Disclaimer: I don't own anything Star Wars.

To Guest: Oh man! I loved the review you left on the last chapter, about the room of destruction. It's 100% something Rae would do. Particularly if they'd hurt someone she actually cared about. Once I get The Phantasm Chronicles started you'll see more of Shiva and why that mindset coming out to play means a Bad Time for whoever brought it out. Among other things. Full disclosure, The Phantasm Chronicles is a good part of the reason I've been slow getting updates out. So many ideas, so little time~!

Time-line: 3 years, 8 months after Naboo

Chapter 24: Aftermath of The Closet Game

Rae was pleased. Obi-Wan had messaged her earlier that he was bringing Anakin over for their semi-monthly dinner that night and Padme had dropped by to visit. A perfect time to see the two youngest interact for possibly the first time since she'd trapped them in the dinning room. She wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but she had a feeling it would be entertaining. She was just pulling the roast from the oven when the door chimed. Padme looked up curiously while Rae zipped over to open the door. "Obi! Ani! Good to see you, good to see you! Please, come in!" Rae greeted, waving the Jedi into her apartment.

"I informed you we were coming," Obi-Wan said mildly. Rae chuckled and shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm excitable," she said before zipping back into the kitchen.

"She's been behaving like a child high on sugar since I arrived," Padme informed the Jedi from the couch. Judging from her relaxed clothing, loose nerf-tail, and gently steaming mug, the young Queen had been at the apartment for a while. Anakin sighed as he sat on one of the Meditation Pillows, crossing his legs in front of him.

"Probably because your visit overlapped with ours," he said. "She did trap the two of us in the dinning room alone the last time."

"Indeed," Padme remarked dryly. "Think she's waiting for us to talk about that crush of yours and my reaction to it?" Anakin shrugged.

"Maybe? Honestly, I will never be able to understand what goes on inside her head," he answered. Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head a little, as he claimed the other end of the couch.

"As long as she doesn't subject you to fanfiction," he said with a shudder. Anakin hid his smirk behind the tea that... he stopped and blinked in confusion.

"When did this tea get here?" he asked, staring at the mug in his hand. Obi-Wan blinked, looked down at the warmth in his hands, then blinked again upon seeing a similar mug in his own hands.

"I... don't remember picking this up," he said, setting the tea down on the fairly nice coffee table. Padme chuckled, sipping from her own mug.

"As I said, Rae's been acting like a child high on sugar for some time now. And you know how she is about tea." Anakin nodded.

"Yeah, she's almost as bad as Obi-Wan. But, Obi-Wan doesn't stealth mugs of it into my hands. I knew she was fast and sneaky but... this is rather impressive," he said, sipping his tea.

"Obi-Wan has gotten to you," Padme remarked lightly. Anakin quirked a questioning eyebrow at her. "Oh yes, you're picking up his mannerisms as well as his vocabulary." Anakin shrugged and sipped at his tea.

"I don't see how that could be a bad thing," he said. "Even Rae regards him as the greatest man she's ever met." Obi-Wan nearly choked and Anakin just smiled.

"Did you have to mention that?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Why Sensei~! I was defending you~!" Anakin protested dramatically, even going so far as to place a hand over his heart and widen his eyes dramatically.

"Ah~! He's learned dramatic sarcasm~! I'm so proud," Rae said, carrying out the roast. Anakin grinned at her while Obi-Wan moaned.

"Of course you'd teach him that," he said softly, though they could all see a smile tugging at his lips. Rae laughed.

"Oh, I didn't teach him!" she corrected. "I'm darn proud of him, but I did not teach him."

"He picked it up from you," Obi-Wan insisted, moving toward the table. Rae hummed as she went back into the kitchen.

"Could have just as easily gotten it from you, oh Master of Trolling," she called, re-emerging a moment later with a bowl of green beans.

"Master of Trolling?" Obi-Wan questioned, following the woman on her way back to the kitchen and grabbing the bowl of fruit. Rae nodded and he shook his head. "I thought Master Yoda was the Troll."

"Oh he is, but 'Master of Trolling' was a title given to you by fans of the franchise," Rae answered. "How did Satine put it? 'The collection of half-truths and hyperbole that is Obi-Wan Kenobi'? Rather poetic if you ask me. Fitting for one known as The Negotiator." Obi-Wan shook his head once more as he set the bowl down and took his seat.

"It's always odd hearing you talk about what has yet to pass," he said. Rae just grinned and set about carving the roast.

/*/

Obi-Wan observed the easy conversation around the table and basked in it. "Good to see you talking normally, Padme. When you didn't come back after that last dinner I was a little worried," their host said, passing out the cups. Padme blinked at her, puzzled, before Anakin made an odd choking sound. Obi-Wan could feel his Denshi's embarrassment as he avoided looking at the young Queen, face red and drinking slowly from his cup. It seemed the Queen remembered something from the last time they'd talked because she grew embarrassed and looked away as well.

"It was all your fault," she muttered. Rae grinned like the cat that got the cream.

"Sorry, not sorry~!" she sang. Both of them gave her flat looks.

"I'm twelve going on thirteen," Anakin said blankly.

"And I'm seventeen going on eighteen," Padme added.

"Your point?" Rae asked.

"I'm too young to honestly consider dating, even if I wasn't a Jedi," Anakin said.

"And I'm just too old for him," Padme pointed out. Rae sighed and set her cutlery down.

"Right now, yes. In a few years? Well. There's only five years between the two of you. By the time Anakin would be of an age to start dating, the age gap would be acceptable. But that's not what I'm trying to get at... though it is amusing to tease the two of you," she said, smiling at them with that sharp edge she usually reserved for the card table. "Really, I just want you two to get to know each other without childhood infatuation coloring your perception. If you decide, several years from now, that you want to pursue something more than friendship, let it be a natural relationship. That's all I'm asking. It was one of the main gripes people had about the prequel trilogy and honestly... I can understand where the haters were coming from. In the movies, you two didn't see each other for ten years and then, when you saw each other again, it was instant love based on interactions from ten years previous. Very unrealistic and kind of unhealthy." Obi-Wan gave her a look and she sighed heavily. "Look, I'm sorry to say it, but all of you are Shatterpoints. Pivotal figures who can change the course of the future, for better or for worse. Obi-Wan is not quite as pivotal as you two, but that's a near thing considering how close he is to you two. And part of your importance is the relationships between you. Can the galaxy survive without Anakin and Padme being partners? Possibly, but I honestly don't think the galaxy could survive the two of you being at odds. And either of you being at odds with Obi-Wan? Same outcome." Anakin shared a look with his Sensei before glancing at Padme. The politician sighed and drooped slightly over her steaming cup.

"I hate when you get like this, Rae," she moaned. Rae shrugged and drank from her own cup.

"Yeah, I know," she said mournfully, eyes trailing over three of the most important people in her life. "I know." Anakin sighed deeply and looked to Padme. She returned it and the pair sighed and set down their own cutlery.

"I still think you're amazing and beautiful, but you're also Human. You have fears and you can fail. You're going to need support, even outside of the Senate, to make a real difference. I want to be that support, not because Rae says I should but because you're important to me. You were one of the first people to see me as Anakin and not a slave. Even now, you're one of a few people who see me as Anakin and not 'that slave boy' or 'the Chosen One' or anything like that. To you, I'm not some defective Jedi or ticking time bomb and I don't want to loose that," he said. Rae nodded and Obi-Wan felt something in his chest twang at the emotion on his apprentice's face. Padme sighed, then smiled at the young Jedi.

"I still see the bright, eager little boy from Tatooine when I look at you, but I can see the wonderful Jedi you're growing into. You're just as Human as I am, with all the fears and insecurities that come with it. I'm not the only one who's going to need outside support and while Rae is here more often for you... I want to support you too. Not because the Jedi say you're this Chosen One or Rae says you're a Shatterpoint, but because I can still see that scared little boy shaking in the cold of my starcruiser. You've certainly grown since then, but I can't forget it," she said. Anakin nodded and gave her a wry smile.

"Well. Thank you for the honest assessment," he said. Padme inclined her head toward him in an informal bow.

"And you as well, Anakin," she said. Rae huffed out a sigh, but apparently decided to take what she could get as she remained silent. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way... Rae, what were you planning next?" The baker hummed, taking a bite of her roast as she thought.

"Don't really have any solid plans, ya know? I mean, the most solid plan I have is getting Obi-Wan to meet the guys," she answered. Obi-Wan sighed.

"Why do I get the feeling such a meeting will involve pain and humiliation?" he asked. Rae shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe because you're actually a pessimist and Bouncers have a reputation for being rough?" she offered. "Course, the guys can be a bit... intense, so there's that too." Both Jedi shook their heads and Anakin took a drink of his juice before saying,

"And you wonder why Sensei has resisted meeting them for so long." Rae chuckled, grinning at the teen.

"They sound an interesting bunch," Padme remarked lightly, taking a drink of her own. Anakin giggled, though he'd forever insist it was a chuckle, and said,

"Interesting is one way of putting it. I'm more inclined to call them 'party crashers I never want to be on the wrong side of'." Rae laughed as she stood to gather the plates.

"Both are rather accurate," she said. "And both would have the guys laughing."

"Forgive me if I join with Obi-Wan in avoiding them for the moment," Padme said, causing Obi-Wan to shake his head.

"It's not that I'm avoiding them, per say," he said, "it's that I don't want a repeat of... that night." Rae snorted into her after-dinner tea and the Knight gave her a baleful look. "I blame you for a good portion of that, you know."

"I take full responsibility~!" she sang. "It was fun~!" Anakin shook his head.

"While it was amusing, I don't want to have to deal with the aftermath again," he said. Rae nodded in understanding and turned to Obi-Wan with a serious expression.

"You are not to go back to the Temple after meeting with the guys," she told him. "We'll come straight back to my apartment and spare your young apprentice the indignity of helping you through the aftermath, whatever it may be." Obi-Wan gave her a flat, unamused look.

"Now see, it's comments like that that make me disinclined to meet with the guys," he told her.

"Wait... what happened 'that' night?" Padme asked. Rae's expression twisted into an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace.

"It was... interesting... but also something we all agreed we wouldn't speak of. Not directly at least," she said. "Some things are better only alluded to." Padme looked concerned, but didn't press. The rest of the night passed in more-or-less easy companionship and the Jedi left with a promise to return within two months while Padme ducked into Rae's refresher and emerged dressed for bed. "Don't want to go back just yet, huh?" Rae asked. Padme gave her a sheepish smile and the older woman just chuckled. "Eh, not judging! I quite like my apartment as well!" she said, holding up her hands with a grin. Padme huffed and claimed a spot on the couch before flicking the holo on and selecting a baking show. Rae chuckled again and joined the young Queen, tugging a blanket off the back of the couch for the pair to share. They ended up falling asleep on either end of the couch, the holo playing in the background. Waking up was uncomfortable, both both agreed it was worth it.

/?/

A/N: So... I kinda planned for Anakin and Padme to be more 'awkward teen' about the whole crush thing but... they've been in semi-regular contact for nearly four years at this point. Padme has been in politics for... several years already. That kinda points to her being extra mature for a teen. And then Anakin has had Rae teaching him and Obi-Wan about emotion, though admittedly she'd have been focusing more on Anakin.

And if that's not good enough for you then consider this: it's an AU that's being influenced by a Mary Sue who is aware of her unholy power and is not afraid to utilize it to make sure the people she cares about are looked after and won't suffer unduly.

So there. That's why they don't act like teenagers.