He flinches as soon as he steps into the room, and leans back slightly like he had two dozen blasters pointed at him, and squints at the box in her hands.
If it weren't for the box, she would certainly pressed her palm to her face: she is standing in his room in the Temple in the middle of the night, although she should be on Mandalore rehearse her speak for the Separatist Senate, and this is worries him most of all?
“A dessert,” Satine answers with emphasis. “Do you want to take it?”
“Not really. The last, ahem, dessert that was in my hands turned out to be too mobile to eat.”
“You know, I'm not Tal Merrick to present you an activated droid.”
“To present?” his eyebrows arch in surprise.
Unable to restrain herself much longer, she rolls her eyes with a groan.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi, stop pretending. Yes, it's a day late, but I didn't forget! Besides, I'm late because you wasn't on the planet. Do you have any idea how hard it was to sneak into the Temple with freshly baked Uj'alayi?” she squints angrily, but sighs and continues much more calmly. “I used almond and chocolate syrups, because you can't lived without a caf. But it seems that half of the Jedi Order can't too. I even had to hide a couple of times, and on the main staircase…”
“Did you make uj cake for me?”
Satine freezes for a second, her mouth slightly open as she looking at him. How could such a smart man ask such stupid questions? But a confusion in his eyes is real, and she reminds herself that he has just returned from a mission, and it is almost midnight, and his body, exhausted from long forced marches, just trying to squeeze out as much rest as possible in its natural environment and slows down all itself non-vital functions. There is no point in being angry with him for something he cannot control.
“Yes,” she says gentle, her lips curling into a smile. “So take it.”
When she holds the box out and lets it go, Obi-Wan catches it with a gasp, his eyes wide with horror like she almost dropped a bomb that was ready to explode with just one wrong move. Ignoring his state, Satine rips off the lid.
“Why… why are there candles in it?”
“Because, this is not just Uj'alayi,” she clicks her tongue, flicking the lighter and burning wicks one by one. “But a celebratory one. Yesterday was a birthday. Your birthday.”
“Ow,” he's grimacing. “I forgot about it.”
“Well, I didn’t,” their gazes, separated by the flames of burning candles, intersect. “Happy birthday, Obi-Wan.”
He continues to stand there silently, looking at her and doing nothing, so Satine glances sideways at the uj in his hands with a grin.
“Candles,” she prompts. “Make a wish and blow out candles.”
“You can be serious,” he grins, his backlit face looking slightly sinister because of the grimace. “We're adults. And we both know, our wishes don’t come true just because we think about it while holding a cake.”
“Checked?” his brows furrow slightly. “Checked in what sense?”
“Most literal. Have you ever made a wish with birthday cake before?”
“I’ve never even blown out candles.”
“Please,” she looks at him pleadingly. “Just do it for me.”
Obi-Wan sighs, but neither his heavy sigh nor his frowningly side-look has any effect on her – she continues to look at him, a silent request burning in her eyes, – and then he blows out all candles with a one sharp exhalation.
“So,” the gray smoke spreading from extinguished candles half hides his face, but its simply impossible not to catch some kind of smugness in his voice. “Are you happy now?”
Before he can object, Satine takes the uj cake from him and, leaving it on the table, grabs his hand. Throwing her hood over her head, she runs out into the hallway with him.
“Satine,” he hesses, but doesn't try to pull his hand away or stop her. “Satine, what are you doing? Where are you dragging me?”
“To celebrate, of course,” without slowing down, she quickly looks back at him, a smile on her lips. “Or you think, I would overcome half the Galaxy just to give you a cake?”
“I didn't think you come. I didn't even think you will remember!”
“And why I should forget?”
“Well, you know,” he chuckles, “there's a war going on now, you always have a lot to do, negotiations and so on. Besides, you never congratulated me before. Not in person, but at least by message, so…”
“Nonsense,” she objects with an indignant snort. “The fact that you didn't see my congratulations doesn't mean its weren't there.”
