Being gentle was usually a necessity when it came to newborns. For the first few months it was common for parents to be careful when interacting with their offspring, if anything, it was encouraged. Babies are frail creatures, dependent on others to provide for them and care for them until they're of a proper age to provide for their self. It is expected of a parent to be nurturing, loving, protective. 

Rahm was a little less than that.

It wasn't that he didn't love children, or that he didn't care about the way a newborn was supposed to be held. He just didn't have the time to be over-excessive when it came to getting the babies out of their bacta tanks. Master Kota did his best as he gingerly removed the first child and wrapped her in a blanket, wiping some of the excess bacta liquid away from her eyes and mouth with a corner of the cloth. 

Her little, delicate fingers weakly grabbed at the edges of the fabric and her small mouth opened to let out a small whimper before closing. While Rahm was bundling the child up and made sure the blanket was secure, his eyes caught sight of a small note written on the side of her bacta tank, a note with eight little letters scribbled quickly across the surface. 

Shendira

Rahm glanced at the other two tanks and saw two other notes as well. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the words on the notes had to have been the babies' names, though he didn't know when Denali had had the time or resources to label them. It must've been one of the nurses or doctors who took the time and effort to make distinguishing the siblings from each other a little easier. The jedi master plucked the note from the glass surface and placed it in the folds of cloth wrapped around the first child. 

After setting Shendira carefully on the floor, close to the wall so he wouldn't accidentally step on her, Kota then grabbed another blanket and opened the second bacta tank. As careful as he possibly could when he knew he was running out of time, he swaddled the second baby, grabbed the second note with another name written on it, placed the note with the child, and set her down next to her sister.

At this point, he thought he was making some good time. He opened the third bacta tank and, though he knew something was suspiciously off with the infant, gave her the same treatment as he did to her siblings. She cried loudly when he cautiously removed her from the blue vat, which made her different from her quieter sisters, but it was something he expected. Babies always cried, it was natural.

But what wasn't natural was the evil energy surging towards the incubation room as Obi-Wan ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards his destination. His anger rippled through the air, sent chills up Kota's spine and caused Shendira and Deidre to join in with Kalani's wailing. 

Whatever good Kenobi had been before, there was nothing but darkness in its place.

With the knowledge that Obi-Wan was closing in on their position, Rahm climbed back into his starfighter, sat down, closed his eyes, and extended his hands towards Shendira. There was no possible way he could've carried all three daughters at once, so he used the best method he could think of when time wasn't on his side. Shendira sobbed as she was cradled in his left arm, regardless of how gently he held her. 

His heart thundered as the raging darkness continued to sprint down it's course.

Kota reached out for Deidre and placed her on his lap then, with a quivering hand and his face scowling with concentration, Kalani was lifted into the air and began to hover towards the man and the two other crying infants in his grasp. 

It was in that moment that Obi-Wan barreled into the room, eyes red as blood and fists shaking with a thirst for vengeance.

*********

"The targets have been eliminated," The Nautolan man commed his master after coming to on the canon platform, a long stripe of red running down his face from where he assumed he'd been hit by something hard. He looked at the destruction he'd caused and thought about all the lives he must've taken when he destroyed an entire community's worth of people. A dark laugh growled through the communications device.

"Very good, my apprentice. General Grievous has been frozen in carbonite, the Senate is in shambles, and now...we put our next step into motion" The voice let out another low rumble.

"Execute Order 66."

**********

Padme pressed the wet washcloth to Bail's forehead like a mother tending to her son after the hungover man expelled the contents of his stomach into a waste bin beside Padme's couch. It was the second time that week that Senator Organa had found a spot in her apartment, hiding away from the press with a bottle of wine in his system. With the fall of the Rancor Slayers, the deaths of Denali Bleway and her brother, Obi-Wan going rogue and missing, the disastrous rebellion started on Alderaan that demanded the planet secede from the Republic, the entire Senate in complete disarray like a bunch of headless chickens, there was no possible way someone could get through it all without a scratch.

The last few months had been rough on everyone in the Senate, but Bail was the one who got the worst of it. Although he was a strong individual with enough self-respect to remain calm, cool, and collected in public or in front of an audience, the liquor was calling his name. 

It didn't help that reporters and journalists from all across the galaxy seemed to smuggle themselves past security for a long enough time to find his apartment and camp out until he emerged. Within two months, he'd moved from three different living quarters on three different levels of the Senate building. But ever since the uprisings, he'd most often find Padme's room and home that she hadn't remodeled. He really loved the soft cushions of her couch. 

"Thank you..." The senator sighed and rested his head back on the couch. Padme just nodded and handed the vomit-filled bin to a servant droid, who shuffled across the carpet to the bathroom only a few feet away. Padme had asked him earlier if he wanted to just sleep on the bathroom floor, that way he wouldn't need something to hold his puke when he could've just flushed it down the drain. But no, Bail needed his comfortable spot. And Padme was too concerned to fight him on it.

"Isn't your wife worried about you?" Padme asked him with a sigh. It was a good question, for all Padme knew, it could've been weeks since the last time Bail had contacted his wife. She wasn't exactly the nicest person to her, considering Padme was always working with her husband and Bail's wife seemed to be a jealous type. But regardless, she deserved to know what was happening with the man she'd married. Bail shook his head.

"We both know the Republic is going to hell. I told her to stay at our home on Alderaan until I went back myself, then we'll decide what to do next."

"That's not the kind of attitude your people need at a time like this," Padme scolded, dipped her washcloth in a bowl of cold water by her side, and began to dab at Bail's aching head again. The suffering man just laughed, but became silent when he saw the baby bump on her abdomen. Padme noticed, but pretended like she hadn't.

"This must be hard for you," Senator Organa began. "Being pregnant during such horrible times. You child's life will-"

"My baby's life will be just as pleasant as mine had been," She snapped, then got to her feet and began to stomp off to the kitchen, though she didn't make it far when the sound of a ship landing on the platform outside her apartment caught her attention. At a single glance, she knew it was Anakin's starfighter. But he never visited, why would he visit now? The look on his face was stoic, but she knew something was extremely wrong.

"Anakin?" She walked towards her husband, who began to sprint in her direction. Before she could comprehend what was happening, he wrapped his arms around her in a gentle hug, then took her hand.

"We have to get out of here, now."

Padme glanced from her husband to Bail, then back to her husband.

"What? Why?"

"Obi-Wan's gone insane, and I need to get you somewhere safe before he hurts you and..." His eyes fell to her pregnant belly and Padme felt a tug at her heartstrings. So he did care, he cared much more than what he'd been leading on. He loved her and his child, he really really did. And now he wanted them to be safe, to take them away from this mess and start somewhere new.

She was about to ask why, when her apartment door slid open and five clone troopers rushed into the room, weapons drawn and ready to kill.

"Actually, you aren't going anywhere."