Chapter 13

Anakin was groggy when he woke up. Obi-wan was fast asleep, as he should be. Anakin had woken him up three times with nightmares, and they were both exhausted. He quietly got out of bed and checked his phone, expecting to see more threats from Maul, but thankfully the only messages he had were adverts.

Anakin started making breakfast and was startled halfway through when arms wrapped around him from behind. He quickly relaxed as his brain caught up with his pounding heart. It was just Obi-wan. Of course, it was. He was safe here.

"Good morning," Obi-wan purred in his ear.

"Good morning." Anakin tilted his head back, giving Obi-wan access to his neck. Obi-wan immediately took advantage of the position, pressing soft kisses to Anakin's throat.

"I haven't gotten anything from Maul yet. What if he's already released the video? I can't – what if –"

"Shh, sweetheart, it's ok. Maul is pacified for now. We don't have to worry about him just yet."

Anakin turned to look at Obi-wan. "You've already paid his price, haven't you?"

"I have. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back in a few weeks wanting more money, but I've already hired one of the best experts in the field to track down that video and erase all traces of it. It won't ever get out."

"Thank you," Anakin sighed, resting his head on Obi-wan's chest. "I wish I wasn't causing you so much trouble."

"I love you. Nothing is too much trouble. You're worth it, dearest."

"I love you too. So much."

"Anakin, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Anakin's chest tightened. This was it. Obi-wan had finally realized that Anakin wasn't worth it. He was going to leave Anakin all alone and –

"We have to go to the police, dearest. This has gone on long enough. Maul has shown that he won't stop. I'll keep you safe, you know I will, but you'll never stop looking over your shoulder while he's still out there."

Anakin knew Obi-wan was right. No matter how much security Obi-wan hired, Anakin was still afraid of Maul, of what he might do.

"Going to the police would mean telling them everything. I – I don't know if I can do that."

"I'll be right there with you, dearest. It'll be ok. The police have heard this kind of thing plenty of times before. They're not going to judge you."

Anakin wanted to say no, to push the issue to the back of his mind and not think about it except when it came up in his nightmares, but he couldn't, not anymore. Maul had shown that he wouldn't stop pursuing Anakin no matter what. It seemed like going to the police was really his only option.

"If we do this, I'll have to tell Ahsoka – at least, part of what happened. She'll find out anyway. I'd need to go to court to testify against him, which would probably make the news. She should hear it from me."

"I agree. We can talk to her before school and go down to the station after dropping her off."

"Best let her take the day off school if we're going to talk to her. I don't think she'll take it well."

Obi-wan nodded sadly. "You're probably right."

Ahsoka was too young to have to deal with this. Anakin wished he didn't have to tell her anything, but it was better that she heard from him.

When Ahsoka wandered through for breakfast, yawning, Anakin and Obi-wan had already finished eating.

"What's wrong with you two?"

Anakin did his best to modify his expression. "Nothing."

"Bullshit. What's up?"

"Language, Snips."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Seriously, though, what is it? You look ill. You haven't caught a bug, have you?"

"I'm not ill. I… I need to tell you something."

"Shoot."

Anakin didn't know if he could do this. He shot a panicked glance at Obi-wan, who put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Anakin took a deep breath.

"Before I found Obi-wan, when I was searching for a job, I got desperate. I joined an escort agency."

Ahsoka sucked in a breath but didn't interrupt.

"It didn't last long. My first client, Maul… I thought I could do it, but I changed my mind. He didn't care. He forced me. Raped me."

Anakin drew in a shuddering breath, reaching back for Obi-wan's hand, which Obi-wan provided.

"Oh, Anakin. I'm so sorry. That bastard. If I get my hands on him, I'll kill him!"

Anakin chuckled. "Best not to do that. The last thing we need is for Obi-wan to have to bail you out of jail. I hoped never to have to put this on you, but I've decided to press charges. You'd have found out sooner or later, and I thought it would be better coming from me."

"You didn't want to tell me?" Ahsoka asked in a small voice.

Anakin knew exactly what she was thinking. "It's not that I don't trust you, Snips. It's just a lot to deal with. You're still a minor. I want your life to be as free of worries as it possibly can be."

Ahsoka snorted. "You're an idiot. You're my big brother. I want to know when you're hurting, even if it makes me worry. You should have told me."

Maybe she was right. Had Anakin been wrong to try to protect her?

No. Ahsoka was pale and her hands were trembling slightly. Anakin knew her well enough to know that she was seriously freaked out. It would have been better to keep this from her, had it been possible.

"Obi-wan has known all along, hasn't he?"

"I have."

"You're not – the two of you aren't –?"

"He's not paying me for sex," Anakin quickly assured her. "We haven't even…"

"You can stop right there. I don't need to know the gory details."

Anakin grinned in relief. "Good, because I wasn't about to give them to you. Now, are you up to going to school today?"

Ahsoka hesitated, then shook her head.

"I figured as much. I'll give your school a call. You wanna watch a movie?"

"Are you going to let me pick?"

"Sure. I'll probably miss the first half. Obi-wan and I are going down to the police station."

Ahsoka nodded. "You go get that dickhead."

"I will see to it," Obi-wan promised.

He drove Anakin to the police station and spent ten minutes patiently coaxing him out of the car. When they finally walked into the station, Anakin was on the verge of nervous collapse. Obi-wan sat him down while he went to find an officer for them to talk to.

Anakin did his best not to hyperventilate. Judging by Obi-wan's concerned expression when he returned, he must be failing miserably.

"Just breathe, sweetheart. Slow. Everything is ok. Breath with me, Ani."

Anakin did his best to slow his breathing, focusing on the feeling of Obi-wan's hand on his cheek. When he finally nodded, Obi-wan took his hand and led him through to a room with a desk and three chairs.

"Hi, I'm detective Unduli, but you can call me Luminara. Can I get your name, please?"

"Anakin Skywalker." Anakin forced himself to meet Luminara's gaze. "I'm here to report a crime," he mumbled.

"Yes, Obi-wan has informed me. Please, tell me in your own words what happened."

So, Anakin told her. He gave her every detail he could remember. They had to stop several times for Obi-wan to coach him through panic attacks. By the time they were done, Anakin's eyes felt swollen and his nose raw from all the times he'd blown it. The bin was one huge pile of tissues.

"Thank you for telling me all this, Anakin. Would you be willing to testify in front of a judge?"

Anakin nodded. "I want him to go to prison for what he did."

"I promise, I'll do everything I can to make that happen, but I have to tell you, the odds aren't in your favor."

"What does that mean?" Obi-wan asked sharply. "Maul raped him. How can the law be anything but on Anakin's side?"

"No rape kit was done," Luminara explained gently. "There is no physical evidence. It'll be Anakin's word against Maul's. It'll all come down to who the jury believes."

No. Surely, Anakin can't have gone through all this for nothing. "But – I'm telling the truth."

"I believe you. And there's a chance the jury will, too, but to be honest, I wouldn't risk it, if I were you. He can only be tried on the rape charge once. I'd suggest you wait. Let me see what evidence I can dig up."

"We need Maul to go to prison now. He's harassing Anakin."

"I know, which is why I suggest you go ahead with pressing the blackmail charge. That one, you have digital evidence of. That should get him into prison, and then we can work on the rape charge."

"I can hire private investigators," Obi-wan offered. "The chances are that Maul has hurt someone else, right?"

"There's definitely a chance of that. I can suggest a few good private detectives, and I will of course be conducting my own investigation. You should get a good lawyer, too. I can give you a list of a few candidates who handle these kinds of cases."

"That would be perfect, thank you."

Anakin sat quietly as Obi-wan and Luminara handled the details. He felt wrung out. He had given everything he had to give, and he was left feeling like nothing more than a husk.

"Anakin? Sweetheart, it's time to go."

Obi-wan took Anakin's hands and gently drew him to his feet. Anakin threw his arms around Obi-wan, clinging to him and breathing in his comforting scent.

"You did so well," Obi-wan murmured, returning the hug in kind.

Anakin's throat was too tight to speak, so he simply nodded into Obi-wan's shoulder. He felt numb. There were no more tears to cry. Everyone would know, now, that he was nothing more than a cheap whore. Was it worth it? If it stopped Maul from stalking him?

"Come on, let's get you home."

Anakin stared blankly out of the window as Obi-wan drove them home. Obi-wan led him by the hand through to their bedroom and tucked him up under three blankets before slipping in behind him, wrapping his arms around Anakin.

"Talk to me. I'm worried about you."

Anakin shrugged. "It's done. That's all that matters."

"That is not all that matters. You matter. I can see you're hurting. Tell me how I can help you."

Anakin turned in Obi-wan's arms so that they were looking at each other. "Promise me you won't leave," he begged.

"Of course, I'll never leave you, sweetheart. I love you more than anything in the world. You are worth everything to me."

It seemed that Anakin still had some tears left to cry after all. Obi-wan gently wiped them from his face as they appeared, kissing the tracks they left down Anakin's cheeks.

Anakin lost track of time as he lay in Obi-wan's arms, silent tears sliding stubbornly down his cheeks. Obi-wan never lost patience, murmuring sweet words of love and affection in Anakin's ear.

Eventually, Obi-wan's touch and care thawed the numbness in Anakin's heart. He took a deep breath, feeling like it was the first full breath he'd had since he walked into the police station.

"I'm ok, now."

Obi-wan raised an eyebrow.

"Well, not exactly ok, but better. Let's update Ahsoka. I'm sure she's worried."

Ahsoka was in her room pretending to read. She leaped up when Anakin and Obi-wan came in. "How did it go?"

Anakin forced a smile for her. "About as well as can be expected. I told my story. The rest is up to them."

"We're pressing a blackmail charge for now," Obi-wan explained. "I'm going to get lawyers and private investigators to help us gather evidence for the rape charge."

Ahsoka gave Obi-wan a grim nod of satisfaction. "That bastard is going down for what he did to my brother."

"Too right he is."

They had lunch together, during which they talked about happier things. Anakin took a nap afterward and woke up feeling refreshed and slightly more optimistic. It was in the police's hands, now. All he had to do was testify at the trial. He could handle that.

As the date of the trial got steadily closer, Anakin started questioning whether he could handle it. The nightmares were particularly brutal, sometimes keeping him and Obi-wan up for two hours in the middle of the night. Anakin tried not waking Obi-wan, but Obi-wan seemed to have developed some kind of sixth sense that told him when Anakin was in distress because no matter how quiet Anakin was, Obi-wan always woke up to comfort him.

Anakin started jumping at small noises, terrified that it was Maul, here to shut him up before he could testify. Obi-wan doubled their security, which did help, but didn't entirely erase Anakin's paranoia.

Ahsoka noticed, of course, and quickly learned that when Anakin was in a state, Obi-wan was the only one who could calm him down. Anakin didn't like to think about how many times he'd called Obi-wan at work in a panic, asking to be picked up from college and taken home.

It boggled Anakin's mind that Obi-wan never lost patience with him. He steadfastly insisted that Anakin was worth every second of his time and attention. It was difficult to disbelieve him when Obi-wan proved his words every day. Anakin started to wonder if Obi-wan might actually be right.

Obi-wan was smart and good at reading people. Anakin was clearly a horrible judge of character, as evidenced by him ever walking into Maul's apartment in the first place. Perhaps Obi-wan was right, after all. Maybe Anakin was worth something.

The day of the trial arrived with a panic attack that took Anakin almost a full hour to calm down from. Obi-wan had taken the day off work, obviously, but Anakin had asked Ahsoka to go to school. He didn't want her to have to deal with him when he was at his worst, which he surely would be during and after the trial.

She had grumbled, but agreed, after telling Obi-wan that he had better take care of her brother. Obi-wan had promised that he would.

Obi-wan never let go of Anakin's hand. Mace had prepped them, but nothing could have truly prepared Anakin for seeing Maul again.

He flinched violently, clutching Obi-wan's hand in a death grip. Maul smirked at Anakin as he took his seat.

Anakin's mind was buzzing too much for him to pay attention to the opening of the trial. He was trying with all his might not to remember Maul's hands on him. That was surely a road to disaster.

Obi-wan squeezed his hand. "You can do this."

"Anakin Skywalker, please take the stand."

The judge – Yoda, Anakin though the remembered – gestured for Anakin to sit in the box next to his desk. Anakin avoided glancing at the jury, sure that he would see judgment in their eyes. Instead, he focused on Obi-wan as Mace started asking his questions.

"How did you first meet the defendant?"

Anakin took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving Obi-wan's. "I was an escort at the time. I was called to his house for a job."

"And what happened when you got there?"

Anakin's hands started trembling as Mace took him through the entire nightmare and the events that followed. He did as Mace had instructed him, keeping his answers concise and to the point. He didn't look at the jury, even when he heard them rustling restlessly when he spoke of what Maul had done to him.

Cameras clicked and Anakin did his best not to flinch.

"Thank you, Anakin. That will be all."

Maul's lawyer, Dooku, came to stand in front of Anakin.

"Tell me, Skywalker, when you went to my client's house, what did you expect to happen?"

Anakin swallowed. "I expected to have sex with him."

"And that's exactly what happened, isn't it?"

Anakin tried to think of what Obi-wan would say. "No, that's not what happened. Rape is not sex. I changed my mind. I said no, and he raped me."

Obi-wan's eyes shone with pride and he nodded warmly to Anakin. Dooku's mouth twisted in annoyance, but he didn't challenge Anakin's answer.

"After this… incident… did you terminate your employment with the agency in question?"

"I did."

"I see. Then how, exactly, did you meet your boyfriend?"

Anakin clutched the stand in front of him. How did Dooku know about that?

There was nothing he could do but tell the truth.

"I needed the money. I agreed to take on another client for the agency."

"So, what happened wasn't so unconsensual that you decided to stay away for good?"

Anakin wanted to shrivel into a ball and die. Dooku was right. He was nothing more than a whore who kept asking for it again and again.

Anakin sought Obi-wan's eyes. Obi-wan's gaze was full of love and compassion, and it filled Anakin up, chasing away the shame and panic that Dooku's words elicited.

"It was rape. It was not by consent. My financial problems and my actions afterward don't change the fact that Maul raped me."

Dooku sneered at him before moving on to his next question.

"You claim that my client blackmailed you over this incident. Tell me, if he did rape you, as you say, then why would he risk that coming to light by showing you a video of the event?"

"I can't answer for him, but I imagine he never thought I'd go to the police. If it wasn't for Obi-wan encouraging me to do so, I wouldn't have."

"Was it truly only your boyfriend's encouragement? Or did you decide that you could get a good sum of money if you cried foul after the event? Could it be that the sex truly was consensual, and you are besmirching my client's good name for profit?"

"NO! I wouldn't do that. Besides, I don't want money. I want Maul in jail, so he can't hurt anyone else. You would know. You've already tried to settle out of court with my lawyer six times. I've had him turn you down every time."

The jury murmured, but Anakin still didn't look at them.

Dooku was good, Anakin had to give him that. He did his best to twist Anakin's version of events to favor Maul, but Anakin held firm. This was his chance to put Maul away. If he failed here, then Maul would no doubt come after him. As much as he wanted to run into Obi-wan's arms and hide from the world, he couldn't, not now.

So, Anakin answered Dooku's questions through gritted teeth and with clenched hands. It seemed to go on forever. When it was finally over, Anakin walked shakily back to Mace and Obi-wan.

Obi-wan put an arm around Anakin and pressed his warm lips to Anakin's ear. "Well done, dearest. I'm so proud of you."

Anakin sagged into Obi-wan's side, letting his eyes slip shut. He wanted to vanish, but he remained solidly stuck in reality. Thankfully, he wasn't required for much longer. The jury went off to deliberate, and Obi-wan took Anakin home. Mace had arranged that Anakin wouldn't need to be present during the reading out of the verdict. It was standard practice, but Anakin didn't have it in him to face Maul twice in one day. Mace promised he'd call them the moment the verdict came through.

Anakin was glad that Ahsoka had gone to school because he didn't want her to see him like this.

Obi-wan walked around the side of the car and opened Anakin's door. "We're home, dearest." He took one look at Anakin and leaned in, undoing his seatbelt and lifting Anakin into his arms.

Anakin mumbled something about not being a child, but let Obi-wan carry him through to the lounge, placing him on the couch and tucking him in under a fluffy blanket.

Obi-wan sat down on the end of the couch and pulled Anakin's head onto his lap. "Do you want to talk?"

Anakin shook his head. "I want to forget it ever happened."

"I suspected as much. Netflix?"

"Please."

Anakin wasn't sure what Obi-wan put on, but the background noise was comforting. Obi-wan stroked Anakin's hair with one hand, his other hand entwined with Anakin's.

"You did so well, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted. Ashamed. Scared."

"You have nothing to be ashamed of," Obi-wan said fiercely.

"Then why do I feel like this?"

"Your feelings don't necessarily reflect the truth, Anakin. All feelings are valid, but not all feelings have a basis in fact."

"Makes sense," Anakin mumbled.

"Rest, dearest. You've earned it."

Anakin didn't need any more encouragement than that. He drifted off with Obi-wan's hand still clutched in his.