Anakin wandered the halls of the Jedi temple with no sense of direction. He hadn't looked up from his feet in hours, just simply kept walking and trusted that the Force would keep him from running into anybody. So far, it had done a good job, and he had only collided with Kit Fisto, two small padawan learners, and a single wide pillar.

Slowly, Anakin made his way unknowingly towards he and Padme's apartment. She wasn't there, he knew. It was only noon, and she had informed him she wouldn't be home until late that night, but he was so disturbed with leaving her. Something about the pregnancy made him even more protective of her than he already was, and he was mighty protective.

Anakin wandered blindly into the main apartment of the building and stopped short just outside the elevator. He glared at the blue couch in the open entryway, silently hating it simply for something to hate.

He moved towards it, kicked the rim, and fell down onto it.

"What have I done?" He asked no one in particular, mainly because he was the only one there. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Unsure of where he was expecting these answers to come from, Anakin dropped his head into his hands and shook it slowly. He sighed and searched inside himself for any sort of clue.

He could feel the Force coursing through him, and shut his eyes, allowing those feelings to consume him. He felt himself push off the couch, his feet move back into the elevator, and his finger jab at an unseen button. He allowed his eyes to open with the doors, and stepped out into the Nubian garden chamber.

Normally, the beautiful rooms would soothe him instantly. Their beauty, calmness, everything that reminded him of Padme always entered him, wrapping around his very being. Not this time, though.

This time he was too disturbed; confused; shook.

Again, he followed his feet to the corner dedicated entirely to his mother. Padme, being the thoughtful woman that she was, had laid out the small area when he had first left her after their marriage.

Anakin closed his eyes again, allowing the surroundings and memories course through his mind. Before his lids, he watched as his delicate wife pulled him through the gardens excitedly.

"Look," she had exclaimed, moving him surprisingly forcefully so he stood in front of her. She stood on tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his shoulder, placing her chin over one so she could see what he saw from his perspective.

No one had ever done anything remotely thoughtful for him in his life, and when he looked upon the array of blue and white flowers Padme had planted herself, and the small pools of water fed by miniature waterfalls, he felt truly blessed.

He had felt her breath on his neck as she whispered, "Those colours reminded me of your mother. They represent love and peace, and together compassion. Shmi was passionate, Anni. She loved you so much."

Back in reality, Anakin smiled lightly to himself, suddenly overcome with a mix of emotions. He attempted to fight them back, but felt his eyes burn with the threat of tears.

"Oh mom," he moaned, dropping to his knees like he had done so long ago. He used to wake up and sneak to this little corner. He could always feel Padme watching his back as he spoke to the air he imagined was his mother, listening. But he hadn't done so since the first year after she'd died. He'd felt he'd outgrown it, that his mother really couldn't hear him like he'd thought, and that the presence he felt, loving him with all of her heart, was merely Padme's.

Now, though- Now was different. He felt the presence more than ever, but knew Padme could not have been there, gazing into his back like she had always done so faithfully and respectfully.

"Oh mom," he repeated, sitting back on his feet and looking up at the tall plant that branched out at him. The biggest of all the plants, the one he'd envisioned as his mother all those nights so long ago.

"I'm so confused," he confessed, searching inside himself for more words.

"I love Padme, more than ever. She's pregnant now, mom. We lay in bed every night and every morning, watching her stomach for some sort of sign, some sort of answer to a question we haven't even asked. It's grown a lot in the past few months; it's already like we have our child. I find myself more protective over the small bump in her stomach than I have been over much else. It's as if we're afraid it's going to disappear." Anakin paused, smiling lightly to himself at how silly this thought was, now that he had said it aloud.

"But mom, the jedi want me to leave her for some sort of mission. I can't leave her like this; so weak, more fragile than she's ever been to me. She gets sick all the time. Who will hold back her hair- take care of her- in my absence? But I can't reject the council's orders. They both need me."

Anakin felt some sort of importance as he said this. Finally, in desperation, he asked, "What will I do?"

No answer came. He sat there for hours, staring up at the tall plant and its blooming flowers, repeating the words over and over again. Telling 'his mother' how much he missed her and needed her right then. How he wished things had never been that way; that he had gotten to her just days earlier.

After mumbling all sorts of things, Anakin began to elaborate on the perfect life;

"We would live on Naboo," he said. "Padme's always wanted to live back on Naboo. She tells me every night how she wants to raise our child there. It's beautiful, mom. You would love it.

"I will have become a great Jedi by then, and all would know of my love. It would be accepted. We'll have children, two or three maybe. The boy –there will only be one boy- will be just like me. He'll want to become a jedi, and we'll spend afternoons battling with sticks in place of lightsabers, until he's old enough, of course. The girls will look just like their mother, with beautiful brown eyes and long flowing hair. They'll even have some of your features, like your nose. I've got your nose, so they'll all have it too.

"And you'll be there, obviously. The children will love you more than they love Padme or I. You'll spoil them against our word. Cleigg will be there too, and Owen and Beru. You'll all have separate houses of course, but you'll be nearby. Owen and Beru will have children, too, and they will all play with Padme's nieces. Padme loves her nieces.

"We'll have great picnics out on the island, with the whole family. Padme's side and mine. Obi-Wan will come to some of them, but it will be difficult because of his high seat in the council. He'll be the greatest jedi ever, even greater than Masters Windu and Yoda. Even me..." Anakin trailed, realizing this was the same thing he always fantasized, and that it could never come true. His mother was dead, he would have to accept that, and he and Padme could never live exposed like that.

"Thank you, mom," he said, nodding his head to the plant as he stood and slowly followed his feet back to the elevator.

Gah, I'm sorry it's taken me so long. I kind of built up all these ideas in my head, and as I was trying to lead up to them, I ran into a corner. Luckily, I dug out my 'Attack of the Clones' book, by R.A. Salvator, and this idea jumped out at me. I haven't even gotten past the first chapter, heh. It just kind of, arose as I was reading. Hopefully you guys liked this one. I know you love the Anakin/Padme fluff, but I have to throw this in there. I promise; More fluff next chapter.

I won't be responding to reviews this time out of sheer laziness, but I promise that if you review more now, I'll respond to not only these, but also the last ones. Hint, hint.

I can't gurantee when to expect the next installment, my summer's been kind of hectic, but I'd give it about a week, give or take a few days.

-Kimaa