Author's Note: So this is just something I thought up one early morning at work, when I had plenty of time to think about why exactly it is that I don't drink coffee XD And that got me thinking about other people who perhaps didn't start out drinking "coffee" (or "caf"), but perhaps who might've switched to drinking it after many long nights followed by early mornings. So enjoy the product of me not being a morning person!

Ugh. I need caf, was Obi-wan's first thought of the day as he opened his eyes to the dim light of the Resolute. A dull headache made itself known, as did the ache in his back from a particularly near-miss blaster bolt the day before. He, Anakin, and Ahsoka had been dispatched to help one of the Republic's traveling med-centers. They had taken care of the attacking Separatist forces with little issue; the attackers were far fewer in number than their intel had suggested.

Now they were back on the Resolute, making their way back to Coruscant. They would be in and out of hyperspace all day.

So, Obi-wan actually had some time on his hands.

But first, caf.

He rolled out of bed, bare feet immediately becoming chilled on the metal floor. Grimacing at the odour that clung to his robes - he hadn't changed last night after finishing off the droids, simply pulled off his armour and boots - he quickly yanked them over his head and pulled out a fresh set. Strapping on the shoulder and arm guards, he made his way to the refresher.

He used the facilities as quickly as he could. He still wanted that caf after all, and if he wanted it hot he needed to get to the cafeteria as soon as possible. He did, however, take a moment to carefully comb his hair.

His reflection looked back at him, and he wasn't surprised to notice how tired and worn he looked. He was rather miffed though to discover several new strands of gray coming in at his temples. He tugged on them, as if his touch alone could restore the lost colour. I'm only thirty-five! Obi-wan imagined Anakin noticing, trying to tease him for it, but he already had the perfect response. Well, Padawan-mine, at least half of them are from you. He could hear Anakin's indignant spluttering now. Chuckling to himself, he went to leave the room.

He'd almost made it all the way out the door when his comm beeped with a message. Frowning, he opened the pre-recorded hologram. The tall form of Anakin appeared over his wrist, saying only two words. Sparring today? The recording shrank back into the comm.

Obi-wan sighed. It was far too early in the day for him to be subject to the many whims of his grown apprentice. He quickly tapped a response into the comm. Sure. But first, caf.

He stepped out the door, shoulders back, stride confident. He was back on task. His thoughts turned to how that first sip would warm him up from the inside out, maybe even stave off his growing headache, and give him a much needed jolt of energy. He was thinking so much, in fact, that he bumped right into Ahsoka as she came flying around the corner.

"Oops! My apologies, Ahsoka. I was deep in thought." He offered the apology quickly as he held out a hand to the Padawan now sprawled on the floor.

"No worries, Master Obi-wan!" She took his hand, letting him pull her back to her feet. "I was actually looking for you. I've been having a hard time with a particular part of my meditation and you know how Anakin is with that sort of thing."

Obi-wan nodded ruefully, and answered drily. "Unfortunately, I do. What was your question?"

"Well, I was actually hoping you could meditate with me so I could show you."

Obi-wan hesitated. He really needed that drink. "Can it possibly wait until later today?"

Ahsoka grimaced. "No. Master has the whole rest of my day booked solid. This morning is my only free time."

Obi-wan sighed, trying to put aside the fragrant smell of hot caf that was floating through his head. Jedi are not selfish, Jedi are not selfish. All it took was one look from the pleading blue eyes of his Padawan's Padawan, and he caved in a heartbeat.

"Alright. But only for you, Ahsoka."

He smiled tiredly as she gave him a happy laugh. "Thanks, Obi-wan!"

Obi-wan smiled warmly, but tiredly, and let her lead the way to the onboard meditation room.

Their footsteps echoed down the corridor, clones saluting as they passed. The Jedi gave their own personal greetings in return.

"Echo, how's the shoulder?"

"Tubs! Did you find that gun holster you lost?"

"Badger, I heard you and Hardrock got into a bit of a scrap. From the looks of you, did Hardrock win?"

As tired and cafless as Obi-wan was, he would never have skimped on these individualized greetings. Not only did it show the clones that their leader cared about the inner workings of their lives rather than just how good a soldier they were, it also gave Ahsoka a healthy example of how to lead.

Eventually, finally, they reached the double doors that slid back to reveal the modest meditation room. The Council had started including them in the plans for newer ships and retrofitting lesser used rooms on older ships once the effects of the long war started making themselves known. Jedi more easily able to rest themselves were Jedi that could fight longer.

And had less nightmares to contend with.

They both picked a pad, and sat down cross legged, facing each other.

"Alright. Show me what's troubling you, Ahsoka."

A couple hours later, they both came out of their trances tired, but successful.

"Thank you for helping me finetune that, Obi-wan. I knew I wasn't going to get it on my own."

"Ohh, you are not giving yourself enough credit, Padawan." He gave her a smile. "But I was happy to help."

"See you later, Master!" She stepped out the door with a wave.

Obi-wan stepped out the door behind her, practically rubbing his hands together in anticipation at the steaming, sweet-smelling cup he was now heading to get.

He was literally ten steps from the cafeteria door, clones coming in and out, sending the delicious smells of food and beverages wafting down the hallway.

He put on a burst of speed…

And Anakin jumped in front of him.

Obi-wan came to an abrupt stop, almost colliding with his former Padawan. "Anakin!"

"Hey, old man!" Anakin answered with a grin. "You ready to spar?"

"No! I only just finished teaching your Padawan, so I was quite unable-"

"Wait, wait," Anakin interrupted. "Why were you training Ahsoka?"

Obi-wan fought to keep his frustration in check. He wasn't angry with Anakin, though he knew he sounded like it. He was just exhausted from the fighting, and his inner balance was off since he hadn't had breakfast or caf - and it was annoying that Anakin didn't seem to have any such troubles. His former Padawan was almost always full of boundless energy, confident, ready for the next adventure. And Obi-wan… was an old man who just wanted a quiet morning.

He took a deep breath, letting go of some of his frustration. "Because she was having trouble with her meditation-"

"Oh, yup, say no more." Anakin waved his hand in a dismissive gesture before clapping his old Master's back in thanks. "Thanks for taking that one, Obi."

"Anakin!" Obi-wan tried to sound stern, but failed miserably. His fondness for the boy always managed to come out in a smile. "You are her Master-"

"And you're her - !" Anakin paused, clearly trying to come up with something clever. " - grand-master," he finished with a roguish grin, putting an arm around Obi-wan's shoulders and steering him to the ship's training center. "You are infinitely more qualified to teach in the area of meditation than I. I am not afraid to admit that I fall far short in that area."

"In many areas," Obi-wan grumbled under his breath as he glanced longingly back at the cafeteria door as he was led away.

"What was that?" Anakin asked.

"Oh, nothing!"

Obi-wan's chronometer told him it was now late afternoon when he and Anakin had finally finished. They had had several sparring matches, neither one really getting the upper hand until they started to tire and make mistakes. At which point, they both won a match each.

To cool down, they had started doing forms - the automatic next step in the routine taught to all Jedi from the first time they held a lightsaber - taking their time to ensure they were flowing smoothly from one to another. Quite unintentionally, they had fallen into a joint moving meditation, their actions syncing up perfectly, as they fell deep into the Force together.

Moving meditation had been the only form of communing with the Force that had come naturally to Anakin when he was a Padawan, and while it wasn't Obi-wan's preferred method, he had always been of the mind that a teacher should adapt their methods to the student; not the other way around. Thus, the two of them had become veritable masters of it, so it was no surprise that he didn't even notice when they moved from forms… to more.

When they finally swam to the surface from the far depths of the Force, it was to unexpected applause.

Obi-wan glanced at his fellow Jedi, who, he noticed, was breathing just as hard as he was, and saw the same surprise on his features as Obi-wan felt on his own. Anakin lifted a hand to his forehead in a jaunty salute to the clones who had formed a half-ring around them. So deep in their community with each other and the Force, the Jedi hadn't noticed the clones - who had also been using the shared training room - start to fall away from their various tasks to watch the Jedi.

Master and Apprentice had progressed from slow, careful repetition to synced meditation, their movements speeding up almost imperceptibly at first. Until, finally, they began the dance that only warriors in tune with their weapons and their partner knew. The clones had thought their fast-moving, twirling forms - so gracefully weaving and ducking around each other in some pattern only the Jedi knew - fascinating.

Their sabers had swung through the air, and Obi-wan had felt an indescribable grace in the way his weight shifted smoothly from foot to foot. A grace he had seen mirrored in Anakin. Their booted feet had moved in careful patterns on the floor, the movements so repetitive, and so distinctly ingrained in both of them that really… they should have expected to fall into it.

Obi-wan blinked, coming back to the present as the applause continued. Less accepting of the praise than his Padawan, he simply gave a small nod, trusting his beard to hide his blushing colour. Anakin gave him a smirk, knowing exactly what was going through his old Master's head, as he turned his salute into a quick swipe across his forehead to wipe the sweat from his brow. Obi-wan did the same.

They spent a few minutes fielding questions from the men, before taking their leave.

After saying goodbye to Anakin as they parted ways, Obi-wan paused for a moment, unsure whether to head directly to the cafeteria - he was quite famished, especially after that much physical exertion - or to get a quick sonic shower in. Deciding that he really was far too grimy to be able to enjoy sitting down to a meal, he quickly directed his steps back to his quarters.

Emerging freshly clean some indeterminate amount of time later - he had ended up taking quite a bit longer than planned as it wasn't every day that he actually had the time to… well, take his time - he didn't delay in putting on a fresh set of robes. His stomach was growling at him quite insistently now. And he still hadn't had that caf.

He had just exited the room and was fiddling with the straps to clip his lightsaber to his belt, when his wrist chimed.

Sending a quick prayer to the Force that the Captain of the 212th only wanted to chat, he opened the hologram. "Yes, Cody?"

"General Kenobi," Cody began. "Do you have a moment to go over the personnel transfers with me, sir? And last week's ration inventory needs your signature. As well as the - "

"Cody," Obi-wan interrupted, running a hand through his disheveled hair as Cody's list grew longer and longer. "Is there any way this could all wait an hour?" His stomach rumbled its agreement, and he felt personally offended when a trooper walked by with a full cup of steaming caf.

"I'm sorry, sir, no," came the reply. "The transferred men are scheduled to ship out tonight, and the inventory should've been turned in yesterday. The gear replacement requests are also - "

"Okay, okay. I hear you." Obi-wan attempted a deep, calming breath, his chest rising and falling to a rhythm only he could hear. It didn't really work, as the sound of his stomach interrupted the motion. He did his best to keep the grumpiness out of his tone when he answered, "I'm on my way now."

The sound of his leaden footsteps echoed far down the ship's durasteel corridors.

Obi-wan had no idea how long he was in there with Cody. Partly because the work was so all-consuming anyway, and partly because he specifically forced himself to stop checking his chronometer. It only made time go slower.

It was long, detailed, time-consuming work. He and Cody were usually pretty in sync about this sort of thing, but this time there were a number of additional points that they disagreed on. It took quite a bit of extra time to talk them over. Which, in all honesty, was a polite way of saying… they argued.

In a manner extremely similar to himself, Obi-wan had always found Cody to be very mild-mannered and even-tempered. But it had been a long stretch of seemingly endless battles, and Obi-wan's temper was already frayed and rough, so he couldn't imagine how the Captain - who did not have the use of the Force to keep on top of unwanted emotions - was feeling. For the first time in a while, Obi-wan found their disagreements distinctly rowdy.

The hour was late when they eventually hammered out all the details needed, and Obi-wan all but stumbled out of the small office they had been sequestered in.

"Have a good night, sir!" Cody saluted before walking off, leaving Obi-wan alone in the hallway.

"Goodnight… Cody." Obi-wan waved a hand in his Captain's direction, but Cody was already out of sight.

He really was quite famished. Come to think of it, he was rather lightheaded, too. As his focused concentration of the last however-many-hours began to give way, so did the room. He threw out a hand to the wall, breaking his fall, as the room started to spin slightly. The other clutched his now aching head.

Reaching out into the soothing balm that was the Force, he attempted to breathe through the dizzy spell. The ability to center himself in the Force had always been one of Obi-wan's strong suits.

And yet he found himself unable to focus this time.

This is what happens when I don't get my caf, he grumbled, frustrated that he had let it get to this point.

This was certainly not his first time going without food, but he had never before so neatly bookended the occurrence with such physical and mental exertion. And he hadn't started out the day with his usual warm, fragrant jolt of adrenaline.

His hand still a steadying presence on the wall, he bent over slightly as the room spun once more.

And that was how Kix found him.

Obi-wan looked up as a voice called out, "General Kenobi!" to see Kix, the 501st's head medic, walking briskly toward him. He attempted to straighten up slightly. "Yes, Kix, what is it?"

"I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours, sir, but was told you were in a meeting. Is it finally over? I need to check over that wound on your back from yester… " He trailed off as he took in Obi-wan's rather haggard appearance, and slow, focusing blinks. "Are you alright, sir?"

Obi-wan quickly removed his hand from the wall with a wince. Kix was known for his ability to sniff out even the staunchest of soldiers who attempted the age-old excuse of I'm fine. The man's sharp eyes never missed a beat.

Brushing invisible lint off his chest piece, he summoned his best sabacc face. "Yes, Kix, thank you for the concern. I'm just a little hungry is all."

"Mhmm." Kix gave him a deadpan look. "Walk over here, will you, General?"

Obi-wan gave him a A Look.

Kix gave his own Look right back. "I outrank you in every medical situation, remember? Sir."

Obi-wan let out a sigh, and strode towards the trooper. Or tried too. He had to stop after the second step as the ship - it was definitely the ship - shifted beneath his feet. Unwittingly, he flung out his arms for balance, and winced when Kix quickly slipped underneath one and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"Let's get you to the med-bay, sir."

Obi-wan protested even as he was led away, and not under his own power. "Really, Kix, there's no need. I just need some food and caf is all."

Kix gave a snort, as he pulled the General in the direction of the medical bay. "Uh huh. You know, sir, you sound an awful lot like General Skywalker right now. And we both know what he's like when he's injured." Under his breath he mumbled, "Like all you Jedi. Too damn "heroic" for your own good."

"I am not injured, I tell you! Or "being heroic" as you so grandly put it," Obi-wan scoffed. But his own actions belied his strong words.

He didn't let go of the medic all the way to med-bay.

"What's this about?" Obi-wan heard as soon as Anakin walked in the room, closely followed by Ahsoka. "You needing old age checkups already?"

Obi-wan simply rolled his eyes at his old Padawan's antics from where he was sitting on one of the rooms' beds, just as Ahsoka lightly slapped her Master on the shoulder. "It could be serious!" She whispered. Anakin wasn't fazed in the slightest.

Kix simply smiled as he left the computer terminal he'd been at and came over to join the group gathered at Obi-wan's bed.

"General Kenobi simply neglected some of his body's needs today. But if I could appoint you, General Skywalker, as his escort to make sure the General gets some food into him - " He sent a half-hearted glare at Obi-wan who put up his hands in surrender. " - then he's free to go!"

"Master, did you not eat today?" Ahsoka asked in a concerned tone. Obi-wan was sure she was thinking of the role she'd played in taking up his time.

He kicked his feet slightly where they hung over the side of the bed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "I did not - it was just - there were things to be done!"

He saw his Padawan's eyes widen at his uncharastically flustered outburst. He also saw the guilt that leaked into them.

"Master, why didn't you say something? We didn't have to spar so long, or so hard, why didn't - " He stopped, and Obi-wan could practically see the struggle in his head as he began to blame himself for Obi-wan's condition. "I should've noticed you were tired, Master, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let us go into that moving meditation, of course you were hungry after - "

"Anakin, Anakin." Obi-wan held up a hand, halting his old apprentice's misplaced train of thought. "You forget, I am a grown man. It is not completely up to you to take care of me, my old Padawan." He put careful emphasis on the student role Anakin had once held. "I could just as easily have said no more forcefully than I did."

"Well, maybe, but there's still - "

This time Obi-wan interrupted by landing heavily on the floor and reaching out an arm for Anakin's assistance.

Ahsoka came up on his other side, but didn't reach out a hand. Obi-wan was grateful. Leaning on one person was quite enough already.

"Just get me to a cup of caf - I mean, plate of food - " he quickly amended at a glare from Kix. " - and all will be remedied." They started to make their slow way to the door.

Obi-wan felt Anakin tighten his grip on his arm.

"Oh, and sir!" Kix called just before they set foot in the hallway.

Anakin helped Obi-wan to turn slightly.

"Your back looks much better today. Just… don't do whatever you did today, tomorrow. Take it easy, okay?"

Obi-wan almost let out a guffaw, but caught himself just in time. Today had been a rest day. "I will try my best, Kix. Thank you."

The medic offered a salute as the door closed behind them.

"Aren't we due back at Coruscant tomorrow for those Council reports about our last few missions, and those strategy meetings about the Ryloth campaign? And the Felucia campaign? And we're picking up those new recruits?"

Obi-wan grimaced as Anakin openly grinned beside him. "Yes, Ahsoka. We are."

An hour later, Obi-wan lay down in bed, after having changed into his actual sleep robes for the first time in weeks. His stomach was now pleasantly full, and he'd had enough cups of caf to theoretically keep him up until daybreak. Not that there was a daybreak in space.

He smiled contentedly. Good thing he knew several Force tricks for siphoning off unwanted energy. His head sank into the soft pillow he'd managed to sneak in to replace the old standard issue one, and he fell asleep dreaming of the next morning.

He simply couldn't wait for his next cup of caf.

The End

Author's Note: Thank you very much to Potatoslayer for their kind review! It completely made my day! I'm so glad I could be your first foray back into the world of SW fanfiction, and I'm very glad you think the characters seem like themselves. Like I always say, "your characters are in character!" is the highest compliment I could receive! So thank you very much *heart hands*

And thank you to Guest with your inciteful review about age XD You're right, it is funny how youngsters think the 30s and 40s are so old! It may seem like that is how I view those ages from this fic, but it was an intentional choice. Anakin always makes fun of Obi-wan for "being old", and being able to imagine how physically and mentally draining fighting a constant war is, I made the choice to play into the feeling, and have Obi-wan a few moments of feeling "old" as well. Definitely agree that he is not actually though! Just my opinion that his circumstances might make him feel like it:-)