POV: Anakin Skywalker

I was a little annoyed just standing here, watching Satine pace back and forth. It bugged me, but I had to respect Obi-Wan's order no matter how boring it was. I fiddled with my saber, eventually busting it into pieces, then putting it back together. As I worked, I let my hair fall over my eyes. I expertly re-pieced my saber from crystal to hilt metal. I looked up after feeling her eyes on me. She stood before me, watching me closely. I mentally saw myself rolling my eyes before raising them to her level. "Is there an issue, Duchess?" My Jedi tone was apparent as her eyes told me something clearly worried her. I used my thumb to move my hair off my face so I could actually give her all of my attention. I decided to break the formal barrier. "Satine, is something wrong?"

She sighed, keeping her voice to a low whisper. "It's a personal matter," she paused briefly, looking away from me, "but I'd appreciate letting someone know of this." My mind and ears tuned her out. I hadn't done it intentionally to aggravate her. I was way off, thinking about Obi and his smile, the way he touched me during lovemaking. It sent a heat through me, making me want him right here with me so I could rip his robes right off of him and love him like mad despite how physically awful I…. Okay, Anakin, not appropriate now. "Master Jedi?"

I quickly returned to reality. "Yes?"

She rolled her eyes, storming away from me. "Never mind. It's ridiculous to share." I felt bad, but now I really wondered what she'd been saying to me. It was clearly important to her…. But I'd rather be thinking about what Obi was doing with the interrogation…

I watched Satine, my eyes widened, as she stomped out of the room. I'd been listening to her. I'd acknowledged that fact, yet she still left in such a way that I didn't even know how to respond. I moved and opened my mouth to call out to her, but she spoke first. "I'll be in the library. I'll see you at dinner, Master Jedi."

"Duchess, if you need any –"

"Obi gave me a comlink with your frequency," she snapped moments before turning the corner. It bothered me that she just called him 'Obi.' If she said it so easily, then that meant he had allowed her at some point in time to call him that. I don't know why, but a tremendous wave of jealousy welled up in me. I sighed and shrugged. I made sure my com was working perfectly before I headed on down to the room Obi-Wan would use for his interrogation of whoever had broken in and disguised himself as one of the duchess' guards.

I was about to knock on the door, but I felt Obi-Wan's frustration and I just ended up waltzing in like I owned the place. Obi-Wan spun around, giving me the hardest glare he could muster until he realized it was me. "Anakin," he breathed. I eyed the other man for a moment before returning my eyes to him. "I thought I told you to stay with the duchess."

"She wanted to go elsewhere," I whispered.

"Then go with her," he said roughly. It was bothering me that he didn't want me around and it made me all the more curious to know what he'd gotten out of this man already. Evidently, it was something that emotionally conflicted him. He seemed… attached to Satine and I didn't understand how. As soon as he heard she requested his aid, he jumped on it. He took the mission as one only meant for him until I was assigned to it as well. I… wondered if he hadn't wanted me to come along for some reason. "Anakin, go."

I glanced to my left and saw a chair, so I moved to take a seat in it. I crossed my left leg over the right and folded my arms over my chest, raising an eyebrow at him. He knew I didn't give in that easily. Granted, I had a tendency of doing what he told me to. I didn't want to this time. I wanted to see why he wanted me gone so badly. He gave me a frustrated and aggravated look and it made my heart react oddly. It wasn't a good type of odd either. He sighed and returned to his questioning. "I gave you my answer, Jedi," the man hissed.

"That'll be all for this session. You will return for further questioning at a later date." I sat up straighter, gaping at him slightly. He wouldn't continue questioning in front of me? He'd never and I mean never done that to me before. My heart clenched in my chest as I watched him. He kept his back to me as he called for Satine's real guards to come and take the man to the brig. Once the room was silent and we had become the only two remaining, he turned to face me. "You disobeyed my order," he whispered, sounding almost… angry.

I stood up, my legs tingling in terror. "I didn't disobey you. I was with Satine. I made sure she was fine. She said she'd com me if she needed anything. She –"

"Anakin, I gave you a direct order to stay with her. If something happens to her, it's on your head," he growled. I didn't like the way he was acting right now. The concrete fact that he wanted me away from him so badly hurt. I really wanted to say something to him about it, but I wasn't entirely up for starting a confrontation with him. He was already angry with me for interrupting his session with a villain…. I wanted to blurt out and ask him what he was hiding from me, but I chose to remain silent. He sighed and realized this after a few, very long moments. "I'm sorry, Ani. I'm mentally exhausted."

I nodded, understanding. I didn't want to say the wrong thing, so I kept my mouth shut. The most I'd do right now was piss him off and make him storm out on me like Satine had. He came closer to me, not liking how quiet I was. I just didn't want to add onto his frustration. He caressed the side of my face gently, rubbing his thumb along my cheekbone. His eyes pleaded with me and I gave in, like I always do. "I'm sorry I interrupted." Damn, you. I honestly could've said something much more meaningful and important rather than something stupid….

He kissed my lips and my eyes instinctively shut as I embraced the feeling of his warm lips against mine. We parted after a few moments and he slid one arm around my body, holding me close to him, nuzzling his face beneath my jaw. I liked that he was slightly shorter than me because he was able to do things like that. There were… other times when I didn't entirely like him being shorter than me, but we managed regardless of our height. "I love you, Anakin."

I rubbed his upper arm and smiled. "I love you, too."

"Let's go back to our room. I want to talk to you about something." My body tensed up. Those words were never good. He chuckled and rubbed my back slowly. "It's nothing bad. I promise you, my young lover." It took a few moments, but my muscles did relax. His hand soothed me, honestly.

I didn't want to leave this position with him, but I figured we'd be more comfortable if we cuddled together in bed and talked, so I separated myself from him. He took my hand as we walked through the doorway and made our way to our room. I was surprised that no one had come along during that time period. We were almost always caught by somebody.

He led me over to the bed and I let him crawl across it before joining him, fitting myself against his body. He laid his arm out across the pillows, staying in a somewhat sitting position himself, and I laid on his arm and pressed myself against him. He held my shoulder and I rested my mechno on his hip, rubbing my thumb across the fabric of his Jedi vest slowly. "What's up, Obi?" I whispered, keeping my head below his jaw. He rested his head on mine and I moved my mechno up to his chest, rubbing above his heart.

"Anakin, have you thought about… starting a family at all?" I tensed up unwillingly. I hadn't meant to, but I did. He took that as an immediate 'no.' "I'm not saying that I'm forcing the thought on you. I've just been thinking about it a lot myself. I want us to have a family someday, Anakin."

"We're not even married," I whispered.

"I will marry you one day." My lips curved into a smile at the thought of us being completely bound to one another. I didn't mind being his boyfriend right now, but I would eventually like to be his husband. We would probably have to wait until after the war before we considered that though. I… wanted to do things the traditional way, even though our marriage wouldn't exactly be traditional….

"I'm excited for that." He kissed my hair and laughed, repeating it himself. Things were silent for a short amount of time and I think he was expecting me to chime in with something. "I want a family," I whispered. "I just don't want it to be too soon, if you know what I mean. I'm sure we'll last, Obi. I just want to marry you before we adopt any –"

"No," he interrupted. I tensed up even more so than I had just a few minutes ago. If he pressured me into starting a family with him before we got married, I don't think I'd be able to take it very long. "I don't want to adopt, Anakin." I silently breathed a sigh of relief, then I thought about it again.

"How else can we have kids, Obi-Wan?" I was curious to see what he'd say. If we didn't adopt, what would we do? Then I thought maybe he'd want to find a surrogate mother, which I didn't want to do.

He gave me an odd smile and it made me feel really awkward because he knew something more that I obviously didn't. "Anakin, I've read stories and reports of male pregnancies. It's possible and I want to try it."

I gagged and lurched forward, turning to give him the most amazed look I think I've ever had plastered on my face. My face got hot and I tore my eyes from him. "I… uh…" I didn't know what to say and I kept stuttering every time I tried. I rubbed the back of my neck until it was raw and Obi-Wan moved forward on the bed to come closer to me.

He grabbed at my hand and stared into my eyes, pulling my hand and holding it between us. "Ani, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." Mission accomplished…. "I love you and I want us to have a family together."

"I don't think we can get pregnant," I muttered. "It's physically impossible for multiple reasons…."

He kissed my knuckles and chuckled. "I can show you the articles and reports. Anakin, it has been successful. Men have had children. We can have children together, Ani."

I didn't want to crush his hopes and dreams, but I honestly didn't want either of us to get pregnant. It's… unnatural. It's like delaying death when you were destined to die at that particular moment. Cheating in life is unnatural in every form. Cheating death, male pregnancy…. He kept smiling at me and my face got even hotter. I didn't want to let him down. It just wasn't something I wanted to do and he tended to think of himself as the male portion of our relationship. That meant I'd have to get pregnant and I really, really… did not want to be pregnant….