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Through his misery, Anakin heard soft footsteps on the other side of the wall of fountains. He barely had time to straighten and dash a hand roughly across his eyes, in a vain attempt to hide his crying, before Obi-Wan stepped around the fountain.
"Anakin?" he asked concernedly, over the soft noise of the fountains, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Anakin snapped in a voice thick with emotion, even as his reddened eyes gave him away all too obviously. His expression worried, Obi-Wan knelt by Anakin's side and tried to put a hand on his shoulder. Anakin flinched away from his touch, looking away from his Master. He could sense the hurt that radiated from Obi-Wan at this, but he didn't care. Let him worry, Anakin thought savagely. You can't control my love.
"Do you honestly think I'll believe that nothing's wrong with you?" Obi-Wan asked dryly, not sounding at all as though he had been affected by Anakin's brush-off. But Anakin couldn't stand it anymore—he rose abruptly and moved to leave the little hiding place. Obi-Wan remained where he was, kneeling on the floor, eyes on the white tile. When he spoke, his voice was heavy.
"You read the journal, didn't you?"
Anakin stopped, in the small space between the fountain and the wall. He said nothing for a moment, trying to gather his scattered thoughts.
"How do you know that?" he asked finally. Pretenses now seemed utterly repulsive—already he had had enough to last him a lifetime. He heard Obi-Wan stand up, but he didn't—couldn't—turn around to face him.
"It wasn't where I left it, and I know of only one person who would have done such a thing." There was the smallest touch of amusement in his voice, but Anakin ignored the obvious implication and stayed where he was, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "What were you doing in my room, may I ask?"
Obi-Wan moved closer to Anakin and placed a hand on his shoulder as he spoke. Roughly, Anakin threw it off and whirled around.
"That doesn't matter!" he said furiously. "Why did you write that about me and Padme?"
"You went through my personal things," Obi-Wan said, ignoring Anakin's question.
"And you lied to me!"
A stunned silence followed this accusation. In the unnerving quiet, Anakin could almost believe that everyone in this gigantic room was listening to them, but he didn't care.
"I trusted you, and you lied to me!" he shouted again. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"
Obi-Wan didn't say anything for a moment. "You...obviously didn't want to hear it," he murmured softly, looking down at the ground. "I didn't believe you were ready. Apparently I was correct."
"It doesn't matter," Anakin repeated through clenched teeth. His voice was shaking with anger. "If you hated her, you could have at least told me!"
"I don't hate Padme."
"Then why can't you just accept us?"
Obi-Wan didn't answer, and Anakin turned away sullenly, a curious emptiness rising inside him. He had won, technically—there was nothing Obi-Wan could say. But Anakin still waited where he was, waiting for his Master's voice.
After a moment, it came.
"Do you know why the Council consented to your marriage?"
Anakin knew what Obi-Wan wanted to hear, and he knew it was the truth. Sulkily, he mumbled, "Because you argued with them."
"Partly, perhaps," Obi-Wan admitted. "I'm not sure how effective my arguments really were. However, I have good reason to believe that they gave their permission because I, knowing you planned to abandon the Jedi if you were refused, threatened to follow you out of the Order in that case."
Anakin's breath stopped in shock. He turned slowly to face his Master, who remained ultimately calm, and stared at him.
"Close your mouth," Obi-Wan chided gently. His Padawan did so automatically.
"You—you said you would—" Eventually, Anakin gave up trying to voice his Master's inexplicable deed, and simply asked, his lips trembling, "Why?"
Obi-Wan shrugged. "You were going to get married with or without their permission—it seemed to be that if it had to be done, you might as well stay here to do it."
"But if you hated her—"
"Force, Anakin," Obi-Wan said exasperatedly, "For the last time, I don't hate Padme!"
"Sorry." Stunned at this turn of events, Anakin tried desperately to get his scattered thoughts together, and to force his questions to come out at least semi-coherently. "But you didn't want us married at all—you said it would be a danger to the Order—"
"I know what I said," Obi-Wan replied heavily. "Anakin, what you read in my journal was true: I believe that very little good can come out of this marriage. Don't!" He held up a hand, just as Anakin opened his mouth to speak. "At least have the decency to wait until I'm finished." He sat down on the low stone ledge around the fountain closest to him, his eyes on the wall before him, and continued.
"That is not to say that I believe you and Padme will single-handedly undermine the Jedi Order and bring the Republic to its knees. It is simply my firm opinion that the Council knows what it's talking about, and I would prefer that you stick to its rules."
Anakin sank down to sit beside his Master. "I still don't understand," he said quietly. "Why did you offer to leave with me?"
Obi-Wan didn't speak for a moment. When he did, his voice was slow, as though he had to force the words out, and he still did not meet Anakin's gaze.
"I—I've seen you with her—and every time, you look different than I've ever seen you before. You look so content, so happy—and I eventually realized that Padme was giving you a love that I could not. To be honest, it hurt me—I didn't want to think that there wasn't anything I couldn't give you. I wanted to believe, foolishly, that you could stay by my side forever, and you would never need anyone else. But when I saw you like that, I knew I had no right to keep you from it. I love you more than anything, Anakin, but because of that I wanted to keep you for myself." He shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe I thought that if I loved you enough, you wouldn't want to leave me."
"But I don't," Anakin whispered, hurt.
"Not leave, per se, but more than anything, you want to take the Trials, so you can become a Knight. You want to prove that you can stand alone—that is as it should be. And I tried to keep you from it. I—I tried to keep you a child. You have every right to be angry with me for that. And—" Obi-Wan's voice broke with emotion, and he took a deep, shaking breath. "You'll have to forgive me—if you can."
Um...the fourth chapter might be a little late in coming. I'm really stuck on it, so please be patient. I promise, it WILL come.