"Anakin, where were you!" demanded Obi-Wan angrily as the Padawan walked into the diner. He stopped himself short from telling his friend he had been worried about him, saying instead, "Qui-Gon and Taun We are searching the city for you! They thought you'd been kidnapped!"

"And of course you didn't believe a word of it and you weren't worried at all," Anakin teased, cocking one eyebrow.

Obi-Wan sighed. "That's not the point, young man. Where on Coruscant were you all this time? You were supposed to be back hours ago! Now what?" He noticed that Anakin, instead of looking properly abashed, was stifling laughter.

"Do you have any idea how… parental that just sounded?" demanded the Padawan, losing his battle for seriousness.

Obi-Wan turned red. "Of course I didn't. I certainly doubt children give their parents as much trouble as Padawans give their masters."

"Says you," retorted Anakin.

"Yes, says I," snapped Obi-Wan. "Masters are responsible for teaching their Padawan as well as raising them."

"But parents can't just shove them off in the corner and tell them to meditate any time of day. And regular children don't have the discipline Jedi apprentices do. Plus there are always other Jedi in the Temple to take them off your hands if you need to relax, and you have extra bonding time when you go on missions. All in all, it's much better to be a Jedi Master than a parent."

"How would you know! You've never been either. And don't think you can change the subject, mister. I still want to know where you went on your little 'walk' that caused you to be out so long."

Anakin pouted, or did something similar. "I ran into Senator Amidala…"

"Anakin! Don't you know what's at stake here!"

"Yes, I do! Just let me finish!" Anakin cried, almost as angrily as Obi-Wan had. "She was being mugged so I helped her, and then I walked her back to her apartment. I didn't even go in! Nothing happened."

"There's a large gap in there somewhere," scolded Obi-Wan. "It still shouldn't have taken you that long!"

"We talked a little bit," admitted Anakin. "But she was asking me questions! I couldn't just not answer them!"

"What sort of questions?" demanded Obi-Wan. Anakin swallowed. "Just about living with the Jedi. Nothing really."

"I thought you had to answer questions when they were asked."

"I did! It wasn't anything important!"

"Then why do you look so guilty?"

"Well…" Anakin muttered, but he didn't have time to duck the question anymore.

"ANAKIN! I thought we told you to stay away from her! Don't you care about the entire UNIVERSE! Don't you…"

"Obi-Wan, please, people are staring. You're not supposed to tell the entire diner. So hypocritical, you can't do what you're yelling at me for doing."

Obi-Wan calmed himself down a little, but caught the last bit. "You told her?" he demanded angrily, although not shouting this time. "Anakin, what were you thinking?"

"I had to! She forced it out of me! I didn't have a choice!"

"How could she have forced something out of you if she didn't know what it was? She shouldn't have known there was anything to force out of you!"

"Obi-Wan, come on. Let's go home and you can yell at me there. We still have to find Master Qui-Gon and Taun We. Although maybe if you yell at me again, they'll here you. Of course, Taun We's family on Kamino might as well, so…"

Anakin's ploy worked, and Obi-Wan furiously followed him out the door. But only the first part of the plan worked.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan reminded him. "We both have telepathic bonds with Qui-Gon. It shouldn't be too hard to find him."

Anakin sighed. He had been hoping that Obi-Wan would spend so much time searching for the other two, he'd forget all about it. It had been a long shot, and it hadn't worked.

"Right." Qui-Gon? Where are you?

Anakin? Where are you? Taun We and I've been look all over for you. I tried to contact you through our bond, but you were blocking me out.

Sorry, Master, I didn't mean to.

Oh, well, we'll talk about this later. Obi-Wan's waiting for you outside Dexter's Diner. Go find him and we'll meet you there.

Looks like he got cold, when I found him he was inside

Doesn't matter. We'll meet you inside or outside the diner, got it?

Yes Master.

Good. See you there.

"Well?" demanded Obi-Wan, looking up at his friend.

"He's coming," answered Anakin. "I still don't see why you couldn't have talked to him."

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Now you're just being mean!"

"Yes I am. Come on, I'm cold, let's go inside."

"Oh by the way," added Anakin as they entered the diner. "Qui-Gon said you were supposed to wait outside for me."

"I got cold."

"Oh, so a few moments of comfort count more to you than the life of you're best friend's Padawan?"

"I never said that."

"You said you thought I'd been kidnapped, or worse."

"I said Qui-Gon and Taun We thought you'd been kidnapped, minus the worse."

"You're putting words in my mouth."

"Excuse me?" demanded Obi-Wan. "Last time I checked, you were putting words in my mouth!"

"Oh, there you go again!"

Obi-Wan laughed, then said, "Okay, you're funny. But that doesn't prevent me from telling your master what you told Padmé."

Anakin sighed and muttered, "Sith."

"Anakin…"

"I mean, darn."

Heehee! I got a chapter up before my family got up! I'm such an early bird. Anyway, it was Black's Phoenix who suggested that Anakin escort her to her apartment, and gave me the idea for this chapter. So… I'm going to start giving it something to do now, such as have the plot actually develop. I haven't done that in a while. Who knows, maybe I'll even find out who attacked Taun We. Or maybe I'll just leave you in misery to wonder. Bwahahahahahaha!