Five (very long) years later...

Padmé Amidala watched the speeders race past her office window; oh how she hated her job at the moment. The galaxy was spiraling out of control and she had this hopeless feeling that it would result in a war that would ravage the galaxy. It didn't help that she was one of the leaders among few. There position within the Senate was dwindling, and the call to create an army was growing louder by the day. There was a deeper pain though, one that went far back in time...

Anakin. She wanted him so badly that when she even thought of him her mind and body ached, if only she could just hear his voice again she would be happy. Placing her head in her hands she tried in vain to remember his face, and once again drew up only a fuzzy image of the boy he used to be.

So gone was she in her efforts to find Anakin, that the abrupt knock on her door startled her.

"Milady may I come in?" Came the voice of her handmaiden and friend Dormé.

With the touch of a button hidden under desk, Padmé reactivated the automatic door sensors. When Dormé entered Padmé was surprised to see her carrying a large vase full of a wide array of flowers.

"My goodness," Padmé laughed, "who are these from?"

"I haven't a clue milady, it came with a card though, your name was on it."

Padmé frowned hoping it wasn't him. Upon opening and reading the cards message, she found out that it was.

"Get rid of them Dormé," Padmé demanded, a cold look etched into her face.

"What? Padmé these are beautiful," Dormé said aghast, "why on earth-"

"They're from Clovis, he's trying to get back with me again."

Dormé sighed and looked at the flowers, "such a waste of beauty."

Padmé sat heavily into her chair and sighed, "wait, Dormé. Why don't we just... re-gift them? Perhaps send it down to the Senate cleaning crew."

"Re-gift it? Padmé that's rude." Dormé scoffed, "I will however do as you ask, who knows, maybe they'll like them."

"Thank you Dormé," Padmé smiled, even though she still cringed at the idea of Clovis giving her anything.

When Dormé had left, Padmé resealed her door and once again disabled the door scanner. It was a habit she hadn't quite broken from her time as queen, when she had done it out of necessity to prevent everyone from flooding her office with their miniscule problems.

When her office comlink rang she let out a loud groan, not wanting to be badgered any longer. She stared at the unit for a brief moment, but decided that if someone took the effort to call her she should be kind enough to answer.

"Amidala speaking," she answered after picking up the receiver.

"Milady, there is a rather... interesting person out here wishing to speak with you. He says it's quite urgent that he sees you now, apparently he flew to Coruscant directly from Naboo."

"Of course Dormé, send him in immediately," Padmé answered, wondering what had happened on Naboo that she hadn't heard of.

Turning the door scanner back on she got up from her seat and walked quickly towards the door, it opened before she got close enough She let out a small cry of shock as the man ran in and gave her a very tight hug. She was even more surprised when he leaned down and kissed her hard. When he broke the kiss she tried to pull away, but he only pulled her tighter.

"You have no idea how frightened I was," he said hoarsely, "when I went to find you at the Palace that woman said you were gone. When she said you were here I came as fast as I could, and then to make it worse there was a headliner running across the information banners that said you'd been killed in a bombing this morning."

Padmé fought her way out of the man's embrace only to jump right back into his arms, "Anakin."

"My Angel," he whispered back, planting featherlight kisses on her temple.

"Milady is everything alright?" Dormé asked, looking rather confused and suspiciously at Anakin.

"No, Dormé," Padmé breathed heavily, "I need you to cancel every appointment I have, I don't care who it's with."

"Ahh," Dormé hesitated, "I will see to it at once."

Dormé left quickly, and sealed the door behind her as soon as she was out of the room. Padmé gazed into Anakin's blue eyes, searching them for any trace of the Sith yellow. To her elation, she found none.

"You're Anakin," she whispered in awe, touching his brow gently and dragging one finger down the side of his face.

"I'm your's," he whispered hoarsely, his voice cracking somewhat.

"Water," she whispered, taking his hand and leading him to her desk, "wait here, while I get you something to drink."

He only nodded, never taking his eyes of her. She found his gaze to be territorial, but she rather liked that coming from him. When she returned from the fresher with a small cup of water she chose to stand in front of him and let herself memorize what looked like.

"Do you want more?" She asked after he had finished the water in two or three gulps.

He shook his head and held out his hand to her; when she took it, he gently pulled her towards him and had her sit in his lap. She rested her head on her shoulder and tilted her gaze up to look at his face. He was so handsome, with his emotionally charged blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. She could feel his taunt body through the clothes they wore, and could hear the thumping of his heart in his chest. She didn't dare pull back as he leaned down to kiss her again. His lips were slightly cracked, due to his lack of water for however many days, but his kiss numbed her mind to everything but him.

"What happened to you," she asked as the kiss ended, laying her head back down on his shoulder, "the last I knew, you had been at the Jedi Temple and disappeared."

"I needed to get away from everything, find out who I was," he answered, his voice rumbling in his chest, "after I left Courscant, I went back to Korriban. I took every manuscript, every text, any information that they had I took. From there I killed off Darth Vader in a tragic accident, and returned to Tatooine, where I lived as a hermit somewhere in the Jundland Wastes. Since that time I began to train myself to become who I truly am."

"And now you're back," Padmé smiled, leaning up to kiss Anakin once more.

"Perhaps," Anakin laughed, as they broke apart, "we should discuss this somewhere more private."

"Then let's leave," Padmé exclaimed, sliding off of Anakin and quickly putting things away, and packing things she needed.

"Wait," Anakin said, lightly touching her arm, "I wanted to do this right, but I have this feeling... if I don't say it now... Padmé I love you."

Padmé froze and held Anakin's gaze, "I love you too Anakin."

With that Anakin smiled and nodded his head, "well that's good, good, very good, yes good, great even."

Padmé laughed at Anakin, as he stumbled over his words in his excitement at her declaration. Locking her desk, she grabbed her bag, and took Anakin's hand in her own. She lead him out the door, with her heart content, yet ready to melt.