Padmé rolled over in bed, contemplating the events of the day. They'd been at Varykino for a week already, and she'd yet to make any apparent progress on her relationship with Anakin. They were able to talk now, but all of their subjects had been shallow and safe, small talk that might as well have been between strangers. There seemed to be a boundary between them, keeping them from saying what they were truly thinking about.

It exhausted her.

How had Obi-Wan and Satine managed? They'd lived together for three years, and as far as she knew, they'd never gone any farther than polite friendliness. She hadn't even suspected that there had ever been anything more between them, and she'd been with them most.

But would she want to do that? Pursuing a platonic relationship with Anakin didn't appeal to her, but neither did the thought of being alone.

Something moved outside, catching her attention. Pushing aside her blankets, Padmé reached for her robe as she got out of bed. She doubted that it was an intruder, but curiosity still prompted her to investigate.

Peeking out of her curtained doorway, she immediately recognized Anakin's silhouette in the dim light. Briefly, she thought about saying something to him, but she quickly talked herself out of it. After all, what would she say to him that didn't just sound stupid?

He shifted and she drew back, afraid that he'd seen her. She was just about to go back to her bed when he spoke.

"Don't go."

She froze, half wondering if he was talking to her. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Your presence is soothing."

Pleasure, warm and comforting, filled her. "I didn't… I wasn't sure if you would come. After what I said…"

"Don't, Padmé." He sighed, but she couldn't detect any anger in his voice. "Don't ever apologize for telling the truth. You were right for what you did. I didn't deserve your forgiveness after everything I did. I think I knew that then, even if it hurt."

He had known. She still remembered the smile he'd given her, the understanding in his eyes before he'd kissed her. Before he'd left.

Take care of yourself.

What could she say? Somehow, it seemed that everything had been spoken, and yet, the silence seemed to be filled with unsaid words.

"I forgive you."

She saw his back tense, the fisting of his hands. "I wasn't asking…"

"You didn't have to." Knowing he was prepared to object, she continued, "You don't know how angry I've been at myself for all these months. Angry that I let my pride stand in the way of what I knew was right. I've spent every day regretting the words I said, wanting to fix everything but too stubborn and arrogant to actually do anything about the mess I made. And even when I finally decided to do something about it, I couldn't even bring myself to ask you to your face."

He had turned to face her by now, his expression seeming intentionally blank. "But I came."

"That's beside the point."

"Which is?"

Padmé sighed. "I didn't ask you. I literally invited everyone except for you just to get you here."

Something lit in his eyes, and his lips slowly curved up in a smirk. It, coupled with the darkness from the moonless night, was reminiscent of their time on Ehren, when he was the Master. "Really?"

She swallowed, feeling unnerved by the look he was giving. Knowing. Hungry, even. "Yes."

"So you're telling me…" he was moving towards her now, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. "All these people are here because you were afraid to ask me to come?"

Squirming under his gaze, she tried to look anywhere but at him. "I wasn't sure if you would if I asked. After…"

"That was months ago, Padmé. It's all in the past. Let it die." He was only a few inches away from her, and she froze when he tucked a rogue curl behind her ear. "Hey. Look at me."

Padmé blinked back an unexpectant tear as she complied. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, angel." He dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. "Force, you don't know how much I've missed you."

She knew that they hadn't talked about half of the things they needed to, but they would have plenty of time to do that later. For now, though, this would be enough. "Kiss me, Anakin."

"Padmé…" his voice was slightly breathier than it had been before, but he didn't try to resist as she pulled him down for a long, slow kiss.

Finally, after almost a year, she was home.

Satine looked up from her holonovel when Obi-Wan kissed her cheek. "What was that for?"

"Nothing important. Can't a man kiss his wife whenever he feels like it?"

She narrowed her eyes. Call her suspicious, but she never trusted her husband when he had a grin large enough to split his face in half. "Yes, he can, but you aren't just kissing me because you want to. You know something."

His eyebrows raised innocently, but the grin only grew broader. "What makes you think I know something?"

"You're positively gloating, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You never gloat unless you know something."

"Fine, then. I do know something." He tried, unsuccessfully, to stop smiling, instead assuming a comical attempt at being serious. "But as it's something that is a private matter, I will not tell you."

Satine glared at him. "That's hardly fair, Obi. You come in here, positively bursting to tell me about some juicy secret you've uncovered, and you won't even tell me what it is. Badly done, Obi-Wan, very badly done." Turning back to her book, she mentally began counting down.

Three.

Two.

One.

A soft whimper left his throat as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "You're not even curious of what it is, love?"

She raised an eyebrow, turning the page of her book patiently. "Of course not. Since it is, as you said, a private matter, it is none of my concern. Even though I would have liked to know what it was, I'll not concern myself with something that I shall not know."

He was silent for only a half second. "You know I would tell you if I wasn't sworn to secrecy."

She hummed in agreement, pretending to continue reading.

"Though I suppose I wasn't told that I couldn't tell you, exactly."

It was amazing how one could rationalize in favor so quickly about something they had been so set against before. "But if the party who made you privy to this knowledge said not to tell anyone, then I wouldn't want you to break your word."

"Well, I didn't swear exactly…" he grumbled. "But it was understood, you see."

"Precisely. An understanding, though it may be silent, is surely as good as a spoken or written agreement."

Obi-Wan seemed to mull on that for a moment before he spoke again. "But you are my wife. They couldn't have expected me to lie to you, could they?"

"You didn't lie, love. You told me that you knew something, and you couldn't tell me what it was. Where's the lie in that?"

He grumbled under his breath, pulling her closer. "But spouses should never keep anything from each other. You don't keep secrets from me, so it's hardly fair if I kept a secret from you. After all, it's not as if you'd tell anyone."

"Whatever you say, Obi."

"Anyway, it's likely that everything will come out in the morning as it is. You can hardly tell anyone in that time."

"Mm-hmm." She yawned dramatically before turning off the lamp. "Can you tell me in the morning? Your daughter has drained me of all my energy."

"You're going to sleep now?" He sounded positively devastated. "I was going to tell you about…"

"Tomorrow, love. Tell me tomorrow. Now sleep."

He sat stock still for a full minute as Satine snuggled her pillow. Then, slowly, he seemed to deflate beside her. "Are you sure you don't want to…"

Satine sighed, rolling over to face him. "Fine. Tell me what is so important that I must hear it tonight."

Bingo.

He smirked smugly. "You'll never guess who I just saw being dragged mercilessly into Padmé's room."

All pretense of pride flew out the window as Satine sat up. "Anakin?" Her husband nodded, leaving her to do nothing but slump back against the headboard of the bed. "When did that happen?"

"A few minutes ago, I suppose. Or they've been putting up a front this whole time." Satisfied that the secret had been told, Obi-Wan yawned. "Who knows how long they've been carrying on. However it is, the secret is out now. There's no hiding it."

Satine stared at the wall, still flabbergasted. Only a few hours earlier, she and Acca had mutually agreed to despair over the couple. In her mind, there had been no possibility of reconciliation. But this news… it certainly spoke of reconciliation, if not something more.

Acca had to know. Immediately.

Obi-Wan opened a single eye as she catapulted out of bed in a frenzied hurry to find her robe. "I thought you said you were going to bed. That you were exhausted."

"News like this cannot be treated lightly. My ship has taken off, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and I must make sure the crew is ready to man their stations."

Acca nearly skipped out of her room the next morning. After months of seemingly productless efforts, they were finally getting somewhere.

She'd nearly been asleep when Satine had knocked on her door the night before, but the scent of romance and passion in the air had quickly roused her. Even after the Duchess had left, she'd lay awake for nearly an hour, relieved and anxious at the same time.

Master-Anakin-would finally be happy, as would Padmé. It had been, and always would be, a mystery to her what took them so long to reconcile their differences. They had clearly both been miserable without each other, yet it had taken them nearly a year to make up.

She would never understand humans.

Speaking of humans…

A commotion in the back hall quickly informed her that she was not the only one up, and as she turned the corner, she suddenly got an eyeful of a very wet, very masculine, very human, and very nearly naked Matri.

A sharp shriek left her mouth before she could stop it, and she muttered Ehren curses as she covered her eyes and backed around the corner again. Matri's laugh, loud and deep, echoed through the halls as she bumped into the wall.

"Watch where you're going, Tami."

The term, an Ehren endearment that generally was reserved for one's potential mate, made her flush. It wasn't the first time he'd used the word, but neither was she the first girl he'd used it for. More like the fiftieth. "I would if I was not blinded by you so pale," she retorted hotly, not even caring if she wasn't using correct Basic. "Disgusting."

Ahsoka, who Acca hadn't seen at first, laughed, pulling on a tank top. "She's got you there, Matri. You could use a tan."

"I don't tan. I burn. Ever wonder why I go swimming at four in the morning?" Matri crossed his arms over his bare chest, biceps bulging as they flexed instinctively. "What are you doing up so early, anyway? Weren't you up past midnight talking to that boyfriend of yours?"

"Teeto's not my boyfriend. He's just a colleague." Not that he hadn't tried to cross that proffesional barrier before. "And it's not any of your business, anyway."

"Course it is." Matri swaggered over to her, ruffling her hair with one large hand. "You're like a little sister. Everything about your love life is my business. Or lack of everything, if you want to be accurate."

Acca resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. After all, the jab was completely true. She didn't have a love life, and she was completely fine with it. As it was, she didn't have time to be in a relationship. She was a senator, and her people came first. Not to mention she was just turning eighteen in a month. After her term was up and she retired, she would still have plenty of time to find a man.

For now, though, she would simply enjoy being single. One romance in the family was plenty for a long time, and she had the feeling they would be telling the story of Anakin and Padmé's for years to come.

Fin.

Wow, I cannot believe it's here! The end of Vanished!

Thank you all for the endless support you've shown during the process of this production. It's been a long (and sometimes hard) journey, but there's no way I could have ever made it without you. I've decided not to put an epilogue on, simply because I may (in the far future) make a sequel to this one. Don't worry, if I do ever decide to do one, you all will be the first to know.

I'd like to give special shoutouts to Rambling anOn, sunmoonwindandstars, stingerfan, and MumsieDo for being some of my first and most constant reviewers! You guys really went above and beyond with your feedback and inspired me so much!

Thank you, Commardbattl, masterkenobi25, Forthwith16, quinnmlrose, primus light bringer, Average White Writer, backdrifting, slypkc, and Mrs Renton for all of the follows and favorites, I'm really grateful for them all. It still amazes me how many people continue to want to grow with this story.

Now, for all of my dear reviewers, who I will be replying to for the last time:

Guest: Thank you so much!

Thatonegirl: Ah, ignore that. When I first started writing this, I was very insecure about my writing style, and wanted to make some sort of warning to keep people who might critique it away. But I'm really glad you think so!

Guest: There was a lot of my pets's, weren't there?

Ember Skywalker: I know, right? Well, I'm pretty sure they're going to be kissing a whole lot after this.

Guest: Thank you, and yes you do! Just look up!

HaywireEagle: Haha, you just voiced the glaring error that I've been hoping no one would notice…

And that's all, folks! Please, go check out my other works and stay tuned for a chapter in Vanished: The Master Chapters. Now that this has been finished, I plan to update in all of those way more often. I love you all, and I hope you enjoyed Vanished. Bye!

Trivia: The beginning of this chapter had me stumped until I remembered that Anakin and Padmé never had the morning balcony scene from AotC. Switched it to night, and Bam!