Chapter 20

Epilogue

Disclaimer: Since it's the end of the story, George Lucas owns everything. I wish I were him. Except, of course, better looking than him.

Many months, even years, later…

Waiting for them to come out of their school building, the beautiful marble building blocks from Theed Palace, was Anakin's favorite part of the day. He watched the people and creatures walk by, the women pulling their buggies full of home necessities, the men walking quickly home from their workplace, eager to catch the speeder bike race on the Holo at night. He smirked to himself.

Taking a seat on the bench, he glanced at his chrono. Ten standard minutes.

His eyes flashed up and down, back and forth, from the school entrance to his chrono again. He was anxious; it was peaking summer, and he eagerly waited until he and Leia could go sailing again—which would be tonight, for sure…

The first time Leia had laid eyes on the simple blue boat, she had gasped, something that Anakin didn't take lightly. "You like… sailing?" He asked, generally pointing at the small boat.

She nodded innocently.

"I didn't know that."

She cocked her head, "You never asked."

After that, during that harsh winter, they had a sailboat laying away underneath the porch, most likely freezing, snow ridden, unused. Today he'd use it with his daughter—he was excited, something that he didn't know existed in him while he was Vader.

He had changed ever so much since the time he was a sith lord—the dark lord, as he referred to himself, as many referred to him. He remembered that day walking into that bar on Tatooine, that simple pub—and seeing a boy with blue eyes and sandy blond hair. Something had intrigued him; he wasn't so sure at the time, but now he knew.

Luke was more than his son; he was a resistance to the dark side, a light in the darkness. The times he and Luke spent aboard Vader's ship were short, and regretted immensely now that he looked back on it. He treated Luke like he had treated sand on Tatooine—ever so poorly.

That first day… the first time meeting him… he pushed him aboard his ship, he didn't care. He locked a ten year old in a cell for hours, injecting him with truth serum, keeping him in shackles for the lot of the night, and not feeding him.

Insanity.

Anakin grabbed his forehead at this time, remembering the times as Vader. Why had he become such a minion of Palpatine? Why did he agree to such terms? And mainly, why did he kill… innocent children?

Oh, right.

For Padmé.

How he missed her! He thought about her everything he saw their children's faces. He thought about her everything they sat down for dinner; when Nandi and Teckla served shuura fruit. He thought about her while listening to the crackling fire. He thought about her every time he looked into Leia's deep brown orbs; every time Luke said something along the same lines of what Padmé had once said.

It felt like a stab in the heart, too.

Sometimes, he could get over the heartache, but sometimes, he couldn't. The life of pain he had—would have—caused for her would be horrendous. He probably would have done another terrible thing to her, if she didn't die. Or, worse—she banish completely from him, never wanting to be near him again.

But Obi-Wan had said that she had always believed that there was good in him, always—so did Luke, something he had learned she had passed down. He said those were her last words.

Another stab in the heart.

There was another time, with Luke, and it was a milestone. Seeing the faces of young girls and their messenger bags brought back memories of not too long ago. They were sitting after dinner, and Leia began to take the plates to the sink, kindly, and Luke and Anakin were left alone.

His son had cleared his throat, making Anakin look up from the table. Identical blue eyes were seen glowing from the candlelight.

"Dad," Luke said, grunting. He looked around him to make sure they were alone. Anakin nodded, leaning in, "I—um…" the boy looked down at his hands, "I… like this one… this one… this one girl… and…"

A smile arose from Anakin's lips, happy to hear that it wasn't something bad—he nodded.

Luke raised his voice, pulling on the collar of his shirt indicating that it might be a little hot in the room—it wasn't. The boy swallowed. "How'd you ask Mom out?" His voice became high and squeaky, for he was obviously extremely uncomfortable about talking about this.

Anakin couldn't help but laugh.

Puzzled, Luke said, "Why'd you laugh? Dad, this is serious! I need help—I don't know how to… I mean… every time I get near her I'm a speeder crash waiting to happen…" He sunk into his chair.

Anakin leaned back into his seat, proving that he was comfortable. Clinking of plates in the sink could be heard from the dining area. "First off," he started, "I didn't ask your mother out," his straight face twisted into a memorable grin, "I told her I was going to marry her when I was nine years old, and she was fourteen. She thought I was a silly little boy, of course—then I didn't see her for ten years, and then…" his face became straight again, "I was assigned to protect her from an attempt to kill her, and we fell in love."

Luke frowned, obviously displeased that his father had nothing to offer him. "That's it? You didn't ask her out?"

He shook his head.

"Didn't you ask her to marry you?"

Another shake.

"No?"

Anakin shifted in his position, "It was just something we decided together."

"Oh," Luke replied miserably, "Do you have any advice for me, then?"

Anakin but the inside of his mouth, then sucked in a breath, "Wait, what's her name?"

His answer was quick, well prepared, "Mara." His blue eyes sparkled. "She has red hair, Dad, and she's so mysterious and funny and she has something she is hiding, I just know it, and—and I… I can't even talk to her."

"Mara," Anakin repeated. He smiled, obviously about to say something meaningful, "Tell her she looks like an angel."

Now, sitting on the school bench, he chuckled, remembering the equal words of a nine-year-old boy, who knew someday that he'd be something more than a slave reduced to nothing.

Oh, how right he was.

The bell chimed loud enough for Anakin to hear it from across the street, and eager students flooded out of the many double doors. A particular girl with flowy red hair caught Anakin's eye, and he smiled. The girl was with a bunch of other girls, but she wasn't speaking. Her bag was slung over her shoulder casually as she began to walk home. Then, Anakin noticed that the red haired girl, Mara obviously, was with Leia—he smiled.

Oh, Luke.

He watched Luke stroll out casually as well, and then Luke noticed Leia and Mara in the clump of girls, and Anakin watched the particular scene play out before him.

Leia waved goodbye to her friends, and ran over to Anakin, and hugged him briefly. "Hi, Dad," she said as usual. She looked over, hearing increasingly loud stomping footsteps crossing the street.

"Dad! Dad!!"

Anakin smiled.

"Dad! She said yes, Dad!" Luke yelled excitingly. "She actually said yes—to me!"

"And you're so surprised? You have my looks—you'll be attracting every woman in the galaxy with my dirty blond hair and blue eyes," Anakin replied wryly, "On another note, congratulations, Luke!"

Leia smiled, "You know she's not that into you, Luke. She's just desperate."

"Shut up," Luke hissed.

Anakin shook his head, looking up into the sky, praising the Gods maybe—

But then, he smiled.

FIN

Author's Note 2: Awww, it's the end of one of my favorite stories. Overall, I'm very pleased. This story started off as a one shot and then grew into something bigger. Originally, I intended to end it with Leia not even being in the story, but I knew I would not do a sequel to include her in it. Leia isn't my favorite character, nor is she particulary fun for me to write about, but I enjoyed putting her in this scenario. I'd like to hear your feedback, particulary my writing style, because I'm not so sure I'm pleased with it. I'm sorry it took me a while to finish this story, but school has been getting in the way. I'd like to thank all over my reviewers and readers; I won't list this names, for there are too many.

Although I will say that I will be starting a Dark Obi-Wan story with an Anakin/Padmé story on the side. My beta reader will be wAcKaMoLe911, and until the story is straightened out and all the kinks are out of the plotline, I will post it, and see what you readers will think. It will be a long story, and a dark one, just to let you know.

I'm still in the process of finishing some other stories that are on longgggg hiatus. I haven't gotten the time to simply update stories and, basically, I've lost interet in those stories. I feel the plotline is dead, or deflating, and it needs working out. Maybe I'll straighten them out when I have time. . . On a side note, I have many simple one-shots I'd like to post that are just floating around in my head.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story, because I know I enjoyed writing it!