(AN: That was perhaps the most embarrassing moment, where I posted chapter 6 as chapter 7. Then it took all night to rectify, and that made me upset. But that's all fixed now, and we can forge ahead with chapter 8! [i think this is chapter 8])
Several hours later, the Tantive IV landed on Alderaan. Bail Organa left his corvette, made a quick visit to his beloved the Queen, then found a speeder to take him to the Retrac house. It was in the country, a beautiful part of Alderaan that gave one a perfect view of the snow-capped mountains the coniferous forests below, as well as the lights of one of Alderaan's major cities.
He left the speeder at the end of the large, silvery smooth structure, and then entered the pass-codes that would allow him into the house. He took the lift up toward the main quarters, and stepped out once it landed.
There she was. At thirty, she still radiated some of the beauty she possessed at twenty-seven, when she had officially disappeared from the galaxy. Her hair was pulled back into a long plait that was looped and knotted together, that it looked like a double plait. She wore a simple gown of white, with long sleeves and an ankle-length skirt. The eyes, however, showed the greatest mark of her age.
"Senator Organa," she greeted formally. "Come to visit me, have you?"
"More or less." he returned.
"Is this to be my fate?" she asked, walking over to the open balcony. "To remain locked in this tower like a princess from a fairy tale, hidden away from the whole galaxy?"
"Padme, you know this is for your own protection." he reasoned. "Not just you, but for your children."
"My children," she said mirthlessly. "Like my son, who's being raised on Tatooine, having never known either his father or his mother. Or my daughter, whom you and your queen have effectively made your own!"
"Padme, listen..."
"No, you listen! Was it not enough that you have your secretary's daughter to adopt? Now you must take my daughter as well! You fabricated DNA samples, created birth records, did who knows what else to make her your legitimate daughter. And what can her mother do in her babe's defense? Nothing!"
Her face was still turned away toward the balcony, refusing to look Bail Organa in the face.
"I get to see her, true enough," Padme continued. "But as if I'm some kind of aunt with no relation to either of you. I-I can't even begin to describe to you what it's been like, to watch my child raised up as someone else's."
Bail felt extremely guilty. If there were some other way, some way in which he could placate Padme's desire to be with her while keeping Leia and Luke safe from the Empire, he would.
"There's someone who'd like to see you." He pressed a button on his com-link, and the sound of the lift moving hummed behind them.
"You're going to try to bribe me, aren't you?" she asked. "Use my daughter as collateral in some new game you're playing. Well, I won't do it. After all, what good can a dead woman do?"
"Padme, you're not dead. Just because you've been living in secret doesn't mean you don't matter." He was surprised to hear himself say this, and even more surprised when his thoughts suddenly jumped to a startling conclusion.
Padme shook her head. "Like you haven't placed jammers around this tower, to keep transmissions from going in or coming out."
Bail said nothing, for the a tone chimed from the lift. Two Alderaan guards stepped out, with a little thing between them.
"Leia!" Padme said, turning around to look at her daughter. She walked over to and embraced her mother. Bail could see tears in Padme's eyes, even as she embraced her child. This made his suspicions even greater.
For Padme knew that she could simply ask Bail and they would let Leia visit her, he was not as cruel as she depicted him in her emotionally-charged rants. Why, then, would she pretend such?
She let baby Leia go off and play by herself while she turned back to Bail.
"No more lies, Bail." she said. "Destroy those birth-records. I want Leia to know who her real mother was."
"It's not safe."
"I don't care," she returned. "I want my daughter to know the truth."
He sighed. Maybe there could be something, some way for this to be possible. After all, he had the Queen's ear. They could pass a law, make it possible for adopted children to inherit the title of Princess, then have the fabricated records removed. It would take time, and might garner more suspicion, but he wanted to do this much for her.
Hell knows he had made her life hard enough as it is.
"I'll see what I can do."
She looked at him, surprised to hear her former friend so compliant with her wish.
"May I have a moment of privacy with you, Padme?" Bail queried.
She nodded. He then dismissed the guards. Padme called Leia back over to her, gave her a big hug, a kiss, then sent her off with the guards, trying to look brave for her daughter. Once the lift-doors slid shut, she turned to him, noting his suspicious glance.
"I want to ask you some questions."
"About what?"
"About Messiana, Naber-1138, Darth Vader and the Rebellion."
It was a long shot, to be sure, but he thought that, since Dorme had once been Padme's body-guard, maybe she still had contact with her.
Padme laughed.
"And what knowledge could I gather," she said. "Trapped here on Alderaan?"
"I know you better than that," he said. "You were never one to sit by quietly while injustice was rampant."
She turned to him, an equally suspicious look in her eye.
"I see you've been busy yourself, Senator."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'm not dumb, Bail. I know you were never one to do likewise when the innocent were being slaughtered. Oh yes, Bail, I know. I've asked some of my guards, they know what's going on in the galaxy."
He had a feeling that she was up to something, but no proof as of yet. She was very clever about covering her tracks, especially in her days as Senator - if she had any 'tracks' that needed to be covered.
"Why?" he asked. It was an open-ended question, one that could be answered either way, without any immediate accusation on his part.
"Because I believe in the Republic," she returned, her voice firm but wavering. "Because I-I believe...that there is still good left...in the galaxy."
Bail nodded. It was a good answer, albeit one that did not reveal much. He would leave, and investigate her tower, make sure she was remaining hidden as she should. For now, he walked back to the lift. Once it approached, he walked inside and descended.
Once he left, Padme walked over to the wardrobe that stood on the side of the wall. She needed something, something she could find within. After a little searching, she found what she was looking for: a silvery cylinder with a button on the side. She lifted the device to her mouth and pressed the button.
"I'm ready."
There was the sound of rushing wind and the port-side of a star-ship appeared just outside her window. Padme pulled out a small case from her wardrobe and ran with it in her arms over to the balcony. A hatch opened on the side of the ship, and a human male appeared. She threw the case at his open arms, then climbed onto the balcony's railing and jumped onto the ship. She climbed into the star-ship and the man sealed the hatch behind her.
She was free again.
(AN: And here is another short chapter. Stuff will start happening again, I can promise you. If you feel I'm going too fast, please say the word and I'll back-track or even re-edit all-together)
(Thank you once again for the reviews. They have been quite helpful)