Hello :)

Thanks to everybody who has given me feedback on the last part :)  I am
still catching up with my mail, but to be faithful to my posting schedule,
here is the next part :)  Hope you'll like it :)

Type: drama, action, romance
Characters: Luke, VAder, Padme, surprises ;)

Previously:  Luke and Vader have escaped from the Emperor and forged a bond
between their souls to undo the Emperor's with Luke.  They've also
discovered that Padme/Amidala is alive and are going to rescue her.

__________________
Disclaimers: None of those characters belong to me. See my
front page for more details. (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702)

Note about the story's copyrights: All the rights related to the basic idea
of
Vader finding Luke as a child at his school, protecting him from any bad
things and the Emperor, as well as the Emperor's scheme concerning Luke
belong to
Jessica (MoonArtist7@aol.com). Thanks for your suggestion, my friend ; this
story wouldn't have come to be without it.

Also, special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend,
Adrianne,
for her help with the final editing of my new stories. (Eh, I have no choice
but to mention you, my friend ; your secret is still safe though ;) Thanks
for
giving us some of your precious time, my friend :)
____________________


The day of the rescue was finally at hand.
Since Padme was held on a deserted planet, Vader first shielded them with
the Force, then rendered them invisible to the eye before he brought their
shuttle behind rocky formations that were no less than a hundred meters away
from their target's location.
Next, they also shielded their physical presences from physical detection,
then swiftly ran toward the relatively small base, avoiding surveillance
devices of any kind.
Ten minutes later, the two of them easily slipped inside the compound.
There were no ships inside the walls, no army ; only droids which couldn't
be fooled by the Force.
The moment that they realized this, Father and son, who had nowhere to hide,
turned on their lightsabers and focused on their different parts of the
mission.
While Vader slashed and destroyed as many droids as he could, Luke did the
same while he made his way toward the sole construction of the compound.
He hacked again at a droid's arm, then turned around, twisted his blade
around with his wrist and skewered another droid--- when a strangely
metallic sound attracted his attention toward the small cabin.
Oh Sith!, he cursed even as he jumped out of the way of suddenly heavy fire.
*Destroyers!!!* he warned his father.

Vader swept his blade from right to left, taking out three extra battle
droids, deflected a shot that would have hit him in the chest, then jumped
out of the way of convergent, heavy fire.
Recovering from the appearance of the destroyers, he chopped up four more
droids, evaluated that he had perhaps ten left with the new comers---when he
felt a warning through the Force.
The nearby walls opened to reveal more droids.
"Great." he muttered. "There's a whole army in here."
*We've got to do something.* his son sent him as he too deflected blaster
bolts that were coming closer and closer to him.
*I know.* he sent while trying to come up with a plan. *Can you see a
control room or something similar to that?* he inquired.
*No---wait, up there, behind the destroyers!* Luke pointed out.
Vader spotted the blinking lights that his son had identified.
*Cover me, I'll take care of it.*
Aware that his son was slowly tiring under the repeated assault of the
heavily armed droids, Vader hurried to hack his way through the throng of
droids, then jumped.
The droids weren't fooled.
They tried to hit him while he was airborn, then aimed at his lightsaber
when he threw it.
The weapon exploded before it had reached its mark.

Luke saw his father's failure to destroy the control room, then began to
worry when his father got hit by one of the droids.
Warnings of the Force brought him back to his own perilous situation ; he
swiftly refocused on his enemies who would soon maul him down.
Now he knew why the Emperor hadn't bothered to come here to stop them, he
thought sourly.
He had known that he and his father would be stopped by the droids---
No, he resolved.
They were just droids. He had faced down very dangerous beings... he
wouldn't let robots get the best of him. If only he could knock them out
with the Force, he thought angrily--- hey, he realized, he could knock them
out.
Closing his eyes, he focused on retaining his defenses while he reached out
with his senses.
He found the wires inside the droids--- and pulled on them, again, and
again, and again.
Around him, droid after droid fluttered to a stop before either collapsing
to the ground or exploding.
His father soon joined his effort.

Long minutes later, the two Jedis reintegrated their full senses and saw
that they had destroyed or incapacitated all the droids that had been packed
into the compound.
Vader stumbled to his good foot and slowly hobbled toward his son while the
youth gritted his teeth and pulled a jagged piece of metal from his left
biceps.
"Wait here," his son told him, "I'll get Mother."
Vader wanted to argue that he was closer, that he could get her out, but his
son was faster.
Shrugging his large shoulders, he let him go and took care to bring their
shuttle closer.

Luke took a deep breath, used the Force to open the door, then stepped
inside.
He had barely set a foot inside the hut when a warning told him to duck.
A small arm swung where his face had been, then a foot lifted up from the
floor to hit him in the face.
He quickly stepped back to face his furious mother.
"I don't mean you any harm!" he hastily told the petite, distrustful woman
who was getting ready to attack him again, then added: "I'm Luke, I'm here
to rescue you."
His words quickly registered in her mind and she dropped her chosen chair
while raising her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Rescue?" she inquired.
"Yes," the young Jedi nodded, "we're taking you out of here."
"And who's we?" she queried as she shot a look outside.
Luke was sure that his mother wanted to add something to this question, but
she came to a halt as she gaped at the sight of her lost husband.
"Anakin?!" she breathed so softly that he almost didn't hear her.
"We have managed to escape the Emperor so far, M..." he began, but was
unable to say the word ; it seemed so surreal all of a sudden..., "We have
to hurry and leave." He explained seriously.
Either because she believed him, or because she was ready to face anything
to get away from her prison, his mother nodded and exited the small compound
with him on her heels.

As she walked toward the now waiting shuttle and the dark silhouette who was
standing at the foot of the ramp, Padme Naberrie had a fierce desire to
pinch herself to make sure that it wasn't a dream/nightmare.
Anakin had come for her??, she wondered again.
No, he had to be here for the Emp---
Then she noticed all the destroyed droids that were laying all around them.
No, she amended, he hadn't come here on behalf of Palpatine. He truly was
here for her, to take her away from her prison.
A prison, she angrily reminded herself, in which he had heartlessly thrown
her more than fifteen years ago now.
As she walked closer and closer, she forced her regal manners to resurface
from the grit of detention. He would not see how his betrayal had affected
her, she resolved with all her might.
She gave him little more than a glance as she accepted his invitation to
board the ship.
She had fallen once for his 'kindness', she wouldn't fall again, she thought
to herself, referring to his promise as Lord Vader to always love her and
protect her, if from a distance.
Oh yes, she fumed slightly, he had indeed made sure that she would remain
away safe... and away from him.
Behind herself, she heard the younger man whisper something to the dark
lord, her husband, then he followed her inside.
She sat in the seat behind the piloting console ; her husband and his
companion took the front seats.
While she watched them prepare their swift lift-off, she found herself
studying the young man.
Back in her cell, she hadn't noticed his blond-brown hair, but now that she
did, she reflected that she had seen that color somewhere else before.
Her eyes rested on the black helmet that was showing above the back of the
seat that was in front of her.
Anakin had had hair like that, she remembered. Hair like the sand of
Tatooine in fact, she thought with the ghost of a wistful smile tugging at
her lips.
She barely noticed that the shuttle had left the ground.
Then, a few seconds before they entered hyperspace, the youth turned toward
her to gaze at her.
Blue eyes... exactly like Anakin, she realized, and his name was...
Her eyes suddenly widened in shock, then went from her husband to her---
son! Her son was alive!!, she gaped in awe and disbelief.
"Are you---" he began.
"What is your name?" she interrupted him.
The young man exchanged a look with her former husband, who nodded slightly,
then the youth took a deep breath.
"Luke Skywalker..., Mother." he finished hesitatingly.
Padme was stumped. All those years, she had thought that her son had died on
Tatooine during a sandstorm, she had even learnt to accept the fact that she
would never know him, not even a little, yet here he was, a strong,
healthy-looking young man, and he had just rescued her from Palpatine's
claws.
Acting on impulse, she stood to her feet and invited/pulled him off his seat
and into her arms where she hugged him in relief.
He was alive and well.
"I never meant to abandon you, my son." she whispered in happiness.

Luke, who had been too stunned to really think about what he was doing, or
what his mother was doing, also held her close, feeling stinging tears of
happiness in his eyes.
"I know, Mother." he reassured her before squeezing some of the moisture out
of his eyes.
"Obi-Wan had told me that you had died in a sandstorm." she sobbed against
his
shoulder.
"It isn't the only lie that he's said in life." his father commented coolly.
His mother pulled away from him to glare at the former dark lord.
"Nor is he the only one who's lied and hurt, 'Lord' Vader." she retorted
acidly.
Luke felt his father cringe under her verbal attack, but before he could
jump to his defense, his father also warned him to not intervene, so he held
his tongue in check.
"I know, and I'm sorry." Vader answered sincerely.
That seemed to surprise his mother a bit, but she didn't pay too much
attention to her husband.
Instead, she refocused on her found son. While he watched her study him for
the first time in her life, he dimly wondered what kind of impression he was
making on her. He hoped that it was a good one--- then his hopes faltered
slightly when she frowned in displeasure.
"You're hurt." She observed, then grabbed hold of his unarmed arm.
"It's not too bad---" he began, but swiftly found himself herded toward the
back of the shuttle where a small medkit was hanging from the wall.
"Bad or not, Luke, we must always look at an injury as soon as possible."
she gently admonished him.
"I know." he nodded, dimly reflecting that Mara had scolded him often enough
about this that nobody should ever have to remind him of this anymore.
He obediently sat down on the pallet, then removed his shirt.
"So," his mother began as she opened the medkit, "how old are you now?"
"Eighteen, nineteen in a few months."
His mother shook his head. "I can't believe that I've lost all those years,"
she muttered as she picked up the disinfectant lotion.
"Me either... Mother." he smiled shyly, still getting used to saying that
word.
"I want to know everything about you," his mother said earnestly as she
began to tend him.
Luke eagerly complied, retelling her about everything that had happened in
his life for as long as he could remember ; he also answered her numerous
questions.
Then, he came to the point when he had met his father.
He felt her warm disposition cool down at the mention of his name.
"Has he hurt you?" she asked him seriously.
"No," he reassured her, "Father has always tried to protect me."
Wrong word, he realized when she turned around to glare at his father's back
once more before refocusing on him.
"Protect you from what?"
"From the Emperor..." Luke answered softly, trying hard to not awaken his
bad memories in the process.
Since his mother was extremely intelligent, it didn't take her long to
understand that the scars that he bore were the results of the Emperor's
games, not his father's.
"We've run away from him, Mother." he comforted her. "Father is no longer
the Lord Vader that you have known."
"That, my son," she said softly so that only he could hear, "remains to be
seen."
And with those simple words, Luke knew that his father had hurt his mother
very deeply.
He could only hope that together, they would be able to heal the wound.

Anakin tried to not listen on his son's conversation with his mother, but it
was difficult to resist.
He had missed her so much, had imagined that moment for so long, that her
cold attitude hurt him more than even his injured calf.
Even worse than being burnt alive in a lava pool if that was possible, he
thought sadly.
He knew that his son had already 'bonded' with her, that she had willingly
welcomed him in her heart and arms, but this space was still closed up to
him... and would probably remained so forever, he conceded.
He had abandoned her, had betrayed her, and then had been too late to save
her...
She would never forgive him... no matter how generous she was.
She wasn't weak and he knew it ; she would hold him at bay for life if she
wished to.

*******

Long hours later, Luke excused himself and retired to the platform that he
had been using for a bed for days now.
Padme stayed beside him, loath to walk even two centimeters away from him.
Never in her life had she thought that her son had survived, that he had
been able to grow into a kind, compassionate young man--- who probably
attracted his fair share of feminine attention, she admitted with motherly
pride.
He was so much like his father, she reflected thoughtfully, yet so unlike
him since he had never let the dark side eat him up.
Now that she knew what his past had been made of, mostly torments of every
kind and restrictions, she wondered what his future would be like.
And, she added to herself, would he be a lonely child? Or was his sister
also alive?
To think that she had had to separate her twins because of who their father
had chosen to be... It still hurt her even more than to awake after her
'death' and realize that her husband had just locked her up in a comfortable
but inescapable compound.
Just why had he done that? she asked herself for the ten thousandth time
since that awful day. Why had he kept her alive if he had never meant to see
her again afterward? Vader had never visited her even once after that
faithful day.
The Emperor had though, to gloat and crow, but otherwise, she had been left
alone with the cursed battle droids which had once invaded her beloved
Naboo.
But just like she had found a way to defeat them, she smiled again in pride,
so had her son.
He was very powerful, perhaps even more than his father was, she thought
wistfully. It was, she admitted, a somewhat comforting thought since it
meant that she could count on him if Vader ever attempted something against
her.
"No, please... Father..." Luke mumbled in his sleep.
He swiftly tossed his head aside, as if avoiding something.
Padme narrowed her eyes and studied him.
"I don't want to, I'll never... Father..." the youth mumbled.
It didn't take her long to understand that Vader had dared hurt their son in
the past.
She meant to climb to her feet and attack the dark lord, but stopped short
when she found herself almost nose to nose with the said dark lord.
She watched, stunned, as he set his hand on his son's head and said : "It's
just a nightmare, Luke. Just a nightmare. It has and will never happen."
Suddenly seeing through his manipulations, Padme couldn't contain her anger
anymore.
She jumped to her feet and pounced on the dark lord who dared use their son
as if he were a mere tool, just like he had done with her.

Anakin was pulling away from his son's tormented mind when the small weight
of his wife slammed into his side and pushed him off balance.
She fell with him, straddled his half-seated body and tried to hit him with
her small fists.
"How can you hurt him, Anakin?" she cried. "He's your son, your flesh and
blood!"
Anakin tried to still her hands to keep her from hurting herself on his
armor.
"Padme, wait, let me explain." he tried to reason her as he finally took
hold of her small wrists.
He expected her to try and hit him again, but instead, she lost her hard
edge and let go of her sorrow.
"Why?" she sobbed as she stopped straining against him. "Why did you do
this, Anakin? Didn't you love me?"
He knew that 'this' meant all the horrors that he had put her through
because of his choice, their forced, if amiable, separation being the last
one...
Anakin let go of her so that she could get off of him.
Instead, she remained on his lap, trying to wipe her eyes but failing to do
so since new tears kept coming up.
Hesitantly, he leaned closer and gently pulled her against him to offer her
comfort.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and let go of her attempt to control
herself.
"Why, Anakin? I loved you." she cried on his shoulder.
"I loved you too, Padme." he answered softly. "I knew that you weren't dead;
I've never stopped to search for you."
He felt her stiffen in his arms.
"And when you found me again, you locked me up." she told him, her voice
icy-cold.
Anakin pulled away from her.
"What?" he asked. "I've never done such a thing, I never could have."
Padme's eyes hardened slightly.
"Anakin, please don't lie to me now. You first sent assassins after me to
make everyone believe that I was dead, then you brought me to the 'cottage'
and left me there for 15 years."
The ex-dark lord was speechless.
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about." he tried to defend. "The
last thing I remember is trying to save you from the assassins, then you
died in my arms. I saw you die, Padme." he said, his voice catching in his
throat as the powerful memories of the past surged forth once again. "I was
there, in a discreet corner and hidden in the Force, when Naboo and Alderaan
honored you." he informed her.
Now it was his wife's turn to be thoroughly confused.
"Wait a minute, if you haven't locked me up, then who has?" she inquired
seriously.
"The Emperor." he answered matter-of-factly. "He knew that if I believed you
dead, that I'd stop looking for you and would devotedly serve him. He also
knew that it would make me more vulnerable to the Dark Side. That it would
drive me mad against the Jedi Order."

And it did, Padme realized in horror. She had again been nothing more than a
tool in Palpatine's game.
"Then why did he keep me alive? Who was that Vader that I saw?"
"Probably a clone." Anakin sighed, "as for why he wanted to keep you alive,
he probably wanted to have yet another living trophy in his galactic
collection. He also probably wanted to keep you in case that he would need
you against me in the future."
Typical, she snorted.
"And where is he now?" she inquired, trying hard to hide her worry about her
family's safety.
"As far away from us as possible I hope." her husband answered her, then
slightly turned away from her. "I'm so sorry for what I've put you through,
Padme. I cannot even bring myself to ask for your forgiveness." he said
shamefully.
"Anakin---" she tried to interrupt.
"But I promise that as long as I will live, nothing will ever hurt our
family ever again." he finished earnestly.
Even though his face was hidden by his gargoyle-like mask, she could swear
that she could see the blue of his eyes, the gentle, boyish face that used
to gaze at her with unrequited love.
Hesitatingly, she lifted her hand to touch his 'cheek'. The cool metal
seemed to remind her of the hell that her husband had probably been through
for the past 18 years.
"I never lost hope that you'd some day realize that he had been lying to
you," she told him softly, "that you'd come back to me... to us."
She felt a fresh tear run down her face, then her husband's leather-covered
finger gently brushed it aside.
"I have never stopped loving you, 'Ami'." he answered, using her long-heard
nickname from when she had been queen.
"Oh, Ani." she whispered and once again wrapped her arms around his neck,
this time in happiness and relief.
She also welcomed the hold of his strong arms around her small body.
It had been 19 years since it had last happened, but it suddenly felt as if
it had been yesterday. It also seemed to bring forth all the wonderful
memories of the moments that she had had with him.
Their first meeting... the face that he had made when he had discovered her
secret... his pride when he had returned as a Jedi... their first kiss...
their wedding... all the moments that they had managed to steal to be
together like any normal couple... their love-making... the wonderful
feelings of well-being whenever she had simply been with him, in his arms...
She slightly straightened and gazed warmly at the man that he had become.
He had been completely cut off from any physical contact with her, or his
son for that matter, but, she decided, it didn't matter.
"I still love you too, Ani." she whispered before laying her head on his
hard shoulder.
She closed her eyes when she felt his hand caress her hair.
"Everything will be fine, Ami, I promise." he earnestly told her.
And for once in a long, long while, she believed him.

Up on his bunk, Luke had awakened to the sound of crying, but when he had
realized what was going on, he had decided to not interrupt.
He knew that his parents had to work it out on their own.
And they did.
He smiled slightly as he heard their renewed vows of love, then closed his
eyes once more.
Yes, his father was right. Things would be fine now. At least, that was what
he could feel from his bond with his father.

******

On Coruscant, almost all the present troops had assembled in the main
landing bay of the palace to welcome back their emperor.

TBC :)  Just wanted to remind you that he's not out of the game either ;)

Liked it?  I hope so :)  This was my first Ami/Ani thing :)

SJ