"Please…" Padme whispered lowering her head, unable to look him in the eyes. "Stop." "What's wrong?" He questioned. "I can't do this she said still looking at her feet. With that he released his firm grip on her back. "Well do you want to talk?" he asked. "Not really." She said as she backed away.

"Did I offend you?" he asked. "No, it's just too fast." She replied, lying. "Oh." He sighed relieved. "I just want you to know that I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and when you're ready I want to be able to start a relationship with you."

"You don't even know me." She sighed. "We've only met once, how can you want a relationship with someone that you don't even know? You can't just want to be in a relationship because of physical attraction, you have to b in love with their personality, their character, their soul…" "But if you give me some time to get to know you I think that you would really learn to love me and me you." He interrupted. "I already feel a connection with you, after we met years ago, all I could think about was you, I felt like I knew you. I've been admiring you for years, your beauty and your intelligence."

"You seem lonely, and I can give you friendship…someone to talk to…someone to love. And I swear that I'll be there for you, I'll listen to you…I'll love you." He hurried through his sentence almost pleading.

"But I have friends and people to listen to me." Padme replied. "Who?" he demanded. "I have my fellow senators, like senator Organa." "They're too old to understand the problems of a young woman." He replied. "Well, I also have the Jedi. Master Windu, my good friends master Kenobi, and…Jedi Skywalker." She said, feeling her heart ache at the mention of her lover's name. "Please..." he scoffed; they could never understand the pressures of diplomacy like I can."

"I'm sorry but right now I don't need to talk to someone I just need to be alone." She stifled, knowing that it was so far from the truth. There was no way she could stand to be alone much longer. She needed to be in her Ani's loving embrace, right between his two sturdy arms, with her head lying gently on his chest as his steady heartbeat lulled her to sleep. She missed being held by him, she felt that they just fit, like a glove, both emotionally and physically.

"That can't be true. You always seem so somber. I know that something is wrong, just let me help you." He said raising his hand to cradle her cheek. "Stop." She whispered, trying not to speak loud enough to start a commotion. "What happened to you, why are you so resistant to fall in love?" he desperately questioned. "Someone broke you didn't they?" "I can't deal with this right now." She cried, one small tear trickling down her cheek. "No, please don't leave Padme, stay and dance with me." He begged reaching out and grabbing her arm. "Don't touch me!" she yelled under her voice, luckily no one heard. The tone was a stranger to her, filled with resentment and anger, the anger driven by this man who tried to take her away from her Anakin. "I'm sorry." She apologized as she scampered away from him, knowing all too well that she wasn't sorry at all.

She continued to walk through the crowded dance hall until she found a long hallway. At this point she didn't care where it led; she just wanted to get away. She started down the hallway until she found the first door. Carefully she twisted the knob and let herself in. It was very dark in the room and she carefully fumbled for a light switch, when she finally found it she saw that it was a large meeting room, filled with dark furniture. She continued to cry as she sat herself down in a large desk chair.

"Why?" she questioned through sobs. "Why can't you leave me alone?" Padme whimpered "How can you try and take this away from me, take him away from me? I love him! How dare you try and take him away from me!" she shouted as she closed her tear filled eyes, letting a few more tears trickle down her pretty face. As she closed her eyes she felt a sudden relief, and she swore that she felt a hand brush her cheek. It was a strange feeling, it felt more spiritual than human, but it felt good, it felt familiar. "Is that you?" she cried. "Please Ani, please." She sobbed. "Hold me." With that she felt a small tightening of her shoulders, and she knew that he was there, his arms wrapped around her. Finally for the first time in months she relaxed, still crying, as she felt her husband reach out to her with the force.

"Padme!..Padme!...Padme!" Senator Organa cried down the hall. She felt so at peace for now so at rest and she heard nothing. "Padme?" he said as he entered the room to see the back of a chair. "Is that you?" he questioned. Finally he walked over to the chair and spun it around, relieved to see Padme in the chair. He then reached out and grabbed her arm, causing her eyes to dart open and her body to jump out of the chair, as she felt the sensation of the force leave her. "Yes." She whispered. "Are you ok?" he asked sounding very nervous. "I'm fine Bail." She replied. "Ok." He said putting one arm around her shoulder as he walked her out of the room.

It felt good to have a friend like Bail Organa, he always looked out for her like she was his daughter. He protected her, listened to her, and most of all was just a great friend to her. She always felt like she should be able to tell him anything, and he though she would tell him everything, I mean that's the way it looked on the outside. They talked about everything, all her problems, at least that's what he thought. Little did he know that she had one secret that she had been keeping from him for two and a half years, one that killed her to live, but she loved living more than life itself.

"I can tell that something is troubling you Padme, what is it?" he questioned reading her like a book. "Um...nothing…well you won't think I'm being ridiculous will you?" "No, I promise." He laughed, but then contorted to a serious face. "Well, I'm worried about my good friend master Kenobi and his apprentice Jedi Skywalker. They are such good friends of mine, I mean Obi-wan is like a brother to me, he took care of me when I was a teenager, when I was Queen, like a bodyguard that I grew much too attached to. I heard the he is in the outer rim, and I'm worried about him." She half lied. "Well," he replied, "I saw the HaloNET the other day and it shows that the battle in the outer rim is going well. Thanks to Kenobi, and young Anakin Skywalker, the pilot prodigy they're calling him now, best damn pilot I've ever seen, and powerful, I tell you, they better watch out because they have some unbridled energy on the side of the Republic, so those Separatists better watch their backs." The statement sent a shiver down Padme's spine. He was so powerful, and she loved it, and there was always something about his piloting skills that she found sexier than hell.

"Come on," he laughed as he pulled her with him to the ballroom. "The Chancellor just needs to make a final statement, and then I'll take you home." "Ok," Padme agreed.

As they entered the room all of the senators took their seats as the Chancellor approached the balcony to speak. The two quietly took their seats, and Padme felt a slow churn in her stomach as she saw Rikan. Luckily her position in the senate had her dealing with stressful situations all the time so she handled herself quite well under the circumstances.

"My dear friends, thank you so much for coming to the Annual Senatorial Ball, at least one day out of the entire past year where we are gathered not to talk politics but to have a good time. We'll be back to speaking about politics tomorrow." Palpatine said jokingly as he dismissed the senators.

"Alright Padme let's go." Said Senator Organa, holding his hand out to Padme, who gladly took it as he guided her out the door. "Well that was quite an…interesting evening." He said, "I can't believe that you left me in the company of all the elder senators, now you know that none of them are as interesting as you." "Well," she laughed, "Maybe that's because I'm 40 years younger than them."

As they reached his speeder, always being gentlemen, Bail opened the door for her. "Thank you." She giggled like a little girl. "Why, you are quite welcome." He laughed back, as they sped away into the night sky.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow to talk more and more and more politics." Bail said, as Padme stepped out of the speeder and onto her balcony. "Goodnight." She whispered back as she turned and walked into her apartment.

"Good evening miss Padme." 3P0 greeted. "Did you have a good time." He asked.

"Truth…No" she replied as she walked into her bedroom.

"Well why not?" 3PO questioned.

"Do you honestly want to sit through the whole thing?" she asked hoping he would say yes.

"Well, of course." He said.

"Why? Why is it so hard to live a normal life? Why does the Jedi Order have to make me…us live in secrecy, live this huge lie?" she sobbed. "It's all one big conspiracy. Tonight a man made advances towards me 3PO, sexual advances, seduction." "Oh no" he cried. "Yes…it's not fair that no one on the outside can be let in, no one on the outside can see our love, and I know it has to be that way, but I can't help questioning it. People, women look at Anakin, and wish that they could have him; it makes me feel great that he's mine, but no one else knows that. It bothers me. He's mine and no one knows it! And now one man could unravel the thread. He could create one huge problem in my marriage. I mean if this man knew I was married, then he would never do this, but he's on the outside and if I let him in, tell him why I can't do anything with him he'll tell the Order, and Anakin will be expelled. Being a Jedi was his dream since he was a child and I can not ruin that dream, especially since he has become such an asset to the Republic, so powerful."

"This can't be happening." 3PO cried. "This is a nightmare."

"I know." Padme sobbed, "I just need to clear my head. Get some sleep."

She slowly sauntered into her closet and unzipped the back of her dress, letting it fall to the ground, around her ankles. She then reached up and began undoing her hair, letting it fall into place on her shoulders and back. Now all that she wore was the japor snippet that Anakin gave her around her neck. She felt content wearing it, to her it was more elegant than any of her expensive gowns, and she felt pleased wearing it. Since she knew that it would be a hard night, she slowly crept back into the closet and grabbed a Jedi tunic that Anakin had left her. She was so happy that he did, because as she slipped on the soft garment, his scent engulfed her. It was incredible, he had his own unexplainable scent, and it was so strong on the tunic, just as it still lingered on their bed. Slowly stepping out of the closet she walked into their bedroom, and fumbled onto their bed, falling backwards letting her hair fall all around her. She lay her head down on his side of the bed and inhaled all of him that he had left behind.

She began to cry as she slowly wrapped herself in the bed sheets. She loved him so much. She always thought herself lucky to have him, and he had made it obvious so many times that he thought himself so lucky to have her. She knew that he held her in some status as an angel as he always called it, and she had always feared that when they were going to first be together that he would eventually realize that she was only human. But he never had, he genuinely believed that she was a goddess, and nothing had ever changed that, she was his angel. He thought of her as something that he got, but didn't deserve, and she did not understand why. He gave himself so little credit, and she also knew that. He deserved so much credit though, the shy little slave boy from Tantooine, had grown into the most powerful man in the entire galaxy. He had always been a good pilot, but now he was the best pilot in the entire galaxy. He was also incredibly strong, so powerful, she not only heard it but she knew it. He was powerful with her, passionate. At the young age of 21, everyone knew that he was to become the youngest Jedi master in history. And she didn't like to be petty, but he was gorgeous. The little blond haired boy had grown into a tall, muscular, young man. And he had the most beautiful face. He had such handsome features, and her favorite were his eyes. They were like two pools of deep blue when he was younger, but as he grew, they became these cobalt sapphires, that set her on fire; they boar into her soul, and burned with passion. And his hair which went from a sandy blond bowl cut when he was little turned into the traditional padwan hairstyle that Obi-wan once wore, but now it was longer, down to his shoulders and wavy. She liked it that way too, she loved running her fingers through it.

Thinking of him made her feel better, but when she reached out to the other end of the bed and gripped the cold sheets, instead of his warm flesh, she began to cry. Tonight, she realized would be like all the others when he was gone, where she had to slowly cry herself to sleep as he lingered her thoughts and her dreams.

Reviews

Thanks so much to all of my fantastic reviewers. Please keep reviewing and I'll keep going. So sorry that it took an eternity to put this chapter up, but I was in the hospital for a fractured jaw.

Coral Candy- Glad you like. Well I'm trying as hard as I can to make it an A/P fic. Thanks for the review!

Hopeless4life- Not to worry, Padme is strong! I would never let someone come in between her and Anakin. They just need to get around this issue with Rikan. lol. Thanks for the review.

ItSyOuRDeStInY- I'm so glad that you liked it, and I would love to know what you think of this chapter! Thanks!

eridani- I know that I ended in an odd place and I'm sorry for the possible confusion. I was in a big rush and had to stop at the last paragraph that I finished. I hope you like where I stopped this chapter, please tell me! Thanks!

milly301- Hey, don't worry, I love Anikan/Padme and I would never tear them apart, they just need to use their heads and solve this Rikan problem.

Vivilp182- I totally know, Anakin is WAY better than Rikan, It's just losers like him that prove how great Anakin is. I'm glad that you liked how 3PO takes care of Padme, cuz I thought that since Anakin made him, that while he is gone 3PO helps take care of and love Padme. Thanks!

Gingin8639- Lol. Your review made me crack up, I'm so sorry that you missunderstood, I had a typo, I'm real sorry about the confusion. No Bail Organa is a man, just like he is soposed to be, sorry for the confusion. Thanks!