"My Mother"
By EsmeAmelia
AN: Ummmm...hi. Yeah, I know I said I'd be updating more frequently in the summer, but just my luck, as soon as school lets out I start working full time, and I can't bring my computer to work, so...I have even less time to work on this than I used to. Sorry about that. Anyway, woo, it's been a year since I started this fic and it's still going strong.
Chapter 25
Leia and Padme exited the meeting room in high spirits. They probably would have ran out in delight if they weren't blocked by a barrier of senators. As they inched their way through the crowds, they would compliment each other every few seconds on a job well done.
"I can't believe I actually managed to hold myself up there," Padme said with long exhales. "I hadn't done that for so long - I thought I was going to die."
"Once a confident senator, always a confident senator," said Leia, her wide grin refusing to fade.
"We're going to Naboo...we're actually going," Padme repeated, as if she had to say it in order to prevent it from turning out to be a dream. "How soon can we leave?"
"Well, assuming that Han's ship is working, how does tomorrow sound?" said Leia.
"Fabulous," Padme answered in an almost squealing voice, gripping her daughter's arm with excitement. Her open-mouthed smile felt like it was embedded into her face, impossible to eliminate.
"Senator Amidala! Senator Amidala! Senator Amidala! Senator Amidala!"
The impossible-to-eliminate smile was eliminated by numerous unfamiliar voices calling her name in a familiarly annoying tone. She groaned slightly, figuring that she would now have to face one of the more irritating consequences of returning to the public. After a moment, at least seven reporters shoving their way through the crowd and surrounding Leia and Padme with holocameras confirmed her guess.
"Senator Amidala, what do you plan to do if your mission is unsuccessful?"
"Senator Amidala, seeing as how your husband became Darth Vader, did he ever abuse you during your marriage?"
"Senator Amidala, why were you carbon frozen for so long?"
"Senator Amidala, should your mission be a success, do you plan on running for the senate again?"
"Senator Amidala, what was it like to discover that your twins had grown up while you were frozen?"
Leia stepped in front of her mother. "Seeing as how she has preferred to be hidden from the public's eye for five months, I think it would be logical that she does not wish to be bothered by the press right now, thank you very much."
Padme wondered how many times her daughter was going to fly to her defense before the day was over. "Leia," she said, "I can handle this." She stepped out from behind her daughter, figuring that it was finally time to reveal herself completely. Besides, since it looked like the press was getting involved anyway, she would much prefer having her own voice quoted rather than rumors.
Once a confident senator, always a confident senator, she thought.
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"I think an occasion like this is a good reason for a party," Han had said when the women returned home and delivered the news. After a merry debate about where the family should go out to celebrate, they finally settled on a nightclub that was neither too seedy for Padme nor too fancy for Han.
Leia, now changed into a more comfortable attire of brown pants and a white shirt that barely covered her large stomach, her hair in two braids dangling over her ears, led the gang of Padme, Luke, Han, and Chewie into the building.
"No one had better drink too much," she instructed, pinching Han's arm. "Especially not the person who's going to be piloting us to Naboo tomorrow."
"Hey, just cause you're not allowed to drink doesn't mean the rest of us have to abstain," said Han.
"Well I'm not driving home any wasted bodies tonight," said Leia.
"I wasn't wasted the last time we came here," Han insisted. "Just tipsy."
"Clearly you and I have different definitions of 'wasted,' then," Leia said with a snort.
Luke and Padme exchanged giggles. Watching that couple never ceased to be amusing.
The argument ceased when the group took in the large room that was divided into three sections: the eatery, the bar, and the dance floor. Flashing lights of all colors dancing among the three areas seemed to connect them, letting them flow seamlessly into one-another. A band stood in a raised area in the center of the dance floor, playing a song that had a catchy beat and even a tolerable decibel count.
Han's footsteps increased in speed, attempting to get him to the bar before anyone else could do anything about it, but they weren't fast enough to keep Leia from grabbing his arm and dragging him to the eatery.
Luke gazed after them. "Well, seeing as how Leia's got s total of three mouths to feed with her body, they'll probably be there a while."
Padme grinned at her daughter and son-in-law as they disappeared into the crowd. "So, shall we join them?" she asked when she saw Chewie following the couple.
"Maybe later," said Luke, eyeing the dance floor with interest, his body beginning to sway in rhythm to the music.
Padme could sense what her son was thinking. "Luke, do you want to dance?"
Luke turned to his mother, a full teeth-showing grin on his face. "Why not?"
Padme grabbed her son's hand and pulled him toward the dance floor, her pace increasing speed with every step, like a child running to a playground. Though she still had on her dress from this afternoon, she moved as if she was wearing the bare-minimum of clothing, moving somewhere between a skip and a run until she could feel the vibration of the music under her feet.
"I warn you, Mother, I don't dance much, so I might be clumsy," said Luke, the colored lights dancing across his face.
"Isn't it impossible for a Jedi to be clumsy?" Padme said with a grin. "Besides, I don't think this is formal, anyway."
Luke's arms started swinging as his body rocked back and forth in a frantic pace. "I guess not," he said with a laugh.
Within seconds, Padme found that the music had captured her too. Her long skirt and high-healed shoes carried no hindrance to her entire body becoming wrapped up in the rhythm. She didn't bother trying to focus on her son facing her - or anything else, for that matter. Her hand slapped Luke's occasionally, whether it was on purpose or not wasn't caught by her dancing mind.
The song abruptly ceased, causing Padme to suddenly realize that her face was soaked in sweat and her breath was coming out in little pants.
"You okay?" Luke asked between his own pants.
"Oh, I'm better than okay," Padme replied.
On the band's platform, the tentacled keyboard player announced the next song in a language Padme didn't recognize, but within a few seconds she discovered that it was a song with a much slower tempo than the previous one, which brought relief to her body.
"You do realize that everyone probably thinks we're a couple, right?" Luke said in a slightly embarrassed voice as he swayed to the music.
"Let them," said Padme. "I never got to dance with you when you were little - I more than deserve it now." She took her son's real hand and imagined it was much smaller, small enough to fit in her palm, that she was reaching down to hold it, swinging it back and forth while listening to his high giggle. She imagined looking across the room to see Anakin dancing with his daughter, her little feet balancing on his shoes.
"Mother...what's Naboo like?" Her son's mature voice broke the fantasy and stimulated other thoughts that were equally emotional.
She reached over and pushed a strand of her son's hair behind his ear. "Well...if there's a bright center of the universe, it's Naboo." She reached up and allowed Luke to gently spin her around as she spoke. "It's abundant with lakes and rivers that sparkle from its sun, it has gorgeous buildings that have stood for centuries while still being used, the air smells of water and flowers." She suddenly grabbed both of Luke's hands and began whirling him around, barely keeping her own foothold. "When you walk down the streets of Naboo, you can feel that you're somewhere special. And there are underwater cities - yes, underwater cities, where the Gungans live."
"You told us about the Gungans on Endor, remember?" said Luke.
"Yes," said Padme, still spinning Luke around. "Although their mannerisms may put you off at first, they proved themselves to be a big help to us once we established peace between our peoples."
Luke stamped his feet down, causing Padme to cease spinning him. He wriggled his hands out of his mother's and gripped his face in dizziness.
"All right, I've had enough dancing for now," he said between heaves, but his face bore a smile that told Padme he had enjoyed himself.
"Well how about the eatery?" said Padme. "I'm willing to bet Leia and Han are still there."
"Sounds good," said Luke. After a momentary pause spent catching his breath, he added, "Do you think Naboo's still like that? I mean, after...well, you know."
A cloud of darkness momentarily overtook Padme's face. "We'll have to wait and see," she said in a low voice. "Right now I can only pray that it is..." She relaxed her face a tiny bit. "Maybe it is. Maybe some of the people I'm close to are even still there. You once had family there, you know: grandparents, an aunt, two cousins..."
Luke's real hand ran through her hair, as though offering condolence. She remembered how difficult it had been to keep herself from breaking into tears when she had first told her children about their family on Naboo...the family that might no longer be living.
She decided to slightly change the subject. "Luke, since you're coming with us to Naboo tomorrow, how would you like to spend the night with us?"
"With you?"
"Yes," said Padme, grinning a bit. "You could sleep on the sofa - it's had quite a bit of use, after all. Then maybe one of these nights we could get Leia to sleep on it and all four of us would have had our time."
Luke giggled. "Sure, I'd love to."
-------------------------------------------
Padme and Luke reached the eatery to find Han, Leia, and Chewie seated at a table on which sat several dirty dishes, chatting with a dark-skinned man who had a thick mustache and a long cape draping over his shoulders.
"Hey Lando!" Luke exclaimed when he saw the man. "What are you doing here?"
"Hey, isn't an ex-general allowed to relax?" the man said, playfully slapping Luke's side. "So is this true what I hear about you guys goin' to Naboo tomorrow?"
"Yes, it is," Luke said, sitting down at the table with his mother.
Lando gaped when he saw Padme. "Hello hello, what have we here?" He flashed a sly smile at Luke. "So you finally got yourself one, eh Luke? Looks like you've got a pretty good catch." He reached across the table to shake Padme's hand. "Good evening, I'm Lando Calrissian, formerly owner of Cloud City and General of the Rebel Alliance."
Han snorted. "Who fought in a grand total of one battle," he added.
Padme smiled at Lando, despite the idea that he had just implied about her and Luke. "Padme Amidala. Nice to finally meet you."
"Finally?" said Lando.
Leia quickly cut in. "She's the woman who's been staying with us, the one Han told you about."
"And the reason why you guys haven't invited me over for months, right?" said Lando. "Guess she and Luke have been hogging your guest bed together."
Padme gave Han a brief look that said, "So you told him about me without telling him the most important thing?" to which Han shrugged and tilted his head with slightly wide eyes, as if saying, "Guess that part must've slipped my mind."
"Lando, she and I aren't..." Luke began to say, but he was interrupted by a news bulletin flashing on the large holovision screen on the wall next to them.
"In a most startling session of the New Republic Senate this afternoon," the reporter said in a rapid voice as a silent clip of Padme at the senate meeting played, "Senator Leia Organa Solo brought in a senator from the old Republic who has been thought to be dead for the last twenty-three years. Senator Padme Amidala, best known for giving a no-confidence vote that allowed Emperor Palpatine to rise to the chancellor's seat in the old Republic, turns out to have been carbon-frozen when she was assumed dead."
"So even when I'm alive, they still want to shove the action I regret most into everyone's faces?" Padme muttered.
"Shh!" said Leia.
"Apparently she has been concealing herself from the public for the past five months since she was unfrozen," the reporter continued, "living with Senator Organa Solo and her husband, General Han Solo, which makes her sudden decision to reappear in the senate all the more startling. Nearly as unbelievable as the fact that she is alive is the issue she presented to the senate today."
The holovision cut to a brief snippet from the afternoon's senate meeting, showing Padme's face saying, "I propose that the senate assign myself and Senator Organa Solo as ambassadors to be sent to Naboo."
"Although her motives were questioned by some of the senators," the reporter continued, "the senate's final vote was in favor of her bold proposal to be sent to Naboo in an attempt to convince Palpatine's home planet to join the New Republic. When asked about any concerns she might have had, she had this to say."
It cut again to a clip from one of the interviews Padme had given that afternoon. She said, "I know that a planet still living in the delusions spread by Palpatine and his minions will be difficult to move back into democracy, but I am confident that the old Naboo will prevail."
The reporter spoke again. "And these were not the only surprises offered to the senate this afternoon. During the meeting, Senator Amidala also revealed that in her old Republic days she had been married to the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, the man who later became the feared Sith lord Darth Vader, which also means that she is in fact the mother of Senator Organa Solo and her brother, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker."
Another cut to the senate meeting, this time of Padme saying, "A Jedi who blessed me with a glorious marriage and two wonderful children. The Emperor took my husband away not just in body, but in soul - he altered him beyond any resemblance to his previous self."
The reporter's speedy voice came again. "She continued to defend her husband during the interviews she received after the meeting. She also had this to say about why she wishes to bring her children to Naboo with her."
Cut to another interview where Padme's confident voice said, "I want my children to experience a piece of their heritage for both personal and moral reasons. Obviously, I want them to see the place where I grew up, but from a larger perspective, I know they are powerful allies for my cause. Since Luke, Leia, and Han were such prominent figures in the Rebellion, their voices could help me to speak louder."
"What will become of this spontaneous and unusual mission?" the reporter concluded. "Only time will tell. Now, in other news..."
The end of the news bulletin freed everyone to look back at Lando, who now looked like he had lost his ability to blink. He stared at Padme with eyeballs that appeared almost inhumanly large.
"Whoa..." he said after a few moments.
"Uh, I would've told you earlier," said Han, "but, ya know, it ain't exactly the easiest thing to let out."
"Not to mention that you might have let it out around the sabacc table," Leia muttered.
Lando didn't acknowledge either of their statements, rather, he continued to stare at Padme.
"Is your friend always this quiet?" Padme asked to no one in particular.
"Only when he receives shocking news," said Luke.
Luke's statement seemed to wake Lando up from his trance, since his mouth gradually turned into a smile. "Well well, guess that means you're available." He lightly touched Padme's hand. "Well Han, how about it? How'd ya like to call me Dad?"
"LANDO!" Han, Luke, and Leia shouted at the same time, while Chewie growled a word that had no specific translation in Basic but was a rather taboo insult in the Wookiee language.
Padme shoved Lando's hand aside with a grin. "Sorry, but I think I'm a bit too old for you."
"Hey guys, don't worry," said Lando. "Can't you tell when a guy's joking?"
Han rolled his eyes. "When it's you, it's hard to tell." He faced his mother-in-law. "Sorry bout him, Mom. Though he keeps wantin' to act the part, he ain't exactly what you'd call upper-class."
Lando snickered loudly. "Han, did I just hear you call her 'Mom'?"
Han rolled his eyes at the gambler again. "Well as I recall, you just said you wanted me to call you Dad."
"Like I said, can't you tell when a guy's joking?"
Leia seemed to think this was a great time to change the subject for everyone. "All right," she said in a loud voice, "who wants dessert?"
The following vote was unanimously in favor.
-------------------------------------------------
That night, Padme stood on the Solos' balcony in her robe, gazing up at the infinite stars, trying to see if she could pick out which one was Naboo's sun. Of course, many stars were invisible from Coruscant due to the planet's heavy lighting, but she liked to think that she could see her planet's sun from here. She squinted at the sky, as though willing one of the stars to jump out at her and announce that it was the one she was looking for.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Leia's voice said.
Padme turned to find the twins and Han walking onto the balcony, also in their robes. "I was seeing if I could identify Naboo's sun from here," she said with a smile.
Luke leaned on the balcony next to her. "Did you find it?"
Padme pointed up to the area of the sky in the left-hand section of her vision. "I think it's somewhere over here."
"You sure?" said Han.
"Not at all," said Padme, her neck beginning to hurt from looking up. "Maybe you can't even see it from here."
Han came up to the rail on her other side. "Say, speakin' of which, do you have any idea where we'll be stayin'? If not, the Falcon's got some luxury bunks."
"Only according to you," scoffed Leia.
Padme turned her head away from the sky, making her stiff neck feel like it had been bent out of shape. "Hopefully the Falcon won't be necessary," she said. "After the meeting, I made arrangements through Mon Mothma for where we'll be staying."
"Where?" asked Leia.
Padme smiled. "I'll tell you...after I show you guys a little surprise."
She led them back into the living room, where 3PO stood motionless in a corner, shut down for the night, but R2's lights were still on.
"Hello R2," she said.
R2 beeped a greeting.
"R2, you have recording 398, right?" she asked with far more confidence than she had when she asked about her wedding recording many months ago.
R2 beeped a positive-sounding response, after which Padme gestured for her children to gather around the droid. "This is a recording Anakin and I made while we were staying with my family on Naboo during our refuge from the assassination attempts on my life. I was waiting for the right time to show you this, which appears to be now." She breathed deeply. "R2, play recording 398."
R2's light shone forward, soon projecting two life-size holograms of Padme and Anakin, looking similar to the way they had at their wedding.
"Hi Obi-Wan," the Anakin hologram said in a high voice as he waved. "Padme and I are doing fine. We're staying with her family and having a great time."
"I hope to be able to return soon," said the Padme hologram. "In the meantime, we thought you might like to see my family."
"Look," the real Padme breathed as R2 projected the hologram of a woman of around thirty with her black hair done in a simple yet fancy style. "There's you're aunt, Sola."
She then heard Leia making a feeble attempt to scrunch down a snicker, followed by Han saying, "All right, anyone who makes any Sola/Solo jokes will become the subject of juicy gossip around the sabacc table, got that?"
"Leia, don't forget, now it's your last name too," Padme reminded as the hologram of her older sister began to speak.
"Hi," she said, waving timidly. "I don't really know what I'm supposed to say, but I'm Sola - Padme is my kid sister. We've been happy to have her home again, though I suspect the reason why she's here might not be pleasant."
Padme felt her heart lurch to hear her sister's voice. How much she must have suffered when she believed her "kid sister" to be dead. Although the hologram was smiling, in her head Padme saw a vivid picture of Sola sobbing in the grief known only to those who have lost a younger family member, having seen both the beginnings and the ends of their lives. She wished she could talk to the hologram and tell her sister that she was all right.
Juvenile voices could now be heard in the background of the recording, calling out, "Where's R2? Mama, I wanna play with R2!" which caused the Sola hologram to turn its head to the side and say, "In a minute, dears."
"Here come your cousins," Padme whispered.
A pair of holographic young girls ran into the projection, one with straight brown hair that went past her shoulders and one with short curly brown hair.
"Ryoo," said Padme, pointing the one with long hair. She then moved her finger to the one with short hair. "Pooja." She swallowed, thinking of how much older they were now - they probably only had vague memories of her if anything. Of course, that was assuming they were alive...
"Do you two want to say anything to Aunt Padme's friend back on Coruscant?" Sola asked the girls, after which the children turned to the observer and began waving in the quick little motions characteristic of young children.
"Hi! Hi!" they repeated around eight times. After they grew tired of saying hello to Padme's friend, Ryoo ran up to R2 until only her head and shoulders were visible. "Come on R2, let's play!"
"Children, wait!" Sola's voice called, but to no avail - the recording now showed Padme's nieces running in and out of projection while giggling loudly. The sounds of their giggles soon mixed with the giggles of Han and the twins in the real word.
"Needless to say, the kids loved R2," Padme said, giving a bittersweet smile to the girls' holograms. Even if they were alive, that childish innocence was now gone from them. She found herself trying to picture them as adults, but finding that she couldn't.
The recording changed again, now showing a middle-aged man and woman standing side-by-side, the sight of which nearly robbed Padme of her voice.
"Your grandparents..." she whispered in a slightly-choking voice.
"Hello Jedi Kenobi," said the woman. "I'm Jobal Naberrie." She motioned to the man next to her. "This is my husband, Ruwee."
"Mom..." Padme silently mouthed as a tear formed in her eye.
"We just wanted to say thank you for taking care of our daughter," said Ruwee.
"Dad..." Padme mouthed as the tear streamed down her cheek.
"Yes," said Jobal. "I know, she is needed by the galaxy, but you know, we're her parents - we can't help worrying about her."
"I hope we can meet you sometime," said Ruwee. "Padme gives us nothing but praise about you." With that, the recording ended.
"We're her parents - we can't help worrying about her." Her mother's words pushed more silent tears out of Padme's eyes. With her "death," she had given her parents the worst kind of emotional pain imaginable - the loss of their child. She gave a hard swallow as she brushed her cheeks with her hands. What had she done? She imagined her parents screaming in devastation, embracing each other in a vain attempt to draw comfort from each other as they cried for their daughter. Once that image entered her head, she felt like bestowing injury on herself as punishment for not trying to find her family the instant she was unfrozen and keeping them in this suffering.
"Mother, are you all right?" she heard Luke's voice say.
Padme breathed heavily as she turned around to face her concerned children. "I'm fine," she said in a high voice as she swallowed her tears. "I'm fine. That recording just brings back memories." She inhaled deeply to gain her composure before continuing. "Anyway, what did you think?"
Warm smiles gradually appeared on Luke, Leia, and Han's faces. "Thank you for showing us that, Mother," said Leia, to which the other two nodded in agreement.
"You're welcome," said Padme, breathing again.
"Hey, I enjoyed it and all," said Han, "but what does it have to do with where we're stayin'?"
Padme found herself able to smile at her son-in-law. "Well, when Mon Mothma gave me the address of the house that would be accepting the ambassadors..." Her smile expanded its width. "...it was the same house where Anakin and I stayed, the place where I used to live."
The other three made noises of excitement, which drove Padme to raise her hands. "Now, don't get your hopes up," she said, probably instructing herself more than anyone else. "I don't know who lives there now. Still...there's a possibility."
For one reason or another, she felt a need to walk up to her children and gather the three of them in her arms, squeezing them in a tight embrace which reassured her that even if her old family was gone, she still had her new one.
"When we get to Naboo, I want to show you everything from my childhood that still exists," she said dreamily. "The lakes...the gardens...the waterfalls..."
"I assume this is between our political affairs, right?" said Leia.
Padme pulled out of the embrace. "Of course."
"By the way, is there any protocol I should know about," said Leia.
"Not much beyond the normal political protocol," replied Padme. "Of course, you should present your arguments calmly, and proper speech is required." She eyed Han slyly. "That goes for you, too. Would you like some lessons on how to pronounce your G's?"
Luke and Leia burst into laughter as Han rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, very funny," he said with a sneer.
"All right, you can keep the accent, but no 'ain'ts,'" said Padme.
"Hey, I probably ain't gonna be talkin' to them anyway," said Han.
"Well just in case you do, I want you to be prepare to speak properly to them," Padme said with a grin.
A long yawn coming from Luke's lips interrupted his laughter. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think it's time for bed."
"I agree," said Leia, touching her stomach. "These kids need their rest."
Padme hugged her son again. "Good night, Luke," she said. "Dream of our mission succeeding."
"Good night, Mother," replied Luke.
Han gave his own yawn. "Well, night kid. Good luck on the sofa. Trust me, you're gonna need it."
That statement let all four of them end the day with a good laugh.
AN: My apologies to those of you who were expecting us to go to Naboo in this chapter. I wanted to have a little fun before we got to more high emotion, plus I figured that Lando should play a bit part in this fic. Also, several reviewers have asked for another R2 recording and I thought this was a good place to put it. Don't worry - we'll be going to Naboo in the next chapter (boy, do I have a thing about teasing my readers or what?).