Four hours later, Obi-Wan was sitting by Anakin's bedside, as they waited the results of the third battery of tests Bant had submitted the young man to. So far the examinations done to Anakin had failed to reveal what was ailing him.
Anakin was currently lying with his eyes closed, as Obi-Wan thought about how lucky they had been Bant was on duty that day. Not only was she a very competent healer, but she had taken a great liking to Anakin, even before Obi-Wan had told her the truth about their relationship.
Bant had been the healer who had compiled Anakin's medical profile when he had been hired by the Jedi, and her compassionate, gentle heart had been moved by what the Hutt had done to the young man.
She had befriended Anakin and had been ecstatic when Obi-Wan had confessed to her they were much more than friends. Obi-Wan's ribs had ached for a few days because of the crushing embrace his Mon Calamari friend had given him after hearing the news.
That's was why Obi-Wan did not hesitate taking Anakin's hand in his own when the younger man, hearing the door open, reached for it in search of reassurance.
Bant came closer to the bed, a frown marring her features, as the two men looked at her expectantly.
She checked the datapad she was in her hand and said, "I don't know what is wrong with you, Anakin. I have run tests for all the most common viruses and found nothing. I have checked for the rarer illnesses, and found nothing. I even checked for a possible poisoning, but the tests turned all negative. Your stomach and brain scans didn't show anything wrong too. According to these tests you are perfectly healthy."
"I can assure you, Healer Eerin, I feel far from healthy," Anakin commented, rubbing his brow with his free hand.
"Do you have another headache?" Enquired Bant, looking at him with clinical eyes.
"Yes. I started having them about six weeks ago."
Bant pursed her lips. "Can you tell me again what are you feeling?"
Anakin nodded. "I feel always tired and fatigued. I am often nauseous, mostly in the morning. My back and head ache and I feel the need to urinate more frequently."
Obi-Wan watched as Bant typed on her datapad, then a small smile appeared on her lips.
"You know, Anakin, if you were a woman I would say you are pregnant. You show all the most common symptoms: tiredness, morning sickness, backache-"
"Food cravings?"
"What?" Obi-Wan and Bant exclaimed in unison, looking sharply at the man now sitting on the bed.
"I-I have begun to crave certain kinds of foods… at the strangest hours of the day and the night…even things I have never liked before," Anakin's eyes were very wide. "What does it mean?" His hand gripped Obi-Wan's almost to the point of pain.
Bant threw Obi-Wan a stunned glance, then managed to say, "I have to run another test."
She left the room with Force-enhanced speed, as Anakin turned to face Obi-Wan.
"What is happening here? You don't think that I could be…?" he asked with a small voice.
Obi-Wan used his free hand to brush back a lock of Anakin's hair that had fallen over his brow.
"I don't know what to think, young one—but of one thing you must be certain. Whatever the outcome of this examination, we will face it together. I will always be at your side to give you all the support and help you may need."
Anakin nodded, a bit calmer. "I know, Obi-Wan, I know."
He had just completed the line when Bant returned, her silver, bulging eyes even more prominent.
"I-I don't know how to tell you this…I ran a pregnancy test on Anakin's blood and urine—and they both tested positive."
"How-how is it possible?" Stammered Obi-Wan, his proverbial calm shaken for once. "Anakin is a male!" He was hallucinating, there was no doubt.
"I am aware of that!" Bant replied, raising her arms in frustration. "Maybe it is something tied to his peculiar Tatooine physiology."
"Or maybe the tests are wrong," Obi-Wan suggested, having regained part of his composure.
"There is a sure way to know. Anakin, could you please bare you abdomen?"
Anakin hurried to comply, and Bant switched on a monitor and connected it to a hand scanner. "Since you have been away for two months," the healer explained as she regulated the scanner, "the conception, if there has been one, must have happened before your departure. Which means the foetus should be at least two months along and thus already clearly visible." Bant posed the scanner over Anakin's abdomen and started moving it slowly, her eyes fixed on the images showed by the monitor.
Silence fell over the room, as three pairs of eyes looked intently at the screen, until Bant's excited voice broke the stillness. "I knew it! It's exactly where it was supposed to be." She called the monitor closer using the Force and pointed at the screen with one of her fingers. "Do you see this small shadow here? It's the foetus, and judging from its size I would say it's two months along.
"How is this possible?" Anakin asked, his voice surprisingly calm, as his eyes darted from Bant to the screen and back to the healer.
Bant frowned in thought, before she voiced her musings aloud. "Since I examined you during your first check up, Anakin, I became curious about your physiology. Thus I made some researches in the archives and discovered that many centuries ago Tatooine and other planets in that quadrant where inhabited by a race of human hermaphrodites. The race evolved along during the centuries, with the separation in individuals of different sexes, but both the males and the females carried in their DNA the genes of their ancestors—and their sexual characteristics. Centuries after the evolution and the separation of the sexes, scholars still documented the birth of hermaphrodite children—and these individuals carried both the female and male reproduction organs. The race then evolved again, and the hermaphrodites disappeared for good, but I suspect some of their characteristics might have remained in the genetic background of the humans living in that area. I think the ability of Tatooine males to compensate a mutilation like the one inflicted on Anakin is originated by this."
"Do you think this is what happened with Anakin's…pregnancy? That somehow the ancient characteristics of his race have returned to work?" Obi-Wan asked as he and Anakin exchanged a look.
"It's the only explanation I can find."
"But if it's really so, why didn't this happen before?" Anakin enquired. "You know what I used to do for a living."
The Mon Calamari nodded. "Yes, I am aware of you past profession. But you told me you took regular shoots of Cidex to prevent sexually transmissible illnesses."
"Yes, that's true."
"Well, Cidex is a drug that kills any foreign organism, sperm included."
"Yes, yes, this is plausible, but it doesn't explain why it didn't happen sooner. We have never used precautions, since we are both healthy," Obi-Wan replied, crossing his arms over his chest. This story was getting crazier by the moment, so crazy he would have a good laugh if the situation was not so serious.
Bant once again raised her arms in frustration. "I don't know, Obi-Wan! I haven't all the answers you seek. I only know Anakin is two months pregnant with your child!"
"Two months?"
Both Obi-Wan and Bant turned to look at Anakin, and saw the speculative expression on his handsome face.
"Two months," he repeated. "It must have happened the evening before I left for Kashyyyk, the night you told me about your discussion with Masters Windu and Yoda. The night I-" Anakin's voice died, as his mouth froze in a silent 'oh' of amazement, before he suddenly burst in laugh.
Obi-Wan threw Bant a puzzled, worried look. Was Anakin having a hysterical attack? Not that he would not be entitled to it given the situation!
The Jedi master put an arm around the younger man's shoulders and shook him. "Anakin? Young one? Are you all right?"
Anakin calmed down and wiped a few tears away from his cheeks. "Yes, I am. In fact, I have never been better." He smiled broadly and gasped Obi-Wan's hand in his own, entwining their fingers, as he spoke again, with an enraptured tone. "That night, just before we made love, I prayed the Force to help us to find a solution for our situation—and apparently the Force did!" And before Obi-Wan could muster an appropriate response, Anakin threw his arms around his lover's neck, and kissed him soundly on the cheek. "We have resolved the problem, Obi-Wan! We are going to have a child! You are going to have the child the Council wants so badly and Masters Windu and Yoda will stop making your life miserable!"
Obi-Wan freed himself from Anakin's embrace, ill at ease with that public display of affection and with the younger man's calm – too calm, in his opinion—acceptance of the incredible situation he was in. Even Obi-Wan, with all his faith in the Force and its will could not believe what had happened. "Are you not worried, Anakin? This is something rather strange…"
"To put it delicately…" commented Bant with a slight smile.
Anakin just shook his shoulders. "I have been 'strange' for my whole life. I have no father, I am the last recorded gelding on Tatooine, I was the only human able to pilot podracers, and I am in love with the most wonderful and unique man in the galaxy, whom, at one time, I used to call 'the stranger' in my mind! " He grinned as Obi-Wan blushed. "I am used to being 'strange'!"
Anakin laughed, his eyes sparkling with joy, and Obi-Wan could not help but imitate him.
"So we are going to keep it?"
"Of course!" The younger man's hands ran to his belly in an instinctive, protective gesture.
Obi-Wan nodded, approving Anakin's decision. He was still trying to cope with what had happened, but a thought kept on crossing his mind: he was going to be a father! It was incredible, amazing, beautiful…dangerous?
"Are there any risks for Anakin's health?" he asked, his nascent good mood disappearing again as he furrowed his brow.
His Mon Calamari friend shook her head. "I cannot tell you now, Obi-Wan. However, the scan shows the foetus is healthy and positioned in a good place, that will allow it to develop without causing problems to Anakin's organs. Most certainly surgery will be required at the birth, but as things are now, this looks like a normal pregnancy."
"Aside for the fact I am a male!" Anakin smirked.
"Yes."
The three of them shared a smile, then Bant said, "I need to run another blood test to see what kind of vitamins you need Anakin. I will be back soon." The healer moved toward the door, than stopped and turned to look at her friends. "You are aware I will have to report this to the Council…" she murmured, almost apologetic.
Obi-Wan and Anakin nodded in unison and the Jedi master answered, "Yes, my friend, we are aware of it. It's actually a good thing—don't be surprised if we will call you to testify as we present the petition to have our joining sanctioned."
Bant nodded, clearly relieved, and left the room.
Finally alone, Obi-Wan took Anakin in his arms and embraced him, as the younger man did the same.
"We are going to have a child," Anakin murmured against his mate's neck. "Can you imagine it?"
"Honestly? No. I am resisting the urge to pinch myself to see I am awake or dreaming," Obi-Wan answered, running his hands up and down Anakin's back.
"I can't wait to tell Mom!" Anakin exclaimed, his eyes shining.
"I think we should prepare her. Maybe we could ask Bant to come with us, so she could tell Shmi what she said to us, to avoid shocking her more than necessary…" Obi-Wan suggested, but Anakin shook his head.
"I don't think she will be shocked. Remember, she is the woman that found herself pregnant without having been with a man. She is used to strange things."
"If you say so…" Obi-Wan kissed the top of Anakin's head, as his young lover snuggled closer to him.
He could feel the overwhelming joy pouring off Anakin, and he discovered he too felt the same.
They were going to have a child.
For whatever reason the Force had granted them a wonderful, incredible gift, and Obi-Wan would treasure it as he treasured Anakin for the rest of their lives.