Lost Without You (AOTC)

Fourth

I'm guessing the talk that went wrong the other night is the reason why Padmé has made sure to steer clear of me over the past few days.

Every time she sees me, she glances at me and quickly looks away, most times at the floor. Or, if I get anywhere near her, she moves away. I made a big mistake by talking to her in the first place. Why did she have to come to Tatooine at all, ten years ago when we first met? Why did we even have to meet? Because, of course, I fell in love with her. And I'm not even allowed to.

We sit at the dinner table that night, silently, with the exception of the occasional scrape of silverware on plate. Everyone's mad at Padmé because she says she's going to say yes to Clovis. But deep inside, I think she's still debating.

It's so painfully quiet, I drop my fork on the floor on purpose.

"Oops," I say, and everyone looks up, but still no one says anything. I even drop it one more time, and Padmé scoots back in her chair, but runs over my hand with the leg of it. I cringe in pain and grunt loudly.

Score, I think, as Padmé, for the first time in four days, talks to me.

"Anakin, are you alright? Oh, Anakin..." She inspects my hand, and rushed to the kitchen, coming back with some bacta in a bowl. She dips my hand into the bowl to heal it. Padmé looks into my eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Really, it's fine," I say, even though it feels like my hand has been stomped all over by a Bantha. We look into each other's eyes, and I lean in slightly, but Jobal comes and sits next to me on the floor. "What happened?" she asks. Padmé explains everything to her mother, and Jobal frowns sympathetically. "Why don't you go to bed and rest, Anakin?"

I shake my head. "Nah, it was just my hand. Thank you."

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I lie in bed that night, staring at the ceiling blankly. After I got my hand run over and smashed by that chair leg, Jobal took me to the medic and got it checked out. They casted my hand because it was broken. From getting run over by a chair!

And the cast was already getting in the way. It was thick and rough, just like... sand. Just like sand.

I toss and turn all night, not being able to get Padmé's image out of my mind. Padmé. Padmé. Padmé. She's all I can think about.

At one point, I think I finally went to sleep, but only for an hour or so. Before I know it, the sun's shining in my eyes through the blinds.

I groan as I sit up, ripping back the sheets. Just another perfect day, I think. Not.

Of course, there has to be something else wrong that will be a contributing factor to ruining my day. There's something wrong with my comlink. It won't let me call anyone, and whenever I press it, the button gets stuck and it makes a delayed beeping sound.

I groan once again in frustration. In the middle of getting dressed, trousers on and shirt off, I take it apart and start to fix it. All of the sudden, I feel Padmé's presence, and turn around, just to see her step in the shadows outside of my door.

I pull my tunic on and walk out to where she is, cowering in the shadows.

"I'm sorry," she says, and at this point, I know for sure that she saw the scars all over my back from slavery before, because my back was facing the door where she stood.

I shake my head. "You were bound to find out at some point."

"But -- look, I shouldn't have been spying on you anyway. It just wasn't right."

A smile crosses my face. A mischievous one.

"What?" she asks.

"You were spying on me?" I ask slowly.

"Sort of..."

"Why?"

Padmé looks at me for one quick moment, then bolts away. I'm running after her, laughing at the same time.