Chapter Twenty-Six

Earlier...

Missions where no one died were few and far between, and Rex had felt like celebrating.

It was Ahsoka who'd suggested that he leave the planet once the fighting had ended. Rex had been prepared for at least another few hours dirtside, collecting the wounded and picking up the pieces of the battle's aftermath, but his friend had all but insisted he return to the Resolute; behind her eyes, there had only been a desire to see him happy. She'd joked that she could order him to leave, but he'd chuckled and said that wasn't necessary.

The return journey had been surprisingly swift. He'd considered comm'ing Bren ahead of time, then decided to surprise her instead, thinking that maybe she could forgo her work and skip out a bit early with him. Maybe they could return to her cabin, he could feign being exceptionally dirty from the battle, thus necessitating the need for a shower...not that either one of them needed an excuse to be close, but he knew how much she liked it when he flirted with her.

So it was with a relatively light heart that he'd made his way to her office, wishing for one silly moment that he had flowers or something else he could present to her instead of a dust-coated kama; but she hadn't been there. Puzzled, he'd tried to comm her – no response.

That was when he'd thought to make his way to her and Marliss' cabin. Perhaps she'd been sick and had to leave early. The thought struck him that perhaps something had happened to Iri and she'd been called away, which was enough to quicken his pace.

But when he'd reached her door and heard her shouting...

Thankfully the door was slightly open, because otherwise he would have instinctively shot his way through, whether he knew the lock-code or not.

It took him a moment to wrap his mind around the scene that greeted him. Brenna was shouting at a clone – a commando, by the looks of his armor – and Rex realized immediately that he'd never seen her truly angry before; her hands were shaking, her face was flushed and her eyes were ablaze as they remained fixed on the other clone's face.

When the commando spoke it took Rex all of three seconds to process the reality behind what he was witnessing. "...but I'm here now, and I want to make it right-"

Later on, Rex would not remember what he said when he entered the room, but he knew he said something because they both turned to look at him. Brenna's mouth was open as if she was about to reply to the commando, but when she spoke it was only Rex's name, and even then it was more of an indrawn breath. "Rex..."

The commando – Rex searched his memory and recalled her mentioning that Iri's father's name was Tucker – glared at the newcomer like he had the kriffing right. "Who the haran is this?"

"The man who's about to knock you off of your sorry shebs." At Rex's sharp words, both clones made to lunge towards each other, but Brenna stepped between them, angling herself so that she was closer to Rex than to the commando – Tucker – whose eyes narrowed as he froze in place.

A moment later the lines of anger across the commando's face deepened as he spoke to Brenna again. "So you replaced me, is that it? Or do you just have a thing for clones?"

Standing before him as she was, Rex could see that Brenna's hands were trembling with what he assumed was fury, but when she spoke her voice was remarkably steady. "Rex has nothing to do with this, Tucker."

"I find that hard to believe." Tucker's words were dark and he shot a look at Rex, the meaning of which was clear. She's mine. Back off. "You don't need me if you have him."

"There are a whole host of reasons why I don't need you," she replied. "But Rex isn't one of them. You need to leave. Now."

Tucker scowled at Rex again; in response, the captain stepped closer to Brenna, not touching her but offering silent support. As much as he wanted to speak – or preferably, to beat the commando into a bloody pulp – something urged him to wait, to watch. If Bren needed him he would fight for her in a heartbeat, but he felt that this was her fight, not his.

Not yet, anyway.

In the meantime, Rex held the commando's gaze, silently daring him to do something stupid and noting with a swell of satisfaction that the other man's glare deepened. Give me a reason, he thought as he gave a minuscule shake of his head. Give me a reason to strike you down, you miserable, low-life, shabla excuse for a man...

"You're making a mistake, Bren," Tucker said suddenly, breaking the stare and looking back at the brown-haired woman. "I'm her father."

"You're the man who got me pregnant," she replied in a flat voice. "You're not a father. You were right about that, at least. Leave," she added, the word hard as durasteel. "Now."

There was a moment where Rex watched the commando's body tense as if he were about to spring forward or do some other stupid thing, but the other man only clenched his jaw and stepped for the door. Too bad it looked like he was going to leave quietly, because Rex thought that he really would have preferred a chance to deck the commando at least once. Or twice. Three times, maybe.

Tucker paused at the door, and inclined his head towards her again, his mouth opening. In response, Rex felt his body shift forward, imperceptibly. Four – no, five – good swings, and he'd start to be satisfied.

But Brenna's voice shoved the commando out of the room with more force than even Rex's fists could have mustered. "Just go, Tucker."

The commando shot Rex a final, dark look, then stepped across the threshold. The moment he was gone, Brenna stepped forward and activated the lock on the door panel, then she turned and leaned her back against the closed door, sliding to the floor before she put her head in her hands and went very still; moments later, he heard a soft, hiccuping noise and realized that she was crying.

Uncertain of what exactly he was supposed to do – or think, for that matter – Rex approached her and knelt by her side, placing a tentative hand on her knee. "Are you okay?"

She nodded wordlessly, and he watched as she swiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater before she looked up at him. "I should have told you."

Aside from anger at Tucker's sudden appearance, he wasn't quite sure how to feel about the situation. Jealous, maybe. Sifting through his feelings for the emotion, Rex didn't find it. Perhaps he should have and indeed, after a moment he felt a flare of...something, but it wasn't jealousy for Tucker and what that clone had done with Brenna. Examining the feeling, Rex realized that it wasn't jealousy, but it was a familiar kind of longing, a desire for something that he was probably never meant to have, but wanted all the same. Something that Tucker had thrown away.

None of that was her fault. However, Rex still would have liked to know that Iri's father was a clone because he didn't know much about relationships, but he knew about honesty. So he was quiet for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, you should have."

There was a pause as he lifted his hand and watched her collect herself further, then he added: "Why didn't you?"

"Because I couldn't..." She frowned and scrubbed at her face with her sleeve again, then took a deep breath. "I couldn't lose you, too."

"Lose me?"

Brenna shifted, bending her knees in front of her and hugging her arms to her chest. She didn't look at him when she spoke. "When I told Tucker about Iri, he left without looking back. Before that, after I fell in love with Arcas, he left me as well. They always leave, and I couldn't..." Her eyes closed and she took another breath before sliding her gaze back to him. "I couldn't risk it with you, Rex."

Something like anger flared within him, sharper then he'd felt in a long time, and he thought of the commando that she'd ejected from her room. "You thought I would act like...like him? Like that piece of osik excuse for a clone?"

Her eyes closed again but she said nothing. Rex exhaled through his nose, working to keep his voice calm and thinking that he was failing. "We're not all the same, Brenna. Tucker's actions don't carry over to mine. I thought you..." His throat went tight, but he continued in a dark voice. "I thought you knew that."

The kneeling position he was in had started to make his legs tingle, so Rex rose, thinking he needed to leave the room anyway, because it was starting to feel stifling in here. Moving...he had an overwhelming urge to be moving, somewhere far away, somewhere dark and dangerous where he could lose himself in the shadows.

But as he stood, something seemed to snap within her; she stood up as well and reached for his gloved hand, at last meeting his eyes as she spoke. "I know that you're not all the same, Rex," she whispered, holding his gaze. "Of course I do. It's just...I made an awful mistake in trusting Arcas, and again – a worse one – with Tucker. I took this job on the Resolute to try and make it right, but..."

At this, she paused. Her hand was clutching his and he could feel that she was trembling. "But, what?"

"But I made another mistake," she said at last, still holding his gaze. "The moment I realized how much you meant to me, I should have told you about Tucker. I shouldn't have kept that from you, but I couldn't risk it. I'm not strong enough to go through all of that again, not with you.

"Rex, I never meant to fall in love with you, but I did, and I just couldn't risk losing you like I lost them."

Rex's limbs were frozen in place because her words had taken away his most basic motor functions. As it was, he thought he'd heard her wrong, and needed clarification. "What did you say?"

She gave a small, confused shake of her head; thankfully, he could still speak, even if his legs wouldn't move. "You said...'love.'"

A pink flush crept to her cheeks, but she did not drop her eyes from his as she nodded. "Yes, Rex. I love you."

Now it was his heart that wasn't working properly, it was beating much too fast, the frenetic pace making him dizzy; it was difficult to breathe, to think, and all he could do was gawk at her as the anger fled, replaced by complete and total bewilderment. "How do you know?"

Brenna lifted their joined hands and placed his over her heart so that his fingertips were resting on her collarbone. "I just do. I feel it, here."

As Rex looked at his own hand, half-thinking that it didn't look like his for some reason, his mouth opened, but no sound came out. How would he know if the words he wanted to say would be true? How did he know anything at all, especially when it came to something like love, something that was the opposite of what he'd been bred for? War, death, fighting: they were his arenas, not love.

Beneath his gloved hand he could feel her heart beating a curiously fast tempo, and he realized that her eyes had not once dropped from his while he'd been thinking.

"It's okay," she added with a soft smile that would be the last thing he saw right before he died, if he was lucky enough to be given a choice. "I didn't tell you that I love you just to hear you say it, too. I said it because I wanted you to know. You don't have to say it back if you're not sure, because I know that you'll mean it, if you ever do say it."

This answer at least, he knew. Rex shook his head. "When."

Her brows knitted in confusion, so he reached up and placed his other hand over hers so that both of his were pressed over her heart. "Not 'if,' but when."

Many of you expressed concern for Tucker, and I don't blame you. Tucker is in a really unfortunate situation, but he did have a hand in the making of it; Brenna's not without fault, either. Neither of them are "bad," they just made some poor choices and are suffering the consequences.

It's important to me that my characters are not static, that they have depth and dimension, flaws and good points alike. I love hearing what you think of them!

One of the reasons I enjoy writing angst and drama is that they make the "good times" that much better. :) Hopefully Bren's reasons for not telling Rex about Tucker sooner are clear, as well as what exactly Rex was angry about. If not, please let me know. :)

Thank you for reading!

Next time: sparring lessons with the boys, (and considerably less angst.)