A/N: Ridiculously Long Author's Note at the bottom :)

To Die for the Republic

Part III: In Which Sabé Almost Dies (Again)

Chapter 4: Secrets

Padmé looked even more emotionally wrung out than I felt and that was probably why Obi-Wan made a very quick exit shortly after greeting her. After a few moments of babbling about how grateful we were that the other one was okay, we made our way into the crowded dining hall. Padmé kept sending anxious glances at my hoverchair but didn't say anything until we had both bought some questionable looking food and found a free table to settle down at.

Our entire dinner basically consisted of Padmé interrogating me about my injuries. Apparently, she had stopped by the apartment and received the basic information about the health status of all us handmaidens from Dormé before stopping by the medcenter.

I wasn't certain what Dormé had said exactly, but Padmé was incredibly single-minded in asking after my well-being. She wouldn't even let me change the subject to her own injuries. In fact, if Obi-Wan hadn't informed me of them I wouldn't have even known she'd been hurt. Every time I tried to talk about them, she handily switched the subject back to me.

It made dinner something of a frustrating affair. By the time it was done, Padmé knew my medical status about as well as I did and I knew absolutely nothing about what she had been doing since the ship's explosion.

Finally, though, after Padmé cleared our trays and returned to our corner table, I snatched control of the conversation away from her.

"I'm not saying another word until you tell me what's been happening with you since the explosion," I interrupted yet another question about my health and well-being.

Padmé blinked at my announcement. "I beg your pardon?"

I rolled my eyes. "Padmé. You haven't said anything about yourself or your assassin or anything! I've had quite enough of talking about me. It's your turn. Start with when the ship got blown up and go until you bumped into me."

Padmé stared.

I gave her my most cheerful smile. "Now, please!"

"Well, I—it is truly not all that—" Padmé began.

My smile slid off my face and my eyes narrowed.

Padmé huffed. "Fine. The ship blew up. Captain Typho led me away from the wreckage. I spoke to the Senate about what occurred. Chancellor Palpatine—"

"Creep," I muttered, as I always did when the Chancellor came up.

He was one of the very few people who I had ever taken an instant dislike to. The Chancellor's ambition practically oozed off of him and, despite what everyone else seemed to believe, I was quite convinced he'd never committed an altruistic act in his life. For some reason, no one else agreed with me about the Chancellor so I felt it was duty to do my best reveal the truth about the horrid man.

I had long since given up using logical arguments (particularly as most of my arguments seemed to consist of 'don't you think it's little creepy he's acting like such a nice, decent person?' and 'yes, I know it seems like he did that out of the goodness of his heart but I'm pretty sure there is no goodness in his heart so he must have had ulterior motives') and had instead resorted to muttering disparaging things about him under my breath.

Padmé was so used to it that she didn't even pause. "Chancellor Palpatine insisted that I be placed under Jedi protection. Anakin and Obi-Wan were assigned to me. They came to the apartment and—" She stopped. Her eyes narrowed. "Actually, they told me something very peculiar about you. Neither of them seemed the slightest bit surprised to hear that you were in the medcenter and both seemed to be under the impression that you were aware of the explosion before it occurred."

The blood drained from my face. Anakin and Obi-Wan couldn't have told her. They couldn't have. My heart beat wildly and my stomach churned.

"In fact," Padmé's eyes were flashing with anger but her voice remained deceptively calm, "Obi-Wan even seemed to be aware that you had fallen off the ship's ramp, despite it not being public knowledge. Why is that, Sabé?"

For a moment, I just stared at her, feeling utterly sick as my thoughts raced. I didn't want to tell her. I didn't want her to know that it was my fault that Cordé was dead and—my thoughts slowed. It wasn't my fault, I remembered. It was Zam Wessell's fault. And hadn't I just been telling Obi-Wan how I wished I had been brave enough to tell someone about my dreams beforehand? And didn't the Matron tell me I had to get better at asking for help?

Even though the little girl hadn't told me about anymore close calls with death, she had told me that Naboo had been destroyed—that she had burned. The girl had told me that my survival would be enough to save Naboo but, to be perfectly frank, that sounded ridiculous. And even if, miraculously, it wasn't as ridiculous as it sounded, it certainly couldn't hurt to have more people working together to protect Naboo. And wouldn't Padmé be the perfect person to help? She was Naboo's senator and she was one of my very best friends. If anyone would believe me and do something to help save Naboo, it would be Padmé.

My stomach slowly settled, even as my heart kept racing in my chest.

"Okay." I took a deep breath in an attempt to hold onto my composure. It did not help as much as I would have liked.

Padmé continued to stare at me with furious eyes in a polite face. My stomach fluttered. I glanced nervously around the dining hall. The place was positively swarming with sentients, all of whom appeared to be entirely intent on their own business, whether that be waiting in line for food, shoving food into their face, or talking with their friends and family. No one seemed the slightest bit interested in our far away table and quiet conversation.

"Okay. Um," I tittered nervously as Padmé continued to stare at me, "Just so you know, the reason I didn't tell you earlier is because this is going to sound utterly insane. I didn't even want to tell Anakin and Obi-Wan and they're a lot more used to crazy, unexplainable things that we are. But, um," I laughed again and swallowed hard. "Well, here goes nothing!"

With that, I told her absolutely everything about my dreams and the girl who burned. Padmé, thank the stars, listened to the entire tale quietly without interrupting once. After I finished, she sat in silence for a moment. My heart, which had calmed briefly while I had been explaining, picked up speed again. My hands were clammy and I fought to keep my breathing even. Trying to distract myself from Padmé's thoughtful face, I glanced again at the dining hall.

Sitting at the table nearest to us were two Mon Calamari parents trying desperately to stop their three young children from throwing food at each other and the grimy tiled floor. I sent a brief prayer to whatever gods were listening that none of the food would fly our way. Beyond the Mon Calamari family, an elderly Twi'lek woman sat at a table by herself, staring intently at a plate of wilted greens and clearly trying to hide her tears. I hurriedly averted my eyes. The poor woman didn't need a spectator to her grief. Instead, I watched as a gaggle of Strutters entered the dining hall, apparently squabbling amongst themselves.

"Sabé."

I jumped, my gaze snapping back to Padmé. She smiled and shook her head at me.

"Yes?" I tried to smile back.

"Thank you for telling me," she said simply. "I truly appreciate it. I promise I will do what I can to prevent Naboo from burning. You will tell me if the girl tells you anything else, won't you?"

I blinked at her. What?

"That's it?" I asked, astounded. I had just told her I had prophetic dreams and that was it?

Padmé tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I just told you—I thought—I didn't think you'd—That is, prophetic dreams aren't really normal and—I mean, I kept it from you and—well. Huh." I stared at her, utterly flummoxed.

Padmé smiled again. "I understand why you didn't tell me, Sabé. If you had told me before the explosion, I'm not certain I would have believed you. It does sound rather farfetched. However, Obi-Wan and Anakin clearly had some knowledge of the explosion and your injuries before they occurred. Your explanation makes as much sense as any other explanation I could invent. Besides," Padmé laughed, "I have no doubt you could come up with a more convincing lie than prophetic dreams if you didn't wanted to tell me the truth. So, yes, Sabé. That's it. I believe you. I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me and I do hope you continue to keep me informed about your dreams. We'll both have to watch for any signs of trouble for Naboo."

"I—" My brain did not seem to want to work. It kept spinning it circles, insisting that it could not have been that simple to tell Padmé about my dreams. Something should have gone horribly awry. She should have thought I was utterly mad or been furious that I hadn't told her sooner or—Padmé kept staring at me calmly, looking more and more amused the longer I stared at her.

Apparently, it really had been that simple.

"Well then," I finally said. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, uh…" It took me a moment to remember what we had been doing before she had accepted my oldest and most important secret like it was nothing. Once I did, my eyes narrowed.

"Hey!" I scowled. "You were supposed to be telling me all about what happened after the explosion. How did I end up talking again?" Padmé opened her mouth to say something but I huffed and spoke over her before she could give some sort of excuse. "Oh, never mind! It doesn't matter! Just keep telling me what happened—Obi-Wan and Anakin arrived, tattled on me and…?" I motioned for her to continue.

Padmé frowned at me.

I raised my eyebrows.

She sighed and continued to, very haltingly, tell me what I had missed while unconscious.

Padmé and Anakin's adventures on the ship to Tatooine sounded like something straight out of a holovid. Their ship had apparently been full to bursting of suspicious and eccentric characters and the pair of them had apparently gone to fairly absurd lengths to try and remain as inconspicuous as possible. As I gasped and laughed at all the details of her trip, Padmé finally began to warm to the subject. She spoke very fondly of Anakin, her eyes sparkling as she spoke of all the kind, funny, and brave things he had done on the trip.

By the time she told me about reaching Tatooine, both of us were entirely engrossed in the story. My heart broke when she told me that Shmi had died even though I had never had the honor of meeting her.

"Oh, poor Anakin," I breathed. "He must have devastated."

"He was. We all were," Padmé sighed. "She was an incredible woman and I wish I could have had the chance to know her better. I am only grateful that Ani had the Lars family with him. I think it helped him, to know that she had been happy the last years of her life and that he wasn't alone in his grief."

We were silent for a moment. Then Padmé sighed again and continued. "We were all still mourning when Anakin received the transmission from Obi-Wan."

"Transmission from Obi-Wan?" I frowned at her. Was this the transmission that showed Obi-Wan getting ambushed by Separatists?

Padmé backtracked to give me a brief explanation of Obi-Wan's investigation into her assassin. I was already fairly familiar with most of it, as Obi-Wan had told me about his discovery of Kamino, his unsettling experience on the planet, and his chase after Jango Fett. He had just finished explaining his discoveries about the Separatists, their leaders and their attempts on Padmé's life when Padmé herself had arrived and interrupted us.

After Padmé gave me the abbreviated version of Obi-Wan's investigation, she launched into describing the transmission that she and Anakin had received, showing Obi-Wan being attacked. I listened with no small amount of horror, feeling devoutly and selfishly grateful that I hadn't had to see the transmission myself. I knew I would not have reacted well to it. Although, to be fair, I probably couldn't have reacted worse than Padmé and Anakin had.

Upon seeing the transmission, they had apparently decided to throw all common sense and caution to the wind. They had not stopped to think about the fact that there were only two of them—one of whom was a Senator whose life was in danger and the other of whom was a half-trained Jedi apprentice—or the fact that the Jedi Council had informed them they would handle the situation. Instead, Padmé and Anakin had elected to ignore direct orders from the Jedi Council and go flying to Obi-Wan's aid all by themselves.

It took all of my willpower to prevent myself from interrupting to scold Padmé for her and Anakin's foolishness.

Instead, through an immense act of will, I kept my mouth shut and listened to her recount her and Anakin's desperate jaunt through the droid foundry that had, rather unsurprisingly, ended in their capture. Once again, through an immense act of will, I kept my mouth shut. Padmé recounted what sounded like a harrowing meeting with Count Dooku (who, Padmé announced with ill-concealed smugness, did have something to do with her assassination attempt).

Then she hesitated.

When she spoke up next, her words were slow and hesitating again.

"After we spoke with Count Dooku, Anakin and I were led into an arena that had hundreds of Geonosians. Obi-Wan was already there. They chained all three of us to pillars while the Geonosians goaded three poor beasts into attacking us," Padmé said.

I frowned at her. Why did she sound so uncertain again? I didn't ask, however, as Padmé had already gone on to describe her, Anakin, and Obi-Wan's battle in the arena against the beasts, and the timely arrival of the Jedi. The entire time she was talking, my heart was in my throat. If even half of what Padmé was saying was true, it was a miracle that they were all still alive.

Padmé went on to explain that so many Jedi had died in the arena that Count Dooku was able to round up all the survivors and surround them with his droid army. The count had demanded the Jedi's surrender and they had only been saved by the arrival of Master Yoda and the clones from Kamino.

"I wish the Republic had not condoned the use of the clone army," said Padmé heavily. "But I cannot deny that war may have been inevitable. Count Dooku did not seem to be interested in peace."

"And," I added even though I knew she probably wouldn't much care, "It sounds as though you'd all be quite dead if the army hadn't arrived when they did."

As I suspected, Padmé didn't even bother to respond to that. After all, what did petty trivialities like her, Anakin, and Obi-Wan's lives matter when compared to the Republic? Instead, Padmé went on to talk about chasing Dooku across Geonosis, falling out of a ship, and finally catching up with Anakin and Obi-Wan.

"Count Dooku had already escaped by the time I arrived," Padmé said, "But he injured Anakin and Obi-Wan before he left. They're both fine, of course, and expected to recover well. However, Obi-Wan had a terrible injury to his leg and arm and Ani—" Padmé's breath caught. "Ani lost his arm."

My mouth fell open. "Oh, Anakin…" I breathed. I could imagine how devastating that must have been for him. If he had taken the loss of his arm like I had taken the injury to my leg… "Where is he? Is he in the medcenter?"

"The Jedi have their own medcenter," Padmé said. "I was visiting with him before I came here to see you and Versé. He's—he's taking it as well as could be expected. As soon as it heals a little more, he will be receiving a mechanical arm to replace it, which I think ought to help him."

I felt a brief pang of regret that I couldn't receive a mechanical leg but quickly pushed it aside. All the doctors kept telling me that, with hard work and time, I would probably be able to walk again with the use of a cane. My path to recovery might be longer than Anakin's path, but I would still recover and I needed to be grateful for that.

"I'll have to visit him when I get out," I said. "We can be cripples together."

"You're not a cripple, Sabé!" Padmé snapped. "And neither is Anakin!"

I laughed. "I kind of am a cripple, actually. But it's okay. I survived and that's the important bit. It's also entirely beside the point! What else happened?"

Padmé heaved a sigh but finished telling me. The rest of it was pretty dull and mostly consisted of flying back to Coruscant and receiving medical attention from the Jedi.

But throughout the entire ending, I couldn't help but feel that Padmé wasn't telling me something.

That feeling intensified when Padmé finished her tale by saying, "I was taken to the Jedi's medcenter. They performed a few tests and applied bacta patches to my back and arm. Then Obi-Wan cornered me and—" If I hadn't known Padmé so well, I would have missed her brief pause and the chagrin that flashed across her face. "—and told me he was going to visit with you to see how you were doing. I stayed behind and spoke to Ani—akin." Padmé switched away from calling Anakin by his nickname.

Which was very peculiar. She had always called him Ani. And why in the stars had she said that Obi-Wan had 'cornered' her if he was just telling her that he was planning to visit me?

"What aren't you telling me?" I frowned at her.

Padmé's eyes widened almost imperceptibly before she frowned right back. "What do you mean?"

That was weird. What didn't she want to tell me?

"Come off it, Padmé," I said. "I've known you since you were fourteen. I know when you're trying to keep something for me. What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," Padmé said firmly, keeping eye contact. Her hands, though, curled into fists.

She was lying to me. Why in the stars was she lying me?

"Padmé," I said slowly, "I don't want to push you, but…" I hesitated before pushing on. "Padmé, we do miserably when we don't talk to each other. If I had told you about my frustration with being a handmaiden before it overwhelmed me and I shouted, or if you had confronted me about thinking I didn't want to be friends with you before we spent a month not talking to each other, this year would have been a lot less stressful. That's part of why I told you about the girl in my dreams. We just—Padmé, we don't do well when we don't talk to each other. And I promise, Padmé, whatever you tell me, I'll keep to myself. You know I will."

Padmé hesitated.

"Please, Padmé?"

She closed her eyes and took in a very deep breath.

She was going to tell me.

I resisted the very immature urge to cheer.

When she opened her eyes again, she sent anxious glances around the dining room and my glee faded. No one was paying us the slightest bit of attention but whatever she had to say must be more important than I had thought.

"You mustn't tell anyone, Sabé." Padmé leaned in towards me, her brow furrowed. "I mean it. And I do not want to hear you tell me I am being foolish. I am well aware that it is foolish but I—" Padmé gave me a pleading look. "I have never been anything but sensible my whole life. Don't I deserve the chance to do something foolish, something selfish?"

I gaped at her. What had she done?

"Well," I fumbled, "of course you should do something for yourself—I've been telling you that for ages. But Padmé, what—?"

Words failed me as I stared at one of my very best, and very oldest friends. She was still glancing around the dining room to ensure we had no eavesdroppers, but it also seemed like she was trying desperately to bite back a wide smile. When her gaze returned to me, she gave up trying to hide her feelings and gave me the most dazzlingly happy smile I'd ever seen from her.

"Ani and I are going to be married," she whispered.

Or at least I thought that was what she whispered only that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Not to mention it was impossible, since Anakin was a Jedi. I must have been mistaken.

"Sorry." I shook my head at her and laughed. What an odd thing to mishear. "I didn't actually hear you. What did you just say?"

"Ani's obtained permission to escort me back to Naboo so I can speak with Queen Jamillia about the war," Padmé continued as if I hadn't said anything.

She was still talking about Anakin, though, so I must not have misheard the first part, just the second. Had she actually said 'Anakin and I are going to be harried', as in harried by Queen Jamillia? Only why in the stars would she be so happy about that?

"We will be leaving just as soon as he's released from the medcenter. I thought we could take a small detour to the Lake Country." Padmé's smile was so huge she seemed to be having difficulty talking around it.

If Padmé was this pleased and talking about going to the Lack Country 'Ani and I are going to be harried' was probably not what she said. What else could be misheard as 'married' though?

Words that sounded similar to 'married' ran through my head. There was 'wary' and 'carried' and possibly 'made me' and there was 'airy' and 'tarried' and—Tarried! Maybe they were going to 'tarry' in Lake Country before going to see the Queen. Padmé loved the Lake Country and Varykino, the property her family owned there. She'd certainly be happy about having an excuse to visit it.

Maybe that was what she'd said?

"A monastery for the brothers of Cognizance is located near Varykino," Padmé said excitedly, further muddying the issue by referring to the small religious order.

Were she and Anakin going to take a tour of a monastery to further delay meeting with the Queen?

My head was starting to hurt.

Padmé, apparently oblivious to my mounting confusion, continued, "I'm certain one of them will agree to marry us in secret."

"Wait, what?" I blurted. "I'm sorry Padmé," I laughed again. "I swear there must be something wrong with my hearing. What are you and Anakin going to do in the Lake Country and what are the brothers of Cognizance going to agree to?"

Padmé's brilliant smile faded. "Sabé, we're going to be married."

I stared at her. "Married?" I repeated, hoping she would correct me and end my confusion once and for all. "Like, weddings and husband and wife, married? Or did you actually say 'tarried' like, 'we don't want to talk to Queen Jamillia so we're going to tarry in the Lake Country to avoid it for as long as possible'? Was that maybe what you said? Or—" I trailed off as Padmé's happiness visibly slipped away.

Instead, she sat in front of me looking exhausted and oddly vulnerable. "I love him, Sabé. He makes me happy and I feel as though I can be myself with him. I am not constantly doubting myself when he's with me and he makes me—Sabé, when I'm with him, I can forget all the troubles in the galaxy and all my responsibilities to the Republic. I don't have to be the Senator with him. I can just be Padmé. And Ani is kind and brave and I think he needs me as much as I need him. Please say you understand, Sabé." Padmé grabbed one of my hands in hers and shot me a pleading look. "He is the only thing I have ever wanted for myself. I know it's foolish. I know it is. But I love him, Sabé, and he loves me. I want to spend every moment of my life with him and he wants to spend every moment with me. When you feel that way about someone, you marry them, don't you?"

I just stared at her, my hand limp in hers. My head was spinning.

Padmé was in love with Anakin? Anakin Skywalker?

But Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi. Anakin Skywalker was also the sweet little boy who had followed me around Naboo, full of endless questions and bright-eyed optimism. But, mainly, he was a Jedi.

"I—Anakin Skywalker?" I tried to clarify, not at all convinced I was understanding this properly. "We are talking about Anakin Skywalker, right? Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker who was the little boy who saved Naboo? That Anakin?"

Padmé let go of my hand and frowned at me. "Yes, Sabé. I don't believe we know any other Anakin. But it's been a decade since Ani was that little boy on Naboo. He's a man now and a wonderful one."

"Well, yes." I supposed Anakin was an adult now and he'd always been a good person but— "Padmé, he's a Jedi. Jedi don't—Padmé. Jedi can't get married."

"I know it's forbidden," Padmé sighed. "We won't be able to tell anyone or live together openly. But he would still be mine, as I would be his. We will know and that will be enough."

"But he's a Jedi."

I could not get over that point. Anakin was a Jedi. Jedi could not get attached to people and I could not think of a more permanent way to get attached to someone than by marrying them. Marriage was definitely an attachment and Jedi were definitely not allowed to get attached. And Anakin was a Jedi.

"I know, Sabé. But that doesn't mean he can't fall in love. He's human just like—"

"Well, of course they can fall in love, but that doesn't mean they can act on it!" I interrupted. "No Jedi would—" I cut myself off.

Obi-Wan had told me that Jedi were not to get attached. Obi-Wan was raised within the Order; raised to believe it was wrong for him to love someone and put their well-being above the nameless and faceless beings of the galaxy. Yet even he admitted to struggling with attachment.

Anakin had not been raised by the Order. He had been raised with the love of his mother and had been raised to value that love. If someone like Obi-Wan, who was raised by the Jedi Order, could struggle with attachment, how much more would someone like Anakin struggle with it?

And just because a Jedi like Obi-Wan could be attached to someone, love them, and refuse to act on it, didn't meant Anakin could. He had shown that with his actions towards his mother. Even though the entire Jedi Council had disapproved of his love for his mother, Anakin had clearly still adored her and done everything within his power to keep her safe and happy. If Anakin did love Padmé, would the rules of the Jedi Order truly stop him from acting on his love? It would stop Obi-Wan, of course, but Anakin had not been raised as a Jedi; did not see love as wrong.

If anyone would be willing to ignore the Jedi Council on the matter of attachment, it would be Anakin Skywalker.

"Are you truly getting married?" I asked Padmé quietly. "Did Anakin ask you to?"

Padmé nodded, a smile slipping back onto her face. "He told me he loved me on the flight to Geonosis. He said he didn't know how he could have survived his mother's death if I hadn't been there with him. He told me he couldn't imagine a life without me. I tried to be practical and rational. I told him that we couldn't be together; that it would never work. But when we were being led into the arena to face our deaths—I knew that I had to tell him I loved him. We kissed and Obi-Wan somehow found out we loved each other. Once we arrived back on Coruscant, Obi-Wan confronted me about it. I told him that I would break it off with Anakin and that's when he left to find you. He was trying to give us space so that we could end it but—" Padmé laughed a little helplessly. "When I went in to talk to Anakin, he whispered that he wanted to marry me. I couldn't say no to him, Sabé. I do not want to go back to living a life without him in it."

A wave of longing crashed over me and for a moment I was nearly choking with jealousy. Padmé had spent less than a month with Anakin and somehow they'd fallen madly in love. Anakin loved Padmé enough that he was going to flout all the laws of the Jedi Order so that he could be with her.

Obi-Wan and I had been friends for years and he had never even—No, Sabé, I firmly cut myself off, fighting down all the traitorous, awful thoughts flooding my mind, whispering that it wasn't fair, that they barely knew each other, that I wished Obi-Wan would love me like that or even at all. It wasn't fair of me to think those things. Just because I didn't understand the Jedi's fear of attachment didn't mean I could disregard it. And, unlike Anakin, Obi-Wan valued the Jedi's way of life. I had to respect that. And, perhaps more importantly, Obi-Wan and I were friends. I valued Obi-Wan's friendship greatly and wanting more from him could ruin that. And that was not a risk I was willing to take

Besides, now that I was thinking about it, a secret marriage was almost certainly not the way to handle falling in love with a Jedi. There were very few ways for a secret marriage to end happily. As a matter of fact, I couldn't think of a single way for a secret marriage to end happily, unless it was for the marriage to stop being a secret. And that, clearly, would not really be an option for Anakin and Padmé.

"I'm so glad you found someone you love, Padmé," I said as earnestly as I could. Because I was happy she found someone, but… "It's only, I do think you were right to say this is foolish. Are you sure you've thought this through? You'll be lying to everyone and if the Jedi Order finds out, I can't imagine there won't be consequences for Anakin. Not to mention the way it could completely destroy your reputation if people found out you were lying to all of them and helping a Jedi break his vows. Besides, just because we don't understand the Jedi's dislike of love and attachment doesn't mean that there isn't a reason for it. Maybe, for a Jedi, love truly is dangerous? I just don't—"

"I have thought it through," Padmé snapped. "And didn't I ask you not to tell me it was foolish?"

I bit my lip. She had asked that. And she had seemed so happy when she was telling me and…

"You're right," I said firmly, trying to convince myself as well as reassure Padmé. After all, I told myself, Padmé never thought of her own happiness. I shouldn't be trying to discourage her now that she was.

I reached over and grabbed her hand to give it a comforting squeeze. "You did ask me that. And I do think you deserve to do something selfish, something just for yourself. You deserve to be happy, Padmé, and if Anakin makes you happy… well." I mustered up a smile for her. "As long as you know what you're getting in to, I'm happy for you, too. Really. I'm just, well," I paused then shrugged. "A little bit surprised?"

Padmé raised an eyebrow at me in clear disbelief.

I huffed and rolled my eyes. "Okay, a lot surprised. But go on! Tell me all about your plans!" I smiled at her encouragingly.

Padmé was quiet for a moment but slowly she began to talk again. As she spoke of Anakin, she became happier and happier.

By the time she had to leave to speak with Versé, she was glowing again.

I, on the other hand, made my way back to my room feeling deeply uneasy for some reason.

Expected Update Time: August 30th

A/N: Two things today.

First: As you're all probably aware, I officially missed my 'expected update time' for the first time ever, which is kind of a bummer. I was sort of hoping I'd be able to finish Republic without missing any of my self-imposed deadlines. Sadly, it was not to be. I always knew that it'd be a time crunch to get the chapter done this month. I've officially started my affiliation for school which is a lot of time and a lot of effort and also very important to my future. But I looked at my calendar and figured I could squeak by and finish the chapter the 11th. Then my little sister got sick. And then she got worse and ended up in the hospital, and this was no longer a priority. She's okay now-they got her figured out, mostly, but it was not really the funnest week in the world for any of us. Anyway, it took me until now to find time to finish the chapter. Hopefully all you people who follow this without having an account managed to find it okay! Although, I suppose if you didn't, you won't be reading this anyway, but... anyway, in the future, if I ever miss my expected update time (although, with any luck, this was a one time occurrence), I'll probably post a brief note on my profile letting you all know what's up! I didn't post when I thought I would be finished by this time but if this happens again I'll be sure to put a date up there too. So yeah. With any luck this was just a one time thing, but with life being what it is, you just don't know. And, this way, we all have a plan for the future now, and I like plans quite a bit so this makes me happy. :)

Second: Ending on a happier note, we're almost done with Republic! Yay! There's like three or four chapters left, tops, and then there will be a bit of a break for me to do some more in-depth plotting stuff and then we'll start the last fic in the trilogy! Which is absolutely mind blowing for me, so yeah! I'm excited! :D Anyway, with Queen, when I was nearing the end, I asked specific questions about what you guys were looking for in Republic and how you guys wanted things to go to help me sort out my own thought process and plans for Republic. I don't think I'll be doing anything quite so ordered this time, as I have a pretty clear idea of how Fic #3 is going to have to play out, but if you have anything you want to let me know about either this story or your hopes/worries for the next one, now's the time! I'm starting to get more in depth in the planning stage, so if all of you have some common worry or hope, there's still a chance I could switch things up a bit with minimum fuss! Also, I just love to hear from all of you guys, so... :D

Anyway, that's it for me! As always, thanks for reading this mammoth of a note and the chapter! :D