Title: When Stars Collide

Author: Jadda

Rating: PG-13 (language and suggestive dialogue)

Characters: Obi-Wan and you; Qui-Gon Jinn and other Jedi

Category: ABH, AU, romance/action adventure; PRE- TPM

Disclaimer: Don't sue! Star Wars belongs to George Lucas!! I'm just playing with the characters...the only characters that are mine are the made up ones, but I could care less if anyone used those.

AN: Edited 5/10/09

Chapter 7:

Slowly, you regain consciousness and realize, to your dismay, that your head is throbbing with immense pain. You want to whine in pain but you're so exhausted that you can barely breathe. You haven't opened your eyes yet, but you can all ready tell you're not on your ship anymore. You're laying on something hard, like stone, and the room is extremely drafty.

*Okay, I'm gonna try and open my eyes,* you think with determination.

You take a deep breath then release it before attempting to pull you eyelids open.

After almost five minutes of struggling, you manage to keep them drowsily open.

You look around the surrounding darkness, only moving your tired eyes. You suddenly hear a cough coming from your right. You gulp a little and decide to be brave in your vulnerable state and take a look at what coughed.

You blink a few times, then begin rolling your head to the side. Your eyes manage to land on someone sitting in the bottom right corner of, what you assume is, a cell.

Your eyes are too tired and blurry to focus right away so you blink, desperately trying to focus your eyes.

Then a voice sounds from the corner and is directed at you.

"Are you finally awake?" asks the muffled voice.

*Why does that voice sound so familiar?* you think groggily.

Not getting a response, the person in the corner stirs and begins to crawl toward you.

Had you not been so exhausted, you would have moved.

Slowly the being comes closer, close enough for you to be able to decipher that it is a man.

Closer he comes, ever so slowly.

*If you're gonna kill me, just get it over with all ready.*

You close your eyes tightly for a brief second and open them to find the person hovering over you, a look of concern on his face.

Now you can see him.

"Obi-Wan," you manage to crack out through your dry throat.

Obi-Wan places an index finger over his lips, signaling for you to be quiet.

You nod as well as you can and attempt to swallow, though it does nothing but make you wish you had water.

Obi-Wan looks behind you and begins to move closer to you. He picks you up gently and props you up against the wall.

When he has assured himself that you won't fall, he looks at you, moving the sweat-drenched hair out of your eyes.

*His hands are warm,* you think absentmindedly, as you watch him remove his hand from your cheek. He looks away from you briefly and digs into a pocket of his tunic. You watch as his face lightens a tad as he obviously found what he was looking for.

He looks at you again and whispers.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going over there."

You nod and watch him rise and quickly walk to get something on the other side of the cell. He comes back moments later with a bowl full of liquid. He dips a cloth into the bowl and wrings it out. He carefully folds it into a small rectangle and begins cleaning off your face, not saying a word.

He looks at your eyes every now and then to make sure you're still awake, and after ten minutes of cleaning, he puts the cloth down and reaches for the bowl. He picks it up carefully and brings it toward your face.

"Drink?" he asks, showing you the bowl.

You nod as quickly as you can.

He nods a little as well and brings the bowl closer to you. He places it on your dry, chapped lips and tips it a little, allowing cool, fresh water to spill into your parched mouth. You swallow it happily and heartily.

*Thank the gods for Obi-Wan Kenobi,* you think, your energy slowly coming to you.

Obi-Wan then lowers the bowl from your mouth and continues to look at you a moment longer.

"Are you all right?" he asks quietly.

You swallow the last bit of water in your mouth and look at him.

"Yes, I'm fine," you say, bringing a hand to your face and wiping your mouth dry.

Obi-Wan nods and sighs.

"What happened, Obi-Wan?"

He stares momentarily and then begins to fidget a tad.

"Uh well, we were captured," he says simply.

You raise an eyebrow at him.

"I gathered that much. Perhaps I stated the question wrong, how about 'what happened before we were captured?'"

He smiles a little, realizing you're never too tired to smart off to him.

"Right, well, it's rather hard to explain. Give me a moment to collect my thoughts," he says, silence permeating throughout the room.

"Okay, thoughts collected," he says, playfully avoiding the subject.

"Alright, here's what I remember. I was sitting in my cabin fiddling with my data pad, when I heard a bang."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

FLASHBACK

Obi-Wan jumped slightly when he heard a bang in the main control room. He quickly rises and stumbles to the door, punching the access panel and unlocking the door.

When the door opens, he's greeted with quite a scene before him: a group of masked creatures in rubber-like suits were crowding around at the entrance. Smoke was filling the air profusely. Obi-Wan couldn't really see too well and his body was threatening to go into a coughing fit from all of the smoke.

Finally, he managed to make out something on the other side of the room.

*The smoke must be clearing a bit,* he thinks squinting.

He manages to make out you standing stock board stiff and staring at the gun in your face. The being pointing the gun mumbles something inaudible from his distance and then pulls the trigger.

Obi-Wan watched in horror as your, now limp, body falls to the ground with a light _THUNK_

END OF FLASHBACK

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"I don't know what came over me after that. I just pulled out my lightsaber and started fighting. Eventually I managed to clear off the creatures inside, but they had already called for reinforcements. That's when I got shot as well," he explains, rubbing the back of his neck with a free hand.

"I'm assuming," he continued, "that we were both shot with a tranquilizer dart. Yours must've been stronger because I awoke before you."

You look at him, frowning. "Where were the creatures from?"

"I have no idea. I'm guessing that the first group were Geonosians. But who the rest were, I haven't the slightest idea."

You sigh openly and look around your dimly lit cell. The room is square and dark and the only light is from under the cell door.

You and Obi-Wan seem to be the only captives in this particular cell, much to your relief.

"What are we going to do?" you ask, breaking the tedious silence.

"Well, as of now, I'm afraid all we can do is wait it out." he says, running a hand through his spiky hair.

"Wait for what? For the nonexistent rescue team? No one know we were attacked, no one knows we were taken captive, and no one knows where we are. So what the hell are we waiting for, Obi-Wan?" you whisper nervously.

Obi-Wan look at you, a bit of fear flashing in his blue-green orbs.

"I honestly have no idea. I don't know why they even attacked us or what we're doing here and I have no idea how to get us out."

"You think that maybe we're actually on Sophax and that this whole treaty singing thing was a scam?" you say after a moment of silence.

Kenobi furrows his brow.

"I don't know what the chances of that are, I mean, why would this be a scam? What would the Sophaxians want with a couple of Jedi?"

"Ransom."

"Ransom? Like what? Republic credits? I don't think they really need any," says Obi-wan sceptically.

"No, I mean, ransom, as in maybe 'if you make us sign this treaty, we'll kill your Jedi.'"

Obi-Wan looks at you doubtfully once more and raises an eyebrow.

"So you're saying they planned all of this out, got the Council to agree with out noticing anything, despite the fact they are Jedi, and then attacking us half way to our destination? Don't you think that's a tad far fetched?"

You sigh exasperatedly at him.

"Haven't you ever watched the old holos, Obi-Wan? There's always a catch in a situation like this."

Obi-wan rolls his eyes.

"Gods, Princess, this is not a holo, this is real. The scenario is not the same."

"How do you know? You don't know why we're here any better then I do, so there's a 50-50 chance that I'm right."

"And a 50-50 chance you're wrong," he adds, contemptuously.

You sigh again. "Okay yeah, there is, but I'm trying to be optimistic here, Kenobi."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The hours in your cell with Obi-Wan pass slowly and uneventfully. It has gotten to the point where the two of you are so completely bored, you've stopped conversing; all of the topics have been discussed and now there's nothing to do but wait.

Suddenly, there's a loud bang on the cell door, but it doesn't open.

You look at Obi-Wan, who is beside you, and you both look ahead at the door listening for any other sounds. None come immediately.

After about five minutes, you've unconsciously huddled closer to Obi-Wan, who you're on the back wall with, but he doesn't seem to notice.

Then there's another bang, but this time it's louder and you hear muffled voices beyond the door; then there's constant banging. You gulp and look at Obi-Wan again. He glances at you and quickly rises, gesturing for you to follow suit. You rise also, stand beside him, and stare at the door not knowing what else to do.

The banging suddenly halts and you hear someone, or something, say something indecipherable.

Next, something neither of you expect happens: a green lightsaber appears through the middle of the door.

You stare wide-eyed at the florescent green stick as it cuts a hole in the center of the door.

Obi-Wan then mumbles something that sounds like 'Master', grabs your hand and pulls you gently in the direction of the door.

When the hole is cut, the lightsaber is retracted and the carved center of the door is pushed inward toward you and Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan and yourself are standing about five feet from the hole in the door; then someone comes into the cell through the hole, followed by two more beings.

You squint through the darkness but you can't see the three people's faces even though there is light filtering into the room.

"Obi-Wan?" a voice asks.

You glance up at Kenobi who just blinks.

"Obi-Wan, is that you there?" the voice asks again.

Obi-Wan gulps quickly.

"Y-yes, I am Obi-Wan."

The three people before you sigh in relief and ask if you are who they think you are. You reply 'yes' and more sighs of relief are heard. That's when they stepped close and you finally see who they are: the one who had spoken was Master Canaan. The other two turned out to be Qui-Gon and a healer named Jade.

Qui-Gon approaches you both and embraces Obi-Wan, then you.

"I am exceedingly glad that the two of you are all right. The Council was very worried when your droid reported ship malfunctions. Luckily, we were able to trace you so quickly," he says pulling out of the hugs.

He look at the two of you and smiles.

"So, I see that the two of you have bonded quite closely, eh?" he asks, amusement sounding throughout his voice.

You and Obi-Wan look at one another and raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, Master Jinn?" you ask.

He laughs slightly and point between the two of you.

"Why else would you be holding hands?"

You both look down quickly and realize that when Kenobi grabbed you hand and pulled you closer to the door, you had never actually let go of each other.

Luckily it's dark so no one can see it when you blush and then quickly let go of one another immediately.

Qui-Gon laughs once more and gestures to the two of you.

"Well, come on, let's get you two home."

You both nod and quietly follow Qui-Gon out of the cell, followed by the other two Jedi.

"Where exactly are we, Master?" Obi-Wan asks, stepping into the light and squinting.

Qui-Gon takes your hand, helps you out into the light and looks at Obi-Wan.

"You are on Sophax, so you did end up making it to your destination. The Sophaxians, however, had other plans for you that the Council did not foresee. We have, as of now, gained control of the Sophaxian government and are debating whether or not to remove them from the Republic's protection. It has been a long weeks."

You look at Obi-Wan and smirk, deciding that now is not the right time for an 'I told ya so' comment.

Obi-Wan only looks at you, rolls his eyes and looks away.

"So, now what?" you ask, as Qui-Gon returns your lightsaber to you.

"I'm afraid I don't know. We'll have to go back upstairs and help the other Jedi control the Sophaxians for now. Master Yoda is up there, I believe. He will know what to do. Come along Padawans, the walk is long."

You both nod and follow Qui to a flight of stairs. When you reach the top, you see that you're in what looks like an office building. The two Jedi following the three of you say they've got work to do on one of the ships and leave through the main entrance.

Qui-Gon directs you and Obi-Wan to a near elevator and presses the 'up' button.

"Where, may I ask, is my Master?" you ask looking at Qui.

He look back at you and sighs.

"She is on Coruscant aiding those who didn't come along for this mission. But she will want to hear from you, I'm sure. She was very worried before we all left to come get you two."

Qui-Gon smiles and turns as the doors to the lift open. The three of you get on and stand in silence as the machine moves with a jolt upward, counting the number of floors along the way. Finally, you stop at the seventieth floor and disembark.

When you step off, you look around and see groups of Jedi surrounding a group of half-human creatures.

Qui-Gon calls your attention back to him and hands you a communicator.

"Call Galexa. I promised you'd call when we retrieved you."

You nod, press the buttons you know will connect you to your Master and stick an ear piece in your ear. The communicator rings twice and ceases before a worried woman's voice fills the ear piece.

"Qui? Is that you?" the voice says.

You immediately recognize your Master's voice and smile slightly.

"Hello, Master. It's me. Master Jinn told me to --"

"Oh goodness, Padawan! You're alive, I am so relieved. Thank the Force. Are you all right? Are you hurt? Emotionally scarred? Abused in any way, shape or form?" she interrupts frantically.

"No, no, Master, everything is fine. They didn't do anything to us. We're fine, I'm fine," you say glancing over at Obi-Wan, who is across the room.

"Well, what happened?" she asks, calming down slightly.

You relay all that you remember Obi-Wan telling you and smile when she makes little comments to humor you.

"I'm very happy Qui found you and that Obi-Wan was with you."

You furrow your brow in confusion.

"Why, Master? What's so great about Obi-Wan?"

You hear a slight laugh on the other end of the communicator.

"My dear, dear Padawan. From what you are telling me, Obi-Wan saved your life. Had he not been there, what would've happened when you woke up? Or when those Geonosians tranquilized you? What do you think would've happened?"

You stay silent and ponder this momentarily as your Master goes on.

"Believe it or not, he has always had a soft spot for you."

You snort at this statement.

"If that's true, then he's got an odd way of showing it."

"Padawan, you know as well as I do that Jedi are taught to ignore certain feelings. If he were to have acted on his feelings at such a young age, who knows what the Council would've done with him."

You sigh and glance at him to find he's watching you. When he sees you looking at him, he coughs and averts his gaze.

"I know how it is, Master. You don't have to remind me."

You Master laughs heartily.

"Well, I suppose I'll let you go now. I shall see you when you return, Padawan. Please be safe."

You smile at her motherly instinct.

"I will, Master. Good-bye."

"Good-bye."

_CLICK_

You both hang up at the same time.

You fiddle with a few buttons and remove the ear piece from you ear. You put the communicator with the ear pieces rolled up with it, in the palm of your hand and walk over to Qui-Gon.

"Thank you, Master Jinn." you say.

He takes the communicator and nods in acknowledgement to you.

You bow to him quickly and make your way to Obi-Wan who is standing alone by a group of cornered Sophaxians.

"Told ya so," you say immediately, not making eye contact.

He looks at you and shakes his head.

"How old are you, three?"

You laugh and bite your bottom lip.

"Thanks for everything, Obi-Wan. Who knows where I'd be right now if you hadn't helped me out."

You see out of the corner of your eye Obi-Wan glance at you and smile; you know the one, the one you don't like to admit makes you go weak in the knees.

"Isn't it ironic," he starts, "that two people can hate each other as much as we proclaim to end up being a blessing rather than a burden to each other later on?"

You laugh slightly and look out the window next to you. "Yes, it is."

End of Chapter 7