Padmé walked to the living room to check on the kids. It was passed their bedtime and they weren't in their rooms. Only instead of the twins she found Anakin sitting on the couch, dressed at his best and opening a bottle of wine. Padmé watched, puzzled. Anakin looked up at her and smiled.

"Hi. You look nice", he greeted.

"I thought you had a mission…", Padmé asked confused. Anakin shrugged dismissively and set the glasses on the center table.

"Nah… that was nothing", he said, pouring some wine in the glasses. Padmé wanted to smile so badly she had to bite her lip. "Please, sit down", he offered warmly. Padmé took a seat on the couch and Anakin sat back and handed her one of the glasses while he held his. They looked at each other, waiting for the other to talk first. Padmé looked at her glass, trying not to smile and Anakin smiled a half smile. "Here's to…"

"Our children", Padmé cut in. She noticed the disappointment in Anakin's eyes and felt guilty for a second, but then decided her choice of words was the best due to the circumstances. It was no time to get hopeful.

"Our children", Anakin echoed in a whisper. Their glasses joined and they drank awkwardly. Anakin felt the alcohol softly burning down his throat and tried to relax. It was happening again. Being around her, feeling her so close yet not being able to show any kind of affection… He couldn't take it anymore. "Padmé, I-"

"Don't", she interrupted.

"I just…"

"Anakin, please", she continued softly. "I know what you're thinking. Don't say anything that we'll regret later". Anakin ignored her pleas and held her hand. Padmé shuddered when she felt his touch.

"I can't control this anymore. Seeing you again after all this years has revealed a lot of things to me. Feelings, actually. Not that feelings are things, I mean, they are, but these feelings aren't things to me, they are more important than things, I mean…" He stopped babbling when he noticed her smile. She always found herself amused when he complicated things for no reason. Anakin smiled and gave a shy shrug. "You know what I mean…"

"Yes, I do", she managed to hide her smile.

"Yeah, you always do", he agreed, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Ani…"

"Give us another chance", he said as he moved closer to her. Padmé found herself trapped between the armrest and Anakin. She refused to meet his eyes. "Padmé, look at me", he whispered, a kind smile on his lips.

"No"

"Padmé…", he insisted.

"NO!", she said firmly. "I'm not going through all this again! I had enough eight years ago, and I don't think I can live through that kind of pain again", she protested. Anakin stood up, a relieved and somewhat angry expression on his face.

"Then you feel the same as me! You have feelings for me again! Otherwise you wouldn't say that!"

"Ani-Anakin", she corrected herself. "I…"

"Mom?", a groggy voice intruded. Padmé's and Anakin's eyes flew to the door. There stood Luke, obviously half asleep and rubbing his eyes. Padmé's first reaction was to go and kneel by her son, her conversation with Anakin completely forgotten.

"Yes, darling?", she asked kindly.

"I can't sleep. Jar-Jar is snoring again and I can hear it all the way to my room!"

"Don't worry, darling. We'll just ask him to sleep on the garden…again". Luke smiled and looked over his mother's shoulder. He hadn't realized his father was there too when he first walked in, and now that he knew this he wanted to kick himself. They were probably talking about them and he had interrupted the conversation.

"Um, that's not necessary mom. I'll just count shaaks and then I'll be the one snoring", he said innocently. Padmé looked at her son suspiciously. He was too smart for his own good. She just wanted to get out of the room and never face Anakin again. Padmé never thought Jar-Jar would be useful for her goals, and now she was desperate to go to his cage- to his room.

"A-Are you sure?"

"He said it wasn't necessary, Padmé", Anakin's voice cut in. Padmé turned to look at him and cleared her throat.

"I heard him. I was just making sure."

"I'll just go back to bed. It's late", Luke said.

"You want me to tuck you in?", Padmé asked. Luke glanced at his father, who was mouthing a clear 'NO!' and shaking his head. Luke quickly turned to Padmé.

"No, thanks. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning. G'night", Luke jumbled out.

"Good night". Padmé kissed his head and then sniffed his hair. "When was the last time you washed your hair?"

"Uh… today?", Luke lied. Padmé gave him a wry look. "Tomorrow?".

"Exactly. You have to wash your hair more often, sweetie. And look at your ears!", she said in awe, looking behind Luke's ears. Anakin watched the endearing scene, smiling. "I can't believe this, Luke… Go to bed".

"Okay. Bye", Luke said before turning and going to his room. Padmé watched him go, making sure he was heading to his room and not to the kitchen for snacks. When she turned around she was startled to find Anakin standing a foot away from her, his eyes boring into hers.

"Anakin…", she whispered.

"You were saying…", he prompted softly. Padmé looked away and then at him.

"I forgot", she confessed. Anakin stepped closer to her and looked down at her. Padmé looked up at him, her expression calmed. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but let me remind you something: You were engaged this morning, now you're not. Is this how much a commitment to somebody means to you?"

"What?", he simply uttered.

"I think you need some time to figure things out, Anakin. Now please, step aside before the children see us."

Anakin just looked at her, realizing she was right.

"Okay." He took a couple of steps back and looked down.

"Let's not do this to our children. Why get their hopes high?", she asked softly. Anakin nodded and walked back to the couch, retaking his seat.

"Speaking of which…", he said casually. Padmé followed him and sat next to him.

"Yes. What are we going to do with them?", Padmé turned to him. Anakin glanced at her and then looked down at his hands. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this…", he sighed and looked at Padmé, "but I think they should stay with you". Padmé gaped at him, shocked to say the least.

"You really mean that?", she gently whispered.

Anakin nodded and rubbed his face, trying to think. "They already know about each other, we can't separate them. I don't know what made us think we could do it in the first place, it was wrong. They should stay together, they need each other. And… and I can't take both of them. It kills me, but I have to be realistic and do what's best for them. And that is being here with you". Padmé's eyes grew wet with tears. Anakin noticed and looked away. "And Courasant is no place to raise twins. Specially these two…"

Padmé laughed softly and nodded, gratefully. "I'm glad you feel that way".

"I'm not…", he muttered.

"I know", she paused, "thank you. This means everything to me, I can't tell you how much", she said earnestly. Anakin moved his head from side to side and shrugged softly.

"Yeah, well… I'm a nice guy", he replied. Padmé smiled.

"You are. And you can come to visit them as many times as you want to, consider this your home away from home, I mean it", she assured. Anakin smiled politely and nodded.

"Thank you", he whispered. "As soon as Luke finishes his school year I'll bring him here, I don't want him to leave halfway through".

"Okay." Anakin nodded and looked around, then down at the couch, trying to distract himself. Padmé noticed his sadness and how he tried to hide it. "You're a good father, Anakin. And you know that if I say it is because it's true", she added with a soft smile. Anakin looked at her and smiled.

"Thank you". Padmé nodded and Anakin reached for her hand. Padmé sat stiffly and looked away, avoiding him. "You think we have a chance?", he asked.

"We're the same people we were back then, Anakin. The same tempers, the same issues, the same problems… I can't-I can't deal with another failure, neither can the kids. Just look at all the things they did to get us back together, we can't fail again, they're too involved now, they will blame themselves", she explained.

"Who says we're going to fail?"

"Anakin… You and I both know that at first everything's perfect, and beautiful and all is full of love and laughter and flowers, but then we wake up and there's a ton of issues just waiting for us. That's why we divorced in the first place".

"We divorced because you wanted to solve every little thing, and everything was a matter of life or death, you couldn't let go of anything", Anakin corrected.

"And you wanted to forget everything and just go on as if nothing happened when in fact we were barely talking to each other", Padmé shot back.

"And whose fault was that?", he asked accusingly. Padmé scoffed, disbelieving her ears.

"If I didn't talk to you it was because you never listened to a word I said, you just pretended you did to get it out of the way", she reminded. Anakin rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Padmé, who likes to hear about politics during dinner?", he asked.

"Believe me, I didn't enjoy your gory stories about how many creatures you had chopped with your lightsaber, but I listened anyway because I knew it was important to you"

"You can't compare politics to my missions…", he muttered, then quickly regretted it. He knew he was stepping on dangerous ground. Sure enough, her response came.

"Why not, Anakin? What makes your life more exciting than mine? The problem is you're too narrow-minded and you can't see anything beyond your nose. Everything's about you, what you like, what you don't like, what you want to do and I can't deal with such a childish, self-absorbed behavior. Not this far in the game. So grow up, learn how to be an adult, figure out what you want and then maybe, just maybe, I'll talk to you", Padmé stood up and Anakin looked away stubbornly. "Have a safe flight", she whispered and left the room.

Meanwhile, Leia and Luke watched from another door, their expressions sad.