Vader stared at Leia in disbelief as he attempted to take a deep breath and release it but the respirator would not allow it. She looked so much like Padme in this instance it was painful to think about it. "I don't know," he answered honestly as Leia looked crest fallen. "I've had suspicions since I interrogated your mind on the Death Star. Without a parental test, I can't be sure."
Leia made eye contact with him with disbelief on her face. "A parental test?"
"Trying to attain a sample of your blood has proven difficult," Vader answered honestly as Leia's jaw dropped open. "There is a way but at this point, I would need your permission to use the Force to check your memories. Or you can ask Fress. She was with Padme the night everything happened."
"How do you know Fress?" Leia questioned with curiosity.
Is it my imagination or are we starting to bond? Vader silently questioned himself as he shook his head. "We were friends during the Clone Wars. She came into the temple at age six. After her parents were killed by an unknown Sith Lord. She's from Alderaan. A Jedi Master by the name of Mace Windu rescued her in time. Obi-Wan trained her in the ways of the Force but I requested her assistance on my flag ship more then a few times much to Obi-Wan's disapproval."
Vader closed his eyes as he thought about Fress Colias. He wanted to take her on as his padawan learner but the council wouldn't allow it. Instead they teamed her up with Obi-Wan Kebobi and he got Ahsoka as his padawan. Maybe it was for the best. Fress provided Obi-Wan with a good student and he found ways to redirect Ahsoka's energies.
"Easy, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Anakin asked as a little girl bumped into him wiping tears away. "Are you all right?" The girl looked up with red swollen eyes as Anakin placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go find some place to talk. What's your name?"
"Fress Colias," Fress answered as she shook. "What's yours?"
"Anakin Skywalker," Anakin answered as they headed towards the café. "Want something to eat?"
"Not hungry," Fress answered as she followed Anakin observing him. "Are you a padawan learner?"
"Yes," Anakin answered as he steered her into the café. "You sure you won't eat? Even if it is a pastry?"
Fress smiled slightly as he grabbed something from the cart and handed it to her and led her to a table. "Why are you so upset?"
Fress placed the pastry down and stared at her plate as a sinking feeling came over him as she went into the details.
"Vader?" Leia brought Vader out of his memories as he shook his head. He hadn't thought about the day he met Fress in years.
"She witnessed her parents being killed in front of her. The Sith had impaled both through the chest with a lightsaber when they refused to tell him where she was," Vader shook his head. No kid should witness things like that. Even he had his limits. "Our personalities exploded around each other."
"Did you have to let him get away again?" Anakin questioned as they ran through the brush.
"I'm not the one who left the key where he could get at it, Anakin," Fress snapped back as she barely kept sight of Dooku ahead of them.
"Oh so, this is my fault somehow?" Anakin snipped causing Fress to roll her eyes.
"You're the one who left the key out," Fress pointed out in an irritated tone.
"It's not my fault, Firecracker," Anakin shot back causing Fress to roll her eyes again.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn and just admit you messed up, snark," Fress snipped causing Anakin to roll his eyes in turn.
Neither said another word as a ship climbed hard for space. "There goes our prisoner again," Fress said as she came to a stop and lifted her wrist. "Master Kenobi, you have incoming. Dooku managed to give us the slip again because someone left the key out where Dooku could get at it."
"It's not my fault he got a way," Anakin argued back. "He must've used the Force to lift it out of my pocket.
Fress gave Ankain a disbelief expression. "Padawan, we have him on our scanners and we're sending a ship to pick you up. Send us your coordinates. Quit playing the blame game, Fress," Obi-Wan reminded Fress causing Anakin to smirk. "You're both at fault."
Fress frowned as she hit the send button as Anakin rubbed his temples. "Sorry Anakin, maybe it wasn't completely your fault."
"Sorry he got away, what are you gonna do?" Anakin heaved a heavy sigh as she smirked.
"Grab some pastry's out of the kitchen when we get back?" Fress suggested with a small grin.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Anakin agreed with a smirk of his own.
"You and Padme, just how close are you?" Fress questioned as Anakin raised a questioning eyebrow. "Two minutes of kissing says a lot."
"You timed it?" Anakin questioned in disbelief. "Married and don't say a word, and next on the list of lectures is all about privacy."
"Then I would say really close and you left the door open. What else keeps you oblivious to your surroundings besides kissing Padme?" Fress questioned with a mischief twinkle in her eye.
"I know you've been hanging around that Shern kid lately," Anakin shot back. "I won't tell if you won't."
"Just do me a favor, don't get protective and scare him off, please."
Vader focused back on Leia and shook his head as he remembered the exchange Leia and Solo had at Cloud City. "You and the smuggler, just how close are you really?"
"I love him and something in my heart tells me, he's the one," Leia answered with a small smile. "I will get Han back, one way or another."
A smuggler in the Skywalker family? Vader thought to himself. Couldn't she choose anyone more brass to mix in? He looked at Leia and saw Padme in her. She was a mixture of him and Padme, he was almost positive of it now. She's going to blow her lid once she finds out I lied to her about not knowing, he reflected to himself.
Padme appeared behind Leia and placed ghostly hands onto Leia's shoulders and gave a smile and nod causing Vader to become silent. She was Anakin's daughter. Twins, he thought excitedly to himself. He had twins. Luke and Leia Skywalker. "Leia, would it be too prudent to ask if I can help Han get out of that mess I put him in?"
Leia looked a little shocked as she straightened up with a frown. "Why? You are the last person in the galaxy I would expect help from."
"It is a way to honor my wifes memories. It's something she would've done," Vader answered honestly as Leia chewed on her lower lip. After everything I did it would take a lot to gain her trust. "Or at least just think about it."
Leia gave a slight nod in turn as she walked away. "I'm going for some more water, there's a small creek near by," she shouted over her shoulder. "I won't be long."
Vader was left alone with his thoughts again as Artoo rolled up beside him with the transmitter. If nothing else he can at least attempt to get it working again. He looked at the transmitter and noted it was completely intact by some miracle. "Artoo, you were there the day Luke was born. Any holos of the twins?"
Artoo beeped a positive as he leaned back and projected a holo of two babies laying in a crib as he recognized Leia from the holo announcement Bail and Breha sent out. "She really is mine, isn't she?"
Artoo tweeted a positive, as he looked at the holo feeling a twinge in his heart for the first time in a long time. I missed the most important day of my life, the day my children were born into the galaxy.