The epilogue got so ridiculously long that I had to split it in two – I hate loose ends! Here is Part I.

EPILOGUE – Part I

I lied, I stole in the name of fear but I won't be silent here

I don't want somewhere to run to, I don't want somebody I can shake

Lord I want my dignity again, before I walk on fire

You gotta look me in the face

I won't flinch and I won't turn away

I'm sorry for being scared but I won't drop you there

Oh darling, let me show you I love you

Oh world, let me show you I care

Give me back my touch, give me back my feeling

Give me everything. I wanna be your witness

I want you to believe in me

- Before I Walk on Fire, Sophie B Hawkins

The next few weeks after their initial meeting were stressful for Padme, not because she didn't have a clear vision for the new Senate but because she found out that all of her former contacts and allies from the old Senate were dead. She should have expected it. There was every reason for Sidious to have ensured that none of them survived. Of course, a great many of the deaths looked 'accidental' but once the pretense of the Imperial Senate had fallen, the Emperor was quite open about murdering any dissidents.

She realized that if she had thought she had a great deal to forgive Anakin for over the past twenty years, there would be far more to forgive now she had access to the full knowledge of what had happened under the Empire. Before this, Anakin had carefully hidden the most important information from her knowing what her reaction would have been. There were days when she had to constantly bite her tongue to stop herself from haranguing him. There was no point. Yelling at him would not bring her old friends and allies back, and she had to focus on moving forward.

Anakin was quite well aware of her feelings, however. As always, he could feel the emotion that she did not show. He knew that this change in his life would be hard but the living of it each day was wearing him out emotionally. He had to deal with Padme's displeasure at all that had happened for nearly two decades, Leia's suspicion of him and coolness towards him, and the expectations of Yoda and Obi Wan. He was not even forty-five yet and there were days when he felt like an old man.

His real pleasure at that time came from seeing Luke continue to develop as a Jedi. Within a few months, he was almost ready to take on a Padawan.

"How about your sister as a Padawan?" Anakin had asked him one day as they set off on a mission to another system. The Force had alerted them both to a young teenager with a powerful connection to the Force in this particular system. They were setting off to find him or her.

"No way!" Luke had said with a laugh. "Are you crazy? Can you see Leia submitting to the discipline of any master? She won't even listen to you half the time and she knows how much you can teach her."

"She reminds me of me," Anakin said wryly to his son.

"Of course she does. She's your daughter!" Luke said with a grin and pulled on his helmet.

The mission proved successful and they brought back a young man barely in his thirteenth year from the Breyanan system. He had exceptional talents. His name was Moe and he was very handsome with dark curling hair and startlingly deep blue eyes. Luke had felt a kinship to the young orphan immediately and would take him on as a Padawan once Anakin had taken him through an accelerated Youngling program over the next few years.

In the meantime, Anakin was overseeing the rebuilding of the Jedi Temple.

Leia was trying to develop her Jedi skills as well as help her mother set up the new Senate. It was difficult to meet the demands of both, particularly as she had to submit to the authority of a father that she resented still. They had never discussed the torture she had undergone while she was a Rebel leader. One day after a difficult session with light sabers, they were both totally frustrated with each other. Anakin knew he had to apologize if they were ever to move forward.

"I never would have hurt you if I'd known who you were, you know that," Anakin had said to her truthfully, sheathing his light sabre.

"No, you just would have tried to turn me into a Sith the way you did Luke," Leia had replied angrily.

"Would I have succeeded?" Anakin asked skeptically with an underlying weariness.

"I would rather have died!" Leia cried.

Anakin looked at her with a tired expression. "You are so much like your mother. Both you and Luke have her character," Anakin said quietly. "I'm so proud of you both.

Tears came suddenly to Leia's eyes. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed her father. Bail had been a good father to her but blood was thicker than water after all and she found she desperately wanted his approval despite everything.

"Everyone says that I'm like you," Leia said, roughly wiping her eyes with her hand.

"You're hotheaded and passionate like me," Anakin replied. "But you have your mother's strength of character and idealism."

"I needed you," Leia whispered, half still in tears and half angrily.

"I'm here now," Anakin said gently. "I can't erase the past. I wish I could. I've made everyone unhappy not just myself, most particularly your mother who didn't deserve it. I regret that bitterly."

"What changed you?" Leia asked curiously.

"Your mother's influence over all those years and then finally Luke; I'd rather die than allow him to," Anakin replied simply. "I don't know why I didn't realize who you were," he continued, talking almost more to himself now than to his daughter. "I kept seeing Padme as a teenager whenever I looked at you. It was such a struggle to treat you like a Rebel dissident although I know you won't believe it."

"I felt it," Leia admitted.

Anakin looked at her with a frown. "You did?" he said, startled.

Leia nodded slowly. "I could feel your reluctance. I don't know why but there was something about Darth Vader that touched me even though you were so completely terrifying too. I felt sorry for you. I think I could feel all your broken places even under all that armour."

Anakin stared at her. "You were using the Force," he said.

Leia shrugged. "I didn't know what it was but I struggled to hate you. I hated others who worked for you and it was easy but Darth Vader…" Leia paused and shook her head. "I felt just as conflicted about you as you did about me."

"I love you, Leia," Anakin said with tears in his eyes.

"I love you too, Daddy," Leia said, starting to cry again too and for the first time, she hugged her father.

- - -

The process of setting up the new Senate was slow. It involved contacting the governments of each system (quite often puppet governments put in place by Sidious under the Empire's old regime) and getting them to elect a representative for the Galactic Senate. Of course, it created all sorts of problems within the individual system's governments as every government official in every system knew that the Senator that represented them in the Galactic Senate would be more powerful than any other person in their system. The resulting displays of ambition, both naked and subversive, were at once entirely predictable and shocking to Padme. Politicians were assassinated or suddenly had fatal 'accidents'. Usually, it was not the most capable person chosen but the most ruthless.

This was a result of only the most coldblooded individuals of any system being put into government by a brutal Empire. Padme did not agree with puppet governments for exactly this reason. The cream could not rise to the top, only the most dangerous and power-hungry.

There were many questions as to why the new Sith Lord, Darth Vader would even want a Galactic Senate after his predecessor had spent so much energy establishing an Empire. Padme had to summon her best diplomatic acting ability to convince them that Darth Vader was interested in peace and thus wished each system to have its say in a Senate. The system governments were suspicious. Many believed the Senate would be as controlled by Darth Vader as the puppet governments the old Emperor had established. There was a feeling in the Galaxy that Vader only wanted a Senate in order to keep a closer eye on the systems. Padme knew this suspicion was only logical. She sighed to herself when she contemplated how long it would take to reestablish not just the functions of a democracy but also the spirit of and faith in a democratic system of government. She had a feeling that Darth Vader would need to 'disappear' completely before this process could really get underway. In the meantime, the new Senate would be filled with wary and subversive elements who believed the agenda of the new Senate was quite different to the ideal of democracy.

Setting up the new government also involved the setting up of sub-committees to plan and oversee the transition phase from Empire to Galactic Senate. As each system elected its official, this individual was immediately given a portfolio to manage.

All the systems were eager to have a representative very near the beginning stage and although early Senators tended to be assassinated by ambitious others in their system at an alarming rate, the Senate had functioning members from each system quite quickly. What was taking the time was sorting out the squabbling over the portfolios and the delineation of the responsibilities of the sub-committees.

Padme had to oversee each bill as it was put forward for both the transitional laws and the ones that would become permanent once the final functions of the Empire were handed over to the new Galactic Senate. At the same time, she had to keep the representatives from each system happy.

Padme made full use of those in the Rebel Alliance with both military and diplomatic training. They were given posts suitable to their skills, often replacing those that Sidious had appointed during his stranglehold on the Galaxy. In this way, Padme gradually weeded out those who had been faithful to Sidious and would be troublemakers under the new democratic system.

When Darth Vader had to make an appearance, Anakin would don his old mask and armour. Padme was so used to seeing it that it made no difference to her at all. Leia and Luke did not like it, however. They reacted differently to their father as Vader. It brought back too many unpleasant memories. Fortunately, Vader only rarely needed to show up after the initial phases. Once Vader had sent out a communiqué that his wife was managing the transition from the Empire to the Galactic Senate on his behalf and that she had been given full powers in his name, he rarely had to appear. He was free to assume his old name of Anakin Skywalker and spend his time reestablishing the Jedi Order. No-one ever guessed that Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker was one and the same person. The only people privy to this secret was the original Rebel Alliance members who were sworn to secrecy and Anakin's own family.

Of course, there was a ripple of amazement that Darth Vader even had a wife. Apart from Sidious and some of Darth Vader's top men, no-one knew Padme existed. When a still-beautiful, perceptibly intelligent and accomplished woman who was obviously used to wielding power stepped forward to take over the reins of day-to-day administration, many were completely astonished. Most of them had thought of Darth Vader as more machine than man. It was unthinkable that such a ruthless figure could love anybody. It was unthinkable that such a woman as Padme could love such a fearsome figure.

To prevent anyone making the connection between Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, Padme kept her maiden name of Padme Amidala for public purposes. There were still many in the Galaxy who recalled a beautiful young Senator named Padme Amidala from Naboo who had been Leader of the Opposition before the puppet Imperial Senate had come into being. Some even remembered that she had been pregnant just before she supposedly mysteriously died. Could it possibly be the same woman and could she have been Darth Vader's wife all that time? If it was the case, why had her death been faked? There was so much mystery surrounding Darth Vader's wife that it simply made them more suspicious of her efforts to reestablish a democracy.

One day after a particularly difficult meeting with representatives from hundreds of star systems, Leia found her mother sitting quietly in the old throne room of the Command Ship looking very grim. The room had been converted into a large meeting room but was now empty apart from Padme.

"What's the matter, mother?" Leia asked, going up to her and putting one hand on her shoulder. She had never seen her mother in this mood.

Padme looked down at her hands which were loosely clasped in her lap. "I sometimes feel like I've spent most of my life cleaning up the messes that your father has created," she said quietly, her gaze far away and her expression bleak, "once upon a time by writing the training for the Rebel Alliance and now by trying to reestablish the democractic process."

Leia gave a half smile. "Then your feelings would be correct," she replied.

"On days like this, I resent it. I'm tired. I'm nearly fifty Leia and I want time to enjoy my children. I want to go swimming every day if I want to and not have to worry about sorting out this huge chaotic and difficult situation," Padme said.

"You're very gifted mother. You know that old saying, 'to whom much is given much is expected'. It's always been that way for you since you were a young girl. The Galaxy needs you now particularly. Your enforced confinement drove you crazy, at least now your talents are being put to the best possible use," Leia said encouragingly.

"It's all the loss I resent the most. Having to win the trust of these systems all over again and having to teach them the ways of democracy," Padme paused and shook her head, "if the Sith had not been powerful for so long, the Galaxy would have not have to almost start from scratch again in ruling itself."

Leia sighed. "I suppose if Darth Sidious had not recruited father then it just would have been some other apprentice and probably the same thing would have happened anyway. At least this way, father did destroy the Sith even if he went entirely the wrong way about it. Maybe there was no other way to destroy Sidious – who knows? Now he can reestablish the Jedi and you, his wife, can reestablish democracy. I don't know if the Rebel Alliance would ever have been strong enough to overthrow the Sith. Perhaps only a Sith can destroy a Sith? Who ever really fully understands the way the Force works?"

"You sounded almost like Yoda then," Padme said with a slight smile. "Except he would have said, 'understand the way the Force works, who can?'" she joked weakly.

"Father is in almost daily contact with Yoda and Obi Wan now," Leia said musingly, glad her mother was distracted from the problems with the new Senate for awhile.

"I know - he keeps me pretty up-to-date with what is happening with the Jedi Order. Timing of both the reestablishment of the Senate and the Jedi Order will be crucial."

"There are a lot of powerful young men and woman out there, mother," Leia said, her voice giving away her excitement. "It will be a very exciting time when we are all together. Fetching them from all over the Galaxy and training them takes time but the more we find, the more electrifying it becomes."

"The sum of the Jedi is greater than its parts," Padme said with a smile.

"So it appears," Leia agreed.