Summary: Bail and Obi-Wan circle around each other after the events of both Zigoola and Lanteeb; missing moments from Karen Miller's Wild Space and Stealth/Siege duology. This is also a kind of companion piece to patientalien's "In the Space Where Your Brain and Your Heart Collide." Title comes from REM's "Shiny Happy People."
Put it in Your Heart Where Tomorrow Shines
1.
Obi-Wan's eyes are glazed, his pupils taking slightly longer than usual to fixate on their focal point. Head lolled slightly, limbs slack, the meds have obviously taken effect. "Better?" Bail asks.
Obi-Wan still manages to look insulted; that's a good sign, Bail decides. Then his mouth parts, a soft whimper slipping out, and his instinct is to comfort. "Bail," Obi-Wan mouths. He forces his head to the side, tugs listlessly at Bail's hands now clasping his own, gives up, closes his eyes. "Bail," he whispers again, a plea, and Bail shushes him and stays close, thumb stroking Obi-Wan's swollen fingers.
2.
Obi-Wan's former Padawan is all brute strength, impetuous emotion; even without a lick of Force sensitivity, Bail can sense his power. Beneath his boots, the boarding ramp vibrates with each deliberate, heavy footfall.
The young man sees the state of Obi-Wan, eyes lingering on his leg, and sucks in a furious breath. "What has happened to him?" he demands, fist curled, ready to punch a wall – or, Bail thinks vaguely, his face – but he has nothing but the utmost gentleness for Obi-Wan, who is cradled in his arms like a child's precious toy before anyone can stop him (not that they would). "If I find out that you have hurt him," Anakin begins, but the harsh tone, or perhaps some essence swirling in the Force that is unrecognizable to Bail, causes Obi-Wan to stir.
"Anakin," he manages, albeit with considerable effort, "Do not blame him."
The boy's malevolent gaze is yet fixed on Bail. "He let this happen. He's just as bad as the Sith who hurt you."
Weakly, Obi-Wan shakes his head. "No," he says vehemently, voice strained. "He saved me. Bail is my friend." He loses consciousness then, and Anakin stares hard for a moment before turning away.
3.
Padme's warm, brown eyes are full of questions – Bail would have to be a fool not to feel her inquisitive gaze boring into his back during the journey home – but to her credit, she withholds judgment in favor of volunteering that she can get him into the Jedi Temple.
Obi-Wan looks dwarfed even in the conservatively-sized bed, hooked up to various contraptions; still, he smiles tiredly at his visitor. "Haven't you had enough of my awful company?" he rasps.
Bail shakes his head. "Actually, I came here to invite you to dinner. It'll be better than a week's worth of mealpacks, I promise," he adds, hands raised in supplication.
"Oh, I'm sure." That he isn't protesting the very idea hints at how harrowing the ordeal really was, but Bail has learned to take what he can get where Obi-Wan Kenobi is concerned. "Did you really just verbally spar with Vokara Che to ask me on a dinner date?"
Unfazed, Bail pulls a chair up to the other man's bedside, and tugs a deck of cards from a spare pocket. He grins. "No," he intones. "I also came to remind you that it's my turn to win a round of sabaac."
4.
Bail remembers listening with horrified attention the details of the battle of Jabiim as they filtered through back-alley sources and trickled into the ears of senators (and then back out again in spurts of lascivious speculation and gossip, as such information is wont to do). The censorship of his investigation by Chancellor Palpatine still rankles, but he pretends that it doesn't.
At the time, he knew of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker only in a peripheral sense; even the knowledge that it had been Obi-Wan to find his uncle's charred remains on Antar Four seemed like some bizarre connection of fates. Likewise, Obi-Wan's entrapment by the assassin Asajj Ventress is not commonly known. When he does learn of it (from Obi-Wan, in passing, tossed off casually as if this war isn't taking everything he has and then some), the guilt over not fighting harder to bring the details to light, to save him, is overwhelming.
Zigoola, then, is his penance. He knows Obi-Wan will not see it that way, senses the other man's humiliation at being laid so bare before him - a mere human, and a senator, besides - but Bail has a duty just as Obi-Wan has his.
5.
Anakin Skywalker darkening his doorstep - well, his office door - is not an everyday occurrence. For a brief instance, Bail wonders after the possibility that Anakin means to hurt him, Jedi Code be damned.
"Something is wrong with Obi-Wan," he says without preamble, once the room is secure. Anakin still looms, but now Bail can see worry etched in his face, his youthful vulnerability. Again, he wonders after their relationship. En route to Zigoola, Obi-Wan was always quick to downplay it, and in Bail's experience, that usually meant the precise opposite to be true. Equally suspect was Obi-Wan's prophetic visions of his former apprentice, to say nothing of this particular moment.
"He had nightmares," Bail answers. "Hallucinations." Anakin's face hardens. "Didn't know where he was a lot, seemed to be reliving the past."
Anakin nods shortly. "And the leg?" he prompts, and Bail wonders how it's possible for the Order to keep this boy in the dark for so long about what were probably standard mission debriefing details. In his un-Jedi-like opinion, Anakin has a right to know what happened to his Master, given their, well, whatever they are to each other. The omission (or, probably in Obi-Wan's case, outright refusal to reveal information) is likewise curious to him. Nonetheless, self-preservation, and his own increased interest in keeping Obi-Wan alive, loosens his tongue.
"There was a 'Sith' crystal," Bail says, his tongue tripping over the new word. "Obi-Wan amplified its power to contact Master Yoda, but in order to do so, he needed something to focus on that wasn't, well, the voices in his head."
"Pain." Anakin's voice is dull, his gaze faraway. Eventually, he looks again at Bail. "Thank you for watching over him," he grounds out, and Bail's concentration is dismal long after Anakin takes his leave.
6.
For anyone else, it would just be a headache, but Bail has gotten to know Obi-Wan well enough to sense that this is something more, a lingering, unwelcome effect of Zigoola. "You okay?" he asks, and Obi-Wan nods a little too quickly. "You don't look fine," he presses, and the other man's gaze is suddenly sharp.
"What did you tell Anakin?"
Bail blinks, surprised. "He was worried about you. You don't talk to him, apparently …"
"There's nothing to talk about."
"There obviously is!"
Obi-Wan's face is carefully schooled, but Bail can sense his panic. He attempts to mollify: "Look, he obviously cares deeply for you. It can't be easy for him to see you suffering."
"I'm not suffering." Obi-Wan crosses his arms. His voice is low when he speaks again: "Anakin is paranoid about my well-being is all."
Bail tries not to roll his eyes outright. "Obi-Wan, honestly, you almost died halfway across the galaxy. I thought he was going to murder me on the spot when he saw your leg. Plus, Zigoola was just on the heels of your involvement in the attack on the administration sector. He's probably scared of losing you whenever you go off on your own, and I …"
"You have done quite enough." He stands very suddenly, and Bail decides that this is what it feels like to be dismissed by the Jedi Council. "I trust that this is the last time we will have this conversation, Senator Organa."
He gapes a little. "Of course, Master Jedi," he says finally. Let him act a fool, he thinks spitefully as Obi-Wan leaves in a brief swirl of robes and quick footsteps, but concern ebbs away his anger. He watches his serving 'droid clean away Obi-Wan's unused dinner dishes, and, brooding, pours himself a brandy.
7.
He sees Obi-Wan before Obi-Wan sees him, robe drawn around him like a protective barrier, his slim form minuscule against the backdrop of the Senate building. When their eyes meet, Obi-Wan appears to brace himself. "Senator," he offers, bowing slightly.
"Obi-Wan," Bail says pointedly. It is a challenge, and Obi-Wan's jaw firms, ready to meet it.
"Bail." His voice is softer, repentant. "I wish to apologize for the other night."
"You do not have to …"
"No. Please. I do." Obi-Wan inhales deeply. "My behavior was appalling. I had no right to speak to you in such a manner, in your home, especially given what you have done for me. I am sorry."
"You are forgiven," Bail says promptly. He risks a brief squeeze to the other man's arm. "But in the spirit of making amends, I'm going to have to insist that you actually try my cooking this time."
8.
"So, Obi-Wan."
"What about him?" Bail asks, but Padme is no fool. Her nimble hands continue to slice vegetables as they speak.
"You seem to have gotten to know him fairly well since Zigoola."
"I thought that was why you introduced us."
"Maybe." Her smile is small, yet genuine. "Master Kenobi is a dear friend."
"And Master Skywalker?"
Padme's hands still. "Master Skywalker is also a very dear friend," she says after a moment. "Does he know I'll be here?" she asks, and Bail follows her guilty gaze towards the clock.
"No."
Padme nods and resumes her work. "Just wondering."
9.
Several Lanteebian natives file down the ramp first, followed by several Clone Troopers, and then a couple of other Jedi (a blue-haired woman he's never met, and the teenaged Togruta whom Bail recognizes as Anakin's Padawan). Anakin and Obi-Wan are last, shoulders brushing as they exit the ship side-by-side.
They look terrible.
Obi-Wan spots him first. His expression is warm, whereas Anakin's is more guarded. "Bail," the older man smiles, and Bail thanks the gods for the umpteenth time that he never became a Jedi.
"Obi-Wan, Anakin. We have to stop meeting like this," he says, and they all chuckle.
10.
Obi-Wan's face relaxes when he is at rest, the slight crease between his brows smooth. Bail watches him for a while, admiring the other man's aristocratic features, the soft-looking scruff along the bottom half of his face. The memory of looking on as Obi-Wan succumbed to this or that delusion lingers; he remembers the fear, not just for his own well-being, but for this strange and incredible man with whom he is now proudly acquainted. His regard has little bearing on Obi-Wan's sleep – he's no match for the Dark Side, he knows – but he stays awake a while longer anyways, watching the rise and fall of Obi-Wan's chest, and hoping against all hope that the Force can bless him this night with pure, dreamless sleep.