Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm. I mean no infringement and make no profit.

A/N: Happy Episode III everybody! Eeeee! I'm going tonight; can't wait. Anyway, here is chapter two, and thanks for all the lovely reviews. Thanks again to my beta, Alicia.

Chapter Two: Sola

Sola Naberrie knew that Anakin Skywalker had feelings for her younger sister. That much had been blatantly obvious to her since the Jedi had first set foot in her parents' house. And Sola had suspected, though she couldn't confirm it, that Padmé had feelings for Anakin, too. She had teased the Senator mercilessly in an effort to elicit a confession, but the best she could come away with was a near certainty that poor Padmé was extremely confused.

Today, though, something was different. The confusion was gone. The way Padmé looked at, spoke to, and acted toward the Jedi gave Sola all the confirmation she needed that her sister was in love. And the conspicuously nervous way the two were acting led Sola to suspect that something had happened. What it was, she had no idea—but something.

That suspicion only grew stronger when, carrying salad bowls out to the table, she passed the door of the laundry room and caught the sound of faint voices.

"I hate that we have to do this." It was a man, and not Ruwee or Darred, so it must have been Anakin. At first Sola thought that he might be sending a transmission back to Coruscant, but then she heard the second voice answer.

"We knew it would be this way." That was Padmé! Sola moved closer to the door. There was a pause, and then she heard her add, "I hate it, too."

"When are we going to tell them?"

"I don't know. I wish it didn't have to be so hard."

Sola's mind was racing. Why had Padmé and Anakin shut themselves in the laundry room together? What secret were they keeping? Sola Naberrie had never been one not to jump to conclusions, and this sounded to her very much like a romantic conversation. She wanted to listen to more, but turning her head she noticed her daughters standing down the hall, looking at her like she was crazy.

Sola nonchalantly walked on and set the salad bowls on the table. When she went back past the laundry room, the door was open and it was empty. Very suspicious indeed.

Padmé, somewhat flustered by her conversation with Ryoo and Pooja, had gone upstairs to change her clothes before dinner. It was a habit one acquired when dining regularly with dignitaries and diplomats. Now that her nieces knew, it would not take long for the truth about her and Anakin to come out. Well… part of the truth. She had stopped short of letting them be the first to know she'd gotten married. A thermal detonator wouldn't have been able to stop them from running to tell their mother they had a new uncle.

She struggled with the clasps running down the back of her gown as she pondered over what it would mean for Sola to find out before her mother and father. The idea did have some positive implications. She could always say things to Sola that she couldn't tell Ruwee and Jobal and besides, only a few weeks ago Sola had been urging her to find a boyfriend. If she could get Sola on her side, it might be easier…

She finally managed to undo the back of the dress enough to step out of it and lay it on her bed. There was, after all, no avoiding it. She would have to tell all of them very soon.

Her thoughts were disturbed by an alarmed gasp behind her.

"Padmé!"

She spun around, grabbing the dress she was about to put on around her, and saw Sola standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. It took Padmé only a fraction of a second to realize why. She was wearing only her undergarments, and Sola had undoubtedly seen the three fresh scars running across her back, clearly exposed.

"Sola!" she shouted, just as startled as her sister had been. "Don't you knock?"

"What happened?" Undeterred, Sola came closer, attempting to see her back again, but Padmé stayed facing her.

"Nothing. It's not as bad as it looks."

"Let me see!"

"Quiet!" Padmé shut the door. "They're just scratches."

Sola lowered her voice. "What scratched you? A knife? Was some assassin trying to…" She sat down hard on the bed, unable to complete the thought.

"No," Padmé assured her, seeing how genuinely shaken Sola was. "Nothing like that." She paused. "Promise not to tell Mom and Dad?"

Sola sighed in relief. Despite herself, a little smile played across her face. "Have I ever told on you yet?"

"It was a nexu," she confessed, "on Geonosis."

"It was a what?"

Padmé considered her next words carefully. "I told you that I went to Geonosis to engage in negotiation." Sola nodded. "Well, the negotiations got a little… aggressive."

"How aggressive?" her sister asked flatly.

"They wanted to execute us."

Sola was already drawing connections. "You were in that battle, weren't you." It wasn't a question. She knew her sister too well for that.

Padmé explained about the arena and how the battle of Geonosis had broken out around them, and though she tried to minimize the danger and the horror, at the end of it Sola was shaking her head in a slightly dazed way.

"If I didn't know you, Sis, I would swear that no one could possibly get into so much trouble with such good intentions."

"You understand why I can't let Mom and Dad find out. They worry enough as it is."

"I know." Sola took one more look at the scars as Padmé stood to pull her dress on and shuddered. "Please don't do something like that again, Padmé."

"Don't worry." Padmé answered dismissively. "There's not much chance I'll meet another nexu."

Sola rolled her eyes. "There's nothing else you want to tell me while I'm here, is there? You haven't decided to launch an invasion of Cato Neimoidia or give up the Senate to dance on tables in the shadier districts of Coruscant?"

She saw Padmé hesitate. "There is something…"

"Well, if it's the invasion or the table-dancing, I can't help you." Padmé turned to her, annoyed, about to scold her for not taking her seriously. "But," Sola concluded, "if it's about Anakin…"

Padmé didn't bother to deny it. "You told your kids I'm in love with him."

"Well, are you?"

Sola had expected something like, "That's beside the point!" or "You're impossible!" She was wholly unprepared for Padmé's response.

"He's so passionate, so handsome and kind… I… He loves me so much, Sola. And… yes. I love him. I do." She smiled glowingly.

It took a moment for Sola to digest this. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Padmé so full of warmth and so enthusiastic about something that wasn't a piece of legislation. Once it sunk in, she pulled her sister into a tight hug.

"I knew it! Oh, I'm so happy for you, Sis! What changed your mind?"

"Anakin." She even spoke his name lovingly. "He wouldn't let me be sensible."

"Does he know? Did you tell him?"

"Yes, he knows. We talked about it a long time. We--"

"What have you done about it?"

"What?" Padmé frowned, confused.

"Have you kissed him?"

"Well, yes…"

Sola raised an eyebrow and lowered her voice. "Have you slept with him?"

"Sola!" Padmé was not exactly scandalized by the question, just surprised that Sola was asking her such a thing.

"Well, have you?"

Padmé drew a steadying breath. "We got married, Sola," she said simply.

The moment the words registered Sola turned sharply to her sister and saw the look of complete seriousness on her face. It was true. For perhaps the first time in her life, she could think of absolutely nothing to say. The words would not come.

"Married?" she gasped finally. Padmé nodded. "When?"

"Three days ago. In the Lake Country." She was smiling.

"But Padmé…" Sola could not think of a response that wouldn't sound slightly stupid. "He's a Jedi. Jedi aren't allowed--"

"We know. We're breaking the Code. It'll have to be a secret, there isn't any other way."

"Not breaking the Code must have been an option at some point," Sola retorted. "What in the galaxy possessed you to do this? You're the sensible one!"

The smile had vanished from Padmé's face. "Why are you being like this? Last week you wanted me to get involved with Anakin, Jedi or not!"

"But not marry him, Sis! I wanted you to have a little fun for once!"

Padmé looked at her incredulously. "You wanted me to have a fling with a Jedi padawan?"

"I thought it might open you up to real relationships that could work. Anakin is a Jedi and you've known him for less than two weeks!"

"And it feels like I've known him my whole life," Padmé replied. "You've been in love, haven't you?"

"Not this fast. Darred and I were together for more than a year before we were married. This is a life commitment, do you understand that?"

"Of course I do."

"Does Anakin?"

"Believe me," Padmé said emphatically, "this was not a decision we made lightly."

"Padmé." Sola put on the patronizing voice of the big sister. "You may be very talented and experienced in some areas, but you're young, and you've never really had a boyfriend--"

"Sola, stop it." Her tone brooked no argument. "Listen to me. Anakin sees me, really sees who I am. Even after this short time, he knows me almost better than I know myself. And yet, for some reason, he really loves me." Her smile was beginning to return, as though she could not hold it back. "I've never felt like this before. So who's to say this isn't right? I know it isn't very likely, and I know it sounds crazy, but can't you even consider the possibility that Anakin might be the person I'm supposed to marry?" She sighed. "I love him, Sola. And I don't understand it any more than you do."

Sola looked into Padmé's eyes and was amazed at the well of emotion she found there. She began to understand.

"You never did do things the easy way, did you. Always had to make a big impression." She sighed. "But living in secret, hiding… Are you sure that's what you want?"

"I want Anakin," Padmé replied without hesitation. "And if that means we have to undergo some suffering, so be it."

Finally Sola felt herself start to smile, and yet tears had come to her eyes. "Then, Sis, I think you just might really love him."

Padmé laughed a little. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I know." Sola wrapped her in a gentle embrace. "Isn't it great?" Padmé could only nod.

"I assume you haven't told our parents?"

"No," Padmé admitted. "Not yet. But Ryoo and Pooja know."

Sola gave Padmé a bemused look, about to respond, but was interrupted by a knock at the door and Anakin's voice calling, "I'm supposed to ask what's taking you two so long."

Sola flung the door open and hugged the startled padawan. He looked to his wife, sitting on the bed laughing and wiping tears from her eyes, and made a deduction.

"You told her?"

"She told me, brother-in-law." Sola stepped back, grinning, and turned back to Padmé. "I can't believe you got married without me."

"Artoo took pictures," she volunteered.

"Well, thank goodness for Artoo. When exactly are we planning on gracing Mom and Dad with this information?"

"When the time's right," Padmé told her. "Tonight, I hope. Come on, we'd better not keep them waiting."

As Padmé brushed by Anakin, he bent down to murmur in her ear. "One down."

"And two to go," she whispered back.

Anakin began to follow Padmé down the hallway, but Sola pulled him to one side.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are?" she asked him.

He nodded sincerely. "Yes."

"Good. Because on this world, the woman you just married is beloved. If you were to hurt her, you would be hard-pressed to find a single person on Naboo who would not jump at the chance to make you suffer for it. And most of them don't even know her. I do know her. She's my baby sister, and the only two people who love her more than I do are waiting downstairs. Understand?"

Anakin felt like he'd fallen into a nest of Gundarks all over again, so unexpected were Sola's words. Still, it only took him a moment to recover from his surprise enough to say, "I understand. But you don't need to worry."

Sola sighed. "I think I might even believe you when you say that." She held the padawan's gaze. "Just take good care of her, Anakin. She doesn't like admitting that she needs people to take care of her."

Here Anakin was on much firmer ground. "Oh, I know," he agreed wholeheartedly. Sola's serious countenance broke as she laughed and continued into the dining room as though nothing had happened.