Work Text:
The first time Leia realizes there’s something out of the ordinary is when Senator Amidala takes great care in how Leia’s hair is done. She’s seen the senator with previous junior senators, spoken to a few in fact, and there’s never been an instance of the senator taking care in her protege’s appearances. Yet Leia is sitting in Padme’s apartment, with her hair being twisted and pinned by a slim hand.
“There, all done,” Padme says as the final braid twists around her head. Padme crouches down next to Leia so that their reflections are side by side. Leia’s breath catches in her throat and she knows, deep down in her bones. She knows the same way she’s been able to tell when something is going to happen and the same way she can feel shifts in the galaxy.
Padme Amidala is her birth mother, the one who she’s asked her parents about quite a few times.
“Do you like it?” Padme asks, worry coloring her voice.
“Yeah, yes,” Leia chokes out.
“We’ll be impressive today.” Leia nods. Of course they will be; a mother and daughter team without anyone knowing.
Leia floats through the rest of the day, barely taking notes. Instead she focuses on how Padme moves, the way she sometimes fiddles with her right sleeve, the way she purses her lips when she’s angry (Leia knows she does the same). She wants to reach out and say something; ask why she’s here now and if Padme knows.
The feeling that of course Padme knows Leia is her daughter is there again. It explains the number of times Padme came to visit when she was growing up, the little gifts she’d get. It explains why Padme would choose Leia as her junior senator, the position so many wanted and yet she somehow got.
She spends that night going over every detail she can about who Padme was fifteen years ago (she’s almost that age, there should be some clue about her father in there). There are references to Bail Organa in multiple places, but Leia is aware she looks nothing like her dad and it can’t be true. She would have figured it out sooner. She’s seen the way her parents look at each other; they are too devoted to each other. The only other names that keep coming up are Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. They were Jedi, though. She knows (though she shouldn’t) that Obi-Wan is alive. She is, however, assuming some tiny thing would point her in the direction of her father.
There are gaps in time. Records have been deleted. There’s more, she’s sure of it. How to ask is another question.
How to tell Padme she knows is another. There’s the ever present thought that maybe Padme didn’t want her; that maybe she was an inconvenience born out of a tryst that went nowhere. But her thoughts scream at her that isn’t true, she wasn’t planned but she wasn’t unloved.
She doesn’t sleep well that night. She keeps thinking about what she should do and wondering if her father is still out there. She wants to holo her dad, confess she knows Padme is her mother and ask about her birth father. Did he want her? Had he and Padme decided it was best for Leia to be given to her parents together?
In the morning she has circles under her eyes and struggles through a full cup of caf. Padme asks if she’s alright while they sit in her office and Leia nods. She doesn’t trust herself to speak at the moment.
“If you’re sick you should let me know, I don’t want you pushing yourself because you think it’s the right thing to do,” Padme says as she puts her data pad down.
Leia nods. “I just didn’t sleep well is all.”
Padme smiles. “I have a tea that might help, always works for me.”
Leia smiles and silently vows to drink every single cup Padme offers her.
Days pass and Leia still can’t decide how to tell Padme she knows. When she’s not agonizing about this, she’s cataloguing everything her mother does. Padme favors purple at the moment and hairstyles that don’t require large ornamentation. She has a smile she gives to senators she despises and one she reserves for people she likes that reaches her eyes. She flinches at every mention of Darth Vader.
“I have to go to Tatooine,” Padme says about two weeks later. Leia looks up from the brief she’s reading and that bone deep feeling she had when she figured out Padme is her mother is back. She needs to go with Padme, there’s something on that planet she needs.
“I’d like to come,” Leia says clearly.
“I’m just visiting a-an old friend,” Padme says, not a full lie but close. “You would be bored.”
“If I want to be a senator someday isn't it best if I see the galaxy?” Leia is aware she's playing into a deep held belief of Padme’s, but she has to go with her.
Padme sighs and Leia knows she's won. “Your parents have to agree to this. If they do, you can come.” Leia is grinning; her dad won't say no after she tells him all about it.
It takes a little more encouragement than Leia expected, but in five days she's strapped into Padme’s shuttle on her way to the desert planet. The feeling that there's something on Tatooine has grown since they left. They have the whole trip ahead of them and Padme can't leave. Maybe now is the time Leia admits she knows.
She plans a whole grand revelation. There will be tears and hugs. Maybe she'll find out who her father is. But what Leia knows for sure: it will be right before they land on Tatooine.
That is not at all how it plays out. Padme shakes Leia awake from a nap. Leia screamed “mother!” to which Padme freezes. There's a heartbeat and they're just staring at each other. “That's not how I wanted to tell you,” Leia says softly.
“I'm not-”
“I've researched,” Leia cuts in. “Around my birthday, you disappeared from the Senate and didn't reappear for months.”
“Leia, a lot of people did-”
“And I have your eyes.”
Padme opens and closes her mouth before pursing her lips. “Bail is not going to like this.”
Leia’s heat swells. “So I'm right?”
Leia watches a tear run down Padme’s cheek. “Of course you are.” Leia throws herself into Padme’s arms. She's hugging her mother for the first time and it feels good. It's not the same as hugging her mom, who's been there her whole life, but it does feel good. “Did you tell your parents you know?”
“No,” Leia says into her mother's neck. “Is Bail my birth father?”
Padme laughs. “He isn’t. I...I was married to your father.” Not once has Leia read of Padme being married. In fact, it's been known that Padme hasn't had many relationships and none of them were around the time she was born. “It’s nowhere in the public record,” Padme adds. “But I want you to know he was as excited as I was for you to be born.”
“Then why…” Leia trails off. She's not sure how to ask the question.
“He died and I hadn't been publicly pregnant. It just,” Padme pauses, “wasn't the right time for me to say I was a mother.”
Leia pulls back. “oh.” She was a political liability, in the way of great things.
“Sweetheart, I wanted you but I wasn't-I don't think I could have raised you alone.” Padme brushes a strand of hair behind Leia’s ear. “But I am so very proud of you.”
“Did you pick me as your junior senator because I’m your daughter?” Leia asks. If that is the case she almost wants to resign; there is someone she beat out who deserves the position more.
Padme laughs. “You have the best test scores, had shining recommendations, and wrote the most persuasive essay. I cried when I read it because I knew my daughter was going to be an amazing woman and I was going to fight everyone else for you to work with me.”
Leia beams; she’s heard this from others but it feels different from her mother. “Mom said the same thing.” Padme draws her hand away at that. Leia isn’t sure what she’s said wrong: Padme is her mother while Breha is her mom. They both care for her but Leia has a different relationship with her mom. “I’m not sure what to call you now,” Leia admits.
“Padme is fine but if you want to try something else when it’s just the two of us I wouldn’t mind.” Padme smiles her sad smile and Leia vows to call her mother.
They spend the rest of the journey talking. Leia retells Padme stories of her childhood while Padme tells her about her time as queen. After asking about ten times Padme finally tells Leia a few details about her father: they met on Tatooine, they married on Naboo, it was a secret for many reasons. One day, Leia is sure, she’ll get the full answer.
They land at Mos Eisley, their ship is just one of hundreds there. Padme made sure they packed simple clothes and Leia wonders who this friend they’re meeting is.
“He should be waiting for us,” Padme says as they exit the shuttle. “If not I can always leave him a message.”
Leia looks around the spaceport. Outside she can see that sand and dust covers almost everything. She feels that pull again, the one where the galaxy is telling her something. It’s almost at her fingertips sometimes but never quite there for her to hold. Here, though, she feels it tugging at her. Her head turns in the direction of the pull and she immediately spots a boy. He’s kicking at the dirt in front of him and he looks mostly disinterested in his surroundings.
Leia looks over her shoulder to see Padme looking around for her friend. She probably shouldn’t wander off but she’ll be in sight of her mother. Leia makes her way over to the boy and stops right in front of him.
“Are you kicking the ground for a reason?” She asks, the only thing she can think of saying.
“I’m bored,” the blond boy says. “Why do you care if I’m kicking anything?”
Leia rolls her eyes. “Because it’s rude.”
The boy looks her in the eyes and Leia feels like she can’t breathe. She’s met him before, somewhere, and she’ll meet him again. Big things will happen when she next meets him; they’ll do them together.
“Do I know-” the boy begins.
“There you are!” Padme shouts as she runs up, an older man at her side. “I was looking for you once I found Ob-Ben.” Leia notes how Padme falters on this man’s name. “Introduce yourself.”
Leia tips her head in the man’s direction. “Princess Leia Organa,” she says proudly.
“You’re a princess?” The boy asks.
“Of course I am and who are you?” She asks as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“Padme,” Ben whispers urgently. “Maybe we should-”
“I’m Luke Skywalker,” the boy says proudly.
Leia sees Padme grip the man’s hand tightly. “We’re going to meet again,” Leia tells Luke.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Luke replies.
Leia turns to Padme. “Shouldn’t we be going?”
Her mother nods and the older man, Ben, leads them away. Leia turns to look for Luke one last time. He’s still standing there but he’s watching her. In a few years, the galaxy tells her, they will meet again.