The faces around Padmé's living area-turned-conference hall could best be described as shocked. Except for Bail's, that was, which was bordering more on…comprehension. All of that was fair — revealing that she'd covertly had children with the galaxy's Jedi hero was bound to turn a few heads.

"Senator," Meena said carefully. "I don't mean to doubt your integrity, but you realize this is not the best look."

"Which is exactly why I have chosen to keep it to myself," Padmé said. "And to reveal it myself now. I would prefer you hear it from me, rather than an untrusted source. In fact, that's just it — the reason I am comfortable sharing this with you now is mainly because Palpatine has this information as well."

There was silence around the room, but Padmé would not allow them to form false opinions about her loyalty. Not when that was the opposite of what she was trying to do. "And before anyone can jump to conclusions, I swear to you that this was a tight-lipped secret between me and my husband. In fact, the only reason this is relevant, beyond you all deserving the truth, is that Palpatine obtained this information using his Force powers, which is exactly the reason why we need to be working with the Jedi. Just because people in the Senate don't understand exactly what it means for him to be a Sith doesn't mean it isn't still a very relevant and dangerous truth."

"I must point out," Fang Zar said, "That General Skywalker was accompanying the Chancellor when we presented the Petition of the Two Thousand. With all due respect, Senator Amidala, this — well, let's just say I concur with Senator Tillis."

"I don't disagree, Senator," Padmé said. "I will tell you what I can. As you will recall, part of Palpatine's last series of emergency powers was an attempt to gain control over the Jedi Council. His method of doing this was to try to appoint my husband as a sort of mediator between him and the Council. Anakin's job was to pass information between the two parties. And — well, this information will probably come out during the trial, but I'd rather it not to be a surprise to any of you — the Jedi arrested Palpatine based off my husband's information. He went to the Jedi, and informed them that Palpatine was a Sith Lord."

The faces around the room appeared to process this information. Padmé continued, "I hope we can agree that this information should not yet leave this room." She glanced at Bail and Mon. "I am in full agreement with your unspoken plans, but I hope you can all understand why Jedi involvement is imperative. Palpatine has powers the likes of which none of us can comprehend. Powers not even the Jedi themselves fully understand."

"You have my full trust, Padmé," Mon said, quietly, barely above a whisper. "You do. And I'm inclined to agree that Jedi involvement would be severely helpful. And I know if I express my concern, you will not take it personally." Padmé nodded for her to continue. "I have met General Skywalker several times, and I do not question his valor. But it's no secret that he is close personally with Palpatine. Being as objective as you can, do you believe he is trustworthy?"

"I understand your concerns, including the ones you've not explicitly spoken," Padmé conceded. "And there are certain things I cannot disclose to protect Anakin's privacy. But I know him. He values loyalty and trust above all other traits, and I can attest that Palpatine has shattered that trust." She bit her lip for a moment, thinking. "In truth I have never spoken to Anakin of these meetings. But I can assure each and every one of you — and I would stake my own life on this. I helped to get Palpatine into office thirteen years ago, and I am prepared to stop at nothing until he is out of it."

She looked around at all of them, and her voice slowly climbed back to a normal volume. "As hard as I have tried to end this war, to end suffering, I will get that man out of office if it kills me. And I believe the best way to ensure that comes to pass is to work with the Jedi. And I agree that discretion is key, in case — as you said, Mon — in case he attempts to do away with the Jedi. This is a collective effort. Palpatine has many, many allies, people profiting off of his war, people who want a role as governor, and so on. We need to band together to combat him. We need all the help we can get."

Bail was nodding now. "I'm in agreement."

"I trust your faith, Padmé," Mon said. "As was discussed, Bail and I shall work behind the scenes. As long as everyone agrees, you have my approval to contact Master Kenobi and see what he thinks."

Everyone around the room acknowledged their approval. Padmé said, "I will discuss this with Obi-Wan. If he has any reservations, I am absolutely certain he would keep the secret for us."

"It is settled, then," Bail said. "As agreed, we must keep this small for now, so as not to arouse suspicion. Avoid speaking over comm channels, and be wary of discussing this with each other in the Senate buildings. Palpatine's meetings with his advisors and defense team is required to be private, and even the Jedi would not be aware if they catch onto us. Be extremely cautious. The Republic depends on us, now."

"And we will not let the people down," Padmé agreed, standing. After they said goodbyes, her colleagues left, and she sighed. It was as if a weight she hadn't known she'd been burdened with had been lifted off her. A couple weights, actually. That was a lot.

Smoothing her dress, she made her way to check on the twins, down the hall to her bedroom where they were —

And Anakin appeared to have been waiting for her. He was casually leaning against the wall into her bedroom. He looked at her, his expression positively glowering.

"How are your friends?"

She stared at him. "What?"

"I heard what you were talking about."

Padmé blinked, feeling a crease in her brow. "You were eavesdropping?"

"No!" he said indignantly. "You were right down the hall. I couldn't help but hear."

"Anakin," she said calmly, "That's eavesdropping."

"So is it all true?" he said coldly, his gaze steely and hard. "What he said about you? You actually were working with Obi-Wan against him? And you didn't tell me?"

Oh, goodness. "Anakin, no."

"I felt him!" he snapped, looming over her, seeming taller than he normally did. "The day Obi-Wan left for Utapau, he was in your apartment! So were all the Loyalists!"

"Anakin," she said once more, trying so hard to be patient, "I told you why he was here. He was worried about you, because you were acting — the way you were."

"But you wanted him here for other reasons!" he accused in a voice oddly hushed. Well, at least he was still considerate of the sleeping twins even when he was being annoying. "I heard you say it! Admit it!"

"I wanted the help of the Jedi to bring a peaceful end to the war!" she said, matching the volume of his voice. "You know that! This isn't news!"

"And you and him would have gone behind my back to do that! Just like the Chancellor said you were doing! He said you were traitors, going to overthrow him! Was he right?"

Padmé blinked again, her mouth falling slightly open. "I cannot believe what I'm hearing," she breathed, staring at Anakin incredulously like she'd never seen him. "Are you actually defending him?"

Confused hurt flashed across his face for a moment. "No, I…of course not."

"You are," she said softly. "Anakin, don't you see? You're still under his spell. Break out of it!"

He looked away, and then back. "Does that mean I'm right?"

Padmé took a minute. Her gaze did not leave his for even a second, and she had to wrestle down an impatient sigh. "Anakin Skywalker, I gave birth to two children a month ago and yet I am going to work six days a week to try to prove that Palpatine is a traitor. And you know why I'm doing that? For you. For what he did to you. For what he did to the Republic. Palpatine is a dictator, a Sith Lord, a warmonger, a manipulator, a tyrant. He spent three years changing the terms of the Constitution to give himself more power and he worked with Count Dooku to start the war so that he could use it to keep himself in office and make himself look good. And it worked. Everyone fell for it. Everyone, even you. Especially you."

Suddenly, she took both of his hands in hers and squeezed them hard. "I love you, Anakin, I really do, but sometimes loving you is so hard."

Anakin looked down at their hands with an unsure, doubtful look on his face. He didn't say anything, just stood there, thinking.

She sighed, and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Ani…come on. We need to talk."

Quickly she hooked up the baby monitor Sola had given her and then led him through the closet and down onto the veranda, trying to think of what she wanted to say. Because it was true, she did love him, loved him deeply — but sometimes, her love for him had to be a little tough. Sometimes, he needed a firm hand.

Anakin was many, many things — an excellent father who loved his children, a loving husband whose passion — obsession — possessiveness — had almost brought the Republic to its doom…and sometimes, accordingly, he was really, wildly, unbelievably hard to deal with.

Him being obsessive was nothing new. He was obsessed with her, after all, there was no way around it, and that obsession had transferred over to their twins. He doted upon them all day, played with them, changed them, spent hours staring at their little faces. Padmé loved doing all of those things, too (when she wasn't working six days a week!) because it meant she got to spend time with them, but with Anakin it was just…well….

She had her suspicions. Namely, that he was so hung up over what could have been, over what he almost did, so trapped inside his own mind that he used the babies as an excuse to escape. He leaned into his obsession, so mournful over how convinced he had been that they had all been foretold to die…that now he simply felt he could not leave the twins alone.

This was a whole new level of obsession beyond anything Padmé had ever known from him. And it had to stop. Things had to change. So now, leading him into the veranda to have a much needed, long awaited talk…Padmé decided she absolutely could not take this emotional wall between them for another minute more. Could not take his possessiveness and need for control for another damn second.

When Padmé sat down, she tried not to think that this reminded her of the time they'd nearly broken up — had broken up — after he'd gone absolutely berserk and nearly killed Clovis. An act of impulse, a violent reaction, from a man who seemed to have less control over his emotions by the day. Maybe she should talk to Obi-Wan about that.

But for now, she would talk to Anakin himself. Because this was long overdue.

Very, very long overdue.

So long, in fact, that she had no idea where to start. So she said, trying to find the words, "Listen, I —"

"Do you not trust me?" Anakin said suddenly, though not angrily, and she looked up at him in shock.

"What?"

"With your Senate group. Your secret meetings. Your petitions. You don't trust me."

"Anakin…."

Padmé tried to reach for his hand, but he yanked it away. "'Cause I'm the Chancellor's protégé, right?"

She twisted in her seat to face him and leaned her elbow on the top of the bench. "You said yourself that you told him everything."

"So what, I can't think for myself?"

"Did I say that?" she said, a helpless eyebrow raised. "Do you really think I feel that way? Anakin…do you trust me?"

She gave him a moment to think, but the fact that it even took him a moment made the answer quite clear. "I don't know."

"Stop this," Padmé said, "Stop deflecting. Tell me how you feel. Didn't I say we need to be honest with each other?"

Anakin heaved a sigh. "I don't think I really trust anyone right now. I —"

Then he shook his head and looked away.

"You can talk to me," Padmé said, needing him to understand that. "You can always talk to me."

He shrugged, trying to pretend it was nothing. "I just feel like I don't know what's real and what's not."

"I can understand that."

He glared at her. "No, you can't. You always know what's going on."

"Anakin…no, I don't." Padmé could keep the exasperation from her voice, but she knew he must feel it from her in the Force. "I'm not as perfect as you seem to think I am sometimes. Ani…you're not the only one that's been used by him."

He looked up at her sharply, and now she definitely had his attention. She continued, "This war, this government, it's all just a game to him. And knowing what I know now, of course I trust you. But — you have to understand what it looked like to me before. You used to defend his every word, his every action. It felt like whenever he and I were at odds you would always take his side. And I — I felt a little betrayed, I won't lie. And I don't blame you for it, not now, because it was exactly what he wanted, but don't you see? This was all his plan! He wanted me not to trust you. He wanted to split us apart. He wanted to break your faith in me, in Obi-Wan, in the Jedi. And Ani…it worked."

Bringing a hand to his eyes, he nodded in resignation. "I'm sorry."

"Please," she begged, "Please don't be sorry. It's going to take a very long time to come back from this, for both of us. I won't pretend like I've been manipulated by him as much as you were, but please believe me when I say that to a certain extent, I understand. Palpatine used me to advance his own political career more times than I can even remember, and that knowledge just makes me feel — dirty. Guilty. I understand. You feel like it was your fault because you went along with his abuse, not knowing that's what it was. You feel guilty for not realizing the truth sooner. So do I! I got him into office, Ani, and for the longest time I blamed myself for his claims to power. I let him send me away to Naboo during the Separatist Crisis and he used Jar Jar to get his emergency powers approved because he knew it wouldn't happen if I was there! I had been fighting against the Military Creation Act for ages. Every single move he ever made was calculated, and there's no way any of us could have known at the time. Think about it, if even the Jedi Council themselves didn't pick up on his deception, how were you supposed to?"

Anakin just stared off into the distance, appearing to soak this in.

"I understand you, Anakin. Now, I need you to try to understand me. I know we've never agreed on politics but you must realize, the only thing I have ever wanted was for this war to end and for the galaxy to return to peace. Please, please try to see it from my perspective. I didn't want to remove Palpatine's emergency powers because I didn't like him as a person. I wanted to do that because I saw every change he made to the constitution as a threat to the democratic process itself. And the thing is, we're not out of the woods yet. Palpatine is about to be tried by a Senate that he has spent the last thirteen years gaining authoritative control over. He even tried to gain control over the Jedi Council! That is not a democracy, Ani, no matter what he told you."

He bit his lip, looking ashamed. "He told me every senator on the Petition of the Two Thousand was a traitor. And that the Jedi wanted control of the Senate. That everything he'd done was a necessary measure to prevent that."

Padmé nodded. "Now, tell me honestly. No judgement here, okay? Do you still believe that?"

His mouth twisted into a frown. "I tried to argue with him. I wanted to believe you. But he said I was wrong."

"But do you believe it now?"

"I don't think so," Anakin said quietly. "But I don't know for sure."

Maybe now they were getting somewhere. Padmé didn't know the Force, but she couldn't help but to thank it and sing its blessings in her soul.

Anakin looked at her again. "So what are you doing with the Loyalist Committee?"

"Right now we're trying to reach as many senators as possible so they can understand essentially what I just told you," she said. "Palpatine's poison has dripped into far many more ears than just yours and mine. We're afraid the Senate is going to acquit him at the end of the trial. Or worse, shut the trial down before the truth can be brought out."

An apprehensive frown stretched across his face. "And what happens if they do?"

"I don't know, and I'm determined to make sure we don't find out."

"Would the Senate be able to reinstate him, though? Even though he's a Sith?" He made a face. "I guess that's more of a question for Obi-Wan."

"Truthfully, I don't think being a Sith means much to most outside the Jedi," she said. "It means something to me, especially after everything that happened on Naboo, but I'm sure that will come up at length during the trial. I'm really not sure how that will affect anything."

They sat in silence for a moment before Padmé realized what he was really asking. She looked at him. "Are you worried he'll come after you?"

His frown deepened. "If he's set free…none of us will be safe."

The veil of that thought weighed heavily over her. Us. Them. Their children. Their family.

"Can I…," Anakin said slowly. "You said you wanted to be honest, right?"

"Right…."

"This is going to sound so wrong," he said, and now his voice was hushed. "But sometimes…it's like, even after everything, after all the stuff we talked about before the twins were born, with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, I…I actually miss him."

Instinctively, Padmé raised a hand to brush some hair back in comfort. "I'm sure that's normal. He was a part of your life for a long time."

In a flash, he suddenly looked younger. Vulnerable. Like a part of his soul was still a child, and that child was frightened of a scary monster. "You know how I said I was going to join him…you know I meant that, right?" He swallowed, and the protrusion in his neck bobbled. "You know I really would have done it."

"You didn't."

"No, I didn't," he said, "But if Obi-Wan hadn't been there, if you and Ahsoka hadn't been there, I would have cut down every single Jedi in that hangar to save him if that's what he'd told me to do." He swallowed again, and made a face like he was sucking on something sour. "I would have stood at his side and swallowed his lies and killed whoever he told me to kill. You're talking about understanding each other — I need you to understand, Padmé, exactly who it is you're married to. You know what I'm capable of."

"Anakin," she said, more loving than exasperated this time, "I asked you to marry me. Yes, I know what you did. Yes, I have an idea of what you might have done. Yes, I know what you're capable of. Great pain, and great anger, but also great love. And I know now that maybe our love isn't always enough to protect us from harm. Maybe your love wouldn't have been enough to save me if the visions had been true. Maybe my love for you won't keep Palpatine out of office. But maybe my actions can. That's what I've been doing with the Delegation: protecting my two — my four greatest loves. You, our children, and democracy. Freedom. The people. I will not stop until that man has been stripped of his power. Are you going to support me?"

He sighed, for some reason looking relieved. "I will."

Finally, she took his hand again. "And when this is all over," Padmé said, "We're going to work more on us, okay? And we do need work. I think this might be the deepest conversation we've ever had."

Anakin flashed her an exhausted smile. "I think I'm the one that needs work," he admitted. "Maybe Obi-Wan is right…maybe I do need therapy."

A grin took over her whole face. "You know, they say admitting it is the first step to recovery."

He threw his head back, as if it was too heavy to hold up. "It's like, I get it, you know? I know logically that I need help. But it's like my brain keeps telling me I'm fine."

She fingered one of his curls playfully. "That's a thing, you know. It's called denial."

Anakin nodded dully. "I was using the kids as an excuse to put it off. With the trial, and everything I just…I don't want to think about any of it." He rubbed at his eyes. "How about you just…do whatever you need to with the Loyalists and I won't ask about it. I don't want to know about it. I trust you."

"Do you?"

"I think so," he said, appearing truthful. "At the very least I trust you as the mother of my — our children."

"And I you," Padmé said, smiling. "I hate that I have to keep working — I really, really hate it — and you know all I want to do is sleep and cuddle with the twins. But like I told the queen, I just have to get over this hurdle and then it'll just be us. We'll go to Naboo, be a family."

"You're amazing for doing all that," he said, looking at her like one looked at the most coveted gemstone. "I'm sorry I'm such an ungrateful jerk."

"And I'm sorry I was so harsh," she said, resting her head against his shoulder for a moment, and then twisting her face toward his. "I love you."

"I love you," he whispered, leaning in until his lips were just brushing against hers, and Padmé closed the distance between them in what might have been their first real kiss beyond a peck here and there since before the babies were born. She really couldn't remember but didn't feel the need to, because now he was here, and she was here, and she was suddenly absolutely ravenous for him and his penchant for romance and affection and his absolutely sculpted body reminiscent of the statues in Theed of the God of the Sun…Padmé twisted in her seat, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him in closer to her, thinking absentmindedly they couldn't go as far as she wanted to because she was still really sore down there but at least they could go halfway, maybe, and demonstrate a few weeks of pent up emotions in the steamiest make out session they'd had in ages because honestly, they deserved it—

And then a baby started crying through the monitor on the table, and they broke apart.

They stared at each other, astonished, and then suddenly she was giggling and he was laughing and for just the briefest moment it was like that afternoon in the Lake Country when they'd been rolling around in a field of yellow wildflowers, the looming conflict barely nonexistent in their minds, an escape from every single thing that plagued them in this horrible, messy galaxy….

They would be back there soon, Padmé hoped as she got up to feed the twins, both physically and mentally. They would. The quicker she could do what had to be done, the quicker she would be home. With Anakin. And their family.

Soon. Very soon.