Who: Padmé Amidala-Skywalker, Anakin Amidala-Skywalker What: (Pregnant) Padmé wakes up in the dead of night with a craving. Anakin gets sent to the grocery store to get it as she has the ultimate trump card. Fluff and/or amusement ensues When: (backdated) Saturday, June 15th, 2013 Where: Padmé & Anakin's Room/The Grocery Store Rating/Warnings: G; General significant other fluffiness. Will update as necessary. Status: Closed / Incomplete (to be finished in comments)
Padmé had managed to finally get settled into the large bed, snuggled up in a comfortable position on her side with pillows strategically placed. It was finding a position, first, and then a matter of Anakin coming in and (if he wanted) snuggling up to her. At 22-weeks pregnant, Padmé had found herself undeniably and utterly pregnant looking. She had been trying to take things at a good pace, to slow down and take care of herself amidst the pregnancy. She was doing quite well as a result.
Of course, hormones were at top level, too. It left her less than thrilled. And when she woke up in the late hours of the night, bordering on the earliest of morning hours, she was in a state of hormone surges and cravings.
Padmé didn’t lie still for long. She shifted, moving from her side to lie on her back. That lasted for about five seconds before she was, again, shifting. This time it was to wake her husband up.
“Ani... Ani.”
The darkness around Anakin’s mind receded, though understanding of the moment didn’t fill that shore as quickly as sleep left him.
The first words out of his mouth were only incoherent mumbles. But the more his wife’s hand persisted against his arm speech came back to him.
“Padmé…”
Though his attempt at her name sounded more like ‘Pa..mé’.
“Wha…”
“I can’t sleep.” Padmé said with a sigh, staring at Anakin’s barely moving form. She didn’t want to wake him, but she didn’t have much else to do. She had a craving - and it wasn’t a mild one.
“I really want watermelon.” She finally admitted, shifting and moving to sit up in the bed. She was past the point of trying to lie down and sleep again. She wasn’t going back to sleep without watermelon and plums.
Anakin rolled over finally, blinking. He was trying hard to process what Padmé was saying, though sleep was starting to put up a fight for his attention.
“Why do you wan’ watermelon?”
“Because I’m forming a human being inside of me, and I’m having a craving. I’m not going to be able to go back to sleep until I get some.” Padmé reached over to brush a hint of a curl away from Anakin’s forehead, the motion a gentle one. She didn’t feel good about the fact she was waking him up, but she felt it was necessary.
“Can you go check the kitchen for a watermelon and plums?” Padmé asked, though she asked it in a matter that was more statement than question. She did, for good measure, add on a request of, “Please?”
Anakin didn’t catch all of Padmé’s explanation, but he caught enough. He blinked at Padmé a few more times, not trying to be obstinate, but he still had some all too human desire to close his eyes to fight with. With a tired sigh he rolled over and sat up on the edge of the bed.
He stood up and found a shirt. He looked for nothing more; socks, shoes, they didn’t matter, he could go barefoot to the kitchen.
“Just watermelon and plums?” he asked. Though he sounded more coherent, his words were still barely more than a mumble.
“Yes, just watermelon and plums.” Padmé started shifting around in the bed once Anakin was up and out of it, making herself a stack of pillows to lean against and leave her in a more upright position. She had a book next to her on the bedside stand that she could read a few pages from, if she could muster up the concentration, but mostly she just needed to sit up for the simple act of sitting up. Padmé figured the more comfortable she was, the more patient she could be while waiting for Anakin to check the kitchen.
“Thank you, Ani.”
Anakin left and made his way to the kitchen. He may be sleepy still, but he didn’t bumble around, his inability to come up with quick responses didn’t mean his motor skills were suffering. Soon enough he was in the kitchens and at the refrigerator that housed the fruit.
He opened it and peered inside. With each shelf he looked over and ultimately passed he grew frustrated. And when he got to the bottom and opened all the drawers only to find them bereft of watermelon or plums, he had to concede there wasn’t any of either to be found.
He trudge back up to his and Padmé’s rooms to tell his wife. “There are no plums, no watermelon either.”
The Force wasn’t needed to tell just how displeased that made Padmé. The look on her face was one of pure and utter disappointment. She let a stray hand go to sit on the curve outward in the blankets that was their growing child, as if consoling some unseen and yet unborn person.
“Ani,” Padmé stated plainly, “I’m not going to be able to go back to sleep until I have a watermelon and plums. One, or both of us, will have to go to the store.”
Padmé was tired, but there was absolutely no ignoring it. She was craving what she was craving and there was absolutely no way her body and mind were going to settle down enough, now, to let her rest.
Anakin had seen that look. But what could he do? He was powerful in the Force but he couldn’t make watermelon appear out of thin air.
And he knew right away what ‘one of both of us’ truly meant.
He gave her a plaintive look. He wanted to go back to sleep. It had been a long week with dreadfully long hours. The power was back now and he could rest.
Or so he had hoped.
He looked longingly at the bed; even Jedi desired sleep now and then. But he was not gestating another life in his stomach. The ultimate trump card. With a resigned sigh he started looking for socks and his shoes.
When they were on he grabbed his phone. “Just the watermelon and plums?” he asked just to make absolutely sure. “I’ll be back.”
Padmé smiled at Anakin, quite grateful that he was relenting to go get the requested items. Padmé really had absolutely no desire to get up out of that bed, get dressed, and go into town. It wasn't that she necessarily would've pulled diplomatic measures out if he said no, but chances were high that she would be upset about it in some form.
"Thank you, Ani. And yes, please. Just watermelon and plums."
Padmé settled back into her newly propped up position, reaching for the book on her bedside stand and flipping it open once Anakin left. It was about ten, fifteen minutes before she sat the book aside and went for her phone.
>> Could you get a cucumber as well, please?
It wasn't a fruit, at least. It was a vegetable.
Anakin was boarding the trolley when he got the first text. (It had been a long walk down the drive, Anakin considered once again the need for a personal transport vehicle.) He pulled out his phone and read the message, blinked and read it again. He wasn’t sure if he should be frustrated. It wasn’t a fruit, after all.
Swaying with the trolley, one hand gripping the hanging hand-holds, he sent her a return text.
>> Alright. I’ll get a cucumber, too. Anything else?
He was just walking into the twenty-four hour grocery store when he received the next request.
Padmé was mad at her body for being hungry, for the random combination of cravings she was having, but she was imagining a slice of plum on top of a slice of cucumber. The two sounded like the perfect combination. Watermelon had started to sound a little less appetizing, and really she only wanted one or two bites of it (why did it have to be so big?), but she wasn't going to text Anakin to tell him to forget the watermelon.
Rather, she sat there with her hand fidgeting and her book still sat aside when she realized that strawberries added in would equal a rather perfect fruit salad.
>> Strawberries, please?
Padmé settled in after that and felt like, just perhaps, this combination would work to fill the random craving that had her, now, wide awake. Instead, another idea popped into her mind.
It took her several minutes and some searching on her phone before she could send her next request to Anakin. She snuggled down into the nice, warm bed after sending the text on its way.
>> Ataulfo mango, pumpkin seeds, and a lime too, please?
Strawberries, of course.
He grabbed a basket and proceeded to the produce section. He found the plums first, picking out five and placing them in a bag. He twirled the bag shut and put them in the basket. He found the strawberries next, followed by the cucumber. And he lucked out with the watermelon. There were quarters wrapped in plastic. He didn’t need to buy a whole, giant gourd.
It looked like his task was complete.
And then the next text came. His eyebrow rose with each additional item. He wondered if perhaps he should have grabbed a cart.
>> Anything else?????????????
Padmé stared at the trail of question marks that followed Anakin’s last text. Her eyebrows raised, but she didn’t have any immediate idea if they were the result of frustration over being awakened for the late-night run or her random additions, or more so a case of poor timing on her part. She decided to make just one more request, partially to avoid potentially upsetting Anakin further and a good deal so he would stop shopping and come back promptly.
Of course, her phrasing could’ve been better and far more specific, but her mind was starting to drift a little with the inevitable mental haze that came from late night/early morning hours.
>>Something salty, please.
>> And make sure it’s not a regular mango. They’re different and I don’t like the regular ones.