|| Uninvited || An Anakin Skywalker Story

Chapter Forty Four

Hello loves!

Here's another one for you :) Always appreciate the feedback...from old readers to new, I'd love to hear from you! 

This one dives into some of Kels and Anakin's relationships outside of each other. I think it's important to show how some of the pieces eventually come together. 

Please reach out if anything feels confusing or rushed, I would be beyond happy to provide more color on how & why they approached each situation.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anakin's POV

Kels was right.

Padme needed an apology from me. She deserved an apology from me.

I had no idea three simple words would open the floodgates of question and confusion. My assumption that Padme was of equal mind when it came to the ending of our relationship was apparently wrong.

I tried to explain that, from my perspective, it had been clear as fucking day that things weren't working between us. The politics and diplomacy that ruled our entire relationship had worn down the bond between us until there was absolutely nothing left to salvage. If you had taken away the talks of strategy or the senatorial brainstorms, we'd be left sitting in silence.

I acknowledge the role I played in the demise of our relationship when I opted to check out. She had thought we were a team, taking on the galaxy together using our combined political prowess and Jedi influence. But I failed to tell Padme that I had removed myself from her game.

And she had failed to even realize.

But I had taken the easy route by blaming the Jedi code. Because clearly, the code will not stop me.

At the time it seemed like the easiest and least pain-inducing way to finally call it on a relationship that had been almost entirely consumed by apathy and pathetic attempts at romantic partnership. There was a part of me that felt Padme must have felt it too. She must have been subconsciously looking for an out too.

Thinking back to that night, when it finally became too unbearable, I practically blurted it out. While she was in the middle of reciting a speech for the tenth time over a holocall. It also happened to be my mother's birthday, and so fresh after her death, I couldn't stand to hear another word about a senate vote or how once again, we had reached a monumental impasse that we shall look back on in the ages to come. So, when I interrupted her by saying this wasn't working and I needed to honor my dedication to the code, I'll admit my delivery wasn't ideal. But the sentiment was honest.

And Padme, who increasingly refused to let her carefully crafted senatorial veneer drop, simply nodded her head, smiled and agreed. It was too easy. So, I had assumed we were on the same page.

And we did seem to be on the same page. That is until she realized what was going on between Kels and I. She seemed to echo Obi-Wan's claim that the connection Kels and I share is impossible to ignore. It became abundantly clear that I was disregarding the code for Kels, and I was no longer abiding by the same rules that doomed my relationship with Padme. Understandably Padme was left to deduce that the problem was never the code, it was her.

But it wasn't just her. It was us.

Hearing Padme express her hurt and confusion had me revisiting the end of our partnership, and the guilt settled into a heavy pit in my stomach. All faults aside, I respect Padme and I never hoped to hurt her this deeply. And if finally being honest would help provide closure, I could give her that.