A messy pile of dismantled battle droids laid in an alley just behind a run down cantina on the Outer Rim planet of Cristea. Anakin Skwalker and Obi Wan Kenobi deactivated their lightsabers and clipped them to their belts, almost in unison. Two Jedi, then pulled the hood to their robes over their heads and slipped into the crowded market, unnoticed by the Separatist Neimodian group they were spying upon.
Anakin stopped near a fruit stand, grabbed a pumpkin fruit and tossed the vendor a credit. Obi Wan gave him a slight nod of his head, and both walked to the catina, going inside.
The Jedi pair did their best not to look like Jedi. In fact, one could say they looked like tall sand people, with their hoods covering their heads, eyes, and obscuring their faces. They sat on neighboring bar stools and Obi Wan laid a handful of credits on the counter.
"Savages are not welcome here," the bartender barked, sliding the credits back to Obi Wan.
Obi Wan using a trance-like voice began to speak: "We are paying customers and you want to serve us."
"You are paying customers and I would like to serve you drinks."
"What do you wish to have?" Obi Wan said.
"What do you wish to have?" the bartender repeated in a trance-like voice.
"My friend and I will have a shot of rum."
"Yes sir," the bartender replied, hurrying to fetch their drinks.
"It'll only be a matter of time before someone sees the pile of droids in the back, and put two and two together that there are Jedi here."
"We'll have all the information we need long before then," Obi Wan replied.
The bartender passed the pair their shots of rum. Obi Wan tossed his head and drank it in one gulp. He raised his hand for another. The bartender complied, pouring the rum directly into his glass.
"The arena will be airing in a few minutes," the bartender said in a gruff voice.
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked.
"It's sports night. Can't you read basic?" the guy said, pointing toward the sign on the window.
"We're savages, remember? We can't read anything."
Obi Wan smirked and gave Anakin a nudge to the side with his elbow. They were alike in more ways than he cared to admit. Obi Wan could remember being somewhat of a smart ass when he was that age. If not, a bit worse than Anakin. He could easily remember calling the boy a "pathetic lifeform" when Qui Gon Jinn bought Anakin to their ship that day on Tattoine so many years ago.
Obi Wan tossed his head back and drank the second glass of rum in one gulp. Anakin raised his hand, singling the bartender for more drinks.
"Master... I think we ought to take it easy with the rum..."
"Don't worry Anakin," he said, pulling the hood to his robe back. "We're just trying to fit in..." he said, one brow raised.
"Master- your hood..."
"Don't worry about it, Anakin. I doubt any Neiomodians will come in here."
He drained the remnants of his third glass. Anakin swirled the contents around in his own. He then turned and looked around. The room swarmed with various life forms. some stumbled about in a drunken stupor, some punched each other, or played cards.
"Mind your liquor master, we're in polite company."
Obi Wan flagged the bartender again. "How about a bit of Hoi Broth, brother?" Obi Wan said.
Anakin sighed. Not again... he thought. "Master, remember what happened the last time you drank hoi broth?"
"Nothing I can't handle, Anakin."
The bartender slid the drink across the bar, which Obi Wan grabbed almost on instinct.
"Master, but you had a really bad-"
Obi Wan threw his head back and gulped it down.
"See? Nothing could possibly go wrong."
His hood was fully off of his head now and his speech was slurred. When was the last time the master had eaten anything? If there was one vice, rum was it. Rum made him do and say foolish things, and now was no exception.
"Anakin..." Obi Wan droned. "You're not the only one..." he started.
Anakin turned and looked at the Jedi Master. "The only one who what?"
"The only one who...who...whose...(burp!) got problems, if you know what I mean..." he wiggled his eyebrows and Anakin tried to supress a smirk. At least he's amusing, he thought.
"What kind of problems?" Anakin asked. One of Obi Wan's eyes began to swell, sealing it closed. Anakin stared at his face. Big red splotches spread across his cheeks.
"Well..." he replied in his Coruscanti accent. "You're not the only one who's loved someone... or shall I say, loves someone..."
Anakin's head dropped, his eyes focusing on the contents of his glass again. "You mean Siri Tachi, don't you?" Surprise surprise master, I already know! Anakin thought.
Obi Wan smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Somewhere across the galaxy... not too far from Coruscant..." he drawled, pointing his finger drunkenly, "On Runei there's is the sweetest piece of a-"
"Master!" Anakin interrupted, glad to have stopped him from finishing the sentence. "Your other eye..."
"I don't need eyes to see. I'll use the force!" he slurred, slipping off of the barstool into Anakin's waiting arms.
The apprentice sighed. The drunken father he never had...
"Master... your eyes... we have to get you out of here."
Anakin pulled the hood he wore off of his head. "I think our cover is blown. It's only a matter of time before the Separatists learn we're here. We don't want to compromise the mission, Master..."
Anakin draped one of Obi Wan's arms over his shoulder and dragged him toward the door. "You'll be alright Anakin... Just because Senator Amidala is engaged, doesn't mean the two of you can't be friends."
He made a circle gesture with his index finger. "If you know what I mean..." two swollen eyebrows tried to wriggle. This time, it wasn't as funny.
"What did you say?" Anakin held Obi Wan under one of his arms, glaring.
"I don't remember," Obi Wan replied. "I think the separatists are coming." He dropped to a knee and Anakin pulled him up.
"No, Master. What did you say about Padme?"
"Ah, that... apparently Senator Sien proposed and Padme accepted."
Anakin was suddenly out of breath. Was it the booze talking? "That can't be right."
Obi Wan grabbed Anakin by the collar, nearly pulling him down as his pulled himself to his feet, arm slung around the apprentice's neck. "Oh everyone knows, Anakin. IT's been all over the holonet. You must pay attention to politics. Be mindful of your surroundings... be mindful... be mindful... of everything... oh, and Separatists are coming."
The Jedi master slumped to the ground, and suddenly a squadron of droids clamored into the doorway and opened fire. Anakin's lightsaber was out and he was deflecting bolts and slashing droids without the help of his master. Not that he needed him anyway... still, he wonder, if what Obi Wan told him was true. How could Padme be engaged when they're already married? He needed to get back to Coruscant, and fast.
Obi Wan's allergic reaction was just the excuse he needed to get back to Coruscant. He left him in the med center at the Jedi Temple, an open gash on his forehead. In the middle of the battle with the droids, Obi Wan stood and yelled something about the force guiding him, took a swing at one of the destroyers then slipped and hit his head.
"That's four," Anakin said, looking over his Master.
"Four?" Obi Wan droggily replied.
"The fourth time I had to save your life."
Obi Wan grimaced. "Sorry... about the whole thing, Anakin. I didn't do or say anything too stupid did I? Besides, getting this bump on the noggin?"
"No, of course not, Master. You were a perfect gentleman. Your eyes will open in no time." Anakin tried to hide the smile in his voice.
"Thank you, Anakin. You better run along and brief the council."
"Already done. I told them someone spiked your water with hoi broth. Nothing more."
"I have nothing to hide Anakin, I did nothing wrong."
"Right. Of course, Master. Anyway, I have to go now, I have some errands to run."
"Anakin... what about the Separatists?"
"Our cover is blown. I had no choice but to end the intelligence operation. Cody and the clone unit have already swept the planet."
"Excellent, well done." Obi wan turned his head, and fell into a sudden, almost hybernated-like sleep.
Anakin was off, the smile gone from his lips and from his eyes. He figured what Obi Wan told him had to be a mistake. But it was better to go to the source anyway. There were rumors abound on Coruscant that Padme Amidala was to marry. The pain was like a knife to his heart.
He made it to Padme's apartment but didn't land on the veranda. The ray shields had been activated. He wondered if she did it to keep him out. He took the elevator to her floor, and busted the door in.
He found Padme, sitting on the sofa, sewing a pillow. She rose when he entered, a look of unfiltered joy on her face. She raced to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Oh Anakin, I'm so happy to see you."
Two strong hands reached to his neck and pryed her hands away. He stared at her... a storm clouding his eyes. Padme pulled her wrists from his grasp and shrank away from Anakin.
He raised a hand, touching her collar then pulled her toward him again, very gently. Jealously burned within him like a wick in a candle . She was keeping secrets again.
"So..." he said, tracing a a line along her neck. "I missed you."
"Anakin," she gasped. "I missed you so much, I was so worried about you these past few months."
"Really?" he asked. "Worried I would find out?"
"---what?"
"Find out," he repeated. "About your engagement?"
Padme turned, unable to meet his gaze. "How can I be engaged when I'm married to you?"
"I was hoping you would tell me." He bit his anger down.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Anakin grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around. "Palpatine told me you were the one who asked him to drop the charges against Cobra Sien!"
"That's not true!" Padme cried. How could the chancellor say such a thing? Perhaps he misunderstood, she surmised.
"I'm tired of the lies, Padme. I loved you... I loved you for as long as I could remember, but I didn't know it would be like this."
Padme threw herself in his arms and met his eyes with a pleading look in her own. "It's not true."
"Palpatine never lied to me. I can't honestly say the same about you."
"I was only trying to protect you," Padme said in a small voice.
Anakin held her by the shoulders, and shook. "Does he hold you? Does he kiss you?"
"No-I swear!"
"Then why did you lie to me!!!" Anakin set her loose then stalked across the room. He smashed his hand into a wall, deactivating the ray shield and walked out onto the veranda. Padme stood near the sofa, shaking and rubbing her arms.
"Did you put this here to keep me out?"
Tears spilled from Padme's eyes and her lips trembled. "Anakin... please, I would never." She walked to the veranda, and stood at a safe distance as his gaze swept across the horizon, toward the setting sun.
"Please, Anakin... it's daylight still. Someone will see you."
"You mean, your fiancee will see me. Right?"
He turned and stalked toward her again and pulled her into his arms. His chin rested against her forehead. He held her tight, and a tear escaped the corner of his eye. "You're mine, he can't have you." She felt small in his arms. He could crush her, and neither of them would have her.
"I wanted to the tell the truth for so long, but I knew if you found out... you might do something and ruin your chance to become a Jedi."
"I don't care about the Jedi! Padme, without you, being a Jedi means nothing. You are everything to me. Tell me the truth!"
Padme began to sob, her shoulders heaving. "It's been so stressful-"
"You think fighting day in and day out isn't stressful to me? I've been faithful to you the whole time, I don't care how many women have... tried to entice me. Did he touch you?"
"No, please," she said, biting her sob down. "He kissed me... but only once-"
Anakin's voice dropped two octaves and his eyes went dead cold."You let him kiss you?"
Padme froze... "I didn't want him to..." she said.
Anakin pushed her aside and stumbled into the apartment.
"Please don't leave... I fought him, Ani. I fought him as hard as I fought in that arena on Geonosis. Threepio was here, he helped me."
Anakin turned, his eyes were blood red. "Why did you lie about it?"
"I told you, I wanted to protect you. I didn't want you to do something crazy. He's blackmailing us. He told me, if I didn't sign his war bill, he would tell the Senate and the council about our marriage. Then he told everyone at the Congressional Banquet that we were engaged."
Padme walked across the room and laid a consoling hand on Anakin's back. He looked down, almost ashamed of himself. He pulled her toward him again.
"Then you know what I must do..."
"Anakin, please don't. If anything happens to him-"
"So you're defending him now?" Anakin was glaring again. Padme rubbed his arm.
"No, I'm defending you. I'm taking care of you, just as I always have. Anakin... there are so many things I do to make sure that we can be together. I've reorganized my life, I've lied to my friends and family. I do it because I love you."
Anakin's shoulders dropped, and he was sulking. Padme pushed her finger beneath his chin and lifted his head.
"He can't have you," Anakin mumbled.
Padme shook her head, "I love only you," she said, in a soothing voice.
He looked up again, but only briefly, then mumbled, "these are my lips," then bent his head to her and kissed her.