Disclaimer: I own nothing.
This story was created for and dedicated to Master Fang as an early birthday present. :D Enjoy!

POV: Ahsoka Tano

Ever since he got back from rescuing the Chancellor, he's been sneaking around all the time. My Master, Anakin Skywalker, was sneaking around the Council, trying to avoid something. He didn't seem to think that I'd figured anything out, but I had.

I'd pretended to be sleeping one night after we'd argued about several of our past missions. I remember hearing him go into the refresher and take a quick shower. One of my eyes was partially open, watching for him to come out. Luckily, he'd pulled a towel around his waist. I internally sighed at that, knowing that I wouldn't want to see him unclothed. Tonight I was going to follow him.

He grabbed his clothes from his dresser, sighing as he walked back into the refresher. I wondered what was wrong that would make him sigh like that. We haven't had very many missions lately, so it couldn't be that. Maybe it was me?

He came back out, fully clothed, and walked directly out of the dorm. He hadn't even grabbed his lightsaber. As soon as I felt him getting further away from the door, I jumped off of my bed. I grabbed our lightsabers from the nightstand, just in case. He might not believe he's in danger, but if he was, I'd be there to save him.

I crept out into the hallway slowly, seeing him at the far end of the hall. He was glancing around cautiously, which concerned me. What could he possibly be doing that required this much secrecy? I felt another presence coming closer to my Master, but he slammed himself against a wall. I hid down another hallway. After the presence disappeared, I poked my head out to see him doing the same. I chuckled quietly to myself, covering my mouth.

He ran a hand through his hair and began to walk as silently and sneakily as possible. I mimicked his movements, feeling that maybe I could pull this off.

After several minutes, we reached the outer temple stairs. He walked down them, pulling his hood over his head. I rolled my eyes as he walked toward his speeder. He jumped in and began to prepare for flight. Great, I hadn't even thought about that.

I pulled out a tracking device and levitated it toward his speeder when he wasn't looking. Lucky for me, he was extremely busy. I placed it on the back and crept into the shadows heading toward the area where we kept extra speeders.

I turned around to see him fly off into the dark Coruscant sky. I ran to a speeder that I could easily wire. My Master had taught me how to do that, among many other things concerning vehicles and such. I put the tracer on the dashboard and flew toward his beeping, red dot. I flew through the busy traffic of the city, navigating through it easily, but getting yelled at by many people in their native tongue.

I followed him to the familiar Senate building. I wondered why he was here. I shrugged and landed the speeder. Accidentally, I had landed right beside his. Luckily, he wasn't in it. I saw him walking into the building, so I jumped out and silently followed him.

He pulled the same maneuver as he had in the temple, searching for anyone that might stop him from reaching his destination. He pulled his hood down as he continued down various hallways and up many stairways. I kept my distance, but I could still see him. I was surprised that he hadn't sensed me and caught me right on the spot yet. What was troubling him?

He reached a door to a room that I knew all too well. This was Senator Amidala's apartment. I stood in a hallway, waiting for him to continue. He knocked on the door and waited impatiently for it to slide open. I could feel his anxiety increasing until the door finally opened. Senator Amidala herself appeared in the doorway and smiled up at him. She was dressed in a blue nightgown, her hair hanging down behind her.

"Ani," she whispered, pulling him in for a tight embrace. He returned it and kissed her hair. I felt a bit of jealousy welling up inside of me as I watched the scene not too far in front of me. His hands moved to touch her stomach, which seemed a little bigger than the last time I'd visited her. Of course that had been a few months ago…

"Padme, how are you feeling?"

She smiled wider. "So much better now that you're with me. Come inside," she whispered, taking his hand in hers. She pulled him in and he willingly followed. I knew that the two of them were pretty close, but I wondered how close they really were.

Once I was sure that they were away from the door, I walked closer to it, pressing my montrals against it. I listened closely to what they were saying. I heard kissing and three word whispers. I covered my mouth as a quiet gasp escaped my mouth.

My Master had disobeyed the Code. He had formed an attachment to the Senator. What hurt the most was that he hadn't even trusted me enough to tell me himself. I had to find out by following him here…

I thought about crying, but I figured that it wasn't appropriate. I should have known that something like this was going to happen. For the last three years, I believed that something might have been going on between those two, but Master Kenobi had always warned him about these feelings.

My Master never had to warn me because I'd never felt close to anyone. I've felt jealousy, knowing that I'm not supposed to. He's my Master and she's my friend. I can't destroy them by going to the Council.

I sighed and pulled away from the door, quietly walking back the way I'd come. I jumped into my speeder and went back to the temple, falling asleep this time.

POV: Anakin Skywalker

Padme took my hand, passing a small table on our way to the balcony. This was our nightly ritual when I'd come to see her. She would take a brush and run it through her hair while we talked. We never fought anymore now that we were together. We both loved each other without any second thought.

"This baby will be beautiful," she whispered, gazing out across the Coruscant traffic. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, nor could I remove my smile. "We can raise it on Naboo. We can live in the lake house, Ani. It'll be beautiful." She turned around to smile at me. "We'll have plenty of time to decorate the room."

"You're beautiful," I whispered.

She smiled wider, tilting her head slightly. "It's only because I'm so in love with you."

I smirked and shook my head slightly. "You're just naturally beautiful. You've always been that way."

She laughed, resulting in a small chuckle from me. "Oh, Ani."

She brushed her hair a few more times before setting it down on the ledge. She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I rested my one hand on her lower back, the other in her hair. "I love you, Padme, and I love our child just as much."

She pulled away from me slowly, taking my mechanical hand in hers and leading me to the low couch that we'd always sit on together. I sat down first, pulling her into my lap. I rested one hand on her stomach, rubbing it slowly. "I'm considering giving up my life as a Jedi."

"Why?"

"So I can be with you."

"Ani," she whispered loudly, pulling away from me. "I can't let you do that. You love being a Jedi. I won't allow you to trade that in for me. You always tell me your dreams about becoming a Master; I won't take that away from you."

"But what about the baby? It's going to need me, too, Padme."

"Don't worry, Ani. You'll get to spend as much time as you possibly can with it when it's here. We've got less than two months before it comes. I want to be surprised about the gender though, as long as that's okay with you."

I smiled at her, pulling her against my chest. "This baby is going to be my first priority. I'm fine with keeping the gender a surprise. That will make the moment it arrives so much more special."

She smiled against me and opened her eyes briefly to glance out into the darkness of the city. "It's getting late and you have to be up early. Let's go to bed."

I nodded, lifting her up in my arms bridal style. She giggled, wrapping her arms around my neck. She kissed my cheek as I placed her onto her side of the bed. I covered her up and moved towards my side. I removed my shirt and crawled in beside her. She scooted closer to me and grabbed my hand, holding it between us. I stared into her eyes and smiled. "Good night, beautiful."

"Good night, Ani," she whispered, closing her eyes. I kissed her forehead once before laying back against the pillows. It took a while for me to fall asleep. I listened to her breathing, looking for some pattern. I moved my fingers around between hers, feeling her skin. I carefully brought her hand closer to my face and softly kissed it.

I finally closed my eyes and relaxed. After a few minutes, swirls clouded my vision. I heard screaming and the cries of a baby. Padme's face appeared in the center of the swirls, pain crossing her expression. "Anakin, help me!" she cried out.

The cries of the baby continued and Padme's screaming was nonstop. After a few minutes of watching her torture in my nightmare, her head slowly dropped to the side. The screaming had stopped.

The swirls recalled themselves and I jerked into an upright position. I glanced around for a time, seeing that an hour had passed by. My breathing was unsteady and uncontrollable. I looked beside me to see Padme alive and well at the moment. What if that was a premonition?

I sighed, my chest still heaving from the shock of the nightmare. I pulled the blanket away from my body and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I placed my elbows on my knees and my head in between my hands for a moment, trying to control my breathing. Once I was sure that I wouldn't have any problem, I stood up and grabbed my shirt, pulling it on as I walked out of the room and down the stairway.

I entered the living room of her apartment, sitting on the edge of the couch, staring out across the balcony. The traffic outside was still heavy, but distant. I couldn't hear any of it, nor did I wish to.

After a few minutes, I felt Padme's presence coming closer to me. The lights around the room began to turn on slowly. I turned to look at her, not smiling. She looked just as sad as I did. "What's wrong?"

I sighed and stared into her eyes. "I had a nightmare."

"Was it bad?"

My eyes tore away from hers and stared at the floor. I was nervous about telling her that she would most likely end up dying in childbirth. I didn't even know if it was going to happen. "Anakin, don't shut me out. Talk to me."

"It was about you," I whispered. "You die in childbirth."

I glanced up at her, tears beginning to fall down my face. She stood there in horror for a moment. "What about the baby?"

"I could hear its cries, but I… I don't know…"

"It was probably just a dream, Ani. Don't let it get to you. I was told that I was extremely healthy and so is the baby."

I stood up from my position and pulled her against my chest, resting my head on the top of hers. I wrapped my arms around her tightly. "I'm not going to let it become real."