Author: Cerulean Blue
Title: Quiet Time
Rating: PG
Archive: blue.blade, anywhere else, just drop a line
Disclaimer: I don't own Anakin or Obi-Wan
Summary: Anakin and Obi-Wan spend some quality time together
*********************
Rain. There was nothing Anakin Skywalker hated more than rain. Well, maybe
one thing...his Master breathing down his neck. He was eleven for crying
out loud! You'd think that Master Kenobi would allow him to go for firewood
alone, but alas, this wasn't so. All Anakin wanted was for his Master to go
back and work on getting the tent up so they'd be dry tonight.
"Anakin..that's green wood. It'll never burn, especially not in this rain.
You need to get dry tinder." Anakin cast a bleary eye over to his master,
giving off the appearance that he knew EXACTLY what he was doing. To tell
the truth, he had no clue, but he wasn't about to let his master know that.
"Master, I know what I'm doing. Just shut up so I can concentrate. I think
I have some power converters in my pack back at camp. I can re-wire those
to give us some heat, and we can use glow sticks for light tonight. Then we
won't have to worry about tending the fire in this rain." Obi-Wan looked
taken aback for a moment, but he allowed his padawan's flight of fancy to go
on.
One burned hand, three stacks of greenwood and a fried power converter
later, Obi-Wan and Anakin came to their first mutual agreement in two years:
screw it all and let's ignite the whole pile with our lightsabers. That
done, they began work on the tent. The rain was still coming down, a steady
drip that soon became a downpour. After wrestling with the canvas and
flimsy plastisteel rods, Obi-Wan finally managed to get the tent to look
like something remotely hospitable. He ushered Anakin inside and crawled in
soon after.
"Force, it's raining like crazy out there. I always liked the rain. I had
a girlfriend once that liked to.." Obi-Wan cut off his musing when Anakin
started making faces at him and scrunching his nose up. He couldn't help
but laugh. It seemed like only yesterday when he thought humanoid girls
were a species that should never be mentioned. Then, he woke up one morning
when he was thirteen and it was all downhill from there.
In some ways, he was glad that Anakin had become his padawan at an early
age. He was able to share a more father-son relationship with the small boy
than most masters ever did. Having obtained their padawans long past the
impressionable years, other masters had a young training partner, not a son.
Yes, Obi-Wan was beginning to consider Anakin as his son. Sometimes, when
he was meditating, his thoughts would drift within the Unifying Force to
what life would be like if he weren't a Jedi. He'd have a wife, of course,
and a little boy, a lot like Anakin. Somehow, Obi-Wan felt cheated that he
didn't get the "normal" life like all the other "regular joes" out there.
While most people would give their right arm to be a Jedi, Obi-Wan longed
for normalcy and routine.
Sure, he loved his life as a Jedi, but sometimes he wished that he COULD
fall in love and start a family. However, that need to settle down had been
fulfilled some by Anakin's introduction into his life. Obi-Wan knew that as
much as he helped Anakin in dealing with loss and pain, he'd done the same
for Obi-Wan himself.
To Anakin, Obi-Wan was this lofty father figure that he wanted nothing more
than to impress. Somehow, unconditional love only seemed to come from his
mother...as far as the Jedi were concerned, he needed to prove himself at
every hurdle. Deep down, he realized that his master would be proud of him
no matter what, but that didn't stop him from trying to be the best padawan
ever. No matter the subject, Anakin was going to try his hardest to be the
top of his class. As far as fighting and flying went, Anakin was tops, no
question. However, in his public relations and negotiation skills, he was
sorely lacking. In order to make up for that, he had to work for hours,
drilling himself until he had everything exactly right.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan yawned through his address and Anakin laughed a little.
His poor, OLD master. Obi-Wan caught onto his line of thinking and laughed
a little himself, stroking his growing beard in a decidedly-geezerlike
manner.
"Gods, Master. Do you have to be so dramatic?" Obi-Wan laughed again, his
eyes crinkling and his face bright with a smile.
"Just wanted to tell you how wonderful you are, my VERY young apprentice."
Anakin grinned and mock-slapped his master.
"Thanks, my dear old master."
-----------------------------