Settling
the man down
on the crisp,
white bed,
Qui-Gon only very reluctantly stepped back as the Jedi sat quietly on
the bed, his bare feet swaying slightly and his head tilted down as
he pulled his hands into his lap, grasping them together nervously.

The
council had demanded the medical check on this Jedi Obi-Wan, needing
some facts and since Obi-Wan would clearly not answer any questions
nor did they expect him to answer truthfully, it was decided to bring
him to Che.

And
she had commandeered one of the private medical rooms to give this
Jedi Obi-Wan a full checkup, the council and Anakin following her and
Qui-Gon as the man carried their little prize.

Of
course, that hadn’t stopped other Sith from watching and observing
as Qui-Gon carried Obi-Wan around, curiosity thick in the air through
the marble halls of the Sith temple.

But
as
he stepped back from
the bed now,
Qui-Gon observed the Jedi and took notice of something… peculiar.

Obi-Wan
was small.

Smaller
than he should be that
is.

Everything
but the age and the beard was the same as his old apprentice,
or so
Qui-Gon had thought but his brain hadn’t accepted what
was clearly different before
as
the sleeves had rolled over Obi-Wan’s wrists but now it
was suddenly brought into stark view. The way the legging pooled down
around his ankles, the amount of time the sleeves of the tunic had to
be rolled up, the way the black tunic outright swamped Obi-Wan…

He
was much too small for
his age, a surviving Jedi with a beard made sense but this size did
not.

It
just
didn’t
make sense.

And
yet at the same time…

Master
Che was scanning Obi-Wan, taking in details of the Jedi with firm,
no-nonsense hands, ignoring the Jedi’s flinches and taking blood
sample when needed and saliva sample. She then started undressing him
and tense as Obi-Wan was under the touch, he didn’t protest.

His
red, swollen eyes barely glanced up, fright and confusion still in
them but also exhaustion and Qui-Gon couldn’t help but notice how
Obi-Wan avoided looking at Anakin at all.

He
had briefly glanced at everyone but
Anakin.

It
made him wonder…

Then
Qui-Gon had something wholly else to notice as Obi-Wan’s body was
bared to them and in the light they could all see the almost
unnoticeable
bisection
scar crossing from the right shoulder and down the side.

How
Qui-Gon had not seen it earlier when he had been there as Helix
undressed the Jedi, he had no idea.

Maybe
the dimness of the Maverick medbay lights?

But
it was there and they could all see it.

Che
placed her hand on it and Obi-Wan flinched visibly, his hands turning
into fists as the twi’lek slowly shifted to look around Obi-Wan at
his back.
“…This is a lightsaber scar.” She noted, a trace of disbelief
and a large amount of wonder in her voice.

Qui-Gon
understood, the council muttering behind him as Anakin shifted beside
him.

This
little Jedi shouldn’t be alive, the bisection would have gone
through organs and tissue, the shock alone should have killed a
person even with immediate medical aid.

And
yet he was alive.

‘And
he’s small… maybe around a meter and fifty six cm’s tall? A bit
more?’ Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes slowly, curious as he wondered if
the transportation between universe had an impact on Obi-Wan’s size
or if the Force had to use what matter that
was missing to
save Obi-Wan’s life and therefore Obi-Wan was smaller than his Sith
counterpart in every way and the wound that should have killed him
was so faint it was almost untraceable.

“How
did you survive this?” Che questioned, pressing her fingers under
Obi-Wan’s chin
to force his eyes up to
meet her yellow ones.

He
reluctantly meet her eyes, flinching hard and pulling back a bit on
the bed to
escape her hand.
“…Don’t know. Wasn’t there when I last saw…” Obi-Wan
mumbled, reticent clearly and Qui-Gon exchanged a look with Yoda.

Keeping
this Jedi meant that they couldn’t just… demand things.

‘Never
thought I’d be working on gluing a damaged Jedi back together like
he was a wolf pup.’ Qui-Gon thought to himself before moving in
when Che moved back to run the blood and saliva test.

Raising
large hands, Qui-Gon cupped Obi-Wan’s face, ignoring how he
flinched once more. That was normal for the Jedi clearly so he wasn’t
about to call attention to it and frankly, to Obi-Wan, he was in the
camp of the enemy.

Qui-Gon
would be on guard too if he was in his situation.

Carefully,
he rubbed Obi-Wan’s cheeks with his thumbs, rubbing through the
beard gently in a soothing slow motion and
like a skittish animal, Obi-Wan slowly and reluctantly relaxed,
leaning into the touch as if he didn’t know better.

Keeping
the relaxing motion going, Qui-Gon hummed ever so quietly under his
breath, feeling Obi-Wan slowly tip forward until his forehead rested
against Qui-Gon’s chest.

He
didn’t expect this calm and peace to last of course, this was a
Jedi, startled, scared and potentially broken as he was, it still
made him the enemy of the Sith and that meant that they would have to
convince this little Jedi to stay.

‘Maybe
the old bonds…’ Qui-Gon pondered to himself, mind wondering and
plotting.