His little girl held onto his hand, stubbornly refusing to let him leave.

"Just one more!" she whispered, her eyes imploring him to read another story.

"Leia it's past your bedtime, you know the rules."

She gripped his hand tightly in her little ones. "Pleeeeease daddy!"

Obi-Wan looked at the time and sighed. He really was wrapped around her finger. Luke had already drifted off after a long day of training and playing adventures outdoors with his sister. They were growing up fast, and one day they wouldn't want him to read them stories at all.

"Alright, one more. But it will be a short one," he agreed quietly.

Leia grinned with glee, releasing his hand and snuggling down into her bed covers in preparation for another tale. Her smile was always worth it, especially at the moment as her little milk teeth were being replaced by her adult set. Half of her front teeth were missing and she was immensely proud of the new ones that were growing in, showing them to everyone she met.

"How about the adventures of Mola Deneri?"

She nodded eagerly, her little face peeking out from the bedding. Obi-Wan adjusted his sitting position at the side of her bed and turned the book towards the bedside lamp so that he could see the words.

"I'll just read chapter one. It's the escape from the Sarlak pit."

"Okay," she whispered, her eye lids already starting to droop before he'd begun. He smiled and began to read quietly. Within minutes she was deeply asleep and he chucked to himself. Tucking the blanket around the mattress, he placed a kiss on her forehead and turned out the light, creeping back into the living room whilst avoiding the toys that littered the floor. He saw Padmé turn and smile at him from the living room, beckoning him towards her…

The scene shifted and ebbed, and then Obi-Wan felt as if he were being dragged upwards from the depths of a deep and murky lake. He became aware of voices, lights and the mechanical speech of droids. Emerging from his unconscious state he became aware of a deep, awful pain in his side and gasped, rolling his head and trying to get his bearings.

Someone was speaking to him, but the voice was drifting and he couldn't catch it, all he could feel was agonising pain in his ribs and his shoulder. Something was being injected into him and again he drifted back down into darkness. Memories floated past him, his unconscious mind seeking his wife and his children.

When he next awoke, the pain had lessened but it was still enough for him to immediately feel it as his senses returned. Bleary-eyed he began to look around, wondering where he was. He saw the Viceroy of Alderaan by his bedside and in a moment the events on the ship came back to him and he started upright in alarm. Padmé! A deep awful throbbing in his ribs caught him off guard and he gasped at the pain, lying back down to ease the strain on his muscles.

"Obi-Wan. How do you feel?" Bail asked, standing and checking his the report the medical droid had drawn up.

"Awful, where's Padmé?" he asked in a weak voice. "Where's Luke and Leia?"

Bail's face was grim as he looked up from the report, he sighed and Obi-Wan could see he didn't want to tell him.

"We didn't get a chance to break through the defences to search the ship. The children must've been well concealed…we…we didn't get them out. I'm sorry. Padmé decided to stay onboard with the children and Vader, and ordered us to retreat. And it was a good thing she did, the Emperor arrived soon after. She saved a lot of lives."

"Vader found me before I could find them," he breathed, the pain in his side making it hard to think and talk. "She should have escaped with us."

His memory of reading to Leia came back to him then and he grimaced at the unbearable pain in his heart - he was no closer to getting them back, in fact he was worse off than before. He was bereft without them.

"I believe Vader was going to kill you. Padmé saved your life too. The men who carried you back with us said they saw her stand between you and Vader, that she was begging for your life. I know this is hard to hear my old friend, but she did it for you."

The injured Jedi took a shallow breath. Of course she would save him at the expense of her own wellbeing. Memories of their conversation came back to him, when they had sat together before the attack… Promise me that you will put you and the children's safety above everything else?I promise.

He closed his eyes, feeling his heart sink deeper and lower by the moment. In a way she had put their safety first. It was unlikely Vader would harm the twins, but Padmé was pregnant with his child and that changed the whole dynamic of their relationship. He had no clue how he would treat her now. Vader would have to come to grips with the fact that she had been alive all this time and fallen in love with another. Given his emotional reaction in the hangar bay, Anakin's jealous and hot-headed nature was still prevalent in Darth Vader. He had real reason to be worried for her safety.

Fear grasped at him as he thought of Padmé going into an early labour - would she be safe? What would happen to their child? He was overwhelmed and found it hard to calm his racing heart. Everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong.

Attempting to calm his thoughts, Obi-Wan moved his head to the side, looking out across the medical bay to the window where he could see the traffic of Aldera whizzing past.

"How long have I been here healing?" he asked Bail.

"Only two days. We tried to keep you under but you'll need bacta treatment soon. It can't be avoided I'm afraid," Bail said from behind him.

Obi-Wan grimaced at the thought of submersion in the bacta tube. Sensory deprivation was the last thing he needed right now. Unable to believe he had failed to kill the Sith on his second try, he sighed. He had failed his wife. He had failed to protect his children. Failure, fear, anger, all of these emotions boiled within him, so un-Jedi like that it made him ashamed. The once great General Kenobi was gone, replaced instead by a weak old man who had allowed attachments to rule his existence. Qui-Gon would be disappointed at the state of his emotions.

"You said the Emperor was approaching the ship?" he asked slowly, working around the pain that talking was costing him. His lungs felt shallow and delicate.

"Yes."

"So…Vader must have taken them to him. He will know they all live…" Obi-Wan said as he stared unseeing out the window. Suddenly it all seemed too surreal to be true.

Bail was silent. They both sat for a time, wandering in their own minds. A medical droid entered the room and adjusted the fluids that were being injected into his forearm. Watching the droid work, Obi-Wan felt oddly disconnected from it all.

"I will be back to check on you soon," Bail stood to leave, but before the senator left he looked down at him and spoke earnestly. "Do not lose hope Obi-Wan. Things may seem impossible to resolve, but there is always a chance it can be turned around. We will come up with another plan and we won't stop fighting."

"Thank you Bail for all your hard work," he replied, smiling weakly though he knew it didn't meet his eyes.

"No Obi-Wan, you are to thank."

"For failing a second time to kill him?" he scoffed.

"For helping Padmé and the children all those years ago when you had to start from scratch. I have a hope that they can get through to Vader in a way that no one else can."

Obi-Wan reflected on his words, hoping beyond hope that his words had truth. "…Perhaps."

"I will see you shortly old friend," Bail touched his shoulder warmly and left the room.

Alone with just the company of the droid, Obi-Wan turned back to look out the window. Memories of his children came to him again and his heart ached with how much he missed them, and how much he wished he could protect them. He wanted to believe Bail was right, but his friend had not had the experience of fighting a lightsaber duel with Vader. Never in all his years had he encountered such a vicious hate-fuelled fighting style. The dark side clung to him like a thick black fog, controlling him. Could anything penetrate that fog that had consumed him for so long? Could there be any way to reach that evil man inside the suit?

Reflecting on this, Obi-Wan sorely missed having a master of his own. Qui-Gon would know what to say and what to do. When the droid left him alone to rest, he entered a deep meditation and calmed his thoughts, searching for the presence of his old master. He needed to ask more about the chosen one.