The comlink beeped, breaking the silence of the night. Obi-Wan reached out with his arm and picked up the small object from where he had left it on his bedside table.
"Kenobi here," he said, his voice thick with sleep.
"Ben, Terrell here. A woman has just been taken to the hospital. She is in labour."
"I am on my way there," Obi-Wan answered, rising to a sitting position.
"It's not necessary, it's just a normal labour. She is in good health and things are progressing smoothly. You should stay home and sleep…you were exhausted this afternoon."
"I will sleep, Terrell, but only after this child is safely delivered," Obi-Wan replied, in a voice that did not admit replies.
"As you wish. Terrell out."
The comlink fell silent and Obi-Wan posed it back on the bedside table. He yawned and ran his hand over his face, trying to rub his torpor away. Force, he was so tired! He did not want to leave his bed—but he had to.
He needed to check that the woman was really all right and touch her face in order to discover if she was the one that had been haunting his dreams.
Obi-Wan was about to slip out of the bed when suddenly Asajj rolled atop of him, pinning him against the mattress.
"Where do you think are you going?" his bond-mate hissed, her breath warm on his cheek.
"You know where I am going. Let me up, Asajj."
"No, not this time. I have let you have your way for the last four nights, but that's enough. You are exhausted Ben. You need to sleep—you were barely able to stand up tonight."
Obi-Wan made an attempt to shake Asajj away, something he would usually be able to do with both his body and the Force, but this time his bond-mate was too much for him.
"Asajj," he murmured, trying to make reason with her, "Let me go. I must go…"
"No, you won't go. You will stay here and sleep while I go to see if this woman's hair is brown as the one in your dream. You are so tired you even forgot to ask Terrell," Asajj sent him a wave of love mixed with exasperation.
"You are right…but these visions…they are so terrible. They are tormenting me even during the day. I know something terrible will happen to that Jedi if his wife dies…" Obi-Wan shook his head, trying to banish the horror he was feeling.
Asajj pulled back from him. "Jedi? Wife? Jedi cannot be married—or so you told me."
"Yes, I know—but this one is. I know it." Obi-Wan shook his head, frustrated, but when he talked he was calmer, more like himself. "Asajj, dear, you are right, I cannot go on like this. I need to go to Coruscant and get in contact with the Jedi Council. I need to talk with them or I will end up mad. Will you come with me?"
"Of course I will come with you, Kenobi! As if it would really be a possibility that I would let you go alone near the Jedi!" Asajj said fiercely, her well-know dislike for the order flaring in their bond. However, before Obi-Wan could start defending the Jedi, his bond-mate's mood changed.
She kissed him with passion mixed with tenderness and slid her hands down his chest, caressing him, giving him pleasure and making his mind more open and receptive to the strong sleep suggestion she gave him.
The last thing Obi-Wan heard before oblivion claimed him was Asajj whispering, "Rest, my Ben, rest. Everything will be well."
Anakin was sitting in Padme's apartment as she went back and forth to the bedroom folding clothes.
"I sense someone familiar . . . Qui-Gon's been here, hasn't he?" he asked when he realized to whom belonged the presence he could perceive on the divan and the rest of the room.
"He came by this morning," Padme answered.
"What did he want?"
Padmé stopped and looked at him for a moment. "He's worried about you."
"You told him about us, didn't you?" Anakin asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
His wife did not answer and walked to the bedroom, but it was not something he could let drop. So he stood up from the couch and followed her.
"Don't be so suspicious, Anakin. He's your best friend, and he wants only what is good for you. He just came here to salute me before he left for Langara."
Anakin frowned. "Langara? Why is he going there? He should have left for Utapau."
"I know. I asked him and he answered that there has been a change of plans. Master Ki- Adi- Mundi is going to replace him on Utapau."
Anakin bent his head as he wondered what could have happened to make the Council change their plans. What else were they keeping hidden from him?
Padme walked by his side and squeezed his arm. "Relax Anakin. Don't worry so much. This is exactly what is bothering Qui-Gon and the reason he came here today. He says you're under a lot of stress."
"And he's not?"
"You have been moody lately."
"I'm not moody. It's just…I don't know. I feel…lost."
Padme frowned, concerned, "Lost? What do you mean? You're always so sure of yourself. I don't understand."
"Qui-Gon and the Council don't trust me—as this change of destinations proves."
"They trust you with their lives and Qui-Gon loves you as a son," his wife told him with a smile, but Anakin did not feel like answering.
"Something's happening . . . I'm not the Jedi I should be. I am one of the most powerful Jedi, but I'm not satisfied ... I want more, and I know I shouldn't."
"You expect too much of yourself."
They stopped in front of the window in their bedroom and Anakin put his hand on her rounded
belly. "I have found a way to save you," he said after a while.
"Save me?"
"From my nightmares."
"Is that what's bothering you?"
"I won't lose you, Padme," Anakin told her fiercely.
Padme raised her hand to caress his cheek and oblige him to look at her straight in the eye. "I'm not going to die in childbirth, Ani. I promise you."
"No, I promise you! I am becoming so powerful with my new knowledge of the Force, I will be able to keep you from dying. I now know who the man is in my vision…he is not real, but a personification of the powers I need to learn to save you. And I will do it, my love. I will, I swear."