Rating: K+ (mentions of violence)

This is what happens when my muse goes crazy at unholy hours of the morning. Apologies for typos, possible out of character behavior even though I try (WHY EP. 1 ANI AND OBI ARE YOU SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT), trite plots, etc. - I literally just churned this out within an hour of getting the idea lol. I blame my stressed, sleep deprived brain.

At any rate, enjoy.

Obi-Wan sighed heavily as the screams intensified. He and Anakin had been on a simple field trip of going to the senate to view politics in action after a lesson about it, but, naturally, his Padawan had changed the trip's focus entirely.

Obi-Wan had to admit he had never been a fan of interacting with politicians, but the boy seemed to do better with physical demonstrations rather than just lectures (he was still learning to read, so higher level books were out of the question at the moment). The best way to do this was to teach Anakin about the fundamental branches of government and what they did, and then take him to see those branches doing their daily work. It was cut and dry.

Until Anakin had noticed a careworn, exhausted mother whose baby wouldn't stop crying. He'd gone to her, of course, and had spoken with her, and had immediately rushed back to Obi-Wan to explain that she had nowhere to go and had no way to feed her baby and the homeless shelter where she stayed was overcrowded and they had to do something because they're Jedi and—

Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose. They had arrived in the Senate District three hours ago and, given the amount of time they'd wasted, probably should have taken a taxi home by now since the senate session was no doubt finished. Instead, Anakin had promised he would help this mother find a home. The boy's intentions were admirable, but they couldn't go about rescuing everyone they encountered – it was physically impossible to save everyone. Help one downtrodden citizen today and there would be two more tomorrow, and four the day after that. The boy had to learn.

The mother was currently discussing housing options with some retailer Anakin had found and convinced to help (though how he'd done so was still suspiciously vague), and she had left the baby in some sort of infant carrier. As soon as she'd plopped the little youngling in there, however, he had started to cry.

And was still crying ten minutes later.

Obi-Wan didn't know what to do. He was no caretaker of infants. He could barely handle caring for Anakin most days; the boy had only been his Padawan for half a year.

"Master Obi-Wan, you should be trying to calm him down," Anakin said almost accusingly as he returned from getting food for both of them.

"His mother fed him and burped him before leaving. He should have little reason to cry," Obi-Wan noted. "As such, I'm letting him tire himself out."

Mentally, he added, Mainly because I'm not entirely sure what else to do with him.

Anakin scrunched his face in that way the boy often did to denote irritation or exasperation. This looked more along the lines of exasperation – the lack of narrowed eyes indicated it. The boy was so easy to read it was frightening sometimes; Obi-Wan had to ensure he learned to control his emotions better than this.

"He probably has a dirty diaper," Anakin surmised.

Obi-Wan immediately raised an eyebrow. "Unfortunately he will have to live with sitting in a soiled diaper as there are no supplies."

"Don't worry, I can make one," Anakin said, smiling helpfully as if Obi-Wan had actually been concerned about finding a diaper. "I just need your handkerchief, the really big one."

Somehow, Obi-Wan's eyebrow rose even more. "You are not using my handkerchief as a diaper, Padawan."

"Well we can't let him stay like this," Anakin remarked, crossing his arms and trying to look authoritative. He looked fairly ridiculous instead, with his face and chest all puffed to make himself look tall and broad.

"Surely we can find something else," Obi-Wan suggested firmly.

Anakin huffed. "Fine."

The boy then proceeded to remove his tunic and grab Obi-Wan's lightsaber, to which Obi-Wan asked in alarm, "What are you doing?"

Activating his saber, Anakin sliced a fairly large chunk of cloth off his tunic. "Making a diaper."

"Anakin—"

"I have other tunics!"

"That's not the point—"

"There, see? All done. Now we just have to clean him and switch them out."

Obi-Wan groaned.

"So can you give me your handkerchief now, Master Obi-Wan?"

The Jedi Knight looked at his Padawan suspiciously. "You just made a diaper. Why do you need my handkerchief?"

"Well we have to clean him somehow," Anakin said knowingly as if it were obvious.

"Padawan, we are not using my handkerchief for that."

Anakin sighed dramatically. "You're not helping at all!"

Standing, Obi-Wan said, "I will find some wipes. Don't do anything foolish while I'm gone."

"I don't do foolish stuff," Anakin huffed.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and counted to ten before reciting the Code repeatedly as he searched for the item in question. It didn't take long, and after a brief trip to the nearest store he returned to find Anakin waiting with the baby, who was still crying. Anakin had already opened up the first diaper and was awaiting his master's return, and Obi-Wan felt his stomach turn at the stench let alone the sight. He was tempted to toss the wipes to his Padawan so he wouldn't have to get too close.

Before he could do anything, however, the wipes trembled in his hands for a moment and then flew to Anakin, who caught them with an enormous grin.

"Anakin, you shouldn't use the Force for such trivial things," Obi-Wan chided automatically, but his fast heartrate betrayed his uneasiness. The boy was learning so quickly; younglings who had spent years in the Temple struggled to handle the Force with the ease with which he wielded it.

"Why not?" Anakin asked sincerely.

Obi-Wan found himself at a loss for words, hearing because you just shouldn't echo in his mind. Eventually he spoke, but by then Anakin had diverted his attention to cleaning the baby. "Because it's an unnecessary show of power and shows disrespect for the Force itself. It isn't something to be used for parlor tricks."

"It wasn't a parlor trick," Anakin argued as he switched the diapers. "It just made things faster."

"Unnecessarily."

Anakin sighed, pausing in his work, and then he turned to face Obi-Wan, dirty diaper in hand. He held it out to him. "Here, Master."

Obi-Wan fought the urge to curl his lip in distaste. Instead he stared at Anakin. "I'm fairly certain there's a trash receptacle nearby, Padawan."

"I have to stay with the baby to finish changing the diaper, and I can't use the Force to throw it away. It's unnecessary."

Obi-Wan felt his brow raise in surprise at the rebuttal, and he felt his cheeks flush in mild annoyance. He took a deep breath. "I will handle the baby."

Anakin shrugged and wandered away as Obi-Wan approached the infant, who seemed somewhat happier to be out of his messy situation. However, as soon as he laid eyes on Obi-Wan, his face wrinkled, his eyes welled up, and his skin reddened as he gave out another shriek. Obi-Wan sighed heavily, fumbling with the makeshift diaper and wondering what he had done to deserve this.

Qui-Gon would know how to handle the boy, a voice whispered, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It would have been better if I had died in his stead.

Obi-Wan stood, frozen, lost in another world and filled with regret and shame until Anakin snapped him out of it. "Master, I thought you were going to put the new one on?"

Obi-Wan blinked and centered himself, chiding himself for his lapse in focus. "I'm not entirely sure what the technique would be with your one-of-a-kind diaper."

Anakin looked as if he wasn't sure if Obi-Wan was being serious or not, and eventually he approached him sincerely. Obi-Wan didn't have the heart to remain irritated with the boy, so he earnestly listened as Anakin instructed him in proper diaper construction (since it would obviously be an important life skill that he would utilize on numerous occasions). Once they were finished, Obi-Wan was dismayed to find the baby still crying.

"What in the blazes could be bothering him now?" he muttered to himself, but Anakin heard him.

"He's probably scared," his Padawan supposed. "Babies don't like being separated from their mothers."

Here the boy paused, and the Force snapped with pain, making Obi-Wan cringe with its intensity. He turned to face his Padawan, who was biting his lip. Before Obi-Wan could even figure out what he should say, Anakin furrowed his brow and picked up the baby, apparently moving on. Obi-Wan was grateful for it; the boy needed to learn to let go of his emotions.

Holding the infant close to his chest, Anakin started to rock back and forth, shifting weight from one foot to another. He hummed softly, and as the minutes ticked by, the baby started to settle.

Obi-Wan watched the sight, marveling at not only the boy's tenderness, but the subtle calming waves in the Force that settled on the child, unbeknownst to both the infant and its caretaker. Eventually, he asked, "Have you taken care of younglings before?"

Anakin nodded. The baby was fast asleep now, but he refused to put him in the carrier. When he saw Obi-Wan's questioning glance, he explained, "He would just cry again. I'm not his mom, but… but he feels safe. That's what's important with younglings – you have to make them feel safe."

A memory of being sick on a mission and cared for by Qui-Gon abruptly surfaced, but Obi-Wan quickly shoved it down, tucking his hands into his large sleeves to hide the fact that he was squeezing his arms with ferocity.

They spent the next twenty minutes in silence as Obi-Wan resigned himself to wait for the mother's return and Anakin continued to rock the infant. Eventually, she did return, with promising news that she'd managed to get a small apartment (likely some dirty hole in a broken down building in the lower levels considering her situation, but he supposed even that was better than being homeless) and she thanked them profusely. Anakin handed her baby over with a smile, and Obi-Wan bowed in farewell as the pair watched the mother leave.

Anakin smiled up at his master, his face glowing with happiness. "See, Master? This trip turned out great."

Obi-Wan sighed, somehow feeling older by the minute. "This wasn't the plan."

"But you don't like politicians anyway."

"That's not the point."

Anakin sighed as well, mirroring his master. Obi-Wan watched him for a moment, and then put a hand on his shoulder. "You did a good thing today, Anakin. But do bear in mind that we eventually have to go to the senate."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "But politics is boring."

"And necessary."

"You use that word too much. I don't think it means what you think it means"

"Come along, Padawan."

"Yes, Master…"

Ten years later, as Obi-Wan leaned against the trembling walls of a gunship exiting the atmosphere of Geonosis, he glanced at Anakin to see the boy he'd raised writhing in pain, curled in on himself and trembling. His right arm was half its original length, and Obi-Wan felt his heart clench as the boy struggled to fight the shock. He didn't know what he could do, how he could help him.

That's what's important with younglings – you have to make them feel safe.

The words hadn't meant much to him back then. Anakin had still been a stranger, and Obi-Wan didn't imagine he would be interacting with any other younglings apart from the one forced upon him. It was strange that the memory would surface now of all times… but perhaps he knew why it did. Obi-Wan glanced around to see they were alone and shuffled over to his Padawan, ignoring the pain in his leg and arm, and he gathered Anakin onto his lap, holding him tight and rocking him back and forth. Anakin was in too much pain to really know what was going on, but somehow Obi-Wan's action soothed him, and he leaned into the embrace, settling.

Obi-Wan looked around once again, taking in their surroundings. They were aboard a gunship. They had just witnessed the beginning of a war. A war. He held Anakin more tightly.

I didn't protect you today, Padawan, and I doubt I will be able to in the future, he thought regretfully. But I can now, just in this moment.

And just in that moment, Anakin finally did feel safe.

Fin