Flaws of the Jedi

Joy Returns

About a week and a half after the incident...

Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Ezra, Kanan, and Anakin all waited in Astoria's hospital room with her doctor for Astoria to wake up.

"She is expected to wake up today," The doctor had said, "She was hit pretty bad.. she's pretty lucky to be alive."

"I do believe it to be something of a miracle, as well..." Obi-Wan replied sadly.

"We're grateful that she'll be ok, though," Ahsoka said.

Astoria had undergone four surgeries in a span of 27 hours, all of which except one could've saved her or killed her... luckily, they saved her. The first surgery was to remove a large shard of metal that was stabbing into her neck, and the second was to do a similar removal on her leg. The third surgery was to remove small glass shards from both of her arms, her chest, and torso. The last was to remove her mangled mechanical hand and replace it with a new one. After that, she was in a coma for a while with no signs of her waking until now; nine days later.

The three Jedi and the two Padawans all became notified of Astoria's possible waking up an hour or so ago. They had all been waiting anxiously for a sign of her restored consciousness. All of a sudden, when no one really expected it, Astoria's breathing monitor began to quietly beep, indicating her breathing was quickening ever so slightly for her to wake up. Then, not five seconds after, the same happened with her heart monitor. Soon, her brain wave activity picked up a bit as well, indicating her consciousness.

Everyone in the room smiled a little as she opened her eyes slowly. Once her eyes were completely open, she looked to her friends and her doctor.

"Where am I...?" She asked nervously, her voice quiet and strained.

"The hospital.." Ezra answered her, "Do you know why..?"

Astoria nodded after a moment. She looked to Obi-Wan and examined him.

"You're ok, right..?" She asked him.

"Of course.. after the way you saved me, I'm perfectly fine. Thank you, my Padawan.." He told her. She smiled a very little bit, but it quickly faded.

"How long was I out?" She asked.

"About a week and half," Anakin told her, "You had four surgeries the day of your incident..."

"F-Four..?!" She stuttered, "For what?!"

"Two were to remove large bits of metal from your neck and leg, one was to remove glass from your arms and torso, and the last...-" Kanan told her, but she finished for him.

"-..Was for my mechanical hand.. I knew it felt a bit different..." Astoria said, weakly holding her mechanical hand up a bit and flexing her fingers and rotating her wrist -- She was experimenting with it. She'd had the same mechanical hand since she was five years old after all.

"Would you say it fits well, Commander Cannossis?" The doctor asked her.

"Yeah.. it just feels very different.." She replied, continuing to move her new hand around, "I don't suppose my glove came out fine, huh?"

"We can get you a new one, if it's alright," Obi-Wan offered.

"Ok.. that's fine," Astoria replied, "Thank you."

"No problem," Obi-Wan said, "Now, how do you feel?"

"Pretty sore everywhere... definitely hurts more in the areas I had surgery though... especially my neck.."

"That may hurt you for a while," her doctor began, "And I would like you to stay here for a few days to monitor your healing process."

Astoria nodded a bit and replied with, "Ok.. when do you think I will be released?"

"Maybe sometime next week," her doctor told her. Astoria let out a sigh of disappointment then slowly brought a hand up to her neck.

"I guess it's for the best..." she said after a moment, "How long before I can walk?"

"Well, it depends on how fast you recover and heal, but I'd say you have about three or four days before you can start using crutches to walk," Astoria's doctor informed her.

Astoria groaned a little; it was obvious that she didn't want to be kept still in the same room for too long, but none of the others really blamed her. She was obviously used to being out and about on missions or training runs, not cooped up in a hospital bed for days - possibly weeks - on-end.

"You should all let her rest now; rest will be a key thing for her to have - and need - in her healing process," the doctor said.

"But I'm not tired..." Astoria said. No one believed her though; she seemed like she could barely keep her eyes open.

"Astoria, just rest. You need it," Obi-Wan told her, "We'll visit you later once you've rested properly for a bit."

She nodded a little and relaxed her head against her pillow. Everyone but her doctor left her to sleep, while her doctor stayed behind to monitor Astoria's vitals for a bit.

Ezra, Kanan, and Obi-Wan all headed back to their quarters while Ahsoka and Anakin went to their's. Once inside, they spoke for a bit, despite it being late. They mostly spoke of how worried they were and how they wish what happened to Astoria didn't happen at all. Afterwards, they sat beside each other trying to think of something to do, as neither of them really wanted to go to sleep quite yet.

"Should we watch a movie or something?" Anakin asked Ahsoka, pointing to their TV.

"Nah, that's boring," She replied.

"Everything is boring to you right now," Anakin joked.

"Not everything!" Ahsoka insisted, "Maybe we should just play video games or something."

"Ok, what do you want to play then?" Anakin asked.

"Well, that depends," She began, "What games do we still have?"

Anakin shrugged, then stood. He walked over to their TV, then beside it to a small cabinet and opened it to reveal a few games.

"It looks like we have GTA, Overwatch, Trove, and Battlefield One," He said, taking a few out of the cabinet.

"I bet I could whoop your butt in Overwatch!" Ahsoka teased, standing and going over to the couch in front of the TV.

"I don't doubt that..." Anakin said, laughing a little, "I'm better at Battlefield, anyways."

"Wanna play Overwatch then?" Ahsoka asked excitedly.

"Sure," Anakin said, laughing a little again.

He took out Overwatch and put the other games in his hand back. He turned their TV on and got everything ready. Once it was, he got two controllers; one for him, one for Ahsoka. He sat beside her, a few inches from her side.

They played the video game for a while, Ahsoka doing considerably better than Anakin in most matches. After a good amount of playing, they were both beginning to get tired. After one of the matches was over, Ahsoka set her controller down on a small coffee table in front of them and rested her head on Anakin's shoulder. He did the same with his controller.

"You tired, Snips?" Anakin asked, smiling a little.

"A little, yeah," She responded.

"You want to go to sleep?" He asked.

"Meh.. not quite yet.." She said, looking up to meet his eyes.

They stayed like this for a moment; then, Anakin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lightly pulled her closer. She smiled at him warmly, then leaned closer to him and kissed him. He smiled a bit and returned the kiss. They stayed like this for a long few moments: In each other's arms, close to each other, feeling one another's embrace as they kissed. They felt each other smiling against each other's lips. Then, after the long moments were over, they slowly broke the kiss, keeping each other in their arms.

Ahsoka lightly leaned her head on his shoulder again and continued to smile. She was so glad that they were together. Being in his arms made her feel warm and safe and happy; she loved the feeling...

She loved him.