Title: "A Code to Love By"
Author: gizzi1213
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,571
Pairing: Anakin, Obi-Wan, Gen fic.
Summary: When Obi-Wan and Anakin crash on a distant planet, the strength of three little words reveal themselves.
Disclaimer: It's all owned by George Lucas; I'm just playing in his sandbox.
Warnings: This is unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own.
Challenge Prompt:Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Author's Notes: Written for imadrablue's Valentine's Day Challenge event on Livejournal. I'm not sure this accomplishes what I set out to write, the reader will have to be the judge.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

"Hurry up, Master. Don't you want to get home for leave?? We're wasting time."

"Anakin, I'm certain the diagnostic program says there is a problem with the hyperdrive." Obi-Wan replied calmly, but stubbornly.

"Master. Am I not the best mechanic in the galaxy?"

"Yes, Anakin, but…"

"But nothing, Master! I've checked it, it's fine. We're wasting time."

Obi-Wan sighed, they'd been having this argument for a standard hour. Anakin had checked the hyperdrive, twice in fact. Each time he'd found nothing. But every time Obi-Wan started up the vessel, the shipboard computer said otherwise.

"Did you check the diagnostic program itself? Maybe the error is simply there?"

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Master, please. I'm not stupid, I know what I'm doing. Of course I've checked the diagnostic program. It also says your comm system is out, but you've been able to comm me both times you aborted take off, right?"

"Well, true, but…."

"No buts, Master. The comm system works, despite the error message. The diagnostic program is faulty. Trust me on this. You know I'm never wrong. Let's just go home, please." Anakin turned frustrated eyes towards his Master. He was eager to get home. The war with the Separatists had been raging for six months now and in all that time they hadn't been home on leave once. He wanted nothing more than to get home and make love to Padme.

"Very well, Padawan. Let's go home." Obi-Wan thought his spirit should feel lighter, seeing the joy on his Padawan's face. But he had a bad feeling about this….

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

"Dammit, Obi-Wan! You can't do this to me. You can't! We're supposed to be home on leave." Anakin railed at the unconscious form of the Jedi Master. Three days. Three days ago Obi-Wan's starfighter had crash landed on the outer rim world of Amrif Arret.

Three days ago when Anakin had insisted it was safe to fly.

"Why did you wait until we were about to enter hyperspace to say you had a bad feeling? Why didn't you say that earlier? You always let me know when you have one of your 'feelings.'" Anakin paced the length of the small room, his long strides covering the distance in three angry steps.

"If you'd just said something, this could have been avoided. But, no. You had to just mention the diagnostic program. It's a program! Nothing but code! Aren't you the one always telling me to listen and trust the Force??" Anakin knew he was being irrational yelling at the unconscious figure lying serenely on the simple hospital bed.

"Dammit, Obi-Wan, if you'd just said something, this could have all been avoided…."

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

"Get out! You're worthless. You've done nothing to help him. Nothing!"

The startled Healer could only stare in astonishment at the outburst. He knew the young man had barely rested since his companion had crash landed five days ago. The angry young man's posture and the deep dark rings around his eyes all gave mute testimony to his state of total exhaustion.

It wasn't the first time the Healer had to deal with an outburst from a person concerned over a loved one's condition. But this young man was different, as his colleague had learned to his detriment the day before. He was still recovering from the surgery he'd required to repair the broken leg the young man had inflicted upon him, although none of them could explain how it had happened. There wasn't an outward mark on the other Healer's body, just the Healer's word on the cause of his injuries.

No one else had been brave, or foolish enough, to approach the young man since, which is why it had fallen to him, the facility's director, to speak with him now.

"I am sorry you have found our care to be insufficient."

"Care?" Anakin snorted in derision, shooting a malevolent glare his way.

"Yes, well, as I was saying, I'm sorry you've found it insufficient, however, I wanted to tell you that our latest scans indicate a slight improvement in his condition."

"You're saying he's getting better??" Anakin asked, rushing over to the Healer, who backed away a step as a precaution.

"Yes, there has been marginal improvement. The last scan shows that…."

The Healer let out a screech of surprise as the young man suddenly caught him up in a tight grip and spun him around excitedly saying "thank you, thank you, thank you," over and over again.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

"Are you sure that's necessary?" Anakin looked skeptically at the primitive syringe the Healer held.

"I assure you, it's merely a concentrated vitamin injection to boost the recovery process."

"I wasn't asking about what you were giving him, but how you were giving it to him. That thing looks deadly."

"The needle?!" The chief Healer chuckled. In the two days since he had informed Anakin that his Master was making signs of a slow recovery, he'd had several talks with him. He'd been amazed to learn that Jedi actually existed. He had always believed they were nothing more than a galactic myth. "With all the abilities you've told me Jedi possess, I assure you, your Master can survive one small needle prick."

"Yeah, well, Obi-Wan doesn't like Jedi Healers who don't even stick him with long sharp objects. That," Anakin said, pointing at the needle, "he would say he has 'a bad feeling about.'"

"If you really think he would object, we do not have to administer the shot. It's not required for his treatment, just a measure to speed up the process."

Anakin looked from the still form of his Master to the wicked looking needle. He knew Obi-Wan would not be happy to be stuck with the evil thing, but Anakin's hopes had been revived with the news that Obi-Wan was making small progress towards recovery. And if being stabbed with the thing would help….

"No, I trust you. Obi-Wan will just have to trust you through me."

The Healer nodded. Not allowing the younger Jedi to change his mind, he quickly swabbed the inside of Obi-Wan's elbow with an antiseptic wipe and skillfully inserted the needle into the vein. He was very relieved to see just a single drop of blood when he withdrew it. Smiling happily at the result he looked to Anakin, only to find the young man looking a bit green.

"He's fine, Anakin, I assure you."

"I hope so, because if he's not, he's going to kill me for letting you do that."

The Healer only laughed, shaking his head in amusement as he left the young man to his bedside vigil.

Anakin opened another package of the antiseptic wipe and gently cleaned the area of the injection. Finishing that, he resumed his seat besides Obi-Wan's head. Gently he brushed his Master's hair off his forehead, relieved to feel how cool it was after the fever that had burned only a few days before. It was another sign of Obi-Wan's improvement and it gave him hope.

Remembering that the Healer had told him that Obi-Wan could hear him, he picked up the book that the Healer had loaned him. He knew Obi-Wan would love it. It was a real book, made of flimsiplast and bound in soft leather, tooled with a delicate scrolled design across the cover. Opening it up, he started reading aloud.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Anakin stopped to consider those words. The Healer had told him this volume was a religious text containing the teachings of their faith. He could only assume the first verse listed was the most important to their faith. He found it intriguing that the first thing they were taught to believe in was love. He couldn't help but think how different that was from the Jedi Code.

"That's interesting, isn't it Master? How the first important thing about these people's faith is love. I mean, they don't seem to be afraid of that emotional attachment."

He considered the silent man before him. He suddenly realized this might be his only chance to say what he'd never been able to.

"Master…Obi-Wan…I know you've tried to teach me about the Jedi Code. And I've really tried to learn it, truly I have. It just doesn't always make sense to me. And it doesn't make any sense in this place at all. So, I just want to say, I love you, Obi-Wan. Forgive me for that attachment."

Anakin dropped his eyes from Obi-Wan's face, feeling embarrassed at voicing the sentiment he'd held for so long, even if his Master was totally unaware of it.

"Anakin."

Anakin's head snapped up at the dry, raspy but unmistakable voice of his Master, staring in shocked silence at the slightly unfocused eyes looking at him.

"Anakin…I love you too, Padawan."