Anakin woke rather groggily, surprised not to have been plagued by his occasional nightmares. Especially a certain one about his wife...

But for some reason the nightmare about Padmé dying in childbirth hadn't plagued him since Luke had been in the medbay.

Palpatine's tale about Plagueis the Wise still taunted him, but he found himself...not as worried about Padmé anymore.

Not that he didn't care of course, he just felt suddenly reassured that she would be okay.

He looked over at her, her face even more beautiful as she slept.

Anakin sighed and pressed his lips to her hair, making her hum in content but still remain asleep.

He smiled and then pressed another kiss to her belly, allowing his future child to know he loved them as well.

His eyes slid toward the chrono and he groaned. Without his comm, he had no way of knowing if the Council needed him, let alone at what hour, but he figured now would be a reasonable time for them to choose. Or, more accurately, an unreasonable time, since the Council thought waking up before the light of day could even touch the horizon was perfectly fine.

Sighing, he clambered out of bed and lazily threw on his robes, running his hands through his dark blonde curls as a makeshift comb.

He walked out into the living room to see Luke curled up under his blanket. Anakin would have kept walking, thinking the boy was asleep, until he heard the mumbling.

Pausing, he turned towards the lump that was Luke, which Anakin now noticed was shaking rather violently.

Worried that it was an aftereffect symptom of the poison, Anakin strode towards him, gently lifting the blanket up.

The sight that greeted him made him blink in surprise. Luke's skin was deathly pale, his azure eyes were blown wide, staring at nothing, and he was trembling in the fetal position.

Anakin crouched and put his hands on Luke's shoulder, trying to shake the boy out of his state. Luke's glazed eyes slid to him and recognition flared up, replaced instantly by fear.

"G-Get away f-from me!" He cried, tearing away from Anakin's grip and startling backwards onto the couch, curling tighter in on himself.

"Luke?" Anakin asked softly, his worry spiking. Could the poor boy ever get a break?

"N-No. G-G-Get away. O-O-Obi-Wan...h-he...y-you...c-c-c-comm." Luke stuttered painfully. "ssss-secret."

Anakin stared at the boy in confusion, cursing mentally that he couldn't contact the medbay without his comm. He knew Padmé had one for her apartment...if he could get to it-

"N-no m-medbay. P-p-p-poison. N-n-nurse. F-f-f-fire. L-l-l-l-l-lights-s-s-saber."

The random gibberish made no sense to Anakin and tried to put them into logical sentences.

He obviously didn't want to go to the medbay...but what about the nurse? The one who killed herself? What did she have to do with poison? And was Luke freaking out because he made Anakin mad about the comm?

If he got this freaked out over little things like a broken commlink, Anakin wondered guiltily if should've dialed back his anger a bit the other day.

"Luke...please, I need you to talk to me." Anakin begged.

Luke took a few more shaky breaths before wiping hastily at his tears, still sniffling and curling into himself.

"I...I want...I need...tell you...secret." He stumbled with his words, doing slightly better with his uncontrollable stutter.

"Secret? Luke, what is it?" Anakin pleaded.

"M-medbay. Nurse...go. Now." Luke said.

"You want to go to the medbay?" Anakin asked in confusion, knowing just seconds ago that Luke wanted nowhere near the place.

But Luke nodded all the same, still looking shaken and pale.

Anakin bit his lip, knowing the Council would look down upon his absence..."Alright. Let's go."

•••

When they arrived at the Temple, Anakin wasn't surprised to see almost all the Jedi already awake and approaching their day.

He would never understand other Jedi and their tendencies to wake up early. He, personally, hated it.

Avoiding curious glances from other Jedi, Anakin helped a stumbling Luke towards the medbay.

Never had Anakin been to the medbay so many times in the course of a short time. It must've been a record of some sort.

The doctor was at the desk, looking flabbergasted to see Anakin and Luke again so quickly.

"He's trying to tell me something...I just don't know what." Anakin said, looking desperate.

The doctor nodded, moving forward and leading Luke toward a chair.

"What's the matter, Luke?" The doctor asked, kneeling to meet Luke's eyes as he was sitting rather slumped-like in his chair.

"I...Nurse...poison...help." He coughed rather weakly, tears leaking from his blue pools. "Lava...fire...father..."

This time a sob came out, and Luke closed his eyes as if looking at anything or anyone was just too much. He'd rather embrace the cold darkness of the backs of his eyelids.

"Luke, open your eyes. We need you to speak coherently for us, alright?" Te doctor urged.

It took almost 5 standard minutes for Luke to open his eyes and answer, but both Anakin and the doctor remained calm and patient, waiting for the boy to speak.

"N-Nurse...s-s-suicide...security holos." He droned.

The doctor and Anakin shared a look before the man moved towards a datapad and called up holo-recording feed of the past few days.

He looked at the one that had continuously filmed in Luke's recovery room and saw Kirei go in their on a repeated basis, checking up on him like she was supposed to. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Z-zoom." Luke muttered.

The doctor did as the delirious boy requested, zooming the holo in on Kirei. Then, with wide eyes, he watched as an injection inserted into Luke's shoulder at the girl's hands, poison in a needle. The vital monitor beeped dangerously and she flicked it off, walking out of the room calmly when she was finished.

Anakin stared in horror, looking from the holo and back up to Luke. "How long did she do that for?"

"Every...day...died...spy..." Luke mumbled.

The doctor slid open another security holo to see Kirei speaking to a holographic, cloaked figure. They spoke for a good few minutes before Kirei grasped her throat in panic, her eyes rolling back and her legs thrashing until she went startlingly limp and fell to the floor with a sickening stillness.

"She was a spy sent to kill Luke...but she failed." Anakin said slowly.

"Kirei? That's impossible! That's-"

"Look at the evidence, doctor. I'm sorry, but she did." Anakin snapped.

Luke sighed, still trembling and looking uncertain as he muttered his next words.

"Blood...test...Anakin...me...Padmé." Luke said softly.

Anakin and the doctor looked up at him with confusion.

"Y-You want a blood test done?" The doctor asked bemusedly.

Luke nodded shakily.

Anakin scrunched his eyebrows up in concern. He knew Luke had kept most of his past a secret, but what would his genetic line have to do with anything? Anakin remembered the vision he had had of Luke dragging his father from an exploding ship and then watching the man die in his arms.

But if that's what Luke wanted-

"Do it." Anakin said, rather hesitantly. The doctor got up hastily, looking resigned about what he was about to do.

He returned with a needle, which Luke flinched back at.

Anakin knew why and grabbed the boy's hand for reassurance. Luke smiled at him weakly, except there was a brimming fear in his blue eyes, some sort of worry that Anakin would never trust him again. Anakin barely even got to question the notion before the blood was being drawn from Luke's arms.

Luke's small hand grasped Anakin's in a firm, white-knuckled grip as the blood flowed out of a tube and into a small machine the doctor had.

The machine pinged after a moment and the doctor slowly pulled the needle out, applying gentle care and applying a bacta bandage over the tiny insert wound.

The doctor was obviously shaken at his friend's betrayal, but did his job perfectly. He scanned the results and then lost all of his color.

"Doctor?" Anakin asked worriedly.

"Um...Knight Skywalker...how close are you and Senator Amidala?" The doctor asked.

Anakin froze, not expecting those words. "I...uh..."

"No...I must've done this wrong. You said Starkiller is one standard age older than you, correct?" The doctor asked.

Anakin nodded stiffly, still rattled from the previous question.

"This can't possibly be right..." The doctor hummed in confusion.

Anakin took the machine from the man's hands and studied the information himself:

Results :
Mother.....Senator Padmé Naberrie Amidala
Father.....Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker

It took a minute for the information to settle in Anakin's numbed mind...

'"And how did your parents handle two children at once?"
"Uh...I'm not sure. They...well...both died when my sister and I were born."'

'"Ani...I'm pregnant."'

'"I'm alright Father..."'

'"You're a strange one. I can't seem to figure out why you're so familiar."
"Yeah, I wonder why."'

'"Grievous told me some very interesting information..."'

'"Something to hide, have you?"
"No, of course not Masters..."'

'"He just appeared out of thin air?"'

'"Luke here thinks its twins."'

'"My sister's a politician..."'

'"You know Master Yoda?"
"I don't think he'd remember me..."'

'"They didn't...um...take my blood or anything right?"
"Scared of needles, Starkiller?"'
Luke laughed nervously. "Yeah..."'

All the evidence piled up and Anakin dropped the machine, staring at Luke with pure horror.

His child...his son...

How could he have been so blind to miss something so obvious?

He looked just like himself, and even had a bit of Padmé in him, especially in his personality.

But that meant...the baby-babies-in Padmé's stomach...this boy...he was...how!?

Anakin scanned the Force, wondering if this could possibly be a lie.

And for the first time ever, Luke opened his shields completely, allowing Anakin full range to everything except his past. Luke still wanted to keep the future from his father as much as he could.

But he had realized, especially after his nightmare, the only way to defeat Sidious was to gain his father's complete trust as his son, and defeat the Sith together.

He only hoped it wouldn't backfire.

Anakin looked through his son's mind with the equivalent of childish excitement. So bright and full of life...and all his.

He looked Luke dead in the eyes, the boy smiling sheepishly.

And Anakin tackled the boy in a monstrous hug, sobbing uncontrollably.

"My son...my son..."

Luke sniffed, nestling his head deeper into his father's shoulder. "Father...oh I missed you..."

The doctor watched the embrace with confusion, still trying to make sense of the information he had just been given.

When Anakin and Luke pulled back, Anakin wiped his eyes. "So...Luke Skywalker?"

Luke nodded, smiling broadly at the use of his real name.

"I like it." Anakin said with pride, staring lovingly at his son.

"Um...Knight Skywalker?" The doctor asked.

Anakin turned to the doctor, his eyes red-rimmed and his face alight with happiness. "Please...a secret for now."

The doctor nodded and strode out of the room rather stiffly.

Anakin turned back to Luke and sighed. "But...how?"

"Like I said...I don't know." Luke said with a shrug.

"But why would the Force send you back? There must've been a reason." Anakin pressed.

Luke hesitated. "Well..."

'Father...'

'Go my son...leave me...'

Anakin jerked. "The man in the life support suit...the one who watched you get electrocuted...that was me, wasn't it?"

Luke jerked in surprise. "How did you-"

"A vision...but you said your parents died when you were young..." Anakin trailed off.

"Yes. And that's what I came to prevent. But I need your help Anakin." Luke pleaded, not wanting his father to worry about Padmé when she would be perfectly alright, as long as Anakin stayed on the light side.

"I...I trust you." Anakin's voice wavered.

"Good...now, would you believe me if I said there's a Sith lord amongst us in the Senate?" Luke asked.

Anakin blinked in shock. "I guess."

"Good. Now...we need to go to the Council first so we don't raise questions. Act normal and when we next see this certain Sith Lord, you'll know." Luke said.

"What? You aren't going to tell me?" Anakin asked incredulously.

"No. The Force needs to believe that its Chosen One can save us all. Without me revealing the punch line." Luke said with a sigh. "I don't like it either. But you have to trust me."

Anakin scoffed nervously. "It's funny how you can go from a stuttering mess to wiser than Master Yoda."

Luke smiled. "I'm not that wise, Father."

Anakin looked his son in the eyes one more time before nodding determinedly. "Alright. Let's go."

Luke nodded and they both left the medbay, heading towards the Council chamber.

So you've told him...don't think that means you have won Skywalker...I'll be waiting. A slimy voice slinked through Luke's mind.

But he didn't shiver. He just smirked.

Good. He sent back with a threatening tone.

The Sith Lord would finally get what he had coming for many years. And he would regret ever messing with the Skywalker family.

•••

A/N

UGH! I had so much fun writing this and then my Spotify playlist decided to play the Victory Celebration Medley from Return of the Jedi and all I could see was Luke's little smile as he looked at Force-ghost Anakin during the celebration on Endor.

And I CRIED.

Because that scene always picks at my feels the wrong way and I become this little ball of tears and screaming.

Let's not even talk about when I first watched ROTJ.

One word : PAIN

For weeks. It was like it was trying to depress me or something. XD

Anyways, as you can see, I'm approaching the super big climax and intense stuff so...YAY!

May the Force be with You,

- lucky_ducky_123