Chapter Twenty-Nine

Like waking from the sweetest dream only to find that the dream was in fact, reality, Obi-Wan opened his eyes to a glorious sight, and reveled in the feel of the warm body pressed firmly against him.

The predawn air of the guest quarters was filled with the soft sounds of Padmé's breathing as she continued sleeping, and the Knight eased up, resting his head on a bent arm so that he could admire the vision beside him.

Having washed her face of any evidence of her royalty, the queen's skin was smooth, umblemished, and pale -- glowing a soft pink in the very first rays of the Coruscant morning sun.

Instead of the nudity that he had noticed she slept in before, Obi-Wan ran his hand gently along the soothing silk of the nightgown she had opted to wear, revealing equally soft bare shoulders and back.

A contented sigh escaped the sleeping woman that would have filled his heart with contentment of his own were it not for the fact of what pending duty he was to perform this morning.

In just a couple of hours, Obi-Wan would be joining various other Jedi to donate their sperm in order to help the women of Ruwee conceive and save their race. It was his duty, but it wasn't what he wanted.

Just the thought of a strange woman bearing his child - a child whom he would probably never know, was difficult for the Jedi to consider. But it was the decision of the Council that none of the Knights or Masters involved would know just whose seed had been used, which was why twice as many Jedi were involved, including himself.

And then there was Padmé and the feelings he had developed for her, although he had struggled against them, to consider. Was it wrong to fantasize that the child she was going to bear was his own?

Perhaps not, but the truth was too painful to consider, and so he indulged in the dream just a bit longer, easing the back of his hand down the side of her body, coming into contact with fullness of the young woman's breast, which abruptly slowed his movements. Gauging her respirations to ensure she was still deeply asleep, Obi-Wan's thumb gingerly swept across the nipple, smoothing the silkiness of the negiglee across its peak.

This was ridiculous. He was only torturing himself.

Accepting the inevitable, which was a bitter pill to swallow, the Knight leaned down to place a kiss across Padmé's brow before rising from the bed, grabbing his boots, and leaving her quarters.

Once the door slid shut behind him though, a soft sniffle sounded out from the bed, where a pair of dark, open eyes filled with tears.

Jedi were taken four at a time into separate rooms in the south Healer's wing of the Jedi Temple, accompanied by Healer Trell and her Padawan.

Holovids were provided, along with a datascreen and a plastic cup.

Obi-Wan took the sample cup in one hand and flicked on the datascreen with the other. But once the Holonet site that had been set up for this very purpose began playing, he got the giggles.

He had never seen anything so ridiculous in all of his life. On the screen were a humanoid female, and a Celustean male sporting the biggest erection Obi-Wan had ever seen. The two actors didn't waste any time getting down to business, and the woman was uttering phrases, such that the young man had never heard. Not even on some of the brothel planets he and his Master had visited during their missions.

He glanced down to his open crotch in disappointment as his penis lay limp and uninterested, until part of the dialogue of the pornographic video caught his attention.

In between the loud moans and obscenities, the female had demanded that her partner touch her, and those two words invaded Obi-Wan thoughts, reminding him of when he lay with Padmé, his nostrils and hands filled with the scent and heat of her passion. And instead of the moans of the actress on the screen filling his head, suddenly, they were Padmé's -- softly pleading, her body arching up against him, his mouth hovering over her as their panting breaths mixed.

With those remembrances, Obi-Wan's erection leapt into his hand as he continued to focus upon those dark, trusting eyes -- timing his strokes along his shaft with those that he applied to her just a few nights ago.

The three women from Ruwee met one final time with the Coruscant physician before signing documents of Informed Consent for the procedure they were about to undergo.

The stout young assistant escorted them to the procedure rooms, where Padmé hesitated in the hallway, looking at her sister and her best friend, a moment of doubt gripping her heart.

Was this truly the best and only way? Was there no other? Surely, a child needed a father, but who would come to Ruwee to raise a child? Certainly, not any man Padmé could think of, and certainly not Obi-Wan.

He was a Jedi -- bound to his duties, and responsible for the peace of the entire Galaxy. And even though her heart cried out for union between them, and that he should be the one to father her child, Padmé realized the impossibility it, and so she forced a small grin upon her face.

"Good fortune, your highness." Dormé supplied as an ancient Ruwean blessing.

"And to you as well." Padmé offered back.

"All will be well." Sabé said as she performed the rarity of returning the Queen's smile. "You shall see."

Padmé stood her ground and watched as her closest friends entered their rooms, the doors sliding shut, sealing their fate behind them.

The holovid continued on, now blaring an obnoxious music, that Obi-Wan was not paying any attention to. Visions of a pale, sleek body underneath his calloused hands, his two fingers slipping inside an incredible warmth added to the Knight's heightened arousal as his erection firmed and thickened, his hand sweeping along the sensitized flesh.

It was easy to imagine it was Padmé who gripped him, Padmé whose voice filled the room he was seated in.

But the reality that it wasn't had not been hampered, and soon invaded the young man's fantasy, until Obi-Wan was a picture of frustration, his hand shooting away from his groin to power off the holovid, immediately adjusting his leggings and tunic, and standing to grab his cloak.

This just wasn't right. It wasn't meant to be this way. He knew that now. Just as clearly as he realized there was only one place he should be.

Padmé waited in anxious anticipation for the physician to enter the room, having already been prepped by his silent assistant.

Legs dangling in durasteel stirrups, a thin, light blue healer's gown draped over her body, Padmé realized she should've been cold, but the slight sheen of sweat that had broken out all over her and the trembling of her limbs had nothing to do with the temperature.

She was afraid, and it was a depth of fear that the young woman was unfamiliar with. Ever since having weaned herself from the bionites that controlled her emotions, Padmé had had to struggle with the odd anxiety or trickle of fear, but this feeling was daunting, and felt more like a sign.

A warning that something wasn't right.

This was what she wanted, but it was no longer the method of acquiring it that she desired.

The dream Padmé had had replayed in her mind, and the little green-eyed boy whom she held in her arms seemed to plead with her to make the vision become real. To bring him to life.

To do that, she had to find Obi-Wan before it was too late.