Here's a fun story: I wrote Chapter Seven. I edited Chapter Seven. I had aspirations to publish Chapter Seven around July 10th. I thought I published Chapter Seven. I glanced at my AO3 account because I was ready to start editing Chapter Eight. I did not publish Chapter Seven.

"Is that everyone?"

Anakin exhaled for the first time in what seemed like ages when he saw Rex's nod. He had never been so glad to see the 501st. Or at least not in a little while.

"It's not." Rogue walked to the edge, her eyes narrowing. Anakin had an urge to grab her; she was close to the falling off. Then he remember she held her own against an assassin droid. He changed his mind. "You might want to move over."

Almost on cue, a hand gripped the edge of the gunship.

Precisely two gloved fingers were supporting his entire body.

No way to collect DNA evidence. Smart. Smart and unnerving anyone could think about it while making such a life-or-death leap.

Anakin moved over.

It was the nicest thing he could do right now, all things considered. He had an intense urge to let Gambit fall.

Rogue crouched down to help him up, their gloved hands grabbing onto each other. "Took you long enough, Cajun."

"You're welcome," he grumbled, standing up. Anakin ran through a few hand signals with Rex.

"Thank you." Rogue leaned against the wall. "You're not a complete immoral asshole."

"Not sure if that a compliment, cherie, but I'll take it."

"For what?"

"Hm?" He brushed the dust off himself casually. "You sent four trooper down without jetpack. How did you think they got up?"

They had an evacuation plan for that. Fire Squadron never used jetpacks; they never needed them. He guessed it was the thought that counted. Not really. They had one of the riskiest positions in the 501st, but they had been trained to handle it. All ARC troopers went in it for a little while. Every mission left a chance none of them would return.

Anakin would give him that much: they were all alive.

Gambit was still a bastard. Everyone had a glimmer of light inside them. If it was for anything less than being a horrible flirt and impressing his crush, Anakin would have revised his opinion of the bounty hunter.

"Why did you do that?" Rex asked. So he had known. "Not out of kindness of heart, I assume."

"He did it to impress me. I suppose," she walked toward him as they headed toward the cruiser, "It almost worked."

And then she moved in to peck him on the cheek.

For a guy trying so hard to subtly and not-so-subtly flirt, Anakin thought he would accept it easily. Not for him to dodge and turn it into kissing her gloved hand instead. "I'd love to, but now is not the time, cherie."

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. Huh, that reminded him of Snips.

He swung out, hanging onto this ship with one hand and one foot. Idiot. "Watch. Five. Four. Three. T—" the pirate base exploded below them. Anakin could not resist a snicker. Neither could Rogue, but she made no effort to hide it. "Merde!"

He did not need to know Gambit's language to get a rough idea of what that meant.

"How did you, of all people, get two seconds off?"

"I would have blown it up myself, the satisfaction never get old, but you ruin' id'."

"Oh, by reminding you to actually try to be a half-decent person?"

"Yes!"

"You know… that was a rhetorical question."

"'Course I know. It a bad one," or something like that. They continued in a short argument, both in accents too thick for Anakin to catch more than a few words. He heard the word "men" more than an average conversation, but once half the words either were in another language or sounded like it, he gave up.

Force, his Coruscanti accent was incredible.

The fact Anakin managed to understand him earlier when he tried to disguise his natural one was a feat worthy of recognition, way more than his jumping skills. How much work must it take to constantly disguise such a thick accent? The fact Rogue understood when he did not try to disguise it, Anakin assumed she did, was a feat on her part.

Rex coughed.

"Right."

"Sorry."

"You are okay, right? They didn't do 'nothing you couldn' handle?"

"I can handle myself."

"That a no?"

"That's a no."

Gambit's slight exhale went totally noticed by all four clone troopers and Anakin.

He swung out again like this was the Youngling playground instead of a thousands-of-meters-high gunship.

"Pushing you off is sounding really tempting," Anakin admitted.

"I know, right?" And… Rogue agreed with him. That was unexpected. "What are you doing?" His question was pointed at Gambit, who was still staring out. Still not putting more than a fraction of his body inside the gunship. It was annoying, not because Anakin was concerned, but because it looked so easy to end a really annoying problem right now.

Restraint, he could hear Obi-Wan whisper in his ear.

No throwing the obnoxious bounty hunter off the gunship. Let the law decide his fate.

"Watching it burn. It's very satisfying."

Rex must have said something under his internal speaker because the outer doors shut. Gambit pulled inside just before the door would have removed a limb or two, putting a hand on his chest in a combination of mock hurt and what had to be some actual hurt. Anakin grinned, and he was certain he could hear Rex's smirk.

"That was rude."

"I know."

It's a bit short, I know, but the chapter break was too tempting. I'll try to have 8 up in less than two months this time. *awkward laughter*