"Padmé, a word, please?" Padmé looked up, still fairly exhausted from the past few days, but slightly more functional than she had been as the pain from the attachment of her new arm was starting to ease, and so she had been weaned off of the painkillers and was finally working in more of a capacity than 'drug induced haze'. She wasn't surprised to see Obi-Wan in the medical rooms, he and Anakin had by far been her most frequent visitors on the rare times she was actually awake.
"Obi-Wan." Padmé pushed herself up off the bed, definitely trying to at least seem more alert than she actually was. "Am I in trouble?"
Obi-Wan chuckled. "Nothing of the sort, my dear Padawan." He sat down on the foot of her bed, but Padmé frowned. If she wasn't in trouble. "I wanted to talk to you about your mission to Tatooine."
"With Senator Skywalker?" She slurred, looking at him in confusion. "What about it?"
Obi-Wan hesitated, as though unsure whether he should bring it up at all. "Did something happen during it? Involving you and a certain young Senator?"
Padmé blinked, her brain still under the effects of the painkillers unsure of what she was hearing, or perhaps it was just her hoping that Obi-Wan hadn't picked up on what had transpired between her and Anakin. "What?"
"Padmé, we all know that Anakin has feelings for you." The honesty behind Obi-Wan's answer, caught her off guard. He wanted to know about her possible not even defined yet relationship with Anakin? "He has never made it much of a secret. Normally I'd presume the feelings are one sided, but I know you and him have always been...close. And the way he's acted during his visits, and even on Geonosis, aren't of a platonic nature." Padmé racked her brain, trying to remember through the drug addled haze of the past few days.
She knew Anakin had tinkered with her arm some, making it more responsive, but that couldn't have been what was cluing in Obi-Wan. They hadn't been significantly more physically affectionate than Padmé had been with any others who had visited. He'd grabbed her hand a few times, but there wasn't anything overly…
Right, he'd outright kissed her forehead, she'd nearly forgotten about that visit. Yeah, she wasn't going to be able to just lie her way out of this one, was she? "...they're not." She finally acknowledged. "Anakin is in love with me, and somewhere along the way I fell for him too."
Obi-Wan fell silent, his hand resting on his chin. "I see. I had a feeling something like this was coming. And I'm assuming he knows?"
She nodded. "On Geonosis...before we were going into the arena."
Obi-Wan sighed, and she prepared herself for the incoming lecture on attachments she knew was coming. "This can't go any further than it already has."
"I know."
Obi-Wan frowned, looking at the obviously guilty Padmé. "When you're fully recovered, you'll need to tell Anakin that the two of you cannot be together." For a moment, Obi-Wan gained a wistful look on his face, perhaps thinking back to another time. "You do not have to deny your feelings for him, my Padawan, but allowing them to continue to develop unchecked is against the code."
In that moment, she felt like a wayward apprentice rather than a freshly knighted Jedi, being scolded for breaking the rules she already knew. "We'll be too busy to try anything anyways right now." She responded after a moment. "We're going to have to become leaders in the war, and Anakin…" He was a senator. His goal was going to be stopping the war as quickly as he could. "I know he won't be free either. A relationship between the two of us would be destined for failure. I'll...I'll talk to Anakin about it when I'm finished recovering."
Obi-Wan smiled at her answer, and Padmé felt her stomach churn with the guilt that she had to lie. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, Padmé."
"I know." And she did. Obi-Wan was her mentor, her best friend. He'd chosen her over Anakin, ignoring Qui-Gon's final wish ten years ago, and even now he cared for her happiness so much. He was telling her exactly what she knew all along, that eventually, she would have to make a choice.
Except a small, selfish voice in her head whispered that she didn't.
A little over a week later, Padmé was released from the Halls of Healing with an all clear on her ability to use her new arm in and out of combat and the rest of her wounds having been fully healed. It was weird, having a metal prosthetic now. It functioned like a real arm, touched like a real arm, and yet…
Before she could continue contemplating it, Anakin put his hand on her new one, startling her and pulling her attention away. "So, you're finally all better, General Naberrie."
"Please don't call me that." It was bad enough that once she was shipped out she'd have to hear the clones call her it near constantly. Hearing it from her friend (boyfriend? Lover? What were they?) just made her feel worse. A reminder of the war she'd had a hand in starting, that they were all trapped in now.
A mischievous twinkle appeared in his eyes, and he smiled. "In that case, maybe I could suggest a new name to go with the title." She tilted her head, waiting for a response that he was only too happy to oblige. "General Skywalker."
"Are you hoping to get in on the war effort too, Ani?" She treated her question like it was a joke, but that didn't stop her heart from pounding as she realized exactly what he was implying, what he'd asked her with that statement.
"Me? No, my job is in the Senate, but my wife's job will be leading Clone Troopers in the Grand Army of the Republic." His confident smile became more nervous, as he looked up at Padmé with pleading eyes, betraying everything he wanted, everything he hoped for. "That is, if she'll have me."
"Anakin…" He waited for a moment, forever patient and understanding and willing to follow her lead for whatever they wanted. "You don't think it's too soon?"
Anakin simply smiled. "In the ten years since we've met, there's been nobody I've met who could even compare to you. If I could do it all over again, I would propose to you sooner."
Padmé closed her eyes, trying to remember Obi-Wan's warning. She'd lied to him about telling Anakin to break off what they had, but she'd figured she'd have had more time before having to make her decision fully between the Jedi Order and Anakin. "What about the war? I have to help lead Republic forces, I'm needed on the front lines, just like you're needed here. I can't leave the Jedi."
"So don't." It was as though Anakin had given the traitorous thoughts in her head a voice to finally speak with. "Stay with the Jedi until the war is over, and I'll be the husband waiting for you to come home, and doing what I can to make that war end faster." His eyes met hers, and she felt the same intense connection between them as she'd felt when they'd first reunited. Had that really only been a few weeks ago? "Please."
She kissed him as an answer they both knew to be yes.
The wedding itself had been beautiful, and the night afterwards held promises for both the week she would still be in Tatooine, and for the rest of her life so long as she remained with Anakin. Those thoughts were for later, however, as right now she was simply content to enjoy the feeling of her husband's arms around her, and the comfort he brought.
Husband. It still hadn't really sunken in yet that she and Anakin were now married to each other. That he would forever be hers and she would forever be his. And yet despite having only acknowledged their feelings for each other a few days ago, everything around her screamed that this was right. That it was where she was supposed to be, content, happy, and warm right in his arms. As she began to fall asleep, she heard Anakin speak. "I want you to take Artoo."
"Hmm?" She opened her eyes, and found herself looking right into Anakin's.
"I want you to take Artoo," he repeated. "He knows all of my tricks, and while I can't always be there to help you, he can. He's also an Astromech, and you'll have a lot more need for one in battles than I will."
Padmé nodded, surprised at the offer, but appreciative nonetheless. "Thank you, Ani." If he was giving her a droid as a wedding gift, surely she had something she could…
She wiggled out of his arms, Anakin giving her a look of confusion as she went over to her robes. "What are you looking for?"
She reached out into her pocket and pulled out the Kyber Crystal. There were already plans for her to go to Ilum to get a new crystal. The Jedi had all assumed with her lightsaber gone, the crystal too had been destroyed. "If you're giving me Artoo, I want you to have this."
"The crystal you grabbed on Geonosis?"
"It's a Kyber Crystal...the one that powered my old lightsaber." She smiled, and placed the small blue crystal in his hand. "Obi-Wan and I are going to get a new one before I go out into the field, so I figured if I'm not using my old one…"
"It's perfect." He smiled. "That way, I'll always have a piece of you with me." And she knew right away that Anakin meant it. That he would treasure the small crystal forever, just as she did the tiny piece of carved wood a little slave boy had given her all those years ago. He put the small crystal on the nightstand by the bed, and it wasn't long before they had returned to their prior position in each other's arms.
The world outside would be ready for battle, a battle in a week they would be rejoining as Senator and Jedi, but for now the outside world didn't matter. It was just the two of them.
"I love you, Ani."
"I love you too."
In the bowels of the Senate building, deep underneath Coruscant, Count Dooku arrived in his ship, undetected by the remainder of the Coruscant. He had a mission, and it would be unwise to let his master down. "The Force is with us, Master Sidious."
The hooded figure smiled, Sidious, smiled. "Welcome home, Darth Tyrannus. You have done well."
"I have good news for you, my lord. The war has begun." Everything had gone exactly as Sidious had predicted. Dooku handed him the file he had collected from the Geonosians, and Sidious uploaded them into the system.
Sidious smiled as he looked at the plans within the database. "Excellent. Everything is going as planned."
In the Jedi Council chamber deep within the temple, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the newly elected Obi-Wan Kenobi stood together, troubled as Obi-Wan finished giving his report to the other two council members. "Do you really believe what Dooku said, about Sidious controlling the senate?" It was hard for Obi-Wan to wrap his head around, at least. "It doesn't feel right."
Yoda frowned. "Joined the dark side Dooku has. Lies, deceit...creating mistrust are his ways now." Obi-Wan could only imagine what the Grandmaster of the council was going through, right now. Yoda was Dooku's master, after all, and if Padmé fell to the dark side, he wasn't sure he would be able to face it either.
"Nevertheless, I feel we should keep a closer eye on the Senate," Mace said. He was right. If Dooku was lying, no harm was done. If he wasn't, then keeping one eye on the Senate might be the only thing that could stop them from meeting an early end.
"I agree." Yoda nodded, and the matter was settled. If Padmé hadn't yet broken Anakin's heart, perhaps the Senator would be willing to help them in this matter, but that was a matter for another day, another time, when she wasn't escorting Anakin back to his home.
"I must admit, without the clones, it would not have been an easy victory." Obi-Wan looked to his fellow masters to thank them for the help they provided, but before he could say more, Yoda spoke.
"Victory? Victory, you say? Master Obi-Wan, not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen."
"Begun the Clone War has."
Fun fact, this is the first multichapter I have finished in approximately seven years. I also wrote this chapter the day this fic got published. I'd actually intended to wait a few weeks but I was too excited to have something ready to publish.
First to the anonymous reviewer from Chapter 2: I wish I could pm you my thanks because I saw the email for your review while on a break during work and it gave me the energy to power through that shift with a smile. I could go off about just like how much that meant to me to hear I pulled off the Anidala romance right (especially in regards to Anakin's character as he is very, very, important to me) but then this author's note might be longer than the actual chapter so...I'll just say thank you and move on.
I'm going to talk a bit about the future for this series. Because there is a lot I have in my head for this. Currently, as part of NaNoWriMo, I'm working on my ROTS Roleswap but unless I suddenly gain a new hyperfixation (at this point...unlikely) I'll be working on a few other stories in the series set during TCW before publishing so as to keep a relative chronological order as well as a few scattered one shots set prior to AOTC/Across the Stars. If you have any TCW arcs you'd like to see me work at making a roleswap for, please let me know asap so I can start figuring it out. I also do have plans to get into the Rebellion era as well after the ROTS roleswap is finished. So basically, if you like this, you can expect content in the universe for a while ;3
For future updates, feel free to follow me on my tumblr (disneydreamlights) where I link all my writing and, if I am writing, tend to just go off about whatever I'm writing. Also for screaming about the prequels, TCW, and Anakin Skywalker since I no longer know how to shut up about it.
To everybody who favorited, followed, reviewed, or even just made it this far, thanks for reading!
~Foreteller Ava/Nicole Peach