A/N I'm so sorry for the delay in updates – had complete mental bloke even thought this chapter is thoroughly set in the film.
A huge thank you to carliecullenx for being my emergency beta (and coping with my impatience) for this one because LiGi has had email problems.

Chapter nine

Night had fallen and by the time that Senator Amidala had retired for the night Obi-Wan, Anakin and Echo were all stationed in her main room, all paying close attention to the sense of her personal chambers. She had refused having even Echo guarding her room – she didn't want to be watched – but she did agree to having someone check in on her every couple of hours.

Therefore there was nothing to do but wait. All that could be heard was the sounds of the city outside but all three of them were acutely tuned to the senses and feelings in the bedroom next door. If there was going to be an attempt on Senator Amidala's life then it was going to be the night following the first attempt. That night.

To pass the time Obi-Wan tried to explore any possible 'side effects' – as he called them – of Echo's little episode.

"Try pushing at me again. Really concentrate this time." He stood about a foot in front of her balancing an ornament of the tips of his fingers, whilst Anakin tried to keep his mind on everything going on elsewhere in the apartment.

Echo held her hand out with her thumb, index and third finger straight, her fourth and little finger slightly curled. This was how she usually summoned the Force. It just wasn't working anymore. She clamped her eyes tight in an effort to concentrate but that was lost when she finally felt the familiar tingle on the palm of her hand. But then it was gone. She dropped her hand to her side and released the breath she had been holding.

"I can't do it anymore, it just won't work." She glared at the ground, fury bubbling under her skin. Obi-Wan sighed, placed the ornament down and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Look at me. Look at me, Echo." She lifted her eyes to his; expecting him to scold her, tell her that she was better than this even when she felt she wasn't. But he was smiling gently, and his eyes were soft. "Don't loose heart. It will return, you just have to believe that it will. Now let's try again." He turned to get the ornament again but her words froze him.

"But I can't be a Jedi if I can't use the Force … What if it doesn't return?"

Obi-Wan didn't want to even think about that. This kind of thing had never happened before. What would the Council do if she couldn't recuperate?

"Master? It's your turn to check on Princess Padmé." Anakin smirked. Obi-Wan was actually pleased that he didn't have the chance to answer Echo's question, he was never going to work out that answer. He nodded and left the room.

Anakin walked directly up to Echo and enveloped her in his arms, she sighed and rested her forehead on his chest, wrapping her skinny arms around his waist.

"Don't panic." He whispered in her ear.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" she mumbled into his chest. He could feel her shaking in his arms. This was her whole life and he wasn't about to let her loose it all just because she was having a tough week … or month. He squeezed her briefly before releasing her. He picked up the ornament.

"Ok. New approach. Don't try. Just lift. No hands." He stood before her holding the ornament on both hands. Echo took a deep breath. "You can do this. Trust me."

"I do." Her eyes were determined this time as her gaze fell from his eyes to the metallic orb in his hands. Her heart began to pound and her breathing hitched.

Why is this so hard? She thought. She ordered her whole body to relax and her glare intensified.

Anakin could feel the orb begin to quiver in his palms but he wasn't going to distract her now, he knew she could do this. She had to. But she needed help.

The ornament rose, just slightly, from his hand and her face lit up but the ball shook so she frowned again. The orb floated up to eye level and Anakin walked away from it to go stand behind her.

"Now use your hand." said Anakin and he picked up her hand for her, holding it in place, wrapping his other arm around the small of her back. The ornament shook again. "Whoa, don't let go of it now."

His hand came up to sit on her waist. Echo used her hand to guide the orb backwards and down to finish on the table. The split second that it touched the glossy wooden surface Anakin cried out, picked her up and twirled her around in his arms.

"You did it! I told you, I knew you could do it."

Neither of them could stop grinning.

"You see. You're still a Jedi." Obi-Wan was standing on the opposite side of the room and had been watching the whole time; his grin matched theirs. Anakin dropped Echo to her feet and went to stand by him whilst Echo tried again.

"Why did you do that? Why did you do it for her?" Obi-Wan muttered in Anakin's ear, his tone stern.

"All I did was lift it for her, the rest was by her doing only, Master, I promise."

He gave him a reproaching stare.

"You must have seen how her determination mustered when the orb moved. I swear that was all I was doing. All she needed was the right motivation."

That made Obi-Wan smile. She was doing it all on her own now, it can't be his work.

"Since when did you become such a good teacher?"

"I just understand her." Anakin shrugged. "Anyway, if I'm a good teacher then it's all thanks to your inspiration, Master."

Obi-Wan patted his shoulder and laughed.

A clanging sound emanated as Echo dropped the ball. The men looked back at her confused for a second but then turned to stare in the direction that she was, just as Echo sprinted toward the bedroom door.

"I sense it too." said Anakin as he raced after her.

Echo flung the door wide open and ran to the window whilst Anakin leapt on the bed. Padmé started awake. There were long creatures running across the floor and the padawans diminished them quickly. Obi-Wan from the door spotted a light flash in the window. Impulsively he jumped through the glass, grabbing onto it just in time as it span away.

"Stay here!" Anakin yelled at Echo, who nodded at him. She sat next to Padmé and scanned her for any injuries.

"Are you alright, my lady?"

Padmé nodded and wrapped her into a hug.

Anakin ran to the nearest speeder park and chose the first he could find, hot wiring it immediately and flying off in the general direction after his master. Shouldn't be too hard to find a man dangling from a small floating thing, flying through the city.

He used the Force to locate him and closely followed him until another speeder approached the dangling Obi-Wan. He fell, plummeting to the ground.

"Come on, come on, come on." Anakin sped up, aiming below the falling figure. Only to reach him a spilt second early and race after the assaulting speeder.

"Take … your time … why don't you?" Obi-Wan panted. "What happened to Echo?"

"I told her to stay put."

"So she should be here soon, then."

Anakin grinned as he drove around the corner of a building.

Padmé's hand maids came running through into the room and as soon as she could confirm that Padmé was safe again, Echo made to leave the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" called the Senator.

"To go help my master."

"But you were told to stay here."

"Exactly, so who would expect me to actually stay?" Echo smirked and ran out of the apartments.

She ran to the nearest parking area she could find and the closest vehicle she could see was the bike speeder, she hotwired it and flew of.

She tried to use the Force to identify their location or at least any trouble in the traffic they might have caused. Looking up she saw a speeder had stopped in mid air. As she approached it she saw a figure leap from the vehicle and fall through the air. Oh, man. That has to be someone I know. She thought, only people she knew were stupid enough to fall through the Coruscant traffic. Sure enough it was Obi-Wan who was left in the speeder.

"Anakin, I'm guessing." She cocked her eyebrow at him. Obi-Wan nodded at her and turned to watch their companion falling again. Anakin had managed to swerve most damage and land on another speeder.

"Ok, we're off!" cried Obi-Wan, taking the wheel and vanished off after Anakin whilst Echo went another route, following a hunch.

The speeder that Anakin had landed on was doing its best to get rid of him and Obi-Wan followed behind it in case he fell. Anakin tried to break into the assassin but dropped his light sabre in the process. In the attempt to defend itself from the Jedi, the assassin didn't look where it was going and crash landed in the streets. Anakin flung himself off at the last minute and rolled on the ground. The other two arrived not long after that speeder crashed and Echo leapt off her bike to Anakin's side as he slowly got to his feet. Obi-Wan landed his speeder smoothly a little behind them.

"Anakin, are you alright?" Echo hooked her shoulder under his and tried to help him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He groaned, but she had expected him to say that so checked him over anyway, quickly running her cool fingers over the exposed areas of his skin and searched for any grazes. He was clear but his knee was twisted.

"Where'd he go?" Obi-Wan asked him.

He motioned his head toward the building behind them.

"Oh great, a night club. This is going to be so easy." groaned Echo, sarcasm littering her tone, rolling her eyes as they walked toward the entrance together. A thousand eyes followed them.

It was so dark in there and what lighting was available was flickering so much it was like there were constant mini black outs.

"This is hopeless." Echo muttered, to no one in particular.

"We're just going to have to feel our way round, with the Force before you get any 'smart' ideas." Obi-Wan whispered back. He separated from them; because it wasn't really conspicuous if they went in as a group.

"You, know." Anakin whispered into Echo's ear. "You are the only girl I know who doesn't like the idea of walking into a night club."

Echo paused, turned to face him and whispered back:
"I'm the only girl you know, period." She grinned and walked away before Anakin could object.

With all three of them stalking around the bar they got a lot of funny looks. The padawans met in the middle, sent each other questioning glances and confirmed that neither of them had seen anything. But then a scream came from behind them. When they got there, Obi-Wan stood with his light sabre drawn and a uniformed woman knelt before him, her arms and gun lying on the floor.

"Found her." said Obi-Wan as he dragged her out by her shoulders and Echo picked up the severed limbs and gun.

"Jedi business, get back to your drinks." declared Anakin as he swept out after them.

"You really love to show off, don't you?" hissed Echo.

"Well, come on, you would too if given the chance." He smirked.

They threw the woman against the speeders when they got outside. She was cringing at the pain of her arms and her breathing was staggered and desperate.

"Who are you?" asked Echo.

"Who sent you?" asked Obi-Wan.

"I'm sure you know the drill." Anakin glared at her. "Why don't you tell us?"

"I don't have to tell you … anything." she said. Her breathing was becoming shallower.

"She's going into shock; let me help her." Echo crouched next to the woman.

"No." said Anakin, sternly, holding Echo back by her shoulder. "Tell us now!"

"She won't be able to tell us anything if she's dead." Echo argued.

"Please. Tell us who's hired you." Obi-Wan took over, calmly.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" the woman broke out into a choking fit. Echo turned and glared at Anakin with her 'see what you've done' look. He just made a face at her.

"If you are then we can ease your suffering. Who sent you? We need to know." continued Obi-Wan.

"He … he was a bounty hunter c-called-" She just seemed to shut down completely, like a droid. Her face shrivelled into nothing and her body went limp.

"There!" called Anakin. He drew his light sabre but it was too late, the armoured man had gone.

Echo looked down at the woman again – or what was left of her – and noticed an intricately carved piece of metal sticking out her neck. She picked it up tentatively.

"Master?"

"A poisoned dart. Must be." replied Obi-Wan, looking over her shoulder.

"I don't recognise it." She mused. "Can't be from this system."

Obi-Wan gave her a quizzical look.

"Uncle Dex." She explained.

"Oh, of course. He would know." Obi-Wan said nodding.

"Obi-Wan?" said Anakin. "We need to get back to Padmé, lest we get penalised for leaving her too long."

A/N Please, please, please review if you like where this is going!