When the knock came at the door, Leia raced downstairs as fast as she could to find that her mother had already opened the door. To compensate for losing that race, she ran straight into her father's arms.
Bail caught his daughter and held her close for a moment before handing her to Breha. Leia smiled up at her mother and Breha put her down. As soon as she was back on the ground, Leia ran to get her brother and sister so they could meet her parents.
"Luke! My mom and dad are here!"
Luke turned from the simple model kit he had been working on with Anakin, "Mom and Dad are already here."
"My other mom and dad! Come on, Daddy!" Leia grabbed her father's arm and dragged him down to the main area, then doubled back to get Laasya. When she managed to drag Laasya down the stairs too, she found her family sitting in the living room and eating breakfast together. Leia crawled onto her adoptive father's lap and took the plate of food her mother handed her.
As she ate, she listened to her parents' conversation with interest.
"Do you want to take her back to Alderaan?" Padme asked.
"I think she might be much happier here. We can send Winter over too, if you like. She and Leia are practically inseprable."
Leia nodded in agreement.
Anakin moaned playfully, "Not another one. Three is confusing enough."
Padme genly punched his arm, "Well you'd better get used to it. Luke has an inseperable friend too. He's waiting for me to tell you about her so we can bring her here too."
"Oh, joy," Anakin joked.
Padme turned back to Bail, "Sorry, don't let my husband's big mouth get in the way. You think it's a good idea to bring Winter here?"
"Yes, she would be overjoyed to see Leia again. I left her with Leia's aunts."
"Do you think we might be able to leave the kids with you until Coruscant settles down enough to be safe for them?" Padme asked.
"Yes, I'd be happy to care for them. Would Luke's "inseperable friend" be joining us?" Breha answered.
"I think that Luke would appreciate it, but it's not nessicary. She and her mother are safe on Naboo."
The converation continued like that until Leia tired of listening and slid off her father's lap to go play with her siblings.
Padme had packed her childrens' belongings for them and loaded them into the Organa's ship by the end of the day. The kids were still more or less unaware of the plan.
Padme climbed the stairs and gathered her son in her arms, then took Leia's hand and called Laasya to follow her downstairs.
"Where are we going, Mommy?" Luke asked.
"You're going to Alderaan with Leia's other mommy. You're going on vacation."
Padme's words aroused suspicion in Luke. "You're not coming, are you?"
"No. Mommy and Daddy have to stay here."
Luke clambered out of his mother's arms and ran to attach himself around Anakin's leg, "I'm not going anywhere without Daddy." He proclaimed.
Anakin reached down to pick his son off, but Luke held on as tight as he could and Anakin knew that when he got his son off, the boy would just reattach himself.
"Maybe Luke could stay, Padme. I'm sure we can take care of one child in the chaos. After all, I took care of Laasya for four years when the Emperor was in control."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Ani." Padme said, taking over from Anakin with trying to remove Luke from Anakin's leg.
Luke sat down and wrapped his legs around Anakin's ankle too. "I'm staying with Daddy."
Padme sighed, "Fine, but Anakin, guarding Luke is your job. And, Luke, your job is to stay close to Daddy."
"If Luke's gonna stay, I want to stay too!" Laasya announced walking over and taking Anakin's tunic in her hand.
"This is why I thought it would be easier to just send them all away. Laasya, you're going to Alderaan with Leia." Padme took her adopted daughter's hand and led her out to the ship, the girl protesting the whole way.
"Change of plans, Bail. Luke insists on staying here. I need to grab his things, though."
Bail nodded and Padme took Luke's bag back in to the castle. She was fairly sure she saw Laasya glaring at her before being pulled away by Leia. When she reached the castle and dropped Luke's bag on a couch, Luke ran over to her happily.
"We get to be with Daddy!" he started to skip around his mother.
"Yes, we do. I have to do some work with Daddy now. I'll call you for dinner, all right?" Padme nudged her son in the direction of the staircase so he could play in the playroom.
"But I wanna stay with you!" Luke protested.
"All right, but we have to be working, so stay quiet, please."
"Okay," Luke ran in the direction of his father.
After hours of his parents talking about things he didn't understand, Luke was getting very bored. The fact that he could sense that his father was half asleep wasn't helping matters. Finally he crawled onto his father's lap and fell asleep.
"Anakin! Anakin, wake up!" Padme snapped her fingers beside her husband's ear and Anakin's eyes opened blearily.
"Padme? Whass wrong?" he slurred his speech, still half asleep.
"You fell asleep again. Please try to stay awake, this is imporant."
"Sorry," Anakin sat back up, shaking his head to clear it.
"Just try to stay awake."
Anakin nodded, "I'm awake, I'm awake."
"Good. So as I was saying, we need to contact Aang from Roona, Ask Aak from Malastair and the Dustig sector, Yeb Yeb Adem'thorn from Makem Te and the Nilgaard sector…"
Anakin nodded and started to drift back into his stupor. The bundle of his son moved in his arms and he carefully gathered it up and hugged it close.
"Anakin, you're not paying attention!"
"Yes I am. I'm just trying to keep Luke comfortable! And, shh… you'll wake him if you don't quiet down."
"I'll wake him, or I'll wake you?" Padme asked with quiet amusement.
"Both. Can this wait until I've had some caff?"
"All right, here, give me Luke." Padme took their sleeping son onto her lap and rocked him carefully while Anakin made caff.
Anakin walked back in with a mug of caff and curled up on the sofa. Padme put their son back in his arms started into her lecture on which senators they needed to restart the Republic. Anakin forced himself to stay awake as long as possible, but finally he couldn't resist the pull of sleep.
"Anakin! Wake up!" Padme snapped her fingers beside his ear again.
"I'm awake! Sorry, Padme. I don't see why you need me to help with this, though. We both know that I do more in the way of aggressive negotiations. Why don't you find one of your friends from the old senate to help you with this?"
"Because I don't know where to find them."
"I'll help you get in touch. It's been dark out for hours. Can we please at least get some sleep now?"
"Of course, Ani. I'll try to find someone else who knows more about this, I promise."
"Thank you." Anakin stood up, carrying his son. Luke mumbled something in his sleep and shifted to a more comfortable position that almost sent him tumbling out of his father's arms. Anakin caught him and repositioned him carefully.
"I'm taking Luke up to bed, all right?"
"I'm not sure. Luke has some problems with sleeping in his own room. Would you like to stay with him? It'll make him feel safer."
"All right, Padme. You know best." Anakin bent to kiss his wife and then carried his son up to the room the boy had been sharing with his sister. He tucked his son in and crawled into Laasya's bed. He watched Luke's chest rising and falling for a few minutes before going to sleep.
"Daddy?" Anakin opened his eyes to find his son pulling on his sleeve.
"Yes, Luke?"
"I'm cold."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you need something?"
"Cuddle me," Luke reached up to his father and Anakin pulled him into a warm embrace. After a few moments, Anakin tried to put his son down, but the boy clung to him. Sighing, he pulled Luke close and under the blankets with him. Soon they were both asleep in one another's arms.