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Ahsoka watched in silence, Anakin an immoveable force on her right, Rex mirroring her Master on her left, their vod’e a solid barrier behind them, as Obi-wan, Commander Cody, Helix, and the small contingent of 212th clones that had followed Cody aboard the Resolute boarded their dropship to return to the Negotiator.
They had stayed longer than she expected – nearly three full days in all – but Ahsoka’s heart still clenched as she watched Obi-wan leave. He still moved gingerly, bacta patches still peaking out from under his robes as Cody hovered by his side.
Anakin, still unmoving beside her, was shielding so forcibly that it was nearly a physical thing. But she knew him well enough by now to know that that meant her Master was hurting too.
Neither of them were ready to see the 212th go.
Rex, on the other hand, was projecting a riot of emotions, despite the calm demeanour of his face.
Sadness.
Worry.
Fear.
Loneliness.
The emotions were for Commander Cody, she assumed, whose own mental shields were as impenetrable as the Jedi around him.
She knew that he and Rex were close – closer than most vod’e, if she had correctly understood the context and implications of Jesse calling Rex and Cody cyare… And beside that, they had been nearly inseparable since Cody has sequestered Rex in his private quarters that first night.
Sure, Kix had raged and Helix had grumbled, but they had left Rex to Cody’s care – that had to mean something, right?
Regardless, Rex was very nearly heartbroken as he watched the dropship leave, his emotions swirling in a veritable storm.
Ahsoka longed to reach out then… but no. Not in front of Anakin, and not in front of so many vod’e.
She would though, if he didn’t come back to the barracks tonight.
~~~
Ahsoka lay still on the bunk she had claimed as her own, doing her best to feign sleep as she sensed her vod’e drifting off around her.
She loved her vod’e – she really did – but they had been almost insufferably overprotective since she had crash landed on Tup’s bunk in her hurry to evade Commander Cody.
And since she doubted that Rex would appreciate half of Torrent Company materializing at his door half-way through the night cycle, she was left with no option but to wait until her vod’e were all asleep.
Or at least, almost all asleep.
Fives, it seemed, had been left on Padawan watching duty tonight, and he wasn’t even trying to pretend to be asleep as he scrolled through the datapad in his hand idly.
With a small sigh, Ahsoka sat up and swung her body around, landing on the cool durasteel floor silently. In her own mind, she mourned that she wouldn’t be able to put her boots on – but her excuse would never work if she did.
“Is everything okay?” the ARC trooper asked immediately, his voice pitched low to avoid waking Tup, asleep at his side, or any of their other vod’e.
“Fine,” Ahsoka reassured him. “I just need to go to the ‘fresher.”
Fives shifted as if to accompany her, and Ahsoka didn’t bother biting back her irritated sigh.
“Fives,” Ahsoka growled. “I can go to the ‘fresher myself.”
Fives rubbed at his neck, properly chastened, before replying.
“Right, of course,” her vod’e mumbled, not voicing any more worries as Ahsoka silently slipped out of the barracks on silent feet.
She navigated her way to Rex’s room without much thought, the halls of the Resolute now equally as familiar to her as those of the Jedi Temple.
She did hesitate ever so slightly before knocking on Rex’s door though.
Several long moments passed, and Ahsoka had begun to debate simply returning to the barracks when the durasteel door finally slid open, revealing a dishevelled and clearly exhausted Captain Rex.
“Ahsoka?” Rex mumbled. “Are you – are you okay?”
“I – well – I mean… Yes,” Ahsoka stumbled, suddenly unsure of herself.
Rex was lonely, but that didn’t mean that he wanted her company.
“Do you want to come in?”
“I – can I?”
Rex moved aside, gesturing for Ahsoka to enter his quarters, which the togruta did without further prompting.
“Are you sure that everything’s okay?” Rex questioned again, his gaze now more alert as he scanned Ahsoka for potential injuries or discontent.
“I’m fine, Rex,” Ahsoka bit back, then winced at her own tone. “Sorry – I didn’t mean it like that.”
Rex nodded, giving his vod’ika the time and space she needed to organize her thoughts.
Finally, she spoke again.
“I’ve missed you,” Ahsoka admitted softly, unable to meet her ori’vod’s gaze. “You – you haven’t been sleeping in the barracks, or eating in the mess… I’ve barely seen you since…”
Rex stepped forward, drawing Ahsoka into a tight hug as she trailed off.
Since they’d picked him and Obi-wan up from the force-forsaken slave camp on Kadavo.
Since he’d escaped the med bay and taken refuge with Cody and Obi-wan to heal his hurts.
Since he’d sequestered himself away from his vod’e and vod’ika, forgetting that she might be hurting too – forgetting that those demagolka might have wrought untold horrors on her while she was their captive.
“Oh, vod’ika,” Rex’s voice was barely more than a breath. “I’m sorry. Ni ceta.”
Ahsoka snuggled closer, her voice impossibly small.
“You – you don’t need to be sorry,” Ahsoka replied. “I’ve never been upset with you – I just miss you. And I was worried about you, now that Commander Cody is gone.”
Briefly, Rex wondered how much Ahsoka had ascertained about the nature of his relationship with Cody.
“Still, I should have been there for you,” Rex reasoned.
“You were injured too,” Ahsoka reminded him again, pulling away slightly to look the Captain in the eyes. “I just missed you, is all. And I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“I’m okay, vod’ika,” Rex replied softly, unable to resist smiling down at the togruta. When he’s left Kamino, he had never imagined finding an aliit among his men… or a vod’ika in his jetii. Yet here he was, a little sister bundled in his arms, worrying about him when he ought to be worrying about her.
“Have you been eating enough?” Rex asked. “Have you been sleeping okay? Are you letting Kix - ”
Ahsoka groaned as she pulled away, flopping unceremoniously onto his bunk.
“Do not start,” she grumbled. “I though that Anakin and Obi-wan were bad, but the vod’e…”
Rex chuckled and nudged Ahsoka with his knee pressing her to shift until she was laying against the wall, so that he could crawl in after her, putting himself firmly between his vod’ika and the door.
Just in case.
“I’ll take that as a no then, if the boys are being overbearing mother tooka,” Rex replied lightly, doing his best not to grin too wildly as Ahsoka snuggled against him, her eyelids already growing heavy.
“Fives wanted to escort me to the ‘fresher,” Ahsoka mumbled sleepily, burrowing closer still. Rex chuckled.
“Is that where you’re supposed to be?”
An incoherent mumble was all Rex got in response.
“We’ll talk more in the morning,” Rex promised softly, letting his own eyes fall shut.
~~~
Rex blinked blearily as he opened his eyes, the incessant beeping of his com refusing to let him drift back into peaceful oblivion.
It was most definitely not morning yet.
Ahsoka, by some miracle, was still deeply asleep against his side, tucked firmly under his arm. Rex used the other to reach blindly for his comlink, answering with audio only.
“Rex here.”
“Sir, Captain, um, Rex, sir,” came a voice that was undeniably Tup’s, if only because it was far too innocent to belong to the other di’kute who made up Torrent Company.
“Get to the point trooper,” Rex cut out, feeling Ahsoka shift against his side at the sound of Tup’s voice.
“Just give me the com!” someone hissed – probably Kix.
“Rex, Fives lost Ahsoka,” definitely Kix. No one else managed vitriol quite so well.
“I didn’t lose her,” Fives objected from somewhere in the background, his voice tinny over the com.
“Really? Where did you say she went again?”
“The ‘fresher, she told me she was going to the ‘fresher,” Fives mumbled.
“And is she in the ‘fresher? Speak up, vod, I don’t think the Captain can hear you,” Kix snarked, not waiting for a response. “No, she is not in the ‘fresher. Or in her quarters. Or in the mess, on the bridge, or in the training salles.”
Ahsoka stifled a laugh against Rex’s side, her eyes twinkling mischievously as she came awake to the utter disaster that was her aliit.
“So, let me get this straight,” Rex replied, his voice carefully even. “You lost your Commander on a star cruiser, which is currently travelling through hyperspace?”
“Yes, sir,” Tup squeaked.
Rex looked down at Ahsoka, his own eyes sparkling with mirth.
“And instead of immediately notifying myself or General Skywalker, you searched the whole ship to ensure that she was, in fact, missing?”
“That just about sums it up,” Kix confirmed blandly.
“Where did you look first?” Ahsoka piped up, genuinely curious.
Silence.
Rex honestly thought that his vod’e might have just… short-circuited.
Then, finally –
“Rex, has Ahsoka been with you this entire time?”
“I told you we should have called him sooner.”
“Why didn’t you just say?”
“Are you trying to give me a karking heart attack?”
Rex and Ahsoka burst out laughing at the same moment, wheezing riotously until they finally gasped and hiccupped themselves into silence.
“We’re just going to… go back to sleep,” Kix announced before disconnecting the call.
Ahsoka giggled again, too tired for much else as she stuffed herself back against Rex’s side.
“They mean well,” Rex reasoned as he wrapped his arm back around her.
“They really do.”