A/N: Thanks everyone for their wonderfully encouraging reviews. I believe there will be only a couple more chapters to go! Then, if I have time, I'm going to move on with a prequel.

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That night what Padmé had not seen were two figures well hidden in the darkness provided by the shadows of the trees and shrubberies. A woman in a long gown and a man in folds of robes.
Obi-Wan stood out on the terrace, looking alone at the stars. His hands gripped the stone railings tightly, whitening his knuckles. He was bored and miserable. He did not know what to do. He longed to leave, but that would be a symbolic disrespect of the Jedi to the Senate. Finn was fitting herself nicely into the niche. He would not be surprised if she received five marriage proposals after tonight, all from high officials and royalties of the realm. Nevertheless, he did not know that Finn had stole out of the party and was tiptoeing quietly up to him. She took his arm in hers. It was a peaceful night. A cool breeze blew through the orchard. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled to herself. Seeing no one was near or even aware of them, she put an arm around his waist and began fingering the layers of his robe teasingly.

"What are you doing?" he murmured absentmindedly.

"I'm trying to seduce you, silly." She said playfully.

"Seduce me?" he flashed a wry, handsome smile that made her knees weak, "I'm afraid that is not the proper way to do it." he took hold of her hand and half-dragged her among the trees.

"You're insane, Ben," Finn protested with bursts of laughter.

He kissed her urgently; his breath was heavy and ragged. "You didn't expect to tease me in that dress all night without driving me insane, did you?" They kissed again, this time, more roughly. His short beard was rubbing forcefully against her fair skin. His light butterfly kisses trailed down her neck to her shoulders and chest. Finn could feel her face warming up and her breath quicken. "What's wrong?" Obi-Wan asked as she buried her face into his shoulder.

The robes felt soft and comforting against her cheeks, so was the man underneath the clothes. "I don't want you to go, Ben," she mumbled like a disgruntled child.

Obi-Wan sighed, "but I have to. I have to go to Utapau to find General Grievous."

Finn looked up. Her eyes were so irresistibly lovely; he knew he could deny her nothing. She put her soft hands around his face and stroked his cheeks. "I know, I'm sorry. Don't let me ruin our time now. Just be back safely." He felt breathless as he kissed her again. "Of course, I'll have to give you a proper goodbye before you go." She smiled wickedly and her green eyes sparkled.

They collapsed together after their intense lovemaking. Obi-Wan rolled over and embraced his lover protectively. Before she dozed off to sleep, Finn said with a smile into his chest, "you know, the other night I had a dream that I have a little daughter."

"Oh?" Was it a vision of the future? He wondered. Jedi never consider marriage or family. As much as he loved Finn, it still felt strange to him. Maybe they were not meant to be together, after all. He would return to the Jedi Council and she would make a fine wife for a high official.

"She was a pretty little girl with bright red curls," her eyes were far away, as if she was looking at the child right now.

"Really," he ran a hand subconsciously over his sandy hair, "I wonder who the father is." His tone was a little bitter.

She would have slapped him if his arms didn't tightly hold her down. "Of course, it's you, silly." Finn laughed while Obi-Wan looked a little sore. "She has your smile," she pressed her forehead against his and kissed the tip of his nose.

Obi-Wan was thoughtfully quiet as Finn began to nod off again, then he quietly whispered into her ear, "after the war is over, I will ask leave of the Council. They won't like it, I'm sure. But I'm taking you away from here. We can get married then, and we'll go live with the twins at the Village. Would you like that?"

"Mmm…" she murmured with a contented smile as she slowly drifted off to sleep, "I love you, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"I'm sorry about my outbursts earlier with the Council, they are wise to decide that you should go hunt down General Grievous." Anakin said humbly as Obi-Wan was getting ready on the landing platform.

"You're very gifted, Anakin." He clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder, "but you are desperately needed hear. Another thing—" he paused.

"I will continue my surveillance duties to the Council," Anakin said respectfully.

"Actually, I was thinking about you and Padmé. Anakin," he continued uncertainly, "you understand, attachments are forbidden. You're traveling down a road that leads you to a dead end." As the Chosen One, Obi-Wan had left Anakin almost no allowances and indulgences. He knew that he was hard on the boy, but still…

Anakin's fists tightened. "You say so as if you are above reproach," he said bitterly and Obi-Wan was taken back, "yes, I know all about you and Finn." His anger rose, but it lessened somewhat when he looked into the master's eyes and saw nothing but friendship and devotion.

"I cannot let you stray from the Jedi, Anakin, not as long as I honor my vow to Qui Gon." Obi-Wan looked away sadly and began to take his leave.

He was still resentful and bitter at both Obi-Wan and the Council. Nevertheless, Anakin worshipped Qui Gon and he was reluctant to part with his friend on bad terms. "I will not stray from the Jedi, Master. May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan."

He turned back and gave him a rueful smile, "Goodbye, old friend. May the Force be with you."

"You have been avoiding me, young one." Palpatine's voice was even and cold, but with anger running wildly underneath.

Finn snorted, "Yeah, it was working well until now."

"You are being young and foolish, my child."

"Your child? You know pretty damn well that I'm about as much your child as Yoda is your uncle."

"I'm duly sorry about not being able to raise you more properly as a father—"

"That's not what I meant"

Palpatine's eyes widened slightly, just slightly, "what do you mean?"

"Don't pretend with me, Supreme Chancellor." Finn said sarcastically, "you have never treated me as your daughter. Only a tool to further your career. Or an offspring of your disgusting scientific experiment. Yes," she asserted, "I know. I know where I came from. I know I'm just a cluster of cells from a test-tube to you!"

Palpatine began to laugh. The girl had always been too smart for her own good. "Don't be ridicules, Finn! I created you. I molded you and got you proper trainings. You've always been much more powerful than you let yourself to be. You are powerful because of me! Because I created you! By selecting the genes of some of the most powerful Force-wielding beings ever existed in the Galaxy, I created you, my child. You have always been my prize and my success. However," his voice was cold, "I should have found ways to splice more obedience and reason into your DNA." His eyes narrowed.

Tears came to Finn's eyes, burning her eyes and nose. When Finn was little, she would pretend that she grew up in a loving home like her other friends. Papa would bring home sweet treats to her while Mama would sing lullabies before she slept. Her brother and her sister would play with her on the rope swings by the river. She knew it was a child's wistful dream. She felt dirty and freakish, knowing now where she really came from. "Did you love my mother?" that question took Palpatine by surprise. He never visited his family, or what was left of it, on Naboo. Her mother never sang for her. Lady Ofelia would cough up chunks of blood, especially at night, sending the whole household and Finn, in a scared frenzy. Finn's brother was always away and her sister spurned their home life and married an artist. She never visited, but she was happy with her own family, leaving little Finn to fend for herself and her mother. That was Finn's childhood.

"No," he stated flatly, "her position in society and her relations were what I needed. She had a high midichlorian count, being a Jinn, but she could not physically bear children without a surrogate mother. She was of no use to me after you were born. I needed her genes to experiment, that's all. Of course, she had always thought the three of you really were offspring of me and her, without realizing that such strong children must have also bore genes of more powerful life forms. Then again, the experiments were not all successful. It took a long time to produce just a few of you. Kira, for example, was a grave mistake. With a high midichlorian count, alas, she has no connection with the Force."

"So she was abandoned?" Finn remembered the files from the clinic. There were four of them, however.

"Yes. And Kyler was problematic also. His trainings could not make up for what he lacked in talent. But you, my dear, are different."

"What do you mean?"

"You are perfect. Your talents, your bearings, your mentality, all favorable to your position and our goal."

"So, it all comes to this again." Finn scoffed and made a move to leave. She had enough of this. She didn't want to help with his schemes.

Palpatine followed her lithe figure with his eyes. He was the one in control now. He waited for the very last moment to speak, just when her hand reached for the door switch. "Don't you want to know what happened to Kyler?"

Her hand paused and her head swayed back gently with uncertainty. "You told me you didn't know who killed him."

"Killed? Brutally murdered, you meant. I knew, of course, I knew. You were too young, you couldn't have done anything good for our situation. I'm just surprised that the damned Jedi had kept it a secret from you for so long. Your attachment to a certain Jedi master has clouded your judgments." He had seen the lover's bite on the side of her neck peering out of her high collars.

She ignored the comment about Obi-Wan. It was best if he knew as little about it as possible. "The Jedi?" her voice filled with distaste, "what do they have to do with this?"

"I will tell you in due time, my child," his eyes twinkled with evil pleasure. At last, he had his best soldier in line, once again. "But there is something I want you to perform for me." Now, he just needed his other top weapon to come around all his Jedi foolishness and join him.

Anakin withdrew his hands into his robes and bowed respectfully as Finn rushed out of the Chancellor's room. Her face was flustered and she could not even force out any words, so she closed her opened mouth as she stared at him and stormed out. "Chancellor Palpatine, you needed to see me?" he wanted to ask her father what was wrong with Finn, but decided it was best not go into their personal matters.

However, it was Palpatine who opened up the topic, "such a headstrong girl," he shook his head in paternal helplessness, "I have asked her to fill the position of head of my securities advisors."

Anakin drew a cold breath. The Head of Senate Securities Advisors was an important job, imparted only to the most capable and experienced officers of the Galactic Military. Finn could perform the job superbly, no doubt. However, the competition was fierce and many would not be happy about the Supreme Chancellor appointing his own daughter. "Did she accept?" he remarked carefully.

"Yes, but on one condition that I could not fulfill."

"What?" Anakin was curious.

The thinly pressed smile appeared on Chancellor Palpatine's face, he regarded the young Jedi knight, amused by his interest in the affair. "I'm afraid I have to keep it to myself. Don't you think, mmm?" He could tell Anakin that the condition was that he should be expelled from being the Jedi liaison to the Chancellor and destroy whatever trust Anakin had in Finn. Then he thought it was not the time. The girl would come around, soon enough, once she saw what great and wondrous things were in their future. Now, he needed to keep Anakin's head level. "How are things with the Jedi?" he shuffled some document disks nonchalantly. He found the best way into people's hearts was to lend a sympathetic ear. This disgruntled and impatient young man was in dire need for a sympathetic ear.

"The same, they still don't trust me."

"They don't convey the same respect to you as your old master, I'm afraid, even though you're much superior to General Kenobi in every way."

Anakin was flattered but still cautious, "Master Kenobi is a great Jedi. The Council is wise when it comes to him."

"Yet, they are none the wiser when it comes to his love interests."

Anakin was stunned, "so, so you know?"

"Of course, I know. I forbad it, no good will come of it." he shook his head sadly, "I knew, everyone knew, even the Council knew, I'm afraid," he lied.

"Impossible, the Code forbids it!" he could not believe that the Council would directly act in opposition to the Jedi Code.

Palpatine gave him a crooked smile, a dangerous smile, "this is where the Jedi are fallible." He almost enjoyed putting rebellious and discontent thoughts into the young man, fueling his ambition and resentment. As he fingered a glass ornament delicately with his long fingers, he remembered a conversation they had just a few days before. He could remember the glisten of hunger and ambition in Anakin's eyes. The dawn of a new era was near, he knew.

"He became so powerful . . . the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. Plagueis never saw it coming. It's ironic he could save others from death, but not himself."

"Is it possible to learn this power?"

"Not from a Jedi."

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