Archive: M_A, SWAL and my home page:
http://members.tripod.com/~AiR_WSW/Athea.html
Category: AU
Pairing: Q/O
Rating: G
Series: Anne Higgins' Bonding Through the Years
Summary: Qui-Gon returns from a mission and needs a little comfort from his
six year old bondmate.
Warnings: none
Obi-Wan woke up all at once like a clap of thunder had sounded in his ear. He sat up in bed and looked around the creche, wondering what could have awakened him. Nothing. No one having a nightmare or sneaking out to play a practical joke or even just getting up for a glass of water.
The creche Master wasn't at her desk, he could feel it. And that wasn't the only thing he could feel, his face lightened in his biggest grin. Qui-Gon was home. Finally. Obi-Wan slipped out of bed and grabbed his robe, putting it on and tying the sash tight around his waist. Crawling under his bed, he found his soft slippers and pulled them on.
Creeping quietly through the beds of his creche mates, he padded silently down the corridor and through the door into the outer hall, staying in the shadows. Tilting his head and concentrating on his link with his bond-mate, he frowned. Then shrugging, he followed the call down the back stairs to the side door that led to the gardens.
The gardens were dark and shadowed under the scattering of stars overhead. He liked being outside in the dark with the twinkling lights his only guide. It was an adventure and he loved adventures almost as much as he loved Qui-Gon. He frowned again and picked up his speed at what he was feeling from his bondmate.
Sadness.
Heaviness.
Tears not allowed to flow.
Kind of like when his family left and he was alone with all the other kids in the creche for the first time. Except, he'd had Quigee to hold him and make him feel safe. And Obi-Wan wondered for the very first time, who his bondmate had to make him feel safe. He was so big and strong and brave and smart. Who could he turn to for comforting when something bad happened?
And something very bad had happened, he could tell. Weaving his way through the stone sculptures that loomed above and around him, he followed the thread of their bond straight to the shores of Mist Pond. Even in the dark, he could see the seated man throwing stones into the still waters. Sadness surrounded him like the mist rising from the deep blue waters. Obi-Wan was almost afraid to startle him.
"Imp. You should be asleep."
Obi-Wan threw himself into welcoming arms that reached out for him. "Quigee! You're home."
"Yes, I am." Warm hands cradled him against his chest while soft lips pressed a kiss to his temple.
"Sad." Obi-Wan hugged his neck and smacked his cheek with his biggest, wet kiss. "Why?"
Turmoil flowed for a moment before being locked away behind the wall that Obi-Wan always pictured as cold stone reaching higher than the sky. It made him sad that his bondmate felt he had to hide from him.
"You know I had to go on a mission to Seevergon. There were two sides to the dispute and a hidden agenda that no one talked about." His voice always made Obi-Wan feel better but tonight, even it was sad. "I'd been there for a week when fighting broke out again."
"Bad men?"
"Frustrated men. Men and women who felt they had nothing left to lose. When the killing started, I kept the lines of communication open to remind them that there was another way."
"They didn't listen?" Obi-Wan couldn't believe that they wouldn't pay attention to his Qui-Gon. He was smarter than anybody except maybe Master Yoda.
"No."
Obi-Wan felt the shiver that ran through the large man he was pressed so closely against. He hugged him tighter. "It will be all right, Quigee."
"I failed."
"They didn't listen."
"There had to be something else I could have said or done. If I'd been older or wiser . . ." his voice died away into the night.
"But you are older. And wiser than anybody." Obi-Wan pulled back a little and looked indignantly at the big man.
"I'm only twenty nine, Imp. That is not such a great age." Qui-Gon's teeth gleamed in the faint light from the glowing Adorus lilies.
Obi-Wan shook his head, not quite able to comprehend such a large number except as part of a numbers table like they had in his one of his classrooms. "Everybody has choices. They chose not to listen. To be angry instead."
"Perhaps." Qui-Gon was still hiding behind that wall that Obi-Wan hated. And there was something else wrong. The hand that stroked his head trembled.
"Did they hurt you?" Obi-Wan said fiercely, pulling on the white tunic he'd been pressed up against.
"I was wounded slightly while shepherding some refugees to safety. But I'm all right now."
Obi-Wan glared at him and his bondmate chuckled gently. "Truly, little one, I'm almost as good as new. The healers released me before I came out here to meditate."
"Okay." Obi-Wan accepted that Qui-Gon would have told him if it was very bad. "Where does it ache?"
"It was my left shoulder, Imp. And yes, there is still a shadow of pain but that will be gone by morning. What are you doing?"
Obi-Wan knelt up from his comfortable nest in Qui-Gon's lap and gently kissed the broad shoulder under the linen tunic. "There. Mama always used to 'kiss it better' when I fell down. When I was little." He looked right into his bondmate's eyes earnestly to remind him that he was a big boy now.
Those blue eyes blinked rather rapidly for a moment before Qui-Gon nodded and hugged him close again. "Thank you, Obi-Wan. She was quite right. You did help make it better."
Obi-Wan nestled against that broad chest with his head over the slowly beating heart. "Love you, Quigee."
"I love you, too, Obi-Wan." A bearded cheek came to rest lightly on his head. "More than anything in the world."
"More than ice qualla frost?"
A chuckle rumbled through his whole body. "More than qualla frost, Imp. Go to sleep now. We'll talk more tomorrow."
"'kay." And Obi-Wan fell asleep, safe in his best friend's arms.
Master Yoda left the two beside the quiet water and slowly made his way to the creche to placate the Creche Master who was probably beginning to panic at the loss of one of her charges. //Comfort he is. Good for each other they are. Not needed am I.//
He touched the Living Force and saw the tangled web of past, present and future. //Not this time.//
The end for now. Thanks, Anne, for letting us play in your wonderful creation.