Original Timeline
Solo Residence
Han Solo stopped for a moment in front of his children's closed bedroom door and relished the blissful silence. With three-year-old twins and a one-year-old son, he well knew that sleeping children were a gift. It was, admittedly, an hour before midnight and his children ought to be asleep, but given their exuberant nature, there were no guarantees.
He resumed his trek to his bedroom, looking forward to a few minutes with his beautiful wife Leia, and then a solid eight hours of sleep assuming that no small offspring had a nightmare, a nosebleed, or had taken an overly long nap this afternoon.
He opened the door and strolled in, a fond smile lightening his rugged features. Leia lay on their large bed, her eyes closed, her dark hair loose around her shoulders. He loved that only a few people ever saw her like this, so relaxed, so happy.
She opened sleepy eyes and grinned at him, "Kids asleep?"
"Yep," he replied, his focus tightening on her face. She looked a little odd ...
"You jumped didn't you?" It was more a statement than a question.
"I did. How did you know?"
"You look tired and pale and smell a little strange ..."
Leia sat up and yawned, brushed her hair behind her shoulders, and sniffed her sleeve, "Ozone from Palpatine's lightning mixed with beheaded Palpatine maybe?"
Solo narrowed his eyes, "Yep, sounds about right. I hope you didn't get hit?"
"We were fine, Han. All three of us came for the ride, and three very experienced Jedi were entirely capable of dealing with Palpatine in short order."
He sat down and kissed her firmly. "I'm glad. So it was a good trip?"
"It was. A good and weird trip. We made two jumps this time, first to our mother's Star Skiff fleeing Mustafar, where I gave Padme a blood transfusion and then, presumably because I gave her blood, she jumped with us to two years later, to Palpatine's Throne Room on Coruscant with Vader in attendance. Vader was pretty freaked out to see his supposedly dead wife there, still super pregnant with babies Luke and Leia."
"Your mother jumped?" Han demanded, his mind fixated on that remarkable statement.
"Yes," Leia confirmed, leaning into him. "We're guessing it had to be the blood transfusion from me to her, which raised her midichlorian count up enough for one jump. It was very helpful that she showed up. Vader was flummoxed but happy."
"Huh," Han said, his eyes drifting to stare at a random rancor plushie which was lying on the floor.
"I know," Leia responded, "I thought of the same thing, but it wouldn't be a good idea."
"What wouldn't be a good idea?"
"You getting a transfusion from Luke, who shares your blood type, so you could jump too."
Her husband blinked, "How did you know ...?"
"That's what you were thinking about? We've been married awhile, Han. I know how your mind works."
"I want to come too," Solo responded, allowing his face to droop in comical disappointment. "Why can't I come too?"
His dear wife sighed, "Well, we never know when the Force is going to grab us, that is the most obvious reason. But say we did manage to time it just right – there is every chance you'd come with us to some other time and place and then your midichlorian count would drop so low you couldn't jump back, and you'd be stuck twenty or thirty years in the past. That would stink."
"It would totally stink," Solo agreed.
/
Alternate Timeline
Emperor Palpatine's Throne Room
1 day after the death of Emperor Palpatine
The door to the elevator opened and Bail Organa took a deep breath as a stormtrooper pushed him forward.
"Approach the throne, Senator," the filtered voice ordered.
Bail obediently began marching toward the half flight of stairs which led to the throne of the Emperor of the known galaxy. He was almost certainly going to his death, but he would do so with courage.
He had never been invited to the throne room before, but it was, to his jaundiced eye, entirely typical of the former Chancellor, now Emperor, Palpatine. It was very sleek and dark, with blinking control panels sprinkled here and there. The Corusanti sun was nearly below the horizon, which meant the sky outside the window was a dim twilight with a myriad twinkling lights from buildings and spacecraft.
He halted a few meters in front of the throne, on which sat the small cloaked and hooded figure of the Emperor. Behind the man was the hulking form of Darth Vader, hovering protectively over his master.
The Emperor lifted one slender hand and pushed back the hood to reveal, to reveal...
"Padme?" Bail choked out.
"Bail!" the woman replied in delight, pushing herself with difficulty to a standing position and waddling, yes, definitely, waddling toward him. "It is so good to see you, my old friend!"
Bail accepted the hand of friendship in bewilderment as he looked first at Vader, and then, wildly around the throne room.
"Palpatine is dead," Padme explained sweetly, as Vader said firmly, "Padme, you must sit down."
She rolled her eyes and cast a saucy look at Vader, at Darth Vader, and said, "Oh, Ani, you are such a fussbudget!"
"Ani?" Bail repeated numbly, and felt himself wobbling.
"Ani, could you please get Bail a chair?" the former queen of Naboo requested, and a few seconds later, a seat slid under him, allowing Bail to collapse thankfully.
Padme was back on the throne and had her elegant booted feet crossed as she caressed her enormous belly.
"I am confused," Bail declared diplomatically, deciding to focus on his friend's face.
"I do not blame you," Amidala returned with an impish smile. "It is simple enough, though also incredible enough. Vader is my husband, the former Anakin Skywalker, though I prefer to call him Anakin because really, Vader is just kind of gloomy and Sithish ..."
"Padme," the cyborg said uncomfortably.
"You know I'm right," the woman declared.
Bail winced as a full blown migraine erupted in the back left lobe of his brain, but he managed to ask, "When and how did Palpatine die?"
"When is simple," Padme stated, "He was killed last night, in this very throne room. How is way more freaky; my twin children from the future came back in time with my son's wife, and together they wiped out Palpatine."
Bail gazed at his old friend blankly for a long moment before blurting, "What?"
"I know," his Senatorial colleague agreed with a casual wave of her hand. "It is most remarkably odd. But that's what happened. Well, it was even weirder than that; my children from the future came back in time to right after the birth of Empire, stabilized my health, and then all of us jumped two years forward to now, which is why I am still pregnant even though it has been, in your time, and in Ani's time, two years since I've seen you."
Bail wobbled slightly and reached out a hand to clutch his chair to steady himself.
"Time travel?" he asked faintly.
"Yes, time travel," Padme returned impatiently. "Bail, I realize that this whole thing is confusing and even alarming, but we don't have a great deal of time. I've been having regular contractions for the last three hours …"
"What?" Vader yelped in anguish, taking a hasty step forward.
"Anakin, calm down," the woman ordered sternly, turning to spear her husband with her glorious brown eyes. "They are still six to seven minutes apart, but I rather think the babies may be on the way and thus, it behooves us to use this time to our advantage, Bail."
"Twins?" Bail repeated, his brain struggling, and failing, to keep up.
"Yes!" Padme squealed, her face suddenly lit up like the brighter of Tatooine's suns. "I'm so excited! Anakin is excited as well, aren't you, Anakin?"
The cyborg shifted uneasily and then his shoulders slumped a little, "I am afraid, in truth, Padme. In my visions …"
"Nonsense, darling," his wife interrupted, turning to place a slender hand on the gigantic cyborg wrist. "You heard what our children from the future said - in their timeline, your visions came true, and I did die in childbirth, but this time, with their interference, I am absolutely certain all will be well! You really must calm down. Worrying about me cannot be good for your blood pressure."
Bail Organa had long prided himself on his ability to adapt to new circumstances, but this was utterly ridiculous.
But at least Palpatine was dead. Or was he? Was there any chance that this was all some elaborate trick, that Padme was a clone or something and ... and …
"Palpatine is indeed dead," Vader stated unnervingly, staring directly into the Alderaainians's eyes. "We have his corpse in the freezer in preparation for the funeral."
"Funeral?" Bail repeated, his brain jerking forward in a frantic attempt to understand.
"Yes," Padme declared complacently. "Ani and I have talked about it at length, and we believe that it is best to give Palpatine a public and elaborate funeral and tell the galaxy that he died of a heart attack from too many fried foods. Of course, we'll have to glue on his head but a droid can do that."
"Glue on his …"
"Yes, my future son's wife chopped off his head with a lightsaber," Padme said brightly. "And while of course I approve entirely, if it becomes generally known that the Emperor was assassinated by our children from the future, Palpatine's devotees will probably get a little testy. No, our story will be that Palpatine died of natural causes, Anakin is the obvious successor and I will rule at his side as Empress. We'll have the Empire shifting firmly toward democracy within six months."
Bail stared at Padme, then at Vader, who once again seemed to read his mind with ease.
"To be clear, Padme will rule," the cyborg stated. "I will merely protect her. It is clear ... it is clear based on my decisions in the recent past that my view of the governing would not ... will not ... well, I am no politician, Senator Organa."
"ARGGHH!" Padme screeched suddenly, clutching her middle. "Uh, maybe I should see a med droid now, Anakin. Bail …"
She panted for thirty seconds and then continued, "Bail, can you please plan to meet with me in a few days so we can talk over the political situation? It is so weird skipping two years - I'm sure some of our colleagues have died or shifted their political positions to ... ergh, uh, erm …"
Vader, before Bail's startled eyes, picked up his petite wife and rushed for the elevator.
"Don't tell anyone Palpatine is dead yet!" Padme yelled as the elevator doors closed behind the couple.
/
Skywalker Residence
Imperial Palace
Thirteen months later
"Good job, Baby!" Ahsoka Tano declared. "Thank you for letting me do my job with a minimum of fuss."
Baby Leia Skywalker gurgled at her adopted aunt and grabbed at her pudgy feet. Ahsoka slid the baby's pants over her chunky thighs, picked her up, and carried her out to the living room. Really, the Skywalker twins were too cute!
She stepped carefully over the baby gate, glanced around, and froze in astonishment and dismay. What!?
C-3PO, who had been toddling around the room chasing Leia's twin when Ahsoka took Leia to changer her diaper, was now frozen in position in the corner, his darkened eyes indicating he had been turned off, and Luke was nowhere to be seen.
Ahsoka sent out a frantic Force tendril and was relieved when the little boy was located nearby — in fact …
Tano lowered Leia gently onto the floor and bounded over another gate into the kitchen, where Luke Skywalker, thirteen months of age, was standing proudly on the counter reaching for the fancy wine glasses which were dangling from hooks above him.
The Togruta swooped forward and grabbed the little boy before he could damage the glasses or himself, and hauled him firmly back to the living room.
Luke squealed in indignation at this rude disruption of his fun, and Ahsoka planted a kiss on his cheek. "Luke Skywalker, you are a terror."
"He is," Empress Padme declared with a grin, divesting herself of her outer robe and reaching out her arms. "He absolutely is. What was my precious little guy up to today?"
Tano groaned and passed the boy to his mother, who planted her own kiss on him before reaching down to collect Leia, who had wobbled her way over to cling to her mother's leg.
"I was changing Leia's very messy diaper, and while I was busy cleaning her up, Luke somehow turned off C-3PO, climbed over the baby gate, then scaled the counter and reached for the wine glasses. I was only gone for like five minutes, Padme!"
Padme Skywalker groaned aloud and shook her head, "I believe you, Ahsoka, and I do apologize for leaving you with them for so long. The Senatorial session stretched far beyond what I expected."
"It is my honor," Ahsoka assured her, walking over to turn on the golden protocol droid. "I think Anakin and I need to do another round of baby proofing though."
"Luke," his mother inquired, bouncing the twins in her arms, "what did you do to Threepio?"
The boy gurgled and giggled, then waved a hand toward Threepio, who only had time to twitch and yelp in outrage before turning off again.
"I think Ani will need to work on making it harder to turn off the droid," Padme said drily.
"I need to do what?" A new voice inquired.
"Anakin! Obi-Wan!" the Empress exclaimed, leaning over to kiss her husband on the cheek.
"Da!" Shrieked Leia, and Anakin reached out to fold the little girl into his arms. She squeaked and squealed in delight as her father rubbed his head, now with a full inch of hair, on her belly.
"Obi-Wan, feel free to get something to drink!" Padme suggested, gesturing toward the kitchen.
"I'm coming with you," Anakin declared, leaping gracefully over the baby gate with Leia still in his arms. "I have only two bottles of Trandoshan ale left and I'm not letting you drink them all up, Kenobi!"
"I wouldn't do that!" Kenobi declared, following his friend.
"After that meeting, I wouldn't exactly blame you," Anakin asserted, wandering into the kitchen. "Talk about boring!"
"Life can't all be about taking down the Hutts and capturing rogue Clone troopers who need their chips removed," Obi-Wan pointed out.
Ahsoka grinned and turned back to the Empress, only to be startled at the tears in the woman's eyes.
"Padme? What's wrong?"
The beautiful brunette shook her head and gulped, "Nothing is wrong, Ahsoka. I'm just so happy. I never would have believed that Ani and Obi-Wan could … could …"
"Make peace? More than that, become friends again? It amazes me too, but of course it helps that Skyguy is almost as good as new, thanks to the Kaminoan's technology and the stem cells from the twins' umbilical cords. That was more or less brilliant, Padme, saving those cells, I mean."
"It was," the Empress agreed. She stroked Luke's fuzzy blond head, and the baby rested his face on her shoulder. "Looks like this little guy needs to go to sleep soon."
"He ought to be worn out after his ceaseless activity the last few hours."
Padme nodded and then sighed before speaking in a low tone, "I do feel guilty sometimes for being happy, Ahsoka. Anakin really ought to be executed or in prison for what he did to the Jedi children. Why should those little ones be dead and our children live?"
Tano shook her head so hard that her montrals swung, "My dear Padme, you know that Skyguy is needed to protect you and work toward democracy. Most sentients respect you as Empress, but without Anakin, you'd have been assassinated months ago. Besides, he was sleep deprived and under the vile influence of Palpatine, you know that. There were mitigating circumstances, though of course what he did was horrible."
"He does regret it," Padme responded. "He has nightmares about what happened."
"That is its own form of penance, I think. Now, do you have a few minutes to talk about my wedding to Rex? I only have two more weeks to plan."
"Of course, Ahsoka!"