A night to remember

Chapter 2

It was a long trip to Naboo, and in that time Ahsoka had found a way to keep her from going insane with boredom, and Rex felt ten times better than he did when he woke up. They met Anakin on the bridge, Ahsoka was reminded that she was to go to Padme and Rex was supposed to be with Anakin, Ahsoka smiled and bowed to her master, her bag filled with the necessities of what looks like a two or three day trip on Naboo, she wasn't going to like this, she was never all to happy when she wasn't with Rex, it was an emptiness that troubled her a lot lately, she believed it was because they were close friends and that he had always been there for her, she seemed to notice a lack of victories when she was alone, and that in itself troubled her. She took in a deep breath and smiled at Rex.

"Good luck Rex, master."

"You to sir," Rex smiled behind his helmet, he had to admit seeing Ahsoka go off on her own made him on edge, it wasn't that he didn't trust her abilities, he just felt a lot better if he was standing next to her.

"Alright snips, we'll see each other soon, hopefully, if we can get this mission done in time," Anakin smiled placing a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder.

"Well master knowing you, I should have packed extra gear, we might be here a lot longer than three days," she smiled up at him.

Ahsoka waved goodbye, to the two, and the four other clones that had accompanied them. She stood in the hanger for a long time, looking out to where the two had left, and no one really bothered her either.

"Commander, senator Amidala has arrived," one of the troopers said, tapping on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry, I'll be right there," she smiled.

She gave one final look back at the sky where her master, and captain had flown off to, then went to go greet the senator, Padme had a bright smile on her face and she seemed to have a few new troopers on either side of her. One had a large paw print on his shoulders, and a different style of jaig eyes in a sort of purplish red paint, he looked at her, wondering why she was staring at him. The other clone wore orange stripes on his armor, and she recognized him as part of Obi Wan's legion, she bowed to the group of three, and Padme seemed overly happy to see her.

"Ahsoka, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm fine senator, and you?"

"Excited, we have a lot to do today," Padme beamed as she pulled Ahsoka off towards her office.

I guess she still has some last minute things to tend to, Ahsoka thought, her eyes continued to wonder to the clone with jaig eyes, she wondered how he got them, now that she thought about it, she had never really asked Rex about the markings on his helmet, and now seeing someone else with them made her wonder.

"Runt," he said simply, it was the first time Ahsoka heard the man speak.

"Oh, hi, I'm Ahsoka Tano, Master Skywalker's padawan," she introduced.

He looked down at her and nodded his head, as if accepting that bit of info to be legit, then turned his head away from her.

"How did you get those marks on your helmet?" she asked.

"I was awarded with them, before I came here," he said not looking at her. But his hand did go to his helmet and touched the corner of one of the eyes. "You like them?" he asked.

"Rex has the same thing but in blue," she said looking down at her feet.

"He must be a good man," Runt said then stopped speaking as they arrived at the office. "This is where we part, I'll be seeing you two soon, good day ladies," he said politely as a final goodbye then walked away.

Padme kept her eyes on him, until he was out of site, then she looked back at Ahsoka.

"Come on, we can talk inside," she smiled brightly.

"He seems nice, when did he get here I didn't see him the last time I was here," Ahsoka said when they got inside the room.

"Just a few weeks ago, he's been transferred from world to world, always protecting senators, or what not, but he doesn't seem to like being moved around a lot." Padme answered as she started searching for something.

"Would you like help?" Ahsoka asked.

Padme looked up and smiled. "Oh no, that's alright Ahsoka, you must be tired, why don't you sit down," she smiled.

Padme had always been nice to Ahsoka, at some points it seemed that even she was watching over her instead of Ahsoka watching Padme, they were sort of friends, but it seemed that the two had skipped friendship all together and stepped into a secret sisterhood, and how did all this happen? Neither knew the answer, and though Padme was more of a peace lover and Ahsoka wanted to fight, they both agreed on a few things, one being how eager Anakin can be for battle, to the point of suicide. The girls had shared a laugh, and Ahsoka would often tell her what was going on in the ship, the little games she played with the clones, and how Rex continues to try and win, but there were times where Ahsoka envied Padme, one time being how Anakin seemed so worried about the senator and not about her, he acted as if Ahsoka wasn't even there, but, she knew in her gut, it was because he knew Ahsoka could take care of herself if need be.

Ahsoka sat down and twiddled her thumbs; it was oddly quiet as Padme went through the room in a heated search. "Sooo, you know how I like to play random games with the troopers?" she asked looking up; Padme looked up and nodded her head, then returned to her search.

"Well I lost," she said swiftly.

Padme stopped what she was doing, "what do you mean you lost, Ahsoka you never lose," she said shocked.

"I know right? Well, guess who finally beat me?"

"Let me guess, does he wear white armor with blue stripes?" she asked.

"Correct."

"Hmm, is he a command clone?" she asked.

"Correct again," Ahsoka smiled.

"Do you have a pet name for him?" she asked.

"It's a nick name, and yes," Ahsoka argued.

"Oh my, did captain Rexy finally gain a win under his belt?" she asked acting shocked, but she sort of saw it coming.

"Sadly yes, he tricked me, tickling me an all," Ahsoka huffed crossing her arms. She absently stroked where Rex's fingers had been, though they were just playing around, she couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like if he was a bit more intimate.

"But you liked it, having him that close to you, touching you," Padme smiled wickedly.

Ahsoka blushed hard. "n-no, I mean…maybe, it's not like it's going to matter right? He's a clone and I'm a Jedi, it wouldn't work out," she sighed looking at the floor.

"Never say never," Padme smiled with some hidden wisdom in her tone, then pulled Ahsoka by her hands. "Come on, I'll know what will cheer you up!"

Ahsoka looked up at her and tilted her head in confusion.

"Shopping!" Padme cheered.

They both needed a day off, a time where they can just be girls and shop till their hearts content, and not stress about the war, and politics, and especially a time to get Ahsoka to truly confess about her love for Rex, sure she wasn't supposed to encourage that, and she wouldn't hear the last of it from Ani, but hey, girls stick together, as long as that girl isn't going after your man.

somewhere on the other side of Naboo, Rex walked alongside Anakin, they had been searching the area for hours, and nothing had been found, Anakin was beginning to think that it might have been his wife's tricks to get them on planet.

"Sir, we haven't found anything, should we head back?" Rex asked.

"Let's keep searching Rex, if we don't find anything soon, we'll head back to the city," Anakin instructed.

"yes sir," Rex nodded his head and continued walking, his arm hit something on his side, and when he looked down he saw that it was Ahsoka's datapad, he hadn't given it back even after he had been given one heck of a back massage. Rex shivered at the thought of her touch on his bare skin.

"Are you alright captain?" Anakin asked.

"Uh, yes sir, I'm fine," he replied glad that his bucket hid his red face.

Rex patted the datapad and continued to follow his commanding officer, he wondered if he would get to see Ahsoka before they had to leave planet, knowing the general, they would be done with this as soon as possible, especially since he had the senator waiting for him. Rex noticed that Anakin would sometimes look at his wristcomm and then look back in front of him, as if expecting an important call.

"I hope Ahsoka is having more fun than me," Rex grumbled as they all trudged on.

"try this one Ahsoka," Padme beamed as she handed Ahsoka another dress, this one was light purple and had a few beads along the rim of the top. this had been the third shop they had visited, and Padme seemed to be having quite a lot of fun dressing Ahsoka up.

Ahsoka shook her head, sighed, and then took the dress and walked into the dressing room, taking off her tightfitting clothes and slipping into the long mermaid style dress, she didn't like it, fact was, she didn't like trying on dresses. What was the point when she wasn't planning on going to the ball to begin with? Ahsoka walked out and Padme looked at her and shook her head.

"It doesn't go well with you, oh! I know, I can't believe I didn't think of this before, but let's try on a dress in the 501st color!"
"Uh,

sure my lady, anything you say," Ahsoka smiled, she had to admit she sort of liked being dressed up.

A few hours passed, and still there was nothing, it seemed that there never was anything to begin with, and that the small group of men had been tricked, probably by Padme, Anakin treated them to drinks at a local bar and it didn't take long for the Jedi to become drunk.

Echo was chugging beer like there was no tomorrow, having a race with Coric whom stated that he could drink more. Fives laughed and was drinking something far stronger than his brothers, and Rex, well, Rex was with Anakin laughing at his cheesy jokes, and making a few of his own. Anakin playfully punched Rex in the arm and nearly fell off his chair, if it wasn't for Rex's quick reflexes Anakin could have been face first on the hard ground, however Rex believed that his General would have just laid there laughing even harder.

"What's this?" he asked pulling up the datapad that Rex and clipped onto his belt. He tried to get it back, but Anakin gave Rex a warning glare and turned the datapad in his hands. "It's Ahsoka's," he mumbled, then turned it on.

"I, uh, I forgot to give it back to her, she was just telling me what was going on, she even let me look at her notes." He said quickly reaching for the datapad once again.

Anakin pulled it away from his reach and scrolled through it; there was a part of it that was locked.

"Oh, that's no fair my padawan, locking your master out of your datapad, what are you hiding?" he asked as he started putting in some things he knew about Ahsoka, but none was her password. It was an eight digit password, and Anakin had run out of guesses. He gave the Datapad back to Rex and sighed, taking another drink and downing it.

It wouldn't be for another few hours when he would start babbling like a fool, giggling, and singing in the middle of his sentences. At this point, Rex to was a little bit over just drunk. His brothers passed out on the counter.

"Rex, my closest friend Rex," Anakin hiccupped.

"Yes…general?"

"You know…Ahsoka?" Anakin asked letting his head fall onto the cold counter in front of him.

"Yes, I know of the commander," Rex chuckled.

"Hmm, well…." He paused trying to find the right words. "I approve of you dating her, if you two ever decided to move past the friend zone," he waved his hand lazily in the air before passing out.

Rex didn't answer him; his amused smile was replaced by a puzzled and shocked line. Did he just hear his general correctly; did he just get his blessings? Rex shook his head. Ahsoka was just a friend, and as far as he knew that's all she wanted. He took another sip of whatever was in his glass and sighed. Besides the general was drunk off his ass, surly he didn't mean what he had just said.

"If only I knew what she felt," he looked at his brothers, then Anakin, everyone was out cold which meant he has to find some way for them to get back.