest with her hand.  "Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" 

"Yes.  I'm positive."  He took a few deep breaths.  "I had a few very short visions like this a couple of weeks ago, although they weren't as awful.  Obi-Wan and I agreed they probably were just memories or emotional vibrations, not truly signals from the Force.  This one was different.  It was sharper, and more intense, and lasted much longer." 

"Then there's only one thing we can do."  She brushed his hair.  "We have to go to Tatooine." 

Anakin took a deep breath.  "I want to do that, I really do, but we shouldn't.  We'd be leaving Naboo and I'd be seeing my mother before I'm authorized.  I'd be violating two direct orders from the Council.  That's grounds for expulsion." 

Padmé sat up.  "Anakin, listen to me."  The darkness in her voice shocked him to attention.  "I know we agreed to give them the chance to keep you in the Order.  It's one thing if it's only about me.  I can live with the consequences of my own actions and decisions; I do that every day in politics.  This is different.  If they would expel you for trying to protect your mother from whatever she's suffering, then I don't want any part of them." 

"Okay.  I understand."  Anakin sat up too and wrapped his arm around her.  "Let's go back to sleep.  We can leave in the morning." 

As they lay down again, Padmé pressed snugly against Anakin's back and hugged him tightly.  "I'm so sorry." 

"Me too.  I hope it's not too late to help her." 

She kissed the nape of his neck.  "I love you, Anakin Skywalker." 

He sighed very deeply and very, very sadly.  "I have a bad feeling about this."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Padmé found Anakin standing in the cockpit, his eyes sullen, lost in a stare at the brilliant streaks of lightspeed.  "Come back to bed," she requested quietly. 

"I can't sleep," he replied calmly.  "I can't shake the vision from my mind when I close my eyes." 

"I'm so sorry," she soothed as she pressed herself against his back and ran her hands onto his chest under his nightshirt.  In the reflection in the transparisteel viewports, he didn't look at all like himself.  There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes.  His shoulders slumped.  His arms hung limp at his sides.  Unkempt hair stuck out in all directions, and dark whiskers stood out against his light skin. 

"I love you, Padmé," he said forlornly, almost about to cry.  "I need my mother to be okay." 

"I love you too."  He'd been like this all day on the hyperspace jump from Naboo to Tatooine.  Now she was becoming very worried about him.  I need to find something to take his mind off this.  To distract him until we arrive.  She had tried stories about Jar Jar's mishaps at the Senate, playing sabaac, and watching a holodrama from the memory banks.  Nothing had worked.  She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed the side of his neck as she ran her fingertips along his ribs and then, tentatively, tickling toward his bellybutton.  Maybe if we… 

He put his hands over hers very gently and held them in place.  "Not now, okay?" 

"Whatever you want, Ani.  I'm sorry." 

"No, no, it's fine," he whispered.  "Later, when everything is alright." 

She kissed his neck again and squeezed him even tighter.  And what if it isn't?

---

Although it was the next morning to them, it was evening in Mos Espa when they landed.  Anakin tripled-checked the locks on the ship and paid a sizable bribe to the spaceport guards to ensure its security. 

The rickshaw droid let them out in front of Watto's shop and pulled aside in the street to wait for them.  Anakin brushed his right hand over his lightsaber as he and Padmé ducked through the door. 

They looked at each other in shock at what they saw.  The image was uncanny.  Sitting on the main counter was a young girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, tinkering with a broken pit droid.  She was in the exact spot, in the same posture, as Anakin had been sitting when he first met Padmé.  And that was not all.  The girl's long brown hair was pulled back with a braid almost identical to the one Padmé had worn that day, and her blue smock gave her a very similar appearance to Padmé's peasant disguise. 

The girl stared back at them.  The two customers were much younger than usual.  The man was tall and dressed like a Jedi, including a lightsaber on his belt.  The woman was a head shorter than him and wore a simple gray pilot's suit and a blaster pistol in a holster.  "My name is Padmé," the woman said as she stepped forward.  "What's yours?" 

"I'm Jenny," the girl answered.  "How may I help you?" 

The man's voice was deep and scary.  "Is Watto here?" 

Jenny looked at the floor.  "He's in the yard.  I'm not supposed to disturb him.  You can wait, or you could come back tomorrow." 

The man chuckled.  "I assure you, he will talk to me.  Go back there and tell him the winner of the Boonta Eve race ten years ago is here to see him.  He'll understand." 

Jenny's voice quivered.  "I don't think I should." 

"It's okay," Padmé said very peacefully.  "I promise Watto won't be angry with you."  

Jenny hopped down from the counter and walked out the back door into the yard.  Padmé reached over her right hand and held Anakin's left tightly. 

As they expected, Watto came flying through the back door at top speed.  When he saw Anakin's Jedi robes and menacing stare, however, he stopped in midair and his face shook with fright.  Without hesitation, he told them everything he knew about where Shmi Skywalker might be now.  He'd sold her to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars who lived near Mos Eisley.  He'd heard Lars freed her, then years later married her.  Other than the location in his records, there was nothing else he could tell them. 

When the man and woman stalked out, Jenny turned to Watto.  "I'm sorry I interrupted you, but they insisted." 

"No need to apologize, child.  You did the right thing," the Toydarian told her, his voice still shaking with fear, barely audible over the flapping of his wings.  "Even though it almost got me killed." 

---

Anakin landed the Blue Hawk at the edge of the Lars homestead.  As they walked hand-in-hand toward the main domed structure, a protocol droid fully covered in mismatched metal plates creaked over to intercept them. 

"Greetings," the formal voice intoned, "I am See…"

"Threepio?"  Anakin cut the droid off in surprise. 

"Oh my.  Oh my.  The maker!  Master Ani!  I knew you would return.  Oh!  And Miss Padmé.  How pleasant to see you both again." 

"Hello, Threepio," Padmé replied quietly. 

"I've come to see my mother," Anakin stated as calmly as he could, although he knew from the Force she wasn't here.  In fact, an almost overpowering feeling of sorrow infected the entire site. 

"Oh dear."  Threepio looked away, as if from anxiety.  "We'd better go indoors." 

At the bottom of the stairs, a young man and woman holding hands were standing to greet them.  "Master Owen, Miss Beru, I present two very important visitors," Threepio announced.

"Thank you, Threepio," said the man. 

Anakin extended his hand.  "I'm Anakin Skywalker." 

"Owen Lars," the man responded as he returned the handshake.  "We knew you'd come back someday."  He gently drew the woman forward by the hand.  "This is my girlfriend, Beru Whitesun." 

Padmé didn't wait for Anakin to introduce her.  "I'm Padmé Naberrie, Anakin's fiancée." 

"Is my mother here?"  Anakin's voice was beginning to shake. 

"No, I'm afraid she's not," Owen answered sadly.  "Come inside and sit down.  We have a lot to talk about." 

As they walked through the open arch, Beru leaned in to Padmé.  "Congratulations," she whispered. 

At the dining room table, Owen told them of the recent tragedy.  One morning about a month ago, out picking mushrooms from the vaporators, his stepmother Shmi had been abducted by a roving band of Tusken Raiders.  A party of thirty local moisture farmers went out to rescue her and was ambushed in a canyon by the Tuskens.  All but two were killed, including Owen's father, Cliegg. 

Anakin could sense in the Force Owen's incomprehensible grief at losing both his father and stepmother at the same time.  He also sensed how much Owen and Beru loved and mourned Shmi.  She's still alive.  I would have felt it in the Force if she had died.  I can still save her.  Anakin rose from the table.  "I'm going after her.  I can follow her presence in the Force in the desert." 

"You can use my speederbike," Owen offered. 

"Thank you," Anakin nodded. 

Before he headed out into the setting sun, Padmé enveloped Anakin in a tight embrace.  "I'm so sorry," she told him through her tears. 

"I know." 

"I'll be safe.  They're good people."  She kissed his cheek.  "I'll be waiting right here for you." 

He turned and straddled the hovering bike.  Over his shoulder, he called to her as he fired up the engines.  "I won't be long." 

---

Anakin flew over the sand at top speed, the chilly night wind ripping through his hair, tracking his mother's presence in the Force.  It was very weak and full of pain.  Those sensations were all he felt for hours.  By the time he finally could sense her noticeably closer, there was nothing in his mind but hatred at the Tuskens who did this to her.  The Tuskens who did this to Padmé and him. 

---

Padmé couldn't sleep while Anakin was gone.  She knew she shouldn't have gone with him, although she felt like there was something more she could have done to help.  There wasn't, of course, and finally she accepted that.  She paced around the homestead restlessly, worrying about Anakin, hoping against hope that he would rescue his mother, wondering what she possibly could do to comfort him if Shmi died. 

Finally, she walked up the stairs and stood outside, barefoot in the sand, gazing at the stars.  The wind whipped her nightgown and robe around her, and she crossed her arms over her chest to fight the cold.  She pondered the constellations.  She was fairly certain Coruscant's star was not visible from here, so she picked one out randomly and pretended it was the capital planet.  And she fired angry thoughts at the Jedi Temple there.  What are you trying to prove?  What did you hope to accomplish by denying him his mother?  Would it have hurt anything to send a Jedi back, to honor Qui-Gon's memory, and free her too?  Maybe he would have been a better Padawan, a happier pupil, if you'd let him be with his mother, instead of tormenting him with her absence.  I promise you one thing: I will never give him up.  You'll have to kill us to separate us.  She yelled out in frustration into the night.  "Why?  Why would you do this to him?"  If she dies, you're responsible.  You could have let him save her, when he first had one of those terrible dreams, or years ago.  She shivered as she chuckled viciously.  You're responsible.  And you'll bear the consequences.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Anakin left the speederbike at the top of the bluff and used the Force to control his descent as he leaped to the ground below.  He drew his black cloak around him and snuck quietly into the Tusken encampment.  The hum of his lightsaber concealed by the barking of several massiffs, he cut his way into the hut he sensed held his mother. 

Anakin's heart stopped and his stomach lurched violently when he saw her.  She was tied to a rack, scars and bruises and dried blood on her face and arms.  Her presence in the Force was faint.  He rushed over and released the bindings, cradling her head in his lap.  "Mom, I'm here.  You're safe." 

Shmi's eyes opened just barely.  "Ani?"  Her voice cracked and gurgled, and it was very quiet. 

"It's me, Mom." 

Her eyes opened the rest of the way and she struggled mightily to lift her hand to touch his face.  "Oh, Ani.  You've grown so handsome."  She coughed, and a drip of blood ran out the corner of her mouth. 

Anakin wiped it away with his finger.  "Hold on, Mom.  I'll make you better." 

She noticed his attire and lightsaber.  "Ani, you're a Jedi?  Your dream came true?" 

"Yes, Mom.  And I'm married."  Even if it's not technically true yet, I want her to know in case she…  He could feel her slipping away in the Force, dying in his arms.

She smiled the biggest smile she could through her pain.  "That's wonderful.  Who's the lucky woman?"  Her voice was a light teasing like their days together many years ago, and it lifted his heart a little. 

"Padmé Naberrie.  Do you remember her?" 

"Of course I do.  The girl who was with Qui-Gon Jinn and Jar Jar Binks."  She coughed again.  "I'm so proud of you, Ani."  Another cough, this one more severe.  "I knew I'd see you again.  I knew it." 

"Stay with me, Mom!"  His voice was desperate.  "Everything's going to be okay." 

She looked sadly into his eyes.  "It's too late for me.  I love you, Ani." 

"No!  Mom, don't die!"  A hint of anger tinged his tone.  "I need you." 

"Take good care of Padmé," she instructed him as the last bit of her disappeared in the Force and her body went limp. 

Anakin wanted to yell and scream and surge out into the Force to pull her back.  But she was gone.  There was nothing more he could do for her.  He reached down and closed her eyelids, then wept for hours holding her body in his arms.  Sorrow filled his heart. 

A bit after dawn, two Tusken men stepped inside the hut and saw him sitting there.  They warbled back outside a loud warning in their language.  An instant later, they were decapitated by one swift swing from the blue lightsaber.  Seeing his mother's killers standing there in front of him immediately had transformed Anakin's feelings from sadness to anger. 

Anakin sliced off the door flap as he walked out into the camp.  The hatred from the ride the night before had returned in a blazing fury.  It was strong, burning in his body, coursing through him in his blood.  He felt himself becoming more and more powerful as he used the anger to increase his strength in the Force.  Several more Tuskens charged in the dim morning light, gaffi sticks brandished at him.  It was pathetically easy for him to strike them down.  He strode toward the center of the camp, killing all comers as he went, his anger growing deeper and hotter.  When he arrived there, he stopped and looked at the Tuskens.  Women and children cowered and hid.  Some men moved slowly in preparing to attack, while others held back. 

"I hate you!"  He shouted at the top of his lungs.  "I hate you!  Die!  All of you!  Die!  I'll kill you like you killed her!"  The hate flowed through the Force into him, and he felt invincible. 

Three more Tuskens charged, and one simple whirling blow ended that.  Anakin heard a voice in his head, calling out to him as if from a great distance.  "Anakin!"  It was Qui-Gon.  "Anakin!  No!  Let go of your anger!" 

Anakin blinked repeatedly and rapidly shook his face back and forth a few times.  He killed four more Tuskens who came at him.  When still two more charged, Anakin reached into the Force again to power his strike with his raging vengeance.  When he did so, something else rushed into him too.  Grief.  But not his own.  The grief of Tusken women and children at their losses. 

Anakin snapped his left palm out at the two men running at him.  They flew back several feet in the air and landed on their backs.  He scanned the devastation he had caused in the camp.  Fifteen Tusken men were dead.  Only six more stood facing him, including the two rising to their feet.  And twenty women and almost fifty children radiated nothing but fear into the Force. 

He lowered his head and turned off his lightsaber.  In the Force, he sensed the Tuskens' confusion.  He spun on his heels and walked back toward his mother's hut, lightsaber handle still in his hand.  The Tuskens did not follow him.  He gathered up his mother's body and wrapped it in two large blankets he found inside.  He carried her out the open door.  In those minutes, the Tuskens had not moved.  They were looking at him silently. 

He walked slowly away to the base of the bluff.  Powering himself in the Force, he made a standing leap all the way to the top. 

---

It was mid-morning when Padmé, Owen, and Beru heard the speederbike and rushed up the stairs to meet him.  Anakin could feel their sorrow in the Force as he carefully untied his mother's body from the back and lifted it his arms.  His eyes were bloodshot and full of tears as he led them back downstairs. 

A few minutes later, Padmé found him in the garage, propped up from a workbench by his arms.  "I'm so sorry, Ani," she whispered as she put her hand on his shoulder. 

He turned around to face her, his face soaked with tears.  "Why'd she have to die?  I should have been able to save her."  Padmé's beautiful face framed by her loose hair and the snug fit of her simple blue shirt and pants soothed him, as did her compassionate presence in the Force.

"Sometimes no one can stop death." 

"Why not?  Even death is insignificant next to the power of the Force.  If Obi-Wan and the Council weren't holding me back, I would already be powerful enough to..."  He couldn't finish his thought, and now the hatred was back in his eyes. 

She took his hands in hers.  "I blame the Jedi too." 

For some reason, that calm and simple statement combined with the love and sympathy he felt from her in the Force to drive the anger out of his mind.  He let out a deep sigh.  "I used the dark side, Padmé.  When the Tuskens found me there, after she was dead, I attacked them.  It wasn't self-defense."  A tear ran down his cheek.  "I used my anger and hate to kill them.  I would have killed every single one of them, including the women and children, if I hadn't come to my senses." 

She squeezed his hands.  "I forgive you." 

"It's not quite that simple.  I'm still angry.  I still hate them.  I need to be very careful." 

She pressed herself against him and wrapped her hands around his waist.  "I love you more than anything in the galaxy, Anakin.  You're my husband."  They shared a look that said everything words couldn't about how true that was, even though the official ceremony itself would have to wait.  "We will make it through this together.  All of this." 

"I love you too, my beautiful wife."  He let her kiss him, gently at first, then deeply.  He embraced her and rubbed her back with his hands.  It wasn't a conscious decision, but their grief and anger fueled them both until they were oblivious to everything in the universe but each other. 

---

After Shmi had been laid to rest, the two young couples ate a somber dinner together.  Owen told Anakin to take Threepio with them.  He had no real need for a protocol droid.  Threepio was Anakin's creation, and Shmi had finished him with the coverings only once she had finally accepted that Anakin would not be returning to do it himself.  Anakin was grateful for the gesture. 

They were about to discuss what Anakin and Padmé would do next when her comlink beeped.  "Artoo says it's an urgent message from Obi-Wan." 

Anakin knew that could not be good.  "If he's willing to contact us, it's something serious." 

They said their goodbyes and took Threepio with them to the Blue Hawk.  In the cockpit, they sat down and had Artoo play the holographic transmission. 

"Anakin," Obi-Wan began, "my long-range transmitter has been knocked out.  Retransmit this message to Coruscant."  Padmé paused the message with one hand and triggered the rebroadcast to the Jedi Temple with the other.  When the acknowledgement came through, she started the message again.  Obi-Wan was on Geonosis. 

Anakin wondered aloud to Padmé.  "What in the blazes is he doing there?" 

Droid foundries.  A massing Separatist army.  A reference they didn't understand to a bounty hunter named Jango Fett.  Count Dooku's Separatist treaties and Viceroy Gunray's repeated demands that Padmé be assassinated as a condition of his signature.  Implications of a secret declaration of war against the Republic.  Then, suddenly, Obi-Wan's image drew his lightsaber and deflected away blaster bolts.  As he retreated, a destroyer droid came into view, lasers firing. 

Padmé took Anakin's hand.  They looked into each other's eyes.  "This is terrible on so many levels," she whispered. 

After a few minutes, Master Windu appeared in the hologram.  "Anakin."

"Yes, Master." 

"We are sending you a transmission that explains the results of Obi-Wan's previous investigations.  It will clarify the situation for you and the Senator.  Contact us again in one hour at the Chancellor's office." 

"Yes, Master." 

They learned of the clone army on Kamino.  The mysterious order ten years ago, impossibly placed by an already-dead Jedi Master.  The bounty hunter Jango Fett as the source for the clones.  And the continued troubled status of the Military Creation Act in the Senate. 

Padmé participated in the meeting with Chancellor Palpatine over the holographic transmitter.  In this context, Anakin was more than happy to be a Padawan and say nothing.  She agreed with Senator Organa and Senator Taa that the Separatists' decision to militarize required the Republic to defend itself.  The Loyalist Committee voted unanimously to recommend enactment of the Act, and the members assured her they would do everything they could to persuade all of their previous allies to follow their lead.  It tore deeply into her spirit as she instructed Jar Jar to vote in favor of the legislation she had fought so long to defeat.  Despite the need for an army of the Republic and the increased risk of war, the Chancellor reassured everyone that peace negotiations would continue until the very moment the Separatists attacked, which hopefully would never occur.  Anakin sensed a wave of relief from Padmé. 

At the end of the meeting, Master Windu relayed new instructions to Anakin.  "We will deal with Count Dooku.  You must remain in hiding with Senator Amidala.  We will contact you again only when it is absolutely necessary." 

"Yes, Master."  Anakin reached over and terminated the feed to Coruscant. 

Padmé's anger snapped into the Force like the crack of a whip.  "They're insane!  They have to come halfway across the galaxy."  She looked down at the star charts.  "We're less than a parsec away." 

Anakin put his hand on her knee.  "I understand your concern, angel.  But I'm already going to be testing my luck with the Council as it is.  I can't disobey another direct order." 

Her eyes were dark as she glared at him.  "I know you've had your differences with Obi-Wan, but he's your friend, your mentor, almost like your father.  The Jedi's mistakes already cost us your mother.  I won't let them take him from you too.  I won't sit here and let him die." 

The rage inside of her disturbed him.  Yet he also agreed with her, and his own anger began to burn again.  "You're right.  We have to do something.  To Geonosis it is." 

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

With Anakin and Artoo combining their astrogation prowess, the hyperspace jump took them to Geonosis in two hours.  As he dropped the ship into a high orbit above the red planet, Padmé held his right arm with both hands from the starboard co-pilot's chair.  Both of them wanted desperately to take action right away, yet knew in their minds they couldn't. 

Anakin moved from the pilot's seat to the port co-pilot's chair.  Working together, he and Padmé soon had the ship's transmitters and receivers performing numerous observation and reconnaissance tasks.  Artoo processed all the information and sorted it for them on the main viewscreen, while Threepio linked into the computer as well and ran simultaneous translations of the multitude of incoming feeds. 

Although they learned much that morning, neither of them had an appetite.  Anakin's grief had not subsided, and his anger at the Council for ordering him not to assist Obi-Wan continued to build.  He sensed similar emotions in Padmé.  Late in the afternoon they finally forced themselves to eat a small meal. 

While Padmé considered their options further in light of the information gleaned from their espionage, Anakin leaned back in the chair and cleared his mind.  He fell into the Force and projected his feelings at the planet below.  First he picked up a range of violent emotions, mainly fear, anger, and disgust.  It did not take long for him to locate Obi-Wan's presence in the Force: as vibrant as ever, if riddled with frustration.  I bet he's being held prisioner, Anakin thought.  That would really tick him off.  As he probed further, he encountered something that surprised him.  It was a powerful, deep, and raging presence of the dark side.  His own anger sparkled in his heart as if awakened by detecting similar power in another.  Anakin controlled his probing carefully, not wanting to reveal himself.  After a few minutes, he pulled back from the evil source and ended his meditation. 

He kept his voice calm, hoping not to distress her too much.  "Padmé?" 

She was pacing back and forth in the small cockpit, thinking hard.  "Yes, Ani?" 

"There's a Sith Lord down there," he said quietly. 

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, but her emotions stayed moderate.  "Are you sure?" 

"Yes.  I sensed his presence very clearly."  He sighed.  "It's Dooku, I assume." 

Padmé chuckled as she sat down in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.  "The Jedi Council is quite convinced he is only a political idealist and remains a man of character."

Anakin let unexpected venom drip in his voice.  "They are fools.  He left the Order ten years ago, just after Obi-Wan killed the Sith Lord at Naboo.  His Force skills were almost unparalleled.  There's no way a brand new Sith apprentice could have been trained in ten years to be as powerful as what I sensed."  Unless they have their own Chosen One, he thought snidely to himself.  "So it must be Dooku." 

"That certainly seems like sound reasoning to me," Padmé agreed.  "Too bad the Jedi never listen to you," she kidded as she began to trace a line of very soft kisses up from the base of his neck.  

---

When they revealed their presence the next day, Padmé's Senate diplomatic codes were acknowledged.  The Blue Hawk arrived without incident on a landing platform on the edge of what they knew to be the Separatist headquarters complex.  In contrast to his usual maroon and black, today Anakin wore the standard-issue tan Jedi robes and left his cloak behind.  Padmé dressed in a white outfit of plain design, a small white cape and two metal armbands the only indications of her official status.  He tapped his lightsaber lightly with his fingers as she slid a blaster pistol into her right hip holster. 

Waiting for them was a tall, dark-skinned man in blue and silver armor, helmet tucked under his left arm.  "I am Jango Fett," the man announced smoothly.  "I welcome you to Geonosis on behalf of Count Dooku." 

Padmé looked quickly for insignia of rank on the man and saw none.  "Thank you, Master Fett.  I am ready to proceed." 

Fett led them inside through many hallways and turbolifts until they ultimately arrived in a large conference room with dim lights.  Across the table sat the leaders of the Separatist movement.  In the center was Dooku.  To his right, Padmé recognized Passel Argente of the Corporate Alliance, Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild, and San Hill of the Intergalactic Banking Clan.  To Dooku's left sat Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation, Wat Tambor of the Techno Union, and Senator Po Nudo of Ando.  Anakin stood just behind Padmé's right shoulder as she sat down, while Fett took up a similar position with Dooku.

In his seat, Dooku was surprised.  He had heard of Senator Amidala, of course, but had not realized she was so young.  And the Padawan with her he did not recognize either, although he doubted he would remember anyone who would have been perhaps nine or ten years old when he left the Order.  For an official mission from the Senate, he almost felt insulted by the selection of these emissaries.  "Greetings, Senator Amidala," he welcomed her formally.  "You honor us with your presence." 

"Thank you, Count," she responded in a measured voice.  "We have many issues to discuss." 

Anakin watched the negotiations in awe.  Padmé had complete mastery of etiquette and formal procedure.  She dominated the debate with the much older man and his comrades without the slightest insult or offense.  For each argument Dooku asserted against the Republic and in favor of secession, Padmé rejoined with a deliberate and reasoned justification for working within the existing democratic structure. 

After Dooku called her "young Senator" for the fifth time, Padmé interrupted and berated him in a harsh yet nonabrasive tone.  "Excuse me, Count," she began, "but many things have changed since you left the Jedi Order.  I am not simply some girl wonder who fortuitously outwitted the Trade Federation.  I hold a position on the Loyalist Committee not as a favor or from a mistake, but because of the respect my colleagues give to me.  Perhaps you are unaware that politicians and scholars with far more expertise than you consider my doctoral dissertation on the political economy of trade with Outer Rim to be the leading authority in the field.  I have a standing offer for a tenured chair in political science at the University of Naboo in Theed.  You've heard of it, I assume, considering it is one of the four or five most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the galaxy.  I think it would be wise, Count, for you to cease condescending to me."  Professor Padmé Skywalker, she thought quickly to herself.  That has a nice sound to it.

Dooku responded with nothing but an apologetic nod.  After almost two more hours, it seemed to Anakin that neither side had done anything to convince the other.  Finally, Padmé challenged Dooku on his decision to raise an army and directly asked whether he intended to provoke a civil war. 

"No, no, Senator, of course not," Dooku replied. "We fear aggression by the Republic.  We act only in self-defense." 

"Self-defense?"  She laughed aloud darkly.  "Self-defense?"  She snickered again as she leaned back in her chair and drew her hands under the table.  "You can't be serious, Dooku."  In an instant, Padmé had shocked those on the other side of the table with her aggressive change in demeanor, claiming a position of superiority by using his name instead of title and with her physical posture.  From the corner of his eye, Anakin saw Padmé's right thumb flick twice on her hip. 

"Oh, I most definitely am, Senator," Dooku remarked coolly, not reacting to her incitement. 

Everyone except Padmé, Anakin, and Dooku shook noticeably in fright as the loud crack of a blaster pistol shot echoed through the room.  Gunray let out a small moan, then tipped forward from his seat and smacked face-first into the table, motionless.  Padmé slid the pistol back in her holster and clasped her hands in front of her on the table as she sat up straight again.  "Self-defense, you say?  Let me tell you about self-defense, Dooku.  Self-defense is my right for having been repeatedly and maliciously attacked.  So do not dare talk to me about self-defense." 

When no response came from across the table, Padmé continued.  "You are holding a Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  I request that you release him immediately to me.  If you decline, I demand my right of humanitarian access to visit him in your custody."   

Dooku rose from his seat.  "You and your guard will be escorted promptly to Kenobi's detention cell." 

Padmé pushed back her chair and stood up as well.  "You still can mediate your disputes with the Republic, Count.  Do not begin a war with the Republic you cannot win.  Your insignificant rebellion will be easily crushed." 

"We'll see," Dooku chuckled.  Suddenly, he stretched out with both his hands.  Anakin had anticipated the attempt to disarm them with the Force, however.  He reacted instantly and snapped his palms back at Dooku.  A soft pop sounded in the air of the room and their weapons stayed where they were.  Dooku shot a stare at Anakin and dropped his hands. 

"Please, follow me," offered Fett, who had walked around the table. 

As they stepped toward the door, Anakin leaned in to Padmé.  "They'll probably just lock us in there with him."

"I know," she smiled, "but it will be much harder for them to kill the three of us together than him alone." 

Anakin grinned.  I love her so much. 

Just before she rounded the corner into the hallway, Padmé tossed a comment back over her shoulder to Dooku.  "Sorry about the mess." 

Dooku smiled.  He'd always hated the sniveling Neimodian, and she had saved him a lot of hassle by killing the Viceroy.  More significantly, though, he wondered about the identity of the Padawan.  The boy had been far more powerful than he had expected, and had completely blocked him in the Force.  He was confident Master Sidious had told him about any new Jedi in the Temple who could be of concern to him.  So who was this mysterious Padawan?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

As they followed Jango Fett down the dark hallway in the detention building, Anakin sensed Obi-Wan detect them in the Force.  His mentor's presence was healthy, calm, and still frustrated.  Walking next to him, Padmé emanated disappointment and anger.  Her love for him was there, but stifled and hazy.  She's so perceptive.  Already preparing to hide her feelings for me from Obi-Wan. 

Fett stopped in front of a closed cell.  "There is a small blue button just inside the door," he told them calmly.  "If you wish to exit, press it and we will retrieve you." 

Padmé turned to him.  "If I may ask, has Kenobi's fate been decided?"

"No, Senator Amidala, it has not.  The last I heard, he was to be tried for espionage against the sovereign system of Geonosis.  Perhaps such a trial would take place in the next day or so.  I am sure you would be welcome as a diplomatic observer if you are still here." 

"Thank you for your hospitality and forthrightness, Master Fett," Padmé bowed to him.

The door closed behind them as they entered the dimly lit room.  In the center, Obi-Wan hung suspended in mid-air by energy binders secured to his wrists and ankles, rotating slowly.  "Anakin, Senator Amidala," he said excitedly, "it is a great relief to see you safe.  What is the situation?" 

"No, Master Kenobi, it is a great relief to see you," Padmé responded quietly. 

Anakin smirked.  He knew Obi-Wan would have dozens of questions, so he decided the best he could do was provide as much information as possible up front.  "We received your message promptly, Master.  We retransmitted it as you requested.  The Jedi Council and the Chancellor's advisors had an emergency meeting about it."  As he spoke he walked in long strides, keeping pace with the rotation, hands clasped at the small of his back.  "Master Windu is organizing some sort of response, although he did not tell me the details.  And the Loyalist Committee is working to enact the Military Creation Act to enable use of the clone army to defend the Republic." 

Obi-Wan nodded.  "Very good."  He seemed to ponder the information a bit more.  "And you were sent ahead to attempt a diplomatic solution?" 

Padmé giggled.  "Not exactly, Obi-Wan." 

Anakin met Obi-Wan's quizzical stare.  "Master Windu ordered me to stay in hiding with Senator Amidala," Anakin told him as he struggled hard not to call her Padmé.  "But she insisted we make an attempt to rescue you.  At this point, it probably will take at least another day for any strike force from Coruscant to arrive." 

"Hmm," Obi-Wan grimaced.  "I do not like the idea of you disregarding the Council's instructions, even at Senator Amidala's request.  Although your presence actually may decrease the imminent danger."

"I agree," Padmé commented.  "Dooku seemed genuinely reluctant to commit an act of war."  She chuckled.  "If he truly wished to do that, all three of us already would have been executed."  Anakin nodded solemnly in agreement.

"I think you may be right about that, Senator," Obi-Wan replied.  "Nevertheless, I believe he cannot be trusted.  He spent considerable time in here yesterday interrogating me, trying to convince me to join him.  I refused, of course.  He claims the Senate is now under the practical control of a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious, who purportedly also masterminded the Trade Federation blockade of Naboo a decade ago.  I would think the Jedi Council would be aware of such manipulation, but the dark side clouds the Force, so it's possible, I suppose." 

Padmé looked into Anakin's eyes.  He could read in her gaze her question whether they should tell Obi-Wan about their assessment that Dooku was one of the two Sith Lords, presumably the apprentice.  Anakin shook his head very slightly and Padmé nodded back almost imperceptibly.  "Well, Master Kenobi," she said, "I have my own doubts about the integrity of many Senators.  Domination by the Sith, however, seems unlikely." 

---

Anakin and Padmé stayed with Obi-Wan in his cell.  They did not ask to leave.  When Fett delivered three dinners to the cell at the appropriate time, he did not query them about it.  After six or seven hours, they had discussed everything Obi-Wan had learned.   Anakin and Padmé had shared what little news they could provide, except their suspicions about Dooku being a Sith and, of course, anything about their relationship.  At that point, all three of them were tired.  Obi-Wan dropped his mind into a deep meditative trance, while Anakin and Padmé sat on the floor, backs propped up against the wall.  She decided it looked innocent enough for her to fall asleep with her head on his shoulder, which she did.  Anakin stayed awake for a few more minutes, then fell asleep himself, very frustrated he could not hold her in his arms as he so desperately wanted.

After a few hours, Obi-Wan and Anakin snapped into full consciousness simultaneously.  They both sensed the same tremendous surge in the Force moving slowly up the hallway toward them.  The two men looked at each other and grinned broadly.  Anakin gently rocked Padmé with his hand.  "Wake up.  They're here." 

"Huh?"  She was still groggy.  "Who's here?" 

"The Jedi," he told her quietly.  "Get ready.  I suspect we'll be fighting our way out." 

As Padmé shook the sleep from her mind, Anakin rose and stood next to the containment apparatus.  He drew his lightsaber and ignited it.  The blue blade easily shattered the top and bottom energy projectors.  Obi-Wan dropped smoothly to the floor and held out his wrists.  Anakin very carefully sliced off the binders, then bent down and similarly removed the ones on his mentor's ankles. 

Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at each other again as they both heard the same message in their minds:  Mace Windu's telepathic voice saying, "Stand back from the door."  Anakin took Padmé by the hand and the three of them stepped to the far side of the cell.  A moment later, the metal door blasted inward in a blaze of fire. 

Mace's head and the tip of his purple lightsaber popped around the corner as the smoke cleared.  He already had sensed in the Force that they were fine.  "Let's get this party started," he joked smoothly as he tossed a lightsaber handle to Obi-Wan.  "It's your older blade, your spare.  We picked up it from your room before we left."  Obi-Wan smiled and turned on the blue weapon.  The three cellmates walked out into the hallway to join the Jedi; Padmé tore off the small cape and left it behind.  "We figured you'd rather have an old standby than some random utility blade," Mace chuckled, slapping Obi-Wan on the back. 

Waiting in the hallway for them, lightsabers blazing, were Plo Koon, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, Luminara Unduli, and Barriss Offee.  Greetings were exchanged quickly before the group of eight Jedi and a Senator began to run down the hallway.  For now, no opponents presented themselves. 

Mace held back a few steps and pulled into a jog next to Anakin.  "A small team is securing the Blue Hawk.  We would have flown it to safety for you, but the locks are set to open only for you and the Senator.  Which is actually fine; that's how it's supposed to be." 

Anakin nodded.  He very quickly looked over at Padmé, who was shooting him a knowing glance.  He knew full well she was thinking the same thing he was: That was a close one.  We forgot to change the sheets. 

Mace talked to Padmé as they continued to run, raising his voice to be heard over the thumping of their boots on the stone and the hum of the lightsabers.  "The Loyalist Committee was grateful for your participation in the meeting a few days ago," he informed her.  "They had been quite reluctant to take action without your input." 

"Thank you, Master Windu," she replied a bit out of breath.  "I will express my appreciation to them when I return.  Did the Military Creation Act pass?" 

"The situation is a bit more complicated, unfortunately," Mace sighed.  "The opponents of the Act were able to hang it up in procedures so ridiculous even your most skilled parliamentarians could not overcome it.  Nevertheless, it was clear a large majority of Senators desired to authorize the use of the clone army to defend the Republic against the Separatists' military threat." 

Anakin felt a strong surge of anxiety flowing out from her as she continued the conversation.  "And the solution?" 

Mace frowned.  "Senator Cork proposed a resolution granting temporary emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor, authorizing him to conduct a war against the Separatists.  Representative Binks and your colleagues on the Loyalist Committee fought valiantly to defeat it.  Despite their efforts, the motion carried." 

Now Anakin sensed her feelings turning to anger and rage.  "What?  No!  That's not possible!"  Padmé's face was filled with dismay.  And Cork, of all people.  That dirty, rotten, bought-and-paid-for criminal!  "Under the Act, the Senate retained plenary authority over the war, as a check on executive power.  Are you telling me the Senate simply abdicated itself completely to Palpatine instead?"  She was totally incredulous. 

"It appears that way, Senator Amidala.  I am truly sorry," Mace sighed.  "And it is worse than that.  The Chancellor ordered the clone army into a preemptive strike against the Separatists here on Geonosis." 

"He did what?"  Tears began to well up in her eyes.  He promised me personally the Republic would never strike first, that we would only go to war if attacked.  "You can't be serious!  The Republic is starting the war?" 

All Mace could do was nod his head sadly.  He patted her gently on the shoulder, then ran to the head of the group.

Padmé looked at Anakin.  "This is treasonous!  It's worse than anything I ever imagined possible," she sighed as she wiped her eyes, her spirit in the Force vacillating between hopelessness and unadulterated fury.

Anakin smiled weakly.  "I'm so sorry, Padmé."  He looked up when he sensed another surge in the Force.  "Draw your pistol.  We're out." 

The group of nine, unopposed for their entire escape inside, emerged through an open door of the detention building onto an edge of the broad grounds of the headquarters complex.  The sky was filled with huge troop transports and streaking gunships.  In front of them, a large number of battle droids, destroyer droids, and super battle droids stood between them and the Republic forces in the distance.  Those forces, they saw, included dozens and dozens of Jedi leading thousands upon thousands of white-armored clonetroopers in an all-out assault on the droid armies of the Separatists. 

Mace turned over his shoulder to face the group.  "We fight our way forward until the gunships arrive to retrieve us.  Go!  Go!  Go!" 

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

The Jedi set up in a wedge formation and advanced quickly.  At the point, Mace engaged the closest battle droids with his shimmering purple blade, while the others attacked droids and deflected away incoming blaster fire, often ricocheting the shot back into the droid that fired it.  Padmé stayed one step right behind Anakin, taking every available shot at a droid with her blaster pistol.  Anakin focused most of his effort on keeping any bolts from hitting Padmé or him, although if a battle droid got close enough he would bisect it. 

After a few minutes, the Jedi had decimated the nearby ranks of droids.  More battle droids continued to pour from the doors of the buildings, however, and the Jedi were starting to tire.  Anakin and Padmé, by contrast, were fighting with more and more energy as the combat continued.  She unleashed on the droids her anger at the political developments, firing with greater precision than she ever had before.  Each shot hit a battle droid squarely in its metallic chest, or took out the feet of a destroyer droid, or slammed a super battle droid right between its electronic eyes. 

Watching her shooting, Anakin was inspired.  Her anger makes her powerful.  She's stronger than I've ever seen her.  He glanced at the other Jedi and saw them sweating and slowing down.  Fools!  Time to match Padmé's intensity.  He recalled the tremendous power he had felt on Tatooine.  This time, I'll stay in control.  I won't fight indiscriminately.  But I'll use that power.  He unlocked the safeguards on the anger in his mind and let it flow through his body.  With each beat of his heart, the fire rushed deeper into his body, filling every capillary of his flesh with the violent power of the dark side.  As the final step, he triggered his rage again: My mother's dead, and it's their fault! 

Anakin's blue lightsaber became a whirling disk of light in front of him, deflecting countless blaster bolts back into his enemies, every single one taking out a droid.  When the Jedi formation moved forward ten yards and a group of super battle droids came within reach, Anakin spun away from Padmé for just a moment.  His blade flashed brilliantly in the air as he struck down three of them in a matter of seconds.  Then he was at her side again, keeping shots away and sending back as many as he could. 

He sensed Padmé's dissatisfaction with her blaster pistol.  It was not designed for this heavy use, so it overheated too often, leaving her with irritating pauses in her attacks.  He leaned his head toward her. 

She leaned toward him in kind and shouted over the noise of the battle.  "Can you get me one of those rifles?" 

"Sure."  He let go of his lightsaber with his left hand as he scanned the fallen droids nearby.  Immediately he noticed a shattered battle droid skeleton with a blaster rifle next to it on the ground.  He extended his hand out and called the weapon to him.  It smacked into his palm and he offered it to Padmé.  "Here you are." 

"Great!  This is much better," she told him happily.  She extended the stock and set her feet, bracing the stock against her right shoulder and squeezing the barrel grip in her left hand.  Anakin watched in admiration as her blistering rate of fire tore into the droids advancing toward them.  And he sensed in the Force her exhilaration at the devastation she was inflicting on her opponents.  His own rage-powered skill wreaked havoc on any droid within five yards and took out many more with deflected shots. 

Suddenly Barriss yelled out in panic.  "Grenades!" 

Instantly, Obi-Wan and Plo Koon reacted by lifting their hands to raise up invisible barriers in the Force around the group, hoping to keep out the missiles.  Most of the grenades bounced away, but three got through before the Jedi could stop them.  As one landed near him, Anakin stepped his body between it and Padmé. 

The ground shook and the sky itself seemed to explode in a blinding flash.  Thousands of shards of metal whistled through the air and tore into the nine.  They all screamed in agony.  Within a heartbeat, however, the Jedi returned to the task at hand, deflecting more incoming blaster fire from the droids.  Pain did not interfere with duty. 

Anakin turned to the side to look at Padmé.  She had one small cut on her forehead that was barely bleeding.  Her front and left side looked unscathed.  Her right arm and right leg each had several streaking drips of blood, and he could see several large cuts on her back, as well as many small ones. 

Padmé was shocked at Anakin's appearance as he shifted toward her.  Although his back was clear, he had dozens of small cuts on the front of his chest and arms than bled through his tan Jedi robes.  And then she looked at his face.  In addition to a long gash on his forehead, there were two small cuts on his cheekbones just beneath his eyes.  To her, it looked as if he was crying tears of blood.  "Anakin!"  

"I'll be fine," he reassured her as best he could.  "They're mostly superficial wounds.  It looks worse than it is." 

Anakin then glanced at the others.  Barriss seemed to be badly hurt, as did Shaak Ti.  The rest appeared to have small wounds like his, causing pain but not impeding their ability to defend the group.

Fortunately for all of them, two Republic gunships arrived overhead and hovered in place.  Laser cannons ripped through the adjacent droids.  The gunships descended vertically as clonetroopers laid down cover fire with blaster rifles.  Mace called out an order: "Regroup at the command center." 

Anakin and Padmé hopped into the side of one gunship along with Mace, Obi-Wan and Aayla Secura.  The vehicles swooped away from the detention building and swerved through the air.  They flew a short distance to the Republic's temporary command area, coincidentally set up within sight of the Blue Hawk's platform.  All the while, they observed the raging war below.  The clonetroopers were annihilating the droids. 

At the command center, the nine were rushed first to a medical tent.  Mace and Obi-Wan were barely harmed and left within minutes.  As Anakin had promised her, most of his injuries were treated simply with wipes of gauze or small bacta patches.  Padmé's wounds received similar care.  When the medics cleared them well before the other five, they headed to the planning meeting in a nearby tent. 

Yoda stood on a crate, leaning against his cane, scrutinizing the holographic images projected on a war room table.  Mace, Obi-Wan, and Ki-Adi-Mundi also leaned over the table, considering options among themselves.  Three clonetrooper lieutenants stood at attention, awaiting orders.  Off to the side, Anakin saw Gina and Frekk standing back respectfully and Ellina behind the two.  Before he could wave hello to them, the four older Jedi at the table straightened up in reaction to a notice scrolling along the table edge. 

"Dooku," Mace announced.  "We've isolated his location.  He appears to be headed toward the hangar facility." 

"We should send a Jedi strike team," Ki-Adi-Mundi proposed.  "Clones will not be sufficient to handle him."

"I agree," Yoda concurred. 

"You are better students of war strategy than I," Obi-Wan deferred, tipping his head to the other three.  "I'll lead the mission."  He glanced at the three Padawans in the shadows.  "Do you have an assignment?"  They shook their heads.  "Good.  You can come with me." 

Only then did the four Jedi Masters notice that Anakin and Padmé had entered.  Obi-Wan smiled.  "Anakin!  We certainly can use your skills!  Are you ready?"

"Yes, Master," Anakin answered reluctantly, "provided we have alternative protection for Senator Amidala." 

"Yes, of course," Obi-Wan responded, looking to Yoda and Mace.  "They'll handle the arrangements.  In fact, she can wait right here for us to return.  Our forces already are near victory." 

Padmé lifted her mouth to Anakin's ear, whispering quietly.  "Go.  Do your duty.  I'll be fine."  And then very, very softly, "I love you, Anakin Skywalker, more than life itself." 

Anakin smiled at her as he joined his three friends and Obi-Wan.  His mentor was giving him a befuddled look and projecting confusion into the Force.  From their decade together, Anakin knew immediately Obi-Wan had sensed something abnormal he didn't have time to consider with the requisite amount of intensity right now.  I wonder, Anakin pondered, whether he senses the scars of the dark side in me or the love Padmé and I share?  "Let's get him," he proclaimed.

Slapping Anakin on the back, Obi-Wan smiled and his emotions returned to their usual equipoise as he led them outside. 

Padmé called after them.  "May the Force be with you."