Chapter 40

Obi-Wan anxiously continued to check Anakin for injuries long after he knew there were no more. To his credit, Anakin didn't complain too much. It had been terrifying, waking up to find Anakin and Savage gone. Thankfully he had still been able to sense the younger man and so traced him to the Separatist ship. What he was not expecting was to walk into Anakin and Savage fighting while on the floor. Still, he had Anakin back and that was what mattered. Although if Savage wanted Anakin in particular, he would try again once he recovered. Now they both had people out there trying to extract revenge. Obi-Wan suspected Boba Fett was definitely the preferable of the two.

"I spoke with Dooku while on the ship. He wanted me to join him. To help him overthrow Palpatine. What is it with all the Sith wanting me as their apprentice?" Anakin scowled.

"You are powerful, love. Sith love power." Obi-Wan said, running his fingers through the other man's hair.

"I'm sick of it."

"I know. Me too quite frankly. You're mine and I don't share. Especially not with Sith Lords." Obi-Wan stated firmly. Anakin gave him a look of surprise but grinned happily. "You know, only you could have two weeks off and then get injured on your first mission back." He snickered.

"I'm all for having more time with you." Anakin smirked. They kissed and then Anakin told him the rest of what had occured before Obi-Wan arrived. "I'm sure Dooku was almost convinced. Then Ventress and Savage came in to ruin it."

"True but the fact that we know he wants to overthrow Sidious himself makes him potentially useful. I'm sure we could possibly negotiate with the Senate to get Dooku pardoned in return for giving up the person responsible for the entire war. The problem will be, I doubt Palpatine will let such a motion pass. He would do anything in his considerable power to stop it."

"We are going to need to tell the rest of the Jedi about the Clone chips. Someone is going to notice if all their clones disappear to have surgery." Anakin pointed out. "And we need to step up getting the chips out. Our Legions, and Master Windu's are all complete. I'm not sure about Master Yoda but it's not nearly enough."

"I think the best thing to do is to get a list of all Clones that would still have a chip in them. So, we need to know which ones were 'produced'," Obi-Wan winced at the word. "Before I spoke to Lama Su. That way we don't need to scan Clones and alert the other Jedi when it is unnecessary. I'll speak with Mace and see if he can get the information we need. Then we can sort those Clones out while the Jedi in charge of them are back at the Temple." Obi-Wan suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Anakin agreed, giving him another kiss.

"I'm sure we'll see Dooku again. When we do we can try and convince him again. Hopefully you've at least given him something to think about." Obi-Wan smiled. "You did amazingly." He was so kriffing proud of how far Anakin had come. Then they settled down to watch a pod race for the rest of the trip.

Obi-Wan had to get up eventually to land the ship. Then he helped Anakin to make his way to the medical ward in the Jedi Temple. Vokara Che greeted them pleasantly. As soon as she saw Anakin, she went to his other side and assisted him onto one of the beds. She did a quick assessment before saying he would need to spend the night in a bacta tank to aid with healing. Anakin groaned but didn't look surprised. Obi-Wan snickered. Healer Che gave him a withering look so he stopped, not wanting to get on her bad side. Anakin stuck his tongue out while she had her back turned. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes but smirked. Eventually the younger Jedi was put to sleep and then transferred to a bacta tank.

Knowing he would not wake up until the morning, Obi-Wan decided to go and find Ahsoka to let her know what had happened. As expected, he found her in the archives. She was clearly pleased to see him.

"Master Kenobi!" She exclaimed, bounding over.

"Hello, Ahsoka." He smiled. "I heard you managed to get yourself into some trouble while we were gone." Ahsoka looked down.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to lecture you. I'll leave that for Anakin. Much funnier for me that way." Obi-Wan smirked. "After all the lectures I've had to give him. I just came to let you know Anakin was injured on our latest mission."

"Is he ok? You were only due back the day before yesterday." Ahsoka frowned.

"Yes, we got given a mission pretty much as soon as we got back. Anakin is mostly alright. A broken wrist and a broken knee."

"What happened?"

"Dooku's new assassin seems to have it out for him. It appears he is Maul's brother and must have found out Anakin killed Maul."

"Well, kriff." Ahsoka groaned.

"Ahsoka!"

"Sorry, Master."

"I must talk to Anakin about the use of such language in front of you." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"So how was your trip?" Ahsoka asked eagerly.

"It was very nice."

"You look a lot better."

"Gee, thanks."

"I mean, you look less stressed. Even with Master Anakin injured, you don't look as stressed as before."

"It was a much needed two weeks." He admitted.

"Can I visit him?"

"He's in a bacta tank right now so you won't be able to see him until tomorrow. Now, I must go and report to the Council." She nodded but looked disappointed. Obi-Wan made his way up to the Council chambers. Only Yoda and Mace Windu were there. He gave them his report.

"So Dooku's new assassin doesn't work for Dooku anymore? But now this Savage Opress and Ventress are on the loose?" Windu asked.

"It seems that way." Obi-Wan sighed. "I suspect he will try to attack Anakin again. This time he won't be taking him back to Dooku but trying to kill him."

"You two just love collecting enemies that want to kill you." Windu told him dryly.

"Yes, I had noticed." Obi-Wan replied.

"Well, Dooku must remain our main target. We need his evidence to investigate the Chancellor. Skywalker did well in his attempts to negotiate. Hopefully it will allow us to bring him in alive." Windu looked wistful for a moment and Obi-Wan recalled that they had been friends at one point.

"As long as he doesn't find another apprentice. I'm getting rather sick of them." Obi-Wan sighed. Windu gave him a commiserating smile. He then mentioned their plans for the Clones and Windu agreed to speak with Lama Su to get the information required. He and Yoda both agreed they would still prefer not to tell the other Jedi. With that, he made his way back to the apartment and unpacked all of their things. If left to Anakin, he might just not even bother and live out of a suitcase. It definitely wouldn't surprise him. Anything to avoid tidying up. After a little while there was a knock at the door. Curious, he went to open it and found Ahsoka standing outside.

"Come on in." He said, moving aside to allow her room. She walked in past him and took a seat on the couch. "What can I do for you?"

"I was thinking. Given that Master Skywalker is going to be here for a while, should we celebrate his life day a few days early?"

"That's a good idea. I suspect we will be quite busy once he is fit again." Obi-Wan replied. Then he noticed the second lightsaber swinging from her belt. "A second lightsaber?" He asked. She looked down as if she had forgotten it was even there.

"Yeah. I decided I wanted to learn to fight with two and I've had plenty of time when not guarding the archives. Master Yoda also gave me a bit of training." She shrugged. They discussed a few more ideas and decided to hold the party either the next day or the day after, depending how Anakin felt when he came out of the bacta tank. Plans in place, Ahsoka left to get some rest.

The silence seemed to grow in the lonely apartment, becoming so loud he had to go for a walk. He ended up outside the medical ward. Looking about, he didn't see Healer Che so he quietly went inside and moved to where Anakin was. The room was lit with the blue glow of bacta, making it look a little creepy actually. Various monitors and machines beeped away. Obi-Wan studied Anakin closely. He did indeed look lighter. He actually looked the tender age of twenty, almost twenty one, that he was rather than closer to thirty. The stress lines in his forehead were smoothed out and a tightness around his mouth was gone. It also made it hit home how truly young he was. While he did have his immature moments, Anakin often acted far older than his age. War did that he supposed. So much pressure on such young shoulders. It made his heart ache for the young man in front of him.

"What are you doing, Master Kenobi?" Healer Che's stern voice came from behind him, making Obi-Wan jump in surprise.

"I just wanted to check on him." He told her. Surprisingly her face softened.

"Knight Skywalker will be fine."

"I have complete faith in your abilities." Obi-Wan assured her. She gave him a small smile.

"Now, go and get some sleep before I make you spend the night here." She threatened. He smirked but made a quick escape. Slowly he made his way to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. Now it reminded him of the waterfalls on Naboo. When he sat down and closed his eyes, he could almost imagine being back on Naboo, lying with Anakin and watching the fireworks. It helped him to relax.

At some point he realised that they would be celebrating Anakin's life day and he hadn't actually gotten him anything. He swore inwardly. This meant he would have to go shopping. Obi-Wan hated shopping. Especially as Anakin basically had everything he could possibly need and the means to procure anything he didn't have. With a sigh he got up and made his way out of the Temple. The shopping district was completely packed. Obi-Wan wandered from shop to shop trying to spot something that Anakin would actually like and possibly use at some point. There were several mechanic type shops that he looked in. He knew some of Anakin's tools were getting quite well used but he wasn't sure exactly which ones he would need. He ended up buying a full, advanced tool kit for general maintenance. Then he decided to keep looking, just in case he spotted something else.

Eventually he returned to the apartment in an attempt to get some sleep. He managed some. Not as much as he would have liked but it was better than none. By the time he made his way back to the medical ward, Anakin was sitting on one of the beds, awake. Healer Che was giving him another check over.

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin exclaimed when he saw him.

"Back again?" Che asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wasn't sure if he'd need some help getting back to the apartment." Obi-Wan shrugged.

"He should be fine to walk it but it wouldn't hurt to have an escort just in case." She nodded. Anakin sighed but didn't look too unhappy. She also gave him a stick to help him walk. Anakin scowled at it but took it anyway. Together, they made their way slowly to the apartment. Anakin paused every once in a while to just stand, taking weight off of his bad leg. Obi-Wan always wrapped an arm around his waist when he did this to offer support. They finally made it back and Anakin collapsed onto the couch with a groan.

"How bad is it?" Obi-Wan asked while he moved to the kitchen to make some breakfast.

"My wrist is mostly ok. My knee is still painful. Healer Che says I'll need the stick for a couple of days but after that I should be fine."

"It could have been a lot worse." Obi-Wan said, giving him a sympathetic smile over his shoulder. Anakin nodded but didn't look too pleased.

"She gave me a bunch of exercises to do to help it recover faster."

"Oh and I'm sure you'll remember to do those." Obi-Wan said sarcastically. Anakin smirked. Breakfast was finished quickly and he took two plates over to the couch. They ate quickly and in comfortable silence. While Anakin went to the fresher, he contacted Ahsoka to tell her it would be better to move their plans to tomorrow. She agreed easily and promised to make all of the arrangements. Obi-Wan then went to check on Anakin.

"Do you need a hand to have a shower?" He asked.

"I'll be...actually yeah. I think so." Anakin called back. Obi-Wan slipped inside. Anakin was clinging onto the shower rail for dear life. Quickly disrobing, he joined him and supported the other man to get back his stability

"What happened?"

"Leg just gave way." Anakin said through gritted teeth. Obi-Wan made sure to keep a tight hold on him after that. The shower took longer than usual and not for any fun reasons but eventually they got Anakin washed. Obi-Wan then helped him out before quickly washing himself. Then they dried off and clambered into bed where they spent the rest of the day. Anakin occasionally got up to do his exercises with a lot of prodding from Obi-Wan. In return for doing them all properly, Obi-Wan went out to get some food from Dex's for dinner. Once they had eaten and Anakin was asleep, Obi-Wan got back up, careful not to disturb the younger man.

Then he took out the recipe Shmi had given him before they left. It was apparently a recipe for the life day cake she had always made for him as a child. She had been unable to find anything to give him for his life day on Tatooine given the short time for which they stayed so she had given him this. Now he just had to get it right. This would probably take some practise, which was why he was getting started now.

On paper, it was a simple enough recipe with easily obtainable ingredients. It would have to be given they had been slaves and unable to obtain anything expensive, especially for something like a cake. Obi-Wan was determined to use the exact same ingredients, even if he knew of a higher quality version of the same thing. This would be the same cake Anakin had as a child. Still, it took a lot of concentration. He had not ever baked a cake before. Made some meals, sure, but nothing like a cake. It took him three tries to get it looking right. The first attempt was a complete mess. It didn't even look remotely like a cake and Obi-Wan had no idea what he had done so wrong. He discarded the misshapen mess and tried again. This time he read every line of the instructions three times before doing anything. The second time he had managed to burn the cake, having lost track of time while it was cooking. By the third time he was frustrated, tired, covered in flour and getting desperate. Thankfully the third effort came out looking at least edible and it was the right shape.

He waited for it to cool before decorating it and adding the number 21 on the top in frosting. Once it was finally done he contacted Ahsoka. She was there quickly and he handed her the cake to take to Dex's in the morning so Anakin wouldn't see it.

"This looks pretty good." She said. He didn't appreciate the surprise in her voice. Then he realised the mess he was covered in and suddenly couldn't blame her.

"Yeah. Just don't drop it." He warned sternly. He would hate to have to murder Anakin's Padawan.

"I won't." Ahsoka vowed. Then he left, carrying the cake very carefully. Obi-Wan tidied and thoroughly cleaned up the kitchen before taking his second shower of the afternoon. Thankfully, Anakin had slept through the entire thing which was good. He crawled back into bed beside the younger Jedi and pulled him to his chest. Then he finally allowed himself to fall asleep.

He awoke to the feeling of fingers running through his hair. He looked over and saw Anakin was already awake and propped up on one elbow.

"Morning." Obi-Wan said.

"Good morning." Anakin smiled softly. They kissed good morning and then simply lay together quite happily. "Do we have any plans today?" Anakin asked after a while.

"Well, you certainly won't be getting a mission for a while so not really. Maybe we could go down and visit Dex for lunch if your leg is up to it." He suggested.

"That sounds great." Anakin nodded happily. "My leg had better be up for it."

"We could always take the wheelchair?" Obi-Wan offered with a smirk.

"No." Anakin replied flatly. They spent a lazy morning in bed before Anakin got restless. So they got up and got themselves ready to go out. While Anakin was distracted he let Ahsoka know they were on their way. Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin already looked a lot more comfortable walking than he had yesterday. He also leaned on the stick a lot less. As they made their way down to Dex's Diner, they only stopped a few times so Anakin could take the weight off his bad leg. As before, Obi-Wan was there to support him every time. Eventually they made it down.

"It looks very empty for Dex's." Anakin frowned as they approached. Obi-Wan smirked to himself. He opened the door and stood back to let Anakin go in first.

"Happy Life Day!" Came the shout. Anakin almost fell over in his surprise. Obi-Wan was there to steady him, having anticipated such a reaction. Ahsoka, Dex, Padme and Bail were waiting for them inside. He wished he could see Anakin's face given the looks on everyone else.

"Wow." Anakin whispered. The Diner had been decorated with streamers and a banner across the serving counter. Dex drew the blinds down and swung the sign around to say 'closed'. They all came over to give Anakin a hug before Obi-Wan guided him to one of the booths and helped him to sit down. Then he sat down next to him. Ahsoka and Padme took the two seats opposite. Dex then dragged a free table over for him and Bail to sit at.

"Whadda want to eat then, Ani?" Dex asked with a beaming grin. Anakin paused for a second, thinking.

"Waffles with bantha meat please, Dex."

"Coming right up. Obi-Wan, whadda you want?"

"I'll have a bantha steak with fries please. And some Jawa juice." Dex nodded and then moved off to the kitchen.

"How's your leg, Anakin?" Padme asked.

"Ah, it's alright. Spent the night before last in a bacta tank so I should be fine in a day or so." Anakin shrugged.

"That's good." Bail smiled.

"Here, Master." Ahsoka burst out, unable to contain her enthusiasm any more. She handed over a parcel. Anakin raised an eyebrow but took it.

"Thanks, 'Soka." He quickly opened it and Obi-Wan saw it was a rare edition of a book on rare remedies from around the galaxy. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan's eyes widened. He didn't want to think about how much that cost or how long it had taken Ahsoka to find it.

"Wow, Ahsoka! This is incredible." Anakin breathed. Obi-Wan wanted to smirk at the sight of Anakin Skywalker speechless over a book. Anakin held it reverently before putting the book to the side and reaching over the table to hug Ahsoka tightly. Then Padme handed over a parcel of a similar size. Anakin opened it and burst out laughing. Obi-Wan peered over his shoulder and chuckled as well. It was another book but this one was titled 'Aggressive Negotiations: The only way to deal with Politics'.

"I thought you might find it funny." Padme smirked at him.

"I love it." Anakin assured her. He reached over to give her a hug as well. Then Obi-Wan handed over his own, rather poorly wrapped, present. He didn't exactly have a lot of practise. Anakin looked rather pleased considering he hadn't even opened it yet.

"I hope you like it." Obi-Wan said, slightly nervously. Anakin rolled his eyes but opened it. He grinned widely as he pulled out the bag of tools.

"Oh, this is awesome." He said. Obi-Wan detected no lie and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Some of mine really did need replacing. I love it, Obi-Wan." He assured. Then he twisted in the seat and hugged Obi-Wan. Just then, Dex arrived with plates of food which he put down in front of various people. Everyone dug into their food with gusto. There was some light chatter throughout the meal.

When they were finished, Dex cleared away all the plates and then handed Anakin a rather misshapen package. Anakin opened it and found a selection of master Chef level cooking equipment.

"Wow. Thanks, Dex." Anakin grinned.

"Yes, thanks, Dex." Obi-Wan agreed, knowing he would be the one benefitting the most from these tools aiding Anakin's cooking. Anakin snickered, as did Ahsoka.

"You're welcome, Ani." Dex replied with a pleased grin. Obi-Wan moved out of the way so Anakin could hug Dex. "Jus' make sure you keep up with that cooking."

"I wouldn't let him stop." Obi-Wan said to general laughter.

"There's a few recipes of me own in there." Dex told Anakin who looked incredibly taken aback.

"Dex...you guard these with your life." Anakin said quietly.

"Now you'll have to do that as well." Dex assured him with a smile. Anakin reached over to give him another, tighter hug. Then Dex got up and went back to the kitchen. He soon returned with the cake Obi-Wan had made last night. Anakin blinked in surprise when he saw it.

"That's…?" He turned to Obi-Wan who simply nodded, not wanting to give too much away in front of Bail and Dex. Suddenly he noted Anakin's eyes were suspiciously bright. Dex put the cake down on the table and handed a knife to Anakin. A smile tugged at his lips as he cut slices for everyone.

"This is amazing." Padme said.

"Yeah. I love it." Ahsoka agreed.

"Did you make this Dex?" Bail asked. Dex shook his head.

"That would be me." Obi-Wan admitted. Everyone turned to stare at him in surprise.

"It's perfect." Anakin told him. Just like you. The words echoed in his mind as Anakin beamed at him.

"How many tries did it take to make this?" Padme asked him with a sly smile. Obi-Wan's own grin faltered.

"Three." He admitted with a sigh of defeat. There was some gentle laughter.

"Well, I'm glad you kept trying. It's wonderful." Ahsoka told him firmly.

"Thank you." Obi-Wan said.

"You're not bad." Dex stated. Obi-Wan grinned. That was high praise indeed from Dex. They all chatted for a while longer before people had to make a move.

"Thank you everyone." Anakin said before they all left. Everyone stood up for another round of hugs before the Senators set off together. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan helped Anakin back towards the Temple, after saying goodbye to Dex. They made it back to the apartment and Anakin was put on the couch.

"Well, I have to get back to guard duty." Ahsoka sighed.

"I'll speak to the Council about that. A week is quite long enough. You still need to be studying." Anakin said. "Of course, I still need to speak to you about that, Snips." Obi-Wan removed himself from the room to give the two space to talk. He doubted Anakin would be very harsh with her, particularly after the day they had had. By the time he got back both of them were grinning so he wasn't too worried. Ahsoka then skipped off and Obi-Wan took a seat next to Anakin who immediately leaned against him. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and kissed the top of his hair.

"Thank you for today. I guess you and Ahsoka had a hand in the planning?" He said quietly.

"Yeah although Ahsoka did the vast majority of the organising."

"And that cake...I've not had that cake since I lived on Tatooine." Anakin looked up at him.

"Your mother couldn't find anything to get your for your life day so she gave me the recipe to make you the cake instead."

"Thank you." Anakin said again. His voice caught a little and Obi-Wan hugged him tighter.

"You're welcome. You deserve all of this and more, Ani." They stayed like that for a little while before moving to the bedroom.