Posting chapter 2 also since chapter 1 was pretty short :)

Over the next few weeks, Padmé managed to elicit tidbits of personal information from everyone on her security team until she was satisfied that she knew at least the most basic things about them all. Some (like Anakin and Ahsoka) were more eager to chat than others, but even so, all of them seemed gratified that Padmé was actually interested in getting to know them. Once again, she couldn't help but be struck by that; had they truly thought she'd be capable of spending every day of the next four years with them without ever caring enough to spare them a second glance?

But on the other hand, she was extraordinarily busy. Every single day was a constant barrage of meetings, paperwork, and headaches, especially since in addition to just getting adjusted to her new role as president, Padmé also had to work on her budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. At last the budget was done and submitted, which meant that within a few weeks she'd have to face the moment she'd been dreading since her election: her first meeting with the Senate Finance Committee, which was chaired by none other than Sheev Palpatine, senator from New York and Padmé's opponent in the presidential race.

Padmé had taken an immediate disliking to Palpatine when she first became a senator, and that initial dislike had only increased over the years. She disagreed with him on practically every issue imaginable, and as if that wasn't enough, he was clearly the type of selfish, corrupt politician Padmé had always despised. Perhaps it was her relative youth that gave her such idealism—she'd been elected senator just after she turned thirty—but Padmé had been dismayed upon entering Congress to discover just how many of the other senators and representatives were like Palpatine, speaking about underprivileged Americans as if they were a trifling nuisance while they themselves indulged in every kind of luxury their wealth could afford.

Being chair of the Finance Committee gave Palpatine much more power than Padmé felt comfortable with him having, and she prayed she'd be able to prevent some of his more damaging budget cuts. Not to mention she knew his resentment of her would be a hundred times stronger now that she'd beaten him in the election. In his concession speech he'd said all sorts of diplomatic things about how capable Padmé was and how certain he was that she'd do a wonderful job, but she'd seen in his eyes that he was furious. And now she was going to have to come face-to-face with him for the first time since the election.

Padmé could hardly remember dreading anything more.

Anakin thought President Amidala seemed unusually tense the morning of her meeting with the Finance Committee, but as he followed her into the meeting room, he saw Senator Palpatine sitting at the table and realized that of course she'd be worried about seeing him again so soon after the election. It had been one of the most brutal election seasons in Anakin's memory; Palpatine had used every dirty trick in the book to try to discredit President Amidala, though as far as Anakin could tell she'd never done anything wrong in her entire life, so Palpatine hadn't had a whole lot of success with that. Still, he was sure bad feelings probably lingered on both sides, and his instincts told him to watch Palpatine like a hawk as long as he was in the president's vicinity.

The senators all got to their feet as President Amidala entered and murmured their greetings. "Please, sit," President Amidala said, waving a hand and settling into her own chair as the others followed suit. "Thank you so much for making time for this meeting."

"As if we had a choice," Palpatine said; Padmé and the others all chuckled, though Anakin was pretty sure he'd meant to be exactly as rude as he'd sounded. "How is the presidency treating you, ma'am?"

"Very well, thank you," President Amidala said politely. "Busy, of course, but very well. Now, we all know each other since I was also serving in the Senate until recently, so what do you say we skip over introductions and get right to business?"

The other agents on duty were waiting outside the room, but Anakin was going to remain standing in the corner for the whole meeting. He mentally prepared himself for a long, eye-glazingly dull discussion about budgets and finances. He'd been thrilled when Mace had promoted him to head of President Amidala's security team, but he had to admit that so far, he'd been obligated to sit in on a lot more boring meetings than he'd had to do as a regular agent during Valorum's time in office. Not that Anakin necessarily minded getting to see President Amidala in her natural environment; she was just as charismatic and impassioned a speaker in person as she was on TV if not more so, and more than once thus far Anakin had found himself nodding along with her words before remembering he wasn't supposed to express any kind of political opinions whatsoever while on duty.

"…just don't think your proposed spending increases on healthcare, education, and welfare programs are feasible, ma'am," Palpatine was saying. "Where are we supposed to get all this money from?"

"Well, we'll have to run a deficit, naturally, but as you can see on page sixteen—" there was a rustling of paper as everyone flipped to the page "—I proposed making some cuts to spending on national defense and raising income taxes."

"Neither of those measures will be popular, ma'am," Senator Dooku said among muttering from the others.

"That would depend on whose opinion you ask," President Amidala replied calmly. "Our job is to stabilize the economy and if that means enacting unpopular measures that will be effective in the long run, so be it. We need to increase government spending to help the economy out of its current recession."

"Or we could let the Federal Reserve handle that."

"Lowering interest rates will only do so much, and if they print too much money we'll have inflation on our hands," President Amidala shot back. "Increasing government spending on welfare will help get unemployed Americans back on their feet and into the labor market once more, which will ultimately increase productivity and prosperity for the whole country."

"Yes, until they're forced to pay higher taxes and lose that hard-earned money," Palpatine said, frowning. "If anything, we should be cutting taxes to provide more incentive to work."

President Amidala scoffed. "Supply-side economics? Hasn't that been proven time and time again to have a very negligible effect?"

"With all due respect, Madam President, I and everyone on this committee have more economic expertise than you," Palpatine said, causing Anakin to raise his eyebrows at the blatant disrespect. "Hence why we are on the Finance Committee and you never were."

"That may be, but I do have enough economic expertise to know that the increase in economic activity thanks to tax cuts doesn't nearly compensate for all the lost tax revenue," President Amidala said without missing a beat.

Anakin only vaguely understood what they were talking about, but if President Amidala wanted to increase spending on welfare programs, his already significant respect for her had just doubled. Much of his childhood and adolescence had been spent toeing the poverty line, and he and his mother had depended on welfare to get by more often than not. They were financially stable now that Anakin had been in a well-paying job since college—he sent money to Shmi back home in Arizona every month—but even so Anakin would never forget everything that government welfare programs had done for them. And all the times they hadn't done enough.

In fact, Anakin mused as the discussion continued, that was one of the primary reasons he'd voted for President Amidala. To be fair, he probably would've voted for almost anyone over Palpatine, but President Amidala's platform as a voice for those who had none made her one of the most appealing candidates he'd ever seen. The more cynical part of his brain had wondered whether she was just making empty promises to get people to vote for her, but now Anakin was pleased to see she appeared to be planning to make good on her word. At least, to whatever extent Congress allowed her to.

The meeting dragged on and on, and by the time it finally drew to a close Anakin was pretty sure that the guise of diplomacy was the only thing keeping President Amidala and Palpatine from openly taking swings at each other. Not that Anakin could blame her if she did just deck him; the way he was sitting there talking about taking away funding for programs that literally kept people alive made Anakin want to throw a few punches himself. Palpatine had no idea what it was like, none of them did. Hell, even President Amidala had no idea, seeing as she'd been born into wealth and privilege too, but at least she was making an effort to see the world from the perspective of those less fortunate than her. And in Anakin's experience, that was something that could be said for relatively few politicians.

Padmé strode back to the Oval Office with Anakin trailing close behind, her head throbbing. "Fucking unbelievable," she muttered. "Palpatine's always been an insufferable dick, but this is a whole new level even for him."

She heard Anakin snicker quietly and she turned to look at him. He immediately schooled his features into a neutral expression and said, "Sorry, ma'am. I've just never heard you use such, uh, colorful language before."

"Well, you'll probably be hearing a lot more of it if that meeting was any indication of what the rest of my term's going to be like," Padmé said grimly. "Some of the changes they were trying to make to my budget proposal…I mean, obviously it'll be hard to find the money, but still, if it'll help people it's worth trying. Sometimes I wonder if half those senators have any sense of compassion or human decency at all. Like, is the thought of allotting more money to welfare programs really as much of a travesty as they were making it sound?"

They'd reached her office by then, and she glanced over at Anakin and realized he was hovering awkwardly by the door as if uncertain whether he was dismissed or not. A noncommittal cough was his only response to her question, and Padmé said, "Oh, sorry, I always forget you're not supposed to talk about politics with me. Especially seeing as you guys are just about the only people that rule applies to."

Anakin laughed, and her heart did an odd little flip-flop at the sound. "No, ma'am," he agreed. "I can't say anything about what I think about that meeting, but…I can say that I probably wouldn't be here today without all the government assistance that helped support me and my mom when I was a kid."

Padmé looked at him in surprise; he'd told her a little bit about his mother and his childhood, but he'd never given any indication as to what their financial status had been. "Really?" she said, unable to hide her curiosity.

"Yeah. We were lucky, though," Anakin added a moment later. "I got a full scholarship to college and after that I got this job, so I've been able to support us both ever since. But most people don't get scholarships, so they can't afford to go to college, and they can't get a good job because they didn't go to college, and they can't afford to send their kids to college because they don't have a good job. My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to break the cycle. Most people like us aren't."

Padmé sighed, knowing how true his words were. Of course she knew she wouldn't be able to end poverty in four (or eight) years, but that didn't make it any less frustrating to be the most powerful person in the country and yet feel so powerless. "Well, I'm glad you managed to make it out," she said. "I just wish everyone could. And I wish there was a more effective way I could help besides sending Congress a budget proposal they're going to argue over for months and ultimately reject. Or even if it does pass, how much good will it do to actual real people? It's all very well to increase funding on welfare programs, but how much of that funding will actually go directly to the people who need it?"

Anakin regarded her thoughtfully for a minute. "My mom and I always saved and kept track of every penny we had," he said at last. "And sure, it would've been nice to win the lottery, but over time the pennies added up. So I guess my point is, sometimes it feels like the little things don't help, but they do. Everything helps, no matter how insignificant it might seem."

Padmé smiled at him, feeling slightly cheered. Suddenly, she remembered writing an essay in third grade about what she wanted to be when she grew up. I want to be the president of the United States so I can help people. Maybe she wouldn't be able to achieve world peace or end poverty the way her naïve younger self had always dreamed of doing, but that didn't mean she couldn't still help people in smaller ways, smaller ways that would add up over time.

"Thank you, that was…very insightful," she said. "Although I could still do with an Advil right about now."

"Would you like me to send someone to get you some, ma'am?" Anakin asked, grinning.

"Oh, no. I always keep a bottle in my desk drawer just in case."

His grin turned into a full-out laugh at that, and once again there was a weird bubbly feeling in Padmé's stomach. Her gaze lingered on him as he turned to leave, but the sound of the door shutting behind him caused her to start slightly and shake her head.

Padmé sat down at her desk and pulled out the stack of paperwork she had to get through that afternoon, silently scolding herself for letting her thoughts wander. Sure, Anakin had thus far proven himself to be very likable and good company, and he certainly wasn't unpleasant to look at either, but that was all there was to it. He was Padmé's bodyguard; their relationship could never be anything more than strictly professional. Not that Padmé was even entertaining any notions of a more-than-professional relationship with him, obviously.

Though for the rest of the afternoon, a small voice kept whispering in the back of her mind that maybe if their circumstances were different…

Padmé awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and in a much better mood than the day before. As she began getting dressed, she couldn't help but admit to herself that her improved spirits were largely thanks to her conversation with Anakin after the frustrating meeting with the Finance Committee. Maybe he'd just been being polite or trying to make her feel better, but regardless of how sincere he'd been, his words had succeeded in encouraging her.

Plus, she thought, the things he'd been saying about his childhood and financial struggles were surely too personal to fall under the category of "just being polite." No, he'd confided in her. Almost as if they were friends.

That thought cheered Padmé even more, and the rest of the day passed pleasantly and relatively free of ordeals. The evening found her in her private dining room with Breha Organa. Both Organas were joining her for dinner that night, though they were currently waiting on Bail to finish up with his meeting. Padmé didn't mind his lateness; on the contrary, she enjoyed spending one-on-one time with Breha, something that didn't happen very often seeing as they knew each other through Bail.

Breha was also one of the few of Padmé's political friends who knew when to put political talk aside in favor of more lighthearted conversation, which Padmé was growing to appreciate more and more as her presidency (and the stresses that went with it) progressed. "I swear, we were standing outside my door avoiding each other's eyes for ten minutes before I finally decided to take matters into my own hands, so I leaned in and kissed him," Breha said, laughing. She was just finishing up regaling Padmé with the tale of her and Bail's first date.

Padmé joined in her laughter. "What did he do then?"

"Oh, he got all flustered and embarrassed and barely managed to get out a 'goodbye' before running back to his car, but he did call me a few days later to set up another date," Breha said fondly.

"I never would've pictured Bail being so shy around you at first," Padmé said, delighted at this new tidbit of information she'd be able to tease him with later. "He's such a confident public speaker."

"A confident public speaker does not a confident flirter make," Breha said wisely, and they both chuckled again. "Luckily I've always been good at making the first move, or else who knows if we ever would've gone anywhere."

Padmé smiled as she imagined what the Organas must have been like all those years ago when their relationship was still new and uncertain. "And look at you now, married for five years," she said. "Happy anniversary, by the way, if I don't see you again before Saturday."

"Thank you," Breha said, beaming. "I can't believe it's been five years already…time's just flown by. Bail makes every day feel new and exciting."

Padmé's expression turned a little wistful. What must that be like, finding your life partner and settling down with them? She'd often wondered how anyone could choose one person to be with forever without the relationship getting boring and stale, but perhaps that was only because Padmé herself hadn't yet managed to find the right person. Besides, when she looked at Bail and Breha, or her sister and brother-in-law, or even her own parents, she found herself wishing she could find her other half, if such a person even existed.

Breha must have seen some of this on her face because her smile suddenly turned sly. "So, what about you?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" said Padmé.

"When are you going to settle down with someone?"

Padmé laughed. "I'm a little busy running the country, Breha."

"That doesn't mean you don't have time for anything else."

"It kind of does, actually."

"Oh, nonsense," Breha said briskly. "I'm sure you could find time for dating somewhere. You've been single for…what, two years now?"

"Yes," Padmé said, turning a little pink. "By choice."

"Mm-hmm."

"Planning to run for president, running for president, and being president are three very time-consuming things I've been up to for the past two years," said Padmé defensively. "Besides, I just haven't met anyone lately I'd even be interested in."

Breha regarded her thoughtfully. "No time like the present to start looking. You're probably going to meet more people throughout your presidency than in the rest of your life combined."

"That's true," Padmé acknowledged rather reluctantly.

Then that sly look was back, to Padmé's consternation. "How about any of the people you've already met over the past few weeks?"

"Like who?"

"Well, for example, that bodyguard of yours is quite handsome," Breha said conspiratorially. "You know, the one who's with you all the time…"

Padmé gaped at her. "Wha—you mean Anakin?"

"Yes, that's him."

"He isn't—we're not—that would be beyond impossible," Padmé spluttered; she could feel her face flaming and she hated herself for it. Thank God neither Anakin nor any of the other agents were in the room at the moment, having given her and Breha privacy for dinner. "You have your own security too, you know we're barely even supposed to be friends with them. I'd never be allowed to have any kind of—of relationship with Anakin."

Breha scoffed. "Not allowed? Padmé, you are a grown woman."

"Okay, well, I doubt Mace Windu would appreciate it if Anakin was cavorting about with me instead of focusing on protecting me. And I can only imagine how the tabloids would talk."

"Then maybe no one has to know about it." Before Padmé could counter that, Breha added rather smugly, "Funny that you immediately jumped into all these reasons of why you can't be with him instead of just, you know, saying you're not interested in him."

"Oh. Well, I'm not interested in him, obviously," Padmé said, feeling her face get even redder. "That was all just hypothetical."

Breha looked like she was enjoying herself immensely.

Thankfully, just then the door opened and Bail walked in. "Bail," Padmé said, relieved. "How was your meeting?"

"Same old, same old," he replied. "Sorry I'm late."

"That's all right, we were just chatting," said Breha, leaning over to peck him on the cheek as he sat down beside her.

"What about?" Bail asked.

"Nothing exciting," Padmé said at once before Breha had a chance to say anything. Breha caught her eye and smirked, and Padmé scowled back. Her and Anakin. What an utterly ridiculous notion.