WHAT IS REAL

XLVI

"My Lord, she has lost the baby and she has not left her bed since. She barely eats, just soup sometimes, but most times she just lies in the bed staring at the wall. You really should come home, sir, of course when you deem it necessary." She said the last sentence meekly hoping he did not think she was giving him orders. She had nothing to fear because after that she heard nothing more from him.

Vader sat in his room for quite sometime not moving or really not even thinking. He knew how much Padme looked forward to this child. He was happy for it just because it made her happy but in truth he was glad the little one was gone. It would have been risky and harder to hide this one from the Emperor. Vader had no idea if the Emperor knew about the twins but to add one that he would actually know would be awfully hard to hide after a while. At least this is what Vader told himself, because he never really knew his full potential or his full force capabilities. Palpatine held him back hoping he would never truly discover what he could really be.

Vader commed Jennifer back and told her to care for Padme and let him know if things changed but he needed to go on with this mission. So he went to carry out Palpatines orders. Vader did find himself grieving over his lost child though in ways he never expected. Dreams filled his mind of a child with no face calling to him to help him but always the child faded away or died before Vader could even get to it. These dreams left him feeling dazed and helpless. Calls home brought no good news anymore. Padme was not getting any better and a few times the med droid had to intravenously feed her because she had dehydrated herself. Vader felt at a loss about what to do because if he left his post early Palpatine would be angry and all would be lost because he would discover the truth about Padme. Death would not come quick enough for either of them. So he stayed though his heart was not in the work.

Finally after 6 long miserable months, Vader's immediate work was done on this forsaken planet. By now Vader had acquired a Noghri bodyguard. Depending on how well he worked for Vader, He would consider getting one for Padme. Of course that depended on whether Padme got better or not. Vader got back to his ship and set course for home immediately. Nothing would keep him away from her any longer.