♡Anakin and Padmé Fanfictions♡

Two Halves Make a Whole (Chapter 2)

"Daddy, I made a new friend today!" Leia burst out excitedly the second Anakin walked in the door.

Anakin smiled and knelt to hug his daughter. "That's wonderful, Leia," he said, kissing her on both cheeks. It was only mid-October and he knew it was silly to already be worried about Leia not making friends when the school year had just started, but even so, Anakin had been fretting about it for the past couple of weeks. Owen had patiently assured him that Leia would be making friends in no time, and Anakin was relieved to see that his older brother was right (as he always was when it came to parenting).

"His name is Luke," Leia continued. "His mom forgot to pack him a snack today, so I shared mine with him, and then he helped me draw a picture of a mermaid, but you can't see it yet 'cause it's not done, and then we played on the swings together at recess."

"His mom forgot to pack him a snack?" Anakin repeated a little disapprovingly.

Leia nodded. "But Luke thought my pretzels were yummy, so it was okay. And his mom picked him up after school and she looked really sad and said she was very sorry when Luke told her she forgot to pack him a snack."

"Hmmm. Well, it was very nice of you to share with him," said Anakin, giving her another kiss.

"Sharing is caring," Leia recited dutifully, and Anakin laughed.

"Why don't you go get your backpack and put your shoes on while I say hi to Uncle Owen and Liaja and Lukey?"

Anakin didn't get out of work until dinnertime, and Leia always went home with her uncle and cousins after school. Before Leia was born, Anakin had wondered how Owen didn't go crazy with boredom being a full-time stay-at-home dad; now, though, he knew from experience that taking care of kids was a lot more work than people without kids always assumed it was (and Owen had twice as many kids as he did). There had been many a day during the past five years when Anakin had almost wished he could be a stay-at-home dad too, particularly before Leia had been old enough to start school, but as a single father, that just wasn't an option. He needed a job to support the two of them, and besides, while the domestic lifestyle seemed to work quite well for Owen, Anakin knew that he probably would go crazy. He'd always been very career-oriented, and as frustrating as his job in the HR department at city hall could sometimes be, he didn't think he'd be able to survive if he didn't get to take a break from parenting and have normal, rational conversations with other adults every day. There were only so many times you could discuss whether or not trees have feelings without getting a headache.

Anakin spent ten minutes chatting with Owen while Leia finished up whatever indecipherable imaginary scenario she'd been acting out with Liaja and Lukey, who were in third and first grade respectively. Then Owen's wife got home from work, and it was another ten minutes before Anakin could manage to tug Leia out the door. "You'll see Uncle Owen, Auntie Beru, and Liaja and Lukey when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's house on Saturday," he reminded her, and Leia perked up at the thought and willingly climbed into the car.

---

They were driving home from Owen's house one evening two weeks later when Leia asked, "Can we invite Luke over for a playdate?"

Luke...Luke...oh, the boy with the snack-forgetting mother. "Sure," said Anakin. "I'll ask Uncle Owen if he wouldn't mind bringing him home with you guys after school sometime."

Leia frowned. "But I want him to come to our house. He's my friend, not Liaja and Lukey's."

"What happened to sharing is caring?"

"Daddyyyy," Leia whined. "Pleeeease?"

Anakin considered the situation. He did want to make sure Leia made friends with her classmates instead of only ever having playdates with her cousins. Plus, Anakin was notorious for stockpiling vacation time all year and never using it, so he'd be perfectly able to leave work a few hours early one afternoon. "Oh, all right. Point him out to me tomorrow morning so I can talk to his parents to figure out a day," he said. He usually tried not to give in whenever Leia whined, fearing it would encourage bad habits, but as he beheld the beam on his daughter's face, Anakin couldn't find it in himself to regret it.