Title is from "She's A Handsome Woman" by Panic! at the Disco.
This fic is part of a series! You can find a list of all the fics in the series with links in my profile.
"Are we sure it's okay to leave the twins with Bail all night?"
Obi-Wan sighs. "Anakin, Bail is a father with plenty of experience taking care of children, and the twins are nearly four years old."
"They're only three and a half!" Anakin protests. "That's not nearly four!"
"They can spend a night with Bail," Padmé says. "Honestly, Anakin, we haven't had a real date in years. We've never had a real date with the three of us. The twins will be fine."
Anakin still looks nervous, but he relents. "Where are we going?"
"Well, my first thought was the Pinnacle, but Obi-Wan brought up the fact that fine dining isn't really our thing," Padmé says.
"The Pinnacle has a dress code," Obi-Wan tells Anakin, who immediately makes a face.
"So," Padmé continued, "instead, we're going to go out shopping and make our own dinner, and then we'll have a nice relaxing night together without having to worry about not waking up a pair of toddlers."
"That does sound nice," Anakin admits. "We're not going to let Obi-Wan cook, though, are we?"
"Oh, for Force's sake," Obi-Wan grumbles. "I'm not that awful. You're not much better, honestly."
"You two will help prepare the food, but I'll be the one in charge of the cooking," Padmé says. "Now we just need to decide what to prepare."
"Ooh, can you make that Naboo dish we had on our first anniversary?" Anakin asks eagerly. "The recipe you got from your mom?"
"The one with stewed pears?" Padmé asks, shooting Anakin a playful look.
"Are you going to hold the pear thing over my head for the rest of our marriage?" Anakin protests.
"That's what you did with the pear!" Padmé giggles.
"Honestly," Obi-Wan says, "I've never understood your little pear joke, and at this point, I'm not sure I want to ask."
"Anakin has some… interesting flirting techniques," Padmé says.
"Oh, I know that," Obi-Wan replies. "I've met him before."
"Hey!" Anakin protests. "It's not like you're any better! You would flirt with every enemy we came across! You flirted with Ventress!"
"It's called bantering," Obi-Wan protests.
"It was flirting," Padmé says. When Obi-Wan turns to her, she raises her hands in surrender. "All I know is what I saw, and I saw flirting. Maybe with no intention to follow through, but it definitely read more like flirting than anything else."
"You're both impossible," Obi-Wan grumbles.
"Let's go be impossible at the store," Padmé says. "We've got to get the ingredients for dinner. Are you alright with a fruit and meat dish with stewed pears, Obi-Wan?"
"I'm sure any Naboo cuisine will be delicious," Obi-Wan replies. "Whatever you want to make will be perfect."
"To the store, then," Padmé declares. "Come on, let's go."
"I'll drive," Anakin calls quickly.
"No one is going to fight you on that, Anakin," Obi-Wan says dryly. "Unless you try to drive like you're pod-racing, in which case I will."
"I'll help," Padmé agrees. "Our speeder doesn't handle that well."
"I could make it handle that well," Anakin offers. "I made my own pod-racer, I'm sure I could-"
"No."
"Sheesh, you don't need to break out the creepy unison," Anakin mutters.
"We'll do whatever it takes to make you leave the speeder alone," Obi-Wan says. "It works quite well enough as it is, thank you very much."
"Should we get moving?" Padmé suggests. "At this rate, we'll be eating at midnight."
"After you, my lady," Obi-Wan replies, bowing and sweeping one arm out. Padmé rolls her eyes and heads out of the apartment, Obi-Wan and Anakin following.
The second they go out onto the speeder platform, Anakin notices cameras trained on them. "Padmé," he says, "are we going to be able to go to the store without getting accosted by the paparazzi?"
"I'm sure we can," Padmé says, but she sounds a little uncertain about it.
"I could go alone," Obi-Wan offers. "I can use the Force to make it so people don't notice me."
"But you don't know what to get," Padmé counters. "I need to pick some of the ingredients out myself. I don't trust either of you to know what you're looking for."
"Ouch," Anakin murmurs. "Cold."
"Anyway, we're going to the little Naboo market, and the people there know me," Padmé declares. "They always do their best to keep the paparazzi away."
"I could do my best to lose them on our way there," Anakin suggests.
"Unless you want the rest of us to also lose our lunches, I would suggest refraining," Obi-Wan replies dryly.
"No fancy flying, please," Padmé requests. "Just get us to the market in one piece."
"You two are boring," Anakin protests, only half joking. "I'll have to go out flying with Ahsoka. She knows how to have fun."
"Do try to come back from that in one piece as well," Obi-Wan replies. "And try not to be too bad an influence."
"Obi-Wan, I was Ahsoka's master for years. I've already been as bad an influence as I could be. Whatever she was going to take from me, she's already done it."
"Despite my best attempts to prevent it."
"You two bicker like an old married couple, did you know that?" Padmé asks. "You always have. Come on, let's get moving. You can fight on the way to the market."
Both Anakin and Obi-Wan obediently get into the speeder, and Padmé claims the front seat next to Anakin with the claim that Obi-Wan would just use it to argue with him. Anakin is restrained on the way to market, which means Obi-Wan and Padmé only occasionally have to white-knuckle the doors, and they arrive without incident.
"Right," Padmé says, looking at the market. "Let's try to make this quick, shall we? This recipe isn't too elaborate, but we don't want to start making it too late."
"Lead the way," Obi-Wan replies.
They don't end up needing much, and luckily, the paparazzi are indeed forced to keep a certain level of distance. Padmé chats a bit with the employees, some of whom seem far more star-struck by the presence of the empress and her consorts than others, and then they load their groceries back into the speeder and head back to their apartment.
"Now," Padmé says, once they've gotten their purchases back into the kitchen, "do you both agree to let me be in charge of the kitchen?"
"You know what you're doing more than either of us," Obi-Wan replies.
"You're kind of always in charge, honestly," Anakin admits.
Padmé smirks. "I'm glad you recognize that. Let's get cooking."
Padmé runs her kitchen as efficiently as she runs her government, so she soon has both Anakin and Obi-Wan chopping ingredients while she prepares to begin cooking. It doesn't take long before the food is cooking, and Anakin gets them all glasses of wine to start on while they wait.
"This is nice," Padmé says as she sits down on the couch with a pleased sigh. "We haven't had a date night in so long."
"We ought to do this more often," Obi-Wan agrees.
"We definitely should," Anakin says, leaning over to kiss Padmé.
The two of them end up entangled in each other, their wineglasses forgotten, until Obi-Wan politely clears his throat. "Padmé, shouldn't you check on the food? I'm not sure how long it needs to cook, but we wouldn't want it to burn."
"Right," Padmé agrees, running a hand through her hair. "I'll do that."
Obi-Wan roll his eyes fondly. "I could, if it's too much to ask of you."
"No, I've got it," Padmé says, standing and crossing to the kitchen. She checks on the food and turns off the heat. "It's ready!"
"It looks delicious," Obi-Wan compliments as they all serve themselves informally from the kitchen.
"Trust me, if it's even half as good as it was last time, it's great," Anakin assures him.
"I hope it's good," Padmé says. "I've never made it off Naboo before, and some of the ingredients weren't quite as fresh as they were supposed to be."
"Now you sound like Bail," Obi-Wan teases.
Padmé rolls her eyes. "Am I saying it's hardly worth making if we don't make it on Naboo? No? Then I'm not as bad as Bail."
"To be fair," Anakin puts in, "I've had Bail's cooking here and on Alderaan, and it's better on Alderaan. Fresh food does make a difference."
"In that case, I should make this for you again next time we go to Naboo," Padmé says. She takes a tentative bite and says, "But I think it's alright enough this time."
Anakin and Obi-Wan both try the food as well, and both immediately jump to compliment it. "It's delicious," Anakin says through a mouthful of food.
"It truly is," Obi-Wan agrees, although he waits until he swallows to say it.
"I'm glad you two like it," Padmé says. "Especially since we made enough for far more than three servings, so we'll have leftovers for a while."
"I'll eat all the leftovers," Anakin offers.
"The amount you can eat truly is shocking," Obi-Wan sighs.
"This is good," Anakin says, again with his mouth full.
"Swallow, Anakin."
"Old married couple," Padmé singsongs.
"Truly?" Obi-Wan asks. "Sometimes I feel more like an exasperated parent. And not just to Luke and Leia."
"You're awful," Anakin says, this time without any food in his mouth. "Both of you."
"I didn't do anything!" Padmé protests.
"You're still awful."
Padmé rolls her eyes. "And you're ridiculous."
"And I'm wondering what the plan is once we finish dinner," Obi-Wan says, scooping up one of the last bites of his food. "If you two wish to carry on with what you were doing before, I could give you some privacy."
"No," Padmé says, shaking her head. "This is our date night, for all three of us. Anakin and I can do that some other time. For right now, we're going to do something together, something that we can't usually do."
"Such as?"
Padmé shrugs. "Watch a holofilm without worrying about waking up the twins?"
"Ooh, what about that war drama that's obviously loosely based on me and Obi-Wan, even if no one will admit it?" Anakin asks eagerly.
Obi-Wan groans. "Do I want to know the details?"
"I have been meaning to watch that," Padmé agrees. "We should give it a try."
"Force preserve me."
"You'll enjoy it," Anakin says, elbowing Obi-Wan playfully. "At least give it a try."
"As long as it's better than the last movie about us."
Anakin winces. "Yeah, that one was awful."
"I say we give this one a chance," Padmé says. "All in favor?"
"We're not on the senate floor," Obi-Wan says as Anakin grins cheekily and says, "Aye."
"Motion passed," Padmé says with a grin. "I'll go get it ready if you two tidy up."
Anakin leans over to kiss Padmé's cheek. "Love you."
Obi-Wan kisses her other cheek. "I love you too."
Padmé kisses both of her boys quickly, smiling. "And I love both of you."