POV: Anakin Skywalker

I shoved Obi-Wan off of me. The bastard had just hit me and shoved me into a glass table. My back was aching horribly and I didn't want him touching me. None of this was okay. Not even close. He was crossing so many lines within a short amount of time and it was hurting me so much inside as well as outside. "Get away from me!" I cried out, moving away from him.

He gave me a hurt look and I tried not to give in to it. I couldn't let him off so easily this time. He'd cheated on me and I'd given into him the one night. I'd been thoroughly upset, but I hadn't been able to resist holding him. I couldn't resist the want to be held by him. This time, I had to resist. He'd keep hurting me if I didn't. He took a step towards me and I took a step back. His look of hurt transformed into that of anger. Before he could throw another hit, I threw my mechno out and slammed him in the face. I turned to try to run before things could escalate, but he grabbed me and took me down to the floor.

He kept hitting my face and I tried to stop him to no avail. I honestly did not want to hurt him. Once I figured that the passive point of view did nothing, I got aggressive. I hit him in the gut and tried to flip him off of me, doing so successfully. He got back up immediately and wrapped one arm around my neck, the other around my waist. I gasped and gripped his arm, groaning as I tried to force him off. Unfortunately, struggling against him only made things worse for me. There was so much pain in my neck right now and I felt like he was going to snap it at any given moment.

Satine's door opened she looked over the railing. I gave her a distressed look and she ran downstairs, screaming for Padme. Padme ran in and immediately grabbed Obi-Wan upon seeing the situation we were in. She somehow managed to pull him off of me and Satine came to me, holding me as I coughed yet again. My throat was throbbing uncontrollably. My back hurt so damn much. "What the hell is going on?" Satine cried out, staring at Obi-Wan in disbelief.

"He won't listen to me!" I was frustrated with him beyond words. I was upset with him for numerous reasons and he hit me for not listening? There have been plenty of times that I'd tuned him out during something important. He never hit me then. Why would he hit me now?

Satine helped me up and saw how much blood there was about the room. She took me into another room and set me down in a chair, frantically searching for bacta. I could hear Padme talking to Obi-Wan and I wondered what had really caused this. It couldn't have just been my not listening. As I said, I've done that before. This was something completely different and I didn't understand.

Satine found the bacta and took my shirt off. I hissed loudly as she started wrapping my midsection with the gauze. She inspected my neck and my face and frowned. "The wounds from the table will heal soon. Your face and neck are just beginning to bruise."

I rubbed my cheekbone, hissing at the pain that caused me. I was angry with Obi-Wan, but I couldn't stay angry at him long. Yes, today had just been a bad day for us, but I loved the man more than he realized. He just had to accept that I was hurting. I hadn't left him despite what he'd done. We're still together. I still love him as much as I did before. The only thing that's weakened is my trust in him. He would have to rebuild that. The throbbing in my face made that obvious.

"Let me talk to him," he whispered in the other room. I lifted my eyes to the threshold. I felt afraid. He snapped on me in an instant and now he'd transformed back to himself. If the transition between his normal self and his angry counterpart were that easy to slide through, I'd have to be extra careful around him now. I heard Padme warning him and I sighed, getting up from the chair.

I wandered out into the living room and just stood there. Our eyes locked and I could see the pain in his. I assumed he could see my pain as well. He looked so desperate, so regretful. He stood straighter and pleaded with his eyes. He wanted my forgiveness. The thing is, I was near forgiving him for what happened between him and Satine while with me. This had ruined the chance of me forgiving him anytime soon. "Obi –"

He came to me and Padme panicked, but held her ground. Obi-Wan's arms wound around me and his warm lips brushed against my neck, his fingers rubbing into my back muscles. I closed my eyes and everything in me relaxed involuntarily. That was a side effect to loving him like I did. With him, it was hard to stay tense. It was hard to stay upset.

I slid my arms around him and held him against me. I had to stop being so weak with him. He'd think every little thing he did wrong was okay if I kept giving into him like this. "I'm so sorry, Anakin. I'm so sorry." He kept kissing my neck and I closed my eyes. I didn't want to tell him it was okay. He'd hurt me, emotionally and physically. We'd never fought like this before. I never wanted to fight him like this before. I loved him more than anyone, more than anything.

I leaned my head against his and gave in. It was too hard to resist him. I love Obi. I love him a lot… "It's… It's okay," I whispered. I felt a large weight lift from his shoulders and his muscles eased up. His fingers dug into my back gently and he held me against him firmly. "I love you." I sighed as his face nuzzled into my neck ever so lightly. I chose to meld our minds together so I didn't have the other two listening in on us as we talked. "Obi, please tell me what I did wrong."

He tensed up in my hold again and I shut my eyes tighter, praying that he wouldn't hit me again. I just wanted to know what had happened between us. Never in the last nearly two decades has he hit me quite like that. He playfully hit me, he hit the back of my head, he punched my shoulder. Those were all either gestures of affection or irritation. He'd never tried to hurt me like this before. He'd never directly hit my face or thrown me before. He breathed on my neck before quickly planting a kiss on my skin. "It wasn't you," he whispered. "I shouldn't have hurt you, Anakin, and I'm very sorry. I'm truly sorry for what I did. I wish I could take it back."

I rubbed his lower back and rubbed my cheek against his. "I forgive you, Obi. Just…please tell me what caused this to begin with so we can avoid it in the future." I meant what I was saying. I wanted to prevent this from ever happening between us again. I've loved him for a very long time and I didn't want us to be parted by a rift. I didn't want us to be parted period.

"I'm stressed over the things I've done to you lately." He paused and I felt nails digging further into my back. It wasn't done purposely to hurt me. I knew he was just expressing his emotions. The thing was, we were Jedi. He didn't have to express his emotions physically. I could already feel them and he was drowning himself in misery, regret, and pain. "I'm sorry for cheating on you, I'm sorry for trying to force you into sex, I'm sorry for hitting you. I'm sorry. I don't deserve you."

"Hush," I whispered through our bond. It was my turn to run kisses along his neck. Once Padme and Satine realized that the air had cleared for now, they left us alone. We still stood where we were, holding one another tightly. I felt his tears on my neck and I didn't know what else to say right now. I could feel his fury building and that scared me. Obi-Wan wasn't one to rage like this. He'd always been so calm, so peaceful, so serene. The most anger I'd ever seen of or felt from him was after Maul killed Master Qui-Gon and after our first encounter with Dooku. Dooku. I flexed my mechanical fingers gently against his back. That would always be a reminder of my failure as Obi-Wan's Padawan.

"How can you possibly love me after all that I've done to you, Anakin?"

He practically screamed it at me. Had he said it aloud, Satine and Padme surely would have run back into the room to separate us for fear that he'd attack me again. "Because I know that these mistakes aren't who you truly are, Obi-Wan. I know that you're a good – wonderful man, Obi. You have so much love inside of you and you're very passionate about us, about me."

"That was before I started doing things to ruin our relationship."

"Aren't we still in a relationship?"

"You never said we weren't, so I suppose…"

"We are in a relationship, Obi. I don't want to break up with you or end what we have, okay?" I lifted my hand to stroke his auburn hair gently. His nails eased up on my back finally and I sighed silently. "I love you and I know you love me, Obi-Wan."

"I have an odd way of showing you that I love you."

I pulled away from him, leading him towards a couch for us to sit on together. I sat cross-legged on it and he sat in front of me, mimicking my position. "Listen to me," I whispered aloud. "Let's put this behind us. Mistakes and accidents happen. It's what makes us human, okay?"

"Okay," he replied, a slight pout tainting his voice.

"Talk to me, Obi."

"I am talking to you, Anakin." The way he said my name made me cringe. It was like my name poisoned him. He must have noticed how I'd reacted because he took my hand in his and gently rubbed over my knuckles. "I'm sorry. Anakin, I love you. I promise I'll try harder." He shifted our hands so that both of his held my flesh hand. "I promise you I'll show my love for you in much more passionate, delicate ways."

"All you need to do to make me happy is love me, Obi." I smiled weakly, my stomach doing flips. His eyes showed so much pain that I just wished I could will away. I lifted my mechno to stroke his beard lightly. "All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy – happy with me."

"I am happy with you," he said quickly, almost as if he wanted me to know that was the case. I believed him, as much as I probably shouldn't have. He'd done nothing yet to earn my trust back, but I was slowly just giving it away like I always did, like I always would. "You make me happier than I have ever been, Anakin, and I promise I'll show you that from now on."

I nodded and shifted onto my knees, leaning closer to him to kiss his soft lips. He held the sides of my face, rubbing his thumbs along my cheekbones and I felt his lips curve into a smile as we kissed. I wanted to believe him, so I did. I wanted to trust him, so I did. I did because I love him.