A/N: Yet another chapter, I hope that you enjoy.

When Vader returned to Coruscant, he made sure that he was unnoticed, using low security landing codes and made sure to birth his ship in an undisclosed hanger. His first stop was his apartment where he had it swept for bugs, not trusting his master in the least. Finding a few in every room, he deactivated them all and tossed them in the chute for the incinerator before making several adjustments in his security system that would short circuit all bugs. Next he checked his messages, finding one from the emperor seeking an audience. Without a seconds hesitation, he left his apartment for the Imperial Palace, thinking of his excuse for his lengthy absence as he made his way there. He was given high clearance into the palace, but even for certain sections of the palace he was restricted, such as the emperor's personal living quarters. This was due to Palpation's excessive paranoia. Palpatine knew exactly how strong Vader was and how easy it would be for Vader to kill him and for this alone, Palpatine trusted Vader less than anyone else while giving the public pretense that Vader was not only his closest friend but also considered family.

After going through security, Vader waited to be acknowledged by the Emperor in his throne room while the Emperor listened to the boot licking of the toadies that surrounded him at the moment. Vader greatly disliked the men that were considered to be a part of the Imperial Council. The longer he had to wait, the more he frowned, but remained patient, for he had learned long ago what the price of impatience would be.

"Ah, Lord Vader, it is so nice of you to grace us with your patience," Palpatine said finally with a sour note to his tone, causing the toadies to look at him.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I had heard some rumors of surviving Jedi hiding in the Gordian Reach Sector and have been scouting for them before I received your message," Vader replied diplomatically.

Palpatine frowned. "Did you find them?" he demanded.

"Not yet, but I will," Vader answered.

Palpatine turned to his council. "Leave us," he ordered.

The Imperial Council all bowed before leaving the throne room, leaving the Emperor and Vader alone. Once they were gone, Palpatine stood. "You are to halt your search for the renegade Jedi until further notice," he commanded.

Vader knew better than the give any kind of reaction to this and simply replied with a "Of course, Master."

"I want you to instead focus your intentions of locating the rogue senator, Senator Amidala," Palpatine instructed.

"Of course, my master," Vader replied, keeping his mental defenses up.

"She is a traitor to the Empire and must be eliminated," Palpatine told him sternly.

"May I ask why, Master?" Vader asked.

"I recently learned that she had been involved with the traitor Kareem Macawi who was executed for hiding Jedi within his family home. Her involvement is grounds for treason and she must be made an example of," Palpatine told him.

Vader recalled the name as one of the ones who openly opposed the new rule, rallying several citizens of the planet Naboo to his cause. "She will be made an example of, my master, I assure you," he said.

"See to it at once," Palpatine ordered.

Vader bowed, knowing that he was being dismissed, before leaving the room, mentally planning his next move.

*~*~*

Two weeks later.

It was late and Aidia had already been put to bed. Padmé sat in a chair, reading a new holobook when there was a knock on the door followed by Dormé entering with a bag in hand. Padmé instantly saved her page and set the book down. "You have it?" she asked.

"I got as many as they had, Milady, just to be sure," Dormé answered.

Padmé stood. "It is best if we get this over with," she said.

Dormé nodded. "Of course, Milady," she said.

"I'm not too sure that I like having to trick him into this," Padmé admitted. "He's been nothing but completely honest with me, shouldn't I have told him that I was ovulating?" she asked.

"He gave his consent when you..." Dormé didn't finish her sentence. "He should know the possibility, Milady. Besides, this is the only proof that the courts would accept if an annulment was to be forced. It's the only way to prove the validity of your marriage."

"Somehow I doubt that he is aware of this fact," Padmé told her.

"Are you certain that conception has taken place?" Dormé asked tentatively.

Padmé nodded. "There were plenty of opportunities," she told her, taking the first test that was handed to her. "I just need to know for sure," she said before starting the task of taking every test that Dormé was able to purchase from the pharmacy.

Several minutes later after every test was taken and they were waiting for the results. Padmé paced around the room, wringing her hands, anxiously waiting for the results, which to her seemed like forever.

"The results have shown themselves, Milady," Dormé informed her.

"What are they?" Padmé asked.

"They're all positive, Milady, you're with child," Dormé informed her.

It was done. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, Padmé couldn't stop the wonderment from taking over, she couldn't stop herself from feeling some joy, feeling everything that any mother-to-be felt after finding out. The feeling was both wondrous and unexpected. She turned to the mirror along the wall and placed her hands over her abdomen, knowing that in no time she will begin to show. But she couldn't help but to worry about how Vader would react to the news or if he would give any reaction at all. She literally had to force him to start acting like a father to Aidia and even that was strained. She doubted that this would be any different... unless she could somehow find a way to break through the barriers that he surrounded himself with.

"Are you alright, Milady?" Dormé asked concerned.

Padmé nodded. "I'm fine," she said and turned away from the mirror, trying to think up ways to beak the many barriers that Vader put around himself. Something that she knew was a defense mechanism after so many years of being in Palpation's servitude. But she was a determined woman and she would break the emperor's hold on her husband.

*~*~*

As Vader was preparing to leave Coruscant, he felt someone following him to where his ship was birthed. After a few attempts to shake off whoever was tailing him, Vader parked his speeder near a popular restaurant and moved into the empty ally, hiding in the shadows. Sure enough, his follower, moved into the ally after him. Vader grabbed him and bound his wrists behind his back, around an exposed water pipe.

"How many of you are there?" Vader demanded.

"I work alone," his follower told him snidely, "or else I'd have to share the money."

"Did the emperor hire you?" Vader demanded. When his follower didn't answer him, he kicked him hard in the ribs, causing his follower to cough violently. "Your silence is all I need to know," he told him, bending down and pulling a detonator from his belt. "I'm going to let you be an example to all of your competitors then," he said, producing a bandanna as well and shoving the activated detonator in his follower's mouth and before his follower could spit it out, he tied his bandanna around his follower's mouth and head. The fear on his follower's face satisfying him immensely and walked away, hearing his follower's muffled cries and screams in panic for help as he left the ally before a small explosion silenced his follower forever.

*~*~*

Vader arrived on Gallinore just before supper and the first person to notice that he had returned was Aidia who had sensed his presence. The child had run to him immediately in excitement just as he reached the courtyard babbling in excitement and before Vader could make one word out, she had grabbed hold of his hand and yanked and tugged, pulling him through the house.

*~*~*

Padmé and Dormé were making their way to the dining room when they heard Aidia talking excitedly from one of the many rooms before another voice broke through the child's babbling, both women recognizing it.

"And so he has returned," Dormé commented.

"So I hear," Padmé replied as they continued on their path.

Dormé made sure that they were in the clear before speaking. "Are you going to tell him?" she asked.

Padmé paused before answering. "I think that this might need some diplomatic timing," she answered.

Dormé didn't say anything to that as they entered the dining room and took their seats before being served by Adriana. As they were beginning to eat, Aidia ran into the room and took her seat followed by Vader who didn't say anything at first.

Adriana was handed a bottle of wine from another servant and began filling the glasses around the table

"I have created a secure line for you to use to contact your family if you wish," Vader said, looking at Padmé.

"Thank you, they must be worried," Padmé replied. "I usually talk to my sister almost everyday," she told him.

"The line only works for two way comlinks, one is being delivered to your family as we speak," Vader told her.

"And Dormé?" Padmé asked.

"I haven't set one up for her," Vader answered.

Padmé frowned deeply at the slight. "Surely you realize that her family must be worried as well," she challenged.

"It's alright, Milady, I can ask Sola to speak to them for me," Dormé interrupted.

Padmé turned to her but before she could speak Vader spoke.

"To secure two lines would arouse suspicion and I am sure that you do not wish that," Vader told them.

Padmé sighed deeply, knowing that he had a point, but not liking his overlooking Dormé as if she were beneath him. "No, that is not what I wish," she said, going back to her meal, and took a sip from her water goblet, not bothering to touch the wine in front of her.

Aidia meanwhile, without any attention on her, started fidgeting and dancing in her seat and started to play with her food before she took her spoon, dipped it into her serving of Antarian pea soufflé, and flung it at one of the older servants where it splashed right in the middle of the top of her dress. The servant paused, shocked by what the child just did.

Both Vader and Padmé turned to Aidia who hid her spoon on the table, knowing that what she did was bad. Vader just reached under the table and took the spoon before placing it away from the child. "There will be no flinging food," he told her strictly. He turned back to Padmé who didn't say anything as she was waiting for him to handle it and drained her goblet of water, before signaling to Adriana to refill it before taking another sip. "You haven't touched your wine," he observed.

"I haven't been in the mood for wine lately," Padmé told him evasively.

Vader didn't say anything as Aidia demanded his attention, dominating the rest of the dinner conversation.

*~*~*

Padmé sat at the makeshift vanity in her room, brushing her hair for the night. She glanced into the mirror to see Vader move to set down his nearly empty glass of whiskey on the table by the chaise lounge in the room. She could see a subtle change in his posture. It was as if he wasn't so sure of his place at the moment and it gave her a small sense of hope. "Aidia was quite pleased to see you," she told him. "Did she show you her adjustments to that project of yours?" she asked.

"Yes," Vader answered. "Her skill is extraordinary for someone so young," he said.

Padmé smiled slightly. "She reminds me of you," she told him. "I remember when we first met. The minute that we entered your mother's apartment, you literally pulled me further into the place, so eager to show me Threepio," she told him.

"I barely remember," Vader told her, but she knew that he was lying.

Padmé wasn't sure why he was lying and it puzzled her. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"The emperor has included me in his plan to have you killed," he informed her.

Padmé set her brush down and turned to him. "And?" she asked.

Vader looked at her. "He has decided to charge you with high treason against the empire and has commanded me to comb the galaxy to fish you out of hiding," he told her.

"What are you going to do?" Padmé asked him.

"Delay it. The galaxy is quite large, the amount of hiding place is great. It can take a long time to find a person who doesn't want to be found. I can make a pretense of searching for you, only returning to Coruscant to give a report on occasion," Vader answered.

Padmé stood. "Can I ask why you are going through all this trouble to keep me safe?" she asked.

"I merely do not wish any harm to befall you. Your death would serve no purpose," he told her.

"But you have never gone to great lengths for anyone before now, have you?" she asked.

Vader looked away, not really wishing to go down this path.

"Anakin..." Padmé started. "Why am I so important to you?" she asked.

"You're the last person to have shown me kindness that has survived," Vader told her simply.

Wordlessly she walked over to him and reached up to slowly caress his cheek with her palm, looking into his eyes, seeing confusion and mixed feelings reflecting in them. She then pulled him into an embrace. "I truly wish that there was something that I could have done to stop him from taking you, Ani," she whispered into his ear.

Vader believed her, he felt her sincerity. He knew for certain that he couldn't allow someone as beautiful and kind as she to be killed for no reason. "You are an angel," he whispered with conviction.

Padmé pulled away slightly to look him in the eye. Wordlessly, she placed her hands on either side of his face, pulling him down for a kiss that he responded to with longing. Vader placed his hands on her shoulders, grasping the straps of her nightdress and sliding them down her shoulders and arms, the garment pooling around her feet. His mouth left hers to trail feather light kisses down the base of her jaw, down her neck and lower and she let him, giving him the command. Her hands moving to slid his cloak from his shoulders and to unbutton his tunic before removing it. He stepped out of his boots before removing his pants and picked her up to carry her to the bed. He took her mouth in his in a searing kiss, his hands softly roaming over her body.

It was contradicting how he was capable of so much destruction and suffering but yet capable of such gentleness at the same time. Padmé knew, she was certain, that deep down in the recess of his soul that the kind and selfless little boy that she had once known still existed, buried and locked up behind the numerous walls that he had built around himself. She was determined to bring out the part of him that had been lost beneath the pain and suffering that she knew he had endured over the years.

*~*~*

Padmé laid in bed, wide awake, thinking about how much of a turn her life had taken, beside her laid Vader, who was sound asleep, snoring away. She couldn't stop herself from reflecting on how different and unplanned her life had become. Padmé had always prided herself on having everything done according to plan. She had entered the Legislative Youth Program with clear plans for her career and had met them for the most part. She was ambitious and wanted to make a difference to those who needed it. Her life had been going according to plan. She had planned on a suitable marriage with love, companionship, and understanding with someone of equal rank and she had met that match in Kareem Macawi who was from a noble Nabooan family. Kareem was not only her equal in rank, but in everything else. They followed royal protocol in courtship during her term as Queen and planned on marrying. Their wedding date was set, her family loved him, his family was wonderful. But then Chancellor Palpatine declared the new order, appointing himself Galactic Emperor following a war that which end was marked with the genocide known as the Jedi Purge. Kareem was outraged with the new order; so was she once she had gotten over her shock. He was one of the first who openly opposed the new order and he along with his family afforded safe refuge for surviving Jedi. But they were found out and executed for it. With the new order in the galaxy, Padmé's carefully constructed plans fell apart.

Padmé wondered how different her life would be had there been no Empire and the Republic still stood strongly. Would she and Kareem be married, happily, with children? Would she have reached all of her political goals? Would she have been able to make a difference? She knew one thing, she wouldn't be in her present situation. Her life wouldn't be in such danger and depending on a man who had been half responsible for the trouble the galaxy was in. She wouldn't be in a loveless marriage of convenience. And she wouldn't be carrying the child of the most notorious man in the galaxy.

Padmé rolled onto her side, her back facing Vader, and curled up. From the open window she could hear the nighttime wildlife from the foliage. The room itself was semi dark with enough light from the moon filtering in to see forms and shapes and despite the warm temperature during the daytime, the night had a small chill to it from a light breeze coming from the open window. Padmé pulled the covers up over herself some more, pulling them slightly away from her sleeping husband who had decided to hog most of the covers. This however seemed to cause a disturbance in his sleep for the minute she pulled the covers toward herself, then he started fitfully fidgeting, tossing and turning, and fitfully muttering incoherently in his sleep. Alarmed at this, Padmé sat up, leaned over to touch his shoulder, jumping back slightly when he shot up in bed, breathing heavily. He didn't seem to notice her at first as she remained quiet, letting him compose himself but when he started to shake, she spoke.

"Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

It took a moment before he answered, but he didn't look at her. "I'm fine," he said, a little gruffer than he'd meant it.

Padmé moved closer to him, reaching out to touch his arm. "Anakin..." she started.

Vader shrugged out of her reach. "Don't touch me!" he ordered, his voice on high edge.

His behavior disturbed Padmé for she didn't understand it. He seemed to be both defensive and, dare she say it, scared. He was acting like an animal fighting for survival against some deadly predator. It was far removed form his usual indifferent, cold, and commanding mannerism. It gave way to the fact that there were traces of something deeper. It was an indicator that there was something wrong, something horrible that could have made him into what he is. "What's wrong, Anakin?" she asked, not moving to touch him again as that seemed to aggravate his current state.

This question seemed to offend him for some reason for he quickly moved to get out of the bed and pulled on some pants in an effort to put distance between them. "Spare me of your pitiful psycho-analysis, Senator, because you know nothing of what you're asking," he told her, collecting the rest of his clothes from the floor and leaving the room.

Padmé watched him go, more convinced than ever that something horrible had happened to him and she knew exactly who was at fault for it.

*~*~*

Padmé awoke the next morning by a bout of nausea and after a quick shower, she dressed and made her way to the dining room to find the table set for only three. She frowned as she was aware of what this had meant. She had thought that he would have the decency to inform her that he was leaving, but clearly she was wrong. But then she realized what this was truly about as she thought about the night before and her frown deepened. Clearly he didn't want to face her after his little fit. As she sat down Adriana began to serve her.

"Is something the matter, Milady?" Adriana asked.

"Did Lord Vader give anyone a heads up that he was leaving?" she asked.

"See-Threepio reported that he left late last night, Milady. The household was all asleep at the time," Adriana informed her.

"I see," Padmé said, her frown deepening. "Not only is he an arrogant ass but he is also a coward," she said, very unhappy.

Adriana didn't say anything to that for she knew that it was not her place.

Dormé arrived in the room not too long afterwards and knew that her mistress was upset immediately and then noted that a place was not set for Vader as she took a seat. Once Adriana had withdrew into the pantry, she spoke. "Did you tell him?" she asked.

"Not yet and I'm not sure if I will any time soon," Padmé answered as she took a sip of juice.

"Where is he now?" Dormé asked.

"I don't know, he didn't tell me," Padmé told her.

Dormé looked at her. "What is it, Milady?" she asked.

Padmé proceeded to tell her about the scene in the middle of the night... "And apparently he left the planet soon after," she finished with a frown.

"He's avoiding you, Milady," Dormé put in.

"Yes, but for how long will determine what kind of reception he will receive when he returns," Padmé told her with certainty.