Ass Cover: They belong to Lucasfilm, and the Bearded One. I'm just borrowing them for a spell. That said, I'll warn you that I'm a slashwriter, first and foremost. I just felt I needed to have this lovely trio of stories. I've got Obi-Wan/Anakin, so why not Obi-Wan/Padme? Anyway, this takes place in the Attack of the Clones time frame, but the events are going to be drastically different. Like, no Anakin-and-Padme smoochies, for one. Yeah!

Darker Paths

Revealed

"It's a pleasure to see you again, M'Lady."

Padme's heart leapt into her throat. She wanted to rush into his arms, to have him hold her. But no. Instead, she extended her hand to his.

"It has been far too long, Master Kenobi," she said, though she didn't mean a word of it. And Obi-Wan knew this too. It had not been so long since last she'd seen him. They spoke briefly, the words show for the other people present, for Obi-Wan's Padawan Learner, who still had a crush on her, though it had been ten years since last she'd seen him.

Not so, Obi-Wan.

Padme sighed softly as she sat down upon the sofa. She willed everyone to leave, to go away and leave her with Obi-Wan. But she was no Jedi, and even if she were, she was sure things like that were frowned upon in the Order.

They spoke at length, Anakin once growing insolent and childish and receiving an almost harsh reprimand from Obi-Wan. Padme kept a smile forced onto her lips as Anakin spoke, wearing his feelings for here out where they could all see them. He was handsome, she could admit, but still a child, and only a child.

Finally, they were leaving. Padme cringed inwardly when she realized that Anakin was the one that was going to be staying in her apartment, watching her, while Obi-Wan did security checks. She went to her bedroom, frustrated, and covered the cameras. She couldn't stand him watching her.

She sat on the edge of the bed and drifted into thought.

~`~

They were at the Lake house. Lying on a blanket in the grass, surrounded by the waterfalls. She was on her back, looking up, and he was lying beside her, leaning on his elbow, looking down at her.

"And this is okay?" She asked. "You're not doing anything seriously wrong?"

"While I am here, Padme," he says, trailing one finger lightly down the side of her face, "I am not a Jedi Knight, as you say that you are not a Senator."

"Mm," she said. She felt so warm, so happy with him here so close to her. Like she would never have to return to the Senate and argue with a group of stuffy old men and stuffy old aliens. Like he would not have to return to the Temple and his Padawan and his duties as the model Jedi Knight.

Slowly, he leaned down and kissed her, and there was nothing but the feel of his lips upon hers and the sound of the wind through the grass and the waterfalls behind.

~`~

"Senator?"

A female voice drew her out of her thoughts, and she looked up. "I'm sorry." She said, and stood, waiting to be helped out of the dress. Afterwards, she slipped into the bed.

~`~

She jumped as a hand slid across her waist, where it was covered only in light, silken fabric, raising gooseflesh along her arms. She turned.

"You cannot be here," she said, although she did not mean it. Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, the heat of his body making her realize how cool it was on the balcony where she had been standing.

"And you cannot be outside, love. We cannot watch you here." He said. He wrapped his cloak around her as well and walked her inside.

"Where is your Padawan?" she asked.

"I do not know," Obi-Wan admitted. "And sometimes I think I'd rather not. He has a talent for running off and mixing with the most horrible sorts of beings. He'll come dragging back to our apartment quite early in the morning. Likely, he's run off because I told him I would watch you tonight and he would sleep."

"And will you watch me tonight?" Padme asked, pressing her body to his.

"Until you tell me to leave, and probably not even then," he said. He smiled at her.

"I wouldn't ever ask you to leave unless I had to," Padme said. She slid from his grasp and his cloak and walked to her bed. Obi-Wan followed, removing his cloak and tossing it across a chair.

"And why would you have to?" Obi-Wan asked, unclasping his belt and casting it upon a chair. His tunic followed it shortly.

"Because anything but a friendship between you and I must remain unknown." Padme said. He'd said it to her before, and then it had annoyed her. She felt it was the thing to say if she wished to anger him, which was always her intent when it came to their relationship and his insistence that there was not one.

"Padme, I do wish it to be like that, but I have rules that I must abide." He said. She stared at his bare chest and did not speak. "Would anyone really approve of a Jedi Knight and a Senator together?"

He stood there in the unlit room, the night sky of Coruscant casting strange shadows into the room and bathing it in a wash of multicolored light. Padme waited.

"Why would they not?" she said softly.

Obi-Wan moved and sat beside her, reaching down to remove his boots. She ran her hand over his back.

"I don't know. I suppose the Council would disapprove… because Jedi are not allowed to love." He said. He turned his face and kissed her softly before standing to remove the rest of his clothing. She sat there quietly in her nightgown, as though the Knight were not disrobing in front of her.

"Yet you do love me, against their will. You have already broken the rule and cannot unbreak it, so why bother to hide it?" Padme demanded. She was angry that he could be so calm and serene about something that dominated their lives in a way that it should not have. She wanted to be able to be with him.

"You give and give and give. Don't you ever want to take, just a little?"

"Take what?"

"Look at them. I see the sparkle in your eyes when you watch my children. I know how much you love them."

"Of course I do!"

"Wouldn't you like to have children of your own? A family of your own?" (1)

The conversation with her sister flashed so sharply to her mind that she missed Obi-Wan's reply entirely.

"What?" she asked. He walked around the bed and slipped beneath the blankets.

"I said that it was something I have long thought about. I do not think they would expel me from the Order, but that is not a chance I wish to take." Obi-Wan said. Padme stood and lifted the gown above her head, and slipped into the bed beside him.

"I would oppose the Council if you took action and they decided to remove you from the order," she said.

Obi-Wan pulled her close to him and looked at her. "When we first took you off of Naboo, you wanted nothing more than to reach a peaceful agreement. Now you want to fight about everything."

"Only if there is a need. And I see this as something that I definitely should fight for."

"Then we will fight for it, love," Obi-Wan said, and kissed her. Padme felt a feeling of calm rush over her as their lips met, and for the first time since she had landed on Coruscant, she felt safe. No assassin would dare attack her as she lay in the arms of her Jedi lover.

~`~

Dawn broke over the skyline and shone into the room. It lit Obi-Wan's eyelids and he shut his eyes tighter in effort to block out the light of the star and hold on to sleep, if only for a few more moments.

Voices were loud in the apartment outside and he was forced to open his eyes and pay attention to them, whether he wanted to or not. Padme slept on beside him.

"My master IS here," Anakin's voice came to him through the closed doors. "I promise you that."

Obi-Wan could hear Jar Jar babbling, and Captain Typho speaking as well. He sat up just as the doors slid open.

"I'm sure he's—" Anakin's voice broke off abruptly, and his mouth fell open. Then it closed. He took a deep breath. "This is not what it looks like," he said, trying to deny what his sight revealed.

"This is exactly what it looks like," Obi-Wan said, annoyed slightly, but he shoved the feeling down and reached for his pants.

Anakin shook his head. Obi-Wan could feel his Padawan's anger across their training bond. He knew that Anakin was infatuated with Padme.

Obi-Wan was abruptly struck breathless. He felt an emotion from Anakin that was unfamiliar to him. The young man turned and walked out of the apartments.

Padme was sitting up behind him, holding the blankets over herself. "This is not what I had in mind," she said.

Obi-Wan turned and forced a smile for her. "Well, it's a start," he said, making his voice sound happy, a happiness he did not quite feel. Padme smiled, and Obi-Wan knew it was a real smile. Typho turned from the doorway, pulling Jar Jar away and closing the door.

Obi-Wan should have been happy, but he was not. True, his love for Padme and their relationship would never again be a secret, and that thought lifted his heavy heart.

But what he had felt when Anakin had left… that was weight enough to crush any happiness he might have at the moment felt.

Anakin hated him.

~`~

(1) : Words in italics taken from Attack of the Clones novel, written by R.A. Salvatore.