Padmé blinked. Had Leia really said what she thought she'd said?

By now Anakin had shot upright. He was probably thinking the same thing as her. The fact neither of them knew what to say didn't help at all. Leia stared back expectantly at them, twisting one end of her blanket that she had dragged along. This wasn't a good sign. Padmé knew then that Leia was planning on staying till she got her answer.

Words, phrases flew wildly in her head as she searched for an appropriate reply, but each one sounded more ridiculous than the last. There was truly no way they could explain such a thing to a three year-old without forever tainting her mind afterwards.

What had they gotten themselves into?

She felt utterly drained. Desolately, she slumped back against the pillows and turned to gaze hopelessly at Anakin.

He shifted and looked down at her. The faint circles under her eyes looked darker in the absence of light and her brown eyes were clearly tired. He reached down and squeezed her hand.

"I know you're tired Padmé, but what are we going to do about this?" he whispered conspiringly to her, gently brushing locks of hair off her face.

"Go back to sleep?" she murmured, her eyes closing.

Anakin opened his mouth to reply the unfortunate obvious, but at that point, Leia answered for him. She crawled forward, thumb in mouth and tugged impatiently at Padmé's nightgown.

She whined. "Mummy…"

Padmé forced her eyes open.

"Answer," Leia moved forward towards her, "my-" and scrambled to climb to sit on her mother's middle. "-question!"

At once Anakin picked her off before Leia could plant her full weight on Padmé's stomach. "Remember Leia? Mummy's carrying a baby and we want to take care of it…So don't do that again alright?"

Leia seized her wriggling and stared at Padmé's discreetly rounder stomach. "In there, daddy?"

Anakin nodded, but his gaze flickered uncertainly at Padmé. He wondered where this was going. Hopefully it would distract her from The Question.

Leia considered this thoughtfully for a moment, then she opened her mouth and asked incredulously, "But how did it get in there daddy?"

He groaned inwardly. Beside him he heard Padmé sigh, defeated. His plan had backfired miserably. They were back at square one, and even worse, he had served to pique Leia's interest even further.

"Tell me! How daddy!" she swiveled around, now irritated at the silence that met her to face him.

Padmé looked at Anakin. They had two options: one, tell her and be forever plagued by the fact they had single-handedly planted The Idea in their three year-old daughter's head, or two, refuse to tell her and force her to sleep, but be subjected to an hour-long tantrum and whining session that Leia would never let them forget.

The choice was obvious. Having experienced first-hand the shrill frequencies of Leia's tremulous vocal range, there was absolutely no way they were going down that way.

They would have to tell her.

Padmé heaved herself off the pillows resignedly. "We'll do this together."

'I'm sorry angel.' Anakin mouthed apologetically. She smiled wryly. It was both their faults honestly. What gave them the belief that such a big thing wouldn't interest them when even the smallest everyday things like why Threepio could talk but R2 couldn't drove their curiosity intensely, she would never know.

"Well Leia, you see when two people meet each other and…" she faltered, clearing her throat.

"And what?"

"And they…" Padmé fought to find words. In the hundreds of speeches she had made, it was just terrific words had decided to fail her now.

"They like each other, they fall in love," came Anakin to her rescue, "and if they're lucky, they get married." He ruffled her fine brown hair as a casual touch.

'if they're lucky !' Padmé mouthed to him disbelievingly. 'Excuse me?'

'I couldn't think of anything!' He mouthed back, shrugging sheepishly.

"Like you and mummy?" Leia trilled excitedly.

"Yes, very much so sweetheart." Padmé mustered a smile.

"Then what happens next?"

"Well,…because they love each other very much, they have little children, just like you and Luke," Padmé couldn't believe what she was hearing herself say!

"And everything starts out small and tiny, like a baby, just like how you and Luke were babies too…"

"Just like this baby?" Leia crept over and patted her stomach lightly.

Padmé nodded, relieved that this awful conversation seemed to be coming to a close.

"But how does it get there?"

Oh god.

The muscles on her face tightened. Not again. All she wanted was to sleep, not this. She rubbed her eyes wearily. Then Anakin came to the rescue for the second time.

"I'll handle this…" he whispered.

Relief shone dimly in her eyes, but she gripped his hand firmly in warning. As much as she loved him, Anakin had the peculiar quality to say the most unhelpful things sometimes.

"It's like…a present. A gift…"

At his words, Leia's coffee eyes grew wide. "So if a mummy and a daddy love each other loads, they have a present? A baby?"

He wrinkled his nose in thought. "Something like that Leia."

Padmé smiled. Some semblance of satisfaction was showing on her face as she processed the information. The conversation was ending.

"Oooo!" she clapped her hands happily. "Then can I get marrweed too? I want a present!"

The smile on her face slid off immediately. She didn't even have the energy to correct her pronunciation. This was completely, utterly horrendous. Her pre-school daughter asking her if she could get married so she could get a 'present'. Padmé didn't think she would have to deal with this till the twins were both twenty-one. But here she was, dealing with it eighteen years earlier than planned.

It was every mother's worst nightmare.

"NO." Anakin looked horrorstruck that he had put that unthinkable notion in his pure three-year old daughter's head.

"Not in a million light years." He restated firmly.

Leia pouted unhappily. "Why not?"

"Because-" Anakin started to reply, but was smoothly interrupted by his wife. In Anakin's distressed state, it was best she settle this for them, sensibly, rationally and appropriately.

"Because sweetheart, first of all, you're too young, and secondly, mummy and daddy will need you here to take care of your new brother or sister." Finally, she had chosen the right words.

Leia puffed out her chest proudly. "Yes! Me and Lukie will help you and daddy."

"Good girl." She kissed the top of her messy brown head and with a great thankful sigh, sank back into the soft welcoming pillows.

"That's my little girl…" Anakin smiled, reassured, at his daughter. "Now mummy's very tired so let's go back to sleep okay?"

Leia nodded her head contentedly. She moved off the bed with her blanket in tow and Anakin lay back in bed, an amused smile on his face as he watched over Leia's tiny retreating back.

Padmé shifted closer towards him, curling up comfortably against his chest, and he was just pulling the covers over her when there was a soft thud on the bed. Anakin glanced up.

"What now Leia?"

"Can I sleep with you and mummy?"

Anakin's gaze flickered down to his peacefully resting wife and hopeful daughter.

"Please, please?" she begged.

From the recesses of the bed came Padmé's voice. "Let her…" she mumbled sleepily.

"Alright. You heard what mummy said." He opened up the covers and Leia crawled and squeezed her way in between them, snuggling close to her mother.

They settled in, and for a few wonderful moments there was silence. Padmé's slow rhythmic breathing gradually lulled Anakin to sleep. Tomorrow was expected to be a long day at work, and sleep couldn't have been more welcome.

Then, a small voice.

"Daddy? Did you put the baby in mummy?"

Anakin froze. He glanced at Padmé, soundly asleep, dark lashes shielding her closed lids. His mind raced furiously. What would his wife say to something like this, in a situation like this?

He glanced at her sleeping figure again and got his answer. Leaning over, he kissed her forehead, ruffled her hair and lay back down once more. "Goodnight Leia," he spoke firmly. It was end of conversation. Full stop.

He waited for a few moments for any repercussions but there was none. Anakin peered over carefully. She was fast asleep. A pleased smiled tugged at his lips and he finally closed his eyes to the sleep that had eluded him most of the night and now waited for him.

Rule 1 in his book: Almost always take your wife's advice and if it was somehow unavailable, do what she would do. It was a guaranteed fuss-free, un-time-consuming and the quickest way to resolve any nasty, unfamiliar situations.

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Hey! Thanks so much to all my reviewers and people who tell me they love this little story! It really makes my day receiving them. And because of you guys, I do my best to write good chapters. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in the longest time. It's really awful I know but I've been so busy. But I am determined to churn out another chapter this week too.

At first this was not supposed to be a chapter by itself, as I wanted to add another part, but one that would be a month from the events here (meaning Padmé would be 4 months along), but the second part I was writing would take too long and I really wanted to post something for you guys. You won't mind this fic having extra chapters, won't you?

So I hope you like this. Might as well make it a stand-alone, since so many of you were so interested in how the talk was going to take place. Hope this doesn't disappoint! My take on the 'birds and bees' explanation. Simplified version for three year-olds. )

Thanks so much once again!