Bail Organa watched the sleeping infants in the room his wife had prepared for them. When the Jedi first contacted him about hiding two of them, he was more than pleased to learn that they were newborn babies. That made his job easier, for his wife and the Senator had always wanted children of their own. They had originally planned to adopt one child, a little girl, but two children, twins no less, was a blessing indeed.
"They are so beautiful," his wife said coming up beside him. She caressed the soft cheek of the small baby boy. "They've only been with us a few days, and yet I feel as though we've had them a lifetime."
Her husband laughed. "Have they tired you out already?"
"No!" his wife exclaimed. Her dark eyes softened as she embraced her husband. "I just didn't know what a big hole I had in my heart until I held them both close."
Organa chuckled. "Luke and Leia. They are very special indeed. The Jedi who gave them to me told me so."
"No more talk of Jedi," his wife protested. She looked up into his eyes. "I don't want to know! Their life before, the situation by which they came, it all doesn't matter now! They're ours and no Jedi, nor anything connected to their past will take them from us! Promise me!"
Organa saw the determination in his wife's eyes. He couldn't bare to see her suffer, especially since he could never give her any of their own. He wanted to always see the joy shining in her eyes, especially now since the twins came into their lives.
"Well, I will promise you, my dear wife, that for as long as I breath, these children, you and I will always be together," he swore, holding his wife close to his heart.
Yoda and Obi Wan had taken the surviving Jedi to a secret training ground deep within the forest of Naboo. It was not only a secret sanctuary used by the Jedi for training and meditation, and now a safe haven for them to recuperate their strength and determine their numbers.
"Outside of Naboo," began Master Yoda, "difficult to determine our numbers."
"We are lucky to have gotten the children out," commented Obi Wan. "Even the youngest of Padawan learners were forced to confront our enemies today."
"Saw a youngling, stand against Stormtroopers," confessed Master Yoda. "Not a scene care I to see again. Sadly, survived he did not."
Obi Wan nodded, deep in thought and then dared to ask, "Master, is it possible that some of the basic teachings of the Jedi are flawed?"
"Never doubt, Obi Wan," the older Jedi seemed to snap. "Doubt clouds your mind."
"Not doubt," Obi Wan persisted. "However, you yourself have said that we must always question even what has been established to be true!
"Up to a point!" Master Yoda exclaimed. "Established laws, beliefs, there for a purpose."
"I do not mean to be disrespectful, Master, " Obi Wan pointed out. "It's just that if Darth Vader is the Chosen One…"
"Sensed that in him, you did?" Yoda asked.
"I sense something, yes," Obi Wan confirmed. "Also, his attachment to Commander Amidala…"
"…can be his downfall," Master Yoda finished.
"What if it isn't?" asked Obi Wan. "His attachment to her changed everything. I'm going to find them, Master," Obi Wan then told the older Jedi. "If he is The Chosen One, then we must guide him."
"Unstable, he is," Master Yoda replied thoughtfully.
"More reason for me to find him and Commander Amidala."
"Have an idea of where you can start," Yoda told Obi Wan.
"What of the twins?" asked Kenobi.
"Arrived safely to the Organa's home world," answered Yoda. "Safe they are, especially from their father."
Padme met Anakin outside the veranda of her room. She had cleaned herself and found fresh clothes that were still in the closet of her room. She wore a simple blue gown with a bright red sash in the middle. Her chocolate brown curls hung long and loose behind her back. Despite the loss of weight, she still possessed an air or regal beauty.
"Where are they?" Anakin asked, facing the gardens below the veranda.
"I don't know," Padme replied in a low voice, knowing that she asked her about their children. "The Jedi took them away."
Anakin suddenly turned to look at her. "They just left you there?" he asked in shock.
"It wasn't as though they had a choice!" Padme exclaimed. "They had done everything they could for me, but time ran out. The children had to be protected! You saw what the Emperor's troops did to the Temple!"
"It was a massacre," Anakin said, his thoughts going back to what he had seen.
"Did you lead them there?" Padme asked, suddenly ill at the thought.
"No!" Anakin cried out, disturbed that she would still be weary of him. "I couldn't, not after you… after this."
Padme suddenly felt awkward. She barely knew Anakin and yet he had managed to radically change her life in the scant of a few moments. Then it dawned on her that his life had been altered as well. He didn't seem as sure as before and the ruthless gleam in his eyes she had detected before wasn't there anymore. Still, he was practically a stranger and the only emotional connected they seemed to have was more on a physical level. She didn't really know who he was and she was determined to maintain her distance. For now she needed him in order to find her children.
"We will need to look for the Jedi in order to look for the children," Anakin began, the reality that those children were his was hard for him to fathom at the moment. "Do you feel strong enough to come with me?"
"Then what?" Padme dared asked. "I wont let them Emperor have them."
Something in Anakin snapped. His eyes almost gleamed red. Padme took a step back as she sensed his old self snapping back into life.
"I am not the animal you think I am!" he insisted through clenched teeth. "Weather you believe me or not I'm not going to just hand them over to the Emperor! I was practically his slave!"
"You could of fooled me," Padme managed to whisper. "How can I trust that what you say is true?"
Her words cut deep. She still harbor distrust and perhaps with good reason.
"You'll just have to trust me," replied Anakin. "I didn't give you over to the Emperor. What makes you think I will give our children over to him?"
It was the first time Anakin had acknowledged his parentage. Padme didn't know weather to feel relieved or worried. She was unsure of her relationship with Anakin and still more unsure of what her path should be at the moment. The only thing she was sure of was that she needed to find her children. The empty void she felt inside her heart was starting to become more acute. She didn't even have time to really bond with her children, to hold them against her and feel their warmth. They were just taken away and although she knew that it was for their protection, she couldn't subdue the guilt growing inside her for not being strong enough to protect them herself.
The Emperor looked around him in anger. All those that he had manipulated and held to his side but all had betrayed and abandoned him, especially Darth Vader. He had sensed early on Vader's potential and fought to suppress all that was human inside him. Now he knew how wrong he had been when it came to his hidden emotions. The minute Commander Amidala made her presence known, Vader had begun an inward battle. The Emperor knew that Vader was intrigued by the Commander, perhaps even fascinated. He wasn't fooled by the icy appearance of his right hand man. What he didn't count on was how strong Vader's attachment would be to the Commander once he had her within reach. He had underestimated human feelings in this regard.
Yet he knew that he had one more recourse in order to bring his vengeance upon those who Vader had grown attached. He would destroy Vader and all those he had sided with and knew that Vader himself would bring about that destruction.
Kenobi scanned the horizon as his ship surveyed the area Yoda had told him he would find Darth Vader and Padme. There was a stillness about the lake area as his ship approached the sprawling estate facing the lake. It was a beautiful home surrounded by gardens and was once known to have belonged to Commander Amidala and her family. Now parts of it lay in shambles, much like a lot of Naboo, Kenobi thought silently.
His ship skidded above the water as Kenobi managed to find a clearing near the gardens where to land. He was unsure of what or who he would find there and as he connected into the Force, he sensed a familiar presence.