Padmé tried hard to be professional when it came to her relationship with Anakin. She loved him and gave him all the attention and affection she could, but she also prioritized her job. She loved being a senator and having the chance to at least try to make a difference in the galaxy. But it was a difficult job that required sacrifices. She could be in a relationship, but she knew that anybody she was with would be put under the public's scrutiny. If their relationship was the least bit controversial, for any reason at all, then both of their names would be dragged through the mud, whether it was deserved or not.
Making her marriage public knowledge was out of the would think that her decisions in the senate were influenced by the Jedi, or that she was able to sway the Jedi Council's decisions. And if anybody knew about the 'no attachments' rule that the Jedi had, then the public would absolutely tear the two of them apart.
As much as it hurt, Padmé and Anakin agreed to keep the nature of their relationship private. Still, she knew how emotional her husband could be, and sometimes he was too overwhelmed and he needed her comfort and reassurance. He would regularly come by her office, just to say hello because he missed her. It was a sweet gesture, but a risky one. She would give him a quick kiss, say that she missed him too, and then send him on his way before anybody could notice.
Sometimes though when he came by he was clearly devastated, and she wasn't heartless enough to just send him away. She would lock her doors, close the shutters, and take him into her arms.
Today when he came in he was more upset than she'd seen from him in awhile. He was upset, and angry, and she could tell that he was trying desperately to keep himself calm, but his emotions were too overpowering.
She took his hands, because Anakin thrived on physical contact, as much as he might try to deny it. "What happened?" She asked.
Anakin explained things, and Padmé was shocked. Her initial reaction was anger on her husband's behalf. How could anybody think it was okay to speak so heartlessly about something they knew nothing about? Anakin had tried to save his mother, and he still tore himself to pieces that he hadn't been able to reach her in time. It wasn't his fault, and how dare somebody even imply otherwise, let alone say it so blatantly.
But Padmé had always been more rational than Anakin. She had learned from a young age to not let her emotions control her. What Luke had said to Anakin was cruel, but Padmé found herself wondering why a kind-hearted boy would say such a thing. And she couldn't help but wonder how he knew about it in the first place.
"Anakin," Padmé looked at her husband, rubbing his hand with her thumb. "How did Luke know what happened to your mother?"
"I told him." Anakin said, his voice trembling. "I thought if I told him about my own Force visions I could help him with his."
"I know." Padmé squeezed his hand. She knew just how hard that had to have been for Anakin. He didn't like talking about his mother. It still hurt too much. "But you said that you told Luke that you saw your mother hurting. Did you tell him how she was hurting? Or who was hurting her?"
Anakin frowned slightly. "I don't think so." Padmé doubted it as well, because if Anakin did speak about his mother's death, he spoke vaguely about it.
"But you told me that Luke said that you could have stopped her from being taken." Padmé said. She saw pain flash in Anakin's eyes. "I'm not saying you could have stopped it. I'm just wondering how Luke knew she was taken. Or that she was taken after your visions started, and not before."
"I don't know." Anakin blinked, his brow furrowing. "Wait a minute, how did he know?"
"And why was he so upset about it?" Padmé asked. Anakin had told her that Luke had been just as upset as he was, and almost to the same extent. They'd both been furious, devastated, and defensive. They had both been grieving. Anakin, she understood. She knew what he'd been through. She knew that Luke had his own struggles, but she hadn't seen the same pain from him that she saw from Anakin. Why would Anakin have seen his pain in Luke?
"Maybe you were projecting on him?" Padmé suggested, though as soon as she said it she knew she was wrong. While it might explain the intense emotions that Anakin had sensed from Luke, it did nothing to explain why the boy knew details that he should be unaware of.
Anakin frowned. "Actually, you might be onto something." While Anakin could be very driven by his emotions he never had the tendency to freeze up when he was overwhelmed. He was a man of action. If there was a problem, he wanted to fix it, even though sometimes it was wiser to wait and see if it would sort itself out. Padmé actually admired how focused Anakin could get when he was emotional. It took everything she had to even function at all when she was upset.
Anakin still wasn't calm, but he had a problem, and he saw a potential solution in front of him, though Padmé knew that there had to be more to this than Anakin simply overreacting.
He stepped away from her and began to pace in her office. He clenched his fists so much that his knuckles went white.
"Luke's so strong in the Force, but he has no control." Anakin said. "We don't know what he's capable of. But there's an ability in the Force. We can project emotions onto others. The Jedi try to do it to calm, but it's not restricted to just that. I think any emotion can be projected. Especially unintentionally."
"You think you projected your feelings onto Luke?" Padmé asked. "Or he somehow made you do it?"
"It's possible." Anakin muttered. He crossed his arms protectively over his chest. "I feel a kind of bond to Luke. One I can't explain. In trying to understand me, he might have accidentally strengthened the connection, and I might have let him right in without even realizing it."
Anakin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What Luke said, it's what I've been saying to myself for years. I think he read my thoughts without even trying. I don't know how else he would know those things."
"Or why he would act like that." Padmé said to herself. She may not know Luke well, but she felt no maliciousness from him. He was just a hurting child whose emotions were too much for him to handle
Anakin sighed and leaned against a wall. "Obi-Wan asked me to keep an eye on Luke, and I almost made him cry and made him think I was going to hurt him."
"It's not just you." Padmé said. "Luke has seemed troubled since the moment I saw him." It was why she had let her guard down. "He's so scared right now." She brushed off her dress, doing the closest thing she could to fidgeting. She had learned from a young age to keep her anxious tics to herself. "I wish I could help him."
Padmé took a deep breath and straightened her back. "I'm going to the temple. I need to see him." She needed to find out what his side of the story was. And she needed to know if the Jedi were helping him at all. If they weren't, then she might reconsider the Chancellor's offer to get the boy some help. He may not be physically sick, but he wasn't doing well, and she didn't think this was something someone could just wait out.
"I'll take you." Anakin said. "Obi-Wan told me to keep an eye on him."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Padmé asked. What if you and Luke feed into each other's emotions again?"
"That's not going to happen." Anakin said confidently. He was always so sure, and even though he wasn't above being wrong, Padmé trusted him. She always had.
"Okay." Padmé said. "Let's go." She would prefer to wait until Anakin had calmed down, but she didn't want to leave Luke to deal with his emotions alone. She had work to do at the senate today, but this wouldn't be the first time that she had to reschedule things because something came up unexpectedly.
Even though she hadn't been at the senate building for very long, Padmé left with Anakin and returned to the temple. Anakin led the way, seeming to know exactly where they were going. When Padmé asked about it Anakin just said that he could sense Luke.
"It's more muted than before." Anakin said. "I had to actually look for it, but whether it's because of this bond between us, or because he's so bright, I can still find him."
They came to a room to find Luke clinging tightly to Leia, who held him close but also looked confused and concerned. She didn't know what was wrong. To the side there was Obi-wan and Mace Windu, speaking to each other in hushed voices.
"Luke?" Padmé said quietly. "What happened?" He turned towards her, only to flinch and look away when he caught sight of Anakin. Padmé felt her husband flinch himself, and she wondered if they were both nervous about seeing each other so soon, or if one of them was projecting their feelings onto the other through the Force.
"Anakin, what did you do?" Obi-Wan left the corner where he was speaking to Mace Windu. "I asked you to watch Luke, not lose your temper and start a fight with a child."
"I didn't." Anakin said defensively. Luke shook his head and burrowed himself closer to Leia. She tried to comfort him, but she also snapped her head up and glared at Anakin with a ferocity that a teenager shouldn't be capable of.
"I could feel you." Obi-Wan said. "Both of you."
"He started it." Anakin gestured to Luke. Both Padmé and Obi-Wan gave him unimpressed looks. She knew that Luke's comments had not been acceptable, but she and Anakin both knew that he might not have known what he was doing. But even if he did, he was a child.
"Anakin, you know better." Obi-Wan said. He sounded disappointed, and that was doing nothing to calm the frustration that Anakin had just barely started to get over.
"I'm sorry." Luke said so quietly that Padmé barely heard him. She looked towards the boy to see him curling in on himself. She thought she could feel the sadness and regret flowing off of him.
"Luke?" She approached him. She could see Mace Windu looking towards the boy. Leia had a protective hold around him, but when Padmé came to his side and put a hand on his back, she didn't send her away. "What are you sorry for?"
"I'm sorry." Luke rubbed his eyes. He was trying so hard to be strong, but he was still hurting. "I'm sorry. It's not his fault." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "It's not his fault!"
Padmé looked to where Obi-Wan and Anakin were still arguing. It was far from the worst argument she'd seen from them, but she didn't have the Force. She couldn't sense the anger in this room the way that Luke was. Anger that he felt guilty for, because Luke didn't blame Anakin for what had happened. Or, at the very least, he was trying his best not to blame him.
Luke could so easily sense the life force of everybody on Coruscant. The Jedi had said that shielding would lighten that, and Obi-Wan said he would work with the children on that. Padmé didn't know if Luke had figured out how to filter out the noise, but even if he could he couldn't possibly block out an entire room full of animosity when he had a connection of sorts with nearly everyone in here.
Padmé didn't truly know how uncomfortable the Force was, but she recognized someone who was overwhelmed when she saw it. Luke needed some peace and quiet.
"Everybody out." Padmé said with her best senator voice. It attracted the attention of the others. "You're upsetting Luke."
"We're just having a discussion." Obi-Wan said. Padmé knew that this was indeed a discussion, albeit a heated one, between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but just because she was used to their fighting didn't mean that Luke was.
"I'm fine." Luke said. None of them believed him.
"If you're going to continue this discussion, I ask that you do it elsewhere." Padmé said. "I wish to speak to Luke."
Anakin was still clearly mad. Not at Luke, exactly, but just in general. He sighed and forced his posture to relax. "Fine." He stormed out of the room. Padmé sent a silent thank you to her husband. He was frustrated, and she thought he had every right to be, but he was trying hard to not take it out on Luke. She didn't think Obi-Wan or the other Jedi understood just how hard Anakin had to try to restrain himself. He messed up, but Padmé believed he should be given more credit.
Leia looked at Padmé. "Will you take care of Luke?"
"Of course." Padmé said. Leia nodded, her eyes darkening.
"Good." Leia said. "Then I have some things to say to that man." She gave Luke a reassuring hug before she stepped away from him and left the room, going after Anakin. Padmé knew that they were about to get into a heated argument. Leia was not happy with Anakin, and she was going to make her thoughts known. Padmé thought she should intervene, but she thought that Luke needed to be her priority. Anakin could take care of himself.
Still, Padmé looked towards Obi-Wan. "Can you-?"
"I'll take care of it." Obi-Wan sighed. He left the room, ready to intervene when he needed to.
Luke groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "How can everything feel so muted and so loud at the same time?"
"Shielding is a simple skill to learn, but it's a lot harder to master." Mace Windu said. "It'll take time to perfect it."
"Sorry." Luke muttered. "I didn't want to get everyone so upset. I just wanted to see Leia. I wasn't ready to see my…Anakin. I didn't think I'd see him so soon. I couldn't even say sorry, and I think I just made things worse."
"But you did say sorry." Padmé took Luke's hands. "And I don't think Anakin's mad at you for what you said."
Luke looked at her with hope filled eyes, and once again she was reminded of the nine year old slave boy she had met on Tatooine all those years ago. "He's not?"
"He's upset and confused." Padmé said. "And sometimes with Anakin it comes out through anger. I think the two of you need to talk about what happened, but that can wait a little longer."
Luke looked at Mace Windu. "Maybe talking about it will help." The man nodded, and Padmé wondered if he knew what exactly had happened. Had the boy opened up to him? Padmé hoped so, because he needed all the help he could get.
"You can always talk to me, if you want." Padmé said. Luke grimaced, not looking like he believed her. Padmé gave him a sad but sympathetic look. "Maybe I can help."
Luke hesitated, but slowly she could see the tension easing out of him. "I woke up in your closet. The Force sent me to you, and maybe it did it for a reason." Luke was starting to let his protective walls come down. "My nightmares started two weeks ago, and they haven't stopped."
And Padmé listened to Luke's story, feeling her heart break more with every word. By the end of it she better understood why he had gotten so upset with Anakin. They'd had incredibly similar experiences, and Luke was too young, hurt, and tired to see where their situations were different.
While Padmé saw the similarities, she thought it was just a tragic coincidence. Luke had grown up in the deserts of Tatooine, and he had a relative taken by the Tuskens, just like Anakin. But from what Padmé understood, the Tuskens were a ruthless group that went after the locals. Shmi Skywalker wasn't their first victim, and she wouldn't be their last.
Padmé thought that the bond between Luke and Anakin was an instinctive kinship because their situations had been remarkably similar. She never even considered that the explanation was so much simpler, and far more complicated. Padmé just thought that it was unfair that the people of Tatooine lived through such terrible circumstances. Why should she believe that it was anything more or less than that?