'Birth and Afterbirth' (Chapter Two)
By Ennon
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
"Am I supposed to wear this or camp out in this?" Padmé asked - as she struggled to put on a large white all-enveloping gown with large puffy sleeves and totally formless similar to a nun's habit that only left her head and hands visible .
"It's your Official Alderaan Royal Nursemaid Uniform,"snapped the protocol droid C7FO.
"Her Majesty's idea, correct?" Padmé sighed.
"How did you guess?" C7FO sniffed.
"Oh, it just goes with everything else," Padmé groaned .
She realized that with this uniform, no one could possibly tell whether she was expecting offspring or not- for it was so fluffy, no one could tell if the wearer had the figure of a walking staff- or a Hutt within.
Padmé discovered that, although somewhat spoiled by his mother, Crown Prince Osric wasn't that hard to care for- as far as two-year-old boys went. He strongly resembled his father Bail and, was closer to Bail's easygoing personality than his Yuermina's dogmatic one. Padmé did everything from being ready to play with him when he awoke, to dressing him, to cutting up his food and helping to feed him, to bathing him and even cleaning him up after bodily functions.
Shortly more than a week later, C7FO entered Padmé's Nursemaid's Apartment.
"Nursemaid Mamie, His Royal Highness Bail Organa, Prince Consort and Senator of Alderaan has returned and Her Royal Majesty, Yuermina VII, Queen Regnant of Alderaan summons you to bring His Royal Highness, Osric, Crown Prince of Alderaan to help her welcome back the Prince Consort,""C7PO droned.
"Bail is back? How wonderful!" Padmé beamed.
"Her Majesty told me to remind you that you are to address him as Your Highness and Sir,"C7FO droned sharply.
"C7, I was wondering if I. ." Threepio started to ask.
"Her Majesty made no summons for your presence so you and the R2 are to remain here until further ordered,"the silver droid C7FO droned as he left the room
"Why such a bore was given speech capacity, I'll never understand!" Threepio sniffed.
"Oh, it'll be so good to see such a familiar face again!" Padmé cheered.
"Excuse me Mistress Pad. .I mean Nursemaid Mamie, but aren't R2 and I. ..?" Threepio asked.
"Sorry, guys. You most certainly have helped during this but I ache to hear news of the rest of the galaxy!" Padmé sighed as she started to dress Osric in the clothes his mother had chosen for the occasion.
When she led the young prince to his parents, she heard them speak in a previously unheard of language.
"Blep hyu dru broka zep. .." Bail was heard speaking to Yuermina.
"Vro blu kroi. .sh! Shh! They're here!" Yuermina pleaded while she continued her embrace.
"Osric, come here, boy! Give your old man a bearhug!" Bail beamed while Osric ran towards him.
"Papa!" Osric beamed while jumping into his arms.
"Yuermina, I'm glad to see that Osric's doing well with our new nursemaid!" Bail exclaimed.
"Yes, Beloved. You made an excellent selection as always!" Yuermina beamed in a far warmer and somewhat lustful tone of voice.
"Nursemaid Mamie, I take it you don't consider our son too taxing for you," Bail exclaimed.
"We're doing our best to get to know each other!" Padmé exclaimed.
"And our cuisine and fresh air is keeping you in good health?" Bail asked.
"Oh, yes, Your Highness," Padmé replied- a bit sad that she could no longer address her recent Senatorial collegue as an equal.
"That's a relief to hear! Our son and our future progeny cannot remain healthy if you aren't healthy to tend them," Bail exclaimed- while patting Yuermina's abdomen but momentarily looking at the region of Padmé's abdomen was under her nursemaid's uniform obscuring it.
So, they were going to pretend the Yuermina was her twins' mother even during the gestation and Padmé herself wasn't carrying them,Padmé realized in a flash.
"Yes, Your Highness. How was your journey and how was . ..everyone in Naboo?" Padmé gulped .
"My collegue's funeral was sad but beautiful as funerals go. Nothing else worth reporting," Bail replied- while he flashed Yuermina a troubled look.
"Nursemaid Mamie, the Prince Consort and I have a great deal to catch up on so you'll need to be taking the Crown Prince back to his Nursery," Yuermina insisted.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Come along, Osric," Padmé sighed as she walked away.
"Blerp nay Xuic," Yuermina started to say to Bail as Padmé and Osric left the chamber.
As she walked back to the nursery, she spied Threepio around the corner.
"What are you doing here?"Padmé whispered.
"Please don't let them de-activate me but I heard the queen and senator use a communication form that's NOT one of the six million languages I am versed in- and I was curious as to what it could be," Threepio gulped.
"Same here- and I think they were talking about all of us," Padmé sighed.
Padmé found she had little time to herself while she tended to Osric but one thing she looked forward to was his nap times so she could change out of her cumbersome tent-uniforms (which were duly cleaned by laundry droids the second anything spotted their immaculate vestments) and look out of her windows onto the Palace Lake, Aldera City and the surrounding countryside. Yuermina and Bail would ask her about her health and, of course, were happy to see her when she presented Osric to them to bid them goodnight but very quickly had virtually nothing to do with her on a day-to-day basis. The other Royal human and sentient being servants were a bit aloof from her- and considered that her daily care of the Crown Prince put her out of their league- and the droids barely spoke to R2 and Threepio- and not to her at all unless they wanted to direct a command. Padmé was given access to the Royal Holographic Library and she spent Osric's nap times catching up on classical Galactic literature that she'd always promised she'd get to when she had time and even going for solitary walks around the Palace Lake and its surrounding forest but it wasn't easy to walk in the tent uniforms- for Padmé often tripped not being able to see her own slipper-encased feet beneath her. Still, she did the best she could with what free time she had to explore the Royal Palace which had been originally a fortress then a castle, then a temple city perched on the volcanic remnant known as Aldera Rock 3000 meters above the rest of Aldera City. Over time the Royal Palace with its over 2000 rooms and dozens of levels became laid out in a series of squares with the largest central square containing the Palace Lake (originally the ancient fortress's water supply).
Padmé was given access to almost all the Palace grounds but the few times she'd tried to venture beyond there, the guard droids would block access then Yuermina and Bail would lecture her about how she could not leave Osric unattended and how it was not safe for her 'as a Royal servant' to venture beyond the Palace.
As time went on, life became more restricted for Padmé and she found that remembering what life had been like before her arrival was painful and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with Osric as he became a faster runner and climber and stronger while her hidden condition was becoming almost as cumbersome as the nursemaid's uniform itself-especially with the twins so active within and her bladder matching said activity.
Then came she was a form of three-dimensional hopscotch with Osric by the Palace Lake courtyard when her water broke and soaked the layers of undergarments and hosiery beneath the huge uniform!
"R2! Get help!" Padmé screamed.
"Mamie, what's wrong?" Osric asked.
"Nothing, it's . .. time for. . . your younger siblings' arrival!" Padmé exclaimed.
"I'll get Mama!" Osric exclaimed.
"C7, get Osric out of here at once!" Yuermina (who herself had padded her gown more and more with each successive month to appear more and more pregnant) exclaimed-as she came with the accompanying silver droid.
"But Mama. .. " Osric sputtered.
"Causing your nursemaid to have a . .. wee-wee accident. Shame on you, Osric! " Yuermina exclaimed.
"Mama, I don't like C7. I want to stay here!" Osric yelled.
" As long as I'm the Queen and your mother, you'll do as you're ordered!" Yuermina boiled as the silver droid took him away.
"Your Majesty, I. .." Padmé shuddered.
"Poor thing- and you broke your ankle,too! You'll have to be restricted to the secondary nursemaid's quarters until it heals and it looks as though I and the droids will have to tend you," Yuermina ordered.
"But. ." Padmé sputtered.
"No time! We can't have everyone witnessing a public scene here!" Yuermina sniffed.
It wasn't long before Padmé was in a bedroom that hadn't been used in decades but had been prepared for the impending birth. She noticed, that, unlike her usual room, this one had no windows to speak of and was accessible only through a hidden panel in a wall in one of the dozens of back hallways but she knew she was directly behind the Majestic Apartments themselves.
"Threepio, you and R2 are to attend to Nursemaid Mamie as she gives birth," Yuermina ordered as she finished helping Padmé undress for the birth itself.
"But, Your Majesty, I'm a protocol droid and. .." Threepio protested.
"No more commonplace protocol than childbirth. Do as you are ordered,"Yuermina sniffed.
"But, where will you be?"Padmé asked.
"Oh, after the birth happens, I'll go into sudden labor so no one in the court doesn't believe the child isn't mine," Yuermina sighed.
"Child? They're twins!" Padmé pleaded but Bail arrived and said something in that unknown language to Yuermina before the two left the room to leave Padmé with only 3PO, R2 and a medical droid to attend her.
It wasn't long afterwards that Padmé had her first labor pain and R2 insisted that Padmé had to get on her feet to pace back and forth until the pains became constant. Padmé had studied enough obstetric holograph texts in the Royal Library to know R2 was right.
She also had learned from the holographic library that the unknown language Yuermina and Bail spoke when not wanting anyone else to understand them was Royal Alderaan which had once been the everyday language of the planet but after Alderaan became part of the Galactic Republic, like most other dominant worlds, Corusantic had replaced it in everyday use. Over the centuries the use informally became restricted to planetary government, then the Alderaan Royal Family until finally only the Monarchs and Consorts of Alderaan were allowed for their own use and it hadn't been spoken even by other royals in over 4000 standard years. Only upon a monarch's accession and a consort's marriage could it be learned be them- not earlier.
"A slave boy's children being born in a palace, who could have imagined?" Padme half-laughed while she had taken to the childbed to ready herself for the birth.
After another fifteen standard hours, Padmé could feel the first baby's head ready for the birth canal and she screamed.
The nurse droid made a buzzing sound.
"She says. Lucky for you, this room is entirely soundproof from the outside," translated Threepio.
"He's coming!"Padmé screamed.
"She said you are correct and. . . what are you doing here?" gulped Threepio- as the Jedi Master Yoda suddenly opened the hidden door and came into the room.
"Yoda!" Padmé exclaimed half-surprised but entirely puzzled.
"Yes, will be the firstborn a boy!" Yoda agreed.
"But how did you find . .!"Padmé asked.
"Told me they did ,of their imminent arrival. Here, I must be!" Yoda explained as he wrinkled his face.
"Are you sure?" Padmé asked.
"Yes,worry not. I've seen many and ways of childbirth know I well!" Yoda sniffed.
"He's coming!" Padmé screamed.
"Push! You must," Yoda exclaimed as Bail and Yuermina entered the room while Padmé grabbed Yoda's tiny hand.
"OW! Strong are you but not as strong as the Force!" Yoda gingerly replied.
"I see the head!" Yuermina exclaimed.
"One more push!" Threepio pleaded after translating for the nurse droid.
" SCREAM !" Padmé exclaimed.
"A healthy boy !" Yoda exclaimed while grabbing from between Padmé's legs then holding the newborn blond boy in his green arms and washing him in the small basin next to the bed.
"His father turned to the Dark Side so we must see that this one goes to the Light and so I'm naming him Luke which can mean 'light' in Ancient Naboo," Padmé declared.
A/N- Luke is a derivative of the Latin 'luce' on Earth- but by coincidence it also can be that in Ancient Nabootean.
" Very good. Well, you've chosen !" Yoda exclaimed.
"Here she comes!" Padmé exclaimed.
"Our firstborn daughter!" Bail beamed as he and Yuermina clutched hands.
"I know. Another push!" Padmé sighed just before she took a deep breath and pushed.
"A healthy girl, you have!" Yoda exclaimed while the nurse droid took the brunette newborn girl from the between Padmé's legs.
"Leia you shall be! That means 'nurturer'- and you will nurture the flame of hope even during the worst darkness!" Padmé exclaimed as the droid nurse handed Leia to her to nurse.
At that moment Yoda shook.
"Anakin," Padmé thought she heard Yoda whisper.
"Did you say Anakin?" Padmé asked.
"Concern yourself not," Yoda sniffed.
"Just hand me Luke so I hold him along with his sister in my arms. I'm ready to nurse them," Padmé exhaustedly but happily beamed.
"We know! I've told everyone that you've received hormones so you can nurse. . .Leia while you tend to her," Yuermina sighed.
"Forgive me for what must I do," Yoda sighed as he put the newborn Luke in a large covered bedpan and started carrying him away.
"NO!" Padmé screamed.
"It's for the best," Bail sighed.
"Bring back my son!" Padmé screamed.
"Two chicks in two nests harder to stamp out than two chicks in one," Yoda explained.
"Bail, Yuermina! You promised to raise them both here!" Padmé sobbed as she tried to climb out of her childbed.
"Yoda's right. Besides, we only want a daughter! The boy could cause too much trouble," Bail Organa groaned.
"But, WHY!" Padmé sobbed.
"We promised we'd take care of your progeny. We didn't' say both," Yuermina sniffed.
" I'd have never agreed to separate them!" Padmé seethed.
"That's why we couldn't let you understand all the terms until you had safely borne our daughter!" Yuermina sighed while Bail sadly nodded.
"No! Luke's a good baby! He won't cause trouble" Padmé screamed as she tried to climb out of bed but was held back by Bail while Yoda opened the hidden door and carried away Luke with surprising ease- considering that Luke was already almost his size.
"Make him bring Luke back!" Padmé screamed.
"Nothing doing. Osric's my heir but if Osric dies heirless before I do, he'd be succeeded by his eldest living brother . Luke would have been succeeded to the throne before any future younger brothers I bore but would have been unmasked as an Imposter at the Coronation by the Ceremonial Alderaan Royal DNA Test Proclamation," Yuermina explained.
"But what about Leia?" Padmé asked.
"She'll be Princess Royal but will be displaced from the line of succession by any younger brothers Bail and I conceive . Don't worry! We'll keep the two of you safe but you must never reveal your maternity – OR the paternity," sniffed Yuermina who wagged her finger at Padmé.
"Your Majesty, I must protest how unfair and against protocol you are being to a fellow queen and her offspring!" Threepio sputtered.
"What impertinence! That will never do for a droid! I'll have your memory erased at once along with this medical droid's then demote you to programming binary load lifters," Yuermina boiled as she and Bail left the room leading with Threepio.
"Please don't, Your Majesty! I won't disobey!" Threepio was heard to exclaim while Artoo made mournful beeps before the door shut behind them.
"Lucky for you, most humans underestimate your capacities, Artoo," Padmé sighed while patting Artoo's top lens.
"It's just the three of us, now- and I don't know for how much longer I'll be able to hold onto Leia," Padmé sniffed.
A few hours later, Padmé turned on the Viso-Hologram to seek out Viso Programs when she saw a news flash.
"We now go live to the Aldera Great Temple where the 500 Metric Ton Royal Bell is due to ring momentarily as it has done for 15 thousand standard years to proclaim royal births. We must remind our viewers that if it tolls eighteen bells, that means Her Majesty has born a princess but if it tolls twenty-one times, then it's a prince! . . Seventeen. .eighteen. . … no more tolls. It's a Princess Royal for Crown Prince Osric to be an older brother to,"the droid announcer proclaimed.
"Hand her to me, now!" Bail pleaded as he entered the Padmé's room.
Bail brushed Baby Leia's eyelashes with his right index finger quite gently as he took her out of the room.
Before Padmé had a chance to react, she saw the coverage on the Viso-Hologram switch again.
"We now go live to Her Majesty's Majestic Bedchamber," the droid was heard to say.
Padmé was quite flabbergasted to see Yuermina with her elaborate cinnamon bun hairstyle disheveled and hanging loosely while she wanly was clutching a baby- Padmé's baby!
"Your Majesty, we understand that, unlike the previous birth with the Crown Prince, this one was too sudden to summon all the officials in time," the droid reporter was heard to ask.
"Yes, that's quite true! But, she and I are both healthy. Isn't she beautiful?" Yeurmina asked while holding Baby Leia .
"I'm very proud of both my girls and think Leia could very well follow my footsteps in the diplomatic field," Bail proclaimed.
If Padmé hadn't known that she herself had born Leia just hours earlier, she'd have believed everything she was seeing like everyone else watching the viso-hologram.
"So much happening. We understand there was a small accident in one of the courtyards earlier today and. ."the reporter droid started to say.
"Oh, yes. A servant slipped and broke her ankle but she'll mend soon enough to help with Leia so all's well," Yuermina proclaimed.
"Turn it off, Artoo. I know I'll soon be tending her again but how I can ever make it up to Leia having everything about her being a lie from the start," Padmé sobbed while Artoo mournfully beeped.
A/N- McAries- Glad you consider it interesting and I know Yuermina's not entirely likable but she conveniently considers her reasons for everyone's good. Don't write off Padmé (or anyone else) here just yet, though. Hope this chapter's worthwhile to you.