"Oh! I felt some movement that time." Mira smiled up a Padme and she gently felt her stomach.
"Yes, they do move around a lot. I think the sibling rivalry is starting early." Padme said, laughing.
"They? Oh my gods are you having twins?!" Mira jumped up in excitement.
"Yes! But don't tell anyone. Anakin doesn't even know yet."
Both women tried to hide their darkened expressions, but neither succeeded.
"He's going to be so excited." Mira said softly. "Padme, I'm sorry to ask, but I need to know...have you seen him lately?"
Padme clutched her belly with both hands.
"No." Padme said.
Mira knew she was lying, but couldn't blame her.
"I know you're scared and you should be, but i want you to know he is my dearest friend in the world and if he needs help I want to be there. Just remember that." She said.
Tears fell from Padme's eyes and she reached for Mira's hand.
"Thank you." Padme said.
"Padme...Obi-Wan-"
"Obi-Wan...yes let's talk about him." She wiped the tears away and seemed grateful for the change in subject. "I wanted to ask you to speak to him for me, but you two seem to be on shaky ground."
"How could you tell?" Mira asked.
"Just standing in the same room with you two earlier, the tension nearly choked me." She laughed.
"Ah. I didn't realize it was that obvious." Mira said. "We had a discussion before coming to visit you that didn't end well."
"What was it about?" Padme asked.
It was Mira's turn to lie, or at least leave out a huge part of the truth.
"A lot of things came to light, some things that happened during my possession." She said.
"You can tell me. You look like you need to unload." Padme smiled.
"We'll it's difficult to say...but Obi-Wan admitted to taking advantage of me while I was possessed. To his credit, I did initiate it, or at least the Sith did."
Padme had to cover her mouth for a moment.
"He did what?! That's terrible and doesn't sound like him at all."
"I know. I wanted to hate him for it, but-"
"There can't possibly be a but that makes up for what he did."
"Oh it doesn't make up for it, but he explained that it was a build up of feelings he had worked so hard to suppress." Mira said.
"What kind of feelings?" Padme asked.
"He said that night he admitted to himself that he loved me, and that what he did made him so physically sick that he threw up."
"Mira. He loves you? He said it?"
Mira couldn't hide the smile that was spreading across her face.
"And what did you say?"
"Well I called him a hypocrite and told him doesn't know how to love." Mira said.
"Very harsh, but I think it was nessescary. Don't just forgive everything because he finally said he loves you." Padme said.
Mira felt truly happy for the first time since learning about the trip to Naboo. Padme was like a sister to her and it was nice to just sit and talk with her.
"But also know that in love things are complicated and you have to remember if you really love someone, you'll find a way to work through them." Padme continued.
"Hey, I'm going to grab us some tea...I think we have a lot more to chat about." Mira said.