Confrontations At A Lake

Chapter Five – Emotions Run Astray

A/N: Bit of a long chapter. Finally been able to update, been trying for about the past week or so. Hope ya'll enjoy! I haven't reread this in awhile, so if there are any mistakes that I had missed to fix, sorry! Bit stressed out, I'm just glad I managed to update this! Enjoy!

Padmé groaned and tried to ignore the pain, as she slowly opened her eyes. She opened them to see a very starry night and she suddenly noticed a heavy weight on herself. She lifted her head up and realized that there was a really thick blanket on her, and as she turned her head to the right, she screamed.

"SHUT UP!" Obi-Wan yelled at her, keeping his eyes closed. "I'm TRYING to sleep!"

Padmé shut her mouth and forced herself to breath normally.

"You scared the hell of me! What are you doing laying so close to me?!" She tried moving away, but her hip still hurt her like blazes, and she winced and stopped moving.

"If you haven't noticed, these blankets are really small, and I'd rather be close to you than freezing my ass off with nothing. I don't feel great as it is; all I need is to be cold." He muttered, his eyes still closed, like he was really trying to get sleep while talked to him.

"Well…fine." She couldn't think of a good response, as she'd grown tired of their bickering, and just laid there, trying to severely ignore his presence, and she fought against the urge to blush, suddenly feeling lightheaded, with the thought of him this close to her.

Obi-Wan smiled. "You gave up this time. Good girl. I'm not in the best of moods, considering I still have an arrowhead rubbing against my shoulder blade every time I breathe."

"I figured…" She muttered.

"Yeah, no thanks to unconscious girl here."

"Well, go ahead and freeze your ass off, I don't care. With the way you act, I wouldn't be surprised if no one liked you." She said, moving away from him, taking the blankets with her, just to spite him. Obi-Wan shivered as the blankets moved away and the cold air met his skin, since he didn't have shirt, it was tied around Padmé's leg.

"The only reason people like me, DEAREST." He snatched one of the two blankets from her. "Is because I'm so good at what I do. They just have to deal with my attitude to get what they want."

"Those poor poor people." She said. She had seen his chest and looked away quickly and studied the sky, as if it had become suddenly very important.

"No. They're quite rich actually. Poor people can't pay me." He stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, as if she had stupidly missed it.

"If they're rich people, then why do you still have to steal to pay up for something you did?" She raised her eyebrow towards the sky, still not looking at him.

"Cause they don't pay me enough. I have to pay the gang leaders to be workin' in their territory. Most of the time it's wroth it, but you make a few bad deals, and whoosh, you're screwed."

"What a surprise…Well, goodnight!" She said, with fake cheerfulness in her voice, and she fake smiled at him, before turning away from him, still about a foot away, and laid on her left side, and stared at the ground, not in the least bit sleepy, although the pain was making her irritable.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and closed them again. "Women…"

Padmé rolled her eyes and balled her hands into fists, and kept them close to her, so she wasn't even more tempted to hit him.

"So, you're still coming with me?" His voice cut through the air, and it startled her, since a few seconds of silence had filled the air before. "Through that whole thing all you said was 'there's no we' and 'I want to go home'."

"I'm not going to talk to you right now." She said, in a serious voice, all the things that had happened the past day were racing through her brain. "I need sleep. Now, goodnight." She cursed her body as she shivered slightly, and she tucked a bit of the blanket by her face, trying to get comfortable. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes again and attempted to get some sleep. Padmé lay there on the ground, just listening to the sound of the wind and their breathing. She shivered again as a particular wind breeze caught her, and suddenly she wished she was closer to Obi-Wan, but knew she wouldn't DARE move, he'd never get over that. Obi-Wan was already asleep, extremely tired from that day's fight. Padmé finally fell asleep, after what seemed like hours, her eyes closed shut, and she knew no more.

The first thing Obi-Wan noticed when he was waking up was that he was all warm and cozy, and that he wanted to get back to sleep. Padmé moaned softly and moved a bit, but didn't awaken. He opened his eyes slowly at the sound of her moan and froze, and noticed his arms wrapped around her, his faces inches away from hers. Padmé continued to sleep; unbeknownst of the position they were in. Her mouth opened slightly as she continued to sleep.

"Awww, great." Was he all he could whisper. He didn't really want to move, but knew she'd absolutely freak when she woke up if he was next to her like this, so he just laid there, not really knowing what to do.

Padmé felt herself waking up, and she smiled slightly to herself as she realized that she was all warm and cozy, but as she opened her eyes, she froze. Her whole body tensed and her eyes went wide, and she actually stopped breathing, as she continued to stare at the face before her, cursing herself as her face grew warm, and yet she still was frozen to the spot, her mind screaming at her to move. Obi-Wan saw her waking up, and knew he couldn't move in time, so he just stayed frozen to the spot also, just staring into her eyes. He silently waited for her to scream. Padmé forced herself to start breathing again, and she opened her mouth, but all that came out was a squeak.

"Please…" She whispered, trying to untangle herself from Obi-Wan, she had the sudden urge to be as away from him as she could be. He let go of her immediately at her 'please', looking almost embarrassed…almost.

Padmé sat up quickly and winced, but she recovered and brushed herself off, coughing nervously.

"Thank you." She said sincerely, looking up at the sky, and seeing that the sun wasn't even out yet, and groaning, she tried to forget about his touch on her, and she shivered, but not from the wind. Obi-Wan had looked away, and muttered something.

"Uhh...maybe we should get going."

Padmé nodded without saying anything, and she realized that her hands were clutched together nervously. Obi-Wan pushed the blankets off of him and raised himself up a few inches before falling back, landing on his left shoulder. Padmé frowned and looked at him.

"Everything ok??" She asked, her voice soft. Obi-Wan closes his eyes and took a few deep breaths, before gritting his teeth and pushing himself up and stands.

"Perfectly…fine." He answered.

Padmé nodded and looked at the ground, she didn't really feel like moving, but she knew she had to. She sighed and gritted her teeth, and got up, barely able to keep a cry from escaping her mouth, but as she stood up, she felt better.

"Can you walk?" Obi-Wan's voice started her out of her thoughts. She nodded.

"I've made it thus far, haven't I?" She retorted, while she looked down at the blanket on the ground, and scowled at it, for now she'd have to BEND down to get it. Obi-Wan saw her staring at the blanket.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get it." He said, as he bent down, and gritted his teeth so she wouldn't see his pain and picked up the blanket and his. She saw his pain anyway, and as she stood up, she took the blankets and started folding them.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. He shrugged with left shoulder and looked down.

"Padmé, I have to ask you a favor." It seemed to her, that it was quite difficult for him to get this favor out. She paused in the middle of her blanket folding, her brows furrowed.

"Really?...Go ahead." She said, as she held the blankets against herself, as they were folded nicely, and needed to be put back on the saddle.

"I'm going to need you to pull the arrowhead out. I can't reach it myself."

She blanched as she listened to his words, but then nodded slowly.

"Alright."

Obi-Wan reached up and snapped a twig off of the branch and then turned around.

"Just pull it out quick, otherwise it'll be worse." He stuck the twig in his mouth.

Padmé moved around his awkwardly, not really walking, but not really stumbling either, and gritted her teeth as she moved to stand behind him, near his right shoulder blade.

"You ready?" She asked quietly.

He let out a long breath.

"Yeah."

Padmé put her left hand on the top of his shoulder blade, and her right hand grasped the wood shaft which was still there, connected to the arrowhead. She winced as she looked at the wound, and she breathed 'one, two, three' and on three she pulled out the shaft. Obi-Wan shut his eyes tight and bit down on the twig, a groan escaping him.

"Well..I feel…better?" He said, as she dropped the arrowhead to the ground, and limped over to the front of him.

"You'll be ok?" She asked softly, mixed emotions running through her as she watched him walk away. He walked away, trying to shrug it off.

"Of course.." He answered, as Padmé tried to keep up with him.

"Fine. Anything else you need?" She asked that sternly.

"Yes. I need a shirt, a bath and about five hundred bucks." He rolled his eyes as he continued to walk towards Comet.

Padmé just suddenly stopped walking, the breeze moving her hair and her clothes in the wind, and she watched him as he walked away, growing very tired of his attitude. All she felt like doing was sitting down and crying, but she resisted, and shivered, wishing she had on warmer clothes. She looked up into the sky and watched as life moved on around her. Obi-Wan picked up Comet's saddle that he had take off last night, and whistled for him to come back from his grazing, and turned around to see Padmé staring at the nature around her.

"Hey, you coming?" He asked, as Comet came trotting out of the forest, and he nayed at him.

She looked at him and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I'm coming." She limped over to where he was, wincing every step she took. Obi-Wan stepped toward and flung the saddle over his back, tightening all the straps, and bridled him, and handed the reins to Padmé.

"Here." He went off to go find the other horse. He untied the other horse from the tree, as he didn't trust this one like Comet and picked up the other saddle, throwing it onto its back, like he'd done with Comet. Padmé held the reins and looked at Comet, smiling at him slightly.

"Hey, boy. How are you?" She asked, rubbing his forehead. He stared at her, looking thankful. Obi-Wan finished saddling the other horse, and looked over at her.

"Need help getting on?" At her reluctant nod he walked over to her, not really know how he'd help her.

"All I need help on is getting ON Comet. Otherwise, I'm good." She said, looking at him, an odd expression on her face.

"What's with the odd look, dearest?" He folded his hands to give her a boost up, hopefully making swinging her injured leg over a bit easier.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong with it." She said, as she put her left foot in his cupped hands and jumped, landing, sitting sidesaddle on the saddle, wincing.

"Why'd you…never mind, do it your own way." He walked away, shaking his head. Padmé frowned at him and grabbed onto her right leg and held it and moved it so it was on the other side of the saddle, and blinked the tears that came to her eyes, and watched Obi-Wan, frowning again. He mounted, blood starting to trickle down his back, but he didn't seem to care.

"We have to get to the next town, that salve won't help you for long." He stated, riding off, setting a fair pace. She nodded and followed Obi-wan, she knew they had to go at a fair pace, no matter how much it hurt her.


The next morning Obi-Wan slowed his horse to a stop and dismounted him.

"Hungry?" He asked, and he turned, to see her asleep in the saddle, slumped onto Comet's neck. Padmé was having some kind of nightmare, of someone chasing her in a fog, and a voice startled her out of her dream, and she shot up, sitting up real quickly. She jerked her body around towards the voice, her hand and footing slipping from the reins and stirrup, and she found that she was, slowly it seemed to her, that she was falling towards the ground, and a small cry of surprise escaped her lips, as it came to meet her. Obi-Wan went down on one knee and caught her a few seconds before she hit the ground, trying not to show the pain in his arm, their faces inches apart.

Padmé was wide awake now as she looked at him, and she seemed to get lost in his eyes. She cursed herself as she felt her face grow warm, and she realized that the pain was coming again from her hip. She tried not to squirm in his arms, from the pain, and from the close proximity. She resisted looking down at his mouth, and wished she wouldn't blush like this. She clenched her jaw as the pain got worse.

Obi-Wan, much to her relief, helped her stand on her feet again, trying not to bend her hip, still staring at her. She coughed nervously and mentally kicked herself, since her blush wouldn't go away.

"Thank you." She said softly, not looking at him. He let go of her.

"You're welcome." He answered, still staring. Padmé felt extremely uncomfortable under his stare, and looked up from the ground, her eyes grazing over his bare chest, and she quickly looked into his eyes, trying not to think of his broad chest, the sun shining on it…

She blinked and looked to the right of him, trying to act indifferent. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at her; still staring as her eyes darted everywhere, apparently not knowing where to look.

"I asked if you were hungry…" He said slowly.

"Oh." She blinked, still not looking at him. "Well, now that I'm up…I guess I am." She frowned slightly as she noticed that her right hand had begun to play with a piece of string that was attached to the saddle, her fingers moved nervously.

Much to her relief he had stopped staring at her, and he went around her to Comet's saddle bag and dug out two biscuits, which were slightly hard, and an apple. He handed her the biscuit and apple, and bit into his biscuit. Padmé gladly took her food; the first slight smile appears on her face, the whole morning.

"Thanks" She said, as she took a bite of her biscuit.

"Yeah, you should be thankful." He said jokingly. "That's my last apple." He smiled and took another bite.

She stared down at the apple as she took another bite.

"We could share." She said, after swallowing, looking at him seriously. He looked up from his biscuit and stared at her. He snorted,

"I'm surprised you asked…" He then took the apple from her and pulled out a knife, cutting it in half easily, and returned the half she'd bitten to her, and continued to eat his biscuit, saving the apple for last.

Padmé decided she was fed up with his attitude so she said nothing except a quick 'thanks' as she took the apple and bit into her half. She watched him, looking at his face, and her eyes strayed to his lips, and the cleft in his chin. Luckily for her, he was petting Comet's head while eating, so he didn't notice her staring. She wiped her hands off as she was done eating, and stretched, putting a hand on her neck, longing to get all the kinks out of her body. The pain was still there, she mused, it was a sharp throbbing pain, which was there pretty much 24/7, but it wasn't as bad unless she did something to irritate the wound. Obi-Wan finished his apple and started to walk towards his horse, but then remembered Padmé needed help mounting and turned around.

"Need any help?"

Padmé looked at him as she put her left foot in the stirrup and pushed on it, which lifted her body and her right leg over, and she landed on the saddle with a small plopping sound, and she tried to cover a small gasp of pain, and shook her head.

"No, I'm fine, as you can see; I don't need any help from YOU." She said, trying not to show to him that doing that hurt her more than she was showing, she really didn't want his help. She could take care of herself, just FINE.

He wished to roll his eyes but didn't. "Alright, fine. I guess you'll just have to ask for help every time you need it now." He turned and walked to his horse, and mounted quickly, urging the knight's horse to walk, waiting for her to catch up to him.

"If I need help, I won't be asking you. I probably won't even need help." She stated, while urging Comet to reach them, and she rode next to him.

"Everyone needs a little help sometime, dearest."

A thick silence came between them, and finally Padmé had to break it.

"So, how far into town?" She suddenly felt like badgering him, she felt talkative for one.

"We should get in about noon tomorrow. We can't stay in town long though. Just get in and out with what we need."

Padmé nodded murmured a simple 'mmmmhhmmm' and then looked at him.

"You know this town well?"

He smiled. "Ohh, yes. Very well. Too bad we can't stay long, you can meet some VERY interesting people there."

"Very very?" She asked, an eyebrow raised in question, a smirk on her face. "What "kind" of interesting people.."

He smiled mischievously.

"Let's just say that after you meet them, you'd consider me nice. But you won't get to meet them. Instead, you'll be sleeping on the cold hard ground."

"Ah, on a blanket and THEN on the 'cold hard ground', hon." She couldn't help a full-fledged smile on her face, but she looked away quickly, still smiling.

"Well, I'm thinking of taking that blanket away from you, love." He said, matter of factly, so sure of himself.

"Well fine, and if you just happen to wake up and find me dead and as cold as the ground, just make sure to bury me, and not leave me there, alright?" She looked back at him while saying that, trying to act serious, but failed miserably as she had a slight smile on her face.

"I'll remember to if you die while I'm around." He smiled.

"Although…I do prefer warm beds much better than a cold hard ground…" She murmured, pretending it to be an afterthought.

"A warm bed?" He laughed. "Ohh, love, you're not THAT pretty."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"And you're not THAT handsome, hon. I for certain, never want to sleep in the same bed as you, not even in the same room! If that did happen, you're getting the FLOOR! Maybe WITHOUT blanket…" She put a finger to her chin, and looked up into the sky, as if actually thinking about that, and she cracked a smile towards him as she thought of something.

"You think I'm pretty?"

He was extremely startled, and he whipped his head around to look at her.

"What?! Where'd you get that from?"

"From you, dear. You said so yourself. You said 'You're not THAT pretty, love' so, you think I'm pretty?" She gave him a smile showing that she got him cornered, and was lovin' every minute of it.

He thought for a minute, actually stumped.

"Well, I didn't mean it like that. You're definitely not pretty." He turned his eyes back to the road. He soon came up with something way better, and the second he did he turned his head towards her.

"You said I was handsome." He stated, as if that would solve everything.

The smile on her face was still there, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, sure I did. You certainly aren't ugly, but you certainly aren't THAT handsome. I've seen better than you. You're in the…middle." She said that matter of factly.

Obi-Wan pretended to be offended. "Awww, come on! I deserve a bit more than average!"

"Nah, I believe I'm right. You're in the middle, and that's it. Better get used to it, love!" She said, mocking his use of 'love', saying it slowly and sarcastically, still smiling. Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Well, I know women who think differently." He secretly smiled inside, hoping he'd make her jealous. Instead, she laughed.

"I'm sure you do. I bet they haven't exactly seen the 'best' of men in their lifetimes, me thinks. Of course, they'd consider you as "extremely" "prince charming" handsome, yeah?" She said, chuckling, as she had put extreme sarcasm on 'extremely and prince charming' enjoying every minute of this. She wasn't going to get jealous over this scoundrel, and she was letting him know it.

"I never said I was prince charming. My kind don't exactly like princes.." He knew he was getting off the subject, but suddenly didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they thought you were.." She snorted softly at that thought.

"You seem to doubt that I'm telling the truth."

"Why would you care if I'm doubting or not." She looked at him intensely.

"Truthfully, I don't." He shrugged. "Just want you to know that there are people out there.."

Padmé suddenly, for some reason, didn't feel like smiling anymore.

"Yeah, I'm sure there are." She said truthfully. Obi-Wan didn't know what to say so he just turned back to the road. After awhile he smiled.

"I wonder what your friends are thinking about you mysteriously being gone.."

She smiled sadly.

"Yeah, I bet they were surprised at first…" Her smile turned to a frown. "I hope they aren't too worried…"

"Well I wouldn't worry too much. They didn't seem very sad about your mother's death."

Padmé got angry.

"What, are you saying they're bad friends? You barely even know them. How dare you make accusations like that!" She looked at him, anger sparking in her eyes. "They were trying to be strong for me. It's not like they'd be walking around bawling their eyes out feeling sorry for me. Do you HONESTLY think that'd help me?! No. By them being strong, as am I. They're much better friends than you'd ever be." She turned back to the road, trying to blink away angry tears.

Obi-Wan was completely shocked by her reaction and could only sit there for a few minutes. Finally he looked down.

"I didn't know you'd freak out on me about it. All I meant was that they didn't seem the sort of people to help you through grief.." He said sadly.

"And why would you say that?!" She snapped at him, knowing she should try to calm down, and she tried not to think about her mother…

"Everyone needs to cry sometimes Padmé. I don't think you've really had time to do that.." He didn't really answer her question, and he knew that she knew it.

She tried oh so very hard to stay angry at him, and took a shaky breath, biting the bottom of her lip to keep it from trembling.

"I've had all the time in the world to cry." She blinked away angry and sad tears. "And believe me, they've been spent." She tried to say that with finality, she didn't want to talk about her mother anymore. She didn't want to cry in front of him. Never in front of him. He looked over at her.

"Then why are you crying now?"

She frustratedly wiped an escaped tear that had made its way down her cheek.

"I'm NOT crying."

"Ok..ok." He finally gave up and dropped the subject and rode on in silence.

Padmé breathed in slowly, trying not to make it shaky, and was glad that her tears had disappeared, and she silently thanked him in her mind, and they rode on.


Around evening Padmé opened her eyes slightly and sat up straighter in the saddle as she felt Comet slowly stop walking.

"Huh? What are we doing?" She asked groggily, as she sighed and rubbed her face, blinking. Obi-Wan stopped his horse and dismounted.

"I'm stopping. We can't go into town all dirty!" He smiled. "Plus, we'll never make it tonight and we have to stop somewhere.." He started to tie his horse to a nearby tree. Padmé somehow got herself off Comet and stood there, with shaky legs, holding onto the pummel with one hand, and she shook her head, trying to wake herself up.

"Oh. Right."

Once he had his horse tied, he unbuckled his saddle and threw it to the ground uncaringly, leaving it in a heap, and walked over to Comet and took his bridle off. Padmé stood up straight and looked at the nearby creek, which thankfully, was partially hidden by trees and bushes.

"I guess I'll take my bath first. Can't wait to get all this dirt off me…and my hair, ugh…" She touched her hair, sifting her hands through it, as she walked away, muttering to herself.

"Alright." He answered, as he laid Comet's bridle down with care and unbuckled his saddle, laying it carefully next to the bridle, and pet the black stallion a few times before following Padmé.

As she was walking towards the creek she attempted to stop and take off her boot. She struggled to tug it off, muttering curses at it, and she hopped around on one foot, and the boot finally came off, and it flew in one direction, as she fell down, and landed on her ass, hard. She yelled and cursed at herself and glared at the boot.

"Fraking boot! Piece of bantha fodder…stupid…" She continued to mutter as she took the other one off.

"Hey, those boots never did anything to you!" He came to stand beside her, smiling. She laughed softly.

"I guess not…" And she stared at the boot again. She sighed and attempted to stand, wincing at the pain in her hip. Obi-Wan shook his head.

"We really need to get that looked at."

Padmé looked up at him, she hadn't moved an inch.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Her voice was quiet all of the sudden. Obi-Wan stood there for a few seconds with nothing to say, then he apparently thought of something.

"I'll be upstream if you need me," He pointed upstream. "Since I know you like your privacy." He rolled his eyes as if that was a bad thing, but smiled at her.

"Thank you for that." She smiled at him too. "So…off you go?!" She said, making shooing motions and saying 'shoo', trying not to laugh. Obi-Wan shook his head, still smiling, and started to walk down the bank of the stream. Padmé smiled and walked towards the creek, attempting to get her pants off, and trying not to injure her hip, and she hissed in pain as her fingernails grazed the wound. Obi-Wan kept walking until she was out of site, and took off his clothes with a bit of difficulty, then stepped into the freezing cold water, and sunk down, trying to ignore the cold. Padmé finally managed to get her pants off and scurried into the water, while taking off her shirt, and a little…quite loud actually, squeak escaped her lips as the cold water hit her skin, and she laughed to herself at her silliness. Obi-Wan stuck his head under the water for a bit, massaging his scalp, then brought his head back up, sending water flying behind him, and started to wash the dried blood off. Padmé bravely stuck her head under the water and sifted her hands through her hair. She tried not to touch her wound, and luckily some of the blood had come off when hitting the water and she shivered as she continued to clean herself. She continued to wash her hair and body, not really feeling clean, and she frowned, as she saw the water was turning dark around her...

After awhile, when he felt clean, he walked up the bank and put his clothes on, as he was still wet. He lay down on the bank, watching the sun go down over the trees, knowing Padmé would probably take forever to bathe. Padmé began to get panicky, and kept looking around her, turning in circles, bewildered. Her hip wasn't bleeding, so what else could be…she sighed in frustration as she figured it out. She moaned and face palmed herself.

"Why now?! Why now!" She muttered, hating the "curse of the women". Great..now she'd be even more cranky than usual. She hoped Obi-Wan could stand her, and not dump her on the way to town the next morning, or even tonight. She continued to wash herself, loving the feel of the now not-so-cold water around her, and she sunk herself into it until it was up to her neck, her hair floating all around her. She sighed against her problem and scowled in the dark. Obi-Wan hoped she was done washing and stood up; walking back slowly to where he'd left her.

Padmé finally felt clean, despite the circumstances, and so she started walking towards shore. She put her pants on with some difficulty, considering the "bandage" around her leg, but she had even more trouble with her shirt. She glared at it and continued to struggle to get it on.

Obi-Wan walked to where Padmé was, and saw her attempting to get her shirt on. He smiled, as he got both of his hopes wrapped in one, and he whistled at her, as most guys do when they saw a hot girl, and smiled and laughed, still hidden in the shadows.