A/N: Okay, I know. It's been over a year scince this was updated. I'm sorry, but between schoolwork, other fandoms, and the fact that my beta reader didn't send it back... and still hasn't as yet. So, please forgive any mistakes, as this is unbeta'd.

Enjoy.

Part 3: Shatter

The moment that Bail Organa's hologram appeared before her with such a sombre expression on his face, Jobal Naberrie knew that the Alderaanian wasn't delivering news she wanted to hear.

And it could only be about one person; the rest of her family were in the next room...

Padmé. Something had happened to Padmé, just like they'd all secretly feared.

Calling Ruwee in from the other room, Jobal motioned for Bail to wait. Sola and Darred also followed, although thankfully the girls hadn't.

Bail swallowed visibly at the prospect of telling the family. And having to lie to them about Padmé's death, not that they knew that, but all the same, Bail hated the fact that he had to conceal the whole truth from them. Ruwee broke the silence first, voice calm despite the worry etched into his face.

"What's happened?" or not so calm, on second thoughts, Ruwee wasn't usually so blunt.

"I'm..." Bail struggled to find the words, "I'm sorry... but I have to tell you... Padmé's..."

"Please-let-her-be okay, please-let-her-be-okay..." Sola murmured softly under her breath.

"She died last night."

You could have heard a pin drop in the Naberrie household at that moment.

Jobal promptly sat down on the chair behind her.

"What? How?" Sola screech dimly registered to Jobal's ears.

Bail sighed. "I don't really know how," he admitted. "Or what happened before she arrived at Polis Massa medical centre," He paused before pressing on. "There was also something else you should know... the medical droids at Polis Massa say that she was about seven months pregnant. They couldn't save the child."

"Oh, force..." Sola uttered softly.

"Padmé... was... pregnant?" Ruwee buried his pale face in shaking hands.

"I'm so sorry..." Bail said awkwardly. "I'm bringing her body to Naboo now, it'll be two days before I get there," he cut the connection, leaving the Naberries to mourn their daughter and sister in peace.

An hour later and the full impact was only just beginning to sink in. Well, for the adults. Ryoo and Pooja had disappeared to their rooms when the news was broken to them.

Their passionate, head-strong Padmé was gone forever. Her unborn child too.

The numbness beginning to recede slightly, Ruwee found the first stirrings of anger appearing. Who had dared to touch his daughter? Get her pregnant out of wedlock? But even that answer was right under his nose.

Anakin Skywalker.

Who else could it possibly be? They themselves had joked about their relationship, thinking that they had just been friends; well, at least that's what Ruwee had thought. Up until very recently.

"He had to have been the father," he muttered to himself.

Jobal looked at him. "Who?"

"Skywalker."

Jobal and Sola shared a glance, not unnoticed by either of their husbands. "You two knew something was up?" Darred asked incredulously, angry at being kept out of the loop.

"We didn't know any facts," Sola shot back defensively. "We just... suspected. Between the ring she was wearing one time when I talked to her, and her considerable change in wardrobe choice..."

"You could have said something!" Ruwee yelled, stress and grief causing his anger to bubble to the surface.

"Would you have believed us?" Jobal asked heatedly. "And I wanted to wait until Padmé told us about it herself before making assumptions that could have been false!" she argued before bursting into tears suddenly. "Look at us," she sniffed. "We should be helping each other, not fighting each other..." Jobal dissolved into tears once more.

It was Ruwee who moved first, wrapping his arms around his wife's shaking frame. Sola and Darred soon found themselves in each other's arms too. They just held on to each other for some time, drawing strength and comfort from each other until Darred broke the silence.

"Even if Skywalker was the father, he can't be told." The others gave him odd looks. "It was on the holocast a little while ago," he clarified softly. "All the Jedi are dead. Declared traitors to Palpatine's new Empire."

Sola felt the need to argue. "They can't be dead..." she trailed off. The Jedi Order was hundreds, thousands, of years old. It wasn't possible that that had been destroyed so suddenly...

"Palpatine killed the Jedi?" Ruwee asked, his mind already ticking with suspicion. "If the child was Anakin Skywalker's... maybe that's why she died." Cold anger was settling into the lines of his face. "Because Palpatine killed her."

Jobal quickly placed her hand over her husband's mouth. "Don't say that Ruwee," she warned him. "Remember what was on the holocast yesterday, parts of Palpatine's speech. Sounded to me like any hint of disloyalty will be punishable by death."

"But-" Jobal silenced him once more.

"We've just lost Padmé," She said softly. "We can't afford to lose another member of this family."

"But he's got a point, Mother," Sola said quietly. "You know as well as I do that Anakin Skywalker's powers were considered to be way above that of the ordinary Jedi. It follows that any children he might have would inherit some of that ability... And Palpatine obviously wants the Jedi gone..."

Jobal just closed her eyes tightly, trying not to burst into tears as violently as last time.

But all she could see was her beautiful youngest daughter, and imagine what her grandchild would have looked like.

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