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Padmé was taking another sip of her coffee when Anakin decided to stroll in. She shook her head and decided to get on with the email check she had just started when Captain Jinn decided to call Anakin out on his tardiness. Usually she wouldn’t care if he was a few minutes late but if the new captain got involved then she was definitely interested.
“Attention detectives, Detective Skywalker is three minutes late.”
“Really? Three minutes and I’m getting called out?”
“Yes. Now clean up your attitude. And your desk.” With that he strode back to his office and the gathered staff all dispersed.
“Ugh,” Anakin slumped into his chair and banged his head off his desk.
“You realise that would have hurt a lot more if you didn’t have all those files all over your desk?” Padmé observed as she took another sip of her coffee.
“Not helping,” he groaned as he sat up.
“I’m not trying to help you. But really I should thank you for helping me.”
“What d’ya mean?” he asked, confusion written over his forehead and clouding his eyes.
“Now that you are constantly under the scrutiny of the new captain I’m free to go and win our bet.”
“Haha, no you’re not. Little Miss Perfect you’re not going to win this bet,” he chided, but he was smiling again.
“We’ll see,” Padmé teased once more before she put her head down and started getting on with her own work, trying to figure out a case that would put her one more arrest ahead in their bet.
“I’m concerned about the pile of garbage you call the open case files on your desk,” Captain Jinn said a few hours later, looming over their shared desk.
Padmé looked up, interested in seeing Anakin get roasted, again, for the mess that was his desk. It really was beginning to bother her. The worst part about having conjoined desks was looking up and seeing the complete mess on his desk every single day.
“Man, I’m working through it. I can’t do it with you breathing down my neck,” Anakin muttered but Padmé knew that if she had heard it then so had the new captain.
“Mmm, we’ll see. Give me an update on the Tagger case in fifteen,” he nodded to them both and walked away.
“Why does he keep doing that?”
“Checking up on one of his detectives to make sure that his new precinct is working as well as it should be? I wonder?”
“Okay you can just stop with the sarcasm.”
“I’ve got nothing else to occupy my days with.”
“Not even arresting perps to win the bet?”
“Nah, I’m winning by a landslide. It’s not so fun right now. I’ll wait for you to get out of the slump then I have a spree of arrests I’m going to make.”
“Laugh it up, Naberrie, but you are going to lose.”
“So you keep saying and yet when was the last time you made an arrest?”
“When was the last time you made an arrest?” He mocked back at her.
“Yesterday,” she said, laugh evident in her tone. “And you haven’t made a valid one in days. So maybe stop pouting and make some arrests because this bet is going to get real boring if I have a twenty point lead.”
“Oh calm down, you only have a six point lead.”
“Exactly. And I’m close to making it eight. Now if you want me to take your car then by all means let me keep making a bigger gap in the scoreboard. If you want to make things interesting again then get out of this slump.”
“I’m not in a slump!”
“Sure you’re not. Jinn wants a report in ten and do you have anything new to tell him?”
“No! And did you just deliberately waste the time I needed to figure this out by talking about your amazing lead?”
“I’ve got better things to be doing. And besides, you were never going to figure it out in ten minutes if you haven’t done it by now. Nothing’s changed.”
“You shush,” he chided and Padmé smiled, knowing she’d won this argument. All she had to do now was win this bet when it came due.
“How’s the case, Skywalker?”
“Yeah, fine. Tagger has been going round damaging and vandalizing cop cars and knows which ones are cop cars even if they’re unmarked yadda yadda.”
“Are you any closer to making an arrest?”
“Yeah, of course of course.”
Jinn just stared him down until he relented and admitted the truth. “Okay, fine. No I’m not.”
“Okay then. Do you need help?”
“No, I’ve got it.”
“Let me rephrase it. How do you need me to help?”
“Sir, with all due respect it’s a simple case. I don’t need you micro-managing me.”
“I am aware. You made your point clear this morning.” Anakin shifted on his feet but otherwise tried to maintain eye contact. “So don’t think of it as managment. Think of it as babysitting.”
“You’re babysitting me?”
“Until you can learn to be less childish and act like a responsible grownup and take your job seriously, then yes.”
“What has that actually got to do with this?”
“You could be one the best detectives in the city yet you’re coasting at times. Like now.”
“Sir, I’m already one of the best detectives in the precinct.”
“And you’re six arrests behind Naberrie as of this week. You could be better than this.”
“So you’re rooting for me in this bet?”
“I am not on any side in this ridiculous bet. However, if your arrest numbers are improving because of it I am not going to put an end to it but you need to get out of this slump.”
“Why does everyone assume I’m in a slump?”
Jinn raised an eyebrow and Anakin hung his head and let out a huge sigh. “Okay, fine. I’m in a slump.”
“Admitting it is the first step to solving any problem. Now shall we discuss how you’re going to solve this case?”
“Yes, sir.”
It was lunch time and, as usual, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were eating lunch together in the break room.
“How much longer do they have left?” Ahsoka asked, biting into her sandwich.
“Three months.”
“Do you think they’ll figure out they’re in love with each other in that time?”
“Of course not. They’ll figure it out when they don’t have the bet to tease each other with all day.”
“Damn. It’s starting to get annoying. Did you see them this morning?”
“No, I had to interrogate a perp. What did I miss?”
“The usual. Five whole minutes of teasing each other about who is going to win the bet and how far ahead Padmé is today.”
“Oh damn. What is she up by now?”
“Six.” Ahsoka paused for dramatic tension while she took another bite. “And he’s in a slump.”
“What would she even do with his car?”
“I don’t know? Sell it to some children’s charity or gift it to her uncle? She’s weird. Can you imagine her driving it?”
“Can you imagine them on a date?”
Ahsoka smirked. “Very true. But also consider how they act now.”
“Why are their desks directly between ours?”
“Because someone wanted to punish me for being too beautiful. Probably the same for you. Have you done something different with your beard?”
Obi-Wan started fiddling with it on cue. “No?”
“Oh calm down. It’s a majestic beard and everyone knows it.”
“This is getting weird.”
“No, it’s not. What’s weird is watching you and Mace make eyes at each other when you think nobody's watching.”
“We’re engaged!”
“Still disgusting. Can you imagine if Naberrie and Skywalker start doing it too? I’d be surrounded by lovey dovey couples and I’d never get any work done.”
“You never get any work done to begin with.”
“That’s a technicality.”
Obi-Wan laughs and gets on with his lunch. This is always how their lunches go. They’ll discuss any updates on the Naberrie/Skywalker case before they find any other office gossip to talk about. They’ll both end up insulting each other at various points but it’s fun and it’s nice to take a break from the chaos outside the break room and just have a gossip for a few minutes every day.
“So what’s so special about this bet?” Jinn asked later. Anakin turned to his captain, utterly confused by both the question and the timing of it.
“Uh, sir? We’re on a stakeout? Is it relevant?”
“As this could affect your arrest numbers once you’re out of your slump then yes.”
“Fine. Naberrie and I made a bet about nine months ago to see who could get the most arrests in a year.”
“Why?”
“Why not? We wanted to see who was best and this seemed like the easiest test.”
“Mmm.”
“Is that it? No more questions?”
“For now.”
If Anakin wasn’t on a stakeout with his boss he would have slammed his head down on the dashboard. But as it was he couldn’t so he settled for trying not to roll his eyes. He knew if he did that Jinn would pick up on it and rat him out. He turned to look out the window (without rolling his eyes in the process) and saw a movement.
“In other news, I’ve found the tagger. Let’s go!”
And with that he ran out of the van and tried to focus on the one case in front of him and not the much larger impact on his life.
They get the tagger and Anakin is grateful to have Jinn there. If it wasn’t for him he’d still be sitting at his desk watching Padmé arrest more and more people while he’s stuck trying to figure out how to catch one damn tagger.
Once he’s out of his slump his arrests just keep coming in. His luck seems to have done a complete 180 and now he’s on a streak of closing cases. He starts with the open cases pile of garbage (at Jinn’s request when they closed the Tagger case) and he makes a good dent in it by the end of the week. For most of them all he needed was to look at them with a clear and focused mind and he starts finding clues and connections he had missed previously.
It’s not long before he starts catching up to Padmé, even though her numbers are still increasing steadily.
It’s not long at all before they’re equal again.
“One month to go, Naberrie. Look at the score.”
“I can see the score perfectly well,” she said, voice steely but firm with maybe just a hint of teasing. Anakin’s not quite sure when he started analysing her tone of voice.
“One month left and then you can say goodbye to your car.”
“Never. You can say goodbye to your pride because I have all kinds of ideas for our date. I’ve even got an ideas file.”
“Wow, a whole file. Are you remembering you’re in debt?”
“If you really knew me you would know that it’s crushing debt and it’s okay because it’ll all go on credit cards and it will all be worth it.”
“Why don’t you wait to win first before you get too carried away,” she smirked.
“One month, honeybear.”
“One month then, babes.” They stare at each other for a minute before they’re called into the briefing room and they scramble to get there first.
“This is ridiculous,” Obi-Wan despaired, banging his head on the break room table.
“What did they do now?” Mace asked, touching Obi-Wan’s shoulder.
“This is why I love you,” he replied, lifting his head, “Because you know exactly what I’m on about.”
“Yes, that, and also I work in the same place you do and I know it’s getting worse. How much longer do they have left?”
“Three days. How they can’t see they’re in love is beyond me.”
“Well, not everyone can have it as easy as we did, dear,” Mace said, kissing Obi-Wan’s crown.
“Well they’re the ones making it hard for themselves. Surely they realise that their teasing is always borderline flirtatious and that this bet will make or break them?”
“I have to say, I think it’s gotten worse over the past year. They weren’t this bad when they first decided to set the bet.”
“Mmm, I suppose. I can’t wait for it to be over though.”
“What if it’s never over?”
Obi-Wan groaned slightly before answering, “Then I give up and let Ahsoka lock them in a closet for as long as it takes for them to talk.”
“That seems slightly juvenile.”
“If they carry on much longer I’m going to think the juvenile approach is the mature one.”
“I may just turn a blind eye when all that happens.”
“Ahsoka would do it with or without approval. I think she is trying to get Jinn to agree to let her do it though.”
“How’s that going?”
“About as well as you’d expect,” Obi-Wan said, sipping his coffee. “He still refuses to take any part in their bet or in their personal lives.”
“I’d say that’s a smart idea but he can’t run from them forever. I’m speaking from experience.”
“I remember.” They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, drinking their coffees and reading over the file in front of them.
“Padmé's winning,” Mace said suddenly.
“Mmm, I still Anakin will scrape it at the last minute.”
“You think?”
“They’re both super competitive and great detectives but he’ll want to have a dramatic last-minute win.”
“And then they’ll have their date.”
“Then they go on an Anakin planned deliberately terrible date.”
Mace shrugged. “It might still work out.”
“I hope so. I really, really hope so.”
There’s a build up that hangs in the air for the next three days. It’s like a drumroll in the atmosphere. Everyone’s been waiting a year for this, and they’re all invested, even at varying levels. It’s been something that they’ve all kept a track of, and betted on, speculated and gossiped about. It’s been a constant in their lives for so long and now is the day that it comes to an end.
The night before Padmé had been ahead by two. She left the precinct practically skipping, flashing a smug smile as she walked past Anakin’s desk on her way out.
She’s in early the next day. She immediately dives into her case files, trying to figure out how to make a last minute arrest to boost her numbers. She’s busying scribbling notes down when Anakin comes in. On time.
She looked up in surprise when she sees him and blinks back at him when he slides a coffee over to her. “Morning, loser. I bought you a coffee so you can be nice and alert for our date tonight.”
“I’m currently in the lead so I don’t know why you’re calling me the loser, loser.”
“But I still have the rest of the day to win this.”
“Oh, it’s on.”
“Just on now? You mean you switched off and now you have to catch up?” Anakin laughed at the glare he received in return and went back to sipping his own coffee until Captain Jinn shows up. As soon as the door closes Anakin sprinted out of his seat with Padmé right behind him.
“Wheely chair. Pens,” he called as he threw the items at her in a successful attempt to slow her up.
He closed the door behind him after half running in before resuming with both a posture and tone of nonchalance. “Hey, captain.”
Jinn barely looked up.
“So I was wondering if I can jump onto any open cases because that would be totally sweet?”
“No. Cases will be assigned as normal. Don’t pretend like I don’t know what today is. Now I have not and will not get involved in this idiotic endeavour, as I have told you, but I have been impressed by your dedication to your work, especially in this past week. But as the fallout of this bet may have consequences on your professional lives I will remain impartial. That’ll be all.”
Anakin pulled a face before throwing a half salute and backing out of the office. Padmé rushed past him and took one step in before Anakin heard him say “No” and she was rushing back to her desk.
As they both speed-walked back to their files Ahsoka sent Obi-Wan a wild look. He in turn looked at his fiancé who was quick to hide his smirk in his files.
The bet was set to clock off at five. It was ten to and Padmé was out of the precinct and Anakin was just lolling in his desk chair staring at the scoreboard. A perfect balance.
“Yo, dude, how come you’re not worried?” Mace called, looking at both the scoreboard and the clock.
“She’s got no time left. She’s not going to get another one in.”
“Well neither are you so I don’t know what you’re planning on doing.”
“Waiting for her to get back and then I’m going to pull out Plan B.”
“Do you even have a Plan B?” Mace asked skeptically.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Ahsoka called, not one to miss out on gossip. “He barely even has a Plan A on most days.”
“Well this isn’t most days. This is a day I have been waiting for and planning out for a year. I have a plan.” The elevator dinged and he looked up, a smirk beginning to form. “Welcome to the end game,” he muttered.
“I did it!” Padmé raced into the precinct, out of breath and with a man in handcuffs with her. “With two minutes to spare I have claimed the lead and with it the victory.”
“Oh no,” Anakin said.
“Oh no? Oh no?!” Padmé's smile fell. “Why aren’t you worried? You just lost?”
“Actually, my dear girl...” Anakin tried (and failed) not to laugh. “Kenobi, bring in the Johns!”
Obi-Wan came in with a parade of a dozen men. He wanted to laugh at the comical expression on Padmé's crestfallen face but he still felt sorry for her, as her friend and colleague, and as the one taking away her lead.
“So I put out a sting to bust some people for soliciting.”
“That’s not a crime!”
“It is when it’s your second offence which is the case of four of these gentlemen. Interesting fact two of them are actually called John. Isn’t that neat?” he crowed. “Anyway time is over accept your fate.”
“Never,” she whimpered.
“Too late.” The clock reached five and Ahsoka sent off party poppers on cue.
“Padmé Naberrie,” Anakin began, kneeling on one knee in front of her, “I spent all of $1 on this ring. Will you go on the worst date ever with me? You have to say yes.”
“Yes,” resignation poured from her voice and dragged her shoulders down.
“She said yes,” Anakin cheered, beginning to dance around like a fool. “M’lady,” he said, gesturing for her hand and slipping the ring on her middle finger and kissing it, waggling his eyebrows as he did so. “I shall pick you up at seven.”
“I can’t wait,” she said through gritted teeth.
By the time she got home there was a package waiting for her. It was a box wrapped in brown paper and string and had a note written on it in such childish scroll that it almost made her smile until she saw the content.
‘Brown packages tied up in string, here are a few of my favourite things.’ “Seriously, Anakin,” she despaired as she tore into it to find a huge dress with far too many jewels. The skirt was sparkling and it had long transparent sleeves with gold bands around the upper arm. She had to admit that under different circumstances she might have found it beautiful. However, she knew it was far too dressy for whatever dump she was going to end up in.
She followed the instructions on the card regardless, not wanting to know the penalty if she didn’t. Tonight was going to be long enough as it was.
“Don’t think of it as losing a bet,” she reasoned with herself as she applied mascara. “Just think of it as a fun night out with your friend. Your friend who is going to insufferable and intolerable and will probably make annoying jokes or comments every five minutes. It’ll be fine. Don’t. Think. Of. It. As. A Date.”
She finished getting ready and twirled in the mirror. She took a quick selfie and sent it off to Mace, captioning it ‘what have I got myself into?’ She hit send and then the buzzer went off. She grabbed her bag and keys and ran out of the apartment.
“Wow,” Anakin laughed as she came out. “That is just incredible!”
“Do you approve of your fashion choices now?”
“Oh yeah. You look like every space queen I ever had a crush on as a child.”
“You were such a dork.”
“No hate, no hate,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender and moving to help her down the stairs and into the car.
“I was going to say thank you for making an effort as well but just what are you wearing?”
“You like my shorts? I thought they went with the pink bow tie wonderfully. Also they did not cost a lot.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell.”
“Now. Ground rules. The date starts now and ends at midnight and I tell you what to do, what to eat and when you go to the toilet.”
“Really? You’re going to monitor my bathroom breaks?”
“Yes, now you have three. Use them wisely.”
“What if I get food poisoning?”
He turned to her over the controls with a face that screamed: ‘really? How dare you think that?’ “You really think I’m going to give you food poisoning?”
“You’ve gotten food poisoning from your favourite soup place five times.”
“Aw but they’re real nice about it. Every time you get sick you get a free gallon of soup.”
It was her turn to turn her nose up at him. “Your eating habits disgust me.”
“I know.” He grinned, flashing his teeth. “But tonight is not a soup night so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Where are you taking me then?”
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
“So we’re getting pizza then.”
“How did you figure that out so fast?!”
“Other than the fact that i’m a great detective -”
“The fact you lost our bet says otherwise.”
“- I know you and that’s your code for getting pizza.”
“Huh. I didn’t know I had a code for getting pizza.”
“You start acting all suave and cool and then come back acting like a five year old. Obi-Wan and I figured it out months ago.”
“Oh damn. Well we’re still getting pizza.”
Pizza wasn’t actually too bad, Padmé thought to herself. Actually if she was honest it was great. If it wasn’t for the huge dress she was wearing, and the fact Anakin presented her with a tiara and kept referring to her as Princess until she told him to knock it off and he changed it to Queen (she gave up after that), it was just like any other time she’d sat and had a meal with her friend. They threw dough balls at each other’s faces and when she finally caught one he applauded while she stood up and curtseyed. They left arm in laugh, laughter ringing around them. For a second they both forgot this was meant to be a terrible date and just went with it.
“Wow, the dress is even more ridiculous in real life,” Obi-Wan whistled as they entered the bar where Ahsoka was taking part in a dance competition.
“Why thank you. I picked it out,” Anakin smiled, hugging Ahsoka as she ran at him.
“Well we did. I had a free morning,” Ahsoka corrected.
“Ahsoka you do realise you actually have to do your work at some point?” Padmé pointed out.
“Nah, it’s cool. That stuff’s not any fun tbh so like I just don’t do it sometimes.”
“Ahsoka, get on stage before you give Padmé a heart attack,” Mace diffused the situation and caused Obi-Wan to snort into his drink.
“Anakin,” Jinn gestured from a bit over.
“If you gentleman excuse me I need to go and speak to my captain. Please look after my Queen for now.”
“What was that?” Obi-Wan asked, scrutinizing her.
“He gave me a tiara when we went to get pizza and when I told him to stop calling me his princess he upgraded me. Wait, what was that look?”
“What look?”
“That look. You too are practically married already you know which damn look I’m talking about.”
“Look it’s nothing,” Mace started.
“Yeah it’s just that you are still wearing the ring from earlier...”
“...and you’ve keep fiddling with your ring finger as well as your middle finger...”
“...yes and you’re now wearing the dress he picked out and the tiara...”
“... and you’re smiling. A big damn happy smile that we were not expecting.”
Padmé blinked at them, “You too are so married actually stop it. And I don’t know what you’re on about. I’m just playing along so it’s not as bad.”
“Mmm.”
“Oh stop it,” she scowled, hitting them both on their arms.
“Hello my queen I have come to rescue you from these queens,” Anakin said on his return. “Now come along there’s been a slight change of plans.”
With that he swept her along and out of the bar, leaving Obi-Wan and Mace to themselves. “How can they still both be this oblivious?! They’re practically radiating right now!”
“I know, love. I know.”
“So, stakeout,” Anakin said, leading her up to the roof of the building across the street from their last minute assignment.
“I’m sorry it got in the way of your plans.”
“It’s okay. It’s all on credit cards anyway.”
“That’s not going to help with the debt. Sorry, crushing debt.”
“Well it was worth it.” There was an awkward pause until he coughed and continued. “Anyway I’m bet you’re glad to be out of that dress.”
“I dunno. It was a nice dress it just wasn’t a cheap pizza and beer kind of dress. But it was weirdly hot.”
“That was probably all of the layers it had. And the thick skirts.”
“Sometimes you amaze me.”
“That’s because I’m so amazing,” he said cockily until she swatted him on the arm.
“I mean I’m slightly surprised you had a spare change of clothes for me.”
“I was debating going to laser tag at one point and I needed to be prepared for that and if you were playing in the dress it wouldn’t have been much fun.”
“Oh I don’t know. I think I could still have kicked your butt in that dress.”
“Maybe we’ll make that our next bet.”
“Maybe,” she laughed, picking the binoculars out of the stakeout bag.
“Oh, hold on a minute,” Anakin said as his phone began to ring. “Hello, captain, what can we do for you?”
“I’ve just been in contact with the night shift and they can send a relief team over to finish up.”
Anakin looked over at Padmé, her lip caught in between her teeth as she peered through the binoculars. Her loose hair was still framing her face and Anakin oddly missed the sight of the tiara on her head. “Yeah, you can hold up on the relief team. Besides, I’m curious to see how it turns out.” Anakin hung up the phone and turned back to Padmé.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Just Jinn checking in,” he said, the lie coming too easily.
“I hate that sentence so much,” she laughed and, after he went over it again in his head, Anakin started laughing too.
“I didn’t mean to. That’s so bad!”
“It really, really was,” she said between giggles. “Wait,” she said, sobering up again, “I think I see movement over there!” She pointed over to the door that they’d been watching and Anakin moved closer to see that there were moving shapes beside it.
“Let’s go,” he said, voice lowered in volume. He was almost tempted to take her hand as they ran down the stairs but resisted the urge. Now wasn’t the time. He settled for a hand on the small of her back as he helped her round a corner in haste.
When they got to the bottom of the stairs she paused and Anakin paused with her.
“What’s the plan here?” she whispered.
“Do you trust me?” He could see his breath tickling the hairs on the back of her neck.
She turned round to him and even in the dim light of the stairwell she looked like an angel, confident and sure. “Of course.”
“I’m going to need that ring back.”
Her smile was confused but she slipped it off her middle finger (Anakin tried not to think too hard about the fact that she was wearing it) and gave it back to him.
“Let’s go.” Anakin moved in front of her and pushed the door open, acutely aware of Padmé standing right behind him.
They walked out of their stakeout building and turned the corner and walked a few paces in the direction of their target before Anakin started speaking again.
“Well, darling, why don’t we just go and ask them?”
“Really? You’re going to ask strangers for directions? I thought you were too proud for that?” Anakin would have smiled at how easily she slipped into character beside him if it wouldn’t have broken his own character.
“No, I’m not. And stop bringing that up! It’s in the past!”
“Why do I put up with you?”
Anakin gritted his teeth and moved towards their targets. “Excuse me? Hi. Can I get some directions please?” He turned to face Padmé again before continuing with their charade. “See? I can ask for help!”
“Wow, I’m so proud of you! Would you like a medal?”
The robber before them interrupted them. “Yo, I’m kinda busy here, what can I help you with?”
“How much further is it to the Manhattan Bridge?”
“So you’re admitting that we’re lost?”
“Why are you like this?”
“Hey buddy, you’re the one who was so desperate to come out tonight.”
“Well, you know why, Natalie, it’s because I was going to propose to you on that bridge. We met on that bridge and I had a whole speech planned and everything. I even have the ring, see?” Anakin waved it about for due effect.
“We met on the Brooklyn Bridge!”
“No, we didn’t.”
“Yes we did!”
“Well, you know what? Just say goodbye to the ring and everything it represents!” Anakin said, throwing it down the alley. “And you know what else?-” He let the question hang on just a beat too long and Padmé tilted her head slightly in conformation. “NYPD, you’re under arrest,” they said, turning to the robber with their guns out.
“Nice work,” Anakin turned to Padmé and nodded his head.
“You too,” she said, grinning.
“Look,” the robber said, drawing their attention away from each other. “I’m sad y’all arrested me. But I’m glad you too are back together. You make a cute couple.”
Anakin could feel his face heating up slightly and refused to look at Padmé and instead concentrated on handcuffing the criminal.
They waited for the backup to come and get the criminal and tried to think of what to say in that time. They didn’t have to wait long and within five minutes they were on their way.
“So,” Anakin said as they finally walked away.
“So,” Padmé replied, trying to think of what to say.
“Nice acting back there.”
“Thanks, you too! I feel like you should get more of the credit, it was your idea. All I did was go along with it.”
“Well you did it wonderfully.” He turned to look at her and saw the street light reflecting off her face, casting half of it in a golden light. “And the Oscar for Best Actress in a Police Bust goes to...”
She stopped in the street and did a mini curtsey, “Why thank you, thank you. I would like to thank my dear partner, Anakin, without whom I would have been home in my sweatpants and would not have had the opportunity that he got for me.”
“Aw yeah I got an honorary mention in your acceptance speech!”
“Are you trying to tell me that if you won for your direction or screenplay or whatever we’re calling your involvement in what we just did that you wouldn’t thank me?” she laughed.
“Of course not. I’d talk about you all the way through until they kicked me off the stage.”
“Aw, Ani!” Padmé yelled, practically jumping on his back.
“Woah! I thought we agreed no in promptu jumping on Ani incidents again after the last time.”
“Damn. I make you drop one coffee one time and all of a sudden I’m a bad partner and a terrible influence,” Padmé said as she wrapped her arms and legs more securely around Ani.
“I’d love to see you do that again in front of Jinn.”
“I thought you just said I couldn’t jump on you anymore?”
“Am I or am I not currently giving you a piggyback to the car?”
“You are because my superpower is getting you to do anything for me.”
“That’s true.”
They laughed and chatted for a bit but all too soon they got to the car. Anakin turned with his back to the bonnet so Padmé could clamber down easier.
“You’re so weird,” he laughed as she jumped down from the bonnet and threw her arms up like she’d just landed a gymnastics routine at the Olympics.
“You’re the one giving piggyback rides to professional adults.”
“Only for you,” he replied without thinking and she blinked, taken aback by how sudden and honest his answer was.
“Only for me,” she said quietly, stretching up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek.
They stared at each other for a minute, not daring to break the tentative silence that had fallen with the wrong words. Instead Anakin leaned around her and opened the door for her. She smiled quickly and slid inside. Anakin closed the door gently and resisting the urge to scream or cheer or something, he went and got into the driver’s side.
They drove in silence again, each lost in their own thoughts. It was only a fifteen minute drive back to Padmé's apartment but the time seemed to drag by as they went. By the time they were nearing her apartment Anakin was reluctant to let her go.
He slowly came to a stop and they both just sat there.
“I should go now,” she murmured, one hand on the door handle. “Tonight has been interesting,” she admitted, giving him one of her signature smiles. She turned the handle and Anakin couldn’t bear to see her leave like this.
“Wait.”
Immediately her hand fell away from the handle and she turned her body round to face him. “What?”
“I lied. Earlier. Jinn didn’t just call to see how we were doing. He offered us a relief.”
“So why did you turn it down? We could have gone back to the terrible date that you spent months planning.”
“I didn’t spend months pl-” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t want to go back to that date. I was making you uncomfortable and slightly miserable on purpose and you were so happy when you got to take that dress off. And… and I didn’t want to have to stop. We were happy. We were just us. I didn’t want a relief from that.”
“Ani...” she said and there was a quiver to her voice that wasn’t normally there.
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep pretending that it’s okay for you to tease me, and jump on me and help me with cases when I am beyond stuck and not asking for help. I can’t keep pretending that it doesn’t hurt when you got out on dates with people other than me or that I don’t think you’re the most beautiful thing I have seen in my life. I can’t do it. All I wanted to do was win a stupid bet so I could take you on a date. Then tonight all I wanted to do was hold your hand going down the stairs and take you for celebratory milkshakes in a tiny booth where we would make jokes about looking like a couple from the fifties. Padmé, I...”
Slim fingers wrapped around his wrist and pulled his hand so she could fit it with hers. “Let me speak, okay?” Her eyes were damp and he nodded dumbly. “A year ago you said losing this car would be the worse thing for you. I said being one of those girls in your car after a date would be one of the worse things for me. Now I’m here and it’s not. Ani, it’s really not. I don’t want to leave this all awkward and weird and disjointed, not knowing what I can say and what I should and what I shouldn’t. I don’t want to walk out of this car knowing that you promised me one of the worst dates of my life and instead gave me more time to be with my best friend. Ani, I don’t want to leave you and that thought scares me. That’s the worse thing I can imagine. Is how much that thought scares me.”
“You don’t have to be scared anymore,” Anakin whispered and it was impossible to miss how Padmé was leaning in. “I love you too,” he said a breath from her lips.
The thick tension that was filling the car broke like shattered glass. The first kiss was tentative, an experiment; just testing the waters. As soon as they broke apart they dove back in, kissing until they needed to come back up for air.
When they broke apart Padmé leaned her forehead against Anakin’s. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” she promised, a faithful mantra on loop. “I hadn’t said it yet. Not properly.”
“I know. I knew anyway.”
“I still needed to say it.”
“And I love you for it.”
Padmé smiled wide and open and leaned in for another gentle kiss. “Where do we go from here?”
“How about we start with not covering up our feelings with dumb bets?”
She laughed and Anakin could feel it against his face. “Deal.”
“I don’t want to hide it. I never want to pretend you’re anything but my partner, my best friend and the woman I love.”
“I think I can get used to that,” she smiled softly. “I’m going to go in now.”
“Okay,” Ani smiled before pulling her towards him for another deep kiss. “Good night.”
“Goodnight, Ani.” She pressed one last quick kiss to his lips before opening the door and getting out of the car. She smiled at him one last time, bright and shy in equal measures, before she closed the door and took a step back, waving him off as he went.
“I love you,” he hollered as he drove away.
Padmé's laugh was caught up in the air as she replied to the wind left behind, “I love you too.”
With Anakin’s car out of sight she went up to her apartment with a smile on her face that she couldn’t shake off as she got ready for bed. Even as she was falling asleep she got a text message through that made it firmly stick in place.
From Anakin: [Goodnight my angel xx]
The next morning felt much the same as every other morning until Padmé's phone started buzzing. She got dressed and went into work and told herself that it was just like any other day. She got her coffee and started running her email checks and picked up a case file to read over. She looked up at the clock over the elevator and watched the seconds tick, distracting herself from the task at hand with her childish behaviour. She could tell Ahsoka was itching to ask her about the date but she knew Ahsoka would be waiting for Anakin to get in. Obi-Wan wouldn’t directly ask her about it now either. Not that she herself was waiting for Ani to come in except, she thought as she locked at the clock again over the top of her papers, she totally was.
Padmé picked up her coffee and was just about to take a sip when Ani strolled in. He was only a minute late, so that was an improvement. He dropped his own coffee off on his desk but kept walking round to hers and dropped a kiss on her cheek before he stole a file off her desk and walked back round. So that was an improvement as well. Not that she minded about this. This was an improvement she could totally get onboard with.
“They’re being cute! Someone owes me $20!” Ahsoka screamed across the room.
Padmé shook her head and tried to hide her face by staring down at her mug. When she looked up Anakin was looking up at her, smiling shyly. Yeah, she could get used to this. Even if Ahsoka was going to be insufferable for a while.