Author's Notes: Stefymoon, thanks for the comment. It almost made me cry too. Uhm, you're right, I wasn't going to let Palpatine disappear into the story, I let him live for a reason. Bail is an interesting character because he's the outsider trying to understand Vader. He lacks the insight that Obi-Wan, Yoda and Padme have with him. Thanks Veruca for the feedback, and you're very welcome. Thanks again everyone for the responses.

Chapter 14: Alliances

Padme watched from a distance as Obi-Wan entered the room that held Anakin. After he told her of his feelings, she was in a constant state of perpetual conflict. If anything else, she was a politician who wholeheartedly believed in what she was fighting for, but now, she found herself fighting something else she never anticipated.

And it wasn't just Anakin.

It was herself.

"Care for some company, Senator," Bail Organa said as he stood beside her. He noticed moments ago where her gaze was fixated. "You really care for him, don't you?"

"I'm trying not to," she admits sadly.

"What happened with him, if you don't mind me asking?"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, recalling the many moments and long hours she spent with him.

"There were many nights where he would watch over me when I slept. For weeks I had it in my mind that any day could be my last but… even when he wore that awful suit, he was always kind to me." She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Think what you want of him, Bail, but he's the reason I'm alive right now."

"And I don't necessarily disagree."

Padme titled her head, knowing there was more to it.

"But – "

Bail sighed. "He is still a Sith."

"He may always carry that darkness inside him, but that doesn't mean there's no room for redemption." It amazed her how she could easily defend Anakin when she couldn't even face him moments ago. "Can't you see that he's different, and if you want to get political, just imagine how much of an asset he could be for our cause?"

"And you believe he'll join that cause after being under Palpatine's tutelage for force-knows how long?"

Padme lowered her head while her fingers reached up to massage the headache she was suddenly feeling.

"He was only a child when Palpatine took him," she revealed softly.

Bail barely heard her. "What?"

Padme looked at her friend and colleague of many years. She opened her mouth to speak but no words left her. Bail saw her hesitation and inquired worriedly.

"You have no enemies here," he assured.

"That's not it," she said. "I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Whatever is happening between you and Darth Vader is your business, but I want you to know that you're not alone. If it comes down to it, we will protect you from him. And we will not lose you to the Emperor again."

"I don't need protection from him," she assured, referring back to Anakin and avoiding he subject of Palpatine.

"I can't ignore everything that he's done."

"Neither can I," she agreed without hesitation. "But we've been through this before, Bail. I will be careful." In truth, she was scared. While she appreciated Bail's brotherly care for her, she knew that whatever change that was occurring between her and Anakin, it needed to be fully addressed.

It's at this point she was at a loss to figure out how she was even going to do that.

Inside his small detention room, Anakin stared blankly into the mirror as Obi-Wan sat in the seat that Padme once occupied. He sat waiting patiently while Anakin refused to speak for a long period of time.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Give me your hands." If Vader had been a padawan, he would've caved from the silence, but considering that Palpatine has patiently plotted the takeover of the senate for many years, he should've known that patience were the sith's strongest allies.

Anakin stared at him inquisitively before wearily holding out his tied wrists. Obi-Wan reached across the table and entered the code. After a second, the cuffs unlatched and his hands were free once more.

"You're a free man," Obi-Wan said without a hint of ulterior motive.

Anakin didn't quite understand.

"Just like that?"

Obi-Wan smiled at him sadly. "The Republic is gone. The Jedi nearly extinct." He held his emotions from showing knowing that the reason they were nearly extinct was Darth Vader's relentless and unforgiving annihilation against them. "But we're but a few. Palpatine has always been our enemy, and he is not you."

Anakin looked down at his wrists, masking the shame he felt as he remembered in frightening detail how he slaughtered a room full of younglings and Jedi padawan's after his Master claimed himself as Emperor.

"I'm sorry," he said in a low voice.

Obi-Wan felt his sincerity through the force.

"Thank you." There was a long pause before Obi-Wan spoke again. "Senator Organa has agreed to let you remain here, if you wish."

Anakin's face rose, thinking about it before shaking his head at the idea, which momentarily took Obi-Wan by surprised until he explained.

"I need to leave here."

"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked with alarm.

The Jedi Master's genuine acceptance of Anakin encouraged him to share his fears.

"I may be free of my Master's command, but he's still very much a part of me. I can sense his powers growing stronger. He's searching for me, and he's angry. If I don't leave here soon, I'm putting you and your compatriots in danger."

"In case you've forgotten, we're already in great danger."

Obi-Wan then stood before him, searching his feelings and found nothing to be deceiving. Also, as a force-user himself, he knew he was telling the truth about his connection with the Dark Lord. Palpatine would sense where he was and if he led him to Alderaan, not only were he, Senator Amidala and Master Yoda be in great danger, but the Royal Family as well along with everyone else on this beautiful planet.

Obi-Wan placed a reassuring hand on the young man's shoulder. This time, he didn't flinch away from the touch.

"We were never going to stay here for long anyway, Vader."

"Anakin."

"What?"

"My name. My real name. It's Anakin."

Obi-Wan smiled. Anakin. The name definitely suited him.

"Well then, Anakin. I am Obi-Wan Kenobi." He held out his hand. "It's good to finally meet you."

Anakin almost smiled when his thoughts suddenly drifted to somebody else.

His wife.

"Thank you," he said, crashing back down to reality. "But I meant what I said, I need to leave here. You think you know what you're fighting, but I've been the Emperor's apprentice for almost twenty years. I know how he operates even when he thinks I'm not paying attention."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Even now, he's searching for me. I have to lead him away from here. If he even so much as thinks that there's something out of the ordinary happening here, he won't stop until he learns what that is. I suggest taking separate ships out of here."

"You go one direction and we go another," Obi-Wan understood.

"It's the only option I can think of."

"We should find Master Yoda and Senator Bail."

"So we agree?"

"No," somebody else in the room said. Obi-Wan and Anakin were so engrossed in trying to workout a solution that they even failed to notice the familiar presence of Padme Amidala step into the room.

The tension that flowed into the small room became so thick, Obi-Wan doubted himself that a lightsaber could cut through it. He watched idly as Padme and Anakin stared at one another when he felt the restraint both of them were holding back.

"I'm going to search for Master Yoda." Obi-Wan broke the silence. He faced Anakin. "I'll return shortly." He turned to Padme and bowed. "Milady."

Obi-Wan left leaving them alone, their eyes locked on one another, both too stubborn to back down.

"What do you think you're doing?" she said angrily.

"I was trying to find a solution to a problem I helped cause," he countered with conviction.

"No, what you're trying to do is get yourself killed," she said, and with good measure added, "Again!"

When she was outside, she felt the burgeoning need to talk to Anakin once more and set things straight when his conversation with Obi-Wan penetrated her ears. She completely rejected the idea of Anakin going off on his own, alone.

"There's no other way for me," he said defiantly.

"You're not the little boy anymore who wasn't given a choice," she said, her voice lowering. "You've got options now. You don't always have to do things by yourself."

"Until an hour ago, I didn't think I was by myself."

His words cut through her more than he would ever know. He opened his heart to her even when he couldn't understand it all, and in return, she ran out on him. They may have started out as enemies, but she could no longer deny that they are friends.

"Anakin – "

"Senator," he interrupted. With the swirl of feelings inside of him, he swallowed hard to retain some level of composure. "I'm not the righteous man that Bail Organa is…" he takes a step closer to her. "… Or a peacekeeper that Obi-Wan Kenobi is…" Then another step. "But... I am trying," he said so softly, closing the distance between them as their faces hung only inches apart.

Padme breathed deeply from his passionate words, looking through his eyes and seeing the honesty in it. No matter how much her mind tried to rationalize the rights and wrongs of the situation, she was at his utter mercy and he didn't even know it.

"I know you are," she said.

Before Anakin could say anything to the contrary, she laid an unexpected kiss to his lips. Her lips were soft, her scent intoxicating, and it made him feel at peace with himself.

His heart pounded like never before as he instinctively lifted his hands to cup her face, bringing her closer. Forgetting about the world that controlled them, they let themselves get lost in another until a dark presence crawled into Anakin's senses, jerking him backwards.

"Padme," he said, lifting his mental shields up as he reached to find her hand.

Padme looked at him with deep concern, the first real act of intimacy they shared torn by the look of fear in his eyes.

"Anakin, what's wrong?"

"My Mas… he's trying to find me."

"Palpatine?"

Anakin nods, his hands cupping her face once again, but this time, he just held her close. Padme knew what he was feeling because she felt it too.

Fear.

"I have to leave," he forced himself to say.

Padme shook her head. "I'm not letting you go alone."

"Padme… please…"

Despite herself, hearing him call her by her name helped her to continue arguing her case.

"I'm your wife," she openly acknowledged without the sarcasm or prejudice that the words surrounding the term normally provided. "I'm not going to let you fight him alone. Not again."

She almost kissed him once more if it wasn't for the sudden intrusion of Obi-Wan Kenobi coming through the doors with an urgent message.

"You were right, Anakin. We received a message that Palpatine has recently left Coruscant with a regiment of Storm Troopers. Our sources can't confirm that Count Dooku is with them."

"Don't bother," Anakin spoke. "Dooku is dead."

"Dead?"

"I killed him getting to the Emperor," he admits with little remorse. When you fight darkness against darkness, it leaves no room for sympathy.

"Well…" Obi-Wan began. "I honestly can't say that I'm upset because I'm not."

"What now?" Padme asked.

"Senator Organa is making preparations for fix us a ship capable enough to protect us, and look enough that we could pass as a cargo ship. We can't very well fly across the galaxy with a Nubian."

"I agree," Padme and Anakin said simultaneously, getting an amused look from Obi-Wan.

"Milady, I suggest you gather what you need, we'll be departing shortly." When Obi-Wan left, Anakin sighed before facing his wife.

"I guess me leaving by myself is not an option?" he asks with a slight smile. It seemed he was outnumbered.

"I thought you'd know by now never to argue with a politician," she replied.

"So you're diplomatic solution was to seduce me to compliance?"

Padme held the blush that nearly crept up her face from his word use, thinking about the first kiss they shared only a few minutes ago.

"I prefer to call it aggressive negotiations," she evaded his intense gaze horribly.

Anakin's slight smile suddenly turned into a grin and it amazed her how humanly charming he can be without him really knowing that he is. Ever since he escaped that wretched suit and mask, there was a change in his personality as well. What was once very subtle before, is quite distinguishable now.

"I guess this is where we start acting serious again."

Padme nodded regrettably.

"We should hurry," Anakin added. "The sooner we leave, the safer Alderaan will be."

That was one request she had no problem abiding.

Earlier this day, he stepped foot into the heart of Alderaan a prisoner of his own fear and darkness. Now he leaves as a man with a chance.

A chance to make amends.

A chance to do what is right.

A chance to be the man that Padme deserved.

A chance to live.

To be continued…