It had been three days since Vader's encounter with Padmé and he had yet to punish her. He walked past her cell every four hours or so trying to think of ways to go about it, and thought of many, but could not find the strength to carry out his ideas.
As he approached the main control room, several of his loyal men turned and bowed their heads, Piett included. "A word alone, Piett," he insisted, ignoring the other men.
Piett visibly gulped as he followed Vader into the corridor.
Vader glanced down at him. "I need you to find me a rebel. Any rebel."
"My Lord, we're working on it," said Piett. "Unfortunately they are very skilled at hiding. I assure you though that we will have many as soon as they arrive on Dantooine and the ambush begins."
"That's not good enough!" Vader shouted, causing Piett to stiffen. "I need one now!"
Piett allowed a couple moments of silence for Vader to cool down before proceeding. "If I may ask, Sir, what is it that you need the rebel for?"
"Not that it's any of your business, Piett," Vader snapped, "but I need someone to torture in front of our female rebel guest that between you and me, the Emperor presumes to be dead, so you better not say a word to anyone."
"Of course not," Piett answered quickly. "Does she have more information valuable to our cause? Perhaps you could use the mind probe."
"No!" Vader exclaimed, but quickly realized that Piett would begin to suspect something if he was holding a rebel prisoner who had no further information to offer. "I mean, yes. Yes, she does have more information. But no mind probe. She cares not for her own body being subjected to physical pain and responds more when faced with the pain of others. A terrible weakness."
"Perhaps she may have a family that could be useful," Piett suggested.
Vader admired the man's thinking and had to admit that it was a good idea, but did he really want to go as far as to torture one of Padmé's relatives in front of her just because she denied his companionship?
No. I will just have to try something else. I'll do things her way.
"Look into it," Vader said to Piett. "I want their contact information, but do not capture them without my consent. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Lord Vader," Piett answered with a salute. "I shall find you as soon as I acquire this information."
Vader dismissed Piett and headed to the main hangar. He commanded a group of mechanics working on a broken fighter engine to leave. He needed something to keep his mind busy. Vader had always enjoyed fixing things- he found life to be much simpler.
Anakin liked fixing things too.
Vader resisted the urge to stab his flesh hand with the wrench he was holding for thinking about his past again. She is doing this to me.
And yet instead of disposing of Padmé, a massive, hazardous risk to his Dark Side training, he was about to give her a gift.
This time when Vader showed up, Padmé was awake. She found it hard to sleep when she was haunted with so many questions from his last visit. What did he mean by "you don't understand"? What didn't she understand?
She didn't look up from her book when she heard the door slide open. Padmé did not want to give Vader the satisfaction of thinking she cared about his visit.
"Where did you get that?" Vader asked.
"One of my guards," said Padmé as she pretended to keep reading. "You don't think they just stand around and do nothing but guard an impenetrable cell all day, do you?" She looked up at his mask, making sure her face was void of any emotion. "Kurt was done with this one."
"Who the hell is Kurt?" said Vader.
"He's the one on your left when you walked in," Padmé replied. "Hi, Kurt!"
She waved to the man in the white armor outside the cell, whio glanced nervously over his shoulder for a moment before assuming his soldier position.
"You will refer to my troopers by their designated numbers and nothing else," Vader growled, slamming the door shut.
Padmé looked back at her novel and did not respond. Frustrating Lord Vader was becoming one of her favorite hobbies. She was annoyed when he continued talking.
"What's it about?" the deep voice asked.
"Huh?" Padmé responded, looking toward him again.
"The book," Vader clarified.
"Oh," said Padmé. "Well it's about a mysterious creature in a hideous black suit that captures an innocent girl and refuses to let her go for unknown obnoxious reasons."
"Really?" Vader responded.
Padmé narrowed her eyes. "No, of course not," she replied, making sure to place extra emphasis on Vader's stupidity.
She memorized what page she was on before slamming the book shut and placing it next to her. "So why are you here this time?"
"I was here to give you something, but it appears that my motives have been altered slightly. Come with me."
"What?" Padmé responded, wondering if she'd heard him correctly. Was she really going to leave this cell? Was he taking her to some lethal torture chamber, or was he setting her free?
She stood up, not really caring as long as she could see something other than grey walls.
"Follow me," Vader ordered, opening the door with the Force. She was secretly a bit impressed every time he did it. In her experiences with Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan, they liked to keep their use of the Force to a minimum.
"Where are we going?" Padmé questioned as she struggled to keep up with the tall beast, who gave her no answer. He didn't even bother to handcuff her- she could run anytime…but where to go? She looked left and right as they passed through hallways, searching for anything that looked like it might lead to a hangar.
"You know you can't run," said Vader without turning around or slowing his pace. "It would be incredibly foolish since I am faster and stronger and can kill you instantly."
So he can read minds.
"But you won't," Padmé countered.
"You don't know that, Senator," said Vader, "unless you think you've suddenly developed the power to read minds."
"I haven't," Padmé responded, "so it's only fair that you stay out of mine."
Vader made a sound that might have been a chuckle and halted at a large steel door guarded by four troopers and turned to face her. "Contrary to popular belief, I can't read minds. I'm just not stupid."
Padmé found this to be almost a relief as Vader punched in a code to open the door. It automatically shut behind them when they stepped through. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight before her.
It was a bedroom. A huge bedroom with virtually no decorations and grey surrounding her on all sides. Well, I know what Vader's favorite color is.
And in the middle of the room was an extra-large black bedframe with only a mattress.
I'm in Vader's bedroom. Why am I in Vader's bedroom?
"You should really get some sheets," Padmé noted, unsure of what else to say.
Vader ignored her comment. "Shower's through there," he said, pointing at a black door.
Padmé began to panic. Was this how he planned to kill her? Death by shower? How would he do it? Would he bang her head on the wall or strangle her with her own wet hair while she was stark naked? Or perhaps the shower was not actually a shower and would really spew lava on her when she turned it on and she would burn to death...
"It's not a trick, Senator," said Vader. "You just smell really bad."
Padmé didn't know whether or not to be offended. She knew she should refuse this- he would want something in return.
But it's been so long…
She decided to take him up on the offer. At least if it was a trap, she would die clean.
Vader waited impatiently on the edge of his mattress. How long could the woman possibly need to wash?
He was relieved when he finally saw the door crack open and Padmé stepped through.
She was beautiful. He had never realized how long her hair really was until now. The water had smoothed out the curls and it flowed down her back like a waterfall of dark chocolate. It perfectly complimented her…wet outfit.
"Did you shower with clothes on?" Vader asked, commenting on the soaking, probably expensive, blue gown.
"No," Padmé answered, "but since I figured you wouldn't have any spare women's clothing hanging around, I washed this too. Now what do you want?"
"It's actually something you want," Vader answered, pulling out his communicator. He dearly hoped this would work to earn her trust. "I'm calling your parents."
"What?!" Padmé screamed, reaching for the device.
"I know how badly you want to go home," Vader answered, "but this is all I'm offering you right now. You will tell them that you're fine- you're on vacation, meeting with your rebel friends, make something up. Then I will leave you alone for a few minutes so you can catch up."
Padmé glanced at him, confusion evident in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?" she asked.
Vader typed in the information Piett had given him and waited for a connection.
Padmé's face lit up when holograms of her parents appeared before her.
"Oh, sweetie- it's you!" her mother, Jobal, exclaimed. "We were getting so worried- you haven't answered your comm in a week!"
"I know, I'm sorry, Mom," said Padmé. She quickly glanced to the side, where Vader was sitting out of view. "I'm…off world. On business."
Please trace this call, Mom.
Her father, Ruwee, sighed. "Padmé, I thought you decided not to get caught up in all this…business."
"I know," Padmé responded. "Unfortunately I had no choice."
"Why are you all wet?" Jobal asked skeptically.
"I…fell in a lake," Padmé replied. "You know me, always clumsy. Near death experience. That's why I decided to call- to let you guys know how much I love you."
Padmé dearly hoped her parents would pick up on her situation. If the lake and near-death experience weren't giveaways, her parents certainly knew she wasn't clumsy.
Trace the damn call.
"I see," Ruwee answered, his face displaying some confusion, but no obvious signs of disbelief. "Well, we're glad you're alright."
True to his words, Padmé watched from the corner of her eye as Vader rose and left her alone. I can't tell them- he's listening. He might not be here, but he's still listening.
Padmé struggled to think of subtle ways to tell her parents she was being held aboard the Executor, but none came to her as she listened to her mother speak joyfully about her grandchildren, the kids of Padmé's sister, Sola. Perhaps if she kept her mouth shut and earned Vader's trust, then she would be able to escape on her own anyway.
Padmé was disappointed when the call ended and Lord Vader reappeared, his looming figure maintaining a respectable distance. She began to approach him to give back his communicator, but he snatched it from her hand with the Force and let it slowly float toward him, catching it gracefully.
Show-off.
"Thank you," Padmé said, "for letting me talk to my family."
Vader didn't respond, which Padmé expected. She wondered if he'd ever said "you're welcome". Then again, Vader had surprised her with his seemingly genuine actions multiple times in the past week, so anything was possible at this point. Was he trying to earn her trust, just as she was trying to earn his? Even if she was unable to get to the bottom of his mysterious behavior, Padmé wouldn't give up on going home.
