The Naboo Chronicles

by Kittenmommy

AU fic in which Anakin never turns to the Dark Side. Includes Sabe's Big Fat Nubian Wedding AND possibly the FIRST EVER Star Wars meets St. Elsewhere crossover!

3. Chapter 7 - 9

"The Naboo Chronicles"- Chapters 7 – 9

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: The Star Wars characters belong to George Lucas. The others belong to me. I'm not making any money from this. Though I've made some changes to it, St. Eligius Hospital and the doctors, nurses, and orderlies who work there belong to Joshua Brand and John Falsey.

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Chapter 7

Padmé walked over to Sabé, removed the blaster from her unresisting hand and tossed it to Anakin. Sabé dissolved into tears. Sighing, Padmé pulled Sabé into her arms.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Padmé told Sabé.
"No," Sabé protested, pulling away from Padmé. "We have to find Palpatine… he" - she indicated Sidious's dead body - "said something about a torture droid keeping him company."
"A torture droid?" Anakin asked, frowning. "What the hell is that?" Sabé shrugged.
"I don't know, but if it's anything like what its name implies…" Her voice trailed off. Anakin nodded.
"We'll find him," Obi-Wan assured her.
"Yes," Anakin agreed grimly. "Even if we have to tear every building on Coruscant apart brick by brick to do it. But right now, you need to get to a hospital."
"No, I want to go with you!"
"You are bleeding," Padmé told her quietly.
"Am I?" Sabé asked, sounding dazed. No one asked what had happened; her ripped nightgown and the blood running down her leg made it obvious.
"Yes, you are," Padmé said. She fetched Sabé's coat from the hall closet and bundled her into it. "Oh," she said, turning to the two Jedi. "What are we going to do about this?" she asked, her sweeping arm indicating Sidious's corpse and the scorched and bloodstained carpeting.
"I will contact the Jedi Council," Obi-Wan said. "They will handle this with discretion."
"Master Windu," Sabé suddenly said. "I only want him involved. The rest of them can go screw." Obi-Wan nodded.
"I will do my best," he promised her. "But now you must allow Padmé to take you to the hospital. You must think of your children." Sabé nodded numbly. The voicephone rang. Anakin picked it up.
"Yes?" he asked tiredly. He listened for a moment. "No, I don't think this is a secure line, so… oh REALLY? Well, the other one is here… yeah, he had a REAL BLAST earlier, and now he's DEAD to the world. Someone should come do something about it," he said pointedly. Pause. "You're at THAT dump? Sheesh. Well, I guess we'll be joining you there shortly. We have a medical emergency of our own." Pause. "Yeah, something like that. We will see you soon." He broke the connection. "That was Master Windu," he told the others. "He's at St. Eligius."
"What's he doing there?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin smiled at Sabé.
"He found Palpatine."

"It will be OK," Padmé assured Sabé as they stood in the St. Eligius emergency room.
"Name?" the nurse with curly brown hair and kind brown eyes asked. Sabé drew herself up to her full height.
"I am Lady Sabé of Naboo, wife to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine," she replied with as much dignity as she could muster, standing there with her coat buttoned up to hide her torn nightgown and bruised body. ER Nurse Shirley Daniels wrote down her name without so much as raising an eyebrow.
"And what brings you to the emergency room?" she asked.
"My husband was admitted to this hospital," she said. Nurse Daniels turned to a computer terminal and punched its keys.
"Yes," she said after a moment, "He was admitted for shock and… well, they're not sure exactly what happened to him. But it appears he will be fine."
"I want to see him," Sabé said. At her side, Padmé shook her head.
"No, Sabé," she said quietly. "You need medical attention first."
"Oh?" Nurse Daniels asked. "What seems to be the problem?" Sabé's tenuous composure broke, and tears filled her brown eyes.
"I was attacked," she said quietly. "The same man who attacked my husband…" She lowered her eyes. When she spoke next, it was in a voice that was barely a whisper. "Raped me." Nurse Daniels wrote it down without batting an eye, a fact for which Sabé was eternally grateful.
"Do you know who your attacker was?" Nurse Daniels asked. "If not, we'll have to do a rape kit." Sabé glanced over at Anakin. Anakin had only the vaguest idea of what a rape kit was, and an even vaguer idea that it could conceivably link Palpatine to Sabé's rape, as he and her rapist were identical twins.
"Her attacker has been dealt with," Anakin said, waving his hand at Nurse Daniels. "The Jedi have taken care of it. No rape kit will be necessary."
"Her attacker has been dealt with," Nurse Daniels repeated, writing as she spoke. "The Jedi have taken care of it."
"That's right," Sabé whispered, giving Anakin a grateful look. "Oh," she said, as though just remembering. "I am pregnant with twins."
"How far along?" Nurse Daniels asked.
"I do not know, a few weeks if that. I have miscarried a child once before. And I am bleeding." Nurse Daniels immediately stopped writing, picked up a voicephone, and spoke. Her voice filled the halls of the hospital.
"Paging Doctor Roxanne Turner, Doctor Turner to ER stat." She turned back to Sabé. "Come with me," she said, turning to enter the ER. Sabé hesitated.
"I want…"
"I will come with you, Sabé," Padmé said quietly, taking her hand. Sabé's eyes filled with fresh tears.
"I want to see my husband," she said.
"Later," Nurse Daniels said curtly, all business now. She motioned for the two women to follow her. Padmé half-dragged Sabé into the ER, while Anakin went into the waiting room. Nurse Daniels whisked open the curtains around the metal rod that secluded an exam table from the rest of the ER. "Remove your clothing and put this on," she said, tossing Sabé a paper exam gown. "Doctor Turner will be here soon." Sabé eased herself onto the table, while Padmé sat in a chair beside her. Nurse Daniels pulled the curtain shut.
"I want to see Palpatine," Sabé said quietly. "I want to see that he is truly all right."
"I will send Anakin to see him," Padmé said, standing. Suddenly, the curtains were whisked open again, and a tall black woman with close-cropped hair walked in, pulling the curtain shut behind her. She glanced at the datapad in her hand and punched a couple of buttons on its surface. She looked up at Sabé and smiled.
"Hello, Lady Sabé," she said in a gentle voice that held the faintest trace of a Southern Coruscant drawl. "I'm Doctor Turner."
"Oh, Doctor," Sabé said. "I want to see my husband."
"Come on now, Lady," Dr. Turner said, putting a sympathetic arm around Sabé, who was huddled on the exam table, her coat pulled protectively around her. "As soon as we make sure everything is fine with your little passengers in there, you can go upstairs and see your husband." She turned to Padmé. "Perhaps it would be best if you left… you could go check on her husband for her."
"Oh would you?" Sabé asked gratefully. Padmé nodded. She took Sabé's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"I will see how it goes with Palpatine," she promised quietly. "I will ask Anakin to remain here in the ER in case you need anything," Like another Mind Trick, she thought but did not say.
"Don't tell Palpatine," Sabé whispered suddenly. She glanced at Dr. Turner. "Is that OK? If she doesn't tell him that I was…" Dr. Turner patted her arm.
"Of course, dear. It is your place to tell your husband. No one else's."
"Thank you so much, Doctor Turner."
"I will see you soon," Padmé assured her. She walked out into the ER's waiting area.
"How is she?" Anakin asked. Padmé sat down next to her husband, who put an arm around her and gave her a kiss. She sighed heavily.
"I think she must be in shock. She behaves like she is in a trance."
"I'm not surprised," Anakin said quietly.
"Nor am I. She wants to see Palpatine. I told her I would go once I spoke with you." Padmé shook her head. "I hope she will be OK."
"I'm sure that she will, in time," Anakin told her. "She's been through a lot tonight."
"And she will go through more later, I am certain," Padmé said.
"Not if I can help it. Obi-Wan has gone to the Jedi Temple to speak to the Council. I'm sure it will do their egos little good to learn that a Sith Lord was operating in secret right up the street from them - literally under their noses."
"They will see that no scandal ensues?" Padmé asked carefully.
"I doubt they want word of their inability to sense the Sith Lord getting out; imagine what it would do to the reputation of the Jedi. So," he concluded, "I am sure they will want to keep this as quiet as possible."

"I thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said, bowing to the Jedi Master. Yoda was not pleased; Obi-Wan had come barreling into the Jedi Temple and gotten him out of bed in the middle of the night.
"Mph," Yoda answered noncommittally. "Emergency you said it was. But to see you I had no choice."
"Let me tell you what has happened tonight, and then we will see if you agree that it is an emergency."

Five west, room 500225, Padmé repeated to herself as she stood waiting for the lift. Finally, a lift appeared, the doors slid open, and she stepped inside. Padmé shared the lift with two doctors; a balding man in late middle age, and a shorter man with graying hair and a mustache. The lift suddenly jerked to a stop for no reason, the doors opening on a floor that none of them had pushed. The shorter doctor leaned forward and stabbed the 500^th floor button impatiently.
"Oh for crying out loud," he complained in a nasal voice tinged with an accent that marked him as a member of Coruscant's upper class. "You'd think with all the renovations they've been doing, they'd do something about these damn lifts."
"They're working on it, Mark," the other doctor said calmly.
"It's a disgrace, Donald," Mark Craig continued, completely ignoring Padmé's presence in the lift. "We've got Supreme Chancellor Palpatine staying here, and you can't get an elevator to save your life. And none of the clocks agree with each other, either."
"I thought your heart transplant patient donated new clocks to the hospital last year," Donald Westphall said mildly.
"Yes. Yes she did. But your crack team of maintenance workers has yet to get around to installing them. They must be too busy taking coffee breaks and not fixing the lifts." Westphall shrugged.
"What can I say, Mark? I doubt the Chancellor will care too much about the clocks."
"And that's another thing," Craig said, though he was in fact starting in on a new topic. Unnoticed, Padmé continued to listen in, fascinated. "Whose bright idea was it to admit him as a cardiac patient? Any first year intern could see that the man's got the heart of a twenty year old." Westphall shrugged.
"Axelrod admitted him," Westphall said. Craig snorted.
"Well that just figures," he snapped. "The man's a useless moron. Now I've got the Chancellor on my service on top of everything else."
"Erlich defended the admission," Westphall said mildly.
"Hmph. He would. Probably made some tasteless crack about the Chancellor needing a heart work-up because of that young wife of his." Westphall laughed. "Erlich is a menace to this hospital, Donald." Craig continued. "He thinks 'tact' is the past tense of 'tack'."
"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to keep him away from the Chancellor," Wesphall agreed. They finally reached the 500^th floor. The doors opened and the three lift occupants stepped out. Padmé looked around in puzzlement. Westphall noticed her confusion.
"Do you need help finding a room, miss?" he asked Padmé kindly.
"Yes," she said. "I'm looking for room 500225."
"Go right up this hall," Westphall said, pointing, "and make a left. The room will be on your right."
"Thank you, Doctor." She turned to walk up the hall, but was stopped by Craig's voice.
"That's Chancellor Palpatine's room," Craig said, a challenge in his voice.
"Yes, I know," she said, turning. "Please pardon me, but I could not help overhearing in the lift." She scrutinized his hospital ID tag. "Doctor Craig. You are the Chancellor's doctor?"
"Who wants to know?" Craig demanded, determined that no unauthorized visitors would disturb his important patient. She smiled sweetly at him.
"The Chancellor's sovereign. I am Padmé Amidala, Queen of the Naboo." Without another word, she turned on her heel and started off in the direction that Westphall had indicated. The sound of Westphall's quiet laughter followed her down the hall. Craig's nasal voice rang out once again.
"Oh, for Pete's sake - !" Padmé smiled to herself as she continued up the hall in search of Palpatine's room. 500221, 500223… there it is! She tapped on the door. The door slid open, and a very tired-looking Mace Windu appeared. He gave her a smile.
"Your Majesty, it's always a pleasure to see you," he said in his quiet, gentle voice. She smiled at him.
"And you. How is the Chancellor?" Windu shrugged.
"Sleeping. They have him pretty doped up on pain meds. They say he'll be fine. Where is Lady Sabé?"
"She is here," Padmé said carefully. "She sustained some injuries, and they are treating her in the ER. She will be up shortly, I'd imagine."
"Good. The few times he's woken, he has asked for her and become very distraught when we couldn't produce her. That unpleasant little doctor finally had him sedated."
"Doctor Craig," she supplied.
"Yes, that's him," he agreed. "Are you going to stay with the Chancellor now? I am afraid I am needed at the Temple." She smiled.
"Of course I'll stay with him." She took Windu's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you for everything you've done for us. We can never repay you." He gave her a brilliant smile.
"The pleasure is mine," he assured her. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder as he turned to go. "May the Force be with you."
"And with you as well," she murmured. She watched for a moment as he walked up the hall, then turned and went into Palpatine's room. A single lamp above the hospital bed illuminated the room. She went over and stood by the bed, horrified by the Chancellor's appearance. My gods, he looks like he's been through a war. I wonder what happened to him… She reached down and gently smoothed his hair. To her surprise, he opened his eyes.
"Sabé?" he asked faintly. Padmé smiled.
"No, Chancellor. It's me, Padmé. Sabé will be here to see you soon," she assured him. Gradually, he managed to focus on her.
"Oh, Padmé…" Padmé was surprised; he had never called her by name before. She judged the strength of the drugs he was receiving by his casual slip. "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty," he whispered, as though reading her mind. She shook her head.
"Oh, don't be silly. Anyway, isn't it about time we were on a first name basis?" she asked. He gave her a faint smile. "Now go back to sleep, and when you wake, Sabé will be here, I promise." She leaned over and kissed his forehead.
"Yes, Mother," he whispered teasingly. She laughed.
"You tease me now, but soon you will have two little ones of your own to look after, and don't be surprised if you too begin to speak to everyone as though they are children."
"I hope," he croaked, "that I do still have two little ones on the way." He knows! she thought. I wonder how he found out? She sat down next to his bed and took his hand.
"So do I hope it, Palpatine," she sighed.

"Your little passengers are just fine," Dr. Turner said, snapping off her rubber gloves and tossing them in the trash. "You may be sore for awhile, but you don't have any substantial physical damage."
"Thank you," Sabé said, sitting up. She picked up her torn and bloodstained nightgown, regarded it for a moment, and then threw it in the trash. She pulled her coat on over her flimsy paper exam gown.
"Now emotional damage is another thing," Dr. Turner continued as she washed her hands at the sink. "I suggest you get counseling - "
"What I need right now is my husband," Sabé said firmly, buttoning her coat. She pulled on her shoes. "So if I am free to go…?" Dr. Turner shrugged.
"You're free to go," she agreed. She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Sabé. "But if you change your mind about wanting counseling…" Sabé took the card and shoved it in her coat pocket.
"Thank you. I will keep this card. Now, I want to see my husband."

When Mace Windu returned to the Jedi Temple, he was greeted by the sight of piles of boxes stacked in the main foyer. Yoda and Obi-Wan were standing in the foyer, supervising the placement of the boxes that several Padawans were Force-levitating from a hovercar outside.
"Moving day?" Windu asked mildly. "Or I should say, moving night?"
"Yeah, for the Sith," Obi-Wan replied.
"Boxes and boxes he had, that Sith Lord. Study it all we will," Yoda sighed. "Before us our work is, Master Windu," he said, motioning at the boxes.
"There is also a dead body," Obi-Wan reminded Yoda. "Lady Sabé asked that Master Windu take care of it." Windu nodded.
"I'll take some Padawans over right away."
"The carpeting - " Obi-Wan began. Windu smiled, not allowing his exhaustion to show in his eyes.
"I will take care of everything, Jedi Kenobi. Don't worry about a thing."

Sabé leaned heavily on Anakin's arm as they walked up the hall to Palpatine's room.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" he asked her, looking down at her with concerned eyes. "Wouldn't you like to go home first, maybe shower and put on some clothes…?" She smiled up at him.
"If it were Padmé in that hospital room, would YOU want to go home and change first?" she asked him. He shook his head.
"I suppose not," he admitted.
"I remember how you were when your twins were born," Sabé said. "You wouldn't leave her side… well, except for when you looked down, saw Leia crowning and passed out." Though he had not found it funny at the time, he laughed at the memory.
"Some labor coach I was," he said ruefully. "It's a good thing you were there too."
"Well, if it's any consolation, I doubt Palpatine will do any better when the time comes." As they reached Palpatine's door, they saw two doctors standing outside. The shorter doctor was chewing out his tall blond companion.
"Oh my Aunt Sadie!" Mark Craig exclaimed angrily. "When are you going to learn to keep your big mouth shut, you moron?" The tall blond man shuffled his feet, hemming and hawing.
"Well, I thought she was his wife…"
"That's where thinking gets you, Erlich. That woman is in there is the Queen of the Naboo. And even if she WERE his wife, you should keep your stupid, tasteless jokes about the Chancellor's sex life to yourself."
"Well, she's young, pretty… hey, I heard the old guy got himself married to some young Nubian sexpot. How was I supposed to know it wasn't her?" Anakin cleared his throat.
"What do you want?" Craig snapped irritably.
"I thought we'd go in and see how 'the old guy' is doing," Anakin said mildly. "I am Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker." Sabé smiled sweetly at Victor Erlich.
"And I am the Nubian sexpot who married 'the old guy'."
"Um," Erlich stammered. He turned crimson to the roots of his hair, then began babbling like a moron. "Oh wow, you sure don't look like a sexpot. Gee I guess all the rumors are wrong. I thought they must be true when I saw that other woman in there with him. Now you talk about a sexpot, boy SHE looks like she'd take it from anyone…" He saw that Anakin was glowering at him.
"That 'other woman' is MY wife, Doctor." Anakin said quietly. Erlich looked like he wished the floor would open up and swallow him.
"You are my husband's doctor?" Sabé asked Craig, ending the awkward moment. He smiled and extended his hand for her to shake.
"Yes, I am Doctor Mark Craig, Chief of Surgery here at St. Eligius. I want you to know that your husband has received the finest medical care available on Coruscant - " She waved her hand impatiently.
"If it is not too much trouble, The Nubian Sexpot would know her husband's condition," she said acidly. Erlich winced, and Craig shot him a dark look.
"We're not sure what happened to him," Craig admitted. "There is hardly a mark on him, but neurological tests show that he endured unimaginable pain for a number of hours. And when he was admitted, there was some kind of stimulant in his system, probably kept him from passing out while whoever it was did whatever they did to him. He's not talking. He said the Jedi were handling it." Anakin nodded.
"Yeah, we're totally on top of it," he murmured. Craig's gaze shifted back to Sabé.
"Your husband is incredibly healthy for a man his age," Craig told her. "He has the heart and stamina of a twenty year old." Erlich snickered. Craig glared at Erlich, then continued. "He probably would not have survived otherwise."
"How is that possible?" Sabé asked Craig. Anakin answered.
"The Force," he said shortly. She nodded, understanding. Craig was completely lost, but tried not to show it.
"So," he continued, "We will probably send him home tomorrow."
"That soon?" Sabé asked, surprised. Craig shrugged.
"There is nothing really wrong with your husband that lots of rest will not cure." She nodded.
"Thank you, Doctor Craig. I will gladly take him home tomorrow. And," she continued, looking at Erlich with a glint of humor in her eye, "I shall try not to tire him with my incessant sexual demands." Erlich blushed again, but had the good sense to remain silent. Sabé took Anakin's arm again. "Come, Jedi Skywalker. We will go see how 'the old guy' I married and your sluttish wife are doing." Anakin decided that it probably wasn't physically possible for Erlich to turn redder. As they walked into Palpatine's room, they heard Erlich's voice.
"I look like a tomato, don't I sir?" he asked.
"With all that blood rushing to your head, maybe your brain will work for a change," Craig told him caustically. Padmé looked up as the door slid shut behind Anakin and Sabé.
"Look who's here, Palpatine," Padmé said quietly, standing. Sabé rushed over to the bed and took her husband's hand. He opened his eyes and smiled up at her. Anakin walked over to Padmé and put an arm around her.
"We'll just leave you two to it," he said quietly. Sabé nodded wordlessly.
"We'll be back in the morning," Padmé promised. Sabé and Palpatine barely heard them go.
"It is so good to see you, darling," Palpatine said quietly. "I am so sorry about… about what he did to you."
"Who told you?" she demanded.
"He did. He used the Force… he made me watch…"
"Ah, gods, Palpatine," she murmured.
"What did the doctors say?" he asked. She smiled.
"The twins and I are both fine," she said. Well, physically, anyway, she thought but did not say. He reached up to touch her cheek.
"You should go home, get some rest," he told her gently. She shook her head.
"No, I will stay here with you. And why not? How long did you stay with me when I miscarried our first child?"
"But that was different. I had not just been… attacked."
"Even so," she said, pulling the chair closer to the bed.
"No," he said. "If you are determined to stay here, you are not sitting up all night in that chair." He pressed a button, lowering the guardrail on the side of his hospital bed.
"There is not room enough for both of us," she protested.
"Yes there is. I find I want to hold you very close indeed tonight."
"Very well," she agreed, taking off her coat. "How do you like my new nightgown?" she asked, trying for a lightness she did not feel as she modeled her paper exam gown for him.
"I do not like it," he said bitterly. "I am so sorry - "
"Stop apologizing, Palpatine. It is neither your doing nor your fault." She climbed into the bed with him. When he took her in his arms, she cringed, tears springing to her eyes.
"Oh my poor darling," he murmured, stroking her hair as her composure broke at last and she sobbed against his chest. "My poor, poor little one."

"Wow," Padmé said as she and Anakin walked into Palpatine and Sabé's apartment. "You'd never know anything happened here." Sidious's body had been taken away, and the charred, bloodstained carpeting had been removed and replaced. Anakin shrugged.
"The Jedi Council at work," he said. "Talk about pulling strings - they have their hands on every string in town."
"Even in the middle of the night," she added. "Quite impressive."
"What do you think?" Obi-Wan asked, walking in from the hall.
"It's amazing," Padmé said.
"Anakin, you will be needed at the Temple tomorrow," Obi-Wan said. Anakin frowned.
"What for?"
"We raided the Sith Lord's Cloister earlier tonight, and there's tons of stuff to go through. Every available Knight must report to the Temple."
"For how long?" Padmé asked. Obi-Wan shrugged.
"Indefinitely," he replied. Padmé sighed.
"I suppose I will collect the twins and go back to Naboo," she said quietly.
"No," Anakin said. "The children should come here to Coruscant so Obi-Wan and I can continue their training." Padmé narrowed her eyes at Anakin.
"The Naboo do not send their children away," she reminded him.
"They'll be with me," Anakin pointed out. "Their father. And we'll all return to Naboo when we're finished."
"Well…" Aside from missing her husband and children, she could think of no logical objection.
"We can discuss it in the morning," Obi-Wan said, yawning. "Right now, I think we all need some sleep."
"I agree. Good night, Obi-Wan," Anakin said. Obi-Wan waved over his shoulder as he headed up the hall. Anakin took Padmé's hand and began leading her to their room.
"No," she said quietly. He raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't protest when she led him back to Palpatine and Sabé's bedroom. The bedroom was just as it had been left; Sabé's dressing gown was at the foot of the bed and her slippers were on the floor beside it. The state of the bedclothes indicated that some sort of frantic activity had taken place there recently. Padmé grabbed Sabé's robe from the foot of the bed, tossed it onto a nearby chair and began methodically stripping the bed, trying hard to ignore the stains from Sabé's blood and from something else that she didn't want to think too hard about. She handed the bundle of bedclothes to Anakin. "Take these into the living room. Put them in the fireplace. And burn them." He nodded.
When he returned sometime later, he found that she had remade the bed and was sitting on it, holding Sabé's dressing gown in her hands.
"Mission accomplished, Milady," he said gravely, saluting her with an imaginary lightsaber. She smiled up at him. He went to sit next her on the bed. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, putting his arms around her.
"This bed," she said. "It has bad vibes. Can you feel them?" He concentrated for a moment, then shrugged.
"No."
"Well, I do." Anakin smiled down at her.
"Maybe," he said, kissing her, "we need to purify it for them." She returned his kiss.
"Do you think so?" she asked, winding her arms around his neck. His hands were wandering up the back of her shirt.
"I think so," he said. He pulled her shirt off and kissed his way down her chest.
"If you believe it is truly necessary," she said breathlessly. His face was buried between her breasts, his reply incomprehensible. His hands under her skirt grew bolder. She gasped. He lifted his head and smiled at her.
"Oh, I do," he said, pushing her back onto the bed. He smiled down at her. "It is the least we can do for our friends."

"Ohhh, very naughty." Sabé and Palpatine woke with a start to see a man with a mass of black curly hair standing at the foot of Palpatine's hospital bed. He wore jeans, a Coruscant Coneheads T-shirt, and matching baseball cap. "Tsk , tsk, tsk. Good thing Papandrao didn't catch you two in bed together."
"She is my wife," Palpatine informed the man.
"So? Papandrao would still have kittens. That is strictly against hospital policy. Besides, doing it in hospital beds is boring. Doing it on a slab in the morgue, well…"
"Ah, excuse me," Palpatine began politely, biting back the urge to demand, Who said we were doing "it", anyway? Clearly, he had spent too much time with Anakin and Obi-Wan. The man smiled.
"Doctor Wayne Fiscus, at your service," he said. "You probably don't remember me." Palpatine shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry, I don't. I find it difficult to believe I would have forgotten such a unique individual."
"'Unique individual'… I like that! Anyway, you were pretty out of it when we met in the ER yesterday." He picked up Palpatine's chart and scanned it quickly, talking all the while. "I just wanted to see how you were… oh, and I wanted to ask you if you know what this is for," he said, holding up a rubber exam glove. Sabé and Palpatine exchanged puzzled glances.
"It's a rubber glove," Sabé said finally.
"Yeah, but do you know what it's for?"
"You wear them when you examine people?" she guessed, suppressing a shudder at the memory of her own recent examination.
"Nope," Fiscus said.
"All right," Palpatine said. "Show us." Fiscus beamed happily.
"I thought you'd never ask.

When Padmé, Anakin and Obi-Wan entered Palpatine's hospital room, they were stunned by the sight that greeted them. Palpatine and Sabé were crammed into Palpatine's narrow hospital bed. Standing at the foot of the bed was a young man who was stretching something over his head… it appeared to be a rubber exam glove.
"Hey kids," Anakin said. "So… what's going on?" Palpatine shook his head.
"I've no idea, Anakin. This is Doctor Fiscus."
"Hi," Anakin said.
"OK, watch closely," Fiscus said. He pulled the glove down over the top half of his head, so that his nose was tucked inside the glove's wristband. By inhaling through his mouth and exhaling through his nose, he was able to inflate the glove while it was on his head.
"Are you sure he is a real doctor?" Padmé asked mildly. Sabé shrugged. The glove continued to inflate. Soon Fiscus's audience was in hysterics. The door to the hospital room slid open, and Dr. Craig walked in, followed by a black man pushing an empty hoverchair.
"Time to go home, Chancellor," Dr. Craig said. "Luther is here to…" His voice trailed off as he noticed what was going on. "What the hell is this?" he demanded. The rubber glove on Fiscus's head suddenly freed itself with an audible pop and went flying around the room. "Fiscus! For crying out loud - !"

Chapter 8

"How strange it will be for me tomorrow," Sabé remarked as she stood before the bathroom mirror, dabbing a bit of lotion under her eyes.

"What did you say, darling?" Palpatine called from the bedroom.

"Off," she told the light, which promptly winked out. Palpatine looked up from the book he was reading as she walked into the bedroom. "I said, it will be strange for me tomorrow." Her long white nightgown swirled around her legs as she walked to the bed. "We had all those guests, and I got used to having people around," she said, getting into bed. "Tomorrow Anakin will go to the Temple and you will return to the Senate, and I will be here all alone." Palpatine put his book on the nightstand and settled himself in the bed next to her.

"Well," he said after a moment. "Cook will be here tomorrow." She shook her head.

"No, tomorrow is cook's day off," she reminded him. "We're stuck with my cooking tomorrow." She thought for a moment. "I suppose I will have to go out and buy some groceries and get the dry cleaning. So at least I will get out of the house. Ah well, you and Anakin will return in the evening. I think I will make something special for dinner tomorrow night." Palpatine laughed. "What's so funny?" she asked. He took her in his arms.

"Ah, how quickly we return to our mundane, ordinary lives," he joked, kissing her. After a moment, she laughed too.

"I was just thinking," she began, laughing again.

"Yes?" he asked mildly.

"Well, our marriage is so scandalous… we're constantly in the tabloids… people whisper about us behind their hands at those political functions we're always attending… Wouldn't everyone be surprised to learn how, well, how ordinary our life together really is?" Now Palpatine was laughing.

"You're right. I'm sure they all imagine that I'm, hmm, what was the expression the one tabloid used? Rotten shagging?"
"Shagging me rotten," Sabé corrected him. "I think 'rotten shagging' would be something else entirely."

"All right," he agreed. "Anyway, they probably imagine that I'm 'shagging you rotten' every night, while we're actually just lying here talking about boring domestic things like the laundry and cook's days off."

"Well," she said after a moment, "We don't HAVE to just lie here, you know."

"The twins…" he began. She smiled.

"The doctors have said we're allowed," she told him.

"Have they?"

"They have." Remaining in his embrace, she rolled him onto his back so that she lay on top of him, her hair tumbling down over both their faces.

"Ah, the wench grows bold," he mused quietly. She giggled. He stroked her hair, running his fingers though its silken softness.

"You know, I AM known in certain circles as The Nubian Sexpot," she reminded him, reaching down with one hand. "Oh!" she exclaimed in mock surprise. "Look what I found!"

"Remind me," he said, pulling her nightgown up. "Is it 'rotten shagging' or 'shagging rotten'? I want to be sure to get it right."

Forty-five minutes later, Palpatine sat on the sofa in his living room. He was wrapped in a thick blue robe and sipping a brandy. Sabé sat next to him, gazing blankly at the floor, her hair in disarray, her hastily donned robe tied crookedly. Anakin, wearing a robe and clutching the hilt of his lightsaber, paced the floor in front of them.

"I am SO SORRY," he repeated again and again. Palpatine sighed and sipped his brandy.

"No I am sorry," Sabé murmured. "It is my fault." Palpatine put his arm around her and pulled her against him.

"It isn't anyone's fault," Palpatine said, kissing the top of her head. "Except perhaps mine. I should have known you weren't up to it."

"I was up to it," Sabé protested. She looked up at Palpatine. "It's just… when you were… and I looked up and saw your face, and my mind flashed on when he…" Her eyes filled with tears, and Palpatine held her more tightly.

"I'm sorry," Anakin said again. He shook his head, trying to make sense of what had happened moments ago. "I was sound asleep, and this scream woke me up, and I thought… I don't know what I thought. I didn't think. I just acted. I'm some Jedi Knight," he said bitterly, waving the hilt of his lightsaber for emphasis. "I can't protect her from the Sith, but I manage to protect her from her husband."

"It's not your fault, Anakin," Palpatine told him. "I'm actually grateful that you came running when you heard her scream."

"Well, next time I'll knock first," he promised.

"Hopefully, there will not be a next time," Palpatine said. They were all silent for a moment.

"One day," Sabé said slowly, "we will look back on this and laugh."

"I am surprised Anakin isn't laughing now," Palpatine said. Anakin glanced over at them, a gleam of humor in his eye.

"You know me pretty well, Palpatine," he said.

"After tonight, we all know each other pretty well," he retorted, honestly not intending the remark to be funny. That was it; Anakin couldn't contain his laughter any longer. After a moment, Sabé was giggling.

"Oh, the look on your face, Anakin… it was absolutely priceless." And now she was laughing too.

"The looks on your faces were pretty good too," Anakin said, now laughing so hard that he was gasping for air. "I never saw Palpatine's eyes get so big."

"Well, it's not often I'm literally caught in the act of making love to my wife by a naked Jedi Knight brandishing an ignited lightsaber and yelling 'what the fuck is going on?' at the top of his lungs. I'm lucky I didn't have a heart attack!"

"You?" Anakin said. "I thought I was gonna have one. I could have fucking DIED when I stormed into your bedroom and saw…" He waved his hand, unwilling to continue that train of thought. Anakin glanced at Palpatine, a wicked glint in his eye. "Wait 'til I tell Padmé…"

"You wouldn't!" Palpatine protested, mortified. Sabé only laughed harder.

"Good morning, Chancellor," Sara said brightly as Palpatine strolled through the reception area of his suite of offices. "That must've been a really nasty cold you had. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thank you Sara," he said, giving her a warm smile.

"Good. Last time I saw you, you just weren't acting like yourself."

"Well, I wasn't really myself then," he told her, opening his office. You've no idea how true that is, he thought. He went to his desk and sat down. The e-mail icon was flashing on his computer monitor, the voicemessage light on his voicephone was blinking, and mail was piled up in his inbox. He sighed.

"There you are, Palpatine," Valorum said, walking into the office.

"Here I am," Palpatine agreed. He began leafing through the stack of mail, tossing some into the trashcan after only the briefest glance. "Damn junk mail," he muttered.

"I haven't seen you for awhile," Valorum continued, taking a seat across from Palpatine's desk.

"Hmmm," Palpatine replied absently.

"Understand you had a bit of a cold."

"What?"

"A cold. Sara said you had a cold, old boy. Feeling better now?"

"Look at this rubbish," Palpatine complained, still sorting through the mail.

"Take anything for it?" Valorum asked.

"What, for the rubbish?"

"No, you silly old goose. For your cold."

"No."

"You should have," Valorum advised. "You still don't look all that hot."

"Don't I? I can't think why." Palpatine imagined the look on Valorum's face if he were to tell his old friend about his misadventures the previous night. Still cringing in embarrassment at the memory, he brought his mind back to the present and realized Valorum was asking him a question. "I'm sorry, my mind wandered. What were you saying?"

"I said, I heard your intern quit while you were gone." Palpatine looked up from his papers.

"What?"

"Sara didn't tell you?" Palpatine shook his head. "Damnedest thing. She just walked out. Went to lunch and never came back. Honestly, kids today…"

Sabé collected the last item on her grocery list and pushed the hovercart towards the checkout counters. As she maneuvered the cart into line, she glanced over at the magazine rack and saw her own face staring back from the cover of one of Coruscant's most notoriously sleezy tabloids. In front of her, two bored housewives were perusing a copy of the same tabloid, scrutinizing the photographs and loudly speculating about the Chancellor's marriage.

"He doesn't love her," the first one said. "She's just a trophy, a pretty thing he can dangle on his arm when he goes to those fancy political shindigs." Sabé pulled the hood of her lavender cloak up even further and ducked her head, hoping that she would not be recognized.

"Well, he never would've gotten her if he weren't the Supreme Chancellor," the second one said. "Look at her, she's beautiful. Why would a beautiful young girl like that marry him if it weren't for the power he has?" Never one to stand by timidly, Sabé could remain quiet no longer.

"Perhaps they love each other," she suggested. The two housewives turned towards her, identical looks of incredulity on their faces.

"Honey," the second woman said, "If you believe that, you don't know much about much."

"It does say here that she had power of her own before she married him," the first one observed as she scanned the article. "Says here she is Lady of Naboo."

"What's a Naboo?"

"Naboo is the planet they're from," the first woman said. "Look, it says here that she was one of the Naboo queen's handmaidens." The second woman shrugged.

"What has more prestige, being some queen's handmaiden or being the Supreme Chancellor's wife? Get serious. Palpatine's no prize. He's ugly and I hear he's got the personality of an eggplant on top of it. If he didn't have all that power, she never would've even looked twice at him. She's just like that conniving little bitch who stole my husband," the second woman continued. "These little sluts don't care about the men, they just want what the men can give them. Money, power, position, you name it. But they have to pay the price, letting those old horny toads pump away on top of them night after night - "

"How do you dare!" Sabé exclaimed furiously, her head jerking up and her hood falling down around her shoulders. "Just because your own husband left you for a younger woman!" The two housewives stared at her in shock as she continued. "Well and well, it is little wonder he did, is it? No doubt he preferred her company to that of a gossiping shrew who spends more time worrying about what other people are doing than she does worrying about whether he is happy! You know nothing of the people you gossip about, aside from the lies you read in these seedy tabloids. It is a shame that you have nothing more important to occupy your mind. Perhaps if you did, you would still be married!" As Sabé paused for breath, she was dimly aware that she was creating a scene, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. "So I suggest that you get yourself a hobby, get yourself a new man, and leave the rest of us alone!" Sabé noticed her fellow shoppers gaping at her in amazement and she felt the blush creep up her cheeks.

"You tell 'em, girl!" one woman yelled from the next lane over.

"Oh my," Sabé murmured, mortified at her own outburst. She pulled her hood back up over her head and hastily put her groceries on the conveyor belt.

"You do your own shopping?" Sabé turned her head to see the second housewife staring at her.

"Yes," she replied shortly. "As do you, I see. And what of it?"

"I'm surprised," the second woman continued. "I would have thought you'd have servants to do it." Sabé shrugged. "Look," the woman continued, "I'm sorry about…"

"It is nothing to me," Sabé replied coldly.

"Listen, I'm trying to apologize here - " Sabé cut her off.

"Think you that you're the first to say those things about my husband and I? You are not even the first to say them to my face." The woman had the good grace to look embarrassed. "I care not what anyone says." She gave the cashier a fifty credit note and began putting bags of groceries in her hovercart. "And I am far too busy to stand here and listen to an apology that you do not truly mean."

"Hey - "

"You are not sorry for what you said. You are only sorry that I heard it and now you feel like an ill-mannered fool." Still fuming, Sabé pushed the hovercart out of the store.

Wanted, Palpatine typed. Intern for Palpatine of Naboo. Must be willing to work long hours for little pay and virtually no recognition (at least I am honest). Should be able to type, file, greet visitors, schedule appointments, answer calls, and… he sipped his coffee and made a face. …make a decent cup of coffee. Apply in person at the Supreme Chancellor's suite, Senate Building. Ask for Sara. He reread the advert a few times, nodded to himself, and posted it to the GovNet board where the political science students hung out online. The intercom on his desk beeped, and he pushed the acknowledge button.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Anakin Skywalker is here to see you, sir," Sara's voice said over the intercom.

"Oh?" Palpatine asked.

"Yes. He says it's important." Palpatine sighed.

"I suppose you'd better send him in," he finally said. A moment later, his office door slid open, and Sara appeared, escorting a man in a brown Jedi cloak, the hood pulled up over his head. "Thank you, Sara," Palpatine told her. She nodded and left, the door sliding shut behind her. The Knight removed his hood.

"Hey, Palpatine," Anakin said, taking a seat across from Palpatine's desk. "How are you doing?" Palpatine rubbed his eyes.

"How do you think?"

"Yeah, well…" Anakin brought his thumb to his mouth and began chewing nervously on its cuticle. Palpatine sensed that Anakin was having a difficult time getting around to the reason for this audience.

"How are things at the Temple?" Palpatine asked. Anakin sighed.

"I just finished reading Darth Sidious's journal." Palpatine frowned.

"Who is Darth Sidious?" he asked.

"That's right, of course you wouldn't know. Darth Sidious was the Sith name your brother was given." Palpatine was quiet for a long moment.

"I see," he finally said. "And this journal… I suppose it's filled with terrible things?" Anakin nodded.

"I'm afraid so. In fact, I came here to warn you about one of them."
"Oh?"

"Yeah. Evidently Sidious was involved in some kind of deal with your old pals from the Trade Federation. They agreed to help him get you elected Chancellor and to help him take over your position in exchange for…."

"For what?" Palpatine asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"For being given free reign to operate a slaving franchise openly throughout the entire Galaxy. Your… ah, Sidious planned to declare himself Emperor eventually – Emperor Palpatine."

"My goodness, how awful."

"He was going to dissolve the Senate and control everything directly," Anakin finished. "Everyone in the Galaxy would have eventually been a slave to him in one way or another."

"My gods," Palpatine said quietly, his head spinning. "That's just… dreadful."

"Yeah," Anakin said quietly. He stood. "So I figured you'd want to keep an eye on those clowns. Who knows what they might pull next." Palpatine sighed.

"It's always something, isn't it? I'm beginning to think I am not destined to have a quiet life."

"Oh Chase," Brock Hardman moaned. "I'll do anything, if only you'll take me back! I've been such a fool!"

"You sure have," Sabé muttered at the tiny holovid that was projected into a small square on her kitchen countertop. She dumped a cup of flour into a bowl and added two eggs, returning her attention to "As Alderaan Turns".

"Oh Brock," Chase Flittertwit moaned. "It's you I've always loved! Take me now, you big stud!" Sabé groaned in disgust.

"Idiot child," she muttered. "He'll only cheat on you again." The main door to the apartment slid open.

"Hi honey," Anakin called. "I'm home." He walked into the kitchen. "How are our beautiful children?" he asked Sabé jokingly.

"I killed them and I'm baking them into this cake," she replied, matching his tone as she stirred the cake batter.

"Good," he replied. "They got on my nerves anyway." She laughed.

"How was the Temple?" she asked. He shrugged, opening the refrigeration unit.

"OK I guess," he said, sounding like a kid telling his mom about his first day of school. He shut the fridge door and got a spoon out of a drawer. "We're still going through all that stuff we took from the Sith's Cloister," he told her, opening the jar of peanut butter he'd gotten out of the fridge. He spooned out a healthy portion and shoved it in his mouth. "Mwgh uma," he told her, his mouth peanut buttered shut.

"Anakin," she chided. "You shouldn't eat it out of the container. Palpatine would go spare if he could see you." Anakin shrugged.

"Anyway, we'll be at it for a long time. That guy had a lot of junk."

"Have you heard from Padmé?" she asked.

"No," he replied, taking another spoonful of peanut butter. "Mve moo?"

"No. But she probably hasn't even gotten to Tatooine yet. I can't wait to hear what this Owen Lars person is like. Imagine Obi-Wan having a brother."

"Yeah," Anakin said, swallowing. "He's a moister farmer."

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure... I THINK it has something to do with extracting moisture from the atmosphere. I never paid much attention to farming when I was there. I hung with the podracers, pilots and mechanics." Sabé reached over and switched off the holovid.

"Listen, Anakin," she began.

"Yeah?" He shoved another spoonful of peanut butter into his mouth.

"I'm sorry about last night. I…" Unable to look at him, she measured out sugar and dumped it in the bowl.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "It's not something you get over overnight, I'm sure…. I mean, what happened to you." She nodded. He walked over and put his arm around her. "Just remember, he can't hurt you or anyone else ever again. He's dead." She sighed.

"My only regret," she said quietly, "is that he died so quickly."

"You had an uneventful journey?" Palpatine asked Padmé's holographic image.

"Yes… it was wonderfully boring," she replied. "I have had enough excitement to last me for awhile." He nodded.

"And how are the twins?"

"They've grown since you last saw them," she said, smiling. "In fact, they've grown since I last saw them! It seems that a few weeks on Tatooine hasn't done them any harm."

"I am absolutely dying to know," Palpatine said. "What is this Owen Lars person like?"

"Grim," Padmé replied. "Abrasive. Pragmatic. I doubt he's ever cracked a smile in his life." Palpatine shook his head.

"So he's nothing like Obi-Wan," he said.

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "They have the same father, different mothers. The father never married either one of the women."

"That doesn't sound like Obi-Wan," Palpatine replied.

"How so?"

"Well, if Obi-Wan ever put a girl in the club, he'd do the responsible thing." Padmé laughed.

"Speaking of girls who are in the club, how is Sabé?" she asked. He hesitated a moment before answering.

"As well as can be expected, I suppose," he said finally. She frowned.

"Problems?" she asked, switching to Nubian.

"None that I'm willing to discuss on an open channel in any language," he replied, also in Nubian. She sighed.

"Very well," she agreed. "I will be there soon, and then we will talk."

"Until then," he said, breaking the connection. Sara walked into his office.

"You posted on GovNet about a new intern?" she asked.

"Yes, a few hours ago," he told her. "Why?" She sighed.

"You should see the crowd in your outer office," she told him. "There are at least sixty students here wanting the job."

"That many?"

"Yes, sir. That many."

"I am astonished," he said.

"Well, working in the Supreme Chancellor's office will look really good on a résumé."

"Ah, yes… well, have you begun to sort them out?" She shook her head.

"No, I don't have time. I'm going to take their résumés and schedule appointments for them to come back and interview with me. But in the meantime, I was hoping you'd post a message saying that we have all the applicants we can handle for the moment." He nodded.

"Certainly. In fact, I'll do it now," he promised. She smiled gratefully.

"Thanks. Oh, by the way, there is one applicant who really stands out from the others."

"Oh?"

"Yes. He attends Coruscant University." Palpatine's eyebrows went up.

"My," he said. "Very impressive." She shook her head.

"Yeah, but that's not it. Most of these kids are the best and brightest, but this kid has nerve, too - a LOT of nerve. Know what he said to me?" Palpatine shook his head. "He told me to come in here and tell you that you don't even need to bother with the other applicants, because, and he told me it's very important to say it to you exactly like this, 'those guys are weird'." To her surprise, Palpatine smiled.

"A Rodian, is he?" he asked. Her eyebrows went up.

"Yes," she confirmed, sounding puzzled. "How did you know, sir?" Palpatine's smile grew wider.

"Tell him he's hired, and send the others away. I'll write a post to GovNet saying the position's been filled."

"Don't you even want me to look at his résumé first?" He shook his head.

"No, I'm sure he's a very hard worker."

"Well, don't you at least want to meet him?" she asked.

"No, there's no need," he replied. Sara shrugged.

"Whatever you say, sir," she agreed, walking out. Palpatine leaned back in his chair.

Wait until I tell Anakin, he thought. Still smiling, Palpatine got to work composing another post for the GovNet board.

Chapter 9

The door chime sounded, and Sabé went to answer it. The apartment door slid open to reveal the two small Skywalker children clutching plastic shopping bags. They were accompanied by Anakin and a very tired looking Padmé. The twins raced into the apartment, while their parents followed at a more sedate pace. Anakin nodded a greeting at Sabé and continued up the hallway towards the bedrooms, Force-levitating a pile of luggage behind him.

"We brought gifts for everyone!" Luke told Sabé happily as she bent to hug him. Gently, he put his small arms around her heck. "See? I remembered not to hug you too hard. Was that OK?" he asked, sounding concerned. Sabé laughed.

"It was fine, child." She bent to hug Leia. "My, how you've grown!"

"Haven't they?" Padmé asked. She embraced Sabé, and then stared critically at her friend's stomach. "It seems you've grown a tiny bit too!" Sabé laughed, patting the barely noticeable bulge in her otherwise flat abdomen.

"No need to order the maternity wardrobe just yet," she said.

"Mummy said you're going to have some babies!" Luke said.

"Twins like us," Leia added.

"That's right," Sabé said.

"We know where babies come from," Leia told her sagely. Sabé smiled.

"Oh?"

"Yes," Leia said. "They grow in women's tummies."

"That's right," Sabé agreed.

"But how do they get out?" Leia asked. Sabé and Padmé exchanged a look.

"Well," Padmé began.

"And how do they get IN there in the first place?" Luke asked.

"Ah, well…" Sabé began, blushing.

"So," Anakin said, walking into the living room. "Where are these gifts I was promised?"

"Here!" The twins exclaimed in unison, holding up their shopping bags and momentarily forgetting their curiosity about the logistics involved in getting babies into and out of women's tummies.

"Thank you," Padmé mouthed to her husband.

"Sure," he agreed. "Er, for what?"

"Never mind," Sabé said.

"Where is Uncle?" Luke asked suddenly.

"He is working, child," Sabé answered. Luke frowned.

"We can't give out gifts until he gets back," he informed them.

"That's right," Leia nodded. "Everyone has to be here."

"Ben too," Luke added. Anakin frowned.

"Obi-Wan," he corrected. Luke shook his head.

"Don't say that name in THIS house, mister," he muttered.

"What did you say, Luke?" Padmé asked.

"Uncle Owen doesn't like Ben being a Jedi," Leia supplied. "Uncle Owen said Ben is a crazy wizard, all Jedi are."

"I don't know if I would go that far," Sabé murmured.

"Well, in THIS house you will call him 'Obi-Wan' as you are supposed to do," Anakin told them firmly.

"And he's a pre-vert," Luke suddenly said.

"Pervert," Padmé corrected automatically, and then frowned. "Who's a pervert?"

"Ben, I mean Obi-Wan," Leia said. "Uncle Owen said so."

"Well, Uncle Owen is not right about everything," Anakin said. The twins nodded soberly.

"What's a pervert?" Luke asked curiously. Padmé and Anakin exchanged a glance.

"Anyone who doesn't behave the way Uncle Owen believes they should," Padmé finally replied.

"Oh," Leia said brightly. "Then Luke and I are perverts too!"

"That's not – " Padmé began. The main door slid open.

"Hello everybody," Palpatine said cheerfully as he walked into the living room, dropping his attaché case on a chair.

"Uncle!" The twins exclaimed, racing over for hugs.

"My goodness, how you've grown," he told them, hugging them both.

"We brought gifts!" Leia told him.

"And holopics," Luke added. "Want to see?"

"Children, let Uncle sit down and relax for a moment," Padmé chided.

"That's quite all right," Palpatine said, walking over to greet her. "Your – " he began.

"Ah," she said, wagging a finger at him. He smiled.

"Padmé," he said warmly, hugging her. The door chime sounded and Sabé went to answer it.

"I heard there are two very unruly children here," Obi-Wan said, following Sabé into the living room.

"Ben!" Leia yelled, throwing herself into his arms.

"Pre-vert," Luke muttered.

"What?" Obi-Wan asked curiously. Padmé shot her son a quelling look.

"Never mind," she said through clenched teeth. Luke shrugged sheepishly.

"Gift time!" Leia said, holding up her plastic shopping bag.

"All right," Padmé agreed, smiling. She sat on the sofa with Anakin, while Palpatine and Obi-Wan took seats across from them. Sabé perched on the arm of Palpatine's chair.

"Daddy first!" Luke decided, handing Anakin a small, hastily wrapped object. Anakin soon found that whoever had wrapped his present had been overzealous in the application of tape. "Open it!" Luke urged impatiently as Anakin struggled with the wrapping paper.

"I'm trying!" he said, laughing.

"I TOLD you not to use so much tape," Leia scolded.

"It's all right," Anakin said, hoping to forestall an argument between the twins. "See? I got it open." He looked down at the object, his face breaking into a big grin. "Well, thank you!" he said, holding up the small replica of a podracer for the others to see. "I used to race in a podracer not too different from this." Anakin hugged his children.

"I'm glad you like it, Daddy," Leia said.

The twins continued to distribute the gifts. There was a bottle of perfume for Padmé, a canister of herbal tea for Sabé, a packet of seeds that would grow into a very rare variety of purple-black petunia for Palpatine, and a white t-shirt for Obi-Wan that proclaimed in red lettering, "My Padawan Learner Went to Mos Eisley Spaceport and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt".

"We also bought gifts for all the handmaidens, and a silly hat for Captain Panaka," Luke told his parents.

"Just what Panaka needs: another silly hat," Anakin murmured, earning an elbow in the ribs from his wife.

"What thoughtful children you've raised," Palpatine remarked. "I hope Sabé and I do as well."

"I'm sure you will," Padmé told him.

"We're going to teach them to be Jedi like us," Luke said.

"Really?" Palpatine asked, amused.

"Yeah, I had a dream about it," Leia said offhandedly. "When Luke and I are made Knights, they'll be our Padawans." Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance.

"Well," Sabé said, standing. "That's very interesting, Leia. Why don't you and Luke come into the kitchen with me and we'll see if there are any cookies left."

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine," Padmé counted, running the brush through her shiny chestnut hair. "One hundred!" Anakin walked into the bedroom and came up behind her, putting his arms around her waist and pulling her against him.

"Beautiful," he murmured, burying his face in her softly scented hair and kissing her neck.

"Are the twins asleep?" she asked quietly. He smiled against her neck.

"Well on their way to dreamland," he assured her, slipping a hand inside the front of her silk dressing gown. "They could barely keep their eyes open while I read to them."

"I know how they feel!" she replied. "Traveling with two small children is not my idea of fun. 'Are we there yet?' 'When are we getting there?' For two days. TWO DAYS, Anakin." Anakin laughed, pulling his hand out of her gown. "What are you doing?" she asked, turning to face him.

"I thought you were tired…" he began. She smiled up at him.

"I am," she replied, putting her arms around him. "But I'm not too tired for THAT!"

"Today, you're going to learn the fundamentals of using a lightsaber," Master Windu told the children who were seated on the floor before him, their legs folded and their faces turned attentively upward. Anakin and Obi-Wan stood in the back of the gymnasium, watching Windu pace the floor as he lectured the class. "This is a lightsaber," The Jedi Master said, holding the hilt of his weapon aloft for all to see. He ignited it, the green blade humming as he sliced it through the air. He walked over to a metal pipe that was resting on two supports. "It is not a toy," Windu said, at the same time bringing the green blade down to slice the metal pipe neatly in two. As the pieces clattered and clanked on the floor, the children oooed and ahhhed appreciatively. "Now," Windu said, deactivating the lightsaber and hooking it on his belt, "using a lightsaber is more complicated than 'the bright end goes in the other guy'." Several children giggled, and Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged smiles at Windu's old joke. "At all times, you will observe the safety rules. Rule number one: There is to be no horseplay. Failure to observe this rule will result in ten demerits AND indefinite suspension from this class. Rule number two…" Anakin and Obi-Wan listened as Windu went through all of the safety rules. Some of the children began to fidget impatiently. Anakin smiled as he saw Luke wriggling and squirming in his place on the floor. Master Windu suddenly stopped talking and focused his attention on the small blond boy. "Am I boring you, Padawan Skywalker?" Anakin saw the blond head shake in denial.

"No, sir," Luke said respectfully.

"Then why are you having such a difficult time paying attention?"

"Uh, I have to pee," Luke told him seriously. "Sir," he added belatedly. The other children snickered and giggled and watched Master Windu fight an unsuccessful battle to maintain his serious demeanor.

"Very well, Padawan Skywalker," Windu said gravely. The two Jedi watched the small child make his way to the gymnasium's exit as Windu resumed speaking.

"You know, this is good for them," Obi-Wan told Anakin quietly, meaning the twins. "They need other teachers besides us." Anakin nodded.

"Yeah, they really should be trained here at the Temple. But Padmé will not budge on the subject." Obi-Wan sighed.

"Well, at least they can attend classes here while we are occupied with the study of the Sith."

"Which reminds me," Anakin said, digging in the pocket of his robe to retrieve a piece of paper. "I got a message earlier. Palpatine wants to see me."

"About what?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin shrugged.

"Beats me," he said, turning to leave the gym. "I have to admit it makes for an interesting change. Usually when I show up at his office, he tells me to get lost." Obi-Wan laughed.

"That's because you usually only show up at his office when you're bored and need someone to torment," he said.

"There may be some small kernel of truth in that," Anakin agreed, laughing. "Want to tag along?" Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Can't," he replied. "Yoda has me teaching Intermediate Dueling this afternoon."

"Remember," Anakin told him, "the bright end goes in the other guy." Obi-Wan smirked.

"Cute."

"I have evidence, Viceroy," Palpatine told the Neimoidian's holographic image. The Viceroy's mouth turned down in displeasure.

"I am not aware of any evidensssse," the Neimoidian hissed, shrugging elaborately. "Ssssurely if we were running a sssslave ring, ssssomeone would have complained to the SSSssssenate, Palpatine."

"Chancellor Palpatine," he corrected irritably, looking up to see Anakin standing in his office doorway. Sara, who stood just out of range of the holophone's camera, motioned to Anakin to remain where he was for the moment.

"Of courssse," the Viceroy agreed, bowing his head in contrition. "I intended no disssspressspect."

"I'm sure," Palpatine replied sarcastically. "I am warning you, Viceroy, that I intend to appoint a Special Committee to conduct a thorough investigation."

"I am not worried about it. There is no evidensssse." Palpatine's eyebrows went up.

"Are you certain about that, Viceroy?" he asked innocently, motioning Anakin forward into the camera's range. "This is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. He and the other Jedi are investigating this matter as we speak." A worried expression crept across the Viceroy's face.

"That's right, Viceroy," Anakin agreed. "We happen to have in our possession a number of records which document your connections not only to a slave ring, but to the Sith as well. Once we are done sorting through them, we will submit them to the Chancellor's Office."

"That issss IMPOSSSIBLE!" The Neimoidian protested, sounding close to panic. "There issss no evidensssse!" Palpatine smiled coldly.

"We will see," he replied icily, motioning to Sara to cut the connection. The hologram winked out of existence. Sara walked over and took a seat near Palpatine's desk, which was littered with papers, two sub sandwiches, potato chips and drinks. She picked up a half-eaten submarine sandwich and took a bite.

"So uh, whazzup?" Anakin asked, sitting. He reached over, picked up Palpatine's sandwich and took a bite.

"That's my lunch!" Palpatine protested, half-rising and attempting to snatch the sandwich out of Anakin's hand.

"Yuck," Anakin said, tossing the sandwich back on the desk. "You can keep it."

"What's wrong, too healthy for you?" Palpatine asked acidly, picking the sandwich up and inspecting it carefully, as though he expected to see germs crawling all over it.

"Must be it." Anakin agreed amiably. "So, is that what you wanted to see me about?" he asked, indicating the Neimoidian Viceroy by motioning towards the holophone. "You needed a Big Bad Jedi to scare his scaly little ass?" Palpatine shook his head.

"No," he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Uh, hey," a voice said from the doorway. They looked over to see a Rodian standing there, clutching a book titled Learn Nubian In Thirty Days. "I just stopped by to say hi to Jedi Skywalker here."

"I see you're moving up in the world," Anakin said, grinning.

"Yeah," the Rodian agreed.

"How's the book, Gordo?" Sara asked, pulling her thick, curly red hair back and using a rubber band to secure it into a ponytail. The Rodian shrugged and said something in Nubian. Palpatine leaned forward in his seat, his brows furrowed.

"No, I don't believe I want to borrow your beach ball," he replied, obviously amused. "I do appreciate the offer, though."

"The book is crap," Gordo told Sara. Anakin laughed.

"Lemme see it," he said, taking the book. The Jedi flipped through the pages for a moment, then looked up at Palpatine and spoke in Nubian.

"Very funny," Palpatine replied, his cheeks crimsoning. A huge grin on his face, Anakin continued to read from the book until Palpatine snatched it out of his hand. "I think that will be enough vulgarity for one day, Anakin."

"You are zero fun, Palpatine. You know that, right?"

"So I've been told," Palpatine agreed, sighing. Sara finished her sandwich, tossed the wrapper in the trash, and stood.

"Don't forget what I told you, sir," she said, picking up her soda and a bunch of papers.

"Maternity leave, right," he replied absently, taking another bite of sandwich. Sara shook her head.

"No, I will be leaving permanently when the baby is born," she reminded him.

"Oh yes, right." he agreed.

"You're having a baby?" Anakin asked. She smiled and nodded, patting her flat abdomen.

"Yeah, in about eight months or so," she said.

"Congratulations," Anakin told her. Palpatine took another bite of his sandwich and pointed at the Rodian.

"There's your replacement," he told her. Gordo's mouth fell open in astonishment. "Begin training him," Palpatine continued, finishing the sandwich.

"I… I don't know what to say, sir," Gordo said.

"Say you'll take the job," Anakin instructed.

"I'll take the job," he replied obediently. "I can't believe I just went from being a lowly intern to the Supreme Chancellor's personal assistant." As he turned to follow Sara out, Anakin's voice stopped him.

"Say it," the Jedi prompted, grinning.

"You guys are weird," Gordo told them, following Sara out of the office. The door slid shut.

"She looks familiar," Anakin said, meaning Sara.

"You've seen her a hundred times, Anakin," Palpatine reminded him. "She ought to look familiar by now." Anakin made a face.

"Yeah, but I know I've seen her somewhere else…" Anakin thought for a moment. "Of course! I've seen a holopic of her."

"Really? Where?"

"At the Temple. Her husband is a Jedi Master. Master Gabriel Jade."

"Ah, yes, that's right," Palpatine agreed. "I'd forgotten that."

"So," Anakin said, leaning forward in his seat. "What did you want to see me about?"

"That bastard Maurice," Palpatine said quietly.

"Yeah," Anakin agreed. "Your brother was a real sweetheart." Palpatine snorted. He stood and looked out the window at the air traffic outside. It was a while before he spoke.

"You say the Force is strong in me," he said quietly.

"Yeah, it is," Anakin agreed.

"I wonder what made my brother's master choose him over me. I wonder about that a lot, Anakin." Anakin stood and joined Palpatine at the window.

"It's not your fault," Anakin told him, laying a hand on the Chancellor's shoulder. Palpatine jumped in surprise at the sharp crackling shock, like a charge of static electricity. He saw that Anakin was giving him an odd look. "Did you feel that?" Anakin asked.

"Of course I felt it," Palpatine replied. "Why?" Anakin smiled.

"That's what happens when two Force auras come into contact. I'm surprised you felt it, though. You were never trained to use the Force. It's a shame. You would've made a great Jedi."

"I doubt that very much," Palpatine said. Anakin was quiet for a moment.

"According to your brother's journal, your family was traveling to Deneba when your ship was attacked. You were going to visit some of your mother's relatives. Your mother was very proud, because both of you had been accepted for training at the Temple."

"That can't be," Palpatine said, astonished. "The Naboo – "

"Your family wasn't Naboo," Anakin reminded him. Palpatine nodded.

"Of course," he murmured. He gave Anakin a funny smile. "We would have been Jedi… ah, you don't know how ironic that is. When I was lying in my brother's prison, I wished that I were a Jedi."

"Your children will be Jedi," Anakin said. "That is, if you will send them for training."

"They will be trained," Palpatine said firmly.

"Oh? And what does Sabé say about that?" Anakin wondered.

"I have not discussed it with her, though I have no doubt I will have a fight on my hands. However, I am not going to budge on this. If the Temple wants them for training, they will go. I was unable to defend myself from my brother, and I will not make that mistake with my children. They must be able to defend themselves if the need arises."

"Your brother was the last of the Sith," Anakin told him. "Your children will never face that threat."

"Was the Dark side destroyed when my brother died?"

"No," Anakin admitted, frowning. Palpatine smiled sadly.

"There will be other Sith, Anakin. As long as the power exists, someone will find a way to abuse it for his own ends. The Jedi should not be studying my brother's possessions; they should destroy them." Anakin sighed.

"I don't know, Palpatine. You could be right."

CHECK OUT CHAPTER 10, POSTED SEPARATELY…