Little note of forewarning... The lil snippet at the beginning of this chapter is mostly fine but it gets a little risqué but nothing TOO graphic. I make some implications and there's a point where you do know what's going on without a doubt but after 7 or 8 paragraphs it's pretty safe. Just wanted to warn you.

Chapter 12:

Khariya woke up in the middle of the night feeling a twinge bit uncomfortable. Not her position physically because Heaven only knows a better spot than sleeping with Anakin's arms around her but something was tugging at the back of her mind. She looked at the door and she realized that it was unlocked. She got out of bed and walked toward the doors to the lock them when she realized she could barely walk. She smiled to herself as the soreness in her muscles began to make their selves known. As she made her way back to bed, she heard Anakin shuffling around the sheets.

"No... mom..." he cried out, suddenly snapping his eyes open with labored breaths. She saw him look around the bed to look for her and sat up in fear when he couldn't find her in the darkness. "Khariya, where are you?" Khariya shuffled her way to him and was surprised when she felt him take her into his arms the moment she was at arm's reach. "Khari... Where did you go?" He buried his face into her neck.

"I just went to lock the doors, Ani" she whispered into her arm as she cradled him in her arms. "Did you have your nightmare again?" She felt him nod.

"Except this time, you were in it. I was holding you just like this and then you just got up and walked away... I saw you fall and I ran after you to pick you up but when I got nearer you put your head up and you became my mom... She was on the dirt... and she's hurting..." Anakin explained.

Khariya just held him to her trying her best to comfort him. "We should go to Tatooine..." she said into his ear. "Look for your mother so you can finally rest."

"Padmè... the orders from Obi Wan," Anakin countered.

"Padmè will do whatever you want, no worries of that..." Khariya answered, feeling a stab in her chest when she said her sister's name. "What Obi Wan doesn't know won't hurt him. We'll visit your mom to settle your nerves and we'll come back okay?" Anakin put his head up and looked into Khariya's eyes and then kissed her, gently.

"I'm scared you'll leave me like everyone else..." Anakin confessed into her lips.

"Why would I do that?" Khariya laughed as he kept kissing her, making it a task to talk, kiss, laugh and breathe at the same time. "I would never leave you... I would never even want to..."

"I'm just scared you will," Anakin said.

"Anakin, only death can pull me away from you. I'll be here for you up until the moment you don't want me here."

"I'll never not want you here!" Anakin exclaimed appalled at even the idea of it.

"Glad to know that," she giggled. "Now sleep again..."

"Sleep's not on my mind anymore, my darling Khariya," Anakin grinned...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*

It was already late. Khariya looked around, dazed. It was still morning... She knew that but how late in the morning, she didn't know. She felt so... wonderful. She closed her eyes and turned to her other side. She, then, realized that Anakin was still sleeping. Anakin... the one who held her heart and soul... now he held her body as well.

And without a doubt he held it well last night, Khariya thought grinning. She could still vividly recall how they made love last night... the way his body had gently taken her virginity... how his sweat looked more like diamonds on silk as they dripped down his skin and rained on her as he moved above her... As she remembered the sound of his heavy breathing, she felt herself heat up again. Her hand caressed his cheek as she gazed adoringly at his peaceful face. She rested her head at the crook of his shoulder and arm. Her hand slowly traced every crevice of his body wanting everything seared into her brain. Her finger slipped through the ripples of his chest muscles. She pulled up a little and kissed the area right beneath his ear. She kept dropping her lips on his skin as she pulled herself on him straddling his stomach as his arms encircled her waist.

"My Anakin... My beautiful sweet Anakin... My love... My joy... My everything," Khariya whispered into his ear. Now both her hands went down his skin feeling the smoothness of his stomach... his sides... his hips...

"My princess," Anakin whispered back but suddenly his eyes shot open as he felt Khariya's fingers touch... him. He was already vaguely awake before hand. He was enjoying Khariya's caresses and her words into his ear as she was kissing him. Now all she did was smile innocently at him as if she had done nothing remotely dirty to wake him up.

"Good morning, sweetie," she grinned giving him a quick kiss on the lips as her hands played with him. Anakin gritted his teeth and flipped them over and took hold of her hands and held them above her head.

"You're dangerous you know that?" Anakin said. His eyes were dark from how pure she looked beneath him. "You have this smile as if you're just a child, sweet and innocent, as if you were untainted by politics and violence and sex..." Khariya grinned at the last word. "Oh Maker, I've created a monster." Anakin laughed and bent down to kiss her. Suddenly he gasped for air. "Oh.. Khariya.. Please... Ah.. don't do that!" Her leg decided to finish what her restrained hands had started, stroking him slowly with her knee. Suddenly, a knock on the locked door stopped their playing.

"Khariya, are you awake?" Padmè asked through the door. "Why is your door locked?"

"Oh my... Anakin you have to go!" She pushed him off her and heard him crash noisily on the floor beside her bed.

"Oww!" Anakin yelped. Khariya laughed as she saw him tangled in sheets, rubbing a sore shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Anakin..." she giggled. She stood up next to him and realized that she was sore again. Her knees buckled underneath her and Anakin took the moment to pull her down for a kiss. Anakin was pulling Khariya down for another high but Padmè knocked again.

"Khariya! C'mon!" Padmè yelled through the door.

"Coming, Padmè... You have to leave," Khariya said pulling him up and kissing him at the same time.

"You expect me to leave while looking at you still naked, still ready for me to take you?!?" Anakin said bewildered, running his hands up and down her back. "That's near impossible, princess."

"Fine!" Khariya stepped away and slipped on her nightgown. She pulled Anakin's shirt over him as he reluctantly pulled up his pants. "Now go..." her eyes pleaded with him and pushed him out. He turned and kissed her one last time before heading back to his room via the balcony. "See you at breakfast..." He walked out and stopped just as he was at his door.

"Mom would have loved this view," Anakin murmured. He stiffened. "Mom..."

Khariya rushed to the door and pulled it open.

"Padmè!" Khariya greeted. "Sorry took so long... Got tangled in the sheets..." She gestured to the bed, which definitely held up her lie. Padmè laughed at her sister.

"That seemed like something you would do." She entered and sat down at the vanity. Sabè entered after her and looked like she had the some new gossip to share.

"So who was it?" Sabè gushed. "Who was it Anakin visited last night and never returned from?" Khariya choked on her own tongue as she heard Sabè's words.

"What?!" she stuttered.

"Well, it's all over the castle! Anakin was supposedly spied coming out of his bedroom last night and didn't come back at all... And I know there's something going on between the two of you and him so spill! Who was it he slept with last night?" Sabè prodded.

Padmè paled at the thought of Anakin making love to some other woman than her. She almost dead away fainted at the thought of him and her sister... but then she remembered the way they were laughing when they were at the island the day before... Could Khariya have done this to her?

"It wasn't me," Khariya laughed uneasily. "No interest in Padmè's lover boy." She nudged her sister with her elbow and winked. "So Padmè... how was Anakin at... you know?" Sabè laughed along with her. Khariya walked to her bed and started to straighten it out, unable to look at either of them in the eye.

"Imagine Anakin! The endurance he must have, especially since he's a Jedi... C'Mon Padmè... what was he like?" Sabè replied.

"It... It wasn't me..." Padmè whispered. Sabè hushed.

"If it was neither of you then I KNOW that he must have just gone meditating somewhere..." Sabè said "Because he is most definitely not getting any from anyone else but either one of you."

"What do you mean either one of us?" Padmè asked trying to sound casual but Khariya knew that her sister was trying to find out why people were connecting her bodyguard and her sister together when it was almost common knowledge that she and Anakin had a stronger bond and were more likely to end up together.

"Isn't it obvious, Padmè? Anakin had a crush on you when he was younger but now he's older and a bit more open to choices. There's Khariya who had a crush on him when he came here and now there's a triangle. Anakin has been seen alone with BOTH of you... No one knows whom he wants now though. There are actual bets going around the servants on who he'll end up with." Padmè walked to the balcony and saw Anakin meditating.

"He's outside..." Padmè thought.

"Sabè will you get me some tea please?" Padmè asked. Sabè nodded and walked out, grinning. Khariya saw Padmè staring out the window.

"Do you see him?" Khariya asked. She fought with her self against limping as she walked towards Padmè. Her sister nodded and walked out, drawn to him like a moth to light but as soon as she stepped near him she turned and backed away to leave him in peace.

"Don't leave," she heard him say.

"I don't want to disturb you," she answered turning around again. She looked him over and smiled to herself at the view she had of his well-built physique. He turned slightly to her and replied.

"Your presence is soothing..." Anakin turned away again, feeling the sense of order and control Padmè had and he felt a tiny bit jealous knowing he had so little of that on his own life.

"Did you have nightmares again?" It was a good thing Padmè couldn't see him because he blushed a bright red color.

"Why do you ask?"

"I heard you last night. It's strange because people told me you left your room but I could hear things from your wall, like you were moving around a lot on your bed..." Anakin turned even redder... 'Were we that loud?' But his thoughts wandered again to his mother and he decided to tell her the part of his dream the night before that actually concerned his parent.

"I can see her... feel her... She's in pain, Padmè..." His thoughts went to Khariya's idea last night. "I know that it would be disobeying my mandate for you and that it would likely anger many of those who've worked so hard to retain your safety but I must go to Tatooine... I have to see her..."

Padmè looked at him sadly and nodded.

"Then we'll go," she replied. Anakin looked at her, surprised.

"You're willing to disbey the Jedi Council to let me see my mother?" Anakin asked.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Because you weren't willing to do it for me," Anakin said simply.

"Anakin..."

"It's fine Padmè, " Anakin interrupted. "It's not something I dwell on anymore." Padmè stood there, biting her lip, wondering what could have caused such a change in him. Just two nights before he was so willing to give everything up for her. Now it seemed like he didn't care in the least bit. "I just want to see her Padmè. That's all. I want to make sure she's all right."

"We'll go, Anakin. I'll make the arrangements now." Padmè stepped back inside and saw Khariya dressed but still waiting for her sister to help her with her hair.

"How's Anakin?" Khariya asked.

"We're going to Tatooine... for him," Padmè responded. She stepped behind Khariya, who sat at her vanity, waiting. Padmè's hands worked quickly braiding her sister's hair to a bun with tendrils that shot out in all directions. "You're coming right?" Khariya nodded, silently.

'I don't think Anakin would let me stay,' she thought. Padmè finished and both of them headed downstairs for a meal and to make plans to go to Tatooine that very same day.

~~Writing is hella frustrating when you can barely figure out what'll happen next. Writer's Block. Sucks ass I tell you. Welsh people, read and review please!