Author's note: I know I have been MIA for awhile. This came on the heels of a very stressful chemistry test. Sigh. So major developments in this chapter.I needed reasons to explain latter decisions. Thanks for your patience. I don't want to make any promises about speedy updates but just know I am not giving on this story.

Happy Birthday Sarah! Hopefully this update falls with in your birthday depending on your timezone :D.

Thanks to Kolodey and to all of you awesome readers!


After putting the twins to bed, Vader now stood in his room getting ready to get some sleep himself. He was physically exhausted but his mind was working at thousand miles per hour. Padmé had responded to him.

He wanted to be with her, he wanted to go through whatever she was going through. Despite the twins love, Vader had always felt an empty void in his heart. He hadn't been able to pin down what was missing in his perfectly structured life till now. It was Padmé. Of that now he was certain.

Giving a growl Vader began to remove his shirt. Why had she left him? And why the hell wasn't he doing anything about it?

He knew the answer. He wanted her to come to him of her own accord, to come to him because she wanted him. The thoughts were foolish and certainly not in line with a sith lord's thoughts. Sith lords took what they wanted when they wanted it.

Vader knew that he wasn't the sith lord he should be. He could be more than he was, powerful and unstoppable. Yet something was holding him back. His master said it was because he still clung to useless emotions, like love.

Dissatisfied with his thought train, Vader sat on his bed considering his thoughts. His mind suddenly went to Zed and what the spy had said about Black Rose. It seemed that spy had mistaken Padmé for the rebel leader, or rather Padmé was Black Rose.

Vader frowned at that possibility. It wasn't possible, or was it? Padmé had never pretended to like the Empire and Vader knew she would never approve of it. That alone was probably the reason for the distance between them.

If Zed believed that Vader had been associating with Black Rose, Vader wondered what he had told Prince Xizor. And if Xizor had been told what Zed believed, what had Xizor done with the information?

An uneasy feeling settled over Vader as he wondered if the Emperor was aware of this. If he was, he was probably suspicious of his apprentice's intentions. Sidious had never trusted Vader and quite likely he was already convinced of his betrayal. Which meant his master would soon act in retaliation. Vader felt a something akin to fear at what Sidious was capable of. Casting his thoughts aside Vader settled in bed. Perhaps he was overthinking everything. His master would surely not believe Xizor without any proof.


"Daddy!" a child's shriek echoed.

Vader's eyes slid open and he blinked rapidly. Were his eyes open? He wondered to himself, as the room was plunged in such complete darkness, he couldn't be sure. Never one to fear the dark he sat up quickly. The panicked cry came again and Vader stilled as he recognized the voice and his stomach twisted. "Leia?" he called out.

"Daddy, I'm scared" Leia said from the somewhere in the dark, and he determined that he was some distance from her.

Vader stood up and used the force to guide him through the darkness. He fumbled with his belt looking for his lightsaber. Finally, he found it and pulled it from his belt. He activated the lightsaber and immediately a soft red light emanated from the weapon lighting up his surroundings. Vader glanced around him and determined he was in some sort of a small room. How did he get in here?

"Daddy!"

Vader shook himself remembering his purpose. He had to get to Leia. "Hang on sweetheart" he said rushing to the door.

The door proved to be an obstacle and finally tired of trying to open it the conventional way, Vader cut out a decent sized opening for him to pass through. He squeezed through the space and found himself in a hallway. Using the force he made his way to where he could sense Leia's stark force presence. The hallway came to a sudden stop and in front of him loomed a large archway. "Leia?" he asked.

"Daddy? Come get me!"

Vader stepped through the open archway. The room was large and dimly lit. He caught sight of a darting shadow and wasn't startled when Leia hugged him. She looked up at him, his lightsaber illuminating the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It's alright, Leia. I'm here now" Vader said kneeling down and embracing his precious daughter. He held the lightsaber closer to her. "See? No problem" he said with a small smile.

"Oh but there is Lord Vader" A strange and extremely unwelcome voice said from the darkness.

Vader stood up quickly, his lightsaber ready. "Master" he said darkly as Sidious revealed himself. Vader protectively pushed Leia behind him.

"Did you think you could hide your children from me forever?" Sidious said.

Children? Vader froze. Luke. "What have you done with Luke?" he demanded gripping his lightsaber tightly.

Sidious' laugh echoed through the dimly lit room. "That useless boy? He was pathetic, too much of his mother in him to make a true sith" he paused enjoying the anger he saw burgeoning on Vader's face.

"What did you do to him?!" Vader yelled struggling to control his rage. Leia whimpered behind him and he bit his lip in an effort to calm himself.

"The boy?" Sidious asked in an infuriatingly unconcerned voice. "Oh I killed him"

"No!" Vader felt anger course through him like wild lightning. He was barely conscious of his actions as he charged his master. Sidious seemed to be expecting his apprentices wild rage, and calmly faced him with a large bolt of sith lightning his way.

Caught off guard, Vader gave a yell as the sharp electric bolts hit his body and seemed to rip his lightsaber out of his hands. Seconds after landing on the floor Vader drew himself onto his knees determined to finish his master.

"Do you never learn Lord Vader?" Sidious said triumphantly. "Love is weakness! It's a stupid emotion that drains the soul and makes pathetic fools of all it lays its hold on."

Vader felt nothing but pure hate as he gazed at Sidious. "You took Padmé away from me and you have taken Luke. I will NOT let you take Leia. You will not win" he said.

Sidious laughed at him. "You blind idiot, can't you see? I've already won! Your precious little angel is now my apprentice"

Vader's eyes whipped to where Leia had moved to Sidious' side. In her small hand she clutched her father's lightsaber which he had previously used to protect her. "Leia, no!" he said as Sidious' words sank in. "Come to me sweetheart"

Sidious cackled evilly as Vader begin to feel sick to the stomach. "It's too late, she has joined the darkside, just like her father before her. So young, yet so much potential, so passionate and full of emotion and not tainted by love unlike you" he said touching her brown hair. "Leia, my child...I want you to kill your father"

"Leia don't let him control you" Vader said to Leia, in a desperate attempt to draw his child back to him.

Sidious looked on in glee. "Finish him and you will earn your place among the sith" he continued in a convincing soft voice to Leia.

"She will not kill me! I am her father, she loves me!" Vader said in desperation.

Sidious smiled. "So she does, and when she kills you, she will cut off her last ties to that useless emotion called love" he turned back to Leia. "Kill him Leia, kill him now"

Leia looked to Sidious and Vader held his breath as she seemed to falter. However, she nodded slowly and walked to her stunned father. Vader looked at her in dismay. His little angel's eyes reflected the evil he had felt course through him countless times before. As Vader looked into Leia's eyes he realized his worst nightmare had come true.

"Leia, don't do this" he repeated almost helplessly.

Leia looked nothing like the lovely child he knew. In fact the innocent girl seemed gone, and with little urging from Sidious, Leia raised her father's lightsaber, her eyes cold and emotionless.

"Leia, NOOOOOO!"

Vader woke up yelling and immediately sat up. It took him several minutes to console himself that he had just been dreaming, but even though he was aware of that fact, he still stood up and rushed to the twins bedroom.

The sound of their even breathing did little to comfort their troubled father as he hovered over each one anxiously. The dream had felt incredibly real and Vader was having a hard time shaking it off.

Finally satisfied that no harm had come to the sleeping twins, Vader left the room and slunk off to his office. He knew he should probably meditate and look to the force for answers. But that had never been his thing, Vader had always been one for concrete solutions, and sitting around praying that the force would further reveal itself to him was not a concrete solution.

Instead,he spent the next few minutes doubling the twins security detail and planning alternate routes to their school. He knew he was being paranoid but even the notion that his master might be aware of his children's existence left his stomach extremely unsettled.

Convinced he had done all he could to make the twins safe, Vader relaxed against his chair and briefly closed his eyes. Today he would make sure he personally dropped the twins off. Sure his uneasiness was unwarranted, but he just had to be sure they were safe.

Reaching idly into the force, he felt for Padmé and smiled as he felt her distant presence. She too like the twins appeared to be fast asleep. She seemed blissful and for that Vader was pleased.

For some time, Vader simply relished in the distant presence of his wife. He imagined how she looked as she was sleeping, wondering if she had that small smile that covered her face when her dream was particularly joyful.

However, his reverie was cut short when he heard the gibbering voices of Luke and Leia in their room. Reluctantly he withdrew from the force and stood up. It wouldn't take the twins long to get ready and if he intended to chauffeur them to school then he would have to be ready as soon as they were.


Vader landed his speeder and walked calmly to the turbolift. The twins had been slightly confused but thrilled when they had learnt their father was taking them to school. It was such a small thing but the twins had been overjoyed and had proceeded to talk their father's ears off the entire trip. Once he had dropped off the twins and personally ensured that they were safe, Vader couldn't help but feel rather smug with himself.

However, just before he entered the turbolift, a slight frown creased his face. Something wasn't right. He was immediately aware of the a shift in the normal calm that surrounded his penthouse and found himself hurrying into the turbolift. True enough as soon as he stepped out into the main room he was met with complete chaos. Troopers darted around the penthouse yelling to each other and Atina could be heard shrieking murder somewhere in the house.

"Don't you dare touch that! Oh look, you broke it you maniac! Just wait till his Lordship hears of this, you'll have some answering to do then!" Atina was currently yelling. "And just what makes you think you can just barge in here and ransack the place like a couple of vandals?"

Vader stalked towards the ruckus and entered the living room. Atina stood defiantly wagging her finger at an Imperial official.

"Ma'am I was given express orders by my superiors. It would be in your best interest to cooperate with me and my men." The young man could be heard saying haughtily. He had his back turned to Vader.

Atina snorted "Hmph, cooperate? I receive all of my express orders from Lord Vader, so unless your superior outranks him, I will not cooperate!"

"What's going on here?" Vader's voice boomed above the clamor.

The room fell silent and the young man turned slowly to face Vader. His face blanched when he realized he was truly face to face with the dark lord himself. "Lord Vader, Lieutenant Jasen, at your service." he said with a sharp salute.

Vader ignored this display of subservience and gave the young man a furious glare. "I don't recall requesting my home to be searched. So, what are you doing here?" he said stepping forward, his hands clenched into fists.

"Sir, I was given orders to search this address, sir" the young man said.

"Is that a fact Lieutenant? And just what were you hoping to discover during this search?" he said now towering over the young lieutenant.

The man looked uncomfortable. "Sir, I was following my orders. I was to told to thoroughly search this residence, I was not made aware that this was your house"

"You didn't answer the question."

"I was led to believe I would discover a young woman and two children, Milord"

Vader's heart stilled and a cold stone settled in his stomach. Someone knew about the twins, they must have seen them. But who was it and how had they found out?

Suddenly Vader felt his anger flare up and the room seemed to grow cold with the dark lord's fury. Atina gave her employer a worried look. "Who do you report to?" he said darkly.

"Sir?"

Vader resisted the urge to choke the man. "It's a very simple question Lieutenant Jasen. Who is your supervisor?" Vader repeated, his voice was calm but it seemed to frighten the young man more.

"Captain Kezzer" the young man gobbled out.

Vader scowled. Of course it had be one of the corrupt useless individuals. Captain Kezzer was one of the many in the Imperial Army that were so corrupt that they were often indistinguishable from the crime lords.

However, Vader couldn't be bothered with what horrid punishment he would be forced to inflict on the Captain. Right now he needed to know who would possibly have the audacity to search his house. Of course what bothered him the most was how they had found out about his children and what they wanted with them.

Returning his attention back to Lieutenant Jasen. He felt satisfaction when the young man visibly shrank. "Lieutenant, I would like for you and your troopers to get out of my home and you are not to ever return"

"But sir, my orders" the man stuttered.

Surely the man was courting death, restraining his anger Vader spoke in an emotionless voice. "Your new orders are to leave. Need I remind that I am Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces? I will take this up with your supervisor, and you will do good not to disobey me Lieutenant"

The young man seemed to consider his options before he saluted and turned to his men. "Clear out, let's go" he yelled. Before he left he turned to Vader. "Again I apologize Milord"

"Get out" was Vader's reply.

The young man didn't need to be told twice. As soon as the men left Atina turned to her employer. "Milord, I tried to warn them. I truly did, but they wouldn't listen. I managed to stop them from getting to the children's room"

"Be quiet Atina, this isn't your fault" Vader said dismissively. "Clean this place up, the twins don't need to see it like this"

Atina bit her lip and nodded "Milord where you are going?" she asked as Vader moved toward the door.

"To speak with Captain Kezzer, I imagine what he will have to say about this will be very interesting." he said grimly.

Atina couldn't help but get the feeling that there wouldn't be much talking happening on Kezzer's part.


Padmé stood at her bedroom door and wrapped a head scarf around her fingers. For the past few days she had been playing around with the idea of telling her mother about the baby. Part of her wanted to keep it a secret as she had done with the twins.

She didn't want to have to deal with her mother's judgement, and small part of her wanted to keep the baby all to herself. But the other part of her balked at the thought of going through yet another pregnancy without her mother by her side. She had done it with the twins and she just couldn't go through this pregnancy alone. She had finally decided that today was the day she would tell her mother.

She took a breath and opened the door. At first when she tried to speak no sound came out. Don't be such a coward Padmé, she scolded herself. Taking another deep breath she called for her mother. "Mom? Can you come up here for a moment?" she said.

"Sure" her mom replied from downstairs.

Padmé moved to her bedroom window and watched the rain pouring outside. Her mother took her time coming up the stairs and Padmé almost jumped when the door finally opened. Jobal wiped her hands on her apron and smiled at the sight of Padmé, dressed and up. Padmé's hair had been twisted into a messy bun and she wore a simple deep blue dress.

"Hello Padmé. What is it?"

Padmé gave her mom a furtive glance before returning her gaze to the window. "Mom...sit down." she said in a shaky voice.

Jobal raised both eyebrows and eyed her daughter concernedly. After Jobal had taken a seat on the neatly made bed, Padmé turned around to face her Mom. Her hands continued to nervously twist her headscarf around her fingers, as she contemplated the best way to broach the topic. Finally deciding not to beat around the bush, she simply blurted out the words. "Mom...I..I'm pregnant"

Jobal stared at her daughter for a moment before she sat back with a sigh. "I figured as much" she said calmly.

Padmé looked at her mother in confusion. "Is it that obvious?"

Jobal smiled sadly. "Not really, but I just know you and there seemed like no other reason why you were behaving so strangely these last few days. But I told myself it wasn't possible..."

Padmé bit her lip and wondered if her mother was disappointed in her. She certainly hadn't turned into the model child that everyone had thought she would be. She had gotten married in secret, kept a pregnancy hidden and happened to be in love with one of the galaxy's most hated men.

"How did this happen?" her mother asked quietly.

Padmé closed her eyes and rubbed her creased forehead. "Three months ago..." She moved to the bed and sat beside her mother on the bed. "I...I was with my husband." she said looking into her hands.

"Anakin...? Vader is the father?" Jobal asked in shock.

"Yes" Padmé turned to her mother and clasped her hands together, she desperately wanted to make her mother understand. "Oh Mom, it wasn't as though I planned this, it just happened and I...I don't know what I was thinking. Oh stars..." Padmé sobbed helplessly. "I don't know what to do"

"Oh Padmé" Jobal put her arms around her crying child. Though she was in shock, she knew Padmé didn't need her to criticize her at this moment.

Jobal was still wondering how it had happened. When and why would her daughter have been so near to the man who had almost killed her and their children years ago?

Padmé stopped her sobbing and looked at her mother. "Are angry with me?" She asked softly.

"Oh Padmé darling. Not that."

"But you think I made mistake and you don't understand how I could let this happen" Padmé said dolefully.

Her mother's silence confirmed her words. Jobal released a breath. "Well, how did it happen?"

Padmé told her mom the whole story from the beginning. Starting with meeting the twins and then her trip to Imperial Capital. Jobal was quiet for a moment after she had finished. "Are you still in love with him?" she asked.

Padmé swallowed as the truth about her feelings for Vader weighed on her. "I am" she said. "and I don't know what to do"


Vader stalked into the Imperial Center base commander garrison. A surprised lower level soldier rushed to meet him as he walked with purpose toward the meeting rooms.

"Lord Vader, is something wrong sir?" the soldier asked executing a polished salute to dark lord.

"Where is Captain Kezzer?"

"Captain Kezzer? He is in an meeting in the main hall...Milord?!"

Vader had left the confused soldier and continued toward the main hall. He entered the room and it immediately fell silent. Several high level imperials of varying rank stared at Vader in shock. Vader's eyes darted through the room till they settled on the stunned face of Kezzer.

Vader walked to the Captain and grabbed him by his collar. "Excuse me, but I have some pressing business with Captain Kezzer"

He dragged Kezzer out of the main hall into a smaller side room. When the door shut Vader flung the man against the wall. "You know why I am here Kezzer, you better start talking before I make you"

"Vader, there is no need for such behavior. I am perfectly willing to talk with you"

Vader released his grip on the man slightly. "Very well then, who gave you orders to have my private residence vandalized?"

"I am not at liberty to say" Captain Kezzer said with an odd expression that almost looked smug.

Vader could feel the vein in his temple begin to pulse violently and forced himself to control his rapidly rising temper. "I thought you said were perfectly willing to talk"

"I did, but that doesn't mean I have to tell you everything you want to know"

Vader wondered how the captain could be so audacious. "Captain Kezzer, let me put this simply. It would be in your best interest for you to answer my questions"

"Why? I am not afraid of you Vader."

"Is that so? Are you afraid of death? Because I can and will kill you for wasting my time."

For the first time Captain Kezzer appeared to show signs of fear as he gulped visibly. Vader noticed this and he smirked in satisfaction. "Now that we understand each other, I'll repeat my question. Who gave you the orders to search my house?"

"I...was promised immunity…"

Vader snorted. "Captain, do you see any of the people who promised you immunity in here right now? Do your so-called immunity will matter when I've killed you?"

Captain Kezzer was silent for several moments and Vader wondered how much longer he could hold himself together. "Who instructed you to have my house searched?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I was given orders to not reveal where my orders came from..."

Vader felt his patience snap and before he knew it, he had Kezzer pinned against the wall with his boots dangling above the floor. "This foolish game of yours has gone on long enough, you have forced me to do something rather unpleasant" Vader hissed as he began to rip through the Kezzer's mental shields indiscriminately.

The captain screamed in agony as Vader probed deeper and deeper into his mind. When he found what he was looking for, his shock turned to a dark rage and a surge of the dark side consumed him.

Moments later Vader stepped out of the small chamber. His eyes were colored a deep amber and darkness surrounded him like a cloud. Several soldiers and troopers eyed him warily and kept out of his way as he stalked past them.

After several minutes a brave lieutenant crept toward the room and opened the door. He held in a gasp as he took in the still and crumpled lifeless body of Captain Kezzer.


Leia frowned as she took a sip of her berry flavored milk. Something was wrong with her father. She could tell, she always could tell when he was upset. She looked to her brother and knew he noticed it too.

Her father was silent and ate his meal quickly. It wasn't as though he was withdrawn, because he wasn't. Rather it seemed like he was preparing for something, watchful even. His sharp eyes seemed to take in every action Leia and Luke did and Leia got the feeling he didn't want them out of his sight.

She placed her glass down and cleared her throat. "Daddy, tomorrow after school, Luke and I want to go to the park" she said.

Vader's eyes narrowed and a small frown flitted across his face. "No"

"Why not?!" Luke whined. "We haven't been in ages and…"

"Luke I said 'no' and that's all there is to it." Vader said in a tone that didn't leave much room for argument.

"But..but.."

"Luke, my answer is final." Leia winced at the tone her father used and Luke hang his head. Vader took a deep breath and released it before he spoke in a softer tone. "I didn't mean to yell but the answer is still no" he said.

The twins nodded silently. Vader placed his cutlery down and stood up. "I have some work to do, come say goodnight before you go to bed" He said.

"Okay" The twins said dejectedly.

As soon he left Leia leaned forward and whispered. "Something is wrong with Daddy"

Luke snorted. "Well duh, first he takes us to school, then we have troopers following us around and now we can't even go to the park? It's happening Leia, Dad is suffering from...parentnoia"

Leia rolled her eyes. "Now you're just making things up Luke"

"It's true! Every parent goes through it. We need to get him help before it becomes a problem, some parents have been known to lock their kids up because of 'parentnoia'"

"And just where are we supposed to get help from?" Leia asked.

Luke shrugged and filled his glass with more milk. "I dunno, maybe Mr. Owen. He's smart and he is supposed to know about people and stuff."

"Well do you think Daddy will mind us asking him about that?"

"He doesn't have to know, we have an appointment this week anyway" Luke said. "Maybe we can ask him then"

Leia nodded. "Maybe, I hope this blows over. Because I am worried about Daddy"

"Me too" Luke said in a serious tone.


So I hope you enjoyed it. I apologize for the length of time between updates and any errors. :D