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Dooku had finished the preparations for the executions that afternoon when he received a message from Lord Sidious. Dooku sighed before he answered. After the days' conversations, he did not particularly want to speak to the Sith Master.
"How are the plans going, Lord Tyranus?" The sinister hooded figure in the holo asked.
"I am sorry my Lord, but none of the Jedi would comply."
"Lord Tyranus, your instructions were implicit. I do not want to have to deal with your failure. I want Skywalker, and I want Kenobi dead. I will not have that meddlesome Jedi scum thwart my plans again."
"My Lord," said Dooku, "I do not think that Skywalker will be a possibility as long as the other Padawan, Walterr, is around."
"Then destroy her," spat Sidious. "And I want the Senator from Naboo dead as well."
"That has been taken care of, My Lord," Dooku said, "And Nute Gunray was quite pleased."
"I do not care if that piece of slime is pleased or not. I will not tolerate mistakes, Lord Tyranus."
"I believe that if Skywalker can survive this afternoon, then he will be worthy of an audience with you, My Lord."
"I want it done, Tyranus. I do not care what it takes."
Sidious cut the transmission and left Dooku standing alone, contemplating the conversation and what would happened in such short time in the arena. He truly hoped, for Skywalker's sake, that the young Jedi Padawan did not survive the afternoon.
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A short time later, Anakin and Sarah were brought down from their binds, and loaded into a small cart that would take them out to the Geonosian arena. They stood next to each other as they slowly approached the vast outdoor chamber.
"Are you afraid?" Anakin asked quietly.
Sarah looked at him, and their blue eyes connected. "I'm not afraid of death, Anakin."
"Because you're not afraid of anything, right?" Anakin asked with a small smile.
Her eyes looked sad as she stared back at him. "Right," she said in barely more than a whisper.
He tried to maintain the smile, but he felt it slowly slip away. "But of course that's not true."
She finally broke their connection and stared straight ahead. He gently raised both his chained hands and tipped her chin so that they were once again looking directly into each other's eyes. He saw that there was a faint shimmer of tears obscuring the normal blue of Sarah's eyes.
"I'm afraid of loosing Obi-Wan," she said as she looked at him. There was a long pause before she said, "And I'm afraid of loosing you."
A small tear slowly slipped down her cheek, and he gently wiped it away.
"Sarah -" he paused.
They were now standing facing each other, their faces very close. "What?" She said, so quietly he almost could not hear.
He continued to look into her eyes. "Before we die, I just want to know that...that I -" He took a deep breath as he leaned in slightly, but at the last moment, she pulled away, though the look in her eyes told him that it was difficult for her to do.
Her breathing was shallow as she looked straight ahead, "Anakin...no."
"Sarah, please, for once just don't...don't say anything. For once just give yourself to the moment."
She still did not look at him. He took one of her shaking hands and held it tightly. She tried futilely to pull away, but his grip remained tight. Still not making contact with his eyes, she said, "I thought you loved Padme."
Still holding her hand, he said, "I thought that I loved Padme, but when I look at you, I realize that the woman I love has been standing right in front of me for ten years. I -" he hesitated a moment before he pulled her around to look once again directly into his eyes. "I love you."
The moment that she looked into his blue eyes again, she felt as though it was the first time that she had ever truly looked at him. She knew how much he truly meant these words. It felt as though her legs were slowly melting under the intense blue gaze. "Anakin, don't do this to me."
"Why not? You've been doing it to me for ten years."
She stared back at him. "We're Jedi -."
"We're about to die."
"You don't know that!" She tried to tear her eyes away, but his gaze held hers.
Without warning, he leaned in once again, and as though time itself slowed down for that moment, he kissed her. It was a deep and passionate kiss, and though she knew that she should not, she found herself giving everything to the moment. When they finally broke away, both were breathing rapidly, and Anakin was still tightly holding Sarah's hand.
Anakin could not seem to help the smile that spread across his face. It felt like the first time that he had truly smiled in far too long. "Well, if I didn't know any better, I would say that for the first time in her life, Sarah Walterr seems to be speechless," he grinned at her.
The cart then began to move out into the vast arena, where the jeering of the crowd was deafening. They were approaching four massive stakes, but before they got any closer, Sarah looked up at and Anakin, and giving his hand a quick squeeze, she said whispered, "I love you too."
With that, they broke apart, and as they approached the stakes, they saw Padme shackled to the far end, and Obi-Wan opposite on another stake. As they drove past, Obi-Wan could instantly feel that something had happened between the two. "I was beginning to wonder if anybody had gotten my message," he said as his Padawans passed and were unloaded off the cart.
"We got your message and we came to rescue you," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin in disbelief. He glanced from his chained hands, to Padme, and back to his chained hands. "Well, I must commend you on a job well done."
Anakin rolled his eyes as his shackled hands were hoisted up and bound. He looked over at Sarah and sent her a small wave in the Force, which she returned with a small smile. This small exchange did not go unnoticed by Obi-Wan. He looked at his Padawans, "Use the Force," he said.
They both nodded, and Obi-Wan glanced at Padme, who had already unlocked one of her chains, and was climbing the giant stake. At that moment, the jeering crowd fell silent as Count Dooku stepped up to face the vast arena.
"Welcome, welcome!" Dooku said, with open arms. "As you can see, we have some special guests with us here today. But I plead to them," he said, looking at the three Jedi, "that my earlier offer still stands."
With no reply from any, Dooku gave a sad smile, and shouted out to the arena, "Then we shall let the fun begin!" He gave the command as the giant crowd began to cheer and shout, and four giant killing animals began to stomp out towards their prey, small clouds of dust circling under their giant claws.
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A/N: Whee! I had some extra time after my psych final, so I was able to write this chapter. Ok, I know that the Sarah/Anakin thing happened pretty fast (I originally thought that I would at least drag it out over a few chapters), but the more I thought about it, the more I just decided to go for it...and besides, what better time is there for some Jedi smooching then when they are facing possible death? I hope it wasn't too weird or anything, but I've never really written any sort of romance before, so I hope it wasn't too cheesy or heavy-handed or anything. Thanks for reading!