"A Game of Hearts" - Ani/Ami Episode II fic (reposted)

Hmm...did I scare everyone else away? I'm working on the next post...

 

I've been sitting in stunned silence. So, if I read this right, Anakin announced his engagement to the Council in the presence of Padme without bothering to ask her first? That nerf-herder!

 

This is tense cinde!

Glad you posted-been checking here for new story since day one.

Wonderful post. Anakin is sort of impulsive it wouldn't be very out of place if he suddenly suggested marriage to padme.

 

No but it would certenly be better had he asked her first don't you think?
Can't wait to see what happens next!

 

Whoa!!!! They agreed????

!!

 

I think a more appropriate response would be: "WHOA! She didn't protest?"

 

Yeah, I guess that post was quite a shocker, wasn't it? I hope this next post help to straighten some things out....
---------
Immediately outside of the Council chamber, Obi-Wan turned to the two silent young people and scanned their faces. Their emotions were easily readable. Anakin was somewhat appalled at what he had done, but relieved that it had not ended in disaster. Padmé was relieved too, that Anakin's words had not caused a catastrophe, but any other reactions to the Council's decision were clouded in confusion. It would take a great deal to repair this damage. And there was so little time.

"Anakin," he told his apprentice, "I need to have a word with you."

"Yes, Master," Anakin muttered automatically.

"But first," Obi-Wan went on firmly, "I believe there are other matters you need to take care of." And he nodded at Padmé.

Anakin glanced at her and looked back at Obi-Wan just as quickly, grateful and terrified all at once. "Thank you, Master," he whispered somewhat frantically, and Obi-Wan nodded and began walking down the hallway. He stopped a good distance away and leaned against the wall, allowing his self-restraint to slide for just a few moments. It was growing increasingly difficult to keep it up.

They walked side by side down the hallway, in the opposite direction from where Obi-Wan waited. Anakin tried to find the right words to say, but he feared that nothing he could say now would make up for what he failed to say before.

Padmé stared at her feet, her expression inscrutable. She fingered the folds of her dress with nervous hands, glancing now and then out of the large windows that lined the walls of the Temple hallways. Anakin looked at her and wondered how he could have done this to her. And what else he possibly could have done.

"I'm sorry," he said at last. "That ? that really must have come as a surprise, I guess."

Padmé looked up finally, and her eyes actually twinkled. "No," she replied, "it was no surprise at all. I know you too well."

Anakin's heart quavered. "Yes," he said softly, "yes, you do." He swallowed. "Padmé, I heard about the war, I learned they were going to send me away ? and I just couldn't bear to leave you without ? without knowing that even if we lost each other, we could still ?"

"Anakin." Padmé halted and looked straight in his face, her lips turned slightly downward. "Why didn't you ask me first?"

"I should have, of course," he mumbled. "I just didn't think of it, until it was too late to ask you, almost too late to get permission from the Council ? and then they would have sent me off without being to say anything to you."

"I see."

"If you don't want to," Anakin said haltingly, hating every word he spoke, "there's no reason for us to go through with it." He blinked back the ridiculous tears that insisted on filling his eyes. "But I just want to know one thing."

Padmé looked at him curiously. "What?"

"Do you want to marry me?"

She hesitated.

Anakin bit his lip. "Don't worry about hurting me. Just tell me."

Now her eyes were wet. "Yes." And she actually smiled.

He almost laughed out loud. "Really? You do?" A sober note entered his tone. "Even after all I've done ?"

Padmé stopped him. "I don't want to bring back old ghosts, Ani. I love you. Let's leave it at that."

"I don't understand how," Anakin said suddenly.

She seemed tired all at once. "Anakin, things are never that simple."

"What do you mean ??"

She interrupted gently. "Listen. I don't understand some things either. How can you expect everything and everyone to be simple and straightforward, when you yourself are so complicated?"

He couldn't find an answer.

"How can you expect anyone to be one-minded," she pressed on, "when your own mind is divided by a thousand voices?"

"Fine." Anakin's face hardened, more out of anger toward himself than toward Padmé. "If that's what you want, I'll stop being so complicated. I'll be completely straight-forward; I'll take the s

 

Awwwwww, bring on the wedding! Is it going to be an elope-style with no time to bring in friends and family?

 

Awwww, things are so good now

 

Yeah, kinda like how my wedding will be: in Las Vegas with an Elvis impersonator, and Ol' Blue Eyes as our witness!! Ahhh the joys of eloping!!


Great shocking posts!!!

 

Lol Maul!

 

I'll make sure that it WILL be like that

It will be less expensive! My brother's getting married soon, and the wedding's gonna cost like about $10,000 bucks or more !! NO WAY!! I'll justpay for the ticket to Sin City, pay Elvis and Frank, the alcoholic beverages (this will be the most expensive) and well, the casinos!

You're all invited! ...well, when I find myself a boyfriend

 

Oh, goody, I love weddings!

 

Sorry for taking so long to respond , but I really like this fic. Great job Cindé and more soon?

 

Just a quickie post today...but I'm working on the wedding post as we speak, and should have it up soon. The end is not long after that, but I'm already getting ideas for the sequel. I just can't stop writing!
---------------
The wedding would be a quiet event, a brief ceremony in one of the Temple's smaller rooms. There was no time for grand preparations, nor did a gala celebration seem appropriate, considering the impending war. Guests were out of the question, as the deepening conflicts made space travel too perilous from any distance. Yet Anakin found, as he readied himself for the event that morning, that in spite of all his doubts and guilt, a deep happiness was welling up within him, a happiness he had not felt in years ? perhaps never known. No matter what this war may take from him, he would still have Padmé. Nothing meant more to him than that.

He made the final adjustments to his uniform and stepped before the small window on the far wall of his chambers. Coruscant's skies seemed so peaceful, so calm. Only the calm before the storm, he reminded himself. And then he wondered what storm he was thinking about. There was the war, of course, and all that would bring. But war could not tear him from Padmé; physically, perhaps, but that would not destroy the bond between them. The war could not shake his happiness. No outside force could shatter his peace. There was only one person capable of that, the one person he feared more than any other. Himself.

Why ruin the perfection of this day? he demanded of himself, shaking his head fiercely. Why think of such things?

Well, he wouldn't, then. Today, things would be right.

He only wished his mother could have been there for the wedding. But perhaps, from somewhere, she was watching.
----
Padmé was glad she had gone through all the trouble of packing more than one set of clothes. She had fortunately included one of her more formal dresses, perhaps an impractical choice at the time, but now very appropriate indeed. She pulled the shimmering gown from her suitcase and admired it for a moment. It wasn't too different than what she had imagined her wedding dress would look like.

Of course, the actual wedding would be far from her girlish dreams of marriage. Certainly, she had never pictured herself getting married on this world, its harsh, angular city a sad contrast to her lush emerald home. She used to dream of grand processions through the streets of Theed, leading to a traditional ceremony in the open air of the verdant plains nearby. There would be streamers and flowers and crowds of giggling, cheering children...

But none of that is very important, she told herself; it was all a bunch of childhood dreams and you've long since grown up. Who you're marrying is much more important.

Yes. She was marrying Anakin. The little slave boy from a dust world. The dreamer trying to be a Jedi. A man full of contradictions, who flew from introspection to impulsiveness in an instant, who proposed marriage almost by accident, right in front of the Jedi Council. That was who she was marrying.

In the hours she had spent alone, in the small chamber of the Temple that had been provided for her temporarily, she had thought and thought over again about her decision. She knew the Council's decision did not bind her; Anakin had their permission, not their order, to marry her. One word from her; that was all it would have taken, and she could have been free.

Free. Free to watch Anakin while his heart was breaking. Free to watch him leave for war, possibly die in battle, having no more connection to him than the fragile bond they had just begun to form. Some freedom. But would marrying him make things any better? It was all so hasty, and she wished for the impossible gift of time to think it over. Instead, knowing the fruitlessness of impossible wishes, she agreed.

She had never loved anyone as she loved Anakin, that she knew. She had never allowed herself to.

 

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

 

Why is the world so sad?

 

That was a beautiful post Cindé!

 

The world is sad

 

Ahh, love. I like how you made the point of the who, not the when/where being the important thing... that even though so much else may be wrong, there's one thing that is right, and that's him. *contented sigh*

I'm in the mood for a picture, how about you?

[image=http://members.tripod.co.uk/lord_mall/Insider55/Padme_and_Anakin2.jpg]

 

Love the picture Alderaan!

 

*Amy looks at beautiful Padme and Anakin picture and starts crying uncontrollably!*

WWWWAHH!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! NOOO!!! THE PAIN! THE PAIN@!!!!!!! Ohh GEORGE!! please change the story!!!! But don't let Anakin fall to the Dark Side!!!! It's just not fair!

*sniff* You think if I pay him 20 bucks he'll change the story??

 

Pay him a 20 and and do the Chicken Dance while barking like a dog! That will be the trick!

LOL!!!

 

Takes a look at the pic and promptly melts into a happy puddle on the floor Ah, young love! If only it weren't for that darn Asthma-man....

Well, I'm working on the wedding scene, and believe me, it's not easy! It has to be perfect, you know. But I've got plenty of mushy-mindedness right now to keep me going - my sweetie gave me the most wonderful presents for my birthday yesterday! Aw, what a cutie! Okay, enough of that. I'm going to work on that scene now and hopefully have it up later today or tomorrow.

 

Aaaaww how sweettt