AN: Hello all! Sorry it's been a while; school has started again and the work is catching up with me. Never fear, though, I will be continuing this story through to its finish. In other news, this chapter was incredibly hard to write and I'm still not sure that I got it right, so constructive criticism is very welcome. Enjoy the chapter; please review! May the Force Be With You! -Emma

Disclaimer: It belongs to George Lucas.

CHAPTER 20

(Dream in Italics)

She knew immediately that she was on Janulik. She was home. She was where the market used to be, except it didn't look anything like her old market. Now, there was a large, still smoking hole in the ground. An enormous crater within and above which had been built a large metal structure that looked more like it was made for keeping things out than the comfort of the things within. She could immediately sense that there were enemies inside that structure, even if she couldn't see them.

She couldn't move, she realized belatedly. She was up a tree, the leaves surrounding her and hiding her from prying eyes. She wondered if whatever was holding her would release her if she asked. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a speeder cresting the horizon. On the speeder rode two Jedi, judging by their robes, and she realized with a pang that it was Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. So they had made it to Janulik safely.

She turned back to the metal structure, wondering what was inside that interested the Jedi, slightly worried that they would drive so quickly into obvious danger. Then, on the side facing the opposite direction from the approaching speeder, a hidden door opened, and several destroyers rolled out, their legs engaging as soon as they hit solid ground. She realized with a jolt of dread that they were protection for whatever was housed within that metal structure, and they were going to attempt to kill the Jedi. The Jedi that couldn't see them.

What happened next happened too fast for her to ever remember all the details. The speeder stopped when it got close, and the Jedi jumped off, lightsabers at the ready. At the same time, she screamed to them, yelling herself hoarse trying to warn them that danger lay behind the structure and ready to attack them. Apparently they couldn't hear here, because the Jedi were taken by surprise, and only their intense training saved them.

They entered battle with the destroyers, but there were three for both Jedi, and they had force shields.

She could easily see that the needed help, and in her drive to escape her bonds, pushed and shoved until she fell out of the tree. Her determination had broken her free, or so she assumed. She landed on her feet with the aid of her reflexes, and should have felt pain from the fall. But she was too relieved to have escaped and to now be of use to the Jedi that she didn't feel it.

She looked around her for more droids, and, not finding any, set off at a run towards the structure.

BOOM!

There were floating lights in front of her eyes and she couldn't hear. An explosion had rocked the structure, throwing her back several meters. Fear and adrenaline coursed through her as she tried to move, thinking of the two Jedi that must've been in the blast as well. Slowly she was able to rise, and a ringing in her eyes heralded the return of her hearing.

There was flaming pieces of debris everywhere, and if the blast had reached her, that meant it had definitely reached the Jedi.

The Jedi.

Obi-Wan and Anakin.

Obi-Wan.

OBI-WAN!

Her force shout wasn't retuned, and that terrified her. She took off running, thanking the stars that the blast seemed to have taken out all of the droids within the structure, as well as the six destroyers.

The Jedi lay prone on the ground, Obi-Wan on top of Anakin. Anakin was motioning to her, trying to speak.

"He…" Anakin panted. "He threw himself in front of me. He knew, somehow he knew. He knew! Oh Force, what have I done. Obi-Wan! Master!" The boy's words turned into cries as he scrambled out uninjured from under Obi-Wan, who was barely conscious.

She knelt besides the Jedi, and took his hand. Her other hand went to his face, stroking the beard and the soot dusted skin. The full lips, the beautiful eyes and the long lashes. She could feel the tears on her cheek, and made no attempt to stop them.

And for a heart-stopping moment, those blue-green eyes flickered open, and met hers.

"Charlie…" Obi-Wan's voice was low and rough. "Charlie…"

That was all he managed before those eyes slid shut again, and this time she could feel his force signature wilting.

"NO!" she yelled, raw and terrified. She could hear the heartbreak in her own voice.

"No, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you cannot die! The Republic needs you, the Jedi need you, Anakin needs you, I NEED You." Her voice broke on the last word.

"I need you, Obi-Wan." she said, softly, trying to speak through her tears.

"I love you."

Charlie woke with a start, R4 beeping loudly.

"R4!" she yelled, scrambling out of bed. "R4, we have to save him, he's hurt, Anakin's with him, but he's hurt. R4, please, you have to help."

The little droid just kept beeping, trying to make her listen to what it had to say. Charlie had gotten tangled in the covers and was trying her damnedest to extricate herself, but just couldn't seem to escape. The fear and adrenaline from moments earlier had picked up again, and for a second it seemed like the world was falling apart.

I love you.

Her almost whispered exclamation of love to Obi-Wan from minutes before returned to her in a rush, almost like a physical blow, and she sat down hard right where she was.

R4 rolled over, still beeping. It was trying to comfort Charlie as best it could, telling her that she had dreaming and yelling in her sleep so it had woken her up. Charlie couldn't do it. She couldn't handle it. She couldn't stop the emotions, so she let them break her walls.

The tears flew down her face, reminding her of how she had cried over a prone Obi-Wan. Too many questions rushed through her brain.

Was it a dream, or had she been a part of something that had actually happened?

How was it possible?

How long ago had it happened?

How had she gotten there?

Was Obi-Wan actually injured?

And the one she didn't want to ask.

Was he dead?

Charlie had recovered enough from her momentary panic attack to allow her rational brain kick in.

"It was a dream, and just a dream." she rationalized to herself. "My subconscious was spurred on by the conversation I had with Padmé and the weird memory I found yesterday. He's not dead. I would know if he was dead." she thought fiercely, trying against hope to convince herself. There was just something about the nature of the dream. His skin under her hand had felt so real, and even if she and her sleep clothes were unharmed, she could still feel the effects of the blast.

"No, Charlie." she spoke out loud to herself. "They're imaginary. You're imagining things. It's your mind playing tricks on you." She forced herself to be rational.

He couldn't be dead.

He just couldn't be dead.

That was the real problem. Charlie simply couldn't imagine that he had died and she didn't know or couldn't feel it through the force.

She stood, finally extricating herself from the sheets. She spoke to R4, comforting him, telling him that all was well and it was indeed just a dream.

Charlie forced herself through the shower and into some clean clothes.

A short investigation of her wrist comm had revealed that it was a little past eight in the morning, and she had been summoned by the council. Charlie rationalized once again that she could always ask them about Obi-Wan and Anakin. They would know their whereabouts and whether or not they were injured.

Yes, that was a plan.

And so she departed for the council room, leaving R4 with a pat on the head.

Charlie was sitting in a chair at the back of the council room. It was late morning, and she'd been sitting listening to the council debate various battle contingency plans for a few hours, feeling very, very bored. Obi-Wan's empty seat was doing nothing to assuage the worry that still coursed through her every time she remembered the dream or her memory. And to top it all off, Yoda kept looking at her as if he knew something.

Everything finally came to a head when a padawan ran in, panting and flushed. She bowed low to the council, quickly.

"Masters." she said. "Generals Kenobi and Skywalker are expected to return in half an hour. We are told General Kenobi was gravely injured, but the General Skywalker is well."

The padawan bowed again, and left the room in a hurry. The council was silent for all of two seconds, before Windu spoke.

"Master Silverstar." he said to Charlie. "If you weren't already aware, their mission was to your home planet of Janulik. They were following up on their previous mission."

But Charlie couldn't respond. She was still reeling from the padawan's message, and her dream. She was stunned.

The council looked at her worriedly, and Charlie could feel their eyes on her.

"I dreamt it." she whispered, almost accidentally.

"I saw how they were injured. I thought it was just a dream, but now…" she trailed off, the scenes from hours earlier vivid in her mind.

Her head snapped up, gaze piercing each of the council members in turn.

"Obi-Wan was dying. They were attacked by destroyers and then the separatist base they were attempting to attack was blown up. He threw his body in front of Anakin's. It will be a miracle if he survives, and…" but she trailed off again, unable to continue.

"And fear you, his death." Yoda finished for her, somehow knowing exactly what she was feeling. Charlie guessed that she had been lax with her shields in her distress, and that Yoda, the most attuned to the force, had noticed.

Kriff.

So the council would now know of her and Obi-Wan's relationship.

Charlie nodded solemnly, not giving away any more than she had to, but barely keeping it together all the same. She kept her gaze focused on her knees, tears burning her eyes that she refused to let the council see.

Ki-Adi Mundi spoke next.

"You must know that Jedi do not do well in true relationships." he said gravely. "Skywalker is an exception, as he typically is. His bond with the senator is both a blessing and a curse. It is the will of the force, so we allow it. Your emotions for Obi-Wan clouded your judgement, and they continue to do so. This is why the code was as it was before we changed it."

He stood up, his hands in fists.

"If my other masters agree, I do not think she should be allowed to see him. We all have the power to contain out emotions, and that skill will be necessary if she is to help us with this war. Now is not a time to form new bonds, but to strengthen old ones." He spoke to the council as if Charlie was not in the room, but her should-be anger at this simply flowed away. She just couldn't sustain the emotion.

Mundi sat down hard to complete silence from the council. Charlie shook lightly in her seat from her stiff grip on her control.

A soft touch from the force caressed her cheek, and she could tell it was from Yoda, though that didn't quell her surprise.

Charlie gathered her wits and looked up.

Tears, unshed, clung to her eyelashes and rested in her eyes. She took a deep breath.

"It would give me great relief," she said, forcing the words out slowly, "if he did not die."

She swallowed hard.

"I rationalized the dream away this morning, thinking it was nothing more than that. Clearly I was wrong. I do not wish for a loss of life to come from my arrogant assumption."

She stood, suddenly needing to be free from the piercing gazes of the council.

"I know of your Code." she said then, wanting to explain what she was sure they knew.

"I know what it says and I've chosen my own interpretation. Perhaps that is what will stop me from becoming a Jedi, but I refuse to toss my beliefs. I apologize."

She stood then, trying to give her stance as much confidence as possible.

"However." she said imperiously. "What I will not stand for is unfairness. Your Code was changed. Obi-Wan Kenobi is as fine of a Jedi as you will ever find. There is a reason he was placed on the council, as you all damn well know. His is good and just and honorable and brave. He fights for peace with a fire I have never seen before and doubt I will ever see again. He is an incredibly bright light in the force. For you to treat him as a impudent padawan is unfair. I may not fall under your jurisdiction, but do not take your anger at me out on Obi-Wan. You will find that I am far more dangerous as an enemy than as a partner."

And with that, she swept from the room and didn't look back.

Charlie walked and walked, looking for a place to hide. She passed people in the hallways who acknowledged her, but returned none of the greetings. She was focused within herself, roiling with emotions. Eventually, the force led her up a forgotten staircase to an empty room with a single window. Charlie opened the window and climbed out onto a ledge that afforded a wonderful view of the city.

She shut the window behind her, not wanting anyone to know where she'd gone. Now the council knew of her and Obi-Wan's relationship, and she really didn't want to talk about it with any of the old, wizened masters.

Charlie was gripped by fear, cold and sharp. Anger was there too, along with confusion and an emotion that felt a whole lot like love. They snapped at her like little piranhas. They buzzed around her like flies. They pestered and annoyed and they wouldn't leave her alone. For the third time, it all became too much. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

She opened her connection with the force, unable to deal with the emotions anymore, and screamed into it.

She screamed and yelled and cried for Obi-Wan and her terrible timing when it came to love and her confusion at their relationship and her anger at the council and Mundi for their old, stuck ways and fear, terrifying panic that he might be dead.

She released everything into the force, not caring who heard or felt it. The distance would help dilute it, but not enough to completely shield the force-sensitive creatures in the building she sat on.

And the force accepted it as it always had. It welcomed her pain, and caressed her with a warm hand when she had subsided into short, hiccuping sobs, her voice well past spent.

She sunk into its warm waters, allowing to to remedy and soothe her worries like old wounds. They couldn't be allowed to fester. Despite it all, she was still a large part of this war, and needed to move past this rather large speed bump.

Charlie didn't know how long she remained in meditation, but by the time she was finished, the sun was kissing the western sky. She was feeling much more centered and in control, but at what cost? Most likely the entire temple knew of her strife and of what had happened in the council chamber.

To add onto it, she couldn't feel Obi-Wan's life force. He should have returned to the temple with Anakin by now. It could have been distance, or he could have been dead. She simply had no way of knowing.

It took her a while to collect the courage to descend the forgotten staircase. She tied her cloak highly around herself, putting the hood up to hide her face. The marks on the back of the cloak and the wrappings on her forearms would give her away, but she didn't want anyone looking at her face for the moment.

She walked as quickly as decency allowed through the hallways, not stopping until she reached her door. She could feel the burning gazes that followed her, but ignored all of them. She shielded her mind as tightly as she ever had, unwilling to reveal any more information than she already had.

Charlie palmed her door open, greeting R4 with a soft hello. The droid beeped in return, having no way of knowing what had occurred, it assumed everything was normal. Charlie still had no appetite even though she'd eaten nothing all day, so she stripped in preparation for bed. She was tired, she realized. Enormously tired.

The next few days were hell for Charlie. Every time she thought about leaving to see Obi-Wan, to make sure he was alive, Ki-Adi Mundi's warning echoed in her head, and she stopped herself. None of the other council members had said anything that was opposite of Mundi, so Charlie was lead to assumed that they shared the same sentiments.

Despite her small rant, she thought it best not to push her luck. She knew she was right, and she knew the majority of the council thought she was right. However, they had done nothing to back up her beliefs, so she stayed locked in her room. It just wasn't fair. The code had been changed specifically so no one was persecuted by the council for relationships. And Charlie wasn't even a Jedi!

Despite her veiled threat, however, she knew that the Jedi would be a fairly formidable enemy should they choose the end their partnership. She just couldn't take that chance in the middle of the war.

So she'd locked herself in her room, requesting food brought up whenever she felt hungry, which really wasn't that often. She laid in bed, staring out the window and feeling for Obi-Wan's force signature. When she didn't find it again and again, she would retreat within herself and meditate. She slept fitfully, if at all.

She tried not to think. Padmé never visited, which probably meant that she didn't know or that Anakin had been given instructions by the council, and had in turn told Padmé not to visit.

Finally, a week after her fateful meeting with the council, Charlie woke up feeling like something had changed. A nudge from the force was telling her to get out of bed and leave to go train or take a walk or visit the archives or just do something. So she did.

Charlie entered the training hall and went straight for the movement trainer. She wanted something punishing that would consume her mind and body, not allowing any room for stray thoughts.

So Charlie set herself up on the motion trainer, running through her katas, swinging herself around the jungle-gym type trainer, and using saber and blaster and the force to fight off the training droids. The world slowly melted away, her worries a mere buzz in the force, ignored in favor of the fierce fight she was in. It was a relief to find her balance again. The force welcomed her like a long lost child, and her body reveled in the exercise.

Charlie didn't know how long she'd been moving until she completed the last of her katas. She didn't relax her grip on the force until the final droid reincarnation had been destroyed and the exercise finished.

Only then did she realize she had a visitor. It was a silver protocol droid with a message for her.

"Milady Silverstar, the council requests your presence." the droid said.

Charlie nodded at it, controlling her panting and regulating her breathing.

"Please tell them to expect me. I must clean up, but I will be there momentarily." she replied shortly.

She'd been expecting this. Her last confrontation had to be resolved, as did her explosion of force energy on the roof of the temple. She felt ready to have this conversation. Her week of meditation and seclusion had done her well.

And, of course, she hoped against all hope that Obi-Wan would be there.

Charlie strode into the council chambers with as much confidence as she could muster. She was directed to the same seat as always, and sat without allowing herself to get comfortable. She would be prepared for what was to come.

Windu spoke to her.

"I must apologize for all of us, most especially Master Mundi, for how we reacted last week." he said, clearly choosing his words carefully.

"We are masters of a bygone age, and adjustment is a constant, ongoing process. We wish to stress that Master Kenobi's injury was no more your fault than it was Skywalker's. You are correct in saying that we have no jurisdiction over you, and your interpretation of the code should be of no worry to us. You are also correct in your description of Master Kenobi. We know of his value, and we have decided not to punish him. There is no precedent, and it would undermine his authority as a Jedi Master, and our authority as a Code-abiding council. We would like to not lose your support in this war. You would be, as you said, a formidable foe."

Windu looked at her, asking silently for her agreement. Charlie nodded, and she could see some of the council members physically relax. It gratified her that she'd worried them as much as she had, because it meant she was important and they would not punish Obi-Wan for fear of angering her. She took solace in that fact.

But Windu wasn't done.

"As for your relationship, no matter the extent, with Master Kenobi…"

And then, before he could finish, the door to the council chamber wooshed open again.

In strode Obi-Wan, his robes flowing behind him, face set in hard lines.