She knows he's there before the door to her quarters slide open, allowing him to enter without asking permission. She felt him the moment he entered the Temple, returning from yet another crusade with Obi-Wan by his side… Even half-way across the Galaxy Padme felt him still, every scrape of his skin, every emotion surging through his chest, she felt it all. She always has… At least, for as long as she can remember. Their connection is like nothing else, nobody can explain why when she broke her arm at twelve years old, seven year old Skywalker cried out in pain from the other side of the Temple, or how they're able to predict the other's next move without speaking or always, always know where the other is. They've lied countless times to their Masters – or former Master in Anakin's case – and the council over the past few years, claiming their connection has fizzled, diminished almost entirely. It's their secret now; and it's easy to carry, considering they've always kept certain elements of this bond to themselves.

He doesn't speak when he steps into the small room, though she knows he wants to. It's been a long month since they've been this close yet she's not about to run into his arms as he'd like her to. She's busy. Despite his presence, she narrows her eyes, concentrating. The blaster is heavier in her hands than she'd originally anticipated, but the practice is paying off and the weapon remains steady in her grasp. Aiming for the crudely drawn target on the piece of flimsi pinned up to the wall, she ignores his gentle probing through the Force. Not now.

After that he watches her without comment, crossing his arms across his chest and leans back against the wall. She feels him smile, torn between amusement and pride as always when he watches her training and fights not to return it. She's good with her lightsaber, more than good, she's one of the best, subtle in her attacks, quick on her feet so much so that she's been known to defeat not only Master's like Kenobi and Windu in training but Anakin too. Something she knows he finds half arousing, half infuriating. After their sessions he'll either fuck her or storm off. However, when it comes to blasters, Padme has a lot of work to do. If only the wise Masters would allow her to study outside her damned quarters and perhaps she'd progress…

Finally content with her aim, she pulls the trigger, and watches the shot miss the mark by inches. Damn it to Sith-hell! She lets out a low, frustrated growl and feels Anakin smirk behind her. If he's not careful his next stop tonight will be to the healers… Lowering the blaster, she gives into the temptation to turn around to see him. She may be irritated, but it's been a month and she's missed him. "Your hair is longer." Much longer, curls now fall to his neck, framing his face in an entirely new way… It's strange, given she's used to the cropped locks he's been so determined to keep even after being Knighted.

"Wasn't much time for haircuts in the Outer-rim. Besides, I like it." He shrugs easily, pushing himself up, off the wall to shrug off his cloak and throw it onto her small desk. Part of her thinks, he should not be this comfortable in her quarters, but the other doesn't know anything different. He's been coming here since they were children after all. He suits the hair, she thinks… Makes him look older, more… Rugged. Somehow it works with the old scar high on his cheek and boosts his attractiveness tenfold.

"I thought you'd like it." His voice invades her mind suddenly, smug as always. She's past cursing his ability to hear her thoughts as easily as her own, it is merely part of their lives and she's come to accept it, as he's long accepted her ability to hear his own. The difference is, Anakin opens himself to her easily, willingly and Padme wishes from time to time she could close herself to him, just for a little while. It's one of the stranger parts of their bond, sometimes useful, sometimes delightfully fun and others… Others it's a downright pain in the backside.

"You thought wrong. It's awful." He only rolls his eyes in response, because even without hearing her thoughts he knows she's lying. She thinks that very little would change between them if the Force hadn't granted them such a connection, she can't fathom them being any different than what they are now. There has been much that to bring them to this, years of friendship, of training side by side, discovering this bond between them… It's all brought them here. Though it has not always been quite so easy. Padme still remembers walking in on him kissing Aayla Secura once when they were teenagers…

Of course, he never let her go near any other boy. His possessiveness knows no bounds and though she isn't afraid to push him back, remind him she belongs to no-one but herself, it is inescapable. She could run to the furthest corners of the galaxy and he'd come kicking through the door to take her back. In Anakin's eyes, she's his… Belongs to him body and soul… And perhaps the knowledge should frighten her more than it does, but it is sweetened somewhat by the existence of his complete and utter devotion to her. As he sees her as his, Anakin Skywalker is hers. It is who they are, partners more so than the legendary pair he and Kenobi make, comrades of the Order, Jedi brethren, lovers. Their relationship is the strangest combination of passion, frustration, affection, and an all-consuming, galaxy defying need for one another.

But if they are ever caught… He could be expelled. Jedi are not forbidden to sleep with Jedi, however she is still a Padawan to Master Windu… His refusal to put her forward for the trials adds anger to the pot of emotions boiling between them. It's inappropriate; Knights cannot be seen to have affairs with Padawans. He has a Padawan of his own! Their entire lives would be shattered to a thousand pieces and so they're condemned to secrecy. Even after she is put through the trials, things cannot change. Sleeping together is one thing, but what they have… It is more. It is attachment forbidden by the Code; they'd be separated, kept apart for Force knows how long.

Padme would like to think she'd survive it, but she knows it would tear her apart every bit as much as it would him.

There's a certain thrill to it, of course… Getting swept away in the throes of passion while hidden in a small alcove as other Jedi, Masters, Padawans and Younglings alike pass, blissfully unaware of what's happening, waiting for him to sneak into her quarters at night, sending each other coded messages that only the other can decipher… All of it. Padme has always been open and ready for adventure; it's only natural that she'd be swept away by the likes of Anakin Skywalker.

"If you keep doing this, you're going to destroy the wall." She hears him speak aloud, though there's no difference if his voice is in her mind, or in the air between them. His comment makes her grip the weapon tighter, because he's always trying to instruct her… To correct her about one thing or another. She is not his Padawan! She's more than capable of doing things on her own without his help.

"I know that. That's why it's set to stun." She turns back toward the target, raises the blaster and narrows her eyes. He's growing frustrated at her lack of attention and she smirks, good. His swollen ego needs stepping on every now and again; especially now the entire Republic seems to have fallen in love with him. The Hero With No Fear… Poster boy for the war effort.

"Don't call me that." He growls behind her and the smirk falls. She knows how much he hates that title, Anakin Skywalker is far from without fear. Padme almost believes he's entirely made up of it… But not the usual kind of fear everyone else feels. It's a crippling kind, a beast in his chest that awakens from time to time to torment him. She's always wished this bond allowed her a way to slay it, to free him from the shackles of anxiety and angst he carries on those tired shoulders.

"Is that a command?" She fires again, and misses once more. By less this time, but enough to make her want to throw the damned blaster at the wall. The clones make this look so easy! Why can't she master it too?

"Well technically I am your superior my love." She knows he's smirking without looking at him, she can feel it. "You have to do as I say."

"Well we can't all be the youngest Jedi ever Knighted." Padme quips, lowering the weapon and turning to face him again. For the first time it strikes her that she must make an odd sight, wielding a blaster while clad in her pretty white nightgown. Perhaps she should be self-conscious but she's with Anakin… He'd never allow such a thing. "And don't call me that."

"Why not? There's no one around to hear… And it's who you are." Taking a deep breath, she manages to smile at him for the first time since his arrival, and tries not to roll her eyes at him at the same time. They aren't in one of those awful HoloNet romance movies where titles such as my love are thrown around constantly. They're Jedi, keepers of the peace, warriors… They are not the kind of people who refer to one another as "love".

"Who I am… Is someone who can't work this blaster for the life of me." She grits her teeth as he approaches, amused as always when they're together. An embrace she once might have called strange comes over her, making her skin tingle, as he reaches out with the Force to soothe her. He's good at that, both physically and mentally, where her talents lay with words, his are in his touch.

"You're thinking too much." He states, as if it's obvious.

"How is it possible to think too much?" She questions, then rolls her eyes because what does he know about blasters? "And if such a thing were possible, I wouldn't be doing it."

"Oh it's possible, and you are doing it." A moment later very large, very calloused and scarred hands are resting on her shoulders, thumbs already beginning to circle away the tension in her muscles. Padme's more than used to Anakin's touch by now, but even still it's always electric, jolting her in the most pleasurable of ways even when it's something as innocent as this. She's never felt this in any other touch before, not Obi-Wan's or Master Windu's… No one's. It must be unique to them, it must be. Still, she wishes she understood why it's like this? Because she loves him? Because he loves her? Because they are bonded? Perhaps it's one of those unexplainable mysteries of the Force.

"What…" She trails off, breath catching in her throat as he works away a particularly painful knot in her muscles. "What do you know about blasters?" He's a renowned warrior; she's seen it when they fight together, his talent with a lightsaber is… It's awe inspiring. And she knows how much work he puts into his training; it's not something that comes to him without dedicating countless hours of practice into his technique, so where has he had the time to master the art of blasters too?

"Rex is a great teacher." He murmurs quietly, warm breath tickling her ear as the words escape his lips. "Relax my love." He says those words again, and Padme doesn't like what they awaken within her. Not at all. "Stop thinking."

"That might be easy for you Chosen One but the rest of us actually have minds, and thoughts." She hears, and feels the rumble of his quiet chuckle against her back as he moves closer still, grip tightening on her shoulders.

"Clever." He breathes against her ear, "you're holding the blaster too low, tip it up a little."

Despite wanting to figure this out on her own, she's intoxicated by his touch, by his voice and scent… It's been so long since she's had him so close and part of her wants to forget blaster training altogether and push him down onto the bed. The tension is building between them and she knows that's exactly what he wants. Perhaps unfortunately for them both, she is stronger in resisting such temptations than he is.

After one deep, calming breath, Padme takes his advice and points the barrel of the blaster slightly higher, ignoring the way Anakin's hands drift from her shoulders, down to the curve of her waist. Can't he just let her practice in peace? Yet she doesn't have the strength to push him away… Maybe Master Windu is right, she should meditate more. Perhaps then the Force will grant her some new defence against its Chosen One's assaults.

"That's it, pull your arms back just a bit…" She does as he instructs, frowning at this new, odd way of doing this. If it works, it works and she'll be happy enough. But if after all this, she still misses she'll shoot him, she swears it. It's the least he deserves for waltzing in here and disturbing her. "I'm trying to help Padme." Anakin's voice interrupts her thoughts and once again she's close to rolling her eyes as he responds to them vocally.

"You're distracting me."

"Distracting you? I thought I was teaching you." He quips, and she feels his lips twist up into a smirk as they ghost a kiss behind her ear. Now she's done it, she's unwittingly made this into a game for him. Force give her strength. His warm breath caresses her ear, sending powerful shivers creeping down the length of her neck while his fingers tighten on her waist. He wants her to stop thinking? Impossible. Especially when he's doing all this… Fine, fine! If he wants to play, she'll play.

"Ani…" She murmurs softly, turning her head just enough to see him and more importantly, to let him see her. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Padme sighs softly, breathily in just the way she knows warms his blood. It works, she feels the arousal coursing through his body already and reaches out, through the Force to create the sensation of her hand running through his hair, something she wishes she could do for real right now, but alas, the game must be played. "I've missed you." It's not a lie, she doesn't have to lie. She's missed him every day he's been gone, pinned for him, worried about him even though she feels what he feels. Everything. She felt the pain of the electricity tearing through his body three nights ago, wept because despite the soothing thoughts he projected onto her to mask or dull the pain somewhat, he was suffering and so she suffered with him.

"I've missed you too." He whispers, burying his face into the crook of her neck for a moment, hands tightening yet again on either side of her waist, and she lowers the blaster for a moment. That can… That can wait just a little bit. "Obi-Wan is a terrible substitute for your presence." Despite the ever tangible flurry of emotions boiling between them, she savours the chance to laugh. Kenobi and Skywalker… The dream team. People across the galaxy take a sigh of relief when they see the HoloNews report that those two have been dispatched to end a threat, because they never fail. Everyone is safer with the Master and Knight out there, fighting the battles and reaping win after win for the Republic.

"I certainly hope you do not embrace Obi-Wan like this." She whispers into his mind and smirks when he laughs. "I'd feel rather… Replaced."

He presses his lips to the nape of her neck, not answering her quite yet but as long as his lips are doing this, Padme has no complaints… Force she's missed this… "I felt you the other night…" He whispers against her skin, making her frown. Felt her? What is he talking about? She hasn't done anything all that interesting the past few days… Training, reading in the Archives… Nothing that would capture his interest from across the galaxy. He reaches for one of her hands, freeing it from the weight of the blaster and brings it to her stomach. What is he doing? "I felt your fingers here." He covers her hand with his own for a second, then pushes her lower, until their fingers are between her legs, tearing a surprised gasp from her lips. "And… And here." His voice comes out almost hoarse, he's tense behind her and the kisses he graces across her neck become harsher, teeth coming out to play.

"Anakin…" Arousal and embarrassment flush through her, battling for dominance. By the Force… He felt that? Of course he did. They always do, she's felt him… Take the edge off his hunger countless times over the years, feels his pleasure, his frustration… And sometimes if she reaches out through the Force, she can see what's in his mind, his fantasies and desires. Her, always her. And the same is for him, she'd momentarily forgotten the other night, when the frustration of missing him grew too much to ignore, that he'd know exactly what she was doing.

"I felt everything," he continues, pausing to nip her skin none too gently, making her gasp. If he's marked her… "I heard you say my name." He uses his control of her hand to touch her – or rather make her touch herself – through the thin material of her nightgown. Swallowing, Padme opens her mouth but all that escapes is a strangled moan, quiet and breathless. "I saw what you wanted too." Her hips push closer to her hand as her eyes drift closed, even manipulating her own hand, he knows just what to do. Force have mercy… "It made me so…" He trails off, at a loss for words to describe the desperate desire she'd unwittingly awoken in him that night. He doesn't have to say it, she can feel it in his thoughts, it radiates off him now too. "So…" Suddenly, he uses his free hand on her waist to pull her flush against him, and his hips press against her back.

He's hard.

Immediately his mouth begins its good work once more, worshipping her, moving higher and higher, until he's teasing the skin just below her ear. To her horror the hand holding hers between her legs falls away in favour of pushing her hair away; off to her left shoulder as his lips descend to its twin. Her teeth sink desperately into her lip to keep back a moan, the very moan he wants to hear.

"Anakin…" His teeth scrape across her pulse as those hands climb her body, slowly, feeling very curve of her, every inch he can through her nightgown until he fills his palms with her breasts, squeezing lightly. "Anakin." She tries again to pull him back to reality, to push back the lust fogging his mind and clouding her own now too. His fingers find her rapidly hardening nipples and tug at them expertly.

"What?"

"I'm busy… And shouldn't you be reporting to the council?" He's just back from a month long mission with Obi-Wan, the Masters will wish to hear detailed reports of what happened… He shouldn't be here, with her. It's risky. She'd silently agreed to play this game of his, but she's beginning to feel like she's losing. Though if this is what losing feels like then… Oh… Then maybe it isn't quite so terrible. Still, if Obi-Wan comes looking for him, she's willing to bet this will be one of the first stops.

"Stop thinking about Obi-Wan…" Anakin commands suddenly, voice hard, and Padme feels the first lick of jealousy awaken within him. She may be losing this game, but there are other games she can play, ones she can win. Closing her eyes, she concentrates, thinking entirely of Obi-Wan and lets the thoughts drift over into him. She's not attracted to the man, not at all, but that doesn't mean she can't pretend for a little bit.

"Why? He's rather handsome you know… Quiet too." He tenses behind her, hands lowering back down to her waist, "if I wanted to seduce him, I think I'd have to be the instigator. Perhaps sneak into his quarters at night wearing nothing but my cloak." Adding salt to the wound she uses a fantasy she knows Anakin has and delights as his jealousy ignites fully. "I bet he's very… Toned beneath all the robes and heavy cloaks. I've heard many other women here talk about it when he's not around."

"I don't care about the other woman." Anakin growls, angry suddenly and Padme knows she's done her job and done it well. Envy at not being the one occupying her thoughts is pouring out of him, seeping into the room and filling it with an entirely new kind of tension. He's so easy… It's never difficult to make Anakin jealous, and it's always oh so satisfying.

She continues mercilessly, loving his reactions to her words and how easily the Chosen One, the Son of the Force, falls prey to her manipulations with nothing more than words and sighs. "He'd watch wide eyed as I slip off the cloak and perhaps look away for a moment but he'd look at me, all of me, bared just for him." Padme softly rubs her fingers between her legs again, closing her eyes and moans just enough to seem like the idea of all this is arousing her. It'll drive him mad. "I think it would be slow… He'd fuck me so gently that I go half-mad, but I'll come with my legs tight around his waist and-"

Whatever words she was planning to speak are gone, lost as Anakin's hand grips hers and yanks it away from her body, his thoughts are so quick, too quick to decipher but she knows the gist of it. "You're mine." That possessiveness that lurks within his mind, always pacing, always on the edge explodes just as she knew it would, and his hands begin to gather the soft fabric of her nightgown up high enough for his hand to slip underneath and find her wet and wanting.

"Anakin," she moans, rocking her hips against his hand, one hand trembling beneath the weight of the blaster she's still holding onto. "Oh Anakin…"

In his jealously his mauls her skin, biting and licking and kissing everywhere. He's marking her, she thinks… Leaving purple bruises she'll struggle to cover up in some ridiculous bid to prove she's his. Usually she'd push him off and rush to the nearest mirror to see how bad it is and perhaps later she will, but right now, Padme is far too caught up in the sensations he's creating to even think of moving. His thumb circles her clit, hard, and she drops the blaster completely, it falls to the ground with a loud clatter. The moment it's gone from her grasp, she forgets all about it.

Their thoughts are equally messy… They're so attuned now that she can barely tell who is thinking what and it's a confusing mess of words and feelings that neither attempt to make sense of. "I love you so much you're mine don't stop please don't stop I've missed you so much mine your mine I need you."

He unexpectedly spins her around to face him with so much force that for a moment all she can do is blink at him and register that he's stopped touching her… And she needs him to start touching her again. Then, his lips are on hers and Padme's hands come up to cup his cheeks as she meets his passionate kiss and feels his arms circle her waist to pull her closer. She thinks that perhaps she's pushed him too far this time, her teasing bordering on cruel, especially by using his own Master in her descriptions. So she breaks the kiss as suddenly as he started it, and presses her lips to his neck, murmuring soft words into his mind. "I love you… I've missed you. There's no one else, not in my mind or heart."

"Not even Obi-Wan?" He asks sourly and her lips curve upwards against his skin. Despite everything, he can be such a child sometimes… She feels him fist his hand into her loose curls as her lips find a particularly sensitive spot beneath his jaw. She loves him… They're forbidden and their relationship would be found abhorrent to everyone around them, but she loves him… She always has and without a single doubt in her mind Padme knows she always will. Having him back here again, so close and touching her, it's as if the other half of her has been returned once more. The discomfort is gone, leaving her only with Anakin, his warmth and his embrace.

"No one. It's only you Ani…" He pulls back, meeting her eye for a moment, filled with a renewed need after her words; she sees it in his eyes, feels the arousal tearing through his body and more so feels the hard bulge in his trousers pressing against her stomach. "I love you." She says aloud, wanting to hear the words fall from her own tongue and fill the air between them. He needs something more, one final push and Padme knows exactly what to do. "I love you and I'm yours." As she expected, everything shifts between them again, Anakin's hands grow gentler on her skin, and the lust in his eyes intensifies a thousand times over. Confirming that which he so believes to be true deep down in his chest, the primal possessiveness and male pride swells in victory and she allows him to have this. Just for tonight.

He kisses her again, briefly, deeply then pulls back and grasps her nightgown with his other hand too, pulling at it until it's off of her body completely. At the sight of her, his striking pools of blue darken with hunger and it fuels her own. There is nothing like being looked at by Anakin, he makes her feel raw, beautiful, wild… Like a siren luring her prey to their watery grave. Long past being shy about her body so openly displayed for him, Padme delights in it. Under his heated gaze she feels wanted, loved. How can she not feel such things, when he looks at her so ravenously, like he's debating on exactly what he's going to do to her. With a gentle probe through the Force, she sees just how many ideas he has.

This time it's her who captures his lips, sliding her hand into his mane of curls and pressing her body against his. His own hands are far from idle, they roam her body slowly, enjoying the silky sensation of her skin beneath his and fills his palms with her rear, squeezing none too gently. His touch is all well and good, but she wants to feel him too… He's wearing far too many clothes for her liking so she tries to rectify the situation. She gets as far as ridding him of the leather tabard he wears before he catches her wrist to stop her. Opening her mouth, Padme plans to complain, to tempt him into stripping and just taking her now but he doesn't let her. He halts her complaints with one sharp push which sends her stumbling backward, landing on the small bed with a gasp.

Alas, he doesn't shed his clothes and climb over her, instead his lips leave a kiss on the inside of her knee, then higher and higher along her leg until he reaches the slickness of her thighs, where he bites and while she hisses and tries not to buck up, closer to his face, soothes the sting with his tongue. "That is not where your mouth is best suited Ani…" Her mind whispers to his and she catches his smirk before he repeats the same process with her other leg.

The second time he comes close to exactly where she needs him most, he teases her cruelly, blowing cool air against her so her eyes slam shut as she moans weakly. Finally, finally his tongue blesses her with its touch, but far too gently and much too slowly… Damn him and his teasing! Forever impatient with these things, Padme's hips rise and rock against him, desperate to find more... And at last he gives it. He doesn't give her gentle, what Anakin gives her is pleasure dancing the line of pain, there is nothing tender about the way his tongue worships her clit and it's exactly what she needs. One hand reaches down to tangle in his hair, gripping the locks tightly, encouraging him, keeping him in place, she isn't sure which.

When he stops again, pulling back and leaving her with a soft kiss to her burning flesh, she hisses, repeating every curse she's ever heard the clones say in her mind and it makes him grin. "You're a Sith!" She swears and means it. What other reason could there be for such cruelty? How else can he explain it? He kisses her thigh once more and she bucks her hips, desperate to make him give in and please her but darkened eyes meet hers across the slope of her body and he waits. Force, what does he want from her?

"Ani… Please…" She begs shamelessly, and feels terribly wanton. Once such a thing would have rendered speechless with embarrassment, but such times are long past. She'll give him what he wants if he'll return the favour. And if he does not… He shall meet the end of her lightsaber before dawn.

She catches him watching her from between her legs, eyes full of lust, and love and rather than infuriating her, she smiles. "I love you." She says again for possibly the hundredth time this night and is rewarded with the gentlest embrace through the Force. His hands travel across her legs, drifting higher and higher and he moves with them, coming to kneel before her as her legs bend and open for him.

"My Angel."

"Always."

Finally, with another grin, he reaches down and rids himself of the coarse robes then makes quick work of his boots and trousers. Padme watches him undress, hands coming up to comb through her hair, and accidently snagging on the Padawan braid her Master seems content to leave her wearing forever. Cursing mentally, she untangles herself from the damned thing and hears Anakin's amused laugh. "It's not funny."

"It is." He states, and then smirks. "Officially, I'm here to bring you the good news… I was going to tell you after…" Frowning, she braces herself on her forearms and sits up. Good news? What is he talking about? What news could possibly warrant him of all people delivering it to her personally?

"Master Windu has recommended you for the trials." He begins then pauses as her shock passes through him too. She's to be Knighted? Given she passes the trials of course, but… At last she'll be a full-fledged Knight, a General! She almost thought this day wouldn't come. She's been waiting for this for so long… Four standard years to be exact, ever since Anakin was Knighted after the fiasco of Geonosis. "Your trial hasn't been decided yet, but with you Angel, you're as good as Knighted already."

She takes a moment to glance out of the small window and murmur a quiet thanks to the Force… Suddenly she can't wait for morning, to seek out Master Windu and face whatever trial he deems fit for her abilities. She's buzzing with excitement, and it's impossible to stop the deliriously happy laugh that falls from her lips. He's proud of her, she can feel it, but more so, she's proud of herself. She's worked so hard… Trained herself to exhaustion day after day, makes herself useful in whatever ways she can out in the battlefields and now… Now it's being recognised!

Elated, Padme reaches up and pulls him down over her, hands dancing across his strong back as he kisses her breathless. The kiss is quickly is broken with a gasp however, as he pushes inside her slowly. Their eyes meet and a smile once more crosses her lips only to be returned by one of his own as he pulls back and thrusts into her again equally as slowly as before. Force have mercy… One hand comes to tangle in his hair while her legs wrap around him tightly, attempting to prompt him into moving faster, deeper… All this teasing of his, she's had enough. She just wants him, his fire and passion and the primal flare she knows he can take her with.

All it takes is her tongue sliding into his mouth, her hand in his hair tightening and with the help of the Force, one push to flip their position so she straddles him, legs bent and settled on either side of his hips. He watches her lustfully, mouth half open as she sinks down onto him once again, tearing pleasured noises from both their mouths. By the Force he feels so good… Pressing her palms to his chest she begins to move, the slow rise and fall of her hips meant to tease him as he's teased her but it's doomed from the start. It's not nearly enough to satisfy her tonight. His hands come up to touch her, to grip her waist and guide her movements but with a little concentration she pins his arms down, bent at the elbow and palms beneath his head. Trapped through the Force, all he can do is laugh and shake his head as she has her way with him.

Leaning down, Padme brushes her lips against his once, twice then whispers, "perhaps tonight, it's you who belongs to me Skywalker." She feels his shock, the hot crash of arousal borne of her words tearing through his body and flowing into her own through their connection. It fuels the burning between her legs as she moves faster, riding him harder, half moans and strangled cries falling from her lips as her head falls back. Through the Force she feels him touch her, rebellious as always, feels invisible hands cupping her breasts, pinching her hard nipples sending waves of pleasure spiking throughout her body. Even without moving, pinned down by her power, he has her breathless with pleasure.

"Padme…" His voice invades her mind again, as she moves faster still, feeling him beginning to tense beneath her. The fire between them burns brighter, hotter, burning her, melting away everything that isn't them, this pleasure or their love. The ghost touch moves, and does what he tried to do, holding her waist, pulling her down onto him harder now as his impatient hips rise to meet hers thrust for thrust. "Come Angel…" He speaks aloud now, the invisible hands tightening, "come for me." His voice is rough, husky, breathing shallow as he holds back his own pleasure in favour of her own.

"Oh Anakin…" She pants, "Ani… Force, Anakin…"

All the nights of missing him, wishing he were here, the scorching pleasure shared between them, increasing with every moment and intensified by their bond boils over and ecstasy explodes throughout her body. Lost to wave after wave of satisfaction, all she can do is rock her hips desperately against him, moaning and gasping his name all the while. Mere moments later he tenses further, barely breathing as her tired hips move, never once faltering above him. Her name is moaned either straight into her mind or past his lips, she isn't quite sure as he spills himself within her and she rides him through it until he slumps and she collapses over him.

They lay there, panting and recovering for what feels like hours as their chests heave and their bodies cool until Padme finds the strength to release him from her hold and roll to lay by his side. After a moment he moves too, pressing his chest to her back and wrapping a strong arm around her waist. "When do you have to leave again?" She asks through their bond, not trusting the words to leave her mouth without something close to a sob. She wants him here when she faces the trials, needs his support even under the pretence of friendship. If he's off somewhere fighting the Senate's battles for them, it won't be the same.

"Three days. Then after, I have a week of leave time." Reaching out, it only takes a flick of her wrist to bring her blanket up, surrounding them in its warmth as her eyes begin to drift closed. A week… Granted she is not sent off somewhere with her Master, they'll have a whole week to look forward to. Perhaps, if she's lucky enough her trial will be held then too, and they can have a celebration of their own… He listens to her thoughts, and she feels his lips against her shoulder, then, "I'll be here Padme. I promise you." They're always making empty promises to each other, she hopes this for once, isn't one of them. "I love you." He whispers for the first time tonight, and as sleep claims her, Padme sighs contently, he'll be here, she knows he will, he'll keep this promise even if he has to trudge through Sith hell to do it… And if he doesn't, he'll wish he were in Sith hell.