Part one: THE FINALE

Author's note: The first half of the two-part story finale.

As always, thanks for reading... CG


Padme stood on the other side of the door, hand prepared to type the security code to lock the door behind her husband and child, when a sinking feeling suddenly overcame her. She felt…depressed. Luke hated Anakin, and Anakin was thisclose to strangling him. At the root of it all was two men vying for a wife and mother's love.

Anakin seemed to want both. His mother, whom he could not have. His wife, whom he had been denied. Since her return, he teetered so dangerously close to the dark side, she wished she had not returned at all. Would he hurt his own son more than he already had? Was this her Anakin? Or had she only seen the bad in him and not the good he did or meant to do? Was she as much a problem as he? Did anyone believe in him? Did anyone love him as he much as he deserved to be loved? Is that why he fought so hard and was so desperate to keep her close? Was she guilty of pushing him over the edge all the years, in refusing to love him because she was angry?

Something had to be done. Something to undo all the wrong that had been done tp the Republic and to her family….and it all came down to her.

She and Master Yoda had discussed the possibilities after Padme's disappearance. 'Was the galaxy better off without her?' he asked. Anakin had been maniacal, but after her fake death, he evolved into a better man.

At her welcome home celebration, she heard about Anakin's ample charity, his struggle to maintain the peace, and all the other good things he'd done in ten years she'd been away. She learned about the compensation and apologies he'd given to angry parents who lost their children to the slaughter at the Jedi Temple. She heard about his dedication there, in restoring the Temple to its former glory, and doing his best to honor his "Chosen One" duties. But as long as she was alive, he would never become the man he could be.

Padme opened the door and ran outside, catching Luke and Anakin before they took the stairs two floors down to the elevator. She stood near the exit, hands on her hips.

"If there's going to be a discussion about house rules, then I deserve to be a part of the conversation. Come back inside," she said, turning on her heels.

Luke shirked himself out of Anakin's grasp and followed Padme inside of the apartment. She waited until they were inside then closed the door behind them.

"Leia should be here," Padme said.

"Then we'll wait on her," Anakin answered.

Padme used the holovoid to contact the temple and asked Obi Wan and Dorme to send Leia straight away. While they waited, Luke leaning back onto the sofa with a bored look on his face, and Anakin watching him intently, Padme went into the kitchen. She was relieved that Anakin had had the foresight to bring groceries into the house with Threepio and Artoo.

She left the kitchen then went into the bedroom to find the discarded dress she'd worn the night before. She'd left it on the side of the bed. Padme grabbed it then reached into the pocket and found a small piece of tin foil, unraveled it, revealing a fica leave she'd hidden inside. The fica had been given to her by Yoda. He told, when the time came, she would know what to do with it.

Padme stared at the small red leaf. Then digging her hand into the other pocket of her dress, she found another piece of tin foil. She opened it, and inside was a small glob of waxy substance. She cringed, folded the tin foil then hid the small tin foil in a compartment beneath the entire vanity where Anakin could not find it.

Padme went back to the fica leaf in her hand. Closing her eyes and sighing heavily she ate it.

When she was done chewing the fibrous leaf, she went back to the kitchen and prepared drinks and biscuits, with Threepio's assistance, and splayed them across a silver tray. She carried the goodies into the living room some standard minutes later and sat them on the table.

"Eat," she demanded, then turned on her heels and strode out. She had nothing to say to either of her men before her daughter arrived. There would have to be some changes if the family was going to survive. And the way things were going, Anakin and Luke just might kill each other first. Soon, they would be forced to realize, that they were going to need each other more than ever.

Padme jumped at the sound of the doorbell and ran to the door before Luke or Anakin could leave their seats to answer. She looked through the peephole and saw Leia, and drew her daughter inside with a hug. She closed her eyes, squeezing the girl in her arms with a big motherly hug. Obi Wan stood behind Leia. Dorme was with them too.

"Is something wrong?" Obi Wan asked, gazing curiously at the exchange between mother and daughter.

Padme lowered her eyes, hiding them from Obi Wan's intrusive gaze.

"We're having a serious discussion. You're just as much a part of this family as the rest of us. Come inside."

Anakin opened his mouth in protest, wanting a more private discussion but decided to allow it.

Dorme waited on the other side of the door. "I should leave…" she said.

But Obi Wan held her hand.

"Come in," Padme tersely replied. She had not forgotten the past or what Dorme had done to come between herself and Anakin. But it was over now. If Obi Wan could forgive her, then she would treat her with kindness.

Dorme , Obi Wan, and Leia sat down, curious looks on their faces.

"I gathered everyone here because I have an announcement to make."

The group exchanged curious glances. Anakin and Obi Wan watch in apt attention.

"Anakin, I want you here, because you are the person I wish to appeal to the most. Obi Wan, I asked you to be here, because you are the wisest of us all, and could easily make the most sense of what I have done."

"What have you done?" Anakin asked, slowly growing uneasy.

"Children, I've asked you to be here in attendance, because I love you most of all, and my decision will affect you the most gravely. I must appeal to your courage and bravery."

"Mom…" Leia said. "What are you talking about? You're scaring me…" she said, holding tight to Luke's hand.

Padme looked to Dorme last. "I have asked that you come here, because I have heard about all the good you've done at the temple the past ten years."

"What is it Padme?" Anakin asked again.

"I ate a fica leaf."

Luke and Leia looked to the adults with questioning looks on their faces.

"What's a fica leaf?" Luke asked.

Anakin rose from his seat on the sofa and walked to Padme. He gripped her by the arms and held her eyes. "It's a poisonous leaf. The Jedi have used it for thousands of years to put injured soldiers, or even animals to sleep. Permanently. Death usually occurs within 72 hours… Depending on the strength of the dosage. There's no antidote. Padme… what have you done?" he asked, tears filling his eyes.

"It was the only way," she answered.

"To do what?"

"It was the only way to get you to listen to me."

He stared at Padme in disbelief for so long it took him a minute before he realized he was no longer breathing. Luke and Leia clasped each other's hands, a horrible look in their eyes.

"What have I done?" Anakin said, and fell to his knees in a huddle around her legs.

"It's not all your fault, Anakin. We've all made our share of mistakes."

Anakin looked over his shoulder at Obi-Wan, a pleading look in his eyes. "Do you know of an antidote? Is there something we can do? How could you do this, Padme?"

"There is an antidote, but the ingredients are as rare as the fica leaf and thought to be extinct. The ingredients must be prepared and would take several days to reach its potency. Fica leaves are known to have been found on Dagobah."

"Father, we could save mother. We go there immediately! I should know where to find them," Luke cried, holding even tighter to Leia. But Padme stood firmly resolved in acceptance of her fate, if need be.

"We can't," Anakin sobbed against her lap, hands around her waist. "I ordered the troops to burn Dagobah from east to west. To leave nothing in their wake, not a creature, not even the foliage." It was as though he'd killed Padme himself.

Cries of shock rose across the room. Obi Wan shook his head.

Padme took Anakin by the hand and pulled him away from her legs, he reluctantly stood, shoulders pathetically hunched over as he shook his head in disbelief. "I have a list of demands," she said. "The first, is that Master Yoda and Master Windu must be set free."

"The courts will decide their fate. This is Master Yoda's fault. He gave you the fica leaves. He did this to you-" Anakin started. But Padme shook her head.

"You must be fair to them," she replied. "You must let democracy resume if there is to be peace in the long term."

"This isn't a democracy Padme. This… is a Republic. You're a politician. You understand the difference." He pulled Padme close. "But I don't care about politics. How can you discuss the courts and Master Yoda and Windu now? Please, tell us how to save you Padme. You must know…you wouldn't do this to yourself if there wasn't a way out."

Padme turned her face away and prayed he would not sense the truth.

"You have the antidote," Anakin said.

"I won't take it," she replied.

With renewed vigor, Anakin stalked across the room and opened a cabinet drawer. He searched through each one, growing maniacal as each new hiding place gave him no favorable result.

"You can't force me to take the antidote."

"What about Luke and Leia?" he demanded.

"I'll do more harm to them alive than I'll do dead." As long as she was around, there would always be a rift between him and the children. Without her, they would have little choice but to rely on each other. Anakin would be a good man, as long as she wasn't around, Padme thought. She had always blamed herself for the massacre at the temple, for his cruelty to her when she refused to forgive him, in denying him the love he wanted to so desperately. In her mind, she was making things right.

"That's not true," he barked, storming into the kitchen. Anakin ripped the cupboards open and searched maniacally through every shelf.

Padme looked around, her heart quickening. The room began to spin.

The others watched in stunned silence as Anakin returned, a bead of sweat trickling down his face. He stood a few paces away from Padme, hands on his hips.

"I want the antidote."

"I won't take it," she said, gasping and holding her chest.

"When do the symptoms take effect?" Dorme asked.

"Immediately," Obi Wan answered.

Padme moved toward a seat, which seemed further and further away as her vision blurred. She began to collapse. But Obi Wan raced to her side and gave her physical support. He lead her to the sofa. The kids leapt out of their seats, and gave her pillows. Obi Wan and Dorme propped her feet high to keep blood flowing to her heart.

"Milady!" Dorme said. "You must take the antidote. "Please tell us where to find it."

Anakin stalked toward the sofa. "When did you take the fica leaves?"

"Not long ago. This morning before Leia arrived."

"Luke is right. 72 hours will give us enough time to find the leaves to help us make the antidote."

Obi Wan shook his head. "The antidote takes days to prepare. She'll be dead before it's ready."

"I won't take 72 hours. I'll come right back."

"You don't understand… Anakin, the leaves have already poisoned her blood and will eventually cut the flow of oxygen to her heart. The poison will cause the oxygen in her blood cells to evaporate. Destruction has already begun. In 24 hours, she'll have reached the point of no return."

Anakin gave Padme a look that nearly stopped her heart on sight. He lowered his head. She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand.

"I can't lose you again," he mumbled.

"The first ten hours, Padme will experience a rapid decline in health. She will suffer flu-like symptoms, blurred vision, hysteria, and fever. When 24 hours have passed, she will be at the point of no – return. We will have no way to save her. The next forty-eight hours, she will begin a rapid decline in her mental faculties."

Luke let out a stunned cry. "Mother, please… tell us where to find the antidote."

Padme coughed and turned her head, struggling to catch her breath. Leia raced to the kitchen and poured her mother a glass of water then quickly returned. "Thank you Leia," Padme stanchly replied. "I feel hot… but strangely also a sensation of being cold," she rambled.

"Must be a fever. If your body is scorching hot, your body is going to feel cold in room temperature," Dorme answered. "What do you want Master Skwalker to do?"

"Free Master Windu and Master Yoda. And step down as emperor," she panted. "Reconcile with our children. We can become a family again. We don't need politics, we don't need to the Jedi anymore, or any of those things. Step down as emperor and come back to me."

"I can't…" Anakin replied. He was now torn between feelings of resentment, anger, and fear. He couldn't' lose her. Not again. But he couldn't lose everything he'd built in the past fifteen years, either.

"Then you must decide, Anakin…whether you are willing to lose Padme, or your hold on the Republic," Obi Wan said.

Luke and Leia found each other in an embrace, nervously awaiting their father's answer.

"No," Anakin said. "Padme must tell us where to find the antidote."

"Then she's doomed," Luke said, bursting into tears.