Chapter 5: Interlude

Once inside the bathroom, Padme shyly remembered that Anakin had yet to see her…like this. What had she done? She was huge. She wasn't the Padme he'd seen seven months ago. She was the Padme that was expecting twins. She was the soaked-to-the bone and exhausted Padme of today.

Who was she kidding anyway with that, 'come hither' look she gave him? She slumped against the tub. Anakin came in just as she was beginning to think he'd forgotten her.

"Hey what's wrong?"

"Nothing…I-I don't think I want to take that bath after all." She glanced up to see if he'd caught anything.

Anakin lowered himself onto the side of the tub with her. He sat next to her, looking down at his hands.

"When I lost my hand, I was worried that it would repulse you. I thought maybe, just maybe, that might be the end."

Padme, forgetting her own pain, turned to him. "Oh, Ani, you know I'd never-"

Anakin slowly slipped off his leather glove and threw it on the ground. He flexed his bicep then moved his fingers to her chin and lifted it up.

"Padme, a little weight is not going to make me leave you. A little bit of anything, is not going to make me leave you ever. We're done with that, alright? You're carrying our babies. Why would I find that repulsive?"

He slowly placed his mechanical hand on her stomach. The water had soaked through her thick dress, and made it close to see-through, but not quite. Padme put her hand on his, and looked into his eyes.

"You're an amazing man."

"You're a remarkable woman."

His hand moved in small round circles on her stomach, eliciting a hard kick from their child. They laughed, and Padme bit down on her outstretched tongue..

"Alright, if I'm going to humiliate myself, let's just get it over with. I'm freezing."

Padme slowly stood up, and Anakin followed. She removed her wet dress very slowly, and gingerly, revealing just how tired she was. She moaned softly, and Anakin helped her the rest of the way.

Finally in the buff, Padme turned to him shyly. "Maybe you'd better draw the bath. I can't reach over that far, without some difficulty."

Anakin nodded and started it up, but then looked back at her. His eyes were riveted on her form.

"Ani," she shifted uncomfortably.

But Anakin only pulled her close to himself. He put his head on top of hers and sighed.

"You look and feel like the Padme I know and love. I just want to see how you've changed. I've been gone too long."

Padme's eyes prickled with unshed tears. She nodded.

"We should never have kept this all a secret. Now my parents.." she shuddered. "My parents will…"

"They won't hate you, Padme. They'll be…unhappy perhaps. But hatred? The people I met? No." She stepped back and huffed a breath.

"Of course not. Disappointed. They'll be so disappointed though."

"In their daughter that no only became the youngest Queen in Naboo history, served 2 terms, then served in the senate? Not only that, but the daughter that saved her people from death? Of course they will be."

Padme laughed and all the tension she'd held onto for the past few days abated. Perhaps he was right. She slowly slid her dress down to her feet and nodded at him.

"Well, will you join me?"

Anakin grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."

As the couple bedded down for the night, Anakin studied his wife again. She lay on the bed closest to the fire, letting it warm her tired body. The firelight played across her face, illuminating her already glowing countenance.

This is mine, he thought. He rolled closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. She murmured something then pushed closer to him.

After eating a large dinner, they had decided on an early night. No talking, no playing and no worries, just sleep. The morning had enough for them. First they'd rise whenever they felt like, then it was off to her parent's house. He didn't expect perfectly open arms and happy faces, but he knew the Naberries would come around.

As his eyes drifted shut he wondered what the Force had in store for both of them, well all of them, their children as well, he remembered.

But when Anakin's eyes finally did close, a shocking dark vision hit him like a fist, and left him gasping.