Mandalore's Hope

Chapter 5: Marriage Can Be Strained

*Anakin POV*

I can't believe Ashoka roped me into fixing my marital problems.  I probably trained  her a little too well in the past year. I make my way out to the gardens to see if I can find my wife.  Things are strained between us because of the secrecy but that doesn't mean I don't love her.  I didn't marry her because of a childhood crush, well I did; but there is so much more to that. I walk up the doors that lead out into the gardens and Mandalorian Guards open them.  I nod my thanks to them and they nod back in acknowledgment. I walk out into the gardens and it is a maze to get through.  I internally grown as I pass all different types of flowers and bushes. It is going to be impossible to find Padme in all of this. After a couple more flowers, bushes and vines; I finally reach a fountain with the statue of the late Duchess in the middle of it..  Hope must have put this in for the funeral. Padme sits in my favorite Nabooan multi colored dress that hugs her curves perfectly. It brings me back to when we were on the lake and when I first kissed her. She looked so beautiful and happy back then. She still looks beautiful but sad and I can't stand to see her sad. I walk over to her slowly so I don't cause any more damage between us.

"Come to attack me more?" Padme questions with a small crack in her voice because of the crying. I sigh and shake my head in defeat as I sit next to her on the base of the statue.

"I can be a real idiot sometimes. I may be good at thinking on my feet, mentoring, and strategic planning in battles; but I really suck at being your husband sometimes. I am so sorry for blowing up at you. Hope didn't just lose a mother but you lost a friend. I am so sorry for hurting you and it kills me because I love you. I love you so much that it makes me bleed." I apologize sincerely as I brush the tears off of her tear stained cheeks.  Padme looks away from me and lets the water dance over her fingers elegantly.

"Satine was one of my best friends. Hope is like a daughter to me, so to ask me to go back to Coruscant would be like asking me to abandon my child in times of need. I remember the first time I met Hope, she was about six at the time. She looked so much like her mother, but she had the personality of her father. She had such a wild spirit to her and her mother tried to quench it to train her to be a senator or a duchess." Padme says with a solum voice as I listen to what she says.

"Did Satine ever tell you who Hope's father was?" I ask and Padme laughs lightly and I give her a questioning look.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out already. Ani, she is more like your old master with each passing day." Padme says and I stare at her in complete shock.

"You can imagine the shock I felt. I mean knew that Satine had lovers but I didn't know that it was General Kenobi."

"I suspected that Obi-Wan harbored feelings for Satine but I didn't know that they had a child together. I cannot believe I was willing to leave her just like that." I said as I hang my head with shame.

"Ani, you didn't know. I should have told you but I promised Satine that I would never tell anyone about who is Hope's father. The main reason was that the Jedi order would test Hope's midichlorians and she would surely have enough to become a Jedi. Satine never wanted that life for Hope because of the strain it would be if Hope ever fell in love." Padme explained as understanding dawned on me because Obi-Wan saw my pain in my marriage to Padme. I smile at her sadly and put a hand on hers while giving it a squeeze.

"Anakin, I love you with all my heart. But sometimes I wonder if we should have never gotten married." Padme says with tears falling from her cheeks as she returns the smile. She stands up and walks back to her room. I watch her walk away in complete and utter defeat.