Same damn rocky bits [late evening]

[sith_happened]

Anakin hadn't really moved from the spot where he'd been sitting for the last two days, except to pull out his comlink after his children had left to stare at it for a good two hours, debating whether to call or not.

As the minutes ticked by, Anakin finally picked up the comlink one final time and called Rory.

[OOC: For Rory, plz. Conversation NFB, people involved totally up for grabs.]

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[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory looked at him. "Anakin. She might not ever forgive you. But she doesn't hate you."

No, she had no way of knowing whether that was true. But her first priority was to comfort him.

[sith_happened]

Anakin ran his hands through his hair--clearly not for the first time that day--and gave a humorless chuckle. "It was...really, really bad."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I don't doubt that. She's probably really, really hurting," Rory said softly. "It'll get better, though."

[sith_happened]

Anakin turned to look at her, not bothering to hide the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "Hard for it to get worse."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory acted on instinct and closed the distance between them to hug him.

[sith_happened]

Anakin clung tightly, trying not to sob into her shoulder.

It...kind of worked.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Shhhhh," Rory soothed, stroking his hair.

[sith_happened]

He pulled himself together quickly, but wasn't all that anxious to let go of Rory. "Forgive me for being an idiot?" he murmured into her hair.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Which time?" she asked, smiling a little.

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"Let's start with the most recent and work our way backwards," Anakin said with a sheepish smile, pulling back a bit.

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Rory nodded with a soft little smile.

[sith_happened]

"Force, I love seeing you smile," Anakin whispered, running a knuckle down her cheek.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I like that you can make me smile now," she whispered.

[sith_happened]

Anakin wrapped his arms around her again and held her close. "You're the only thing keeping me from flying completely apart some days," he said.

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"I try," Rory murmured, ignoring the way her heart had started pounding hopefully.

[sith_happened]

Anakin kissed the top of her head. "You succeed," he said softly. "I wouldn't have gotten here at all without you."

Which he should've said a long time ago, really, but Leia had shaken some of the stoic out of him.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory pulled back enough to look at him. "All I did was try to fix things," she said softly. "I couldn't leave you like that."

[sith_happened]

Anakin's eyes locked on hers. "I'll never be able to tell you how much that meant."

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She shrugged a little, looking down before meeting his eyes again. "You're too much to me. I couldn't let you just fall so far you're irretrievable."

[sith_happened]

Anakin ran his finger down her cheek, watching her eyes carefully before taking a deep breath and tilting his head down to kiss her.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory felt her eyes flutter shut, and Anakin's breath on her lips, and --

"RORY LOOKIT LOOKIT LOOKIT LOOKIT!"

Never having children. Seriously. Never.

Rory jerked back from Anakin, startled. "...what, Vladdie?"

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked Anakin, holding a shell in one hand and looking curious.

[sith_happened]

Anakin rested his head against Rory's forehead for a heartbeat, closing his eyes.

"Hello, Vladdie," he sighed.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I finded this!" Vladdie declared, holding out the shell. "Play!"

"Sorry," Rory whispered, moving away.

[sith_happened]

"It's very nice," Anakin said faintly, hand brushing up against Rory's apologetically.

"Maybe you can go find some more?"

Far away. Far, far away.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"For yoooou," Vladdie declared, holding out the shell for Anakin. "Don't wanna find mores." He scrabbled up to sit in Anakin's lap.