(Note: The artwork is not mine, it belongs to shorelle on DeviantArt.)

At seven years old, little Luke Skywalker was looking more and more like his father every day.

It was more than just the way he shared Anakin's facial features, dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Luke was full of energy and curiosity, wanting to run around and touch and examine every little thing. His attention was everywhere. He clearly craved adventure. And sometimes, he would sit perfectly still and stare thoughtfully off into the distance, as if he was aware of something that no one else could see.

Padmé didn't know much about the Force, but she was certain that her son was acutely aware of it, even in his young age. Maybe it was just her motherly devotion to him, but she thought his observations were too insightful, his childish predictions too startlingly accurate to come from anything but the Force.

She wasn't able to spend nearly the amount of time with him that she would have liked, because she had so many responsibilities here at the Rebel Base on Dantooine. But she made it a habit to go see him every day after dinner, and they would spend the rest of the day together.

The Rebel Base was small at the moment; it was hardly more than a single hangar and a utility building. But it did have enough space and people to require one room just for child care. This was where Luke, along with the other Rebel children, spent most of the day.

When Padmé picked him up, he was tired and grouchy, like he usually was after a long day of tutoring and socializing. Luke was quite different from both his parents in this way. Being around people too much would tire him out; he needed plenty of alone time.

"How were your lessons today?" she asked him as they walked down the cramped hallway.

"Boring," he grumbled, twiddling his fingers and glancing around in every direction.

Padmé tried her hardest to be patient with his lackadaisical attitude towards school. Anakin had always been the same way.

"Now, Luke," she said gently, "you know your lessons are important."

He looked her sharply in the eye. "Important things can be boring sometimes."

Padmé couldn't help but laugh. She knew this truth all too well from her own experience.

Luke grinned slightly at her laughter, his sulky mood beginning to fade. It usually did once he was free of all his classmates.

"Look," Padmé said, showing him a small package she had been carrying. "I bought this in the city. It's for you."

"Me?" Luke's eyes widened. No one in the Rebel Base received presents frequently; money was too tight. But Padmé had seen this and was unable to resist spoiling Luke with it.

He tore off the packaging paper voraciously, and stared long and hard at the box with a picture of an X-Wing Fighter on it. "What's this?"

"It's a model-building kit. If we put all the pieces together correctly, we'll have a mini-version of an X-Wing."

"But it's not a real ship?"

Padmé chuckled softly. "It's far too small to be a real ship. But we can imagine it's real."

Luke shrugged. He looked as though he was disappointed, but trying not to be.

"Why don't we get started working on it, right here?" Padmé suggested.

"Okay," Luke agreed, so they sat down right where they were. It was common for people to spend their free time sitting in the hallways, leaning against the walls, and play card games or Sabacc or some other game. The Rebel Base had no recreation area. And Padmé, being thirty-four, was still young enough that she didn't mind sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"You'll have to help me figure this out," she admitted as they emptied the box of all its contents. "I've never done one of these before... It's more of something your father would like."

"Because he likes ships." Luke spread all the pieces out and studied them. "How about Leia, would she like this?"

"I don't know. Probably, since she stays with your father."

Padmé made sure to talk about Anakin and Leia a lot, so that Luke would know that he had a father and a sister, and that he might see them again someday.

It broke her heart that she had no idea what Leia was growing up to be like. Padmé was no longer even able to contact Anakin, thanks to their devices being hacked once. Their locations had almost been revealed to the Empire as a result.

It was as if Anakin and Leia had died, and Padmé was just in denial about it, pretending they were alive.

She watched Luke as he randomly tried to fit his puzzle pieces together, and when they didn't fit, he tossed them aside.

"It doesn't work quite like that," Padmé said with a smile. "See, they gave us instructions. We have to follow them."

"Why? Someone made those instructions, right? They figured it out on their own. I think we can too."

Padmé didn't argue with him- it would be a learning experience. So she tried his method, but was much more careful in deciding which pieces to try. As a result, the very first pair she selected clicked together quite neatly.

Luke blinked in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"I used my brain, Luke. I thought, these pieces seem to make sense together, so I tried them first."

She waited as Luke scowled at all the pieces, examining them closely. After a few long minutes, he discovered two parts of the same joint, and they fit together perfectly. "Yes!" he exclaimed.

Padmé smiled at him. "See what a little bit of thinking and a little bit of patience saved you?"

It took them the rest of the evening to finish the project. Padmé ended up being glad that Luke had decided against using the instructions, because that made it more of a challenge.

Luke held the little ship carefully and made imitations of ship noises, accompanied by a long, deep yawn.

"I suppose it's time for bed, then, Luke?"

"No," he mumbled. "I'm not tired..."

"Well, we're going to our quarters. Come on." She took his hot little hand and lead him down the hallway. They walked a little ways before coming to a long series of doors. Padmé pulled out the electronic key and swiped it in front of a sensor, and the door opened into their tiny little quarters.

Like everything else in the Rebel Base, the quarters were cramped and uncomfortable. Each one had enough room for two small beds, a chest full of drawers, and a tiny washroom. But it was better than nothing, and it was really only used for sleeping.

Luke did not protest as Padmé cleaned him up and put him to bed. As he buried himself in the blankets, she kissed his round little cheek and whispered, "Good night." He was asleep almost instantly.

The little boy may have resembled his father in many ways, but Padmé felt that he had inherited a good amount of her traits too. Even though Luke got angry with her sometimes for making him do school and be stuck with other children all day, he always came back to her with open arms. He was ready to forgive almost anyone, and move on and forget about their mistakes.

Padmé went into the washroom and was in the process of rinsing off her makeup and taking her hair out of its up-do when her comlink vibrated. She blinked in confusion. Who would be calling this late? With the faintest twinge of hope, she picked it up and answered, "General Amidala."

Technically it should have been General Skywalker. But Padmé figured it was safer to only use her royal name.

"Padmé, it's Bail. Do you have a moment? Mon and I just discovered something you really should see."

She frowned and stared at the reflection of her half-undone hair. "Can it wait till morning? Luke just went to sleep, and I'd hate to leave him alone."

"I know, I know. But it's rather urgent, and it will take only a minute or two."

"Well..." She sighed deeply. "All right. But I will be very strict in my timing. I won't leave him for more than ten minutes."

"Understood. Thank you for your time." The comlink clicked as Bail disconnected his device.

Padmé hurriedly took the rest of her hair out of the up-do and scrunched it with her fists to help it return to its naturally curly shape. Then she grabbed the key to the room and hurried out.

She found Bail and Mon in the computer lab, staring intently at a screen. "What is it?" she asked, sitting down next to Mon.

Mon rubbed her forehead anxiously. "We think it's time for the Rebel Alliance to gain some galactic attention, and we may have found the perfect opportunity to do it."

"Oh?" This news was important indeed. Every movement by the Rebel Alliance had been ignored thus far, from the Delegation of 2,000 to their recent petitioning to have the Empire cut back on its rapid expansion.

"We've received intel that the Empire is putting a small outpost in the Outer Rim," Bail said, pointing to a system on the map.

Padmé's stomach lurched. It was the very planet on which Luke and Leia had been born.

"It may be small," Mon added, "but it's drastic, because it's the Empire's first real effort to put tight control on the Outer Rim. And if that continues, it would spell disaster for us." After all, Dantooine was an Outer Rim planet.

"And the outpost is new, so it's more vulnerable," Padmé mused. "I see where you're going with this."

Mon and Bail nodded. "So we want to spend the next few days planning an attack," Bail said. "Obviously, we must be extremely careful and strategic. This first battle will tell us a lot about the future of our Rebel Alliance. If we lose... we may never recover."

Padmé and Mon nodded grimly.

"We just wanted you to be aware so you can properly plan your day tomorrow," Mon said. "That's all."

Padmé nodded, bade them good-night, and headed back to her quarters.

The Rebel Alliance was like a child to Padmé, just as much as Luke was. It had grown significantly over the past seven years. In its earliest stages, it was nothing more than a handful of politicians conspiring on Coruscant. And now, it had its own building, and it consisted of a few hundred people of all sorts of backgrounds. Pilots, engineers, data scientists, mechanics. Anyone who had a passion for fighting the Empire.

Padmé's heart swelled with pride when she thought about her little group making a difference in the galaxy. But if it failed, she didn't know if she could bear the loss.

(Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the first installment of the time lapse! The story is already taking on a much more Original Trilogy-ish feel, isn't it? Also, this is entered in Wattys2016, so any feedback you have at all will be VERY MUCH appreciated! Thanks for reading!)