Word soon spread about the attempt on the Empress's life. The Rebellion continued to insist that the assassins hadn't been working for them, but like Vader, most people didn't believe it. The Rebels quickly fell from grace in the eyes of the galaxy, as even those in neutral systems were disgusted that they would sink so low as to threaten the lives of an unarmed, heavily pregnant woman and her unborn children.

Padmé's security increased a hundredfold. She was moved to a different, even less accessible wing of the palace, and her handmaidens refused to let her venture outside her new quarters for the foreseeable future; Padmé knew they blamed themselves for what had happened, despite her attempts to assure them otherwise. Padmé had no objections to either her room change or her house arrest. She never wanted to see that balcony again, and being in the final stages of pregnancy made her only too glad to remain in her rooms and get a little more rest, though still not as much as she would have liked, given that imperial meetings continued unaffected other than the fact that they were now held in the Empress's sitting room rather than the throne room.

The bruises around Padmé's neck faded in a couple weeks' time, but the nightmares did not. Vader slept in her bed every night, always there to comfort her when she awoke sobbing and panicked. He suddenly became a permanent fixture in her life, as he hardly ever let her out of his sight during the day, either. Again, Padmé wasn't about to complain. Her brush with death, and the fact that Vader was the reason she and the twins were still alive, had put things into perspective: while she had once felt jittery and tense around him, she now found his presence reassuring. She knew he still cared deeply for her, even after all those months of animosity…and if she was being truly honest with herself in regards to how she felt about him…

But Padmé was still unwilling to think too much about it, hence she and Vader never attempted to discuss where exactly their relationship stood. Instead, aside from their emotional conversation immediately following the attack, they opted for cordial, nonchalant interactions, as if they hadn't spent the past six months fighting or the six before that sleeping together. In the back of her mind, Padmé reluctantly acknowledged that there was too much left unresolved between them and they wouldn't be able to ignore it all forever, but she was content to keep up the pretense of casual friendliness for the moment, believing it to be much easier than honesty.

On the other hand, this was by far the most time they'd spent in each other's company without sex or hostility (or both at the same time) being involved, and it was quite an adjustment. Within a month or so, though she appreciated his sentiments, Vader's protectiveness and endless worrying over her was starting to drive Padmé slightly mad, and when her advisors brought to her attention a brief assignment on Corellia, she jumped at the chance and insisted that he go.

"But you're so close to your due date," he said anxiously. "What if I miss it?"

"I have almost two weeks left," replied Padmé, trying to remain patient. "Corellia's not far, and you'll only be gone a couple days. It'll be fine."

"But—"

"I have spent quite literally every second of the past month and a half with you. I am extremely pregnant with twins, and as such my temper is currently very short. Please go, or one of these days I'm going to snap and end up running you through with your own lightsaber, and I'd really rather not have that on my conscience."

Looking as if he didn't doubt she was capable of doing so, Vader grudgingly agreed, and the next day he departed, though not before insisting she contact him at the first sign that anything was wrong.

So much of Padmé's relationship with Vader had been comprised of cruel ironies that she really ought to have known she would go into labor the day after he left.

She was woken in the middle of the night by a small cramp. Padmé rolled over, hoping it would go away, but it didn't. Panic shot through her fifteen minutes later as she experienced what felt distinctly like a contraction. She winced and clutched her side, and suddenly she felt the sheets underneath her grow damp.

"Sabé!" she called, heart racing. "Dormé—ow!"

Having both been positioned in her room that night, Dormé was at her side in an instant as Sabé hurried out to the sitting room to order Rabé to fetch the med droids.

"This wasn't supposed to happen for another week and a half!" Padmé fretted, and Dormé tried her best to assure her that everything was going to be fine.

"My Lady, would you like me to contact Lord Vader?" asked Sabé when she returned.

Padmé shook her head fiercely. "I don't want him to sacrifice his assignment for this. I'll be fine without him. Besides, he'll be back in a day or two anyway, and he can see the twins then."

Sabé exchanged a rather doubtful glance with Dormé, but they respected her wishes and did nothing. The droids arrived within ten minutes, and after inspecting Padmé to make sure everything was in order, they informed her that there was nothing to do but wait.

As the hours passed, the mild aching of Padmé's contractions gradually grew into sharp pains spaced increasingly closer together. The first really intense one brought tears to her eyes, and she cried out, gripping Dormé's hand. "Anakin," she moaned.

"Lord Vader's still on Corellia, My Lady," Dormé reminded her gently. "At your insistence."

"I don't care," Padmé wailed. "I need him here."

Dormé squeezed her hand. "I'll see what I can do." She stood and left the room to find her holopad.

By the time the droids told her it was time to push, Padmé's throat was raw from screaming. "Where's Anakin?"

"He was getting ready to leave even as I was speaking with him, and that was several hours ago," Dormé soothed her. "He should be here any minute."

"I need him now!"

But the twins weren't waiting, and Padmé had to start pushing. She clutched wildly at Sabé and Dormé as she cried and cursed in all the languages she knew, pain rendering her nearly blind.

"Just one more," one of the droids said encouragingly.

Padmé squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head violently. "I can't," she sobbed. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," said a familiar voice.

Her eyes flew open. "Anakin?" she asked tearfully.

And then he was at her side, drawing her into his arms, kissing her tearstained cheeks, stroking her sweaty hair. "I'm here, Padmé. I'm here."

"I can't do it," she gasped again. "Anakin, it hurts…"

"From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were the strongest person I'd ever known, or would ever know," he told her. "You can do this, Padmé. You can."

Finally, she nodded, and she felt the Force surrounding her, embracing her, strengthening her as she gave one final push, feeling like she was being ripped in half, screaming so loud her voice cracked.

"It's a girl!" the droids announced. "Now, keep pushing, My Lady."

Padmé had never been more upset about having twins than she was at that moment, realizing that she had to do it all a second time. But Vader was by her side, holding her hand and telling her how much he loved her, and Sabé and Dormé were still there encouraging her, and finally the droids were saying it was a boy, and Padmé slumped back and wept.

She had no idea how much time had passed before an impossibly small bundle was placed in her arms. Padmé gazed down at her daughter, speechless. She was so tiny, so beautiful, so perfect. Padmé started to cry again.

Vader echoed her thoughts. "He's perfect," he said, voice breaking. Padmé looked over and saw that he was holding their son, tears streaming down his face as well.

It was mere hours before the galaxy heard about the birth of the prince and princess. The girl was named the imperial heir, as she had technically been born first. Padmé slept for most of the rest of the day, but that night she and Vader sat in bed holding their children tightly, still as awestruck as they had been right after they were born.

Vader beamed down at his daughter. "What are their names?"

"Luke and Leia," said Padmé without hesitation, smiling at the contentment on her sleeping son's face.

"Luke and Leia," murmured Vader. "I like those."

"You'd better, since I've already decided on them."

As he laughed, Padmé suddenly remembered something, something that had stood out even through the haze of agony and exhaustion. "Anakin, you said—while I was in labor, you told me—" She hesitated. She knew his answer would change everything. But she couldn't stand not knowing. "You told me you…loved me."

"Oh." Vader looked down, embarrassed. "It just kind of slipped out, and I didn't think you noticed, anyway. I mean, you were pretty busy at the time."

"Well, I did notice." She looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. "I was telling the truth. Padmé, I—I love you," he admitted. "I know you probably don't want me to, but I can't help it. I can't stop loving you. Even the whole time we were fighting, I never stopped. I need you, Padmé."

Padmé's breath caught in her throat. In the back of her mind, she'd already known it, known he loved her, but hearing him say it out loud was another matter entirely. Her thoughts whirled. She had been so afraid, once, of growing attached to him, and yet as they sat there together, their children in their arms… "But what about all the others? All the lovers you've been with these past months?"

Vader shook his head. "They weren't—none of them meant anything to me. I think I was just trying to get rid of the emptiness I felt without you. It didn't work."

"Oh." She took a deep breath and said, "I did the same thing, and…it didn't work for me, either." Padmé swallowed nervously, and then she looked at him more openly than she ever had before. "You were right, all those months ago. I—I do need you, Anakin."

Vader gave her a shy smile and, before she could lose her nerve, Padmé leaned in to kiss him softly, taking care not to jostle the twins, realizing as she did so that this was the first kiss they'd shared since that day she'd just referred to, in the storage closet, a lifetime ago.

When they drew apart, Padmé said quietly, "I'm sorry for pushing you away all this time. I just—I was scared. Of how much I'd grown to care for you. And I thought, getting close to you—I thought it could only end with me getting hurt."

"I would never do anything to hurt you, Padmé," Vader said firmly. He grimaced slightly. "Well, aside from how horrible I was to you the day you told me you were pregnant, and all the days after that."

Padmé chuckled. "I deserved it. I was far more horrible to you than you were to me." She cleared her throat before venturing, "I already told you I was wrong about one of the things I said that day, but…there's something else I was wrong about, too. I told you I want you to be part of the twins' lives, because you're their father." She hesitated for a moment, then plunged ahead. "But what I didn't say is that I want you to be part of my life, too, because you're my…" Padmé trailed off, having no words to describe exactly what he was to her. "You're mine," she said at last, grinning.

Vader threw back his head and laughed. "I am yours," he agreed. Then he gave her a little smirk. "And you're mine."

Padmé once would have balked at the idea of another person so completely owning her heart, her body, her soul, every part of her, the way Vader did—but now, she only smiled again and said, "Yes, I am. Always."

As he bent to kiss her once more, Padmé thought of the sarcastic offer she had made him on that fateful day. Did you think that the Empress would run off with a Sith Lord to some remote planet, that we'd be a happy little family? It was a tempting idea now, she thought as she snuggled against Vader, gazing in wonder at the tiny lives they had created. But she had an Empire to run, and besides, they could still be a happy, if rather unconventional, little family, just as they were.

And that's the end! Huge thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, your comments are truly appreciated :) I have to admit that I'm toying with the idea of doing ONE more oneshot in this universe, but honestly it would almost definitely just be Happy Imperial Family Fluff And Drivel. If that's your thing, you miiiight want to keep an eye out, and if it's not your thing, then I hope the ending of this fic wasn't too Fluffy And Drivel-y for you :P

Also, two quick notes on the chapter: 1) I have no firsthand experience whatsoever with giving birth and based that scene on the results of a couple google searches, so I apologize if it's wildly inaccurate. 2) I switched up the twins' birth order because it seemed logical that the one born first would be Padmé's heir, and I had an easier time imagining Empress Leia than Emperor Luke :P

Again, thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this fic :)