Padmé Amidala Skywalker (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} i_cannot_follow) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} makebelievelog,@ 2012-11-30 20:44:00 |
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What: Well they had a heated argument. It’s time for them to attempt a resolution which, as it turns out, they are also not so great at. It’s a struggle.
When: Friday late night
Where: Their rooms
Rating/Warnings: Caffeine buzz caused confusion, continued arguments, the usual with these two
Status: Complete
Anakin slipped into the bedroom, it was already quite late and he’d hoped Padmé was asleep. He was only stopping in for a moment to change his shirt. Much to his irritation, he’d accidentally caught it on a bolt working on his bike, tearing a hole in the side. Lacking the Force he noticed he felt sluggish around his projects, lacking his normal grace around mechanics. He still understood what he was doing, his education on the subject was more than adequate, but he had to think more at each step before his mind caught on.
He planned a quick change, and then he was going to head down to the workroom, he’d since resumed frequenting it now that he was unintentionally causing his wife and younger self to experience something like a stimulant buzz when he was near. Not to mention how tensions were high between him and Padmé since their argument the other day.
He hadn’t counted on her being awake. He couldn’t feel her, and for the millionth time he tamped down the panic that that acknowledgment brought - she was alive, and well, just not talking to him, he reminded himself. She was in chair with Sonya in her lap. His wife looked distant, the cat looked desperate to get away.
Anakin paused.
“I’m just here to change my shirt,” he finally said and pointed towards the closet.
Padmé had spent the entire night after their argument walking around, trying to get a grasp around the emotions that the argument had stirred up. If it was due to the stimulant-like buzz or due to other things, she didn't know, but she knew what she felt and she knew Anakin had hurt her feelings. She hoped she hadn't done the same, but it seemed smarter to take some time to step back and not speak of it when the wounds were still fresh.
But her mind had fixated, rather than allowing herself the peace she so wanted. Stimulant buzz, stimulant withdrawal crash, no stimulants at all... Padmé wouldn't have been able to sleep. She had too much on her mind.
At Anakin's presence, Padmé's mind was temporarily pulled back into the confines of their room. Her shoulders stiffened and she tried to straighten a little, but all it managed to do was shift Sonya around enough to allow the cat the leverage it needed to take off from her lap in a run. Padmé, after a moment, put both of her hands into her lap in what felt awkward. She wasn't used to feeling awkward, unsure... she didn't like it. Yet, it was becoming a more familiar sensation now that she was aware of everything that happened in her galaxy.
She opened her mouth to say something, then paused and stopped herself before the forming words could escape. Padmé, instead, just nodded and looked down.
Anakin accepted the nod but didn’t push for a conversation. He walked quickly to their spacious closet and went inside to find a new shirt.
Truth be told he’d been hurt also, but he didn’t know why. Not the way Padmé could pinpoint how he’d hurt her, which he knew he had done. So he had left it, let it go, his Jedi training kicking in when he was directionless. He knew he couldn’t back down on this issue with his younger self. He knew his younger self’s capacity for failure was high, but he also knew the boy needed to be allowed to find the limits of his abilities, to test those limits and to succeed or fail at them. Especially the latter, and as concerned as he was about the boy’s safety, Anakin simply knew this would be the only way young Ani would learn.
This was an issue deeply tied into how he was treated by the Order and his desire to make sure his younger self had a better chance at ultimate success. But he couldn’t articulate it.
His toss the old shirt to the laundry pile and slipped the new shirt on over his head. He then stepped back into the room and without more than a brief nod to his wife he headed for the door.
"Anakin," Padmé finally managed, though her voice was quiet as the words finally managed to escape. Still, she looked up made the effort to start the conversation. "How long are we going to go on like this?"
"I - some of what you said really hurt me. But -" Padmé stifled any hint of a sniffle by pausing and letting her gaze go past Anakin rather than looking at him. She had a hard time, at times, when it came to giving herself permission to cry. Crying at happiness was one thing, but she tried quite hard to avoid it when she was sad or upset. "We can't avoid one another forever. I don't want to - need to."
Anakin stopped when Padmé spoke to him and turned to face her. Without even thinking about it his back stiffened and his defenses came up, and he had to work to keep the irritation from creasing his brow. “You stopped talking to me, don’t place that on me. If you want to discuss things then let’s talk.”
"I needed to step away, Anakin. The remark about Theed -" Padmé had an extremely hard time not visibly reacting to the thought, to the memories associated with that day. She had been so optimistic. The victory had been a large one and a lot of lives had been saved, but she had a hard time with the lives lost and the lingering questions in her mind if she could've done more. She had become a beloved Queen that the people wanted to keep in office because of everything she had done in relation to saving her people amidst that invasion, but there was always questions if she could've done more. What things could she do in relation to diplomacy, to help achieve peace? And to know she ultimately failed and - it was due to a man that she put into a notable position of power during that time. She had made Palpatine the Chancellor.
"That is a heavy burden for me, Anakin. That remark hurt, deeply. You told me it wasn't right to 'hold him back all the time' before you specified 'right now,' and you alluded to me in the same note as the Jedi Masters. That hurt me deeply as well. What - am I supposed to have thought after that?"
She settled for shutting her eyes and looking in an entirely new direction, trying to put on a politician's mask rather than simply being herself, unimpeded, in the situation.
Anakin set his jaw. He still did not understand how comparing two dangerous situations with each other was off limits, in his mind one was similar to the next. Padmé had received training that had prepared her for that moment, his younger self was a Padawan who also had training to confront perilous situations. The Naboo Crisis was on a scale far grander than merely visiting dragons, so yes, in Anakin’s mind it made sense to point out Padmé had deliberately placed herself in something far worse than what Anakin was proposing letting his younger self do now.
However, that wasn’t the hill he wanted to die on, so to speak. Demanding to be right in that one area wasn’t worth it; his shame for hurting Padmé with those comments far outweighed any desire to prove his point.
“I apologize for the remarks regarding the Naboo Crisis, I only meant to highlight how your training and capabilities at his age were comparable, not to dig at what clearly are old wounds for you.” He dropped his gaze for a moment. “I am sorry I hurt you.”
He swallowed before going on to the fight he did want to have. “I amended my position when I recognized how I mistyped, I clarified what I meant and you cannot continue to level my first comments against me. But I stand by what I meant about my masters. I know you care about him Padmé but he’s far more capable than you’re accepting. By this time back in our universe he would have been on his first mission with Master Obi-Wan and it involved more danger than seeing a few dragons. I know he can handle going up there. My masters could not see my strengths or weaknesses, not really, just what position I should fill in the Order. Looking at him and seeing only a child has a similar effect.”
"I was trained to avoid assassination attempts, I was never trained to handle an invasion or counter-invasion; not truly." Padmé didn't really think there would've been a way to train her to be ready for the burden that had fallen on her shoulders. The idea that her people were dying with every moment that passed, that she was failing the people she had been elected to protect. "I never expected to have my people dying and to feel - what I did."
Padmé would be buried in Theed as a hero of the people, but she couldn't approach politics now for so many reasons. It wasn't just differences in methods, but it was also emotional baggage coupled with a number of wounds of betrayal. She wanted time to focus on herself because so much of her life had gone to politics and she no longer held the confidence required for it. It only made its appearances in the occasional verbal sparring or when hints of old habits rising to the surface. "If diplomatic methods had worked, I would've been overjoyed. That was the last thing I wanted."
"I didn't understand that you were clarifying it at first, Anakin. You said yes, in that instance, I was. I took that as an affirmation for - overall. I was too upset to backtrack on that one matter by the time I finally understood. I was too upset to hold a rational conversation." Padmé admitted with a small shrug, staring downward. Something in her argued against the idea of looking up, so she went along with the instinct. "And I don't hold this stance because of his age. I hold it because - I would be scared if you left, without a word, and went up into the mountains. It's not because you're a Jedi, he's a Padawan, or he's not. It's because this is my family and the safety of both of you matters to me. I wanted something where a number of adults could accompany and go up with mind to basic caution, but - you seemed to brush that aside, just as he seems to brush aside things I say in relation to this."
"Isn't part of testing one's limits accepting that there are limits?" Padmé had stood with Shmi as Anakin had competed in the Podraces, held her hand, reassured her the best she could, and watched the fear in his mother's eyes as Anakin risked his life. She, by no means, could comprehend the idea that Anakin's experiences meant that he shouldn't have any guidelines of safety in testing his abilities. Telling people where he was going, having others around in case something did go wrong. "With the Jedi, you always had someone. I wanted to make sure the girl's guardians were okay with the concept and I wanted to open it for discussion of how to approach it safely... not have it regarded as a given."
A little nagging voice, a doubt that had planted in the back of Padmé's mind, chose that moment to pull at her stream of thoughts yet again. She swallowed, hard, the façade of calm finally cracking as she reached to wipe her eyes. "I hope I didn't, and don't, hurt you."
“Because it sounds like you think I haven’t already thought about it, or that I accept it.” Anakin did sound somewhat exasperated as he said that. He was careful not to include his younger self in that assertion. He knew young Ani needed to learn boundaries and limits, he was not opposed to that in the slightest. But he felt he should be granted a bit more credit here. “If there’s one thing about me I can’t root out no matter what method I try training my thoughts it’s that I couldn’t knowingly let any of those I love fall to irreparable harm. Safety is a given.”
“What isn’t a given is your acceptance of the idea of letting him test his limits. This isn’t about his friend’s participation in the possibility of going, despite how this discussion may have started. You’ve been opposed to the idea of him going up there from the start. You’re opposed to the idea of me going up there.”
Anakin sighed and gave a small shake of his head. “No matter how much you wish it, he won’t accept just an explanation that there are limits; he needs to find them for himself.”
Padmé was quiet for a few moments, and then she just shook her head a little. "You're taking what I said in regards to you wrong. I - will not always be able to be logical about when I'm fearful for your well-being. If it's a dangerous situation, by most standards, I'm going to fear for your welfare because I love you. Saying 'he's a Jedi' doesn't make it so that ache in my heart goes away any more than 'she's trained to avoid assassination attempts' would wipe away your concerns for me in a potentially threatening situation."
"I wasn't trying to forbid you from going up; I wanted to wait until you could feel the force again. And people discover the limits of life growing up, but they discover it with others around so someone can catch them if something goes wrong." Padmé stopped shaking her head and it clicked in her mind; this was likely a Jedi "attachments are bad" matter as much as anything else. "People deserve to have others around who care for their state and who can provide backup if needed. That isn't having doubt in that person; it's wanting to support them."
“And you have never accepted that explanation from me as a restriction on your actions.” He resisted the urge to point. “You wouldn’t even accept my assessment of the level of danger you were in after the second assassination attempt on your life before the battle of Genosis. You did what you wanted and I had the choice of following you around quietly or deal with you ignoring my objections.”
He knew he had Padmé on that. Padmé did what Padmé felt she could do because she was an adult and could, and did, evaluate her own situation. Anakin would like it acknowledged he was the same, he was an adult who could measure the risk and benefits. And on top of that, that he knew something about which he was speaking regarding to his younger self and his younger self’s limits. He’d had a Padawan himself once.
“You’re doing it again,” he said. “Assuming I’m ignorant of the risks I’m proposing. Do you think I’m going to take him up there and just toss him at a dragon and not intervene if his life is in danger? That’s not what I’m suggesting in letting him explore his own limits.”
"I've never, and don't demand that you don't have any feelings over such matters, Anakin," Padmé pointed out; she had said that she would still feel it, not that she expected Anakin to change his ways so she could avoid feeling such things. "But you're right, I haven't allowed you to restrict my actions. I don't expect you to restrict your actions or change who you are, but I can't stop having emotions and reactions to something just because it's not necessarily logical." Padmé wanted to suggest that they could talk matters out in such circumstances, explain their reasons for feeling the way they did, but she was lost in the moment and the politician's arguments were gone.
"Anakin, please stop for a minute." And he said she twisted his words, put words in his mouth. "I try to express why it is I wanted to discuss safety and you imply that I'm calling you - ignorant of the risks and that I doubt you would protect him. That is not what I meant. And if you say that if one assumes safety isn't implied is also casting doubt on you, then this conversation - well, I don't know what more to say. I don't doubt you, but I feel like that doesn't matter right now as it's being completely lost because I can't read your mind and predict you without needing to pause and think."
"I was already upset when I brought it to everyone's attention. My mind wasn't on predicting you, it was-" She stopped there, trailing off as she finally cracked and started to cry.
Anakin clenched his jaw at being told to stop. He didn’t even know what Padmé was arguing about anymore and he couldn’t help but feel he was facing a politician’s skill which was far out of his league. He could think of a few situations where having the Force would be more useful, but right in this moment he fiercely wanted it for the clarity it might offer him.
“Then why do you keep bringing up guidelines I have never objected to as if I haven’t heard them?” What measure of control he’d had over his expression before failed him and his brow crossed in deep irritation. “I know he needs someone there guiding him and protecting him if needs it, Padmé… I don’t know why you keep bringing that up. That’s why I’m assuming you think I don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m talking about.”
At about this moment everything stopped making sense to Anakin, who, at best, understood a simplistic array of emotions and nothing of what was going on in front of him. Because he’d apologized for what he thought had hurt his wife the most, and yet here she was crying.
“I don’t know what we’re even arguing about anymore. And I don’t know why you’re so upset with me.”
"Because you never brought any guidelines or ideas up with me! The two going came up for discussion, because I wouldn't think to dictate to Helena if her younger self should do such a thing or not, but I wanted everyone aware. Suddenly - I'm being an impediment to Anakin because I want a concept of safety discussed, which is something you didn't mention or discuss. I didn't know what safety you were thinking of, and I still don't. I've not seen the dragons, I don't -" Padmé needed to curl up in their large bed and stay there, to catch up on the sleep she had missed over the past few days. She also needed to have a few good meals and a bit of emotional peace rather than continually beating herself up. "I don't automatically assume you have every safety precaution listed and set in your mind and I'm doubting you?"
“Because we were discussing if he could go, not how!” Anakin was very confused and in need of sleep as well. He’d been staying away from their rooms as much as possible so as not to affect either Padmé or his younger self with his new ‘power’ (joke was more like it) on accident. But he couldn’t escape affecting himself. The more this discussion continued the less he understood what was going on.
"We were discussing if they could go and how, both. As I said, I wouldn't dream to dictate things to Helena. When did it become about Anakin alone going?" Padmé asked, tilting her head slightly and looking at her husband with confusion. "If you're referring to me being upset over the first time, he snuck away to do that and didn't tell anyone. The fact he wasn't hurt, that his friend wasn't hurt, wasn't the point in why I was upset." If anything, she had been relieved that both had been okay.
“I don’t know! And I never said he should go alone, there should be a responsible adult with him.” Anakin said, he was truly exasperated at his point and he couldn’t even try to hide it.
“I wouldn’t presume to tell Helena how to care for her younger self and I’ve maintained that throughout this whole discussion. I told her that. I can only speak for Anakin.”
"We weren't speaking of Anakin alone when this all started." Padmé pointed out again, feeling rather alone despite the fact that things seemed to be starting to die out a little. Her shoulders slumped and she leaned back into the chair, giving up on any last concept of decorum. She felt too overwhelmed to bother.
"I brought the matter to the attention of those involved with their lives so it could be discussed; I didn't want it slipping through the cracks and then everyone waking up one morning to find them gone. I haven't read your discussion with Helena, Anakin. I turned my phone off when I went to get some air... and I've been preoccupied with a number of things since."
“Padmé,” Anakin sighed, the tone of his voice growing quiet. “You’ve been vocally against the idea of Ani going up there. Until now… I guess? How am I supposed to make the leap you suddenly support the idea, if you don’t say otherwise?” He shrugged and turned to lean back against the bedpost. He crossed one arm over his chest and used it to support his other arm as he rubbed his eyes. “You didn’t bring that up in your post. You just said we should all discuss Ani and young Helena’s bringing up the subject.”
Anakin paused then and looked up, blinking at Padmé. He grew very still. The irritated look melted from his face and something sad replaced it.
“One of the reasons you’ve been upset with me for days, haven’t spoken to me for days, is something I didn’t actually do, and you had the evidence proving so the whole time?” he asked softly.
Padmé was very quiet for a few moments before she finally admitted, “I wasn't talking not just because of being upset at you. I was - am - upset at myself. I didn't know what to say.” Her not knowing what to say was a notable admittance, all things considered.
Anakin was, admittedly, surprised at Padmé’s confession. She was the politician, his idea of negotiations involved literally disarming his opponent. He had assumed she would always be unfailingly adept with words.
But he did understand how she felt as he so often found himself in that very same position. He could feel his obstinate defensiveness start to slip away.
“You didn't know what to say to me?”
“No, I didn't. Maybe -” Padmé hesitated, but continued because it was necessary. “I wasn't thinking on it, or clarity, when I made the post. If I could change the details now - I would.”
Anakin dropped his gaze down to his crossed arms. He was thinking. He was tired, he was confused, and he’d been more energetic and irrationally irritated because of the lack of his connection to the Force and his kriffing new ‘power’ than he had in a very long time. All of this combined made thinking clearly immensely difficult, to say the least. He could almost hear Obi-Wan’s voice telling him to stop and think sensibly, which was equal parts aggravating, as Obi-Wan’s admonitions always were; and comforting, because, contradictorily, such cautions from his former Master were also soothing, as well. Anakin’s mind and emotions were complicated.
Case in point, his and Padmé’s current predicament.
Finally, with the last of his knee-jerk frustration dissolving into the actual nothingness separating him and his wife he came to a startling conclusion.
“So...” He looked up to meet Padmé’s gaze. Anakin look slightly confused, revelation or no, understanding often registered on his face last, and maybe he looked even a little bit concerned because the confirmation he was seeking meant he’d made some egregious mistakes these last few days that might cost him more than he could divine just then. Only his hoped Padmé would forgive him. “… We've been fighting over... nothing?”
Padmé was somewhere between a laugh and crying. Perhaps it was the result of a stimulant buzz, perhaps it was relief that they seemed to have gotten over their first genuinely big fight. “Maybe? It - seems like it.”
It was good to hear Padmé’s laugh again, even if it was muddled by crying. He wanted to go over to her but hesitation planted his feet. His shoulders slumped and he said, somewhat defeated, somewhat embarrassed, quietly, “They don't teach you how to do this at the Temple.”
Padmé was still quiet, shrugging, “I don't - know this could be taught.”
Anakin gave a small smile. “They'd have to allow relationships like ours first.”
“I don't know if there could be any relationship quite like ours.” She admitted with a small sigh, not meaning it as a remark toward their relationship in a negative light but rather just an observation. Things were complicated for them to start; a politician and a Jedi. Add in knowing what they did, it held the potential to be downright convoluted in ways. “What I know outside of the political arena is... limited. Sometimes I wonder if it's too limited.”
Anakin pushed away from the bed post, paused, and then taking a leap of faith walked over to where Padme was sitting. As she didn’t move or object to his approach he dropped to a crouch in front of her. “You know more than me,” he said, trying to be encouraging.
Padmé smiled for a fleeting moment, shrugging her shoulders slightly before trying to wipe her eyes free of the remaining tears. She felt foolish, still crying when the disagreement was seemingly over, but she was finding it hard to stop completely. "You've learned so much, so quickly. I'm so proud of you in that."
"When -" She let out a sharp breath, clenching her eyes together, "it seemed possible I was pregnant, I tried so hard to think on the good things. The parts I wanted and where we would have a little family of our own. I didn't think about the possible bad. What if I'm not meant to be a mother? What if we had a child and they hated me? I got to be around for some of the best parts with Ryoo and Pooja; I've never had to consider the discipline or the parts that happen. It's always just been spoiling them a little and having fun." She could take a Senator, even if she had self-doubts anymore, but she wondered if she would be able to take a five or six-year-old. "That's what I was thinking on instead of what I should've been."
“Padmé.”
Anakin looked up at Padmé and sympathy and a humor he could not explain in twenty lifetimes shown on his face. He was the one, back in their universe, who would kill her, torture their children, and try to turn them to the Dark Side, and she was concerned she would be a terrible mother?
“I’ve known since the moment I saw you with Ryoo and Pooja you would be a loving and kind mother. If you wanted,” he was quick to add that last bit.
He dropped his head to her lap, one of his hands seeking out hers. His fingers brushed away the trace of tears there before lacing their hands together. “I still remember the flight between Tatooine and Coruscant where no one but a very emotionally burdened handmaiden noticed me shivering and crying in the corner, and still she took the time to make sure I was alright and that my needs were met.”
And maybe some of that wicked humor couldn’t be contained because the corner of his mouth that was visible curled in a telling way. He made a gamble on the moment. He didn’t look up, but focused on Padmé’s finger. “Though, you were deceiving us all at the time… so clearly your moral capabilities are suspect.”
Padmé wanted to give Anakin a tiny swat to the arm for laughing, so she hated it all the more when she felt the corner of her lips turn up slightly. She squeezed Anakin's hand a little tighter with hers, instead, and tried to really listen to what Anakin had said. "You know I want to add to our family, when we feel ready. To have a child. But - it's still scary, as blissful as it still sounds. I don't want to mess a child up."
"And are they?" The tone turned from somber to having a hint of lightness as Padmé gave very brief thought to the deception. "I wouldn't think you would feel safe putting your head on the lap of someone with questionable moral capabilities. What if I tickled your ear?"
“I’m fairly certain whatever complaints our children will have later in life they will be about me, not about you.” Anakin didn’t even notice the certain inevitability of future children his comment conveyed.
He tried to look up at Padmé from his position, straining his eyes. “I’ll take my chances.”
He let the smile linger a moment more before growing sober again. “I’m sorry, Padmé. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Padmé took one of her hands, leaving the other interlaced with Anakin's, and brought it up to run her hand through his hair. Her fingers might have lingered over the area above his ear for an extra moment, but she didn't actually try to tickle him.
"I'm sorry too, Anakin." Padmé didn't know what to make of Anakin's assertion that their future children's complaints would surely be about him instead of her, but took it as something to add to the mixture of thoughts that seemed to keep popping up. She was too tired to deal with most of those thoughts, in the moment, and wanted to enjoy the relative peace that seemed established. "And I've missed you being around."
“It’s probably for the best I wasn’t around,” Anakin sighed. “Ani would have been unbearable. Both of us would probably have been yelling at each other at the drop of a hat. It would have been awful.”
He brought Padmé’s hand to press against his lips.
“I think I finally have a grasp on this new ability of mine,” he said derisively, revealing just how much he didn’t appreciate being cut off from the Force with something ridiculous substituted in its place. “There shouldn’t be any more unexpected stimulant rushes from here on out… I hope.” Who could speak for the one-off moments of failure from time to time.
Padmé smiled a little more blatantly and admitted, "Probably, but that doesn't mean I didn't miss you." She just didn't miss the sensation of the stimulant, nor the young lad bouncing off the walls due to his elder self's new ability.
"We could cuddle," She suggested after a moment, unable to really help herself. She was tired and she missed having her husband to snuggle up against. While she could, and had slept without curling up against him, sometimes she needed the mental security that went along with it. "And test that."
"I -" Padmé stopped in the middle of her sentence and stared, focused, on Anakin's hair. "Ani, why is there a tiny little speck of something shiny in your hair? There's another -"
Anakin smiled at Padmé’s suggestion. “Are you sure you want to chance it?”
But he couldn’t deny that had missed her, too. He’d really missed the comfort of his wife pressed tight against his side. That had been such a rarity for them during the Clone Wars. Most of their meetings were fleeting hours during the day, stolen here and there. Once in awhile he could spend the night by her side, though, and those moments were the most precious. He couldn’t think of a happier memory than the ones of them walking in the morning together in Padmé’s bed.
“Hmm?” he questioned, worried at the sudden change in Padmé’s demeanor and her broken sentence. He drew cautiously back to look at her.
“What-” and then it clicked for him what Padmé was talking about. He ran a hand through his hair and a few shiny, multi-colored flecks shook free to fall to his shoulder. “Oh,” his tone flattened, “that.” His expression changed to one of long suffering. “James loves me too much. His new ability is control of glitter. I’m thinking of cuffing him to something in his room.”
Padmé couldn't help but laugh. She covered her mouth with one of her hands and tried to stifle it, somewhat, but it wasn't the easiest thing to do. And, despite the long suffering expression and suggestion of cuffing the offending party, Padmé didn't quite believe that Anakin would go to such measures. "If you try, wouldn't he likely just cover you in glitter again? I'm glad you've made a friend who likes you so, though..."
"And yes, Ani," Padmé nodded and said with a none-too-shy smile, "I am sure I want to take that chance."
Anakin narrowed his eyes, because truth be told he hadn’t yet decided on the best course of action with James. Back in his universe, back in the Order, Anakin wouldn’t dream of retaliating on such an incorrigible level. Jedi weren’t known for their humor or pranks. Such revelry was not becoming of any Order member. But Anakin was starting to adopt some less than decorous habits in the Land of Make Believe. And he had a feeling James was taking far too much delight in his new found abilities.
But that was neither here nor there in this discussion.
Anakin rocked back and then stood up, pulling Padmé with him, as he assumed she didn’t mean they should both try to fit on the chair. They could, if they worked at it, but that would far more energy than he had at the moment.
He pulled Padmé close for a hug. “I love you,” he said, dropping his forehead to touch hers.
"I love you too." Padmé shut her eyes as their foreheads touched, finally feeling herself start to unwind. They would have problems in the future, but it didn't matter. No couple was perfect; everyone had something to work through. They just had some things to work through that were distinct to their relationship.
"Come," Padmé's hand reached up to wrap around Anakin's arm and admitted, pleading a little, "to bed. Please? I'm tired. I didn't sleep well last night. I can't imagine you're well-rested either."
Anakin followed without resistance.