One year after the end of the Clone Wars.

The weather behind the windows of their quarters was abysmal. Driving rain pounded against the windows so hard you could barely see anything but dull greyness outside, and the temperature had dropped ten degrees below what was usual. Blinding flashes of lightning illuminated the room every so often, immediately followed by ear-splittingly loud thunder.

This weather was unusual for Coruscant. As a weather-controlled planet, it was known for its clear skies and pleasant temperature all year round.

However, the powerful weather control stations were set to make it rain every two weeks to clear the air from pollution. Of course, the rain was carefully scheduled to always begin at the same time, to the minute. You wouldn't want to inconvenience anyone, after all. Especially since most Coruscant citizens drove open-cockpit speeders.

There was something strangely peaceful about sitting in the warmth of their shared quarters in the Temple, sipping warm tea, and watching all hell break loose outside.

Master Che had finally released Obi-Wan from the Healer's Ward, on the condition that he would live in the same quarters as Anakin for the first few months, so that Anakin could help him out with cleaning, cooking, or picking him up from the floor whenever he tripped and couldn't get back up by himself.

Mostly that last part, Obi-Wan thought ruefully. While he could now walk short distances by himself, his knees would sometimes still give out under him with no warning.

Since Obi-Wan was there most of the day, he would often help entertain the twins or rock them to sleep to give Anakin a break, even though Anakin always told him that he didn't have to.

Funnily enough, these were their old quarters. The place they used to share when Anakin was Obi-Wan's Padawan. Obi-Wan moved out after Anakin got Knighted, and Ahsoka moved into Obi-Wan's old room just a few months after that. Now he was living in his old room again for a few months.

Sometimes, it almost felt like the last five years never happened. Like the war never started, and Anakin was still his Padawan. But things were better than they were then. Back then, they used to argue… well, a lot . Anakin was a headstrong teenager, and Obi-Wan wasn't exactly the nicest person, either. But they had both matured a lot since then.

Right now, things were…

Pretty good, actually.

"I had the weirdest conversation with Master Yoda today," Obi-Wan said after a long, comfortable silence. He kept his voice down, to avoid waking the twins napping the other room.

Anakin chuckled, putting his own mug down. "You mean, even weirder than usual?"

"Actually… yes. He told me that sometimes, when he was meditating, he could… he could hear Qui-Gon's voice speaking to him. He said that Qui-Gon had discovered the path to immortality. Not physical immortality, obviously, but… that he had figured out how to retain his consciousness even after death. And… that perhaps in time, Yoda could teach me how to communicate with him, too."

Anakin gave him a doubtful look. "As wonderful as that would be, are you sure that he's not, well… getting senile or something?"

Obi-Wan appeared thoughtful. "I don't know what to think about it. I guess that we'll have to wait and see."

He stood up to put the empty mug in the sink. A few seconds later, there was a loud crash and a surprisingly profane curse. Anakin turned around to see Obi-Wan sprawled on the floor and shards of broken glass scattered everywhere. Well, at least it didn't wake up the twins.

"Are you all right?!"

"I'm fine," Obi-Wan mumbled, pushing himself to his knees. He sounded embarrassed and angry at himself. "Sorry. I just tripped."

He pulled a dustpan to his hand and started dejectedly sweeping the broken pieces onto a pile. Anakin crouched next to him to help him clean up the mess, but Obi-Wan harshly slapped his hand away.

"I'll do it myself, thank you," he barked out, his voice unexpectedly cold. "I'm not a helpless cripple, Anakin. My arms still work fine, even if my legs don't."

"I never said you were. I just… never mind. I'm sorry."

Then he noticed that Obi-Wan was only using his left hand to clean up the broken shards. He kept his right clenched into a fist. A bit of blood was slowly beginning to trickle through his fingers. He must have cut his hand when he fell.

"Master, stop. You're bleeding."

Obi-Wan stopped. He sat on his heels, his shoulders slumped in complete defeat.

"Look, I know that you can treat that cut yourself," Anakin said gently. "But it would take a while to do it with one hand. It would be much faster if I helped you. May I?"

"Fine," Obi-Wan said bitterly. "Do your worst."

Anakin winced. That was not exactly the answer he was hoping for.

Anakin slipped his arm under Obi-Wan's shoulders and helped him stand up. He had no problems standing up from a chair, but getting up from the floor was quite a bit harder. Anakin led him to the couch and made him sit down. He grabbed the first aid kit and gently pried Obi-Wan's fingers open to have a look. The cut across his palm was fairly deep and bleeding profusely, but it was nothing serious.

Anakin cleaned up the blood, placed a small bacta patch on the cut, and wrapped several layers of gauze around Obi-Wan's hand and wrist to keep it in place. The whole process took no more than two minutes.

"Done," Anakin announced.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said quietly, avoiding his eyes. He pulled his hand out of Anakin's grip, a bit too quickly. "I'm sorry, Anakin. I should be helping you out, instead of the other way round."

Anakin swept up the final pieces of broken glass from the floor and tossed them in the trash. Then he sighed. They've had this conversation many times before. "Look, you can't—"

Before he could finish the sentence, a muffled cry came from the other room. Kriff. It seemed that the noise did wake the twins after all.

Anakin opened the door. Little Luke and Leia were sitting in their cribs, rubbing their eyes and whining from being woken from their nap. Anakin knew that he had mere moments before it turned into full-on screaming. He picked them both up and carried them to the couch. They still looked quite sleepy; hopefully, they would fall back asleep in a few minutes.

Anakin had always been amazed—and a bit disturbed—by how well his former Master could hide his emotions. This time was no exception. By the time Anakin returned with the twins, he already looked perfectly fine, he even smiled a little.

If Anakin hadn't seen how miserable he looked just a few seconds ago, he would have never guessed that his smile wasn't genuine. It was impressive, although a bit sad, too.

Luke crawled onto Obi-Wan's lap and curled up in his arms comfortably, while Leia placed her head on Anakin's shoulder. If there were no more loud noises, the both children should be asleep again in a few minutes.

"Ow," Luke's tiny voice said empathetically as he noticed the bandage on Obi-Wan's hand.

It was his universal word for someone getting hurt, a broken toy, spilled food, a scratch on a wall, a hole in a sock, and generally anything being wrong.

"It's all right, little one," Obi-Wan murmured, stroking the little boy's soft hair. "I just fell and hurt myself a bit. But I'm all right now."

Luke's tiny fingers gently patted the back of Obi-Wan's hand, mimicking how Anakin would soothe Luke and Leia whenever they skinned their knee or bumped their head on something.

"Thank you," Obi-Wan said with a smile. "It feels much better now."

The unexpected gesture of kindness actually made Obi-Wan blink back tears for a second. The children, they were just… too pure, too innocent. Too kind for the harsh galaxy they were born into.

Leia's large brown eyes looked at Obi-Wan, and then she tugged at Anakin's right hand with a soft coo. Anakin smiled as he realized what she was trying to say. He wasn't wearing his glove—he didn't wear it much anymore—so his mechanical hand was clearly visible.

"That's right," Anakin said, smiling. "My hand got hurt once, too. A very bad man did it to me. His name was Dooku. He defeated us both, and if Master Yoda didn't show up and help us, it would have ended badly. One day, when you're older, I'll tell you all about it. About the Sith, the Force, the clones, the war… about everything."

Both Luke and Leia listened attentively, not wanting to miss a single word. The children loved to listen to his stories, even though they didn't understand much of them yet.

Of course, for now, Anakin limited his stories to the harmless, innocent ones. How he won the podrace on Tatooine, how Padme once tricked Nute Gunray with her decoy, and other things like that.

There would be time for the other stories later, when they were much older. About why Luke and Leia didn't have a mother, why Anakin still sometimes woke up screaming from nightmares about her death and the duel that had cost him his arm, or why Obi-Wan would sometimes refuse to play with them or even eat, and he would just sit very still and stare at nothing.

Those stories would have to wait until much, much later.

Leia let out an angry noise when she realized that Anakin wasn't going to continue.

Anakin chuckled. "I said I'll tell you when you're bigger, Leia. Not right now."

Leia voiced her disagreement in the usual, very effective way: she started to cry. Loudly. Luke quickly joined in, and Anakin winced. "All right, all right! I'll tell you a story."

The crying immediately stopped. Sneaky little rascals.

Anakin started talking again, telling them the story about how scared he was when he first saw a storm on Coruscant, the first thunderstorm he had seen in his life. How he thought that the world was ending, and how he ran and hid in the 'fresher, since it was the only room with no windows he could find.

How it took Obi-Wan over an hour to convince him to open the door. How his then new Master sat there with him for hours, quietly explaining everything about storms, weather control stations, lightning, thunder, and the water cycle, until the storm passed.

Sometimes, Anakin would direct their attention to the storm raging outside right now, just for added effect. The children listened without making a peep, sleepily hanging on to his every word. In a few minutes, they were both fast asleep.

Anakin carried the twins back to their cribs and closed the door. Mission accomplished.

He found Obi-Wan sitting on the couch, with his knees drawn to his chin, staring at the rain pounding against the windows.

"You all right?"

"Of course I'm all right. It's just a scratch."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Are you being intentionally obtuse? That's not what I meant."

"I'm fine," came the usual answer.

I wonder why I even asked, Anakin thought sarcastically. He sat down and wrapped his arm against Obi-Wan's shoulders. He didn't really react, but didn't shake his arm off, either.

And when his former Master smiled a little, it didn't seem to be completely forced. A part of it was genuine, too. Maybe fifty percent. Perhaps it would be more someday. For now, it was enough.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a long time, watching as the driving rain pounded against the windows and the lightning cast flashes of fleeting light across the room.

One last chapter left (and I mean it this time :)! Please read & review!