The bridge of the Negotiator was full of people and yet no one spoke, laughed or joked, the troopers all focused on their tasks with a gloomy atmosphere leaving them all with the reluctance to break the silence.

Not that it was fully silent, considering all the machines working or the squeak of boots on durasteel floor, that be impossible.

But no one was making more noise than they could avoid and no one was speaking.

All of them were too consumed with the knowledge of what had happened to their General.

And no one was more effected than Commander Cody, the man standing silent as a statue with his arms crossed over his chest.

Several sent worried glances at their vod but knew better than to disturb him, Cody didn’t deal well with emotional turmoil, it made him snappish and therefore they left him be until he was ready to speak to someone.

And right now, every last living person on the Negotiator was severely emotionally compromised.

The General had miscarried on their way to Kuat, the loss of blood and the pain he had gone through setting his recovery back by weeks.

A pale and bleak Helix had come to the bridge to inform them only hours ago, blood on the back of his hand that Waxer had quietly cleaned. Helix had stared at his hand in horror even after the blood had been cleaned off his dark skin, as if he could still see it and when Waxer had noticed there was blood under Helix nails, he had quietly requested some leave to help the poor man.

What else could Cody say than yes, especially after learning that General Skywalker was sitting with Obi-Wan, observing him and keeping an eye.

When Helix looked like a stiff breeze could tip him over end, his eyes too wide and haunted, looking more like a shiny that had lost their entire batch on the first battle?

No, Cody wasn’t that heartless and Waxer was the best choice for someone when they needed care, Waxer was naturally nurturing and gentle, it was one of the reasons Numa had become so attached to him after all.

Hemolytic disease Helix had said while standing there in a shock as Waxer cleaned his hands, that the General’s baby had a different blood type than the General, something about Rh factors and plus and minus blood. It went over Cody’s head if he was honest but he had listened while Helix had spoken in slurred words.

The explanation hadn’t been good enough for Cody to really understand.

What he did know was that due to different blood, the baby didn’t make it, the General miscarried.

Cody wasn’t sure what to feel about any of it.

Because he knew his General.

One one hand, it made everything easier, nature had taken its own decision.

But on the other hand, it took the decision out of Obi-Wan’s hands.

After everything that had happened, that was what had been so important, it was why the high council had agreed to send the General away to Kuat, Cody knew that from General Skywalker, that the council was considering Obi-Wan’s recovery, not just the physical but the mental as well.

And now it was out of his hands.

Cody wasn’t sure what Obi-Wan would have decided, he liked to say that he knew his General well but a decision like this?

No, Cody wasn’t sure what Obi-Wan would have in the end decided, to keep it or not.

Now it didn’t matter.

What mattered now was what had happened and what they were going to do about it.

Because the end result was this, Obi-Wan was still going through all the traumatic osik that had happened… but this time he wouldn’t be alone.

Cody had been angry before, he had been hurt and it had backfired.

He was allowed to be hurt and angry but he couldn’t leave the General alone to cope in all of his misery. Because in the end, it would drown the poor man and Cody… Cody had already had a taste of what things would be like if Obi-Wan was gone.

He couldn’t handle that again.

If he was to loose his General, he’d go down with him this time.

That wasn’t a healthy mindset, Cody knew that, but he knew he wasn’t the only trooper that thought that way, many vode with Jedi commanders would rather die than watch the Jedi die.

A clone didn’t have many rights, many possessions and to have a Jedi General… to be listened to and to have them look at you like you really were a person when others thought you were just useless cannon fodder, a flesh droid… well, it was what made the troopers cling so tightly to their Jedi.

Being left behind by the person that listened to them, that believed in them and cared for them…

There was nothing worse and Cody couldn’t handle going through that again, especially not if he was to receive the pitying glances from other commanders.

It was one of the reasons he had reacted so coldly to the news that Obi-Wan was alive, to see the pity of others and go through the grief as he had only to know that Obi-Wan had been alive the entire time?

That he had willingly put Cody through that sense of loss?

Well, a bad reaction.

A bad decision, despite remaining professional.

Cody’s mistake.

He’d correct it now and sooth the hurt he had caused because Cody knew that Obi-Wan would need them now and… and he so badly wanted to be there for him as long as Obi-Wan allowed it.

‘When he wakes up… I’ll go to him. I’ll apologize… and I’ll be there.’ Cody breathed out heavily, grateful for his helmet covering his expression as he finally came to a decision.