The palace was peaceful this late at night. Only the occasional stirring of a guard, and the click of their boots against the tile floor filled the evening air. Obi-Wan's own steps reverberated through the hallways as he retraced his earlier walk out into the courtyard.
The Naboo moon was full and lit his way as he strolled about the pebbled walkways that meandered around trees before opening up into the grand yard where he and Qui-Gon had fought earlier that day. Obi-Wan once more walked to the center of the arena and peered upward at the moon, sighing heavily, attempting to come to peace with his decision.
He turned his head abruptly however, as the sound of female grunts and the shuffling of feet met his ears. He followed the sounds to an adjacent, smaller courtyard surrounded by low stone walls and trees for privacy and immediately backed himself around the corner of the higher entrance pillar when he spied who was causing the noise.
It was Padmé. She seemed to be going through some type of exercise routine. Clad in only a white, tight-fitting shimmering body suit, her dressing gown had been tossed onto a nearby bench. Her long, dark hair was braided down her back, and her feet were bare.
Obi-Wan watched with rapt attention as her lithe form moved through a routine that vaguely resembled some of the hand katas that he performed as a padawan. High kicks, sweeping hand movements, accompanied by occasional forceful punches, Obi-Wan realized that Panaka's earlier information had been correct. Apparently the Lonessians were trained in combat. What Padmé was performing was an advanced form.
Obi-Wan continued watching as the movements slowed and became more concentrated. He recognized it as a cooling-down period, the steps cycling and repeating themselves at a continuously slower pace. Soon, he could anticipate her moves and he quickly shed his robe and stepped into the yard and then up behind her, copying her movements as if he were her shadow, his hands meeting her graceful gestures.
Surprisingly, she did not falter, and actually leaned back onto his chest, gradually coming to a stop at the end of the routine, her breathing and heart rate slowing back to normal.
What would she do now? Would she repel him as she had done all evening?
He shouldn't have watched her, shouldn't have approached her, but he couldn't stop himself. He had to touch her. He just had to.
Obi-Wan's heart dropped when Padmé turned, expecting a rebuke, but then soared as her dark gaze locked onto him and her hands flew to the back of his neck as she purposefully drew him down into a probing kiss. Initially shocked, Obi-Wan recovered quickly and met the demands of her mouth with his own, pulling her heated body firmly up against him, pressing his need into her belly. A moan drifted across the night, and he couldn't tell if it was from him or her.
And then his mind caught up with his body and he gently pulled back, leaving her looking slightly disheveled and needy, her chest panting with her quickened breaths once more, her eyes wildly disturbed.
"Wait…wait." Obi-Wan pleaded, putting a slight distance between them.
"I don't want to." Padmé responded as she pursued him and reached up to press her lips along his neck, murmuring as they passed near his ear. "I don't know what it is about you. I can't stop thinking about you. I've never felt like this before."
Her lips traveled a tortuous path across his stubbled jaw and back onto his mouth, but before Obi-Wan lost complete control, he forced out his last question, immediately regretting that he had said it, but knowing that it needed to be asked. "What about Qui-Gon?"
Immediately, Padmé backed up, looking confused and startled. "I love Qui. I do. But he doesn't make me feel like this." Her hand went up to her neck that was flushed with desire.
"Padmé." Obi-Wan continued softly. "I feel the same way." At his admission, a small smile lit her features, but his next words wiped it away. "But this can't work."
"Why not?" She asked naively and Obi-Wan felt the contempt for their situation rising up inside him. It just wasn't fair. Not to him. Not to her. And certainly not to the King.
"Whatever decision we make, somebody is going to get hurt, and Qui-Gon is the least to deserve it." Obi-Wan somehow was able to hold onto his reasoning, even though his desire raged inside of him and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and draw her into his arms.
"He'll recover." Padmé responded hastily, before dropping her gaze in shame. "No. He won't." She whispered. "He's loved me all of my life. Even as a child, I knew that some day he would ask me to marry him. I think he and my father had an agreement."
"And what about you? Don't you have say in this? Why did you agree to marry him in the first place?"
"I don't know!" Padmé blurted out close to tears and spun on her heel to walk over to the stony ledge, placing her hands upon it and looking out over the city lights of Theed. "Duty? Protection? Boredom? I don't know! I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I loved him as I should. As a woman should love a man."
She paused in silence and Obi-Wan waited in trepidation. The words were more actually more painful for him to hear than they were for her to speak.
"But then you came into my life." She added, turning to face him, a mixture of joy and sorrow revealed on her face. "And now I'm confused. I don't know what to do."
Obi-Wan let out a dramatic sigh, his earlier decision now firmly resolved. "I do." He stated. "I'll be leaving first thing in the morning."
Padmé's head immediately began shaking in disapproval, but Obi-Wan raised his hand to dissuade her.
"You know I have to. There's no other way. I'll never forget the time we spent together. I wish you well, Padmé Amidala."
Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, Obi-Wan forced a small smile and then moved to return back to his quarters, but was soon stopped by the shrieking call of his name. He immediately ran back to the small courtyard just in time to see Padmé's apparent abduction as she was physically pulled over the wall.