Part 2 of 2. Enjoy, and give me feedback! I THRIVE on feedback! I also wrote an extra piece aiming to be from Anakin's POV in this situation. If you're interested, it'll be a bonus chapter to this. Let me know!

Disclaimer: Give me Star Wars or... wait, that's Star Wars?! What have you done? Good thing my fan fiction is more realistic than that shit...

Beyond what had been said back in the briefing room, the walk to the medbay was in dead silence. Ahsoka couldn't think of anything to say, and she knew it. Barriss was letting her arms hang, swinging back and forth gently with her stride, but she wasn't willing to say anything. Rex wouldn't say anything unless the silence got too uncomfortable, and Gree she sensed wouldn't say anything given how concern just rolled off of him in waves. The silence that accompanied them save for the echoes of their feet was suffocating.

While glad that Barriss had lied to save her master (who'd have thought?), Ahsoka was worried. Her fellow padawan would have to cover her tracks, and the sooner the better. The Jedi Council wasn't too nosy, thankfully, but if the report were to appear in the system later than expected, that would naturally raise suspicions. She didn't want her friend to get into trouble because her master (almost) never followed the rules. She glanced hesitantly at the Mirialan, who look back at her.

"Don't worry, Ahsoka," she said, being the first to break the silence. "I know how to file false reports without being found out." That made her curious, but another beat her to the question.

"And how, exactly, do you know this?" Gree asked.

"Yeah. You actually pay attention to the rules," Rex chimed in. Ahsoka turned back briefly to glare at him. "What? It's true, and you know it," he defended.

"Doesn't mean you have to repeat it," she said, rolling her eyes. Truth be told, she was curious as to how Barriss knew this information. Definitely illegal and potentially dangerous information.

"Well," the padawan began. "I was good friends with a couple beings before they exited out of the healing program due to lack of ability."

"Wait," Rex interrupted, "so not all Jedi can heal?"

"At least not to the degree or skill that I can," Barriss responded. "These individuals had gifts elsewhere in the Force, and to have stayed in the healing program would have been a disservice to them. Before they left, however, they showed me various methods of disciplines they were more interested in." Her lips twitched upwards to form a smile. Small, but a smile nevertheless. That meant there were stories to be had. Ahsoka made a mental note to follow up on that later. "One of which included workarounds around the technology we use to document incidents." Ahsoka stopped walking when she heard that. She turned to raise an eyebrow at Barriss.

"'Workarounds'?" she asked incredulously. Barriss reddened slightly.

"Well… yeah. Workarounds." Rex and Gree began laughing, whether from the look on Ahsoka's face or Barriss's reaction to the question.

"So… you know how to hack!" Rex said, using that as a pause between laughs. "That is frakking awesome!"

"Wait until Luminara finds out," Gree laughed. "I bet she'll collapse from shock." His face twisted between humor and guilt after he said that. A normal statement under abnormal circumstances.

"Anakin will be beating her to it," Rex said quickly, before awkwardness could completely set in. "While teasing her to no end."

"Speaking of Anakin, can you sense what he's up to?" Gree asked. Barriss shook her head.

"Not specifically. He's got his shields up. But… oh crap!" She buried her head in her hands, the yellow on her face becoming more pronounced with her greater embarrassment.

"What?" Ahsoka asked.

"Luminara is apparently arguing with him. I swear," Ahsoka saw her glare at her, "your master does his best to ignore what I tell him. Just talking. Did I say anything about arguing? No. I –" Both padawans saw the clones running towards the medbay. Puzzled, Ahsoka looked back at Barriss.

"Why the rush?" The other padawan shrugged. They both ran after the clones.

"Rex?" Ahsoka asked once they caught up. "Why are you running?"

"Because if the Generals are arguing, it could lead to answering the betting pool we're running."

"And we're not missing this!" Gree added, obviously stoked.

"What betting pool?" Ahsoka squawked. When neither clone answered immediately, she huffed aloud. "Guys…"

"It may be related to the relationship status of a certain couple Jedi Generals," Rex finally admitted.

"Newsflash, Captain," Barriss ground out, from embarrassment or irritation Ahsoka couldn't tell. "There is no relationship status."

"Yet," Gree said. Ahsoka saw Barriss shoot him a withering look.

"Why do you think –" she began, trying to keep things at a friendly banter level. That was when they arrived in front of the med bay. The windows gave them a clear view of the interior, not yet tinted by any of the medical staff – though they certainly had that capability. Anakin was sitting up front and two beds to left, and as they arrived they saw him leaning closer to plant one hand on the foot of the bed. Luminara looked all laid out on said bed, sitting upright against a collection of pillows, which padding her from lower back to head. Her face looked troubled. Anakin seemed to radiate similar tension. Their mouths were moving, indicating a conversation was taking place between the two. A heated one, if you factored in the body language screaming at you. Ahsoka glanced at Barriss.

"I don't think the medics are going to be found within a two-mile radius of this place." Barriss shook her head.

"They won't. I just sent them a message to stay away." Ahsoka stared at her as other eyes also focused on the Mirialan. She held up a small handheld device. "Pager, not the Force."

"Wow, Jedi can use real people technology," Gree teased. Ahsoka saw her friend blush even harder, even as she reached out to smack the clone. A joke she wasn't in on – yet. Another thing she'd have to ask Barriss about. She turned to Rex.

"Should we intervene?" Rex still watched the scene before them but shook his head.

"If we interfere, we could interrupt something important. Besides, I want to see what happens," he said. The smirk never appeared on his face, but could be felt in the undertone. It was her turn to smack a clone. He still didn't show his trademark smirk. Sighing, she turned to join him in viewing the scene before them.

Anakin and Luminara seemed to still converse, although more subdued than before. He appeared to be more sad and frustrated than angry, contrary to before. His position was gradually shifting closer to Luminara's position on the bed. That was no surprise. He liked to get up close and personal with those on the receiving end of his anger. His gestures were purposeful with his irritation, his shoulders shifted forward to make the gestures appear larger and intimidating.

It appeared to have no effect on the Jedi Master. Luminara looked to be more tired and frustrated, although Ahsoka was willing to bet it had more to do with her injuries than the conversation. She couldn't hear their conversation, and she wasn't great at reading lips. However, she did get the impression that Anakin was yelling at her for having done what she did. That wasn't special – Anakin yelled at everyone who endangered themselves. Because she was his padawan, she got yelled at twice as much. Lucky me. Luminara's response likely hinged around the obvious: she did what she thought was right, and it was all coached around Anakin's advice to her to be more reckless, et cetera et cetera. Anakin would ignore that and come back with something something you should have known better this time. Luminara would protest that, Anakin would come back at her, and it would never stop.

Which begged the question: why did Anakin give advice if he didn't like the result? She would see if Luminara could get him to give an answer; she personally wanted to make it to Knighthood unscathed.

She felt a sharp jab to her ribs; given the location, it was probably Rex. She shot the clone a dark look. "Frakkin' kark, Rex, what the hell was that –" He held a finger to his lips as his other hand pointed. She looked in that direction, and struggled to keep her jaw from dropping.

Anakin was holding Luminara's hand. Holding her hand. As in, he had reached out to take a hold of her hand. His head had shifted where she could no longer get a glimpse of his expression, but his shoulders had settled back. His feet touched the floor momentarily to shoot his seat position forward a bit, close but not too close to see the look on Luminara's face. Ahsoka wasn't sure if that was relief, happiness, or sadness flickering on Luminara's face, but she wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of all three. She hadn't removed her hand, however, and hadn't broken Anakin's and hers collective concentrated stare. That meant that the onlookers wouldn't be noticed, which was good. Maybe it was the fact that they were Jedi Masters, maybe it was the previous history that had accumulated between the two of them, or maybe it still had that same effect of seeing your parents get all mushy with each other. Whatever it was, she could only think of one response.

"By the Force," she swore. "That can't be what I'm seeing."

"Then there's something wrong with the rest of us," Rex said. "Because I think we're all seeing what we're seeing." He glanced over his shoulder, and Ahsoka followed him to where Barriss stood. The Mirialan, normally in firm control of her emotions, stood with her jaw open and a scandalized look spreading across her face. "Gree, you might need to catch a padawan very quickly."

"Copy, Rex." He came up behind Barriss, who despite looking like one shade away from matching the sterile medbay walls turned to give him a look one notch above melting point. "Come on, Barriss. Relax. It's not as if Ahsoka or you don't have someone special."

"I know that!" she snapped. "But come on, this is my master we're talking about!"

"So?" Rex gestured with his head. "She's a human, she's a warm human being. Where do you think you came from, the monkey ward catalog?* Besides, who are you to judge?"

"But… they are –"

"Jedi Generals," Gree cut in smoothly. "And as their clone commanders, their troops, it is our obligation to protect them." Rex nodded at his compatriot.

"See? The bond of secrecy we share goes all the way up, Padawan. It does not stop with you. We have enough problems with the war as it is; the last thing we need is to have someone spill on every thing we do that's against regulation. Plus, as we all know it gets lonely up here. And loneliness is everything its cracked up to be."** Ahsoka felt a brief flash of pain from her fellow padawan before being quelled, and she sympathized silently. They had been taught how to deal with loneliness from an early age, but wartime had found a way to make it more penetrating than usual. Relationships, especially of the non-Jedi-approved sort, had become a obvious secret in every meaning of the contradiction. As long as no one flaunted it before the Council, every single eye possible was turned blind.

"So if something happens to develop between the two of them –" began Barriss.

"We don't say a word," Gree finished for her.

"And we don't know anything –" Ahsoka started.

"About anyone," Rex ended. Together the four of them continued to watch the pair interact in the room.

"Well, we have about another hour," Barriss said. When all puzzled looks headed her direction, she finished, "Until I have to go back in and check on her, that is. To make sure she's medically cleared to go into the bacta tank."

"And there's cameras inside the medbay." A thoughtful look crossed Ahsoka's face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If it's what we're thinking, let's go!" Rex said eagerly.

The medical technicians weren't sure why they had received a message to stay away from the medbay, but they weren't ever going to be seen disobeying orders. However, by the time they were called back there were no Jedi to be seen. Also, apparently some footage had gone missing. That wasn't theirs to question either. But when it was medical supplies? The look on the Jedi Healer's face was enough to make them regret asking that question. But the next glance at the duty roster showed that leave had been extended by an extra standard week.

If the Jedi knew how to show appreciation, they understood how to keep quiet.

* MASH - Mail Call Three

** MASH - Mail Call Three (hey, it was good enough to use once!)