Anakin had been gone for two months when Padmé discovered she was pregnant. She didn't worry, not then, he had been gone for longer.
When she was five months pregnant she contacted the Jedi Council. They told her Anakin was on a long term assignment with Obi-Wan and couldn't be contacted. She couldn't try too hard or they might start to suspect something. She tried again two months later anyway.
She was due in three weeks and still no word. She worried then, but she'd know if he were dead (wouldn't she?) She ran into Ahsoka, Anakin's former Padawan, and Ahsoka agreed to try to get a message to Anakin.
Sabe was there when the twins were born, as was Ahsoka. Padmé cried because Anakin wasn't, he didn't even know they existed. She named them Luke and Leia and she considered telling the council, surely they would let Anakin know of his own children. But the war was getting worse and she and Anakin both had a duty to keep the Republic and their children safe.
When the twins were a week old, the first assassination attempt happened. The next week a second. The week after that two more.
The twins were three months old. Sabe was pretending to be Padmé at the senate and she sent Ahsoka out to find Anakin. It had been a year since she last saw him. Her children were in too much danger with her so she took them to the Jedi Temple.
They were both extremely Force sensitive so they would have had to be trained eventually, but she had hoped to have years with them not the few months she received.
The hovercar pulled up to the Jedi Temple and she got out with a child in each arm. She was in disguise, her hair dyed red and wearing cheap plain clothes, but she still couldn't relax until she was inside, the door closed behind her.
"May I help you?" A Jedi woman spoke, her gaze going to Luke and Leia knowingly.
"Yes," Padmé straightened. "My children need to join the Temple, they aren't safe with me." The woman nods understandingly but Padmé can spot the glint of curiosity in her eye.
"Have they had their midi-chlorian count taken?" she asked as she gestured for Padmé to follow her down a discrete corridor.
Padmé knows the question is just a formality but answers anyway.
"Yes."
The woman leads them into a small medical room, "We'll need to test them again."
Padmé nods, it's starting to sink in now; she might never see her children again.
The woman took a sample from each child quickly and efficiently before placing them on a small cot next to Padmé's chair. Luke and Leia are awake now and looking around at everything with a quiet intensity. The results on the sample came back and the woman gasped.
Padmé knows why but refuses to acknowledge it. Counts of over 14 thousand are rare - thankfully not unheard of - but rare. When the woman turned around with a datapad containing the necessary forms, Padmé could see that she is burning to ask more questions. She didn't and Padmé was grateful for that. The temple had a no-questions-asked policy.
The forms asked all the standard information: species, medical history, planet of origin, and so on. Padmé filled out all the necessary information, but leaves the parents names blank.
She put the twins names down as Luke and Leia Naberrie, human male and female, three months old. Then near the end of the form, she came across the optional contact information section. Padmé couldn't put down her information or Anakin's obviously. Maybe Sabe? No, Sabe was too easily linked with her, especially since she used the name Naberrie. In a flash of inspiration, she wrote down Ahsoka's name and information.
Padmé stared blankly at the completed datapad for a moment before handing it back to the woman. She looked at her sympathetically for a few moments before Padmé picked up her children and follows her out of the room. The woman led her through a series of hallways until they reached a plain blue door. It opened and they walked inside. It is clearly a nursery, with light blue paint and cots and pillows scattered throughout the room, even though there are only two young children present.
The woman talked quietly to an elderly half Firrerreo before leaving. He approached Padmé and gives her a reassuring smile.
"My name is Rukari," he said bowing, "I take care of the younglings. I apologize for Nete, she's not one for pleasantries."
"...Beru," Padmé replied returning the bow.
"The little ones?" Rukari asks, he doesn't mention her lie.
"Luke and Leia"
"Twins?" He asked with a smile before it fades, "They're … a bit young."
"They weren't safe with me," Padmé explained, a touch desperately.
Rukari looked at her for a long moment. He must have been satisfied with whatever he saw. "You are a good mother," he said. He doesn't ask about the father, thank the force. "They will be well cared for," he told her kindly.
"I know," she replies. She's crying silently now. She took a deep breath and put her mask firmly in place. "I need to go."
She kissed them both on the forehead, Luke first, then Leia, and placed them down on a cot.
"I love you both," she whispered to them.
She bowed to Rukari and he returned the courtesy. Then she walked out the door. She could hear them start crying right before the door shuts behind her.
The woman, Nete, guided her back to the doors as she reminded herself of all the reasons why this had to happen. She dried her eyes, stepped out into the Coruscant air and headed home.
She never reached it.