Meleana's dream's brought her to what had become a familiar setting. It wasn't that she recognized anything around her, more the feelings, the dread, the sorrow, the darkness overwhelming her, all had become common place in the visions and dreams she'd been having lately. Tonight was no different. She was in the dark, climbing an endless set of stairs, moving towards the sound of a female voice calling her name. The voice started to change, become more familiar.
Meleana woke from her dream, hearing her name being called somewhere in the real world. She looked around the dark room. The voice calling her name was Obi-Wan's. She slid out of bed and crouched down in front of him. He let out a low sensual moan.
"Obi-Wan," she whispered shaking him lightly. If he woke up Anakin he'd have a lot of explaining to do.
"No," he moaned out hitting the hand she had on him.
"Obi," Meleana shook him a little harder and he opened his eyes. He had a look of confusion on his face when he turned to her.
"You were moaning my name," Meleana said unable to resist smiling at him.
"I was?"
Meleana nodded and looked down. Even under the blanket his erection was visible. "Not something you want Anakin to hear." Meleana stared at him a moment, her mind playing through all the things he might have been dreaming about doing to her. "I think you need a little release, to prevent this from happening in the future." She stroked her hand across his stubble covered cheek. "I'll be in the bathroom if you need me."
Obi-Wan watched her walk out. She had a point, it would be better for him to act on his impulses now than wake his Padawan by screaming her name in the middle of the night. The thought of her waiting for him to make love to her in the bathroom didn't help to alleviate his sexual tension.
The whole reason he'd broken things off with her to begin with was he'd worried his feelings for her would interfere with his duty to the Jedi, and they were, despite his choice not to be with her. If anything knowing she'd be waiting for him whenever he came back from a mission would make things easier, not harder. And it had definitely made a number of things harder.
He looked back at Anakin to check that he was sleeping before getting out of bed. He couldn't possibly regret sleeping with her again more than he regretted not sleeping with her.
He knocked on the bathroom door after finding it locked. He heard a click as the lock was undone and opened it. Meleana was on the other side of the door completely naked. She smiled at him and walked into his arms when he'd closed the door.
"I was beginning to worry you wouldn't come," Meleana's lips brushed his cheek,"And I do want you to come." She pulled away and winked, "Get naked," she said in a low voice. She turned the shower on in the bathroom to help conceal any noise they would make.
He pulled her back across the small room and kissed her deeply.
Meleana's body relaxed into his touch. Her hips pushed towards his. Having him pin her to a cooler then leave her high and dry had had more of an effect on her than she'd like to admit.
"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan said breaking away from her.
"Talk later," Meleana said sensing he was about to get them into a long drawn out conversation, "sex now."
Obi-Wan smiled at her, she clearly had been suffering just as much as he had. He looked around the small bathroom. Putting her on the counter in front of the mirror seemed to be the best spot.
"Bend over the counter love," he said smoothly.
Meleana looked at the mirror, then back at him with a sly smile.
He kissed her neck when his head began to clear, glad he'd chosen to follow her over going back to sleep.
"Can we talk now?" he asked planting languid kisses down her neck.
"Sure," she was still catching her breath, "let's move into the shower."
They both stepped under the warm spray of water. The shower was so small they were still almost touching.
"I made a mistake," Obi-Wan said, not wanting to lose his resolve. "I'd like to…" He still wasn't sure how to say it. His other relationships didn't need to be requested, but some how he knew if he wanted to be exclusive with Meleana he'd need to at least make a verbal agreement.
"What?" Meleana asked flicking water at him.
The question was how to phrase it without scaring the anti-social bombshell before him off. "So you've never been in a relationship before?"
Meleana shook her head and gave him a half smile.
"You like to try new things right?"
She looked down at her feet, then back up at him. She had to admit, he had caught her attention, and while she'd had plenty of sexual partners, she'd never had a regular before. Obi-Wan had also never failed to perform, and she did like him…usually. Sure on the surface he was a little dull, but it seemed the more she got to know him, the more he let her see his repressed rebellious streak. She continued to stare at him, she'd been attracted to him when they first me, who wouldn't be. Was being committed to a gorgeous man who made sure she always came first really that bad?
"So you want me to be your lady?" She asked with a sweet smile.
His tongue grazed over his lip, "I do."
Meleana looked up shyly, not sure why, given he'd seen her in more compromising positions than she could count. She opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't seem to get the words out.
"Yes or no will do."
"So I can only sleep with you?"
"Yes, but you can terminate this agreement at any time."
Meleana looked up into his eyes and found herself instantly engrossed in them, "Yes," she said without another thought.
He smiled and kissed her. When he thought about it, Qui-Gon had always brought about the end of his relationships, claiming he wasn't ready for them, that they would distract him from his training. His Master hadn't felt his feelings for Tahl were a detriment to his work as a Jedi. So why should Obi-Wan, now older and wiser, feel his emotional connection to Meleana conflict with his Jedi duties? The only way he'd ever know if he was ready to handle both was to try. He was sure Meleana could handle it, emotional attachment seemed the least of her worries. She was more open about the way the loss of her Master had affected her, but clearly she had not had the same attachment issues with lovers he'd had in the past.
"This is a big deal to you huh?" Meleana asked looking up at him.
"Are you kidding? What man wouldn't want to have you all to himself?"
"Well there were a few…"
"I don't want to hear about that."
Meleana smirked. "Oh I see, you want to pretend you're the only man I've ever slept with? That I'm some sweet delicate little creature?"
"Not at all," His hands slid down her wet body to rest on her hips. "I'd just rather not hear about you sleeping with two other men at the same time or more…" He looked into her eyes, they told him he really didn't want to know. "Two other women on the other hand,"
Meleana shrugged, "You really want to hear about that?"
Obi-Wan blinked at her.
"I don't discriminate," she said with a shrug.
He smiled and shook his head. "I've told you so little about myself, why don't you interrogate me?"
"Because what you've done doesn't matter as much as who you are."
"Exactly."
Meleana wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked at him, without worrying he'd notice her roaming eyes.
"You know," she said moving her body up against his. "I think there is quiet a bit beneath that perfect Jedi exterior of yours, and if I'm going to be with you, I think I'd like to know a little more about it."
He smiled down at her. "Perfect?"
"Don't dodge my questions. I'll terminate the agreement."
"Shall I start with my childhood or do you want a short story?"
"I want everything."
"We're going to run out of hot water."
As he began telling Meleana the events of his life, starting with his earliest memories Meleana was struck with how good being held by him felt. She wouldn't say it, but his arms around her, the trusting look in his eyes, everything felt perfect. They were on a mission, they shouldn't have been fornicating in a bathroom to begin with, much less holding each other in the shower. But she didn't feel like a Jedi in his arms. She felt like a girl, a normal twenty-one year old. She felt like it was alright to have feelings, to be worried she wouldn't measure up. She didn't have to be strong or fix any global or galactic problems. Being the girl in his arms was all he expected from her, and the more she listened to the stories of his past the more she got the impression that he felt the same way.
The next day did not begin as well as the previous day had ended. The light tone that had been prevalent during the previous evenings meeting had completely disappeared. In its place was tension and anxiety, the Chahirran were clearly not happy.
"Did you know about this?" Riak Hossent, the leader of the Chahirran team, slid a data pad across the table towards the Jedi.
Obi-wan stopped it from flying off and picked it up. Meleana read over his shoulder trying to get some idea what the very wordy document was about.
"Jedi Kenobi will read this in detail before we come to any conclusions, but I can assure you we had no prior knowledge of any of this," Meleana said trying to lessen the tension in the room.
The document was far too long for either of the Jedi to grasp the issues without time to read it over. Judging by the looks on the Chahirran's faces that was time they weren't willing to give them. Whatever was in the document, it hadn't helped the situation.
"I know you all have other matters to attend to. Would you be willing to go over the qualms you have with me while Jedi Kenobi goes through the document?"
Riak and the other Chahirran's eyed each other warily.
"You have my word that nothing will be done with out your expressed consent," he looked like he was warming up to the idea so Meleana smiled. "We're here to make things easier on you. If you go over your concerns with me, Jedi Kenobi and I can debate the issue and come up with some viable solutions to present to you this afternoon. Rash decisions will only make things worse."
Riak let out a deep breath and nodded.
"So what, in your opinion, is wrong with this…" before Meleana could question what exactly the document was three of the Chahirran's chimed in at once.
"The Valirim have stated that our occupancy of Glycirie is in violation of a treaty signed nearly two hundred years ago," Riak's voice cut off the others. "They're acting as though this is a military occupation. We've supplied nearly double the medical aid of any other world. The Valirim arrived here first when the acting government requested aid. They chose the most temperate sector to occupy. They knew full well the position that would put us in. The people in this sector are starving, hurricanes and earthquakes have decimated their economy. Rebuilding here would cost us trillions, money we would be unable to spend on defense. We'd suspected the Valirim would try to take advantage of this, we just didn't know how soon."
"They are demanding we immediately turn over all of our aid efforts to their authority, including unrestricted access to the budget we'd set aside for Glycirie," Amel, the second in command added. "They say failure to do so will result in immediate action. The treaty was signed by many worlds in neighboring systems, to go to war with one would mean going to war with all of them."
"How long ago did this come in?" Meleana asked. She glanced back at Obi-Wan, he didn't seem to have any objections to the Chahirran's interpretation of the document.
"We'd just finished reviewing it when you came in," Riak said harshly, "We thought the Jedi were here to prevent this sort of thing."
"No we're just the eye candy," Meleana said in a serious tone. Riak didn't smile, but there was a flicker of humor in his eyes. "Is there anything that could have prompted this?"
They all glanced hesitantly at one another.
"If you don't tell me they will, and I'd rather hear the truth from you now," Meleana tried to appear relaxed despite her insecurities. This seemed way out of her league.
"We've been developing a new weapon. Valirim spies must have found out about the project," Amel said tensely.
"They must assume gaining control of such a large chunk of our financial resources will delay this," Riak paused as if weighing how much he should reveal. "We also suspect there may be natural resources within the oceans of Glycirie that interest the Valirim."
Meleana could tell there was something they were leaving out. She'd pressure them for the information if it came down to it, but for now she felt forcing secrets out of them would only hurt their relations.
"Under no circumstances will we agree to these terms. The Valirim won't go to war with us over Glycirie." Amel added firmly.
"Is there anything else I should know before I contact the Jedi working directly with the Valirim?"
The diplomats all shook their heads and Meleana excused herself. She walked into one of the adjoining offices and contacted Master Marion.
"Jedi Ariadne, I take it you've received our proposal?"
The tightening of Meleana's jaw gave her emotions away. "With all due respect Master, what possible reason could you have for pushing these planets even closer to the brink or war?"
For a split second a look of distaste appeared on his face, as though justifying himself to a Knight was beneath him. "I've reviewed the situation, the Valirim are in the best position to maintain peace while rebuilding this world. The other worlds have all agreed to work under Valirim control. Forcing the Chahirran's hand will expedite the process. Without their cooperation thousands, if not millions of people may die. All of the parties involved have agreed the current arrangement is not working. They'd be fools to choose to go to war over this."
Meleana wanted to pull her hair out. How many wars had been started over something foolish? Granted, it did seem the Chahirran's would lose if pitted against so many opposing worlds, but that didn't mean they wouldn't die for their pride.
"Master, I do not believe they will accept this agreement."
"Meleana, this is not my first negotiation. If you want to prevent a war you and Jedi Kenobi will convince the Chahirran's that handing over control is their only option. We are only asking for what they were already willing to give."
"Willing to give to the Glycirie, not the Valirim," Meleana snapped back, with more passion in her voice than she'd intended.
The Jedi Master let out an impatient sigh and shook his head. "I'd thought you'd be more open to cooperation, given your recent failures."
Meleana's eyes widened in disbelief. He'd selected her for the mission because he thought she'd be easily manipulated? "The history between these two planets is long and complicated. Far too complex for outsiders, even Jedi, to come in and think they will be able to predict the reactions of either side within a day. For all we know this is exactly the excuse they've been looking for to escalate tense relations into a full blown war. This tactic may have worked out on other worlds, but that does not mean it will work everywhere. This is reckless, and I will not bully the Chahirran's into accepting this bargain. Doing so would only alienate them further, perhaps to the point where they refuse to work with anyone, including the Jedi."
"If you want to avoid a war you and Jedi Kenobi will convince them to sign the documents. You will report back to me tomorrow morning with progress or you and Kenobi will face consequences."
Thankfully Meleana's hand moved faster than her mouth. She'd disconnected the holo-transmission before she could fire off any of the insults she wanted to hurl Marion's way.
She regained her composure before walking into the conference room, not wanting to alarm the Chahirran's any further. Obi-Wan had clearly sensed her emotional state from the other room. He was looking up at her expectantly.
"Is everything alright?" Riak asked when Meleana didn't say anything.
She turned to them and nodded curtly. "Assuming there are no other concerns you would like to address Jedi Kenobi and I will meet with you this afternoon to discuss possible strategies for dealing with this."
Riak didn't seem entirely satisfied with Meleana's response, but he motioned for the others to clear the room.
"What a domineering, arrogant, thoughtless asshole!" It seemed the insults Meleana wanted to shout at Marion had come out after all.
Obi-Wan looked at Meleana then back at Anakin, who looked a little shocked by Meleana's outburst.
"Who?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Marion, he organized this, to force the Chahirran's hand. We have until tomorrow morning to agree with him and get the Chahirran's to see things his way, or we'll face consequences." Meleana played nervously with her hands.
"They gave us no indication that they were even remotely considering the possibility of agreeing to this. If they knew the Jedi had anything to do with this it could completely derail our negotiations."
"So say the rational people," Meleana tossed her hands out.
"We need to know more about this weapon they've been developing. If they believe it could give them an upper hand in this war I doubt we'll be able to talk them out of it."
"Right, so we should say what, 'we know you don't trust outsiders much, and it turns out this whole thing was the Jedi's idea, but would you mind telling us about your top secret weapons project?'"
"Calm down. We can handle this. Master Marion's plan isn't entirely unfounded. I can only assume he is doing what he believes is best for the people here. Choosing what is widely thought of as the most powerful world, to head up peace keeping and rebuilding makes sense; as does forcing the hand of the most likely planet to oppose," Obi-Wan looked back at Anakin, "What do you think we should do?"
Anakin shrugged, "Tell the truth I guess. We want them to trust us right?"
Obi-Wan looked back at Meleana, "He has a point," he said, a slight twinkle in his eyes. He knew she was fuming.
Meleana bit her tongue to keep from commenting on Anakin's age. She wasn't about to base her entire strategy off a nine year old, chosen one or not.
"So we tell them the truth? They kick us out and go to war, or let us stay, and maybe, we can talk Marion out of this plan of his. Who knows if any of this can even be undone at this point, the other worlds have already agreed," Meleana ran her hands through her hair and sat down next to Obi-Wan.
"We could convince them to leave, abandon their relief efforts here, though the Glycirie would suffer for it. At this point it is doubtful leaving the two worlds to work together is a viable option," Obi-Wan looked down at the floor and tried to play through any other scenarios.
"We can sink to their level, if this weapon is powerful enough. Convince Marion to switch his plan around."
"Or we can try to go along with his plan."
"What makes you think the Chahirran's will even consider it?"
Obi-Wan paused, "Nothing really, they seemed very firm in their resolve. They've been burned by the Valirim many times in the past."
Meleana buried her face in her hands. Was this her fault? Had she set the Chahirran's expectations too high by making them think they'd have any say in what would and wouldn't take place on Glycirie. Worse, had she ruined any chance of swaying Master Marion's current course by openly disagreeing with him from the start?
"This planet needs help, the climate needs stabilizing, they need food, power," Meleana started thinking out loud. Normally she'd write lists endlessly until she'd come up with a solution, but she didn't feel like searching for a durasheet.
"They need lots of money, talented people, and resources," she continued, not caring if Obi-Wan was listening to her ramble. "It's likely three of the four worlds could provide this, which leaves us with the problem of the Chahirran not trusting the Valirim's purely humanitarian interest in this planet."
"Whatever course we decide to take the relationship between the Chahirran and Valirim needs to be repaired."
"Got any glue?" Meleana snapped.
Obi-Wan gave her a patient smile, "Currently we need to work out what to do about this treaty. I'd guess if we make any attempt to go over Master Marion's head to speak with the Valirim directly we'll find ourselves on an early flight back to Coruscant."
"We need to find out exactly how close these two planets are to going to war. If they were already on the brink before all of this things could heat up very quickly."
Anakin looked back and forth between Meleana and Obi-Wan as they continued… he wasn't really sure what they were doing. Neither of them seemed to be making any progress and Anakin was getting bored. Wasn't being a Jedi supposed to be exciting? Maybe if he could actually talk during any of this he'd feel better. Under the circumstances he wasn't sure why they'd bothered to bring him at all.
So far the only interesting thing to happen since they'd arrived on the planet was Meleana's wardrobe malfunction. Anakin looked down at the floor, wondering if all girls looked the same, what breasts felt like. Jedi Ariadne was pretty, not as pretty as Padme… Anakin wished it had rained more on Tattoine. He looked back up just in time to see Meleana leaving, apparently the two Jedi had reached some sort of agreement.
The meeting with the Chahirran that evening went better than Meleana had expected. She and Obi-Wan had decided to give them two options, the first being to gracefully bow out of the conflict and leave Glycirie. They chose the second, which involved presenting an amended plan to the Valirim. Meleana had worked all afternoon on the document, but just as she'd suspected, they were up until the wee hours of the morning making changes to it.
She'd decided against sleeping, and was sitting in the common room of the facility nursing her third drink. She was trying to decide exactly how drunk she could allow herself to get to sober up by the morning meeting with Marion when the door swished open.
"Couldn't sleep?" She asked looking up at Obi-Wan.
"I was worried about you," he answered taking the seat next to her.
Meleana wasn't sure if that was sweet, or annoying. She didn't look up from her drink, though she was acutely aware of his eyes on her. She wished she hadn't agreed to being in a relationship with him. It seemed like a bad idea for so many reasons, but reneging on the past nights agreement was equally embarrassing. She didn't want to admit she lost the ability to form a logical thought the second his pants hit the floor.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"What's not?" She decided she could get a little drunker and tossed the rest of her drink back before standing to pour another.
"That's constructive."
"Yeah well, in theory I've been constructive all day. I deserve a break."
Before she could get back to her chair strong arms gripped her and pulled her down. She stiffened when she landed on Obi-Wan's lap. He'd acted so cool and professional all day she'd hoped they'd at least finish the mission before she had to deal with the consequences of the previous night. Despite the reluctance of her mind her body responded instantly to him. She wasn't sure what was more annoying, her heart racing, or the pulsing between her thighs. Force she hoped he couldn't feel both.
"You do deserve a break," his voice had changed from the level tone he'd used throughout the day, to a throaty lust filled growl.
She flinched when his hand brushed past her neck moving her hair to expose her skin. He pulled her closely to him with one hand while the other deftly removed her drink from her hand and set it on the table. His lips closed around her neck and she let out a soft moan.
She looked over at the door. Obviously she did more damage to Obi-Wan's brain than he did to hers.
"Someone could walk in," she said as his hands began to stoke her body.
"Everyone is sleeping. They went to bed very late. They didn't tell us to handle the negotiations with Valirim so they could get an early start on the day. I'd say we have at least five hours before anyone wakes up."
Meleana started to look at him then quickly moved her eyes away. What was happening? Wasn't he supposed to be the good one? The rational one? The by-the-code one? But that wasn't the real problem. If Meleana could just say no there'd be nothing to worry about. She wanted him. Her bodies response to him was so strong they could have been in front of the Council and she'd still let him take her. And that's what worried her. She was used to wanting people, having them, and never seeing them again, with no ache or longing after. She wanted Obi-Wan, and continued to want him despite having him on multiple occasions.
While her mind worked over all of this her body was relaxing back into his arms, aided by his hands massaging her in all the right places. By the time she was aware of herself again she'd completely melted into him, her hips were grinding back into his. Her annoyance with herself quickly faded when she felt his erection pressing into the curve of her ass. Her shirt was on the floor before she could second guess herself. Her eyes slid closed as she submitted to him.
Obi-Wan looked up at her through hooded eyes. Her head tilted back, those sounds he loved so much pouring from her parted lips. He wanted to make love to her, to shower her body in the adoration she deserved. It had been torture watching her beat herself up all day. He'd wanted to comfort her, to hold her. Despite her casual demeanor and sarcastic humor, she was even harder on herself than Obi-Wan was. All day he'd wanted to stop, tell her how beautiful she was, how smart, how she was doing the right thing, what a great Jedi she'd become. But going into all of that in front of Anakin would have been awkward. He'd know about some of Qui-Goon's lovers, but not until he was older. He'd traded the complications of a Master for the complications of a Padawan. He wished they hadn't wasted so much time on that first mission. How many days- weeks- had they been alone together?
And through all of that they'd only really appreciated each other for two short days. He'd give anything to have just one of those days back, to spend it loving her. He could tell her attraction to him was different from his own. He was completely enamored, despite his initial opinion of her. She was beautiful, fun, smart, wild.
He wanted to show her exactly how he felt about her, and he got the idea that she'd only be receptive to that during sex. He moved his lips over hers penetrating her with his tongue tasting her sweet kiss mixed with the bitterness of liquor. She was the best cocktail he'd ever had.
Meleana was unlike any of the other women he'd fallen for, in almost every way. Siri had always been his gold standard, and aside from challenging him, they had very little in common. Meleana had a raw sexuality to her, a dark side that was anything but evil. She was light, happiness, joy. She was also sad, alone, but he could feel all of that disappear when they were together.
As much as she needed him to escape the pain life had brought her, he needed her for the same reasons. She'd been honest, talked to him about her loss, all he could do was burry it.
His need for her had gone beyond sexual. Even now, feeling her slick sex moving over his wasn't enough. He wanted her in a very primal male way, a way Jedi certainly were not supposed to want women.
"Oh Obi."
Hearing her moan his name brought him back to his current reality, and what a lovely reality it was.
He planted soft wet kisses on her jaw before moaning into her ear, "Come for me darling."
Meleana's head fell into the crook of his neck. The deep breath she drew in tickled him.
"You smell good," She said in a daze.
"Still tense?" he asked with a satisfied grin.
"No, you fixed that."
"Good," he purred, "Tired yet?"
"Yes."
Obi-Wan pulled out and pulled her pants back up. He called her shirt to his hand with the force and helped her dress before scooping her into his arms.
"What are you doing?" Meleana asked, her normal sharpness returning.
"Taking you to bed, one day I'll get to do this without any intention of sleeping."
Meleana ran a hand over his stubble covered cheek. Now she remembered exactly why she'd agreed to be exclusive with him. As long as he kept making her scream every time she had doubts, there was no reason things couldn't work out between them.