Hugs

by Sage (greensage2@yahoo.com)

Archive: Yes to M_A. All others, please ask.

Category: Alternate Universe, Pre-Slash

Rating: G

Warnings: Not a one

Series: None

Summary: A little bit of gentle fluff. Young Obi-Wan takes care of his bondmate.

Notes: Not beta'd - all mistakes are mine. I'm still new at this. Please be kind.

Feedback: Oh please, oh please! Either on the list or by email would be fine.

Disclaimers: Not mine. No money. All hail the mighty Lucas. Thanks and much praise to Anne Higgins for creating her wonderful Bonding Universe and for allowing other authors to write in it.

Qui-Gon was tired. Tired in his bones and tired in his soul. He'd gone on a solo mission, supposedly an easy jaunt to Vraxis II to witness a coronation. Of course, nothing was ever that easy. He'd had to single-handedly hold off a band of armed rebels while the largely ineffective palace guard got over their surprise enough to respond, then hunt for and extract the young crown prince from the clutches of dissidents who were opposed to his coronation. Qui-Gon was already tired of holding entire planets together all by himself, and he was still young, not yet thirty. It was enough to make a man think seriously about attaching another padawan, just to get a break.

There was a muted thump as his shuttle docked at the Temple. It was the dead of night, Coruscant time, and it made him feel like he was slinking home in disgrace when actually he'd managed to salvage what he could of a bad situation. He sighed and prepared to debark after thanking his pilot. He just wanted to fall into bed and sleep for a week, but the Council would doubtless summon him at first light.

Obi-Wan came awake all at once. He listened for a moment, thinking some noise or commotion woke him, but the crèche was quiet and still. He frowned. Then a smile broke over his little face. His Quigee was home! He glanced furtively at the Crèche Master's desk, but it was empty. Obi-Wan scrambled out of bed and padded to the door. With a tweak of his mind that he'd learned from his bondmate, he deactivated the lock on the crèche door and crept outside. His bare feet pattered against the floor as he followed the sense of his bondmate through the drafty Temple.

Quigee was tired. Tired and a little...sad. What the little boy really meant was discouraged, but he didn't have a word for that, so 'sad' would have to do. Well. He would have to fix that sad feeling. That's what bondmates are for, after all, to make things better.

He shivered as he ran through the halls. It was cold, and he hadn't stopped for robe or slippers when he'd bolted from his bed. That was okay, though. Quigee would keep him warm.

Qui-Gon shouldered his pack and trudged down the landing ramp intent on going straight to his quarters and collapsing into bed for a few hours of blissful unconsciousness.

The doors leading from the landing pad to the Temple proper swished open as he approached, and the sight that greeted him halted him in his tracks.

His little bondmate had drawn himself up to his full four-year-old height, ignoring his own shivering, and was arguing stridently with the guard on duty to be let out onto the pad to meet his Quigee. The guard, not exactly sure what to make of a crèche waif who wanted out and was willing to fight for it, tried his best to get the little kid to go back to bed. He was on the verge of ringing for a Crèche Master when the doors opened to admit Master Jinn.

"Obi-Wan?" he blurted incredulously. How had the little one known he was home, and more importantly, how had he found the landing pad by himself?

"Quigee!" the little boy shouted.

There was a rush of tiny feet, and a small, sturdy body catapulted into his arms.

"What are you doing out of bed at this hour, Little One?"

Little arms locked around his neck in a death grip. "Came to see Quigee. 'Cause you need hugs."

Qui-Gon chuckled, to the guard's amazed regard. He snuggled the boy closer and wrapped him in his robe to keep him warm. "Do I? And what makes you think that, Imp?"

Obi-Wan looked up at him with eyes that were far too wise for one so small. "Tired. Quigee is tired in here." One little hand thumped against his chest, right over his heart. "And sad. Hugs fix. Hugs make Quigee's heart happy again."

Said heart constricted painfully as Qui-Gon tucked Obi-Wan under his chin and stroked the silky red-gold curls. Such heartbreaking empathy from such a young child...it nearly undid him completely. "Oh, my beautiful little imp, whatever would I do without you?" he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

The curly head came up again. "Be sad lots," Obi-Wan answered seriously. The little face brightened. "But you have me. Always have me for hugs an' happy stuff."

Qui-Gon chuckled fondly. "Indeed. I'm so glad we can share 'hugs and happy stuff,' Imp."

The curly head nodded against his chest. "Me too, Quigee," Obi-Wan sighed happily. "Share everything with you someday. Then you won't be sad anymore, right?"

"Never sad with you, Obi-Wan."

The little boy's face threatened to split in two, first with the dazzling smile he flashed at his bondmate, then with the cavernous yawn that reminded Qui-Gon of the late hour.

"Come, my imp, we must get you back to the crèche so that you can go back to sleep."

A wave of stubbornness and obstinacy flashed along their bond. "No!"

"Yes," the Master said sternly. "It's time for little boys to be in bed." He suited actions to words and started walking through the temple, heading for the crèche.

Obi-Wan scowled fiercely. "Yucky bed does not need me. Quigee does." Little arms and legs wrapped themselves around him as far as they would go. Obi-Wan clung like a creeper vine, obviously having no intention of releasing his bondmate.

"Quigee needs more hugs. I am GOING to stay with you. So you feel better in here." Another emphatic thump on his chest, accompanied by a Most Serious Pout.

Qui-Gon gathered himself, preparing to admonish the boy with his best Stern Jedi Master voice and expression and deposit him in the crèche whether he liked it or not.

Obi-Wan saw it coming. He might be only four years old, but that didn't mean he hadn't learned a thing or two. He deliberately widened his eyes, allowing tears to fill them. He thought about spending the night away from Quigee, and his lower lip trembled. He allowed his thumb to creep slowly to his mouth, where he sucked it nervously.

Qui-Gon caved. He had absolutely no defense against the little thumb- sucking manipulator when he was like this. He sighed. "Oh, very well. I'll comm the Crèche Master and tell her you'll be staying with me tonight."

Little arms and legs tightened their grip. "Yay!" Obi-Wan shouted loudly in his bondmate's ear. "More hugs for Quigee. Feel all better in the morning."

Qui-Gon chuckled ruefully as he entered his quarters. It was a good thing he never had to deal with legions of four-year-old imps on his missions. Never mind the armed rebels and fractious warring clans -- they were easy to handle. Big-eyed, curly-haired, thumb-sucking, manipulative children were harder to defeat than the Sith, for Force's sake.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

Qui-Gon paused at the wall comm unit. "You go wait for me," he said to Obi-Wan as he set the little boy down. "I need to call the crèche, and then I'll be in."

"'Kay." Little arms seized him tightly about the knees in a parting hug, and then little feet pattered off towards the bedroom.

Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master and one of the Order's finest warriors and diplomats, then shame-facedly informed Crèche Master Aronna that her young charge had bested him yet again and would be staying the night in his quarters. Aronna made a valiant but unsuccessful effort not to laugh and shooed the young Master off to bed. It was, after all, well past time for both little boys and big boys to be asleep.

Task completed, Qui-Gon strode into his bedroom. Obi-Wan was waiting by the bed, not yet tall enough to climb in without help. Qui-Gon turned back the blankets.

"Up you go, Imp," he said as he boosted the boy into the bed, then climbed in after him. Obi-Wan immediately squirmed onto his chest, clasping little arms loosely around his neck.

"Go to sleep, Quigee. I'll take care of you." A small hand softly stroked his long mane.

"Yes, you always do, my imp. Thank you." Qui-Gon wrapped his arms around the little boy, taking comfort already from the slight, warm weight curled trustingly against his chest.

"Love you, Quigee. Always."

"I love you too, Obi-Wan."

Qui-Gon didn't even have time to wonder how or when his young bondmate had figured out how to use the Force to induce sleep before he surrendered with a sigh. He dimly noted that Obi-Wan followed him down into slumber, still holding him tightly.

Fin