A/N: Please enjoy the next chapter!
The Stormtroopers that guarded the cliffs had finally ceased their patrols, giving Obi-Wan the ability to stalk the cliffs in hopes of catching a glimpse of Padmé. After spending several hours lying prone on the tops of the cliffs, he couldn't see any activity on the inside of the estate, and he noticed about half of the guards with their smokey armor patrolling the perimeter as well. Could they all be gone? Using great care, he reached out with the Force and probed the interior of the estate, desperately searching for his friend. Nothing. Not even a faint signature.
Damn, no wonder why the estate was so lightly guarded, Padmé wasn't here yet again. Where in the hell was Vader taking her to for them to be gone so much? He didn't fly all the way to Coruscant to leave without Padmé, so he would bloody well stay here until he had the opportunity to help her make her escape.
But this was an opportunity for the Jedi Master. He could gain access to the estate and see if he could map out a strategy to grab her once she did arrive back. That was something that was under his direct control at the moment so that is what he would do. After waiting for dusk to arrive, he carefully climbed down the cliffs and began to slowly creep through the wooded area, being careful not to be within line of sight of one of the troopers and also sensing out any sensor alarms that may give away his position.
After finding two, he avoided their detection range and waited for the opportune moment to make it to the estate. As trooper turned the corner, Obi-Wan sprinted at full speed and leapt up with the Force, grabbing hold of one of the exterior light fixtures on the third floor. He propelled himself up to another two floors to the rooftop, where he carefully peered over in order to see if there were any troopers up there. No one. Good.
Climbing over the rungs, he noticed that the rooftop had dense shrubbery which concealed various hot tubs, making him wonder what in the hell a Sith Lord would be doing with such luxury items. He found an access door to the lower levels and reached out with the Force to see if there were any electronic alarm sensors that would be tripped if he opened the door. Nothing. Carefully, he eased the door open and crept down to the fifth floor. He didn't sense anyone on the floor, so he decided to investigate to see what was on the floor and if there was any evidence of how his friend was living here. He carefully began to open doors, finding mostly unused bedrooms and some untouched offices.
Then, on the west side, he opened a door and found that it had clothing and other personal belongings that appeared to belong to Padmé's handmaiden. There were no exterior locks to the door and upon further inspection, it appeared that the handmaiden had made recent shopping trips to the city based on several bags of designer clothing. Interesting, why would a prisoner have the ability to go on a shopping trip to the city? No matter, that was a question for later.
Continuing on to the east wing, he carefully passed a staircase and saw a pair of double doors at the end of the hall. Something told him that was where Vader and possibly Padmé slept. Quietly moving as quickly as possible, he went to the door and checked one of the doorknobs, finding it unlocked. He carefully opened it and peered in, surprised that the Sith Lord had such a well decorated bedchambers that didn't resemble anything like what he thought he would find at all.
Slipping into the room, he closed the door behind him and began looking around for any clues that Padmé was being drugged or controlled in some way, but he found nothing. He reached out with the Force and could feel lingering emotions in the room. Fear, terror, happiness, anger, sadness, longingness, lust, and love. A full spectrum of emotions that didn't make sense if Padmé truly was a prisoner. The feelings of lust could be explained if she was being manipulated, but love, that was something that completely through the Jedi Master for a loop. How could Padmé love a Sith Lord? Hell, how could anyone love a Sith Lord? Sith Lords were pure evil, they didn't have the capabilities to love or be loved. Their lust for power prevented those things, it was all consuming for him.
Carefully searching the room, he opened drawers finding her clothing and a disturbing amount of lingerie that belonged to Padmé. Was she willingly in a sexual relationship with Vader? This couldn't be possible. He went to the fresher and saw shampoos, soaps, and perfumes that had flowery scents. Articles of makeup where on the countertop neatly arranged in one corner. Vader wouldn't allow his sanctuary to become a place of domestication, would he? Hell, even the majority of the deep walk in closet was dedicated to Padmé's attire. Just what in the shit was going on here?
An unpleasant feeling began to develop in Obi-Wan's stomach and that it was Padmé truly was engaged to Vader of her own volition, not because she had been coerced mentally into entering into such a union. But what exactly was the catalyst for this relationship? Surely, she wouldn't just abandon her hopes of fighting the Empire because Vader was a perceived eligible bachelor for her to swear fidelity to, so there had to be some type of connection that they shared in order to decide to enter into a relationship.
Obi-Wan exited the fresher and went back into the bedchambers, looking for something, anything that would give him some iota, some inkling that would explain the relationship. He carefully walked the room, looking at books, pieces of art, and trinkets that were collected from a variety of worlds. Then he stopped. There was a book on the flora and fauna of Kashyyyk on one of the bookshelves. Padmé had briefly mentioned going to the world shortly after her first good will mission had ended a little over three years ago.
When she talked about the world, she mentioned getting into a little trouble with some of the wildlife and had been rescued by a man that she believed to possibly be a Jedi, but they had developed romantic feelings toward one another just for him to leave the following morning. The story never made sense to Obi-Wan as Jedi didn't develop romantic feelings for anyone as attachments of any form were strictly forbidden by the Jedi Code. He had always surmised that it had either been some form of Force adapt or a pretender, but he did recall sensing an immense amount of sadness from his friend as she told the tale. When he tried to press her for the reason for her sadness, she ended the conversation and they never spoke of it again.
What if the man that she had met had been a Sith? But that still didn't make any sense as a Sith wouldn't risk his life to save a woman, unless potentially it was for a lustful reason which momentarily angered Obi-Wan, but even still, a man like Darth Vader wouldn't just be wondering around Kashyyyk ready to rescue a woman in need for no reason. Hell, Darth Vader wouldn't just be wondering around Kashyyyk for any reason, he was a Sith Lord.
But the Republic had been duped by the Sith Lord when then Chancellor Palpatine had recommended that he take charge of the armies and navies to defeat the CIS. They smashed the CIS with relative ease and afterwards the Republic fell and the Empire was born. Vader began mercilessly hunting down and slaughtering Jedi before returning to Coruscant to be unveiled as Emperor Palpatine's apprentice and right hand, retaining full control of the military.
Maybe he was completely overthinking it, but what if this man that Padmé had met was Darth Vader under some sort of alias? That would have given him the ability to wonder around the galaxy undetected, but it still didn't explain why he would have saved Padmé other than for some one night stand that broke her heart, just for them to be reunited years later.
The more Obi-Wan considered the theory, the more sense it began to make to him. There was the possibility, however slim, that the man that Padmé had met was in fact Darth Vader and that the engagement was a natural consequence of them being reunited years later, with Padmé finding out their connection from the past to one another. But still, there was something more that was missing. How could there be love in this relationship if Vader truly was a Sith Lord? There was no reasoning behind it, none what so ever.
Determined to find more answers while he still could, Obi-Wan carefully crept out of the bedchambers and went to the banister for the staircase. Reaching out with the Force again, he sensed for any life or movement on the fourth floor but found none. He quietly descended the staircase and began to similarly open doors finding offices, additional spare bedrooms, and other unique rooms that were of little if any significance in his search. Then, he encountered a set of double doors just like he had with Vader's bedchambers and carefully opened the door. It was a library, and Obi-Wan was astounded at the size of the collection.
What was even more interesting were the ancient texts along the far wall, which were of various topics on the Jedi and Sith. Why in the hell would Vader collect books on the Jedi? Some of the texts, Obi-Wan recognized, others he did not. Some of the books were thousands of years old signifying that the search for them must have been staggering as even they weren't located in the Jedi archives before the Temple had been burned to the ground. Then, there was a large open book on a stand in the library that with a quill and ink to the side. Obi-Wan carefully inspected it and didn't recognize the language at all but guessed that it was written in some ancient Sith text language.
Carefully flipping through some of the pages, he tried to find any words or symbols that he might recognize but didn't find a single one. There was no way he could possibly translate the book, meaning there was no way he would ever be able to determine what exactly was going through Vader's mind when he had made journal entries into the book. Returning to the page where there was last any entries made, Obi-Wan stepped away from the book and made his way back outside of the library. The books on the Jedi were perplexing to him, there was no need for a Sith Lord to learn about the light, it was a power that they felt was entirely too weak to even consider gaining knowledge from. They just knew darkness, nothing else.
Deciding that he was pressing his luck, he carefully made his way back up to the roof top and to the rear of the estate, looking down for any troopers that might be patrolling. There was one, but again he was about to turn the corner. Obi-Wan began climbing down light fixtures until he was two stories high and dropped to the ground. Quickly reminding himself of where the motion sensors were placed, he sprinted to the cliff wall, quickly scaling it to climb over the edge. Having had enough for the night, Obi-Wan ventured back to the room that he had rented and laid down, meditating on what he had found.
One thing was for certain, unless Padmé had been completely brainwashed, this relationship was consensual. Even if he did manage to speak with her, there was likely little chance of her agreeing to come with him as a bond had likely been developed between her and Vader, which would make her forego her previous commitments to the former Republic and newly founded Rebellion. As depressing of a thought as that was, he had to accept it as a possibility. That wasn't to say he wouldn't try and find a way to speak with her, it was merely that he had less hope of being able to retrieve her, making all this time for naught. Damn.
…
Padmé lounged next to Vader as he continued to sleep on their journey back to Coruscant through hyperspace. He had only risen to eat and wash the previous two days, with a quick check in with Captain Piett every once and a while. They had made love once since his harrowing experience down on Mimban, which wasn't exactly frustrating for Padmé as it was concerning. Vader had gone through a massive shock to his system when he faced his own mortality and much of his cocksure attitude had been drained from him, leaving a man that wasn't necessarily broken, but wasn't entirely whole either. Maybe all he needed was more rest. Rest and some food that was nourishing, not this garbage that the navy fed to even its commander.
After skimming through a pad of legislative materials, Padmé stretched back on the bed before placing her arm across Vader's chest, feeling the gentle rise and fall as he breathed in and out. She had been dreadfully frightened when he had told her of the harrowing tale of the damned fission bomb to the point where she had nearly broken down, but she had remained strong as he had needed comfort, not additional stress. But there was only so much she knew how to do, she was the one that was used to being comforted by him. Sure, there were several occasions when she had comforted him since they were reunited, but those were situations where he had been more talkative, more emotional, not just done like he currently was. She didn't think that he was depressed or anything, just that he was completely worn out.
How could a woman take a man who had lost his vigor for life and induce it back into him? She had tried sex, and while it had been an adequate performance, he just seemed more tired afterwards. There had been excitement of the fleet blasting the trench lines of the Mimbanese to hell, thus paving a way for the victory of the war, but that hadn't done the trick either. No, maybe what was really needed was to get him home and get him back into his usual routine of training and going to the Senate. He might find some comfort in getting back into his established routine, maybe to the point where in a week all of this would be like a forgotten dream. Hopefully.
Padmé stifled a yawn and closed her eyes, drifting to sleep as she kept an arm secured over her fiancé, silently praying that he would wake up feeling refreshed and with a new vigor in life.
…
Padmé opened her eyes and for a moment, thought that she was going to be in another one of Vader's memories, but she wasn't. She still had her arm across his chest, and he was still breathing softly as he slept off his exhaustion. She looked at the chrono on the bulkhead of the ship and it showed that she had been asleep for nearly eight hours, meaning Vader had been asleep for fourteen hours.
Shit, she had never known him to be that exhausted. He would rise sometimes after only a few hours of sleep if needed, just like their trek across Kijimi when he had been up nearly all night slaying wampas in sub zero temperatures. He needed to wake up, he needed to rejoin the land of the living, not toil away in whatever dream state he was currently in.
"Ani", she said as she softly shook his shoulder.
Nothing.
"Ani", she said louder, shaking him a little more firmly.
Vader groaned and forced his eyes open. It took him a moment to turn towards her, but when he did, she saw azure eyes, not the fiery orbs of hell that possessed him when he was touching the darkness. That's what she had seen when he had fallen asleep, so what had changed?
"Ani, are you alright?", Padmé asked.
"I'm fine", Vader croaked. "I'm just tired."
"Well, you've been asleep for about fourteen hours and it's time to rejoin the land of the living", Padmé said. "I can't let you just sleep it off the entire trip back home. I know that you're exhausted and what you went through must have rattled you, but you can't give up this way."
"I'm not giving up, Angel", he said as he went to roll on his back again. "I'm just done for the moment."
That took Padmé aback. "I have never heard you utter those words, never", she said in disbelief. "You are the strongest man that I know, and not a person that is ever done regardless of whatever hell you've had to face. You're too damned stubborn to be done."
Vader chuckled. "You're too damned stubborn to realize when someone is done", he said. "Seriously, Angel it isn't a big deal. I just need to rest, and I'll be fine."
"It is a big deal, Anakin. It's like you're a completely different person right now, one that I don't have the faintest clue as what to do with", she said emphatically.
A low guttural sound emitted from his throat and he turned back to face her. "When you nearly get your entire damn invasion force blown to hell, come and talk to me about feeling like being at a hundred percent, but not before", he growled.
There, that was the most life she had seen out of him in the last day. "You didn't nearly get your entire invasion force blown to hell, the Mimbanese did that", Padmé retorted. "You saved the lives of your men along with your own life. Did it end up being a close call with the bomb detonating and killing a pilot? Yes, and that's a tragedy, but you fought through the damned battle and saved thousands."
"I don't make mistake like that", he snarled. "I could have left you alone on the ship in complete shock if the damn thing had exploded before the ship broke atmosphere. Then what would've happened?"
"I would've been devastated!", Padmé yelled. "But that didn't happen. You're alive and I'm right here next to you. I'm right here, living and breathing in front of you. You didn't leave me; you came back to me."
Vader looked anywhere but her eyes for a moment before turning back to her. "I suppose you're right, but that doesn't change how fucking tired I am. It's like my entire life finally caught up to me and I'm exhausted from it all.", he muttered.
"All that means is that you're human", Padmé implored. "Now, come on, we're going to at least get you to sit up."
After giving her a glare that could kill, Vader rolled to his back and then pushed up with his arms, sitting up against the headboard of the bed. Padmé joined him.
"See, was that so bad?", she asked.
"You're really annoying sometimes", Vader said with a shake of his head.
"Now you know how I feel, Ani", she replied, encouraged by his response. If he was able to reply to her in such a fashion, he wasn't too far gone.
"I suppose I do", he muttered. "What now? Am I supposed to get up and go running through the ship to get my strength back up?"
"It wouldn't be a bad idea", Padmé said teasingly. "No, the next step is for you to get dressed and go do something, anything but lay here in bed with me. As much as I love snuggling you, I've been doing it for hours and we need a change of pace."
"Fine", he said as he swung his feet over the bed. "I'll go terrorize the crew, would that make you happy?"
"Well, I suppose that depends on what you consider to be terrorizing, but I suppose it'll do", she replied. "Just don't kill or permanently maim anyone and whatever you decide to do will be fine with me."
Vader scoffed. "I don't kill my men needlessly, Padmé, just women that wake me the hell up before I'm ready to get out of bed", he said teasingly.
He was alert enough to dodge a pillow that was aimed at his head.
…
Vader walked to the bridge in his usual attire, feeling better than he would like to admit at the moment. Maybe the love of his life had been correct, maybe he just needed to get moving again. He stalked to the front of the bridge and gazed out of the viewport, watching the ship glide through hyperspace.
"Milord", Piett said as he approached him. "It's good to see you up here."
"Well, I was driving my fiancé insane by simply trying to rest, so she suggested that I go attend to my duties. How's the crew doing, Captain?", he asked.
"The crew is fine, Milord. Just glad to be heading back home. The Stormtroopers will need to be replenished given the number of casualties that they faced, but other than that, the ship is going just fine", Piett said.
"How did the bombardments of Mimban go? I don't believe I asked you that the other day when I was up here", Vader inquired.
Piett hesitated. "They went a little too well, Milord. We were able to snuff out at least a quarter of a million soldiers across the planet", he said. "No civilian casualties from what we were able to tell, but the bombardments were successful."
"But you have a problem with it?", Vader asked.
"No", Piett said. "I don't have a problem with it, Milord, it was just a painstaking task to ensure that we didn't have any civilian casualties. What I'm having a problem with is that we inflicted so much carnage, but there wasn't even a request from the planet for us to cease fire. They were willing to have their soldiers slaughtered by our turbolaser batteries than throw up the flag of surrender, which just doesn't make any sense to me."
"It never makes sense to me either, Piett", Vader replied. "I'm still trying to wrap around my head how they were willing to sacrifice thousands of their men just to draw more Imperials into the kill zone of another fission bomb right next to the garrison. It's like their culture is dictating that they resist us to their very last person instead of the self preservation of their planet. They would rather turn their world into a wasteland than let us perform mining operations to expand the Empire. Minerals that we need and that we will obtain."
Piett nodded and stared off into hyperspace for a moment. "Does that ever make you wonder if our strategy is correct, Milord?", he asked.
"What do you mean?", Vader hissed.
That startled the Captain. "I meant no disrespect, Milord. But are we going about it the correct way by neutralizing these systems or would we be better off working out trade treaties?", he asked.
Vader huffed. "That's a question that's above the both of us. The Emperor has mandated that we take the system along with all the other systems we're currently laying siege to, and that's the law of the Empire at the moment. I don't find that will be changing any time soon either", he replied.
"Neither do I, Milord. Again, I was merely curious. Either way, the navy will do as it is commanded", Piett said.
"Good, that's good", Vader said. "Alert me if anything happens, Captain. I'll be below decks checking on my men."
Vader stalked off the bridge, irked that the captain of his flagship would bring up political deals versus military actions, but what perturbed him even more was that Piett's logic was sound. It would make better economical sense for the Empire to figure out some form of a treaty with the Mimbanese people rather than continuing a war that would likely last another year if not longer.
What was unfortunate about it was Vader didn't have as much leeway on those decisions as he would like to think he had. Sure, he could start conflicts or stop the ones he started, but if Sidious mandated that a world be kept under siege, he was powerless to protest. If anything, it would earn him an hour long session of being tortured until he learned to keep his kriffing mouth shut, which wasn't an attractive option either. No, the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut for the time being at least and let his troops slug it out on these ground wars. At least they gave him plenty of opportunities to kill without any sort of conflict.
Vader took the lift down to the lower levels of the ship where the Death Troopers were located. He entered their quarters and found most of them to be cleaning their weapons or armor with only a few sleeping.
"Milord", Corporal Eckard said as he noticed Vader.
"Corporal", Vader nodded. "How goes it down here with the men? Has everyone had a chance to rest from the clusterfuck of an operation down on Mimban?"
"Mostly, Milord", Eckard replied. "Mainly we're just getting over the shock of the fission bomb exploding after the Tie Fighter made it past the squadron. We were almost all dead."
"I know", Vader mumbled. "I was there too."
"Of course, you were, Milord", Eckard replied, obviously not knowing where this conversation was heading.
"Well, I am not certain if I foresee any action in the near future, so there should be ample opportunity for you all to rest once we get back to Coruscant", Vader said.
"That would be good, Milord. Thank you", Eckard said.
Vader nodded and left the troopers to their duties. He noticed that Sergeant Alexander wasn't in the quarters which meant he was probably still with the handmaiden, which Vader again couldn't really fault him for. It had been a harrowing mission, he just at least hoped that the young man was being better company to Dormé than he had been to Padmé.
Hell, he never was one to be that affected over a traumatic experience, not since he was a mere boy. But maybe after all these years of traumatic experiences, it was finally catching up to him. Maybe. No, more likely was that he had just let himself become too rattled and he stayed inside of his own head for too long afterwards. The rest of his men appeared to be fine, so if they could bounce back, then he could as well.
…
When the shuttle landed at Vader's estate, Padmé blew out a sigh of relief. Those trips aboard his flagship were always adventurous, but after nearly losing Vader in such a fashion and then having to pry him out of bed after he spent most of the trip back home asleep, it was good to get her feet over solid ground.
She stalked inside, while the Death Troopers unloaded their luggage so Threepio could haul it upstairs for it to be unpacked and went straight to the main living area to kick her heels off and sit down in front of the crackling fire. Damn it felt good to be home.
"Getting cozy?"
"As a matter of fact, Ani, yes I am", she replied without looking up. She heard him pull up a chair next to her and she held out her hand for him to grasp it.
"I apologize if I wasn't very good company on the way back from Mimban", Vader said.
Padmé looked over at him with soft eyes. "Don't apologize, Ani. I just didn't like seeing you beat yourself up to much for what happened. I understand it was a difficult experience for you", she said. "But that doesn't matter at the moment. We're home and that's all that matters. We'll get back to our usual routine and things will feel like we never left after a few days."
"Are you getting that tired of our adventurous?", Vader asked with a chuckle.
"That really wasn't an adventure, darling. It was more like pure fright while you were down there and then pure concern while you slept it off most of the way back. If you have an actual adventure that doesn't involve Hutts, spiders, wampas, or hell even smugglers; I'm game", she replied.
"I'll keep that in mind", Vader said as he stretched, causing Padmé to wince at all the cracks and pops she heard.
"Well, what do you think about being at home?", she asked.
"It's good to be back, but something seems off", Vader said in an odd tone.
"Off, in what way?", Padmé asked as she shifted her body to look at him. His face looked like he was in deep thought, which meant that he was concerned about something.
"I can't be sure, there's just a whisp of something that I detected ever since we set foot back inside that is somewhat threatening to me", Vader replied.
Threatening? There were eight Death Troopers on duty while they were away, how could anything be threatening with those trained killers around?
"That's worrying", Padmé admitted, feeling a bit of fear run up and down her spine.
"It is", Vader agreed as he stood. "Stay here, I'm going to go have a look around."
"No", Padmé said. "If there's something threatening inside of the estate, then I want to be next to the most dangerous man in the galaxy." She stood and followed him, noticing that he didn't object. Whatever it was that he felt, he was spooked.
They took the lift up to the fourth floor and Vader was walking around, touching door handles with his finger. When they reached the library, he paused before opening the door with his hand near his lightsaber. Once he peered inside, he swore, giving Padmé a fright.
"What is it?", she whispered.
"A fucking Jedi was in here", Vader hissed.
"A Jedi? How can you tell?", she questioned.
"Whoever it was, he wasn't good at masking his presence. I can feel where he stepped, fuck, I can even see his hand prints on my journal. If he was here, then that means…", Vader paused. "Shit, he was probably in our bedchambers as well."
Padmé felt him grasp her hand and they quickly walked up the stairs to the fifth floor and down the wing to their bedchambers. Vader again slowly opened the door, and this time swore louder. "Whoever the fuck this Jedi was, he was all over our bedchambers", he snarled.
Padmé stepped inside of the room, finding everything relatively undisturbed.
"Do you see handprints?", she asked.
"Yes, I do", Vader responded. He roamed the bedchambers including the fresher and the closet. "Shit, whoever it was, they were opening the drawers of your lingerie."
That made Padmé's stomach churn. Why the hell would a Jedi be concerned with what she was wearing for her fiancé? Unless… Oh, no.
"It's Obi-Wan", she breathed. "Do you remember how I forwarded you the message from Bail that said Obi-Wan had offered to extract me?"
Vader looked at her sharply and nodded.
"What if he's so convinced that I'm here against my will that he broke in while we were gone to see if it was true or not?", she suggested.
"That would explain a lot, especially how he got passed my fucking guards", Vader growled. "Shit, he could still be on the planet, but I don't have a way of tracking him. I suppose that if I did, you'd be opposed to the notion?"
"I would be opposed in the way that I would just wish he would leave me be more than anything", Padmé said as she rushed to Vader, wrapping her arms around him. "I don't have feelings for him, but that doesn't mean I want him dead. I know you'll do what you have to do, you're a Sith and he's a Jedi, I would just hope that he wouldn't be so stupid as to try and contact me now that we're back."
She felt Vader's arms tighten around her. "I won't kill him, not unless he comes back. But if he does come back, he's dead", Vader promised.
"I know", Padmé said. "I just want everyone to leave us alone. My parents tried to get Rush Clovis to be my savior and now Obi-Wan is trying to figure out if I need saving. If I needed saving, I wouldn't be sleeping in your bedchambers."
"Well, maybe you would need some saving but of a different kind", Vader mused.
"Ani", Padmé exclaimed as she slapped his arm. "Here I am trying to be serious and you're making a crass joke."
"I couldn't help myself, these are our bedchambers", Vader grumbled. "Ones that have been violated by a damned Jedi."
He wasn't going to let that go. "Well, hopefully he found what he was looking for and will just leave us alone", she said, but she knew that he wouldn't. Obi-Wan had been a good friend and wouldn't stop trying until he spoke to her. It wasn't that she disliked him now that she was with Vader, she did miss his friendship, she was just in love with the only man that she had ever loved. That meant more than friendship, didn't it?
"What are your true thoughts on the matter, Angel?", Vader asked softly.
Padmé looked up at him in surprise. "I just want to be left alone", she replied. "I just want everyone to leave us alone. Obi-Wan, the Emperor, everyone. I want them all to leave us alone and let us be happy. I don't want someone who used to be one of my dearest friends to think he has to come running in on some damned rescue mission. I don't want him to be killed and I don't want him to hurt you. I just want you, nothing else."
Vader reached up and brushed a lock of her chestnut hair back. "I want everyone to leave us alone as well", he admitted. He sighed and rubbed his face. "It's been too much over these last several months. Too much going on and not enough damned peace. With Obi-Wan here, now it feels like it's going to be too much all over again. If he does come back, I will have to fight him, I can't let him try and come between us. I don't want him to come back, I don't want to fight him. Not on those terms at least. If it were about the war against the Rebellion, that would be completely different, but it isn't. It's about you and I. While I would kill without a moment's notice to protect you, I know it wouldn't be protecting you, it would be protecting me and my jealousy."
That self admission blew Padmé away. He admitted that it would be about jealousy, not an actual battle.
"Kiss me", she breathed.
"What?", Vader asked confused.
"Kiss me for being so damned honest to both yourself and me", she said, grabbing his robes and looking up at him with parted lips.
That was all it took. Suddenly, his lips came crashing down on hers and she moaned into his mouth. The fatigue he was feeling seemed to have disappeared with those few words from her. She pushed his robes down and he fumbled with the zipper on the back of her dress. They began undressing each other with an unbridled passion, tearing at clothing, tugging off boots, peeling out of undergarments, anything to have skin to skin contact.
When they finally achieved that, they resumed their kisses, which were growing hotter and faster by the moment. Padmé felt her face flush from excitement. Vader, her Vader, admitted that he would be jealous. She didn't want him to be jealous, but the mere admission of it, the fact that he didn't try and twist it into something else, was incredibly attractive. He was showing her his true self and she loved him for it.
Unable to take it anymore she shoved him back in frustration, knocking him back towards the bed. She ran to him and pounced, tackling him onto the bedspread. They began laughing as they tried to obtain dominance over one another, with Vader clearly holding back as if he was enjoying the wrestling match too much. They snuck kisses and nips in where they could as they rolled around on the bed.
Finally, Padmé landed on top, and she put her hands around his wrists, locking him into place. She gazed down at him but instead of him smirking up at her, he was smiling. A full blown smile that melted her heart. This wasn't his usual arrogant self; this was him being completely honest and open. Turned on, but not so lustful that he was touching the darkness to assert dominance over her, which she actually enjoyed, but there was something different about this.
"I love you", she whispered.
"I love you too", he whispered back.
Slowly, she eased herself down onto him, causing them both to moan. She began rocking her hips back and forth, building up the pleasure of the simplistic act. She bent down and kissed him passionately, enjoying the sensation of being on top and kissing him so sensually at the same time.
Padmé continued her gentle rocks back and forth, the both of them enjoying each and every movement.
Vader to his credit was still on his very best behavior, seeming utterly content with the lovemaking that they were indulging themselves in. It was like his admission had set himself free as well, making his intentions known that he would protect what was his for the sake of protecting himself. Gods, that honesty was too damned attractive.
After being impressed at his self control, Padmé gripped his right wrist as hard as she could and rolled him on top of her.
"Take me", she pleaded. "I'm yours, you don't have to be jealous, but take me anyway."
Vader hesitated for a moment, bending down to kiss her. "Thank you for being mine", he said after the gentlest of kisses.
He slowly began thrusting into her, keeping his elbows to her sides, kissing his way down to her neck where he delivered the gentlest of nips. Nothing too hard, just enough to cause Padmé to let out little cries of pleasure.
She felt him alive, more alive than he had been since before Mimban, but in a different way. In a grateful way. An honest way. It felt so good too. She moaned and bucked her hips up against his, meeting every thrust with one of her own.
"I'm not going to be able to last very long that way, Angel", Vader admitted.
"Me neither, Ani", she replied. She could feel his pubic bone rubbing on her and it was driving her wild.
Vader folded his arms underneath her, propping her up giving him easier access to her lips as he began to furiously kiss her while he steadily thrusted into her. The passionate kisses, the thrusts, all of it was driving Padmé closer to the edge. This was some of the tamest, yet some of the best sex that they had ever had.
Suddenly, she felt the familiar tingle spread across her body and knew what would happen next.
"Oh, Ani", she cried as she wrapped her arms around him. She lost recollection of what happened after that as her body began spasming in the most wonderful of ways. She barely heard him shout into the air, or pulse inside of her, but the next thing that she knew was that he had them both on their sides and he was making out with her like she was about to be lost to him forever.
Once he noticed she was regaining her wits about her, he paused and looked at her.
"Was that good for you?", she purred.
"It was wonderful", he replied, giving her a soft peck on the lips.
"Don't think this means that I don't want it rough anymore, because it doesn't, but that was some of the best sex that we've ever had", she said as she stroked his face.
Vader nodded. "Don't worry, I still have roughness in me, but I do agree with you, it was very good", he said.
"Good", Padmé said with a warm smile on her lips.
Damn everyone else in the galaxy, they had each other and that's all they needed.
A/N: If you liked what you've read, please consider dropping a review and following!