Hi guys! I'm sorry it's been a while, and sorry this may not be a requested chapter or an extremely eventful one. I have several others in progress, I'm just having trouble finishing them and school is crazy right now with AP exams starting this week. After that, I will have much more time.

Thank you for your continued support! Reviews are very, very much welcomed.

This one is set after "Duel of the Droids" from all the way back in Season 1.

As soon as the cruiser took off, tearing away from the crumbling Seperatist ship, Ahsoka braced herself for the reprimand she knew was coming.

Truthfully, she had known engaging Grievous was a stupid idea. She could have stayed with her troopers and called for backup. She could have avoided him successfully and called in her master for help. But…the cyborg made her angry. He thought he was so high and mighty, killing Jedi as he pleased, invincible. She had wantedto call out, to annoy him, to face him in combat. She didn't want to rely on a higher Jedi to defeat him. Maybe she'd overestimated herself, but she'd kept most of the clones safe. And she'd emerged fine, although barely. Her arms stung with scrapes and her throat ached with new bruises. She could still feel the cold, cruel metal fingers closing around her neck, the sensation of having her breath crushed from her.

What would have happened if the bombs hadn't gone off at that moment? Would he have ended her?

Ahsoka wouldn't admit it out loud, but she did regret it. She had definitely been scared as she fought him, a hulking machine with four sabers ready to decapitate her in an instant. But she hadn't been with Anakin long—Christophsis was only months ago—and she was still so desperate to prove herself, to appear as strong as possible, invincible, even. They had grown to trust each other immensely, but it had only been a few months. There was so much to learn.

"What," Anakin began heatedly as he entered the cargo hold and shut it behind him, "in the Force's name possessed you to leave your squad and take on a Separatist cyborg who's killed a dozen Jedi alone?"

"It was either that or face him with my squad and get them all dismembered!" Ahsoka shot back. "I didn't have a choice—"

"Yes, you did," he ranted, "and you chose to send your clone captain and your entire squad away so you could have yourself a little duel! Were you even thinking? A Jedi Master wouldn't have done that, let alone a Padawan!"

"It's not like I haven't faced Seperatists before!" she protested in an annoyed tone. "I was trying to distract him from the rest of the troops aboard! And you!"

"I would have been fine!"

Ahsoka stood up from the cargo bench in agitation. "You had to get Artoo! I bought you time!"

"By foolishly risking your life!" he barked, and she winced. "You're so lucky you weren't killed, do you realize that? He could've skewered you and added your lightsaber to his wall collection."

"But he didn't!" she protested.

"It doesn't matter, you can't keep making these rash decisions by yourself that don't go along with the rest of the team because you think you can save the day!" His voice grew louder and louder. "You can't just make your own orders!"

"You can't just decide every single thing I do!" Ahsoka snapped. "You're such a control freak!"

"Well I sort of have to be, as a general!"

"Well, you could let me make some choices by myself!" she retorted defensively. "How else am I gonna learn?"

"You need to learn to follow orders!"

"Maybe you should be more flexible!"

"Maybe you should simply listen and quit making idiotic decisions, Snips!"

"You're always like this!" she cried in frustration, throwing her hands up. "After every mission! And before we go the entire team practically has to convince you to let me go off without you and you always get so mad if I even slightly stray and you want me right next to you the whole time because you think I'm too weak to keep myself from getting killed!" She finally stopped to take a breath and opened her mouth to resume her furious ranting, but Anakin cut her off again.

"Well, keeping you alive is exhausting!" he snarled, teeth clenched. His eyes shifted downwards to her neck, and his eyes narrowed then widened. "Did he get you in a chokehold?"

Ahsoka stepped backwards and made a vain attempt to shrug it off. "I fell." The lie was empty, the dark claw marks betraying her.

"Like hell you did! Force, Ahsoka, you were so close to being killed—" He was shaking now, and as she was about to yell at him again she realized with a start that he wasn't just angry—he was upset. Scared.

Because of her?

Because she almost died?

The understanding hit her like a speeder, and the stubbornness drained from her nearly instantly. She had just thought he was mad at her for not obeying orders—it hadn't occurred to her that he was angry because of the harm it could've put her in. Why would it? That's not how the Jedi worked. That's not how a war worked—you cared about technicalities, strategies, battle stats. Not people.

She realized he was still scolding her, and now that she knew what she was looking for she saw the concern in his eyes. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Anakin stopped, surprised by the outburst. "You—what?"

"You should be upset because I could've endangered Artoo and led Grevious right to the plans. We could've lost, because I didn't follow orders. It would have been devastating to the Republic if Artoo's drive had gotten into Separatist hands." Her voice was small now. "But you aren't. You're mad because by disobeying orders I almost died today."

He sighed deeply, running a hand over his face. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. I know you're a capable Jedi, Snips, but Grievous is a monster. He's so powerful. A lot of people aren't a match for him. Most aren't. And when Rex told me you were alone with him I—well, I just—"

"You assumed the worst," Ahsoka stated softly.

He nodded wearily. "I was so scared, Snips. I felt helpless. I couldn't get there to fight him with you, and it was the worst feeling in the world."

A heavy silence cloaked the cockpit. Ahsoka could practically see the weight of today pressing down on her Master—he looked incredibly strained, exhausted. Maybe this was why attachments were forbidden.

"I'm just not used to anyone actually caring whether I live or not, I suppose," she admitted. "I'm so sorry, Master. Really. I didn't mean to do that to you."

Anakin did something then that surprised her—she suddenly felt his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. She bristled at the unexpected contact at first. Jedi weren't supposed to hug each other, and no one ever had to her. And yet—

Yet it was so comforting and it made her feel so safe, and she couldn't just push it away because it was tight, like he was afraid she'd be whisked away from him, and it was warm. She didn't remember the last time a gesture like this had been given to her.

"Please don't do it again, Snips," he muttered, and she knew instantly that the anger was gone. She no longer needed to prove herself to him. He cared about her no matter what, it seemed, and it was a new feeling but a good one.

Maybe attachments weren't all bad.