That… thing, lying on the bank of the river of lava, is it Anakin? Or is it Vader? I stepped down the bank a couple of paces. Then I saw the smoke starting to billow from around the body. Reaching out in the Force, I brought the torso and mechanical arm up the bank, away from danger.

"Who are you?" I called.

"You know who I am!" came the tortured response.

"Are you Vader or Anakin?"

"I am who I am!" The Anakin/Vader thing replied.

"What do you want most in the galaxy?"

For the first time, the head turned to me, and the face was a mask of pain. I saw confusion in the yellow eyes for a moment. Blue flashed. Then yellow. Blue. Yellow. Blue. Yellow.

"I want to de-"

Blue.

"I want my wife!"

Yellow. But only for a moment. Blue.

"I want my baby! Keep them safe, Master. Please keep them safe." Anakin's eyes were downcast. He was waiting for death, waiting for me to kill him before Vader got the chance to return.

"That can remain your job, Anakin."

He didn't dare look up, afraid, I suppose, that Vader would be able to take over if he looked at someone who had hurt him as I had.

I took his body in the Force and carried it back to Padmé's shuttle. One of the droids had gotten her into a bunk. I rested what remained of Anakin next to her, saw her horrified expression, ran to the cockpit.

I couldn't face their pain. Not when I'd caused it. I would leave, when I reached the medcenter. I could take the first transport away from whatever hub I took them to, leaving them to their family. Anakin didn't really need me anymore. There were no Jedi to protect, no republic to defend. I was lost. Anakin had Padmé, and, in their time of need, I thought selfishly that I had nowhere to go.

I set course for Polis Massa, and sat back, regarding the stars. It was a long wait, but I didn't know if I wanted it over, or if I would rather stay like that forever. For now I had a purpose. I had to get Anakin and Padmé to a medcenter, save them, save the baby. But when that was done, I would no longer have anything.

I could hear their voices, soft, gentle. They were so perfect for one another. How had I not seen it? Because I hadn't wanted to. I wanted Anakin to be the model Jedi, Padmé just a friend.

I don't doubt that they're trying to heal each other. I wouldn't be surprised if Anakin had managed to get up, despite his lack of legs, and was trying to find something to ease her pain.

I should have gone back and found it for him. But I couldn't. Let their droids care for them. Threepio had a better idea of the layout of the ship than I did, Artoo, better information on treatments. The droids could care for their masters now.

I landed the ship in a hanger and summoned a medic. I walked to the room he pointed me towards as he went to retrieve Anakin and Padmé. Both were brought out on stretchers. I turned away and waited just outside the doors.

It was a birthing room, and after Padmé was taken in, Anakin insisted on being with her as his baby was born.

I have no doubt they held one another while the baby was born. I was expecting the first set of baby sobs to join Padmé's agonised moans as they ended, but I didn't expect her continued pain, then another baby wail joining the first.

Padmé's cries ended, and the babies were soothed before Anakin called to me, "Master! It's twins! Come see them!"

I entered awkwardly, feeling that I was intruding. Anakin was sitting in a hover chair, I suppose they managed to get him in before Padmé began to give birth. It was tipped back slightly and a small bundle lay in his lap, supported by his prosthetic arm. Padme was being held in a sitting position by a med-droid, and feeding the other twin.

Anakin saw my hesitation, as he always has, "Master, come on. They don't have any teeth yet, even if they do bite, it won't hurt too much."

Always the sarcastic one, Anakin. He and I, "It's not them I'm worried about."

Our short verbal spar was enough to calm me a bit. I walked to Anakin's side and he awkwardly shoved the tiny bundle towards me, careful not to hurt it. I took it and a looked down into the small face of a newborn. It was adorable, irresistible.

Anakin smiled at my expression, I'm sure I looked star-struck. "His name is Luke."

I reached down and moved the blanket aside a bit so that some of the fuzz on his head showed. Blond, like Anakin. "Hello, Luke."

The baby didn't respond. I couldn't help smiling. As if it could greet me back. I passed the bundle back to Anakin.

"No, you keep him, Master. I keep worrying he'll roll off my lap and I won't be able to stop him."

I retained my grip on Luke, but now that Anakin had verbalized it, I too was afraid of dropping him. As if in answer to our worries, Luke's eyes opened wide. Blue, also like Anakin. I wondered if he had inherited anything at all from his mother.

Anakin gasped, "Show Padmé! That's the first time he's opened his eyes!"

I turned obediently to Padmé, careful not to look at her naked upper half.

I'm sure from the way she spoke that she was smiling, "Oh, just like his daddy."

Having been brought close to his mother, Luke now smelled her milk. As he started to sob, I felt Padme take him carefully and return what I could only assume was his sibling. I turned away from her and looked down at the new bundle.

Anakin looked down at it too, "That's Leia. Isn't she beautiful? She's gonna look just like her mommy."

"Force, another Anakin and another Padmé," I teased. "How will the galaxy survive?"

It made them both laugh, and I began to feel more at ease in their family. On closer examination, Leia looked as much like her mother as a newborn and a grown woman can possibly look. She had Padmé's wide brown eyes, and her fuzz was brown, unlike her brother's.

She studied me intensely, and I felt as though I was being judged, although no baby that young can have anything that advanced. Can they? She seemed to deem me less interesting than her mother's milk, and started wailing again. I passed the second bundle back to its mother and returned my attention to Anakin.

Padmé finished feeding one of the twins and passed it back to me. Its eyes were closed, and I could only recognize Luke because of the lightness of his hair.

Anakin, on the other hand, didn't have to glance at the fuzz to recognise his son. Perhaps he had been watching Padmé feed them. His mechanical hand reached out to touch the small cheek. As he did so, the child's eyes jumped open.

The boy didn't even spare me a glance as he stared at his father. Anakin moved the hoverchair closer and I held the baby out so that he could sit on his father's lap, but I could catch him if he fell. Even as I moved him, Luke's eyes never left his father's face. It was almost odd how intelligent the newborns seemed.

Anakin smiled down at his son and cradled the little head in his hand. "Isn't he just the most beautiful baby you've ever seen?"

"He has competition from his sister, but they are certainly the two most beautiful babies I've ever seen." I assured him. If I had been honest, I would have had to tell him that I found all babies pretty similar at that age. They were small, and wrinkly, and red. The twins did have a kind of charm, though.

Luke seemed to finish staring at his father, and now he looked at me. Something in his blue eyes wavered, and I don't know if it's my imagination that he reached out to me.

I suppose it wasn't, because Anakin passed him back. "I think he likes you."

"How can he like me, he doesn't even know me."

"Maybe you should ask him that. And anyway, you're the third of the only three humans he's ever met."

"I suppose that's true."

"It is. You'll take care of the kids sometimes, won't you, Master?" And with that simple sentence, Anakin gave me a purpose. I didn't have to leave, because Anakin still needed me.