My thanks to everyone who has reviewed and left their comments. Since it has been so long, I will forgo responses so we an skip straight to the story. Thanks for sticking with it and hope to hear from you all. Thoughts and suggestions are always welcomed.

A/N: Kudos goes out to Jenn who was kind enough to beta this chapter. All mistakes are mine and mine alone. Now without further ado...


Obi-Wan and I walked quickly down the majestic hallway of Theed palace en route to the Queen's private residence. An air of anxiety existed between us as we hurried to reach our destination.

"Did she tell you how long we had?"

I briefly shook my head. "Only that it was imperative we arrive on schedule."

As we turned into another corridor, we again picked up the pace. Obi-Wan huffed aloud as he asked, "How high are the stakes?"

"Same as always."

"I see." He remarked blankly. "Then we must work together for the day to be ours."

I nodded curtly as he motioned for us to continue. As we reached the doors, we both gave each other a silent nod of encouragement.

"Ready?" I asked.

"As I'll ever be."

With that, I opened the door which revealed a large room with a circular table in the center. Sitting around the table were six fancifully dressed women who already had cards in their hands. Upon our entrance, Padmé placed hers down while flashing me a bright smile.

"Ah, my wayward Jedi husband and his Master. Late as usual."

Both Obi-Wan and I chuckled as two diminutive handmaidens of the current Naboo monarch came up to take our cloaks. As I walked over to give my wife a kiss, I said, "Well, you know how the Master is.

"I do indeed," she said as she flashed Obi-Wan a mock scowl before warmly embracing him. She then turned him towards the rest of the group. "The Queen got called away on business, but she will return shortly. However, some old friends decided to join us." She then motioned to the other ladies who were all brightly smiling at the light brown haired Jedi. "Obi-Wan, you remember my former handmaidens Dormé, Eirtaé, Saché, Yané and…"

"Sabé," he said as he stretched out his hand to greet her. "The young handmaiden who fooled two Jedi into thinking she was the Queen." She smirked proudly as he continued, "How could I forget? It is a pleasure to see you again, Milady."

"And you as well, Master Jedi." Sabé remarked. "The years have been kind to you."

"And to you as well, Milady," Obi-Wan responded as I rolled my eyes in amusement.

While my former Master took his seat next to Sabé, I looked to Padmé who had a grin full of mischief. Before she could remark on what I knew she was thinking, I whispered, "Just because the Council relaxed the rules on attachment, don't think you can play matchmaker for the old man."

The senator shook her head as she whispered, "You never know."

As we shared a laugh, I asked, "Where are the twins?"

"They're playing with Dormé's and Eirtaé's kids."

Overhearing our discussion concerning Luke and Leia, Obi-Wan turned to Sabé. "So you didn't bring your children, Milady?"

The former handmaiden chortled loudly as she amusedly shook her head. "No, Master Jedi…"

"Call me Obi-Wan please, Milady." He requested with a roguish smile plastered on his face.

Sabé smirked as she corrected herself. "No, Obi Wan. I don't have children, I haven't found the right father…yet." She said giving him a sultry look.

"How surprising," Obi-Wan remarked causing me to look up at my former Master.

/What are you doing, Master/

/What do you mean, Padawan/

I sighed deeply at his address. /Don't play dumb; it doesn't become you./

/I'm just having a nice conversation with an old friend./

/Oh really/

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as he returned his focus towards the young woman. I shook my head as I returned my attention to my wife. "Which of the Queen's handmaidens had the dubious task of watching the twins?"

Padmé shifted in her seat as she answered, "Actually, since they were busy, I left Threepio and Artoo with them." I gave my wife a quizzical stare, given that my son just recently decided it would be helpful to place peanut paste between the poor protocol droid's joints since he always complained they ached. It took me weeks to clean all of it from his servos; and the droid still looks somewhat fearful when Luke wants to play with him.

"Don't worry though. I gave Artoo a comlink so he'll contact me if things get out of hand."

The blond haired Eirtaé cleared her throat as she announced, "Are we going to play or flap our lips?"

Padmé stuck her tongue out at her, while Sabé and Dormé threw their sabacc chips at her. The friendly game proceeded and after the first few hands, I was up several silver pieces; won mainly off my relatively inexperienced Master, I might add. Then again, his preoccupation with trying to impress my wife's former handmaiden was successfully distracting him. If he wasn't careful, he'd lose the tunic off his back, for these ladies where as vicious as nexu when it came to winning silver pieces.

As the next round of cards got dealt, I couldn't help but grin when I noticed Obi-Wan had opened with a very aggressive bet. However, the hand I held would be next to impossible to beat and if I could lure him in, he would think that a nest of gundarks was less fierce than my sabacc playing. I was about to place my bet when I heard the all too familiar ring of Padmé's comlink. I would have ignored it but I could hear Threepio's prissy voice already strained by what sounded like agitation.

"Mistress Padmé, I apologize for the interruption, but Master Luke and Mistress Leia are being rather… naughty."

Padmé furrowed her face as she asked, "What are they doing, Threepio?"

"I'm rather embarrassed to say, but they are levitating their toys to keep them away from the other children."

My wife and I collectively groaned as I placed my cards down on the table. After several instructive lectures at the crèche, it was decided that for Force aided tantrums, I would take care of the discipline, while Padmé dealt with normal meltdowns. "I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded as I released a deep sigh knowing that I could have robbed my former Master blind on that hand. Turning to him I said, "Care to help out your old Padawan?"

Obi-Wan chuckled as he neatly placed his cards down. "Of course. My fortune with the Force doesn't seem to be going all that well at the moment."

"We'll be back," I said to my wife as I quickly kissed her cheek. "Keep an eye on my silver."

"I will," Padmé said with a wry grin.


As my Master and I walked the ornate hallways of the palace, I could sense his thoughts dwelling on a certain former handmaiden. One thing Obi-Wan was never subtle about was broadcasting his thoughts whenever he was excited about something. However, before I could further question him, we reached our destination. Even before I opened the doors, I could hear the desperate rants of Threepio echoing from within the room.

"Master Luke…please put that down…Mistress Leia, please get that out of your mouth…that doesn't belong to you."

"Threepio?"

"Oh bless, the maker," the golden protocol droid declared. "I've tried to get them to behave, but they just won't listen to me at all."

I smirked as I patted him on his shoulder. "It's okay, Threepio." Now turning towards my children, I see what all the commotion is about. Eirtaé's three children and Dormé's two were crying out as Luke was using the Force to hurdle various toys just out of their reach. And as usual, Leia seemed to be the mastermind while having her brother act as the muscle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Obi-Wan about to use the Force to counter their actions when I turned to place a hand on his arm.

"Let me see if I can use ordinary parenting to stop this," I said with a slight grin.

The elder Jedi nodded as I walked up quietly behind my son and daughter who were both cackling at the other children's frustrated pleas. Leia was the first to notice me as she quickly tapped her brother's shoulder to stop while batting her eyes at me.

"Hi Daddy," she said cutely.

Imitating the way Obi-Wan used to look whenever I got into trouble, I folded my arms and looked at both of the twins sternly. "What do you think you are doing?"

Luke turned around and immediately ran over to give my legs a hug. "I missed you, Daddy," the sandy blond haired boy declared.

My Master and I shared a knowing glance as we both attempted to hide our amusement. Trying to remain stern, I said, "Threepio tells me that you both were causing trouble. Is that true?" Both of my sweet, darling children flashed me a look of complete innocence as they turned to each other while attempting to contradict my accusation.

Leia widened her big brown eyes as tears seemed to fill them up. "We were just havin' fun, Daddy."

I chuckled inwardly as I observed my daughter bringing out the heavy artillery of guilt—her big brown eyes welled up with tears. However, being duped by her many times before, I relied on my Jedi stoicism to maintain my objectivity. "How many times have I told you both that using your abilities to tease others is not right? What would Master Yoda say if he saw what you were just doing?"

Both twins visibly shrugged as they eyed each other guiltily. As they looked down towards the floor, Luke mumbled, "He'd probably get real mad and tell us Jedi don't behave like that."

"And make us train extra long." Leia added.

"That's right, you two," I said then grinned when I saw Obi-Wan nodding as if he was recalling the same admonishment from the little green troll. "Besides, I don't think Master Obi-Wan would want to train padawans who behave as badly as you just were."

My former Master remained stone faced as Luke pleaded, "We're sorry, we won't do it again; right, Leia?"

The little girl nodded furiously as she declared, "We'll be nice and let the other kids play with our toys."

I gave her a grin as I curtly nodded. "That's better." However, before I could finish, a voice announced over the palace's comm system, "Would Masters Skywalker and Kenobi please return to the conference; they need your money."

"Now, I don't want to hear of any more problems from Threepio or else I will tell Master Yoda."

Luke's blue eyes bulged at my threat. "We promise, we'll be good; just don't tell Master Yoda."

"Very well then, Luke." I then nodded to Obi-Wan and we returned to the Queen's private residence where the game had continued uninterrupted since our departure. Padmé smiled at me as I returned to my seat.


"What were those two doing?"

I smirked. "Just being their usual selves."

My wife gave me a knowing nod as she then returned her focus back to her cards. From her large pile of silver, I knew she wasn't kidding when she declared the other day that she would clean out the handmaidens since they had won last time on some lucky hands. I usually play conservatively because Padmé tended to take no prisoners. However, it was something my Master hadn't learned because she was quickly wiping him out. I try to send him some waves of warning through the Force, but apparently he was not heeding my advice. How ironic I think as I release a slight chuckle which I mask with a cough.

As the game progressed into the evening hours, we were joined by Naboo's reigning Queen, who was a very avid sabacc player and wished to test her mettle against the illustrious Amidala. However, the Force was not with her on this day because my angel cleaned her out in just a little over a standard hour. It was a display that would have made the savviest Corellian scoundrel proud. However, Padmé's prowess did not dissuade my former Master from his liberal betting.

"I bet four, Milady." Obi-Wan sat back into his chair to give my wife his stone faced stare. From simply knowing better, I folded out to watch the duel.

Relying on her icy queen persona, Padmé looked casually at her cards, then back up at Obi-Wan, then returning them to the pile. "I will see your four and raise you four."

The rest of the games participants ogled as I could have sworn I noticed beads of sweat forming on the Master's brow. He noticeably hesitated as the revered Jedi Master glanced over at Sabé who seemed to give him a nod of encouragement. "I'll call."

Padmé smirked as I knew that she already had a devastating hand. This battle of wills went on for several more minutes until my wife's last raise would leave Obi-Wan without any remaining silver pieces. He felt so confident in his hand that he pleaded, "Anakin, could you cover Padmé's raise?"

I winced at his request and could see my angel's face as she waited for my response. If I refused him, he was busted and out of the game, which was of little consequence to me. However, if I helped him and he won, I could quite possibly be sleeping on the couch tonight. Being particularly partial to my normal sleeping arrangements, I declared, "This is between you two, Master."

The Jedi rolled his eyes as he looked around the table for support. He then straightened himself in his chair as he focused his gaze at Padmé. "How about I propose a trade?"

"Trade?"

"Indeed, Milady. If you allow me to call without putting in any further silver, and I win, then you give me all your remaining silver."

Padmé raised her eyebrow quizzically. "And what if I win?"

He noticeably shrugged as he said, "If you win, not only do you wipe me out, but I will take care of the twins for a week so you and Anakin can take that second honeymoon you are always talking about."

I nearly laughed aloud as I remembered why my Master was one of the best diplomats in the Jedi Order. However, Padmé seemed intrigued by the idea and before I realized she said, "Deal!"

He nodded as he smugly laid his cards down. "Beat that, Milady."

Only for a brief moment did my wife look worried. However, once she took in the hand that Obi-Wan had, she smirked as she said, "Luke and Leia are usually in bed by 2100 and they have to be up and dressed for their training by 0645." Padmé then placed her cards down, which revealed that she had beaten my Master with a hand that only occurred once in a million times. I never had seen Obi-Wan's face drop as it did when he realized he was beaten by sheer luck.

As I cackled gleefully, the Master turned to me with an icy stare. "Don't blame me, you were the one who went after the best." I then planted a kiss on my wife's cheek while she scooped all her winnings towards herself. While I was helping Padmé count her pieces of silver, I saw Sabé out of the corner of my eye put a hand of comfort on Obi-Wan's shoulder and I believe I heard her whisper, "Don't worry, Obi-Wan. I'll help you with the twins." This seemed to lift his dark mood from his devastating loss.

After much discussion that night, Padmé and I decided that we would make use of her parent's beach front cabin on Naboo's southern continent. Given that I had never been and Sola always boasted how relaxing her trips there with Darred always were; we decided that was an ideal place to spend a second honeymoon. While we were packing for our trip, both the twins sat on our bed, looking rather pathetic.

"Don't you love us anymore?" Leia asked as tears once again threatened to fill her eyes.

Padmé smiled at her. "Of course we do darling."

"Why can't we go with you?" Luke asked as his gaze dropped towards the floor.

I smiled at my boy as I ruffled his already messy hair. "Mommy and Daddy haven't been on a vacation since before you two were born."

"But we want to go with you!" Leia declared vehemently.

My wife smiled warmly at her as she said, "Next time, we promise that we'll take you both on a nice trip. And besides, Uncle Obi-Wan is going to stay with you and he said that he'll take you to the carnival near Grandma and Grandpa's home in the mountains."

The twins both clapped happily as my darling wife—the esteemed Senator from Naboo grinned wickedly as she had just made my former Master's life interesting. Little did I know then that this vacation would irrevocably change our lives.

TBC-Comments and Reviews are most welcomed :)