A Path Less Taken

Chapter 25 - Lack of Subtlety

Before the droid could speak, with a final scream of fear, an azure saber sliced the comm in half before the droid along with it. There was one thing that he could agree with Grievous on. Battle droids were a reliable frustration outlet.

"How's things at the Senate?" Anakin asked, running a hand through Padme's hair.

"Is that you really what you want to talk about?" she asked.

"As in has anything been about the fact that I left the Jedi," Anakin clarified.

"Not directly as a topic of discussion, but the Chancellor asks about you sometimes," Padme said, making Anakin smile.

"I always got along with Palpatine. Even though politicians and Jedi didn't really mix very well, he was always sort of a mentor for me. Besides Obi-Wan, of course," Anakin said as he stared at the ceiling.

"He's a nice man. Manages to be a great politician as well. It's almost an impossibility," Padme said before looking at Anakin. "How's Ahsoka?"

"She's fine. Doing good when Separatists aren't dropping in," Anakin said.

"She certainly has grown up since the last time I saw her. Have you noticed?" Padme asked with a small smile.

"I was the first to notice," Anakin told her. "To the other Jedi, to some extent or another, she was still a child. Yeah, yeah. Children aren't fighting in wars and leading armies. They aren't watching villages being slaughtered and having to kill just to get the job done. So she's absolutely an adult."

"In every way but age," Padme said.

"Age doesn't matter," Anakin said, making Padme smirk.

"If it was, don't you think there's something you should be telling me?" she said with a raised brow.

"Apparently I married a cougar," Anakin said casually, making Padme whack him in the arm. This only set him off in laughing like a madman.

"Anakin!" She tried to sound indignant. She really did. But the little giggles that were slipping out gave her away. Even if the joke was at her expense and really juvenile in some ways. But it was still funny.

"Age doesn't matter to me. If I want you, I want you," Anakin said, devious grin in place. Here he turned her around where she was on top of him. "And I can be very determined."

"You and all the talking," Padme said with a playful roll of her eyes before kissing him. Anakin embraced the feeling of the familiarity, warmth, and comfort it brought.

Anakin removed the glove off his hand effortlessly while still maintaining lip contact. The cool metal of his hand in hers made her shiver a small bit, but it wasn't the feeling of the cold. It was strange how an extension of metal could feel even remotely alive. But the feeling hummed with something real.

"Feel that?" Anakin said as if he could read her thoughts. Padme still wasn't sure on that front. "You can feel that, can't you? That small hum of energy. The Force throws me and through you. And it touches you as it touches me."

His lips went to her neck, and she quivered slightly before sighing in relaxation from the sudden surge of energy through her. It was on a different realm of euphoria from just traditional kissing or sex. It felt more internal than external. She never felt the Force like this before.

"Ani..." Padme breathed out through a breathy sigh as he ran his tongue and the tips of his teeth across her neck.

"Hmm. Yes, little one?" Anakin said playfully. This tone and her current state of mind is what didn't cause her to register the fact that Anakin froze for a split second.