Hi, everyone! Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season. Replies to reviewers at the bottom! Please rate and review again for this chapter. It helps me immensely as I continue to develop the story.

Chapter 22

Padmé took a deep breath and placed one hand against her six-month pregnant belly, smiling slightly as she surveyed the clothes, documents, and other articles strewn about in her apartment. She normally kept it spick-and-span, but today, at long last, she was packing!

"Yané," she called into the other room, "Could you find a secure box to pack my blasters in, please? I wouldn't want them falling out on the trip," she added, more to herself.

"Ma'am," Yané's round face appeared in the doorway, "You want to bring all your weapons with us to Naboo?"

Padmé's jaw set hard. "Every last one."

Yané nodded and disappeared, and the Senator turned back to her packing. It was so much work to move permanently. She knew they were supposed to warn her family ahead of time before they showed up on their doorstep but—

She grinned and shrugged. They didn't have time for such a formality, and if her parents didn't have room to accommodate them, they could always head to the Lake House.

Shoving the last few items into a metal chest and clamping the lid shut, she turned to the bed where little Ahsoka still rested, unconscious but recovering from her battle wounds. "My poor dear," she murmured, laying her soft lips on the Togruta girl's forehead and kissing it gently. So brave, this one.

She would've had to be, Padmé thought with a slight chuckle, with Anakin for a Master.

As she turned her back, she didn't notice Ahsoka's blue eyes slowly slide open, resting their gaze on her as she bustled about the apartment. "Sen—Senator A—" her voice cracked.

Padmé turned quickly and sat down beside her bed. "Call me Padmé, Dear—the term 'Senator' has long expired," she told her with a smile.

"Padmé," Ahsoka said weakly, "I'm thirsty."

"I'll bet you are," she replied quickly. "Dorme?"

The other handmaiden appeared in the doorway.

"Bring Jedi Ahsoka some water, will you?"

"Yes, Milady," the young woman replied, turning away.

When she brought the water, Padmé lifted it carefully to Ahsoka's lips to help her drink. The young Jedi grimaced when she swallowed, but managed to still down the entire cup.

Padmé frowned; there was something important still on her mind. "Ahsoka," she whispered softly, "You need to tell me. Anakin said you told him that we couldn't let Derolf's father find him. Who is his father?"

Ahsoka's eyes widened. "Is he safe?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Yes, Dear, he's napping in the other room. I'll bring him if you like…"

"No, that's okay," she sighed, settling back in relief.

"But what's his father's name? Why do we need to keep him hidden from him?"

Ahoska gave her a sad, faraway look, as if she were remembering something tragic. She pursed her lips, and her eyes met Padmé's.

The Senator leaned in to hear what she had to say.

"I don't know," she answered, in a discouraged tone.

Padmé's heart sank. That would make things difficult.

"I just—" Ahsoka grimaced, "—I just can't let him find my baby."

"He won't," Padmé assured her. "On my life, and the life of my own baby, I won't let any harm come to him."

Ahsoka squeezed her hand, and her eyelids drooped.

"Sleep now," Padmé whispered.

Obediently, the girl closed her eyes and was soon breathing steadily in slumber.

Padmé sighed and slowly stood, stretching out the kinks in her back. Did all pregnancies involve this much weight to carry around?

"Alright," she instructed the several handmaidens who were in the room, "Are we nearly ready to go?"

"Yes Milady, but—" Saché began.

"What is it, Saché?"

"Are you sure, Milady, that the Jedi girl is ready to travel? She's still hurt so badly!"

Padmé gave her a wry smile. "I know, Saché, but I don't think we have a choice. Anakin has instructed me to go ahead and get everyone off of Coruscant, for our own safety. I wouldn't normally try to travel with Ahsoka just yet, but this is an exceptional time."

"Are we in grave danger, Milady?" Yané asked in a small, timid voice. The other handmaidens looked very grave as well.

Padmé gave her arm a reassuring squeeze as she walked by, squeezing between the members of the group to finish her packing. "Not if we leave now," she answered, voice confident, but firm.

Several handmaidens exchanged glances as she left, but were silent.

It was two days later when they finally arrived on Naboo.

Padmé had used her private shuttle to prevent any news reports on their whereabouts, and made her resignation from her Senatorial position as discrete as possible. Queen Apailana had agreed to make the news secret until several weeks later, and elections for a new Senator would only occur after Padmé—and her family—were safely settled on Naboo.

In the meantime, the faithful Dorme was acting in Padmé's place, posing as the actual Senator Amidala under Padmé's orders concerning the various propositions coming up. Before leaving, however, Padmé had made certain to warn her, privately, about the possibility of Separatist invasion of Coruscant, and told her to leave immediately if any signs of attack became manifest.

Then the gangplank dropped, and Padmé sighed at the beautiful view of her home planet.

"Now, this is Naboo," she smiled, letting her arms drop to her sides. "Even from our docking bays, there's always a beautiful view of the sunset."

It was true. In sharp contrast to the artificial bustle of Coruscant, Naboo's public docks were decorated with artistic symbols and stood on a high platform, from which all the travelers were confronted with tremendous scenes of the massive architecture of Theed Palace, the waterfalls that flowed around it and cascaded down cliffs and mountains far below, and the lush greenery of forests off to the West, where the bright orange sun sank low and cast purple and green shadows over the entire surface of the planet.

Beside her, Captain Typho sighed as well. She grinned and refrained from the urge to tease him. She knew he, too, had longed to return to the beautiful planet they both had grown up on.

After unloading their bags, the handmaidens, Padmé, and Derolf (who by this time was fidgety and had grown tired of the candy they'd given him to keep him quiet on the trip) waited on a moveable baggage platform they'd rented as Typho carefully carried Ahsoka onto the platform to join them.

She was awake by now, but still quiet as Padmé directed them from the platform to the private bus that would take them to her parent's house. The driver greeted them and took their bags, and the remainder of the trip passed in uneventful silence, except for Saché spanking a wailing Derolf in the back for calling her names.

Saché had had kids before. If she hadn't had such a terrible case of jet lag, Padmé would be taking notes. Of all the handmaidens who had attempted to get Derolf to play with them, Saché was the best. He loved her best, except of course for at this particular moment, since they were really all tired and grumpy and just wanted to take a nap in a real bed.

Padmé sighed. She was content just to continue looking out the window at the scenery. Even though it was getting dark on Naboo, everything was so beautiful—the trees, the mountains, the flower fields—

She didn't notice that she'd fallen asleep when suddenly there was shouting, honking, and a huge commotion coming from outside the bus.

"Typho, what is it?" she asked sleepily, nudging him from across the aisle of the bus.

Apparently, he'd been sleeping too, because he jerked as if waking up. It was hard to see his face in the dark, but he quickly roused himself and got up to look outside, since the bus had stopped.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," the driver spoke up, sounding puzzled. "I can't quite tell what's going on out there. It seems there's a homeless man running in front of the other speeders, blocking the traffic."

Padmé's heart froze. The last thing they needed was trouble on her own home planet. "It's probably just some madman who escaped from the hospital," she tried to reassure herself. "Or a petty criminal running from police. Right, Captain?"

Typho didn't answer right away, turning from the doorway of the bus to shut it behind him before he met her gaze. "I think we need to find another way," he answered soberly. As he spoke, Padmé suddenly heard screams from outside begin to rise up from the civilians.

The driver revved up the engines and started to back them up as best he could in the gridlocked traffic.

"He's yelling at other people in their speeders," Typho confined to Padmé, pulling out his weapon as he spoke. "And worse, I can't be certain, but I think I saw a Magnaguard heading through the crowd."

Padmé's eyes went wide in disbelief. "One of General Grievous' personal protectors? On Naboo?"

Typho shook his head. "Whatever it is, Milady, I advise we not take any chances."

The two of them froze as, suddenly, they heard someone banging on the door of the bus, shouting wildly and demanding to be let inside.

"Get us out of here!" Typho shouted at the driver.

Replies to Reviewers:

.5851—Too bad for him, eh? Hehe.

Scottusa1—He won't be helping Anakin for a good while, will he? As if he wasn't busy enough before (: