A/N: Thank you so much for the fantastic response to the first chapter! I'm amazed. All of your wonderful reviews touched my heart. I hope you'll all enjoy what's to come just as much.

"Wa- What?" Padme stuttered. Of all of the possibilities she might have imagined, this was something she could never have… She would never have thought he would even want to… "No!" She cried without thought and all but threw herself out of the chair. The glass fell from the Senator's trembling fingers and onto the hot stone floor with a loud crash, fragments of glass shattering into a thousand tiny shards by her boots as what remained of her blossomwine splashed against the rich brown was he thinking?! Why would she ever marry him after all he'd done? Everyone he'd let suffer so needlessly in the name of – of what? If he were not her only hope of saving those she loved, Padme would have marched straight back to her ship this very instant and cursed the day Anakin Skywalker ever came into her life. How could he be so selfish? So callous?

This was not the man she remembered at all. While always spontaneous, this was manipulative and just vile! What he proposed wasn't a marriage; it was a trade of ownership. Her life for her sister and brother in law's. He wanted her not for love, for this couldn't possibly be love, but for possession, for filling that hole Padme created in his heart with her rejection all those years ago. It was the behaviour of someone who cared nothing for her wellbeing. And Anakin wasn't like that… He cared about her feelings and went out of his way to ensure her comfort… The Anakin she remembered would never force her into anything – especially marriage.

Was this Vader?

Horrified, Padme turned away, unable to stomach so much as looking at him at the moment as tears welled into her eyes and acidic bile burned at her throat. Behind her, she heard Vader rise from his own chair, and follow her in the few short steps she'd taken from him. Suddenly, the shock of the demand, or request or blackmail perhaps, faded as her quick mind worked to adjust to all that'd happened since her arrival in this terrible place, and all those feelings gave way to sheer outrage. Ire set ablaze, Padme whirled around, fire in her brown eyes. "How dare you?" She yelled and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Who do you think you are?!"

Once she had started, the indignant anger at his cruel offer only grew, Padme yelled and shrieked at him until her throat clawed for water and yet somehow she still found the will to continue. "How could you? It's wrong – it's unjustifiable! Did you truly think for one moment that I could ever agree to this? I just don't understand – how you could… My sister and Darred are dying and you expect me to marry you?" It continued and continued and then, the tears dried on her cheeks and she could muster no more words to hurl toward this man, the imposter who wore Anakin's face. Strangely, unlike their previous conversation concerning marriage, the rejection seemed to simply bounce off of him as if it were nothing. There was no hurt in his eyes, no tears nor even a quivering lip… Nothing. He was expressionless. Vader looked as if she'd merely refused to share another drink with him, not a life. Where were his emotions? Throughout her entire tirade, he'd simply stood still, silently, neither reacting nor responding but just watching her with those icy blue eyes that had once held so much… So much more. He was colder now. Harder.

She didn't know him anymore.

Only when she was calmer when her chest stopped it's heaving and her breath settled to something near calmness that he reached up to gently brush her cheek with the hard, calloused pad of his thumb and Padme couldn't hold back her flinch. What was this? It was wrong, so wrong… And yet, the way he looked at her now awoke long suppressed memories of the intense blue gaze in the middle of a lush green meadow three years ago. It was just the same and yet so different. Something about it, no matter the situation, no matter the horrendousness of what he'd done… Something about it made Padme's traitorous heart leap in her chest.

"I can't… I won't do it." She whispered because it was the truth. There had to be another way. Padme would give anything to save her family and he knew that. She only prayed he would not take advantage of such intimate knowledge.

Vader's hand fell away from her cheek, and Padme forced herself to hold his gaze. She was a Senator of the Republic Senate, after years of reigning over Naboo and guiding them as Senator, she'd faced more than her fair share of hard gazes. She didn't wilt. Not even when she wanted to. Finally, he gave one stiff, reluctant nod of his head. "Fine. Then stay. For one month, here, with me." He whispered and although it was far from ideal, far from what she wanted or even believed to be right, there was part of her, not the Senator, or the sister or daughter, or once Queen, but the woman who despite it all, wanted to. And, perhaps what was the most frightening, was that this strange desire to fulfil this request was not centred solely around Sola and Darred's health.

Perhaps it was a mistake; perhaps she would regret it one day…

But she stayed.

After all, what harm could one month here possibly do to her?


Padme may have opted to remain in Vader's castle, but that did not mean she was foolish enough to sleep in the same chamber. She meant what she said, this was strictly business. And to his credit, it seemed after the proposal, he seemed to agree. There was no mention of sharing a bed, and for that, Padme was endlessly relieved. Instead, she was shown to a large, if not slightly dull chamber whose only homely feature was the large bed situated near the wide transparisteel window overlooking the lava river which flowed beneath Vader's castle. It was far from the beautiful views the Senator had grown accustomed to in her life as a high ranking official on Coruscant and Naboo, but it was preferable to a dungeon which, truthfully, she'd been half-afraid would await her.

But, he surprised her again, because the next morning, after she was woken by Threepio serving breakfast in her bedroom, she found him in the same room as he had the previous night. The moment the heavy doors depressurised open, Vader glanced at her from over his shoulder and reached deep, inside the dark cloak which concealed his body and produced a large brown package. "Give this to Artoo and send him home in your ship."

Curious, Padme approached him slowly, each step more apprehensive than the last. When she drew close enough, Vader held out the strange package further and trembling fingers reached out to take it from him. His cold gaze swept over her as she carefully pried open the flap and widened the slit to peer into the darkness within and the sight that awaited her drew a shocked gasp from deep within her throat. Six long and thin vials lay inside, carefully placed so as to avoid the glass clashing and cracking, she supposed. A strange yellow liquid filled each one to the brim, where they'd been corked and Padme couldn't tear her eyes from them.

"Is this it?" She whispered though she already knew the answer. "The – the cure?" These little tubes contained something so beyond precious, something the Galaxy needed so desperately to purge its suffering citizens of the terrible sickness whose only aim was to kill. And she held it now, in her own hands… It felt… It felt wrong. To hold something which could save the lives of countless beings and not be able to use it to help everyone who's lives depended upon it made Padme wish to weep. But, she decided then and there, in that very moment, that something good would come of this month spent in Vader's lonely tower… If there was even a trace of Anakin Skywalker within him, any of the good he'd once given freely to the Galaxy, then Padme was going to find it. She was going to find it and make him see that he had to share this creation with the Galaxy.

She was going to make him save them all.

"Yes." His confirmation stole the breath from her lungs. "They only have to drink one vial each and within the day, the symptoms will begin easing. By the end of the week, their energy will begin to return to them." Vader stepped closer to her, and Padme's gaze snapped upward to meet his eyes. "They'll feel better than they ever have."

"Thank you…" She breathed, "Thank you so much…" Tears of true and utter relief sprung to her eyes and Padme felt her legs quake with it too. It was really true, they were going to be alright. She wanted to run to her ship and nurse them both back to health herself, but she couldn't. Other's would have to do it in her place because she'd given her word to stay. And she had to. He was holding up his end of the deal, and what kind of person would Padme be if she did not? And she was needed here. It was her duty to make him see why he had to share this miracle with others.

"There's extra in there. The sickness has taken Naboo, Angel… This will ensure all your family's safety." Vader spoke from low in his throat but did not sound reluctant or unhappy about sharing his creation with others who were not part of their deal. And Padme's jaw fell slack for several moments. He – he was giving her extra? But it was well known that anyone he did do business with only ever received one vial – never any more! It was his own selfish way of protecting what he'd discovered and greedily shielding it from the Galaxy… Why do it differently now?

Was it… Was it perhaps that there was hope of dragging his soul to the light once more? A flicker of compassion for the people who, if things had been different, would have been his family? Still, no matter the reasoning, or logic, Padme was grateful. Eternally so.

So the Senator sent off her droid with the vials and a hologram of herself to her family explaining all that had happened… To an extent. All they needed to know, she explained. And what truth she'd rather keep from the world, Padme kept to herself. She sent instructions for her staff to continue on in Coruscant without her, that she would communicate via the holonet for the next month until the looming threat of the disease faded.

Days passed, and Vader was nothing but welcoming to her. Upon Padme's request, a desk had been brought into her chamber equipped with all of the technology she needed to fulfil her duties as a Senator from so far away in the Outer-Rim. Not that there was much that could be done now that the sickness' foul grip had tainted every planet in the Galaxy. People needed the cure, not the Senate. And Padme was going to get it to them. No matter the cost.

She found herself, a week into her stay, wondering the hot, barren hallways of Vader's looming tower from boredom more than anything else. He hadn't been around in days, and there was only so much of Threepio Padme could take without a break. The golden droid followed a few paces behind her, and she wondered if he had orders to do so… Maybe it was to ensure she didn't leave? Or wander too far into the castle… Or find the cure on her own?

Her stay here, on Mustafar, was far from ideal. In truth, the lava planet unsettled Padme to her very core… There was something dark that loomed over everything here, the same darkness Padme sensed inside of Vader. Had one inspired the other? Had the allure of seclusion brought Vader to the coldness that marred his eyes or was it the greed of what hoarding the cure could bring to him? She had so many questions, the inquisitive side of her was pounding, but every new question she had, remained answerless, and spawned a hundred others.

"If you have something to ask me, just ask." Came the familiar voice from behind, and Padme's body spun around, heart in her throat. There he was… Just at the end of the hallway, where she'd been a few mere moments earlier, stood Vader himself, face veiled by a cloak as black as night, but she knew it was him. No one else was here… No one but the droids. And above all else, she'd know that voice to her dying day. His prompting was too tempting for the Senator to ignore; the tantalising appeal of answers suddenly overpowered her need to be careful, to please him into listening to her when it came to the cure.

"Why here?" She asked, "Why Mustafar?"

Vader stalked toward her, and Padme's breath caught in her throat as he reached up to push back the thick material, freeing his face from its prison behind the hood. He was still as beautiful as she remembered… His sandy blonde hair had darkened slightly, but grown longer, the slight curls reached his neck now, so different to the short cropped Padawan hairstyle she'd seen him with last. It broadened his face, made him seem… Older. "The Senate made a demand I wasn't willing to meet. They can't reach me here."

"We only wanted you to help people…" Padme whispered, and Vader gave a harsh scoff in response.

"Help them?" He demanded, "What would they have done, Padme? Taken the cure and privatised it, sold it off to the medcenters to sell to the people at astronomical prices? That's not helping people." The sneer in his voice, the hatred of the Republic's ways almost made her gasp. Almost. She could control herself better than that. But her shock quickly gave way to an anger all of her own, Padme had dealt with liars, thieves, people with their own agendas all her life, but there was something not even she could stand for. A hypocrite. And that was exactly what he'd become.

"And what about you? Are you helping people? Do you think letting thousands of beings die all across the Galaxy every single day is helping people?" Her voice rose and rose until she was yelling at him just like before. And just like then, Vader stood silently, only watching her, never interrupting to quieten her or defend himself.

Finally, when she stopped, he spoke. "I help those who I deem worthy of help."

"You don't have that power! Padme cried. "No one does!"

"I do now that I took it for myself," Vader smirked, eyes glowing with pride at his so called accomplishments. It only sickened Padme further.

"What happened to compassion? You told me that compassion was the truest form of love… Isn't that still true?" The plea fell from Padme's lips before she could stop it, and when it made it out of her mouth, into the space between them, it lingered there, forcing them both to relive that moment, so long ago when perhaps they'd both been different people. When there'd still been hope for them, when the feelings she'd had for him were a mere whisper, ignorable, debatable… Not utterly consuming and heartbreaking.

And then, when the silence which had extended on and on into a small forever, Vader just turned on his heel and walked passed her, marching into the darkness of the hallway and allowing it to eclipse him entirely. Padme watched him leave, jaw slack and silent because although there were a great many things she would have liked to have said, nothing dared leave her lips. She'd pushed him too far, she thought. But another part of her, the part that was braver, and determined to see her self-appointed mission reach its conclusion knew that she'd just scored a point in whatever game this was. No matter what it night cost her, this small victory was progress.