FicWad

Padmé knew she should get up and begin the routine that marked every day of her life, but she lacked sufficient motivation to do so. The Senate wasn't meeting until later in the day, and though it would take her quite some time to get ready, she knew she had hours of time ahead of her. It just made staying in bed with Anakin that much easier.

Since they'd returned to Coruscant, their time together had been broken up constantly. He was needed in the Jedi Temple much of the time, and she had her senatorial duties, and reports to the queen to make. When they'd joined on Naboo, neither of them had really taken into consideration how hard a secret life together would be. Every moment snatched together was both precious and perilous. If anyone should find out that a Jedi was married to the Naboo Senator, things would get really ugly, really fast.

Even this wasn't sufficient motivation for Padmé to pry herself from the warm circle of Anakin's arms. She knew he was leaving soon, being shipped off on another mission with Obi-Wan, the fate of the universe in the hands of two Jedi, and she wanted to enjoy every moment of their time together. Pushing aside the wealth of brown hair that spread over the both of them, Padmé placed a light kiss on Anakin's shoulder, even as she snuggled closer to him.

He groaned, half-awake. "You should get up. The Senate's convening today, isn't it?"

She sighed, burying her face against his shoulder for a minute. "We're not convening for hours, and this may be the last time I get to see you for . . . months." The unspoken end to that sentence hung in the air between them, she and Anakin both knowing that the word "months" was merely a substitute for the word "ever". Padmé worried about her husband much more than she let on. Of course, she thought she was doing a fine job of hiding it, but Anakin was a Jedi, and he picked up on much more than she thought he did.

"You know you have nothing to worry about, right?" Anakin turned to look at her, his blue eyes intense. "Obi-Wan and I will be fine. Nothing is going to go wrong, and I'll be back before you know it."

"You say that every time you leave, and yet I always wonder if it's the last time I'm going to see you." Padmé detached herself from his side and rose, pulling on a robe over her naked skin. "You don't know how hard it is for me here. I'm fighting battles in the Senate while you're fighting battles of an entirely different kind. Your life is on the line."

Anakin rose from the bed, and she heard him slipping on a pair of loose pants, before grabbing his own robe from the chair beside the bed. "That's not true. We're both risking our lives every day, just in different ways. I risk my life performing the duties of the Jedi, fighting alongside Obi-Wan and the others to try and prevent the splitting of the galaxy by war. You're risking your reputation every day in the Senate just by appearing there. If anyone were to find out you and I are married, if Ellé or Moteé were to say anything . . ."

"Do you really have such little faith in my handmaidens?" Padmé turned to face him, brown hair tumbling around her shoulders, brown eyes concerned. "I've sworn them both to secrecy, and they wouldn't dare to betray that. They're loyal. You have nothing to fear from them."

Anakin sighed, running his mechanical hand over his hair, even as he moved to stand beside her, looking down at her beautiful face, the face he'd carried around for ten years as he'd gone through his Jedi training. He'd been a boy when he started, too old by the standards of many for the life of the Jedi, but he'd triumphed, and he'd won everything he'd dreamed of. What he hadn't realized, that day on Naboo that he and Padmé had pledged themselves to one another, was how easily everything he'd won could be shattered.

He took her in his arms then, and she melted into him, resting her head against his broad chest. "We have so much to lose," she said softly, as if she'd heard his trouble thoughts. "We have so much reason to be careful."

"I know," was his quiet reply, as he placed a soft kiss in the hair at the crown of her head. "We've been careful. We've been cautious. Our secret is safe."

But for how long? The unspoken thought was in both their minds, even as their lips came together for a series of passionate kisses, and Padmé gently took Anakin's hand and led him back to the bed. They forgot their troubles for a brief time as they simply enjoyed the pleasure of each other's bodies one last time before Anakin left on his mission. Padmé surrendered to the demands of her body and of his, giving in to her desire on a level that she never had allowed herself before.

Oh yes, she had her motivation now. If she was late for the Senate, that would be disastrous to her and Anakin's future. Padmé wanted nothing to come in the way of their love, their life.

Ever.