Author's Note: I do not own Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Naberrie or any other characters. It's all Lucasfilm property: I write stories for fun, for free.

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

Chapter 16

Padmé came to Boston in early September 2016 and was preparing for her bar exam.

Satine, Ben, Dormé and Sabé were already in New York to find a well paid job somewhere in a renowned law firm with their Harvard and Yale degrees. When Ben found the job, the engagement was announced. Padmé and Anakin weren't at the party, they were in Boston.

Anakin was only a sophomore and still had big plans.

Sometime in November one fellow student approached him and asked if he would help with a foundation called Orden, he was always seen alone, wondered if he had any friends, well he could help if he has the time and if he wants. Anakin said he would have to inquire about the foundation. It was known that he was rich and you had to be careful. He spoke to his lawyer about it. He told him it was a well-known foundation dedicated to social welfare, supporting poor children and their education, children who had gone astray, providing education opportunities for poor children, or providing and awarding scholarships, caring for abused children, even care of suicidal children and young people. Anakin flinched at the last one, it all came back up.

He agreed to help, although at first without sponsoring. The help should first be the care of poor children with poor school performance, primarily mathematics, two to three hours a week.

Anakin even helped out while he was studying for the fall semester exams. It was fun especially when he saw progress.

His parents came to Boston for Thanksgiving, they wanted to see how he lives. They liked it, the apartment was nice and tastefully furneshed . They didn't ask for a girlfriend. In an unseen moment, Shmi found the framed photo of Padmé in the drawer of bedside table in his bedroom. She thought the photo would always be standing on bedside table, he just hid it so as not to provoke any questions. Anakin walked into the room unexpectedly and saw his mother with Padmé's photo in her hands.

"Anakin, I thought you were over it. I thought you'd settle down and start a family one day, give me grandchildren..."

"Without the woman I love is everything without importance."

"Skywalkers will be die out."

"Without her I am dead anyway."

"Oh Ani..."

Anakin didn't say when he would be coming back to New York, he was now living in Boston.

Fall semester exams were always an important, busy time, with good averages to be achieved. That was always the most important thing for Padmé, but she was nearing the end.

Anakin made a good average.

Anakin was alone in Boston now. He was committed to helping out at Order, he wasn't isolated, but he no longer had his longtime friends around. Yes, Padmé was still there, but she wasn't his girlfriend anymore and she didn't want to see him. She was seeing other men, although she had no interest in them. Better they don't meet.

By early 2017, Padmé passed her bar exams and left Boston. She was in New York now, junior partner of Naberrie&Naberrie, future boss, the future of the attorney firm. The parents were as proud as they could be.

Her parents gave her more and more demanding legel cases, more and more spectacular cases that she represented by the court, which she won, could be followed in the New York Times, she was even seen on TV. It was mostly white-collar crime.

As her reputation grew, she was almost as respected and valued as her parents. She buried herself in work, her social life couldn't even be called that name. She occasionally met with Dormè and Sabé, sometimes Ben joined them, recently she was invited to a wedding. Satine was pregnant and didn't want to sit in a bar somewhere at night.

Padmé was good looking, a little skinny but good, dressed conservatively but high expensiv, always perfectly styled, if she represents the best New York attorney firm, then that way. Many of her clients, or rather former clients, courted her, as did many colleagues, all after her father's tastes, but Padmé had decided long before, that men would have no place in her life. A handsome call boy here and there was enough, and all of them, without exception, were dark haired with brown eyes. She couldn't imagine looking into a pair of blue eyes during the sex. It still hurt.

In 2018 and 2019 she was one of the most sought-after lawyers in New York.

At the end of 2018, Dormé went to Washington D.C. to join New York Senator Chuck Schumer's staff. Sabé stayed in New York, as did Ben, Satine wanted to stay at home for three years until her daughter Serena turned three and could go to nursery.

Anakin stayed in Boston, beginning his examination work in the fall of 2017 and still working for the foundation, student aid and suicidal child care. He didn't know why he had decided to do this, maybe because of guilt or because he wanted to understand what could drive a young person to want to do something like that.

At the beginning of 2018 he finished his studies and already got the topic for his dissertation, mechanical engineering, rocket engine technology. That's what he'll be dealing with for the next three years, maybe five, or longer.

Anakin followed Padmé's career, read New York Times. She had become a beautiful young woman. He has changed too, he was a man in his prime and wasn't so in love, so high, as he was twenty, his love had matured too and he thought, if they by the miracle got back together, nothing would be like before. And that was what he was very scared about. Well, he didn't have much time to let this fear paralyze him, he had to take care of the foundation's youth and his dissertation. The subject required frequent commuting between Boston, Washington D.C. , NASA facilities in Huntsville Alabama and Cleveland Ohio. He had dedicated himself entirely to this dissertation and wanted to graduate with summa cum laude. He knew he was good, he just had to prove it now.

He worked hard throughout 2018, as he did in 2019, but still found time for children and suicidal youth.

Just the notoriety of the last two years and a lot of cases made Padmé a bit tired at the end of 2019 and the pressure from the parents was driving her crazy, she was irritable.

One Friday afternoon, unexpectedly, her father asked her to come to his office. The mother was there as well. Oh, that smells like trouble, she thought.

"Did I something wrong?" she asked provocatively.

"Nothing yet, dear, but we're running out of time. You're twenty-seven and still not married, you haven't even had a boyfriend since you broke up with Anakin..."

Padmé got up to leave, not wanting to talk about it, especially not in that tone.

"Sit down, Padme."

"Mother, I'm not a schoolgirl, what's all this about?"

"Padmé, you are expected to..." the father began.

"I don't even want to start this discussion. You won't marry me, we're not living in the Middle Ages...and do you know what? I am going to find Anakin, take him by the hand, drag him to Las Vegas and marry him."

"You're crazy, but knowing you, you'd be perfectly capable of doing that...after all what he's done to you." Jobal countered.

"Maybe he didn't do anything to me. I was treated until my mind was almost gone….that I couldn't think logically, that I didn't want to listen to my friends, friends who were there and saw what happened, you shielded me…..you have paid good doctors for it?"

"Padmé, cool down, you're just stressed and overworked."

"Maybe, but that's the end of it either. I move out and leave the firm. Even today !"

Angry, she went out, called a taxi and went home to pack her things. She took as much as she could, took her Audi Q5 and drove to Sabé.

"Hi Sabé."

"Hi, uh…so many suitcases? What happened?

"Can I stay with you for a few days until I find something?" she cried like a child.

"Sure, you can stay with me until you solve the problem and now come in and tell me all about."

So Padmé told her what happened, what she said to her parents and how she didn't know what to do now.

"Do you have money, have you saved, do you need help?"

"No, I've earned well in the last three years, invested good my money and had almost no expenses. I'm in seven figures, don't worry, Sabé."

"Good. Do you want to stay in New York?"

"No. This city is suffocating me, so many memories, good and... bad. I have to get out of here, just far away."

"I have an idea, we'll call Dormé, maybe she can stretch out her tentacles in Washington D.C. With your Harvard degree, you will definitely find a well-paid job there."

"Yes Sabé, good idea, I can imagine it."

Already that weekend they talked to Dormé and she promised to inquire.

After a week, Dorme called and said she had found something for Padmé, it was a large law firm with high profile clients, Smith & Smith.

Padmé sent in her application with supporting documents. After another two weeks she was in Washington D.C. . Here she had her friend Dormé, who still couldn't stop pushing her about Anakin.

Padmé had settled well in Washington D.C. , there was Dormé and some colleague she went out. She lived in a small furnished apartment she rented.

In March 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency over COVID-19, but by then Padmé was already infected.
This mask of self-control that she always wore and the need to appear to be something she wasn't, this desire and strive for absolute self-control in her life made her tired and susceptible.
She was weakened, her immune system was weak and she had a hard course of illness, ending up in intensive unit. She felt bad, having hallucinations, nightmares or scary dreams because they were so real. She felt like she was awake but didn't know where she was. After three weeks she left the intensive care unit, but she has not yet been released. She was taken to a rehabilitation center and stayed there for another two weeks. As she came home, she was alone and still didn't feel fit for work, she had to take a leave of absence. She cried a lot, was tired, couldn't sleep, had no appetite, was shocked by the fact that she was about to die and worried about how long this condition would last. It would take a long time, another half year.

Her parents didn't know anything about it, she didn't want their worries, she had a lot of that.

All of her friends called to inquire about her condition. The true extent of their health problem they learned from Dormé who notified Sabé, also Ben and Satine who went nowhere, they had a little daughter. Ben relayed this information to Anakin, but Anakin knew he couldn't see her, so he prayed.

Anakin has also suffered from COVID-19, but not because he was ill, he couldn't progress with his dissertation. The year 2020 brought all imaginable problems, especially travel restrictions. COVID-19 brought the whole country to a standstill, not just the whole country but the whole world. He worked on everything that wasn't necessarily practical.

The work with the young people in the Order was reduced to a minimum.

Best regards from Germany