AN: Thank you thank you for all the reviews! You guys are the best! I'm so happy about how well recieved this fic is! I hope my 'vision' for the future of this story meets your expectations.

Chapter Six

'I've seen tonight what I've been warned about,

I'm gonna leave tonight before I change my mind,

I've seen tonight how I could waste my time,

I'm gonna be on my way and I won't be back again'

-'See You When You're 40', Dido

The conversation with Padmé had been a short one.

"Padmé," he sat her down on the sofa as he sat next to her, their four hands clasped in her lap. "I have to tell you something. Something terrible that I've done." He looked up at her, cold worry churning in his stomach and causing the light in his eyes to dim. "Something that may put us in danger if certain people were to find out. Something that, once said, may cause you to stop loving me."

"Anakin…" her voice was so soft, so innocent. She has no idea what kind of person he really is, his feelings told him. "Anakin, I love you. No matter what you have to say, I will always love you." He bowed his head, clutching her two small hands tighter, almost painfully, as he attempted to control himself. Padmé unlaced one of her hands and buried it into his soft hair, making him look at her, wiping away a tear with her thumb. "What is it, my love? What is it that hurts you this much?" He took a breath that sounded more like a hiss of pain, releasing it in a great shuddering sigh.

"I…I killed Count Dooku," he said finally.

"But Anakin, we already know you defeated him. You're a war hero."

"No, I'm a war criminal!" he countered, anger and regret coloring his words. He stood. "He was ready to be imprisoned for his crimes. I had won the battle and disarmed him. He was helpless." Padmé sat in stunned silence behind him. He couldn't bear to turn to look at her, to see whatever expression she may have on her perfect face. "And I killed him anyway," he finished.

The silence in the room was thick and heavy. It weighed him down until he felt tired, exhausted, and far too weak to be standing. He turned, almost a stumble, and saw the full weight of his actions reflected in his wife's face. They buckled his knees and sent him to the floor, pain shooting up through his thighs at the impact, but pain he relished and accepted as a partial payment for the pain he had caused, the pain he saw clouding those brown eyes he had so many times lost himself in.

Finally she looked up and focused those eyes on his. It was then that he saw that it wasn't pain in her eyes, it was sympathy. Love, remorse, but also great sympathy for her husband and all he must be feeling with his admission. She, like most every other normal being in the Republic had hated Dooku, had wished for his execution since the first day his name appeared in their daily news. Had even, in a secret part of herself, wished to be the one to carry out the sentence. It was not his death that caused her pain, it was the guilt and shame she saw in her husband. She slid off the couch to kneel before him, taking his head in her hands and bringing it to rest comfortingly on her shoulder. She felt him shake beneath her with sobs, felt the dampness of his tears soaking her shirt, felt his hot breath against her neck. She stroked his hair soothingly.

"Anakin," she whispered softly, her breath caressing his ear, "I love you. No matter what, I will always love you." She kissed him, and then again more deeply. He returned them gratefully, drinking her in, forgiving himself even as she forgave him. At that moment, he decided he didn't care what the Jedi may learn from the Chancellor, no matter how good his intentions were. He didn't care about who or what might come after him; on the contrary, now that he could think straight again he realized that if no one knew where they went, surely their enemies wouldn't find them!

And failing that, he still had his lightsaber. They wouldn't be caught defenseless; not his family!

Padmé led her husband to their bedroom where they spent their last night together in her posh 500 Republica Apartment in the heart of Galactic City, Coruscant. Later that night, however, as his wife slept soundly in his arms, Anakin lay awake, thinking about all that had happened that day. He thought of his talk with Palpatine and with Padmé. Telling her had alleviated much of his guilt, but there was still one other he felt he was answerable to.

He was sleeping when he arrived. He had seen this apartment dozens of times, even lived in it for over twelve years, but for some reason it felt different tonight. He felt almost as if he were intruding. He moved like a ghost through the living quarters and into the bedroom, across from the door that had led to his own. Swiftly and silently, he closed the door behind him.

The window was open, and a slight breeze fluttered the sheet covering his Master as he slept. Anakin had always thought him beautiful in his sleep, a pure beauty that suggested a deeper purity of spirit within. Anakin glided over to kneel before his sleeping Master, lost in his sea of dreams. There, he confessed everything, lay all his deeds at the feet of his beloved friend and mentor – the Tuskans, Dooku, all his secret hates and loves and hurts, all were revealed to the man who slept soundly before him.

Forget the training, the Padewan braid, the trials – tonight he truly felt the Knight they had called him. Tonight he truly felt like a Jedi.

"All you had to do was forgive yourself," Obi-Wan's gentle whisper startled him. He opened his eyes and fixed them on those of his former student. "You have never disappointed me, Anakin," he said. "Ever."

They left that morning, and they told no one.

Anakin piloted the ship out of Coruscant's glittering atmosphere, and both passengers craned their necks to get one last look at the planet they had called home for years. As the last layers of the thermosphere broke above the hull of their sleek Nubian Cruiser, Anakin reached over to cover his wife's trembling hand with his. She looked over at him and their eyes locked, joy mingling with sorrow between them as the ship readied itself to make its series of hyperspace jumps. Anakin had programmed them specifically so anyone attempting to follow them would become confused by their erratic flight plan.

"We're really doing it," she whispered, a tiny gem tumbling down her cheek to land on the fabric of her dress. Anakin leaned over to wipe away it's glistening wet trail.

"It doesn't mean we'll never see them again," he said soothingly. "We still know where they are, they just don't know where we are. We can visit them at any time." She nodded, comforted by his words. She turned into his embrace, and he hugged her to his chest just as the ship made its first jump.