This was probably the first time Anakin had so much time and money to spend on purchasing a ship- and it was fun. He spent the entire afternoon driving around town, going into every shop that seemed remotely interesting. Every shop, from the small and specialized ones to the large and mainstream ones, was unique and intriguing. He felt a pang of regret that he had spent so much time locked up in the Jedi Temple, never going out to the city to get to know the area or the local people.

Hopefully all that would change now.

He couldn't find a ship that fit all of his high standards; nothing he could find was anything like his old favorite Eta-2 Interceptor which had sadly been destroyed aboard General Grievous' cruiser. Besides, he needed a ship with enough room to transport Padmé and the droids, and it needed to have its own hyperdrive. His favorite ships tended to be tiny, fast, one-man starfighters that needed hyperspace rings.

But after several hours of searching, he finally found something acceptable. It was similar to a Z-95 Headhunter, but bigger- it had a two-person cockpit as well as a small cabin, and it had its own hyperdrive. Sadly there was no Astromech socket, and the speed wasn't great. But he liked that it was a very common model, so it couldn't be identified easily- and it had a set of laser cannons. It would work well for getting Padmé off the planet.

The next step was to buy tools and rent a space to work in, but that didn't take nearly as long.

Anakin was deeply embedded in removing the console pieces and looking at the electronics inside when he heard a faint buzzing sound. Somewhat concerned, he examined the parts closely to see if any of them were lighting up or vibrating. Maybe he had set off an alarm by accident. But none of the parts appeared to be disturbed.

Then he remembered he had left his comlink on the shelf nearby. Smiling slightly at his own absentmindedness, he picked it up and answered. "Hello?"

"Ani, it's me." Padmé's voice came out through the device. "I'm back at the apartment. Where are you?"

He had forgotten about the lapse of time; it had to be late into the evening by now. "Oh, sorry.... You're not going to like this, but I'm working in a rental space in lower Coruscant."

"Lower Coruscant?" Padmé gave a long, deep sigh. "What in the galaxy are you doing down there?"

While the wealthy, the politicians, and formerly the Jedi lived in the upper levels of Coruscant, the lower levels (which were closer to the surface of the planet) were not so affluent. The people there were more like those on Tatooine- petty criminals, homeless bums, drinkers, dealers, and bounty hunters. It wasn't exactly a pleasant place.

"I'm down here because I can't rent a space in upper Coruscant for this purpose. If you want to do illegal things, you have to do them in lower Coruscant."

"Just be careful down there. Don't let the ship get stolen."

"It's a fairly common ship. I doubt anyone will be too interested in stealing it."

"Right... Anakin, when will you be back?"

"I don't know. It's going to be really tricky to not mess up the hyperdrive computer... why do you ask?"

"It's just that, I really want to leave soon." Her voice broke off, as if she might cry.

"What's wrong?"

"The Republic... it's... we're an Empire now. As of today."

"Are you serious?"

"It happened in an emergency meeting. And everyone was standing up, and cheering... I still can't believe it really happened."

Obviously, this issue was important to Padmé, but Anakin didn't really see the difference between an Empire and a strong Republic. The Republic had been quite powerful, and they had to win wars to keep territory just like an Empire. Padmé could explain the political nuances, but they held no meaning in Anakin's mind.

"You should get some rest," he told her, quietly. "It's been a long day."

"No, I need to get ready to leave..."

"Our baby needs you to get some sleep."

"I suppose so." Padmé must have been very tired indeed if she didn't argue with him any further. "Let me know when you're on your way back. Good night... I love you."

"I love you too, Padmé."

And his next all-nighter was fast approaching. Was it his third one? Fourth one? He had lost track already. But at least he could keep himself busy with an exciting project.

* * *

Several hours later, he was holding the transmitter in his hand- a tiny microchip, which he had extracted from the other delicate electronics in the control panel. The hyperdrive computer seemed to be undisturbed, but he couldn't be certain. He could be certain, though, that he was one of very few who had even attempted this procedure. Perhaps he was the only one who had ever done it successfully. It was very possible that he had failed, but he doubted it.

The next morning, Padmé got up early and immediately started packing to leave. Anakin couldn't believe how much stuff she kept in this little apartment. Heavy gowns, trinkets and heirlooms from Naboo, and dozens of hair and makeup tools. He had no idea what most of those things were actually useful for. The most he had ever owned was a comlink and a lightsaber, and he had never felt much of a desire to have anything more than that.

Padmé smiled at him apologetically as he carried yet another heavy trunk into the ship for her. "I'm sorry... These things are just too meaningful to leave behind."

They helped Artoo and Threepio into the cabin, took one final look at the beautiful apartment, and then boarded the ship.

As they took off, Anakin spotted a group of ships taking off, probably Z-95's. He accelerated to follow them and eventually caught up, despite the weight of Padmé's cargo.

His heart pounded as they flew past the security tower, even though he knew the transmitter was gone. Would the security guards notice?

At first, nothing happened.

By the time they were out of the atmosphere, he realized he had been holding his breath, and let it out. But the real challenge was next. Would the hyperdrive computer work?

As Anakin set a course for Naboo and waited tensely to calculate, Padmé stared out the window and gasped. "Fighters on our tail!"

Anakin glanced at the rearview camera and groaned inwardly. Several clone arcfighters were catching up to them quickly. "I never thought I'd be fighting my own troops," he grumbled, accelerating the ship. Hopefully he could stay far away enough that the clones would not be able to get a closer look at the ship.

A green laser blast flew past the window. Anakin steered the ship in a zigzag path, trying to simply dodge the fire. If only the hyperdrive computer would work a little faster...

"What are you doing? Fire back, we have guns!" Padmé exclaimed.

"I'd love to, but that will draw more attention to us! Getting noticed is the worst thing, and getting shot is the second-worst thing."

Despite the whole situation, Anakin felt strangely at ease. He was in his own element, in a cockpit, surrounded by technology and the Force. This was his most natural skill set.

Finally, the hyperdrive computer beeped, indicating that it had finished calculating the route. "That took long enough," Anakin muttered as he launched the ship into hyperspace. The force of the ship accelerating rapidly threw them both backwards, and the planets and stars all blurred into streaks.

Padmé glanced up at him hopefully. "Well, it worked!"

"We'll see. Just because it calculated something, doesn't necessarily mean it calculated the right thing. If we crash into an asteroid field, or the core of a star, or if we end up at the wrong planet altogether... that means I messed up the computer."

They traveled in hyperspace for several hours, watching the stars go by in streaks and listening to the droids bicker in the cabin. Then, they came out of hyperspace. This was the ultimate moment of truth.

The tranquil blue-and-green planet of Naboo was directly in front of them.

Padmé sighed in relief, while Anakin blinked in astonishment. He realized he may have been the only person in the whole galaxy to correctly remove a security transmitter from a fully-assembled ship.

But immediately, another problem arose. An entire fleet of Naboo starfighters was coming at them. The fleet made a formation to surround them, and open fired.

Padmé screamed. Anakin took the ship in a nosedive towards the planet, heart pounding. They managed to avoid the fire, but the fleet continued to pursue them. Even worse, another fleet ascended from the planet's surface, flying straight up at them. Anakin spotted even more ships farther below, ready to be deployed. He couldn't possibly fight or shake them all. There were at least twenty fighters in the air right now, not counting the ones that were still on the ground.

All they had wanted was to go peacefully to Naboo, and now they couldn't even do that.

"Padmé," Anakin said slowly, "you'll have to set us a course for some Outer Rim system."

"No," she whimpered, staring intently at her home planet. "We're so close... we can make it..."

"There are even more fighters down there, ready to be dispatched. We're one small ship against fifty military starfighters."

Padmé was silent for a long moment, while Anakin continued to dodge the fire as best as he could.

"Which system?" she finally said.

"I don't care as long as it's not Tatooine."

Again, the hyperdrive took a painfully long time to calculate. Anakin managed not to use the laser cannons at all, knowing that if he shot down one of the fighters, they would send in reinforcements.

The computer finished just barely in time. Once again, they launched into hyperspace. Throughout the whole course of the battle, their ship had only taken one blast to the hull, and it hadn't caused any internal damage.

"Coruscant must have sent information about us to all the nearby systems," Anakin mused. "Warning everyone that there's a ship on the loose with no security transmitter. Removing it really backfired."

Padmé was staring intently out the window, as if Naboo was still there. "I really wanted to see my family," she whispered.

"I know... I'm sorry."

She nodded and didn't meet his gaze.

* * *

They eventually landed and found a decent city filled with average people, which was much better than what Anakin had expected to find. The planet had a decent climate and terrain- mostly grassy hills and lakes, but it was a little bit cold. Anakin and Padmé rented a small apartment and made sure to hide their ship. Both of them wondered how they would set up their lives over the long term, if this decent but mediocre situation would be permanent.

There seemed to be only one real advantage to all this- they were together, without worrying about being publicly seen as a couple. They didn't have to worry about the Jedi Order or the Senate keeping them apart.

That night, Padmé woke up gasping and sweating, insisting that the baby was coming.

They rushed to the local hospital. Anakin wondered if his dreaded nightmares would come true tonight.

For the next several hours, he was probably more tense and anxious than she was. Every time she cried out, all he could think about was the image of her screaming and dying, the very life being sucked out of her. He held her hand the whole time, whispering that it would be all right- partly to comfort her and partly to comfort himself.

But no complications came. No machines flashed angrily, and no medical droids brought bad news. At the end of it, Padmé was fine, and they now had two babies. A boy and a girl.

Why had she not told him they were having twins? Had she not known herself? Anakin brushed the thought aside.

They chose their favorite boy name, Luke, and their favorite girl name, Leia, for the twins.

Anakin couldn't believe that it was all over now. Why had he had those dreams anyway? They were so much like the dreams that foretold of his mother's death. Far too vivid and real to be normal dreams.

Maybe it was possible that they were nothing more than the extremes of human imagination, that they weren't linked to fate at all.

As they held the beautiful babies in their arms, he whispered to her, "Padmé... I know this isn't what you wanted. I should have tried harder to land on Naboo..."

"No," she said. She looked up at him, her eyes shining. "I did want to be with my family, and I miss Naboo. But we're together- all four of us- and the babies are healthy and we're safe. That's all I could ever ask for."

(Author's Note: I know this chapter was long, but there was a lot going on! I hope you all are excited by the birth of Luke and Leia- I know I am! Thank you for all your votes and comments thus far. Remember, for every 4 chapters you vote and comment on, you will be PMed a sneak peek of the next chapter! I am be entering this in Wattys2016, so any feedback you have will be very much appreciated! Thanks for reading!)