Author: Chaos
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Qui-gon and Obi-wan and the universe they come from, along with their vehicle and all their luggage belong to George Lucas exclusively. They are respectfully borrowed with no intent to profit thereby or infringe on the copyright thereof.



Section 3

Obi-wan ended up pegging it at about seventy-eight, but since that was where she�d had it most of the trip, Debrah didn�t figure that their chances of getting pulled over were all that high. After the first half hour he relaxed and chatted with her as he drove them all the way into Sparks, Nevada, just outside of Reno, where Debrah had them stop for fuel for both themselves and Jinx. It was already going on five o�clock and they still had another five or six hours of driving to go, so she just pulled up to a drive-thru and ordered them all value meals from the first burger joint she saw. After letting him drive that short time on the open desert, Obi-wan stayed in the front of the car with Debrah to watch everything she did.

Coming over the Sierra-Nevadas, the central valley of northern California stretched out in front of them in all its industrial, suburbanized glory, broken up by small patches of leftover greenery. Debrah refueled the car one last time just outside of Sacramento and bought a couple of road maps while at the station. Qui-gon was interested in seeing what the maps of the area looked like, since it was hard to get a feel for things when in a car, so she spread the maps out on Jinx�s hood during another leg stretching break and showed him approximately where she�d picked the two of them up, the route they had come and what there was left to go. The tall man�s finger had traced the state borders, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Debrah could tell the second they crossed the 17-880 interchange. It was as if a great pressure had lifted off her heart and she could finally breathe free and clear again. Things had looked familiar and welcome for some time before that, but it wasn�t until that moment she really knew she was going to be home that very night. Darkness had settled in around them and the other cars were little more than streaking pairs of headlights in the blackness. The twists and turns of the highway were so familiar that Debrah could probably have driven the rest of the way home blindfolded. The trees of the mountains closed in on either side of the roadway, dark and welcome.

�We�re almost there, guys.� She couldn�t keep the excitement out of her voice. All the fears and worries about whether or not it would really be home had fled as they grew ever nearer to their destination. The relief and sheer familiarity had pushed away any lingering doubts. Home was home and that�s where she was headed, whether it was empty or not. She�d been home alone before.

Debrah�s passengers had stayed awake the entire trip. Whether it was from politeness or interest in the passing scenery, she didn�t know, but she was grateful for it. It gave her someone other than the car and herself to talk to, even if they didn�t ever say a whole lot in response. There was a comfortable companionship about them that made it easy to talk to them, regardless of their silence. She never got the impression that they weren�t listening or were just humoring her and she was more grateful than she could say for that.

When they finally exited the highway and drove deeper into the mountains, Debrah grinned at the men. �Ten more minutes. That�s it.�

�You�ve been away a long time, haven�t you?� Qui-gon�s low voice issued from the darkness behind her right shoulder.

�Yes, and no.� She clicked on the high beams so she could see farther ahead on the road, though goodness knew Debrah didn�t really need it. She could have driven that road in her sleep and had driven it with no more light than that provided by the moon and stars on more than one occasion. �Yes, because I�ve been away attending school for the last five years, and no, because I came home every summer for four months and I was home for winter break not much more than four months ago.�

�Away, but not.�

�Exactly. I�ve lived there my whole life, Qui-gon. I�ve never known anything else.�

�Where did you stay while at school?�

Debrah gave a derisive snort. �Apartments and dorm rooms, but they don�t count. You can put up with anything, and I do mean anything, when you know it�s only going to last a little while.� She braked suddenly to avoid a suicidal doe and her trailing bambi, then continued as if nothing had happened. �My roommates were cool, for the most part, but they weren�t family. Maybe I could have worked a little harder to make them family, but I already had one, why look for another?� The woman shrugged, trying to keep her tone nonchalant, but she knew that she couldn�t keep all the feeling out of her voice. As it was the next sentence came out barely above a whisper.

�How was I to know that I�d lose them?�

Qui-gon was saved from trying to come up with a response. The car turned the last corner and pulled into the driveway.

Debrah just sat there for a long moment. All the windows were dark. There wasn�t a single light on anywhere in the house. She knew that she shouldn�t have expected one, but still, the longing for old routines was strong. There were so many wonderful memories tied to that simple, little structure of wood and glass and plaster. So much laughter and tears and love.

She remembered the summer that she and her younger siblings had helped re-roof the house with their father. There was a picture of them all up there posing in the morning light. Justin and Christine had teased her mercilessly for not ever going near the edge, but Debrah had held fast. There was no way on God�s green Earth that she was going to sit next to an almost three story drop and glue tar paper to the roof. She vastly preferred to sit well within the roof�s boundaries and wield the staple-gun in securing the actual shingles.

There was the time they�d had to drill a new well, right in the front yard, and the whole yard, front, side and part of the back, had been awash in grey mud. Christine had changed into her bathing suit and played in the turgid stream of liquid dirt as it oozed its way along the contours of the ground. Her nickname for quite a while thereafter had been �mudpuppy.�

There had been games of hide-and-seek or sardines that they�d played with all the lights in the house off. It was amazing how many places there were where someone could remain undiscovered for some time in an average home.

All these things passed through her mind in a quick flashing instant as she sat and stared and then dribbled away. Her parents were gone. Her siblings were all grown up. There would not be any more memories like that for this poor house.

With a determined sigh, Debrah shut off the engine. �This is it, guys. Last stop, everybody out.� The tired woman opened the back door of the car while Obi and Qui climbed out. She grabbed her box of music and shouldered her backpack. The rest of it could all wait for tomorrow.

As Debrah approached the front door, a familiar mottled brown shape came streaking out of the darkness to wait right at the threshold. Koshka, the paranoid tortoise shell cat, wanted in desperately enough that she would even endure the presence of two strangers, although she did shy back and forth a moment in indecision before bolting through the door the instant it was open enough for her to squeeze her slim body through.

Debrah walked in right behind the cat and moved out of the entryway into the family room. She dropped her stuff on a couch, heeled out of her tennis shoes, and groped for the nearest light switch when a muffled thud and a muttered curse heralded a minor, darkness borne injury.

�Sorry,� she apologized as the lights flickered on. �I sometimes forget that not everybody is intimately familiar with the layout of my home.� Looking closely she couldn�t tell which one had knocked their foot against the wall, but neither seemed to be in any pain, so she shrugged it away. A glance at her watch, figuring in the time zone change, showed the hour to be well after midnight. �I can check the fridge and see if there�s anything edible left if you�re hungry, or I can show you to a room so we can all sleep.�

�Please, do not trouble yourself on our account.� Obi objected before Qui-gon could. �You have helped us quite a bit already.�

�On the contrary, it is you who have helped me.� Debrah stated. She could see, could almost feel their reluctance to accept that. �I can see that you are going to argue with me about it anyway, though, so let�s just say that things are pretty even all around and let it go for the night, hmm?� Both men gave her a slow acknowledging nod that came off more like a miniature bow than anything else.

She led them up the stairs, flicking lights on ahead of them and off behind as they went. �If you can hang on a few minutes, I�ll just change the sheets. I doubt anyone�s been here since . . .� pain welled up at the thought and she let the sentence trail off, thrusting the intruding emotion back behind the wall she had built for it while trying to finish school. Debrah didn�t want to think about it right now.

The woman opened the linen closet at the top of the stairs and started pulling out clean sheets. Pausing a moment in thought, Debrah turned and sized the two men up. �Hmm, Obi, I�ll put you in my little brother�s old room. He�s got an extra long single. Qui-gon, the only bed we�ve got here that�ll fit you is my parent�s bed.� She switched two of the sheet sets in her hands for others in the closet that fit the aforementioned mattresses.

�Right this way, if you please.� Her parents� room first. Might as well get it over with right away. Debrah moved around the side of the large king-sized bed that dominated the right end of the room and clicked on one of the hanging lamps that lit this end of the room and desperately fought back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her control. With Obi-wan�s help she quickly stripped off the old sheets and had the new ones in place in no time flat. While they worked, she pushed away her childhood memories of running into the room to leap up onto the bed, of giggling when her father had rolled over to tickle her, or the times she had come in crying from a nightmare in search of comfort. More recently, there had been times when she�d perched on the foot of the bed and had long serious talks with them about school or careers. It wasn�t easy, but she walled away the pain and loneliness any memory of her parents brought with it.

�There you go, Mr. Jinn.� Debrah smiled at him as best she could, but she knew that it was a rather sickly and weak looking thing that she plastered across her face. �Sleep well.�

She avoided the older man�s gaze and left quickly. That man was far too perceptive for her ease of mind right now and Debrah couldn�t handle being asked any questions. She was just too tired, physically, mentally and emotionally. She led Obi-wan to the next room down the hall and he helped her change the sheets again. She gathered up the old sheets and walked to the door.

�Good night, Obi-wan. Pleasant Dreams.� Debrah shut the door behind her, then went back to the closet. She dumped her own set back on the shelf, deciding that she was too tired to bother tonight and kicked the old sheets into a heap on the floor of the closet, giving herself a mental note to wash them, though she knew she would probably forget.

Debrah flicked off the hall light and shuffled her way into her room. Carefully feeling her way across the floor, she almost dashed her toes against one of the bedposts. Ducking under the upper bunk, she flopped bonelessly onto the bottom one. Too tired to even undress, she simply let her eyes close and sleep came hardly a breath later.

*******

Later, Debrah found it strange that she felt so safe and comfortable with two complete strangers in her house. Her mother�s paranoia about thieves and muggers and rapists had long ago rubbed off on her. Normally she wouldn�t have had one thing more to do with two strangers on the road, not once she�d ascertained that they weren�t hurt.

There was absolutely no reason for her to have changed her ways so abruptly, but it just felt right to help them. She�d �felt right� about that tall new girl in junior high and they�d been friends for over twelve years. Debrah rarely questioned feelings like that. Any priest or rabbi would probably have told her that it was God�s way of helping her along in life, that it was the Holy Spirit whispering to her heart. That might have been the way of it, for Debrah had certainly never been led astray by this feeling before and so she wasn�t going to let the fact that these two men were not only complete strangers, but a little odd to boot get in the way of helping them.

*******

Later that morning, Debrah awoke to the familiar sensation of small warm bodies nestled up next to hers. The only cat that had stayed small enough to curl up between her shoulder and neck was little black Portia and the hot lump against her side could only be Koshka. The felines complained with muted rumbles and muttered meows as she sat up, keeping her head low to avoid the bottom of the upper bunk, and reflexively looked at her watch to see if she had over slept. Groaning in dismay, she flopped back down when she realized that not only had she not over slept, but had no reason to get up at such an ungodly hour. Unfortunately her body had other ideas. It was still trying to get her up in time for classes she no longer had to attend. On top of that was the fact that Provo was an hour off from Los Gatos. It was barely after five-thirty in the morning and her body wasn�t going to let her go back to sleep.

Debrah opened the cupboards that her father had salvaged from a demolished house after the earthquake of �89 and dug out some old sweats. She changed out of her stale, slept-in clothes and padded silently down the hall to check on her guests. In the dim lighting of the false dawn that seeped in through the windows, she could see that Qui-gon lay on his back in the middle of her parents� bed. His hands were folded neatly over his stomach, long hair still tidy as though he had not moved since laying down his head. In the next room over, Obi-wan was sprawled face down, his head and one arm hanging off the side of the mattress. He�d kicked off his blankets and the sheet was half pulled out and twisted around the young man�s legs. Since both were still sleeping soundly, she crept quietly down the stairs.

The blond woman plunked herself down in the middle of the family room floor and began her morning routine. First she stretched every muscle in her body. Then, starting at the most basic technique she knew and working her way up to the most difficult ones, Debrah practiced every punch, kick, block and strike she knew. After moving out to school, she�d neglected her martial arts training, but this last year she had found it a wonderful way to reduce the mounting stress brought on by classes she desperately needed to pass in order to graduate. She didn�t want to fall back out of practice, so every morning she went over everything she knew. As the old adage goes: Use it or lose it. It also gave her time when she could turn her mind off completely and just let her body move. She didn�t have to think, didn�t have to feel. She could just do and just be. These last few weeks that had been important.

In between exercises, she would pause to pet the assorted felines that had decided they had been without human companionship far too long. Portia, Koshka, and Malephicent all took turns pestering her for attention.

As soon as Debrah was done drilling herself in Tae Kwon Do, she tied on her discarded tennis shoes and stepped up on the tread mill. Much as she hated running, she hated aerobics even more, and it was one of the fastest ways to keep her cardio-vascular system up to snuff, so she started the infernal machine up and hopped on for a morning jog.

*******

When Obi-wan awoke faint light was seeping into the room from the window. Dawn was slowly approaching. It took him a moment to orient himself. Where was he? Oh yes, the hyperspace accident, the strange transport, the woman. The young man slipped out of his room and moved the short distance down the hall to his master�s door. He knocked softly. �Come in, Padawan,� Qui-gon called.

�Sorry if I disturbed you, Master, but-� he broke off. He could sense that the older man was not in the least disturbed so he stopped his unnecessary apology. �Master,� he smiled as realization jerked him straight. �The Force is back.�

Qui-gon raised his eyebrows in mild rebuke. �I doubt very much that is was ever gone, Obi-wan. Only our ability to sense and use it was missing.� Obi-wan grimaced in chagrin and knelt down on the floor next to his master.

Both men closed their eyes and fell into the Force as it swirled around them. It was definitely there, but it moved differently, slower than usual. Obi-wan could feel the presence of Qui-gon beside him. Debrah was downstairs, but what she was doing he could not sense. Considering that yesterday he could not even sense the presence of Qui-gon, this limitation did not bother him as much as it could have.

After their meditations, the two Jedi probed at their returning sensitivity to the Force. �The Force is weaker here.� Qui-gon stated. �It moves strangely, which would account for our inability to access it yesterday. We had to adapt to the change before we could touch it again.�

Obi-wan relaxed and let the book he had been trying to levitate settle back onto the nightstand it rested upon. The item had not risen smoothly to glide into his hand, but with jerks and starts. It had not risen more than a centimeter or two and had refused to budge in any direction that was not strictly up or down. He turned a slightly troubled look on his master as Qui-gon continued. �I imagine that it will be some time before we return to the level to which we are accustomed, if indeed, we ever do.�




Section 4