I head into the 'fresher to splash some cold water on my face. "Get a grip on yourself, Skywalker," I mutter, knowing that if I am ever to win back the love and trust of my wife, wallowing in self-deprecation will do nothing to help my cause. I look up at my reflection in the mirror and gasp when I see it. I look as red as a Mon Calamari. "Great…just great…"

"Father, are you alright?"

Luke steps to the door of the 'fresher and whistles when he sees me. "Holy crap!" he exclaims when does. "What happened to you?"

I turn to look at my son who stares at me with wide eyes.

"I fell asleep in the sun," I explain sheepishly.

Luke puts a hand over his face to hide his grin. "Yeah, so I see," he replies.

I frown at him, not appreciating his mirth. "I'm glad you find it so amusing," I retort as I step past him into the bedroom.

"Father, what happened?"

Leia is standing there, looking at me with the same wide-eyed shock that her twin is wearing.

I sigh. "I fell asleep," I tell her. "I went for a swim, lied down on the beach, and fell asleep."

"Does it hurt" she asks.

"A little," I lie. "I'll be fine, Leia. I guess I've never had to be careful in the sun before so this is kind of a weird experience for me."

"I think you should put something on that burn," Luke suggests as he enters the room. "To take the sting out anyway."

I turn to my son, feeling badly that I snapped at him. "Yeah, maybe I should."

"I'll see what I can find," Leia announces, leaving us.

"I'm sorry, Father," Luke says. "I didn't mean to laugh."

"No I'm sorry, son," I tell him. "I shouldn't have bitten your head off that way. I guess I do look rather ridiculous," I say with a wry grin, looking down at my red torso.

Luke grins too. "Well, the resemblance to Admiral Ackbar is rather uncanny."

We both laugh.

"I can't believe I have a sun burn," I tell my son, pulling my unruly wet hair back into a ponytail. "Me, a native of Tatooine for crying out loud! It's just ludicrous."

Luke nods. "Well, your skin is new, Father; it's not accustomed to the Tatooine suns anymore."

"No kidding," I mutter.

"Oh my…"

Luke and I look over to the doorway to see Leia and Padmé standing there.

"I fell asleep," I tell her, shrugging. "Guess if forgot about the sun."

Padmé smiles. "So I see. Come on, I have some balm for that."

Surprised, I make no reply and immediately follow her. She leads me to her room and into the bathroom. "Sit down," she tells me. I look around, and seeing only one place to sit, put the lid down and comply.

"I don't imagine you've had many sunburns, have you?" she asks as she takes a jar of cream out of the medicine cabinet. "I always remember you being very tanned."

"Yeah, that was before…" I tell her. "Well, you know."

She nods as she unscrews the lid, and walks over to stand in front of me. "Does it hurt much?" she asks.

I shrug, trying not to notice the way she is looking at my bare torso. "I've endured worse."

She frowns slightly at my words. "I'm sorry," she says softly. "Of course you have."

"Don't be sorry, Padmé," I tell her. "You had nothing to do with that."

"I know," she says, putting her fingers into the white cream. "But still…" She applies cream onto my forearms first, her touch gentle. "Is that okay?"

I nod, tantalized by the feel of her touch, even under these rather ridiculous conditions.

"You know, I had nightmares about what happened to you that day," she tells me, her eyes following her hand's work.

I look up at her, surprise. "You did?"

She nods. "Yes," she replies softly. "Obi-Wan told me what happened…it was so horrible, Anakin. The thought of you in such pain…" she stops.

"I've had more than a few nightmares about that day too," I tell her.

"I'm sure," she replies. "I can't even imagine the pain you endured."

"It wasn't about what happened to me that I dreamed, Padmé," I reply. "It was about what I did to you."

She starts, her hand stops for a moment and she looks into my eyes. "What?" she asks softly.

"I had nightmares about what I did to you," I repeat. "That moment was the darkest of my life, Padmé. I've spent the rest of my life since then regretting it and hating myself because of it."

She frowns again, the thought of that moment too painful for her still. She continues her ministrations in silence, moving up to my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I tell her. "So sorry, Padmé."

She doesn't look at me, but I can feel in her the confusion of emotions that has filled her since we first met one another again after all those years.

"I forgave you for that long ago," she tells me quietly. "What I'm not sure I can forgive is what you did to Luke and Leia."

I close my eyes, knowing that this was coming. "I understand," I say, looking down at my boots.

"Do you?" she asks, angry suddenly. "Do you really, Ani? I'm not just talking about the horrible things you did to them when you were Darth Vader; for I know all about that now. I'm talking more about what your actions took from them. You robbed them of a life together, of a life with their parents. You stole those precious years from all of us!"

I look back up to her. Her eyes are filled with angry tears, her hands trembling. I take her hands, pull them away from me. She looks at me.

"What are you doing?" she demands.

"I'm not so sure you should be doing this in your present frame of mind," I tell her with a small smile.

"Are you making fun of me?" she asks angrily, yanking her hands away, causing the jar of cream to fall to the floor where it smashes against the ceramic floor. She kneels down to start picking up the pieces.

"No, no of course not," I tell her, kneeling beside her to help. "You have every right to be angry, Padmé; I would never make little of that. I suppose I'm just trying desperately to get you to see that I've changed; that I'm not that monster who did all those horrible things to you, to our children. I'm your Ani again; the man you married. The man who loves you."

Padmé's eyes fill with tears, and I can see in their dark depths the desperation she feels. She wants to forgive me, she wants things to be the way they were…she wants me

"Padmé.."I say softly, reaching out to her. She is frozen for a moment, as I draw closer to her. I wipe a tear as it rolls down one of her cheeks. I look at her mouth, wanting more than anything to taste her sweetness again after so long. In her eyes I see that she wants this as much as I do, and for a brief, painfully brief moment, our lips meet. But the moment is broken by her, as she hurriedly stands up.

"I can't, Ani,' she says softly. "I'm sorry…I…I just can't..." she leaves the room, leaving me half covered with cream, my heart heavy with remorse.