Chapter Twenty Five
Rex wasn't used to this kind of downtime, usually, when there was a rare gap in missions he still keeps up on training, on exercise, and on protocol drills. However, he couldn't get up early in the morning and go for a run because he was awake almost all hours of the night, this was definitely a sleep deprivation test if ever he was to be a part of one. Ahsoka was needy, clingy, and positively wanton. He loved it, loved every second of it, praised whatever cloner came up with the idea to improve clones memory to be just about eidetic because he'd be remembering this one for a long time.
How all of this combined to their current position he really couldn't be sure, he was standing up, supporting her entire body weight by hooking his arms under her knees as he set a relentless pace pounding into her, partly because he had other ideas, partly because he wasn't entirely sure how long he'd be able to support them both like this. Her rear lekku pressed between his chest and her back as he continued his motions. He did find that he rather enjoyed giving her orders. He also had a strange fascination with her flexibility, he hadn't found a position yet that she wasn't able to twist herself into, and would aim to continue and try. It wasn't long until her body was shaking again, her mouth whimpering out his name in a desperate attempt to gain some form of composure.
It wasn't long after that moment that Rex set her down, slowly, letting the feeling get back into her legs. She seemed as if she was shivering though he knew she wasn't near being cold. When she was standing again on her own he was quick to not let the break last, she'd regain too much energy, knowing her. He gave her, and him, just enough time for her breathing to level out before he was positioning her again.
He quickly bent her at the waist, watching her brace herself against the bed and look back at him with an almost confused expression before he plunged himself into her again, the confusion was gone replaced by sheer bliss almost. Again, his pace was merciless, relishing and remembering each needy whimper, each panting breath, each little moan, it was all just a little more to get him closer. One hand reached from the iron grip on her hip up towards her shoulder, stroking her rear head-tail, that did it, her arms weren't supporting her frame anymore her forehead pressing into the bed as again, she climaxed, Rex couldn't stop himself this time, he came shortly after her, leaning over her frame trying to support himself and not crush her.
That bought him about half an hour before she was ansty again and he looked at her
"You trust me?" he asked and she nodded he hardened his look.
"I trust you," she confirmed
"If something hurts, tell me," he said before leaning her back into the bed, he proceeded to basically bend her body in half kissing her deeply as he entered her again. This was Rex's possibly new favorite thing, bending and moving her in ways he knew almost no other woman would be able too, her flexibility was mind-boggling to him.
This was their current normal, this over and over again and again. Rex pushing himself and pushing her into new positions, seeing again: just how far he'd be able to bend her. She started to calm down after another full day. Her body relaxing slowly, balancing out and adjusting. Finally with some decent rest, rex was able to notice what had changed, she did seem taller, her montrals a little taller, her lekku a little longer, what was the most striking was the change in her head-tail stripes, they were no longer solid lines following the curves of her headtails, they were now starting to branch out from the main stripes. Rex couldn't help it, he traced them over with his finger, earning a tired shudder from her.
In stark contrast to her not wanting to sleep she slept almost a full two days. Mildly concerning to Rex, but a quick message to Kix ensured him that yes, this was completely normal, and once she was able to stay awake for at least a few hours at a time it'd be fine to bring her back. He took the time to go over the new trooper roster, finally, get the names, numbers, and stats of their new shinies, he hoped they'd be better behaved than the last batch. Especially since his beloved General would be more on edge than usual in about a week when they all helped with the introduction. Finally, Ahsoka was able to stay awake, her lust ebbing and making way for her body to actually feel something that had been put in the back of her mind: growing pain.
Rex worried she'd fall asleep in the tub either soaked with her or beside her and continued catching up on his work, just to be safe. Finally though in just a few days, she was walking mostly normally, and eating regularly as well. Still, long naps but that was good enough for him and Rex loaded up the ship with their things, including some things to be brought back for Senator Amidala, and they were off.
Rex wouldn't admit he was slightly bitter about it. He couldn't remember ever being able to spend any alone time for longer than a few hours with someone he was intimate with. Let alone a week and a half. Let alone while there was a war happening, Ahsoka had sneered at the idea of domestic life, but if domestic life included her, just being in her presence, he'd follow her anywhere.
They landed on Coruscant and it was night, the Twilight was docked and unloaded as Ahsoka went into the Senator's apartment, she was at a late meeting and Ahsoka, not wanting to attend, ate something light before turning in. Rex, making sure she was comfortable left, but not after making sure everything was locked, not paranoid just protective. Padme got back late but still came to check on her all the same. Ahsoka laying with her montral pressing against Padme's stomach listening to the subtle sounds of life inside, chatting idly and catching up.
"I think Rex will like Naboo," she started peering up at the woman.
"Really? You talked about it?" Ahsoka nodded "After everything ends, it will be good to have you both." She smiled "I talked to the Queen, in addition to the bill we've made note of centers for them to live in, housing if you will. But also with the ability to take care of them when they're older."
"You need to prepare for well before then…" Ahsoka noted, "They're going to need a lot of mental help, Kix says more than half the men show signs of PTSD. It's as subtle as appetite changes or as severe as Echo's outbursts."
"I didn't know… why doesn't anyone say anything? Surely the cloners know…"
"Of course they know," she scoffed "They just don't say anything because people would lose faith in their precious money makers." she spat the words bitterly. "They're not toys to be played with and forgotten." she sat up. "You know often cadets get reprogramed right?" she started and Padme shook her head.
"If they don't perform to standard, they get a reprogramming, everything is wiped and reset, the cloners believe picking up a human-like instinct or mannerism makes them weak, too many make them fail. You can only reprogram a mind so many times before it breaks or they die. Often the limit is 2, then they're stuck on either cleaning duty for life, or they're terminated."
"Ahsoka," she started "They don't tell us this… this isn't public…"
"I only know because I eat, sleep, shower, fight, and grieve with these men." she looked at the woman. "Sometimes if a clone makes a big enough mistake later… they call him a deviant and take him away from his brothers, his Vod, back to Kamino, reprogramed, new number, new Vod, no memory of the people he loved."
"Oh god…"
"It's what the Separatists were trying to do to Echo, they were trying to wipe him like a droid and get him to do their bidding. Use him as a way to do it to others they could capture and make their own army. Brothers fighting brothers."
"I'll stop it Ahsoka, I'll do everything in my power to. You know that."
The next morning Kix paid his female General a house visit, if the last time was anything to go by, she'd be sore, now in more ways than one, and utterly exhausted. Both were true, she was in her room, alone as Rex had to go check in at the barracks since technically he was on a troop resupply. When he knocked and then entered she opened one blue eye, and then another letting out a long yawn.
"Sorry to have woken you General, I figured it'd be better to get your charts up to date today rather than back on the Resolute in a few days, I know you'll still be burning off some energy by then."
"You seem to know the aftercare better than I do,"
"How did your last heat go… where were you for it?" Kix asked as he took out his datapad.
"I was on Shili, afterward sucked… I felt crappy for another few weeks." she noted, "Usually I'm still just a little sensitive."
"Really? What was your diet?"
"Mostly various meats from whatever we'd hunt, why?" she asked
"I don't think you got enough protein, I know you're always hungry after this but you were also used to specific dietary supplements, that were naturally increased to combat fighting in a war," Kix exclaimed looking over his charts, some lists, and sending off a resupply order to General Skywalker titled: General Tano support rations needed ASAP.
"Meat is meat but you were on heavier doses of complex proteins, suddenly your body didn't have them when it really needed it…" he looked at her sitting up and gave her a motion to stand. Ahsoka was wearing a pair of loose shorts and a tank top, Kix tried not to notice the number of marks on her skin, but he couldn't really help it… they were everywhere, yes they'd heal fast but damn, she looked like she'd been through a battle.
"So what do I do this time?"
"I've already sent off a resupply order to Skywalker for some different ration packs, I'm also adding an increase to your general portion sizes and added in some specific snacks made for obligate carnivore species." He took measurements of her overall height as well as specifics, he took her weight and checked over her basic vitals. Her weight caused his brows to furrow, she'd hardly gained a pound… he looked her over, her headtails could fill out more, as could the rest of her, mostly she looked like well like she'd just gone through a growth spurt while that was fitting it wasn't ideal.
"I think you should start joining in on drills, the increased exercise will help balance out your hormones still left over, as well as help you gain your muscle mass back faster," he paused sending off another ration request. "I'd feel better if you put on a little more weight, I know you've not been eating enough recently to counter the calorie loss but even then, I'd feel better if you did, your weight has barely changed despite an overall growth of 7cm in height, your lekku alone grew 5cm and your montrals 4cm." He told her sending off the measurements to Jesse for his stupid betting pool. Ahsoka laughed
"Alright, alright, I'll join in on drills, take up more sparring."
"Thank you, it's just a medic's perspective, you look healthy and fit but I'd feel better if you gained a little, I am pretty impressed with the change in your stripes." She laughed again
"Yeah, that was pretty unexpected, face markings barely shifted in comparison, but I was pretty surprised." she looked at him "So who won the height bets?" she asked with a raised marking, and as she stood in front of him, easily eye level now, finally, he swallowed.
"I'm really not sure, how many bets do you know?"
"Jesse sent a list of bets." she smirked "I'll update him." she winked Kix rolled his eyes
The medic left not long after, and it wasn't long after that that was there waking her up again.
"How are you feeling Snips?"
"Tired… you get Kix's ration requests?"
"Yes, I approved them immediately, I think your joining drills will be good too." He added and not long after he left letting her sleep.
"Kix," Padme greeted "I'm working to bring a bill to the Senate for Clone rights and care after the war, you're a medic… I want your report on what you and your men will need when this war is over. I know PTSD is a huge factor, think you could get with some of the other medics and share notes?"
"Of course Senator, I'll get right on that. What are you thinking of?"
"First off is housing, but I don't really understand clone 'tribal dynamics' as Ahsoka would put it. I'm not sure if they'd want single apartments or Barrack styles, or what really."
"Something in the middle, like a neighborhood of townhomes or multibedroom apartments, I don't really think we know how to live alone, we're too used to being around one another, the emptiness would be strange."
"Noted, I'll let the Queen know."
"Excuse me?"
"We're planning to build the first one on Naboo, as an example. The Queen was inspired by what Ahsoka told her about the clones."
"What was that exactly if you don't mind me asking?" the medic asked.
"For starters, she said Naboo didn't seem concerned with the war, not that the people aren't she said the planet wasn't, the Force there was peaceful, the planet not knowing, or caring a war was happening because it hadn't tainted it." Kix couldn't help but smile
"That sounds like her…"
"She said you're hardly all copies of the same bounty hunter, none of you are really the same, she can tell you apart by your walks, or your voices, or your faces,"
"Knowing her species probably scents too."
"She described how some of you walk, some of your mannerisms, that was enough to not only convince the Queen to back the bill but build the first housing for after the war."
"I think a lot of the men will like Naboo, it's peaceful and that will be good."
"Ahsoka's planning to live there with me after the war." he hand trailed over her stomach. "I think when that happens I'll retire from the Senate and focus on being a mother."
"You mentioning Ahsoka is there, you'll have the entire 501st legion signed up."
"Good."
Rex having rejoined his brother's in the barracks was unfortunately back to business as usual, he knew, however, that Ahsoka did need, and deserve all the rest she could get. Once checking over the list of new troops, filling out a good portion of the resupply orders, and dodging the bulk of the comments from the seasoned men about his absence, Rex went to the showers it was only afternoon, but he'd been tired the night before.
"What in hell…" Kano started looking at his Captain as he stripped "General Tano did that…" he openly stared and Rex tried not to blush, he turned looking himself over in one of the long mirrors, now he was blushing.
His torso alone was covered in angry red scratches scabbing and healing over from her nails scratching to the point of blood, teeth marks in various shades of dark purples, browns, and fading yellows. Hickeys much the same shades of colors, some still red from the burst blood vessels. A severe concentration over his blaster scar, the scar barely noticeable behind the mostly dark purple and red marks. She'd done her best to hide that with her own form of battle scars. While the rest of Rex's lower half was mostly untouched, his ass had several crescent indentations, his groin and upper thighs covered much the same as his chest. Ox let out a long low whistle, his eyes trailing up and down a few times
"Hot damn Captain…" the other clone purred out. "Our General, quite the possessive little thing aye?" he mused and Rex glared at him, but it was half-hearted, it was all in good fun.
"Take it in and weep boys," Rex called back to them as they looked him over as he started his shower. "For the record, her stamina is greater than ours…" he let out a long breath.
"Really now?" Jesse started and he too let out a whistle. "She's got, you good Rex."
"Truthfully I didn't realize how bad they were till now…"
"Did you not shower while on leave?"
"Oh, we did but mostly while doing… other things," he smirked. Rex continued his 'shop talk' with the men when Kix showed up.
"Fuck damn," he mused doing his medic duty and gently turning the captain one way and another to look him over, "I thought General Tano looked like hell, you've got it worse Sir that's for sure." He was genuinely concerned some of those bite marks would need bacta.
"Did you have her strip for her charts?" Rex asked with a smirk Kix shook his head "Then you didn't see everything." He couldn't help it, the bit of pride and ego boost this all was. A few wet cloths lobbed at him for that, he laughed and chucked them back. It always happened whenever one of them came back from a night out with some woman they'd picked up in a bar, of course: Rex hadn't done that in a long time, not since long before Ahsoka left, once realizing he felt something for her, bedding another just felt wrong, it wasn't who he wanted… so he just stopped.
It was late afternoon the next day that Ahsoka groaned, her usual attire, shockingly, wasn't fitting. Which pissed her off to no end. She walked out of her room, still in her sleepwear and sat on the couch in front of Padme's desk in a huff.
"Would you like to tell me what's got you in a mood?" The Senator asked peering up over her work.
"Nothing fits anymore…"
"I'm not surprised… you've grown suddenly, and a fair amount," she replied
"We're shipping out in 2 days… the hell am I supposed to do?"
"What did you do last time?" Padme asked her
"Went shopping…" she admitted and Padme all but gleamed.
"Shopping?" she giggled and closed out the computers
"Oh, force I said the wrong phrase…"
"No you said the right one," she stood up, giving a gentle rub to her swelling stomach. "Get something on, exercise wear will work, not sleepwear, I'm calling Chuchi, and we're settling this."
"At least my bras still fit…" she grumbled as she got up and got dressed into something half decent.
The pair left, meeting up with Chuchi and going to a store that happened to be popular with various kinds of people who needed 'battle ready' attire. Ahsoka looking around, settling on a pair of black thick leggings, and a dark blue dress with silver and yellow/gold detailing on it She tried it on, the senators approving. The dress ended just below mid-thigh, form-fitting but not uncomfortable she walked around the rest of the store and something caught her attention: a headband for starters, silver in color with 2 bars on either side gold in color.
"What's this made from?" she asked placing it in front of her face in a mirror.
"Durasteel" the store owner replied. Ahsoka placed it on her head, fit nicely, she liked it, the weight reminding her of her Akul teeth. She continued looking around, settling on a pair of gloves made from a thin hide, additionally found a belt that matched the dress and armor to go with it, all of it matching well like it was a set that's been made to go together. Boots were last, choosing a comfortable boot with an armored spat was simple enough.
"I think this looks great," Padme commented with Chuchi nodding in return. They, of course, did change a few small things, add a few others before deeming it perfect. Ahsoka liked it, taking the time to move and bend around as needed, she didn't feel restricted or cut off in any way, at least Rex would be happy: she finally relented to armor. They paid for the outfit, putting it in the bag as to keep it a surprise, left to get something to eat, catching up, and then going their respective ways.
When it was time to load up to ship out for their next mission, Rex came to grab Ahsoka, as she walked out of her room with her bag he stared at her.
"You look…" he noted looking at the new attire. "Perfect." he gave her an easy smile paired with a gentle kiss, "I like the armor."
"Figured you would." she smiled "I like it too, light but fits nicely."
"Durasteel?" he asked and she nodded "Good."
The pair left heading onto their Flagship and heading off for their next mission, on route Echo started having a panic attack, or maybe a flashback. Either way, he was backed into a corner of one of the rooms screaming and lashing out at anyone who came too close to him. By the time Rex and Ahsoka had arrived Kix was there loading up a syringe with a sedative and Anakin was making a plan to calm the other down. Ahsoka didn't say anything, she removed her sabers placing them in Rex's hands and walked towards him slowly.
"Echo…" she called softly at him and he looked up his eyes wild, terror-filled, no recognition of him knowing her.
"Get back…"
"You don't want that… you're scared." she sat down just out of arm's reach.
"You don't understand," he growled at her
"Of course I don't, no one could know to understand what they did to you, but maybe, I can help Echo…" she looked at him and pushed at him through the force. "You know I can Echo…"
"Don't touch me…" he warned and she stayed still. "You're one of them…" he glared "A Jetti who doesn't care."
"I'm no Jetti, you know that." again a push through the force, navigating her way through the mental walls of his mind, pushing past the harsh and hurtful words to the scared man she knew.
"What are you…" he started, confusion flashing past his eyes. "Don't…" he whispered but she didn't listen. He was fixated on her slowly she moved closer until she was just sitting in front of him. Her hand making the subtlest of motions to use the force and grab the syringe Kix had.
"I got you Echo…" she whispered gently. "You're okay, you're safe, I promise you that." he looked up at her with a broken expression the wildness fading, soon his eyes hooded over as she injected the sedative into his thigh. His body relaxed forwards Ahsoka moving to support his weight before lowering him down.
"He hasn't done that in a while…" Kix noted as some other medics loaded him onto a stretcher.
"I wonder what set him off?" Ahsoka asked gently, she looked around the mess hall but nothing gave her any immediate clues. They watched him get taken to the med bay Echo never remembered the panic attacks, sometimes he was violent during them other times it wasn't.
It was merciful they all supposed that he didn't remember what had happened, they told him he had another episode but that was it, they never told him the details.