SANCTUARY

Chapter Two

Anakin sat motionless on his bed with his body leaning against the wall. He managed not to think of Padme for two minutes, trying to occupy his mind with thoughts of what he needed to do with his pod, of the sale he forgot to record that Owen was going to scold him for…but sooner or later, everything went back to her. He shook his head in disbelief as his eyes once again found her picture. She was the kindest, gentlest, most beautiful person he had ever met. He couldn't believe that there had been people that wanted her dead. After every assassination attempt he had heard about, he prayed for someone, anyone to protect her and keep her safe. But whoever had had that job had failed.

He banged his head against the wall several times in frustration. How could she be gone? She had dedicated her entire life to her people and the Republic and she had been repaid with death. He shook his head at how twisted life could be and his eyes brimmed over with tears as his fists clenched tightly in his lap.

Someone had stolen her body. Someone had disturbed her place of eternal rest and stolen any good that was left in the galaxy. His face twisted in anger when he thought about what had happened to her body and how it had been treated. He couldn't even bring himself to think about what was going to happen to her body now. It just wasn't fair.

Every day for ten years, he watched the holonet to hear of any news of her. Most days, he was given the gift of seeing short glimpses of her and even hearing her beautiful voice in excerpts of her countless addresses to the Senate. Because of that, he had been able to watch her mature into the breathtaking woman she had become as well as follow her career. On those days, he had a little skip in his step and not even an appearance by Watto could bring him down. Whenever there was no news of her, he reasoned that no news was sometimes good news and simply looked forward to the next day's broadcast.

That was all gone now. Some heartless murderer, probably a Separatist, had taken her away forever and the entire galaxy had lost one more fearless leader.

He sighed again as exhaustion began to take over. He shifted himself in a more comfortable position and fell back against his pillow. Sleep seemed like a blessing at that moment and his heavy lids quickly closed. But peace only lasted for a few minutes because the loud buzzing of their front door jerked him from his much needed rest.

He threw his pillow over his head as he heard heavy footsteps clunking towards the door. After a few moments, some murmurs echoed into his room and he pressed his hand against his pillow a little harder. Without warning his door creaked open slowly, but he refused to greet whoever had decided to disturb him.

"Anakin…get up…there's someone at the door for you…" Owen whispered excitedly.

Anakin's response was muffled by his pillow and when Owen tried to pry the pillow from his hands, Anakin's grasp only tightened.

"Come on, Anakin…you'll be glad you got up, I promise."

Anakin lifted the pillow from his head and growled: "Tell whoever's here that I don't want to see them and leave me alone."

Owen grabbed the pillow that Anakin had placed back over his head and this time, he was able to wrestle it from his iron grip. "Get up, Anakin."

Anakin tried to steal his pillow back but after numerous failures, he sighed, ran a hand through his hair and rose from the bed. "This better be important."

"Trust me, it is." Owen chuckled.

Anakin just rolled his eyes and followed Owen out into their living room. His brow immediately furrowed in confusion when his gaze found the small dark figure near the doorway, quickly recognizing the woman he had bumped into in the city. He watched in amazement as her tiny hands reached up and lifted the hood from her head only to reveal a ghost.

Anakin's face turned white and his mouth gaped open in pure shock. "Padme?"

She smiled softly and nodded.

He only continued to stare at her in disbelief and dared to move a few steps closer. His eyes widened at the sight before him and he froze when he realized that she really was standing in front of him. He tried to speak but his throat had become so dry from the shock that only a low sound escaped his lips. After swallowing quickly and wetting his lips, he moved even closer having finally found his voice.

"Padme…what are you doing here? I thought you were…"

Padme nodded quickly and without thinking, wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. "It's so good to see you, Ani. I…I know what you thought…I need a place to stay…"

She trailed off as she released him. Her eyes silently called to him and he knew he would do anything she asked of him.

His eyes quickly searched the room for Cliegg and wordlessly pleaded to him. Cliegg nodded graciously and walked to where Anakin and Padme were standing.

"You're more than welcome here, miss."

Padme smiled with relief and quickly caught Cliegg off-guard with a hug. "Thank you…I can't tell you what this means to me. I don't know how long I'll be here but I can pay you whatever you want and…"

Cliegg immediately interrupted her. "No, no, no, my dear. You don't have to pay us. Any friend of Anakin's is a friend of ours. You're welcome in our home for as long as you like."

"Thank you, Mr. Lars."

"Please, call me Cliegg."

She smiled then looked back at Anakin, who could barely contain his elation. His happy grin spread widely across his face and his arms itched to hold her again. Even in the dim light, she was the most intoxicating creature he had ever seen and knowing that she was alive only added to his fascination. Owen snapped him out of his revelry by slapping him on the shoulders.

"See, Anakin, I told you you'd be happy you got up." He said triumphantly.

Anakin didn't even want to think of a smart comeback. There were more important things to think about now.

Seeing that Anakin was planning on ignoring that, Owen decided to press a little further. He leaned forward and grasped Padme's hand in his. "I'm glad you're alright, Padme. It's good to finally meet you by the way. I've heard a lot about you from Anakin and…"

"Owen, why don't you get Padme's bags from the speed-taxi out there." Anakin interrupted.

Owen shook his head then shrugged before walking outside to retrieve Padme's things.

Cliegg ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Don't worry about him, miss, he just likes to give Anakin a hard time about anything and everything he can think of."

"That's alright. And Cliegg, please call me Padme." She said, smiling warmly.

Cliegg returned her smile but frowned when he saw her try to hide a yawn. He leaned closer to Anakin and said lowly: "I just remembered we only have three bedrooms, Anakin."

"That's no problem, Cliegg. I can sleep on the couch…"

"You can have my room, Padme." Anakin interrupted quickly.

Padme shook her head. "No, Ani. I couldn't take your room. I'm causing you all enough trouble already."

Anakin fervently shook his head again. "Padme, you're a guest. Guests shouldn't have to sleep on the couch."

After a few moments, Padme acknowledged that he wasn't going to back down and sighed in defeat. "Alright, you win. If you don't mind, I really need to lie down for a few minutes."

Anakin nodded and motioned for her to follow him after she thanked Cliegg one more time. He gestured for her to enter the room first and she smiled at him gratefully.

Padme cautiously entered the room and almost tripped over the pillow. Her eyes wandered it quickly and she couldn't stop the faint smile from creeping to her lips. The sight before her wasn't quite what she was expecting but it was endearing just the same. Clothes were strewn about, the bed was unmade, and droid parts rested carelessly in the middle of the room.

Anakin walked in behind her and when he saw the state his room was in, his mouth gaped open. He promptly scrambled to clean up the room, throwing the clothes and parts under his bed. He hurriedly fixed the sheets on his bed and when he looked up, he met Padme's understanding eyes. She smiled gently before moving across the room and sat down carefully as Anakin moved a few feet away from the bed.

She sighed and gripped the edge of the bed to keep herself from falling over. Her eyes shut tightly as she tried to steady herself to keep Anakin from worrying about her. When her eyes finally opened again, she was met with his concerned gaze. She bit her lip and started to open her mouth to reassure him but Anakin stopped her.

"Padme…are you alright?"

She looked down and sighed. When she met his gaze again, she couldn't hide the truth from him. "I'm fine now. I'm just…really exhausted. The last few weeks have been the worst in my entire life and I think everything has finally caught up to me. I just…I just need to rest for awhile."

He nodded slowly, biting his lip to keep himself from asking what he desperately needed to know. Instead, he smiled calmly and moved towards the door. Before he left, he turned to her one more time and offered softly: "If you need anything, I'll be right outside."

She smiled gratefully and nodded. She waited until the door closed then finally allowed her body the rest it had been begging for. Her rested comfortably on Anakin's pillow and within moments, her tired eyes closed for much needed sleep.

Anakin shut the door and looked up only to meet Owen's impatient gaze.

"So?"

Anakin rolled his eyes and walked into the living room where Owen was waiting for him.

"What do you want?"

Owen smiled good-naturedly. "Did she tell you why she was here?"

Anakin shook his head. "No and I didn't ask either so drop it."

Owen's mouth fell open. "The woman of your dreams shows up on your doorstep and you don't have the guts to ask why?"

Anakin lowered his voice and leaned closer to him. "Keep it down, she's sleeping."

Owen's eyebrows rose slightly and his arms crossed across his chest. "In your room, huh?"

Anakin's annoyed eyes lifted to the ceiling and he sighed. "As you know, we only have three bedrooms. So I gave her mine."

"Naturally." Owen smirked.

Anakin just shook his head. "I'm going to go work on my pod. Will you let me know when she wakes up?"

Owen grinned and nodded. "You bet."

Anakin rose to make his way towards their shop but couldn't stop himself from throwing his own jab. "Why don't you go call Beru…Owie-bear…"

He quickly ducked, just barely missing the pillow that had been angrily thrown at his head. He chuckled at the memory of accidentally overhearing Beru use the endearment for her boyfriend and had even had to clamp his hand over his mouth to keep his uncontrollable laughter from being heard by the unknowing couple. That little piece of blackmail had definitely proven to be useful.

He smirked at Owen one last time before heading to their shop. His step had a little more bounce in it than usual and he whistled softly as he unlocked and entered their repair shop. His eyes easily found his broken down pod in the darkness and he walked over to it.

He patted it softly and whispered: "Now all I have to do is get you fixed up and my life will be just about perfect."