The apartment was still and silent. Traces of dust lingered on the tables and shelves from it's occupants' extended absence, but bags dumped unceremoniously on the floor, half unpacked revealed that their recent arrival.
Obi-Wan and his master had just returned from two-month-long mission in the Outer Rim.
The estimated time frame for these negotiations had been a week, but the long building tension on the planet of Ryloon had exploded—quite literally—on the third day of negotiations. The bombing had been completely unexpected; there had been threats, yes, but no one thought that the extremist group actually had the guts or the resources to pull it off.
It had thrown the planet into violent conflict and panic.
Though Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had tried to end the violence and return to the negotiations, it had taken over a month for the situation to stabilize enough to get the leaders to agree to meet, and even then, the "negotiations" had degenerated into a yelling match, and then a full on fight.
Though the conflict was at a stand still when the temple called them back to Coruscant, Obi-Wan knew that fighting would soon break out again. Their time on Ryloon had brought back many memories of Melida/Daan, which were still painful even though they were now almost 6 years in the past.
Obi-Wan was relieved to finally get back to the temple, his home.
After reporting to the council, Qui-Gon had immediately retreated to his room, on the other side of their apartment, and dropped off into a well-deserved, deep sleep.
Obi-Wan had opted to meditate for a while; though his body and mind were exhausted, he hadn't wanted to fall asleep just yet. He took a quick shower, and then settled into a meditative pose facing north, towards the window in his room.
As he meditated, Siri had quietly let herself in (as Obi-Wan had given her the code to their apartment's door long ago), and waited patiently for Obi-Wan to finish meditating, leaning casually against the doorframe. He had sensed her presence the moment that she entered, but took his time wrapping up his thoughts before rousing himself and greeting her.
"Hi," he said simply as he stood, taking a moment to stretch, releasing the last of the tension in his shoulders and back.
"Hi," she responded with a smile, stepping fully into the room, "It's good to see you again, I missed you."
"If you had time to miss me, then I guess the council hasn't been keeping you busy enough," Obi-Wan said jovially.
"You're telling me? I haven't been off planet in over a month. If my master I don't get an interesting assignment soon, I think that I'll just have to go cause some trouble myself, just to have something to do," she joked, taking a seat on Obi-Wan's bed.
"Seriously though, I was getting restless," she said more seriously, her brows furrowing, "It seemed unfair for me to be here at the temple living in comfort and meditating for hours every day, while I knew that you were risking your life, probably not sleeping at all, possibly injured. I don't get why the council didn't just send in more teams to help you."
"I don't know," Obi-Wan took a seat next to Siri on the bed and shrugged, "The council just hates to admit it when a situation has gone beyond the sphere of politics and negotiation and into a full blown war. We requested aid when the fighting started, but the council was adamant that we were there as diplomats, not as warriors."
"It didn't keep you from fighting though," Siri said with disdain, shaking her head, "Sometimes I wish that the council was less idealistic and more practical."
"It's not our place to make those decisions," Obi-Wan said, interlacing his fingers on his lap, though Siri could tell from his tone that he agreed with her, and she nodded at his statement.
"You aren't injured, are you?" she said, switching the topic of their conversation.
"Nothing a few days rest can't fix," he said; when she continued scanning over his body, obviously looking for some evidence of trauma, he added "Come on Siri, you know that I can take care of myself. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, you managed to get yourself quite torn up last time we sparred."
He nudged her playfully with his shoulder and smiled.
"Hey!" she responded, feigning indignation, "that was just because you force pushed me despite the fact that we had agreed on lightsaber-only combat."
"Are you accusing me of cheating, Padawan Tachi?" Obi-Wan said, in the most serious and hurt voice that he could manage.
"Why yes, Padawan Kenobi," she said haughtily, "I suppose that I am."
The two starred each other down for a moment, before Siri burst out laughing.
"Your face!" she said, still laughing, "How could anyone ever take you seriously when you look like that!"
She tightened her lips into a frown, so that her chin crinkled, and furrowed her brow, trying to raise one eyebrow. Her ridiculous imitation caused Obi-Wan to laugh as well. Siri lay back onto the bed, laughing even harder when Obi-Wan made an even more extreme face.
"What's not to take seriously," he said, leaning over her eyebrows raised, scooting over so that he was propped up on his side next to her on the sleep couch feigning confusion as she laughed hysterically.
Her laughing died down, and the two smiled at each other, then Siri spoke.
"I really did miss you, you know," she said softly "It always feels weird to be on planet without you, like I should feel at home, but I never really do."
"I missed you too," he responded with a sad smile.
As they got older, they saw each other less and less. As padawans, they had practically no control over their schedules, and the time that they had together was too scarce.
"One day," Siri said, "I'll be on the council, and I'll sync our schedules so that we'll always be at the temple together."
"And what if I'm needed in the Outer Rim, and you have to stay here for council duties?" Obi-Wan challenged.
"Well then, I guess that you'll just have to be on the council too," she responded.
"Ah, I see. So then, we would both always be on planet, so that we could always do all of our paper work together, and have matching workloads. We'll probably even die from stress and overworking ourselves at the same time!" said Obi-Wan sarcastically.
Siri stuck her tongue out at Obi-Wan playfully.
"Sorry to play the devil's advocate, but I know that you know I'm right," he said, looking into her eyes.
She sighed and nodded. The two both knew that as Jedi, they would never really be in control of their lives. They were living for something bigger that themselves, and the time that they could have spent together was just one of the sacrifices that they would have to make.
"At least we have now," she said, turning so that she was facing Obi-Wan, and smiling into his chest as he put his arm around her and pulled her close.
It felt so good to just be in Siri's presence and hold her close. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath.
Shifting slightly, she snaked her arm around Obi-Wan's waist, sighing as he began to play absentmindedly with the long strands of her hair.
The two talked for a while longer. Siri told Obi-Wan about her time at the temple and the mission she had been on; though the past month had been quite banal for her, it was soothing to hear her talk, and to know that she had been safe and happy despite the difficulties and discomfort that he had faced.
After she finished, there was a pause as Obi-Wan gathered his thoughts. Siri waited patiently for him to speak, knowing that he probably needed someone to talk to.
After filling her in quite briefly on the general nature of the conflict, he broke off into vignettes; the mother he had seen, too injured to take care of her young child, the young boys carrying blasters who he had had to fight, the gradual destruction and decay of the once pleasantly quaint town where they were staying. Siri listened quietly but attentively, just letting him release his painful memories from the solitude of his mind, and letting his sorrow sift out into the force as he spoke.
Though recounting his tale to Siri was very therapeutic, he was still slightly shaken from his recent mission even after he had finished, and Siri sensed his tension, rubbing his back in soft, small circles as they lay there in a comfortable silence.
Over the years, they had both grown together. They had started our as mere acquaintances when they were initiates, but as padawans, their friendship had grown and grown. At this moment, Obi-Wan felt as though his connection with Siri and the feelings in him that her presence inspired filled up his entire being, and spilled out into the force around him.
Their aura's intertwined, and as they lay together, a peace, and a magical stillness came to the force around them.
The moment went on for what seemed like hours as they basked in each others' presence, utterly content.
After a while, the two began to drift off into a doze, but Siri rose before she fell entirely asleep, yawning.
"I'd better go before my master starts to worry about me," she said rolling her shoulders, which she found were slightly stiff from being in the same position for so long, "and I'd hate to keep you up any longer, you should really catch up on your sleep."
"You didn't keep me up," said Obi-Wan, "I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep at all if I hadn't been able to see you and talk to you."
Siri smiled and Obi-Wan sat up, pulling her into a long hug. A smile crept onto his face as he thanked the force for having someone as amazing as Siri in his life.
She gave one final squeeze before pulling away and heading for the door. Obi-Wan was about to get up to walk her to the door, but she told him to stay and just go to sleep, joking that she would probably not get lost on her way out of the apartment.
"See you at breakfast?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yeah, definitely," she responded adding with a smile, "and don't forget that you owe me a rematch for our last spar."
Siri left in silence, not wanting to break the spell of calm and quiet that had settled over the apartment, and Obi-Wan shrugged off his tunic, settling into the bed with a yawn.
It was good to be home.
Hey everyone!
This is something drastically different from my other current SW story that I've been wanting to write for a while. This is 100% a one-shot, but just to be clear, in this fic, this is as intimate as Obi-Wan and Siri ever get. They are Jedi first and foremost, so they never get sexually involved though they do embrace the depth of the emotional connection that they have. You could see it as a deep friendship, or as an unconsummated romance, but they don't really regret their situation. I don't really ship any SW pairings, and don't believe that Obi-Wan could ever go turn against the Jedi even by an infraction that small.
I hope that the ending wasn't too weak… I wasn't sure quite how to do it. (Constructive criticism, anyone?)
I hope you liked it, please review!