"Do all of the recipes Obi-Wan taught you start with Bantha bacon?"
"Only the ones worth cooking," Anakin replied, grinning widely and raising up the skillet to neatly flip the bacon there within it. Padme laughed a little and put her hand around his waist, leaning against him. When it came to cooking, it seemed Anakin was the one most at home with making basic, humble foods; Padme found herself too easily caught up in trying to make everything perfect, attempting gourmet recipes that were certainly tasty but often left Anakin to a loss as to what exactly they were eating - whenever Padme got the chance to cook.
This morning, though, was an exception - a large breakfast as a sendoff before Padme went on a day-trip. Her parents were one of the few let in on the secret, and their begging for pictures of their grandchildren was reaching near-critical levels. Fortunately Anakin was having a string of better days. It seemed inevitable that any day there would be another setback that would leave him bedridden in miserable pain, but for now, he had the strength and energy to venture downstairs - and even to cook breakfast.
Still, Padme worried, nervously clutching his arm. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"We'll be fine," he soothed. "You know if I get completely tired out, Threepio and the nanny droid can always step in to help."
"I know, I know. I just hate relying on droids," Padme sighed. One more promise to herself that she had broken, even if she was becoming increasingly comfortable with the fact that parenthood was a series of compromises between ambition and reality. Pre-packaged meals, nanny droids and holovids for entertainment would sometimes have to do. Anakin gave her a reassuring kiss on the top of her head before going back to breakfast.
Behind them there was the steady, shrieky giggle of Luke and Leia playing, coupled with the sound of their footsteps. Anakin thought that they were perhaps moving so quickly there actually was a noticeable doppler effect.
"I thought we weren't going to let them run through the kitchen?" Padme asked curiously.
"I'll start worrying when one of them actually enters hyperspace." This made Padme laugh gently, letting go of his arm as he took the bacon out of the pan, cracking a few fresh numa eggs into it. They sizzled pleasantly, and Padme went to fix herself another cup of tea.
The spoon clinked against the cup as she mixed in some milk, glancing up at Anakin. "You're absolutely sure you'll be all right?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"You know that I'll set up the comm line, and you can call me any time. It's only a two hour trip..."
He turned to grab her lightly by the shoulders, smiling at her. "I'm fine. I really am." She gave a small sigh as he gathered her up into a hug. He was still much more thin than she remembered - illness had stripped him of weight, muscles shrinking as they went unused. But he was still her Anakin, and she nuzzled against his chest as if momentarily hiding there.
Then there was a loud crash from the opposite room.
"Are they throwing things off the couch again to see if they bounce?"
"Probably."
Padme sighed, pulling away. "I'll go gather them up for breakfast."
By the time she managed to herd the two bouncing toddlers to the table, the eggs were done, and Anakin made his way out of the kitchen with the pan in-hand, scooping an egg onto each plate. He was even humming a little, the slab of cooked bacon hanging out of his mouth as he had obviously laid claim to eating it. Padme gave him a sneaky look before leaning over to take a bite, half pulling it away from him but managing to get a nice mouthful of the bacon. Anakin outright pouted at her. "Hey! House rule that the cook gets to eat the bacon." Padme just grinned in a manner that she knew left Anakin completely defenseless - and as usual, it worked.
Luke immediately busied himself trying to eat clumsily, while Leia was suspiciously quiet. Padme caught her expression out of the corner of her eye.
"Now, you two will be good for Daddy today, right?"
"Mmn-huh," Luke answered promptly before busying himself with attempting to eat his breakfast (and mostly just getting egg yolk all over his face). It took Leia a moment before she shook her head yes as well.
"No more seeing if things bounce."
Leia pouted outright at this, and nibbled sulkily at her breakfast. Fortunately by the time the meal was done, they were both in high spirits once more, holding one of their conversations that Anakin, for all his concentrating, could only catch a third of what they were saying. Then again, it made a certain amount of sense that the twins had their own language before they fully picked up on Basic...
It was after lunch - and after Anakin had caught a short nap - that Anakin came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea. It took the twins a moment to notice that he was gone while they were distracted with their toys, and they wandered into the kitchen curiously after him. "Do you two want to make something nice for Mom when she comes back?"
The two very carefully considered this, and Anakin elaborated: "We can make her cookies?"
Immediate excitement - the both of them jumping up and down. A mere few moments later, Anakin wasn't sure whether they were making cookies or a very big mess. Apparently flour was now an incredibly fun thing. "Up!" Leia demanded, arms outstretched.
Anakin laughed and relented. "All right, all right... don't fall, all right?" He placed her to stand on the counter, where she immediately started opening the cabinets, grinning wide. "You can pick out what you want to go in our cookies." Luke shyly tugged at Anakin's trouser leg, and he reached down, placing the boy on his shoulders. "First we have to make the cookies, okay? We need two of those, and... here, you can crack them like this. ...Eggs go in the bowl, Leia -" He bit back another laugh. "What do we want in them?"
"Those!" Luke pointed excitedly.
"Maple chips? Yeah, that'll be good. What do you want to put in, Leia?"
"Things!" she chirped enigmatically, wearing a happy smile as she started to simply pull things out of the cabinets and pour them into the bowl. Marshmellow fluffies - that made sense. Cocoa chips... dried kjuni berries... good so far. ...but cereal?
"I don't know if those go in cookies, Leia," he said, looking doubtful.
"Whhhyyy-yy?" She pouted.
"Well, I... You know, they can go in cookies. Anything you like." The little girl gave a happy squeal and flung the cabinets open wide once more.
Several hours later, with most of the mess cleaned up and the smell of baked goods still hanging in the air, Padme opened the front door. The lights were off, and all was quiet, though in a thankfully peaceful sort of way. Anakin opened one eye from where he had dozed off, very carefully extricating himself from where his children had curled up on top of him to sleep. Padme was busily setting down her bags and taking off her coat when Anakin called out to her.
"Padme, I have some bad news," he said mournfully, standing in the doorway.
"What? What is it? What's happened?" She squeaked, immediately flustered. "Are they hurt? Are you hurt? What's -"
He planted his hands on her shoulders, his sadness obviously overdone. "I'm afraid that our children will never be professional chefs."
"...What -?"
"Just - here." He pulled a cookie from where it had been carefully wrapped up in a napkin.
Very carefully, she pulled back the napkin and gave it a sniff. "Oh... dear. Is there any cookie left in this cookie?"
"Pretty debatable. I at least stopped Leia from putting in the smoked tarpin-fish flakes." Anakin grinned. "And you have two dozen of them."
Padme's eyebrows raised. "Two dozen?"
"Yep, two dozen. I suggest that they, uh, get eaten. By monsters. The same monsters that live in the basement, or something. ...And don't look at me like that. They were special cookies just for Mom. I could only eat one," Anakin said sagely.
"...And you ate it?"
"Yep."
Both of them looked at each other, trying to bite back laughter to keep from waking their children. It only got worse as Padme commented slyly: "Well, I suppose being a parent is all about sacrifice..."