A/N- Oh, no, another two-fer! Be warned. Long chapter is loooong. Sorry in advance!


~Ahsoka~

I watched in horror as the SOS signal came in from the other ship. The message was scrambled and came through in choppy bits: "...ambush... can't fight... send... once!" The image blurred and cut out. I turned to face Anakin and said, "Well?"

He looked at me and sighed. "I'm sorry, Ahsoka. We can't risk it."

Anger flew up inside of me. "WHAT? Risk what? Getting our butts kicked? Master, your friend is out there! He needs your help! And you're just going to let him suffer and die?"

He stood up, eyes flashing in warning. "Cool it, Snips! I know it's hard, but it's our duty-"

"To protect the innocent! There are three innocent girls on that ship, Master! We need to do whatever it takes to get them- and our friends out of there! I can't believe you would give up that easily!"

He was silent. I stood fuming, my fists clenched tightly. He rubbed his chin, and then he looked at me. A spark of determination caught in his eyes, and I smiled. I knew that look. He glanced around, then grinned at me and whispered in a fake serious tone, "We leave at midnight." Then he left the room.

I grinned widely. I ran over to the holodeck and locked in the coordinates of the ship. "Hold on, Rex. We're coming."

I watched the data stream into the computer when a sudden thought struck me. Why did the Captain feel so strongly about going back? Why not just hang his head and say how awful it was to lose the girls? What made him go back?

I remembered seeing the fierce glint in his eyes the night he left. I hadn't thought much of it, mainly because it was so early in the morning. But now that I thought about it, I recalled Rex stealing up here in the dead of night, since his return from Earth.

I frowned, and ran my fingertips over the pad. It lit up to life, and I stared at it for a few seconds before I started to snoop around. This is so wrong. I'm a Jedi. We don't do this kind of thing, right? I shouldn't be snooping- hey, what's this?

I glanced around, making sure that no one was near. The deck I was on was deserted. I focused on the data streams, and hovered my palm over Rex's number. All the messages he had sent and received, on this pad and his private one, were listed. "All so... recent. And to the same number..." I murmured quietly. "What have you been up to, Rexy?"

All of the messages were locked, so I couldn't get into them. I stood straight, biting my lip. There's gotta be a way in... Oh! His personal pad. Duh.

I shut the power off and turned on my heels, sprinting down the empty hallways. Soon I came to Rex's private quarters. I opened the door and looked inside. Alright, Rex. Where is it?

Hoping he didn't take it with him, and hoping no one came along and saw me digging through his stuff, I searched the room as quietly and as quickly as I could. I pushed the thought of how wrong this was into the back of my mind, focusing instead on my 'mission'.

I was about to give up when I saw a little crate pushed under his bed. Smiling, I bent down and pulled it out. It was a heavy-duty standard metal crate, ones that we give the men to keep whatever they want in them. I opened it gently, placing the lid on the ground. I sat cross-legged as I searched the meager contents.

An extra blaster, three ammo clips, the holoprojector, and... I frowned at the last item. It looked like... a piece of jewelry. I raised my eyebrows and said quietly, "Ah... ok then."

I picked it up and turned it over in my hands. It was a bracelet, made out of small interlocking chains were gold, and from them one charm hung. A gold heart, with three letters engraved in elegant writing on one side. I frowned. What do they mean?

After thinking it over for a few moments, I shrugged and put it back in the box as gently as I could. I lifted the projector out and set it on the floor in front of me. I found the messages and activated the oldest one, the first of many.

The image flickered onto the screen and my mouth dropped. No way... it's that girl! From Earth!

She smiled shly and greeted Rex, "Hi, Rex." I rolled my eyes at the meager greeting.

"Hello, Caitlin." Oh, Rex. Always the creative one.

She twisted a lock of her hair around one finger and said, looking down, "You know, it's really quiet here without you guys. We miss you all."

I heard Rex's laughter from the machine and shivered. This is so wrong, I should stop! But... I can't...

Guiltily, I watched all of his messages with Caitlin. By the third one, it was obvious that he and Caitlin felt the same way about each other. Just like Master and Senator Amidala. I took out the bracelet again and looked at it while I listened to the messages. It was hers. A token of her feelings.

I shivered again and turned the holocron off. I had seen all I needed to see to quench my curiosity. My questions answered, I put both the pad and the bracelet back in his box and shoved it under his bed. I ran out of his room and went straight to mine to get my feelings straightened out.


~Catilin~

As the elevator brought me closer to my execution, I sighed and dropped my chin onto my chest, letting my scraggly hair fall across my face, thus hiding it from view. The droids on either side of me paid no attention. I could see flecks of light whenever we passed a floor, and every time I wondered which one Rex, or Natalie, or Maureen was on. I knew we were all going to be killed. I just didn't know when.

In my mind, I replay each moment, from the very first time we met, to the seconds right before we were cornered. Even now, I felt a blush rising heatedly and in my mind I cursed myself, yet again, for doing that to him. To them all. I had brought the fall of the 501st Legion.

Finally, the quiet elevator came to a smooth halt, in the very belly of this massive ship. I felt as if I had let my entire planet down, and we had had so much potential for the Republic, and I had changed all that. I would always be remembered, if I was going to be remembered at all, as the girl who caused the downfall of Earth before it had even had a chance to prove itself.

Like a movie, I rewound the tapes and let it all play again, and again, savoring each sound, touch, feeling, and movement. The droid behind me shoved me out into the bright light of the docking station with his gun. I grimaced; but my back was so covered in bruises and cuts already one more wouldn't change anything.

As we clanked right to the center of the 'crowd', I realized I could see right past the hundreds of droids, past the reptilian monster that had, for a short time, been the entire system's hero. The blue shield that protected us from the vacuum of space was thin enough to see through, and I could watch as the destroyed star fleet ships gently floated against a backdrop of stars. A grisly scene, one I would die with.

A wheezing sound snapped me back to the present. The huge thing, called General Grievous, stepped forward towards me and unsheathed one blue lightsaber, that made me think of the Generals I knew on the other side of this battle, Anakin and Obi-Wan. So he was going to do this the old fashioned way, a public beheading. I met his cold, yellow eyes, and did not falter when he brought the blade to my neck. Hundreds of fake eyes were on me, a small cleaning droid waiting next to us to clean up the mess. I held myself tall and proud.

I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

A creaking sound suddenly filled the air as the ground shook violently. It sounded like metal scraping against metal. I shuddered at the sound and looked around, trying to discern where the sound was coming from. The droids were doing the same, turning their heads this way and that. I heard Grievous hiss madly and I felt his cold metal claws wrap around my throat.

"What backup did you call?" He yelled, his face inches from mine. I wheezed and tried to pry them off my neck. He lifted me several feet in the air and spat, "Who did you contact?"

I tried to shake my head. Blackness was closing around my eyes. My lungs felt like they were about to explode. Tears streamed down my face as I struggled against the cold grip. My body started to seize up as it fought against the lack of air.

He yelled at me in frustration and tossed me aside into the droids. I crashed into them, sputtering for breath. My throat felt like it was on fire as I gasped for air. I moved aside the droid pieces as I struggled to stand.

That's when I noticed that all of the droids were shut down. Not one of them was still activated; all of their eyes had been dimmed and they fell to the floor with a deafening crash. I stood rooted to the spot as I watched, my mouth open. What the hell? I'm getting really sick of all of these surpises! I yelled in my mind.

General Grievous was annoyed as well. And unfortunately, I was the closest thing to him that he could chop up and not get in trouble for. I stared at him before I shrieked and ran the opposite way.

The way he ran was comletely terrifying. Not including the facts that my hands were still tied, I had no idea where I was going, and I was completely alone. Put those together, and you should understand how badly I wanted to throw up right then.

I gritted my teeth and ran into a hallway leading off from the hangar bay. Grievous's clanking footsteps followed right behind me, and so I continued running. Not fair, I thought darkly, he's part robot and I'm not! He's gonna outlast me!

I felt like giving up when I realized that. My friends had vanished, my planet was doomed, Rex was most likely dead, and I was trapped inside a madhouse of a space ship, running away from something scarier than that guy with the hockey mask.

Tears actually started to pour down my face and I bit my lip so hard it drew blood. Oh, God, please! I don't wan't to die...!

I turned a corner, and another, but still the clanking continued to follow me. In despair, I ran into an empty, dark room and hid. He can't use the Force, so he won't be able to find me for a while. I hope.

I bumped into several dead droids and tumbled over them. I felt something in my wrist move, and then something snapped. I bit my shoulder to stop from crying out in pain as I hid, tucked under several... things.

I breathed as quietly as I possibly could when I heard his wheezes coming in through the doorway. He stopped, standing in the doorway, just a haunting silhouette of something that wasn't quite sentient, yet wasn't quite bestial. I shivered in my hiding spot, pressing my body into the wall and making myself smaller than I felt comfortable with.

He coughed, and then ignited two of his stolen sabers. I felt a pang in my heart when I thought about the Jedi who had died fighting this monster, and I prayed that they would help me escape. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He taunted, spinning the blue and green sabers around. As they cut the dead droids, sparks flew and the hot metal melted. When he passed my spot, I crawled away on my hand and knees, taking delicate care to not hit anything that might make noise.

I made for the doorway, and when I reached it, I stood up and walked away, heart pounding. I didn't dare breathe yet, for who knows how well that thing could hear. I rounded a corner and saw ten battle droids sitting listless in their guard spots. I moved around them, holding my hurt wrist close to my body.

I still had no idea where I was going, and I still felt like I had to throw up. But I was safe- at least for the moment.

My breath came in hurried, uncontrollable puffs as I started to hyperventilate. What I had just done- and run away from- hit me so hard it actually felt like someone had sucker punched me in the gut. The tears started to stream down my face again as I struggled to keep walking.

It suddenly took out my ability to move any further. I sank down to the hard, metal floor, and leaned my head back on the wall. I hugged my knees to my chest and just stared at the opposite end of the hallway, waiting for Grievous to come through and kill me.

"Caitlin!" I heard three voices cry out, before I was fly-tackled by Maureen and Natalie. "You.. guys... are alive?" I choked out, trying to smile. Rex stood to the side, gathering weapons for us to use. "How the hell did you escape?"

Natalie helped me up while Maureen answered, "Do you mean, how did we escape our cells? Or how did we escape detection?"

I shrugged. "Both."

Natalie grinned and jabbed her thumb back at Rex, who was busy examining a mean-looking gun. "Ask him, hon. All I know is that I fell asleep after being told I would most likely be killed in the morning, and then the next thing I knew, Rex was shaking me awake." She shrugged. "I'm sure it's a fascinating story."

I looked at Rex. He looked beat and tired, but his eyes still had that determined glint that I had first seen at the ranch. The top half of his armor was burned, his kama was torn, and he now had three long scars on the side of his face. He carried his bruised and battered helmet under his arm. I walked up to him. "What did they do to you?" I asked softly, putting my hand over the scars.

He closed his eyes and put his hand over mine. He completely covered it. He answered, just as quietly, "Nothing I couldn't handle." He opened his eyes and stared at me. "But what did they do to you?" He frowned and ran his fingertips over some cuts on my cheeks and neck. I smiled sadly and said, "Nothing I couldn't handle."

He hesitate, then grinned and pulled me close to his chest. I laid my head against him and breathed in deeply as I put my own arms around him. I didn't want to break the hold. I completely forgot the amount of danger we were in, and how close General Grievous was to us.

Maureen didn't. "Hey, guys? I hate to be the wet sandwich here, but we should probably get moving."

I pulled away from Rex, but still stayed close. He said, blushing, "Our best best is to get down to the hangar bay and radio in for help."

With that, he handed each of us our own gun, taking two pistols for himself, and he ran to the bay.

It was strange, to say the least, running past all of the dead droids. We still had no idea what had happened; why had all of these machines suddenly stopped working? Rex had the idea that something from our atmosphere had crashed into the control center, or something. But it was all guesswork.

The dead eyes seemed to follow our every move, and it made me shiver when I realized the only other 'living' thing on this ship was the General.

I held my wrist up against my chest like an injured dog holds a paw up. Unfortunately, I had snapped something in my right wrist, so I was forced to wield the gun with my left. Needless to say, I hoped that I wouldn't have to try to fire it.

We reached the hangar bay without a bump. Rex walked up to the nearest ship, knocked out its security, and lowered the ramp. We were just about to enter the ship when we heard a terrific roar. I looked up to see General Grievous standing on one of the service ramps, looking down angrily at us. "Rex!" I called out, just as Grievous jumped down with a harrowing crash.

Rex turned and drew his stolen pistols. He began to fire as he backed up the ramp. Maureen, Natalie, and I knelt to the side of the ship and hugged each other fiercely. Rex slammed the button that controlled the entrance ramp and it rose up, just before Grievous could lope off his head.

We stood and walked into the cockpit. I raised my eyebrows at all of the buttons and levers and thingamajigs as Rex hurriedly got the ship moving and out of the hangar bay.

We stared at each other for about two seconds before we burst into laughter. "We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Natalie yelled, punching her fist in the air. Maureen was doing a little dance of her own creation, and I just bent down and kissed Rex on his cheek.

He coughed, embarrassed, as he piloted the ship away from the dead Separatist one. As we passed the destroyed Republic ship, it suddenly lit up to life. I jumped as the lights came on and it straightened out. I frowned at it, confused, until Rex laughed and pointed out that Anakin likes to play little tricks like that.

"Rex! Man, it's good to see you're alright!"

He brought his wrist comm up to his mouth and said, "With all thanks to you, General."

The voice at the other end of the line laughed and replied, "Well, actually it was Snips' idea to destroy the Droid Command ship first. I would have just charged in."

"Yeah, we were wondering about that." I realized suddenly that that meant every. Single. Droid on Earth was dead. I fought the urge to jump and shout for joy.

The new voice was a girl's, one I recognized as Ahsoka's. "Oh, good! So you got your girlfriend back?"

I'm not sure who's face was more red, mine or Rex's. Maureen and Natalie just laughed their butts off. Rex didn't respond, and Ahsoka sighed and said, "Alright, fine. Sorry, Rex. Just hurry up and get back on our side where you belong!"

Rex replied with a weak, "Yes, ma'am." I covered my burning face with my hands as we docked. My head felt faint, I still felt a little sick, and my wrist was hurting like none other, but I was so happy I could have exploded. We were safe, Earth was safe, Rex was safe, and I was with him.

He was upset that his brothers had died for him when Grievous boarded our ship, as he should. The most comfort I could give him now was another peck on his cheek and to hold his hand. He looked at me sadly and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I felt guilt as well, guilt so strong that it clenched at my stomach. I said farewell to each of my brothers in my head, smiling sadly as I brought up their faces.

Soon, we walked down the exit ramp to be greeted by hundreds of troopers and the Jedi themselves. General Kenobi, General Skywalker, and Commander Tano. We smiled at them weakly and then were immediately shown the way to the hospital wing, where my wrist was fixed up fairly quickly.

Rex escorted us back to what would be our own rooms until we arrived on Coruscant. Natalie and Maureen disappeared inside to bathe, dress in clean, fresh clothes, and to fall asleep for at least twelve hours. Rex and I stayed outside of the room.

He smiled down at me and I smiled up at him. My heart was pounding madly, even though I was thoroughly exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep, yet I stayed, because I knew something was going to happen soon.

I was right.

Rex suddenly bent down and pressed his lips firmly against mine. My heart fluttered around as I threw my arms around his neck and pressed back. His arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him. I smiled, my eyes closed, as the sparks flew. All I could think about was how good it felt to be in his arms. Under his protection.

"I love you, Rex." I breathed softly.

"I love you too, Caitlin."


A/N- Oh, wow! I really can't believe it's over. *tear*

Thank you so much times a million to everyone who reviewed this story! (I'm looking at you, Gamov!) I really hoped you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and don't worry. Caitlin and Rex shall return shortly. Epilogue, anyone?

Please leave me your final thoughts and comments. I love hearing from you guys, it's kind of like my odd little addiction. Ehehe... anyway...

Stay awesome! ~Mindspring