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Padme liked thinking herself a highly compassionate woman.
But that was currently a difficult task.
What Anakin told her that he did after losing his mother just moments ago...it was both tragic and highly disturbing.
He didn't even spare the women or children.
He killed them all indiscriminately.
Even the children.
Possibly babies.
Possibly pregnant women.
Initially she had been sympathetic to his loss, and she still was.
But Shmi Skywalker's death didn't justify her son's actions, and Shmi Skywalker herself would probably be heartbroken if she knew that her son would commit such atrocities in her memory.
He desecrated his mother's memory.
And now? Now Padme did not feel safe at all, especially with Anakin's clear attraction/obsession with her (yes, she was well aware, she had eyes, plus she gently rejected his attempt to kiss her back on Naboo).
Now she wishes she'd requested to be accompanied by a different Jedi.
...
Perhaps it wasn't too late.
"Sabé."
"Yes my lady?" The other replies when she contacts her via hologram, with Sabé seeming to already have an idea where this was going.
She could always count on her handmaidens and Typho.
"I need you to get me into contact with the Jedi Council on Coruscant, immediately." Her tone is even.
"Are you in danger?" Sabé's tone is still professional but concern leaking through betrays how she really feels, worried.
'Most likely' she can't help but think.
"Let's just say something has transpired that leads me to not trust Padawan Skywalker to keep me safe any longer."
'Mainly from himself'
Sabé looks at her for a moment, as if wanting to know more, but reliable as always, she puts it aside for now and bows her head.
"Of course. I'll contact the Jedi Council at once. Be safe, my lady."
When the hologram comes back online, and Jedi master Ki-Adi-Mundi is there with master Yoda down by his side, Padme feels an invisible weight lift from her.
Her fear mostly subsides.
"Master Jedi." She bows her head in greeting.
"Senator Amidala. Unexpected, this is." Yoda greets, yet there is some knowing look on his expression.
"Forgive me, though I'm afraid Skywalker's assignment as my protective detail has gone horribly wrong." She decides to be blunt.
She hasn't ever really interacted with Mundi, but he was a member of the Jedi Council, and she trusted the Jedi Council, therefore she trusted him.
Ki-Adi hums as he examines her.
"Would you mind explaining further?"
So she does, and tells them everything.
From Anakin's persistent and unwelcome flirting, to his attempted romantic advance that was also unwelcome. Then the dreams he had of his mother (she questions why he never informed master Kenobi), the journey to Tatooine, and then Anakin rescuing his mother, then her death.
Ki-Adi frowns, though Yoda remains seemingly serene and unaffected.
"There is something else, isn't there?" The Cerean Jedi master inquires.
Yoda meanwhile suddenly has this sad glimmer in his eyes, along with resignation.
Maybe she shouldn't even be surprised that somehow Yoda already knew.
"Yes." And best to be blunt. "Following his mother's death, Padawan Skywalker proceeded to massacre the entire village, down to the last child."
Yoda doesn't even look surprised, and just sighs, though his ears droop.
Mundi however seems completely thrown off by this, yet she had to give him credit for regathering himself so quickly.
"I see." Mundi's tone was low and even for a moment before his attention is back on her, though his tone and expression both soften. "And you no longer feel safe as a result of what he confessed to you." It wasn't a question.
She nods.
Yoda seems to think on this momentarily, before speaking again.
"Recalled immediately, young Skywalker will be. Another Jedi, we will send, a Jedi master. A particular Jedi, prefer, would you?"
...
Well, she didn't know many.
Master Jinn was long dead.
Master Kenobi was currently preoccupied with the investigation into the assassination attempts on her.
And she didn't know who was available.
"I'm not sure." She admits. "What are my options?"
'Any would be better than Anakin Skywalker'
"Well." Mundi starts. "Most of the council is involved in the investigation into the assassination attempts against you, and master Gallia is currently busy on her own assignment. Master Billaba however is available."
...
Oh, Depa Billaba, who'd been one of the council members ten years ago?
Yes, she'd do.
"Master Billaba will do just fine."
"Very well. Master A'Sharad Hett is currently present on Tatooine. We will have him relay this news to Padawan Skywalker. Master Hett will then watch over you until master Billaba arrives."
"Thank you, master Mundi, master Yoda." The gratitude and relief leaks through her tone and expression, as the fear fully leaves her.
Mundi wasn't quite smiling, but his expression was softer than usual, while Yoda gave her a kind smile.
"Unnecessary, thanks are. Our duty, we are following."
Hett shows up only an hour later.
Where he is then confronted by An-Skywalker.
"Padawan Skywalker, the High Council has ordered you back to Coruscant, effective immediately."
"What? Why? I thought my duty was to protect senator Amidala, suddenly it's not?" Skywalker's tone was borderline hostile, which was concerning since Hett was only following his orders.
"I did not say you haven't done your duty, Padawan Skywalker. The most I was told is that something of higher importance has come up that requires your presence." Hett explains.
Padme knows it is a lie, Hett was no doubt told everything.
He's just using this to get Skywalker away from her.
Far away from her.
And she was thankful for that.
Skywalker seems to get more agitated, but huffs before he seems to give in to curiosity.
Though reluctance remained.
"What about senator Amidala?" He inquires, looking to her, and she withholds a cringe at the possessive glimmer in his eyes.
Hett nods shortly.
"High Councilor Billaba is making her way here as we speak. I will watch over the senator until she arrives."
While Skywalker seems very unhappy, he conceded after this.
And Padme let's herself release the breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
They waited until the next morning.
By the time Billaba arrives, Hett bids then both farewell for now as he leaves to return to his original assignment.
Skywalker was thankfully long gone.
...
The total contrast between Billaba and Skywalker was so astounding that it made her question how or why Skywalker chose to remain a Jedi, despite his very odd declaration of master Kenobi being jealous of him.
Billaba was good company. She made nice and fun, but quiet and calm conversation.
Within less than thirty minutes, Padme made a new friend.
Padme soon after decided to head back to Coruscant.
Bil-wait, she could call her Depa now, went with her decision.
She'd go back to her apartment, but not before making a stop.
The look on Palpatine's (yes she'd long since moved him to the category of: two-faced, manipulative, untrustworthy sleemo) face when she entered the Senate chambers just in time to put a stop to him being granted emergency wartime powers, for use in the war that was about to begin, was more than worth it.
That the arguments she made against it swayed a majority of the Senate was even better.
Bail teased that perhaps she should run for Chancellor.
Padme threatened to spike his tea if he ever suggested it again.
From the moment it really started, Padme knew something about the war just didn't fit.
Something felt too out of place.
The Separatist having a droid army ready long in advance felt too convenient.
Some Republic senators were saying and doing...curious things.
Palpatine still looked displeased about not receiving emergency wartime powers, which would have effectively made him more powerful than any other politician in the galaxy.
It was all just...strange.
The clones however were sad, in the way that the Senate already treated them like nothing but meat droids, disposable, expendable.
And yes, Padme took that personally.
So, while still succeeding in blocking all of Palpatine's attempts to get emergency wartime powers (which given the Ruusan Reformation would be blatantly illegal and would set a dangerous precedent), she also began advocating for a clone rights bill.
So what if they were clones? They were still living, breathing, sentient beings.
And kriff whatever the Kaminoans thought.
In hindsight, she should've seen this coming.
Apparently her advocation for them in the Senate meant she immediately became one of the few senators the clones liked.
The Coruscant guard were perhaps the ones she had gotten closest to as the war slowly picked up.
Commander Fox was...for lack of a better way to put it, a gremlin, despite how he liked to pretend he was responsible (he was when he needed to be, otherwise he let chaos reign).
But everyone loved him for it, so she hears.
Thorn was a sweetheart, a smooth talker at that. Padme was not ashamed to say she did reciprocate the flirting. Unlike Skywalker, Thorn wasn't obsessive and understood boundaries and when to say nothing.
He was highly charming. So what? Sue her for finding him attractive.
Stone meanwhile was a conspiracy theorist. His current big theory was that Fox was actually the villain of everything and everything was his puppet that he could cut the strings to whenever he wanted.
Big shocker. By now, even Padme had learned to drown out most of it, but some of his theories did have merit.
Thire had transferred from another battalion, along with Rys and Jek, and really they were probably the only sane ones.
Hound was like the precious bean, who had the Massiff, Grizzer, another precious bean (albeit a reptilian dog-like one), and Padme probably enjoyed spoiling Grizzer a bit too much.
So did Fox, though he denied it.
Of course he also denied that anything was going on between him and the Coruscant guard's newly assigned general, Jedi master Quinlan Vos, but everyone knows it was love at first sight, regardless of Fox claiming Vos' mere existence was annoying.
Not that even Padme herself would dare call Fox out on it.
Even she wasn't that daring.
A year passed and it was circa 21 when Anakin Skywalker shows back up in her life, unwelcomed.
And he came with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.
Padme accepted the flowers simply because she didn't want to seem rude, but she politely declined the chocolate.
Then they have their first conversation ever since Tatooine.
The council apparently hasn't acted on what happened then yet, which she understands. It's all hands on deck in the war that suddenly forced them to divert all attention. But Depa had said they were giving Skywalker the chance to come clean himself, to redeem himself.
Clearly he never did.
She'd be letting Depa know.
Skywalker talked mostly about the war, something about being sorry he hadn't had the time to see her (she realizes the Council had secretly and actively been keeping him away from her as much as they could for as long as they could), then the Chancellor came up, several times.
Something about the Jedi not trusting him (more than earned given what he did on Tatooine), claiming they were holding him back (ridiculous), something about Obi-Wan being afraid because he was more powerful than Obi-Wan (ridiculous as well, and Depa mentioned that Obi-Wan was left out of the loop once he was brought onto the council following master Poof's sacrifice very early in the war, the rest of the council didn't think Obi-Wan would be able to handle that knowledge yet), something about Obi-Wan and the council not understanding him and having it out for him (which...what?), and then something that truly caught her attention.
He repeatedly brought up Palpatine, saying he and Padme, the latter part she ignored, were the only ones who understood him, the only ones who cared.
Truthfully while she did care for Skywalker on some level, it was nowhere near the extent that he claimed, especially since she wanted nothing to do with him, personally.
Padme silently took mental notes to inform the Jedi Council of after.
Then came his unwanted romantic advance, a very physical advance.
As in he tried to kiss her, but she politely rejected it.
Skywalker got agitated and tried to kiss her anyway, even after that.
Thankfully Typho entered and pulled Skywalker away, not before he latched onto Padme's wrist and squeezed as he tried pulling her along with him.
When he didn't let go, Thorn and some other Coruscant guard members came in and stunned him.
Then put him in force suppressing cuffs before dragging him out.
"Padme?" Typho began, expression stoic but eyes soft and worried.
His wife, Eris, had been in a relationship with a manipulative, and emotionally abusive man years prior to meeting him. So seeing Skywalker behave how he did towards Padme no doubt set him off to an extent.
"My lady, are you alright?" Her newest addition to her handmaidens, Teckla, asked with worry.
Teckla has never been in a relationship, but she's seen a few gaslighters and emotional abusers before, how they acted towards their partners. Skywalker acting like that, but now starting to get physical...it disturbed her and worried her deeply, she was starting to become terrified for Padme's sake.
Padme though nodded, expression and tone reassuring. Despite what just happened, she would not waver. After all, she's faced down some of the most despicable people in the galaxy, she wasn't about to waver to Anakin Skywalker's unwillingness to accept that she did not have interest in him and let go.
"I'm alright."
Thorn looks at her, expression hidden under his helmet, though she knows it's doubtful.
Padme just smiles and nods once to him.
She was in fact more affected than she let on.
Because that night, she thinks about those hands and how they could've easily been around her throat, squeezing and strangling the life from her.
She doesn't dare think about what else Skywalker could have done if he pleased.
A week later, Skywalker was apparently locked away in a cell that the guard kept in the barracks.
The Jedi were notified.
The Council had been both disappointed and displeased.
Obi-Wan was told by Yoda about what Anakin had done on Tatooine.
Not even twenty minutes later, he resigned from the High Council, though the rest of his positions were the same.
Padme hated that he clearly blamed himself. After all, Skywalker never told Obi-Wan the details about the dreams of his mother's death, according to Obi-Wan himself, Skywalker immediately changed the topic by calling Padme's presence intoxicating.
Creepy in all its glory.
Skywalker in present time was then dragged back to the temple by a livid master of the order, and then was confronted by the entire High Council.
According to Depa, Skywalker knew his actions were wrong, but only continued to excuse them, claiming that the tuskens weren't sentient beings (sure, ignore that they had their own culture and way of life).
Still, even Padme knew Skywalker could change, be better. It would take time, sure, but she had hope despite everything.
But she also told Depa, Mundi, and Yoda what Skywalker spouted off about Chancellor Palpatine.
They were not happy.
In fact, to Yoda, everything seemed to fit.
The common denominator?
Sheev Palpatine.
Afterwards, the Jedi Council diverted the attention of most of their shadows to investigate the Republic Senate and the Chancellor.
From there, discovering the truth had been almost laughably easy.
Especially since Dooku, apparently, fled mid-duel with Obi-Wan and master Plo in the mid-rim, though not before telling his former grandpadawan that the Sith Lord was Chancellor Palpatine.
But suddenly everything fit perfectly into place.
Things that didn't make sense now did.
Things that did make sense were now far too obvious.
But Skywalker's relationship with Palpatine is what truly gave it away as truth.
That and Dooku already gave Obi-Wan a hint before by telling him a Sith Lord was influencing the Senate.
Apparently Plo said Dooku also muttered something about 'getting too old for this' and 'retirement' and 'vacation'.
...
Well, she supposed two of those points were relatable to her.
Although maybe Dooku's never-ending guilt over his murder of late council member and master Aria Wurhui, and keeping so many things secret for over a decade, finally got to him.
Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of Naboo: The Puppet Master!
The arrest of Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, went surprisingly calmly.
Then again the present and arresting council members were Yoda, Windu, Koon, Mareel, Mundi, Ti, Fisto, and Unduli (who was elected after Obi-Wan's resignation, apparently she and Obi-Wan were close friends and he recommended her), too much for even Sidious to handle it seemed.
Sidious went in peacefully and as if everything would go his way.
Unfortunately for him, he learned very quickly that the galaxy didn't take kindly to Sith Lords who staged an entire conflict all to eventually wipe out the Jedi with order 66 and take over as Emperor.
All his cronies (Amedda and Tarkin included) were thrown into prison for their involvement.
No one was sad to see Palpatine go at his public execution by firing squad.
Nor was anyone surprised the Coruscant guard carried it out.
Living up to their battalion name as always.
Two Years Later...
Padme held a sleeping Luke in her arms, while Thorn held Leia and cooed over her, in the Grand Republic Medical facility (yes, the Jedi and the Coruscant guard checked it over and dealt with any problems accordingly).
Leia cried briefly but quickly calmed in her father's hold.
The Jedi Council was there, watching outside the room, until Yoda entered, smiling at the children before looking at her.
"In order, congratulations are, senator. A party, we will hold."
"Oh no." Master Windu spoke, sounding both exasperated and annoyed. He pointed down at Yoda as he walked over. "If we're having a party, Adi will organize it. That way I know it won't end in chaos, paperwork, and another headache."
Yoda just smiled up at him innocently, though everyone knew he would definitely encourage chaos, and sticking master Windu with more paperwork.
"Trust me, do you not?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"Gentlemen." Master Luminara entered, tone soft yet there was an edge to it. She looked at the children, then back to them both. "Perhaps have this argument when not in the presence of newborn ears." Despite how it sounded it wasn't a question.
Master Windu concedes.
Yoda though...
"Deny me my entertainment, would you?" He teased.
And master Luminara smiled, soft and yet dangerous.
"I can also deny you your favorite delicacy. I know where you get your supplies from to make Rootleaf stew."
Yoda blinks, before he made an expression as if pouting and offended.
"Targeted, I feel..."
"Not so funny when it's you, is it?" Master Windu mutters aloud, and there's the distinct sound of a gimmer stick hitting the korun's kneecaps. "You're lucky there are babies here or I'd have dragged you outside and thrown you off the landing platform by now."
"Work both ways, that does."
Padme chuckles at the antics as she thinks over everything in her life up to this point.
What's better is, to her knowledge, Skywalker had gotten better. Depa said he was on Tatooine, atoning for his actions, learning everything about the tuskens and their way of life, while learning to forgive the few that had been responsible for his mother's death.
And Bail, ironically, was now Chancellor. With the Senate reformed (mostly), they and the Jedi moved resources and forces into the outer-rim swiftly. The crime families fell in a matter of days. Once the Hutt families fell first, the rest fought each other. The irony being the Republic and Jedi didn't have to do much, the crime families offed each other.
Things were now reminiscent of how they were back during the High Republic.
And Padme was happy that she made the choice that she had three years ago.