Thanks to Shakespeareaddict, I decided to rewrite the chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one better...

~Arctic

After only a few seconds of lying there Cody was reminded of how uncomfortable sleeping in armor was. He slowly and quietly inched his way off of the bunk, and began slowly removing his armor, setting it down on the floor gently, hoping it wouldn't wake her when it dropped the last two inches. He was left in only his black bodysuit, something he usually took the top part off and tied it at the waist, but with Barriss sleeping only a couple of feet away, he was not risking the embarrassment of having her see his chest. He was a respectable man after all, he didn't want his troops getting wind of him being half naked in the same room as a young padawan female, they would never let him live that down. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He awoke to the sound of movement, used to sleeping in a room by himself he automatically went into 'kill mode' his hand sliding up to the blaster that he hid under his pillow, pulling it out he aimed at the intruder...who wasn't really an intruder.

"Good morning to you too, Commander Cody." Barriss spoke evenly.

"S-sorry, Commander Offee." He lowered the gun, sliding out of bed and began to put on his armor.

"My Master has informed us that we shall be landing shortly on the planet of Showait. There is a bounty hunter there that has stolen some important jedi artifacts. We are going to be recon on this mission, for we cannot get anymore reinforcements, we have to make due, are you up to this?"

"Of course, Commander."

"Good, we leave in an hour."

"How many troops should I debrief?"

"None, it's just you, and me." Barriss glanced at him, and Cody paused, it's like the universe wanted to trap him with her, "I'll see you then, Cody."

"See you then, Commander." Barriss made her way out of the door, leaving Cody to put on the rest of his armor on, carrying his helmet in his hand, and made his way to the bridge. Barriss, Obi-Wan, and Luminara stood talking, well Barriss just stood there listening in, nodding occasionally at the right moments. He took his spot beside Obi-Wan and listened in as well.

"...after we get the much needed recon," Obi-Wan glanced at Barriss and Cody, "we will then decide our next plan of attack."

"I think we should at least make some sort of plan now, then if the intel is different than what we expected we'll change the plans then." Luminara told him, hands folded neatly together.

"Master Luminara, I'm sure it will be much less confusing if we do it my way." Obi-Wan told her, and Luminara sighed.

"Fine. We'll do it your way, for now."

"Good. Cody, Barriss, here is your part of the mission..."

~!~

"Okay, you're on your own now, good luck you two." Obi-Wan waved them off. Cody and Barriss watched the gunships fly off, they couldn't land too close without raising suspicion. Cody wasn't even really going to stick close to Barriss, his armor stood out more than she did; at least she could conceal her lightsaber in her skirts. Cody tightened the straps on the bag of supplies he was carrying, and looked around, it was odd not to see any clones besides him around and it made him slightly uncomfortable.

"Ready to go, Commander Cody?"

"Yes, Commander Offee."

"You know, if we call each other 'Commander' it will give us away that much quicker. Let's call each other by our first names...at least until the mission is over." Barriss concluded.

"Of course C- er, I mean Barriss."

"Well. We have many miles to trek and only three days to get there; we should get started."

"Yeah." Cody agreed, making sure his blaster was on his back in a position where he could grab it if he absolutely needed to. He nodded at Barriss, signifying that he was ready to go. Barriss kept her ice cold gaze on him for a few seconds before they began the trek. Cody and Barriss were stuck in an awkward silence, neither knew each other well enough to fit into a comfortable pattern, but neither was trying that hard either. Barriss kept his force signature in her head, occasionally using it to locate him, though she really didn't have to because his boots made loud noises as they snapped twigs and other natural debris.

~!~

Cody on the other hand was having a harder time, he had to keep the padawan in his sight, make sure no one was following them, and make sure that they were on the right path. He paused as his pack got snagged on a branch, having to take it off completely before he could get it free from it.

~!~

Barriss continued on, figuring that Cody was smart enough to either keep up with her, or at least tell her that he needed to stop if he had too. She let her normally locked up thoughts wander, there was no other force sensitive around to sense her feelings, or tell her to focus.

~!~

Cody brought the straps back to rest on his shoulders and turned, but paused as he no longer saw Barriss. "Commander?" He called out, no response, "Commander?" He called out again. He began to walk the way he thought she had gone, though it led him a bit to the left instead of directly the way she had actually gone. The humidity of the planet was messing with his gear. He tried his comm. link, "Commander Offee?"

No response. He continued his trek, hoping to catch up to her. He turned as he heard a low guttural growl. A lion-like creature with black fur with orange spots and smoke gray eyes came forward, with its' large claws and huge saber-like fangs, Cody knew that he had to keep out of this things' reach. He jumped back as it swiped one of its' huge claws at him, he could feel the wind from its' swing faintly through his bodysuit.

It put fear into him. With droids he knew a single bullet through the head or a few through the abdomen/chest area and they would be down; but with this beast he had no idea how many it could take before it went down. Also what if the blaster bullets, the lights or the sounds it gave off, attracted the attention of those they were trying to sneak past? The mission would be lost, and he could not be the cause of that. He backed off, dodging another swipe by diving to the ground. The beast was above him now, growling still, and it placed it's left foreleg on his forearm, he heard it snap, followed a split-second later by pain, extreme, intense pain. To him it felt like a thousand suns fiery inferno running up and down the length of his left arm. He was doomed, he knew it as the beast opened its' large mouth to bite him, to rip his head from his shoulders and eat the flesh that lay underneath his armor. He wriggled, panicked, a last ditch effort to free himself. He was going to die here, and no one would know how he went, it would just be assumed an assassin got him, or maybe he just got lost.

He squeezed his already shut eyes tighter...

But nothing came, except the sound of a humming blade, he opened his eyes and turned to look. The beast had been slain, a girl in a dark bluish cloak stood, looking away, deactivating her lightsaber and placing it upon her belt with the heart shaped buckle. She turned to face him, and she regarded him with a slightly irritated, yet bemused expression, "What happened?" She asked.

Cody felt a million emotions well up at once, gratitude, adrenaline, anger, and a million indescribable ones.

", ." He spoke at an incomprehensible rate, the adrenaline pumping through his veins from the attack putting him into a hyper frenzy, he couldn't even feel any pain from his forearm anymore, in fact, he couldn't feel it at all.

"..er...okay." She was trying to separate the whirlwind of words, trying but failing, she nodded, and then pointed up a small hill, "Lets resume our walk." Cody nodded and they began back on their way.

~!~

The adrenaline began to wear off, and Cody was feeling the effects of his scramble with the beast. His limbs were sore and his forearm was burning, burning intensely and he held it towards his abdomen in an instinctual protective measure. He didn't dare tell Barriss, his little fiasco had slowed them down enough already. He could heal it when they got to the town.

Wait, no. Not many people had bacta in the containers the Republic did...pulling it out it would be obvious that they were republic soldiers...he would have to wait till the end of the mission, but then his bones would set awkwardly, they would then have to re-break them so they could set them back correctly. But that would be painful, worse than being totur-

"Cody?" Barriss' voice broke through his inner turmoil. He looked up, not realizing that he had been trudging along, head down. Barriss was looking at him with a brow arched, arms crossed, her weight placed on her left leg.

"Barriss?" He replied, and she pointed to his injured arm, and he looked down, startled slightly as he had not realized she had been holding it with his healthy arm, as if protecting it from any other harm.

"What happened?" So much for not slowing them down anymore.

"Nothing." He replied, pushing past her. Continuing the trek.

"Commander Cody, tell me what happened." Her tone revealed that it was not a request, but an order. Cody sighed, and slowly turned to face her.

"The beast, apparently it injured me." He replied swiftly, no emotion in his voice. He was ready to get this mission over with.

"Let me heal it." Her tone had softened slightly, it was a request, not an order this time. She never forced her healing abilities on others.

"No thank you." He told her curtly, continuing.

"Please." Her tone had taken on a slightly pleading tone, her hand gently touched his shoulder, but he shook it off.

"I said, no thank you, Commander." Barriss was taken aback, no one had refused her help before. No one.

She wasn't going to stop trying him on it, she was going to keep at it until she finally wore him down...no matter how long it took. Whether he liked it or not...