Chapter 10: Innocence lost
All was quiet in the Skywalker house; all was as it should be, or may be not. Something, or someone was missing. A baby, snatched silently from its bed. No screams or cries for help. He was too young and too tired, and his sister and parents were asleep. But mow his sister was awake and kicking, but she was minutes late. But she was awake now, probably sensing he was gone; a special quality for a special baby. She did the only thing she could do, cry. Lea cries louder. Trying to get the attention of her sleeping parents.
The sounds reach Anakin's ears first. At first he though he may be dreaming. But then he realized he was awake. She's probably hungry and wants Padme to feed her, he thought.
But Anakin hated to wake his sleeping wife, she looked so peaceful. Neither of them had gotten a good sleep in weeks. But duty calls, he thought.
"Padme…honey, wake up." Anakin whispers. He removed a strand of hair from her face. His hand brushed against her cheek softly.
"Honey, the babies need you. Time to eat." Anakin says.
"Uhh, not now!" she moans.
"I know, but this is what we get for having children. I'll go get the crying one."
Padme sits up and Anakin goes into the nursery to get the baby.
"Shh, hush now little one. Daddy's here." He picks up Leia. She was still crying though.
He cradles her and tries to calm her down.
"Shh, it's alright. I'm here…Hmm; Luke is awfully quiet tonight He must be having a wonderful dream." Anakin says.
Leia cries more.
"Hush, no more tears now." He starts to rock Leia back and forth slowly to calm her down. There must be something about me, she never cries when Padme handles her, he thought.
"Let's take a little peek at Luke now, shall we." Anakin says to Leia, as if she could understand him. They go to the crib and Anakin moves back the blankets to see the bed bare; Luke was gone.
"Oh no!" he thought. He was so overwhelmed he almost dropped Leia.
"Padme, com in here. Now!" he yells.
"What, what is it Ani?" she asks sleepily when she enters the room.
"It's Luke. He's gone!"
"Gone! What do you mean gone?"
She was terrified. She runs to her husband standing near is crib. Padme stares and sees it bare.
"My baby! Where's my baby!" She screams and pulls on Anakin's shoulder, she started to cry and Anakin thought he would too.
"I don't know, honey. We'll find him," he says to calm her down and hugs her with his mechanical hand.
"How can you be so calm? We don't even know where he is or who he's with. Who could of done this to us!" Padme asks, but she knows she won't get an answer from Anakin. He gives Leia to Padme, who was sitting in a nearby chair.
"It's all my fault." Padme whispers.
"Don't blame yourself." Anakin says.
"Yes, it is. I should have paid more attention. I'm such a bad mother."
Padme looks down at her daughter, overjoyed that Leia was still safe and here with them.
Leia babbles at her.
"I love you." Padme whispers as she holds her close to protect her. She kisses her forehead.
"We'll find him, Padme. I promise." Anakin says. He was at Luke's crib. He sees a dark strand on the blue blanket of his son's bed. He picks it up; it felt like it burnt his flesh hand
He sees a dark strand on the blue blanket of his son's bed. He picks it up; it felt like it burnt his flesh hand, this wasn't his son's hair. He smells it and it smelled awful.
"What is it?" asks Padme. She noticed what Anakin was doing.
"It may be a clue. I found this in the crib. It's hair, and definitely not our son's; it's too dark. It may be the kidnapper's." Anakin says.
Padme starts to cry again at the mention of the word "kidnapper". She didn't want to think of Luke out there, alone with some stranger. She didn't know if he was cold or hungry, tired or scared, hurt or lost. The thought just stabbed her inside.
"But the baby monitor was on. We should of-… Wait, I left it in our room." Padme exclaims.
"Wait, it may have picked up something. Where's the one in here?" asks Anakin.
"Over there; on top of the chest. The other one's in our room on the nightstand."
Anakin gets both monitors.
"If we play it back, we may get another clue to finding him," says Anakin.
"Wait Anakin" Padme says.
He looks at his wife.
"Anakin, I'm afraid…I- Our son's life is in danger. He's alone, somewhere. I want him back. This person shall pay."
She then bursts into tears again. It wasn't like Padme to curse anyone, for anything. But this pain would scar her forever; it hurt more than the physical pain of being stabbed with 1,000 daggers. She was lost.
Anakin pulls up a chair beside his grieving wife and sleeping child.
"Shh, it's alright my love." Anakin whispers. Padme cries on Anakin's shoulder. He hugs her tight, as to protect her from the horrors of the galaxy. More tears fled from her eyes, she'd certainly cry herself dry tonight.
"I'm scarred." Padme whispers, as she lifts her head up off Anakin's tear-wet shoulder.
"I'm scarred for life!" Padme said louder. She looks up into Anakin's eyes. They
Were frightened, he was holding back all his emotions; yet she knew and loved him too much that she knew.
Anakin wipes away her tears, they were so fragile, like 2 jewels that shimmered in the light. Padme got up and put Leia to bed and sits back down next to Anakin.
"I don't understand. How can you be like this? It's your son out there…Anakin…you must go out and find him!" says Padme.
"Padme, you can't- I can't go, I have no idea where to look. He could be anywhere." Anakin says.
"Help, you must get help, Anakin. Yes, you must get Obi-Wan to help us." Padme exclaims.
"Obi-Wan? Why? We don't need his help. We can find Luke on our own, he's our son."
Anakin didn't want the Jedi to get involved in this mess.
"Anakin, I don't want you to do it alone. It could be dangerous. The last thing I want is you or Luke to get hurt…Promise me you'll have him help," she said angrily.
Her emotional control had broken loose.
"Promise me!" Padme yells. Anakin could see she was angry; it was like flames burning in her eyes. The last thing he wanted was to fight with his wife and make her even angrier.
"Alright, I'll get Obi-Wan to help us." Anakin says. He hugs Padme, she felt safe in his arms and she was counting on him to find their lost son.