He is ridiculously relieved to hear that Padme's coming home. He's missed her, his little confidant. And he was worried, as usual. He worries endlessly when she goes away on missions. Especially her undercover ones. If she's caught and captured, there's absolutely nothing he can do for her. He'll never be able to get her back.
He doesn't like to think about it too much. No one suspects the beautiful young girl from a peaceful planet so she's relatively safe, and frightfully good at playing Senator. She acts coy and studious while in the limelight, soaking up information people don't think to keep from her because she's lured them into thinking she couldn't possibly understand. Yet behind the scenes, whenever she needs to, she can become borderline ruthless in her quest for knowledge of the Empire's doings.
He can't help himself though. After Qui Gon's passing, she is the only one he really feels close to. Oh, there's always Cody or Mace, but Padme...Padme could be his sister.
The tiny girl stares up at him with watery brown eyes. One little thumb is forcibly shoved in her mouth and the other hand has wrapped itself around Qui Gon's forefinger. And she's a mess: dressed in rags, caked with dirt, and her hair ( she has more than he thinks someone her age should have) is tangled and falling in greasy clumps around her face.
"I found her among a ruin. She's lucky to be alive."
The girl shivers, but doesn't take her wide eyes from Obi Wan. It's a bit disconcerting, that stare, almost as if she's calculating her opinion of him. The look is so misplaced on the face of one so young.
"Her family must have been accused of rebel activity because Imperials killed them all. She won't speak to me. Probably from the shock. And this lovely black eye was my reward for finding her."
She punched Qui Gon? Hard enough to bruise? That's pretty gutsy for a three-year-old, considering the height difference. She still seems wary of Qui Gon, despite the fact that she's chosen to trust him. Maybe it's because he's so much bigger and stronger than she is. Force, everyone else is bigger and stronger than she is. It's probably why she keeps staring at him. He's only thirteen, and still has a boyish look. He's young enough to relate to.
Very slowly, so as not to startle her, he kneels down in front of her. She shies away a little, but her gaze turns questioning, like she's trying to figure out what he's going to say before he says it.
"Hello there. My name is Obi Wan. What's yours?"
To everyone's astonishment, the soggy thumb slowly slides out of the pink mouth so the little girl can whisper, "Padme."
He's loved her ever since. She became his little shadow. Qui Gon was very good at making time for both her and Obi Wan, but he was The General then. So that left Obi Wan with the job of caring for Padme whenever he could. He soothed her nightmares, he read her stories, he helped her learn all she could about the Senate, helped train her in self defence, there was nothing he couldn't do for her.
He hates the fact that she's the Rebel's best spy, hates that she spends days, weeks, months on Coruscant in constant danger. He's a protective person by nature, but for her, that protective streak is a mile wide.
So he nearly has a heartattack when she walks into his quarters hand in hand with the Sith's apprentice.
XXXX
Dooku sits crosslegged, ramrod straight, and rests his palms against his knees. Almost as soon as he closes his red eyes he feels the Force wrap him in it's flowing current. As a Jedi, he had called this meditation, had even dealt it out to his padawan as an improving punishment.
The Dark Side surges forward and wraps his brain with it's inky, cold presence, whispering promises of power and control. He sends it's tendrils out over the planet, over the adjacent planet, and keeps going from there.
No trace of Skywalker.
Skywalker and himself have been Master and apprentice for nearly five years. Thier training bond doesn't project thoughts of feelings very well, but the slight cord in the Force should make it all too easy to find his errant "weapon". He almost thinks he feels Anakin before heavy mental shields slam into place.
That's when he realizes this isn't a self-given break from training, or even an exercise in "asserting his freedom", Skywalker has actually betrayed them.
This is an escape.
He's turned his back on his training. Dooku isn't surprised when he feels the bond severing. He stands and makes toward the hanger bay.
"So be it, Vader. So be it."
AN: First off, I want to apologize to AndrossKenobi, whom I told that the next chapter would be up on Monday barring unforseen circumstances. Sadly, there were unforseen circumstances. I got sick, I had to write a paper, exams, the whole shebang came crashing down and this got shoved to the back burner. I'm really excited for the next chapter though, because that is going to entail Obi Wan and Padme arguing. ^_^ Poor Ani'll just have to sit through it.
Anyways: what I really want to talk about is Obidala. Romance wise, there won't be any. Besides my reluctance to tackle such a delicate pairing, the real reason is because Obi Wan practically raised her. When he looks into her face, all he's going to see is the scared little girl he met and took care of, not the attractive woman she grew into. So that's why there won't be any romantic Obidala. He's just that much older than her. However, if you like friendshipy brother/sister Obidala or just plain like watching the two characters interact, there'll be plenty of that.
If you liked it let me know! If you didn't, tell me what didn't work.
In short, review!
To the Anonymous Reviewers:
sporomogoose: I love that penname! And thank you for your kind review! I hope you like where I go with it
Darth Vadie: I promise to update M'Lord! Please don't Force-Choke me! o_O (read: thanks for your review. I'm glad you liked it!)