Note 1: Thank you for all the review/alerts/favorites that I have received, you guys are truly awesome and I know each and every one of you.
Note 2: This takes place during ROTS, right after Anakin and Obi-Wan return from rescuing Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous.
Note 3: Star Wars and its affiliates do not belong to me, only the contents of this Verse.
Note 4: Thank you to my betas; TACAitsH and Young at Heart21.
Chosen: Restoration
Chapter 14: Speculation
By WrittinInStone
"Why you?" Obi-Wan asked suddenly. "Why did the virus only affect you, Anakin? It still doesn't make sense."
The three of them, Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan were once again in the data room of Twilight's Rain. Although they had been over all the documents several times, both Anakin and Obi-Wan had the nagging suspicion that they were missing something. So all three continued to pore over each one, reading carefully, and trying to discern the slightest clue from the data in front of them.
Yet as Obi-Wan read over the files concerning the ship, he could not help but think about the symptoms of the illness itself. He knew that the Sith Lord had targeted Anakin, yet if this virus attacked midichlorians, then why was he himself not also experiencing symptoms?
"According to the holo-record from the Invisible Hand, it's due to my high levels of midichlorian." Anakin answered, pausing a moment to cough into his arm. "We don't really know enough about how midichlorian work to assess what that means."
"You're right," Obi-Wan answered, closing the book he was reading. He leaned back in his chair thoughtfully and began to stroke his mustache. "But I've been thinking; if this virus attacks midichlorians, why was I not affected at all? What if this virus does not affect only midichlorians? What if it attacks something else, too? What if there is some other factor involved, a factor that is specific to Anakin?"
"I don't know much about midichlorians." Padmé said, her eyebrows furrowing at the use of the unfamiliar word. "How do they work? What are they?"
"It's not something that we tell everyone. It's good that you don't know, that means that there's something that the Jedi can keep secret," Anakin said with humor, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "They are the reason that certain people are able to be Jedi. They are intelligent, microscopic life forms that live symbiotically inside the cells of all living things."
"When they're present in sufficient numbers," Obi-Wan continued, "they allow a life form to detect and use the Force. The normal level is 2,500, but the levels for Jedi are much higher."
Frowning, Padmé closed the book that she was reading. "So, just by virtue of your being a Jedi and being able to use the Force, you have a pretty decent midichlorian count? How can you tell how many a person has?"
"Midichlorians are measured through a blood test. The Jedi have used this method for centuries to find Force-sensitive children." Anakin said.
"So the difference must be in your blood, Anakin." Padmé mused. "That's the only explanation."
Anakin and Obi-Wan paused at her words. His blood? They had never considered that.
"I don't know how that could be," Anakin said finally, disturbed at the thought that his blood might be different. "I'm just like everyone else. There's nothing much different about me besides my midichlorian count."
Obi-Wan paused as a thought suddenly came to him. "Yes, Anakin. You are different! Force, why didn't we think of this before? Anakin, you're completely different from everyone else, even the other Jedi. The issue is not the high levels of midichlorian itself, the issue is why you have such a high midichlorian count."
"What?" Padmé said, sitting up straighter in her chair. "What do you mean?"
"He means," Anakin said quietly, as he began to understand what Obi-Wan was saying, "what is different about me that allows me to have such a high count?"
"That's a good question." Padmé said with a frown. "What determines how high the count is? Does it have anything to do with genetics?"
Anakin shifted uncomfortably, knowing where this was headed. "According to my mother," He said finally, "I had no father."
"What do you mean?" Padmé said, shifting in the seat slightly, concern in her voice. "Did he leave her?"
"No." Anakin said, turning to look her in the eyes. "She had never slept with a man when she had me. She was a virgin when she found out she was pregnant."
Silence reined in the room as Padmé digested his words. "So," She said slowly, "You mean that it was a virgin birth?"
"Yes."
"Then how are you sitting in front of me now?"
Obi-Wan, who had been listening to their dialogue, finally spoke, "Qui Gon Jinn believed that Anakin was conceived through the Force. So technically, the Force would be Anakin's father."
"How is that possible?" Padmé said, her frown deepening. "And why didn't you ever tell me that? I think that's a pretty important detail to keep away from your wife."
"Padmé. It's not really something I like to think about." Anakin said, pushing away from the table to stand up. "I had enough problems when I was young, what, with being a slave and all. Then, I was apprenticed to Qui Gon and everything was happening so fast. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but…"
Anakin paused as he went to the window. He closed his eyes and leaned forward until his head touched the glass. "It was so weird not having a father. It's not like I have a dead-beat dad, I don't have one at all. I used to be curious when I was younger, but I learned very quickly to ignore my curiosity. My mother loved me very much, but the circumstance of my birth was always as a source of stress for her. She went through hell protecting me from our owners. They were very cruel at times. She didn't want another child of hers to live through that, so, she was always afraid that she would mysteriously become pregnant again."
"Ani, I'm sorry." Padmé said softly, regretting her outburst. "It's okay. I'm here." She went to him and began to rub his back soothingly.
He turned to her, cupping her cheek. "Thank you, Padmé." He said gently.
Uncomfortable with their display of affection, Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "So, if the Force fathered Anakin, then we know where the high midichlorian count came from. But I'm not sure that this is about the Force."
"What?" Anakin said incredulously. He stared at Obi-Wan in confusion for a moment before understanding hit. "You think this is about my mother?" Anakin said, letting out a heavy breath.
"How much do you know about her?" Obi-Wan asked carefully, knowing that Shmi Skywalker was sensitive topic for the young Knight.
"Well, we never really talked about where she came from. It just never came up. I was more interested in competing in pod-races and daydreaming about being free." Anakin said, his mood becoming heavy at the thought of his mother. "I was too young to think about it."
"We should do some research into this." Padmé said. "Do you know if any more of Shmi's family is alive? Do you know where Shmi was from?"
"All I know is that she was abducted by pirates and then sold as a slave to Gardulla the Hutt on Tatooine." He said, closing his eyes against the memory of that wretched planet.
"Then that is where we must go," Obi-Wan said with regret. He knew Anakin hated the planet.
"What? You want to go to Tatooine?" Anakin said, his eyebrows raised.
"Yes." Obi-Wan replied. "We can't find anything about the Yangua; we've searched every archive and every database on this ship. We've even searched random places on the ship itself. If Twilight's Rain won't give us any clues, then maybe the virus carrier will."
"I don't know about this," Anakin said suddenly, his unease clear. "We might be following a dead end."
"That's always a possibility, but we have to try. It's the only lead we have on anything so far."
Disturbed, Anakin finally consented. "Very well, Master. We will head for Tatooine immediately."
Obi-Wan nodded as he rose from his seat.
"I will alert the clones. We should arrive on Tatooine in a few days."
#*#*#*#*#
Padmé frowned, disturbed at her husband's silence. He had been quiet ever since they had come from the meeting. It was unlike him.
"Ani, what's wrong?" She said, wrapping her arms around Anakin and laying her head on his chest. She fell silent, giving him the opportunity to speak. When he didn't, she said hesitatingly, quietly, "It's the thought of your mother and going to Tatooine, isn't it?"
"Yes." He said quietly, taking comfort in her embrace.
They were in their suite getting ready to sleep for the night. To Anakin, the day felt like a failure, despite the possible lead that they had found. This day should have brought some resolution, but it had only brought more questions.
"Are you going to be okay?" She asked, gazing at him with concern. "I know you never told Obi-Wan about what happened with your mother, or with the Sand People. Going to Tatooine is going to bring back unpleasant memories."
Anakin was silent as he went to gaze out of the window. "I should tell him." He said simply, "Just so Obi-Wan will understand how I feel about all of this."
"How do you feel?"
"Fear, worry, apprehension... anger. I feel all of these things although I shouldn't. But going to Tatooine? Having the two people who are closest to me get a first hand account of the torment my mother and I experienced? It's like uncovering an old wound. I spend most of my time stopping myself from thinking about my mother and my time as a slave. But now it seems as though it's going to be thrown in my face." He pulled away from her and walked to the door. When he got to the entrance he stopped.
"I need to tell him, Padmé. I just…it's a feeling. I don't know how he's going to react, but I want to tell Obi-Wan. I've kept enough from him. Maybe he can help me, maybe…he won't reject me. I have to try."
"Okay." Padmé said, biting her lip, hoping that Obi-Wan would not fail Anakin. "But if anything goes wrong, come straight back to me and I'll make it right. And husband?" She called before he could leave. "I love you."
He turned to smile at her, her words breaking through the fog hovering over his heart.
"I love you too, wife." Moments later, he was out the door.
#*#*#*#*#
Obi-Wan looked up at the sound of the alarm signaling that there was someone at the door. He knew it was Anakin; Obi-Wan had sensed his Force presence as he approached.
"Anakin," He greeted him, "Come inside."
As the Knight entered, Obi-Wan could not help but notice how tense Anakin was.
"What's wrong?" He asked the young man, concerned.
"Obi-Wan," Anakin said finally, "We need to talk."
#*#*#*#*#
An hour later, Obi-Wan nodded goodnight to Anakin, making the sure the door was closed before letting out a deep breath.
Obi-Wan sat down on his bed and stared at the wall, his face expressionless. Anakin had told him everything about Tatooine; how he had found his mom, about what he had done to the Sand People, how he now felt about looking for information about his mother.
The news had shocked and repulsed Obi-Wan and it had taken everything inside of him to hide this from Anakin. But as the young man talked and began to show remorse, as Obi-Wan watched Anakin's eyes fill with tears of shame, all anger had drained from the Jedi Master.
It disturbed Obi-Wan. By all rights, he should be contacting the Jedi Council at this very moment and telling them everything that Anakin had divulged to him. Instead, here he sat, thinking about how far from the Jedi Code Anakin Skywalker was leading him.
Obi-Wan knew that he was walking a fine line between being a good friend and being a traitor to the Jedi. The things he was withholding could mean trouble for the Order, yet Obi-Wan couldn't betray Anakin. He just couldn't. Between keeping the news of Anakin's forays into the Dark Side from the Jedi as well as concealing the news of Anakin and Padmé's marriage, Obi-Wan wondered when everything would finally come to a head. Because when it did, it would change the lives of all three of them.
For Anakin's sake, Obi-Wan hoped it was not in the near future.
End of Chapter 14: If you liked it, please review it. Reviews mean faster updates and no…bad words from me. =]
Chapter 15: Fishing For Janken: Anakin, Padmé and Obi-Wan play a game.
A/N: Thank you to Wookipedia for the Star Wars facts.