A/N: Hey to everyone who is still reading and thank you. This chapter is pretty short but might answer a few people's questions about the events on Tatooine. The next chapter will definitely reveal even more. Enjoy!

GM Chapter 4:

After somewhat shaking the shock from their systems, the Lars clan had rushed to the figure who resembled their long lost family member. None could believe their eyes, the grave just a few meters behind them serving as a proof that what they were seeing should not truly be possible.

Cliegg Lars was the most affected. He had loved his wife with every fiber of his soul, and her loss had taken a devastating toll on his psyche. Even after almost two years, the older man was just beginning to move on from the loss. Now he was suddenly being confronted with the idea that all his suffering might have been for naught.

Shmi, or the woman who looked just like her at least, according to Owen's thoughts, didn't speak at all. She stayed still, kneeling on the hard ground and staring as her tears turned the dirt beneath her to something resembling mud. The arms of the man who held her were familiar to her but also seemed like something she had felt in a distant dream, rather than in real life.

However, this woman had spent so long living a half-existence that she no longer really had the ability to distinguish between what was a dream and what was real. The twin suns beating down on her back she recognized, but the barren, dry landscape was missing the lush greenery that appeared when she closed her eyes. Her mind was fractured, able to recognize that she should know these people and this place, but her brain failed to make the connections to her past life. There were no names that took up any residence in the corners of her mind except for one.

Skywalker.

She knew she was a Skywalker, and she also knew that there was only one other Skywalker in the galaxy: her son. Anakin's image was the one that burned most brightly in her memory. She could picture his face just as strongly as she could picture it the day he left her. Of course now he would be a grown man and would no longer look like the little boy in her head, but she also knew she would always recognize him instantly.

The thought that maybe he was hidden somewhere among these odd desert dunes that surrounded her was what finally made her look up. The close proximity of this man that she should now startled her, and her eyes widened.

Cliegg's heart, frozen and cold from the devastation in his life, melted as he looked into the eyes of the woman whom he had loved so much. He saw her frantic panic and wanted nothing more than to comfort her, for he knew those eyes, and he knew that the depths of those brilliant blue eyes could never be replicated.

This was his Shmi.

And how he had missed her.

Trying to calm her panic, he grasped her face between his hands and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Shmi?" he spoke, his voice gravelly with emotion. "Look at me, my love, You're going to be alright."

Her eyes searched his frantically for confirmation that he was telling the truth. She wanted to trust him, even felt compelled to trust him, but something would not let her rest until she found her son.

"Let's go inside, darling. Get in out of the heat" Cliegg continued. "Owen? Help get her inside please."

Owen easily lifted her into his arms and began walking towards their small hovel, but the sudden movement startled Smi, her lips parting to let loose a torrent of shrieks. Her body seized and her back arched as she yelled a singular word. "Anakin! Ani! Anakin!" she shouted, over and over again.

All three members of the Lars family rushed inside to the nearest bedroom. Shmi's body continued to thrash once Owen lay her down, her shrieks growing louder until Beru re-entered the room, some sort of syringe in her hand.

The sedative did not take long to effect, and soon, Shmi was lying motionless on the bed, her family staring down at her in shock.

Beru was the first to break the silence. "What do we do?" she whispered.

"I think it's time we contact Anakin," Owen answered.

Cliegg could only nod his head in acceptance.

Padme was just putting the finishing touches on her senatorial outfit when the comm panel in her office began signaling a call.

It had only been a few hours since Anakin had departed in his speeder, and she had been nervously wringing her hands for most of that time. She wanted nothing more for her husband than to have him succeed in all of his endeavours and aspirations, but a certain fear made her want him to fail just the same.

The thought was selfish, and she knew it. Anakin had done nothing but support her in every in her career, however, she secretly wished that a small part of him wanted her to fail as well, for if they both failed, then they could finally be together without worry.

The more they both succeeded and the higher they both rose, the longer they would be forced to be apart.

Padme could handle being on her own when it was just herself. She was safe in her dreaming of Anakin at night, and she knew that she would live just enough to wait for him to come back to her, but doubt crept into her mind as she thought of the new life that was growing insider of her. How could she possibly keep a helpless human being alive and breathing and happy when she could hardly live and breathe and be happy herself, knowing that the other half of her soul was somewhere far away?

She did not know, and she didn't want to be alone.

Dorme would be there for her as she always has been, and with Dorme and the new baby with her, Padme would not be alone, at least in the physical sense. However, Dorme was only a friend, a close friend who was privy to all of Padme's secret, but a friend nonetheless, and the baby would be simply that; a baby. Padme still longed to be able to speak of her troubles with someone closer to her, someone like her mother or sister.

Padme could only avoid the calls from her family for so long before they would grow too frustrated and show up on her landing veranda. Already it had been almost two years since she has been to visit them, and they know hardly anything about her personal life. They, like the rest of the public, believe she simply has no personal life. What would happen if they called or showed up and heard the sound of a crying infant in the background? What would happen when they discovered she had hidden her marriage, and most of her life, from them?

The look of disappointment on her father's face would be crushing.

Inwardly, Padme prayed to the force itself that it wasn't anyone from her family calling, for she was not in any particular mood for lying.

Instead of looking at her mother or sister as she expected when she sat down at the comm, Padme found herself rather shocked to be looking into the face of brother in law on Tatooine.

"Owen? I am surprised to see you call. Is everything all right?" she questioned, her concern seeping heavily into her tone.

Owen looked troubled as he considered how to answer her question. "Well, I need to tell Anakin something. Is he there?" he asked.

"No, Owen. I am afraid not. He is at the temple right now."

"But he is on Coruscant?"

"Yes. He should be here later tonight," Padme replied, puzzled by Owen's line of questioning. The dismal look on the young man's face had her worried. "Owen, what's going on? You can tell me."

"Perhaps I should just get it out," Owen swallowed nervously. "You see, well, there's been an incident here, and I am not really sure how to go about saying this, especially to Anakin, but well, Shmi is not dead."

"What?" Padme gasped in shock. "What do you mean she isn't dead? I was there when she died."

"I know. We all were, Padme, but early this morning a ship landed out in front of the farm. Two armored men came barreling down the ramp, a figure with a bag over the head between them. They just shoved her down on the ground and ripped the bag off before turning around running back up the ramp. The ship was gone before any of us could even register who we were looking at."

"I don't understand how this can be. Anakin was sure she had died. He carried her body in his arms, Owen. He doesn't make mistakes like this."

"Look, I don't know how she is here and not in her grave where we put her, but the fact is she is here, and she refuses to speak to anyone but Anakin. You've got to get him on the comm, Padme." He paused and sighed, a sadness creeping into his eyes. "We had to sedate her. She was going mad! She was shrieking and kicking and calling out for Anakin over and over. You have to get him."

"I promise I will get him as soon as possible Owen, but he is taking his trials of knighthood right now. They cannot be interrupted. We are going to have to wait until he is done."

Glancing over at the chrono, Padme saw that it was barely past 1100 hours, and Anakin would not be finished until the evening.

"Alright, but I am leaving the comm line open. Call as soon as he gets in okay?"

"I will, Owen. Don't worry. Anakin will figure this all out." If his anger doesn't get the best of him first, Padme thought to herself.

Owen nodded slightly before the screen went black, leaving Padme alone with her thoughts once again.

She wondered idly as she stared at the blank screen if she and her husband would ever catch a break.

It appeared not.

A/N: Reviews Please!