[closed;] if it hadn't been for love

[ex_forcechoke292]

Who: Anakin Skywalker (forcechoke) & Padmé Amidala (padbae).
When: 4/10; directly following this.
Where: Mess Hall Cafe
What: Two idiots with too many feelings being way too gross about being too into each other.
Warnings: Saccharine coffeeshop AU bullshit.



Truth told, had Anakin actually been preoccupied, there is no definition of distraction that does not involve Padmé Amidala in some shape or form; while his temperament may have evened itself (in her regard, at least) in the years sitting strangely and unwanted between them, internally, he's still the same nervous, awkward teenager she'd once met without a filter.

His casual asides have softened from their once blunt honesty into a sort of vaguely-grim, sardonic humour, which, as far as he can tell, isn't entirely off-putting, at least, but with the expectation he's learned, the idea that he has to make a miracle happen all over again with entirely altered circumstances, he's worried that maybe destiny isn't anything he's made it out to be: what if he fails? What if she rejects him this time, and means it? What if, what if.

Over the course of their messaging exchange, he's halfway down to the cafe before she ever says yes. (Because even in that fear, that nagging anxiety...there is always hope.) He doesn't assume she'll say much of anything, even with this space between them, he knows her too well for that, but...

Well, he's still married back home for a reason, right?

Hopes and fears aside, however, this leads to Anakin being settled before Padmé ever comes in. Sitting in front of him are two cups of caf, a thing he's only recently accepted as a sort of calming equalizer over conversation (when he's rarely had the occasion to begin with, his time occupied otherwise in a multitude of ways).

Comments

[padbae]

[ Padmé arrives a little later, oddly nervous and fiddling with the layers of her uniform. She spots Anakin almost immediately, the thick hair and broad build still a surprise to her. In her mind she still sees him as she last saw him on Naboo, young an unsure of himself, not the man who's already picked her up a drink and is waiting for her. It's a little harder then before to ignore that attraction, something she was certain would go away on it's own, and she has to remind herself that even here where the republic and the Jedi were so far away, they'd have to return eventually. It was not a feasible relationship.

She offers him a smile as she walks up, motioning towards the cup. ]

Is that for me?

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Anakin feigns a look behind her; the cafe is relatively empty this time of day, which is a small blessing (or might be if he hadn't intended as much). He shrugs, trying to hide his smile and failing miserably.]

It must be, I don't see anyone else here.

[She looks like she hasn't changed at all, but then, to Anakin's eyes, the circumstances would matter little in that regard: Padmé is Padmé, regardless of time, of place, of station. Even out of place, in common uniform so stark in comparison to her ornate vestments of office, that doesn't change. If he could love her all the more for it--were that possible in his understanding of his feelings toward her--he would. Even now, even with the loss of everything between them, she is still as constant as he remembers.]

[padbae]

[ She laughs a little, pulling back the chair and sitting down. The drink is warm in her hands and she turns it in circles as she lets herself relax. ]

Thank you Annie.

[ A beat, and then she leans forward, meeting his eyes. ]

I have to admit I feel a bit at a loss, when you know so much more about our future then I do. I'm not sure how much I can add to our catching up.

[ex_forcechoke292]

Actually catching up might help.

[He laughs; it may not have been wholly for her benefit without a lingering need to see her, to remind himself that she's here, regardless of how different it is, but he knows enough to know she also must have more questions than he's answered.]

If I were you, I'd only have a million questions, and we both know how that would turn out.

[padbae]

[ She laughs with him, ducking her head. ]

We'd be here all night.

[ Padmé reaches out and pulls Anakin's mechanical hand towards her, gently turning it and running her fingers over the complicated joints and components. ]

You could start with this?

[ex_forcechoke292]

[There's a hint of feeling there as her fingers glance over his own, the ghost of something genuine, and not for the first time does he feel regret in the loss.]

Does it bother you?

[Without the necessary context, she could feel differently about it than he's used to. And she wouldn't be the first. However hushed the whispers are intended to be, Anakin is well aware of a portion of the Council's opinion on the replacement and what it signifies. Padmé is usually the only one to see it this close without duplicity involved.

At least, however she feels, he can count on it to be honest.

He leans into the table between them, propped up on his other elbow, just enough to let Padmé keep the limb in her hands as long as she needs.]

The Separatists got a hold of Obi-Wan, while we were-- [on Tatooine, he almost says, but the rawness of his confession only two days prior still stings too much to voice it] --away. We found him on Geonosis, but we also found that the Separatists were being led by a Sith.

[Your son loses his own, he thinks. In the same way.]

[padbae]

Of course not.

[ She watches him as he speaks, the shift in his expression when his words stutter, worry catching in her chest. She doesn't realize she's still holding his robotic hand, biting down slightly on her bottom lip. ]

A Sith? Was it the one from Naboo?

[ She was certain Obi-Wan had defeated him, but with what she knows about the Sith, she can't put it out of her mind. ]

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Given that Maul is like a Sith cockroach in that he never quite seems to stay dead, the question doesn't seem as unreasonable as it should. Still, he shakes his head; in this instance, it's still not right, not applicable, and definitely not his place to bring back up.]

Dooku.

[He doesn't offer much more explanation: he knows as well as she does that the leader of the Separatist movement had been the first name she'd dropped in suspicion when it came to the attempts on her life. And he knows even better the lengths to which the Council had tried to deny the former Jedi's involvement in anything but a difference of ideals with the Republic.

In starting a war, the sides have been made rather clear, the one thing to which Anakin has subscribed to black-and-white values without much trouble at all. For him, the idea that Dooku had been behind any of it hadn't been much of a struggle, but the Council had gone on at great length--Master Windu especially--about personal character and all of the ways such an insinuation was impossible.]

You were right. More than right, and I think the Council still has a difficult time reconciling with that.

[That a woman, a politician with no particular Force affinity at all, could see everything they couldn't. (Or refused to. Still refuse to. And that's the part that bothers him in particular.)]

You should be proud.

[Force knows he'd never let anyone live it down, were he in her place.]

[padbae]

[ Padmé's lips turn into a perfect O of surprise, less so at the idea that the person behind all this was Dooku, but more that her suspicions had been so thoroughly vindicated, even more so than she had expected. While she did believe the Ex-Jedi had been behind the attempts on her life, for him to be a Sith was a completely new revelation. ]

I didn't realize it was that bad. You told me a war started. Was that the trigger point?

[ It's hard to be proud knowing that she had failed to prevent the war. ]

[ex_forcechoke292]

Geonosis, as far as I know. I don't think you'd like what the unofficial stance on that is.

[That her rather illegal presence as a Republic senator on Geonosis, a Separatist system, was seen as an unofficial spark that lit the flame. It's not altogether true: they'd known for some time prior that her opposition to said army was a point of contention on both sides of the war that finally grew up around them, regardless of any official vote on the matter,and that with a Sith at the helm, there could have been no vote that would have stopped this from happening, dubiously legal presence on the planet where it started or not.]

We were set up for execution...that obviously didn't work out. [He'd been worried at the time, but can only laugh about it now; the Trade Federation thinking they would ever be the ones to get the best of the woman sitting before him is still hilarious in how pathetic it is.] The army showed up, Obi-Wan and I took after Dooku, and--that's when this happened.

[He nods toward the arm she still holds in her hands with a delicate grace that he can almost feel by virtue of seeing it. Her concern is distinct, lacking judgment, and were it actually possible for his heart to swell more at the thought, it might burst.]