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Now I Know Part 2

by: Lahera

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Qui-Gon looked distant for a few seconds, but Obi-Wan thought nothing of it. He was likly thinking of ways to make this conference as safe as possible. All Obi-Wan saw was a look of fear and then his Master pushed him to the ground and landed on top of him. Suddenly with no warning, an enormous explosion rocked the compound. There were injured people and demolished architecture everywhere. When the dust cleared, Obi-Wan pulled him free and looked up. In horror he saw that a window had been smashed and a huge shard of glass was tedering dangerously threatening to come down on him and his Master. Obi-Wan turned back expecting to see his Master preparing to stand but he was not moving.

"Master, there is a piece a glass hanging a few meters above us I think may fall. We should move." Obi-Wan looked up again and when no response came he turned his attention to man on ground beside him. "Master?" Still no movement, and now concern began to flood through his 13 year-old body. Obi-Wan slowly eased himself toward his Master, careful not anger his already injured body. He slowly reached out a shaking hand toward Qui-Gon. Upon touching he noted warmth, and a instant of relief hit him gladly. Then he took a grib on his Master's shoulder and rolled him over to see...

Dread, fear, anger, worry, concern, panic. A dozen emotions hit Obi-Wan at once. He knew there had to be injured people here after an explosion like that one. Even so, it had never entered his mind that his Master could be one of them. Qui-Gon seemed indistructible, always alert, always ready. Then he remembered, Qui-Gon had pushed him to the ground to protect him, not concerned with himself.

Then out of the corner of his eyes he noted a fire was gathering intensity around a group of barrels just inside the hanger. He looked closer and read "Danger! Fuel for drilling riggs. Very flamable!" Then suddenly, as if they had been waiting for someone to notice them, the barrels ignited in a brillant display of fire and flying deprise.

Large pieces of metal flew through the air in all directions. Now it was Obi-Wan's turn to protect his Master. He had just enought time to moved as close as he could and shield his Master from the flying razor sharp pieces.

All he remembered is hearing something screaming toward him and intense pain in his upper back. He felt light-headed and then sank down next to his fallen Master.

With a start, Obi-Wan awoke in a cold sweat in his quarters aboard the diplomatic transport. He looked at the time and they were a little more then 5 hours out from Coruscant still on their way to Recellan. He looked around to see Qui-Gon watching him from the bed just next to his.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Obi-Wan apologized rubbing his temples. "I just had the strangest dream..." Qui-Gon cut him off mid-sentence, "It was not a dream, it was a vision given to us both by the Force."

Then Obi-Wan saw that his Master was pale and noticable shaken as well and said, "You saw it too?" Obi-Wan asked as if he could hardly believe it.

"Yes," his Master said simply.

"Is that future certain, or can we still change it?" Obi-Wan asked with increased uneasiness.

"We are always able to change the future since it has not yet happened," Qui-Gon then looked as though he was wishing something. "I knew I should have told you to stay at the Temple."

Obi-Wan, while still a little disoriented, looked confused, "You knew about this before?"

"Not exactly," now he turned back to his apprentice, "I knew something was going to happen soon, but not what or when. Now this vision has answered the question."

"Is that why you asked me if I wanted to stay at the Temple and let you handle this alone? You knew this mission could be dangerous?" Obi-Wan asked happy that his new Master thought enought to want to protect him.

Qui-Gon gave a half smile. He was impressed at how quickly his apprentice was figuring him out, "Yes, that was part of the reason, and I wanted you to have more time with your friends."

Obi-Wan looked at his Master, there was obvious concern on his face when he looked at the boy, "Well I don't want anything to happen to either of us. So what can we do to prevent this visions from coming true?"

Qui-Gon looked at Obi-Wan, he was touched by the boy's honesty. He didn't want anything to happen to Obi-Wan or himself either. "I'm not sure. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"Master?" Obi-Wan looked intently to his Master.

"Yes, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon answered hearing not only with his ears but through the Force as well.

"If we can't find a way to stop this from happening," he looked very serious, "I don't want you to do anything to save me that may endanger yourself. You have more experience and you're more important then I am."

Qui-Gon looked into his young Padawan's eyes. He was just about to say something very similar. Qui-Gon had grown to admire his student's sence of purpose and caring. Obi-Wan would never intentionally do anything to hurt another and would not want them to endanger themselves on his account.

Qui-Gon put a reassuring hand on his apprentice's shoulder, "I won't if you will do the same for me." There was a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Obi-Wan picked up the hint and said, "I'm serious. You have much more to offer then I do, these are your missions. The Senate trusts you, not me. And besides, it's my responsibility to protect you if you need me." It sounded strange when it came out. A Padawan protecting a Master? But in their short time together the need had arisen a number of times. And the need went both ways.

Obi-Wan had paid attention in classes well. It was a rule that if an apprentice were to see a Master in danger, they were to do anything to help. Even if that meant taking a hit for the Master. Qui-Gon knew from his past experience that Obi-Wan was the kind to take the hit. Qui-Gon had never liked that rule because it made it sound like the students weren't important. He had just allowed himself to become close to this new Padawan, he would not lose him because of a rule created over 25 000 years-ago.

Qui-Gon looked at Obi-Wan thoughtfully, he was beginning to see more and more what Yoda saw in the boy. He had hidden talents that weren't noticable but there if you knew what to look for. "Obi-Wan, I don't want you to take any major risks for me either. Let's make a deal that we will warn each other, and help when ever possible. I am your Master, and I can't teach you if you are dead now can I?"

Afraid that Qui-Gon would not react well to his feelings, Obi-Wan looked out the window not being able to answer his Master eye to eye, "I can't promise that. Except for Yoda, you're all I have now. I hope you understand."

Now there was an erie silence between them. There, they're feelings for each other were out in the open. Obi-Wan half expected to be admonished for contradicting a Master, but...what????

Qui-Gon reached out and took his apprentice by the left arm in a firm grip, and turned Obi-Wan around to face his him. Qui-Gon seemed to looked at Obi-Wan for hours, memorizing every centimeter of him. The look in Qui-Gon's eyes was the most intense feeling young Obi-Wan had ever felt. It wasn't anger, or dismissal like he usually got...it was...the strongest most pure kind of...LOVE. Obi-Wan realized what was happening, his Master was opening up that one place in his heart Obi-Wan had never been permitted before now. The place that had been scarred so deeply by Xanatos' betrayal all those years ago.

Yoda was right all along. They both felt it now. All the years that Qui-Gon had visited the Temple and always seemed to notice Obi-Wan scampering around, being the one Master to come to the Temple the day Obi-Wan had been kicked out for misbehaving. Ending up on the Monument together, Qui-Gon caring for his injuries after the fight with the Hutt. Obi-Wan being able to call out on the island that the Arconans were dying then Qui-Gon being able to call back a warning about the draigons. The way Qui-Gon knew after tring the comlink with no answer that Obi-Wan was in trouble on Bandomeer, feeling intense worry watching the happens at the edge of the Mining Platform, the way he would have done anything to stop Obi-Wan from being killed in the mine. The terror he felt at never getting *his* Obi-Wan back after the memory wipe on Phindar. Waiting to learn the boy's plan before acting...and so much more...

They saw it light as day now. Fate, the Force, the universe, what ever you call it. It wanted them to be together because they were right for each other in every way, the perfect father/son relationship. Then as if in response to some unspoken order, they found themselves in long tender hug. Each felt so at home, and at peace.

Qui-Gon still holding Obi-Wan makes a promise, "I will never, ever do anything to hurt you, or to drive you away. I will try to never make you cry for as long as we are together."

Obi-Wan felt warmth like never before. He saw a blur a realized it was from tears of joy, he answered, "I promise the same, and I will never keep anything from you and be a friend for as long as you want me."

* * * * * * * * *

Several light-years back on the giant, gem-like world of Coruscant, a small Jedi Master listening during a Council meeting stops the group. His co-head Mace asks, "What is wrong Master Yoda?"

Yoda smiles deeply, "Wrong? No nothing is wrong. Right, very right everything is for them now."

The other members of Council were confused until finally they all sensed it too. Somewhere in the expanse of space, a Master and Padawan had taken the final step of closness and had become ONE. Everyone smiled. A calm decended over the Jedi Temple, felt by student, Knight and Master alike.

* * * * * * * * *

Then after an eternity or two, the two broke apart softly. They looked at each other somehow feeling different...closer...more connected.

"Did you feel it?" the Master questioned, already knowing the answer.

His Padawan seemed to be feeling a million things at once, "Yes. That was it wasn't it? The final step?"

"It was. Now we are ONE, only to separated by death. And even after that, bond will still live on in the Force." They had another shared moment in memory. Looking into the future to their lives together, the good and the bad. Things were as they should be, but they still remembered the shared dream the Force had sent them that morning. It wanted them together, and it warned them to be careful for danger lay ahead.

TBC