Thank you to all your awesome reviewers:) Your comments made my day. Here's part two, I hope you enjoy it!
Dooku's eyes were on the door as well, following them out. He chewed his lip slightly in thought. "Perhaps I ought to have supervised more thoroughly."
"Perhaps," Qui-Gon answered, with a determinedly neutral air.
Dooku turned away, with a sort of resigned sigh, and began to pick up some of the training equipment that had become scattered about the class room during the activities. "Teaching this class was a horrible idea from the start." He paused, a padded chest-guard dangling from one hand, his expression vindictive. "Master Windu's idea, actually. Mace Windu. Just made the Council, youngest member in ages, ambitious, absolutely sickening. And even worse," Dooku made a wry face, as if he had just tasted something sour. "He's my friend."
Qui-Gon grinned somewhat impishly at him. "Trouble with the Council, hm?"
"You don't know the half of it." Dooku muttered darkly.
"Yes, I'd heard that you and Yoda had a bit of a family row." Qui-Gon commented, hesitantly. That hadn't been exactly what he had heard, but he decided that partial truth would serve best, and plunged on. "In fact, that's...part of my reason for seeking you out, I wanted to ask if..."
"You wanted to ask if what?" Dooku suddenly whirled on him, his expression twisted oddly between a forced amusement and clear anger. "Been listening to nasty gossip about your dear old Master?"
Qui-Gon stared at him, surprised. Before, Dooku's perpetual disregard for the Council's opinion had been something of a running joke between them. Dooku possessed a natural self-assurance so strong that the Council's constant disapproval of his ideas and methods were less upsetting to him than simply tiresome. However, that had been the Dooku Qui-Gon had known as a young Knight. It seemed his Master's feelings on the subject had bittered over the years.
The silence had grown rather awkward. Qui-Gon forced his face into neutrality and answered, quietly. "I only wanted to ask if it was true that you were up for consideration as a Council Member."
Dooku stared at him, his eyes boring into him with cold fury for a full, uncomfortable moment. Then it was if the Master's anger swelled, burst, and abruptly deflated. Dooku burst out laughing. "Qui-Gon, you've always been an absolutely terrible liar." He paced across the room, dropped the equipment into an untidy pile on the mats, and sank into a chair, wearily amused. "I'm sorry, child. Right now things...things between the Council and I are not at their best. I rather suspect you've heard rumors that I'm confined here at the Temple for a period to ah, 'meditate on my actions and choices,' as they put it..." He pulled a skeptical, almost amused face, but Qui-Gon could see the tightness under his skin.
"What was it that you did?" Qui-Gon asked hesitantly, curious, but not wanting to provoke his Master's new strange sensitivity on the subject.
Dooku shook his head distractedly, stretching out in his chair. "I disapproved of a mission they were trying to send me on. Some other things too, trivial matters, really." He raised his eyebrows dismally, but did not elaborate.
Qui-Gon watched him for a moment, as Dooku brooded in silence in his chair. A sudden idea had occurred to him, and he spoke it out loud before allowing time to second guess himself. "Dooku, you ought to take another Padawan."
Dooku blinked. "What?"
"Take another Padawan," Qui-Gon repeated, beginning to warm up to the thought. "It would give you something to focus on, to work at, to keep you company..." ...keep you out of trouble, he wanted to add, but thought better of it. Dooku locked up alone at the Temple was a recipe for disaster, Qui-Gon knew his old Master well enough to know that. He was surprised Yoda had allowed them to ground him. It was in Dooku's very personality not to do well with idle time, and keeping him stewing on Coruscant, the heart of the corrupt Senate he despised so much these days seemed like a very bad idea. A Padawan would give him a fresh perspective, a greater cause to work for, and a legitimate excuse to get away from Coruscant.
Dooku however, looked completely baffled, almost bemused by the idea, as if Qui-Gon were making a joke. "A Padawan? Qui-Gon, that's possibly the very last thing I need at the moment. I think perhaps you're reading into this teaching thing a bit more than necessary. I hope you do realize, of course, that this is not a position I volunteered for..."
Qui-Gon cut him off. "But you're doing a good job at it, aren't you? As skilled a Master as you are, you almost have an obligation to the Temple to..."
"We are not saints, but seekers." Dooku quoted, smirking. "Flattery does not change my mind about this." He rose out of his chair, abruptly. "I'm going down to the dining hall for a cup of stimcaf." He stalked out, in typical Dooku I'm-going-here-you-can-go-whatever-you-like fashion.
Qui-Gon trailed after him, out into the hallway, thinking quickly. "What about that Vos-clan boy? Quinlan? You liked his form, didn't you?"
"Vos?" Dooku glanced over his shoulder at him, still looking bemused at the whole idea. "The child is fearful, angry and perhaps less stable than a supernova. Furthermore, Master Tholme already has his eye on him...and, might I add, my sincerest condolences to them both."
"Alright. Then, what about the little one who got hurt, with the brown hair? How about him?"
"What, Kenobi?" Dooku snorted. "Agricorps fodder."
"That's a bit harsh."
"...and he's far too young to be taken. He's the smallest of my group."
Qui-Gon frowned at his Master's back. "He's what, nine? Ten? I was eleven when you took me."
"You were not."
"Yes, I was," Qui-Gon insisted, breaking into a light jog to keep up with Dooku's stride. "I was eleven and six months exactly."
"Well, I didn't know that at the time, or I wouldn't have ever taken you." Dooku tried to look severe, but Qui-Gon knew he was only playing with him now.
The Master seemed to sober a little, pausing at the turbo lift to regard his former Padawan with the lofty air of lecture. "Anyway, Qui-Gon, you know better than anyone that I am by no means an easy tutor. For better or worse, I'm hardly a nursemaid, or a babysitter. I do not favor simple missions. A child like that could easily be killed..."
Qui-Gon smiled reluctantly. "I think you're being a bit melodramatic."
"And I think that you're overstepping your bounds." Dooku was suddenly deadly serious. "Do not presume to tell me how to live my life, Qui-Gon Jinn." Then, with sudden venom. "...especially not you."