"aaaa" - talking through a holocomunicator or comlink. aaaa - inner thoughts and Force Visions. 'aaaa' - talking through a bond.

AN: Thank you princesselsaamidala22 for your review of the last chapter.

Starting with the next chapter, I will be diverting from the usual episode chapters that I put out as there will be some missions that Rosella will not be participating in.

At first, I was just going to make this interlude just about Rosella and Padmè as they got to spend time together, but I decided to make this a family affair and have all three of the Skywalkers spend some time together.

Also, I used the scene in Rebels where Anakin was demonstrating the adjustments that he made to one of the classic form IV techniques as Ahsoka and Ezra were talking about him in this because I thought it would be a good teaching moment for Rosella.

Hope you all enjoy this interlude and don't forget to leave me a review!

Interlude: Spending Time with Family

Rosella held her lightsaber in a horizontal position across her chest, with the tip of the blade pointing to her left as she reached out with the Force to get a better sense of her father's location. The shades that were usually drawn up above the windows had been lowered, effectively darkening the training room, as Anakin had told her that this session would help her get used to fighting opponents in dark places. The teenager glanced around the room, listening for the sounds of footsteps. Then she heard the sound of her father's lightsaber as it was ignited and sensed that he had lunged at her, hoping to sneak up on her unannounced. She quickly spun around and pivoted her blade towards his, blocking his attack.

As their sabers clashed against one another in a cracking frenzy, Rosella felt a small drop of sweat roll down the left side of her face as she pressed her attack, forcing the Knight to back away from her as she launched into a series of strikes, all of which forced Anakin onto the defensive.

Even though their lightsabers were set to their training modes, they still packed a nasty sting if a blow was landed.

Anakin quickly altered his footwork in order to allow himself more room to back-pedal out of the way of Rosella's rapid swings. Her blue blade seemed to come from multiple directions as she forced him to come up with a different plan of attack. Suddenly, he had an idea. Quickly dropping out of the way, he watched as his daughter pressed her lightsaber against nothing but air and stumbled a little, then without warning, slashed at her legs.

Rosella, who felt the heat of her father's saber as he directed his blade towards her feet, leapt in the air and flipped over him. She twisted around as she attempted to point her saber towards his back, only to be a tad disappointed when she saw his blade roll out of the way and then rise into the air as he got to his feet. The young girl landed on her feet and got back into a ready position as she stood there, her breathing a little heavy, trying to see if she could anticipate her father's next move.

"Good job Rosella," Anakin called out as he deactivated his lightsaber, signalling the end of their sparring session.

"Thanks, Dad," she responded, getting her breathing under control as she watched him walk over to the panel that contained the controls for the shades and press one of the buttons, causing them to retract, letting the afternoon Coruscant sunshine into the room.

Once that was done, Anakin walked over to the shelf that contained the training spheres and picked one up. After walking back over to Rosella, he asked, "You practiced blaster deflection training with Master Yoda when you were an Initiate right?"

"Yes," Rosella said, curiosity in her voice as she wondered where this was going.

"Good," he said as he turned the round device on and tossed it into the air, where it floated in the open space. "Keeping your saber moving is key to deflecting the fire of multiple adversaries. You should move in a series of motions, going from one saber position into the next one, then another one and so on. I know that you studied the fourth form of lightsaber combat, but I've made a few minor adjustments to one of the techniques that I think you'll find more suitable to using against droids and other ranged attackers. I'll demonstrate it for you, ok?"

Rosella nodded, moved out of the way and watched as her father reignited his lightsaber, keeping his focus on the hovering training sphere in front of him. As soon as it fired a laser towards his right leg, Anakin blocked it while counting out loud. Then he did the same thing for his other leg, before bringing his blade up in the air to block a laser that was headed for his right arm. As the remote fired a laser towards his right side, he stayed where he was and maneuvered his arms so his lightsaber was behind him, with the blade pointing downwards towards the floor. As another laser came towards his face, he brought both his arms forward, deflecting it and sending it flying into the wall. The remote fired again and this time, Anakin brought his arms up so his saber was in a horizontal position above his head, blade facing the right wall. One more laser was headed towards him and all he did was move his arms. His blue blade was still in a horizontal position, but now, it was facing the other direction. Then he stood up straight, brought his lightsaber down in front of him and deactivated it, watching as the training remote stopped firing and flew up into the air.

"Are you ready to try?" He asked, turning to look at Rosella as he moved back to give her some space.

She nodded and raised her saber, getting into the same position that she had seen her father get into as the remote moved over to where she was standing. The first laser flew towards her right leg and she blocked it using the same maneuver that Anakin had shown her just a few moments ago. After finishing her first round of practice with the new lightsaber moves, Anakin had her go over them two more times. Once the young padawan had finished, the Knight had her stop for the day and put away the training remote that she had been using.

Then they left the training room and headed back to their apartment.

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Once they were inside, Rosella headed to her room, unhooked her lightsaber from her belt, placed it on her bedside table and made her way over to her closet where she grabbed a clean Jedi tunic. Then, after letting her father use the refresher, she took her turn. She showered, making sure that she was all clean and changed her clothes since her training uniform smelled and needed to be washed. After throwing the uniform into the laundry, she emerged from the refresher and headed to the living area.

She flung herself on the couch and sighed as she still had some classwork that she needed to finish. Sitting up, Rosella reached for the datapad that she had left on the coffee table. She had been planning to do the work after breakfast that morning, but then Anakin had come in after his sparring session with Obi-Wan that they did whenever they had a day off at the Temple and asked if she wanted to train with him before they both were called back to the front lines.

Knowing that she had work to do, she switched the device on and scanned through her messages to see if she had gotten any new ones. She saw one from her Political Studies teacher and tapped the screen. Upon reading the first part of the message and perusing the attached assignment, she quietly groaned as Anakin was in his room, tinkering with yet another droid that he was fixing and she didn't want to disturb him. She, like most of the Jedi in the Temple, which included her family, wasn't a huge fan of the Senate building nor most of the Senators who were there. While there were a few that she liked to be around, the thought of interviewing one of them seemed to make her a little nervous.

Anakin, who had emerged from his room, seemed to have picked up on her nervousness as he made his way over to the kitchen, washed his hands, dried them and then walked over to the couch and sat down beside her. "Is everything alright Rosella?" He asked.

"I'm fine Dad, just a little nervous because my Political Studies teacher wants everyone in my class to interview a Senator and have the paper turned in the day after tomorrow," Rosella said while reading the rest of the message. Then she smiled and looked up as she turned to face him. "It seems as if all the students have been paired up with a Senator that they have to interview."

"Oh really?" Anakin asked as he reached for the holonet remote. Once it was in his hand, he turned it on and flicked through the available channels. "So, who are you interviewing?"

"I got paired up with Mom," she responded happily. "All I have to do is set up the interview with her for tomorrow morning."

As Anakin settled on a holofilm that portrayed a parody of the events of the Battle of Naboo, he said, "You can do that tonight. Padmè's invited us over to have dinner with her in her penthouse as she hasn't gotten to see you since you went over there the day after we saved her from Grievous and the Malevolence." Then he sheepishly scratched his head. "We also haven't spent any time together as a family, so that is another reason for us going over there."

"Alright Dad," Rosella said, quietly snickering at the screen which showed a person who looked nothing like how Master Kenobi had looked when he had been a padawan. Then she glanced down at her datapad and tapped the screen, exiting her messages. With another tap, she opened up the math homework that she needed to complete and turn in. "Why do I need to learn about complex math equations?"

"Those equations will help you when you eventually have to start planning pre-battlefield strategies in this war," Anakin told her.

Rosella just rolled her eyes and got started on her homework. Once she was finished, she checked the problems over just to make sure that they were correct and then sent the completed sheet to her teacher. Then she turned her datapad off, placed it on the coffee table, relaxed next to her father and continued to watch the movie with him.

A few hours later, once the credits were rolling, Anakin glanced over at the chrono on the wall and realized that it was time for them to head over to the Senator's penthouse. After turning off the holonet, they got up and left the apartment.

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After Anakin and Rosella arrived in the foyer of the Senator's penthouse apartment, they were not expecting to be greeted by C-3P0, who was Padmè's protocol droid that Anakin had given to her after their wedding.

"Hello Threepio," Rosella said. In the back of her mind, she was wondering why he had been sent to greet them instead of the Senator. Usually, the droid would stay in the apartment, helping Padmè with whatever task she was doing that day or doing whatever she told him to do. "Is Senator Amidala home? She should be expecting us."

"Mistress Padmè is just finishing up some Senate work and will be with you shortly," Threepio replied.

"Thanks, Threepio," Anakin replied.

Walking past the golden droid, he and Rosella made their way through the apartment and sat down on one of the couches out on the veranda. While waiting, they spoke to each other about things that Rosella could work on when she had time to train on her own. As they were wrapping up their conversation, Padmè made her way down the stairs to meet them. She was wearing a dress that was light olive green above the waist. Below that, it transitioned into a darker olive green. The skirt was covered in a simple light green squiggle-like design that went all the way around. The top was a long sleeved shirt and had no designs on it at all. She was wearing a simple silver headband in her hair and the matching pair of earrings.

Rosella sensed her mother's presence as she came into the room and turned to look at her. "Hi Mom," she said.

"Rosella!" Padmè joyfully exclaimed as she hurried over to where the girl was sitting. As soon as the teenager had risen up off the couch, the Naboo woman drew her into a hug and smiled when she hugged her back. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Rosella responded as Padmè released her from her hug and drew back. She smiled as she watched her adopted parents exchange pleasantries and a hug, along with a quick kiss.

Then Padmè turned around and smiled. "Come on," she said. "Let's go eat."

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Once they were seated at a dining table in a room that was near the kitchen and had already been set with their plates and cutlery, both of Padmè's handmaidens brought out the food, placed the plates on the table and left the room. After they were all served, Anakin and Padmè settled into comfortable conversation, enjoying their time with each other and catching up from the last time they were all together.

The teenager let her parents talk while she dug into her plate of rice, chicken and veggies. It had been a while since she had gotten to eat food like this. Normally, Rosella would either be eating a ration bar, whatever was being served on the Resolute, or whatever they were serving in the Temple mess hall for dinner if she and Anakin didn't feel like eating whatever they had in their apartment.

"So, Rosella," Padme said, turning to face the thirteen-year-old teenager. "How are your classes?"

"They're alright," Rosella responded. Once she had eaten another bite of her supper and wiped her mouth, she remembered her assignment. "Mom, is it alright if I come interview you tomorrow for my Political Studies class?"

"Of course, you can," Padmè replied. "Does tomorrow morning work for you?"

Rosella nodded. "Tomorrow morning is fine with me," she replied.

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After they had all finished their dinner, they headed back out to the veranda to spend some time together before Anakin and Rosella left to head back to the Temple.

Rosella, who had opted not to sit on the couch with her parents, was standing near the protective shield that had been turned on in order to make sure that the balcony was safe. She wrapped her arms around herself and quietly sighed as it was nice to get away from the war, as well as the Jedi Temple and spend some time with her family. She felt like she never got to see Padmè because she was always on the front lines, either deep in a fight or on the Resolute's bridge, directing a space battle.

"Ella?" Padmè asked, after hearing the soft, but still audible sigh that came from the teenager. "Is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine Mom," Rosella answered, glancing over at her parents as she noticed the somewhat curious looks on their faces. "I was just thinking how nice it is to be able to get away from the war, and not have to think about anything even remotely related to the subject for a night. No talking about anything relating to some new campaign that's happening on the front lines."

Neither Anakin nor Padmè said anything, but they both glanced at each other and nodded.

Without even having to say anything, the Naboo Senator could tell that Rosella was not a huge fan of the war, even if the girl didn't outright say it. She was against it as well, even though she did support the clones. Even though she knew that the life of a Jedi wasn't without risks, she was also aware that Rosella was missing out on what it was like to just be a teenager, a normal human being. She wished that both her husband and daughter didn't have to shoulder the burden of being a General and Commander in this dreadful war or even be fighting in it at all.

"Hey, Mom, Dad, do you think there are other families like ours?" Rosella asked. "Ones that are separated because of all the fighting?"

Anakin looked at Padmè and gave her a look that meant he wanted her to answer the question.

Padmè softly sighed. "I wish I could tell you no sweetie, but the truth is that there are other families like us," she gently told her. "We aren't the only family who is like this. There are probably hundreds or even thousands of families that are forced apart every day because of their duties to the Republic or even as they have to flee from one planet to another."

If there was one thing in the world that the teenager didn't like, it was the sad feeling that she got whenever she was on Coruscant and by herself at the Temple. "Whenever I'm left behind at the Temple, I miss you guys. Even though Grandpa Qui-Gon is at the Temple, he's usually busy with the Council or with classes that he's been assigned to teach or supervise."

Padmè got up, walked over to Rosella and drew the girl into a comforting hug. "Sweetheart, I want you to know that I miss you, Anakin, Obi-Wan and even Qui-Gon," she whispered so Anakin wouldn't be able to overhear their conversation. "I miss all of you so much and that makes me hate this war. I wish I could lie and say that it will get better, but you will get used to it, and in time, it won't hurt as much." She pulled back and smiled at Rosella. "I treasure the time that we do get to spend together during this war."

"So do I Mom," Rosella said and smiled as Anakin came up behind them and wrapped them all up in a big hug.