Senator Palpatine strode towards his lavish apartment, face tight with exhaustion. The bill had passed, but just barely, and it had taken not only his entire political expertise and many favors, but some amount of Force persuasion. For being such mindless creatures, he mused darkly, Senators could certainly prove themselves resilient to mental tampering. As he palmed his door open, he found himself looking forward to the hours of quiet darkness and a good cup of tea.

Instead, he was greeted with blazing lights, and the giggles of excited younglings. Face setting in a scowl, he marched down the hallway to the nursery, stopping in the doorway just in time to prevent a ball the former color of his hair from hitting him in the forehead, the orb hovering a scant few centimeters in front of his upraised right hand. The tiny Zabrak's gestures were clumsy, extravagant, and awkward, but he was least directing the balls with some purpose. The infant human's wild arm movements had an entire cosmos of haphazardly whirling balls pirouetting through the air.

The irritated Sith Lord had no trouble in overriding the younglings' powers, halting the progress of all the playthings. The movement of the Force caught his charges' attention, and he was promptly charged by the older of the two with a squeal of "Masser!" The Zabrak boy wrapped himself around Palpatine's legs as the human drooled a happy greeting. Palpatine tolerated the living bonds for a brief moment before peeling his young protégé off.

"Where is your nanny?" he demanded sternly.

Maul gave him a look of innocence that would've done the most corrupt politician in existence proud, and pointed to a corner. "She got hit by a ball, and bwoke," he replied artlessly, before sticking his hand in his mouth.

Palpatine absently pulled out it before striding over to the droid. "What have I told you about sucking your fingers, Maul?" Leaning over, he found the activation switch and flicked it on.

"-ster Maul, it is time for your bath and then you must go to bed – oh! Master Palpatine!" The droid's voice took on a surprised tone as her photoreceptors focused on him.

"Get them both cleaned up and in bed," he ordered, turning towards the door. "It is over an hour since they should've both been asleep. Use any and all means necessary."

"At once, Master Palpatine," the nanny droid answered obediently, bustling towards the Zabrak youngling, who dodged away. As the Senator exited the nursery, a faint twitch of the Force and a baby's giggle were his only warnings less than a second before a reddish ball collided with the back of his head. The door behind him closed with a fraction more force than strictly necessary.

He was on his second cup of tea, and just beginning to relax, when two large glowing amber orbs appeared in midair. "Master Palpatine?" the nurse droid spoke, unaware of the tension that suddenly reasserted itself in his shoulders.

"What is it?" he hissed, fingers twitching.

The droid remained appalling oblivious. "It is time for you to come tell Anakin and Maul a bedtime story," she replied far too brightly.

"...what?" Palpatine demanded, wondering if tiredness had messed with his hearing.

"You said to use all means possible to get them to bed," the nanny replied with innocent confusion. The Sith Lord restrained himself from annihilating the thing on the spot, reminding himself that buying one was risky enough – he couldn't afford it to be known he was purchasing nanny droids. And with that wretched blonde always snooping around, it was almost guaranteed such a deed would be discovered. Bodies? No problem to deal with. Babies? A little more difficult.

Pulling himself to his tired feet, he greedily sucked up the pain, using it to fuel the Dark which, in turn, he called upon to sustain him as he strolled down the hall to the nursery. Palming open the door, he took in the lowered illumination of the glowpanels, the squirming baby in his crib, and little Maul sitting up, his knees making a tent beneath the sheets. "One story," Palpatine said with a sigh, calling over a holobook with a wave of his hand as he sat in the chair beside Maul's bed.

"Okay," the Zabrak agreed cheerfully, and scooted close to the edge of the bed so he could see the illustrations.

Palpatine got two pages into the holobook before deactivating it in disgust. "Is this what your nanny reads you? Your minds will turn to mush." Getting up, he left the room momentarily, going to his study and lifting one of the ancient, hard-copy volumes from the shelf. Cradling the leather-and-flimsi treasure a moment, he returned to the nursery and resumed his seat, opening the book to near the middle. "It is high time your education in the history of the Sith began," he informed the young Zabrak, paging casually through to find the nearest start of a chapter.

Some three hours later, voice a little hoarse from a long day of debate and then hours of reading aloud, Palpatine closed the book, looking down at his lap. Maul half-sat, half-lay, curled up on his master with a thin line of drool tracing down the fine robes. The baby, in his crib, snored softly, and Maul shifted the tiniest bit but didn't awaken. Sighing softly, Palpatine scooped the young Zabrak up with as little effort as lifting a peko-peko feather, laying him on the bed and tucking the thin legs under the sheet, smoothing it up over the white pajama shirt. "Sleep now, my apprentice," he whispered, tugging a wrinkle out of the pillowcase before dimming the glowlamps almost to complete darkness. "Soon, you too will learn to use the power of the Dark Side to sustain yourself." Glancing over at Anakin, he assured himself the baby was soundly asleep, before exiting the room and gesturing the nurse droid back in with a negligent wave. He had tea to finish.

This was in response to a challenge Ru - that is, DarthRuinous - and I have been bouncing off of each other, namely, "is it possible to write a Palpatine fluff fic?" Requirements: Palpatine adopts little!Maul and baby!Ani. This is also a contest, so please go read and review her take, and let us know who you think has a better one!