A/N: Thanks once again for all your kind reviews! Every single one always makes my day! This is the chapter you've been waiting for, with two more to go after this. Thanks to Evie for bugging me about updating and to Alicia for being an awesome beta.

Chapter Four: In the Daylight

Sola arrived back at her parents' house early the next morning. The sun was just beginning to shine on the city of Theed and the only sounds to be heard were birds chirping and the muffled sounds of people preparing breakfast within their own houses. Jobal answered the door almost immediately with a very strange look on her face, motioned for quiet and beckoned her daughter inside. Curious, Sola followed her mother into the living room, and at once she understood.

Anakin was asleep on the couch, which was unexpected only in that he should have been in the guest room. What was entirely unexpected was that his arms were wrapped around Padmé, who was curled up sleeping peacefully beside him. Well, Sola thought I honestly wouldn't have thought they could be this stupid. She turned to Jobal, who was staring down at her younger daughter and the Jedi with her arms crossed, perplexed.

"What do you think this means?" she asked anxiously. Sola shrugged in what she hoped was a noncommittal way. She was relieved to note that at the very least the couple were appropriately clothed. Padmé was wearing a nightgown, and Anakin had his pants on. Jobal really didn't seem to know what to make of it. "Do you think she was afraid to sleep alone?"

"Or she just didn't want to," Sola responded wryly, unconsciously replicating her mother's posture in studying the two sleeping forms.

Jobal frowned. "Oh, you don't really think…" She caught Sola's eye. "You know something, don't you."

"Shhh," Sola whispered, for Padmé had begun to stir, and in a moment she opened her eyes. Jobal and Sola watched as her expression changed from vague confusion to absolute panic. She sat up abruptly, waking Anakin, who promptly executed a similar performance, clutching the blanket up around him and blushing fiercely just as the young woman beside him went very pale.

"Good morning, Mom," Padmé offered weakly.

"Good morning, dear. Anakin." Jobal clearly did not know what else to say. Sola gently took her arm and pulled her in the direction of the kitchen.

"Come on, Mom, let's go make breakfast while Anakin and Padmé change their clothes."

"Good idea, Sola. Thanks." Padmé supplied gratefully.

"But…" Jobal started.

"They'll explain at breakfast, Mom," Sola assured her as the kitchen door closed behind them.

Anakin and Padmé looked at one another.

"This is bad," the padawan observed. Padmé could only nod. "We could go out the window," he offered. Though she knew he said it in jest, the idea was strangely tempting.

Some fifteen minutes later the two descended the stairs together and, with Jobal and Sola, sat at the table in awkward silence. Jobal kept glancing from Padmé to Anakin to Sola and back again. Her older daughter was nibbling the fruit in front of her. Anakin was moving the fork around his plate with the Force. Padmé was staring at her hands folded on her lap. Not a word was spoken until Ruwee appeared and noticed the tense atmosphere.

"What is it?" he asked, bewildered.

"Padmé and Anakin have something to tell us." Jobal's voice was strained, and Ruwee did not fail to notice.

"What's happened?" he asked immediately, bracing himself.

Padmé looked up at him. "Nothing's happened, Dad. I'm not in any danger."

Ruwee's eyes went to Anakin.

"She isn't," he confirmed.

"Well, then, what is it?" Ruwee sat down at the table, his worried expression replaced by a curious one.

"Mom, Dad, you see…" Padmé began, stopped, and started again. "Anakin and I…" This is just silly, she thought. You are a member of the Galactic Senate! You were a Queen! You've faced down some of the most ruthless politicians in the galaxy. You've fought in two battles. These are only your parents Spurred on by this, she managed, "We… um…"

"I care about your daughter," Anakin cut in. "A very great deal." He cleared his throat. "I love her. And on our way back to Naboo a few days ago, I asked her to marry me."

The silence was absolute. Simultaneously, Ruwee and Jobal turned their stunned faces from Anakin to Padmé, who quickly found her voice.

"I said yes," she told them quietly. "I love him, too. We were married four days ago at Varykino."

Ruwee and Jobal looked from Padmé to each other, then back to their daughter, without saying a word. Their faces were frozen in expressions of blank surprise, as though the act of simply absorbing Padmé's last sentence prevented them from manifesting any clear emotional reaction.

Finally, Jobal spoke. "Are you being serious?" she asked, unknowingly echoing the very words her daughter had used upon Anakin's proposal.

"Yes, Mom." Padmé's voice was low and calm. "I know it seems very sudden…"

"But Padmé, he's a Jedi!"

"I know," was all Padmé could think to say.

"Who would perform a marriage between a Senator and a Jedi?" Jobal demanded. Her voice held more disbelief than anger; she seemed unwilling to accept that such a thing could really have been allowed to happen.

"Thadasu Kinalu."

Padmé's words brought her up short; the man she referred to was an old friend. Jobal knew him too well to truthfully accuse him of insanity, or even irresponsibility. Instead, she nodded to Anakin.

"Is he going to leave the Jedi Order?"

"No," Padmé answered sharply, for the first time abandoning her calm demeanor. She seemed to be speaking more to Anakin than to Jobal; evidently they'd had this discussion at least once before. "Not yet, at least. Not while they need him in the war. We're going to keep it hidden."

"But I promise you," Anakin said, "that if I had to make the choice, I would choose Padmé."

Jobal took a moment to steady herself. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since the battle," Padmé replied. She was relieved at least that, while Jobal was upset, she seemed more concerned than enraged.

"But that's so fast!"

It was Anakin who spoke again. "I'll have to leave soon. The war…"

"Padmé," Jobal sighed wearily. "This is not like you. Why didn't you tell us?"

"We couldn't. We couldn't attract any attention at all," she explained.

"It makes sense, Mom," Sola put in. "At least they were discreet."

But now Jobal wheeled on her older daughter. "You knew about this and didn't say anything?"

Sola shook her head. "I only found out last night. They were afraid you might react… badly." She very carefully did not add Something like the way you are reacting right now.

Jobal turned back to Padmé, and the hurt and confusion in her eyes made the Senator wince. "We're your family!"

"I know, Mom," Padmé replied helplessly.

"I just don't understand how you could do something like this."

"Neither do I." Ruwee, who had been sitting as if made from stone, at last stirred. He shook his head, dumbfounded. "How could you have been so foolish?"

"Dad!" Padmé exclaimed, surprised.

"You have so much talent, so much intelligence. We taught you to have more of a sense of responsibility. I didn't raise you to make stupid decisions like this, Padmé." His tone held anger without malice, and a great deal of sadness. "You are a Senator. He is a Jedi. And you are both jeopardizing your future careers with this… relationship. I will not stand by and watch you throw everything away for a Jedi padawan who has taken advantage of his position!"

"Just a minute!" Anakin interjected, but Ruwee ignored him, not taking his eyes from his daughter.

"Don't you take enough risks, Padmé? Haven't you put yourself—and all of us—through enough?"

"Dad…" Sola uttered in alarm. But now Padmé's eyes were flashing in anger. When she spoke it was in the voice typically reserved for addressing the Senate.

"I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions, Dad—more than capable, according to the people I've been serving for the past twelve years. I'm not changing my mind about this, it isn't some spontaneous whim or a breakdown caused by too much stress or anything else. I love Anakin."

"Maybe you think you do," Ruwee conceded. "But I had assumed you would know better. You should certainly know better than to do something like this. You were not brought up to be some silly girl who falls for the advances of--"

"Hold on," Anakin interrupted, easily as angry as Padmé was. "Stop it. I love your daughter and we are both adults."

"Yes, Dad." Padmé's voice was just above a whisper. "Stop it."

Without another word she stood and walked from the room and up the stairs, Anakin at her side.

"Dad--" Sola started again to say, but Ruwee, too, got up and retreated into the garden. After a moment, Jobal went back to the kitchen, leaving Sola to answer the knock that sounded at the door.

It was Darred, with Ryoo and Pooja in tow.

"What's going on?" he asked, noting the distressed expression on his wife's face.

Sola sighed. "My little sister's gone and married a Jedi." Darred raised an eyebrow.

There was a small gasp from somewhere in the region of the man's knees. "Aunt Padmé did something that's against the rules?" Ryoo asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Pooja tugged at Sola's skirt. "Is Anakin our uncle?"

"Yes, he is."

The little girl thought about this a moment, then smiled and asked, "Do we still get to have breakfast?"