Treasured (Book 2)

A Day in the Life of The Skywalkers

The Skywalkers decided to spend their once in a lifetime free Saturday shopping. Which was mostly based on Padmé and Leia's choice.

Emilie pulled on her father's robes as they walked along the streets of downtown Coruscant. "Daddy, I wanna go home!"

"I know, Em. Just a few more...hours." He couldn't stand the thought of shopping for hours more at a time.

"Hours?" she whined. "No..."

Anakin glanced at her where she walked at his side. He held both hands on the handles of the stroller that Hayden sat in. He was sure Padmé babied him to the extreme. "You're nine years old, I think you can walk."

Emilie whined more.

"Emilie, stop whining. How old are you?"

She stared at him with pleading eyes.

"Look, I feel the same way, okay? We have to push through. When you're a Jedi, you have to do a lot of things you don't want to do," Anakin explained to his daughter.

Emilie frowned and stopped walking. "Then you're just going to have to leave me here," she cried, crossing her arms over her chest tightly.

"Emilie!" Anakin yelled through the noise, and he quickly grabbed her under the arms and carried her to the stroller again. She nearly got hit by a pod. He set her down on the ground in front of him.

"Never do that again. You could've gotten killed. You hear me young lady?"

She nodded with a scowl on her face.

Luke flipped his hair and focused down on his holopad, shielding his eyes with his arm from the sun so he could see the screen.

"Luke, put that away. It's going to fall on the ground and shatter," Anakin instructed.

He rolled his eyes, but obeyed Anakin's orders.

Hayden screamed and threw his bottle of juice out into the street. It rolled between people's feet.

"Hayden! Why would you do that?" Anakin ducked beneath passing people. "Excuse me. I'm sorry. Watch out! Coming through." He grabbed the bottle and ran back to the stroller, setting it in the cup holder that Hayden couldn't reach.

Padmé and Leia walked together ahead of the group around the stroller, window shopping.

"A little help here, babe?" Anakin begged.

Padmé didn't hear him and continued on up the street.

Anakin huffed and continued to push the stroller, checking every minute to make sure that Emilie was still holding on to the handle of the stroller and that Luke was at his side.

Some people stared at the family, while most others snapped pictures. Anakin didn't care what he looked like in them, and he held the kids close to his sides. Luke broke away from Anakin's protection and walked in swagger, shaking his hair every few minutes.

Anakin groaned. I'm so stupid. Why did I agree to go shopping on a Saturday when the whole place is a zoo? he thought. Why did I agree to go shopping at all?

"Daddy! Can I get up on your shoulders?" Emilie begged.

"Aren't you a little old for that?"

She gave him a hard stare.

"Ah, fine. Only for a few minutes, though." He hauled her onto his shoulders and pushed the stroller along with one hand, grasping her leg with the other.

She howled in pain.

"What? What's wrong?" Anakin asked.

"Your hand is pinching me!"

He furrowed his eyebrows and took his hand away from her leg, inspecting it. Sure enough, there was no glove over his mechanical hand.

"Hayden!" Anakin said, stepping forward an looking at him.

"What?" Hayden asked innocently.

"Where's my glove?"

"I don't know, I didn't do anything with it."

Anakin cocked an eyebrow. "That's hard to believe."

"Dad, I think I found who has your glove," Luke said, pointing to a group of squealing teenage girls sitting on a wall. They were taking turns playing with Anakin's glove, fiddling with the belt buckles and straps.

Luke flipped his hair. "I got this." He swaggered over to the girls. "Ladies."

"Luke Skywalker?!" one of the girls screamed.

"Yeah. Hey, I was just wondering...could I have that glove of yours?"

"Of course!" the girl said.

"No," a deeper voice said. A tall girl with lace-up black boots and flaming red hair walked out from behind the group. "Oh, it's you," she said, eyeing Luke mysteriously.

Luke laughed nervously. "Yeah, it's me."

"The name's Jade. Mara Jade."

"Uh...hi," Luke said. "So...can I have that glove back?"

"Fine. Just one thing."

"What is it?"

"Autograph my jacket?" she asked, holding out a silver marker.

"Sure." Luke took the marker and signed his name on the black leather on her shoulder.

"Here's your glove." She held out Anakin's glove to him, and he took it. "Big fan, by the way. Love your work."

Luke nodded. "Bye."

"See you around, Jedi." She winked and turned away.

Luke staggered and rubbed his eyes absentmindedly. "Whoa."

"Thank you," Anakin said, snatching his glove back and pulling it over his artificial hand. He walked on, with Luke falling behind.

"Luke, come on. We gotta catch up to your mother and sister."

"Huh?"

"I said, come on. Mom and Leia are way ahead of us now."

"Oh. Right." He walked up next to Anakin. "Wasn't that girl smokin'?"

Anakin cleared his throat forcefully. "You're in a daze, son. Snap out of it."

"But, I mean, wasn't she hot?"

"I saw her."

"She was cute. I hope I accidentally run into her later. Or now, now would be fine."

Anakin rolled his eyes and jogged with Emilie on his shoulders, pushing the stroller with Luke dragging behind to Padmé. She was turned around the other way. He crept up on her and touched her shoulders, and she screamed. Her scream was muffled by Anakin's mouth. She kissed him a few times, holding his head down at her level.

"Alright, already, let's get a move on! You guys are horrible at picking the right time to show your affection," Luke complained.

"You really are," Leia said, sighing.

Padmé tried to hang on, but Anakin pulled away. "Maybe this isn't the best time for that, you're right."

"Thank you!" Luke said. "Now can we get this shopping done?"

Padmé laughed, and Leia crossed her arms.

"It'll only take longer if you complain," Leia said.

"Fine. Then, in that case... hurry up and let's shop."