Disclaimer: I wish Star Wars belonged to me, if for no other reason than that I wouldn't have to write disclaimers like this!
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After spending several hours with Anakin's children, Obi-wan simply couldn't imagine them ever doing anything like flooding the refresher or painting sheets. And the idea of innocent, angelic little Leia breaking a plate on her brother's head seemed preposterous! Although Obi-wan couldn't imagine why Anakin would make up such a thing, unless it were to gain sympathy and attempt to excuse his lateness. He knew how he could find out for sure, though. He called Luke, and the child came obediently running from where the twins had been happily working together, building a wall of blocks. Obi-wan ran his hand through the boy's curls. Sure enough, there was a small bandage near his hairline, in a place where it was concealed by his blonde hair most of the time.
"Hmmm," murmured Obi-wan. So these children weren't always this well-behaved! He released Luke, and the youngling looked at him in confusion for a moment before running back to his blocks. Right now, watching them was effortless; they were happy and contented, playing quietly together whenever Obi-wan was not telling them a story.
As if to explain, Leia came up to him and whispered, "We're being quiet because Daddy's sick."
Obi-wan smiled at the little girl. "Yes, you are doing a very good job of it, too!"
She smiled angelically and opened her brown eyes wide. "Are we being good enough to have a snack?" she asked innocently.
Obi-wan chuckled, seeing the little girl's ploy to get herself and her brother a snack. "I will ask your Mommy if that's alright. In the meantime, why don't you and Luke put your blocks away?"
The children readily complied, and Obi-wan knocked on the door to the master bedroom. Padmé peeked out. "Yes, Obi-wan?"
"The children are asking for something to eat. Is there something I can give them?"
Padmé thought for a moment. "Can you hold them off for half an hour, until lunch time? Then I'll come out and feed them lunch, if you'll sit with Anakin. It's absurd, but you really have to watch him as closely as you watch them, or he'll try to get up. He really doesn't like staying in bed. Anyway, if the twins are getting bored, there's some color sticks and flimsiplast on the shelf in the front closet. We keep them out of reach ever since Luke tried to make our windows into stained glass."
She went back into the room, and Obi-wan went to locate the drawing materials. Then he called the children to the table. "Mommy says lunch time is in a short while, so she wants you to wait."
Disappointment showed on their faces, but they did not complain. Obi-wan showed them the art supplies. "While you're waiting, why don't you make "Get well" pictures for Daddy? It might cheer him up!"
Luke looked up at Obi-wan. "Why? Is Daddy sad to be sick?"
"Yes, Luke, your Daddy doesn't like to be sick because that means he has to stay in bed all day instead of going to work or playing with you."
"Then I'll make him a picture to make him happy. I don't like to stay in bed all day."
The children set to work making pictures. After they had been working a while, Obi-wan asked what they were drawing. Luke held up his picture. "This is Daddy and me and Leia and Mommy. My picture is 'cause in it, Daddy's all better and we're happy. See? I crossed out the bed 'cause he doesn't gots ta stay in bed all day, but only at night. See?"
Obi-wan smiled. He did indeed see the box in one corner, which had about eight large red lines drawn through it. He also saw Luke's representations of Padmé and Leia, with matching squiggles of brown for hair around their circular heads. Luke's portrait of himself was crowned with a yellow scribble, and for some reason, he had used orange to give his drawing of Anakin hair. Each face was complete with two dots for eyes and a half circle mouth, and each hand had three fingers on it – except for Anakin, who had a black rectangle scribbled over his arm to represent a glove.
"Oh, that's very nice, Luke! Good work!" And it was, for a three-year-old. Luke grinned and proceeded to draw a long blue stick sprouting from Anakin's "gloved" hand, to represent a lightsaber. Obi-wan smiled at that, knowing – or at least hoping – that Anakin did not commonly walk around with an ignited lightsaber while spending time with his family!
He turned to Leia. "And what are you drawing?"
"A gundark," she replied without looking up, totally absorbed in her work. Obi-wan was taken aback. The scribbles on the page bore much more resemblance to a triangle than one of the famed members of that ill-tempered species, and he couldn't fathom why she would want to draw one for her sick father!
"Oh… erm, how exciting!" he managed. "And that will cheer your daddy up?"
Leia shrugged. "I jes' wanted to draw one, 'cause they're big and you can't ride them. And Daddy doesn't like riding things."
Obi-wan had to admit that was true; Anakin never did enjoy riding live animals.
When the pictures were finished, Obi-wan wrote "Get well soon" on each one, then helped the children sign their names.
Luke suddenly looked up, perturbed. "We didn't make cards for Mommy when she was sick!" he cried.
Leia looked upset, then brightened. "Let's make her some now, then! I'll draw flowers on Naboo!"
"An' I'll draw a sunset!"
The children busily set back to work, and at their insistence, Obi-wan added a "Get well" message to the second set of pictures, even though Padmé was already well.
By the time the pictures were finished, it was lunchtime, and Padmé came into the kitchen. The twins ran excitedly to show her their pictures.
"Oh, how lovely!" she exclaimed, although Obi-wan saw an expression of confusion flit across her face when she read the "Get well" messages addressed to her. "Daddy is sleeping right now, so you can give the pictures to him after lunch and your naps. Now, it's time to eat, so I will ask Master Kenobi to put away the flimsi and color sticks and then go sit by Daddy." She turned to address Obi-wan. "He hasn't thrown up in a while; I think he might be through that part. But his fever's spiked – it usually does around this point. He is asleep right now, and I gave him a fever reducer, so he shouldn't need any more for a while. If he wakes up, though, I need you to make sure he stays in bed and drinks plenty of water. As I'm sure you know, he can be difficult about that when he has stomach flu. I'm going to feed these two, then put them down for their nap. And if you don't mind, I might take a short nap then, too."
Obi-wan smiled. "That would be fine with me," he said, and went to look after Anakin.
The young man was sleeping deeply on his side, his pale face mostly hidden in the pillow, his curly hair tangled. He now wore a sleep shirt and sleep pants, and was partially covered by blankets. His clothing was dumped in a heap at the foot of the bed, and there was a bucket on the floor next to the head. On the nightstand were two glasses, one filled with water and the other with what Obi-wan knew was an electrolyte fluid, a box of tissues, a thermometer, and a package of fever reducer tablets. There was a chair next to it; Obi-wan sat in it and waited for Anakin to awake.
He slept fitfully, tossing and turning for perhaps an hour, before awakening. He looked up and saw Obi-wan. "Hi," he said weakly.
"It's nice to see you too," said Obi-wan cheerfully. "All the rest of your family is sleeping."
Anakin looked dully at him. "Maybe you should go and check on them," he suggested.
Obi-wan laughed. "I know you too well, Anakin," he said. "You just want to try to escape and get out of bed. Although I can't imagine what you would want to do; you can't be wanting to go to the Temple."
Anakin turned away from him to stare at the ceiling. "I'm hot," he said grumpily, pouting. He kicked at the blankets that were twisted around his legs until they slid completely off him and onto the floor, then unbuttoned his sleep shirt and shrugged it off his shoulders. He flung his arms and legs out wide and shut his eyes.
Obi-wan reached over and touched his forehead. "You're right, you are hot. Why don't you drink some water or some of this?" he said, offering the glass of electrolyte.
Anakin turned his head away. "Don't want to," he said childishly.
"Do you feel sick?" inquired Obi-wan.
"No."
"Well, then, drink something. A sip or two of electrolyte, or of water. Your choice."
Anakin huffed a sigh, then rolled over. "I guess water."
Obi-wan handed him the glass, and he sat up and sipped from it, then handed it back and lay down again.
"I hate being sick," he said, glaring vengefully at the ceiling.
"You are hardly unique in that; I have yet to meet someone who enjoys it," said Obi-wan calmly.
"I wanted to get back to work at the Temple today. I already had a bunch of time off last week. Now when I do get back, everybody's gonna poke at me for taking more unscheduled vacation. And I hate staying in bed. I'm bored." He was whining now.
"Well, maybe you should go to sleep again then," said Obi-wan.
"I just was asleep. I'm tired of sleeping. I wanna get up."
"You have my permission to sit up, if you will drink some of this electrolyte when you do it."
Anakin sighed, sat up again, and reached for the glass. When he had taken several sips, he gave back the glass and lay down again as he had before.
"I'm still hot," he whined.
Obi-wan stood up. "Stay in bed. I'll be right back." He went and got a damp, cool cloth to put on Anakin's forehead.
"Lie still," he instructed, and placed it on. Anakin immediately began to wriggle and toss and turn until the cloth finally slid off. Obi-wan sighed and picked it up again and replaced it.
Anakin squirmed some more, then got up and stood shakily on the floor.
"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Obi-wan.
"I have to use the refresher,' was the sullen reply. Obi-wan let him go but kept an eye on the time, to make sure he didn't try to go off and work on his droids or something. Fortunately, Anakin returned of his own accord and flopped on his bed, shivering.
"I'm c-cold," he wailed, clutching his sleep shirt around him.
"Maybe you shouldn't kick your blankets off any more, then."
"I was hot then!" he fussed.
Obi-wan shook his head. "Honestly, Anakin! You're such a baby when you're sick! You're worse to care for than your actual children! Who behaved quite well today, actually."
"Of course, they behave well for you, but for me, they're little... droidekas."
"That's the way children are. Drink another sip of water, and then I'll get your blankets back for you."
Anakin shakily sat up and took another drink. When he was settled again, Obi-wan reached down and gathered up he blankets, then heaped them on top of Anakin. "There. That ought to do it!"
"Thanks," Anakin managed croaked raspily. His eyes closed, and a few minutes later, he was asleep again. Obi-wan reveled in the silence; Anakin could be a taxing patient to care for.