Chapter 6

Splice was not accustomed to being in the presence of even one female, much less three of them. They made the clone medic nervous, in spite of the fact that they were much pleasanter to look at than his usual patients - or perhaps because of it.

The clone had attempted to treat General Kenobi's injuries - a bloody nose, a separated shoulder and numerous bruises and small lacerations - as soon as General Tachi, Duchess Satine and Senator Amidala had brought him aboard, but he had been summarily brushed aside as the three women insisted on caring for Kenobi themselves.

Now Splice had nothing better to do than watch, bemused, as the three women crowded around General Kenobi where he lay on the medbed. Senator Amidala was carefully dabbing bacta salve on each of the Jedi Master's many bruises. The Duchess was gently blotting away the blood on his face while General Tachi perched on a stool, her hands resting lightly on his left shoulder as she used one of those mysterious Jedi healing techniques to knit the ligaments back together. Splice had no idea how that worked, but he had often wished he had the gift. It seemed medical supplies were always scarce, and it would be nice if he could treat his injured brothers using only his hands.

"Siri!" General Kenobi exclaimed, suddenly propping himself up on one elbow.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" General Tachi asked, quickly withdrawing her hands from his shoulder. "You know Force-healing has never really been my thing."

"No, that isn't it. It's actually feeling much better now," Kenobi said. "I just wanted to make sure you still have the datachip. If we went through all of that for nothing..."

General Tachi pulled a datachip out of one of the pockets in her flight suit and held it up with a smile. "It's right here, safe and sound," she assured him, and he lay back down on the medbed, apparently satisfied.

"Are you comfortable, Obi-Wan?" the Duchess asked solicitously. "Can I get you anything?"

"Um... would you mind bringing me a drink of water?"

"Of course not. I'll be right back." The Duchess touched General Kenobi's hand softly for a moment and then swept past Splice out of the room.

"Do you need anything else?" Senator Amidala asked. "I can go and find you something to eat, if you want. I could probably talk the commissary into sending down some real food for you instead of those horrible field rations they're reheating now. You can smell it from three decks away." She shuddered expressively.

"Later, perhaps. What I really want right now is a clean tunic," Obi-Wan said wistfully, looking down at the blood-spattered, formerly white tunic he was wearing.

"I'll run down to your quarters and get one," the Senator said eagerly, and she also swept out of the room.

Splice wondered if he should offer to run an errand for General Kenobi, too, since he wasn't doing much good here. He continued to monitor the man's vital signs on the diagnostic screen on the wall, but everything looked normal and the clone's gaze was drawn back to the medbed, where General Tachi was now carefully massaging General Kenobi's shoulder and arm.

"Poor thing," she murmured, so low that Splice could barely hear her. "This has been a rough mission for you, hasn't it?"

"I don't know," General Kenobi said with a hint of a smile. "The last 15 minutes have been all right."

General Tachi pretended to get mad. "Just all right?" she demanded.

"Extremely all right," General Kenobi amended, and in response General Tachi laughed and playfully messed up his hair.

Splice shifted his feet uncomfortably. Maybe he really should go run an errand. It seemed like the two of them had forgotten he was there, anyway. But before he could make it to the door, the Duchess came back in with a glass of water and beckoned to him. "Help him sit up, please," she said, and Splice obeyed, pressing the control to raise the medbed up so General Kenobi could take a drink comfortably.

Then Senator Amidala returned, and the three women helped him take off the bloodstained tunic and put on the clean one, laughing as they got in each other's way in their eagerness to help.

"I don't get it," a familiar voice growled from behind Splice, and he turned around to see his assistant and fellow clone, Patch, had entered the room and was now watching the scene with a scowl.

"Don't get what?" Splice asked.

"That," Patch said, gesturing irritably at the women surrounding General Kenobi. "Here we have three beautiful women on board, and a whole ship full of men dying for a little female attention, and who do they lavish it on? The one man on the ship who isn't permitted to enjoy female attention!" He clenched his fists, clearly annoyed. "It just isn't right!"

The trip to Coruscant passed by uneventfully, and their ship landed near the Republic Executive Building. Duchess Satine was to meet with Chancellor Palpatine there to show him the datachip they had bought on Nar Shaddaa, which indicated Death Watch was indeed affiliated with the Separatists now.

Obi-Wan and Siri walked with Satine down the ship's embarking ramp. Two of the Chancellor's red-robed guards were waiting a short distance away to accompany her to the entrance of the dome-shaped building.

"Thank you both for your assistance," Satine said formally, making eye contact with each of them in turn. "You both took great personal risk to ensure my safety, and I am in your debt."

"It was our pleasure to serve you," Siri said, equally formally. Then abruptly she dropped the facade and gave Satine a quick hug, adding, "and thanks for the girl talk. I really appreciated your advice."

"You're welcome," Satine said, returning Siri's hug.

"Uh... advice?" Obi-Wan asked blankly.

"Girl stuff," Satine said dismissively. "You wouldn't be interested."

"I see," Obi-Wan said, uneasy for some reason he couldn't quite explain.

"Well, good luck with the Chancellor," Siri said to Satine.

"Remember that he's a politician, and they're not to be trusted," Obi-Wan added.

"I'll remember. Thank you," Satine said. She looked at Obi-Wan and seemed about to say something more, but then she hesitated.

Siri smiled knowingly and touched Obi-Wan's sleeve. "I'll see you in a minute," she said, and disappeared back into the ship, leaving Obi-Wan alone with Satine.

They stood there in silence for several long moments. Satine fiddled with the gold trim on the edge of her sleeve. Obi-Wan tucked his hands inside his robe and tried to put on his Serene Jedi Gaze, but he couldn't quite manage it. Not now.

"Do you think we'll see each other again?" Satine asked, her eyes suddenly locking onto his.

"I don't know..." Obi-Wan said slowly. "It's a big galaxy."

"And you must go wherever your duty takes you," Satine said softly. "Although you told me once..." she seemed to struggle for a moment. "You said, all those years ago, that you would stay with me if I asked you to."

"And I meant it then," Obi-Wan said gently, "But it would have been a mistake, Satine. My place is with the Order. I know that now. Perhaps we could have been happy, but I must follow my destiny, and you must follow yours. Your people need you."

Satine let out a long sigh. "It was something of a miracle that we were able to see each other even a second time, wasn't it?"

"A blessing," Obi-Wan agreed. "For which I am very grateful."

"So am I." Satine stood on her tiptoes and pressed a warm kiss against his cheek. "Take care of yourself, please, Obi-Wan. I worry about you. For a guardian of the peace, you seem to get in more than your fair share of fights."

Obi-Wan kissed her cheek. "I promise I'll try to negotiate my way out of them as much as I can. For you. But only if you promise me that you'll be careful, too. You seem to attract quite a bit of trouble yourself."

"I promise. May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan."

"May the Force be with you, Satine."

Padme, Siri and Obi-Wan flew to the Temple next. They'd been contacted by the Jedi Council and informed that Anakin had returned from Naboo, having successfully completed his mission to investigate the miners' uprising. Master Windu had invited Padme, as Senator of Naboo, to come to the Temple for the debriefing session.

When they stepped out of the ship onto one of the retractable landing platforms on the side of the Temple, Anakin was waiting for them. Obi-Wan tried not to be bothered by the way Anakin and Padme nearly ran to greet each other. It was easy to see the eager smile on Anakin's face as he murmured something to Padme in an undertone, too low for Obi-Wan to make out what it was, and Padme's smile was as brilliant as the sun as she whispered something back to Anakin.

Well, Anakin was a Knight now and he knew his business. He had assured Obi-Wan many times, when gently questioned, that his relationship with Padme was purely platonic, and despite Obi-Wan's uneasiness with the situation, he knew such a thing was possible. Hadn't he achieved it, with Siri?

Speaking of whom...

"I don't believe I've thanked you properly for rescuing me from Ventress," he told Siri.

"You're right, you haven't."

"I most sincerely and earnestly thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sparing me the unpleasantness of having to beat Ventress once again. Or, possibly, getting beat by her."

"That's very sweet, but it still isn't a proper thank you."

Obi-Wan tried again. "You are an incredibly skilled swordswoman, and a loyal friend, and I would have been in deep trouble if you hadn't been there to help me." He bowed to her and kissed the back of her hand. "You have my eternal gratitude."

"Nope. Try again."

"Oh, come on! What more do you want from me?"

A slow, wicked grin spread across Siri's face.

"Oh, no. No. No, no, no, no, no. I will not wash your socks for you again, Siri!"

"I wasn't thinking that!" Siri protested.

"Well, that's good, because cleaning is for droids."

A short silence fell between them.

"So," Obi-Wan said, clearing his throat, "what did you have in mind?"

A short distance away, Padme was telling Anakin all about their adventures on Nar Shaddaa.

"...and Mari Su distracted Ventress for a minute, but then Ventress destroyed her - it turned out she was actually a droid, can you believe that?"

"Ventress destroyed her?" Anakin asked sharply. His mechanical fist clenched in annoyance. "Kriff it all! I'll have to build her all over again!"

"Wait a minute... you built Mari Su?"

"Of course I did! Someone has to look out for Obi-Wan when I'm not around."

"Oh, Ani, for goodness sake! He's a Jedi Master! He can take care of himself!"

"I can't lose him, Padme," Anakin said tightly. "I won't."

Padme threw up her hands helplessly. "Well, I guess you know what you're doing. But if she's just a bodyguard, why did you have to make her look like that?"

"What was I supposed to do, make her ugly? I had to make sure Obi-Wan liked her well enough to let her hang around him. I guessed he might have a soft spot for redheads. I know I do."

Padme glared at Anakin.

"I mean, I like them second-best, after brunettes," Anakin amended hastily.

"Well, you should make the new version blonde," Padme said, partly mollified. "See?" She pointed at Obi-Wan and Siri.

Anakin and Padme watched the pair from a distance for a few moments. It was hard to miss the way she and Obi-Wan were smiling at each other, and the way they unconsciously mirrored each other's body language: leaning in toward each other, using similar hand gestures, and holding eye contact a bit longer than necessary.

"Oh, they always do that," Anakin said dismissively. "It doesn't mean anything. They're just friends."

But Padme was intrigued by the intensity in Obi-Wan's eyes as he looked at Siri. Something Siri said made him glance away momentarily, looking embarrassed, but then a grin stole across his face, and he looked back at Siri and laughed, his eyes twinkling.

But Obi-Wan's eyes raked past Padme as they traveled back to look at Siri, and something about them suddenly made her knees go weak. Padme found herself inexplicably breathless.

Anakin looked at her, concerned. "Come on, let's go in out of this wind," he said, taking Padme by the elbow.

Padme reluctantly followed Anakin toward the entrance, but she couldn't help but sneak a surreptitious look back at Obi-Wan as they walked.

So he was capable of passion after all.

If she had known that, before...

Would she have...?

Oh, well. Too late now.

"Well, Master Kenobi," Siri said, "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go home."

"Me, too," Obi-Wan said, putting his arm around Siri's shoulder and giving her a little squeeze. "Let's go home."

"I have a little confession to make," Siri said as they turned toward the entrance to the Temple.

Oh, no. "What is it?"

"I didn't really tell Satine about the interesting apparel you got to wear to the ball on Undiri."

"You didn't?" Obi-Wan asked, surprised. After a moment's thought, he added: "You know, Siri, you've been a little nicer to me than usual during this mission."

"Have I? I must be losing my touch."

They both laughed as together, they entered the Temple. They were home.

THE END

A/N: Many, many thanks to all of you who reviewed as I posted each chapter! To my other readers, I'd love to know what you thought! Good, bad, indifferent, just click that pretty little "Review" button and drop me a line! Thanks!