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Cody is about to comm the General, since he’s never been late without at least letting him know first (or without something being incredibly horrifically wrong), when Kenobi sweeps onto the platform. His hair is mussed, his robes disheveled and thrown on haphazardly. He whips his head around, a wild look in his eyes. His gaze stops on each of the clones. There’s a tension in his shoulders, a growing sense of disbelief in his expression, until he looks at Cody.
“Sir, are you alright?” Cody asks. There's not really a good time for a high ranking officer to have a breakdown, but right before they are supposed to ship out to Utapau with the end of the war practically at their fingertips is decidedly low on that list. Cody is concerned.
Kenobi laughs, slightly hysterical.
Cody asks again. “Sir?”
As if he has forgotten anyone else is in the room, Kenobi walks over to Cody. He looks over his whole figure, cataloguing each piece of armor. He stares at Cody’s scar, at the lines of confusion in his forehead. His eyes bore into Cody’s like Kenobi is testing something. Cody gazes back, waiting.
Both hands trembling, Kenobi cups Cody’s cheeks. Cody’s brain short circuits. He says in a voice that barely wavers— which he is proud of, all things considered— “Obi-Wan?”
Obi-Wan laughs again, a watery sound. He doesn’t answer, just caresses the apple of Cody’s right cheek with his thumb. He hasn’t stopped his staring, eyes pouring over every inch of Cody’s face.
Cody can barely move, let alone speak. Obi-Wan’s hands are warm and calloused, the right more than the left. Makes sense, he thinks. He wields his lightsaber with his right hand.
Finally, Obi-Wan speaks. “I have missed you so, my dear Commander.”
“General. I saw you this morning.”
Obi-Wan shakes his head, looking sadder than Cody has ever seen him look (when he knows someone else is watching him, at least). “No time to explain, my dear. I just needed— well.” He hesitates.
Cody furrows his eyebrows. “What is it? Let me help.”
Obi-Wan shakes his head again, sad and determined all at once. “Not nearly enough time. But I couldn’t go without this again.”
Cody opens his mouth to ask what he means, but Obi-Wan is tilting his face up so tenderly, like he’s carrying something precious. Cody raises his eyebrows, confused. Before he can think of what to say, Obi-Wan leans in and presses their lips together.
He gasps, and Obi-Wan steps closer, tilting his head back a little further to kiss him thoroughly. Desperate for something he can’t name (something he barely has ever let himself feel in the first place), Cody grips the front of Obi-Wan’s robes. Their simple press of lips explodes into a perfectly matched push and pull.
There are things he's supposed to be focusing on. There was a reason they were meeting here, he's pretty sure. But his mind is empty, utterly bereft of thought. All Cody can think is that’s Obi-Wan’s hands on his face, that’s Obi-Wan’s tongue in his mouth, that’s Obi-Wan’s fingers threading through his hair, that’s Obi-Wan’s heartbeat under his hands, and he doesn’t want this moment to end.
He pushes up on his tiptoes just enough to lean closer into Obi-Wan’s space and wrap a hand around the back of his neck, pressing forward with his whole body. Obi-Wan lets out a pleased noise that makes Cody vaguely lightheaded. Both hands tug gently on Cody’s hair, like Obi-Wan wants to close a space that is already closed between them. Wildly, Cody thinks that he tastes faintly like the tea he’s made for him over late nights of paperwork and strategy in his quarters.
Obi-Wan slows down and pulls away just enough to breathe. He gives Cody another short kiss before resting their foreheads together, both of them breathing hard. Cody doesn’t let go of Obi-Wan’s robes, like he’s going to float away if Cody isn’t holding him on the ground.
Before he can gather his words or any measure of clarity, Obi-Wan says in a hushed voice, “I love you.” Cody tightens his grip on the robes. His eyes fly open. Obi-Wan is leveling Cody, such honesty in his eyes he might collapse, right here. “I should have told you a thousand times, but— no matter. I’m saying it now. I love you, Cody.”
Cody blinks and splutters something like “uh” that will embarrass him later, but Obi-Wan just smiles. Tenderly he traces the curve of his cheek with one thumb and says, “We are out of time. I need you to trust me. Take the men up into the ship. Do not head to Utapau. Just… get away from here. Go somewhere we have no ships stationed. Answer no comms, none at all, unless they come from me.” He pauses, considering something. “Or the Jedi Council.” He kisses Cody again, a hard press of lips that seems to be saying good-bye. “I have to go. I love you.” Then he’s releasing Cody gently and rushing back the way he came, stopping just before he disappears from view to look back at Cody. "May the Force be with you." And then he's out of sight.
Cody stands frozen for a half a moment, one hand still in the air like he’s holding Obi-Wan’s ghost by the robes. Someone clears their throat. And he remembers that they’ve had company this whole time.
Shit.
His brothers are staring at him, faces ranging from shocked to awed to downright smug. Needle moves his bucket under his arm too quickly for Cody to believe it's anything but suspicious. Damn helmet cams. Cody screws his eyes shut, centering himself, before he is Marshal Commander Cody again. “You heard the General. Get the men and the supplies ready to go now.” He glances towards the last place he saw Obi-Wan. "Tell them we're going comm silent. No exceptions."
“We heard the General, alright,” someone mutters, but the 212th is nothing if not efficient and loyal, so they do as they are told in record time.
There is work to be done, so Cody does it. If he puts his helmet back on to hide the dumbstruck look he hasn't been able to shake, that's his business.
But he can't hide from… what just happened forever. He can't even hide for that long. In hyperspace, he has nothing to do but think. Bucket under his arm on the bridge, he fights the urge to pace. As the telltale blue streaks whiz past, his mind oscillates wildly between worry over Obi-Wan's demeanor and unexplained warnings and a fuzzy, ridiculous joy because he kissed him and not just that, he said–
He catches himself running his fingers over his lips, playing back the feeling of Obi-Wan's hands in his hair and the scratch of his beard on his face. Something big is happening, something new in the usual current of war. Something that Obi-Wan obviously felt the need to send his battalion off against orders to manage alone. Cody should be making contingency plans.
He's not.
He shakes his head. "Report," he says.
"All hands accounted for. Ship running smoothly."
"Everyone's aware of the communications blackout?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. I'll be in my quarters."
Boil falls in step next to him as he leaves the bridge. Pointedly, Cody puts his helmet back on. Boil does not leave. He doesn't even fall out of step.
"Are we going to talk about it?"
Cody glares at him from under the helmet.
"Are we going to talk about it, sir?"
He rolls his eyes. "There is nothing to talk about. We follow the General's orders, end of discussion."
"You know that's not what I'm asking about."
Cody's stomach flips over, like he's on a shuttle bouncing through turbulence. He gets goosebumps on his neck, remembering the feeling of Obi-Wan's chest underneath his hands.
He clears his throat. "I don't see why that's any of your concern."
"Right, sir." Boil barrels on, anyway. "You just seemed… surprised earlier."
That's putting it mildly , Cody thinks.
Boil glances at him before returning his gaze to the front. "Was it a, uh, good surprise?"
Cody softens. He should have realized what was on Boil's mind. He didn't want to share any of this with anyone but the General, but it's worth fueling gossip if it eases some of his more worried brothers. "Yes," he says simply. "It was a very good surprise."
Boil grins. "I knew it!" For all his bravado, Cody sees the tension in his shoulders disappear. "We all knew it."
Blissfully, they reach Cody's door before Boil can say anything more. "Dismissed," Cody says. Boil grins and salutes, turning on his heel to walk back down the hall. "Boil?" Cody calls after him. Boil looks back. "Thank you." He doesn't say for what, but Boil is a smart guy. He can figure it out.
"Of course, Commander."
They are only going to be in hyperspace for an hour or so. He tries to nap. When that doesn't work, he methodically cleans his blasters. Alone in his quarters, it's impossible not to see the General everywhere– so many of their belongings have migrated into each other's space.
He needs a distraction. There's a stack of paperwork he could –
His comm beeps. "Sir?"
"Yes?"
"We've received word–"
"How did that get through our communications blackout?"
"It's not an official missive, sir, or a message from Coruscant."
Cody pauses. "I'll be right there."
He does not run through the halls, but it's a close thing. Please. Let him be alright. He allows one soft plea before he shoves the worry away.
"Sir," Boil is saying before Cody even makes it through the door. "You have to see this."
A tinny voice repeats the same message over and over. "Chancellor Palpatine assassinated! The Senate is in shambles! Assassin still at large!"
Cody listens to it all the way through three times in disbelief. "Where is this from?"
"It's a Republic news bulletin, playing with the highest priority on all official GAR channels, as well as the usual civilian ones."
"This is the only information they've released?" Cody asks. He can't say he's too broken up over the news, but this is a massive misstep from the Senate. "Are they trying to cause a mass panic? Have we received any updated orders from the Jedi?"
"No, sir. They likely believe we are still on route to Utapau."
The bulletin cuts out mid phrase. There is a quiet buzz in the silence.
The tinny voice returns.
"Chancellor Palpatine assassinated by High General Obi-Wan Kenobi! Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda advises Republic citizens to keep their distance. Kenobi is considered armed and extremely dangerous."
"Shit," Cody says.
"Do you think he actually…" Boil trails off.
Yesterday, Cody would have immediately denied it. After earlier today, he's not so confident.
"Does it matter? He needs us."
Boil nods. "Yes, sir."
"Stay no contact unless it's the General. I'll try to get in contact with him. Boil, monitor the news. Keep me updated."
Cody pulls out his comm in the hallway, immediately calling the General. No response.
He sends a string of private messages, using code to ask for updated orders. After a few minutes of no response, he sends another message, unable to keep his feelings stifled.
Let me help.
Cody paces. He tries to fill out paperwork, just for something to do with his hands. Anything to stop the worry from taking over his nervous system. It doesn't work.
A soft ping turns his head.
It's a short message. Just a string of coordinates and a code phrase confirming Obi-Wan still has his comm.
We're on our way. Stay safe.
Cody doesn't hold back, sprinting to the bridge to inform them of their destination.
Before they go back into hyperspace, he checks his comm again.
Acknowledged. I'll be there.
It should be scarier somehow, knowingly committing treason. Cody only feels steadfast faith that the answers are at those coordinates. His Jedi has never let him down before.