Meanwhile, on Naboo...

Anakin and Padme were sitting at a table, eating dinner together. Alone. Just the two of them, while their little girl was napping.

"And when I got to them, we went into aggressive negotiations." Anakin said as a waitress served him a plate. "Thank you."

"'Aggressive negotiations'?" Padme asked. "What's that?"

"Uh, well, negotiations with a lightsaber."

The two of them laughed for a bit, and Padme was about to cut into a pear, when Anakin took it with the Force and put it onto his plate, and started to cut it himself.

"If Master Obi-Wan caught me doing this, he'd be very grumpy." said Anakin.

Anakin then lifted a small piece of the pear with the Force once more, and floated it over to Padme, who grabbed it with her fork with a chuckle.

Later, Anakin and Padme were sitting by the fire together. It was dark, the only light being the lit fireplace, in a romantic sense.

Anakin looked at Padme and how beautiful she looked in her dress. But the dress wasn't what made him feel so tingly inside. She could be dressed in a burlap sack, and he would still think she was the most beautiful girl in the galaxy.

"From the moment I met you... all those years ago, not a day has gone by when I haven't thought of you." Anakin told Padme. He slowly started to put his hand on hers. "And now that I'm with you again, I'm in agony. The closer I get to you, the worse it gets. The thought of not being able to be with you... I can't breathe."

Anakin thought back to the first kiss he and Padme had. He'd been the one to initiate it, and at first they thought they shouldn't have done it. But then, Padme initiated the second kiss.

"I'm haunted by the kisses you never should have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that kiss won't become a scar. You are in my very soul, tormenting me. What can I do? I will do anything that you ask."

Padme looked down for a moment. She was silent.

"If you are suffering as much as I am, please, tell me." Anakin begged.

Padme wanted to tell Anakin that it wasn't possible for them to be together. But instead, she found herself caressing Anakin's cheek and looking into his eyes. And without thinking, they were kissing again. And again, and again. Padme knew she should probably stop, but for some reason, she didn't want to.

"I don't know, Ani. I don't know. It's impossible."

"Anything is possible, Padme." Anakin sighed, kissing Padme's lips again. "Listen to me."

And then Padme pulled away, and stood up, to Anakin's disappointment, going right from love struck to serious

"No, you need to listen. We live in a real world. Come back to it. You're studying to become a Jedi. I'm-I'm a senator. If you follow your thoughts through to conclusion, it'll take us to a place we cannot go, regardless of the way we feel about each other."

"Then you do feel something for me." Anakin concluded.

"I will not let you give up your future for me."

Anakin then thought of something.

"What about our daughter?" He said. "Should her future not come first? If I were to give up my future as a Jedi, why not for her if not for you?"

"Don't you dare use my baby as a pawn in your argument."

"She's my baby too. You asked me to be rational. That's what I'm at least trying to do. Believe me, I wish that I could just wish away my feelings, but I can't."

"I will not give in to this." Padme said, and Anakin turned away.

Anakin wanted to walk away, but found himself staying.

"Well, you know, it... wouldn't have to be that way. We could keep it a secret."

"We'd be living a lie." Padme pointed out. "One we couldn't keep even if we wanted to."

"And what about the fact that no one knows who Princess Gabriella's father is?"

"That is different. You know why we have to keep that secret."

Anakin knew as well as Padme did that if bounty hunters, crime bosses, and common criminals knew Gabby was Anakin's kid, that would put her at the top of every hit list for the rest of her life. If it wasn't because they wanted her as a slave, they would want to train her to use her powers for evil. Anakin and Padme being an actual couple, Padme, at least, believe it would a different story.

"Is it really that different? How many times has Gabby asked either of us why we're not married like other kids' parents?"

"Anakin, it would still be too risky. It's already difficult enough keeping the baby daddy a secret. Us being an actual couple and keeping that secret as well...could you really live with two lies? What kind of example would that set for our daughter?"

No matter how many times they told Gabby that some kids just didn't have married parents, it never satisfied her curiosity as to why specifically her parents never got married. She already knew some kids had parents who were at least a couple once before they had kids. Her parents, however, were never even boyfriend and girlfriend before she was conceived. And being not much more than a baby, she didn't really understand despite being smart for her age.

Padme quietly entered the nursery where Gabby was fast asleep in her crib, dreaming pleasant dreams, cuddling with Teddy.

Padme sighed. Her baby was growing up so fast; before she knew it, she would be a big girl eventually reaching her thirteenth birthday, when she would get a Jedi master of her own for one year, and upon her fourteenth birthday, she would have to choose one world. Either stay and continue her Jedi studies, or leave the Order and become Naboo's next queen.

That created worry in Padme's heart. What if Gabby decided to leave her mother behind and become a Jedi? There was a chance Padme may never see her daughter again.

Since she was young, Padme dreamed of someday being a mom. She imagined having a baby and watching them grow. Seeing her baby's first steps, her first words, her first day of preschool, all of her firsts, and seeing her graduate high school, her coronation, and maybe someday finding a boyfriend and getting married, eventually making Padme a grandmother. But if Gabby grew up and became a Jedi, none of that would be possible.

Padme wasn't sure what Anakin thought about this either. Did he feel the same way about Gabby's upbringing? If he did, what was he doing about it, if anything at all?

Was Anakin okay with his daughter choosing to give up any relationships with other people, including her parents? What would she think of this after she grew up? Would she even know how to make a decision? Would her parents make it a difficult choice? Would the Council somehow find out about her origins and decide for her?

Padme's train of thought was interrupted by Gabby getting fussy in her sleep and starting to cry from having a bad dream. The poor baby seemed to having them a lot lately and neither she nor her mother knew why. All Padme knew was that in one of Gabby's nightmares, the latter kept dreaming a bad man was taking her away and locked her up like the princesses in some of the fairy tales her nannies read to her. But Padme knew a special song that helped her back to sleep.

"Shh. Shh. Don't cry, Baby." Padme whispered, taking Gabby into her arms and gently stroking her daughter's hair. "Mommy's here. Mommy's here. Shh."

Sun goes down, and we are here together

Fireflies glow like a thousand charms

Stay with me, and you can dream forever

Right here in my arms

Tonight

Padme kissed her baby's head as she fell back asleep in her mother's arms. She hugged her tightly, never wanting such a special bond between mother and daughter to be broken.

Unless things in the Jedi Order changed regarding attachments and having families, there was no guarantee that Padme would have her baby in her life for longer than thirteen years, whether Anakin stayed in the order by then or not. If Anakin became like the Jedi Masters now, chances were he might not be as involved in Gabby's life as he wanted to be presently. Being a parent counted as an attachment, and knowing the Jedi at the moment, if he was lucky, they would give him an ultimatum that either he and Gabby ignore any attachment they had and stay separate in the Order for the rest of their lives, or one or both of them would have to leave.

Regardless of how the Order would be in eleven years, Padme knew she couldn't force her daughter to make certain decisions. Any good parent knew that children need to be allowed to make and learn from their own mistakes, and if they were good parents, they should be able to trust their children to make good decisions and think them through rationally.

"I love you, Mommy." Gabby said, half asleep on her mother's shoulder.

Padme felt happy tears in her eyes as she hugged Gabby.

"I love you too, Sweetie." she said.

If there was one thing any good mother loved to hear, it was that childlike unconditional love from her baby, whether it was her own, or a child she took in to love as her own.

Back on Kamino...

"Tell your council that the first battalions are ready." Nala Se told Obi-Wan. "And remind them, if they need more troops, it will take more time to grow them."

"I won't forget," Obi-Wan promised. "And thank you."

"Thank you."

Obi-Wan pulled up his hood and walked out into the rain, approaching his ship.

"R4!"

R4 beeped.

"Scramble code five to Coruscant, care of the old folks' home!"

R4 did just that, sending a transmission to Masters Yoda and Windu. Obi-Wan explained everything he knew so far.

"I have successfully made contact with the prime minister of Kamino. They are using a bounty hunter named Jango Fett to create a clone army. I have a strong feeling that this bounty hunter is the assassin we are looking for."

"Do you think these cloners are involved in the plan to assassinate Senator Amidala?" Mace asked.

"No, Master. There appears to be no motive."

"Do not assume anything, Obi-Wan." Yoda said. "Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real villains behind this plot."

"Yes, Master. They say Master Sifo-Dyas placed an order for a clone army at the request of the senate almost ten years ago. I was under the impression he was killed before that. Did the council ever authorize the creation of a clone army?"

"No," said Mace. "Whoever placed that order did not have the authorization of the Jedi Council.

"Bring him here." Yoda said. "Question him we will."

"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan said. "I will report back when I have him."

And with that, the transmission was ended.

Yoda looked at Mace and commented, "Blind we are if creation of this clone army we could not see."

Mace sighed and said, "I think it is time we informed the senate that our ability to use the Force has diminished."

"Only the dark lord of the Sith knows of our weakness. If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will."

After Padme put Gabby back in her crib, Anakin waited for her to leave before going in to see her for himself.

Anakin thought about his conversation with Padme earlier. Giving up his future for the sake of raising Gabby, he would not need to give a second thought. It was no question that he loved her as much as he loved Padme, and since he first met her, he believed in his heart that they were destined to someday become husband and wife. Then, he and Padme could raise Gabby like an ideal, traditional family with a mom and a dad who loved each other, always stayed together, and took care of their children together. And maybe they could eventually have another baby.

If they both had feelings for each other as well as both loved their love child, why shouldn't they figure out how to make a romantic relationship work? If Anakin had to give up being a Jedi, he would do it, and if he had to, he would train Gabby to use the Force himself. Not to mention, some of the royal families knew Anakin was Gabby's father and kept it secret, and were willing to help protect her if needed.

"I don't know if you'll understand this," said Anakin. "But... regardless of what the Jedi say, Princess... no one can force you to give up your family or your dreams if you don't want to. When the time comes to choose worlds, it'll be up to you to decide. But if it comes to the decision where I have to choose between you and becoming a Jedi Master, I will always choose you, Baby Girl. No matter what happens, whether or not your mommy and I ever get married, I will never stop loving you."

Anakin kissed his daughter's head and covered her more in her blanket, then went to bed himself. However, shortly after he went to sleep, he started tossing and turning.