Padme chose to raise Luke on her own home planet of Naboo. Luke was happy there and Padme knew the terrain, so it was a fairly good choice. As Luke grew, Padme got used to his middle-of-the-night fits of hysterics for no apparent reason, assuming that he was upset because of something that had happened to his twin.
"Mama!" Luke toddled towards his mother, stumbled on a toy he had left on the floor and fell. Padme just caught him. She set him back on his feet. "Mama!" Luke repeated.
Padme picked her son up and put him on her lap, "What do you need, Sweetie? Mama's busy."
"Mama!" Luke reached for a stray strand of Padme's hair. She quickly pushed it away.
"Mama's busy right now. Why don't you go play with Threepio?"
Luke frowned, "Mama."
"Mama's busy, Sweetheart. Go play with someone else."
Luke's little round face lit up, "Dada!"
Padme's heart twisted, "Dada isn't here right now."
Luke was undeterred, "Mama! Dada!"
Padme stood up from her work and carried her son back to his nursery. She set him in his playpen and returned to her work.
Five minutes later, Luke was back, "Mama!"
"Luke, how did you get out of your playpen?"
Luke smiled innocently, "Mama pay!"
"Mama work. Luke play."
"Mama pay wif Lukey!"
"Luke play with Threepio."
"Theepie boken."
"Threepio's broken?"
Luke paused and looked at his mother quizzically, "Theepie sweepy." He noticed the rhyme and started to prance around singing "Theepie sweepy! Theepie sweepy!"
Padme picked her son back up and carried him back to his playpen yet again. She switched Threepio back on.
"Oh my! What happened?"
"You shut down and Luke got away. Keep him here, will you?"
"That's odd. I don't remember shutting off."
Padme headed back to her desk as the droid tried to distract Luke with a variety of different toys. She had just started to get back into her new job as an environmentalist when a little voice piped up behind her.
"Mama pay!" she turned to see her son holding up a small model ship.
"Luke, what are you doing out of your playpen?"
"Mama pay! Mama pay sip! Mama pay wif Lukey!" Luke passed his mother his toy.
"Mama's very busy, Sweetie. Go play with Threepio." Padme gave her son his ship.
"Theepie sweepy." Luke said unconcernedly, making his little ship zoom through the air with one hand.
"Threepio switched himself off again?" This was highly unlike Threepio. He would babysit all the children on Naboo if Padme told him to.
"Mama tach!" Luke suddenly threw his ship to his mother, who caught it on reflex. Luke laughed. Padme returned the ship to its owner again.
Padme picked her son up again and put him in his playpen. She turned Threepio back on.
"And stay on this time! Luke needs company at all times." She told the droid.
As she headed back out she heard the droid say, "I'm quite sure I didn't shut off."
She locked the door as she left. Threepio could open it, but Luke would be quite stuck.
She started to work again. She had managed to complete almost half a report before she heard her son again.
"Mama pay!"
"Luke, how are you getting out here? Where's Threepio?"
"Theepie sweepy." Luke showed his mother the toy he'd brought her this time. It was another small ship.
"Luke, the sooner I finish, the sooner I play."
Luke's two-year-old selective hearing only caught "I play." He grinned widely, "Mama pay!"
Padme rested her head on her desk with a sigh. "All right, Luke. We are going to try this one more time. You are going to play with Threepio and Artoo."
"Pay wif Mama!" Luke protested.
"Play with droids." Padme carried her hyperactive son back to his playroom. Again she turned Threepio back on.
"Oh dear! Mistress Padme! I have no idea…"
"Don't worry about it, Threepio. You'll have Artoo to help this time." Padme smiled at the nervous droid and went to retrieve his counterpart.
"Artoo, I want you to film what happens in Luke's playroom, do you understand? I think Luke might be subconsciously using the Force to shut Threepio down and unlock the door so he can be with me."
Artoo bleeped positive.
"Good. Now be careful he doesn't shut you off."
Artoo trundled off to Luke's playroom and Padme returned to her files. Padme had just finished a second file and she was beginning to think that maybe she had thwarted Luke for now when she heard his voice again.
"Mama pay!"
"Hello again, Sweetie," Padme gathered her son up in her arms.
"Mama like?" Luke held out a drawing for his mother to see.
Padme looked at his art and smiled, "It's beautiful. Let's go back to Threepio."
"Mama kiss Lukey!" Luke held up one little hand for his mother to kiss. Padme kissed his hand and carried him back to his playroom. She put him back on the floor and gave him one of his ships to play with.
"Artoo? What happened?"
Artoo bleeped and projected a small holo. Padme watched it.
She could see her little boy happily drawing something. Suddenly he looked up and started to toddle to the door so he could show his mother his drawing. Threepio ran forward and caught the boy. Luke frowned at the droid and let him set him down. As soon as Luke was safely on the ground the droid shut off. Luke headed back to the door with his masterpiece. Despite the fact that Padme was sure she had locked the door, he walked out to his mother with his drawing in hand.
"Thanks, Artoo, I'll deal with this tomorrow. In the meantime, I guess Luke needs some extra attention. Don't you Luke?" She turned to her son, who happily gave her a toy to play with.
"Mama pay!"
"Yes, Mama's playing."
"Mama!" Luke hugged his mother's knees.
Padme sighed and hugged her son back, wondering how she was ever going to free her little boy of his need of human contact at all times. Luke was two. He was old enough to sleep in his own room. Theoretically. Instead he slept in his mother's room. Padme had tried repeatedly to relieve him of this habit but he would just come running back into her room crying that there were monsters in his room.
Luke had disturbingly vivid ideas of his monsters. Padme had felt herself shivering at his ideas sometimes. Luke also had a disturbing habit of predicting terrible things happening in the galaxy before they happened. He would come to his mother with stories of "A big, scary man in black" hurting people. The next day there would be reports of Vader harming innocents.
Suddenly Luke started to sob helplessly, "Dada, Dada, Dada! Where are you? Mama, Dada hurts!" Luke flew into his mother's arms.
"Luke, Luke what's wrong? Are you all right?"
"Dada hurts!"
Padme stroked her son's back and rocked him until he stopped writhing. "Luke, it's all right. It's OK. Daddy's all right. I'm sure Daddy's all right."
Luke whimpered and Padme had a bad feeling about what the news would, or wouldn't, say about her husband the next day.
Sure enough, the next day there was no news about Vader. Or the day after that, or the day after that. Padme was really starting to be afraid for her fearless husband when he appeared again weeks later.