TO LOVE A SITH

Chapter Seventeen

The ship was in a frenzy. Storm troopers ran around trying to heed Vader's instructions with the prisoner. Nothing was still, everything was in motion. Complete chaos had broken out on the ship. And above all this, screams of pain could be heard.

"Ooohhh! Get them out of me! Oohhhh!" Padme screamed.

Vader was rushing back from Padme's room to outside to attempt to control the chaos. Padme grasped in the air for him to come back to her every time he stepped out and he was only able to leave for minutes at a time. The next time he left, Padme strained to hear what was going on outside.

"What? You let him get away? Well, where there any other prisoners?"

"We were able to capture Bail Organa. I'm so sorry milord, the Jedi jumped out the window before we could get to him."

"I don't care what he did before you could get to him. You should have gotten to him before he jumped out the window! Now, keep Organa in the security quarters until I have a chance to question him."

The shaking storm trooper nodded and quickly left to follow Vader's orders. Vader's ice blue eyes watched him leave and then his expression shifted from angry to concern when he heard Padme cry out again.

"Oh God! It hurts! When can I push?"

Vader immediately re-entered her room and took her hand. He looked expectantly at the doctor, who nodded his head.

"Now would be as good a time as any to start pushing. Alright, Padme, when the next contraction comes, I want you to push."

She nodded wearily, already worn out from the previous contractions. Her mind wildly wandered from everything to her husband to how in the hell was she going to push out two babies?

Her hand gripped Vader's tightly as she felt the next contraction. She cried out as she started pushing at the unbelievable pain. It seemed to go on forever until by some miracle, she heard a baby's cry.

"Lord Vader, you have a son."

The doctor started to hand Vader his son, but he quickly shook his head, motioning that Padme should hold him first. He watched in awe as mother and son gazed at each other for the first time. It was an unbelievable feeling to see his son for the first time. He was beautiful and reminded him of the boy he once was. Vader's thoughts were interrupted when Padme cried out again and quickly handed her son back to the doctor. She gripped her still swollen stomach and nodded to the doctor.

"Let's get this over with."

Vader chuckled at her but his smile quickly faded when she shot him a deadly look.

"What are you smiling about? This is all your fault anyway. You are never touching me again." She grunted while pointing a slender finger in his direction.

Vader gulped and look helplessly at the doctor.

"She doesn't know what she's saying. It's just the pain talking." The doctor laughed.

"Oh yes, I do-oooohhh, our daughter's coming!"

And so the process began again and then by some other miracle, Padme's weary face lit up at the cries that echoed through the room. Both of her children were crying. Tears of happiness and relief streamed down her face as the doctor handed her daughter to her. She grasped the little girl's hand and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Then she looked over at her husband, who was watching her with joy, and handed their daughter carefully to him.

Vader looked into the deep brown eyes of his daughter and couldn't help but smile. She looked exactly like Padme. As he watched his little girl, he realized that it truly was a miracle that she was in his arms. She would never know how close she had come to not existing and as he looked down at her, he knew he would always protect her, even die for her.

He gazed over at Padme's sleeping form and lightly kissed her forehead.

"Thank you." He whispered into her hair. He stood upright and walked over to look down at his sleeping son. He smiled and reached out to touch his head. When a knock was heard on the door, he reluctantly drew himself away to answer the door.

"Milord, when are you planning on questioning the prisoner?"

Vader's eyes darkened and he nodded.

"I'll be there in a minute."

The storm trooper nodded and left to return to the security chambers. Vader softly shut the door, trying not to wake his family. He lightly kissed his daughter, son, and then his wife before leaving to find some answers.

He opened the door to the security chambers and his eyes iced over when they focused on one of the men who had kidnapped his wife. He took a step forward and his prisoner's eyes never left his.

"Organa." He said calmly.

"Vader." Bail replied equally calm.

"I'm sure you'd love to know that Padme has given birth to two healthy children."

Bail nodded.

"I also want you to know that you're as good as dead. If you don't tell me what I want to know, I will make sure that every member of your family suffers unimaginable torture."

Vader and Bail stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Bail sighed in surrender.

"Alright, I'll tell you everything."

Vader smiled. "Excellent choice."

"The plan was to hide Padme and the children after they were born."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? We wanted to save her and her children from you and your Master."

Vader's fists clenched involuntarily. He tried to tell himself that pummeling Organa now would not get him the answers he needed.

"She agreed that the children should be hidden from you. She also begged to be taken back to you."

Vader's eyes narrowed.

"You're lying."

"Why would I lie? Like you said, I'm already dead and if I do lie, my family will suffer for it. I'm telling the truth whether you like it or not. She told Obi-Wan to separate them and do whatever necessary to keep the children from you."

Vader's eyes closed briefly, then flew open. She was planning on taking away his children. She was going to come back to him, but she was going to hide his children from him.

"Do you have any idea where Kenobi might be now?"

Bail shook his head. "No, your guess is as good as mine. He always contacted me, I never knew exactly where he was or where he was going to be next."

Vader nodded and he chewed on his upper lip in thought.

"Alright."

With that, Vader turned on his heel and left the room. As he left, he ordered the guards: "You can take care of him now. I've got everything I need."

He went immediately to his own chambers, disturbed by everything he had learned from Organa. She agreed with his former Master? She didn't want him to be with his children? She was going to hide them from him? Was that still her plan?

He shook his head, trying in vain to clear his mind and figure out exactly what was going on. There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on, something he didn't know. And he was determined to find out what that was.

He crept into Padme's room and found himself smiling at what he saw. Padme had both their children cradled in her arms and was actually feeding their son. He felt a familiar flutter in his stomach, but now it was not only directed towards his beautiful wife, but to their children as well. But his heart clenched in disappointment because not everything was as it seemed with that picture perfect image. He needed answers from her now.

"Padme?"

She looked up and her face lit up at the sight of him. He quickly returned the smile and took each child from her and laid them gently in their cribs.

"How are you feeling, Padme?"

"I feel better after getting some rest. Thank you for asking." She smiled. She reached out and took his hand gently.

He squeezed her hand, not sure where to even begin. But right now, with the way she was looking at him, with their sleeping angels in their cribs, he didn't want to do anything but hold her and kiss her and tell her…but he had to find out.

"We need to talk about what happened when you were kidnapped."

She nodded and he continued.

"Organa told me everything that happened. He also said that you were planning on having our children separated. Can you explain that to me?" He asked, surprising himself by how gentle his voice was.

Padme's face distorted in both shock and pain. She hadn't considered the fact that what happened while she was with Obi-Wan and Bail would come back and haunt her.

"I didn't want them to be trained as Siths. I wanted to come back to you, but I knew our children would be safer if they were hidden from the Emperor."

Vader sighed, fighting an inner struggle he couldn't explain.

"Don't you see what that means? You plotted with the rebels to keep my heirs away from me! You didn't want me anywhere near my own children! How could you think they wouldn't be safe with me? Tell me, Padme. I have to know."

"It's not just you. It was the Emperor. Obi-Wan said that it was suspicious that the Emperor would allow two heirs. What if he tries to kill our daughter? I would rather die than let that happen!"

"Padme, that's not going to happen. I spoke with my Master about that and we both agreed that it's best if the daughter acts as a back-up in case anything should happen to our son. Nothing is going to happen to her. I made sure that she's going to be safe."

His mouth shut immediately after he realized what he had just revealed to her while Padme's dropped open.

"You what?"

Vader ran his hand nervously through his hair, unsure how to handle this new development in his overwhelming crisis.

"I…ah…"

"He was going to kill our daughter, wasn't he?"

Vader swallowed and shocked himself by nodding.

"And you talked him out of it?"

He nodded again.

She started up at him, unable to completely comprehend the entire situation. The Emperor was going to kill their daughter and her husband had stopped it from happening. The serial killer had a heart after all. Her heart started thumping wildly in her chest. In his own way, he was telling her he loved their children. Could he love her too?

"Why did you do that?"

Vader rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He wasn't used this kind of conversation and he wasn't sure how to answer her question without leading to other impossible questions.

"I didn't want one of my children to die. I didn't want to see you hurt either, especially with everything you've been through the last few years."

Her eyes watered as she motioned for him to sit by her on the bed. She reached up and pulled him into a passionate kiss, the first one they had really shared since he had found her again. His hands became entangled in her hair and she pulled him even closer to her. Suddenly he pulled away breathlessly.

"Padme…we probably shouldn't be doing this…I mean you just…"

She smiled. "It's ok. I can kiss my husband." She reached up to pull him to her again and this time, he never objected. The passion in their kiss lingered on until they were interrupted by the cries of their children.

"Looks like they're up." She said softly. He smiled back at her and got up to pick up their son. He handed their daughter to Padme, who promptly began to feed her.

"You know," She said. "We need to give them names."

"Yes we do."

She laughed lightly at his good-natured expression. Then, his face took on a more somber appearance.

"There's still some matters we need to discuss, though." He said soberly.

She nodded in agreement, then looked back down at her daughter. Suddenly, everything that had seemed alright a second ago had completely shifted to a problem that surfaced in the eyes of her husband. She swallowed uneasily, a deep sense of foreboding filling her trembling body.