In Which Padmé Is So Done With This Pregnancy Poodoo (And Would Really Like This "Giving Birth" Poodoo To Be Over, Too)

"One, two, three, push!" the nurse chanted, holding onto Padmé's hand. Anakin winced as his angel let out a strangled yell, her face red with exertion. "And – release! Breathe! One, two, three, push!" The nurse encouraged. Padmé glared at her.

"I can tell when to push, tha- ergh!" She cut off, bending her head and straining. As the contraction faded, she pinned the nurse with a glare, panting hard. "I can tell when to push, thanks! My – contractions –" Her face contorted and she grunted, pushing as hard as she could, before pausing and gulping air. Her glower turned on her husband. "Anakin, if you ever get me pregnant again, so help me I am ending you."

"Yes Angel," the erstwhile Jedi said meekly.

"Push!" the doctor urged, glancing up from a screen to scan the laboring woman. "Almost there!"

"Come on, honey, you can do this," the nurse coaxed. "One, two- oop!"

Padmé tilted her head down again, letting out a yell of exertion as she strained with all her might, and – yow – oh wait, that was uncomfortable but not as painful as it had been, and what was that really weird feeling – "We've got baby number one!" the nurse announced, catching a squalling red thrashing little creature.

"Number one?" Padmé shrieked, before cutting off with a startled scream as another insane contraction gripped her abdomen. "What – the – absolute – kriff?"

"It's twins," the doctor said distractedly, eyes glued to the scanner readout as another nurse hurried forward to assist the Senator.

"You're doing great, hun, just a few minutes more," the woman murmured comfortingly, taking Padmé's hand.

"Twins..." the beleaguered woman gasped, before giving a moan of pain that crescendoed into a yowl.

"I see a head!" a midwife exclaimed. "Just a couple more pushes, darling!"

"I – want this – to be – over," Padmé gritted out from between clenched teeth.

"It almost is," the nurse at her head assured her. "You're almost there – you're doing beautifully, just a minute more."

"Nnnnnngggh," the brunette replied, eyes squinched shut in effort.

"And… out!" the midwife announced triumphantly as another screaming baby arrived into the sterile air.

"Thassa lotta blood," Anakin mumbled to no one in particular as his exhausted wife collapsed onto the pillows.

"A boy and a girl," a beaming nurse announced.

"Lovely," Padmé huffed out, eyes drifting shut before she forced them open again and turned her attention to her newborns and her face gentled into a smile. "How lovely."

So, as far as I know right now, this is the end of this story. However I will be soon publishing a spin-off with the same premise; the biggest difference is that it will be set a few hours before this one.

Hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did writing it!

(And before anyone mentions it, yes I know Anakin would be familiar with blood due to battle, but the blood of death has a different quality than the blood of life. Besides which I don't get the impression he was spending his time going to childbirth classes...)