In the Shadows {2}

xxviii: The Announcement

Dusk had fallen by the time Ahsoka was ready to leave the Jedi Temple. She already knew she was going to be late to Anakin's party, but that was the least of her concerns. Since the meeting earlier that day, her mind had been preoccupied worrying about the situation on Mandalore. She's spent an extra hour in the training room to try to clear her thoughts, but the foreboding feeling didn't subside. If Lux wouldn't have called her to remind her of the time, she'd probably still be back in the training room with a training remote.

Ahsoka's cot was still in the office of the Amidala-Skywalker apartment. She knew it would be late by the time the party was finished, so she decided to pack a small bag and plan to spend the night there. Once she was sure she had everything, she raced toward the hangar and sped to the Senate apartment complex.

When she arrived, she slipped in the front door. The party was in full swing, with many guests in attendance already. Overall, she was underwhelmed by the number of people in attendance. She knew that Padme had a rather extensive network of friends, but this seemed to be a more tame gathering of just family and close friends.

She walked briskly to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. After tossing her bag on the bed, she applied some quick mascara and lip gloss. There was no way Anakin was wearing anything other than his usual robes, so she didn't see why she had to change out of her uniform, either. Once she was ready, she headed to the balcony area to join the party.

She scanned the crowd quickly for Lux, who was talking with Senator Organa. Anakin and Padme were nowhere in sight, which hopefully meant that they were too busy socializing with their guests to notice her tardiness. She grabbed a drink from one of the buffet tables and stood by the wall.

It only took Lux a few minutes to notice her there. He politely excused himself from his conversation and sauntered over to her, a big grin on his face.

"And how is the most spectacular girl in the galaxy doing this evening?" He gave her a quick kiss.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "Sorry I'm late. Thanks for the call."

"My pleasure." He took her hand and pulled her towards the rest of the guests. "Now that General Skywalker knows you're here, he can make his announcement."

"Oh, he didn't have to wait for me!" If she had known Anakin was waiting on her, she wouldn't have stopped by the training room in the first place.

"You're the only family he has, really. Besides Senator Amidala and Master Kenobi. Of course he's going to wait for you."

Ahsoka hadn't seen Obi-Wan since the meeting earlier, and she had a feeling she wouldn't be seeing him tonight, either. Mandalore was too much of a mess at the current moment for him to be there less than a rotation.

Lux dragged her over to where Anakin stood, conversing with Senator Amidala.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin's face lit up. "You're late. Please tell me you weren't playing with the training remotes again." She smiled guiltily, and he groaned. "We can have this discussion later, Snips. You're lucky I'm excited to make this announcement."

Padme tapped her spoon against the side of her glass, grabbing everyone's attention. She cleared her throat. "Thank you, everyone, for coming. We're so happy you could be with us tonight as we celebrate this milestone." She glanced up at Anakin briefly before continuing. "What I am about to tell you is confidential information, but as family and friends, we thought it was appropriate to share it with you. Anakin and I have been together since the start of the war. Because of the Jedi rules of attachment, we were forced to keep it a secret. Now that this has changed, we will be getting publicly married and won't have to pretend anymore." She paused briefly, letting the information sink in to her audience.

Anakin took it from there. "Prior to the change of circumstances, however, Padme and I decided that we were ready to start a family."

Padme smiled. "So here's the big announcement: we're pregnant!"

Ahsoka could feel the excitement in the room elevate as the couple was met with a chorus of congratulations.

Lux looked down at her in shock, then back and forth between Ahsoka and Anakin as Anakin and Padme moved to the middle of the group, leaving Lux and Ahsoka alone. "Can you believe it?" Lux asked. He shook her gently. "Auntie 'Soka, why aren't you freaking out?" Ahsoka chuckled at the "Auntie 'Soka" comment. His expression changed when he realized she was avoiding his question. "Wait a kriffing minute, you knew about this, didn't you?"

She kissed his cheek. "Maybe."

He shook his head. "How? The force?"

"No, silly. Padme told me before the whole Mustafar incident."

"Ah, that would make more sense." He paused a few seconds, and Ahsoka could practically see the gears turning in his mind as he pieced together whatever he wanted to say next. "Ahsoka, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"How did you know what the force felt like?"

The question caught her off guard. "Oh, I don't know. It's always been a part of me, so I've never really known anything else. Why do you ask?"

"Nyx and Dooku ran some tests on me while I was on Mustafar. They gave me a ton of drugs and shots. I think I figured out what they were doing to me, and what's scarier is that I think it worked."

She was immediately concerned. "I thought you said you were fine? Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, no, nothing's wrong. I feel different, though. Something's been off since I got back, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It's like I've been needing glasses my whole life and they finally gave them to me, you know?"

"No, you've lost me. You're not making any sense."

He crossed his arms. "People have been incredibly easy to read since I got back. It's like I can feel what they're feeling by just looking at them or talking to them. If I try hard enough, I feel like I can even read their thoughts. Does that make any more sense, or do I still sound crazy?"

That was strange. Sure, Lux's people skills were great, but actually reading thoughts? That was pushing it for a non force user. Unless...

No, there was no way.

"You see that pillow over there?" she gestured to one of the throw pillows on the couch nearby. He nodded. "Close your eyes and picture it in your mind."

"Got it," he said, his eyes closed. "Now what?"

"Try to lift it."

She waited a few seconds, and to her surprise, the pillow shifted slightly. Lux opened his eyes and let out a breath he was holding. "Did I do it?"

"Well," she hesitated, not sure what to tell him. "Not exactly, but it moved a little."

"How much is a little?"

"Enough." Jaryn was force sensitive, which means that Lux's midichlorian count was probably on the upper end of normal before Mustafar. What if Nyx had figured out a way to increase the midichlorian count in an individual?

She'd seen Lux move the pillow, and based on what he said, she had a feeling Nyx had succeeded.

"Lux, you should probably get some blood work done to be one hundred percent sure, but I think you're force sensitive."

A/N: Hello! Sorry it took so long for an update. I've spent all my writing time sketching/creating a ton of OCs for Ashes. I started a new show, too, and that's eating up my time. I'm really behind where I want to be writing-wise because of that, but I'll get caught up soon. I'm hoping to be able to crank out a few chapters on Sunday. We'll see what happens.

The next update for this will probably be sometime next week. Until then, may the force be with you!