Chapter 27
No reputable doctor would even prescribe Tharandon any more… I worry that if she does not stop taking these medications immediately she will eventually become bedridden and unresponsive over time…You need to get your wife out of that facility, and immediately. That is my advice to you..
Dr. Deece's words still echoed in his mind as he sat in the darkening room. The anger he felt crackled around him, filling the room with a dark energy. From the other side of the room, Anakin heard the sound of glass breaking as one by one the fine crystal wine goblets exploded in a shower of tiny shards, shattered by the potent fury that filled the room. Suddenly the glass cabinet door flew off of the hinges, burst in midair and then fell to the floor in a pile of jagged shards. The sound shook Anakin from his dark musings, and he turned around.
"Damn it," he muttered as he saw the destruction his anger had wrought. He walked over to the cabinet and bent down to start cleaning up the mess.
"Anakin? Is everything alright?"
Anakin looked up to see Ryoo standing in the room, cutting his hand in the process. He uttered a Huttese curse that would have made his mother's hair curl as blood poured forth from his hand.
"What happened?" Ryoo called as she ran to the kitchen to fetch a cloth.
Anakin sighed as he looked down at his injured hand. How do I explain this? he wondered in frustration.
"I…sort of lost my temper," he told her as she returned and commenced wrapping the cloth around his wound tightly.
She looked up at him. "I don't understand," she said, putting pressure on the cut.
"I heard back from the doctor at Polis Massa," he told her.
"The one who you sent Aunt Padmé's medical files to?" she asked.
Anakin nodded as he watched her check his cut. "She confirmed my suspicions, Ryoo. Padmé has been given meds to inhibit her ability to remember her past."
"I can't believe it," Ryoo replied, shaking her head in disbelief. "Who would do such a thing? And why?"
"Palo is behind this, I'm sure of it," Anakin replied.
"But he isn't a doctor," Ryoo told him. "How can he prescribe medication?"
"He isn't," Anakin agreed. "But obviously someone in his employ is, someone he has a great deal of influence over, someone who is as anxious to get their hands on Padmé's money as he is."
"You think that is his motivation?" Ryoo asked.
"Yes, I do," Anakin replied. "According to your grandmother, he has a rather expensive habit he needs to fund."
"Oh yes, his precious art collection," Ryoo commented sourly. "He thinks he's some big artiste. He makes me sick."
"He's not going to get away with this, Ryoo," he told her. "I promise you that."
"What happened in here!?" Jobal asked as she stood in the doorway. She looked at all the broken glass, and then at Anakin's bandaged hand.
"Anakin? What happened?"
"I'm sorry," he said, feeling embarrassed about all the damage he had caused. "I…just lost control of my anger. I will replace everything, I promise."
"Oh I don't care about that," Jobal said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm more concerned about you. What caused you to become so angry?"
"I was right, Mrs. Naberrie," he told her as Ryoo unwrapped his hand to examine the wound. "The doctor on Polis Massa confirmed my suspicions."
Jobal's eyes widened. "You mean…the medication Padmé has been taken is what is responsible for her not regaining her memory?"
Anakin nodded. "Not only that, she told me that it could also lead to long term, debilitating side effects. She advised me to get Padmé out of there as soon as possible, and I mean to do just that."
Jobal shook her head, and suddenly looked very frail. "I should have taken Padmé out of that place years ago," she said quietly as she made her way over to the sofa on the other side of the room. "I honestly thought it was the best thing for her, that she would receive the care she needed. If only I'd questioned what was going on…if only I'd stopped to think…"
"Don't do this, Grandma," Ryoo said firmly. "Don't you dare blame yourself for what has happened. You are in no condition to care for someone who needs full time care, and I'm not here all day what with school and my job. We've never had any reason to question that anything was amiss, not until now."
"Ryoo is right," Anakin said, walking over to sit down beside his mother-in-law. "You did what you thought was best for her, as any mother would. Palo is far too clever for anyone to suspect him of anything nefarious."
"But you did," Jobal pointed out. "You did upon your first meeting."
"I'm a Jedi," he reminded her. "We have the ability to tell when someone is hiding something." He looked over at the broken glass across the room. "Unfortunately that power can also cause destruction on occasion," he added sheepishly.
"You did that with your …Jedi powers?" Ryoo asked in amazement.
Anakin nodded.
"I wonder if Palo has any idea who he's messing with," Ryoo said with a smile.
"I doubt it," Anakin replied. "But he will find out soon enough."
"What do you plan to do?" Jobal asked.
Anakin considered her question as he stood up and walked across the room. "First I'm going to clean up this mess," he said. "And then I'm going to go for a long, brisk walk to clear my head. I need to put together a plan, one that will not leave any chance of that son-of-a-bitch getting away with this. I'm too angry right now to think clearly, that much is clear," he said, looking down at the pile of shattered glass at his feet.
"Perhaps a good night sleep will help too," Jobal suggested. "That is if any of us will be able to sleep knowing what we now do."
"I won't sleep well until I get Padmé out of that place," Anakin said. "I have half a mind to go down there right now and bring her here, but I know that she would only get upset if I did that."
"No, that wouldn't be the best solution," Ryoo agreed. "Besides, the security around that place is too tight, even for a Jedi."
Anakin lifted an eyebrow. "Well, I beg to differ, but that's neither here nor there right now. I must have Padmé's trust in order for this to work. If I have to take her out of there under duress, then it will all be in vain."
"I agree," Jobal said. "I will go see her in the morning, feel her out. Perhaps she will have calmed down enough to agree to see you again."
"I hope so," Anakin replied. And then, with Ryoo's help, he started to clean up the mess he'd made.
Padmé had taken her dinner in her room, not wishing the company of anyone that evening. She was certain that someone would notice the change in her, and it would result in some new way of controlling her. So she decided it would be best to keep a low profile, and avoid the other patients as well as staff as much as possible.
Leaving the fresher, Padmé entered her bedroom to find the duty nurse standing beside her bed, holding the japor snippet in her hand.
"What are you doing touching my things?" Padmé demanded, rushing over and snatching it from the woman's hand. "Have you ever heard of something called privacy?"
"Now now," the nurse replied, trying to calm her down. "I was just looking at it. I have never seen anything like that before. You haven't always had it, have you?"
Padmé did not reply at first, for she was certain that the nurse was trying to trap her somehow. "My mother gave it to me just the other day," she lied.
"I see," the nurse said. "It's quite an interesting design. Does it mean anything?"
Padmé looked down at the snippet, feeling certain that it did mean something, but not remembering what it was. "I don't know that it means anything at all," she said quietly, closing her hand around the pendant. "It's just a design, that's all."
The nurse nodded. "Well you know what time it is," she said, picking up the paper cup of pills from the bedside table where she had set them. She held them out to Padmé. "Here you go, hon."
Padmé took the pills from the nurse and popped them in her mouth at once.
"Good girl," the nurse said with a smile. "You get to bed now, understand?"
Padmé nodded and watched as the nurse left. When she heard her door lock, she immediately spit the pills into her hand. She returned to the fresher and flushed them away, and then rinsed her mouth out with water. Then she took the japor snippet and slipped the chain around her neck. Somehow if was comforting to wear it, even though she didn't quite know why.
Padmé returned to her bedroom and turned off the light. Climbing into bed, she felt a sense of anxious anticipation, hoping in a fearful way that the two missed doses of meds would be enough to herald a dream that very night. She closed her eyes, wiling herself to go to sleep, the japor snippet pressed against her skin.