Ahsoka would have loved to talk about the twins all day long, but Padmé hadn't seen Ahsoka in over year and she was much more concerned about how her life had gone. The few updates she had gotten from Anakin just weren't the same as hearing it from her. "Are you sure you're doing all right in the Lower Levels?"

Laughing, Ahsoka smiled, "I am, I promise. It's actually gotten really nice in the past month or so. Not 'senator-of-the-republic' nice, but it's good."

"I've just heard about so many stories of the types of people that are down there," Padmé recounted. "Then again, that's all I hear about the Lower Levels."

"No, I get it," Ahsoka assured her. "You only ever hear about the worst parts. I dealt with the same thing, at first. It's just that I've seen the best parts too."

"So it's not as bad as they say?"

Ahsoka's mind flashed back to the hundreds of times she had gotten jumped, or attacked, or ambushed. It happened pretty regularly, although some occasions were worse than others. "No, it's just as bad, but those people are the minority. There are ways to avoid them, I just don't."

Padmé was about to ask why, but she smiled when she answered her own question. "Someone with your history probably doesn't have to worry as much about danger, I suppose."

"Well, that's true, but sometimes it's even simpler than that," Ahsoka explained. "I've been around long enough that some people who would attack me don't because of my reputation."

The senator looked down, ashamed that she had forgotten. "I thought people would be over it by now, but I guess between the trial and the Inquisitor, it's still fresh in some people's minds. I'm sorry, Ahsoka."

"What?" Ahsoka stared at her quizzically, before realizing. "That's not the reputation I'm talking about. People have forgotten if they even knew in the first place. Not many people keep track of what happens on the surface anyhow."

"Then what do you mean?" she asked, thankful that she had been wrong.

Sitting back and hiding a grin, she explained. "I don't live in the safest part of the Lower Levels, but it's actually worked out in my favor. There have been multiple occasions where I've intercepted a bounty hunter or a nasty abuser on the streets before they get to their target. If I'm close by, I'll stop break-ins at restaurants or workshops. I've even done it for my own job site once. Between that, and my mini-med bay, my neighbors have come to respect me enough to leave me alone every once in a while."

Padmé's face lit up, ecstatic at the news. "What's your mini-med bay?"

Ahsoka grinned. "My coworkers have a habit of getting hurt, and I've become the go-to person for first aid. Apparently, they like to spread the word, too. Almost every week for the past month, there's been someone knocking at my door, asking for treatment because the hospital is too expensive. Most of the time, I have no idea who they are. People will usually leave behind a few credits, but I don't require anyone to pay for it."

"That's insane," Padmé murmured. "And so wrong. There should be no reason why anyone shouldn't be able to afford medical treatment."

"Tell that to the Department of Health," Ahsoka groaned. "I can't even afford medical treatment, which is why I started buying my own medical supplies. It's cheaper than going in."

Padmé rested her head in her hands. "You'd think the Coruscant senator would take notice of these things," she complained, but she refused to let it spoil her time with Ahsoka. "What are the good parts you see?"

Where do you want me to start? she thought. "Well, compared to the rations I ate for 13 years, the food is much better."

She threw up her hands. "You and Anakin, he's said that every time I've asked!"

"Well, it's true!" Ahsoka insisted, trying not to laugh. "I didn't realize how much I didn't like them until I went back up to rescue the Council. After eating fresh food and meat for three months, the rations taste like dirt."

"So I've heard. Is there anything else that you'd like to share with me?" Padmé asked, exasperated.

After thinking for a moment, she responded. "There's so much more freedom than before. I remember for the first month or so, I kept running out of things to do. I'd work, and I'd run to the market, or eat, or clean, and then everything would be done for the day. I've had to find ways to spend my free time, other than meditating for four hours a day."

Padmé snorted. "That sounds nice, in theory. I can see why it would get boring, but I barely get those kinds of days anymore."

"Wait until you have twins to take care of," she teased, and Padmé shoved her to the side. "I don't know, I guess I never imagined a life without something to do, something to fight for. The same thing over and over every day gets too simple if it doesn't work towards something."

Without looking at Ahsoka, Padmé played with a bracelet on her wrist. "So what do you work towards? If you're not fighting in the war anymore..."

Ahsoka smiled, remembering back to when she was asking the same question. "I didn't know for a long time, but I started looking at people around me to see what they were fighting for. The one thing that kept coming up was that they fight for one another. The people I've met have such strong relationships with their family or their friends. When I first saw it, coming from a place where love wasn't allowed...it was so strange, and confusing."

"No Jedi knows their parents, and attachments are forbidden," Padmé went on, understanding. "You had never had a family. Well, except for Anakin, but even that wasn't supposed to happen."

She looked up at her, startled by her statement. Padmé narrowed her eyes. "Come on, you can't pretend like he doesn't still watch out for you. And you feel the same way, you just crossed half the galaxy to save him."

"That doesn't mean he should," Ahsoka argued. "Just because I have the freedom to have emotions doesn't mean he does. He still follows the Jedi Code."

Even as she said it, though, she knew it wasn't entirely true. Anakin Skywalker considered the Code to be more guidelines than actual rules, as exemplified by his marriage, for starters. Padmé was calling her rancor dung, too.

"We both know he doesn't follow the Jedi's rules too closely. He's probably breaking one right now," she suggested, which was enough to make Ahsoka grin, just for a second.

Ahsoka wanted to tell Padmé about all the reasons why she shouldn't be considered Anakin's family. Her guilty side was keeping a running list, after all. Then again, she didn't know how much Anakin was comfortable with her saying. Instead, she sighed and settled for saying, "He's got enough to worry about right now, he doesn't need to be looking out for me on top of two kids. I mean, he's stressed out enough about one!"

She tilted her head, and Ahsoka felt like she was staring into her soul. "Is that how you think he sees you? You're not a kid who needs protecting anymore, that's not what he's trying to do."

"Then what is he trying to do?"

"Not lose you again."

The words snaked around Ahsoka's mind, trying to make sense of them. When had Anakin ever lost her? Every time something happened to her, it hadn't been his fault. With Cad Bane, with the Trandoshans, with Barriss, with Sideous, all of those were consequences of her own actions, not his. All Anakin had ever tried to do was get her back. If there was such a clear pattern emerging, then why was he trying to prevent the seemingly inevitable?

Her gaze dropped, but Padmé didn't stop talking to her, softly. "He's glad that you've found a life outside of the Jedi. Maybe even a little jealous, though he'll never admit it. He's seen what the Clone War has done to you and to everyone else, and if he can make sure that someone can walk away from it alive, especially you, then he's going to do it."

"Why?" Ahsoka asked. "I-what does he have to gain from me walking away?"

"Anakin didn't talk about his past much, did he?"

Ahsoka's face went slack. "The last time I heard that was Obi-Wan told me about his slave past."

Padmé nodded, not really surprised. "Did he mention his mother?"

"Maybe, I don't remember."

"I met him the second time when he was 19. We went to find his mother on Tattooine, but she died right after we found her. I don't think he's ever forgotten."

Ahsoka bent over forward, head in her hands. Of course, of course, he'd be afraid of losing her. He'd be afraid of losing anybody. He always has been. Obi-Wan, Rex, me, and-

Padmé. The twins. If Padmé was going to be a mother, then there was no way that the thought hadn't crossed Anakin's mind. No wonder he was so stressed. He might not be acknowledging it, but he was scared that he was going to lose his family right as it was starting.

She felt Padmé's hand on her shoulder, and she looked over at the mother-to-be. It wasn't hard to see what Anakin saw now: Someone worth protecting with his life, and Ahsoka knew him well enough to know that he would do it in a heartbeat. He would save the world if it meant protecting her and his children.

"You know, your parents and sister aren't going to be able to watch the twins all the time. They might need someone to step in every once in a while," Ahsoka suggested.

Padme's mouth curled up in a grin. "I suppose they will need a part-time babysitter. Are you in the market for a job?"

Ahsoka sat up and smiled. "For those kids? Absolutely."