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The setting sun coated the inside of the shop in a warm, fiery glow. This was due in no small part to the strings of crystals and colored glass that Ahsoka had insisted on hanging as soon as she saw how the fading light of the day hit the windows that faced the beach. The coffee shop was not a large space, but it had been designed for sitting. Small, hardwood tables and soft chairs crowded at odd angles to make sure there was as much seating as possible. It had been designed for the local regulars instead of the tourists that flooded into town from May to September and lacked much in the way of signs or advertising. As such the shop was considered a bit of a hidden gem, in spite of its prime location right off the beach.
Strictly speaking it was also a little small for the number of staff. But it was a family affair. And that made all the difference.
The ringing of the bell above the door is what first drew Obi Wan’s gaze from where he was contemplating the loose leaf teas they just got in. But it was not the frigid winter wind that stopped him.
It was Satine.
Seeing Satine again felt like a punch to the gut. Even more than a decade later she was an excruciating reminder of everything that had been taken from him. In his more melancholy moments, Obi Wan still called Satine his childhood sweetheart. On his better days he remembered the sweet girl he had first known, not the woman she had become. Before Almec had twisted her.
Though a decade had passed, Satine looked much the same. Her white blonde hair was still adorned with lilies in the hairstyle she adopted when she took the New Mandalorians from Almec. Her smile was still the twisted version of the one he had fallen in love with so long ago. It was a sharp, smug twist of the lips that told Obi Wan everything he needed to know.
This was no accident. Satine had known he was here.
Just when Obi Wan was finally starting to believe he, they, were free.
Anakin saw her, even before Obi Wan fully processed the sight of her, jerking from the lights he was fixing. He and Cody were the only other people in the shop that had met Satine, would know her by sight. The sudden stiffness of Obi Wan’s stance and the abrupt speed that Anakin started moving drew Ahsoka’s sharp eyes from where she had been studying.
Satine approached the counter where Obi Wan had been manning the cash register. Anakin half lunged from the other side of the shop to try and cut Satine off, but was just a few moments too late. Cody was just rounding the corner of the espresso machine as Satine came to a stop in front of Obi Wan, but froze at the sound of her voice. Not that Obi Wan could blame his fellow survivor.
“Ben” the genuine warmth and care in Satine’s voice was spine chilling.
Obi Wan had never doubted that Satine acted out of genuine love, a true believer. Many therapy sessions had helped Obi Wan realize the Almec had not been. Instead of excusing Satine’s actions, all it did was drive the horror deeper. Obi Wan could write off everything he suffered under Almec’s leadership for the power moves they were. It was harder to reconcile the pain Satin caused him while she truly believed she was helping.
Obi Wan felt rather than saw Padme come up next to him, her fingers brushing against his wrist out of sight, behind the register. As she had been in the back office, going over the budget with Bail, it is likely that they had seen his reaction in the security cameras.
It was Padme’s presence that gave Obi Wan the strength to face Satine head on. “My name is Obi Wan”
Satine gave a soft click of her tongue, as if Obi Wan had failed some test. “You gave that name up, my Ben, many years ago.” Her eyes flicker over to Cody, still unmoving, “Greetings Upon, CC”
Cody did not manage to deny the name he had been given by the New Mandalorians, but he did not return Satine’s ritual greeting or drop his gaze as he was supposed to. It was progress and Obi Wan would take time to be so proud of him, later.
It took effort, and the feel of Padme’s hand against his own, but Obi Wan was able to keep his one even and firm. “What I gave away, I reclaimed when I left the New.”
Satine scoffed, “You took a Cin Vhatin to join the New, that is not so easily undone.”
Obi Wan could not help but roll his eyes, “It was much easier once the drugs you were seeding the food with wore off.”
Anakin and Rex, Cody’s younger brother, had worked for three long years to get Cody and Obi Wan fully clean. This was on top of the two years it took to get them out of the New Mandalorians main compound.
Satine laughed, the bright sound drawing forward memories of their first meeting for just a moment, “Oh how I missed your sarcasm, my dear Ben”, her smile took on a crueler edge, “and though you have never met, Korkie does miss his father.” she turned her face to Cody, “and Wooley, his.”
Cody took a sharp breath in. The escape had been a necessity, but it had always hurt to leave behind his child, then not yet born. The mother, like Satine, had been twisted into something unrecognizable by Almac. There was no saving her, and death was the only outcome if Cody stayed.
It had still hurt.
“Were you planning on ordering anything?” Padme interrupted, her cheerful customer service voice cutting through the tension.
Satine barely glanced at her, “this really is none of your concern.”
Padme gave a grin that was all teeth, “On the contrary” she said, bringing their entwined hands, with the matching rings into view “Anything that has to do with my husband is very much my concern.”
Now the snarl on Satine’s face wiped away any resemblance to the sweet, passionate girl Obi Wan had once known. The girl he had followed into Almacs clutches. “Do you think,” Satine growled out, “that you are anything but an off-brand copy? Why should Ben want you when the original is right here. All you have to do is come home, my Ben, and all is forgiven.”
Obi Wan adjusted his grip on Padme’s hand. The irony is that there was no tensing up, not even from Cody. In fact, tension drained from his dear friend. After a decade they both knew neither would go back. “I am never going back, Satine. And I will never be yours or Ben again.”
Now Satine turned her gaze back to Obi Wan, her eyes turning large and liquid, “You do not know what you are saying, my dear. Do you think this little girl will stay with you, if she knew you like I do? Do you think you or CC will be safe anywhere but home?”
Now it was Padme who growled, “I know everything I need to. You tried to break two good men…and failed.”
It was true that Padme did not know everything that happened with the New Madalorian’s. There were a number of things that Obi Wan could only talk about with his therapist, or another survivor of Almac, and later Satine. That did not mean that she knew nothing about what had happened to him.
“And now I am going to have to ask you to leave, before I call the police.” A new voice interrupted, Bail with a cell phone in hand.
Satine’s face twisted, then smoothed into the mask she had learned from Almac. A pretty porcelain doll made of flesh. “We welcome you home, my Ben, when you or CC are ready to take your place.”
As Satine turned and swept out, Obi Wan had a single moment to appreciate how freeing it was, this proof that he was over Satine, before the panic he had been pushing back slammed into him. He slumped sideways, knowing Padme would support him, trusting she could support him. Through short breaths and watery eyes he could see Ahsoka shooing the few customers from the tables, flipping the sign to close and locking the door. Even as he sank to the floor, safe in Padme’s arms, Obi wan could hear Anakin whispering comfort to Cody. Bail was talking to someone, probably Rex, on the phone.
It would take some time for the scars on Obi Wan’s heart and mind to resettle, and they would all have to talk about what it meant that Satine and her followers knew where they were. But this was not a decade ago. It was not him and Cody, frightened and withdrawing and fighting against everyone because they didn’t know who they could trust. Obi Wan was safe in Padme’s arms. He could let himself feel the cracks in his own soul because Padme and their little found family would not hold it against him.
For now, he let himself feel safe to cry into Padme’s arms.