POV: Ahsoka Tano

Padme entered the room in a delightful mood. I thought she was scolding Anakin for acting the way he did. What had she said to him since he wasn't back yet? If she hurt him in anyway...

"Ahsoka," Rush began. "Are you enjoying your stay here?"

I didn't want Padme to say anything to me, so I lied. "Yes, I am. Thank you for asking me."

He smiled. It was a slightly disturbing smile, but I placed Anakin's image in front of him. I couldn't see Rush anymore, all I saw was the Jedi Knight that I'm falling in love with.

After a few more minutes, Anakin still hadn't returned. I was beginning to worry about him. I couldn't even sense his emotions in the Force.

"Excuse me," I said, pushing my chair back. Both nodded and I escaped from the room. I wandered into the hallway, searching for my master.

I was passing another dark hall when I heard a deep, frustrated sigh. I looked in the direction it came from to see none other than the shadow of Anakin. His head was on his knees and his arms wrapped around them. In that moment, I felt my heart split. I had seen him like this outside of our quarters, but that was because he was tired. This wasn't his tired position.

"Master?"

"I'm fine," he replied without skipping a beat.

I slowly walked toward him, kneeling beside him once I had closed the distance. "What did she say to you?"

"It's not important, trust me."

I moved into a sitting position and leaned against him. My eyes never left his form.

His head raised up and he turned to look at me. "Ahsoka, you're beautiful."

I giggled. "How can you tell in this light?"

"I can see better than you."

"Master, I'm sorry for whatever she said to you. I don't want to see you hurt."

He slowly stood from the floor and, once reaching his full height, reached out his hand for me. I took it and his strong fingers clasped it tightly as he helped me to my feet.

"I'm fine, Ahsoka. I don't care about what she said."

I didn't believe that and I think he sensed it. "Ahsoka, please. Trust me, I'm fine."

I shrugged. "If you say so. I don't believe it though."

I heard a light laugh escape his lips. He leaned down and kissed me romantically. I didn't want this to end, so I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him to me.

His lips parted slightly and I took advantage of that, beginning to nibble on his bottom lip. I didn't want to hurt him like I had earlier when I did the same. I learned to lighten the bite and not to sink my teeth into him like a leech.

I tasted his warm breath as he breathed out. My tongue lurched forward and met with his briefly. He pulled back in shock.

His lip began to bleed yet again. "Ow..."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

He reached out to caress my cheek. "You're fine. I'm the idiot who pulled away too quickly. I overreacted to that, but it's all right."

I noticed a little bit of blood dripping down his mouth. He wasn't wiping it away just yet, so I took advantage of it. I leaned forward and licked his lip, moving toward the end of the blood trail.

I watched his eyes widen and then return back to normal once I'd finished. I pulled back and took his hand in mine.

He sighed and smiled at me.

I walked him back to the dining room, but realized that I needed to use the refresher...

"I'll be right back," I whispered, kissing him.

He smiled and I ran up the stairs.

POV: Anakin Skywalker

I was about to round the corner when I heard Padme's voice.

"I haven't told anyone, Rush, not even Anakin."

"I thought you wanted to tell him. I thought you'd be reasonable about this. Why should it be kept a secret?"

"I love him still, but I'm not willing to let him go just yet. I could use him for this later. No one will know that it was you and not him."

He sighed. "I don't want this to be a secret forever, Padme. I want the galaxy to hear about it. It's special."

Now my suspicions had been confirmed. Padme and Clovis were definitely up to something. I stuck around a little while longer.

Ahsoka was descending the stairs and I motioned for her to be as quiet as she could. She looked at me with a confused expression, but listened anyway.

"The Chancellor won't put our laws into effect. I was hoping that you could take care of that for me, Rush."

"Oh, of course, my dear. Anything for you."

I reached for my lightsaber, but Ahsoka grabbed my hand. "Don't," she whispered.

I moved my hand from the containment of my saber. I held onto her hand and looked into her eyes.

"You should join us, make things easier for all of us. Viceroy Gunray would be happy to have you on our side."

"I won't join for that reason. He and his accomplices have tried to kill me many times. I'm not going to show them trust and friendship because they don't deserve it."

"Do you trust me?"

She paused. "Yes."

"More than Anakin?"

"Yes."

My heart broke. Was she really doing this to me? I felt tears brimming in my eyes and I tried my best to keep them dammed up inside.

"Anakin?" Ahsoka whispered.

I looked at her without saying a word. "Are you okay?"

I shrugged. I couldn't answer negative or positive because I was in the middle. I didn't know what I was feeling right now aside from confusion, anger, hate, and jealousy.

"Please," she begged. "Stop feeling this way. Those are the feelings of the dark side. All of them are!"

I closed my eyes and tried to control myself, which wasn't going very well. I felt confused about Padme's love for me. I was angry at Padme for lying to me about her connection with Clovis. I hate Clovis for stealing my wife, and the jealousy goes along with that.

Ahsoka's hand touched my cheek and my eyes opened. "Relax, please."

She looked so sad. I wanted to see her smile, so I pushed all of those dreadful feelings out as best as I could. I smiled at her and she returned it. "Thank you."

She leaned forward and kissed me for a moment. "Let's go in."

I sighed. "I need you to make a scene so they know we're coming. That way they won't know we overheard their conversation."

We got up and silently walked a little bit down the hall. I turned to her and nodded. I would get a good laugh out of this for sure...

"Ugh, pilots!" she yelled, throwing her hands into the air.

I had to force myself not to burst into laughter in that moment. "Is there a problem with my job, Mistress?"

"Of course. You think that just because you can fly something well that you're the best life form around, right?

"I don't fly well," I smirked and she returned it. "I fly with expertise."

She made some sound of disgust and walked down the hall. I followed her like I was supposed to. "Expertise. Hmm, do you know what that actually means?"

"Of course I do."

"What does that mean then?" she yelled.

Her face was so funny when she tried to look angry. "Skill. That's something that you don't have when it comes to flying."

Padme and Clovis came out into the hallway with us. "What is going on?"

"I apologize, Senator. The pilot is being unruly again. Let us all finish dinner, then he can rest in the ship or his room."

Ahsoka was actually pretty good at acting like a revered friend of a Senator. Clovis glared at me and moved to stand in front of Ahsoka.

"What is it with you and fighting poor, defenseless women?"

That sentence alone changed Ahsoka's whole expression. She hated being compared to someone with weakness.

"I'm not fighting them. If I were to fight them, you would be able to tell."

"Padme," he said, turning toward her. "Would you be against my decision to lock him up for a while? There are cells in this building that will hold him."

My eyes flew from Clovis to Padme. Her eyes locked with mine. All I saw from her was emptiness.

"No."

Clovis ordered his guards to come into the room and take me to the holding cells. I cooperated with the guards so as not to give away my identity. All I had to do was get to where I was going to be locked up, pull out my saber, and threaten the life of Clovis.

"Come on, move," one guard commanded harshly. He grasped my arm tightly, placing a bond on my wrists, and dragged me away and down two dark staircases.

I sensed something coming up behind the guards, but I couldn't turn around.

Before I knew it, the guards had been run through with a green lightsaber. I turned around and Ahsoka cut the bond in half.

"My hero," I whispered, smiling.

"You would be the man to have a female hero. Come on, let's get you to the ship." She took my mechanical hand and lead me up the staircases.

She stood in front of me, scoping out the room ahead of us for guards, Padme, or Clovis. I was extremely upset with Padme for allowing Clovis to lock me up.

We escaped the building and ran onto the ship. "Stop!" Typho shouted.

I put my hands up. "It's just me, Captain. Sorry for startling you."

His gun was pointed directly at my chest. After realizing that nothing bad was going to happen, he lowered it. "My apologies, General."

"Don't worry about it."

Typho went to the back to rest. I couldn't blame him. I knew how boring it was to do absolutely nothing. I lead Ahsoka into the cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat. She climbed onto my lap and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I can't believe she did that to you. Aren't you two close friends?"

I sighed. "Yeah, we're close."

Eventually, Ahsoka went back inside to pack her things and inform Padme of our departure. We were leaving now because Typho ordered it.

Once Ahsoka came back, I left. I was going to talk to Padme before we left. We were clearly having a marriage problem.

I walked back into the building. I ran up the stairs to Padme's room and she wasn't there. I went to the dining hall, not there either. I continued to look from room to room until I neared a court. I was about to walk passed it until I heard voices.

"Rush..." Padme sighed.

I was standing in the doorway, looking at my wife sharing an intimate hug with Clovis.

POV: Padme Amidala

I was glad that I had chosen to meet up with Rush again. We connected in a way that Anakin and I hadn't.

He had just complimented me for looking beautiful, so I thanked him with a hug. I was showing him how much I loved him. I have been hiding things from Anakin for a while, but soon enough, I was going to have to tell him everything.

The fountain beside us made the moment even more perfect.

I pulled back to stare at Rush. I saw Anakin in the background, but pretended that I hadn't seen him.

"Oh, Padme..." Rush sighed.

I shushed him and leaned forward at the same pace he leaned toward me. We both met for a passionate kiss. It continued for almost a minute.

Once we separated, I looked at Anakin and frowned. I wanted him to know that he wasn't good enough for me. I saw the pain on his face and felt the glare aimed at me. I watched as he turned away in frustration. His steps were silent. There was no way Rush would have known he was here. I think I'm ready to send Anakin away. I won't need him for a few more months...

POV: Anakin Skywalker

I blindly ran away from that court. I couldn't stand the moment replaying in my head over and over. It seemed to replay in slow-motion. It hurt so much because I had been cheated on. She knew I was standing there and made it a point to show me what's been going on.

I ran to the ship. I momentarily saw Captain Typho sitting outside of the ship, but it hadn't really mattered in that moment.

I ran up the ramp, smacking right into Ahsoka. "Master?"

I couldn't look at her. The pain I felt right now was so massive. I felt like the world was coming down around me. Yes, I had admitted my love for Ahsoka, but I hadn't made anything official like Padme had. I know what I've been doing is wrong, but she had probably planned this out.

She pulled me close to her. "Anakin, what's wrong? I... I can feel the... pain and hurt that you're feeling right now."

"Don't worry about it," I said a little too harshly.

Padme walked in behind us and smiled at me. "Ready for takeoff, Anakin."

I looked at her and felt like slaughtering her right in that moment. "Master!"

Both Padme's and my attention snapped to Ahsoka. Padme didn't understand what Ahsoka's outburst had been about, but Ahsoka knew all too well that my feelings were effecting the way my thought process was working. She could feel everything I felt because I let it all rush out into the open.

"I'm sorry, Ahsoka," I whispered, leaving them to prepare the ship.

I felt Typho come into the ship, but he didn't come into the cockpit like he usually would.

After a few moments of breathing in and out, Ahsoka took the place of Typho, sitting to my right. She continued to stare and hoped that I would talk to her about what was bothering me so much during the flight.

It was going to be difficult explaining that my wife cheated on me.