Chapter 18: Mother To A Dead Baby
Vader had said nothing else about their new arrival, but Padmé's motherly instinct assured her hear that her deepest wish had come true- finally, their little family would be reunited.
A stab of guilt stung Padmé and she shifted her eyes away from the dark being who broodingly strode ahead of her.
There will be some things that time and understanding can never heal
Suddenly, out of nowhere flew a woman with long blond hair. In her hands was a blaster which she did not hesitate in using on the Sith Lord. The sound of it being shot filled the empty corridors, mixing with Padmé's screams.
Wounded by the unmerciful onslaught, Vader's lifeless body crumpled to the ground only to be kicked aside by the ruthless woman.
"Who are you?" Padmé wept, both grateful yet afraid of this wild woman who dared to take on the most dreaded Sith.
"I am StarAngel, and I have come to rescue you!"
Wait a minute… wrong story!
Chapter 18: Mother To A Dead Baby
Vader had said nothing else about their new arrival, but Padmé's motherly instinct assured her hear that her deepest wish had come true- finally, their little family would be reunited.
A stab of guilt stung Padmé and she shifted her eyes away from the dark being who broodingly strode ahead of her.
There will be some things that time and understanding can never heal
Swiftly, he led her to his own chambers and punched in the code so that they could enter.
"Wait!" she suddenly cried out, placing her hand upon his gloved one as Vader moved to press the last button.
This movement startled the Sith, and he looked down at her with piercing blue eyes.
"I know that you are not doing this for me," Padmé said breathlessly as her dark eyes filled with tears, "but thank you… it… means the world to me."
Once more, confusion seemed to stun Vader, but with a muttering under his breath, he shifted uneasily and pulled away his arm rather brusquely. As if to prove that he was still the bad tempered Sith Lord she'd come to know, he jammed in the last part of the code and all but pushed Padmé into the door as it opened.
Standing there in the center of the room in all childish innocence was a sandy-haired boy of about three years.
"Luke," she breathed. Years of aching to hold her baby flooded her and, with a great sob, Padmé rushed forward and pulled the child into her loving arms.
In a confused silence, Luke stared at the black being that stood behind the woman , completely ignoring the angel that wept into his hair.
"Oh, my baby!" Padmé whispered.
For the first time in three years, Padmé was complete.
Almost.
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Flashback
Something was missing. Though only half conscious and feeling like she'd been ran over by an overweight bantha, Padmé knew that something very precious had been ruthlessly snatched away from her, leaving an emptiness that could never be filled.
"My daughter?" she whispered drowsily, her head lolling to the other side as she sleepily blinked at the healer standing before her.
"My Lady, you need rest," the large man insisted firmly though he refused to look at he.
"Where's my baby?"
The healer bit his lip. "My lady…"
Padmé became delirious and struggled to sit up, and the moment her feet touched the ground, she nearly collapsed. She had to find her baby.
"Please, you shouldn't be up!"
But she was not noticing.
Shaking hands fled to her almost flat stomach.
It hadn't been that way earlier before passing out.
"My baby!" she cried out, running her hands along the flatness only to not feel the curve that had been there, Thinking that her hands were tricking her, Padmé looked down only to see the blood that was spattered on her legs. In response, her weary and pained limbs gave out and, with a wail of agony, the Senator fell to the floor.
This alerted the attention of the healers passing by her room, and they helped the other healer place the young woman back on the bed,
"It was a girl," she sobbed through the dears that rained down her face. "It was a girl… Anakin's daughter." As of saying the horrible truth that her heart could not accept, Padmé felt the weight of deadness settle within her.
Perhaps it was because they did not understand what she had said or remained silent out of respect for the mournful time, but the healers did not blink at this most unusual revelation.
"Lie back down," the main healer urged when Padmé tried to stir again.
"I want to see my baby…" she whispered, sounding like a little, lost child. "Please… I need to hold her… she was so little."
Grief washed over the healer's face and he slowly nodded before gesturing for the others to leave the room. He too did so, but returned a minute later.
In his arms was a tiny but precious pink
bundle.
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Despite the sudden domestic bliss that befell the troubled young woman, there still remained a tiny problem- Leia. The little girl was still sleeping and completely unaware that her life had been invaded by the presence of the little brother she'd never met. On the way back to her quarters, Padmé whispered of this debacle to Vader, but he merely shrugged.
Inside the room, she sat down with a visibly anxious Luke who stood before her looking thoroughly confused as to where he was or with whom he was with. Only when Vader had went into the other room to get Leia did she dare to say anything. "Oh, my little one!" Padmé whispered, her eyes welling up with tears as she cupped Luke's angelic face with her hand. "Do you not know who I am?"
After a quizzical look spread across his chubby face, Luke shook his head and looked at her with frightened eyes. For an added sense of security, the little boy popped one of his thumbs into his mouth.
This honest confession nearly broke Padmé's heart, and it was all she could do to hold her smile and not burst into her tears. "That's okay," she said quietly. "I'm your mommy."
Neither recognition nor anything else dawned in Luke's eyes. It had taken Leia only a few moments to understand this revelation, but this child didn't seem to even understand the concept of what a 'mommy' really was.
Before anything else could happen, Vader strode back into the main room with a still-sleeping Leia in his arms. Her little face was buried into his hard chest and her arms were hugging his neck as she tried to go back to peaceful slumber.
Despite her protestations, Leia was soon standing before the even more than before bewildered Luke. The two children stared at each other as recognition slowly dawned in their minds.
But, jealousy soon took control of little Leia, causing her to climb onto Padmé's lap and glower down at Luke whose gaze she did not break. "Take him back," she whispered loudly into her mother's ear.
This comment startled the older woman, but she managed to calmly reply, "But he's your brother! You've always aid you wanted a brother or sister."
A significant look from the three year old at Padmé's belly clearly said that Leia only wanted someone littler than her. "Take him back." The last look she sent Luke nearly dared the little boy to take her place.
Thoroughly distressed, the woman looked up to find that Vader was chuckling. "Is there anything more you could want, My Lady?"
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Fear gripped Padmé and curled about her in it's lifeless embrace. Part of her wanted to scream and cover her ears, telling the medic to take the bundle away and not show her so as to spare her yet another heartbreak. Perhaps, if she didn't see her child or held the baby in her arms, Padmé could pretend it never existed.
She had always been a poor liar.
Thus, with tears rolling down her face, the Senator watched with great trepidation as the Healer stepped towards her, not wanting to feel the moment in which what she had tried to deny would become reality for her.
"Here," the man said simply, holding out the child for her to take.
With shaking hands, Padmé did so and accidentally let out a gasp of shock at the contact.
The baby was little- oh so tiny. Snuggled deep within the pink blanket Padmé had so lovingly mad her, slept a light haired, blue eyed angel who rested in eternal peace.
Her mother realized that she didn't even have a name for her dead baby.
As she cradled the baby close to her breast and gently reached out to touch the soft flesh of her fist, Padmé began to weep even more, the tears rolling from her eyes onto the baby's still-fragile and warm skin.
Though not fully grown, the baby was undoubtedly Anakin's child. Her little mouth was open, much like Anakin had the habit of when sleeping, his warm breath warming her skin. Tiny hands with long fingers that had been inherited by her father were clenched tightly, making Padmé wonder if the baby had suffered any pain.
Padmé was a mother to a dead baby. Never would
Anakin be able to see the child he fathered, and while other mothers
would leave the Healers with a baby, she would be left with a box
containing a few mementoes and a small coffin.
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Until the doctor took her baby away, Padmé sat
there rocking the infant in her arms and whispering of the love she
would never be able to show.
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Here's some tissues and chocolate for you all!
