Part Four
The next few weeks passed quickly. The Works School District was frantically preparing for Senator Palpatine's visit. Obi-Wan couldn't believe the amount of work that needed to be put into the event. Everything from security to paper programs had to be taken care of. The teachers were stressed beyond belief, and Obi-Wan could only imagine how Principal Windu was feeling.
The event was on a Friday in May. The Wednesday before, Obi-Wan and Satine went out to eat in an attempt to relax.
"I'll be happy when this is over," Satine said as she bit into her hamburger. "I have no idea how I'm going to keep a class of kindergarteners interested through the entirety of this thing."
"I agree with you," Obi-Wan said. "There are parts of this thing I'd have found boring in high school."
"I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers," Satine said.
Obi-Wan nodded, and they ate in silence for several minutes. "Do you want to go out for dinner this weekend?" he asked after a while.
Satine glanced up at him. "Obi-Wan, you know I would love to but…"
Obi-Wan expected her to say she was going to visit family or something, but she didn't say anything at all. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
Satine bit her lip, then sighed. "Sometimes I wonder what we are to each other."
Obi-Wan's stomach sunk. He could see where this was going. He was about to be dumped again. Why did all his relationships end like this?
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Satine was beat red. "I mean: what are we: Are we coworkers who hang out on the weekends, are we friends or…" she took a deep breath, "are we dating?"
Obi-Wan wasn't sure how she wanted him to respond. He wanted Satine to be his girlfriend, but would it be too forward to say so? He didn't want to scare her away. Maybe he should say they were friends and hope that they could become more later.
He tried to speak, but all that came out was a wordless stammer. He cleared his throat and tried again with slightly more success. "I don't know…"
Satine looked annoyed. "Obi-Wan, I'm asking you a question," she snapped. "Why can't you just answer it?"
The words were out of Obi-Wan's mouth before he could stop them. "Because I don't know what you want me to say."
That was the wrong thing to say. Satine's eyes were like chips of blue glass. "So you only say what you think I want you to say? Are you trying to manipulate me or something?"
"I'm not," Obi-Wan argued. "I just…The last time I made assumptions about what a girl wanted I ended up being completely wrong, so I figured that if I tried not to assume things with you, it would work out."
Satine frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
Obi-Wan had walked into it, he had no choice but to tell her about Asajj. He started with their chance meeting in the grocery store and went to when she had walked away. He had never told the story in such detail before, not even to Anakin.
When he finished, he and Satine sat in silence staring at each other. Finally, Satine spoke, "Obi-Wan, that's…That's terrible. I can't imagine why anyone would do something like that. She must have known that you were thinking about proposing. Why didn't she stop you?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I have no idea."
"Have you talked to her since?" Satine asked.
"No," Obi-Wan said. "I almost called her a couple times right afterward, but I stopped myself each time. I didn't want to come across as needy and if she was playing hard to get or something, I didn't want anything to do with it. Eventually I just deleted her number off my phone. I can't call her now, even if I wanted to."
"That's probably for the best," Satine said. She sighed and looked away. She seemed to be thinking very hard. After a minute she turned back and looked Obi-Wan straight in the eyes. "Obi-Wan, I don't think it's right that you live the rest of your life afraid that something like that is going to happen to you again. You need to move on," she took a deep breathe. "I would like to be your girlfriend, but only if you want to be my boyfriend. I wouldn't want you to say yes just because you think that's what I want."
Obi-Wan couldn't believe his luck. When this conversation had started he'd been sure that his relationship with Satine was over. "I would love to be your boyfriend!" he almost shouted, he was grinning from ear to ear.
Satine smiled back, equally widely. "I'm glad," she said and they hugged each other across the table.
Obi-Wan was walking on air when he headed to the apartment. He couldn't believe he'd gotten so lucky with Satine. For the first time since Asajj had broken up with him, he truly believed he had a chance with love.
Unfortunately for him, the universe was plotting to ruin his night. Thankfully, what happened had nothing to do with Satine, but it did trigger a series of events that would profoundly change his understanding of the Skywalkers and their predicament.
Of course, there wasn't a person in the world who would have realized just how important the events of that night were as they transpired. They appeared to be mundane.
Luke came down with the stomach flu that night. That illness was one of the unpleasant staples of childhood, so it wasn't particularity worrying, save for the horrible timing.
"You should get some sleep, Obi-Wan," Anakin said that night after he got home and Obi-Wan refused to leave yet again. "You can go in my bedroom. I'll take care of Luke while you sleep for a couple hours."
"No," Obi-Wan argued. "You need to rest. It's three in the morning."
Anakin had been playing with his hours at Walmart to give himself time to prepare for the GED. He wasn't dropping hours, he was just rearranging things to give himself a couple hours here and there to devote to reminding himself of the things he would need to the test. This rearranging meant that Anakin getting home even later than usual.
"That it is," Anakin agreed with Obi-Wan's assessment. "And you have to teach a class of kindergarteners tomorrow. You need to be awake for that. I'm going to have to take off of work at Watto's tomorrow—well, today. Anyway, I'll sleep later."
Anakin did have a fairly logical argument, but Obi-Wan still didn't think it was a very good idea. Anakin was as stressed out and anxious as he had been in April. He hadn't had another migraine, but Obi-Wan wouldn't have bet money on him not getting another one soon. Plus, the new hours at work had ensured that Anakin was getting even less sleep than he had before, and Anakin had admitted last week that he was starting to suffer from insomnia on top of everything. He was burning through his physical reserves faster than Obi-Wan had thought possible. Anakin was running a desperate race against time, betting that his body would hold out long enough to pass the test. Obi-Wan had begged Anakin over and over again to just let Obi-Wan work for free for a month, but Anakin wouldn't do it. He was just too proud.
His pride will get him killed one day.
However, Obi-Wan didn't know how to rid Anakin of his pride, and the young man was too stubborn to argue with, so Obi-Wan often found himself just giving in.
And in this case, going to bed.
Obi-Wan took Leia to school with him that day. When they got home afterwards, Luke was feeling better and sitting on the couch watching TV. Obi-Wan found Anakin asleep over a GED book in the kitchen. He tried not to wake him, but the young man woke up when Obi-Wan started to make supper and headed off to work.
Though he and Anakin didn't actually talk about it, they both expected Leia to get sick that night, but on Friday morning Anakin brought both twins to school.
"She seems fine to me," Anakin muttered to Obi-Wan in the doorway of the classroom. "Hopefully she'll make it through the day. If she could just stay healthy until the weekend everything will be fine."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Let's keep our fingers crossed then."
"Yes," Anakin looked around at the uncommonly well-dressed kindergarteners gathering in the classroom. "Palpatine's coming today isn't he?"
The question must have been rhetorical because the twins were dressed as nicely as all the other children. Plus, the school had sent home reminders last week, and news of the visit was all over the city. Still, Obi-Wan nodded. "We'll be leaving for the high school at 8:15."
Anakin nodded slowly, he looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should. He cleared his throat. "Are they going to meet Palpatine?" he asked.
"Yes, briefly," Obi-Wan said. "Didn't you read the informational paper?"
"I was hoping the plans had changed," Anakin ran a hand through his hair. "You'll watch them won't you? Don't let them alone with him, alright?"
Obi-Wan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Anakin, what exactly do you think he's going to do?"
"I…" Anakin looked away. "Nothing, I guess…I'm just worrying."
"You have nothing to worry about," Obi-Wan soothed. "It's going to be fine."
Anakin nodded and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'll see you tonight."
As he left, Obi-Wan again wondered what Anakin found so offensive about Senator Palpatine and what rumor he'd heard that made him afraid to let the twins near him. Obi-Wan made a mental note to confront Anakin about it that night, some answers were in order.
Obi-Wan probably would have gone on wondering about Anakin's feelings on Senator Palpatine, but at that moment Han showed up covered in mud and Obi-Wan had to go about the daunting task of finding the little boy something else to wear.
The Works High School auditorium was a buzz with conversation. Senator Palpatine stood on the stage greeting all the students by grade. He was a silver-haired man dressed in a midnight black suit, with a gentle, soothing voice and grandfatherly smile that invited instant trust. Even before it was the kindergartener's turn to meet him, Obi-Wan had decided that he liked the Senator.
It was just before lunch. The first half of the day's speeches were over. Obi-Wan thought he would have found them very interesting if he hadn't had to keep a class of kindergarteners quiet.
It was finally the kindergarteners' turn to meet Senator Palpatine. The children stood in a mostly straight line on the stage in front of Palpatine. The twins stood on the end farthest from Palpatine with Obi-Wan.
The Senator was only a few children away from Luke when a small hand pulled on Obi-Wan's sleeve. "Obi-Wan, I don't feel good."
Obi-Wan's heart sunk as he looked down at Leia. Our luck couldn't hold out for even one day?
"Will you be alright until this is over?" Obi-Wan asked. "It's just another couple minutes."
Leia looked uncertain.
That probably meant no. Obi-Wan looked up to judge how close to them Palpatine was. Unfortunately, Palpatine was just finishing talking to the child just before Luke. There wasn't time to get Leia out of the auditorium without catching Palpatine's attention.
Wonderful. Obi-Wan grumbled to himself.
Palpatine stepped over to Luke. "Hello, young man."
"This is Luke and his twin sister Leia," Obi-Wan said introducing both twins at the same time. Hopefully that would hurry things up and he could get Leia out of here.
"It's nice to meet you both," Palpatine smiled down at them. He asked them several questions and told a couple jokes. Luke did all the talking, and eventually Obi-Wan could see Palpatine beginning to wonder why Leia was so quiet.
"Are you alright, my girl?" he asked Leia leaning closer to her.
That was a mistake. By this point Leia's face had turned a pale green. Obi-Wan realized what was going to happen a second before it did. He reached for Leia to pull her away, but it was too late.
Leia threw up on Senator Palpatine.
There were not words to express the mortification of all involved parties. Leia burst into tears, and Luke blushed red. For one instant, Palpatine's face darkened into a picture of absolute rage, then he smiled kindly and bent down to ask if Leia was alright. Obi-Wan apologized profusely to the Senator until Principal Windu showed up and took over the job of apologizing. Once that happened, Obi-Wan scooped Leia up and carried her to the sick room in the office.
Leia was still sobbing as he cleaned her up. "It's alright," he soothed. "It's fine. This happens to everyone at least once. No one will be mad." He knew better than to admit he really had no idea if Senator Palpatine was going to be angry or not.
The high school desk lady, Jocasta Nu, came to the door of the sick room. "I've called Leia's father. He's coming to get her."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Jocasta."
"I'll send him in when he gets here," Mrs. Jocasta said and left.
Obi-Wan had just gotten Leia settled down on the tiny room's couch when he heard voices out in the office. At first he thought Anakin had arrived, but it was much too soon for that. After a minute, Mrs. Jocasta returned to the doorway looking confused.
"Obi-Wan," she said. "Senator Palpatine is here. He's asking if he can talk to Leia."
"I…" Obi-Wan was just wondering if it was okay to tell a senator and presidential candidate "no" when Palpatine appeared in the doorway.
"How is she feeling?" he asked with a grandfatherly smile. He'd changed clothes and was now wearing a mulberry-colored suit. Obi-Wan found that a little strange, because he'd never heard of anyone wearing a red suit before, but he figured a senator would know more about fashion than a kindergarten teacher would.
"She'll be fine," Obi-Wan said. "She's resting now and her father is coming to get her."
Palpatine was still smiling. "That's good."
When Leia heard Palpatine's voice she began to cry again. Without asking if he might, Palpatine pushed by Obi-Wan and went to kneel next to her. "Don't cry," he said in a soothing voice. "I'm not angry. Such things happen. Come now; stop crying."
Leia struggled to stop crying. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Its fine," Palpatine smiled. "I know you couldn't help it." He motioned with one and a man Anakin's age with a gold streak in his dark hair pushed by Obi-Wan and moved to stand next to Palpatine. He was dressed smartly in a plain black suit.
"This is Mr. Olin," Palpatine said. "He's an assistant of mine. He tells very good stories. Isn't that right?" he looked up at Olin.
Olin pulled himself up very straight. "Yes, Senator Palpatine."
There was a long pause. "Well?" Palpatine asked and made an annoyed motion with one hand.
"Right, sir," Olin sat down very carefully on the floor. "Let me think…" Obi-Wan got the distinct impression that Olin had just been put on the spot.
Olin began haltingly telling the story of the Little Lost Bantha Cub. Palpatine smiled at all the right times. Obi-Wan wondered if he should tell them to leave so Leia could rest, but Leia seemed to be enjoying to story so he let them stay. He sat in a chair by the door listening and waiting for Anakin.
Eventually, Mrs. Jocasta returned to the door. "Leia's father is here."
Obi-Wan stood up. Much to his surprise Palpatine did as well. "I believe I would like to meet this young lady's father," he said. "I would like him to know that I'm not at all angry about what has happened."
Obi-Wan wasn't sure if Anakin would be happy to talk to Senator Palpatine, but he didn't know how to tell that to the senator so he said nothing and walked out of the sick room with Palpatine on his heels.
Anakin was standing by the front desk talking quietly with another office worker. Anakin looked up at Obi-Wan and started to smile, then he caught sight of Palpatine and his expression froze.
Oh no. Obi-Wan turned to tell Palpatine to get out of Anakin's line of sight, but what he saw pulled him up short.
A cloud like a thunderstorm had passed over Palpatine's face.
Anakin stepped around the edge of the front desk and took a step towards them. He was standing very straight and stiff. Palpatine stepped forward as well. The two men stopped an arm's length apart and stared at each other. Something about the way they looked at each other led Obi-Wan to a startling realization.
Anakin and Palpatine knew each other. Personally.
"It truly is a small world," Palpatine said. His voice wasn't kind anymore, it was cold and harsh.
"Unfortunately," Anakin said then he swallowed and seemed to come to a decision, "Father."
Obi-Wan couldn't believe it. Palpatine was Anakin's father? But Palpatine was kind and helpful and honest and upstanding and everything the portrait Anakin had painted of his father wasn't. It didn't add up.
But Anakin had said his father was extremely worried about preserving his reputation.
Anakin and Palpatine were still staring at each other. Neither of them seemed ready to make the first move. After a very long time, Palpatine spoke and his words were not friendly. "Why are you here?"
"Here?" Anakin raised his eyebrows. "I'm picking up my sick daughter."
"Amazing how children are always picking up such illnesses," Palpatine said coolly. He now sounded completely disgusted by the idea of a child getting the flu.
"Amazing," Anakin repeated flatly.
A deathly silence descended between the two men. Palpatine looked Anakin up and down. "You look terrible," he said.
Obi-Wan had to admit Palpatine was right, though he'd never have dreamed of saying it out loud. Anakin was pale, drawn and utterly exhausted. He looked far older than his twenty-three years.
Anakin gave Palpatine a stiff, almost mocking smile. "Yeah, well not all of us have extra cash lying around for Botox."
Palpatine's jaw went slightly slack like he couldn't believe Anakin had just said that. "I see that five years scraping out a living in the real world haven't done anything to tame your tongue."
"I only talked back to you once," Anakin said. "And you pulled me out of school for it."
"Once was more than enough," Palpatine practically snarled. "I won't tolerate a mouthy son."
"You'd already disowned me," Anakin answered. "You didn't have to put up with me."
When Palpatine didn't immediately respond it was obvious that Anakin had cornered him. The silence that followed was broken by Olin coming to the door of the sick room.
"Senator Palpatine," he said, "There are only a few minutes before the afternoon segment of this event begins. We should…" he trailed off when he say Anakin. "Oh, I-"
Anakin made eye contact with Olin over Palpatine's shoulder. "Hello, Ferus. You're working for my father now? That's news."
Olin bit his lip, looking even more awkward than he'd been when Palpatine had told him to tell Leia a story. "I'm surprised you didn't know. I figured Rex would have told you; he was livid."
"I can imagine," Anakin said and looked back at Palpatine. "It seems I'm taking up the time you need to form 'a safe and securer society.'" His lips curled into a nasty smile as he mimicked Palpatine's campaign slogan. The smile got even wider when he saw the blank look Palpatine gave him. "Hey, just because I have two jobs and two kids doesn't mean I live under a rock. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my daughter home and I'd really like it if you were to be gone by the time I bring her out here." With that he pushed by Palpatine and headed into the sick room.
Palpatine and Olin looked at each other and left the office.
It was after four by the time Obi-Wan and Luke arrived at the apartment. Leia was asleep on the couch with one of her favorite cartoons on the TV. Anakin was nowhere to be seen. Luke plopped down on the floor next to the couch to enjoy the cartoon and Obi-Wan began looking for Anakin.
He found Anakin sitting at the kitchen table with his hands clenched in his hair and his eyes squeezed tight closed. Obi-Wan stopped in the doorway, wondering what to do. "Anakin?"
"Well," Anakin said through clenched teeth. "Now you know. Are you happy now?"
Was he happy now? Obi-Wan wasn't sure. He was glad he knew the identity of Anakin's father. He was glad that he knew Palpatine wasn't the benevolent man he appeared to be. However, he wasn't happy that Anakin had to have such an unexpected meeting with the man who had ruined most of his life.
"Are you alright?" he asked instead of answering.
That was the wrong thing to say. Anakin was on his feet in an instant. He whirled to face Obi-Wan, eyes burning with sudden rage. "That's how you're going to avoid my question?" his voice was quite but the anger in it cut through to Obi-Wan's core.
"I-" Obi-Wan wasn't sure how to defuse the situation. "I was just-"
"Well, since you're so curious," Anakin snarled. He was still speaking quietly so the twins in the other room wouldn't hear. "Riding home on the subway with a sick five-year-old is a very interesting experience, especially since she kept asking why I was shaking and I couldn't tell her that the nice man who came to see if she was feeling better isn't really nice and that he's her-" Anakin cut himself off and gave Obi-Wan an obviously fake smile. "So, yeah Obi-Wan, I'm just great."
"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said as gently as possible. "I didn't mean to make you angry. Yes, I was curious about who your father is, but I also understand that seeing him today was hard for you and I don't want you to hurt."
Anakin made a sound between a sigh and a snort and looked away. Obi-Wan noticed that his hands were shaking.
Obi-Wan stepped over to the refrigerator and took out the milk. He began making hot chocolate in silence. He would have preferred tea but he didn't bother keeping any in the apartment because Anakin and the twins didn't drink it.
By the time he'd finished making two mugs of hot chocolate, Anakin had had a little time to simmer down and was sitting at the table again. Obi-Wan set one mug in front of Anakin and sat down across from him with the other one. Anakin grabbed the mug and took a sip. Neither of them said anything for several minutes.
"My birth name is Sheev Anakin Palpatine Jr." Anakin finally said. "I changed my name and the twins' names to Skywalker when I moved to Coruscant. I didn't want to keep a name that tied me so obviously to him."
"That must have been difficult to get used to," Obi-Wan said quietly.
"Not really," Anakin replied still without looking up. "Everyone I actually cared about already called me Anakin," he took another sip from his mug. "I do sometimes wonder if I should have taken the surname Naberrie—that was Padmé's last name. However, at the time I was really paranoid. When I was still in Naboo, my father keeping tabs on me and I knew that if he figured out I'd moved to Coruscant he'd just keep doing it so I picked a name that he would never think of. Looking back, I'm not sure it was necessary. He didn't seem to have the faintest idea I was here today."
They lapsed back into silence for several minutes. Obi-Wan took the initiative next. "I'll admit to being shocked," he said. "Palpatine seems so…"
"Decent?" Anakin raised his head to look at Obi-Wan. "That's what he wants you to think. He used to tell me that elections are won and lost by appearance. He said that it doesn't matter what kind of person a candidate is, it only matters what kind of person the public thinks he or she is.
"My father has dedicated his entire life to making sure he wouldn't lose by public opinion," Anakin continued. "That's was the trouble with my existence. You can't trust a child to be a model of perfect decorum at all times, so he kept me out of public eye as much as possible. That's why he was so angry about me and Padmé. To the public, Padmé was just another pregnant eighteen-year-old, but as soon as someone realized the babies were mine it would be a huge scandal and Father didn't want to deal with it. So he got rid of me, paid off Theed Academy and swept the whole thing under the rug."
"But wouldn't it cause a scandal if someone figured out he disowned you and basically kicked you out of school?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, it would," Anakin said.
"Then why don't you tell someone?" Obi-Wan said.
Anakin gave him a look
"I mean it," Obi-Wan continued. "You could destroy his perfect reputation. If you were to tell the right people what he did to you, you could change people's opinions of him. You could cause him to lose the election."
"Don't think I haven't thought about it, Obi-Wan," Anakin said. "But this isn't just about me."
"That's what I mean," Obi-Wan said. "If he becomes president we're all going to have to deal with him."
"No, that's not what I mean," Anakin sounded close to snappish. "If it was just me I would tell. I would plaster everything he did to me all over the internet so you couldn't Google his name without seeing it. I'd watch his perfect reputation fall in fragments around him and I'd laugh, but it isn't just me."
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked a little bit frustrated that Anakin was being so dense.
"I mean that I have two five-year-olds in the other room who don't even know they have living grandparents," Anakin said.
"I don't see how that means you should keep quiet," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin sighed like he thought Obi-Wan was being unbelievably dense. "Say I were to make videos of myself telling my story and put them on the internet. It wouldn't matter if I said where I lived now. Eventually, someone would recognize me and then the whole world would know where I am and people would come because everyone loves a good scandal."
Anakin leaned forward, his eyes burning with a strange fervor. "Obi-Wan, how can I tell Luke and Leia that their Grandpa is a famous man who did everything but beat their Daddy as a child and then make them deal with it while the rest of the world fights to get a chunk of the story? I grew up in the public eye. I know what it's like to know that every mistake you make could end up on the cover of a tabloid. That's not the life I want for my kids.
"But if Palpatine becomes president-" Obi-Wan began to argue.
Anakin jumped to his feet. "Then let him!" he roared, his face contorting into an ugly snarl. "Let him lord over the rest of us in the White House for a couple years! Maybe that will sate his rampant megalomania!"
The silence that followed was so deep Obi-Wan could hear his ears ringing. He stared at Anakin in shock. No one had ever spoken to him—raged at him—quite like that before. He hadn't known that kind of anger was possible.
Anakin stood on the other side of the table with his hands braced on his hips. He looked like he might explode again at the slightest provocation. Obi-Wan found that he was terrified to speak to the young man in case he set him off again.
The silence was broken by a soft whimper. Luke was lingering in the doorway of the kitchen looking scared.
"Luke?" Obi-Wan asked. "Are you alright?"
"I-" Luke's eyes darted to Anakin's back and then back to Obi-Wan's face. "I just…Leia and I were…We…"
They'd been frightened by Anakin's outburst. It was obvious that they'd heard—it was impossible for them not to in the small apartment, Obi-Wan wouldn't have been surprised if the neighbors had heard that last part too. The only thing they could hope was that the twins had only heard Anakin's last words and not the entire conversation.
It was obvious that Anakin knew the twins had heard as well. His back still to Luke, Anakin pressed his hands to his eyes and heaved out a long sigh. Then he turned towards Luke with a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, Luke."
"Why were you angry?" Luke asked carefully.
"I…" Anakin was chewing on his lip. He didn't know how to answer. Finally he smiled again. "It was nothing. Come on, let's go talk to Leia."
He took Luke's hand and walked with him into the other room, where Leia was sitting on the couch as frightened by her father's outburst as Luke was.
Anakin and Obi-Wan didn't talk until just before Anakin went to work, when he cornered the young man in his bedroom.
"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan began quietly. "I didn't mean to make you angry. It is your story and you should be able to tell or not tell on your own time."
Anakin looked to the front room, when he looked back he looked like he was a thousand years old. "Obi-Wan, I want you to understand something; those kids in the other room are the only thing I live for. I would do anything to make sure they have a better childhood than I did."
People said things like that sometimes, so normally Obi-Wan wouldn't have given the statement much thought, but something about Anakin's demeanor told him that the young man was absolutely serious.
That realization was more terrifying than Anakin's anger.
The next few weeks passed with no trouble from Palpatine. Anakin admitted to being terrified that Palpatine was going to use his new knowledge about where they were, but as the weeks went by and there was no appearance from the two-faced senator or any indication they were being watched, they decided nothing was going to come of their run-in with Palpatine. Palpatine seemed to be willing to leave his estranged son alone as long as Anakin stayed out of the way.
Still, that was different from saying that they didn't have any problems. Both Obi-Wan and Anakin had caught Luke and Leia's flu. In his infinite bad luck, Anakin had managed to go down with both the flu and a migraine at the same time and had been too sick to get out of bed for several days. That of course meant even more time off of work, which in turn meant that Obi-Wan chances of convincing Anakin that he didn't need to pay for a month of babysitting were slim to none.
They were running out of time. They both knew they couldn't expect Watto to wait with his promotion forever, but it seemed like the very universe was conspiring against Anakin to make it impossible to get there.
This was the state of things the first week of June. On that Friday, Obi-Wan and the twins left the school at the same time as they normally did. The twins were eagerly discussing summer break which was now only a few days away. Obi-Wan was smiling and agreeing at all the right times, but he was actually thinking about the conversation he'd had with Principal Windu earlier that day.
Principal Windu had asked Obi-Wan if he would be willing to teach kindergarten again the next year.
"I know you only agreed to teach for us for one year, but we would love it if you were to stay on another year," Principal Windu had said. "You did a great job."
"When I was hired last year I was told there was a possibility I could move up to teaching in the middle school," Obi-Wan had answered.
"That offer still stands," Principal Windu replied. "Unfortunately, the sixth grade history position in question belongs to a man called Tera Sinube who keeps hanging onto his job even though he should have retired years ago. He wants to stick it out for another year, so the middle school can't take you. However, I have their word that if you're still working for the school district when he retires his position is yours."
Obi-Wan's heart soared at the thought of being promised the position he wanted even if he had to wait for a while. Then he sobered. "What are the chances I'll still be here when he retires? What if I'm laid off?"
Principal Windu sighed. "Well…I can't promise that there's no chance of something like that happening, but we are hiring a new third grade teacher this summer so you won't have the lowest seniority anymore. I would also fight tooth and nail to keep you here, and I'm not the only one."
Obi-Wan was overwhelmed; he couldn't believe his luck. "Then I would love to stay. Thank you for having me." He didn't mention that he'd already decided to keep his current position if he could. He'd grown to like kindergarten and he reason to stay in Coruscant now. There was his fledgling relationship with Satine, for one, and then there was the twins and Anakin. They needed him, even though Anakin was too proud to admit it.
As Obi-Wan and the twins left the school, all Obi-Wan could think about was the things Principal Windu had said and promises he'd made. Obi-Wan realized that even if he never got the sixth grade history position he could be happy in Coruscant. He'd made a new life for himself here, and he was willing to see where it took him next.
He so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice the dejected man sitting on a bench outside the school. Actually, he would have walked right by if Leia hadn't noticed the man and asked if he was okay.
At the sound of the little girl's voice, Obi-Wan stopped walking to looked at the man. The stranger was in his early twenties with tan skin, dark eyes and bleached-blonde hair cut military short.
"Are you waiting for someone?" Obi-Wan asked, unsure what else to say.
"Actually, I was just in the office talking to Principal Windu," he said. "I'm looking for someone, but he won't tell me anything."
"Who are you looking for?" Leia chirped.
"I…" The man looked up at Obi-Wan asking for his help.
"Tell me who you're looking for and maybe I can help," Obi-Wan said.
The man's eyes wandered away. "Well, you see, when Senator Palpatine was here a couple weeks ago, a little girl threw up on him."
Leia hid behind obi-Wan's back in embarrassment, and anger built up in Obi-Wan's stomach. He had been promised that the news of what had happened with Leia and Palpatine would never become public knowledge. He and Anakin hadn't wanted Leia to have to live with the whole world knowing that she had puked on a presidential candidate. How did this person know about the incident?
Some of his anger must have shown on his face, because the man's eyes got big and he raised his hands. "Sorry, that didn't come out right. What I mean is that a…friend…of mine works for Palpatine and he mentioned the incident to me. He didn't mean to pass on a terrible story about a sick child, he told me because we knew the girl's father in high school."
Obi-Wan's heart stopped, the only thing he could do was stare at the man.
"He's my best friend," the man continued. "But I haven't seen him in years, and I'm worried about him. If you know who he is, it would mean the world to me if you were to tell me how to get into contact with him."
"I-He-They-" Obi-Wan didn't know how to respond. Finally he got out the words, "Who are you?"
"Oh, I guess I should have said that first," the man smiled thinly. "The name's Rex. Rex Fett."
"The twins and I met someone very interesting on Friday," Obi-Wan said Saturday night while he and Anakin were washing the supper dishes.
"Oh, really?" Anakin said without looking up from the dishwater. He sounded distracted and he probably was, he spent a large amount of his time worrying now.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He had been stressing over talking to Anakin ever since they had met Rex on Friday. Obi-Wan told himself that he hadn't told Anakin yesterday because it had been too late at night for a serious conversation, but he knew he was putting it off. He had no idea how Anakin would react to knowing that another remnant of his old life had turned up in Coruscant.
However, Obi-Wan couldn't keep putting off telling. There was no way to know how long Rex would be in town, and Anakin deserved to have the chance to see his old friend if he wanted.
"We met your friend Rex," Obi-Wan blurted out.
The plastic cup Anakin had been rinsing slid out of his suddenly lax fingers and clattered against the bottom of the sink. "Rex is here?" he said. "Where did you see him?"
"At WES," Obi-Wan said. "Someone who works for your father told him about the incident with Leia. He was looking for you."
"He was?" Anakin reached out to brace himself against the sink, his voice was suddenly very soft and very young. "What did you tell him?"
"I said that I might know who he was talking about and he gave me his cell phone number," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin staggered to the table and sank heavily in one of the chairs. He put his head in his hands and sat that way for several minutes.
"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked carefully.
"I can't call him," Anakin said suddenly breathless.
"Why not?" Obi-Wan said.
"Why is he still looking for me?" Anakin said instead of answering. "I haven't talked to him in years. He should have stopped years ago. I-"
"Why can't you call Rex?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin shook his head sharply and kept right on rambling. "It doesn't make sense. He shouldn't still be looking. What did I do to earn the friendship of someone that loyal?"
"Anakin, enough," Obi-Wan said, cutting into Anakin's rambling. "Tell me what's wrong."
Anakin swallowed heavily and looked up at Obi-Wan, his eyes were wide and scared. "The track phone I have now isn't the same phone I had in high school," he said.
Obi-Wan nodded. That was totally understandable, he hadn't expected someone with the kind of background Anakin had to have always been using cheap phone.
"When I'd been in Coruscant for a couple months, I accidently spilled milk on my old phone," Anakin said, his eyes were darting everywhere but Obi-Wan's face. Whatever he was worried about now, he was more ashamed of it than he was about being related to Palpatine. "I lost everything on it, including my contacts. That's when I lost contact with most of my friends from Naboo, and the Fetts."
"I don't see how that causes a problem," Obi-Wan said. "Rex will understand that; it was an accident."
"But loosing contact with them wasn't an accident," Anakin looked like he was about to cry, which was something Obi-Wan had never seen before. It frightened him more than he cared to admit. "I may have lost the numbers of most of my friends, but I had the Fetts' home phone number memorized. Once I got a new phone, I could have called them and told them what had happened, but I didn't. I chose not to call them."
Oh, Obi-Wan understood now.
"I was angry," Anakin said, "because right before I left Coruscant we'd figured out that my father had been paying off Rex's brother Boba—who didn't like having me living in their house—for information about me to make sure I wasn't going to get his reputation destroyed. I was also ashamed that I'd needed the Fetts' help to get my life back together after Padmé died, and I was too proud. I wanted to prove to everyone that I could take care of myself and the twins without Jango and Zam helping me along."
Anakin finally locked eyes with Obi-Wan. There were tears in the young man's eyes. "How am I supposed to face Rex again knowing how terrible I was to his family?"
"I suspect," Obi-Wan said carefully, "that you'd have to start by admitting what you did and apologizing."
Anakin's face crumpled, but not in anger. He buried his face in his folded arms, shoulders shaking. Obi-Wan reached out and rubbed Anakin's back. They didn't speak until Anakin was finished crying.
"You should call Rex," Obi-Wan said quietly. "We both know that I can't force you to. However, I will say that I think it would be a good idea for you to talk to him again. He's still looking for you after all these years; he deserves to know that you're okay, and you need some closure."
Anakin swallowed and sat up slowly. "Alright," he said and sniffed. "If you feel so strongly about it, I will."
Obi-Wan gave Anakin the cell phone number for Rex and Anakin went into his bedroom to make the call. While he waited for Anakin to finish the call, Obi-Wan began making dessert. He had a feeling that they all needed something sweet right about now.
He was just finishing mixing the chocolate chips into the cookie dough when Anakin came back into the kitchen. "Well?" Obi-Wan asked, turning around. "How did it go?"
Anakin gave him a genuine grin. "I told him, and he's not mad," he said. "Turns out Ferus called Rex after he saw me. Rex didn't answer because he was angry at Ferus for working for my father, and didn't listen to Ferus' message until Thursday night. As soon as he did Rex got in a car and drove here. Jango came to meet him on Friday. They want to see me and twins. We planned to meet tomorrow afternoon before they have to go back to Naboo."
Obi-Wan smiled back. "That's wonderful!"
Anakin's expression became more careful. "I was wondering if you would like to come along," he said. "I…You just seem to know how to deal with everything, and I'd be less nervous if you were there."
Sunday was normally the day Obi-Wan reserved for doing things with Satine, and Obi-Wan wasn't sure he wanted to cancel on such a day when they had so recently began officially dating. However, he was pretty sure Satine would understand that Anakin needed his support for this. "I'd be happy to," he said.
A look of relief crossed over Anakin's face. "Thank you, Obi-Wan."
"You don't need to thank me," Obi-Wan said. "It's my pleasure to help you."
"Which reminds me," Anakin said. "I have something to tell you as well."
"You do?" Obi-Wan asked, suddenly very worried. He'd thought they were done with important conversations for the night.
Anakin nodded in response to Obi-Wan's question. "I've been talking to Ahsoka," he said. "The good news is that Barriss is recovering well, though she'll never walk again. The bad news is that the Tanos' move to Shili is going to be permanent," Anakin looked carefully at Obi-Wan. "Ahsoka's not coming back."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin looked away. "When you took the job watching the twins we were talking about you only having to watch them until the fall and Ahsoka taking over again afterwards. Now that Ahsoka's not going to be back, I was wondering if you wanted me to look into finding someone else."
Obi-Wan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How can you even ask that?" he said.
"I-" Anakin's eyes were wide, he looked like he wasn't sure what he'd said that was wrong. "I just thought that you have a life—a girlfriend—and that you shouldn't have to spend all your time watching kids that aren't yours."
"Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed. "I can't believe you haven't figured this out yet. This isn't a job to me anymore. I care about you and twins, and I want to see things work out for you. I will keep watching Luke and Leia as long as you need me to—no matter what happens—because you're my friend."
Anakin stared at him, he was trembling and Obi-Wan found himself wondering if the young man was going to cry again. Quickly, Obi-Wan crossed the room to Anakin and hugged him.
Anakin swallowed heavily. "Obi-Wan," he whispered, "I don't know how to express how thankful I am for you. I know that I don't always show it, but I'm very grateful for everything you've done for us." Then he gave Obi-Wan a fierce hug in return.
"You don't need to tell me," Obi-Wan answered. "I already know."
On Sunday afternoon, Obi-Wan, Anakin and the twins got on the subway and rode to a park where Anakin and Rex had agreed to meet. Anakin had never explained why they weren't meeting at the apartment, but Obi-Wan figured it had something to do with the fact that it really did look fairly old and beat-up and Anakin didn't want Rex and Jango to see it.
There was no sign of the Fetts when they arrived at the park so the twins dashed for the swings and within minutes the air was filled with happy shrieks of "Higher, Daddy!" Anakin was so absorbed in pushing the twins that Obi-Wan was the first one to notice when the Fetts arrived.
Rex and an older, dark-haired man with near-identical features were walking across the grass towards them. Obi-Wan called to Anakin who slowed the twins to a stop. They were a little disappointed at the premature end to their fun, but were excited enough at the promise of meeting some of their daddy's friends that they were quickly bouncing with happiness again.
Anakin, Obi-Wan and the twins walked across the grass towards the Fetts. When they'd almost reached them, Rex surged forward and wrapped Anakin in a huge hug. "Anakin! It's so great to see you!" he shouted.
That broke the tension. Anakin laughed and hugged his old friend back. "Good to see you too, Rex."
By the time they broke apart, the rest of them had caught up. The older man—who Obi-Wan assumed was Jango—gave Anakin a slightly awkward one-armed hug. "It's good to see you, Kid. It's been a long time."
"It has," Anakin agreed. "Too long."
Jango pulled away and looked Anakin up and down. His brow furrowed and didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that he next words were going to be the same as Palpatine's: you look terrible.
Before Jango could say anything, Leia got sick of being ignored. She stepped between Anakin and Jango and puffed out her chest. "I'm Leia," she said, "and this is my brother, Luke. We're five."
Everyone laughed. "Yes," Jango said. "And you've gotten big. The last time I saw you, you were both just babies."
"We're not babies anymore," Luke said proudly.
"No, you're not," Jango agreed.
They moved into more formal introductions. Rex laughed at how he'd been asking Obi-Wan about Anakin without knowing that the twins were right there. After that they talked for a while. Anakin explained his life in Coruscant until the twins got bored and convinced Anakin and Rex to push them on the swings again. Obi-Wan and Jango stood by watching.
"How is he really?" Jango asked after a while.
"He didn't tell you anything that wasn't true," Obi-Wan replied. "They live in a small apartment, it's old but clean. The twins go to WES. Anakin has two jobs. I watch the twins when he's not home."
"And what did he leave out because he thought we were better off not knowing?" Jango asked.
Obi-Wan almost burst out laughing. Jango obviously knew Anakin well. "Both jobs are full time," Obi-Wan said. "He doesn't get a lot of sleep. He's stressed all the time. He still doesn't have his GED."
Jango took all that with a nod. "What else?"
"He forgets to eat." Obi-Wan continued. "And he's been suffering from insomnia recently. He's stubborn and proud. He doesn't like accepting people's help."
"Does he still get migraines?" Jango asked.
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "He says they're better than they used to be, though I have no point of comparison."
"How many has he had?" Jango asked.
"I met him in September," Obi-Wan said. "Since then he's had three that I know of, granted the last two were considerably closer together than the first one."
"That's still better than it used to be," Jango said.
They lapsed back into silence, listening to the sounds of the twins squealing with laughter and Anakin and Rex talking. After several minutes, Jango cleared his throat. "What does he need, Obi-Wan?"
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked.
"He looks bad," Jango said. "Really bad, and the last time I saw him looking like this he ended up in the hospital. I want to help him, but I know that he won't tell me what he needs so I'm turning to you I hope you'll be honest with me."
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He knew exactly what Anakin needed, but it felt wrong to ask it of Jango. However, he knew that Anakin would never ask, which meant that things wouldn't get better. "What he needs," Obi-Wan said carefully, "is some money to help him pay the bills for a couple weeks."
Jango didn't say anything, he just watched Obi-Wan carefully. "One of his jobs is in a car factory," Obi-Wan explained. "His boss there offered him a promotion that comes with a fairly lucrative pay raise. The problem is that Anakin isn't eligible for the promotion until he gets his GED. He's been trying to prepare for the test, but he doesn't have the time and doesn't have the money to take off of either job. What he needs is someone to help him with bills just long enough that he can get some sleep and pass his GED, then I truly believe that things will get better for them."
Jango nodded slowly, Obi-Wan could see him thinking it over. "Thank you, Obi-Wan," he said after a while. "I appreciate your honesty, you seem like a good friend."
"Thank you," Obi-Wan replied.
After the park, they walked to an ice cream shop that Jango and Rex had seen. Jango treated everyone and they went back to the park and sat in the grass eating their ice cream.
They were about half done when Jango cleared his throat. The man had been nearly silent since his conversation with Obi-Wan. The most talking he'd done had been before they'd gone for ice cream when he'd called his wife to talk something over.
"So, Anakin," Jango said. "I was talking to Zam before and we decided that we wanted to help you out some. If you were going to take a couple weeks off of your second job how much money would need?"
Anakin froze. "What are you talking about?"
"If you were to just work one job for a couple weeks, how much money would you be short on your bills?" Jango said.
Anakin stared at him blankly for almost a full minute, then he turned to Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, what did you tell him?"
"I asked him to tell me what you needed," Jango said, "because we all know you wouldn't answer me honestly. He told me that you needed a little money so you could afford some time off and get your GED. Zam and I talked it over and we will give you some money so you can do that. How much do you need?"
Anakin opened and closed his mouth several times, he looked like a fish out of water. "But, Jango…I can't take your money. I still owe your for that year I spent in your basement!"
"And Zam and I will never accept money for that," Jango said. "You needed a place to stay. You couldn't keep living in your dead wife's apartment with just two newborns as company. You weren't—quite honestly—stable enough for it."
Anakin shook his head but didn't try to deny anything Jango had just said. "It just doesn't feel right."
"Sometimes you just have to take the help that's offered to you," Jango said. "Come on, tell me how much you need, and be aware that I intend to check so be honest."
Anakin thought for several minutes, then gave Jango a number that was—at least to Obi-Wan's limited knowledge of the Skywalkers' finances—accurate. Jango made a note of it on his phone and smiled at Anakin. "Thank you, now we can move onto other things."
They talked about lighter topics for several minutes until the twins—who had finished their ice cream and wandered off to play—came running back.
"Look, Daddy!" Leia laughed reaching Anakin and throwing herself into his arms. She pointed at the sky. "That cloud looks like a bunny!"
Anakin laughed and looked up at the cloud in question. "That it does, Princess."
Luke—who had only been a few steps behind his sister—hugged Anakin as well. "That one looks like a boat!" he shouted and pointed.
They all lay on the grass and looked for shapes in clouds until Anakin fell asleep in spite of the twins' constant pestering. After that, the twins made dandelion chains and pelted each other with handfuls of grass until they too fell asleep, curled up on either side of their father. Obi-Wan, Jango and Rex talked until the sun began to set and Jango admitted that he and Rex would have to leave soon if they were going to get back to Naboo in time for them to go to work the next day. They'd already stayed longer than they'd meant to, and the drive to Naboo was not a short one.
Obi-Wan began to wake Anakin, but stopped when he realized just how idyllic the scene before him was. Anakin and the twins were curled up in a bed of green grass, with the golden glow of the setting sun shining on them. They could have been a picture in a book.
Obi-Wan smiled quietly, and wished he could let them remain like this forever, but Jango and Rex needed to leave and Anakin would not be happy if he didn't get to say goodbye. Regretfully, he reached out and shook Anakin awake.
The day Obi-Wan Kenobi was laid off from his dream job and his girlfriend refused to marry him should have been the worst day of his life. Strangely, Obi-Wan realized much later that terrible day had actually been lucky.
It wasn't until he was riding on the subway with a sleepy Leia in his lap with Anakin in the seat next to him holding a sleepy Luke while trying to fight his own drowsiness, that Obi-Wan realized that. The events that had caused him to leave Stewjon had been meant to be. They had been devastating at the time, but they had opened doors to so much more than he had never imagined. He had a new girlfriend, who actually liked him in the same way he liked her. He had a great job that, while different from what he'd thought he wanted, was just as satisfying. He had a promise that he'd get another shot at his dream job, if he was patient. He had the privilege of caring for two of the sweetest children on earth. Lastly, he had a new friend who Obi-Wan was certain would always be there for him.
Anakin Skywalker had been dealt a cruel hand, but everyone got their lucky break eventually, and on that subway—as Anakin gave into his weariness and fell asleep on Obi-Wan's shoulder—Obi-Wan Kenobi promised himself that he would be around to see Anakin's.
Hope, Obi-Wan decided, was a wonderful thing.
-fin-
And I'm done! I'm really happy to be done with this story (I have a bad habit of starting things and never finishing them). While I was planning this story, I was worried that this part was going to be too short, but its another 9,000 word part so I guess I didn't have to worry!
Pretty much everyone figured out that Palpatine was Anakin's father before I posted this part. I'll admit to being a little disappointed by that, but I did have to build up the background I needed to get him in this part (he couldn't just show up).
This might not be the last you see of this AU. I've fallen in love with it and there are a couple other aspects of it that I would like to explore. I can't guarantee that I'll actually get around to writing them, but I might. If you're interested in knowing if I do post something else, follow me and I'll label anything set in this AU as 'Somebody To Lean On Universe' somewhere in the description.
Anakin Skywalker has always struck me as a character who is terrible at dealing with stress, I tried to get that point across in this story. Hopefully, I succeeded. ;-)
Reference questions:
1. Who is Ferus Olin? Where is he from?
2. Where is the story the Little Lost Bantha Cub from? (Extra credit to anyone who can figure this one out, because the book in question is probably older than everyone reading this story!)
Thank you so much for reading! Follow, favorite and review, please!
Emjen
P.S. I wish I could promise that Palpatine is going to lose the election, but I don't think Bail stands a chance.