A/N: Thanks to my wonderful reviewers, AppleRecords1968, .L, Mako-clb, and The Dark Porg. Nearly all of you gave me something to think about and I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

iv. ataru

16:5:21 GrS
500 Republica, Senatorial Residence
The Honorable Senior Senator of Naboo,
Padmé Amidala Naberrie (Skywalker)
Galactic City, Coruscant

Jaina stepped out of the speeder taxi and onto the balcony platform of 500 Republica. "Charge the Jedi Temple and don't bother waiting," she said, waving off the protesting Rodian driver. She drew the brown Jedi robe closer to her body, fighting the cold winds of Coruscanti traffic, before falling into a walk that combined the swagger of her father and the unstoppable presence of her mother. With a few long strides, she reached the large clari-crystalline door and froze. The person who had come to greet her wasn't her grandmother, the mysterious Padmé Amidala of Naboo, nor was it Threepio as she half expected. Instead, the tall, tanned form of Bail Organa stood there before her, dressed in fine blue and silver Alderaanian robes. The man who, had he survived the Rebellion, could have been part of her young life as her grandfather.

"Hello, Master Jedi," he said once the door slid open. "What can we do for you?"

"Senator Organa, a pleasant surprise. I am here to speak with Senator Amidala."

Bail raised an eyebrow. "For what purpose?"

"Guidance," Jaina said, before taking a risk. This is what I get, arriving too late to schedule a blasted appointment. Three weeks, even for a Jedi? "I have heard she's provided good advice to Knight Skywalker over the years."

Jaina heard shuffling and spotted movement from behind Bail Organa. "Let her in, Bail. We can speak later."

"I would like him to stay, if only for a moment," Jaina blurted. So this is what Uncle Luke means by the will of the Force, she realized. I've never felt it so keenly.

Bail nodded and guided Jaina inside. Before her was her grandmother, heavily pregnant with her mother and uncle. Jaina had oft wondered where her mother's beauty, and in turn her own, had come from. It was clear that as their Force-sensitivity came from Anakin Skywalker, their fair looks were a product of Padmé's strong genetic heritage.

Does she feel as if she could be looking into a mirror as I do?

"It is unusual for me to receive Jedi guests other than Ani-akin, Ahsoka, and Master Kenobi here, but do come in." Padmé glanced at Bail and added, "Is there a reason you wish Bail to remain?"

Who the kriff is Ahsoka?

"I wish to speak with both of you," Jaina said, rubbing thumbs against forefingers. "Though…I am more here so I can speak with you, Senator Amidala. I, uh, I should introduce myself. My name is Jaina Solo. This may be difficult to believe, but I'm a Jedi Knight from the future." She shot that dashing Corellian smirk she inherited from her father and added, "It's nice to meet you, Grandmother."

Padmé gasped and then took two long, waddling strides forward. She placed her hands on Jaina's cheeks and smiled through glistening tears. "You have my eyes, though you take more after my cousin than me with the rest of your features," she whispered. "And…and you have Ani's strength in the Force. I…I can feel it…"

Jaina rested a hand on her grandmother's belly. So that was why Grandfather was so uncomfortable with me calling him Ani. It is the name his wife uses with him. "You'll be having twins soon, both of whom will have their father's strength in the Force. One of them is my mother." She glanced at Bail and added, "He, uh, raised her. She is a great diplomat, a loving mother, and a fine Jedi. When necessary, that is."

Bail smiled, a tad uncertain. "Not that I wouldn't mind, but why did I raise her?"

Jaina sighed. "The Sith Lord responsible for the Clone Wars, at least in the history I know, destroyed the Jedi and named himself Emperor. Imagine what he could do with the Force-sensitive children of a beloved politician known to consort with Jedi?"

That chilled Padmé. "They went into hiding, didn't they," she whispered sadly. "What of their father and me?"

"You…you did not live long enough to see them grow up, let alone become major figures in galactic history." Jaina grimaced. "I do not wish to tell you what became of my grandfather except, by a certain point of view, he fulfilled the destiny the Jedi foresaw for him. At least for a time."

"More Sith?" Padmé asked, frowning. Jaina nodded.

"I…" The two women turned to Bail Organa, who was looking pensive. "I should leave. Thank you for letting me know I will have a positive influence upon the future, Knight Solo. Padmé, I shall bring your concerns to Mon Mothma. We have discussed when we will bring our proposal before the Chancellor tomorrow."

"Of course, Bail. I will see you then."

He nodded and then departed for the turbolift.

Jaina frowned, looking between the direction her adoptive grandfather had gone and the grandmother before her. She had a small feeling why it felt more difficult to tell her about Jacen than with the Council. They are Jedi of the Old Republic, trained to distance themselves from attachments.

"So," Padmé begun, guiding Jaina over towards the fine blue couches. "There is something troubling you. You are much like Ani when he is troubled, all brooding and uncertain."

"You shouldn't trust Palpatine." Jaina slunk into the couch, lips pursed. The words had sprung from her mouth before she could think how to ease her grandmother into the revelations.

I do typically make others cut straight to the power cords.

Padmé only frowned. "Why not? He has been a good mentor to both myself and Ani."

That was what I feared.

"Have you wondered why the Separatist movement didn't sprout until he became Chancellor? Did you ever try and find out where the order and the funds for the Clone Army emerged? Have you considered that he won't abandon power once the war is over?"

Padmé sighed. "The Separatists had been building for a long time before the war began, and it was a Jedi Master who placed the order for the Grand Army of the Republic with the Kaminoians." She paused, and Jaina looked over. There was a look of consternation upon her grandmother's face. "Bail and I, we're part of a group of senators who plan to go before the Chancellor and convince him to abandon his emergency powers the instant General Grievous—the final hope for a Separatist victory—is dead."

"He won't give up power," Jaina said, her confidence building. "It isn't in his nature."

"In his nature? What secret do you know?" asked Padmé, concerned and distressed.

"You know how the Jedi Council is convinced about a Sith Lord being responsible for this war?" Her grandmother nodded. "That Sith Lord and the Chancellor are the same man."

Jaina could feel horror bloom within her grandmother. "No…no it…it can't be true! I helped to make him Chancellor…"

"And the Sith were involved with that crisis, weren't they?" questioned Jaina.

Padmé was quiet. Quiet for too long, thought Jaina, and then she released a sad, defeated sigh. "It hurts to believe it, but I fear you are telling me the truth. I have confessed concerns with many that I am worried he won't step down once the fighting is finally over. He had mere days left in office when the war began."

"I am telling you the truth, Grandmother. And if what I suspect is true, he'll use whatever Grandfather fears most to twist him, to make him his apprentice, and destroy everything you two hold dear."

"My death," Padmé whispered, a scared realization coming to light. "Ani has been dreaming of me dying in childbirth, though he's tried to keep me in the dark about it. I fear they're just like the ones he had before the Clone Wars, when he foresaw his mother's death."

"And she died in his arms, didn't she?" Jaina asked, gut twisting.

Padmé nodded.

"And…I would imagine Palpatine has been tempting Grandfather with whatever power would be needed to prevent your death—and then claiming that it can only be achieved through the dark side.

"Too much is at stake to let him fall as he did in…in the history I know." Jaina paused to gather her thoughts. "I need to know something: do you think Grandfather will be fine if I tell the Jedi Council of our relation? They must already suspect the truth."

"We have kept our marriage secret for years," Padmé said. "I have always been worried about how our life could change if we had Force-sensitive children. I want to raise them here, or on Naboo if we must. I'm worried about what the Council will do to Anakin if they discover he's their father…"

"And you fear they would take them from you," Jaina finished. "In my time, we no longer do so. My twin and I didn't officially start our training until we were twelve. Uncle was nineteen when Obi-Wan taught him his first lesson about the Force, and my mother didn't bother with Jedi training beyond informal lessons with her brother until she was married."

"Really?" Padmé's face lit with the happiness Jaina had found only family could spark. "I want to hear about them. Your twin, how are they?"

Jaina knew her face fell solely from the sorrow she could feel from her grandmother. "He…he fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Caedus—to…to save his wife and child, in a horrific repeat of what happened with you and Grandfather. I…I stopped him."

Arms wrapped around her and Jaina held back a sad giggle at how familiar being hugged by her grandmother felt when compared to those rare moments as a child when she was hugged by her own mother. She closed her eyes and took in the warmth of the connection. The anguish of her brother's death passed, as if their duels on Nickel One and the Anakin Solo had never happened.

"I wish you never had to stop your own twin. Please, help Ani. I couldn't live, seeing the same tragedy that happened to your brother happen to my husband."

"No matter what?" Jaina asked, turning so their warm brown eyes could meet.

"No matter what," Padmé confirmed, using the same tone Jaina's mother used when she expressed her love. She nodded and finally returned her Grandmother's reassuring hug.