Author's Note:

Hiya, all! I'm glad to be submitting a new chapter today. It's been awhile! While I haven't been directly writing "Off of Geonosis", I have been agonizing over the plot. By a rookie mistake, I decided to start writing this fic without a solid plan, but now I am happy to report that I have the full thing ironed out! It took a lot of time and energy and a new set of eyes, so I'm very proud of the result. I hope you guys will stick around until its conclusion.

Also, since most people seem to be reading this story on Fridays, I've decided to switch my updating days to Thursdays instead of Tuesdays. While I haven't been consistently posting every other week like I planned, I have been consistent with my updating days. So, for future chapters, look on Thursday evenings or Fridays!

Anyway, enjoy...

...

Chapter 10

Anakin watched his old master send his Padawan messages of sleep, attempting to keep his demeanor even. Ahsoka was so stubborn. Even when it was easy for him to sense her exhaustion through the Force, she still fought to stay awake. It frustrated him to no end. Especially because he would do the same thing.

Anakin heard the young Togruta mumble one last protest, her eyelids fluttering, before she finally drifted off. He sighed in relief.

Then Obi-Wan turned to him, crossing his arms. "It seems your student is just as stubborn as you."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Anakin…" He sounded exasperated already. "It is not your job to turn her into you. You are to guide her in her own path."

Anakin scoffed. "Believe me, Master, I'm aware. And I realize how much Ahsoka and I share the same…" Obi-wan raised an eyebrow. Anakin frowned. "…tendencies."

"I'd rather use the term 'obstinacies'. Or 'recklessness' perhaps." Obi-Wan quipped. Anakin ignored him, his brows furrowing.

"I've half a mind to let the medical droid sedate her for the next week and a half, if only so I don't have to deal with all her escape attempts…" A wiff of amusement drifted through the Force from his master. Anakin shot him a look. "What?"

Obi-Wan's face nearly split with the grin. "It seems what goes around, comes around, my old Padawan. I've had nearly the exact conversation with Master Yoda in the past, about you."

"Master…" The younger Jedi sighed the word, restraining an eye roll. He turned back to Ahsoka, her face relaxing from the scowl she'd been using on him. Her head lolled over the pillow, her hands limp across her torso. The blanket had slipped down to her waist again from all her wiggling. Anakin reached and pulled on it, tugging it to her chin so only her head stuck out. She'd had hypothermia, for Force's sake, and she couldn't keep a blanket on? When he stepped back, the blanket was draped snugly over her form and his palm hovered over her shoulder the way it always did when he felt close with her. But after all that trouble of getting her to rest... His hand fell to his side, and he contented himself to gaze at her softened features instead. Her orange skin tone was returning to its traditional shade, her white markings brighter, and her eyes seemed less sunken than they'd been when he'd first arrived. It had terrified him, seeing her like that, pale and purplish and withered. Like she was already gone.

Anakin sank into the not-so-comfortable hospital chair at her bedside and dropped his head in his hands, ruffing up his hair in the process. He smoothed the new growth over his ears. Padme said she liked his hair a bit longer, something about the way it curled at the nape of his neck that she found attractive. She'd given him one of her starry-eyed grins and rubbed her fingers over his overgrown fringe, and so Anakin was more than happy to grow it out. Force, he wished Padme could be here.

Anakin scratched his fingernails over his scalp. His mind was too quiet without Ahsoka's flickering emotions dribbling on behind his thoughts. And her mental state concerned him. She continued to maintain silence over their Force bond, undoubtably because of Bariss' condition. Which made Anakin frown. He understood that seeing a friend in pain was difficult, but this was war. If she kept this up, going back into battle would be a whole new operation; with the stakes against them. And if the Council found out… the two of them might be in deeper bantha fodder than she knew. They could ground her to Coruscant or bar her from combat or even withdraw her apprenticeship—

"Anakin." Obi-Wan murmured. His mustache curled into a slight frown. "I didn't come only for Ahsoka. The Jedi Council—"

Anakin rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. "Master…"

"The Council demands you return to the battlefield immediately." Obi-Wan pursed his lips as Anakin stood, pressing fingers to his temples, pacing to the foot of Ahsoka's bed.

"No."

"The clones can only hold for so long on their own. Without the leadership and strategy provided to them from their generals, the Republic will lose this war." Obi-Wan was talking low and fast now. "Two Commanders are already out of commission; we can't afford a General's absence—"

"She is my padawan." Anakin ground out, whirling with a scowl. "Master." He peered over Ahsoka's sleeping figure and rested a palm over the covers of her bed, then turned back to Obi-Wan. "You would have done the same for me."

Obi-Wan dipped his chin. A wan sheen slipped over his eyes. "Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of time."

Anakin's mouth drew a line. He glanced back at his padawan. There was something about a person sleeping that transformed them, so that their mouth softened and the lines in their face smoothed. Ahsoka was already a slight 15-year-old but seeing her at peace as she so rarely was, Anakin felt that she never should have been in this war to begin with. "She's so young, Obi-Wan."

"No younger than you were when you stole my speeder and went racing through the undercity."

Anakin didn't turn to see the forced smirk on his master's face, nor did he crack a smile of his own. "It's not the same."

Obi-Wan sighed and stood. Anakin imagined the pleasantries falling from his face, and heard the footsteps cross his direction. His hand pressed into Anakin's shoulder. "I know."

A thousand words were said in that simple phrase, bolstered by the gentle feathering of emotions through the training bond that still remained. Obi-Wan's thoughts were always airy like that. Like a breeze sweeping over his mind, cool on hot days. When Anakin replied, he did so in parallel beneath Obi-Wan's air current, his thoughts surging like white water, rapid and vigorous and soulful. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were opposites in many ways, but sharing this bond with his master, Anakin felt united. He understood the things Obi-Wan couldn't say aloud and vice versa.

It wasn't my idea to retrieve you. Obi-Wan voiced. This war is pitting our duties against one another.

She could have been killed. Again. Anakin replied. Or ended up like Bariss. Something muttered that he didn't know which was worse.

She wasn't. She didn't.

How long until our luck runs out?

There's no such thing as luck, Anakin. There is only the Force.

Has she blocked off your bond?

From Obi-Wan's end there was a pause. Not yet. But that may change once she wakes up. She wasn't exactly pleased with me—

What do you feel from her?

A whiff of displeasure breezed around Anakin's ears, but he felt his master reaching out to a bond beyond his awareness.

She's dreaming. He muttered, then added, not a nightmare, after sensing Anakin's concern. And though it wasn't obvious, he got the impression that Obi-Wan was sending her breaths of precautionary peace and safety. Anakin chewed on his lip.

You taught me to be a keeper of the peace, but Ahsoka must be a warrior, he poured into the bond. An emotional shield arose from Obi-Wan. Anakin tried his best to ignore it, choosing to perceive it as a rock in the river of their bond rather than an entire dam.

I hope one day she will be both. Obi-Wan's gale whispered, his connection curtailing.

For a long time, both men stood in silence, gazing over Ahsoka's softened features. Then the beep of a medical droid echoed from the hall and the door slid to the side. Anakin shifted to face the mechanical creature, crossing his arms.

"She's resting." He said, curtly.

"Padawan Tano directed me to inform her when Padawan Bariss Offee awoke from her comatose state. She is alert now." The droid droned.

"Thank you. We'll pass that along." Obi-Wan replied. The droid hovered out of the room with a whirl, the door shifting to grant its exit. Obi-Wan stroked his beard. "Just in time to speak with Master Luminara."

Anakin turned to him. "Luminara's here?"

"She and I came together. Her as a Master visiting her Padawan, and I as a messenger." He raised a brow at Anakin. "The Council is less than inclined to send a High General for a hospital visit but is swayed easier when another General is dodging their calls."

Anakin smirked. "Well, it got you here, didn't it?"

"And I suppose it would be rude not to pay a visit while on the station." Obi-Wan folded his hands behind his back, a smile playing on his lips. Anakin grinned wider. Despite what the Council thought, Ahsoka was as much his padawan as she was Anakin's.

"But the Council is serious, Anakin." Obi-Wan remarked. "The situation is desperate on Dantooine. Master Windu needs new troops if he is to hold his ground."

As quickly Anakin's grin appeared, it also disappeared. "I understand Master." He pursed his lips. "But I will stay until Ahsoka wakes up. She has been waiting for news on Bariss for days now."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Very well."

...

Hey, thanks for reading! I would love to hear from you, even if you just say "sup" in the comments, it genuinely means a lot to hear people are engaging this fic. So, leave a review if you feel so inclined.

Again, I will be updating on Thursdays from now on, so look for new chapters over the weekends!