His Guiding Star (Obi-Wan Kenobi)

Chapter Five

When Obi-Wan returned to the living room a few hours later, he found Theo running surveillance on the monitors, while Anakin watched over a sleeping Zoe on the sofa. As he watched, he saw Anakin pull a blanket off the arm of the sofa, and gently place it over her body. Theo kept his gaze on the monitors, but Obi-Wan could see the tension in his muscles, the furtive glance at Anakin.

Talia, however, had apparently disappeared.

"She's sorting out the supplies," Theo told him, still focused on the monitors. "I wouldn't bother her, if I were you."

"How did you-?"

"The way you surveyed the room. You were looking for her. You're pretty easy to read, for a Jedi." 

Obi-Wan could have sworn that Theo had a slight edge to his voice, though the tone was polite and friendly. He saw him dart another glance at Anakin, saw the slight narrowing of his eyes. Obi-Wan turned slightly pink in embarrassment at Theo's words, but made a mental note of the trio's shared caution. They were all fiercely protective of each other.

The most mysterious thing of all was how Anakin was being so friendly with the brunette. His former Padawan had not yet spoken. He just kept his eyes on Zoe, quietly watching over her as she slept.

"Anakin, you're not often this welcoming of strangers," Obi-Wan spoke up, trying to transfer the attention away from himself and onto Anakin. "Wait until Ahsoka hears about this."

 "She gave us valuable information," Anakin pointed out, his voice rising a little. "You know know how important Padmé is, not including her being friendly off the bat."

"Shouldn't we be making plans, Anakin? This is a rather dangerous mission."

"Talia told us to stay put for the week, due to your reputations as Jedi."

"That's going to be difficult." Anakin bit his lip in worry.

Obi-Wan knew what he was concerned about. It was never a good thing to mess with Senator Amidala, particularly with Anakin's vicious temper.

Theo sighed. "If you two blow our cover, Talia's not gonna be happy."

"I'm afraid Anakin is the one to worry about blowing our cover."

"No wonder Talia doesn't like him."

Anakin turned red with what it looked like a mixture of embarrassment and anger, taking his eyes off the brunette to glare at Theo.

"There's a lot riding on this, especially for her." Theo seemed completely unconcerned by Anakin's rising temper.

Obi breathed in sharply and strode over to Anakin, squeezing his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, it's just Anakin is particularly close with the senator. He'd rather get this mission done quickly," he kept his voice calm, trying to defuse the situation. "But I understand the importance of waiting given the circumstances at hand."

Theo dropped his gaze. 

"Talia's just trying to keep us safe. As usual."

"I realise that," Obi-Wan sighed. "I just wanted to talk to her. I apologise for the harshness of my words, as Zoe explained it is incredibly sensitive."

Theo nodded in acknowledgment of his apology. 

"She zeroes in on things sometimes. Talia. Doesn't help the jumpiness if she's disturbed. We don't mind your presence here, you know. We just have very specific ways about doing things. But our methods have always worked."