(2-8-16: Just the usual grammar and clutter clean up, clarification...sorry this is taking so long, it's senior year so I'm extremely busy.)

Thanks for the reviews once again, there's not many chapter's left, we're nearing the end. Here's the next chapter, don't forget to review, and Enjoy!

Anakin and Luke promptly left for Padmé's once the Council Meeting was over. Thankfully, the Council had accepted Luke's plans—every last one of them—as well as the alterations and suggestions Anakin had made. There was still much to do, so the two Skywalkers were making time for the conversation with Padmé while they still could.

However, Luke still had some remaining questions about the part of the Council Meeting he hadn't been a part of. So, he waited until they were on their way to Padmé's apartment to corner Anakin.

"How come that meeting was so long?" Luke asked Anakin curiously.

"Some of the members were skeptical that we need to raise our defenses, one or two simply don't trust you enough, and Windu was Windu. Though Yoda, Obi-Wan, and I were able to convince them otherwise, with a lot of effort on our part might I add."

Luke waited for Anakin to continue, but his father said nothing. "You're not going to give me the details, are you?"

"Nope."

Luke rolled his eyes, settling back into his seat. "Sheltering me, I see. You were quick to slip into the fatherly role."

Anakin chuckled. "You need it."

Luke was silent for a few moments, thinking carefully before he spoke. "How do you think Mother will react to the news?"

"Very emotionally."

Luke laughed. "Well of course emotionally, she's pregnant!"

Anakin snickered. "I'm sure you don't have anything to worry about, Luke, she already cares deeply about you."

"And yet I still feel nervous."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "You'll be fine, calm yourself. Besides, it's too late to back out now, we're here," Anakin chuckled as he landed the speeder. Luke could feel the perspiration start to gather on the back of his neck as the two climbed out of the vehicle.

Anakin elbowed him gently. "Lighten up, Luke; you'll be fine, what's the worst that could happen?"

I am being rather ridiculous right now, Luke mused as he followed Anakin inside, lingering at the entrance to the veranda to give the two a moment.

Anakin wrapped Padmé up in his arms as he approached her and Luke heard him take a deep breath, one hand on Padmé's stomach while the other tangled in her hair. "I've missed you," he murmured softly, kissing her forehead.

Padmé smiled up at him, twining her fingers with Anakin's over her stomach. "We've missed you, too," she said with a small smile, and they both stood in silence for a few seconds, hands on Padmé's abdomen before Anakin spoke.

"Luke's out of the medical wing," he announced, gesturing for Luke to come over.

Padmé's eyes lit up when she saw him. "Oh good; I was so worried about you! I would have come to visit, but I didn't think walking into a building full of Jedi was smart since I'm trying to hide my condition."

Before Luke could respond Anakin spoke again. "I found out some rather interesting news yesterday, and we came to tell you."

"You did?" she asked, looking between them. "What is it?"

Luke took a deep breath when Anakin didn't respond and instead looked to Luke. "You might want to sit down...Mother."

Absolute shock registered on Padmé's features as she stared at Luke, then up at Anakin. After a few long moments, Padmé gently pulled away from Anakin and walked up to Luke, who held perfectly still. She inspected him silently and much more carefully than she had at any point since Luke had arrived. He remained as calm as possible, though slightly nervous, meeting his mother's brown eyed gaze with his own electric blue eyes.

Suddenly, Luke found himself wrapped up in Padmé's unrelenting hug and he stumbled, startled. "It's true, you are! I can see it now! Gah, how come I didn't see it sooner?" she announced, her words coming out in a rush as she pulled away. "You look just like your father! I was suspicious but I didn't say anything, I figured I would be wrong if I assumed, but you are our son, I can tell!"

Luke smiled at her, feeling relieved, but she spoke again before he could say anything.

"You've grown into such a handsome man, just like your father, though it seems you've inherited my level head," she said with a wink, hands still on his arms.

"Hey!" Anakin protested.

"Well it's true!" Padmé giggled before she hugged Luke once again. "I can hardly believe this is happening," she whispered breathlessly.

"Padmé, let the poor man breath," Anakin chuckled. "We're going to need him."

Padmé caught the serious tone in Anakin's voice and turned to look at him. "What have I missed?"

Anakin sighed. "Luke's told us about some events that are coming in the very near future, and we're preparing for the worst case scenario."

Padmé's head swiveled to Luke. "You mean all that stuff you talked about—the fall of the Republic and the Jedi—that's happening soon?" Padmé asked worriedly.

"Yes, it is, but it won't happen this time, Mother, I promise," Luke reassured her.

Padme blushed slightly and nodded. "With your help I'm sure we'll be fine," she said with a small smile, though Luke could tell she was still nervous.

Anakin put an arm around his wife. "Yes, Luke came up with quite a few ideas just in case the worst happens. We just need to find Darth Sidious and Obi-Wan needs to apprehend General Grievous, and then we should be fine."

"Haven't you been searching for Darth Sidious unsuccessfully this entire time during the war?" Padmé asked him.

Anakin nodded. "Yes, but I stumbled across some information that he's here on Coruscant."

Luke looked sharply at Anakin. "When did you find that out?"

"The Hunter told me," Anakin said vaguely.

Luke frowned. "And you're just now telling me?"

"I've already given the Council my report; I just hadn't mentioned it to you yet. All we need to do is locate him and if we can, take him out of the picture before he can enact any of his plans. Your ideas should help the Jedi if something goes wrong and we're unsuccessful or not quick enough."

"It seems you've already got things figured out."

Anakin smiled. "Yes, well, right now I need to make a quick call. It'll just be a moment, excuse me..." With that he walked out of the room, leaving Luke and Padmé alone. Padmé gestured for Luke to sit down with her.

"So, Anakin and I are going to have twins? Two little ones running around..." she trailed off, a frown gracing her beautiful features. "You said the two of you were adopted. What happened?"

Luke sighed, turning away. "In my time...Anakin turned to the dark side and you died not too long after giving birth to the two of us."

Padmé gave a small gasp. "What? I don't believe that!" At the look on Luke's face, Padmé seemed to realize that it was, in fact, the truth. "How?" she breathed in dismay.

"He was deceived by Sidious. Sidious told Anakin that he had the power to save you, and Anakin joined him to learn that power." As the distressed look on Padmé's face grew, Luke quickly moved to assure her. "It's not going to happen this time, Mother, I promise you. Father is much different now than he was in my time. It won't happen."

Padmé looked worried but said nothing more on the matter; she simply sighed. "Tell me, what was life like for you and your sister?"

"I don't know much about how Leia's life was; we haven't talked that much about it. But I grew up on Tatooine with my Uncle Owen before Ben took me in to teach me the ways of the Force. I must say, I don't miss the planet at all, and I was itching to leave the moister farm when I left with Ben...I just wish it hadn't been under the circumstances..."

"What do you mean?" Padme asked curiously.

"Imperials killed my aunt and uncle, not Raiders. They burned the entire farm. They were the only thing that was keeping me from following Ben, but...since they were dead...there was nothing left for me."

Padmé put a hand on Luke's knee. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Luke shrugged, looking away. "It's been a while now...I'm all right."

Padmé gave him one last sympathetic look, and Anakin returned to the room. "Okay, Luke, let's get to training you some more."

Luke eyed him for a moment. "Who was the call to?"

"Palpatine. I postponed my meeting with him so I can focus on training you to get ready for what's coming."

Luke nodded. "Of course."

"That reminds me," Padmé said, getting off of the couch and disappearing into his parents' bedroom for a few moments before returning. She now held his lightsaber in her hand. "I believe you've been missing something."

"Thank you!" Luke said sincerely as he took the weapon from her. "Anakin was supposed to get it for me, though obviously he never did."

Padmé chuckled softly. "Well, I'm glad you have it back."

Anakin kissed her on the cheek before he put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "Come on, Luke, there's plenty to practice and an unknown amount of time to do so."

Luke sighed, but gave no argument, knowing he was right. Luke wanted to be better prepared to face Sidious this time. He stood up. "Alright, let's go," he mumbled.

"We'll be back later, Angel," Anakin told her as the two of them made their way back to the speeder.

"Be safe," she called back. "Both of you!"

"We will, we will," Anakin assured her with a chuckle as he jumped into the speeder.

Luke glanced at him. "We're going back to the Temple, right?"

"Where else? Besides, if anyone needs us we'll be right there. I'm sure there will be plenty of questions about your plan."

Luke laughed. "It's pretty straightforward; just an escape plan in case we don't stop Sidious in time. At least that's the only part that's a plan. The rest was all suggestions on what to do to strengthen the Jedi's defenses against Sidious."

"Yes, well, some members of the Council weren't too happy about the idea to relocate to Tython, though if it means the Jedi survive an attack..."

"And that information will stay within the Jedi Order. No one else can know."

"Well, obviously."

Luke sighed. "I just hope it doesn't come to that..."

"It won't. You and I will stop Sidious, he won't get away with it this time. Speaking of, I've had some things on my mind..."

Luke frowned as he studied Anakin closely for a moment. "What about?"

Anakin sighed, shifting in his seat. Luke could tell he was struggling to figure out what he wanted to say.

"That fight you had with the Emperor, with Sidious..." Anakin started, though he seemed to stumble over his words again, frowning as he steered the speeder.

"What about it?"

Anakin shook his head a little. "I can't shake this feeling I've got, and...the entire thing was so much like what happened with Dooku...I've been thinking about it since I had that vision..."

Luke nodded, watching his father. "I know. It's crossed my mind a few times since we rescued the chancellor."

Anakin's worried look deepened, but it seemed he shook himself out of his daze and he turned his head to look at Luke. "You know, just forget I brought it up. If you and I are going to take down Sidious, then we need to be ready."

"Yes I know...what are you meeting with Palpatine about?"

Anakin frowned. "I don't know really, he didn't say..."

"Can I come too?" Luke asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. He had a bad feeling about the meeting Sidious wanted to have with his father, and he didn't want to be excluded, just to be safe.

Anakin gave him a strange look. "Why would you want to come? Normally you avoid the chancellor like he's a deadly disease."

"Call it a feeling," Luke mumbled.

Anakin shook his head, not bothering to try and make sense of Luke's sudden interest. "All right, you can come."

"When did you postpone the meeting to?"

"The latest he would make it was tomorrow," Anakin said with a slightly bitter laugh.

"That's not much of a postponement."

"He must want to talk about something important. What, though, I have no idea."

Luke looked out the window, thinking. Sidious had something in store for his father tomorrow; the Force was making that quite clear to him. Luke had to be there. He wouldn't let Sidious snag his father, not this time. A pit formed in Luke's stomach, and he felt sick.

Am I ready to face Sidious? Are we ready?

Luke shook himself in an attempt to snap out of his grim musings. He couldn't control when Sidious would strike. All he could do was stay alert so he wouldn't be caught off guard when Sidious did make a move.

"Luke."

Luke came back to reality with a bump. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Nice to know you were listening."

"I was just thinking."

Anakin sighed. "I was saying that I'm going to push your Force Abilities today, too."

"Fine with me."

Anakin snickered. "That's what you say now."

Luke grimaced slightly. "You sound like Yoda."

Anakin gave him a confused look. "What?"

Luke laughed. "When Yoda finally said he would train me, I told him I wasn't afraid, and he told me I would be."

"All right then," Anakin said, sounding amused. "I think I'll take that as a compliment."

Luck chuckled. "It is, Father, don't worry." Anakin smiled at Luke, which Luke returned. "Let's get to my training, hmm?"

Anakin laughed as he landed the speeder. "Of course, Luke. Now come on."