FORGIVABLE SINNERS
By Laura-chan
Summary: What if Anakin never had dreams of Padmé dying? Would he have fallen in the Sith's grasp? In this AU of RotS Anakin and Padmé, while trying to end the war, struggle to keep secret their relationship, even with their two children, Luke and Leia.
Time: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. AU
Rating: R or M
Pairing: Anakin/Padmé, my favorite.
Warnings: This story is rated R/M for a reason; in future chapters there will be strong scenes.
Also, don't mind too much my mistakes, please - I'm Italian and English is not my first language.
AN: July, the 11th, I'll be leaving for Turkey; I'll be in holidays for about two weeks, so I wont be able to update…
I hope you'll be patient enough to see chapter 9 when I'll be back!
To anyone who wanted Anakin to be with Padmé when the children will be born… well, you'll find out this chapter!
CHAPTER 8
Obi-wan Kenobi, General of the Army of the Republic, was a man known for his diplomacy and patient demeanour: opposed to Commander Anakin Skywalker's wild and temperamental behaviour, he was considered to be the wiser and calmer one.
But now, not a nerve in Obi-wan was relaxed.
Five days had passed since he had left Yavin four, with Yoda's permit, and he still had no news at all of his former padawan; and no news in that case were bad news.
Two days before, the Jedi Master had been able to contact Cody, the Clone Commander who had led -together with Anakin - the offensive against the Separatist in that particular area of the Outer Rim: but Cody had only told him that he and Commander Skywalker had separated to fight the Separatist's ships.
"I remember there was an asteroids field: but it was a moving one, I don't know where it could be now. I only hope that Skywalker had not flown right into it."
Knowing Anakin, it was exactly what he had done.
So, currently, Obi-wan was wandering in the space of the Outer Rim, desperately searching for that -- Sith-damned! -- asteroids field.
Not that he liked the idea of going into an asteroids field: oh no, he had plenty of them when he had hunted Jango Fett from Kamino to Geonosis.
But now he wasn't chasing a feared bounty hunter, he was searching for a dear, brother-like, friend: and that was enough of a motivation to adventure inside a mortal trap full of rock's pieces.
He had never gotten used to it.
Padmé had been right, that time, so many years before.
"You come from a hot planet, Anakin. Space is cold."
Yes: space was very cold. So cold, that sometimes you could feel ice entering your bones and stopping your every movement.
And now, he felt exactly that way.
Anakin Skywalker was missing sorely the mild climate of Naboo, or even the desert weather of Tatooine: he would do anything to be warm again.
R2 had bipped apologetically, letting him know that the little astrodroid hadn't been able to repair the heating of the ship.
Anakin hated cold: it made him feel bad things, remember evil memories that he usually had tightly closed in the back of his mind.
Like the freezing sensation of his mother's death.
Or like the cruel whisper of the Force, telling him that what he often saw in the eyes of other Jedi Masters was not gratitude or admiration: but fear of his powers.
Or like the controlled voice of the Chancellor, seducing him to use his own fear and rage to kill Count Dooku.
When he was cold, all good memories - his wedding with Padmé, their first night together, him taking the trials and becoming a Jedi Knight and then a Master, the news of Padmé's pregancy - vanished: simply, like that.
And he hated it.
So lost in his dark thoughts, he failed to notice a starfighter passing not so far away…
'There it is!' Obi-wan thought with glee, something he rarely did lately.
Before him, hundreds of dangerous-looking, fast-moving asteroids.
Now, the problem was only how to enter the field, find Anakin and get him out of there, all without getting destroyed by one of those rocks - that's how he liked to call them.
No trouble at all, right?
Obi-wan cursed Anakin's ability (and his own) of getting always in messy and truly displeasing situations.
"Well, here I come!" he murmured.
He turned the ship - not his usual starfighter, but one bigger (enough for two people and a droid, if you get my drift) - towards the field, and closed his eyes, letting the Force fill him to the brink, letting It guide his hands: soon, he felt the all too-familiar presence of his old padawan.
He moved his hand and the starfighter turned to the left, avoiding an asteroid; then to the right, avoiding another; and then another;
And… yes! He could see a ship, a starfighter class A, visibly damaged, on the surface of one of the biggest asteroids.
Slowly, the Force led him till he touched the unstable ground.
"Anakin!" he shouted, the oxygen mask he wore now muffling a bit the sound.
"Anakin!" he shouted again, nearing the ship and recognizing R2, who bipped happily at him.
"Obi-wan?" a tired voice responded, the younger Jedi exiting the cockpit with his own oxygen mask covering his face.
Obi-wan hugged his friend, and grinned.
"You had all of us worried!"
"I'm sorry." The other said simply, smiling slightly: he looked tired and starved.
"Come on, get R2: we have to leave as soon as possible." He looked around, asteroids flying in every direction. "I don't want to stay here for too long."
Finally, they took off: Obi-wan, looking at Anakin sitting near him and at the astrodroid in the back of the ship, sighed in relief.
"There's water in the back." He said, pointing a thumb behind himself.
Anakin, who had finished his water supply the day before, had been all too happy to take the hint, and gulped down enough of water to satiate an army in the middle of the deserts of Tatooine.
"How are things going?" Anakin asked suddenly, as they set the coordinates for the jump in the hyperspace.
The older Jedi grinned. "Well, almost all of the Separatist yielded or had been captured… the ones who still resist are going to be defeated soon…"
His voice drifted lower when he remembered the crying face a lovely young woman.
"Your wife didn't take the news of you missing too well." He said lowly.
"You told her?" Anakin's eyes grew huge.
"I had to: she had every right of knowing… I have never seen her look so weak and… well, lost." Anakin's expression was pained and he closed his eyes, passing a hand over them.
"I'm going to leave the Order."
That statement stunned Obi-wan.
"What?"
"Not right now: but soon. After the children are born." Anakin sighed, and looked at his former mentor. "I want to live with my family… Padmé is the most important thing I have in the world. And, while I treasure your friendship Master, I know I can't continue living this double life. I can't be a Jedi and at the same time a husband and a father."
Obi-wan nodded his head sadly.
"I understand."
"I love the life of a Jedi, don't get me wrong! It's what I always dreamed, since I was a little child…. But now I have Padmé, and the children."
"You must do what you think it's right." Said the older Jedi wisely.
And with that, silence filled the ship.
"I'd have never thought that you would follow my suggestion." Sola smirked at her sister, who was sitting on the couch with her, caressing the swell of her stomach.
"I didn't marry Anakin because you told me it was time for me to have a husband." Replied annoyed Padmé. "I married him because I loved him. I still do."
The older woman's eyes rolled upwards. "Yes, I know it."
Then she grinned again.
"But you didn't believe me when I told you how he was watching you…! 'He's just a boy, a friend! No more!'" Sola mimicked in a high-pitched voice. "And now he is your very sexy husband."
Padmé scoffed, "How do you know he's sexy?"
Her sister grinned amused. "Padmé, do you know that news of his victories are always on the HoloNET? Of course any female with eyes knows how hotter-than-hot is he! And not only human females. Personally, I think it should be a sin to look so good! I mean, when I met him he was cute, but now he's downright gorgeous! But, unfortunately for every other woman in the galaxy, he seems to have eyes only for you…"
She lowered her head to Padmé's, whispering conspiratorially. "Tell me, is he good in bed?"
"Sola!" the Senator shrieked very un-ladylikely, bashing her sister with a pillow.
"Ah! You want war? And war you'll have!"
The two grown-up women started a pillow fight, with laughs everywhere in the room, as Ryoo and Pooja watched, mouths agape, their mother and their aunt behave like children.
"Adults are really strange." Commented Ryoo.
Finally, the two stopped to regain their breaths: Sola watched happily as her sister forgot, even if only for a moment, her worries.
After a while, Jobal walked in the room, an amused look on her face. "Girls, try not to be so… noisy."
"Sorry, mom." They smiled angelically.
"Oh, Padmé, when my son-in-law will be back, send him to me: I want to see how much he's grown up."
"Sure." Answered Padmé, glad that her mother had said 'when' and not 'if'.
After Jobal's exit from Sola's bedroom, the older sister giggled. "Okay, maybe there's one female who doesn't know how the famous Anakin Skywalker looks…"
"Why is that?" Padmé asked curiously.
"Well, mom hasn't watched the HoloNET for a long time: she says that she had enough of the war's horrors."
"She's right." Padmé agreed.
They stayed in a comfortable silence, watching Ryoo and Pooja play around in front of them.
Suddenly, a whistling sound caught Padmé's attention and she turned her head to the window. 'Is dad having some trouble with the speed--?' her thoughs were interrupted by the sight of a red, blazing laser coming right towards her.
"DOWN!" she shouted, pushing Sola on the floor with her, while covering Ryoo and Pooja with their bodies.
A loud crashing noise and a pain in her abdomen were the last things she remembered.
"Found him, you have."
"As you can see, Master Yoda." Said Obi-wan, bowing before the hologram of the venerable Master. The green figure just nodded.
"Are you directed to Coruscant?"
"Yes, Master. Why?" asked Anakin curiously, his arms hidden inside the large sleeves of his cloak.
"The Council is gathering. A terrible fact happened. But now it is not the time to talk about it."
Obi-wan nodded once more. "We'll see you at Coruscant. May the Force be with you, Master Yoda."
"May the Force be with you."
As the hologram flickered and vanished, Anakin turned to his old friend. "Can you guess what happened to make Master Windu decide to gather the Council?"
"I have no idea: the only thing I can think about is the search for Darth Sidious." Obi-wan stroked his beard pensively.
Anakin went to sit down in the pilot's chair, "Well, we'll soon find out. We are coming out of hyperspace."
They hurriedly landed and entered the Jedi Temple, which looked as beautiful as always: they entered the Council Chamber, up in one of the Towers of the Temple, and found inside, already in their chairs, Yoda, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti and Ki-Adi-Mundi.
Soon, after their arrival, the other Jedi Masters filled the Chamber until every seat was taken and the heavy doors closed.
"You all will be wondering why this Council has been gathered now, before the complete destruction of the Separatists." Mace Windu began, leaning his chin on his hands.
A faint murmur ran into the Chamber, then there was silence.
"Horrible news arrived from Naboo, early this afternoon." The powerful Master continued, his tone grave; and Anakin felt his heart beat erratically at the name of his wife's planet.
"There has been another attack to Senator Amidala's life: right in her house."
Anakin gripped hard the armrests, his only visible reaction: his face seemed worried, but not overly shocked. Inside, it was another matter: visions of Padmé dying, taking with her their unborn children, was enought to make him retch and cry.
"We don't know exactly what happened: but there's someone, out there, who still wants Senator Amidala dead."
"But, now, how is she?" asked Obi-wan, to Anakin's right.
Aayla Secura answered him. "Senator Bail Organa, who was visiting Queen Jamillia, contacted us and told us that she'd been hurt, but not gravely: now, she's in hospital because the attack triggered the labour… "
"She's giving birth!" Plo Koon had his eyes wide open.
"At least, she was two hours ago." Replied Mace Windu.
Anakin's mind was a complete mess: what in the Sith's Hell was happening? His wife was hurt and giving birth? And why wasn't he with her?
"Anakin." Master Windu's call brought him back to reality.
"Leave immediately for Naboo and protect once more the Senator: she already knows you and will feel at ease."
He really couldn't believe his luck: even after the doubts Obi-wan told him about, they were letting him go to Naboo? Well, he wasn't complaining!
"Understood, Master." And with that, he stood up, bowed and left the Chamber.
After the doors were closed once again, Master Windu turned his stare to every member of the Council. "Well, we can start talking about our search for Darth Sidious."
Obi-wan's inner self grinned 'Ah! I knew it: they couldn't have gathered the whole Council only because of an attack to Padmé's life.'
"Our spies discovered frequent communications between Grievous' base on Yavin four and the study of the Chancellor." A gasp resounded in the Chamber.
"Yes, my friends." Interrupted Yoda. "The Senate, we shouldn't trust anymore: corrupted it, has Sidious." He shook his head sadly. "Dark times are these."
"But if we can't trust the Senate, what should we do?" asked Luminara Unduli, her right hand in a fist.
"We need to find out who Sidious is: and kill him or bring him before the Senate." Mace Windu said.
"How can we discover the Sith Lord? We'll have to keep under tight control the study of the Chancellor, and it's not a easy thing to do." Stated Obi-wan.
Aayla Secura watched the faces around her with a serious expression. "We shouldn't forget that there's a possibility that the Chancellor himself may be Darth Sidious."
Silence fell in the Chamber.
"If this were true…" began Ki-Adi-Mundi, "…then we would had been betrayed for thirteen years!"
"We should not jump to the conclusion." Obi-wan said with a calming gesture of his hand. "Maybe the Chancellor is innocent."
"But, right now, we need proof of Sidious' identity." Concluded Mace Windu. "Watch out, my friends, with both of your eyes wide open."
"You have to push, Padmé!"
"I can't! It hurts too much!" The Senator screamed, lying on a hospital bed.
"Padmé, listen to me: you have to do it!" Sola tried again, feeling the worried gaze of the doctors around them. "Now it's time for your children to see the sunlight!"
Padmé tried to calm herself, taking deep breaths, but it had been too much for her: first, Anakin missing and her false labour, then the assassination attempt and now the REAL labour!
She remembered waking up and seeing a lamp just over her, doctors talking to her all together.
And then, the pain: oh, what pain!
'I'm not going to let Anakin touch me anymore!' she screamed silently in her head, while trying to push with all her might.
"AAAAHHHHH!" she screamed.
"The first one is out!" she heard a doctor said. "It's a female!"
"Padmé, you have a beautiful baby girl." Grinned Sola. "Come on, one last time!"
The Senator mentally cursed again her husband, as with a terrible effort, she pushed out her other children.
"It's a boy."
But by now, Padmé could barely stand on her elbows to see her babies.
And then, for the second time that day, she fell into darkness.
(to be continued)
Review Responses:
Fanfiction(dot)net
Nothing I say can express my gratitude!
Thank you to:
meandmysharpie, Coral Candy, zebraFinch, Vivilp182, donnatellaMarks, iloveobiwanmore, DarthLady14, Riderazzo (I like Aayla Secura, too…I got to know her better in the comic 'Obsession'), SWBabyGirl14, ItSyOuRDeStInY, Bittersweetbloodbaby, Snow Lepord, Emily, Cataracta, Jane, FelsGoddess, katie.
chopsticks: Well, yeah, I love smut too, especially if it is good. I like to write lemons/limes, but sometimes I get really embarassed when I'm writing… still, you're right, we need more smut!
I know a beta would be useful, but I prefer writing and correcting the chapters by myself: it's a bit of a challenge and also I don't like to have a beta… I've been a beta for some italian fanfictions (I was quite a famous Inuyasha ff author) and for me it had been hell!
Jokerisdaking: That I know of, Sola gave birth only to two little girls - Ryoo and Pooja; so yes, they are Padmé's nieces. Thank you for telling me the 'I'm going to marry you' line! No one explained it to me.
Vatel:squeals: from Russia? Wonderful! I'd love to visit it!
Well, the comic 'Obsession' (the only one I have nowadays) tells what happens 5 months before RotS … Obi-wan is searching for Asajj Ventress, an assassin of Count Dooku's, while Anakin finally gets to spend something with his wife --and 5 months later she's pregnant…they had some fun, didn't they?; there are some really nice pictures (I like to draw, so I usually observe the drawings). You can find some scans on a site called 'The Moons of Iego'… I'm sorry, I don't remember the internet address, but I'm sure you'll find it.
Adultfanfiction(dot)net
Awww, you're so sweet!
Thank you to:
jeannie, riam, wes, Ashley, Kei-kun (I have everything planned: there WILL be a lightsaber duel, don't worry! )
jeannie and Kei-kun: I know chapter 7 was short, but a reader of mine was leaving for college, and I wanted to post the chapter before her leave. Please, forgive me ;
AN: I'm sorry I disappointed anyone who wanted Anakin to be present at the twins' birth… but you'll find out later in the story that it was truly important for him to be away during the labour.
Well, I don't know if I'll be able to write chapter 9 before I'll go to Turkey… we'll see, ok?
For the moment, just leave a review and I'll be happy.