Chapter Text
They landed at the hospital with an overheating hyperdrive and a smoking engine. The landing was rough and Cody feared for his life a couple of times, but all in all, it wasn’t the worst crash-landing ever. It might have even been one of the few times Anakin Skywalker landed a ship without any chunks of it missing.
After the pair collected themselves, Anakin made to leave the ship, but stopped when he noticed Cody wasn’t following, “Aren’t you coming?”
“It’s your kid, I don’t have the right to-”
“Cody, we just went through a really weird experience together that kind of bonded us. You can come.”
Cody followed Anakin off of the ship, paused to appease the droids in charge of parking fretting over the state of the ship, and hurried into the hospital. No one raised a fuss about Cody following Anakin to Padme’s room. Clones were considered people now, they had rights, but in the end they were still largely invisible to the public. It was a blessing and a curse.
“Go ahead and wait out here,” Anakin pointed to a chair outside the door, “I’ll let you know when it’s finished.”
Nodding, Cody took a seat while Anakin stepped inside the room. The door shut slowly, allowing Cody to hear the beginning of Anakin and Padme’s conversation.
“Where were you?”
“You won’t believe the week I’ve had.”
“Well, it wouldn’t have been as crazy if you’d just stayed here with your pregnant wife…”
The door shut completely, stopping Cody from hearing the rest of Anakin’s inevitable scolding. Chuckling quietly, Cody settled in to wait. He wasn’t sure why Anakin was so okay with Cody being here for such a personal thing, but he accepted it as another strange thing about Anakin Skywalker and left it there.
Jerking awake when the door to the room opened, Cody rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He didn’t remember dozing off, though he wasn’t surprised he did so. Glancing up at a beaming Anakin, he raised a brow.
“It was twins,” Anakin stated, perhaps explaining why he was so happy. Having more than one child at a time wasn’t normal for most Natborns, “A boy and a girl. Come on, you can meet them.”
“Ah, wait, Anakin,” Cody put a hand on Anakin’s arm to stop him. He pulled Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from his belt and held it out, “I want you to have this. I know I used it against Maul, but it belongs to a Jedi, and Obi-Wan thought of you as a son.”
Anakin looked down at the hilt, a contemplative look overtaking the joy on his face, “You know, Jedi are told that our lightsabers are our lives. Our Kyber crystals are pieces of our very souls.”
Cody hummed, not seeing what this had to do with Anakin taking the saber in order to properly honor Obi-Wan.
“Our lightsabers are our lives and Obi-Wan doesn’t have his anymore,” Anakin continued, “But… but you’re his heart, and you’re still here. No one but you deserves that saber.”
Cody reared back at the unexpected sentiment, “Anakin-”
“Besides, I think the Kyber crystal has started to like you. Which is strange, because Kyber crystals don’t acknowledge Force nulls,” Anakin’s hand traveled to his own saber absentmindedly, “Do you feel anything from that saber?”
“It feels like Obi-Wan. Steady, comforting, strong- wait what do you mean Kyber crystals don’t acknowledge non-Force users?”
“You wouldn’t be able to feel the Kyber crystal if you weren’t at least slightly Force-sensitive.”
Oh. Oh! Oh wow, alright. That was something that Cody was going to have to reflect on later. Slightly Force-sensitive. Was that how Cody and Obi-Wan could understand each other without needing to say a word? Why Cody heard and saw Obi-Wan even when he was one with the Force?
“I’m sure if you talk to the Council they’ll offer you some training, but if you’ve gone on this long without realizing it then you probably aren’t that Force-sensitive,” Anakin reassured, then looked to the door to Padme’s room, “We can talk about this more later, right now I want you to meet the kids. One life-changing thing at a time, alright?”
Right. One thing at a time. Cody let Anakin lead him into the room, his eyes immediately going to the two small babies sleeping in prams next to the bed.
“This is Luke,” Anakin motioned to one, then the other, “And this is Leia. Do you want to hold one of them?”
“I’ve never held a child before,” Cody admitted. Clones were decanted as toddlers, and the advanced aging started from there.
“Don’t worry, Cody, neither had Anakin before this,” Padme’s gentle but obviously exhausted voice called from the bed.
“How are you feeling, Senator?” Cody asked, following Anakin’s instructions to support the head as he placed Luke in his arms.
“Tired. I heard you and Anakin went on an adventure together,” she sent her husband a withering look that gentled when her gaze returned to Cody, “Thank you for bringing him home in time.”
“It was nothing. If anything I should be thanking him,” Cody sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the room, smiling down at the child who was just waking up. Blue eyes greeted him, and Luke gave a gummy smile, “I think he brought me home too.”
“Cody, there’s uh, something we want to ask you,” Anakin admitted, drawing Cody’s attention away from the adorable child, “We’d like you to be a secondary guardian for the twins, along with Padme’s family and Rex and Ahsoka. In case anything were to happen, we know they’d be well taken care of with all of you.”
Obi-Wan would have received this offer if he was still alive. Obi-Wan would have been the children’s grandfather, or perhaps they’d call him uncle. He would have loved the children, would have doted on them like nothing else. He’d have been wonderful with Luke and Leia, just like he would have been wonderful with any children they themselves took in.
Obi-Wan wasn’t here to do any of that anymore, but Cody was, and it was terrible but it was okay.
“Yes, I’ll be a guardian,” Cody nodded, finding it hard to talk due to the emotion tightening his throat.
“Knock knock,” Padawan Tano peeked her head in, grinning when she saw everyone inside, “Looks like we’re a little late, sorry about that Padme.”
“Anakin was late too, it’s alright,” Padme appeased, drawing an unsurprised chuckle from Anakin’s former Padawan.
Ahsoka stepped inside with Rex just behind her, each bearing a gift of some kind. Cody briefly felt guilty for not bringing something but reminded himself of the journey he just went on and felt better. He had a good excuse.
Cody passed Luke to Rex while Ahsoka picked up Leia. The group spoke quietly about the children and how their lives were going. Anakin began to tell everyone what happened on Stewjon, his voice quiet for the sake of the slumbering children. Cody felt comfortable enough with everyone in the room to interject and poke fun at times, joining in on their laughter.
For a brief moment, Cody felt a hand brush his cheek. He closed his eyes and savored the touch while it lasted. When he opened them again he returned his focus to those around him. It was going to be okay.
For the first time in his life Cody was totally free, and he had no idea where to go from here.
It was a wonderful feeling.