Title: Things Are Looking Up
Author: earthworm 
Date Finished: September 22, 1999
Rating: G
Archive: No, please.
Feedback: Yes, please!
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money for me.
Summary: Obi-wan has somewhat of a revelation after Anakin shows up at
his door late one night.
Time Frame: A couple of years after TPM

________________________________________________________________________
Things Are Looking Up
by earthworm


	The stars began to fade from individual points of light into
criss-crossing streaks that made the window almost seem to glow.  
They were hypnotizing to Obi-wan. He felt his eyes grow heavy, 
and time seemed to slow. Sleep called to him, and he could feel his 
consciousness slip away from him.

	His body jerked suddenly as the door chime sounded, and his 
hand reflexively shot out towards the endtable, where his lightsaber 
rested.  The clumsiness of his near-sleep state prevented him from 
actually grabbing it; instead, his weapon flew halfway across the 
room.

	Obi-wan huffed in mild frustration. "Yeah," he said to the 
empty room. "Good thing I've had such extensive training. Otherwise, 
someone might've been able to sneak up on me."

	The chime sounded again, and Obi-wan hauled himself to his 
feet. His visitor turned out to be Anakin. At thirteen, the boy was 
already approaching Obi-wan's height, and Obi-wan had to admit to 
himself that he derived some small satisfaction in the fact that 
Anakin was even more clumsy than he had been at the same age.

	"Of course I could still be considered rather clumsy," he 
thought as he remembered his lightsaber lying on the floor six feet 
away.  He studied Anakin closely, wondering why the boy was standing 
here in his daywear. "Why aren't you in bed?"

	Anakin looked everywhere but into Obi-wan's eyes. "I don't 
know," he said.

	Obi-wan sighed. "You don't know?"

	"No--well--yes." Anakin glanced quickly at Obi-wan then 
stared down at his boots as he replied. "I couldn't sleep."

	"Oh. Well, why are you wearing your daywear?"

	"I didn't want to walk down here in my night clothes."

	Obi-wan started to question him, then thought better of it. 
"Well.  Would you like to come in?"

	"Yes, master."

	"Very well." Obi-wan stepped aside as the lanky boy all 
but tiptoed into the room. "How may I help you?" he asked.

	Anakin seemed to pause, then asked hurriedly, "Do you want to 
play a game?"

	"A game? Anakin, it's in the middle of the night. We have a 
big day tomorrow. If you are so starved for entertainment, you could 
read some of the history lessons I left with you."

	Anakin sighed. "Yes Master." He turned back towards the door, 
his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

	A pang of guilt stabbed Obi-wan in the heart. "What kind of 
game?" he asked Anakin softly, and tried to prevent smiling at 
Anakin's obvious pleasure.

	"I don't know." Obi-wan sighed, and Anakin rushed on. "Well, 
I have this game in my room that I got from Ptolmey. It's called 
Monopoly."

	"Monopoly, huh?" Obi-wan bit his lip. "Oh, alright. Go get it."

	Anakin ran out of the room, and Obi-wan chuckled at the boy. 
He could remember his elation the first time he had been able to get 
Qui-gon to play a game. It was a rather simple game, played with a 
special deck of cards.  He had paid what, at the tender age of ten, 
he considered to be a fortune for the game. His free nights were 
devoted to learning all the rules, and by the time he met Qui-gon, he 
was a master at the game. He was also the only one who still liked to 
play. Every one of his friends had long since gotten sick of it.

	He remembered pulling the worn deck out of his box of 
not-so-valuables and timidly asking his new master if he'd like to 
play cards. Qui-gon had been busy, and told Obi-wan that they could 
play some other night.  Obi-wan had taken that statement to mean his 
master was uninterested and so he did not mention the game again.

	A number of days after that night, Qui-gon and Obi-wan were 
enjoying a night off from their normal schedule when Qui-gon suddenly 
turned to Obi-wan and said, "Didn't you have a game you wanted to 
play earlier?"

	Obi-wan was surprised. "Yes, master," he had said.

	Qui-gon had asked if he still wanted to play, and Obi-wan 
had been unable to contain his excitement. They had played the game 
until Obi-wan's eyes drooped, and Obi-wan was ushered to bed by 
his master, where he was told a bedtime story for the first--and 
only--time in his life.

	Obi-wan wondered if so many years ago Qui-gon had felt as 
guilty as Obi-wan had when Obi-wan had initially turned down Anakin.

	His mental wanderings were interrupted by his enthusiastic 
padawan as the boy bounded back into the room with a long box held 
in his hands. "Here it is!" Anakin proudly proclaimed. Obi-wan 
realized that the boy must have traded one of his possessions for 
the game, probably making it as important to Anakin as Obi-wan's 
own game had been to him.

	Obi-wan raised his eyebrows and smiled broadly. "Well, lets 
get started, shall we? We have very little nighttime left in which 
to play."

	Anakin knelt on the floor and began unpacking the contents 
of the box.  As Obi-wan watched him, he felt, strangely, a burst of 
pride and wonder.  He shook his head and knelt down beside his 
padawan. "So. How does one play this game?"

	"Well, first, you pick a player. I like to be the horse."

	"Oh. Well, I think I should like to be the shoe."

	"The *shoe*?"

	"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

	"Nothing. It's just that only *you* would pick a shoe, 
Obi-wan."

	Obi-wan glared at his young protege. "And what's that supposed 
to mean?"

	"Nothing," Anakin said, peering at Obi-wan from under his 
lashes. Obi-wan thought that, as tall as the boy was, he still looked 
rather impish.

	He grudgingly smiled at the boy, wondering if Qui-gon had 
ever felt like such a pushover.

	Obi-wan decided he probably had. He knew Qui-gon had loved 
him, and that's why he'd gotten away with so much mischief in his 
younger years.  Obi-wan looked at Anakin, understanding finally what 
he had felt earlier. He and Anakin loved each other, though they had 
trouble communicating that to each other.

	"Heck, we've never communicated that to each other," Obi-wan 
thought.

	Anakin glanced up at him, and Obi-wan smiled warmly at him. 
"You know I'm proud of you, don't you?"

	Anakin just beamed at him and blushed. Obi-wan sighed. For 
the first time since before Qui-gon's death, he was truly content. 
And once again, he was able to look forward to what the future 
would bring.

	Things are finally looking up.


~~~END~~~

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