EPILOGUE – Part II

This is the life, everyone has to be somewhere

I am here

Just in a dream, the pressure of dreams is the killer of dreams

But it only gets harder

Time is the monster, all of us fight the same monster to win

I scream when I breathe, fear in that worry will trigger all my fears

It only gets harder, how'd I get so serious?

I am here, this is the life

- This is the Life, Wendy & Lisa

Anakin was not impressed to find out that Leia and Han Solo were now engaged. It had been less than a year since the Death Star and Darth Sidious had been destroyed and he now finally had the news he had been dreading.

"I don't like Han Solo," Anakin said to Padme the day of the announcement once back in their suite for the rest period.

"That's obvious," Padme said, "he doesn't like you either."

"That's obvious too," Anakin sneered.

"Well, you're just going to have to accept it. It was inevitable," Padme replied flatly.

"She's better than a pirate!" Anakin said sullenly. "She was brought up royal; she's a Jedi and a powerful force in the new Senate."

"You've given Han enormous responsibilities since he destroyed the Death Star," Padme protested mildly. "He's met them all."

"I actually just wanted to keep an eye on him," Anakin said moodily, pacing up and down the suite.

Padme tried to hide a smile. It would not do to remind Anakin that she had come from an aristocratic family and he had been a slave. She found the irony and Anakin's hypocrisy very amusing.

"You just don't like him," Padme said. "There's nothing wrong with him, it's just that you don't get along."

"Why can't she marry one of the new Jedi we've found and are training?" Anakin asked irritably. "There are several good men among them."

"Jedi aren't supposed to marry," Padme pointed out.

"I can't very well enforce that with a wife of my own, can I?" Anakin replied impatiently. "Very few may know you're really my wife now but it won't be that way forever."

"True," Padme agreed. "But anyway, she's more powerful than any of them. Only Luke is her equal and you her superior in the Order at present."

"I know and that won't change either, not in this generation," Anakin said, still pacing and frowning. "But it doesn't matter if whoever she chooses isn't as skilled as her."

"Do any of them want to marry her?" Padme countered. "After all, she'd be a bit of a handful," she added dubiously.

"It didn't stop me marrying you," Anakin said darkly.

Padme gave him a look. "Well, I'm not going to make myself unhappy about the inevitable," she finally said with a shrug.

"I can't bear to think of that… that… prat touching my daughter," Anakin said viciously.

"I'm sure he's been touching her for a long time already so I'd get over it if I were you," Padme said bluntly.

Anakin shot her a filthy look which Padme met with a cool, amused gaze. "They are grown ups, you know. You were already married by their age."

"I don't have to like it," he said moodily, throwing himself down next to Padme on a couch.

"Just smile in the wedding holograms," Padme said with a laugh that succeeded in soothing him just slightly.

- - -

After eighteen months of factional wars and assassinations in the new Senate, Anakin decided that they both needed a break.

"You've barely spent any time off the Command Ship or in the new Galactic Capital," Anakin mentioned one night over dinner.

Padme shrugged. "After fifteen years of being confined to just a few large rooms, I still can't get used to being able to go just anywhere. Besides, if I turn my back for an instant there is always some uproar among the systems."

"I think we need a holiday right away from both the new Jedi Order and the new Senate," Anakin said pointedly.

Padme's interest was caught. Anakin was such a workaholic that it surprised her to hear him speak of a thing like a holiday. "You and I never have enough time alone," Anakin added meaningfully. "Even in all the years you were cooped up here, I never had enough time to spend with you."

Padme smiled at him. He was still a romantic after all this time. That side of him had not altered at all from when he was still a Padawan. "Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"I think we should go back to the lakes at Naboo," Anakin said quietly.

Padme put her fork down slowly and stared at him. She had deliberately not gone back once she was finally free to do so. She was afraid to find her family gone and perhaps that it had changed completely in the past sixteen or so years. She wanted to remember it as it was. She had always found an excuse not to go back there. There was always something too important to miss happening in the new Senate.

"Everything is the same?" she asked unevenly.

"I managed to trace your family. I'm sorry, Padme but your father had recently died. Your mother and sister Sola are still alive and well," he said gently, reaching across to touch her arm.

"I didn't have the courage to try and find them," Padme whispered, looking away.

"No, you were afraid it would be one more thing to hate me for," Anakin said flatly, his face tense and his lips compressed.

Padme lifted her chin and looked and him, and then away again. He was right. It was exactly what she had been afraid of.

"I thought we could stay at the lakes again, like we did when you were in hiding," he said persuasively.

"I could swim again, and see mother and Sola," Padme said softly, her large eyes looking dreamy.

"Leia can handle the Senate for a couple of weeks and Luke is capable enough to oversee the new Jedi recruits," Anakin said encouragingly.

Padme looked at Anakin thoughtfully. "When do we leave?" she asked.

- - -

Their two weeks on Naboo were bliss. All three women broke down crying when they saw each other again and hugged like they would never let go. It made tears come to Anakin's eyes too.

Her mother and Sola were curious about Anakin. Their marriage had been a secret even from Padme's own family all those years ago so they had no idea who he was. Padme simply told them that he was her husband. "I can't tell you who he is, mother. It would be dangerous," she said simply. They had to be satisfied with that.

Padme swam every day, sometimes on her own and sometimes with Sola. Sola's husband, Darred Janren was there too. Fortunately, he got on well with Anakin so there was no tension to mar the holiday.

"I'd forgotten what sunshine and water on my skin felt like," Padme admitted to her sister. "Being back here is like coming back from the dead," she said and then realized that for Sola and her mother, it was like that too. They had both thought her funeral was a real one all those years ago.

"It was awful after your funeral, Padme," Sola had replied quietly. "Mother never really was the same again. Her beautiful, clever, successful daughter was gone. I wasn't much compensation," Sola said more sadly than bitterly.

"Sola! You were part of the diplomatic circle on Naboo too. You just chose to not run for office," Padme scolded. "You never wanted a public life and if you had, you would have been Queen of Naboo for a term as well."

"I didn't like to lead," Sola admitted. "There were too many hard decisions to make."

"Yes," Padme sighed and then with a sudden grin, splashed Sola with an armful of water.

"You'll pay for that," Sola threatened as Padme swan away quickly with a laugh.

Anakin made sure that the bulk of Padme's time was spent alone with him. They went walking back over the grassy plains they had played on as a young man and woman, barely out of their teens.

"I can't believe it looks just the same," Padme said, staring off into the blue hills on the horizon as they sat in the long grass.

"So do you," Anakin said, staring at her in that old way he had all those years ago on Naboo. It still made her feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. She was annoyed with herself. She should be able to handle that look by now. She was fifty, for goodness sake!

"Even the grey hair?" Padme replied with a smile.

"You hardly have any! I've got more than you now. It's not fair!" Anakin complained.

Padme laughed at him. "Look on the bright side, you've still got a great body," she teased, looking at him from under her long eyelashes.

He grinned at her and wrestled her to the ground for a kiss as she laughed. "What isn't mechanical," he said ruefully when he finally came up for air. "Keeping up with Luke keeps me fit now. Tomorrow, let's go to those hills for the day. I remember them from all those years ago but I've never been there," he said pointing at them and letting her sit up again.

"I've never been there either," she admitted.

He put one arm around her still-slender waist. "Is it a date?" he asked.

"It's a date," Padme said and leaned her head against his shoulder.

- - -

A few months later, Padme visited the new Jedi Temple which was still under construction nearly two years on. It would be even larger and more beautiful than the last one. Luke now had his own Padawan in young Moe who was not even fifteen yet. The two were constantly together.

Padme was just in time to see Luke and Leia have a practice duel.

"One can't defeat the other," Anakin said to Padme in a low voice, watching them carefully as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "It's good practice for both of them to regularly duel with someone who is their equal."

The light sabres moved so fast that Padme could barely follow their moves. Leia's was a strong purple colour, rather like Mace Windu's had been. Luke's was a cool blue colour, like Obi Wan's old light sabre.

Leia wore the Jedi trousers and tunic for training. "I can hardly wear my ceremonial dresses when training, can I? How can you do high jumps over people's heads in a dress?" Leia had once said to her mother.

"Is Leia to have a Padawan soon?" Padme asked.

"Yes, I have a young girl of about fourteen who will be ready for a master next year. Her name is Jambulani," Anakin replied. Anakin nodded to a young teenaged girl practicing in a corner with Moe. She had skin as black as deep space, long elegant bones and carried her shapely head like a Princess.

"She's beautiful," Padme said.

"More to the point, she has enormous potential. She's very powerful. She is a princess of her race," Anakin said giving the girl a brief, keen look but his eyes went back to his son and daughter dueling almost immediately.

"You can tell," Padme replied, still watching Jambulani. "Hopefully the Senate will have calmed down by next year," Padme added with a sigh.

- - -

Three years pass….

- - -

"It's time for Darth Vader to disappear," Anakin said to his wife one evening. "Within three months, the transitional laws will pass out of use and the permanent laws will be in place. There will be no need for Vader's presence in the Galaxy any longer."

"I think we should leave it until only a few days before," Padme said cautiously. "The rogue systems will have too much time to cause disruption if they are given much more than a few days."

"We'll have to plan it carefully," Anakin agreed.

Nearly three months after their conversation, Darth Vader was reported missing in action in an obscure part of the Galaxy. A few days later, his body was found in a transport that had obviously been shot down on a remote planet in a hostile sector of the Galaxy. No-one had seen or heard anything.

Anakin watched the news holograms come through and felt that a part of himself had indeed died – the worst part. To stage Darth Vader's death, he had sent a rebellious Commander out to the planet where Darth Vader had just been found. The Commander had been involved in plots against Padme, still clinging to his glory days as a General under the old Emperor. He would tolerate the Commander's very real threat to his wife's safety no longer. Rather than have him imprisoned or executed, he decided his Commander would perform one last service. It would be his body that would be found in Darth Vader's clothes and mask.

It was Anakin himself who shot down the Commander's transport. The Commander died from a head injury on impact. Anakin dressed him in his old armour and set fire to the Commander's body to ensure that no-one would recognize him. The mask and helmet were fairly fire resistant. Just enough twisted metal would be left of both to identify the corpse as Darth Vader but not enough flesh to identify the man in the mask.

The Galaxy was in shock but the new Senate seemed to calm down considerably after the event. It was as though they finally realized that they were no longer a puppet Senate and their powers would be very real after all. Padme's job suddenly and unexpectedly became much easier. The following year she would step down as Chancellor and a new one would be elected. She had offered to step down as soon as the permanent laws came in but they had asked her to stay on for another year. She would be relieved to give the responsibility away. It would give her more time with her family including her mother and Sola.

She felt strange when she saw the news holograms of Darth Vader's burnt body. She knew it wasn't Anakin in the armour, he was standing right next to her but it was as though an important part of her life was put to rest once and for all. It was a part she was glad to see the last of.

- - -

One year passes….

- - -

Padme left the Senate on her last day to thunderous applause. She had been asked to stay on again but the memory of Palpatine and how he had clung to power prevented her from giving in to their pressure. It was time for new blood.

That night, Anakin toasted her in their suite.

"You can marry me now," he said rather smugly. "With Darth Vader gone for over a year, it would be okay for our relationship to be public. Everyone thinks Luke and Leia are just my children, so we could be a family now and they could call you 'mother' in front of other people."

"What if I don't want to marry you?" Padme had teased, rolling her large brown eyes at him.

"We've already been through all that," Anakin said. "I'll just make you, remember?" he smirked.

Padme rolled her eyes at him again. "Let's not go there. I am a bit tired of all the sneaking around," she admitted. "We could live near the Temple. The Senate wants me to act in an advisory capacity. I have every intention of slacking off," she stated unapologetically.

"I think you've earned the break over the past five or six years," Anakin agreed. "I could use some help with the Temple though. I'm so busy training Younglings that I don't have time for the administration."

"Perhaps," Padme said noncommittally. "I may prefer to go swimming every day instead," she added flippantly.

"Are you a woman or a fish?" he asked in exasperation.

"I'm a grandmother or soon to be," Padme said pointedly. "Grandpa," she added rudely.

"That child better not be like Han," Anakin said, just about crushing the glass in his hand as he thought of his son-in-law.

"Hopefully he or she will be another great Jedi," Padme said quietly. "We need all the talented ones we can get. We need to find a wife for Luke," Padme added with a scheming look on her face.

"He's under threat," Anakin said, almost to himself. He instantly felt sorry for his clumsiness in bringing it up when he saw Padme's white face.

"What do you mean?" she asked instantly.

"There is a woman strong with the Force who is looking for him to kill him," Anakin admitted with a sigh. "I don't know her name but she was one of the Emperor's 'Hands'."

"Doesn't she know that Darth Sidious is dead?" Padme asked with a cold shiver.

"He still controls her by the Force from the Other Side," Anakin explained seriously. "This isn't something I can help Luke with. He will have to face her one day."

"Can't you find her and kill her?" Padme asked.

"It's not the Jedi way," Anakin said gently. "We only act defensively, not aggressively."

"It's never stopped you before," Padme said bitterly and got up from the table to go to the portals.

"Padme, I don't want to go back to my Sith ways. Not even for Luke. He wouldn't want me to anyway," Anakin explained softly.

Padme looked back at him over one slim shoulder, her curls falling over the silky skin of her back. "No, he wouldn't," she acknowledged reluctantly after a long pause.

Anakin came over and stood behind her, placing his large hands on her fragile shoulders.

"Will the threats to our happiness never end?" Padme asked angrily.

"We're a special family, Padme. The Force has been generous to all of us in our talents and opportunities. That makes us targets," Anakin said.

"Thank goodness Moe and Jambulani are nearly ready for the trials now," she said stiffly.

"Yes," Anakin agreed.

- - -

Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala were 'married' in a public ceremony on Coruscant near both the new Jedi Temple and new Galactic Senate Capital. A huge number of the city's inhabitants turned out to cheer the couple. They all agreed that Padme was far better off with the Jedi Master than with her former husband, Darth Vader. There was much comment on the irony of her choosing two men on such separate ends of the old Jedi religion, however.

Luke and Leia were there serving as attendants. Luke was grinning all over his face and Leia was heavily pregnant. Han was on hand to help her throughout the day when she got tired.

The couple went on their 'honeymoon' to Naboo where they met up with Padme's mother and Sola eventually too.

"How long do you want to stay?" Anakin had asked his 'bride' on the way there after taking off from the deafening cheers on Coruscant.

"I would say forever but that's impractical. You have new recruits to train," Padme sighed.

"A month?" Anakin asked.

"Can you be away for that long?" she asked surprised.

"Luke and Leia can handle things while I'm away. Leia will be taking over as Head of State of the Republic after the baby is born so now is the perfect time," Anakin replied. "I love having talented children," he said smugly.

Padme laughed and then shook her head in wonder. "It feels like a brand new day," she said softly and smiled as she saw Naboo come into view.

THE END