What Matters Now
By Ruby-Flame Jedi Queen
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water came in little bits, but then began to pour down from the sky.
Padme sat by the window and bit her lip, expectantly.
It was raining, a fitting mood, and she was here, on another false alarm, waiting in this dreaded room for news, and for the arrival.
Everything moved so slowly. Second ticked away into hours...hours into days...days in weeks....and the events that had changed and ruined her life seemed so far away now.
Tears no longer came, but the sky sobbed for her, wind blowing heavily through the cracks in the doors, and a chill filling the room.
And still she waited, a drop of water falling in through the ceiling.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Slowly but surely wetting her hair, and trailing down her neck.
Drip.
Finally, the door burst open in a hurry, and dirt blustered in along with a wild-eyed Sabe.
Her eyes told all.
It had been confirmed.
Slowly Padme nodded her head, acknowledging the fact, testing it in her mind.
Anakin was truly a Sith. A servant of the Emperor. The dreaded man she would one day take her revenge on.
But not now, she thought, rubbing her swollen belly.
*Why Ani?*
"So it was another false alarm?"
Padme nodded, wondering when the time would come.
"I am so sorry about Anakin Your Highness..."
"That is no longer my title." Sabe was cut off short by this remark.
"And you are no longer a handmaiden, Sabe. You owe me nothing. Just leave now, get away from all the pain and trouble I am placing upon you. You should go before it is too late. Others have taken my offer. Why not you?"
"I may not be a handmaiden, and you may not be the queen anymore, but Amidala, I owe you my friendship. We have always shared everything and stuck by for each other, and I can't just ignore that now, in the rougher times. I was there through good, and now through bad."
Padme sighed. Sabe was right. There was no talking her out of it.
And then the pain started. The aching pain that rang again and again through her stomach.
"Ahh..." She cried out.
"It's time! Oh dear!" Sabe cried out, and began rushing about. She went through two closets, and pulled out blanket and rags, and medical supplies.
Still clutching her abdomen, Padme stumbled over to the mattress where Sabe was laying the blankets.
Padme started seeing red, and the pain overwhelmed her. Her head started spinning.
"I'm going to give some anesthetic. Hold on. Just push with all your might, and the pain will be gone soon."
The last thing Padme remembered before darkness engulfed her was pushing hard, and a surge of pain...
***
"Padme?! Can. You. Hear. Me."
Her vision was a cloud of blurriness, but she could hear Sabe's voice.
Everything was so hazy...so hard to make out...
"Ughph." Padme grunted, and blinked hard, trying to make her eyesight clear.
Where was she?
"Padme?"
Her vision floated up and down, and she tried hard to grasp it.
Minutes passed, but soon she could see that there were three shapes in the room, not just Sabe.
"Anakin? Are you here?" Padme asked, hoping and dreading.
"No Amidala, it's me, Sache, and Eirtae."
"Eirtae? She's back?" Padme asked still dizzy.
Then memories came floating back to Padme and she remembered why she was here.
"Where are they? How long have I been out?"
Padme heard two small cries coming closer to her.
"You've been out for a day. But you had a successful delivery. Look Amidala!"
Her vision began clearing finally, and Padme chocked back tears of joy at the sight of her two children.
"They're beautiful.." She whispered and tears ran down her cheeks. "Our children...me and Anakin's..."
She reached out, and picked up to two tiny children, one a girl, and one a boy.
They were pink, pudgy, and beautiful.
*They could have been yours too, Ani.*
But with this tender moment with her children, a realistic thought crept through her mind, breaking the joy of it all. Anakin would come looking for them.
He had suspected she was pregnant and would come looking. He could not find them.
"I won't let him find them."
"Of course, Amidala." Eirtae answered. "We'll make sure that won't happen."
"Are you here to stay Eirtae?" Padme asked.
"For as long as you need me." She replied.
"So," Sache started, changing the subject to a better note, "What are you going to call them?"
"I don't know..." Padme said, and got quiet, thinking about this for a moment.
In the middle of her thought, the door burst open and Bail Organa stormed in.
He saw the two tiny children and smiled.
"Congratulations Amidala."
"Thank you, Bail." Padme answered, holding her children tightly.
"So what are you planning on calling them?" He added, as an afterthought.
"I was just thinking about that before you came in... Anakin had liked the idea of Luke for a boy, or Jaina for a girl. I had liked Leia or Julie for a girl, or Luke for a boy.
Now...I think I'll call them... Luke, and Leia. Yes, that sounds nice. What do you think?"
*What do you think, Ani*
"Very fitting," Bail replied.
"I love them." Eirtae put in.
"Beautiful," Sache commented.
Sabe nodded, blinking back tears.
Padme and Sabe held each others look knowingly.
Sabe had lost her first love too.
Padme turned her eyes towards her beautiful children, and smiled at them lovingly.
"Luke, and Leia. Hello sweeties. I love you."
Leia gurgled, and Luke stared wide eyed at everyone.
Sabe laughed at the joy of this all, and the deep sadness that lingered within it.
Better to laugh than cry, she thought, but even as she thought it a tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away knowing she had to be strong for her queen whose life had been so torn apart that nothing made sense anymore.
*Now everything makes sense Ani. I have our children and will keep them safe. They are what matters now. *
*My angel, take them here. Come with me.*
*Never. You know that.*
Padme wondered if the conversations she had were just with herself, or if Ani was really there.
*Do you miss me as much as I miss you, Ani?*
Amidala smiled at her friends gathered around her, and hugged her children tightly, holding on to them for dear life.