Anakin watched Mace Windu sit back after putting the information disk down, Dooku's holo fading away. Then the time-traveler glanced over at Master Yoda sitting on the couch opposite Master Windu. The old troll looked perfectly content to let Windu contemplate everything he'd seen, so Anakin took a cue from that and sat back, ready to wait.

They waited several minutes in silence until the bald man finally sat up again.

"Why did you not come to the Council with this?" he asked Anakin in a hard tone.

The initiate met his gaze. "I am planning on it. Next week."

"After the gala – the one during which you want to give this information out to Senators," Windu said pointedly, not quite accusingly but Anakin could read the subtext.

"I personally know the senators I have chosen," the time traveler explained calmly. "Two of them were large parts of the rebellion in the future and one is so disgusted with the Republic, her planet left and joined the Confederacy. At this point in time, I am hoping that slipping her this information will help to mend that rift, but I believe she is just as trustworthy as the other two."

Windu fell silent again, but looked troubled. Finally, he shook his head, still gazing at Anakin. "Why do you find it so difficult to trust us?"

The former Sith felt his hackles rise. How dare Mace Windu, of all people, ask him that? But he took several deep breaths and forced himself to study the man in front of him. He looked genuine, if pained, so Anakin decided to take the question seriously. He doesn't know, he reminded himself.

"To answer that, you must understand my history with the Council and the Jedi Order," he said. "My first memory of a Jedi was Qui-gon Jinn. Jinn went out of his way to free me from slavery and even though he warned me that the life of a Jedi wasn't easy, I wanted nothing more than to be someone who would go around rescuing slaves like that. I idolized him and he practically promised I would become a Jedi. Not in so many words, because Jinn isn't that sloppy, but it still shocked and hurt me when I went before the Council, was completely honest, and they still rejected me because I feared for my mother – my enslaved mother who we left on a hostile planet.

"That was on top of the scrutiny in general; A bunch of old men and women basically looking me over, telling me I wasn't good enough. It reminded me of when Gardulla would parade slaves to sell."

Both Windu and Yoda looked surprised at that. "That was not our intention," the head Council Member assured.

"Perhaps," Anakin allowed, "but at the age of nine and as a freshly freed slave, would I have been able to discern that?"

No. And they all knew it.

"This is why we don't take older children," Mace muttered.

"One of many reasons, it is," Yoda said.

Anakin shrugged. "If I'd been given a more realistic view of what to expect, I think it would have been easier for me to accept a rejection. Or maybe it simply wouldn't have been so difficult to accept that I wasn't the right fit. Either way, Jinn refused to let me go, convinced I would fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One." He snorted derisively. "His dying request to his Padawan in that timeline was to train me. It didn't help that me being supposedly destined to fulfill that prophecy leaked all over the Temple."

Windu closed his eyes slowly and rubbed his forehead. "That sounds like Qui-gon."

Anakin felt his expression dry out. "And yet, you gave him a padawan to begin with."

"Necessary, it was," Yoda said.

"For who? For Jinn or Obi-wan? From what I understand, you used Obi-wan like a therapy stand-in and threw him at Jinn. Exactly how ethical is it to use children like that?"

"Now wait," Windu started, but Anakin held up his hand.

"I've actually spoken to Jinn since his death – in visions mostly – and he has said as much himself. He told me outright he thinks Obi-wan grew into a great Jedi in spite of him, not because of him. Now," he took a breath, ignoring the surprise on the others' faces, "I won't say I completely agree. He wasn't a terrible Jedi and he must have taught Obi-wan some things well, but there were serious problems with their dynamic – problems that should have been addressed with regular check ups with a mind-healer. This coming from a former Sith."

"You… speak to Qui-gon Jinn in… visions?" Windu asked slowly.

"And of course, that's what you take away from that. Yes," Anakin said with a sigh. "He studied something called the ways of the Whills and that helped him to maintain his presence and sense of self in the Force."

Both Yoda and Windu stared at him. He simply raised an eyebrow at them in return.

"Perhaps return to the matter at hand, we should," Yoda finally said, although his tone said they would return to that topic at a later date.

"Fine," the older human said shortly, "but we will come back to this at some point in the future." Heh, funny that Yoda could convey in tone what Windu had to in words.

Anakin didn't let his amusement show, though, and shrugged. He had no problem explaining something like the Whills to the Jedi Master. It would be interesting to see his reaction, actually. (Although, to be fair, he didn't know much about them himself, but he figured the basics would just have to do.)

"In any case," he decided to take charge and move forward, "I can no longer personally give the information to the senators at the Gala. Sidious will watch me too closely. Me and anyone else I interact with. Master Yoda – any master really – will be too conspicuous, so…"

"Isn't this another reason why you should just take it to the Council first?" Windu asked.

Anakin turned a glare on him. "The last time I did that, four Jedi – including yourself – went to arrest him and got themselves killed."

"That won't happen here," Windu insisted.

"Then what will that Council do?" Anakin asked, dryly. "What are their options? Use it to confront Palpatine? Use it in a court case? Do you have any idea how quickly he will be able to fabricate alibis if we give him the chance? And then we'll have tipped our hand!"

"This is a Jedi matter!"

"Then you would simply go in and arrest him? You do remember what I just said, correct? Handling this internally is not an option with how ingrained he is in the Senate, and you know it! We need to let the Senate and the public know what is going on before we move. Right now he has the majority vote for a reason. He has half the Senate in his pocket and has convincingly fooled the rest in some way or another, and the general public is no different!

"Taking the information to the Council so they can spend months deliberating and not acting will only hurt our chances! And that's the best case scenario."

The bald man's mouth had thinned into a line and he turned to Yoda. "You agree with this?"

"Hmm," the diminutive master said. "Wrong, he is not. Act quickly, we must."

"It's not for us to make unilateral decisions for the Jedi," Windu pointed out through a frown that would have intimidated Anakin before he'd Fallen. It certainly came across as menacing.

But now, he had little issue brushing the man's displeasure off.

"This is my information that I found and put together. I am making unilateral decisions regarding that, not the Jedi."

Windu still didn't look happy as he switched his gaze between Yoda and Anakin, but eventually he closed his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to will away a headache, and then sat back. "Fine. This is on you, though," he said to Yoda.

The old master conceded with a nod.

"So then, what do we do with the information if we cannot get it to the Senators?" Windu asked, obviously exasperated despite his mask of calm. "Why not just send them via carrier? That should be inconspicuous enough."

Anakin immediately shook his head. "This information cannot leak. Even if most mail reaches the intended recipients, there are still hundreds of thousands that don't through error alone. We cannot take a chance on even the smallest of odds. Besides, Palpatine is having the Temple watched. Unless someone sneaks over to the Senate building or the Senators' homes, they will have anyone taking anything from the Temple marked – and even then, I wouldn't trust that we'd gotten away with it."

"We send things out all the time," Windu replied, deadpan.

"He is very thorough."

The older man didn't look like he quite believed Anakin, but said nothing. Smart man. His stubbornness still bothered the time traveler.

"You don't seem to understand what we are up against," the time-traveler heard himself say, looking the Jedi Master in the eyes. "This is the man who is a part of – currently in charge of – an order that has kept itself completely under the radar for centuries. Not only that, he was able to hide – in one life time – for literal decades, right under the nose of the Jedi, interacting with them and leading the Order around by the nose. He is so good at acting, that even now I cannot always tell exactly when he lies, only make educated guesses, and I spent twenty three years under that man's thumb, not to mention at least fourteen more years being groomed to become his perfect apprentice.

"This man is not just a player of the long game, he is a Grandmaster. And he did not get where he is today by being sloppy."

He cut off as he realized he was getting too heated and took several breaths. After a moment, he released his frustration and anger to the Force, but by the disturbed expression on the other man's face, something must have gotten through that thick skull. Good.

"Younglings," Yoda finally said.

Anakin and Windu both found themselves blinking in confusion before turning to the Grandmaster. "What?" they asked simultaneously.

"Deliver the information, the younglings can."

A pregnant pause fell over the room as the two humans stared at Yoda.

"Absolutely not," Anakin protested once he'd finally gotten his brain to catch up with the non-sequitur.

"Is that wise?" Windu asked at the same time. They once again exchanged glances, disconcerted at being more or less on the same page before turning back to the Grandmaster.

"Watched, they will not be. Dismissed. Overlooked. Interested in them, Palpatine is not."

Anakin shook his head. "It is still too risky."

"These are initiates who don't even have a master," Windu agreed.

"Be there, I will be. Other masters too. Underestimate the children, you do."

"They'll be in a situation where they have little backup," the Korun master argued. "You're taking three other masters and there will be a minimum of twenty children."

"Pair up, they can."

"That would be too obvious," Anakin said, shaking his head. "Too many of them serve different senators."

"It would split his attention, though," Windu muttered, sounding grumpy. Anakin shot him a betrayed look.

"Speak to the Senate I will," Master Yoda finally said. "The youngling's first function, this is. A reasonable request, it is, that bring a friend, they can."

"Wait," Windu sat forward, eyes focused on the older being, "you're proposing that we bring in more targets?"

"Then take more masters, we can," Yoda replied with a shrug.

Could this work? As much as Anakin didn't like it… no. "They will give it away. Everyone knows what padawans are first like when they're initially taken." He wasn't about to give up on this.

"Some training, we can give," the old troll countered. "Difficult, it should not be. Tell them of the Sith, we will not. Give it away, they cannot."

"We have to tell them there is danger, though," Windu argued. "And keep them away from Palpatine."

"No, we don't," Anakin said, "because they will not be going."

"Be there already, they will be," Yoda pointed out. "Change this, we cannot."

"You're underestimating him again," the time-traveler warned.

Windu shook his head. "Not if you're keeping him occupied."

Anakin opened his mouth, then closed it again with no sound coming out of it. For the first time, he saw the plan – saw that it really could work… but still…

Finally, he caught a hold of one last thought. "He'll have spies there."

"A better plan, have you?" Yoda asked, sounding genuinely curious.

This time, the initiate grit his teeth because he really didn't. Just… the idea of sending children into any room with Sidious… but Yoda was right. Sidious wasn't interested in them. He'd overlook them. Maybe some of his spies wouldn't but that was a big if. Most people didn't regard children as worth watching in functions like the Gala. As long as they didn't draw attention to themselves…

"You have to train them," Anakin finally conceded, feeling as if the words were pulled out of his teeth with a hydrospanner. "And I have to pass them off."

"Hmm. Very well," Yoda acquiesced… far more easily than Anakin thought he would. But he wanted the children to be safe too… despite his suggestion…

"I'll help," Windu said.

Anakin blinked at him. "You? Teach children classes?"

The Jedi Master shot him the look that basically proved Anakin's point. "You think I can't?"

"I think you scare more or less every child you come across… including myself when I was really this age."

It was Windu's turn to stare at Anakin. "I'll keep that in mind."

Anakin returned the nod, conceding, and then the room fell into silence.

After several uncomfortable seconds, he decided that he just didn't have the mental bandwidth to deal with any of this any more today. For the first time in a very long time, he would be going to bed early and would sleep.

"Is there anything else we need to discuss right now?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound as tired as he felt.

The two masters exchanged glances.

Then Yoda nodded.

"Yes. Have something to say, I do," the old master said, to Anakin's surprise. He'd been expecting Windu to say something. "Apologize to you, I must. Healer Girth, available, I thought he would be. Realized only after, did I, that in the healers wing, he was."

"That was quite the oversight," Windu said dryly to Yoda. It was getting a little disconcerting, how much Anakin had agreed with the man today. He still nodded, because the Korun master was, indeed, right. "Would you even have known if I hadn't sent you a comm text?"

The older master sighed and shook his head. "Old, I have become. Lax. Set in my ways. Work on this, I will. My word you have."

Anakin studied him for several seconds before he nodded, as did Master Windu.

"Then," he decided to return the olive branch, "I would like to thank you for keeping my secrets." He was grateful, after all, and certainly wanted to encourage good habits. The Force knew the Jedi needed it.

"Expect me not to, did you?" Yoda asked, one of his own eyebrows raised.

Anakins shrugged. "Old habits."

"Hmm," the green troll muttered, then shrugged. "Welcome, you are."

They fell into silence again, but only for a couple of seconds before Windu spoke up again.

"Skywalker's right. We've hashed this out as much as we can right now. So we should probably call it a night."

"Please," Anakin said, using the Force to draw the data disk to him. Windu raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing, so the initiate ignored it.

"Very well," Yoda agreed with a nod and scooted forward to slide down off of the chair he'd been sitting on. "Meet again soon, we should."

"I'll set up the emergency training for the initiates and their plus one," the Korun master said as he stood. He also looked at Anakin. "That means you can bring an extra person too."

The time-traveler opened his mouth to protest – he wasn't about to bring a child into any game between himself and Palpatine, that went against everything he'd just… right about then, the words Windu had spoken registered and he paused.

"Anyone?" he asked slowly.

Windu nodded. "Probably a good idea if you ask a knight or a master."

Well, that changed things.

Anakin thought about it and realized that yes, bringing someone with experience who could help run interference would take a weight off of his shoulders.

But who should he bring? He didn't want either one of his mind-healers to be there with Sidious, as funny as it would be to see Girth tearing every single thing the man said down and informing him of how toxic what he just said was… Okay, the drall probably wouldn't do that, but the picture that came to Anakin's mind still made him smile.

He had a couple of other people he could choose from though… so why was the Force nudging him in one particular direction?

"I'll have to think about it… and then I'll let you know," he said.

Windu just nodded. "Good evening, Initiate."

"And you, Master Windu, Master Yoda," Anakin said before walking confidently out of the room.

He strode down the hall, still thinking. He wished Siri was there. He'd definitely take her along, as she was trained in at least some Jedi Shadow techniques and could easily lie to Palpatine's face. But she wasn't there. He'd actually just gotten a text from her that morning saying she and Jango were likely very close to finding Ferus. He wished her luck, but also wished she could be back here with him for just that one night.

Not for the first time, he recognized the hole he felt in his life where she'd been – where she should be…

But sending her on that mission had been the right thing to do, he was sure of it… so…

He didn't want to take Windu. The man was just too confrontational and easy to read if someone knew his tells – which he was sure Palpatine did. Definitely not Master Yoda – who would already be there anyway, besides, monopolizing his time would be suspicious – and Anakin wanted to take someone who knew…

Which left one person.

Someone Palpatine hadn't met more than once yet. Someone Palpatine would likely underestimate.

Someone Anakin would like to go on one last mission with – partially for old-time's sake but partially because he knew he could trust them to have his back.

Oh, and his wandering feet had taken him to the halls of healing. What a coincidence.

Sometimes he really did just want to tear the Force a new one… physically, metaphysically or verbally, any would do.

Well, he could check on Healer Girth as well, he supposed and walked inside.

xXx

"Anakin," Obi-wan said from his bed as the time-traveler walked into his room. The older man smiled, relieved. "I didn't expect you to come so soon, but I am glad you did." Then his smile faded to concern. It was such a familiar expression that it almost hurt to see.

"What happened?" the knight asked quietly.

Anakin sighed. "Palpatine. He's figured out that I'm connected to the Sith somehow. I'm not sure exactly how, but I'm preparing for the worst – that he's figured out I am… or used to be, Vader. Maybe he just thinks I'm a naive informant or something but…" He shook his head.

"In any case, I had to get Master Yoda to get me out of there, and I'm supposed to talk to someone after every session, but when I got back here, Master Xio was in an emergency session, Master Yoda was taking care of the excuse he made to get me back to the Temple and Healer Girth was sick. He's here in the Healer's Ward. I… may have panicked somewhat and fallen back onto bad habits."

Obi-wan's concern only deepened. Then his brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Then why did I see you with Master Windu?"

Anakin snorted. "He wanted to know what was going on, figured I was involved and he came to ask me. Somehow it got around to me telling him everything… which was when you stepped in." Anakin raised an eyebrow at him cheekily. "Or came barreling in half-naked."

"I was not half-naked!"

The time-traveler's smile just widened and Obi-wan huffed good-naturedly.

Then Anakin's smile faded and he sighed. "After I told him a short version of everything, Master Yoda came by and we made plans about what to do with the evidence I have that could incriminate Palpatine to a point where the Jedi could make a move."

Obi-wan's eyebrows rose. "You have that? Already?"

Anakin's expression dried out. "It's been two years – almost three – since I came back." It simultaneously didn't feel like that long and yet also seemed much, much longer.

"In any case, I was going to give it away at the Gala as I can't visit the Senators I would like to give the information to without looking suspicious – especially with Palpatine's recent revelations. I cannot do so anymore as he will be watching me the entire time and I do not want to incriminate these Senators. So Master Yoda, Master Windu, and I are… coming up with another plan," that he just did not want to get into more than the basics about right now, "and they said I can bring a second person. All of the Ambassadors can have a plus one."

Obi-wan looked quiet, his face completely blank, for several seconds before he opened his mouth and asked, quietly, "And you… chose me?"

Anakin took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

"Even after everything I… my other self did to you?"

Right. Anakin wondered just how often he'd have to address this.

"First of all, you are not him. You said so yourself.

"Second of all… what happened was just as much my fault as it was his – more, in my opinion (although the most blame still lies with Sidious, of course)."

He sighed. "There is… baggage between us, and I can't be your padawan – not again. But there's no one I trust more to watch my back than you."

Which… was true, with maybe the exception of Siri, but he didn't have the same long history he had with Obi-wan – even if not this Obi-wan. At their core, they were the same.

"Besides," he couldn't help but add on with a wry grin, "I don't know anyone else who can completely lie his way through a meeting with someone and have them coming out thinking they've won quite like you can."

Obi-wan flushed and looked away. "You mean the older me."

Anakin shrugged. "I think you can do this… and I don't really trust anyone else to be able to. No one I'm close enough to, in any case.

"So," he stood straight and walked forward with his hand held out, "What do you say? Skywalker and Kenobi, one more time?"

The knight looked down at the offered hand and then back up to Anakin's face. "Only if it isn't the last time," he replied with a grin and took the hand, shaking it.

"I can deal with that," the time-traveler replied with a grin.

xXx

Anakin walked away from the Healer's wing smiling from ear to ear. He'd checked on Healer Girth on the way out and he felt like he had some of the good parts of his old life back. It was nice. He wasn't sure if it would last, but… he would appreciate it now and store up memories for later.

Perhaps the bad times would come again, but he would have a stronger base to work from this time. He would make sure of it.

xXx

AN: Thank you to my lovely betas: Khalthar, Hidden50 and Quathis!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)