Padmé took a seat in a chair in her new room, and mulled over everything Darth Vader had told her. Unfortunately, he was right. She had nowhere to go, she had to stay with him. She hated the prospect of living with a Sith Lord, but at least he was not treating her like a slave. Of course, this puzzled her as well. As far as she knew, Sith Lords were evil, and slavery did not bother them. It was odd, that Vader had released her of that task. Padmé sighed as she tried to figure out this puzzle. She temporarily gave up when nothing came to her. However, she knew she would be spending a lot of time with Vader, so perhaps she would learn more about him soon.
After securing Padmé's door, Vader strode to his comm. unit, to order some clothes for her from a local boutique. She may have looked nice in her bikini, but it was not practical, and he figured it was uncomfortable. Besides, if she was seen in that on his ship, it would only distract his crew. She needed something less revealing.
It was late in the evening, and all the stores on Coruscant were closed for the night. However, Vader was able to pull rank to get one to open just for him. He ordered two full wardrobes for Padmé, one to be delivered to his apartment, and the other to his ship. He did not want to be hauling luggage back and forth between his two homes, and this seemed like the best solution.
It would take a couple hours for the clothes to be delivered. In the mean time, Vader decided he would get some sleep since he had been awake most of the day. He smiled to himself at his thought that he would need all the rest he could get, since in a few hours, he would be dealing with his new companion.
Padmé examined her knew home. As far as she could tell, the room layout was the same as Vader's. There was a large bed along one wall. The doorway was opposite to the bed. To the right of the door was a small table and a chair that she had sat at earlier. Along the right hand wall, was a closet, which would hold the clothes Vader said he would be getting her. There was no other furniture in the room, and Padmé wondered why Vader kept his rooms fairly empty. Another thing she could investigate later.
On the left hand side of her room, a door led to a small fresher. Having nothing else to do at the moment, Padmé decided to have a look at her reflection in the mirror in there. As she gazed at herself, Padmé slowly pulled her hair out of its tight bun and braid, to let it hang loose. As she worked on her hair, her mind mulled over the sudden change her life had taken, one more time.
A few hours ago, she had been Senator Padmé Amidala of the Naboo. She was a supporter of the Republic and a defender of liberty. Now she was only a lowly slave. Or was she? As Padmé gazed at herself in the mirror, she knew she had not changed since her demotion. She still had a strong desire to bring the Republic back, even if her ability to do anything had diminished. The Emperor had taken her title away, but not her resolve to fight against him. As she continued to gaze into the mirror, Padmé made a silent vow to herself to use her new position to aid the rebellion and her friends in restoring the Republic. The Emperor could not stop her, and she swore that he would rue the day he crossed her.
With that final thought, Padmé decided to take a quick shower. She knew that Vader had locked her door, but she did not know when he would come to release her. Removing her slave outfit, she quickly washed herself. However, since she did not have any other clothes at the moment, she was forced to redress herself in the slave outfit again. After she was dressed with her hair dried and combed, she had nothing else to do but wait for Vader to return. Not knowing when this would occur, she walked to the bedroom, crawled under the covers of the bed, and napped until his return.
Two hours after he had fallen asleep, Lord Vader was awoken by a presence he felt approaching his apartment. He quickly moved from his bed. His lightsaber was lying on top of the table in his room, and using the Force he called it to his hand as he moved. Over the years, Vader had learned to be extra cautious of possible rebel assassins coming to pay him a visit. However, when Vader opened the door to his visitor, it was not an assassin, but a very scared deliveryman. The man had brought the clothes Vader had purchased for Padmé.
Vader took his purchases from the deliveryman, who quickly fled from the Sith's presence. Vader smirked at the man's retreating back, amused by the fear he inspired. After his moment of revelry in the deliveryman's fear, Vader took his packages to the room he had given and imprisoned Padmé in earlier.
Unlocking the door and entering, Vader saw that Padmé was asleep on her bed. He dropped the clothes off on the nearby table. Padmé could put them away in the closet later. He then moved towards the bed to wake her up. However, she was not in a deep sleep and awoke before he was given the opportunity.
Pulling the blanket around her as she sat up in bed, Padmé posed a question to Vader. "I thought you said I would have free run of the apartment?"
"You can now, I just did not want you to do anything rash while you were is shock from all the changes forced upon you."
Padmé rolled her eyes at this. "You obviously don't know me very well."
"True, I don't know anything about you. Therefore I needed to be cautious." Silence followed this until Vader continued speaking, "I have acquired some clothes for you. They are over on the table." He gestured at the table and then continued again. "Another set is being delivered to my ship, so you won't need to pack anything when we move from one place to another."
"Fine." Padmé simply replied.
"Now, for some more rules. I know that you will be spending a lot of time with me. In fact, I forbid you to speak with anybody else unless I give you permission. For the most part, you will be confined to these apartments or my quarters on my ship, so this will not be an issue. I'm just making it clear how you are expected to behave."
Padmé glared up at Vader, but before she could say anything he continued. "I am generally very busy, so you are not to disturb me. You will have to find ways to entertain yourself. You may talk to me when I am not busy, but if I refuse to answer your questions, you will drop the topic. Do I make myself clear?"
Padmé continued to glare at Vader as she stated, "Yes."
"Good. Now, I am on leave for the rest of the week, so this is your opportunity to ask questions of me, before I am working again."
Padmé thought for a moment, there were a lot of questions she wanted answered, but she wanted to be careful with what she asked first. She decided to keep it simple. "What is your name?"
"I am Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith."
"No, not your Sith name. What is your real name?"
Vader was taken aback; no one had ever asked him this before. He had not used his other name since he had become a Sith. Why did she want to know? He was wary as to why she wanted the information, so he decided to evade her question. "I am Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith. There is no other name I go by."
Padmé quirked an eyebrow at him as she responded, "You have not always been a Sith, what was your name before you were a Sith?"
"That name no longer has any meaning to me. You will address me as Lord Vader."
"Why won't you tell me your name?"
"Because I choose not to. Now you agreed to drop the topic if I refused to answer your questions."
"I said I understood your rules, I never said I agreed to live by them." Padmé replied with a smirk.
Vader glowered at her. This woman was going to cause him problems, but he would not yield. She would not get the answer she wanted.
"I don't see why this is a big deal, you know my name." Padmé stated. She realized this was going to become a battle of the wills, and she was now curious as to why he was hiding this simple piece of information from her. She would continue to press him on this issue. Getting comfortable, she shifted on the bed causing the blanket to shift off of her right shoulder.
"What is that?" Vader said, pointing at a welt on Padmé's shoulder that he had not seen earlier.
Padmé glanced at her shoulder and casually said, "Oh, welt from my many whippings."
"You lie! It wasn't there earlier. What did you do to yourself?"
"You did not see it because your Master wanted them to be healed by now. There were too many, and they could not be healed in time for the celebration, so I was covered in makeup to hide the remaining marks. I took a shower and washed the makeup off while you had me locked in here, so now you can see the mark."
"Who whipped you?" Vader asked.
Padmé laughed at him. "You know, for being second in command behind the Emperor, he sure doesn't tell you much." She paused, enjoying Vader's puzzlement.
"Tell me. Who did this to you?" Vader asked again, a little more forcibly.
Padmé could refuse to answer, but she knew Vader could ask the Emperor and find out. So with a sigh, she told him the truth. "For the last three months, your dear, sweet Master…" she said sarcastically. "…has had me imprisoned for treason and has been interrogating me with a whip."
His master had imprisoned her for treason, but then gave her to him. Why? He needed another question answered, because it may explain what his Master was thinking. "What was your treason?"
Padmé smiled. "I was a leader of the Rebel Alliance."
Vader was silent, but his blue eyes turned sithly yellow from this admission. This explained his master. He had given Padmé to him, to aid in his hunt for the rebels. He could use her to destroy them!
"Tell me, where the rebels are." Vader growled at her.
"No."
Vader raised his right arm up, preparing to slap her, but before he could do this she interrupted him.
"Do you think hitting me, will make me talk? Your master has been doing that for three months. You have seen the evidence of that. I did not talk then, and I will not talk now." Padmé had seen Vader's eyes change colors, but continued to stare at him in defiance.
Vader was furious. He had no reply for her. In frustration, he lowered his arm, turned on his heel, and stormed out of her bedroom locking the door on her.
Padmé smiled as she spoke to the locked door, "So much for having free run of the apartment."