The smell of sulfur on Mustafar was awful

The smell of sulfur on Mustafar was awful. Anakin hoped he could leave the planet soon, but he had orders. 'Who knows what will happen if I break those orders. I know, Master won't help me discover the secret to life, and I will lose my family before it can begin. Padme's ship!' And so it was. Padme's gleaming ship started to land and Anakin started to run toward the landing bay. When he reached it, Padme had emerged from her ship and had started running toward him. They embraced tightly, and they both wished they could stay like that forever. 'With her soft cheek touching mine, the smell of her hair in my nose.' Best of all her pregnant belly was pushing against him, and he could actually feel a tiny little foot pushing him as well. 'This is what I'm doing this for, moments like these' he thought. But Padme had come for a reason, and it was time to find out why.

"I saw your ship. What are you doing here?"

"I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

"What things?" he asked.

"That you'd… turned toward the dark side, that you… killed younglings." She looked at him, searching for a sign that would tell her she had been lied to.

"Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me."

"He cares about us."

"US?"

"He knows. He wants to help you. Anakin, all I want is your love."

"Love won't save you Padme, only my new powers can do that" he declared.

"But at what cost? You're a good person, don't do this!"

"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother. I have become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of! And I'm doing it for you, to protect you."

"Come away with me," she begged, "Help me raise our child! Run away and leave everything behind while we still can!"

"Don't you see Padme; we don't have to run away anymore! I'm more powerful than Palpatine, I can overthrow him! And I can rule the galaxy with you at my side!"

Padme couldn't believe it. She looked at him, hoping that his serious face would be replaced by the smile she had fallen in love with. Hoped that he would crack up and tell her it would had all been a big joke. Hoped she would wake up from the nightmare. But she didn't. How could she say yes? How could she agree to become an empress? But then again, how could she say no?

"Okay, your right lets go," she said hugging him.

"Anakin! Let her go!" Obi-Wan shouted as he emerged from the ship.

"Obi-Wan!" Padme shouted in surprise.

"What is HE doing HERE? On YOUR ship."

"I swear Anakin, I didn't know! I would never-"

"ENOUGH! I can't believe this!"

"Anakin calm down! She didn't know I was on there! I tried to get her to tell me where you were, but she refused, point blank. I snuck onto the ship; she had nothing to do with this!"

"LIAR!!"

"Anakin I would never…" Padme paused, clutching her pregnant belly, a look of pain on her face.

"Padme?" Anakin said his anger suddenly replaced with worry. "Are you alright. Is something wrong with the baby!?" She could only reply with a scream.

"AAAAAH!"

"PADME!" Anakin yelled running to catch her. She grimaced in the pain that washed over her.

"Anakin, how far along is she?" Obi-Wan said with worry.

"Seven and a half months."

"It's far too early for this. Here we should bring her inside the ship." Obi-Wan said as he motioned to help.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Anakin yelled.

"Ani…" she moaned.

"It's okay angel, you'll be alright." He said as he carried her inside.

"It-it's too early."

"Don't worry." He said, but he was plenty worried. She was going into labor. And early. It seemed like his nightmare was coming true.

"Anakin, get 3PO. I had information on human pregnancies added to his database. He-he'll know what to do."

"Okay angel, just stay calm. And you" he said looking towards Obi-Wan, "I'll deal with you later," he said, stalking off to get med supplies and C-3PO.

"Master Ani. Miss Padme is just fine. It appears she was just experiencing false labor," 3PO said after finishing his examination.

"Are you sure?" Anakin said.

"Oh yes, quite. It was probably caused by stress, given her behavior before the whole incident. She's asleep now."

"Is the baby okay?"

"Well yes but um, there is something you ought to know." The droid replied.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Anakin panicked.

"Oh nothing is wrong. It's just, well. Perhaps we should wait until Miss Padme wakes up. She'll want to hear this as well."

"3PO, if something is wrong tell me now!"

"Master Anakin you must calm down! This is good news! I just think we should wait until Miss Padme wakes up!"

Anakin relaxed and realized how ridiculous he was being. "I'm sorry 3PO your right. I'll go wait for Padme to wake up, I'm sorry for yelling."

"Um, apology accepted Master Anakin," 3PO said as Anakin walked into the ships sleep room. "Humans. I know I'm programmed to understand them but I don't think I ever will."

Anakin entered the sleep room, happy to see Padme peacefully sleeping, perfectly alright. Then she slowly started to wake up.

"Ani," she said quietly, "is everything okay?"

"Yes everything is fine Padme. In fact 3PO said he has some good news."

"Really, what is it?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know, he wouldn't tell me. Said he'd wait for you to wake up. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes Ani, don't worry. I'm fine."

"Are you hungry?"

"I've been hungry for months Ani," she replied.

"Well then let's go get you something to eat and we'll find out 3PO's good news," he said as he motioned to help her get up. But she stopped him with a wave of her hand

"No Anakin. I can get up without your help."

"Okay if you insist," he replied. Once she did get up, the couple made their way to the small kitchenette on the ship and called for 3PO to tell them his news.

"Okay 3PO, out with it. Tell us this supposed 'good news' you have," Padme said

"Well um, I'm not really sure how to tell you this. Hmm. Miss Padme, your carrying twins."

Padme and Anakin's jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief

'How didn't I see this?' she thought.

'How didn't I sense this?' he thought.

"Are you two alright?" 3PO asked in concern.

"Oh um, yes 3PO, just surprised. That's all."

"I was an even worse Jedi than I thought I was." Anakin thought out loud.

"Anakin how could you say that about yourself?" Padme said

"I just can't believe I didn't sense two."

"I never let you sense them remember. I didn't want you to check what the gender is."

"I know, but I should have at least sensed two different Force-signatures walking around within yours."

"Maybe their identical. Maybe that's why you couldn't sense two," she tried to reason."

"Maybe. That might explain a little." He sighed sadly. "Padme I'm so sorry."

"Sorry. Sorry for what?"

"For making you go into labor. I stressed you out so much, you went into labor. The babies might have gotten hurt and so would you."

"Anakin, don't blame yourself. It's my fault too. I should have stayed on Coruscant," she said reassuringly.

"Let's just forget about it. How about I get us something to eat?"

"Ooh! I have shurra fruit in the cooling unit."

"Sounds good. I'll be right back," he said, and left after giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Walking into the kitchen, he scowled, seeing Obi-Wan.

"We need to talk Anakin."

"Yes we do. You listen Obi-Wan. If you think you're going to kill me, well guess what think again. I've got three reasons in the other room why I'm going to keep going. I've got something to fight for. You don't. So go ahead. Pull out the lightsaber. But you won't kill me."

Obi-Wan sighed at his former Padawan. "I don't want to kill you Anakin. I came to give you a second chance. I suggest you take it."

"I can't."

"And why not?" Obi-Wan demanded.

"Because if I do, my family is as good as dead. So listen here. Tomorrow I'm handing you over to Palpatine. So I suggest you have a nice nights sleep. It'll be your last."

"You think I'm going to just let you hand me over to that madman? You think I'm going to let you go off and be this Vader person. You think I'm going to let you train a bunch of mini Skywalkers in the dark side. Well you're wrong. You need to stop this foolish game and get your head back where it belongs."

"Are you threatening to take away my children from me and Padme? Or are you going to take her too?!"

"I will do what I must Vader," Obi-Wan spat.

"You will try," Anakin replied as he connected his metal hand to Obi-Wan's head. "Goodnight master," he spat to the now unconscious Obi-Wan. After locking Obi-Wan into the closet he continued his original task of getting shurra fruit for Padme. He returned to the control room where she was sitting with a plate full of her favorite food.

"Anakin, what was all that about?"

"What was what about angel?" Anakin replied.

"I heard you fighting with Obi-Wan. What did you do to him?" she said worriedly

"Nothing. In fact, he's taking a nice nap right now."

"Anakin, he's not sleeping. Tell the truth."

"I am. He won't be waking up for a while."

"Unh. What in the world am I going to do with you? You need to calm down."

"I know, I know. I just… everything just seems to be going so wrong right now. This isn't the world I wanted to bring our baby into. And now we have two babies. Not that I'm not happy about it but…"

"I think I know what'll make you feel better," she said smiling. "Come over here." He did, sitting down next to her. She grabbed his hand, placing it on her pregnant belly. A smile came onto his face when he felt one of the babies kick.

"Your right. That's amazing," he said, marveling at the strength of the little life inside.

"Yeah, I thought so too. For about fifteen standard minutes. Then it started hurt."

"Now that's not very nice," Anakin said, leaning down toward Padme's stomach. "Why are you hurting mommy huh? Mommy loves you."

"So does daddy," Padme said, smiling at her husband. "I know you're having fun, but you do realize they can't hear you."

"Well maybe not consciously. And even if that's true, it's fun to pretend."

"True. Let's get back to Coruscant. I think it's best if we pack to leave for Naboo. I want the babies to be born there."

"I know. I'll set the coordinates. You should probably get some…" he stopped short, realizing his wife was already asleep in her chair. He smiled and continued to prepare the ship.

"I'll save you angel. I promise."