Palpatine left his advisors in charge and traveled to Naboo with minimal security, and against the council's wishes, he took no Jedi. He settled in a remote villa in the lake country of Naboo, a beautiful area where they would have complete privacy. He had been there three days without incident when while eating his dinner on a balcony when Fay literally dropped in.
He felt her moments before her feet touched the ground across his table. He did not startled and instead pausing the motion of his fork he said simply, "I can have a plate brought for you, Master Fay, if you are hungry." He took his bite and then stood, pulling out the chair next to him, "My lady."
Fay took a seat, "I will eat with you." she said, taking the seat he offered.
He bent and kissed her on the cheek, "It is good to see you again." he cooed and pressed the button at his side calling for another plate to be brought. 'You said we would see each other several times before your death, and I am not trying to expedite your death, but I would like to see you."
A protocol droid carrying a tray entered, placing the tray before her it left in silence. "It has not been the will of the Force, until recently." Fay replied picking up her fork, "Now it seems, I am as drawn to you as you claim to be to me."
Palpatine put down his utensils and leaned back in his chair, a jackals smile spread over his lips, "You don't know how wonderful it is to me to hear that." he said practically purring. "The Force finally shines on me." He pursed his lips, "And yet, you use a word that bothers me. "Claim"." he picked up his wine, "I know, being a politician, there are certain true stereotypes of us being less than forthright. Yet, I assure you there is no lie in the fact that I am drawn to you. That I want to call out to you," He sipped his wine, "That I believe our destiny is intertwined in some way. I can't for the life of me understand how or why yet, but it is no claim. It is the truth."
Fay swallowed another piece of food, "The problem is that when one's life is that stereotype and then suddenly they speak a truth, it's easy to assume it's another lie. That's the only real problem with living lies isn't it? When you are desperate to have someone believe your truth, you can find no one."
He grinned into his glass, hiding his admiration for her tenacity and single minded strength, "Come now, have I lied or manipulated you?"
"Lied? I don't know yet. Manipulated? You are attempting and have to have me by your side, that is, whether for the right or wrong reason, a manipulation to get what you want." She said evenly, with no hint of judgement, "If you are really trying to get me to see that you haven't tried to hurt me, then I must say I haven't given you an opportunity."
He put his glass down and sighed, "You are a formidable woman. Do you like me at all?"
She put her fork down and looked at him, her eyes thoughtful and her face softened, "I do, Sheev. I even think I love you, for reasons I cannot comprehend." Fay said looking back at her plate, pushing it away.
"Love me?" He said tilting his head, "You don't behave like any woman who has claimed that to me before." Sitting up, leaning toward her over the table, "So what does that look like from one of the purest Jedi...no, no, not just Jedi, women I have ever met. Does it mean you'll let me take you to my bed? Does it mean you will take your place at my side so the whole galaxy will see us stand together? Will you love me when all my deceptions are brought to light? " He placed his hand over the hand she had resting on the table, stroking her fingers with his, soaking in the now familiar feel of the Force lapping off her skin, "My guileless angel of the light, your truth opens many questions."
She opened her mouth to speak and he placed a finger on her lips, "We will answer them later. For now, I have plans for us. As much as I adore our verbal sparring matches, I am going to continue, as you say, to manipulate you further with a second date." He picked up her hand and stood, "I thought about dressing you in the finest Nabooian fashions, dripping with our most precious stones tonight, but considering who and what you are, I simply had new Jedi robes made for you. They are in a room that I designated for you, my droid will show you. Meet me back here in two hours. I am going to take you for ice cream in the village below, and a walk in the moonlight by the lake."
Fay stood with him, "Do I get a say?"
"You don't have to, of course." He conceded, "My guess is that you will, because our connection puzzles you as much as it does me, and like me you are anxious to explore this draw we have."
"Then consider me well manipulated to your will, at least in this matter." Fay replied with a demure bow of her head.
Palpatine summoned his droid who lead Fay into the depths of the house. He sat back in his chair picking up his wine to sip it again. Tonight would be a test of a great many things. He pulled a holodisk from his jacket and pressed the button. A ghostly image of a waiting Count Dooku appeared kneeling before him, "My apprentice, I have a task for you. Think of it as a test."
"Yes, My Master." his low baritone voice replied obediently.
" You will be abducting a woman this evening, one I will be with. I will send you the information you need shortly." He clicked it off and sipped his wine with a self-satisfied smirk.
888
When Fay appeared before him he smiled genuinely. Taking her hand he spun her around, "You are a vision of beauty. As much as my own vanity would love to dress you like the queen you are, you are more beautiful than any queen I've seen already even in simple Jedi robes."
"These are hardly simple, Sheev." she said running her hands over them. She looked like a Jedi master of old, who would sit at council all day. Everything was white and elegantly made, much finer than anything she'd owned since leaving the temple.
"Shall we?" He asked taking her hand and wrapping it around his arm as he had done on their first date. And just like their first date, he wore black robes, trimmed in silver with silver buttons to appease his own vanity.
Fay nodded and followed him out the door, pausing when they reached the main road, "You aren't taking security?" she questioned stopping in her tracks.
He shrugged, "Why should I? This is my home planet, nobody knows I am here, and I have you." He said with his most charming smile, "You see, this is how much I trust you, Master Fay. I would never go without my security with anyone else."
When she closed her eyes he felt a surge around them in the Force, "I don't...know…"
"Fay," He pleaded, "We will be fine."
The future was obfuscated for her, which made her think something may happen, but she still trusted in the Force to guide her. "Very well."
The pair entered the small village where Palpatine went on about the history of his homeworld for a bit before entering the small dessert shop. He sat her down at a table by the window, and said, "With your permission, I will order for us both. I have a treat I'd like to share."
Fay nodded.
He went and ordered then returned with one giant bowl of many flavors, covered in decadent amounts of toppings of all kinds, "This is what they call a date-night. We are to share this. I've never had one, but it was too tempting."
Fay laughed, "Are we supposed to eat all of it?" she blinked sizing it up.
"We can try." he said in a faux dignified playful way.
He scooted around the table sitting as close as he could to her, placing one arm around her shoulders he scraped across the surface of the treat with his spoon and then offered it to her, "Lady's first."
"One bite may be all I can manage." she said opening her mouth for him.
When she had taken the bite he scooped one for himself with the same spoon, "I've never known a Jedi to admit defeat so easily." He took his bite eyeing her.
"That's just not fair."
"As you pointed out, I'm a politician, I don't play fair or honest."
She rolled her eyes, "Now he used my own sentiments against me."
"Once again, I refer you to the previous point." He said offering her another bite, which when she opened her mouth to take, he diverted it to his own mouth.
"Now that is really not fair." she chuckled.
"The Force gives, and the government takes away, Fay."
"You have improved your seduction methods from when last we dated, I think. It begs the question, are you really this charming, or is this a mask used for my benefit?" She said moving his hand, which was going back to his own mouth to hers, stealing his bite.
"That is an excellent question, with no easy answer, is it. We are many things for many people. When dealing with the Trade Federation, I would not be this way or this person. While I deal with the senate, I am different again, and if I am with other people I am different still. When I am with you, this is who I am." He looked at her, "In the end, I am all of those people in equal measure."
Fay smiled and shook her head, "If you had been born Force sensitive, with your love of power and ability to tangle truths, you would have been a dark Jedi at the very least, or even a Sith."
Palpatine blinked slowly, "And if I were a Sith and I was still as I am now with you, would it make it less real?"
She leaned back into his arm and thoughtfully looked at the ice cream, "It would explain a great many things." she almost whispered to herself, "If you were this way, and you were a Sith, then it might be real, after a fashion, but it likely would be done for your benefit and yours alone."
"Isn't that how most of the galaxy does things? Most people except you, I mean." He put the spoon down and shifted to look at her better, "You are the purest being I have ever met, true and selfless. Yet, you do not seem to look down upon we mere mortals whose motives and actions are not so pure."
"Sheev, if you are trying to tell me that you are a Sith in the middle of a Nabooian confection shop, this has to be the strangest way imaginable anyone has ever heard something of this nature ever." she made no move to move from him, nor did the Force swell around her to lash out at him.
He chuckled, thrilled by her powerful mind as well as her spirit, and the complete bravery in how she still sat in his arm, in relative ease, "It's relationship advice at the most basic. Take your girlfriend or wife to a public place to give her bad news so she's less likely to cause a scene."
Her eyes widened and her face dropped a touch, "You…."
"Since before we met the first time." He confessed taking another bite of ice cream, now his smile truly touched his eyes. Turning to look at her slowly, for the added gravitas, he said, "Would you still say you think you love me?"
"Yes." she replied without hesitation and a slight chuckle of relief.
It took all of the Sith lord's discipline not to betray his own shock. He saw her carefully raise her hands, pausing to show him that she was not going to harm him, placing her hands on his cheeks she leaned in and kissed him full on the mouth.
When she pulled away she smiled, "It makes sense to me now, thank you."
"Ask me more questions I can make sense of for you, if that will be your reaction. How many complex problems must I solve for you before you take me to your bed?" he asked, licking his lips.
Then she swooned slightly, taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes,"Your apprentice nears." She whispered, 'He's not here to kill me…"she opened her eyes, "Abduction?"
Palpatine nodded, "Of course."
"Do you expect him to succeed?"
"No." He answered honestly.
"This is a test...of him, and me?"
"Both of you." He admitted.
She stood and held her hand out to him, "Then let's go, I don't want to be late."
He took her hand and walked out with her.
"Lead me to my trap, Sheev." She said with a genuine smile.
He began to walk with her, "I will admit, Master Fay, this is not how I thought you would react. You have a fairer view of the Sith than most Jedi, but I am surprised you seem unaffected."
"One day, I will explain it all to you, Sheev." She said walking with her hand in his, "But for now, suffice it to say, hundreds of years of visions finally make sense to me."
"And you still think you love me?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow, "Even with this trap…"
She laughed, "As the sun loves the moon, life loves death, the beginning isn't complete without the end."
"Very poetic," he scoffed, "But you must know, I will never love you. Need you, want you, desire you, perhaps all of those things, but not love."
"You don't want me dead, that's practically a Sith love song." She said with a chuckle.
They reached the wilderness just outside of the village, and Fay shivered, "He's coming." she said mostly to herself.
"You know, he may take this opportunity to claim the title master for himself."
Fay rolled her eyes, "You Sith think too highly of your own skill. You think because I do not kill or do as you do that I am weak. You wanted to test me, then so be it. As the Force wills it so it will be." She paused just short of the trap and turned to him, "What are the stakes here? If he wins and abducts me, what then? If I defeat him, what about that?"
"Do you honor wagers?"
She put her hands on her hips, "Of course."
"If he abducts you, you must be mine. We marry in a state ceremony for all to see, you are at my side from then on."
Fay nodded, "I consider that fair, if the Force allows me to lose then that will be it's will."
"If you win...it's your stakes."
"If I win, you will take me on another of your dates at a place and time of my choosing, the goal of which will be for us to physically join…"she paused, and then added another word for clarity, "intimately."
Palpatine puckered his lips and narrowed his eyes, "I don't think you understand the concept of betting, Fay." He felt almost ridiculous explaining at a time like this, "My loss is supposed to cost me something, something that I may not want to give up."
"Is that how that works?" She said tilting her head, "Well it's said now, so be it." With that she turned to press forward, keeping him close behind.
Dooku stood across from them in the wooded clearing, the metal scrapings of droids rolling in their sides echoed off the wooded glen. He ignited his lightsaber, seeing her but not yet clearly seeing her face yet, "Stop, Jedi." he commanded, "Throw down your weapons and surrender and you and your companion will not be harmed." The droids all popped open, cocking and pointing their blasters at her.
She moved Sheev behind her, holding her hands up. "Oh my, a Sith, and battle droids. I'm without weapons what shall I do?"
Dooku's eyes narrowed and he took a single step toward her, her face which was obscured by a leaf now came into view. His eyes widened, "Master Fay?" He held his lightsaber up.
"You have ten droids, and yourself, Darth...Dooku?" She said shrugging, "It's not an even match."
He swallowed thickly, "Then give up now."
She took a step forward, her hands still raised, "Don't make me embarrass you in front of the chancellor."
Dooku's mind began flooding with every happy and poignant memory he had, until sentimental tears began burning the back of his eyes. The more he tried to fight it the more intense the happiness, love, and friendship came. He went to one knee, and Fay lifted her hands and then slowly made two fists as if she were crushing eggs. The sickening sounds of crumbling battle droids filled the air as Dooku began to weep.
Approaching Dooku she kicked away his lightsaber, and went to one knee before him, lifting his chin, "I have met many dark Jedi and Sith in my time, you are not yet really one of them. There is still goodness within you, remember that and let it temper your path. You did not win this day, but you may yet redeem your soul." Picking up his lightsaber she walked back toward Sheev. With it off she tossed it to him, "I'm honestly offended at how little fire power you put behind this sham of an abduction scheme."
He didn't have to ask what she'd done to his apprentice, he'd seen her do similarly to the pirates, "I didn't want you harmed," Sheev said, "I have no desire to see you harmed or dead."
"What was the plan after this? You'd come and save me from the big bad Sith and that would endear me even further to you?" She tsked her teeth and turned to walk away.
Palpatine grabbed her wrist with a firm authority, and turned her toward him. Her entire reaction to this night was unnerving, he would have answers.
Before he asked the question she said firmly, "What you seek will not be answered right now, but if you thought you'd know why, beyond any visions or Jedi codes why."
"Because the Force wills it."
"Exactly." She said pulling her wrist from his hand, "You will do whatever your plans are and I will fight for the light against your plans. " She held up her index finger, "I will fight your plans, not you. You dismiss my words as foolish poetic sentimentality, because you do not truly listen. The Sith have called Jedi narrow and dogmatic for as long as I can remember, but to me you both are the same in that. You both follow your narrow dogmas, bending the Force to your own will. There is hope yet that one day the Jedi will correct the error of their ways, but your Sith are so blinded by the illusion you are different you miss that you are exactly the same." Her words were tempered with love and compassion, even when speaking of the Sith. "If you want to follow the dark path, Sheev, let the Force bend you to it's will not the other way around."
"An angel tells the evil one how to be a better kind of evil. Don't you find that ironic?"
She bowed her head demurely, "I suppose I do. No less ironic that our destinies mingled. No less ironic that with every fiber of my being I want to be with you, and fight against your plans at the same time."
Discarding Dooku's lightsaber he took her hands in his, "Be with me tonight. Watching you wield the raw power of the Force makes me want you."
"Finally, we can be honest. No more hiding behind charming lies." she grasped his hands in return, "I will stay with you, but you must know that our joining will merge our destinies irrevocably, and at great cost it will give you everything you've ever wanted, but not in the way you expect."
Not needing to hide his strength anymore he picked her up and began carrying her back to his home.