Hey all, this is my first Barris Cody. Please review and give me ideas for a second chapter! (I give credit to Payment in Kind by Citizenjess for anakin's umm…. New job)
Being a Padawan was harsh. Constantly fighting, constantly traveling, and then fighting again. All the while you were learning about the philosophies of the universe from Yoda who couldn't seem to take the time to string together a grammatically correct sentence. Normally Barris Offee would never dare think such thoughts about the revered Jedi master. Tonight was different. She was tired and bruised and sore and had a blaster hole in her lower arm. She was not in the mood to deal with her best friend's pretentious master Anakin Skywalker. Her master was not here at the moment having been shipped off to some other important battle somewhere in the outer rim.
"Not that she would be any better," Barris mumbled to herself as she slinked off the ship. It was easy with Skywalker making such a big entrance and nodding to the waiting senator. Ahsoka had told her… things about Anakin's relationship with Padmae. Ahsoka had been so happy for her master. Barris had been horrified.
"Jedi don't have attachments Ahsoka. It's not what they do," she had said back when rules mattered more to her than anything. They still did she told herself as she clunked through the Jedi temple. It's just now I'm so tired, they don't really seem to.
"Well maybe it was a mixture of compassion and attraction," and her large blue eyes wrinkled in concentration. "That would explain it and sky guy wouldn't be breaking any rules," then she let out a laugh which surprised Barris. "Not that Master Skywalker ever follows the rules."
Always back to the rules. That was Barris's blood. They were her heart and her driving force.
She hated them today.
Her mat looked so comfortable.
"Barris," someone whispered sweetly. The padawans eyes flickered and closed again.
"Barris," someone said a little louder and less sing-song-y.
"Barris!" Ahsoka's voice shouted and set the poor girl to sitting bolt upright in panic.
"Is there an attack?" Barris was saying as she began pulling on various articles of clothing.
"No silly!" Ashoka said. Her eyes were wide and her face was flushed with excitement. Oh no… "Yesterday you were complaining about how much the rules were getting to you, which is very unlike you I might add," Barris groaned and flopped back on her pillow. "So I was thinking we should go out tonight. Break a few of those rules. Like let our hair down you know?" The first thing that came to Barris's foggy mind would embarrass her the rest of the night.
"Ahsoka, you don't even have hair," she said and rolled onto her stomach so her voice was muffled. '
"You get my point!" She said with an exasperated sigh. "Now get up," Barris moaned. "Yes!" Ahsoka said and began tugging on the arm of what felt like a dead body.
"Mauuuuuuuu," Barris moaned and flopped back down. Then her nightmare came rushing back.
"MASTER!" she shouted as Luminara disappeared in a sea of droids and Ventress. "MASTER!" she shouted again and tried to force herself into the throng. Then Yoda was there and telling her in his backwards words.
"Lost, Master Luminara is. Not allowed to go get he you are. To all of us great loss this is," still she screamed and pushed against the metal bodies.
Suddenly breaking rules seemed like a really good idea. Barris reached up and pulled her cloak off her head. Her purple hair sprayed down around her shoulders and she smiled at Ahsoka.
"I'm going to need to borrow some clothes."
Half an hour and a lot of squeezing and laughing later, Ahsoka and Barris were headed to a club Ahsoka had been to before, with her master of course. That's what she told Barris at least. What she hadn't told Barris was that some clones were going to be there.
The lights looked intoxicating from outside. The music was so loud you could feel it in the soles of your feet. It was a massive club with neon lights and bared windows. There were a few occupied seats on the patio inside the small fence. They flowed right into twin open bars. Drinking. That sounded good right now. She hoped.
"Ya ready?" Ahsoka asked with a blue eyed grin.
"Of course," Barris replied. NOT! She added that in her head. Ahsoka might be comfortable prancing around in a two inch skirt and a bra all the time but Barris was not. Barris also had more to stuff into that bra.
The door opened and Barris broke the rules. She looked at the man dancing at the pole, and then the woman at the other one. More people like them were scattered throughout the crowd.
"Who are they?" She asked with emphasis on the last word. Ahsoka just smiled. "This place is owned by Zero isn't it? Isn't it!" Barris shouted over the music. Ahsoka just laughed and they squirmed their way through the crowd. She didn't really like the looks some of those men gave her. Especially one in the cage. "Your master took you here?" she asks and grabs Ahsokas shoulder. She looks a little sheepish.
"Well…"
"Ahsoka," Barris says in her no nonsense voice. The culprit sighs. "Okay, once I followed Sky Guy here. Then I snuck in and it was just so much fun! I mean I avoid the cages because… well never mind. It might give you nightmares. Sure gave me some," she shivers then grins wickedly. "Though I come here for the clones." Barris only has milliseconds to comprehend what is said before she meets them.
"Hey kid," says one recognizable blond head. He wears his characteristic smirk. Commander Rex. Ahsoka sticks her tongue out at him. His eyes flicker to Barris. Surprisingly he doesn't look down and up again. "Whose this?"
"Oh just a friend," she laughs. Barris can't believe they don't recognize her. My hair is covering one eye, she tells herself. And I happen to not be wearing very much fabric, just one of Ahsoka's tops and an underskirt with some leggings. She feels like one of those women dancing on the platform.
"One hell of a friend," says Commander Cody. Those words register in Barris's mind and she whips around to see him. Commander Cody. Why was he here? Did Ahsoka want her to rebuke the Jedi ways? Did she want her to run away with the stunning commander? All the clones did look the same. But on the inside they were all different. Cody was her favorite. Her absolute favorite. That was putting it in the least attatchmental of terms. Really, you could say she had a crush on him. A huge crush.
Their eyes meet for just a moment and Barris knows he recognized her from the second he saw her and just isn't letting Rex in on it. Why wouldn't he tell his best friend? Is he, as Ahsoka would say, covering for her? Why would he do something like that?
"Oh?" is all she can manage to say. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she tells herself and looks into his deep eyes that never settle on one color. You might call them gray, or brown, or blue on some planets. In the jungle they had been green. Most of the time they were an indescribable color in-between purple, blue, brown, and gray. Shifting like the leaves in a restless wind.
"One I definitely need to get to know better," Rex laughs and slaps his brother on the back. "You go for it," he says with a smirk. I catch a wiff of alcohol on his breath. That's why he is acting so unprofessional, like grinding with a fourteen year old padawan without any hair. I don't really blame him. The captain suffered heavy losses last battle. She doesn't know how she would stand it, losing thousands of brothers and then getting a week on leave without them around to enjoy it. Cody is losing his smirk it keeps shifting into flashes of concern and worry. Once it went to anger as he towed her through the crowd. This time she didn't make eye contact with the man in the cage who looked just a little too familiar…
The night air was pleasantly cool and soft compared to the heat and tension inside the club. The commander sat her down at a table far from the other couples and waved off the waitress droid. His smirk was totally erased now.
"What are you doing here?" he hisses at her. She blinks at him.
"What are you doing here?" she shoots right back. I'm getting more like Ahsoka by the minute. The commander sighs and looks over her shoulder.
"I'm here with Rex. Sometimes he can't take it," he rubs his hand through his army cut hair, stretching his faded tattoos. "Sometimes I can't take it." Barris is embarrassed by her own reason now. She looks at the table and tries to hide her chest self-consciously.
"I want to break some rules," she says. After a few seconds she looks up and Cody is staring at her. Not unkindly, but still staring.
"We all want to sometimes," there is a long awkward pause. Cody grunts and moves his hair again. Barris coughs. Finally she breaks the silence.
"How did you recognize me commander?" Barris asks formally and holds his eyes with hers so he can't lie.
"I didn't for a second. Then I saw the blaster wound…" he gestures to her arm where a bacta patch lies.
"You knew I got shot?" she asks with suprise and it is her turn to politely shoo away the waitress droid. He blushes a little.
"Of course I did General," Barris goes dark green.
"Oh," then they just look at each-other's eyes. Barris is trying to decide what color Cody's are today. They don't notice their elbows sliding closer together. Soon they feel each breath on their lips. Cody's is minty like the regulation toothpaste from the dispensers aboard the cruisers. Barris has always loved mint. She wonders what it would taste like in someone else's mouth. They realize what they are about to do at the same time. Two chairs topple back onto the fake stone as the stand up like there was a blaster shot. They throw apologies at each other and pick up the chairs. Then they just stand there. A lot of awkward silences in this meeting. He then offers his arm.
"Should we return to the temple General?" Barris nods and takes his arm gingerly. Then he pulls her threw the club back to Rex and Ahsoka. Their lips are mashed together. Barris looks away as Cody talks to Rex. Of course her eyes stray to the man with his tongue on the bars of the cage. His eyes are such a familiar blue and that scar…
It's General Skywalker.
Blast it to a million pieces.
He is a cage dancer.
At least he's wearing a… something down there.
"Let's go Barris," Cody says and she starts at the use of her first name. He is normally so formal. The look on his face tells her something is wrong so she goes with him with no complaint. The lift ride is silent. The journey to Barris's room is silent. They wait outside the door. They look into each other's eyes.
"Good night Commander," she says with a nod.
"And you General," he nods. Then they stand there some more. "Is something wrong?" he asks. Barris just winces a little and makes a gross face. Then Cody laughs.
"You saw Skywalker," he is still laughing. It such a wonderful laugh filled with life. One she rarely hears. It's so contagious. She is snickering too.
"I'm going to have nightmares,"
"I bet," he says and leans on the wall. He wipes away his tears. Then his voice gets husky. "Would you like some company," Barris is flustered. She looks back and forth, not wanting to lie. So she leans towards Cody. He understands immediately and pulls her to him in a rush of passion they kiss. It's wild and insane, her hands fuss his hair. His hands are on her back and they pulsate together. They pull away and their eyes are wild.
"Amazing," Barris says. Then they step back.
"Good night Commander," she says with a nod.
"And you General," he nods. Then they fling themselves at each other again.