The next day, Padme had Rana's mom house sitting for her and she and Luke had managed to hitch a ride on a slave ship. Padme would have been lying if she'd said she was pleased with the ride for her five year old son, but it had been the best option.
"Mommy, why do they have chains?" Luke pulled on his mother's wrist and pointed to a slave.
"They have chains because they are slaves. It's wrong that anybody do that to anyone else." Padme pulled her son's hand to hurry him past the slaves.
"If it's wrong why do people do it?"
"They think it makes them strong, Luke. It's like a worse form of bullying." They arrived at their quarters and a man stepped out from behind the door, manacles in hand.
"I'm sorry you don't like your new future." He sneered.
"Don't even think about touching my son!" Padme shouted. She grabbed Luke and held him close.
"You hear that? Don't touch the boy or you'll make Mommy mad." He snapped the manacles over Padme's wrists and then another set on her son. Another man came out of the shadows and took Luke from his mother's arms. The man holding Luke took him down the hall while Padme was led into the quarters they had been assigned.
The man gestured to some "clothes" on the bed, "I suggest that you prepare for what is coming."
Padme looked in disgust at the exceptionally skimpy bikini-like garment.
"It would be best for your son if you were to cooperate."
"Fine," Padme picked up the top, grimaced, and took off her shirt. She changed as quickly as possible and tried to arrange what little cloth there was over as much of her body as she could.
He sat and stared at her for the rest of the ride. When they set down, she asked, "Can I please take my son?"
"I suppose," he drawled and went to retrieve Luke.
As he dragged Luke back into the cell, Luke stared at his mother, "Mom?"
Padme sighed, "Yes, sweetie." She reached down and scooped her son into a hug.
"Come on, we may as well get you into the building," the man grabbed Padme's chains and pulled her to her feet.
"I don't need you pulling me, thanks." Padme managed to pull her chains back out of his hand.
"Have it your way. We won't hesitate to shoot if you run."
"I'll keep that in mind," she responded, clutching her son closer to keep him out of harm's way.
The moment they were out of the ship, Padme ran. She heard them shooting after her and shielded her son as best she could. In the distance she could see the spires of her husband's castle. All she had to do was get there alive.
She managed to stumble through gaps in the walls that the men couldn't get through and generally out run them, but they were still close behind her when she reached the door.
"Ani? Ani!" she pounded on the door frantically.
The door opened and Padme relaxed slightly as she saw her husband, "Ani, I need to come in. There are slavers coming."
"Padme?" Vader asked.
"Yes, Ani, now I really need to get inside before they arrive!"
"How can I be sure that you're really Padme? How can I know that you're not someone else impersonating her?"
"Ani, you have to trust me! We don't have time for this!" Padme could hear the footsteps of her pursuers.
"If you are Padme, then show me your birthmark," Vader said, referring to a small blotch of slightly darker skin on her breast.
Padme pulled down the top of the bikini-thing so that Anakin could see the patch. Much to her surprise, he bent to kiss it, then put one arm around her and pulled her inside.
As soon as the door was closed and Padme felt a bit safer, she put her son down and glared at her husband, "I'm glad that birthmark wasn't anywhere more inappropriate! Did Luke really have to see that?"
Luke, on the other hand, looked up at his father innocently and smiled widely, "Daddy!"
Vader smiled at his son and reached down to pick him up. "Sorry, Angel, but it wouldn't have been the first time someone had tried to impersonate you. And you don't look like yourself. You never let yourself get in this state."
Padme caught a glimpse of herself in a darkened window, her hair was disheveled and she had gone to no length to do a fancy style that morning. The simple ponytail had been functional, but certainly not what she normally wore.
"I took the wrong ship." She said, by way of explanation, but her husband was thoroughly caught up in his son's smile.
Vader started to spin carefully on his heel, letting his son's little body fly parallel to the ground. As his son laughed, he let go and used the Force to send the boy sailing through the air. At first Luke let out a shriek of terror, then when he realized that he was safe, he started to giggle again.
Laasya stumbled down the stairs, still half asleep, to investigate the noise in the lower floors. She stared at the boy and woman who sat in the kitchen like it was theirs. The boy was laughing with her daddy, the woman smiling faintly at both of them.
That's my Daddy! He's the only person who's ever loved me! They can't just come in and take him away! She raced towards her father.
"Daddy!" she called. Her father didn't look up from the boy. It was almost like she hadn't spoken. "Daddy!" again, no response, she attached herself to his leg and clung to him. He shook her off and kept playing with the little boy.
No! This isn't fair! Go back to wherever you came from and let me have my Daddy! He's all I've got! She hung around them for a while, but they were too distracted by each other to notice her. Finally she turned and went back to bed, feeling distinctly unwanted.
Laasya woke to the smell of caf and stumbled sleepily down the stairs, trying to convince herself that last night had just been a nightmare. She ran into the living room and into her dad's arms. He accepted her and swung her around.
"Laasya! Good morning!" Vader laughed and put her down on the counter.
"Whatcha doin'?" she asked, gazing into the pot he had on the counter.
"I'm cooking breakfast, the same thing I'm always doing when you ask that in the morning. Are you hungry?"
"Yes! But there's too much for us," she said, hoping her dad would look into the pot and laugh and say that he hadn't noticed.
"Yes. The most wonderful thing happened last night, and you were there, don't you remember?"
"I remember. I was hoping it was a bad dream." Laasya started to fidget.
"Why would you hope that?" Vader asked, confused.
"You're my Daddy."
"Of course I am. But they're my family too. They're the family I lost just before I found you."
"So you don't need me anymore."
"Of course I do. You're my family as much as they are now." Vader picked her back up from the counter and hugged her close.
"Promise?"
"Promise," he held her close then put her down.
As Laasya turned to take a place at the table, she saw a woman coming down the stairs.
"Good morning, Ani. Is this your daughter?"
"Yes. Padme, this is Laasya. Laasya, Padme."
Padme reached out one hand and shook Laasya's hand. Laasya decided that she liked this new lady who didn't talk down to her.
"Hello, Laasya. May I be your mom?" Padme smiled at the serious little girl.
"Yes!" a smile broke across Laasya's face.
The boy from the night before came running down the stairs after his mother, but halfway down he tripped and started to fall. Suddenly he froze mid-fall, Laasya turned and saw her father with his eyes closed, and one arm raised. Turning back, she saw the boy drift away from the staircase and into his dad's arms.
Vader carefully kissed his son's forehead, "Be more careful, you might have really hurt yourself!"
Padme laughed gently, "Don't give advice you won't follow, Ani."
"Do as I say, not as I do." Vader joked, putting his son down.
Luke trotted over to Laasya, "Hello, who are you?"
"My name is Laasya. Who are you?" she was reserving judgement on him as best she could.
"I'm Luke. Are you my sister?" Luke asked, with four-year-old bluntness.
"Yes. I think I am." Luke didn't seem too bad either, she decided.
"Thank you," Luke trotted off to take a place on his mother's lap.
"Hey, Luke, do you wanna come upstairs and play?"
"Can I, Mom?" Luke looked up at his mother eagerly.
"Go ahead, I'll call you two when breakfast's ready."
Luke hopped off his mother's lap and followed Laasya up to her playroom.
After Luke had quietly suffered through having her play with his hair and several games of 'house' Laasya decided that having him around might not be such an ordeal after all. Maybe this whole 'bigger family' thing wasn't so bad.