Thanks for the reviews!! I thought I'd be nice and post quickly since you guys wanted me to. Lol. This chapter is rather uneventful, but just you wait till the next one….I have some very serious obstacles planned for our two favorite Jedi….Mwhahahah!

Ch. 3 The Shadow's Forgiveness

Depending on Hope

Obi-wan didn't react at all when Aden sat down next to him. TiFin had left not 5 minutes ago, probably left to get Aden.

Obi-Wan pretended he was into the game of Solar Ball that Obi-wan would usually be playing right now, but Carlie had ordered him not to for the next day because of his 'close call'.

It was a simple game of hitting a rubberized ball as far as you possibly could then trying not to be tackled before the ball was back at the base plate. If you were not hitting or running, you had to try and catch the ball or tackle the runner.

"Carlie banned ya for a day huh?"

"Yeah. I did a stupid thing today." Obi-wan replied looking at his hands then back down to the matted gym like area where a kid about his age was jumping up and down on the safe base…he was then tackled no matter.

Aden was about to say something then didn't. Almost did again, then didn't. Finally he said, "Well, it may have been a bit rash, but you did save someone's life."

"I guess." Obi-wan shrugged.

They watched the game a while longer then Aden spoke again. "Fin told me that a man showed up today at the hospital."

"Men show up there all the time." Obi-Wan diverted.

Aden smiled a little. "A Qui-gon Jinn then. A Jedi? Said he upset you."

"It's nothing." Obi-Wan replied shifting. "He won't be back."

"Fin's not so sure. He wants to know whether he should pound the guy in or let him pass."

Obi-Wan laughed at this, with Aden. Kenobi could picture huge Fin taking a swing at Jinn. Qui-Gon was a large framed man, but Fin was much larger. A good 4 inches taller and twice as muscled. The advantages of being a humanoid of his type.

"Wow, I get Skilar and Carlie's special treatment huh?" Obi-Wan said with a wide smile, beginning to forget Jinn. The two young women were, as most woman in a city and the area such as this, pursued by eyes they didn't want following. When the words came often a very large fist of Fin came just behind them.

"Absolutely brother, absolutely." Aden said patting him on the back.

When their laughs died Obi-Wan knew Aden was going to bring up his past. He didn't want to go over it, but he knew he should. He knew everything about Aden and the others, they only knew Ben Kenobi.

"If you want to know-"

"That guy is going to whack the ball all the way to the back I bet." Aden interrupted.

Obi-Wan looked to the floor again. "Yeah, he probably will." He murmured, glad Aden knew he didn't want to talk.

Qui-Gon wouldn't decline that he was disappointed when the three he was following came to an entrance gate, the twi'lek entered a clearance code and the side opened and they slipped through towards a large building. It looked old, but this level and area looked aged as well.

"Dr. Grandai!" He called as the side closed. She turned to see him through the bars and she wasn't happy, to say the least, that he had followed them.

"Go home Jedi." She said turning again.

"Wait, please!" Qui-Gon called coming to the gate. "Please."

"She said go home-" The man with them began but Carlie put her hand up.

"It's ok Moh. I'll be inside in a minute." She told them. The twi'lek glared at Jinn and turned away with the man.

"What do you want?" The young doctor asked tightly.

"I must speak with Obi-wan again." Qui-Gon said, clutching the bars.

"I'm sorry." She said beginning to turn again.

"Grandai!" Qui-Gon boomed, his frustration peeking. She looked at him skeptically. "Doctor, please. You don't understand." He said, controlling himself again.

"No, I understand. I understand that you hurt him, and you will again because they always do. And I understand a promise I made a long time ago that YOU, above all people, would not hurt him." Carlie snapped. Qui-Gon was sure that if the bars didn't separate them, she would have hit him or be exceptionally close to it.

"And no matter what you meant to do or what not, it's what you did that is killing him. You know today, just hours ago, Ben nearly sacraficed himself to save another. How many other 15 year old boys would do that? Not many, I'll tell you that damn much! But would you have cared back then, from what I hear, I doubt greatly. You talk of what Ben deserves, what you're looking for is what you want. You want forgiveness so you won't feel what you did anymore. This isn't about him…It's about what you want, what you think you need." She nearly shouted the entire lecture.

Qui-Gon had actually felt a surge of pride when she spoke of Obi-wan's selfless doings. But he felt truth and question in the questions she rained on him.

"Go home, Ben Kenobi is safe and that's all you need to know." Carlie said, a bit milder this time.

"What about what he needs to know?" Qui-Gon asked as she was walking away. Grandai stopped but didn't say anything. "You heard him yourself, and you know as well as I do that he's still hurting from what happened 22 months, 1 week and 3 days ago."

Carlie turned to look at him now.

"You say you want what won't hurt him, let me stop what's still hurting him. Let me tell him what he needs to know." Qui-Gon pleaded.

Carlie approached the gate, an unreadable look on her face.

"Please Dr. Grandai, let me help him, even if it's for the last time."

"Last and only?" She asked tightly glaring at him.

Jinn's heart wrenched. Not so much as to how she said it, just that he knew it might have been true..

"That's for him to decide." Qui-Gon told her.

"You remember that. It's late, and Ben's been through a lot in one day, come back to the hospital tomorrow morning."

"Will he be there?" Qui-Gon asked, hope surging.

"That's for him to decide." She quoted. "Prepare a speech Master Jinn, you'll probably need it to convince Ben." She said walking away without looking back.

Qui-Gon paused the pushed off the bars walking away, glancing back at the large building every so often.

Later

Silence fell after Qui-Gon finished telling what happened to Tahl. Her bright eyes swept over the common a moment then she looked back at him. ( A/N If I have my facts right, Tahl became blind on a mission while Obi-Wan was Qui-Gon's apprentice sometime after #4 or during. Seeing is how #4 never happened 'as planned' Tahl is with sight.)

"He has a right to be wary and even resentful of you Qui."

"I'm not doubting that…I just don't know how to go about this." Qui-Gon said miserably.

"You've been searching for 2 years, it's not uncommon not to know what to do when that long search stops." Tahl said softly. "And it sounds like this Dr. Grandai isn't going to trust you any time before Obi-Wan does."

Qui-Gon nodded silently, watching Tahl trace around the rim of her glass. She did that often when she was thinking about something.

"Let me ask you this then." Tahl said moving her hand away from the glass and leaning forward on the table.

"Ask." Qui-Gon said, knowing she was waiting for him to reply.

"Is there hope?"

Qui-Gon frowned at the question. Hope? "What do you mean?"

"I mean you based your entire search on hope. Hope that he was alive. Hope that you'd find him. Hope that he'd forgive you. Now you've answered two of your questions…what's the answer to the thrid? Is there hope that he'd forgive you? Because if there isn't, is it worth hurting him by bringing up what he's obviously tried hard to forget?"

Qui-Gon studied her and the question. Was there hope? Jedi were taught that there was always hope, but was there truly this time? Obi-wan truly did seem to want to forget his past. To be Ben Kenobi with no strings to it. So was there hope to bring the true Obi-Wan Kenobi back?

"I…pray so." He paused. "Yes, there's hope in him. There always has been."

Tahl studied him a moment, then nodded a little. "Then fight to bring Obi-wan home." She said placing her hand over his reassuringly.

"You still haven't decided, have you?" Carlie asked quietly walking onto the balcony Obi-wan stood on silently.

"No." He said, not turning to face her. "I don't know how." He looked down.

Carlie stepped beside him, her eyes on the city.

"I've listened to Skilar's advice…Aden's advice, Moh's, Fice's, Fin's and I still don't know what to do." He confessed.

Carlie had told him shortly after he and Aden returned, that Qui-Gon Jinn wanted a chance to talk to him. That he could, only if he wanted to, go to the hospital tomorrow intent on talking to the man of his past.

The others put in their two bit about the subject. Skilar, Fice, and Moh were very hostile in any situation regarding the pain of one of their own. Aden told him that he should be more diplomatic about it, discuss and confid. Fin, of course, offered to bash the big Jedi for him, but Obi-Wan said no. Fin then said he should maybe hear Jinn out…then if he didn't like what he had to say, he could tell Fin to bash him.

Carlie had said nothing on the matter. She'd merely listened, which was an odd occurance. It was well known that Obi-Wan was her favorite intern and resident here. She guided him as she would a younger brother, and was there for him when he needed her, and most certainly offered advice and her take on situations. This time, when he needed it most, she hadn't.

"Tell me what to do Carlie." He said softly. "Just tell me what I should do, I won't question it, I'll do it I swear, I just want to be told what I should do." He continued clenching his eyes shut out of frustration, saddness, and confusion.

"Ben, stop." Carlie said looking at him. "Don't do this. Don't give up. What have I taught you about giving up?"

"That it's not an option." He said quietly.

"Look at me." She told him turning him slightly to face her more, keeping her hands on his shoulders. "I can't tell you what to do, nor can anyone else. The others offered you advice and I think you should keep their intentions in mind…But I don't think you should take it."

He looked at her surprised.

"You shouldn't listen to us. Not Aden, or Fin. Not Skilar, Moh, or Fice. Not my intake on what you should do about tomorrow. I think you should listen to yourself. Follow your instincts...Follow your heart." She told him.

"We know nothing of Qui-Gon Jinn…and to be frank, we know nothing of Obi-wan Kenobi. That's your area of knowledge, not ours. You know what to do Ben, you just have to listen to yourself."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes tightly away from her soft gaze. A moment later Carlie had him in a tight embrace, and Obi-wan was anything but hesitant to return it.

"I should talk to him…I shouldn't run anymore." Obi-Wan said after a bit.

"Then you will talk to him." Carlie said. "And I'll always help you."

"I know." He replied. "I know."

TBC…

I know, it was rather a non-eventful chapter….heh, next one should prove interesting though. =)