I awoke to the smell of flowers and coffee. Padmé was sitting at a small table across the room from the bed, wearing a satiny pink robe with her hair tossed back in a ribbon. The table was set for two with many small dishes of Nubian delicacy. She ate breakfast while looking out of the open balcony door at a waterfall and meadow, the breeze filling the room with a sweet aroma.
Upon hearing me stir in the bed, she turned around and smiled, setting her mug down. She walked over to my side of the bed and sat on the rumpled covers. Stroking my hair, she bid me good morning.
I stretched as I pushed off the covers and pulled myself up into a sitting position. I leaned over and kissed her as I stood up and made my way to the refresher.
When I emerged from the bathroom, Padmé wasn't in the room. The table had been cleared and the clothes removed from the floor. Just then, I heard a conversation outside in the hall.
"But, My Lady, he is a Sith Lord! You cannot possibly go with him. I will not let you." I recognized the first speaker as the overprotective handmaiden, Sabé. During the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo about fifteen years earlier, Sabé had served as Padmé's decoy, stepping in as queen whenever the situation might have been too dangerous. They had been best friends for as long as I could remember.
"Sabé, don't be silly! He loves me. He wouldn't let any harm come to the child or me. He won't allow Palpatine to take me prisoner."
"My Lady, please understand my concern. I simply -- "
"I understand your concern, Sabé, and it is unnecessary. I am going with Anakin and that is final. I strongly feel that he has changed, that he just needed me to show him who he really is. I feel I have accomplished that. Now please, go to the others and inform them that I will be traveling to Coruscant with Anakin, alone."
With obvious reluctance in her voice, Sabé complied. "Yes, My Lady."
As her footsteps retreated down the hall, Padmé reentered the room with an air of frustration. She threw herself into one of the dining chairs and sighed heavily.
"She may be my best friend, but she can be impossible at times."
I stood behind her and massaged her shoulders. The tension surrounded and emanated from her.
"Padmé, you need to relax. Stress is not the best thing for you in your condition."
"Stress is a daily part of a senator's life." She placed her hands on mine and turned her head to face me. "Not meaning to be negative or anything, but why did you come back?"
I stopped massaging and took a seat next to her, ran my hands through my hair, and sighed.
She leaned forward and inquired of me with her worried eyes. "What is it, Ani?"
I felt the battle within me. Should I stick with my original intention and take her back to Palpatine? Or should I act on this rediscovered love and take her and the child away to safety?
I heard that all-too-familiar voice speaking to me. Vader, you are so powerful now, so much more powerful than you could ever be. And you still have so much more to gain by serving me. Come back to your senses, Vader! Remember, love weakens; women weaken! Do not give in to your weakness!
I snapped back into reality, with a newfound sense of my mission and smiled at Padmé.
"I told you, love, I came back for you. Originally it was to take you back to Palpatine. Now I have rediscovered how deep our love really is. I'm still going to take you to Coruscant, but I'm going to hide you from him. I will not let harm come to you or the child."
She smiled, obviously sensing the sincerity I had put up around my being and mind as a façade. She rose from her chair and began packing.
In what used to be the deep, dark corner of my mind, into which I had put all my hate and fear and anger when I was a Jedi, I thought to myself, We can't have harm come to her until the child is born. He is going to fulfil his destiny and rule the galaxy at my side.
***
Once back on Coruscant, Jar Jar greeted us out on the landing platform. As soon as Padmé stepped off of the starship's ramp ahead of me, he ran up to her, completely forgetting proper senatorial behavior. His long earlobes and formal robes flapped behind him as he ran to fiercely embrace Padmé.
"Lady Padmé! Mesa so happy to seein yousa!"
She laughed and gently pushed him off. "It's good to see you, Jar Jar."
Jar Jar's eyes widened as he looked down at her stomach. "Me lady, with all doo 'spect, yousa gotten quite maxi-big!"
"Jar Jar, I'm seven months pregnant."
"Ahh! Me apologies. Congrats!"
"Thank you, Jar Jar."
I stepped up beside Padmé and set our bags down.
He looked up at me and his smile disappeared. His face darkened slightly as he said, "Anakin, mesa no seein yousa in long-o time."
Jar Jar had rarely called me Anakin; ever since I had met him, he had called me Ani. With a business-like air, I said, "It was good seeing you again, Senator Binks. However, if you don't mind, Padmé and I have some business to take care of."
"Oh, pardon mesa, sir. Go wight 'head."
With that, I picked up our bags and gently took Padmé's elbow, steering her around the Gungan and the few guards who had accompanied him. Once the door to the landing platform had slid shut, Padmé stopped and turned to face me, a look of disapproval in her eyes.
"Why were you so formal with Jar Jar? He used to be your friend. You could have been a -- "
"As you said, Padmé," I interrupted, "he used to be my friend."
She started to speak again, but I grabbed her arm a little more forcibly and led her to the turbolift at the end of the hall. I pushed the button of the floor we were going to. She must have sensed that talking further would not have been a good idea, as she remained silent.
The doors slid into their pockets and I led her out into a grand hallway. I glanced over at her as she gasped slightly. She must have easily recognized the ornate decor.
Her thoughts betrayed her feelings: Padmé, how could you let him trick you? Why didn't you listen to Sabé? You cannot let them hurt the child! Be wary.
I smirked as I addressed the Senate guards stationed outside of the newly self-proclaimed Emperor's main audience chamber.
The guard I had spoken to activated his wrist comm and raised it to his mouth. "Excellency, Lord Vader and Senator Amidala to see you."
The Emperor's cold, monotone voice answered, "Send them in."
The guard looked up from the comm and nodded as the other punched in a code to open the large doors.
Padmé resisted a little as I began to walk through the doorway. I sent a sideways glare in her direction and she complied. The Emperor rose from his chair in greeting.
"Lord Vader! I see that your mission was successful."
I felt Padmé cringe as I responded by falling to one knee and bowing my head. "Yes, Master."
"Rise, my friend." He came around his desk as I stood up.
He looked over at Padmé and his eyes immediately fell to her stomach. Looking back up, he addressed her, "Senator Amidala, it is so good to see you well." He extended his hand.
Her response was a glare and motionless silence.
He brought his hand back down and smiled upon hearing the thoughts that were reeling through her mind. He gently took her arm and led her to a plush, velvet-upholstered chair facing his desk. I followed and took the seat beside her as Palpatine returned to the high-backed hover-chair behind his dark, grand desk.
As he steepled his fingers, he began. "Let us get down to business. As you should know by now, Senator, Lord Vader is beyond turning back. I instructed him to bring you to back to Coruscant by any means necessary. And, as I can read in your and his thoughts and actions, he did as instructed."
I sensed the pain she felt at hearing this. I read into her thoughts: It was all a façade to get me back here and into this monster's clutches. He lied to me, then he used me. How could I have been so foolish as to believe that he had actually changed?
If Palpatine heard what she thought, he didn't let on. He continued speaking.
"Now, Senator, it's not that I don't trust you, but we will need to keep tight surveillance on you so you do not try to run away from us. I hope that this does not offend you."
He looked to Padmé as if anticipating an answer from her, but she remained motionless and silent. The ferocity in her eyes seemed that it could have sliced through duracrete as if it were butter. I fidgeted slightly, still not completely sure that this was the best decision. Palpatine looked at me and let me into his thoughts.
Do not worry, Vader. The choice you made was the right one. I assure you, no undue harm will come to her. As long as she cooperates, she will be quite taken care of. You have my word.
***
After the meeting, Palaptine ordered me to take Padmé to the quarters that he had arranged for her on a special floor in the Senate building. Walking down the hall to the turbolift, she had an icy air about her. Each time I tried to say something, she sent me a seering cold glance that silenced me. Those glances were the only times she acknowledged me the whole time. I thought that if I tried to take her arm to lead her, my hand would have been burned by the cold.
We reached the turbolift and entered. Just as the door was closing, I saw Obi-Wan down the hall. When he recognized Padmé and I, he broke out into a run. However, the door closed well before he could reach it.
Once at the correct level, I took Padmé's arm and led her down the hall, following the instructions Palpatine had given me. Several Senate guards confronted us, asking for our clearance code.
At least she will be well protected here.
Yet another pair of guards guarded the door to the room. They required more than just a clearance code. They requested a retinal scan of both of us before we could enter the room. We checked out and I escorted Padmé into the room. She sat down in a chair and stared at the opposite wall as I set her bags on the bed. I stood somewhat to her side, waiting to see if she was going to look at or talk to me. It seemed apparent that she wasn't going to after several awkward moments, so I turned around and made my way to the door.
Just before I punched in the door-opening sequence, she spoke to me.
"Anakin?" she asked quietly with a mix of anger, pleading, and pain in her voice.
I turned around and quietly said, "Yeah?"
She stood up and started wringing her hands, glancing haphazardly all over the room. She finally sighed and looked back at me. "I have to know the truth about one thing. You can lie about anything and everything else, but please tell me the truth about one thing."
She stopped to read my reaction. I cleared my thoughts of every false and insincere attitude, then nodded to inform her to go ahead and ask.
She lowered her eyes to the carpeted floor before she continued. "About what happened on Naboo, the night you came to get me." She looked back up at me. "Was all that just a ploy to get me to trust you again so I would come back? Did you lie to me when you said that you still loved me? Was it all a façade?"
Her soft brown eyes pleaded with me to say that her suspicions were wrong, that I still loved her and always had. Yet I could also sense her wanting me to say that none of it was real, that I had never loved her, so she wouldn't hurt so much. I stepped toward her and looked deep into her watery eyes. "I swear on my mother's grave that every word, every kiss, every embrace, every touch that night was sincere in intention. I did not deceive you, but nor did I plan to get involved with you again. But seeing you again . . . brought back so many memories, so many emotions that I had flushed from my being. However, now that I have had time to think things through, I have returned to the person I want to be, and that person is Vader. I am sorry, Padmé."
Her eyes dropped again, hiding the tear that fell. She nodded and gestured to me that I could leave. I watched her sit back down, rest her elbows on the table, and put her head in her hands before I left. I heard the muffled sobs even from behind the closed doors.
I turned to the guards stationed outside her room and sternly commanded, "You take good care of her, you hear?"
They nodded and said in unison, "Yes, Lord Vader."
I gave them a last glare as I turned on my heel, my cloak whipping behind me, and walked down the hall to the turbolift.