Padme's Quarters

Senate Building

"Here, Anakin," Padme said.

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, secret husband to Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo, had been staring out over the cityscape gloomily, but he managed a slight smile as his beloved wife presented him with a heaping bowl of blue milk pudding.

"Thank you, my darling," he said, and took a bite. A moment later, he realized he was starving; the previous days had been super stressful and he hadn't eaten much.

"You take such good care of me," he remarked a few minutes later when he was done.

"I love you," his wife said simply, walking over and sitting down on his lap.

They kissed briefly and then Padme laid her head on his torso.

"When do you need to return to the Temple?" she asked.

"I will stay here tonight so long as you do not have any visitors," he said. "I am confident that after today's trial of Snips, no one will notice I am missing."

Padme kissed him again, and said, "I am sorry I didn't do a better job of defending Ahsoka."

"You were wonderful, as usual," her husband said, tightening his grip on her. "But Offee did such a perfect job of framing Ahsoka. Oh Padme, I will miss her so much, but I do understand! The Council abandoned her when she needed support!"

"She had you, Anakin…"

The doorbell rang at this juncture and husband and wife both froze. Anakin sent out a Force tendril and froze more.

"It is Snips!" he exclaimed, leaping to his feet in astonishment. He took a few steps toward the door and then spun around as the couple stared at one another.

"I shouldn't be here!" Anakin said.

"You came here to thank me for defending Ahsoka at the trial," Padme suggested.

"That works," Anakin agreed, glancing at a mirror to make sure he looked reasonably put together.

He did, and rushed toward the door as the chime sounded again.

When the door opened, Ahsoka Tano, flanked by a man and a woman whom he did not recognize, marched into the room, looked around, and demanded, "Are you and the Senator married, Skyguy?"

Anakin coughed in response and cast a piteous look at Padme, who said, "Why on earth would you think we are married, Ahsoka?"

"Because we told her," the unknown woman said with a grin.

"You were married at Varykino at the very beginning of the Clone Wars," the blond man remarked.

"Under a spreading tree," the woman continued.

"With only R2D2 and C3PO in attendance except for the priest," the man completed.

"Who are you?" Anakin demanded, his hand dropping to his lightsaber.

"We are your children, Luke and Leia, from 30 plus years in the future," the woman said with a grin.

Luke, noting the empty bowl sitting nearby, pulled it to him using the Force and took a quick sniff.

"Padme, Mother, do you have any more blue pudding?" he asked.

/

A Few Minutes Later

"I don't believe it," Anakin said weakly.

"If you can find a med droid, we can do a DNA test," Luke offered.

"Not about you being our kids from the future, about Palpatine," their Alter Father said.

Padme, who had been watching with wide eyes, her skin pale, turned a shocked look on her husband. "Ani, are you seriously saying that you accept that these are our children from more than three decades in the future, but you don't accept that Palpatine might be evil?"

Anakin looked at her for a minute and said, "I … I know they are speaking the truth about being our kids, and they look like us, and it is obvious they are very strong Force Sensitives, who are very well trained, and they must be from the future because we know all the Jedi, but Palpatine? He has been my mentor, and my…my friend!"

"And you," Leia said sternly, "are the most powerful Force Sensitive in the galaxy, maybe apart from the two of us. You also had a rough childhood. You also lost your mother to the Tuskens and went crazy and massacred them all, including children. You also have very reasonable attachment to people and the Jedi, being more or less idiots, are telling you that those reasonable feelings are wrong, so its like…"

"It's like you are trying to push an inflated ball fully into a mud bath," Luke said. "You are strong enough to do it for awhile, but inevitably, buoyancy has its way and it rises to the surface. Your emotions are like that. You are suppressing them but when it all bursts out, it will be ugly"

"Beach ball?" Ahsoka demanded, looking confused.

"Mud bath?" Leia asked.

"I thought it was a good analogy," Luke said defensively, and then turned to his Alter father. "Look, the Jedi are not supporting you properly because they are somewhat idiots, and that is also feeding into Palpatine's plans. He's been manipulating you, don't you see? He wants you as an apprentice. He wants you to become a Sith Lord!"

"I would never!"

"You would," the twins chorused, and Leia said, now sadly, "You did in our timeline, because you thought it would save Padme's life. You were wrong, by the way…"

"Padme dies?"

"In our timeline, yes," Luke said, "because you turned to the Dark Side and got mad at her and choked her and then fell into lava and were burned and Palpatine used her life force to save yours and she died right after giving birth to us. That won't happen this time."

Anakin's eyes were wide with horror and Padme took his hand and said, "I believe them, Ani. Palpatine has been gaining power over time, and if our visitors are right, and he is the leader of the Separatists, it makes all the political sense in the galaxy! This whole war isn't being won because the same man is leading both sides!"

Her husband still didn't look convinced, and Luke said, "It's Ok if you aren't sure, Anakin. We can prove it to you."

"How?" Anakin demanded bluntly.

The twins exchanged glances and Leia chuckled darkly. "We will think of something, I promise."

Author Note: I know this chapter is short. Sorry.