Anakin had never been one to follow the law in terms of speeder driving, so it took him mere minutes to reach Padmé's apartment. Padmé was sipping a bowl of hoi-broth when Anakin had entered the room. Padmé thought that Obi-Wan and Anakin would be out much longer, and had not anticipated Anakin's return.
Huh. Now Anakin's probably going to tell me about how the Council expelled him for his failures. But that's good, now we can be a family, she thought to herself. Her thoughts took a turn. I can't believe I used to hate hoi-broth! It's pretty tasty now.
"PADMÉ! I'M A JEDI MASTER NOW!" Anakin shouted as he barged into the living room. His voice grew soft. "I can finally save you now."
Padmé frowned in disbelief. "A master? Er, I thought you were going to be expelled. But, Anakin, you're a bit late in the saving department. I'm already dead because of you."
Anakin sat down beside her and put his head in his hands. "Don't remind me." He looked at the hoi-broth. "I thought you hated hoi-broth. Why are you eating it now?"
Padmé set the bowl of hoi-broth on the table and exhaled loudly, the smell of hoi-broth getting into Anakin's face. "I'm not sure. Pregnancy hormones? Although I'm no longer pregnant, I died after giving birth, so the cravings stayed with me."
Anakin squirmed on the couch as he smelled the scent of Padmé's breath infused with hoi-broth. This was when Padmé noticed that Obi-Wan was not there. "Where is Obi-Wan?" she asked.
Anakin's eyes widened. "I forgot to bring him back from the Jedi Temple…"
Padmé slapped Anakin's shoulder. "Really Anakin? After all you've done to Obi-Wan you just have to LEAVE HIM BEHIND at the Jedi Temple, huh? Do you really think this was the best thing to do?"
Anakin bit his lip. The craziness he had experienced earlier was ebbing away and true guilt at his actions was starting to form. "No," he answered quietly. Then he burst into tears.
Padmé was horrified. "There, there," she said as she patted him. "I'm sorry for saying that. I love you, you know."
"I know."
"Can you do something for me?" Padmé asked.
"What?"
"Get on the veranda and yell something to the public. That would be fun."
"Yes! And all those times before when you told me I couldn't because we were hiding our marriage. That would be great."
Anakin and Padmé walked to the veranda. Anakin looked down. There were like billions of people down there and he was going to talk to them!
"HELLO." Anakin said as loud as he could. The civilians down below looked up and he could see crowds gathering at random places, looking out windows and stuff. He didn't know how his voice was so loud, but it was better not to ask. "MY NAME IS ANAKIN SKYWALKER. I WANTED TO GIVE EVERYONE A HEARTFELT SPEECH. WHATEVER. I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT ME AND PADMÉ AMIDALA ARE MARRIED! THIS HAS BEEN MY DREAM FOR YEARS. SO JUST TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY AND KNOW THAT WE ARE MARRIED." Anakin stepped down.
"HELLO." Padmé said. "YEP. WE'RE MARRIED. AND I KNOW I AM BEING UNPROFESSIONAL AS A SENATOR, BUT ALTHOUGH THIS GUY WAS A ONE-TIME SITH LORD, HIS GOOD DEEDS OUTWEIGH THE BAD, SO YEAH. I'VE BEEN HIS WIFE FOR LIKE OVER 20 YEARS NOW. THANKS FOR LISTENING AND HAVE A GOOD NIGHT!" Padmé and Anakin stepped down from the veranda, arms around each other.
"That was real good," Anakin laughed. "Good to get the past behind me I guess."
"I'm glad you're not nuts anymore, Anakin," Padmé told him. When you first came here, everyone was saying all sorts of creepy things. But it's good we're not doing that anymore. Let's go to bed."
Anakin happily noticed that Padmé had forgotten all about Obi-Wan. Smiling to himself, Anakin took his wife and they went to sleep together for the first time in many years.
It rained that night, but Anakin and Padmé didn't care. By the way, Anakin didn't have any nightmares. It seems pretty obvious by now that nightmares are not good for people like him.
In the morning, Anakin woke up early to see Obi-Wan shivering and splayed out on the couch bed. Obi-Wan's bathrobe-looking Jedi robe was soaked, and his hair was wet. "WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS HAPPENED HERE!" Anakin shouted to no particular person.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes. "Um, you left me in the Jedi Temple. I went to sleep there and completely forgot about you and how I was going to live with you now. So I woke up, it was pouring, and I stole a Jedi Temple speeder and came here. Your door was locked, so I had to land on the landing pad and climb all the way up to the balcony and that took about a few hours. I was climbing around your window and saw you and your wife sleeping in bed. I was devastated to know you had forgotten about me, but I finally made it in." Obi-Wan's lips were blue and frozen. "So yeah, it was dumb but I really thought I could get here in no time at all. Quite an adventure."
Anakin's jaw dropped. "Uh, sorry Obi-Wan."
"We are so sorry!" Padmé appeared behind Anakin suddenly. "I had forgotten all about you, if you don't mind me saying so." She noticed she had left the old hoi-broth on the table. "I am so sorry about leaving the hoi-broth there. I sincerely hope you ate it."
Obi-Wan grimaced. "I'm allergic."
Anakin gulped. "It's true, Padmé. Obi-Wan is officially allergic to hoi-broth." He turned to Obi-Wan. "Grab a few heaters for yourself. You can use the refresher connected to this room."
Obi-Wan smiled as he remembered something. "By the way, I heard that little speech of yours. You guys really wanted to shout it from the rooftops, huh?"
Anakin and Padmé smiled at each other. "We've been dreaming about it ever since we got married," they said together, and laughed merrily.
Obi-Wan grinned. "Cool, I guess."