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Chapter Five

Padmé wakes up with meetings on her mind. After she gets ready for the day she heads to the kitchen to see Rush there getting breakfast.

"Good Morning. I trust you slept well?" He asks her as he walks over to her and gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Padmé breaks away from his embrace a little forcefully and grabs something to eat herself. "I slept okay. I have a lot on my mind and need to stay focused as do you. That is why we are here isn't it?" She says coldly.

Rush looks injured. "Of course, I am sorry if I was being too forward. I am just as anxious as you are." He says looking away from her.

Padmé sighs. Perhaps she truly has been reading his intentions wrong. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I am just stressed about our meeting coming up." She says as she walks to him and grabs his hand.

He rubs her hand with his thumb. "I understand and I won't be offended." He says as he looks into her eyes.

She lets go of his hand and walks over to her datapad and picks it up. "So who are we meeting first?" She asks.

"The Governor of Scipio is first and we are heading there soon." He replies as he walks over by her and grabs his datapad.

"Are you ready for today?" He asks grabbing for her free hand and squeezing it.

She looks up to him. "Today should not be hard; it is tomorrow I am most concerned for." She says.

"Well let's get this day going." He says as he holds his arm out to her to escort her to their speeder. She accepts his arm and they leave to start their interviews.

Anakin did not get much sleep. He is at war with himself. The Chancellor has told him the negotiations were set for tomorrow and if they only took a day to complete, than she could be back in two to three days. He also wants to surprise her. He looks up how far it would take to get to Scipio. One day. If he left today, he could be there by tomorrow and surprise her that night. Then he wouldn't interfere with her mission because it would be done already and they could leave for Naboo from Scipio. He decides to leave for Scipio but not before he stops and picks up materials to make her a gift. He wants to let her know how much she means to him. By the time he gets done it is late morning. He heads over to the hanger and grabs a small ship to head to Scipio.

On a break in-between interviews, Rush decides to show Padmé around his favorite view of Scipio. It is not far from his office, so they head in that direction. He takes her to one of the mountain peaks that have a beautiful view of a snow covered lake below. The wildlife was out and about. In the sky, the moon was already showing above. Rush stands up from his seat on his speeder and grabs Padmé's hand to escort her to the platform overlooking the lake. She leans on the railing and watches the wildlife from below.

"Thank you. I needed this." Padmé sighs as she breathes in the fresh air.

"I figured you would like the view, I am sure it pales in comparison to Naboo, but I figured it might come in a close second." Rush says as he leans on the railing next to her still holding her hand.

"Scipio's beauty is a different beauty to Naboo, yes, but it is still beautiful." She says back to him still watching the wildlife.

Rush turns to look at Padmé and smiles. "I don't know. I think Naboo produces some of the galaxy's most beautiful creations."

Padmé takes her hand from Rush. Suddenly she is feeling very uneasy being here with him.

She turns to look at him. "What time is our next interview?"

He looks over to his watch. "Unfortunately, we should be heading back. I wish we could have more time though to enjoy the view." He says to her as he smiles and turns to look back down at the lake.

Padmé decides to head back to the speeder without waiting for Rush to offer his hand to her. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on but she didn't trust her emotions. Rush follows behind her and smiles. He is enjoying his time with her immensely and the view.

While Anakin is on the ship headed to Scipio, he sets to work on the gift he is making for Padmé. He hopes it won't seem childish since the last gift he gave her like this was when he was a boy. Working on this gift is helping him past the time and is taking the edge off of his frustration with the secrecy of their relationship. Sometimes he wishes it would be nice for them to have a normal marriage and a normal life. He also knows he could not ask Padmé to give up being a Senator any more than she would ask him to give up being a Jedi. At least they are trying to make it work the best that they can and that is all that really mattered. Besides, there was no other person in the galaxy that made him feel the way that Padmé did.

After an exhausting day of interviews with the governing officials of Scipio, Padmé has a headache. It seems they are just as scared of war coming as well. They had heard a few different pieces of information about the takeover and their backup plan than what Rush and Padmé already knew, so hopefully the extra knowledge they acquired will help in their negotiations.

Rush had alerted his people to have dinner prepared again for tonight but it was not as formal as last night since they were getting in so late. When they get to the house, Padmé sits down on the couch with her fingers to her temples trying to massage the headache away. Rush brings her a plate of food and sits it down on the table in front of her. He sits down next to her and starts to massage her neck and shoulders.

"You need to eat. It will help." He says as he continues to work on her neck.

She pulls away from him and takes a couple bites of food. "Thanks, my head is pounding. I think I need to call it a night." She says standing up and starts to head to her room.

"Padmé." Rush calls to her. "We are meeting with the Senators in the morning, should we go over the final details? I can give you something to help with your head." He says to her while summoning one of his servants.

"I think we have gone over the details enough. Plus I really need the rest to be on top of my game for tomorrow. What I need is some sleep. I will see you early in the morning, that way we can finalize everything then." She says as she heads to her room.

Rush watches her walk away and thinks about tomorrow. If the negotiations go well, they can celebrate then. With that thought in his mind he heads to his room smiling.