Title: Flip

Author: snootiegirl

Summary: AU. After the Republic wins the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and Anakin are faced with an uncertain future. Change can be unsettling for everyone. Rated M in later chapters.

Disclaimer: All Star Wars characters are owned by Disney. I make no money off the writing of this story.

Author Note: It occurred to me in reading AO stories that Anakin never turns Obi-Wan down for sex. I began to wonder under what circumstances he might. Thanks as always go out to my good friend Temple Mistress for her valuable insight and encouragement.

Chapter 1

Four years into the Clone Wars, and the Republic was finally gaining ground. They had managed to dispatch a good portion of the financial infrastructure behind the Separatists, hobbling their efforts to keep producing more and more battle droids, weapons, and ships.

Jedi Master General Obi-Wan Kenobi was tired of war. He was tired of death and carnage and injustice. He was looking forward to the kinds of days spent peacekeeping that he had enjoyed as a Padawan with his own Master. The shroud of the Dark Side kept receding day-by-day, and he felt his connection to the Force growing.

Obi-Wan was certain that the recent destruction of the Sith portended good things for the galaxy. His own former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker had dispatched the Sith apprentice Count Dooku. And just this past week, the Council discovered, through excellent intelligence work by the GAR, that the Chancellor of the Republic was actually the Sith Lord, poised and ready to destroy the Jedi and the Republic together. Master Windu had managed to use his Vaapad lightsaber skills, which skirted the edge of the Dark Side themselves, to dispatch this powerful Sith as well.

All was well, except for some remaining pockets of Separatist resistance. Some of the more aggressive species allied with the Separatists held on to the conflict for reasons of their own-money, revenge, something to do. But with the news of the destruction of the Sith and the discovery of their hand and agenda behind the war in the first place, the Jedi were observing a great shift in the tide of war. Idealists who had joined the cause because they genuinely believed in the principles of the Federation were the ones to first start deactivating battle droids and opening comm channels.

In his rare quiet moments, Obi-Wan reflected on what his life, and the life of every Jedi, would look like after this enormous trial. The war had changed many things. It had challenged the faith of the strongest of the Order. Discoveries had been made that could not have been imagined during peaceful times. Discoveries about the nature of loyalty and valor. Discoveries about what kinds of principles truly were the most universal and binding between sentients. And discoveries about the strength of the Light Side of the Force to bind life forms together and bring about miraculous results.

The Jedi had always paid lip service to a fall to the Dark Side as being a choice. It wasn't something that an individual could be tricked into or accidentally fall into. It was choice. It was free will. And as the horror of war proved over and over to many a Jedi, dead and alive alike, it was not a choice that would come easily to anyone who had lived the life of a Jedi and fought for the Republic.

Who would choose to be a bringer of such torment to so many? Who would exchange the small joys of life for the power of death and destruction? No Jedi who had ever believed in the Order, the Code, or the Republic would willingly walk that path-no matter how far those three pillars fell.

And it was true that the Republic and even the vaunted Jedi Order were shells of what they were before the conflict swept through their very halls. Friends and rivals departed in so many ways-death, desertion, defection-that the Senate and Jedi Order literally had different faces.

But Obi-Wan had hope. He hoped for a future. With the veil of the Dark Side lifting, he could begin to see that there was Light in the future of all living things. The government would heal itself with the help of people like Bail Organa and Padme Amidala. Trade would blossom through trade routes that were unclogged by the machines of war. And ordinary people-the people who truly made up the Republic and the galaxy-would pick up their lives and continue living.

And the Jedi Order? How would it look now that the threat of the Dark Side had been met and dispatched? Obi-Wan knew as a Council member and a stalwart believer in the Code that change was on the horizon for the Order as well. And he, of all people, was glad for it. The war had changed his view of many things.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had been acting strangely.

His former Padawan noticed it right away. He should. He was the closest person to Obi-Wan, as Jedi weren't supposed to get close to anyone. The first time Anakin suspected something was out of place was when he caught his former Master smiling fondly at a refugee family they were helping board a cruiser.

The family, and several thousands of others, was being relocated after the Separatists had destroyed their city. This scene had played out across hundreds of planets, displacing millions of people, for the past several years. This was hardly the first time General Kenobi had been involved in such an evacuation.

But he took a particular interest in this family. It was comprised of three adults and six children. There was the elderly matron of the group, two adult males, and a mix of girls and boys ranging in age from pre-teens to toddlers. The two men herded the children with the experience of parents long used to the unruly nature of such a gaggle of little ones.

To Anakin's astonishment, he watched Obi-Wan chase down one of the most wayward stragglers, a five year old, and hoist the child into the air. Anakin could hear the child's laughter from his position on the other side of the queue of shuffling humanity. He watched Obi-Wan smile at the child, speak with him, and then gently touch his nose. The child's eyes almost crossed keeping a watch on the Jedi's finger circling to his face.

And then Obi-Wan threw his head back and laughed with the child. It was the single most amazing thing that Anakin had seen in four long years of war. It was the very image of joy. He too couldn't help but smile at such a scene.

But later, he took the time to reflect on it and realized that it was also the strangest thing he had ever seen during the war. Obi-Wan showing affection toward a child who was a stranger? Not even a Jedi youngling, just an ordinary child. Obi-Wan laughing with abandon? Who would have ever thought to see such a thing? Certainly not Anakin.

He had always respected and looked up to his Master, even in their most difficult times. He always strove to be the kind of Jedi that Obi-Wan could be proud to mentor. It had been a struggle for him, he didn't deny that. And it probably seemed to Obi-Wan that Anakin hadn't tried very hard most of the time. But the struggles within are the hardest to see from another's viewpoint.

And now that he had attained the rank of Jedi Knight and distinguished himself in his service during the war, Anakin felt that he had finally fulfilled a great deal of the promise that Obi-Wan had seen in him. He was able to let go of his fear. He let go of his anger. He even let go of his mother, knowing she was safely a part of the life-giving Force and no harm would ever come to her again.

Anakin shook his head to clear his mind. I was thinking about Obi-Wan, he chastised himself, not me. What was this change about? When had it happened? And what did it mean?

The young Knight fell asleep still pondering these questions for which he had no ready answers. But in the chaos of the morning, he quickly forgot about what he had seen.

'The Senate Declares an End to the Clone Wars' read the headline on every HoloNews channel, every scrolling news ticker, and every brief sent to a Senator's datapad. The galaxy let out a collective exhale.

In the sunlit halls of the Jedi Temple, Obi-Wan and Yoda made their slow way to the High Council Chamber for their daily meeting. But even Yoda couldn't control his happiness at the turn of events.

"In all my eight hundred years, never have I felt such Light, Master Obi-Wan," Yoda stated.

"Yes, Master. It is buoyant to feel the life teeming throughout the galaxy with growth and expansion," he replied, a little enigmatically even for Yoda's taste.

"Yes, growth," the GrandMaster agreed quietly.

"It's a shame, Master, that the Order cannot experience this spurt of growth on the heels of such losses during the war. Our expansion is so slow in comparison to other groups and familial structures," Obi-Wan continued.

Now he's revealing his point, thought Yoda. "You have a suggestion, Master Obi-Wan, hmmmm?" he asked as he turned to the younger man and they stopped their progression toward the rest of the Council.

Obi-Wan looked deeply into Yoda's eyes. He weighed the words that he had been turning over in his mind for months. He did have a suggestion, but he didn't know how it would be received. "Yes, Master, the war has given me many things to think about. I have seen my friends taken and watched many others lose family, friends, and comrades. And my greatest impression from these experiences has been that the emotional ties that bind sentients together are also the ones that provide the most strength in times of strife. The courage to go on; the endurance to push harder. These connections-these attachments-have made the difference in so many situations, Master-the positive difference. They have created miracles of life in the pits of death."

Obi-Wan paused to catch his breath as he became more and more animated in his speech. He didn't want to be interrupted by Yoda until he had said his piece, but the GrandMaster seemed to know that he wasn't done speaking yet and held his peace for Obi-Wan to begin again.

"Master, once Jedi were allowed to form attachments-to have families. I believe that the time has come for these connections to flourish again. If what I have seen over the past four years has convinced me of nothing else, it is that our connections to other living things are what keep us in the Light. And Jedi of all people need this extra strength to keep the Dark at bay. We are the line of defense against evil. And we should battle evil with love, with passion, with joy, and with life." Obi-Wan stopped talking and crossed his arms, tucking his hands into his sleeves. He searched Yoda's face for any reaction.

"Mmmmm," Yoda began with a soft hum. "Discuss this with the Council, we will, Master Obi-Wan." He turned and continued his way to the Council chamber.

Well, he didn't say no, thought Obi-Wan.

When they arrived in the chamber, Obi-Wan was reminded again of their losses during the war by the absence of so many Council members. The first order of business would be to solicit new members. He took his seat, and the session began.