Ch. 23

A week had passed, and Anakin and Padme were going to take the twins home for the first time in the morning. Anakin slept soundly on the hospital bed that he had demanded be brought into Padme's room for him, refusing to stay separated from her. Padme, however, was wide awake, staring at her husband and wondering how he could be so peaceful when they were about to bring two babies home to an apartment that neither of them had seen since the attacks of the previous week. It had only just occurred to her the day before that she didn't know what kind of shape their apartment was in- doctors checking on all four of them as well as a constant flow of Jedi and politicians wishing them well was enough to keep anyone busy. But along with this they had to deal with figuring out how to reveal all of this to the public, not to mention how to reorganize the government of the galaxy, so their time was certainly consumed. They had felt prepared to care for the babies, learning in the hospital how to treat them, and hadn't even thought about the house. They had already purchased some baby things very inconspicuously, making a nursery ready for their children. However, they didn't know what the place looked like now. Padme was becoming a nervous wreck, afraid that irresponsibility in this regard meant irresponsibility everywhere. She had always wanted to give her children a perfect life, but now it seemed that the beginning of their life at home would start with their parents unsure whether the apartment was even inhabitable. How she could have neglected to think of this was beyond her, but she was certainly thinking about it now. She supposed that she hadn't even let herself think about home, feeling like it would be just as it always had been. She had pushed the thought of it having been broken into far back in her mind, so that in the past week she had almost forgotten.

Anakin was in deep mediation, surrounding himself by the Force so that Padme would think he was asleep. He was listening to her worry about the babies' homecoming, and wanted desperately to reassure her that it would all be ok. However, that would ruin his surprise. He had asked Obi Wan and some other friends to check on Padme's apartment, and they had given good reports. The door had been broken down, but the only rooms that had been disturbed were the main room and Padme's bedroom. Apparently the clones had been intelligent enough to realize that she simply wasn't home, and that their time was better spent searching for her than trashing the place. The Jedi that remained on Coruscant had helped to clean up the place, having had little to do in the past week of peace on Coruscant. He knew that everything was in perfect order, and he and Obi Wan had commiserated over preparing the babies room and making it perfect for when they arrived.

Anakin couldn't believe how incredible Obi Wan had been to him lately. ThoughAnakin was the hero of the younger Jedi for getting the code changed, some of the older Jedi understandably resented him for having lived illegally under the radar for so long. The young ones not only still had their whole lives ahead of them to possibly find a love of their own and start families, but also had simply had less time in the Order to become attached to the old code. The older Jedi seemed to think the old code was better, and in some ways, Anakin knew, it was. But he also knew that they were probably angry that they had had to live their lives as Jedi under the stricter code, and now were really to old to start a life of their own. On top of all that, the fact that he had broken the code and yet remained the hero of not only the order but of the galaxy was obviously frustrating for many other Masters. But Obi Wan had been an incredibly loyal friend throughout, and Anakin couldn't help but laugh at how his friend, whom he had known as a strict and critical Master, was so soft and caring around the babies.

Unable to remain in his meditation any longer because of the distress Padme's thoughts were sending to him, he turned over to her and stared into her eyes. He could feel her calm down immediately, and he loved that his presence had this effect on her. Silently, he walked over to her bed and wrapped her in his arms.

"Everything will be fine," he said. "I promise."

"But Anakin, what if it is a mess? What if there's, there's glass and other harmful things everywhere? How can we bring them home to that? I can't believe we haven't-"

Anakin interrupted her, and, as much as he hated to do it, he Jedi mind tricked her to prevent her from practically hyperventilating. "It will be fine." He said.

"It will be- hey, don't you dare," she said, glaring at him.

"Sorry but you were so disturbed I had to do something. I forget how strong-minded you are," he joked, and she glared at him.

"Oh Force! They're going to do that to me, aren't they? I can't have children that can mind trick me. Anakin, they're going to be able to get away with anything! You had better grow up fast and be strict with them, or else they'll have no boundaries, I mean they'll be out all the time, we won't know where, they are-"

Again interrupting her, Anakin began to laugh. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that for quite some time Padme. They can't even roll over on their own yet, and you're worried about them being out all night partying. Don't worry, I'll keep them under control, I promise."

"It's not funny," she mumbled, and buried her face in his shoulder. He took her hands in his, and held them tightly.

"It's kind of funny," he said, kissing her.

She ran her hand up his arm, and suddenly noticed that it was severely scarred.

"Anakin, what happened?"

"Well you can't have expected me to escape a duel with a Sith Lord without some scars, can you?"

"I can't believe I never noticed before," she said, kissing his wounds. She suddenly noticed that there were burn marks from the Sith lightning on his chest, and gasped. "Anakin! You poor thing, look at you! I can't believe I haven't seen this before."

"We haven't seen each other without clothes on in a while… wow, that's a shame," he laughed, and she tried to glare at him again, her smile betraying her.

"Anakin, it's not funny, have the doctors even seen all of these?"
"I uh… I didn't want them to tell me I couldn't be here. I didn't want to be alone in that awful treatment room any more. I mean, I'm fine, look, I'm here and not in pain, aren't I?"
"Anakin, this is not a joke. You need these wounds to be treated. I can't believe you kept these from everyone."

"Padme, I promise you, I'm fine. Obi Wan knows, and he agrees I'll be fine. I put some bacta on them, nothing's wrong." He pulled his robes around him to block the scars. She looked at him, visibly upset, and he sighed. "Ok, look, we're at the temple, it's not as if I can't get here whenever I want. I'll come see the doctors again in a couple days, after we're settled in." She nodded in resignation, still looking into his eyes, worried. He pulled her close, hating to see her eyes like that. "Let's get some sleep, ok?" He said, and he soothed her through the Force, helping both of them to fall asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, a very amusing scene met the eyes of anyone who stood on Anakin and Padme's path from the Temple to their speeder, and from their speeder into Padme's apartment. Anakin, calm as ever, carried Luke and Force levitated several bags in front of him. Padme, obviously very nervous, held Leia in her arms and carried one bag with her, taking several steps to Anakin's one and constantly bombarding him with questions about what they were going to do once they got home. He simply smiled at her and reassured her that all would be well. Anakin insisted that he drive the speeder, and Padme, realizing how jittery she was, agreed for the first time ever that they might actually be safer if he drove.

"But don't you dare drive like you normally do now that you have your children in the car, or I will leave you. I will." She said, putting up the serious façade for which she was so famous and such a good politician.

Anakin, actually worried, swore to his wife the Senator that he would drive safely. He was half amused and half very scared to have Padme the politician back. She always intimidated him when she was being a Senator, but it was one of the things he loved most about her. Plus, they had a sort of mutual understanding- if Anakin got to use his Jedi influence on her, she got to use her Senator influence on him. It was certainly an interesting relationship, and no one really understood it but them.

Finally, they arrived home, babies and speeder all in tact, and Anakin opened the door. The sight that met Padme's eyes brought tears to them- all of her friends who had survived the war were there, and the apartment was perfectly cleaned up and in fact in better shape than how she had left it. Where normal friends would have put giant teddy bears and flowers, there were toys from the Temple's crèche that enhanced Force abilities, and training light sabers. Padme couldn't help but laugh at the fact that her children were a week old and the Jedi had already given them training sabers, but she supposed that if Anakin Skywalker was going to have children this was to be expected. Obi Wan was there, as well as Yoda, Mace, and the other Masters. The young Jedi who had protected the Younglings in the Temple with her was there, as were several Jedi whom she assumed were friends of Anakin. Several Senators who had survived the attacks were there. She smiled at Anakin, knowing immediately that he had had a part in this.

"You knew it was fine and you didn't tell me," she said, hitting him, trying to be angry but smiling.

"You're welcome," he said. She hugged him, and then hugged Obi Wan and her friends. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her dress, and noticed that another group of people had come to attend the homecoming as well- Younglings. Eivyn smiled up at her, and several of the children she recognized from the wait in the Council Room were there.

"I'm sorry, but they demanded to see 'Mrs. Skywalker,'" Obi Wan laughed, "It seems they knew before any of us did," he added, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Padme replied, slightly embarrassed, "Sorry." She smiled at the thought that the children had called her Mrs. Skywalker. She hadn't thought of herself as that yet at all, even in three years. It was wonderful to hear.

Anakin watched as Padme held the babies on the couch for the Younglings to see. He was happy that they were there- something was very reassuring to him about the Younglings. He knew what it was- part of what kept him from giving in to darkness was the thought of them, how they looked up to him. Mainly it was his dedication to the Jedi Order and to Padme and his own children, but for some reason the Younglings kept popping back into his mind when he was with Palpatine. He had seen how they revered him, and he couldn't let them down. It would be betraying them, and he could never have done that.

"Is this what you had in mind," Obi Wan asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

"It's perfect, thank you," Anakin said, and gave his old Master a hug. "Obi Wan, thank you for helping us so much- I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

"You saved my life ten times Anakin-"

"Eleven," Anakin corrected.

"Eleven times. And that last time, you actually risked your life for me. I could never repay you fully for that- this was all just a gesture."

"There is one more thing you can do," Anakin said.

"Anything, my friend."

"If something were to happen to me and Padme," Anakin began, hesitatingly.

"Judging by the odds so far Anakin, I don't think I would survive much longer if something happened to you," Obi Wan laughed. "But I would of course look after them."

"You know, I'm starting to see why Padme hates people reading her mind."

"It was the first time you put your guard down in a long time, my young friend. It was refreshing, actually." Obi Wan laughed.

"I didn't do that consciously," Anakin said. "Why would that happen?"

"It could be that you're still weak from Sidious' attack," Obi Wan began. "Or that you simply are so happy and relaxed now that you have nothing left to block."

"Probably the last one," Anakin, ever proud, replied.

"In some ways, you haven't changed at all, Padawan."

"Obi Wan, can I ask you something," Anakin began.

"You know you can ask me anything, Anakin."

"How do you feel about the new code? Many of the Masters seem kind of… mad at me," Anakin said, and Obi Wan laughed out loud as the pouting nine year old from Tatooine again stood in front of him.

"I don't know, Anakin. I was perfectly content with the old code, certainly. But I don't have any reason to be angry with you, or to dislike the new code. Who knows…" Obi Wan faded out, and it was obvious that he was wondering about his own future.

"You're still pretty young Master, and don't worry, I'll teach you how to deal with women," Anakin laughed, and was a step ahead of Obi Wan as his old Master got ready to attack him for his audacity.

Anakin ran to the couch and sat next to Padme. He hid behind her as if he and Obi Wan were two children chasing each other. Padme, bewildered, looked around, but Obi Wan had long given up and gone to talk to Yoda. Anakin kept peeking around for him, and Padme rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I have three children," She said. Anakin smirked at her, then settled down next to her to look at his children.

"Leia looks just like you, Padme," he observed, and this really touched Padme more than he knew. "She has your beautiful eyes." He smiled at Padme, and kissed her. "Padme, do you know how happy I am?"

She turned and looked at him, smiling. "Don't make me cry again Anakin," she warned, smiling at him with tears in her eyes.

"No, really. I've never had a real family before. It's such an amazing feeling, I mean to have these two children here who are actually related to me, by blood… it's the most real relatives I've ever had in one room before, do you realize that?"

"Anakin!" Padme smiled as tears now fell down her cheeks. "I love you so much. I sometimes forget how sweet you can be."

"I love you too. I told Obi Wan I'd help him meet women, you want to help?"

Padme rolled her eyes. "And now you're back," she muttered.

"What?" Anakin asked.

"Nothing," she sighed, and kissed him. Suddenly, she realized something. "Sith!" She shouted, and Anakin covered the babies' ears.

"Padme! No language in front of the babies!" He said.

"Anakin, my family… I haven't told them about any of this."

"You didn't? Not even that you were pregnant?"

"No, Anakin… we have to go to Naboo, and tell them."

"That will be wonderful- Luke and Leia can see where you grew up. You know, we should get a house there. A little vacation house for when we have time off- It's so beautiful there, by the lake, they would love it."

Padme was touched that Anakin would have this thought. "That's a wonderful idea. We can go to see my parents after the meeting about the New Republic tomorrow, maybe we could stay for a few days."

Anakin smiled at her and nodded. Leia began to fuss, and Padme knew it was time to feed her. As Anakin watched his wife feed his daughter, and he held his son close in his arms, his friends surrounding them in their apartment, he felt happier than he had ever felt in his whole life.

Hello! Ok so, I am going to write maybe one or two more chapters, and then I will end it. But, I am going to make a sequel that will be set in the future. I am deciding between making one or two sets of sequels- I definitely want one that would take place when Luke and Leia are about 20, like at the time of ANH and on, (I mean Anakin dealing with Leia dating? Too much fun to pass up. And yes Han will of course be there. Plus I can write in more kids of Anakin and Padme's- so exciting!) But I kind of want one with them as children too, like maybe four or five years after this. What do you guys think? Let me know, and I hope you are enjoying this! I love the reviews.

-sewardsfolly (P.S. first person who knows where my name comes from gets… special things, I don't know)