It's Commander Tano, Not Padawan

Chapter 6

Note: Sorry, this one's a bit shorter. 

As a man who had faced hundreds of thousands of droids, a fallen Jedi, poisonous gas, almost had his arm bitten and mauled off by a Mastiff Phalone, free-climbed a sheer cliff-side with lava boiling underneath, and thrown off a cliff by way of Force, Rex rarely considered himself lacking courage.

After listening to Ahsoka's plea to the Council, however, he turned tail and sought cover in the privacy of his room.

Not only did he did not want to hear what his men had to say about Ahsoka individually calling him out, Rex also needed to decompress.

He had recently realized just how good a friend Ahsoka was to him and how much she cared. It threw him for a loop.

What did it mean?

She obviously thought of him  in a different way than the General did – thank goodness, because Rex didn't think he'd be able to deal with a tired and lost Anakin Skywalker coming to his door asking to stay overnight with him – but what did it mean?

Did she see him as just another one of her vod? Or was he something else to her?

Rex shook his head as he laid flat on his bed. It didn't matter. Even if she wasn't a Jedi anymore, he was still a clone, so it had to be against the regs.

And he was so obviously one to do everything by the regs.

Plus, it wasn't like he liked her like that. Right? She was just a friend. A really good, close, beautiful, sweet friend that he would take a blaster bolt for without a second thought and fit perfectly against him when they slept.

Rex groaned.

He needed to do something, and it wasn't like that pile of digital paperwork was going anywhere anytime soon.

Grabbing his datapad, the Captain did his best to drown himself in mind numbing GAR forms.

That was until he heard a knock on his door about an hour and a half, two hours later. Rex was almost impressed Fives restrained himself that long.

Still, though, he refused to deal with the ARC trooper tonight.

He didn't even bother getting out of bed, just bellowed towards the door. "Fives, if that's you, you're gonna wish the Seppies got you first."

The response he got in return was not what he was expecting at all. "Cute, Captain, but I don't think the clankers would stand a chance against me."

Her voice sounded so drowsy, but his brain had short circuited. "Shavit," he said under his breath as he rolled out of bed and dropped the datapad in his chair.

He tried to take a breath like he had seen her do when she was stressed before he opened the door, a hand scratching his neck. "Uh, hey, Ahsoka."

Smooth.

He watched her as her droopy blue eyes expressed her exasperation.

"Hey to you too, Rex. And I'm gonna tell you now, if you don't explain why the boys are looking at me like I grew a fourth lekku tomorrow, you're going to regret it." Ah, yes, because she looked so intimidating falling asleep where she stood.

"Right now, though, I'm dead on my feet and your room was closer, so if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna bunk over again."

Rex didn't know if his pounding heartbeat was trying to tell him that he was pleased or moments away from having a heart attack.

But it wasn't like he was going to turn her down. Besides, she really did look tired.

"Oh, um, no, I don't mind. My bed is always open for you."