'Twas a week until Life Day and all through the Temple, Anakin and Ahsoka were pestering their favorite fellow Jedi. Padawan hanging the stockings with glee and Master definitely not hastily searching for coupon codes on the holonet while waiting on the cookies to bake, most certainly not.
"Anakin, what in blazes are you two doing?" Obi-Wan asked for what was possibly the ten thousandt6h time that week. Rolling his eyes as his former padawan motioned for him to lean in, he did so.
"I'm trying to get Ahsoka some presents for Life Day," Anakin whispered, "She's really been wanting a new dress and some stockings, and I do have her big present already wrapped but I forgot to get more paper and-"
"Anakin, I'm sure Ahsoka doesn't mind if you wrap her gifts or not."
Ahsoka turned around to face them with a quizzical look on her face, "I thought Santa wrapped them?"
Before Obi-Wan could say anything, Anakin immediately put his hand over the bearded Jedi's mouth, "He wraps the presents you get from him! I'm just trying to get paper for the gifts from me!"
"Oh, right," Ahsoka replied, "Duh! Why would Santa wrap a present from you?"
"Exactly!" Anakin confirmed, "After all, he can't do all the work!" He heard Ahsoka's commlink go off and silently thanked the Force for the respite, "Hey! Isn't that Barriss?"
"Oh yeah! I forgot I was going to help her decorate the Room of a Thousand Fountains! Gotta go Skyguy, see you later!" she called out as she bolted out the door.
Anakin glanced over at Obi-Wan and slowly removed his hand. The elder jedi had a look of utter, dumbfounded confusion. "Anakin..."
"Yeah?"
"How old is Ahsoka?"
"Sixteen?"
"And you still have her believing in Santa Claus?"
"Uhm... yeah?"
"Don't you think she's a little bit old for that by now?"
"Don't you think she's a little bit young to be commanding legions on a battlefield?"
"That's not my decision Anakin!"
"I never said it was! All I'm saying is that the poor girl needs something innocent in her life!" Anakin insisted, "She's had her childhood ripped away from her by being in a warzone!"
Kenobi sighed, he wasn't wrong necessarily, and given Anakin's own lack of childhood innocence he could easily see his reasoning for wanting to obsessively preserve what few scraps of child-like innocence Ahsoka had left, but still, "When were you planning on telling her?"
"Uhm..." Anakin rubbed the back of his neck, "I kind of... wasn't?"
Obi-Wan stared blankly at his student for a few moments before processing what he just said. His following "What," was less a question than a statement of disbelief.
"I was going to let her figure it out herself."
"How far do you go with it?"
"What?"
"How far, Anakin. How far do you take this demented scheme of yours to let your nearly adult Padawan still believe in a magical elf man who breaks into half the galaxy's houses in one night?"
"Well... when you put it like that-"
"Anakin."
"I may climb onto the roof the night before and make a ton of noise above where her bed should be."
"What," again less questioning and more so out of disbelief. "Anakin, you are beyond crazy."
"I'm hardly as extreme as I could be."
"I suppose you don't go out of your way to rent eight eiopies to stand on the roof with you," Kenobi chuckled. Anakin didn't meet his gaze, which caused Obi-Wan's smile to disappear. "Anakin, PLEASE tell me you do not rent eight eiopies to stand on the roof with you."
"I do not rent eight eiopies to stand on the roof with me."
"Well, that's a relief; for a moment I thought you were completely insa-"
"I rented nine."
"WHAT?!"
"Rudolph."
"But I what di, HOW DO YOU EVEN AFFORD THEM?!"
"Padmé."
"Dammit please tell me she isn't enabling this too."
"She agrees with me."
"To go that far?"
"In her defense she has no idea what lengths most people go to keep the Santa myth alive for Life Day, or the usual limits."
"How?"
"She's Jewish, her family never did it."
"You are crazy."
"So you keep telling me."
"Anakin... you have to tell her."
"But-"
"No 'buts' Anakin!"
"I'll tell her... next year," Anakin finally conceded.
"Putting it off won't make it any easier, for you or for her."
"I know but, come on Life Day is a week away. I don't want to ruin it for her when it's this close and you've seen just how excited she gets for it! She VOLUNTEERED to decorate the Room of a Thousand Fountains! Volunteered! Most people see that as a punishment because of how much work it requires, and you haven't seen the blueprints she mapped out for the Life Day decorating she's gotten planned!"
Obi-wan mulled it over, "I do pity Barriss for getting dragged into it; and Ahsoka does seem to be a tad zealous for the holiday."
"Just let her have this one last Life Day believing in Santa, and then next year I'll talk to her about it."
Obi-Wan sighed, "Alright. One last year with Santa. Although, I sense there's something you're not telling me."
"I... may have... already rented the eiopies."
"What."
"And they're non-refundable."
Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose and just shook his head of the migraine threatening to develop, "Anakin."