To Stand Alone/ Post TPM (and beyond) AU (New Post 5-16)

Maybe this message will show up on the missing page 45. That was a great post! Hehe... the pasty comment.

 

What kind of healer indeed! great to see that this lovely tale hasn't been abandand. LOL more please?

<giggle>

 

The overly charismatic Doctor Bobula took great pride in showing the two jedi his hospital. He had no idea that they were jedi, to him they were just part of another family with deep pockets; just the sort of people he wanted there. To the young Anakin the doctor didn't seem like a man trying to hide something, as a matter of fact he never seemed to shut up.

Then the padawan remembered a time his master told him that people who constantly talk hardly ever hear what others are saying let alone hear the force. Obi-Wan had told Anakin that if he encountered a chatter box type of person he would need extra concentration to see what was really underneath all of their babbling. The boy had just expected that advice to apply to another kid, not a grown up. It was hard for the young jedi to concentrate, but it was easier when he sensed that Obi-Wan was already doing the same. The jedi knight pushed aside the doctor's gibberish about the luxurious facilities into a small part of his mind and opened up the rest to the Force. Kenobi didn't sense any deception right away.

What he did sense was that Bobula also had a small part of his mind closed off. He was sure part of the puzzle of the missing women would be found in that closed off part. Obi-Wan would not pry just yet. For now he would not give away any indication that he was searching the doctor's mind. The jedi was sure of something else; the doctor was not the happy go lucky being that he projected. The appearance of a carnival ring leader was just that, appearance. The part of Bobula's mind that was open was sharp and fast; much like his mouth.

"We here at the Giuaku believe that just because you are ill," Bobula expounded. "There is no reason not to pamper yourself or one's loved ones. You do want to pamper Mrs. Osono don't you Risso?" He spoke as if they had been life long pals.

"I most certainly do." Obi-Wan broke his searching of the Force to answer. "Nothing but the best for Mrs. Osono."

"Especially when one can," The gregarious doctor cleared his throat. "Afford it."

"Yes." Obi-Wan now played the part of Risso Osono to the hilt. He beamed as if he were extremely proud of being extremely wealthy; that he could 'afford' to let his wife stay out the rest of her pregnancy in this place of luxury. Knowing only part of the truth he didn't want his wife anywhere near there. If he and Anakin could find out what was going on she wouldn't have to be. That was Obi-Wan's hope; he knew most likely Zaize was in fact the jedi who would find the whole truth.

"And so you can see just how your lovely wife will be pampered," Bobula continued. "Here is a complementary day pass for you and little Dos." The doctor patted Anakin on the head. "To sample the spa today." He handed Obi-Wan a data chip. "I know you will agree to send for the Mrs. Once you see how fabulous you will feel after."

"I'm sure," Obi-Wan agreed. "But I would also like to see the medical half of your wonderful institute."

"Naturally, but first enjoy yourselves." They had walked to the exact spot where Dr. Bobula wanted them to be, in front of the spa. The door slid open. "Enjoy, enjoy." Bobula gestured that they should enter. "I'll talk to you again later."

Obi-Wan and Anakin now found themselves in an area where there was a whole wing of the 'hospital' that was filled with pools of various liquids, hot tubs, saunas, steamers, coolers, mud baths, oxygen baths, sand baths, manicures, pedicures, skin or scale care, mussel rubs and any manner of 'outer' care that any being of the Republic would find pleasing to the body and hopefully relax the mind.

The temple had steam rooms, pools and baths but one difference became quite obvious to Obi-Wan quite quickly. Not all of the men's and woman's areas were separate. Young Skywalker got quite an eyeful of barely dressed ladies before Obi-Wan could scurry him to an area where they were more modestly attired. The ever shy Obi was hoping his padawan didn't see how red he was turning. It was pointless.

"You shouldn't be so embarrassed Master." The p

 

Up for the morning people.

 

Ha ha! I liked the way that Obi-Wan didn't want Anakin to be exposed to too much beauty just yet. And the way the other person cannonballed into the mud! I never thought that mud baths could be an intoxicant! Poor Anakin. I had to laugh at the comment "Kid can't handle his mud." Makes you wonder if Dr. Bobula sent them in that direction for a reason? To make them relax and perhaps forget something? What's he hiding?

 

Just upping for now

 

'Just what I need.' Obi-Wan was thinking, 'A sky high padawan.' - Hehe. Great post!

 

"It's just that many of our guests are quite indulgent with their young ones." Dr. Bobula told Obi-Wan, the smile never leaving his face.

"My good doctor, I didn't get my money by being indulgent." Obi-Wan gave Bobula a knowing look; Ris Osono was not a man to be trifled with.

The doctor cleared his throat. "Until I get that list to you, areas with the green code are 'family friendly'."

"And that tour of the medical areas, is that being arranged?"

"Indeed." Bobula Smiled. "Let's say I return for you in the, sixteenth hour?"

Obi-Wan nodded his approval. It was implied that he and 'Dos' should continue enjoying the spa as Doctor Bobula left them again. Kenobi was more interested in getting the rest of the intoxicating mud off of his padawan. A huge smile on the boy's face showed a residual effect.

"Over here happy one." Obi-Wan dragged Anakin towards the constantly running showers, and gave him a shove under the water. "In there with you."

"Yeeeeiiii!" Anakin's happy glow was replaced by wide eyes. "Tha-a-a-at's co-o-ld." He jumped out.

"Just get that goop off of you." Obi-Wan pushed him back under. "And you can come out."

"You're covered with it too," Anakin protested.

"But I am not blitzed by it."

Obi-Wan looked around for something more useful than the little towels that barely covered them. He could see Anakin out of the corner of his eye stating to inch his way out from the water. "Unt-ah, all of it," He intoned. Then he founded the looked for treasure: Big, fluffy, warm towels.

'First things first.' Obi-Wan bad good -bye to the tiny towel, flinging it into a laundry bin, and rigged one of the larger ones up in a sort of toga fashion and took one back for Anakin. "You're still blue." He observed.

"It's not the mu-u-u-d." Anakin shivered. "It's my skin."

Obi-Wan held the huge towel open and Anakin did not hesitate to run into it. The chilled boy found himself now wrapped in warmth. Obi-Wan wound the towel around, for all purposes encasing Anakin in it. "That's better, isn't it?" The master sat on a bench wrapping up in his own toasty towel even more.

"It's warmer," Anakin said. "Only..."

"What?"

"I can't move." Anakin tried to walk, but all he could do was waddle.

Obi-Wan realized that he had turned his padawan into a mummy. "Sorry." He loosened the cloth so that the boy could get his arms out and stride more than half an inch.

"Now that's better." Anakin slumped next to his master on the bench. "What's next?"

"Next?"

"This place has got you all weird." Skywalker teased his master about how flustered Obi-Wan was acting. "I think there might be something in that mud."

"You think," Obi-Wan retorted. Then the jedi master said nothing for a while.

"We do have to look like we're checking out the place. You look like your just going to wait the next four hours sitting right there for Dr. Bobula's return."

"Looks can be deceiving." Kenobi had meant the place and himself.

"You are planning on moving from here, don't you?"

"Yes." He still didn't move. Minutes passed.

"Mas..." Anakin started to say. Obi-Wan held up his hand in a gesture of requested silence. Anakin took a breath and let it out loudly. His frustration level was rising. 'What is Master Obi-Wan doing?' He thought this more than once and began to fidget.

"Relax," Was the only word the master offered.

'Relax? This is soooo boring. Why aren't we checking this place out?

< I am > Anakin heard Obi-Wan say through their bond.

Rather than relaxing, Skywalker tightened his shields. 'He is?' Again the boy audibly huffed.

Obi-Wan would have rebuked Anakin if he weren't too busy searching for any anomalies in the Force. He was taking the lucky chance that they were alone to to meditate on a feeling he had. Anakin thought that Obi-Wan's agitated behavior in the mud was linked to the older jedi's modesty; That was only part of it. What the knight could not sense in Dr. Bobula he had sensed as soon as they had walked into the spa area. N

 

Anakin, you're going to end up -with- those people instead of -freeing- them! And Obi-Wan, sit down in the whirlpool, relax, close your eyes, and START MEDITATING AGAIN! No doubt you will sense a feeling of sneakiness getting closer and closer to those people being held against their will -- that's Anakin! Go down there and haul him back by his Speedos.

 

uppers

And a thanks to the die hards that are still reading after no posts for a long time.

Even the lurkers

 

Heh. Just like Anakin to go find trouble.

 

Relaxing was the last thing Obi-Wan could do. Anakin?s master was not as stupid as the padawan thought. Kenobi knew the minute that Skywalker left the pool and ?snuck? back to the locker room. He did not stop the boy, hoping that Anakin would do the right thing and not go off on his own. Obi-Wan was giving Anakin the chance to make the right decision.

?Blast it Anakin!? Obi-Wan almost said it out loud. He jumped out of the bubbling water and made a strait line to the locker room. ?What part of stay doesn?t that boy understand? I can?t believe he would disobey me so blatantly.? As he got dressed in his non-jedi clothes he could almost picture his old master somewhere in the afterlife laughing at him. With a sigh he thought of all the times he had gone off to do his own thing in his first years as a padawan, he couldn?t blame Anakin for being the same way. Obi-Wan had learned from his mistakes, learned that a jedi?s true strength lay in trusting his fellow jedi and teem work. Anakin needed to trust Obi-Wan?s decisions. He knew it was not the right time to go and free the people they had felt in distress.

?I have to trust that Anakin won?t get into trouble.? That thought lasted about a half a second. ?Oh sure.?

If he went after Anakin first, he would not have his light saber with him. If he took the time to go get the light sabers Anakin would already be detected or worse. Obi-Wan was upset that he had been put in the place to make such a decision. He was going to have to have a long talk with his padawan about that. Then the idea that maybe he should let Anakin learn the hard way about making such mistakes.

?No,? Obi-Wan said softly to himself. ?No that is not what I want for Anakin. Far from it.? He would go after Anakin first.

Anakin was amazed at the ease he had at walking around the hospital. Everyone was so busy they didn't notice a little boy who looked like he knew where he was going. Anakin did know where he was going he was following the signs of distress that the people below were giving off. Signs of distress that only a few knew about and only the jedi could feel. The jedi and one other, that is.

The man who knew all the answers to why the women had disappeared was there that day, the same day that the jedi were. He came once a week to see how his helper was running things. If only his helper could remember in-between the dark lord's visits.

"Hello, can I help you?" Dr. Bobula asked the hooded man waiting in his office.

"Yes. Yes, you can." Sidious waved his hand in front of the doctor's face. "You always help me." The sith laughed, and held up a small device.

"I always help you." As soon as he said this Bobula heard a painful sound ringing in his head. After that he would remember nothing of the dark lord's visit. He would only have the vague sub-conscious memories that he was helping someone look for certain kinds of people.

"Have we had a good week?" Sidious asked.

"Yes Master, we harvested the jedi woman. One of hers may bring the results you seek."

"Good, good."

And there is a new one on the way Master. It is not a jedi, but it has a child on the way, like the others before the jedi.

"Always good to have enough material to work with." Out of curiosity the sith lord asked. "Is the father a jedi?"

"No Master, but he has a large amount of money. Money that he will sign over to the institute with a small amount of persuasion. He is here now, once the woman is here we will 'talk' to him about his finances."

"He is here now?"

"He and his son."

"Let me see the file."

Dr. Bobula brought up the file for the Osono's on his information terminal. When the sith lord saw who it was he snarled. "I don't believe it. Obi-Wan Kenobi must you always be the fly in the ointment of my plans! This will be the last time." The next picture flashed on the screen. "Ah, and young Skywalker. What will I do with you? Kill you now, or wait till you are useful?" The third and last fake bio appeared on the screen. "Lady Kenobi, I had not yet h

 

More shamless upping

 

YIKES

 

I know it's been long times between posts, but I hope people are still interested in this one.

 

No matter what Anakin had promised, his master was now reluctant to let him out of his sight. The jedi returned to the spa and ended up back at the pool with the bubbling waters.

"Can I go back to the pool?" The apprentice asked.

"No," Obi-Wan answered as he climbed back into the soothing liquid. "You're going to stay with me and look like you are enjoying yourself."

Anakin climbed in. "You know why there's no one else in here?" It was a rhetorical question. "Because it's boring." He sat down with the biggest frown on his face.

"It is relaxing."

"I don't want to relax."

"If you did, maybe you would see why what you did was not helpful."

Anakin's eyes rolled, once again Obi-Wan was telling him in his own way that he did not meditate enough. Sitting around waiting for something to happen was not something the boy relished. He wanted to make things happen. He still thought the right thing to do was to rush down to where the captives were and get them out now. Obi-Wan could feel his padawan's impatience. The older jedi knew that those people were in no immediate danger, if he felt that then he would act. Acting before it was the right time would not let them catch whoever was behind all of the disappearances.

As relaxing as the bubbling pool was, there was only so much of it even Obi-Wan could take. "Let's go to the swimming pool."

"See it is boring." Anakin hopped out.

"It is not boring." Obi-Wan calmly climbed out.

"Then why are we leaving."

"Because it is time."

"Because it's boring."

This time Obi-Wan rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to argue with Anakin. Obi-Wan's own impatience with his apprentice turned to amazement when he saw the boy who had grown up on a desert planet dive into the deep end. It hadn't been that long since Anakin had almost drowned in the temple lake, but that did not stop him. 'The boy is adaptable, that is a good trait for a jedi to have.' What Obi-Wan would come to learn was it was not adaptability that Anakin had but changeability, and inconsistency, not in his skills or his abilities but deep in his very being. Anakin changed the rules he lived by to suit his own wishes, not to the situation. Showing that he had now mastered swimming was a way to show that he was just as good, or better than the two other boys who had grown up in the water. Big things start with a small ripple. The ripple that was starting inside of Anakin was his desire, his need to be the best, the best at everything, better than everyone else, even his master, especially his master.

Obi-Wan was content to just to slowly make his way around the pool observing the other beings in the water with them. He was trying to sense if anyone knew something about the captives below. Out of all of these people, someone might know something about what was going on. He did not have too much time to find out if that was true or not. Water splashed at him, he looked to see Anakin. "Let's race."

Reluctantly Obi-Wan nodded.

"Let's start going the long way," Anakin said enthusiastically. "Over there." When they were at the edge of the deep end again Skywalker showed himself to be a typical boy. "You ready?"

"Sure," Obi-Wan replied before he actually was.

"GO!" Anakin shouted knowing he would get a lead on his master.

Obi-Wan took even more time finding Anakin's trick amusing. It did not matter, Obi-Wan dove in and that dive made up for any delay. He landed in the water ahead of Anakin. When he realized this, he did not put much effort into his swimming. He would not let Anakin win, but he would not let him loose either. He made sure the result was a tie.

"Mas..." Anakin again almost forgot they were not who they were. "Daaaaad," He wined. "You didn't even try to beat me."

"I didn't know I was supposed to."

"That's the point of a race."

"But it wasn't my point."

"There has to be a winner."

"Maybe not every time."

Anakin was sure that Obi-Wan was trying to impart some jedi wisdom to him but the idea of a race without a winner, that was just odd.

 

up

 

I'm home again, and ready to catch up!

Oooh, Sidious, after Obi-Wan's baby? *shiver*

I liked the way that it wasn't adaptability that Obi-Wan saw in Anakin, it was inconsistency and the desire to change everything to suit himself. Also, you showed his desire to be the best and to show others that he was just as good, if not better, very well here with the diving exercise. Poor Anakin, not getting the attention he wanted, and then having Obi-Wan have no idea why he was irritated.

 

Aw. Poor Anakin. Great post!

 

Top.

 

Top!

 

I am working on a post for here. It's just taking longer to finish than planed.

Tonight I hope, but maybe tomorrow morning.