a/n: Thank you so much to everyone who has shown interest in this story. I love all these characters and I only hope I do them justice. I hope you will let me know if I don't. The descriptions of Anakin's former "nocturnal roamings" come more from the books and not so much from the movies. Not an essential plot point, but just to let you know. And it pains me to say they are still not mine and will never be .

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Anakin crept out of the Jedi Temple, putting his Jedi skills of avoiding detection to good use. Most of the Jedi Masters, and most importantly Master Obi-Wan, tended to turn a blind eye to some of his nocturnal roaming, believing it still to be the semi-innocent pursuits of his youth, but lately the Jedi Padawan was not going out in search of spare droid parts or illegal sporting events to engage in. Anakin was going to meet Padme Amidala, the senator for planet Naboo, and the woman he loved and had secretly married. On Coruscant for a meeting of the Republic Senate, she had sent him a message as an "old friend," asking to get together to talk about what had happened since they last met. Anakin was looking forward to seeing her again.

Listening for a moment until satisfied that no one he knew was around, he hailed an automated air taxi and climbed up to the cockpit to see--Q!

The super-being was lounging casually across the front seat and turned a lazy glance Anakin's way as the Jedi Padawan stared in stunned disbelief.

"And what brings you here after curfew, mon Padawan?" Q inquired nonchalantly, folding his hands behind his head.

"None of your business," Anakin said in a rude tone when he was finally able to speak.

"Oh?" Q suddenly sat up, turning with a smile and leaning toward Anakin with interest. "A midnight mission? Or...dare I say it? A clandestine meeting? A secret tryst? Perhaps with a certain Senator?"

Anakin started in surprise, which quickly turned to anger.

"What do you want with me?" he demanded, his mechanical right hand edging toward his lightsaber hilt. How could Q know his thoughts and actions so completely? Not even Master Obi-Wan, who knew him so well, knew the depth of his love and commitment to Padme!

Q dropped the level of his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Relax, Ani, I won't tell Master Kenobi your secret," he said soothingly, reassuringly. "Really, Anakin, I like you. You have just a bit of a rebel in you, which I bet those fussy Jedi Masters of yours are trying desperately to train out of you." Q suddenly stared straight at Anakin and his eyes seemed to burn through the young Jedi. "Don't let them."

"How could you know so much about me? Answer me!" Anakin cried furiously, troubled that his innermost thoughts, carefully buried beyond Jedi scrutiny, could lay so bare and open before Q's gaze.

"Oh, I know more about you than you would even believe," Q replied loftily. "But tell me, is romancing pretty young politicians the way you're supposed to bring balance to the Force?"

Anakin didn't answer, his fists clenched with a rage he was trying desperately to control. Q seemed not to notice; his voice a soft whisper again as if he were afraid someone might be listening in.

"Perhaps we could have this talk somewhere...a little more private?" Q suggested, raising an arm.

A sudden whiteness surrounded Anakin Skywalker, blocking out the space hangar. For the briefest moment he couldn't see or touch or--worst of all-- sense anything. Then the bright white glow faded, perception returned, and he looked around to see sand stretching out in all directions as far as the eye could see. Nearby Q regarded Anakin thoughtfully, arm crossed over his chest.

"Not exactly a deserted island, but a desert planet is the next best thing," Q commented dryly.

Anakin's mind reeled as he gazed around at the new, barren surroundings. This was just another demonstration of Q's immense power, he knew. Q was apparently trying to show how powerless the Jedi Padawan was in comparison to the super-being by transporting him against his will to some place deserted; far from the Jedi Temple, from civilization, with nothing surrounding him but hot, gritty, painfully blinding sand...

And suddenly Anakin knew where he was.

"Tatooine!" he breathed in disbelief.

Q nodded absently, confirming Anakin's intuition although the twin suns blazing mercilessly down upon him would have been proof enough of his location. "The place you were raised, correct?" Q inquired. "And the place you faced a major turning point in your life that has helped shape your destiny?"

"The day the Jedi discovered me," Anakin whispered, remembering.

"Not even close!" Q laughed, gesturing grandly towards the distant horizon. Anakin looked in that direction and his heart throbbed painfully in his chest as a scene from his not-so-distant past materialized in front of him. It was not that scene he thought of, when he had tenderly parted from his mother; an innocent child bravely leaving her loving presence to go where his destiny led him with the Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, it was that second parting from her, when Shmi Skywalker was violently taken from him forever and he, consumed by hatred had ruthlessly slaughtered every Tusken Raider in the encampment where he had found her; the ones who had tortured his mother to death, and the innocent women and children as well. The day he had acted not at all as a Jedi.

Unable to turn away from the horrific images as they played over and over before his blurred gaze, Anakin felt the same rage, grief, and pain he had experienced then twist in his stomach now, threatening to overwhelm him again. It was all he could do to force himself not to snatch up his lightsaber and avenge his mother's death all over again on the images projected before him by the being he knew only as Q.

"Why--Why are you showing me this? Why are you making me feel this again?" Anakin cried, his choked voice barely above a whisper.

"Because this is the event that, perhaps more than any other, has shaped you life and the path it will take," came Q's unrepentant voice, seemingly from far away, and doing nothing to shatter Anakin's sense of being all alone and very much afraid.

Anakin dropped to his knees in the desolate wasteland of sand as he had at his mother's gravesite, resisting the urge to complete the picture by gathering up a handful of dust to sift through his fingers hopelessly. Suddenly Q appeared directly behind him and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, a gesture that felt anything but comforting.

"Poor, little, orphan Ani," Q said with mock sympathy. "Think how differently this scene could have played out if you would have had my powers," he suggested softly, insistently.

Anakin rose to face Q, the Padawan's eyes red as though he'd been crying, but as dry as their desert surroundings. "I'm a Jedi. I know I'm better than this," he said mechanically, echoing what he'd told Padme after it happened.

Q shook his head. "No you're not," he replied, ignoring Anakin's despair. "No mortal being is. Oh, they think they're better than the savage creatures they actually are, but the truth is, you guys aren't any better than your ancestors who carried bone clubs to brain each other with."

Q paused for a moment and then said in a gentler, more friendly tone, "Look, Anakin, most people who go through an ordeal like you went through think about taking vengeance like you did, and believe that because they didn't they're better people for it. But you, you're different! You took action when most people would have rolled over and turned the other cheek! Anakin," Q said in an excited tone, "that kind of determination proves that you're the only one worthy of the power of the Q!"

"No," Anakin said faintly, "my Master--"

"Doesn't know what he's missing out on, mon Padawan," Q interrupted airily. "He had his chance and he refused. This is aboutyou, Ani. This is your decision. Besides, Master Kenobi isn't here." Q shrugged. "Boy, you'd think he'd know how to lighten up! He almost reminds me of an old acquaintance of mine." The super-being paused for a moment, comparing the two, then amended, "On second thought, no one could be as stuffy as Jean-Luc!"

"But--" Anakin weakly protested again.

"But, what?" Q countered, as persuasive as a Jedi mind trick, "You said yourself, and I quote, 'I will be the most powerful Jedi ever.' All I'm offering you is a chance to make that happen." Q stopped speaking and stepped away from Anakin, as if he'd made his point and was just waiting for the appropriate response.

Anakin felt as if the world spun crazily around him, moving in closer and closer in an effort to crush him.

"Help me! Master Obi-Wan!" his mind cried out in agony, even though he knew his master couldn't come to his rescue. "Padme, help me..." But she couldn't respond either.

However, Q could. "Oh, of course. Mustn't be late for our secret rendezvous with Senator Amidala!"

And everything faded to nothingness once more.