3
Padme woke up alone and cold. She rolled over, trying to remember where she was sleeping. Everything came back to her: Anakin's reappearance, his discovery of the children, their escape from the Imperials together, and finally, her discussion with Anakin. She sighed, wondering what time it was. Suddenly she sat up, panicked.
Where are my children? They were here when I fell asleep…She got up, striding to the cockpit. Maybe Anakin knew…she stopped dead at the sight before her.
Anakin was sprawled out in the pilot's chair, feet on the console, sound asleep. One twin was under each arm and they were off in dreamland, as well. She had never seen the twins, or Ani, ever look so peaceful. One side of her felt jealousy at the fact that Ani could give the twins this kind of peace, the kind of repose that only a long-absent loved one could cause in the ones who had missed them. But another side – one that quickly caused the former thoughts to be overridden – was only amazed and touched at the whole scene. Anakin, the Dark One, was cuddling with two toddlers. She had seen both sides of him yesterday, while fleeing the Imperial navy. The Dark had taken him when he had felt his family was threatened, and he had killed all who had endangered them, slaughtered them without a second thought. But then, just as quick as it had come, the Dark had receded at the sound of Luke's crying. He had not seemed sorry in any way; rather, he had been confused. The Light had come, then, and he had comforted his son, soothing his fears. Padme crept over, smiling slightly, and gently stroked her husband's blond hair. He stirred, mumbled, and opened his eyes sleepily.
When they fell on her, he smiled. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Not long." She indicated the twins, "How long have they been there?"
He glanced down at the blond and brown heads; both nestled snugly in his robes. "A while, I think." Flicking his eyes up at a flashing light, he rose slowly, careful not to wake his children. "We're coming up on Corellia." He glanced at the twins; "You'd better take these two."
"Corellia? Why did you take us here?" Padme took the children, and sat behind her husband, watching as he manipulated the controls skilfully.
"Good junkyards." He grinned at her, "I'll be able to get my hands on parts for a ship pretty quick, then we'll be gone." The smile faded slowly, "Palpatine's probably closed all my accounts, so I'll need to get a job…"
"I'm not broke, you know." Padme shook her head, mildly amused.
Anakin blushed, "Sorry, I guess I'm used to flying solo. Do you have enough to get decent parts?"
"Yes, but why not just get a whole ship?"
Anakin waved his hand in dismissal "Rip-offs, trust me. We can get a better deal with parts."
"But we'll be in one place longer. Palpatine could track us down."
Anakin looked as if he would argue for a moment, then appeared to reconsider and nodded quickly. "True." A small smile quirked his lips, "You gonna argue with me about the ship design, too?"
Padme smiled as she heard the Imperial accent in Anakin's voice falter, giving way to the more familiar accent of Rim-worlders. "Not unless you make me. Now come on, let's get out of hyper before we crash into the planet."
Leia stirred in her arms as Anakin continued to work the ship's controls, waking her brother. Luke grumbled in baby talk and scowled at his twin. His mood changed when he saw hyperspace vanish and the stars appear. He cooed at the big planet before him, eyes going wide with delight. Suddenly, though, his happy mood vanished and changed to one of concentration.
Padme, realising what was coming, snickered under her breath, eyes sparkling.
"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Anakin settled the ship into orbit and turned around slowly, as if apprehensive.
"Here," Padme handed Luke to his father, and took Anakin's other hand, "it's time you learned."
"Learned what, exactly?" Anakin sounded cautious, as if instead of Luke, Padme had placed a bomb in his arms. But Padme didn't answer, placing Leia down and rummaging through a pile of clean rags. Selecting one, she scrutinised it before nodding and giving it to Anakin. She lead them into a 'fresher, and turned around, barely controlling laughter.
"What's going on?" Anakin bent over his wife, watching her fold the cloth strangely.
She turned to him; "These are clean, right?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?"
"Go get two safety pins." Frowning, Anakin placed Luke down carefully then went off in search of what she needed. Finding them easily, he came back.
"Here you go." Anakin made as if to hand them to her, but she held up a hand.
"Nope, it's your turn."
"For what?" Suddenly he made a face, "What in the name of the Force is that smell?" Freezing in place, he turned slowly to Padme, who was whooping in laughter. "No, no way, uh-uh. Sorry, Pad, I'm a Sith Lord."
"So?" Padme laughed at the expression on his face.
"I don't do diapers!"
"Ohhh, yes you do."
"I'm a Sith!"
"Yeah, well, Your Sithiness, in case you haven't noticed, you're also a father." She smiled sweetly "That means you're going to change your son's diapers." She chuckled, "Don't worry, it's not that bad."
"So, how exactly do you change…diapers?" Anakin closed his eyes, accepting the inevitable.
A few minutes later, Anakin looked sick.
He glanced at Padme, who was sitting off to the side, "How big is Luke?"
"Why?" She frowned
"Because I'm pretty sure this thing's bigger then he is. When are they going to be house-broken?"
"Potty-trained, Anakin. With intelligent species it's called potty-trained."
"Yeah, whatever. When?"
"Soon enough, don't worry." She stood up when Anakin stepped back. "Not bad, Your Sithiness. I'd say I can leave thins job with you from now on."
He paled, looking like he was going to hurl, and she laughed, "I wouldn't do that to you, Ani. We'll split it."
He sighed, relieved. "And this?" He gestured at the…used…diaper.
"We'll dump it with the rest of our garbage."
He snickered, "Pity, it would have made a great missile for Palpy."
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