Chapter 20

A.N. Thank you so much for reviewing. Some possible angst ahead but keep in mind I am writing this fanfic because I want a fluffy happy ending.

Padmé had reached Obi-Wan's side. She saw the strain marking the older man's face and knowing her own strength would be little help, sought something, anything to use. Inspiration struck and she grabbed the grappling hook forgotten in her pocket from where she had taken a stormtrooper's kit. After hearing the story of Luke and Leia's daring escape, she had thought the tool might come in handy.

There was no time for self-congratulations. Heart pounding in her chest, she quickly threw the hook around a railing and lowered the cord, trying to loop it around Ani before his glove slipped from Obi-Wan's grasp.

Obi-Wan turned his head to smile wanly at her once Anakin had managed to secure himself. Together Padmé and Obi-Wan managed to pull him up. It was a bit difficult because Obi-Wan refused to let go of Ani's gloved hand.

… BREAK…BREAK…BREAK…

"You didn't let go" he rasped. Obi-Wan could feel Anakin's wonder through the force. And for a moment he was ashamed, thinking of that long ago day on Mustafar when he had left Anakin for dead. If he had known then… But Padmé had known, had believed even then. He watched as Anakin's terrifying masked face turned towards his long-suffering wife, and tenderly touched her cheek.

"No, I didn't. I won't ever again. I will always believe in you, Anakin." Obi-Wan promised silently. He knew Anakin could sense his vow, and was grateful. Affection welled up in Obi-Wan for his former padawan. The love he had had to deny for years, first as a jedi not allowed to think of a family and then as a relic of a destroyed order forced to view his brother as his greatest enemy, now expanded freely. He had had lost friends. He had had lost loves. But losing Anakin had hurt the most.

….BREAK…BREAK….BREAK…

There were things he wanted to tell his beloved. But most of all, as he lay there on the floor of the Death Star, he wanted to see her once again without the mask.

"Padmé, please remove..."

"No!" she interrupted, horrified. "You'll die."

"I'm dying anyway, Padmé."

He turned to Obi-Wan ready to implore his friend to help in this last request. He watched as his old friend, the man he had loved and hated as a father, turned to Padmé with the knowledge that nothing could be done. Obi-Wan would be able to sense his failing life force. But at least Anakin Skywalker would die a free man – filled with the light of the force.

"You cannot give up, Anakin Skywalker!" Padmé cried out. "How dare you blame me for giving up and dying when you are ready to do the same!"

"It's not the same thing at all," Anakin snapped upset that Padmé was viewing his impending death in such a nonsensical light. His argument was shaken as the entire Death Star quaked with the impact of a direct hit.

…BREAK…BREAK…BREAK…

She refused to give in to his first maudlin and now panicked bid for self-sacrifice. This was their second chance. She helped Obi-Wan, who clearly needed to be immersed in bacta after force lightening, drag Ani to a shuttle, ignoring her husband's terrifyingly weakening protests that he should be left behind.

She demanded he be quiet and save his strength. Then, she wished she hadn't said that. Oh please let her have years of arguing with Ani, decades of making up.

She piloted the shuttle to Endor. If only she could have sat next to Ani, but Obi-Wan was in no shape to fly. At times, she thought they had escaped the death star only to lose their lives in the chaotic firefight between imperial pilots, whether in tie-fighters or destroyers, and the rebel ships. Too often, she failed to dodge the debris from the exploded Death Star.

They landed on Endor. Immediately, Padmé raced to Anakin's side. Only to sink to her knees as she saw Obi-Wan's expression. " No!" she wailed. "No! Anakin, please come back to me!"