Obi-Wan sat on the bed, in shock, trying to absorb what the girl, Raechel Hennel, Qui-Gon's Padawan, had told him.

"I am a guardian of time and space. I sort of watch over the timelines, the different dimensions, different realities and different places." She took a deep breath. "I am able to travel between places, times and realities." She paused looking a little nervous and embarrassed. "I can also bring beings and/or things from other places, times and realities..."

It had taken Obi-Wan a moment to catch her meaning. And that was how he came to be sitting as he was at the moment.

Finally it seemed to be sinking in and he was able to being to think coherently. He had hundreds of questions, but didn't want to overwhelm her so he settled on the most important, at least in his mind. "So you were the one who brought me here?"

Rae nodded ashamedly. "I'm sorry, it was unintentional."

"In this...reality I - your Obi-Wan is dead?"

All of them nodded solemnly.

He looked back to Rae. "And I take it that you also can send me back to where I came from?"

Rae bit her lip and nodded hesitantly.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at her hesitance. "What's wrong?"

Rae gave him a wry smile. "Besides the fact that you need time to recover, I also have to find where you came from which actually takes time and I can only do the searches when I am asleep." She shrugged helplessly.

Obi-Wan nodded.

Just then Yeg A'Ta entered the room. "Obi-Wan needs rest."

Obi-Wan frowned. "I'm not tired."

Yeg A'Ta gave him a look. "You may not feel it Obi-Wan but your body desperately needs you to sleep." He then took the needle he had prepared and injected the contents into Obi-Wan's I.V.

The effect was almost immediate. The Healer, two Padawans and Jedi Master watched as Obi-Wan's eyes drifted shut.

Obi-Wan's eyes snapped open. At first he wasn't sure what woke him up.

"I'm sorry if I woke you."

Obi-Wan turned his head in the direction of the soft voice.

Rae, almost silently, padded over to his bed, a blanket draped over her arms.

"It's alright, you didn't." He watched her smooth graceful movements.

Rae smirked. "Liar. You always were a terrible liar." Her expression softened into a smile. "But thank you."

Obi-Wan smiled back, but he felt strange hearing her say that. She knew him – actually his counterpart in this world – so well, but he knew nothing about her.

Rae had reached the chair beside Obi-Wan's bed, which, he now saw, was occupied.

Rae spread the blanket she was carrying over Anakin's sleeping form, making sure he was warm enough.

Obi-Wan watched the petite girl tend to the young boy.

She tenderly ran her fingers through his hair, which he had allowed to grow out of its Padawan cut after Obi-Wan had died.

"He cared a lot about him...your – Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan felt odd saying that.

Rae lifted her head; Obi-Wan could see the pain in her eyes. "Yes, we all did." Rae turned back to Anakin and ran her fingers down the side of his face. "Anakin and Obi-Wan were very close. Obi-Wan was his Master, friend, big brother and the only father Anakin had ever known. Anakin practically worshiped the ground he walked on." Rae paused for a moment pensively. "I think that, rather than making him proud and arrogant, that is one of the things that humbled Obi-Wan the most." She turned back to Obi-Wan a smile on her face. "He was fiercely protective of Ani." She swallowed, turning her head away. "He – he died – for Ani."

Obi-Wan felt like he had been slammed in the stomach.

Rae looked down at her hands, talking a deep breath. "Ani was devastated. He – withdrew, for a few weeks, rarely eating or sleeping."

Obi-Wan saw her frown, troubled.

"Many worried that Obi-Wan's death would push him to the Dark Side. But he didn't, he mourned deeply, still is mourning, and Qui-Gon and I had to help him get out of most of his depression and self-blame. I think that he felt, that if he fell, he would be desecrating Obi-Wan's memory."

Obi-Wan nodded staring at the little boy. He noticed how Rae was tenderly stroking Anakin's hair. "You care for him."

A soft smile graced her face. "He's my oldest friend and is like a little brother to me. I love him. He, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan kept me..." she paused for a moment, searching for the right word, "grounded. Kept me sane and from destroying myself. I have a bad habit of keeping things locked up inside; one or more of them call me on it."

"How did you and Anakin come to be taken on by Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan?"

She looked up at him smiling brightly. "Immediately after being knighted on Naboo, Obi-Wan requested to take Anakin on and Qui-Gon removed his request and asked for me. Anakin and I were ecstatic; he more or less shouted 'Yes!'." She chuckled and looked at the boy fondly. "Ani is so sweet and kind. He wants to help and save everyone. He does have his moments when he loses his temper sometimes, but he never stays mad for longer than a few minutes."

Obi-Wan stared at Anakin. "He's different from what my Anakin i – was like."

Rae gave him a sympathetic look when he had to correct himself.

"Anakin's and my relationship didn't start out that well and there were a lot of strains on it. My – Anakin was only a little older than yours, but he was quite aware of how his abilities made him special and powerful...it made him...arrogant, even at that age. I still loved him, but I worried about aspect of his personality."

Rae's movement's had stilled and she was looking at him intently.

Obi-Wan glanced up at her; he was a little a nerved by the look on her face.

The look quickly melted off of her face and she smiled at him wryly. "Our Anakin does get cocky sometimes and we have to take him down a few notches sometimes, but he has never been arrogant."

Obi-Wan nodded in understanding. "I think what made the biggest difference is that while your Obi-Wan took on your Anakin by his own choice, I did so to fulfill my Master's dying wish."

Rae's face became so sad. "That would do it."

They stood for a moment in a silence that wasn't uncomfortable, but wasn't comfortable either...it was just a silence.

Finally Rae turned toward the door. "Well, I will leave you to rest. I guarantee you the next few days are going to be long." She headed toward the door.

Obi-Wan settled back in bed a little reluctantly, knowing that her words were true.

"Oh, Obi-Wan," she softly called from the doorway.

He turned to her.

She was standing with her back to the room, her hand on the doorframe, looking at him over her shoulder. "Please..." Her voice was pleading. "Be careful with Ani. Don't form an attachment that you can't keep." There was pain in her eyes. "He has been hurt so much already. I just don't want to see him hurt even more." With that she left.

Obi-Wan stared after her for a moment before he turned to look at the sleeping boy, considering the young woman's plea.

Obi-Wan's eyes slid open slowly. He glanced at the chair where Anakin was.

To find it empty.

"Anakin had to leave this morning to go to classes."

Obi-Wan's head snapped over to the other side of the bed. Qui-Gon sat in a chair watching him.

"Good morning, Obi-Wan."

"Master -"

Qui-Gon had to keep from wincing and to shield the flash of pain. He was glad to hear Obi-Wan call him that, happier than he could describe, but at the same time it was like a knife in his heart.

He smiled at Obi-Wan. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Actually I feel ready to get out of here."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "Aren't you always?"

Obi-Wan shrugged good humoredly.

They both looked toward the open door when they heard two sets of running feet heading their way. Rae and Anakin appeared in the doorway shifting nervously and glancing behind them.

"Uh..." Rae glanced back for a moment. "Master, we're going to go see Shmi, ok? Bye!"

They both turned to run off.

"Stop!" The two Jedi-in-training froze in place at the Jedi Master's command. "Turn." The pivoted simultaneously to face him. Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

Rae raised both of her hands in defense, her right arm now out of the sling, Obi-Wan had the feeling that that was a habitual thing for her to do. "Master, I swear," Obi-Wan had a feeling that those were also habitual words, "it was a complete accident!"

Anakin nodded viggorously. "If Rae hadn't messed up the motivator -"

Rae turned to him. "Well you should have known that I would mess it up when you asked me to help you with that stupid droid! 'Oh don't worry, it's easy, even you can do it'!" she mimicked his voice, rolling her eyes. "You know I am the worst with mechanics!"

"The worst?!" Anakin was incredulous. "All you had to do was reconnect a couple of wires!"

Rae was about to respond when a voice interrupted them.

"Padawan Skywalker! Padawan Hennel! In trouble you both are!"

The pair's heads snapped in the direction the voice came from; then turned back to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. "Later Master; Obi-Wan!" "Bye Master Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan!" They both took off down the hall in the opposite direction of the voice.

Moment's later a tiny, green Jedi Master appeared in place of the two Padawans. Qui-Gon had to stifle a snort of laughter and Obi-Wan's eyes went wide at the sight of the revered Jedi Master. He was dripping with oil and his skin had sooty stains from smoke. He stopped in the doorway. "Seen your Padawans have you." It wasn't a question.

Qui-Gon nodded, his lips twitching. "I believe they went to see Anakin's mother."

"Humph." Yoda hobbled into the room. "When return they do, need to speak to them I do."

Qui-Gon finally gave a small smile. "I believe that it was merely an accident. They were attempting to fix a droid and Rae made a mistake."

Yoda humphed again, but Qui-Gon saw amusement in his eyes. "Known better Padawan Skywalker should have, than to recruit Padawan Hennel."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Too true."

Obi-Wan looked back and forth between the two Masters. "Is she really that bad?"

Qui-Gon chuckled and Yoda's mouth twitched. "My Padawan, as she puts it, is 'mechanically impaired'."

Obi-Wan raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Qui-Gon leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "Let me put this in perspective. She did so poorly in mechanics class that when she finally succeeded at the simplest project the Master passed her and then promptly kicked her out. Neither shed any tears over that."

They all chuckled.

"Not much better at piloting she is," Yoda muttered.

Qui-Gon nodded. "Both of those and all related areas are Anakin's forte. Rae's are lightsaber, gymnastics and related areas."

Yoda smirked. "Though as abysmal as Hennel is at mechanics and piloting just as abysmal is Skywalker at healing and diplomacy."

Qui-Gon nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. "Yes, he excells in all areas, save those two. It's good that the two of them are willing to help each other because otherwise they would be so much worse off than they are."

Yoda nodded, mirth still in his eyes. His attention turned to Obi-Wan. "Good to see you awake it is, Knight Kenobi."

Obi-Wan bowed to the senior council member as best he could while sitting in the bed. "Thank you, Master Yoda."

Yoda turned back to Qui-Gon. "Looking into this your Padawan is?"

Qui-Gon nodded, he turned his attention to Obi-Wan. "It will take a few weeks, most likely, to find exactly where you are from and at least one week more time to find out the best way to return you, which will be somewhat harder than bringing you here. And she has to keep up with her studies and training." Qui-Gon gave him an apologetic look at that last part.

Obi-Wan nodded understandingly. "Please thank her for me."

Qui-Gon chuckled. "You can tell her yourself when she comes out of hiding."

Obi-Wan joined in his laughter.

"Well when come out of hiding Hennel and Skywalker do, send them to me, you must." Yoda tapped Qui-Gon's leg with his gimmer stick.

"Yes, Master." Qui-Gon nodded.

"Now clean up I must. May the Force be with you."

"And you," both of the taller Jedi responded.

The ancient Master hobbled out.

A moment later Yeg A'Ta entered the room, though he was staring down the hall in the direction that Yoda had gone, eyebrows raised. He then turned to the Qui-Gon, a single eyebrow now raised. "What in the name of the Force did your Padawans do to Master Yoda?"

Three posts in one day!!!!!! This is everything that I have so far, but hopefully I will soon have a new chapter. Anywho. I hope ya'll can forgive the major delay. -blushes- Hope ya liked it!!! :)