Chapter 34: The Note
There was crying. A high pitched wail of a baby. Padmé tried to move, but she felt so heavy. Her body barely listened to her. The baby was crying, and she knew it was her baby! She just had to get up. She could feel the soft silkiness of bed sheets and a pillow cradling her head. But her eyes were so heavy.
Then she heard the baby's crying start to calm down. Her heart relaxed, but she knew she had to get up. She had to tend to her baby. It needed her.
"Padmé?" asked a voice. A soft voice she knew so well. "Padmé?" it asked again. "Wake up."
Her eyes suddenly shot open. She sat up with a big gasp. The bed sheets fell down to her lap. She looked up. There stood Anakin. His blue eyes were filled with deep concern. He held a small baby swaddled in a soft yellow blanket. "Padmé? Are you alright?" he asked.
He gently lowered himself down onto the side of the mattress. He slowly handed over the baby. She looked down at it. At her. At the little baby girl. She had brown curly hair like her mother and sister. Her eyes were closed and her cheeks were still red from crying. Padmé brought the baby up so she could kiss her forehead.
Somewhere beyond the room came a shout, "Mommy! Daddy!'
Anakin sighed and shook his head. "They want to go swimming today," he said softly.
"Swim . . . swimming?" she asked.
"I know. They ask to go every day," he said with a smile. He stood up and stretched. Then he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll go make breakfast. See you soon." Then he left. He left through a door . . . a wooden door. An old fashioned door. That was odd . . .
She looked around. The room was made up of soft curves and floral motifs. Warm yellow light came in through the window. Slowly and carefully she got out of bed. She made sure she had a good grip on the baby. She walked over to the window and gasped. Blue sparkling water stretched out until they reached soft rolling green hills. She knew this scenery. She knew this place. Varykino. Her lake house on Naboo.
She walked in a daze out of the room and down the hall. She made it down to the dining room. Luke and Leia sat at the table shoveling food into their mouths. Anakin sat with a cup of caf and a smile on his face as he watched his children eat. The moment she entered, his blue eyes lit up when he saw her.
"Mommy!" Leia shouted with a mouth full of food.
"Good morning mommy!" Luke said cheerfully.
"Daddy is going to take us swimming!" Leia said.
"After breakfast and some meditation," Anakin said in a fatherly tone.
"Meditation?" Luke groaned.
"Yes, meditation, young ones."
"We won't be able to meditate!" Leia said. "This isn't the time to meditate!"
"This is exactly the time to meditate," Anakin said. "You must learn to control your emotions. To stay calm."
Leia pursed her lips clearly not happy with anything coming in between her and swimming.
"You can do it," Anakin said gently. "In fact I believe you be able to do it so fast, that you'll be able to get through meditating and on to swimming before the ninth hour."
Both twins perked up at that and went back to eating. Anakin flashed Padmé a smile and winked at her. She slowly walked up and sat down at the table. The baby was still sound asleep in her arms. The twins finished eating at the same time. They picked up their plates and rushed off to put them in the sink.
"We'll be waiting!" Luke shouted from the hallway. Then the sound of little feet were heard scampering down the hallway.
Anakin smiled, shook his head, and took a sip from his mug. He sighed. "This is nice," he said.
"Nice?" she asked.
"This. You. Me. The twins. The baby. Varykino. You were right."
"I was? About what?"
"About us. About me leaving the Order."
"Leaving . . .?"
"Daddy!" a shout came from down the hall.
"Coming!" Anakin shouted back. He stood up and collected his mug. Again he leaned over and kissed his wife on the head. "I've got some meditating to do." Then he walked out of the room.
The baby wiggled in her arms. The little one was waking up, but Padmé's thoughts were elsewhere. This wasn't right. Why was she at Varykino? She was . . . She was on Imperial Center, not Naboo. It wasn't Anakin . . . it was Vader. A soft whimper caused Padmé to look down. The baby wiggled and slowly opened her eyes. Padmé wondered if she would have blue or brown eyes, but they were neither. They were yellow. Padmé gasped as she almost dropped the baby, but managed to hold on.
"Mother! Mother!"
Padmé looked up. Luke and Leia had walked back in. But they weren't the same two children who were here moments ago. They wore all black. They carried little red lightsabers. And like their baby sister, their eyes were yellow.
"Mother!" Leia said happily as she walked over. Luke was right behind her. "You won't believe what father just taught us!"
"Taught you?" Padmé asked quietly.
"Watch!" Leia said. She brought her red lightsaber up and then swiped it down low. She brought it down towards her mother. The blade went right through Padmé's legs. There was no pain. But now she had no legs below her knee. "See?" Leia shouted excitedly.
"What are you two doing?" Vader asked as he walked into the room. The twins jumped and turned around. He wore all black, which only brought out his yellow eyes.
"Father!" they both shouted happily.
"Look!" Leia said and pointed to Padmé. Vader smiled.
"Excellent job my apprentices," he said. The twins smiled and beamed with pride at the compliment.
"Now mother won't leave!" Luke said.
Vader walked up and stopped right beside Padmé. "No, she won't," he said with a smile. It was a cruel twisted smile. It had none of the warmth of the Anakin from moments ago. A sob broke out of Padmé. How did this happen? How did things come to this? How had her family become attackers and murders? She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't what she wanted.
When she opened her eyes, she woke up. The dream slowly faded away. Instead of the beautiful curved architecture of Varykino, she was met with a plain white ceiling. There were soft noises of machines whirring and a gentle but steady beeping sound. Actually it was two beeping sounds. One over the other. She rolled her head to the side. She saw various medical machines beeping and blinking.
She rolled her head the other way. Sitting in a chair right next to her bed was . . . Anakin? Or was it Vader? Her dream had left her so confused. He was slumped in the chair. His head rested against his shoulder. His eyes were closed as he slept, and his arms were crossed loosely across his chest.
"Ana . . . Ana . . . kin?" she said in barely a whisper.
At once his eyes snapped opened. They were a bright blue. His head jerked up and he looked right at her.
"Pad . . . Padmé?" he said as he stared wide eyed at her. "Padmé? Padmé?" His hands, one warm and soft and the other covered in leather, were gently cupping her face. "Padmé?" he said. His voice more hopeful this time around. "You're awake. How . . . how are you feeling?"
"Anakin?" she asked softly.
"I'm here, Padmé," he said.
Was it true? Was this Anakin? Or was it Vader? Or was there any difference between the two? They were just two sides of the same coin.
He had kept on talking. "You're fine. You're safe. The baby is fine. Everything is fine."
Was it? Or was he lying? She wasn't in pain. She slowly lifted on of her hands to her round stomach. She gently and slowly rubbed her belly. There was no pain. But there was also no movement. She let out a soft gasp.
"It's fine," Anakin repeated. "The baby is fine. I told you everything would be fine. Everything is."
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe all the health monitors around her including the one showing her heart beat and the baby's. But she couldn't stop the fear gnawing at her heart. Hot tears quickly built up in her eyes and started to fall down her face. Anakin brushed the tears away with his thumbs.
"Shhhh. Shhhh," he said softly. "It's ok, my angel. It's ok."
He leaned over and placed his forehead against hers. He softly pressed his lips against her skin and left gentle almost-barely-there kisses.
"I promise," he whispered between his kisses. "Nothing is going to hurt you or the baby. Nothing is going to take either one of you away from me."
Padmé had been ordered on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. Vader made sure the order was enforced. She barely left her room. Barely left the corner of her bedroom. If she wasn't in bed, she was reclining in a large comfy chair by the window. The children had brought their toys into the room and piled them around her chair. When it was playtime, they played happily around the chair or in the bed if that was where she was. Toys often got left and hidden in the sheets, often causing Vader to curse and growl when he rolled over on top of them when he came to bed. He would look at the toy, sigh deeply, and then toss it off the bed.
It was early afternoon after lunch. The twins didn't have lessons today, and were sprawled out on the floor in front of Padmé who sat in her chair. She smiled as she watched her children play. This is what she wanted for them. Luke and Leia needed to be children. Sweet, innocent children who laughed and played and got into small fights with each other over toys. Not training with lightsabers or murdering nannies.
A cold chill washed over her as she looked at Leia. How could the little girl playing with her brother have killed someone so cold heartedly? Had she killed again since that time? Had Luke? Padmé sighed. She still didn't how to help her family, but she hadn't given up. Not yet. But for now she enjoyed these small moments. At the very least, her children weren't completely lost.
The hair on the back of Padmé's neck stood on end. Goosebumps ran down her arm and back. Her heart squeezed and her breath stalled in her throat. She sat up. Luke and Leia had stopped playing and looked over at their mother. Their eyes were wide. Padmé opened her mouth. She didn't even know what she was going to say, but never had a chance.
The explosion hit. The glass of the window behind Padmé shattered. The room and the furniture shook. The twins screamed as they instinctively curled up and covered their heads with their arms. Padmé also curled up and wrapped her arms around her stomach. There was a ringing in her ears as the world calmed down.
At once the royal Red Guard poured into the room. They all wore the dark red outfits without the cape and helmets. They collected the twins off the floor and two helped Padmé out of her chair. A hover chair was quickly brought into the room, and the guards sat her down in it. At once she was being quickly pushed out of the room.
Another explosion rocked the palace. The procession paused. Small bits of wall and ceiling cracked and fell around them. The guards didn't wait for the shaking to settle before they pushed her on. They came to a large section of wall. A guard pushed at a hidden button and the whole wall slid back to reveal a hidden turbolift. The twins and Padmé were pushed inside with a few of the guards. The doors sealed shut and the lift started to descend.
"Family in turbolift," one guard said into a comlink on his wrist. If there was a reply, she heard none of it. The lift had yet to stop. They were going quite a ways down, and it went deeper still. It seemed to grow steadily colder. How many levels were they going? She felt her ears pop as the descent continued. The twins had moved to either side of her chair. Both grabbed on to her arms.
Finally after a very long and quiet ride, the lift stopped and the doors opened to a large white metal hallway. The guards brought the family down the hall and through a set of opened doors. As they passed by the doors, she could see they were heavy and thick blast doors. After they passed by, the doors started to slowly slide shut.
This place was a security shelter. A panic room. That was why they were so deep underground with the thick doors. No doubt the whole place was lined in equally thick durasteel. The halls were a curved smooth light gray. The guards said nothing as they brought the family into a large bedroom. A large bed sat against one wall. Padmé stood up and sat on the bed. The children at once crawled into the bed and sat besides her.
"What's happening?" Padmé asked the nearest guard.
"Rebel attack," the guard answered. "You'll be safe here."
"Fath . . . father?" Luke asked softly in a small voice. The guard looked down at the boy.
"And Vader?" Padmé asked. "The Emperor?"
"Will be down as soon as he has handled things back on the surface," the guard said. And with that the guards left the room. There were no windows. Only the door leading out and another door possibly leading to a refresher. She wrapped an arm around both of the twins and pulled them close. The two wrapped their arms around her. The three sat there in the silence deep underground hugging each other.
Vader came hours after the twins had fallen asleep. The three had crawled into the large bed after spending a few hours exploring the underground shelter. Luckily the twins had fallen asleep easily, but Padmé was wide awake. Vader walked straight to the bed and just stood there staring. His face was soft and creased full of a mix of relief and worry. Then he slowly got undressed and ready for bed. He carefully crawled in and came to rest on the other side of Leia. He placed his head on the pillow. His yellow eyes looked at his wife.
"Is . . . is everything ok?" Padmé whispered.
He just looked at her. His eyes traveled to the sleeping children and to her round stomach. He took a deep sigh. "Rebels," he finally whispered back.
"Rebels?"
"They bombed the palace. Both our home and the Imperial Palace."
"I thought . . . I thought you kept our home a secret . . ." To her knowledge Vader let the public think he lived in the Imperial Palace, the former Jedi Temple.
"I did," he said. "It seems I have a traitor to deal with." His words were hard with a dangerous edge. "The rebels seem to be still after our children. Most likely Kenobi's doing," Vader hissed softly still careful not to wake the children.
She couldn't hide the small hitch in her breath. She tightened her hold around the two children snuggled at her side.
"Don't worry," Vader whispered. "You're safe here."
Her eyes traveled to ceiling. "How long?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"How long are we to stay down here? If the palace was bombed . . . It won't be ready to return to soon."
He didn't answer. He just stared. No doubt he would prefer to keep them locked away down here. Safe and hidden from all.
"We can't stay down here," Padmé whispered. "This is no place for the children . . . and the baby. I can't give birth down here."
Vader let out a groan as he turned his head towards the ceiling.
"We could go . . . go to Naboo. To Varykino. We could have the baby there . . . just like we planned before with . . . with the twins," she said. She recalled the dream. The happy part of the dream. The five of them living happily on Naboo.
"Too expected," Vader said.
She knew he would say no, but it still hurt to hear it. She took a deep breath and glanced down at the children. They were both still asleep.
"Mustafar."
"What?" she asked.
"Mustafar," Vader repeated as he glanced at her. A cold chill ran through her. "I have a fortress there. It's secret. Safe. Secured. And there is already a small fleet there. It's perfect."
She pursed her lips wanting to argue that it was not perfect, but said nothing. She let her head rest against the pillow. Eventually sleep claimed her. When she awoke Vader and the children were gone. She was alone in the large bed and the eerie room with no windows. She sighed and rolled over. She was sure the children were either with their father or with the guards. It would be best to try and get some more sleep while they were away.
She slipped her hand under the pillow, but it quickly touched something. Her hand curled around it. It was a piece of flimsi. She pulled the paper the out and unfolded it. She recognized Anakin's unruly handwriting. It read:
I've done what I can. You said you could escape if you were back on a ship. Decide what life you want. I'll love you no matter what. - A
Tears pooled in her eyes and quickly streamed down her face. Oh, Anakin. Her sweet, loving Anakin. He was Vader's traitor. Somehow he was behind the bombing so Vader would move her and the twins somewhere else. So he would put them on a ship, giving Padmé the chance to escape.
Now the question was, would she? Could she?