AN: I'm impressed by your response to this and I thank all of you even though you didn't meet the incentive quota. However, one of your fellow readers did win you all an extra chapter for hitting dead on the nail what was wrong with Ahsoka. I've got to work harder to stump you people… (Starts to walk off to figure out how to stump readers). Oh yeah. Here's the next chapter.

Read, enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Thirteen

Ahsoka woke up and immediately came to the conclusion that she was being held captive. The cell was a good indication and if that hadn't clued her in, the shackles around her wrist and neck certainly indicated as much. She groaned. Could the day get any worse?

She started to tap into the force to get a feel for the mechanics of her bonds before Vader's voice stopped her.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you?"

"Why not?" she said not caring how irritable he sounded.

"I tried and let's just say it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience," he said and that was when Ahsoka noticed how ruffled and tired he looked, like he had just been on the receiving end of a torture droid. Vader added, "It it weren't for these things shocking me I would have had us out of here by now

"How long have you been up?" she asked.

"Since our captors thought it would be a good idea to make me more docile by taking my breathing mask. Imagine their shock to find a whole man under this," he said with a small smirk.

Ahsoka looked at his face to see that his mask was indeed missing, but instead of being relieved that he was alright, his smug smirk set her off.

"What are you smirking at? There's nothing funny about this. If you haven't noticed, we're prisoners," she snapped at him.

"I would have never known," Vader said narrowing his eyes at her. "In fact, I was waiting for them to call us out for dinner."

"And there with the sarcasm… Are you ever not sarcastic?" she asked.

"Don't take this out on me. This is your fault. You're the one who's been kriffing distracted and on a rampage all day… Hell, you've been acting like this all month and because of your kriffing issues, you got us into this mess."

Ahsoka lunged at him at that point and Vader found himself glad that she couldn't get to him because of her restraints unless he moved closer to her. Her attempt at attacking him was quite unexpected and he doubted he would have been prepared for it even if the force warned him.

"It's always about the empire with you! The kriffing mission. Nothing gets in the way of the mission. You probably care about your precious empire more than you care about your own children," she accused.

He glared at her and was suddenly glad their restraints restricted his use of the force or else he might have attacked her.

"You know that's not true," he said in a dark tone, his eyes turning sith yellow.

"Is it?" Ahsoka challenged not at all intimidated as she was still trying to pull against her restraints to get to him. "Then you're going to love this one! How would you like to know that your precious emperor set us up? He knew all that this was a trap and that those so-called damn Jedi were just two girls trying to hide under the protection of the mayor. He knew!"

Vader's anger melted away slightly at that. Of course such a thing would be bothering her.

"Somehow I can't find it in me to be surprised. It sounds like something he'd do to test you. See if you'd kill children if he deemed them a threat…"

Ahsoka tried in vain to lunge at him again. "And that doesn't bother you in the least?"

"I expected such a thing from him," Vader said honestly. He had been waiting for Palpatine to try to test Ahsoka this way and two innocent girls was the perfect way to do it.

Ahsoka stared at him for a moment before letting out a frustrated groan and going back to lie in her corner. A few minutes later he heard her muffled sobs and he groaned. He just didn't get it.

"Something else is bothering you. What is it?" he asked not having the energy to demand it of her.

"Nothing," Ahsoka said bitterly. He would think it was ridiculous anyway.

"Tell me," he said a little firmer. "There's no telling how long it'll be before we're out of here. You're going to tell me."

Ahsoka didn't have the strength to argue with him and so she sighed in emotional exhaustion.

"Today's her birthday," she finally said.

"What?" Vader asked.

"It's Shmi's birthday," she said a little louder.

She paused as she waited for him to respond and then she sensed his annoyance with himself for not figuring it out sooner.

"That explains a lot…" he said exasperated with himself more than with her. "I should have figured that out. The timing's about right."

"So that's why you've been so irritated lately and why you didn't want to come on this mission?"

Ahsoka nodded.

"And the fruit reminded you of her. She must like it a lot," Vader assumed.

"I think I passed the craving on," Ahsoka muttered wistfully.

She frowned when she heard him laugh and turned around to look at him, an angry scowl on her face. He found the strangest things to laugh at.

"You find it funny? Ridiculous maybe?" she asked.

Vader shook his head. "It's not you… Well it is. But…"

"But what?"

Vader had stopped his chuckling by then but was smirking.

"For a while, with those mood swings you've been having, I thought you were pregnant again," he admitted.

Ahsoka scowled. "Force forbid. One pregnancy is enough for me. I've done my share of aiding in the repopulation of the galaxy. I doubt the galaxy could handle another Skywalker child. Force knows I can't and don't want to."

They were silent after that, and Ahsoka went back to her corner to sulk until she heard Vader shift over to her.

"Come here," he said in a gentle commanding tone.

Ahsoka looked back at him, but seeing no room to argue went ahead and scouted to sit next to him and lean her head on his shoulder.

"Please tell me why it took us getting captured and locked in a cell for you to tell me any of this," he said in unrestrained frustration

Ahsoka bit her lip before hesitantly replying, "I didn't think you'd care…"

Ahsoka felt a pang of guilt at the hurt she felt in him, but he kept it under control, barely perceptible through the force at all.

"What gave you that idea?"

"Can you blame me?" she asked. "You're not the most unintimidating and sympathetic person to talk to."

"You find me intimidating?"

"Not you personally. But let's face it. You're a stone wall when it comes to emotions and you always brush other's off. You don't even believe that I love you and can't admit it yourself," she said bluntly.

Vader held back a cringe. She was right, but it wasn't something he wanted to get into. So he changed the subject.

"But that still doesn't explain why you're mad at me."

"I was trying not to think about her but that's insanely hard to do when you're around…" Ahsoka said dryly.

"Should I be insulted or flattered?" Vader asked but then he sensed her temper flair again and not knowing if he would be able to restrain himself again added, "Why is that?"

"She's all me personality wise, for the most part anyway…" Ahsoka muttered sighing. "But all her little quirks she gets from you, though I could just say she learned it from Leia or Luke."

"What quirks?"

"That little smirk thing you do," Ahsoka said right off the bat. "She does that when she thinks something's funny but doesn't want to laugh or doesn't think she should."

"And?"

"She's impatient as hell but that's not the thing that worries me. The thing is she just takes it into her own hands when she's tired of waiting. So naturally she has an intolerance for mediocrity."

"At five?" Vader asked in disbelief.

"Six," Ahsoka corrected. "And Force forbid that she finds out you've been hiding something from her, actively anyway. She always knows when people aren't telling her something."

"Next thing you know you're going to tell me she got the temper too…"

"Oddly enough, no," Ahsoka said shaking her head. "It takes a lot to make her get angry. She takes everything in stride and ignores things that she thinks are ridiculous and should make her angry. I don't know where she got that from. It's odd… no matter what she's feeling hardly anything disturbs her calm."

"I bet the Jedi love that," Vader said bitterly.

"They do," Ahsoka muttered. "They want her to be a Jedi. I told them no. That's why I told Leia to give her to Han. He's not exactly ideal but he doesn't really have a side per say. He won't try to stick any ideas in her head."

Vader now understood her logic of sending her away with that scoundrel. As loathe as he was to admit it, it might have been for the best than to put her in the protection of the Jedi so they could turn her on them. Away from the Jedi and away from the sith…

"She's fine," Vader assured. "You'd know if something were wrong."

"I can't help it. I haven't seen her in almost three months," Ahsoka said vaguely.

It had actually been almost four months, but Vader decided it might not be a good idea to point out. He knew what it was like having spent months at a time away from Leia in her youth and then not seeing her for almost six years. He was there as much as he could have been, but he still missed a lot. Vader didn't even like thinking about having not met Luke until he was a teenager, not to mention Shmi was as much his as she was Ahsoka's. It was then he realized that he knew very little about his youngest child and hadn't thought about asking Ahsoka because to be honest, it was too painful for him to think about. Always hiding, always on the run, always in danger…

However, instead of telling her that though he leaned in closer to her and gave her a peck on the lips.

"We'll find her… I promise," he said.

"Never said I doubted you," she replied. "Not how are we going to get out of here?"

Their chance came when a couple of guards armed with blasters came in to take them away, no doubt to the mayor who was probably in on Ahsoka's so-called test. One of them hauled Vader up and the other Ahsoka. They exchanged a glance and then Vader with his quick reflexes grabbed one before he could even think to use his blaster to perhaps stun them. Vader slammed his head into the wall so hard that even the helmet he had on could prevent him from taking severe damage and losing consciousness. Meanwhile Ahsoka swung her shackled arms to the side of her guards head and then jumped to swing her legs around his neck and shoulders causing him to fall forward with her straddling his back.

"You all didn't think just because we were shackled and couldn't use the force, we were completely defenseless huh?" Ahsoka asked playfully as she grabbed the keys off his belt and undid her wrist, leg, and neck restraints.

She tossed the keys to Vader who did the same and then hauled the conscious man to his feet in a force choke.

"Where is you mayor?"

He looked up and the two got the point. She was waiting on them to bring the prisoners up.

"Mind telling us where they put out weapons and his mask?" Ahsoka added.

When the guard didn't immediately answer, Vader tightened his grip.

"She asked you a question. Are you going to answer her?"

The guard looked at her and Ahsoka said, "I don't know what you're looking at me for. I can't control him. You may as well answer the question."

"The hall…" the man choked.

"Close enough," Vader said as the man fell limp in his grip and he let go of his hold.

Ahsoka looked down at the man and then at Vader who was already making his way down the hall.

She chased after him and said, "You didn't have to kill him…"

Vader chose not to answer her and only found the room with their lightsabers. He passed her the two belonging to her and then grabbed his helmet and mask.

"And now to deal with the mayor," he snapped making his way to the upper floor.

"Vader!" she yelled chasing after them effectively ruining their element of surprise as the mayor and her guards apparently heard her call him. The guards were only able to raise their blasters before Vader lifted his hand up and carelessly flung them all aside while Vader raised his lightsaber to the young mayor's neck.

"Start talking," he said and then warned her, "And I'm not going to tolerate lying. You see my wife has had a long and stressing day and I'm in no mood to interrogate you. If I don't like what you're about to say you won't have to worry about the invasion of your city."

The girl looked between Vader and Ahsoka.

"I'm also extremely impatient," Vader added.

"You were going to kill them and they didn't do anything wrong," the girl said angrily. "It was an accident. We didn't know about their powers until recently, but someone caught whiff of it, and we were told that the empire was on the way to find and kill them."

"They're Jedi," Vader said to him.

"No they aren't, and even if they were, they're just children," the girl snapped as if she wasn't only fourteen or fifteen. "They didn't do anything."

"Your defiance-."

Ahsoka reached her up and put his hand down.

"Who told you we were coming? Who told you where to get the right bonds to shackle us?" Ahsoka asked.

"I don't know," she said. "We couldn't see his face. But I had my guards investigate the information and he was right. I had to stop you somehow, and I knew if we planted the mime field you would try to get through."

"We figured that much," Ahsoka said and then sighed. "You're protecting these girls."

A nod.

"Who are they to you?"

"My sisters…" she admitted without looking from Ahsoka's face.

They met eyes for a moment and the Ahsoka sighed grabbing her com.

"Call off the troops. We're leaving," she said and then looked at the mayor. "I suggest you get yourself and your sisters somewhere far, far away from here as soon as possible. I can't say how long you'll be safe here after we leave."

Ahsoka then turned on her head cursing under her breath much to Vader's surprise and started to leave.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"We're leaving. There's no point in being here. I'm not going to kill those two girls," Ahsoka declared. "Not today anyway."

Vader had the sneaking suspicion that Palpatine had been counting on that which was why he sent her there on this day in the first place. He was amazed that somehow Palpatine had found out the date of his daughter's birthday before he did. But in any case, he wasn't going to like that Ahsoka had left the children alive, and he also had the distinct inkling that Palpatine was looking for a reason to punish her. His master didn't particularly like his attachment to her. Of that much, he was certain. Vader would have to try to find something for them to do to make up for this failure before they returned to Coruscant. Otherwise…

"Hey Vader," Ahsoka suddenly said in a much too casual tone.

"What?" he asked forgetting that he was about to ask her if she was ready to accept the consequences of abandoning a mission, especially when he heard her tone.

"You do realize you called me your wife back there?" she said with a smirk on her face.

Vader stopped in his tracks.

"I did what?"

"You heard me," she said hooking one of her arms through his.

Vader didn't remember saying that, but it was possible he had said such a thing. If it had, he had to wonder where in the galaxy it had come from. He would never admit that for all intents and purposes, she was just that.

"Must have been a slip of the tongue."

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"She didn't do it," Melody said simply as she stood before the emperor. "And rest assured she's not happy with you for it."

"So she figured it out?" Palpatine asked.

"Oh yeah. Vader wasn't particularly shocked. He seemed a little indifferent in fact…" Melody said to him

"There's more isn't there?"

"I was able to snag a recording of their conversation and they mentioned a name I think you might have been interested in hearing," she said to him.

Palpatine frowned. "What name?"

Melody said handing a chip over to Palpatine for observing later. "Some girl named Leia. I don't know who she is, but they were talking about the little girl and said she might have gotten something from Leia or Luke."

Leia… Palpatine thought. He tapped into the force to see what the dark side had to offer and it showed him a face, a face that he almost mistook for his apprentice's dead wife until he noticed it was different, a little less serene and a fire in her eyes that was much different and less tamed than the fire the former Naboo senator used to possess. So there was another…

"Master," Melody said carefully.

Palpatine smiled. "Don't you see my hand? There's only one possible explanation for it."

"What?"

"I don't think his Jedi whore was the only thing Vader was hiding from me all these years," he said mulling over it. "There was another presence, a spark I noticed but not as powerful as young Skywalker's. It was there though. It was darker…"

"What are you saying?" Melody asked in confusion. She didn't understand how Palpatine was able to clue pieces together like he did.

"There's a second Skywalker child," Palpatine said.

"A second?" Melody asked. Despite the fact that technically he was the same man, Palpatine distinguished his apprentice's two children by calling one the Skywalker child and the other the Vader child. A second Skywalker child though?

"But how?" Melody said in confusion.

"There's only one explanation," Palpatine said. "They were twins and my apprentice knew about it the entire time. The Jedi was helping him protect the child."

"Seems like his betrayal has been in the works for a while."

"I don't think so," Palpatine said with a smirk. "He didn't want anyone to find out his weakness. He's scared what will happen to his precious children."

Palpatine's disdainful and mocking tone didn't escape Melody's notice, and she agreed. Love was a silly, fleeting emotion. It was people's downfall.

"It seems my apprentice has forgotten the trouble such petty human emotions bring and I'll have to remind him of it. I have a new mission for you Melody."

"Yes master?"

"Find Vader's youngest child and with her we'll lead the other two right to us," Palpatine said.

"But surely Lord Vader will sense their peril in the force."

"Leave that to me. Just let me know when you have the child in your grasp and then I will give you further instructions," Palpatine said to her.

Melody nodded and bowed before getting a move on with her mission. She would not fail.

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AN: Kudos to Black Rose for figuring out what wrong with Ahsoka when no one else did! I misled quite a few people and she hit it right on the nail. I'm going to have to work harder at stumping you. Hmm… Anyway, even though you all didn't meet the incentive in time, for outsmarting me and figuring out my subtle hints, she deserves a reward.

So Black Rose, you've got an extra chapter coupon to be used at any day except Sunday and for any future chapter. I hope you're reading this. If not, someone will get around to telling you I hope…

So not much of a cliffhanger as you can see, meaning it won't kill you to wait until Monday for the next chapter.

Hope you enjoyed. Review Please!