Polis Massa medics work on Padme in an operating theater. Obi-Wan and one of the medical droids enter an observation room where Bail Organa and Yoda are waiting.
"Medically, she is completely healthy. For reasons we can't explain, we are losing her." The medical droid informs Obi-Wan.
"She's dying?"
"We don't know why. She has lost the will to live. We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies." The medical droid responds clinically.
A very surprised Bail Organa questions the medical droid, "Babies?!"
"She's carrying twins," confirms the droid.
Yoda intervenes, "Save them, we must. They are our last hope."
Threepio and Artoo watch, greatly puzzled. The medical droid rushes back to the operating room and Artoo beeps. Threepio tries to explain, "It's some kind of reproductive process, I think."
Obi-Wan enters the operating theater with Padme. He takes her hand. Bail Organa, Yoda, Artoo, and Threepio watch the delivery of the Skywalker twins from the observation room.
Padme winces from the pain.
The medical droid is holding a baby, "It's a boy."
Padme struggles to speak, "Luke…" She can only offer a faint smile as she barely manages to touch the baby on the forehead.
The medical droid is holding another baby, "... and a girl."
Padme looks at her, "...Leia."
Obi-wan leans over Padme and softly speaks to her, "You have twins, Padme. They need you… hang on."
Padme whispers, "I can't…" She winces and takes Obi-Wan's hand. In it she is holding Anakin's japor snippet.
Obi-Wan looks at her with concern, "Save your energy."
Padme tries to reach Obi-Wan, "Obi-Wan… There is good in him. I know there is… still…"
She lets out a last gasp, and before Obi-Wan's eyes she dies. "No!"
He can feel her life-Force slipping away, on a whim, he reaches for it. As a padawan, he received introductory courses on healing. He didn't show much promise for the skill so the academy focused his training elsewhere. With effort, he drew on those meager lessons and used what little he managed to learn to hold on to Padme's life-Force. Sweat beads on his brow and he struggles to speak up, "Do something!"
"I'm afraid nothing can be done, she is already gone."
Yoda feels what Obi-Wan is doing and taps on the glass. "Heal her, he can. Restart her heart, you must."
The medical droids do as told and attend to Padme again. They inject her with a stimshot and encase her torso with a CPR machine while setting her up on life support. After a long tense minute, her heart beats on its own.
That's all Obi-Wan needs. He feels her life-Force settle and rebind itself to her body. Gently, Obi-Wan pulls away. He looks at her vitals, she's stable. He slowly exhales with relief.
The medical droids confirm, "She is in a coma, but she is stable."
Obi-Wan looks at the medical droid, "When will she wake up?"
"It is hard to say, we have insufficient data to make a determination. At this point, we can only wait and see."
Obi-Wan gazes down at Padme, glad that she is alive. He opens his hand, studying the japor snippet Anakin made for her all those years ago. Carefully, he places it back around her neck where it belongs.
Obi-Wan returns to the observation room where the others are waiting, "she lives."
"Alive, she is. But how long until she wakes up, no one knows. Fake her death, we must. Hidden, safe, the children must be kept," Yoda says solemnly.
"We must take them somewhere the Sith will not sense their presence," Obi-wan suggests.
Yoda agrees, "Split up, they should be."
"My wife and I will take the girl. We've always talked of adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us," Bail Organa offers.
"And what of the boy?" Obi-Wan asks.
Yoda thinks for a moment. "To Tatooine. To his family, send him."
Obi-Wan nods his head in agreement, "I can take the child there, but I will come back and watch over Padme until she can be hidden."
"When settled she is, to the boy will you go?"
"Yes Master, I will go back to the child and keep guard. Master Yoda, do you think Anakin's twins will be able to defeat Darth Sidious?"
Yoda looks thoughtfully at the newborn children, "Strong the Force runs, in the Skywalker line. Hope, we can… Done, it is. Until the time is right, disappear we will."
A Star Destroyer is surrounded by Attack Cruisers. On the bridge of the Star Destroyer stands the Emperor and Governor Tarkin.
Darth Vader walks along the bridge to join the Emperor and the Governor. The huge frame structure which is the beginning of the Death Star looms before them.
"Beautiful, isn't it Darth Vader?" Palpatine has a large smile plastered on his face as he watches Vader from the corner of his eyes.
"Indeed, My Master."
"As was the funeral held for the late Senator Amidala on Naboo. What a shame, she died so young." Palpatine sports a mocking sad grimace before smiling as he feels the rolling waves of darkness emanating from Vader. "Good. Goooood. Embrace the dark side. Bend it to your will, and it will provide everything you need. Use that anger to make you stronger."
It's been a month since the events on Mustafar. Obi-Wan has already dropped off Luke with his family on Tatooine, and has since been watching over Padme who is still in a coma at the Polis Massa Medical Center.
"Are you certain he lives?" Obi-Wan asks the holo form of Bail Organa.
"I trust my sources."
Obi-Wan nods his head gravely, "Then we must prepare for the worst."
Obi-Wan meditates next to Padme's medical bed, the various beeps of the machine going off around her. She's been breathing on her own for several weeks, but still she does not awaken from her coma.
Something feels different, sensing a shift in her life-Force Obi-Wan looks at Padme. Her eyes flutter open for the first time.
Slowly, she looks around the room before settling on Obi-Wan. Wearing a friendly smile, he slides out of his chair and kneels beside her bed, eyes wide with hope. "Padme?" He asks gently.
"Where am I?"
"Polis Massa Medical Center. You were in a coma for several weeks."
Padme struggles to get up as she looks frantically around the room. "My babies… Obi-Wan, where are my babies? Are they - ?"
Obi-Wan reaches out and tenderly grasps her hand. "Shhh. It's alright, they are healthy."
"Can I see them?"
He shakes his head, "They aren't here, but they are safe."
Padme shakes her head in disbelief tears falling from her face, "I need to be with them! They need their mother…"
Obi-Wan frowns, it's hard to see her like this. He wishes he could reunite her with her children. "I am sorry Padme, there was no other way. We had to split them up, it's not safe for them with you all together. They are strong in the Force, this was the only way to keep them hidden from the Emperor."
Padme sinks into the bed and rolls her head to the side and starts to sob, heartbroken. She never even got to hold them... Obi-Wan frowns, his heart hurting to see her so broken. "...Anakin," she whispers between sobs, "is he… is he.."
"He's ...alive. But Padme…"
She struggles again to get up, "Where is he? Is he... here?" She looks at the door hopefully, waiting for her husband to come to her.
Even after all Anakin did - her voice is full of hope. He's hesitant to tell her, worried she's too fragile to handle the truth. But, he can not hide this from her, she needs to know the truth and it's better she learns about Darth Vader from him.
He watches her flinch in pain, struggling to stay seated. "Let me help you. Lay back. " He reaches for the button to raise her bed into a sitting position. When she is sitting, he grabs her hand, "Padme, what do you remember last?"
"The babies… Luke, Leia…"
Obi-Wan nods, "And before that…?"
"Oh Obi-Wan, the younglings… the temple," tears fill her eyes, but she continues, "He choked me… Anakin - he choked me. He thinks I - betrayed him…"
Obi-Wan's shoulders are heavy and his face looks tired and full of grief and guilt. He's the reason Anakin choked Padme, he knows that. "He fell to the Dark Side, Padme, he won't be coming back. He's with the Emperor now. They call him Darth Vader... and he is lost to us."
"No." Padme shakes her head in denial. "You're wrong, he can't… he wouldn't leave me. He wouldn't leave the babies."
"He's dangerous Padme, he is not the man you remember. Anakin... he is dead. Corrupted by the dark side of the Force by Palpatine so totally that there will be no saving him. Padme… for your sake, you must learn to let him go."
Obi-Wan waits patiently as she cries, and then cries some more. He gently strokes her hair trying to soothe her.
When she seems calm, he tentatively continues. "We were able to fake your death, the Emperor and Darth Vader think you died while you were still pregnant." He watches her to see how she is taking the information. Quietly, he reassures her, "They won't know to look for the children - or for you. For now, you are all safe."
"Where will I go?" She looks up at Obi-Wan, lost.
"I suggest Chandrila, Mon Mothma has offered to help."
"Okay. Chandrila..." After a long pause she frowns, "Can you promise me my babies will be safe?"
"I will watch over Luke myself."
"And Leia?"
"She is with a good friend." Obi-Wan reaches for her hand, "I promise you your children will be loved and they will be well taken care of, Padme."
