POV: Ahsoka Tano

Once again, we were in Jabba's main hall. I was kneeling beside Anakin's chair as he 'watched' the dancers. In reality, he was spanning his senses to listen to the many conversations around us.

I rested my head on his lap and closed my eyes. He was always so warm.

I felt his flesh hand rub my rear lek slowly. "I think I'm catching on to someone."

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He looked very distant, but he was doing his best to keep himself involved with me. "Oh?"

"Someone said something about a Jedi stealing crates of rum and such. We know Obi-Wan's had a problem with drinks, but he hasn't done anything recently. So if I understand this correctly, he stole from a bounty hunter."

"And the bounty hunter in question wants to kick his ass?"

"Yes. They stored him in the carbon for safekeeping until they get a freighter or some ship to head back to wherever they came from."

"For those of us that have no experience with carbon freezing, how do we free him?"

"I'm new to this, too, Ahsoka. I'm pretty sure I saw a panel of some sort, but I didn't have the chance to actually look at it."

"Then let's go look at it."

"All right," he internally sighed. "Come on."

He nudged me a bit until I stood up. He grabbed the part of the chain that was closest to the collar and tugged on it. "Ow," I whispered aloud.

He glanced back, hoping no one heard me. I mentally kicked myself because I should have known better. He'd only hit me enough times to prove that I needed to watch myself. "I didn't hit you to prove anything. I'm… trying… to fit the role."

We were finally alone and he loosened up. I sighed in relief as he turned around and put his hand against my face. "I'm going to try to keep the slave owner from hitting you again. I'm Anakin now, so…" he smiled and his eyes lit up a little.

I giggled and hugged him. "Okay, Anakin, let's go get Master Kenobi."

Our steps were silent as we crept through the corridors. We found the right one and entered the room we'd seen him in. To our surprise, he wasn't there anymore. "What the hell?"

I looked up at him. "How the frak do you move –"

A blaster was fired and he was shot in the right side. He fell to the floor, clutching the wound. I turned to see a Zabrak female. "Is your Master a Jedi, child?"

I stared at her, acting afraid. "I know he doesn't let you speak, but you can speak freely with me, little one."

I stared at Anakin. His eyes were shut tightly and his teeth were grinding against each other. "He's not a Jedi," I whispered.

"What do you want with the man in carbon?" she asked, stepping towards him.

I knelt down beside him and put pressure on his side. Blood was dripping down onto the cemented floor. "I… I've got a score… to settle with… the bastard…" he gasped, looking up at her.

He turned towards me and kept his eyes locked with mine. "I need you to subtly grab my blaster. It's attached to my trousers… near the top of my boots… beneath the overskirt…"

I turned my body to face him completely as I kept the pressure on his side. He shifted his leg closer to me and I reached towards his boots. I felt the blaster and carefully pulled it out and slid it into his hand. It was a small blaster, so I don't think the bounty hunter saw it.

She was too busy making sure no one else came into the room. "What issue needs to be resolved with him?" she asked Anakin.

I coughed violently when his eyes met mine. He loaded the blaster and set it to stun. He nodded slowly and I quickly moved out of his line of sight. A purple ray shot out of the blaster and enveloped the bounty hunter, temporarily paralyzing her.

I ran over to her and grabbed her blaster. "Give it to me," Anakin whispered from the floor. I turned and threw it to the floor. It slid beneath him.

"Damn you!" the Zabrak shouted at him.

I helped him up, wrapping his left arm around my shoulders. The blaster was in his left hand while the right hand was putting pressure on the wound. "Where is he?" Anakin asked.

She gave him a very cold look. "You are a Jedi. That scar gave you away. You're Skywalker, aren't you?"

"All right, I'm a Jedi," he admitted. He dropped the blaster and used the Force to hold the bounty hunter in the air. "So you'll tell me where the other Jedi is being held," he growled.

I stared up at his face. He seemed so determined and angry. His fingers were closing around each other, thus restricting the Zabrak's air. "Two – rooms – down," she gasped.

Anakin's shaking hand relaxed and she fell to the floor. "Thank you," he whispered.

With my help, he was able to walk out of the room. He was limping a bit, cringing and groaning at the pain in his side. "Anakin, let me go in there. I can handle it."

"No. I don't want you to get hurt."

He slammed himself against a wall and scared me a little. He lifted his arm from my shoulder and slid it down to his belt. He opened a compartment and slid my lightsaber out of it, handing it to me. "Be careful with that, please," he pleaded. I nodded as he pulled his own out of the belt.

"How did you fit those in there?"

"Snips, I make things to fit my needs."

I rolled my eyes. "Obviously."

"Ha ha," he sighed. "Very funny."

I pressed my hand against his side. His red tunic was stained with his blood. "I'm fine, Ahsoka. I really am."

"You're in a lot of pain."

"Nothing I can do about it now though. Come on. I need you to focus."

"What's the plan?"

"You lead and I'll watch your ass – I mean back."

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "You're funny."

He moved my hand away from him and straightened up. I stood on one side of the doorway as he moved towards the other side.

He nodded and I reached out and turned the knob to open the door. Something burst out of the room and jumped at me. I screamed and began to thrash as the person began to strangle me.

Whatever it was ended up being thrown down the corridor by Anakin. He extended his hand towards me and helped me up. "Sorry."

"Little delayed, Master?"

"I said sorry."

He looked at the figure lying on the floor. "That's another bounty hunter. He's a Trandoshan. Obviously there's something big going on if all these bounty hunters want Obi-Wan."

He backed up a bit and cautiously sidestepped into the room that Master Kenobi was supposedly in.

The block was in a corner. Anakin ran over to it and pressed his hand against one of Obi-Wan's. "This is definitely him."

"You can tell by touching a block?"

"I can feel him better," he said quickly. "Watch the door. I'm going to see if I can figure this thing out. The last thing I want to do is kill him. I won't be able to hear his complaints afterwards."

I rolled my eyes and watched the door for him. I glanced back as he began to guess which button did what. Halfway through the process, he began to second guess himself. "Anakin," I said, turning to face him. "Just do what you think you should do. If you keep rethinking everything, we'll be here for a while."

He bit his lip and nodded. He pressed a button and stepped back. "Please don't die," he kept repeating to himself in his head.

A bright light began to burn through the carbon. I walked towards him and wrapped my arms around him. His hand rested on my hip and his fingers traced one of the white stripes on my leg.

Master Kenobi's flesh began to show as the carbon dissolved around him. After a few moments, Master Kenobi's entire body was able to breathe.

Anakin quickly stepped forward and grabbed his former Master as he fell from the casing. Master Kenobi was shaking uncontrollably like he was freezing.

Anakin lowered him to the floor and I knelt down beside him. I put my hand on his shoulder and stared into his face. I lowered my hand and moved his hair away from his eyes. "He's alive. Everything worked," I whispered, smiling at him.

He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. I moved my hand down his face from his hair and rubbed his cheek. He held Master Kenobi in his arms until his eyes slowly opened. "What – what's going on?"

"Obi-Wan," Anakin breathed. "It's me. Ahsoka and I came for you."

"Where am I? I can't see a blasted thing."

"We're on Tatooine. How long do you think it'll take for your vision to return?"

His voice shook as he spoke and I could see him shaking a little. Obi-Wan reached up and touched Anakin's chest. "It'll be a while before I can see. I believe it takes a few hours."

"That's all we've got. There are Jedi on their way to come get us."

"Anakin, they can't learn anything from these bounty hunters," he whispered desperately. "They're sneaky and –"

"You stole from them."

"Why would I do such a –"

"You can't kriffing lie to me, Obi-Wan. I know you too damn well for that. Why didn't you tell me about this? You knew I had my own! I would have given you a glass or two for free. You could've saved us all from a lot of trouble," he snapped back.

I moved to his other side and held the wound that still had blood trickling out of it. "Damn it, Ahsoka," he growled, turning on me. His glare scared me. "Just stop touching it, okay?" he whispered.

"What's wrong?" Master Kenobi asked.

"Nothing."

"Ahsoka, what happened to him?"

"Don't bring it up or I'll be really upset with you."

I bit my lip and lifted myself a little to kiss his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned against my lips as I continued to slowly press them against his sweaty hair. "I love you," I whispered into his thoughts.

"I hope you know that I love you, too…"

"I do know that."

He smiled and turned his head to take my lips in a passionate kiss. We separated and smiled at each other.

I helped him lift Master Kenobi into a standing position. Anakin groaned as most of Master Kenobi's weight was on him. I stared up into his eyes, watching the amount of pain from there.

We carefully stepped out of the room, only to be met by several blasters. "Where do you think you're going?"

Master Kenobi ducked out of the way as Anakin's mechanical hand swung over his head and connected with a blaster. His left hand ignited his lightsaber and slashed through a few more blasters.

Anakin held his lightsaber out in front of him as he stood defensively in front of me and Master Kenobi. "Stand aside," he whispered, breathing heavily.

One of the men eyed me. "Give me the slave and we'll let you pass."

I stepped around Anakin and the man grabbed me. "What are you doing?" he screamed into my head.

"I'm giving you a chance to get him to safety. I still have my saber."

He stared at me and deactivated his lightsaber. "I'm coming back for you."

"I know. Just go. I'll be here when you get back."

He watched the bounty hunters. They stepped back and allowed him passage. He grabbed Master Kenobi and began to drag him. I watched him sling him over his left shoulder and run.

"Just be quick," I whispered to him.