Ventress was immediately intimidated.

Before her sat the twelve-no, eleven; they had made Obi-Wan wait outside-most influential people of her life at the current moment. She looked around the circle slowly, taking in each and every member in turn. Each one seemed to scare her more than the next, and not even because they looked angry. Just the amount of sheer power…she was as good as dead if any one of these Jedi decided it.

Obi-Wan's empty chair struck a chord in Ventress's heart; it was the first she saw when she walked in, all the way on the right. Adi Gallia's dark countenance resembled carefully concealed anger. Agen Kolar looked stern and haughty. Shaak Ti looked sympathetic towards her, maybe even a little sad. Oppo Rancisis looked down his nose at her, upper lip twitching as if fighting not to spit. Kit Fisto looked more relaxed than Ventress would have liked. Even Piell regarded her with a cold curiosity. Saesee Tiin's stern face looked a little more intimidating than Ventress was sure was appropriate for a Jedi. Plo Koon's face was covered by his mask, which somehow made him looked all the more threatening. Ki-Adi-Mundi looked flat-out angry; he didn't bother to hide it. Mace Windu's face was completely smooth and unreadable. Yoda just looked like he was about to fall asleep-as usual.

"Asajj Ventress," the little green troll began, "Come to us of your own free will, have you?"

"I have," Ventress said smoothly. She only wished she was as confident as her voice indicated she was.

"I know this is going to be difficult," Shaak Ti said slowly, leaning forward slightly and resting her elbows on her knees, "but we do need to know exactly what transpired between you and the Sith on Yavin 4."

Ventress immediately flinched, as if smacked. Her mental shields slammed up, as if she had experienced an attack. Ki-Adi-Mundi had a triumphant gleam in his eye as he looked at Mace; Mace gave him a punishing glare. Don't do that again, he seemed to be saying, and Ki-Adi took his words to heart. Shaak Ti, too, gave Ki-Adi a glare. "Don't even try," she said, slowly, almost menacingly, "unless you have told her you're going to and you have her express permission. This proves nothing."

"It proves she isn't willing to let anyone into her mind."

"If you did that, I would hurt you so badly," Shaak Ti mumbled. "It wouldn't even be funny. And not even because it was without permission, but because you would scare me and provoke an immediate defensive action. She actually did a very good job of not hurting anyone."

Ventress was grateful to Shaak Ti for defending her. She wasn't sure she could have said it just so that everyone would immediately regret the words they had spoken. So this is why she's on the Council, Ventress thought vaguely to herself. That, and out-dueling Lord Tyranus. Ventress felt the eyes turn from her to Shaak Ti. The Togruta master merely shrugged, and continued as if nothing had happened. "Well, Ventress, you have my assurances that that won't happen again. If you would be so kind as to lower your barriers?"

Ventress was hesitant to comply, but she knew it would only look as if she had something to hide if she refused. After a moment, she slowly released her hold on the mental shielding she had developed so well over the past few years. The walls fell, but no one moved to enter her mind. Ventress instead felt a wave of calm pass over her, momentarily hushing her singing nerves. She felt the light side of the Force rolling over her, and reached for it eagerly. This was what she had been lacking for so long; it felt so good to finally have some peace from the turmoil that constantly permeated her thoughts.

Yoda's eyes slid shut, and remained that way for a moment. When they opened again, there was a slightly clouded look to them. Ventress turned to the Jedi master, knowing he would be the next to speak. And, sure enough, Yoda asked her not a moment later: "How feel you?" Ventress had opened her mouth to reply, when Yoda suddenly cut her off again. "No, no lying!" he barked, effectively silencing the generic, "Fine," Ventress was about to spit out. Ventress paused, and thought a bit more on the emotions swirling around her. He wanted specifics, not just a general overview.

"A little nervous," she said. "Frightened, maybe…my life rests in your hands now, and I haven't even spoken a word to half of you before. The only person I really, fully trust is not here right now, and I'm on my own. It's a scary feeling."

"I know this won't help," Adi said slowly, "but I feel the need to reiterate that none of us wish to harm you. Nor do we hold a grudge against you."

"I know that," Ventress said. "I also know that I will not be in any pain, nor will I be punished for anything that happened, and I know that I will not have to give up my life on your account: but it still scares me to be here. Just…the sheer magnitude of the situation."

"I understand," Adi said softly. "Just try to relax. It's certainly a tense, nerve-wracking situation, but we will try to make it as calm and relaxed as we possibly can."

"And for your efforts, I thank you extensively."

"We would like to know," Mace Windu said, raising one hand to run back over his shaved head, "what exactly your relationship with Obi-Wan is like."

Ventress was taken aback. Did they suspect something? Well, she would just have to tell them as little as possible, as truthfully as possible. "We are very close," she confessed. "He always cared about me…he wanted me to find the light. And after this entire situation came about, we became even closer. He just…he helped me through it all, really. He was always there for me in a personal manner, and he would always tell me the honest truth. I felt as though I could trust him with my life."

Yoda nodded slowly as Ventress spoke. His eyes closed again, and Ventress felt the light side of the Force shift again. She recoiled slightly at its touch; it wound its way around her shoulder, the last point of contact she had had with Obi-Wan. Still, she tried not to fight: she didn't want to appear as if-

"Hiding something, you are, Asajj."

Ah, crap.

"What?" Ventress repeated, looking as surprised as possible. "I'm not hiding anything! Well, maybe about my childhood, but nothing about now, or nothing I wouldn't tell you! Nothing that would pertain to this moment."

"Pertains to Obi-Wan, it does," Yoda barked sharply. "Concealing your true feelings for him, you are."

Ventress sighed. Oh, how was she going to worm her way out of this one? There obviously wasn't any fooling Yoda. He would find any flaws in her defense she had, and exploit that until she cracked and gave it up. So, the next best tactic was diversion.

"Alright, for sake of argument, let's say I was hiding…romantic feelings for Obi-Wan. Wouldn't that just be my problem? As long as it wasn't reciprocal, would it really matter?"

"The fact of the matter is, you lied," Mace stated firmly. "That concerns us."

Ventress sighed softly. "I've lied about a lot of things," she whispered. "Why does it matter all of a sudden?"

"Because it involves a Jedi," Shaak Ti said, her voice as soft and smooth as any angel's. "We can't allow anything about him to slide, regardless of whether or not it directly involves him or not. Obi-Wan is a senior member of this Jedi Council, like myself, Master Yoda, and Master Windu. Don't get me wrong, it would be the same no matter who it was about," Shaak Ti said quickly. "From assassinations to romance to double-agents to blackmail, nothing can be hidden."

Ventress bit her lip nervously. Force, this was torture! She couldn't come up with anything to combat the Jedi's logic, nor could she make a move to get out of there. That had been her method of dealing with difficult situations before: intimidation and lightsabers. Occasionally running away, and then killing you in your sleep. But she had always been able to hide whatever she was doing until later, always been able to find a way out. They had her cornered: and damn, every single person in that room knew it.

"Fine," Ventress finally whispered. "I'll admit it. Yes, I have feeling for Obi-Wan. He doesn't return them, and he doesn't know, either. I figured it was better that way, because he could never love me back. I've been trying to hide it-"

Kit Fisto cut her off. "Yeah, good job, honey," he muttered.

Ventress flinched slightly. "Is it that obvious?"

Kit snorted. "Let me put it to you gently," he said. "It's either what you've been doing, or walking around with 'Guess who I like!' tattooed on your forehead."

Agen Kolar's eyebrows rose. "Way to be gentle," he said dryly. He shook his head, and turned to Ventress. "I think Kit means to say that the Force tells us a lot more than your outward physical behaviors," he said, trying to smooth things over. "I have noticed that the Force moves around you in one hell of a way. But only when you're around Obi-Wan. Plus, your eyes."

Ventress slowly turned to fully face Agen. "What about them?" she asked.

"They're very expressive," Agen replied. "One can tell exactly what you're thinking, feeling, just by looking into your eyes, however well you hide it on your face, in your hands, even in the Force. But, the Force doesn't lie. It clearly shows us that your feelings for him run very deeply and possibly very romantically."

Ventress sighed slowly, blowing out her breath and making it as drawn-out as she could. Her hands came up to cover her face; they slowly moved aside, resting against her cheeks. Ventress's eyes remained downcast, unsure of herself, suddenly catapulted into a new world of something she had no control over. Her hands fell to her chest, arms folding across her bust and moving slightly up and down as she breathed in again, and then exhaled one last time.

"What else?"

She turned to Shaak Ti, who looked suddenly very guilty. "What else?" she repeated, glaring at the Jedi master. "I can sense it, even in the opposite side of the Force: there's more." Shaak Ti leaned back, letting her arms fall to the sides of her chair. She slumped down in the chair, flinching as she accidently sat on one of her lekku.

"You sure you want to hear this?" Shaak Ti asked, addressing both Ventress and the entire Council. Everyone nodded. Shaak Ti sat up, sighing almost as dramatically as Ventress had. "Get Obi-Wan in here. He needs to hear this, too."

Adi Gallia, who was closest to the door, stood up, and waved it aside with the Force. She stuck her head out, and softly called Obi-Wan in. Obi-Wan entered the room, and Adi closed the door behind him. He moved to sit down, but a soft shake of Shaak Ti's head convinced him otherwise. He moved instead to stand next to Ventress, struggling with all his life not to reach out and take her hand, to comfort her, to give her the courage she needed to go on.

"Alright," Shaak Ti said. "First, Obi-Wan, Ventress has been hiding romantic feelings from you. She says she didn't tell you because she thought it would be easier for everyone, since you couldn't love her back, and she didn't want to get you in trouble."

Obi-Wan nodded. "I knew about that," he said. "When I cleansed her mind on Yavin 4, I saw it."

Shaak Ti nodded once, and continued. "Now, after a few days of treating her as a Jedi healer, obviously, a lot of her Force-residue had rubbed off on me. It brought me a vision." She stared at Obi-Wan and Ventress, both of whom were now facing her with concerned glances on their faces. "This involves the both of you," she said slowly. "You might want to brace yourselves for this." Shaak Ti took a deep breath, and finally spit it out. "Ventress, you are supposed to have a baby with Obi-Wan."

Jedi and Sith suddenly turned to each other, utterly floored by Shaak Ti's prediction. Ventress seemed more shocked than Obi-Wan: Obi-Wan hid his emotions behind his usual Jedi mask, but even through that mask, the shock and stun still seemed to overpower him. Shaak Ti looked to Mace and Yoda, seeking some direction. Mace had sunk back in his chair, exhaling slowly and massaging the bridge of his nose. Yoda had curled up into a ball, it seemed, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees. His head was bowed, and his ears were curved very far downward. The entire Council turned to him, the same shock etched into each and every one of their faces. Yoda shook his head almost sadly, seemingly confirming Shaak Ti's vision in that one gesture. The entire world was silent: everyone waited with bated breath until Yoda finally spoke and delivered his verdict.

"Difficult to see, the future is," he said slowly. "Always in motion, always changing, it is. But certain, this is. Master Ti's vision…true, it will become."

Obi-Wan seemed like he was torn right now. Shaak Ti turned to him, as if seeing some new light now.

"And you, too!" she gasped. "You were both hiding it!"

Obi-Wan nodded numbly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching over to Ventress and taking her in his arms. "To all of you," he continued, addressing the Council. "But I couldn't allow this to happen to her."

Shaak Ti shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said. "I'll-I'll search the Force, see if you were meant to stay in the Order."

"Meant to stay, he was," Yoda said sharply. "But meditate on this, I will. Find out why, I will."

Obi-Wan sighed again, pulling Ventress into his arms. He bowed his head, and whispered to her:

"I'm so sorry."

A/N: Ha, didn't see that one comin' did ya?! XD Well, review.