She was slowly backing away and reaching for one of her handmaidens, which I thought odd, as she's never liked the idea of using them as human shields, although their was no need for her to shield herself from me now. All I wished was to make an apology, for whatever it was worth, for the hell I had brought upon her. The handmaiden turned to her, and Padme said something in her ear. The maiden looked up, and suddenly she was rushing towards me. What was the meaning behind this? Did Padme ask her servant to tell me she did not wish to speak to me? Was I not even worthy of her acknowledgnemt now, that she simply sent a messanger to me in her stead? I clenched my hands in anger and was about to storm out when I heard her voice. "Ani!" I turned and waited, expecting to see the figure in the blue gown coming toward me, but still saw only the handmaiden. Then the voice called to me again, "Ani, please wait!" and with a start I saw her face coming in clearer as she made her way to me. The face I had loved since I was a child came fully into focus when she stood a few feet from me.
-
She stopped there, seemingly unsure of how I would acknowledge her. If it was safe to approach me. I smiled at her. "My angel," I said softly, and she ran to me, throwing herself into my waiting embrace. I clung to her as though she were a raft in a sea of the nothingness my life had become since we'd last parted. "Ani, what's going on, they said Obi-Wan was injured. Is he alright?" I lifted my head to meet her penetrating gaze and sadly shook my head as the tears began to pour anew, "No my love, he isn't." She began to weep softly, I pulled her closer to me and wept with her, for the sheer torment of knowing I had done this to us all.

As I explained it all to her, her eyes filled with abject horrer. I wept openly as I told her, I was in fact responsible for our dear friends condition. I waited for her to berate me, to curse me for what I had done, for I fully expected that she would hate me once she knew. But it didn't come.

She gazed at me with compassion, with sadness, and, dare I imagine it, was their still...love, behind those eyes? Love for me? Who had been a terrible husband, unworthy of her grace and beauty, unworthy of even her acknowledgment. I didn't deserve a friend like my Padme, much less a wife. The dam that had held my emotions in control, now broke. I cried a river of hot remorseful tears as she clung to me, enfolding me into the sweetness that was her warmth. My body was wracked with sobs as my mind completely comprehended what had happened. I had betrayed the only two people who had loved me, since my mother had died.

And in a way, had even betrayed my mother. She had wanted me to become a Jedi, had wished it as she lay there breathing her last breathe. And I had made promises to her, and broken them all one by one, convincing myself it didn't really matter, now that she was dead she'd never know. But as I thought of her, I could feel a pull in the Force, telling me she was weeping for me now.

"Anakin Skywalker?" A nurse droid behind me inquired, I released Padme and turned to it, trying to clear my mind and be strong now for Obi-Wan. "Yes?" The Droid came up to us and said, in a female voice not too unlike Padmes, "The patient you brought in would like to see you, but we request that you only stay for a short while."

My heart lurched. My stomach tied itself in a million knots as I swallowed nervously, swinging my eyes to glance at my wife. She had turned a slight bit whiter than normal at the droids request, but squeezed my hand encouragingly. "It's alright, Ani, he still loves you, I know he does. Everything will be okay. I'll be here waiting for you when you're finished."

I took several deep breathes and centered myself before beginning my journey down the long narrow hallway.