A/N: Thus begins the fourth in the series, a sequel to Business on Cato Neimodia and taking place six months after that story, around the same timeframe of AOTC.

"Padmé. Oh Padmé..."

"Don't you oh Padmé me, asshole." Sith master, former Queen, and now beleaguered Senator Padmé Amidala rudely shrugged her husband's hand off of her shoulder, Force pushing the hapless young man and his ministrations back onto the other end of the couch. Anakin slumped there, his baleful eyes afraid to meet his wife's.

"What'd he do this time," Sola asked, shaking her head at her little sister's ever turbulent life whilst sewing a purple dress for her younger daughter Pooja.

"He knows what he did," Padmé snapped angrily, sparing her husband one contemptuous glare before taking a deep drink out of her glass of wine. Anakin, meanwhile, as nervous and meek as Sola had ever seen him, merely fidgeted nervously on his end of the couch.

"Why don't you tell Sola what you did," Padmé now pressed, an evil glint in her eyes. "Or more like, what you didn't do."

Anakin looked awkwardly away at both Naberrie sisters, his blue eyes settling on some abstract painting Padmé had picked up at one of the billion fundraiser galas they seemed to attend every kriffing day. "Do we really have to hash this out in front of your sister," he mumbled under his breath.

"Hmmm, trouble in paradise," Sola mused, never looking up from her sewing. "Ani, I take it you know by now to just give Padmé what she wants."

"That's the problem, isn't it Ani?" Ignoring the fact that it was not yet noon, Padmé took another stiff sip of her wine. "Someone had a few too many glasses of wine last night and couldn't get it up, could he, Ani?"

"I said I was sorry," Anakin whined almost childishly. "Can we not talk about this like...ever?"

Sola tried to hold off her smile, watching her brother-in-law's face turn almost as red as his sith lightsaber. Thinking back, she decided that she had not seen Anakin Skywalker so embarrassed since she caught him sneaking into Padmé's closet to do Shiraya knows what many years ago. She decided to do what she could to amplify his mortification. "I wouldn't think I'd be the one to lecture you sis, but there are other ways."

"Yes, I clearly know that," Padmé said curtly, "but some times you just wanna get fucked."

"Please," Anakin said, sinking even further into the couch, eyes begging his wife, "can we just keep our sex life private?"

"Private?" Sola guffawed, almost dropping the dress in her lap. "Please don't tell me you don't know that Padmé's told me every little detail since day one?"

Anakin stared at his wife, the betrayal evident in his face. "Really? Even when we were...um..."

"Highly illegal," Sola added sharply, finally finishing the sentence Anakin did not want to.

"So what? We're close, I've always told Sola everything. I told her I was a Sith lord, for sith's sake."

"By the way, Anakin," Sola said, taking some pity on the boy, "speaking of the law, according to Naboo's constitution you're a free and independent man. You're not a sex slave, and you don't exist solely to pleasure my little sister."

"Um...if you check our full wedding vows, I'm pretty sure the exact verbiage...," Padmé mumbled uneasily in the background.

"Hey Sola," Anakin interrupted, unabashedly trying to change the subject now, "did Queen Jamillia get back on you on additional security for Ryoo and Pooja's school?"

"Yeah, it's not a problem," Sola said, the topic clearly inducing an immediate distress in the older woman. "Though I still can't believe the Supreme Chancellor would want to harm them. They're children!"

"It's me Gunray's after," Padmé said, "but I want to make sure just in case."

"How many assassination attempts has it been," Sola asked, looking around to make sure that their parents were not in earshot for this conversation, Ruwee and Jobal being ignorant of Padmé's sith abilities to protect herself and all. "No wonder you're cranky all the time."

"Two on our way out of Coruscant," Padmé said a bit too nonchalantly for Sola's liking. "I don't know, that brings it to around fifty or sixty since he's become Chancellor? Thankfully nothing's happened on Naboo yet...that would strike a little too close to home." That was no coincidence, of course. While she and Anakin could foil any half wit assassin Nute Gunray threw at them, she did not want any of them coming within ten parsecs of her family. Which was why the entire planet was now crawling with spies and agents she hired herself, watching from the shadows for any suspicious or unscrupulous activity.

"I mean, it is your fault," Sola added, more than a bit of annoyance in her voice. "You're the one who plotted to put that asshole in charge of the Republic. Shiraya knows why with all your Sith machinations, but I mean, you have no one to blame but yourself."

"It was a necessary evil," Anakin interrupted, reflexively defensive of his wife even in front of her sister. "It's a minor setback for a major comeback."

Padmé groaned and rolled her eyes, wondering what dumb holoshow her husband had gotten that phrase from. "I merely set the tableau," she added. "Each Senator voted of their own volition."

Sola shook her head. "I honestly don't want to know more. If and when the Jedi finally put you on trial, I'd like to plead some kind of ignorance. Just try not to get anyone on our family killed, please?"

"It will not happen," Padmé said with steely determination. They heard front doors open downstairs, and a bevvy of small footsteps echoed through the hallways below.

Sola rolled her eyes. "The two terrors are back. Joy."

Padmé reached out with the Force and sensed two other familiar presences, and looked softly at her sister. Now she was the one who was begging. "Mom and dad picked them up. Let's not bring up the assassination stuff, okay?"

Sola nodded. She knew of her sister's abilities, but their parents did not and still saw her as a frail, helpless daughter.

"Or our sex life," Anakin grumbled beside her.

"Or lack of one," Padmé muttered back.

"Hey," Anakin protested, "I made it up to you this morning! Twice!"

"I thought you preferred to keep this shit private," Sola muttered, not looking up from her project.

Thankfully, Sola's two young daughters burst into the room, ending their more mature conversation topcis. The older woman continued to knit her dress, knowing that Ryoo and Pooja's attention would be focused elsewhere.

"Aunt Padmé!"

"Uncle Ani!"

Both siths rose before the two kids could jump into their laps, corralling them as they pulled their nieces in for a fierce embrace, though Padmé still held her glass of wine with one hand. She was drinking more, Sola noticed. And while she knew that Padmé's ribbing of her husband this morning was mostly in jest, the stress of being targeted by a rather evil Supreme Chancellor with a grudge did seem to be wearing her sister down, if it said Chancellor's promotion was by her own hand.

They sat back down, Ryoo next to Anakin and Pooja between the couple. "How was school today," Anakin asked.

"We learned about galactic politics," Ryoo said excitedly. "Our teacher told us that Aunt Padmé is the galaxy's only hope against slimey Nute Gunray!"

"They really do editorialize," Sola wondered. "The next school board meeting should be interesting."

"Well, he is this planet's greatest sworn enemy," Ruwee Naberrie said as he and his wife Jobal stepped into the room. "And I know you don't want me to bring this up, but we saw the latest news on the assassination attempts."

"Attempts," Anakin emphasized. "None have succeeded."

"I have to say it," Jobal protested, the strain on her face evident, grays showing up for the first time in her dark hair, "but if they don't show any sigh of stopping, how long before one does? Padmé, have you given thought to maybe...retiring from the public eye for some time? Not permanently of course, but while that vile creature sits atop the Republic."

Padmé sighed. This conversation was predictable and necessary, but as she noticed a slight glare from her sister, she regretted worrying her parents like this. Fortunately it would not be for much longer now. "I cannot back down now," she said in a steely voice that her family recognized to be her Senatorial tone, "else Gunray and his cronies may never give up their throne. The Jedi do an admirable job with protection on Coruscant. And Gunray does not dare touch Naboo for now."

"For now," Ruwee mumbled, not satisfied by her answer. "I'm surprised they haven't made their move yet. I saw reports just today that the Trade Federation just occupied Sern Prime. That's the third world they've subjected to their atrocities since Gunray took over."

"I have sources that tell me they are building up their droid army," Padmé said. "They are picking out the easy targets now, but they know firsthand Naboo will resist, and Gunray knows that he cannot afford lose to us a second time. When they come, they will be prepared."

"Hardly a comforting thought," Jobal said, sitting down next to Sola. She smiled uneasily at her grandchildren, who fidgeted nervously on the couch next to Anakin and Padmé now that the conversation had suddenly turned so serious.

"They will not succeed," Padmé said with surprising confidence.

"How can you be so sure," Ruwee challenged. "I know you built up Naboo's defenses after the occupation...but Jamillia," Ruwee shook her head, "She has committed to maintaining them, but there is talk that she has not devoted the necessary resources. And before Gunray's election I would have agreed with her, we don't need to be pouring credits into an army...but now..."

"One vote," Jobal bemoaned. "One vote and my little Padmé could have been Chancellor and fixed this damned galaxy. Now your life is in constant danger, and our entire family...our planet...faces annihilation!"

"Mum," Sola spoke out for the first time, "the kids." She nodded her head towards her two daughters, who had suddenly found great interest with fiddling with their aunt and uncle's robes.

Padmé caught another withering glare from Sola and again could not find it in her heart to blame her sister who, not sequestered on Coruscant for most of the time, had to live with the strain her sithly actions had on their family on a daily basis. There was always a cost to the Dark Side, this she knew clearly from her time with Sidious, but as she watched her loved ones pay the price of her actions for really the first time, she could only remind herself that this was all for the greater good.

"Look," she said reluctantly, lowering her voice, "I can't tell you the details, but trust me, we have something in the works. Good Senators like Bail and Mon and Garm will not take this lying down, especially seeing what's happening to Sern Prime now. I promise you, arrangements are underway, and the tide is already turning. No harm will come to Naboo or our family."

"I believe her," Sola agreed, trying to end the rapidly contentious conversation. She noted her parents' surprise. "Have you ever known Padmé to not be fully prepared for anything? If my sister says we'll all be fine, then I trust her."

Taking her older daughter's cue, Jobal tried to change the subject matter as well. "Padmé, will you and Anakin be staying for dinner tonight?"

The sith master shook her head, taking out her datapad to review her schedule. "Sorry ma, but we have a pretty full slate for today. Western Plains to visit Ani's parents, then the studios in Theed to record some holopodcasts, and finally meeting our winemaker for dinner and a tasting tonight."

Much had changed since Padmé had lost the election. As they had planned, Anakin convinced his mother and Cliegg's family to temporarily relocate to Naboo, where he assured them they would both be safer from the new Chancellor's wrath, setting them up on a remote shaak farm to resemble as much as possible their settlement outside of Anchorhead. It took some time, but they were settled in nicely now, and certainly made for more efficient visits as both the siths could visit their parents on the same trip back to Naboo.

Being the hated pariah of the Supreme Chancellor and the worst members of the Senate actually yielded numerous benefits, especially after Padmé took to the habit of appearing on the occasional holopodcast. And not the political ones either, as those would be too obvious...and boring, but bantering back and forth on some of the more comedic and irreverent shows allowed the galaxy to see a different, more human part of her, allowing her to slowly shed her image of a crusading do-gooder ice queen as she easily joked along the biting comments about even taboo subjects such as all her assassination attempts or her husband's age.

"Oh, can you bring back a few bottles from the vineyard," Sola asked eagerly, catching her sister's eyeroll, as it was the surplus supply of Amidala's Vintage that got Anakin into trouble the previous night in the first place. It wasn't that Darth Mirayya lacked for credits, having inherited Sidious and Lord Plagueis's combined accounts, but the idea of the beleaguered and persecuted Senator starting her own fledgling vineyard to raise funds appealed in the minds of many, further entrenching her as the archetype of the struggling, righteous underdog.

"If there's any left in stock, I'll lug back a few here before we go back to Coruscant," Padmé answered.

"Sounds like business is good," Ruwee commented.

"I'll be happy as long as we outsell Gunray," Padmé replied. Sure as hell, the new Chancellor couldn't resist trying to compete and one-up his hated rival in every single aspect, starting his own craft liquor company mere days after Padmé launched her wine brand.

"I'd hope so." Sola wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Gunray's Best Fermented Bug Larvae Juice...who the kriff would ever willingly drink that?"

"They advertise it as being infused with the finest rancor urine," Darred said, walking into the parlor at that very moment with a glass of his sister-in-law's wine in hand. "I mean, how does he even think that's a selling point?"

"And just...how would he even go about harvesting that on an industrial scale," Ruwee added, his academic mind thoroughly puzzled by the economics of the product.

Padmé rolled her eyes. "Such is the state of the Senate, his sycophants will go out of their way to buy up those overpriced bottles and try not to grimace whilst drinking them and toasting their Chancellor. But trust me, I have it on good information that my wines are doing much better."

"Some consolation," Jobal muttered before placing her hands, palms facing out at everyone. "I know, I know, that's the last you've heard from me about all this."

The two siths exchanged a knowing look at each other, prepared to face a similar interrogation later that day from Shmi, though she was clearly less outspoken than Padmé's parents.

Kriff the Jedi, Padmé sent through their bond to Anakin. Anyone who thinks the Dark Side is easier is a fool.

"Believe, you do, that Chancellor Gunray is a Sith master?"

"Or Senator Fafi," Dooku added.

"Or Mas Amedda," Kit Fisto added as well, referring to the newly appointed Vice Chair. "He has certainly risen under this new Chancellorship."

"Without scruples, yes. Corrupt, yes. Outright criminals...yes. But Siths and masters of the Dark Side...I don't believe so." Inwardly, Obi-Wan Kenobi rolled his eyes and hoped that the gathered Council could not sense his impatience. Because of his encounter with the Zabrak Sith a decade ago, Obi-Wan had been unofficially designated the expert on the long thought to be extinct order by the Jedi Council. And somehow after being wrapped up with Amidala's shenanigans all these years later, they had unofficially designated him to the their liaison to the Senate and that one particularly troublesome senator. And with the suspicion from the Council that the Sith Master was hiding in the middle of the Senate, Obi-Wan found himself assigned to investigate and report on every hare-brained theory any Council master could imagine as to the identity of the Sith. Not that he himself was innocent of far out theories, having briefly suspected Amidala herself to have been a sith before she lost her election to Nute Gunray.

"Sith or not, we must do something about the Chancellor's crimes," Dooku protested vehemently, and Obi-Wan could not blame his impatience, "or else we'll find that blasted droid army occupying the Temple grounds themselves."

"Since his election he has not given us any assignments or missions," Adi Gallia added indignantly. "Well, besides the constant requests to kill Senator Amidala, of course."

"Speaking of," Obi-Wan said, pulling up his comlink, "I will report to the Council the Chancellor's latest communication." Holding his breath in distaste for a second, he started speaking in the most neutral tone, "'why is the Senator not dead yet? She should be dead now. I want her dead. I am the Chancellor. I am law. Law is me. Summon Senator Amidala to the Jedi Temple. I order you to cut off each one of her limbs with your pointy light swords. Make it slow and painful. Then bring what is left of her to me. I have acquired a very valuable and ancient sword from one of the moons of Mandalore. The blade is very rough and dull. I will cut off her head myselfs. Best regards, Chancellor Nute Gunray, esquire, Prince of beauty, great conqueror and destroyer of worlds, King of the Galaxy and all known worlds.'"

Ki-Adi-Mundi frowned. "I didn't know that the Chancellor had acquired a degree of law."

"He hasn't," Obi-Wan replied dully. "I do not believe the Chancellor places any value on words or titles besides what meaning he assigns them himself." Especially with that King of the Galaxy stuff, he thought, his impatience increasing. Do I really have to spell out everything for you? How do you even single out one word, 'esquire', out of that entirely ridiculous message?

Even Mace Windu seemed to be at the end of his tether. He shook his head, muttering, "how many more years of this do we have to endure?"

"Why should we have to endure it," Dooku objected, and Obi-Wan saw even Master Yoda sigh in exasperation as the Council veered off onto the same debate it had recited countless times over the last six months.

"Why should we allow corruption to fester and oppression to spread? The Jedi act for good, for light, for the Force."

"You are suggesting the Jedi meddle into the politics at the heart of the very Republic," Ki-Adi-Mundi objected. "You would have us break the precarious balance the Order has maintained with the Republic since Ruusan."

"I hardly doubt the minds behind Ruusan ever envisioned someone as unabashedly base as Nute Gunray at the head of the Republic," Yarael Poof shot back.

The debate continued, and Obi-Wan's focus faded away from his immediate surroundings. Senator Amidala was due to return to Coruscant soon, and he hoped to milk whatever peace and serenity he could find in the meantime.

Replies to the last Chapter of Cato Neimodia:

SilverDaye: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed that last story. This one will truly commence the endgame.

ichigo urahara Shihoin: He was close. And Sifo-Dyas is not a sith, though he is certainly unknowingly getting close to a few...

1saaa: Thanks!

Nightshade's sydneylover150: You ask some very good questions. Anakin and Padmé are not aware that Obi-Wan came so close to guessing their identities. However, they are aware that he is most certainly capable of doing so, and also of the general suspicions any Jedi could have, not just Obi-Wan, were Padmé to have gained the Chancellorship so easily...that is partially why they set it up to increase the likelihood that Gunray would win the election, but even though they controlled the circumstances the best they could, ultimately each Senator still voted of their own accord.

They are also both aware that sooner or later their identities will be discovered. Obviously, they would prefer it if it occurred of their own volition, and on their own terms.

As for Sifo-Dyas, he is unaware of the couple's secret sith identities. Based on the fact that he was close friends with Dooku in canon, as well as his un-Jedi-ish actions in commissioning the Clone army, I am inferring that, like his friend Dooku, he is less concerned by the Jedi Code and the Council's dogma on what is right and wrong, living more by his own moral compass and beliefs. He sees Amidala as embracing his core convictions, and as a result finds himself drawn to her.

The Jingo: Thanks!