She awoke the next morning to the small line of light that escaped the shelter of her bedroom blinds. As she slowly sat up, running her fingers through her extensive mane of curly brown hair, she felt discouraged, for today, as every other day she was headed out to make a compromising deal with the Republic leaders. She hated getting up in the morning for another day filled with nothing but grief and deceit. She felt safe in her room, secure, it was he only place in the whole galaxy that she and Anakin could express their love for one another. Even outside their bedroom walls, they had to be careful incase of a visitor, but in their room, they didn't need to lie or deceive.

She slowly pulled the covers from her body and sauntered into the bathroom to get a drink of water. She then left the bathroom and headed into her closet. As she stood in front of all the elegant gowns she wondered which one to wear. She could always have an option on what to wear, she had gowns in all shapes and colors and designs. As she fumbled through them, she found a lovely emerald green dress, which she grabbed and examined. It was beautiful, and she had never worn it before, so she supposed why not wear it today.

So she then reluctantly removed the tunic that she had worn to sleep that night and tossed t to the floor. Putting the dress on, she felt a feeling of relief leave her, that she had had only a moment before, as if the blessed felling had just slipped right through her fingers. It looked beautiful on her slender figure and added a radiant shimmer to her look of sadness. The gown was a long one that had a trail at her feet. It also had lovely diamond detailing on the bodice that shimmered in the small crevice of sunlight that had peeked into her room. She finished off her elegant look with a pair of chandelier earrings, which reached down to her collarbone.

Once she was finished getting dressed she headed back into the bathroom, where she applied some rouge to her cheeks, and traced her lips with a glossy crimson lipstick. Then she reached up and did her hair in a large bun on top of her head. She then halfhearted walked out of their bedroom, as her brain ached with thoughts of her work day.

"Why, good morning mistress Padme." 3PO said joyously as he saw her enter the living room.

"Good morning." She replied, trying to sound ok.

"Are you alright?" he questioned, with a tone of concern, at least as much as his mechanical voice could offer.

"You know I'm not." She replied. "I miss him. It's just hard, especially not knowing where he is or when he's coming back to us."

"I know," he comforted as he came over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Well are you at least hungry?" he questioned.

"No, I'm ok, plus I'm going to be late." She said.

"Um…Alright." He replied, not knowing quite what to say.

"Thank you 3PO, you know I love you, you've become such a good friend of mine, and you're my guardian angel." She laughed.

"Miss Padme." He said. "If I were only human, I would be blushing now."

"I know you would." Was her reply, as she strolled towards the door. As she came closer, she could feel her throat close up a bit, because she knew what she had to face today. She knew that the moment she stepped out that door, she would be living a lie, she would have to see Rikan. The though scared her to death. She would just have to try and avoid him at all costs. He couldn't try and destroy her like that again. He couldn't try and take her away from her love again. So with one deep breath she strolled out the door, and headed to her speeder.

When she finally arrived at the Senate building, she felt sick. Getting out of her speeder, she headed to the main entrance of the building. As she walked she carefully surveyed the area, as she looked at her fellow senators entering the building.

"Good morning Senator Amidala." Said Senator Daba as he walked with a smile on his face.

"Good morning." She greeted back, using a false tone of happiness. She had become quite good at disguising her emotions. She always acted charismatic and happy, when really she was dying a little bit inside every day that passed, while Anakin wasn't around. She was so good at putting up this false mask so that people on the outside couldn't tell there was any kind of trauma going on in the invisible inside that no one knew about. This mask that she put up conveyed the idea of a beautiful young woman who was very happy with the senate, her job, and her overall life.

Once she reached the doors, she typed in the access code, and then entered the building, with a false smile plastered across her face. She then began walking down the long hallway that led to her office, as she studied the royal blue wallpaper that lined the tunnel of a corridor. When she finally reached her office door, which bore her name, Senator Padme Amidala Nabbarie, she cringed at the name tag, and though of what it was supposed to say. Padme Amidala Nabbarie Skywalker. At that moment she felt a hand grab her wrist, and she reeled around to see who had grabbed her.

She let out a sigh of relief as she looked at her good friend Bail Organa. "Hi" she piped in a tone of real happiness and reprieve. "Good to see you."

"As always it is a pleasure to see you too." He laughed, amused by her relief. "Are you ok?" he asked suddenly switching to a tone of seriousness.

"Um…Fine." She replied as she flashed him a smile.

"Ok, well you're not going to feel so good when I tell you this." He said hesitantly.

"What?" Padme questioned.

"Well, Padme," he said, "Palpatine has decided to take more emergency powers, and we are to vote on it today."

"You have to be kidding." She groaned.

"And this is the part where it becomes personal for you." He said in a tone of total displeasure. "He wants to take control of the Jedi Order."

"NO!" she snarled. "He can't do that. The Jedi are the only ones who can possibly control the incredible power that they possess. He can only destroy the Jedi and possibly the Republic; he can't deal with that kind of power."

"I know, and the part that disturbed me is that they will have to do whatever he tells them to." Bail piped in. "Can you imagine what he will do with your friends Obi-wan and Anakin Skywalker's power? Him, Palpatine, controlling Anakin Skywalker, the most powerful man in the universe. He's just a kid, how is he supposed deal with Palpatine?" he said as he shuddered at the thought.

"I don't know." She whimpered feeling even more scared for Anakin than ever.

"I am so sorry." He apologized.

"It's ok…oh, who am I kidding, It's not ok." She said.

"I know that this must be hard for you, but I promise that I will help in the counter attack speech today with you. There is a possibility that our fellow senators will agree with us and decline on his request." Bail suggested.

"It makes me sick." Padme spat. "He makes me sick. How he can persuade perfectly intelligent people to do stupid things like hand him over all the power he wants. I don't even see why he should be in charge of anything. All he does is lie to make people do what he wants, how our fellow senators can be fooled by this false hope, this false truth is beyond my understanding, and it makes me ill. Are they fools Bail? Are they? Or are they just too blind to se that these ridiculous falsehoods are all just one big master plan to destroy democracy. And the thing that makes me the most sick is that he already has been given some emergency powers, do they truly believe that he would give them back at the end of the war? It's like they believe every word he says." She cried.

"I know what you mean." He replied as he lifted a hand to his aching head. "Well I have to be going, I have a meeting with Senator Daba."

"Ok, well, I'll se you later then." Padme said, as she chocked out every word she said.

As she watched Senator Organa bustle down the hallway she began to feel like she was going to weep. How could this be possible? Could her day have gotten any worse? She knew that the answer was no. If Palpatine got control of the Jedi, then she would likely never see Anakin again. She shuddered at the thought as she opened her office door and entered. She slowly strolled to her desk chair as she once again reflected on her situation.

She somehow didn't feel as at home in politics as she used to feel. She used to live only for work. It was a lot of pressure being a senator, and it was surely a lot of pressure being the Queen when she was younger. Now that she thought about it politics had been her whole life since she was only 13 years old. But when Anakin reappeared in her life 2 ½ years ago, all that changed. She began to feel happy, and not so uptight. She had always done everything for work, but when he was around she felt like she was actually doing something for herself. She enjoyed his company so much, because he had such a power over her and she knew it, he could easily make her stressful senatorial job seem a whole lot easier when he kept her company, and he could always cheer up her dreary mood when she was overworked with one of his trademark half grins that he flashed her every so often. She also knew that Anakin thought that she was still to uptight about work and too much business, and she supposed that he was right because she had almost let him slip through her finger, telling him that they lived in a real world, and to come back to it, when he had revealed that he loved her. She loved him very much too, but she used to feel like work was more important than something as useless as falling in love, but boy had she been dead wrong, Anakin gave her a feeling of comfort and happiness that was irreplaceable, that politics could never give her.

Snapping back into the real world, she looked at the papers that were strewn across her desk. Great she thought, even more work. As she looked through the papers she saw that one of the petitions on her desk was the one regarding the emergency powers that had already been given to Palpatine. Oh, now she felt sick and angry, furious in fact. He had all the power he wanted, except the Jedi Order, and she was determined to make sure that he never took control of the Order. So she quickly snatched a piece of parchment that was on her desk and began writing her counter attack on Palpatine's request.

She had been at it for an hour when someone knocked on her door. Terrified she quivered as she asked "Who is it?" hoping to god that it wasn't Rikan, but knowing that it probably was.

"Oh, sorry to disturb you dear, but this is Senator Fillia." Said the voice on the other side of the door. A feeling of relief shot through Padme as she opened the door and let the elderly senator of Dagobah inside her office.

"Nice to see you." Padme said happily.

"Well, nice to see you too Miss Padme." She replied. "I just came to tell you that the official senatorial conference begins in an hour, so have all of your material ready.

"Thank you." She stifled as she led her fellow senator to the door.

An hour later all of the senators were called downstairs to the conference. When Padme heard the announcement her stomach churned, she could only hope that she could argue her point, or she didn't even want to imagine what would happen.

"Padme!" Bail shouted down the crowded hallway as he chased after her. "Are you ready?" he said huffing, as he finally reached her.

"I think so." She gulped.

"Ok, good." He replied as they continued to file into the main chamber and take their seats.

Once everyone was finally situated, Palpatine rose and began to speak. "My fellow senators, I am honored to have you all here for this very important power transfer. The Clone War isn't progressing the way that we want it to, so I feel that action needs to be taken! I feel that the Republic needs more power, and the only way to do it is take control of the Jedi Order. This would give the Republic all the power that it needs."

Just then Palpatine saw the objection light flash on his control screen, and it was coming from the Nabooian seat. "Yes Senator Amidala." He scoffed.

"I object to that idea." She stated.

"And why is that?" he asked in a frustrated tone.

"Well…You have already given yourself a handful of emergency powers, and nothing has changed. You just keep giving yourself more power, and using it to heighten yourself. We don't need your talk; we need action, and fast. And taking over the Jedi is the most ludicrous notion or idea that I have heard yet. Do we really want a man who only gives himself emergency power to make himself more powerful, not the Republic, control of the most powerful people in the universe? The Jedi have ruled themselves for thousands of years and I think it unwise to give one man, who isn't a Jedi control of the most powerful men and women in the galaxy. It's foolish. Only the Jedi can control them, because they are selfless. They care only for others, so you Chancellor, whom only care really for yourself do not deserve that power. And it is not personal, we all care for ourselves here, but all of the Jedi are trained to care only for others, so it would be unwise to give anyone, even for example myself these powers, because anyone in this room would use them the wrong way." Padme finished with a sigh of relief.

With that the entire senate broke into massive applause. This made her feel so much better. And as she began to scan the room, she saw the look of pure fury on the Chancellors face, and then she locked eyes with Rikan. She now felt as if her heart were going to stop. He continued to stare at her even when the rush of applause slowed down. She now sunk into her chair as she felt his eyes boar into her making her squirm uncomfortably. Looking away she could still feel that his eyes never left her.

"Alright…Alright." The Chancellor spat. "It's time to vote. You all know the procedure."

With that the senator began voting on their screens, and as Padme looked up from her screen she saw Rikan staring at her, and as soon as they made eye contact her head shot back down to the screen.

"Alright now, the votes are in." the Chancellor announced in a tone of resentment, "And 31 of you said yes, and 69 of you said no. So this meeting is adjourned." He said hanging his head.

She did it, she actually did it. She convinced them, she now felt pure joy overflowing inside of her, but then rushed out of the meeting room as she remembered Rikan's piercing gaze.

Note- Sorry that this chapter might have been a little slow, but I felt it important to the overall development of the story. I promise that the next chapter will be a good one though, so keep checking for my updates. Also I love reviews, they make me feel great about my work, and also help me to make it better, so please review!

Reviews

StarWarsPAFan- Thanks so much for the review. And thanks, my jaw is feeling much better!

I'm glad that you like the story so far.

tSyOuRDeStInY- Thanks so much, I'm thrilled that you like my writing style, that means a lot to me, since this is my first ever fic. I'm glad that you liked chapter 2!

LaPapillion- Thanks for the review, glad you like.

Hopeless4life- Thanks for the review, ya I know, I wanted people to feel how hard it is for them to be away from one another. Glad you like it so far.

Vivilp182- Thanks for hoping my jaw is better, it is thanks. Ya I really liked your review, very nice. Thank you I'm glad you like the story so far.

milly301- I'm glad that you like how I explained Padme's feelings, I felt that was the most important part, I'll try and update sooner too. And to answer your question, I fractured my jaw by being hit in the face with a softball. I play hardball, and fast pitch, and got nailed with a pitch in the face while I was batting.

Laura-chan- Thanks so much I'm glad that you like the story so far. I'm honored that you like it, because I'm a big fan of your fic Forgivable Sinners.

Coral Candy- Thank you, my jaw is better, and it's not lame that you get all teared up, I do all the time when I read a good fic, I'm REALLY emotional too. lol.

Serina Tsuki- Thanks for the review, and not to give too much away, but I'm hoping to have Anakin come back soon.

eridani- Thanks for the review! I'm glad that you like the endplace for this one more. I'm glad you found it touching too.

Sunchik122- I'm thrilled that you like it! And hopefully he will be coming back soon. Thanks!