Master Apprentice Archive Angel of the Waiting Room Quick search:

Rating: G

Warnings: No warnings except there is description of a serious injury

Archive: M_A please

Feedback: Yes, please

Disclaimer: Only toying with GL's boys

Summary: Qui-Gon observes his "patient" Padawan

Note: I have made assumptions about Healers and the "processes". Consider the tale AU if inaccuracies bother you.

Qui-Gon Jinn stood near the admissions desk, an impatient Healer waiting, while he tapped a screen with his index finger, filling out yet another accident report for his somewhat clumsy Apprentice. This time, his new Padawan had fallen fifteen meters during climbing exercises on the sheer face of the Temple. He'd have died if he'd fallen from a greater height. Master Binth, in charge of the exercise, told him that young Obi-Wan had valiantly tried to slow his own descent by stretching out his hand to manipulate the Force, but he was inexperienced. He hadn't had near enough time. He struck the stone pavement with a bone-shattering thump. At the time of the accident, Qui-Gon had been walking in the gardens nearby and he had rushed to help his Apprentice, knowing through their bond that the boy was in excruciating pain.

After the accident, Qui-Gon had found Obi-Wan sitting cross-legged on the polished green marble paving at the East Tower's base. Obi-Wan was clutching his arm to his chest, his left hand over his right. He was rocking slightly and hissing through clenched teeth at each new intake of breath. He was shaking his head, probably to clear his vision. Qui-Gon reached down.

Surprisingly, the boy lurched away from him, shielding his injury. A moment later, he thrust his head between his knees and looked like he was going to be sick. Qui-Gon motioned on-lookers, mostly initiates, to stay back. Master Binth, at the base of the tower with the rest of the class, raised his brow quizzically. Qui-Gon waved him off too, for now at least. Qui-Gon believed that young Obi-Wan was embarrassed enough without everyone gaping at his broken wrist and the nausea caused by the pain.

Approaching his Apprentice again, this time with more success he wrapped his cloak around the boy's shivering body. He placed his large hand on his head, willing the Force to do battle with some of the pain.

"See pain for what it is, Padawan," he murmured. Don't fight against it. Understand it instead and release your fears into the Force."

Obi-Wan whimpered again and then exhaled a great breath in a long low howl, like a wounded animal. There was blood running between the fingers of the hand holding the break. Jagged, white tips of bone pierced his honey-colored skin. The youngster choked back another sob. Then he raised his head and looked into his Master's azure gaze. He seemed calmer and not likely to faint.

Now, let me see it," Qui-Con said patiently. "We both know it's broken."

"I can handle the pain now," Obi-Wan replied, his voice an octave higher than usual. He closed his eyes and frowned, deepening the familiar crease between his brows.

"Then I'm going to help you up," Qui-Gon told him firmly. "I'll carry you to the Healers if you can't walk. Do you understand?"

"I can walk, Master," Obi-Wan insisted, a tinge of whining in his voice.

"Please! I can't be seen carried like a baby," "Ohhhh," he murmured, shifting up to his knees, right before he fainted.

Scooping him up, Qui-Gon carried him to a waiting air car. Master Binth, after dismissing the class accompanied them and explained what had happened. He asked to stay until he learned of the boy's condition from the Healers. He seemed concerned for the boy's welfare and not worried about who was to take the blame for the accident. Everyone knew a Jedi's life was full of hazards.

The air car arrived and triage staff came running out. They loaded Obi-Wan into a gravchair and pushed him into the waiting room. They immediately covered the break with a sterile bandage soaked in bacta. A surgeon had been called to repair the bones and a team of healers was assembling to help the bones knit. Obi-Wan was told it would not be long before he was taken up to the healing chambers.

Qui-Gon was led to the familiar admissions desk to fill in the obligatory data sheets. He'd been there and done that several times before. He was only just across the room but he looked over at his injured Padawan with the distinct feeling that someone was going to steal him away. Truly, he loved the boy. Only one thing gnawed at his thoughts. Were his Padawan's young friends right when they nicknamed him Oafy-Wan?

"What's taking the healers so long?" he asked the clerk behind the desk.

All she did was point out into the vast space of the waiting room. Qui-Gon looked around. More than two dozen people were waiting. A few had bad coughs. A little girl tossed restlessly on a thin mattress atop a medical gravsled. She was no more than six years old. She was crying and calling for her mother.

As he was looking, Qui-Gon watched Obi-Wan get up and cross the floor, stopping at the child's bedside. He touched her with his good hand. She stopped crying and looked at him. Qui-Gon was too far away to hear his Padawan's words but the little girl stopped calling for her mother. She kept her eyes on a brave young man also injured and in deep pain. He waited with the child until they came for her. He patted her cheek and then, as she disappeared into the lift he blew her a kiss.

Qui-Gon finished the forms and took a seat next to Obi-Wan. More injured arrived. A senior initiate had been thrown from a speeder bike and he was unconscious. It was Obi-Wan's turn to go up but he said he'd wait. The other student had more urgent needs. The Healers nodded.

One of the attendants in the waiting room explained that it was busier than usual. It would not be long now. Would Qui-Gon like to go to the Common Room for tea? No, his Padawan had to say. Qui-Gon shook his head. He'd wait. And he watched his Padawan deal with the pain of his injury.

The Jedi Master also watched something more profound. Obi-Wan walked to each little child brought in. He calmed every one of them. The attendants started to call him the Angel of the Waiting Room because he refused treatment when a more serious case arrived and he did wonders for the frighten little children waiting their turn to see a Healer.

So, thought Qui-Gon, the path of the Force has brought Obi-Wan Kenobi an opportunity to learn an important lesson. The Master smiled. His Padawan worked through his pain by helping others defeat their own suffering. He had turned personal misfortune into service to others. In so doing, he made a great stride along the Way of the Jedi.