Chapter 11 – Children

Author's Note: Padme's POV. :D

This is important, so please read this before the chapter, okay?

I know that the decisions I made in this chapter are probably going to be very unpopular, and I'm expecting a great deal of criticism for them. But first of all, this is not canon. This is a universe that has diverged from AOTC, if not before, and things won't automatically unfold similarly. There were reasons behind my choices (as well as those of the person who created this story), and... before you walk away, if that's what you want to do, at least hear me out first?

My explanation is at the end. :)

Ngl, this is one of the chapters I've been most excited for. Lol.

~ Amina Gila

Padme loses her battle with tears some indefinite time after Anakin has gone, and after she has departed for Naboo. She needs a break from this all, and the child will be coming soon. She needs rest. She needs to see Sabe again.

But right now, on the starship, she sobs.

The world as she knew it has come careening down all around her, and the one single good thing she has left is her child, her unborn son. She presses a hand to her belly, feeling the kick beneath her palm, as if the baby somehow can sense her distress and is reacting to it. Probably, it is. Probably, she needs to calm down.

Padme has asked for a short leave of absence which the queen granted to her, so she's going to her parent's place. She hopes to remain there until the birth of her child; after, she'll figure out what to do. Like she said to Anakin, she plans to return to the Senate and fight for what's right, for democracy, for Palpatine's reign to come to an end. She knows she'll be playing with fire, but she'll be ready for it. She'll be strong.

Right now, she just needs a moment to be weak.

When Padme arrives at Theed, Sabe is waiting for her on the platform along with Padme's sister, Sola. She hurries towards them as fast as she can, given her pregnancy, and she embraces Sabe first – though it's horribly awkward when they're both very pregnant – before her sister steals her away in a bone-crushing embrace.

"We've been so worried for you," Sola confides, looping her arm with Padme's as she leads her to the speeder, "And you don't look very good. Maybe you can finally get a well-deserved break from politics. You work too hard."

Sabe snorts. "Please," she says, "Don't even bother. I have tried fruitlessly for years to get her to take more time for herself, but she won't do it."

"Ah, I see how it is," Padme states dryly, feeling a lot more like herself now that she's surrounded by friendly faces again, "You two are ganging up on me."

They make light-hearted conversation as they make the short flight from the spaceport to the Naberrie home. Padme looks forward to being back, to being in the familiar, cozy surroundings of her childhood home, especially when she has just lost Anakin. She understands why he left, but she still wishes that he hadn't done so. She wishes that he could be here when their child is born. She wants the safety and security of his arms around her.

But wishes will change nothing; fighting will. So, she will fight to bring her husband-to-be back to her and their child.

"I hope you don't mind that I've been staying in your room," Sabe tells her, leaning back, one hand absently rubbing circles on her belly.

Padme nudges her. "We used to share, back when I was queen. Why ever would I mind?"

"I'm bigger," her best friend and body-double deadpans, and for some inexplicable reason, Padme finds that hilarious. She giggles until she nearly cries, and then, they're both laughing.

"How are you?" Padme questions when she finally stops wheezing for air, sobering.

Sabe's pregnancy is a very touchy subject. She had discovered it around the same time as Padme herself had, and she'd left for Naboo several months later, when she became too far along to continue to serve as a handmaid. To this day, they have no idea who the father is. Tearfully, Sabe had confessed that it should have been impossible, that she had done nothing that could have led to it. The revelation of the pregnancy had left her deeply shaken, and Padme doesn't know if she's truly recovered from it; she had not wanted it, after all.

"Your family is lovely," Sabe answers, which is not an answer at all, but the shadows on her face are deeper. "You are fortunate that I told your mother, or she would chew your ear off when we arrive." Padme doesn't doubt it.

But that isn't what she asked, and after a moment of hesitation, she decides to persist. Reaching out, she takes Sabe's hand, squeezing it. "What will you do after the child is born?"

Something flickers across the other woman's face, and she shrugs one shoulder, squeezing Padme's hand in return. "I thought I would give the baby to Yane and Sache." For some reason, that makes Padme's heart clench painfully, even if it logically makes sense. Yane and Sache, who have adopted one another as sisters, decided to start a family together, adopting children from all over. They love children, and they would never refuse to take in another.

And yet.

And yet –

"Are you certain this is what you want?" Padme asks gently.

Sabe glares at her. "I don't fault the child for growing, but I didn't ask for it, Padme. I didn't want it. It is innocent, though, so I can at least give it a home."

"I can take it," she blurts out before she even thinks about it.

What – why – why did she just say that? What came over her?

Sabe's eyebrows fly upwards. "You?" she repeats, disbelieving, "But I thought you were planning to leave your child here on Naboo with your parents?"

"I am," Padme replies, "But I – our children will be born around the same time, by our estimation. I could adopt your baby." She hadn't thought about it before now, and she has no idea why she feels so strongly about this, but there's something… something…

Inside her, the baby turns, and Padme reflexively touches the bump.

"If you want," Sabe says neutrally, "But I… please do not ask me to care for it. I will watch yours, but I –" She chokes on words, and looks away, squeezing her eyes closed. "This child means something to me that no child should ever mean to its mother. I cannot forget it, but I don't want to see it. Not right now."

"It's okay," Padme soothes. "I understand." And she does. She and Sabe have been friends ever since the latter first became her handmaid when they were fourteen, right after Padme was elected queen. A deep bond has been forged between them, one that has stood firm for years, despite everything thrown at them.

No matter what Padme decides, she knows that Sabe will support her. And that means that she, in turn, must support Sabe when she needs it, too.

**w**

Somehow, Padme and Sabe go into labor only hours apart on the same night, a mere week after Padme came to Naboo. Childbirth is hard. It's painful and excruciating, and she wants Anakin here, but he's not here, and –

Sabe gives birth to a boy fifteen minutes before Padme gives birth to a girl.

Huh. Anakin was right.

A girl.

Leia.

Padme cradles the newborn baby against her chest, taking in the sheer beauty of her, the miracle of having a child of her own. She has never felt like this before, so protective. She has never loved so deeply and fiercely before, and maybe for the first time, she can understand why Sola encourages her to have a family of her own. Right here and right now, she would love nothing more, but the galaxy needs her too, and she is used to ignoring her own needs for the sake of others.

Still, she cannot deny that something is… missing, other than the obvious.

Anakin ought to be here, but he's not, and it's not just him who is missing.

It's… something.

"What will you name him?" Padme queries, trying to distract herself from the pain and exhaustion and feeling of wrongness.

"I… don't know," Sabe admits, shaking her head. They're in the same medcenter room now that the births are complete. "I never thought about it."

"Luke," Padme replies instantly, and around her, something sings. "When Anakin and I talked about names, I suggested Luke, if it would be a boy." She pauses, and then laughs. "I guess I was right, in a sense."

"Luke," Sabe echoes. "It fits."

Padme asks the droid nurse to bring her Luke so she can hold him, this baby that she chose even if she didn't give birth to him, and somehow, he fits in her arms the same way Leia does, as if he always was hers. It's unnerving.

It's even more unnerving when Leia twists in her other arm, as if sensing Luke's presence, reaching a flailing arm in his direction. And Padme's breath catches when Luke reaches back. There's something happening here, something that she cannot understand or perceive, and it makes her wish that Anakin, or a Jedi, was present. Surely, they would know, would understand, what it was that just transpired.

The babies coo, softly, as if talking, and Padme gets the feeling that they are. This is…

Luke might not have been hers by birth, but he is still hers by choice. She has chosen him to be her son just as Leia is her daughter. And that means… she has twins. Twins. Imagine that.

**w**

It's not until the morning after the birth that Padme asks the droid to do a paternity test on Luke. Privately. Sabe does not want to know. She would prefer to forget about it all – it's been very hard on her, mentally, and she needs a break. Padme understands. But she also wants to know the truth. She wants to know who the father of this child is, who it was that caused her best friend so much pain.

"I'm afraid something must have been wrong," the droid frets when the test finishes running. "Something must have been contaminated. Perhaps I should run it again."

Warning bells go off in Padme's mind. "What did you find?" she asks, glancing towards the crib where Luke and Leia are sleeping together. She commed her parents already and explained the situation to them. As she'd expected, her mother is more than willing to take in both children and care for them, but she needs to make some additional arrangements; all of this happened so suddenly after all.

"The results are… inconclusive," the droid answers, "But it would appear that the father is not human."

Padme's head whips towards the crib as she studies the baby's features. He looks fully human, with bright blue eyes and faint whisps of reddish-blonde hair. "Are you certain? What species is he, then?"

"I am uncertain," comes the reply, "It is listed solely as unknown."

The alarm bells get stronger. Something is wrong. "What else?" she demands, sensing that there's more.

"It appears that the child is somehow related to Emperor Palpatine… and the Jedi Anakin Skywalker."

And her blood runs cold.

It all makes sense now, in a horrifying way. Sabe's pregnancy should not have happened, and Padme has heard from Anakin how his own mother inexplicably became pregnant with him. She knows that Anakin is not fully human, that half of his genetic material is marked simply as 'unknown' by all tests which are run. He never had a father, not a true genetic father, and he chalked it up to it just being the Force.

But what if he was wrong?

What if… Anakin's "father" was actually a Sith? Is it even possible for them to create a child using twisted Dark Side magic?

Padme has no idea, and as much as she wants to protest the impossibility of such a thing, every instinct she has is screaming that this is the answer. That little Luke was created by Palpatine using a twisted Force ritual, for reasons that she does not even want to fathom. And this means that her child – her children – are probably in grave danger.

She has not seen Obi-Wan since she came to Naboo, but she suddenly wishes that he was here, even if they are barely friends, because she is… frightened. Politics, she can handle. The Force and strange dark magic, she cannot.

Despite the pain in her body, she pushes herself to her feet, walking to the crib and standing there, staring down at the sleeping babies. They're touching each other, as if seeking each other out, even unconsciously. "I'll protect you," she whispers, touching their heads lightly, a fierce motherly love washing over her. "I'll protect you, no matter what. You are mine. I will not let Palpatine get you."

No matter what it takes.

And that means she has to go back to the Senate. She has to go back to fighting for freedom, fighting for the tyrannical empire to be torn down.

Now, she will be fighting for her children, too, and she will fight for them until her last breath.

**w**

Sidious feels the disturbance in the Force. He feels it as a small star is suddenly birthed, glowing dimly on the edges of his awareness. In the privacy of his office, he smiles, reaching out to the currents of the Force as he senses out the newborn.

His future apprentice has been born.

Oh, to be certain, the baby is only his backup apprentice – he will go for Skywalker's child first but having a creation of his own was an opportunity he could not pass up. And it had been so easy, too. He had learned everything on the manipulation of midi-chlorians from his master, and he has, finally, successfully applied it.

Perhaps this younger Skywalker will not become his either, but this child, this creation of his own… It is his own flesh and blood, his own genetic material worked into its genome. He is the only father it will ever truly have, and in time, it will come to him when he calls.

He reaches further into the Force, casting his consciousness towards the tiny lifeform.

And then, he stops cold. Something is… wrong, because he does not just sense merely one Force presence when he reaches out, towards the link of blood binding him to this creation of his. He senses… two. One is his child. The other… She burns bright in the Force, bright and strong and fierce like –

Kriff.

It's Skywalker's child.

Somehow, in some inexplicable way, his own child has become bonded with Skywalker's. It makes no sense. It should be impossible. And yet, it has happened. Well, maybe he can somehow use this to his advantage in the future. But for now, he will sit back and wait. They are still too young to be of use to him.

**w**

Obi-Wan looks up from the cup of tea in front of him when the door slides open. He is unsurprised to see Breha enter – he had expected she would come to him, sooner or later, bearing news of Senator Amidala.

Ever since he parted ways from the others, he has been in hiding on Alderaan. He has nowhere else to go, and this is the best place for him to hide while watching over Anakin's family from a distance. As much as he would like to stay nearer to the child, he knows it isn't safe. No doubt, Palpatine will be watching, and he cannot take a risk like that, no matter how much he would like to. Maybe in the future, when the galaxy has settled, he can live near the child.

But not now. Not yet.

"There is news?" he requests, trying to keep the heaviness of his thoughts from his voice. Anakin's absence has been weighing heavily on him. He misses his once Padawan fiercely, even if he would never admit to it aloud. Nothing in the galaxy feels right when Anakin isn't with him, and it's worse knowing that their separation has no endpoint.

Breha nods. "Bail contacted me," she replies. "Senator Amidala gave birth to a girl. Leia."

"Leia," he repeats, sounding out the name. It fits, he thinks, the child that he imagines her as being in the future when she gets older.

"Her handmaid, Sabe, gave birth to a boy, Luke, whom the Senator has chosen to take in as her own. Bail thought you should know."

"Thank you," he answers, nodding, and Breha takes her leave.

Alone, he turns the unexpected news over in his mind. There is something there, on the edges of his mind, something that tells him this is significant in some way. He cannot understand how, but he knows that he will do his utmost to keep Leia safe. And Luke as well, if the Senator has chosen him. Perhaps, he realizes, it was their birth that sent a faint ripple through the Force.

The future has shifted, and this time, he hopes it's for the better.

**w**

Anakin feels the Force shift around him, and faintly, distantly, he can feel the flicker of a small star. If it was not so dangerous, he would reach out further. But he does not need to, to know what this is. His child has been born.

A sense of joy fills him, no matter how fleeting it is. He has a child now. He's a father.

It hardly seems real, and probably, it will not truly feel real until he sees her with his own eyes – it is a girl, he is certain, no matter what Padme has said.

But along with that joy, Anakin also feels grief, because he was not there to witness it, to see as his child was born, to welcome her into the world. He will not be there to hold her, to feed her. He will not be there to see her smile or watch her as she grows from infancy. He will not be there so long as the Empire continues, and that knowledge crushes him. By all rights, he should be there, but he won't be.

Because of the Empire. Because of the Sith. Because of Sidious.

Anger follows the grief, but he takes a deep breath and lets it go. Now, his anger can do nothing. He can be as angry as he likes. It will change nothing. He will still be here on Tatooine, in exile, and his child will still be on Naboo. It might as well be the other side of the galaxy, for all the distance that separates them.

But he vows, in his heart, that one day, he will find his way back home. He will return to the family he was forced to leave, and he will make up for all the time that they have lost. Someday. Someday he will see his daughter. Someday, she will get to know his face, his voice. But that day is not today, and he can only hope that it will be soon.

Okay, so for that explanation.

It's quite common, in the fandom, to make Leia not a Skywalker if either her or Luke isn't... and I don't really like that. Leia is so, so much like both her parents, and if she wasn't Anakin and Padme's daughter, she literally would not be the person she was in canon. And I thought it would be really interesting to explore a 'what if Luke wasn't a Skywalker by birth' even though he's still a Skywalker from a certain point of view in here. I do not normally make the twins not twins or not Skywalker, and that probably won't be happening again.

Tbh, I guess my explanation just boils down to: because I wanted to. Lol. Besides, can you imagine all of the delightful angst that will happen when Luke gets older and wrestles with the knowledge that his not-dad (Palpatine ain't his father) was a monster? :') Especially while Anakin gets to be an amazing dad? :D

~ Amina

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