I may be the only person in the universe who thinks this is a good cross over. I may be the only person in the universe who likes Ahsoka and Ace. Oh well.

The liquid burned all the way down her throat. She had no idea what glass she was on at this point. Also, she couldn't quite remember when or where she was supposed to meet the Doctor. Or what planet she was on.

She couldn't decide if she wanted to meet back up with him after the stunt he pulled. She blinked back tears, refusing to let the Doctor cause her to cry. He promised he hadn't been planning on allowing her new friend to get killed, but she couldn't tell when he was lying half the time. The Jedi hadn't seemed very concerned; Ace figured he thought it was just another clone anyhow. The Doctor claimed he wasn't allowed to show his feelings.

She had tried to tell herself it didn't matter, he was one of millions; but to her he did matter. One in a million because, damn it, she had liked him. But, like many people she liked, he had become a pawn in the Doctor's stupid chess game of life. She took another large gulp.

"My Master says if you keep it up you're going to be very drunk."

Ace turned her head to look at the speaker, a tiny little humanoid in far too little clothing. The Professor had pointed out another of her species and named it, but Ace couldn't remember what he'd called them. "What are you?" she slurred, "Somebody's sex slave?" She knew that was the wrong thing to say – about five seconds after it slipped out of her mouth.

"No!" The red skinned girl smacked her hand on the bar next to Ace, fuming. "I'm a Jedi and I was just trying to help!" Ace remembered Jedi; she had just left that funny sounding one with the Doctor.

Ace ignored her, taking another gulp. The alien stormed off back to her friend. Ace closed her eyes and allowed the Cheetah to appear, just enough to listen to the girl's conversation.

"I tried to warn her master," the alien said, "but I don't think she listened."

"Some people don't want helped Snips." The human she had met up with replied, "If you're gonna warn every possible drunkard in this place you'll be here all night."

"Master, I don't think she's old enough to be here."

"Gordon bennet," Ace griped. She released the Cheetah and rolled her eyes, taking another gulp. She was perfectly legal; only the Professor seemed convinced otherwise. And she wasn't drunk, not yet anyway. She would be before she left though, if she had any say in the matter.

Something crashed outside the bar. Ace's reflexes kicked in and the barely banished Cheetah struggled to resurface; she crushed it and stood. The alien and her human master had stood as well, both reaching for their Jedi weapons. Ace put a hand in her bad, feeling for her Nitro.

Several robots marched in, similar to the ones Ace had faced off against earlier. She figured they'd blow up about the same too. The patrons screamed and ran, leaving Ace with the two Jedi to face against their attackers. "Run!" the alien girl shouted, seemingly to Ace.

Ace ignored her, pulling out a can of Nitro. The Jedi both pulled out their lightsabers, but Ace had already thrown a canister of Nitro at them. "Duck!"

They all threw themselves to the ground as the droids exploded.

Run. Smell the blood. Feel the sun. Run. Run.

Ace shoved the Cheetah to the back of her mind, where she could be safe from it. She forced herself to her feet and leaned on the nearest table for support as her eyes rapidly focused and unfocused.

More robots were filing in to replace their fallen friends. The Jedi made short work of them, slicing and dicing them into a thousand pieces. Ace brought the final wave down with another well timed canister of Nitro-9.

Once the dust began to clear the Padawan looked up at Ace in amazement. Ace was too busy ensuring that the Cheetah was long gone to notice at first. When she did she decided to pretend to be more inebriated than she really was, just for kicks. "Just because I'm drunk" she spat "doesn't mean I need help." Both Jedi nodded, dumbstruck.

"It merely means you're going to be delightful company tomorrow." Ace's head shot around at the familiar voice and the room kept spinning even after she stopped moving. She decided to forget playing the drunkard; she was drunk enough, especially if her favorite enemy was around.

The Doctor and his Jedi friend were approaching, side stepping the remains of the droids. "I thought you told me you were out of Nitro-9."

"Apparently not," Obi-wan said, stepping away from the Doctor to examine the droids.

The Jedi who had been in the bar inclined his head, the girl bowed. "Master Obi-wan."

"I blew up the 'bots." Ace boasted, swaying on her feet.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "I can see that." He looped his umbrella over his arm and slipped past the Jedi to approach her. Ace narrowed her eyes at him. He knew why she had done it; gotten drunk, even in her stupor she could see it in his eyes.

"Anakin, Ahsoka, this is Ace McShane and the Doctor; this is Anakin and his Padawan Ahsoka."

"Ah!" The Doctor doffed his hat. "How do you do? I see you've met my young friend Ace."

Ace waved and focused on not falling over.

"She likes to blow things up!" the padawan, named Ahsoka, grinned.

"Yes, I'm rather afraid she does." He held out a hand to Ace. "Shall we go home?"

Ace knew he wanted her away from his friends before she caused a scene. She very dearly wanted to cause a scene, just to annoy him, knew she was too tired and drunk to enjoy it. She pushed his hand away, bid the Jedi farewell, and stormed out of the bar to wait for the Doctor.

She tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. The lights on all the buildings were too bright too see the stars, or even the sun; she had no way of telling if it was day or night.

"I had rather hoped to catch you before you drank yourself into a stupor. I hope I've succeeded."

Ace didn't turn to greet him, but she looked away from the sky, back in front of her. Suddenly moving her head had made her dizzy and she nearly lost her balance. The Doctor caught her, his hand quickly grasping her shoulder.

"I hate Jedi." Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe stupidity or exhaustion, maybe she was just that fed up with them, but Ace hadn't planned to let that slip.

"Oh?" The Doctor took her by her elbow and headed her toward the TARDIS. "Why?"

She had half expected him to scold her, to try and remind her that they were the good in this galaxy. "They're egotistical bilgebags," she replied savagely. "They can't see beyond their own practices and traditions, even at the cost of those around them." Ace wondered if the Doctor regretted teaching her, challenging her, and pushing her to see more. The Ace before she met the Doctor would never use words like 'egotistical' and would probably have hero worshiped the Jedi. That Ace would also probably be dead in a gutter on a planet like this one.

"Tradition gives them peace. Peace is their purpose," He replied after some thought. "They can't fight for others if the war amongst themselves."

"But no love?" Ace demanded. She pulled away from his gentle hand and turned to face him. "No attachments or possessions? No family-"

"I thought that wouldn't bother you." She'd smacked him before she could think.

The Doctor stood still for a moment, then lifted a hand to his cheek. "Ah, perhaps not."

Ace was panting and near tears, the TARDIS wasn't far away, she remembered that now. She left the Doctor and stormed ahead, beating him to the doors of the time machine, which she gave a hefty kick when they refused to open.

"Key Ace." His voice was right by her ear, and she jumped and scolded herself for not having heard him approach.

"Yeah? Well open it then!"

The Doctor didn't move. He stood by the door of the TARDIS and stared hard at her. Finally he said, "I believe there's something friends do when they harm one another."

He wanted her to apologize, but Ace wasn't buying. "You never apologize." Except he had, once, after Fenric as he attempted to lay the blame anywhere but on himself. Ace wasn't taking the blame but she wasn't blaming either.

"I've never struck you either."

"Well you earned it," she muttered savagely.

His hand closed around hers and lifted her fingers to his cheek where she'd hit him. Unwillingly she found herself looking at his face, into his eyes. She'd forgotten how old he was, how sad, alone-

Damn him.

"You always do this to me!" She wrenched her hand back and glared at him. "Make me feel like it's all my fault.

"Ace." He tilted his head slowly, looking at her with pity. "I am sorry about what I've done to you in the past. I don't enjoy hurting you. I swear."

She suspected he meant it, and if he didn't she didn't want to know. "I shouldn't have hit you Professor. I'm sorry."

He pushed open the door to the TARDIS, which Ace didn't know he had unlocked, "Welcome home Ace."

She looked at him with a soft smile. "I still hate those Jedi."

"I imagine they might feel the same about you." He shut the door behind them. "If they could I mean."

Ace giggled and the Doctor chuckled. Then they both started laughing over nothing and Ace forgot all about how badly she wanted to hit him again.

This was originally going to be a light fic about Ace and the Doctor fighting against Separatists, but then Ace decided to be drunk and depressed instead. Then she wanted to rant about Jedi morals. Then - I'm not
even sure what happened.

ACE DOES THINGS HER OWN WAY