With a gasp, Anakin fell to the floor, hurled almost bodily from the depths of the Force by that dark presence. Looking over to Yoda, he saw the Jedi Master was shaken, but still on his meditation couch. "Master," he asked shakily, "what was that?"

"Hmmmm, the Sith Lord that was. Discovered him, we have. But too late, I fear. Recall his face, do you?"

Anakin, still shaken from the experience, nods. "Yes Master. It was horribly scared and disfigured. Almost as if it had been ravaged bysome powerful beast." Here he paused. He could barely choke out what he said next. "And it looked like the Chancellor."

"The Chancellor, it was. His true face did we see. Scared, not by beast, but by the Dark Side. Quick and easy the Dark Side is. But extract a terrible price, it does. Blind we have been not to have noticed. Failed I have as a Jedi. Now, all may be lost. Prepare we must. Not long will Sidious wait to begin his attack now that exposed he is."

"I agree Master. But, how? To try and destroy him is not the Jedi way. But, he may be too powerful to capture peacefully."

"Learned from your mistakes, you have Anakin. Proud of you, for that, I am. But destroy the Sith, we must. Too much power does he have to bring to a trial."

Thinking on that, Anakin had a, for him, rare moment of political insight. "Master Yoda, what you say has merit. Palpatine, or Sidious, has far too much power over the Senate. But if the Jedi move against him directly, he could use that against the Order. If we are unsuccessful, he will use our attempt to restore Democracy to discredit the Order and destroy us. But perhaps my wife could be useful. I hate even thinking of this, but she knows beings in the Senate who will stand up for what is right. If we get the Senate on our side, we may have a chance." Those last words seemed to rip Anakin's heart out to say them. The last thing he wanted was to place Padme and his child in any sort of danger. But the simple fact was, just by being his wife, Sidious had probably already marked Padme for death.

Anakin had no illusions that Palpatine knew about his relationship. His vision and the dark tendril leading from it had proven that. The betrayal by the man that had always been his friend, had been a mentor to him, practically a father to him was tearing at his insides, threating to rip him apart. Two things kept him from giving into the anger he felt toward him. The first, and biggest reason, was Padme. Padme would never agree to him becoming something so evil. He would lose her then just as surely as he had in his vision. The second, was that giving in to his anger and hate is exactly what that kriffing Sith wanted him to do. Anakin may be rash. And arrogant. And stubborn. And a litany of other awful traits. But he wasn't foolish enough to believe for one second that Sidious would help him in the slightest once he had what he wanted. Of that, he was absolutely certain. And at least if Padme were at the Temple, she would be safe.

Sitting across from him, Yoda watched all this play out on Anakin's face and felt it in the Force. Felt his determination rise and his spirit begin to heal. A strong Jedi he will be if past this crisis the Order survives, he thought. "A wise suggestion, Young Skywalker. Go. To the Temple, bring your wife. Explain to the Council I will what has happened. For yourself, be not afraid. A strong and wise Jedi you will be. Prepare the Temple for an attack we must. The Younglings we must save above all else. The future of the Order, they are. Look up to you, they do. Your mission that will be. Protect them, you must."

Anakin wanted to argue with him. Wanted to tell him that he would need him if he faced Sidious. Even started to form a reply to press his point. He was one of the finest duelists in the Order. His sheer power and ability were the equal of most of the Masters on the Council (he did admit, privately, that Mace, Yoda and likely Obi-wan could best him in a duel). Instead, upon seeing the look Yoda was giving him, Anakin simply nodded his head and replied, "Yes Master. Once I return, I'll see to the safety of the young ones. May the Force be with you Master Yoda."

"And with you, Jedi Skywalker."

Before Padme could even register what was happening, Obi-wan had leapt off the couch, his lightsaber flashing, deflecting bolt after bolt back at the Clone Troopers who had opened fire on them. But for every one knocked down by either a deflected bolt or Obi-wan's saber when they got too close, it seemed as if two more took his place. Obi-wan was shouting at her to move and find cover while trying to order the Clones to stand down. As Padme's shock wore off, she grabbed the blaster from her couch and began firing at the clones. Through the din of battle, she vaguely heard a transport touch down on her landing pad. "This is it," she thought. "The end. I'm so sorry Anakin. I'm so sorry little ones. I tried." Just as she turned to face what she thought were reinforcements, she saw Anakin, her love, almost literally fly through the room, lightsaber already lit, and join Obi-wan in repelling the Clones. Seeing the Team in action was truly awe inspiring for Padme. They moved almost as if they were one being. Sabers flashing, stabbing and slicing, moving through the Clones with a practiced ease. In minutes it was all over.

Obi-wan and Anakin both powered down their lightsabers and looked sadly on the Clones that they had had to kill. Clones that they had led personally in battle on a dozen worlds. "What took you so long?" asked Obi-wan.

"Oh, you know Master. I couldn't find a speeder I really liked. Plus, I figured you could use the practice. You seemed to be moving slower the last time we spared. I was afraid you might be losing your edge."

"Only in your mind, my young apprentice. Regardless, I'm glad you arrived when you did."

"You're welcome."

Turning to Padme, Anakin gave her a bow, "Senator, Master Yoda wishes me to escort you to the Jedi Temple. The Order could use your aide in defeating the Sith Lord."

"Oh Anakin," cried Padme as she rushed into his arms, tears streaming down her face. Anakin looked like he had been hit by a stun blast at Padme's sudden surge of affection.

This caused Obi-wan to smile for what seemed like the first time since they got back Coruscant. "Well don't just stand there Anakin. I believe its considered rude not to hug your wife back when she grabs you like that." If anything, the look on Anakin's face got even more shocked. This was highly amusing to Obi-wan to see his normally outgoing friend be shocked into silence.

"He knows, Anakin. He wants to help," Padme told her bewildered husband.

Embracing Padme with everything he had, Anakin then turned to Obi-wan and took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy.

"Master, let me start by saying that I'm sorry. I know I've failed you and the Order by breaking the Code. I have my reasons, but that doesn't excuse it. I've already spoken to Master Yoda." Looking at Padme, "Once Sidious is gone, I'm leaving the Order. No more secrets." Turning back to Obi-wan, now it was Anakin's turn to chuckle as Obi-wan's mouth had dropped open at Anakin's frank admission and acceptance of the consequences. Something had changed in his old Padawan. And changed for the better. "Obi-wan!" Anakin yelled for the third time.

Finally, snapping out of it, all Obi-wan could do was shake his head. "Did Master Yoda really send you here for Padme?" he asked.

"Yes. While Master Yoda and I were meditating, don't looked so shocked, I do do it occasionally, we discovered who the Sith Lord is. It's a long story and we need to get back the Temple immediately. He may be moving even faster than we feared if the attack here is any indication. I'll fill you both in on the way."

"So that's everything. Master Yoda and I discovered that Palpatine is the Sith Lord. He's manipulated the entire war to get power. Now we need to stop him. But if we try to do that without the Senate behind us, it will just backfire on us and make it look like every accusation Palpatine has ever levied at the Order was true," finished Anakin, giving his best friend and his wife a very condensed version of what was going on.

"So that's why you need me at the Temple. To try and organize the Senate to back the Order in removing Palpatine. I'm not sure it will work. Most of the Senate is behind him, or at the least won't stand up to him. I can get you a few thousand Senators, but not a majority."

"Anakin, I hate to bring this up, but won't your relationship with Padme just turn Senators away? Couldn't they argue that she's the 'Jedi's pet Senator.'" This last bit Obi-wan said with an apologetic look at Padme. She quickly waved his unspoken apology away as not needed.

"It's a possibility," Anakin admitted. "But without it, the Order would be seen as the bad guys here. We're already looked down upon because of the war. This would just make it worse."

"True, but..." Obi-wan stopped in mid sentence. For approaching the Temple was a massive column of Clones. It looked to be every battalion on planet at the moment. At their head, marched a solitary figure, clad all in black and radiating a darkness that seemed to swallow up the light around him.

"Sidious" breathed Anakin. "Hang on, this is gonna be a rough ride in."