Obi-wan did not comment as he half-led, half-dragged an extremely unwilling Katie to an outer, unguarded door. As he paused for a moment, leaning against blue sandstone walls, he wondered why someone so very… simple could be the source of such turmoil and calamity.

Right now she was not looking at him charitably, having very nearly caused a mutiny as she'd been led off. Obviously she'd been too far to actually hear any of the argument, and so had no idea that he'd actually defended her.

"I'll have you know that I've put a great deal on the line to come and rescue you." He commented dryly, noting the expression on her face that seemed to mean something along the lines of 'I'm going to bite your hand no matter how much you damn feed me'.

"Why?" she asked, in the first (civil) word she'd spoken to him since they'd left André's camp.

"Because I think that T-the someone who put this in motion by paying the prettiest girl they knew of to seduce Vader was gravely mistaken." He replied, mostly truthfully. He probably would not have gotten involved so very early if Mel had not been on the line, but she did not know that. Yet. Rolling his eyes in exasperation at the derision on her face, he sighed. "I don't care if you like me, or if you bother trusting me. But I would greatly appreciate it if you would at least not make this any more difficult."

She kept her eyes guarded but nodded, as they were already there anyway. "Then can't you at least bother to untie me?" The lacing was rubbing her forearms raw, and her shoulders were screaming for release.

Obi-wan had not already done so for he had been trying to at least half-convince the backwoods Resistance militia that he would be following the plan of knifing her anyway, so as to keep them from following him (or at least, to keep the followers at a good distance). Shaking his head, he rapped impatiently on the door. Sure, it was unattended, but it was locked as well.

Rather unusually promptly one of the more intelligent-looking guards opened the door, suspiciously, only to look from Obi-wan to Katie, and back, exceedingly confused. "Should I inform Lord Vader of your return?" he asked, graciously letting them in.

"No… I don't think so." Obi-wan commented, tongue in cheek. "I'd rather it be a surprise."

- - -

Katie did not look any more amused as when she finally was untied. They were in one of the plainer rooms of the palace, a medical ward room for routine procedures. Thus it had only a few expensive looking pieces of equipment on either side of the room dominated by a not so comfortable table, and the window was open instead of glassed in. Obi-wan had insisted upon said room for some reasons of his own, and was currently lounging in one of the corners, looking irritatingly amused.

Rubbing at her arms she did not pay much attention to what the two medics were doing, as they studied a small blood sample to make sure she hadn't been drugged or given some sort of slow-acting poison. The mechanisms used to do so beeped softly, and the collar pulsed its red slowly, and she found it all too quiet (or was it quiet because she was blocking it all out?). No one was trying to talk with her, or talk with each other, and aside from the mechanical noises she couldn't hear anything but the beating of her heart… And, below that, the pulsing in time of her own Force, locked away as it was. It was not quite the storied ball of flame but close, more of a well that she had not an idea as to the depth. She'd tried to use it, but it was like trying to swim to the surface when no matter in what direct you swam it was always to the bottom.

But in a way she was almost grateful that she could not access the power. She'd been almost uncontrollably angry, with her fear slowly dripping away to be replaced by it. Now, it had (settled down? inflated?) to a level that she was entirely in charge of… but it had started to scare her, all the same.

She was jolted back into the present as something very cold pressed against the back of her neck. "What?"

"Hold still." Was the curt response. Collars were designed to be nearly impossible to remove by their wearer, and so had no clasps. Instead, the two free ends were pressed over each other until they blended together, necessitating the controlled use of a laser to remove them.

She obligingly froze, not wanting to lose anything vital to such a silly mistake. As the laser cut through the last scant strip of metal holding the collar together, several things happened almost at once.

Katie's consciousness broke, shattered, and for a moment all was shards of color and light.

Both medics were slammed and held against the wall, (Obi-wan having already been standing conveniently next to one), and all the glass in the room exploded in a shower of sharp-edges pieces in the involuntary waves. The steel of the table buckled, and the other metals in the room warped.

There was a short silence after the chaos, the only sound the ragged heaves of her breathing. Slowly she let them down, and slid off of the table to stand.

Katie felt a great deal better now, much more like herself, and it was an almost delicious contrast to feel the fire in her veins she'd gotten to taking for granted. It was extremely liberating, though she'd been wearing the collar for a rather short period of time. But The Force had become such a fundamental, essential part of herself that having it back made all the difference in the world.

Looking up she made sizzling eye contact with Obi-wan, and the near grin faded from her face. It was probably insane to blame him, as he really had been the one to rescue her and all, but somehow she didn't believe that he wasn't involved. She hadn't had a chance to communicate her displeasure with André and his crew, but she could with him… Raising a hand to point, as though he might not quite understand who she was talking to, she snarled a simple, "You."

"Me." Obi-wan replied, quite cheerfully.

- - -

Vader had been rather happily watching Mel squirm with pain as the sensation worked its way up through her skull, when he sensed one of those proverbial 'disturbances in The Force'. He had not noticed Obi-wan return to the palace because he had spent a great deal of time trying to block out his aura, and so had been entirely oblivious until the spill of power downstairs. It was a bit like there was a delicately balanced web of threads suspended in the air, and someone had grabbed a handful and yanked on them, demanding some sort of attention. He stood there motionless for a moment; absorbed by the feeling… he knew that aura. Without a word he strode purposefully from the room, as running would have been undignified.

- - -

Katie, halfway through a most unusual staring contest suddenly broke from his gaze, looking towards the door to the hallway, pensive. She'd obviously heard something… Dashing outside, she froze again, swamped by a set of emotions she could barely contain, much less understand. As much as she had been angry at him there'd been a few moments where she'd thought she'd never make it back… and more importantly she loved him, loved him more than she should.

He paused an arm's length from her, uncertain. He wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms, reassure himself that she was indeed alive, but would she have him?

Holding out her hand she took his, looking up at him with an entirely clichéd and beautiful expression of mingled love and angst. "I forgive you," she murmured, before the rest of her words were blown away by his embrace.

Clutching her to him, holding her tighter and harder then he'd ever before, Anakin buried his face in her hair. He'd been so worried… he'd never been able to save anyone else he loved, and had been terrified that he would not be able to save her this time either… "I love you," he managed, wanting to keep her there, in his arms, where she was safe, forever.

Obi-wan, slinking out of the door, gave the couple as wide a berth as possible. Giving them half a glance he looked away, almost glad that he could not see Vader's face. The emotion there would have scared him…