Qui-Gon woke to a squish.

He blinked his eyes open, finding them dry. The room was dark and cool, but sweat still clung to his skin, sticking him to the sheets beneath, pooling in the nape of his neck, trapped by his tangled hair. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was as dry and parched as his eyes.

Squishhhh

He blinked again, and his faithful apprentice appeared above him, damp cloth in hand. "It's okay, Master. We're safe now."

Despite not being able to speak, Qui-Gon reached out through their bond.

/What happened? Where are we?/

Obi-Wan's voice was soft as he poured water from a pitcher into a cup. "Back home. Master Windu rescued us from Teth after you got sick. Healers said it's a type of Jungle Fever, carried by the insects. Your fever was pretty high, but the Healers said you'll be okay in a few days. How are you feeling?"

/I've been better. Been worse too. Are you alright?/

Obi-Wan shrugged, rolling up one of his sleeves, revealing his arm wrapped with gauze.

/What happened?/

"It was my fault. I was trying to start a fire before night fall, but I just ended up burning myself. I'll be fine, though, I'm worried about you."

Qui-Gon rolled his eyes while he scanned his padawan, confirming that his injury was indeed minor. Obi-Wan nudged him back through the Force, feeling his prescense intrude. "Are you thirsty?" Qui-Gon nodded, eager to relieve his dry and aching throat.

Obi-Wan smiled and tucked his hand under his Master's head. Lifting it, he pressed the cup to his teacher's lips. Qui-Gon drank deeply and drained the glass. Obi-Wan set the cup down and lowered his Master back to the mattress.

Qui-Gon smiled gratefully as he closed his eyes, drawing the peace of the Force to him.

Squishh.

Qui-Gon opened one eye, lazily, watching Obi-Wan wring out a cloth and place it on his Master's brow.

"Better?"

Qui-Gon grinned. /Much better. Thank you, Obi-Wan./

"Think nothing of it, Master."

Obi-Wan woke to a thud.

A deep, resounding thud that echoed through the room, immediately followed by a soft cry. He blinked and propped himself up on his elbows, looking for the source of the strange sound. It didn't take long to locate it.

Anakin was standing near the corner of a room. Of a sudden, he reared back and slammed his fist into the wall. He sucked in a breath through his teeth, fighting through the pain. He shook his head again, and let another punch fly, this time with his left hand.

"Ani..." he called, weakly. Anakin's head whipped around, his blue eyes stormy, but a smile on his face. "Master! You're awake!" Still smiling, he bounded over and took a seat next to his teacher's bed. Relief flooded their bond, waves of it cascading from either side. "Do you remember what happened?"

Obi-Wan paused, glancing around the room, confirming that they were indeed back at the Temple, in the medcenter.

"I take it our distress signal was received?"

Anakin giggled. "R2 managed to get through, and we were rescued within the planetary rotation. The Healer said you'd be fine, Master. They already removed the bone knitters from your leg and your burns are mostly healed. They've taken us off active duty for the next few weeks, though, so you can fully heal."

A welcome break. Obi-Wan thought, careful to keep his shields in place. But I am not the only one who needs to heal.

Obi-Wan held out his hand, asking for Anakin's. The boy's face fell, as he reluctantly placed his hand in his teacher's. The knuckles were scraped raw, and bloody. They had to hurt, yet Anakin showed no sign of pain. Obi-Wan looked up at his charge expectantly. "Well, what happened here? I don't think mindful meditation caused this, hmm?"

Anakin shook his head. "I'm sorry Master. I know it wasn't Jedi-like. I was just upset. But you're awake now, so everything's okay."

Now, Obi-Wan understood. The guilt that was weighing down his apprentice was finally revealed.

"Ani, it's not your fault that we crashed."

"But I was piloting the ship!"

"-when we got hit by a meteor. That, my very young apprentice, is not your fault. You have no control over the astral bodies of space. It was an accident, Ani, nothing more."

Anakin frowned, unwilling to accept mere fate as the cause of his Master's condition.

"But I was supposed to protect you!"

Obi-Wan nodded. "A Master and Padawan protect each other. And you did, Anakin. When we crashed and I was knocked out, it was you who kept a level head and got us rescued. You did exactly what you were supposed to do. And I'm very glad you did."

Anakin sighed, but the more he considered it, the more he had to agree. More relief flooded the bond, washing away any trace of guilt or worry. Obi-Wan smiled, releasing his apprentice's hand.

"Now go get cleaned up, and bring back your datapad. If we're going to be at the Temple for a while, we should probably discuss your class schedule."

Anakin sighed and sulked out of the room, one last thought floating through their bond.

/Why couldn't he have slept a little longer?/

Anakin woke to a snore.

At first, he wasn't sure if someone was snoring. It sounded more like a drunken hutt and a sick bantha had a child and whatever that thing was had a snoring problem. The noise was loud and thick, almost guttural. After a few minutes, Anakin's semi-conscious patience had worn out. He was trying to sleep for Force's sake, something he had not gotten enough of since the beginning of the war, and since the intruder in his room obviously had no trouble sleeping whatsoever, they wouldn't mind being asked to go somewhere else.

Anakin opened his eyes blearily, looking around the room, searching for the source of the sound. His vision finally cleared, and he discovered he was going to have to deal with the sound, at least for a little while.

Ahsoka was curled up in a hospital chair next to his bed, one hand reaching out to grasp his own. She had abandoned her boots and service belt on the floor, allowing her as much space as was possible to sleep. And snore, apparently.

But despite the alien sounds coming from his apprentice's mouth, Anakin had to admit she looked peaceful, more than she had been in a long time. As she curled up into an even tighter ball, he also realized that she looked a lot younger than fifteen.

"She hasn't moved in days."

The new voice broke Anakin out of his musings and he looked up to find his Master standing in the doorway. Obi-Wan smiled and joined Ahsoka at his bedside.

"She's been lurking around the medcenter since you landed, but once you came out of the bacta tanks she hasn't left that chair. I've brought her some food and tried to get her to go back to your quarters but she wasn't having any of it. I think you really worried her this time."

Anakin smirked. "She'll forgive me. She always does."

"I hope so, for your sake. I finally just gave her a sleep suggestion; she didn't even have strength left to fight it. I think you both needed the rest."

Anakin nodded, watching as his former Master tucked a cloak around the young girl, who gripped it tight and snuggled into the familiar scent. "Thank you for taking care of her."

Obi-Wan smiled, drifting back to the doorway as he spoke. "Let's just say I'm returning the favor. I can remember a few nights in the med center as well. Good night, Anakin."

Alone again, Anakin reached out and stroked the curves of her lekku gently.

"Good night, Snips. I'll see you in the morning."

Ahsoka simply answered with another long, drawn out snore...


Author's Note: Thank you so much for your patience, my wi-fi is currently busted so I've been writing this one using whatever hotspots I can find, so this one took a little longer than usual. I hope to get my connection up and running soon so I can get more chapters posted. I am going to take a two week hiatus in the near future, but I will let you know before I do. I'm going to be traveling and camping and rock climbing so I won't have a lot of time to write. Before that, though, I will be sure to post a bunch of new chapters to read while I'm gone. I hope you like this latest chapter. Have a great day, and may the Force be with you.