Distance Kiss

Observing Senate meetings wasn't always as interesting as some senators would have you believe. True, Anakin had seen some rather heated exchanges that made the meetings slightly less painful, but more often than not he ended up on the verge of falling asleep with his eyes open. And ever since Padmé had gone back to Naboo, Anakin didn't have the same excitement or enthusiasm that he once had. For Anakin, it was just another three hours of standing still and trying not to look as if he were dying of boredom.

The only semi-interesting thing he could do was watch members of the Senate. He often entertained himself by picking one or two senators, then he would try to hide his laughter as he saw them trying to discreetly pick their noses or hide a yawn. Today, he scanned the different pods, trying to decide which two to 'observe' for the next few hours. They hadn't started the meeting quite yet, so he had a decent amount of time to pick as the senators and their guards filed in and got settled.

A familiar combination of colors caught his attention, and he looked across the vast space to see Duchess Satine of Mandalore taking her seat. He raised an eyebrow at her when their gazes met, and she simply offered a smile in greeting. He nodded in return, wondering why exactly she was on Coruscant… and if Obi-Wan knew about it.

"Speak of the devil…" Anakin murmured when the man in question stepped up beside him, his arms crossed over his chest in his usual stance. "Took you long enough, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan chuckled a bit uncomfortably, running a hand through his slightly disheveled hair. He had tried to arrive when Anakin did, but had found himself sidetracked and behind schedule when he received news of a certain someone's ship coming in from Mandalore.

"My apologies, Anakin. I was assisting the Duchess and her retinue."

"Oh, so you do know she's here. I was wondering."

"Why would I not be aware of her arrival?" Obi-Wan's voice gained a tense edge to it, and all Anakin could do was chuckle and elbow his former master.

"No need to get defensive, I just didn't know where you were when she came in." he shrugged, his voice lowering as Chancellor Palpatine stood to begin the meeting. "But I should have figured you were aware, since you two are...good friends."

Obi-Wan struggled to come up with a response, but Anakin smugly shushed him and gestured towards the Chancellor who had begun to speak.

XXXXXX

The meeting was pretty standard, and Anakin learned that the reason the Duchess was there was because they were discussing the possibility of neutrality spreading to a larger portion of the galaxy. She spoke of the benefits of neutrality, both present and future, and Anakin had to hold back the urge to laugh when he saw Obi-Wan practically hanging onto her every word.

Obi-Wan was usually more engrossed in Senate meetings than Anakin, but never to this extent. You had to be up close and you had to know him well to see it, but it was there. The admiration in his eyes, the pride in the small smile on his lips, the attentiveness in his stance… It took every taught nerve in Anakin's body not to tease him about it. He simply smirked and waited for the meeting to conclude.

The hallways were crowded as usual as everyone made their exit, so Anakin and Obi-Wan simply waited for some of the other senators to clear out before leaving from the observation deck. They discussed the meeting and the points brought up in it, but neither of them mentioned Duchess Satine by name. Anakin did so on purpose, and he guessed that Obi-Wan simply did not want the conversation topic to stray into his personal feelings towards her.

"I'm gonna find Snips and grab something to eat. Do you want anything?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan over his shoulder as he went to leave, but Obi-Wan had yet to turn away from the Senate floor.

"Um… No, thank you." he said after a moment, turning to address him. "I have some business to attend to here, but I will see you later."

"Okay." Anakin shrugged, stepping out into the hallway. But rather than actually walking down the hall, he faked his own fading footsteps. He heard Obi-Wan sigh when he was 'gone', and grinned mischievously. So he was hiding something. Anakin slid back in and pressed himself against the wall for a moment, before leaning forward a bit to see what Obi-Wan was seeing.

The Duchess was still in her seat, her guards monitoring the hallway so they could tell her when it was clear enough to leave. Obi-Wan was watching her carefully, his back tense as he concentrated on her face. Her gaze shifted from the holo-tablet in her lap, her hand moving up to feel her cheek as if she'd been touched. She tilted her head in confusion as she looked at her hand, apparently not seeing anything different. She glanced over her shoulder at her guards, who were still diligently watching the hallway. She turned back around, her eyes suddenly glazing over as if she were being relayed some private message from an invisible source. Anakin craned his neck to see, holding onto the doorframe as he inched a bit further in. He saw the Duchess smile after a few moments, her gaze meeting Obi-Wan's with an almost frightening accuracy.

Anakin could see Obi-Wan's face melt into a smile that matched hers, and he concluded that Obi-Wan had just given Satine some sort of intimate Force-kiss.

"It seems Master Kenobi is a little more invested than he's been letting on." Anakin thought with a grin, silently exiting the room as quickly as he could. He hurried down the hallway of the Senate building so Obi-Wan wouldn't step out and see him, a mischievous grin on his face that he couldn't fight.

Making sure no one was around, he tapped his communicator and grinned even wider when a holographic image of Ahsoka sprang from his wrist.

"Hello Master." she paused, her arms crossing. "That smile on your face makes me think something very big happened."

"I'll tell you when I see you, Snips." he chuckled, stepping into the elevator. "You'll get a kick out of this one."

"If you say so."

A/N: I am not proud of this one. I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan, so I'm not sure of what all the Force can do or what all Jedi can do with it, but I like the idea of weird kisses that can be felt but not seen. I definitely struggled with the ending of this one too. ANYWAY, review please!