It was night time when Qui-Gon returned to Padmé's apartment. He entered the sitting room and found Anakin pacing the length of the room. "Where is the Senator?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Asleep, Master," Anakin replied. "R2's in there with her. He'll alert us if there is any trouble."

"Good," Qui-Gon nodded. "Get some rest, Anakin. I'll keep watch for awhile."

"It's alright, Master," Anakin said. "I'd much rather do this."

"I know you would, but you'll be no good to her without rest."

"It's not that. I don't sleep well anymore."

"Have the nightmares returned?"

Anakin nodded. He had been having nightmares about his mother ever since he left her on Tatooine to become a Jedi. He thought he had been able to control his mind enough to stop the nightmares, but recently they had come back in spite of his best efforts to keep them away.

"How long has it been since they came back?" Qui-Gon asked.

"A few weeks," Anakin replied. "Something's different this time though. They feel real. I'm afraid that…" Anakin's voice trailed off.

"Do you believe they are premonitions?"

Anakin nodded again. "She's going to die, Master."

"Do you have any idea when?"

"No. I just know I need to free her and get her off Tatooine."

"In that case we will go to Tatooine as soon as this business with the Senator is finished."

Anakin glanced at the hallway that led to Padmé's room. "I'd much rather dream about her. Being around her again, it's… I wish we had never parted."

"Your feelings for her do you credit, Anakin. Just remember what we learned on Ahch-To."

"I'm trying, Master. It's just so hard to think clearly when I'm around her."

"Then don't think. Your attachment to Padmé can be your greatest strength, or it can be your greatest weakness. Center your focus on caring for her, even if it means denying your own passions. If you can do that, you will not be led astray."

"Thank you, Master," Anakin smiled.

At that moment, Obi-Wan entered the room. There was a troubled air about him as he glanced at Qui-Gon and made his way out to the balcony. "Stand guard, Anakin," Qui-Gon instructed. "I'll be back in a moment."

Qui-Gon stepped out onto the balcony and approached Obi-Wan, who stood with his arms crossed as he looked out on the busy night traffic that streaked through the skyline. "What is it, Obi-Wan?" he asked.

"We found evidence that the Senator's shuttle was sabotaged from the inside," Obi-Wan replied without turning away from the view.

"Are you saying this was an inside job?"

"Yes, Master. I checked the manifest of everyone who was supposed to be onboard. One of the pilots is missing."

"Missing?"

"He wasn't among the survivors, and we never found his body. But that's not all. He shouldn't have been on the ship in the first place. They found his body on Naboo this afternoon. He's been dead for days."

"Which means he was never on that ship."

"We're dealing with a changeling."

Qui-Gon took a moment to process this information and said, "Then the three of us are the only ones we can trust. Treat everyone else like a potential suspect."

"Yes, Master."

The two Jedi fell silent for a moment. "This changeling is not the reason you are troubled, is it?" Qui-Gon asked.

Obi-Wan bowed his head. He did not want to answer Qui-Gon's question, but he did not have to. Qui-Gon sensed the truth. "You heard us talking a moment ago," Qui-Gon said.

Obi-Wan gave a slight nod.

"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said as he put his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "If I had known then what I know now, I would have guided you very differently."

Obi-Wan finally turned to face Qui-Gon, revealing the pain in his eyes that he had been trying desperately to hide. "It's not your fault, Master," Obi-Wan replied. "I made my choice. I don't blame you for that. It's just seeing Anakin with… It just reminds me of what happened, and I fear for him. I don't want him to make the same mistakes I made."

"Then don't let him," Qui-Gon said. "Teach him what you have learned."

Qui-Gon would have said more, but at that moment he felt a disturbance in the Force. "I sense it too," Obi-Wan said as they both ran back into the apartment.

They sprinted toward Padmé's bedchamber and arrived just in time to see Anakin leap onto Padmé's bed with his lightsaber drawn. With two precise swings beside her head, Anakin sliced through two poisonous slugs and sent them flying across the room.

Qui-Gon turned toward the window and spotted the droid that had delivered the slugs. It had cut a small hole in the window to provide an opening for the slugs. Qui-Gon threw a homing beacon through this hole and used the Force to guide it onto the droid's back as the droid flew away.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asked as he stepped off of Padmé's bed.

"Yes, I think so," Padmé nodded.

"You cannot stay here," Qui-Gon said, "not while this room is compromised. Anakin, take her into the next room and stay with her. Obi-Wan and I will handle this assassin."

Anakin nodded and offered Padmé his hand to help her out of bed as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan ran out of the room.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan left the apartment and got into a speeder. They tracked the droid until they found it meeting with its owner, a woman dressed in purple armor, on a rooftop. "Fly directly over them," Qui-Gon instructed.

Obi-Wan steered the speeder out of the flow of traffic and flew toward the building the woman was standing on. Just as they passed by, Qui-Gon leapt from the speeder and expertly landed right in front of the woman. He ignited his lightsaber just as she drew her blaster and opened fire. He deflected her first shot so that it destroyed the droid, and the second so that it struck her in the leg. She dropped to the ground with a cry of pain. She raised her weapon again in a final attempt to ward off Qui-Gon, but he easily cut her blaster in two with one swing, rendering her defenseless.

"Who hired you to kill Senator Amidala?" Qui-Gon asked.

"It was just a job," she replied.

"Who was it?" Qui-Gon pushed.

"It was a bounty hunter called…"

At that moment, she was interrupted by a poisoned dart striking her in the neck. Qui-Gon turned in the direction it came from and saw a Mandalorian fly off of a nearby rooftop. "Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said into his commlink, "stop that Mandalorian."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan replied as he turned the speeder to pursue the Mandalorian.

Qui-Gon turned back to the woman just as she was morphing back into her natural form. They had found their changeling. "Wee shanitt sleemo…" she groaned as she died.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan was swerving in and out of traffic as he struggled to keep up with the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian realized he was being pursued and turned into oncoming traffic. Obi-Wan attempted to follow the Mandalorian, but instead ended up grazing a neon sign in an attempt to avoid a head-on collision with another speeder. Obi-Wan lost control of the speeder and narrowly managed to avoid crashing into the side of a building. Once he had finally regained control, the Mandalorian was a long way ahead of him. "Blast," Obi-Wan muttered. "Where is Anakin when I need him?"

Anakin was in fact quite unaware that his friend was having so much difficulty. He was sitting across from Padmé, who was just lying down on the other sofa in the sitting room. "Anakin, would you mind bringing me a blanket from the other room?" she asked.

"Of course," he smiled.

Anakin stood up and went to retrieve a blanket from Padmé's bedchamber. When he returned, she was fast asleep. He gently draped the blanket over her and placed the hem of the blanket just above her shoulder. She stirred a little as he did this but did not wake. Anakin smiled down at her and went back to the other sofa. He sat down and watched her sleep for a moment. Then he closed his eyes to meditate.

His mind began to wander to thoughts of his mother. He wondered if she was alright, or at least as alright as one could be while being one of Watto's slaves. He wondered why he had started dreaming about her again, and why his dreams had such an impending sense of doom. What could possibly happen in Mos Eisley that would put her in imminent danger? Mos Eisley certainly was not a safe place with all the scum and villainy that walked its streets, but Anakin knew his mother knew how to stay out of trouble. She had kept him safe while he was a small child and taught him everything she knew. If she really was going to be in danger soon, something truly terrible must be about to happen.

Anakin's thoughts became consumed with ideas of what might happen to his mother. He could not bear the thought of anything happening to her, and yet his mind continued to form scenario after scenario of what could cause her death. Anakin became more and more anxious as he wrestled with his own mind.

Then he heard Padmé murmur in her sleep. He stopped thinking and listened. There was no sound in the apartment except for the sound of Padmé's breathing. Anakin focused on her breathing and used that to steady his own breathing. For the first time since the nightmares had returned, Anakin was able to find peace.

As Anakin continued his meditation, Qui-Gon sensed the reprieve from the storm Anakin was feeling. Qui-Gon smiled as Obi-Wan's speeder descended in front of him. "I lost him, Master," Obi-Wan said.

"It's alright, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said as he held up the poisoned dart that had killed the changeling. "We have other ways of finding him."

Qui-Gon got into the speeder and they flew back toward Padmé's apartment. When they arrived, they found Anakin and Padmé, both of whom were sleeping on their respective sofas. "Go get some sleep, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said with a smile. "I'll keep watch until the morning."

Obi-Wan bowed and left the room while Qui-Gon made his way to the balcony and watched the bustling skyline until the sun began to rise.