Era: Before and after ROTS
Characters: Padme, Anakin/Vader, Jobal, Neberries
Summary: What was Jobal thinking about as she followed Padme's body during the funeral on Naboo?
Disclaimer: I own neither Star Wars nor Titanic off which a slight concept and the title were based.

A Promise Kept

It was about midnight when Padmé received the transmission that made her drop everything and be immediately escorted to Naboo. In a matter of mere moments, her life as she knew it had been turned up side down and who she was to become was forever changed. Her sudden departure had alarmed her handmaidens and colleagues, but she went to go find the fate that waited for her.

Subtle differences could be noted as she stood before her parent's humble abode, oddly feeling a stranger though she knew every rock and blade of grass there. Though in broad daylight, the flowers seemed to have lost their luster, and the normally welcoming home had lost its comfort.

It took a strong woman to walk up the stoned path to knock on the front door, but Padmé soon found herself being embraced by her sister, Sola.

"They said you wouldn't come, but I didn't believe it for a minute," Sola confessed, tears running down her pretty face, not so much unlike Padmé's own countenance. With a shaky sigh, she led Padmé into the house.

"Is it as bad as the transmission made it sound?" Padmé asked quietly as she was led up the stairs and before the door of her parent's bedroom.

For a minute, Sola did not move but just stood there clasping Padmé's hands in her own. Then, the tears began again and she angrily brushed them away. "She… keeps… asking for you. I… knew you would come… even though you are so busy… but… father told her that you would… be coming," she wept. In a movement that showed how close the two sisters were, Sola cried onto Padmé's shoulder as her little sister patted her back.

"No," Padmé said flatly, "family comes before all else."

Nodding approvingly, Sola strode into the room with Padmé in her wake.

The curtains had been pulled shut and, though little light was provided, Padmé could see the ghostly silhouette of her frail looking mother lying in her bed. Whether or not it was a trick of the lighting, it seemed that Jobal insignificant within her large bed, the pillows and blankets seemingly enveloping her. Her hair, the same curls that Padmé had inherited, lay matted against her pale and sweaty face. Mouth opened, Jobal laboriously breathed but her eyes remained closed.

Ever loyal, Ruwee sat on the bed by his bride's side, just as he had on much more joyful occasions. He looked up from where he lovingly brushed his wife's hand to sadly regard Padmé. "She wants only you," he said quietly, seeming older and much more grey than Padmé remembered. He bent over to kiss Jobal's face before gently leading his elder daughter out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

Away from the scrutinizing eyes of her fellow mankind, Padmé allowed many a hot tear to roll down her face as she silently mourned the one she was so close to losing. How could she adequately mourn the person who's own gift was her life, her mother's love the first thing she had ever known?

For a while, Padmé just wept but eventually sat down on the spot her father had vacated and held her mother's clammy hand. This brought even more tears to Padmé's eyes- how many times had the soft hands bandaged a cut or rubbed her back as she cried?

At this contact, Jobal's eyes flew open and she squinted through the darkness. The woman cried out as she saw her daughter there. "Padmé?"

"I'm here, Mom," Padmé replied brokenly, gently kissing her mother's hand.

"I am… so… sorry," Jobal whispered as if doing so took what little energy remained in her body.

"Sorry about what?" Padmé cried out incredulously, immediately hushing her tone as her mother flinched at the loudness of it. "You have nothing to be sorry about," she wept, forcing a shaky smile.

"I… just wanted to see you happy," Jobal said. As she spoke, she tried to raise herself but miserably fell back against the bed.

"Shh…" Padmé said. "Save your strength." Her brow furrowed as she considered her mother's revelation. "But I am happy," she insisted. "I have the job I've always wanted, I spend every day helping people and making the Galaxy a better place…"

"No!" Jobal interrupted harshly. "That is not what I meant!"

Anakin.

"You… must… listen to me," Jobal wheezed.

Padmé's heart jolted as she realized that this could very well be one of her mother's last requests- to not listen to her would haunt Padmé's being till the day she too departed from life.

"I fell in love with your father and felt so… I don't know how, but I wanted you to experience that," Jobal whispered as a couple of tears ran down her own face. "I always wanted the best for my daughters." For a minute, she paused to steady her shaky breath. "I wanted you to get married, to have children- my grandchildren." She lightly laughed, the sound momentarily warming Padmé but left her cold when the musical sound ended. Her mother shook her head mournfully. "That was my dream, Padmé, and I forced it upon you."

"Oh, mother!" Padmé cried out. "That was my dream too, it really was, I just had to wait until the right time!"

Suddenly, it occurred to Padmé.

Her mother did not know about Anakin, the man she had loved for the past two years with a passion that had been kept a secret from everyone but him. Could she share her most precious secret with her mother who would not live to tell of it?

My love, what do I do?

"I think it is my turn to say that I'm sorry," Padmé said slowly, praying in her heart that she was doing the right thing.

Jobal opened her mouth to protest but was too weak to commence in doing so.

"I have something to tell you, something that I should have told you long ago but I was too afraid," Padmé said quietly.

"I'm married."

Silence filled the room, and Jobal became so still that Padmé would have thought she'd passed on but for the tears that rolled out of the corners of her mother's eyes. "My Padmé," she whispered, "I am so happy for you!"

Padmé smiled through her tears and squeezed her mother's hand.

Then, her mother asked the fated question. "Who is he?"

"I…" Padmé started to stammer but immediately shut her mouth.

"You do… not have to tell… me," Jobal said so quietly that Padmé had to strain to hear. The blissful look had not left her face and she continued to look at Padmé with some degree of pride.

This hit Padmé with a stab of guilt unlike any other. "I married the man who has loved me for many years… Anakin Skywalker."

For a minute, no reaction was visible on her mother's face, but confusion soon became evident. "Padmé… how could you?"

"We loved each other," Padmé whispered, feeling guilty for the first time about their marriage since that fateful day when Anakin and she exchanged their vows before the holy man and Varykino.

"At least… there will… be someone to take… care of you."

"You will be here," Padmé insisted though she knew it was an empty assurance. "You've always been here to help me."

Jobal struggled to shake her head in protest. "I… can't… my time is over."

"You're not going to die… you're going to live and see your grandchildren- Anakins and my babies…"

"No," Jobal protested weakly. She paused to whet her dry lips. "You… must go on without… me." Her eyes momentarily flickered shut as more life left her.

"No… you mustn't. I need you."

"Padmé- you must let go," Jobal said gently. She raised a hand to gently caress Padmé's tearstained cheek.

"I won't let you down, Mom," Padmé promised, kissing the hand before it limply fell down to the bed. "I will be everything you hoped and more. I will tell my children about you and I will always try to be the parent you were… for me." A sob wracked her frame and kept her silent as she wept.

Oh, Anakin, I wish you could be here with me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Padmé did not know that she had fallen asleep until she woke up to find herself lying next to her mother on the bed much like she had often done as a child.

But that was not why she'd woken up.

A gentle hand rested on her shoulder and stirred her senses.

Bolting upright, Padmé saw the familiar face of her husband. "Anakin…" she breathed. Only the presence of her calmly sleeping mother kept her from jumping off the bed and into her lover's arms.

Her husband followed Padmé's gaze to Jobal but said nothing. Sorrow covered his face as he felt Padmé's grief.

"How did you know where to find me?" she whispered, tenderly brushing her mother's hair out of her face.

Anakin said nothing but watched her for a moment with a tender look in his eyes. "Because, no matter where you go, you are a part of me and I can feel you as if you were right there with me." As if to emphasize this beautiful phenomenon, Anakin closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "It is a most beautiful thing."

For the first time, he sat down on the bed opposite Padmé and placed his real hand on Jobal's forehead.

"Anakin, what are you doing?" she asked fearfully, secretly wondering if he was going to peacefully slip her mother into the everlasting force.

"Have faith in me, my love," he said softly with an affectionate smile before once more closing his eyes.

Minutes passed by and, although Padmé did indeed try to trust her husband, each second filled her with trepidation.

At last, Anakin sighed and opened his eyes. "I had best leave," he said as Jobal stirred. He bent down and kissed Padmé's forehead tenderly. "Until next time, my love."

Just as Anakin disappeared, Jobal's eyes flickered open. "Padmé?"

"Mother!" Padmé cried out, flinging her arms about Jobal who was already sitting up.

"I had the most beautiful dream…" the older woman sighed, smoothing out Padmé's hair in a similar fashion from what her daughter had done for herself. "You were with Anakin and very happy…"

"He was here, Mother," Padmé smiled. "He saved you."

Jobal frowned. "Silly, there is no way he could have been here- what would a Jedi Knight be doing here on Naboo?"

Seeing her mother's stubbornness, Padmé decided to keep the secret to herself.

"There was more to the dream… there were two beautiful children- one with blond hair and another with your curls, Padmé." Contentment flitted across her face. "If this is to be, you shall be blest."

"I already am."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the same day that Padmé's promise to her mother was kept, her life was taken by the man who had given her this precious gift.

Her body was broken and brought back to Naboo where it was venerated by family, friends, and admirers.

Jobal never received her wish of being able to meet the grandchildren she never had- they went to eternal rest within their mother's womb, never having taken a breath of air of seen the faces of their parents.

But Jobal new a terrible secret, one that she mused upon as she silently walked along with hot tears cascading down her face. For many a long day she had mused upon the words her daughter had last said to her, ones that had not made sense… until now.

That was the true irony- how could the man who had saved her own life taken it away from his wife, her daughter?

Such is the mystery of the Sith.