Ahsoka Tano sat up, panting in a cold sweat.

All around her….people were dying….she..had to help them.

She let out a sob, gripping the sheets until her fingernails were ripping them. Anakin….Anakin….she couldn't sense him.

Looking around in fear, she saw she was in her room, not on that horrid firey planet from her dreams. But the fear was still there. She needed Anakin.

She ran into the hallway, and to the turbolift. She was on the padawan's quarters floor, but she knew that he was only a floor above her as a Knight. She pushed his button, pacing the small lift and biting her nails. He's gone...he's dead..NO no he's not, he's okay...he HAS to be..

As soon as she was there she felt for his Force presence, not knowing where his door was. Near the middle of the hallway, she could sense his overwhelmingly familiar presence, and she opened the blast door with the Force, not even caring if he was descent.

Ahsoka looked around his quarters, though dimly lit she could make out a few boxes, a table with...she tilted her head and squinted...droid parts? Yes, definitely droid parts. She could make out a commander droid's head, and a few tools surrounded it, on his wall he had a poster on which she could barely make out the shape of a pod and underneath it his sleeping form, lit by light streaming in through his blinds. He had his back to her and she could see his feet sticking off the edge of the bed.

He was snoring lightly, that and the distant sounds of ships in the heavy Coruscant traffic were calming, but not enough. She bit her lip, slowly walking up to him.

"Master?" She said quietly, her voice barely even a whisper.

He didn't respond.

She was getting worried, quickly, she could feel her heartbeat pick up and remnants of the nightmare flashed through her mind, what if he was dead, or hurt or…

"Master?!" She hissed, nudging him.

He groaned, pulling the covers tighter around his shoulders.

"Anakin?"

He rolled over at the mention of his name, slowly opening his eyes. He stared at her for a moment, still mostly asleep, and she realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Snips…?" He grumbled, yawning. "Wha….what's going on…" His eyebrows furrowed over his droopy eyelids. "Are...are you okay?" He started to sit up but she pushed down his shoulder.

"No, I'm fine, I just," Her voice trailed off, she could still hear his screams….

Anakin was way too tired to really make sense of anything, but he knew her better than anybody.

"I had.."

"A nightmare?"

"Mmm hmm." She looked down at her feet, avoiding his gaze, and in the dark of the room her stripes darkened. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you up, Master.." She started to walk off but he reached out and grabbed her hand.

He shook his head. He had nightmares all the time, when they started they were of Shmi dying….all he wanted was someone to be there for him. He still did. He wasn't about to let her go through the same thing he was, she didn't deserve it.

"No, sweets, it's okay, stay." The man patted the space on his bed next to him. She bit her lip and frowned, knowing full well how much that violated the Code.

"Please."

Slowly, she sat down next to him, leaning her back against the wall. She tried to slow her heartbeat, but visions of the dream kept coming back.

"Ahsoka! AHSOKA HELP!"

All her friends, dead around her, clones laying at her feet, withering in pain and breathing their last breaths….

"Snips, Snips, talk to me." Anakin was saying, starting to rub her knee.

She blinked, shaking herself back into reality, but her watery eyes and her attempts to hold it in failed her, and a tear ran down her cheek.

She quickly wiped it away, turning from him.

He tried, "What was it about?" Then took it back. "Never mind, you don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

Ahsoka couldn't look at him. "You, you were gone."

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't sense you, couldn't feel you, anything. And…they, everyone was dead, I could hear their screams, Master. Plo, Ki-Andi, Mace, and…the clones…" More tears were cascading down her face but she didn't care. "Everyone was dead. I had to know you were okay, so I came here."

He tried to smile. "I'm okay, aren't I?"

She nodded weakly. "But, Master, you said that our dreams can foresee the future, what if, that's gonna happen?"

Anakin paused. He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to lie to her, or sugarcoat anything, but she was so..fragile. He had never seen her like that, he didn't know if he'd ever seen her cry before, actually.

"I felt so defenseless, I couldn't s-save you." She choked back a sob.

"I understand." He said quietly. "I couldn't save my mother…"

She looked up at him with such helpless eyes, it was like a punch in the gut. He hated that she had to be in the stupid war, that she had to constantly be in so much pain and hurt.

He was speechless. With nothing left to say Anakin grasped her shoulders, pulling her in against his chest, laying his chin in the dips of her monstrals and sliding two arms around her waist. Her hands ran themselves into his hair, finding comfort in his touch. His breaths were warm on her lekku, and his skin was too as she pressed her face into his chest.

"I'm scared, Anakin," She whispered, her voice was muffled.

"It was just a dream, I would never let anything like that happen."

"But it was out of all of our hands, your's included." She looked up at him. "You're not alway going to be able to protect me, if you're the one I'm worried about." Padme had said the same thing, but Ahsoka's voice wasn't arguing like her's, it was tired, it was sincere. She was worried for him.

He rubbed her back. "I'm strong, Ahsoka. I-"

"But you're reckless. What if….." Her glassy eyes stared deep into his. "If you died, Skyguy….I wouldn't know what to do."

He thought back to Mortis, The Son taking the Altar...Ahsoka falling and he screamed and ran to her but The Son pushed him back. When he got up to the platform and rolled her over she was so pale….her eyes rolled back in her head and no single sign of life. He'd sworn before he'd never let someone he loved die again, but there she was, dead in front of him, he'd never hear he laugh, or see her smile….

He sighed. "I wouldn't know what to do either, Snips."

With that they sat, holding each other in comfortable silence, the only sounds the muffled noises of the city out of his windows and their breathing. Ahsoka twirled his hair on her fingers.

"Master?" Ahsoka said after a moment.

"Yes?"

"Can-can I say here?"

"Of course, I wasn't gonna ask you to go,"

"No, I mean tonight. My quarters are lonely, and cold, and I-the nightmare..you make it better, Master. I don't wanna be alone." She was glad that they were hugging and it was dark, so he couldn't see her blushing lekku.

He raised his eyebrows. He knew that the Council would frown upon even her being in his quarters at all, on his floor and not the padawan's floor, even, but he wasn't really new to breaking the Code… He didn't really want her to go, either, he realized.

"Of course, you can."

Ahsoka pulled away from him, and without thinking she leaned forward, the bed springs moaning under her weight, and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Master. You're the best."

He played off the pink in his cheeks with a lopsided grin. "Guilty as charged."

Anakin opened his blankets, and she ever so slowly, unsurely crawled underneath them. He shamelessly pulled her in again, and she snuggled against him. She could feel the soft sleep pants he was wearing.

Ahsoka looked up at him, ruffling his hair. When he looked at her, confused, she pursed her lips. "I thought that was endearing."

He laughed, "Yes, it is, Ahsoka." He leaned down, giving her his hair and she ruffled it again.

"Okay," she yawned sleepily. "That was fun. I like hair." She closed her eyes, grabbing his robotic hand and holding it in hers on the pillow. "Sleep good, Master."

"You too, Snips." He murmured, squeezing her hand, his other one was around her waist, and her around his shoulders.

He watched her fall asleep, watched the rise and fall of her chest, watched her eyebrow markings soften and felt her grip on him loosen. It was calming, having her right there, safe in his arms and out of the frontlines. Out of harms way. It calmed his nerves, where in the midst of the battle he had to keep his mind on the fight, while also trying to keep track of his padawan.

He kissed her forehead, and in her sleep she sighed, smiling. He hoped that made it's way in her dreams, he was glad she wasn't having another nightmare.

"I love you, Ahsoka." He murmured. He got no response, of course, but he didn't need one.

Anakin closed his own eyes, peacefully following her into sleep.