Obi-Wan woke the next morning to find that instead of becoming a human cage, Anakin had shifted over toward his wife and lay as close as he could without touching her. Since it was a rare morning that he woke without having Anakin breathing down his neck, in a quite literal and pleasing fashion, Obi-Wan took it as a sign and quietly got up to clothe himself. At the door he turned back for a last look at the lovers; their hair raven black and golden blond met in the middle of the pillow they shared.
The room the twins shared was on his way out and he couldn't help but take a moment to look in on them too. He nudged the door open to be greeted with the general clutter that most children regardless of species foster. Pictures the kids had drawn were pinned up to the wall showing the vastness of their imaginations. The kids slept in beds pushed together at the head to form an 'l', an arrangement they'd chosen when they'd been given the option of separate rooms. When they finally dropped off to sleep was the only time Luke and Leia were ever completely quiet.
Creeping down the stairs, Obi-Wan remembered what their house, which had originally been a hunting lodge attached to a great estate, had been like. It had fallen into extreme disuse, Solo had reckoned the years at two dozen since it had last been visited. Then, while Padme stayed with Mistress Solo at the manor, Solo had helped with his own two hands to restore the lodge to habitable living conditions.
They'd saved the Solo's young son, Han, from one of the native planet's predators, which led to a sit down discussion of mutual benefits of a friendship between the two families. In return for all the machinery work for the Solos and any commissioned by the local village, they received a fair portion of provisions and the privacy they desired. No one mentioned their other work of cloaking the inhabitants from the Empire or the'routine' monster hunts they did in the area. They'd also gained a pair of good friends and an eventual playmate for the twins. Han couldn't play with the village kids due to his social standings and had taken to Luke and Leia despite the age difference.
This morning was crisp with the slightest hint of frost hovering in the air. The dawn seemed all the brighter for the cold nipping his hands and face, and it was, in Obi-Wan's opinion, a perfect morning. Since the beginning of their homesteading, Obi-Wan had been breaking in a path from the lodge to a clearing where he and Anakin had sparred while waiting for the old riding arena to be converted for their uses. Now it was his primary spot for meditation and the more mundane contemplations.
Obi-Wan lay the mat he carried over the aged stump of a tree that sat in the direct center of the clearing. The forest giant had been cut long before they'd arrived on the scene, but Obi-Wan smiled, thinking fondly of what a beauty it must have been. He sat down cross-legged, facing the horizon the sun would rise from, burning away the mists that gave the setting a sense of mystery.
He'd barely begun to focus himself toward the feelings of apprehension that followed him even into sleep before a presence, walking down the same path he'd just emerged from, distracted him. Keeping his eyes shut, he could feel the glowing goodness of the person closing in from behind him.
"I'm sorry I woke you, Padme," he said not moving as her hands came to rest on his shoulders massaging gently through the layers of clothing he wore.
"If you were really sorry, you wouldn't think loud enough to wake me," Padme said, a smile in her voice as she leaned closer, putting more muscle behind her rubbing. "What brings you out this early?"
Leaning into her touch, Obi-Wan let his body disengage for a moment and just reveled in the contact. Eight years and he still couldn't get enough of human contact. The twins were getting to old to sit on his lap and listen to his stories, and he was already dreading the day it ended. "I still say you would have made an outstanding Jedi," he said rolling his head to the side to let her get at his neck.
"And I still say that you would have made one hell of a politician," she shot back giving him one last rub before she dropped her hands and walked around the side of the stump. She was still in her simple black sleeping robe, but had thrown a blanket over it. Obi-Wan would have thought that she would have had the most trouble adapting to their new environment, but Padme quickly became used to doing without all she'd left behind. It was Anakin that moped around at infrequent intervals brooding the fame and adventure he'd left behind.
"Truce!" Obi-Wan called, laughing as he easily shifted over to make room for her to sit beside him. She shared the blanket she had across his shoulders, and he grabbed it with his left hand pulling it tight and bringing them closer together.
They sat in silence, watching as sun beams began to cut through the trees. Padme turned to look up at him, breaking the gentle quiet, "I've been having some disturbing dreams lately, every night in fact. I don't remember them, I barely get flashes, but something's coming Obi-Wan. Something worse then what we've faced already."
"I too have felt something in the Force," Obi-Wan said, transferring his hold on the blanket to his other hand so he could catch her fingers up in a gentle squeeze. "Padme, I want to start training the twins to use the Force actively. They need to learn to use a lightsaber."
"No. We've talked about this already," Padme shook her head and shifted a bit so that she was not leaning against him. "I don't want to steal their childhood! We agreed on that."
Calmly, Obi-Wan wrapped an arm around her slim shoulders and drew her back against him; her hair smelled like fresh blooms and Anakin. After he finally felt her relax against him again, he spoke, lowering his voice, "They can't stay children forever, Padme. They've already had more time then nearly every other child in the galaxy. They play at storming the Emperor's palace; they know that someday we'll have to be involved again. That day may come sooner then any of us wished. You know it's true, search your heart."
She heaved a great sigh and lay her head down on his chest, talking into the folds of his tunic as she listened to his heartbeat, "I do know it's true, I just don't want to believe it. We've given up so much already, how is it fair to ask our children to do the same before they know what it means?"
"Oh they know, Padme. Between the three of us, I think we've raised them not to be complete imbeciles," a slight hint of pride colored Obi-Wan's voice as he contemplated his role in their upbringing. "They hear us talk about the atrocities the Empire commits, and I'm sure they get an earful from young Han about his parents' political movement. The Alliance is nearing the final stages of planning; the Solos are only waiting for word from a few more of their friends before they put their plans into motion."
"And then it will be time to leave," Padme stated sadly, certain in the knowledge that their life together would never be the same again. She lifted her head, bringing her face closer to his, their lips close together so that they shared the breath between them.
"Yes," he said simply his lips moving over hers as they shared the intimacy of one of their few shared moments. He felt a drip running between their faces and pulled back gaining the space to see Padme crying freely. "Now, none of that. You know that if it's meant to be it'll be."
He brushed the tears away and began kissing her face lightly, from her eyelids to the corners of her mouth. A current rippled towards him in the Force and he smiled into Padme's neck enjoying the embrace.
"You know I love it when I catch you two together, it generally means something interesting is on the way," Anakin's voice carried from behind them as the sun finally crested the tops of the trees.