A/N: Thanks for your reviews. I must say though, my next few chapters may not be what you hope for or expect. There will be less of a Vader and Padmé focus, and more of a twin focus, if that makes sense. Hope you like!

Hopeless4life: Thanks! I do intend to, but who knows what will happen with exams and all.
PrincessSkywalkerOrgana: Thank you - I hoped the interaction would turn out well. Glad you like it!
TriGemini: Yes, the battle of Yavin is definitely an excellent part of ANH, and I hope I did it justice. I didn't really put too much about everyone else finding out about Luke and Leia being twins...I couldn't think of a way to fit it in. Hope you like this chapter!
pokey: Yeah, I felt that I gave Padmé the short end of the straw, so to speak, in this fic - she does go through an awful lot. Thanks for you review!
Stephanie C: Hehe, I couldn't agree more. Just wait and see ;)
Chou hime: Lol, thanks for your support :)
eridani: Well, my offer for clarification is that she was a little more concerned about her son than Vader at that moment in time, but your point is well seen (no Jar Jar reference was intended in that statement!). Thanks for your review!
TorontoBatFan: Thanks! I'm not really deviating a huge amount from the original storyline (not yet, anyway), so no, Leia won't be trained. Luke will, though!
anakin: Lol, I thought my chapters were long enough! Lol. A little more Padmé in this chapter, but soon the focus will shift to the twins. You'll see :)
LaPapillion: Thanks! Glad you liked it :)
doreenthatshot: Sure will :)

Chapter Eight

Padmé stood beside Leia on the dais, both clothed in formal white. She proudly watched Luke and Han make their way up the long aisle towards the dais as the massed ranks of the Alliance stood and watched. When they reached the dais, the two women stepped forward. Glancing to the side, Padmé saw Artoo, now repaired and gleaming, sidle up beside Threepio. She smiled, remembering the many times that little droid had saved her life and the Alliance. Her eyes returned to Luke. The news that the young man was her son - and Leia's brother - had spread widely throughout the Alliance, and the Rebels had accepted Luke as one of their own.

She took a medal and passed it to Leia, who stepped forward. Han bowed his head slightly and Leia placed the medal around his neck. He looked up at her, a little half-smile on his face, and winked. She lifted her eyebrows slightly and tried to suppress her own smile, but it shone through and Han grinned.

Padmé passed the second medal to Leia, and she placed it around her twin's neck. They smiled at each other for a second, and then she stepped back.

Her mother raised her arms in a signal to the crowd, and the chamber exploded in applause and cheers as the two men turned to face the Alliance.

There they stood, two unlikely heroes – one a farm boy from Tatooine, and the other a Corellian smuggler. But that day, they were the heroes of the Rebel Alliance.

"Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and saw Padmé walking towards him. She sat down beside him.

"He's still alive, isn't he?" she asked quietly, seeming to want confirmation of what she already knew was true.

He paused, and nodded slowly, knowing who she was referring to. "Yes. The danger is now on you."

"I know." She looked away and watched the celebrations. "I'm going to have to leave."

Obi-Wan said nothing, just waited for her to continue.

"He will find me, no matter where I go, and I cannot put the Alliance in danger. Or my children." She looked back at him, and her eyes were moist. "There was still good in him, Obi-Wan. I felt it."

"Where will you go?" Obi-Wan asked gently, though he knew the answer.

"Naboo," she replied. "I'll stay at the lake retreat where we married." Our wedding…such a perfect moment. How could it have led to this? "I have to face him. Maybe…maybe there is still hope. Vader is still my husband – I might be able to bring him back."

There was a noise behind them, and Padmé whirled around. "Luke?"

The young man stepped out of the shadows, and the expression on his face was one of shock. "Vader…Vader is your husband?"

Reluctantly, she nodded. She couldn't lie to her son.

"So he's my father?"

Another hesitant nod.

"But Obi-Wan, you said Vader betrayed and murdered my father!" Luke exclaimed bitterly.

Obi-Wan remained undefensive. "Your father, Anakin, was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force – he ceased to be Anakin Skywalker, and became Darth Vader. When that happened, he betrayed everything that Anakin Skywalker believed in. The good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was true…from a certain point of view."

"A certain point of view!" Luke rasped derisively. He slumped down into a chair.

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view," Obi-Wan said gently. Luke didn't respond, and Padmé dropped her head in her hands. "I don't blame you for being angry," Obi-Wan continued. 'If I was wrong in what I did, it certainly wouldn't have been for the first time. You see, what happened to your father was my fault."

Luke looked up with sudden interest. His anger was subsiding rapidly due to curiosity and the old Jedi's compassion.

"When I first encountered your father, he was already a great pilot," Obi-Wan went on. "But what amazed me was how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train Anakin in the ways of the Jedi. My mistake was thinking I could be as good a teacher as my old master. I was not. Such was my foolish pride. The Emperor sensed Anakin's power, and he lured him to the Dark Side." He paused and looked into Luke's eyes, as if seeking for forgiveness. "My pride had terrible consequences."

"It wasn't your fault. It was mine," Padmé mumbled. She lifted her head and gazed at the two. "He turned to the Dark Side because he thought it would save me. He had had visions of me dying in childbirth. He thought with new power – power the Emperor offered – he could save me." She gave a humourless chuckle, eyes hollow. "As it were, his turn almost killed me – if it weren't for you and Leia, Luke, I would have died."

Luke was entranced. If Darth Vader had done his actions from love, he had simply been misguided and seduced. There must yet be a spark of Anakin Skywalker in him. There must yet be a way to save him. "There is still good in him," he said.

Padmé smiled faintly – her son believed the same idea she did.

But Obi-Wan shook his head. "I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done."

"It can," Padmé said, determinedly. "I know it can. He is not completely destroyed, Obi-Wan. There is still good in him – and that is why I have to face him."

"I've got to go," Han told Leia. They were standing alone, a little way off from the on-going celebrations.

She stared at him. "Why?"

"There's a price on my head. If I don't pay off Jabba the Hutt, I'm a walking dead man." He grinned at the look on her face. "Don't worry, Princess, I'll be back. Your brother'll look after you all right."

"I thought you were going to stay," Leia said. She felt strangely saddened at the thought of his departure.

"Yeah, well, I've got to get this price off my head while I still have a head," Han replied. "Besides, you're not gonna need me for a while."

Leia understood. She knew it was not fair to make him stay when he was not a real member of the Alliance, and had his own business to attend to. But… "Yes we will. We still need you."

"We?" he asked. He had seen something in her eyes that seemed like she cared about him. Really cared.

"Yes."

"What about you?" Han said, emphasising the last word. He didn't know why he was pursuing the subject. Maybe it was because he cared about her…but that wasn't it, was it?

"Me?" she said bluntly. "I don't know what you mean."

He smirked at her. "Yes, you probably do."

"And what precisely am I supposed to know?" she asked, her voice rising slightly as she began to understand his hints.

The smile grew on his face. "You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me."

She softened a little. "Well, yes, you've been a great help," she said, pausing before adding, "…to us."

Han cut her off. "No, Your Worship. That's not it."

Suddenly she understood. She began to laugh – somewhat nervously. "You're imagining things."

"Am I?" Han leaned closer and raised an eyebrow.

She turned away and pressed her lips together, trying to quell the smile threatening to break over her face. Why did she want to smile? It made no sense. Control yourself, Leia. When she turned back to him, her officious mask was back in place.

"Enjoy your trip, Captain," she said, looking unruffled and calm.

He stepped back and gave her a cool, appraising glance. "We'll meet again," he said. "Maybe by then you'll have warmed up a little."

Then he turned and walked over to say goodbye to Luke, leaving Leia to stare after him.

Padmé walked over to her daughter, who was watching Han Solo talk to Luke. Puzzled, she glanced at the captain, then back at her daughter.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"Han's leaving," Leia replied shortly.

"Ah." Padmé smiled knowingly.

Leia turned to her mother and knitted her eyebrows together. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," Padmé said innocently. "You're going to…miss him, aren't you/"

Catching the meaning in her words, Leia laughed in astonishment. "Mother!"

Padmé smiled, but quickly sobered. "Leia, I have to leave. I'm going to Naboo."

"Naboo? Why Naboo?"

"It is my true home planet." She sighed. The time had come to tell her the truth. "Leia, there are many things about me you don't know the truth about. I'm not an Organa – not by blood or marriage. I was born Padmé Naberrie Amidala. I was the Queen of Naboo many years ago, and then served as a Senator in the Old Republic."

Leia stared. "Why…why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I'm in danger – and so are you and Luke," Padmé said in answer to the question. "If I had told you before we would have been in more danger. Very soon Darth Vader is going to come after me."

"Darth Vader?" The surprise in Leia's eyes was replaced with worry and concern. "Why? Why you?"

"He thought I was dead – he knows now that I'm alive." She closed her eyes briefly. "Leia…I told you your father was a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker, but I never told you that he turned to the Dark Side just before you were born. I thought he had died, but…" she trailed off. She looked up into her daughter's eyes. "Leia, Vader is going to come after me because he is my husband."

"He's my father?" Leia whispered incredulously. Yet, somehow she knew it was true. A wave of crushing emotions swamped her and threatened to take over - anger, hurt, shock, fear. Butshe looked at her mother, and couldn't bring herself to be angry at her for holding back this information – the expression on the older woman's face was so remorseful and distraught that Leia wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her in a tight hug.

"I'll go with you," she said, sounding determined and angry.

Padmé stepped back and shook her head. "No, Leia. The Alliance needs you. I must face him alone." Her melancholy expression slowly melted away and she smiled, her old strength and determination flowing back into her face. "I can take care of myself."

Leia looked as if she would argue further, but she nodded hesitantly. "All right. Be careful, Mother."

So many thoughts swirled through Padmé's mind. The fact that she had to be careful of her own husband…the idea of seeing him and talking to him again…the memory of what he had done to the Republic, to the Jedi, to her…She had to be careful of the man whom she remembered as the Jedi who had kissed her so gently at their wedding, now a Sith who sought to destroy everything she fought for.

"I will."