I wrote the first half of his chapter, then looked it over and thought, "This is terrible. So predictable." But there's no way I was going to delete it, because it was way too much work to put together, so then I thought about this fanfic I read the other day. Anakin was envisioning an erotic encounter with Padmé, and it was turning out so well, and they were almost there and... well, just read this chapter to find out what I did to, uh, work with that.

Please remember to review! That keeps me going, guys!

{t6d}

Chapter Three

It wasn't the sort of wakeup call Anakin was looking for.

He wasn't expecting it, at least.

He should have.

He'd let his defenses down a little too far, and now he was paying the price.

"What in the name of…?!" Her voice pulled Anakin out of his deep slumber, and before he could react, he found himself landing very hard on the floor. The blankets were wrapped up around his waist and a second later, a pillow landed hard on his head. He struggled to sit up, his heart pounding in his chest, trying in vain to wake up faster. He was used to the heat of battle. For a second, he wondered if he was actually on the front lines. Then he realized he was, only in a different sort of way.

"Have you lost your mind?!" he yelled, struggling to untwist himself from the blankets, so angry that he was failing to observe some important things.

"Not another move, mister!" warned Padmé in a very hostile voice. "Don't you dare move."

"What the Force is wrong with…" And then Anakin stopped as Padmé held up his sleep pants for him to see. The minute he laid eyes on them in her hands, he stopped trying to get out of the sheets and instead made to pull them back up over him. He was in shock, more than she was. Or else she'd already gotten over it.

"I swear I didn't…"

"Don't get that way with me, Anakin Skywalker," warned Padmé in that same voice. "Now you put your pants back on this instant or I swear you will spend the next year sleeping on the couch… outside!"

Anakin's eyes were wide, either with fear or shock, it wasn't clear. Padmé had been more than willing to have his arms around her the night before, and now she'd completely turned around. Anakin knew nothing about women. The life course he'd gotten in the Temple pressed on a few things, but not enough for him to work by. Ahsoka had had tempers, that was true. Obi-Wan understood it. Anakin guessed his old Master had gotten around a bit. He called it "PMS", whatever that meant. Now Anakin was content to call this "PMS", and decided he'd look up the definition as soon as he could.

Padmé had turned away from him and was sitting on the edge of the bed to put on her slippers. She'd thrown him his sleep pants, and he knew she was expecting him to put them on. He was about to, then he thought better of it. He was in hot water, that much was certain, but he was the "Hero With No Fear", remember? He could handle this.

"Why aren't you moving?" asked Padmé, glancing over her shoulder at him as she stretched.

"You told me not to."

"I told you to put your pants on."

He bent his head, staring at her as she stood up, her nightgown hugging her slim form. It was an intriguing sight. He was sort of turned on by it, but not quite. Not enough to jeopardize his big plan. Padmé was beautiful, but he'd dwell on that later. They had their entire lives ahead of them to figure things out.

"Did you even hear me?" asked Padmé, walking around the bed toward him, or toward the fresher, he couldn't be sure.

"Yup."

"Did you listen?"

"Yup."

"Will you please put your pants on?"

"Hm… you used the word please…" It was an observation, and he puzzled over it for a minute as if such a word mattered. It did, to him at least, and he was impressed by her soft voice. She wasn't trying to cover up any anger. Who knows, maybe she was hoping… No, it wasn't possible.

"Come on, just do it. I'd rather not have an introduction to the larger aspects of married life."

"Why not?"

"Oh please, would you just… ah!" The pillow hit her right in the side of the head, and Anakin was laughing at her. She wasn't mad. Vengeful, maybe, but not mad. Then she stood up and turned on him.

And that's when she saw him. Not Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, Hero With No Fear, General of the Grand Armies of the Republic. There was something grand there, but Padmé was sure it wasn't something anyone else had seen. And she'd not been interested in becoming the first. It was all right there. Drawing her in. Or repulsing her. No, not repulsing her. Anakin Skywalker was rather impressive underneath all of… No! She couldn't allow this to get to her.

"You're disgusting," she said, acting very casual about it all, and tossed her hair as she quickly turned away. She didn't want him to see the color rising in her cheeks.

"Or totally awe-inspiring," retorted Anakin quickly, and crossed the distance between them in three long strides, grabbing Padmé around the waist and swinging her up off the ground.

"Let me go!" she cried, but she was laughing, almost as if she couldn't help herself.

"Not until you admit it," he answered, swinging her up and wrapping his other arm under her legs. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and their eyes met.

"Fine, then, Master Jedi," she relented, far to quickly for her personality. "You are very impressive. I admit it."

Anakin opened his mouth to say something else, but completely forgot how to speak in the few seconds he'd spent staring into Padmé's eyes. She, too, was transfixed just as he was, and in a manner of a few seconds, their lips had descended into a powerful union. There was a lust that passed between them that had been smoldering in their eyes, but was now coming out in full force. There was no stopping.

"Ani," whispered Padmé, using his nickname for the first time in so long. "Make love to me."

And he responded by pressing his lips to hers once more and carrying her over to the bed. He gently laid her on her back, then moved his lips down to her neck and the top of her breasts, which were ever so noticeable over the top of her nightgown. And he reached for the tie which held the gown in place, ever so slowly, as her moans began to grow in his ear, she being clearly aroused and doing her utmost to…

The dream vanished in an instant, replaced by the frantic beeping of Anakin's comlink. His eyes flew open, and after a second, he realized it had all been a dream. It had been a lovely dream, but a dream nonetheless. And now here was reality. His comlink was beeping and he cursed under his breath, suddenly realizing that he hadn't turned it off like he'd meant to. This new comlink design was taking a bit more time to get used to than he would have liked. But what did that matter. It was beeping up a storm now.

Groaning, and trying not to curse too loudly, Anakin lifted Padmé's arm off his chest and passed a hand over his face, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The light from the comlink told him where it was, still on the nightstand, and rolling away from where Padmé was pressed up next to him, he grabbed it and connected the frequencies.

"What?" he whispered, loud enough to be heard through the comlink but quiet enough not to wake Padmé.

"General Skywalker, forgive me for waking you so soon," came the voice of Captain Typho. "Master Kenobi stopped by last night and said you wished to leave early this morning. I'm calling to say your ship, or rather Senator Amidala's, is ready and waiting. Half an hour more, then you may depart."

"Thank you, Captain," said Anakin, trying to hide the irritation in his voice. "We'll be there. Just make sure there aren't any tracking devices anywhere."

"Already done, sir. There weren't any."

"Good, Captain."

"Will you need assistance with the luggage?"

"No, just make sure no one gets into the hanger. We'll be there in no more than an hour."

"Right you are, sir."

Then the frequencies were cut and Anakin groaned again, dropping his face heavily to the pillow. He was still tired, and it was still dark. He wasn't interested in getting up so early. A honeymoon was supposed to be relaxed. Why couldn't this one?

After a few seconds, Anakin realized that if he lay there any longer, he'd fall back asleep. He forced himself to lift his head and look over at Padmé, who had not moved and was still fast asleep. The sight encouraged him. He was supposed to be the husband. Why not start now?

Ever so quietly, Anakin pulled the sheets off and got out of bed. His sleep pants were still on, thank goodness. That was good for several reasons, but mainly because it was cold. He shivered, then slipped into his boots and grabbed the under-tunic of his Jedi robes, wrapping it around his shoulders. That cut the chill. Then he got up, glanced once more at Padmé, and slipped out of the room in the direction of Padmé's personal veranda.

Thunder and Lady were both up when he got there. They wagged their tails wildly when they saw him, and keeping his voice low, he spoke to them. Once they were calmed down, he located Lady's food, and dished up enough for both of them. He observed as they both started eating out of the same dish, thankful that they, at least, were getting along. He didn't want to think what they'd been up to the night before.

Yawning widely, Anakin stumbled up a smaller flight up stairs to the large kitchen. It was in pristine condition, and for a moment, he wondered if Padmé ever used it. Then he happened to glance upward, at the tomato splats on the ceiling. They offered a textured appearance, and made it clear that, indeed, the kitchen had seen a fair bit of action. Anakin couldn't bring himself to do anything until the tomato was scrubbed off, guessing that it hadn't already been done because Padmé wasn't able to reach that high. It was true. He needed a chair, and he was a fair bit taller than her.

Once the kitchen was to his satisfaction, Anakin located the caf, and the caf maker, and brewed up a big pot. He drank up to three mugs every morning. He somehow didn't suspect Padmé of drinking as much, but he always liked extra, and you never know. Senators do crazy things.

Yawning again, Anakin poured up two piping hot mugs of caf, set them on a tray with cream and sugar, and searched around until he found some sort of bread that would work. Arranging them as best he could on the tray, he exited the kitchen and found himself in Padmé's main sitting room. He arched an eyebrow at the layout of the apartment, but was quite pleased that he wouldn't have to retrace his steps.

R2 beeped when he saw Anakin, and pushed himself out of his docking station. He was clearly pleased to see his new Master, and the long night of recharging had clearly done him good.

"Artoo, power up Threepio, would you? We're leaving in about half an hour. Padmé might need Threepio's help to pack."

R2 answered with a series of beeps, then turned away toward where 3P0 was kept. Anakin continued to walk toward the bedroom, using the Force to palm open the door when he couldn't use his hands.

The bedroom was still dark, and ever so quietly, Anakin set the tray down on the seat at the end of the bed. Then he went and sat on his side of the bed, leaning over to gently shake Padmé's shoulder. She took a deep breath and stretched, then opened her sleepy eyes and looked at him. He forced an easy smile.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty," he whispered. "I brought caf. And Typho has the ship all up and running. We've got half an hour to get out there. We can eat breakfast once we're underway."

"I take it you have a destination in mind," she whispered back, still sleepily.

"Maybe," he answered with a smile, then stood up again and returned to the tray, grabbing one of the mugs and handing it to her. She sat up and took the mug, then took a tentative sip. It was well she did, for a minute later, a terrible look came over her face.

"What did you do to this?!" she exclaimed, and pressed a hand to her chest as her face contorted in a horrible looking grimace.

"What's wrong with it?" asked Anakin innocently, taking a long drought from his own mug. It was perfect. Black as Sith's hell and strong as a Burminian gale. It was delicious.

"Oh Anakin, I'm not sure if I should love you or hate you." Padmé shook her head and put the mug down, not tempting herself to finish it.

"I'll add some water," offered Anakin without a moment's hesitation, then took a very long glug to spare up room and retreated to the kitchen, where he added enough water to make it taste like thin tea. It was disgusting.

"Thank you," said Padmé when he returned it to her and she had tested it. "That's more how I like it."

Anakin shook his head and sighed deeply.

"I don't know how this is going to work," he said, almost dramatically. "One of us is going to have to adapt."

Padmé laughed.

"Maybe that's my job," she said. "Keep making it that way and I may get used to it."

"You better," was Anakin's good-natured response. "I need another cup. You want one?"

"Mercy no," gasped Padmé. "Are you flying?"

"Of course," was the simple reply.

Anakin didn't know how they managed. As soon as her caf was done, Padmé retreated to the shower, then Anakin did what he could to clean things up for their departure. He made the bed, cleaned the kitchen (again), vacuumed the floors, located the harnesses for the dogs, double-checked all the locks, and still found time to twiddle his thumbs before Padmé was dressed and had her makeup on. She'd left her hair down to air-dry.

Thankfully, all of Anakin's things were packed and ready to go. With his impending marriage, Obi-Wan had insisted upon taking Anakin shopping. Having only one set of Jedi robes was no use. He needed other, more casual things. After all, he was marrying a Senator. He needed to look the part. So now he did, and it was all ready to go.

Padmé's things were also packed. She'd packed them over the course of the week before the wedding. She needed only a few minutes for the last few items, then was ready to go. Anakin grabbed the heavy bags, swinging the lighter bags over his back, then left Padmé to handle the two dogs and the last few items of luggage. They were a strange sight leaving the apartment, and when they got into the elevator, Anakin sent Padmé a glance which was returned by her eyes laughing at the way their group looked. They did look rather humorous.

Anakin's speeder was quickly filled, and within moments, they were off for the diplomatic hangers. The trip was silent on Anakin's end. Padmé talked the entire time, of places she'd like to visit and things she'd like to do. Anakin had mentioned Obi-Wan's suggestion, of finding places to sleep as they went. It was easier that way.

Then they were at Padmé's hanger, and her ship was ready to go. Typho took his leave, wishing them a safe journey, and then their things were stowed and they were ready for takeoff. Padmé took her place in the copilot's seat while Anakin took up the main controls. The droids were in the back keeping the dogs in line. Not that the dogs needing managing. They were doing very well without any help.

Then the ship was shooting out from the hangers, and with a sideways glance at Padmé, Anakin dealt the hyperspace coordinates and the ship lurched into hyperspace. And all was silent.