Touch Starved

Chapter 21 - Aftermath

Author's Note: Fluuuuff! ^-^ That's all that we need to end the story. :')

There will be an epilogue next week!

~ Amina Gila

The atmosphere in the starship is almost exuberant as they silently celebrate their successful mission. It could have gone so much worse, but it didn't. They succeeded. They won. They're free. It doesn't even seem real to Anakin, the idea of being free. He hasn't truly been – or felt – free for as long as he can remember, but perhaps this is what it feels like. Perhaps being free means feeling as if you can do anything, as if you can do whatever you want and come out on top. Perhaps it means feeling a sense of euphoria that tops anything else conceivable.

When Anakin found out that Padme was pregnant, in the past, he was happy, elated. He didn't care for anything else at that moment. But that feeling was fleeting, because soon, reality crashed back in upon him. Having a child would mean having to leave the Order, having to face the disapproval of Obi-Wan. Anakin only cared about one of those things, of course, since leaving the Order had never truly bothered him.

But now? The joy he feels now is, somehow, even stronger than the feeling he experienced when learning he would become a father. He feels a deep, overwhelming sense of relief, a rush of Light – and emptiness – in his mind where his bond with Sidious had been located. He feels... free. He feels free. This must be what it feels like.

They all share embraces with one another once they're safely in hyperspace, and then, they seat themselves in the main hold, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka on either side of him, and Padme next to Ahsoka, as they settle down and begin to unwind. First, Obi-Wan forces him to tend to his injuries, and when he tries to shrug them off, Obi-Wan insists. He forces Anakin to pull off his outer robes so he can reach the less accessible injuries, his touch light and gentle as he applies bacta and bandages where needed.

And then, Anakin returns the favor, though Padme awkwardly excuses herself for that part. Not that he's surprised, exactly, because seeing Obi-Wan half out of his robes is clearly not something she really desires to see. Ahsoka, of course, stays, helping as needed; it's hardly the first time they've patched each other up after a mission.

Padme comes back, bringing them food and drinks, and they all just... relax. Threepio and Artoo are here too, though the two droids are shut down until they're needed.

Anakin leans against Obi-Wan's side, needing to feel his master's touch to know for certainty that he's real and here and alive. It's – he doesn't doubt that he's in the past, but it all seems so surreal to him that he hasn't quite managed to accept it. Sidious has hung over his head like a cloud, a constant worry in the back of his mind, that being free of that is as disconcerting as it is relieving.

"Where will we go now?" Ahsoka asks finally, bright and eager.

"We can't stay on Tatooine," Anakin answers, shaking his head. "The Jedi will come looking for us, again, and the Republic will be hunting for us. We need to go somewhere where we won't be recognized, perhaps somewhere that has very little civilization."

"We're really planning to move to a wilderness then," Padme remarks. She sounds eager, excited, and Anakin leans forward to look at her, giving her a half-smile.

"Does that please you?" He doesn't know where they stand now. He had thought that they would wait to try and figure out where they stand with each other, but then, she had kissed him before he went to confront Sidious. Though he can understand it, it makes it... a little awkward now.

"Yes," she grins. "You know I've thought about leaving politics, starting a family. I – I want that, Anakin. Being in the middle of nowhere will give all of us some time away from the galaxy to figure out where we stand with each other and what we want."