Author Note: This chapter...gah. I don't like it. This is the last "jump in time", the rest of the story will go on from here. I did not enjoy writing this chapter because... I had to base it mostly off Revenge of the Sith, and that is not okay. Revenge of the Sith is bad. Bad bad bad. Completely forget that ever happened. Okay? There's going to be some MAJOR changes to the plot. Heh heh. Just wait until the next chapter.

Alyssa, you kept telling me to post this and now I finally did. No need to be so freaking pushy. Just kidding. I love you. :

Review? Pleaseee?

Disclaimer: Don't own Star Wars. Not yet. evil laughter


One year later…

Obi-Wan shook his head in dismay. He absolutely hated flying, no matter what the circumstances. It was even worse when there were blasts and explosions going on all around you. Everything was in complete and utter chaos and they were trying to get through it. He would bet any sum of credits that Anakin was thoroughly enjoying himself right now. They were on a mission to rescue the Chancellor, and needless to say, it wasn't going very well.

"Missiles, Master. Pull up," Anakin said as he swerved to get out of the path of the missiles.

"Nothing too fancy Arfour," Obi-Wan told Arfour as they tried to get out of the way as well. "They overshot us!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.

"They're coming around, be careful," Anakin said turning to look behind him. Anakin started spinning his ship, the missiles followed, spinning madly until they crashed into each other.

"Flying is for droids," Obi-Wan muttered darkly.

As if cued, buzz droids came out and Obi-Wan unknowingly flew right into them. He didn't really understand what they were doing until they started tearing off the outer layer of the ship and removing the wiring.

"I'm hit!" Obi-Wan said. The droids started to advance on Arfour. "Arfour, be careful!" It was too late, the buzz droids had already attacked.

"Move to the right Master," Anakin directed.

"They're shutting down all the controls! Leave me! Go rescue the Chancellor!"

"I'm not leaving without you! Now move to the right!"

Obi-Wan wondered what he was going to do, but moved to the right anyways. He hoped Anakin wasn't going to try something stupid… Then his ship shook as if he had been blasted. Wait, he had been blasted!

"Anakin you're not helping!" Obi-Wan yelled.

"I agree. Hold on," Anakin said. Obi-Wan took a deep breath and prepared for the next random idea Anakin would think of. Again his ship started shaking and it took him a second to realize what was going on. Anakin was trying to knock off the buzz droids with his own ship! It was not a very well thought plan, and although Obi-Wan was now buzz droid free, one had climbed onto Anakin's ship.

"Watch out Artoo!" Anakin said. Obi-Wan could see Artoo trying to rid the ship of the buzz droid, but very unsuccessfully. A thought occurred to him.

"Artoo! Hit the buzz droid's center eye!" Obi-Wan yelled. Artoo followed his instructions and aimed for the center eye. The buzz droid shut down and slid off the ship.

"I think that's the ship Master! The one swarming with vulture droids," Anakin said calmly.

"Oh this is going to be easy!" Obi-Wan replied, somewhat hysterically. "ANAKIN! Have you noticed the shields are STILL UP?"

"Sorry Master." Anakin sent a blast and hit something that got rid of the shield, Obi-Wan didn't know what he had hit. Then, the doors started closing, trying to shut them out.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan said almost to himself.

They slid right into the huge ship, and Obi-Wan jumped out even before his ship had stopped moving. He pulled out his lightsaber and cut down two droids. He joined Anakin waiting at the elevator.

"I sense Dooku," Anakin said grimly.

"I sense a trap," Obi-Wan added.

"What's our next move?" Anakin asked.

"Spring the trap," Obi-Wan replied with a smile.

They got into the elevator facing the door when a voice came from behind them. Obi-Wan and Anakin quickly turned around and nodded to each other. They pulled out their lightsabers again and attacked the droids. When the droids were all in pieces on the floor they put their lightsabers back. The elevator lurched and stopped moving.

"Elevator isn't working," Obi-Wan noted. "Artoo, activate elevator 1126."

"There are other ways to get out." Anakin cut a hole out of the top of the elevator and jumped through in a flash of black cloth.

"Always on the move," Obi-Wan said fondly. "Artoo, activate the elevator!" The elevator started plummeting down. "Artoo! We need to be going UP not DOWN!" The elevator lurched again and started going up. "That's much better," Obi-Wan said to himself.

In another flash of black, Anakin was back in the elevator standing right behind Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan sensed someone in the elevator and whipped out his lightsaber and turned around.

"Oh, it's just you," Obi-Wan said, putting his lightsaber away.

They stopped the elevator and got out, trying to find the way to where the Chancellor was being held. How someone could have just snatched the very well protected man so easily completely befuddled Obi-Wan. He wasn't really paying attention as Anakin wandered down the halls trying to find the way to the right room. The Chancellor was Anakin's friend and he was probably worried about him. Obi-Wan thought it was odd how much interest Palpatine had with Anakin, but it was their job to save him right now, not try to figure out his motives. Anakin and Obi-Wan had finally found there way into the right room and saw the Chancellor bound in his seat. Dooku entered the room from the other side and Obi-Wan and Anakin readied themselves for a good fight.

"You're no match for him! He's a Sith Lord!" Chancellor Palpatine exclaimed.

"Chancellor, Sith Lords are our specialty," Obi-Wan reassured him. Even if the most awful situations, Anakin and Obi-Wan had humor. It made the job easier, by relieving some of the stress.

"This time, we take him together," Obi-Wan reminded Anakin. Anakin stepped right behind him, and Obi-Wan shivered at the closeness.

"I was just about to say that," Anakin whispered in Obi-Wan's ear.

"Your lightsabers please. We don't want to make a mess in front of the Chancellor," Count Dooku said, making his way across the room.

"You're not going to get away with this Dooku," Anakin said menancingly.

"I've been looking forward to this," the Count said with a disturbing smile.

"My powers have doubled since the last time we met," Anakin said.

"Good. Twice the pride, double the fall," Dooku responded with another smile.

Obi-Wan wondered why he was so confident. So he did completely defeat them three years back, but Obi-Wan knew he'd be frightened of facing Anakin's wrath. He had become a very powerful and he didn't dare say it to anyone else, but he had become very attractive as well. Anakin had made Obi-Wan proud and he knew he didn't tell Anakin that enough. Actually, he couldn't remember if he had ever told him that before. He decided to put it on his agenda of things to do after they got back to Coruscant.

The fight was quite epic, if Obi-Wan did say himself. He and Anakin knew each other's moves almost better than their own and they knew how to work in perfect synchronization. Obi-Wan could tell that Dooku's confidence wavered, as he kept forcing either Obi-Wan or Anakin out of the fight with force pushes and kicks. He knew that he couldn't defeat both of them when they were working together. Obi-Wan got kicked off to the side, and it took him a minute to recover, but then he was up, getting rid of the droids that had just entered the room.

Obi-Wan reentered the battle, slashing viciously at the man that had caused Anakin so much pain. This man had tried to kill them, and Obi-Wan knew that if the Count got another chance, he wouldn't hesitate. Obi-Wan felt himself flying away again, and he blacked out. He vaguely felt something put on top of him, and then he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Obi-Wan felt a bit of bouncing but he didn't fully wake back up. Then he had an odd sensation and he felt like he was needed so he opened his eyes and discovered that they were hanging in an elevator shaft. This is fabulous, Obi-Wan thought to himself. He gave a little yell of horror and wound his arms around Anakin so he wouldn't fall.

'The elevator is coming down!" Anakin yelled. "Artoo! Stop the elevator!"

"Too late. JUMP!" Obi-Wan yelled back at him.

The three of them let go, and Obi-Wan and Anakin fastened themselves before sliding out of the elevator shaft into another room. They hurried off, in search of a ship that would get them back to Coruscant so they could return the Chancellor safe and sound. They were jogging down a hallway when white semi-transparent shields surrounded them.

"Ray shields!" Obi-Wan cried out in frustration. "We're smarter than this!"

"Apparently not. I say patience," Anakin proposed.

"Patience?" Obi-Wan asked skeptically.

"Yes. Artoo will be here shortly and he'll release the ray shields." Artoo came sliding into the hall and slammed into a wall. Several droids came in and surrounded the trio and Artoo as well. Obi-Wan was having trouble keeping from rolling his eyes. The droids deactivated the ray shields and started taking them somewhere. They walked for a while, up and down random hallways until they reached their destination. General Grievous was waiting for them.

"General Kenobi and… Anakin Skywalker? I was expecting someone with your reputation to be… older," General Grievous' said in his awful raspy voice.

"General Grievous. You're shorter than I imagined," Anakin said smoothly. General Grievous was at least a foot taller than Anakin, and Anakin was most definitely not short.

"Jedi scum," General Grievous muttered before starting to hack and cough.

"We have a job to do Anakin, try not to upset him," Obi-Wan reminded him pleasantly.

"Sorry Master," Anakin said jokingly.

"I have been trained in the Jedi arts by Count Dooku," the General said confidently. Obi-Wan was reminded instantly of Count Dooku himself. Well, Obi-Wan thought, since Anakin has just gotten rid of Count Dooku, this shouldn't be too difficult.

"Your lightsabers will make a good addition to my collection," General Grievous said showing them his many lightsabers.

"I don't think so," Obi-Wan said. The room erupted in chaos. Artoo made a diversion so Anakin and Obi-Wan could get their lightsabers back. They fought the four droids that were wielding some odd kind of staff, but during their struggle, General Grievous had escaped. Now they had to go find a way out of this ship. Anakin found the cockpit and everyone strapped themselves in.

"Do you know how to fly one of these things Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Right now, I'd say the ability to fly it is irrelevant. I think it matters more whether I can land one of these things," Anakin said concentrating on the controls. Something exploded and Obi-Wan turned around in concern.

"It's okay," Anakin reassured him. "I'm still flying half a ship."

Although Anakin was trying his best to slow down the ship's fall, they still went down much too quickly. They skidded on the landing strip, and destroyed everything in their way. The Chancellor looked absolutely terrified, and Obi-Wan didn't blame him at all. He'd be worried as well if he wasn't so used to Anakin's flying. The ship finally came to a stop and all three passengers gave a huge sigh of relief. Even Artoo beeped with approval of being back on the ground.

"Another happy landing," Obi-Wan remarked. Anakin glared at him, but Obi-Wan knew it was more out of annoyance than anger. A transport was sent to take them to the Senate building and they got on gratefully. The ride was short, and the Chancellor thanked them once again, and got off to meet the crowd of worried Senators. Anakin got off the transport ahead of Obi-Wan.

"Are you coming Master?" Anakin questioned.

"The reporters need a poster boy Anakin. Go have your lovely day amongst the politicians. You're the hero today," Obi-Wan said smiling warmly at his former apprentice. He was so proud of him.

"I didn't do it alone!" Anakin replied defensively.

"Anakin, you killed Count Dooku single handedly, and you rescued the Chancellor while carrying me on your back!"

"I couldn't have done any of it without your training!" Anakin shot back good naturedly. Obi-Wan loved this bantering, it took him back a few years, when Anakin was still his apprentice and there was nothing but their friendship and Anakin's training. There were no marriages, no wars, and no hidden feelings. Everything was so much more simple back then.

"I'll see you at the briefing tomorrow with the Council," Obi-Wan said turning around and getting back into the transport.

He just wanted to get back to the Jedi temple and spend a few hours meditating before getting to finally sleep in his own bed. Obi-Wan and Anakin hadn't been in Coruscant for more than a few days for almost a year. Obi-Wan was suddenly aware of how life was just passing him by. He wasn't getting any younger, and these wars were taking a toll on him.

Obi-Wan walked off the transport into the Jedi temple. It was mid-afternoon and the temple was quite busy, but Obi-Wan did not feel like being social. He walked to his quarters, ignoring all the people in his path. He palmed the door and sank down on the couch in the main room. Obi-Wan curled up on the couch and closed his eyes. He had definitely not wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon with the politicians. He had no doubt that Anakin would sneak off with Padme the first chance he got. Obi-Wan scowled and looked around the room. He wanted Anakin to keep him company.

"I'm old," Obi-Wan said to the room. Its emptiness seemed to mock him. His eyes finally came to rest on the liquor cabinet. Obi-Wan had quite a bit of alcohol stashed away since he was almost never at the Temple long enough to drink any of it. He got up and walked towards the cabinet. He pulled on its dusty handle and looked at the contents. His eyes scanned the bottles, looking for something appealing. He settled his gaze on a black bottle, black seemed to fit his mood right about now. Obi-Wan grabbed the bottle and a glass and poured himself a generous measure, lifted the glass to his lips, and downed its contents. Already he felt better. He tipped some more into his now empty glass, and swallowed it down as well.

"Anakin can go have as much fun as he wants with his stupid little whore of a Senator. Frankly, I do not care at all. I am perfectly content sitting here and drinking whatever this is," Obi-Wan gestured to the bottle on the table. His vision was starting to get a little fuzzy and his gestures were getting a little wild. After a few more glasses from the black bottle and Obi-Wan's eyelids were starting to droop. His day had been hard, and a nice nap on the couch was completely acceptable. He sank back down on the couch and fell into a deep slumber.

Obi-Wan awoke a few hours later with the need to vomit, and he made his way towards the 'fresher. It wasn't until he got back that he realized he had been sleeping in his own bed. Hadn't he fallen asleep on the couch? Maybe he was hallucinating. Obi-Wan now remembered why he didn't like to drink. His head was pounding and he could barely move. Sleep sounded very good right now. A glass of water had been placed on the small table by Obi-Wan's bed and he took a few sips of water to try and clear his head. Whoever put him to bed and got him a glass of water was very thoughtful. They had also gotten Obi-Wan into his sleep pants. Very thoughtful, Obi-Wan thought before drifting back to sleep.

The nights are forever and maybe I'm wrong,

But it feels like I'm so lost without you…

Giving it Away by Mae


Author Note #2: Is it weird that every single chapter has ended with either Obi-Wan or Anakin going to bed? Blah. Any ideas?