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Obi-Wan raised his head from his desk, where moments before he had certainly not been sleeping. He had been working on paperwork. Mountains and mountains of paperwork that never looked any smaller, because it was all contained within a single datapad.
Obi-Wan furrowed his brows and brought a hand up to scratch at his beard. Something-or someone-had woken him up. He closed his eyes and reached out with the force, gently seeking out the source of the intense waves of pain and sadness he could feel. Considering how strongly the feelings were coming through when he was asleep, there were only a handful of people on board that he was close enough with to notice so quickly. In fact, it was probably-
Yes. It was Cody. Obi-Wan rose from his chair and strode to the door, stopping only to grab one of his many cloaks. Worry and concern crowded his mind as he sped through the ship to reach his dear commander. Cody wasn’t in the room he shared with a few of the other clone officers, nor was he in the barracks or command center.
Obi-Wan’s destination was the training rooms, which were scheduled to be closed for the night shift. The men would train themselves to death if they weren’t forced to get some sleep. When he reached the doors to the training room, he paused. The emotion pulsing off the other man was staggering, but he refused to put his shields up to block him. Cody clearly needed help.
Shuffling the cloak he held in his arms, Obi-Wan centered himself and opened the door.
Inside the lights were off, the room barely lit up from the stars shining through the windows. If Obi-Wan hadn’t been able to feel his commander, he might have thought the room was empty.
Cody was sitting against one of the padded walls, shoulders heaving with silent sobs. Obi-Wan thought he could see tear tracks on his cheeks, and the hands that were grabbing his head were white-knuckled with strain. He didn’t look like he had seen Obi-Wan enter.
He glided towards the commander, taking in the scene of destruction as he went. Headless sparring droids were thrown about the room, pieces of metal scattered everywhere. Clearly he had tried to work out his feelings, but from what Obi-Wan had seen, it didn’t work.
Soon he was kneeling by his friend’s side. Obi-Wan placed a hand on his heavily muscled shoulder, and only then did Cody snap his head up. His eyes were blurry with tears, and he seemed confused.
“Ge-general,” His voice was shaking more than his hands were. “What are you doing in here? The training room is closed.”
Obi-Wan brought his hand up to cup his commander’s cheek, brushing away the flow of tears. He watched as Cody closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.
“I felt someone who needed me,” He replied. “I couldn’t just leave him.”
Cody opened his eyes and tried to pull away from him.
“What are you doing here then? One of the vode needs you, Obi-Wan,” The general smiled at the sound of his name. It had taken so long for Cody to get to that point with him.
Obi-Wan moved so that he was sitting down beside the aching man, making sure their shoulders rested together. He felt a shudder go through the man at the contact.
Encouraged by the wanting he felt through the force, Obi-Wan pulled an arm around Cody’s shoulders and pulled him closer.
“My dear,” He said softly as Cody pushed his head against Obi-Wan’s neck. “It’s you. I could feel your grief as clear as if you were beside me.”
They were silent for a while, content to just be in the moment together. Obi-Wan gradually relaxed as he felt Cody’s feelings settle down.
“I’m sorry, cyare , I didn’t think to put my shields up,” He spoke against the skin of Obi-Wan’s neck, and he felt rather than heard the broken confession that followed. “It’s all so much, I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“Oh, my dear, I know,” Obi-Wan moved his hand up to Cody’s hair, rubbing his nails along Cody’s scalp. Cody’s left hand moved to Obi-Wan’s right hip, and he pushed his head further into the crook of Obi-Wan’s neck.
With a slight misuse of the force, Obi-Wan managed to get his cloak spread out over top of them, tucking them close together. The rough weave of the dark brown fabric soothed Cody even more and almost fully pushed the negative emotions from his mind. There was still a lingering grief, but grief was their constant companion during this war.
Cody pulled his head back and looked at Obi-Wan with his brown eyes, still holding on to his hip.
“Thank you, mesh’la . I needed to not be alone tonight, but I didn’t know how to-” He choked off with a small sob. “Thank you, vor entye , ner’kar’ta .”
“Cody, Cody, Cody,” Obi-Wan kissed his forehead. “We’re partners. I will always be here for you. You don’t ever need to have your shields up with me. Now, let’s get some sleep.”
He pulled Cody down with him so they were laying on the padded floor, Cody’s head resting above Obi-Wan’s heartbeat. He may have sent a suggestion into his mind, pulling at his exhaustion to ease his journey into sleep, but if Cody noticed he didn’t say anything.
“Sleep well, dear commander.”