Thank you so much for your continued support, you all make my day when you read and comment on my story. Also this chapter continues to talk about sensitive topics so please read with caution.

Echo had been pacing up and down the hallway while the Captain talked to Dagger. He couldn't take it in that room anymore and had needed to escape. He felt like he was suffocating, he felt nauseous.

Dagger had been beaten by his superiors. How could they have gotten away with that? Had Dagger really been alone during training? Why had he been singled out? Echo wondered if the reason Dagger had been trained alone was the same as why he never took off his helmet.

He would find that Madam that Dagger had mentioned. He would make her pay. He didn't know how but he would.

Echo was pulled out of his thoughts when he saw Dagger finally exit the room where he and Rex had been. He walked quickly over to Dagger and wrapped him in a fierce hug. Dagger responded in kind and held him back tightly.

Dagger surprised him when she was the first to say something, "it's ok brother. It's in the past."

He was reassuring Echo, he thought comically. It should be the other way around. Before he could say anything a voice came from down the hall.

"Am I missing group hug time?"

Dagger peered around Echo's body and saw Five's smiling face as he walked closer. She let out a wet chuckle, the first indication that she was crying to herself and to others. Without letting go of Echo she extended her arms to Fives and Rex beckoning them in.

Within seconds she was surrounded. Bear hugs from all angles. She wouldn't call it bawling, but anyone who heard her would. The tears were flowing, nothing could stop it now. She had never felt so included, so safe. She had never been part of a family like this before and she loved them all so much.

Fives rubbed her back, "shhhh, it's ok kid. I don't know what you are crying about, but it's going to be ok. Unless Cap put you on bathroom duty, then maybe not."

She laughed, hiccuping slightly. They stood there for many minutes, no one wanted to move. When Dagger finally calmed down she wiggled, indicating that she wanted out.

"Thank you, thank you all," she said sincerely.

"You're going to be just fine, vod. Now go sleep off what has to be a killer hangover and remember what I said,'' Rex shooed her toward her door and waited until she was inside before dragging Echo and Fives into his own room.

Echo couldn't keep his face calm anymore and the mask he had been hiding behind fell. His anger surprised Fives, who was starting to realize that he had missed something very important.

"Captain we have to do something," Echo hissed, very aware that Dagger was on the other side of the wall and would be able to hear him if he wasn't careful.

"I know Echo," he shot right back, "we need to go up the chain of command. General Skywalker will be able to help."

"Great, let's go," Echo said quickly, ignoring Fives trying to ask what was going on.

"We need proof. General Skywalker would believe us, but that isn't going to be enough to get any results."

"How do we do that?"

"I think I have an idea, but I don't know if Dagger will be ok with it."

"Ok!" Fives said on the verge of shouting, "you two need to start explaining right now! What is going on? Why was Dagger crying? What did you do to him? And what are we going to General Skywalker for?"

Both men shared a look, neither wanting to say it outloud. Rex took the initiative, "we went to go get Dagger and brought him back. Then he did something really weird when I told him I would have to assign discipline."

"Did he try and run like Kix did that one time?"

"He kneeled," Rex stated, Fives squinted at that, trying to figure out why. He waited for Rex to continue.

"He kneeled and flinched away when I went to pull him back up. He-" his fists clenched- "he thought I was going to hit him. Thought that discipline meant beatings."

Fives face contorted into a scowl, "how could he think that? We don't beat our men."

"Because that was how he was trained on Kamino. He said that the Madam that trained him had beat him when he disobeyed or messed up."

"What?" He shouted, "how is that possible? Did his squadmates not stand up for him? General Shaak'Ti would never."

Echo put a hand on his shoulder to calm him, "I don't know Fives. He mentioned a Madam, not the General. I don't know if it was just his squad or if he didn't have a squad, but we need to get to the bottom of this. She won't get away with what she did."

"Damn right she won't. What can I do to help?"

Rex ran a hand over his hair, "I think Dagger has scars."

"Why do you think that Rex?"

"He asked to see my back. Dagger wanted to see and it felt like he was checking for something. I think that that monster scarred Dagger's back and he wanted to make sure that I was telling him the truth when I said that no one else had gone through that."

"Fuck, that bitch didn't just beat our Dagger, she physically mutilated his body as well. Damn Kaminoans think they can do whatever they want to us just because they made us," Fives spat.

"You let Dagger see your back?" Echo asked, knocking the conversation off track.

Rex shuffled his feet slightly, "he had just told us he had been beaten for mistakes as a trainee. I would have done anything he asked of me at that moment."

"Aww that's really cute Captain. Are you going soft on us?" Fives asked.

Rex growled playfully, shifting into a low sparring stance with his fists up, "get over here and I'll show you how soft I'm getting."

"Ooo, struck a nerve did I," Five joked, jumping away from Rex, "has Rex taken a shining to the newest 501st trooper?"

"Shut up Fives, he has been here for months," he said defensively.

"Echo what's the reg manual say about interpersonal relations?"

Echo, who looked very uncomfortable with the whole situation, responded curtly, "between commanders of other species, not allowed. Regs don't care about clones being with clones."

"Just because I let him touch my back doesn't mean that I want to date him. Dagger went through a lot, I was just helping where I could," Rex tried to defend himself.

That statement immediately backfired, "so you wouldn't mind if Echo or I were to ask Dagger out?"

Echo started choking on his tongue, face flushing bright red. Fives wore a shit eating grin and he saw Rex clench his jaw and his hands squeeze into fists. Just the thought angered him. He was slowly starting to realize that he didn't want to see Dagger with anyone else. He had no right, no claim to the trooper. But he still wanted him, he had never even admitted it to himself before.

This conversation was not going well. So, he finally responded, "wouldn't have taken you for the type to like guys, Fives."

"I like to keep my options open Rex. What's your excuse?"

"Couldn't care less what they got, only if they are a good person. Echo?"

"Yeah, we are all a mess, this is why they call the 501st the Bi Blue Boys."

"Wait, people really say that?" Rex asked incredulously. The tension dispersed and they all shared a laugh. It was short lived as they all seemed to remember at the same time what they had been originally talking about. Dagger.

"What are we going to do Captain?" Echo asked seriously.

"I'm going to see if I can't find Dagger's medical file. Kix might have a copy. I want to see if there is any evidence of incidents on Kamino where he got sent to the medbay because of it. If not, I will ask Dagger to take a picture of his scars, proof of abuse. The General won't be able to ignore that," he explained his plan.

Echo and Fives took that as their cue to leave. They were going to tell everyone that Dagger had returned safely. They promised to not mention what they had learned about Dagger's past.

Once the door shut, he sat on the edge of his bed. He looked at the chrono on the nightstand. How had so many things already happened and it was only noon?

Rex held his face in his hands, letting himself sink into his thoughts. Honestly? Fuck emotions. Once in a blue moon he wished he was a droid. This was one of those times. Droids didn't feel anything.

Today, he had felt too much. His stomach flipped and rolled as he ran through everything that had happened. Every emotion.

Panic. When he had realized that one of his troopers was missing. The feeling only rose when he realized it was the newest one. When he hadn't arrived at training and couldn't be reached on his communicator, Rex had immediately cancelled training. Instead he assigned everyone different sections of the building to search. He half expected and half wished for someone to find Dagger asleep in a gym like he had the day before.

Then the panic had risen when no one could find him in the building. One last call to Dagger before he went straight to General Skywalker. A stranger's voice had picked up and he almost went ballistic. If Echo hadn't been there to de-escalate his temper and he didn't remember the girl from last night he would have blown for sure.

Anger. The feeling that had sunk in on the way to the shop Dagger had stayed the night at. Evidently it had been an eventful night if Astra's comments were to be believed. The entire 501st had been none the wiser as Dagger had been out by himself picking up girls.

The part that made him angriest was that Dagger trusted complete strangers to see his face and not his own brothers. Astra had found him at the same club he had been at. The realization might have floored him on a day not as crazy as this. He could have seen Dagger's face in passing and not known it, assuming it was just another trooper in the bar.

Duty. A strange emotion to feel in the middle of everything. He knew that he couldn't stay mad for long, but Dagger hadn't needed to know that. He had just planned to give him blaster cleaning for a week like he would anyone else. Honestly this wasn't the first time he had to ground someone while on R&R. Somone always did something stupid. That's why he let Echo tag along. Everything was supposed to be routine and he was Dagger's partner after all.

Confusion. Dagger had suddenly sunk to his knees and into a submissive posture. Rex almost thought that he was messing with him. He knew that wasn't the case when he flinched away.

Horror. When he asked Dagger what he thought was about to happen. He had spoken so blatantly, as if it were part of normal life. As if the wretched and awful abuse he suffered were as commonplace as stars in the sky. Dagger thought that everyone was beaten during training. Evidently he had no one else to compare to.

Shock. When Dagger had run his hands up and down his back. Checking for scars was the only thing that he could think of that he was doing. He was even more shocked when he took off his helmet and brushed his lips over Rex's skin. Just thinking of it set his skin on fire.

Peace. The tenderness of the touch was tantalizing. He wanted more of what he knew he couldn't have. He hadn't told the others about that part. He told them of the touch, not the kisses. He didn't quite understand it himself, but he was not about to share the memory with anyone else.

Protectiveness had been the next emotion to take over him. He wanted nothing more than to put Dagger in an impossible bubble and keep him from the rest of the world. He knew that would never happen and he couldn't ask that of a soldier. So he had decided on the next best thing.

Determination. He knew that he would keep his word to Dagger, he would kill anyone who ever dared to hurt him. It was also the feeling he felt when he had been going over the plan with Echo and Fives. They would get justice for their friend, their fellow trooper, their brother. They would find who did this and they would be sure they got what they deserved.

He thought he was done cataloging all of his emotions from the day, but the last one slammed him out of nowhere.

Jealousy. When Fives had asked if he or Echo could make a move on Dagger. He knew it was a joke. A jibe to get under his skin. Trying to get a reaction out of him, that's just what Fives did. But the thought had sent him into an internalized jealous rage. He wanted to claim Dagger for his own and make sure everyone knew it.

He had never realized how strongly he had felt about the trooper until the moment when someone else expressed interest. Fuck. He was an awful di'kuit. He had no right to Dagger and had to let him decide who he wanted to be with, if any of them.

Dagger might not even like males. Some clones thought it was weird, but for the most part no one cared what everyone did. They were all clones of the same person, how much weirder would it honestly be if they dated? Not much. Also living day in and day out with males was obviously going to turn some of them bisexual, gay or somewhere in between.

There was one thing they every single clone could agree on. Every single one of them had a choice and it would be respected. A brother's first kiss and first lay were two things that should never be forced. They should get to choose who and if they want to do so. God help anyone who forced themselves on a brother, even just as a first kiss.

They would surely be torn to pieces by the unit for taking a brother's first kiss without consent. If they took the first lay, they would be murdered. No question. It was just something that you didn't do. Rex had heard rumors from the early days of the war when a brother was found raping another. Blood had run through the halls of that star ship. Painting the walls with a criminal's blood. The message was a promise of protection to the brother who was wronged.

Rex knew that he could never do that to anyone, especially not a brother. Right now he really didn't know what to do about his feelings for Dagger. So he did what any rational Captain would do. He buried it down deep inside and hoped that he would forget about it. Nothing came from hopeless crushes anyway.