Protected

The Skywalker clan will always protect each other. And, the wake of what happened in Zygarria, that has never been more true.

A/N: So this is a rewrite of the earlier story. Rather than time jump, I thought i'd rather continue straight on!

There was something terribly strange about seeing Ahsoka in the little home they had in Jedha. Years ago, when Ahsoka had visited, Padme had hosted her in some of the most beautiful places the galaxy had to offer. Sweeping views of the city, grand rooms with high ceilings and tasteful furnishings. In those days, Padme had been dressed in the most beautiful garments, had felt elegant and in control.

Those days were long gone.

Luke and Leia were curled up in the darkened room at the back, brother and sister silent all the way back to the planet. Her son's hair was streaked with the fading dye and his cheekbones far too prominent for her liking. Kanan had taken Leia's room and Padme had shifted in frustration at the few things she could offer to make him more comfortable.

The main room where Padme stood was plain. Padme had wrestled with the bare walls, not used to the endless stone that was never broken by a window or art. She'd thought longingly of the plants on Naboo more times than she would like to admit.

It was stupid, she sighed, to even think about it all. Anakin was… the idea made her look away in frustration. And Ahsoka…

Sighing, Padme headed to the doorway, opening the door and closing it behind her quickly to keep the heat in. Ahsoka stood, wrapped up in the long cloak that reminded Padme so much of the old jedi robes. In the gathering darkness, Ahsoka was becoming a silhouette staring up at the sky.

Quietly, Padme made her way to the woman and held out the steaming mug of tea. Ahsoka didn't seem surprised to see her, it was rare to surprise any force sensitive, and accepted the drink silently.

The stars were starting to flare in the sky and Padme looked up, eyes darting across the sky as if Anakin's presence might suddenly reveal itself to her, as if that was the biggest problem they faced, she thought with a sigh.

"Kanan is asleep," Ahsoka said quietly. "I wasn't sure if he would settle."

"He was tired." Padme hesitated briefly, "And I think relieved to have his own space."

Ahsoka smiled, just a little and nodded. Then she looked across at Padme and turned a little, sitting on one of the lower walls and staring down at the cityscape, her expression beckoning Padme over.

"It's…" Ahsoka frowned as she glanced back up. "I thought that once the cuffs were off everything would go back to normal but…" she swallowed. "It's so quiet." Her eyes scanned the sky above.

They'd talked about the purge. Briefly. And perhaps, at the time, Padme hadn't truly appreciated what that might have meant for the important people in her life.

"What's it like?" she heard herself ask quietly.

For a moment the silence yawned on and she waited, curious to see how Ahsoka would react. But, eventually, Ahsoka drew in a long breath. "It's…" her big eyes scanned the night sky, "Imagine a room filled with a comm signal. Dim and quiet, but a constant buzz. Enough that you know the radios on. Sometimes static might be louder and draw your attention, other times a voice might suddenly ring out. That used to be the universe." She quirked an unhappy smile as her gaze fell back down to Padme. "Now…I can feel Kanan. And the hole that is Luke. But they're close. Otherwise…" she looked back up. "Otherwise it's like a dead comm line. You don't know what you might be missing."

Padme watched her and then looked out across the city walls and at the stretch of desert that lay beyond. "They are out there. Somewhere. I know people who got some Jedi out of Couruscant. I know others that have offered shelter since." She winced a little. "The Jedi Order and I didn't leave things on good terms but…" She hesitated for a moment and then realised what she had to say wasn't exactly hers to offer. "I could ask around. Give you some leads."

Ahsoka was silent. Then slowly shook her head. "I am not…" she swallowed. "Not quite who I used to be. What they did to us…what I did…peace and serenity is the last thing I feel at the moment."

Ah.

"You fought?"

"I slaughtered," Ahsoka corrected, still staring ahead. "And not for any cause greater than to bide my time to escape." She shifted and then looked at Padme. "When Anakin and I first woke up there it was…difficult. We were weak, without the force, blind, helpless. To recover from a carbon freeze that long and not have the force…our memory was hazy too. Not the big things, but the most recent things. Even when we remembered…" she clenched her jaw. "We went off to a difficult but typical mission in a war and woke as slaves to a foreign empire where we were told our friends were dead and the republic we'd fought for was dead. Anakin…we didn't ask about you. He didn't want them to know exactly who we were in case they bartered us or held on tighter. But she knew. The Queen. I'm certain of it."

"Anakin…he talked briefly…he said that he killed her." There was a question in her voice that she couldn't quite manage to articulate.

But it seemed Ahsoka heard it nonetheless. "She was obsessed with him. The entire palace knew it. I don't…she wanted him willing. I don't know if her patience would have run out. But…I know she had him as her guard. Used me to ensure he was more willing than he would have otherwise been. That she indulged in whatever she wished and he would have watched."

Padme tightened her grip on her mug and took another sip, not sure what to do with the churning anger that swirled uselessly within her. The woman was dead and gone and, if they were honest, Vader was a bigger and more immediate problem but…

But Anakin had always been so…sweet. And she knew he saw their love-making as exactly that. Something precious and wonderous and theirs. She wasn't a fool, he'd grown up as a slave on Tatooine and he'd liberated planets faced with terrible rulers and extreme poverty, but he'd also never dealt with the consequences of such careless and callous attitudes. Never been forced to watch or witness such atrocities as an adult that would understand the outcome and emotional destruction of sexual slavery.

Certainly, he had never been in that position himself. The Jedi were seen in the same way as many holy beings across the universe: sexless and without desire.

"And you?" Padme asked.

Ahsoka's fingers tapped the cup. "I was a warrior for their entertainment," she said shortly. "And they brought in beings to be ours should we choose." She shook her head. "I did not but I could hear…" She trailed off and shook her head. "And the worst thing of it, was that the Zygarrian Empire didn't just rise up in the months we were frozen. It was there during the wars. Before even. And the republic and the Jedi…all that suffering and we did nothing. Barely even mentioned it. When I first arrived, the guards…they mocked me. Threw me in and announced me as a Jedi and all I heard for days were questions. Was I the first wave? Were more coming? Did the universe know?" Ahsoka swallowed tightly. "And I had to say no."

"We were blinded," Padme whispered, offering up what she could. "We only paid attention to what was directly in front of us rather than what was happening at the edges." She looked down into her almost empty cup and, for a moment, all she could think about was her own experience in the senate after Naboo had suffered the blockade. How helpless and let down she had felt, how she had been made to feel small and foolish for thinking her planet was facing a problem.

How she had offered the vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum.

"You should sleep," Padme offered, trying to shake the thought away, for now. "Or at least rest," she said when Ahsoka made no reply.

"I think I'll stay out here," Ahsoka replied quietly. "It's…calm. Peaceful." She smiled a little as her gaze ran across the city walls and the expanse beyond. "Free."

"I can get you a blanket?"

"I know where they are," Ahsoka said, shifting to look at her. "Padme…you have two children to look after tomorrow. Let me…let me just enjoy this. You don't need to worry."

It wasn't exactly in Padme's nature to accept such things, but she nodded and bid Ahsoka good night before ensuring that the spare blanket was obvious in the main room.

And then she made her way to her children and curled up around them.

Xxx

Morning, Padme remembered her mother saying, always made the troubles of the night before seem smaller, easier.

Her mother, Padme reflected, had clearly said that before any Skywalker children had graced the universe.

Leia, now awake and, Padme suspected, now that Luke wasn't shielding her quite so completely, had decided to be fascinated by their guests. If she wasn't following Kanan around, she was staring at Ahsoka and then asking 'why' to everything that was said.

"Leia, don't follow Kanan to the fresher."

"Leia, Ahsoka wants to eat, don't try to sit on her lap."

"Leia, Ahsoka wants to eat that; it isn't your food."

Luke on the other hand was silent and had a frown on his face, eating mechanically and looking like he was on another planet until Ahsoka glanced at him and told him not to reach out that far.

"What?" Padme asked, glancing between them.

"He's trying to reach Anakin," Ahsoka said, staring at the boy. "He has an impressive range."

"We've talked about this," Padme found herself snapping at her son. "You need to stay hidden."

Luke glared at both of them and then, apparently stopped reaching out to Anakin according to Ahsoka, but Padme wasn't entirely convinced that her stubborn son hadn't just found a way to quieten his search to Ahsoka.

A theory that was confirmed when, just before the weak sun sat high in the sky, Leia let out a long-suffering huff and then toddled over to her brother and reached for his hand.

Whatever they did made Ahsoka drop her plate and bend over while Kanan screeched out a noise and clapped his hands over his ears. Even Padme could feel a wave of something.

"Luke," she snapped.

The pair broke their hold and Leia pouted. "Told off," she said, sounding annoyed by it. "Daddy," she added with a slight plea as she toddled over to Padme and buried her head in the leg of Padme's pants. Sighing, Padme reached down to lift her daughter to her hip and stared at her son who stared at the wall for about three seconds and then stormed out.

"What did they do?" she asked the other two in the room.

"They are strong," Kanan whispered, eyes wide as he stared at Ahsoka. "How did they even-"

"Across half a galaxy," Ahsoka said, "those two…" she shook her head. "It was like… a clumsy hand reaching out and knocking aside everything to find what it wanted." She glanced at Leia and then, with a look of permission at Padme, lifted the little girl into her own arms.

For a moment, Leia shifted and wriggled and then made eye contact with Ahsoka. And there was some silent conversation that Padme could never be part of and she turned, clearing up the lunch plates and trying not to be jealous.

Instead, once the plates were collected, she went outside to track down her errant son. Luke hadn't gone far. He was in the shade of the wall that ran close to their home and he was tightly sat in a ball, arms around his legs and chin on his knees.

Sighing, she sat next to him.

"I know," he said quietly to his knees. "I know I'm not meant to reach out to him."

"You miss him," Padme said gently. "I'd be tempted if I could do the same."

Luke nodded and rubbed his chin on his left knee. "I miss them both," he whispered, as if it were some horrible secret. "I…Vader he used to talk to me. And…he scares me but…" he shrugged, seeming desperately confused by the idea. "And I want Dad," he added, his voice breaking and wobbling.

Shushing him gently, she pulled Luke close and he turned, instantly snuggling in like he had when he was seven years old and tiny. And he was still so little, she thought, pulling him in even tighter. She forgot it sometimes because there was a gap between him and Leia and the little girl was her baby, but eleven was still was so very young.

The tears turned into full sobbing and she sat rocking him, her heart breaking for her little boy because it was so much to ask. To not reach out to the person that he missed and that he wanted to come home. Especially when all that they should be doing now, as a family, was staying together. Comforting each other. Drawing strength from each other.

She should be with her husband, helping him through all that had happened. They should both be there for Luke, letting him know that all was safe and the only thing he had to worry about was getting better and moving on from that terrible time with the slavers. They should both be there to raise their daughter, to ensure that Leia never questioned the strength of their family unit.

It wasn't fair.

"It won't be forever," she whispered.

"You don't know that," Luke replied, voice muffled by her shirt.

"I know your father," Padme replied. "Vader or Anakin Skywalker, he won't leave you alone. He will come back for you. Always."

And there. She almost felt it as she poked that old wound of her son, the terrified child that was left in ships and bases and waited to see who would come for him. He sucked in a breath and clutched her even tighter.

"And you have me," she whispered, feeling fierce suddenly. "I swear to you. You have me."

He nodded and she felt a little relieved as his easy acceptance of that, that she would be his rock and foundations. His roots. It might not make what was happening with Anakin and Vader any easier, but he knew he had someone.

"And you have me," Luke whispered back. "No-one will hurt you. I won't let them. I don't care who it is. They won't hurt you."

She smiled, easing her grip a little. "I know." And her mind drifted to that terrible revelation, the one that Vader had made and the one that she couldn't quite get out of her head. How he had choked her when she was pregnant, when their babies were so vulnerable and tiny and he had risked them all and she had betrayed him and-

"But that one isn't your battle, sweetheart," she whispered. "Vader won't hurt me. Not again."

Luke stared at her. "He told you?"

She nodded.

He worked his jaw a little. "I saw…" For a terrible moment she thought he'd say that he'd seen the memory, "I saw your apartment. The one you used to have. You…the other you had bought a baby toy." His eyes filled a bit. "I think that you would have been the same person," he said, sounding so very lost. "How is he so…"

"Because he didn't have us," Padme said, lifting his chin. "Not like this. Your father and I…we were so caught up being the heroes of the war. Of fighting for what we thought was right. Darling, our marriage before you was…a…a romance. Exciting. And we loved each other very much but we weren't a partnership. You can't be when you have to hide like that and are away from each other so often. And you…by the time you were born…I think it was too late. But here, this time? Your father and I…even with this gap and all this time, we are a unit. We know how to do this. And you…" She stroked her thumb over his cheek. "You were his universe. He would rather cut of his arm than hurt you in any way. And now Leia…" she hesitated and didn't add what that meant to both of them. To have their daughter safe and with them rather than the fate that would have stolen her forever. There were some things she didn't need to discuss right now. "We save him, Luke. And we stopped him from becoming Vader, so we can do it again."

"Can't if he's half a universe away," Luke muttered sulkily, but without tears now.

"Let him adjust, sweetheart. Let him sleep. Let them both adjust. And then we'll figure out a way."

Luke sighed and nodded and he was tired, she thought. But he was her son so he nodded and stood and then stopped to have the last word.

"But he won't hurt you again," Luke said stubbornly. "I said to Dr Firra once that I'd save you. Both you and Dad. I'll protect you both. No matter what."

And he turned without waiting for her, heading back to the house leaving her sitting against the wall, suddenly terrified.

She'd never heard anything that sounded more like a prophecy.

Hoping to get the next chapter up before the end of the month.

If you have enjoyed my writing, do check out Porter's Lodge by LT Brady on Amazon :).