Chapter 5

Padmé awoke early the next morning, as was her custom. Being a mother of seven had trained her that sleeping in was not a good idea, for it afforded her rather mischievous children too much time to do something she'd rather they not do. She got up, leaving Anakin to sleep, and headed into the fresher to shower.

Anakin woke up, as he usually did when his wife had left their bed. He heard her in the shower, and stretched in the bed. One more hour, he thought sleepily. But his idea was negated when his wife entered the room.

"Come on sleepy head," Padmé said, rubbing a towel over her wet hair. "Time to get up."

"Ugghh," Anakin said, rolling over onto his side.

Padmé laughed and started getting dressed.

Anakin had just drifted into a light sleep when he heard a crash coming from the fresher. He opened his eyes at once. "Padmé? You okay?" he called. When he got no response, he pushed the covers back and sat up in bed. He listened for her, but heard nothing. Quickly he got out of bed and ran to the fresher. He flung open the door and saw that Padmé was lying on the floor. "Padmé!" he shouted, and ran to her. She was unconscious. "Padmé, can you hear me?" he asked frantically, picking her up in his arms. But she was unresponsive. Leia! Help me! He shouted in his mind. Within moments, Leia, still in her nightgown, rushed into the room.

"Dad what's wrong?" she cried, and then saw her mother. "What happened? What's wrong with Mom?"

"I don't know," Anakin said, picking Padmé up and carrying her to their bed. "I was in bed, she was in here, and she just collapsed."

"I'll call for an ambulance," Leia said, and ran from the room.

She had only gone for a moment, when Padmé started to come around.

"Padmé!" Anakin cried. "Angel, are you all right? What happened?"

Padmé was quite discombobulated, and looked up at him with a confused look on her face. "I don't know," she said, sitting up slowly. "I was in the fresher…" she said, rubbing the back of her head. "What happened, Ani?"
"You collapsed," he told her. "And you were unconscious for several minutes." He frowned. "You bumped your head pretty good, didn't you?"

Padmé nodded. "I did," she said.

"The ambulance is on the way," Leia said as she rushed into the room. Her eyes widened when she saw her mother awake. "Mom!" she said, rushing over and hugging her mother tightly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Padmé said. "I don't need an ambulance, really," she said.

"Like hell you don't," Anakin said. "I'm getting dressed," he told Leia. "You stay with her."

Leia nodded.

"Anakin I'm fine," Padmé called after him. "This isn't necessary!"

"Mom, you were unconscious," Leia told her. "It is necessary."

Padmé frowned, but decided that she would not win. Anakin and Leia were identical in their stubbornness, and so she let Leia help her off the bed and finished getting dressed.

"Is the ambulance here yet?" Anakin asked as he reentered the room, buttoning up his tunic.

"It should be," Leia said.

"Okay," Anakin said. "You stay here with the kids. I'll contact you as soon as I learn something."

Leia nodded her understanding, and watched her parents leave, doing her best not to cry.

Theed

"I need someone to see my wife immediately," Anakin told the duty nurse. "She collapsed and lost consciousness."

The nurse looked at Padmé, who seemed to be in pain. "Bring her in," she said.

Anakin and Padmé followed the nurse into an examination room, where the nurse took her vital signs.

"Everything looks normal," the nurse said.

"I hit my head when I fell," Padmé said. "It hurts. A lot."

The nurse nodded, and examined the back of Padmé's head. "Looks like you've got quite a bump forming," she said. "We'll test you for concussion as well."

As well? Anakin reflected with a frown. "What else will you test for?" He asked.

"The doctor will make that call," the nurse said. "She'll be right in."

They didn't wait long until the on call doctor arrived.

"Good morning," the doctor said. "I'm Doctor Pratt. What can I help you with today?"

"I …passed out earlier," Padmé told her. "But I'm feeling okay now, except for my head."

Dr. Pratt nodded thoughtful. "And how long was she unconscious?" She asked Anakin.

"Almost five minutes," Anakin said.

"Well there must be a reason for this," Dr. Pratt said. "And we'll find out what it is." She turned to Anakin. "I'm going to admit your wife," she said. "And run a series of tests to determine the reason this happened. You'll have to wait in the waiting area, I'm afraid."

Anakin nodded, and looked at Padmé, hating the thought of leaving her. He bend down and kissed her. "I'll see you soon," he told her. "I love you."

Padmé nodded. "I love you too," she said, starting to grow alarmed at how serious the situation actually was. "See you soon."

Once Anakin reached the waiting area, he contacted Leia to let her know what was happening.

"How's Mom?" Leia asked.

"She's in with the doctor now," Anakin told her. "They're running tests."

"What kind of tests?" Leia asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure they'll do a lot of them," he said. "They need to find out what caused this."

"Is Mom okay?" Leia asked. "I hope she's not scared."

"You know your mother," Anakin said. "She'd never show it even if she were. Believe me, I'm scared enough for both of us. How are the kids?" He asked.

"They're fine," Leia said. "I didn't tell them anything. They think you two are in town having breakfast."

"Good," Anakin said. "Best that they don't know just yet. Let's hope that there's nothing to tell them."

"Yes, let's hope," Leia said. "Should I contact Luke?"

"No," Anakin said. "He's on his honeymoon. Leave him be."

"Okay," Leia said. "I'm going to give the kids breakfast," she said. "Let me know as soon as you learn something."

"I will," Anakin said. "Talk to you soon."

Within an hour, a nurse came to tell Anakin that Padmé had been returned to her room, and led him to a room on an upper floor. Padmé was just getting onto her bed when he entered the room. "Padmé," Anakin said, coming over to her. "What did they do?" he asked.

"An MRI," she told him. "They were looking for signs of concussion," she said. "But I know they're looking for something else, something that would explain why I passed out."

"So they didn't find anything?" Anakin asked.

"No, it was negative," she said. "Are the kids okay?"

"Leia and Han are with them," he said. "Leia didn't tell them anything yet."

"That's probably the best thing to do for now," she said.

A nurse entered the room just then, with a tray of breakfast in her hand.

"I thought you might be hungry," the nurse said. "I understand you didn't get a chance to eat before you came here."

"Thank you," Padmé said, taking the tray. She looked up at Anakin. "You didn't eat yet either, did you?"
"No," he said. "But I'm not hungry."

Padmé raised her eyebrows. "You? Not hungry?" she teased. "That's a first."

Anakin laughed. "Okay, I'll get something later," he said.

It wasn't long before a technician came and took Padmé for another test, leaving Anakin alone in her room. He decided to go get some lunch to pass the time. As Anakin at alone in the refectory eating his lunch, his wrist comm sounded. He activated it, and was surprised to hear Qui-Gon's voice.

"Dad? What's going on?" Qui-Gon asked. "Please don't try and tell me nothing is, because I can feel that something is."

"You're right, son," Anakin said. "Your mother is in the hospital having some tests."

"Tests? What tests? What's wrong with her?" Qui-Gon asked in alarm.

"We don't know yet," Anakin told him. "She collapsed this morning, lost consciousness. The doctors are trying to find out why."

Qui-Gon was silent for a moment, and Anakin could sense his son's trepidation. "She's going to be all right though, right Dad?" Qui-Gon asked finally.

"I hope so," Anakin said. "I don't want the younger kids to know just yet, okay? You can tell Shmi, but try your best to shield the young ones from this. Can you do that for me, son?"

"Yes Dad, I can," Qui-Gon replied. "Shmi had the same feeling as me," he told her. "I'll tell her what you told me."

"Good boy," Anakin said. "I will let you know as soon as I learn anything, Qui-Gon. Okay?"

"Okay Dad," he said, his voice betraying how upset he was. "Talk to you soon."

"You will," Anakin said.

"Tell Mom I love her," Qui-Gon said. "Bye."

Padmé was in her room when Anakin returned. "Well?" Anakin asked as he kissed Padmé on the cheek.

"Another brain scan," she said. "They called it a cere scan," she said.

"Did they tell you the results yet?" Anakin asked.

"The technician told me that Dr. Pratt would be in soon to tell me," Padmé said. "Honestly, I don't see why all these tests are necessary," she said with a frown. "I'm fine. My children need me home."

"The children are fine," Anakin said. "You are not," he said, picking up her hand. "I know you hate this, Padmé, but I think it's important that we find out why you collapsed."

"I couldn't agree more," Dr. Pratt said as she entered the room.

"Do we have any more answers?" Anakin asked her.

"Yes, the scan we just ran showed that Padmé has a mild concussion as a result of vertigo, or dizziness, which caused your fall." she said.

"Mild concussion? What does that mean? Does she need treatment?" Anakin asked.

"Not in the way you're probably thinking," Dr. Pratt replied. "She needs rest more than anything, physical and mental. I want her to stay overnight for observation."

Padmé was disheartened to hear this, but not surprised.

"That still doesn't explain why she collapsed," Anakin pointed out. "The concussion happened because she collapsed, but why did she collapse in the first place?"

"That we're still investigating," Dr. Pratt said. "I'd like to have a look at your heart, Padmé. Let's rule that out next."

Padmé nodded, her insides tightening at the thought that she could have a heart problem. "So where do we go from here?" she asked.

"A full physical, an electro-cardiogram and echocardiogram," Dr. Pratt said. "If your heart is the issue, these tests will tell us. I'll make arrangements for the EKG and then we'll get that physical done."

"Okay," Padmé said. "Let's get all this over with."

Anakin waited for the doctor to leave before he sat down on the side of Padmé's bed. "Try to be patient," he said. "They'll get to the bottom of this soon enough."

"I hope so," she said. "I just want to go home."

After Dr. Pratt had performed a thorough physical, she had one bit of news that neither Padmé nor Anakin had expected.

"You have a heart murmur," the doctor said.

Anakin grew alarmed at once. "What does this mean?" he asked.

"I can't say without further tests," Pratt said. "In some instances, a murmur is indicative of a problem with the heart," she said. "In others, it means nothing at all. Tell me Padmé, have you ever had any other incidents of dizziness before today?"

Padmé looked at Anakin, who shook his head. "Well, yes," she said. "I have."

Anakin looked at her with shock. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

Padmé shrugged. "I didn't think anything of them," she said. "They always passed fairly quickly."

Anakin frowned. "Angel, you should have said something!" he said.

"Let's not worry about that now," Dr. Pratt said. "Let's find out why it's happening. A technician will be here to take you for the EKG and echo. That will tell us what's going on."

"Okay, thank you Doctor," Padmé said. She looked at Anakin as the doctor left, seeing how troubled he was. "Please don't be upset," she said, taking his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything," she said. "I really didn't think it was anything to worry about."

Anakin kissed her hand. "You need to take better care of yourself," he said. "You're always after me if I have a health problem."
Padmé smiled. "You don't have any," she said.

"Well, I did," he said. "I was a wreck, remember?"

"I'm hardly a wreck," Padmé said defensively.

"I didn't say you were," Anakin replied, growing frustrated.

Their conversation was interrupted by technician, who arrived to take Padmé back to the lab.

Anakin watched her go, then went inside and sat down to wait once again.

Night had almost fallen by the time Anakin and Padmé had some answers. It turned out that the heart murmur that Padmé had was not indicative of an under lying problem, much to their relief. Still, the resident cardiologist advised her to have it checked twice a year.

"I really want to go home," Padmé said as she prepared for bed.

"I know, Angel," Anakin said. "You heard the doctor – a concussion needs monitoring. I'm sure they'll let you go home first thing."

Padmé frowned. "I miss the kids," she said.

Anakin smiled. "Well, I have an idea about that."

Within the hour, Padmé's room was full of children, all of them vying for their mother's attention. The smile on her face as each of them hugged and kissed her repeatedly warmed Anakin's heart.

"Okay guys, time to go," Han announced as visiting hours ended.

The children, particularly the youngest two, protested vehemently; but Leia and Han managed to wrangle them all and get them out the door.

"That was wonderful," Padmé said with a smile. "Thank you, Ani."

Anakin smiled. "Anything for my Angel," he said, giving her a kiss.