So sorry I was late in posting this! I fully intended to do it earlier, but I sprained my ankle and couldn't make it to the computer. It's here now! Please don't hurt me!
Also, I have no idea how to care for a three week-old infant. So if I'm wrong, just pretend it's plausible in their universe!
"No, Anakin, don't hold her like that!"
"What other way am I supposed to hold her!"
"Like this, Anakin." Padmé took her wailing daughter from her husband's awkward hold and demonstrated to him how exactly to hold the shrieking infant. As he watched, he could hear the howls of a second child through the open doorway, coming from the next room.
His wife hurriedly placed the little girl into his waiting arms and went into the next room, cooing down to her agitated son. She lifted him from the crib and re-entered the room, grinning despite herself at the concentration and determination upon her husband's features as he tried in vain to perfect the holding technique she had shown him.
Another door opened, and a nurse droid came through, murmuring softly as it made its way over to Anakin and removed Leia from him. Taking out a bottle from one of its compartments, it fed the red-faced infant, whose cries soon subsided into hiccups between drinks of milk.
The young Jedi Knight watched with interest and a slight amount of jealousy as the droid performed its task so easily and so calmly, while he couldn't even hold his daughter correctly. He found a chair and sat quietly, as his wife bottle-fed Luke, and the droid burped Leia.
Soon after, the young children had been put to bed, and the droid left, leaving Anakin and his wife alone. He stood by the viewport, watching the blurs of light streak past the window as they flew through space aboard the Smuggler's Princess, the new ship they had acquired. It was too dangerous to be travelling on the Tantive IV, now that the Emperor knew of Anakin's survival and Bail Organa's role in the matter.
It had been a week since they had left the medical center, since they had begun their search for Obi-Wan. It was difficult and secretive, as Padmé and Bail were wanted by the Emperor for crimes against the Republic. Anakin Skywalker, according to the Holonews, had died in the defense of Coruscant, defending the Empire. It seemed that Emperor Palpatine didn't want anyone else to know of Anakin's survival.
Padmé moved around behind him, putting away some of the twin's clothes and undressing into her nightgown. Anakin didn't move, but kept looking at the stars, wishing and wondering. Somewhere in the great expanse beyond, the man he trusted completely and unconditionally, now more than ever, was being held hostage. Elsewhere in that great expanse was a man he had trusted completely, but had betrayed and manipulated him totally. Both were hidden from him, out on the far horizon.
Anakin shook himself out of his reverie and tore his eyes away from the passing beams of light. He removed his shirt and shoes, and climbed into bed with his wife, who had just finished brushing her hair and was laying down to sleep. He rested his head against the pillow as Padmé turned the lights off.
Quiet filled the room. He found it oppressive, threatening to choke him. He knew why.
"Padmé," he began, as her eyes opened in the dark, "Do you hate me?"
The silence returned, waiting, anxious.
"I don't know." she answered, voice muffled by the pillow. She shifted underneath the blankets, and her voice became clear, cutting through the tension in the small quarters. "I-I think I hated you once, for a moment. Maybe it was when Obi-Wan came to see me and told me of what you had done; or when I woke up for the first time and realized what you had become. I don't know."
They both lay on their backs, eyes concentrating on nothing but the durasteel panel above them.
She turned to him suddenly, brown eyes flashing. "What was it like, Anakin? What was there that I could not give you?"
He kept staring into a world she couldn't see. "Power." he said, pausing as he considered what next to say. "Initially, the power to save you. But it grew." His voice dropped deeper and softer, and she moved closer. "It changed into the power that I've always been seeking, but never could find. Ultimate and total power."
Unbidden, tears arose in her eyes. "What brought you back?"
It was then he rolled onto his side and looked straight into her eyes, looked straight into her heart and soul. "When Obi-Wan cut me down, I saw raw emotion in his eyes, the most I've ever seen. I didn't want to lose him. When I fell, I thought of the child I'd never see, never hold, never be able to love. And when I hit the black sand, I saw your face when I choked you, and I thought of how I'd never be able to save you. That," he whispered, "is what brought me back."
She wrapped her arms around him, and he kissed her on the forehead, as they realized that they would have to work long and hard to achieve that love they had once had.
He was standing in a shadow, crouched behind a statuesque, but menacing, monument. He could smell sweat in the air, he could taste the blood on his lips; he knew he was being hunted. The Force swirled around him, a vortex of dark and light, good and evil.
"Good! Good!" A cackling voice out of the dim light, and Anakin knew instantly who it was. Cautiously, he emerged from behind his hiding spot, and confirmed what he already knew. The hulking form of the Emperor was standing on the far side of the hall, on top of an elevated pedestal. Even beneath his hood, Anakin could see the disfigured features of the former Chancellor of the Republic.
A tremor came through the Force, warning him. Turning swiftly and activating his azure blade, he barely raised it in time to meet the attacking blow of his opponent. Before he could even form the thought of his next move, the other being had neatly somersaulted over him, dropping low and swinging the blade at Anakin's kneecaps.
Anakin jumped and rolled away, his knees still intact. In one fluid motion he rose back up to his feet into a battle-ready stance, dropping into the simplistic mindset of survival. His attacker's face was strangely hidden, masked by the darkness of the room.
They parried blows, attacked high and low, force-pushed each other until they lay gasping upon the ground. Still, Anakin knew nothing of why he was fighting or who he was fighting against. The Emperor looked on, two evil eyes glowing in the artificial night.
Suddenly, from a far corner came a scream, the scream of a little girl. "Bwan!"
His attacker was distracted.
In that split second, Anakin attacked. He knocked the blade out of his opponent's hand, Force-pushed him to the ground and held his own blade against his enemy's neck. The bright blue light finally revealed the features of his attacker, a hairless head, clean-shaven face, and two very familiar cerulean orbs.
"Hello, Anakin." said Obi-Wan, eyes as dark as the room around them.
Anakin dropped his blade.
He awoke, sweating and panting. Padmé lay beside him, still asleep. The nightmare, the vision, still swam in his mind, chilling his blood. He lay back down, his head settling into the pillow. He had no idea what this might mean, and what he was supposed to do about it. His heart pounded with fear and confusion. What next? His gaze met the ceiling, and he began to think.
He continued staring at the durasteel panel, on into the night.