Chapter 14: Bad Dreams

Without saying another word, Vader had stormed out of his quarters, the door sliding shut behind him. Even after he'd left, Padmé remained huddled on the ground holding the sobbing princess in he arms.

Had I know that it would come to this, I would have feared the day we were to be reunited.
"Mommy, what's happening?" Leia finally whispered into Padmé's ear, her little hands finally loosening their grip on her mother's hair.

"I… do not know," Padmé admitted, praying that her fear was not so visible on her face as it had been minutes before.

It would only be a matter of time before the Emperor himself gained knowledge of Vader's weakness, but until then, she could only wait with baited breath.

Padmé was used to waiting, but she had a feeling that time was running out.

Quickly.

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Secretly, she had hoped that Vader's wishes for another heir would come to naught, but a week later as she laid in bed next to him, Padmé realized that her desire had been in vain.

Things had been alright when she'd woken up, that is, considering the fact that the monster who called himself her husband had his arms about her and his face buried in her hair. That alone was something startling to wake up and find, but as soon as Padmé's heart rate settled back down to normal, she tried to close her eyes and fall back into a dreamless slumber.

Five minutes later, the former senator was emptying the contents of her stomach into the 'fresher. As her stomach burned and her eyes watered from the overwhelming nausea, Padmé prayed that Vader would grant her a rare moment of privacy and not burst in the small room.

Luck smiled upon her for once and she was able to continue the embarrassing act without interruption.

Long after there was nothing left to bring up, Padmé continued to remain hunched over there, her brown eyes not seeing the mess she'd created.

She was pregnant.

Not with Anakin's child, but by a heartless Sith Lord who used her for reasons that she did not want to understand.

And never hoped to.

When dizziness finally overcame her, Padmé flushed the sickness away and collapsed to the floor, her back against the cabinet as she struggled for air. Her unfocused eyes opened and closed as Padmé's mind grasped what her heart could not.

Vader had been aloof this past week- he would randomly storm in and out of his quarters just enough to keep Leia and Padmé on edge, but his schedule was so demanding that they mostly say him at night.

The night before, he had silently forced

He had silently forced her to be his bed partner, and Padmé had most unwillingly climbed into bed with him.

Happy moments were hard to come by, and Padmé had stopped thinking of her own welfare and had done everything to keep her daughter happy. This had proven harder than she had thought, but with Vader mostly being away on some mysterious mission, there had been plenty of time for mother-daughter bonding. Though Leia never forgot her adoptive parents and talked about them quite frequently, Padmé proved to be a suitable companion and, with time, would surely take priority in her little heart.

Upon learning that the little girl loved it when she told stories, Padmé racked her brain for one to share, one that would make her daughter notice less of their unfavorable surroundings.

"Tell me a happy story," Leia urged as she climbed onto Padmé's lap and looked at her with adoring eyes.

"A happy story?" Padmé echoed, mockingly wrinkling her nose. "You ask so much of me!" Truthfully, the depressiveness of the past three years had caused her to forget most of the happy moments of her former life, but the eagerness of her daughter made Padmé vow to tell one even if she had to make it up.

"Tell me a story about how you met Daddy- my other Mommy and Daddy used to tell me it all the time." Already, Leia had established that her true father and Vader were essentially two different people, and when speaking about them, she referred to them as such. To his face, he was Vader, but when Padmé spoke of their family, the man became Anakin Skywalker, the man Leia briefly thought she had known.

"This is not going to be a happy story," Padmé protested, her throat becoming tight with emotion. Quickly looking away, she prayed that the perceptive two year old hadn't seen her tears.

"Yes it is," Leia insisted, kicking her foot against the chair in dramatic frustration. "You got me and the baby." Though her twin was not a baby in comparison, Leia continued to call her sibling such.

Hesitantly, Padmé spoke of her greatest regret.

This was the scene Vader stumbled upon when he entered into his quarters nearly an hour later. So deep in her story telling, Padmé had not noticed his arrival and continued to speak of her former lover with such fervor that her cheeks had become a rosy pink and her brown eyes sparkled for the first time in many weeks. The tale went on and on as she spoke of her stay at the villa with Anakin and how he'd been torn between his love for the two women in his life.

But at the part when they arrived on Tatooine, Vader loudly cleared his throat, causing Padmé to jump and look at him in a terrified way. "That will be enough," he said gruffly, gesturing for Leia to leave.

Unsure of what to do, Leia looked to her frightened mother for advice, but upon seeing that she was going to receive none, slipped off Padmé's lap and walked towards Vader.

As she did this, Vader continued to unblinkingly gaze at Padmé, his cold eyes calculating and deadly.

Personally, Padmé did not want to find out what he was thinking.

In horror, she watched Leia approach Vader, but before she could stop the little girl, Padmé saw Leia slowly reach out and tug on the tall man's trousers.

His gaze flickered from his wife to down at his feet where the child stood. On Leia's face was a shy smile as she reached for his hand and kissed it. "Thank you," she whispered before taking his hand and holding it to her cheek.

Vader was at loss for words.

Seeing as he did not move, Leia continued to stand there with his hand cupping her face.

"You need to go to bed," he said in a constricted voice before harshly snatching away his hand so forcefully that the little princess nearly toppled over.

She bit her lip so as to not cry, but Leia nodded and practically ran out of the room, nearly tripping over the blanket she carried in the process.

Padmé's eyes filled with tears as she gazed at the monster. That was what could have been her heart seemed to brokenly whisper to him. You took it from us.

Though he could not read her mind, Padmé's eyes told Vader plenty and he silently went about removing his cloak. He entered into and soon came out of the 'fresher dressed in nothing but his traditional black sleep pants.

Meanwhile, Padmé had still not moved. Her hands, now shaking, remained clasped in her lap while she refused to meet his stare.

He silently stepped away from the bed and came to kneel down before his wife. "We will never see eye to eye," Vader whispered, taking her hands in his. "I do not need an ally- I need a wife."

"I need a husband and my children need a father."

"I am your husband."

"No," she said softly, "you are Vader. My husband is dead. You stopped being Anakin when you tried to kill my baby and I on Mustafar."

Standing up and obviously agitated, Vader led her over to the bed and carefully laid Padmé down on the bed before tenderly placing the blankets over her trembling body. Satisfied, he slipped in between the covers and, wrapping his arms about her, fell asleep.

Padmé envied his ability to sleep while she remained haunted by demons.

There would be no peace for her so long as he lived.
Returning back from this haunting memory, Padmé found that her face was covered in tears and that her chest and the neckline of her nightgown were soaked. Only with great difficulty, Padmé stood up and looked at her pale reflection in the mirror.

Pathetic.

Quickly, she dried her tears with a towel and thanked the Force that Vader would not awaken for quite some time.

As she turned to leave, Padmé caught sight of her slender figure in the mirror. With a quaking hand, she gently rested her fingers against the smooth surface of her belly. In there grew an innocent and beautiful child, one that would be tainted by the stain of his or her father.

His child.

The thought of that alone sent her into tears and Padmé stood there clutching her stomach, praying that some mercy be shown to the little family that Padmé had so desperately tried to give her husband. Still, she knew deep down that this pregnancy was to be bleaker than the first two.

His fool heartedness might cost them another child, another life that would be sent to the grave before taking a first breath of life.

Stumbling through the darkness and not caring how much sound she made in doing so, Padmé collapsed on the bed and consequently bumped against Vader. She gasped and inched towards the other side of the bed lest he should waken in a bad mood and take it out on her.

Through the darkness, his blue eyes curiously peered at her. "How is my little wife feeling this morning?"
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Spoiler for the next chapter: What Vader Did Not Know

"I had to stop by for a moment- I needed to see you," he murmured, his eyes closed as he pressed feathery kisses against her knuckles. "How is my lovely wife doing this morning?"

"Beautifully," she replied, her hands sliding down to rest on top of her stomach. "Absolutely beautifully… Anakin, my love, there is something that I need to tell you…"