A/N- Thank you for all the thoughts and wonderings from this story's fans. The timeline after this chapter begins to go a bit faster due to the circumstances going on within this chapter. Please read and review or follow. -GP

Chapter 37

Location Kenobi and Skywalker Residence

Month 10 Day 7 Year 28 BBY

Late Morning

The pounding at the door awakens everyone at noon. Ben blinks from his half-asleep state. Anakin can be arrested and put on trial for beating up a senator, even though he was an abusing asshole.

Ben wears his sleeping robes as he opens the door to his home. Three Imperial Officers stand there and Ben utters, " Morning Officers, may I help you?"

The shorter of the two officers hands a data pad to him and states, " We are here to search the premises for a certain Captain Anakin Skywalker. He is being charged with assault against a state official."

Ben sighs in frustration and calls out, " Anakin, the door is for you. Hold on gentlemen."

Anakin steps out of the corridor, rubbing his eyes of sleep. He hadn't slept well since his argument with Padme'. He pats through the living room and eyes the three officers. One of them is Ferus Olin, who graduated with Obi-wan last year from the Academy.

Padme' and Sabe also come out of the guest room eyeing the officers. They watch the Officers come into the living room and hold out metal-cuffs. One of the officers places Anakin's hands behind his back and says, " On orders of the Empire, you are charged with aggravated drunken assault of a state official. You have the right to an attorney and the right to a trial. Anything you say can be used against you in your defense."

Anakin does not fight the officers. The third officer turns to Padme' and states, " Milady, we have orders as well for you. Your husband requests for you to get your personal belongings out of his penthouse in 10 days time or he'll be getting rid of them."

Padme' nods in understanding. So Anakin had knocked some sense into her husband. She replies, " I will do that as soon as possible."

The officer nods and turns back to Anakin. " Turn around."

Padme' nods and utters, " Where will you be taking him?"

The third officer replies, " To the Imperial Prisons. He will stand trial against the Senator. This is an Imperial matter at this point in the investigation. If your husband was some average Joe on the street it wouldn't matter as much."

Padme's concerned gaze falls upon her friend and he says to her, " I'll be alright Pad- just stay put until the trial is over."

Sabe takes her hand and watches them freely take Anakin Skywalker back to their speeder. Anakin knows this can get him expelled from the Imperial Academy. He knows it's worth the risk if he keeps Padme' safe.

Location: Clovis' Residence

Month 10 Day 17 Year 28 BBY

It has been over two weeks since they arrested Anakin. Bail, Ben , Ashoka and Qui-gon all had tried to get access to him, but to no avail. They had been told since he was under investigation as to why he attacked an Imperial Senator, he was in a secluded cell. They had to determine if he'd meant to assassinate the Senator or it was for another reason. The Senator had been hospitalized since the incident and was not at home when Padme' and Sabe' went in. The news made Padme feel good in some way. He had been beaten to a pulp and that he deserved each time he'd beaten her. The Force or Gods are kind to those who wait. Padme' still yearns to take him down. Perhaps not kill him physically but bring his reputation down with him. She needed evidence of his connection to the attempt on her life. Sabe is busy in her room packing her things.

Corde had not shown her face in fear of her former mistress knowing she had been sleeping with her husband. Padme' had known for months it had been going on. She hadn't cared about anything at the time. Her fingers slide across his work and personal datapads. There had to be some files on either to prove his connection to the bounty hunter who had tried to kill her. She has very little time to look, so she brings her own data pad to transfer the data. She had once taken a class on encryption transfers at the university. She could make a transfer flawlessly with this datapad and a bit of encryption help from her new found friend Ashoka. The little genius had agreed to help her with searching for anything related to her case and to help her friend Anakin.

The beep of the first complete transfer is complete. She starts the second transfer and she presses her comm. link . " Ashoka, give me thirty seconds before you switch the camera back."

" Got it, P." She affirms. Padme can hear her fingers tapping away, watching the guards and waiting for her signal.

Captain Panaka had informed them many days prior to their arrival Rush had requested holorecordings be placed in every room of the home after he was attacked. So that if she tried to take items that were not hers then it would be considered theft and charges could arise. This had worked out perfectly to their advantage. Ashoka stayed outside and down the hall to keep an eye out for the guards. Sabe' had no idea what they had planned and just figured Ashoka had come with them for support. Padme hears the familiar beeping of the copying of the files on a datapad. She wipes away the fingerprints from the datapad and then moves towards the direction of her bedroom.

She reaches the bedroom doorway and steps in. " Go ahead Ashoka, I'm clear."

" On it," Is the determined young voice's answer.

Padme' eyes the room. Her personal items were in her closet. She didn't care for the gowns that he'd bought her. She didn't care about anything but the few things that had been hidden in her closet. She presses the panel and it slides open. Her luxurious dresses hand in neat and colorful rows. She steps in and eyes the shelf on the left. She reaches up to the two suitcases there. Those she had brought from Naboo so long ago. She pulls them down and begins eying the dresses or pants and shirts she brought with her. Her hands run through a yellow sundress she hasn't worn since that summer before her marriage. Her hand touched the thin fabric and the memories of the night she'd worn this into the garage with a very surprised Anakin googling eyeing her. She smiles thinking of that shocked expression on her friend's face. She pulls the dress down and opens up the suitcase. She begins this process for several more minutes.

This process repeats until her hands fall on a larger wooden box. Her hands halt their movements as she sits down on the floor to exam the contents of this larger wooden box. The engravings are her mother's. Sola had her jewelry from the box. Sabe' had asked for a few of her mother's cooking recipes. Padme' hadn't known her so ended up with the leftovers. She breathes in deep and opens the larger box.

Inside holds several previous items of hers, along with a small wooden urn. She breathes deep and steady as her hands touch the silver urn. No one knew she had kept her child's ashes, except Anakin. She touches the urn where a name forbidden for her to speak out loud is written.

Annika Skywalker

Anakin had carved it himself. She had requested for their daughter's remains to be cremated. She had asked Anakin if he wanted to separate the ashes and he had told her to keep it in one urn and that she had carried her, so she deserved to keep her close by.

She touches the urn again and murmurs, " I haven't forgotten about you, and never will."

Her eyes fall on the other items of her childhood. There are several items such as a favorite doll when she was 5, a dried flower from the fields near her original home- a slaver's collar. Anakin had thrown it out long ago, she had kept it. She hadn't known why. Beneath the collar was a white japor snippet craved by her best friend. All of these items held a special place in her heart. She closes the box and her eyes stare into the back of the closet. She narrows them as she eyes in the corner a black metal box. She gets to her feet and grabs the container and opens it in curiosity. Inside there is a small vile and a datapad receipt. Padme' eyes the vile and reads the contents. Powdered Krayt Dragon venom.

Padme' calls in her comm. Link. " Ashoka can you look up something for me?"

" Sure P, what is it?" Her voice asks.

" Powdered Krayt Dragon venom." She answers softly.

Her eyes turn to the datapad receipt. The lights of the pad catch her eye and she reads the powder had been bought from a local trader in the markets here on Coruscant. Her eyes catch the date- Month 2 Day 25 Year 28 BBY.

" That's poison and lethal if the dose is correct. Padme', why are you asking me about this poison? No one would keep this on their person unless they wanted to kill someone." Ashoka's voice is slow in the background.

Padme' eyes the signature at the bottom of the paper. The handwriting was of her handmaiden Corde's. Padme' drops the receipt and answers her, " I uh- never mind Ashoka- I read the label wrong."

Padme does not hear Ashoka's reply, nor cares to. She blinks back her angry tears as the revelation dawned on her. The date was several days before she had almost died and her daughter had. The poison was in the back of her closet, hidden. Hidden and kept in her own things, no one would have looked here without permission from her husband.

The question remains why had Corde poisoned her? Was she jealous of her marrying her husband? Was she- Padme' allows the tears to come and flow down her face. She shakes and realizes an uncanny truth. Her husband had been acting very odd a few days prior to the death of her daughter. He almost seemed relieved after the baby had passed…..

Oh Gods. The truth jabs her heart painfully in her chest. Rush had something to do with her daughter's death. Had he planned all along to poison her and make sure the child died? Why? She needed more proof of his connection to the attempted murder. And just like that- Padme' realizes she wants him dead now. He'd killed her baby or at least been part of the conspiracy and so had Corde'. They both deserved to die now- ruined and death by her hands. She'd find a way to do such a thing now- she has a good reason to kill them. If Anakin had known the night he'd beat Rush into a pulp, he'd have killed him right there and then. Anakin can never know about this- never. She didn't need her friend's hands bloody. She'd take care of this herself- find the evidence, bring her husband's reputation to an end, and then when he was begging for his life, she'd end it.

To Be Continued.