Chapter Text
“You’re quiet tonight,” Padmé looked across the table at her husband. It was the most innocent, boring comment she could think to make. “What is it?”
Vader looked at her over the rim of his wine glass. “I’m tired,” he replied, drinking a generous gulp.
“We both are, the twins kept us up all night, I don’t think that’s what’s bothering you.”
“It’s not the twins that make me tired,” he sighed as he poured himself more wine. “It’s everything else,” he muttered.
“Tell me.” She reached over, placing a hand on top of hers. “I am your wife, I’m meant to share your burdens.”
He snorted. “Even those you never wanted?”
“Isn’t that what we’ve done since we married?” she countered, her grip becoming firmer. “Love. Let me help.”
“You should worry about the twins and let me care about the rest,” Vader said, pulling his hand away. “I’ll manage it.”
“You’re new to politics, I’ve been doing this all my life,” Padmé pointed out. “There’s no shame in asking for help.”
“Fine, you can come with me to the Council meeting tomorrow,” he sighed, sipping from his drink.
“Thank you.” She softened slightly. “I hate to see you upset.”
“I’m not upset, I’m tired,” he corrected. “I am new to politics and I am not particularly fond of it all. I don’t know what Palpatine wanted to do, and I don’t know what I want to do. The Rebel cells are not helping matters,” he explained. “So, I’m tired. Not upset.”
“You can be more than one thing.” she pushed back her plate and moved to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come to the nursery. Spend a little time with the twins, you feel better when you’re holding them, don’t you?”
“I do, but they’re asleep, aren’t they? I would hate to disturb them.”
“If we’re careful, they won’t stir,” Padmé promised, kissing his cheek. “Besides, they’ll be awake again soon enough, we’ve yet to have them sleep more than two hours at a time.”
“They are hungry little things,” he chuckled and pushed his plate too, standing up. “Let’s go.” She smiled serenely, lacing her fingers with his as they walked towards the nursery.
“We turned on the HoloNet today. Leia recognized you.”
“Leia’s five months old, how could she?” Vader raised one eyebrow.
“She squealed when she saw you,” Padmé answered. “She knows you, I don’t understand how, but she knows you. It woke up her brother.”
“I think it has more to do with our Force bond,” he smiled. “She’s very intuitive.”
“Your face lights up when you talk about them.”
“They’re my children, why wouldn’t it?” He beamed. “I love them. They’re everything to me. You three are everything to me,” he squeezed her hand.
“As you are to me,” she answered, pushing open the door to the nursery. The twins lay nestled in their crib, side by side, their tiny hands touching as they slept. “Oh, they’re precious.”
“I know,” he whispered, standing by the crib, one hand reaching to brush Luke’s thin, blonde hair. “They’re perfect,” he went on. “So innocent and pure, I don’t ever want them out of this phase.”
“But you must picture it,” she mused, watching him with the babies. “What do you imagine?”
“I imagine a lot of things. What do you want to know in specific?” He asked, eyes still captured by the children he sacrificed so much to protect, to have in his arms.
“I don’t know,” she mused. “I suppose, when I look at them, I imagine them running around Varykino, swimming and playing with friends, finding love the way we once did. They don’t have to stop being innocent and pure just because they have to grow up.”
“I definitely imagine them running around Varykino too, we should take them there when they are a little older,” he agreed. “I imagine them free. Loved. Confident in themselves,” he said. “Everything I wasn’t.”
Padmé moved closer, pressing a soft kiss to his neck. “They’ll always be loved, Ani.”
“I know, they’ll always have us,” he nodded.
Luke’s head moved from side to side, and he began to make the little squeaks and fusses that always preempted crying. “See? I told you,” Padmé sighed, pulling aside the black lace of her dress with a sigh. Vader chuckled and leaned down on the crib to gather the baby in his arms, kissing his head as he transferred the baby to his mother’s arms. Padmé put their son to her breast, swaying back and forth slightly as he nursed. “That’s my sweet boy,” she cooed.
“Sir?” the voice of a clone trooper came from the door. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but do you have a moment? We’ve got reports of a surviving Jedi.”
“Where—” Padmé started to ask.
“It can wait until tomorrow,” Vader hissed, cutting her off. “Now leave me alone with my family.”
“Yessir, very sorry, sir. Ma’am.” The trooper left as quickly as he’d arrived, but Padmé’s grip tightened on Luke.
“Whoever it is will die, won’t they?” she guessed.
“Don’t concern yourself with that,” he said dismissively as he focused on Leia who was yawning, ready to wake up too. “That is of no importance when we’re with them,” he smiled as his daughter opened her eyes. “Hi, baby girl.”
“I think she might be your favorite.” Leia squealed as she extended her hands to her father. Vader beamed and took her into his arms, swaying her from side to side, kissing her forehead, her cheeks, and her tiny fists, not replying to Padmé’s statement. “You’re certainly her favorite,” his wife continued. “I can’t compete.”
“She loves us both and I can’t exactly feed her, so I’m not her favorite when she’s hungry,” he chuckled.
“So, if they had a wetnurse, that’s who her favorite would be?”
“No, it would still be me,” he said cheekily.
“So you admit you are her favorite.”
“A father always wants to be his daughter’s favorite.”
“You’re in for a hard fall when she falls in love,” Padmé predicted, shifting Luke to be burped. He complied, then yawned. “You’re behaving unusually well tonight, darling.”
“Yes, well, we’ll see about that,” he said dryly, kissing her forehead again. “To which one of us you are speaking?”
“Him, obviously. Why would you think I consider you anything other than well-behaved?” she asked innocently, laying Luke back down in the crib.
“Because I know what you really think of me,” he replied easily, letting Leia grab his finger with her whole hand.
“What I used to think,” she corrected immediately.
“You don’t have to lie, I won’t behave like last time,” he said and passed Leia to her mother’s arms. The baby whimpered. “I know how you feel.”
“It’s not a lie,” Padmé insisted as she started feeding Leia.
“Whatever you say, love,” Vader shrugged, leaning down on the crib to caress Luke’s cheek, lulling him to sleep.
“Why do you doubt me?” she asked tearfully. “It’s been five months, haven’t I proven to you that I believe in you? In your cause, and your Empire? That I would never betray you?”
“I know you. I know you’re being loyal to your family and that you’re protecting your children and that you love them, love me in a way. I also know how you feel about Sith and the Empire. I didn’t snap my fingers and your beliefs changed,” he explained. “But I do trust that you are trying your best to come to terms with our new life and I know you love us too much to even think about betraying us.”
“It’s been five months,” she repeated, detaching Leia rather abruptly and pushing her back into her father’s arms. “And it breaks my heart to know you still doubt me. I told you once we couldn’t have a marriage without trust. And yet you still don’t listen to me.”
“Padmé, kriff, careful with Leia,” he scowled as Leia began to cry and wave her arms around, frightened. “We’re having a conversation, I didn’t accuse you of anything,” he cradled the baby to his chest, soothing her as her wails grew louder.
“You accuse me of lying to you.”
“Don’t be so defensive,” Vader hissed, as he began swaying Leia to calm her. “All I said is that I knew your true feelings. I don’t think you are lying, I think you want to believe what you say but that it takes time. I’m not an idiot. I didn’t think we wouldn’t have an adjustment period,” Leia’s wails softened to whimpers as Vader managed to calm her down.
“I’ll forgive you when you come to your senses,” she said coolly. “Just as I did over your jealousy. And the time you tried to kill me. But I think I should go to bed now, the children shouldn’t have to hear us fight.”
“No and Leia didn’t finish nursing either and you had no right to rip her away from you like that,” his eyes darkened at her words. “Yes, go to bed. Do whatever you want but this time, you were the one to overreact,” Leia was still sobbing as he brushed his lips over her eyebrow.
“Sanctimonious isn’t a good look for you,” Padmé retorted, storming towards the door. “There are bottles of milk kept for this exact purpose. You feed her.”
“Gladly,” he snapped, holding her tighter against his chest. “Commander?” He called to the soldier standing outside the doors.
“Yes, your Grace?” He asked entering a few seconds later.
“Lady Amidala is forbidden to enter this nursery until I state otherwise. Have two nannies brought up to tend to my children,” he sighed. The Commander nodded and left the nursery as Vader grabbed one of the bottles of milk, kept nearby for emergencies, and brought the tip to Leia’s lips. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as Leia initially refused. “I know it’s not what you wanted, but it’s what we have,” eventually, she took it and started suckling, a sob racking her little body once in a while,
Padmé finished the cipher, broadcasting on the encrypted frequency with a pounding heart. For almost six months now, she had done everything to try and bring Anakin back from the Dark Side, but he only dug his heels in further, despite how she knew he was still in here. She saw it every time he looked at the twins.
If only he knew that while she tried to draw him out, she was sending messages to Bail, to Mon Mothma, to all her former colleagues who still believed in democracy. That she was betraying him in deed, though not in spirit.
When he was himself again, he’d understand. He’d forgive her. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
Then the sound of Leia crying echoed in her mind and she let out a sob she hadn’t known she was suppressing. She did need to apologize for that. She’d let herself get too lost in the lie, to the point where it had overtaken everything. She hadn’t meant to upset their daughter.
Unless he planned on sleeping somewhere else tonight, he would have to come to the bedroom eventually, if only to get his sleepwear for the night. Swallowing her pride, she began to strip out of her own clothes, down to her slip, and sat at the vanity, running a brush through her curls. Waiting for him.
“Don’t mind me, I’m just here for some clothes,” his voice echoed through the room as he burst in, straight to the closet.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, setting down the brush and watching him in the mirror. “You were right, I was out of line, I acted rashly. Is Leia…is she alright?”
“You have no right, she’s just five months,” Vader snapped, not bothering to look at her as he grabbed his sleepwear and a change of clothes for the following morning. “I managed to get her sleeping, it was difficult as she was still sobbing.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her. It was a mistake.”
“You did hurt her. It was a mistake, but she didn’t understand why you ripped her away like that. You… you can’t forget these are sensitive children. They know more, they feel more.”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated tearfully. “It won’t happen again.”
“I hope not. Until you come to your normal self and I trust you won’t repeat the same show from tonight, they’ll be taken cared of by their nannies,” Vader announced, closing his bag. “And I’ll be temporarily moving to another room.”
“Please, no.” She grabbed his arm in a panic. “I’ll lose my mind without them. Without you.”
“What made you react like that? She’s a baby, you nearly dropped her as you trusted her into my arms. It was a normal conversation. You didn’t need to be defensive. I was not accusing you,” he shook his head. “Whatever it might be that you feel about our current situation, please remember that they are only alive and you are only alive because of what I did. Was it all good? No. But do I have the best of intentions? Yes. I’m not a monster, no matter how the Rebels paint me,” he shrugged off her hold.
“It has nothing to do with what you did,” Padmé insisted. “I don’t think you’re a monster, I don’t care about the Rebels. It has to do with the fact that I’ve failed you . That you think you can’t trust me, that you can’t love me the way we should love each other. The way I do love you.”
“I do trust you,” he repeated his words from earlier. “I will always love you as much as I did the first time I laid eyes on you and that will never change. But I know how difficult this must be for you, what kind of husband would I be if I didn’t know?” Vader sighed. “I can only congratulate you for how well you’re adjusting. Soon, I can crown you Empress. We can even have another wedding,” he added.
“It sounds beautiful,” she whispered softly. “But I’m surprised you’re thinking about it. You used to hate public spectacles.”
“Our wedding can be private. The coronation will have to be public,” he said as he softened.
“You’ll hate it, won’t you?”
He chuckled. “Yes. I never liked a public spectacle. All I want is peace. I know I can bring it to the Galaxy. Peace and prosperity. No corruption. I have the power to ban slavery, once and for all. The Rebels, however, think the old ways are the best,” he sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “They forget the corruption in their ranks. A Sith Lord hiding under their noses, playing them like puppets.”
“The Jedi were just as corrupt,” she pointed out. “There’s plenty of blame to share.”
“I know. I’m not saying otherwise. I would be open to hearing their demands, but they only know war,” he frowned. “I’m tired of wars. I’ve been in one for nearly four years. I want peace. And quiet.”
“Then why not let someone else handle all this?” she suggested, running her fingers through his hair and down his neck. “Why not just leave everything behind, and run away to Varykino with our babies?”
“So the Galaxy can go to hell again because some power hungry idiot took the reins?” Vader scoffed as he shivered at her touch. “I’ll consider it when the dust settles and I trust someone enough to pass the responsibility over to them.”
Padmé sighed, kissing his shoulder. “I understand. I used to think that way too. But during the day now, when I have nothing but the twins, all I can think is how much time you’re missing with them.”
“I’m keeping them safe,” he closed his eyes, hands holding her waist. “I’ll make it up to them when the Rebels are a forgotten threat.”
“You’re an Emperor, don’t you think there will always be threats? That shouldn’t prevent you from the here and now.”
“I know, I will learn to manage it, I promise,” he vowed. “I will spend more time with you and the twins.”
“You could spend time with me now,” she suggested softly.
“I would love that, Angel,” he whispered, brushing his lips against hers. “I miss you.”
“I’ve missed you too.” She returned the kiss with an aching sigh. “I love you, so much, it kills me that I’ve done anything to hurt you, to hurt our family, that was never what I wanted.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry, we all overreact,” he said soothingly. “I love you. More than you can possibly imagine. I promise I will still make you very, very happy and that we’ll soon have peace.”
“Hold me,” she whispered, leaning into him. “Let’s forget everything right now, everything but us.”
“I would love that very much,” he smiled, wrapping his arms around her.
He didn’t know the codebreaker’s name. Nor did it matter. With the news that he’d brought, the man was lucky not to be dead right now. “I’m sorry, your Grace, I hope I’m wrong. I really do.”
“Repeat that to me. Slowly. Your life depends on it,” Vader hissed, golden eyes shining with barely kept rage.
“We intercepted a coded message sent on an encrypted channel to a Rebel cell. Sent from the Palace. The cipher is one commonly used by the Monarchs of Naboo,” the man answered timidly. “We think it was sent by Lady Amidala.”
“Take him,” he ordered, seething. “Hold him in one of the cells until I decide what I will do with his miserable life should the information he provides be wrong.” The troopers on duty surrounded the unfortunate man, dragging him away while he struggled wildly.
“Where’s my wife?” Vader asked icily.
“I don’t know, sir,” Cody said hesitantly. “Probably in the nursery with the Prince and Princess? Isn’t that where she usually is when you aren’t with her?”
“Take her to the throne room but don’t hurt her and make sure it’s done calmly,” he ordered. “Secure my children. Make her wait for me. I need to search for something.”
“Yessir.” Cody saluted and left without another word.
With Cody gone, Vader left the office, hurrying to the room he shared with Padmé, praying to every God in the Galaxy that the intel was wrong. That he was not being betrayed by the one he thought was the most faithful, the most trusting person of his life. He pushed his feelings aside, as they would cripple him if he let them flow freely through him.
After everything she’d said about trust, surely she couldn’t be that hypocritical. She couldn’t have lied to him so blatantly. She wouldn’t betray the twins like this.
The first thing he tore apart was the closet. Dresses and shoes on the floor as he searched wildly for the hidden comm. After that was done, he flipped the mattress on the bed, sending the lamps on the bedside crash. As he reached her vanity and opened her jewelry box, he stilled, eyes widening and he had to sit down as, with a trembling hand, he grabbed the japor snippet he had given her so many, many years ago. As he unwrapped the leather cord, the commlink fell on his hand and he felt as he had just been stabbed directly in his heart.
Why, Padmé?
He stood and in his mind, he already knew what he had to do. He thought about it over and over again as he walked towards the throne room, his steps slowing down as he neared the doors, knowing that nothing would be the same. He wouldn’t be the same. He had fought so hard for them to be together, to be a family. He had fought so hard to make sure she lived to be with him, to raise her children and she had still betrayed him.
Padmé stood waiting for him, proud and unexpectedly calm, even with clones surrounding her. “What is it?”
“Leave us,” he requested the clones. Nodding, the clones left the throne room and closed the doors behind them. Vader grabbed the commlink and threw it at her feet. “I found this. Curious little thing. Nearly had me killed a few nights ago when the Rebels intercepted a trip I made to Kamino, because of the injured clones.”
She blinked slowly, tilting her head. “Any number of commlinks could’ve sent that message, what makes you think it was that particular one?”
“It was wrapped around the japor snippet, hidden away in your jewelry box and the Palace’s codebreaker deciphered the code used in sending the message to the Rebels. It was previously used by the Monarchs of Naboo. You’re the only one from Naboo in this Palace who knows that code,” he spoke extremely calm.
“How do you know it wasn’t sent from somewhere else? Naboo has no shortage of former Monarchs who disagree with your reforms.”
“There is only one living in this Palace, where the message was traced,” he hissed. “Start telling me the truth, Padmé. Did you or did you not send this message and others prior to the Rebels?”
“I have never sent any message that would endanger you,” she retorted. “I would never hurt you like that.”
He raised his chin. “I’ll be sure to tell that to the codebreaker once he is sentenced to death for treason. After all, he took a big risk accusing you, the wife of the Emperor, of treason herself, so he must be hiding something.”
“Or he simply made a mistake. Those do happen.”
“He should have thought better before making an accusation,” Vader shrugged. “Now he’ll pay with his life.”
“You’re overreacting,” she protested. “Accidents happen, misunderstandings happen, they shouldn’t cost people their lives.”
“Then tell me the kriffing truth,” he bellowed. “You’re lying. I know you are lying. Why would you have a commlink hidden?”
Now it was her turn to raise her chin, the white hood of her dress slipping back in the process. “I communicated with a few of my old friends in the Senate. I don’t deny it. I did not tell you because I did not think you would approve, but I have always acted for the good of our family. I have done nothing wrong.”
“Old friends in the Senate?” He took a few steps forward. “Like who? Good old Bail Organa? Mon Mothma? The same morons who are behind the childish Rebellion?” Vader hissed. “The good of our family, how very dutiful of you. Duty above all, right?”
“Anakin—”
“Did you betray me?” He asked, calmly, staring into her eyes.
“ Never, ” she insisted.
“I’m going to ask you again,” he took a deep breath. “Did you betray me, by sending encrypted messages to Bail Organa or Mon Mothma or any other Rebel sympathizer?”
“I did not betray you,” she repeated. “I sent messages to them, but I did not betray you. ” It was that emphasis that made him understand.
“You betrayed Darth Vader, you mean,” his eyes narrowed. “Because he’s not your husband. He’s not the person you fell in love with.”
“Just because the Republic failed, that doesn’t mean the answer is to burn it to the ground and replace it with a dictatorship.” She deliberately ignored his accusation. “I betrayed a thing that should not exist.”
“I am not the one that planned the Empire, but I was the one that got stuck with it when I killed Palpatine to save your life. He was planning on letting you die so he would have my undivided attention and I didn’t think of the power, I didn’t think of the Empire when I did it, I thought about saving my wife and giving my children a mother,” he screamed. “But I have the Empire on my shoulders now and I can make a difference. A good difference. But you don’t care. You don’t care about the ideas that I have for peace . You don’t care because all you see is a Sith, when I don’t consider myself a Sith nor a Jedi. I am the balance of the Force and it implies using both sides. Be both.”
“As long as this Empire exists, it makes you a dictator!” she argued. “It will corrupt you in a way that has nothing to do with the Force!”
“I was hoping you would be by my side, to help me guide through these waters but you care more about returning to a time of war, misery, starvation, and slavery, where politicians all gathered in a room and argued until they grew hungry or tired without anything to show for their work,” he accused. “The Empire is here to stay. I will lead it to greatness. To prosperity. I will end slavery and save millions of lives but you… you won’t be here, at my side, to see it. I am realizing how foolish I was to have believed you before,” he shook his head in disappointment. “It was why you got so defensive last time. You thought I had discovered you. I should have known but I never thought… I love you. You were the only good thing I had in my life for years, I turned my world upside down to save you. I thought you accepted me. I thought I could trust you,” he bit the inside of his cheek, unable to control all of his emotions.
“Anakin, I still love you,” she implored. “I love you, I love our children, and I know that we can have what we wanted, but not like this. Not in a place like this. I did what I did to make you see reason, to bring you back to the man you were.”
“But I’m not the same,” he cried out. “I haven’t been the man you married for a long time. The war chipped away at me, it changed me. In ways you can’t imagine. I’ve suffered more than you know and I’ve lost more than you imagine. I am not the same and I won’t be the man you married so long ago because he’s gone. The Jedi broke him and the war destroyed him,” he snapped.
“Ani, no . That’s not true, you’re still in there, I see it when you’re with the twins.”
“I will always be a good father to them and I will love them and put them above all else. They don’t look at me as a Sith, as a monster, or a dictator. I’m just Daddy and their love is so pure, they accept me, they love me,” his eyes grew bright. “I am Anakin Skywalker the same way I am Darth Vader and I finally found peace with both sides. You can accept this or you can’t.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why do you insist on doing this? Issuing ultimatums, conditions, caging me in until I don’t have any other choice? How is that love ?”
Vader ignored her question. “You have a choice. Make it. Can you accept me?”
“Answer me!” She snarled like a nexu. “You can talk all you want about peace and prosperity, but you stand here, telling me that I have to bend to your will as if you were my master rather than my husband! Why? Are you trying to force me away? Am I not worth it if I’m not your perfect, biddable piece of property?”
He looked at her for a few minutes, unable to answer immediately. “I love you. I have loved you for years and I am dedicated to you in every way possible. All I wanted was to have our family together, to be happy at your side. Our children are healthy. They are beautiful. I don’t want you to bend to my will, I wanted you to be truthful. I wanted to be able to trust you. You were always free to leave as you are right now. I have never wanted, and if I did, I apologize, to make you feel trapped or like a property,” he said quietly. “However, I can’t sweep the betrayal underneath the rug and forget about it.”
“You know that’s a lie. I have never been free to leave,” she snapped. “Because you and I both know I would never deprive our children of a parent, of either parent. You’ve used them as leverage, time and again, to make me behave the way you want me to. You hold all the cards here, and I am completely at your mercy!”
“I will not allow you to fill their heads with lies about me. I wish it could have been different, Padmé, I really do,” he said coldly, taking a few steps back. “You are banished from Imperial Center for your treason. Cody,” he called and the Commander opened the doors.
“No. No, you can’t. You can’t do this, I’m their mother ,” Padmé protested.
“Take Lady Amidala to my ship. Unharmed. I will be taking her out of Imperial Center,” he said robotically as he turned to leave.
“Anakin, please ,” she begged. “If you do this, you’re no better than the Jedi taking you from your Mother. You know this is wrong, please !”
Vader walked away, tears streaming down his face as he quickened his pace, unable to hear her protests any longer. Even so, they echoed down the halls after him.
Naboo had been beautiful once. But without her family, it meant nothing. “Please don’t do this,” she begged Vader one last time. “Please, Anakin, please, the twins will need me.”
“You should have thought about that,” he said emotionlessly as the ramp lowered. “It’s too late.”
“It doesn’t have to be. This is your choice!”
Vader dragged her behind him down the ramp and pushed her into the solid ground. “I forgive you for betraying me. I will never forget it, though and I will never, ever trust you again and I won’t live with someone with whom I will be constantly wondering what side they’re on. I hope your cause is worthy. I hope the Republic was worth our relationship. Goodbye, Padmé,” he turned around and climbed the ramp.
“You’ll destroy them!” she screamed. “You will ruin all goodness and purity you love in them, you’ll make them into monsters just like Palpatine did to you! You’re damning us all by doing this!”
He pushed the button as he reached the top, gritting her teeth at her words, feeling sick to his stomach that they were falling from her lips. He didn’t see her collapse into tears, lying on the ground in a fetal position, and she didn’t see that he fell on his knees, crying as the ramp closed.
“So, if all goes as planned, we’ll be making another strike next week. Do you have any advice?”
Padmé turned and looked at Mon Mothma disdainfully. “I have been here for months, a veritable prisoner, rather than an ally because you don’t trust me, or my former relationship to the Emperor, and now you ask for my advice?”
“A simple yes or no would suffice,” Mon replied with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, I have advice,” the former Senator replied, turning to look back out the small window that gave her a minuscule view of Yavin IV. “Based on what you’ve told me, my advice is to give up. Every time the Rebel Alliance claims victory on one planet, the Empire welcomes a system into its embrace, and all it costs is the lives of good people. Siblings, children, parents, torn from each other.”
“You should not talk like that.”
“I saw it when I was fourteen and then I forgot,” Padmé said in a singsong, playing idly with a strand of her hair. “The Republic stopped functioning a long time ago, and that paved the way for Palpatine, but we all refused to see it.”
“This is not like you, it’s that… that thing—”
“For the sake of any friendship we might have once had, do not finish that sentence.” Padmé’s hands let go over her hair, coming to rest on a stomach that was just beginning to swell with her second pregnancy. “My child is not a thing.”
“It is affecting your mind! Clouding your judgment. You are thinking like one of them. And you wonder why we distrust you.”
“I never said I wondered. I know why. I wouldn’t have trusted me either. I wonder at your audacity. At your blindness. Your efforts to liberate the galaxy only drive them further away from you.”
“Soon the Galaxy will realize that their Emperor is nothing but a dictator and an idiot,” Mon spat. “They’ll regret their alliance to the Empire.”
“You never thought him an idiot when he was on your side.”
“I never thought him a traitor either.”
“You don’t know him. Not like I did.” The past tense hurt to say.
“He banished you, pregnant, and took you away from your children. How can you still defend him? You should be eager for our plans work, that we take him down. We will give your children back to you,” Mon snapped.
“I’m past hoping for impossibilities. Was there anything else?” she asked dryly.
“No, I’ll leave you now,” Mon said, retrieving the datapad. “Rest, before that child consumes what is left of your strength.”
“My child gives me what is left of my strength,” Padmé retorted calmly.
Mon paused to stare at her for one long moment, before leaving without another word. Outside, Bail Organa waited for her.
“Is she any better?” he asked worriedly.
“She is further gone than we believed,” Mon scowled. “She believes that our cause has already failed. I say this is his influence. After all, she does carry his blood inside of her. It could be tainting her. We don’t know how the Dark Side works.”
Organa sighed, pursing his lips. “Then we might need to consider bringing the baby to someone who does. I know where Master Yoda is in hiding on Dagobah.”
“Then when that child is born, we should take it and leave it there with him. He will know what to do with the likes of it,” Mon said.
“Mon, that might be a touch extreme, surely Padmé could go with her baby,” Bail said hesitantly, slightly unnerved by how manic his friend seemed.
“Padmé’s only hope of returning to herself is to be free from him and we can do that by sending that baby off to someone who knows how to deal with the power it will possess,” Mon argued.
“We still have time before the baby comes,” he pointed out. “And she will need to nurse it before we can even consider separating them.”
“Nursing will make the separation harder,” she shrugged. “You are right, though, we still have time and we’ll work on a plan before it happens. We need to worry about weakening the Emperor’s forces and have a successful strike next week.”
From the vent on her wall, the conversation drifted to Padmé’s ears, and she hugged her stomach tighter.
Never.