Authors Note: Okay, so it got to me. I felt bad that I was leaving you all at such a bad place, so I decided to write another chapter before I get assigned homework tomorrow. Once again, thank you to all who have been reviewing, and thank you so much for your support! Enjoy!

~ Aiden Skywalker


The room was silent, save for a few soft snores and the deep breathing of sleeping babies. The illumination from the ceiling lights was dimmed and the windows' blinds were drawn so that sunlight could not sneak into the nursery. Qui-Gon was surprised to see that it was a nursery when his master had specified a crèche, but he supposed that sleeping infants were easier to take care of than younglings. Simply happy to not have much to do at the moment, Qui-Gon was about to head over to a few chairs that had obviously been laid out for those taking shifts, just as Tahl came up behind him and swept his hand up into hers. Cradling his hand with both hands, Tahl hugged Qui-Gon's arm to her chest as her face brightened into the most beautiful expression he had ever seen. Her eyes were sparkling and a small smile crossed her face as she let out a gentle sigh.

"Oh, Qui. Look how cute they are!" she whispered.

Qui-Gon could hardly focus on anything but her. He had seen this look before, but he had never expected to see it on a Jedi. This was the face of a mother holding her newborn child. There was no other way to explain it.

"Can we have one, please?"

All the color drained from Qui-Gon's face, "Excuse me?"

Tahl seemed just as embarrassed as she instantly released his hand, leaving it cold and lingering for her touch. Qui-Gon couldn't help but frown, not just from her question, but he hated to ruin her happiness.

"It's just. They're so precious. You know what I meant."

A smile spread across Qui-Gon's face as he watched Tahl struggle to justify what she had said. She looked so innocent, like she did when they were kids. It brought back good memories.

"They aren't a puppy, Tahl. They aren't yours to have. These are future Jedi Knights you're cooing over."

Qui-Gon decided to take advantage of Tahl's moment of weakness to tease her, "You don't have to be here you know. If you have better things to be doing…"

"No!" Tahl cut him off, just a little bit too loudly.

Qui-Gon grinned before cringing. Just as he began to think this job was going to be easy, the closest baby began to cry.

"See? Is it so cute now?"

"No, no, no… I can fix this!" Tahl instantly rushed over and scooped the infant into her arms.

Silently observing, the way that Tahl cradled the baby in her arms made Qui-Gon smile. She looked as though she had been doing this her whole life, as if it were as simple as breathing. Unfortunately, before she could get the baby to calm down, another infant started crying as well. Shaking his head in dismay, Qui-Gon walked over to Tahl and nudged her gently.

"Looks like we've got another one. What now?"

Tahl looked up at him with a frustrated scowl. The mocking grin on his face made her want to punch him.

"I thought all younglings liked you, Tahl."

"They do, but…"

Suddenly Tahl frowned and kicked Qui-Gon in the knee. Qui-Gon grimaced for a second before focusing his attention on Tahl again.

"I deserved that."

As if on cue, the rest of the infants in the room began to wail. Qui-Gon and Tahl winced in unison followed by Tahls' exasperated sigh.

"Look what you did, Qui-Gon! This is all your fault!" Tahl yelled.

"My fault? How is this my fault?"

The infants only seemed to get more distressed with the level of intensity in the room as the two padawan's banter only increased.

"You're the one who dragged me here!"

"I didn't drag you here…"

"I came because I love you!"


Silence fell between the two as Tahl looked at Qui-Gon while she bit her lower lip. She had told her several times that she wouldn't get involved with Qui-Gon, and yet she tried to reason that he probably already knew how she felt. However, by the look on his face, she began to doubt herself. Qui-Gon appeared confused and almost enlightened. Tahl was seriously beginning to worry that her confession would ruin the friendship she had with Qui-Gon until she noticed that he was focused on something behind her, not on her. Did he even hear what I said?

Almost as if he could hear her thoughts, Qui-Gon shifted his gaze just enough to make eye contact with her.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

So, he hadn't heard her. Tahl felt as though her heart had been ripped out. Even though he didn't deny her, the fact that she had laid her heart out on the line, and he didn't even nibble the bait made her feel disappointed. She wanted to repeat herself, to make him hear what he needed to hear, but she knew better. If it was meant to be, it was meant to be and he would have heard her. She supposed that maybe this just wasn't the best time.

"Nothing, Qui-Gon."

"Okay."

His sudden ignorance of the upset tone in her voice surprised her, maybe he really didn't care after all. But that wasn't the Qui-Gon she knew. The Qui-Gon she knew picked up on everything, whether or not he chose to acknowledge it. Tahl didn't know what hurt more; the idea that Qui-Gon heard her and chose to ignore it, or the idea that she didn't know Qui-Gon the way she used to. There was one thing Tahl knew for sure; if this was the new Qui-Gon, she didn't like it.

"We should probably work on trying to figure out what's making every baby in here cry," Tahl suggested.

"Good idea. Except for one problem; not every baby in here is crying."

"What?"

"That baby over there," Qui-Gon pointed somewhere behind Tahl, "He's the only one who's not crying."

"How do you know it's a boy?" Tahl asked as she turned around to follow his gesture.

"I don't know," Qui-Gon shrugged, "I just know."

Tahl sighed, "Okay. Well, since he seems to be the least difficult, you go practice your lack of child care skills on him, while I work on the others."

"Sounds like a deal to me."


Instantly setting out to follow the plan, Qui-Gon walked over to the one baby who wasn't crying. Sure enough, the baby's crib stated he was a boy. Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Kenobi, eh? You seem like a decent enough kid."

Without hesitation, Qui-Gon picked up the baby from its basinet and held Obi-Wan out in front of him as if he were examining produce. Thinking of the one thing he remembered seeing other people do with babies, he lifted the infant up and inhaled, expecting to pull away in disgust. To his astonishment, the baby didn't smell like anything. The child only cooed when Qui-Gon held him out again.

"This one seems fine. What do I do, now?"

Tahl turned to face him from a table where she seemed to be concocting some sort of liquid before pouring it into a container Qui-Gon assumed to be a bottle.

"I have a few to feed over here, but I'm not sure I trust you to feed a baby. You just keep doing what you're doing and don't get into trouble."

Tahl headed back to feed one of the other infants as she picked it up from the crib. She looked so motherly the way she expertly held the child. In fact, she looked happy. Happy in a way Qui-Gon hadn't seen Tahl in a long time. While he hated to hurt Tahl, he had purposely ignored her when she confessed her love to him. It was just something that he knew they both couldn't afford to get caught up in, and while he wished that he could have told her how he felt back, he knew they were both better off the way he chose to handle it.

Qui-Gon looked back to Obi-Wan as the infant reached out his arms and acted as though he was trying to grab the air itself. Raising his eyebrow, Qui-Gon looked past Obi-Wan to Tahl, and then back to Obi-Wan who continued to clench and unclench his tiny pink fists.

"Tahl, I think it wants something."

"Qui-Gon, it's a he, not an it," she looked up from feeding the baby she had in her arms and tilted her head to the side, "I don't think he likes being held like that. Try cradling him in your arms."

Looking to copy what Tahl was doing, Qui-Gon shifted Obi-Wan to the crook of his arm where he let the infant lay.

Tahl looked up again before sighing, "Not like that," she said as she stood up and walked over to Qui-Gon. "Like this," she shifted the baby so that he was tucked into Qui-Gon's elbow more securely. "You have to support his head."

Mouthing a silent, "Oh", Qui-Gon looked down to Obi-Wan who seemed considerably more content.


Tahl continued to watch Qui-Gon as he held Obi-Wan. She didn't expect him to look like such a natural. Qui-Gon's green eyes always had a way of boring into your soul, and while even some adults felt uncomfortable under his gaze, Obi-Wan seemed to simply gaze right back. The boy had crystal blue eyes that held the same quality as Qui-Gon's, as if they, too, were searching for something most people didn't take the time to see. That's what she had always loved about Qui-Gon; those eyes saw everything from the depths of your soul, to a detail most others found insignificant.

After finishing the first infant, Tahl continued on to the second. Even though she felt as though she should have been paying more attention to the baby she held in her arms, she couldn't keep her eyes off Qui-gon, besides, she knew what she was doing. When she glanced up again, Obi-Wan had managed to clamp his hand onto Qui-Gon's padawan braid. The boy was gently pulling on the plait of hair as Qui-Gon fought to carefully remove it from his grasp, but as Tahl knew; Obi-Wan wasn't about to let go of his new found prize.


Becoming slightly frustrated, Qui-Gon tried to be a bit more forceful with the infant. Maybe I can reason with him, Qui-Gon thought.

"Hey, hey, hey, stop that. You can't have that… ow! No! That's attached to my head! Look, it's mine, you can't hold onto it forever. You'll get bored eventually!"

However, Obi-Wan wasn't hearing anything of it.