Phoenix spent most of the night sleeping and relaxing at home. After a long bubble bath, she went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly. Something about being home and back in her own bedroom and without many responsibilities made her fall asleep quickly. She was out like a light and when Obi-Wan knocked to check on her and found her asleep, he couldn't help but smile and leave her to rest. She was dressed in her silky pyjamas. Her head resting against the pillow and the peaceful look on her face made him melt. He hadn't seen her look that peaceful in years. The news he had could wait for tomorrow. She needed sleep more than anything and some peace would do her some good.

     Phoenix woke up the next day nearly at midday. She had been exhausted and the jet lag from her space travel made it worse. But she was at least awake. When she woke up there was a message from Padme. At first she assumed it would just be a message that was checking up on her but she read it properly, she realised that Padme had informed her what she had missed at the Senate and what she had missed made her jaw clench. Pushing herself to lean against the headboard, she read over the message again. She didn't believe that they hated voted without her being there.

     They were the most important bills to be passed until the next cycle. They were bills that she needed to be there for and should have been there for. It frustrated her beyond belief that she missed the crucial votes. Yes, she had a representative there to take her place but she wanted to be there. Discuss and have people take her side too. She didn't even get a fighting chance with being stuck on Mith. It was for her safety, yes, but it didn't make missing this vote any less frustrating.

     But she had other things to do with her day. So, she headed downstairs still dressed in her pyjamas, she didn't bother to greet her father. Instead walked straight past him and began to make herself breakfast. A frown on her lips and her forehead was creased. Her hands closing cupboards just slightly too loudly. She was overaggressive with cracking and whisking and scrambling her eggs. Everything she did had an air of annoyance to it and when Obi-Wan noticed, he had to try and see what was wrong.

     Phoenix disappeared with her scrambled eggs on toast and sat on the back porch. Her feet pulled up onto the swing deck chair as she began to eat the meal. Chewing on them too harshly as she stared up at the deep blue sky that just seemed to go on forever. She was still tensed. Her hands curled around the fork just a little too tightly.

     "What happened?" Obi-Wan asked once he'd walked out onto the back porch. He then sat down next to her on the bench and she pulled her feet away a little bit. Her mind hurrying with too many thoughts to even fully comprehend why she had moved her feet away at all. It wasn't like Obi-Wan was going to sit on her feet. He certainly was not that cruel or rude. He was just sitting next to her.

     "I missed one of the most important votes because of your stupid plan," She muttered as she took another bite out of her toast. Obi-Wan watched her for a moment, trying to work out whether her anger was genuine or it was simply an act. When he realised that she genuinely was annoyed, his eyebrows pulled together and the frown spread across his lips. His hands reached out to hers but she pulled it away, not looking at him.

     "Phoenix. We needed to draw out the assassins and get them off of Coruscant. You know this planet, we can find them more easily here," Obi-Wan attempted to argue wanting to make her see the rationale behind bringing her home. Back to the safety of her home planet. Back to the safety that her father provided.

     "I don't care about the assassins Obi-Wan. I missed something that could have benefited my people. That could have helped save so many more people. Do you not see that? I could have helped them and all you can think about is catching the assassins. We could have caught them on Coruscant," Phoenix snapped in response. Her gaze flicked to the door and she could see her father's shadow looming in the doorway. Maybe she should be quieter or just shut up. He didn't need to know about her own thoughts and feelings. He didn't need to know how much she wished she had stayed on Coruscant. He didn't need to hear this.

     "You are safer at home with your father here. You are safer and this is unknown territory for them. They are unsure of themselves. Yesterday was a clear sign of that," Obi-Wan attempted to rationalise but she scoffed. She shook her head and took another bite out of her scrambled egg toast. She didn't want to argue with him but she was going to if he was going to act like coming home was for the better because it wasn't. Her father didn't, shouldn't need to protect her.

     "I'm 30, Obi-Wan. My father shouldn't have to protect me. I shouldn't even be living with him. I should be married but I'm not. I should have made him proud. Instead I'm a lonely senator who broke off her engagement with her fiance because she was in love with a Jedi that isn't able to love her back. I shouldn't have to rely on him. I shouldn't be here. I should be protecting my people," She said harshly. The words tumbling out before she could even consider them. Her gaze flicked to her father's shadow that still loomed at the door. She saw the hand of his shadow move and then he walked away. She had, once again, disappointed him. She had admitted to falling in love with Obi-Wan.

     "You are protecting your people by staying alive and you are living with your father but that was your choice. You and your father wanted to stick together. He wants to keep you safe and you have the money to leave so if you think you shouldn't be living with him, why haven't you just left? You are a Senator with a big enough salary," Obi-Wan responded, avoiding commenting on the fact that she had admitted to being in love with him. He knew that he shouldn't say anything no matter how much he loved her. He couldn't admit that openly. Not yet.

     "I don't want to leave him, okay? I killed his wife. My dad is lonely and I'm the only daughter he's ever been able to have. He hasn't even moved on from my mum when it's being over 30 years since I killed her. I'm not going to leave him alone in this big empty house," Phoenix responded before she stood up. She couldn't be bothered arguing about this anymore. She wanted more sleep and maybe to just sketch. Do something other than sit here and argue about her lack of achievement in her life. There was nothing of worth that she had done and it made her disappointed. She wished her life had been more exciting than this.

     "Your people would much rather you be alive and miss votes than have you be dead." Obi-Wan said as he looked at her. It was the last thing he said before Phoenix opened the door and exited the porch. A soft sigh escaped her lips and she placed her plate on the side. Her dad was sitting in the living room, watching sports on the holo-net and she stared at him for a moment.

     "I'm sorry that I broke up with Jax. I just couldn't stand to be in a loveless marriage. I didn't love him and I felt like I was cheating on him by just being in love with Obi-Wan," Phoenix said as she looked over at her father. Brendaen looked back and there seemed to be a hint of a smile on his face. Was he happy that she had admitted the truth? Happy at her words? She hated how hard it was for her to read her father. It was like looking at a rock, he never gave anything away.

     "It's alright, little flame. Now, are you going to sit here and watch the football or sulk in your room all day like a teenager?" He teased as he looked up at her. Phoenix rolled her eyes at him and then walked over to him. She sat herself down next to him and rested her head against his shoulder. The pair then just began to watch the football in comfortable silence. Her mind was still running away with her thoughts but the smile on his face as he rested his head against hers gave her a feeling of content. Maybe her life wasn't full of action or accomplishment but she was at least alive and doing something.

***

     Phoenix hid in her room for most of the next day. Her sleeping schedule was slowly normalising even if the paranoia and anxiety lingered slightly in the back of her mind. It had gone down significantly and she was sure that the assassins didn't know exactly where she lived which left her feeling a little bit safer than she did before. The anxiety had seemed so real yesterday but she had slept it off and felt much more content with herself and her life. She was a Senator, she was doing so many things for her people and she couldn't pretend like she wasn't.

     But that day she stayed in her room, did nothing for her people, and was instead trying to search for the platinum blonde assassin. Thankfully since she had a close diplomatic relationship with the current prime minister of Mith, she had managed to gain access to just about everything in an attempt to find her assassin. They knew the face of the assassin but not her name and that had always been the case. Phoenix never bothered to ask Obi-Wan if he found out the assassin's name since they were most likely going under an alias. That was the way with criminals.

     So instead, Phoenix resigned herself to look at passport photo after photo in an attempt to locate her assassin. Though it felt fruitless, she had managed to get a few people of suspicion. Even finding where they were staying and where they had last been seen. She was glad that she was a Senator. It opened up so many options for her and it just felt particularly freeing having so many things that could help her and that were at her disposal.

     By the time that the night rolled around, Phoenix had multiple leads and she was sure that she could locate the assassin somehow. If she managed to get an APB put out on them by the chief of police, who she also knew and was friendly with. Then she would hopefully catch them within the day. Maybe even shorter but she knew that the procedure might not be all it seems so she would probably have to speak to Obi-Wan about it.

     She got up off her bed and walked towards the door. Hearing two voices outside and she knew that it was probably just her father and Obi-Wan discussing. She waited until they were done before she finally opened the door. A small smile on her face. Both of the men didn't expect the door to open and quickly parted ways. Brendaen headed towards his study and Obi-Wan headed towards her. He could hear her thoughts and that she wanted something.

     "Are you okay?" Obi-Wan asked curiously, a small smile on his face. He was happy to see her and glad she was okay. He knew that the previous day had been rough for her and having her holed up in her room did worry him a little bit. He didn't want her to slump again but she looked okay and from what he could feel, she seemed happy.

     "Yeah, I found some leads on the assassins," Phoenix said as she stepped back from the door. Allowing him to come in. He cocked an eyebrow at her words and followed her into the room, closing the door behind him. The pair then walked over to the bed and Phoenix sat down, gesturing for him to join her. Obi-Wan did so with a little bit of reluctance which caused the corners of Phoenix's lips to turn down.

     "How did you find them?" He asked curiously as he looked over her shoulder. Phoenix flicking through the few passports that she had narrowed them down too. She suspected that the assassin had dyed their hair on the passport photo so just tried to pick people out who had the same face. The same button nose and soft round cheeks. She had narrowed it down quite heavily but she really just needed a second opinion in the form of Obi-Wan.

     "I'm the Senator, Obi. I can access basically whatever I want within reason. Well, they sent me a small selection of people to choose from that matched the description and I narrowed it down and managed to get this. So I'm hoping that one of them is who we want," Phoenix said as she selected one of the first passport photos. Obi-Wan nodded, his smile widening. He loved how resourceful Phoenix was. How she could just get what she wanted with so much ease. He didn't understand how she ever thought she was not a good Senator. He had never seen anyone are resourceful or efficient who hadn't been brought up in the Order. Well, Padme was definitely on a similar level to Phoenix but that was besides the point.

     "So we need to try and narrow it down or are we going to stakeout and watch all of them?" He asked curiously. Phoenix showed him the picture and glanced over at the name herself. This was one she definitely wasn't sure on. They were similar but she wasn't sure how similar they were or if it was similar enough to be her.

     "We should try and narrow it down some more. You've seen her face more than I have, so just let's narrow it down. Follow a couple of the leads that I've got and then we can work it out from there," She smiled as she looked up at him. Obi-Wan looked back at her, see the hope and happiness in her eyes. He didn't realise how much she loved doing detective work like this but he liked that she liked it. He thought it was cute how much she enjoyed it even if it could be considered just a little morbid.

     "Sounds wonderful." Obi-Wan said as they went back to looking through the passports. He shuffled closer to her, his arm resting behind her back but not quite wrapping around her waist just yet. He was just watching her face in the corner of his eye while giving his opinion on the passport. Whether it was their assassin or not.

     It wasn't long before they had narrowed the list down to about four or five different girls. The folder full of the male passports left untouched in her datapad. She knew that there was no point in attempting to look for him. Neither of them knew what he looked like enough especially considering that he was wearing a mask when they had seen him. So, it was untouched. They focused on the girl and they were sure that they might at least have her. Phoenix believed that if they got the girl then they could find the man and eventually whoever had hired them.

     "So, if this is her. I have a few records of where they've all been staying but really, I don't think it's enough. We should speak to the hotel managers and secretaries see if they have seen any of them before or if any of them have been acting suspicious," Phoenix suggested as she began to search the web for a few websites. She knew that it would be easy enough to comm then and find out what the person had been doing during their stay. When they went out and came in. Patterns like that would be easy to track, this definitely wasn't Phoenix's first time tracking someone but Obi-Wan didn't question how or when she had done it before. He just smiled, nodded and encouraged her. He felt slightly displaced since it was usually him leading but it gave him relief from the pressure.

***