Chapter 13

"The boy's, or the girls?"

This echoed in Anakin's head for the duration of the next few moments. The boy? The girl? Since when was their both? And on the same day—unless… twins? "Twins?" He cooed, his owns words not registering in his mind.

"Y—yes, sir," the woman spoke again, suddenly not sure if she should have told this strange man the children's birth records. She searched through her documents again. "The mother—Padmé Skywalker, was her name," she started, flipping through the many papers, "she died shortly after her children were born."

Anakin hung his head, very aware of this information, "Yes, I know."

The woman nodded, obviously dire about the subject of death. "I'll ask again," she said, running her fingers through her green hair, "Would you like the boy, or the girl's, birth records?" She seemed to have an idea, "Or both?"

A spark was in his eyes at this moment—even if the Polis Massian hospital crew was incorrect about the certain information consuming Anakin's son, and possible daughter, he would inspect the documents, making sure that they were correct…

If Padmé indeed did have twins… it was even more heartbreaking than before. Was she alive, Luke's other twin? Where was she now? Did Luke fail to mention her, the sister he lived with—or did he just not bother to ask? Aren't twins supposed to run in the family?

"Yes," he answered, coming back from his lost thoughts, "Yes. Send them to the Varykino Lake Cottage on Naboo immediately. I'll send the faxing numbers through—"

Moments later, the blue screen before him that once housed the staff member of the med center disappeared, and Anakin was left alone for his thoughts. He pressed his hands to his temples, sitting back into the chair, sighing deeply.

He had been wrong about the whole thing—the entire time…

There was another.

"Anakin?"

It was a familiar voice. He lifted his head slightly, only to get Padmé's older sister staring him plainly in the face. He blinked, sitting up, taking his hands away from his face. He felt a need to impress Sola, at this time, for Padmé had usually described her as a 'demanding sister'. He hadn't seen her since—years. She looked older, so did he, but the years had been good to her. He smiled faintly. "Sola," it wasn't a question. "It's—good to see you."

"And it's odd to see you," Sola sputtered, "I thought you died with—I thought you died all those years ago. But, your son…"

Anakin smiled at the thought of someone else calling Luke his 'son'.

"…He's exactly like… well, you," she said, pointing aggravatingly at Anakin, "But he has my sister's spirit." There was a light in her eyes that admitted to Anakin that she was happy that all these years, the three years of teasing Padmé about her Jedi Protector, that she had been right, finally—"I was right, you know."

He pretended that he had no idea what she was talking about—"'Bout what?"

"Padmé," it was the first time she spoke her name, "And you. I could see it in my sister's eyes when she watched the HoloNet every night just to make sure you were okay, you were safe."

He looked away, down at his hands, at the memory of leaving her for all those months.

"Were you—um—married?"

Anakin nodded grimly. He heard Sola gasp slightly, but obviously not to much surprise. She knew it was coming, he could sense it.

"When?"

Looking up, he stared past Sola, peering through the window to the shining lake. "After the start of the Clone Wars," he said, monotonous, "Here."

Sola nodded, even though this was news to her. Everything seemed to be news to her. Attempting to get to know Anakin more, she slid the chair out and curved her body into the chair, looking at Anakin's big, blue eyes. "There is something else, isn't there?" She asked, sensing his discrete.

He didn't answer; he said, "I need you to look after Luke for a few days," he got up from the table, pushing in the chair. He sensed where this conversation was going—"I'm not leaving, no. But there are… things I need to attend to."

Sola didn't speak, just nodded, watching him go.

"Cannon ball!!"

Luke folded his knees up to his chest, shivering. Naboo was cold, when they were by the water. Maybe it was just because he was from Tatooine, presumably. He watched Ryoo and Pooja splash childishly around in the clear lake, jumping in from the dock. They dunked each other, pushed each other under, and swam circles around—it looked like fun.

He whined arrogantly, seeing Pooja turn towards Luke from the water, pushing her wet hair off her forehead. "Aw, c'mon Luke!" She squealed, "There's nothing to be afraid of!"

In a sense he knew that she was right. There was nothing to be afraid of, and if there were, you'd be able to see it because the water was so clear.

Pooja waded over to Luke, pulling him up. He had stripped down to his pants that went under his tunic, the comfortable pants they were. His skinny, bare chest was showing and he crossed his arms over it, slouching down, and obviously affection for coldness.

"Wait—can you," she just had a thought, "swim?"

Luke bit his lip.

Her reaction was delayed, and Luke could tell she was thrown back, flabbergasted. But she quickly bounced back, grabbing Luke's arm, tugging him into the shallow side where the tide came up and down…

"See look, it's easy."

"It's c-c-cold," he said through his chattering teeth. She made a song with her mouth that sounded like, psssh! She just tugged him further and further, deeper and deeper… "This is so not 'easy'!"

She made the sound again. Before Luke noticed, Ryoo came up behind him, pushing him into the deeper area. Suddenly, he couldn't feel the sliming sand beneath his feet anymore. He fought to stay above.

Ryoo laughed, watching Luke flail in the water. "Luke, kick your legs," she was saying.

Luke tried it.

It worked.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Panting, Luke forced an aggravated smile. "No, not at all," he said through clenched teeth.

Pooja studied his features for a moment. "You look like Knight—I mean, Anakin," she said, making up her mind, but tripping over what she called Luke's father, "But you're small just like my aunt." She turned her back on Luke, and he was confused for a moment until she said, "Bantha back ride?"

He smiled, wondering why he ever chose to grow up. He paddled, treading water. Why not? "Okay," he said softly.

A/N: I apologize for the shortness of the chapter. The next one will be better, I promise!