He opens his eyes as the dawn begins to creep over the skyline. It takes him a moment to remember last night, and his eyes shift to the togruta against his side, asleep. He smiles softly, and lets his eyes drift back closed.
If Bree comes down the stairs, he'll never hear the end of it.
That thought almost causes him to open his eyes again, but he mentally rolls them instead. There's nothing abnormal about a boyfriend and girlfriend cuddling. The fact that Chase is the boyfriend in question, causing his sister to make a big deal out of it is really her problem, not his.
Does she even know he and Ahsoka are dating? Ahsoka said she had told Bree, but she had thought it was a joke.
Now that he thinks about it, Kaz and Korkie are the only ones who knew the two of them had been out on a date, so it's a matter of whether or not they mentioned it to anyone else. And if anyone else had been observant enough to notice the changed dynamic between him and Ahsoka.
It doesn't matter really. Any ambiguity will be cleared up when he introduces her to Tasha.
...
Ahsoka opens the door to the girl's suite, hand barely one the doorknob, trying to be quiet; the others are likely still asleep.
Her guess is only partially correct.
Skylar is lounging in the common area, looking uo from her phone as Ahsoka enters. She glances at her clothes and furrows her brow. "Didn't go to sleep last night?"
Ahsoka shakes her head. "Chase and I were up all night talking, ended up crashing on the couch."
A strange expression rolls over the chalderan's face upon the mention of his name. "Chase. I thought he was busy working on that anti-aging device."
"He was. I convinced him to take a break."
"To talk."
"Yeah, pretty much." Ahsoka tilts her head. "Why, what did you think…"
Skylar's face flushes a moment. "Nothing, it's just the past couple of days the two of you seemed to be behaving differently, kinda like a couple…"
"We are."
Skylar stops short. "You're dating?"
"Yes." And Ahsoka's mind wanders back to the day Chase brought back Skylar's powers and she had thought the chalderan might have developed a crush on him.
"Oh," and Skylar deflates. "How long?"
"We were out on our first date when Kaz called to inform us Scarlett had captured you, Bree, and Oliver."
"Oh," she responds in the same flat tone. "Well, I'm happy for you both…" and she brushes past the togruta and out the door.
...
Bree is beaming in excitement as the doorbell chimes. "They're here!" she exclaims.
The door opens, revealing their stepmother and blanketed bundle that can only be Naomi.
"Aw, she's so cute," Bree fawns, pulling back the blanket to look at the little infant's face. Chase leans over to see his baby sister, and the rest of their team gather around to catch a glimpse.
"She looks so sweet," Ahsoka compliments, before Tasha clears her throat, making eye contact with her two children.
A chorus of "Hey Tasha" and "Great to see you again" come from the two Davenport teens.
"How have you been?" Chase asks.
"Exhausted," Tasha replies. "I don't think I've had a day to myself since Naomi was born." She looks down at the aforementioned. "So, are you going to formerly introduce me to the rest of your team?"
"Of course," Chase responds. He places a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. "This is Ahsoka, who is also my girlfriend…"
"Wait, what?" Bree interjects.
"Yeah, I was surprised too, but once you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense," Kaz affirms.
"Honestly, I didn't find it surprising at all," Korkie contradicts. "The romantic tension was fairly obvious from the moment I got on the ship."
Oliver raises an eyebrow. "Really? I guess I was too distracted by Bree to notice."
"Okay, we get it, they're a couple!" Skylar blurts, and looks immediately embarrassed.
Tasha gently glosses over the outburst. "Well, it's lovely to meet you," she greets Ahsoka.
The togruta smiles in turn, "It's a pleasure to meet you too."
"And you must be the other alien," Tasha concludes, addressing the other girl.
"Yeah, I'm Skylar," she responds.
"And this is Kaz," Bree gestures, "Korkie, and Oliver, my boyfriend," she finishes.
"Well, it's great to meet all of you," Tasha smiles. "You know, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind watching Naomi for a couple of hours? Just to get some time off, and then I was hoping we could all go out to dinner…"
"I'd love to watch her!" Bree agrees, and glares at Oliver when he says something about babies and kneecaps.
Ahsoka smiles at the gathering, then turns to watch Chase as he heads towards the hyper lift. "Where are you going?" she asks.
"To continue working," he replies.
She sighs. "Have you even given thought to the philosophical and moral implications of what you're creating?" And she follows him into the hyper lift.
"Of course."
"I meant since yesterday, when you completely changed your beliefs on growing old."
"Technically no, but…" and the two of them continue to debate the prospects of immortality in Mission Command.
...
Unfortunately, their debate has no chance to reach its conclusion. Realistically, if they hadn't been so consumed with their argument, they might have prevented the accident from happening in the first place.
She doesn't even realize something went wrong until she hears Korkie yell, "You kriffing di'kut!" and turns to see the Mandalorian about to strangle Kaz.
And sees someone else, a teenage girl she doesn't recognize, Chase's aging device in her hand.
"I know that was meant to be offensive, but honestly it just sounded like gibberish," Kaz responds, seemingly unfazed by the unhinged look in Korkie's eyes.
"Please, tell me that's not…" Ahsoka begins.
"Hey guys," Bree interjects, the hyper lift doors closing behind her, "Have you see Naomi?"
"I'm Naomi!" the girl proudly announces.
"Oh, kark," Ahsoka mutters.
...
There's no question anymore about the ethics age-reversal. Ahsoka only prays Chase can figure it out and fix Naomi before Tasha returns.
Of course Tasha returns early. Somehow Skylar ditches the role of distracting her. Korkie, Kaz, and Oliver are sent up instead.
Somehow, Ahsoka finds herself thinking it would be less distracting to have the chaotic boy trio than Skylar sulking on the other side of the room, consuming the bowl of fruit Chase had for his experimentation.
They succeed, barely in time, Bree about to confess the whole incident to Tasha while Chase makes one last adjustment. It works, Skylar beaming at his success while Chase hands infant Naomi back to her mother. The reunion is sweet, and the gang works their way back up to the main floor.
"That was impressive," Ahsoka comments as they bring up the rear.
"Thanks," he replies, "But you're right about the technology being…problematic. Until we can reach an agreement, the device should remain locked away, and unspoken of," he adds.
She nods. Revenge, power, and deluded grandeur were all things that could bring upon death and destruction, but the key to immortality? That would bring about a war unparalleled.