As announced, I did it. Required some work, some beta reading, for which I deeply thank Laura and Alessandra, and some encouragement from both of them to post this chapter as it is now. I'm still not so convinced about the "core" of the chapter but hey, they told me it was OK so... here it is. It's nothing nasty nor graphic, I don't think I have to raise the rating but if you think I have to do that, just say it and I'll proceed. Anyway, here we go. Please, be merciless with the reviews.

Ehm, just a moment: try to listen and Drumming Song by Florence And The Machine when you read the first part of this chapter. You won't regret it.

Chapter 37 - Sweeter Than Heaven Hotter Than Hell

Alright, I admit that, once we decided to call it a night, I was a little high.

Not drunk-high, I was far away from not being able to control my movements and my words, my sight wasn't hazed or anything like that. I could walk straight, my eyes didn't cross anytime I moved my head... I was pretty much fine.

I was just... happy-high.

After five bottles of beer I realized I was walking on razor's edge with drunkness, so I stopped and let the effects of the alcohol slowly fade away while we talked, laughed and exchanged stories of our pasts and hope for our future.

Finally we had enough time to give a detailed account of the weeks we'd been away from the base, even the most gruesome and hurtful tiny bit wasn't left out. And when we were over with our tale, it was time for Jax to fill some of the holes, like why he had come to fight against Vader and why he was travelling all around that sector trying to reach Ruusan.

"Why I fought I against Vader? Because I was stupid enough to get caught with the Whiplash and act like their spy. I tried to infiltrate in one of their administrative buildings and he was there, as if he was expecting me. He wanted this..." he took a satchel out of his pocket and threw it on the tabel. "He wanted the crystal Anakin, the one you gave me years ago."

"I know. I saw it in one of my dreams. The first one I think. Do you know why he wanted it?"

"Yep. Your Master here severed three of his limbs, both hands included. He's not capable of throwing Force Lightening and apparently he really wants to do so, he sorts of wants to copy his Master, I don't really know if it's about the actual technique or only because he's envious, but that's why he's looking for all the pyronium he knows about."

"Seems like you were right Anakin." said Obi-Wan then.

"You had a dream about that?"

"It was mostly intuition. No, better, a wild guess. I was more concentrated about following you than why Vader wanted a small nugget of metal. By the way, how did you overcome him?"

"Severed his left leg, the only whole limb he had left!"

"Well, it's one of the few methods that actually work to stop someone who fights with a lightsaber."

"Oh believe me, I know that all too well!" I murmured.

"Serves you well, you've learned something that day."

"Yep. Sith Lords cheat. Those fuckers cheat and muddle things up. They do anything they can and even more in order to win a fight. I've got scars to prove it."

"Those scars give you a lot of charm. They give you that dark edgy look that makes you incredibly sexy." said Padmè.

"You should have seen him when he was sixteen, when Ferus tormented him. That edgy look sometimes came up even then. Without the scars. And I tell you, he was cute, really, really cute! The only problem with Padawans is the haircut. Girls don't have to follow the rule and cut their hair like that, but all the boys, with that awful ponytail, they just looked ridiculous!"

"I know. I married him when he was twenty. He had that ponytail for ten months more before he was knighted. But I tell you, there were moments when that tail and that braid were useful!" she confessed, a wicked grin lit her face as she spoke.

While everyone else laughed, Obi-Wan hid his face behind his hands and leaned against the table. "I didn't really want to know that..."

"Just one more detail about our sex life that you shouldn't know."

"I could write a book about that..." he groaned. "No really, am I the only one in this room that never had sex with anyone?" he asked.

We all looked at him and laughed. "I really hope that was rethorical!" snapped Lysveet. "Because... you can't really think anyone here's a virgin."

Padmè giggled, squirming a little against my side. "By the way, I really hope I didn't interrupt anything the other day."

"Just the third round, don't worry." replied the hacker. "After we closed the call, we finished what we started."

"I'm really, really sorry about that. When I realized that I had called you in the middle of something I felt so bad..."

"Yeah, we've got some experience in the field." I added.

"You have some experience in many more things actually. You've seen how cramped was the space in the toilet of the ship." he asked and Darrick nodded. "Well, I don't really know how they did, but I swear they managed to have sex in there!"

Darrick made a strange face. "Wow... no really... wow! What the hell that place is cramped even for only one person! I tried that myself when I inspected the ship!"

"Hey, that was easy. Helping him getting out of his bloody clothes, definitely harder!" replied Padmè. "Sex doesn't require much room. But taking care of an injured man? Totally different"

"Takes a lot more space." added Lysveet. "Guys, it's getting late. Why don't we call it a night?"

Aleha glanced down at her wrist watch. "Wow, it's really late. I should go and check on the kids too."

"Ahsoka didn't call for backups, they're fine, don't worry about it." said her brother. "That girl is great with the kids, they never make a fuss when she's in charge."

"Which is rare." I said. "They really need some more space. Some fresh air... they can't grow up in an underground base. Being a slave is almost better than this!"

"I can organize something. We have space at the Lake Retreat, we can take them there for a couple of weeks." proposed Padmè.

"Do you really think we'll be able to control them?"

She nodded. "Sure. If we all go there, there won't be a problem. Also, if we need backup, there's my family. Which means four more adults and two very responsible teenagers. But I dare to say that once they see the place they'll simply fall in love with it and obey every order we give them."

"What makes you so sure about that?" asked Jax. "You've seen them this evening! They can be a handful when they want, from what I saw."

"Just let them set foot on the private beach and tell them that we'll allow them to swim if they behave. They'll be so sweet and calm you'll get diabetes!"

"Many of them don't know how to swim." added Aleha. "I've always wanted to teach them but I never had the chance."

"We'll do it there." I interjected. "I've already taught Luke and Leia, I can teach them too. Just wait until I have the doctor's permission after the surgery."

"Then I think it's settled." stated Obi-Wan. "Once you have recovered enough to have freedom of movement we'll leave. How long will it take?"

"I won't know until they'll open." I glanced down at my own watch. Thirty past midnight. "Tomorrow. But I have an appointment with Dr. Koros later today, so she can perform some more tests."

"Considering the way she fixed your leg, she'll do wonders on your shoulder." he replied. "Come on, let's get to bed. I still have to catch up with the lost hours of sleep of the past few weeks. Let's call it a night and get out of here before I finish that bottle of mighty fine whiskey. Where the hell did you find that? I thought the Empire had put a hold on productions of spirits!" he asked Darrick.

The youger Jedi chuckled. "I didn't buy it. I brewed it. It's the second batch. The first one was merely a bottle I used as a test, but this one is the real deal. Took me a while, but all those empty rooms downstairs were just calling the alcohol smuggler that lives deeps inside me. And that's the result."

"You took the dust off the old family business didn't you?" asked his sister, standing up and stretching a little. "I thought you had abandoned your pursuit of Uncle Garion's illegal distillery?"

"No wait a second, you're related to Garion Kohr? The best moonshiner of the Galaxy?" asked Jax, totally blown away by the news. "I've drank tons of his stuff in the past few years!"

"He's our paternal uncle. And before you ask how we got to know him even if Padawans are forbid to keep contact with family, it's time to confess that we actually did keep contact with mom and dad. And later with uncle Garion." stated Aleha. "And he kept us hidden for a couple of months, when the Purge was at its worst."

"And since mom and dad didn't really want to keep up with his business, he passed the recipe to me. This is actually the first time I try on large scale, but I have forty more bottles downstairs, ready to be opened. But that's for another night. Let's get out of here. It's bed time even for us adults."

"Right, right, someone here is a little hasty."

Obi-Wan literally shoved us out of the empty apartment and closed the door behind us. He locked the door with the proper code and took part of the glasses and some of the empty bottles from Aleha. "Leave the rest by my door. I'll take care of it. You go now."

A quick goodnight and everyone was off to their room. Darrick and Lysveet quickly walked to the lift and were off to the last level of the base, where she still lived. Obi-Wan hurried down the corridor to his room and Jax literally pushed Aleha inside their new apartment, the Force only knows to do what.

Well, not only the Force. I knew it all too well, and so did Padmè, but... you know... privacy and everything...

And I was convinced that I was heading for a whole night of fitful sleep, maybe I could stay in bed till late morning and a nice relaxing day before the day of the surgery.

I was so damn wrong...

I had just closed and locked the door behind me when, right when I turned around, Padmè literally jumped over me, pushing me against the metal door and kissed me hard.

A bit dumbstruck by her quickness, I found myself not knowing what to do for a moment and having to lean heavily on the door behind me to stand and resist her assault, but when she grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled herself up, wrapping her legs around my waist, suddenly something kicked in my mind and I went totally out of my mind. For the next minutes, my brain just shut off, going completely blank.

I didn't know what was going on with her, but I can assure you, I know what was going on with me. The alcohol-induced altered state of mind I was in made me a little slow but catching up was easy. Within a couple of seconds I was horny as hell. More than I had been in a long while. It felt like all the worry and the hurt that had filled the past few days had turned into pure adrenaline. And we had to vent it out, in a way or another.

Sex was our favourite.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her against me while I blindly walked towards our bedroom, crossing the apartment. I bumped in the table and she laughed softly, nibbling at my lower lip with her teeth. I groaned loudly and bit back, maybe a little harder than her. She moaned into my mouth and I swear all I wanted was to take off her clothes as fast as I could and fuck her until she couldn't stand up straight anymore but when I hit the bed with my knees something clicked and I realized that I couldn't just act like everything was normal, just like before we left the base.

I turned around and fell on the mattress, dragging her down with me, paying a little more attention than usual. "Padmè, wait a sec..." I whispered. "Are you sure?"

Frowning, she leaned against her forearms and looked down at me. "About what?"

"This... I mean... can you even..."

"Have sex? Gods Anakin, we had sex the other day and I was already pregnant, of course I can! We can, why do you worry?."

Still, I wasn't really convinced. I wasn't entirely sober, that meant that I processed information a lot slower than usual, but I was also not sure about what we could or could not do. Well, what she could do or not. And I had the feeling she wanted, at least in a twisted way, to please me. I was completely wrong, but, you know... Alcohol... I've never been the smartest guy in the Galaxy when inebriated. To be honest, I'm not the smartest guy in the Galaxy not even when I'm sober so... you do the math.

"Padmè, please, you don't have to do this just for me, lying like that, about how you feel!"

Biting her lower lip, she stared down at me for a long moment. "Anakin... let me tell you a couple of things. First of all, I'm horny. I've been horny all day and all I've wanted to do since you've given me that engagement ring was to put the kids in bed to have you all for myself for a couple of hours. Therefor, I'm not lying. And second, mark these words because it's one of the best kept secret of the Galaxy and I won't repeat it ever again, lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, we lie all the time, in any situation, and we like it. So don't ask me not to lie. I will never stop it. Clear?"

I nodded, barely moving. The way she spoke was so sexy and enthralling that suddenly my pants were even more unbearably tight at the crotch.

"Clear..." I whispered, running my hands on her sides, lifting the hem of her blouse and pushing it above her head. She wriggled herself out of it and I threw it somewhere in the room.

"Good. Now take off your pants and do your job, stud."

And she pulled my shirt open, regardless of the buttons that snapped out of place and flew all over the bedroom. At that point I didn't really could hold back anymore. Holding her by her hips, I twisted us so she was laying on her back beneath me. I didn't answer of my actions anymore.

In less than ten seconds my shirt and t-shrit beneath were discarded and I was working on her tight pants, while she fought with my belt. Suddenly, all the weariness and the pain in my shoulder were forgotten, it was just us. The two of us. Nothing else. No one else.

Us.

Not Anakin and Padmè, two separated entities.

Just us, like a single being, a single "sound" in the Force.

It ended fast. It was quick and rough. No unnecessary tenderness, not even a hint of foreplay. There are occasions when neither are needed. The urgency and the raw need pulsing through our veins were the only things necessary for us.

But as clothes came off and the atmosphere heated, in the back of my mind (the only part that still worked coherently) I realized there was something different in the air. Something different in me. What had happened some days before had changed me and had changed my perception of the Force.

And that drum was back, pounding like there was no tomorrow. And the more she writhed and moaned in ecstasy the more it echoed loudly, like a crescendo that only I could hear. The only listener to such an almighty sound that dampened everything else. All I could feel, hear, taste and see was my wife and nothing else.

And I knew for sure then, as I rolled off of her, with both of us completely spent and out of breath, that the way I perceived the Force had changed forever.

"Holy shit..." I groaned, my voice hoarse and cracked. "That was good..."

"You can say that... wow..." she tood a deep breath and closed her eyes, completely relaxed against the mattress, her fingers still curled around the bedsheets. "I definitely feel better now."

I pushed a damp strand of hair away from my eyes and turned towards her. "You look better too..."

"Yeah... all sweaty and blushing? Don't think so but thank you." she shivered. "Damn... I don't think I'll be able to walk for a while."

"That was actually my goal, I admit it. Hope I didn't exaggerate."

"Nope. Give me a breather and I'm up for round two!"

"Padmè, I'm not twenty anymore... I think I need something more than a breather!"

She suffocated a loud laugh. "Oh come on, you're barely 32!"

"Still, I'm not that young anymore. And I'm exhausted!"

"Alright, I'll give you that. Round two can be postponed to the morning."

"Thank you. I really appreciate that. By the Force I can't move... My back feels as rigid as a wood log!"

Slowly, she snuggled closer and kissed me. "Glad to know we're in the same conditions. I missed this..."

"Me too..." I murmured circling her shoulders and pulling her towards me. "But it feels strange though... how can we miss something we never really had?"

I felt her smile against my shoulder. "It's the idea, I think. Having an idea of something you want makes you long for it. Or at least I think so."

"And I think you're right. Damn, this is perfection... I just wish this noise would go away."

She raised her head and looked up at me. "What noise?"

"It's in my head. It's... it's the Force actually. Something has changed after Dagobah. I've started... perceiving the Force in a totally different way. Or maybe I just feel different about it. It's like a drumming... a continuous pounding in my head like... like a wardrum. And the more the Force whirlwinds and moves around me the clearer I hear it. And believe me, now I hear it very, very clearly."

"How clear?"

"As if there was a drum right beside my hears. I heart it so clear only when I fought against Dalan."

"Must be very strong then..."

"Yep. Not that I mind but it's a little distracting. By the way, are you alright?"

"I'm perfect. And if you're worried about the baby, there's no need, it's fine too. We're both OK. And if you're going to play the part of the over-worried dad for all the duration of this pregnancy I swear that I'm gonna hit you, one day or another."

"You really don't like when people worry about you, do you?"

She shook her head. "Not when I'm perfectly fine and capable of taking care of myself. I'm sorry, I'm too independent to let others take care of me when I'm fine. I don't mind some spoiling from time to time, but not over-protectiveness."

"Then I'll try to control myself. But since you're OK with some spoiling, let me do at least that. You know, breakfast in bed, making sure the kids will do their home work... all that stuff. Alright?"

"Alright. I can take that. But... listen, the other day you offered me answers. How about we use this time for those?"

Not exactly my plan but if it made her happy... "Yeah, sure. Shoot!"

"What happened when you were in prison? From the beginning, I want to know everything."

"From the beginning? Alright. First of all I was arrested. The cuffed me and took me to a transport. I was left alone in the cargo hold for some hours. When they dragged me off the ship, they covered my head with a hood, which they took off only when the entrance door was closed behind us. My personal belongings were catalogued and put into a cardboard box in a deposit, they took all my data then deleted it from every public registry of the Galaxy, literally wiping me away from it, asked some questions and proceeded with an exam to verify that I was in good health. They gave me a couple of uniforms and some towels and pushed me into my cell."

"How was that?"

I closed my eyes and tried to remind how the cell was furnished. "Well, it wasn't big. It was rectangular, with a small window in a corner. There was a cot on the opposite wall, a sink, the toilet and a shower faucet. All the plumbing was exposed, and I used to excercise a little when I was in shape."

I paused for a second. "They left me there all the time. I wasn't allowed to go out, I wasn't allowed to speak with the other prisoners or the guards. When Order 66 was given, I felt the strong echo through the Force. It was strong enough to make me collapse on the right spot I was standing. Next day, somehow I got connected with Vader when he burned up on Mustafar."

"What? How?" she was so upset!

"Don't know. Sometimes the Force plays some nasty tricks on us. The torture sessions started about a month later."

"What did they do to you?"

"At first it was mainly a short, powerful beat up. When I lost consciousness they took me back in my cell and left me there to heal. And start again within weeks. Sometimes they broke a bone and they took me to the infirmary, which gave me some relief because for at least a week I was left alone and got better food. A couple of years later they started with the stress torture, waterboarding and stuff like that. Didn't work either. It only made me stronger."

"Why don't you have scars on your face?"

"Apparently, Sidious didn't want to have another scarred apprentice like Vader. And most of all he didn't want me to be a demented vegetable because they damaged my brain! They could brake every bone from the neck down except for the spine. And they broke nearly everything they could!"

"How did you get out?"

"One day Vader came to me asking for information about Obi-Wan. I realized that, if he had come to the point of asking me about him, after nearly seven years, you were pretty much safe and sound, and he couldn't really find you. I started tracking all the clones in there, to make a mental map of the prison, then faked my death. I pretended to hang myself and then killed a clone to take his place. With the uniform and the helmet they couldn't recognize me. I stole a speeder, drove to the nearest city, stole an Imperial ship and went straight to Coruscant. That's where I found the letter. You know the rest of the story."

She traced the thin line of the surgical scar on my side with her fingertips. I barely held back a shiver of pleasure that came from the contact. "I wish I could turn back time and stop this, right at the beginning."

"Probably we would have never met." I told her.

"Don't think so. I've been around you Jedi long enough to understand that some things are meant to happen. Whether we want it or not, they happen. And this thing about us was meant to happen. We were meant to be together."

"And I could have ruined everything."

"But you didn't." she ran her fingers through my hair. "You didn't, you didn't kill me, you didn't become Sidious' apprentice. You're a good man Anakin, a great father and an amazing, loving, supporting husband, never forget it. We're here and now we're a family, for real, and no one can ever say the contrary."

"Thanks for reminding me that. Sometimes I really need it."

"I'm here for this. It's one of my roles as your wife."

"Future wife, to be precise. And about that... since how things have developed, it's just a matter of signing a piece of paper, we can do it whenever we want it, we just need a couple of witnesses and an officer."

"What kind of officer?" I asked.

"Although we both don't like him very much, Antilles should work. But I can call Bail if you want. It would be a nice chance to tell him how Antilles manages the base and what he did to the Jedi."

"If he can come, yeah, why not?"

"Don't think he'll mind. It's not like he has much to do now at the Senate! I'll call him tomorrow, I think he's home now, on Alderaan. Maybe he can get here before you'll undergo surgery. It won't take more than five minutes, I assure you."

"Then tell him not to worry, I can sign even from my bed, in case he can't rush here."

"You sure? That way it won't be the most romantic experience of our lives."

"Who cares. It's just a formality. We've already had our romantic, lake-side, twilight-set wedding. And even if it wasn't valid, it was amazing. But I'm tired of flashy things. Not that I didn't appreciate the way you literally blew Antilles' head off but really, right now I just want everything to be quiet for a while. I've had enough of adventures and running up and down the whole Galaxy chasing a ghost. I don't want loud, I want quiet."

"I have an idea then. We wait until you are out of the hospital, able to walk around and ready to start physical therapy, we gather the kids and then fly off to Naboo. We won't do anything too loud, it will still take five minutes but at least my family will be there. I owe them at least that."

"That's an excellet idea. As always. And now that this is settled, I've got some questions too, then I swear I'll try to stop with the over-protectiveness."

"Guess they're about the risks Janu was talking about earlier, am I right?"

I nodded. "Yep. What was he talking about?"

"Well, as you said not too long ago, I'm not that young anymore. Biologically speaking, my body has surpassed that line that marks how safe it is to have a baby, both for the mother and the child. Pregnancy is always stressful for the woman's body, even for the healthier person of the Galaxy. We go through radical changes and sometimes those changes can hurt us. One of the most dangerous thing that can happen is high blood pressure, but that can be kept under control with a specific diet and drugs. Then there's the hormonal mess up, the fatigue, the stress... many things can happen and no one can really predict them. And then there's pre-eclampsia."

"Alright, the name itself is scary. What's that?"

"Something so scary I don't even want to talk about it, but don't let it distract you. Janu already set a tight schedule of check ups. First one is in two weeks. You happy now?"

I nodded. "I definitely feel better. But... is it really so dangerous to get pregnant? For you I mean?"

"There are always side effects. Some of them could be deadly. In any woman of any age or species. Pregnancies can kill, that's a fact. It's not that I'm going to have issues for sure, but Janu wants to keep a close eye on me, and I don't really mind at all."

"Hey, don't worry, I understand, and thank you for being so sincere about it. What I'm left wondering is how a trauma surgeon can be so prepared about this. It's not his field."

"I asked him the same. Double doctorate and specialization. Trauma surgery was his first love but he's specialized in treating wounds caused by war casualties, and it's not like Naboo has been at war so often! His mother was an obstetrician and taught him the basics of the job. Then he took a second degree. That's the story. He loves medicine as much as he loves his children. He takes his job very seriously."

"So I noticed..." I murmured. Damn, I was totally worn out and about to fall asleep. And Padmè was still running her fingers through my hair. I was a step away from purring like a kitten. "Wow... that feels so good..."

She kissed my forehead. "Sleep now, big boy. You'll feel better in the morning."

Sighing, I sagged on the bed, sinking a little more. "Alright... just stay here a little more, please."

"Don't even have to ask." she turned and turned off the light. "Love you..."

"Love you too." I whispered and followed her. She pressed her back to my chest and relaxed, letting sleep come over her. I dragged the linen sheet up from the tangle they had formed at the end of the bed and carefully covered her. As I did so, one of her hands grabbed mine and pressed it to her still flat belly. I closed my eyes and smiled, in the dark. "Love you too kid."

Alright, here it is. Hope you liked it. I'm leaving for Slovenia in a couple of days with le boyfriend and some friends and I won't have much time to write. The story is almost over, I'll try to finish it as soon as I can. So... have fun and have a nice August!