Whooo! Better super flippin late than never! ….between me trying so hard to get back to school and the car dying and all the sickness and other fun stuff – yeah, been a fun few months. But here's the next chapter! Yay!

No real warnings about this one. It may be a bridge chapter but believe me, it'll pick up soon enough.

Disclaimer and stuff is usual. If I owned it, I wouldn't be losing hair over stress. And I'm being serious there.

As always, read, review, PM, and enjoy folks! (Well….those of you still around).

Happy Writing,

~Eliana

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Today was a big day – well…not really big…but important, Ahsoka told herself from where she sat perched upright in her bed. More things had happened today in a good way than had happened in the multiple, countless days that she had been in the hospital. She had two of the bothersome, itchy IV lines removed and she had the strength to sit upright on her own (to where she was now). Djibourdi had had his breathing tube removed (although he showed no real signs of improvement, he was actually able to breathe on his own and, for mercy's sake, the MOs had it removed). Most of all – the best thing yet, Ahsoka told herself, was the fact that Bariss was actually coming to visit.

Surprisingly enough it was her friend's master, Luminara Unduli, who had suggested that the girl pay her friend a visit – and Ahsoka knew in the back of her mind that it was more for her friend's benefit in getting off the battle field than it was for her own. Master Unduli was many things, but she was certainly not without purpose.

Ahsoka shot a quick glance to her roommate. Almost like Djibourdi, she pondered. If he would have come around earlier and the customary rules not be in place, certainly Djibourdi would have made a good padawan for Luminara. He would be a good padawan for anyone…but his continued silence on his old master had slowly begun to lead his older friend closer and closer to frustration. It wasn't a frustration aimed at him specifically – Force no – but it was a frustration that Ahsoka could not deny existed. She was frustrated with the war, frustrated with the constant headaches, frustrated that she was stuck in bed, at the confinement that she was forced to suffer at the moment and, most of all, she was so frustrated with whatever man or species that had been her friend's master before she met him.

Djibourdi sighed softly in his resting state, frowning a bit as he tried to get comfortable again. Standing out blatantly on the sickly-colored cheek was the slowly fading bruise that had marked him since before the day Ahsoka had arrived. Every time she so much as glanced at it the padawan felt angry – the kind of angry that broiled in her stomach and flowed fiercely through her veins in an effort to escape her body. The lack of access to the Force had made her accept one thing: whatever had happened to her friend made her angry. Very angry.

It didn't take half a brain cell to figure out what must have happened (…or some of it, at least) and no one had any right to do that to another person, especially not her Djibourdi.

Her mind froze for a second.

That sounded right. Yes. Her Djibourdi. Her friend. Her equal. Her confidant. He was the only one who really understood what it felt like to be on this side of the syringes and sensors and to feel totally helpless.

As if on cue his eyes slid open, gazing at her across the short distance with a bit of lightened curiosity at what it was that she could be thinking so deeply about.

"Instead of pretending to sleep, you should actually sleep," she told him matter-of-factly, almost laughing when he quirked a single eyebrow ridge, "It'll take you out of it for a while."

The air rumbled with his almost-silent response. That was good enough.

"Do you feel any better?"

Her answer was a slow blink, one taped hand coming up to lie next to his head on the pillow.

"I know."

She couldn't help but feel the frustration building again in her chest – why was it that she felt well enough to eat and sit up while he was condemned to forever have to lay as still as he could to avoid the agony created by his own body?

"I have a friend coming to visit today, Dji," she told him, trying to share some of her excitement with him, "Her name is Bariss. I think you'll like her – she's nice."

He let out a couple rumbles in curiosity before, without warning, he became as stiff as a board, eyes slamming shut and mouth opening to a small gap. Not a second later he relaxed again, sagging limply against the pillows and shoving his face, regardless of the nasal tubes, into the pillows. Ahsoka knew exactly what had happened.

Ever since the surgery he had been hooked up to a machine that would send a shockwave of electricity into his body when his heart rate would drop – and every time the sympathy and pity would pour into Ahsoka quicker than the frustration would and would almost drive her to force her body to move to him. She knew she couldn't do that.

She thought she had made up her mind until she noticed the almost non-existent trembling of the bony shoulders beneath the covers. Djibourdi was making no sound but breathing, but Ahsoka could tell from the minor change that it was beginning to get to be too much for the eleven-year old. It didn't take her long to see that he was losing whatever resolve he had left.

"It's okay, Dji," she told him, horrified to hear the slight quiver in her own voice, "It'll be okay."

Outside of this place she would have done what her master had taught her: keep a respectful distance and use the Force to grant comfort and peace… but even then the unnaturally strong urge drew her to her friend's side.

Cerulean eyes caught sight of the red call button that stood out against the tan machinery and, just as her fingers were about to press the call button, she froze. She didn't need help to do this, did she? Could she manage this? One more look between her friend and the button had her making up her mind. She balled her fingers into a fist and said a quick prayer to the Force before whipping her covers to one side of the bed. Easily she undid the lock on the walls that surrounded her bed and lowered one down so she could slide her legs over the side.

These new machines that had been introduced to them were wireless, thank the Force, she told herself as she adjusted the IV line to hang around her back. If they were wired to her it would make this a lot more difficult…but two weeks plus without standing must have ruined her balance by now…

One look at her friend's distressed form had her setting her lips in a firm line, watching her own feet as the slowly, incrementally, landed on the cold tile floors. The moment her weight settled on her atrophied legs they almost crumbled beneath her – if not for her vice-like grip on the edge of her bed she would have gone careening straight to the ground.

Ahsoka took in a deep breath to steady herself and put her first foot forward, aided by her left hand's grasp on the small cabinet that ran between the two beds. This was exhausting work…she was walking, she realized when she was halfway to Djibourdi's bed – she was actually walking! She gave a happy half-cry which caught Djibourdi's attention. Half-flooded golden eyes widened with the sight of her walking to him, and even with the wall between them he managed to reach his hand out to her, as if (in his mind) he could help her the rest of the way. Ahsoka accepted his hand albeit loosely and leant her hip against the cabinet so she could lower the wall around the other bed with as much precision as her own.

Although the journey between the beds was only fifteen feet or so, it left her legs shaking and trembling like a well-hit musical triangle as she stood, contemplating how she could get into the other bed. It came up to her hip so she would need a step up….and the shelf at the bottom of the cabinet would work fine, she decided.

It was hardly easy going and it took almost two minutes (with several false-starts), but soon enough Ahsoka made it into her friend's bed and let out a triumphant huff with a large grin. She was swift in maneuvering herself under Djibourdi's covers, letting the emaciated body fall against her own thinned one and squeezing his lax hand.

"See?" she puffed out, obviously tired from her journey but not tired enough to not help her friend, "I'm here…. It's okay."

Djibourdi was hesitant to allow himself to get too close but Ahsoka was determined, using her greater momentary strength to force him to stay where he was despite his tensing and soft whines that he released in distress. His energy ran out rather quickly and took his will to resist with it, sending him silently into Ahsoka's embrace.

"Just you and me, Dji," she told him as his cold tears hit her warming skin, "Just the two of us. Together. We can do it."

He hiccupped quietly.

"I think I'm getting better. And if I am, you have to be too, right? I mean…that would make sense. And you've been through so much more than me and you've stayed strong…I know you can make it the rest of the way."

Djibourdi offered no response, too much in pain to really complain about the physical contact but also too lost in memories to reject the comfort she offered him. Ahsoka was none the wiser, her mind preoccupied (and horrified) at the fact that Dji's body was still as cold as ice and felt like a literal skeleton underneath medical robes.

"…did I ever tell you the story of how my master and I met? I mean…. I don't know if that's something you want to hear but I'll tell you if you want."

The younger Togrutan nodded slowly against her skin and she began to speak, her voice slightly twinged in exhaustion due to her voluntary over-exertion. He wasn't totally listening – Djibourdi's mind was so stretched at the moment that he was even amazed he was still awake – but just the sound of a voice slicing through the tensing silence that always dominated the room was more than welcome. He hoped (silently to himself) that it wouldn't be one of the Jedi who found Ahsoka this close to him. It was forbidden in so many archives of the Jedi Order for one Jedi to be so close to another even for the sake of comfort on the verge of death, regardless if it was friend to friend or master to apprentice. Compassion, not attachment: that was the first and foremost rule of the Order, and Ahsoka was one of the few who was brave enough to defy that without too much of a thought. If she was caught this close to him she could get in major trouble…and once his master returned Djibourdi was sure that he would be too. Eddy could get this close without being reprimanded by the Jedi – he was of no concern – but the ever-existing scrutiny kept the boy at as much of a distance as he could manage… as much as was mortally possible with the nauseating pain and exhaustion that settled into his bones.

He had figured it out about two or three days ago – that which no one else wanted to tell them. He knew the truth: the Chosen, the tribulation, the woman who had most likely given it all to save them, his relationship with Ahsoka…his sister (distantly related sister, but blood sister none the less). Of course he knew the legend of the Chosen since he had had so many hours to read anything he wished in the archives while he waited for his classmates to catch up to him in terms of academics…and of course he would be sure that Ahsoka never knew of their connection. She was on the opposite end of the spectrum from himself and he knew one simple thing from what he had observed: she was certainly not subtle. She had a tendency to grow attached and if she knew for sure that he was her brother she would continually make the most incorrect of decisions in choosing him over missions.

Her master was the same way, he theorized as Ahsoka continued to speak. He was attached to his padawan and actually seemed to care about her… but Djibourdi knew what that meant. Sooner or later Ahsoka would realize the truth just as he had, the same truth that haunted his very existence now: the longer she allowed herself to trust her master the longer he had to find out ways to destroy her. That had to be how it was – Force or not, the shadow in that man's eyes was deep and dark with no end in sight, so much like the eyes of the man who tried to end his apprentice's life in the freezing depths of the lake. …but she could never know. He couldn't save her from it, and he knew it.

'Whatever is is what must be,' he recalled his master's growled words, 'If you were not meant to be here then the Force would not have allowed it to be so. You must stand inside of a living nightmare to appreciate what it is that the Force has to offer – the meaning of true power.'

Ahsoka caught his attention and made him jump rather harshly when she hesitantly touched his bruised cheek with two light fingers.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized, pulling that hand away to hold it up, palm out while the other squeezed his own hand, "I was just thinking…it looks like it's healing."

He gave her a disbelieving look. She gave him a stern one.

"Don't worry – we're still alive right? You can't give up yet…"

Never give up, Djibourdi thought to himself as he lowered his eyes. He'd never give up… but that certainly didn't mean that he couldn't reign to his fate in peace. It was what it must be.

"Ahsoka!" came a startled call from the door, and Ahsoka turned to grin at the older Togrutan who stood still with mouth agape.

"Hi, Eddy!" she told him happily, wiggling a bit in glee, "Look what I did!"

"….I can see that, little one," Eddy told her slowly, his eyes scanning the entire room for a long moment, "…how?"

"Uh – duh. I walked," Ahsoka quipped as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The elder almost appeared to be frozen for the next few seconds before shaking his head in disbelief and walking to the bed, giving a low chuckle to both children who watched him.

"You're too much, Ahsoka," he told her, tapping her hands that fought against him when he tickled her side, "and you mister…"

Djibourdi shrunk down a bit.

"Obviously you're the innocent one, huh lene?"

"No he isn't!" Ahsoka told the MO, "There's no way."

"Just because you're always doing things you aren't supposed to doesn't mean that he does."

The padawan puffed her cheeks out at him, surprised to feel a soft rumbling against her side. Bewildered she looked at the adult who only laughed softly and reached over to stroke the boy's head.

"At least someone finds it to be funny," he stated before becoming serious, "Now little Miss Ahsoka, I'm putting you back in your bed before Master Skywalker finds out."

"No fair."

Eddy quirked an eyebrow.

"Let's not go there. C'mon now," he calmly scolded her as he lifted her into the air, masterfully avoiding pulling the IV lines as he set her back on her bed, "There now. That's better – back where you should be and just in time for food."

He turned to glance over his shoulder.

"And I got somethin' special for you, sweetheart," he told Djibourdi who had been watching the exchange with silent mirth, "We'll get food in you yet."

Down-turned eyes.

"You're not in trouble, son," Eddy told him calmly, trying to understand why he was so upset suddenly, "Don't you worry about it."

"Hey Eddy?"

He turned around to face Ahsoka with a thin smile, happy that she was at least there to help calm the tension.

"Do you think I can talk with Barriss outside?"

The man opened his mouth only to shut it with an audible 'click' when his supervisor's voice entered the conversation.

"Only the sunroom," Tocarra told her, hands on her hips, "No outdoors. And no more trudging around without permission."

Ahsoka stuck out her tongue.

"You're mean."

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Tada! Hope y'all liked it. Please review, hold the flames. I work retail. I get enough crap in a day.

~Eliana