When I Come Home
"Senator Amidala," Dormé's voice floats through the office before she appears. "You have a visitor."
"Thank you, Dormé." Padmé smiles when the figure behind the handmaiden reveals himself and gives a jesting two-fingered salute.
"I'll leave you two," Dormé murmurs, dipping her head and smirking while she walks away.
"What would we do without her? Or Captain Typho?" Padmé wonders, following the disappearing handmaiden with her eyes. She is, obviously, referring to the fact that Dormé and Typho were one of the few who know of their marriage.
"Nothing good, probably."
Padmé gives her husband an exasperated look while she stands from her desk, to which he grins at - the grin, however, doesn't reach his eyes "You received your orders?"
Anakin sighs at her small voice, looking passed her, towards the midday traffic of Coruscant. "I leave tonight - for an estimated four months."
"Tonight? Four months? Ani, the Council can't do that to you!"
"They can and they will - the war's getting worse, Padmé. So many planets are falling under Separatist rule and now with Mandalore -" He shakes his head, not wanting to remember the dark days following the system's over taking. "The Third Systems Army is mobilizing as we speak."
Padmé shakes her head, staring at her desk top and trying not to cry. She is aware of her husband moving, coming closer, gathering her into an embrace.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, leaning his weight on her desk. "I'll contact you as often as I can."
She nods, not trusting herself to say anything.
They stand like that for what feels like hours - it might have been closer to 20 something minutes - before a beep comes from Anakin's comlink.
He ignores it, knowing Obi-Wan will be tactful enough to leave him alone for a few minutes before trying again.
"I don't want you to leave," Padmé murmurs, feeling incredibly selfish for uttering such a thing. She knew what she had gotten into upon marrying a Jedi...
"I know - hey," he whispers, suddenly a bit tense and hesitant.
Padmé draws back, letting out a small smile when he gingerly wipes away the tears on her face. "What?"
"How about when I get back," Anakin swallows hard, hands dropping to her hips, thumbs pressing gently into her silk skirt. This shouldn't be this hard.
Things had been somewhat unsteady between them since the Clovis mess nearly two months back. Even though they had made up and tried to move passed it...he felt like he was walking on eggshells everytime he brought up an important topic.
Like now. A topic that they had once talked about with such enthusiasm and hope.
"Ani? What is it?"
Anakin takes a deep breath, well aware he has to head back to the Temple now or else face another lecture from Obi-Wan regarding the importance of punctuality. At the same time, however, he doesn't want to leave his Angel, his sanity, his wife alone on Coruscant any longer than necessary. "When I come home...how about we get started on that family?"
She stares at him, taking a moment to register the full weight of his words - and everything it implies. "Ani - the Jedi - the war-"
He squeezes her hips a bit too tightly, the stunned expression on her face making up for all of the difficulties they have had to face lately. "I know, I know. I mean it, Angel. I do."
Padmé finally smiles, unable to keep the sob of joy at bay when she flings her arms around his neck. "I love you so much."
He catches her, easily holding her as close as he can, trying to ignore the foreboding feeling at the back of his mind.
Dropping a kiss to her curls, he closes his eyes, waiting for the inevitable call that will drag him away from her...
Author's notes: Since #clonewarsaved, I've seen a few posts online that say they just want a scene with Anakin and Padme being loving before RotS and hey look! Mini-fic time!
One shots aren't usually my style, but I came up with this while trying to get a hang of writing Anidala.
I really liked it, and felt like it needed to be published on it's own, not in "Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words" or anything.
We know that Anakin went on a roughly five month? leave probably a few weeks after the Clovis arc, and didn't come back until RotS.
Meaning things were really rocky with Padmé, even if they did make up.
Enjoy!
ii Digestive Reader ii