Chapter 15: The Baby

Though she jumped inwardly, Padmé did her best to keep her face straight lest Vader should see it through the small light.

"I've been better," Padmé whispered as he attempted to snuggle back against him before the Sith before he began to ask questions. A tear rolled down her face as she rested against the warm skin of his chest.

Without him even moving, the nearby lamp flickered on.

"You're crying," he noted, sliding away from the woman. Vader's cool eyes scrutinized her, slowly looking from her closed eyes to where Padmé held her unsettled stomach. "You know, there are millions of women out there who would love…"

"It's not that," she said through clenched teeth, angrily glaring at him.

The smirk on Vader's face unsettled her.

"You would not understand," she whispered, Padmé's heart crestfallenly knowing this to be true.

Try me his face seemed to gloat at her.

A sob escaped Padmé and she quickly rolled over so that he wouldn't see.

No comforting arms wrapped about her nor did a sympathetic hand reach out to touch her. Vader was probably still smirking at her, triumphant in his dominion over his crushed wife.

But Padmé knew things that he did not. Because of that, she was able to force a shaky smile.

She'd been husbandless before, yet Padmé had survived.

Flashback, Six Years Before

Loneliness was her friend albeit a cruel one.

It had been three weeks before Padmé had seen Anakin and she was counting. Five hundred and four hours. Twenty-one days. 30,240 minutes. How many seconds, Padmé knew not, but she preferred the small number of three weeks- it somehow made his absence seem shorter.

Yet, as a newlywed, those varying numbers, which all accumulated to an eternity, meant and felt like a lifetime.

In the past five months that she'd been married to Anakin, Padmé had seen him less than a dozen times- ten, actually, she reminded herself while lying alone in bed. There should have been more times, but Padmé didn't want to think about those.

Padmé had something better, much more beautiful to think about.

The baby.

Anakin and her's baby.

Sitting up in bed, Padmé gently ran a hand over her stomach. No tests had been taken nor any trips to the Healer been made, but she knew that she was carrying his child.

Perhaps it was her motherly intuition, she thought with a wry smile that would have delighted Anakin.

Many women she'd known had tried and tried to conceive a child, yet she, Padmé Skywalker, had been blest.

Yes, the child was a blessing though none other than she and Anakin would see it as one.

A sudden hope flickered in Padmé and, closing her eyes, she tried to reach into the Force like Anakin had shown her how to.

I love you, my Knight

"Would you care to tell me more or am I supposed to guess what it was about?" Vader asked dryly.

Padmé began to tremble and, sitting up, worriedly took his cold hands in hers. "Vader, I am pregnant."

"Anakin, I'm pregnant."

Silence.

Incredulity spread over his face. "That's w…wonderful," he sputtered, Anakin's eyes clouded over with some emotion she could not read.

"Anakin, what are we going to do?"

He said nothing but continued to blankly watch her.

"Are you not happy?" Padmé whispered, her voice breaking as she did so. A sudden tear rolled down her cheek, but he did not move to brush it away like he would have years before. "You wanted a child…"

"I wanted an heir," he interrupted brusquely.

She closed her eyes as Vader's cruel comment caused more tears to course out of her eyes. "Vader, I am very worried that something is about to happen to the baby and I."

"The Emperor doesn't know that you are with child or that I brought Leia here," Vader said in a thoroughly annoyed way, giving her a dark look. Still, he did not pull his hands away though Vader did not urge her to continue the discussion.

"In my… dream," Padmé started, pausing as her eyes filled up with tears to brush them away. Taking a deep breath, she found the strength to continue. "I was screaming and in terrible pain." At this, Padmé clenched her eyes shut as if that alone would ward off the unpleasant memories. "There was… blood everywhere." A sob caught in her throat. "The baby died… inside me," she cried her shaking hands pressing his against her womb. "The baby died," Padmé whispered again when Vader did not even blink. "You were not there with me… I don't even know where you were, honestly."

"It was just a dream," Anakin snapped, interrupting her flow of thoughts.

Gasping, Padmé was too shocked for words. Numbly, she watched as Vader pulled his hands away from her stomach and settled back under the covers, his broad back to her.

"Vader, how can you say that?" she asked painfully, shaking her head in a disbelieving way.

In a move so sudden that it made Padmé jump, Vader rolled over and gave her a harsh look. "Three years ago, I had dreams that said you were going to die in childbirth, but you offered no comfort. I killed for you, Padmé, but you have yet to thank me."

"Thank you?" Padmé echoed, horror filling her ears at these words. "Anakin, what you did was murder- how can I be pleased that you killed younglings in my name?"

"Don't expect any sympathy from me," he snarled. "That is the last thing I shall be giving you!" Then, he became silent.

"So," she said slowly and purposefully, "you do not care whether something bad happens to the baby or I?"

"Oh, yes," Vader said hastily, "I do care- for my own selfish reasons. You and our children belong to me."

"That is slavery," Padmé whispered. "Vader, have you learned nothing from your past."

"It appears that you haven't learned from yours, either."

Softly crying, Padmé just sat there. "You are right," she finally admitted with a loud sob though her voice was oddly determined.

Rolling back over, Vader nevertheless stiffened.

"I should have learned my lesson a long time ago but I was too stubborn to stop believing in you," she cried out passionately, "and you will have to kill me for me to stop trying, but even then, I will haunt your every step for the rest of your miserable life." That said, Padmé burst into more tears.

Vader said nothing.

At this, a sea of hurt welled up in Padmé as she began to shake in fury. Three years of her life, three years that should have been spent contentedly raising her family, had been stolen from this monster. Vader neither cared nor wanted to help save what little family they had left. This angered her as she looked down at him with such a fierce loathing that only an abused wife and mother is capable of.

"You stole one innocent child from me, Vader," she cried out her horrible secret that had been haunting her for years finally revealed. "Was that enough or must you rob yet another innocent life from my womb?"

Then, with all the strength and anger she'd kept hidden for three, long years, Padmé lunged out and hit Vader's exposed side as hard as she could.

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Spoiler for the next chapter: How does Vader react?