This fic is technically two parts, but part 1 ended up being tiny so I've just merged them. Part 1 is during TPM, part 2 is at a nebulous point in the Clone Wars.

"He is the Chosen One." Master Jinn says. "And besides, he is Force-Born."

Master Yoda, who had been in the middle of opening his mouth, snaps it closed again. Master Windu, next to him, drops his head and mutters something Anakin is sure is a swear.

The rest of the Council make various sounds of surprise as well, and Master Koon leans forward a little. The weird mask thing he has is a little intimidating, and Anakin shifts on the spot a bit.

"You're certain, Master Jinn?" He asks, deep voice sounding a little curious.

"He is strong in the Force, and his mother stated that he has no father." Master Jinn says. "Those are the only two criteria for Force-Born children, I believe?"

Master Windu is rubbing his forehead and grumbling to himself. Master Billaba, from what Anakin can see of her, looks a little worried.

"He'll have to undergo the tests." Another Master- Anakin can't remember their name and he really hopes that won't get him in trouble- frowns.

"Yes, yes." Master Jinn waves that off, while Anakin tenses a little. The other small Council member, the one that looks like Master Yoda, hums.

"Tell me, young Skywalker." He turns to look at her properly, and the rest of the Council straightens up. "Will you be ok with these tests? If you wish, we can return you to your mother, no matter what they say, but if you are willing to go through these tests…?"

"I can do it." Anakin says. "I want to be a Jedi. What kind of tests are they?"

"A small blood test, and a midichlorian count." She smiles. "Nothing stressful, I promise. It will not take long."

He nods, slowly. "Ok." Nothing nearly as bad as what he'd been expecting, really.

"Then dismissed, you shall be, and to the Halls of Healing, young Skywalker shall go." Master Yoda declares. "Master Jinn, stay behind, you will. Speak with you more, we shall. Padawan Kenobi, escort Skywalker, will you?"

"Of course, Masters." Obi-Wan bows, and after a moment Anakin hurries to copy him, and the older man smiles at Anakin. "Come along, Anakin. Like Master Yaddle said, this won't take too long."

"Ok."

He hurries after Obi-Wan and into the lift, chewing his lip. "Mister Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, Anakin?" Obi-Wan looks down at him as the lift starts to move. "Is something wrong? If you don't want to do these tests you don't have to-"

"No, I want to be a Jedi!" He insists. "Just… what's a Force-Born, and why's it important for me?"

Obi-Wan looks slightly surprised for a moment, then smiles again. "Ah, of course. My apologies, I forget sometimes that it's not the most commonly known thing outside of the Temple. A Force-Born is the in-Temple name for a child born with only one parent."

"That's a thing that happens a lot?" Anakin gapes.

"Not exactly, but often enough that we have a name for it, yes." Obi-Wan nods. "We call them Force-Born because they're considered gifts from the Force."

"Mom always said I was a gift from Ar-Amu."

Obi-Wan tilts his head. "And that could likely be true. After all, there's no reason the Force couldn't work with Ar-Amu to give her a child. It's merely what we believe."

Slowly, Anakin nods. He guesses that makes sense, that the Jedi would believe different things. And it makes sense that the Force would help Ar-Amu with his mom, because the Force is really powerful and can do things even Ar-Amu probably can't.

"So I'm a Force gift as well?"

"Likely, yes. The tests will confirm that, since you'll only have genetic information from your mother- the rest of your genetics will be completely randomised, and not match anyone else in the Galaxy, but there's certain consistencies that we can look at to help confirm this." Obi-Wan pauses as the lift stops, then hums. "In fact, it might help you somewhat. There are likely several other Force-Born children in the Crèches and the Initiate Dorms, as well as among the Padawans that are closer to your age. It would be something for you to bond over, slightly." He slants a glance at him as he leads Anakin out of the lift. "Of course, being Force-Born doesn't make you better than anyone else. Just slightly different."

Anakin nods. "I get it. So we just go do the tests?"

"That's right. Maybe if we're lucky, you'll be able to meet one of my crèchemates. I can't remember if she's here at the Temple at the moment, but if she is she might be on rotation."

Obi-wan starts leading the way down the hall, and after a moment of hesitation, Anakin follows.

The 501st is helping on a relief mission, moving things around while General Skywalker talks to the various leaders, when Ahsoka lets out a startled, happy chirp.

Rex turns from where he's coordinating with some of the others, and sees her fussing over a small Human tubie, one that doesn't look old enough to be out of their tube.

His brain kicks in again a moment after and reminds him that that's not how natborns work, though from the way Jesse and Appo make slightly concerned sounds that might not be the case for them.

"Is that safe?" Jesse hisses, which makes Kix look up as well as Rex glances back over his shoulder.

Their Medic shrugs. "Should be, Commander seems ok with it."

Indeed, the Commander is very happy fussing over the tubie, with their parent looking slightly nervous.

"D'you think we should get the General?"

Rex sighs and hands his datapad to Appo. "I'll go see why she's so excited, I guess. And figure out if we need to call the General in."

Appo looks slightly annoyed to be handed more work- as if Rex is going to let Jesse do it, and Kix has enough on his plate- but tilts his head and accepts it. "Fair enough. Good luck with the Commander."

He almost replies that he doesn't need luck, but another rather loud chirp from the Commander makes him doubt that. "Thanks."

As usual, the Commander looks up well before he reaches her side, and her grin gets wider as she waves him over. "Rex! Come here, look! Isn't she cute?!"

Rex obligingly steps closer, hovering near her shoulder- the woman with the tubie looks a little more nervous at the crowding, so he makes sure to keep back a little- and looks over.

The tubie is smiling up at both of them, one little fist waving out of the blanket they're wrapped in. He smiles back, even though they can't see it, and tilts his head. "Very cute, Commander."

"She said hi, too!" Commander Tano bounces, and Rex blinks.

"She… did?" He's no expert on natborns, but he's fairly sure tubies this small don't tend to talk.

Commander Tano rolls her eyes at him. "In the Force, Rex." She says, before turning back to the tubie again. She sticks her tongue out, making the tubie giggle, then looks up at the woman. "She's pretty powerful."

The woman blinks, then seems to relax and tense at the same time. "She's a Jedi?"

Commander Tano raises one shoulder, her lekku twitching. "I mean, she's Force Sensitive." She says. "If she wants to be a Jedi, when she's older, then yeah, she could be."

"How does that work?" Rex prompts. Partly for the woman, who seems a little nervous still, but also because the General and Commander never really talk about that sort of thing, and he's curious.

Commander Tano gives him a look, then returns to cooing over the tubie. "I mean, I don't know it properly, but it's pretty simple. A Jedi finds a Force Sensitive kid- they're called a Finder, usually, but that only applies to the Younglings they've found- and depending on how they're found, brings them to the Temple. If they've got a family, there's a bit of time before they'd come to get them, and obviously it's up to the parents if they want to let the baby go with their Finder. If they don't want to then no harm done, really. But if they're ok with it, then the baby comes to the Temple and grows up there, and then when they're old enough they're taken as a Padawan."

"Like you and General Skywalker."

The Togruta nods, while the woman beside them relaxes. "Yup! Though Master Anakin didn't Find me, that was Master Plo. I was only little, but I'd already been doing a lot of things with the Force, apparently. At one point I made friends with a raxshir, and there were a couple of other things as well. The village elder said I should go to the Jedi, and my birth family agreed, and then when Master Plo found me he took me back with him." Commander Tano tells him, before looking back at the woman. "But yeah, now we've found her, we just take a note of it. The Council'll probably send someone with a bit more experience in this sort of thing out to talk to you? Master Anakin and I can do some of it, but we don't know everything, it'd be better for you to talk to one of the older Masters about it. But you can talk it over with her dad and everything, and if you don't want her to go to the Temple, she doesn't have to."

"Who doesn't have to?" General Skywalker asks, appearing beside them. Rex doesn't jump, but only because of heavy discipline and long experience dealing with brothers who think surprising people is funny.

Commander Tano doesn't even twitch, of course, just turning around with a wide smile while the tubie- baby- coos cheerfully. "Master Anakin! We found a Force Sensitive baby!"

General Skywalker's eyes widen for a moment, then he smiles just as widely and waves at the baby. "Oh, nice! Taking after Master Koon, I guess."

"Being a Searcher would be neat." Commander Tano nods. "But yeah, I was just explaining how it all works a bit."

He nods. "Fair enough. Ser…?"

"Noelle." The woman says, after a moment of wide-eyed staring herself.

"Ser Noelle, hopefully my Padawan's been able to explain things well enough?"

"You aren't going to take her away?"

General Skywalker shakes his head immediately. "Oh, no. It's completely up to you, and any partner, if she comes with us. And she wouldn't be coming with us now no matter what. There's a bit of an adjustment period, so for now the Temple would just take her name and location. They'd send someone to check up on you all every now and then, and I'll make sure you have a contact to the Temple so if she needs to go there- like if she suddenly starts throwing things around, or anything that could be dangerous- you can call and a Jedi will come and help out. But unless you say so, she won't be taken to the Temple any time soon."

The woman, Noelle, relaxes again. "Oh. That's good. I'd want her to be a Jedi, it'd be good for her, but I didn't expect…"

She trails off, and General Skywalker smiles gently. "I don't think anyone ever does. I know my mom didn't, right up until Master Qui-Gon found us."

"My parents kinda knew it was coming, because of everything, so I went with Master Plo right away." Commander Tano adds. "But that was because I already knew I was gonna be going to the Temple, so everyone was ready for it."

Noelle nods a little. "That makes sense."

"But yeah, talk it over with whoever you need to, her dad or whatever, and we'll make sure the Temple knows so they can send people out to you." General Skywalker says. He looks like he's about to say something else, but a sharp scoff from behind the group cuts him off, making him frown and turn.

The person interrupting is an older woman, with sharp features and greyed hair. Something about her makes Rex stiffen at once, and Commander Tano shifts a little beside him.

"I don't see why you'd be interested, Master Jedi." The woman says, sniffing. "The child has no other parent anyway, so you might as well just take it."

General Skywalker… pauses. Commander Tano stiffens and perks up slightly, and he can feel Noelle behind them cringing, but General Skywalker just stops.

"Well, you are of course entitled to your opinion." He says, after a long moment of silence. Rex blinks behind his helmet; the General's voice sounds different, more like how General Kenobi sounds in some clips from him speaking to the Senate.

Sometimes he forgets General Skywalker was trained by General Kenobi, with how different they are a lot of the time.

"But the only person who can say whether the child can come to the Temple or not is, of course, their parents. Your opinion has no bearing on this fact."

Then General Skywalker just turns around, completely ignoring the older woman, and smiles gently at Noelle. "So yes, take as much time as you need."

"She's Force-Born?" Commander Tano asks, with a little chirping noise. Noelle startles.

"I- I don't know what that means?" She says back. "B-but. Well. I'll think about it. I won't need to talk to anyone else."

General Skywalker shifts again, body language going even more gentle, and puts a hand on Commander Tano's shoulder. "Forgive my Padawan, she's just excited. A Force-Born is a Temple term for children born with only one parent." He explains, and Noelle's eyes widen. "We say they're gifts from the Force."

"I- that's common?"

"I mean, not exactly common, but there's a few. I know…" General Skywalker pauses for a moment, lips moving silently as he counts, "At least three others in my age group? And a couple older than me as well."

"One of my Crèchemates is one." Commander Tano adds, waving at the baby again. She coos back softly, sounding happy, and General Skywalker grins.

"But yeah, it's something that's fairly known. I guess that's the case with this little one, huh?"

Nervously, Noelle nods. "Yes, she… Well."

The General hums a little, and holds out a hand towards the baby. "Neat. Well, it's nice to meet a younger sister. I'll make sure the Temple knows about that as well, so they'll be available to help out with anything you need."

"Thank you."

The Jedi stay for a few more minutes, just talking a little, then let Noelle leave. The older woman from before is also gone when they turn around- Rex isn't sure when that happened, exactly- and General Skywalker sighs a little before looking around at the relief efforts.

"I didn't know you were Force-Born, Master." Commander Tano says. He shrugs.

"Yeah, it's not something I talk about much. It's not that important, y'know?" He replies. "But yeah, mom always used to say I was a gift from Ar-Amu. Maybe it's her, maybe it's the Force, but does it really matter when I'm here?"

Commander Tano frowns, wrinkling her nose a little. "I guess."

"Anyway, we should get back to things. Need to contact the Temple, after all, and make sure Ser Noelle gets the help she needs." He pauses, then rubs his knuckles lightly between the Commander's montrals, making her squeak. "Nice job on your first Find, by the way."

"Thanks!" She beams, then grabs Rex's arm. "C'mon, Rex, let's get this all finished!"

Rex sighs, letting her pull him along. He should really go get his work back from Appo, but hey. They can probably handle things fine.

Besides, he's got a lot to think about now.

This was inspired by a Tumblr post, but unfortunately I can't find it because I saw it several months ago and my organisation skills are utter trash. It was a post about how funny it is that the whole Anakin Skywalker Immaculate Conception thing was literally just brushed over and never mentioned again. I know a lot of writers put a darker spin on that, but reading that post made my muse show up and go 'hey how about we write a funny thing for that?' Because like. It's just rolled with. It's mentioned once and doesn't even seem that important or anything to Qui-Gon.

So why would that be?