Disclaimer: In no way at all do I own any of the original character, locations, ships, or anything else mentioned in Star Wars. They are all owned by George Lucas. I only own my OC. Any similarities between this story and another are purely accidental.
A/N: The symptoms of pregnancy described in this chapter are all accurate. And I'm sorry the update took so long. I had to go to an obligatory retreat that my school set up for freshmen. Sigh.
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Two years later…
Padmé looked up from the toilet in the refresher, meeting Dormé's worried gaze. "I'm fine," she murmured thickly.
"Milady…" said Dormé hesitantly.
"I'll be fine, Dormé," she assured her handmaiden, lifting her head from the bowl. "Just go and tell the Chancellor I can't attend today's Senate session."
Dormé bit her lower lip, then conceded, giving one last worried look to Padmé as she left.
The young Senator watched Dormé go, before dipping her head and emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Once she was finished, she turned around and leaned back against the rim of the bowl, wiping sweat from her forehead.
What's wrong with me? she thought, closing her eyes. She had been throwing up for four weeks now. Padmé had briefly though it to be a sickness caused by the Coruscant's pollution, but she had been throwing up even back on Naboo, long before she had gone to the Capital to be closer to the Senate's goings-on.
A buzz from the commlink outside her door interrupted her thoughts.
"Who is it?" she called out weakly.
"Lyra," came the voice. "Are you alright, Padmé? You don't sound too good."
"I'm fine," Padmé replied, closing her eyes. "Come in, Lyra. The door's open."
She heard the metallic doors slide open, and the padding of feet towards the refresher. The door slid open, and Padmé heard Lyra's sharp intake of breath.
"Force, Padmé, what happened to you?"
Lyra helped her stand up, leading her out of the refresher and to the couch. The older woman left for a few moments, before Padmé felt a cool cloth touch her forehead and the sides of her mouth.
"I've been vomiting for the past four weeks," explained Padmé feebly, reclining on the couch.
Lyra gave a deep sigh. "Hold still. I'm going to examine you. Maybe I can found out what's wrong."
Padmé felt the familiar rush of feeling over her that she got when Anakin used the Force on her. When it was gone, she heard Lyra take another sharp intake of breath.
She opened her eyes. "What's wrong?"
Lyra looked ready to laugh, and at the same time looked ready to cry. "Padmé," she began softly, sitting down, "I really don't know how to break this to you…"
"Just tell me."
"Alright." Lyra closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before opening her eyes again. "Padmé, you're pregnant."
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Dormé listened, shocked, at the doorway. She knew it was wrong to be eavesdropping, but she couldn't help it. Her worry for Padmé had increased over time, and she thought Lyra would know what was ailing her lady.
Also, a swell of happiness burst in her chest. Padmé was pregnant! She had been dreaming so long of having her own child; Dormé was glad it was coming true.
But one question nagged at the back of her mind. Who is the father?
Finally, she decided to do what she had come here for. Raising her hand, she buzzed the commlink mounted on the panel beside the door.
The doors slid open and she stepped in, bowing to Lyra and Padmé. "Master Sanome," she said politely, "the Chancellor has called for a meeting in his office. You, Master Kenobi, and Master Skywalker have been asked to attend."
Lyra nodded. "Thank you, Dormé." She stood up, patting Padmé's hand reassuringly. "Please see to it that your lady gets plenty of rest. Make sure she takes regular check-ups with a med-droid, as I am no expert in these things." She bowed to the two, then left.
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Lyra reached the doorway to the Chancellor's office, meeting up with her cousin in the hallway.
"Master Sanome," Bail Organa greeted warmly, bowing to Lyra.
Lyra bowed back. "Senator Organa," she replied smilingly, sadly not being able to call him cousin, with his retinue right behind him.
They entered Palpatine's office, where a number of Senators had already gathered. Obi-Wan and Anakin were already seated, Mace Windu and Yoda right beside them. She gave a small smile to Obi-Wan and Anakin, seating herself beside the latter.
"Ah, let's get down to business then," said Palpatine once they were all seated. "We have intercepted a message from the Separatists to the Commerce Guilds. Apparently, a new figure has emerged among their droid armies. His name is General Grievous."
"A half-droid," reported Mas Amedda, the Chancellor's aide. "Little more than a machine, really."
"He is the one responsible for all these attacks on the Senate, I assume," said Lyra, to which Palpatine nodded.
"Speaking of which," began Bail, "we worry for your safety, Chancellor. The attacks have all been on Senators quite close to you. You could be on next on the Separatists' hit list."
"We can station Jedi on patrol," offered Mace Windu. "Masters Sanome and Kenobi have experience, as they have already acted as bodyguards to Senator Amidala."
"Needed, they are, at the front of this battle," stated Yoda, shaking his head. "Protect the Chancellor, they cannot. Limited, the number of available Jedi are."
"I agree with Master Yoda," said Palpatine. "Your roles in this war are too prominent for you to spare a few of them as guards. My personal security can take care of this."
"Even so, perhaps additional security wouldn't hurt, Chancellor," advised Bail.
"Well, I—" began the Chancellor, only to be interrupted by the flickering hologram of one of his guards appearing from the desk.
"Your Excellency, we have a situation on the ground floor," the guard reported, panic lacing his voice.
"What is it, Captain?" asked Palpatine.
"We're being—!" The hologram flickered, then died.
"That didn't sound good," muttered Obi-Wan, but only so Lyra and Anakin could hear him.
His observations were proved correct as the doors were blasted open, and several destroyer droids rolled in, putting their blast shields up. Resolutely, they began to fire everywhere, aiming at the Senators.
The Jedi in the room sprung into action, igniting their lightsabers and deflecting the droids' blasts. Eventually, they were able to take out all the destroyers, but that was no cause for celebration.
Amidst the chaos, the Jedi noticed, the Chancellor had been spirited away, no doubt by General Grievous.
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A/N: A bit short…nothing more than a filler chapter, really.
