As promised, a double update! Enjoy, read, & review! Cheers! (I don't own Star Wars. Sadly.)

The Clone Wars, Part 4- Landing at Point Rain

Obi-Wan felt sick. There was no way his men could hold out. Their circle of defense kept getting smaller and smaller until finally his men abandoned their posts and simply formed a protective circle around him. No. That would not do.

Using a crate for leverage and biting back a cry of pain, Obi-Wan staggered to his feet, gripping his lightsaber painfully tight in his hand. If today was his day to die, it would not be without a fight. He bared his teeth and ignited his blade.

But then, a ship. A friendly ship. He blinked. It couldn't be. He was hallucinating, certainly. It was only when Cody shouted, "Reinforcements have arrived!" that Obi-Wan believed what he was seeing. Ship after ship followed the first, taking out Geonosians, droids, and their guns with every shot. His men whooped and hollered as the squadron flew overhead. They rushed to meet their rescuers, but it was all Obi-Wan could do to lower himself back to the ground, all the fight drained out of him as quickly as it had come. He had been so certain today was the day he would face death, but now… Now it was over. His head swam with relief. He closed his eyes. It was done. It was over.

Anakin and Ahsoka spotted him right away. For one, brief, terrifying moment, Anakin thought his old master was dead. He was so still, but not in the rigid way he was during meditation. A quick check on their bond reassured him that Obi-Wan hadn't left him. He was wounded and exhausted, but thank the Force, he was alive.

Ahsoka reached him first. "Master Kenobi!"

Obi-Wan gave her a small smile, reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at that, relief obvious on her young features.

"Well, what happened to you?" Anakin couldn't resist teasing.

"I might ask you that same question," Obi-Wan retorted, raising his brow at his old padawan.

Anakin began to probe their bond to determine Obi-Wan's injuries, but the older Jedi had his walls firmly in place. "Obi-Wan…"

He shook his head. There was still too much to do. "Not now, Anakin."

Anakin clenched his jaw shut. He knew better than to push, at least right now. The mission wasn't over, and like he told Ahsoka, he had to keep his mind on the here and now.

Not that that would stop him from worrying entirely though.

From where he sat still leaning against the crate, Obi-Wan pulled up a map to show Ki-Adi Mundi, Anakin, Ahsoka, and their men how they would go about taking the shield generator down. "Anakin, you'll need to take a small squad through the shield. As close as you can get to their gun emplacements," he said, pausing to catch his breath. Anakin eyed him warily but Obi-Wan pretended not to notice. "From there," he continued, "you'll be able to temporarily jam their scanners so they are unable to target the incoming tanks. Once the tanks knock out the shield, Master Mundi can bring the rest of the troops in with the gunships."

Anakin nodded. "Consider it done, Master."

Obi-Wan nodded in return and they all dispersed to carry out their part of the plan. Before Anakin could get too far though, he heard a familiar voice call him back. Obi-Wan's bright blue eyes met his. 'May the Force be with you, Padawan,' the voice of his master echoed across their bond.

"I think you need it more than I do right now," Anakin grinned back before running after his team.

At Mundi's signal, Anakin ignited his blue blade and charged forward, leading his men through the shield and toward the gun emplacements just as Obi-Wan had told him. He could feel Obi-Wan through their bond, pushing him, driving him, as though he was right there beside him. He paused only once, kneeling beside Ahsoka behind a large rock.

"Let's jam their scanners," he told her, handing her an explosive. "Ready?"

They hurled the droid poppers over their heads and toward the guns. Within seconds, they had fried their scanners. "It looks like it's working!" Ahsoka confirmed.

Anakin shook his head. "It won't last long." He then spoke into his comm, "Bring in the tanks!"

The tanks fired on the scanners and shield generator, taking it down and allowing for Master Mundi to fly in with his troops. The Geonosians surrendered without much more of a fight.

As soon as he was able, Anakin raced back to where he had left Obi-Wan with Boil, Waxer, and Cody. "Master?"

Although Anakin still called him Master from time to time, it was no different than the term he used for Yoda or Mace. Usually. Now though, Obi-Wan could hear the difference. This was the voice of his padawan. Afraid, hopeful, and so very young. "I'm here, Anakin," he reassured him, just as he had for the last eleven years. "Are you and Ahsoka alright?"

Anakin knelt beside him and nodded. "We got the generator down. The Geonosians surrendered."

"Good," Obi-Wan sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the crate.

Anakin fought hard to keep the panic out of his voice. "Master, what is it? Are you alright?"

A half smile tugged at Obi-Wan's lips from beneath his beard. "I will be. Help me back to the ship."

He nodded, looping Obi-Wan's arm around his shoulders and slowly bringing them both to their feet. Obi-Wan groaned.

"What? What is it?" Anakin snapped, craning his neck to find any blood or broken bones on his former master.

"Just a dizzy spell."

"Alright. We'll go slow."

Ahsoka came bounding up to the exhausted dynamic duo as they shuffled back to the ship. "So, Master," she chirped, "what was your total?"

"Not now, Ahsoka."

"Come on," she goaded, falling into step beside them. "Are you afraid you lost this time?"

"Fine," he grinned. "Fifty-five. That's my count. And you?"

"Sixty! Looks like I won."

"Yeah… but I called in the air strike! Tie."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're impossible."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I'll never understand how you can simplify these battles into some kind of game."

"You're right," Anakin shrugged as Master Mundi helped Obi-Wan aboard. "Then I guess we won't count this time that I saved your life… again?"

Obi-Wan shook his head and chuckled. "Fair enough, Anakin."

"Well, take care of yourselves," Anakin told the two Masters before him. "I expect to see both of you back here by the time I've destroyed the main factory."

"We shall do our best," Obi-Wan promised.

"Sixty-five, Skywalker," Mundi spoke up.

"Um… I'm sorry?"

"My total," he clarified. "Sixty-five. So what do I win?"

Obi-Wan and Anakin shared a look and tried not to laugh. "My everlasting respect, Master Mundi," Anakin bowed.

"That is a gift Anakin rarely bestows, I assure you," Obi-Wan added.

With one last look between master and former apprentice, the ship doors sealed shut and took off for Coruscant.

Once, years ago when they were both so young, Obi-Wan had told Padme she was Force-sensitive. Not much, just a little bit. Enough to feel things. She couldn't explain it any other way than that. She felt the pull toward the decisions she made with such clarity it sometimes alarmed her. She felt the emotions of those she loved more deeply than she should. She felt the shift when something was about to happen. And that's why she knew, even though Obi-Wan was not due back from Coruscant until the next day, something was very wrong.

The minute she'd finished with her meeting at the Senate, she rushed to the Jedi Temple. She didn't think. She didn't ask questions. She followed the slight prodding at the outskirts of her consciousness, knowing it would lead her to where she needed to be. She was a familiar enough face in the Temple. Senators and Jedi alike were often called to the Temple or the Senate building for official business. It was only when she found herself in the Halls of Healing that the panic she'd been able to keep controlled until now began to bubble over. Her heart beat painfully in her chest and echoed in her ears as she picked up her skirts and ran in the direction she was being pulled. Please let him be alright, please let him be alright, please…

She stopped abruptly as she rounded one last corner, laying eyes on the first doorway to her right. Trying to slow her breathing, she entered the room, steeling herself for the worst.

And there he was, unconscious on the bio-bed, his face far paler than it should be. There was a bandage around his head, one on his cheek to stop the bleeding, a bulky one around his chest, and by the way his leg was laying beneath the thin blanket, she could tell it was broken. "Oh Obi-Wan," she sighed as she moved toward him, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking his cheek, running her fingers lightly over his beard. And with no one around to see, she laid her head down on his chest and counted each steady beat of his heart.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan's cry was punctuated with a groan as his broken ribs protest the sudden movement. Padme's gentle hands were there, coaxing him to lay back down on the bed.

"Easy, my love," she hummed, "easy. You're safe."

His cerulean gaze finally settled on her. "Padme? Where…"

"You're in your quarters. You're home, it's alright."

His breathing became more regular and his tense muscles relaxed. "How long has it been?"

"Not long," she reassured him, taking his hand and holding it in her lap. "You returned from Geonosis this morning. It's 8:30 in the evening now."

He nodded, taking a moment to assess his injuries. Broken ribs, a nasty headache, a broken leg, and a small itching bacta patch on his cheek. "How did I get here?" he asked.

Master Che usually made him stay in the Halls of Healing at least overnight, and that was for much less than broken ribs, a broken leg, and a concussion.

"Master Che knows you better than you think," Padme smiled fondly. "She knew you'd try to escape once you woke up, so she asked that I accompany you to your apartment and care for you until Anakin returns."

Obi-Wan chuckled. Master Che had always blamed him for Anakin's impatience with the Halls of Healing and never failed to remind him it was his own fault when Anakin rebelled against taking proper care of himself. Speaking of which, "Has anyone heard from Anakin?"

"Not that I know of," she said. Obi-Wan nodded. He hadn't expected her to know. Truthfully, it would be odd for them to inform a Senator of a Jedi's comings and goings.

However, he knew she and Anakin were close and that his former padawan may have reached out to her.

"We always end up here, don't we?" she said, running her thumb over the back of his hand. "One of us trying to stifle our fear as we wait by the bedside of the other?"

"There is no fear. Only the Force," Obi-Wan said, knowing it wasn't as simple as that even as he said it. He'd felt fear far too many times to count.

Judging from the look on her face, the platitude went over about as well as it ever did with his former padawan.

"That's much easier for you to say when you're not usually the one waiting," she snapped, letting go of his hand and moving to the window, watching the night life of Coruscant rush by.

"Padme-" he began, forgetting his injuries for a moment and trying to sit up. He gasped as white-hot pain flared in his chest and struggled to control his breathing.

She sighed, moving back to his side. "Here," she said, pressing two white capsules into his palm. "Master Che said to take these every six hours for the pain. We'll change your bandages in an hour when they start working."

Obi-Wan agreed without a fight, which caused some worry for Padme. Obi-Wan was never one to readily agree to medication unless he was in extreme amounts of pain. "I'm sorry," she said, after he'd swallowed the pills and finished the glass of water she gave him. "I shouldn't have snapped like that. I know your training-"

"Causes me to say all the wrong things, it would seem," he finished for her. "With you and Anakin, I'm afraid."

When she dared to once again meet his gaze, she was reminded of the young knight she found on the balcony of Theed Palace. Lost in a sea of emotions he did not know how to find his way out of. She gripped his hand in both hers. "You say the right things more often than you give yourself credit for. But I worry about you. You're fighting a war, Obi-Wan. We hear about it. We talk in circles about it in the Senate meetings, but…" she sighed and shook her head. "You're in it. And I'm afraid someday…"

"Someday isn't today, Padme," he gently reminded her. "I'm here. Wasn't it you who made me promise that I would go on, should something happen to you?" he teased, but there was a softness in his eyes that let her know he wasn't taking the matter lightly.

She thought about her next words very carefully, admitting them while staring at their entwined hands. "I don't know that I could."

"You could," he was quick to reassure her. "Padme, look at me." When she did, he caught her gaze and held it as he spoke with such conviction, she would have wondered if he was using the Force if she didn't know him better, "You could. You are stronger than you know."

She nodded.

"Promise me."

She blinked back her tears and lifted her head. "Very well. I promise."

"Good," he smiled, bringing her hands up to his lips so he could press a kiss to her fingers. "Now, I need you to promise me something else. Will you stay with me?"

There it was again. That shift. Something was about to happen. "Of course. Until Anakin-"

"Not just tonight," he said slowly, for although the Force hummed happily through him, his heart was galloping wildly in his chest and he desperately wanted to get this right. "Stay with me, Padme. Forever." Raising one hand, he beckoned a small draw-string bag from a drawer across the room. "I had other plans for this, but we are so seldom alone…"

From the bag, he pulled a silver ring with a stunning blue stone embedded in it. "It's a kyber crystal. The same from which I fashioned my lightsaber."

"Obi-Wan… It's breathtaking."

His blue eyes shone brighter than the crystal. "Does that mean you will?"

"Yes, of course, but," she frowned, "we can't. What about the Code? The Council? Our duty to the Republic?"

"I was afraid you'd say something sensible," he chuckled, stroking her cheek with such tenderness she felt a shiver run down her back. "Padme, I've given this a lot of thought. Hours of meditation. I am stronger with you. My mind is clearer, my decisions more pure. You are the light in me. The Code forbids attachments, not love. You've never once asked me to compromise my position as a Jedi for you. All you ask is for my love in return for yours. And that is something I am all too happy to give you for the rest of my life."

She kissed him soundly. "Nothing would make me happier."

"It's settled then. As soon as I'm well enough, we'll go back to Naboo. We can be married there."

"On the balcony, where we had our first kiss," she said as she lay down beside him.

"I remember it well," he hummed, pressing a kiss to her head. "Padme, would you mind very much if we kept it a secret?"

"No. I suppose that would be for the best. Other people wouldn't understand it like we do."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Will you tell Anakin?"

Obi-Wan sighed and stroked his beard. "I haven't decided yet. I'm not sure how he would react to such news. He has such wavering faith in the ways of the Jedi as it is… And I know he is quite attached to you." He felt her stiffen slightly in his arms. "Darling, what is it?"

"He… well, Anakin and I," she sighed, moving to sit up. Obi-Wan did the same. "Back in the beginning of the war, you remember when you two were assigned to protect me, and Ani and I went back to Naboo?"

"I do recall, yes."

"Well, Ani, he… he told me he loved me. He wanted us to be together and to keep it a secret."

Obi-Wan's gaze fell to where his hands were folded in his lap. "I see. And you? What were your feelings?"

She stayed silent for a moment or two, unsure of how to respond.

"It's alright, Padme," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and running his thumb along her jaw. "You can tell me. All I ever want is for you to be happy."

"You and I had decided to end things, and it… It sounded so easy to love Anakin. And I did, but not in the way he wanted me to. We kissed twice, Obi-Wan, but that was all, I swear to you. I couldn't stop thinking of you, and I knew I could never feel for Anakin what I felt for you."

"How did you leave it with him?"

"I told him I didn't love him the way he thought he loved me. He was… upset. I think he's mostly recovered, but I'm afraid some feelings may still linger."

"It's certainly possible. Anakin tends toward extremes."

Padme huffed. "To say the least. Are you… are you upset?"

"No," he was quick to reassure her. "I'm glad you told me. As I said, what I desire most is for you to be happy. Even if that would have meant you choosing Anakin over me. I would have stepped aside."

"No," she shook her head, placing her hands on either side of his dear face and pressing a desperate kiss to his lips. "No. There was never a choice. That's what I came to realize. I love you, Obi-Wan. I will always love you. Nothing and no one can ever change that."

She brought her forehead to rest against his, and he smiled, a contented sigh passing his lips. "My love. My queen."

Padme smiled softly. "My husband."