trust you | anakin skywalker

episode II

(the story doesn't follow the franchise's original timeline)

-

Louise

I've spent the entire day fixing Anakin's metal arm, along with a Droid and another engineer. I still had about two hours to finish my shift when he entered the tech room.

His son was following behind him, an amused look on his face, watching every technology being taken care of.

The way his blue eyes stared at me made me feel a little concerned, considering I still wasn't able to finish it. Anakin still had a frown on his face, walking slowly as he took a look around the room.

The engineer spoke up before I even did, he had told me he wasn't exactly intimidated by the Jedi. "Good evening, Master. We haven't finished yet".

He nodded, taking a sharp inhale. "I gave you one day. I expect it by the end of the night".

While he was shooting us a death glare, Luke was all about looking at the job we were making. The little boy was completely fascinated. His hands were gripping the edge of the table and his eyes were sparkling in awe.

"Luke" I spoke, he looked up at me. "You wanna see something cool?"

Anakin didn't seem to like the way I was interacting with his son, but didn't manage to say a word.

Luke nodded, and I looked at the engineer before we hooked up the robotic arm into a few wires. It immediately started to move its fingers.

We all watched as the kid opened his mouth. "Woah, this is really cool! Dad, look!"

My lips curled into a smile and I chuckled. Most of the time I wasn't a fan of children, but he was the most adorable. And he was the spitting image of his father. Especially the blue eyes and the curls.

Anakin looked between the kid and his metal limb, and I couldn't help but notice how he dropped his hard expression and smiled as well. "I see, buddy. They're doing a nice job, aren't they?"

Nice job? I haven't done anything else the entire day besides fixing this thing, but he thinks it's just a nice job? I suck it up and give him a forced grin.

When he looks at me again, I can see the wrinkles on his forehead again and the death stare slowly showing up.

"I want it by the end of the day" He said, looking at the three of us. We all nodded, watching as he took Luke's hand before turning on his back. "Come on, let's have some dinner, kiddo".

As soon as he walked by the door, Anakin was met with Cal Kestis. They greeted each other and as soon as he left with his son, the Jedi made the funniest face.

I had to hold in a laugh that I wanted to bark out. He approached the table and cleared his throat.

"I need a favor, Louise. My ship had a malfunction and I'm going to need it fixed for the next mission" Cal had an apologetic look on his face and gave me a shy smile.

"I'm sorry, red head. I can't help you with this" I sighed. Just the thought of having to finish this work for Anakin makes me feel completely drained. "I still have no idea how long this work is going to take".

He definitely knew how Master Skywalker was, so he spared me from another hard work.

*

(NO POV)

Anakin was so frustrated that he thought he was going to fail this mission. As soon as he stepped foot on Kalevala, the Jedi knew everything wasn't going according to the plan.

He had to come along with Cal and other Jedi Masters. Leading the assignment, Anakin barely came up with good instructions, all because he couldn't have his metal limb in time.

To say he was pissed was an understatement. Because to him, Louise was nothing but a useless tech engineer. He didn't understand how difficult it was to fix the limb, especially since it almost got blasted.

To be honest, the man didn't want to understand that. Anakin needed his robotic arm like he needed air to breathe. He couldn't go out there with a missing fake limb.

He was closing in the position against his opponents with just his lightsaber. And the hopes he would beat them all up. Anakin watched as Cal and the other Masters furiously defeated the men, destroying their territory.

In a moment of distraction, he got his tunic sliced and a burning sensation on his chest. He groaned in pain and gathered every inch of malice he had to shove his lightsaber into the men's stomach.

Bad timing it was. Not having another arm sure made Anakin defenseless. He didn't see another incoming behind his back, only then realizing that he was being retained.

Master Kestis called his name out loud when he saw, from afar, that Anakin had been stabbed with a knife on his side. He bent over, growling as he used his force to choke the man.

The red head rushed to help Anakin, the blood staining his clothing and running down his hand. "Oh, shit. Let's go back".

Cal ripped a piece off of his own tunic to try to stop the bleeding. He carried Anakin to the small bunk on the back of the spaceship and laid him carefully.

"You're going to be fine, Master!" He made sure before going back to the cockpit. He grabbed his comlink to warn the medical bay they were going to need assistance as soon as they arrived at Coruscant.

-

It didn't take Cal long to land on the hangar. He rushed out with Anakin in his arms, asking for a medical stretcher. Louise was helping out other engineers when she saw her friend carrying the Jedi.

"What happened?" She asked, nervous to see Luke's father like that. Following Master Kestis, she jogged by his side on the way to the medical bay.

The poor guy was panting, catching his breath every five seconds. He made a mental note that he needed to do more cardio after that. "He got stabbed!".

Louise stopped on her tracks and thought of Luke. The kid is going to be devastated. Although, she had no idea if Anakin wanted his son to know he was attacked.

The doctors brought him to the emergency room, leaving him shirtless. The wound seemed to be pretty deep and he was losing a considerate amount of blood.

They sedated him and started working on the stitches. They also bandaged his burned chest. Cal was pacing back and forth, both hands on his hips. Louise stood behind him, wondering if it was a good idea to let Luke and C-3PO know he was there.

"I- I didn't see it coming. He was talking about how he didn't want to fail the mission. He kept complaining about his missing arm-" Cal was still in a daze. He had to drink a glass of water because he felt his throat drying.

"Kestis, hey" Louise placed her hands on his arms, trying to calm his nerves. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't his fault either".

She bit her lip. No, this was her fault. She couldn't finish her damn job when he asked. He was definitely going to rip her heart out. "Jesus, I should've fixed it faster".

Now it was her throat that felt like drying up. A pang of guilt washed over her body and now she was starting to panic. "Luke has to know his dad is here".

"Stop, no. This wasn't your fault, either. You can't push yourself to do hard work. You had to rest too" He tried to reason with her, but she shook her head in disbelief.

"Look at him, Cal!" She raised her voice in desperation. "Look at him. Anakin, he- He needs to be good. He needs to be there for his kid!".

Louise could barely see right through teary eyes. She felt her throat burning and she wanted to scream. She couldn't lose someone again either.

She just couldn't accept that someone might die because of her, again.

Her friend tried to comfort her in a hug. He ran his fingers through her hair, while his other hand was planted on her back. "He's going to be just fine. And we'll get his son, okay?".

Cal used his thumb to wipe away her tears and kissed her forehead. He always knew he had a soft spot for her.