Anakin's POV
My lightsaber hummed and vibrated in my hand as I sliced through the last droid, I looked around the room and caught my breath. Droids littered the floor and all of them were sliced in half or crushed into a ball by the force, I pressed the button on my lightsaber and the glowing blue blade disappeared back inside the hilt. The vibrating stopped and I frowned down at the weapon placing it back on my belt, I slammed my fist against the red button on the wall and the floor opened up and all the broken droids fell down into a pit of darkness, the floor folded back up and I sighed and sat on the bench letting myself cool down.
I had been in here all night destroyed and ripping apart droids to focus my mind on something else other than the number of clones I had lost in battle. I inspected my lightsaber and in seemed fine on the outside but it kept vibrating in my hand which wasn't supposed to happen. When I constructed my very first lightsaber with Obi-wan he told me that if a lightsaber vibrates in your hand then it's not the right crystal, he said the lightsaber will most likely not even be put together but I had found the right crystal and my lightsaber lit up. So why was it playing up now?
I let out a frustrated sigh before standing up and leaving the training room, the war was at its peak now and almost all the Jedi were out on missions and other things and you only got to spend a few days on Coruscant before you had to be shipped out again for another mission. Sometimes if you were lucky you got a week off before you were sent out again.
I climbed into a speeder and rose into the air, the traffic in Coruscant was horrible but it wasn't too bad since it was early in the morning. I stopped in front of the platform outside Padme's apartment and climbed out, I could sense that Padme was awake and a smile spread on my face. I briefly forgot about the clones I had lost and my lightsaber being weird as I stepped into the apartment.
"Padme?" I called slightly cautiously.
I heard footsteps and then she appeared, her serious beautiful face broke into a wide smile and she ran over to me and threw her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and picked her up, spinning her around a few times before setting her back down. She pulled away and placed her hands on my cheeks and kissed me.
"People were saying that you had been shot down months ago," she whispered fearfully.
"I'm alright, I would've come earlier but as you know the healers love me so much that they kept me there for 2 days when I didn't even need to be there. I had some stuff to sort out yesterday so I couldn't come until today," I explained.
"You could've called," she pointed out.
I hesitated and mentally slapped myself for not thinking about it sooner.
"For a General, you're not really smart when it comes to the smaller things," Padme teased.
I chuckled and wrapped her in a hug finally letting out everything in a sigh.
"You have to go again soon, don't you?" she asked pulling away.
"Probably, but right now. I'm here, I won't have long left here though," I replied.
Padme smiled at me sadly and we sat down on the couch, I squeezed her hand reassuringly and she leaned her head against my shoulder.
"The war has already been going on for a year, it doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. I'm just worried about you," she admitted.
I sighed and closed my eyes briefly, it had been 6 months since I last saw Padme but it didn't even feel like it was that long. It felt like I saw Padme not long ago but in reality, it had been half a year. Ahsoka had left 6 months ago as well but it felt like she had only left 2 weeks ago.
"We'll find a way to end the war soon and then we can go to Naboo and we won't have to worry about anything," I sighed.
"Just promise me that you'll try your best to stay safe,"
"I promise," I said kissing the top of her head.
There was silence between us before Padme sighed and stood up out of my arms.
"I have to go to some meetings today but I'll be back tonight," she said.
I pouted which made her smile, I stood up and hugged her again and we kissed before she went out the door with her smile still on her face.
I spent the day working on my report for the council but my mind kept straying to other things throughout the day and I left my datapad on the coffee table and paced around Padme's apartment trying to sort out my thoughts and get my head together. There was a loud bang and then I heard R2 screaming and C-3PO 'running' after him.
"Oh dear, Master Anakin. R2 says you gave him permission to shock me and I certainly don't believe that it was true," C-3PO states as R2 rolled behind me.
R2 begins beeping shrilly telling me about how I said he could shock C-3PO instead of Obi-wan on the mission to Kamino a while ago.
"Right I forgot about that," I said.
"Oh! Master Anakin how could you allow this! My circuits are going crazy I must get maintenance straight away," C-3PO exclaimed.
I sighed and powered C-3PO down, I got to work fixing his wires and circuits as R2 happily gave my suggestions on how to make C-3PO less annoying.
The sun was setting when I finally finished fixing C-3PO, I placed him on a charging station and powered R2 down and charging him as well. I picked up my abandoned datapad and paced around the apartment while typing into it as the sun sunk lower down past the horizon.
The door opened and Padme's calming presence filled the room, she wrapped me in a hug and I threw the datapad on the couch and hugged her back resting my chin on the top of her head.
"How were the meetings today?" I asked.
"Pretty boring, some Senators want us to get more planets to sign our treaties but I don't think it's going to make much of a difference. The planets that are left are ones that are run by slaves or they have a small population, I believe we would just be wasting our time trying to get those plants to sign," she vented.
"I agree with you," I mumbled.
Padme giggled and pulled away, she looked up at me and her smile slowly faded.
"What is it?" I asked.
"You need to get rid of your stress habits, it's not good for you," she said.
I rolled my eyes which made her smile re-appear. Padme walked around the apartment looking for her datapad so she could do work and I followed her.
"I'm being serious Ani, they're not good," she continued.
"I don't have stress habits," I tried to argue still following her around.
Padme stopped and looked at me with her eyebrows raised.
"Let me guess, today you probably paced around the whole entire apartment 14 million times, didn't eat or sleep and then tinkered with some random thing," she said.
I opened my mouth to argue but every word she had said was completely true and I knew lying to Padme's face never ended well because she could see straight through me. She grinned and kissed me on the cheek before she continued to search for her datapad.
"In my defence, I was going to get back to my report for the Council but R2 and C-3PO were arguing like a bunch of banthas," I said continuing to follow her, "And then R2 shocked C-3PO and his circuits went haywire,"
"Anakin Skywalker you are wasting your time trying to convince me you don't have stress habits, anyone that knows you well enough would agree with me," Padme said looking in a drawer.
I sighed in defeat and wrapped my arms around Padme from behind and kissed the top of her head.
"I need to find my datapad Ani, I have to get a speech written," she half complained.
"I know you don't want to though," I said.
"Of course I don't want to but I have to, because it's my job,"
She tried to wriggle out of my grip but I held onto her tighter, she melted into my grip slightly before looking up at me and kissing me twice.
"Please Ani, we can relax later," she pleaded with a slight pout.
I gave in and she beamed at me and kissed me once more, I let go of her and used the force to pull her datapad into my hand.
"Did you know where it was the whole time!" she exclaimed.
"It was right on the bench, you walked past it about 5 times. I waiting to see if you noticed," I teased.
She playfully slapped my chest while laughing and then sat down on the couch and began typing. I picked up my datapad that I had thrown on the couch earlier and finished up my report to the council. A little while later Padme had already finished writing her whole speech and she read it out loud to me to check for mistakes. We ate something for dinner and then she dragged me to bed and declared that if I didn't sleep then she would lock me out for a week, I knew she was joking about locking me out but I also knew she'd be upset and slightly angry with me if I didn't sleep.
I climbed into bed next to her and kissed her goodnight, my whole body relaxed and for the first time in around 6 months I got a proper nights sleep.