The yellow sunlight that streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the apartment cast long streaks on the dark blue carpeted floor. The light breeze that wafted in from the veranda caused the curtains to sway softly, and the clear dapple of water from the fountain in the center created a charming musical lilt. The whirr of the Coruscant traffic was too far below to be heard noticeably and all in all, the apartment was thriving on a peaceful silence.
Senator Amidala leaned back on the plush couch and sighed appreciatively. The children were out with Moteé and Anakin was doing what he dubbed 'Jedi business'. While she missed him, she couldn't deny how good this utter silence felt. It was incredibly, absolutely blissful.
Padmé stretched out on the couch, placing her tired feet on a cushion. She pushed aside the mess of senatorial papers that surrounded her. It was time for a break.
She had been working for close to four hours straight since ten in the morning, after she had finally convinced Anakin that she was fine and that he could go to work. A tiny impish grin tugged at the corners of her lips.
Largely on Anakin's insistence, Padmé had called in sick after a nasty bout of morning sickness had left her reeling. Anakin had refused to leave till she promised him she wouldn't do any work today. But on the rare occasion Padmé Amidala called in sick, it didn't mean she was resting in bed all day. How anyone could do that was beyond her. The very idea was just appalling.
When Padmé Amidala called in sick, it meant she was working from home. Pregnant or not, with or without morning sickness. Promise or no promise.
Besides she had crossed her fingers behind her back. It was just too bad for her overly-concerned husband.
Her fingers drifted to the chain around her neck, fiddling with the small pendant lightly. Her fingertips grazed over the well-familiar grooves and ridges of the japor snippet's carvings and a smile formed at the corner of her lips. She wondered what Anakin was doing now.
Having heard the twins boasting to an awestruck playmate herself, she knew they imagined their father to be streaking from one end of the galaxy to the other, pulling off unbelievable lightsaber feats, saving the 'great great' people of the world and capturing the 'baaaadd evil evil' people out there. Padmé twirled the long chain in her fingers, thinking amusedly to herself.
Sure Anakin had done all that, once upon a time.
Now he had two squirming, squealing, running little toddlers and a pregnant senator for a wife, and Coruscant was the place he should be, and rightfully so. She was going to make sure the council allowed Anakin to stay this time, for the most part at least. In fact, they should without question.
She was the very reason why there had been a "significant change in Skywalker's temperament", why "it seems that Anakin's Force signature has strengthened considerably" and why "there has been a less erratic and irrational pattern to his behaviour, however good the intentions are". Padmé remembered these words exactly as they were spoken by the Council. Credit for this new and improved Anakin belonged duly to her.
Anakin Skywalker himself shouldn't even think of leaving now. It was thanks to that new streak in him which won over the Council in the end and thanks to her for it.
The way she looked at it, it was a terrible offense to leave your pregnant wife behind while her husband zoomed across the galaxy and left her to worry as to whether he was alive and well, and not in mortal peril.
And having Anakin Skywalker as said husband made it all the worse because if there was anyone with such an apt ability to court trouble, it was most certainly him. Jedi tricks and lightsaber skills aside. That feeling she had known too well. It was high time to put a stop to it.
Her thoughts soon moved to a whole other realm as her hand drifted to her stomach. A wry smile broke out on her face as she rubbed the small swell, unnoticeable still. It had been nearly a three weeks since that eventful health check-up and thanks to that good husband of hers; she still did not know whether they would be having a baby girl or boy.
But, she'd promised Anakin, and all temptations to find out her baby's gender would just have to be suppressed. She honestly sacrificed too much for him, she thought dryly, pursing her lips. Even up till now, she could quite frankly swear the medical droids were still holding a grudge against them.
Padmé breathed in heavily. Patches of the pale watery sky were visible through the swaying curtains and the tall vases of flowers near the archway exuded a subtle fragrance. It felt like being back on Naboo.
BOOM.
There was a slight crash, two shrieks, a loud patter of feet then a thunderous thud on the carpeted flooring. The peaceful silence was broken. A wistful smile appeared on her face as she withdrew her thoughts from Naboo.
Almost being back on Naboo, she corrected herself.
Up until three years ago, she'd never known it was humanly possible for two small kids to make such a commotion.
Padmé sat up on the couch, searching the room for her two little tyrants. It didn't take long. In a moment, two round masses burst through the arch way, clambered down the steps and sprang for the couch, seemingly in all preparation to make a flying leap onto it. Her brown eyes widened in horror at the thought.
"Don't! Luke, Leia! No, not on mummy's papers-" There was a somewhat crispy crackling and rustling of senatorial papers as the two of them landed smack in the middle of the pile and she swallowed her words in resignation.
Two chocolate smudged, pink smiling faces greeted her and Leia leaned towards her hurriedly and planted two sloppy wet kisses on her cheeks. Padmé resisted the urge to laugh, pick her up and smother both of them with kisses.
Instead, reinstating her role as the mother, she forced her features to look stern.
"What have I told you both about running and jumping around?" she faced them with a firm eye.
The twins cowered down immediately. Instantly, Padmé felt a pang of regret. But she continued on. They would turn out to be more like Anakin if she didn't, and the idea didn't sound at all comforting.
"Didn't mummy and daddy tell you, you could hurt yourselves? And look at mummy's papers," she picked up a crumpled sheet before them. "They're very important!"
She crossed her arms. In what appeared to be deepest sorrow and repentance, both of them had their heads hung. "Well, what do you have to say?"
Leia looked up first, her lip trembling, chocolate eyes nearly dyed black from sadness. "I'm sorry mummy…I promise we won't ever ever do it again…"
Luke nodded his head fervently at this bit. "I promise too! Me too!" His blue eyes widened reproachfully.
There was a short contemplative pause during which Padmé slid her gaze from one twin to the next. Then she opened her arms and sighed, "Alright, alright. Come here…"
It was extraordinary how quickly all traces of previous remorse dissipated from their faces as they wriggled their way into her arms. She kissed them on the top of their heads. "So where did you both go today?"
Leia squealed. She had apparently been waiting for this question.
"Aunty Moteé took us to the sweetshop! The big one near Uncle Bail's house! I got lots and lots and lots and lots of sweets!" She paused amid taking a deep breath, then squealed excitedly as she remembered something, and fished out a slightly squashed box from her pocket.
"I saved one for you! See look!" Leia thrust the silver box at her mother.
Luke, who hadn't been able to say a word since Leia had begun, hurriedly fished out another similar looking squashed box from the inside of his coat. "And see," he tugged at Padmé's sleeve, "I got one for daddy too!"
Padmé laughed as she took the sticky box from Leia. "Thank you sweetheart…" Luke's face fell slightly. "And I'm sure daddy will love it too when he comes back tonight Luke," she added, smearing away the chocolate smudges on his cheeks.
At her words, both their eyes lit up brightly, reminding her suspiciously of a certain someone.
They looked strikingly like Anakin at that moment. Too much like their father for her liking. She hoped what was coming wasn't too earth-shattering. The last time they'd had that look in their eyes, they had asked Padmé if they could borrow Anakin's lightsaber to prove to a boy at pre-school that their daddy was indeed a Jedi.
"What is it now?" she prompted cautiously.
"Can we please, please, please, please, please go to see daddy now? Pleeeeaaaaseee?" exclaimed Luke in earnest.
"I know daddy will want to see us! Pleeeeaaaaaaasee?" Leia added keenly. Her curly brown hair flounced about her as she nodded her head vigorously.
They leaned forward, eyes wide with anticipation, waiting in a hushed silence. Padmé looked at them calmly and expressionlessly. "Not a chance."
There was a spilt pause, during which Padmé steeled herself for what she knew would be coming next. "Bu-but whhhhyyyyyyyyy?" they whined in protest.
She shook her head firmly. "Look, daddy's very busy now and he has work to do, just like mummy,"
"But I heard you promise daddy you wouldn't do anything today!" Leia complained.
"Well now-" she faltered, searching for appropriate words. "Mummy's just been sitting here all morning, resting, just like daddy wanted."
Luke pouted unhappily while Leia pulled back from her and began to sulk. "Now stop that…I'm sure daddy will be very pleased to see you, but he's got many important things to do…"
Leia thrust the squished box at her once more. "But this is important too!" she whined.
She didn't think it was possible for Luke's lower lip to drop any further, but it did. She sighed inwardly. She didn't want to on use this, but by the looks of it, it was completely necessary.
"Do you want Master Yoda to scold you both? And I'm sure Master Windu will be very angry if you disturb daddy…"
Leia froze in the midst of the beginnings of a tantrum, but on Luke it had no such effect. "I'm not scared!" he huffed bravely. "Master Yoda just talks funny. I don't care!"
Padmé looked at him sternly. "That was very rude Luke Skywalker. And not nice either."
"Sorry mummy…" he mumbled, instantly subdued.
She gave him a grudging smile then pulled him closer to her. "Good. Now go with Aunty Moteé," she tilted her head to the door where she had just appeared, "and get yourselves cleaned up alright? You both smell!" she planted two noisy kisses on their cheeks in an effort to cheer them up, but it worked only slightly.
"Once you're done, we can all play with your new toys in the nursery okay?" she promised chirpily.
When she garnered no response, she tried again. "Okay sweethearts?"
Again a saddened silence met her ears. "Well, if you're not going to answer me then…" she trailed off playfully before swooping in and tickling them around their middles.
They erupted in loud shrieks. "Okay?" Padmé called over their shouts.
"Okay mummy!" came Leia high-pitched giggle as she burrowed her way behind Padmé to escape.
"Good girl! Now go before I get you both again!" she released them and they sprang onto the floor, but not before Luke managed to smear her face with sticky syrup from his pockets with a naughty grin.
"Luke!" she faked a bemoaned expression as he shied away from her with a shriek.
After a few moments, the thuds of their tiny stomping footsteps and the hurried patter of Moteé's to keep up with them faded away and the clear dapple of the water returned.
Padmé sighed gratefully, a whimsical smile on her face as she picked up the squashed sweet box. Gathering and smoothing out her papers, she began to organize them into her files.
Her dear husband wouldn't suspect a thing.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Two hours later…
There it was again. The soft pats on the floor as she heard one of them tip-toe towards her. She closed her eyes tiredly.
"Can we please please please go see daddy?" Luke's voice suddenly quipped hopefully in her ear.
Padmé turned around where she was lying on the couch to face the tiny boy who was half the height of the sofa. With a heave she lifted him off the floor and settled him on her lap.
"How many times must I tell you Luke? We can't see daddy now…he's working." Padmé explained for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour. Even the words seemed tired and old on her tongue. She tweaked his dirty blonde hair as he pulled another hopeful, bright-eyed look. She laughed exasperatedly.
"That is not going to work young man!" She leaned in to kiss his nose. Then from behind quipped another voice and she turned around to find Leia, who had apparently just crept out from under the sofa.
"Oh please? Mummy? Please?" she begged after successfully clambering up next to her.
"No, no no!"
"We miss daddy!" she pleaded.
"So do I sweetheart, but no! Not a chance…" she shook her head resolutely.
"But-but daddy took us to your office before!" she tugged at Padmé's hands.
"Yeah!" Luke chipped in.
Padmé wrinkled her nose in thought. The troubles Anakin gave her. Honestly. "Yes, but that's, that's just daddy…it's different…" she trailed off helplessly.
"Why is it?" Leia pressed on.
"I'm going to tell daddy…" said Luke rather huffily.
"Well…" she paused. How could she explain that Anakin was just the man who thought of the most ridiculous things and actually carried them out half the time?
"Well, it wasn't right anyways. Daddy shouldn't have done that." She continued composedly.
"But he didn't care! And so do we too!" Luke stuck his chest out and Leia followed suit by placing her arms on her hips.
Padmé sighed. "I'm sorry, but we can't go."
"Please, please, please, please, please?"
"We'll be real quiet and no one will know we're there…" Leia promised enthusiastically, to which Padmé highly doubted that two three year old Skywalker twins would go unnoticed in the Jedi Temple.
Of course there was always the possibility that they might be able to blend in with the Younglings there, but then and again they made far too much noise and would certainly blow their cover.
"No!" she repeated adamantly.
"Please, please, please, please?" Luke begged most piteously.
"No!"
After what seemed like the thousandth time they both asked her, and her ears were ringing with the word "please", she sighed and throwing her hands up in the air, finally succumbed to their request.
"Okay! I'll take you there…"
"Really?" Leia asked incredulously, before shrieking loudly to Luke.
"Yes." Padmé acceded resignedly.
With another glass-shattering shriek and yell, she leapt off the couch while Luke enveloped her in a fierce hug, before doing likewise. As the raced to the nursery amidst deafening screams, Padmé called after them. "Get your jackets and shoes and we'll go now!"
Hauling herself off the sofa, she walked towards the main entrance to wait for them, pulling a cloak on. Threepio appeared from the kitchen looking positively terrorized.
"Is it safe Miss Padmé?" he inquired fearfully.
Padmé smiled kindly at the droid. It wouldn't be good to tease him anymore. His circuits could only take so much.
"Yes Threepio," she laughed, "for now."
She could almost see his joints relax slightly at her words. "Could you activate the speeder Threepio? We're going to the Jedi Temple."
He snapped back at attention instantly. "Certainly Miss Padmé."
He trotted off into the lift lobby, and thankfully so, for barely five seconds later, two bundles hurtled towards her and landed with a resounding smack on the marbled floor.
Clutching both twins with each hand, they left for the lift lobby, leaving Padmé to imagine the look on Anakin's face when they arrived.
It was so unlike her to do something like this.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
"Luke! Wait! Don't run!"
Padmé leaned heavily against the side of a wall as she stopped to catch her breath. Then she groaned despairingly. In that one second it had taken her to regain her breath, Luke had run off and disappeared around the corner of the long white corridor.
Carrying her thick cloak in her arms and being nearly three months pregnant was no help at all in situations like these. She felt completely drained and light-headed after making her way through one level of winding corridors. She admonished herself inwardly for giving in to them. This was a bad, bad idea.
She had just lost both her twins in the main quarters of the Jedi Temple.
Picking up her pace, she combed the long hallways as fast as she could, praying that the two of them hadn't run into someone. Her hopes however, were dashed immediately as she rounded a corner and was greeted by the sight of Luke and Leia, hands clasped diligently behind their backs, standing solemnly before a kneeling Master Windu.
Quickly rearranging her hassled features into one of calm and composedness, she walked up towards them. Both of them scooted at once to her. "Good afternoon Master Windu."
The Jedi Master smiled in exchange. "Good afternoon Senator Amidala. I see you've found your twins."
"I hope they haven't been causing you any trouble…"
"Not at all…Luke was just telling me about some of the star fighters he would like to try flying." Padmé could see the glint of amusement in his eyes.
"Oh really? When does he intend to do that?"
Master Windu raised his eyebrows. "Now."
The conversation was turning out to be highly interesting. "I see…"
Luke interrupted, jumping with eagerness. "Yeah! Now! Can I?"
Padmé looked down forlornly at her son, suddenly feeling another wave of tiredness wash over her.
"I want to be like daddy!" he proclaimed, as if it would justify letting a three-year-old fly a Jedi star fighter.
From behind Padmé came a voice she instantly recognized. "Do you?"
"Daddddddy!" The twins shrieked and scampered towards Anakin who had just rounded the corner with Obi-Wan and Master Yoda.
The piercing noise throbbed in her head and she swayed slightly on her feet, remembering the last time she had eaten was nearly four hours ago. Padmé stumbled back as she smiled faintly at the two Jedi Masters, but Anakin, who'd noticed her immediately, steadied her.
Pulling her close to him with one hand while he carried Leia with the other, he whispered concernedly in her ear. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine…I just need to eat something." She smiled at him.
"Heard expecting another, Senator Amidala, you are?" Master Yoda inquired pleasantly. Padmé nodded her head.
"Congratulations Padmé. You've managed to keep Anakin far busier than I ever could have." Obi-Wan chuckled. "How far along are you?"
Anakin placed his hand on her stomach protectively. "Nearly three months."
"Expecting us to keep Skywalker here, you have come to ask?" Master Yoda quipped, his eyes twinkling knowingly.
Padmé's eyes gleamed. "You know me too well Master Yoda."
"Then try to do so, we will, though guarantee there is not." He replied.
She laughed. "Fair enough."
After a few more minutes of conversation, the party broke up and the Skywalker clan was left standing alone in the corridor. Padmé moved away to hold Luke's hand before he had another notion to run away, but Anakin moved faster.
"Now back to business…" he said, pulling her tightly to him so she couldn't move. "What may I ask, are you three doing here?"
Padmé smiled sweetly at him. "Ask your son Anakin."
Instantly, Luke procured the sweet box from his pocket. It was in an even sorrier state than earlier, squashed down and melted, with what had to be the sweet itself oozing from corners.
"For you." Luke nodded his head affirmably.
Anakin took hold of the sticky silver box, tucked it into his Jedi robe, and with a look of delighted surprise, handed Leia over to Padmé and picked Luke up. He beamed happily. Mission accomplished.
They began to walk. "Lucky for you three, I'm done for the day. So where would you like to go now?"
Stupid question.
At once Luke and Leia began to shout and clamour and Padmé, who was suddenly filled with a desire to curl up in bed with Anakin and sleep, started to have a headache.
After much debate, they decided to go to the museum, where Luke would be able to observe the different star fighters, and Leia, fashion trends from the outer rim. And most importantly, thought Padmé, it was well known for its well-fitted lounging compartments, where she could rest while Anakin took the kids around.
Thank goodness for pregnancy and its benefits.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
It was night. Padmé shuffled wearily towards their bed having left the refresher and rubbed a sore spot on her neck. A warm hand came down on hers to do the job, and she sighed gratefully, leaning back into Anakin as he guided her to the bed.
"How do you think they took it?" his warm breath tickled her ear.
"So far so good…" she murmured. "No questions yet…"
They had just told the twins that a new member (the possibility of members wasn't even mentioned) would be arriving in a few months time. After waiting for the 'right moment', according to Anakin, they had finally broken the news as they'd been putting them to bed. Actually Padmé wasn't sure if it was indeed the 'right moment', because she was certain it would keep them awake even longer, but she would be entering her second trimester soon and her stomach would start to show.
Safe to say, they had taken it pretty well. Better than expected, which was to say there had only been the utmost screaming and jumping and minimal questions. The idea of a new baby brother or sister (or both) was highly appealing to them.
In fact, it had surprisingly turned out to be a highly efficient way of getting them to sleep. The initial excitement wore them out faster than any bedtime story, and they were asleep before Anakin had even got past the introduction.
She settled comfortably into bed, enjoying the feel of Anakin's strong hands massaging her back. "Mmmm…goodnight Ani…" she strained over her shoulder to kiss him on the lips.
"Goodnight angel." He whispered.