The Adventures of Babysitting with Ahsoka Tano (COMPLETE)

Part 22

As she walked out to the mess hall, Ahsoka received many compliments on her robes. Despite the nagging guilt in the back of her head, she grinned and did her best to flaunt them confidently. If she convinced everyone on board that it was an inside joke, maybe she would believe it too. 

When she got there, Anakin and Obi-Wan were playing cards in the corner. Neither of them noticed when she walked in; they were too invested in their game, which happened to be Gin Rummy. Cody and Rex were watching over their shoulders as they played.

Cody noticed the Padawan first. He did a double-take when he saw her donning Jedi robes, but after a second, he gave a thumbs-up of approval to her. Ahsoka smiled gratefully, then drew a breath. Time to put on a show. 

She walked behind Rex and Anakin to get a look at her master's hand. While she analyzed the cards he was holding, Obi-Wan finally looked up and saw her. "I take it the robes are new?"

The others looked at her as she shrugged in response. "I figured I should go with something a bit more classical. The only thing is that I left my chain at the Temple," she told Anakin, reaching behind her head to the imaginary chain that once hung there. "I should have grabbed it when we stopped on Coruscant, but I didn't have the time."

Anakin tilted his cards face-down while he threw his other hand up. "I missed your Knighthood too? Come on, Snips."

"Then stop getting hit by magic lasers," she reprimanded him, walking behind Obi-Wan so she could get a glimpse of his hand. "Just because I go undercover doesn't mean you can go around shrinking."

He glared at her, but Ahsoka ignored it. Instead, she mentally compared Anakin's hand to Obi-Wan's. Obi-Wan had the better hand right now, but all Anakin needed was two cards, and he could gin out. If Obi-Wan called the game soon enough, he could win, but it was a matter of time.

Rex nodded at the Jedi. "Who's gonna win?"

"Hard to tell," she admitted, "but I wouldn't say that out loud anyway. It's much more entertaining to let them play it out."

After a moment of silence, Obi-Wan discarded a seven and looked to Anakin. That was a mistake, Ahsoka knew. Anakin was collecting sevens and already had two of them. Sure enough, he picked up Obi-Wan's seven and discarded a four. Now all he needed was another queen, and he could gin out. Ahsoka made eye contact with Rex, who was watching his hand and had come to the same realization. It was a risky tactic, but then again, when had Anakin Skywalker ever shied away from risk?

Obi-Wan didn't want the four, so he drew. He didn't like the card he got, so he discarded it. So did Anakin, and this went on for a few rounds until Anakin drew what he was looking for. Grinning, he exchanged his third queen for a nine and set his cards down for the table to see. "Gin."

Groaning, the Jedi Master threw his hand down. "I should have called it six rounds ago. I knew it."

"You do this every time, General," Cody complained while Ahsoka and Rex congratulated Anakin. "Every time. When's the last time you've won a game of Gin?"

"I'm holding out for the opportune moment."

"Well, it hasn't worked for the past ten games."

Ahsoka overheard and turned to Anakin. "You've won ten straight?"

Her master smirked and collected all the cards, shuffling them. "What can I say? I know who I'm playing against. You in?"

She might have passed, but the others didn't give her a chance to. Right away, Obi-Wan moved out of his seat and offered it to her, and with Cody and Rex egging her on, she didn't have much of a choice. The spectators traded seats while Anakin started to deal.