Author's note: This was my very first Star Wars fan fiction that I wrote. I am just now getting the time to post it. Hope you enjoy!
Padme awoke to the aroma of breakfast cooking from downstairs. She slowly opened her baby blue eyes and sat up in her bed. She caressed her chestnut brown hair, and was annoyed to feel that it needed to be combed. She tossed her sheet to the side, and arose from the bed, a yawn escaping from her mouth. Although she was still sleepy, she was not going to go back to bed. This was a very important day for her.
"Padme, breakfast is ready!" she heard Leia Organa calling from the kitchen.
"Be there in a minute, Leia! I have to brush my crazy hair!" Padme responded, before she went to her bathroom to take care of her hair.
As Padme brushed her hair, she reminisced about her time with Leia. Leia was her guardian, as far back as she could remember. Padme never knew her parents. Leia always told her she loved Padme as if she was her own daughter. Padme wondered why Leia never had a family of her own. She concluded that it was because of her work in the rebellion against the Empire. Fighting against the Empire did not leave much time for a social life, much less a family. However, Leia made sure she found the time to spend with Padme.
"Padme, this breakfast is not going to be eaten by itself!" she heard Leia exclaim, in a tone that was half-teasing and half-frustrating.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Padme answered back. There was one lock of her curly hair that was very knotty, and the brush was not working to get it detangled.
"Let me try this," the girl whispered to herself. She closed her eyes ans slowly started to inhale and exhale. She cleared her mind and concentrated on that stubborn lock of hair. It took a few seconds for the lock of hair to become untangled. Padme smiled at herself at the use of the Force, as she made her way downstairs to the kitchen.
"Finally!" Leia said, as she saw Padme enter. "I thought I was going to be eating by myself!"
"Sorry. I had one piece of hair that I had troubled detangling," Padme explained, as she sat at the kitchen table. Leia sat to the left of her and softly stroked the young woman's hair.
"I am sorry your birthday has gotten off on a bad start," Leia teased Padme, The girl was her life. Even though she could not spend as much with Padme as she wanted, Leia loved her with all of her heart. Everything that she did. from being part of the Rebellion to raising her on Tatooine, was for Padme.
"Well, the food has more than made up for the bad start," Padme lovingly responded. "Thank you, Leia, for being so good to me. Even though..." Her words suddenly stopped. She did not want to upset Leia.
"What is it, Padme?" the older woman asked, her face full of concern. She knew where the conversation would be heading, and since Padme was born, Leia had dreaded this moment. But it was time. Padme was sixteen, old enough to join the fight against the Empire. The girl had been begging to leave Tatooine for as long as she could remember. But Leia had always denied her. The Emperor, Darth Vader, maintained control of a good portion of the galaxy. Leia could not allow Padme to go anywhere near him.
"Even though I drive you crazy sometimes," Padme finally uttered.
"You are sixteen years old. You are suppose to drive me crazy." Leia lifted her hand and placed it under Padme's chin. She wanted to freeze this moment in time. For the time had come to tell Padme everything. Leia was afraid Padme would hate her after the truth was revealed, but the girl deserved to know the truth about her family.
"Come, let's go talk in the living room," Leia suggested. "C3PO!"
"Good morning, your highness," the golden protocol droid greeted Leia. Leia was no longer a princess, since her home world of Alderaan had been blown up by the first Death Star. But old habits were difficult for the droid to break.
"Can you please clean off the table and do the dishes?" Normally, this was one of Padme's chores, but Leia would let the droid do the housework when it was her birthday.
"Of course, and a happy birthday to Princess Padme. You are..." the droid continued, about to calculate the amount of minutes Padme had been alive.
"That's okay, C3PO. I already know," Padme said. lifting a hand to stop the droid from speaking further. She smiled as he went about cleaning up the kitchen.
The two women sat down in the living room. Padme was on the couch, while Leia was on the recliner. Strangely enough. Padme never saw her recline in the chair. Leia never got too relaxed, especially with the war raging on.
Padme played nervously with the hem of her nightgown, one of her birthday gifts from Leia last year. The girl's heat started to race. She had to ask the question again, hoping for a different answer this time.
"Leia?" she softly whispered. Padme lifted her head to make eye contact with her guardian. Leia's heart went out to the girl. She wanted to give Padme everything, but denied her the only thing the girl ever wanted.
"Padme, if you are about to ask if you can leave Tatooine, the answer is no."
"But why?" the girl cried out in frustration. The answer was always the same. Did Leia not trust her?" Did she think Padme would end up disappointing her if she left?
"It's time you knew the truth, Padme. About everything," Leia sternly said. She took a deep breath.
"What do you mean?" Padme was curious. She wanted to read Leia's mind, but she refused. For she kept her Force sensitivity a secret from her guardian. She was afraid of how Leia would react to the news.
"For years, you have asked me about your parents. It's time you knew the truth about them."
"My parents? I thought you said they were killed by the Emperor."
"Padme," Leia slowly said. "I lied. Your parents are alive."
Padme's eyes bulged in disbelief. Leia had been lying to her, all these years! She could feel the anger stir inside of her. But she refused to show it. Leia had the answers about her family, and lashing out at her would not help Padme get the answers she was looking.
"Breathe, Padme," she told herself, trying to calm down without using the Force. To Leia, she asked,
"If my parents are alive, then why are they not here with me?"
Leia's heart panged with compassion. She blamed herself for this, as well as Vader. For if he had been killed years ago, she would have never kept secrets from this precious girl she now sat next to on the couch.
"One of them is here with you," Leia softly mentioned. Padme had a confused look on her face. What did Leia mean by this? She grabbed Padme's hands, and the girl looked up at her.
"I don't understand. Is it one of the guards outside?" Padme innocently asked.
"No, sweetheart," Leia replied, her hand touching Padme's cheek. She gazed lovingly at the girl and confessed,
"I am your mother."