Love in Disguise

Chapter Seven.

Anakin and I spent the rest of the day together. He had already accepted my offer to have dinner with my family so we had the whole day alone. After we ate the cold lunch I made we went back down to the beach and laid out in the sun, tanning. Anakin kept his hand in mine as we laid out on the beach. I made sure to keep the sand off him.

"You're a pilot right?" I asked as we soaked up the sun. From the corner of my eye I could see Anakin turn his head to face me, I did the same. He looked gorgeous in the sun glasses I lent him. He looked gorgeous all the time.

"Yeah the best star pilot in the galaxy. Why?" Anakin replied, a hint of questioning in his voice. I sighed and rubbed my thumb across his knuckles. He squeezed my hand tighter for a second.

"I was thinking that maybe you could fly us away from here. We could go somewhere nobody would expect. We could be together forever." I explained. With Anakin I could see a future. I could see us being together, getting married, having children, being happy forever. That was something I never thought I'd have.

"You mean run away together?" He said. I saw the frown move across his face. It didn't suit him well.

"It was just a thought. My husband would find us anywhere you can think of. I'm stuck with him, no matter how much I try to escape." I frowned too. I could never avoid the pain Vader caused me for too long. It always caught up to me.

Anakin rolled onto his side, his whole body now facing me. "Who is your husband? Don't you dare tell me he's just a man because a simple man couldn't find you anywhere you went." He pressed.

I rolled on to my side too so we now faced each other. Before I spoke I slowly began tracing shapes on Anakin's chest, it relaxed me. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't recognized me yet. Well for starters my name that I'm known by is actually Padmé Amidala," I could see he knew that name. "My husband is Lord Vader. The emperor of the galaxy. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before I just...I was afraid you'd take me for ransom or something. I hope you're not mad." I finished.

"I knew it." Was his reply. This caught me off guard at first. I titled my head to the side in confusion. He knew all along?

"What do you mean?" I asked. A small smirk formed on his lips as he began playing with a piece of my hair.

"I've never heard of anyone else with the name Padmé except the empress. After we first met I looked you up and sure enough I found out you were her." Anakin chuckled, "I thought it was cute that you lied."

I scoffed and playfully shoved him. "Why didn't you bring up my lie?"

Anakin shrugged. "I guess you could say I liked seeing you keep the lie going. It was amusing. But for serious reasons I thought if I told you I knew you'd shut me out. I liked getting to know the real you."

For a moment he remained silent, taking in the new information. But as I thought it through a smile appeared on my face. "Thanks Ani. I'm glad you kept my secret. But my question is how are you not afraid of what my husband could do to you? I mean according to you the whole time you knew he was my husband and yet you still decided to grow feelings for me. How could you do that?" I questioned.

"I'm not afraid of him," Anakin answered. "I'm more afraid of losing you."

My heart skipped a beat. No one in my entire life had said such powerful words. I moved closer to him, pressing a soft kiss on to his lips. "When I married Vader I lost all hope of ever falling in love. Anakin Skywalker you're my savior, in more ways than you can imagine." I whispered as I held my hand in his still. He sighed and kissed me softly again.

"Padmé Amidala I've loved you all along, it's as though now I'm truly realizing it. I didn't think it was possible to fall in love, I thought it was stupid. But now...even after these few short days I know it's real." Anakin mumbled before he pressed another kiss to my forehead.