Fall from the Stars...

... and straight into your arms...

Buffy drifted awake. Still heavy and drowsy with sleep, she snuggled into the warmth of Obi-Wan. Her head cushioned by his chest, her left arm thrown across his stomach, and his arms wrapped around her. Under her head, his chest rose and fell steadily and she clearly heard the strong thumping of a regular heartbeat. He shifted, turning, moving her so that they lay face to face. Obi-Wan's hand, resting on her hip, began tracing idle circles across her Nabooan silk nightgown.

Buffy's eyes opened. She took in the red stubble across his jaw, lips that curved into a smile, and finally, into warm blue eyes. Her own lips smiled lazily back at him. She breathed in, enjoying the sweet feeling of not having to be anywhere but where she was right now. If only she could bottle this moment. She could happily stay here forever drowning in Obi-Wan's eyes. Why couldn't they be the first thing she saw every morning?

The press of his lips on hers set their Force bond on fire. Love and desire burned across the link, building, intensifying until an inferno threatened to consume them. Everything she felt, he felt. Everything he felt, she felt. She knew how her mouth felt against his, the texture of her negligee beneath his fingertips, knew the sensations her hand created in him as it stroked the bare skin of his stomach, and hyper-aware of his fingers tightening on her pelvis, the heady sense of anticipation, her own body responding, the building pressure...

Buffy's Slayer senses shrieked in warning!

~Sid's coming down the corridor!~

Obi-Wan jumped away from her. Scrambling to his feet he began snatching at the scattered clothing he'd thrown off the night before.

"Are you sure?" he asked, eyes wide with panic as he dragged on his undertunic.

Buffy grabbed his trousers off the floor from her side of the bed and threw them across to him. "Yeah, and my spidey senses say he's definitely coming here. You need to hide. Quick!"

Obi-Wan put his leg down into his trousers and then almost overbalanced when his foot hit a tangled section. He hopped on one foot. Grabbing the bed to steady himself, he shook his leg to untwist the knot. "Where? Where shall I hide? The balcony?"

Buffy spotted his boot, a sock and his utility belt half-hidden under the bed. She pulled them out and threw them over. "Under the bed!"

Perching on the edge of the mattress, Obi-Wan grimaced as he first pulled on his socks and then his boots. "Under the bed is so... uncivilised. Also, hiding could make it worse. If Palpatine senses me..."

"Camouflage yourself. Like I do," Buffy smirked smugly at him. He kept saying she used the Dark Side to camouflage herself, but she knew she used Slayer power.

He rolled his eyes and gave a little shake of his head. "Even if I camouflage my Force presence, he'll still know I've been in here."

Buffy leaned over the bed, grabbing first one pillow, then the other. Plumping them up, she then dropped them back into position and created an indent in one with her fist to create the impression only one person had slept there. "See? That's sorted. If you're worried he can smell you, open the window and let some air blow around."

Obi-Wan scowled. "I don't smell! He'll sense a Force user has been in here."

"I'll think of something." Buffy smoothed the lower sheet covering the mattress, making sure it dropped to floor level. "Under the bed is the best place to hide. In case he opens the balcony door or wants to use the refresher. He won't want to climb under the bed." Buffy grabbed her dressing gown, pulling it on and shooting a fast glance in the mirror.

She did a double-take. And froze. What she saw horrified her.

Her hands flew to her head. "What... have you done to my hair!" she hissed, angling her head and staring at the reflection. He'd taken a tuft of her hair from the back of her head and made a little ponytail. Then he'd braided a section of hair next to her right ear. She looked like a nerd. One of those young Jedi nerds who followed their master around the Temple.

Obi-Wan's grin was both shameless and unapologetic. "Ah, I was rather bored when I woke earlier and decided to give you a padawan hairstyle. The rest should be cut short. Due to your age and the fact I like your hair long, I'm allowing you to keep the length."

"I can't believe you've messed with my new hairstyle!" How was she going to explain it to Sid? He was the type who noticed things like that. It was too late to undo it. She glared at Obi-Wan, who was now on his knees ready to duck under the bed.

"If you want a padawan so much, why don't you get one?" If he took a kid to train, he'd stop bugging her.

She knew the moment the words left her mouth that she'd said the wrong thing. The happy smile vanished and a more pensive expression took its place. "A padawan is a long term commitment. It wouldn't be fair to take one when I'm planning to leave the Order."

"Why are..." Buffy began and then stopped when she realized, "Oh ...because of us."

He didn't meet her eyes. "The Order is very firm on not allowing its members to form attachments. The only way we'll be able to marry and stay together is if I leave the Jedi."

Marry? He wanted to marry her? She pulled her thoughts away from the not-a-marriage-proposal and concentrated on the rest of the sentence.

"I don't want you giving your career up for me," she managed to say. "You'll end up hating me for it." She knew how much he loved his work. Obi-Wan had a superb career in front of him in the Jedi Order. But her mind returned to the thought Obi wants to marry me! Her heart skipped. He hadn't asked her yet, but it was definitely on his mind.

"Leaving is my decision," he replied stiffly. "And I'd rather leave, than stay a Jedi and never be allowed to see you again. I want to be with you."

"And I want to be with you too, but..." Why had this come up now? Palpatine was in the corridor, he'd be here any minute. They needed time to discuss this (Obi-Wan wanted to marry her! ) and they needed to find a way for him to stay with the Jedi. She continued, "What if..? What if I leave the Temple and find somewhere else to live? You stay with the Order, get a padawan and we see each other when you're not busy."

Even though she was the one suggesting it, she hated the idea. She wanted to be with him more, not less. She wanted to wake up in his arms every morning and not worry about someone discovering them. Anakin and Padme had kept their relationship secret by living apart and while she didn't like the idea of copying them, she couldn't think of another way of making it work.

"We'd be living a lie and it would destroy us." Obi-Wan looked surprised she'd suggested it. "There might be some who'd be happy with that arrangement, but I'm not one of them. Once we destroy the Sith vampires, I'll leave the Order and we'll find somewhere else to live. It's the only way. The right way." His mouth took on an obstinate set. Buffy noticed the inward look, suggesting he was mulling something over. "I had an odd dream last night about being a Cheeseman."

"I know, I was there too. You make a great Cheeseman, but about you leaving the Jedi Order..."

"What do you think Sineya meant, when she called me a Slayer?"

"Maybe it's because you're a Jedi. One of the warriors of the light in this..." Buffy's eyes widened. "Sid's right outside," she hissed. The words hardly out her mouth when a loud rapping came from the door.

As Obi-Wan scrabbled to get under the bed. Buffy took a fast scan of the room to make sure there was no evidence of the Jedi. He'd left his robe thrown over the back of the chair! She darted. Scooped it up with one hand, rolled it into a ball and flung it under the bed, before dropping the counterpane to cover the gap between the floor and the bed.

BANG! BANG!

Making sure her dressing gown was tied tightly around her, Buffy crossed to the door and pressed the button to unlock it.

It slid open to reveal the erect figure of Palpatine wearing native Nabooan clothing and without his official robes. Buffy carefully didn't examine him too closely in case he got over-excited and thought she was checking out his body again. Although, she couldn't help but notice he was clutching a huge bouquet of flowers to his chest. Black and red Nabooan roses, interspersed with bright green foliage.

"Good morning, Buffy!" Thrusting the flowers at her and ignoring her mutter of thanks, he strode into the room.

The Sith stopped near to the bed. Looking around, before turning his attention onto Buffy. As she placed the bouquet on the dressing table, something caught his attention. His eyes narrowed and he moved closer to investigate.

Palpatine lifted her chin taking in the full extent of bruising to the left side of her face. The bruises appeared to be several days old but they hadn't been there when he'd last seen her. "When did this happen?" he rasped.

"Last night. Slayer healing kicked in and that's why they appear older." She assessed his reaction from under her lashes and added, "I was out with Obi-Wan investigating the vamp attacks sites and we found a…vampire gang."

Surprise registered in Sid's pale blue eyes. Buffy didn't think he'd directly set them up, but that didn't mean he wasn't involved in some way.

"I take it you...eradicated them?" he growled. He tilted her head, looking at the bruises, clearly fascinated with her accelerated healing process.

"We got most of them. The others ran off before we could stake them." She was trying to keep accusation out of her voice. Maybe he didn't know, but knowing how devious this guy was, maybe he did.

Her comment made Palpatine smirk with dark pleasure. "Good. Good. You should never show mercy to your enemies. These attackers, what did they look like?"

"Jedi."

Palpatine's jaw dropped. She guessed he hadn't expected that answer. He laughed, covered his mouth and made an odd choking noise. Finally, he gave up trying to contain his glee and the room rang with the sound of evil cackling.

When he'd cackled himself out, he rasped, "No mercy for Jedi cowards!" That seemed to set him off again and the cackling began once more.

Buffy stood by, carefully keeping her face neutral and pretending to examine the roses. She'd seen too many good people turned into vampires since she'd been chosen. It wasn't their fault when a demon moved in. Nor was it nice staking a vampire who wore the face of someone you knew, like Obi-Wan had to last night. Instead, she thought of how annoyed Sid was going to be when he was informed the vampires had stolen his artifacts.

Palpatine stopped cackling. Buffy watched him out the corner of her eye as he surveyed the room. She allowed her own senses to reach out through the Force. Obi-Wan appeared to be camouflaging himself, but it was obvious Sid sensed something. The Sith's eyes darted around the room, peering through the open doors of the refresher, and then towards the balcony.

"Kenobi's Force stench lingers," he growled.

"Does it?" she replied. "He came back here after we'd slain the vamps. I told him he was a bit whiffy and needed to get in the shower. Maybe I should get some air freshener."

"Why did it take you so long to answer the door?" Palpatine continued scanning the room, his focus on the bed now, taking in the sheet dropping to the floor, the tangle of the bedclothes, the pillows, searching...

"Sid!" she squeaked. "You can't expect me to answer the door in a state of undress!" At the word undress, Buffy gave a little shrug, lowering her shoulder and allowing her robe to slip. As she'd hoped, the movement caught the Sith's attention. His gaze moving from the bed to pillaging the front of her negligee with his eyes. She restrained the shudder the leer caused. The guy totally gave her the wiggins.

"You really shouldn't have gone to any trouble for me," he growled, slowly advancing on her. Buffy stepped back nervously. The Sith's eyes were dark with lust and his tongue protruded to lick at his gray lips. With creepy guys or demons that was never a good sign. Just as she was wondering how she could politely fend him off without resorting to impaling him with a lightsaber, he came to an abrupt standstill.

"What's happened to your hair?" he asked, his tone horrified. "I've only just seen that..." He waved a hand and scowled.

"Oh!" Buffy's hand went to the padawan braid that had fallen across her shoulder. "That was Obi-Wan. He did it last night. Well, this morning, after we came back from doing the slaying."

Palpatine tugged the braid with his long, thin, claw-like fingers. "You allow Kenobi to play with your hair?" Eyes narrow, his voice hissing with jealous spite.

It was lucky, she'd been Secret-Identity girl in her own dimension and had plenty of practice of coming up with fast explanations. She replied smoothly, "He's training to be a hairdresser and needs models to practice doing styles on."

"Kenobi wants to be a hairdresser? Are you trying to make a fool of me?" Sid looked suspicious, not to mention dangerous. Buffy noticed his hands twitching. Hopefully, it wasn't with electrical pulses. Buffy guessed she'd need to work harder at making the hairdressing excuse sound convincing.

"He says he's taking it up as a hobby as he's always fancied giving it a go. There's a demand for good hairdressers, no matter what dimension you're in, and he reckons he's got a flair for it." There was still doubt in the Sith's face, so she pushed the idea harder. "Shall I ask him to do yours? He's not very good yet. He can only do padawan style, but if you want I can ask ..."

That offer seemed to do the trick. Sid took a step backward and shook his head vehemently. "No! I have no urge to look one of those Jedi imbeciles!" He gave a snort, then continued in his usual growl, "I doubt he'll ever achieve anything in the world of hairdressing, no matter how hard he practices. Obi-Wan Kenobi lacks the necessary forward vision to become a master of anything. I have no idea why you'd even consider Squeaky Clean as an apprentice."

Having insulted the Jedi, Palpatine grinned happily. His eyes fogged, as he began to reminisce. "I considered becoming a hairdresser myself, you know. When I was nine. It was Father who stopped me. He said it wasn't a suitable career for a Palpatine and made me train for a career in politics instead."

Buffy sat at the dressing table and pulled out the ponytail fastener. "That's a shame. I bet you'd have made a really good hairdresser." She started unraveling the padawan braid. "What did you want me for?"

Instantly, he was at her side. Eyes on hers in the mirror, leaning against her, pressing his thigh onto her shoulder.

Buffy fought the impulse to slam the hairbrush into his chest.'Must play nice, must not slay slimy Sid,' she chanted in her head.

"I've got something to show you." Palpatine pressed himself harder. "Something that will make you squeal with excitement when you see it."

Buffy death glared him and shuffled her chair away without losing eye contact. "I've heard that one before, Sid. I'm not gonna fall for it."

Sid blinked at the savage alien darkness in her eyes and wisely kept his distance. Pasting a more innocent look onto his face he protested, "Oh, no, no, no! My dear Buffy! As if I would suggest something so..." He trailed off and waved a hand. "This is simply a gift to show the depth of my true feelings for you." A dark and devious smirk appeared on his face. "Something the Jedi Order won't want you to have, due to its...dark connections."

Intrigued, Buffy stopped brushing her hair. "What is it?" He might have a lightsaber. She fancied one of those double-ended ones like Darth Maul used before Obi-Wan had snapped the end off it. She didn't care if it was red. Red was a nice cheerful color.

"A surprise." His mouth closed tightly, refusing to be drawn further. Instead, he shifted his weight and his attention went to their surroundings once more. Eyes roved, searching, convinced there was something hidden that he should know about. "I thought afterward we could go away together. Perhaps spend a few days at my country estate. I've got a big one. I'm sure you will be impressed with it. There'll be separate bedrooms, since you're Amish, whatever that is. However..." his voice dropped suggestively, "... should you change your mind about waiting until our wedding night, I'll only be too happy to oblige."

When Buffy didn't say anything, he sighed and went on, "I've things to show you that I've never shown to others. Things from my special collection that I know you'll appreciate. Pyramid-shaped holocrons we can watch together and even crimson lightsabers that belonged to notable past Sith Lords. All dead now, of course. I know how much you'll adore playing with those." The thought got him excited again. Once again he leaned. Invading her personal space with his body. "You won't... regret it," he panted.

Buffy held the brush in her hands, keeping her eyes averted, and not daring to look at his face. If she caught him leering down her top while he was pressing, she was definitely going to slay him. Her inner Slayer stirred angrily at the way he took liberties. She chanted in her head, with the same ferocity Obi-Wan chanted his Jedi code, 'I must NOT slay the slimy Sith'.

"I'm sorry," she said firmly. "But me and Obi-Wan are off to the Lake country this afternoon. We're looking for vamps and exploring the Sith tombs."

Palpatine's tone darkened. "Don't waste your time," he snapped. "I've already looked. The Jedi came along and took all the good stuff from there years ago."

Buffy put the brush down on the dresser top. Rising to her feet, she drew herself up to her full height she replied calmly. "I've got a job to do. I was made Lord Vader, Protector of the Galaxy against vampires and I need to carry out that role." Then, because basically she was an honest person, added, "Plus I've downloaded the locations of all the shoe places onto my datapad and thought I'd call in and see if there are any sales on, while I'm in the area."

Palpatine stared back at her trying to implant suggestions into her head, but since she'd outstared master demons, he gave up, twisted his mouth in frustration, and broke eye contact.

"I suppose if you must, you must." He surprised her by walking towards the door. "I shall meet you in the entrance hall in two standard hours. Bring your apprentice with you. It will be amusing to watch his stupid Jedi face when he sees your surprise."

Buffy rose to her feet and followed him. Partly out of politeness and partly because she wanted to make sure the door was locked after he'd gone out. As the door slid open the Sith took her by surprise with a fast move. Using Force speed, yanked her against him and planted a short but passionate kiss on her lips.

"A little something on account," he rasped smugly, before disappearing out the door and leaving her gasping in shock.

As soon as the door closed Buffy ran for the refresher. Obi-Wan pulled himself out from under the bed and followed. He watched, with growing concern, as she took a large swig of antiseptic mouthwash and swished it around her mouth. After spitting it out, she began brushing at her teeth.

"Whatever is wrong?" he asked. From his spot under the bed, he'd only been able to hear the conversation and not see it.

Buffy spat out into the basin. "He kissed me!" She pulled a face and shuddered. "Eugh! Palpatine stuck his freakin' tongue into my mouth!" She grabbed the mouthwash once more and went through the routine of swilling her mouth again.

"You're going to make your mouth sore," scolded Obi-Wan.

"I've been tongue raped by the dark side of the Sith!"

Obi-wan took the mouth wash from her and put it back next to the washbasin. "No more."

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"The only thing I can do in these circumstances. I'm going to kiss it better." He pulled her against him and planted a kiss onto her mouth. She tensed, then relaxed in his arms as he deepened the kiss.

Breaking off, he asked, "There. Feel better now?"His mouth still hovered above hers.

"Hmm, better? Maybe." She pouted. "Not sure. Need more smoochies to make certain."

"Easily sorted," whispered Obi-Wan, before kissing her again.

It was Buffy's turn to break off. "What do you think Sid's gift is?"

For a moment he didn't answer. He was too busy placing a line of kisses along her jaw. "I'm not sure, but we'll find out soon enough."

"We've got time to kill before then..." Her hand ruffled his hair on the back of his neck.

"A wise Jedi always makes the best use of his time," smirked Obi-Wan. Keeping her encircled in his arms, he turned her around and walked her backward into the bedroom.

Later, she'd wonder if Obi-Wan had been distracting her from continuing a certain conversation about his future in the Jedi Order.

...

A/N;
thanks to Blackhat for beta-ing. Mistakes will be mine as I changed it up.

Last post of 2019. Happy New Year