A/N- Thanks for all the reviews! I will try to update this daily, but that may or may not happen. We will see.

Chapter Two

Lord Vader leaned back inside his personal quarters. He was not awaiting orders or doing anything else productive, or so it seemed. He was remembering. All the memories that came at her presence flooded through his head in a tide that had been repressed for a long time, shoved back until they could no longer harass him. But now, they were here, and he was powerless against the strength of his own thoughts.

She leaned back against him, relaxing quietly for a moment. They never got enough time together, due to obligations neither could get out of. It made the times when they could be together all the more precious. It was all Anakin thought about when he was away.

He smelled in the scent of her hair, which always smelled of gentle tranquility to him.

Vader closed his eyes and pretended, just for a moment, that he could feel still, and imagined her hair against his face, soft and lightly scented of Naboo flowers.

His hand slowly trailed the length of her side to rest on her stomach, where he knew grew the daughter they wanted. He closed his eyes, then not a Jedi Knight or anything else, simply a soon-to-be father and husband. He drank in the peace of the moment, basking in the light of the setting sun on Coruscant. He reached out to her with both his mind and his arms, sheltering her. Everything was at peace then.

"Anakin," Padmé whispered, disrupting his moment of peace. He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before gently cupping her face in the palm of his hand.

He did not want to meet her glance right away, for he knew it would bring trouble. She wanted to talk about the future, when he wanted to relish in the moment. He could not avoid her any longer, and so turned his gaze to her.

"Anakin," she whispered, her eyes almost overflowing with tears, "What are we going to do? We have to face this."

He turned away, not wanting to answer her question.

"Padmé," he murmured gently. "It doesn't matter. You are here with me, and as long as you are here, I don't need anything else. All I need is you, and the baby. That's all I want. The galaxy can save itself," he said in a moment of selfish rebellion. She was taken aback."

"Anakin, please. I remember the little boy on Tatooine, who looked towards the stars at night. I know how much being a Jedi means to you, and you know how much you matter to me. You are a hero, love."

A single tear rolled down Vader's cheek. I have failed, beloved. Not only have I failed you, but my mother. I have failed myself and everyone I ever cared about. I am no hero. I never was. All I wanted was you. I would have left the Jedi in an instant if it could have saved you.

He tried to take her into his arms again, but she resisted, wanting instead to talk.

"No, Anakin! What are we going to do?"

He finally decided to face her, turning his full concentration to the issues she presented.

"We do not have much time together, love. Why do you insist on worrying? Everything will turn out fine." He reached down to caress her extended belly, closing his eyes in a perfect dream. "I will be able to raise my children with you, and we will grow very old together, until the last of our days. We will be a family, Padmé."

Her brow furrowed once and then she relaxed, although there was still a preoccupied look in her eye. Anakin massaged her shoulders gently, feeling the tension that had accumulated in the months he had been away.

He whispered to her, "Don't worry. Everything will be alright, in the end. Trust me. I will protect you."

For a moment, Vader was standing strapped to the table, learning for the first time that it was he who caused the death of the one person he had sworn to always protect. His anguished yell echoed again... and again. He leaned against the wall, reliving that moment of pure anguish.

That was why he was so stunned by the fact that she could be alive. He had spent a decade of feeling nothing but self-loathing and hatred. If she was alive...

Nothing would change. He would still be the Sith that tried to kill her, tried to seal off her lying words by crushing her throat. He knew that there would be no forgiveness, ever.

Yet he had to try, had to go to her wherever she was, if she was alive. Nothing he ever did would redeem the wrongs, nothing would erase the permanent stain from his soul, but he had to save her. He had felt deeply seated terror in her. Anger boiled within him, setting his soul alight. Whoever tried to harm her would pay, and pay in blood.