Author: TemporaryUniverse
Summary: Obi-Wan doesn't realize he's been injured on the battlefield. But neither does anyone else. This leads to some complications and some cuddle piles.
Character(s): Obi-Wan Kenobi, Cody, Original Clone Characters
Word count: 2,523

A.N. This is set in the same universe as my fic, Scale and Bone

Cody watched his General stumble and narrowed his eyes. General Kenobi didn't look injured, but then, he had always been excellent at hiding such things, much to Fixit's eternal chagrin. Being able to automatically push his pain into the Force meant Kenobi often didn't show signs of it, at least until the point where he stopped relying on the Force and it would hit him all at once.

"General Kenobi, sir!" He said, approaching him. The General turned and Cody gave him a closer once-over, still not seeing any sign of injury. None of the troopers had reported any hits on the General during the battle, although his dragon had made an appearance. But that stumble still stood out in Cody's mind. His General didn't stumble. As a Jedi, he moved with a sort of preternatural grace that made Cody envious. Unless he was exhausted or hurt.

"Ah, Cody, is there a problem?"

"Are you hurt, sir?"

Kenobi blinked and cocked his head the way he did when he was puzzled, fixing him with keen, blue eyes.

"Not to my knowledge," he said.

"Will you let Fixit double check?"

Kenobi heaved a sigh.

"Only if he's not busy with other patients," he conceded.

Good enough.

Cody jerked his head in the direction of the medtent, and his General dutifully followed him. They ducked into the tent and Cody spotted Hypo first.

"Hypo."

They jerked to attention.

"Commander! General!"

"Is Fixit busy?"

"He just got done with a patient, sir. He's in his office." Hypo gestured to the small corner of the tent cordoned off by a sheet that served as the CMO's office.

"Thanks, Hypo."

He led Kenobi over and pushed aside the curtain. Fixit was asleep in his chair, snoring lightly.

"Oh," the General said. "We should let him—"

Cody cleared his throat loudly and Fixit jerked awake, blinking up at them with bleary eyes.

"Oh, it's you," he said and then yawned. "Problem?"

"I don't mean to trouble you—" Kenobi began.

"No, it's fine. I didn't mean to fall asleep anyway. Are you injured, General?"

"I'm fine," came the entirely predictable response. "Really, Cody is just being overly cautious."

"I would feel better if Fixit could confirm that, sir," Cody replied.

"Alright, let's take a look," Fixit said, grabbing his kit. He took them over to an empty medcot and gestured for the General to sit. Kenobi obliged, perching on the edge, and Cody zeroed in on the way his arms trembled slightly as he hauled himself up.

Fixit pulled out his scanner and the General sat still as he ran it over him.

He frowned at the results.

"Elevated heart rate and low blood pressure. Are you feeling dizzy, sir? Nauseous?"

Kenobi looked a bit guilty.

"Maybe a little," he admitted.

"The scanner didn't show any injuries, but I'd like to do a physical check, so tunics off."

The General let out a barely audible groan and began to unbuckle his belt. He set aside his clothes and spread his arms out.

"See, I'm fine," he said as Fixit looked him over.

The medic sighed, finding nothing worrying, and allowed Kenobi to put his shirt back on.

"When was the last time you ate and drank, sir?"

"…I had tea this morning?" The General said, his voice lilting up at the end as though it was a question.

Displeasure written across his face, Fixit handed him an electrolyte hydropak.

"Sit here while you drink this and if you keep it down you can leave to get food and rest. Really, General, we've talked about this. You know you need the energy if you're going to be dragoning out every battle," he reprimanded.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, Fixit," Kenobi replied wryly, but he nevertheless cracked open the hydropak and took a sip.

Fixit shook his head in exasperation, his default state when it came to the General, it seemed.

"I'll check in with you in an hour to see how you're doing. He's in your hands now, Commander," the medic said. "I've got paperwork to do."

"Thanks, Fix."

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Fixit headed back toward his office, leaving Cody with his idiot Jedi.

"Y'know, if you just took care of yourself, Fixit wouldn't have to lecture you every time you see him," Cody said.

"A little lecturing is good for him. He gets bored otherwise," Kenobi replied.

"So help me, sir, if the reason you aren't eating is because Fixit would get bored…"

Kenobi laughed.

"No, Cody. It simply slipped my mind."

"Are the reminders on your comm not working?"

"Oh, I turned them off," his impossible fool of a General answered.

"Why?" Cody asked, resisting the urge to slap a palm to his forehead.

"The alerts were distracting me."

This time Cody couldn't help but drag a hand over his face.

"They're supposed to—" He cut himself off and sighed, giving up for now. He gestured to the hydropak in Kenobi's hands. "Drink your electrolytes."

"Yessir," his General said, taking another sip.

Cody snorted lightly. Kenobi's sense of humor was equal parts infuriating and amusing.

He stood there, checking his comm messages while his General finished up the hydropak and then they headed out together, waving a goodbye to Hypo.

They parted ways outside the General's tent, just so Cody could make sure he was actually going in.

"You heard Fixit," Cody said. "Food and sleep. I'll take care of the last stages of clean-up."

"Very well," Kenobi replied. "See you in a while, Commander."

For some reason, Cody felt a sense of foreboding at that.

The sun was starting to set and the air was growing steadily colder by the time Cody finished up with the last of his post-battle tasks, though it hadn't taken much time. Days and nights were shorter than the standard on this planet, but the bigger problem was that it got cold at night, almost below freezing. The troops had taken to cadet piles in their tents to keep warm, and Cody had almost joined them a few times, but he didn't want to intrude when he was their superior. His brothers would say he was welcome, but he knew they could never really relax when he was around, so he declined more often than not.

Therefore, he was headed to his own tent next to the General's when he saw Fixit rushing in his direction, medbag slung over his shoulder.

"Fix?" He called.

"General commed. Said he didn't feel well," the medic answered, stopping in front of Kenobi's tent. He ducked in and Cody followed.

Kenobi was sitting on the ground, sweating and pale as he leaned against his cot.

"What's wrong?" Fixit asked, getting right to it.

"Don't… know," Kenobi panted out.

Fixit whipped out his scanner and began to wave it over the General, frowning at the readings.

"High heart rate, low BP, no injuries," he said. "Same as before, but worse. Did you eat and drink?"

Kenobi nodded.

"Hurts," he said, lifting a hand and pressing it against his shoulder. Fixit pulled aside his tunics to get a look and seemed flummoxed when he only revealed undamaged skin. There wasn't even a bruise.

A vague thought flitted into Cody's head and he pulled at it, trying to give it form.

"Your dragon," he blurted. Fixit and Kenobi both looked at him. "You transformed during the battle. Did you get injured then?"

Fixit's eyes widened, and he glanced back at the General.

"I don't… remember," Kenobi panted.

"Is there enough room in here for you to shift?"

Kenobi shook his head.

"No. Would need… to go outside."

"Right. Cody, help me get him up," Fixit commanded.

Cody stepped forward and together they managed to get the General standing and half-carry him out of the tent. They lowered him to the ground again and stepped back, and Kenobi closed his eyes.

A moment later, and Kenobi's body began to shift, growing bigger, head, neck, spine, and limbs lengthening, scales forming from pale skin and turning gold and orange as his clothes seemed to melt away, horns and spikes sprouting from his skull and spine, a tail and massive wings emerging from his back.

The whole process only took seconds, but Cody couldn't look away. No matter how many times he had seen it, it never failed to leave him awestruck. His General was a dragon, and perhaps Cody was biased because it was his General, but he thought he had perhaps the coolest Jedi there was. It was an impression somewhat lessened by the fact that he knew Kenobi, and knew exactly the kind of trouble his General got into, but that was neither here nor there. A nine-meter-long lizard that could breathe fire and fly was objectively awesome.

Kenobi the dragon reached his full size, stretched, and his left front leg collapsed underneath him.

Fixit jumped into action, rushing forward to stand at the dragon's shoulder and examine his patient as he lay down completely. Cody approached as well, and winced at the blaster wound that was now visible, oozing blood. Actually, it looked too big to be from a blaster. Maybe a laser cannon?

"They got you pretty good there, General," he said. His General's scales protected him from most things but couldn't withstand the intensity of a laser blast.

I didn't realize, Kenobi spoke in his head. It was deeper and more rumbly than his usual voice.

"I don't know how," Fixit grumbled. "You've got a kriffing hole in you."

I was too deep in the Force, Kenobi replied.

"Have you tried not doing that?" The medic said.

And what? Let myself be taken out of the battle?

"This tendency of yours is going to get you killed one day, General."

It hasn't yet. Cody and Fixit exchanged an irritated glance.

"Not for lack of trying," Fixit muttered, and then louder said, "I'm gonna call Hypo over. Need more bacta for this."

Kenobi settled into a more comfortable position, dropping his chin to the ground with a heavy sigh. His tail lashed as Fixit began to clean and debride the wound, but he made no other move.

Hypo showed up a minute later, carrying a large container of bacta. Unfortunately, since Kenobi's dragon form was far too large for a bacta tank, the medics were forced to make do with topical and injections to treat him, something Fixit had complained about at length.

Kenobi hissed as the two medics spread the bacta on the burn, his claws digging into the dirt.

"Sorry, General," Hypo said. "We're almost done."

Together, they and Fixit quickly and efficiently bandaged the General's shoulder, and then Fixit peeled off his gloves and packed up his kit.

"Right. Commander, you're on General watch. If he starts getting worse, you comm me immediately. Get someone else to take over for you in a few hours. General, get some kriffing rest."

"Sure thing, Fix."

His General huffed and stretched himself out.

"General?" Cody asked when the medics had vanished. "Is this really the best place?"

Is there somewhere else we can go? Kenobi replied, cracking open a slitted eye to study him. I can't fit in any of the tents.

"We could at least get out of the middle of the path."

The dragon yawned and stood, limping closer to his tent and thumping down on his belly again. His tail flicked to curl around his hind leg and his wings fluttered before drawing in close to his spine.

Cody stood there uncertainly until his General peeked up at him again. He had no idea how a dragon could look exasperated, but Kenobi managed it somehow.

You can sit down, you know.

He started to sit down where he was, but then Kenobi's wing extended and curled around him, nudging him closer to the dragon.

Tripping over the General's leg, Cody caught himself on a warm, scaly neck and then recoiled, landing flat on his ass. Kenobi chuffed out what sounded like the dragon version of a laugh.

"Sorry, sir," he automatically said, still blinking in bewilderment.

I've been told I'm a very good pillow.

"Sir, I'm not sure—?"

Cody. Do stop being stubborn. And call me Obi-Wan.

Cody gave in, shifting and leaning back against the General. The dragon was hot to the touch, even through his armor and blacks, much more so than the heater in Cody's tent would have been, and it was a nice ward against the chill of the night. He held himself stiffly at first, but when Kenobi—Obi-Wan didn't protest, as it had been his idea, he gradually relaxed and settled in, pulling out his datapad to go over reports while he kept an eye on his General. Obi-Wan twisted his head around and pressed in a warm line against his leg, chin resting on his thigh, before promptly falling asleep. Air whistled through his nostrils as he snored lightly, mixing with the chirping of far-off insects in a backdrop of tranquil sounds.

An hour passed like that, Cody making it through a fair chunk of his reports and trying not to fall asleep himself. He wished he could get up to get some caf, but Obi-Wan was still using him as a chin rest, and he didn't want to wake him.

Two pairs of footsteps trudged towards them, and Cody looked up to see Waxer and Boil approaching quietly. Obi-Wan lifted his head, too, either not as asleep as Cody had thought him, or sleeping lightly enough that the two troopers had awoken him.

"Sorry to intrude, General. Commander," Waxer said. "But can we join you?"

"…Join us?" Cody asked, but Obi-Wan was already lifting his wing, and Waxer and Boil scrambled to tuck in against his side, the dragon's wing draping over them to hide them from sight.

Cody glanced down at his General and raised an eyebrow, but Obi-Wan was already snuggling back down on his leg and closing his eyes again.

"Done this before, sir?" He asked lowly.

Obi-Wan hummed, the vibration travelling through Cody's thigh plate.

On Rhen Var. I think you had already gone back to the Negotiator.

"I see." He'd been injured on Rhen Var, Cody recalled, and had to be medevaced. He'd been glad actually, because Rhen Var was a cold sithpit of a planet.

Over the next hour, no less than half a dozen more troopers piled themselves under Obi-Wan's wing. Dash, and Wooley, and Crys, and Jag, and Rabbit, and Hypo, once they got off duty, all huddled up in a bubble of body heat and fast asleep.

Sometime after that, Vrell came by on orders from Fixit to check on the General's wound, bringing with him Captain Bonus, who took over the watch from Cody. Cody relinquished his spot and moved under Obi-Wan's wing with the others, Boil shifting aside so he could wedge himself between him and the General.

Sleep well, Cody, Obi-Wan sent drowsily. Cody didn't even want to know how he managed a mental yawn.

Cody patted the dragon's side, and let himself drift off.