Who: Obi-Wan and Padme When: Recently Where: Obi’s Cabin What: Padme visits to talk about real estate, Obi senses some extra visitors Rating/Warning: Low/Mentions of Pregnancy Scare Status: Complete
The past couple weekends had been spent with Anakin and the bank while the two of them tried to figure out how to afford the house that Obi-Wan had once lived in. Things were looking good for them and she was excited that things were starting to move in the right direction. It was still moving a little quickly if she let herself stop and think about it, but she knew that she wanted to be with Anakin. Her dreams continued to prove how much she cared about him and now knowing what she did about how her dreams would end she wanted to prove to him that none of those dreams affected their actual lives. But that wasn’t what her little mission today was about. I was about the house and she had finally managed to bother Obi-Wan into meeting her to discuss the house.
It was just after she got off work on a Friday afternoon and she swung by Starbucks to grab herself a coffee and a tea for Obi-Wan. The tiredness hadn’t gone fully away yet, but she thought boosting her vitamin c intake was working. Her goal wasn’t to be sick within her first year of working at the firm. She didn’t want to give Percy and Sam any reason to doubt her ability and regret hiring her. Once she pulled into his driveway she reached into the passenger seat to grab the drinks and then made her way to his front door. Another goal of hers was to make sure that Obi-Wan knew that they weren’t horribly traumatized by his reveal of the dreams and hopefully this was a step in the right direction. She lifted her free hand up and knocked.
Obi-Wan didn’t hear the knock over the sound of the table saw. He’d converted the basement of the cabin into a carpentry studio, though it looked far more like something that ought to be referred to as a lair. Unless it was part of a job and someone was making specific requests, he wasn’t one for decorating. He left that to Faiza. And since this was his space, there was very little chance it wouldn’t look like a dungeon full of sawdust five, ten, or twenty years from now.
Still, Obi-Wan suddenly turned off the saw and looked upward, in the direction of where the front door would be. The Force had alerted him to someone’s presence. He “asked” the Force who it was and a familiar echo came as reply, one that brought a slight smile to his face. Really, he was glad that Padme and Anakin hadn’t completely cut ties with him over the things they were seeing in their dreams. (Then again Anakin hadn’t dreamed about Mustafar, yet.)
He pushed his protective goggles onto his forehead as he hurried up the wooden stairs to the main level of the house. Padme’s car was visible through the window. He answered the door. “Hello there.”
If Padme had been watching Obi-Wan’s reaction to her presence within the Force she would probably roll her eyes. Sometimes Anakin did the same thing although it was usually the delivery guy that he sensed. The Force was still something that didn’t make much sense to her, but she was learning to adapt to it being part of her life and starting to learn a little more about it. The bond between Anakin and Obi-Wan amused her greatly, but she was distracted by her thoughts when the man opened the door. A smile appeared on her face as she reached out with his cup of tea in her hand, “Hey! I brought you some tea. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
"I work at my leisure," he replied, taking the cup from Padme's hand and enjoying a sip. Obi-Wan might have winked, but he wasn't the sort for it. He stepped aside, to allow her passage into the cabin. "To what do I owe the pleasure? And the beverage?”
“Basic checking up on you,” she teased him as she took a sip from her coffee and stepped inside the cabin. She did love his place, but she couldn’t see herself living in a cabin. She was definitely more of a city girl than an outdoorsy girl. She hoped that Anakin felt the same, which should have been something they will discuss in the future, “I wanted to talk about buying the house. Ani and I have been talking to the banks and trying to get things figured out.”
The cabin itself had taken on an eclectic look as of late, with its combination of Americana alongside Faiza’s British and Middle-Eastern accents. Some of the furniture Obi-Wan had built himself, but, as previously stated, he wasn’t much of a decorator. However, he would be happy to help Anakin and Padme make a home for themselves.
Before closing the door, he glanced outside to see if Anakin was waiting in the car or coming up the walk. For a moment, Obi-Wan had sensed that Padme wasn’t alone, but… Well, it seemed he was mistaken. It was only a fleeting sensation. They weren’t uncommon.
“Have you?” he asked, gesturing that she should sit on the sofa. “Then you are considering it? It would be alright if you were only looking at it to humor me.”
“Of course we’re considering it. We want a bigger place to live and some day have a family in. I like knowing that you and Loras had the place before us so it’s not like we’ll find some horrible things inside of the place. It’s really love,” she moved to the sofa and took a seat before taking another long sip of her coffee before setting it between her knees as she watched the man in front of her, “I just want to talk to you about how to approach buying it from you and that sort of thing.”
Obi-Wan scratched his beard in thought, but even his hand in front of his mouth couldn’t obscure his smile. “You’d be buying it from Loras. I could give him a call and let him know the two of you are interested. I know he hasn’t had other offers.” Which wasn’t true. Obi-Wan had asked Loras to hold off on making a sale, in favor of his friends.
...Again, for no reason at all, Obi-Wan had the sensation of another presence,. This time, it was as if there was someone in the room with them. He turned to see no one. The hairs on the back of his neck actually stood on end.
"Yes, but he is not here for the sale, correct? You would most likely be a mediator of sorts if you wanted to be. But please let him know we are interested and we should be ready to put an offer in soon if he wants," Padme answered before trailing off when she watched his actions, "What's wrong?"
He shook his head, as if to clear it, and drank some more tea. The feeling passed slowly. “I… er, did you come alone?”
"Yeah.....?" That was such an unusual question to ask but she knew it had to do something with the Force because he got that strange look that she saw in Anakin, "Is there someone outside?" Hopefully there wasn't some kind of intruder.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so…” His voice trailed off as he rose from his chair to look out the window for good measure. But on the other side of the room, the presence was decidedly weaker. In fact, it disappeared completely. Obi-Wan sighed and shrugged.
When he walked back to sit with Padme, it returned again. The puzzled look on his face was quite obvious.
"You are starting to freak me out a little bit," she commented with a similar puzzled look on her face. What was he sensing if there was no one outside the cabin? She shrugged her shoulders a little and lifted her coffee to her lips again. Maybe if she didn't distract him he would be able to hone in on it.
“I’m starting to freak myself out a little bit,” Obi-Wan murmured, but he was also laughing. It was an amusing little puzzle. He shook his head at himself. There was always a chance he was sensing a bird on on the roof or some other kind of wildlife, some small lifesign that couldn’t fully make itself known…
Obi-Wan suddenly choked on his tea.
The choking on his tea made her start forward to attempt to pat him on the back, "Shit, are you okay?" She stood up straight and moved over to him, "Do I need to grab you some water or anything?" The last thing she needed was for him to be injured while she was around.
Obi-Wan tried to shake his head and motion that he was OK, at least as far as the tea was concerned. But as Padme moved closer, the sensation of another lifesign only grew stronger, and his coughing fit became more difficult to shake. In fact, he felt the cold grip of panic around him.
Was history repeating itself? Was it possible?
She couldn't help but notice that look on his face and she paused in her steps. A concerned look crossed over her face and she quirked an eyebrow, "You felt it again, didn't you? What is it, Obi?"
“Nothing…” he said, finally able to get his throat clear. If Padme… God, if she really was pregnant, it wasn’t his place to tell her. And what if he was wrong? Obi-Wan collected himself as quickly as he could. “It was just a glitch. The Jedi version of deja vu. I’m fine, really.”
“What aren’t you telling me? I can see it on your face that there’s something going on. Spill it, Kenobi,” she crossed her arms over her chest and stared him down. There was something fishy going on now with this disturbance in the Force he was feeling. He was keeping a secret and Padme Amidala was not someone you could keep a secret from.
Obi-Wan stood up, taking a stroll in no particular direction to free himself from the intensity of her gaze. He considered using a Mind Trick to bail himself out, but he’d never be forgiven. By Padme or Anakin. “You’re jumping to conclusions. I told you, it was nothing.”
"You avoiding the question. You Jedi may be good at sensing things, but you're terrible at lying. You get that weird look on your face like Anakin does. As if sometimes it's painful to lie," as he decided to talk a walk around the room she moved back to where she was sitting and perched on the arm of the chair with her coffee cup, "You have to tell me what is going on."
Obi-Wan had paused by the window, considering his options. He could get in his truck and drive away. That might work. If he stalled long enough, Padme would find out for herself--or maybe he was wrong and he’d caused all this agitation for nothing. But the thought of Padme being pregnant, it was nearly painful to consider. His head was spinning.
“There no easy way to say it.”
She could almost sense that he wanted to run off and that wasn't going to calm her down. It must have been bad if he was saying it wasn't easy to tell her. But now she had to know. Was she dying? Was something horrific about to happen? "Just say it. You are freaking me out."
His hand went for his beard like it was some sort of security blanket, which he scratched until the skin beneath it was red. There was no way out of this except to go through it. “If I’m sensing someone that doesn’t appear to be there…I have to wonder if, possibly, it could be...an unborn child.”
"A....what," she trailed off at the realization of what he was telling her. An unborn child. Her unborn child? The blood from her face disappeared as a hand unconsciously moved to her stomach. She had to move to sit back on the couch to make sure she wouldn't faint, "I might be pregnant? Holy shit. Oh my god."
Obi-Wan moved away from the window to sit down beside her, partly to make sure she didn’t faint, as well. He picked up her wrist to check her pulse. The sensation of another presence in the room only grew stronger. “Do you think it’s possible?” he asked.
"It's always possible. Anakin and I aren't exactly saving ourselves for marriage. But it does explain why I haven't been feeling well," she stared off into the distance while she spoke before turning to look at him, "But if you sense something then it may be true. Touch my stomach or something."
“Touch your stomach?” At the mere suggestion, Obi-Wan’s face turned bright red. He found all physical contact a little difficult, and the more intimate, the more challenging it was. He shook his head. “I’m not… you have you take an actual test. I can’t prove anything. I may very well be wrong.”
She wasn't really thinking straight when she asked him to do that, but she was a bit upset that he didn't do it. But it was quickly dismissed when she realized she would need to take another pregnancy test, "I don't think you're wrong. Shit, okay. I am going to go and take a test. Because, I don't want to freak out on you. Um, we will talk about the house later and I will let you know how it turns out? okay? Okay..."
And in her very distracted phase she grabbed her purse and grabbed the coffee to pitch. Oh god, she would have to give up coffee. She turned and looked at Obi-Wan with a tight smile as she gave a way and headed to the door.
“Padme... Good luck.”
Obi-Wan returned the tight smile for as long as he could. He managed to hold the expression until she was out the door. And then he let his head fall heavily into his hands.