WARNING: Serious Fluff Overload Upcoming...

Chapter 2

Sweet Sixteen

Ahsoka tapped her foot impatiently, a motion that went unnoticed in the moderately busy Coruscant spaceport. She longed to see Carter, and now that his fighter had finally landed, she could hardly bear the wait.

"Blasted security checks," she muttered to herself. If there hadn't been a war currently ongoing, Carter's going through security wouldn't have had to take so long. But with the mass of confusion and deception when it came to determining what side someone was on, the precautions had been jacked up outrageously.

She pulled her datapad out and checked for messages. There were several 'Happy Birthday's, and Carter's last message, which she refused to delete because of how sweet she thought he sounded. Finding nothing else new, she glanced down to read it again.

Hey, 'Soka. Happy birthday. I'm on my way, we got held up over Alderaan, had to blow up a ship. You know, the usual stuff. So anyways, if I'm late, that's why. I think you know by now that I'd never skip out on you, so I ain't worried about you getting mad at me. Can't wait to see you. I miss you like crazy right now. The few hours I have left to wait are killing me. But when I get there, you can bet I won't leave your side until you push me away. :) Love you, beautiful.
-Carter

She sighed dreamily as she reread the last sentence over and over again. The ache for him in her heart intensified, but she kept her mind on the fact that he was only minutes away. The datapad buzzed, and she glanced down at the new message, another from the man she loved.

Look up.

She did, grinning widely, expecting him to be there. When he wasn't, however, the smile disappeared, replaced by a look of puzzlement.

Suddenly, strong, tan arms snaked around her waist from behind, and Ahsoka felt soft lips press against her cheek. She laughed and turned around in his arms, staring into the emerald eyes she had been longing to see for all of two seconds before she pressed her lips to his, her fingertips finding their usual place in his soft black hair. They pulled apart to breathe, and she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. For a long while, they just held each other.

"Hey," Carter said with a slight chuckle. "Happy birthday."

"Yes it is," she murmured into the crook of his neck. "Now that you're here."

His arms tightened around her slightly, and she could almost hear the grin in his voice. "Well that sure makes me feel good about myself."

She pulled back far enough to press her mouth against his for a fleeting second. "Don't let it get to your head."

"Force, I missed you," he whispered, capturing her lips again.

She reluctantly pulled away from the kiss to reply. "Missed ya more," she said with a smile. Their lips met in several short kisses before Carter finally pulled out of the embrace and slipped his hand around hers.

"Come on. Let's go have fun on your sweet sixteen. Right now, though, I think we're putting on a display so sweet it might make these people around us puke Uj Cake."

Ahsoka laughed, stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, and pulled him through the crowds. Almost instantly she realized that today was going to be better than she expected.

Just the feel of her hand in his as they ran, carefree, across Coruscant's walkways for no reason but the sake of being together made Carter feel whole again. All he wanted, all he needed, was right next to him. He could easily drop this life as a Jedi for her, but he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do.

Ahsoka slowed to a stop, out of breath, which Carter was grateful for; he'd started to feel a cramp in his side anyways. They just stood there, hand in hand, panting with exertion. When she'd finally caught her breath, he moved, capturing her lips in a kiss. His lips lingered longer than usual, and when he finally pulled away, he was surprised to feel her arms yank him back down for more.

Her lips trailed across his jawline, dancing around his mouth for a bit before she connected their mouths with more force than he'd ever felt from her before. Startled, he ignored the desire he had to continue and pulled back. "'Soka. Stop."

She breathed heavily. "I... I'm sorry. It's just that..."

He silenced her by pulling her into his arms, letting her bury her face in the crook of his neck. It wasn't easy being a teenager in love while pretending to follow a Code that outlawed it, and he guessed it was even harder for Ahsoka, whose Togrutan predator instincts made the urge harder to resist. "Someday..." he whispered. "I'm gonna marry you, Ahsoka. I don't care what the Code says, it's gonna be done."

"That's impossible, Carter! To hide something that big from the Council? It's already hard enough to hide our current situation from them!"

"It's happened. My Master... remember?"

"But he's a full Jedi Master! I don't... we're just Padawans, Carter, we can't shield our minds from them, not when we aren't that powerful yet."

"I'll find a way, I promise." He dug into his pocket for a moment, loosening his embrace. Ahsoka pulled back and slipped her hand into his, pressing her lips gently against his cheek as he frustratedly tried to find by feel what he was looking for. He finally found it, pulling out a simple necklace, a locket, to be exact, and placed it in her hand. "Happy birthday, by the way."

She looked at the locket, shaped like a heart, the words I love you engraved on the front, and smiled. "It's beautiful..." she said quietly, in the voice she used when overcome with emotion. Carter grinned. She thought it made her look weak, but he secretly loved it when she was able to cry in front of him, just for the sake of being able to be there for her when she stripped down the walls of toughness she often enclosed herself inside. Ahsoka opened the little compartment, and inside was a tiny holo of the two of them, lips pressed together blissfully. She looked up, a lone tear in her eye that he could tell she was struggling to hold back. "Carter, you don't know-" He stopped her in the middle of her sentence by bringing their mouths together once again, just like in the picture, and holding her there.

"I do know. I know you more than I know myself, Ahsoka. And I know that I will always, always love you."

Ahsoka sighed as she flopped down on the sofa to watch a holo with Carter. He was just too perfect, and it was all she could do not to wonder how she had gotten so lucky. As his arms tightened around her waist, she looked up at him. "I wish you could be around like this all the time."

Carter smiled. "Me too." His attention focused back on the holo, full of fight scenes and gore, yet not too appealing to Ahsoka. She didn't mind, though. Just being with Carter was better than any holo she could have asked for. She'd missed him too much over the long tours of duty. Their separation by the Council seemed almost intentional. In fact, she was sure that it was. After the dilemma they almost went through, the Council was wary of their feelings for each other. The only thing that kept the Masters from separating the two was Yoda and his constant insisting that there was no need to worry. Nobody questioned the Jedi High Master, though they all knew that Carter and Ahsoka's relationship was more than friendship. The only question they had, which they reluctantly decided to follow Yoda's judgment on, was "How much more?"

Carter's lips on Ahsoka's forehead brought her attention back to the present, where it should have been in the first place. "What?" she asked, leaning into his chest further.

"You just sorta seemed out of it," he said. "Something on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied. "Just us."

"Us?" he asked, smiling a little. "That's a pretty big topic."

"Well, let me sum it all up for you." She turned around in his lap and slid her hand into its familiar place behind his head, crushing her lips to his. He instantly gripped her face, returning and deepening the kiss.

"Oh, Force, Ahsoka," he breathed. "I love you." He kissed her again. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He held her tightly, pressing his lips to her cheek in gentle kisses.

"I love you too." She breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of his cologne. "I don't regret my decision one bit."

"So I've noticed. And apparently, the Council has, too. I heard Master Skywalker's been trying to promote you to knight for a while now, and they don't want you to because of me."

"I'm sure that's not it. They probably just think I'm not ready for the responsibilities of being a General in the war."

"How could anyone think that you're not ready? You already command like a general, Skywalker's put half his men under your sole command, he treats you more as an equal now than as an apprentice. The public loves you, you're the one who gives them hope. I mean, it's all 'Commander Tano fighting for all of us back home!' whenever you're gone on duty. You're a legend among even the recruits. The Council is just wary of us. I don't want to keep you away from that."

"Carter, I'd slide down to the bottom of the food chain here to keep you. Don't even start to think that I'd put a stupid rank over love."

"That's the problem," he muttered. "That's why the Code forbids attachments. We promised that we wouldn't let our feelings for each other get in the way of duty to the Republic. When we decided to do this, that's what we swore. And right now, the Republic needs you as a General, and our relationship is getting in the way."

She shook her head. "Just... calm down. Okay? We'll figure out a way to get past this."

"Calm down? 'Soka, there's an entire galaxy out there about to fall off its hinges! And I'm the reason it's happening. I'm keeping the hero they need from saving them!"

Ahsoka sat up, pulling away from him and angrily looking him in the eye. "Don't even start on that! You know that's not it."

"Yeah, I do. And I feel like I gotta do something about it!"

"Well, you aren't going to! Like it or not, Carter Draik, the universe doesn't solely depend on you. We can win this war whether I'm General Tano, Commander Tano, or just plain Padawan Tano, and you know that!"

"Even with your promotion to general, the outlook won't be great. The Seps outnumber us. While we're breeding clones for years, they're cranking droids out of factories in minutes! If we win this war, it'll be a Force-blasted miracle."

"Then I figure you have nothing to worry about." She stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked. "What did I say?"

"I just need some air, calm down Flyboy." She started for the door, and then looked back at him. "Don't follow. Please. I need some time alone."

"My life belongs in a soap opera," she thought bitterly to herself