Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. They belong to George Lucas.
Notes: Other suggestions for the title of this fic are appreciated. Reviews are encouraged. Thanks for reading.
Padmé winced as another contraction hit her. The contractions were still coming few and far in between, but she knew the pain she was feeling would only increase, and she did not want a medical droid to be her only company during the delivery of what she now knew would be her twin children. With that thought in mind, she looked up at the droid attending her and asked if she could have others be with her during the delivery. The droid said she could, but that only one other being was permitted to be in the room with her.
Padmé's face fell when she heard this condition, and she turned her head to look out the glass walls of the operating theater at her three companions—Bail Organa, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. She only watched them for a moment before turning her head again to stare up at the ceiling and think about who she wanted in the room with her. Yoda she dismissed fairly quickly, for although she respected him and knew him to be caring and wise, she did not feel close enough to him to let him accompany her during her childbirth. Ruling out Yoda, however, left only Bail and Obi-Wan for her to choose between, and that made her decision much harder.
She had known both men for a long time, and she thought of them as trusted allies and good friends. Bail had backed her causes in the Senate many times, and she had returned the favor, not just out of the need for a political alliance, but often because she truly cared about those same causes, and she could tell that Bail believed in them too. She also admired Bail because, unlike her, he came from a wealthy and powerful family, yet he always thought about what was best for the people and was not proud or corrupted by his money and privilege. Padmé knew from her years in the Senate that such selflessness in a man like Bail was rare, and she wouldn't have minded if he was with her during the labor process. She probably would have chosen him too, if she had not had Obi-Wan to think about.
Obi-Wan… She had known him since she was only fourteen, and he had saved her life more than once during their long acquaintance with each other. Their more recent friendship, however, had been founded on far less weighty matters—their shared sense of dry humor, for example, their fondness for a good wine, their preferences for certain books. In addition to what they had in common, he had probably known about her and Anakin's relationship as well, but had kept it from the Council. She felt guilty for not telling him about the marriage herself, or about Anakin's slaughter of the Tusken Raiders when Skywalker had still been a Padawan. Perhaps if she had come to Obi-Wan earlier, her husband could have been saved, preventing the deaths of the younglings…and allowing Kenobi to still have the man who had been both a son and a brother to him.
Padmé brushed away the tears that came to her eyes, feeling responsible for Anakin's turning. He said he had done what he did for her, and now the Republic she loved so much was being destroyed. Democracy was being destroyed, and with it, peace and justice. They were all things she and Bail had fought for, it was true, but they were also the things she knew Obi-Wan had dedicated his entire life to upholding, and that was what made up her mind.
She swallowed the rest of her tears, determined to make things up to Obi-Wan the only way she knew how—by letting him share in the joy of seeing and holding her newborn children with her. She looked over at the medical droid she had spoken to earlier, who was nowhovering near her belly.
"Please," she said to the droid, "send in Obi-Wan Kenobi."