HONEYMOON DELIVERY

Breakfast had long ceased being the Bride's favorite meal of the day. With her move to Coruscant she'd found she rarely had time to do it properly. Since her marriage it had become an exercise in crying into her food, as it was usually the first meal she had to face after her Husband left her company for the front. Pregnancy had been the end. Women were not generally as sick as she was. Anything beyond water-based teas and very dry grain cakes was rejected at first smell in the mornings even at this stage. At least she'd pick this morning's menu, so there was nothing on it that disturbed her particularly.

They were seated on a slightly elevated platform, with an intricately woven royal garden tapestry behind them. There were speeches, toasts and ceremonial dancing, and then they fed each other as per Naboo tradition. For this they had to serve each other from small ceremonial bowls brought on trays to their dias by Obiwan and Dorme. There were rituals for walking on the dias, acceptance of the trays, and for the feeding process. Anakin had spent the week annoying Gorgi by pretending he found the poses and sequences difficult. The Naboo guests rewarded his perfect performance on the day with enthusiastic cheers.

By mid morning all had been concluded, and the guests filed past their platform depositing well wishes and gifts. The handmaidens packed all of it into a private transport to the Lake Estate. The Bride was extricated from the dias, they took leave of Apailana and their family, and boarded their speeder to Varykino.

The staff there knew them well, and had sumptuous lunch prepared specific to the couple's needs. Padme was ravenous by this time, and consumed a healthy portion of a bantha steak, plus tubersalad, graincakes and bluemilk. Soon she had no more space and had to stop, much to the amusement of her husband. They adjourned to the verandah to watch the lake, where she fell asleep propped against her Ani's chest.

When she woke in the twilight she found herself in her Master bedroom. With the help of the household staff her husband had unpacked, and toted everything that could belong in the nursery there. Most of their wedding gifts seemed to have fit this category eliminating any need for a Theed shopping trip before the birth. Anakin was not in the house, or the kitchen. The beach was most likely then, but her search was cut short by his return up the path. He'd sensed her wake.

'Husband,' she greeted him.

He grinned in response. 'Wife,'

It felt odd now, to be together, and not have to hurry, or drink in every second as if it might be their last.

The crowded homes and the rush of plans in Theed had effectively curtailed their privacy. Ani had to be missing his lover. They'd had just enough time on Coruscant for him to begin getting used to regular access to his wife sans the long periods of separation and abstention that usually characterized their relationship. He must be going crazy now, but she knew he would not approach her. She was much bigger than when they'd last seen each other, and he wouldn't want her to be uncomfortable. Padme missed her husband too. Besides, once the baby came things would be different. She decided to take the evening slowly. They had a leisurely supper, and then played Sabacc.

'Ani, lets not play for credits,'

'Afraid you'll lose?'

'No. I'd rather you paid me with something other than dataries,' and she lifted one eyebrow meaningfully at him, and held up a datapad with a blank screen.

He responded with a look of mock confusion. 'Be specific, so I know what I'll be winning,'

'A trail of kisses on your left, elbow to ear, favorite pauses included,' she wrote it down.

He smiled 'I like my prize. I'll put in five minutes of foot massage, with three instep kisses,' and the game was on, the bets becoming increasingly daring as they went.

Playing a game of chance with a Jedi might have seemed pointless, but Anakin had never been able to read Padme's mind the way he could most others'.
In the anxious days at the end of Palapatine's reign, uncertain whether they'd end up on opposing sides of the splintering Republic, she'd strengthened her natural shields even further. That was a dark memory, but now it made the game great fun. She won several hands against Obiwan's veteran student.

'I'm tired Ani,' she finally said when she'd had as much as she could stand of paying minor 'debts', flirting across the table and feigning disinterest in their solitude. She shoved the last of her cards to the middle of the table. 'Take me to bed?'

He had come around the table to her. She reached up for him, tilting her head and running her eyes over him lustily.

'I may take you up on that offer Milady,'

'I fully intend you to. I've waited three years to consummate my official marriage.'

He helped her to her feet and rubbed her shoulders and back gently. 'Are you sure about this my love? I understand if…'

'I'm sure,' she said, pulling his head down for a long kiss. 'I've missed you, and I know you've missed me too…'

Ani needed no further convincing. He took his 'new' wife into the Lakeview Master bedroom and made love to her.

The following days and nights were their old daydreams come true, as they simply spent their time together, catching up, planning, playing and making love. They completed final touches on the nursery, Ani installed the medical droids that were to assist with the birth and they finalized arrangements for Padme's personal healer to attend.

Dr. Aawen Kek had been the Naberries' family healer since Grandmother Winama's illness fourteen years earlier. He'd tended them through health crises and births since. He was surprised to hear from Padme, who had missed many annual appointments claiming to be caught up with responsibilities of state. She had assured him that all was as per status quo and she was taking care of herself. It was a shock when she'd waddled into his Theed offices heavily pregnant and having had only two medical droid visits on Coruscant. Realizing that there was no longer any point to scolding his patient, he'd set about an attempt to salvage the situation. Exercise and rest regimes were prescribed, along with adjustments of her supplements.

She smiled fondly at his vague frown when she was leaving. 'I've been fine for six months. We'll be alright,' she said placing her hand lovingly on her abdomen.

Kek had prayed to the Suns that not withstanding the physical and psychic strain of carrying Force-Sensitive offspring she was right. Next visit would be time enough to discuss the issues of twin pregnancy.

Tekla had been the housekeeper at Varykino as of two years before it had been trusted to the Naberrie family's youngest, but the property had been closed most of that time. Threats on the life of her young mistress had come, the home had re-opened to facilitate her safety, and the Jedi had come with her.

After that first visit they hadn't seen him again though the evidence of his continued presence in their mistress' life was incontrovertible.
Mistress had ordered meditation stools built, one fixed on the verandah overlooking the lake, and the other a piece that could be moved around the inside the home as needed.
His preferred food and drink remained on their grocery list.
Mistress often gave them time off when he visited, but when they returned to work the indoor meditation stool had always been moved, his food was eaten, and the laundry counts in sheets and towels were appropriate for a couple. There was never any clothing left behind, but from what she heard Jedi only had the clothes on their backs, and he couldn't very well leave those.

Tekla understood the need for discretion, and weeded out any gossips among the staff.

Renovation of the nursery had been under her supervision until Mistress came from Coruscant. She'd been concerned, but the consummate household staffer, she'd been supportive in silence. Holonet reports were not common in the Lake country, but even they had heard of the resignation of the Hero with no Fear, and Tekla had breathed a sigh of pleased relief on her Mistress behalf as wedding invitations were finally sent out.

She had not realized that meant he'd be in her kitchen two weeks later hunting for something to do. His offer to fix her equipment had been met with skeptical amusement, so she'd handed over the most recalcitrant of the droids first. If the grimy old stirrer that was fixed into the hearth's back wall when Varykino was first built didn't run the Jedi through it would keep him busy, and discourage future offers of help. The stirrer actually took Ani two days to fix. He'd won over most of the staff by the end of that time, but Tekla was still wary. She could see that he was unsuited to the life of the idle class. If Mistress did not have a plan for her Ex-Jedi he'd be finding trouble soon, or it would find him. So she let him fix the rest of the kitchen equipment; feeling it was what she could contribute to the domestication effort.

Those three weeks at Varykino included the best sleep Ani had in months, and again he marveled at how much of his disquiet had emanated from the Sith. Sidious and the Force had been plaguing him with nightmares, affecting his moods and decisions through fear and lack of sleep. The Jedi had not helped, denying him either talisman of family or female company. It had nearly worked. He shuddered every time he thought of the split second of clarity that had saved him from a near-certain Fall. His vacation from force visions did not last.

Dr Aawen had been in that day. It was the first face to face meeting for him and Anakin; and it struck him how attentive the man was to his wife's wellbeing. The prescribed regime had been carefully enforced and Padme was a picture of glowing health and happiness.

'We will continue with this plan since it is working so well. Now, about having twins…..'

'What?' the couple spoke in unified shock.

'The droids didn't inform you on Coruscant?'

Anakin turned a questioning look on Padme, who blushed furiously.

'At first you were away, and it was a secret, so the less I knew the easier it was for me. Then I didn't want to peek too much, so I only asked the droids if the baby was healthy. I never thought to check whether there was more than one!!! And apparently they weren't programmed to tell me!'

Anakin's eyes went wide, and he began to shake his head. His expression disintegrated into laughter at his own blindness. 'I should have figured it out and told you myself. That explains everything, and you can stop arguing with me now. I'm right, we're having a girl.'

'We're getting one of each….' she replied.

The rest of the visit was spent discussing the birthing process traditionally used by the Naboo, Anakin's role, and when Dr Aawen should be called.

Anakin's nightmare returned in the early hours of the next morning. It was different now. Padme seemed serene instead of screaming in pain, but at the end he awoke with the familiar sense of loss and dread. She was going to die. He fled their bed for the verandah to meditate and weigh his options, beacuse he could not leave to seek help now. Padme was too exhausted to follow him.

The cramps woke her at dawn. They'd come and gone before, and she was not going to get out of bed for them, so she turned onto her other side and waited for them to stop. When they became more insistent instead she decided it might be best to inform her husband. The walk through the house brought more discomfort, but she made it to the verandah. He'd sensed her wake, and stay in bed, then her slow progress towards him. She seemed tired, uncomfortable and a little worried, but that had been there since yesterday. She stopped at the door, apparently watching him. It was then that he sensed the pain.

'Aaahni….' She gasped. He rushed to her as she braced on the doorway. There was a faint trickling sound, and her wide brown eyes flew up to meet his blue ones, in time with a loud splash. Their honeymoon was over.