Later that night, Padme sat in the kitchen by herself. She didn't eat, and she didn't talk about her experience with Hux.
"May I join you?" she heard Ezra say to her.
"Of course," she replied. As he sat down in the chair next to her, he commented,
"You didn't eat dinner."
"I wasn't hungry."
"You need to eat, Padme. What do you like to eat? You need to regain your strength."
"It's okay, Ezra..."
"No, I insist. How about some pancakes? That is what Leia used to make you for your birthday, right?"
Padme nodded her head. Ten minutes later, a small stack of pancakes was set before her.
"Go ahead and eat. Don't worry, I won't tell the cook," Ezra teased lightly. Padme ate the pancakes. They were good, but not like her mom's.
"Thank you," she weakly said. "They were delicious."
"You're welcome. Well, I guess I better check up on Caleb." Ezra stood up and was about to leave.
"Ezra, wait!" Padme exclaimed, as she grabbed his arm. He was surprised, but did not take another step.
"Can we talk?" she asked .
Ezra sat back down. Padme was nervous, but she needed to talk someone. He held her hand as she began to talk about how she, Finn and Poe was ambushed by the Order. She explained how she used the Force to get the men to safety, and how she could not escape the Stormtroopers. She was saved, then reluctantly arrested, by Kylo Ren, since Hux would have killed him otherwise if he didn't.
Padme then detailed what she and Kylo were forced to do before she was interrogated. Ezra was horrified by what she was telling him, but he kept it to himself. Padme told him she was injected with two serums. One serum forced her to be truthful or be shocked. The other contained an aphrodisiac that would killed her if she didn't have sex within twenty four hours of being injected. Then she described how she had to watch the Hosnian system destroyed before her eyes.
"Padme," Ezra said, full of compassion. How she was able to hold it together, he did not know.
She continued on, explaining that she needed to be truthful to Hux. She needed to find out where Ben was. She said Hux would touch her, so that the aphrodisiac would kick in.
"So he had his way with you?" Ezra bravely asked.
"No," Padme responded. "But he wanted to."
"So what happened?"
"I reminded him of his own rule, that whoever captures a female prisoner gets to sleep with her first. Hux was furious at Kylo Ren. That was when I was able to freely read his mind. He called Kylo by his real name, Ben. Ezra, Ben is the man that I have the Force Bond with. He is the one that has been revealing Rebel bases to protect me from Hux."
"What happened next?" Ezra questioned, his head dizzy from what Padme was revealing to him.
She said she and Ben were taken to his private quarters. Padme waited until they were in the bathroom to reveal she knew he was Ben.
"I don't want to say what happened next..." Padme said in embarrassment.
"Ben is the reason why didn't die from the serum," Ezra guessed correctly. "At least your first time was with someone you loved."
Padme was shocked Ezra say this, but she continue with the story.
"We made a plan to kill Hux. I will not go into the details of what we did, but it was successful. To our surprise, we were named in Hux's will. I was awarded his finances and 'Kylo Ren' received command of the Order. We told the new Senate leader, Angeles Dollslayer, of our plans to get rid of the Order. She is going to propose a bill, to allow anyone who wants to defect to the Rebels to not be killed for past actions."
"I heard of Angeles Dollslayer. She just lost her father, Les. He was also a senator. If she is anything like him, the bill will be passed."
"Ben and I also decided to give Hux's finances to those who lost loved ones to Starkiller Base. I know it won't bring their loved ones back..."
Padme paused. Mentioning this made her think of her parents.
"I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye!" she moaned before she wept. Ezra embraced the young woman.
After a few minutes, Padme pulled away, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Now I understand why you said this was going to a hard road for me," she told Ezra. "The First Order will be no more, but it is at the expense of losing my family!"
"You still have people that love you. Caleb, Sabine & I. Family is not only defined by blood, Padme. As I said before, you will have a family of your own. Maybe it will be with Ben."
"I'm not sure anymore," Padme confessed. "Ezra, when we were in Hux's bedroom, and Ben stabbed him, I saw the rage in his eyes. He stabbed Hux repeatedly. Ben only stopped because I screamed at him."
"After what you told me about Hux, I could see why Ben was angry."
"It's not just that. Ben stabbed Hux with his own lightsaber. The weapon he did not have for almost two years. It was a crossguard lightsaber."
"It is a lightsaber from the Old Republic era. It was popular among the Jedi."
"Ezra, it wasn't the lightsaber of a Jedi..."
"What do you mean?"
"I know a little bit of Jedi history. They used many colored kyber crystals for their lightsabers, except for one."
"Red," Ezra uttered in realization. He squeezed Padme's hand in support.
"Did you ask Ben about it?" he asked her.
"No. There was too much going on, and frankly, I'm afraid to ask him."
"You will need to confront him about this. Especially if you love him. He needs to be honest with you."
"How can I ask him to be honest with me if I can't even tell him I'm a Skywalker?"
"Not revealing your family ties was not only to protect you, but also Leia and Luke. Once Luke passes away..."
"Please don't say that! I just lost my parents!"
"I know. But you will have to face the fact that your uncle is dying. Use this time to be with Luke. Use this time to speak with Ben, to see if you have a future with him."
"I guess you're right. Ezra, please do not say anything to Luke about this!"
"I won't. But anytime you feel you need to talk with someone, I am all ears."
They left the kitchen. Padme headed to her bedroom. Although she was scared, she needed to speak to Ben. She got undressed and grabbed her knapsack. Ezra had gotten it back from Poe Dameron before he came to pick her up.
She grabbed Vader's lightsaber. Padme threw the sheet over herself, and fell asleep, clutching her grandfather's weapon in her hand.
