Chapter Ten: Stressful Situations

"Do you have any idea why Kenobi has been on Sundari for over two weeks and was involved in an explosion at the academy?"

Anakin rolls his eyes, pushing himself out from underneath the ship he had been working on and looking up at the Master of the Order. "Hi Mace. How's your day? Mine's great."

"Skywalker."

With a sigh, Anakin sat up and tossed his tools to the side, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I don't know Mace - he won't answer any of my calls."

"I find that hard to believe - you two are attached at the hip." Mace folds his arms over his chest, frowning deeply. "I didn't quite agree with the Duchess' request to have such a high profile Jedi on Sundari, but Mandalore needs to be appeased...and so does the Duchess."

Anakin opens his mouth to make a joke, then stop at the amused raise of eyebrows he received. Running a gloved, greasy hand through his hair, he shrugs. "I don't know anymore than you or the news does - just that Obi-Wan and the Duchess Satine are...close and - "

"Korkie Kryze is probably their secret love child and Obi-Wan is horrified that his son was in an explosion?"

"Uhhhh…well they do look alike, I guess. I know he does care for him."

"I hacked into his medical records - they share the same bloodtype, and Obi-Wan already has an incredibly rare bloodtype," Mace says with a shrug. "I'm not totally surprised...but the fact he hasn't even tried to give an excuse is troubling."

"Well...the Holo-net has been reporting that Death Watch is involved in the explosion. I wouldn't be shocked if he and Cody are investigating while Korkie is in the hospital. That would be the right thing to do, in my opinion."

Pressing his lips together, Mace then gave a heavy sigh. "Obi-Wan's loyalties have always been to his loved ones, as much as he hates to admit it."

"Could you mind trick a nurse to give me something besides toast and tomato soup?"

Obi-Wan blinks, looking from his son to the tray that's in the boy's lap. He tries to think of what to say...this parenting stuff is still very...new. Jarring. "You're five days out of intensive surgery Korkie - I'm quite frankly surprised you can stomach anything."

"I've had the same variation of one meal for days."

"You wouldn't like being en route for weeks with only rations and MREs to eat."

Korkie looks at him curiously, then continues to eat. His arm moves gingerly, still recovering from the shrapnel. "What's it like? Being a Jedi?"

"Well...that's a rather broad question...and right now," Obi-Wan glances to Satine, not knowing whether to smile at her sleeping form on the spare bed or cry because of all the years he had missed. "I don't know what it means to be one."

"...because of me?"

Obi-Wan leans back in the duraplast chair, folding his arms over his chest. His stomach grumbles a bit, and he shakes his head when his son offers part of the meal. "I cannot say that discovering our familial connection puts a new perspective on my view of the Jedi Order, but I have to admit that I have been losing faith in what I'm fighting for. The war seems to be never ending. I...have lost so many men and friends to this war."

"Mmm. I do agree that being neutral saves the lives of our people, but it has made the Galaxy wide recession worse." Korkie tries to put the tray of food on his bedside table, but his hands were shaking to much. He nods in thanks when Obi-Wan uses the Force to guide the tray, setting it down gently. "I would like to see my people allowed to participate in their traditions. Build weapons, armor, jewelry...not to hunt Jedi, obviously, but - "

"No no, I understand. Change is hard in any society."

"I wish Mom allowed people to practice and honor their traditions...extreme pacifism only results in extreme terrorism."

"...you're angry at her, aren't you? Not just for keeping us a secret from each other?"

"...yeah. Banning all weapons doesn't promote peace...it promotes terrorism. There has to be a middle ground that will offer both peace and protection against threat."

They both jolt a bit when they hear the bed across from them creaking, and Satine walking out the door while wrapping a robe around her.

Korkie sighs, his shoulders slumping. He smiles a bit when Obi-Wan puts a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "I knowhow badly the civil war affects her...I just wish some of her policies were different."

"The civil war destroyed the system, the agriculture...she watched most of her family die. You can't blame her for her policies, even if you don't agree with them."

"That doesn't give her an excuse…"

"No…" Obi-Wan stares at the door, frowning deeply. "No, it doesn't."

"I didn't you realize that you still smoke."

Satine sighs, breathing out a cloud of smoke. She doesn't face him, continuing to stare at the brick wall in front of her, not moving from the picnic table that was at the side of the hospital. "Only when I'm stressed."

"So all the time?" Obi-Wan asks, sliding onto the bench across from her. He smirks wryly at her eyeroll, reaching across the table and folding her hand into his. Gently he raised it to his lips, looking at her gently. "Korkie is on a lot of medication, my dear...he doesn't mean everything he - "

Satine withdrew her hand, taking another long drag of the cigarette and sighing. She felt like sobbing, but she had done that enough lately. Expelling the smoke, she rubs her opposite hand into her brow. "He has every right to be angry at me."

"If I had been a faceless one-night stand do you think he would have been as angry?"

She pauses, lowering the cigarette and squinting at him. "Maybe...but you're so - so good!"

Obi-Wan frowns, raising his eyebrows at her. "...I'm...good?"

Huffing, Satine took another drag. She breathed out the smoke quickly, her fingers twitching like she wanted to punch something. "How are you not angry at me?!" Satine bursts out, standing to quickly and banging her knee against the table. She curses, dropping the cigarette and inspecting her knee that was beginning to bloody. A sigh escapes her when Obi-Wan moves to her side of the table, easing her down and brushing her skirt to her thighs, looking at the wound.

"It looks worse than it is, I think," Obi-Wan whispers while his fingers brushed near the wound. "Good thing we're at a hospital."

"We're at a hospital with our son in the ICU." Her voice broke, lips quivering. "He's a stranger to you Obi - because of me!"

Obi-Wan sighs, then leaned his head against hers. His voice is thick with emotion. "My dear...I'm livid that I cannot go back in time and change my decision...but you did what you had to do to protect him - and I have him now, thank the Force."

Satine swallows, trying to speak and found herself being unable to form words.

"You need to stop being so angry at yourself...it was the right decision at the time...oh come here."

Obi-Wan sighs when he hears his comlink going off, feeling Satine cuddle closer to him with a grumble and Korkie groan. It was weirdly domestic to hear them both complain about the beeping while half-awake and bleary. Gently untangling himself from Satine, he sits up and waves a hand at the lights before picking the comlink up.

It was Cody's frequency.

"Is there a breakthrough Cody?" Obi-Wan asks when his commander shimmered into his palm. He didn't move from the bed, though he was well aware that Satine was in frame and that Korkie was listening. He found he didn't particularly care - Cody was an intelligent man, he probably figured out the familial ties before Obi-Wan did.

"Yes...and you're not gonna be surprised."

"Oh?"

"It's Cinna. She bombed the dorm. We arrested her a few hours ago, while she was trying to destroy evidence of security footage."

A / N: yes, it's been a long time since I updated. Life got crazy and then I didn't know how to continue this story. But I think I do now - so enjoy!