Some of Ana's early life is explained.
DISCLAIMER:I only own my OC's every other character is owned by Disney, Lucas and everyone else who has ever written anything for Star Wars. This is for entertainment only. My own and anyone who cares to read it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The ride back to the house was subdued.
"There's some soup and bread, I'll heat it up for you and then I'm going to bed." Ana announced, as soon as they had entered the house, this was the most she had said to him since they left town. He moved towards her, but there was no smile for him, no response; she had closed down and had been like this since the last meeting with her ex-husband.
"Tired?" Asked Rex, giving her an opening to tell him what was wrong.
"Mm." was all she supplied.
"I'll heat it up myself; can I get you a drink?" She shook her head and headed for the bedroom.
Rex sat with his supper mindlessly eating, his tastebuds not reacting; he had fruitcake to follow which he normally looked forward to but his thoughts were consumed by Ana. It fleetingly crossed his mind that he was the cause of this; the Teth nightmare, and his reaction to her trying to help him but she had forgiven him, she said so. Or it could have been what had happened earlier.
Was she angry with him for hitting the Hutuun? He didn't think so but when he went to their bed she was already asleep.
.
The next day she was up early, barely spoke to him, did the chores. No jokes, no flirting, no touching. Even Bonnie could not get through to her and came mewling at Rex for some attention. Ana ensconced herself in her little office cum workroom, where she had all her documents and little projects that she worked on; the door was locked. She went to bed straight after dinner again.
Rex went into the bedroom and she had one of her long nightdresses on; he didn't think the month had gone that fast. Ana had educated him in the vagaries of her monthly bleeds. The cramps, the different eating patterns, the temper.
it wasn't that.
"You ok?"
"Yes"
"Anything I can do."
"No".
"You sure?"
"Yes."
He left her alone; he had thought that eventually she would open up but he was impatient, he didn't want to wait. He racked his brain, as to what to do, how to get through to her.
He needed intel; he wasn't used to dealing with this.
The diaries, from the Workshop - he remembered.
He found them, several, spanning decades. He pulled a few of the earlier ones out; they were written in flimzi books, some looked to be in a childish handwriting. All the clones could write but they didn't do much of it, so he sorted through the books and tried to find the later ones detailing time with her husband.
He flicked through most of them, skim reading and catching glimpses of her early life, with her parents, he'd seen the photographs. It was an alien world to him. Her mother died, her father brought her up, with the help of Essie but she wasn't always there; she appeared to have a colourful and not altogether legal career and her Father didn't always agree with Ana seeing Essie and Tula. There were no siblings.
He knew all this.
She transferred to datapads when she was eighteen, when she went to the capital and trained to be a nurse.
It was a happier time she had lots of friends, went to parties, lots of parties, even though she was studying. He was looking at a different person; he thought it amazing she actually graduated.
While she was studying, he was on Kamino training to fight.
He flicked through a few more. Working at the hospital. She was an inveterate diarist; some days nothing happened but she still wrote a few words, even if only to say it had been a good day.
He stopped and looked at the pile of books and datapads; he had managed to get through three quarters of them and hadn't actually read them all but just scanned them. He made himself another Caf and prepared for an all nighter. Returning those that he had already seen to the Workshop, he then checked on Ana. She was asleep the coast was clear.
He spread them out on the table, in date order as far as he could see. Well she wasn't very good at encryption.
'New Seelos,
Essie called, Dad's had an accident. I'm going home to look after him.
The hospital have said I can return.'
'Home
We had the gym extended in the basement. Dad has recovered well and is able to do more each day. I think he even enjoys it. He's even started doing his historical research again.'
'At last, Dad is as well he is going to get, for someone his age. He has even suggested that I return to the hospital. I've already written to them. Going to see Essie and Tula tonight.'
In the meantime the Empire had expanded into the outer rim, the capital cities mainly.
'Got a reply back. New rules from the Empire say I have to pass a security check.'
'Security check not passed.'
He saw a note. "Essie really pissed someone off this time." And then nothing.
Then she married, the Hutuun, Raif Larsson. He looked for the other diaries; she wouldn't just stop writing. He searched the boxes convinced he had missed some.
None, he had seen them all.
He needed to know about Raif and the only people that could help would be Essie, Tula and Jed. He checked his chrono, it was late. He hesitated. He picked up the Com.
.
It had been a difficult conversation but they agreed to see him; Ana was asleep when he left and toed it into town, then parked up. Jed acknowledged him from across the road as he entered the store.
He smelt the Caf brewing on the stove as he walked in, the familiar tinkling of the bell announcing his arrival. He saw the last of Ana's cookies on a plate, next to the three mugs set ready on the table; Essie and Tula were sat there waiting.
"You're only here because of how you floored that bastard yesterday." Essie declared, "Nice job by the way." Rex nodded.
Tula took up the story, "So you've read some of her diaries and they suddenly stop. You want to know why." She fixed him with a glare of those turquoise eyes; the last time a Twi'lek's turquoise eyes had looked at him it was with derision, laughter. The voice echoed in his mind, "Me and you,…..a Clone, together." He pushed it away this was about Ana.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Ana means a lot to me and I thought ….. but something changed yesterday and I think it's to do with Raif."
"Did she say you could read her diaries?"
"Er, no."
Tula and Essie exchanged glances; the agreement was there and Essie started
"She was due to go back into nursing but the Empire did some security checks and I was flagged up with a black mark, so they refused her. We offered to pay for her to go off planet, but the Empire seemed to be everywhere, and she didn't want to go too far from her family."
The Caf hissed as it reached boiling point, Essie poured it and Tula continued. "She lived with her Father for a while but she'd been independent and it's difficult to go back."
Essie poured the caf.
"The Doctor in the next town needed a nurse, so she went there and that was when she met Raif."
He could see Tula struggle with his name,
"They moved into town and he worked away a lot. It seemed to work for them as within a few months she was pregnant. They moved here. She had already seemed different when she came back, private, you know. We couldn't just pop around to see her but then she was really happy and planning for the baby."
Tula went silent and Essie continued, "We just didn't realise what was happening. We should have known. But we didn't. She didn't tell us. We didn't see. Then she lost the baby; it was full term."
Rex wished he could have a brandy; he already knew there were children involved.
"We could see she had changed and thought it was losing the baby; there was a second and Raif spent even more time away and when he did there were fights, accusations, threats but she denied there was a problem. She was even estranged from her Father at one point. That nearly killed him."
There was a lot of guilt around the table.
"Why did she stay with him?"
"You'll have to ask her that."
He wasn't sure he was up for that given how she had been the last day. "Do you think she still loves him?"
There was a vehement chorus of no.
"The problem is Rex, that you look a lot like an older version of him."
"I am nothing like him."
"We know. But we were worried, especially when Jed told us about you; we know she needs her space but sometimes it's difficult."
It was Tula who finally saw the bruises left on her abdomen from her husbands fist. Her Father, Essie and Tula supported her with the divorce. Jed gave evidence of what he found when attended last, when he couldn't ignore the sounds. That beating had nearly killed her.
It continued to be painful, he was only given probation, he had friends in the Empire; her ex-husband dragged out the divorce and made it more painful, and split their friends. He had been having an affair with her best friend, Nerra.
Finally , her father had a stroke, never really recovered and died a few months later.
Tula finished the story, "Even when it was all over he stalked her for a while, but then it died down until now."
As he walked out, Rex looked up, the moon was bright in the sky, it was early morning and he would only get a few hours sleep. He started the speeder up and was soon back at the house. Yawning as he entered the bedroom, he could see she was asleep; he was surprised she had ever even looked at a man again after what she had been through. If that ex husband came anywhere near her, he would get a beating he would remember for the rest of his life, after the things that Rex had just heard.
How could anyone do that to another person who they were supposed to love, was beyond him.
He slipped into the bed as quietly as he could so as not to wake her but he didn't manage it, as she turned over sleepily and draped an arm across him.
"Rex?" She murmured. "Go back to sleep." He replied, as softly as possible, and lay down to try and sleep, with those images in his mind.