♡Anakin and Padmé Fanfictions♡

Two Halves Make a Whole (Chapter 4)

As November turned into December, Anakin and Padmé went on a couple more possibly-dates-but-maybe-not. Padmé was still frustrated that she didn't know what they were, but she had such a good time on all of them that it hardly even mattered whether they were official dates or not (though she was kind of assuming they weren't dates since Anakin still hadn't initiated anything flirtatious or romantic). Padmé smugly informed Ahsoka that now she had five friends thank you very much. She was starting to meet other parents as Luke expanded her social circle, but she just didn't connect with any of them the way she connected with Anakin (and indeed, Luke wasn't as close with any of his other friends as he was with Leia).

"Mommy, can you take me and Leia to see Santa at the mall this weekend?" Luke asked hopefully.

Padmé frowned. "The Naberries are Jewish, Luke. They don't celebrate Christmas or believe in Santa. Leia won't want to go."

"But I asked her at school and she said she wanted to!" Luke insisted.

"Well, I don't know if Mr. Skywalker will want her to go."

"Why not?"

"Because they don't celebrate Christmas," Padmé repeated patiently. "Mr. Sjywalker might not be comfortable with Leia going to see Santa since he's part of a holiday they don't celebrate."

"But Christmas is the best! Everyone should celebrate it."

Uh-oh. Time to nip that attitude in the bud. "Luke, every religion has its own holidays and every family has its own traditions, and it's important to respect the ones that are different than yours,"  Padmé said. "Yes, you and I have a lot of fun on Christmas, but that doesn't mean everyone should celebrate it. The Skywalkers have their own holidays and traditions that are just as fun and special to them as Christmas is to us. Do you understand?"

Luke nodded but he looked somewhat unconvinced, so Padmé figured she'd better try again. "Let me give you an example," she said. "You just said you feel sorry for Leia because Christmas is fun and she doesn't celebrate it."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, imagine how you'd feel if she said something like that to you. Leia celebrates Hanukkah and you don't, so imagine how you'd feel if she told you that Hanukkah was way more fun than Christmas and she felt sorry for you because you're stuck celebrating Christmas while she gets to celebrate Hanukkah. That wouldn't make you feel very nice, would it?"

Luke shook his head vigorously. "That would make me sad."

"Exactly," Padmé replied. "You wouldn't like someone else saying their traditions are better than yours, so you shouldn't say that to other people either. Treat others the way you want to be treated, just like Mr. Organa always says."

Luke nodded again, much more confidently this time, to Padmé's relief; it was hard trying to break big topics down into simpler pieces that a five-year-old would be able to understand. "So Mr. Sjywalker won't want Leia to go see Santa because they celebrate different holidays?" Luke said, returning to the original subject.

"That's right."

Luke looked crestfallen. "But I promised Leia you'd take us and she was really excited, Mommy. She's never been to see Santa before." Then he gasped. "Oh, I bet that's 'cause she doesn't celebrate Christmas!"

"Good detective work, bud,"  Padmésaid, trying to suppress a laugh. "How about this, I'll call Mr. Skywalker and talk to him about it, but if he doesn't want Leia to go, you have to respect that. Deal?"

"Deal," Luke said, though he was pouting a little.

Once Luke was settled at the kitchen table with a coloring book, Padmé went into the living room and called Anakin. "Hey," she said when he answered.