Shift: Chapter Seven

On the way home, I stopped by the same tavern where I'd met the Dark Force witch and was unable to find her. Disappointed and tired, I paid for a transport and arrived at Padmé's apartment just as the sun began setting. This time, I decided to open the door instead of ringing the chime. She was patiently and quietly sitting in the common area waiting for me.

"How did it go?"

I sat down fairly close to her and stretched out my legs. "I have two weeks off," I told her. "To get my head straight. How about we go visit your family?"

She placed her hand upon my thigh and smiled broadly. "That would be great. It's been a while since I've seen them and the cousins will enjoy playing together. Let's do it. Thank you, Obi-Wan."

I gazed at her beauty. She was the same as I remembered, but in other ways, she wasn't. Motherhood had somehow made her more attractive if that were possible. What I had known before two days ago was a girl. Sitting here next to me was a woman, a mother...my wife. It was a lot to take in.

"Can you pour us some wine and join me out on the patio?" I asked her after coming up with an idea.

She readily agreed and we sat together outside, watching the fading colors of the day give way to passing traffic lights.

"Tell me about us," I suggested after a comfortable silence.

She put her glass down onto a nearby table and grinned at me curiously. "Us? What do you mean by 'us'?

How could I put this? If I was going to be stuck in this dimension, I wanted to know what happened and how we ended up together in this place. "You know. How we got together. I'm feeling a little melancholy and I'd like to hear you tell the story."

She shrugged her shoulders and finally gave in. "Very well. When you and Master Jinn came to help me during the Naboo Invasion, I fell in love with you the moment I saw you. Even though I was disguised as a handmaiden, you immediately knew I was the queen and that didn't deter you. You were a confident young man who went after what he wanted. After Master Jinn was killed, we took long walks and got to know one another. We were looking out over the falls next to the palace when you told me you loved me and we kissed for the first time. When you left Naboo with Anakin, you promised to return and you did. Several times. After seeing each other as much as we could the following year, I got pregnant, we got married, I moved to Coruscant to be closer to the Temple and you, and the rest is history."

And there it was. Plain as the nose on my face. Why hadn't I seen it before? The sin I had committed. In my other life, I had broken my promise to her. I never went back to see her. I didn't even communicate with her. Was being here my punishment for that crime?

Punishment seemed too harsh of a word. Being married to this lovely creature and having three adorable children didn't seem so much like restitution as it did a blessing. Maybe I'd been looking at this the wrong way. Maybe there was a lesson I could learn here. Maybe it was possible for a Jedi to find the time to love and be loved in return.

I could have that here…with her. Is that what I wanted? Was it possible? Maybe, although before I settled in, so-to-speak, I needed to be honest with her. I needed to explain to her what had happened and why I've been acting so strangely.

I was about to do just that when we both heard a cry coming from inside the apartment.

"That's Leia." Padmé told me, about to stand, although I motioned for her to wait.

"Allow me."

I entered the room and saw Lucas pressing a pillow over his head. "Dad! Tell Leia to stop squalling. I can't sleep!"

"I will Lucas. Try to get some rest," I requested before replacing the pillow beneath his head and wishing him pleasant dreams.

On the other side of the room, his sister was sitting up, teary-eyed and wide awake. I handed her the glass of water her mother had placed on her nightstand. She drank a tiny bit of it, eyeing me with suspicion the entire time.

"Bad dream?" I asked, taking the glass and putting it back on the table.

Leia merely shook her head and didn't say a word. I insisted she lay back down, and I tucked her into bed before moving her tousled, dark curls off her forehead. "Do you know what I do when I have a bad dream?" I asked. She answered negatively though silently. "I change the outcome. I rewrite the story. Do you think you can do that?"

"I think so," she finally spoke in a tiny, hushed voice.

"Tell me what your dream was about and I'll help you change it."

Leia looked unsure at first but quickly found her courage. "My daddy was stolen from me."

"All right," I replied, trying to swallow the lump that had unexpectedly formed in my throat. All this time, I had been worried about myself and my situation. What a selfish jerk I'd been! These children needed their father, and if all they had was me, then it was time I stepped up and at least pretended I knew what I was doing. She needed me and she needed me to care about her. They all did!

"Was it someone bad who stole him?" I guessed.

She nodded this time.

"You know your daddy is brave, right? He isn't afraid of anything or anyone."

"But what if the bad man hurts him?"

I noticed the stuffed Wookie on the floor and picked it up. "I promise you, Leia. Your daddy is fine. In fact, he's right here and he loves you very much."

I placed the plushie next to her pillow and she immediately grabbed it before pausing to look at me again strangely. She had her mother's eyes with the same eerie ability to gaze into my soul. With her hand, she reached out and raked her small fingers through my beard before a slight grin appeared.

"I knew you'd come back," she whispered into the darkness. "Good night, Daddy."

Something inside my chest blossomed and all the tension that had been building up inside it vanished. I felt light as a feather and full of light.

Before I left her side, I leaned down and placed a kiss on her scalp. "Good night, Princess."