Title: A Little More Each Day

Summary: Obi-Wan lets go a little more each day.

Disclaimer: It all belongs to someone other than me, namely, George Lucas.

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A Little More Each Day

It was years later that he first began to notice it. He'd see her in the halls and taking his eyes from her didn't cause physical pain. She'd join him for meals and the pull to reach across the table and touch her wasn't as all-consuming as before. They'd spar together, and when he had her pinned against the mat, he'd let her up sooner, the urge to lower his lips to hers was no longer overpowering.

"Hey, Obi-Wan, wait up!" she called out to him.

Obi-Wan turned around and smiled as she ran to catch up.

"Where are you going?" Siri asked him then, slightly out of breath.

He noticed it then. Months earlier, he would have already reached for her hand.

"To the hanger," he replied. "Master Qui-Gon wants me to procure a shuttle for our next mission."

Siri's face fell a little. "You're leaving?"

There it was again. Her sadness hadn't immediately become his.

"Yes," he answered easily. "We're leaving in the morning."

"Well then, I guess sparring in the morning is out of the question," she decided.

He nodded. "I'm sorry. I don't even know when we'll be back."

They continued to walk together, talking the entire time until they were approaching the hanger.

"Hey, promise you'll say goodbye before you leave," she told him, preparing to head off in another direction.

"Of course," he promised quickly. "See you then."

He walked away from her then, without so much as a backward glance. A tear escaped her eye as she did the same. For she had realized it at the same time he had.

Obi-Wan was learning to let her go. He was learning to let her go a little more each day.