Ch. 3

15 minutes later:

He'd grabbed ahold of her in the bar, thinking he was about to 'woo her' she was sure after correctly identifying her. She'd have rather died than be as bold as he was, ditching the entirety of his friends and hers to chase after her. All she'd done was shake her head, grabbing him by the arm since he wasn't going to leave her alone, hauling him outside with her.

He'd pressed her against the nearest flat surface, aka the front of the building, and caged her in with his arms. If she didn't know him, or know him well enough to not feel threatened, she would have cried out for someone to save her, but then he started freaking out. Releasing her from the confines of his arms and his stare, to do something that sounded like an apology for being impulsive, for grabbing her, for all of it before he grabbed her again in a tight hug. He smelled like alcohol so she was going to forgive his behavior, but she couldn't take any more of his rambling.

"Anakin, stop talking. I have to tell you something…" He ignored her, continuing on.

"I just…can't believe you're here. I can't believe it. I've been wandering all over, I looked… everywhere. I didn't want to tell Obi-Wan, you know, because of the whole bathroom… You know, you were there. Oh my god, I…know your name. You're here!" He smiled, looking like a child on Christmas morning, before continuing on as she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

He leaned back down toward her, and she put her hand over his mouth before he uttered another sound, saying the only thing that came to her now-overwhelmed brain. "Oh my god, stop talking! Anakin, shut up, I'm pregnant!"

His entire face changed, jaw falling open as she removed her hand from his now silent mouth. All he'd done was blink at her, failing to say a word. Padme chewed on her lip, fidgeting slightly with the noise of the city roaring around them. A distant siren, conversations from everywhere, and the distinct thump of music every time the door opened. And yet, the sidewalk in front of the building they were standing at felt like it had fallen silent the second she uttered the words she'd yet to tell anyone else.

His face was still inches from hers, so she casually glanced at him before looking around. That was definitely not the way she envisioned telling him. Probably because in her 'envisioning' she wouldn't ever be telling him. And yet, here she was, accidentally running into her one-night stand, on a 'girls' night' she didn't want to be out at, at a club she only went to in order to appease her friends. Now what? Was it appropriate to touch him? To… she didn't know, push him away? She suddenly missed his rambling on.

"Anakin…?" she said, softer than before. She waved her hand in front of his face a bit.

He closed his mouth, stepping back, fumbling around and she thought he was going to fall so she reached out and grabbed his hands. "Hey, hey, look at me. Breathe," she said stepping forward and turning him around until it was his back against the wall. He started sliding toward the ground and he was far too heavy for her to keep upright so she followed him down, crouching in front of him.

"Uh…um… Uh, what… did you say?" He finally stammered out, taking his hands from hers and rubbing one hand over his entire face. She watched his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard. She didn't know if she had it in her to say it again, the first time was kind of…in the moment.

"I…think you heard me." She reached out and lifted his chin up to look at her.

He met her eyes and then quickly looked away, "Is—is it…"

Now it was her turn to put her face in her hands and groan before looking back. He was staring off down the street behind her and this was truly getting worse by the minute. She couldn't quite find her words, so she just let out an "Mhm," and waited for him to return his attention. Suddenly his face lit up and he directed his gaze back at her, a smile slowly pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Wait, really? You're…we're—"

She put a hand out, stopping whatever he was about to say, "I…don't expect you to want to be involved, so don't feel like you need to say…whatever it was you were about to. I probably shouldn't have told you, you just—"

"What do you mean not be involved?" he furrowed his eyebrows, "Do you not want me to… were you not going to tell me?" He slowly was rising back to his feet, pulling her by the hands along with him. His sudden towering over her felt a little nerve-wracking with his tone.

"I didn't exactly know who you were, I think we covered that?" she crossed her arms. Like hell if she was going to let him be mad at her. "How do you propose I was supposed to bump into you to let you know?" She furrowed her eyebrows back, her tone harsher than she intended. His face softened a bit, shaking his head again.

"I don't know," he said quietly turning away before she grabbed his arm swinging him back around. He cupped her cheek and looked down at her, his blue eyes peering into her brown ones. There was something so intense about the way he was looking at her, she reached up covering his hand with hers and he finally gave her a smile, "This…is wonderful…"

She stepped back, pulling out of his embrace, "Is it?" She stared at him, "We don't…know each other. How is this wonderful?! All it's felt like to me is a disaster."

He stepped towards her, his smile faltering, "How could you say that?"

She blinked at him, shaking her head, "Wh—Didn't you hear what I just said? We don't know each other and I'm pregnant with your…our…whatever. Baby. That we—I— was not trying to have." She sighed, "You're drunk anyway, and I feel like we shouldn't be having this conversation right now." She stepped away, walking back towards the club. She needed to tell her friends goodnight and excuse herself once and for all.

"We could," he said, stopping her in her tracks to turn back around.

"We could what, Anakin? Can't we…please…talk about this some other time? I want to go home. My feet are killing me, my head hurts, I feel like I'm about to throw up, I just… let this go. Please."

"We could know each other," he reached for her hand, and she sighed again before reluctantly taking his as he pulled her back. "I don't want to let it go, Padme. I've been going crazy trying to find you. It's not…planned, okay, but… Do you not want to…?"

She had thought about it, and then she thought better of it. She didn't want to go that route. Maybe it was foolish, and definitely untraditional. It was why she spent so much time racking her brain about how she'd tell her parents, her friends…her job. But not having the baby wasn't a serious consideration.

"No. I do… It's just—"

"Let me take you home," he blurted out. Was he always like this or was it a side effect of all the alcohol he'd dumped in his body?

"I don't think that's a good idea. You're drunk, remember?" He looked around, stumbling a bit. Which was all the answer she needed. "Look, you can't take me home. You can't even walk a straight line."

"Then, let me get you a taxi," he offered. It was a more rational idea, probably more so than anything else he suggested. "And I can ride with you, I should probably go home myself."

She bit her lip thinking over her options, sharing a cab with him wasn't the worst idea, and it was better than continuing to stand out here where anyone could hear them. And most of all – it let her go home and escape all of this. Before she could say anything, though…

"There you two are!" Sabe said, her arm flung around the shoulders of the woman she hadn't actually met before her escape. "We've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Skyguy, you look like you've seen a ghost, what's wrong?" the other dark-haired woman asked. Skyguy? That's worse than 'Skywalker' itself, who was this guy?

"We just… Came to get some fresh air, he wasn't feeling super well. And it was getting too loud in there for me. We were actually about to come back inside, though. He wanted me to hail a cab, make sure he made it back okay. By the way, I'm Padme, I don't think we actually met." She leaned forward giving a small hug with a smile. That was a thorough but vague explanation, right? That was good enough, she hoped.

"Hi, I'm Ahsoka, I work with this guy, and Obi-Wan. Hey, were you at their wedding? I think I might have saw you there…" her eyes narrowed, and Padme panicked internally before nodding, which satisfied her enough.

Padme elbowed him in the stomach, hard, causing him to cough before finding his words. She needed him to stop acting so fucking suspicious, as her own friend had started glaring at the both of them. "Oh, yeah. What she said, Snips. She just… is gonna take me home. Is all. Tell Obi-Wan I'll get him those blueprints?"

"Right. Sure. Got it. You sure you're okay?" She cocked an eyebrow and Sabe gave her an equally quizzical look.

"Yeah, and are you okay, Padme?" Sabe asked, "Are you also ditching us? To 'make sure he gets home okay'?" She used air-quotes around her words before giving a sly smile. If Sabe only knew.

"Fine! We're both fine. Perfectly fine. Everything is fine." Anakin stammered out, doing anything but playing it cool. Ahsoka and her friend both smirked, pursing their lips and nodding. Anakin had wrapped his arm around her, his hand resting at the dip of her waist, adding nothing but fuel to the fire.

"Right. Okay. Well, you kids have fun then, on your ride home. And… you know… be safe!" Sabe winked, her and the other woman laughing as they turned back toward the entrance. Being pregnant was not the worst thing happening in her life anymore, it was definitely this conversation instead.

3 Hours Later:

She hadn't laughed so hard, maybe in her entire life. Their cab ride had gone over great – if the definition of great was fumbling around with a drunk man who could hardly remember his address and had lost his wallet, generating a ridiculously high cab fare. Luckily for him, she called Rabe and they were still there – why they were still out, she didn't want to know, and she had plenty of money to cover their way. The cab driver still was less than pleased driving them around while he tried to figure out where he was and how to get home, so she finally just relented and had them both dropped off at her apartment. She, against her better judgment – which was a theme here with Anakin – told Sabe as much, that he'd be there in case any of his friends went looking or asking. Sabe gave her a lecture about taking home 'strange men' and normally she'd whole-heartedly agree, but this wasn't exactly 'normal' in any sense.

And besides, there was something about him, almost magnetic, that drew her to him, and he oddly made her feel safe. Even when he was crowding her at her apartment door, blocking the light and making it harder to fumble with her keys. What are you doing taking him home? She wished she had an answer for herself. She was all over the place and she didn't know whether she could blame it on the hormones or not – but she would for now.

He spent most of his time telling outrageous tales only a drunk person could, like his spring break trip to Panama City in college where he apparently threw up over a balcony and made the news. Or a freak accident on a zipline in Jamaica where he had nearly lost his arm when his bone snapped in two. She didn't know whether she really believed him, but some of them were too embarrassing to be something someone would want to lie about. Especially to impress someone – which felt like a goal of his. And above all else, drunk minds spoke sober thoughts.

"Let me see," he reached toward her, his eyes hanging low and heavy. He had to be exhausted but he wasn't done tormenting her.

She pushed his hand away as he sprawled across her bed, "No, I think it's in my head anyway. There's nothing to see, it's just my pants are a little tighter. And I had to give up a couple tight dresses." She felt like she'd doubled in size overnight, probably from bloating, but since her friends were still trying to get her to drink and give her 'safe sex' advice she had to assume they hadn't noticed any difference at all.

"If there's nothing to see, then why can't I?" He mused, humming before laughing again. He army crawled toward her pillows, looking absolutely stupid. How was this the father of her future child. He was a child.

"Because… it feels weird…" She couldn't help smiling at him as he flopped down beside her, making the bed bounce. She played with the hemline of her shirt, hesitant to show him her stomach despite the last thirty minutes of him pleading and her giving him every reason she could come up with.

"Padme…" He pointed at her – sort of, more off to the side – his eyes nearly closed, and a smile plastered on his face, "You shook your naked ass at me in a bathroom at a wedding and now you don't want me to see your stomach? How is that the weird part of all this?"

She blushed, her eyes going wide. "Anakin!" Okay, maybe he did have a point. She just felt…oddly self-conscious. That was totally different from this. That was powered by vodka, this was powered only by her sober mind, and a few racing hormones. "Fine. But your eyes aren't even open so if I show you now, I'm not doing it again just because you won't remember tomorrow."

He nodded, nuzzling his face against the pillow. There wasn't a chance he was going to remember any of this in the morning, so what the hell. "Give me your hand then, but I promise you're not going to notice anything."

He reached his hand out, eyes still closed. She was pretty sure he would be snoring at any moment. She laid back, almost flat, and raised her shirt toward her chest. Taking his hand, she ran it down her belly, settling it lower between her hips. He didn't move, or make a sound, so she glanced over at him to find him dead asleep, his jaw slackened. She shook her head. She knew he'd never last.

Everything about this was insane – from the second she saw him, to right now as she laid beside him, appreciating the warmth radiating off his chest and from his palm that sent unnecessary goosebumps across her skin. And still something about it all felt… right. Adding to the insanity. He had a boyish, playful quality about him, though looking at him now she started to wonder how old he actually was. Especially after listening to his 'college days' stories that seemed to be from the not-so-distant past. Just add that to the list of questions she'd need answers to, eventually.

Right now, she couldn't seem to tear her gaze away from his sleeping form. She felt like a ball of emotions, not sure if she wanted to cry, scream, or kiss him – that she was definitely blaming on the baby. She reached over, brushing a stray curl away from his face and taking a moment to trace a finger down his cheek, causing his mouth to twitch a little as he stretched and wrapped his arm around her pulling her into his chest. Well, that's what she got for getting a little too curious. She turned as best she could under the weight of his heavy arm now draped across her. As much as she should probably squirm away right now, she instead curled herself up against him, relishing in the heat of his bare chest.

Maybe he was as nice as he seemed. Satine would definitely know more, so she was back to the drawing board of seeing how soon she could get the inside scoop. But not before she soaked in this one night. Tomorrow everything could easily fall apart right before her eyes, so tonight she just wanted to let herself relax, falling asleep to the rhythm of his heartbeat, thumping against her cheek.