Padme and Anakin sat quietly for a moment entwined in each other's arms. Padme ran her fingers through his hair, letting the curls bounce and weave between her fingers.

Anakin caressed her arms. "I hope you never invite Dorme here again."

Padme laid her head against his. "I won't. If you promise to forgive me for having invited her to dinner tonight."

An iron grip fell around Padme's shoulders.

"You invited her to dinner?" he said in a deadened voice.

"It was before I knew she bothered you so much."

Anakin sighed. "Cancel it."

"I can't. I wanted to make things up for what happened the other night. You don't understand, Ani. With Dorme, I don't have to hide how I feel for you. It feels good not having to deceive someone I care about."

"You regret being married to me."

Anakin gave her a disappointed look. He slid Padme from his lap and left the couch. Padme squirmed until her body was in a position to rise from the depression he left. She waddled after him. He seemed... like "angry Anakin" again. He was becoming more and more uneasy, the longer he worked for Palpatine. They both had friends the other didn't like.

"I don't regret being married to you, how could you say such a thing?" Padme called. "What about Palpatine? He makes me uncomfortable and yet you continue to befriend him. And ever since you started working for his office, you've been miserable. You haven't been sleeping, you've been upset and sometimes... you yell at me when I told you how much I dislike it."

Anakin walked to the bedroom. Padme followed. Anakin pulled her inside, his arms around her waist.

"I don't want to fight-"

"Neither do I," Padme said. "Like all marriages, it takes work. We love each other so much, sometimes it hurts us more than it helps us."

"I've been irritable Padme...because-"

"Not that again. Not the dreams. I'm not going to die in child birth. You're irritable because you haven't been asleep. You haven't even been to our bed."

"I'm sorry," he said, rubbing her arm.

"Anakin, the dreams might have something to do with my being comatose the past few days. Could that be it? The danger has now passed. I'm still here."

He turned his face away, but Padme pressed her fingers into his cheeks, forcing him to turn and look at her again. She stood on her toes and kissed his lips. "Dorme will be back tonight. If it upsets you, I won't invite her again. But please... do your best to make it through."

"Fine," he grimly replied.

Padme pressed a pair of earrings into her ear, wondering if there was a kinder way to tell Dorme that all future plans were off. She couldn't understand Anakin's dislike of her friend and wondered if there was something he wasn't telling her.

Anakin paced the veranda like he always did he was troubled. But the trouble he fretted over was much bigger than Dorme. He was upset over many things... for one he claimed the Jedi Council didn't trust him. Her reply was that they may have sensed his deception without directly pinpointing what the deception might be -- that it was his marriage to her, which went against the tenets of their religion that was hurting him and he would have to choose one or the other eventually. Which really amounted to more stress.

From what Padme gleaned from overheard conversations was that, Palpatine had asked him to spy on the Jedi and the Jedi had asked him to spy on Palpatine. Neither office trusted each other and Anakin was caught in the middle. Dorme was merely a pin in his side that he needed to be rid of. And she would oblige her husband if it would help him feel better. Anything to help him feel better...

The door bell rang. Padme seemed to float from her bedroom to answer. Anakin was not much company. He was altogether miserable and she needed relax.

The door slid open and Dorme was on the other side in a breathtaking strapless chiffon gown. "Dorme... you're beautiful!" Padme exclaimed.

The former handmaiden beamed, a look of condescention in her eyes as they fell to Padme's modest evening attire and full belly.

"Thank you, my lady..." Dorme replied. She strode to the sofa, slipping out of the matching scarf she wore about her shoulders. Her earrings twinkled in the dim light. "Will Anakin be joining us?" She asked as though she was there to have dinner with him and not Padme.

"I'll have to find out," Padme replied, slightly thrown off.

"Well, run along, my lady. We don't want to waste another evening."

A hurt look crept into Padme's eyes. She wasn't sure if she misheard Dorme, or if she were feeling a bit insecure, looking at someone so slim, when she felt so fat and pregnant.

"I'll talk to Anakin, please, feel free to have a drink. Threepio should be out soon."

Dorme gave her a bored smiled.

Tonight was the night. Her plotting and planning would finally pay off. Padme was going to know the truth about her relationship with Anakin Skywalker. That they were going to be together and Padme would be the one left out in the cold.

Padme walked to the bedroom, her heart suddenly very heavy. Dorme's behavior was strange. Anakin's behavior towards her was strange, their behaviors combined was painting a very ugly picture.

She opened the bedroom door then closed it behind her. Anakin sat on the bed, his chin resting in both of his hands.

He stood, sensing something was wrong with Padme.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Padme gave him a hurt look. "Are you and Dorme... having an affair?"

His eyes opened as wide as she had ever seen them. He walked across the room, flesh hand punching into the palm of his black gloved mechanical palm.

"There's something I need to tell you," he said, sounding grave.

"Are you and Dorme having an affair?" she repeated.

"Of course not!"

Padme followed him with her eyes. "Then why are the both of you acting so strange? Why is Dorme acting so... superior to me? Or as though she knows something I don't."

"I was going to tell you... but I didn't know how."

"Tell me what?" Padme gasped. "What are you not telling me?"

"Dorme... is the reason you were sick. She put a spice in your drink."

"That's a lie!"

"You don't trust me? Nobody trusts me, apparently. Why would I lie?"

Padme shook her head. "It's too incredible to believe... Dorme and I have been friends since childhood."

"And were we not childhood friends?"

Tears collected at the corner of Padme's eye. She slowly drifted away from Anakin "So I was in a coma... because of Dorme?" She turned and looked at him. And suddenly, he was no longer angry, but empathetic. He knew all too well how it felt to be betrayed by someone he trusted.

Padme had always gotten the sense that Dorme was jealous of her. But this?

"Why? Why would she do it?"

This time, Anakin looked down. "Because of me."

"You?" Was he in on it?

"That night, Dorme confessed to being in love with me since the day I arrived with Master Obi Wan to investigate the assassination plot against you."

He walked toward Padme and took her hands in his, holding them tightly. "Promise... you won't be angry? That you'll understand what I'm about to tell you."

Padme nodded, face worried. "That night, I was in our bed, waiting for you with the lights off. Just as you had left me. I was asleep when Dorme slithered into the bed undressed. When I realized it wasn't you, I pushed her away."

"Did you -- did she..." a sob left Padme's lips. She turned, pacing the room frantically.

"No-- Padme I... stopped it right away. It's not my fault. I was violated. I promise... I didn't enjoy it. I felt so ashamed..." he said, voice dropping an octave. There was an unmistakable look of agony in his eyes.

Padme's shoulder's rose - her demeanor suddenly stronger. She turned and stalked out of the bedroom, Anakin on her heels. "Please forgive me, Padme," he called.

She marched to the living room, where Dorme waited. The handmaiden stood. Her eyes skipped over Padme, a seductive smile playing on her lips at the sight of Anakin.

But Padme stepped directly before her and gave her a slap that could be heard on the other side of the galaxy. Dorme gasped, a red bruise forming on her cheek. The confident height of her shoulders fell, and the smug little grin on her face --- had been completely erased.

Dorme looked down, shoulders heaving.

Hell yes, Anakin thought.

Dorme's eyes rose to Padme's face, a tearful look of contrition within them. A hand lifted to soothe her stung cheek and a glorious, sparkling tear trickled out of the corner of her eye.

It was over. Just like that. Over.

Finally, stomach churning, Dorme found the courage to speak. "I'm so ashamed..." she gasped, tears streaming down her painted cheeks.

"You should be."

Padme didn't have to tell her to get out. Dorme had already started a slow migration toward the door.

Normally the couple kept Threepio out of the room when serious matters were being addressed. But Master Skywalker and Senator Amidala were so distracted, they didn't notice him standing there, refreshments in hand. Well, that was exciting, Threepio thought.

Dorme shook uncontrollably, her head tilted ever slightly. Their eyes assailed her, heightening her shame. The little droid walked toward her.

"Allow me," Threepio said, sliding the door open. Dorme walked out, shoulders haunched as though someone had taken a heavy object and blunted her over the head.

The door closed and Padme turned, an angry look in her eyes. "You should have told me from the very beginning what Dorme had been up to."

"I'm sorry, my love. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Forgive you? It wasn't your fault." Padme pulled him into her arms, erasing the pain and stress of the past week. It all fell away, like a layer of heavy white snow from a mountain top.