CHAPTER 21

"As of yet security are unsure as to when the family was taken hostage, the last time any of them were seen was yesterday evening when the Kenobi's eldest son was seen by a neighbour returning from a healer appointment. Security forces have corded off the area and are trying to contact the kidnappers but refuse to comment any further then to confirm that there are eight unidentified people in the house who are not members of the family. The family consists of seven members, five of whom are children aged from 5 to 17. There are also some who fear that the Kenobi's eldest son, Obi-Wan will go into early labour, he is in the late stages of his first pregnancy and experts fear that the stress of this situation may bring him into an early labour."

The reporter stopped her monologue, presumable so that said expert could say their bit. Qui-Gon turned his attention back to the house, watching for any sign of Obi-wan. He had caught a brief glimpse of someone who could have been Obi-wan, through the kitchen window, but he had been forced out of the room just as Qui-Gon arrived.

Qui-Gon had hidden in a tree across the road from the house shortly before the security team and media arrived, the mass of people around the house had increased until Qui-Gon had no way of leaving his hiding spot without being seen, to make things worse one of the media teams who arrived late had set up their camera right under him.

If anyone saw him they would have no doubt that he was an escaped prisoner, the extremely bright prison issue jumpsuit he was wearing was barely covered by the cloak he had taken from a closet in the transport he had stowed away on, the ship had belonged to a man from a much smaller humanoid species, so the only thing on the ship that fit him was a cloak that stopped halfway up his shins and only closed if he forced it, hence his current hiding place.

Reaching out with the force he could feel the family in the kitchen along with three others, Xanatos was in the next room, anger coming off of him in waves. There were two more unidentified people in the building guarding the entrances to two different rooms.

One room held Jedi Padawans Bant and Garen, Bant's force signature worried him, it was weak, she was obviously sick and needed to be removed from there soon or she would die; Garen felt panicky, most likely from worry for Bant's health then being a hostage, both had traces of drugs in their systems which was blocking their access to but not their presence in the Force, but he was otherwise fine.

In the other guarded room he found what he was searching for. Obi-wan was alone in the room but pain radiated off of him. Qui-Gon tried to find the source of the pain but another presence reached out towards him. He withdrew and shielded himself, as of yet he did not want Xanatos to know that he was there he didn't trust him not to hurt one of the family just to spite him.

The Force warned him seconds before something small but hard hit him between the shoulder blades. The turned and found a young woman standing at the base of the tree holding a blanket. It was the young girl who had been in one of the pictures that Xanatos had taken. She waved at him to come down from the tree.

He glanced around found that everyone else was watching the house and had not noticed him. Trusting his instincts he jumped down hitting the ground with no sound and the girl instantly wrapped the blanket around him, covering his clothing much more then the cloak did, it was a cold day so the blanket didn't look so out of place plus the extra grey that had appeared in his hair since his imprisonment made it so he could pass for the girls grandpa.

"Come with me," the girl led him away from the crowd and across one of the nearby parks then into one of the houses across the street. She closed the door carefully behind him.
"Qui-Gon I presume," he nodded, "I had a feeling you would appear when I heard what happened, Wait here, I'll find you some proper cloths, what your wearing just screams escaped prisoner."

She left the room before he could respond and returned a few minutes later with a pile of cloths.
"These pants might be a bit small but that will be hidden by the boots," she dumped the cloths in his arms and took the blanket back, then impatiently she said, "go on then the bathrooms down the hall first door on your right, I'll make you something to eat."

She left the room again before he could say anything, he still didn't know who she was, although she seemed to be a friend of Obi-Wan's so that would have to be enough for now.

When he woke Obi-wan was sprawled in the middle of his parents' bed. Terrian and the girls weren't in the room so he could only guess that they were still in the kitchen, although he wasn't going to check, he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself or incur Xanatos' wrath again, at least for a while.

A fresh wave of pain ran through him as he pushed himself into a sitting position then scooted back before collapsing into the pillows. He looked down at the source of the pain. The guard had really done a number on his leg; both the bones in his lower leg had snapped and were now sticking out through the skin leaving a large gash in his leg. Blood was still seeping out of the wound onto the bed covers which had changed from a light cream to the reddish-brown of dried and drying blood.

He winced as the pain that had woken him shot through him again; it lasted only for a minute but left him gasping for breath. There was no way that he could set his leg, but it needed to be done soon, he would have to wait for Terrian to return and hope that the girls were left with their parents, although that was highly unlikely.

The bed had become a sticky, caking mess but Obi-wan didn't have the strength to remove the sheets and the floor didn't look in any way more appealing, plus he would never be able to get back up again and he didn't want to be caught on the floor if Xanatos come in. Instead he lay back in the pillows, he would try to sleep now while he didn't need to watch over his siblings, he had a feeling he wouldn't be getting a chance to sleep again any time soon.

Obi-wan didn't get much sleep, the pain was getting worse as time want by, he was also worried about the children, it was hours since he had been forced out of the kitchen; he had also remembered the other part of his punishment.

Bant's distress radiated through the force along with Garen's concern, Bant could cope for a few hours in the heat as long as she was health and stayed well hydrated and he doubted that Xanatos had given them so much as a drink of water since they were locked away coupled with the drug they had been given, it was very likely that they were both dehydrated, which in itself was dangerous for Bant, Garen could last a day or more but Bant wouldn't last much longer. The final thing keeping him awake was the noise coming from the street in front of the house, apparently the situation had been discovered and local security had arrived, attracting the attention of the neighbours and the media.

Obi-wan curled up again leaving his injured leg straight as the pain came again, it was getting faster and lasting longer now, making it harder for him to deny what was happening. It was early by a month but he had been told to avoid stressful situations that could bring it on early, and there was nothing about this situation that wasn't stressful. But he refused to let this happen now when Xanatos was nearby and could use it against him, which was why he hadn't done anything to attract attention to himself.

He bit into the pillow he was laying on to stop himself from crying out the next time a contraction hit. He uncurled slightly when it ended relaxing as much as was possible in the situation and breathing deeply. A blaster fired somewhere else in the house and he shot up in bed, he could hear the shouts and screams of multiple people from the direction of the kitchen. He wondered briefly if the amount of time that Xanatos had given Qui-Gon had past, but looking at the time displayed on the bedside table told him it had only been one day, Xanatos had given them two.

The sound outside the house had ceased but come back quickly seemingly twice as load as before. There was still a lot of noise from the kitchen, he could make out Terrians' voice but not what he was saying, there were a few crashes from the kitchen that sounded like the chairs had toppled then another shot was fired before all sound in the kitchen stopped.

Along with the second shot came another problem for Obi-wan, a new substance had joined the blood on the bed, soaking his lower half. He could no longer deny that the baby was coming and nothing was going to stop it.

A/N as always I don't know when I will update again, I will try to make it soon, maybe next week but I am not sure. This fic shouldn't go on for too much longer.

Hope you liked this chapter.

Lov

JediBant