21

Vader slept little that night. The unexpected visit from his wife had his brain working overtime. He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't thought of the possibility of resuming a physical relationship with his wife. She had been in his dreams virtually every night since he had first seen her again on Alderaan. And now to learn that she still wanted him; he could hardly believe it. After Mustafar, after what he had done to her in that one, horrifying moment of madness- how was it possible that she still wanted him? And then it hit him: she thinks that if I look like Skywalker again, I will be Skywalker again. It's him she wants, after all, isn't it? But it was you she came to, you she touched.

Knowing that he would not rest until he had settled this issue in his mind, he left his quarters.

"Mom! The food replicator screwed up again!"

Padmé stood up with a sigh and headed to the kitchen where Luke was holding a bowl of wholesome looking granola. "What do you mean it screwed up?" she asked her son. "What's wrong with this?"

"It's not what I asked for," Luke replied, looking askance at the offensive health food.

Padmé shook her head at her son. "Did you get Artoo to try and fix it?"

"Yeah," Luke said, picking at the cereal. "It didn't make any difference. Threepio said something about the program being incompatible with Artoo's."

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to live without your favorites until I get a chance to have someone look at it," she replied.

"Maybe Dad can fix it," Luke suggested hopefully.

"Maybe," she replied, heading back to the dining room. "And maybe he has more urgent matters to tend to rather than your junk food fix."

"Mom!" Luke whined.

Padmé just laughed and walked away, seeing Vader walk into the apartment.

"Good morning," she said with a smile. "What brings you by at this hour?"

"I wanted to discuss something with you," he said as he took a seat a across from her. "With regards to what we talked about last night."

Padmé smiled, pleased that, evidently, he had thought as much about their conversation as she had.

"Yes?" she asked.

Vader paused before continuing, looking down at his hands folded on the table top. "If I do this," he began, "I need you to understand something."

"What is that?"

He looked up at her. "I need you to understand that even though I may look like Anakin Skywalker, I will not be him."

Padmé nodded. "I know that," she replied.

"Ad yet, knowing that," he continued, "you would still…"

"Dad!" Leia said, sliding into the chair beside him. "I didn't know you were here!"

"Here I am," Vader said, turning to his daughter, trying to hide his dismay at not having had the chance to continue his discussion with Padmé.

"Hey Dad," Luke said, sitting down beside Padmé. "Think you could have a look at the replicator? It won't give me any good stuff."

Vader looked from his son to his wife, realizing that there would be no more privacy at this point.

"I will do so when I have a moment," he told Luke. "I plan to spend a great deal of time with my physician today," he added, looking back at Padmé.

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying. "Does that mean…you're going to do it, aren't you?" she asked.

Vader nodded. "Yes, I have given it a great deal of thought, and I have decided to go ahead with the procedure."

Luke and Leia took a moment to process what was going on, and then they both jumped out of their seats and attacked their father with enormous hugs. Padmé could only watch with a smile as they rejoiced, feeling hopeful for the first time in a very long time. For despite what he said, what he even believed at this point, she knew that Anakin Skywalker was inside of Vader somewhere.

"I must get to the bridge," Vader said once his children had released him, "before I consult with Dr. Thek."

"We'll meet you there," Luke told him.

"That won't be necessary," Vader said as he stood up. "I have no intentions of …repeating yesterday's incident."

"We know that," Leia replied. "But we still want to be there. For moral support."

Vader nodded the acceptance and love of his children continuing to astound him. "Very well," he said. "I will see you later then."

"I'll walk you out," Padmé said as she stood up as well while the twins resumed eating their breakfast.

"I'm so happy you've decided to go through with this," Padmé said as she and Vader reached the door. "The children are thrilled too."

Vader nodded. "Yes, I rather had that impression."

Padmé smiled. "Oh, and the question you were about to ask? The answer is yes."

Vader said nothing in response, but merely lifted a hand to her face. "Until later," he said.

Padmé nodded, and then watched as he left the apartment.

On the other side of the room, Luke and Leia gave one another a knowing smile, and then resumed eating their overly healthy breakfast.

The last person that Dr. Thek expected to see that day was Lord Vader; in fact, he was the last person she wanted to see. She was still shaken from the incidents of the previous day. And while there had been other occasions when she had suffered the Dark Lord's wrath, he had never demonstrated such fury as he had the previous day. It angered Thek that her young assistant had been caught in the crossfire, for he'd had very little to do with any of it. And yet, Andrew was dead. Thek had sent a message off to his parents on Corellia informing them of his demise. Died in the line of duty was how she had phrased it; how else could she tell them that their youngest child had died because Lord Darth Vader had lost his temper and he happened to be in the way? That should have been me, not him, Thek thought morosely as she packed up the young man's belongings from his locker in the medical wing.

"Doctor Thek?"

Thek looked up to the medical droid addressing her. "Yes?"

"Lord Vader is here," the droid replied. "He wishes to speak with you."

Thek felt her entire body tense at the droid's words. No, he will not intimidate me this time- even if he kills me. "I'll be right there," she said, rising to her feet. She smoothed down the tunic of her uniform as she made her way to her office. Vader was sitting down on the edge of her desk when she entered the room.

"What can I do for you, Lord Vader?" she asked in a formal tone.

"I have viewed the datadisc you gave to my son," Vader began.

"My lord, if you are here to further berate and punish me for doing what I thought was in your best interest," she began, shocking herself with her nerve, "then…"

Vader held up a hand to stop her. "I'm not here to do either," he said. "My actions yesterday were…regrettable," he said. Thek knew that this was the closest thing she would ever get to an apology from him, and she relaxed a little.

"I should have consulted with you first," she replied. "I apologize for not doing so."

Vader nodded, wishing she would shut up so that he might continue.

"I am intrigued by what you propose," he said when she at last gave him a chance to speak. "And wish to proceed."

Thek's eyebrows shot up. "You…you want to go through with the procedure?"

Vader nodded again.

Thek couldn't help but smile. "That is wonderful!" she exclaimed, and then quickly recovered herself. "I mean, I am glad to hear it, Lord Vader," she said. "There's just one thing."

"What is that?" Vader asked with a sinking feeling.

"Some of the cell samples I was working on were…damaged yesterday," she said as delicately as possible. "They will have to be replaced."

"I understand," he replied.

"Also, we will require a donation from your son," she continued. "Your lungs are far too damaged for us to harvest enough healthy cells for regeneration. Since Luke and you are compatible, he would make the perfect donor."

"Of course," Vader replied. "Does he know this?"

"It was his suggestion, actually," Thek replied. "But since he's only recently had surgery himself, I must wait before I harvest cells from his lungs. It is a rather invasive procedure, and I simply won't risk his well being."
"No, nor would I wish you to," Vader replied.

At this point, Luke and Leia appeared in the doorway. Vader looked up to greet them. "Speaking of whom," he said.

Thek turned around to see the twins. "I guess you've heard about your father's decision," she said.

Luke and Leia nodded. "I think it's fantastic," Luke said with a smile.

"We both do," Leia said, coming over to stand with her father.

"I was just telling your father about your offer to donate cells for his lung regeneration," Thek told Luke.

"That is very generous of you, son," Vader said.

"You gave me a kidney," Luke countered. "It's the least I can do."

"How soon can you do this?" Leia asked.

"It will be at least another three weeks before I will harvest the cells from your brother," Thek replied. "And then recode those cells and allow them to develop; I would say six to eight weeks."

"That's not too long," Luke said. "Two months, not long at all."

"Not long at all," Thek agreed. "Well, since you've decided to do this, we need to run some tests, see what samples we need to gather, do some blood work- there's a lot to do in the meantime."

"That's why I'm here," Vader replied.

"You want to get started now?" she asked.

Vader nodded.

Thek smiled. "Very well," she said. "Right this way, Lord Vader."

"Your majesty, the data you requested."

Palpatine looked up at the red robed guard, who stood with one hand extended to the emperor, a data disc in his hand.

"Just tell me what you have learned," Palpatine said, not wishing to pore through hours of boring surveillance data. "What is she doing?"

"While on Kamino, Dr. Thek spent a great deal of time on the data base," the operative replied, lowering his hand. "It seems the area she was most interested in was organ regeneration."

Palpatine frowned. "Organ regeneration?" he repeated. "Is that it?"

"It seems she was looking for alternative medicine options for the clones, sire," the man replied. "That seems to be the nature of her interest in the data."

"Perhaps," Palpatine replied. "Perhaps there is more to it than simply her doing her duty. She is the personal physician of Lord Vader, is she not?"

"Yes sire."

Palpatine nodded, suspecting that there was a correlation in there somewhere. "We need to keep her watched," he said, drumming his bony fingers on the armrest of his throne.

"But how, sire, without arousing suspicion?"

Palpatine's frown deepened as he considered this. And then he had it.

"I believe I have a way," he said last.