Inspired Plan:

Anakin could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan were actually FIGHTING. They never fought. It just wasn't done. And their words were downright cutting. Especially Ahsoka's. His little sister had gone and grown up and started forming her own opinions while she was living on her own. He was so proud.

Granted, some of her opinions made him flinch.

He didn't like that she was all but dissing the Chancellor - a man who had done nothing but earn his respect and friendship for years, not to mention supported him when the Order had not - but he still had to respect the fact that she was standing up for herself against Obi-Wan Kenobi. The same Jedi Master who could literally talk circles around people in his sleep.

Kark, I think she just won. Or at least brought it to a stalemate.

And wow, that was COLD.

Ouch.

Anakin looked from the Togrutan girl to his former Master and quickly came to the conclusion that they would happily glare at each until the figurative escaped nerfs came home on their own. Or the war ended all by itself. Whichever unlikely scenario came first. And since the tension in the air was practically palpable and was sending the Force around them into literally hissy fits that rubbed the fine hairs on his body the wrong way, Anakin knew he needed to break this up with a truly inspired solution that hopefully neither would find fault with.

And that meant giving Ahsoka some of his men, because he was with Obi-Wan on this one; he had to go rescue the Chancellor from Grievous. But he also wasn't willing to let Ahsoka go seeking out Maul on her own without some serious backup, knowing she'd do just that if they left her now. If Obi-Wan couldn't kill the Sith monster after multiple tries, then he had no doubt that Ahsoka would also have great difficulty in doing so. And she seemed to want to capture him, which was even harder than killing.

"I'll divide the 501st," he blurted out into the silence, drawing their glares towards him. "Make a new division under Ahsoka's command." Fortunately those glares changed to curiosity or he would have been very hurt by their combined... dissatisfaction. Yeah, we'll go with that. At least it's not outright hate yet.

What a sad lot we are. We used to be so happy together; such a perfect little family. Now Ahsoka and Obi-Wan are glaring daggers. Obi-Wan doesn't trust me and I don't trust him to tell me the truth anymore. Obi-Wan didn't trust Ahsoka when he should have and she's still hurt by that. And she's only just barely comfortable being here, no matter how hard the boys and I have tried to welcome her back.

Obi-Wan and the kriffing stupid Council has ruined everything. I hope he knows that.

"Unfortunately, Ahsoka is no longer part of the Grand Army of the Republic," Obi-Wan said, not sounding even remotely sorry for that little fact.

And there he goes again, making everything more difficult than it has to be.

Fine. I can work with that. This was WAY overdue anyway. "We'll promote Rex to Commander and have him lead the division." He looked at his Apprentice. "Ahsoka can go with him as an advisor. What do you say?"

Please say yes, he tried to convey with his eyes and down their bond to the girl who would always be his Padawan, no matter how many years passed.

Her love flooded him as she looked back at him with enough gratitude in her gaze to make him feel like the smartest Master ever and ten metres tall. "I accept. That is, if Obi-Wan agrees." The warmth in her gaze instantly disappeared when she turned her big eyes on the older Jedi. Ha. Serves you right, old man. You don't deserve her love anymore anyway.

Anakin joined Ahsoka in her stare down of his former Master, both just daring him to say no to the perfectly reasonable solution.

He wisely did not, sighing ever so slightly before saying, "Very well."

Yes!

Ahsoka nodded respectfully to Obi-Wan, her expression softening towards him.

Sensing the change in her attitude, Anakin could feel Obi-Wan latch onto it with eager hope. That's surprising. Maybe he doesn't actually WANT to be as closed off as he is. "May the Force be with you," Obi-Wan said sincerely before turning to leave. Hunh. Maybe those two will reconcile after all. That would be good. One can never have too many real friends. Although... If she forgives him than I guess I would have to as well. Kark.

I'll think about that later. For now... Obi-Wan agreed with my plan!

Master and Padawan shared a quick look of triumph, bringing back so many flashes of memory from when they'd done the same before. So many battles won. So many fun sparing sessions. So many successful pranks on their clone brothers and Obi-Wan.

Force, I missed her.

They both looked back towards the doorway when they felt Obi-Wan stop and look back. What now?

Obi-Wan gave Ahsoka a concerned look of warning before saying, "One other thing; I killed Maul once just to capture him. He doesn't seem to stay dead." Now THAT'S an understatement. How many times has he cut pieces off of that Sith shabuir?

And with that, Obi-Wan swept out through the automatic door.

Anakin found himself staring at the closed door blankly for a moment, mind spinning about forgiveness and friendship and death as a chill ran down his spine. Why do I suddenly feel like I'm running out of time to make things right again with Obi-Wan?

He shook the feeling off as Ahsoka stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, tucking herself into his side. "Thanks for the support, as always," she said as he looked down at her in surprise.

Warmth filled him from toes to scalp again. He grinned down at her and wrapped his free arm around her back in a brotherly hug, careful not to squash her back lek. "That's what friends are for."

She leaned her head against his shoulder and he tucked his cheek against the velvety soft skin of her montral that wasn't anywhere near as far down as it used to be when he first met her. They both sighed in contentment at the same time and then chuckled in amusement, sky blue and sapphire blue eyes meeting for a moment. She settled against him and started purring. Anakin had never heard a better sound in his life. (Okay, not true, Padmè's cries of bliss were a little higher up on his favourite sounds list, but he most certainly wasn't thinking about that right now.)

He'd never admit to Ahsoka how much he'd needed her to come back, but he had a feeling that she knew.