"NO!"

Padmé wakes up to the sound of screaming. Her memories of the day before are disconcertingly muddled. The feeling of pain medication in her system makes it harder to remember.

"What?" Padmé asks. She can hear ragged breathing. She looks to her left and sees Anakin hunched forward on the cot, covering his ears with both hands.

"What is it?" Padmé asks again, sitting up a little.

He still doesn't respond. As Padmé gets over the initial adrenaline, she starts to realize, "Was it a dream, honey?"

"Just a dream…" he mumbles, then gets up to leave.

"Anakin, wait," says Padmé. He pauses in the doorway. "What time is it?"

"Nearly dawn," he mumbles. "Your parents were here until a few hours ago. They got a hotel room just down the block. How are you feeling?"

She smiles. "Just tired."

Anakin hovers in the doorway a moment longer, then disappears.

Padmé falls back asleep, and when she wakes again her head is a little less cloudy, and her body is a lot more achy. Anakin has returned to the cot. He's reading on a datapad. It's well and truly morning now.

Padmé is finally deemed strong enough to travel upstairs to see Leia and Luke. Padmé has always been of the opinion that all babies start off ugly – wonderful, joyful miracles, of course, but objectively just a little bit gross-looking. She immediately decides that these two are the exception.

There is a basket of holo-books to be borrowed at the nurse's station, and Anakin takes a few to read aloud from while he and Padmé take turns fussing over each twin.

"Padmé?"

"Hmm?"

"There's a medcenter on the fifth city level," he begins. "They have the best neonatal unit in the galaxy."

Padmé isn't sure where this is going. "Yes?"

"I'm worried about Luke and Leia –- I think they'll be safer with these other doctors. We are going to have all three of you transferred there."

"Who's 'we'?" Padmé frowns.

Anakin ignores the question, making Padmé doubly sure that she isn't going to like the answer.

"It's what's best for them, Padmé."

"Hold on just one second," she says. "We need to discuss this."

"Why? This makes sense."

"What makes you so sure we can even get into this other medcenter?"

Anakin bites his lip for a moment. "The Chancellor has offered to make arrangements."

Padmé decides right then and there that no one will be going anywhere based on the recommendations of the man who has been lining his own pockets with the profits of war. There is something in this for Palpatine, she does not doubt. As much as she appreciates his fatherly support of Anakin, Padmé does not trust the man as far as she could kick him. But ever the politician, she knows that point-blank refusal will only make Anakin more stubborn.

"If they're safe enough and doing well here, why put them through the stress of being moved?"

"It will be better, you'll see. No one will be able to bother us there."

"Like who? Who is possibly going to bother us, Anakin?"

Anakin shifts uncomfortably. "You know…journalists, senators…"

"And Jedi?" she says it like an accusation.

Anakin scowls. "Yeah, and Jedi, Padmé. That's why we have no choice."

"This isn't your decision alone, you know."

"Well it isn't yours either!"

"I'm not the one who walked in here and started telling you how it's going to be," Padmé points out. Over my dead body, she thinks. But out loud what she says is, "Slow down. We can't do anything until we've considered it thoroughly. We should at least talk to the doctors first, there and here."

Anakin nods. He can agree to that much, at least. "Okay. Palpatine's my friend, Padmé, you can't just shoot down the whole idea because you don't like him."

It goes a little bit beyond personal dislike, Padmé thinks, but she's afraid the nuance between trivial opinions and foundational ethical principles might be lost on Anakin if she tries to go there.

"We'll talk it over, and you'll see why this is the right move," Anakin decides.

He doesn't see Padmé roll her eyes. Sitting up so long and raising her voice has already made her fatigued. It will take at least a few weeks to get her strength back, she's been told. She's frustrated, but to be fair, it's only the second day.

On the morning of the third day, Anakin still hasn't slept properly. Padmé can see it on his face, but whatever he's dreaming, he doesn't seem willing to talk about it. An orderly brings Padmé breakfast and hands Anakin an envelope. "Someone dropped this off for you, Master Jedi."

Anakin flinches at being addressed in this way as he accepts the note and reads it furtively. Padmé waits for him to explain, but doesn't pry when he shoves the note into his pocket, saying nothing.

Anakin keeps pressing on, but no one else seems to think that the move is a good idea. Padmé hasn't been in any real trouble since immediately after the birth, and the twins are gaining ground as quickly as can be expected.

Not until the fifth day do Padmé and Anakin hold their babies for the first time. Anakin is even momentarily distracted from his mission and eagerly accepts tiny Leia into his arms, mindful of warnings to keep her snug and covered in blankets. Padmé cries with Luke's head resting against her shoulder. Leia immediately falls asleep in the crook of Anakin's arm. After nearly an hour they switch, and cry some more.

"Anakin," Padmé says softly, pausing to kiss the top of Leia's head. "I know you're having nightmares about them."

Anakin looks at Luke to avoid Padmé's gaze.

"They're going to be fine, Ani. Whatever you're scared of, it's not going to happen."

Anakin pulls the blanket up a little higher around Luke's shoulders. So far it's true, Anakin's fears seem to be unfounded. There are no signs of any of the potential complications that had been endlessly rattled off at them at the beginning – the twins have normal brain activity, no motor issues, no retinal damage from the oxygen treatments. They're even breathing without ventilators now.

"Anakin, I'm terrified too," Padmé admits. "We weren't prepared for this. We don't know what's going to happen. But we're all going to be okay."

She watches Anakin start to reach into his pocket and then stop himself. He shifts Luke up a little higher on his chest, and strokes the baby fuzz on the back of his head.

"I will never let anything hurt them," he says, almost too quietly to hear.

"Me neither," says Padmé with a rare ferocity, hugging Leia tighter.