Secrets and Suspicion (Book 1)

Questions

It was early morning in the crowded city of Coruscaunt, the sun brightly shining through the window. Anakin and Padmé lie in their bed at their home.

"Ani," Padmé poked her husband, who was in a deep sleep. "Wake up, Ani. It's morning."

Anakin grunted. "Another five minutes?"

Padmé laughed. "Okay. I'll make breakfast." She knew that the wonderful smell of breakfast food would rouse her husband from his deep sleep. She was also in a fairly good mood that morning, considering they both slept soundly the night before, and without any interruptions.

Twenty minutes later, breakfast was ready, and five minutes before that, Anakin had come out from the bedroom and into the kitchen, as Padmé had predicted. Clearly Anakin was in a good mood, too. When he had come out of the bedroom, he came up from behind Padmé and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek. They sat down at the table with their food. As soon as they sat, Anakin started to eat, much quicker than usual.

"Anakin, slow down!" Padmé laughed.

"Sorry," he said with his mouth full of food.

"It's fine," she said, laughing to herself.

Anakin swallowed some food and took a gulp of his muja juice. "So," he started. "My week break is coming up. What do you want to do while I'm home? Hey, we should go on vacation. That would be fun."

"You said that last time you had a break. Anyway, I'd rather stay home." Padmé started on some more of her food.

As Anakin went to take another bite of his food, his comlink beeped. He decided to shove the food in his mouth anyway, and he sat there, ignoring the sound. Padmé looked at him. He stopped chewing and looked at her, too. "Answer it, Ani," she said. He continued chewing and answered his call.

"Master?"

It was Ahsoka.

"Hey, Snips. What's going on?" he said with his mouth half-full.

"Master, where are you? And why do you sound like you have cotton in your mouth?"

He swallowed. "I'm eating."

"Okay... where are you?"

Anakin stood up from the table quickly and some of the silverware clattered to the floor. He didn't think she would ask that question.

"What was that?" Ahsoka asked, now sounding concerned.

"I'm at home, Ahsoka, everything's fine!"

"Well, I need to ask you something."

"Not now, Ahsoka. Don't you think you've asked enough questions for now?"

"But I thought you said --"

"Never mind what I said. I'll see you later at the Temple."

Anakin turned off his comlink and paced the living room.

"Anakin," Padmé scolded, giving him a disapproving look.

"Well, I had to do something to stop her from asking me more questions! No one can find out about us."

"Yes, I know. But Ahsoka might have really needed you for something. You don't have to worry about me. Worry about her. She's your Padawan learner. And if you keep running late and doing things like you just did, the Council and everyone else would have a higher chance of finding out."

"Padmé," Anakin said, just before his comlink lit up again. he answered it. "Yeah, Snips?"

"Master, all I wanted to ask you was if I could give the next briefing on our upcoming mission."

Anakin was surprised, thinking she would have a ton of questions about why he had been late the day before. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt too.

"Sure, Snips. That'll be fine."

And with that, he dismissed the call and sat down to enjoy the rest of his breakfast with his wife.