The next time Obi-Wan saw Padme, he was chained up in the Petranaki Arena of Geonosis awaiting his execution at the hands of Count Dooku, the Trade Federation, and the Geonosians.
He had followed Jango Fett here and uncovered a deeper plot of the Separatists as led by Count Dooku, and Dooku attempting to fool him into thinking that there was a Sith lord in the senate. He then unsuccessfully attempted to lure Obi-Wan to join him in fighting the Sith, a poorly veiled attempt to trick the Jedi into the Dark Side. It was a dry, horrid planet, and he had been chained to a stone pillar with his hands over his head for the good part of an hour, subjected to the clicks and hisses and shouts of the bug-like Geonosians. It was very undignified.
As he stood there chained to the pillar, he patiently waited for the opportunity of escape to arise, all the while fearing the message he had sent to Anakin was never forwarded to the Jedi.
What in the world was Anakin doing on Tatooine in the first place? Without his master there to guide him, Anakin was surely acting on his need to go to his mother, to respond to the nightmares he had been having. He felt twinges of fear for what that meant for Padme. Was she left alone on Naboo? Did she go with him to that decrepit desert planet? He was going to have some stern words for his young apprentice once he got out of here. If he got out of here.
The Geonosian leader announced in their native tongue that there were two more prisoners to be executed on grounds of espionage, one of which was a Jedi.
That explained where Anakin was.
The gates across the arena rattled open and emerging from the darkness was the chariot carrying the new prisoners. He recognized his apprentice in an instant beside the white-clad senator. Their faces were close, just pulling away in what could only have been a kiss.
A kiss.
For an instant, he no longer heard the chaotic noise of the stadium, he heard only the noise in his head.
In the time that it took for the chariot to be driven in and the prisoners unloaded with the chains on their wrists, Obi-Wan put everything he had into quieting his mind. Whatever happened in the time that he was on his investigation, while Anakin and Padme were alone together, they had fallen in love. He could feel it. Obi-Wan wanted to trust the boy's Jedi training, that he would not give in to his feelings for her, and it failed.
Now he knew they had indeed gotten his message and he could not help the sharp gaze and tone towards his apprentice as Anakin was chained up beside him. He didn't know if his jealousy was directed at one, both, or neither. He cared deeply for Padme and Anakin, but Anakin was oblivious to his master's feelings for her.
Feelings could wait. The beasts meant to kill them were released.
The fight to escape escalated into all-out war when the Jedi arrived in droves, then the Clone Army led by Master Yoda came flying in. Explosions of blasters and artillery shook the earth, lightsabers danced in every direction. In the heat of battle, Obi-Wan was reminded how capable Anakin was as a warrior, and in moments when the Jedi Master was not fighting for his own life, he had caught glimpses of the synchronicity between Padme and Anakin as they fought side by side, intuitive and compatible.
Then, Count Dooku made his escape, the key figure in the growing Separatist rebellion. There was no room for personal feelings in war, and together, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme pursued Count Dooku.
As they flew after him, Padme was knocked from the carrier. There was a surge of panic, primarily from Anakin as he screamed her name. Obi-Wan, though he felt that pang of fear, knew she was landing on the soft dunes, and there were allies beneath. More than anything, they had to catch Dooku. He ordered his apprentice to focus, but Anakin's mind was distracted, his emotions flaring.
She found them after their fight with Count Dooku, the two Jedi beaten and humiliated, their lives saved by Master Yoda himself. Obi-Wan had been cut deep by Dooku's lightsaber, in his arm and leg, but Anakin had the worse injury. The Sith Lord had cut off Anakin's right arm at the elbow.
Padme found them and ran directly to Anakin, throwing her arms around him.
Obi-Wan didn't resent that she seemed more worried about Anakin. He was alarmed, however, that they so brazenly embraced each other in the presence of other Jedi and Clone troopers. He was alarmed that Padme Amidala, who had been so professional and painfully understanding of the need for secrecy and no attachments, was so single-mindedly concerned about Anakin.
That thought plagued him as they were escorted by the Clone troopers to the nearest assembly area. The battle was still raging between droids and clones, but it was far off in the distance, sounding like a massive thunderstorm. The air was clouded with dust and the smell of burnt metal and bodies. He couldn't dwell on his own personal emotions and concerns, most of his attention towards Yoda and the new problem of Count Dooku's escape. But reports were coming in that the Clones were rapidly gaining the advantage and victory was in their grasp.
They were taken into a medical shuttle for treatment, and Anakin was the first to be looked after. While lightsaber wounds tended to be instantly cauterized, that didn't mean there was no risk of complication, or that they didn't hurt like hell for weeks after. Or months, or years. Obi-Wan could feel his own muscles and tendons burnt to the bone, he could only imagine how his padawan felt.
Padme, too, had her injuries. She had been slashed across her back by a nexu and had fallen quite a ways from the troop transport carrier. Anakin was isolated as the medical droids worked on his arm, fitting him for a temporary prosthetic, and Padme was in her own private medical wing. Obi-Wan, after receiving treatment for his own comparatively superficial wounds, requested admission to Padme.
When he was granted access, he saw that there was only one droid needed to attend her. She was lying on her stomach, her shirt removed so that the droid could access the wound in its entirety. She was well covered, however, for modestly. Her head was turned to the side, resting on her arms, and when she saw him, there was only a faint smile.
There was shame ebbing from her, a defensive but submissive reaction.
So, he smiled warmly as he approached, limping just a little from the searing wound in his thigh. His white tabard spotted with burn marks.
"You fought very bravely today, Senator," he didn't mask how impressed he was. "Although, if I'm not mistaken, you were supposed to be in hiding…"
"If you think I'd stay in hiding while you were in danger, then you don't know me at all…" she was smiling more genuinely.
There was also fear in her. Afraid of him? Reproach about her and Anakin? He knew there was love between them, he could sense it.
"Is Anakin alright?" she asked with an impressively neutral tone.
"Yes. He will have a new arm soon… Though it will take some time for him to train with it."
There were tears in her eyes. The droid was working on the larger slash and Padme winced, letting out a small whimper.
"Nearly finished," the droid said with its programmed bedside manner.
A tremble ran through her, and he held out a hand to her, palm up. She hesitantly placed her small hand in his, and he set his other hand on top. He hoped the gesture would be platonic, but he could not ignore the way her mere touch electrified him.
She knew that he knew. So far, the affection between her and Anakin wasn't the best kept secret. He was willing to help keep this secret for them. After all, Anakin had not been as wholly devoted to the Jedi Code as Obi-Wan. The boy had even mentioned time and time again that he considered leaving the order. It was far too strenuous for him, having not been in the life from birth. But to have an affair with a Jedi was to play with fire.
They said nothing as the droid sealed the wounds, the silence welcome, though heavy. He felt such a need to just hold her in his arms, to reassure her that there was no ill will, that he did not judge either of them. But the idea of holding her was pure fantasy, for any Jedi. Whatever was between her and Anakin, he hoped would pass in time.
Out of his love for them both, he would say nothing. He was accustomed to silent sorrow.
Everything she had fought for in the name of democracy, the vote she was going to take and had put her very life in danger for, was all for nothing when the Senate passed emergency powers to Chancellor Palpatine. His first decision was to create the Republican Army.
There did not seem to be any immediate danger to her anymore, but more than one authority preferred that she return to Naboo, just a little longer until Count Dooku's whereabouts were discovered.
Anakin who was ordered to escort her home, and she was terrified. She was afraid of her inability to say no when she was with him. More than anything, she was afraid of the realization that haunted her since she sat there in silence with Obi-Wan, his hand on hers, and not a word spoken about the embrace that she and Anakin openly shared. The embrace that Obi-Wan had seen.
She knew she had to end this.
Obi-Wan wasn't a fool. He saw them, but was perhaps too dignified to say anything. Or maybe he was too hurt. The thought of hurting him made the shame unbearable, but she could not control how she felt with Anakin. It caught her by surprise and neither of them could hold onto codes or rules. Whatever she felt for Anakin and he felt for her burned too hotly for chains and it confused her.
She had ended it with Obi-Wan already, why wouldn't she be able to do it again? As if it was easy to begin with and didn't eat away at her daily to be longing after a Jedi Master that she knew she could never have, or who would never let her have him.
She enjoyed Anakin's company when he first escorted her to Naboo, while Obi-Wan was off investigating who hired the bounty hunter. Though she wanted to keep the Jedi padawan at arm's length. Sometimes it was easy, like when he proved to be a little less than eloquent in voicing his feelings and went so far as to trail a finger on the exposed skin of her back. It was bold, a thing she knew Obi-Wan would never do. She looked to Anakin with the intention to tell him to stop, to tell him to keep his distance as a Jedi was expected to. But the moment she met his gaze, she was seized in it. The intensity of his eyes and his desire for her consumed her so suddenly it almost made her catatonic. He slowly leaned in to kiss her… and she let him.
She let him kiss her in the way that she had always wished Obi-Wan would—and it was the thought of her former lover that plunged her back into reason and she broke the kiss.
But Anakin was so different from his master. Where Obi-Wan was reserved and cryptic about his feelings or desires, Anakin was honest to the point of overzealousness. She didn't know what to do with such honesty. But in all the time they spent together on Naboo, that honesty was contagious. With Anakin, she was able to laugh, to play, to be more than a politician. It was increasingly difficult to remember things like duty when they were both so far removed from it.
Every time she suddenly noticed the width of his shoulders, the cut of his jaw, or felt the resonance of his voice, she was forgetting more and more that she knew him as a child. This was a man and for the first time, she felt truly wanted.
The wound left from Obi-Wan was still raw, making every advance from Anakin almost painful. So when he finally put it to words and laid his soul bare to her, she was determined not to go through the same hell she felt with Obi-Wan. The secrecy, the distance, the guilt, and the foolish belief that the passionate, stolen moments made it all worth it.
Unlike Obi-Wan, Anakin was not afraid to beg for reciprocation. He was new to love, he was too young and isolated from the world to know how to navigate the treacherous waters, and she tried to reason with him. And he argued, tried to sway her into giving in. He had no regard for the Jedi Code that kept her apart from Obi-Wan, and it scared her that she was encouraged by that.
She began to realize that her strength in ending her relationship before all came from Obi-Wan. On her own, she was weak. She was needy. Maybe even selfish.
"We could keep it a secret," Anakin said.
There was the naïve boy she remembered. Hopeful and fearless.
"We'd be living a lie. One we couldn't keep even if we wanted to. I couldn't do that." Not again. "Could you, Anakin? Could you live like that?"
"No…" he didn't sound convinced. But she could see he was finally accepting her answer. "You're right. It would destroy us."
Something about the way he looked at her as he said it, the light of the fireplace in his eye, made her feel that he would welcome the destruction. And eventually she welcomed it too when she thought it was inevitable, as they were led into the Petranaki Arena for their executions.
There was a change in her when she finally admitted out loud her own feelings, when she allowed herself to be attached. He had her in a spell, and she was ready to give it all for him.
A fracture was made in that spell over her when Obi-Wan came to her in the medical shuttle and reminded her of the real world, his touch comforting and agonizing all at once. It almost felt like he was being cruel by touching her, telling her without saying a word to give up on the complete and unconditional love from Anakin. She knew Obi-Wan so well, though. He did not speak because he had no malice. He was not capable. But she knew how horribly rational he could be, and knew that she needed to be as well. She needed to break Anakin's heart so that she didn't let him destroy his life.
They landed back on Naboo, and Anakin was clutching at his robotic arm, concealed beneath his dark cloak. She knew it still caused him pain, but he was also self-conscious of the cybernetic limb. They hardly spoke a word throughout their journey, though he would smile to her in a way that made her chest hurt. Every time he looked at her, he looked at her as though she was the blazing heart of the universe. He didn't know what she intended to do, but he sensed her uneasiness enough to take her hand when he thought no one was looking.
She intended to speak with him at the first moment they were alone, and the opportunity came when he helped her to carry her luggage to her room of the lake house. All the way there, her heart was pounding so hard she almost couldn't breathe. As he set her cases on the floor at the foot of her bed, she shut the door.
"Anakin…" she began softly, her back towards him, unable to face him. "There's so much we have to talk about..."
"Yes there is," he was right behind her, his natural arm closing around her waist and pulling her against him.
He felt solid, strong, and she leaned into him. "Ani…" She lost her voice when he kissed the crook of her neck. She knew how bold he could be, how he had no restraint, and she felt with a blast of heat that he wanted to take her here and now, and the thought made her dizzy.
She wanted it, but she hadn't forgotten Obi-Wan and his silence. Breathlessly, she pulled out of his embrace and turned to face him. He was so close, hot with need, and her back was against the door now. She made the mistake of meeting his gaze. His eyes burrowed deep into her and she was helpless. All in a moment, she was ready to be taken by him. She trembled when he touched her cheek with one, warm hand. He deliberately kept his robotic hand at his side.
"Padme… Will you marry me?"
She blinked at him stupidly. "What?"
He was smiling. "Marry me. Today. Right now."
He was crazier than she thought he was. This vaulted beyond any carnal fling that she expected it to be. "Jedi can't marry." It was an idiotic response, but she was at a loss.
He chuckled, not a care in the world. "I don't care. No one has to know."
"It won't be a real marriage without witnesses… By Naboo law."
"We have witnesses. C3PO and R2-D2 are perfectly legal candidates."
He was right. It was as though he had been reading up on Naboo marriage laws. "You've been thinking about this."
"Haven't you?"
She swallowed hard. "Not of marriage…" she was ashamed to admit, her eyes falling to his lips.
"Padme…" the way he said her name always made her shudder. "I want you. All of you, all to myself. I can't bear not being bound to you for the rest of our lives…"
He was sincere, as he always was, and she didn't know how to fight it. "But how could we live together?"
"We'll find a way," he said easily. "Marry me, Padme…"
She couldn't find the words when she was pulled into his gaze again. Her mind was buzzing with the argument against the ludicrous idea. When would they ever see each other? Did it matter if it was just between the two of them? Why would she want to dwindle her own world down to just her and him, this boy she hardly knew? How could she look Obi-Wan in the eye and lie to his face?
His smile was faltering at her hesitation. "Say you'll marry me…"
The arguments never found their way out of her mouth. Her mind silenced and all she could see were Anakin's eyes.
"I'll marry you..." She spoke, but it felt like someone else.
He gasped out a breath of relief and kissed her deeply. In that moment, she thought she was happy.
