Cejanr (A Rexsoka SWTCW Fanfic)

37

Padme greeted Ahsoka at the door. For the first time since Ahsoka could remember, she didn't see any handmaidens around the apartment. Padme had laid out dinner on the kitchen counter in a very informal fashion.

It wasn't a lot of food, nothing too extravagant, yet the meal probably costed more than rent did for Ahsoka and Ventress. It was more food than Ahsoka had seen in one place in a while, though. Her stomach grumbled at her, probably trying to tell her off for only eating cold, raw meat and leftover scrambled eggs for the last month.

"Grab a plate, sit down." Padme instructed warmly. Ahsoka obeyed, sitting down in a wood chair across from her friend.

"What's the news?" Ahsoka asked. Padme took a deep breath.

"There is good news and a kriff ton of bad news that just came in." She said, passing Ahsoka a datapad. Ahsoka's pulse sped up. It was a report. It couldn't possibly be from her master.

But it was from Anakin.

Or, more specifically, 'Jedi General Skywalker.' Ahsoka read through it, her eyes widening as she scanned through the report.

"It is in my professional opinion that...""...Clones that young, sims passed or no...""I am not comfortable sending literal children out to meet that kind of blaster fire..."

Ahsoka covered her mouth with her hand. "They lowered the required age? Again? Nine was bad enough but eight?" She met Padme's eyes. "Surely the senate won't approve." She handed the datapad back.

"They already have. They don't care about age, they just see that they can have fifty thousand units ready that much faster." Padme sighed.

"Slagging carbon score." Ahsoka whispered. Padme gave a wry chuckle.

"That about sums it up." She said. Ahsoka deflated a little.

"I take it that's the bad?" She asked, finally taking a bite out of her delicious food. Padme nodded.

"Yes."

"So what's the good?"

Padme took a deep breath. "It's a secret." She said, a ghost of a smile on her face. Ahsoka rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Obviously. Otherwise you would've told me over our comm call instead of going through the trouble to invite me to dinner." Padme's smile widened a little more.

"That is true." She shifted in her seat. "Remember when I visited your apartment and you asked if I was alright?" Padme took a drink of a glass of water next to her. Water, Ahsoka noticed. Not wine like she had seen the senator drink at every other dinner Ahsoka had been a bodyguard at for her.

"I remember." Ahsoka tilted her head with a frown, reaching out to the force to brush Padme's force signature. It still felt different. Almost like there was an echo to it.

"I contacted my private physician, and she found what you sensed." Padme continued. "Ahsoka, me and Anakin are going to have a baby!" She said excitedly. Ahsoka blinked, then laughed a little to herself.

"It must be baby season, then. I was just asked by a patient at work who is also expecting to look into the rapid ageing for the clones, just to be sure nothing from her boyfriend would carry over." She said. Padme snickered a little.

"Must be! Oh, I can't wait to tell Anakin." The senator said with a grin. "We got some false documents to hide who the father is, because you know how politics works. If anybody goes digging, I wanted a child, so I got one. The father is a anonymous naboo resident."

"Smart." Ahsoka remarked. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she felt stupid for not feeling the tiny force signature and recognizing it earlier. "Just... make sure not to worry Anakin when you tell him."

Padme chuckled. "Yes. Worry is the last thing he needs in all of this."

They talked for a while until Ahsoka excused herself, thanking her friend for dinner and the news. It was late by the time Ahsoka got back to her apartment, Padme insisting on driving her because the catwalks weren't safe past dark. Ahsoka showered the grime of the day off of her and changed into some leggings and one of Rex's shirts that he had left there.

She was doing paperwork for the Hospital when her comm rang, and she jumped to get it. Rex.

She answered it and set the comm down on the floor as he appeared in front of her.

"You look like hell." She said sardonically. Rex cracked a small grin.

"Feel like it too. We got new shines, straight from Kamino." He said solemnly.

"I heard about them lowering the age again." Ahsoka said softly. Rex clenched his jaw.

"They're cadets, Ahsoka. How am I going to send literal kids out there with a clear conscious?" He asked, scrubbing at his face.

"I... I don't know." She whispered. Rex ducked his head.

"Eight years old. Eight and they look younger than Cav." He hunched his shoulders, practically collapsing on the ground by his holocomm. Ahsoka sat too as he wrapped his arms around himself, tears beginning to slip down his cheeks. "These kids are trusting me with their lives, Ahsoka. How am I going to watch them die? How am I going to sit with them after they lose their squadmates? How..." He couldn't finish, giving a gut wrenching sob and curling down around himself. Ahsoka slid forward, so she was right up next to him. She instinctively made to wipe the tears away, but her hand passed through his cheek.

"What am I supposed to do?" His voice was a broken whisper. "We have to retreat from Kashykk, leaving the wookies to fend for themselves. They're sending us to Anaxis next, and I have to fight off an army with children. My brothers, who are barely eight years old." His breath was a rattling gasp.

"I know. I know, Rex." She soothed gently. "This is wrong. They should still be in their squads on Kamino." Ahsoka's own vision blurred. Kriff, but she missed him. Missed his warm heat next to her. Missed being able to wipe away the tears and make everything alright, if only for a little while.

"Ahsoka..."

"I'm here. I'm here." She murmured softly. "None of you chose this."

"I can't do this. I can't do this anymore." He whimpered quietly. "I can't lead these men. Not against an army that outnumbers us three to one."

"You shouldn't have to." Ahsoka leaned forward the hologram blurred between them as their foreheads met. "Nobody should have to do this."

"Tell that to the kaminoans and politicians." He whispered.

"I would if I thought it would change their minds." Ahsoka replied. "Padme is working on it too."

"Thank you. For speaking up for us." He sniffed and wiped at his eyes. Ahsoka smiled.

"You can think, you can feel pain and emotions. There is no reason not to see you as not a sentient being." Ahsoka pointed out.

"Except we are mass produced in millions from tubes on a planet that barely anybody knew about until the start of the clone wars." He grated. "There will always be people who won't think of us as human."

"I love you." She murmured gently.

"I love you too. One month down. I'll be home before you know it." He made another choked off noise in the back of his throat, and dug at his eyes once more, before cutting the connection.