Anakin triumphantly placed the last manuscript on top of the pile. "And I'm out of here," he announced, putting his coat on and swinging his bag over his shoulder. "Happy holidays, everyone."

His coworkers, all of whom were also wrapping up their work for the day and getting ready to go home, echoed the sentiment. "See you next year," Ahsoka said cheekily, making Anakin laugh and Obi-Wan groan in exasperation.

Anakin headed out of the building that housed Coruscant Publishing and towards his car, a beat-up contraption that had been on its last legs for several years now. Padmé, his boss, had already told him he had a free pass for coming in late to work on the day when his car inevitably broke down completely.

But Anakin had faith in his trusty little car even if no one else did, and he made the two-hour drive to his mother's house with no problems. Christmas Day and New Year's Day were both on Sundays, and the office was closed for the whole week in between. Anakin was spending the week with his mother and had brought his duffel bag with him to work that morning so he could go straight to Shmi's house without having to stop back at his apartment first.

A light snow had started when he'd left and was coming down pretty heavily by the time he got there; Anakin nearly slipped as he carefully made his way up to the front door. "Mom," he called, walking inside and shutting the door behind him. "I'm here."

Shmi came out of the kitchen, a broad smile on her face. "Hi, Ani," she said, pulling him in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good thing you got here before the worst of the snow, I hear it's supposed to be a blizzard by tonight."

"Yeah, looks like it's starting already," Anakin said, gesturing out the window. "Anyway, merry Christmas Eve Eve!"

Shmi laughed. "You always did get overexcited about Christmas when you were little."

"Still do."

"I remember you wishing me merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve one year, and then you knocked off one Eve each day for the rest of the week."

Grinning sheepishly, Anakin took of his coat and boots and went upstairs to dump his bag in his childhood bedroom. Just as he was going back downstairs, his phone buzzed with a text. He pulled it out and was surprised to see that it was from Padmé. Anakin, I can't believe I forgot to give you the stack of manuscripts I was going to have you read during the week off! I'm still at the office, any chance you could run back to pick them up?

Anakin frowned and typed out a reply. Sorry, I'm already at my mom's house and it's a pretty long drive. Not to mention a blizzard's about to start. Can you email them to me?

I only have hard copies, and I'm not about to scan all of them, it'll take hours. There's hundreds of pages in here.

Oh. Regular mail?

No, the mail will be really slow what with the snow and the holidays, I'm sure you won't get them until next week. I was going to head out soon, I can drive by your mom's house to drop them off on my way home.

You live like five minutes from the office and my mom's house is two hours away!

I really need you to go through these this week. I'm not going to make you come all the way back here since it's my fault I forgot to give them to you, but I'm fine driving two hours there and back myself. Just tell me the address.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Anakin dutifully sent her his mother's address, knowing that once Padmé made up her mind, it was impossible for anyone to change it. "Apparently my boss will be here in two hours," he told Shmi, pocketing his phone as he came into the living room and sat down beside her on the sofa. "She forgot to give me some manuscripts and is insisting that it can't wait until after New Year's, so she's coming to drop them off for me."

"I thought it was supposed to be your week off," Shmi said. "She works you too hard."

Anakin shrugged. "It's just reading some fiction manuscripts to see which ones we might want to pick up. Not exactly the worst task in the world, and it's something I can easily do while I'm here."

"Still, what happened to me actually getting to spend time with my son this week?"

"I'm sure it's not that many manuscripts. Shouldn't take too long to plow through. Besides, I'm an editor now," Anakin added proudly; he had been promoted only recently. "That means I have more responsibilities than I used to."

Shmi shook her head, but she was smiling. "Ah, how can I ever compare to the famous Padmé?"

"What are you talking about?" Anakin said, feeling his face heat up despite himself.

"Just that I shouldn't be surprised you'd drop everything to do whatever she asked," Shmi said slyly. "It seems like all I've been hearing for the past three years is Padmé this, Padmé that."

"I don't—what—" Anakin spluttered, his face now on fire. "Padmé is my boss. Of course I'll do whatever she asks, because I don't want to get fired."

"Oh yes, I'm sure that's the reason."

Scowling and incriminatingly red, Anakin hastily changed the subject.

After two hours had passed, Anakin expected the doorbell to be ringing any moment. After two and a half hours, he figured Padmé had just been delayed because of all the snow; traffic and the state of the roads were probably terrible. But as it got close to three hours, he started worrying.

"I hope she's okay," he said, standing and going to look out the window. "It does look pretty bad out there…"

Before Shmi could respond, Anakin's phone started buzzing again. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and saw that Padmé was calling him. "Hello?" he said. "Padmé, where are you?"

"Well, I've been in a bit of an accident."

"What?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she hastened to say. "But my car is sort of stuck in a snowbank."

"How—?"

"I think I'm pretty close to your mom's house," Padmé interrupted. "I'm so sorry to inconvenience you, but could you possibly come pick me up?"

"Of course. I'm leaving right now," Anakin said, going to grab his shoes. "Where exactly are you?"

"Uh…" She paused, as if looking around for a street sign or landmark. "There's a sign on the side of the road that says 'entering Tatooine.' That is the right town?"

"Yeah, that's it. Are you on Main Street?"

"I don't see any signs. Let me hang up and check Google maps." She hung up, then called him back a few seconds later. "Yes, I'm on Main Street."

"Okay, I know where that sign is. I'll be there soon."

Anakin quickly explained the situation to Shmi and headed out. "Be careful!" she called after him. "I don't think your car can handle this kind of weather!"

"Sure it can," Anakin insisted, and he got into his car and pulled out of the driveway.

Fortunately, the 'entering Tatooine' sign on Main Street wasn't too far from Shmi's house. The roads were in very bad shape now; Anakin almost skidded several times, cursing under his breath each time. "Come on, it's not far," he told his car, patting the dashboard encouragingly. "You can do it."

When he reached the spot Padmé had claimed to be in, he was relieved to see that there was indeed a figure standing on the side of the road. Anakin pulled over and got out, squinting against the heavy snowfall. "Hey," he said. "You okay?"

Padmé was shivering and looking very stressed, but otherwise seemed unharmed. "Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Thank you so much, Anakin, I'm really sorry—"

"Don't worry about it." Anakin peered over at her car, which was indeed stuck in a snowbank. "What happened?"

"I skidded off the road."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. I'm sorry, I should've told you to wait until tomorrow after the blizzard was over and the roads were cleared."

"No, it's my fault, if I'd just remembered to give you those manuscripts before you left the office—"

"Well, what's done is done," Anakin interrupted gently. "My friend Kitster owns the mechanic shop in town, I'll give him a call to see if he can come tow your car back to the shop."

Padmé looked surprised. "It's almost ten PM."

"He owes me a favor," Anakin said, grinning.

She gave a huff of laughter. "Well, thanks, then."

After a few minutes' conversation with Kitster, Anakin turned back to Padmé. "He says he'll be here in twenty minutes."

"Really? He doesn't want to wait until the roads are better?"

"Nah, his tow truck can handle it, and if we leave the car here overnight it'll get totally buried in snow. Besides, he does this sort of thing all the time in the winter."

"I suppose."

She was still shivering. "Let's wait in my car until he gets here," Anakin suggested. "I'll put the heat on."

Padmé got into the passenger seat, looking relieved, and Anakin started up the car but left it in park. "I'm surprised the heating even works in this thing," Padmé said.

"And yet, it's your fancy car that's stuck in a snowbank while mine is safe and sound."

"Hmph. Touché." A minute later Padmé started digging around in her bag, then pulled up a stack of papers so large Anakin was surprised it had even fit. "Here are the manuscripts," she said, holding them out to him. She smiled wryly. "I guess maybe I should've just spent ten hours scanning every single page to email to you."

Anakin laughed and took them from her. "Well, now you know for next time."

"So," Padmé said after a few minutes, "you're friends with a mechanic?"

"Uh-huh. We both grew up here and we've been best friends since kindergarten, practically," Anakin said. "And I actually worked at the mechanic shop with him in high school and college. He only took over the place recently."

"Really? You were a mechanic?"

"Yeah. Didn't you read my resume?"

"That was three years ago, I don't remember every single thing on it."

"Oh. Fair enough."

"Somehow I have a hard time picturing you as a mechanic," Padmé continued. "Since you're too lazy to even walk from your desk to the recycling bin and instead just crumple papers up and toss them over there. And miss every single time."

"They've gone in a few times!" Anakin said. "And what can I say, I've gotten too used to having a cushy desk job."

Padmé chuckled, and then they fell into another silence, which continued for the rest of the wait for Kitster aside from the occasional bit of small talk. Anakin snuck a sideways glance at Padmé while she wasn't looking. How was she so beautiful even when she was this frazzled and stressed, her curly hair even wilder than usual after being whipped around by the wind, her nose and cheeks bright pink from the cold?

The sound of an approaching truck startled Anakin out of his thoughts and he quickly turned to look straight ahead. "Oh, there's Kitster," he said, trying to make his voice come out even.

He and Padmé both hopped out of the car, and Padmé explained to Kitster what had happened as he worked on hooking her car up to the truck. He successfully pulled it out of the snowbank, then got out of the truck again to inspect it more carefully. "This doesn't look good," he told her apologetically. "And I'm sorry to say the shop's closed until Tuesday. Your car might not be ready until the end of next week, or maybe even longer."

"Oh," Padmé said, her brow creasing with worry. "I'd hoped to head back home today."

"Are you crazy? No one's going anywhere else in this weather, and it's getting late," Anakin said. "You can stay at my house tonight, I'm sure my mom won't mind."

"But—"

"At least let me drive you there so we can continue this conversation inside? I don't know about you, but I'm freezing."

Padmé sighed in defeat. "Fine."

She gave Kitster her phone number so he could call her for an update about her car later, and then she and Anakin thanked him and got back in Anakin's car. They made it back to Shmi's house without any other car troubles. "Mom, this is Padmé Amidala," Anakin said as he and Padmé took off their coats. "Padmé, my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Skywalker," Padmé said politely.

"You too. Anakin's told me a lot about you," Shmi said, her smile turning ever so slightly mischievous as Anakin shot her a glare from behind Padmé. "And please, Shmi is fine."

"Kitster had to take Padmé's car to the shop, it's in pretty bad shape," Anakin explained. "I told her she could stay here tonight since there's no way she can go anywhere in the middle of a blizzard."

"Yes, of course," Shmi said. "Why doesn't she take your room and you sleep on the couch?"

"That's what I was thinking."

"No, I'll take the couch," Padmé said. "I'm not going to put Anakin out of a room."

"It's fine, honestly," Anakin insisted.

"Well, it's getting late," Shmi intervened before Padmé could argue back. "I'm heading to bed. Goodnight, you two."

"'Night."

"Goodnight. Thanks so much for letting me stay here," said Padmé.

Anakin led her to sit on the couch as Shmi went upstairs. "So, you're definitely staying here tonight," he said.

"It would seem so," Padmé said rather grudgingly. "But I'll head back tomorrow, even if my car won't be ready yet."

"I don't know," Anakin said. "This is a tiny town that's kind of in the middle of nowhere. There isn't really a good way to get back into the city besides driving. There's no train or anything."

"Oh. Where's the nearest rental car place?"

"In the city."

Padmé sighed. "Well, could you drive me home tomorrow?"

"I guess," Anakin said. "But it's two hours away, and you're just going to have to come back here in a few days to pick up your car. Which means you'll probably make me come pick you up again. Seems like an awful waste of time."

"What do you suggest, then?"

Anakin shrugged. "You could just stay here until your car's fixed," he said, trying to sound casual. "Then you can just drive back to the city yourself once and for all, rather than having to make, like, three trips."

"No, I can't inconvenience you like that," Padmé said, frowning. "You and your mother just wanted a nice holiday together, I can't crash here with you on Christmas—"

"Honestly, me driving you two hours to the city and then another two hours back on Christmas Eve would inconvenience me a lot more than you just staying here with us," Anakin said. "Seriously, it's no trouble at all. The more the merrier, right?"

Padmé bit her lip, but then she nodded. "Well, all right," she said. "If you're sure that's what you'd prefer."

"I am. Oh, wait, but you probably have somewhere to be, right?" Anakin realized. "Are you seeing your family or something?"

"No, I don't have any plans."

"So you were going to be alone? On Christmas?" Anakin said, surprised. "That's so sad!"

Padmé scowled. "I'm Jewish."

"Oh. Sorry." Anakin looked curiously at her. "I didn't know that."

"Well, now you do."

Anakin cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, if it would make you uncomfortable to be here while my mom and I celebrate Christmas, I'd be happy to drive you home tomorrow."

"No, I don't mind that," Padmé said. "As long as you don't expect me to come to church with you or something—"

Anakin laughed. "I haven't set foot in a church since I was about twelve, so you're fine."

Padmé smiled too. "So you're not very religious?"

"Nah. We do Christmas more as a celebration of family than any religious reasons."

"Then I have no problem celebrating Christmas with you this year."

"Great," Anakin said, feeling much more pleased than he should've at the prospect of his boss spending Christmas in his home. "That's settled, then. You'll stay with us all week."

Eventually Anakin managed to win the argument over who was sleeping where, and Padmé stood to head upstairs not long afterwards. "Wait," she said suddenly. "I, uh, don't have any clothes or anything, or a toothbrush, or—"

"Surprisingly enough we do have a Target nearby, and that should be open tomorrow so you can buy some clothes," Anakin suggested. "I mean, I know it's not Gucci or whatever—"

Padmé snorted. "How snobby do you think I am, exactly?"

"Not snobby, just fashionable."

"Oh. Well, thanks, I guess."

"Anyway, I'm sure we've got an unopened toothbrush or two kicking around the bathroom somewhere," Anakin said. "And for tonight you could, um, you could wear a T-shirt of mine to bed. If you wanted."

Was it just his imagination or was Padmé blushing? "Uh, sure," she said. "That would be great, thanks."

"Okay. There's plenty in the drawers upstairs, just pick any of them."

"All right. Goodnight," Padmé said. "And thanks again for all this."

"No problem. Goodnight."

The next morning, Anakin tried not to swoon at how adorable Padmé looked when she came down to breakfast wearing one of his old T-shirts, which was practically a dress on her. "Nice outfit," he joked in an attempt to play it cool.

"Thanks. It's a good thing you're so much taller than me, otherwise we might've had some problems."

Some problems, as in the shirt being too short to cover everything. The pair of them came to that realization at the same time and both turned bright red and busied themselves with their breakfasts. "Uh, so," Anakin coughed after a minute. "I can take you to Target after breakfast. I heard them plowing last night and the roads look better. But it's supposed to start snowing again later today, so we should try to get to Target and back before then. But I guess if you'd rather go later—"

"I'm fine going now," Padmé said, cutting off his babbling. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."

Target was a nightmare with so many people doing last-minute holiday shopping, but Padmé managed to escape the store unscathed with a couple bags of clothes (Anakin had waited in the car). "All set?"

"Yep, these should last me the week. And I actually found some cute stuff."

"I'd expect nothing less from you. You could wear a garbage bag and make it look good," Anakin said unthinkingly.

Padmé raised an eyebrow, clearly suppressing a smile. "Is that so?"

"Um, I just meant—you know, you're so fashionable," Anakin mumbled, mortified. "I'm sure you know how to turn any bad outfit into a good one."

"Uh-huh."

"We'd better get home before the snow starts."

They arrived back at the house to find that Shmi had gotten a bunch of ingredients out in the kitchen. "Making something?" Anakin asked.

"No, you are," she said. "Your famous Christmas cookies."

"Famous?" Padmé said.

"Oh yes, he's been making them every year since he was ten," Shmi said. "The whole town loves them."

"I wouldn't go that far," Anakin said, blushing.

"Well, they're delicious and my holiday won't be complete without them," Shmi declared.

"Oh, fine, if you insist."

Anakin started bustling around the kitchen, grabbing the recipe and checking that all the ingredients were out. "Padmé, you should help him," Shmi said in a would-be innocent tone. "I'm sure it would be much more fun than being stuck making small talk with me in the living room."

"Oh, well, I'd hate to bother the master chef," Padmé said.

"Don't be silly, he'd love your help." And Shmi vanished without another word, leaving the two of them alone.

When did she become a professional matchmaker? Anakin thought grumpily as he started tossing ingredients in a bowl. "Well, don't just stand there," he told Padmé. "You can start beating the eggs."

Padmé looked uncertainly at the bowl of cracked eggs and the fork Anakin had shoved into her hands. "Uh, what?"

Anakin gave her an incredulous look. "You don't know how to beat eggs?!"

"I'm not much of a cook, all right?" she said defensively. "And if I was going to beat eggs, I'd use an electric mixer. Do you have one?"

"Yes, but the cookies taste better if you beat the eggs with a fork. Either you follow my rules or you get out of my kitchen."

Padmé rolled her eyes. "Diva."

Anakin showed her how to beat the eggs with a fork and went back to his own task (but kept an eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything wrong). Soon the dough was finished and the cookies were in the oven. "There. Shouldn't be too long until they're done," Anakin said.

"I had no idea you could bake so well," Padmé said.

"I'm full of surprises." Anakin glanced over at her and saw that she had a streak of flour across her cheek. He gestured at her face. "You've got some…"

"Hmm?"

Without thinking, Anakin reached out and brushed the flour off her cheek. His hand lingered there for a second as their eyes locked, and Anakin felt his heartbeat speed up as he realized how close together they were standing. His gaze flicked involuntarily down to her lips and then back up, and—

"Um, I should go get some of my work done," Padmé stammered, and Anakin quickly dropped his hand, face flaming.

"Right," he said. "Yeah, me too. Since you came all this way to bring it to me."

Anakin brought his stack of manuscripts into the living room, where Shmi was reading a (published) book. Padmé went upstairs to Anakin's room, mumbling something about the outlet placement being more convenient for her to plug her laptop in, though Anakin was ninety-nine percent sure she was just trying to avoid him.

He spent the next several hours reading the first few manuscripts, frosting the cookies, and silently cursing himself. What had come over him in the kitchen? He'd almost kissed his boss. It didn't matter if she was the most beautiful person Anakin had ever met in his life, kissing her would be totally inappropriate. It was crossing enough lines already to have her staying in his house during Christmas. How was he ever going to look her in the eye again?

But to Anakin's relief, when Padmé finally reemerged from working up in his room, she was acting totally normal, if a little quieter than usual. They had Shmi's traditional Christmas Eve lasagna for dinner, followed by Anakin's cookies. "Mmm," Padmé said as she took a bite. "These are delicious. No wonder the whole town loves them."

"Again, wouldn't go that far," Anakin said, though he was feeling pretty pleased with himself.

After dinner they returned to the living room. "I think it's time for Eloise At Christmastime," Shmi said.

Anakin immediately turned bright red. "Mom, no, we really don't need to—"

"But we watch it every year on Christmas Eve! It's our tradition, Ani."

Padmé was looking curiously back and forth between them. "What's Eloise At Christmastime?"

"Just some stupid movie that I liked when I was a kid," Anakin muttered. "Obviously as an adult I think it's terrible—"

"I beg to differ. You got awfully into it last year," Shmi said, looking highly amused at his expense.

"What's the movie about?" Padmé asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Eloise books about the little girl who lives in a hotel?"

"That sounds familiar, I might've read some of them when I was a kid."

"This movie is based on one of the books," Shmi explained. "It's Christmastime at the hotel and Eloise is trying to set her friend the hotel employee up with the hotel owner's daughter. It's very heartwarming and romantic, Anakin's always loved it. He can quote just about the entire movie start to finish."

"No, I can't! It's an awful, corny, made-for-TV movie—"

"With Julie Andrews."

"Julie Andrews is in it?" Padmé demanded. "Okay, we're definitely watching this."

So Shmi popped the DVD in despite Anakin's best protests, and he enjoyed every second of the movie, also despite his best protests. So, to his relief, did Padmé.

Shmi went to bed after the movie was over; it was rather early even for her and Anakin suspected she was purposefully trying to leave him and Padmé alone together yet again. "That movie was adorable," Padmé said. "I can see why you love it so much."

"I don't."

"Oh, quit the toxic masculinity act, I saw how wide you were smiling during the last scene." Anakin blushed, and she laughed. "There's nothing wrong with liking rom-coms. I do."

"Really?" Anakin said. "You seem too down-to-earth for that."

"What, just because I have a successful career, I can't also be a hopeless romantic?"

"Are you a hopeless romantic?"

Padmé turned a little pink and quickly looked away, fiddling with the hem of her new sweater. "Maybe," she said. "I guess I've always sort of dreamed about finding true love and my soulmate and all that. I know it's silly—"

"I don't think it's silly at all," Anakin said softly. "I've always thought I had a soulmate out there somewhere. One person that I was just…meant to be with."

Finally Padmé looked back up at him, and as they held each other's gaze for a moment, Anakin could swear he actually felt those sparks flying that the romance novels he totally didn't secretly love always talked about.

Then Padmé cleared her throat and abruptly stood up. "I think I'm going to head to bed too," she said.

"It's only nine o'clock," Anakin said, not quite able to keep disappointment out of his tone.

"Yes, well, it's…been a busy couple of days." And Padmé all but ran upstairs, leaving Anakin to flop back against the couch cushions with a heavy sigh.

Was it possible that Padmé actually felt something for him? It certainly seemed like she did, and yet, she kept getting flustered and running away whenever they had a moment. Or maybe it was all in Anakin's head. After all, since when did real life work out as well as rom-coms?

Now that Anakin had been abandoned well before the time he usually went to bed, he had no idea what to do with himself. He tried getting through more of the manuscripts, but he couldn't focus. All he could think about was Padmé. Her beautiful smile, the sound of her laugh, her perfectly-shaped lips, the flecks of hazel in her brown eyes he'd never noticed before…

Oh, this was bad. Anakin truly was in deep.

Deciding he needed to talk to someone about this, he grabbed his phone and went out into the garage to avoid being overheard. He dialed Ahsoka's number. "Skyguy?" she said when she picked up. "Why are you calling me at nine PM on Christmas Eve?"

"Padmé's staying with us for Christmas and I think I'm in love with her," Anakin blurted out.

"I'm sorry, what?"

He gave her a summary of the whole situation. "And I realized, I think I'm in love with her, Ahsoka," he said once he'd finished.

"And this is supposed to be news?"

"What?"

"Oh, Anakin. It's been obvious that you're in love with her since day fuckingone."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, the whole office has bets on when you're going to ask her out."

"What?"

Ahsoka cackled. "If I'd realized you didn't know you're in love with her, I would've mentioned it to you ages ago," she said. "I just thought you didn't want to say anything to me about it since she's our boss and all."

"No, I didn't—I mean, I guess I have always thought she was pretty—and basically amazing in every way—" Anakin groaned. "Oh God, I have been in love with her since day one, haven't I?"

"No shit you have. So now what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know, that's why I'm calling you."

"Does she seem like she's into you? We've all been wondering that for years 'cause you're an open book, but it's hard to get a read on her. Publishing-related puns not intended."

"I don't know," Anakin said. "There have been a couple moments where I thought maybe she felt something, but maybe it's just wishful thinking."

"Well, I say go for it," Ahsoka said. "Worst that can happen is she says no and you're a little embarrassed for a while but then you get over it."

"That sounds pretty bad."

"But it's better than not knowing, isn't it?"

"But she's my boss. I can't just ask her out."

"Why not? Pretty sure you'd be allowed to date as long as you told HR about it first."

"You think?"

"Well, yeah. It's your personal life, who's the company to say you're not allowed to have feelings for each other?"

"But—"

"Listen, as much as I love helping you with your love life, it's nine PM on Christmas Eve. Goodnight, Skyguy."

"Oh—uh, 'night. And thanks."

"No problem."

Anakin put his phone back in his pocket, more conflicted than ever. Had he really had feelings for Padmé all along and never fully realized it? And now that he had realized it, what the hell was he supposed to do?

He gazed aimlessly around the garage, and suddenly his eyes fell upon the old workbench he used to use to do wood carving as a hobby back in high school. And he had an idea.

"Merry Christmas!" Shmi said cheerfully as Padmé came into the kitchen, still wearing Anakin's T-shirt even though she'd had the opportunity to buy her own pajamas at Target the day before.

"Mom, she's Jewish," Anakin said hastily.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume—"

"It's totally fine," Padmé said with a laugh. "Merry Christmas to you guys too. Those pancakes smell amazing."

Shmi put some on a plate for her, and the three of them ate a leisurely breakfast. "I have to say, I prefer this to Christmas mornings when Ani was little," Shmi said after they were all done eating. "He'd come in and jump on my bed at five in the morning begging me to let him go open presents."

Padmé laughed and Anakin rolled his eyes. "That's adorable."

"Yeah, yeah," Anakin grumbled. "If we're all done making fun of me, there are some presents out there."

"See?" said Shmi. "Nothing's changed."

The pile under the Christmas tree was rather sparse compared to how it used to be in Anakin's childhood; he and Shmi now exchanged only one or two presents each rather than Shmi showering him with as many gifts as she could afford. But now that he was an adult, Anakin genuinely preferred a couple of carefully-selected presents rather than a whole pile of things Shmi had spent too much of her hard-earned money on.

This year, she gave him a fancy new laptop bag and a cozy hand-knitted scarf. Anakin gave her some nice chocolates, a box of her favorite tea, and a pair of earrings, all of which she exclaimed over for several minutes.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything for you," said Padmé, who'd been watching the gift exchange quietly. "I should've picked something up at Target yesterday—"

"No, don't worry about that," Shmi said. "It's not as if you expected to be here for Christmas, and you don't even celebrate it."

"Still, it would've been the least I could do after you've been so generous to host me—"

"Seriously, it's no big deal," Anakin soothed her. "Actually, I do have something for you, though. Maybe you could consider it a belated Hanukkah present or something."

He grabbed one last little box from under the tree. "Anakin, you shouldn't have," Padmé protested.

"I wanted to," he said, pushing it into her hands.

She unwrapped it and lifted the lid off, gasping as she saw the necklace inside. "Wow," she said, picking it up and running her fingers over the carvings. "Where did you get this? And when?"

"It was sort of last-minute, I carved it last night."

Padmé gaped at him. "You made this? Anakin, it's so beautiful. Thank you. It…means a lot that you would do this for me."

"It was no trouble, really," Anakin said modestly, though his cheeks had turned pink from the praise and only got pinker still when she immediately put the necklace on.

"Now I feel even worse that I didn't get you anything," Padmé said sheepishly.

"Hey, your presence is enough of a present," Anakin said, grinning, and she groaned at the pun.

They spent the rest of the day sitting by the fireplace, sipping hot chocolate, eating, and chatting. The next several days passed in much the same manner, and on Friday Padmé got a call from Kitster.

"Oh, that's great news!" she said. "Thank you so much. Yes, I'll be there soon."

"What'd he say?" Anakin asked as she hung up.

"My car's all fixed," she said. "I can go pick it up right now."

"Oh," Anakin said, his heart sinking. "That's…that's great. I'll drive you to the garage."

He dropped her off there and went back home, and Padmé arrived in her car a little while later. "So, I guess you'll be headed home now," Anakin said.

"Yes, I've already imposed on you way too long," Padmé said with a laugh. "Thank you so much for everything, I can't say how much I appreciate it."

"Do you have New Year's plans?" Anakin blurted out suddenly.

Padmé looked surprised. "No," she said. "Most of my friends in the city are away visiting their families, and my family lives too far for me to bother going out there just for New Year's. I was planning on a quiet night at home."

"Well," Anakin began nervously, "if you wanted some company…you could stay here for the rest of the weekend. If you wanted."

"Really?" Padmé said, and her expression quickly turned neutral again but Anakin still caught the initial flash of hopefulness. "I wouldn't be bothering you?"

"Not at all, we've loved having you here. I'm pretty sure my mom likes you more than she likes me at this point."

Padmé laughed. "Well, in that case, if you're sure…I'd love to stay a little longer."

And so New Year's Eve found the three of them on the Skywalkers' couch, watching the countdown. Or rather, the build-up to the countdown, as it was only eleven o'clock. Shmi stood up, yawning. "I thought I could stay up, but I'm just exhausted," she said. "You two have fun."

"Come on, Mom, it's only another hour."

"I'm about to fall asleep where I sit. Besides, I've stayed up for more than enough New Year's Eves in my lifetime."

She bid them goodnight and went upstairs. "So, got any resolutions?" Anakin asked Padmé after a while.

"Nothing that I'll manage to keep beyond the first week of January, I'm sure. You?"

"Well…I think I'm making a resolution to be more honest about my feelings," Anakin said boldly.

He didn't miss the way Padmé's breath hitched. "Oh?"

"Uh-huh. I don't want to let life pass me by just because I'm too scared to tell people how I really feel about things."

"That sounds like a good plan," Padmé said, her voice carefully even. "Anything in particular you're planning to be honest about?"

"It's not the new year yet. My resolution doesn't start until midnight."

"Ah, I see."

They were quiet for another while, and soon it was a minute to midnight. "Five," Anakin chanted along with the TV, and Padmé smiled and joined in. "Four…three…two…one…happy New Year!"

As the crowds on TV cheered and applauded, Anakin became very conscious of how close Padmé was sitting. He shifted even closer and turned to look at her, heart hammering in his chest. "So I guess my resolution starts now," he said quietly.

Padmé gazed up at him with an outward appearance of calmness, but Anakin could hear that her breathing had quickened. "Oh?" she said.

Anakin reached out to graze her cheek with his hand, just as he had in the kitchen a week earlier. And before he could lose his nerve, he leaned in and kissed her square on the lips. Padmé sighed into his mouth and kissed him back, one arm sliding around his waist as the other moved up to tangle in his hair.

"Padmé," Anakin said when they finally broke apart for air. "Padmé, I have feelings for you. Like, really strong ones."

She laughed breathlessly. "I have feelings for you too," she said, smiling broadly.

Anakin started to smile too, the last of his nerves dissipating. "Will you have dinner with me once we're back in the city and there are actual nice restaurants to go to?"

"Absolutely," Padmé said, and she pulled him in for another kiss.

Anakin maneuvered them so that Padmé was lying down on the couch and he was kneeling over her, and he started kissing her with even more intensity. Padmé hummed eagerly, her hand tightening in his hair. "We're going to HR the second we get back to the office," she said, pulling away again.

Anakin groaned in annoyance. "Sure thing, boss," he said. "Now shut up and kiss me."

Padmé seemed all too happy to oblige.

The next morning, the pair of them came downstairs and walked into the kitchen. Shmi, who'd gone to bed quite a bit earlier than them, was already sitting at the table. "Good morning," she said, lowering the newspaper and raising her eyebrows. "Ani, I thought you were sleeping on the couch this week?"

Padmé flushed down to the roots of her hair, and Anakin was pretty sure he looked similar. "Uh, I have been," he stammered. "I only went upstairs just now to—to get…uh, to get a…thing."

"Mm-hmm." Shmi chuckled to herself and lifted the newspaper back up.

"Eloise at Christmastime" is my family's Christmas Eve tradition, and it is the most wholesome movie ever and I highly recommend it