The rain pouring down in sheets all over Coruscant couldn't have been a good sign. Why now? Anakin groaned as he pulled the hood to his robe over his head and jumped out of his starfighter. Hours had passed since he'd seen Obi Wan last, and still no Padme. He tried her apartment but she wasn't there.

He tried Congress Hall, he tried Senator Bail Organa's office, even Chancellor Palpatine. He even searched the library and even the market. Where is she? he whined. Anakin knew she couldn't have gone far because he sensed her there on Coruscant. After circling over the capital and using his senses to dodge the bolts of lightening streaking through the sky, he hovered over the nearby Garden, and saw a lone cloaked figure sitting on a park bench, the rain pouring on her like buckets.

Padme.

She saw him walking toward her and pulled the hood from her head to confirm that it was indeed, her. They raced toward each other. Anakin pulled her into an embrace.

"I looked everywhere-" he started.

"The Chancellor told me you were being sent to fight in the Clone wars." A look of worry filled her eyes. She held tight to his robe, her face and hair wet with rain as she waited for him to answer. Her deepest fear had been realized. Anakin pulled the hood from his head and looked into her eyes.

"Don't look so sad, my love. This is good news."

Padme gave him a confused look.

"I can end the war and we can be together."

Padme pulled him close and laid her head on his wet cloak. "The war has spread to other parts of the Outer Rim territories. You can't end the war on your own Anakin. It's even worse than it was before."

He cupped her chin then leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. "I'm doing it for you. For both of us."

There was a determined gleam in his eye. Padme thought of something her great grandmother told her when she was just a little girl. She said, the worse thing a woman could ever do, was fall in love with a Jedi. For there would be no greater love than that of his to the Order.

Padme in turn, asked her how she came to know such a thing. But her grandmother's reply was simply too much to fathom. Not now, she told herself. The story would make her cry...for it ocurred to her, never had gradmother's words been truer.

Anakin gazed at Padme, a thoughtful look on his face. "You're so beautiful," he said.

He pulled a flower from a nearby bush and pushed it into her hair which, because of the rain, fell in tendrils from the elaborate coif she had worn earlier. Padme blushed and pressed his hand to her cheek. "I thought we decided to end it."

He pressed his lips against her forehead and closed his eyes. "I couldn't even if I tried."

"But Obi Wan-" Padme objected.

"I don't want to hear about Obi Wan. I'll make it easier for us all and leave the Order."

"So... you won't go to fight in the Clone Wars?"

"I'll leave the Order when I come back. When the war is over."

"I won't stop you," Padme said. Not that she could anyway.

Anakin pulled Padme by the waist and drew her closer. They held each other. Streams of sunshine slowly broke through the clouds and the rain that fell in buckets upon them only moments earlier, suddenly began to dissipate. The air soon smelled of dew, which rose from the drops of rainwater that slowly permeated the leaves and grass.

Anakin held Padme's hand as they walked to the starfighter. He opened the hatched and she climbed into the passenger seat. He followed, then closed the hatch behind him.

The ship climbed to the sky, and flew to Padme's apartment, where he would leave her for a length of time unknown.