crack_van | Far More Than Rubies by frodogenic (PG)

Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Gen
Length: 72,216 words
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: fanfiction.net profile
Why this must be read: One: the characters' voices are spot on, to a degree you'll rarely find outside the movies. Two: the premise is fascinating. Have you seen many - or any - well-written fics about Padmé trying to simultaneously be a Rebel leader and a single mother to Luke, and the conflicts that would inevitably arise between these two roles? The scenes where she pressures Obi-Wan into babysitting when she has to leave on missions are pricelessly dramatic and one hundred percent in character.

When a Rebel Padmé fic is recced by someone who dislikes the very concept of Rebel Padmé, it's got to say a few things about the quality of the fic in question.

"Out of the question."

Padmé stiffened, glared. "I beg your pardon?" she hissed under her breath. "Do you realize what this could do for the rebel movements?"

"Do you realize what this could do to your son?" Obi-Wan returned. Beneath his veneer of Jedi serenity, Padmé could see sparks of something that was close to anger. "Venturing uninvited into an area under heavy Imperial surveillance is not a wise thing for anyone to do, but it is especially ill-advised for single parents."

Her eyes sparked angrily. "I hope you're not implying I don't take my responsibility to my son seriously."

Obi-Wan was not so easily deterred. "I am implying exactly that."

Her mouth fell open, as much in shock as in anger. She was so furious that she had to wait a good minute before she could respond with anything like calm. "That's absurd. My entire life has been defined by my responsibilities towards others. If there is anything I understand, it is responsibility—"

"Civic responsibility," he cut in sharply. "Forgive me for being so blunt, but I do not think your sense of responsibility towards your family equals your sense of civic responsibility, Padmé."

She jerked as if he'd slapped her across the face. He kept going.

"You have spent your entire life devoted to the service of others, Padmé, for which I certainly commend you, but there are drawbacks to such devotion. You think in terms of what is best for the whole, not the individual. A parent cannot think that way."

"And what would you know about parenting?" she snapped, too furious to reel the comment in. She immediately felt guilty for it, but Obi-Wan took it in stride.

"Training a Padawan is not so very different from raising a child," he returned steadily. "If I had constantly gone around thinking how I could best serve all of the Padawans in the Temple, my own would have suffered greatly."

Padmé set her jaw—this time not in anger, but against the pain that welled with every mention of Anakin. "This is ridiculous," she finally said, when she could speak without her voice quavering. "Luke is the entire reason I'm working against the Empire. His future is at stake. This operation could be a deciding factor in weakening the power that threatens his life, and I am the best choice to spearhead it. I am doing this for him, not myself."

"I'm sure Luke will find that knowledge a great reassurance in the event of your death," Obi-Wan said evenly.

She leaned back in her chair with a cold glare. "So I'm supposed to let fear dictate my actions henceforth?"

"You are supposed to use your good sense and make Luke's welfare your first priority," Obi-Wan countered. "If you go to Fresia, you are risking your life and his safety! Padmé, all it could take is one lucky hologram snapshot, and the Sith might know of both you and Luke."

"That is the case no matter where I go," she retorted. "And all it takes for them to win is for people like me to sit around doing nothing. This is no more dangerous than anything else I have done in the past six years. I am going to Fresia, and then I will step back."

Obi-Wan settled back in his own chair, looking at her with evident disappointment. "I will not condone that decision," he told her firmly.

Far More Than Rubies