Padme was usually expected to do ordinary Senatorial tasks every day. Things that normally did not require any combat whatsoever, or a fight for survival. She had been trained as a teenager, but there were few times to try them out. She realized today she should really train more often. The last place she expected to be was here, a droid factory on the planet of Geonosis. She came here with her secret boyfriend, Anakin Skywalker in an attempt to save his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Somehow, they ended up with a bunch of droid parts being put together on hundreds of assembly lines.
The first bad luck today was when the platform they stood on began to withdraw. She fell and hit the first assembly line hard. Skywalker, however, managed to land on his feet. She got up and realized she was close to being squished. She quickly ran through each obstacle, but not without a minor injury. As she ran past that last one, one spark from the plate landed on her lower lip.
"Oooo… that really stings." She whispered to herself as her lip started to swell and burn.
Meanwhile, she saw Anakin right behind her getting by without a scratch. This started to bother her a bit. And then as if this mechanical maze wasn't bad enough, the Geonosians showed up ready to take them prisoner, but they weren't giving up without a fight. Anakin took out each one deflecting their shots. Padme tried to ward off as many as she could, but one came a little too close and knocked her right in the eye. She shot that one off as she put her hand to her eye. She momentarily lost sight in that eye but continued to follow Anakin. They ran through many more assembly lines, but none were any easier. Padme got a moment to snicker when Anakin got his hand caught in they machine and his lightsaber split, but no major harm done.
She lost sight of him when she lost her balance and fell off the assembly line and into a giant wooden bucket. She got a few splinters on her hand as she tried to climb out, but she was too deep. She felt like a little girl trapped in a well. Except instead of water, she was about to be covered in lava. Where was R2 when you needed him?
He was at the controls and he overrode the controls to let Padme's bucket fall. She hit the ground with a thud, and rolled out to find Anakin there waiting for her.
"Wow, you sure took a beating." He snickered.
"Shut up, Mr. I-keep-losing-my-lightsaber" She groaned back. As they tried to leave, more Geonosians showed up, and this time, there were too many, plus Anakin just had to lose his lightsaber. They were taken to court where they were accused of trespassing and were sentenced to execution. Great, just another thing to make Padme's day better. They were loaded on the back of a giant creature and lead to the arena.
"Don't be afraid." Anakin said
"I'm not afraid to die. I've been dying a little bit every day since you came back into my life." She responded.
"What are you talking about?" Anakin said curiously.
"I love you." She confessed.
"You love me? I thought we decided not to fall in love. That it would destroy us…" He said both confused and a little excited.
"I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway. I truly deeply love you, and before we die I wanted you to know. Or at least before I lose a limb next or something." She said. They each leaned over and gave each other a big climactic kiss.
"Ow!" She jolted back suddenly.
"What?" Anakin asked.
"My lip still burns." She responded.
They were lead out into a huge crowd cheering for the execution. They looked across the arena floor and saw Obi-Wan being chained to a giant pillar. They were pulled off the creature and lead out to the other two pillars. Padme got the picklock she kept in her utility belt and stuck it in her mouth.
"I was beginning to wonder if you had gotten my message." Obi-Wan said.
"Yes, and I transferred it to the council just as you asked. Then we came to rescue you." Anakin said. Obi-Wan looked at his chains
"Good job." He said sarcastically. Then three giant monsters were brought out onto the arena. Padme, who was just about to spit out her picklock gasped at the sight of them. That gasp accidentally got her picklock caught in her throat and could feel it going down her esophagus and tearing off tissue. She tried to cough it up, but it was too late. The boys didn't notice her almost choking as they kept their eyes on the monsters planning their next move.
"What about Padme?" Anakin asked trying not to sound too attached. Obi-Wan looked over to find her coughing up a lung with her eyes turning red.
"Are you alright, Senator?!" They asked concerned.
"I don't know. I just swallowed my picklock." She answered with a scratchy throat.
The monsters were let go and started to attack. Obi-Wan and Anakin were handling their monsters well, but Padme was having a little trouble. She dodged the nexxu's strikes trying to make it get her chains. She tried to run around the pole, but the monster jumped ahead of her and gave her a scratch that nearly tore off all the skin on her left arm and left marks on her back.
"YEEOOUUCCCHHH!" She cried out in pain. Anakin, who was riding on top of his monster, heard her scream and rode his reek to trample over the nexxu. He grabbed Padme's good arm and pulled her on the reek.
"Ouch. Do you want to hide behind something and sit this one out?" Anakin asked as he looked at her bloody arm.
"No. I'm not gonna run and hide like a coward." She said no matter how much she wanted to just sit down and wipe off the blood that was now staining Anakin's clothes. Suddenly, all the Jedi ran into the arena as well as many Geonosians and battle droids. They jumped off the reek, and ran to get weapons. Padme found a blaster on the ground as Anakin and Obi-Wan were thrown lightsabers. She shot with her right hand keeping her left one out of harm's way. She met up with Anakin behind an abandoned chariot.
"You call this a diplomatic solution?" Anakin asked with a smug.
"No, I call it aggressive negotiations, and trying not to get torn away piece by piece." She answered.
After about half and hour of battle, Master Yoda showed up with the clones in a sky fighter. Padme was the one most relieved to see him.
"Master Yoda, how nice of you to drop by." She said jumping into the sky fighter. Anakin and Obi-Wan jumped in and ordered the pilot to follow Count Dooku's speeder. Padme had to hold on to the handle with her left hand because she couldn't put her blaster down, for she might need it. They flew after Dooku's speeder. Their vehicle moved around a lot so Padme had to hold on a little tighter despite the fact her arm couldn't have too much strained on it.
When Dooku took a big turn, their ship rocked back and forth as it flew over a hill. The rocking made Padme pull her handle more, which caused her hurt arm so much pain she couldn't hang on. She fell off the speeder and rolled off the hill as she hit the sand.
So this is why Anakin hated the sand so much. It got on her open cut and stung so badly. She jumped up, but landed back down as her foot hurt. She looked at it as it appeared to be swollen. She realized she twisted her ankle on the fall. This day just got better and better. She sat in the sand expecting for her friends to come back for her. So she waited, and waited, and waited. She figured they went on without her and sighed. Then, a clone commander came to her aid.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I don't think so, but regardless, get all the troops you can; we have to get to that hangar." She said as she limped back to a ship with the clone. She planned to give her friends a good talking to. They landed at the hanger a few minutes later, but before they got inside they saw Dooku's ship leaving. Her anger suddenly turned to fear as she realized something might have happened to her friends if Dooku had gotten away. She hopped inside on her good leg. She saw Obi-Wan and Anakin on the ground. Obi-Wan had burns on his arm and leg, but looked okay. She pulled Anakin up; who looked like his left hand was behind his back.
"Hey guys, thanks for leaving me." She said sarcastically.
"I wanted to come back for you, but Obi-Wan didn't let me." Anakin said as an excuse.
"He's right. That was my bad." Obi-Wan said as he got up and realized what a condition the senator was in. She had a major cut on her arm which was now covered in sand and probably infected; her leg was limping, a burn on her lip, a scratchy voice from the picklock, and a black eye.
"Wow, we got to a medical center." Anakin said.
"What's behind your back?" Padme asked.
"Oh, uh, nothing." He said. She reached behind to find literally nothing. She pulled his upper arm up to finding a shocking discovery.
"Your arm! It's gone!" She said shocked.
"Yeah, Dooku cut it off." Anakin explained. Obi-Wan was being helped by the clone commander who found Padme earlier.
"Thank you for your help, Commander..." Obi-Wan started
"Cody, sir. Commander Cody." The clone responded.
Obi-Wan told Anakin to get Padme home to Anakin's delight. They both went to the medical droid on Padme's ship. He helped heal both of their wounds. They walked out of the med center and had a talk when they were all finished.
"That's a nice new arm he gave you." Padme commented on Anakin's golden arm.
"Thanks. How's your arm?" Anakin asked.
"Well, they cleaned out the sand and put a big bandage around it, so it should heal completely in a few weeks. Also, my leg, eye, and lip should be back to normal in a few days." She said.
"Good. And your throat?" He asked next.
"Well, the droid said I should be able to talk normally in a month, but I'll always have to make sure I don't strain it. If my air is cut out for more than 10 seconds, I'm out cold for at least an hour." She explained.
"That's going to be hard in the Senate." Anakin joked.
"Yeah, thank goodness for microphones. Man, this has been one heck of a day." She sighed.
"Well, let me make it better for you. Will you marry me?" Anakin said pulling her close to him.
"Anakin, you know that would complicate everything." She said shocked.
"I know, but we got too deep when we thought we were going to die. I can't let you go, again." He said looking deep into her eyes.
"Alright, you win. I will." She said smiling and putting her head on his shoulder.
At Padme's lake house, she held Anakin's hands in her own as the minister made then Mr. and Mrs. Skywalker. She looked into her new husband's eyes and leaned in for the wedding kiss.
"Ow! It still burns."
"Sorry."