"So what does this make us?" Ahsoka couldn't hide her grin as Anakin let them back into their dorm.

"Right now? Nothing." Anakin answered. At the resturaunt, he'd been smiling and joking, but now he was all-business. Ahsoka recognised his tone as one he'd use on the battlefield.

"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked, following behind Anakin as he headed into the living room and dropped onto the sofa.

"We have to be careful." Anakin reminded her, "There's a lot we have to go over."

Ahsoka groaned, sitting beside Anakin. "Great. More rules."

"Listen, if anyone discovers this then we'll both be expelled from the Jedi Order." Anakin explained, "And I'm sure neither of us want that."

"Yeah, you're right." Ahsoka leaned forward, "What should we do?"

"Be careful." Anakin repeated, his smirk returning.

"What did you mean when you said you thought you felt the same way?" Ahsoka asked as Anakin relaxed.

"It's a loaded question." Anakin said, "I mean, I thought I saw you as a sister for the longest time, like how I see Obi-Wan as a brother. But I don't know, something just clicked yesterday. I realised that I care about you - more than a Master cares about their Padawan."

Ahsoka smiled at his words, "So when can we start making out?"

They both laughed. "Let's not rush into things." Anakin stated, "We still have to be--"

"-- be careful, yes I heard you the first two hundred thousand times." Ahsoka sighed.

Anakin smiled at her for a second. "C'mon." he said, lifting his arm up. Ahsoka quickly sidled up to him, letting him close his arm around her.

"I love your hugs." she admitted, "You should do it more."

"Noted." Anakin chuckled, picking up the remote to the hologram-projector, "Let's see what's on."

It wasn't long before Ahsoka was fast asleep. Once Anakin noticed, he picked her up like how he'd done on Hoth and carried her to her bedroom.

After he set her down on her bed, he looked over his sleeping Padawan. "See you tomorrow." he spoke softly.

Anakin ignited his lightsaber as a battle simulation formed around him. This time, the training droid morphed into Count Dooku.

"Difficulty level max." Anakin ordered, "Begin."

Dooku paced around the room, eyes locked with Anakin's. Then, the two rushed each other, clashing lightsabers in the middle of the room.

Dooku's strength overwhelmed Anakin immediately, forcing the Jedi to start moving backwards. He pushed Dooku's lightsaber away, then swung with his own, only for the Count to block it.

The fight continued on like this for a while, with both camombatants taking their turns attacking, only for the other to block.

Dooku went for an overhead slice this time. Anakin stepped to the side, before countering.

This time, his attack met it's mark, leaving Dooku with a deep gash in his side. The Sith fell to the ground and the room reverted to its original state.

If only things would be that easy in the heat of a real battle.

"I thought I'd find you down here." Ahsoka's voice came from the doorway into the simulation room. Anakin turned to face the Padawan.

"Hey, Snips. I, uh, I left some breakfast on the side for you." Anakin said, sheathing his lightsaber.

"Yeah, I found it - thanks." Ahsoka headed over to Anakin, "How long have you been down here?"

"A few hours."

Ahsoka turned her head to the door, before hugging her Master, who gladly returned it, resting his chin on her lekku.

"What do you think Rex is up to right now?" Ahsoka sighed into Anakin's chest.

"The 501st have temporarily merged with the 212th while we're on leave." Anakin responded, "He must love taking orders from Obi-Wan."

"I hope he's keeping out of trouble." Ahsoka reluctantly pulled away from Anakin.

"You know Rex - he's probably running directly towards it." Anakin laughed.

Ahsoka laughed too. "Hey, so--"

She was cut off by the beeping of Anakin's communicator, which he'd left in his pocket. He rolled his eyes, then picked it up. As he answered his incoming call, the hologram of Mace Windu appeared.

"Skywalker." he greeted, "I trust you're well."

"Why does he make everything sound so serious?" Ahsoka mouthed. Anakin replied with a shrug.

"Is this a social call, Master Windu? Me and my Padawan were in the middle of training." Anakin replied impatiently.

"I'm afraid not." Windu answered, "Master Kenobi has run into some trouble on Scarif and he needs immediate assistance."

"Can't you send someone else?" Anakin groaned.

"Well, the other available Knights have just returned from missions. Seeing as you've had a day off, I find it appropriate to send you." Windu insisted, "You'll have to take your fighters. I've sent Obi-Wan's coordinates to your onboard computers.."

And with that, he was gone.

"He's doing this on purpose, isn't he?" Ahsoka sighed.

"Probably."

Night had fallen over Scarif. During the day, the planet was akin to a tropical resort, but during the night it was comparable to a scene from a horror movie; dark fog rolled across the sea and thick storm clouds rolled overhead.

Ahsoka's ship landed first. "I can feel the sand in my boots already." she commented as she leapt out of her cockpit.

Anakin followed close behind. "Me too." he groaned.

They had landed at a Republic outpost on the planet. Clone Troopers of both the 501st and 212th legions loaded onto troop carriers to be flown into the action.

"Oh, Generals!" Commander Cody hurried over to the two Jedi, "Sorry for interrupting your vacation."

"We're happy to help." Ahsoka dismissed it.

"What's the problem?" Anakin asked.

"General Kenobi and Captain Rex are leading the charge against a Seppie base. Only problem is, they're far more well-defended than we thought; high walls, one huge gate, an EMP emitter that jammed our blasters, and some of our scouts have reported that they're trying to get a shield generator up and running." Cody explained.

"That doesn't sound good." Ahsoka nodded, "Ok, what do you need from us?"

"We've been planning an infiltration of their compound from above - sending a squadron of Paratroopers down from a transport unit and into the Seppies' compound to destroy the shield generator and open the gate for an assault. You two would be a big help on that mission." Cody finished.

"I'm in. Snips?" Anakin looked to her.

"Sounds easy." she giggled, "Are we ready to go now?"

Cody nodded to a troop carrier loaded with half a dozen Paratroopers, some from the 501st and some from the 212th. "We were actually waiting for you."

"Alright, forward a message to General Kenobi. Tell him we're about to win this battle for him." Anakin smirked.

"You got it, sir." Cody laughed.

"We'll arrive in five minutes!" the pilot called to Anakin and Ahsoka, "Get ready to jump."

"This reminds me of Felucia. You remember that, Feather?" one Paratrooper spoke.

Another chuckled in response. "How could I forget?"

"You've been on similar missions before?" Ahsoka made conversation.

"Not quite." the Paratrooper named Feather replied, "Me and Topher here were being evacuated from a mission gone bad when our transport was shot down. While we were falling, we jumped out onto one of those weird plants. That's how we got promoted to Paratroopers. But we have been on similar missions before."

"Like on Naboo." Topher added.

Suddenly, the carrier was alive with talk about previous missions the Paratroopers had been on. Ahsoka found herself enjoying the stories she heard.

"Brace!" the pilot suddenly called.

Anakin instinctively pulled Ahsoka close to him as he held onto the wall of the ship, the ship shaking violently. As it settled, he let her go.

"We're flying through a storm!" Feather noticed.

"This is too dangerous!" Anakin called, "We should go back."

"What about our mission, sir?" Topher asked.

"I won't trade your lives. Turn this ship around, now!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir." the pilot nodded, beginning to turn the ship around.

Then, it rocked again - much much more violently this time. Anakin lost balance, stumbling backwards and almost out of the side door. Ahsoka managed to grab his gloved wrist.

Before she could pull him up, the lighting from the storm hit its mark, striking the ship's left wing.

Anakin slipped out of Ahsoka's grip as the ship titled sideways. "Ahsoka!"

"No! Anakin!" she screamed as he fell into the fog down below.

"Get your men back to base!" Ahsoka ordered the pilot. She fumbled around the pockets on her belt, retrieving a re-breather and her holopad. Then, she dived after Anakin.

The water was freezing. Ahsoka quickly put on the re-breather and switched on the holopad, searching for Anakin's tracker.

He'd already sunk far into the depths of the ocean. Ahsoka followed his tracker, frantically kicking her legs as she swan. The picture on her holopad began to fade as she got deeper underwater, until she couldn't see it anymore.

Then, she spotted him... or his unconscious body at least. Her limbs ached, but she picked up the pace anyway. As she reached him, she took in a deep breath from the re-breather, before removing it and grabbing the side of his head.

She pulled his lips onto hers, blowing oxygen into his lungs, before putting the re-breather back on.

She continued that process as she swum back up to the surface, her arm wrapped around Anakin's waist.

Once she broke the water, she quickly pulled off the re-breather and gasped for fresh air. She reached into Anakin's pocket, grabbing his holopad. She used the device to send a distress signal to Commander Cody, before returning it.

Anakin groaned, slowly opening his eyes to the bright daylight of Scarif. He was laying in the back of a repurposed fishing boat, Ahsoka gently brushing back his drying hair. The boat was resting on the shore beside the Republic base on the planet.

"Hey." she said softly.

"What happened?" he rubbed the back of his head.

"You fell out of the ship." Ahsoka said, "You must've hit your head pretty hard on something."

Anakin winced as Ahsoka ran her finger along a cut on the back of Anakin's cut that had been stitched up. "Oh... How long was I out for?"

"Uh... Four or five hours." Ahsoka responded.

"How'd the mission go?" he managed to sit up.

"It never even started. Don't worry about it, I'm sure Obi-Wan's got it all under control by now." Ahsoka comforted him.

"This makes us even then." Anakin managed a laugh.

"Oh no. This makes us more than even. You owe me now, Skyguy." Ahsoka

"How can I ever repay you?" Anakin joked.

"I can think of one thing." Ahsoka rested one hand on Anakin's back and another on his side, helping him into a sitting position, before resting both hands on his lower back.

"Later, Snips." he whispered as he gently pulled her hands away, before climbing onto the sandy beach.

Somewhat disappointed, Ahsoka followed him.