Title: The Show Must Go On (takes place after "Plausible Deniability" and
"Back Into the Closet", somewhere before or during "Paradise Lost")
Author: Julia
Archive: this little one isn't worth it, but if you want, sure.
Rating: P for pissed-off Ho blowing off some steam
Disclaimer: I don't, he does.
Summary: You grrls have wowed me with your stories! Love 'em!!! Every Ho
has a limit. I reached mine. *g* File this in the round file...
* * *

This was it. The last straw.

Julia's mouth tightened in anger as Shana coaxed Caeryn coaxed out from under the desk. The Dean was still clutching the water-logged Paddington, still hiccuping every now and then. In her flannel pajamas she looked a bit like a lost waif.

The proud Dean of Students reduced to tears by the sight of a man who bore a striking resemblance to the General?

Unacceptable.

Darry was rallying the troops, preparing to break Diebin out of her self-imposed incarceration in Nundom.

Diebin. A nun.

Julia winced.

This had gone too far.

True, those talks with Indy about his excavations had been fun. He was a fascinating man. Intelligent, damn sexy, a witty sense of humour that bordered on wicked...

But he was no General Kenobi.

And the hordes of men flocking around the rooms were beginning to irritate her.

Didn't they have anything else to do but sit around and watch ESPN1, 2 and Universal?

And...oh great!

Now there was their ride going off with some hoity-toity so-called Princess.   She wasn't even supposed to be around for a few episodes.... But then, neither was Han.

Wincing again at the idea of temporal relative physics, Julia let that though go.

Great. How the hell were they supposed to get home now?!

Usually very easy-going, often silly, usually happy...Julia was pissed.

Break Die out. That would be a good start. No Ho deserved to be locked up in a nunnery, especially one of Diebin's caliber. Raised Catholic, it gave Julia a twinge to think about violating the sanctity of the nunnery, but... She remembered Sister Joseph and that ruler. Sister Michael and the punishments she had dealt out.

Wincing, Julia covertly crossed herself and listened carefully to Darry's plan.

And resolutely kept her mind off that video feed they had seen of the General dancing.

No, no one had recorded it, but it was retrievable.

Crap. Giving herself a mental shake, Julia shoved the image aside, concentrated on how angry she was and listened to Nurse Darry.

~*~

(Next night, on Earth)

Why bother? There probably wasn't any good mail. Just bills.

Still, the delivery man was waiting patiently for him to sign for...something.

Obi-Wan irritably scribbled his illegible signature, grabbed the package and closed the door.

What the hell?

Not another one of those "Be a Real Man" pieces of shite, he hoped!

Fat lot of good the first had done.

The handwriting was almost familiar, so Obi-Wan ripped the package open.

A disk fell out, marked with his name in the same hand-writing.

Ooo-kay.

Obi-Wan shrugged and walked to the DVD player, shoving the disk in and pressing play.

The familiar Newsnet logo popped up, fading to a room full of people sitting at desks, hurrying around, yelling at one another and ruffling their hair as they stared at their computers in frustration.

"Hello, General."

Obi-Wan's eyebrow popped up in surprise.

Julia.

She looked downright pissed off from the color of her eyes.

Dressed in a tailored suit, not a hair out of place, face a cool, impersonal mask, she looked ready to go on the air.

He got a very bad feeling about it.

"I figured by now you're probably very curious about us. You got the pictures and postcards?"

He nodded out of habit, forgetting she couldn't see him.

"You've probably replaced us with the ...students.." She said the word as though it tasted bad, "from Aya's university."

"No...I-"

"It's time someone filled you in, General Kenobi." Julia leaned back, picking up a sheaf of papers. "And, General, in light of the on-going lawsuit?" She smiled. "This is all strictly off the record. You wouldn't want the Jedi Temple to hear about any of this, would you?"

"Shite..." She was sitting in the freaking Newsnet room surrounded by people! How could they not know?

Reaching back, she tapped something he hadn't noticed.

A clear wall behind her. "No one can hear, so relax."

Shaking his head, Obi-Wan had to smile in relief. His Ho's definitely knew their stuff! Why had he ever thought they needed to be controlled?

"First." Julia scanned a piece of paper, then stopped to look up. "Sit down. This could take a while."

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Obi-Wan pulled up a chair, straddled it, and resigned himself to listening to a recitation of his sins.

~*~

It had been a long list of grievances. Some a tad petty, but after the way he had treated them, Obi-Wan couldn't really begrudge them any.

"...but the worst...." Julia tossed the papers over to one side and leaned forward, eyes flashing. "Is the fact that you have reduced these fine, talented, intelligent women to crying and locking themselves in nunneries!"

He flinched back. Hells of Malistaire...she was mad. He'd never seen Julia mad before.

"Do you have *any* idea what it's like to walk out in the morning and see your friends hiding under a desk, crying, quivering because they saw someone who simply *looked* like the General?!"

He'd blown it. Truly and completely blown it.

Obi-Wan's shoulders slumped.

Was it over?

He looked up, gaze tracing over the young woman's face as her image stared at him.

He read anger in the eyes, but mostly hurt. Hurt he had caused.

How did he ever forget that while they were *his* Hos...they were also friends. Human beings.

"Think about this, Obi-Wan Kenobi." Julia sat back, looking sad. "You were made a General because of the brilliant battle plans you thought up, the finesse you used in handling your troops, the flair you had for winning. You are a Jedi Knight. That still means something to some of us."

She paused, staring directly at him. "I hope it means something to you still."

The image faded to black.

Then came back up.

"So pull your head out of your ass, get off that podium you climbed up on suck up! And IF you don't fix this, so help me...." Julia's eyes flashed as she leaned forward. "I'll make sure every damn Newsnet desk has this as a story to go out top priority. Including Coruscant."

She smiled sweetly and winked. "Make it right."

~*~

"Hey, where were you?" Sere bounded over to her sister. "Judi was showing me how to mix virgin margaritas and daiquiris!" She noticed the suit suddenly and whistled. "Hot date, Sib?"

Slinging her arm around Sere's shoulders, Julia grinned. "Let's hope so...."