CHAPTER 7: Anakin Meets His Family
For those of you who have been waiting for it, HERE IT IS!!! Anakin finally gets to meet Luke and Leia. Enjoy!
Anakin sat in the new room he had been assigned. Ever since he had seen Padmé everything was coming back to him, all his most treasured memories were returning to him. He felt like himself again.
He was sitting on the couch writing down his thoughts and anything he could think of to write. That's when Padmé entered his mind. He always thought of her when he wrote, which usually led to a description of his lovely wife, and now that he had her back he was full of life again.
A knock came at the door and Anakin looked up. He stood up and went to the door and the object of his thoughts stood before him as the door opened. Anakin's face brightened immediately as he stepped aside and she walked in.
"Padmé," he sighed as he hugged her tightly. "I missed you, my love." Padmé smiled and giggled.
"I was only here yesterday Ani," she said.
"I know, but I still missed you." Anakin looked down at her and kissed her cheek softly. "Come sit down," he said as they moved to the couch. They sat down next to each other, Anakin with his arm around his wife.
"So, what have you done all day?" Padmé asked.
"Not too much," he said. "I've been sitting here basically all day." Padmé nodded and looked down at the table. She picked up his paper and began reading, mesmerized.
"What is this?" she asked innocently.
"Oh," Anakin said. "Um... I was writing earlier." Padmé looked up.
"Writing? Writing what?"
"Well, maybe I'll show you someday," he said smiling mysteriously. Padmé smiled and put the papers down. She kept her eyes on the table and wet her lips. She was wasting too much time. He needs to know now.
Anakin noticed his wife's change of mood and cocked his head as he leaned towards her. "Padmé?" She quickly looked at him. She bit her lip and then turned fully towards him.
"Anakin," she began. "Do you remember what happened between us before you came here to the clinic?" Anakin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What?" he asked.
"Please, Anakin," Padmé begged. "Do you?" Anakin shook his head.
"You know I don't. I've tried to remember everything, but everything after our wedding is gone." Padmé nodded.
"I didn't expect you to." She leaned forward and grasped his hands. "Circumstances have come to pass and now you need to know about the darkest time in your past, Anakin. There is something I must reveal to you, but before I do you need to know how you left me."
Anakin's eyes widened with fear and shock. "What!" he gasped. "Why would I do such a thing? I love you."
"I know, Anakin. I know you do, and I always knew you did. But you went through a period two years after our marriage that brought our marriage crashing down at our feet, and there was nothing I could do to stop it." Padmé took a deep breath. "Although the night you left I tried. I thought I could make you love me again knowing what I knew."
"What did you know, Padmé?" Anakin asked, pulling his wife closer to him. Padmé hesitated. She took a breath and looked into her husband's liquid blue eyes.
"I was pregnant, Anakin." Anakin blinked. Pregnant? "They are yours. But I didn't have the chance to tell you. You left before I could."
Anakin pulled away from Padmé slightly, absorbing this new information. He was a father. A father who didn't even know his own children no less. He looked down at their hands joined in his lap. How did he deserve this angel? "What did I become?" he asked. Padmé bit her lip before responding.
"Anakin, you... you turned to the Dark Side."
Anakin stood up and walked to the window, running his hands through his hair and down his face as he did. He couldn't believe it. After all of his years of training! How could he betray the Jedi, his friends, his family? How dare he betray his angel! He took a deep breath in and allowed a shaky release. How dare he.
"I don't know why it happened, Ani," Padmé continued. "And I don't pretend to understand. But now we've been given a second chance. Now you know your mistake, so it's all right. We can have the life we wanted." Anakin nodded.
"I understand that, Padmé," he said. "And I do also feel like we've been given a second chance. But..." He hesitated and turned around slowly, starting into her eyes. "... I don't understand how you can forgive me." Padmé stood up and walked up to him. "I mean I left you, pregnant and alone no matter. I was selfish and I left you when you needed me most. I am surprised you're willing to even be in the same room with me." Padmé smiled sadly.
"All that is true, Anakin," she said. "And for a while I was inconsolable, but it was not because I hated you." Padmé reached up and encircled his neck with her arms, resting her forehead against his. "I was able to forgive you because of my love for you." Padmé leaned up and kissed her husband's forehead as Anakin buried his face into her shoulder and chocolate brown curls. "I never stopped loving you, Ani. You were always the only man in my life, and you were always alive in my heart. You never died and I never forgot." She could hear Anakin sniff and as he raised his head she saw the tears in his eyes. "That's how I can forgive you, Anakin Skywalker. My love for you never died because what we had simply cannot die. I love you."
Anakin hugged his wife like he would never let her go, and he never would. He didn't deserve this woman, this angel sent to him by the Force. "I love you so much, Padmé," he whispered. Padmé smiled and kissed his cheek.
"I know, and I love you, too." They pulled apart and Padmé began to lead Anakin over to the couch. "Now, there are two people you need to meet." Anakin cocked his eyebrow and Padmé called towards the open door. "Obi-Wan!"
Obi-Wan came into the room with a bundle of blankets tucked safely in each arm. Anakin gasped and kept his eyes fixed on the two bundles until Obi-Wan sat down next to Padmé and handed her one. Padmé turned to Anakin and presented him with the bundle. "Anakin," she said as she slowly transferred the child to the father. "This is your son, Luke." Padmé pulled back the blankets to reveal the small baby's face. Anakin's breath caught in this throat as he gazed upon the child he had sired. His son was sleeping peacefully, safe in his father's arms. Anakin reached up and softly touched the tuft of blonde hair already growing on Luke's head. Anakin looked back up at Padmé, his wife. She had a smile on her face that outshone Tattooine's twin suns. She bit her lip softly and gazed down at the child Obi-Wan had given to her.
"And Anakin," she said revealing the child in her arms. "This is Leia, your daughter."
Anakin couldn't breathe. His daughter was beyond beautiful. She already had her mother's hair and brown eyes as she glanced over at her father. Anakin smiled as Padmé leaned closer.
"Hey there, little one," Anakin cooed softly, reaching his hand towards his daughters'. Leia let out a small noise and tightly grasped his outstretched finger. Anakin's smile widened. "Oh, you look so much like your mother." Padmé smiled.
"And your son looks exactly like you," she said and Anakin turned his attention back to Luke, his son, his boy. Luke was still sleeping quietly as Anakin was given back his finger by Leia and stroked his son's cheek.
"They're amazing, Padmé," Anakin whispered. His voice failed him. He was finally holding the child he had deprived himself of, and Padmé was right; now that he knew everything about his past, he could make his life right again. "I've never seen anyone so amazing." Padmé smiled and sniffed as a small tear threatened to fall. "I cannot believe we have a family."
"I know," she said and Anakin tore his gaze from his son to look at his wife. A lump formed in his throat as he saw the look of love in her eyes. Unconditional love was what shone in those chocolate orbs, and it was all for him. She had never stopped loving him, that much was clear, but the extent of her love still left him utterly speechless.
Suddenly, Luke sneezed and his eyes flew open. Anakin and Padmé were startled from the moment and glanced at their son, smiling. His crystalline blue eyes took in everything around him until they finally came to rest on his father. Anakin smiled on his son.
"Hi," he said. "You awoke quickly, Luke." Padmé giggled. Anakin's eyes widened. "Hey, wanna see something, Luke? Come here."
As Anakin stood up with Luke in his arms and walked to the window, Padmé turned to Obi-Wan. The Jedi Master smiled softly and Padmé smiled, too. She then turned her attention back to her husband and son who stood at the window.
"You see that, Luke?" Anakin asked. "That's Alderaan, and someday you'll travel here again, and you'll go to all the other planets in the galaxy." Luke cooed softly and Padmé smiled. "Yeah," Anakin continued. "You'll be a pilot and you'll travel everywhere." Anakin walked back to the couch, sat down softly and glanced at his son. "But," he said looking up at Padmé. "You'll always have to come back to Naboo with your sister to visit your mom and dad."
Padmé giggled along with Obi-Wan. She handed Leia, who had fallen asleep, back to Obi-wan and she took Luke from Anakin. "The doctors say that you're going to be released in the next few days after they do the final health tests and all that," she said. Anakin nodded. "Then we can go back to Naboo... home."
Anakin breathed heavily. Home. The very thought made him unnaturally happy. He would be home with his family: his wife, son and daughter. He would build ships and come home at night to his children and loving angel.
"What more could I possibly want," he said as Padmé leaned towards him. They shared their first kiss in a year, short and sweet, before they both stood up and walked to the door.
"I'll come by with lunch tomorrow, Ani," Padmé said and Anakin nodded.
"I can't wait. I love you."
"I love you, too." As she turned to leave, Anakin stopped her.
"You wouldn't deprive me of saying good-bye to my children, now would you?" Padmé laughed.
"Of course not."
Obi-Wan came up with Leia and Anakin kissed her forehead, then Luke's. "I'll see both of you soon," he whispered softly.
Soon, Padmé, Obi-Wan, Luke and Leia left and Anakin returned to the end of his quiet afternoon, happier than ever.
Thank you; thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews. The next chapter will possibly be up in the next week or so. I hope you all have enjoyed reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I love you all, and R&R!