Flaws of the Jedi

Alive - Part Two

"Ok, you ready, Ahsoka?" Anakin asked.

"Yep! Yay, I'm excited!" Ahsoka replied, crossing the room to him and holding onto his arm.

He smiled at her, and she happily returned the smile, kissing him on the cheek.

"Ok, lets hurry then; we only get tonight off until next month so we don't want to miss our plans," Anakin said, resting a hand on one of Ahsoka's hands that was holding onto his arm.

"Ok!" Ahsoka responded joyfully.

"Aww! You're leaving now?" Astoria whined, "When will you be back?"

"Later; probably around 11:00 or 11:30," Anakin told her, "Why do you ask?"

"Uh, duh! I'm clingy! I'm going to ask when you're gonna be back!"

"She has a point..." Ahsoka joked, "Now come on, let's go! Bye Astoria, bye Ezra!"

"Bye!" The two Padawans said in unison.

With that, Anakin and Ahsoka left to go on a long overdue date night. What Ahsoka didn't know, though, was that Anakin was way more nervous about how this was going to go than he was letting on.

The two took a taxi to get to a restaurant that Ahsoka had recently found out about that had fantastic food. Once they had finished their dinner, they went on a walk around a nearby park under the moonlight.

The two walked for a little bit until they reached a small peer that gave a view out over a lake that shimmered with the bright moonlight. Trees surrounded Anakin and Ahsoka on all sides except in front of them and on the stone path they had followed to reach this point. Now that they were here, Anakin was much more nervous and kept a hand near his pocket at all times.

"It's so beautiful out tonight, isn't it Ani?" Ahsoka said in a slightly hushed tone, admiring the glistening lake.

"Yeah.. it's perfect," Anakin agreed, smiling at her.

They stayed looking out over the moonlit lake for a few minutes with Anakin's arm lightly draped over Ahsoka's shoulders. Anakin took a deep, but quiet, breath after these minutes passed and slowly moved his arm from her shoulders and turned to face her. Noticing him do this, she turned to face him as well.

"Ahsoka, I have to ask you something.." Anakin told her.

"Sure, anything," She replied with a smile.

"Ok.. here goes.." Anakin said quietly under his breath, then continuing in an audible tone, "Ahsoka, I love you - and have loved you - for a while now... and we've been through a lot together. Some of it bad, some of it good; all of it together... so I have to ask you this now...-" He took a shaky, nervous breath in and leaned down on one knee, Ahsoka looking at him in slight shock and disbelief... then revealing to her the velvet maroon box lined with gold that held a magnificent ring inside, "-...Ahsoka Tano, will you marry me?"

She stared down at him for a moment with complete shock, disbelief, and pure joy. After her shock passed, her eyes filled with overjoyed tears and she rested her hands over her mouth. Then, moved her hands from her mouth and smiled brightly at him.

"Y-Yes! Yes, of course I will!!" She said with a blissful smile, jovial tears falling down her face.

He sighed a breath of relief as his eyes began to fill with effervescent tears as well now. He stood and she immediately hugged him tightly. After a moment, they released each other and Anakin slid the ring onto Ahsoka's finger. She admired the ring for a moment, then looked back up to Anakin with tears still in her eyes.

"I love you so much, Anakin!!" She said gleefully.

"I love you, too, Ahsoka!" He told her.

After a short moment, the two kissed. Anakin rested his hands low on her waist while she rested her hands on his chest. Anakin held her very close as they kissed. For a few minutes, they kissed each other passionately, honestly not wanting the moment to end. It sadly did though as they slowly broke their kisses. Despite ending the kisses, Anakin and Ahsoka remained close, tears of pure joy in their eyes.

"How long have you been planning this, Ani?" Ahsoka asked him.

"Um.. a few months I think," He told her.

"Months? Wow, how nervous were you? I mean, I could tell you were acting a little strange all day, but I never imagined this was the reason!"

Anakin laughed a little bit, "Uh, yeah... I was very nervous; I had to make sure everything was perfect.."

"Aww.. well it is!" She told him as she rested a hand on his cheek. He smiled again and brought a hand up to her's.

"Good.. come on, we should get back now or we'll kill Obi-Wan with worry... and probably Astoria, too."

"Ah, you're right!" She said, grabbing his hand, "Let's go back. Should we tell them about our engagement?"

He smiled at her, "If you want to."

"Yes! But just Obi-Wan, Astoria, Ezra, and Kanan; let's wait to tell the others."

"Ok; come on then."

Back at the Temple...
Anakin and Ahsoka entered the hall to their quarters and, to their surprise, didn't see anyone in the hall.

"Maybe they went to sleep?" Anakin suggested.

"Eh, maybe," Ahsoka agreed, "That's ok; we can tell 'em tomorrow!"

Just then, they heard shouting from the nearby conference room... it sounded like Astoria. It was definitely odd, as Astoria rarely ever raised her voice anymore - not that she raised it much before anyways.

Anakin and Ahsoka shared a nervous glance at each other before crossing the hall to the room. When they were nearer to the room, they were able to hear what Astoria was shouting, and to whom she was doing so.

"Lies! They can't be alive! This is ridiculous!" She shouted, her voice cracking as tears filled her eyes.

"We would never lie to you, my Padawan," Obi-Wan said calmly.

"No! They are not alive!!" She argued, "Th-They can't be!"

"Astoria, take a breath... you need to calm down.." Ezra warned.

"How do I calm down?! Master Kenobi, you have your facts mistaken! They cannot be alive! I watched them burn!"

"Astoria dear, I know what you think you saw, but they must've escaped... they are alive..." Obi-Wan told her.

"Stop! Just stop..! Th-They are n-not alive..! Th-They can't be..." Astoria said, her voice gradually getting quieter as her tears began to flow down her cheeks.

Anakin and Ahsoka glanced worriedly at each other again and Anakin knocked lightly on the door. The room hushed when he did so. After a moment, Kanan answered the door.

Anakin and Ahsoka saw two holograms set on the table in the room showing two pictures of Sith - one man, one woman. Astoria was near the holograms with Ezra crying, and Obi-Wan was on the opposite side of the table.

"What's going on? We heard shouting," Anakin said.

He got no response. The room was quiet except for Astoria's soft cries as she held onto Ezra.

"What happened..?" Ahsoka asked.

After a moment, Obi-Wan looked over at Astoria for a moment, then to Anakin and Ahsoka.

"Astoria's parents are alive... and they are Sith..."