How's it goin'? Been a while, huh? Yeah. I have no excuse. Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for baring with me.

Enjoy the chapter!

Never Dead

III. Mending

Rex limped steadily down the familiar halls of the Resolute, easing as much weight onto his recovering leg as he dared, as if he could speed up the healing process through sheer will alone. The quicker he recovered, the sooner he'd be back on the field. The bacta treatment and Kix' expertise repaired most of the damage, but his wounded limb still needed time to readjust to active use before he'd be seeing any action.

…And the Captain lived for action.

The standard hustle and bustle of the Republic cruiser was somewhat therapeutic to the injured clone, and it slowly soothed his mind into a comfortable state of routine. The crew of his beloved ship rushed here and there, applying maintenance where needed and seeing to the overall wellness of his home. Curtains of bright cosmic light streamed in from the duraglass windows and glinted off of the sleek metals of the ship's interior, making for an almost surreal setting, as Rex trekked ever further towards his destination: the training hall.

He needed to get his leg in better shape before the next planetary campaign began. He wouldn't let his men down again. He wouldn't. The scene from Mar-Quesoth continued to haunt him as he walked, instilling an almost child-like fear of bumping into one of his troopers, or more terrifying yet, the Commander.

The lift was miraculously void of any passengers, much to Rex's relief, and he enjoyed a quiet descent down to the PT level. He took this time to examine the condition of his leg thoroughly, and was left with little to complain about. The flesh of his thigh had mended itself anew and left only moderate scarring. The muscle beneath responded to the signals from his brain easily enough, and the only real bother at this point was the persistent ache felt at bone depth. Bacta works miracles on tissue. Bones, not so much. The fractured femur must have required some serious surgery, and if the annoying semi-throbbing was anything to go by, it meant he was still far from optimal condition and had his work cut out for him.

The doors of the lift parted when it reached its destination, and Rex was beyond pleased to find himself greeted by an empty training hall. An empty lift was one thing, but an abandoned training hall…

"I am never this lucky," the Captain mused to himself, looking around warily for the other shoe to drop. "Heh, must be dinner." He checked the chrono on the wall above a peculiar set of weights. It read: 1721, in blue LED numerals. Just a few minutes past the start of the evening meal, which meant a packed mess hall, overrun with ravenous clones. No one would be disturbing Rex for the remainder of the hour, if his assessment of his brothers' appetites was correct, and he liked to think it was, since he had the exact same metabolism. Well, no one except the Commander. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that she wouldn't come looking for him. He knew the compassionate padawan far too well for that. He could only hope to get as much exercise in as possible before the inevitable confrontation.

With the whole facility to himself, the command clone set about leisurely adjusting the various equipment to his preferences with practiced ease. The familiar ambience of the fitness chamber lulling him into a sense of peace, as Captain Rex began pushing his body to the limit and testing the waters of his recovering leg. When the sweat began to fall, he closed his eyes and reveled in the burn.

Ahsoka's brisk steps carried her ever closer to the Medbay and the man currently occupying her thoughts. She weaved her way through the throngs of hungry troopers as they swarmed towards the mess hall, trying to work out in her mind exactly what it was she would say to Rex when she saw him. She was fairly certain that he wouldn't want to talk about Mar-Quesoth. The young togruta wasn't even sure that she wanted to talk about it, and yet she knew he needed to have it out. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't avoid the topic as much as possible.

More than that, however, she just wanted to see her captain. No, needed, to see him. The last she'd seen of him, he was in agony, both physically and emotionally. His pain rippled through the force with such intensity, that Ahsoka had felt every excruciating second of it. Hatred, sorrow, shock, betrayal, self-loathing… and anger. So much anger. None of those emotions suited Rex. Not the man she knew. Not her Rex.

It unsettled the young padawan, not because she was afraid of him, but because she was afraid for him. In his frenzy, the berserk captain had completely disregarded a gushing leg wound and any further damage sustained, just to crush the life out of the enemy at his mercy. This was not healthy behavior for a usually calm and reserved soldier like Rex. It certainly wasn't doing her heart any favors, as she'd nearly driven herself insane with worry until Kix assured her that he was in stable condition and wouldn't be dying on them anytime soon. Just the thought of a world without Rex was enough to make Ahsoka shudder, and cause a lump to form in her throat.

She wouldn't last long in such a world.

Finally freeing herself from the dinner mob, Ahsoka ate up the remaining distance between herself and the medbay in record time. She wasn't concerned about missing a meal, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stomach a single bite until her captain was back at her side, as it was meant to be. The sleek duraglass doors parted to reveal the bright sterile environment that made up the Resolute's medical center. Rows of cots supported various recovering troopers as the occasional medical droid drifted by to check conditions and apply meds when needed.

To Ahsoka's surprise, there was no comatose captain awaiting her this time. Another clone now occupied his cot, a snide fellow by the name of Tork, if memory served her correctly. Though she was concerned for this trooper and his injuries, as she was for all under her command, he wasn't the soldier she had been hoping to find. Had Rex been discharged already?

Scanning the rest of the room with her luminous eyes, the eager togruta tried to quash her growing anxiousness. That is until…

"Evening, Commander."

"Aah!" Ahsoka leapt a full foot in the air before spinning around to face a grinning Kix, hand still clutching at her erratic heartbeat.

"Dammit, Kix, don't do that!" The startled padawan griped. "You're gonna give me a coronary one of these days."

The sneaky medic erupted into laughter at his commander's reaction, the look of shock and indignation she wore being too much for him to bare. Ahsoka folded her arms and pouted at the exaggerated display of hilarity at her expense. This just caused Kix to laugh harder. His self-preservation instincts kicked in, however, when he caught sight of her eyes narrowing and her fingers tapping impatiently, as if to say: 'Are you done?'

"Apologies, Commander," Kix gasped, his laughter slowly subsiding into small interspersed chuckles. "It's not every day one finds himself able to sneak up on a Jedi. Your face was priceless!"

Rolling her eyes, the good-natured padawan let the seriousness in her expression melt away in favor of her customary smirk. "Not every day?! Are you kidding? You catch me off guard at least once a day! Usually when it concerns something that I don't want to hear."

"Ah, but you were easy pickings today, Commander, distracted as you were." Kix shot back playfully, with a knowing look.

The chevrons on Ahsoka's lekku darkened in response to the subtle jab, as she nibbled her lip and began playing with her hands. They both knew full well why she was distracted. The head medic couldn't seem to help himself, though, and continued to play stupid. The Commander was in rare form today, and he'd be passing up an even more rare opportunity if he were to let her slide without some ribbing.

"So what brings you to my humble medbay?" He asked, as if she hadn't just been there an hour ago, glued to a chair beside her comatose captain.

Ahsoka's expression flattened, as she fixed the incorrigible clone with a dry stare that practically screamed: 'Really? Really?'

Kix simply continued to feign ignorance, the smug glint in his eye nearly undoing his innocent façade.

"For force sake, Kix, is he here or not?!" The exasperated padawan sighed.

"Hm? Is who here, sir?" Evil smile.

Ahsoka was gritting her teeth now. When had Kix become so damned cheeky. Kriffing clones, and their rotten sense of humor.

"The Captain left about twenty minutes ago, with a clean bill of health," the head medic finally caved, taking pity on the restless Jedi. "It's anyone's guess where he is now."

"Jeez, was that so hard?"

"I was having fun."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes again and spun around to exit the room, but not before knocking over a jar of cotton swabs with a wave of her hand and a small nudge from the force.

That'll teach ya.

Kix' jaw dropped at the petty display of vengeance. "Oh, real mature, Commander!" He squawked, proceeding to clean up the childish offense to his spotless medbay.

"Let that be a lesson, trooper."

Ahsoka could barely keep the mirth out of her voice, as she made her escape. Served him right. She had bigger jaig-eyed fish to fry, anyhow.

And I know exactly where to find my quarry.

The determined togruta found a new skip to her step, as her strides brought her ever closer to the training hall and her captain.

Sorry again for the lengthy dry spell. I can only beg for your forgiveness. I won't, but I can.

I noticed the ending note to the previous chapter sounded kind of snide/passive-aggressive, like I was fishing for reviewers, which is not cool. That was really just a failed attempt at dry humor. No need to rank yourselves as my "fans" anymore, lol. Thanks, though!

See ya 'round, hopefully sooner than last time...

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