Ventress entered the bedroom where Dooku was resting as she braced herself. Somehow she had lied to Dooku successfully and now she was about to confirm his suspicions about working with Anakin. Dooku looked up with a frown as she sat down in one of the chairs in the room. "You want to help defeat Palpatine. How do we know it's not a trick?"

"So you are working with Skywalker," Dooku frowned as Ventress nodded. "And how much did they pay you?"

"That's not important, they paid me well enough to make it worth my while," Ventress answered honestly. "They are paying clients after all. Now Padme has asked me to make sure you're being honest and this is not some clever trap. You can understand the precautions."

"Yes I can," Dooku answered honestly. "I discovered Palpatine looks to replace me with Anakin to bring his empire to fruition."

Ventress gave a slight nod in agreement. She still didn't trust him enough with Anakin's location. Something told her not to trust him, this could be a well clever trick to get at Luke. "And this surprises you how?"

"You always had a snarky way about you," Dooku pointed out with a frown. "You don't trust me with Anakin and Luke's location. And as to your other question, Palpatine will kill me if I don't find Luke again. He's terrified that Anakin may know everything by now and may come after him."

"Its way too late to turn back now, Anakin knew everything before he rescued Luke," Ventress gave a knowing grin as Dooku looked confused. "Oh, you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Dooku questioned looking flustered and frustrated.

"That's for me to know and for you to figure out," Ventress answered honestly with a slight smirk. "I'll talk with Skywalker and find out what he wants to do with you."

Dooku sat there as Ventress saw him making calculating guesses as Leia walked in with a frown. His eyes widened in shock as Leia turned to Ventress. "Padme wants to know if you care to stay for dinner? We have plenty to go around."

"Would love too," Ventress agreed with a small smile.

"You're Skywalker's twin," Dooku said out loud as Leia gave a short nod. "You told Anakin everything."

"No thanks to Palpatine, I never had the chance to get to know who my biological parents are," Leia pointed out with a frown. "Now I have a chance to know who he was before he falls."

"I see," Dooku watched her with a frown. "How did you know him? Luke mentioned he was a cold blooded murderer."

Leia nodded in agreement as she glanced at Ventress then turned her attention back to Dooku. "Vader is a cold blooded murderer who doesn't care about anything or anyone but serving Palpatine. And over time he was finding a way to kill Palpatine wanting to take over the Empire himself. I'm unsure if it had to do with being a Sith, or revenge. Maybe both," she paused for a second as Dooku raised an eyebrow as shock settled over his face.

Leia had a feeling Dooku was not much of a killer. "Without knowing who we were to him, he attempted to kill both Luke and I. He tormented me and mind raped me for the location of the Rebel base. Tortured my husband then encased Han into carbonite and shipped him off to Jabba. He didn't attempt to stop Tarkin from blowing up Alderann…" She paused for a second as she watched Dooku stiffened. "The Death Star is being built now isn't it?"

Dooku didn't say a word as Leia chewed on her lower lip taking that as confirmation. All this time, the death star was in construction for twenty years. Twenty years in the making and all it took was one proton torpedo to blow it up.

Anakin answered the call as he saw Leia's face on the other end and he smiled in greeting. "Leia, is it not a little dangerous to be contacting me?"

"Sorry Anakin, but things have changed," Leia answered honestly. "Dooku is here, after you rescued Luke, Palpatine tormented him with a good dose of Force lightning and had to be treated."

"I see," Anakin placed a hand under his chin with a frown. "And how does Dooku view Palpatine now?"

"He wants to assist in detaining and arresting Palpatine," Leia answered honestly as Anakin shook his head

"How do I know this is not some sort of clever trap to get close to my son?" Anakin questioned with a hardened expression causing Leia to cringe. He softened his expression a bit.

"Padme had Dooku treated at the apartment," Leia answered honestly. "Problem is we can't fully trust him."

"My thoughts exactly," Anakin agreed with a frown as Luke made his way to the holo transmitter. He glanced over his shoulder as his expression softened with a smile. This was a good time as any to let the twins talk. "Leia, there is someone here who would like to say hello."

Anakin stepped aside as Luke entered the holo field as Leia's face filled with relief. "Luke, how are you feeling?"

"I'm going to be fine, Leia, thanks to father for getting me out when he did," Luke answered honestly. "I suspect Palpatine would've aimed to kill me at one point. How is Ben?"

"Ben is fine," Leia answered honestly. "He's missing you right now but understands this is for your protection."

"Tell him I love him and we'll be back soon," Luke said with a loving smile. "Leia, I love you."

"I love you too, Luke," Leia answered with a smile. "I'm thankful Anakin found you in time."

Luke nodded in agreement as he stepped out of the holo field as Anakin frowned. He would need to speak to Luke about this sudden development and decide on an appointed time to head back. He turned his attention to the holo recorder. "Leia, we'll be in touch in the next day or two. I want this time to come up with a plan of action."

"Understood father, we'll see you in a couple of days," Leia agreed with a smile. "Thanks for getting Luke out."

Anakin gave a smile in appreciation as she disconnected. He turned his attention to Luke as he gave a knowing smile. "So…"

"I think a part of her is starting to forgive you," Luke commented with a smile. "She's never referred to you as her father before now. Take it as a good sign."

Anakin gave a slight nod in agreement, she nearly chewed him out back at the apartment, and now she referred to him as father. That was a big contrast of her feelings, maybe she's finally beginning to forgive him. He walked over to the couch and sat down. "I think we need to come up with a plan then head back to the apartment."

"I agree," Luke answered with a slight smile. "I miss my son terribly right now so the sooner the better."

Anakin nodded as he felt a pang of guilt ripple through him, it sounds like he would never know what that would be like unless he changed the course of his path and quickly. "Tell me everything you know about Palpatine."

As Luke went into detail, Anakin felt his heart sink. Palpatine was powerful, and it would take a great deal of care to take him out. As Luke got to the part where he found out about who his father was and what it took to end Palpatine. He realized Leia's anger towards him was more then justified, it appeared Luke was a little more forgiving. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of hunting down his children. It was time to change his path.

Luke stared at his arm as he noticed a slight bump under his skin. He wondered how Palpatine got the drop on him and he could barely sense the Force. He pushed down on the bump as he felt something hard. When he was knocked out did they implant something to slowly suppress the Force on him. He glanced up as Anakin walked in with a frown.

"Is something wrong?" Anakin questioned with a curious expression as Luke gave a confused expression. "As my off spring, I would imagine you should've been able to get out of there."

"I'm not so sure," Luke stood up and headed to the kitchen to grab a knife. "This is Palpatine we're dealing with, he knows how to keep Jedi captive against their will with no way out."

"He would've planned your prison well then," Anakin observed as Luke gave a short nod in agreement.

Luke took a deep breath as he pushed the knife under his skin as pain shot up his arm causing him to draw in a sharp breath. He used the knife to push the small object out. Anakin rushed to the refresher and ran back with the medical kit in his hands pulling out gauze. "Blast it, Luke, you should've warned me ahead of time," he muttered under his breath as he wrapped the self inflicted wound. "We should have gone to the temple to do this. What is that?"

"Something that suppresses the Force," Luke explained as he felt the Force return. "It must've activated when Palpatine was attacking me with Force lightning or slowly injected something into my blood stream. It must have been implanted into me while I was knocked out. Even Jedi have their limits."

"True enough," Anakin agreed with a grim smile as he finished dressing Luke's wound with bacta ointment. He felt something for the pain kick in. "It'll take a few hours to heal. How do you want to deal with Palpatine?"

"Directly on our terms, not his," Luke answered with a frown. "We'll give him what he wants."

"I'm not handing you over to a crazy man," Anakin pointed out with a frown.

"What choice do we have?" Luke questioned with a curious expression. "Sooner or later we will have to face him and we only have one shot at it. We kill Palpatine and we stand a good chance of ending this war early."

"We'll head back to the apartment in the morning, your mother is anxious to meet you," Anakin glanced behind him at Luke with a frown. "I just hope your right, there is too much at stake to be wrong."

Luke nodded in agreement hoping his father was up to the challenge. It was going to take every bit of strength to do this and careful planning.

Ben ran out of the room as Luke greeted his son with a big warm hug. He savored the moment, lately Ben was getting into his teens and just not needing him as much. It was just something he would have to slowly get used to as his son matured. "I missed you, Ben."

"I missed you too, dad. To be honest, it's been educational living with grandma," Ben took a step back as Luke released him. "What's the plan?"

"Is Dooku still here or gone?" Luke questioned in a worry tone.

"He went home to sleep," Leia answered honestly as she walked into the living area and hugged Luke. "It's good to see you're safe. Where is father?"

"Are you beginning to forgive him?" Luke questioned noticing that Leia had used the term father twice.

"I am," Leia answered with a slight smile as Anakin entered the apartment. She glanced down and frowned noticing the bandage. "Luke, what happened to your arm?"

"Luke used a knife to cut into his flesh to push something implanted on him out, we suspect it suppressed the Force on him," Anakin answered with a grimace as Leia raised an angry expression towards him. "Don't look at me, he did it without warning. I did attend to the wound."

Leia softened her expression as she glanced at Luke. "You should've done that at a med ward instead of the kitchen? You're no good to us if you get sick."

"Yes doctor," Luke gave a slight sarcastic smile as Leia walked to the couch and sat down. "What's the plan for dealing with Palpatine?"

"There is only one solution, and after talking with Luke and getting more depth detail. We have to kill him in order to end this war. First we need to get proof of Palpatine's crimes of treason against the Republic. Knowing him, he isn't in the habit of leaving evidence lying around otherwise he would've been caught long before now," Anakin explained with a frown. "In some way we need to get a confession directly from him and then we can dispose of him."

"Anakin you promised a live delivery to Bail," Padme reminded Anakin as she walked into the room as Luke stood up and faced his mother. She and Leia shared quite a few similarities between them. Hair, eyes, height.

"After speaking with Luke, I don't think there is going to be much chance of that," Anakin pointed out with a troubled frown. "I promised Bail I would do my best but I can't make promises on a alive delivery. I have a feeling its going to be push comes to shove."

"Just be careful, I am carrying twins," Padme pointed out with a slight smile. "This time I'm hoping you will be there for their birth," Padme pointed out with a slight smile as Anakin nodded in agreement.

"I promise I'll be there this time," Anakin promised. "I don't plan to fall to Palpatine's mind games."

Padme gave an appreciative smile as she walked up and hugged Luke. He returned the hug as Anakin walked to the kitchen. He felt worried, what if he still fell to the dark side? What if it was meant to be this way in order to get close to Palpatine? He prayed that wasn't the case but a part of him had doubts.

Thanks for reading :) and I apologize for how long it took to get this chapter up.