A few minutes later, when Georgia was deep in the supply room, Rex and Cody sidled into the med-bay. Roobs had been checking on one of the troopers out in the main bay, and noticed them right away.

"Ah, how are my two favourite boys?" She teased, grinning brightly at them.

Cody instantly rolled his eyes and Rex chuckled.

"You say that to everyone that walks through that door, Roobs," Rex rebuffed her with warm eyes.

"But you're not the one always walking through them, so how would you know, Rex?" She wiggled her manicured eyebrows.

"The boys talk, doc, you should know that," he smirked, looking at her through his eyelashes knowingly. Many of the clones harboured little crushes on the good doctor, but she played the oblivious card every time it was brought up.

Roobs laughed.

"Well, I suppose you're not just here to say hello to your favourite doctor, are you?" She gave both men a pointed look.

"Unfortunately, Rex needs a quick checkup before he can return to the Resolute with the others," Cody nodded to the Captain.

"And this di'kut needs to be checked over," Rex shouldered Cody amicably, "while I'm here to make sure it happens."

Cody glared into Rex's temple, but the blond Captain simply shared a knowing smile with Roobs.

"Well, I guess we better do him first, then," she chuckled. "Come along, you two, we'll get this taken care of in no time."

Sure enough, not much later both Captain and Commander were fully cleared for duty. As they stood up and clipped their helmets to their belts, Cody turned to Roobs and asked if she knew where Georgia was.

The doctor restrained a shit-eating smile and responded with a curt, "Oh, I think she's taking inventory."

Cody said his thanks and ducked out of the private room Roobs had pulled him and Rex in for their exams. Rex was hot on his heels, eager to see Georgia before he left.

Cody stepped into the deceptively large supply room and took in the sight of a dozen rows of shelving and supplies.

"Georgia?" He called when he didn't immediately see her.

A shuffle a few rows down alerted him to her presence, and she popped her head around the corner a couple seconds later.

"Cody! Rex!" She grinned and raced over. "How are you?"

"We should be asking you that, by the sounds of things," Rex said with a concerned crease in his brow.

She pulled him in for a quick, tight hug before he could object. Cody relished in the surprise on Rex's face, but the Captain was quick to wrap his arms around the woman's shoulders to return the embrace.

She pulled back after only a second, and Rex already missed her warmth. She immediately tugged Cody into a hug next, and it was the Captain's turn to appreciate Cody's awkwardness.

Just as he moved to return the embrace, Georgia stepped back with a flushed face. "I'm sorry to do that, I just really missed you guys."

Rex smiled and gently shoulder-checked her shoulder, "Don't avoid the question. How are you?"

Cody cleared his throat and gave himself a mental shake, "It's really good to see you on your feet, Georgia."

She gave them a small shrug and tucked her hands into her pants pockets—she was dressed in her uniform, sleeves rolled up. "It's good to be up. I'm doing okay, but it's been tough coming to terms with all I've missed."

The two nodded.

"Well, your advice came in handy," Rex said, when Cody said nothing. He gave the Commander a quick glance through the corner of his eye, assessing his odd behaviour.

She perked up, "I'm glad to hear it. I saw Hevy in here earlier, so I figured something went right."

"Not sure what went wrong with that detonator, but you were right, it was defective," Rex continued. "We managed to swap it out for a good one and everything else went according to plan."

She nodded with a half-hearted smile, "Good. I'm just sorry I couldn't warn you sooner to save the others."

"Can't dwell on the past," Rex offered her a sincere smile as his communicator bleeped for his attention. "Looks like it's time to go."

Georgia looked sad to see him called away, but she still smiled at him. "It was good to see you, Rex."

"You, too, Georgia," he bade farewell and after sharing an uninterpretable look with Cody he ducked out of the supply room.

Left alone, all of Georgia's attention turned to Cody, and he felt emotions swirl rampant through his chest. It was such an unfamiliar feeling and he wasn't sure how to hold himself, but it still excited him—because it was new. He cleared his throat again and dropped her gaze, "It's really good to see you out of bed."

Her smile softened as her hazel eyes sparkled, "Roobs told me you visited me a lot."

He flushed visibly and opened his mouth, but she reached out to him to interrupt.

"I really appreciate that, Cody, it meant a lot knowing I wasn't alone," her smile dropped completely as she looked upon him with a genuine gaze.

He glanced down to her hand on his forearm armor, then he lifted his eyes back up to meet hers.

"You're not alone, here, not anymore," he said quietly. "You never were."

Her heart thundered in her chest at his words and she felt her pulse pounding in her veins. Did he really just say that? Holy shit. What does that mean? Holy shit.

Her lips parted as she looked at him with wide, open eyes. Something about her surprised expression settled his nerves, and he felt much more confident as he reached out to graze his gloved knuckles over her pinkened cheekbone.

She thought about her interaction with Cody for the rest of the day. His commlink had bleeped as soon as she had built up the courage to say something—she still wasn't certain what it would have been, but she was about to say something—but then he had disappeared to do Commander-ly things.

Performing inventory was much less interesting than analyzing that moment between them.

What should she do now? You don't just do that to a friend, she thought. Am I more than a friend? He called me gorgeous, like, the first day I was here.

One thing was certain: she wanted more of… whatever that had been.

Her whole body tingled as she went about her business, and it was altogether a pleasant feeling. Maybe this whole experience wouldn't be too bad.

"Good evening, Master Yoda."

"Greetings, young one."

"I assume you wanted to talk because you found them?" Georgia gave the Master a small, tight smile and cocked her hip out.

The elderly Jedi Master's blue figure nodded gravely, "Yes, we have. Difficult to find, they were."

"Do you know anyone that can remove them?" Georgia uncrossed her arms and leaned both palms against the holotable.

"Consulting with Master Windu and our healers, I am," he clasped both clawed hands over the head of his walking staff.

Georgia nodded. "The sooner we can get that contingency in place, the happier I'll be."

Yoda nodded in understanding, "Very disturbing, this is."

She sighed softly and bobbed her head in acknowledgement, "Have you done anything further about the Chancellor?"

"Volunteered, Master Windu has, to find more information."

"So, Windu knows everything, then?" She questioned. Having the skeptical Jedi in her corner would likely prove to be an invaluable asset, but Georgia couldn't say she particularly liked Mace Windu in person.

He was rather… intense.

"As much as I know, yes."

Georgia nodded her head, trying to ignore the tightness in her shoulders. This was all good news, though. Yoda confirming the presence of the microchips and convincing Mace Windu to help were both very important things.

"There's one other thing I'd like to mention while I have you, Master Yoda," Georgia lifted her eyes to meet Yoda's holoform gaze.

His ears quirked up just enough she knew she had his attention.

"Do not trust Krell. Do not send the clones to Umbara. I don't know exactly when it becomes important, but," she sighed, "bad things happen on Umbara," she grimaced. If she could trust anyone with everything, it was Yoda. "And, I'm sure you won't be surprised to find that there's a droid factory on Geonosis."

His brow furrowed, but he dipped him chin in acknowledgement. "Consider this, I will."

Yoda signed off the call shortly after and Georgia was left in a dark, silent room. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to listen to music, and she prayed to any god in this universe that would listen that her phone would still have some juice.

Roobs officially released Georgia from the med-bay as a patient later that day. It was an immensely freeing feeling to Georgia, but she also didn't have the… courage, perhaps, to return to the barracks. Instead, she found herself seated back in the same conference room Obi-wan had found her in the week beforehand. Thankfully, her security uniform and tech was also under her medical bed, so she had changed before heading out to the quiet room.

The view was incredible. She couldn't get enough of the ability to look out into space without craning her neck up into the sky. It was still so novel to her, perhaps it always would be.

Her phone powered on and she was astounded to find it still had battery. She nearly cried in relief that she had enough to listen to some of her favourite playlist before her phone would inevitably die.

Callum Scott's voice filtered through the little speakers and Georgia found herself holding her phone tightly with both hands, as if it would disappear from her grasp otherwise. She whispered quietly along to the song, grounding herself in something that was comfortably familiar.

Howl finished servicing the artillery in the bay he had been assigned to for that rotation. After cleaning himself up, he decided he was going to invite Georgia to the mess for dinner. He had heard through the grape-vine that Roobs had discharged her and he figured it might be nice to eat a meal with his friend for the first time in a while.

Howl tuned his commlink into Georgia's assigned frequency and tried to contact her. She didn't answer the call, but he didn't think too much of it. Maybe she was busy.

He walked to the barracks and discovered that she wasn't there—and had never returned. Her bed was still as pristine as he and Yulick had left it after cleaning the bedding. Howl shrugged, thinking maybe she was already in the mess, so he waited to collect Yulick from the showers and head in that direction.

After stepping through the entrance into mess, both brothers scanned the sea of dark-haired men in search of the blonde woman that normally stuck out like sore thumb.

The General was sitting with the Commander nearby, but he was the only blond in sight. Howl frowned and strode over to his two CO's.

"Evening General, Commander," he greeted politely. He didn't salute or stand at parade rest because the General had made it very clear early on that the mess hall was a neutral zone. The only thing not tolerated was blatant disrespect.

"Good evening, Howl," Obi-wan smiled, crow's feet appearing in the corners of his eyes.

"How's it going, boys?" Cody hummed, gaze shifting between Yulick and Howl.

"Pretty good, sir, but we were wondering if you'd seen Georgia around? We wanted to ask if she'd eat with us, but we haven't seen her and she didn't answer a call."

Obi-wan pursed his lips, "No, I haven't seen her recently."

Cody shook his head with a small frown, "I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon."

Before either trooper could get too worried, Obi-wan stood from his seat with his plate in hand, "I wouldn't be too concerned, I'm pretty sure I know where our friend went."

"You do?" Cody raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Obi-wan faked feeling affronted, "Now, why would that be so unbelievable?"

"No offence, General, I just didn't believe you two were that well acquainted," Cody rolled his eyes at Obi-wan's antics. He knew immediately the Jedi was teasing, as he did so often.

Obi-wan chuckled, "I wouldn't say well acquainted, but I would daresay we are new friends."

Cody's eyes rolled so hard Obi-wan was fleetingly concerned that they would just roll into the back of his head and stay there, but the Commander stood up and jerked his chin towards Howl and Yulick. "You two get something to eat, we'll make sure Georgia's alright."

The duo shared a short look, but didn't dare disobey their Commander. Besides, they expected to see Georgia later at lights-out, so they didn't feel too bad about heading off to get some dinner.

As Cody and Obi-wan walked out of the mess into the brightly lit corridor, Cody asked, "So, where do you think Georgia's gone?"

Obi-wan assumed his customary posture of clasping his hands behind his back as he led Cody away from the mess. "Because several nights ago, Georgia broke out of the med-bay and Roobs asked me to find her."

Cody frowned, he hadn't heard anything about that. "Why did she break out?"

"Two days after she woke up from her coma, she was informed of the 104th's decimation," Obi-wan explained gently. "She took the entire blame for it and believed it was her fault."

"That's ludicrous."

Obi-wan shrugged a single shoulder, "That's not what she thinks. It happened in her world, and she was adamant she would have prevented it here."

Cody's eyes narrowed in thought.

"Regardless, she was so overwhelmed with grief she ran out on the Doctor. I found her in the conference rooms staring out the window," Obi-wan hummed. "I think she liked the view."

Cody grunted quietly.

The commlink on Obi-wan wrist chirped suddenly. "Oh, I'm afraid I was waiting for this call, I'll have to leave finding Georgia up to you."

"Conference rooms?"

"Yes, please let me know if there's a problem," Obi-wan nodded, breaking off to head down an adjacent hallway.

"Yes, General," Cody replied automatically. He slipped his helmet over his head in a smooth motion, assessing his HUD's readout as he walked. The sensors in his bucket would be able to detect her heat signature, which would make his search shorter.

Georgia was lost in the voice of Bon Jovi, singing softly along with closed eyes. She had allowed herself to become totally enraptured by the music, and it was ridiculously nice to leave everything behind and simply be in the moment.

She was so absorbed in her music, she didn't hear the door open behind her.

Cody slipped inside and paused instantly. He noticed several things, first of which was he didn't recognize the music Georgia was listening to, but he could clearly tell it was coming from the strange device in her hand. Secondly, Georgia was singing, and he had never heard her sing.

When a trooper's helmet was properly connected to his kit, it would automatically start recording audio and video unless disabled by the trooper. Cody never disabled his kit.

The song came to an end, cutting out suddenly. Georgia sighed softly as she stared forlornly down at the black device in her hands. Cody tilted his head, then pulled his helmet off.

"Georgia," he said quietly, hoping not to startle her.

She jumped and swung around in the chair, "Shit, Cody, you scared me."

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the rectangle she held.

She glanced down at it, then tossed it onto the table. It clattered heavily on the tabletop. "That? That was my cell phone, but it's dead now. Only good as a paperweight."

"Cell phone?" He parroted, sitting down across from her after he set his helmet on the table.

"Yeah, basically a scaled up version of a commlink, I suppose. It's a handheld computer that can be used to make calls and send messages. I used it a lot for listening to music and searching things up on Google. I had a lot of pictures on it, too" she explained, wiping an invisible tear out of her eye.

"And why can't you use it anymore?" He asked genuinely, picking up the surprisingly dense item when she didn't give him an indication not to. It was clearly very important to her.

"It's dead, outta battery. I didn't have my charger on me when I got sucked here, so I can't recharge it," she said bitterly, a sour look on her face as she pointed to the port on the narrow edge of the device.

Cody had an idea, but he didn't want to make any promises. "Can I hold onto it, then? I want to compare it to my datapad."

She gave him an odd look, but just shrugged, "Sure, I guess. You're not gonna be able to do anything with it, though."

He pursed his lips and tucked the phone into his tac belt.

To avoid any further questioning from Georgia, Cody said, "Howl and Yulick wanted to eat dinner with you."

She frowned, "It's dinnertime?"

Cody snorted, "I'm concerned you didn't know that, and that you didn't answer your commlink."

She rolled her eyes mildly, "I wasn't hungry, and I didn't see it in my stuff when I left the med-bay."

He frowned as he leaned back, "Still not hungry?"

She figured he was referring to her aversion of meals before her coma, so she shook her head. "It's not that. I have a much more regular appetite, now, I just haven't done much today, so I'm not really hungry."

The suspicion on his face belied his disbelief.

She overlooked it. "Is that why you're here?"

He shrugged a shoulder, much like Obi-wan would do. "The boys were worried that they couldn't find you, the General figured you'd be hiding here."

"I'm not hiding," she bristled slightly, "I'm taking some time to myself. There's a difference."

"Sure seems like the same thing."

Her hazel eyes narrowed on him at his sarcastic tone. Before she could spit out a retort, Cody spoke again.

"You normally spend all your time in the med-bay, anyway, so why are you hiding?" She opened her mouth to argue again that she wasn't hiding, but Cody bulldozed over her. "Is it because you feel guilty about the 104th?"

Her mouth shut so quickly Cody heard her teeth clack together and her eyes left his to stare down at the table.

Gotcha, he thought. "Look, I don't know what you need to hear, but not a single one of us blames you for it," he spoke softly, shifting his posture to be less combative. He looked at her from across the narrow table with earnest eyes.

She slowly looked back up into his face.

"Men die in war, good men, and they will continue to die," he intoned. "That's the nature of war, of us clones. I'm not going to pretend that losing a brother doesn't hurt, because it does—every single time—but we need to make peace with ourselves that any moment could be our last. You being here doesn't change that."

Hurt flashed in her hazel eyes.

Cody kept going before she could think to respond. "We live in the moment, so live in the moment with us. Grieve with us, laugh with us, but don't blame yourself for our deaths."

She was quiet for some time before she spoke in a soft voice, "Even the deaths I could have prevented?"

"Yes, mesh'la, even them," Cody assured her with a gentle smile. "We will all be grateful for any life you save, but not a single one of us will blame you for the ones you can't—and lying comatose in a bed fighting for your life is about as far from a proclamation of guilt that I could think of."

The pair sat in a thoughtful quiet for some time before Georgia sniffled softly and wiped her eyes once more.

"Fine, but if I ever meet Wolffe don't be surprised if I burst into tears," she grumbled.

He smiled, showing his teeth. "I won't, but I would love to see how uncomfortable that makes him."

She chuckled.

"Now, let's get you to the mess for some dinner."

Georgia stood and followed Cody out into the corridors without any argument, although he suspected she would only tell him she wasn't hungry.

As she rounded the table, Cody was struck by how blatantly obvious it was that she had lost weight. Her uniform hung off her shoulders and waist in the most unflattering manner. It unsettled the Commander—another reminder of how ill she had been.

He wanted her to eat something all the more, then.

The pair made it back to the mess hall as the dinner rush seemed to be fading, but there were still quite a few troopers around. As Cody stepped through the door with her, a hush fell over the hall and all heads turned to take her in.

Then, Max jumped up and shouted her name.

"Georgia!"

The others all immediately broke into a gleeful cheers and praise.

Georgia, meanwhile, flushed so red Cody could have mistaken her for sunburnt. She ducked her head and fought back a smile as she turned into him. "What's this about?"

He gave her a lopsided smile and placed a warm hand across her shoulders, "It's customary to welcome a brother back from the med-bay with good spirits."

She covered her mouth as tears welled in her eyes, "Brother?"

"I told you," he raised his voice over the noise, "you're one of us, now."

Rex returned to the Resolute with his three new shinies in tow. Once he delivered them to the barracks where they could acquaint themselves with their new team, Rex turned on his heel to retreat to his own quarters. He intended to review the reports that had undoubtedly stacked up in his multi-day absence from his group of mischievous men. When he was only a handful of strides away from the main barracks, his title was called from behind him.

"Captain!"

Glancing over his shoulder, Rex sighted Kix jogging after him.

"Kix," he greeted.

"Captain," the medic repeated as he came into stride beside Rex. "How was the mission?"

"It went well," Rex said simply.

Kix's eyes flashed over his Captain quickly, surveying him for any obvious injuries. "Glad to hear."

The pair walked in silence for several strides. Rex exhaled audibly, "Is there something you need, Kix?"

The medic didn't flinch or look ashamed in any manner. He answered immediately, "Did you see Georgia?"

Rex nodded slowly as he glanced at Kix through the corner of his eye, "I did."

"How was she?"

Rex's brow pinched together minutely, "Have you not been in contact with Doctor Roobs?"

Kix scoffed to overcompensate his response, "No, why would I be?"

Rex stopped walking to give Kix a no-nonsense-stop-lying look. Kix's neck was flushed, something Rex noted instantly.

"So, you honestly don't know about Georgia?" Rex questioned in a serious tone.

"I honestly don't know a thing, sir, not since we left her with the 212th," Kix stated seriously. He truly hadn't spoke to Roobs since they had redeployed back to the Resolute, although he certainly wished he could. The doctor herself had said too much communication would be suspicious. He agreed, reluctantly.

Rex drew in a deep breath and rubbed a hand over his head. Kix frowned, instantly concerned. "What happened?"

The Captain jerked his head towards his quarters, of which they stood just outside, "Inside."

Kix jumped through the door, alarmed at his Captain's tone.

As soon as the door shut behind them, Rex sidestepped Kix to set his helmet down on the small stand next to his meager bed.

"After Christophsis," he started, turning to address Kix, "Georgia helped Roobs out in the med-bay, but exposing herself to the men from dirt-side also exposed her to some virus they brought up from the planet."

Kix's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. It was a defensive gesture, but coming from the surly medic it came off as more aggressive. Rex took no offense, knowing that it was something Kix did whenever he was uncertain of himself or the situation.

"Georgia got the virus and was in a coma for nearly thirty days. She woke up while Cody and I were in transport," Rex finished explaining. "When I saw her, she was on her feet and seemed to be doing well, but she lost quite a bit of weight while she was out."

Kix's frown had deepened. "What virus?"

"Ketly," Rex answered.

The medic's expression turned to a menacing type of confusion, "Ketly hasn't been present in this sector since the Dark Ages."

Rex shrugged, "What do you want me to say, Kix?"

Kix shook his head vigorously, "It just doesn't make sense."

After a beat, Kix shifted his glare from the floor to Rex. "Permission to access medical records, sir?"

Rex's eyes narrowed on Kix. His best medic clearly was suspicious about something, he wasn't about to deny his intuition.

"Granted, but be careful," Rex warned.

Kix nodded succinctly before he left the room.

Rex honestly hoped that Kix wouldn't find anything, but he also doubted he would produce something useful from his research. From Cody's explanation, it was all rather straightforward—so it seemed.