Author's Note: So who can this mysterious woman be, I wonder? ;)

Chapter 4

Coruscant – Chancellor Mon Mothma's Office

It was late at night and Mon Mothma was sitting at her desk, with her back to the door, finishing up her speech to give to the Senate the next day. A lot had happened in just a matter of a few days. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker had returned to Coruscant and was going to help his son rebuild the Jedi Order and to help the New Republic fight against the last remnants of the Empire. If someone told me 5 years ago that I would be Chancellor of the New Republic and that Anakin Skywalker would be helping his son to re-establish the Jedi Order, I would have thought they were crazy.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice when a mysterious, cloaked woman entered her office with her hood pulled over her face. "Mon Mothma." She heard a somewhat familiar voice say from behind her as she looked up from her datapad in shock. It can't be. She's dead. She thought to herself as she slowly turned her head around just as the mysterious woman was lowering her hood. She gasped. "Padme!" She exclaimed in shock with her mouth agape and tears of happiness forming in her eyes.

Mon Mothma just continued to stare at Padme with shock. "Padme, you-you're alive!" She was finally able to say as she got a huge smile on her face, getting up from her chair and walking straight over to Padme with her arms wide. She took Padme into her arms in a tight embrace.

Padme felt awkward for a moment, not knowing if she should return her old friend's embrace; but then did as a smile also formed on her troubled features. "I've missed you, Mon." She finally said as they released each other and then just looked at each other with sisterly love.

"Padme, h-how? I saw your funeral. I thought you were dead? We all thought you were dead." Mon Mothma asked her with awe as she was finally able to regain her voice. "Please...sit down." She heard herself say as she stepped back and allowed Padme to pass her to one of the guest chairs in front of her desk.

Padme nodded. "Thank you." She simply replied as she walked passed Mon Mothma, taking her cloak off to reveal that she was wearing a long, teal dress that reached to the floor. She placed it over the back of the chair and sat down, facing her friend. Mon Mothma sat down in the other guest chair, facing Padme, waiting in anticipation for her to speak. Padme took a deep breath. "I know what you must think, Mon. But there is a good explanation for why everyone was led to believe I was dead." She sighed as Mon encouraged her with her eyes to continue. "But first there is something I need to tell you that will come as quite a shock regarding...Anakin Skywalker."

Mon looked at Padme with a look of puzzlement. "What about him, Padme? You were good friends were you not?"

Padme looked down at her hands in her lap. "We were..." She started and then stopped as a single tear started flowing down her right cheek. "But...we had a falling out."

"You did?" Mon Mothma said with surprise. "I find that hard to believe. You two always seemed so close."

Padme looked back up at her friend. "We were VERY close. More than you know..." She paused. "But he had changed and I didn't like the path he was heading down."

"What do you mean, Padme?" Mon asked with confusion.

"I mean that he turned to the Dark Side and I couldn't follow him." Padme replied, looking Mon right in the eyes. "You can't trust him! He turned on me. He almost killed me!"

Mon looked at Padme with astonishment. "Padme...I-I don't know what to say. I have been around him for the past few days and I just don't see what you're telling me. He seems very humble and grateful to be back among us. I don't begin to understand all the Jedi beliefs regarding the Force, but he has shown no signs of being anything but sincere and..."

"He killed younglings!" Padme interjected intensely with fear evident in her eyes as Mon gasped. "He became evil! He nearly choked the life out of me! You can't trust him!" She paused again as she pondered if she should tell her his true identity. "H-He is...Darth Vader!"

Mon looked at Padme with increased fear and shock. "Are you sure about this, Padme? How could he be? Darth Vader died six months ago when he killed Emperor Palpatine and saved Luke Skywalker's life. Luke is Anakin's son." She paused. But she continued on, still not believing what Padme had told her. "And Darth Vader needed to wear a respirator suit to breathe. Anakin clearly doesn't have any trouble breathing on his own. You must be mistaken, Padme."

Now it was Padme's turn to be shocked, not really hearing the rest of what Mon had said. "He sacrificed himself to save Luke's life?"

"Yes, Padme." Mon replied with confusion, not sure what was going through her friend's mind. She still couldn't believe what she was being told. Anakin Skywalker is Darth Vader? Impossible! But then she had an epiphany, remembering that Padme had been pregnant when she had 'died'. Could Anakin be the mysterious father and Luke their son? And Leia their daughter? That would explain a lot.

Padme put both of her hands over her mouth as she started to weep for joy. "He saved Luke's life." She reiterated as relief and love came crashing over her. "I knew there was still good in him. I felt it." She said out loud, not really intending to say it out loud for Mon to hear it. She looked up at Mon with tear filled eyes and a spark of hope and love. Maybe he really HAS turned back to the Light Side. Padme thought to herself. I need to know for sure. "Mon, can you arrange a meeting with him for me?"

"Certainly, Padme." Mon replied still somewhat taken back by the sudden and extreme changes of emotion in her old friend. "I will set up a meeting with him tomorrow morning."

"No, please. I must see him as soon as possible. Can it be tonight?" Padme pleaded.

"Why of course, Padme." Mon replied. "But it's awfully late. He may not want to come."

"He will...If you make it sound urgent." Padme told her.

Mon sighed. "Very well. I will try contacting him and we'll see what happens."

Padme started to smile. "Thank you, Mon. Thank you!" She hesitated. "But please...don't tell him about me. I want it to be a surprise." She requested, reaching over to touch her friend's left arm with her right hand.

Mon just smiled, looking at her friend with compassion and giving her a knowing smile. "Of course...as you wish, Padme."

Anakin was walking amongst the tall columns of the senate building towards Chancellor Mon Mothma's office. He dreaded being in this building again, as it was the place where he made his eventual fall to the Dark Side. But he was at least relieved that the current chancellor insisted on keeping the offices she had when she was a senator all those years ago instead of Palpatine's old office. She had contacted him just an hour before, asking him to meet her in her office as soon as possible as there was some urgent business she needed to discuss with him.

Anakin sighed as he approached Mon's outer office door and pushed the buzzer, wondering what was so urgent that it couldn't wait until the Senate meeting in the morning. He was immediately greeted by Mon as the doors slid open and she invited him inside.

"So what's going on?" Anakin asked with concern as he walked passed her. He crossed his arms in front of him and turned to face her, looking at her with concern.

Mon just smiled. "There is someone here to see you." She told him as she led him over to the doors of her private office. "They are waiting inside for you and would like to speak with you alone." She simply told him as she pushed the button to her office door, stepping aside to let him enter. Anakin just looked at her with confusion, but walked into Mon's office with curiosity. With a knowing smile, Mon then closed the doors behind him to offer them a bit of privacy. He's in for a real surprise. She thought to herself as she left her suite of offices, locking the door behind her as she entered the hall to ensure they weren't interrupted.

As Anakin turned to look around the office, he noticed a woman in a long, brown cloak and flows of fabric from a long, teal dress peeking out from beneath it. She was looking out the tall window on the far end of the office, staring out at the numerous city lights below and seemed mesmerized by the passing traffic. Her hood was down and the soft glow from the overhead lights of the office was bouncing off her long, brown curls, reminding him so much of Padme's hair that his heart started to ache. "You wanted to speak with me?" He asked hesitantly as thoughts of his wife came rushing into his head.

The woman, upon hearing his voice, slowly turned her head to look at him with big, brown eyes and a single tear flowing down her right cheek. "Yes, Anakin, I do."

"Pa-Padme?" Anakin quietly said as his mouth gaped open and his feet became frozen in place, not believing what he was seeing and hearing. He went totally numb with shock.

"Yes, Anakin...it's me." She said as a small smile formed on her lips and she started walking towards him, not taking her eyes off him as she studied him for any signs of the darkness that she had seen when they last met.

Anakin gulped, not believing his eyes as she stopped right in front of him, looking directly into his eyes. His blue eyes glistened with tears as he continued to stare at her. Is it really Padme...alive...or am I just dreaming again? "This can't be real. I must be dreaming this." He finally said as she stepped one step closer to him and he continued to stare at her, afraid to reach out to her in fear that she would just vanish and then he would wake up from this dream in anguish.

"No...you're not dreaming this, Ani. I'm really here. I'm really alive." She told him as she continued to study him, not understanding his hesitance to touch her, and still wondering if he was still as he was the last time she had seen him when he Force choked her on Mustafar. She frowned and then looked at him with hurt and distrust. "But what about you? Who are you?" She paused. "Are you Anakin Skywalker...or Darth Vader?"

Anakin felt like he had just been slapped in face by her question. He just stared back at her with stunned silence. "A-Anakin." He finally stumbled to answer her, his voice cracking and tears forming in his eyes as memories of that horrible day on Mustafar started flooding back into his mind. "I-I'm sorry, Padme. I'm so sorry." He apologized as tears started flowing down his face, blurring his vision. "I hope you will be able to forgive me for what happened on Mustafar." He pleaded as he just continued to stare at her, still thinking he was going to wake up any moment and realize this was all a dream.

Padme's heart started to soften again towards him as she reached up to touch his left cheek with her right hand. Anakin closed his eyes, feeling her soft, warm touch on his cheek and then reached up with his natural, left hand, placing it on top of her own. "Padme." He simply said again as he gently took her hand in his and brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her palm. It's really her. She's real. He realized now with hope, love and shear happiness evident on his features as he threw his arms around her, smiling and laughing with so much happiness and love that he thought his heart was going to explode. "I love you, Padme, so much." Anakin declared as he pulled her tightly to him in a possessive embrace.

He smelled her hair and started kissing her neck, working his way up to her mouth, crushing down on her mouth, kissing her with so much passion that for a moment she forgot all that had happened over the past 23 years. It was like they were being reunited again after so many months of separation while Anakin had been fighting on the front lines during the Clone Wars. "Anakin, I love you too. I've missed you so much. You have no idea." She also declared to him as tears started streaming down her cheeks as well.

Anakin pulled back enough to look into her giant, brown orbs and put both his hands in her hair on either side of her head, framing her face. "I-I thought I killed you, Padme." He paused. "I won't ever hurt you again. I promise you!" Anakin told Padme with so much passion that, even with her not being Force sensitive, she could feel his intense love and light flowing from within in him, leaving her in no doubt of his sincerity.

Padme tried to smile up at him but then began to weep as she put her head up against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her petite form and embraced her much more gently this time as he tried to comfort her. "You didn't kill me, Ani." She finally said. "I'm right here."

"But how, Padme? My nightmares..." Anakin started to say as she pulled back far enough to look up at his blue eyes that were looking down at her with so much anguish but at the same time intense love.

"I don't remember everything that happened." She started to explain to him as she put her head back up against his broad, warm chest; and he continued to hold her, putting his head on top of hers. "I was told that I was dying, even though I was healthy. I had simply lost the will to live." Anakin tensed. "So to save me, the doctor had me put in stasis until my body could recover from giving birth to our babies." She then looked up at his face when a thought occurred to her. "You do know I had twins, don't you?" She asked him.

"Yes..." Anakin replied with a smile. "I know about both Luke and Leia. They're wonderful, Padme. You'll love them." He told her as a giant smile started to form on his lips and he looked down at her with continued love. But then he became serious, wanting to know more about what happened to her. "So how long were you in stasis?"

"Only a few months...but I was so distraught about losing you and then receiving the news that our babies were separated and sent off to be adopted...that I became catatonic and eventually slipped into a coma brought on by my depression." She paused. "When I finally awoke a couple years later and learned that you were still alive...but in that horrible black suit. I hated what you had become and feared for the lives of our children and myself. So I-I decided to stay hidden, tucked away in a small cottage in remote part of Naboo, determined to live the rest of my life alone and only venturing out to the tiny nearby village on occasion."

Anakin pulled away from her. "You were afraid I-I would hurt you...and our children?" He asked her with hurt evident in his voice. "I wouldn't have hurt you again or our children, Padme. I thought I'd killed you. I died inside when I thought you had died at my hand. It would have made me the happiest man alive had I known you were all still alive somewhere in the galaxy."

"I-I'm sorry, Anakin. I'm really sorry." Padme replied as she looked up at her husband's face that had a look of anguish. He looked away, not wanting to meet her gaze. "It wasn't necessarily you I was afraid of." She explained. "I was afraid of Palpatine...and what he might do to me and the children if he found out we were still alive. I-I wasn't even told where they...our children...were. Just that they were alive and safe...and that it was for the best that we remained separated."

Anakin looked down at his wife intently. "Who told you this?"

"My mother." Padme simply said as she looked away from him. "She told me that it was best. That I should just move on and forget my life with you and about our babies."

Anakin looked at her with shock but then understanding as he put his right hand on her left cheek, causing her to look at him again. "She was just trying to protect you...and our children." He paused. "She didn't want you dwelling on the past."

Padme nodded. "Yes...I know that. But I never could fully let go. Let you go. I still loved you, despite what you had done...and were doing...as Darth Vader." She started to cry as she looked up into Anakin's sparkling blue eyes, captivated by them.

Anakin looked down in shame. "I don't deserve you."

Padme looked up at him with astonishment, sensing his remorse and sadness. "Yes, you do. I'm not going to lose you again. Not after we just found each other. I want to be with you." She said as she continued to cry, sobbing into his chest as he tightened his embrace and kissed her hair.

"I don't want to lose you again either." Anakin assured her as he looked over her shoulder with tear filled eyes. Not this time.

Anakin awoke from a deep sleep with a start, not remembering where he was, but then realized he was in his quarters at the Jedi Temple. Was it all a dream? He asked himself with tears starting to form in his eyes. But then he heard a female sigh and was startled when he realized he felt a warm, soft arm drape over his bare chest. He heard the bed creak, feeling the mattress shift next to him. He looked over to his right and saw the beautiful sleeping face of his wife with her loose chestnut brown hair draped across her pillow while in her sleep she nuzzled closer to him. He let out a huge sigh of relief, his heart overflowing with love and happiness as he kissed her hair and pulled her sleeping form closer to him in a loving embrace, trying not to wake her. She's alive. Padme is really alive...and I' m not dreaming this. I can't wait to introduce her to Luke and Leia.