I Bet My Life

Six: On Top of the World

6 Months Later...

Obi-Wan groaned as he made an attempt to shift onto his back, being wary of the arms encircling him. They were indefinitely Cody's as it would be quite a dilemma if they weren't his. After that first night on Tatooine, the pair realized that being snuggled against each other when they went to sleep was actually helping them get some solid hours of sleep, except for the occasional nightmares or one of the twins waking up in the middle of the night. Even when either of those occurrences happened, they would both get up and keep each other company. It was a mutual friendship with its benefits, it could be nothing more or less than that. Or that's at least what Cody and Obi-Wan established with one another. Out in public, the pair pretended to be happily married with kids, a set of twins and a bubbly little girl. However, that was far from the truth behind closed doors, yet it was almost just completely normal at this point. The so-called family of five had adjusted to a mainly and peacefully quiet life on Tatooine, despite how unusual and unexpected it was given their situation. Obi-Wan turned his head to look at the small alarm clock on his nightstand, the time reading exactly 800 hours. He needed to get up and go about his day, and have his first of many cups of tea for the times-pane he was awake. The man attempted to slide out from underneath the toned, tan arm that hugged comfortably around his small figure. However, an unnamed groan was heard before a dry phrase was spoken out,

"You could have just asked, you know?"

"I didn't want to wake you up, Codes," Obi-Wan replied, looking at the half-asleep man that laid next to him.

"Well, I think you failed your little mission, general."

Obi-Wan chuckled as he slid out of bed and slowly got changed into his outfit of choice. It was simple as it was a deep navy robe set with black fingerless gloves. He also began to put on his ankle-high combat boots, lacing them as he sighed, shaking his head at Cody with the slightest humor in his voice,

"You're just going to have to get up anyway... We need to run some errands today."

"What errands? We just went recent-" Cody began, sluggishly drifting out of bed and also getting dressed.

"That was two weeks ago. We need to get more food and see if we can get that stabilizer for the vaporator."

"Do we even have enough credits?"

"If I remember correctly, I got paid four days ago and you did last night, right?"

"Yeah... The boss paid me last night with a little extra for going in those two other nights besides my usual."

"That'll help with the vaporator cost... Who knows how much the Jawas are selling it for?"

"Do you want my honest opinion, Obes?"

"What?"

"I think the Jawas broke our vaporator by stealing the stabilizer and now they're trying to sell it back to us for more."

"That's pretty out there, but it's not completely fake..."

"I'm just saying... That's what happened when the chargers were taken from the power generator, remember?"

"How could I forget, we didn't have power for almost 5 days... At least it stays pretty light out on Tatooine or else we would have been doomed."

"Yeah..."

There was an awkward silence between the two, almost as if there was an unspoken tension between them. Ever since they went on the run, something odd happened. It was maybe due to them always being alone with each other, something almost unheard of during the war except when they were pulling all-nighters filing reports or privately briefing on a mission before addressing the rest of the assigned troops. They had three times of day when it was just Cody and Obi-Wan: When they woke up, when Reva was playing while the twins went down for their afternoon nap, and the drowning hours before they hit the sack. In all honesty, the pair didn't mind it as they had been talking about basic things and funny stories of work, home, and when they ran errands. It was always a light-hearted conversation, filled with laughter and giggles. However, that all changed when the three moons rose upon the desert-like planet. They would sit there, sometimes in silence, other times in quiet conversation. Sadly, it would usually end with Obi-Wan having some sort of panic attack or horrific flashback, leaving Cody to guide him back to the present as calmly and quietly as possible as to not wake up the three younglings. They would happen during the day, but they weren't as bad as they were when the night sky was present. Cody knew that Obi-Wan needed some sort of professional help, but their given situation made it extremely difficult. Also, Cody didn't think that the Jedi entirely supported the idea of mental health in general, mainly because they believed the light side doesn't run into problems like that So that would make it hard to convince Obi-Wan to get it. Yet, the Order was clearly proven wrong as they had left Obi-Wan a broken man without any assistance throughout his 14 years of heartache, beginning with the death of his Master and continuing with the constant nightmare of the day the Republic fell. Cody knew there were others out there like Obi-Wan, others going through the almost exact same experience stemming from Order 66. Maybe one day when the world was safe again, when the Empire would crumble under its feet due to corruption and elimination of Emperor Palpatine. He knew the day wouldn't be coming any time soon, yet he prayed that it would eventually come one day. Even if that came after his time, when Reva and the twins were of age as the three may be the last hope the galaxy had to save them from this treachery.