A/N: After a long absence, I am back and here is the long awaited chapter. Enjoy.
Doctor Kraft was frustrated with the fact that no sooner had he left the villa that he was called back to tend to the lady of the house because of her very close call. He was even more frustrated by the fact that the head of security was refusing his ability to have her transported to a medical facility. Glowering at the man, he demanded to know why. "Why is it that I cannot tend to her in my office?"
"Because the Emperor has orders for her death," Captain Dracorn answered him. "Lord Vader had already lost a former love and child because of Palpatine's cruelty, he is taking extra precautions with Senator Amidala," he disclosed while they were in the hall.
"I need to monitor her and her baby, I cannot do that without the proper equipment," Doctor Kraft persisted.
"The proper equipment can be brought here, Doctor," Captain Dracorn told him, effectively blocking him.
"I do not like this, Captain," Doctor Kraft told him walking off to confer with his nurses.
"Doctor, I must warn you that the last person who enabled the Emperor to know of Lord Vader's personal dealings is dead," Captain Dracorn told him, making sure that the doctor and his nurses heard him before they walked into Padmé's room.
*~*~*
It was rare for Vader to enjoy a night's rest without waking up and screaming. Because of its rarity, he made a point to enjoy these nights and was pleasantly dreaming that Palpatine had been burned alive by an angry mob when he was rudely awakened by someone tipping him out of his bunk. Annoyed, he glared up at Haniel's angry face. "I should lock you up in the brig for that," he told him sourly.
"I just received word from my sister, your housekeeper. Up until this point I thought you're being rancor's spit was just an act but as it turns out it's true," Haniel told him pointedly.
Vader picked himself up off the floor and adjusted himself. "I am not the..."
Haniel cut him off in mid-speech. "Your pregnant wife came dangerously close to miscarrying because of your paranoia and foul temper!" he informed him. Certain that he had his full attention, Haniel continued. "This has to stop Anakin. You must stop pushing people away at the slightest thing. It's not healthy--not for you, your daughter, your wife or your unborn child. You must stop coming up with excuses to justify yourself." he sighed. "Yes, Wyatt betrayed you to Palpatine and he killed Anya and Sonya and you've made an example of him, in the most horrifying way possible. That doesn't mean that you stop trusting people, Anakin. Dracorn and I both root out the moles and exploit them to our advantage. There is no need for fear. It is time that you start putting the past behind you and learn from it."
"She lied to me, she had ample opportunity to come clean and she didn't," Vader told him sinking back down onto the bunk.
"According to my sister, you were very much closed up about the subject. That's not a sign of encouragement to women," Haniel pointed out.
Vader stood and pulled something from his bag and tossed it at Haniel. "What about this?" he demanded.
Haniel opened what was tossed to him, seeing the necklace that Padmé had refused. His eyes widened at seeing it and knew the meaning well.
"She practically threw it in my face," Vader informed him. "No, she did throw it at me, while I was sleeping," he corrected.
"Well just how did you present it to her?" Haniel asked.
"Does it matter?" Vader demanded.
"Women are extremely emotional and temperamental when they're pregnant," Haniel told him as though he were explaining it to a child.
"I don't remember Sonya being volatile," Vader pointed out.
"My second cousin didn't have a volatile bone in her body. She was always as sweet and tender as a gumball," Haniel told him softly. "She proved to be just what you needed at the time," he said closing the box and handing it back to it's owner. "Anakin, I tell you this because I do care about your well being, but also because I am worried. You need to let go, move on and let them rest in peace," he told him. "We're refueling on Sargon shortly, if you wanted to get off, this would be the time," he finished before taking his leave.
*~*~*
When Vader returned to the villa he could feel the silent stares of his staff and he could feel the somber mood of the house. Word seemed to spread however that he was back for just as he entered the wing he slept in, which happened to be the same wing that Padmé, Aidia and Dormé slept in, he was met with the sight of an impassive Dormé just between his and Padmé's rooms. The look Dormé had on her face was one of a feral feline protecting it's young. Her small stature, however fearless she seemed, did nothing to intimidate him and he continued onward in his path. His eyes flicked to his wife's door that Dormé stood before. "Is she in there?" he demanded, his tone speaking that he was undaunted by her stare.
"If you think I'm going to let you inside then you are mistaken," Dormé told her. "My mistress is in a delicate state and she does not need you upsetting her further!"
"Move aside," Vader ordered.
"No!" Dormé told him firmly.
Vader stepped up to her in an intimidating way. "Need I remind you that she is my wife, this is my house and I can easily have you removed," he told her coolly.
"You do not scare me!" Dormé told him. "My concern does not lie with myself but my mistress! She had already miscarried once before if she miscarried again it will destroy her!" Dormé told him. "I will not let you distress her further!" she finished.
Vader stared at the handmaiden. "What do you mean she miscarried before?" he demanded.
Dormé's chin jutted out. "Three years ago, Milady was set to marry his lordship Kareem Macawi, she had recently found out that she was pregnant before she returned home and found his body along with the rest of his family. She became so hysterical that she miscarried, she locked herself up for weeks afterwards. Like then, she will see no one," she told him.
Vader knew the name Macawi all to well but he gave no hint to to it. "Well she'll see me even if I have to force you out of my way," he told her.
That was when Dormé barricaded herself against the door. "You'll have to kill me!" she declared fiercely.
"Out of my way!" Vader roared. That was when Dormé gave him a heated glare before she barely opened the door and for a minute he thought she was relenting, however before he could move, she slipped inside and closed the door. Vader strode forward and tried the knob only to find the door was locked. He let out a frustrated growl before reasoning that at some point the handmaiden would have to come out and he'll be able to make his move, he need only to be patient.
*~*~*
Patience was never one of his strong paints, Vader reflected, but over the years he had learned to cultivate it. He learned to use it for he had realized that patience was key to winning any battle of any kind and he was not the type of man who would lose a fight. So he waited tucked away in the shadows, all dark and brooding as he watched the door to his wife's rooms with a keen eye. Eventually his patience had won out and sometime in the dead of night, the handmaiden had left. He watched her tuck herself away into her own room and then he made his move. Swift as a robber, he slipped inside the darkened bedroom in utter silence. There was enough moonlight coming through the uncovered ornate window to fall across the bed. Padmé laid in the middle on her side. A holobook rested, on the pillow, just an inch from her outstretched hand resting near her check, her arm slightly curled. Her long chocolate curls spread about her on the pillow contrasting significantly with the milky bed linens. Her face was bathed in moonlight and held a peaceful expression to it in slumber. Her other hand curled tenderly around her middle where there was a noticeable curve.
It was the first time that Vader had even noticed it. It wasn't that he was blind, no, nor was it that he did not know what look for either. He just prayed for one to never be there, though on some level it was unavoidable. Truth be told, before he foolishly married her, the last woman he had been with, ironically, had been Ingrid and that illicit affair had produced the innocent child that peacefully sleep a few doors down. A child he had once vowed to never set eyes on nor think about. Which went to show just how well his best laid plans go astray. It seemed that he was forever doomed to a prolific life. That is if he still wanted to continue having a sexual relationship with his wife. But he would be a liar if he said he could live the rest of his life with an exquisite beauty for a wife and not even touch her ever again.
If the Emperor were to find out... A sudden fierce emotion completely alien to Vader bubbled up. He would not touch them, Vader would make sure of that. But where this fierce protectiveness was coming from was beyond his comprehension. He hadn't felt it for years. But there it was, clear as daylight. He would have to be careful about this, Vader decided as he stepped further into the room. Padmé laid close to the edge of the bed, as though subconsciously, she wanted to make room. Vader took a seat in a nearby chair and watched her sleep and he remembered when he had first met her and how he had done his best to forget her. But he didn't, he remembered her every day that his master wasn't around to suspect. Her kindness knew no bounds, her purity was unquestionable and it was what lured him to her, what he coveted.
His eyes left her sleeping face and moved to the curve around her middle where his child grew. Where their child grew. He couldn't deny that the knowldge had the power to make him feel a strong pull in him. He couldn't deny that he cared. Though the extent of his feeling was undiscernable as of yet. Quitly and slowly, his hand reached out and rested on that curve and he could feel the life beneath his hand. He found himself unable to take his hand away and then he felt a small kick and then a small feeling of elation came over him. His child had let him know that he was there, their child had recognized him, he was sure of it. However when he looked back to Padmé's face and he saw that she was awake.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Vader didn't say anything at first. He didn't know what to say or why he had come in the first place but then he recalled what Haniel had said as well as the handmaiden hours ago. He knew what he should say, but the words were like an alien dialect that he couldn't understand.
But he didn't get a chance to say anything for Padmé turned over with her back facing him. "Never mind, I don't want to hear it, just go away," she said.
Vader sat there for a minute. No one has ever told him to go away before, aside from the Emperor. Too many people feared him and knew that they would be killed for less. But Padmé didn't fear him or anyone, that much was clear. She cared about him instead but at this moment she didn't want him and he didn't know how to feel about that for he most definintely did. Deciding to do as she wished, Vader stood up and walked to the door. He stood in the doorway for a minute befor he looked back. "I'm sorry," he managed to get out before he left.
*~*~*
Doctor's orders was to remain in bed and avoid any more stress, so far Padmé had obeyed the orders, even if she hated remaining in bed. Almost loosing her baby was enough to make her follow orders. To say that she didn't want this baby was an understatement. She wanted it more than anything and the fear that she might have lost it terrified her. She prayed that she was not like her friend Breha Organa and that she could carry to term.
Resting a protective hand over her growing midsection, Padmé reflected how she never thought of being a mother until after her first miscarriage. She wanted to say that conceiving this baby was to prove that her marriage wasn't a farce in the eyes of the courts but the simple truth was more, she wanted this baby, she wanted her own baby. She had already loved Aidia as if she were her own, but Padmé deeply wanted her own baby. But it was clear that she had married a man who abhorred the thought of having children. He was literally forced to be a father to Aidia.
A knock on the door roused Padmé from her thoughts and she turned to see Dormé set aside her stitching to answer. Mrs. Ainbelli walked in with a tray in her hands and set it down for Padmé.
"Lord Vader has returned, Milady, do you wish to speak with him?" Mrs. Ainbelli asked.
"I don't think I can stomach it at the moment," Padmé told her, accepting the tray of food.
Mrs. Ainbelli nodded but instead of leaving, she sat down beside the bed. "He had his reasons for overreacting to the news," she started.
"It is because the man is devoid of feelings," Dormé interjected.
"Dormé," Padmé warned.
Mrs. Ainbelli gave the handmaiden a wry look. "Lord Vader has feelings, I assure, he just buries them," she said in defense of her employer. She turned back to Padme. "Milady, you do not know the histoy of this estate or what it's intent was for," she began.
"A place to get away fro a while," Padmé said automatically. "I have my own property for that purpose on Naboo," she said.
"Lord Vader intended to escape here, yes, but not for the intent you believe. He was intending on running away and disappearing to be with his daughter and her mother safely, four years ago," Mrs. Ainbelli told her.
"Aidia isn't even four..." Padmé's brows knitted together in question.
"I am not speaking of Miss Aidia, I am speaking of wee little Anya," Mrs. Ainbelli told her.
"Anya?" Padmé asked, her mind going to the locked up room and the tomb. She glanced at Dormé to see her interest piqued, too.
Mrs. Ainbelli nodded. "Lord Vader had gotten himself involved with a distant cousin of mine, Sonya, she saw beyond the scarred teenager and brought something out in him, when they were sixteen, they had a daughter, two years later he found this villa and had a guard he thought was loyal to him escort both Sonya and Anya here while he worked on staging his death for that monster. The guard however turned both Sonya and Anya to that monster where he killed them. The monster had himself trturing Anya to death recorded and delivered Sonya's body to her mother's doorstep while he hand delivered Anya's body to Lord Vader and forced him to watch the recording. Lord Vader later brought Anya's body here. He locked himself up with her in the room he had prepared for her for days holding her lifeless body to him, silently rocking back and forth. It took both my brother and Captain Dracorn to pry Anya's body from him so that she could be properly buried. Lord Vader hasn't been the same since. He hasn't let anyone get close to him, until you came," she explained. "Lord Vader would not be pleased that I told you this," she hastened to add.
"I won't tell him," Padmé assured her.
"You have to understand, Milady, what made him the way he is because if you can't then I fear that there might not be any hope for him. If you'll excuse me for being blunt, you are the best thing that had happened to him in years. We used to fear for him. He had locked himself away in pain and anger and then you come into his life, the changes are subtle at best but they're there and it is all because of you," Mrs. Ainbelli told her. She stood up then and gave a respectful nod before she left the room.
Dormé exchanged a look with Padmé when the housekeeper left. "What are you thinking, Milady?" she asked.
"I think I understand his reaction but I'm still not ready to deal with him," Padmé answered.
"I think that is wise. Who knows how he'll treat you when the doctor strictly ordered bed-rest until your second trimester," Dormé told her.
What Padmé didn't tell her was that Vader had already seen her and that he had apologized. But it still didn't change anything, did it?
*~*~*
Tracking Anakin Skywalker had proved to be so time consuming that it had taken up Obi-Wan's time during the waning days of the Republic and now it was what he put all his effort into with the destruction of the Jedi Order. Many Jedi had commented that he was obsessed with a phantom. but Obi-Wan knew without a doubt that Anakin was alive and somewhere. With Shmi Skywalker's confirmation, Obi-Wan felt partly vindicated and somewhat grim as those Jedi he had proven wrong were no longer alive. It had taken The entire hyperspace ride to the Capital for him to mull the information over in his head. He would have to speak to Senator Amidala to see if she had heard anything. Surely Anakin, who had a fondness for the senator, would have reached out to her. But when he happened upon her apartment through the maintnece shaft, he saw that it had been cleaned out of all personal belongings and imperial troops were standing guard. "Curious," he muttered, making his exit after observing them for a while. It appeared that the senator had disappeared rather that taken prisoner. It left Obi-Wan wondering if Anakin had reached out to her and she had gone with him to help. It was the sort of brash thing he would expect of her.
*~*~*
Gallinore had always brought about mixed feelings in Vader that he did his best to suppress. He normally only came here twice a year and they were always short visits. But since he brought Padmé and Aidia here he found himself returning more and more, of wanting to return more and more. But with Padmé's refusal to see him, he wanted to leave as soon as possible. But her angry words kept returning to him. "Go ahead, leave. Run away from everything that might upset you, take the cowards way out!" He didn't take the cowards way out, he never did, well, he told himself that. He wanted to prove her wrong, just for arguments sake.
Vader tried to take his mind off of this track and tried to make an effort at doing some work in his office, but a colorful bird perched by his window kept him distracted with memories best left forgotten. Memories that he would just as soon purge from his mind if at all possible. He stared at the bird hard, willing in his mind for it to go away but the offending creature stared back with what seemed to be matched intensity. Finally unable to stand the creature any longer, he stood, walked to the window and opened it to shoo it away, which effectively did the job, or so he thought. The bird merely perched on a light post a story down, staring up at him defiantly.
Vader frowned and moved to go back to what he was doing when he saw the lake in the distance through a clearing in the trees, as well as the small white marble tomb that faced the water. Vader sharply closed the window and made an attempt at closing the shutters but when they feel at the slightest touch, he settled for just closing the window from where he returned to his desk, this time the memories refusing to stick to the back burner of his mind until finally work seemed out of the question and he shut things down and stood up.
Vader didn't know where or what he was doing, his feet just carried him off to whatever destination until he found himself by the lake. More of Haniel's words came to mind. "You need to let go, move on and let them rest in peace." But Vader didn't want to let go, it was the pain that gave him the edge he needed to move on, to kill Palpatine, it was what told him to be patient and wait for the right moment. But what would be the right moment for Padmé and Aidia, and this new child? How much longer until Palpatine found out about them too and killed them? Anya and Sonya were defenseless, Sonya knew nothing about fighting and so she could not fight back against Wyatt when he changed the plans. Padmé, he knew, could defend herself very well. But while pregnant?
It was odd, to be concerned for the safety of others. Vader had always had to rely on himself, he cared about no one's safety but his own. For if one could not take care of oneself, then perhaps it was their destiny to fall. Only the strong survive and are needed to for continuation of their species and the weak shall die off, such was nature. So why did he care if Senator Amidala couldn't save herself? Why did he care at all?
Unwanted, boyhood memories invaded his mind, of the first time he had met her, of her kindness. How she had treated him so extraordinarily despite knows that he was a slave and she a queen, how he was so very much beneath her that he should never have been allowed in her presence. But she did not see a slave, she saw him. But years later when they met again, she had treated him like a stranger, guardedly and only showed him the courtesy extended to a guest of a guest. It was lowering to see that he was beneath her after all. And then the night of the ball, when he approached her, he felt sure that she would not do so again, because it was now she who was beneath him. It was she who should show him courtesy. But she didn't. She had shown that she wanted nothing to do with him and even after revealing himself to her, she still refused to see herself as beneath him, but rather an equal. She challenged him and he didn't know whether he should be furious or intrigued, so he was both. She appealed to him. And now she was so far under his skin that merely possessing her wasn't enough anymore. He wanted more. He wanted her to want him. More than want him. He wanted her to crave him, to... love him.
With that realization, Vader sat up straighter with a start. It was an impossibility. For someone so pure to love him, a being of darkness. But it was the impossibility that lured him in the most. And soon enough, he silently vowed, she would love him.
*~*~*
Aidia Wieland's life had gone up in a gust of wind. One day she was in the market with her mother, like any other day, when something knocked her mother down and she could feel her drastically weaken before a strange man and woman, fleeing from a bad man, came over, somehow knowing her mother. Aidia, terrified, heard her mother ask the strange man to take her before she was no more. Aidia was unable to process this before she was wisked up and away. The strange woman was very nice even if she too was scared and she comforted Aidia. Aidia would later learn that the strange man was actually her never-before-seen Daddy even if he was mean at first. But the strange woman who gave her the warmth her mother had done made her daddy nice and even married him and became her new mommy. It would have been greatly confusing for a three year old, but Aidia felt that it was right. It was easy to accept because it felt right. Her daddy needed her and so did her new mommy. Her daddy also needed her new mommy.
He was here but Aidia didn't go to him right away, he was upset and something told her not to go to him immdiatly even if it hurt. But now she felt a push to go to him. She found him outside by a some water. She followed the pull to him and saw him sitting alone and facing the water. She didn't make her presance known at first, she hit behind a white stone squar, holding something precious, something connected to her and her dady, but not alive, fleshy, but not alive. She watched him silently, he was in pain, like he was out here too long.
Silently and softly she left the stone square with the fleshy thing that wasn't alive inside it and crawled up on the stone bench next to her daddy and curled into him. He didn't notice her right away but when he did, he didn't look at her, his hand just gently brushed down from the top of her head to her back, glossing over her blond curls. Finally she spoke. "It's be okay, Daddy," she said, looking up at him.
He then looked at her. His eyes held hers, his stare the kind that would make someone uncomfortable, like he was seeing past her, but she wasn't uncomfortable, she felt warm. Looking in them, she saw him and he was love to her but he didn't know it.
"Where have you been?" he asked her.
"Playing. Adriana said I should stay out of the way," she said.
"Why is that?" Vader asked, like he was trying to recall who Adriana was.
"Because Mommy needs to be soothed. Something bad happened and she has to stay in bed for a while," Aidia told him. "Will I upset her?" she asked innocently.
Her daddy looked at her for a moment before speaking. "I don't see how you would," he said thoughtfully before an idea came to him. "Come, let's see if there is something you could make to make her feel better," he said before standing up.
Aidia didn't have a lot of time to spend with her daddy and to eagerly took whatever time that he offered her. She lifted her arms up and allowed him to pick her up and carry her back to the house, feeling safe in his arms.
*~*~*
When Padmé woke up, she woke to the sound of the chirping of three colorfull birds outside her window. Judging by the brightness of the sunlight coming through her window it was possibly the ninth hours of the time cycle. As Padmé sat up in bed against the headbored. She reached for the book that she had started the night before but before she could get into the book, there was a knock on the door. Judging that Vader wouldn't knock, he never did, she calmly called for whoever it was to enter. She saw Adriana open the door with an amused smile on her face as Aidia concentrated on carefully carrying an ornate serving tray with food and drink on it with a glass filled with water and some wild flowers bursting out of it. It wasn't an artistically arrainged boquet but it was still beautiful.
Padmé smiled as she watched Aidia carefully reach up to place the tray on the end table before climbing up on the bed. "Good morning," she said.
"Morning Mommy," Aidia said cheerfully.
It always warmed Padmé's heart that Aidia was so accepting of her and freely called her by that title. "Is that for me?" she asked, seeing the tray of food, a pleantiful amount of it to be more exact.
Aidia nodded her head up and down. "Ah huh," she said. "Daddy said I should bring it to you," she said brightly.
"He did?" Padmé asked, keeping the suspicion from her voice. For she was sure that there was a motive behind it.
"Daddy made it," Aidia told her. "I helped and I picked you some flowers too from near the water," she added proudly.
"Really?" Padmé asked surprised. She looked up at Adriana.
"Lord Vader sometimes cooks for himself when he's here, Milady, he's eating his own portion as we speak," Adriana told her. "He gave the cook the day off," she added.
Padmé raised an eyebrow. "That was kind of him," she said and pulled the tray over to her and looked at Aidia. "There is just too much here for me to eat by mmyself, would you like some, Sweetie?" she asked.
"Daddy said I could eat with you," she said, snuggling up closer to Padmé. "He was sad but making us breakfast made him feel better," she said innocently.
"He was sad?" Padmé asked.
"Ah huh," Aidia bobbed her head up and down. "He sad because of what happened," she said.
"Really?" Padmé asked. "Did he say that?" she asked.
"He didn't have to, I just know," Aidia told her looking at her with her father's eyes.
Padmé had learned in a short time not to doubt anything that Aidia said, but she also saw the plot here. She knew well enough that Vader had sent Aidia in here with the intent to get her to forgive him. The problem was that she already had. "Well, maybe when we're done we should thank your father for making us breakfast," she said.
Aidia smiled brightly before she grabbed a piece of meat and began to munch on it.
My wording in this chapter "As swift as a robber" is in reference to the VELOCIRAPTOR (veh-loss-ih-RAP-tor) "Swift Robber" (Latin velocis = swift + raptor = robber, referring to its speed and its grasping hands)
As a child I was a dinosaur and prehistoric life buff and every now and then I'll research them again. But yeah, this is a dinosaur reference that I put in. I chose the Velociraptor because of it's predatory skills, rumored(at least I can't recall any confirmation) intelligence, and swiftness. Some characteristics I believe Darth Vader to have. You should too if you really think about it.