I'm so excited that I have a few new readers! Thank you for taking the time to read the whole fic and review! And thank you so much to those of you who have been with me in this from the beginning! You are awesome! This story will go through the ROTS time period and will end basically where the movie ended. I do plan on doing a sequel, but I can't say exactly when that will happen. I will be going back to school to finish my degree (after a long absence) in January, which will be on top of full-time work. So, I will not exactly have an abundance of spare time. Please have patience with me :-)

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Obi-Wan neatly folded his spare clothes and placed them in his bag. His ship was nearing Fembrak. He had meditated throughout most of the trip. While in the Temple, meditation was one of things he cut back on to make room for his other obligations. Upon leaving Coruscant, Obi-Wan knew that he was in desperate need of guidance from the Force and a refocusing of his mind.

A small smile graced his face as he thought about the unexpected results of his meditation. He had found a real peace about the love between him and Padme. But more than that, he had received a sense of the 'rightness' of everything that had transpired. Obi-Wan had actually been expecting a sense of rebuke and a reminder about his duty.

A voice came through to his cabin. "We've arrived in the Fembrak system, General."

"Thank you." Obi-Wan grabbed his bag and headed for the docking bay. He was more convinced than ever that nothing happened by chance. There was a will and a reason behind everything – even a forbidden love with no visible hope for a future. He would just take it one day at a time.

Obi-Wan stepped into his starfighter and readied her for departure. He was looking forward to seeing Anakin again. He felt confidant that his shielding would keep his former padawan from sensing his feelings for Padme. Obi-Wan felt a pang of guilt. He hated having to deceive Anakin in any way. He could not help his love for Padme, but he WAS in control of his actions (for the most part). He certainly did not want to hurt Anakin, but again determined that he would not allow that to stop his deep friendship with Padme – especially when he felt the Force's hand in it. Obi-Wan couldn't help but be intrigued by what the Force could have in store for him and Padme in the future.

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Anakin waited impatiently at the landing pad. Obi-Wan would be there any minute. He didn't know why he felt so anxious. He glanced behind him and blew out his breath in irritation. The blasted journalists had obviously heard that Obi-Wan was coming. Anakin normally didn't mind the media, but he hadn't seen his former master in so long and didn't want their interference right now. There were only four journalists on Fembrak, but one of them was a woman as cold as an ice storm on Hoth. Normally, journalists were very friendly and attentive to the Hero With No Fear. SHE had been anything but!

A starfighter suddenly cut through the clouds and gracefully arced around to the landing pad. A happy smile crept up Anakin's face as he walked towards the now-parked fighter. He watched as his master climbed down. The still-beardless Obi-Wan looked even younger in person than he had looked on the holocom! "Welcome to Fembrak, Master."

"Thank you, my friend." Obi-Wan smiled as he shook Anakin's hand. He looked pointedly over to the four people standing near the contingent of clone troopers. He lowered his voice. "Please tell me those aren't journalists."

"Well, I COULD tell you that, but I'd be lying."

"Great." Obi-Wan masked his irritation as they headed toward the assembled group.

A clone stepped forward and removed his helmet. "Welcome to our new headquarters in the Outer Rim, General."

Obi-Wan looked around with an approving nod. Things had progressed nicely in the construction. "Thank you, Commander Cody. You and your men work fast."

Cody gave his general a smile. "We wanted to have as much done before you got here as we could."

"Thank you, Cody." Obi-Wan reluctantly headed toward the four journalists. The first one to greet him was a woman with a huge smile on her face.

"Welcome to Fembrak, General Kenobi." The smiling woman came forward and shook his hand. "I'm Dawana Tobek of the Republic Press Corps."

Anakin was openly gaping at the change in disposition of Hoth-woman. A woman who was now standing too close to his master and was intently gazing into his eyes. What is it with him? He hasn't even been on planet five minutes!

"I would love a one-on-one interview with you, General."

Obi-Wan did not like the undertone in that statement. He backed up a bit. "I suppose that could be arranged."

Dawana moved closer to him. "How about right now?"

Obi-Wan backed up again. He opened his mouth to respond, when Anakin cut him off.

"General Kenobi has only just arrived. There are more important matters that need his attention right now." Anakin restrained himself from pulling Obi-Wan away from the woman.

Dawana gave Anakin a scathing look. "Of course," she said tightly. She turned back to Obi-Wan with her smile back on her face. "Some other time, then."

"Yes, some other time, Ms. Tobek." Obi-Wan moved away and was quickly surrounded by the remaining three journalists.

"How was your trip, General? What are your plans for the Outer Rim? How long will you be staying on Fembrak?"

Obi-Wan politely answered a few of their questions, wanting nothing more than to go to his new quarters.

Anakin stood aside and waited rather impatiently. After a few minutes of endless questions, he'd had enough. "As I said before, there are pressing matters that need the general's attention."

"Yes, indeed." Obi-Wan bowed slightly to the group. "If you will excuse me." He sighed with relief as he and Anakin walked away.

"You're too blasted polite, Master!"

"One of us has to be." Obi-Wan smiled at his former apprentice. "But I thought you had a good relationship with the media."

"I do, for the most part. Except for that Dawana woman. She's been here as long as I have, but she hasn't cracked a smile once before today – before meeting YOU."

"Lovely." Obi-Wan wiped sweat off his forehead. "Why didn't you warn me about the climate?"

"What about it?"

"The fact that it's hot and muggy has escaped your notice?" Obi-Wan eyed Anakin's black outfit in disbelief.

Anakin shrugged. "I'm comfortable."

"After all these years on Coruscant, I can't believe your thermostat is still set to Tatooine."

Anakin came up to a door and palmed it open. "These are your quarters." He stepped aside to let Obi-Wan pass through first. "It's not exactly huge, but at least you have your own fresher." He followed his master in.

"Can I take a water shower?" Obi-Wan shrugged out of his cloak.

"Yes, but we're on water rationing right now. You get fifteen minutes per day, tops."

"Good." Obi-Wan removed his belt and his outer tunic. "I can split that up into two showers a day." He HATED being hot and sweaty!

Anakin chuckled as he walked back towards the door. "I knew you'd say that. I'm going to go get our lunch. You go ahead and get settled in. I'll be right back."

Anakin came back just a few minutes later with a tray full of food. He noticed that Obi-Wan had removed his boots and socks in an effort to cool down some more. "I'm afraid we're not going to have air conditioning for quite a while."

Obi-Wan padded over to the small table in the room with a sigh. "Well, there are more important things to do first." He sat down and immediately poured himself a glass of juice. "Show me where you're constructing the hidden hangar."

Anakin had hoped they could put off talking about the war for a while and just enjoy each other's company. He flipped on the computer and plopped in a tiny disk. A topographical map soon appeared on the screen. "We're here. The hangar is being constructed in a large cavern in the hills over here. It's well concealed. You can't see the entrance unless you're right on top of it."

"Hmm. That's looks good. I'll want to take a firsthand look tomorrow." Obi-Wan took a bite of his sandwich and leaned back in his chair.

"All right."

Obi-Wan smiled softly as he studied Anakin. "How are you doing, my friend?"

"I'm fine, Master." Anakin was feeling great, actually, now that things were getting back to normal – now that The Team was back together. "I've been meditating an hour every day, just as I promised."

"And I bet you have a timer set to let you know exactly when that one hour is up."

Anakin looked sheepish. "Um, yes, I do." Obi-Wan knew him TOO well.

"I knew it." Obi-Wan laughed at the expression on Anakin's face.

They talked for a couple of hours, feeling as though they had never been apart. Anakin noticed that Obi-Wan looked really tired. Padme had expressed concerns to him about how much Obi-Wan worked and how little he slept. She had told him about all of the duties and tasks Obi-Wan had taken on while at the Temple. It irritated Anakin no end how the Counsel thrust such a heavy load onto his master's shoulders all the time. Of course, most of what Obi-Wan had done at the Temple the last several weeks had been voluntary. But that was typical of Obi-Wan. He always took on too much, as far as Anakin was concerned. "You should take a nap, Master. You look beat."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You need to rest. Padme told me what your schedule was like at the Temple – how little sleep you got." Anakin got up and started putting the empty dishes back on the tray.

How many times did they have to have this conversation? "It's not your job to watch over me, Anakin. There are far more important things for you to be concerned about."

Anakin turned to his friend in all seriousness. "It IS my job to watch over you, because you don't watch out enough for yourself."

"I seemed to be able to do just fine the twenty-five years before I knew you."

"That's because you had Qui-Gon to look after you."

"Are you saying that I am unable to take care of myself?"

"No!" This conversation was not going as well as Anakin had hoped. He pulled his chair over to Obi-Wan and sat down. "Not unable, unwilling! You're always so busy looking out for everyone else, that you neglect yourself!"

"That's our job as Jedi, Anakin."

"You take it to the extreme, Master." Anakin held Obi-Wan's steady gaze. He wasn't going to back down on this.

Obi-Wan could tell that Anakin was not going to let this drop. "All right, I'll take a nap if that will make you happy."

Anakin beamed as he got up and took the tray. "Good."

"Don't let me sleep too long."

"I won't." Anakin left feeling triumphant.

Obi-Wan did have to admit that he WAS tired. His sleep debt was getting rather large. He pulled off his inner tunic and flopped onto the bed. Trying to stay cool on this planet will be fun. He closed his eyes, allowing his mind and body to relax. It wasn't long before he was sound asleep.