CHAPTER 8: Anakin Comes Home

The water taxi ride out of the house took Anakin's breath away. As much as Padmé had described their home to him on the shuttle ride to Naboo, he still couldn't quite remember what the planet looked like. Now that he was here, memories flowed back to him. The living Force pulsed all around and through him as he took a deep, cleansing breath of clean air. Clean air. Who would have thought that such a small thing could be so calming and cleansing?

The clinic had released Anakin with a clean bill of health five days before. He had spent three days on Alderaan getting used to the outside world again, with the aid of his wife and friend. She had also spent that time teaching him how to take care of children. Anakin was in love. He had fallen in love with the two youngest people in his life, and he could not be happier to have them.

After their time on Alderaan, the small family was more than ready to return home to Naboo. They bid farewell to Obi-Wan as he headed back to Courscant. The good-bye between the two men who had been as close as father and son was a sad one. However, when the time came, Anakin and Padmé knew they would be seeing Obi-Wan again. Luke and Leia were very powerful in the Force, which of course was not unexpected, being the children of the Chosen One.

Now, the family of four was slowly approaching their home. Anakin blinked, seeing the same house where he and Padmé had been in hiding three years ago when she was in danger of assassination. This was the house where they had been married. He leaned close to his wife. "We live here?" Padmé glanced lovingly at him, smiling.

"Yes, Anakin," she said. "This is home."

As they pulled up to the house it finally began to sink in for Anakin. He was home; home with his family. Dormé stepped onto the porch and Anakin handed Luke to her before getting out himself. He then turned and glanced at his wife lovingly. She looked very maternal as she stood up, being careful not to wake her sleeping daughter. She glanced up and met her husband's gaze. Anakin offered his hand to her and he helped her from the taxi. As she stood next to him on the patio, Anakin smiled at her.

"Would you do me the honor of showing me our home, Mrs. Skywalker?" he asked. Padmé's smile widened.

"Of course, Mr. Skywalker."

Hello dear readers! I wanted to thank you all for your fabulous reviews, favorites, and follows on this story over the years, I continue to be so pleased that one of my pieces continues to resonate with all of you.

Recently, I've been flipping through my pieces on this site since getting all of the most recent reviews and follows for Return, and had a read through of the story. I got bit by the writing bug hard upon realizing that the story could be so much more fleshed out and in line with the canon storylines of The Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith, which could, in the end, create a better story.

I have since started rewriting Return to make it more canonical, but also to enhance the storytelling and characters to be more of what I originally wanted them to be, and what started out as a story of wishful thinking that Anakin doesn't turn to the Dark Side has become something much more thanks to the inspiration of the stories and character developments of one of the best animated series I have seen in a long time.

To give you guys an idea of where I'm headed with the story, which will eventually play out in much the same way as the original Return, here's the summary and setting.

The Son used his future to turn him, but the Father made him forget. Though it was meant to be his downfall, Anakin's dark future is just what the Force needs to save him from himself.

Set directly after the events in Revenge of the Sith when Chancellor Palpatine reveals his true identity to Anakin, The Chosen One informs Mace Windu of the Sith Lord hiding in plain sight. As Mace races to arrest the dark Chancellor, Anakin waits.

Here is the link to Return – Rewrite, and I will be attempting to post a new chapter once a week! I hope you all enjoy the new take on this story, and continue to let me know your thoughts as the chapters go up!

s/11387165/1/Return-Rewrite