It felt so good to be clean again. As soon as the doctor had come back to her room, Anakin had insisted that she needed to clean off. She knew that he had done it for her sake—the smell and crusty feeling of the dried blood on her had been stressing her out—but she suspected, from the way he'd looked at her the first time he'd walked in, that he needed it to be off of her as well. Thankfully, her sister Sola had arrived right at that moment with a change of clothes, so Padme now had a light blue t-shirt on with a sailboat on it, and a pair of black sweats and fuzzy, warm slippers.

Although Padme was grateful for the change of clothes, she did wish her sister was less perceptive when it came to her love life. As soon as she'd walked into the room, her gaze zoomed in on Padme's hand in Anakin's, and a massive grin of triumph spread over her sister's face.

Talk about embarrassing.

Still. Padme was quite happy, if not totally surprised, with this turn of events. She didn't realize that Anakin had felt so strongly for her. They had kissed and kissed and kissed until the doctor came in and had to clear his throat to get them to pull away. Padme kissed him back because she knew now that she loved him, and he grounded her in reality with his presence. But the way he kissed her, especially that first kiss, it was as if he were half-starved, and only her kiss would right things again.

She had thought the kiss on the beach was the best of her life. She was wrong.

When Padme went back into the hospital room, the only one there was Mindy. She tried not to be too disappointed, but she smiled anyway for her best friend. "Hey."

Mindy looked up from her phone and smiled back. "Hey." She said, looking her over with a critical eye. "It's good to see that you can still smile."

Padme nodded and sat back down on the bed. They were just waiting for the doctors to give her the okay to leave. She had already given everything to the police for their investigation. They were supposed to show up at her house to discuss it further the next day, meaning that she would have to email her professors and get the work she would miss from them. "I'm just ready to go home and go to sleep and pretend that this never happened."

Mindy sat down next to her, putting her phone away, but not before Padme was able to glance at the time. 2 AM. Yeah. There was no way that she was going to be able to go to school. "Can you pretend that it never happened, though? I don't think that I could do that." Mindy's voice was quiet in the empty room. Padme wondered where Anakin was. They weren't even together for an hour and all she wanted to do was be with him.

It was pathetic. Somehow, she didn't care.

"Do you know what's sad?" Padme asked.

"What?"

"I know in my heart that I should be torn up about killing someone. And at first, I was pretty freaked out." The doctor had said that she was in shock when she'd come in. She had remained that way throughout her explanation to the doctors, and then the police. It had taken her a long time to get the full story out without repeating the same thing over and over again. She stayed that way until Anakin had charged into the room, looking like a man ready to take on the world to protect her. "But now…I don't know. It's strange. It's like I feel bad that I had to do it, but the guy was trying to kill me. I don't feel bad about killing him."

What she didn't say was that it was like she had done it before.

She was much more worried about that feeling.

Mindy already seemed troubled though. "Maybe the media has desensitized you so much that it doesn't feel real yet. There are studies on that, you know."

"Maybe." She didn't think so, but she didn't want to worry her overprotective friend more than she already had.

"How did you do what you did anyway? I had no idea that you could do that. Did you take self-defense classes or something and you just never told me about it?" Mindy asked.

"No, I never did." She said. This was the other thing that troubled her. There was no logical reason why she should have been able to disarm Finn. She didn't know what Finn's motives were yet, but he'd obviously had at least some more experience than she did. She should be dead right now. Or kidnapped. Or…

She didn't finish that thought.

"I don't understand how I did it," she continued, "One moment, he was about to take me home. He was sweet. He was kind. He's not my type, but he didn't seem like a crazy person. The next thing I know, I have a gun in my face. I thought I was done for. The next thing I knew, though, I had disarmed him. It was so swift, it was like I had practiced it a million times." She looked at Mindy. "But I swear, I never have. Tonight…tonight I was a different person. And that is what scares me."

Mindy shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet her eyes. It was as if Mindy had some answer to what had happened to Padme, but was keeping that information for herself. Padme knew that was ridiculous though. Mindy couldn't explain what had happened any more than Padme could. "Maybe you saw a YouTube video and you just subconsciously picked it up." Mindy suggested.

Padme shook her head. She didn't think so. Sure, she had seen maybe one or two videos, but she'd never really paid attention to them. No, something was going on. Padme just wasn't sure what.

"So. You and Anakin. You're finally a thing?" Mindy changed the subject so quickly, but unlike Sola who would have done it in a teasing way, Mindy was serious…which was actually rather uncharacteristic of her.

"I think so." Padme looked down at her hands. It really was a sudden thing. Perhaps she should ask Anakin about it…but she was afraid. If she mentioned it, would it shatter their blossoming romance? Perhaps it would be better to just bask in the moment and take it one step at a time. Yes. She would do that.

"Do you love him?" Again, Padme was caught off guard. Mindy was always concerned with the amount of guys she could date. She had never heard Mindy ask anyone that question.

"I know it sounds crazy. It sounds like I'm a lovesick teenager who doesn't know better, but yes. I love him." Padme replied honestly. She half-expected Anakin to walk in then. If her life was a movie, he would have. But he didn't. Seriously, where was he?

Mindy sighed. "Okay." She said, as if she were coming to terms with something. "I support you. You're my best friend. What makes you happy, makes me happy." The door finally did open then, and Anakin walked in, followed closely by Sola. Mindy, seeing him, got up and approached him, head held high. He looked at her warily. He knew by now that when Mindy looked like that, she was about to lay down the law (or the law at least according to her). "If you hurt her, I'll find a way to rip your head off." Padme knew that it was a joke, but Mindy sounded serious.

"I basically just told him the same thing." Sola said, amused.

But Anakin didn't take it as a joke. He looked dead serious as he nodded. "I won't."

Padme's heart warmed. "Leave him alone you two," She said. She could feel a blush beginning to flush over her cheeks. "Jeez. You're both worse than my parents."

"Well someone has to look out for you." Sola grinned. "Come on. The doctor released you. I just signed the papers and I'll take you home."

Padme opened her mouth to object. She wanted to go home with Anakin. She wanted to spend every moment for the rest of her life with him. But Anakin only had a motorcycle, and Padme was too tired to go through town on a motorcycle. So she closed her mouth and nodded.

Mindy gave Anakin one last meaningful look before she walked out of the room, followed by Sola. Padme began to follow, but Anakin gently wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him. "I'll see you at home." He kissed her forehead. She wanted more than just a kiss on the forehead, but she knew that if she kissed him right now, she wasn't going to stop for a while. She did not need Sola to walk back in wondering where she was to find her making out with Anakin.

So instead she looked up at him and smiled softly. "Okay. And Anakin?"

"Yes?"

"Be safe."

Anakin hesitated, his grip on her tightening. Before she could protest, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her mouth. "I'm always careful." He whispered against her lips, making her heart melt into a puddle in her chest.

Oh man.

Just as she predicted, she leaned in to kiss him again, but he laughed softly and pulled away. She sighed. "Fine," she grumbled, and Anakin began to laugh harder as he followed her out the door.


"Oh Padme!" Her mother, Jobal, gasped as soon as Padme walked through her door, and Padme was enveloped in the comforting embrace of her mother.

"Hi mom," Padme said, hugging her back tightly. With the next few days so uncertain, Padme was grateful to have her parents with her again. She rarely got to see them since she had moved away from home due to both of their busy schedules, so Padme always treasured the few moments when she could see her parents again.

Both of her parents were in the kitchen. Her father, Ruwee, stood up from the table, his arms crossed over his broad chest. They still wore their office suits, which seemed out of place at 3 in the morning, meaning that they had left straight from their office. Due to being completely across the state, they had opted to go straight to her house instead of going to the hospital as originally planned.

Padme could see the worry in both of their faces. "I'm sorry," she began to say, aware that the door behind her was opening again. Mindy was saying some nonsense to Anakin, but at the moment Padme didn't care. She hated it when her parents were worried. They had so much to be concerned about anyway. "He honestly seemed like a nice guy. I tried to avoid…"

"Don't you dare apologize," Her father sternly interrupted, crossing to his wife's side. "I know my little girl wouldn't hurt someone unless she had to. I'd rather that you were alive than anything else. Bugger the elections."

Padme paled. She hadn't thought about that. Her friends and family, and even the police, seemed to be on her side, but would the media? With elections coming up, the media was analyzing every little detail of all of the candidate's lives. Having a daughter who killed a man in an alley in a skimpy black dress was not going to look good for her parents.

She really wished she hadn't listened to Mindy this time.

"Are you really okay, sweetheart?" Her mother asked her, touching Padme's bruised cheek very lightly. Padme held back a wince. She wouldn't give them more to worry about.

"I'm fine," she said, "I promise."

Her parents glanced at each other, doing that silent communication thing that couples did after they had been together for so long. Distantly, Padme wondered if she would ever get that way with Anakin. Her heart soared at the idea of it.

Finally her dad sighed. "You need to get some sleep. Dr. Organa will be paying you a visit early in the morning before the police arrive, so get some rest."

Fantastic. It sounded like Padme had a rather busy day tomorrow. Sola had also wanted to go dress shopping for the Gala, but now Padme wondered if the Gala fundraiser would help her parents' election at this point.

She didn't complain though. She nodded, gave both of them hugs goodnight, and headed off to her room. She heard Anakin excuse himself to his room, and she slowed her step a bit to allow him to catch up if he desired.

She didn't have to wait long. He was by her side again, his hand intertwining with hers. "Your parents seem nice." He whispered.

"They are," Padme agreed as they reached her door. "They'll probably start asking a bunch of questions about you tomorrow though, when they're fully awake." She had forbidden Sola to tell their parents anything about her relationship with Anakin. Padme wanted to do that herself, and not right off the bat when her parents were still reeling from the news that their daughter had been assaulted.

"That's to be expected," Anakin said as they walked into her room. Jedi, who had been lounging on her bed, perked up when he saw them and bounded across the room, practically jumping on Anakin in greeting. Anakin let go of her hand to get the dog off of him, making a face. Padme laughed and helped him calm Jedi down. "Anyhow," Anakin said once Padme was stroking the dog's golden fur gently, "If I had a daughter, and she was sharing a house with a guy, I'd want to know what their relationship entailed."

On the surface, he sounded like he was kidding, but there was also a sort of wistfulness that Padme didn't quite understand. "Probably," she said. Once she was sure that Jedi was calm, she sat down on her bed. She was sure that Anakin would join her, but he only moved to stand in front of her. Was it too soon for that, she wondered? "And what will you say if they ask you that question?"

Anakin thought for a moment, glancing away as he did so. The gesture was so innocent, so boyish, that it was rather adorable. "I guess I'll tell them the truth." He said, still not looking at her.

"And what's that?" She asked.

He looked at her, his blue eyes serious in the lamplight. "That I intend to court you."

Her heart sang at those words, but he said it in such a way that she couldn't help but laugh a little. "Court me?" she teased, "So formal."

His lips quirked into a half grin. "You're making fun of me."

She laughed, taking his hand again. "Never. It's just that sometimes I wonder if maybe you're from a different time and you time traveled here. Maybe that's why you lost your memories."

She was still teasing, but Anakin lost that grin, and something passed through his eyes that she couldn't identify. "Maybe," He said, but he had lost the moment. He shook his head. "We can talk more tomorrow. Your parents are right: you need to sleep."

Padme playfully rolled her eyes, "Yes dad."

That did get Anakin to laugh again. "I'm younger than you, you know. That isn't possible."

"Only by a few years." She grinned. "Maybe I should be the one to put you to bed."

Anakin laughed again, the sound so pure and heart wrenching, and he leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Padme." He said. Before she could try to kiss him, he pulled away from her and went to the door, keeping mindful of Jedi who eyed the door like he was going to attempt an escape.

"Goodnight Anakin." He threw a smile back at her and left. As soon as he was gone though, she felt as if part of her had also left with him.

Even with Jedi in the room, she suddenly felt very alone.


Her dreams were filled with her carrying a strange gun. Instead of bullets, it shot lasers, and she seemed to always have it on her, for whenever she got into trouble, she pulled it out. She saw herself storming what looked to be a palace. She saw herself fighting robots, thwarting assassination attempts, leading attacks.

She always killed in defense of herself or others, but she still did it so efficiently that it scared Padme. She could feel her real body tossing and turning in the bed, and she tried multiple times to wake up, but she couldn't.

Soon, though, the scene melted away into a new one. She was talking to a bearded Ben in strange robes, but her attention was quickly drawn to the young man beside him. "Ani?" Padme asked in surprise. He stepped forward, and she looked him up and down. "My goodness, you've grown." She sounded surprised…and pleased. Padme couldn't blame herself. Anakin was very attractive.

"So have you," Anakin responded, and then seemed to catch himself, "Grown more beautiful, I mean," He was like a love-struck schoolboy, and it made Padme smile, "And much shorter…for a senator, I mean."

That caused Padme to laugh, although Obi-Wan looked disapprovingly at Anakin. "Oh Ani, you'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine."

Ouch. Even she saw the excitement dim from Anakin's eyes.

And the scene changed again.

She was sitting in a beautiful, grassy field filled with wildflowers and surrounded by gorgeous waterfalls. Anakin sat next to her, talking to her about…something. By the time she was able to focus in on the conversation, Anakin was smiling mischievously at her while she accused him with a laugh, "You're making fun of me."

"No, I'd be much too frightened to tease a senator," His smile was blinding. There wasn't any trace of darkness. He was purely happy, and he looked away from her, embarrassed. She continued to smile at him, enjoying the serenity of the moment. In many ways, this Anakin was so young, so innocent to the real world. She wondered what had happened to make him change…

Don't be stupid, she thought, it's just a dream.

A herd of what looked like a cross between a cow and a giant tick waddled through the field. Seeing a challenge, Anakin suddenly leapt to his feet and ran into the thick of the herd without warning. Padme struggled to her feet and began to follow after him. She followed after where she thought he'd gone, but as she reached the top of the rise and looked around, all she saw were the grazing creatures.

A distressed wailing reached her ears, and she watched as one of the creatures ran and bucked as Anakin struggled to hang on. Normally, Padme would have suggested getting off of the strange creature, but he looked so funny that she began to laugh. He tried to do it without hands. "Whoa!" He laughed, reaching down to steady himself. The creature was not happy, and it ran past Padme, still bucking.

Padme continued to laugh at Anakin's antics. Yes, in many ways this Anakin was still very boyish, and somehow it only made Padme love him more.

With one large heave, the animal finally tossed Anakin off. Anakin rolled, and the animal stepped over him, stopping nearby to go back to grazing. Padme expected Anakin to get up, and he began to, but then he collapsed.

Terror gripped her heart, and the smile dropped from her face. Oh no, she thought as she began to race towards him, he's been hurt. How bad was it? What was she going to do if he was seriously injured? What would she tell Ben? What about his mother?

She finally reached him, cursing her limited movement in the dress she was wearing, and sank to her knees. "Ani!" She cried, grabbing his shoulder, "Ani, are you alright?" She pushed him over onto his back…

And found him laughing hysterically.

At first she just sat there, staring at him dumbfounded. Once it registered in her head that he was teasing her, she smacked his shoulder, about to scold him…

But his laughter was so infectious. She began to laugh too. The next thing she knew, they were rolling over each other in the grass, laughing like children, until they finally came to a stop. Padme looked down at Anakin, her hands on either side of him. If she had control of herself, she thought, she would have leaned down and kissed him. It was the perfect moment. But…

The scene changed again.

She was in that strange chariot again. She had dreamed about this before. It had ended in her getting scratched across the back and waking up still feeling the pain. She suddenly really wanted the dream to be over.

They weren't in the arena. They were being chained up by those weird aliens, and Anakin turned to her. "Don't be afraid."

She looked at him, unsmiling. What she wanted to say was, "Dude, I'm totally afraid, I don't know what's going on and I really would rather not get scratched by the weird cat alien thing again!"

But she didn't say that. Dream Padme was eerily calm. "I'm not afraid to die."

Well. That was happy. And totally not how real Padme felt.

Anakin got that desperate look in his eye, as if he were trying not to imagine her dying, but he couldn't think of anything to say. So Dream Padme continued. "I've been dying a little bit each day since you came back into my life."

Where had she heard that before? Oh yes. Dream Anakin had said that to her, right before she'd heartlessly rejected him.

Now Anakin was just flat out confused. "What are you talking about?"

She didn't hesitate. "I love you."

Well, FINALLY, real Padme wanted to scream at Dream Padme. Took you long enough!

Anakin's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he began to try to turn his body to face her more, but he was prohibited by the chains. "You love me?" He clarified. When she didn't correct him, he turned away with a sharp breath. "I thought we had decided not to fall in love." He looked at her again, his eyes searching. "That we would be forced to live a lie, and that it would destroy our lives."

Obviously Dream Anakin and Padme lived in a very different world. This wasn't Romeo and Juliet. As far as Padme was concerned, they should just get together and live happily ever after. But these two seemed like that was impossible.

"I think our lives are about to be destroyed anyway." Dream Padme pointed out. Internally, Padme added, yeah by a weird alien cat monster.

Anakin still looked too shocked to respond. So Padme leaned forward. "I truly," she paused, moving closer, "Deeply, love you, and before we die, I want you to know."

Finally, Anakin closed the distance between them. The kiss was not the deep passionate kiss that they had shared in the hospital, but it was long and sweet.

"Padme?"

The alien bug men began to move the carriage forward.

"Padme, wake up."

Slowly, reluctantly, Anakin and Padme pulled away as they entered into the arena…

"Padme." Someone shook her shoulder, and she opened her eyes with a jolt, her mind still swirling with the images of the sweet, yet rather strange, love scenes. At first, she felt like she should still be in that situation, preparing herself to fight the strange alien creatures. But when she blinked, she was in her bedroom again, and her sister Sola was sitting on the bed, giving her a strange look. "I don't know what you were dreaming about," she said, "But you kept saying 'I love you' so I assume I interrupted something nice."

Slowly, achingly, Padme sat up with a groan. Jedi shifted in his spot on her bed, not yet ready to get up himself. "It was just a dream," she said, but it sounded to her like she was trying to convince herself rather than Sola.

Sola shrugged. "Well, dream later. Doctor Organa is here." She smiled grimly. "Your busy day is about to begin."


So shorter chapter than usual, I know. But it was needed. I'm kind of establishing their new relationship in this chapter a little more. I'll write a chapter tomorrow that establishes Padme's legal status a little more, and we'll have more Obi-Wan/Satine interaction. Plus, Anakin and Padme need to go on a date soon. ;)

Review! I'm super tired, so I can't remember if there was anything else that I really wanted to say. Oh well. I'll probably remember in the morning. I always do.

Love,

~Sarah