Here's the last chapter! Thank you so much for everyone who has read and reviewed this fic! I greatly appreciate all of your comments! They make my days extremely bright and happy!

Chapter 9

A change in the atmosphere woke him from his slumber. Obi-Wan opened his eyes slowly, frowning at the dusty walls of his hovel. The air smelled different, a subtle scent that was oddly familiar. It was like the vaporators on a moisture farm, or the air on Coruscant before –

A rainstorm?

Grabbing for his sun-faded rode, Obi-Wan groaned as he stood, his back cracking loudly. The years hadn't been kind to him, and the heavy, charged feeling in the air made all his joints creak.

Shuffling to the door, Obi-Wan leaned against the rough stone and watched the brilliant purple lightning crackle over the sandy dunes. The wind had picked up, sweeping great billows of sand across the flat plains. Obi-Wan shielded his eyes against the grit, using his other hand to tug his hood up over his thinning grey hair.

Slowly at first, individual drops of rain fell, sending up puffs of dust and making craters in the sand. Obi-Wan breathed in deeply, relishing the damp taste of the air, usually so arid. A loud crack and a bone-shivering rumble of thunder, and the storm broke in a silvery sheet of water.

Obi-Wan stretched out his hands from the shelter of the doorway, gasping as the warm drops bounced off his weathered hands. It had been years since he had seen the rain, something that he had once taken completely for granted. Water on Tatooine was a valuable commodity.

Shrugging out of his dusty robe, Obi-Wan moved out into the rain, spreading his arms wide and tilting his head up to the sky. The water drenched his clothes, plastering his hair flat against his head. He closed his eyes tightly, relishing the thought of being completely clean for the first time in years. It was nearly impossible to be rid of the sand that managed to work its way into everything on the planet.

Reluctantly, Obi-Wan turned away from the storm, using the Force wantonly to summon every suitable vessel outside. There was no sense in wasting this rarity – it was one less thing he would have to barter for in the small town nearby.

A ghost of a smile twitched Obi-Wan's lips as he arranged the various containers to collect the precious water. He was remembering the wide blue eyes of a young Anakin, marvelling at his first ever storm on Coruscant. For the first time in years, his mind didn't shy away from the thought of his former apprentice.

Anakin.

He sank slowly to his knees, feeling his heart start to ache as memories flooded him, memories connected with the sound and taste of the rain. Anakin's heart pounding as Obi-Wan hugged him tightly on Togoria. Their first kiss, pressed against the elevator wall on the rooftop. Nights on campaign across the galaxy, their moans muffled against each other's lips and by the rain pounding on the canvas overhead.

He was sobbing, hands clenching in the damp sand as he doubled over in pain. He hadn't cried since he had broken off his affair with Anakin. He hadn't been able to grieve for the friends who had been killed in the Jedi purge, hadn't wept for the loss of his friend, partner, and lover.

And the pain eased as his tears slowed, as though a weight had finally been lifted from his heart. Obi-Wan sat back on his heels, staring up pensively at the sky. The storm was clearing, the rain slacking off. He could see glimpses of the stars now, twinkling lights that broke through the haze of low-lying clouds.

Obi-Wan couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of him unexpectedly, a gleeful cackle that reminded him almost of Yoda. He danced around in a circle, feeling freer than he had since he had arrived on this planet.

He had forgotten what it was like to be alive, resigning himself instead to a slow death alone on Tatooine. The rain on his skin had shocked him back to reality, had reminded him of all the memories he had tried to bury behind a mask of indifference.

Obi-Wan remembered Padmé's final words about Anakin: "There is still good in him."

Gazing up at the stars, heedless of the wind that cut through his sodden tunics, Obi-Wan finally could admit that she had been right. He hoped that Anakin himself would realize it soon. And when his apprentice's life ended, he would find Obi-Wan waiting to welcome him into the Force.

The storm had finally passed.