A/N: full disclosure, I have not watched even a small percentage of the Clone Wars cartoons, I have watched the episodes in the "Clovis Arc" to understand two other stories I've read. But I don't like the way things played out in those.
Anidala is my OTP of my otps and it was my first dive into the fandom world. I'm getting married in a week and a half and I wanted a better storyline, with a better portrayal of marriage, for my fan-heart.
"You're not going to let me?" Padme asked incredulously? Didn't he know her better than that by now?
"That's not what I meant." Anakin pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to clear his head. He had to think. She always got into his head and he needed to be able to convince her of this best course of action.
"Then what did you mean, Anakin?" Padme leveled the question coldly, fully aware that they were on Naboo's private hover deck in the middle of the Senate chambers. She crossed her arms across her chest.
"I only meant…" He cut himself off. He had been about to reach for her. "Look, can we finish this later, at a time when we can talk as us? Instead of as Jedi and Senator?"
She turned away from him, cheeks flaming, "I don't see that there's a difference. You'll try to control me either way." She sighed. He had a point. She hated when he had a point in logical arguments. She wasn't used to it. "Fine. This session is done in 30 minutes. Then I'll be returning to my apartments."
"Our." He moved into her line of vision as she touched the button to return the hover to its port. "Our apartments." He said softly. He exited the hover as it docked and left her to her Senate arena.
Padme's apartments:
Padme was sitting at her vanity, taking the complicated pins out of her hair when she heard the door woosh open. She knew he would sense where she was and he would come to find her. She was untwirling the last of the clips when he came up behind her and started to slowly massage the tension from her shoulders.
"Mmmm," she leaned back into him. Their argument didn't shake her love or trust in him. It didn't shake how comfortable she felt with him. He continued to gently knead at her shoulders before tapering away to caress her neck and then, finally, leaned down to kiss her.
She closed her eyes and savored it. When he pulled back, she felt the smile slip from her face, "Do the shoulder rub and kiss come with an apology?"
He groaned and flopped down, throwing his hands over his eyes, on the bed. Their bed. As he had reminded her earlier, this is their home together. "How about half of an apology and an explanation, followed by more non-aggressive negotiations?"
Padme smirked at their old joke. "A half apology, huh?" She got up from her seat and sat down next to his supine form.
Sitting up and slowly twining their fingers together, Anakin turned his words over to select them carefully. Words were Padme's weapon that she wielded as deftly as he did a lightsaber, but not with him. She had been furious earlier. She usually didn't dissect what he said and turn it back on him. She was usually more understanding. "I'm sorry that I was trying to tell you what to do." He looked Padme straight in the eye. "You are a fiercely independent woman who is capable of taking command of any number of situations and I should never try to control you." He hastily added, "and I'm not."
Face softening as he gave his half apology, Padme had to remind her self that she was still angry. "Funny, it sure seemed like it to me with the whole use of the word 'let' earlier today." She bit out.
Dropping her hand, Anakin got to his feet and ran his hands frustratedly through his hair. "What I meant when I said that is that I can't stand the thought of you doing this and I will do everything I can to convince you not to." He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes, trying to dispel the coming headache.
Crossing her arms and leveling him with a look that would make weaker men balk, Padme's voice came out coolly, "You can't stand the thought? Because you don't trust me, Anakin?"
His head snapped up, "You think I don't trust you? Padme, I'm gone for weeks at a time. If I thought I couldn't trust you then what would even have been the point in marrying you? Clovis gets under my skin, you know he does it on purpose because he knows I have feelings for you. He just thinks we'd never act on them! And I'm your husband, don't I have a right to be upset at the idea of my wife going on a date with her ex-boyfriend?" He gestured accusingly in her general direction.
Color rising in her cheeks, Padme leapt to her feet. "That is not what's happening. I'm not going on a date with Clovis." She pointed a finger at his chest.
"Aren't you?" He didn't look defiant, he looked defeated.
She was stuck in her spot, anger dissipating as guilt flooded into her. He was right. This was going to look like a date to everyone except her. And him. He should know it's not a date, even if the rest of the galaxy, Clovis included thinks that it is. Still, she felt low for putting her husband through this. "It's for the Republic." She said simply, her voice small, and resumed her seat on the bed.
Their relationship had a very clear dynamic. Anakin wore his heart on his sleeve, emotions always simmering just below the surface, with the ability to boil over in a passion, good or bad, at any moment. Padme was stoic. She was the voice of reason. She was bad a being vulnerable with him, but he wasn't. She was his anchor point to show weakness when he had to be the poster-boy for the war. He wasn't allowed to be weak anywhere but in her arms. Because of this, his confession when he sat down next to her again shouldn't have shocked her, but it did, nonetheless.
"It will look like a date to everyone. He will think it's a date and that he's got another chance with you. And as your husband and someone who loves you more than anything in this whole blasted galaxy, that hurts me. And it hurts my ego because he can give you what you deserve in a suitor while I can only give you encoded messages, hidden embraces, and fleeting nights together."
"Oh, Anakin." Padme didn't hesitate at all to push her hands into his hair above his ear and at the nape of his neck, pulling him to her. She tucked his head in at her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her waist. "I'm not concerned about what Clovis or anyone else could give me. As long as they are from you, I'll take the coded letters and stolen moments together." She pulled back. "But I still need to do this, Anakin. He'll give me information that he won't give to anyone else. And it's my part to end this war." Gently cupping his face, she forced eye contact, "my part to end it and bring you home to me more often."
Swiping at his eyes, Anakin stood again, "So my feelings in this just don't matter?"
"Of course they do-"
He cut across her. "Just not more than the needs of the Republic." He let out a long sigh. "I understand, if I have to. If we went with our emotions, I would have left the Order, you the Senate, and we'd be sipping Nubian wine in a lake house each night."
"As nice as that sounds, we could never truly be happy knowing that we'd run away from our duty." She paused. An idea had struck her earlier, but she wasn't going to give voice to it while she had been so mad at him. "You know, it's not like you have to leave Clovis and me here alone all night going over the data. We can come up with a reason for you to be here. Would that lessen the blow?"
A huge smile spread over his face. "I still don't like it, but the look on his face when he thinks he's got you alone and then I come walking in would be pretty priceless."
Padme got to her feet and lightly smacked him on the chest before allowing herself to be drawn to him for a kiss. "I promise you, Anakin, I'm only doing this because I really believe it will shorten this war. Nothing else could tear me from your arms tonight."