Chapter 43: Not Giving Up the War

As Avarik turned from Padmé's door, allowing it to close behind him, he was greeted by Aila's disapproving eyes. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was not hiding her irritation with him over their Force bond. "Was that necessary?" Aila asked, referring to her husband's threat to her best friend.

"Everything is necessary when it comes to protecting you." Avarik replied reaching out to Aila's crossed arms. "You should not have left our apartment without speaking to me first."

Aila stepped out of her husband's reach. "You would have told me I could not go."

"Of course." Avarik took another step towards Aila, causing her to take another step backwards. "To protect…."

"I do not need protection from Padmé or the twins. The Skywalkers are our friends even after your scandalous treatment of them."

"Aila…" Obi-Wan let out a sigh of frustration as he managed to catch her by the forearms to stop her backpedaling.

"No!" Aila shouted, her words echoing down the hall. "You are not going to try to convince me that Anakin and Padmé are some sort of threat. And you are not going to prevent me from visiting with Padmé or Anakin."

"Your clearance to the cell block was revoked once Skywalker entered."

Aila quirked an eyebrow before throwing her head back in indignation. "How convenient, considering I was planning on joining the Skywalkers in the cell block."

"We had a bargain, my goddess." Avarik tone hinted at warning as he stared down his wife.

There was a pause for a moment before Aila took a deep breath and answered. "Yes. We agreed I would not enter the cellblock if you let Padmé and the twins out of it. And you did mention they would be under guard, but you failed to mention you were putting them under complete lock down up here." Aila uncrossed her arms and gestured behind her husband where the two clone guards and Kestin were coming around a corner. "I might have agreed to your bargain, but that does not mean I agree with you." Her own irritation growing and emanating over her Force bond, Aila took a step towards her husband and jabbed a finger into his chest as she gave him her ultimatum, "If you think I am going to stand here and watch while you destroy not only our friends' lives, but your own, you are sorely mistaken."

A gasp sounded behind Lord Avarik from Kestin as the Sith raised his own hand and sandwiched the hand that Aila was jabbing him in the chest with between that hand and his chest. "We'll discuss this inside." Avarik intoned over their Force bond, his hand gentle but firm on hers, in restrained fury.

Looking over Aila's shoulder, Avarik took one moment to address the two clones and Kestin. "Back to your posts, and Kestin, report to me as soon as we are within Coruscanti airspace." Then because he heard Aila's gasp and knew she would start her protests again, he grasped the hand he had clasped to his chest and dragged her away from the clones and Kestin so they would not witness the scene, Avarik knew would come.

Important A/N: Well, as some of you probably noticed I was MIA again for quite some time. I was planning on posting within a week of the last time for you all when something unexpected happened. I am not going to get into the details here.

However, as a result of said event I can no longer continue "Always in Motion: If You Love Me." I know this is going to upset and frustrate many of my loyal readers. Believe me this has upset me as well given my determination to finish this story, especially because it forced me to go back on my assurances to you all. Aila and Obi-Wan have been a part of my world since I threw them together in 2005 and I wanted to give their story an ending, but based on circumstances in the past few weeks, I won't be able to do that.

With that said, I won't be writing anymore, I might write a vignette here or there, but I'm done with the long stuff. However, I do know leaving this story hanging is not fair to those of you who have been following this story and I know it is extremely frustrating when an author does not finish a story. Therefore, I will make my outline of this story available, so at a minimum you will know how I was planning on ending this story. You will find it below.

Once again I would like to thank everyone who has supported me during this story, its predecessor, and all my other writing endeavors. And I apologize for ending this like this, but like I said this was unexpected and beyond my control.

-Aila and Obi-Wan get in a fight over her hanging out with Padmé. Obi-Wan will eventually concede to her that she can spend time with Padmé, but he wants Kestin to be with her. With one battle won Aila tries to get Obi-Wan to reconsider taking Anakin to the Emperor, but he won't budge. However, listening to Aila's logic is getting to him and he can't handle it so he flees and locks Aila in their room. (Aila thinks she'll have at least another day to argue with him, but Obi-Wan leaves to rechart their course so they reach Coruscant sooner).

-Obi-Wan returns early that night to find Aila curled up on the sofa in their apartment, she had pulled the blanket off their bed and is asleep. He picks her up and puts her in bed, curling up beside her before falling asleep.

-Qui-Gon and Yoda speak to Obi-Wan while he is sleeping. Like with Aila, Obi-Wan fights against the logic. Given his feelings against the Jedi council it is easy to ignore Yoda, but he finds it harder to ignore Qui-Gon given his respect for him. No decisions are changed and Obi-Wan is still not listening to them, but just like when he defied the Emperor concerning leaving Aila there is a sign of hope.

-Hearing Qui-Gon and Yoda causing Obi-Wan to react like he is having a nightmare wakes up Aila. She is still not happy with him, but seeing him vulnerable touches a spot in her heart and they share a tender moment. The both fall asleep again, Aila planning how she can use this moment they shared to convince him not to take Anakin to the Emperor.

-Obi-Wan slips out of bed before Aila wakes up. They have arrived at Coruscant and he is off to take Anakin to the Emperor.

-He personally takes Anakin on a shuttle, and as he had done before Anakin tries to reason with Obi-Wan. But it does not matter Anakin is taken to the Emperor.

-The Emperor gives Anakin an ultimatum that he can join them or die. Anakin refuses and is promptly tortured by the Sith. Back on Avarik's ship PAdme is screaming in pain in time with Anakin due to their Force bond, and Aila has rushed to her friend's side and is berating Obi-Wan over their own Force bond. Between that and the words from Qui-Gon the previous night, he feels bad and tries to convince the Sith to not torture Anakin, but leave him as a prisoner.

-The Emperor ignores Avarik and keeps attacking Anakin almost to death, but sensing the growing stress from Aila and fearing for the baby's safety, Avarik lights his lightsaber and block's his Master's attack getting between himself and Anakin. Anakin ends up passing out while the Emperor yells at Avarik. For a moment he almost attacks Avarik, but Obi-Wan mentions Aila and the baby. The Sith could care less about Aila, but he wants the child because he thinks he can corrupt the child and get a more powerful and more loyal apprentice than his father. So he does stop, but he is not happy about it. He has another plan as it is anyways.

-While Avarik and Aila were banished, the Emperor had begun production of a weapon to quell some of the uprisings that had sprung up after Avarik's defiance. That weapon is behind schedule and the Emperor orders Avarik to take Anakin and himself to that weapon and get it back on schedule (It's the deathstar to bridge this story to the original trilogy).

-Avarik leaves with Anakin, and then the Emperor broods. He ends up contacting Kestin privately and says things to fester the hostility she feels towards Aila concerning Obi-Wan.

-When Avarik gets to his ship, he locks up Anakin, and then head to his own apartment. Aila is not there she is next door with Padme, taking care of Luke and Leia since Padme is out of it given the attack on Anakin. She won't even talk to Avarik, she is so furious with him.

-Aila and Avarik's relationship is strained for the next few weeks with her anger, which makes Avarik feel guilty. He tries to find the words to say to her, but nothing seems to work and he tends to throw himself into his work overseeing the death star construction. Aila does eventually get to a point where she'll talk to him again, she loves him and can't stay angry with him forever. He also has allowed Padme and the twins supervised visits to see Anakin, which makes her happier.

-However, while Aila has been giving her husband the silent treatment, Kestin has been trying to comfort the Sith. She's just been talking to him, but she has deluded herself into thinking there is more to their relationship. The Emperor is not helping. He's basically polarized Kestin against Aila.

-The day Aila starts talking to Obi-Wan again is a relief to him, he'll even take the disapproval in her voice over his working on the Death Star. He even listens to her complaints that the purpose of the weapon is solely to kill innocent people. He admits to himself that he has had concerns as well, but he still is holding onto his trust of the Emperor because unlike the Jedi he has not hurt him. Qui-Gon and Yoda continue to try to reach them during the nights and this seems to be helping break his angry feelings that caused him to go to the dark side.

-Despite their arguments, the birth of baby Kenobi is fast approaching and Avarik and Aila are getting excited about that, but the Emperor can't keep things like that. He schedules a ball that Lord Avarik must attend and the Emperor has banned Aila from attending after what happened last time. He tells Avarik it is for Aila's own safety with the baby so close to arriving, but suggests he bring Kestin in Aila's place. Aila's not horribly upset by this because she does not want to be near the Emperor and she is not aware of Kestin's true feelings. She doesn't like that Avarik is going at all, but she know nothing she'll say will stop him, so she concedes defeat.

-Avarik attends the ball with Kestin, but during the ball there is an explosion from an "enemy of the Empire," (The Emperor staged it as usual). However the attack almost kills Kestin, but on instinct, Avarik saves her, not for any romantic reasons, but just in a Jedi saving an innocent kind of way, but Kestin misreads it and practically clings to him. However, Aila heard of the attack and the stress of it induces her to go into labor. Obi-Wan senses this and ditches Kestin and rushes home. Kestin is not happy when her romantic bubble is popped.

-Obi-Wan makes it back to the death star in time for the birth of his daughter. He is shocked when it was not a son as he thought. Qui-Gon was hiding the fact that the baby was a daughter to protect the child from the Emperor. The Emperor is a bit sexist in his story and was always more inclined to keep a son alive over a daughter, thinking the son would be more powerful. By protecting Obi-Wan's daughter, Qui-Gon also protected Aila from the Emperor because the Emperor was less inclined to kill either until the birth of the child. At the end though, Obi-Wan does not care and his daughter has him wrapped around her little finger. Just looking at his daughter makes some of the hatred in his heart slip. The end of this chapter would be Obi-Wan and Aila naming their daughter. Obi-Wan would name her Aurora, Aila would give her the middle name Hope (because that is what she feels watching Obi-Wan and their daughter), and to Aila's great shock, Obi-Wan gives her the last name Kenobi rather than Avarik.

-Palpatine finds out about Aurora and is furious, especially when he can feel the darkness's hold on Avarik slipping. Palpatine turns to Kestin and orders her to get rid of Aila and Aurora. To help Kestin, the Emperor orders Avarik to bring Anakin before him once more. He makes up some excuse that he has foreseen that Anakin will join them.

-Avarik leaves and once Kestin is sure he is far enough away, goes after Aila. She first enters Aila's apartment with a blaster in hand, and finds nothing, but she does find Obi-Wan's old lightsaber that Aila has kept and decides she'll use it to kill her rival. Aila and Padme were actually together chatting when Kestin barges into Padme's apartment (Luke, Leia, and Aurora are napping in another room). Kestin enters and immediately threatens both unarmed women with the lightsaber, but Aila and Padme keep her talking and explaining her actions to delay a deadly strike.

-Obi-Wan and Anakin can sense what Kestin is up to based on the warnings from the Force and their wives over their Force bond. Good news for Aila though is Kestin lets it slip that the Emperor set her on this task, which opens up Obi-Wan's eyes to reality and he realized everything Aila, Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Anakin have told him is true. Obi-Wan and Anakin rush home and no longer a prisoner Anakin is the one to reach Padme's apartment first and end Kestin's life before Kestin can strike at Aila and Padme.

-The Emperor senses this and knows all is lost unless he can get rid of the Jedi and their wives. The Clones on the death star turn on Obi-Wan and he and Anakin have to fight their way off the death star and get their families out of there.

-Anakin and Obi-Wan head to Dagobah and leave Aila, Padme, and their children in the care of Yoda. They considered remaining hidden, but they can sense the Emperor is using the death star to destroy random planets. Anakin and Obi-Wan know they must stop it. Anakin flys to stop the death star and Obi-Wan goes to face the Emperor. While he head back to Coruscant to fight the Emperor, Obi-Wan is fighting huge waves of guilt over how many lies he wrapped himself in to justify the terrible things he has done, but he is determined to set things right.

-Aila and Padme aren't about to let their husbands go alone and they actually leave Yoda with the children while they go to help their husbands. Padme follows Anakin, Aila follows Obi-Wan.

-Anakin will ultimately destroy the death star, but Padme will help him during the course of the battle along with some "rebel" forces that she called to aid them.

-Obi-Wan engages the Emperor in battle and it is a tough fight.

-Aila does come in and gets captured by the Emperor's guards and the Emperor attempts to use her as a bargaining chips to turn Obi-Wan back to the dark side. Meanwhile Aila and Obi-Wan are talking over their Force bond. Following Obi-Wan's instructions, Aila is able to escape from her captors and Obi-Wan kills them, but they are still left with the Emperor who catches both of them in a Force lightning attack. The Emperor pauses his attack long enough to complain to Aila that she ruined all his plans for not only Obi-Wan, but Anakin as well and that she should have never become entangled in this story, but he will easily remedy that problem.

- The Emperor starts another lightning attack, but it does not hit Aila or Obi-Wan. In front of Aila and Obi-Wan, the Force Ghost's of all Jedi that perished in the purge and Qui-Gon appear and form a wall to protect the couple, giving Obi-Wan the time and space he needs to destroy the Emperor.

-As the Emperor's spirit joins the Force, Obi-Wan is overwhelmed by the sight of all the Jedi he killed. He falls to his knees and apologizes profusely, knowing nothing he says can truly make up for what he has done. Aila scoots over to her husband as this goes on to comfort and support him. The members of the Jedi Council that perished in the purge and shake their heads at him explaining that they share the blame in what happened.

-That doesn't fully ease Obi-Wan's guilt, which he will live with for the rest of his life, but the fallen members of the Jedi Council urge him to rebuild the Order into one that is more open and respectful of change, emotion, and the compassion that unite all living beings. Obi-Wan won't feel he deserves this second chance, but Aila will accept it for him.

-The story will end with a sequence with Aila and Obi-Wan talking, Obi-Wan trying to say he can't do this new task, and Aila telling him yes he can. He'll concede eventually, but will ask Aila how she ever put up with him. She'll explain she knew there was always good at him, and unlike the Emperor she knew that the future was always in motion….

-Epilogue – Detailing life after the Emperor's death and the rebuilding of the Jedi Order. It will talk about Obi-Wan's guilt he continues to feel, but will also talk about how he is trying to teach the young Jedi about the mistakes of the past so that they don't repeat them and their futures can be brighter than those of their predecessors.