A Note before we Begin:
This story will take place in five acts. The first of them covers Luke and Leia's initial ten years of life, with various key moments and meetings. That same format goes for Act II, while the final three will cover the events of Episodes IV, V, and VI. Numerous characters from both the various movies, as well as The Clone Wars and Rebels tv shows will be making appearances, with AU twists of their own.
Now, without further adue, I present to you Tano and Twins. Enjoy!
-Triscribe
Act I - The Early Years
Chapter 1
Ahsoka Tano silently cried as she watched Padme's body enter the cremator. She'd done the best she could, taking the injured woman to a hidden med center on the nearest planet, desperate to save her and the baby. In the end, though, Padme died even as her twins were born.
Now, the former padawan was left with her tiny ship, a pair of mourning droids and two infants who'd been orphaned before they were even an hour old. There was a part of her mind that reminded Ahsoka she didn't know who'd won Anakin and Obi-wan's duel, but in the end it didn't matter. Her former Master was dead the moment he led soldiers into the Jedi Temple for a slaughter.
And now Ahsoka was responsible for protecting his children from the monster that was the Empire.
Releasing a shaky sigh, she turned and walked away. By the time the Togruta returned to her amalgamation of scrapyard rejects that passed for a spacecraft, she'd reigned in her turbulent emotions. Things were about to become hard enough without the added distress of grieving, especially with troopers combing the galaxy for Jedi on the run.
She might not technically be a member of the ruined Order anymore, but if Ahsoka was recognized, she'd still be hunted down and killed. The same went for the pair of children she'd be raising.
"Force-sensitive twins," the teen groaned as she entered the ship. "Never did anything by halves, did you Skyguy?" Artoo beeped inquisitively at her, but Ahsoka just waved away his enquiry. She instead entered the tiny pilot's quarters, where C-3PO was fussing over the sleeping infants.
"I don't think they're going to spontaneously combust the moment you step away, Threepio."
"Oh! Mistress Tano, thank goodness you've returned unharmed." The protocol droid sounded far more relieved than Ahsoka had been expecting - Padme's death apparently affecting him a great deal. "We may be encountering difficulties with the children soon, as I am afraid I have no knowledge as to what the young Master Luke and Mistress Leia will require for sustenance upon their awakening-"
"Easy there, it's fine. I've got a few cases of dehydrated formula from the hospital. We'll just have to add water, and they'll be fine." Stepping past him, Ahsoka smiled sadly down at the twins. Her twins, now. "And I'll make sure that they stay that way."
-T&T-
The twins, as Ahsoka soon came to learn, were connected by more than just blood.
She vaguely knew that Force-sensitive children could start to manifest small signs of their abilities as toddlers, usually in terms of causing small toys to hover, or stopping their crying moments before someone actually starts to comfort them. That was about the extent of her knowledge, though, since youngling education wasn't something the former Padawan had been particularly well-versed in.
However, even Ahsoka didn't think that the one year old twins working together to cause all the furniture around them to float in the air was entirely normal.
Threepio was doing his impression of racing about in a terrified panic, with Artoo chirping in devious delight off to one side of the room. Luke and Leia just giggled from where they sat side by side in a bowl-shaped crib, and Ahsoka sighed.
"I can't leave you people alone for ten minutes, can I?" She asked wearily, moving into the cabin and using her own powers with the Force to put everything back where it was supposed to go. Already, she could tell that the twins would be just as powerful as their father, which did not bode well for their teenage years. Ahsoka felt the tremors of their disappointment as the game was ended, and quickly stepped forward to scoop the infants into her arms. "Hey now, shh, don't you start wailing on me again, you little pipsqueaks."
The Togruta rubbed her nose against each of the twins', suitably distracting them for the time being.
"I do wonder sometimes," she mused quietly. "Just how well Padme and Skyguy would have managed, raising you two troublemakers."
Leia merely yawned in response, hand automatically curling up so she could suck on her thumb. Luke, though, was looking at Ahsoka thoughtfully.
"Ah! Ah!"
"What's the matter with you, kiddo?"
"Ah! Ah-s-ka!"
The Togruta blinked, staring at the triumphant infant. "Did you just..."
"Ah-s-ka!" Luke burbled again, reaching up and bopping at her nose. Through the Force, Ahsoka could feel faint tendrils of his need to make her smile. She did so, just to please the already highly perceptive boy. Luke murmured her name one more time, before shifting in Ahsoka's arms to curl up against Leia and take a nap as well.
-T&T-
"No."
Bail Organa looked at her askance. "Ahsoka, we need the Jedi, and aside from Obi-wan and Yoda you are-"
"Not gonna happen, Senator. My responsibility lies with the twins." She folded her arms defiantly. "For now, that means protecting them. Later, it will mean training them, and when they come of age they might, might, join this rebellion of yours. But my days of fighting are over."
The man made an inarticulate sound of irritation, but he did not argue further. Ahsoka stood from her place at the table, preparing to leave and return to where Luke and Leia were waiting for her with the droids.
"Will you at least keep in touch with us? So that we know you're still alive?"
"...Perhaps." The woman said softly. "I won't do it too often, though - I don't want to risk revealing ourselves."
"What about a way for us to get in touch with you?" Bail asked desperately. He'd been the first person Obi-wan had come to, frantic over Padme's disappearance when she was injured and so heavily pregnant. Two years of searching later, the the Alderaanian Senator had finally managed to come in contact with Ahsoka Tano. They'd agreed to meet in a smoky tavern on an asteroid way-station, which was where Bail learned the fate of Padme and Anakin's twins.
With the hope they could bring to the galaxy, he was extremely reluctant to allow the Jedi to depart again without a way of checking in on her.
Ahsoka's response was to laugh.
"With as much as we move and change ships? No, Senator. Not possible. If you're that desperate to keep tabs on us, I suggest calling and asking Obi-wan to pay attention to the Force for the status of our well-being." And with that, she departed the tavern, vanishing into the crowded halls of the station.
-T&T-
She hadn't been expecting to run into another survivor of Order 66, but that's exactly what happened when Ahsoka set out from the shipyard. Caleb Dume was someone the older Padawan had only met on a few occasions, always at the Temple or else en route to different missions with their respective masters.
He'd gotten taller, more muscular, but still had the same expressive green eyes she remembered. And Caleb clearly could recall her as well, because almost as soon as he and the Togruta crossed paths, he was practically shoving her into a shadowed alley.
"You survived?!" Was the first thing out of his mouth, which Ahsoka really couldn't blame the kid for. He was squarely in his teenage years, after all, and probably had been making do on his own since the massacres.
"Kept my head down and out of sight for a while," she briefly said. "What about you?"
The pain and grief that flashed through Caleb's eyes was enough to tell her that someone must have died for the boy's escape.
"Look, we can swap stories later, but right now there's a stormtrooper patrol coming this way that I was trying to avoid."
Nodding, Ahsoka lead him back towards her ship. "Dume, I'm glad to see another survivor, and I'm happy to help make sure you keep on surviving - but I'm protecting a very important secret I need you to swear not to reveal to anyone, not foe and maybe not even friend, either."
"I swear."
"You don't even know what it is." Ahsoka couldn't keep the light trace of amusement out of her tone at this.
Caleb merely shrugged as they rounded another building. "Doesn't matter. You might have left the Order, but you're still Jedi, like me. You wouldn't ask such a thing if it wasn't of absolute importance."
Even with his confident words, though, the human was thrown for a loop when he first met the three year old twins. He became even more off balance when Ahsoka explained the story behind their birth and the real reason why they needed to be kept such a tight secret.
Still, Caleb stood by his promise, and Ahsoka promptly gave him a lift to Alderaan, where Obi-wan was able to take up responsibility for the boy's remaining training. And after he was deemed worthy to become a Jedi Knight, Caleb, taking on the name Kanan Jarrus, jumped right into work with the blooming resistance efforts.