"One day, Luke Skywalker. One day I will catch you."
"No, you won't."
Padme rolled over and looked over the edge of the bed to where the voices had originated. There her husband lay, torso under the bed.
"And when I catch you, I'm going to kill you." Anakin said, mock threatening.
Padme smiled and rolled back over, to try to go back to sleep.
From under the bed, an explosion of giggles emanated.
"I got you!" Anakin crowed, dragging his son back out. As soon as they were free of the bed, he loosened his grip on his son. The boy took his chance and rocketed out of the room, giggling all the way. Anakin made to follow, but Padme spoke.
"Try to keep him out of his sister's room, okay?"
"Already done. Until further notice, Leia is a man-eating dragon. Sorry, did we wake you?"
"I was almost ready to get up anyway."
"All right, sorry. I should go after our Jedi or he might add a new element to the game without telling me."
Padme nodded, and Anakin raced after his son. Padme sat up and looked after the two boys. It seemed they were true to Anakin's word about avoiding the room next door, Leia's, but they seemed to be running laps of the entire rest of the house.
Finally, Padme crawled out of bed and descended the stairs, Luke slipping up past her, and Anakin just dodging her in time. She looked up after them, and when she saw them turn towards the bedrooms called after them.
"Don't forget about the man-eating dragon!"
Leia stumbled to the top of the staircase, rubbing her eyes and carrying a teddy by its neck. "Man-eating dragon, Mommy?"
"Luke and Daddy are playing Jedi and Sith again. You got to be the man eating dragon, so they weren't allowed to go into your room. They didn't want to wake you."
"Oh," Leia mumbled, beginning to follow her mother unsteadily.
Padme climbed back towards her daughter, gently taking the girl's hand. Leia didn't comment. She leaned a bit on her mother.
"Do you need to go back to sleep?" Padme asked gently.
"No." The girl said firmly.
Padme smiled, "Okay. What do you want to do today."
"I wanna play assassin."
"Assassin? We don't play assassin."
"Yeah, we do, Mommy."
"How do you play assassin? I've never noticed any of you doing it. The only game you really play with other people is Jedi and Sith."
"No, Mommy. Daddy and Luke play Jedi and Sith. I'm the assassin. I try to get both of them. It doesn't matter to me who I get. And sometimes I come back to you and go undercover." Leia explained.
"Oh, I understand. Why don't we have breakfast? You can't go hunting Force users on an empty stomach."
Leia nodded. "Okay. What're we having?"
They entered the kitchen. "What would you like?"
"Sugar cereal." Leia declared.
"I guess you'll be running around enough today to burn it off."
"You get to be the politician. You make the rules and when we're around you, we're safe. Mostly."
"What do you mean I make the rules? I don't even know the rules."
"Yeah. Exactly." Leia nodded.
Padme let it slide. She poured her daughter a bowl of sugar cereal and started making toast for herself. As she turned to pass it to the girl, who had hopped up into her chair at the table, Luke raced past. Padme reversed and pressed herself against the counter to allow her husband to pass.
Anakin raced after his son. Padme passed Leia her cereal.
"I think you should try something a little fancier today, Leia. Maybe you could do some traps for Daddy and Luke."
"Really?" Leia looked up eagerly. "Like booby traps?"
"Exactly. Just try not to make too much of a mess."
"Too cool!"
Padme just smiled. "Better go after your Daddy. Sounds like Luke's having a hard time keeping the Sith population down.
Leia beamed, swallowing a few more mouthfuls of cereal before dropping off her chair, and racing after the rest of her family, screaming in a very un-assassin like way.
After washing their dishes, Padme found herself swept into the fun of the game. At that point, Leia insisted that that meant she didn't get to be the politician anymore and spent several minutes deciding that her mother could be a bounty hunter. It was Luke's idea that the bounties could be extra chores, and Padme was quite happy with that idea.
And that was how it came, when Obi-Wan called on the family, that Padme and Anakin were both chasing squealing children around their home. And it was because Obi-Wan came to call that he ended up being used as a shield by Luke. And, because Luke was shouting that his father was an evil Sith, that was how Obi-Wan became the second Jedi for the game.
And, because Leia wasn't in the room at the moment, having been chased into the kitchen by her mother, no one explained to him exactly what that meant. And because of all that, Obi-Wan managed to become Luke's Padawan for the morning.
Once Evil Darth Ani had been caught, Padme was able to settle both of the children into a fairly routine game of hopscotch down the hallway. At that point, Luke reluctantly allowed Obi-Wan to be a teacher instead, and he taught them a series of variations on the game.
Upon parting, Obi-Wan's only comment was, "Be glad it wasn't Yoda who came to check in on you."