Chapter Text
Anakin’s eyes were hard and cold as he was expelled out of the order he had sacrificed the last decade of his life to. A shudder ran down Obi-Wan’s spine even though he had refused to stand with the other council-members in the moment of expulsion instead choosing to stand to the side with the other Jedis who had decided to join them – it was a considerable amount even with so many of them at the front line: well you couldn’t see the chosen one getting expelled every day. Obi-Wan had argued relentlessly against the council’s decision but after Anakin’s relationship with Padme was brought into the open there was no saving him.
The moment Anakin’s turned to storm out of the room Obi-Wan ran after him. “Anakin, wait.”
He did not wait but at least slowed down to a pace that made it possible for Obi-Wan to close the gap between them. Without turning around he said: “I’m sorry Master.”
“What are you sorry about?”
“I disappointed you.” Anakin answered in a pressed voice.
“Anakin.” Obi-Wan managed to grab on to Anakin’s sleeve and force him into turning around. “I’m not disappointed.”
His former Padawan’s eyes were suspiciously wet and he refused into Obi-Wan’s eyes. “You’re not? But I betrayed the Jedi code! After everything you told me I became attached and to make it even worse I lied to you.”
“Anakin, I knew.” He grabbed unto Anakin’s shoulders. “Ahsoka knew, Rex knew, I’m pretty sure the entire 501st legion knew. You weren’t exactly subtle.”
Anakin blinked. “You knew? And you still…” Didn’t give up on me, remained unspoken.
“You’re my brother.” Obi-Wan answered. “There is nothing in this universe that could make me stop loving you.”
Anakin swallowed hard and pulled Obi-Wan into a deep hug. “I love you too.”
After they let go off each other Obi-Wan awkwardly rubbed at the back of his head. “So where are you going to go now? You and Padme I mean.”
“Well, they fired Padme as a Senator so there is nothing holding us here. Padme’s family has a house next to a lake on Naboo we’ll probably be staying there for now. And later…” Anakin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find snips. Whatever we do know this…” He put a hand on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. “…you’ll always be welcome with us.”
“Master, you have to come to Naboo!”
Obi-Wan had nearly gotten a heart-attack at the distress call he received from Anakin until…
“…Padme is about to give birth.”
Obi-Wan was the second person to ever hold Leia Skywalker in his arms. Luckily the first person – Anakin – had nearly let her fall in his excitement so Obi-Wan only could make a good expression with the baby. Padme probably would have preferred to hold Leia second but she was a little busy with pushing little Luke out.
“Uncle Obi, uncle Obi.” Both Leia and Luke were trying to climb Obi-Wan like a tree. He laughed and lifted Luke up into his arms to throw him into the air making him giggle.
“Me too, me too!” Leia shouted.
After Obi-Wan gave both of them sufficient attention to calm them down Anakin stepped closer to give him a hug. At the same time Padme leaned in to give Obi-Wan a kiss on the cheek over Anakin’ shoulder and asked: “How are you, Obi-Wan? You look tired. Is the war going well?”
Obi-Wan sighed. “It’s going… as well as it can.”
“The kids missed you.” Anakin told him. “You should come by more often.”
“I’m already coming as often as I can.” Obi-Wan answered. “The council…” He broke off.
“Let me guess? They aren’t happy.” Anakin scoffed.
“No.” Obi-Wan admitted.
“How did you get them off your back?” Padme asked teasingly.
“Cody is covering up where I am right now.”
“Good old Cody won’t let us down.” Anakin smiled. “How long can you stay, Obi-Wan?”
“Only this night I fear.” Obi-Wan answered.
Padme sighed and put her hand on his arm. “Well then let’s make the most of this. Would you like some wine?”
“And then Obi-Wan stumbled over his own feet and broke his ankle.” Anakin’s recounted.
“ANAKIN!” Obi-Wan used the force to throw a napkin at him. “You promised to never tell that to anyone.”
“Sorry but you know in marriage you share everything.” Anakin leaned into Padme’s shoulder with a smile still as in love as when he they first kissed. “…even secrets.”
Obi-Wan swallowed against the lump in his throat – it wasn’t the first time he wished he had what his friend had: A confident he could trust with anything. Since Anakin had been gone and with Ahsoka away as well… well there weren’t many left to have his back. But he didn’t want to worry his friends so he forced himself into a smile. “How could I forget?”
Padme leaned over from the sofa she and Anakin were sitting on and put her hand on Obi-Wan’s. “Don’t worry your secret is safe with me.”
Obi-Wan felt his cheeks heating up and mentally blamed the wine. He didn’t know when he last drank so much. He didn’t remember when the last time was when people touched him so casually. Well that was a lie the last time for both was when he had last visited Anakin and Padme.
“It’s not like Obi-Wan has no embarrassing stories about me.” Anakin laughed. “He knew me all throughout by teenager years after all.”
“Oh yes.” Obi-Wan smiled. “Shall we talk about your awkward teen phase?”
“Oh dear, anything but that.” Anakin groaned. “I was such a dork, I still can’t believe Padme didn’t run screaming at some of the pick-up lines I tried.”
“Oh don’t worry darling, they were… cute.” Padme tried but couldn’t quite hide her smirk. Obi-Wan raised his wine glass to hide his own.
Anakin still saw it and grumbled: “Stop laughing at me you two!”
“Sure dear.” Padme patted his back patronizingly.
Obi-Wan just continued smirking. Anakin jumped up from his seat towards his old master. He landed half on top of Padme’s lap with his arms around Obi-Wan’s shoulder pulling the Jedi towards himself.
“Anakin, STOP!” Obi-Wan laughed and tried pushing him off ending up with both of them on the ground. Padme just rolled her eyes at their antics.
They rolled several times on the soft carpet until coming to a stop at a heavy wooden wardrobe. Anakin had managed to fight himself on top of Obi-Wan grinning down at him. “I win.”
Obi-Wan just rolled his eyes and relaxed. “You win what, dear?”
Anakin blinked down at him twice seemingly thinking about it. Then his expression softened. “This.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against Obi-Wan’s.
Obi-Wan first only opened his mouth in surprise. As Anakin’s tongue became more insistent in seeking entrance he felt himself kissing back.
That was until he realized what he was doing and pushed Anakin off. Jumping to his feet, he stumbled backwards into a wall, his right hand on his lips that were still tingling. What had he done? Oh no, what had he just done? Obi-Wan starred at Padme in horror, expecting anger – disgust – something out of her. What he saw was… worry? Amusement?
“I told you he wouldn’t take it well, Anni.”
Anakin groaned and slowly picked himself off the ground. “It was the perfect opportunity I couldn’t miss it, Angel.”
“It wouldn’t hurt you to occasionally use your words, dear.”
Obi-Wan’s eyes moved from Padme to Anakin and back until he finally spoke to her. “You… knew he would kiss me.”
Padme leaned her head down onto her hand. “I knew he wanted to.”
Obi-Wan licked his lips. “And you don’t mind.”
“Oh definitely not. Actually I would like to kiss you too.”
Anakin smirked. “And I would like to watch that.”
Padme hit him over the head with her hand. “Save it for after our talk with Obi.”
“I can’t.” Obi-Wan was shaking his head not looking at either of them. “I can’t, it’s not…”
“…allowed?” Anakin ended his sentence.
“I’m sorry.” The carpet suddenly looked far more interesting than before.
“You once told Satine in front of me that you would have left the Jedi order if she asked.” Anakin was suddenly sounding much closer but Obi-Wan didn’t dare to look up.
“The war is threatening more and more systems.” Obi-Wan said. “Naboo has already been under attack several times. The Jedi need to stand united now more than ever or you all might…” He finally looked up directly into Anakin’s pleading eyes. “Luke and Leia haven’t even turned two yet.”
“Maybe the Jedi should have thought about that before expelling me!” There was never-ending bitterness in Anakin’s voice.
“Obi-Wan.” Padme had stood up from the sofa. “It’s not your job to safe the universe on your own.”
“I’m sorry.” Obi-Wan repeated. “But I think I should go to bed.” And he fled.
CT-5555 also known as Fives was running down the streets of Coruscant. He couldn’t believe the chancellor was also in on this! Maybe he even put those Jedi-killing inhibitor chips into him and his brothers? He needed to warn… someone? But who? Telling his brothers would be best but what if they were declared as traitors too and got hunted down? A Jedi might be the better option they stood higher in the hierarchy. But how was he going to reach them?
He turned a corner and immediately jumped back as he saw two of his brothers walk towards him guns in hand. Fives pressed himself against the wall, closing his eyes and praying they wouldn’t see him.
There was a clanking noise a bit further off.
“Did you hear that?” One of the other clones asked and the two ran off towards the noise.
Fives let out a sigh of relief, turned and suddenly someone was standing in front of him. Fives jumped and stumbled backwards with a shout. Quickly an arm wrapped around his waist to stop him from falling and a hand pressed on his mouth to keep him quiet.
“Come with me if you want to live.” Anakin Skywalker’s voice spoke in his ear.
“We have information that Grievous is hiding in Utapau.” Obi-Wan told the flickering picture of Anakin; unfortunately the connection was pretty bad over such a great distance. “With Dooku dead this might mean the end of the war.”
“That sounds great,” Anakin smiled but it looked a bit forced. “The chancellor’s rescue seemed quite dramatic with landing half a ship in the middle of Coruscant.”
Obi-Wan chuckled. “Kark, was I happy I wasn’t on that ship.”
“Me too.” Anakin answered.
His former master raised an eyebrow. “I would have thought that kind of dramatic landing would have been right up your alley.”
“I mean I’m happy you weren’t there without me.” Anakin seemed unusually serious.
“Oh,” Obi-Wan felt himself blush. They hadn’t talked about the kiss since it happened and he did his best to not to think about it. Sometimes when he laid alone in his bed he couldn’t quite forget how it felt – feel his skin burn at the memory of Anakin and Padme’s touch.
Anakin clearly put effort into brightening up. “Naboo is on the way to Utapau, you should come by to fuel up and stay the night.”
“The council won’t like it…”
“The council can go screw itself!” Anakin dismissed him. “Is Cody there with you? CODY? HEY CODY?”
The clone had only been staying a few steps away from Obi-Wan on the bridge and therefore was more than easily able to hear Anakin’s shout. The amusement was obvious in his face as he stepped over to Obi-Wan and nodded at Anakin. “General Skywalker.”
“Cody,” Anakin smiled at him. “Long time no see, Luke and Leia are missing you.”
The clone seemed positively surprised as always when he heard that his presence was appreciated for more than the war effort. “I would love to see the little rascals again as well, General.”
“Then convince Obi-Wan to come over on your way to Utapau.” Anakin answered. “Ahsoka and Rex are here right now too because they fleet ship got damaged. You could meet them again.”
Obi-Wan could see the longing in Cody’s face; it had been too long that they met up with Rex and the 501st. The Jedi master sighed. “Fine, we’ll make a stop on Naboo. But only for a night - long enough to load up on fuel and supplies.”
Anakin’s smile was brighter than the stars surrounding Obi-Wan’s ship.
“Uncle Cody!” Leia was already hanging on the clone’s right arm like a limpet even though they had just stepped onto the landing platform.
“Obi!” Luke came flying from who knows where and Obi-Wan only just managed to catch him.
“I see the cuddle attack went as planned.” Ahsoka was leaning on the hangar door watching with a smile.
“Ahsoka.” Obi-Wan opened his arms in greeting and she ran towards him to pull him into a big hug.
“It has been too long!” Ahsoka smiled up at him with teary eyes. “I missed you.”
Rex came out of the hangar door and nodded to Cody. “I see I have already been replaced for the little ones.”
“NO!” Leia disagreed. “I love you just as much as Cody!”
Rex smiled and pulled her off Cody to put her on his own shoulders. “Do you?”
“Mhm!” Leia smiled down at him from where she was sitting. “And I LOVE the view.”
“We should go inside.” Ahsoka told Obi-Wan. “It’s getting fresh and Skyguy and Padme are waiting.”
Obi-Wan nodded and started walking Luke still hanging onto his arms. “Ahsoka weren’t you and Rex on the way to Mandalore to deal with Darth Maul?”
“We were.” Ahsoka answered. “But there was some critical damage on our main ship nobody seemed to have noticed beforehand, we needed to stop.”
Obi-Wan frowned. “How curious. Could it be sabotage?”
Ahsoka shrugged. “We haven’t found any proof so far but it could be.”
“Where are the others anyway?” Cody asked Rex as the two of them followed the Jedis. “Kix, Vaughn, Jesse…?”
“Ship’s on lockdown until we find the potential traitor.” Rex answered. “What about your people?”
“We need to hurry to Utapau as fast as we can.” Obi-Wan answered over his shoulder. “I fear there isn’t a lot of time for shore leave.”
Cody hit his hand with his fist. “But if we win this war with the capture of Grievous we can have as much shore leave as we want.”
Ahsoka laughed. “That sounds great.”
“Master Yoda,” Anakin’s blue-tinted picture was flickering in the council chambers. “I have found proof of chancellor Palpatine being a Sith lord.”
“Are you sleeping enough Obi-Wan?” Padme asked at the dinner table. “You seem exhausted.”
Obi-Wan had indeed been feeling very tired for days by now but he tried his best to hide it behind a smile. “The war takes its toll on all of us.”
Padme’s smile became a bit more forced. “I can imagine.”
“Actually,” Ahsoka yawned. “I feel quite tired too.”
Cody joined her in the yawn. “They say it’s infectious.”
“Well Cody,” Anakin smiled at him. “Any funny stories about Obi-Wan stumbling over his own feet while I wasn’t there to see it?”
“Not if you ignore the time our medic was running after him with a syringe in hand because Obi-Wan wouldn’t follow his orders of bed rest.”
Obi-Wan grumbled over the laughter of the entire table. “He was being unreasonable.”
“Has the negotiator’s silver tongue failed you?” Ahsoka teased.
Anakin turned to her. “What about you, Snips, meet new people?”
Ahsoka shrugged. “Met some people downtown, broke out of a prison… the usual.”
Anakin patted her back. “Best way to make friends.”
The chirp of two coms suddenly cut through the air. Both Cody and Rex frowned down at their belts.
And then Obi-Wan felt it: The pain echoing through the force. “Argh!” His hands went to his head the pain blurred his sight and nearly bringing him to his knees. Ahsoka next to him actually fell out of her chair holding her head. Luke and Leia started crying in their highchairs.
Through the terror filling him Obi-Wan heard a voice saying: “Execute order 66!”
Obi-Wan forced himself into looking up at Rex and Cody who were now standing stock-still next to the table, looking at the picture of a robed figure. “Yes milord.”
Both pulled their blasters.
“What are you doing?” Obi-Wan stood as well, hand on his lightsaber but the room was starting to spin around him. He couldn’t afford this distraction right now.
Rex’ hand was trembling as he slowly aimed his blaster on Ahsoka. “Good soldiers follow orders.”
“REX!” Ahsoka’s lightsaber ignited but she was also quite unsteady on her feet.
“I’m sorry.” Obi-Wan saw Anakin stand up out of the corner of his eyes. In his hands wasn’t his trustworthy lightsaber but… a blaster. “I was hoping you’d all be asleep by now.”
Rex was staring at him still holding his blaster in quivering hands and desperation in his eyes. He didn’t move as the stun blast hit him directly in the chest. Cody on the other hand dove behind the table in an effort to avoid the blast aimed at him but he hadn’t considered Padme who was now standing over him with her own blaster. Cody didn’t manage to dodge her blast.
“What?” Obi-Wan had to sit down again the room was spinning too much.
“Rex?” Ahsoka was only keeping herself up by holding on to the table. “But why would he attack us?”
“They had chips implanted into them.” Anakin’s voice sounded far too distant. “They force them into attacking any Jedi if you give the right order.”
“Our troupes!” Ahsoka realized. “They are still on the ship they will try to kill us.”
“Oh don’t worry.” Padme said sounding as if they were talking over the weather. “We flooded the ships with sleeping gas. Nobody is leaving until we remove the chips of every soldier.”
“You knew this would happen.” Obi-Wan realized slowly, his thoughts were starting to slow down to a crawl. “Why didn’t you stop it?”
“I called the Jedi council.” Anakin answered. “I told them chancellor Palpatine was the Sith lord they were searching for. They had every opportunity to stop this. It seems like they failed. Again.” He let out a bitter laugh. “But don’t worry I’ll stop this nonsense now.” He stepped over the unconscious body of Rex to bend down and give the still crying Leia a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll make it all Ok again.”
Leia sniffed and looked down on the unconscious bodies of the clones. “Rex?”
“Is just sleeping sweetheart.” Anakin answered. He leaned over to give Padme a kiss as well and pulled a black cloak from where he had thrown it over the sofa.
Ahsoka was lying on the ground by now her nails digging into her palms in a hope to keep herself awake. “You gave us sleeping drugs.”
“I nearly lost you too many times, Snips.” Anakin answered as he pulled on the cloak. “I will not put any of my family at risk anymore.”
Obi-Wan would have fallen out of his seat if Padme hadn’t caught him in the last second. “Where are you going?”
“I told you, master, I will put an end to this.” As Anakin looked up his blue eyes had turned yellow. “I will kill Chancellor Palpatine!”