Contractions pulsed through her body and time and time again she called his name. Anakin answered back softly, trying to control her, but Padmé was slipping into some kind of delirium.

The damned doctor still hadn't arrived.

Anakin was almost beginning to suspect that the clone wasn't going to come back. His anger was fit to burst before he saw the clone hurrying back with a medical doctor following closely behind. Anakin stood up. He looked to Padmé who kept her eyes closed and ran to the door. He shouted for them to quicken up and soon the doctor was standing before him.

The doctor took one look at his new patient.

"Sir, this lady needs to be taken to a medical centre."

Anakin glared at the doctor and would have done something a whole lot worse if he hadn't heard a whimper from Padmé. She wouldn't have needed to go if he hadn't taken such a long time to arrive! He looked at her lovingly before turning back. He tried his best to keep his temper under check for the moment. For Padmé's sake.

"Can you help her? There is no time for her to be moved."

The doctor looked into Vader's cold eyes and could see he had no other choice. The young man was dangerous. Anger obviously came naturally to him. He may try to control his temper but the lust for blood could not be hidden. His eyes bared all.

The doctor nodded and made his way towards the young woman. Pretty young thing but in a lot of pain. She was calling out for somebody. He couldn't quite hear the name.

Vader's next move made him realise who.

"I'm here, Padmé," Anakin said softly before sitting beside her and taking her hand in his.

The doctor nearly stopped moving at the sudden change of pace in Vader's attitude. So he does has human feelings (which were well concealed). This worried young husband was so different from the cold business like man he had just spoken with.

Still, he could nothing other than wonder at the many different facades this man was performing. All he could do was get on with his job.

The doctor pressed Padmé's stomach gently to feel where the baby was.

That's odd.

He could feel the baby's head near the base of the womb but there seemed to be something behind it. Something else. The extra bulge felt like there was something else there…..

"Sir, your wife appears to be carrying twins."

Anakin looked up in shock.

Twins?

He broke into a grin and the doctor was struck by how normal he looked. And how in love he was. Weren't Sith apprentices supposed to be evil?

"Did you hear that Padmé? We going to have twins!"

Padmé squeezed Anakin's hand and cried out hoarsely as another painful sensation in the pit of her abdomen compressed itself against her womb, making her want to push, to do anything to try and get rid of the pain.

She barely registered what Anakin had said before she heard a different voice. A soft, calm one, urging her not to push but to breath quickly then gradually slow down.

"I can't!" Padmé cried through her tears.

She couldn't not push. It was going against the natural wish her body was begging her to perform. But then again, when had anything like this been natural for her?

"Anakin," she pleaded. "Make it stop! Please!"

The contraction ended and she could finally breathe again. Vaguely some words of support from her husband settled into her brain but they seemed to be so far away. It was like a mist had separated her from him. She couldn't hear him properly. She could barely see him. Was he leaving her? He couldn't be leaving her! He had promised to be with her for the birth of their child.

"Anakin!"

Anakin tried to reassure her that he was there but she didn't seem to be able to hear him. She twisted about on the holder, becoming more and more distressed. She called for him louder than before and Anakin looked up at the doctor who had stopped arranging all of the tools and medications he would need to make this the easiest pregnancy possible and stared at him. What was making her so restless?

"Can't you do something?" Anakin said to him in a strangled voice. All authority left this man helpless to do anything for his love.

"I can give her something to calm her down but she is moving around too much. She doesn't seem to understand that you are there, Lord Vader, so maybe you should make it more obvious."

The doctor was worried that Vader would be angry at his obvious outspokeness but instead Anakin looked back at Padmé. Before Anakin thought about what he was doing, he gathered her to his chest (with some difficulty) and kissed her softly. He murmured in her ear, something the doctor couldn't understand but whatever it was, it seemed to do the trick.

She calmed down almost immediately. She seemed to melt into Vader and a soft sigh escaped her lips. He thought he could just hear her say the word "Ani".

Who on earth was "Annie"? Was it her mother? Sister? She did seem awfully confused at the moment. The doctor shrugged and continued to sort out all of his supplies for the ever-nearing moment when this fragile young lady was going to have to give birth to two babies.

"Padmé, I'm here. I'm always here. I'm never going to leave you. I love you, my darling and I swear that you are going to be fine."

"Ani," Padmé breathed softly.

Anakin held her tight and kissed her head. Her whole body was sweating and her breathing was in laboured, short breaths. Even her curls had lost their bounce.

He hoped that Padmé believed his words. He hoped that she, at least, could be persuaded by those words spoken so seemingly confidently.

He kissed her head again and laid her back down. She seemed much more relaxed. Even a smile was gracing her lips. But she never let go of the hand that she clung close to her body.

The doctor poured some water, from his special pure water supply imported especially from Naboo, onto a cloth and handed it to Vader. He immediately started dabbing it at his wife's forehead and cheeks.

The doctor mixed a small amount of a powder into another sip of water. This would hopefully calm her down so she would be in a better state for the next part of the labour.

He brought his small cup to the young lady's lips and urged her to drink it. She did, gratefully it seemed. Well, all the heat on the planet couldn't be good for her system.

Another contraction attacked Padmé and she cried out. Anakin was right there, reassuring her and dabbing her face with the wet cloth.

No-one knew how many hours they had been waiting there before the doctor knew that she was finally ready to do the one thing her body had been wrestling for her to do the whole time.

"Miss Padmé, can you hear me?"

A slight nod showed that she had heard him.

"When you feel your next contraction, I want you to push. If I tell you to stop pushing will you do that for me?"

Padmé gasped as the contraction left her.

"Are you sure that I'm ready for that?" She looked straight at him for the first time. Her face was pale and her eyes were full of fear.

"Are you sure the baby is ready to come out now?"

It seemed unbelievably surreal to realise the time she had finally been waiting for had arrived. For nine months she had been waiting faithfully for this moment and now it had arrived? Some of Anakin's words came back to her but she pushed them from her mind just as quickly.

You're going to die in childbirth.

I won't let anything happen to you Padmé!

She needed all her concentration to be on the task at hand. She wasn't going to let her husband be right on this occasion.

"Yes, Miss Padmé, the babies are ready."

"Babies?"

"I thought you knew, Miss Padmé. You are expecting twins."

Padmé turned her gaze to Anakin, feeling more clear-headed than she had ever been.

"Ani, isn't that good?"

Anakin nodded, looking at her. The doctor nearly smiled sympathetically for him. His face was ashen and he clung to his wife's hand tightly. He looked so worried, almost as if he was going to be sick.

Anakin felt like he was about to be sick. A fear had gripped his heart unlike any other. Bigger and more ferocious that in any battle he had faced. The moment had arrived where he should know how to save Padmé. Yet he still didn't. He had come no closer than when he had first had the dream.

He was so foolish! He should have spent more time in the Jedi Temple library trying to find out as much as he could! Why didn't he?

Now he felt drained of anything other than his dread for the next part of his relationship with Padmé. The birth of their children. That he had been anticipating. Except not all at the same time. He had still been trying to come to terms with the idea of having a baby. Singular. Period.

But her death. That was something he had and was dreading forever. She couldn't die. She couldn't leave him. She just couldn't! But she needed his help. And he had failed. How would he ever come to terms with-

Before he had time to ponder over his deepest fear, Padmé squeezed his hand tighter than he could have ever imagined.

"Ani. I think it's time!"

This contraction, Padmé knew, was the one which would signal her start into parenthood. Before she could linger on this thought, the doctor instructed her to give a light push. Padmé did so, trying to control her motions. But it was so painful! She never knew that anything could be this painful.

The doctor instructed her to do the same again and she did. But she couldn't stop the screams that were being released from her mouth. She wanted the pain to stop! She tried concentrating on her husband, who was pouring words of encouragement and love from his mouth. But it was to no avail.

The pain was too overbearing, it was tearing at her insides, making her want to scream even harder.

"I want you to give a big push now, Padmé."

Padmé complied and the pressure all seemed too much for her to bear. She tried to keep even breaths but she couldn't make them work.

She screamed loudly as the pain nearly overtook her. Tears were pouring down her cheeks but she didn't notice them. All she could concentrate on was killing the pain. Doing everything within her power to stop the pain that was ever-present in her body.

Then she felt a huge release. There was no need to push anymore!

She heard crying, but from a new set of lungs. She had managed to get through it! She sobbed in relief, happy that she had managed to get through that ordeal.

The doctor lifted up the newborn baby and cleaned it quickly. He wrapped it up in some spare material he had with him and handed it to it's father.

"Is it-?"

Padmé asked her husband and Anakin sat down beside her and showed her their first child.

"It's a boy!"

Padmé gave a small sigh of relief before she lay against the bed's back. She was exhausted. Anakin beamed at her.

"Padmé, I'm so proud of you."

"We'll name him Luke, like we first agreed?"

Anakin nodded and gazed into his wife's big brown eyes. They had both nearly forgotten about the second part of the labour. They were so wrapped up in their new baby that even Padmé was surprised when she felt her abdomen contract in a painfully obvious way. Her happy features suddenly twisted into ones of pain and worry. Anakin immediately grabbed Padmé's hand, keeping Luke sheltered in his other arm.

"The--other--baby."

Padmé gasped out, as another contraction hit her system. She had nearly forgotten what these felt like. The happiness of seeing her son had blocked out her memories of pain.

"You're doing well, Miss Padmé. But you aren't quite ready to push yet. Keep your breathing controlled like you were already doing."

Padmé began to do her breathing regulations and the contraction began to stop.

The doctor nodded approvingly.

"Well done. Now I shall give you plenty of warning when the time comes to push. Just relax and I'll prepare everything."

Padmé's body relaxed as the contraction left her. She looked in the direction of Anakin and their baby, and smiled. At least she might have a few minutes where she could concentrate on their son.

Anakin couldn't get over how perfect their son was. He was just wonderful. His beautiful little button nose and his little sets of fingers and toes. Luke opened his eyes and looked straight at Anakin. Anakin gasped.

Padmé saw this and smiled at her husband who was obviously moved.

"He has the same beautiful blue eyes as you."

Anakin grinned at nothing in particular. He was amazed that they had come this far. But it wasn't over. Not yet. Anakin turned to Padmé and leaned forward. He kissed her gently.

"You're doing wonderfully, Padmé. I love you so much."

"I love you too. But I haven't seen Luke yet. Can I hold him?" Padmé laughed and Anakin complied, although he was slightly reluctant to part with his darling son. Anakin changed his grip, ready to hand over Luke into Padmé's expectant arms.

Padmé's laughter stopped abruptly as she felt the beginnings of another contraction. She shook her head blindly at Anakin and he brought Luke back into the safeness of his embrace before reaching for Padmé's hand.

Padmé tried to breath in rhythm to stop the contraction from hurting as much but it didn't seem to work.

"You're doing well, Padmé. That's right. Breathe, breathe," the doctor's voice filled her thoughts again and she tried to follow his instructions. Finally the contraction relented and she leaned back, panting.

"When will this baby be ready?"

"Not for another twenty minutes at least."

Padmé groaned. Another twenty minutes of this before she even began to go back into thinking about the actual giving-birth moment?

"Here, drink this," the doctor offered her some water and she drank hungrily from the cup. Anakin wiped Padmé's brow with his cloth and whispered words of encouragement to her.

Luke was beginning to get restless so Anakin rocked him gently. He wiggled his finger in front of Luke's face and Luke began to giggle. Luke's tiny arm reached out for the finger he saw and grabbed it. His tiny fist curled around his father's finger.

Anakin was astounded. This baby was so quick to learn! Padmé watched both of her boys with a smile on her face. Anakin looked up at Padmé.

"Did you see that?"

Padmé nodded. Anakin was a natural. She'd always told him he would make a wonderful father.

"Are you having fun, Anakin?"

She smiled at him and reached for his hand. Anakin managed to free his finger from Luke's grasp (quite a sturdy one, Anakin was proud to say) and entwined his hand with Padmé's.

"I always told you you'd be a wonderful father. And I was right."

Anakin grinned. Padmé had known how worried he had been about becoming a father and she had always been quick to reassure him. But there had always been a niggling doubt in his mind. A worry that he would do something wrong, or forget something important.

But now, all those worries had vanished from his mind. It all felt so right.

Padmé, on the other hand, felt restless. She desperately wanted to hold Luke in her arms, but she wasn't able to. She was afraid as soon as she did, she would have another contraction and she didn't want to hurt Luke by accidentally squeezing him or something.

Anakin had been holding Luke the entire time. Padmé didn't want to sound like a child but he was hogging their baby!

Padmé cried out as an unexpected contraction hit her. Anakin tried not to wince as the gentle weight that had been lying in his hand was replaced by a metal like grip that wasn't relenting.

The contraction was a short one however and Padmé breathed a sigh of relief as it ended as quickly as it had arrived. She hoped she hadn't startled Luke too much. She leaned over to see how he was. He looked a little shaken but overall he was fine.

"What are we going to do when I go into labour again? Luke can't be in the room with us."

She reached out her hand and began to stroke Luke's forehead softly. Anakin stared at Padmé. What would they do? When the labour began Padmé would be in a lot of pain again and all the screams and everything would scare Luke senseless.

"Maybe Lord Vader could take your son out of the room, Miss Padmé."

Padmé looked at the doctor with confusion in her eyes and Anakin narrowed his eyes in anger.

Damn.

He had forgotten about the doctor. He had a bigger mouth than what was good for him. He would be dead in seconds if it wasn't for Padmé.

Anakin could feel his anger lessen when he thought of his beautiful wife. He looked down at his beautiful son and finally found peace within himself again.

"Excuse me, sir but you used a name I have never heard of. Who is Lord Vader?"

The doctor looked dumbfounded. This young lady clearly didn't know who her husband was. What could he say? He wasn't about to make her more stressed than she already was.

He stuttered slightly and looked from Padmé to Anakin several times. Vader's eyes were glaring in his direction and he could almost sense a threat to be very careful about his next words.

"I'm sorry, milady," the doctor bowed slightly. "I must have made a mistake."

Padmé stared at him for a few seconds before looking back at Anakin. Anakin smiled at her and she relaxed. She was obviously reading far too much into what was just a careless mistake. It must have been a careless mistake.

"It's all right. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. It's just that I'm so tired."

"It's perfectly understandable, Miss Padmé."

Padmé tensed as another contraction ripped through her insides, making her want to scream out. She bit her lip as the pain throbbed through her body. She didn't want to scare Luke again. She reached for Anakin's hand again and squeezed it down.

She could hear the doctor's words again to breath but she couldn't do it! This one felt different to all of the others. The need to push was so great yet this time felt natural. For the first time through all of it, she felt ready. She was sure that it was time for her second baby to be born.

"I know it's time now, doctor! I don't know whether it's been twenty minutes or not but I know it's time!"

It was soon confirmed that Padmé was in fact ready to give birth to Anakin's second child. The contraction had stopped and as they waited for the next one to arrive, Padmé turned to Anakin.

"You'd better go. I don't want to scare Luke."

Anakin looked at her with a worried expression on his face. Almost as if he was afraid. Well if he was he needn't be! She was the one having to go through with the labour.

"I'll be fine, Ani."

He stayed where he was, standing rigidly straight. Padmé reached up for him and he bent down so he was beside her. Her hand cupped his cheek and she gave him a quick kiss.

"Now go. I promise you that I'll be fine!"

She pushed away playfully and Anakin reluctantly walked away. Before he closed the door, he heard a raw cry of desperate pain escape Padmé's lips.