Cover image by 'theresadraws' on Twitter

CHAPTER 1

There are no miracles on Mondays.

(Amy Neftzger)

...

Anakin tried not to snort as one of his bosses moved on to the next slide in the presentation. The low lighting and the carpet in the conference room favored his nervous tapping on the floor, which went unnoticed by most of his co-workers round the table, except for the man next to him, who sent him some warning side looks. Choosing to ignore him, Anakin took a quick note of something the speaker had just said and immediately followed it with a 'Moron!' inside a circle. Although the company had a set of guidelines for meeting etiquette which included a couple of points on being mindful about time-management, Anakin confirmed when he looked at his wrist watch that they had already spent one hour more than what had been originally planned, yet the company's Chief Marketing Officer kept on going through graphs and numbers which had absolutely nothing to do with Anakin's job. This wouldn't have affected him much had it been a weekday, when he usually spent the whole day at the factory anyway, but on Saturdays he only worked in the mornings, so he had lunch at home and spent the rest of day doing whatever he wanted in the most comfortable clothes he could wear. However, on this particular Saturday, he was stuck in a meeting room listening to a dim-witted executive, on an empty stomach, in smart clothes, and it was already 2 p.m. And there was little chance that this meeting was ending any time soon.

The man next to him kicked him softly from under the table. This time Anakin gave him a pointed look, to which he replied with his own passive-aggressive trademark stare. Given that this man was this factory's Director and they met every day for work, he wisely chose not to upset him. As opposed to the other big fish in the room, who had come to this important meeting from all over the country, Obi-Wan Kenobi was not full of himself. He trusted all of his team and made sure everyone felt the company as theirs, so it was actually his fault that Anakin and his fellow Supervisors were trapped in corporate hell. Even though this meeting was supposed to be for the company Chiefs and Directors, Obi-Wan had insisted that at least his Supervisors were allowed in so that they could participate and share their ideas with the highest ranks in the company.

The original aim of this meeting had been to introduce the concept and general specifications of the latest car model that Tesla Inc. was developing, but then they decided that detailing the endless market analysis with charts, graphs and dozens of figures and percentages was necessary. It was well into the second hour of the meeting when this lady, the CMO, took the floor and started draining all of Anakin's patience. Not only was she going on and on about marketing aspects which none of the other executives in the room were concerned with, but her slides were impossible to follow. She was the type of person who believed her jb was more important than anyone else's. Besides that, somehow, she had looked at her slides full of tables with tenths of lines written in font size 7 and had regarded it as appropriate for the average human eye. As Production Control Supervisor, Anakin couldn't help but think of all the many things he could be doing instead of being trapped in this room listening to data analyses on whether customers preferred round-shaped rear-view mirrors or not. When he pierced through the page in his notepad from obsessive scribbling, Obi-Wan elbowed him discreetly.

"So, in conclusion," said the lady almost half an hour later, lifting everyone's spirits, "we're planning on contributing to a major rise in sales provided we're able to carry out this advertising campaign. The company already has a solid body of customers who trust us, but our demographic can and must be more diverse and flexible. We can only attract new people if we appeal to them, which will force us out of our comfort zone. But Tesla is about development, evolution... It is who we are. Thank you."

Most people clapped. The Regional Executive Officer made a few comments to thank her and ask her a few questions to which she replied with brief comments. Then a few other executives shared a couple of ideas. No one said anything about how irrelevant the last hour and half had been for everyone present.

"Does anyone else have a question or wants to share something?" the REO asked, looking around.

"Well, actually," Anakin started, leaving his pen on the table. Obi-Wan tried to stop him by whispering advisory words and some of his co-workers exchanged worried looks, but he paid no attention. "Ms Dio did in fact provide a thorough analysis" he said. "I was just wondering, has anyone done the math on how much money this meeting cost the company?" A dead silence fell on the room. Anakin looked around. "No? Well, considering that the company's general policy dictates each employee should have a productivity of 115C per hour and there are 19 of us in here, in the 4 hours we've been here, Tesla has invested 9,044C."

Obi-Wan took a hand to his mouth and stared at his glass of water as if it was the most dazzling object he had ever seen.

"Okay, I think we all have been in this room for too long!" the REO laughed, nervously.

"Please, excuse Anakin," Obi-Wan intervened. "He is our youngest in management and he is as passionate about this job as our CEO himself." He gave Anakin a couple of pats on the shoulder.

"It's not whether I'm young or not, we should all be more mindful about-" Anakin blabbered.

"I think everyone is hungry and tired, Anakin," Obi-Wan cut him off. "We've already been here for hours, so let everyone to go have lunch. You don't want everyone to see you as the bad guy, do you?" Obi-Wan said jokingly, making everyone chuckle.

All the people in the room started to gather their things and stand up to leave while chatting quietly, and Anakin felt trapped in a cloud of unintelligible sound. How could Obi-Wan have put him in blast in front of everyone, including the REO, especially when he was making a valid point?

Suddenly, he lost his appetite. All he wanted was to arrive home. And punch a wall.

Despite that the company was paying for everyone's lunch that Saturday, Anakin chose to leave as soon as he had the opportunity. The 20-minute commute was a little shorter than usual due to a slight extra strain on the accelerator. Obi-Wan had called him a couple of times, which he didn't pick up, and instead turned up the music. He was entering the friendly town of Arlington while Justin Pierre sang 'Tell me that you're alright, that everything's alright' without making him feel any less angry. He approached the only house in the neighborhood without a green patch of grass and a cozy porch in the front and parked his Tesla Model 3 inside the garage. He confirmed he was home alone when no reply came after a loud 'I'm back!' and for some reason that made him feel even more irritated.

Instead of grabbing something from the fridge, Anakin got to the shower and let it drain away as much stress as possible. Once he felt a bit calmer and still with a towel around his shoulders, he opened the fridge to find a small bundle wrapped in aluminum foil with a note on purple Sharpie that read 'I figured you'd be late. Don't starve!' He opened it to find a very neat turkey sandwich just the way he liked it, so with that and a beer he sat on the couch with the purpose to watch some mindless TV.

He had just made himself comfortable when his phone buzzed and, groaning, he unlocked it with the only purpose of silencing it. But then he read the notification. It was from the girl he had been texting the day before. 'So excited about tonight!' Well, he had had enough human interaction for the rest of the weekend. 'Sorry, something came up and I won't be able to make it.' No rain checks, no rescheduling. He simply locked his phone after silencing it and fully focused on Netflix.

It was probably the first time in his life he couldn't wait for Monday.

Sunday morning arrived as uneventful as Saturday night had ended. He got up to find a couple of texts from the girl, which he completely ignored, and a quiet house. The door opposite to his room's was shut, and he figured that later he would have to hear to some crazy teenage stories from the night before. Trying not to be too loud at 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday, Anakin went downstairs and started to make breakfast in the as quietly as possible. But all of his caution went out the window when the person he had assumed was sleeping in her own bedroom upstairs came in through the front door at exactly 7:37. The teenage girl that had just walked in looked as if she had been wrestling with half a nightclub: her white and blue dyed dreadlocks sprung in every direction, her red top had the print of hand in neon yellow paint over her left breast, her miniskirt was a bit ragged on the side and she had a leather jacket over her shoulders which was two sizes bigger.

"What in the fucking hell are you doing coming back at this time, Ahsoka?" Anakin hissed, coffee mug in one hand, temper bursting once more.

Ahsoka froze where she stood, only noticing him just now. "What are you doing here? Didn't you have a date last night?" she asked, fear in her eyes.

"I asked you a question!" he replied, putting the mug on the counter and spilling hot coffee on his hand. "Shit!"

"Well, someone's grumpy," the teenager dared, rolling her eyes and leaving a purse on the sofa.

"Ahsoka! Explain right now what you were doing all night who knows where!" Anakin demanded, raising his voice and trying to ignore the burning feeling in his hand.

"Geez! What are you, a cop?" she said, taking the leather jacket off. Anakin could see that she had glitter all over her tan shoulders. "My friends and I went to a party. Then we went to another friend's house and we stayed there talking, and then we realized it was early morning. I figured, since you were spending the night out, you wouldn't find out and you wouldn't care."

"Ahsoka, I'm twenty-eight. You're seventeen. There's a big fucking difference," he spat, pressing a paper towel against his hand. "And what, is this what you're doing now? Doing things behind my back without me not knowing just so that I don't scold you? If you were so keen on hiding it then it's because you knew you were doing something wrong! Who were you with?"

"I already told you, I was with my friends."

"Ahsoka, who were you with?" he demanded, taking a step towards her.

"Why do you care?" she retorted, taking a step towards him as well. Being closer, Anakin could see her big blue eyes were swollen and she had deep dark circles which could have passed as part of the widely smudged make-up but Anakin wasn't fooled by that.

"Was that guy from the diner there? Is this jacket his?" he asked, menacingly. Ahsoka paused and looked down; she didn't dare lie, but at that Anakin knew he had guessed right. He got irate. "Haven't I told you to stay away from that guy?!"

"I don't understand why you hate him so much!" Ahsoka picked her purse and the jacket and made her way towards the stairs.

"Ahsoka, he's twenty-four and he-"

"You don't know him like I do!" she yelled, turning around. "Besides, nothing is going on and you're acting like he's trying to get me into a cult or something! If anything, it is you who never tells me where you are and it is you the one fucking random bitches!"

"Ahsoka!"

"What?!" she snapped at the foot of the stairs. "Why can you do whatever you want and I can't? You're a hypocrite! You tell me you care about me but then never let me do what I like, or meet my friends, or try to understand how bad it is when you're the only one at school who never gets to hang out at all the important parties!"

"Then, if I'm so fucking horrible, why don't you go back to your own house?" he replied in a low tone, gritting his teeth. "Or better, move in with one of those junkies you call friends, let's see how that goes."

Ahsoka looked as if he had struck her in the face. He immediately regretted saying those words, but before he could gather himself she had run upstairs to her room. Defeated, he sat down at the kitchen aisle and finally threw the paper towel aside. Apparently, Sunday was going to be just as shitty as Saturday. He sighed as he let his head fall on his hand in a dramatic gesture which cost him a muffled cry of pain, as he had just hit himself on his recently burnt hand.

Despite knocking several times on Ahsoka's door to have a conversation before he left the house, the teenager refused to answer-let alone open the door. Indeed, Monday couldn't arrive fast enough. So, around 10 a.m., Anakin was on his way to the Arlington Social Services as he did every Sunday, expecting to be there at 10:15, provided that no one's mom or cousin stopped him for an annoying chat in which his only answers would be 'yes,' 'no,' 'sure,' and 'fine.' The suburbs were always peaceful on Sunday mornings; thankfully, there weren't many people around to stop him for a chat, only the occasional jogger-'overachiever who makes futile resolutions for summer in the last weeks of spring,' he thought-, and the dog being taken for a walk-'sure, you have to take up all the space on the sidewalk and I have to step on the grass of this stupid lawn... Who puts fucking flamingos as decorations in Arlington?' he thought.

He walked by his old school and right next to it he found his destination. A one-floor building with pale yellow walls and a silver plaque at the entrance had its double doors wide open, so he walked straight in. He saw some children in the main hallway sitting on the floor playing with some trucks and cars and a small group of teenagers in one of the classrooms doing homework together. The atmosphere was quiet and cozy, but internally he was only hoping that no one would talk to him, for these were people he did not want to snap at. He kept on going until the end of that main hallway and exited through a back door that provided access to a backyard with a playground, a small cellar, and a second, smaller building that looked like a row of storage units. He went to the first roll-up door and opened the lock with a key that he had in the same chain as his house's, entering a room that had little to do with the classrooms he had just passed by a few seconds ago. Anakin turned on the lights of a workshop full of mechanical pieces on the floor, over different counters, on chairs and some of them were even dangling from the ceiling. There were tools in boxes and all around as well, but the highlight were the seven go-karts hanging on the wall in vertical position, which covered three quarters of the space in the room. There was an eighth car in the center of the workshop, on top of a structure as high as a table, which allowed a person to work on the engine from the bottom and the top.

Feeling a bit calmer at last, Anakin took off his jacket and put on his short-sleeved work shirt over his T-shirt. He turned on a speaker, synched his phone, and his music started to play at a nice volume. As he got to work on the engine, he thought that, at least for a while, he could forget about work and his argument with Ahsoka and finally focus with no interruptions on probably the one thing he liked.

"Anakin, there you are," someone said, interrupting him ten minutes later.

'Fuck this weekend,' Anakin thought while staring at the go-kart engine, wishing someone would wake him up from this nightmare. When he stood up and faced the door, he saw the center's Principal and a short brunette next to him. "Sorry to bother you, Anakin," the senior man said in his typically soft tone, "but I'm afraid I'll have to ask you a big favor." Mister Palpatine's blue eyes sparkled in an apologetic look as he offered a tender smile.

Anakin tried his best not to make any facial expressions at all. As annoyed as he was, he had a good relationship with the man and he did not wish to ruin that. He took a glimpse of the girl who was accompanying him once more and noticed she was regarding him carefully with her wide caramel eyes. She had long, curly hair tied up in a ponytail, and she was wearing smart clothes in pastel colors which, in a mechanic's workshop, seemed to be begging to be ruined by engine oil. She was short and fit, and Anakin immediately noticed the mole on her left cheek.

"This is Padmé and she'll be joining us as in intern as of tomorrow," Mr Palpatine informed. "She's working on her PhD thesis and her university assigned her to this center. Despite she officially starts tomorrow, she decided to come and get acquainted with the facilities and the staff a day in advance, but unfortunately I have an unofficial meeting with the Mayor's secretary and I won't be able to tour her around. I figured you wouldn't mind doing it for me, would you?" Again, the man's hard-to-say-no smile almost forced Anakin to agree immediately, but he had too much pent-up frustration from the last day and a half.

"Why? Will she get lost?" he retorted, almost greeting his teeth. The girl's shoulders tensed and she raised her eyebrows. Anakin felt her looking at him as if she could shoot lasers from her eyes, but he made an effort not to even glance in her direction. He had had his fair share of people like her in his college years, show-offs and suckers for extra credit.

"Well, she certainly won't get lost," Palpatine laughed, "but I had hoped you would show her the different rooms and explain her the weekly schedules. She'll be aiding Ms Unduli at the psychology office, but she should feel integrated with everyone. Since Padmé will also take part in the events we organize, you could maybe explain a bit about that too."

Anakin wiped his blackened hands on a piece of cloth and started to remove the work shirt. Palpatine's smile widened, taking that as Anakin's agreement. Internally, the blonde was cursing on everyone's ancestors.

"Please, Mr Palpatine, I truly mean no inconvenience," Padmé said, speaking for the first time. Her voice was mellow and sweet. "I only came by the Social Services because I thought everything would be quiet on a Sunday, but since you were not expecting me until tomorrow you are under no obligation to bother the staff to..."

"Dear, please, it's nothing," Palpatine interrupted her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Anakin is a very nice young man, he won't have a problem." Padmé glanced to side, not truly believing it. The supposedly nice young man was looking at her with a clenched jaw and crossed arms. "Well, I'll leave you to him, Padmé, and I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you, Anakin!" And with that, Principal Palpatine left.

Anakin looked at Padmé for the same amount of time she avoided his look, focusing on one of the cars on the wall. She was nervously tugging at one of her sleeves.

"So. This is the garage," Anakin said dryly, walking towards the door. "The other two storage units have stuff for camping trips, holiday decorations, sports events, and fundraisers."

They exited the garage. Anakin was reaching for the roll-up door when Padmé addressed him for the first time. "Why do the Arlington Social Services have a garage?"

"Well, what do you think those go-karts are for, Ms PhD?" he asked, flashing a charming smile which failed to mask his sarcasm by very little.

"Races?" she ventured, inhaling loudly and lifting her chin.

"You are a smart one," Anakin replied, smiling again. "Yes, the center organizes events every once in a while and I set up a circuit for the karts in the school's track."

"Oh... I saw the school when I arrived. I mean, the bus stop is right there," Padmé said. "I didn't imagine they would share their grounds with the center."

"Yeah, we're very lucky," Anakin said in a grim tone.

"I'm sorry, is something wrong with you?" Padmé confronted him in the middle of the backyard. She stood in the morning sunlight, pretty as an angel and angry as a devil. Anakin regarded her carefully, for he hesitated to engage in a full-blown argument with her. He convinced himself it was because having a problem with the girl would lead to having a problem with Mr Palpatine.

"I'm just having a shitty weekend," he replied. "This is the backyard, as you can see," he changed the subject, "and, over there, there's a playground. That big window at the back of the main building is the kitchen." As he motioned toward there, Padmé followed, cross-armed. "I'm pretty sure there's no one right now in there. Y'know, 'cause it's a Sunday."

If only looks could kill... but luckily for Anakin, that wasn't the case.

"This is a fridge and that's a stove, and you access the cafeteria through here," Anakin went on mockingly, once inside the kitchen. "This is where people eat. And that long hallway takes you to the classrooms and the different offices."

As they accessed the main hallway, Anakin's tone softened a little. Padmé saw a couple of kids who were playing on the ground and she waved at them. They didn't wave back immediately, but after gathering the courage to, they ran around the corner shyly.

"This is the staff room," Anakin continued, turning on the lights. There was a big round table with eight chairs, a small sofa and a kitchen counter. "If you bring something to eat you can put it in this fridge right here. And if you're going to work with Luminara, this is her shelf... her office is the one with the sign that says Dr Luminara Unduli, two doors ahead. I'm sure you can find it on your own. You can read, right?"

"I don't know," Padmé retorted, gritting her teeth. "Can you stop coercing me to fit your flawed belief that the world is against you?"

That comment felt like a slap on the face. Anakin took a couple of seconds to recover. "Do you always use complicated words or do you not try to be a smartass all the time?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll make a mental note of not using words longer than three syllables when I talk to you from now on," she said, firmly.

"Well, hopefully you won't have to talk to me again," he replied.

"Hopefully," she agreed bitterly.

They both fell silent but neither drew their eyes from the other.

Finally, Padmé spoke. "I guess I can make-do with what you've shown me. Just tell me which are the events Mr Palpatine mentioned and I'll go."

"Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the spring festival, and three annual fundraisers, one of which is in two weeks," Anakin recited monotonously.

"Great. Thank you for your help," she said sarcastically. "And sorry to have bothered you."

Padmé stormed out of the staff room and Anakin cursed for the thousandth time on that Sunday, partly because he knew it would upset Palpatine if Padmé told him about what had just happened, and party because he could feel a faint, sweet scent that reminisced in the room even after she was gone.

When he returned home in the afternoon, we found Ahsoka was gone. And when she came back in the evening, she went straight upstairs, shut her bedroom door, and refused to open it even to grab dinner. 'Her fucking loss.'

Then, the moment Anakin had been waiting for the last two days finally arrived. 'New week, new life,' he thought on Monday morning as he turned off his alarm. He got up from bed more quickly than usual and jumped in the shower. Mad at Ahsoka as he was, he still made enough breakfast for the both of them. It was still dark when Anakin jumped in his Model 3 and headed to the highway. There was less traffic than usual and the randomized playlist on his phone wasn't popping any songs he didn't feel like listening to. Even once at work, no one talked to him about the tense moments with the CMO last Saturday, and Obi-Wan didn't call him to his office to talk to him. Everything was normal. The beginning of this new week had brought Anakin's routine back on track.

Except that, right before leaving the Tesla factory at 5pm, he was checking his phone for the first time since noon when he saw several text messages from Ahsoka.

Anakin, my parents came to pick me up from school and they're making me go to their house with them. (2:04)

Anakin, come pick me up, please. (2:13)

Why don't you carry your phone with you at work?! Just come over when you see this, ok? (2:21)

I know it's kinda pointless to text you because you won't read this until you finish your afternoon shift, but I really miss you right now. (2:47)

I'm so sorry I yelled at you (2:47)

I'm also sorry we fought (2:52)

I'm so scared, Anakin... they're yelling at each other again. I just know they've been using recently. I didn't look around that much when they brought me in but I just know. Maybe they're on it right now... And I'm scared. Because I know they're capable of so much when they're like this. (3:07)

Sorry, I don't mean to use you as a diary (3:07)

I've been locked in my room the whole time. I'm ok, ok? (3:58)

I just hate this fucking house so fucking much (4:26)

I'm okay. Please, don't call Mr Palpatine... Just don't. Just please come pick me up when you can (4:41)

He had never dialed anyone as quickly before. When she picked up after the second ring, there were no remnants of the angry barks from the previous day. Ahsoka's voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

"Hey, Skyguy. Finished work?" She sounded a bit nasal, probably congested from crying. Anakin knew she had been crying. Every fiber of his being pulsed with hate towards Ahsoka's biological parents.

"Are you alright?" he demanded. He was running to the parking lot. He didn't even see Obi-Wan waving him goodbye as they crossed paths in the hallway.

"I'm ok."

"Are you safe?"

"I'm... yeah. I locked the door. And I'm under the bed," she chuckled softly. "I just felt like coming down here... don't know why. They've calmed down a bit. They think I'll be staying here."

"Whatever you do, don't hang up until I arrive there, ok?" he instructed, trying to mask his anxiety.

"Ok."

They didn't speak much while Anakin drove to Arlington, but feeling her breathing every once in a while reassured him she would be okay. He wasn't sure about what to do once he arrived in there-after all, that couple of bastards were still Ahsoka's legal guardians. Therefore, once he pulled over in front of the two-story white wooden house, he got out of the car and rang the doorbell with no plan of action.

Ahsoka's mother opened the door. Her gaze was distant, as if her small pupils and watery eyes didn't quite capture the world around her. She was scratching her arm insistently, but she seemed overall relaxed. Too relaxed.

Anakin barged in. He saw Ahsoka's father in the living room; as opposed to his wife, he could barely remain quiet. He jumped at Anakin the moment he saw him, but Anakin was much faster and coordinated than him. He evaded the man easily and climbed up the stairs to Ahsoka's room two steps at a time. As he was still carrying his phone, Ahsoka opened the door the moment he arrived. She hugged him as if her life depended on it, and Anakin forced her to let go only because they had to get out of the house as soon as possible. Sheltering her with an arm around her shoulders, Anakin guided Ahsoka downstairs, trying to evade her father's clumsy swipes.

"Go to the car, Ahsoka! Quick!" Anakin instructed, letting go of the teenager. She immediately obeyed and Anakin was able to block the man's fist just time. He struggled shortly with him until he overpowered Ahsoka's father. Pushing him backwards, Anakin held his ground, for the man seemed to have no intention of acknowledging his defeat. Gathering himself, he charged at Anakin once more, in even a wilder euphoria; he was imprecise but strong and fast, and Anakin was able to dodge him only so much. When the man's fist landed dangerously close to his right eye, he cried in pain. He drew a hand to his eyebrow and confirmed he was bleeding, and then he saw his own blood on the man's hand, garnished with three different rings.

When Anakin attacked, he wasn't fully sure it was pure self-defense. Hate, spite, and anger swirled in his chest and climbed all the way to his brain, shutting the rest of the world out. This man had hurt him, but he had also hurt Ahsoka. Repeatedly. And he knew too well how there was a special place in hell for junkies who drew innocent people into their own misery.

"Anakin, stop!" he heard Ahsoka cry out. When he regained control over himself, he saw the man wasn't a threat anymore. He felt a sharp pain in his side and his jaw, and figured Ahsoka's dad had had a couple more of lucky strikes. He let go of the defeated man as someone walking away from dog shit on the sidewalk. He put his arm across Ahsoka's shoulders once more and they exited the house. Her mother was still standing by the door, and she smiled at them as they walked past.

Anakin led the teen to the shotgun seat, climbed into the driver's and left the house quickly enough to make the tires screech. They didn't speak at all during the way to Anakin's house. It was only after he parked inside the garage and the door closed behind them that he asked "What did they want?"

"For me to quit school," Ahsoka replied faintly.

"To deal?"

She nodded.

All of a sudden, the stupid annoyances from Saturday and Sunday didn't seem troubling anymore.

As her family sat down for dinner on Monday evening, Padmé was gleaming. The four of them were seated at a big wooden table; the pastel blue of the walls tastefully complimented the white marble floor and the white Corinthian columns around the spacious dining room of the downtown loft. The only vibrant color was provided by two pots of red roses in full bloom at either side of a huge glass window. The family were quietly helping themselves to the food on different platters and bowls. Padmé could not wait to tell them about her day, for it been fantastic; on the one hand, Dr Unduli had welcomed her warmly in her office and had provided her with great guidelines for her thesis subject matter and internship work. Also, the rest of the staff had been incredibly sweet with her as well, not to mention that Dr Unduli's patients were truly amazing kids and teens. And lastly, just as she had hoped, she hadn't seen that horrible Anakin guy from the day before. When her mother asked, how everyone's day had gone, as she always did, Padmé was the first one to reply.

"I started my internship today. At the Arlington Social Services. I sat with Dr Luminara Unduli while she tended to five patients and then we spoke for quite a while about my work. We got so into it that we completely forgot about lunch and then she invited me to eat with her. You have to meet her, she's a brilliant woman. She told me she's working on a book. And she's just so kind and humble..."

Padmé's sister, Sola, smiled at her from across the table.

"Oh..." Padmé's mother, Jobal, muttered. "So it was today. Just make sure you're careful, alright, sweetie?"

"Careful? What do you mean?" she asked, still smiling.

"Well, you never know in that type of places. The people in there," her mother explained, picking up her glass of red wine.

Padmé dropped her hand softly on the table. "What about the people in there, mom?"

"Well, you do not know them, and for all I know those children have been raised in the streets, barely schooled," Jobal said, raising her eyebrows. "They have been taught to pickpocket and..."

"Mom!" Padmé interrupted, her good mood now gone.

"Your mother is right, Padmé. You have to be careful," her father intervened. "We know you are excited about this little adventure of doing charity work, but make sure this phase does not cost us, alright?" Padmé's father didn't raise his eyes from his food as he spoke.

"A phase? Dad, it's my PhD thesis," Padmé retorted. She looked at Sola for support, only to see her shake her head almost unnoticeably. Disappointed, Padmé carried on. "I'm doing fieldwork for my research! I am getting professional experience on..."

"On psychology, Padmé. On psychology. How much research can you do?" he interrupted. He paused briefly for a sip of wine. "In the end, everything comes down to subjectivity and opinions in that field. I told you before... If you want to do real research, continue on medical school, become a real doctor."

"Well, that is not fair, Ruwee," Jobal complained. "The girl likes what she's doing, let her do it in peace," she smiled at Padmé while the man rolled his eyes. "She's a brilliant young lady... she'll be a great therapist. She wants to know how poor people live and that's fine. Just be careful, my dear. Those people are always too quick for violence."

"You're wrong," Padmé sentenced, mouth dry.

"You'll get mugged someday and you'll understand," Ruwee replied, rolling his eyes.

"What about you, Sola?" Jobal moved on. "Did you book a fitting for your wedding dress?" Sola provided a much more joyful topic for their parent's liking.

Padmé tried to force the food down her throat so that her parents wouldn't bother her about why she wasn't eating. In truth, Padmé had completely lost her appetite. And for all the ways in which she taught people how they could handle their emotions in moments of high stress, she found herself unable to rise from the pit of shame and meaninglessness she had just been thrown into.

The week was off to a great start.

Well, I haven't written fanfiction in around 10 years (no exaggeration). I hope you enjoyed this! Reviews will be much appreciated :)