The Empire was in chaos.

Padme stared at Roganda's broken door in horror and found herself torn between silent terror and absolute panic. People rushed all around her, murmuring theories and asking questions she couldn't answer, not even to herself. Who was here? How did they get in? Where was Roganda? Was she alive? It hadn't taken long for someone to find Maul laying unconscious by the hotel's entrance and spark the panic. The burly man had no memory of what happened, Anakin had told her in a hushed whisper earlier this morning and she hadn't seen him since. He and Dooku were busy taking count of weapons and food storage to be sure nothing had been taken by the intruders.

Someone had gone to send word to the Rebels, Padme didn't know who. She wondered how Obi-wan was taking the news…

Roganda's room was a disaster. The bedsheets lay in a tangled tussle on the dark carpet, the long, thick orange curtains had been ripped off the high curved, silver pole fastened above the bay-style window as if someone had attempted to grab onto their weight for purchase. Several decorative frames had been knocked askew on the grey patterned wall – one lay shattered by the doorway, glass glittered where it lay buried in the plushness of the carpet.

How was it possible?

Forcing herself to turn away from the mess, Padme rubbed her hand over her face tiredly. This was exactly what she was afraid of. It had to be soldiers working on Palpatine's behalf who stole Roganda away which meant he knew exactly how to get his men inside the hotel. It meant that Rush was undoubtedly with his father.

Palpatine had no reason to hold back now.

They had to go. Padme could almost hear every silent tick of the clock counting the remaining moments of their lives. Lesser and lesser. Closer and closer to screams and explosions and ash.

As she made her way downstairs and into the lobby, Kit danced smoothly into the building, smiling far too widely given the circumstances. His simple green sweater was covered by black leather suspenders each housing a gun strapped to his chest – she might have found it comical if circumstances here different, to see someone so obviously happy and yet dressed for war. "Hey you," she stepped off the last stair as he approached, "what are you smiling about?"

The former medical student gave a sly smile, picking Padme up suddenly and twirling her body around as if she weighed nothing. A joyous laugh bounced out of his mouth, brightening the room around them, one she couldn't help but match. "I've met the woman of my dreams," he sighed, releasing her, "smart, sarcastic, gorgeous..." He performed a dramatic chef's kiss, "Padme, I'm in love!"

"In love?" She laughed despite her surprise. "Tell me everything then!" This sweetness was a welcome surprise from the black cloud of general awfulness this day had already shaped up to be. Maybe they could pretend just for a few moments that they lived in a normal world where no monsters wanted to hurt them. It was nice to be just friends catching up and gossiping without any other care in the world. "Who is she? Is she one of the strays?"

There were a lot of new people around, people Padme hadn't had the time to properly meet beyond explaining their dire situation. Most came along to the hotels for safety but wanted nothing to do with its inhabitants. She remembered the man tied to the streetlight, left there to have the flesh torn from his bones, for people to see and heed the warning. Their distance was understandable.

But Kit wasn't Anakin. He wasn't famed to be cruel and ruthless. He was just Kit – the sweet, charming man that he was. It wasn't difficult to imagine any girl falling head over heels for his smile and humour and handsome face. If her own heart wasn't so messily tangled up with Anakin's, Padme might have found herself drawn to him too.

"Nah, she's not a stray," Kit shook his head, the loose ends of his tied-back dreadlocks shaking with the movement, "She's a Rebel."

"A Rebel?" Padme almost choked on the word. An Imperial falling for a Rebel a few months ago would have been a scandal and definite cause for grief between Obi-wan and Anakin. "Who is it?" She thought of the women she knew living in the Coruscant, imagining them spending time with Kit and charming him so thoroughly… Maybe it was one of the people she didn't know?

"Ah, well…" A faint blush began to paint his umber cheeks, "She's, uh… well, she's your friend actually, I – "

"One of my friends?" Padme interrupted him before she could stop herself. "Who? Sabe? No, she's with Obi-wan… Dorme? Mon? Oh, is it – "

"You got it," he chuckled softly, "Dorme, I mean. We went out on a couple of patrols together, got to talking… she's really cool. If things were different, I'd be putting down some moves already."

Dorme? Padme felt her eyes widen and then her mouth quirk up. Kit and Dorme… not a combination she would have thought of herself, but he seemed so excited about it. It was adorable. "And what exactly are your moves?"

"Oh no, no, no," he shook his head, "If I told you, you'd fall in love with me and my heart belongs somewhere else now, Padme. You missed your shot, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry about that," she waved dismissively, "I've been in love with you since I walked through these doors, Kit. I just learned how to hide it." It was almost impossible not to laugh, especially as delight lit up his eyes.

"Without any moves?" He acted impressed, pumping his fist victoriously, "the charisma is strong!"

This time, Padme couldn't hold herself back, her face crumpled as an unflattering guffaw of laughter fled her lips, sending Kit hurtling into the same condition in response. "What was that?" He squeaked, "Is that your laugh? How have I never heard that before?!"

Throwing a weak punch against his shoulder, the Imperial leader felt tears spring to her eyes and her belly tightening in painful protest. "Oh god, stop - stop it!" She moaned out, hugging her stomach. "I needed that, even if I can't breathe any more."

"Glad to be of service," he sniggered.

"So," one final peel of laugher slipped out and into the air between them, "does Dorme know you're interested?"

As hard as she tried, Padme struggled to imagine her wild, goofy friend embracing a serious romantic relationship. Dorme lived in a world of her own making while Kit was more… well, calm and grounded. It was difficult to imagine her friend in any sort of conventional situation, really, but the raven-haired Rebel was one of the best people she knew. Kit would be lucky to be with her.

"Well, you know," Kit gave an easy smile, "we had some fun out on searches. Some good talks. I think I have a chance. Back in the old days, I'd y'know, take her out somewhere real nice then to a movie or drinks, something like that. Though, that's not really an option now, is it?"

She nodded sympathetically. Dating in the new world wasn't much of a priority when death lurked around every corner. Its sharp teeth nipped at a person's heels with every step they took these days. There were no dinner and a movie now, no lazy picnics in the sun, no romantic walks… only running and shooting and the fierce rush of adrenaline that made you feel alive when you got away.

That had been the dating life she'd had with Anakin, at least.

And she'd loved it.

"Just be honest with her," Padme felt herself smile wistfully before snapping her eyes up to meet Kit's excited gaze once more. This wasn't the time for reminiscing about those days. "Dorme will appreciate that." If they lived long enough to make it out of the city, she was sure those two could some find reasons to spend time together. If they made it out… Her smile began to falter.

"Thanks, Padme, I appreciate this." Kit tugged her into a brief hug, "I'm going to go pack up. See you around."

One last search, that's what they agreed. One final chance to save the lives of innocent before death fell upon the city. The Rebels had congregated within the Empire for their final night in the city, the two sides mingling awkwardly for the first time. Some people drank, some people sang and danced, some told stories and some watched quietly from the sidelines – mostly strays – in silence. Padme wanted to join, especially when she spotted Dorme, Sabe and Obi-wan congregated in a booth together, but her final night inside the Empire hotel was meant to be spent upstairs.

She climbed every step sadly. How many times had she raced up and down here without a thought? Every memory she created in this place danced before the young woman's eyes, the anger, the fear, the love… There had been delightful, wonderful highs and heartbreaking, despairing lows within these walls. The Empire had truly become her home. As she traced her fingertips along the dusty, crumbling wall of every twist and climb of the stairs, Padme let it all wash over her one last time.

This building had housed her at her best and worst. It had seen her grow from the frightened, righteous girl to the Imperial leader who fought to live. It felt, all of a sudden, that Padme was leaving part of herself behind in these walls. She mourned it as the final stairs passed beneath her boots, the strain burning in her calves, and wished they didn't have to leave. Why couldn't people like Palpatine be good and kind? Why couldn't he and his people want to save people rather than build upon their ashes?

As she entered the suite, knocking before entering and finding it empty, Padme pushed those thoughts out of her mind and let the emotion of seeing the rooms come over her. The window overlooking the city, the table she used to share meals with Anakin at, the couch, the doorway to the bedroom… Her heart constricted painfully as her eyes strained to memorise every single detail. Part of her thought that she would never get to be here again and she'd longed for this place in those difficult months spent in the Coruscant.

Stepping further inside, the Imperial leader looked out the window to the dying city outside and felt herself slump slightly. Very soon, none of this would exist. What would be left behind after Palpatine's bombs fell? Would this building survive? Would the trees? Would there be anything to show that they had been here at all? Her fingers reached out to touch the cold glass as her hopelessness swelled. The planes could be on their way right now – they had no idea how much longer they had. Every second spent here could be their last. Part of her wanted to leave right now, to throw what they had in the working cars that had been procured and get out before it was too late. But there were still people out there searching for strays – people who deserved to know what was happening and escape too.

Knowing there were people out there they couldn't reach… it made her heart ache.

Padme knew she should probably go downstairs and enjoy the revelry breaking out with everyone else but her feet remained rooted to the spot. In a world where every day could be your last, any scrap of joy was as essential as the air in someone's lungs and normally, she would have partaken. But not tonight. Finality coated the air, thick and heavy with nostalgia and regret, sapping her energy and desire for the rambunctious company in the lobby.

This day had been a crazed whirlwind of supply gathering, packing and planning that had left Padme half-delirious by the time she and Anakin had decided everything was in order. Cars were behind the hotel waiting to go. Bags and supplies were packed. People's roles had been assigned. Mapping it all out had been difficult, their people were confined to backroads and alleyways in case Palpatine's soldiers were watching them to report back. If he knew how they were planning an escape, he would make it impossible. If his lackeys had gotten in once, they could do it again and kill everyone in the building before anyone even had a chance.

Padme felt ill just imagining it. How could Rush have gone to his father knowing what he might do? How could he have helped him take Roganda back? She wondered just how much he told his father about their plans… about the searches and their efforts to get out. Their only hope now was Palpatine giving into his arrogance and believing his son's departure and the re-taking of his wife had spooked them into inaction.

She wrapped her arms around herself as she shivered.

Everything was in place. Obi-wan had gotten a call through to Ahsoka, Barriss and Rex, telling the three of them to pull every favour and trick they could to gather all the supplies and weapons they could find. Anything that would help survivors pass the horde of soldiers and beasts at the edge of the city.

If they made it through all that… they were free.

The if part twisted a terrible knot in her stomach.

"Hey… what're you doing all the way up here?" Anakin's voice drifted in from the suite's doorway. He didn't sound surprised or upset to discover Padme inside his room and when she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the skyline of the city she wanted to never forget, his eyes were soft and full of warmth. "Shouldn't you be having fun with your friends downstairs?"

Padme watched him shrug off his black coat and fold it over the back of the sofa, letting her arms drop back down by her sides. "I could say the same thing to you, y'know."

Anakin laughed quietly and then winced, "I'm not exactly very popular down there…"

Shocking, she thought with a smile, "What did you do now?"

"Well, there are a few Rebels several drinks deep who 'just want to talk' for starters," he faked a frightened shudder, for a lot of things in this world were daunting but a room full of people sloppy and emboldened by alcohol? Padme couldn't imagine that had much effect on her co-leader at all. "Mostly I want to stay fresh for tomorrow. It's not going to be easy."

The smile that had risen at the beginning of his sentence fell away then as dread began to sing its all too familiar song in her ear, its cool embrace lifting gooseflesh on her neck. "Maybe we should stop them?" Fighting for your life while battling a hangover was probably the worst position someone could be in for tomorrow. She didn't want to lose people because of it.

"Don't worry," he waved his hand dismissively, "I already had Kit water everything we have down and Maul knows who's supposed to be driving tomorrow – they're drinking water."

He always thought of everything. Padme nodded gently, turning back to the viewing window. Would she remember this view as vividly as she wanted to in five years? Ten? If she was still alive, would her stories capture their lives here in every colour and shade they'd lived in? "I'm really going to miss this place," she sighed wistfully.

"Me too," Anakin said as he came around the sofa to stand by the window with her, every gentle puff of his breath painted steam across the glass. "This was my place… my home… I loved it here."

"It breaks my heart that it's not going to be here for much longer," Padme forced herself to look at him but Anakin's eyes were observing the city. When he finally met her gaze, a small, coy smile lifted the corner of his lips.

"You know, sometimes, it feels like I've been here for a hundred years… Living, fighting, killing… everything before with school and my family – that was a different person. Another life, actually."

At the mention of Anakin's family, Padme felt her eyebrows climb her forehead. He never talked about his family with her, she knew nothing about Shmi Skywalker other than what he'd admitted that cold night he broke and expressed his mother was married to, in his words, an asshole. That was all she knew about the woman other than they'd once been neighbours. Curiosity, dangerous and raw clawed at the young woman, designing a thousand questions she had always wanted to ask him in order to know him as the boy he'd been and not the Imperial leader she knew now. Part of her wanted to hold back, to mind her own business – what right did she have to ask him anything now? – but knowing they could die tomorrow beneath a shower of bullets or bombs or sharp claws and teeth emboldened her more than any liquid courage ever could.

"What was it like? Your life before everything happened." Padme asked softly, afraid to frighten him away. Her eyes fixated on his face as his rapidly hardening gaze returned to the city below. "I didn't know anything about you when we were in school and you never talk about that time of your life."

As she spoke, she tried to carefully craft her words so that Anakin wouldn't hear a demand or even a request in the question – either might have closed his heart to her on the subject forever. Rather, she was trying to extend something of an invitation. Friend to friend. Leader to leader. One heart to another. He had been her shoulder to cry on and her valiant shield for so long… if Padme could so much as lend him her ear, her heart would be glad for it.

She saw how Anakin's chest began to heave at whatever memories she'd unlocked within him and how easily they distressed him. Padme had always wondered just how much of the man she knew, she one she feared and hated and loved with every piece of her was formed of the bully boy he used to be and how much was crafted by the man he'd become. Her gaze flicked down to see his fist clench tightly before unclenching twice.

"You know how I used to be," his voice came out thick, almost hoarse but he didn't look at her. "I was downright awful."

"I'm sure that's not true," she shook her head and reached up to stroke her fingers along his back, stopping herself a mere inch away from touching him. No, that wasn't a good idea. Friends didn't do that… did they? She would for Dorme and Sabe or Bail or Obi-wan… perhaps not Mon, though… Padme wrestled with herself for another moment before her palm touched him through the thin material of his white shirt. He was warm and solid beneath her touch. Her flesh jolted at the contact. Her heart leapt. "You weren't nice to me but you were – "

"A bully," he interrupted whatever excuse her mind was trying to craft for his behaviour then. "I was trying to get your attention but I was an ass to you – to everyone."

Padme stroked her hand up and down his back soothingly but she wasn't sure he even noticed. "You were only a child, Anakin… No one is perfect at that age."

"I told you, I wasn't worth anything back then…" Something bitter fell from his lips, a sound caught between a laugh and choking. "It's like I said before, no one thought I was going anywhere except my mom. She always thought I could turn it around if I tried."

There had to be someone other than his mother who had seen any potential within him. Anakin was exceptionally clever and quick-minded, he'd proven time and time again he was an excellent strategist! Surely there was a teacher or friend or a cousin or… Padme wished she'd paid more attention to the Skywalker family all those years ago. All she remembered of Shmi Skywalker was the dark-haired woman with kind eyes who would always have a smile to share when they passed on the street.

She used to wonder how someone so warm had Anakin as her son. Guilt swelled inside her at the memory.

"There must have been someone – "

"I mean no one, Padme," his voice was hard then and her hand fell away to lie limply by her side again. "Teachers. Family. My mom's husband… No one. And they were right."

Her curiosity burned hotter than earlier. "Why didn't you ever tell me about your family, Ani?" She didn't quite understand why but her heart began racing as they spoke, as she uncovered a deeply hidden and highly secretive layer of him she'd always wondered about. Part of her never thought he would share details of his life before with her ever. Anakin was so alive and vibrant within the new world, it was the place he'd been happiest within, where he'd been someone with power and influence, where people had looked to him for guidance and leadership. He'd buried his past so deeply inside himself that Padme hadn't thought it would ever surface again.

"There isn't much to say," Anakin pulled himself away from the window and took a few steps toward the table instead. "We weren't like your family. It wasn't all happy and loving."

He spoke of his family as if they were already gone. Just like hers were. "Are they dead?" Did he carry that harrowing burden on his shoulders the way she did? When he closed his eyes at night, did he hear the screams of death? Did he see flesh and bones where people used to be? It was a pain that never went away, not ever.

Anakin was quiet for a moment and with his back turned to her, Padme couldn't see whatever emotions painted his face. Just when she thought he might not answer her, she heard the quiet shudder which escaped his lips. "My mom is," the words came tight and hoarse, as if they physically pained him to utter. "I don't know about her husband."

Her heart shattered.

He was still facing away from her, his hardened gaze pointed intensely at the wall of the suite which lined the bedroom instead. Padme respected his distance, remaining by the window as he processed the memories he'd worked so hard to bury. She craved to know more, to know everything that had forged the man she knew today but she knew these confessions were a moment of fragility. One wrong word or movement might close him off. Eventually, she built the courage to ask another gentle question.

"Did you have any siblings?" She didn't remember Shmi having any other children but she hadn't truly given the neighbouring family any consideration in those days. The Skywalkers could have had over a hundred children and she wouldn't have noticed.

At this, Anakin turned back to her, leaning heavily on the table as he swallowed, hard, and shook his head. "No… well, my mom didn't have any other kids… but she lived there with us."

"Who's she?"

"A girl my mom and her husband took in. Fostered, actually. They were going to adopt her for real so I guess maybe she was my sister…" He gave a shrug which Padme could tell was meant to seem unaffected but she saw through him. Whatever memories of this girl he had were breaking him. She watched as the cracks began to fracture right before her eyes. "Leia," the girl's name fell from his lips in reverence, "you wouldn't have seen her. By the time she came to live with us, you'd already left for college."

Leia… A little sister…Why hadn't he ever talked about her before? Padme thought about Sola and her kids every single day – they lived only in her memories now but she cherished their ghosts. "Is she…?"

"Dead?" Anakin lifted his glassy eyes to look at her, "Yeah."

Her heart clenched painfully. All this time Anakin had watched her cry over her family's deaths and never mentioned that he lost his own. He'd held her and kissed away her nightmares while carrying his all alone. How had he kept that pain to himself all this time? A tremendous rush of guilt crashed over the young woman at her own selfishness. She should have tried harder to know this side of him - that's what you were supposed to do for someone you loved.

"Oh, Ani…" she breathed, "I'm so sorry."

"You shouldn't be," he shook his head though his eyes were distant, "there's nothing to be sorry for."

Stepping closer to him, Padme took his trembling hands into her own and threaded their fingers together. She ached to be close to him, to hold him and kiss away this hurt he felt but she couldn't. "I am sorry, Anakin. I wish I'd known about this before… I wish it had never happened." She squeezed their joined hands, "Do you want to talk about her?"

He was quiet again for a long moment before a deep, shuddering breath fell from his mouth. Anakin tore his hands from hers and ran his fingers through his hair, musing the golden waves as his legs carried him several steps across the room. He seemed to vibrate with nervous energy, reliving this secretive trauma of his past. "I haven't said her name out loud in years… She was… I never…" He sighed again and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Leia was about eight when she came to live with us. My mom was so excited to finally have a girl, I remember she kept fussing about the room and the clothes they were going to get her. All pink and Disney. When she got there, she was this bouncy little thing, big red curls and freckles all over her face. I didn't know what she'd been through before, no one ever told me but my mom said she was fragile."

"Were you close with her?" Padme asked, wringing her hands together.

"Not really," Anakin said quietly, "I wasn't…" Regret shone in his eyes then, "I wasn't nice to her. I locked her out of my room, ignored her constantly and refused to help out with her in any way. I despised her sometimes and God, I fucking hate myself for it now."

"What happened?"

A shrug shook his shoulders heavily. "It was pathetic. I felt so pushed out. She needed all the attention because she'd been through hell before coming to us and all she wanted was a family and a safe home but I made it all about me. It was like, all of a sudden, I didn't exist and I was way too old to behave like that. I can see that now but back then? I was so angry because it had always just been me and my mom and then Cliegg and started pushing me to do things. He wanted me to be like his wet blanket of a son, Owen… I was glad to see the back of him when he went to college with his girlfriend. It was like, all of a sudden, there was a husband and a kid to take care of and I felt like she didn't care about me anymore. They had this new family I didn't fit into."

Anakin's words came out in harsh breath and irregular sentences and Padme's heart ached to hear it. He'd been holding onto this story for years, hoarding his pain to himself and presenting a hardened shell out to the world to hide it. The mere fact that he was sharing with her now was enough to move her to her very bones. He clenched his jaw as his gaze became haunted with ghosts that dug down into his chest. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad… These things need a little time for everyone to get used to. I'm sure your mom and Leia knew that."

"I was horrible to her," he shook his head, regret thick in his voice. "Then again, I was awful to everyone then. You know that most of all."

Her mouth opened and then promptly closed again. As much as she wanted to, Padme couldn't bring her to contradict him on this, the way he treated her in school was hardly proof of the opposite. She remembered pulled hair, being tripped, books knocked to the floor… But it still hurt to hear him speaking of himself like this.

"How did she die?" She asked instead, already dreading the answer. Little Leia was so young, just like Ryoo and Pooja had been – their short-lived lives were heartbreaking. Especially for Anakin's little sister, her chance at a happy family was stolen so quickly. That little girl had deserved so much more than life seemed to have given her.

"A beast…" his throat constricted, "I told you I found my beast as a baby, remember?"

Her horrified gasp escaped her lips before Padme could control herself. "Your beast?"

"No," he shook his head before looking away. "No. I kept it in her bedroom – Leia found me with it one day and asked me to. She was afraid of the monsters because we could hear them outside sometimes, so I told her the beast would keep her safe while she was asleep. Her own little guardian against them." Anakin's voice grew even more strained. Despite what he said earlier, she could tell he wasn't as terrible to Leia as he thought. He'd wanted her to feel safe in her bed at night, he gave her his beast for protection rather than keeping it for himself – what else were big brothers for? Whether he knew it or not, Anakin loved his little sister.

The image of a younger Anakin trying to chase away the monsters that haunted his little sister's nightmares sent a jolt of pain through her heart. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered Sola trying to comfort her girls for hours at a time. She remembered holding her hands over Pooja's ears, trying to drown out the screams filling the streets outside with stories and the blasting volume of the TV, praying the beasts wouldn't find their way inside the house. She remembered how alone and lost she felt when she found them all in pieces.

Padme shut her eyes to push back the anguish those memories brought.

"I even showed her the trick with music," Anakin continued, exhaling sharply, "she loved that. Made me learn all sorts of stupid pop songs she liked to play for her and the beast and I thought – I thought things would be alright, but one night a beast got inside the house, I don't know how." His face crumpled suddenly. "And – and I made it to her room before my mom or Cliegg but I didn't have time to free the beast from the closet before the – that thing, it… it just… jumped on the bed and…"

He stopped talking suddenly, covering his mouth with his hand but tears gleamed unmissably in his eyes. Padme moved toward him, feeling tears of her own fill her eyes but he backed away from her, holding up his hands and shaking his head again. She stilled at the silent rejection, watching his quivering form as the grief washed over him as if it was fresh.

"Oh, Ani…" She murmured.

"It's fine, it happens," he grit out even though this night had obviously broken his heart in a great way. "I finally got my beast out and it scared the other one off. It threw itself out of the window and bolted but my mom and Cliegg ran in right after – they'd heard the screams and they – they saw me with the beast on its leash and my… and what was left of Leia." His face twisted in bitterness, "Well, I'm sure you can imagine what they thought."

Padme let out a gasp as her eyes widened in horror. "No... Oh, Anakin surely they didn't think that you – "

"I tried to tell them," Anakin says, his face crumpled in a devastated franticness she had never seen in him before. Tears coated his cheeks and she felt her own spill over with them. "I tried to tell them what happened by my mom just started screaming. Cliegg wouldn't believe me – he never believed in anything I said anyway. He'd brought his gun with him when they heard Leia's screams and he tried to shoot my beast while my mom started pleading for him to just calm down. Padme, he tried to shoot me! He hated my guts already – this was as good an excuse to get rid of me as any, I suppose. My mom started screaming again, begging him to stop it but I just – I scooped my beast up and bolted out the window. I ran. I ran and didn't look back…"

Before she could stop herself or allow him to stop her, Padme closed the distance between them and threw her arms around Anakin's trembling body. He tensed beneath the sudden touch but she buried her face into his chest, her tears wetting his shirt. After a moment, his arms came around her. Tightly. She felt his hand in her cropped hair and his chin on her head and suddenly, nothing had ever changed between them, there were no troubles or beasts or bombs. Just Padme and Anakin. Just two people holding each other as he bared his soul to her.

"I'm so sorry, Anakin," she whispered into his chest, "I'm so, so sorry!"

How had he kept all this to himself for so long? How could he bear the grief? Her own, while traumatic, lacked the abject misery and betrayal Anakin had suffered. It was no wonder he thought so poorly of his step-father! Then again, she had never been in that man's position either. She knew how frantic, racing thoughts could lead to the wrong conclusion.

"I went back after all hell really broke loose," his words were breathless and shaken, "After I got the Empire and people to follow me. I went to get my mom, I wanted her to be safe here with me but she… Well, what was left of her had been that way for a long time. I don't know what happened to Cliegg and his son. I just… if I'd gone back sooner, I could have saved her, Padme. I know I could have."

Lifting her head, Padme looked up into Anakin's desperate eyes and laid both her hands on his quivering chest. "You can't think like that! You just can't, Anakin, it'll drive you crazy. There was nothing you could have done… just like there was nothing I could have done to help my own family. Isn't that what you always told me?"

He gave a choked sniffle and pulled her back into his body, holding her to him as though she were his only anchor through the storm of pain these memories wrought. As they fell into silence, Padme closed her eyes and nuzzled herself closer to him, giving and seeking comfort both at once. Wrapped in the embrace of Anakin's arms once more, she felt at home.

"Things were good here," he broke the silence at last, calmer now though his voice still shook as he changed the subject. "I felt like some kind of a king."

This made her lips curve upwards and she gripped at his shirt, savouring the feeling of his arms around her again. "I'm sure you'll make a whole new kingdom wherever we go."

"No, I won't." He loosened his grasp around her body and Padme looked up at him, frowning. That wasn't the answer she had expected, not at all. She had always assumed he would attempt to re-build his Empire where they settled. Somewhere safe and secure and full of people happy to follow his commands. Wasn't this what he loved about this new world? "I don't want this anymore."

"What do you want?" She asked softly, lost in the sea of his eyes, and for once no wild storms were raging within the azure irises.

Anakin smiled down at her almost shyly, as if she might find his answer embarrassing or pathetic in some way after her grand assumption. "A home," his answer was simple and genuine and it stole Padme's breath. "I think I'm done with the leading and the fighting now… I just want… well, something easy."

"Is that how you really welcome?" Padme heard herself whisper, heart pounding. A home, a quiet, tranquil existence… that was all she ever wanted… All this time, she'd thought a life with Anakin would be a life of running and fighting and dancing with death but suddenly, she saw an entirely different life play out before her eyes as vividly as if the images were swirling around the suite for real. She could see them settling somewhere quiet, just the two of them together. A little house. No beasts to run from, no bombs to plan around. No gang wars fought in the streets. No more blood or deaths.

They were happy and free.

Padme found herself aching for it.

Anakin moved his hands to her waist, his gaze searing as a thousand silent words passed between them all at once. She saw the understanding bloom in his eyes and the desire. She watched them flick down to her lips heavily before returning once more. They pressed closer together, their bodies reaching for what their mouths weren't ready to ask for. "Padme, I – "

"Anakin! You up here?" Kit's frantic shout tore them apart as through their very touch burned one another. Padme's chest heaved as their friend thundered into the suite panting breathlessly. Panic flashed in his wide brown eyes. "You gotta get down here! Now! Both of you!"

"What's happening?" Padme demanded and Kit could only shake his head for a moment, recovering from the steep stairway he'd climbed, "Kit! What's going on?"

"Palpatine is here… and he's not alone."