One Path Chapter 27--Destiny's Way
Title: Destiny's Way
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to go," the med droid told him briskly.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2000 words
Category:Angst/Drama
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 27. Set during the first year of an alternate Clone Wars era. Begins from Padme's POV before the last scene of Chapter 26.
Destiny's Way
Typho almost didn't let her attend the Loyalist Committee's audience with Palpatine. It took the combined efforts of Padme, Bail, and Mon Mothma to convince him, and even then the captain was far from happy. The audience itself was largely uneventful. Though the Committee members were all concerned about the Chancellor's ever-increasing executive powers, they also desired to maintain an amicable relationship with the head of state. As such, little was accomplished, but Padme felt strongly that it was a vital part of their responsibilities as representatives of their constituents to at least voice their opposition to Palpatine's usurping of the Senatorial power.
As she stepped through the door into the hall, Padme was so frustrated with the wasted morning and with Palaptine himself that she almost didn't hear Typho order her back. He leapt in front of her the instant before the innocent-seeming Protocol droid exploded. Padme felt Dorme pull her back in a futile attempt to keep her out of harm's way, but Typho himself was thrown back toward them in a powerful rush of heat, flame and flying shrapnel. His body collided with Padme's, and she screamed as she felt a hot, jagged shard of metal pierce her abdomen.
Through the haze of pain and terror, Padme heard blaster fire and struggled to see what was going on. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and she thought for a confused moment that it was Obi Wan, but the voice wasn't his.
"Padme, can you hear me?" the voice asked. It was familiar…but whose?
"Bail?" she realized suddenly. Then a fresh wave of panic struck and she tried to pull away. "Bail, the baby!"
"Be still," he told her firmly.
She shook her head weakly. "No, I--Anakin's dream--Anakin…my baby…"
***
Anakin had borrowed Padme's starship for the unplanned rescue, and the two men now sat tense and silent in the cockpit. Ventress hadn't disappeared but lay in wait for them as they left Yavin 4, forcing Anakin to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the unarmed craft until they finally lost her for good. Now, the Padawan's hands moved lightly, expertly over the nav controls, jockeying for position in Coruscant's thickly congested approach lanes. News reports were already filtering over the open com channel, but they did nothing to ease the tightness in Obi Wan's chest.
Senator Padme Amidala Kenobi was evacuated from Chancellor Palpatine's office yesterday and rushed into emergency surgery after an explosion took the life of her head of security and two bodyguards. Following the detonation of a bomb which had been smuggled into the Executive Office inside a protocol droid, Senator Kenobi's remaining security personnel engaged three armed bounty hunters, who had been disguised as Senatorial Aides, while the Chancellor remained safely hidden under his desk. A subsequent investigation spearheaded by Senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma traced the assassination attempt back to a member of Senator Kenobi's own security team, who appeared to be under some form of mind-control. There was no word yet on the condition of the Senator or her unborn child.
"Are they…?" Anakin broke off, shaking his head.
Obi Wan sharply toward him. He could sense the fear and guilt that raged through the Padawan, but he was in no condition to admonish Anakin now. Surprisingly, he also thought that he detected compassion.
"Not yet," he whispered.
"I'll get us down there," Anakin promised. "I'm trying to find another approach lane, something less heavily used."
Obi Wan nodded, unable to do more.
It seemed hours later by the time they actually set down on the Landing Platform. Still leaning part of his weight on Anakin's shoulder, Obi Wan hobbled down the ramp, where they were met by Master Windu. They had contacted the temple after losing Ventress, and Anakin had apologized to his Master, who promised him rather pointedly that they would be discussing the matter upon his return to Coruscant.
It was Obi Wan who spoke first, though, quietly asking the Jedi, "Has there been any news?"
"I'm afraid that Padme was taken back into surgery an hour ago," Windu replied in a subdued tone.
"And the baby?" Obi Wan pressed, willfully forcing his lungs to work, commanding his mouth to form the words despite the palpable weight that settled over him.
"He is stable, at least for the moment," the Master told him as the group began to move away from the ship.
Little else was said. Anakin hailed them a taxi, which Mace directed to the hospital where Padme had been taken. Once there, they were escorted into a huge, white-walled room lined with incubation units, where a medical droid brought them all the way to the far end.
There was nothing of the Jedi Master in Obi Wan Kenobi as took in the sight of his newborn son. All the tension and worry that he had been unable to dismiss on the trip back from Yavin 4 finally broke. In a rush of relief and happiness, tears streamed his face, and stepped away from Anakin to press his palm against the plasteel barrier separating them. Was it his imagination that he sensed recognition?
"I'm told that if Senator Kenobi had been struck a centimeter lower, he would have been killed," the Too-Onebee unit remarked.
"The Force is strong with him," Obi Wan said tightly.
"Indeed," Windu agreed with a deep nod.
The words seemed to belie themselves, though, because almost as soon as they were spoken, an alarm began to sound. Obi Wan's eyes shot to the wall above the incubator, where a panel of indicator lights displayed a readout on the baby's vital functions.
"What's happening?" he asked in confusion as both heart rate and respiration suddenly became erratic.
"I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to go," the med droid told him briskly.
Several others rushed in around them, and Obi Wan stepped hastily back. The droids closed in, cutting off his view, but the monitor showed his son's spiking heart rate slow…sputter…stop, all in the passage of a few agonizing seconds.
"No!" Anakin cried out. "Not both of them!"
"Anakin," Master Windu admonished sharply.
The Padawan paid no attention, and Obi Wan turned to watch as his eyes closed and he stretched out his hand, pointing his first two fingers toward the incubator. Both Obi Wan and Windu tensed as they realized what the young man was attempting. The technique was a modification on Force choke, something rarely, if ever used by Jedi Knights, but instead of using the Force to close the windpipe, Anakin was telekinetically massaging the baby's heart.
"Anakin," his Master said again, his voice low but imbued with a clear warning. He recognized that this was a desperate act. Anakin was not a Jedi Healer and although phenomenally strong in the Force, he lacked the control necessary to perform such a feat on an infant heart.
Except that the alarm stopped wailing. Obi Wan's eyes moved back to the monitor, where he saw the baby's heart start to beat again.
"No," Obi Wan barely breathed the word. "Master Windu, look."
"It's working…" the Jedi said in amazement.
"Careful, Anakin," Obi Wan encouraged. "Gently."
The Padawan didn't reply. A bead of sweat formed on his temple, running down the side of his face. The droids moved back again, aware that the Jedi were somehow doing what they could not. The entire group stood silently, aware only of the soft electronic rhythm of the heart monitor and its pulsing red light.
Finally, Anakin lowered his arm. He slowly opened his eyes and drew in a breath, looking hopefully from the incubator to the lights above it and then to the two men beside him. Obi Wan let out the breath he'd been holding and looked back at him with a stunned laugh.
"You did it, Anakin!" he declared. "You saved my son!"
***
Padme was aware of the people in the room before she even opened her eyes. No one was speaking, but she could feel their eyes on her, feel the thick tension in the air. A strong hand held hers, and she focused on it as she struggled to pull herself fully awake. The familiar fingers, calloused from years of lightsaber practice, tightened on hers, and she felt his other hand brush her forehead.
"She's awake," he murmured softly. "Padme?"
She turned toward the sound of his voice, wincing at the pain that the movement sent lancing through her. "Obi Wan? What…?" she trailed off as she opened her eyes to take in the other concerned faces gathered around her. Her parents and Sola hovered on either side of him. Beyond them, Anakin stood with Masters Windu and Yoda, his face dark and troubled with guilt. On the other side of the bed was Bail Organa--
Bail! she thought with a jolt of panicked realization.
"Obi Wan, the baby!" she cried as memories flooded back.
"He's all right," he quickly assured her. "Anakin saved him."
"What?" she stared up at him in confusion, hardly daring to believe the words.
Her husband nodded. "He would have died if Anakin hadn't been there, but he's fine now."
"Where is he? I want to hold him!" Padme said urgently.
"I'll get him," Obi Wan immediately promised. He gently kissed her and got to his feet, hurriedly exiting the room.
Padme watched him go, then her eyes turned to the Padawan, who was now staring determinedly at the floor. "Ani?"
He came forward slowly and didn't actually look up at her until he reached the bed. "I'm sorry, Padme. If I'd done my duty and stayed here, none of this would have happened."
"You did what I asked you to do," she reminded him, smiling. Then she reached for his hand, adding firmly, "And you saved my baby's life."
He nodded, then looked self consciously down at the floor again until Obi Wan returned. Anakin stepped hastily back as his former Master came over to them. Padme wondered briefly if the two of them had had another disagreement, then her attention was riveted by the tiny, blue-wrapped bundle that her husband placed in her arms.
She couldn't breathe as he quietly moved the blanket away from the baby's face. There was a soft coo of recognition, and Padme felt warm tears begin to run down her cheeks. She raised a shaking finger to caress the perfect softness of his cheek, and the baby turned his head, immediately latching onto her fingertip and beginning to suckle.
"Oh!" Padme laughed through her tears. "Are you hungry?"
"He'd better be hungry; he's half Naberrie," Obi Wan laughed as well, giving Padme's mother a wink. Then both new parents looked at each other, coming to the same realization as he said it. They hadn't picked a name before Obi Wan left for Kashyyyk, and communications since then had been sporadic at best.
"What are we going to call him?" Padme asked softly, still filled with the incredulous wonder of holding their child in her arms.
Obi Wan looked down at their son for a quiet moment, then his eyes shifted back to hers. "I think there's only one name for him."
She nodded immediate agreement. Obi Wan grinned and bent to take the baby in his arms again. He walked over to Anakin, who had moved back to stand with the other Jedi, and the Padawan went pale and wide eyed with shock.
"Huh?" he stammered, looking awkwardly from Obi Wan to the child in his arms.
"His name is Anakin," Obi Wan explained solemnly, shifting his son into the Padawan's arms and showing him how to support the infant's head. "Anakin Kenobi."
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to go," the med droid told him briskly.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2000 words
Category:Angst/Drama
Pairings/Charaters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 27. Set during the first year of an alternate Clone Wars era. Begins from Padme's POV before the last scene of Chapter 26.
Destiny's Way
Typho almost didn't let her attend the Loyalist Committee's audience with Palpatine. It took the combined efforts of Padme, Bail, and Mon Mothma to convince him, and even then the captain was far from happy. The audience itself was largely uneventful. Though the Committee members were all concerned about the Chancellor's ever-increasing executive powers, they also desired to maintain an amicable relationship with the head of state. As such, little was accomplished, but Padme felt strongly that it was a vital part of their responsibilities as representatives of their constituents to at least voice their opposition to Palpatine's usurping of the Senatorial power.
As she stepped through the door into the hall, Padme was so frustrated with the wasted morning and with Palaptine himself that she almost didn't hear Typho order her back. He leapt in front of her the instant before the innocent-seeming Protocol droid exploded. Padme felt Dorme pull her back in a futile attempt to keep her out of harm's way, but Typho himself was thrown back toward them in a powerful rush of heat, flame and flying shrapnel. His body collided with Padme's, and she screamed as she felt a hot, jagged shard of metal pierce her abdomen.
Through the haze of pain and terror, Padme heard blaster fire and struggled to see what was going on. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and she thought for a confused moment that it was Obi Wan, but the voice wasn't his.
"Padme, can you hear me?" the voice asked. It was familiar…but whose?
"Bail?" she realized suddenly. Then a fresh wave of panic struck and she tried to pull away. "Bail, the baby!"
"Be still," he told her firmly.
She shook her head weakly. "No, I--Anakin's dream--Anakin…my baby…"
***
Anakin had borrowed Padme's starship for the unplanned rescue, and the two men now sat tense and silent in the cockpit. Ventress hadn't disappeared but lay in wait for them as they left Yavin 4, forcing Anakin to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the unarmed craft until they finally lost her for good. Now, the Padawan's hands moved lightly, expertly over the nav controls, jockeying for position in Coruscant's thickly congested approach lanes. News reports were already filtering over the open com channel, but they did nothing to ease the tightness in Obi Wan's chest.
Senator Padme Amidala Kenobi was evacuated from Chancellor Palpatine's office yesterday and rushed into emergency surgery after an explosion took the life of her head of security and two bodyguards. Following the detonation of a bomb which had been smuggled into the Executive Office inside a protocol droid, Senator Kenobi's remaining security personnel engaged three armed bounty hunters, who had been disguised as Senatorial Aides, while the Chancellor remained safely hidden under his desk. A subsequent investigation spearheaded by Senators Bail Organa and Mon Mothma traced the assassination attempt back to a member of Senator Kenobi's own security team, who appeared to be under some form of mind-control. There was no word yet on the condition of the Senator or her unborn child.
"Are they…?" Anakin broke off, shaking his head.
Obi Wan sharply toward him. He could sense the fear and guilt that raged through the Padawan, but he was in no condition to admonish Anakin now. Surprisingly, he also thought that he detected compassion.
"Not yet," he whispered.
"I'll get us down there," Anakin promised. "I'm trying to find another approach lane, something less heavily used."
Obi Wan nodded, unable to do more.
It seemed hours later by the time they actually set down on the Landing Platform. Still leaning part of his weight on Anakin's shoulder, Obi Wan hobbled down the ramp, where they were met by Master Windu. They had contacted the temple after losing Ventress, and Anakin had apologized to his Master, who promised him rather pointedly that they would be discussing the matter upon his return to Coruscant.
It was Obi Wan who spoke first, though, quietly asking the Jedi, "Has there been any news?"
"I'm afraid that Padme was taken back into surgery an hour ago," Windu replied in a subdued tone.
"And the baby?" Obi Wan pressed, willfully forcing his lungs to work, commanding his mouth to form the words despite the palpable weight that settled over him.
"He is stable, at least for the moment," the Master told him as the group began to move away from the ship.
Little else was said. Anakin hailed them a taxi, which Mace directed to the hospital where Padme had been taken. Once there, they were escorted into a huge, white-walled room lined with incubation units, where a medical droid brought them all the way to the far end.
There was nothing of the Jedi Master in Obi Wan Kenobi as took in the sight of his newborn son. All the tension and worry that he had been unable to dismiss on the trip back from Yavin 4 finally broke. In a rush of relief and happiness, tears streamed his face, and stepped away from Anakin to press his palm against the plasteel barrier separating them. Was it his imagination that he sensed recognition?
"I'm told that if Senator Kenobi had been struck a centimeter lower, he would have been killed," the Too-Onebee unit remarked.
"The Force is strong with him," Obi Wan said tightly.
"Indeed," Windu agreed with a deep nod.
The words seemed to belie themselves, though, because almost as soon as they were spoken, an alarm began to sound. Obi Wan's eyes shot to the wall above the incubator, where a panel of indicator lights displayed a readout on the baby's vital functions.
"What's happening?" he asked in confusion as both heart rate and respiration suddenly became erratic.
"I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to go," the med droid told him briskly.
Several others rushed in around them, and Obi Wan stepped hastily back. The droids closed in, cutting off his view, but the monitor showed his son's spiking heart rate slow…sputter…stop, all in the passage of a few agonizing seconds.
"No!" Anakin cried out. "Not both of them!"
"Anakin," Master Windu admonished sharply.
The Padawan paid no attention, and Obi Wan turned to watch as his eyes closed and he stretched out his hand, pointing his first two fingers toward the incubator. Both Obi Wan and Windu tensed as they realized what the young man was attempting. The technique was a modification on Force choke, something rarely, if ever used by Jedi Knights, but instead of using the Force to close the windpipe, Anakin was telekinetically massaging the baby's heart.
"Anakin," his Master said again, his voice low but imbued with a clear warning. He recognized that this was a desperate act. Anakin was not a Jedi Healer and although phenomenally strong in the Force, he lacked the control necessary to perform such a feat on an infant heart.
Except that the alarm stopped wailing. Obi Wan's eyes moved back to the monitor, where he saw the baby's heart start to beat again.
"No," Obi Wan barely breathed the word. "Master Windu, look."
"It's working…" the Jedi said in amazement.
"Careful, Anakin," Obi Wan encouraged. "Gently."
The Padawan didn't reply. A bead of sweat formed on his temple, running down the side of his face. The droids moved back again, aware that the Jedi were somehow doing what they could not. The entire group stood silently, aware only of the soft electronic rhythm of the heart monitor and its pulsing red light.
Finally, Anakin lowered his arm. He slowly opened his eyes and drew in a breath, looking hopefully from the incubator to the lights above it and then to the two men beside him. Obi Wan let out the breath he'd been holding and looked back at him with a stunned laugh.
"You did it, Anakin!" he declared. "You saved my son!"
***
Padme was aware of the people in the room before she even opened her eyes. No one was speaking, but she could feel their eyes on her, feel the thick tension in the air. A strong hand held hers, and she focused on it as she struggled to pull herself fully awake. The familiar fingers, calloused from years of lightsaber practice, tightened on hers, and she felt his other hand brush her forehead.
"She's awake," he murmured softly. "Padme?"
She turned toward the sound of his voice, wincing at the pain that the movement sent lancing through her. "Obi Wan? What…?" she trailed off as she opened her eyes to take in the other concerned faces gathered around her. Her parents and Sola hovered on either side of him. Beyond them, Anakin stood with Masters Windu and Yoda, his face dark and troubled with guilt. On the other side of the bed was Bail Organa--
Bail! she thought with a jolt of panicked realization.
"Obi Wan, the baby!" she cried as memories flooded back.
"He's all right," he quickly assured her. "Anakin saved him."
"What?" she stared up at him in confusion, hardly daring to believe the words.
Her husband nodded. "He would have died if Anakin hadn't been there, but he's fine now."
"Where is he? I want to hold him!" Padme said urgently.
"I'll get him," Obi Wan immediately promised. He gently kissed her and got to his feet, hurriedly exiting the room.
Padme watched him go, then her eyes turned to the Padawan, who was now staring determinedly at the floor. "Ani?"
He came forward slowly and didn't actually look up at her until he reached the bed. "I'm sorry, Padme. If I'd done my duty and stayed here, none of this would have happened."
"You did what I asked you to do," she reminded him, smiling. Then she reached for his hand, adding firmly, "And you saved my baby's life."
He nodded, then looked self consciously down at the floor again until Obi Wan returned. Anakin stepped hastily back as his former Master came over to them. Padme wondered briefly if the two of them had had another disagreement, then her attention was riveted by the tiny, blue-wrapped bundle that her husband placed in her arms.
She couldn't breathe as he quietly moved the blanket away from the baby's face. There was a soft coo of recognition, and Padme felt warm tears begin to run down her cheeks. She raised a shaking finger to caress the perfect softness of his cheek, and the baby turned his head, immediately latching onto her fingertip and beginning to suckle.
"Oh!" Padme laughed through her tears. "Are you hungry?"
"He'd better be hungry; he's half Naberrie," Obi Wan laughed as well, giving Padme's mother a wink. Then both new parents looked at each other, coming to the same realization as he said it. They hadn't picked a name before Obi Wan left for Kashyyyk, and communications since then had been sporadic at best.
"What are we going to call him?" Padme asked softly, still filled with the incredulous wonder of holding their child in her arms.
Obi Wan looked down at their son for a quiet moment, then his eyes shifted back to hers. "I think there's only one name for him."
She nodded immediate agreement. Obi Wan grinned and bent to take the baby in his arms again. He walked over to Anakin, who had moved back to stand with the other Jedi, and the Padawan went pale and wide eyed with shock.
"Huh?" he stammered, looking awkwardly from Obi Wan to the child in his arms.
"His name is Anakin," Obi Wan explained solemnly, shifting his son into the Padawan's arms and showing him how to support the infant's head. "Anakin Kenobi."