Birthday Party for the Twins
Padme POV
It was 2.11.7, and I could not believe that the twins were a year old. Everybody was coming to our apartment for the party, and Anakin had gone to Dex's Dinner in Coco Town to pick up as cake that the babies could eat. I did not really know what was in it, but Anakin assured me it was mainly going to get on their face, and not in their mouth anyway.
It was 1500 hours and Anakin and Obi-Wan took a day leave from the temple. My mom and dad were coming, along with Qui-Gon and Shmi. Everyone was bringing presents, and we had hats to wear. I was going to take pictures and put it in their rooms as their first birthday.
The doorbell rang, and I went to get it. It was Obi-Wan and Satine, beating two gifts wrapped in purple and green.
"Hi," I said, hugging them.
"They're a year old?" asked Satine. "How is that possible?"
"I don't know. They were born yesterday."
"This is so cute," she said putting on a stormtroopers hat.
"Yeah. Those were Anakin's idea."
The doorbell rang again, and this time it was my parents.
"Hey," I said, giving my mom a hug.
"Where are they?" said my dad. "Where are my grandchildren?"
"There napping," I said, laughing. "I'll get them up when the party starts."
"Hey Master Obi-Wan, how is everything?" said my dad shaking hands with Obi-Wan.
"Oh, fine. Now that Sidious is in maximum security everything is real quiet. I get to actually study the Force. It's quite fascinating. I feel like a Padawan again."
"Good. Good. We can't be grateful enough to you and Anakin."
"He has really done a one-eighty."
"I'm amazed by the boy."
"Of course, we can't tell him that."
"No, never."
They both started laughing. Satine slapped Obi-Wan in the shoulder, then came into the kitchen with me.
"Where is Anakin?" she asked.
"Getting the cake from Dex's Dinner."
"You got a six layer cake for a one year old's party? Padme they are going to be sick."
"No," I said. "It's called a smash cake. It's all kinds of fruit, with a little bit of sugar, and flour, and Ashla and Jinn use their hands to dig into it and eat it."
"Oh."
"The six layer cake's for the adults," I said laughing.
She smiled.
The hydrolift opened, and Anakin came in carrying a six-layer cake.
"Where is the kids cake?" I asked.
"Qui-Gon's got it," he said.
Just then, Qui-Gon and Shmi came in, with Shmi carrying some presents, and Qui-Gon a white cake that looked like a child baked it. They brought everything into the kitchen and sat it down. I took the cover off of the smash cake and stuck a candle in it.
"All right, everything is ready. Let's get the kids!"
The doorbell chimed.
"Who could that be?" asked Shmi.
Anakin went and got the door.
"Hello, are we too late?" came Rex's voice.
"No. Your just in time. Come on in," said Anakin.
"Rex and Ahsoka," whispered my mom. "I thought she didn't leave the house."
"Apparently, she does," I whispered back.
Rex and Ahsoka came in holding a nicely wrapped gift and placed it with the others. Ahsoka was dressed up in black boots, a black dress, and some black earrings. She looked very pretty, but it was also obvious that she was in mourning. But that was not what I saw. Her eyes were muted, her cheeks were ashen, and you could see the bottom two ribs jutting out of her dress.
"Hey, Snips, you look great," said Anakin. She did not look great she looked sick. I wanted to capture her and force feed her nerf steak and lobster bisellian for a month. I wanted to hug her, but I was scared she would break.
"Thanks, I had to look good for my nephew and niece's first birthday," she said, almost smiling.
"Okay. Everyone is here. I will go see if the twins are up," I said.
"I'll help," said Anakin.
We walked down the hall and just stood there for a minute. I put my hand over my mouth to stop the sob from coming out really loud.
"Not here," Anakin said, and he dragged me into our room.
"I thought you were overreacting," I said sobbing. "Ani, you can see her ribs!"
"Rex said she is eating a little bit now, and the doctor said she is going to be fine."
"Damn Palpatine!" I cried.
"I know. Look at me. We can just be there for her now. She needs friends who love her and will help her through this, and Rex needs them too. I might take him out for a drink and you have Ahsoka her, just so he can unwind would that be okay?"
"We have two grandmothers who are begging to babysit. I think we should take them up on their offers."
"Yeah. Not every night. But once in a while. You, me, Ahsoka, and Rex can go somewhere and just get our minds off of Palpatine and what he has done to all of us really."
"I am going to take her out to lunch a lot," I vowed.
"That will be great." He kissed me. "If you make a big deal of it, she will get upset."
"I know," I said. "I'm fine."
He opened the door, and we walked back out.
"Where did you go?" asked Rex when he saw us.
"We were discussing a power bill," I said.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah it was just a communication error. I thought Anakin paid it, he thought I paid it. We are not in trouble," I said, sitting down by Shmi. "As long as they get their money, we're fine."
"You know, I like to keep a calendar that says when the bills are due and who pays them so we don't have that problem," said my mom.
I rolled my eyes and got up to get something from the kitchen. As I was turning around to come back, I saw Shmi standing there.
"I am worried about her too," she whispered. "But she agreed to start going to Depa, and that is the first step."
I looked at her quizzically.
"Anakin tells me everything," she said.
I smiled and we hugged.