Chapter Twelve
Only Padmé emerged from their bedroom when the klaxon rang out. It was her hands alone that guided the ship the rest of the distance to Coruscant. The crack pilot remained miserably curled up in his bed. Refusing to believe they were truly here.
The city planet loomed in front of her. But she didn't feel the dread Anakin almost exuded. Instead she saw hope. Promise. The beginning of the reclamation of the Republic.
Anakin didn't even join her as she touched her ship down to its assigned landing platform.
With Leia and Luke still asleep Padmé slipped back into their bedroom. Her heart heavy. The sight of Anakin didn't help any. Stretched out on the bed with his hand thrown over his eyes. Her throat clogged, denying her breath as tears well. If broken-hearted had an image, that would be it. But even worse, tomorrow he wouldn't be here to look broken-hearted. He wouldn't be here at all.
"We're here," she informed.
He didn't move a single muscle. His fingers didn't twitch, his mouth didn't move. He just lay there in silence for a long time, while she stood anxiously at the door. Waiting for some, any kind of reaction.
"Anakin you can't put this off forever," she finally prompted softly.
The reality of what was happening started to slowly sink in as he lay there. Anakin was leaving. His smitten gaze wouldn't be there when she turned around. His soft words wouldn't voice an opinion when she asked for it. No hands would snake around her waist from behind when she was mixing a morning drink.
No more playing by the water or lazy days in bed. No trips to quaint villages, no picnics in the meadows. No enthusiastic husband waiting in her bed at night. Just the impossible task of trying to repair a Republic which had been under constant attack her entire lifetime.
It was a sad realisation indeed to know she'd chosen the wellbeing of thousands of star systems over the happiness of Anakin. The man whose very soul completed her own. Her heart clenched. No Ani. Life in the next few months loomed emptily in her future.
He suddenly threw off his arm and sat up. Almost angry. Startling her with the abrupt break in the silence.
"Fine, I'll carry Luke," he spat.
Before she could say anything he'd stormed next door into the room Luke and Leia were sleeping in.
Padmé remained leaning against the door, looking at their now empty bed. It seemed an ominous premonition of the future. For so long their bed had been the only space they could share together uninhibited. Where no one could interrupt or question the way they looked at each other. Now he wouldn't even be in their private haven. Not if he wished to minimise suspicion.
Her eyes closed sadly. No one would ever know the size of the sacrifice they were both making. Trying to shake it off she turned and followed after Anakin's banging footsteps.
As she rounded the corner into Leia and Luke's room she pulled up short and her heart fell. He was kneeling on the floor. Like he couldn't even support his own weight anymore. Like the knowledge of what was coming crushed him.
It ached to see Anakin so broken. This was not the strong Jedi knight who'd left her so many times for far flung war zones. For a brief moment she shifted her gaze to where Anakin's hand stroked Leia's head. Was this even the same man who had spent four years away from her? He'd always been reluctant to go but never so adamant that it wasn't going to happen.
She couldn't stand so far away from him like this. He was falling apart and he was her husband. It was physically impossible to stay away from him. Her feet moved instinctively until she was standing behind him. Her hands reached up lovingly. Even from behind she cupped his chin in her palms. Allowed her fingers to spread out and curve the strong lines of his jaw. Trying to offer some sort of comfort, familiarity. To squeeze in as much contact as possible before he left.
His head dropped down to his chest briefly. Reached up with one hand and stroked her soft fingers. The touch whispering over her skin almost saying 'I'm not mad at you'.
She forced herself not to cry. Leaning forward she pressed her lips into Anakin's hair. A lingering kiss while she inhaled the scent of his hair. It would be a long time before she had another opportunity to do so.
That's when she spoke the hardest truth of all.
"You shouldn't come home with us, it will be harder to leave."
You won't be able to drag yourself away. And it will raise more suspicion she silently added.
Her words voiced both their thoughts but it obviously hurt for Anakin to hear them. Her heart called out to him as his shoulders slumped further and his eyes fell away from the twins to his own knees.
Even touching him with her hands wasn't close enough while he was in so much pain. She carefully kneeled beside him, her eyes intent on his shattered features. A warm and loving hand rose to brush back unruly blond locks.
"Now that we're here, I wish this day hadn't come," she confessed. "I feel we could have lived by the lake forever."
Anakin suddenly turned to her. Eyes full of determined passion.
"Then lets go back! And never return here again! We'll take the twins and spend every moment together and just be happy," the very young man idealised.
---
The look in Padmé's eyes vetoed his idea before she even opened her mouth to do it.
"I can't ignore the interests of Naboo. It's my job, and it makes me happy Ani," her voice soothed.
He couldn't accept that though. He couldn't accept that for them to be happy they had to be apart.
"I'll make you happy," he tried to coax.
In his mind he conjured up a picture of the life they would lead. Snuggling under thick blankets near the fire in winter. Walking the tracks in the tall forests, swimming in the lake in summer. And the whole time he would be there for her, kissing her and loving her and sharing her life.
"I've dedicated my whole life to Naboo's continued peaceful existence. What if Palpatine was able to return to power, and decided to attack his home planet? The lake wouldn't be a very safe place to be then."
With an air of reality already beginning to permeate the cabin, Padmé tried a different tack. One that didn't focus on the loss of everything he loved. Instead, on the life he would be regaining.
"Don't you want to be a Jedi?" she asked with just the slightest hint of mirth.
That gave him just enough pause. She rubbed her hands over his forearms lovingly. She didn't know what she did to him when she touched him so. His whole awareness converged around where her fingers made contact, and forced his attention to her. She stared intently at him until he was caught up in her gaze.
"I don't want the twins growing up with the threat of Palpatine hanging over them. What if they're Jedi?"
His chin turned away, not wanting to meet her eyes. He hadn't thought of that. He would most like to take his young family and just be with them. The twins as grown ups he hadn't thought about. And they would be Jedi. Both Leia and Luke responded to his gentle force promptings with a strength they'd obviously inherited from him. Stronger than any youngling he'd ever met.
Even as he avoided her gaze, she followed him.
"What if they grow up and there is still a Sith Lord alive that would kill them without a second thought? Or tries to turn them – he's been trying to get you after all."
There was a tight clamping across his chest. Kill Luke or Leia. No. He wouldn't let it happen. He was only twenty-four and already he'd come across three Sith. And Palpatine had probably had him pinned as the fourth. The thought that his children would even know what a Sith was in their lifetime, frightened him.
"Could you live with yourself, knowing that you could have removed him before they could even walk? Because I can't live with myself knowing that I abandoned the less fortunate and persecuted peoples of the Republic. We can help remove the threat, Hero with no Fear."
Anakin gave a sad sigh. She was right. She was always right. Fear would start to eat away at him if he left Palpatine alive. Leia and Luke would be on the Sith's radar if he ever found out about them, and he couldn't allow that. He couldn't be happy with such a threat hanging over the two most precious lives he had created with Padmé.
There was a long pause of complete silence while she waited for him to respond. Finally
"Are you sure you don't want to negotiate a peaceful settlement?" he grumbled.
The mocking in his tone brought a smile to her face.
"Sith Lords are your speciality. Do you think he would come to the bargaining table?"
Anakin laughed at her quip. Well and truly laughed. He loved her – oh how he loved her. He turned his head and captured her hand to his mouth. Flicked his tongue into her palm. It was a little salty and perfectly smooth.
"I'd feel selfish for keeping you to myself. We will see each other Anakin. I know you will ensure it. Even if you have to stay away for a little while so you don't raise suspicions, I know you will come back to me."
He nodded and turned away from her. All had been right in his universe for such a long time that he'd forgotten what it was like to have it all fall apart. What this feeling was. Before he could lose himself, he was clambering to his feet once more. He had to do this now. While she had him convinced it was the right thing to do. If he didn't he might start to think of the reasons he didn't want to leave again, and then he may never go back.
His cloak flew into his hand from a peg on the wall, and he shrugged it on.
"I should go. This will only get harder."
He looked down into the warm fluffy blankets that had encompassed their younglings on their first flight. With an aching heart but a sense of purpose he reached out and ran his live fingertips over first Luke, then Leia's forehead.
"I love you," he told them quietly. "You mean the world to me, and I will see you very very soon."
He cupped Luke's tiny cheek and sighed.
"Don't forget about me," he pleaded to his sleeping twins in a cracking voice.
Then he pulled away. Gave Padmé the deepest kiss he had ever bestowed on her. Wrapped her up in his arms and cloak. Desperately invaded her mouth. Ran his fingers over her hair, her cheeks, the soft folds of her dress. Sunk deep into her and slowly opened himself up fully to the force, as had once been daily routine. Felt it light up and sizzle. Felt like he was disappearing into Padmé.
Then had to pull away.
"I'll see you soon," he promised her quietly."Nothing will keep me away."
Without another word he turned and walked away. An unseen tear slipping down his cheek as he abandoned everything he loved in the name of duty. But a sense of purpose filling his soul.
---
Padmé turned but didn't move her feet as Anakin left the room. Her ears perked, straining to hear Anakin's footsteps as he travelled the short corridor and disembarked. His boots were already lightening to the soft footfalls that had brought him up the steps from the balcony and into her bedroom so many nights without alerting her.
With a sad grin she listened to R2 trundling in behind her with a bubbling query. When had it happened that she'd been around this little droid long enough to not only understand the bulk of his beeping, but the intricate emotional undertones as well?
"Yes R2, go with him, and please take care of him for me."
She tried to hold her smile steady. With a spinning dome and a body to follow, the rolling of wheels followed Anakin's footsteps from the ship.
For some reason Threepio, who was often hot on R2s trail, stayed away. And the small room fell quiet.
Leaving her with two very special people as her only company. She looked down at them. Luke had his head turned to the cheek Anakin had been touching. Leia's nose was scrunched up as if itchy. All in all the embodiment of innocence that they would protect with everything they had. Her lips couldn't help curling up at them.
"You're so sweet," she whispered to the pair.
She leant down and touched her lips to Leia's forehead. Then Luke's.
They didn't wake though. She remained by their bedside, tucking up their blankets and stroking her hands over their tiny faces for a minute more. The idea that she would now be their only carer was daunting. Anakin had thrown himself into fatherhood, and was so attuned to them that he often pre-empted their cries. In their single month of life the twins had barely complained.
Now that he was gone, she held no illusions. Life wouldn't be nearly so pleasant.
In fact, she was probably wasting their good graces now. There were a lot of things to gather up and it would be easier to move around the ship while the twins were still asleep.
She stepped out into the hallway and was about to open the storage locker when her eyes inevitably turned to the lowered ramp. Berating herself for being ridiculous even as she did it, Padmé kneeled down and peered out. The platform was empty. Anakin and R2 had already boarded a shuttle and left.
"Mistress Padmé!" Threepio's voice called out loudly.
It interrupted her right before she was about to start wallowing in her own self-pity. And she couldn't be more thankful to the droid. Smiling at his over-enthusiasm she delicately reached over and pushed the door panel, closing off the twins from the noise of her loyal droid.
"Yes Threepio?" she asked pleasantly as he waddled out into the hallway.
"Captain Typho has connected to the communicator and requests your attendance."
Nodding she followed him back to the cockpit.
Captain Typho. Security, handmaidens, entertaining dignitaries: for so long that had been her life. Of course, a tall Jedi silently slipping into her bedroom at night had become part of what made that life so wonderful. As she moved behind her golden protocol friend she silently thanked Anakin in her heart. Because the life her mother and sister had always wished for her she had never even been able to imagine. She had always thought she would be bored by such an existence and had silently dismissed their pleas. And now she had lived that way with the most special person in her life for a third of a standard year.
As wonderful as it had been, she knew she couldn't live like that always though. Her heart had enjoyed the unequalled love she had been surrounded by but her mind needed more stimulation. And here it was in the form of Captain Typho's tiny figure standing disapprovingly over her holoprojector.
"M'lady," he bowed stiffly.
Had she been alone with Anakin she would have giggled. But the woman who allowed herself to be freer in the presence of the Jedi Hero was now replaced by the woman who had spent her whole life deep in diplomacy. Instead she sat in the pilot's chair and faced him directly.
"We have much to speak of Captain, but I feel it would be prudent to conduct such a meeting in my quarters, and not over a Coruscant com channel."
He nodded in agreement. Oh, Typho was silent. That spoke more of his mood, his anger, than any words could.
"I know where you are. Wait and I will escort you."
Padmé wasn't surprised that he knew where she was. Her departure from Naboo, although low key, had been done using her priority exit vector. The very request would have been brought to the attention of anyone waiting for her to re-emerge. And it would have warned that she was returning to Coruscant. The security chief had obviously been monitoring for her clearance code on the capital world.
"Bring Dormé," was her only response.
The captain bowed and disappeared.
She closed the connection. Leaned her elbows onto the control panel, and settled her chin into her hands.
"Well already one person knows," she murmured to herself.
"Excuse me Miss Padmé, but I don't understand," Threepio's voice interrupted.
She forced a smile for her droid, her only company. Suddenly she wished Anakin had stayed just a little longer. That they had discussed exactly who was going to find out about the twins. Because her parents discovering them had been unexpected, and a little unwelcome. There was a silent want between the two of them to keep their children just as hidden as their relationship. But realistically it couldn't be that way.
A full-grown Jedi Knight was stealthy and slipped in and out of her bedroom like a shadow. He was an expert at avoiding her staff. Even if he was in her apartment a little more than was entirely appropriate, they were careful to never display affection in front of anyone else. They couldn't stop people from having their suspicions, but they could do their best not to confirm them.
A full-grown Jedi Knight's tiny newborn children did not have such skills. They had no concept of hiding to protect the reputations of their parents. Even if she hid them away they would inevitably cry, draw attention. And truthfully she had no intention of subjecting them to such a life.
She quickly started forming a list in her mind. Some of her staff she trusted to be discreet. Those who had changed their routines so they didn't run into Anakin. Dormé, for instance, who now signalled Padmé's com half an hour before she came to wake her in the mornings, giving just enough time for any sleeping husband to wake and make love to his wife then slip out unseen. Ellé, who put all her clothes back into their draws and onto their hangers, except her nightgowns which were now left in a pile on the corner of her bed, denying the handmaiden's eyes the sight of Anakin's neatly folded sleep pants amongst her nightwear. Captain Typho, who never asked why the cameras in her bedroom were no longer connected, or why a Jedi Knight could be found in her living room so very often when he wasn't informed of any danger.
There were also some people she most definitely did not have faith in. Who she suspected to have leaked information to the media, or whose loyalty was questionable. Moteé, for instance, often let her eyes linger on Anakin's taut form, then seemed to direct daggers in Padmé's direction when the handsome blond only had eyes for his Senator. Or Finn, one of the younger security officers, who had once asked persistently as they hurried through the crowded Senate halls why Jedi Skywalker seemed to be in her apartment "so early in the mornings." Even worse was her ex-senatorial aide she still couldn't bare to think about, who had betrayed her trust and suggested to a press droid that staking out her apartment would show an unknown man was coming and going more than even the staff who lived with her.
None of those people would she ever allow to find out about Leia and Luke. Especially as her personal staff was about to increase. She would have to start thinking about bringing people in to care for the sweet little pair while she was out during the day.
Threepio made a klinking noise as he stood beside her, waiting.
"I'm sorry Threepio. Anakin and I would prefer that most people do not know Luke and Leia exist. I'm just trying to think of who I would be able to trust."
"Oh you can trust me Miss Padmé!" he eagerly declared.
She grinned at his innocent enthusiasm.
"I know I can. Thank you Threepio."
Padmé's eyes fell on one of the three witnesses to her beautiful wedding. Despite his over-enthusiasm and complete inappropriateness, Threepio was probably more discreet than his master and mistress. Even she couldn't help the way she risked exposure to greet Anakin when he returned from long missions.
"We should collect the bags together before Captain Typho arrives and Leia or Luke wake up. Could you help me?" she invited.
"Of course Miss Padmé!" he chirped.
He followed her as she made for the storage closet once more.
"You put these together, I'm going to get the twins ready."
She trusted Threepio's competence enough to leave him alone with the luggage. On her own, already missing Anakin by her side or trailing behind her, she moved back in to Leia and Luke's room. They were still fast asleep, and it wouldn't be long before they were jostled from the comfortable position Anakin had settled them in.
Unable to help herself, Padmé reached out to adjust Luke's little beanie. Making sure both he and his sister kept warm.
It was far too soon when she heard the soft, familiar "M'lady?" of Dormé approaching up the landing ramp. Taking a deep breath she back peddled a few steps and stuck her head outside the door.
"In here," she said softly, her eyes enticing her long-time friend into the room.
Dormé came in, her features full of questions. Padmé answered them all with a hopeful smile and a quiet introduction of
"Meet Leia and Luke."
---
Anakin stepped between the open doors of the shuttle. Forcing himself to keep his eyes and feet pointed straight ahead, so he would not look back.
The doors didn't close immediately behind him and the shuttle remained still. Fate was tempting him. Worry for Padmé, for his young family, whipped his head automatically, no matter how much he wanted to keep his eyes away.
R2 trundled in behind, tooting happily.
His gaze drifted up to the sleek ship. Two doors slammed together right in front of him, almost prophesising. The shuttle immediately started moving but his eyes remained locked on the reflective metal. No more Padmé, no more twins. Sadly he forced himself to stop looking. Try and stop thinking about them. They filled his thoughts so completely that his consciousness registered little else. This wasn't the frame of mind to greet Jedi. And that was exactly what he would be doing very soon.
Luckily his wedding present started bleeping impatiently to get his attention.
Grinning at the tone that indicated his small friend was annoyed at being ignored, Anakin turned his eyes down.
"We're going back to the Jedi temple," he told the astromech in a hushed tone.
He stretched out with his awareness to try and feel the twins. Their presences were rapidly fading away as the shuttle rushed through Coruscant's traffic. Just before he lost the ability to reach them he brushed against each of their minds with a gentle reminder that he loved them. Then they were gone and his heart was dropping.
Again R2 prevented the agony he knew was coming once the separation truly sunk in.
There was a series of hurried beeps and whoops and a long whrooop which brought forth an unstoppable splutter of laughter from Anakin.
"Four whole months, yes I'd say there is a new and better fighter on the market. We're going to need a new one, the last was lost on the Invisible Hand," he reminded his faithful friend.
He imagined marching straight to the docking bay and demanding a new fighter from the deck officer. In his imagination Masters Yoda, Windu and Obi-Wan appeared behind the deck officer. Obi-Wan's arms were folded across his chest disapprovingly. Windu was frowning as always. And Yoda just peered at him like he was crazy. Perhaps a new fighter shouldn't be his first request once he returned.
"If they let us have one," he muttered to himself.
Then his mind swept back to the rescue of the Chancellor without his wanting it to. He remembered Palpatine prompting him to kill Dooku. His own apprentice. Palpatine had been such a good friend, a mentor to him. Now Anakin looked back on that friendship with nothing more than sadness. He knew that if he really wanted he could deny what he felt in the force and cling to a degree of doubt that Palpatine was the Sith Lord. But in his heart he knew. Palpatine no, Sidious his mind corrected, had used him. Anakin shook his head in disgust, and vowed to himself that the last Sith would be dead before the twins reached their first year.
Unlike his hatred for Dooku though, Anakin identified his need to see his long time counsellor gone as not revenge for betrayal of himself. That's what Dooku had been, revenge. Palpatine needed to be dead, because Anakin knew the Sith disease would threaten the precious princess and prince he had just left behind in the care of his love. And it was his job to protect them all.
For the first time in his life Anakin took comfort in the prophecy that proclaimed he was the chosen one who would bring balance to the force. He would do it. To ensure Luke and Leia never struggled as he had, he would balance the force by destroying the man who fed the darkness. And if Sidious had taken on another apprentice, then it too would have to be weeded out.
To do that he needed the Jedi's support. The shuttle glided to a stop, setting down about a kilometre from the Temple.
I need time to think about this he reasoned, and disembarked.
R2 followed patiently as Anakin began striding towards the spires he could already see straining up high into the sky. Moving amongst other beings again was an odd experience. He had to reduce his connection to the force. Stop listening like he had when he was waiting for the twins to cry out.
The twins. How did he justify months spent waiting for Padmé, who had been so beautifully pregnant, to give birth to what had turned out to be their twins? Leaving the Order without a word. Not even to his closest friend. No warning, no leave given, no way to contact him, just taking off.
It had felt right at the time. Then he'd known he had to get away from Coruscant as soon as possible, or face consequences he didn't trust himself to deal with. Considering Palpatine's betrayal he was totally sure he had made the right decision. Now he only had to convince the council of that.
If they'd even listen to him.
He started running through options in his head. It didn't take long to come up with an entirely plausible explanation. That he had sensed Palpatine's attempts on the Republic even though he didn't understand the feeling of impending doom. That was true after all. He could tell the council that he felt he was unprepared for the confrontation – considering the darkness he'd identified and slowly expelled from himself once the contrast of being with Padmé had illuminated just how unhappy and conflicted he'd been, that too was indeed very true.
Obi-Wan would no doubt press him as to why take Padmé. And the answer of "I love her" would probably not suffice in such a situation. His mind drifted to her position in the Senate. She was the leader of the loyalist committee, the public face of the petition of two thousand, had been one of the few who was not afraid to stand up and question Palpatine's grip on the Republic.
Could it really be such a stretch that he'd felt she was threatened too? A target? Never mind that she embodied every piece of happiness he could ever hope to hold. No, as far as the Jedi council were concerned, he'd thought her vulnerable – at a stretch it was actually true, she was in a vulnerable state pregnant with his children but that need not be mentioned.
Only her political standing mattered, and that was all the council would know about.
Far too quickly his steps had come to a halt and the imposing façade of the grand Jedi temple loomed high in front of him.
"Well, here we are R2," he told the droid unnecessarily.
Tactfully R2 didn't make a single peep in reply.
Anakin took a deep breath and allowed thoughts of his family to fill his mind completely one last and final time. Padmé whispering into his ear that she would always love him. Her eyes locked to his as she stroked her fingers down his face right before she would kiss him. Luke's wide-eyed wonder when he commanded Anakin's attention all to himself in the middle of the night. Leia's delighted squeals as she reached out for him to hold her, the way her tiny head filled his hand as he held her up against his shoulder.
Then he buried all that love and wonder deep in his heart, where no one else could sense it. And without further pause, started up the stairs two at a time. He reached the top, the grand entrance and stopped.
Obi-Wan stood with his arms folded calmly across his chest. The Jedi master didn't say a single word. Didn't move, emitted no feelings into the force.
Just stared at his only apprentice. And raised a single eyebrow.
---
Dormé looked at the bassinet in disbelief. Padmé had already turned to sling a bag of the twins' belongings over her shoulder.
When she turned back, it was to the sound of footsteps. Typho abruptly pulled up. Stared at the sleeping babies incredulously.
"I don't know how this is going to work out, so I'd appreciate your discretion," she half-whispered to the pair of them.
Typho was gaping, his eyes switching back and forth from the Senator to her children and back again. But Dormé reminded Padmé why she had always been such a good friend.
With a slowly appearing, but bright smile, the handmaiden moved to the cot and leant in.
"May I?" she asked in her gentle lilt.
Padmé pulled up and looked at her friend in surprise. Flabbergasted, she could do nothing more than nod. Dormé picked Leia up just as the little girl was yawning awake.
"Well hello," she grinned, quietly taking a handful of little fingers that stretched out. "Oh Padmé she's beautiful. Leia, did you say?"
Padmé transferred her body weight to her other foot.
"Leia," she confirmed with a quiet, proud and somewhat shy smile.
"Leia," Dormé repeated.
The quiet banter between the women seemed to bring Typho back to his senses.
"We obviously have much to discuss, but I think we should move somewhere more secure. Might I suggest we return to your apartment," he tactfully interrupted.
"Yes," Padmé immediately concurred.
The Senator was back. For a moment she was the mother too, leaning down and taking Luke up into her arms. Making sure to keep him asleep, and enjoying as he sighed a little and nuzzled into her. But the moment was very short-lived, before she was her no-nonsense and practical self once again.
Typho stepped back and allowed Padmé to lead the way.
"Threepio," she called the droid.
A golden frame weighed down with her bags shuffled out into the hallway. Typho took one and then followed quickly after Padmé and Dormé onto the landing platform.
When Threepio was the last to exit the Naboo cruiser Padmé pushed buttons in a sequence to close the ramp and lock the ship.
It clicked into place with a thump of finality. She watched the closed door for a moment. Life with Anakin, over.
Shaking herself from the barely fleeting melancholy thought she moved quickly across the open and windy platform. Pulling Luke's blanket up to protect him from the cold gusts. The movement over his face seemed to wake him anyway. Either that or the lurch of the private shuttle as it started to escort them back to her apartment.
Unlike his sister, Luke was not pleased to be woken. Padmé sunk back into a seat, grateful to be off her feet.
"Shhhh, it's alright, it's ok. Shhh, Lukie," she soothed her son as he worked up from whimpers to outright cries.
He seemed to settle a little with the sound of her voice. Not much though.
She started doing quick calculations in her head, ignorant of her two friends sharing disbelieving looks. With a grin Padmé leaned down into the bag at her side.
"You hungry, Prince Luke?"
Whether it was the fact that she used Anakin's term of endearment, or that Luke caught sight of the milk she was readying, their son did calm down. As soon as the top was in his mouth he was silent, sucking away hungrily.
She looked up once Luke was settled. Not afraid to face the questioning eyes of both Typho and Dormé. Not one of the adults said a word.
Padmé grinned to herself and looked down, a sudden funny thought popping into her mind. She had her own Jedi Council right here to face, full of accusations and repercussions. She and Anakin were more alike in their returns to Coruscant than they'd considered.
"We're here," Dormé noted unnecessarily.
The craft was pulling to a stop. Padmé quickly disembarked and hurried to the turbolift, Threepio running after her and Dormé as Typho lingered behind to bark orders at his men.
He then hurried to join them but Padmé stopped him right before the door to the lift closed.
"Is the apartment empty?" she questioned.
Her meaning didn't seem to be lost on him, loose-tongued employees had unfortunately been a problem before. He paused and grabbed his com to murmur for someone to please leave. They waited a moment, then the doors shut and the carriage started lifting. The enclosed space was uncomfortably quiet. Luke was still drinking, and the sound of his sucking was all that could be heard. Typho stood stiffly facing the door, Padmé and Dormé behind, each focusing their attention on the babes in their arms.
"Give me a moment," Padmé requested as she stepped into her apartment.
She headed to her bedroom, surveying the perfect space that had served both her and her husband so completely. Her eyes drifted to the window. It had occurred to her while Anakin slept restlessly on her chest in the ship that while the lakeside retreat had seen Anakin create the most beautiful nursery for their twins, the apartment had no such room for Leia and Luke.
Luke finished his bottle and responded to the pats on his back while Padmé surveyed her private space. She took up a datapad and begun a list using only her free hand. The room that had seen her love Anakin countless times over the course of their short marriage was going to have to accommodate their children too before night fell over the megatropolis.
Threepio moved in with all her bags, carrying them to her wardrobe.
"I need for you to buy all the items on this list for me," she requested, holding out the pad.
He took it from her, glanced down, then nodded his head with an "Of course Miss Padmé. Shall I go now?"
"Yes, thank you Threepio."
His steps clanked even on the carpeted floor until he was gone.
Then she emerged back into the living room where Typho stared blankly out the window and Dormé sat teasing Leia on the divan.
Both immediately turned to the sound of her rustling skirts.
Padmé took a very deep breath to steady herself, then strode with all the confidence she had to face the most trusted of all her employees. The question was – how far should her explanation go?
---
Anakin felt his palms begin sweating at the very sight of the great Negotiator standing there. Just waiting for him.
His mind came up with a thousand ways to try and handle this situation. He could start rattling off his explanation now – just launch right into it. Or he could push past and say nothing, act very self-righteous and never given an explanation at all. Or he could wait for Obi-Wan to speak first and just react as accusations were hurled at him. Even more alternatives started presenting themselves as he stood in front of the man he'd once spent every day with.
At last he chose what perhaps wasn't the best option, but was the one that jumped up and down the loudest in his mind. Act as normal as possible and pretend nothing had happened.
"Obi-Wan," he bowed his head with just enough respect to look like he meant it.
Bluff that he hadn't lied and snuck out of the temple like a disobedient Padawan, then disappeared for months without any justification.
When he raised his eyes back up from his bow, Obi-Wan's eyebrow seemed to rise even higher. And not a single other muscle moved, not even a hair on his beard as a short gust of wind blew past.
They stared at one another in silence. Anakin's hands began twitching nervously at his sides. He felt like Obi-Wan could see right through him.
Behind him he heard R2 clunking up the last steps until finally he rolled up to Anakin's side and stopped with an abrupt jerk.
Slowly Obi-Wan turned his eyes downward to the droid. Like he wasn't surprised that Anakin had taken R2 with him when he disappeared. Anakin could almost hear the accusatory tone as the speech on attachment to insignificant items such as droids began in his mind, just as Obi-Wan liked to deliver it. But without a sound, Jedi Master Kenobi's eyes simply lifted back up to the Knight.
Traffic sped by noisily overhead. Beings hustled along conversing in a hundred languages in the wide courtyard below. But Obi-Wan faced down Anakin without a sound. Without movement. And in ten years as his Padawan, Anakin had never felt that a dressing down – an explosion – from Obi-Wan was more imminent than it was now.
But as always the Jedi Master surprised him. He looked Anakin directly in the eye. Then headed towards him.
Anakin's hand immediately fell to his belt. A natural reaction ingrained into him when he felt threatened. The weight of his lightsaber hilt pushed against his thigh but never detached from its holder.
Obi-Wan kept right on walking past Anakin and started moving down the steps. The picture of Jedi calm as he walked away.
There was a moment where Obi-Wan stopped. His head didn't turn back to Anakin, but Anakin's had turned to watch him.
"If you intend to explain yourself, I suggest you follow," came the cool order.
Obi-Wan began walking down the steps again and Anakin watched after him, conflicted. To follow Obi-Wan would be to suffer the most intense scrutiny he would face. He wasn't sure he was ready for that yet. To move into the temple would be to admit that he had done something wrong. That he had a cover story he needed to work on.
Briefly closing his eyes Anakin drew on all the strength the force could offer him.
"Come on R2," he decided.
Jogging to catch up as Obi-Wan moved steadily away from the Jedi Temple. It didn't take long for their destination to become clear. Anakin walked in silence at Obi-Wan's side as Dex's diner loomed in the distance. He tried to cheer himself up with the thought that at least he could get a big meal he didn't have to cook himself, it had been a long time since that had happened. Somehow it didn't bring him the comfort he thought it would.
Because it just reminded him that cooking for Padmé often involved her arms and kisses and thanks as the smells of preparation approaching completion enticed her into the kitchen. And he had to work extra hard to not only fight off the memory, but suppress the feelings of love and loss that surfaced along with it.
He couldn't think about Padmé now. It would only get him in more trouble.
For some reason he hoped the diner was full. Then maybe he'd be able to talk softly, mumble even, and Obi-Wan would only partly hear him and he'd get off scot-free. When he stepped through the doorway after Obi-Wan it was clear he was going to have no such luck.
Two dugs whispering in a corner booth and that was it. No one else. Obi-Wan was going to be able to hear him just fine. Scowling at the force and its sense of irony, Anakin followed Obi-Wan who calmly settled himself in a booth.
Gave the waitress droid an order as he folded his arms on the table. Then bored his gaze straight into Anakin and didn't move.
The statue act was starting to get on Anakin's nerves. He was no longer Obi-Wan's Padawan. He was an accomplished Knight. He'd led armies, rescued Chancellors. And whether he'd been in the best frame of mind or not he had defeated a Sith Lord. He didn't deserve to be treated like this.
"What?" he finally snapped.
His eyes darkened and his brows sunk deep into the crease at his nose. Accusing Obi-Wan with almost as much as Obi-Wan seemed to be accusing him with silence.
In response to his outburst Obi-Wan simply lifted that eyebrow back up. Kept it there so long that Anakin turned his gaze away to stare towards the kitchen and silently hurry their food along. Anything to break the tension.
When he eventually turned back Obi-Wan seemed to now be glaring at him. He decided that perhaps the best thing would be to skirt the issue and try to talk to Obi-Wan his friend before he began explaining himself to Obi-Wan the Jedi Master.
"So," he let the beginning of a sentence drift off into nothing.
Did Obi-Wan's glare just become more intense?
They needed some neutral ground. A common enemy. The idea leapt into Anakin's mind all too quickly. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
"Is there any intelligence on Palpatine's whereabouts?" he eagerly inquired.
"Perhaps he has engaged the company of a Senator and disappeared to Naboo," Obi-Wan replied fluidly in the most politely innocent tone ever to have passed through his cultured lips.
Ouch. He knows Anakin winced internally.
Somehow he had been hoping that Obi-Wan, and in fact the Jedi Order in general, were ignorant of his whereabouts the past few months. Apparently not.
"Oh," was all Anakin could reply.
"Yes, 'Oh'."
Anakin's mind began grasping desperately for something, anything to say. But eventually he was left with nothing and had to concede to his superior.
"How much do you know?" he sighed reluctantly.
With a hint of defeat in his tone, Obi-Wan seemed to relax in front of him.
"Four and a half months ago you deliberately misled me, snuck out of the Temple, collected Senator Amidala and left Coruscant. I tracked you to a palace up in Naboo's lake country but not beyond."
Anakin baulked briefly.
The lakehouse his mind screamed out. By what amazing act of generosity by the force did he not find us there?
"You'd obviously recently fled," Obi-Wan observed.
As much as it annoyed him that the Jedi had specifically infiltrated the one place he wished them not to be – the private haven that had seen the arrival of his infinitely precious younglings – Obi-Wan's revelation had the opposite effect to that intended on Anakin.
The Jedi Master obviously meant to let Anakin know that he had been partially discovered in a forbidden excursion. But to Anakin it actually affirmed that he had done the right thing. That his premonition – that feeling that they had to get away from Coruscant – was correct. If Obi-Wan had actually been able to track them all the way to their home, there was no luck involved that they hadn't been there. Perhaps they'd been up in the meadows, or strolling together in their little village – whatever the reason the force had decreed that Anakin and Padmé were meant to be left alone. That time had been set aside for them to enjoy each other's company, and not even the war's most successful general could destroy that.
Anakin's faith in the mystical energy field was growing by the second.
---
"I am sure you already understand a great deal of what has happened without me having to explain it to you," she began.
Her two friends shared a quick glance and then turned back to her. Yes. They had inferred most of the story. But the looks on their faces made it obvious they wanted to know more. They felt the deserved everything, and although they would never say such a thing to Padmé, she could read it so clearly.
"Palpatine's defection was partially foreseen."
Dormé quietly gasped, tightening her hold on the youngest Skywalker. Even Typho seemed to momentarily harden at the mention of the ex-Chancellor.
"It was felt he may have been more of a threat than came to pass."
She watched her handmaiden for any sign of scrutiny but only saw sadness. When she turned to the captain, however, the expression was quite different. It seemed as if he was just about to ask a question. Perhaps demand why he had no knowledge of a threat, or ask why he wasn't informed, so he too could have protected her.
At that moment Luke made a soft murmuring noise and turned into Padmé's warmth. And Typho seemed to understand. This assignment hadn't just been about physical protection. The hidden pregnancy threw a whole other dimension of familial bonding into the scenario. A situation into which he would only be intruding.
The good captain simply nodded and Padmé had to breathe a small sigh of relief. She didn't want or need to give any more explanation. Her loyal protectors were both smart enough to fill in any blanks on quiet reflection, and not ask questions. And there were other matters to attend to.
"The Senate sits in two days to elect a temporary Chancellor and I intend to be there. I need to speak with a number of Senators before then. Representative Binks and I need to have a discussion before the day is out."
The to-do list in Padmé's head was growing longer and longer.
"Are all my staff still on Cosucant?"
"No m'lady," Dormé spoke up.
"They all need to be recalled immediately. Is my secretary?"
Captain Typho nodded, already pulling out his com and stepping away from them, hopefully to locate the young woman.
"And I'll need to contact the queen today."
Leia whimpered in Dormé's arms, interrupting her mother's increasingly busy scheduling.
The formal tone dropped from Padmé's voice and lightened considerably, all the weight of her position dropping away in an instant as she looked towards her newborn daughter.
"And then there's you two," she cooed softly, brushing her lips over Luke's forehead.
Her eyes drifted over her son lovingly, knowing immediately that she could never trust just anyone with their care. She would need help in the next few weeks until she could hire someone appropriate. Until then, she certainly couldn't force the job on any of her current staff.
"I'll feed Leia and then I'll put them down. Could you bring her into my bedroom for me, and then put through a call to my sister please Dormé?"
Padmé stood, already heading towards her bedroom with Luke protectively wrapped up in her arms. In that moment it struck her again that Anakin was no longer the active parent he had been for the past month. He wouldn't be here to care for the twins every needs. He wouldn't be here, coddling them so excessively with his barely restrained joy. Listening out for them when she was deeply immersed in the workings of the galactic republic. Now it was just her. And at that second she wanted nothing more than the soft comfort of his voice, and the tightness of his arms around her. To assure her that somehow, everything would be alright.
"Of course m'lady," the soft voice of her friend washed over her.
It brought her back to reality. First the twins had to go to sleep and then she would ask one of the few people she truly trusted to put everything down and come help her. And hopefully Sola would say yes, because Anakin was no longer an option.