When Rex awoke the next morning, his head was pounding and his throat was cottony-dry. He groaned and rolled over, noticing he'd slept in his armor.

Gah. I didn't even strip down to my blacks.

He fumbled for the canteen off his belt pouch and sat up enough to up end the bottle and drain the contents.

If I was a smart clone, I would have hydrated while I was drinking heavily.

Or, not had so many drinks with Skywalker in the first place.

The chime for his door sounded. Much too loudly. "Come," he muttered irritably.

"Hey," Ahsoka entered, holding two steaming cups. "Master said you might need caf."

Greatest fekkin' General ever.

Ahsoka stood over him, regarding him with amusement. "I heard that. Master was right. He said we needed to work on your shields. He wasn't kidding."

Rex pushed himself up to a sitting position and reached for the caf.

She plunked down next to him on the bed, making herself comfortable, sipping the other cup of caf.

Rex tried to ignore the fact Ahsoka- no, the commander, he firmly reminded himself, was in his bed. Think about something else. Anything else.

"I'm normally better at shielding," Rex defended, leaning back against the wall. He took a long dreg of the caf and his eyes widened in surprise. "Why is this so good?"

Ahsoka's eyes lit up with mischief. "It's from Anakin's personal stash. When you get in on his good side, he shares the good caf."

Rex tried to unwrap that statement. So, he wasn't on his good side before?

"Don't overthink it," Ahsoka laughed, reaching a hand over and ruffled his hair. "Your hair doesn't move. Looks the same in the morning."

"That's because I hardly have any hair," he closed his eyes and savored the taste of the caf. "Gets in the way of the bucket. I always shave it off."

"I have none," Ahsoka said, she gave him a teasing grin again, "that's why yours is so fascinating. You should grow it longer."

Rex shook his head, noticing his headache was already diminishing. He wondered why it was always so comfortable to be around Ahsoka. Gah. He was just going to give up on thinking of her as the commander. She was so much more to him.

"Back to the shielding issue," Ahsoka said, warm tendrils of steam rising up off her cup and wrapping themselves around her face as she spoke, "it works out in our favor. Master is insisting I make time in my schedule to work with you every day. That means you have to clear some time in your calendar, too. Daily meditation sessions together."

Rex opened his mouth to object. There was too much to do with all of the upcoming engagements in the Rim. But, as he sat here spending time with Ahsoka, he found himself voicing none of those objections. Instead, he nodded. "Alright. I could do evenings after all trainings and drills are finished."

"Perfect," Ahsoka said, springing lightly to her feet. "I've reserved practice room 221F for our use. Nightly at 2000 hours. We'll continue until I've deemed you have sufficient mastery of all skills."

"Fair enough," Rex tapped a quick note in his compad, added the event to his daily calendar, wondering why he wasn't more bothered about having something added to his already packed schedule.

"You best cleaned up. We have a briefing at 0800."

Rex gave her a puzzled look. He knew about the briefing, but surely that was still hours away. He never slept past 0500. He took a quick glance down at his compad again, focusing on the time. 0745. Krek! Drinking with Skywalker was as dangerous as flying with the man. He tossed back the rest of his caf with a gulp.

"Here, you can finish mine, too," Ahsoka said, handing off her cup.

Rex tossed back the second cup, enjoying the way it burned as it went down his throat. Feeling much more himself with two cups of caf in him, he was ready to get moving. "I'll see you in the briefing room." As Ahsoka was just leaving his room, Rex couldn't help tossing in a teasing request. "Don't forget the doughnuts."

In reality, he'd be lucky if he had time for a rations bar. But, it was worth it to see her reaction.

Ahsoka leaned back against his doorframe and gave him an arch look. "Captain Rex, I'm a highly trained Jedi. You think it is my job to get you doughnuts?"

He laughed and headed for the sonic, already shucking his armor plates into his footlocker. Being an officer came with a few privileges, even if his newly assigned quarters were smaller than what he'd had before Appo had come onboard. It was still an officer's room and Rex was grateful for the additional amenities. It saved a great deal of time not having to run to the shower block. He heard the slight swish of his door shutting and Ahsoka heading on her way.

As he quickly scrubbed his scalp and body, he tried to focus on the upcoming briefing. But, his thoughts strayed back to the simple pleasure of sipping a cup of caf with Ahsoka first thing in the morning. Maybe these mandatory evening training sessions wouldn't be so bad. Skywalker was a good General. If he thought Rex needed a bit more training, he wasn't going to argue with the man.

# # #

Rex made it to the briefing room by 0757, freshly shaved and ready to talk strategy. Ahsoka was the last to arrive, just making it in the door by 0800, and balancing a tray with an impressive selection of sweet cakes, cookies, doughnuts, and dried fruits. She slid the tray down in the middle, along with a small stack of flimsi plates. Rex was impressed she'd managed it. It was very difficult to get the serving droids to deviate from the normal menu.

Skywalker arched an eyebrow. "Hungry this morning, Ahsoka?"

Rex noticed he didn't call her 'Snips' much anymore. But, then again, she'd outgrown the nickname as she'd matured as a commander.

Ahsoka plucked a generous slice of Poma-drupe fruit and settled down in a chair between Rex and her Master. "A bit. Thought we might all find it easier to strategize on a full stomach."

Obi-Wan helped himself to a twist near the bottom of the stack, not upsetting any of the others as he tugged it out. Rex briefly wondered if he used the Force to remove it so cleanly. He gave a gracious nod to Ahsoka. "Very thoughtful." He gave Anakin a searching look. "You never did these things when you were my padawan." He took a delicate bite of the pastry and hummed in delight, smacking his lips to remove a bite of sugar.

Anakin rolled his eyes, but reached over and grabbed a doughnut generously stuffed with deep purple Aldeerani jelly.

Rex grabbed a Corellian twist before everything was gone. He made short work of the twist in several large bites. Between the two cups of caf and the sugar hitting his system, he was sure he could take on the CIS by himself.

"Alright, then," said Admiral Yularen, brushing a bit of flatcake from his fingers and managing to do so with his usual dignity, "Commander Appo, if you would start us off, please, with your update."

Appo was about to take an enormous bite of a twist. Rex noted he and Appo liked the same pastry.

"Yes, sir," Appo said, setting his twist down, and straightening up. He projected a schematic off his wristlink. "We received word yesterday from GAR Command. Our relief forces will be arriving by 0800 tomorrow. They will be bringing with them the added troop replacements for both the 501st and 212th to make up for the numbers we lost at…" he paused very briefly, a whole host of emotions flickering across his face, "...Darkknell and Kaz'haria."

Rex stared at him, thinking back to the few conversations he'd had with Appo earlier where the commander had hinted Appo had some lingering trauma from both the battle and the imprisonment.

I probably should talk to him at some point. Tell him what happened wasn't his fault.

"To confirm," Rex asked, "we'll be back up to a full battalion, then?"

"Yes," Appo said, meeting Rex's gaze. "they're all shinies. But, at least we'll have the numbers again. You'll have your hands full, Captain, getting them all up to speed."

"Understood, we'll make troopers out of them. I'll recruit Fives to help with the effort. He's good with the shinies," Rex said, multi-tasking and making a quick note on his compad as he spoke.

"The ship dropping off the reinforcements will take the Bith prisoners back to the Core. Thankfully, we have no wounded since we won't need them to a medical evac for us," Yularen said. "We'll transition the peacekeeping over to the new forces, and can get underway again by 1800 tomorrow."

The rest of the meeting was split between the logistics of getting the new 'peacekeeping' force in place, (Rex found the name a bit ironic since Bith already struck him as a peaceful place without Republic intervention), and preliminary planning for engaging their forces on Anaxes.

Rex downed another twist to keep his blood sugar up as his fast clone metabolism burned through calories very quickly. He left with a compad full of notes for the upcoming incursion to Anaxes.

# # #

Rex was down on the Bith planet talking with Wolffe at the temporary command headquarters when the reinforcements arrived.

"Krek, will you get a load of those larties," Wolffe commented, watching the birds swoop in for a landing. "Those must be the latest model out of the Kuati shipyards."

Rex made a non-commital grunt, studying the new ships, wondering if the changes were cosmetic or the ships were more maneuverable in battle. If they could offer his troops any sort of advantage in the upcoming engagements, he'd need to talk to the General about petitioning for some of the new hardware. Skywalker was a huge fan of fast ships and would probably want to try one out for himself. Although, truth be told, the thought of Skywalker at the helm of a LAAT was objectively terrifying.

Wolffe gave him a sideways glance. "I know how your mind works. You're wondering why you didn't get any of those ships."

Rex watched the LAATs swoop in for a landing with a critical eye. The new ships were fast. Much more than cosmetic changes, then. He pivoted slightly to look at Wolffe. "The Fifth fleet lost half their LAATs at Kaz'haria. Could've replaced them with some of these new ones."

Wolffe grunted out a cynical snort. "Probably cleaned the old stock. Luck of the draw."

Rex scowled beneath his bucket. He was going to look more into these new LAATs. If they could save some of his troopers' lives, then he was going to make sure they ended up with some of them, and sooner rather than later.

Maybe being drinking buddies now with the General could have some advantages. I'm sure he'd love to talk about the new ships.

"Hey, you heard from Cod'ika?" Wolffe asked, tactically changing the subject.

"Eh, I didn't get a chance to check in with him this morning," Rex admitted, guilt tinging his voice as he still studied the LAATs with a critical eye as the remainder of the ships continued to land. "I overslept," he admitted.

Wolffe snorted. "You?" He stared Rex down. "Wait- are you feeling okay?"

Rex shook his head "No, it's nothing like that, vod. I had drinks with the General last night. Too many, as it turns out. Skywalker can really hold his liquor."

Wolffe chuckled, a deep low, rumbling baritone. "You were drinking with your General. What was that like?"

"A bit strange. But, not bad really. Skywalker is a really good sort, once you get to know him."

"I'll take your word for it. I prefer my General any day. Yours has a real dark edge to him. Seems a bit unstable, if you ask me."

"He's not like that," Rex protested, feeling the need to defend Skywalker. "Alright, well, maybe he is, but he has his reasons." Gah. None of which I can mention. Fek, I shouldn't have said anything.

But, Wolffe, as much of an di'kut as he could be at times, was still too tactful to pry any further. He subtly changed the topic again. "So, what were you drinking?"

"I don't know. Corellian brandy, maybe? I didn't ask. Came in this very fancy bottle. Had all these etchings on it with Jedi fighting and stuff.* Some of that light side-dark side shab."

"Probably was given to him by the Chancellor."

"What?" Rex looked over at Wolffe, surprised.

"Fox said your General regularly meets with the Chancellor. More than any other Jedi. Surely you were aware."

"I know Skywalker thinks highly of him. I didn't know they met regularly, though."

"Fox used the word obsessed. Says the Chancellor has an unhealthy interest in General Skywalker." Wolffe folded his arms across his chest and gave Rex a critical look. "I would think you'd be watching that more carefully."

"Why would I?" Even as he said the words, he was getting a bad feeling about all of it.

"Fox said he gets nauseous now whenever he is near the Chancellor. You know, like you get when the filters in your helmet have failed? Makes him feel sick all the time. He doesn't want to subject his men to having to deal with him so he takes on guard duty more often than not. But, it's wearing him down."

"Since when are you so close to Fox? I thought you didn't even like him?"

"Eh, I don't like anybody," Wolffe grunted out in his usual cynical tone, "but I've made it my business to know what's going down on Corrie. And, Fox needs to vent. Often."

"So, he vents to you," Rex realized.

Wolffe shrugged. "I'm just being a good vod, helping out another brother, you know?"

"And, tapping into the core of everything going on down there. Gah, Wolffe, you amaze me sometimes."

"Only sometimes? I'm slipping. Eh, here we go," the final shuttle touched down, and a natborn officer stepped out, displaying the rank of Admiral. Disembarking directly after him was a second natborn with a commander rank.

"What the fek is this now?" Wolffe hissed to Rex. "Why don't these troops have a clone commander?"

Rex shook his head. He had no answers. Clones were selected early on for command and served in that role until they were killed in combat and replaced by another clone commander. It balanced out the Jedi Generals who for all their natural gifts lacked any sort of formal military training.

The two new arrivals walked over and looked them over with a critical eye. Rex and Cody saluted sharply. The officers did not salute back. It was a clear breach of protocol. Wolffe growled under his breath through the private comms.

"Steady," Rex advised him. "Give them a chance. Maybe they're just new."

Wolffe muttered a few choice words under his breath in Mando'a** about what he thought about inexperienced officers being set loose in the field.

"I am Admiral Brunwoll. This is Commander Nordell. We are here to formally take over the peacekeeping operations on Clakdor VII. You are hereby relieved. We will take it from here."

Rex blinked in surprise and then quickly recovered. "Sir, we were under the impression we would use this day as a transition period between our two forces to familiarize you with our operations here on the planet. We will not be getting underway until 1800. We can take you and your clone captains on a tour of-"

Admiral cut him with a dismissive wave. "That will not be necessary. We read your reports en route. You may leave now."

"But, sir," Rex objected, "this is highly irregular, S.O.P. dictates we-"

Admiral Brunwoll leaned in toward Rex. "Are you hard of hearing, clone? I said you are dismissed." He turned his back on Rex and Wolffe and walked away, barking orders to groups of his clone troopers before heading straight into the city proper.

"What- the - fek - was - that ?" Wolffe's outrage was clear in his tone. "He just referred to you as clone."

Rex studied the retreating natborns thoughtfully. He was used to such treatment during his time at ArmyMed. He'd been consistently treated as a unit, before he was declared unfit to fight and sent off to Kamino. "I will take this up with Skywalker."

Wolffe stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Are you sure you can trust him?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I trust him," he stared down Wolffe.

"I told you he's close to the Chancellor. And, there are many activities going on that we cannot explain. Things that just don't make sense. Fox doesn't trust the Chancellor. What if your General is-"

"Don't finish that sentence, Wolffe," Rex growled. "General Skywalker is a great man." He shook his head. "You have a lot of good qualities, Wolffe, but your paranoia isn't one of them." He shook off Wolffe's grip and headed off to find a ride back up to the Resolute.

# # #

A/N: *The etchings on the brandy bottle are inspired by the artwork in Palpatine's office. Palpatine was so confident in his ability to deceive during the Clone Wars he openly displayed Sith artwork and artifacts, even though he met regularly with members of the Jedi Council.

**I always struggle with how much Mando'a to include in the story. I included a great deal in the first draft of the story, inspired by Karen Travis' novels, and then toned it back in later revisions. After discussing it with other readers of the story and other writers, I've come around to the viewpoint that officers and commandos would have been exposed to Mando'a through their advanced training. Rank and file troopers would likely only pick up the curse words and sprinklings of the language which filtered down from other clones, (in the same way most of us know at least a few words of many different languages.)

I had great fun writing in the bits of gentle Rex-Ahsoka flirting in this chapter. I've been revising all of the early chapters of "Whatever Happened to Captain Rex?", re-releasing a new chapter daily. These chapters are also cross-posted on A03. I posted Chapter 43 today. (This means I have revised a chapter every day for the past 43 days. Hooray for me.) :) Working on these early chapters again reminds me of why I originally fell in love with these two characters.

Doughnuts and flatcakes are Star Wars canon. I thought twists were, too, but couldn't find an actual reference to them. Maybe I just used that term in an earlier story. In my head canon, the troopers and even the Jedi are secret sugar junkies, but the food served on board ship is generally bland and geared at maximum nutritional benefit. GAR treatment of the clones was lifted directly from the Kaminoan playbook. It is designed for efficiency and not comfort. However, Ahsoka always did have a special way with droids, much like her master. If anyone who could pull off a miracle with the droids in the mess hall, it would be Ahsoka.