Anakin opened up the compartment on the floor where the engine could be accessed, dropped down into it, and promptly screamed. The roar of the engine covered it up for anyone else on the ship, but Ahsoka, who was standing above him on the floor, could still hear it pretty well. A little too well, and she tried not to flinch as the sound split through her skull.

"This was not supposed to happen today," Anakin told her when he finally gathered his thoughts enough to speak. He turned to look up at her as if she had the answers he was looking for. "Why? Why today? The due date isn't for another few weeks! It's too soon!"

Ahsoka kneeled down on the ground, trying to think of something that might explain the situation. "I've heard of babies born prematurely, maybe that's what's happening."

He leaned up against the panels and groaned. "I was not ready to hear that. I was not ready."

"Were you ever going to be ready?" Ahsoka asked, sitting down and dangling her legs into the compartment. "I don't feel like birth is something you can prepare for, Skyguy, no matter if it's early or late."

"Not the point, Snips," he muttered, closing his eyes. All of the confidence he had been working to build over the past few months had disappeared, and he felt as certain as Jinx had been less than an hour ago.

To be quite honest, Ahsoka wasn't nearly as worried. After seeing the medical team take care of Padmé before, she had no doubt that they were handling the early labor wonderfully. Then again, she wasn't about to become a parent. This wasn't her children being born.

Anakin ran a hand through his hair. He sort of just realized she was there. "You weren't at work, were you?"

"I was, actually," Ahsoka admitted, and the Jedi groaned again. "Don't worry, though, I had a feeling this would happen sooner or later. I have some extra hours in, enough to cover for a full week. It's not a problem."

"I'm so sorry, this is horrible timing," he apologized, but Ahsoka kicked him lightly in the shoulder. 

"What are you talking about?" she asked, cocking her head. "You can't plan this kind of thing, Anakin, there is no schedule to follow. There was never going to be 'good timing'. Padmé's body decides when it's time, not us."

He nodded, knowing that she was right, but no less unsettled. "I haven't even seen her since before you did. We've been so busy with Dooku that I haven't been to Naboo in months."

Ahsoka's eyes widened. "You haven't?"

When he shook his head, Ahsoka's mind started racing too. Padmé hasn't told him, he doesn't know there's two! She had to decide. Either she could wait and let Padmé tell him, or she could just do it. He would probably panic about the same either way, but if she told him now they could get it over with before they landed.

"When I went and visited her, they had an ultrasound to make sure the baby was healthy," she told him quietly. Anakin looked up at her, and stood up straight so he wasn't leaning on the wall. "Everything was fine, but they...found something."

"Ahsoka, just tell me," he begged her. "Might as well do it now, since we're already dealing with one surprise."

"She's having twins."

Anakin straight up collapsed. Reacting on instinct, Ahsoka jumped down with him, doing everything she could to keep him from passing out. "Hey! Hey, easy, it's okay!" She held his shoulders, keeping him upright. He was so out of it, though, he could barely even do that. Eventually, Ahsoka just resorted to slipping herself underneath his arm. Hard to do in the cramped compartment, but it worked. "It's okay, just take it easy."

After a minute of processing, he turned to Ahsoka. "'It's okay'? She's having twins and it's okay?"

"You were about to pass out, give me a break."

"Ahsoka, I'm not even ready for one baby! How am I..." he trailed off, slamming his head against the wall. "I'm not ready for this."

Satisfied that he wasn't going to fall unconscious, she let him go, instead resting a hand on his shoulder. "It's not just you. Padmé is with you on this, and I'm right here, right?"

Anakin closed his eyes, telling himself she was right. Despite everything, it wasn't depending just on him. Not only did he have them, but Padmé's family was helping too, and surely they were more prepared than he was. 

"Listen," Ahsoka consoled him, speaking softly. "This is out of our control. There is literally nothing we can do now, except get to Naboo and be there when Padmé needs us. We're doing everything we can right now, even though it's not much. That's what matters, right?" Her blue eyes watched his, and she saw him wrestle with her words. Ahsoka knew he didn't like being so underprepared, but she also knew it was going to be okay.

He sighed, sitting back on his knees and closing his eyes. "I know, I just...I wish there was more I could do."

"Maybe there will be, later," she suggested. "One step at a time, remember? Have patience, master Jedi," Ahsoka teased, and it was enough to make him laugh, once, softly.

Anakin sat back so he was leaning against the wall opposite of Ahsoka, and was facing her. There was barely enough room in the small compartment, but it was a good place to talk alone. After a moment, he gave her a look. "You knew this whole time and you didn't tell me?"

Rolling her eyes, Ahsoka breathed a little easier. At least he was distracted now. "Well, I was thinking that Padmé would want to tell you herself. I didn't realize she wouldn't get the chance."

"We've both been busy, ever since the Clone War picked up again," Anakin explained, remembering the last few months. "That one mission down to the Lower Levels was about as much of a break as I've gotten in a while. She's been trying to convince some of the smaller systems to rejoin the Republic, now that the chaos with Palpatine is over. Well, her decoy has, and she wouldn't risk blowing her own cover."

"It makes sense," Ahsoka admitted. "I haven't heard much below ground, but after the Corellia attack I'm not surprised the Republic is trying to end the war quicker." 

Anakin tried to think about how she could have found out about the Corellia attack, but he remembered Windu's subtle comment about Ahsoka a while back. "Master Windu came and told you, didn't he?" 

She nodded, wiping some grime off of her gauntlets. "He was asking for strategy advice. When the Sister showed up for Barriss' escape, he figured out what I had done too, just like Obi-Wan."

"I'm not sure how much longer your connection is going to stay a secret," Anakin warned her, and Ahsoka sighed. 

"As long as the press doesn't figure it out, Tyrannus won't either," she stated firmly, trying to believe in her own words. "I think Master Yoda knows as well, although he hasn't said as much out loud."

"No, he wouldn't, would he?" he agreed, crossing his arms and leaning back. Controlling his breath, he took another minute to just sit there, listening to the engine make a rhythmic racket not far from where he was. 

Ahsoka could feel his panic slowly ebbing, so she didn't say anything. It wasn't exactly quiet, but even without the engine the silence wouldn't have been awkward. As their Force bond became more natural, it was beginning to feel like an additional medium of communication. A pretty insightful one too, because it was pure emotions at this point. Constantly, especially when they were close to each other, there was a stream of the Force between them, invisible but very much there. They couldn't quite hear what the other was thinking, but it wasn't hard to guess after four years. Between their history, their bond, and their body language, sometimes more was said in silence than in words. 

It was in this way that they agreed that they wanted to spend the rest of the trip there. It was a little cramped, yeah, but at least they could talk without wondering if the handmaidens or the ship crew were listening. Ahsoka mostly talked about work to distract Anakin from the present, and she told him about the new girl, Trace. He was a little worried when she told him about her reaction that morning, but she wasn't concerned and Anakin knew she could handle herself. That reminded Anakin about Jinx, and he went over what had happened before Windu had sent him to the Senate Building. They both agreed that the loss of Master Gallia was hitting him hard, and that it wasn't going to go away anytime soon. He was going to need support, they knew, if he was going to move on from the loss. Both Anakin and Ahsoka recognized that Jinx was becoming vulnerable to the Dark Side in the wake of his pain, and they knew better than anyone else at the Temple how dangerous that was. 

Of course, the two of them made those conversations last quite a while, and by the time they emerged from their hiding spot, the ship had already dropped out of hyperspace in the Naboo system. Ahsoka watched Anakin's face as he focused for a second, and grinned when his eyes shot open in wonder. "They're both there..." he murmured, not believing his own words. "There really is two."

"Told you," Ahsoka jabbed, and he glared down at her for a second. He couldn't hold it though, he was too excited, and nervous, to stay annoyed with her. He willed the ship to land faster, and when it did he was the first one down the ramp, with Ahsoka not far behind. This time, though, there was no mission, just a friend (and a wife) waiting for them.

Padmé's parents pointed them in the right direction, mentioning that Sola was with her sister. It didn't take long for the two to find the sisters, though, because Padme's grunts could be heard from multiple rooms over. When Anakin heard her in pain, he ran to find her, while Ahsoka kept her steady walking pace. I'll give them a minute, she decided, let them have their moment.

On a couch in one of the communal spaces, Padmé was doubled over and clutching a book, her face contorted in pain. Apparently, she had been reading before the contraction had started. Sola was standing close to her, crouching and trying to soothe her with calming words, and timing the length of her contraction. When she saw Anakin, though, she waved him over, motioning to the pregnant senator. Anakin kneeled beside her and took her hand, startling Padmé long enough for her to open her eyes and see who had come.

"Anakin," she breathed out, but she grunted again and started leaning forward, clearly not comfortable. He got up and sat on the couch next to her, pulling her close and keeping one hand holding hers. After a few heavy breaths, she managed to add, "You made it."

"Yeah," he told her, softly and in as calm of a voice as he could. "Yeah, I made it. I'm here, okay? I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, but I made it," he repeated, rubbing her shoulder. It took a second, but she finally relaxed and lowered her head on his chest, snuggling as close as she could get with full-term twins. 

Padmé looked to Sola, who nodded and stopped the timer she was holding. "39 seconds that time," she reported, writing it down on a notepad she had with her. "That's the third one this hour, too."

She groaned and closed her eyes. "It's been like this for the past three hours," she complained, not bothering to keep up the composure she kept as a politician. "About every half hour or less, another contraction hits. And it's uphill from here."

"We'll take it as it comes," Anakin promised her, kissing her temple and squeezing her hand. "Okay? We'll be right here the whole time."

Sola set the timer and the notepad on the armrest, winking at Anakin and leaving him and her sister be. She walked back out the way Anakin had come in, only to meet Ahsoka waiting around the corner. Ahsoka smiled knowingly. "How's she doing?"

"For the early stages of labor? Not bad," Sola reported, walking with her away from the couple. As the aunts of the newborns-to-be, it was probably their job to give the parents some space. "Three hours in, mild contractions at regular length and frequency, although I'm not telling her that. She has a long way to go still, and I'd rather not tell her that the pain is going to get a lot worse."

"Makes sense," Ahsoka nodded, crossing her arms. They walked past a window, and Ahsoka paused when she saw the sun setting. "It's getting late, is she going to be able to sleep?"

Sola shrugged, standing by her in the dying light of the day. "More than she will be able to later, for sure. She should at least try while she can. Once the labor progresses, she isn't going to be sleeping for a while."

They both looked behind them, and Ahsoka suggested, "Give them a few more minutes to talk, but then I'll help you convince her to lay down. It's going to be a rough night."

"You're telling me," Sola agreed, and they wandered off to go find the kitchens.