Chapter 24

Vader stared at the painting, his mind trying desperately to make sense of what he was looking at. A family, two children, one named Luke, one named Leia - where had he seen this before? Why was this familiar? And then it hit him; his dream, the dream he'd had of being in a meadow with Padmé and their two children. Their two children….Leia and Luke….

"Ani I'm still waiting."

Vader looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway, a towel wrapped around her.

"What is this?" he asked, showing her the painting.

Padmé's eyes fell upon the painting, her heart jumping to her throat. She said nothing, trying to find the words to say.

"Answer me!!" he demanded, standing up.

"I…I was going to tell you," she stammered, realizing that it was pointless to lie now.

"Tell me what?" he demanded. "That you lied to me when you told me that I killed our son?" he asked, his voice rising with each syllable. "That we have two children? That they're alive and well?? Which one of those rather significant facts were you going to tell me, Padmé??"

Padmé swallowed hard, doing her best not to let his anger unnerve her. "Ani, please calm down," she said.

"Calm down??" he shouted. "How the hell do you expect me to calm down?!"
"You have to understand," she replied. "I didn't know if you would take me to Palpatine or kill me outright. I lied to you in order to protect the twins. If Palpatine learned of their existence he would surely destroy them; you know that!"

"Of course I know that," he retorted. "But did you really think I would let that happen?? Do you really believe that I'd let that bastard harm my own children?? Haven't I proven to you time and time again that you can trust me?"

"But I didn't know that!" she protested. "And I simply couldn't take that risk!"

"We have been together for weeks now, weeks!" he reminded her. "And during that time I have committed treason, risking my own life to protect you! Doesn't that mean anything?? Doesn't the fact that we're lovers again mean anything?"

"Of course! Of course it does!" she replied, her eyes filling with tears. "Please Anakin," she pleaded, walking towards him. "I promise you that I never intended this to go this far!"

"Stop," he said, holding his hand up to stop her. "There is nothing that you can say to justify this," he told her.

"But I was going to tell you!" she cried. "Today! I swear it!!"

Vader shook his head. "I don't want to hear anymore," he said. "Leave. Leave me alone."
"You don't mean that!" she retorted, tears streaming down her face. "I know you're angry right now, but…"

"I said leave me!" he shouted. "Go back to …wherever you came from! Leave me alone!" he roared and turned and left the room.

Padmé watched him go, helpless to stop him. Tears rolled down her face as bitter regret filled her. She couldn't blame him for being angry and hurt; but his rejection was more than she could bear.

Sinking to her knees, Padmé dropped her face into her hands and wept bitterly.

Vader clenched his fists in anger as he strode down the corridor towards his quarters. Inside of him he felt as though someone had reached into his chest and ripped his heart out. How could you do this to me? He thought bitterly. How could you lie to me this way?

He reached his hyperbaric chamber and sat down heavily. An ugly thought was worming its way into his brain through the layers of pain, anger and disillusionment. She's been using me, he thought numbly. All this time she's been using me for information, for money…she never really wanted to be with me again and never would have told me about the children if I hadn't found that painting. He thought back to the picture his child had painted, not even knowing which one had actually painted it. Tears filled his eyes as the thought of them filled his eyes as the thought of them came to his mind. My children, my precious children, Luke and Leia… Overwhelmed with the tidal wave of conflicting emotions, Vader covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly.

Padmé knelt on the floor, replacing the discarded items from her bag with trembling hands. It hardly seemed possible that less than an hour earlier she and Vader had made love in this very room. I should have told him sooner – I never should have listened to Obi-Wan and Yoda, she thought bitterly as she stood up, bag in hand. She decided it would be best to leave, for Vader had made it clear that he was far too angry to approach right now. When he cools off he'll understand, she told herself, wiping a tear from her cheek. He loves me, he'll understand.

Without a backwards glance, Padmé left the room. Vader was no where to be seen, and she figured that it was probably better that way. She slipped out the front door and headed to the pathway that lead to the landing platform, hoping it wouldn't be long before she and her husband were together again.

Essowyn – several hours later

Obi-Wan had just returned from taking the twins to school and was making himself a cup of tea when Padmé entered the room.

"Padmé what are you doing here?" he asked, frowning as he sensed the powerful emotions emanating from her. "What has happened?"

"He knows," she said quietly.

Obi-Wan grew alarmed. "Vader knows about the twins??"

Padmé nodded as she sat down at the table tiredly. "He knows everything," she told him, propping her elbows on the table and covering her face with her hands.

Obi-Wan sat down across from her with his tea, watching her for a few moments before saying anything. "I'm almost afraid to ask," he said at last. "What was his reaction?"

Padmé removed her hands from her face and looked at him through tear filled eyes. "What do you think?" she asked acrimoniously. "He was devastated! He is furious with me for lying to him! I never should have let you convince me not to tell him!" she cried. "I should have followed my heart and told him weeks ago! Now everything is a mess," she declared bitterly, standing up. "I hope you're happy!"

Obi-Wan had no response for her and simply watched her as she ran from the room.

Star Destroyer Exactor

Darth Vader's crew knew their commanding officer's moods well enough to know when to steer clear of him. And today was such a day. As soon as he had returned from the planet, far earlier than expected, it was clear that Lord Vader was in a fouler than foul mood. No one said a word to him as he left the hangar bay, the air around him virtually crackling with dark anger. No one dared to make eye contact with him as he strode through the corridors of his ship, and no one asked him for orders when he retreated into his quarters. Clearly he wanted to be left alone, and that was exactly what the crew did.

As soon as he entered his pod, Vader checked his messages. Part of him hoped there would be a message from Padmé; but the larger part of him was too angry to even consider reading one.

There was a message from Beata, however, using the coded frequency he'd arranged for her to use.

"Hello there," she began. "I just wanted to touch base with you. I haven't been able to learn anything yet, lots of dead ends unfortunately. But I'm not giving up. I have a couple of leads I want to follow up on. I hope you're well, and I hope you've been able to spend some more time with Padmé. She's a lovely woman, Anakin; she loves you so much. I'm so happy the Maker brought the two of you together again. Please contact me when you get the chance, Anakin. I love you."

Vader frowned. She does not love me, Beata, he thought bitterly. Even though I believed she did…even though she pretended to love me.

Deciding that he needed to get on with life and resume his duties, Vader left the pod, determined not to think about his wife any longer.

Essowyn

"Mommy!!" the twins exclaimed as they saw their mother waiting for them outside of their classroom.

Padmé smiled and opened her arms to them as they ran to meet her.

"We thought Obi-Wan was coming to get us," Luke told her.

"And that you were visiting with Daddy," Leia added.

Padmé knew how sensitive her children were to her emotions, and did her best not to let them see how upset she was. "Something came up," she told them. "And I had to leave."

Luke and Leia examined their mother's face, each of them sensing that she was hiding something from them.

"Did something bad happen, Mommy?" Leia asked with a frown.

Padmé looked down at her daughter, still astonished at the child's ability to sense her emotions even after all this time. "What makes you think that?" she asked as they headed towards the exit.

"Because you're sad," Luke told her, sensing it too.

Padmé was unable to hold back the tears at this point and said nothing in response as they reached the speeder. "We'll talk about it at home," she said finally as she strapped each of the twins in.

Luke and Leia accepted this in silence, each of them greatly concerned by their mother's frame of mind.

Star Destroyer Exactor

Vader threw himself into his work fully over the next two weeks. It was easier not to think about Padmé that way; and the sense of purpose kept the pain to a dull, manageable level. Sleeping had become more elusive than usual for him, for he found that whenever he did try to sleep he was tormented with dreams of her. Dreams of making love to her, of them sparring and laughing together, of playing with their children in the meadow on Naboo. He would awaken himself from these visions, too beautiful to ponder without the painful reality that they would never come true.

There was one thing that kept him going though; the thought of seeing his children. He had not contacted Padmé in the past two weeks, for his emotions were still too unmanageable for him to do so. As angry as he was with her, he didn't want her to see that side of him, that dark side that had been the reason for their estrangement in the first place. By now he had calmed down somewhat. Now he felt he had a better understanding of her motivations and felt ready to contact her. Vader no longer had any delusions about the nature of his relationship with his wife; he hated the fact that he had been foolish enough to believe that she actually still loved him. He knew better now; but that didn't mean he didn't still love her. Her betrayal of him wouldn't hurt so much if he didn't. But there was more at stake now than simply his hurt feelings and pride; his children were alive, and he wanted to see them.

Essowyn

It was late, and Padmé had been trying to fall asleep for several hours already. She'd been preoccupied all day, and for several days before this one. The fact that she hadn't heard from Vader since she'd left Gallinore didn't really surprise her. The way things had been left between them had left little possibility that he would. But there was something more pressing on her mind presently, and that had more far reaching implications than the current situation with Vader. Padmé was late, more than a week late by now; and she had begun to truly worry what that meant.

Vader had asked her to have his child almost the first time they'd seen one another again; and she'd rejected the idea outright. But what if she in fact were carrying his child? Would that help assuage his anger? Would that make him forgive her for what she had done?

Padmé's ruminations were interrupted by the sound of her comlink. She let it take a message, but then got up to see who had left it. It was from Vader, and it was very short and to the point.

"I want to meet my children. Bring them to Bast in two days time."