Ch. 21

A.N. I don't see the need to run through the Council meeting, as it would essentially be them telling the story which you've already read… I'm skipping to directly after it.

As Anakin drove his family home for the first time in almost a week, he stared silently ahead of him, thinking about the meeting that had just taken place. The Council had assured him that they had known nothing of Sidious' escape, having believed him to be dead. The Council expressed extreme gratitude to Anakin and Obi Wan for defeating Sidious and revealing the whole scandal. By listening to Padme and the twins' testimonies as well, they were able to better understand the motives of Sidious and get a clearer idea of the problem as a whole. Immediately, several Jedi had been dispatched throughout the galaxy to search for other systems on which the Sith might have held bases. Yoda and Mace brought several other Jedi to Kashyyyk themselves, to deal with the situation there and bring Han and Chewy back. They had all agreed that the pair deserved their help, at least as much as Han would accept. Padme would address the Senate the next day to deal with the legal issues presented by the situation. The only overlying problem rested in the known fact that there were always two Sith- a special team of Jedi Masters had been sent to search everywhere for the apprentice. Satisfied that everything was being taken care of, Anakin and Obi Wan had accepted the offer of taking a few days off to recover and spend time with loved ones (about which Anakin and Padme had incessantly teased Obi Wan after the meeting), and they had headed home immediately.

Anakin looked over at his family, the twins peacefully taking a much needed nap in the back seat and Padme sitting next to him, staring out the window, also lost in her own thoughts. He felt so incredibly grateful that they were all safe, that he had not had to deal with the tragedy that had seemed so possible just hours ago. He couldn't wait to get them home and spend as much time with them as he could. He made a mental note to make sure that every member of his family, including his unborn child, knew before they went to bed that night how much he loved them and valued them.

Anakin also thought about something which had been worrying him in the back of his mind ever since the children had been kidnapped- the fact that tomorrow was Padme's birthday. He had been thinking about it for a long time, wanting to make it as special as possible and outdo his own efforts of the last year- he tried to make his surprises better each year. But his week to plan all of this had evaporated in front of him, and as soon as he had known the children were safe he had worried about what to do. He wondered if Padme even realized it, the week having gone by so quickly that no one really knew what day it was. He only knew because he had been consciously thinking about it. Most importantly, this was the first year the twins could really be aware of helping him to make their mother's birthday special- last year, as three year olds, the idea of a birthday had obviously excited them greatly, but they had been too young to really help or get into the idea. But this year he could help them to pick out their own presents and make their own cards, and he had been looking forward to it greatly. But now they had no time, and he didn't know what to do. Not to mention that she had to address the Senate on the very difficult matter tomorrow, and Anakin knew that that was a miserable birthday present. He normally convinced her to take her birthday off, but he knew it was out of the question as this address was extremely important.

Padme, staring out the window, was thinking only about how incredibly relieved and overjoyed she was that her entire family was home safely. She couldn't wait to get home and spend time with them; she never wanted to be apart from any of them again. Of course, she knew that she had to address the Senate tomorrow, as much as she dreaded it. She didn't have the energy to go through the hours of preparation it took to dress and make herself presentable for a formal address, not to mention actually writing the speech… Unfortunately, this was the one speech in her years as Chancellor that absolutely could not be postponed- not that she ever let herself postpone speeches anyway. It was ironic, she thought ruefully, that the one speech she actually might have put off was the one that she couldn't avoid. She gazed towards Anakin lovingly, so glad that she had him to support her, knowing that he would stay up all night helping her if the thought so much as passed through her mind.

She began to figure out what she would say, mentally running through all of the necessary components. She had become extremely good at writing speeches in her head, and could essentially go back and edit them in her mind as if she had written them out. She knew she was good at writing speeches quickly, so she wasn't actually worried about getting it done. She simply didn't want to- she wished she could just go home and relax without having to worry about the Senate for a while. She sighed loudly, continuing to plan her speech.

"Are you… are you actually writing a speech in your head?" Anakin asked incredulously, laughing.

"And are you actually reading my mind again, when I ask you constantly to stop?" She retorted, smiling at him.

"I only started to after you sighed so loudly," Anakin said innocently. "I wanted to know why you were so frustrated, so I could help to make it better." He turned towards her and gave her a very sweet face and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"I guess it's ok," she told him, just happy to be conversing casually and happily again, the anxiety of the past week behind them.

"So you were really writing a speech in your head?" He asked again, teasing her.

"Well, Anakin, I have to give it tomorrow, for Force sake," she said frustratedly. "And I just want to know what I'm going to say so that I can spend tonight with my family."

Anakin smiled warmly, as he looked ahead of him at the traffic. "It's ok," he assured her. "I love you even more for it," he said truthfully. It was Padme's little quirks like this one that he loved so much.

She laughed as Anakin finally parked the speeder in front of their apartment. 3-PO rushed to meet them, he and R2 having headed home immediately upon returning to Coruscant to make sure that everything was in order for the Skywalkers' return. Anakin and Padme each picked up a soundly sleeping twin as the droid led them to a warm dinner already waiting for them.

"I think we should just let them sleep," Anakin suggested, and Padme nodded in agreement. They walked into the twins' room and laid them down on their beds. Anakin put his arm around Padme as they stood in the doorway watching their children sleep.

Anakin could have watched them sleep forever, he was just so in love with his whole family and so happy for them to be finally safe at home. The peaceful breathing of his children soothed him as he watched them sleep and thought about how lucky he was.

"I'm so glad we're home." Padme's words jarred Anakin out of his daze, and she giggled as he jumped, startled. He nodded, and took her hand, kissing it and leading her to dinner.

"Wow," Anakin remarked, and Padme looked up at him from her plate.

"What?" She asked smiling as he looked around him.

"So quiet," he commented, and she nodded in agreement as they both continued to silently eat.

"I think having the twins made us lose our skills at dinner table conversation," Padme laughed. It really had been so long since they had had dinner alone together. They rarely went out without the twins, and they certainly hadn't had dinner alone in their apartment in almost five years. Padme felt transported back to the time before the twins' birth, before Sidious, just after they had gotten married. She looked up at Anakin and was suddenly brought back to the present- he looked so much older, so much more mature than the young Padawan she had married. He looked so much more sophisticated and had a weariness about him that only made him look handsomer, not to mention he was much stronger physically.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her, smiling as he noticed her studying him.

"How much older you look," she told him honestly, and he gave her a look of intrigue and confusion. "Since the last time we had dinner like this, just the two of us," she added, and he smiled.

"I hope I don't look too old," he teased, pretending to be hurt.

"Please Anakin, if anyone, I look old," she sighed, and Anakin now knew that she was thinking about her birthday. However, he said nothing about it.

"You will never stop being young and beautiful to me," Anakin said honestly, and Padme giggled. "I'm serious," he added, and she blushed this time, as she always did when he looked at her so intensely and so lovingly.

"Yeah, right," Padme muttered dejectedly.

"You're done eating, right?" Anakin asked suddenly, and she looked up at him, confused.

"I guess so, why-" He cut her off, suddenly at her side kissing her lovingly and pulling on her hand.

"I think I know how to show you that I meant what I said," he explained, as he led her towards their bedroom, and Padme smiled genuinely. At their bedroom door, he pulled her into a passionate kiss.

"Thank you, Ani," she said to him. "For everything, really everything." Anakin smiled and kissed her lovingly as Padme kicked the door shut.

…………………………………………………………………

"Wake up little Angels," Anakin said softly as Luke and Leia blinked their eyes open, confused.

"Why's it still dark out daddy?" Leia asked- they had never been up so early.

"Do you know what today is?" Anakin asked them, as he cautiously turned their clock around so that they couldn't see how early it was. 'Not that they can tell time, anyway,' he thought to himself, amusedly.

"Mommy gives her speech today!" Luke answered excitedly, as the twins now stared at Anakin, wide awake.

"Yes, but it's also something even more special," Anakin informed them, and their faces lit up.

"What, what is it?" They chorused loudly.

"Shhh, we don't want to wake mommy up," Anakin warned them. "Today," he began, looking intently at them, "is her birthday!"

"IT IS!" They screamed, and Anakin put his hands over their mouths.

"Shhh! I need your help today, we have a lot to do before mommy wakes up, because we lost all of our time to plan it," Anakin explained, and they nodded eagerly.

"Oh no, you're not going to be giving her lots of birthday kisses are you," Leia asked, so that she could prepare herself if the answer was yes.

"Unfortunately for you, I will be," Anakin laughed as Leia looked around angrily. "Now, do you two want to be my helpers today?"

"Yes! Yes!" Luke answered for both of them.

"Ok, get dressed then, we have a lot to do and not very much time," Anakin instructed.

………………………………………….

Padme woke up to see the sun brightly shining on her face, and Anakin missing from her side.

'I must have been really tired,' she thought- she never slept this late. She stretched lazily, then suddenly remembered that today she had to address the Senate. She groaned, being in no mood at all to go through the millions of formalities this day would require. She suddenly seriously missed her handmaidens. She thought back to the days of guilty bliss when she had people fussing over her at every second, especially when she was queen… she sighed, reminding herself how long ago that was, how much happier she was now, how much things had changed…

'How much I've changed,' she groaned, as she looked at herself in the mirror, glaring disgustedly at the reflection that looked so much older now than then it had back in the days she was remembering.

She had secretly been hoping that Anakin would forget her birthday because of the events of the past week- it would be perfectly understandable with all he'd been through, and she really didn't need anything to remind her of the fact that she was another year older. She looked down at her stomach, patting it subconsciously. It did make her feel young and excited to be awaiting another baby, especially because this pregnancy was so much happier than the last- her husband could actually openly experience all of it with her. She knew it was stupid to feel this way, the practical, political side of her told her she was still very young and in all honesty she hardly looked any different. But she couldn't control what she felt, she was getting older, and the fact that Anakin was still in his twenties didn't help matters. She just hoped he didn't suddenly realize one day how much older she was…she sighed, and began to do her hair for the long day she had ahead of her.

"Padme," She heard from outside the door.

"What Anakin?" She asked, her tone a little more annoyed than she had intended.

"Could you come out here for a second?" He said patiently.

" But I- well, all right," she sighed, pulling on her robe and tying her hair back. She did want to see him, especially because he hadn't been there when she woke up. Maybe he actually had the twins up and dressed, she thought optimistically.

Padme opened the door, and gasped. The room was beautifully decorated, breakfast was laid out and several wrapped gifts sat on the surfaces around the room- so he had remembered. Of course he had, she thought to herself, he always did. And she was happy, even though she had told herself she wanted this birthday to be completely ignored, and even though she was slightly embarrassed by it all as she stood in front of them in her robe.

"Anakin," she said weakly, her eyes speaking for her, her extreme gratitude and appreciation obvious. "You didn't have to-"

"Yes, I did," he said cutting her off. She smiled as she saw the twins charging towards her.

"Happy Birthday mommy!" They screamed, tackling her.

"Careful!" Anakin suddenly said worriedly, as he ran over to help her back up and the twins ran around the room, dragging balloons behind them and yelling excitedly.

"Thank you," She said, smiling at all of them.

"Happy Birthday," Anakin said, giving her a kiss. She smiled at him lovingly. The twins showered her with little presents, some things for the baby and some things for her, and she was very touched- obviously, they had picked these out themselves.

"Anakin, when did you…?"

"This morning," he said proudly. "We've been up for hours."

"We got to have breakfast at Dex's!" Luke exclaimed excitedly. "I got chocolate milk and… and pancakes!"

"Ah," Padme smiled amusedly at Anakin. "So that explains why they're like this," she said as they ran around the room and dizzily bumped in to each other.

Anakin grinned sheepishly. "We shopped all morning, they were hungry!"

Padme kissed him lovingly. "These are all wonderful," she told the twins, stopping them momentarily to give them each a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

"I think I might have gotten you the best present of all," Anakin said mysteriously, as she looked at him, intrigued.

"Should I get them?" Leia yelled excitedly, and Anakin laughed.

"Whatever happened to keeping it a secret?" He teased her.

"You already talked about it!" Leia said, going to the door. She opened it, and Obi Wan and Sabe walked in, smiling.

"I thought you could use a friend," Anakin said lovingly, "as well as someone to help you get ready today. And maybe Obi Wan, too, I don't know," he laughed, as Obi Wan did too.

"Anakin, how did you know exactly what I needed today?" Padme asked- it really was the best present, especially today. She walked over and hugged Sabe enthusiastically.

They sat down to eat, the twins running around incessantly as they had already eaten breakfast at Dex's. After breakfast, Sabe and Padme went into Anakin and Padme's bedroom to get ready for the Senate address, and Anakin, Obi Wan, and the twins played a game outside.

"You don't know how much I needed you today," Padme told Sabe warmly. "I am dreading this so much, I don't even know why, but I just… I just…"

"I know," Sabe said calmly. "I understand, and obviously, Anakin does too."

"Why do I feel so terrible today? I should be happy, overjoyed, in fact. We're all home safely, my family threw me this incredible birthday breakfast, my life is wonderful right now, why am I in such a bad mood?" Padme asked these questions quickly, so grateful to have Sabe to talk to again. They had been apart a long time, Sabe having found work elsewhere and Padme having been extremely occupied in the Senate. They had truly been best friends when Sabe was Padme's handmaiden, and had shared everything with each other, but now they both had many more responsibilities and jobs that led them apart. Padme had missed Sabe terribly, and was glad to have her back to talk to.

"Well I'm guessing it's because you're pregnant and it's your birthday," Sabe explained simply as she did Padme's hair, and Padme nodded, laughing. "Mood swing, plus feeling old, is never a good combination. And who would want to address the Senate after this week you've just had? Not me, and I had to do it for you a lot."

Padme laughed, looking up warmly at Sabe. "You saved me a lot of serious anxiety over the years, Sabe," Padme said, smiling.

"Don't worry, we all feel this way sometimes. Just remember that you're possibly the most envied woman in the galaxy, and you won't feel depressed much longer. You're successful and beautiful and plus, you're married to Anakin Skywalker," Sabe teased.

"Thanks Sabe," Padme said, truly grateful. "But I actually think I have some competition about being envied… now, you can tell me about you and Obi Wan!" Padme smiled expectantly at Sabe, who laughed, and nodded, and began to tell Padme all that she had missed being able to share over the past few months.

Hey! I'm going on vacation, for the holidays, maybe I'll get another chapter written before, and if not I'll only be gone about a week so it won't be too long… hopefully no one is holding their breath or anything. Let me know if you're still sticking with me, and enjoying this- I'm still having fun writing it! I think the next chapter will still be this day, and then I'll skip ahead to the baby being born, and be done. Is anyone still on board for a sequel when Luke and Leia are like 16 or 18? I think that might be fun, let me know.

-sewardsfolly