After Ahsoka's comms from the Council, and from Anakin, they finished their meal in silence.

Rex stared down into the black dregs of his caf mug, letting the myriad sounds of the tapcaf carry on around him.

What if he didn't get his commission back? His brothers were counting on him. He sensed Ahsoka's watchful eye on him, and he looked up and met her concerned blue gaze.

"You're worried."

"Of course I'm worried!" he snapped, and then immediately regretted it at the hurt look on Ahsoka's face. "Gah. I'm sorry.' He released the death grip he had on his caf mug. "That was out of line. It's just..." he pushed out a long weighted sigh. "I have a responsibility to my brothers, and I feel like I'm failing them." He toyed idly with the handle of the mug, unwilling to meet Ahsoka's gaze again.

The servi-droid topped off their caf cups and whirled smoothly away again. The droid was relentless.

"Rex," Ahsoka lightly touched the rim of his mug. "This is you. And, everything you touch." She gave his mug the barest of touches, and perfect concentric rings formed inside of it. It was not a natural action, but some force thing she was doing. "You are like a raindrop hitting the surface of a pond. When the raindrop touches the surface, its impact upon the surface ripples out in the form of concentric rings.'

"So, I'm a raincloud?" he scowled. Thoughts of his upcoming meetings were certainly dampening his mood.

Ahsoka laughed and the sound touched something inside of him. It always did. He couldn't help but tilt his lips up slightly in return. "You have one of the brightest and sunniest force signatures of anyone I've ever met."

"Oh." Ahsoka always had a way of making him feel better. He couldn't help smiling again. "So... I'm not a raincloud, then?"

Ahsoka gripped his hand. "You are light and you are warmth. For someone from a planet of continual rain, you are the exact opposite." She released his hand and tapped his mug again. "But, what I am trying to say is all of our actions are interrelated."

He gripped his mug and stared down into it. "Jedi logic. You see connections in everything."

"Rex, look at me." Her blue eyes looked into his, deep and intense. He was brought back to the hours they'd spent together in the cave when he'd been at his most vulnerable. "You need to trust in the Force."

"The Force doesn't care about guys like me," he picked up his cup again, "it never has." He set his mug down again with more force than necessary, interrupting the perfect circles and sloshing caf over the side of the full cup.

He didn't want any more caf.

"Rex."

"What?!" his voice ground out louder and harsher than he'd intended.

Rex.

What?!

He answered without thinking. Ahsoka had spoken to him in his mind, he realized with a start, and in a way, the touch was as familiar as when he'd brushed his lips up against her montrals. So familiar and right. He stared at her, his eyes wide. He remembered this feeling from the cave. It was not... an unwelcome sensation.

The Force speaks to all of us.

"Not to clones," he muttered, the words barely audible, "the Force doesn't speak to clones."

I think the Force is especially interested in you. Your brothers. All of you. Don't be afraid. The Force has higher plans for you.

He blew out a long breath.

At one time, he was so sure of who he was and what he stood for (the Republic and the Jedi and all that was good.) And, now he had no fekkin' idea of what he believed in. He'd gotten locked up by the Republic for insubordination after arguing with a Jedi Grand Master. He'd rescued his Jedi, and his Legion, and he was likely going to die for it as no one had given him permission to save them.

The Force could take its plans and shove it.

If the Force cared about him, he wouldn't have been born into a slave army with no rights. The Force was cruel indeed if its master plan was for Rex to continually watch his brothers die around him, with no power to save them.

It was hard for him to believe there was a master plan to anything in this universe when he continually had to watch everyone he cared about die one by one.

"The Force isn't for guys like me, Ahsoka. Maybe there's a grand plan for you Jedi in the whole scheme of the universe, but the fate of my brothers is clear. We were created to be canon fodder."

Ahsoka's eyes widened, then narrowed in anger, and Rex knew he'd gone too far. Ahsoka did a small wave of her hand, the only indication she was doing a Force thing. He glanced around, trying to figure out what she'd done, but nothing looked out of place. Alright, except maybe all of the patrons were looking the other way, unduly fascinated with the artwork on the walls.

Ahsoka slid into the booth next to him, gripped his chin, and pressed her lips to his in a hard kiss. Demanding. Almost painful. But, then the kiss softened as Rex responded. She tasted like caf and sweet berries, and he never knew that odd combination of tastes could be so appealing coming off of someone else's lips. She scratched her fingers across his scalp and he sucked in his breath. He suddenly wished they were alone in this tapcaf. Alone on this planet. Alone anywhere.

She pulled back and smiled at him. "Feeling better?"

"Wait, you did that to distract me?"

She flashed him a trademark Ahsoka smile. "Partially. But, also because you had a little bit of syrup on your chin." She leaned forward and slowly licked his chin. He shivered. "I couldn't resist." Her eyes were dancing with amusement and mischief. "Feeling better?"

"I am, actually." He knew this moment, like all of the others, could not last, but he wanted to prolong it a little longer. "Are you going to do this every time I get into a mood?"

Ahsoka's laughter rang out and she slid back into her booth, waving her hand again toward the rest of the patrons. "Maybe."

It was so effortless- the way she wielded her powers. He could see why people feared the Jedi. If you didn't know them, the way he knew Skywalker and Ahsoka, their casual use of their raw powers was terrifying. He was glad they were all on the same side.

He glanced at a chrono up on the wall. Time was passing by quickly. Too quickly. But, if they timed it correctly, maybe he had just enough time to check in on his brothers. Rex gestured toward the comm unit still sitting on the table. "Alright if I check in on Fives and Kix?" It was frustrating to not have his helmet, or his gauntlet, and the comms which so effortlessly linked him to his brothers.

Ahsoka nodded and Rex picked up the comm unit. He quickly dialed Fives' comm code, the combination sliding effortlessly off his fingertips as he tapped in the Republic keycodes and then the registry for CT-27-5555.

"This is Fives. Who is this?"

"This is Rex. I'm using Ahsoka's comm."

"Rex! Are you alright? I heard you ran into some trouble."

"Uh... yeah, I'm uh... working some things out with the Jedi Council. Nothing I can't handle. How's Echo?"

"Echo has been undergoing tests to determine the cause of his illness. Nothing definitive so far, but we have some theories. Kix could explain it better," Fives paused. "Is it true they locked you up?"

"For a little bit, yes. Not a big deal, Fives." The last thing he needed was Fives going on an ARC rampage on his behalf. "It gave me a
chance to see Cody. I'm already out thanks to General Skywalker."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm... having breakfast, actually. I'm in the custody of the General until my hearing. Well, the General is... eh... busy, so I'm with Commander Tano. None of that matters. Let me speak to Kix." Fives and Echo liked to gossip as much as the rest of the boys. He didn't need to give them any fuel.

"Hey Rex, good to hear your voice. I was worried about you. With regards to Echo, he's undergone a high-density scan, but it has yielded more questions than answers. We'll figure it out, though." Kix's calm tones soothed Rex, as they always did. "We are awaiting approval to do a second scan-"

Kix's voice was interrupted by a profuse round of cursing. It wasn't Fives' voice. There was someone else with them. A slightly younger clone voice. Kix held the line open while there was a hurried conference on the other end. "What?! What do you mean it wasn't approved?! You said if we put it through as a contagion..."

There was another quick exchange that Rex couldn't make out and he glanced over at Ahsoka in confusion. She was also listening intently.

"Trouble, Kix?" Rex said, trying to draw their attention again.

"Yes," Kix admitted, a rare bit of worry seeping into his tone. "Maybe. This is not good."

"Start from the beginning," Ahsoka said, leaning in toward the comm.

"Echo needs another scan. We're hoping it will show he has the potential to get better. Otherwise, they will have due justification for shipping out of here. Head injuries are classified differently. If the recovery time looks too prolonged or difficult, or the outcome is not guaranteed, then the... resources... are devoted elsewhere."

"Yeah, I get that," Rex muttered.

Ahsoka glanced at her chrono. "We have enough time. See if we can make some things happen over there."

Rex sucked in a breath, knowing his smartest move would be to head over to the Senate building and wait for his meeting with the Chancellor. He could get there early. His whole focus at this time should be on getting his commission back. Smooth things over after he moved off.

But, of course, that was not what he was going to do. He leaned in toward the comm. "Alright, Fives. Hang tight. We're on our way."

# # #