She stood shaking in front of Skywalker's door. Was she really about to do this? Was she really going to ask Anakin Skywalker for advice on how to be a better Jedi? She took a deep breath to prep for acting on this extremely bad idea. Balling up her hand, she lifted it up to the door and lightly rapped on the metal with her knuckles four time. She bit on her thumb's knuckle for a moment; he didn't respond. Had he not heard her? Shaking from head to foot now, she knocked again, harder.

"Coming!" Anakin called, followed by a loud crashing sound and a string of Huttese curses. Opening the door after a minute or two, absolutely covered in motor oil and a rather large welt forming on his head, he was surprised to see Barriss standing at the door. "Oh, hey Barriss. You looking for Ahsoka?"

"Actually," Barriss was about to correct before Anakin continued.

"She's in the cafeteria at the moment. I'll let he know you came by."

"Master Sky,"

Anakin swished the door shut and turned around to go back to his project. only for it to make a loud *thunk* which caused him to look back. Barriss's left foot was jammed in the doorway, blocking it from closing. She squeaked a small, quiet "Ow," before he opened the door again. "Actually Master Skywalker, I wanted to talk to you, and maybehave Ahsoka know nothing about this."

Now Anakin was curious. Raising an eyebrow he gestured back with his head, "Uhm, sure. Come on in?"

"T-thank you," Barriss replied quietly as can be, stepping over mechanical bits and pieces of… whatever he was working on this week.

"Sorry about the mess, I wasn't exactly planning on having visitors."

"I don't mind," Barriss lied, nearly having a power converter roll out from under her uninjured foot, causing her to stumble.

Pulling out a chair for her with the Force, Anakin hopped onto the workbench which currently held what looked like the inner workings of an astromech droid… or possibly random garbage, only he could tell. "What's going on?" he asked. He didn't mean to sound rude, on the contrary he actually enjoyed her company, but if she was having some sort of issue then why wasn't she going to her master?

Barriss cleared her throat, "Well, uhm, how do I say this?"

"Oh Force please tell me it isn't what I think it is," Anakin thought. Barriss was pretty, only two years younger than him, acting extremely nervous, her emotions he sensed were a jumbled mess, and she wanted Ahsoka to not find out about it? How exactly could he tell her he wasn't interested? Mentioning that was already married was definitely out of the question.

"I'm having a… personal problem?"

"Uh huh," Anakin replied. Not good.

"And well, I might have heard a rumor that you're experienced with this sort of thing…"

"What rumor?"

"That you and Senator Amidala had an affair for a while," Barriss answered truthfully. Given how wide his eyes went, it was either actually true or unbelievably false. "And, well," she took another breath. Was breathing always this hard? "There's… someone." She actually did it. She actually confessed that she had developed romantic feelings for another sentient being. Well, close enough to an admission anyway.

"I… see…" Anakin replied. Slowly, methodically.

Barriss was a little scared by that reaction and started to shrink into her seat, "And, well, I wanted to see if you could help me to suppress those, erm, urges," oh Force, she sounded like a creep when she said it like that, "since you seem to have some knowledge in that regard."

Skywalker rested his face on his mechanical fist, forearm propped up on his knee. "I see. But what I don't get," he responded, "is if you're attracted to a boy and want to avoid that conflict of interest why not just tell your Master about this? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to help you, but I just don't think it's my place." After all, he had to keep an eye on Ahsoka and that Bonteri bastard. If he made a move on her then Anakin would happily rip his balls off and feed them to him.

Barriss looked down in shame; she should have known he would ask that.

Anakin smiled, and put a comforting, droid-grease covered hand on hers, "Hey, there's no need to be ashamed or scared about this. You can't help but develop these feelings, it's as natural as eating or sleeping. We're sentient beings, and having emotions and desires is part of that, Jedi Code or no." He knew that more than anyone. She muttered something as softly as possible, which Anakin, somewhat annoyedly, asked "What?"

"It's… it's not a boy."

Anakin nodded, smiling in understanding as all the pieces finally fit together. "Ah, now I get it. You're scared to tell her because your culture frowns on homosexuality."

"Y-yes."

"So you're coming to me, someone outside that culture, for advice on how to be a better Jedi and detach yourself from the woman you're attracted to, without having to fear that judgement."

"Yes."

"Well, as far as the advice you want is concerned, you came to the wrong place."

"WHAT?!"Barriss yelled, jumping to her feet. She had come all this way, fighting every instinct to run back to her room and cry her eyes out, just to be told he wouldn't or couldn't help her?!

"You know why?"

She shook her head in disbelief, "No. No I don't know why," her mind suddenly went to the worst-case scenario, "Please don't tell the Council!"

"I'll never tell them anything."

"Thank you?" Barriss replied, sitting back down. Now, she was confused.

"Have you come out to anybody else?"

"No, no I haven't."

Anakin smirked and replied with a chuckle, "Well I'll take that as a compliment!" Barriss only shrank further into her chair, which he saw as a prompt to tell her, "Hey, what you just did? That's probably the bravest thing I've seen in a long, long time."

Her eyes twinkled as she looked back up at him, "R-really?"

"Without a doubt. And you're right about one thing. I have had experiences with love. In fact, that rumor is a lot truer than it might seem."

Now it was Barriss's turn to widen her eyes in surprise, "What?"

"Padmé and I," he called her by her first name, "well we did have a love affair. We married at the start of the war. Days after Geonosis." He chuckled slightly as the Padawan's jaw dropped, "And you know what? You're the second person I've ever told." The first was another secretly married Jedi who even had a son hidden away on his home planet. "Not even Ahsoka and Obi-Wan know. Now, we both know each other's secrets."

"So, when you said I came to the wrong place for advice,"

"I wasn't refusing to help you. Oh no, instead of the help you want, I'm going to give you the help you need."

"Wait, w-what?"

"Barriss, we're getting you a girlfriend."

"WHAT?!" she shouted in a mad panic. There was no way she could do this! She wasn't Skywalker! She wasn't sneaky! She couldn't handle the stress! "B-but,"

"No buts! Now, tell me who she is."

"I-I-I don't think I,"

"Tell me who."

Sighing, Barriss looked down at her hands and answered, "Senator Chuchi… Ahsoka dragged me out to introduce me to a few of her friends, including your wife apparently, and when I met her I just…" she exhaled, "I don't know how to describe it. My stomach got into knots; it took all of my concentration to keep from shaking the whole time; and I haven't been able to get her off my mind since then." There was no kriffing way she was going to mention her rather, naughty, dreams.

"I sense there's a detail you're not telling me," Anakin noted.

Now Barriss was embarrassed, "Well… she might have showed us a PR stunt her staff forced her to do…"

"I'm listening."

"Well, maybe I should show you." They looked up Senator Chuchi's dancing holo, which Anakin proceeded to laugh at.

"She looks like a kriffing stripper!" he guffawed. Anakin elbowed the Mirialan, joking "I guess that helped catch your eye too, huh?"

Barriss blushed deeper than she had ever blushed in her life, "Well, uhm, it… certainly hasn't kept me from thinking about her."

The knight chuckled, "I understand." Standing, he beckoned her to do so too. Once she did, he said, "Alright, I'm going to give you all the help I wish I had had with Padmé."

"Wait!" Barriss protested, "I don't even know if she likes girls!"

"One way to find out. Now," he looked Barriss over, she was making herself as small as possible, shoulders shrunken in, a little hunched over, hands nervously wringing, "Stand up straight."

"What?"

"Like you're about to have a duel. Stand up straight. Feet shoulder width apart."

"How is this,"

"Do it."

Doing as she was told, Anakin nodded, "Now, hands on your hips. Chest out."

"O-okay."

"You know what this is?"

"Not in the slightest."

"I'm helping you to work on your confidence."

"And having me stand like a clown does that how exactly?"

"This is called a 'Power Pose.' It released endorphins into the brain that help boost confidence levels."

She hadn't ever studied this in any of her medical textbooks but she wasn't going to question it. Even if it was a placebo it was better than nothing she supposed. Worst-case scenario she looked like an idiot for a few minutes, best-case scenario this crackpot theory actually works.

"Hold that pose for a few minutes."

"Okay?" Yeah, he was just messing with her.

"Now," Anakin instructed, "Say something you love about yourself."

"What?"

"Do it."

"Fine. Uhm… I… I take care of my friends?"

"Louder. More assertive."

"I take care of my friends," Barriss affirmed, slightly less shakily.

"Again."

"I TAKE CARE OF MY FRIENDS!"

"Good. Now I want you to do that, every day, and say something new every day too."

"I… I'll try."

Anakin narrowed his eyes, "Are you trying to make me quote Master Yoda?"

Sighing, Barriss recited, "Try not. Do or do not. There is no try."

"Good. Now come back tomorrow. I'll help you more later then."

"Yes, Master Skywalker," Barriss replied with a polite bow, turning to leave the cluttered junkheap Anakin called his quarters. Looking back before she opened the door she added, "And… thank you."

"Anytime."

Barriss went about her day, studying and meditating, but her mind was hardly in it: "Is this really happening?" she thought, "Is Master Skywalker really going to help me get a… a girlfriend?" The very word caused a happy chill to run down her back. Would she really risk it? Was it worth it? If anybody ever found out, her life would be over, perhaps even literally. She had heard rumors that the forbidden texts in the Archives contained records of Jedi assassins who would mercilessly hunt those expelled from the Order and anyone connected to them. She didn't know if the Shadows were real, or still active, and she didn't want to find out from being at the stabbing end of their shoto blades.