Chapter Text
Crickets sang noisily, almost obscuring the whirring of the tall yellow excavator in the field. A group of men in black suits surrounded it, all eyes on the humongous hole in the ground.
One of the men is very young, his dark brow is slightly creased with worry. But it quickly shoots up along with the other one when a thump is heard. Some of the men rush to retrieve a giant crate from the middle of the hole, while the young man hangs back, watching them with great interest.
The five small crates within the massive one read Frozen Shrimp but when they’re opened, it’s proven to be far from the truth.
There are thousands of them. Gray-green Franklins are stacked and bound, one on top of the other, and the young man has to blink rapidly to avoid getting dizzy, the amount causing him sensory overload.
He tears his eyes away from the crate, helping load it into a vehicle. The others got put in other cars as well and when they were done loading up, they drive down the left side of the road. However, the young man notices his companions staying behind until one of them signals for him to get in.
“Come on, Cody,” the man in black gruffs.
With one last glance, Cody gets into the car and the driver speeds them off in the opposite direction.
Crunch, crunch… CRUNCH!
Padmé grimaced as her husband devoured his breakfast sandwich, crumbs flying everywhere.
Rush, her husband, seemed too entertained with his phone, chuckling occasionally, and completely ignoring the woman in front of him. She sighed, taking a sip of the apple juice she nursed in her hand.
Suddenly, “Have you set the date yet?” Rush asks her, picking up his own cup of apple juice
“Pardon?” the brunette inquires, quietly
He glares at her, rolling his eyes as if giving her context was a burden to him. “For the couple’s vacation with Sabé and Anakin.”
“I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
Her husband slams the cup onto the table and Padmé visibly flinches, putting her hands out in front of her like a shield, which she puts down instantly upon seeing the fake smile paired with the threatening look in Rush’s eyes.
“Remember, honey ,” he practically spits out the term of endearment, his sickly-sweet voice doing nothing to mask the poorly veiled threat, “I need this for my company to even get started. My life depends on this. How about you try being more competent, hm?”
Padmé cast her eyes to the ground, nodding submissively to get him off her case.
“I have a lot of houses to clean today, so I won’t make it for dinner,” she says in almost a whisper
Rush gets up, grabbing his coat that he slung on his chair’s back, disregarding her.
She continues knowing he can hear her, “I’m going to eat out, you should too.”
He snatches his keys off their hook wordlessly, slamming the door behind him.
Water surrounds her, it’s invading her lungs, but she doesn’t resist, not even as she sinks to the bottom of wherever she is. She thinks that maybe it isn’t a bad idea if she succumbs to the darkness…
Padmé sighs, snapping herself out of the dark thought, running her fingers through her curly brown hair in desperation. A single tear runs down her cheek before she wipes it away, shaking her head to regain her posture.
The woman begins to clean up her husband’s mess, doing her best to hurry so she could get to her first client’s house on time. She was a grumpy old lady who always claimed that Padmé stole her trinkets, which was false, but the woman wouldn’t waste her breath saying so. Besides, she put up with worse almost every day.
Tossing the washcloth she was using to dry the dishes, Padmé reaches for her waiting car keys on the table. She had many places to be today, and she had no intention of keeping anyone waiting.
“You little thief. You think you’re so slick, huh?” Yaddle, the cranky old lady, declared, sitting on her bed as Padmé mopped her bedroom.
When she received no response from her, the old lady continued to scold her, “Every time you leave, a piece of my jewelry leaves with you, you little pick-pocket.”
The woman shook her head in disbelief, continuing to stay silent.
Out of nowhere, the old lady started choking and coughing, before phlegm shot out of her mouth and onto her shirt. That caught Padmé’s attention and she gaped at the old lady.
“What are you, a fish? Come clean me up, you criminal.” Yaddle tsked.
Careful to not ruin her freshly mopped spot, Padmé tiptoed over to the cranky woman, drying her shirt with a random rag she found.
Yaddle stared her down, focusing on her eyes. “Your eyes, they tell me you’re either someone who caused a lot of trouble in the past or that you will soon,” she told her cryptically.
Padmé set the rag on the old lady’s nightstand, getting up slowly, “Sorry to disappoint you, ma’am, but I’m not bold enough to do much damage.”
The elderly woman huffed, “I know you steal, don’t lie.”
Finally finishing mopping, the brunette grabbed the bucket and turned to leave, “Goodbye, ma’am!”
“Come back here and empty your pockets first, little magic hands!” Yaddle yelled after her and the young woman couldn’t help but huff.
While dumping out the dirty mop water, her phone rings with an alarm going off. She’s late for her next house. She practically speeds there, getting inside with the keys the owner gave her.
Padmé is nearly done with the final task when the owner comes in.
“You and your work never fail to amaze me.” the woman says, snapping a few pictures of her with the camera hanging around her neck.
The brunette just stares at the camera, and the homeowner laughs. “You’re mysterious, Padmé. Your facial expressions and your body language don’t give anything away!” she sets down her camera, taking a seat on her couch.
She continues, “Sometimes, I just wanna get inside your head. Not to sound weird or anything.”
Padmé turned around wordlessly, attempting to finish her dusting. The homeowner cleared her throat, and she stopped, her shoulders dropping. “I’m going overseas to shoot some pictures for a celebrity… Can you still come and clean while I’m gone?”
“Of course, ma’am.” the brunette replies, resuming her work.
The homeowner laughs again, “Oh, Padmé, you’re such a peach!”
She sometimes still feels a prickle of guilt when she goes to meet him, but she needs this.
Padmé knocks on a hotel room door, exhaling harshly.
A handsome young man in a bathrobe opens the door, a grin on his face, “Padmé…”
He doesn’t waste time pulling her inside, practically slamming the door as he presses her against it, grabbing her face in his hands and crashing his lips onto hers.
She stops him, putting a hand on his chest with a gasp, “Anakin, I just-”
Anakin hushes her, “It’s okay, Padmé.”
With one of his hands caressing her hair, she finally snaps out of whatever shame trance she was in and relaxes in his hold. He lunges at her again, his lips hungrily slotting against hers, and her hands find their way into his hair as he leads her over to the bed.
Water surrounds her, it’s invading her lungs, but she doesn’t resist, not even as she sinks to the bottom of wherever she is. She thinks that maybe it isn’t a bad idea if she succumbs to the darkness…
Coming back to reality, Padmé stares at the tiny, busy street below her from the hotel room’s balcony. She worries her kiss-swollen lip between her teeth, a mirage of emotions swirling in her chest. They rage more when Anakin snakes his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind.
“Anakin,” she starts, leaning into his chest.
He hums to indicate he’s listening, and Padmé goes on. “Why do you like me? I mean, I’m married, uneducated… and I don’t have anything.”
Anakin chuckles, kissing her temple, “What, do you like me because I’m married, handsome, and rich?”
Padmé tenses up in his arms again and he sighs, running a hand through her wild, brown ringlets. “I like you because you’re special… because you have me.” He says softly before untangling himself from her, going over to the small desk to retrieve something.
“Here,” he says, holding out a box, “You’re so special, I decided to get you something.” Anakin gives her a cheeky grin as she opens it, revealing a pretty, silver necklace with pearls and diamonds strung about.
She sneered, closing the box and tucking it into her pocket. “If seducing your best friend’s husband makes you special, then yeah, I agree with you.”
Anakin smirks, leaning in to kiss her, but his ringing phone made him pull away. He glanced at the call screen and rolled his eyes. “It’s work, I gotta go.” He planted a kiss on her forehead and grabbed his briefcase, before rushing out of the hotel room.
Once outside, Anakin answered the phone. “Rush Clovis.”
“Hello, Mr. Skywalker! I have some papers I’ve been phoning your office about. I want you to look at them as soon as possible. How about during the couple's vacation?”
Anakin scoffed, Rush Clovis was a sycophant. If he was told to eat dirt, he’d do it, that’s how desperate he was for even a smidge of power. And the rich man loved to mess with those types for his enjoyment. “What couple’s vacation?”
A nervous laugh came from the other end, “One our wives have been planning and talking about. I’m sure Sabé will bring it up so-”
“Mr. Clovis, if does happen, I’d hate for some boring papers to dampen the mood for me. I don’t mix business with pleasure.” Anakin smirks when he hears his stammering. Gotcha.
“Yes, of course, Mr. Skywalker. Sorry for inconv-” Rush cut himself, hearing the line go dead. His blood began to boil.
He bites back a scream, scraping away ice buildup from a crate aggressively. Watching the small white pieces fly around him, he suddenly got a devious idea.
“Make sure to set up an interview with these two young ladies. Here are their files. No later than next Wednesday, Rabé.” Sabé Skywalker informed her secretary, doing some late night work.
Rabé nodded, “Right away, Mrs. Skywalker. By the way, your husband just entered the building. Shall I let him in?”
Sabé perked up, a strange expression overtaking her features. “Please do.”
“Of course, Mrs. Skywalker. Excuse me.” the secretary left, and was hastily replaced with Sabé’s husband. The woman raised a brow at that.
“Hi, sweetie!” Anakin crooned, stationing himself beside her office chair, slinging his arm on top of it. “You’re working so hard, and I’m sure Salomé misses you as much as I do. What time are you coming home?”
Sabé evades his question, posing one of her own instead, “Were you at the Solar Hotel today? One of my business partners told me she saw you there today.”
Anakin straightens up, walking over to her wine cabinet, grabbing a bottle, and serving himself, the stretching silence giving him time to think up an excuse to tell his wife. “Remember my friend Rex? The one that’s here visiting his brother for his thirtieth birthday? I went to grab some coffee with him, didn’t I tell you?”
His wife smirked at him but said nothing.
“Anyways,” he continues, “I got a call from Rush Clovis about some couple’s vacation? Is he making things up again so he can get me to invest in his business or did you say something to Padmé?”
Sabé makes a face, signaling for a glass of wine, “Oh, yeah, I did tell her we should go to the villa sometime. I actually forgot about that.”
Anakin handed the glass to her and she hastily takes a sip, “You’re allowed to forget things, sweetie, you work so hard after all. Set the date to whenever you want, you deserve this getaway. And don’t worry about my work, I’m completely at your disposal,” he says sweetly, placing a tender kiss on her forehead.
“Say good night to Salomé for me,” says Sabé as Anakin exits the room. When he’s finally out of sight, he wipes his lips on his sleeve.
Padmé entered her home a little past ten o’clock, hoping Rush was fast asleep. He startled her, however, as he sat in their dark living room, staring at his model ship in a spine-chilling way.
“You broke my ship, didn’t you?” he growled lowly.
Glancing down at it, she noticed the mast was snapped almost completely in half, it was barely holding on. Just like her.
“I didn’t,” she said simply, hanging her car key on the hook and setting her jacket down on the couch.
Her husband sighed in anger, “You can be honest with me, honey, I won’t get angry with you.”
She highly doubted that, she knew how he could get, especially with that ship of his. “I haven’t even cleaned the living room today, I’ve been out all day.”
He scoffed, carefully setting the ship on the table, “Last chance, Padmé.” he said darkly.
“Rush, I really didn’t-”
Rush gets up abruptly, turning on their stereo. Music blared through the room as fury painted his face red and he began to yell, “Stop lying! Just admit you did it while cleaning! Or did you do this on purpose, you bitch!?”
Panic filled her very being, but Padmé remained expressionless. “Answer me!” her husband yelled, nearing her.
She couldn’t school her features anymore, and her bottom lip started trembling when he gripped her shoulder with a blood-stopping strength. The woman sucked in a breath, and his hold tightened.
“Did you call Sabé today?” Rush snarled, spit landing on her face.
Padmé froze like a deer in the headlights. That’s what this was about. How could she forget that?
“I did.” she lied easily, despite her pounding heart. He must’ve heard it because he pressed for more.
“Oh, yeah? When are we going on vacation then?”
The woman stayed silent.
Rush smirked maliciously, before getting frighteningly serious. “So, you’re not only a bitch who breaks things, you’re a bitch who lies too,” he said calmly.
Padmé’s heart was hammering against her ribcage now. “I’m sorry.”
Her husband cackles demonically. “You’re sorry?” He slaps her once before repeating himself, “You’re fucking sorry?”
Her cheek stung, but she knew the consequences would get worse if she said something else. She felt herself get picked up by her hair, and didn’t resist or fight back when she was dragged into their bathroom. But she did try to escape when he dunked her head into their bathtub that was overflowing with ice water.
Rush pulled her head out of the water, “Don’t fight it, you know you deserve this punishment.” He pulled her up by her arm again and pushed her into the ice bath.
“Rush, please, I’m sorry!” she begged, already beginning to tremble.
He turns on the shower, using its head to spray her with more cold water, “I’ve already forgiven you for far too much. Not taking care of the house, losing our child, becoming infertile… All you do is cause me pain and suffering!” Tears were brimming his eyes, “You make me miserable!”
“Rush,” Padmé managed to croak out before he abandoned the showerhead in favor of dunking her head underwater again. She can still hear the music playing from the living room. He chose a classical piece, it sounded like Mozart to her. Their neighbors probably thought they were enjoying a nice night while listening to music, but they were far from wrong.
Deciding she had been punished enough, Rush finally dragged her out of the shower and into their bedroom. She was dripping water all over the place, and she knew he wouldn’t clean it. She would have to. Padmé thought the punishment was done, but he shoved her out into their balcony.
“You have two choices, either you sleep out here, or if you can’t handle it, you can jump off.” Rush told her calmly.
The song changed into a happier tune that was definitely Mozart. Padmé tried her best to calm herself down and diffuse the situation. “What? You’re kidding. Rush, I’ve learned my lesson now, this is a bit f-”
Her husband interrupted her, “No, Padmé, I don’t think you have.” he rushed back inside, closing the door with haste, and she pounded on it helplessly.
“This isn’t funny anymore, Rush!” she called out in vain, knowing he wouldn’t hear her over the music and even if he could, he wouldn’t pay her any attention.
The music stops abruptly and Padme watches him bring her phone into the room, catching a glimpse of the caller screen. Sabé was calling her. That made her start pounding the door again but to no avail.
From the other side of the door, Rush is telling Sabé how excited his wife is for the trip and how she’ll be even more excited since it’s this weekend, even as he ignores her screams.
Padmé finally gives up, crumpling unto the floor, noticing how cold it was outside tonight. Shivers begin to rack her body, and she mentally berates herself for taking off her shoes as soon as she got home.
When Rush hangs up the phone, he locks eyes with her. For a moment she thinks he’ll let her in, tell her that he thinks she’s learned her lesson, and at least let her sleep inside, even if it’s on the hard floor. But he doesn’t, instead, he turns sneers at her, turning off all the lights and crawling into bed.
The woman sighs, looking around the balcony for something to keep her warm, and she retrieves a small blanket from the dirty laundry basket she was now thankful she had forgotten. It helped very little, but her shivering went down significantly, enough for Padmé to drift off to sleep.
Water surrounds her, it’s invading her lungs, but she doesn’t resist, not even as she sinks to the bottom of wherever she is. She thinks that maybe it isn’t a bad idea if she succumbs to the darkness…
“Geez, what’s his deal?” a student whispers to their friend.
The digital café isn’t as full tonight, and maybe it had something to do with the snoring manager who had his feet propped up and stretched out across two computers, while he slept, his game continued to play in the background.
An agitated teenager eyed him with disgust, before sighing loudly and poking at the sleeping man’s face, “Mr. Kenobi?”
A loud snore left his manager’s mouth, but there was no indication he was going to wake up. He sighed again, opting to shake him, “Mr. Kenobi, wake up!”
Gasping, the auburn-haired man sat up, “What happened to my tank? Did he blow it up?” he turned to the computer checking his game frantically.
The boy face-palmed, “Sir, we need to restock. I’m writing the orders down now, what and how many beverages and snacks are you going to order?”
Kenobi turned around slowly, glaring at the boy, “Why are you asking me? Don’t you work here? Figure it out yourself, Waxer.”
Waxer looked at him in surprise, “Sir, you’re the manager here, I just work here part-time.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, congratulations, I’m promoting you to manager. Go handle it yourself.” The man turned back around, much to the boy’s annoyance, and he continued to play his game.
Just then, the front door slammed open, and in walked a group of high school boys, the one leading them looking pissed. “Which one of you is General High-Ground?” he called out, all the clients stopping what they were doing.
The high schooler groaned, “What? Are you scared now that you have to fight me in real life? Show yourself!”
Clients looked around at each other, annoyed with the ruckus and wanting to get back to their games.
Finally, Kenobi raised his hand slowly, before waving with a shit-eating grin on his face, “I’m General High-Ground. You must be Lothcat Cutie, and I must say, you are pretty cute.”
Red fury engulfed the schoolboy’s face, “Let’s take this outside.”
“Fine, but this better be quick. I have more games to play.” the manager said with boredom, ushering the boys outside.
Not even ten minutes later, the boys and Kenobi were all back inside with minimal injuries and loudly playing video games together.
Waxer was at the door, begging people not to go, but they all gave him the same complaint, there was too much noise to play in peace. The boy sighed in annoyance. He agreed with them, his manager had gone too far. Waxer knew snitching sucked, but he was done with Kenobi. He reached for his phone, calling the owner of the café so he could finally watch his “manager” get his.
It seemed the boss was in the area since he was there within seconds. “Where’s Kenobi?” he asked, and Waxer pointed him out immediately.
The man nodded wordlessly, glancing at the man barking out playing methods to the schoolboys. He walked over to the electrical box and turned the power off, plunging the whole café into darkness.
The remaining clients along with the school boys protested, but the angriest of them all was Kenobi who stood up and yelled out, “Hey! Which one of you fucking psychos did that?”
“Obi-Wan Kenobi. Outside. Now.”
Kenobi stared out the window of his boss’s car, watching some of the gang members protectively surrounding the car.
The gang leader sighed in pure disappointment. “Why is it that every time I put you in charge of literally any one of my businesses, you end up ruining them in some way, shape, or form?”
When the other man didn’t answer him, he kept going, “It’s as if instead of buying you from the police, I’m renting you! I’m letting you live in one of my buildings, I basically give you an allowance because you don’t work… Could you at least pretend to like you did when you were a detective?” the gangster turned to Kenobi again and found him playing with his fingers. “Were you even listening?” his boss asked him with exasperation.
“Oh, sorry. Which pocket did you put your wallet in today?” the auburn-haired man asked, seemingly more interested in that.
“Not again, Kenobi! I gave you money al-” the gangster couldn’t even finish his sentence as the other man had already grabbed his wallet out of his suit jacket’s pocket.
Kenobi grinned at him, taking half of the bills stashed inside and making a move to get out of the car, but brought himself to a stop, looking over his shoulder. “If you have a problem, just report that an ex-cop took your money!” he then fled from the vehicle, leaving the gangster to scream in frustration.
The auburn-haired man laughed at the sound, deciding to head home after a taxing night.
A sigh left his mouth as he flopped down onto the couch he used as a bed, glancing up at the skylight above him. The moon was full tonight, round and glowing. As basic as it was, knowing that any night he looked up at the sky it would be there gave him solace. He readjusted himself, closing his eyes and going to sleep surprisingly quick.
It didn’t last long though, the sound of someone unlocking his door shook him out of his sleep, he remained with his eyes closed, however, hoping to catch the person by surprise.
They tip-toed inside and tried to walk past the couch, but Kenobi had other ideas. His eyes flew open, grabbing the other man’s hand and bringing him crashing into the couch. Then for extra measure, he rested his ankle over his neck.
A laugh escaped the auburn-haired man, “I win!”
The young man under his leg smiles, shaking his head, “Yes, Obi-Wan. Yes you do,” he wheezes, and signals the limb restricting him with his chin. “You can let go now.”
Kenobi grins at him, moving his leg and sitting up on the couch beside him. “Nice try, Cody, but I saw your car parked outside. You should hide it next time.”
Cody rolled his eyes, fixing his suit jacket before sitting up as well. He paused, looking at his brother’s face. “Did you get into a fight? Why is there dried blood on your face?”
“A fight? Me?” Kenobi scoffed, waving him off. “Please, I’m not some immature child.”
His brother gave him a look, changing the mood into something more serious. The auburn-haired man raised a brow, “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Here,” Cody said, taking something out of his suit jacket and putting it in his hand. “They gave me a bonus at work. Move out of this storage house, and get a real home and a real job. Please.”
Kenobi looked at him and the envelope in confusion, “What job could I even get?”
“You have qualifications, you could work at a security firm or as a private bodyguard. There’s a lot an ex-cop can do. Just do something.” he pleaded.
The auburn-haired man scoffed, smacking him with the enveloped playfully, getting up to find something. “What company would hire an ex-cop who got fired for taking a bribe?”
Cody sighed, “Obi-Wan, don’t say that. It’s not your fault you got framed.” His brother said nothing, beginning to rummage through the disaster that was living on his desk. The young man continued, “Are you even angry? Are you even investigating?” a grunt is all he got and it took every fiber in his body not to yell at him. “Hold tight, Obi-Wan, I’ll investigate this. I’ll find the son of a bitch.”
He huffed, “Enough with that already. If you want to keep bringing that up don’t show up at all.” Kenobi finally found what he was looking for, bringing it out and changing the subject, “I have something for you too.”
A watch hung from his hand, swinging as he neared the receiver. “I bought it with the money my boss gave- paid me with. It was cheap, so don’t worry about it. Think of it as a belated birthday present!”
When his brother didn’t make a move to grab the watch, Kenobi walked over and put it in his hand, “Just take it. And get rid of that tacky watch you always wear. It’s really old and it’s falling apart.”
Cody glanced down at the watch on his wrist, it’s band worn out. He then looked over to the brand new watch with disdain, pushing it back into the other man’s hand. “Keep it. My watch is perfectly fine and it’s on time. Unlike you, who’s stuck in the past. I’m leaving.”
“Cody. C- Cody, wait!” The young man turned around, walking away and ignoring his brother’s calls.
Click.
The door shut and Kenobi sighed, his face falling. He caught a glimpse of a framed picture of him and Cody, and he’s never felt so overwhelmed with regret.
The car ride to the Skywalker’s villa was quiet. Padmé stared down at her hands, which were neatly folded on her lap, to avoid Rush’s constant glancing at her. If she made eye contact with him, who knows what arbitrary thing he’d do with her next.
Her husband cleared his throat, trying to catch her attention. “Was it very cold that night?”
Just at the mention of that night, Padmé felt her whole body be racked with shivers. The next morning she had woken up with a sore throat and body, and she had avoided Rush that whole time, until now, as if her life depended on it. She’d make him meals and leave them in Tupperware for him to eat alone, busying herself with chores or her job to keep her distance. But now he had her cornered.
“That was wrong of me to do,” he said, surprising her, but she didn’t show it. That would be letting him win. “I’m sorry.” Rush reached for her shoulder, trying to make his point. Padmé flinched, though, moving out of his reach. He sighed in frustration, staring at the road ahead of him.
Padmé thought he was finally done trying to paint over his disaster, but he turned to her again. “Are sure that Anakin is going to be there too?”
She nodded in agitation, praying it didn’t show on her face. It didn’t, Rush grinned. “That’s great. We both need to work on our relationship, Padmé. If I manage to close this deal, my company will be set and everything between us will get better. You just have to trust me.”
The woman looked out the window, remaining silent. Rush took it as an opening to place his hand on both of hers, “I love you.” she cast a single glance at him, before turning to the side again.