Hello! I'd just like to thank the reviewers I've had so far, those who've favorited this story, and those who've decided to put this story on their story alert list. I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last. I'll start working on the next chapter later today because it's sorta the early morning now and I think I should maybe get a little sleep... Maybe. Again, I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.


Anakin hadn't stopped glaring at the unnamed Jedi ever since he had been dismissed from the Council Chambers. However, when Obi-Wan came out and said something to the Jedi, his face turned white and Anakin suddenly had a bad feeling about it. Aside, of course, from the whole thing where the Jedi (with a hangover) had to follow him around for an indefinite period of time. Meaning the Jedi Council would end up hearing all about what Anakin did in his free time, and he wouldn't be able to see Padmé until that idiot got back to his own time.

Obi-Wan then walked over to Anakin. Oh, no. Not another lecture. "Anakin, we have to talk about something. It's rather important." Wait a sec, Anakin thought, if that guy's from the future, then he might know about me and Padmé... That little snitch!

"Yes, Master, what is it?" Anakin asked, trying to put on a mask of perfect innocence.

Obi-Wan noticed. "Has someone been studying politics with a certain Senator?"

Sith. Caught. Anakin's façade never faltered, and he pretended to look confused. "Whatever do you mean, Master? You know I would never willingly get within a mile radius of Jar Jar."

"I don't mean Jar Jar, and you know it, Anakin." Obi-Wan motioned to the Jedi in black to come over, and he did, but he wasn't going to like it.

"Yes, B---Master Kenobi?" The Jedi noticed Anakin was giving him a death glare and looked as if he really wondered what he had done to piss Anakin off even more. As if you don't know, Anakin thought at him sarcastically.

"Anakin and I are going to take a little walk and have a talk about something rather important, but the last thing anyone needs is for you to get lost in the Temple, so follow us at a ...discreet distance," Obi-Wan told the Jedi.

"Yes, sir," he replied. After the two others were about ten feet off, he started following them at a similar pace.

"Now, Anakin. I'd like you to be honest. Are you and Senator Amidala romantically involved with each other?" Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin stayed silent for a few moments, looked back over his shoulder, glared at the Jedi from the future, turned back to Obi-Wan, and sighed. "Yes," Anakin admitted. Why couldn't I have just lied! Anakin asked himself, surprised he had told the truth. I'm getting kicked out of the Order now... Why not just tell him everything since I'm screwed as it is? "I, uh... am also, uh, sorta married to her..."

Obi-Wan sighed. Does Anakin ever obey the rules? Will he ever obey the rules? Obi-Wan thought. "...How long?"

"Since right after Geonosis..."

Obi-Wan turned to Anakin. "And you've been able to keep it a secret for that long! I mean, yeah, I suspected something was going on, but..."

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, Master." Great, now I feel like the scum of the earth, lying to Obi-Wan for so long... Force! That stupid Knight just had to tell them, didn't he!

Seeing the look on Anakin's face, Obi-Wan stopped him. "This has nothing to do with anything that Jedi said."

"Then why did he turn white as a sheet earlier when you said something to him?"

"...I just had to make ascertain the truth of a certain hypothesis of mine. He took the comment rather adversely, and I knew what I had thought was correct."

"But it had to do with me and Padmé, didn't it?" Anakin pressed as they were walking along again.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I'm not answering that question." He paused. "Still, I think you should try to be a little nicer to the poor guy. And, despite what you may believe, having him follow you around isn't a punishment. Everyone in the Council just agreed you would probably get along together pretty well."

They walked in relative silence for a few minutes. Eventually, Anakin spoke. "...am I going to be expelled from the Order?" he asked rather quietly.

Obi-Wan sighed. "To tell you the truth, Anakin, I don't know, but I am going to have to tell Mace and Yoda. Mace first. He'd take it better. I hope." He paused. "Anakin, you remember the story of Nomi Sunrider?"

"Well, yeah. Everyone has to learn it. Why do you ask?"

"She was married. And had children." Obi-Wan smiled and shook his head. "I have the feeling that most of the greatest Jedi have been rule breakers. It's just that none of us on the Council feel like it would be a good idea to tell headstrong Padawans who already have a total disregard for the rules about how those Jedi broke the rules. Certain Padawans might follow suit." A meaningful look was sent Anakin's way.

"Hey! At least this one is a stupid rule!" Anakin retorted, defending himself.

Obi-Wan nodded, just deciding to let Anakin have that as a victory. "But you still have to let---"

"I am not going to let that annoying Jedi from the future follow me around!"

"You should have seen how much he wanted to get us to assign him to someone else," Obi-Wan told Anakin with an amused smile.

"And you didn't, why?" Anakin demanded to know.

"Because he never actually said anything. You missed the look on his face when we told you both. It was a mix between shock and horror. Looks like you turn out to be a pretty important player in the history of the galaxy. He really doesn't want to disturb the time-space continuum. I don't know whether he's doing the right thing, though." Obi-Wan paused. "Of course, he's probably already disturbed the course of the future already..." I would have never realized what was going on between you and Padmé for an indefinite period of time otherwise, Obi-Wan mused silently. Poor Luke, having to grow up with those two as parents...

"Obi-Wan... I just want to know. Why doesn't he want to change the future?"

"Who knows. He probably just wants to keep from changing the course of events in our time so the future doesn't change for the worse." But what if he could change it for the better? Obi-Wan suddenly thought.

"I guess that makes sense... But why does he have to follow me around! Why can't it be you or Master Yoda!" Anakin paused and corrected himself. "Okay, never mind. Being with Master Yoda for prolonged periods of time can drive you crazy."

"You only say that because you have problems understanding what he's trying to say," Obi-Wan mentioned. "However, like it was said before, it would be a good learning experience for you."

"He's not gonna tell me his name. What will I call him anyway? 'Jedi'? 'Hey, you'?"

"Well, why don't you pick a name to call him?" Obi-Wan suggested. "He probably would be fine with whatever as long as you don't press him for his real name."

"Then I'm calling him... Luke," Anakin decided. "Yeah. That works. He looks like a Luke, and I've always liked that name..." Anakin paused. "Maybe I should talk to Padm---"

"Oh, dear God, Anakin. Don't tell me she's pregnant, too," Obi-Wan said, cutting Anakin off. Always in trouble... I wonder if he'll ever not be in trouble...

"Well...Uh. Yeah." Anakin looked at the floor. "I'm in really big trouble, aren't I?"


The speeder ride to wherever they were going was, needless to say, tense. How did I get stuck with...my father? Luke wondered. He knew that his father wasn't exactly thrilled that Luke had to follow him around. Why the hell am I stuck in this situation? Why am I back in the past in the first place? Luke sighed.

"What?" Anakin half snapped at Luke.

"Uh, nothing. Nothing at all..." Luke paused and realized he did actually have a question. "Uh, may I ask where we're going?"

Anakin glanced over at Luke. "Fine. You can ask." Great. His father was sarcastic. Well, he knew where Leia got that trait now. "...Can I ask you a question about the future?"

Everything was going to hit the fan anyway, so why not? "Sure."

"What's the Jedi Order like where you're from? Is it any more lax in any of it's policies?"

Luke wondered why Anakin had asked a question like that. "Well, what policies? I mean, the only one I'm really all that familiar with is the one where you don't turn to the Dark Side."

"Oh. Never mind..." Anakin's mood then significantly brightened after that. After another few minutes of silence, Anakin answered the question Luke had asked. "We're going to visit a ...friend of mine, Senator Amidala."

"Uh, well, that brings up a few more questions, like who's Senator Amidala and why are we going to visit said Senator?" After asking, Luke decided that it probably hadn't been the smartest thing to ask, seeing that Anakin was now staring at him like he was an idiot.

Remembering he was talking to someone from the future, Anakin sighed and concentrated on driving again. "You've never heard of her?"

"No." Keeping a completely straight face, Luke thought, Her! Oh great... It couldn't possibly be my mother... could it? Regardless, I get more chances to screw the past up completely. Calmly, he asked, "What planet is she from?"

"Naboo. Duh. Or have you never heard of Naboo, either? Geez, what is the future like, anyway? You still know where Corellia is, right?" Anakin asked, starting to get a little impatient.

"Yes, I know where Corellia is," Luke snapped. Dealing with his father when he was near the same age as Luke was much more aggravating than when his father was a Dark Lord of the Sith. "And yes, I have heard of Naboo. It's some planet in the Mid-Rim. My s---friend, who was also a Senator, told me one time that a Senator from that planet proposed that Palpatine be given emergency powers during the Clone Wars. Or something like that."

Anakin snorted, suppressing a laugh. "I know who you're talking about, but that's not Pa---Senator Amidala. Actually, I think we should start praying that she doesn't have who you've heard of over..."

Luke groaned. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

"You can say that again," Anakin agreed, grinning.


Padmé was sitting at the dining room table, waiting for Anakin to come home. Unfortunately, since something had come up at work, she had found it necessary to invite Jar Jar over for dinner. Anakin wasn't exactly going to be thrilled that the Gungan was over, she knew, but she'd make it up to him later by watching those old war movies he liked so much. Honestly, what was it with men and war movies? Padmé sighed.

"...Mistress Padmé?"

"Huh?" She turned to Threepio. "Oh, right. Dinner. Well, Jar Jar's coming over, and Ani should be home for dinner," Force willing, "so have five servings, maybe six, prepared, just in case." She paused. "Make it sea food tonight..." Jar Jar had said he would be coming over (at the latest) ten minutes ago. If he was following the Mon Calamarians around again, Padmé wasn't sure she could restrain herself from yelling at him. Of course, the reason that the Gungan might be late was traffic. Why Anakin wasn't there was a complete mystery. Where was that man? Maybe she wouldn't watch the war movies with him after all...

Ten minutes later, Jar Jar arrived. Padmé gave in after a half and hour, and they ate dinner without Anakin. Of course, Jar Jar didn't know Anakin would be coming, but Padmé had already planned an excuse for him to have been there. The entire time, she talked with Jar Jar about the current unrest in the Senate and how he (and the Gungan population on Naboo) felt about it. Jar Jar had a lot to say, and the whole soliloquy was worthy of one of the Jar Jar Rant Of the Year Awards. Nevertheless, Padmé listened carefully to the entire thing and as a result was able to learn that Jar Jar had been temporarily kicked out of Oto Gunga. Again.

After another hour at about 10 at night, right as Jar Jar was about to leave, someone knocked on the door. Now who could that be? Padmé wondered. Anakin would never knock. Generally. Unless she made it obvious that she had company over. Painfully obvious. "Jar Jar, could you hold on for a minute? Someone's at the door."

Jar Jar looked confused for a few seconds, then regained his composure and replied. "Yup. Meesa wait right here."

Padmé walked over to the main entrance to her apartment. She fixed her hair a bit, just in case it was some other Senator or high-ranking official who was paying a visit for one reason or another. It could also be Anakin, but Padmé didn't really think it was, and she didn't think that because whoever at the door hadn't just entered without knocking. She just had a feeling. Padmé opened the door to see a Jedi Knight about her age standing outside in the darkness. He looked pretty grave and rather nervous, although nervous didn't seem to quite explain how flustered he looked. Oh no... Anakin! Do they know? Padmé thought, then she feared the worst. No... Ani can't be... Stowing away all of those thoughts, she put on one of her Senatorial smiles.

"Senator Amidala?" he asked, as if he wasn't sure he had the right address.

"Yes? May I help you?" Who was this mysterious Jedi? And why was he wearing black? The only Jedi she had ever saw wearing a dark color was Anakin... and the man in front of her looked like he felt like a bearer of bad news. NO! Padmé thought, trying to dismiss her fears. Anakin's all right!

"Um... Well, you see... F---A---Mr. Skywalker told me to come here and wait while he parked the speeder and, if he took longer than ten minutes, to tell you that he's sorry he took so long..." the Jedi replied, talking at a rate somewhat close to light speed.

Padmé felt instantly relieved. Anakin was all right. "Are you a friend of his?" she inquired of the Jedi.

He smiled shyly. "Sort of. I'm assigned on the same mission as him currently."

"Oh..." Ani's going away again? So soon? "Oh! Where are my manners? Please come in!" Padmé announced. The Jedi smiled, obviously grateful to come inside. When he came into the light, Padmé almost thought it was actually Anakin, but she thought that only for a brief portion of a second. It was eery, though, how similar the two looked. He had the same eyes as Anakin. Maybe he was a long lost relative of Anakin. A cousin maybe. Padmé then remembered that she had Jar Jar waiting in the other room. Unsure of what to call him, Padmé said, "Jedi? I have a guest in the other room. Would you mind waiting for Anakin in the other room?"

"Uh, s---sure," he stammered in response as he followed Padmé out of the entrance hallway and into the living room where she had left Jar Jar.

"Jar Jar, as we were saying..." Padmé began. As she concluded her conversation with the Gungan, the Jedi was staring wide-eyed at the Gungan. That was funny. It was almost as if he'd never seen a Gungan before, but that was ridiculous. Everyone would have seen Jar Jar at least when he suggested Palpatine accept emergency powers. It had been on all of the news, after all. Then it occurred to Padmé that she hadn't even asked the Jedi his name.


Anakin walked into Padmé's apartment after parking the speeder (which had taken forever; one would think that a society advanced as theirs would have a better system to park vehicles). From the hallway, he could hear two distinct voices. One was definitely Padmé's, and the other was... Oh, sith! Sith, sith, sith, sith! Jar Jar Binks, representative from Naboo. Sith. Where was Luke, though? He wasn't waiting outside. Maybe Threepio was telling stories again to him in the kitchen or something. Anakin smiled. That would be a punishment fit for no man, but Anakin couldn't imagine leaving anyone she didn't really know around Threepio unless they made a horrible impression on her.

Gingerly, Anakin rounded the corner and walked into the living room. Sure enough, there was Jar Jar and Padmé, talking about politics, and Luke, who looked bored out of his mind and had already seemed to have gotten enough of Jar Jar for a lifetime. He hid it well, better than Anakin could have done. He just looked like he was about to fall asleep on account of the political jabber instead of entertaining the thought of wringing Jar Jar's neck. Of course, Anakin had to wonder if he really was the only one that wanted to do that. Just then, Jar Jar noticed Anakin's presence. "Annie! Been long time since mesa seen yousa!"

Anakin smiled despite himself, not noticing the amused look on Luke's face. "Hi, Jar Jar. How've you been? Politics driven you insane yet?"

"Nope. Mesa still sane as mesa's always been." He smiled wackily. "Everyt'ing's goin okidokie. ...Except the debates about the emergency powers for the Senate, but yousa understand 'bout that."

Anakin nodded, knowingly. He never was actually really annoyed with Jar Jar when the childish fool of a Gungan was around. It was only when Jar Jar was gone that Anakin harbored less than ambivalent feelings. "So I've heard."

"Well," Jar Jar said, checking the chrono on the wall. "Mesa should get goin. Big Senate meeten in the mornin."

Padmé smiled and showed him out. "See you later, Jar Jar," she called after him as he left the apartment. When the Gungan was gone, she walked back into the living room to talk to Anakin to figure out just what exactly was going on. "Anakin, are you going to introduce your friend to me?" she asked, gesturing to Luke.

"Oh, yeah," Anakin replied, then glared at Luke. "You couldn't even introduce yourself?" he hissed at him. Luke shrugged, causing Anakin to roll his eyes. "This is Luke..." Anakin realized he would have to make up a last name, seeing as Luke wasn't going to supply his real name or offer up a fake one. Time to be incredibly uncreative and take the easy way out of the name situation. "Skywalker. He's my second or third cousin, twice removed." Luke turned to look at Anakin like he was insane. "The Council assigned him to me for some random reason."

"That's true," Luke commented. "I saw no logic whatsoever to their decision."

"They could just have easily had you stay at the Temple," Anakin said to Luke. "But, as usual, the Council is making everyone's lives a living hell, so..." Anakin smiled a little maliciously. "Have fun sleeping on the couch."

"And we were getting along so well in the speeder," Luke said sarcastically.

Neither noticed Padmé had been laughing until they stopped bickering. "Are you really sure you aren't more closely related?" she asked both of them.

"Yes," Anakin answered automatically, but noticed that Luke was strangely silent. He was upset about something, Anakin sensed. That was odd... Why would he be? Padmé was about to launch into her Anakin-you're-being-unreasonable mode and show Luke to the guest room.

Smiling, Padmé addressed Luke. "Now. Since you're a friend of a good friend of mine, you can forget about all of the 'Senator Amidala' nonsense and just call me Padmé, all right?" Luke nodded, mostly not wanting to contradict her. "Next order of business. Anakin's being a pain in the butt, so he gets to sleep on the couch tonight." Anakin was about to protest, but Padmé kept talking. "Therefore, you get to occupy the guest bedroom."

"Thank you, Sen---uh---Padmé," Luke replied. Anakin was glad to see that Luke was hesitant about using Padmé's first name but he rather irked that he was to be occupying the couch. Or was Padmé just saying that because she thought Luke might tell the Jedi Council that she and Anakin were together. Anakin had decided back in the speeder that Luke probably didn't give a damn either way and didn't even know about the no marriage rule.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Padmé exclaimed. "Don't be surprised if you run into either of the droids, Artoo or Threepio. Artoo'll just ignore you probably, but Threepio might try to tell you stories about the exploits of anyone and everyone whom we know and maybe some gossip that's been going around in the Senate. If you politely turn him down, he isn't offended. If you aren't polite..." She glared at Anakin. "...it might take a while for him to talk to you again." Luke was smiling, as if he knew exactly what Padmé was talking about. Anakin wondered if Luke had run across any droids like Threepio in the future. Heck, he might actually know the same Threepio! Anakin dismissed the idea almost immediately.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Luke told Padmé. "Not many would let strange people they don't know into their houses, much less allow them to stay overnight."

Padmé smiled. "It's no problem. Really." She turned to Anakin. "Now, you go reheat dinner for Luke and yourself, and I'll go get you blankets and a pillow so you can sleep on the couch." Anakin sighed. So she hadn't been kidding. Or she was intent on keeping up the ruse. Either way, Anakin trudged into the kitchen with Luke following him.