Author's Note: Once again thank you for the enjoyable reviews! As you can imagine, if the previous chapter is the calm, this chapter's the storm.


I Have A Bad Feeling About This

Chapter Nine

The next day, Obi-Wan came to her in the middle of her shift unexpectedly. Claire managed to spare a few minutes in order to talk with him in a quieter, less busy hallway.

"I'm leaving for Utapau later this afternoon."

Claire nodded with a frown. She shoved her hands into her coat's pockets, leaned against one of the pearly white walls of the med-center, and fumbled with her datapad's stylus. "Should I ask why you're going there and when you might be coming back?"

"Anakin received important information about the whereabouts of Trade Federation's leading military commander. A message was partially intercepted in a diplomatic packet from the chairman of Utapau. The order has been trying to track down Grievous since the Chancellor was kidnapped. He's going to be on Utapau for a short period of time. This is our chance."

"Grievous sounds faintly familiar."

"He's wanted for war crimes, and if we take him into custody we may be able to end this war by negotiating with the Federation's other leaders."

"Well," Claire pushed off the wall and moved to stand before him. She pulled Obi-Wan's cloak more over his shoulders. Her mouth fell open, as if to say something, but hesitated. She sighed and nodded again, though this time more for herself. "This is a good thing then. The sooner its over the better for everyone."

He explained his situation again: duty called, and like always, he stood ready to answer.

"I'll be going solo onto the planet, but a handful of military squadrons will be on stand-by in case he tries to escape."

"Why isn't Anakin going with you?"

"The other masters want to keep him close at this time," he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "They're anxious about him, especially since the Chancellor specifically requested he lead the troops."

"Do they not trust him?"

"I don't know if I would push their opinion that far. He's always been..."

"Reckless."

Obi-Wan chuckled sadly. "Yes, that." He shrugged. "They want someone with more experience representing the Jedi Order. Anakin was disappointed, but given time and patience, he'll become a Jedi Master soon enough."

"That's a terrible place to put you and him. From what you've told me he sounds just as capable."

"Perhaps, but the decision's been made. For all we know, this information might really turn out to be nothing but a distraction."

Their time was running out. She needed to return to work before someone noticed her absence, and he had a military excursion to join. Even if she didn't like the idea of him going out alone, even for a portion of this push against the Federation, it didn't matter; despite whatever worries, she trusted his abilities and his judgment.

"Take care of yourself," she said with a half-smile. Her fingers slid over his stubble, his beard, and then his lips, lingering. He reached up, too her hand, and kissed the pads of her fingers. Claire then embraced him, gripping his brown, tattered cloak.

"When this war is over," he whispered into her loose hair, almost breathing her in, "I'd like to take you to Naboo." It was hard to stand strong beside him, and in order to keep herself together, Claire gripped him tighter. "We'll sit on the side of the lake, tour the markets, try some of their delicious cuisine," she closed her eyes and if she tried hard enough, she could almost see it in her mind. "Maybe," he laughed quietly, "maybe we'll do some of that dancing you so dearly enjoy."

"I'm going to hold you to that promise one way or another, Obi-Wan."

"And I'll see to it that you do."


Claire found it extremely difficult to focus on tending to her patients today. Though her heart had never truly been in medical work, it had a meaningful purpose during war and that had always been enough to get her through the day. It was so evidently different this time around−she used to be able to throw herself into her work, to focus on the necessary and push away the other worries, if only for a few hours until she was home again. Today she saw newly arrived patients with a stoic front, ordered prescriptions and cybernetic implants without trouble, rotated patients for their daily kolto tank, and attended a surgery without hesitation.

But today was a day in which all she wanted was to be working on droids or machinery, not humans, once again. Every face she saw, every patient laying in their beds or floating in a koltotank, every active soldier who passed through the med-center−they all reminded her of Obi-Wan in some way, from the most similar details to the banal. It was too easy to imagine Obi-Wan in a med-center a week from then, having succeeded at his mission with sacrifice to his physical health, injured. Even more distressing, it was too easy to fall over the edge and imagine the worst: failure and permanently losing him. It had been so much easier all the other times.

Claire worked diligently, and no one saw anything further in her tired expression. When she finally returned home after the long day, she admitted how bitterly proud she was of herself for managing to hold together.

Maybe it won't be so difficult.

But only after a week of having him in her life once again, her apartment felt cold, unwelcoming, and empty. She could almost hear her mother's voice in the back of her head, inappropriately offering the practical standpoint as a remedy: his presence in her life was sporadic and rare that therefore it shouldn't hurt. As she walked to her kitchen to boil water, she tossed out the practical and spiraled downward. There was no escaping him.

The kitchen area reminded her of their shared evenings talking over leftovers and the morning after their first time intimately knowing one another. When she heard DA-R1 enter the kitchen, the droid asked about Master Kenobi and Claire couldn't reply. When the teapot whistled, she reached past the jar of Bluefruit Kintle leaves and found an old bitter tea she used to enjoy.

Claire took her steaming cup and headed for her balcony. It was difficult to hold her head down and keep her eyes semi-forward as she passed by her bed. She leaned against her balcony's railing, watching the headlights of speeders zoom by, seeing the faint neon lights of clubs and restaurants in the distance, and she couldn't help but think of their evenings out at Dex's Diner and their first conversation at the Outlander Club. If she dropped her guard well enough, Claire swore she could almost imagine him there beside her.

After finishing her tea, Claire abandoned her mug on her bedside table and headed for her 'fresher. She was still fully dressed in her work clothes consisting of a white lab coat and a black turtleneck and skirt. She stood infront of her sink, with her head bowed and her hands gripping the sides of the bowl. When she looked up and saw just how hard she was trying to remain calm, she lost it. Her hand covered her mouth, muffling the otherwise choked sob.

She took a quick shower once she gathered herself again. She wanted to desperately know how many times she would need to pick up the pieces of her heart and rearrange them so that they were resilient for the next time. Finally dressed in comfortable, clean clothes, she knew she needed to get some rest for the next day that would hopefully be full of enough routine to keep her steady. She had not bothered to turn on her bedroom light, and like so many other times before, only the faint light of Coruscant at night filtered inside. Her body physically hesitated as she stood before her bedside, and moving to sit on the edge made her feel lethargic and exhausted.

Claire held her head in her hands and remained still for several minutes. She was apprehensive to turn and see the side of the bed where he lay not even a day ago. It was too hard to resist the temptation, and she succumbed.

A rush of both relief and agony consumed her when she breathed in Obi-Wan's residual smell off of his pillow.


On the one-thousand-eighty-ninth day of the Clone Wars, the entire galaxy shifted into a new era that harkened to dark, unstable periods of the Old Republic. The truth became revealed: the Clone War simply was a battle within a larger, ancient war between two feuding ideologies and their respective followings; though the Republic had won the Clone War with the death of General Grievous, the overarching war was ultimately lost through Contingency Order 66:

In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), commanders of the Grand Army of the Republic will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established.

It was broadcast all across Republic channels, announced unceremoniously even by the most trusted HoloNET sources. The proclaimed truth: the Jedi attempted a coup against Chancellor Palpatine in order to usurp power and replace the Galactic Senate with the Jedi Council. The Jedi Temple, in the process, was ransacked. The terrible feeds on the HoloNET were worthless: too blurry and shaky, but Claire didn't need a live-stream in order to see the destruction. When she stood out on her balcony, she saw the smoke and flames rising into the atmosphere like a miasma. The place of sanctity, knowledge, and peace burned. The largest garden on Coruscant, consumed by flames and destroyed.

More than anything she wanted to find a way to contact Obi-Wan, to tell him to stay away from Coruscant because the damage was already done, and, if anything, would only escalate. She knew any attempt at communication would be dangerous because any channel could be tapped and become insecure. With every fiber of her being Claire hoped he and as many other Jedi had escaped capture and execution. She knew all of the proclaimed "truths" were far from it. She decided she needed to expand her distrust to not only politicians but to supposed journalists as well.

The next morning, Claire desperately searched the HoloNET for accurate information. Instead of coming across good news, she found only a streaming of the most recent speech by Chancellor Palpatine regarding the developing crisis.

"...The Jedi rebellion has been foiled. The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated!" The Senate burst into rounds of applause and cheers. "The remaining Republic will be reformed into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure galaxy." The positive response by the Senate made her queasy. All of this was wrong, so very wrong. "And as my first decree, those harboring Jedi fugitives will be arrested for interrogation immediately. Those who turn in information regarding these traitors to our Galactic Empire shall be rewarded vastly for their pursuit of justice..."

Claire shut off her datapad, and in a wide-eyed panic began to collect the most important items of her personal effects. She had been seen in too many places with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she did not want to take the risk. It saddened her deeply, but clearly Coruscant could no longer be a home for her.

"Master, shall I help you collect your belongings?" DA-R1 asked; Claire wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but she thought her droid's voice lacked its sing-song quality.

As she pulled a traveling cloak over her brown robes and darker colored thermal pants, she shook her head. "Only taking the essentials." The essentials being the clothes on her back, her emergency stash of credits, some of her lighter, smaller tools (including a multi-purpose hydro-spanner), some kolto packs, her custom welding goggles, and a blaster she kept under her bed. "Grab a couple of ration packs from the cabinet."

Once DA-R1 retrieved the ration packs, Claire added them to the satchel slung over her shoulder and across her chest. She kept her blaster in a secure holster around her waist where it was easily accessible.

"We need to get going."

"Where are we exactly going, Master?"

"I don't know yet," she told DA-R1 with a solemn frown. "We can't stay here. They'll arrest me and they'll steal your memory chip, take what they need, deactivate you, or instead give you a solid memory wipe. I'm not letting them get to either of us."

Claire had no idea what she was doing. She wasn't sure if she was technically a fugitive yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time; either way she would be charged guilty by association (and clearly more). She would rather die than let them take her, but that, of course, was a last resort. More than anything, she needed to find Obi-Wan.


Claire sped through the airways without a clear destination, because she didn't know where to go. She knew Obi-Wan completed his mission, but he could be anywhere throughout the galaxy.

She decided to head for the industrial sector, in particular the Works, because if there was anywhere safer on Coruscant during this disaster, it had to be there. Better yet, she knew she could procure transport from a smuggler or mercenary if the price was right.

When she arrived at the Works speeder port, which was on one of the lowest levels of the city-planet, she saw only chaos. It seemed that everyone was trying to get off of Coruscant as quickly as possible. She pulled her hood over her head and told DA-R1 to stay quiet. Unlike most other civilians from the upper levels, Claire had access to this whole underworld via her previous profession. She could place some faith into these people, and with perhaps added persuasion, could get off safely and quietly like smuggled goods. Her best bet was a Rodian smuggler and mercenary whom she purchased parts from. They had a reliable and reasonable business operation for Works standards. She knew how to get to his secluded shop while most other civilians didn't. What looked like a dead end corridor led her straight to Anirad'a's Scrap Shop. She knocked three times, paused, and then once again. A slit opened in the door.

"Password?"

"Sizzlestick."

The door opened and the blue-green Rodian stood before her. He allowed her and DA-R1 inside and then shut the metal door with a loud clank.

"Good to see you Claire," he spoke in decent Basic, though he pronounced her name with a harsh 'k' sound. "Lookin' to get off of the glowing Coruscant too?"

"I've got my reasons." Claire said as she sat down in one of his wobbly, unbalanced chairs.

"Got creds?"

"Of course. I'm not an idiot. And don't try to scam me just because the demand's high. You owe me a favor."

"If I'm correct you owe me, a favor."

"That's news to me." Claire narrowed her brows and leaned forward. "Stars Anir, you really going to play this game with me now?"

"Business is slow. Business will get tighter with the war over and people fleeing. Need to make my way as well."

"Look, I'll pay five percent extra, how's that?"

He folded his hands in his lap. "Make it twenty-five or you can leave now."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty."

"Fifteen is as low as I'm going."

"Fifteen and you give me your protocol droid."

DA-R1's lighted eyes brightened and her head swiveled towards Claire, about to say something. Her master raised a hand to stop her and shook her head toward Anir.

"No, she's not on the table. Twenty percent of the rate and you give me a few minutes on one of your secure com channels."

"Twenty percent and five minutes."

"You have a deal."

Claire stood for her chair, and they shook on it. Anir guided her to his personal holoterminal in the back room and powered it on.

"You've got five minutes, and that's not negotiable. The security scrambler lasts for that length of time and after that you're revealed." As he adjusted the settings, he asked, "Personal holocom?"

"Yes."

"Type in the number and it'll go through."

Claire took a deep breath. She was betting everything on the possibility that he had returned to Coruscant. She had overheard whispers that the Jedi Temple was sending a message calling for all remaining Jedi to return. Knowing Obi-Wan and his bravery streaks, he would come to deactivate that message and in turn send a warning to stay away. She typed in the number and swallowed hard.

"Five minutes." He said as he stepped back into the shop's main room. "Good luck."

Claire crossed her fingers, desperately hoping he would answer despite the code being foreign and scrambled. She was betting so much on this and time was slipping away with every second.

Finally, Obi-Wan picked up and his holographic image appeared. She nearly burst into tears out of happiness. He was alive and still on Coruscant. There really was a chance for hope!

"Obi-Wan, this is Claire."

"Your image is difficult to make out, but I hear you. I can't talk too loud."

"Where are you?"

He hesitated, though she wasn't sure it was because of his own apprehension or because he wanted her to stay away.

"It's terrible, Claire." His voice was hard, and she knew immediately that it was bad. Staring at his hologram, she could almost feel him through something surreal, perhaps the Force.

"We've had a significant loss of life," his voice was filled with so much sadness it made her tremble. "Anakin, he's..."

"Listen, I don't have much time to explain. I need to see you, in person. Somehow, someway. I can secure passage for us and a few other refugees."

"Claire, I'm afraid that's impossible." It disturbed her to hear him listless and pessimistic.

"No, it isn't, trust me. Please, trust me. Tell me where you are and I'll-"

The holoterminal shut off.

"Five minutes."

Claire nearly screamed. She reached for her blaster and shoved its barrel into Anir's side.

"You're going to trace that holocom right now for the exact coordinates. I'm not misremembering. I'm the one who pulled your sorry ass out of the fire when Republic security was going down on you for selling spice."

Anir raised his hands into the air in full surrender. "Fine, fine. But this will cost you-"

"I'm retracting the previous contract. The new one is you get me a trace on that call and I don't shoot you in the stomach, in which you'll die a slow, painful death."

Anir grumbled and she pressed her blaster further against him. It only took him a few seconds to trace Obi-Wan's holocom.

"Great," she stepped back, called out for DA-R1 to get ready to leave. She continued to point the blaster at the Rodian, who kept his hands in the air.

"Nice doing business," Claire bitterly said.


It took only ten minutes to race over to the a private, secluded hangar bay. She needed to catch Obi-Wan before he and other potential refugees made their escapes from the planet.

Her speeder skidded against the landing pad and ungraciously stopped with a jerk. She saw him preparing to board a small ship.

"Obi-Wan!" She called out, nearly stumbling over the side of her speeder.

To her relief, he stopped and stared as she ran toward him. DA-R1 followed after her stiffly. Once in range, she embraced him tightly and noticed that he didn't embrace her back. When she turned to meet his eyes, she saw how empty they were.

"What is it?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. When it seemed like she wasn't going to get a response besides a blank expression, she gently shook him by the shoulders. "Please, tell me."

His eyes moved to meet hers, and it was as if he were recognizing her at last.

"Claire?" he paused, as if he couldn't believe she was standing before him. "Claire," he reached up and cupped her face. "I have to stop him."

"Stop who?"

"Anakin," he couldn't say the name without his voice cracking. Her heart sank to the bottom of her chest. "Claire he's fallen. Oh how far he's fallen."

Claire's eyes widened. Obi-Wan was on the brink of losing it, of falling to pieces.

"I...I have to stop my brother from hurting anyone else."

She embraced him again and this time he held her back, squeezing her, breathing in her smell. Their world crumbled around them-her physical home and the home where her heart lay, with Obi-Wan. His resolve cracked and she listened to him with her eyes closed and her fingers smoothing out his hair.

"Try to get through to him," she suggested, even if the idea was flawed and futile. She didn't know the total parameters of his situation, there wasn't time to know, but she offered what little she could. "He loves you. Whatever's happened, you're the only person who can get through to him." She frowned and closed her eyes again in order to prevent them from watering. "Don't think about any other alternative while there's still hope."
Obi-Wan nodded against her and pulled away slightly. He searched her eyes for answers, and although he found no definite ones, he found the safe haven he always found.

"I don't know if we'll ever see each other again."

"Don't say that," she stated quickly. "Don't you dare think like that. We've been through too much to give up." She swallowed hard and her own resolve was faltering. There had to be hope. There had to be something. "We're going to Naboo someday. You and me. We're...we're going to sit on the lake eating a picnic of their finest cuisine, and we're going to wander through the markets, and we'll be happy, you and me, because stars Obi-Wan, you made a promise and I intend to have you keep it."

His frown only deepened, but he didn't say anything. He neither confirmed or refuted the possibility, but she could see the nonverbal doubt. Claire needed to think of something fast.

"Dari!" Claire pulled away from Obi-Wan and went to her loyal droid at her side. "Dari, you have been my best creation yet. I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for you." Claire swallowed hard and moved in order to stand behind her droid. She reached into her satchel, pulled out her hydro-spanner, and began undoing the bolts on DA-R1's neck, where her memory core stayed. "You're my best friend, and I'm so sorry for doing this to you. One day we'll be reunited."

She opened the hatch. "Goodbye for now, Dari. Thanks for everything."

"It's been a pleasure to serve."

She then carefully pulled out the small glittering memory core, and Dari immediately shut down and slumped forward, hanging limply. She placed the hydro-spanner back into her satchel.

Claire walked back to Obi-Wan, holding the machinery in her hand.

"I want you to have this." Claire reached into her satchel and pulled out a small scarf in order to wrap the fragile device. She then handed it to him, but he shook his head.

"I want you to have it," she implored. "Consider it temporary. You'll feel compelled to return it to me one day, because you're that sort of man. I'll have Dari's frame with me, and I will not use her again until I have this core again. I will use no other droid than her."

"Claire-"

She placed it inside of his hand and curled his fingers around the small core.

"I'm going to look for you. I'm going to do whatever I can to find you after. I promise you that. And I expect to follow through with my promise just as much as your own."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. Somewhere the Chancellor won't find me. Certainly not the Core Worlds."

Obi-Wan placed the core into his robe's inner pocket. He then leaned forward and stole her lips in a final kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to make it last as long as possible. She knew this separation could last longer, even significantly longer than three years. She didn't know how she was going to get through that pain, but she knew there needed to be some kind of end goal, no matter how far off it might be.

When they pulled a part, Obi-Wan whispered, "Whatever happens, know that I love you. Know that you've made me happier than I can ever express. You've fixed me in more ways than one."

Her eyes watered. "The robot trope, again?"

He sighed, and she was so pleased to see a small, if fleeting, smile. "I love you Claire, and I should have told you so much sooner."

"I know," she leaned forward and mouthed those same three words against his ear as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Goodbye Obi-Wan Kenobi." Her chest clenched. "May the Force be with you."

Claire then let him go, with him going to face his demons, his pain, and the only other person he loved in the galaxy, and her going to face the almost insurmountable loneliness and diaspora. She gathered DA-R1's lifeless body and watched his ship's engine roar to life, and then he was ascending and she waited until his ship was a dot in the sunset sky over Coruscant.

The first step back to her speeder, with her droid's body limp in her arms, was the loneliest moment of her life.


The worst day, however, came two months later, when Claire woke up in a hurry from her uncomfortable bottom bunk on a civilian class transport freighter in order to empty her stomach into the refresher.