Disclaimer: Star Wars and all associated characters, plotlines, and worlds (good and bad) are property and copyright © of George Lucas (aka The Richest Man in Hollywood). This is purely for fan entertainment only.

Rated MA for mature content.

Chapter 3

Padmé awoke again to the unpleasant chirp of the holocommunicator. She groaned and wanted to put the pillow over her head. Beside her, Anakin tossed in his sleep and groaned more audibly. He grumbled out something about Jedi Masters that could wait. The holocommunicator continued to ring and she sighed, untangling covers from an unfitful night of sleep. They were insistent, whoever was at the other end of the line.

Just as she was sitting up to swing her legs out of the bed and fumble for the communicator in the dark, the ringing stopped. She laid back, sighing gratefully. The moment was short-lived, however. Sabé stuck her head in a crack in the door, cleared her voice. "Milady?" she queried.

Padmé groaned, "Yes, Sabé?" she kept her voice low, so as not to disturb Anakin.

"Chancellor Palpatine is requesting your assistance at a meeting to determine the success of the peace talks with…"

She was cut off, Padmé interrupted her. "Tell the Chancellor we will need to schedule the meeting for later this evening."

Sabé paled at delivering this message. "What reason shall I tell him?"

Padmé turned her head and looked at her sleeping husband, saw his mechanical hand highlighted through the beam of light from the door. "Tell him I had too much to drink from the festivities last night if you must. Try telling him I am ill, first." She sighed, averting her glance to the ceiling. So much for sleeping in.

Sabé bobbed in a curtsey and closed the door quietly behind her. Padmé closed her eyes, trying to think only of sinking back into the plush bed, feeling the soft sheets around her. She concentrated on the thickness of the pillow at her neck and the warmth of Anakin's body beside her. But it was not enough, her mind jerked back to the diplomatic discussions that were sure to ensue in the coming days. She was just as certain that she would lose Anakin to another campaign just as soon.

As if by clockwork, another communicator beeped. This time, it was Anakin's, lying somewhere between the door and the bed, in a pool of clothing somewhere. The man would need to learn to remove sensitive equipment from his garments before discarding them! She heard Obi-Wan's voice calling over the tiny speaker, "Anakin, do you read me?"

She sighed and nudged her husband. He groaned, rolling over. "What?" he mumbled into the pillow, falling back asleep.

"Your Master is calling you." She informed him, nudging him once more for good measure.

"Dammit!" he exclaimed, nearly rolling out of bed. He found the communicator, returned the page. "Yes, Master?" he nearly spat it out, annoyed.

Obi-Wan's cheerful voice filled the room. "Ah, there you are. I was wondering when you would answer. We are being summoned to the Council."

Anakin groaned, "At this hour?"

Obi-Wan laughed, "Anakin, it is nearly nine hundred hours, it is not early!" At this, Padmé sat up herself, it was much too late to stay in bed! "They request our presence immediately."

Anakin turned to her, apologetic. She simply shrugged, knew it was inevitable. "Yes, Master." He intoned quietly, subdued. "Anakin, out."

"Obi-Wan, out."

He returned to their bed, drawing her to him for one last moment before their mad day would begin. "I wanted to have more than one night."

She rested her cheek on his chest, listening to his heart beat. "I know. I cleared my schedule for you." She smiled, imagining the things that she had wanted to do in place.

He grinned and looked down at her, "All of it? Perhaps there is still hope." He drew her in for a kiss before rising from the bed. "I will contact you after we meet with the Council, and you meet with the Chancellor. I am sure we will find something to do." His grin was wicked, it reminded her of just what particular things he had planned to do.

But their plans were thwarted, as usual- Obi-Wan and Anakin were sent off immediately on an urgent war campaign- they were certain to find General Grievous. And Padmé was stuck in diplomatic negotiations.

Padmé woke up with a wave of nausea, one that had become all too familiar. She laid still for a moment, knowing Sabé would come to the rescue, shortly. Upon learning that she was pregnant with Anakin's child, she had confided this to Sabé. The young handmaiden had quite a few tricks up her sleeve, and the past week's nausea had been subdued rather quickly, nearly to a functional level.

Sabé came as usual, bringing with her a steaming cup of tea. Padmé breathed in and wanted to gag from the smell. "I still don't understand how this works." She murmured, accepting the tea gratefully.

Sabé grinned and shrugged. "I don't know, but it normally does. But you're not going anywhere until it does."

Padmé sipped on the tea, finding it was not indeed helping her this morning. Which was not a good thing- Anakin was arriving today and she needed to tell him the news. That thought did not sit well with her stomach, either.

She was excited to be beginning a new stage of life with Anakin, happy for the new life that they had created together. But, it would be rather difficult to hide a pregnancy for very long, and she was not sure how Queen Jamilla would react to her pregnancy, how long she would keep her on the Senate.

And she had no idea how Anakin would react, whether he would welcome the news or not. She knew he was not completely against the idea, but she was not positive that he wanted children so early in their marriage. They had not successfully been able to spend time with each other for long periods of time as it was.

Padmé found her stomach lurching and shook her head at Sabé. "I'm not going anywhere today, unless the Chancellor wants the contents of this tea on his shoes."

Sabé nodded, removing her own robe, revealing one of Padmé's gowns beneath it. "I'll sit in on the meeting. You already have your notes prepared, and it is a short meeting, they're not requiring you to speak at length."

Padmé nodded and laid back down. It would have to work, she needed to let the nausea pass enough so that she could handle Anakin when he arrived in a few hours.

I know this was much shorter than I normally write. As I had stated before- this was originally intended as a one shot. I did not plan on having ulterior story lines, I just wanted to test out my own feelings about Anakin and Padmé (I still prefer Padmé and Obi-Wan). I am still working primarily on Depths of the Soul, my sequel to A Search For Wings: Fallen Angel. For those of you that have reviewed, thank you! I appreciate the input.

I will not be continuing this one, as it very obviously ends up with the beginning of episode 3 and I don't feel a reason to rewrite a movie. Thanks for reading: )