Aliit Ori'shya Tal'din

"Family is more than blood."

Mandalorian Proverb

Part 1

It was still during the dark hours when Anakin was woken up by one of Obi-Wan's clone troopers. He was still technically a padawan and hadn't been given a command of his own yet, so the troopers didn't consider him "theirs," not the way they considered Obi-Wan theirs. But this clone, Longshot, was staring at him expectantly. He hadn't gone to Obi-Wan with whatever was bothering him. For some reason, that made him feel really warm inside.

"Yes?" he muttered, still half asleep, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes and flinching when he met with the cold metal of his now-artificial hand.

"Sir, I know it's not my place, but-" the clone cut himself off, nervous.

"Whatever it is, tell me," he urged.

"The Fett's kid. A detachment of brothers found him. They're sending him to an orphanage on Bespin. I know I shouldn't be saying anything, but the Fett was kind to me. I was having trouble with targeting and he showed me how. I'd hate to see the kid be abandoned like that."

Anakin nodded. "Bespin, you said?" he asked, pulling his boots on. "Mind prepping a shuttle?"

"Sir?"

"We should get to Bespin. The Republic made him an orphan. The Republic is going to take responsibility for that."

Longshot frowned. He obviously hadn't expected him to react like that, but how was he supposed to react? He had been so recently orphaned himself that the pain was still so fresh. If anyone could understand how the kid felt, he could.

"I have shore leave. I'm due to head back to Coruscant tomorrow. I'm just going to detour a bit before then." Anakin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You wouldn't have said anything if you didn't want me to do something about the kid."

The trooper nodded and stood at attention. "Sir, I can't leave. But I'll go prep that shuttle and let the General know."

Anakin winced. Obi-Wan would probably not let him go. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, in this case. "Give me a head start before you tell him?"

Longshot hesitated. Anakin wasn't his general and yet was asking this of him. Finally, his desire to help the Fett kid won out and he nodded. "Sir, yes, sir."

He left and Anakin packed only the bare minimal. He hated to take more than necessary otherwise it might tip his master off as to what happened. He left as quickly as he could, before more of the crew woke up.

The orphanage on Bespin wasn't much better than his conditions were as a kid. But at least he had had his own room. The Fett boy, Boba, the headbeing of the orphanage had said the kid's name was, was curled up on one of the durasteel bed frames, knees to his chest. He looked angry beyond belief and Anakin knew exactly how he felt.

He stood at the end of the bed, looking at the kid. The kid looked back up at him, a dark glare coming across his face as he took in the lightsaber on Anakin's hip.

"What do you want, jetii?" He spat, like he was cursing at him. Anakin didn't flinch.

"I take it you've vowed revenge then?" He kept his tone soft, light.

The kid made a sound, something that sounded like a bitter laugh. "What would the Jedi know about revenge?" he scoffed.

Anakin sat down. "The Jedi? Not much. Personally though, I know quite a bit."

The kid blinked. He clearly hadn't been expecting that. He lost a little of the fight in him, and Anakin took that at a small victory and continued.

"I know you're angry and you have every right to be. I won't try to talk you out of taking revenge for your father's murder." The kid gave him a broken look that looked a little too much like awe. Like the minute he had seen Anakin, he had expected him to deny him the right to his emotions. Like he'd deny what Mace Windu had done to his father was something other than murder. Or worse, blame Jango Fett for his death.

"Then why are you here?" he asked, and this time, he actually sounded like a kid. A lost, scared kid who was all alone in the galaxy.

"Because you need somewhere to go. There might be a war, but that doesn't mean that our actions don't have consequences. The others need to see that." He gave Boba a smile. "And I know somewhere that's got comfortable beds and warm food every day. The company's not bad either. And if things go really bad, you might get to shoot someone." Boba grinned at that.

Padmé Amidala stared at the ten-year-old who was currently playing with R2 and shrieking in laughter. She turned back to her guilty-looking husband who was trying to appear as innocent as possible. As if he hadn't dragged Jango Fett's son halfway across the galaxy to her apartment on Coruscant. As if he wasn't trying to talk her into adopting him.

Not that she hadn't already decided she would the second Anakin had started explaining that he had no where to go and no family. And he was almost identical to the other clones, which meant he was pretty cute. Still, it didn't mean she couldn't make her husband sweat a little.

"Ani-" she sighed, cutting herself off. She really, really wanted to be mad, but she was having a hard time doing so when he was looking at her like a kicked puppy. She just wished he had discussed this with her before they had arrived on her veranda. "What exactly am I supposed to do with him while I'm at work?"

"He can take care of himself. He's really a good kid."

The boy joined in from across the room. "I can cook and clean and I'm a really good shot. Anakin told me you get into danger a lot and I could be your bodyguard. Nobody ever expects a kid to be a bodyguard."

"He really just needs a home and people to love him. And you were the one telling me about how you feel like you need to do more to help the war victims."

Padmé sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose to fight of the oncoming headache. "I didn't mean adopting a child. Stars Anakin! He said it himself. I'm constantly in danger. You're constantly in danger. What if something happened to us? Then what?"

Because she couldn't think what would happen to this sweet little boy if he grew to love them and lost them both the way he had his father. She remembered the murder in Anakin's eyes, even after had had killed the ones who had slaughtered his mother. She couldn't help but think that he had been holding back and Boba wouldn't.

Boba was staring at her. It was unnerving how despite not being related to Anakin, he had perfected him mimicking of Anakin's pleading look. "If I'm with you, nobody'll hurt you!" he declared.

She glared at her husband. This was so his fault.

"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. If you'll excuse me, I have to go tell Threepio to set the table for three."

She stood and swept out of the room and pretended not to hear Anakin say, "She likes you."

"Does that mean I can stay?" Boba asked him, but she didn't hear his response. Instead, she informed Threepio that they needed a third place setting and that the spare bedroom needed to be cleaned up for a child to stay.

"And you both better wash your hands!" she shouted back towards the other room where her family was.

AN: I couldn't help but think what would have happened if Anakin had convinced Padmé they should adopt Boba? Would it have made a difference? Would it had stopped Anakin from turning or would Boba have gone out and sought revenge for his adopted parents along with the murder of his father?

And I'd like to think that then he definitely wouldn't have helped Vader get Luke, especially if he had gotten the Obi-Wan reasoning of Vader killed Anakin. Because if he wasn't afraid of attacking Jedi and wasn't scared of working with a Sith, I figure he probably wouldn't have been too afraid of going after Vader for killing Anakin and Padmé.

But then again, I can't see him letting Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Bail separate Luke and Leia. He totally would have abducted his little brother and sister and stolen a shuttle and disappeared. He wouldn't have denied them their heritage and would have made a great living bounty hunting and teaching the two of them how to as well. Until one day Leia decides she wants to be a revolutionary and Luke goes along with it because the Rebels will let him fly his own ship. And Boba would join the Rebels just because he can't trust his vods to keep themselves out of trouble.

Or maybe Boba would have hit Anakin over the head in Episode III and said "Snap out of it! The Chancellor is evil!" And he would have woken up with a headache and been like "Why did Palpatine go and tell me my name is Vader? I don't want to be on the American Film Institute's list as 3rd greatest movie villain in film history, especially not behind behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates." And then he would have not gone and murdered a bunch of Jedi and younglings and choked his wife.

Who knows? I haven't decided whether to continue this on or not. Would anyone be interested if I did? And which version? Or both versions?