Luckily for them, they saw several Separatist ships approaching their location. They turned slowly, noticing the angry glares of Leia, Padmé, and Anakin upon them.
"I think it's a good time to escape," Han said.
"It's too late. We won't get out without being seen," Leia said.
"We can all go in the Millennium Falcon," Han said, and they ran toward the ship. Anakin took it upon himself to plant an explosive on the ship they had arrived on, to cover their tracks.
"Kid," Han said, signaling to Luke to be the copilot, but Anakin glared at Luke, and Luke stepped aside.
"Do you want to be my copilot?" Han asked nervously, and Anakin shoved him into the copilot's seat.
"Okay, sure, I guess that's fine," Han said irritably.
For a piece of junk, it was incredibly fast. He gave Solo credit for that. They finally managed to escape before being seen, but Luke and Han almost wished they were caught. When Anakin engaged the autopilot, Han quickly fled to Luke's side, who was trying to merge into the wall.
"Ani, I'm sure all this has a rational explanation, which they'll give us," Padmé said, trying to be the rational one in the story.
"Are you two keeping secrets from each other?" Leia asked, smiling angrily. "It's just like in the future, isn't it? The pair of friends on missions together, while I was in charge. I was never one of you, was I?" Leia asked, offended.
"Leia, please don't say that," Han said, trying to approach, but Anakin put his hand between them, then used the Force to make Luke and Han sit down in front of him.
"You have five minutes to explain everything before I throw this idiot into space," Anakin said, and Han knew, he knew he meant it.
"I told you so," Han said, smiling sarcastically. "I was going to die because of you, Luke."
"Don't be melodramatic," Luke said and sighed.
"Luke," Padmé insisted, knowing Anakin didn't have much patience. She'd seen him arguing loudly with Ahsoka and knew this wouldn't end any differently if they didn't start talking.
"I can't say it," Luke said, looking Anakin in the eye. "I'm sorry, Dad, I'm really sorry, but I can't."
"Damn it, Luke," Anakin growled, not wanting to be too harsh. "We heard you talking about the Emperor, we heard you talking about an assassin. What if Palpatine found out in the future? What if the person you're talking about is actually here to kill you?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," Luke began, standing up, and Padmé knew this would end the same way as Anakin and Ahsoka's arguments.
"I want to know, we want to know the truth. Why didn't you even trust your sister, Luke?" Anakin asked, raising his voice.
"Because no one would understand," Luke said, also raising his voice.
Han hugged Leia, who only hit him, realizing that perhaps he wasn't entirely to blame.
"We need to understand. You came from the future to save us from the Empire. Luke, you have no idea how happy I was when I found out Padmé was pregnant, how happy I felt holding them and knowing they were my children. How can you say now that there will be secrets? Why, Luke?" Anakin shouted, grabbing him tightly by the shoulders.
"Because I can't say it, because this—" he began, looking into his father's eyes—"Because this goes beyond all of you," he shouted.
It was strange; that very morning, Yoda had asked him and Leia to teach Anakin to control his anger, and here he was, teaching him how to get even angrier.
"Luke, you have to talk. We're your family!" Anakin shouted, beginning to despair. If this involved the Emperor, they had to know. Now that they had the Council's support, there couldn't be any secrets.
"I'm sorry, Father," Luke said seriously. "I won't talk," he said, and Anakin let go of him, running a hand through his hair.
"Then you will," he said, looking at Han.
"Han, please," Leia pleaded, but Luke's pleading look put him in a truly awkward position.
"If the boy doesn't want to say it, I can't make that decision for him," Han said, looking at Anakin, then at Padmé.
"What's wrong with you two?" Anakin asked incredulously. Hadn't they come here to save the future? Why were they doing this?
"I'm sorry, okay?" Luke said, feeling overwhelmed, but he couldn't speak, he shouldn't speak; they wouldn't understand. Even Han struggled to understand.
After long, tense minutes, Anakin returned to piloting the ship alongside Han, who could sense the man's frustration.
"Listen," Han said, knowing he didn't need to provoke him. "He'll trust you enough to tell you. Just give him time."
"We don't have time," Anakin said sulkily. "Padmé is pregnant. The council will side with us. I have to report every deviation from the plan, and this seems to be a major one."
"I know," Han said, looking ahead. Luke really had to speak.
"I know." "Han," Anakin said, looking at him without any annoyance in his voice, "Thank you for being there for him, for taking care of them when I was that monster." Han knew this was the closest thing to acceptance from Anakin.
"No need," he said, watching Leia smile. "I'm sorry I took the boy away like this, but he can be quite persistent."
"Oh, that's typical of Anakin," Padmé joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"Maybe he inherited his stubbornness too," Anakin said suspiciously, and Luke sank deeper into his misery. He didn't want to disappoint them or jeopardize the mission, but they weren't going to understand.
Seeing Luke's miserable face, Leia winked at him, trying to calm Anakin down.
"I know what you're trying to do, Leia," Anakin said when she approached him, asking him to teach her how to fly, showing exaggerated interest.
"I'm sorry, I've failed miserably," he said, sitting down again across from Luke.
Padmé couldn't be angry with her son. He could have had many reasons for not speaking. She knew he didn't want to put them at risk, and she understood why Anakin had been upset. She didn't want to see them arguing. She could only be there for them. Perhaps Ahsoka would understand Luke. She and Anakin were always arguing; they would fight, shout at each other, and then act normally the next day. Padmé smiled. Perhaps Ahsoka really was like a daughter to Anakin; she was to her. Seeing her son's miserable face, Padmé simply hugged him. Luke leaned against her shoulder as Padmé stroked his hair.
"Do you want me to go and sing him a lullaby?" Anakin asked, his voice thick with anger. He didn't know what it was like to be a father. He was angry. He had loved his son since he found out, but now he understood every bit of trouble he had caused Obi-Wan. When he got to the temple, he would apologize to Obi-Wan. It was a promise.
"Ani," Padmé scolded him. "You have no reason to be so hard on him," she said, though she knew he did.
"Fine, when our plans fail, you can say the same to me," Anakin said, and Padmé could have sworn she saw tears in Luke's eyes.
"Fine," Padmé said, annoyed. Was this what being a mother was? Defending even the indefensible? Surely it was, she thought. She'd done it many times before with Ahsoka, like the time the girl lost her lightsaber after throwing it off her apartment balcony, or the time she crashed Anakin's ship into the Council window, or the time she accompanied her to the meeting with a Separatist.
They arrived at Coruscant in complete silence, landing at the Jedi Temple. Luke practically ran out, followed by Leia. She was his twin; if Luke was upset, she could feel almost the same. She needed to talk to him, to make him trust her, or to comfort him if this truth tormented him.
Padmé glared at Anakin.
"You could have accomplished more without yelling," Padmé challenged him.
"It's everyone's future, Padmé," Anakin said. How could she not understand?
"Just try to put yourself in his shoes, Ani," Padmé said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and walking toward her sons' room.
"Shall we go for a drink?" Han asked, tempting fate. Anakin looked at him seriously.
"I suppose there's nothing wrong with that," Anakin said, surprising Han.
"If you're going to drink, it'll be in my apartment," Obi-Wan said seriously. He'd been in the hangar for quite some time repairing a minor fault on his ship and had observed what had happened.
"Funny enough, I have no intention of arguing with you," Anakin said, thinking about what had happened. It had been as stressful as Luke had been in his teens. He wasn't going to put Obi-Wan through the same thing again.
"To whom do I owe this miracle?" Obi-Wan asked with a smile as they climbed into the Millennium Falcon.
"To Luke," Han said as copilot. He had to admit, there were a few piloting tricks he'd pick up from Anakin.
"It'll be a long story, I suppose," Obi-Wan said, seeing the seriousness on Anakin's face.
Several drinks later, back at Obi-Wan's apartment, everyone was getting quite comfortable with each other.
"So Luke doesn't want to say who the mysterious girl is?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Don't take that as a statement," Han said, having already assured them that even if they used the Force on him, he wouldn't betray Luke. "He's not even sure."
"Han," Anakin said, taking another drink, "He mentioned the Emperor, he mentioned another way to travel through time, and you mentioned an assassin. He's my son. I don't understand why he doesn't trust me enough to tell me."
"Because in the past and in the future, you do what must be done," Han said, and Obi-Wan looked at him curiously. "You know I'm a smuggler, and you want me away from your daughter because that's what must be done. In the future, when you were Vader, you didn't hesitate to torture me without saying a word, just to lure Luke into a trap because that's what you had to do. Leia admires you. She saw the worst of you, and she admires you because she, too, always does what must be done. But Luke doesn't," Han said, and Obi-Wan understood.
" "I'm beginning to understand you," Obi-Wan said. "Anakin has always done what must be done to protect those he loves."
"What does that have to do with Luke?" Anakin asked, utterly confused.
"I met the boy with your older self," he said, pointing at Obi-Wan. "You didn't trust me. I was just a pilot you could buy for money. But I always knew he trusted me. He did when we rescued Leia. He did every time I piloted to escape a mission. He trusted me, a smuggler and a killer."
"You're saying Luke has Padmé's character?" Anakin asked.
"I couldn't say that because I don't know your wife," Han said, taking a sip of his drink.
"Padmé is compassionate. She always does what needs to be done, but she always looks out for others," Obi-Wan said. "It's like when we first met her and didn't know she was the Queen of Naboo. Qui-Gon said Padmé knew the only option was for you to race in the Podracers, but she always opposed it because she cared about you."
"I remember," Anakin said with a smile. "I remember it like it was yesterday. She still has that beautiful smile." Anakin said, and both men smiled. He looked smitten.
"We all care about each other," Han said. "But Luke cares even more. He sees goodness where no one else would."
"Like she saw in me when I was Vader," Anakin said, and Han nodded.
"Anakin, do you remember all the times I asked you not to do something and you did it anyway?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I'm sorry about that," Anakin said.
"I finally accepted that I couldn't stop you, that I shouldn't make you into what I wanted you to be, that I had to guide you so you could become who you truly wanted to be."
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked.
"Don't try to pressure him, he's not Ahsoka," he reminded Anakin, who wondered why everyone was mentioning Ahsoka. Did he and Ahsoka argue that much? "Try reaching him in another way, try showing him that you're proud of him, that more than a man seeking to win a war, you're his father, the father he admires and respects."
"The boy admires you," Han said sincerely. "Maybe he's making a mistake, a pretty big one," Han said, "but his intentions are never bad."
"I know," Anakin said. "I know."
They drank until Obi-Wan and Anakin had to carry Han to the sofa to lay him down.
"Who would have thought, you drinking with your daughter's boyfriend?" a drunken Obi-Wan asked, teasing him.
"Don't you ever mention he's her boyfriend again, or I'll kill him right now," Anakin said. It was one thing to drink with him, to thank him for taking care of his daughter, but quite another to accept him completely.
"You like him," Obi-Wan said, leaning back on the other sofa.
"Don't tell him," Anakin said, lying down next to Obi-Wan, both too drunk to try to reach any of the bedrooms.
Padmé, meanwhile, wondered what a mother was supposed to do to resolve an argument between a father and son. Luke was visibly upset; Leia had tried to get him to talk, but it hadn't worked. Ahsoka wasn't available, as she was helping the librarian with some important information, and Padmé was alone with her son, who looked very sad and worried. Leia stared a few feet away, concerned for her brother.
"Okay, enough with the secrets and sad faces," Padmé said, and both siblings looked at her, confused. "It's 3 a.m., but you'd be surprised by the incredible places on Coruscant," Padmé said.
"What do you mean?" Leia asked, confused.
"We're going to get the biggest ice cream you can imagine, and you won't be able to say no to your pregnant mother," Padmé said, standing up with a smile.
"I would never say no to ice cream," Luke said, smiling. Maybe this would help him forget the mess he was in.
"So what are we waiting for?" Leia said with a smile.
Padmé walked ahead of them. They were 20 years old and were her children from the future, the same ones she was carrying in her womb now. No matter how hard she tried to see them as adults, she couldn't. They were her children; she loved them, and their smiles were still almost childlike. Besides, she was happy to know they had inherited Anakin's childlike love for ice cream.
They arrived at the largest ice cream parlor on Coruscant, which was open 24 hours a day. Padmé ordered a chocolate ice cream, as did Leia. Before Luke could order, Padmé told him:
"Let me guess: cream and caramel," Padmé said, and Luke's eyes widened in surprise.
"How did you know?" he asked, and Padmé smiled.
"It's Anakin's favorite, too," Padmé said, and they finished ordering.
While they ate their ice cream, they chatted about trivial things, some of Padmé's duties in the Senate, and Anakin's missions.
"Do you think he'll stop being mad at me?" Luke asked sadly.
"Of course he will, you're his son and he loves you," Padmé said with a smile.
"I've disappointed him, Mom," Luke said. "I'm not like Leia. She would never hesitate to do what needs to be done."
"Luke, I doubt Dad wants you to be like me," Leia said tenderly.
"Leia, everyone trusted you. You led entire missions. I was just a pilot following orders."
"You were the best pilot. Everyone trusted your maneuvers, Luke," Leia said, trying to cheer him up.
"You know how nervous I was to meet Dad when they sent us here," Luke said. "And the first thing I've done is make him angry and disappoint him. Yoda told us we had to make him control his temper."
"Luke," Padmé said, stroking his cheek, "we've all made our parents angry, but that doesn't mean they'll love us any less or be disappointed in us."
"He's right, Mom. This could affect us all, and I'm unable to tell him what's happening."
"Luke, whatever happens, I'm sure he'll understand," Padmé said. "I will, Leia will."
"They never will," Luke said, knowing she was right.
"Let's not think about that now," Padmé said, encouraging them. "Tell me more about yourselves," she said, and the young people continued recounting their life stories. Each had a different life, each story marked by the yoke of the Empire, an empire that Padmé Amidala would help destroy to prevent that future for her children.
Then, as she returned to her apartment with her two children, an idea crossed her mind, too terrifying to accept. What if that assassin they were talking about had stolen Luke's heart in the future? She stifled a sigh so they wouldn't notice what was happening. It would make sense because Luke didn't want to mention it; no one would understand. If she was on the Emperor's side and wanted to kill them, she had to die. Even she knew that, and that could break Luke's heart. She lay back on her bed, embracing her two children who wanted to enjoy every moment with their mother. She watched Leia sleep peacefully. Leia was completely in love with Han, a smuggler. She herself had fallen in love with Anakin, a Jedi, but until then, their romance had been forbidden. She glanced at Luke and sighed. Could it be that her son was following in his parents' and sister's footsteps with troubled romances? She fell asleep longing to wake up and find the answer, but she knew that was impossible.
Meanwhile, on Coruscant, a mysterious ship landed. A woman dressed entirely in black hid among the city's abandoned alleyways. She knew her mission, and she would fulfill it, no matter if it broke her heart. When two men tried to attack her, she killed them instantly with her purple lightsaber. She had a mission, and she would complete it; the future of the Empire depended on it.