Life's Trials - Part 2
Part 1 - Distracted
Part 2: Desperate
As they slid through various buildings on a dark, deserted lower level, Anakin took a deep breath looked down at his forbidden love’s hooded head. He pressed his hand against her back and guided her towards their destination. Just two years ago, they hadn’t even known each other, but now they were friends, lovers, and soul mates.
The cool Coruscant air brushed against his cheeks, and he felt her shiver against him. He kissed her forehead and swept his cloak around her. Without saying a word, he led them into a secluded alcove where not a soul would find them. He pulled her onto his lap and brushed his mouth against her cheek.
Padmé snuggled against his chest and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t know what to do. It’s so frustrating.” Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
Anakin shook his head. “I don’t envy you. That’s why I am not a politician.” He winked. “That sort can never be trusted.” His last word came out as a soft moan as her small fingers roamed farther around his thighs.
“Hey!” She turned around and glared at him with her hands on her hips.
He laughed at the expression on her face. “Present company excluded, of course.” Without waiting for her to answer, he put his hand behind her head and guided her towards his lips.
She seemed to forget her momentary anger and slid her hands around his neck. Her fingers laced through his curly hair, and she surrendered to his kiss. “All right, then I guess you’re forgiven.” She settled against his chest and whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “So much. When I’m not with you --”
“-- It feels like your heart is trapped in a vice.” She sat back on her haunches and her dark eyes fixed with his blue ones. “I know. I feel the same way.” She moved her head closer so their noses almost touched. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this, Anakin.”
“I know,” he breathed, not breaking her gaze. Her breath was warm against his cheek, and he shuddered at the feel of her fingers against his chest.
“I wish I could see you every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every second.” She punctuated each statement with a soft kiss, their lips barely touching.
Anakin smiled. “I wish I could kiss you goodnight and wake up next to you in the morning. I want to hold you and never let go.”
She tilted her head down toward her hands. “But we can’t . . .”
“Not *yet*,” he interrupted. “Someday, Padmé, I *promise* things will be different.”
“I know.” A crooked smile spread across her face, and she snuggled close to him. She turned her head up to share another soft kiss. “We’re together now, and that’s all I need.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I never knew that I would want something so . . . scandalous . . .”
“So scandalous.” His eyes sparkled with bliss.
“But I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She ran a hand down his cheek and moved her lips to his. “I want to kiss you forever.”
“Well, I could kiss you now.” The corners of his lips turned up into a seductive, teasing smile. “I mean, if you want me to.” Their mouths were mere millimeters apart, and he only needed to lean forward to reach her.
“I always want you. You never have to ask.”
Her warm breath against his lips made him shiver. “Are you sure?”
“Kiss me, Anakin,” she whispered. “I need to memorize the way your lips feel in case it is too long before I can see you again.”
“Padmé . . .”
She tugged on his tunic. “I thought I told you to kiss me.” Her eyes were half closed and her lips were parted, inviting him to do just what she requested.
Anakin stroked the side of her face before he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. He lost himself in the feel of her body against his. The fabric felt so soft and smooth beneath his fingers, but he longed to touch her skin. “Yes, m’lady.”
Before she could respond, he captured her soft, moist lips again. His fingers smoothed their way around to her stomach.
She shivered and let out an uncontrolled sigh against his lips. Her hand had worked its way under his tunic, pulling it apart.
“Padmé --” He gasped for air when her cool fingers ran along his exposed skin. “-- we can’t do this. Oh, Force, I want to, but not here.”
She pulled away, her gaze clouded with passion, her lips red and swollen. “I know.” Her full lips turned down into a playful pout. “I just . . .”
His resolve nearly melted when he met her large, pleading eyes. “I . . .”
“You have no idea how badly I need you.”
Anakin moaned. “It’s been so long . . .”
“Months,” she whispered. She played with the edge of his tunic when she spoke. “We’re young. We’re in love.”
“There shouldn’t be anything else.”
“But there is.” Padmé sighed and fell against him. She placed a soft kiss on his chest. “If only it was that simple.”
“I’m sorry, Padmé,” he whispered, stroking her cheek. “You deserve so much better --"
“-- Anakin, no! You know I don’t want someone who can take me out to nice places or accompany me to all my mindless senatorial functions. I don’t need a man I can take home to meet my parents.” She turned her head and placed a soft kiss on his callused hand. “I need you. I want you.” She tousled his hair with a playful grin. “Any way I can have you.”
He closed his eyes and buried his head into her shoulder. “I need you.”
“I know,” she whispered. She stretched her arms and pushed him back. “We could make love now . . .”
He laughed, but it turned into a deep, guttural grunt when her hand tugged on his belt. She knew how to make him lose all of his perfectly trained control. “Padmé!”
A self-satisfied smile crossed her face when she pulled back. “What?” She became the picture of innocence. “You don’t like it?”
Instead of answering, he pulled her back down against him and kissed her. His tongue ventured into her mouth. Her feather-light touch evoked so many powerful sensations throughout his body and the rest of the galaxy faded away.
He ached to lace his fingers through her long, silky hair, so he reached up and undid the tie that held her braids in their elaborate do.
“Anakin,” Padmé squealed and pulled her hands away from his legs.
“What?” His eyes sparkled with a teasing delight.
Her nose brushed against his cheek, and she let him devour her lips. Their persistent kisses drowned out her feeble protests. “If you take them down, I should make you put them up again. We’ll see you smirk then, Skywalker.”
He let his hand run through the braids, freeing her long, curly tresses. Any further argument was cut off when his tongue found its way into her mouth again.
Padmé pulled away for a moment and asked, “Can we . . . Will someone see us?”
Anakin shook his head. “Don’t worry. No one will ever find us. We’re under this big overhang. And if they do . . .” He flicked his hand to indicate how he would give a Force suggestion.
She raised an eyebrow, but nodded. “All right.”
“All right?”
She nodded. “I’m desperate.”
Anakin chuckled. “I like this side of you.”
She looked up at him and smiled. Then, she readjusted her skirt and moved so she was poised over him.
“What are you doing?” He gazed at her with a quizzical smile.
“I came prepared.”
“What?”
“You’ll see.” Then she let out a nervous giggle.
“Oh!” He forgot anything else he was going to say, though, because soon all of his senses were consumed by Padmé.
How they longed for long nights of uninhibited love making, but, for now, they would take whatever they could get. Nights like this were few and far between. So they were making love cuddled together on the cold ground in one of the city’s deserted lower levels.
He stroked her hair and whispered, “Thank you.”
She gazed into his eyes and sighed. “I love you, Anakin. I’d do anything for you.”
“I love you, too.” He pushed her head down so he could brush his lips against hers again. He held her close and closed his eyes, reveling in the way her hair felt against his face.
They shared a few long kisses and gentle caresses, knowing that they would eventually have to get up to face the rest of the world.
All too soon, Padmé squealed and shifted in Anakin’s lap. “Your com-link.”
He shook his head. “What?”
“It’s vibrating. Someone must be trying to find you.” She reluctantly pulled away and shifted her clothing.
He opened his eyes and muttered, “Oh, Sith!” He adjusted his pants before he fumbled around to find the offending device. “I bet it’s Obi-Wan.”
Padmé pulled the offending instrument out from under her and put it in his hand. “What in the galaxy could he want?”
He shrugged. “To ruin our lives.”
“Of course; what else could he want?”
“Do I look all right?”
“Define all right.” Padmé smiled at him. She put her hand on his thigh and squeezed. “Don’t worry. He won’t be able to tell through the holo.”
“Of course he will.”
“Anakin, answer your com. It might be important.”
Sighing loudly, he pressed the button to accept the message. “Anakin! Anakin! Come in. This is Obi-Wan Kenobi!”
“I’m here, Master.”
“Where are you?”
Anakin shrugged. “I’m in the city, visiting a --" He ran his free hand across Padmé’s outstretched leg. “-- friend.”
Obi-Wan ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Get back here as soon as possible, Anakin.”
“Why?” Anakin fought the urge to laugh at Obi-Wan’s bemused expression.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me.”
“We will deal with this insubordination later, Padawan.”
“You were the one who gave me this free time, Master.”
After a short pause, Obi-Wan sighed and said, “Just come back to the Temple, Anakin. We have an important meeting with the Council.”
“When?”
“What?”
“When is the meeting?”
“Now.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve been trying to contact you for almost a standard hour. What are you doing out there?”
Instead of answering the question, Anakin said, “Fine, I’m coming.” Anakin switched off his com-link and hooked it onto his belt. “I can’t even get a night off.” Anakin shot her a crooked grin.
Padmé ran her hands up and down his chest. “If you have to go, you have to go.” She pushed herself back and stood, giving him the impetus to follow.
He grabbed her outstretched hand and allowed her to pull him up. When he stood next to her, he towered significantly above her, so he was able to plant a soft kiss on the top of her head. He grabbed his robe and pulled it around the two of them. “I guess we have to go, but let me escort you back to the safe part of the city.”
“Oh, yes, my sexy Jedi protector won’t leave me alone in the rough part of Coruscant.”
He puffed out his chest and deepened his voice. “Never, m’lady. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”
She turned around in his arms. “Do you promise?”
“Absolutely.” He tightened his grip around her. She turned her head up and parted her lips, and he took it as an invitation to kiss her.
They ambled in silence up to the safer area of the city, occasionally sharing a sweet kiss or a gentle caress. But as soon as they got to an area where people might recognize them, Anakin dropped his grip on her shoulders and could only clutch her hand.
“Can you sneak away tomorrow?” Padmé asked, before they went their separate ways.
He winked. “Can’t get enough of me?”
“You know I can’t.”
He laughed and ran a hand across back. “Maybe next time we won’t have to meet in a dark alley.”
“I kind of like the dark alley.”
“You love living dangerously.”
“I do. As long as you’re there to protect me.” She looked up at him with wide eyes. “So can you get away tomorrow? My apartment?”
Anakin shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll try.” He leaned in for one final kiss. Before their lips met, he stared into her eyes, memorizing everything about her, and breathed, “I love you, Padmé.”
“I love you, too,” she answered, just before their lips met.
In the midst of a final kiss, Anakin’s com-link buzzed. He pulled away and shot Padmé a sorrowful look. “I’m coming already,” he muttered before he pressed the button. “Yes, Master.”
Anakin waved at Padmé and smiled apologetically before he ran in the direction of the Jedi Temple.
“Goodbye, my love,” he heard her say in his mind.
He turned around, mid-sprint, and gave her a little wave. “I love you so much,” he whispered.
Part 3 - Proud