I HAVE RETURNED! proper explanation at the bottom, enjoy:
Anakin was awoken by the sound of someone throwing up in the bathroom. It shocked him how, over the past few months it had become almost normal for him to wake up like this.
The toilet flushed and there were the sounds of running water and teeth being brushed before the door opened and Padmé trudged out looking probably sicker than she felt but Anakin would never say something like that.
"Morning angel." He crooned and opened his arms to her. She snuggled under the duvet with him and buried her head against his chest.
"I hate being ill." She mumbled. Anakin stroked her back soothingly.
"I know." Was all he murmured, because what more was there he could say that he hadn't already said? She had come down with a cold a few days ago, making Anakin cancel their plans and replace them with a quiet day at home.
They lay in bed in silence for a while until a sudden thought crept into Anakin's head. "I got you something." He announced and let go of her just enough so he could reach under his side of the bed and pull up a white teddy holding a red heart saying 'Get Well Soon' across it. He grinned and made the teddy dance across her arm. Padmé laughed which quickly turned into a coughing fit. Anakin held her and rubbed her back until she stopped.
"You didn't have to get me anything." She smiled.
"I did. You're my beautiful wifey and you're not well, so you need a bear. You can blame Obi-Wan for steering me away from the huge one." She looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.
"I can thank him for it you mean? What are you going to be like in a few months when you have almost free reign?" Anakin shrugged with an excited grin plastered across his face and Padmé made the bear kiss him. It irked him that she had been so insistent about not giving him her cold but if she wanted it then he would go along with it.
"Thank you. I'm sorry about this." She sneezed and Anakin handed her a tissue from one of the boxes either side of the bed.
"Sorry that you're ill? Angel, our Valentine's Day was going to be something relatively quiet anyway since you don't have much energy. Now it's just a day I miraculously managed to get off work and can spend with you watching as many soppy movies as you want and I'll keep the complaining down to a minimum. Maybe." Padmé laughed again but softer this time.
"It wouldn't be the same without you pointing out every cliché and predictable outcome there is, but I appreciate the thought." He kissed the top of her head.
"Do you know what Obi-Wan has planned?" He asked suddenly after a while.
"I do know. But you're not allowed to know since you'll call him a romantic old fool." Anakin raised an eyebrow at her. "You will! If I thought it was terribly romantic you will take the mick for it being exactly that."
They were quiet again for a few minutes.
"So he is asking her then?" Padmé groaned.
"Wait and see, he's had the ring for months he just keeps losing the bottle to do it. Now can we go back to sleep? I'm tired." Anakin nodded and pulled the covers around them tightly.
Padmé woke hours later to an empty bed but a labelled thermos of hot honey and lemon on her bedside table and a tub of crackers next to it. She could hear him moving around downstairs, trying and failing to be quiet probably, like he was every morning before he went to work. She shuffled up so she was leaning against the headboard and sipped her drink, listening to what he was doing. Well, trying to guess what he was doing.
She pulled at a dark curl that had come loose from her topknot and just stared at the teddy on Anakin's pillow. He had to be the most childish man there was. But she wouldn't change it for the world, only he would have been adorable enough to buy her a teddy when she was ill and make sure what she needed when she woke up was there so she didn't have to lift a finger, and had since she had discovered she was pregnant. Every morning she had woken up to breakfast in bed and the shower free after her post-vomit-nap which she was positive woke Anakin every morning but he hadn't complained, nor had he rushed to hold her hair back because he knew it would annoy her when he inevitably got over bearing.
"You look thoughtful." Said perfect spouse had appeared in the doorway while she was daydreaming, with a cupcake in one hand and the other behind his back, grinning. Padmé tilted her head and watched him saunter to the bed and perch on the edge.
"I was just thinking on your many perfect qualities." He looked too pleased with himself. "Then I remembered how much muck you bring in when you've been tinkering with a car." His grin fell slightly but he handed her the cupcake and it turned hopeful.
She took it with a wide smile and shuffled sideways so he could slot in beside her. "Ani you really didn't have to." Anakin only pulled out a rose from behind his back and set it on the table.
"It's silk because you can't smell anything right now but the stem has wire in so you can wrap it round your lamp or whatever." Padmé picked up her bear again and made it kiss him on the cheek again.
"You're perfect, thank you. Have you seen your present?" He shook his head and took a cracker out of the box next to him. "It's in the garage, are you going to look now?" He shook his head again and swallowed his mouthful.
"I'll look later if you fall asleep, if not, I'll look tomorrow when I go to work because I know I'll love it anyway." He kissed her temple and let her lean her head against his shoulder. "Hey, normally I would be elbow deep in an engine by now." Padmé groaned.
"And I would be trying to get my year nine class to focus on Shakespeare."
"What's Obi-Wan doing?" Anakin asked. Padmé didn't even have to look up at him to know he had a very cocky grin dancing around his mouth.
"Year 11 GCSE but there's about half his class dating someone so I bet he's having a delightful time trying to get them to concentrate, mind you, he does like his trivia so I can only guess that's how he keeps their attention, by going off on a tangent." Anakin scoffed.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi is incapable of going off on a tangent." He blurted disbelievingly.
"Mostly, he blurts out random facts about a holiday if there's one close and his class are obviously not concentrating since he knows EVERYTHING, but it doesn't happen as often as YOU would think I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear. But since I get weirdly most of his class in mine straight after on a normal today, I get a lot of trivia." Anakin burst out laughing.
"I bet you love him for that." He spluttered, Padmé just hummed sarcastically.
"Well he's getting his comeuppance, he's got a free after this one so I volunteered him to take my class next. I'm sure I'm in for a shock when I get back if his texts are anything to go by." Anakin chuckled deeply.
"Ani?" He murmured quietly. "Can you run me a bath? I feel disgusting." He kissed the top of her head and slid off the bed. She leaned back, occasionally dipping into the tub of crackers. When he called that it was ready she slipped out from under the covers and drifted over to the open door.
"Do you want company?" He asked and she looked at the fluffy bubbles in the tub.
"I wouldn't object. She smiled and they both stripped.
Not surprisingly, Anakin was under the bubbles first and holding his hands up to help Padmé. She accepted his help, not that she really needed it, but loved it that his arms could encircle her so easily if she did.
Both of them sighed almost simultaneously as they sunk slightly lower into the bubbles and Padmé leaned her head back against Anakin's shoulder. "I think I could lie like this all day." She sighed softly. Anakin chuckled and started tracing patterns on her forearms with his fingertips.
"Even after all the bubbles have gone and everything's cold?" Padmé chuckled lightly and turned her head into the crook of his neck.
"No, just warm and bubbly. It's so comfy." She smiled. Anakin hummed in agreement and hugged her a little more tightly.
It was much later when they had made it to the sofa and had curled up under a duvet with a bowl of cheese bites (much better than popcorn right now according to Padmé) Anakin was shockingly watching a soppy movie, after Padmé had fallen asleep on him that his phone went off. Carefully he reached for it, trying not to disturb his sleeping wife and intending on giving whoever it was who had text him a piece of his mind when his best friend's name flashed across the screen.
The message it turned out was a picture and a sentence, the picture was of him and Satine somewhere Anakin had no idea but it was dark. Obi-Wan looked proud as punch and Satine looked like she'd been tearing up but what really caught his attention was the rock on Satine's finger on the hand she was holding up to her mouth. Well rock would be a bad way to describe it, the big stone was round and there were little ones going along the band, it was enough to be acceptable to Satine's slightly high maintenance standards but also just Obi-Wan in how simple it was. Both of them were grinning like idiots, and rightly so. They were happy and they should be. He chuckled at the sentence underneath it: "SHE SAID YES! :D" like it was needed… Anakin sent a quick congratulations back and set his phone back on the sofa arm.
"He did it then?" Padmé asked from her cocoon on his lap.
"He did it. Sorry if it woke you, I thought it was on silent." He brushed a stray curl out of her face.
"No worries. It was a good thing to wake up for. Do you know what he did?" Anakin shook his head.
"I do. He needed a plan so he wouldn't back out again and I cleverly managed to get Satine to spill her perfect scenario." She sneezed and Anakin handed her a tissue from the box next to his phone.
"So how was she not suspicious?" He asked curiously.
"We were talking about a movie when we went shopping a few months ago and she was a little disparaging about the way the guy did it so I asked her about hers and recorded it secretly to show Obi-Wan later. He took her out for dinner at that place she likes in town then to whatever art related event was on in town, I'll have to ask him what he went for, then because they don't live that far from the centre they probably walked back through the park and he went down on one knee while they were stargazing." Anakin was silent.
"A bit too mainstream for Obi-Wan." He muttered finally and Padmé just snuggled closer to him.
"That's how she wanted and he wanted it to be perfect for her. Can I see the picture?" He handed her the phone and switched the TV off.
"They do look happy."
"No comment on the ring?" Padmé handed him the phone back with a smile.
"I already commented on the ring. I went with him to buy it since he wanted a feminine opinion and I was trusted enough to be the voice of reason." Anakin nodded.
"But can I have a comment on the ring so I know how you compare it to yours? I mean, that is a lot flashier than yours and that diamond is huge compared." Padmé laughed but it turned into a coughing fit for the Nth time that day.
"Satine's is perfect for her and mine is perfect for me." She lifted her hand out from under the duvet and ruffled Anakin's hair. He caught her hand and studied the vintage ring on her finger. "Ani, why are you so convinced I'm jealous?" She asked and he traced some of the intricate sculpted metal around the stone with his fingertip.
"But they're so different." Padmé tilted his head up with her finger.
"And if you hadn't noticed, Satine and I are different too. She would be the first to agree that hers wouldn't suit me and mine wouldn't suit her. Just like when they get married it's likely to be quite flamboyant, but I wouldn't change our little wedding for the world. It was perfect and you are perfect." Anakin kissed his fingertips and pressed them to her lips with an adoring smile on his face. She smiled back and leaned against his shoulder.
"Oh god!" Padmé shot up and looked at him carefully.
"What?" She leaned over to turn the lamp next to her on and the room flooded with yellow light.
"I just had a horrible thought. What if they actually have a baby at some point in the future?" Padmé bit her lip.
"Is it so hard to imagine your best friend becoming a father, or is it the thinking he's too prudish to actually do what's needed in order to have a child with his fiancée?" He glared at her sideways.
"I know they're not that prudish, they still have no idea I could hear them for the entire time I stayed at Obi-Wan's when I finished school but those headphones you got me were a godsend! No, whenever I try and imagine them with a child of their own now they're actually getting married, it's always a bratty little blonde girl who is her 'daddy's little princess' that pops into my head." Padmé bit back another laugh but it came out as a violent cough anyway.
"Have you forgotten that Obi-Wan is your best friend so that child would most likely be your god-daughter? And she wouldn't be that bratty, maybe the occasional bout but all children are allowed that at some point. You only think that because you think Satine's a spoilt rich kid but look at how much of a calming influence Obi-Wan's had on her over the years they've been together. Now our baby on the other hand, what do you imagine then?" Anakin grinned and slipped a hand under the duvet to rest of her stomach.
"A little boy with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. With your temperament, or, a little girl who looks like you with a fiery temper. How do they sound?" Padmé smiled widely. "And of course she would be her daddy's little princess, just like a boy would be a miniature grease monkey and help me in the garage when he's old enough." He met Padmé's eyes and smiled shyly.
"I like those options." She smiled softly and her hand wandered over her stomach so their fingertips were touching.
"No objections about our son being a grease monkey?" She shook her head.
"I know you wouldn't let any harm come to him so no, no objections." Anakin pulled her close again and leaned his head on top of hers.
"I love you angel." He whispered into her hair.
"I love you too." She whispered back.
Padmé burst out laughing again when the TV had been switched back on and there was some other romantic cliché lasting a couple of hours. Anakin paused it and looked at her curiously, rubbing her back until she finished cough-laughing. She smiled up at him and barely held back another laugh as she opened her mouth. "I got asked a couple of days ago if Korkie was their son by one of the really obnoxious boys in one of my lower sets and in Obi-Wan's tutorial group, he saw him dropping him off at school that morning or something. I don't think he likes him since there was a gleam in his eye like he was going to pester him about it. Seriously, that boy will do no good in the future." Anakin snorted.
"And I thought you didn't judge." He smiled.
"I don't but it's just so hard not to with him. Anyway he didn't believe me when I said he was Obi-Wan's girlfriend's nephew."
"He probably didn't believe Obi-Wan had a girlfriend." Padmé fixed him with a reproachful look. "Well I wouldn't if I had him for a teacher!" He reasoned.
"Anyway, once I finally convinced him he was in a relationship then I went on about Korkie being adopted by Satine in her last year of Uni. Again, he didn't believe that she would do that while she was at university."
"Well neither did I to be honest and I know her, I'm still surprised she didn't explode or have a breakdown."
"She had Obi-Wan. Would you have been so sweet and supportive if it was me?" Anakin nodded.
"Of course! If it's important to you then you know I'll always be supportive." She smiled and leaned her head back on his shoulder.
"Anyway, it took a while for me to convince him that Korkie was her nephew. I can't believe how difficult he was, 'oh but miss, you can't have known him since high school, you're different ages' being the favourite objection." Anakin spluttered. "I wonder what the reactions to him actually asking her to marry him are going to be?"
"Well you can always get him to tell you in detail when you go back because you're not going back on Monday. You can go back when you're properly better." He kissed the top of her head.
"Thank you. And I'm sorry." He looked down at her in surprise.
"What for?" Padmé fiddled with the edge of the blanket covering them.
"I know I said it this morning but it's Valentine's Day, our last one as a child free couple and I'm ill." Anakin tilted her chin up with a finger.
"Padmé Skywalker, I'm only going to repeat what I said this morning this once, I don't care. My Valentine's Day is perfect as long as I'm with you. And as for having a baby next year, my mum will be the first to say that her first grandchild can stay with her so we can have a night out if we want." She searched his eyes for any indication he was lying and smiled happily when she found none.
"Alright." Anakin grinned widely and pulled her back to him.
"And I do actually quite like looking after you." She smiled and nestled closer to his chest while he pulled the blankets around them more tightly.
So, Valentine's day, hope you liked, I'm just getting back into the swing of this-amongst other things- since so much has been going on and not a lot at all has been good. Hope you're all well and I should see you soon in my next update :)
Thanks for reading, please review…