25 Days of Christmas in a Galaxy Far Far Away

Chapter 13

Satine and Padme are both unstoppable politicians, put them together and the results are catastrophic. That, and the coffee really didn't help.

"What are we going to do..." Padme groaned, burying her face in her hands. Satine sat next to her, dressed much more casually than usual. She had a warm mug of coffee in one hand, and in the other a datapad that she was reading over. When Padme spoke, she looked up and raised an eyebrow, not needing to speak to portray her answer of how would I know. "Your a great help," Padme frowned.

"If I wasn't here, you'd have quite a bit more work to do," Satine didn't look up, she took a sip from the coffee and continued to read. "We still have another hour until this has to be finished."

"We should just call Bail to help," Padme jotted down the next sentence, and not satisfied, she deleted it.

"He's just as frustrated as us with this. I don't think he'd be much of a help," Satine mumbled as she leaned over to look at the sentence Padme had rewrote as she began to erase it again. "That looks fine."

"Really?" Padme stared at the datapad. "I don't like the wording."

"We'll never finish at this speed," Satine rolled her eyes. "Keep it how it is."

"Alright, fine." Padme went back to drafting the document and Satine went back her own. "Can you contact Bail, tell him we'll be done in about an hour and need his help decorating...and cooking."

"I doubt he'll be awake," Satine absentmindedly mumbled as she dialed his number into her commlink. To her surprise, he picked up instantly.

" Duchess," he sounded annoyed, and Satine didn't blame him. "I already told Padme I was done helping her with this agreement."

"Well then luckily for you, we don't need your help."

"Then why are you calling," Bail's voice had a hint of suspicion. Satine and Padme contacting him at 11:00 would probably lead to trouble.

"We have 31 boxes full of Christmas decorations that need to be hung up and we need to make enough food to feed over 200," Satine tried to take another sip of coffee, only to find the mug empty. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the bottom of the cup.

"And you expect to do all of this tonight?"

"Yes... We'll have about an hour after all our meeting tomorrow, but for the most part, yes, tonight." 

"You're insane," Bail mumbled.

"Thanks for the friendly reminder. Meet us at Padme's flat in an hour."

"I'll be there." And with that, Bail hung up and Satine walked towards the kitchen.

"It's a miracle that Anakin and Ahsoka cleaned this place up as nicely as they did," Satine commented. She kitchen was spotless, definitely not how it had been only hours earlier.

"They had Obi-Wan to motivate them. You know who he gets when he wants something done," Padme replied halfheartedly, her attention more focused on her work.

"Trust me, I know." Padme let out a laugh at that. If anyone would know, it would be Satine, even if it was rare for Obi-Wan to ever act that way. "Do you want any coffee?"

"That would be nice, and you might want to double the amount for later."

"Will do," Satine replied and as she doubled the amount. "Are you almost done?"

"Just....a second.....Done!" Padme let out a sigh of relief and walked towards Satine, the datapad in her hand. "I'll finish the coffee, you wouldn't mind reading it over."

"No problem," Satine grabbed he datapad and leaned against the kitchen counter. A minute later Padme poured the finished coffee into two mugs and stood next to Satine. "I fixed a few things, but overall it's fine," the Duchess smiled at Padme.

"To decorating then?"

"Why not," Satine held down a yawn, instead taking a long sip of coffee. She moved from her position in the kitchen to follow Padme back to the main room where the boxes were. "Bail better get here soon."

-An Hour Later-

Bail knocked on the front door of Padme's flat. There was no answer right away, which defiantly worried Bail. He was aware of the chaos that was very likely to ensue with Padme and Satine working in the middle of the night.  Bail knocked again. This time there was an immediate answer. Padme stood at the door, her eyes brighter than usual, more awake than they should've been at midnight.

"Bail, I'm glad to see you decided to show up," she was talking faster than usual, even as she stood, she was tapping her foot.

"Padme, how much coffee have you had," Bail question, his concern easily showing.

"13 cups, why?" Padme's smile didn't falter, and neither did the tapping of her foot. Bail wasn't surprised by that, after that much coffee no one would be able to stay still. What scared him was the idea that Satine had had just as much coffee. Not that he had anything against Satine, he did enjoy her company just as much as he enjoyed Padme's, but when she was overworked, stressed, and had too much coffee, she was far from pleasant to be around.

"Great..." Bail groaned and peered over Padme's shoulder. The room was a mess, holiday decorations half hung up and box opened, the contents spilled out on the floor. Satine was nowhere to be seen. "Perhaps I'll help you in the morning. You and Satine, wherever she is, could use some sleep."

"I'm not sure it even is physically possible to sleep, or stop moving for that matter," the familiar voice of Satine called out from another room. She appeared in Bail's sight a minute later holding two mugs of coffee, one of which she handed to Padme.

"No," Bail grabbed the mug and pulled it out of her hands, not caring about the coffee that spilled. "You've had enough." He then gave Satine a piercing glare, not daring to anger by grabbing them mug himself while she was in this state. "Put the coffee down, we'll finish this in the morning."

Satine smirked, and Bail instantly regretted his words. "We'll stop with the coffee, but we need to finish decorating tonight. As I said earlier," Bail then noticed that she too was talking quite a bit faster than normal, her hand shaking slightly as she picked an ornament, somehow not dropping it. "I can't stand still."

Bail knew a lost cause when he saw one, and arguing with both Padme and Satine definitely was one. Stepping forward, he raised his hands in defeat. He had a bad feeling that this would be a long night.

Sorry this is late, I saw Rouge One last night and didn't have time to write. By the way, IT WAS AMAZING!