"Daddy!" Luke sheathed Caleb's lightsaber and ran forward. "Why are you attacking Uncle Obi-Wan?" He put the lightsaber on his belt and put his hands on his hips.

Daddy collapsed to his knees and opened his arms. "Luke." His voice was broken, like he was about to cry.

Luke bolted forward and wrapped his arms around his daddy. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too, baby." Daddy pressed a shaking hand to his hair.

Luke kissed him on the cheek, then drew back so he could frown at him. "Why were you trying to hurt Uncle Obi?"

Daddy was crying. Daddy! Crying! "I…I'm sorry. I thought he'd killed you."

Luke crossed his arms. "Did Palpacream tell you that?"

"Palpatine," Daddy corrected.

"That's what I said!" Luke cried. Why did Daddy have to pick on his words? "Palpacream's a bad guy. He lies all the time! He's s'posed to be in jail!"

Daddy shook his head. "I know he's dangerous, but…"

"He's a bad guy!" Luke yelled. "He's a Sith Lord, and he likes murdering people! He uses the bad side of the Force!"

"The Force," Daddy repeated. "The Force! That's the light that speaks to me."

Luke cocked his head. "Duh. Palpacream tried to kill Mommy. More than once."

"Padmé?" Daddy asked.

"No, Mommy," Luke said. Mommy, who Daddy usually called angel. Who was Padmé?

"Luke, your mommy is Padmé," Uncle Obi-Wan said.

"Nuh-uh!" Luke protested. "Her name is Mommy! She's called senator and angel, but her name is Mommy!"

Daddy smiled. "I think her name is Padmé."

Luke glared at him. "Did Palpacream tell you that?"

Auntsoka snorted.

Luke stuck his tongue out at her and turned back to his daddy. "Will you stop attacking Uncle Obi-Wan and come home?"

Daddy paused, then nodded. He wrapped his arm-and-a-half around him and scooped him up, then stood.

Luke wrapped his arms around his daddy's neck and smiled. "See? I told you he needed me."

Daddy kissed him on the cheek. "Yes, I did. You were right, Luke."

A gnarled man dashed around the corner of the hall. He blasted blue lightning at Auntsoka and sent her crashing against the wall.

Luke screamed. Daddy dropped him on the floor and spun around, pushing him behind him with the Force.

The bad man brandished a red lightsaber and brought it forward. The tip poked out through Daddy's back.

Luke screamed again. He darted forward and stomped hard on the man's foot. That had to be Palpacream. "Stay away from my daddy!" He swung his fists into the bad man's body.

His throat tightened. His feet lifted off the floor.

"Let him go, Palpatine!" Uncle Obi-Wan shouted.

Uncle Rex ran around the corner, Uncle Mace and Caleb's master right behind him. Uncle Rex raised his blaster and shot a blue stun bolt at Palpacream's head.

Palpacream collapsed onto the floor. Luke fell hard. He gave the bad man one last punch and burst into tears.

If that padawan—Caleb, Padmé thought—hadn't called her, she definitely would have flown down to the surface. She almost did anyway. Her baby, down on that awful planet, with a full-powered lightsaber? She was about to get in a fighter when Rex hopped on the comm to say Anakin had been found and was badly injured. Luke was crying in Rex's arms.

So now she was waiting in the hangar next to the med team for them to show up.

A gunship entered the outer hangar, then flew through the shield to land. As soon as the doors opened, Luke flew out and crashed into her legs. "Mommy!"

She placed her hands on his head. "It's okay, sweetheart." If Anakin wasn't injured right now, Luke would be in so much trouble, but right now, all she could bring herself to do was comfort him.

Kix pushed the float bed forward. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Mace, Ferus, and Rex lifted Anakin up and onto the stretcher. Padmé took Luke's hand and hurried along next to the float bed as they rushed Anakin to medbay.

"Is Daddy gonna die?" Luke asked when they were shut out of the surgery room.

Padmé shushed him. "Of course not." She sat down and pulled him onto her lap.

Obi-Wan and Ahsoka collapsed beside her. The rest of the strike team gathered in the room, except Mace and Depa.

Padmé squeezed her son. "What were you thinking?"

"Daddy needed me," Luke said in a tiny voice. "He said so. I'm sorry I disobeyed, Mommy."

Padmé let out an aggravated sigh. "We'll talk about this when your father wakes up." She didn't have the emotional capacity to properly discipline her son right now. She turned to Obi-Wan. "What happened to Palpatine?"

"I shot him," Rex said.

"He's being taken to the brig as we speak," Obi-Wan said. "With the ysalamiri, he won't be able to escape again."

Luke sniffed and wiped a tear away. "He hurt Daddy bad."

Padmé kissed the top of his head. "I know, baby. He'll be all right." He had to be all right. They couldn't have come this far to lose him now.

She sighed and settled in for the long wait.

Anakin woke slowly. The first thing he was aware of was an awful pain in his chest. It took effort just to keep breathing. He lay for a while drifting in between waking and sleeping, too afraid to wake up. Slowly, the Force came to him. At first, all he had was his fragmented memory. But, safe and cradled in the light, the Force pressed his memories upon him faster and faster until he was practically gasping.

He'd tried to kill Obi-Wan? He'd been convinced he'd murdered Luke, who had been one of the only people he had remembered.

Was he remembering correctly, or had Luke talked him down from killing Obi-Wan? How had Luke even gotten there?

That had to be a dream. Another hallucination from the Sith torture mask to taunt him with what could be.

But he could feel the Force, the light side of the Force. This couldn't be a dream. And all his hallucinations before had been awful.

Then again, it had ended with him being stabbed by Palpatine.

He dragged himself out of his lethargy and forced himself awake. If this had all been a dream, he'd be back in his cell with Palpatine looming over him, waiting to taunt him.

He was in a peaceful, well-lit room in the Temple healing wing.

"Ani?" Padmé asked.

"Angel?" Anakin's voice was hoarse and scratchy from disuse. Padmé was leaning over him, her hair all mussed, circles under her eyes, a blanket wrapped around her. "You're beautiful."

Padmé smiled, then laughed, placing a hand over her mouth. "You're awake. You're back!" Tears glistened in her eyes.

Anakin grinned. "No, I'm a ghost come back to haunt you."

She flung herself on him and peppered kisses on him. Anakin raised a shaking hand to brush her cheek.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked.

She shook her head. Tears dripped onto his cheeks. "You're not dreaming. You're really here."

"Daddy!" Luke called out.

Padmé drew back.

Luke climbed onto the bed. He smiled from ear to ear. "You're all right!"

Anakin nodded. "Come here, you."

Luke dove down and snuggled next to him. Anakin wrapped his arm around him and smiled down at his son.

That memory hit him again. He frowned down at him. "Am I misremembering things or did you come on the rescue mission and save me?"

Luke shifted uneasily. "You're not. The Force told me to come, so I had to listen. I saved you. Mommy said I couldn't go."

"You did save me. I would've been lost without you," Anakin said. "Thank you."

"Am I in trouble?" Luke asked.

"Uh…" Anakin's mind went blank. Trouble? Luke had saved him. But he was seven and had tagged along on a rescue mission he probably wasn't supposed to be on. But he'd saved him! "Padmé?"

Padmé put her hands on her hips. "Luke, you told me you didn't say anything to Leia because she would have come with you and that would have been dangerous."

"The Force didn't tell her to come!" Luke exclaimed.

Anakin thought he caught where she was going with this. "But you're the same age as Leia, aren't you, Luke?"

"I'm three minutes older!" Luke protested.

"Luke," Anakin said.

"Fine, I guess." Luke buried his face in Anakin's side.

"You were scared for Leia to come along because she's too young to go on missions. So do you understand why we were scared and didn't want you to come on the mission to save me?" Anakin asked.

Luke sighed. "I guess so." The words were muffled.

"You saved me this time, but next time…"

"If you ever do that again, you'll be grounded from now until your wedding day," Padmé finished.

"Yes, ma'am," Luke said meekly.

Anakin ruffled his hair. "Thank you for saving me, big guy."

Luke beamed up at him. "You're welcome, Daddy."

"You think you can handle seeing the rest of the kids right now?" Padmé asked.

Anakin yawned. He lifted his other hand to run it through his hair.

Wait.

A Sith hound had bitten off his other hand. Yet here it was, and not even a robotic hand, either. This one was flesh and blood.

This was a dream.

"Padmé? What happened to my hand?"

Padmé blinked. "That's the latest model in prosthetic hands. The synthskin is supposedly just as sensitive and realistic as real skin."

Anakin stared at it. He wiggled his fingers. Now that she said it, he could feel that it was prosthetic, but barely. Just barely.

"Do you like it?" Luke piped up.

Anakin grinned. "I love it." No more single gloves for him. He had a hand again! "I want to see the rest of the kids."

Padmé stuck her head out of the door. "Obi-Wan!"

Leia and Ben rushed in. Obi-Wan followed with Shmi by the hand and Jinn in his arms.

"Daddy!" Leia jumped on the end of the bed.

Ben ran to the other side of the bed and grabbed his free hand.

Leia bounced on the bed. "Daddy, you're home! Daddy, you're home!"

Pain shot through Anakin's chest. "Stop," he said, his voice strangled.

Leia froze mid-bounce. "Sorry."

"'S all right, sweetheart. Come here."

Leia snuggled up to his free side and gazed up at him. "I love you."

"I love you too." Anakin grinned at Obi-Wan. "You're one of the kids?"

Obi-Wan smiled, but didn't deny it. "Good to see you back to normal."

Anakin blinked. His smile softened. "Yeah."

Ahsoka poked her head in the doorway. "Remember me yet?"

"You're the girl I gave away at her wedding a year ago, right?" Anakin asked.

Ahsoka crossed her arms. "Woman."

Anakin smiled. "I love you, Snips."

Ahsoka sighed. "Love you too, Skyguy."

Anakin closed his eyes and basked in the light of the room. Full recovery, both physical and mental, would take a while, and both might take therapists, but for now, he was just glad to be home.

"Ani?" Padmé said.

"What is it, honey?"

"I'm pregnant."

Anakin's eyes popped open. "What?"

The End

Notes: So...
Originally, this was going to be way more angsty. Anakin was going to be captured for months, past when Padme gave birth. He was going to lose most of his grip on reality, and the only thing that was going to save him would have been Luke bringing his new baby girl to him. Anakin would have realized everything was real because he never had another kid in his hallucinations. I couldn't bear to drag this out and leave him in Palpatine's hands that long, so I had him get rescued sooner. Luke still saved him, though. Now, Anakin can attend the birth of his new daughter in peace.
This may be the end of this particular fic, but it is far from the end of the fics in this universe. Stay tuned for more fics coming relatively soon!