"I'm home!" Senator Amidala called as she stepped out of the turbo lift into the entrance of the apartment. She keyed in the security code, locking the doors and turned.

She stopped in her tracks. Clothes, shoes, toys, books, papers and just a whole pile of what she could only describe as junk was strewn across the living room.

Padmé took another step in and now saw that the mess further trailed into the kitchen, and looking to the back of the apartment, into her bedroom. The frown on her forehead deepened.

It deepened considerably more upon further inspection of the mess.

Bending down carefully, she picked up a piece of garment, discovering it to be Leia's christening dress, a beautiful, not to mention expensive, white lace and silk affair. Or once used to be, as she turned the dress over and saw, to her dismay, a big yellow juice stain on it.

She picked up another piece, and another.

Luke's jacket, only two weeks old with a similar stain on it.

The new white shoes she'd bought for Leia just three days back, now scruffed at the toes and sides.

Anakin's thick black Jedi robe. She shook it out and a shower of crumbs and crackers fell to the floor. She massaged her temples in vexation.

Was that-yes it was, she confirmed upon checking-her senatorial robes! This gown had cost her a fortune!

She lifted the heavy, rich velvet and satin embroidered gown off the floor as she stood up. The Senator peered carefully at the collar, then down the front of the gown. She breathed a little sigh of relief. None of the courassa crystals was missing. Every part of the gown seemed exactly how she remembered it to be and the displeased creases on her forehead began to relax slightly, when she saw it.

A long blue colored streak ran across the back of the bodice. Padmé recognized it as from one of the twin's crayons.

Her lips set so hard they nearly disappeared into a thin white line. Anakin Skywalker! Oh she was going to find that man now!

She draped the gown over her arm and took a step forward. Clunk. She closed her eyes momentarily, then looked down, almost afraid to see what it was. To her relief, it was Luke's green mug, with blue and yellow speeders all over it. She rubbed her head wearily.

Stepping aside, she decided to take a safer route to access her bedroom door. Out of the corner of her eye, a bright glint on the tabletop caught her attention. Making her way there carefully, she peered curiously at the object.

Her brown eyes widened furiously upon its identification.

"Anakin Skywalker!" she fumed, shouting for him.

From the other end of the apartment came a faint tumble, something like a muffled yell, then a noisy patter of running feet.

"Mummmmmy!" the twins shrieked happily as they came streaming into the room. They flew against her, nearing knocking her off her feet as they clutched the bottom of her robes.

She took one look at them, both with suspicious looking brown streaks on their faces, hair in tangles, eyes sparkling a little too bright, play clothes in disarray and Leia's overly red lips. She sighed as she bent down to give them a hug.

She couldn't scold them. They were clearly under the influence of sugar.

"Mummy!" Leia tugged eagerly at her dress. "Daddy's back!"

"Yes I know that sweetheart-" That Anakin Skywalker had some nerve not listening to her.

"We had sooooo much fun today!" she clapped her smudged hands together.

"Daddy took us out today and we visited the zoo and the gardens-And oooo! I fell in the pond mummy! The water was sooo nice but daddy pulled me out too fast!" Leia paused, pouting. She carried on happily, as if that matter was of no severity of all, much to Padmé's horror.

"Daddy took us to the shop too! The big big big one! And I ate lots and lots of yummy snacks! It was fun!" she bounced excitedly.

"I got a new speeder toy!" Luke piped happily, waving the bright green toy in front of her.

"We ate sooo many nice things today! Ice-lollies, sugar crackers, cake!" he nodded his head enthusiastically.

"Guess what too mummy! Luke puked in the afternoon!" Leia giggled as she wound her hands through her mother's curly brown hair. "It was sooo funny! He ate sooo sooo much!"

"He what?" She cried, shocked. Pulling Luke close, she checked him carefully till she was satisfied. Suddenly she felt exhausted, yet fully ready to pounce on her husband.

"Wasn't it a wonduftul day?" Leia beamed at her mother.

"It's won-der-ful Leia…" she corrected.

"Yes-just…wonderful." She forced a smile.

Padmé took a deep breath.

"Threepio?" she called.

The droid appeared in a few seconds. "Oh! Bless my circuits! I am so glad to see you Miss Padmé! This day has been a nightmare!"

She was too furious to reply Threepio's comment, though she couldn't agree more. Coming back to a home like this. That husband of hers!

"Give the twins a bath and please clean up this mess. Get Artoo to help-just as long as this mess is cleared by dinner." She instructed him.

"Oh my-well-I will do my best." Threepio said, sounding distressed.

She kissed the twins on their cheeks. "Now go! Shoo! Shoo!"

She pushed them along and they ran into the hallway amidst loud giggles, with the droid pattering as quickly as he could after them. Just then an extremely vital thought came to her and she called after the protocol droid.

"Threepio? There is dinner, is there?" She was hungry and tired and she was sure she would kill Anakin if there was no dinner.

Threepio looked most astounded at the thought of no dinner ready. He started to speak and Padmé took a deep breath.

"Of course Miss Padmé! I made sure of it. As a protocol droid-"

"Thank you Threepio." She stopped the droid in mid-sentence. Anakin really needed to have a tinkle with Threepio's vocabulator one day. That droid would never stop talking if he had the chance.

As soon as they were gone, Padmé turned towards the tall lean figure that had been hiding in the shadows and was now trying to edge out of the living room.

"Anakin Skywalker. Hold it right there." She ordered. He halted and turned, smiling sheepishly at her.

"There is no way you're getting off this time."

His smile slid off.

"You better get yourself here right now."

Whatever hope that was in his blue eyes vanished. Reluctantly he stepped towards her.

"Alright…But at least not here. The twins will be able to hear us. In the room?" he asked, defeated.

"Afraid Anakin?" she retorted. But she made towards their bedroom nevertheless.

Once inside, she turned on him. Her brown eyes were glittering dangerously and Anakin moved back wisely as she pounced on him.

"No sugar after five! Did you even listen to me? I told you three times Anakin! Three times!"

"I kno-" he interrupted but she held up her hand to silence him.

"I'm away one day- one day! And I find this when I come back! A big mess!" she continued heatedly.

"Leia's christening dress. Luke's new jacket."

"My make-up! My senatorial robe!" she threw the gown on the bed, ignoring Anakin's wince.

"Look at this Anakin!" she pointed at the long crayon line.

"I see it…" He replied gingerly.

"This dress is expensive! I know money is not an issue, but that's not the point! Those are my senatorial robes!"

"I'm sure it can be removed Padmé-" Anakin quipped tentatively.

"Anakin Skywalker!"

"Alright alright…"

"What were you doing Anakin Skywalker?"

He gave her a weak smile. "Letting Leia play dress up?"

"Dress up with my senatorial robes? Your Jedi robes?"

"I don't think so Anakin!"

He looked at her meekly.

"You gave them sugar! Enough energy to last two lightsabers!" she glared furiously at him.

"Well angel-"

"Don't angel me! I told you three times!" she eyed him beadily.

"They were complaining and hungry-" he tried to defend himself, but failing miserably.

"You're the parent! They're just three!"

"Of course I know they're just three!" Anakin rebuked.

"Feed them solid food Anakin, not sweets!"

"I thought I would just give them a treat- you know, they haven't seen me in a while…"he looked hopefully into her eyes.

Padmé softened.

"I know Anakin." But only just a bit. She wasn't about to let him escape.

"But that doesn't mean you feed them just about five bags of sugar!"

Anakin looked remorseful. She could buy that. But it wasn't over. Yet.

"Fine, Threepio will clear up the mess. But what about Leia falling into the pond?" she was picking up her pace now. "That's quite unforgivable!"

Anakin opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't stand a chance.

"I mean she could have died! She's only three! I-I can't even imagine what would have happened if…" Padmé trailed off.

Anakin's heart sank at the look on her face. He reached out and stroked her arm softly. She relented for a second, and then pulled back.

The fire had returned to her eyes. "I'm not finished yet Anakin! Didn't you watch over them?" she gave him an accusatory glare.

"Of course I did! But they are such a handful and Leia just ran off-" Anakin argued.

"Then catch her!"

"What did you think I tried to do? Of course I ran after her!"

"It was a good thing the pond was shallow!" he added.

"It's a good thing she's fine! Not the pond!" she fumed.

"She could be traumatized!" she ran on.

"Now that's a bit far-fetched isn't it?"

Padmé shot daggers at him.

"Not when she's three and can't swim Anakin!" She took a deep breath.

"You'd better be happy she's alright! You would never make it out this door if she wasn't!"

Anakin swallowed nervously. Padmé did look rather dangerous right now.

"Fine, it's over now. But I'm warning you Anakin Skywalker…Just as long as it doesn't ever happen again!" She paused, whipping her head sharply to face him, waiting for his confirmation.

He nodded his head quickly. "I promise."

"I did pull her out fast…" he added quickly as an afterthought.

He regretted it almost immediately.

"I'm glad you did so, and not leave her to drown!"

"But just think! She can hardly swim! She's our daughter Anakin!"

He sighed reproachfully. "I know. And I love her very much."

Padmé's eyes softened for a moment. "I know you do…and so do I."

Anakin gave her a smile, reaching for a hand. "Nice try Anakin! What's this about Luke?"

He hung his head guiltily.

"He's just a little boy; you should have stopped him from eating too much." She swiped his hand away.

"How bad was it?" she demanded.

"It wasn't serious Padmé! I cleaned him up and he rested for a while. He's fine."

She stopped her pacing. "He seems fine to me now."

She moved aside her senatorial robe and sat down on the bed next to him. Anakin was sure he'd never felt worse than he did now.

"I'm sorry angel…" he said plainly, looking at her.

She started to give him a grudging smile, but not before she remembered something else. Something that made her blood boil all over again.

She stopped in mid-smile, and Anakin's own smile fell off his face. Padmé stood up in front of him, arms folded across her chest.

"Are you missing anything Anakin?" she questioned. There was an edge in her voice that made him wary.

"Missing something?" he repeated, not sure he'd heard correctly.

"Yes. Go on. Check." Padmé ordered him.

"Nothing!" he asked her bewilderedly after looking around.

"What could you be missing?" her eyes narrowed at him. "Something of importance. Unless it's of no significance to you after all."

Anakin stared at her face, and then proceeded to fumble in his pockets, his shirt. He rubbed his hands together.

"There's nothi-" he stopped in mid-sentence. He rubbed his hands again.

He closed his mouth and turned red, realizing what she was going at. Oh he was in for it now.

"Looking for this?" Padmé asked. There was a lilt in her voice that he didn't like at all.

She held up in her fingers a slim gold circlet. He gave her a sheepish smile.

"Anakin Skywalker, maybe you got too caught up in playing dress up with our daughter, but caught up enough to take off your ring and leave it lying around?"

He grimaced.

"You didn't even know it was gone!"

She exhaled. "Just how important is our marriage to you?"

"Because it doesn't seem like much to me." She pursed her lips.

"Padmé…of course it's important! How could it not be?" he protested.

"Leia just wanted to try it on!" He insisted.

"Besides," his lips curled knowingly, "haven't I seen you do that before?"

For a moment she didn't say a word. Then a guilty expression spread slowly across her face.

"Fine Anakin," she relented with a conceding smile, "you win."

She stretched out her hand towards him with the ring.

"I've got to put it on myself now? After having you shout in my ear all this time?" he grinned and crossed his arms.

Padmé sighed dramatically. "Alright…"

She stomped over to him, but a faint smile played at her lips as she slid the ring onto his finger.

"Happy now?"

Anakin leaned forward and kissed her before she could react.

"Happy." There was a sparkle in his eyes.

"Now get moving! Get up! I think I hear Threepio calling…"

"Forget about Threepio!" The gleam from last night returned to his blue eyes.

"Let's have a little fun of our own…" He pulled her down on his lap, eyes sparkling suggestively.

Padmé stared at him for a moment.

"No such luck Anakin. Don't think you're off the hook just yet." She eyed him sternly.

Then she leaned in, kissed him swiftly on the lips and walked out the door. Anakin sighed and fell back on their bed.

Women. He would never understand them.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Padmé leaned against the door frame, making sure she was hidden by the night shadows. She looked into the nursery, where Anakin was laying the children in bed. A slow smile spread across her face. She was glad Anakin was home. Sometimes she didn't even know how much she had missed him till he was back at home.

Then Anakin began to turn towards the door and she hurried away into the sitting room. She couldn't let him catch her! For all he knew, she was still supposed to be mad at him.

That would teach him a lesson.

Suddenly a strong arm caught her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. Padmé stifled a scream.

"Trying to hide?"

She looked up into Anakin's gleaming blue eyes.

"Not so fast." He slung another arm under her legs and cradled her off the floor, indifferent to her muffled shriek.

"I could sense you back there angel. You can't run."

"I was just…checking on the twins." She said quickly.

"And you're still on probation Anakin." She added as firmly as she could.

He smirked.

"So that explains why you were staring at me instead?"

"You were in the way…"

"Oh come on…I know you couldn't resist me…"

"I was trying to check on the twins. You happened to be in my view." She stated adamantly.

"I could sense you all along…" he sighed loudly as he carried her to the living room.

"Looks like you've got to work on both your stealth and throwing skills…"

He sat down on the couch, resting her head on his lap.

"Tough luck angel…" he commented.

Padmé resisted a grin. "You were blocking my view." She repeated, less forcefully this time.

He smirked down at her before leaning his head back on the couch tiredly.

"We both know what you were trying to do…Give it up Milady…"

She cracked a small smile now that Anakin couldn't see her.

"I sensed that."

She hit him on the chest. "No more Jedi tricks Anakin!"

They settled down in silence while the bright lights from the Coruscant traffic sped by outside. Padmé fiddled absently with the ring on Anakin's hand, her mind occupied with certain other things.

She inhaled slowly. She would tell him now. She opened her mouth to speak, and then Anakin sighed.

"I forgot what a handful the twins are…I don't think even Obi-Wan's training was as tiring!"

She cleared her throat loudly. "Which is precisely why they shouldn't take sugar after five." She reminded him.

"It's for our own good and sanity." She added.

"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" he groaned, sitting up and looking at her.

She smiled widely at him.

"Too bad you didn't listen."

Anakin fell back against the couch with a long sigh, reaching out to grab a cup from the side table. Padmé took a deep breath. He was tired, but never more relaxed now.

It was now or never.

"Anakin?"

Somewhere from the inside of the cup came a mumble.

"I've got something to tell you."

She craned her neck to look up at him. His face was half-hidden by the green cup he was drinking from. She paused.

"Ani? Is that…the children's juice?"

"I was thirsty…" he smiled sheepishly at her.

"It's not bad either…" he remarked after another sip. She gave him a look and carried on.

"I need to tell you something."

"I'm listening this time…"

She inhaled.

"I'm pregnant."

There was a short momentary pause and then Anakin started coughing violently. He choked on his mouthful of juice.

"You're what?" he spluttered.

"Pregnant." She stated simply.

"Pregnant? Pregnant?" he repeated incredulously.

His eyes flash quickly and she knew he was thinking of the eventful afternoon with the twins. She was too. She couldn't exactly comprehend having another child with two hyperactive twins. They were only three and a half now. Imagine when they were eight, or even four!

Padmé waited patiently for him to digest that news. He couldn't be blamed after his afternoon with the twins. Anakin sat there stunned.

"For-for how long?" he asked in disbelief when his speaking abilities returned.

"Close to seven weeks now."

"When did you know?" He stared down at her, placing one hand on her stomach.

"Just yesterday..."

Padmé waited for more response. Finally, she spoke up.

"Well is that all you have to say?"

"I-I'm happy Padmé, really. But just think about the twins!"

She sighed, putting one hand atop of his.

"We'll just have to manage…"

They sat in a contemplative silence for a few moments. Then Anakin's face cleared.

"There'll just have to be no more sugar after five. Not a single grain." Anakin shook his head decidedly.

"Decided to listen now Anakin?" she smiled mischievously at him.

His blue eyes were clear and bright. Apart from the occasional upheaval the twins caused, she was quite pleased about the news. They would just have to, as she'd said, manage together.

"Anakin? I want you to be here." She stared hopefully at him.

He nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll tell Obi-Wan. And since most of our assignments are completed, I should be staying in Coruscant for quite awhile."

Padmé smiled happily. She would certainly enjoy this pregnancy more with Anakin around.

…………………………………………………………………………….

That night she lay in bed with Anakin, feeling at peace now that she'd told him the news.

By his standards, after the afternoon he'd had, he had taken it quite well.

This day hadn't been too bad after all.

She was just about to drift off into a well-deserved sleep, when she heard Anakin's voice whisper softly in her ear.

"Padmé? We're not having twins again, are we?"

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hey thanks so much for all the reviews! I didn't expect it at all. I really appreciate it.

I don't do individual reviewer responses, but there were some questions some of you had, so I'll try to answer it.

For Obi-Wan, this is an AU story, so I decided to make it that he knows of their marriage and family. The Council doesn't really come into this, so there's no need for any explanation there.

I'm not really writing this to go into any lengthy details, its just for some laughs and light-heartedness.

And yes, to all of you who guessed it. Padmé is quite obviously pregnant. The story is called 9 Months! It's predictable, but I just thought it might be fun and sweet to write about it. Angsty fics are really nice, and I'm writing a one-shot now, but I really wanted to read a fic like this about them together, and since there were hardly any, I decided to write one.

I don't mean it to be a really fluffly, mushy affair, so I'm trying to keep everything simple and natural between them…too much fluff isn't my thing, but if it does seem like that to you guys, do tell me and I'll change it.

Also, while this is a light-hearted amusing fic, I still want the characters to stay through to their nature that we see in the films (though Padmé and Anakin are mostly sad, serious, angsty people, apart from Episode II), so I didn't think it would be entirely realistic to have Padmé screaming her head off or whatsoever.

Thanks again for reviewing, I hope you like this. It's pretty long. Thanks!