Ch. 25

"A-hem," Obi Wan cleared his throat loudly, staring directly at the Skywalker twins above him. Immediately, they froze, staring at each other guiltily with wide eyes. Then, they each began to slowly back away from each other into the recesses of the ceiling, gradually disappearing from view.

"I already saw you," Obi Wan informed them sternly, smiling despite himself. "There's no use hiding now. You may as well just tell me what you were up to."

Slowly, a small, soot covered face peered timidly out at him, the bright blue eyes informing him that it was Luke. He looked so much like a young Anakin in that instant Obi Wan actually had to blink to remind himself who he was looking at. The mischievous face had been passed directly to Luke, and the eyes that stared out at Obi Wan took the Jedi Master back twenty years to when he had just taken Anakin as his Padawan. And now, here he was, staring at Anakin's son. It still amazed him that his former Padawan was married and had children… And yet, Obi wan suddenly realized, Luke was no longer just Anakin's son, but he was also Obi Wan's Padawan… and that made Obi wan responsible. He had considered just leaving them, but now he realized it was his duty to get them down, or at least Luke…and in that moment it hit Obi Wan what he was in for these next fifteen or so years. At least he already had twenty years of dealing with Anakin to prepare him. But, he knew it was worth it- the friendship he now had with Anakin was worth the years of pranks and disobedience, and really it was those qualities that had kept the years interesting.

"Hello Luke," Obi Wan said kindly. "I think it's time for you and Leia to come down."

Luke looked across at Leia, still hiding from Obi Wan, who shook her head slowly, backing further into the ceiling. Obi Wan saw Luke peer down at him again nervously, then retreat back into the ceiling out of view.

"Luke Skywalker, get down from there now!" Obi Wan said more sternly. "You are going to have to start following my directions if you want to be my Padawan." Inside his head, Obi Wan laughed. Anakin still hadn't started following his directions.

"We… we probably shouldn't come down," Leia said timidly. "I think it wouldn't be a good idea."

"And why is that Leia?" Obi Wan asked tiredly.

"Because we're doing something important," she answered.

"Yes, yes it's important," Luke agreed, nodding at her.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not as important as what I need you to do," Obi Wan told them, trying to coax them out. "You won't be in trouble, I promise. I need you to stay with me, for safety. And where is your mother?"

"Well, we had to leave her a while ago," Leia informed him.

"And why is that?"

"Well, she had to get the line off her face, and then Aunt Sola was there, and we didn't want to sit around while mommy and Aunt Sola and Sabe talked for hours about all that stupid stuff girls always talk about," Luke informed his Master solemnly.

"Hey!" Interjected Leia, as Obi Wan just shook his head, laughing. "I'm a girl too, nerfherder."

"Yeah but you're just little," Luke explained patiently. "You're still ok to hang out with."

"Yeah, I am," Leia agreed. "But, well, when am I not ok to hang out with?"

"I don't know, when you're like a teenager maybe?" Luke surmised thoughtfully.

"Well what am I supposed to do then?" Leia asked, pouting.

"I don't know, Leia, ok, don't be such a laser brain," Luke rolled his eyes at her.

Leia stuck her tongue out at him, as both twins crossed their arms and pouted at each other. Obi Wan continued to laugh- if he had had trouble believing before that Anakin actually had children, this behavior undoubtedly proved that Anakin was the father of these children.

"Well I'm sorry to tell you both but we have to go find your mother now," Obi Wan instructed, and they both knew now that there was no arguing. "Now come down from there."

"Ok, fine Master but we need some help," Luke conceded.

"No you don't, Luke, don't give me that, you're Jedi, you could jump down from something triple this height," Obi Wan rolled his eyes. Grumbling, Luke and Leia hopped down from the ceiling, and Obi Wan grabbed each of their arms and led them down the hallway.

"Just out of curiosity," Obi Wan began, immediately doubting whether he wanted to actually know, "what were you doing?"

"Searching for Siths!" Leia announced proudly, as Luke nodded vigorously at her side.

"Why did you- you know what, never mind." Obi Wan shook his head, thoroughly confused as to where these children got their ideas, or how, for that matter, they always managed to carry them out.

…………………………..

"Mom and Dad are here too?" Padme asked breathlessly, as she, Sola, and Sabe rushed through the building trying to find the twins. They had successfully gotten the ink off of Padme's face, and the top priority for Padme and Sabe now was to get everyone to safety. "And your family?"

"Yes, everyone came to celebrate your birthday," Sola explained again. "We had contacted Anakin, but apparently he forgot, or… I don't really know what happened, actually, all I know is we couldn't contact him for the past few days, maybe a week, to confirm when we were coming- so we decided to come anyway, and crash whatever special surprise he had planned that he obviously didn't want us coming too," she laughed.

"No, no, Sola it's not that it's… listen to me," Padme said, taking her sister by the arm as Sabe put a reassuring hand on Padme's shoulder. "There's no easy way to tell you this so I'm just going to tell you everything and you can react after you hear it all. A couple of days ago, Luke and Leia were kidnapped, and when Anakin and I tried to help them we were too-"

"What! Padme, what are you talking about, are you all right?" Sola asked worriedly. This was what she didn't understand about her sister- Padme was so willing to put herself in danger to serve her people, to put herself at the center of everything and to be the target of all kinds of horrible threats. Padme was so unlike the rest of the family, who wanted to just be at peace, and together, and safe- she loved her sister and Anakin and the children, but their life was so different from hers, and their parents- and it was getting even harder to deal with Padme's life constantly in the headlines, and always threatened. It broke Sola's heart to see her little sister with so much attention, involved in so many battles (though in the past few years there hadn't been any), in so much danger- but she stood by her, always, and tried to do everything she could for her. And it was obvious that this was one of those times when she would have to simply help Padme in any way possible, whether she understood her or not. A tear fell down Sola's cheek as she hugged Padme.

"We're all right now, but Sola, it was Palpatine who took them- he was still alive, and-"

"What? Padme Palpatine was killed years ago, you told me so yourself!" Sola protested, not wanting to believe it.

"That's what we all thought, but somehow, he got away. Anyway, he is dead now, Anakin killed him, and we escaped, and I'll tell you more later I promise. But right now, we're all in danger, Palpatine's apprentice is here and Anakin's fighting him right now. We have to get to safety," Padme stared at her sister seriously, hoping she understood the gravity of the situation.

"I'll never understand you Padme," Sola shook her head, hugging her sister. "How you can sit here so calmly when your husband is fighting a Sith and your children are in danger, how do you do it?"

"It is difficult for me, Sola, I worry about them constantly. But I learn to put that aside and think about the task at hand, which is getting help to Anakin and getting my children to safety. I put the emotions behind be, and you have to too. In a family full of Jedi, it gets easier," Padme smiled ruefully. "Now, we have to find everyone and get them to safety."

"Sabe you knew about all this?" Sola asked.

"Yes, Obi Wan was with them at the time, he told me about it and I helped Padme prepare this speech today," Sabe replied.

"Obi Wan?" Sola asked, confused. "Anakin's old Master?"

"Yes, you met him, Sola," Padme nodded. "Last summer when we all visited Naboo, he came with us, do you remember?"

"Yes," Sola nodded. "Please tell me he's all right, too."

"Of course, he and Anakin basically saved all of us," Padme smiled. "Now, let's go find him, he probably has found my twins wrecking havoc somewhere around here."

Suddenly, a laser blast hit the wall right in between Padme and Sabe.

"What's going on?" Sola asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Padme replied honestly, sounding nervous herself.

"M'lady, let me protect you," Sabe implored her friend, "the Senate needs you."

"You don't work for me anymore, Sabe," Padme said firmly. "And I won't have you risking your own life for mine anymore. We will do this together."

"All right," Sabe conceded, as she and Padme peered cautiously around the corner, then whipped their heads back to where they were.

"You saw him too?" Padme asked breathlessly.

"Yes, but I couldn't see his face because of his black cloak," Sabe responded.

"He's with the Sith- but he's much bigger than the others we saw… there must have been older ones, too," Padme deduced. "Better trained."

"Yes, but still not perfectly- he missed you, so obviously his aim is off," Sabe said, examining the hole in the wall.

"Well, mine isn't," Padme stated confidently, as she pulled out her blaster and killed him with a perfect hit. "Come on, we don't have much time here."

"Padme!" Sola muttered, still shocked. "You killed him."

"Sola, listen to me," Padme said softly, looking at her sister reassuringly. "These are bad people, they are working to destroy the democracy we have worked so hard to create. These are the same kind of people who kidnapped me and my children; they work for the man who is fighting my husband to the death right now. And we need to get ourselves and our families to safety, ok?"

"I… I know," Sola nodded, still shaking- she had never been in a battle before, and it was difficult to see her sister in such a position- it was a different Padme than she had ever seen before. "I just can't believe that your life is like this, that you have to-"

"Sola, now is not the time, we have to get out of here," Padme said sternly, as she pulled Sola along with her. Sabe also pulled out her gun and they ran down the hall, covering each other. When they reached the man Padme had shot, she knelt down to check his pulse. "He's dead," she confirmed, picking up his gun. "Sola, can you use this?"

"I don't know," Sola said nervously, eyeing the gun.

"Just hold it, and use it to protect yourself, ok?" Padme instructed. "We don't know how many more of them there are."

Sola nodded, a little more confidently, and took the gun. Padme turned the next corner, first checking to make sure the hallway was clear, and motioned for them to follow her. Suddenly, the sound of laser blasts rang out from down the next hallway, and Sabe pushed Padme and Sola up against the wall with her.

"How many do you think there are?" Padme asked sharply, trying to weigh the danger of the situation.

"At least ten," Sabe decided, and Padme nodded in agreement. "What should we do?"

"Go back, we don't even know where the people we're looking for are," Padme thought sharply. "So it really doesn't matter which way we go, if they were back there, then… well…"

They all looked at each other, knowing that the prospect wasn't good. They began to move back the way they had come, when suddenly, Padme stopped short.

"Wait," Padme held up her hand, turning back around towards the sounds of the blasts.

"What is it?" Sola asked, worried for the safety of her family.

"It's ok, we can go back there, in fact we should," Padme said confidently, turning back.

"What?" Sabe asked, knowing Padme had heard something that caused this decision.

"Light sabers," Padme said, and soon both Sola and Sabe could also hear the distinct swoosh sound of light sabers blocking the laser blasts. "They might need our help."

They ran around the corner as quickly as they could, only to find Obi Wan standing in front of Luke and Leia, all three of them with raised light sabers deflecting blasts. They stood obediently behind him, so that he was the direct target, but their training sabers helped considerably in deflecting the blasts of the ten or so soldiers fighting against them. Obi Wan fought amazingly, actually winning this battle against the well trained soldiers as he expertly blocked their blasts.

"Oh Force," Padme exclaimed, putting her hand over her mouth at the sight of her babies fighting.

"Padme, thank goodness," Obi Wan said quickly. "I tried to keep them safe but… Padme we became surrounded, we had to-"

"It's ok, I know, I understand," Padme said quickly, shooting at the enemy to try to free them.

"The council has been notified, help is on the way," Obi Wan assured them. "I can handle this lot but there's more of them." In perfect timing, Obi Wan flipped away from Luke and Leia and killed the remaining two soldiers in midair. Breathlessly he rushed to Padme, Luke and Leia following obediently behind.

Padme immediately knelt down to embrace her children. "Are you all right, angels? I know it was scary, but you're ok now," she assured them, borrowing Anakin's nickname as she had started to do more and more.

"Mommy we fought in a battle!" They exclaimed loudly and excitedly, and Padme suddenly wondered why she had been worried about them being afraid. "Master Obi Wan says we did really good!"

"Well," Padme corrected, smiling at her children. "You did do really well, I'm just so glad you're all right."

"How are you?" Obi Wan asked Sabe, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"We're all fine, but we have to find the rest of their family, if there really are more of these soldiers here," Sabe reminded him.

"My mother and father, as well as my husband and children are here," Sola told Obi Wan calmly, her eyes begging him to keep them safe.

"I know, I think they're probably all right though," Obi Wan assured all of them. "They are probably in a more public area, I think these troops are trying to get to their Master, and he's even further away from the main area, in a very remote location with Ana- um… anyway we should," he stumbled looking at Padme who stared right back at him.

"It's ok, Obi Wan," she said sadly. "I know he's fighting him…Is anyone helping him yet?" She asked, suddenly letting her worry about Anakin come to the forefront. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to hold back the tears that she wanted to much to shed.

"Yoda and Mace are in the building," Obi Wan said kindly. "But I don't know if they've found him yet…it's going to be ok, Padme, he's much stronger than this one, I promise. If he defeated Sidious, he can defeat this one."

Padme took a deep breath. "I want to go find him."

"There's nothing you can do," Obi Wan warned her. "It would be better to find your family…"

"No. You are going to take me to him. Sabe and Sola will get them, and protect them. You said the council knows- that means more Jedi will be here soon to keep them safe. I want you with Anakin; you're the only other person I trust enough to help him," Padme said firmly.

"All right," Obi Wan conceded reluctantly. He knew at this point there was no more arguing with the Chancellor. "Sabe, you can handle them, right?"

"We'll be fine," Sabe assured him.

"We'll protect them Obi- I mean, Master," Luke said proudly, bowing elaborately.

"You fought well, my young Padawan," Obi Wan said fondly, smiling at Luke. "I think I'll be able to turn you into a fine Jedi Knight, maybe even better than your father."
Luke beamed proudly, but Leia pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What about me?" She demanded.

"Well, you fought very well too, Leia," Obi Wan said warmly. "But it's up to your father to train you. We'll see," he laughed, as Leia and Luke smiled.

"All right, you four head to the main entrance and as soon as the Jedi get here make sure to send them to Control Room A- Sabe you'd better give them directions because I'm pretty sure Yoda and Mace got lost. Sola I want you to tell any Senate security that you see that you are the Chancellor's sister and that the rest of her family needs protection- get as much security as you can to the main entrance and also instruct anyone you see to go there, and hopefully everyone will be safe. And we'll…go help Anakin," Obi Wan instructed. He gave Sabe one last hug before they left, and Padme hugged Sola tightly, reassuring her that it would be ok.

"Bye mommy!" The twins yelled, running down the hall, as Sola and Sabe followed.

"I didn't want to start this argument again in front of your sister and Sabe, but for the record, Chancellor, I don't think this is a good idea," Obi Wan said, slightly angry.

"Why did you concede then," Padme challenged fiercely. Neither was actually mad at the other, but both knew they each had a very specific way of handling situations, and they didn't usually agree. This argument between them happened often in crisis situations, but it was normally solved easily, because one had obvious jurisdiction depending on the kind of situation they were in. However, here, Obi Wan knew that Padme felt it was her call, because they were in the Senate, and Padme knew that Obi Wan felt it was his call, because they were dealing with a Sith.

"I gave in because I knew you would follow me no matter what," he told her, and she nodded.

"Look, I'm not going to interfere, but I have to know he's all right," Padme said firmly, looking straight into Obi Wan's eyes. "I can help!"

"I really don't think you can- not that you aren't a great asset in most situations, but this is a Sith Lord!"

"I'll do what I can, I promise you that I won't be a problem," Padme countered ardently.

"That's not what I'm worried about…I don't want you to have to see something that might be too difficult for you," Obi Wan said sternly, and Padme looked away angrily, even though she knew he had her best interests at heart.

"Look, I've seen him in difficult situations before… I can deal with Anakin being hurt, I won't make it a problem," she assured him.

"That's not it," Obi Wan said warily. "Padme, this situation is… slightly different than anything you've seen us deal with before. I know you can deal with us killing our opponents but…Padme this calls for a different, well, protocol…" He looked at her intensely, gauging whether she really could deal with this or not.

For once, she stopped short, and looked at him more timidly. "What do you mean?" She asked hesitantly, looking at the ground.

"In this case, Padme, we need information," Obi Wan began cautiously. "In fact, we need it for you, so you can figure this out…"

"I know," Padme said meekly, looking back up at Obi Wan. "We have to know how Sidious escaped, and if there are any more followers, and where they-"

"Precisely," Obi Wan nodded, cutting her off. "But there are only certain ways of getting information from an enemy, especially a Sith…"

"What do you mean?" Padme asked quietly, though she thought she knew.

"I know you've seen Anakin kill before Padme, but this will be worse," Obi Wan told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know if you can deal with it, and frankly I don't think Anakin will be able to do it with you there. He would hate me for bringing you, he wouldn't want you to see him like that, and I frankly don't want you there either."

"Just let me help you gain control of him," Padme agreed, "let me know Anakin and you are safe, and I will leave."

Obi Wan took a deep breath. "All right," he nodded. "And don't worry, we're going to have this finished as quickly and easily as possible… Let's go." He turned to walk off, but she put her hand on his arm to stop him.

"Obi Wan," she said reluctantly, looking up at him. "You were right this time." She frowned and walked on ahead, as Obi Wan lit up, pumping his fist in the air proudly

"What?" She asked, looking back.

"Nothing, nothing," the Jedi Master covered, as he walked on behind her.