Chapter 8: Master and Apprentice, Father and Mother

Anakin walked down the halls of the Jedi temple headed for a meditation room. He was so stressed from trying to figure out where he had seen this Kreia before that he needed a little meditation. She looked somewhat like the Darth Traya in his vision. He had called Padmé yesterday and she thought so too but the biggest difference between to two were the eyes. Darth Traya had glassy black eyes, this woman's eyes were milky white and nothing they sensed in her related to the dark side. Just a wise gray to her was all they had.

Anakin reached the door of the meditation chamber and before his fingers found the door released button his comm link buzzed. Irritated he grabbed it from his cloak and switched it on, a hologram of the sweating form of Sabé sprang up.

"Anakin, Padmé is going into labor!" She blurted out so fast Anakin almost didn't catch that. Excitement pushed his irritation out of they way and he nearly leaped up in joy.

"I'm coming! Tell Padmé I'll be there soon."

Before Sabé could answer there was a scream in the background followed by the cooing voice of a medical droid urging Padmé to keep pushing.

"Damn it." Sabé snapped. "I'll see you when you get her Anakin!"

She quickly cut the connection. Before her hologram disappeared Anakin was already dialing in Qui-gon's comm. Seconds after Sabé's image flickered away an image of Qui-gon materialized. Anakin was already sprinting towards the hanger bay before Qui-gon spoke.

"Yes Anakin, what is it?"

"Padmé…" Anakin began breathing heavily from sprinting. He called upon the Force to aid him.

"Is she alright?" Qui-gon asked immediately concerned.

"Fine… she's giving… birth! Tell… Yoda I have… to go!"

"Its alright Anakin, go if you need to but don't forget to contact Admiral Piett."

"I won't. Bye!" Anakin switched off the comm and inserted it in his pocket. He had reached the hanger by, the doors opened slowly, to slowly. He couldn't wait any longer. He called upon the Force, the left half of the door which was only a quarter of the way open snapped in two and fell to the ground. Anakin lunged into the hanger bay and jumped up the ramp into his shuttle. Quickly he punched the engines on and took off out of the hanger. The wings lowered as Anakin hit another button, he zoomed up towards the atmosphere ignoring the speed limit of the planet. He set his ship on auto pilot for a moment and dialed in the frequency for the Executor's bridge comm channel.

Immediately the voice of Admiral Piett filtered through the black mesh comm speakers on the dashboard.

"Greetings Lord Skywalker," Piett began.

"Shut up Admiral!" Anakin snapped. "There was… urgent news from Padmé, her… great uncle has a virus, I need to get to Naboo, can you command the fleet without me?"

Piett immediately picked up the signal that Padmé was having her child. He smiled though Anakin could not see and answered.

"As you command milord. Take all the time you need to help with her great uncle's virus."

"Thank you Admiral." Vader gasped. He shut off the comm before Piett could reply and sent his shuttle speeding into hyperspace. Coruscanti police ships were flying after him ready for ticket giving but all nearly collided into each other as the ship shot away.

XxX

Anakin flew his shuttle over the lake Padmé had talked about on Naboo. In the distance jutting out of the radiant blue water was a small island with a beautiful stone mansion perched on it. Anakin could clearly see a landing pad on the shore to the right of the place. Padmé's shuttle was there and there was just enough room to land his. Barely getting the wings up in time and the landing gear out Anakin landed. He didn't even bother pressing the button to lower the boarding ramp but used the Force to do it instead. He jumped out of the shuttle and walked to shore. There parked at the water's edge was a small speed pleasure skimmer. Anakin leaped into it turned it on and smacked the throttle sending him and the skimmer jolting forward and drenching him with clean cool water. He steered it toward the mansion and docked it.

He leapt out before the engines even began to shut down and landed straight in the cool blue water. Cursing but not angry he hoisted himself up onto the polished wood dock threw his black cloak off and sprinted towards the steps leading up to the mansion taking each on three at a time. He reached the beautiful plasteel/ glass door and Sabé opened it just before he put his drying hand on the handle.

"What happened to you?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"Your skimmer was to slow and I had to jump otherwise I would never get here in time!" Anakin snapped. Sabé laughed.

"Sorry for all your irritation Lord Skywalker, I will make sure that I buy next years model of racing skimmers for your pleasure as soon as possible."

"Slow thing for a racing skimmer." Anakin said irritated that she hadn't let him in.

"Well that's what you get when you buy the current years model I guess, now would you be so kind as to slip your boots off before you come in? Watery clothes are fine but dirty boots down make my job any easier."

Anakin sighed in frustration ripped his boots off and tossed but into the lake with great Force ignoring that they were leather armorweave and cost two thousand credits, each. Sabé stepped aside and allowed Anakin to enter. Immediately he tapped into the Force and found Padmé. He walked down the main hall to a spiraling flight of stairs and sprinted up them into a newly built tower. It was a white medical room.

Padmé was sleeping on a comfortable looking bed, medical instruments surrounded her and some were still hooked up. At the far end of the room Anakin could see two plastic tubs with comfortable baby mattresses in them, a mobile hung over each one. The right was blue, the left was pink. Medical droids hovered around both tubs inspecting the occupants. Padmé had twins, he had twins, a boy and a girl. Anakin quickly rushed up to see his newborn children. The medical droids fussed about letting him near them all wet. They actually made him take off his shirt a trousers and dress in a medical suit before looking at the babies. By the time he was dressed both children were asleep and he didn't have the heart to wake them. He touched each of their heads affectionately, immediately he sensed a strong Force presence within them, these two children's Force potential was great. And at this young of an age that was rare. Anakin looked down at each of his children while the medical droids hovered around doing whatever they were programmed to do. He didn't know exactly how long he stood there looking at his children, each wrapped in a little white blanket, snug, and sleeping.

"Anakin?" Asked a tired voice behind him. Anakin turned and smiled at Padmé. He walked fast over to her bed and sat down on a chair by it.

"Well?" Anakin asked,

"What?"

"Who won our bet?"

"Anakin it was a boy and a girl."

"Which was born first?"

"The boy." Padmé said smiling. "So it looks like you have to take me out and pay for it."

"Alright, you win. So I guess we both get to name them."

"Yes, Luke and Leia."

"Luke and Leia." Anakin repeated. "Luke and Leia Skywalker. They're both going to be Jedi knights I bet."

"What makes you think that?"

"I can sense it, and besides they have powerful parents."

"If I am so powerful how come I cannot get up?"

Next Chapter: Training