Author's Note: Just wanted to make sure everyone knew this is an AU.
Disclaimer: The Star Wars Universe was created and is owned by George Lucas, this is just my imagination at work, based on the universe he has created. If this story is similar to another, it's pure coincidence.
Note: Thoughts are in italics.
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"I cannot believe this," Jobal muttered on the other end, the call coming to an abrupt end as she terminated the link. Padmé was taken aback, amazed that her own mother would not even speak to her.
Setting the comlink down on the end table, she walked in her closet. She changed from her wedding dress to a very light yellow nightgown, edged with lace. She walked to the living room, taking a seat on one of the two cream colored chairs. The room was silent; no one but her around. Every once and awhile she could hear Vader talking in his office, but that was the extent of the sound.
Padmé moved to the couch and laid back on it, her palm resting on her abdomen and the other hand laying back on her forehead. The couch was longer than she was, which worked out nicely. After a few minutes of the silence she quickly became bored.
Walking into the kitchen, she looked around and tried to familiarize herself with it. This is my home now, after all. She silently wondered how Sola would react to the news, if she had not yet heard it. Will she even speak to me? Padmé knew her sister was a hopeless romantic. She might pardon the anger and hate in her new brother-in-law, all for love. At least, that was what Padmé hoped.
Marriage was no act of rebellion against her family in any sort of way. She wondered if perhaps that was what her mother thought it was. She was forced, and she had to keep that in mind.
Forced to marry the man I love. Convenient.
- - - -
It seemed to be ages before Vader came out from his office. He came out, not even acknowledging his wife in the kitchen, and took a seat in the living room. He turned on the holoscreen only to see news reports about his marriage.
"They know already," Padmé told him from the kitchen, not saying who "they" was. She brought him a plate of kanali wafers and a glass of blue milk and sat on the couch next to him.
"Who?"
"My parents," she explained, taking a bite out of one of the wafers. "My mother called. She hung up on me."
"And those are the people you want to be with?" he replied smugly.
"Yes, they are," she replied, offended at his comment. He rolled his eyes at her response. "They are my family, I love them. If it wasn't for you they would not be mad at me."
"It is not always someone else's fault, Padmé. Take the blame for once. You ran off and got married."
Padmé's chocolate eyes glaring at her husbands sapphire ones. With one reach of her hand, she slapped him cold. "You," she said, her finger pointing at him. "You forced me into this. Though I should not expect you to know what it is like to have a family."
The sadness in his eyes made her want to take back her rude comment. His mother was dead. That was a fact. She was all he had, and she was now gone.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, amazed and thankful that he had not yet thrashed her. She touched his cheek, still red from the blow. "I didn't mean that."
"You're right," Anakin lamented. "I don't know what that is like."
"Anakin, I'm so sorry!"
"No," he corrected her. "Don't be sorry. You stated a fact. I do not have a family."
"We can be a family, Anakin. You and me."
"It would be a forced family. You said it yourself, you were forced into this family."
"I still love you," she smiled, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. "I want to be a family."
"You want that?" Anakin asked, as she nodded in reply.
"I do."
- - - -
"I talked to Lady Vader herself," Jobal stormed in the room saying, Ryoo and Pooja trailing behind her. "They are married now."
"What?" Sola was stunned, so surprised. This wasn't like her sister, and she knew it. "She would never do something like that, you know that she wouldn't!"
"Well they are married. That is now a fact. Go watch the news, it's all over the holoscreen."
"She wouldn't," Ruwee lamented. "I-I j-just, I cann-n-ot believe," he fumbled over his words, trying to reason it out in his head. He and Padmé were very much alike. They thought things through; their mind was their ally. "She would not do that in her right mind."
Darred shook his head. "That's not Padmé. Vader had to, had to. . .force her, or something. That's not her at all. At least not the Padmé I know."
"She told me she loves him; why wouldn't she marry him then?" Jobal pointed out, though she knew the power he held. Darred was probably right.
"She may not have had a choice."
- - - -
Padmé's eyes shot open as she woke up in an unfamiliar place. Nothing looked right. It was definitely not her bedroom.
She turned over, Anakin laying next to her. The sight of him triggered the memory of the night before. They decided that they could be a family; just the two of them. He made her realize that he was all she needed.
Cuddling up to him, the sunlight shining in the window and casting rays of light on his muscular chest, she sighed contentedly. This was where she needed to be.
I'm through fighting it.
"Good morning," he whispered in her ear, the soft voice tickling her. Padmé smiled and looked into his eyes.
"Good morning," she whispered back, kissing him and hugging him.
"I don't think I've ever woken up to anything better than this," Anakin grinned, placing his hand on her shoulder and running his finger up and down her arm.
"Me either," she smiled, running her fingers through his hair. "I love you."
"I love you, angel."
Only Anakin would say something like that to her. Only Anakin. Darth Vader did not have it in him to be compassionate and loving. It was not in his nature.
But the truth remained. He was Vader, and she was Lady Vader. But Padmé thought differently. In her mind, she was Padmé Skywalker, and he was Anakin Skywalker.
Someday. Someday it will be a reality.