Author's Note: I didn't have a writing prompt for this one. It just came to mind the other day when I was rewatching Voyage of Temptation. I just finished binge-watching Clone Wars followed by Rebels not too long ago. Thus, this little snippet was born.


Rex stood watching over the camp. From his post, he could make out Ezra and Sabine sparring while Chopper and Zeb stood-by casting encouragement mixed with insults at the pair. In the distance, hidden from the others' view, Syndulla approached the grassy knoll where Jarrus meditated. Even from his vantage point, Rex could see the moment Kanan sensed her approach. The Jedi's posture changed, and he turned in her direction. Hera reached out to place her hand on his shoulder, but Kanan caught her by the wrist and guided her to move around him before gently pulling her down into his lap. Rex smiled at the couple and averted his gaze as they shared a kiss.

He had to admit that it was refreshing to see a Jedi openly displaying his feelings for the woman he loved. How many times had he watched General Skywalker clench his fingers into a fist to resist reaching for Senator Amidala? The officers of the 501st had all known the two had feelings for one another. He was even pretty sure a handful of them - like himself and Commander Tano - suspected the general and senator to secretly be in a relationship. Too many times Rex had been dispatched to search for his unit's unresponsive commander only to find the Jedi with Padmé Amidala. Eventually, he had begun starting his search at the senator's quarters to save time. And then there had been Skywalker's excuses, some of them so bad as to almost be painful. But, they had not been nearly as painful as watching General Kenobi and Duchess Kryze skirt one another. Rex still remembered the mission aboard the Coronet and the conversation he and Cody were never supposed to overhear.

"I sense some anxiety from you about the duchess. She couldn't be in safer hands." Skywalker had sought to reassure his fellow Jedi.

"Yes, I know."

"Then why…"

"Nevermind. It's all in the past." Rex hadn't expected such defensiveness from General Kenobi.

"Oh, so you're close to her?" Of course, General Skywalker hadn't been able to let it go.

"I knew her." The Jedi Master's tone had been strained, edging toward anger in his attempt to silence his friend's line of questioning. Then, almost remorsefully, "A long time ago." Rex had been grateful for the sudden opening of the lift doors as they reached their destination. He'd had no longing to be confined to a small space with the two Jedi should General Skywalker insist upon persuing the topic.

At the time, they'd had assassin probe droids on the loose and a job to do. So, neither he nor his clone brother had commented on what they had heard. But, occasionally, over the course of the war, when they'd had a little too much time to think and needed a distraction from their own horrific memories, he and Cody had speculated over General Kenobi and Duchess Kryze's relationship.

Cody had witnessed his general allow Kryze to invade his personal space more than once - the breach in protocol something neither clone had ever seen Kenobi permit with others. When held on Zygerria, in the midst of back-breaking weariness and suffocated by the hopelessness slavery wrought, Rex had lain awake in the bunk across from the general and heard him call the name Satine in his sleep. And then there had been the solemn reserve with which the Jedi returned from Mandalore to inform the Republic of its fall to Maul. Rex had caught General Skywalker watching his mentor with worry more than once following the death of Satine Kryze. Both he and Cody had agreed that a sadness clung to General Kenobi for much of the remaining conflict.

Then the war had ended, its conclusion born of Order 66 and the rise of an empire Rex could never serve. He had no knowledge of what had become of his general or if Cody had succumbed to his own inhibitor chip, sealing General Kenobi's fate. All he did know was that the two Jedi had been great men, who deserved better - Rex glanced back at Kanan curled about Hera - and he wished they'd been allowed to openly love the women that had captured their hearts. Perhaps, for them, it would have made the war somewhat more bearable. For Rex, it would have made it all at least a bit more sweet than bitter.


Endnote: Thanks for reading! Reviews are welcome.