Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

Epilogue

Anakin walked into his bedroom in Padme's house but didn't bother to turn on the lights. The moonlight streaming in through the windows was enough for him.

He was 25 now, and his birthday was almost over. He hadn't really celebrated it since he left Tatooine 16 years ago, but since he couldn't really be a Jedi anymore, at least not in public, Padme decided that the least that they and Obi-Wan and the twins could do was eat some sweets and give a few gifts. It was more of a last-minute idea, but it had been nice to be together for the whole day. Anakin was even able to push aside the pain from the last month or so away for most of it.

As a gift, Padmé had given him permission to turn the basement into an official training room, of sorts. They had boughten mats so he wouldn't be sparring on bare concrete, and there were a few other tools she had given him to start transforming the room. It was a small gesture, but it gave him a way to train without exposing himself.

He sat on the bed he shared with Padmé and leaned back against his pillow, but he felt something hidden behind it. Picking it up, he expected to see a baby shoe or something, but it was a small envelope with a blue bow on it.

Anakin took it in his hand and sat down again. There was something written on it, but Anakin had to hold it up to the moonlight to see it. Three words: 'Happy Birthday Anakin', in careful, but slanted lettering. Ahsoka.

A few weeks ago, he, Padme, and Obi-Wan had burned Ahsoka's body. The only things he had spared from the fire were her lightsabers, which were now stashed in a small compartment under his bed. It was cruelly ironic: his Jedi career had started by burning Qui-Gon's body, and it had more or less ended by burning Ahsoka's. Still, he was glad that he got the chance to honor her with a funeral, even if it was a small one.

He untied the blue ribbon and opened the envelope. There were two folded pieces of paper, one of which was a handwritten note, and a small projector. Anakin took this and activated it first.

The only thing on it was one image. It took him a second to recognize what it was, but it was from Ahsoka's house, the night Obi-Wan had gotten stabbed. They were all there, himself, Obi-Wan, Rex, and Ahsoka, all leaning over the bar counter in her kitchen talking about something. All of them were smiling.

Though he could have felt anything at that moment, Anakin was more grateful than anything. He was grateful that there was proof that night hadn't been some dream, that there had once been a day where something like this had been possible. This was proof that there was a smaller world than the one the Empire was trying to take over, where the most important thing was whether Rex was 14 or 28. Something so simple seemed foreign now.

He set it down on top of the envelope, turning it off and picking up the letter with both hands. His heart pounded at the sight of her pen strokes, but he managed to read the whole thing.

'Anakin,

'I didn't think I was going to be able to give you this in time in person, so I left it with Padme. Hopefully you'll get this on the right day.

'I managed to get two box seats for the podrace two weeks from now on Alderaan. I remember you talking about it once, so I thought you might like to go. The idea is that you and Padme can go on a date night, and I'll come over to watch the twins for you. I've already got a few days blocked out so I don't have to work either.

'Padme is already working on getting you away from the Temple. Keep an ear out, and I'll see you in a few weeks.

'Happy birthday Skyguy! ;)

-Snips

'P.S. I took this picture when you, Obi-Wan, and Rex stopped by the other night. Thought you might want to have it.'

Anakin didn't even realize that he had started crying until he saw his tears on the page. He closed his eyes and wiped under them, even though no one else was in the room. He clutched the paper in his hands, clinging to her last words to him. He reread it again, trying to hear it in her voice. It wasn't very hard, but it hurt so bad to know that she wasn't going to be here to watch the twins or to talk about the race after he came back from it, or just to be here. She wasn't going to see any of it.

He set the paper down carefully and picked up the other folded piece. Two more slips of paper fell out of it, but the bright colors of the folded piece caught his eye.

This wasn't just any race. It was the Grand Koria Race, which was known for being the biggest podrace in the galaxy. It was only held once every decade, and tickets were impossible to get. Anakin and Ahsoka actually had talked about this once, when they were eating out at Halda's back before he had been kidnapped by the Changelings. His chest tightened at the memory, and he looked at the tickets. Ahsoka wasn't kidding, she really had scored box tickets. How was that even possible?

His breathing nearly stopped when he saw the price on the stub. 200 credits each. Ahsoka had spent 400 credits just to get two of the best tickets to this race. For him. Anakin couldn't even imagine how many extra hours she must have had to work to get enough credits for the tickets. All of that work, all of that time poured into her job, and now she wasn't even going to be here for it. It was so cruel, he wanted to go back to the last time he had seen Dooku and punch him in the face, just for this.

Padme walked in and saw him sitting on the bed with the envelope and paused in the doorway, wondering if he needed some time. When he saw her though, he smiled and nodded, motioning for her to come in. She climbed on the bed next to him as Anakin wrapped an arm around her, letting her see what Ahsoka had left for him.

She started tearing up when she saw the letter too. "We were so excited to surprise you," she whispered, as evening was well underway already and people were asleep elsewhere in the house. "She was so excited to babysit the twins with Sola, and she was hoping you could relax a little bit. We had no idea..."

Anakin knew. The moment he had opened the letter was supposed to be a celebratory one, not bittersweet like it was now. He picked up the projector and showed the image to his wife, letting her see.

That hurt her worse than the letter. "She's so happy. You all are," she realized, looking at each of their faces. She managed to laugh once through her tears. "You look so cute with a ponytail."

Even he had to laugh at that because, in the picture, he could see his hair looked kind of ridiculous. "Maybe I should let you braid it," he suggested, leaning back on the pillows while still holding her. They just sat there together for a little bit, staring at the flickering image in the dark.

After a while, Padme asked, "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," Anakin admitted, hugging her tighter. "It still doesn't feel like she's really gone."

"Maybe no one's ever really gone," she wondered, looking up at him. "Maybe there's still a way to reach out to her, through the Force."

He would be lying if he said the thought hadn't already occurred to him too. "Maybe," he agreed, looking at the image, "but it's not what she wanted. She wanted us, all of us, to keep going. She wanted us to make it. That's not going to happen if Dooku gets his way."

At the mention of the newly self-declared Emperor, Padme's face went sour. His influence was already spreading all over the galaxy, even to Naboo. "So what would she want?"

"We have to hide, to stay safe for now," he knew. His children were too important to leave undefended right now. "But one day, we'll figure it out. We'll be okay."

A warm wind blew through the room, chasing away the chill of the night. Both of them knew it would be a rough night, but they would be okay. As long as they stayed together, it would be okay.