When
his master abandoned him in favor of his ‘chosen’ one, Obi-Wan
could feel himself floundering without an anchor and it didn’t get
any better when he became a knight and Qui-Gon cut his braid despite
the hands trembling because of the pain Maul had left him with.

Honestly
Qui-Gon was lucky to be alive and the healers said he would recover
without too much issue.

It
meant that Qui-Gon would be temple locked but since Anakin needed to
integrated into the temple, that wasn’t so bad, it meant that
Qui-Gon could focus on Anakin and his recovery without any missions
to distract him.

It
still left Obi-Wan adrift as he took his first solo mission and
started several month long back to back missions that left him
feeling exhausted.

It
was on Corellia he found Nubby.

Or
rather, Nubby found him as a woman awkwardly asked the Jedi if he
would help, the runt of the litter that was only a few hours old
being different from the rest of his siblings.

A
little bottle pup with missing front legs, the Corellian called these
dogs for boxers Obi-Wan faintly thought as
he held the squeaky thing.

He
was pure white but with dark spots around his pink nose and mouth
that could become black if he just… survived.

Tucking
his hands around the little thing, Obi-Wan held him, listened to
Nubby’s little whimpers and felt that adrift feeling inside of him
become determination as he nodded and took the little pup with him.

If
Nubby would just survive the first night.

Obi-Wan
kept Nubby with him, made a little sling to keep the pup warm against
his chest and meditated, resurfacing every hour to bottle feed Nubby
the milk the woman had given Obi-Wan. He
did his duty as a Jedi and took care of Nubby at the same time, the
little pup slowly becoming stronger, slowly getting slightly bigger.

Obi-Wan
used his credits at a pet venue and bought more milk replacement for
the pup and kept feeding him and slept with Nubby curled up in the
same bunk as he, his arms wrapped protectively around him and still
waking once every hour to feed him.

The
puppy got bigger and opened his eyes and looked at Obi-Wan and oh
Force, Obi-Wan couldn’t leave his puppy behind, nuzzling Nubby’s
soft snout with a gentle coo and when he finally had his breakthrough
on the spice ring on Corellia and managed to bring them in with the
Judaical, he celebrated by buying Nubby a harness and a leash, using
the harness and leash to hold him up and let him walk on his hind
legs.

He
bought toys and food and then he was ready to leave, returning to
Coruscant while sending in a request to the council for downtime,
Nubby curiously exploring the cabin of the cruiser they were taking
to Coruscant before semi
rolling, not yet quite able to jump and not strong enough to stand
yet
on his hind legs
onto the bedding Obi-Wan had set up along
with the toys and bowls of food and water.

Laughing
faintly while hitting send, Obi-Wan knelt down to pet the little pup
in
the small cabin.
“You’re a silly one Nubby. I’m gonna have to get you a nice big
bed for our quarters huh?” He teased, grinning brightly when the
pup rolled onto his back and exposed his soft white and pinkish belly
where the fur wasn’t fully grown over just
yet.

Rubbing
the belly gently with his fingers, Obi-Wan smile turned wry as he
realized he had his own helpless stray. “…But you do make me feel
happy, so maybe the ‘helpless’ cue isn’t that big huh? How can
you be helpless when you make me so happy and rush around… you
don’t know any other way of life.” He murmured.

Nubby
gave him a wuffle, big dark eyes staring up at him with big pinkish
white ears flopping around his ears.

Unconditional
love flowing in the Force.

Obi-Wan
stared down at his pup then picked Nubby right up and went to the
bunk, curling up together with his puppy and laving affection on him
with a bright smile as
a wet tongue came out lick his face.

His
little Nubby, best of doggy.