A few weeks later…

"I need to figure this out on my own, without the council, without you." he watched her walk away, his heart ripping in two.

The next day…

She saw him skidding around the corner, holding a shiny box. He spotted her and ran over,

"Hey, have you seen Ahsoka? I made some more tweaks to my machine and I wanted to test it. I promised to have her there when I did." she bit her lip not wanting to tell him what had happened,

"Paris, something happened. You know how Ahsoka got blamed for the big bombing on the temple?"

"Yeah, but then they figured out it was Barriss and they invited her back right?"

"They did but she refused to come back. She, she left the order last night." she saw his face fall, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the shiny box tighter. He turned and walked away,

"Paris! It's-" she stopped herself, it wasn't ok. His best friend had just left, the only person Paris would really talk to other than her. She was about to run after when her comlink buzzed,

"Esinon, we need you in the council room for debriefing."

"Yes, master."

He walked down the hall, everything spinning, he walked out to the gardens and climbed the tree. Sitting in the exact spot he had first met her, she was kind, a little snippy, but she was so nice to him. She was one of the only people that had cared to know him other than his master. Why did she leave, they had said sorry, right? He just didn't understand, why, why, why. It just didn't make sense. He curled his knees to his chest just thinking, he just wanted her to come back, he just wanted his friend back.

The mission they had been tasked with was extremely, so they had banned padawans coming on this one. She needed someone to watch Paris, but basically, all the Jedi were going and the others she didn't trust with her padawan. Then she had a stroke of genius, there was one other person she trusted, she ran down the halls towards the exit of the Jedi temple to a building just down the way. She walked into the building to see clones walking up and down the halls, she walked to the one marked CT-7567. She knocked on the door, and it opened to Rex.

"General uh, hello, what are you doing here?"

"I need a big favor."

"Anything."

"This way," she led him through the streets,

"So I have this big mission, and no padawans allowed so I need someone to watch Paris. I was wondering if you could just keep an eye on him, he just needs someone to talk to and I would be that someone but again, big mission, big dangerous mission."

"So if I understand correctly you want me to babysit?"

"Precisely, I mean if you can handle a troop I'm sure you can handle one padawan."

"Of course,"

"He's in the garden, few things you need to know, he isn't that social so don't force it, Ahsoka just left and that was one of his best friends so he is upset, the third thing, just introduce him to some of the other clones, like Fives, and Echo. Try to help him, I trust you so don't blow it," she said firmly,

"Yes General,"

"You can call me Esinon if you want, General just sounds so formal."

"Ok, Esinon," he let the words roll around in his mouth, he made a face as he said it like it left a sour taste in his mouth. Sometimes she forgot that the clones were still only around ten or eleven years old, due to the accelerated growth when they first started. Rex had to be maybe around her age, but when he first went into battle he would have been about Paris's age. She smiled as she led him into the gardens, she looked up in a tree. He was always there when he got upset.

"Paris, can you come down."

"No," he only poked his head over the side of the tree.

"Come on, I have to leave for a mission and Rex is going to take care of you."

"Why can't I come?"

"The council said it wasn't safe, so you're going to stay with Rex." Rex gave a small wave to the curious boy who was looking down.

"Paris, come on."

"Is he going to make me wear shoes?"

"No, he isn't going to make you wear shoes now come down here." Paris climbed down, except his machine wasn't in his hands. He must have left it up there.

"So, I'm Rex."

"I know."

"Ok," she waved to the two after patting Paris on the head before walking to the landing bay.

"So what do you like to do for fun?" Rex asked, he wanted to get this right, he never really had had to take care of a small child, but it couldn't be too hard right. Paris shrugged his shoulders,

"Do you want to go meet some of my friends?" he stopped to think, and then nodded his head yes. Rex led him back to the clone barracks, where different clones were walking around Paris seemed to shrink against the wall, this little guy must not have much experience around other people. He didn't really know much about Paris, other than whenever they were on the battlefield, he had stuck pretty close to General Windcaster.

"So, my friends are probably in the mess hall." Paris nodded and followed after Rex into a room with a few scattered groups of clones. Rex found his friends and sat down, and Paris sat down next to him.

"Guys, this is Paris. I'm watching him while General Windcaster is out on a mission. Paris, this is Fives, Echo, Kix, Jesse, Tup, and Breaker." all the clones waved hello,

"I have a question, I thought you guys were only given numbers. Then why do you have names?" it was a question that a lot of people asked,

"We brothers give each other nicknames, so Fives is really CT- 5555 so he became Fives." Paris nodded his head in understanding.

"So, do you have any favorite stories from being a padawan?" Fives asked, trying to at least engage the young boy,

"I dunno, there are kind of a lot of them. I don't know if you guys know much about the Jedi but my master is what is called a gray Jedi which means she walks the line between the light and dark. So she is more of a guardian of the force. So that makes her lessons kind of interesting, but I've seen a lot of cool places. One time I remember when I was just starting as a padawan, she took me to a place called Anch-To which is the birthplace of the Jedi order. I meditated there and she taught me what the force really was."

"What's Anch-To like?"

"Well, it's an island and it's so green and beautiful and so much ocean and water."

"I would love to go there." Echo murmured, it seemed like Paris was really starting to warm up.

"So, you guys do anything in your time off the battlefield?" all the clones looked around at each other, 79's wasn't exactly the best place for a ten-year-old boy.

"Um, just talk."

"That's boring, so you guys have somewhere comfortable?" they nodded, Rex led them back to a lounge that was pretty much empty, it was getting late. Paris sat down on the couch and held out a small metal disk,

"My master made this, it's a game."

"A game about what?" Jesse asked skeptically,

"Well she said it was a training device but you basically get to be a Jedi." he plugged the small computer to show a screen with Jedi and lightsabers covering it. All the clones sat down on the floor ready to try out this new "training device."

She helped Master Fisto up,

"Are you alright?"

"Yes my child, those droids just got a little too aggressive." she nodded helping him walk to a stretcher. She looked around the battlefield, looking down at her cloak that was now in shreds. She wanted to get back to Paris and quick, she wanted to make sure he was ok. She climbed back onto the ship where a medical droid started to help her heal some, and she had a significant amount of dirt on her face. The battle at Florum had been tough, trying to defeat the Sith, they had sadly lost Adi Gallia to Savage. She would be missed dearly, the ship lurched into the air and she flew back to Coruscant. The ship's door opened and she found a note taped to Paris's door,

We went to the barracks

-Rex

She got up and walked down the street to the clone barracks, she found them sitting in the lounge all asleep. Kix and Jesse were slumped over the table, Tup was leaning against the couch, and Breaker was out cold on the floor. Fives and Echo were on either side of Rex asleep with heads laying on the head of the couch, and Paris was sitting next to Rex curled into his chest peacefully asleep. Rex was resting his head in an awkward position on the couch. Wow, they had fallen asleep playing her training device, her padawan knew how to make friends. She gently scooped up Paris in her arms and carried him back to the temple. She laid him gently in his bed and put a blanket over him. Rex was officially a lifesaver, she would have to thank him tomorrow but they looked so peaceful sleeping and she didn't want to wake them up. It was peaceful now, just her, the Jedi, and her friends.

I love this so much. Just saying.