The next morning Anakin and Padme introduced Luke to the droids of the house and vice versa, especially R2-D2 and C-3PO. They found out that Luke could communicate with Threepio easily enough, more surprising however, was how quickly Artoo took to him, and for all intents and purposes, it seemed the boy could understand the Astromech droid, and could communicate with him, at least to a degree.
"Master Anakin, I know it isn't my place, but I must confess I am not familiar with the protocol for this situation," the humanoid droid told his creator.
"To tell you the truth, Threepio, we're not either," Anakin responded.
"I was under the impression that human development was a much slower process," he commented as he looked at the blonde child crouched down talking with Artoo.
"Well, usually it is."
"Oh good," the droid said, "for a moment I was worried that my programming was starting to fail."
Later that morning, Anakin, Luke and Padme walked through a market square picking out things for Luke's room. The boy was going to need everything, a bed, a dresser, a desk, clothes. It was a lot to think about for two parents who 24 hours ago hadn't even had a child, let alone any idea they were getting one. The way they'd planned to go about it, they would've had nine months' preparation time anyway.
"If you see something you want, say so," Padme told Luke as they walked along looking at everything.
"Okay," the blonde child replied before running off.
"Luke!"
"He's fine," Anakin assured her, keeping his eye on the boy.
"I still can't believe it, can you?" she asked.
"Nope." Words couldn't express the tremendous relief Anakin had felt when he woke up that morning and saw it hadn't just been a dream.
Luke came running back towards his parents with a fluffy pink blanket and asked them, "Can I get this one?"
Anakin paused long enough to ask his son, "Can you tell me why you want this one, instead of any of the others?"
"This one's the softest," Luke answered.
"Hard to argue with that," the elder Skywalker replied.
Padme took the blanket and patted Luke on top of the head, smoothing down a couple unruly curls, "Of course, Luke."
"Thank you!" he said with a big smile and ran off again to find something else.
It would be a few days before Luke's room was actually ready, but at least this way he wouldn't keep stealing their covers during the night.
As happy as Anakin was, he didn't dare give voice to the pesky thoughts inside his head, that as whole as their family felt now, he also felt slightly cheated, they had planned to start off with a baby, Luke, as far as they could tell, was already nine years old, that was a lot of years and a lot of milestones lost that they had dreamed of being present for. He knew that ultimately that didn't matter, they were witnessing every 'first' milestone Luke had just the same. They had seen him take his first steps, heard his first words, and there would be more to come.
Padme couldn't help laugh as she walked into the living room and saw her husband and her son on the floor working on a model ship, and she could tell Anakin was just as excited about getting it done as Luke was. There was some truth to the saying that boys just grew into bigger boys.
She knelt down between them and pointed out, "You two can finish this tomorrow, it's time for bed, Luke."
"Okay," the boy said reluctantly as he stood up and put the parts on the table.
Anakin sat back on his heels and told his wife, "Another hour and we'd have it finished."
"Nice try."
Anakin growled playfully in response.
"Anakin," Padme said, "you know we have to announce this."
"Do we have to?" Anakin asked. "Can't we just let people wonder what the hell we're doing with a kid? They're going to know it wasn't natural, how do we explain this?"
"All we have to explain is we have a son, that's all people have to know," Padme replied. "Anything else is none of their business."
"You make it sound very simple."
"It is."
Anakin reminded himself that Padme had told Luke if he'd wanted something, they would get it, and they had done exactly that, but that night as the three of them were piled into bed and Luke slept between them, he couldn't help wondering...
Finally, he turned his head to whisper to Padme, "Should we be worried about this?"
His tired wife giggled silently, "You worry too much, Anakin."
"That doesn't really answer my question."
Her smile was incessant as she assured him, "Everything is fine. Luke is perfectly fine."
That might be, but as Anakin scooted around on his side of the bed trying to get comfortable, he couldn't help wondering as he looked to the lump sleeping in the middle and watched Luke as he cradled the baby doll he'd seen at the market and for some reason just had to have. Anakin could accept for normal children this might be a phase some boys went through and finally outgrew, but given that their child, as far as they were able to tell, had somehow been a doll himself, he wondered if Luke felt a personal connection to the toy. He hoped it was just a coincidence, but on top of everything they'd already have to worry about with raising a child, this was even more uncharted territory for them. He knew he should just be grateful. Luke, however he got here, was their miracle child, but because they still didn't understand the circumstances of how that came to be, Anakin found himself worrying constantly about so many possibilities that might result in Luke being taken away from them. He had no idea what, if anything, they would be up against, he only hoped when, if, anything happened, they would be ready for it.
As the days passed, it started to dawn on both parents just how much like a 'normal' child Luke was. Since he was virtually born just a few days ago, he couldn't read, write or count, so Anakin and Padme worked with him each day teaching him how to read Basic and how to tell Standard time. The boy was a quick learner and he seemed to enjoy it, most likely his parents suspected, because he got to spend time with them while he went over the material.
Watching how quickly Luke could learn, his parents discussed the possibility of putting Luke in school so he could be around other kids his own age, but Anakin finally persuaded Padme that it was too much of a security risk. A lot of lowly characters in the galaxy would consider a senator's only child a prime target to kidnap, and any protective measures the school could provide would prove questionable at best. For the time being anyway, they decided Luke would stay with them at all times.
After a few days Luke's room was completed: the walls were painted, he had his own bed, a desk and chair, dresser, several changes of clothes, a model TIE fighter hanging from the ceiling, a holotable that could be used to watch tapes and play dejarik, which his father was trying to teach him, a wall case with several books on one shelf, and for two inanimate companions, his baby doll, and a giant stuffed wookiee. Padme took a stylus pen and marked Luke's height on the wall, after several attempts of the boy standing on his toes or bending his knees to alter the measurement.
That night, Anakin tucked his son into his new bed in his new room and explained to Luke, "Now I know you're used to sleeping with me and your mom, but tonight you're going to sleep here, got it?"
Luke tiredly nodded. "Okay, Father."
"Good," Anakin leaned over and kissed Luke on the forehead and told him, "Goodnight."
On his way out of the room, he turned the main lights down, which in turn activated a small green nightlight in the wall, and headed down the hall to his and Padme's room. Padme was already in bed but not asleep.
"How long do you think it'll be before he comes charging in?" Anakin asked.
Padme laughed, "He may surprise you."
"I'm not complaining, he kicks hard in his sleep," Anakin replied as he crawled into his side of the bed.
They waited. Five minutes became ten, became fifteen. Half an hour later they were both looking at each other, silently daring the other to go look. Finally Anakin got up, and went back to Luke's room, palmed the door open and looked in.
Luke slept peacefully between the doll and the wookiee, all three of them covered with his pink blanket.
Anakin sighed in relief, and stood there for a minute watching his son, his son, sleep. Something he had waited so long for, now it was finally here and he still couldn't believe it, half of him was scared to believe it. It was a dream come true, it was too good to be true, and his life experience had taught him when something was, it was precisely because it wasn't, and the other boot was just waiting to drop.
Exhausted as he was, he was tempted to stay there and watch Luke while he slept, make sure he was safe, that no harm came to him. He resigned himself to go back and join Padme in their bed, but he was certain of one thing, no one was going to harm their child. He would see to that personally.