A/N: Hey everyone, back with another chapter. This is written in Padme's point of view, when Anakin is being transported back to Couascant for medical treatment.
Hopeless4life - Here's the update for you, and thnak you for being my first reveiwer! Spread the word! Hope you like this next chapter.
IntelEwok - Thanks for your support, hope you read this next chapter and like what you see!
Once again Read, Reveiw and Enjoy! Please reveiw, Anakin and I like reveiws! lol
DISCLAIMER: George Lucas refuses to give me the rights to Star Wars, therefore, I can only borrow his characters to abuse and put through emotional torture as I please. Oh yeah and all the settings and junk and stuff.
I sat beside his cot, and watched him breathe, content to watch the gentle rising and falling of his muscular chest, breathing a sigh of relief myself every time I see it do so. Obi-wan had reassured me that the wound isn't fatal, and that Anakin would not slip away from us. It was only, after all, a missing limb that can easily be replaced, not a direct blow to a vital organ. But that is not what causes me to worry, what causes fear to flow through my veins; it is Anakin's mental state that worries me the most.
Anakin hates to lose, hates to appear weak, and would be willing to do anything to make the perpetrator suffer for his lose; this much I could gather from his violent reaction to his mother's death. But he didn't only blame the Tusken's for that. There is another that he blames, and it makes me shiver to hear his cold words resound in my head.
It's all Obi-Wan's fault! He's jealous, he's holding me back!
That fateful event had been the first shattering blow that I knew of anyway, to his fragile young mind. Was it possible that it had caused Anakin to lose faith, to lose trust in the one man who had become his father, that Anakin himself would sacrifice his own life for? I shudder to think of the complexity of Anakin's mind and exactly how much damage Dooku had done.
I am pulled away from my thoughts as I see Anakin stir from the corner of my eye, and hear his low groan of pain echo around the small cabin. Gently I lean over, avoiding his stump of arm he had left as best I could. I take his hand between mine and give it a reassuring squeeze, slowly intertwining my fingers with his.
Eventually he settles back into a dreamless trance, but it becomes oddly unsettling to me as he stills so suddenly, to me he looks….. I gently lay my head on his chest and listen as his strong heartbeat pounds through my ear, his steady rhythm falling in time with my own, easing my shaking limbs, relieving me of my fear.
How long I remain like this, I am unsure. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes as a hand lays itself gently on my shoulder, and I turn to look into Obi-Wan's smiling eyes. I hastily pull my hand away from Anakin's, fearing that Obi-Wan had sensed the worst. I opened my mouth to speak, but he silenced me with a shake of his head.
"Tell me nothing, and I know nothing."
I smile gratefully at him and pull him into a gentle embrace, always wary of his own wounds suffered in battle.
"Senator, we will be reaching Courascant in a few moments. I would advise when we reach the planet that you prepare yourself to leave for Naboo once more. There is much work in the senate that the council feels you will be needed for."
I swallow back tears as the thought of being torn away from Anakin again for another ten years crosses my mind, but my senatorial training keeps my face and voice expressionless.
"Thank you Master Kenobi. I wish Anakin all the best."
"I am sure you will be seeing him sooner rather than later Milady. As your protector, he still has to escort you back to Naboo before he can complete his mission officially. I am sure the break will be ideal for him to re-gather his thoughts and set his emotions back in line."
Slowly I nod, beating back the desperate urge to fling my arms around Obi-wan's neck and kiss him on the cheek in elation.
"Please take care of Anakin for me until then. I feel partly responsible for this. If I had not persisted in coming to your rescue, then Anakin wouldn't be in this mess."
"Do not blame yourself senator. Anakin did bring this on himself partially too, him being as head-strong and impulsive as he is."
The ship shudders to a halt, and with a small smile, and a quick kiss to Anakin's pale forehead, I depart from the ship and into the long corridor, where I watch with a heavy heart as Anakin is hurried along to the Medical Bay. Leaning against a pillar, I sigh.
"Oh Anakin, what are we going to do?"