"Oh, Mistress Padmé! Where are you off to so early this morning?" C-3PO called out to Padmé, waddling in with his worried tone always in check.

"Threepio, stop worrying! It is only o-ten hundred, besides I have an... urgent meeting with the Chancellor this morning." Padmé explained as she grabbed her comlink by her apartment door.

"As you wish Mistress, however, should I be concerned that Master Anakin did not return last night?" C-3PO asked. Padmé looked over her shoulder and gave C-3PO the once over.

"No, Threepio, you don't have to worry." She said and walked out of the apartment.

"But I do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ship ride was relatively uneventful to the Senate Building. Covering herself with her thick robes and hood, Padmé kept a low profile travelling on the public ships. With her anxiety levels the way they were at the moment, she didn't trust herself to fly her Naboo starship with the grace she normally did. Or fly it properly at all. The only thing she could muster to keep her mind off what was to come was to gaze out the window at the busy Coruscanti sky line. Nameless people going about their day as if the Republic was not teetering on the toothpicks. How much knowledge did the public actually have?

"If they only knew..."

Padmé's hands were shaking- and the young Nubian senator was never scared. She had faced Sith Lords before. She was brought before Count Dooku on Geonosis, and Padmé wasn't the least bit fearful then. She had faced death threats and the possibility of death so many times before. Why was this so different? Maybe it was because she was willingly waltzing into the most powerful Sith Lord known to man's office and divulge into every detail she knew. Or maybe it was because she knew that if she messed this up, Anakin could be lost forever. Her hands unconsciously found her abdomen as she closed her eyes, wishing this would be all over soon.

The only thing that shook Padmé out of her stupor was someone yelling at her to get of the ship minutes later. She hadn't realized that this she was the last passenger and that this was the last stop; the Senate Building. She looked up at the grumbling drive from under her hood and stood up carefully.

"Dobra kouzago-ake." Padmé muttered softly, apologizing in huttese. The driver said some more colorful words under his breath as she exited the ship.

Padmé couldn't help clutching her blaster as she walked up to the Senate building to the lift that would take her directly to the Chancellor's Office. She knew that a blaster would be nothing against a Sith Lord but she figured it was better than nothing.

Stepping into the lift, the young Senator was hoping she wasn't getting herself into deeper trouble than she was already in. She recalled that when she requested a private meeting with the Chancellor, he reluctantly agreed. However, he said that he was to have his new attendant with him during the meeting. Padmé approved but she prayed that the Chancellor didn't think she was going to try anything foolish, or that he would make a foolish move.

The bell signaling that the lift had reached its destination rung and Padmé stepped out to see the familiar, lush red carpet in the Chancellor's chamber. An escort droid was waiting there and lit up when Padmé approached it.

"Senator Amidala! A pleasure to have us with you! Right this way." It said excitedly. Padmé humbly bowed her head as an acknowledgement and followed the droid down the chamber to the Chancellor's door. Oddly, instead of going straight in like she normally would with the escort droid, they abruptly stopped at the front of the door.

"One moment please, Senator. If you would wait out here."

"Of course." Padmé said softly, but not without an eyebrow raise. The droid cracked open the door and shuffled in, quickly closing it behind itself.

She sat down on one of the chairs outside the office slowly, trying to balance her weight so she wouldn't topple over on her stomach. Minute things were become bigger struggles, walking, sitting, those things now caused stress on her body. She was honest with herself, she felt fat in spite the fact that her weight gain was relatively low according to the medical droid.

And of course, just as she was finally settled and comfortable in the chair, the droid walked back out of the office.

"The Chancellor is able to see you now, M'lady." It announced.

"Of course he is." She thought bitterly. Padmé heaved herself up and with a grunt, pushed herself into a standing position. She wobbled at first, but was able to quickly regain her footing. To her, it was the most embarrassing thing to have to go through these motions in order to just walk. However, she was heavily pregnant; contradicting her due date a couple weeks away. She found herself worrying that there was something wrong with the baby. Padmé knew that she would get big, but she didn't expect to get this huge. Nor did she expect to get relatively near this large when she still had a little ways away before birthing the child.

"First mother jitters." She guessed.

Taking a deep breath, Padmé followed in the wake of the droid through the door into the Chancellor's office.

The first thing the young woman noticed was the fact that their were no guards. Well, other than the cloaked "attendant" the Chancellor spoke of, no guards were present. The uncertainty of whether that was a good thing or not made her stomach turn.

Padmé had been in this office numerous times before but something this time was different...

The Chancellor smiled warmly at her when she strode over to him, she returned the smile with hesitation. What was really troubling her at the moment was the fact that the hooded figure behind the Chancellor seemed to be tracing her outline, watching her every move.

"Senator Amidala, would you please have a seat?" The Chancellor asked.

"Here it goes..."

Once that thought rang through Padmé's mind, her demeanor completely changed. Her face hardened, a scowl appeared. From her straight posture, it morphed into one of defiance and her eyes changed from nervous to ready to kill. Fear escaped the senator, fierceness was jailed inside.

"Enough with the formalities, I know who you are so you can cut the act." Padmé spat. Palpatine was taken aback by this but still maintained an ever faltering smile.

"I don't know what in the galaxy you are talking about, my dear, but-"

"Oh save it!" Padmé groaned and took a couple of steps closer, "Don't think you can fool me, Sidious, I have been your pawn in your silly little Sith game for too long."

The figure behind Palpatine visibly stiffened. The Chancellor's face contorted into one that was unreadable, blank. However, his eyes were stone hard.

"Well, it seems you have figured me out Padmé, I always knew you were a smart one. So what are you going to do now? Arrest me?" Sidious asked, feigning an innocent and light tone. Padmé crossed her arms.

"No." She stated simply.

"Oh! Bold are we? So, you've come to kill me then?"

The attendant behind Sidious looked as if he was going to intervene, but he was stopped by Sidious' hand.

"Chancellor, I thought you were a smart man. If you think I came here with any intention of harming you, well, then you must be stupid." Padmé told him seriously. Sidious looked almost amused, but his tone told another story. Sharp, deadly.

"Then what is it you want?"

The Naboo senator moved even closer, standing now in front of the seated furniture.

"I want to help you." Sidious was then the epitome of shock.

"And why in the galaxy would you want to do that?' He questioned, folding his hands in front of him.

"Because I would like to make a trade." Padmé told him succinctly. The dark lord's eyebrows shot up.

"A trade? And what could you possibly have to offer me?"

"My political services," She began. "I will do whatever you ask of me. I will sway all my voting to your heart's desire. My speeches will be for your causes, I will relinquish my views for yours." A menacing smile from Sidious.

"Tempting, but what do you want?"

"For you to leave my husband alone." Another shift from the hooded figure. Another innocent look from Sidious.

"I don't-" Sidious was now focused on Padmé, practically ignoring his attendant's desire to gain his attention. The senator gave an eyeroll.

"Again with the lies!" She almost yelled. "I know what you are doing to him. Naïvety is just a façade I assure you."

"How do you know all this information? Who told you?" He growled.

"That doesn't matter. And don't think you can mind trick me or force choke me into telling you anything. It wasn't from one source, I had to piece information together. And what is really important right now is that I don't go and tell the galaxy you are a dark Sith lord."

"I'll kill you." Sidious sneered. Padmé just smiled.

"I know you will. So, do we have a deal?" She asked.

"You're husband is an asset-"

"But he won't do you any good in the arena. I have many star systems aligned with me no matter what I do, and my repertoire in the senate is impeccable. I can convince you the sky is red. All Anakin can do for you is kill. That is the only reason you want him. But all that will lead to is revolts, rebels and general unhappiness which will be the cause of a lot of suffering down the road for all. However, convincing the senators will convince 99% of their citizens. Killing will convenience about zero. People will be satisfied if they believe they are. Now, loose Anakin and you can take me as your... political apprentice."

Sidious seemed to be impressed at her logic, so much so that he stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"And you'll say whatever I tell you too?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." The old man grinned. "Then we have a deal."

Padmé nodded.

"I will begin at 08:00 hours tomorrow." She whirled around and began heading towards the exit.

"Of course. And if you mention this to anyo-"

"I know, Sidious, I am dead." She finalized and exited the chambers.

The lift waited for her and as she boarded, her comlink flashed to life.

"Senator Amidala?" Mace Windu. The call she got this morning...

"Senator Amidala? Is Palpatine the Sith Lord?"

She exhaled.

"No."

This part is dedicated to  for all her awesome comments and how she commented how much she loved Padmé in this story! Thank you! And noticed how I changed from Palpatine to Sidious? ;) And now... you guys are going to hate me for the rest of this story. So much.