POV: Anakin Skywalker

Three months later.

Three months have gone by and I feel as though my relationship with my wife is slowly deteriorating, crumbling into the dusty floors we walk on within the temple.

Anima has been haunting my dreams ever since she killed me. Again.

Ahsoka and I sat in the lounge. We sat on separate sides of the room and faked a meditation session. I knew she was worried about me and she knew that I wouldn't meditate.

I heard light footsteps coming closer to the lounge and I opened my eyes, glancing to the left. My daughter came into view and smiled widely at me. "Daddy, can we train?"

I looked at Ahsoka to see her staring right back at me. I frowned at her as tears began to form in her eyes. "In a few minutes, baby. Can you go change into your training clothes?" I whispered.

She jumped in excitement and nodded several times before running off.

I stood up and crossed the room, kneeling in front of Ahsoka. I took her hand in mine and stared up at her face. "Talk to me."

Her eyes closed and her body trembled as she began to cry harder. "Soka, talk to me."

She leaned forward and thrust herself into my arms. I held her against me tightly and kissed her montrals.

My heart was crushed as I listened to her quiet sobs. I stroked her rear lek and closed my eyes. I knew she was still bothered by the fact that I'd died twice already.

I understood why she was upset, but this was three months ago. I wasn't sure what was going on now, but it always related to that day.

"I'm sorry, Ani," she whispered, straightening up to wipe her eyes.

I put my hands on either side of her face and rubbed her cheeks, wiping the tears away. "Shh. It's okay."

She smiled weakly at me and I kissed her nose. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She nodded slowly, staring up into my eyes. "Yes, but after the kids are asleep. You've got a training date with your daughter. I need to give the other two a bath."

"I'll wash Shmi up once we come back and then we can take a bath. How does that sound?"

Her smile widened and she laughed. I lowered my hands to hers and held them tightly. "That sounds wonderful, my love. It's getting late, so I may try to take a nap while you're with her."

"If you're asleep when I come back, then I won't wake you. We can bathe before the kids get up in the morning."

She tilted her face towards mine and I lowered mine to hers, kissing her lips slowly and passionately. Our kisses were somewhat audible and echoed in the lounge, but that didn't matter to either of us in this moment.

Things had been kind of rough in the last few months. She believed that she'd gotten pregnant again and was really disappointed to find out that we weren't adding another addition to our family. She was almost afraid to make love to me anymore because she didn't think I wanted any more kids.

The last time we'd spoken about it, we'd created an argument. I had to tell her numerous times that I wanted another baby as long as it was ours. She thought I meant something else by that and… Well, it resulted in my leaving the temple for a few days.

Needless to say, she was grateful to have me back when I returned.

I smiled against her lips as she moaned. "Daddy?"

I jumped and we separated. I looked at the entrance to see Shmi standing there, beaming at me expectantly. "Are you ready?"

She nodded quickly and smiled. I smirked and looked at Ahsoka again. "Go," she whispered. She stroked the side of my face and smiled. "I love you, Ani."

I kissed her once more and repeated her words, putting all of my love into it. There was no way she could ever doubt my love when I said it to her like that.

I stood and extended my hand towards her. She took it and I pulled her up. "I'll see you later then?"

"See you later, my love."

We kissed one last time, receiving a negative response from the little girl that was watching in the corner. I laughed and placed my hand on Ahsoka's back as we left the lounge.

Shmi grabbed my free hand and Ahsoka smiled at us. "Shmi, be good for Daddy, okay?"

"Always," she said, smiling widely.

I gave Ahsoka a longing look and she returned it. "Come on, Daddy," Shmi whined, tugging on my hand. She dragged me back a bit, but my eyes were locked with Ahsoka's.

"Get going, Daddy," she teased.

I cocked an eyebrow and smirked before sticking my tongue out at her. She laughed and I finally gave in, leaving with Shmi.

The two of us entered the training room and we began to set up. I levitated the mats into the center of the room and she went to get her training saber. "Daddy?"

I looked down at her. "Yeah?"

"Can we talk?"

I knelt down to level myself with her and nodded, shrugging. "Sure thing, baby. What's on your mind?"

"Are you and Mommy going to break up like you and Padme did?"

My heart shattered. "N-no. Why would you ever think that?"

"You love Mommy, but you've been really mad at her."

"Not recently." I paused. "Hey, how do you know that?"

We'd never fought in front of any of them. We usually stepped out of the bedroom before getting into an argument. "I… Daddy!"

I sighed. "Shmi, it's not a good thing to listen to Mommy and Daddy's conversations."

"I heard you guys at night, too. Daddy, what's a di-"

"And that's where I draw the line. Shmi, just take my advice, all right? When Mommy and Daddy talk sometimes, it's private. That means that your nosey, little ears shouldn't be butting into the conversation."

My heart was racing. I never thought she would listen to what Ahsoka and I talked about. I didn't even think she was awake when we talked about most things. She rolled her eyes at me.

"So you and Mommy are okay?"

I kissed her forehead and stroked her hair, smiling. "Mommy and I are more than okay. Were you afraid that we were going to break up?"

She nodded quickly. "I don't want to lose one of you. If you break up, I'll have to stay with Mommy and I don't want to be away from you again."

I glanced over her shoulder as I heard a gasp. "Soka –"

Shmi turned around and gaped at her mother who was now in tears. I stood up and ran over to her, holding her tightly. Her hands rested on my chest and she kept catching her breath, worrying me.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Why does she think we'll break up?"

"She was concerned. It's nothing. I told her that –"

"Mommy, are you okay?"

She pushed herself off of my chest and wiped her eyes to force a smile for the little girl who was also concerned. "I'm okay, darling."

"I thought I was darling," I whispered into her thoughts.

"It was meant for you both."

I stared at her as she knelt down and hugged Shmi. "I promise I'm okay."

"Daddy said you're both okay," she whispered.

Ahsoka's eyes lifted to me and she smiled. It was a real smile. Her hand rose and I took it. I rubbed her skin with my gloved thumb and whispered loving words to her that weren't meant to be overheard by the youngster in the room.

She let go of Shmi and my hand before standing up. "Love you," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Love you."

She pulled back and slid her hands over my shoulders. "I love you more," she teased.

"We'll see whether that's true or not shortly," I whispered, winking.

She giggled and kissed my cheek. "Do you two want dinner before you really get started?"

We looked at Shmi and she had a pouting face on. Her lower lip jutted out and I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped. "Come on, kiddo. Let's get some food in that stomach of yours and then we'll train."

She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Fine."

"Go get ready for dinner," I called out after her as she started walking away.

"Fine!" she yelled back.

I stared at her back with wide eyes before regaining my control. "Hey, don't you dare get snippy with me!"

She looked over her shoulder in fear before bolting out of the room.

Ahsoka laughed and rubbed my chest. "Are you going to start calling her Snips now?"

I shrugged. "Well, you're just Soka or love now. I could call her Snips if the attitude keeps up. I wonder where she gets it from."

We both stared at the doorway. "Padme," we said simultaneously.

I sighed and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, leading her out of the training room. "Why did she think you and I were going to divorce?"

"I don't think she knows what divorce is. She overheard a few of the fights we had and thought we weren't getting along. Also, I think our midnight love-making conversations need to stay in our heads."

She paused and looked up at me in shock. "Did she hear me last night?"

I nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sure she's heard me say worse things than that, so don't worry."

"What could you have possibly –?"

"I just learned that she's been listening in on us. Who knows what she's heard?" I laughed.

"Good point."

She leaned against me for more support and I held her.

We entered the dorm to see three wild children running around the room. It was adorable because Cayden had actually begun running with them. He kept crying out, "Mama! Mama!" over and over again.

Ahsoka giggled and wrapped her arms around my waist. I wrapped mine around her back and kissed her forehead. Cayden stopped when he saw me and raised his arms into the air. "Dada!"

I smiled and let go of Ahsoka, bending forward to lift my son into my arms. I held him on my side like Ahsoka had done many times. I glanced at her nervously and she gave me a confused look. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"I feel like I'm going to drop him."

"You're holding him just fine, sweetheart. Don't tense up because he'll feel it."

"Really?"

"Yes, Ani."

After several minutes of messing with the kids, Ahsoka finally got me to settle down. I set Cayden down on the bed and began to feed him as the girls chewed their food audibly on their beds. Ahsoka came back into the dorm and smiled at me.

She sat on the bed and put my bowl of mush down in the middle of us. I glanced at it and frowned. "Still nothing good in there?"

"I gave the best I could find to the kids, Ani. I'm sorry…"

I turned over and pulled her face closer to me, kissing her gently. "No. It's fine, my love. I was just asking a question."

She began to spoon bits and pieces of the… food from my bowl into her mouth and I smirked. "Where's mine?"

She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out with all of the food on it. I laughed as she pointed to it. "Just eat it, love."

She closed her mouth and continued to chew and I laughed again. I kissed her cheek and went back to feeding Cayden.

After the kids finished eating, they went off into the refresher to mess around for a little bit. Ahsoka and I were still very capable of hearing them if they needed us, so we just laid back on the bed and relaxed.

I took her hand in mine and stared at her face. "What's wrong, Anakin?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just thinking about you. How have you been since…?"

"You're alive and I'm able to hold you at night. I'm getting to the point where it doesn't hurt me to think about it."

I kissed her jaw and she rested her hand on my neck. "I miss you," I whispered. After I said it, it seemed really stupid to say, but she understood it.

"I miss me, too."

I sat up and she leaned against me, hugging me tightly. "Things will get better soon, Ani."

I wrapped my left arm around her and held her rear lek, kissing her neck. "I hope so."