Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.7.3

She was still amazed at how easy it was to connect with them, despite not being born yet. Now that they had connected once, the twins seemed to recognize her immediately and almost seemed to gravitate towards her. Normally, Younglings had trouble navigating the Force without training, but Anakin's children seemed to already understand a few things, at least subconsciously.

To try to understand them, as much as one can understand an unborn child, she attempted to see into their Force signature. Surely, it was undeveloped and unrefined, but it was there. She noticed a bit of restlessness, probably from Ahsoka, honestly. No doubt she had stirred up some kind of confusion with them. There was little else to their personality at the time, so Ahsoka only had that to go off of.

Maybe there was a way for her to calm them. How could she do that? The children weren't like Anakin, who could distinguish between different emotions. If she tried to share her own calmness with them, it may just come across as disturbance. What did parents do to soothe their children?

There had been a few occasions, in the market or just around the Lower Levels, where Ahsoka had seen mothers sing to their baby. Ahsoka had no idea as to her singing ability, but it was worth a shot. What should she sing? Trying to remember if she had heard any lullabies, a faint memory rose to the surface of her mind.

A warm, soft voice filled her ears, one that she recognized, but from where, she had no idea. As she listened, she came to the conclusion that it must have been someone from Shili who had raised her. It was definitely female, so it was either her mother or someone from the orphanage she grew up in. She didn't have fond memories of that place, so for the time being she decided it was probably the former.

Ahsoka hummed along with the tune until she was more familiar with it, and started mumbling the words as she picked up on them. When she had a pretty good grasp of the song, she refocused on the twins and started projecting her mother's song to them. It was in Togruti, but she knew the meaning in Basic as well:

At sunrise, the day is new/the lion roars when the light shines.

Wake, there is work to be done/I will stay by your side.

Can you hear the wind sing?/Can you hear the ocean roar?

Live your life and chase the light/I will stay by your side.

It was a lovely song, really, although Ahsoka was surprised she managed to remember it. She doubted the twins would understand Togruti, but it sounded more like a song that way, so that was the language she shared it in. As she repeated it, she felt the twins still, and they tuned in to her song, seeming to pulse with her rhythm. Ahsoka quieted the tune until she stopped, and when she did, it felt like the children were asleep. There was no way to tell for sure, obviously, but they were resting. That was good enough.

A minute or so later, Padmé came out, while the doctor and the nurse were cleaning up. Ahsoka stood to walk down the hall with her, and asked, "How did the tests go?"

"The babies are healthy," she reported, turning the corner. "No foreseeable concerns, at least. Something funny happened during the tests, though, I don't suppose you know about it?"

Ahsoka shook her head. "'Something funny'? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Right after you left, the babies seemed to turn towards you, according to the ultrasound. They even kicked a couple of times, but both of them were doing it. After a few minutes though, they stopped and went still. The doctor said he had never seen one baby do that, much less twins."

"I was trying to connect with them again," she admitted, "but I had no idea they were moving. That's crazy."

Padmé smiled. "I get the feeling they're really going to like you when the time comes."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "I hope so. I'm going to need some partners if we're going to pull pranks on Anakin. Someone has to teach them how to put one over a Skywalker."

"Oh, no," Padmé groaned, covering her eyes. "I can see it now. Anakin won't stand a chance, not if all three of you team up against him. If they're anything like him or you, I won't be able to keep them out of trouble."

"You should have thought of that before you married the Hero with No Fear," Ahsoka pointed out, and Padmé elbowed her in the side.

Ahsoka followed her to the kitchen and sat down at the counter. "The nice thing is that one is supposed to be a boy, and the other a girl, so we can use one of each name," Padmé went on. "I have a running list, maybe you should look at it." She pulled out a loose piece of paper and handed it to Ahsoka. "It's a little long, sorry."

She unfolded it and quickly scanned the names on both sides of the sheet. Some had been starred, others had been crossed out or erased. A few had question marks, and others were left alone. Ahsoka took a minute to think about the starred names in particular, before Padmé asked, "Any thoughts?"

"I'm just thinking about what each of them will look like, ten to twenty years from now," she explained. "I mean, you're going to say these names often. When you need them to come, when disciplined, not just when they're infants. For example, how do you feel about yelling out the name 'Abraham'?"

Padmé made a face and took the paper back. "Good point. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?"

The mother-to-be stared at her own lists for a while, and Ahsoka watched her contemplate. After a moment, she glanced down at her stomach. Do you two have an opinion? she asked, though there was no way infants could really have an opinion about anything, much less something as abstract as names.

She lifted her gaze to the paper one more time, then saw two pop out at her, ones that hadn't done so before. Maybe it was just chance, or maybe the twins really had voiced their thoughts through Ahsoka, but either way, she pointed to the names. "What about these two?"

Padmé followed her finger, then thought for a second. "Is that too cheesy, if they both start with the same letter?"

"Well, they are twins," Ahsoka argued, and Padmé looked again.

"Luke and Leia," she said aloud. "Huh."

Author's Note: Sorry to anyone named Abraham, but I can't personally see myself yelling Abraham up the stairs when it's time for dinner.