Author Note: Sorry it took so long, but here's the next two chapters. I haven't written any more after this, so it may be a while before I update again, but I will, I promise! Enjoy!

(-o-)

Only a thick glass window seperated the battered, weakened body of Padme from Anakin, Serena, Obi-Wan, Luke and Leia.

Anakin was standing with Luke and Leia, one hand on their shoulders. Obi-Wan stood a little off to one side with Serena, who exhaled with relief, knowing that despite the grim atmosphere of the chamber enclosing her, the young Jedi Master was finally out of danger and in the best of mechanical hands. Anakin had specifically asked for the medical droid because it had helped him so much when he had been badly burned and barely alive after the events with the Emperor almost six years ago.

(-o-o-)

Clad only in a white bikini, Padme hung in a vertical position inside a transparent cylinder with a combination breathing mask and microphone covering her nose and mouth. The surgeon droid was attending to the woman with the skill of the finest humanoid doctors, which is why Anakin had asked for him to treat Padme and no-one else. He was aided by his medical assistant droid which looked nothing more than a metal concoction of cylinders, wires and appendages.

Gracefully, the surgeon droid worked a switch that brought thick, warm transparent fluid pouring down over his human patient. This bacta, Anakin knew, could work miracles, even with patients in such dire condition as Padme. Infact the only reason he was alive at all was because he had immediately been placed into a tank of bacta himself, and it had cured most of his injuries by itself.

(-o-)

As the bubbling slime encapsulated her body, Padme began to thrash about and rave deliriously. "No..." she moaned. "...Han...help Han...needs help...promised him..."

Anakin hadn't the slightest idea what his wife was raving on about.

"Mummy's not talking proper Daddy!" Luke whispered.

"Mummy doesn't make sense to me either," Leia added and Anakin nodded in agreement. Who or what was Han and what had she promised it?

Anakin glanced at Obi-Wan and saw that he was obviously trying to work it out. His brow was creased in concentration and he was deep in thought. Anakin gave up eventually and turned back to his wife.

Padme's body sloshed through the thick substance, the bacta's healing properties by now taking effect. For a while it seemed that Padme were trying to resist the curative flow of the transparent stuff. Then, at last, she gave up her mumbling and relaxed, succumbing to the bacta's powers.

The medical droid turned away from the human who had been entrusted to his care and angled his skull shaped head to gaze at Anakin and the others through the window.

"Lady Skywalker is responding well to the bacta," the robot announced. "She is now out of danger."

The surgeon robot's words immediately wiped away the tension that had seized the group on the other side of the window. Serena sighed again with relief and Obi-Wan nodded his head approvingly at the treatment.

When at last the fluid drained away, Anakin went into the room and gently lifted Padme out of the tank. She was dripping wet, so he wrapped her in several towels that the medical droid had just handed him. Then he felt her shivering, despite the fact that the warm liquid should have stopped her from feeling cold. He took off his heavy cloak and wrapped it round her aswell. Then the droid led him to another room where Padme was gently laid on the bed. Anakin dressed her in a beautifully laced silken gown, then the droid came back to remove the mask and let Padme breath on her own again.

By the time the mask was removed, Padme was fully awake again and a smile played on her lips when she saw Anakin.

"My hero," she grinned, taking his hand into her own. He had removed his gloves now.

"How are you?" he asked softly.

"I'm good," she replied, glad that she wasn't just trying to convince herself, like she had done so many times in the cell. She felt good now, more like her old self.

She looked around the room curiously. It was completely the opposite to her cell. The cell was dark and harsh. This room was light and soft.

The walls were a soft shade of blue, not the harsh black. The bed was a soft springing matress, not the cold floor. The pillows were soft and fluffy, not hard rocks. The floor was a soft spongey lino, not hard concrete. Her dress was soft and silky, not torn and dirty, and now Anakin's hand in hers was soft, gentle and loving, not cruel and uncaring like the clones. Even though Anakin's hand was really a mechanical one with new skin grafted over the top, the surgeons had done such a good job that if you didn't know about his arm, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his and a real arm.

(-o-o-)

Padme felt safe now, secure, and loved. Even the sound of the busy hospital going about it's daily routine with metal clanging, doors banging, people shouting and screaming and footsteps up and down the corridoors was a comforting sound, unlike the harsh clash of heavy bolts being drawn back on her cell.

With this comforting thought in mind, she closed her eyes and allowed a calm sleep to consume her, the first decent and undisturbed sleep for over a year.

She knew that she had slept on the way to the hospital, and she had been unconscious for several hours in the bacta, but she was so tired, and the warmth and comfort of the bed was so inviting.

Anakin understood. She needed to regain her strength, and the only way to do that was to sleep. He made sure she was as comfy as possible, then he planted a tender kiss on her forehead, promising to be there when she woke up. Then he went to find Obi-Wan, who had taken the twins out to go and buy some parts for their lightsabers. Anakin wanted his children to be there too, when their mother awoke, because it would be the first time she had seen them in over a year. They needed her...and she needed them.