Disclaimer: Everything belongs to George Lucas. Except for the teddy bear – that belongs to me. I'm not making any money on this – in fact, I'm losing money, because of all the caffeinated beverages I like to drink while I write.

Thanks to Jadea Skywalker, SSG Michael B Jackson, and SoloKenobi for reviewing.

Enjoy- Kaitie

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Even as Padmè spoke, Leia appeared in the doorway. Her usual bounce and sparkle were missing, and her eyes were unusually calm.

"You want to talk to me, Mama?"

"Yes, Leia." Force, she's only four! She patted the bed next to her. "Come sit by me, dear."

Leia acquiesced. She sat there quietly for a minute, just looking at the two grownups who were waiting patiently. Finally she sighed. "He's so sad." She looked back and forth, from her mother to Obi-Wan. "He was angry, and he wanted to hurt Ben, but right now he is just so…sad." She focused on her mother. "He said he had a wife who was going to have a little girl, and she died. When he said that, the sad seemed to block the light and the dark and everything and just be everything."

Padmè was biting her lip, fighting fiercely against the tears. But Leia didn't even seem to notice her mother's distress. Her eyes were unfocused, her breathing slow, her body unearthly still.

"He is sad now, you know. And he's trying to forget…but I don't think he can." She paused, and Padmè looked at Obi-Wan. His eyes were wide as he stared intensely at Leia.

"He took the japor pendant," Leia said, as if it was the most important thing in the world. "And now he's remembering…" Her eyes sought Padmè's, and the dark brown was searching, uncanny.

Suddenly Padmè could take it no longer.

"Stop, Leia, stop!" Her voice broke, and it seemed to her that her agony was a tangible thing, curling its fingers around the bed, around her, refusing to let go…

She was vaguely aware of Leia getting off the bed, and coming to stand by Obi-Wan. And then Leia took one of her hands, and brought it to her lips, and the agony lessened its grasp. "Mommy dear, it's all right…" she could hear Leia say.

She opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them. "Oh, Leia child…"

Leia still held her hand, still stood there quiet and still, still looked at her as if discovering something new. Obi-Wan knelt behind Leia, his hand on her shoulder, his unease projecting into the room.

"He's my daddy, isn't he?"

Padmè could only say "Oh!"

Obi-Wan let out a startled "Sith!"

She'd never heard him swear before.

"But he is." Leia repeated, squeezing Padmè's hand insistently. "I know. I just know."

Padmè, looking into her daughter's eyes, saw his determination there. She was the living symbol of their love, gone though it might be. And Padmè could not lie to her.

Ignoring Obi-Wan's warning "Padmè!", she whispered, "Yes."

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Vader stood alone, teddy bear in one hand, japor pendant in the other. In some irreverent part of him, left over from Anakin, he knew that he must look faintly ridiculous. But no one was around to see, and he was beyond caring anyway.

A battle raged within him, a battle between Anakin and Vader. He had thought Anakin weak, no challenge to him, but the Jedi had been strangely strengthened by the encounter with Kenobi and the child. Leia. Why did that name tug at his memory?

He shook off the thought. If Vader won, he would be more powerful, more deeply submerged in the Dark Side than ever before, and he would finally have thrown off the last vestiges of Anakin. His master would be quite pleased. If Anakin won…no, that was unthinkable, of course.

Yet suddenly a fresh wave of doubt, over his turn to the Dark Side, engulfed him, and her face reappeared in his memory, and he was racked once more in conflict.

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"But he thinks you're dead!" Leia looked accusingly at Padmè.

Obi-Wan clenched his teeth, channeling his frustration and yes, even anger, into the Force. They, Padmè and himself, had made a promise to each other to keep the children's heritage a secret from them until they were old enough to deal with it. And now Leia knew at the age of four. Given the twin bond, Luke would probably know within the hour.

Padmè was not answering the child, so Obi-Wan sighed and prepared to deal with the consequences of that admission. "Yes, Leia. Vader thinks that your mother is dead. Vader is a bad man. If he finds out that you and Luke are his children, he will try to take you away and make you bad too."

She stuck out her chin. "I won't let him make me bad. I'll make him good!"

"Leia," Obi-Wan said quietly, "you are four. Vader is more powerful than I am. He will kill you if you do not do as he wants." He hated to traumatize the girl, but she had to understand.

"How do you know?" she challenged, hands on hips. Apparently she wasn't traumatized. "He loves Mommy, I know, I can feel it!"

Support chimed in. "He's our daddy, we can't just leave him to be bad, and to be sad all the time!" Luke stuck his head around the doorjamb, where he had evidently been eavesdropping.

"Come here, Luke," Obi-Wan said. Luke walked over, trying to look defiant. "Now listen to me, both of you. Your mother and I have spent the last four-and-a-half years trying to hide you from your father. When you are older, I will train you in the Jedi ways, and you will bring peace and balance back to the universe. Then, and only then, may you confront your father. Not now."

The children seemed subdued, although Leia still had a dangerous glint in her eyes. Obi-Wan looked to Padmè for support.

She seemed far away, thinking. "Ben, the bringing peace and balance to the Force part, I've heard that a million times before. Wasn't that supposed to be the prophecy of the Chosen One?"

He didn't really want to get into a discussion of Jedi prophecies, not right now. "Something like that. But Vader has fallen, and thus he cannot be the Chosen One."

Her eyes were deep pools of something, of what he could not tell. "That doesn't necessarily follow."

"Excuse me, Padmè?"

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. She swayed a moment, but found her balance and stood as tall as she could. She took the children's hands in hers. "The Skywalker family is going back, Master Kenobi."

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Vader smiled. Finally, he was beginning to be able to suppress that fool Anakin. Now that Kenobi and that infernal child were gone, he was able to visualize Padmè's death again. Of course she was gone, and why should that matter to him anyway? He forced himself to look at her again and again, trying to rid the scene of emotion. These years of not facing up to the death of his former wife, that had been Anakin's doing. He must rid himself of emotion, rid himself of extraneous attachments…

He took hold of one of the teddy bear's legs, ready to rip it limb from limb.

Something was written on its foot. In a moment of curiosity, he turned it to face the light.

Leia.

That was all it said, the girl child's name. He had of course supposed the childish plaything to be hers.

But it was not that, which gave him pause. Not that, which made him drop the teddy bear to the floor as if it had burned him. Not that, which made him cry aloud, and drop to his knees.

The handwriting was hers.

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A/N: So? What'd you think- Kaitie