UPDATE: Check out the beautiful and adorable fanart of this fic done by the incredibly talented good-call-my-young-padawan on Tumblr! good-call-my-young-padawan dot tumblr dot com/post/168168010636/madam-president-by-skywalkersamidala-on-ffcom-or
Okay I've been working on this fic since NOVEMBER and I am so so so excited to finally start posting it! This fic was born when I made a gifset on tumblr just for giggles (anakinskydala dot tumblr dot com/post/153668263581/anidala-au-when-president-amidala-meets-agent) and then after I finished making it I was like OH SHIT I GOTTA WRITE THIS FOR REAL so that's what I did :D This is by far the longest single work I've ever written omg it's literally my baby I've been working so hard on it for so long and I can only hope you guys love it as much as I do :) (also the plot of the fic is pretty different from the "plot" of the gifset so don't worry about spoilers haha)
Some preliminary notes before we dive in:
1. My political knowledge is embarrassingly limited. I have never taken a political science or government class in my entire life. So there is obviously some politics in this fic but probably not as much as there should be because I just don't feel confident enough in my political knowledge to write at length about politics. I guess what I'm saying is I tried my best and please don't yell at me if I got some info wrong or if Padme spends too much time going to parties and not enough time going to Congress lmfao
2. Going off that: I know very little about politics but I do know SOME things about economics (econ minor here ayyy), so for that reason most of the issues Padme seems to be dealing with in this fic are economic issues. She's dealing with many other things offscreen ofc but I just didn't write about them in too much detail
3. Details about the inner workings of the Secret Service are nearly impossible to find on the internet, for obvious reasons, so I just completely made it all up. Even the bits of info I did manage to find mostly ended up conflicting with what I wanted to happen in the fic, so I disregarded them entirely and made up my own rules for how the Secret Service works. If there are any real Secret Service agents out there reading this, I'm so sorry haha
4. The rating's probably going to go up later. This is definitely not a smut-heavy fic but there is a liiiittle bit, so if you don't like smut you can still read this and have a good time and if you do like smut hopefully you won't be too disappointed that there isn't much :P
5. Unlike all my other fics, this one is NOT finished yet :OO However, I've written 25(!) chapters so far and there is (hopefully) not a WHOLE lot left to go, so I'm hoping there won't be a problem with waiting for updates down the line since I've given myself a 25-chapter leeway here lmao but I can't make any promises so it's possible this fic may update slower than usual for me, especially once we get towards the later chapters (also, I'm taking an intensive summer Latin class from now until early August so I may not have a whole lot of time to write). But hopefully there won't be any major delays!
ANYWAY that's more than enough disclaimers, here's the first 2 chapters!
It was the day after President Amidala's inauguration, and she was already overwhelmed. She'd woken up at the crack of dawn and eaten a quick breakfast before being briefed by her personal secretary, Sabé, on the schedule for the day. And ever since then, it had been a nonstop flow of people in and out of her office, politicians and staff members alike who wanted to stop by and introduce themselves to the new president of the United States.
Around noon, Padmé sighed and consulted the schedule on her phone. "Is it time for lunch yet?" Vice President Bail Organa asked wryly.
Padmé chuckled and shook her head. "No, next up is a meeting with the White House security team. But lunch is after that."
"Wonderful. I haven't seen Breha since this morning."
"She was awake that early?" Padmé said in surprise.
"No, I meant I saw her this morning. I haven't spoken to her since last night," Bail clarified, and they both laughed.
The door opened again and in trooped a crowd of people wearing dark suits; some had visible earpieces and Padmé assumed that the rest still did have concealed earpieces somewhere on them. Really, the only thing that was missing was the sunglasses, though to be fair they were inside at the moment.
"Madam President, Mr. Vice President," said the man in the front of the crowd, whom Padmé recognized as Mace Windu, the head of the White House secret service (they'd met before just after she was elected). "How are you this morning?"
"Very well, thank you, Agent Windu," Padmé said as Bail murmured his agreement. She looked over at the others. "These must be our new security details?" Both she and Bail had had some protective agents during the campaign and after the election, but Mace had said those teams were only temporary and they'd be getting new permanent ones on their first full day in office.
"Yes, ma'am," Mace said, beckoning half the agents forward. "This is your detail, Madam President." He began introducing them, and each agent nodded respectfully at her when their name was called. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Aayla Secura, Plo Koon, Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto, and Quinlan Vos. Most or all of them will be with you during major events, but on a regular day you'll only have two of them at a time. Here's their rotation schedule."
Mace passed her a piece of paper, and as she perused it, Padmé saw that the agents had been divided into teams of two and that each team's shift times appeared to vary from week to week. But there was one name that stuck out. "The head of your team is Anakin Skywalker," Mace said just as Padmé noticed that Anakin Skywalker was the only agent who had neither a partner nor specific hours; the start time of his shifts was marked as whenever Padmé got up in the morning and the end as whenever she went to bed at night, with lunch and dinner breaks whenever she ate.
She looked up and saw one of the agents stepping forward, a young man whom she assumed to be Anakin Skywalker. Her first thought was that, though he looked older than one or two of the other agents, he was much younger than she would've expected for the agent heading her team; he might've even been younger than her. But then Padmé realized that while her youth was often seen as a detriment in her line of work since many thought it signaled inexperience, Anakin's was probably a benefit because it went hand-in-hand with agility, which secret service agents certainly needed.
Her second thought was that he was quite handsome: tall, broad-shouldered, muscular yet slender, tousled sandy hair, and blue eyes. By his right eye there was a thin scar that somehow only enhanced his good looks. Anakin inclined his head and gave her a small smile, which made Padmé's heart do an odd sort of flip-flop. She smiled back before quickly returning her attention to Mace and silently scolding herself. She was the president of the United States, dammit, she was above getting distracted by a pretty face.
"He'll be with you at all times every day during the day, except for his days off in which case Kenobi will take his place. Skywalker hasn't been here as long as some of the others, but he's one of the best we have," Mace added in a voice of grudging approval. Padmé got the impression that his approval was always grudging. "You'll be in very good hands with him, ma'am."
Anakin, meanwhile, actually blushed at the praise and looked like he was trying (rather unsuccessfully) to suppress a proud smile. Padmé found it startlingly endearing; it was quite the opposite of the stoicism she would've expected from the secret service and which Mace seemed to embody so thoroughly.
Mace hashed out a few more details with her before moving on to introduce Bail to his security team, which was headed by Qui-Gon Jinn. They all left once everything was settled, though Padmé consulted the schedule again and saw that Agents Secura and Koon (and Skywalker, of course) were going to be with her for the rest of the afternoon before Agents Kenobi and Tano took over from them in the evening.
The rest of the day passed in a whirlwind of activity and before Padmé knew it, it was past eleven and she was heading back to her bedroom at last. During the walk upstairs, she realized it was practically the first time all day she'd been alone with her new security team; she'd hardly spoken to any of them yet. She looked over at Anakin and said, "So, you'll be with me at all times, Agent Skywalker?"
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Like glue."
Padmé looked blankly at him. "What?"
"Oh, that's just what Mace—um, Agent Windu said," Anakin hastened to explain, looking a little embarrassed. "He said my job is to stick to you like glue, ma'am."
A small part of Padmé's brain whispered that spending the next four years with this incredibly attractive man stuck to her like glue would definitely not be the worst thing in the world, but she quickly silenced it. "Right. Well, in that case, I'd like to start getting to know you a little, if that's all right. And you, too," she added to Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.
They all gave her puzzled looks. "Ma'am?" said Anakin.
"Well, if you're going to be stuck to me like glue for four years, surely it would be better for both of us if we were friends," Padmé said, smiling at him. "And you probably already know a lot about me, so…I don't know, tell me a little bit about yourself."
"Oh." Anakin bit his lip, then said uncertainly, "Well, the thing is—I mean, with all due respect, ma'am, we aren't really supposed to…"
"To what?"
"To…talk to you, ma'am," he said, sounding apologetic. "We're supposed to fade into the background. You're not supposed to even notice we're there. Mace says any conversation with you shouldn't last more than five seconds, ma'am. We don't want to distract you from your work."
As she listened to Anakin's nervous explanation, Padmé felt rather foolish for offering friendship to someone who clearly saw her as no more than a job…but on the other hand, she was indignant that he (and Mace) assumed she'd be so uppity as to not want to bother getting to know her own staff. "Well, Agent Windu may think that a conversation longer than five seconds would distract me, but I assure you I'd very much like to get the chance to talk to you, all of you, for more than five seconds," Padmé said calmly. "Unless that would make you uncomfortable, in which case, by all means, I give you permission to 'fade into the background' rather than interacting with me."
Obi-Wan looked scandalized, but Anakin and Ahsoka were both smiling at her, albeit a little tentatively. "Really, ma'am?" Ahsoka said. "You actually want to get to know us?"
"Of course I do," Padmé said, smiling back. "I'm trusting you with my life, so I'd like to know more about you than just your names. But again, if you really think you'd get into trouble with Agent Windu…well, he's much scarier than I am, isn't he?"
Anakin and Ahsoka laughed, and even Obi-Wan seemed to be suppressing a smile, though a moment later he said, "All the same, ma'am, I'm not entirely sure that would be appropriate."
"Oh, come on. Surely it would be perfectly appropriate for me to at least know where you're from, for example."
"England, ma'am, but I've been living in the U.S. since college and am now a citizen," Obi-Wan replied promptly.
Padmé smiled. "See? That wasn't so hard, and now I know something about you that I didn't know before."
Yes, he was definitely trying not to smile now. "I suppose so, ma'am."
"What about you, Ahsoka, where are you from?" Padmé asked next. "Oh, would you rather I call you Agent Tano? I'm sorry, there's just so many protocol-related things I've been learning all day and trying to wrap my head around."
"Ahsoka and Agent Tano are both fine, ma'am. Whichever you'd prefer," Ahsoka said cheerfully. "I'm from San Francisco, but I live in DC now, obviously."
Padmé chuckled along with her before turning to Anakin. "And you, Agent Skywalker?"
"Arizona, ma'am, but now I live upstairs," he replied. "And you can call me either Agent Skywalker or Anakin if you'd like."
"You live upstairs?" Padmé said, surprised. She'd thought she was the only one who permanently resided at the White House.
Anakin nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The other agents all live in the city, but I live here since I'm your number one," he said with no small amount of pride. "They want me on hand at all times just in case."
Interesting. Not that Padmé cared that he'd be living only one floor above her for the next four years. "That must make commuting to work much easier," she said, and the others laughed.
By then they'd arrived at Padmé's room; Obi-Wan and Ahsoka stationed themselves at either end of the corridor outside, but Anakin made as if to follow her in. Catching her startled look, he quickly said, "Sorry, ma'am, but I have to come in with you for a few minutes every night just to check that the area's secure."
"Ah. You mean, to check that there isn't an assassin hiding under my bed?" Padmé said wryly.
Belatedly, she realized any of her bodyguards would probably be less than amused by her flippant attitude towards her own safety, but Anakin just gave her an easy grin and said, "Exactly, ma'am. You can never be too careful."
Padmé wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself in the meantime, so she ended up just waiting in the middle of the room as Anakin went through her bedroom and the connecting dressing room and bathroom. "Everything's all clear, ma'am," he said at last, coming back into the bedroom.
"Great, thank you," Padmé said. "Is your shift officially over now, then?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, I'll try my best not to be out and about too late in the future if that means I'll be keeping you from your bed in addition to myself."
Anakin chuckled. "I'd appreciate that very much, ma'am, although I'm not sure you'll be able to help it most days."
"Very true," Padmé said with a sigh. "I guess I'll be seeing you bright and early tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Agent Skywalker. Anakin," she corrected herself after a moment; addressing her security team by their first names rather than agent felt better, more personal. "You're sure I can call you Anakin?"
"You can call me anything you'd like, ma'am," he replied.
"Huh. Let's start with Anakin, but I'll let you know if I think of anything better."
Anakin laughed again, and Padmé's stomach may or may not have squirmed pleasantly. "That sounds good to me. Goodnight, ma'am," he repeated before heading out the door.
Anakin had barely shut the door behind him when he heard Ahsoka saying excitedly, "So, what do you think of her?"
He turned around and saw Obi-Wan frowning at her. "Ahsoka, you can't gossip about the president behind her back," he chided.
"I'm not gossiping, I'm just asking a question to my friend who is no longer on duty," she said innocently. "Well, Skyguy?"
"She's…" Anakin paused and considered the question. Ahsoka had no basis of comparison since this was her first time on presidential protection detail, but Anakin, Obi-Wan, and several of President Amidala's other bodyguards had also served President Valorum, her predecessor. Valorum had been a nice enough man, but he'd rarely paid much attention to his bodyguards—which was, technically, the way it was supposed to be…and yet Anakin hadn't been able to help the warm fuzzy feeling in his chest when President Amidala had insisted upon getting to know each of them. And when she had addressed him by name rather than as merely "Agent Skywalker." "She's…not what I expected," he finished at last. "But in a good way, I think."
As Anakin went upstairs to his bedroom and showered and got ready for bed, he found himself unable to get the president out of his mind. She was startlingly beautiful; really, she looked more like an actress or a model than a politician. Anakin had always privately thought she was pretty whenever he'd seen her televised speeches and public appearances during the long months of election season, but actually meeting her in person, looking at her up close and hearing her lilting voice and seeing her smile…
No, she wasn't what Anakin had been expecting at all.