Author’s Note: For this part, it does not matter which option you have chosen. Whether it works for both, is your opinion. It makes no direct reference to either. The uncomfortable part featuring Anakin has finished.
When they were alone, Obi-Wan knelt before her and handed her a cloth. She cleaned between her thighs and gave it back to him. He called her robe to her with the Force and she thanked him as she put it back on, changing her position on the bed, avoiding the damp patch as she sat down upon the mattress.
“How do you feel?” he asked her gently.
“I’m not sure,” she answered honestly. “I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet.”
“There’s a shower here, if you wish to clean up,” Obi-Wan informed her. “Or I’ll take you to your apartment if you prefer.”
“I would, thank you,” she accepted, grateful she didn’t need to think about driving through Coruscant’s airways just now.
He rose up from his kneeling position on the floor and held out a hand. She took it and followed him out of the room, through the corridor, back outside.
The noise of Coruscant seemed quite a contrast to the silence that had existed during the ritual, save for the sounds usually produced by such exertion.
Her transport was waiting for her. Obi-Wan helped her climb into it and then got in himself. He waited for her to get comfortable, then drove her home.
When she entered her apartment, Padmé felt herself relax for the first time since she had left it. She turned to face Obi-Wan, who stood behind her.
“Are we okay?” she asked him.
“Of course,” he assured her, closing the distance between them, his arms coming to rest loosely around her waist.
“Will you stay?” she asked him.
He nodded. “I have nowhere else to be,” he replied. “Anakin does not need or expect me back today.”
“Will you join me in the shower?” she asked him.
“If you wish,” he returned.
“I do,” she admitted.
He followed her to the refresher, where they quickly shed their clothes. She turned the shower on and stepped inside, feeling him follow behind her.
Moving herself under the falling water, she let the shower wash the stain of that ritual off her. She turned to find Obi-Wan standing before her, wet from the dual shower heads, holding her soap and cleaner. The offer was clear in his gesture, so she nodded.
He put some liquid soap on the cleaner and stepped forward so he could wash her with it. She stood still, letting him run the implement over her body. His motions were soothing and caressing, exactly what she needed.
He left her mound till last, dropping to his knees, waiting for her to open her thighs. She sat down on the ledge behind her and parted her legs. He knelt between them as he gently washed the most intimate part of her.
His eyes never left hers.
By the time he was finished, she wanted him. Silently she reached between them and grabbed his wrist. When he read the look in her eyes, his own asked a question of her, if she was sure after what she had just gone through.
She nodded.
He dropped the cleaner and pressed his mouth to her folds. Padmé leaned against the tiled wall as he licked and nipped at her cilt and her core, letting the pleasure take hold of her. Inside, her thoughts and feelings came to find the peaceful balance she had been lacking during the ritual. The moment that she had agnosised over for so long had passed. She was free of it. Obi-Wan was free of it.
They still had each other.
Obi-Wan worshipped her until she orgasmed. He gently drew her back down from her high, then sat back on his haunches, his gaze on her.
Padmé’s eyes drifted to a part of him, left roused and weeping by his attentions to her. She opened her legs further and met his gaze with intent, nodding when he silently asked her if she was sure.
He gathered her up in his arms, entering her with one swift thrust. He paused, letting her body adjust, waiting for her to tell him when she was ready for him to move. At her nod, he began, the pace slow and tender at first, his eyes watching hers, judging by the reactions of her body and her eyes when to pick up the pace. His angle was perfect, he knew her so well by now to hit that place inside her which caused her the most pleasure every time.
Padmé leaned against the wall, trusting the weight of herself in his strong arms, savouring the pleasure of his thrust and length. Her second orgasm grew gradually, the power of it taking her even higher than the one caused by his mouth and tongue. She felt him pulse inside her and she welcomed his seed into her body.
When they were both aware of their surroundings once more, he returned her to the ledge and washed her again, before washing himself.
He helped her from the shower and towelled her dry before drying himself. Wrapping a robe around her, he took the spare for himself then followed her to the bedroom.
She sat on a soft armchair and towel dried her hair, before arranging it so the wet curls were off her neck. He took a seat in the other one nearby, waiting for her to determine what they did next.
When she did, her question surprised him. “What do we do about our relationship?”
“I have to seek the blessing of a Council member,” he replied. “We shall need to use discretion because of our positions. Other than that, it is up to you just as much as it to me. I know how I feel about you. I love you and I would like us to last.”
“So would I,” she affirmed. “I love you and I have no desire to give you up. If we can continue to have a relationship, I would like to.”
“Then it’s settled,” he smiled at her. “I hate to ask, but how are you feeling?”
“I am well, I promise, Obi-Wan,” she answered. “I came to peace with it during our shower. My only concern is how Anakin shall react to us.”
“As he is soon to pass his trials, I have no reason to tell him,” he said. “It would not be right to hide it from him, but he has no right to judge my private life, as much as I have none to judge him. He will soon be a knight independent from me. There will be little reason for our paths to cross, especially if I chose another padawan.”
She nodded, pondering the matter herself. During the ritual he had barely acknowledged her, despite asking for her participation, claiming to care about her. She had expected more from him. It made any guilt, any responsibility or obligation which she had previously felt, fade away.
“I will not insist on you telling him,” she said. “Nor will I ask that you conceal it either. Before today I had not seen him in ten years. He has not sought me out and nor do I expect him to, after his behaviour during the ritual. He is no longer the boy, or the friend I once knew. I wish him well but that is all.”
“I must admit to being disappointed in his behaviour towards you during this ritual,” he agreed. “It is not a requirement of the trial to be courteous, yet still,” he paused, his meaning clear. “Unless he asks, I shall not volunteer.”
She nodded, letting silence fall between them.
Again he waited for her to speak.
“What shall we do with the time we have left today?” she asked him.
“Whatever you wish,” he replied. “I have no need to return to the Temple until tomorrow morning.”
She sat in thought for a time, then decided.
The End.
© Danielle Harwood-Atkinson 2021. All rights reserved.