Growing up Again

Chapter 12

Ahsoka smiled.

Something she hadn't done in a while, but she wasn't about to complain one bit...

Fives laid in her lap, his eyes peacefully closed from sleep. 

Rex and Kix slept on the other side of the cargo bay, their armor removed and leaning on each other as they slept. They had passed out like a light once Ahsoka had filled them in enough on what she had been doing these past few months. It seemed to calm down the nerves they had, and they fell asleep soon after.

Ahsoka ran a hand through Fives's hair, something the other clones rarely let her do. But with Fives being Fives, he was willing to be a test subject to the teen. She smiled at the feeling, a jealous ping nagging softly as she imagined herself with hair.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at her thoughts and closed her eyes, still smiling as she stilled her mind.

She thought that if she closed her eyes and relaxed enough, she would be able to imagine herself in the barracks on Anakin's ship.

She swore she could hear the soft chatter of the men.. Sneaking in the newest bottle of booze from Coruscant right under Obi Wan's nose. Anakin could really care less, he even let Ahsoka try to participate in a small drinking competition the clones usually had with each other. Ahsoka had quickly learned her lesson of the downfall of a lightweight teenager after that...

The smell of new paint, usually used after a rough battle when the clones redid the artwork on their helmets and body armor. She remembered the time when Echo had joined the group, him being one of the newer recruits, and the blue handprint he held on his chest plate. Ahsoka had always wondered where he had gotten it from, but was a little too scared to ask...

None of the clones had scared her- well other than Dogma. He just gave her bad feelings, and she really wasn't surprised when he turned out to be a traitor. 

They were just people to her. Just men. And if anything- they tended to be men with an awful taste in music. And booze- 

Ahsoka blinked out of her thoughts and scanned the room, her eyes looking back down to Fives, smiling at his still peaceful sleep.

This was her family. She knew it deep inside of her. While her parents had been the ones to begin with her training, and teach her the healing methods she had used to heal Obi Wan back on Shili. But- other than the training... everything else was fuzzy. She remembered being scared as she hide in that small cellar under the house, thinking her parents were dead, thinking she would be too soon...

Then Anakin had stretched out his hand to her....

To her....

 She owed them everything... 

Her life, her respect, her trust, her care, her love....

"Anakin...." Ahsoka whispered into the cargo bay..

"I'm sorry..." 

She bowed her head softly in shame.