"Everyone has their secrets, things that they've never told another living soul. You can never know the dreams, the struggles, the private battles going on in someone else's head." - Riev Jobl, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

While Mikey was with Yoda, learning how to use his Force powers, Patrick and Pete waded through the swamp, hoping to finally get some time alone together. As Pete whined about nothing and everything all at once, Patrick thought about what Yoda had said to him. He was a Jedi Knight now, a guardian of peace and justice. He should have been thrilled - knighthood was all he'd ever wanted, after all - but he was still disenchanted. Maybe it was because there were so few Jedi left. He couldn't be happy about becoming a Jedi Knight when he was the last of a dying breed.

He looked to Pete, who was still rambling about some old hologram he'd seen. A Jedi Knight, you will not become. Why had Yoda said that to him? Pete had his faults, but it wasn't anything that would stop him from becoming a Jedi. If Patrick was in charge, Pete would be the first person he'd knight.

"Anyways, my point is that I've always wanted to have a secret handshake," Pete said just as Patrick snapped back into reality.

"We could have one," Patrick said.

Pete thought about it, and then said, "We could, but I think I have a better idea." He paused and then asked, "Do you want to feel a little beautiful, baby?"

Patrick nodded, and Pete leaned in close and gave him a long, passionate kiss, leaving both of them breathless. As Pete left a trail of kisses down his neck, Patrick forgot about knighthood for a while. All he could think of was the gorgeous boy in front of him.

"Are we even allowed to do this?" Pete mumbled. "You know, now that you're a Jedi Knight?"

"I don't care," Patrick said. "I don't think it's wrong to love you, but even if it is, even if it makes me more likely to fall to the dark side, I love you anyways. Nothing can change that."

"I love you too, Trick," Pete said.

Patrick smiled and then said, "You know, Yoda should have made you a Jedi Knight too. I think you deserve it."

"No, I don't," Pete said as he backed away from Patrick.

"Yes, you do," Patrick said. He wrapped his arms around Pete and then asked him, "Do I need to sing to you again? Something like, 'Pete, you're cute and super smart and you definitely deserve to be a Jedi?'"

"That song title is way too short," Pete said, but he did smile slightly.

"Pete, Yoda should have made you a Jedi..." Patrick sang, but Pete interrupted him.

"You don't understand, Patrick," Pete said.

"What don't I understand?" Patrick asked, but Pete didn't answer. "Come on, Pete. You can tell me anything."

"Anything? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Even if you'll hate me for it?"

"Pete, no matter what you say, I won't hate you."

Pete stayed silent for a while and then said, "I looked myself up in the Archives when I was a Youngling, just like you did, and I...I was never supposed to be a Jedi at all. Qui-Gon Jinn was sent to Ajan Kloss to collect another child, but his parents didn't want to give him up, and my parents...they couldn't handle another mouth to feed. So they switched us. Qui-Gon took me to Coruscant in his place, and the other child, the one who was destined to be a Jedi, got to stay on Ajan Kloss."

"Yoda figured out what had happened, of course, but he let me stay in the Jedi Temple. I had nowhere else to go, after all. He figured that I could train with the Younglings, and once I was old enough, I could work in the Archives or the Service Corps. Qui-Gon died a few years later, so soon, Yoda was the only one who knew my secret. Out of everyone in the Jedi Order, he was the only one who knew that I wasn't Force-sensitive."

"I wasn't even supposed to become a Padawan, but when the war broke out, they needed more Jedi, and even without a connection to the Force, I did well enough in the Initiate Trials to train with Master Dystrala. I wasn't supposed to progress any further though. I...I'm not like you and Mikey. I can't move objects with my mind or see into the future or wield a lightsaber properly. No matter what I'll do, I'll never be a Jedi Knight."

All Patrick could say was, "Holy smokes."

He'd spent all this time with Pete, and he never would have suspected that he wasn't Force-sensitive. He wondered what it was like, never being able to connect with the Force, never feeling its presence. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for him to fake his way through Jedi training, knowing that it would never go anywhere, knowing that he could never become one of them.

"You...you don't hate me, do you?" Pete said.

"Why would I hate you?" Patrick asked.

"I've lied to everyone for years. For my whole life, I pretended to be someone I wasn't. I let you think that I had Force powers, even though I didn't. I kept all of this to myself, and I know I should have told you sooner, but..."

"Pete, I don't care about any of that. I don't care that you're not Force-sensitive, and I don't care that you lied to me about it before. You're telling the truth now, and that's what counts."

"But..."

"No buts," Patrick said. "I love you for who you are, and if you're not a Force user, then I love you because of that. This doesn't change anything."

"But I lied to you. I went against everything the Jedi stand for, everything you stand for. I ruined it all, and I can't even use the Force like you and Mikey. I suck!"

"No one sucks like you suck."

Pete raised an eyebrow. "Well, Patty Boy, if you want to know for sure..."

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Patrick said, rolling his eyes. "Pete, you're an amazing guy, and the amount of times you've managed to save the galaxy, all without using the Force...it's incredible. Don't ever think that you're not special or that you can't do anything just because you're not Force-sensitive. Because you're a champion, and you don't need a rank or a title to tell you that."

Pete smiled, just a little bit. "How did I get lucky enough to end up with someone like you?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Patrick said as he kissed his boyfriend's cheek.

Pete smiled wider and then asked, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course," Patrick said.

"Don't tell any of this to anyone else," Pete said. "Especially not Mikey. I don't know what would happen to our friendship if he knew that I'm not a Force user."

"I understand," Patrick said, even though he wasn't sure if he agreed with Pete's logic. Mikey probably wouldn't care that Pete wasn't Force-sensitive, and Patrick didn't want Pete to hide an essential part of himself from everyone else, but nevertheless, he'd keep his secret.

"Trick, you don't even know how many times you've saved my life," Pete said as he walked across a creek, carefully stepping on the rocks to avoid the water. "I think you save me a little bit more every day."

Patrick blushed, thinking of how many times Pete had saved him. If it wasn't for Pete, he would have died in the Jedi Temple or in Brendon's Star Destroyer. Patrick could hardly believe that Pete had done it all without a connection to the Force. In a way, he was stronger than anyone had ever realized.

The two of them circled back to Yoda's hut, where Yoda was helping Mikey practice using the Force. "How's training going?" Patrick asked the two of them.

"Very good," Yoda said. "Much progress, young Mikey is making."

"I'm exhausted," Mikey complained. "Jedi training wasn't this hard in Gerard's comic books."

"Patience and endurance, you still must learn," Yoda said. He paused and then asked, "Who is this Gerard? You speak of him often."

"He's my brother," Mikey explained. "He's obsessed with all of these comic books about the Clone Wars, and he would probably be a lot better at all of this Jedi stuff than I am."

"More than comic book heroes, the Jedi are," Yoda said. "Glory and adventure, we do not seek, but the ways of the Force, we must understand."

Patrick saw Pete turn pale when Yoda mentioned the Force, but Mikey didn't seem to notice. Instead, he seemed lost in thought as he stared into the distance.

"There...there's a disturbance in the Force," Mikey said.

"That's weird," Patrick said. "I don't feel it."

"It's Gerard," Mikey said. "I think...I think he's in trouble."