Healer Che.

Anakin had to stop himself from groaning, as soon as she entered the room. For while of course, he was grateful for everything that she did for the Temple, he did not particularly like the Halls of Healing himself and Healer Che only made it worse, because out of all the healers here, he probably got on with her the worst, what with him constantly evading the healers, leading to countless headaches for her that did not necessarily put him in her favor. Then again, it was hardly his fault, because maybe if she would just let him be the judge of his own healing process then they would actually get along, but instead she just had to construct a diagnosis and then a treatment plan that always seemed to take forever. Essentially, the woman wasted his time, because he shouldn't be in here relaxing, but rather out there, protecting the Republic.

"Anakin Skywalker, it's only by the will of The Force that you're still alive," he listened to her snidely remark, while fighting the urge to roll his eyes, which granted, was a considerable feat for him, in this situation. "The amount of power you've exerted has pushed you far past your limits, so I'm going to need you to tell me what happened," she paused, "so far, Master Kenobi and Padawan Tano have been so kind as to tell me the minor details, as to which you overexerted yourself in your use of The Force. Yet, I have yet to learn as to how. So, please enlighten me Master Skywalker, because despite what you might think I have many other patients that need tending to other than yourself."

"If that's the case, then maybe I should just get going," Anakin quipped, albeit seriously, as he began to sit up, "after all, I don't want to hold things up for you." A steady hand quickly found its way to his chest and this time, Anakin actually rolled his eyes, much to Healer Che's chagrin, as she pushed him back down onto the bed.

"Oh no you don't," she rebutted, "no, Master Skywalker, you're going to stay right here until I have all the information that I need to know in order to treat you accordingly. So please, if you want to play games, there's a game of Dejarik in the other room, otherwise, you'd better start talking to me."

"Actually, a game of Dejarik does sound nice," Anakin began, just to piss her off, which it totally did, as she cut off whatever he was about to say next.

"Cut the crap, Skywalker," she grumbled, startling the trio, "what happened?"

So, with a dejected sigh, Anakin realized that he was not getting out of this and launched into a recount of what had happened. From Obi-Wan being shot, to him passing out upon Obi-Wan resurrection. Although, he did leave out him killing the Duro bounty hunter in cold blood, instead saying that it'd been a life or death situation, since admitting to that would most definitely not look good for his image. Only Obi-Wan seemed to catch note of his deception, shooting him a look, but didn't question it and instead, just let Anakin finish without interruption. By the end of the tale, Healer Che eyed him concernedly, before shooting her ice blue gaze to Obi-Wan.

"Master Kenobi, are you sure he didn't hit his head?" The healer asked inquisitively, before grabbing a light on a nearby table and shining it in Anakin's eyes to check for a concussion.

Anakin stiffened at not being believed at first, but still allowed the healer to go about her work, if but for the moment.

"No, Master Che," Obi-Wan finally responded in kind, after a moment, "Anakin speaks the truth."

Incredulity filled the healer's gaze as she turned her eyes upon her last hope from this madness, Ahsoka, yet the Padawan only nodded in agreement, as to how that was exactly what happened. For a brief moment, a flicker of curiosity ran through Master Che's shining blue irises, before she returned to her usual expressionless veneer.

"Interesting… very interesting, indeed," Healer Che's eyes refocused on Anakin, "and where did you come about this power, Master Skywalker? I've not even heard of Master Yoda exuding an ability such as the one you have presented us with." Her gaze seemed to stare straight through him and into his soul, making Anakin feel exposed to the entire galaxy.

He shifted uncomfortably, wondering whether or not it would be a good plan to tell the truth in this situation. On one hand, it would seem rather odd and quite unbelievable if he said that he just intuitively learned it, besides Anakin was a terrible liar, and on the other hand, if he told Healer Che that Rey had taught him and attempted to teach Obi-Wan just as well for that matter, it could put Rey in an awkward position, since he wasn't quite sure about what the Temple would think of the power.

Suddenly, a flicker of surprise ran through him, as he realized that he was actually concerned about Rey's outcome in all of this madness. That was certainly new. Then, another thought sprang to the forefront of his mind.

They'd forgotten to pick Rey up.

In all the madness, it had seemed rather irrelevant, he supposed, as they'd been much more focused on collectively not dying, but a sudden stab of guilt went through his heart, as he realized that they were now probably hours overdue from the time that they had originally promised to stop by at the Senate Building.

"Kriff," he muttered, as stress filled his very being and all three of the other force-users took a step back in surprise at his sudden use of language.

"You're telling me that ' Kriff' taught you this power?" Healer Che snapped back sarcastically, before heaving out a long sigh, "Master Skywalker, please I need you to answer my question. Where or I suppose, from whom did you learn of such a power?"

Anakin forced himself to snap back into the present, deciding that as soon as the healer left, he'd deal with the whole Rey stuck at the Senate Building problem.

Deciding to just stick with the truth, Anakin finally confessed to the healer, where he'd learned the ability, "I learned from Master Rey, Healer Che."

The healer eyed him with a hint of confusion lingering in her gaze, "I'm terribly sorry, Master Skywalker, but I'm not entirely sure that I'm aware of who Master Rey is."

"She's one of the new Jedi at the Temple. Might have been a Shadow or something… honestly I'm not really sure, but she's very adept in the ways of The Force," Anakin paused, "I saw her use the power once on someone," he vaguely supplied, "and so I asked her to teach me, but I made no progress until it really mattered, thankfully," Anakin's eyes flickered to Obi-Wan's own which held deep conflict.

For a long moment Healer Che was silent, before finally, she spoke once more. "While you have my respects Master Kenobi, what you performed, Master Skywalker, appears to be a very dangerous and rather unorthodox use of The Force. I shall have to meditate on it, later," Healer Che's gaze briefly flickered to the door, "I have other patients that I shall now need to attend to, but I order you to a day's bed rest in the Halls of Healing, so don't get any ideas," she demanded, "however, Master Skywalker," the renowned Jedi healer continued, "I do believe that you should discuss this new power of yours and this… Master Rey with Master Yoda, after you make a full recovery. For, I am sure that he'll hold much more wisdom on the entirety of the matter than I."

Anakin just nodded, as he watched Healer Che take her leave. While, of course, he didn't really quite enjoy the fact that he would now have to spend the night and then a whole other day here, it was much better than seeing his Master off at the Funeral Pyre, so he'd take it. Then, with a start Anakin suddenly remembered the whole Rey situation and turned his gaze to center it on Ahsoka.

"Ahsoka, we might've forgotten about Rey," he murmured sheepishly, to which his young apprentice widened her eyes in surprise at the sudden revelation, before quickly departing, as she sprinted out the door and through the crowded hallways. Anakin watched her go for as long as he could, before Obi-Wan made his way over to the door, shutting it and once more cutting Anakin off to the rest of the world and leaving him alone with his brother.

Doing his best to work up the nerve to talk to Obi-Wan again about the secrets he'd kept from him for far too long, Anakin took a deep breath, before centering his now nervous gaze on his former Master's own.

"I presume, you still wish to speak with me about what you weren't able to finish earlier?" Obi-Wan guessed, in his practiced Coruscanti accent, as he once more made his way over to the chair at Anakin's bedside and took a seat.

Anakin nodded minutely, while his heart screamed at him to start talking, telling him that if Obi-Wan considered him as his very own brother, then he would understand. Still, his brain haunted him with dark thoughts of how Obi-Wan might reject him, if he knew about him and Padmé. For if Obi-Wan let any of it slip to the Council, then Anakin would most certainly be done for and even more than that, it could gravely injure Padmé's political career.

Still, after Obi-Wan's confession, Anakin forced himself to admit that he would understand. He'd just simply have to, unless he was lying, which was something that Obi-Wan rarely ever did, unless it was absolutely necessary. Plus, Padmé had even told him on numerous occasions that he should confide in Obi-Wan about their relationship, so he did also have her blessing in this.

Yet, after so many years gone by and all the lies built upon lies, Anakin found it next to impossible to tell Obi-Wan of his relationship status with Padmé.

As conflict seemed to be tearing him in two, Anakin finally decided to just rip off the bacta patch.

"PadméandIaremarried," he murmured quickly, each word seeming to blur into the next.

"What?" Obi-Wan questioned, as his brows furrowed, because Anakin quickly realized that what he'd just said was spoken so fast and fluent that it barely even sounded like Basic anymore.

So, he tried again, "Obi-Wan, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier. I was afraid and I know that I probably shouldn't have been, but Padmé and I… Padmé and I are… we're married."

For what seemed like a long moment to Anakin, but was at most maybe a few seconds, silence engulfed the two, as Anakin searched Obi-Wan's gaze for any kind of reaction until finally Obi-Wan just gave a small nod.

"I know."

Flabbergasted by this revelation, Anakin's mouth gaped and his eyes widened in shock. "You… you knew? This entire time, you knew?"

Obi-Wan just nodded again with a kind look in his eyes, "of course I did Anakin, and while I was never certain of marriage, I knew that it was at least a possibility. I mean, I've raised you since you were nine. Plus, you and Padmé never really did or have done an exceptional job at hiding your feelings for each other" he sighed, "but don't worry, I haven't reported any of this to the Council and I've cast aside any suspicions that others may have had, by covering for you. I… I understand what it's like."

Relief flooded through Anakin at the sound of Obi-Wan's approval. It was invigorating to know that there was finally someone other than Padmé, and he supposed Chancellor Palpatine, that he could confide completely in. For while, Obi-Wan was someone he of course trusted, there'd been many things in his life that he'd been unsure about whether or not, he could truly trust Obi-Wan enough to tell him about it, due to his seemingly strict moral code, such as The Tusken Raider incident that he supposed he should eventually bring up, albeit not now, since Anakin wasn't all too sure that he was really up for that kind of emotional turmoil of a conversation at the moment, especially at this hour. However, the second part of Obi-Wan's statement made Anakin give pause, as he turned his now curious gaze upon his brother.

"Wait… what do you mean, you understand what it's like?" He inquired, shooting Obi-Wan a perplexed look.

His former Master simply sighed, "that's a story for another time. It's late Anakin and you need your rest, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon and we can talk again then. Otherwise, I expect you to be resting," then with final goodbyes, Obi-Wan disappeared out of the front door, leaving Anakin alone with both a million questions and a flicker of hope.

A burst of anger flared through Dooku's senses, as he stared down at the remains of Cad Bane. Apparently one of the Jedi, presumably Skywalker, had finished him off. He could tell by the tell-tale lightsaber stab wound that ran straight through the bounty hunters heart.

He clenched his fist and watched sadistically, as the body before him scrunched up into an unrecognizable puddle of blood, flesh and bone, on the musty floor.

No longer did the bounty hunter look like he'd ever been anything really, as his remains lay unrecognizable and heaped at the Sith's feet.

Then with one last hate-filled glance, the Count turned away from the mangled body of the now former bounty hunter, before making his way back out of the building, off to go find another one to do the dirty work for him.

Hopefully this time the bounty hunter would actually do their job correctly. If not, then Dooku would just have to make sure that their already guaranteed death would be all the more painful unless Skywalker managed to get to them first.

Finally back at the Jedi Temple, Rey breathed a sigh of relief. While her trekk back had honestly not been the greatest and she would probably be a dead body lying back in that alleyway had Ben not interfered, she was just glad to be back. Filled with contentment, she turned towards the Halls of Healing to go visit Ben and make sure that he was actually sleeping, when suddenly an oddly familiar blur of movement came barreling into her, effectively flooring her.

As she made her way back to her feet, she worked to assess what had happened and was somewhat surprised to see that Ahsoka had been the perpetrator.

"Ahsoka?" She murmured in confusion, "what are you doing in the Halls of Healing?" While she was also quite curious about why she'd never shown up with Anakin, this question seemed much more important at the moment and so that could wait.

To her dismay though, it appeared that the two events were actually connected.

"Rey!" Ahsoka yelped in surprise, before letting out a breath of relief, "I was just heading out to look for you! Anakin, Obi-Wan and I ran into trouble earlier tonight. I'm so sorry that we couldn't make it to the Senate Building, earlier," she apologized, to which Rey just shook her head concernedly.

"No worries," she promised, as her gaze turned serious, "is everyone alright?"

Ahsoka seemed paused, as if finding the question difficult to answer, which was pretty odd, since it was a rather straightforward question. Yet, soon enough the Padawan seemed to come to a conclusion, as to how to answer, as she finally spoke, "for the most part, yes," the Padawan decided, "Anakin just overexerted himself, so he's on a day of bed rest, which means that tomorrow it'll just be me accompanying you to the Senate Building."

Rey nodded, "alright, well I suppose it's a good thing that it seems that nothing too serious happened, and thank you Ahsoka. Now, if you don't mind, I was going to go visit, Ben, before I retire to my room for the night."

Ahsoka nodded her acceptance at Rey's request, "oh, no problem and of course. See you tomorrow morning then, Rey," then the Padawan diverted from Rey's path and presumably headed back to her respective quarters for the night.

As she finally came upon Ben's room, Rey quietly opened the door, in order to not wake him up, in case he was actually sleeping. As she entered and closed the door behind her, before turning to face him, she quickly discovered that much to her dismay, he was still very much awake and watching her intently.

"Ben, you should be asleep. Especially, after healing me through the bond, if I might add," Rey eyed him sternly and then watched, as he seemed to shrink like a youngling from her gaze.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I know I probably shouldn't have done that, but the thought of you in danger scared me, Rey. I had to heal you to make sure that you were in top shape to make it back. Then, I wanted to make sure that you did indeed actually make it back, so it was only right for me to stay up. I mean you were with Palpatine tonight, Rey. Palpatine. Then almost immediately after that you almost died, for what seems like completely unrelated reasons, so I hardly think that my worries are unfounded."

With a sigh, Rey made it to his side, before wrapping one of her hands around one of his respective own. "I know," she murmured back in reply, "that's why I came, because I knew that you'd be like this," she remarked with a teasing twinkle in her bright, brown gaze. "However, as you can now see, I'm here. So please Ben, you can go to sleep now. Tomorrow, we can talk about all the craziness that went down tonight, but until then, please, just listen to the healers and rest."

Despite still seeming a bit hesitant, Ben finally acquiesced to her wish and so, with a triumphant smile, Rey pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, before making her way out the door and back to her room.

She couldn't wait for Ben to recover, since in all honesty, after tonight, Rey found herself dreading returning to guard Palpatine. While, of course, she knew she had to, she just had a very bad feeling about the nearing future and Palpatine was at the center of it.

Still, somehow, for some reason, The Force had sent her and Ben back to this time, thus giving Ben a second chance at life and them both the chance to build a better future.

So, they would do what they had to, to better the galaxy.

"To have been blind is to see everything and to see the balance is the only way to restore what was lost."

The words of Qui-Gon Jinn echoed in her ears and again, she found herself at a loss, as she tried to put together what it meant.

Perhaps, she'd finally bring it up to Ben tomorrow, since she wasn't really getting anywhere on her own, like she'd hoped. Maybe he would know.

Opening the door to her room, before quietly closing it behind her, Rey got ready for bed, before making her way over to her small mattress and flopping down on it with an exhausted sigh, as she pulled the covers over top of herself.

She just hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

Then again, at the rate that things were currently going, who knew what it would bring?