A/N: I didn't have an idea for a third chapter, but there's a very persistent guest reviewer, so this is for you!

Sorry, it might feel rushed. I apologize. I married a farmer and it's harvest season.

Sunlight was streaming through the only partially closed blinds when Anakin stirred the next morning. He glanced at the chrono first and then to Padme's empty side of the bed. Looking around the room, he saw her fastening an earring and turning to look at him as she heard the blankets rustle.

"Well good morning, My Love." She smiled and gracefully stood from her seat in the acres wide skirt. Anakin still didn't understand how she managed to move so efficiently in these outfits. She leaned down to kiss him. "You looked so peaceful. I didn't want to wake you."

He reached for her waist and tried to drag her back to the bed with him. She gave a quiet squeal and then laughed, "Anakin, it's nearly 8:30, I need to get to my office and you need to check in at the temple."

His face turned sour at her words, "to your office. To meet with Clovis again."

Sighing and walking out of their bedroom, she expected him to follow, and he did not disappoint. While pour herself a fresh cup of caf, she kept her back to him as she spoke, "I thought we cleared this up last night?"

Leaning against the doorframe while pulling a tunic over his head, he grumbled, "We did. I just still don't like the guy. I don't trust him one bit and I don't think his interests align with the best interests for the Republic in the same way yours or mine do."

"Be that as it may, Anakin, I still have work to do with him." She stirred in flavored creamer- Nubian salt toffee- and smiled at the aroma. "But I will make you a promise." He came up behind her and pulled her back against him.

"Hmm? And what is that?" He gently rocked her back and forth.

"Mmm," she hummed. Why couldn't all of their moments together be like this? "He's going to want a representative to go with him to Scipio at the end of all of this to report our findings. I'm not going to go. I want to see this project through to the end, but you're right, I don't trust him or the idea of going back to Scipio. But hey," she turned in his arms and gently set the caf mug down. "I want to thank you. You've handled this very well. If you had come at this more hot-headed and I had reacted in kind, I'm not sure where we would be this morning."

"Padme," he breathed in her scent, not daring to contemplate this other world where he had given in to what he wanted to do- rip Clovis' face off. "I have no doubt that no matter what we did, we would be able to come out on the other side of it still loving each other, still trusting each other. It's what we do. I can't imagine us any other way."

"I suppose you're right."

"Oh, you suppose, do you." He said it on a chuckle and swooped in to kiss her once, twice, three times before pulling away, "you mentioned that you were running late."

Cupping his face gently and picking her caf back up, Padme reminded him one last time, "I love you, Anakin, thank you."

She shrugged into her cloak and bustled out her door, Typho's footfalls echoing down the hall after her from where he'd been waiting outside her door.

The next few days were hectic for the both of them. Anakin kept his temper in check, even when, as Padme predicted, Clovis had tried to convince her to come back to Scipio with him. She had stood firm and he returned alone, claiming that if Padme wouldn't come with him, the case wouldn't be nearly as strong, but he could manage on his own rather than try to fill in someone cold to the topic.

A few days after his departure, Anakin was in the Temple, receiving a briefing on a new inner-core world attack by the Separatists. He heard the reports of the commerce building being attacked. He head that there were unconfirmed reports of deaths and injuries, Clovis among them, he even volunteered to be the envoy to the Senate the next day to confirm their intelligence reports across the board, but he just kept repeating one phrase over and over again in his head, "that could have been Padme. That could have been Padme."

As soon as he was dismissed, he hopped in a speeder, ignoring Obi-wan's calls down the hall, and flew to the landing pad at Padme's apartment. He sensed her in their living area, in front of the holo. She was holding a blanket to her chest and she looked shaken. Hearing his footsteps, she turned.

"Oh Anakin!" she reached eagerly for him and he sat next to her, pulling her tightly against him. "That would have been me if I had agreed to go with him. We heard reports at the Senate building and the Chancellor pulled me into his office to deliver the news to me. He said that he thought I should know since Rush and I had been working so closely together. The attack from the Separatists was in his office. We had reports from feeds within his inner office that recorded much of what happened. He had made deals with the Separatists. When I didn't show up, the deals started to go bad and when he tried to back out entirely, a fight broke out and his office was damaged badly enough that it was exposed to the open air. Anakin, Rush is dead. He fell to his death."

"Padme, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He clung on to her and let her cry herself out. When she was worn, he picked her up and took her quietly to their bed.

He knew this had shaken her and he realized just how much when each time that he moved in the night, he awoke to her clinging on to him. He held her all night.

He was reluctant to leave in the morning, but he was commed several times and he remembered his abrupt departure the day before.

When he returned to their apartments, heart heavy with a new assignment, Padme was still there.

"Palpatine told me not to come in today. He said that the shock of yesterday deserved some rest." She paused and took in his face. "What's wrong? I mean, aside from everything."

Digging his hands back into his hair, he sat down in the nearest chair, "Padme, I've been given a new assignment. The outer-rim sieges aren't going well. They need me out there. I have to go, tonight, and I don't know when I'll be back."

Coming to him in his chair, Padme lifted his chin to look him in the eyes, "We both do our duty. We knew this would be coming soon." Pausing and then deciding swiftly how she wanted to spend her few remaining hours with her husband, she climbed onto his lap. "We both know we have to do our duty to the Republic. But we also have a duty to each other. I love you, and I'm proud to be your wife. Never forget that."

"I could never." He brought his lips down to hers and picked himself up, still tightly clutching her against him. He walked them to their bedroom and they reminded themselves one last time before his departure. One last time to hold them over for nearly five months.

…And in five months, upon his return, Anakin would hear those fateful words, "Ani, something wonderful has happened!"