Chapter Text
Leia stared at the medical droid with mounting horror.
She had suffered from nausea and vomiting episodes for the past few days, and although she didn’t think much about it. She had a felt something off but had chosen to ignore it in favor of continuing with her daily routing of senatorial and royal duties.
She was pregnant.
No, she wasn’t just pregnant; she was pregnant with the child of her lover, Wilhuff Tarkin.
She dismissed the droid and swore it to secrecy, ordering her close friend and aide Naera to wipe its memories and make sure that nobody finds out. She felt her knees give, and seconds later, the rest of her followed until she was sprawled on the pristine floor of her office on Coruscant. The words kept parading through her head: pregnant, Wilhuff. Gods, this is a disaster of epic proportions. She was too young, unmarried, and too much an Organa to have a child born from a man as despised and hated as Tarkin.
That thought gave her pause. An abortion would solve her problem quite neatly, but try as she might, Leia could not see herself ordering the termination of her child and doing away with the thing that would become her child.
Warm, wet lines began trailing down her face, and she knew that that was not the only reason why she wanted to keep the baby: it would be the only thing she had off Wilhuff. Because she couldn’t stay with him now that she knew.
Wilhuff was many things: ruthless Imperial commander, power-hungry tyrant, and fierce protector of the Empire. Leia was well aware that he was desperate for an heir and the loss of his only son, Garoche, was a blow to his legacy. His only living niece and adopted daughter, Rivoche, was already a mere pawn in the games that he played, and the one growing inside of her would be added to their ranks if she stayed. So, even though she loved him (a truth she had never let fall from her lips in his presence), no, because she loved him, she would leave.
She would return back to Alderaan, to Aldera, to the warm bosom of her family (who would forgive anything), and she would forget the Leia Organa who loved Wilhuff Tarkin.
She would remain on Alderaan until the child was born then she continue with her senatorial duties.
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For several days she had gone about her business, acting like nothing was wrong; her only exception was Wilhuff. Luck, however, or the Force or whatever gods there were, had shown her a small measure of favor where he was concerned. She’d only seen him once after she found out, and he was on a campaign to the Outer Rims the next day. Sansa had kissed him tenderly, putting every bit of the love she felt for him into it, and promised that she would see him when he returned.
Then, as she tried to pack her life up, she realized that it was an impossible task she’d set for herself.
In a moment of desperation, she contacted her best friend Winter, hoping that her friend would have a solution at the ready.
“Leia, I leave the Coruscant for a few days and when I get back, you’re up the duff from a one-night stand. I didn’t think you were that kind of girl.”
Leia wrinkled up her nose, “You don’t have to make it sound so sordid. I’m not that type of girl, but I got a little drunk. It sounded like a good idea at the time.” That sounded pathetic and stupid, even to her ears, but thankfully, Winter bought it.
“Well, I daresay that a brat will keep you out of that kind of trouble for the next eighteen years or so. Any idea who the father is? Was there an exchange of contacts or names?”
Leia shook her head, “No, I just remember that he was tall and older.” “
“Well you definitely strayed from your usual.”
“Winter, you could be a little nicer about all of this!”
“Would I be here if I weren’t the very model of purity itself?”
Winter’s comparison made her snort with laughter, and then she met the other woman’s eyes, and, seeing the repressed laughter there, burst into a fit of giggling. “Winter, you haven’t sacrificed anything since you lost your virginity to that boy from Corellia!”
“Yes, well, one must keep up appearances,” Winter responded primly, “Or else Mother would be terribly ashamed.” That prompted another round of giggling, at the end of which Winter took on a more serious tone, “Really, Leia, what can I do? You’ve been so vague…are you after a husband? Araan be more than happy to step up, you know he adores you.”
Leia gave her a wry smile, “Don’t tempt me. I’d almost be willing to marry your brother if it meant avoiding telling my family, but I like him far too much to marry him without loving him. No, I need you to help me plan my return.”
“You make it sound so clandestine! All you’re doing is returning back to Alderaan.”
“I’ve built a life here, Winter; I need you to help me go back to Alderaan without raising any suspicions.”
“Where do you want to start?”
“Work. How do I return back to Alderaan without raising the suspicions of Imperial authorities and of course the ISB? I don’t have a good excuse to return.”
“Oh, well, that is difficult.…”
“Tell them you’re returning for a traditional Alderaanian ceremony, and that you have to start immediately. Tell them it concerns humanitarian efforts to ravaged worlds in the Outer Rims and of course tell them your donating credits. Imperial Authorities would be off your back for a short period of time and it would take the ISB months to discover what your up to.”
“Besides while on Alderaan, you can give birth to the baby there. In secret, nobody has to know. Even your baby daddy”, Winter added slyly. Leia send her a withering glare.
That piece of advice had the added benefit of stalling Wilhuff. His initial anger at her betrayal could blind him to the truth for quite some time.
“I’m embarrassed, and I’m not enchanted with the idea of raising my child in this cesspool of a city. Organa’s belong on Alderaan.” And Tarkin’s belong on Eriadu, she added mentally.
“Hmm…if anyone asks, I’ll just say there was a death in the family, shall I?”
“That should do it.”
The two Deathtroopers Wilhuff assigned to be her personal protectors were instantly dismissed, since she was returning to Alderaan, she had no need of them for the time being.
The two Deathtroopers left without a word, but she knew they had questions. She had to leave before they informed Wilhuff.
Before leaving, she had stood in the doorway of the penthouse that had been her home since she started her affair with Wilhuff. He had bought the penthouse for their private rendezvous and clandestine activities.
They had spent hours, days there, locked away from the rest of the galaxy. She had received her first genuine smile from him in the kitchen after she’d botched the meal she had been making for him. He’d showered her with gifts on her birthdays after she returned from Alderaan and give her the warmest of affections nobody could expect from someone as cold-hearted and cruel as him.
The penthouse was full of memories, some good, some bad, some utterly exquisite, and she had left them all behind. She had run from her past, fearing that the memories would drag her back in if she let them.
The return to Alderaan was uneventful. She spent it rehearsing all the things she would say to her parents, the apologies and the promises she would make. But, Leia forgot them all when her parents waited for her at the platforms, and instead, she threw her arms around Bail and Breha’s necks, letting all the tears she’d been holding back spill forth.
Leia Organa and her unborn child had returned to Aldera.