Chapter 21

Anakin looked into Padme's concerned eyes. "Padme, I know that you will probably not like this idea, but I think I know where we should live."

Padme was now looking at him with curiosity as Anakin looked down at their hands again. "Anakin, I'll be happy living anywhere as long as we and the children are together…That's all that matters to me." She told him while squeezing his hands tighter and smiling at him.

Anakin looked back up at his wife with a smile. "I was hoping you'd say that." He sighed. "Because I was thinking we should go live on Tatooine."

"Tatooine?" Padme replied with surprise. "I thought you hated Tatooine?"

Anakin chuckled. "Well…It's not my favorite place…but I did call it home once." He sighed and looked away in thought. "I have fond memories of my mother there and still have family there." He looked down at their hands again, rubbing his thumb over Padme's hand. "I just heard from Luke that my step-brother, Owen, and his girlfriend, Beru, recently have been married." He said while looking back up at Padme with a smile.

"That's wonderful." Padme responded. "But how did Luke find this out? I mean I know he was raised by them, but they wouldn't know him now."

"He contacted them on my behalf. To see if they'd be willing to take in some of the younglings, and they've agreed to take in a youngling named Tobin." Anakin replied with thoughtful smile. "I'm happy they chose him. Tobin kept me focused and helped me not to give up hope when I was saving the younglings from the Temple. He was the one who first approached me when I found a group of them in the Council Chambers. He has blue eyes and blonde hair like Luke and I guess he made me think about what it would be like to raise our son and daughter."

Padme smiled at him. "And you'll get to be his uncle."

Anakin looked at her with surprise. "You know…I never thought about it like that. But you're right. I guess with my step-brother being his adoptive father, that would make me his uncle, wouldn't it?" He said while looking at his wife lovingly and smiled.

"Yes, Ani." Padme said with another tired smile and then became serious. "But what of the other younglings and padawans that were saved? What will happen to them?"

"Senator Organa has agreed to take them to Alderaan with him as orphaned refugees. He's going to find good homes for them with families that are against the Empire." Anakin replied and then sighed, caressing Padme's hands between his. "Which actually brings me to something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it, Ani?" Padme said with concern and curiosity.

Anakin looked down at their hands and then back up at his wife, looking right into her eyes. "Senator Organa also asked if he could adopt Leia."

"What!" Padme said with shock and panic. "No, Ani. He can't have her!"

Padme's sudden outburst caused the babies to start to cry. Anakin released Padme's hands from his and immediately got up from the bed and went over to the bassinettes. He touched Luke with his left hand, sending a Force soothing reassurance through his son until he settled back down and went back to sleep.

He then did the same with Leia, but picked her up out of the bassinette as Leia continued to fuss. She must be sensing we are talking of her future. "Shh." He said as he tried to comfort the infant more through the Force and then turned to his wife with concern. "I told him no, Padme. Not to worry. Yoda had just expressed a concern about keeping the twins together, so that's when he made the offer. That's all." He paused and sighed, bringing a now calm Leia over with him to sit back on the edge of the bed with Padme's eyes on them the whole time.

Padme reached up to put her hand on top of Leia's head as the infant's huge eyes seemed to be looking up at the man who held her in her arms. Her eyes became droopy, as if she was fighting to stay awake and then she fell back to sleep. Padme smiled at the sight of Leia being held by Anakin. "I couldn't bear to part with her, with either of them, Anakin."

"I know that. And neither could I." Anakin replied with Leia resting on his lap and in his right arm. He reached up with his left hand and took Padme's hand that was on Leia's head in his own. "Although, disappointed by my answer, he did extend the offer of possibly having both Luke and Leia come to Alderaan for schooling later." Anakin chuckled. "I can vouch from personal experience that the schools on Tatooine are not exactly the best."

Padme snickered a little, looking directly into his eyes. "I guess you would know." She said and then became serious. "I'd hate to be parted from both of our children, but I can see the wisdom in his offer." She sighed, looking down at Leia and then back up Anakin. "Perhaps we might take him up on it some day. Just because we have to live in seclusion, doesn't mean they should have to."

Anakin smiled back at his wife. "That's what I told him you might say." Then his smile became bigger. "And I forgot to tell you. Obi-Wan has insisted on coming to Tatooine with us."

Padme smiled back at him with happiness. "He has. That's wonderful!"

Anakin chuckled. "He says he's going to enjoy living the quiet life as a hermit, especially after all the excitement we've had over the last couple of years AND…his exact words were, 'If I don't come, who will keep you out of trouble. It seems to follow you were ever you go.'"

Padme laughed and looked at him with a teasing smile. "Yes, who would keep you out of trouble, my love? I certainly don't have any influence over you."

Anakin smiled teasingly back at his wife. "Oh…but you do, milady. More than you know. You have MY complete devotion. I would do anything for you."

Padme raised an eyebrow. "Anything? Hmm. I just might have to test that theory." She teased him as they continued to laugh.

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Coruscant

While all this was happening on Polis Massa, Emperor Palpatine had returned to Coruscant with a sense of determination. He went directly to Dr. Cornelius' lab where the doctor was waiting for him. He walked up to the lab doors and pushed the button to open the door. When he went inside, the doctor was bent over a control consol but turned to look at Palpatine when he heard the door open.

"Your highness." Dr. Cornelius said as he quickly got to his feet and bowed to the black, cloaked figure.

"Is everything set, doctor?" Palpatine said as he walked towards the other man.

Dr. Cornelius, a middle-aged man, probably in his mid-50's, with blue eyes, graying black hair and wearing a white lab coat, greeted his new Emperor. "Yes, your highness. Everything is set and just awaiting for your arrival to continue with the process. Shall I proceed, Sir?"

Palpatine gave him a wicked smile from under his hood. "Yes, doctor. Proceed."

The doctor then sat back down and turned back to the consol that faced a circular platform in the middle of the room. He started flipping switches and turning dials which caused the circular platform to start to glow and then holographic images of what appeared to be Coruscant appeared above it. "Now, your highness. The images you are seeing, as I have discussed with you before, are those from another dimension. With your Force-sensitivity, you should be able to pin-point the world you want for extraction." He paused. "This is the first world I found that seems to be very similar to our own."

"Very good, Doctor." Palpatine said and then walked over to the platform, closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. He stretched out his right hand towards the holograms, but then sighed and lowered his hand. "Not this world, doctor. I don't sense enough hatred coming from this world."

Dr. Cornelius nodded and then turned some more dials. The image on the platform blurred and then another image appeared before them.

Sidious reached out again with the Force. "No. Not this one either. Go to the next one."

This went on for about a standard hour or so with Palpatine getting more and more impatient by every passing minute. "No, NO NO!" Palpatine yelled in frustration. It seemed that every world he searched didn't have what he wanted. But then he paused on the last world Dr. Cornelius had brought up. With his eyes closed and hand outreached he got an evil grin on his face and lowered his hand. He then turned to the doctor. "This is the one." He said as he walked back over to the consol where the doctor was seated and then turned back to the holographic images, standing to the doctor's right. "Extract him now."

"Yes, your highness." Dr. Cornelius nodded in compliance. He then wheeled his chair to another consol to his left and started flipping switches and turning dials.

The whole room seemed to hum and white lights began to glow above the platform as the doctor tried to lock onto the DNA signature of the apprentice the Emperor so eagerly wanted. In a flash of blinding light, a man who looked severely burned and had no limbs, except a cybernetic right arm, appeared on the platform and he was crying out in pain.

The Emperor walked over to him. Well…I was hoping he wouldn't have been injured in this world. But he's alive. That's all that matters. And he contains the most hatred, fear and pain of any of the others. Yes, he'll have to do and he'll serve me well. That is unless Dr. Cornelius can ever get that blasted time machine working that he's been working on, so I can get an apprentice who is whole and uninjured. The Emperor then turned to Dr. Cornelius. "Get a medical team down here. We need to reconstruct him immediately before he dies."

"Yes, your highness. Right away." Dr. Cornelius said and he turned on the comm. "Get a med team down here right away."

"Yes, sir." Came the voice of clone on the other end.

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It wasn't long before the med team arrived and carefully loaded the injured man on a stretcher and put an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. The man looked up at the Emperor, his eyes yellow with anger and rage at his predicament and unable to speak.

Palpatine followed the medics that had come from the Imperial Rehab Center, which is located in the same building as Dr. Cornelius' lab, to the operating room. When they took their patient into the operating room, Palpatine continued down the hall to enter an adjoining observation room. He sat down to watch through a window as they put his new apprentice the operating table and the medical droids began reconstructive work on him.

Sidious watched for hours in fascination and with thoughts as to how his new apprentice would be able to serve him during his continued quest for complete domination over the galaxy. I sure hope he lives and this isn't all in vain. Was all he was thinking when a medical droid entered the room.

"Lord Sidious." The droid said. "We are almost complete. If you wish to enter the operating room, you may now."

Palpatine stood up and looked at the droid. "Very good." He then followed the droid into the operating room and started pacing, waiting them to make the final touches to his apprentice's new black armor and to give him the final diagnosis on the procedure.

Then, finally, the same droid that came to get him before approached him. "My Lord, the construction is finished ... he lives."

Darth Sidious got an evil grin on his face. "Good. Good." He told the droid as he walked up to the right side of the table. The droid moved back to the table to where the patient still laid and pushed a button, causing the table to move upright. Darth Sidious moved closer to the table until he was standing right next to it. "Lord Vader, can you hear me?"

The dark lord turned his black, clad head towards Sidious. "Yes, My Master." He said, acting a little startled by the sound of his voice. He then started looking around the room. "Where is Padme? Is she safe, is she all right?"

So…this Lord Vader was in love with the Senator of Naboo in his dimension too. It should be easy to keep him under my control then. Sidious thought to himself with an evil smile. He then turned to his apprentice and tried to act like he was sincerely sorry. "I'm afraid she died...it seems in your anger, you killed her."

A low groan came from Vader's mask and then suddenly everything in the room began to implode and droids were being destroyed. "I couldn't have! She was alive! I felt her! She was alive! It's impossible! No!" Vader screamed and then broke his bonds to the operating table. He got to his feet and stepped forward trying to get used to his new limbs, he then started waving his hands, causing objects to fly around the operating room. "NOOOOO!"

Sidious started to cackle quietly under his hooded cloak, being careful not to let Vader see him. Yes, Lord Vader. Now you're mine.