"I can't do this anymore," Padme Amidala Naberrie-Skywalker murmured to herself, tears streaming down her face and dripping off the tip of her nose, finding their ways into the corners of her lips or trailing down her neck. She brought her delicate hand to her face and sobbed into it.

She and Anakin had been separated for five months, and she was constantly tormented by rumors of his death. Now, as she leaned against the giant window that covered her bedroom wall, she could barely support herself. Not only had she just learned of her pregnancy, but also of the gruesome deaths of two Jedi knights proclaimed heroes throughout the galaxy for their involvement in the Clone Wars. Padme could only assume it meant Obi-Wan Kenobi and her beloved husband, Anakin Skywalker.

"Oh, Anakin," she sighed as she collapsed onto the bed and stared out the window. She wished he would storm into the room and take her up in his arms. She wished she could touch him, hear his voice. She wished he were here, with her, laying on the bed. Or maybe she could be with him, laying in his bed somewhere in the Outer Rim. She wondered if he even had a bed, if he slept at all. There was so much about Anakin that Padme didn't know, and the thought of this brought another burst of sobs.

"M'Lady?" A soft voice called from the wide doorway. Padme's back was turned, and she kept it that way.

"What are you doing here? Leave." She demanded, her voice strong but quivering.

"But M'Lady, Master Obi-Wan and the young Jedi have returned. They are.."

"Where are they!"

"Here."

Padme pulled herself off the bed quickly and wiped away her tears. There was still a look of concern on her face as she rushed passed her messenger and friend, Dorme, and out into the wide greeting room. Anakin turned with the same boyish grin on his face and she ran to him, throwing herself into his arms.

"Oh, Anakin," she sighed in relief as he held her against him tightly and buried his head into her shoulder. "Oh, my love."

"I've missed you so much," was Anakin's response as he pulled his head up and kissed her greedily. He could feel his heart fluttering inside him. "I've missed you," he repeated, digging his face into her shoulder again. Padme brought her hand to his head and kissed the side and top of his forehead vigorously.

"And I've missed you." Her voice was light and full of excitement, as if she couldn't contain herself. "I'd heard you'd been killed, numerous times. Oh, Anni, I've been living in such pain, such grief. Oh, Anni."

"I'm here now, I'm safe," Anakin assured her, kissing her neck lightly, as she had done to his forehead. They had seemingly forgotten the presence of Obi-Wan and Dorme, and now Obi-Wan cleared his throat, as if to attract their attention.

Both ignored him and continued to indulge themselves in each other. Dorme smiled lightly to the Master and excused herself. Obi-Wan sighed and stepped backwards. "Anakin," he said, in a questioning voice. "I have agreed to keep this.. ah.. affair.. a secret, but would you please?"

Anakin pulled his head up slowly, grazing his cheek across Padme's, before pulling all the way up and releasing her. Padme opened her eyes and gazed wearily at the Jedi Master. It seemed that now that Anakin was home safe, with her, she could finally have a true night sleep. It was obvious that Anakin felt the same exact way, for as he turned to face his friend, his eyes dropped to about half way open.

"I'm sorry, Master. We do appreciate your secrecy." Anakin stepped away from his beloved wife and towards Obi-Wan.

"That's quite alright, my young friend. I understand your angst." The elder of the three nodded his head towards Anakin, mumbled a quiet 'M'Lady' in Padme's direction, and turned his back. He glanced over his shoulder as he stepped into the elevator and added, "Anakin, I will see you at the debriefing tomorrow," before the doors closed and the elevator carried him away.

Anakin stood, still watching the doors. His thoughts were on the small woman behind him, and he allowed a smile to play across his lips as she came up behind him and slipped tiny arms around his waist. Padme pressed her face into the back of his shoulder as he placed his hands on top of hers.

"Ooh, I love you," She whispered, squeezing his middle slightly. She released him, took one hand, and led him to their bedroom. "Let's go to bed."

They removed their clothes, and Anakin couldn't help but look over her bare body. She was so beautiful, standing there in nothing but her own soft skin soaked in the lights from the street scene below. He slipped on the pants he so normally slept in, and helped her pull her gown over her head. They laid down and Padme cuddled up closely next to him, pulling the blankets around their shoulders. He kissed her forehead lightly, and wrapped his arms around her middle.

Together, Anakin and Padme fell asleep, and she stayed his arms the entire night. This was the first time they had been together for months, and it was so comforting to Padme to be able to lay there, embraced tightly by her young husband. To Anakin, it felt as though he could finally relax. Being able to touch this beautiful angel was all he wanted at the moment, and he didn't care about anything, or anyone, else.

When Anakin finally released Padme and turned onto his side, he looked directly towards the window. The only light shining through was that of the night life below, and a glimpse of the rising sun, so he laid back and gazed down at Padme's soft, relaxed face.

It was almost as if Padme had sensed his awakening, for she soon after lightly opened her eyes and smiled at Anakin, in almost a daze. She slowly moved her head so it was resting under her arms on his lap. "I love you, Anni. I love you so much," she mumbled lightly.

"I love you too, Padme. More than I can ever tell you." Padme drank in his words like wine. She knew how much he loved her, even without words, and he could sense she felt the same. Exactly the same.

Anakin shifted a little bit, and slumped down so he was lying again. Padme moved up his body as he slid, so she was now sprawled across his chest. Their legs tangled under the covers, and the lovers instinctively went to give the other a kiss, meeting half way.

The kiss was prolonged, and when Padme pulled back a childish smile was spread across Anakin's face. She giggled as he kissed her again, then laid back and re-wrapped his arms around her. He brought his left hand up to stroke her arm, and she absent-mindedly traced her fingers along his chest, creating invisible drawings of god knows what. She silently debated with herself about telling him of the pregnancy or waiting till a better time.

His voice broke through her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Padme shook her head. "It's nothing," she promised in her softest voice.

"Oh, it's something," he countered her, sitting back and pulling away. "You tell me not to keep secrets, so what gives you the right to now? What is it? Is there someone else?"

Padme turned away from him, tears welling up in her eyes. Anakin couldn't see them, but he could feel the hurt he had caused her and would have felt guilty if anger from the thought of her being with another man while he was away was coursing through him.

"No," she cried, stifling tears and keeping her back to him. "How could you think that, Anakin? Why would you even ask such a thing. It's nothing like that. It's just.. Hard to say. I've been so scared, Anni. I've been so lonely and scared."

"Tell me, Padme," Anakin had made his voice gentler now. Now that he was sure of her faith.

She sniffled lightly and hesitated when he reached around her, pulling her body into him, between his legs. She fell back into him after a moment, comfortably and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"I can't. Anni. I don't know how to say it," she whispered, staring out the window absentmindedly.

"Try," Anakin answered in that nearly whispering voice that she found so irresistible. He slowly pulled his arms apart and moved them down her arms, onto her waist, and up her shirt. She shivered at the bare touch of his skin against hers as he slid his hands up her sides and up and down her back.

Finally, she found the courage. "Anakin? I'm... Anni, I'm pregnant." Padme waited for Anakin to pull back from her, but he didn't. Instead, he continued rubbing her back and said nothing.

She held her breath for an answer, and let out a long sigh when he finally said, "That's... wonderful."

"You're not scared?" Padme was surprised at his reaction. Truth be told, when she found out she was petrified.

Although she couldn't see it, she could feel him shaking his head no. He buried his face in the back of her neck, into her soft hair. When he pulled away, he said, "Scared? Of course I'm scared, but this is wonderful. Your pregnancy is a blessing, Padme. It'll turn out fine."

"What are we going to do? How will we hide this."

"We don't have to hide it if it'll make things easier for you."

"Oh, Anakin. Think with your head. I'll be dismissed as the senator once I have the baby, and if we were to unearth all of our secrets, you'd be expelled from the Jedi order. You've given up so much for it. Don't throw it all away now, because of this."

"Oh, Padme," he moaned, "You speak of such depressing outcomes. I would give my life for you, Padme. But, if it calms you, we can keep it a secret... Just like what we're doing now... The father is Palo, for all the Jedi know."

"Palo?" Padme asked without thinking.

"You told me the only other person you've ever loved was Palo, the boy that you went to school with."

"When did I ever tell you about him?" Padme was confused. She didn't ever remember telling Anakin, the man that she loved so much, about the only other love in her life intentionally.

"When we were on Naboo. During our picnic. How can you not remember? Never mind," Anakin shook off the thought, amazed that Padme didn't remember telling him. It had been torture for him, to sit there and watch her, all smiles, talk about her only love. But then, he had asked, hadn't he? He continued on his original idea, "We'll say that you met up with Palo and things got a little stirred up. Since we're such good friends, I decided to help you with the child."

"And Obi Wan? What part will he play in our child's life?"

"Obi Wan will fall into the child's life however he feels fit."

Padme hesitated. "How will we tell him?"

Anakin, becoming disinterested in the conversation, began kissing the back of her neck. "Hmm?" he purred, adding emphasis to the end to make it into a question. "Tell him what?" He asked, and she lightly brushed her hand on his cheek, gently pushing him away from her neck.

"Anakin, stop. We need to have this conversation," Padme protested, only half-willingly. Anakin chose to dismiss her comment and pulled his body from underneath her only to jump around and straddle her waist. He cupped her cheeks in his hands and went to kiss her, only to have her pull them away by his wrists.

"Anni," she protested again, giggling. He attempted to kiss her again, laughing, and she squirmed away. Standing up on the bed, Padme brought the sheets around her body and held a pillow as a shield. She held another pillow high above her head.

"Stop, master Jedi," Padme warned, and they both giggled.

"Or what?" Anakin asked playfully. She held the pillow higher above her head.

"Or I'll have to aggressively negotiate with you," she cried, hopping out of the way as he took a grab at her feet. She threw the pillow and it hit it square in the head, hard.

Both went silent for a moment while Anakin tried to connect. "I can't believe you actually threw the pillow at me," he gaped at her, pulling the pillow up behind his back.

"No, Anni," Padme cried, still giggling. She pointed at him accusingly and rose the second pillow above her head. "Don't you dare. I can see behind your back." At that moment, Anakin bolted to his knees and took a swipe at her. She met his pillow with hers, and turned to hit him in the cheek. He laughed and knocked her in the back of the head as she turned to escape him, then wrapped his arms around her feet and pulled her down, onto the bed. Padme laughed with him as he crawled on top of her.

The couple locked eyes for a second, before Padme brought her hands up from her sides, placed them behind his neck, and pushed his head down. He pressed his lips against hers passionately, and she kissed back, just as hard. He collapsed on top of her, wrapped his arms around her, and rolled over so she was laying completely on top of him.

Padme parted her lips ever so slightly, and Anakin slipped his tongue into her mouth. They played with each other's tongues for eight minutes before Padme finally pulled away, and kissed him lightly at random places on his face and neck. To finish, she kissed him, open mouthed, and he openly took her in. He nibbled on her bottom lip lightly, as she sucked on the top of his, before both pulled back.

Anakin and Padme kept their gazes on each other for a few minutes after that, love filling both their eyes. Finally, Padme whispered, "Go do your duties. Come to me tonight," and, after a final, prolonged kiss, pushed herself off the bed.

Anakin watched with a longing gaze as she slipped the silky shirt and old pair of his pants off easily. He didn't remember her wearing those when they went to bed, so she must have woken and changed sometime in the night. He smiled, pleased that she had chosen to wear his own clothes. Normally, she would reject them with disgust, but he didn't know that she had been sleeping in his clothes for a while. A habit she had picked up from his being gone all the time.

Padme gave him one last tempting smile before she slipped into the other room to bathe and prepare for the long day ahead of both of them.