FROM THE ASHES

Chapter 24

Two days later, nothing had changed and Anakin was still at a loss for what to do. Padme would be coming home in a few days, and he'd have to stay and take care of her. What about Luke? Her parents were dead so they could not come help anymore. Her sister had her own life and family on Naboo, and was also going through a lot of grief. It was a deeply helpless feeling taking him back into depression. He was roused from his gloom as Obiwan knocked on his door. "Anakin, will you take me to the med center now? I have to get my eyes checked."

"Is this the day.."

"No, it's just a checkup. I don't expect to be healed this soon." Anakin took his friend and brother to the same droid he had taken him to when he was blind. Anakin sat in a chair and waited while the droid removed the bandages to treat Obiwan's eyes with more of the formula. Anakin watched as Obiwan squinted in pain at the light.

"You can see the light, Obiwan, that's a good sign!" The droid told him not to expect too much too soon, and not to be disappointed if not much had changed yet. Obiwan's eyes adjusted to the light, and the droid asked him to open them and face him so he could examine them. To his delight, Obiwan found that he could already see perfectly! Anakin saw a smile come through his beard, and sensed his good feelings. "Obiwan! Your eyes, they look fine, just like always! You can see!"

"Yes, I can, just like before!" He looked all around the room, and then he and Anakin were able to once again look into each other's eyes. They both laughed and embraced, slapping each other's backs. The droid gave Obiwan a very thorough exam, and was amazed. This was the second miracle. Anakin's eyes had healed against the odds, and Obiwan's had healed in remarkable time.

"You Jedi must have very special eyes." The droid said. They both snickered shyly.

"I guess all that meditating and healing concentration helped!"

"Yes, it did, thank you! Maybe we can both try it to help Padme?"

"Yes, we must, and very soon!" Going to check on her, they saw she was asleep, and decided to let her rest and come back later. The droid informed them she must stay two more days for her injuries, then she could be released to them and seek outpatient treatment. This was at first good news, then a fear shot through Anakin. If she were out of the hospital, what would happen to her? Would she be arrested? What about the media? They were going to have to be cautious about everything. He and Obiwan would have to devise a very wise plan.

Anakin lay in his bed in his temple quarters, staring at the ceiling. Obiwan knocked and entered the room. "Anakin, come with me, we have a lot of work to do."

"On what, Master?" He said as he sat up on the side of his bed.

Obiwan was holding several holovid cartridges in his hand. "Look what I found! I was able to secure copies of all the security camera recordings in the places Padme helped rob. We're going to sit there and look through each and every second of them until we find a way to help her."

"You're the best, Obiwan. You always come through." The two of them went to a holovid viewer and turned them on. For a long time, they watched them over and over, painful as it was.

Finally, Anakin commented. "Is it just me cracking up because I've seen them so many times now, or do you think, maybe, Padme wasn't the one who fired the deadly shots at that family?"

"I was thinking the same thing. She did shoot, but the killing shots that dropped the victims seems to be coming from another direction. I don't think she killed them, any of them." They played each vid back, pausing the parts in question. "That's it, I knew it!" Obiwan pointed out. "There were second gunmen in every one of these, it was other cronies, not her who did the killings. Of course, she's still guilty by association, but if we can prove she was there under duress, it might be better for her." Anakin put his head down and didn't answer. Obiwan was perplexed.

"What's wrong, Anakin, aren't you happy about this?"

"Obiwan, Padme has now forgiven me my rampage because she understands how it felt to have to do something so terrible to save someone you love. If we prove she didn't actually kill them, she might go back to holding it against me again."

"So that it! You would rather she be guilty, because it's better for you?"

"I didn't say that."

"But isn't that what you mean?"

"I don't want her to go to jail, I don't want her to suffer anymore. But this was kind of a way for us to get back together and forgive.."

"You know, Anakin, you and she are more alike than you think." He recalled his conversations with Padme, both after she and Anakin broke up, and while he was imprisoned with her. He could tell they were kindred spirits and belonged together. "Just like when she told me she thoought you deserved to be blind and it wasn't right you weren't punished for what you..." Obiwan, realizing he had slipped terribly, stopped talking and avoided Anakin's stare.

Anakin looked very sad. "She said that, she thought I deserved what happened to me?" Obiwan nodded sadly. He could see how badly hurt Anakin's feelings were. "She said something like that to me, only not as bad." Anakin shook his head. "All that time I was hurt, she kept telling me how much she wanted me to get better, how sad it made her seeing me that way. Was she lying? She thought I deserved it! I don't know what to feel anymore. Maybe we shouldn't get back together."

"No, Anakin, please, she feels just terrible now. You should have heard her when we were in Gerapaline's compound, she is very full of forgiveness and regret..."

"That's because she thinks she did what I did. If she finds out she didn't shoot innocent people, she'll get right back to holding it agaisnt me again."

"Ah, so now maybe you're thinking she deserves to suffer, for what she did to you?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Anakin, you and she have both said things about each other that I didn't want to hear, things you shouldn't have. But you know what? I think it's just because you love each other so much."

"I'd like to believe that, of her. I know it is with me. Now, she's laying there in the bed all helpless and pitiful, so now she understands all that I felt."

"You want that for her?"

"No, I really don't, I don't want her blind, hurt. But I do want her to understand how I did those awful things for her, and that it was the dark side, not me, not myself who did them."

"I think she does. Anakin, we need to tell her, we need to get this known, to save her from being arrested."

"I know."

Obiwan and Anakin went directly to the med center. They entered to see Padme sitting up in bed, looking better than before. Stitches were taken out, bruises fading, her color returning. The droids took the bandages off her eyes. Anakin and Obiwan, having been through this tense moment themselves, felt for her. They watched and saw her squint, they knew she could see the light. She opened her eyes. Anakin watched her eyes. They seemed to come alive with a brief recognition of him, but she didn't look at him. The droid asked if she could see, and Anakin and Obiwan waited for her answer.

"No, it's not much better, I'm afraid." She told the droid.

"I'm sorry, Senator." the droid said. "I will reapply the formula and bandages, we will try one more time."

"No, please don't, it hurts my head."

"That might not be the best thing for your eyes, they must heal."

"Give me some drops, I'll put them in at home."

"If that is your desire. You may go home now, if you like."

"I would. Anakin, get my things, will you? Let's go home." Anakin gave Obiwan a suspicious look, and he returned it. How did she know he was there? She could see, and she was faking, just like he had done. He didn't say a word. The droid didn't pick up it, and they left it that way. Obiwan grabbed her personal items, and Anakin helped her out of the bed, taking her by the arm.

"Come on, darling. You did this for me, now I'm doing it for you. Careful of your step, now, wait, move this way for the doorway." He almost laughed out loud thinking how terrible she was at faking it, he had done so much better pretending not to see what was around him and ahead of him.

Flanked by Obiwan and Anakin, she was led out of the hospital. The crowd of media outside was ready and waiting. They shoved recorders into her face, asking her all kinds of questions. "Oh, no, stop, you wouldn't bother a poor, sick, blind woman, after the ordeals I've just been through? Leave me alone!" She played quite the drama queen. Some of them backed off, others continued to follow. They hadn't gotten far when some law enforcement agents stepped in front of them.

"Padme Naberrie Amidala, I am afraid I must carry out your arrest."

Anakin and Obiwan wanted to draw lightsabers, but they knew it was the wrong situation. Padme started to cry. "But...I'm blind, you can't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, Senator."

"Wait" Anakin tried to speak for her. "Can't she come back home first, after all she's suffered? She lost her parents, she was tortured, shouldn't she be given time?"

The agent was not sympathetic. "She had time in the hospital. Now she must come with us."

"NO!" Anakin yelled. "I won't let you take her."

"Are you threatening us, Jedi?" They asked, pulling weapons. Anakin knew he could tate them, but they didn't need any more trouble. All the media was standing around, surely this would be a big deal that would hurt them all and their chances to live a normal life again.

Obiwan tried to stop him. "Anakin, tell them what we found." Anakin was again in confusion. Those vids might free Padme, but they might also make her go back to criticizing him. He hoped she wouldn't, but he had to do what was best for her.

"We have proof she didn't kill those people in the banks."

"I'd like to see that proof."

"Would you kindly let me take my wife home first?"

One of the agents strapped a tracking device to Padme's ankle. "She is under house arrest. If she leaves her apartment, this will sound and she will be apprehended immediately."

"Where can I go, I can't even see!" Padme whined. This was better than jail, so they didn't resist. Anakin was allowed to take her home, and they'd be meeting with officials later in the day to review the holovids in an attempt to clear Padme's name.