Author's Note: Ok. I know you probably all thought I was dead. I'm still alive... somehow. My life kind of fell apart and this was one of the many things that I just haven't had the time or energy for. I'm happy to say my life is more on track now. So Here is a nice double chapter for anyone who's still reading this. Thank you so much for sticking through my erratic posting schedule. Hope you enjoy. -November (It's my month!)

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Chapter 4: Journeys Home: Part I: Caf

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Anakin looked up from the wooden door he was sanding when he heard the ship's engines echoing down the valley. He held his breath for a moment, looking up over the tree tops toward the rising slopes and the sharp turn of the valley where the sound emanated. A dark red shape rounded the rocky mountain side, coasting lower as it approached. Anakin reached out anxiously in the Force and felt the familiar presence reaching back to him.

"Haha! Padme!" he dropped his tools and jumped up. He stumbled on the prosthetic leg and sung his arms for balance. "Padme!" He yelled toward the house. Her head pooped out of the kitchen window, brown hair wild and curling from the humid air inside.

"They're back!" He called to her as he hurried around the front of the house.

"Who, Ani?" She asked but he was already gone. The sound of engine drowned out everything else on the small farm moments later.

Anakin ran up to the ship before it was even resting on it's landing supports and waited anxiously at the loading ramp. Ahsoka disembarked first wearing her new headdress and the Naboo blasters, one on each hip. Anakin checked himself from grabbing her up as he jumped up onto the ramp to greet her, before realizing he no longer had to. Grinning broadly, he threw his arms around the short togruta.

"Welcome back, Snips." He sighed as her unique presence in the Force washed over him. It wasn't as calm and vivacious as it had been when she was his student but it was calmer than before she had left Varikino. There were scars that she would carry for the rest of her life, but she was healing around them. The change in her made all his sleepless nights of worry and frustration worth while.

"Thanks," Ahsoka held him lightly in return and forced a smirk when she pulled away. "I didn't even need your help this time, Skyguy."

"No, she didn't," Obi-Wan Kenobi said, descending the ramp toward them. "You trained her well, Anakin." He was smiling behind his overgrown beard. His face bore new scars, one cutting across his jaw as a hairless streak of pale skin, another over his eye, cutting his eyebrow, and one across the bridge of his nose. The careful way he walked told Anakin that the injuries were more than just superficial. He hugged his old master gently, even though he wanted to cling to the few connections he had left to the Jedi Order.

"I taught her everything you taught me, Master," he said as they descended the ramp, "that includes my expertise at saving your life."

"That time on Cato Nemoidia still doesn't count," Obi-Wan insisted.

"And the other nine times?" Anakin asked.

"Nine?" Ahsoka asked. "I've never heard the official score. I think I might have you beat, Skyguy."

"At saving Obi-Wan?"

"At saving my Master," She replied with a smirk.

"Oh do tell, what is your score, little one?" Obi-Wan pressed.

"Well, there was that time on Maridun and…"

"Obi-Wan!" Padme came bursting out of the house with a wide smile on her face, cutting off Ahsoka. She rushed, eyes tearing up, to embrace the Jedi Master more forcefully than her husband. Obi-Wan winced and she immediately jumped back.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" She asked anxiously.

"I'll be just fine after a few days rest."

"I'll fix you up a room. It may be a bit drafty but at least the roof doesn't leak anymore," Padme said then turned to Ahsoka and embraced the young togruta. "I'm glad your back. We were very worried about you."

"I'm fine Padme," Ahsoka said, shying away from the hug. A gasp drew all their attention to the garden gate where Satine was standing with Leia cradled in her arms, half hidden by the climbing tormato plants.

Obi-Wan couldn't help the small smile pulling at his lips when he saw her with her hair pulled back simply, wearing a rough blue dress with the hem turned brown with dust. She seemed as comfortable and regal in the common clothing as she ever did in all her Sundari finery.

Satine was frozen on the garden path looking on at the happy reunion. The scene before her blurred even as she blinked against the tears. She held up her hand over her lips so they might not give her away and held her breath.

Leia squirmed in her arms, sensing her caretaker's turbulent emotions. The small child looked anxiously back and forth between her parents and Satine with wide dark eyes.

Padme hurried forward to her child, taking her gently from Satine's arms and whispering reassurances. Subtly Anakin reached out to his daughter in the Force, feeling how like him she was even with a gentle touch. He told her, as only he could, that everything was alright and showed her how happy Obi-Wan was and the satisfaction and pride Ahsoka was radiating.

"Hello Satine," Obi-Wan said as she stepped forward, eyes searching his face. Her gaze lingered on every new scar and she reached out for a moment as if she might touch them. She pressed her lips together to hide their trembling.

"H-how?" she finally managed one hoarse, whispered question and tore her gaze away from Obi-Wan to look at Ahsoka.

"It's a long story actually," Ahsoka said, one hand unconsciously going to rest on the handle of the blaster at her right hip. "Turns out Obi-Wan has some good friends in the galaxy. You probably remember Dex Jettster, Anakin."

"Dex?" He asked incredulously. "How did he get involved?"

"The digger was his idea," Ahsoka said.

"Digger? On Coruscant? Sounds interesting. How did you get one there? And who would even think of trying that? What did-"

"Anakin," Padme cut in, "They're probably exhausted. Let them at least sit down and have a meal before you start pestering them with questions."

"Oh, it's Ahsoka's story. I wasn't very helpful, I'm sorry to say," Obi-Wan insisted. "But a real meal would be nice."

"I'll go see what I've got," Padme said, hoisting Leia higher on her hip. "You want to come help?" She asked her daughter, bumping their noses together and making the baby giggle happily. Anakin watched his wife walking back toward the house with a look of pure love on his face. Obi-Wan held back a sigh, looking at his former student. He tried not to wonder what would have happened if the Council had let Anakin love Padme this way instead of forbidding it. What was done, was done. There was a different future ahead of them both now, maybe a brighter one. Obi-Wan tore his eyes from Anakin's adoring expression and shared a glance with Ahsoka, who gave him the smallest of nods.

"Let's go see if we can help her, Anakin," She said, grabbing her Master's arm, "and I'll tell you what Dex has been up to."

"I always knew there was more to that old cook," Anakin said and glanced back over his shoulder at Obi-Wan as he was dragged away.

Obi-Wan turned to Satine, to find her bright eyes still locked on his face. For a moment it scrambled all the carefully selected words in his mind. For the first time in a very long while he felt completely out of his depth.

"Shall we," Satine offered, nodding toward the house.

"Actually, I'd rather a walk," he said. "I've been held in an underground cell for nearly a month, I've missed the sunlight. Would you join me?"

Satine hesitated for a moment before nodding and slipping her hand around his offered arm. They walked slowly, Obi-Wan setting a gentle pace, into the garden. Satine thought back to the last time they had walked this way on Coruscant outside of the Senate building and the words Obi-Wan has said to her then. She tried not to let them raise her hopes.

"How have you been Satine?" He asked her as they passed between the rows of vegetable plants.

Worried about you, she thought automatically.

"Well, you know," she stalled, mind racing. How does he make me feel like a child again without even trying? She thought. "I've been adjusting."

"Yes, this is quite different from your life on Coruscant."

"It's relaxing, actually," Satine said with a sigh. "I'd forgotten how much I used to enjoy my garden at home. It was always a nice escape from… whatever was happening around me in politics. Plants don't lie to you or try to bribe you or insult your way of life."

"Yes," Obi-Wan chuckled. "I think I could come to like a life that doesn't involve being constantly shot at."

"Haven't you earned that at least?" She asked him, keeping her eyes on the dirt path and the flapping hem of her skirt.

"I don't know." He sighed and fell silent for a long moment.

"I've had a lot of time to think, this last month," he finally said. "I thought… I knew the chances of escape were slim and I hoped no one would be foolhardy enough to try a rescue."

"Did you think your friends would give up on you so easily?"

"No but… for their sakes I hoped. Ahsoka put herself in a great deal of danger, as did Dex and his friends. I… I don't know if I deserved that."

"How can you say that?" She asked him. "Of course you do. You have only ever been a kind and compassionate protector of the Republic and everything it stood for."

"No, Satine. I was a General in a war I had no place in, you said it yourself and I was too stubborn to listen," He shook his head and squeezed his hand over hers on his arm. "You were right, I see that now. The Jedi had no business in the war."

"The war would have been lost without the Jedi!" She argued even as her old arguments echoed in her mind.

"It was lost, my dear." He said softly, his voice full of guilt and grief. "We fought the war to protect the Republic, protect democracy and the Order. All of that is gone now."

Desperately, Satine searched for a contradiction but there was nothing to say. The Jedi Order was whipped out in one terrible blow. The Republic reformed into something that hardly resembled the democracy it had been created to be. It was hard to think that she had once been a powerful figure in that government, a voice representing the hundreds of worlds in the Council of Neutral Systems. Now she was a fugitive with nothing to her name but the friendship of her companions on Alderaan. She couldn't even use her name openly anymore. Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan had lost just as much. They hardly belonged in the galaxy anymore, their parts were played out to their tragic ends.

"What will you do now?" She asked him.

"I… I'm not sure… it depends." He answered, sounding uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and swallowed loudly. "When I was imprisoned I couldn't help but wonder… what had happened on Kalevala. I felt that you—and Padme—had survived, but little else. It bothered me more than I wanted to admit that I would never know if… if you were happy."

Satine stared at him in astonishment and he glanced over to meet her eyes before hastily looking away.

"How could you worry about me in such a position?" she breathed, half annoyed at his relentless selflessness. Obi-Wan just chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that instantly set her at ease.

"I had long since stopped worrying about my self," he explained. "I knew what my own fate would be, or so I thought. I must say, I'm very glad to have been wrong for once. There are thing that I wished I had told you before I died and… well, now I have the chance."

"Yes, Obi-Wan?" Satine asked when he was silent. His feet slowed and they came to a stop below the sour-fruit tree at the back of the garden.

"Well, I suppose I should explain that… it's…" He took a deep breath, feeling uncharacteristically foolish. It was surprising to find he was more nervous about talking to her than charging a line of battle droids. He plowed on regardless. "You told me once you had… feelings, for me."

Satine felt heat on her cheeks and looked down at the dusty ground. "My feelings will never change," she whispered. She felt his arm drop and her hand slid from his sleeve. She tried not to feel hurt that he pulled away. That was how it had always been when emotions ran too high between them; they drew back from each other.

His calloused fingers on her chin were a surprise as they lifted her face with a gentle pressure. She'd hardly raised her eyes when she felt his lips on her own, his beard tickling her face. Her instantaneous surprise faded almost as quickly as it came. His lips were surprisingly insistent as they caressed her own. His hand slipped around her waist and drew her close as her own fell on his shoulder and chest, feeling the solid muscles underneath his tunic.

He pulled away, breathless as she was, but his arm around her did not slacken.

"Neither will mine," he said, close enough that she could feel the breath of his words on her face. Satine felt herself comfortably wrapped in his smell, slightly smoky and warm. Her heart was pounding and her mind racing to make sense of the impossible moment.

"Obi…" She wasn't sure if it was a question or just a statement.

"I always believed that I would have to choose between loving you and being a Jedi. Had you asked, I would have chosen you. I waited for you to say the words, to ask me to stay, even though I knew you never would. You respected me too much."

"What changed?" She asked.

"Everything. The war changed everything and not all of it for the worst I think. Some good will come of all this."

Satine's brow furrowed as she tried to imagine what good could come of the destruction and oppression plaguing the failed Republic. He saw her confusion and tried to explain.

"I saw that, while I was… on Coruscant. I saw in hindsight that the old Order was failing long before this war. We couldn't even see the true fight before us. It was never about Separatists, or Dooku, or Grievous; that was never more than a distraction. No the real fight was the corruption that you were fighting long before the Clone Wars began."

"You forget that I lost that battle," she whispered.

"No, I haven't forgotten that at all. I'm sorry Satine," he pulled her closer against his chest, wrapping both arms around her and pressing his lips to her hair. "So very sorry."

"What happened on Mandalore wasn't your fault," she whispered into his shoulder, leaning into his embrace.

"Maul targeted you to get to me. The Jedi Council refused to help you because of my disobedience. With their support the Senate might have been swayed despite Palpatine's…" Satine pushed him away suddenly to look into his eyes again.

"The Senate was already powerless, nothing the Jedi Council could do would have changed that." She insisted, "If you hadn't disobeyed them I would be dead now, regardless of why Maul came to Mandalore. If he hadn't the Death Watch would have assassinated me eventually or Palpatine would have imprisoned me as an enemy of the Empire. Please don't feel guilty."

"I do," Obi-Wan disagreed vehemently, "and I should. The Jedi made mistakes… so many mistakes. I had doubts before but… I didn't realize. I was so blinded by the Dark Side and distracted by the material things." He shook his head, his eyes lowering. "It was my Order that lost this war," he went on. "We let the galaxy become this dark place that this generation's children will have to grow up with and I have to bear that guilt as much as any other Jedi."

"So what will you do now?" She asked, a lump quickly forming in her throat. She tried not to grip him tighter. He'd only just come back to her and she wasn't sure she could let him go again. Her lips still burned with his kiss and knowing that she might have had that—had the chance to love him—made letting him go so much harder. She'd been lonely for so long. The life of a politician keep her at arms length from her most trusted advisors and even Padme, who had become her closest friend. Even if the little isolated farm house in the unfamiliar Alderaan countryside held more friends than the capital city ever had she was alone there too. She was the extra shadow on the edge of Skywalker family. Even Ahsoka was more integrated, having more history with both the young parents. Who else did Satine have in the world if she didn't have Obi-Wan?

The old Jedi Master was lost in thought for a long moment, his eyes lifted and looking off to the right, unfocused. When he spoke his voice was burdened with the Jedi's ancient wisdom, serene and timeless.

"My duty is to protect the next generation, teach them what I can, make sure they learn from our mistakes. The fight is over for me. It will be up to them now." His gaze flickered back to her and a smile broke across his face under the unkempt beard. It broke the spell of his words and he was again the man she knew and loved. "My place is here with Anakin and Leia… and you, if that is what you want."

"Yes," she agreed immediately, the word popping out of her mouth. She quickly bit her lip and heat rose to her cheeks. "I—I would like that… very much."

His answering smile eased away all the harsh lines of stress and scarring on his face. She saw the young man that had come to her defense as a child and the soldier who came to her rescue on Mandalore not so long ago. He cupped her cheek with one warm hand, his calloused palm gentle against her jaw and leaned in to catch her bottom lip between his own.

This time she kissed him back with restrained passion, all the longing of the years apart welling up like a heat wave in her chest, demanding an escape. She was surprised to feel the same restraint in his kiss.

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin's voice made them both jump and instinctively pull away. Satine felt a blush of shame coloring her cheeks.

What is wrong with me! She admonished herself mentally, you have nothing to be ashamed of!

She chanced a glance at Obi-Wan and met his tentative gaze. He shared a conspiratorial smile with her that brought a laugh bubbling to her lips. It felt surprisingly good.

When was the last time I laughed? Satine wondered. He chuckled with her, the sound deep and resonating.

"Can you say Obi-Wan?" They heard Anakin's soft voice growing louder as he made his way through the garden towards them. "Oh-bee-wha-ahn," he drew out the words and rounded the trellis supporting the thriving bean plants with Leia on one hip. She laughed and babbled in her infant imitation of speech.

"There you are!" Anakin said, his eyes still fixed on his daughter, "Padme's got dinner ready. Ahsoka said you dug your way out of that prison! I didn't think anything was dug in coruscant other than…" He trailed of as his gaze finally lifted and he took in the awkward distance between his old master and Satine. It dawned on him, slowly, that he might have interrupted something. He froze in his gentle bouncing of the child and Leia hit him with her little chubby arms in protest.

"No, please," Obi-Wan said, the smile that was half hidden behind his beard coming out in his voice, "go on. I'm sure what ever you had to say was as witty and inappropriate as always."

"Uhh…" Anakin just stared at them blankly. "Nope, not really. Padme's got dinner… whenever you…ummm… want it." He turned on his heals and started back toward the house without a backward glance. Obi-Wan just chuckled deep in his chest.

"I believe that is as close to speechless as I have every seen my loquacious apprentice," he said with a hint of smug pride.

"Do you think he knows?" Satine asked. Will he think less of Obi-Wan now? She was really thinking.

"I have honestly ceased to care what other's think. I've been doing that for far too long with nothing to show for it! Master Qui-Gon often told me I let the opinions of others sway my decisions too often. He was wiser than I gave him credit for," Obi-Wan looked off past the house as he spoke toward the glowing red-orange sky where the sun had disappeared. "The galaxy needs more Jedi like him and I very much think it will have them. Shall we?" He asked, holding out a hand to her.

Satine took it gratefully, comforted by the physical connection. His grip was strong even if she could feel the bones beneath his callouses.

"It has been a while since we had a meal together."

"Feels almost like a different lifetime," he agreed, thinking back to the hard conversation they'd had over Dex's greasy breakfast.

"I can assure you at the very least, Padme makes a better cup of caf."

"If there is a heaven in the galaxy they serve Padme Amidala's caf," he said, walking with motivation back through the garden. Satine almost laughed at his excitement.

Anakin was in the doorway when they approached handing Leia into Ahsoka's arms. She made faces at the child and held the little girl gently. Padme looked up from the sink through the kitchen window and grinned to see Satine and Obi-Wan holding hands. It struck her that the old farm house was finally starting to feel like home for all of them.

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The days in the hushed Coruscant apartment ticked into weeks. The weeks ticked by with repetitive tedium into months. Rex barely marked the passing time. He no longer checked the wanted lists every morning and evening. He read extraneous reports on the Army's movements out of boredom, barely paying attention. Every now and then he would check in on Darman and Niner's squad, where they were and what they were doing. Sometimes he would look at the heavily redacted reports of the 501st under their new mysterious General. Even the casualty list was a mass of solid black censored lines. When he let his thoughts wander into dark places he wondered if anyone he had known in the 501st was still alive.

Rex tried to keep busy while he protected the Emperor's false-child. He'd run his men through drills and rigorous morning training. (Like model clones they didn't complain, not once.) He spent his off time learning dirty hand-to-hand fighting from Kaden and Su'ratiin and meticulously writing his reports. The training sessions always left his back burning where the old injury never quite healed, but they also gave Coric enough of an excuse to hand over the powerful drugs he craved. Rex tried not to abuse his old medic's kindness; he wasn't always successful. Maybe if he'd been more aware he'd have noticed Nia's strange behavior sooner.

It was a dark night, unusually cloudy for the atmospherically controlled capital planet. Rex was sitting at the small table in the kitchen reading over his third monthly overview report while his midnight cup of caf brewed slowly through the expensive machine. He would have been fine with instant but wasn't going to turn down a fresh brewed cup any day. Kaden and Su'ratiin—men of habit—complained about it; they preferred the standard issue powdered variety. He missed the spicy togruta coffee brewed thick as blue-cream that Jaina's cook made every morning; everything else was weak by comparison.

Rex jumped violently when Nia hurried into the room, dropping the pad in his hand. Her head of untidy, thin, brown hair whipped around before her green eyes locked onto him sharply. He was stunned for a moment by the intensity of her gaze, it was nothing like the fazed expression she usually wore.

"There you are!" She said in a clear voice.

"You were looking for me, ma'am?" He asked. Nia's brow furrowed when he said 'ma'am'.

"You can use my name when it's just the two of us, you know," she corrected him.

"If you would prefer," Rex said, still unsettled and unsure of her strange behavior.

"Of course I would," she said with an expression of almost hurt confusion, like she didn't understand why he felt the need to be formal at all. Rex tried to remember if she'd ever made that request of him before but to his knowledge she'd always called him 'Captain' regardless of who was present. But he also knew his memory wasn't always clear—or trustworthy. He pushed aside the last dark thought.

"What did you need me for?" Rex asked instead.

"I just thought you might be awake and want some company."

"That's…" odd, he thought. "…kind of you."

She smiled at him in a way he could only describe as tender, but it was a different smile from the absent-minded adoring look that she gave Luke. Rex shifted uncomfortably in his chair and tried not to show it on his face.

The caf pot began making the soft chugging noises it usually did at the end of a brew. Nia turned around and lithely flitted around the kitchen gathering the sugar pot, cream from the conservator, and cups from the cabinets. But when she reached for spoons her hand went to the wrong drawer and she pulled it open only to be left staring at dish towels instead of silverware. She just stood with a quizzical expression on her face looking down into the drawer.

Rex got up slowly and approached her back. His eyes were locked on her face and it's slowly drifting expression. He frowned.

"Ms. Kahn? Are you alright?" He asked.

"What?" her head snapped up, green eyes focusing like lasers on his face. She blinked once, recognition then confusion flashing in her eyes in rapid succession.

"Are you alright?" Rex asked her.

"Yes, fine. Why?"

"Spoons are in the third drawer over."

"Oh, yes," she seemed to snap out of something and shut the dishtowel drawer quickly. Rex watched her face as she set about fixing coffee. She was distracted, her brow furrowed, showing a little crease on her forehead that Rex hadn't seen before. She stopped suddenly, hand half raised with a spoon.

"What did you call me?" She asked him turning.

Is this about the first-names thing? He wondered.

"I can call you Nia if you prefer, ma'am, but I don't think it's really appropriate, regardless of the company," he said. She just kept looking at him in confusion and her mouth tested out the name, her stubborn chin dipping down soundlessly.

"Ms. Kahn?" Rex asked when she remained silent staring at him.

"Yes," she answered in the soft lilting voice she usually used.

"Would you like me to pour the caf?" He asked and she looked down at the spoon in her hand.

"No, Captain… I… I don't drink caf."

"Of course, ma'am," Rex said with is brow furrowed. Something was clearly wrong with the woman.

"I—I think I had a dream… I…" She set down the spoon and walked away slowly toward the large window wall behind the little table. Rex watched her go suspiciously. The glass reflected her expression back to him. It was blank again, vacant, almost shell-shocked.

"Are you alright?" he found himself asking, for a lack of anything better to ask. Damn, I'm not a medic; I'm not trained for this kind of thing, he thought angrily.

"Yes," she said and lifted a hand to her head, running it through her hair. "I—I'll just be going back to bed; Luke will wake early." Rex just nodded to her and left the woman to straighten the tangled mass on top of her head. He went on pouring himself a cup of the tantalizing caf. Her footsteps were light on the floor behind him as she made her way to the door.

"Good night," she said and he turned to repeat the parting. The words got caught in his throat though. Nia was right beside him. She sprung up on her tip-toes, a hand on his arm, and leaned over to peck a small kiss on his cheek. Rex froze.

Nia wandered obliviously out of the room, leaving the Captain standing at the counter in stunned silence.

What the shab? He thought, watching the dark doorway.

"Her behavior is becoming more erratic." The voice from behind Rex made him jump and spin suddenly, spilling the steaming caf over his hand.

"Frak!" He cursed. "Walli!" The usually silent trooper was standing in the doorway to the squad's sleeping quarters in his bodysuit. His hair was messy but his eyes were alert. Rex had no doubt that the trooper had seen Nia's strange parting and all the wrong assumptions that could be drawn from that one moment ran through his brain.

"That was…" He stumbled over his words as he set down the cup and shook the hot liquid off his skin. "It's not what it looks like!"

"I know, Captain," Walli said deadpan.

"You…" Rex glanced at the dark doorway. "Does she… act like that… often?" He wasn't entirely sure what he was asking. Did Nia kiss all the men like that? Did she have strange mood swings and memory lapses often?

"It's becoming more pronounced. Sometimes when she first wakes up she's confused. That period is becoming longer," Walli explained. Rex's eyes narrowed and his frown deepened.

Why haven't I noticed? Is she dangerous to us? To Luke? Rex fisted his hand on the counter.

"How long has this been going on?" He demanded.

"Since she arrived, with growing frequency."

"You've been watching her?" Rex accused.

Walli just stood silent and impassive in the doorway.

Of course he has, Rex admonished himself, he watches everyone!

"I want to know everything you've seen and anything—anything—remotely dangerous!"

"Is this an official request, sir?" Walli asked.

"No," Rex shook his head, not yet. "I'm leaving to make my report to the Emperor tomorrow morning. Have it ready by the time I return and…" Rex paused.

"I won't tell the others, sir." Walli said without prompting.

"Thank you, vod." Rex nodded to his brother.

"You have another reason for protecting the child," Walli said. It wasn't a question and, as usual, he didn't use Luke's name, as if he didn't trust it really was the child's name.

It was Rex's turn not to respond. Walli just turned silently without a word of parting and disappeared into the squad's quarters. Rex repressed a shiver. Sometimes Walli's uncanny observations were creepy, or it was just the man's unapologetic social ineptitude.

Rex shook his head and picked up his cup of caf again. He sat back down at the little table and lifted his datapad again. He needed to prepare for the briefing he'd have to give tomorrow and momentarily forget all of Nia's strange behavior. He wasn't sure how much the Emperor could get inside of his mind, but he would take whatever precautions he could. Rex sipped his caf and nearly choaked. He spat it back into the cup.

"What the-?" He glared at the cup of sickeningly sweet muck. Nia had apparently put two heaping spoons of sugar in both cups. "Nasty," Rex growled and got up to pour out the ruined caf. He would add that to the list of dangerous behaviors to watch out for when Walli delivered his report.

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Author's Note: YAY for Obi-Wan! Satine finally gets her happy ending. And something's wrong with Nia…. Any guesses? In PartII we're back on TripZip with Dar for a heart to heart 'chat'. Bear with me, the action is coming.

So at one point while I was editing this my 20 year old cat (who's almost as old as I am) walked across my keyboard and accidentally changed compassionate to compawssionate. Cats. (insert eye roll here.) Hope you liked the chapter. -Ember