"I don't care who you are, or who you think you are!" Beru Lars's voice echoed through the dry, slightly cool air of the Tatooine night as she shouted savagely at Anakin. "I won't let you take my boy from me! He's ours, not yours! And why would you give her," she shouted at the still and ashamed Reva, who was now looking at the ground, "a chance?!"

Oola turned to her husband. She had been stunned herself when Anakin made the offer to train the young woman, who'd attacked the homestead and tried to kill Anakin's son in cold blood, believing it poetic justice, but Anakin had stopped her just in time and he had gotten through to her enough to make the offer, but Oola had a benefit Owen and Beru lacked.

She knew Anakin. She knew while he regretted what he had done on Tatooine when he had slaughtered the entire camp of Tusken raiders, he wasn't sorry about what he had done, and she knew he would gladly do it again even if he regretted the situation. She wanted nothing more than to stop Beru from continuing her onslaught, but Anakin just stood there and took it.

"I'm not taking him!" Anakin managed to get out at last, and Oola blinked when she felt…something, and she realised Anakin just used the Force to make himself heard. "Yes, Luke might be my son, but you've both been his parents far longer than I ever have. I'm not going to suddenly tell him I'm his biological father, and rip him away from you two."

"Y-you're not going to take him?" Owen whispered.

"No, Owen. I can't, and I won't do that to you," Anakin said, memories of Qui-Gon Jinn and Padme in the house he shared with Shmi entering his head, their time changing his life forever in ways they hadn't yet worked out. But the memory that saddened him the most was the last hug he shared with his mother before he left with Qui-Gon. Even now Anakin had no idea if the Jedi Master had been telling him the truth about Watto refusing to let her go, or if it never actually happened. With what he had quickly discovered of the Jedi, he would not put it past them.

"But why not?" Beru asked quietly, stunned.

Anakin sighed and looked down. "A long time ago, I was given the chance to become a Jedi Knight. Okay, at the time I'd heard fairy tales about them, their bravery, their desire to keep peace and justice in the galaxy, and their desire to help others," an unamused snort left his mouth, clearly showing what he now thought of the mandate. "But I didn't understand what they would want from me in turn. I didn't know they would want me to shed off all of my attachments to my mother, to the friends I'd made here. But what I really despised the most was how they kept telling me to let go of my past. I could not do that."

Suddenly more than aware of everyone else in the pit, Anakin glanced awkwardly at them and then back at Owen and Beru. "Listen, is it okay if we go somewhere else to talk, and Oola can take care of everyone?"

Oola sent him a look. "Oh, you'll pay for that one, Anakin Skywalker!"

"Oola?"

"My wife," Anakin turned a crooked smile at the tall, beautiful Twi'lek woman, seeing Owen and Beru both looking at her in shock.

"Er, yes, Okay, erm, they can go inside," Beru was the first of the Lars couple to get her act back together, and she turned to Beru with a shaky and uncertain smile. "Er, if you just go through there, you'll find the kitchenette. Luke can help you find everything."

Oola was initially surprised this other woman was giving her pretty much free reign in her home, but she didn't say a word, she just smiled back gratefully. "Thank you, we'll be okay," she smiled. Beru smiled back.

Somehow, Oola felt she had just made a friend for life. But as she ushered everyone - shivering a little when she caught sight of Mace Windu's cold gaze, she found herself face to face with the young black woman whom Anakin was fighting earlier.

"Hello," Oola said quietly, keeping her tone as mild as possible while Anakin and his relatives left the pit.

"Hello," the young woman replied, just as quietly, shifting awkwardly on her feet. She could sense the tension and even hostility in many of the group and she was unsure if she wanted to experience it anymore. She had already encountered Master Kenobi and Master Windu enough to know they likely put her in the same category she put Darth Vader himself. But she could sense the closeness her new Master felt towards this Twi'lek.

His wife.

"Y-you're close to my new….teacher, yes?"

"He's my husband, yes," Oola was surprised by the question, she had just heard Anakin tell the Lars about their marriage.

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get used to my new…situation. I've spent so long hating and justifying it by saying I'll make it right in the end," Reva looked over Oola's shoulder. "I don't know how I can cope."

Oola smiled at her. In many ways, the young woman's attitude reminded her of her own children, whenever one of them made some silly mistake and they wanted to make amends. But what this woman had done was more serious than that.

"You will. Now come on, come inside and you can see if you can try. You don't need to speak to anyone, just be there, prove to them that you have changed," Oola said.

Reva's lip wobbled. She was stunned by how kind this Twi'lek woman was. And humbled because she was giving her more of a chance than she actually deserved. Seeing the girl's reaction, Oola's maternal instinct kicked in as she saw that underneath the teenage girl, was a younger girl who was so frightened.

Xxxx

Anakin's heart wrenched when Owen and Beru led him to two stone gravestones. He recognised the one he'd dug for his mother, and he guessed the second one was Owen's own father. Somehow Anakin was unsurprised; the moment he had met Cliegg Lars, he had automatically known the moisture farmer was not in a good way. Anakin had only briefly met the family, but he had been so spooked, so torn by the knowledge his mother was in so much pain, he had ignored the Lars…and then he and Padme were gone.

Anakin took a deep breath, and he mentally cursed when he saw Owen and Beru staring at him. They had seen him studying the graves.

"I'm sorry," he apologised sincerely, instantly feeling bad about how he had been when they first met, and wanting to make amends. "About how…cold I was when we first met…"

"Is it true you had…visions of her dying?" Owen asked awkwardly, looking like he wanted nothing more than to get the question out as gently as possible.

"Yes," Anakin shuddered as he remembered that horrible time when he had woken up in a cold sweat, visions of Shmi suffering, crying out in agony as unseen attackers tore her to bits and beat her even worse than when they had lived in that accursed Hutt Palace when he'd been younger. "I experienced them for months. I was barely able to function after getting them. The Jedi told me it was homesickness. But what they really wanted was for me to do was let her go, let her die. For me to lose my attachment to her."

Beru clapped a hand to her mouth in horror, and she quickly wrapped her arms around him, while Owen, who was just as horrified, did the same. Anakin so was startled by the double hug he froze.

"Shmi was the reason Beru and I even met," Owen said quietly. "Even more the reason why we got together; if she hadn't, then Beru would have gone away without realising I loved her."

"And she was a loving friend."

"I never my mother, Anakin, and when my father freed Shmi after falling in love with her, I wasn't sure how I could cope with it, but she was just so….loving, generous and kind, and I quickly began to love her for it," Owen went on, stunning Anakin although in retrospect he knew he shouldn't have been surprised.

When he was younger, back when he was so cocky, so full of himself, maybe then he would have lashed out, but now he was older, calmer, and wiser, Anakin wanted to rage at the Force for taking away a chance at having a brother and a sister in his life.

"I'm sorry," Anakin looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry, I was paralysed with pain and worry."

"It's alright, Anakin," Beru said softly.

"No, it's not. But I would like to make it up to you if you'll let me," Anakin said awkwardly. "But I meant what I said about not taking Luke away. You're more his parents than Oola and me."

"Thanks," Beru had tears in her eyes when she realised he was telling them the truth. Anakin smiled back at her before he turned to Owen and looked between him and Beru.

"I…would like to know Luke, and I'd like it if he knew his sister and his half-siblings," he said.

"I don't see a problem with that, Anakin, but first tell us something," Owen said, putting his hands on his hips.

Anakin nodded, biting his lip. He could sense what Owen was about to say.

He was not disappointed.

"What happened between you and Padme? When you were here, you two seemed…close," Owen asked.

Anakin looked away for a moment, biting his lip harder as he worked out how to reply to the question. "As you two might already know, I first met Padme here, on Tatooine, in the junk shop mum worked in, right?"

"Yes, we know," Beru said.

"Shmi often told us about you," Owen added.

"Well, at the time I thought she was the most beautiful girl I ever met. Afterwards, I fought hard to win the pod race, not just for Mum and me, since I had come to realise if I became successful enough I could eventually earn enough money to free us both, but when I met Padme…I thought I fell in love with her. Afterwards, I was freed and I helped liberate her planet from the Trade Federation before I went off to be trained as a Jedi," Anakin planned to tell his brother and sister-in-law how that went later, "I wouldn't meet Padme again until I was 19. When I met her, I gave some dodgy pickup lines."

Beer winced and glanced at her husband, who looked sheepish. Anakin snickered, sensing there was a story there, but Beru glared at him, stopping him at once.

"I was assigned to protect her after she was nearly assassinated. The Clone Wars were coming up but nobody knew of the Clones. Padme was trying to prevent the creation of the military and she was eventually forced to leave Coruscant with Jedi protection. I think the Jedi came up with that one to test me, knowing I was attached to Padme at the time. They wanted to make sure I didn't do anything," Anakin said.

Beru said, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Anakin, but I don't like the sound of the Jedi that much."

Anakin smirked, "No, I don't blame you. But anyway, while we were on Naboo, we slowly fell in love even if we tried to deny it, but after the Battle of Geonosis, after she told me she loved me, we talked on the way back to Naboo. We agreed to get married. But at the same time, we both agreed it might be a mistake. Padme found a Minister who agreed to marry us and keep it secret, and R2 D2 and C3PO were our witnesses; it wasn't the wedding we envisioned, but it did for the time being. I was called to the front lines as the Clone Wars began. I rarely saw Padme, sometimes for months at a time.

"And then Padme slowly changed; when she was Queen and then during the Battle of Geonosis, she was a capable fighter, but after we got married, she became a damsel in distress, throwing herself into dangerous situations and fully expecting me to drop everything and rescue her," Anakin said.

"Some women would want to feel protected, Anakin," Beru said.

Anakin nodded, "I understand that, but I didn't notice or say anything."

Owen frowned, "So what changed?"

Anakin grimaced, "A man called Rush Clovis. He was a senator, like Padme, only he was caught diverting funds from the Republic into the Separatists' bank accounts. Padme was ordered to see if it was true. And it was," his expression turned sour, his clear contempt for Clovis seen by both of his audience. "I didn't like it, but the Jedi Council and the Senate thought it was a good idea. Padme was later poisoned by the Separatists to keep it secret, but he was exposed as the spy. I didn't care. After Padme was cured, I left him at their mercy. Throughout all of this, Padme kept talking about duty, and she just threw herself into the whole mess. But Clovis came back later after my apprentice left the Jedi Order after she was framed for murder and bombing the Jedi Temple."

Owen clicked his fingers, "Hold on, I think I remember hearing about that, but I never got the story."

Anakin grimaced, "A girl called Barriss Offee. She believed the Jedi cared only about the final end of the war, that they'd lost their way. And she was right. She framed Ahsoka, my apprentice, for murder but I cleared it up. I don't know what happened to either of them."

"Go on, Anakin, what happened with Padme after that?" Beru asked, but only after sending her husband a look for the interruption.

Anakin said, "Padme was sent to Scipio to deal with the Banking Clan to help with the war effort. Clovis came back and convinced her to let him come to help. To cut a long story short, I didn't like it. But when I arrived back at her apartment I caught them about to kiss."

"What?"

"I was furious. I went mad. I beat Clovis up before Padme broke us up. Afterwards, she told me our marriage was a mistake and it was not a marriage and she didn't want to see me. Numb with horror, both at what I'd done and what Padme said, I went off to think, and I realised our marriage didn't work and was completely toxic. Being gone for months at a time never really let me realise that, until that point. I realised I needed to get away to think and I had to get away, not just from Padme, but from the Jedi, the war, everything. I made the arrangements just before I had to save her again when Clovis revealed his true colours. After that, I went off, and I stumbled across a slave rebellion in the Outer Rim. When I got there, I felt as if a door had closed behind me and another had opened before me. I didn't care about the Republic, the Jedi, the Clones, the Separatists, anything. I was finally fighting a cause I understood, and one I believed in. I fought with the slaves and I soon met Oola. It wasn't until months later, I realised I'd fallen in love with her, but it wasn't what I felt with Padme. Here, it was pure love. After that, I made a decision to leave Padme and the Jedi, but I was too busy and I instead sent two messages to Padme and the Jedi. I told them I wasn't coming back, and for Padme to begin divorce proceedings. But I received nothing back in response, but stupidly I put it out of my mind. Soon I got married to Oola, and I don't care if it's legal or not. But when I was with the slaves, I met a few people, a psychiatrist who was captured and a police officer, who'd gone rogue so then he could become a vigilante. Both of them became friends and I told them about Padme. The psychiatrist has worked with me for years because I have so many mental issues from my childhood, and the police officer told me it was a mistake for the Jedi to involve me with Padme with the thoughts I had of her at the time, and he said I was so focused on having a relationship, and sex with her, that I was unable to focus on the bigger picture and I was compromised. And he was right."

Owen and Beru shared a look.

"When did you two realise Padme was still alive, and when did you realise she didn't care about Luke?" Anakin realised.

Beru's grimace made her lovely face extremely ghoulish in the dim lighting. "Around two years after Ben left her with us," she said. "I saw her in Anchorhead. She was working in one of the shops. I was stunned to see her. I tried to say hello, but she was rude to me. She told me never to speak to her again."

"I confronted her the next day, but she was with Ben. And she was pregnant with their first child," Owen shifted awkwardly. "Sorry, Anakin."

"It's okay, Owen. Things between us turned toxic a long time ago, and truthfully after seeing for myself the way she doesn't care for Leia, I don't want anything to do with her anymore," Anakin replied.

Owen frowned, "What was she like with Leia?"

Anakin sighed, "I told Leia who I was to her after learning who she was. Leia was stunned, but she had known for some time she was adopted. And that Padme was her mother, but Leia saw she didn't care. That night, Leia came into our bedroom and asked to spend the night with Oola and me. Since then I haven't been able to get much time with my wife."

Owen chuckled while Beru hid a smirk.

Xxxxx

After his talk with Owen and Beru, Anakin introduced them to Oola and then later the kids. Owen and Beru then introduced Luke to his father and stepmother. Anakin made it clear he had honestly no idea Padme was pregnant at all, but he was unable to tell them how things would have been different. In the meantime, he was glad Luke quickly bonded with his sister and half-siblings.

Reva did her best to keep to the background, but Luke quickly found her and the young former Inquisitor quickly found herself playing with the twins and the other Skywalker children.

All good things had to end. Eventually Anakin, after promising his son he'd visit, had to bundle everyone on the ship and they set off for Alderaan. He had to meet with the Organas and make it clear to them what had just happened. Anakin was unsure how they would react to him, but he didn't care. He had just found his twins, he had no desire for them or the Jedi to make some kind of stupid mistake that separated them from him.

Oola understood, and she was standing by him.