Ahsoka Tano One-Shots

Warm, Welcome Arms | Part 4

Heyo, human beings from outer sapce!

This was requested by the_chaotics and I think it's a nice happy little sum up to this way-longer-than-I-meant-it-to-be four shot! 

Read on if you dare. 

Padmé was acting weird.

Not in a bad way: She was positively giddy and there was a bounce to her step. And while Padmé was great at keeping positive, she never acted with such childish joy.

Anakin tried to pry the cause of this from her, but she only twisted his mind further every time he asked. He feared he'd forgotten their anniversary or one of their birthdays, but the calendar proved him otherwise.

She started cooking at two that afternoon.

"You have got to tell me what's going on here!" Anakin whined as he followed her around the kitchen.

"Not yet, Ani," Padmé laughed. "Now get out of the kitchen!"

At five that evening, clones started showing up at their doorstep.

"Rex!" Anakin exclaimed in surprise when he opened the door to identical faces. "Fives, Tup, what are you doing here?"

"You don't want me?" Fives exclaimed dramatically, looking wounded. "I thought we were friends!"

"We are," Anakin said, "I just wasn't expecting company tonight."

"Oh, you're here!" Padmé cried, appearing around the corner of the kitchen. "Come in, sit! Ani will take care of you guys while I finish up in the kitchen."

Anakin went along with it, inviting them in to sit and talk. Padmé had made him clean the whole house that morning, and now he could see why.

The boys all looked well. They were wearing citizen's clothing, which was almost strange to see, but it didn't look bad. All of them had found their own passions and careers to pursue and all of them were living out their lives to the fullest.

"Do any of you know what this is about?" Anakin asked after the laughter from one of Fives' jokes died down.

"The senator never told you?" asked Rex, and Anakin shook his head. "Well, I think we'll keep that way for now. Don't wanna mess up her plans, she can be pretty scary when she wants to."

Anakin was about to protest when the door rang again and the boys beamed. Anakin, a bit confused, went to answer it, and opened it to find Fox, Wolffe, and Cody standing there. Though confused, Anakin let them in and brought them to sit and join the conversation.

The door rang a few times more and each time Anakin opened it, more clones came pouring in until Anakin had to go off to drag in sofas from other rooms so everyone had a place to sit.

By the last time the doorbell rang, Anakin was growing tired of constantly standing up and walking to the other room to answer it. Lacking enthusiasm, Anakin swung the door open, but he immediately startled when he saw Obi-Wan and Plo standing in front of him.

"Masters!" Anakin said. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I assumed you wouldn't be," Obi-Wan said. "Your wife is very sly."

Anakin frowned at that, but let the two Jedi in to sit and talk.

When they made it back to the others, Padmé had joined them. She said their dinner just had to finish cooking in the oven for a while, then it'd be time to eat.

The group simply sat, chatted, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company. It'd been a long time since they'd all been there together and Anakin couldn't quite describe how wonderful it was, especially now that he didn't have to stand to get the door every few minutes.

"Thank you so much," Anakin said quietly to Padmé, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pressing his lips against her hair. "This is amazing."

"Don't thank me yet," she replied, grinning.

When dinner was ready and everyone made themselves comfortable at the table, the doorbell chimed again.

"I'll get it, you sit, Ani," Padmé said when he instinctively turned to exit the dining room. Anakin smiled and took his seat and tried to think of who might still be coming.

He didn't have to think long because a moment later, footsteps came through the doorway. Anakin twisted in his seat and everything inside of him froze, his eyes blowing wide.

Before him stood Ahsoka.

Ahsoka who he hadn't seen in nearly a year.

For a long moment, no one said anything and Anakin and Ahsoka stared at each other. She'd gotten taller, if only a little, and she looked stronger and healthier than before.

Then as if his body caught up with his brain's excitement, he sprang up from his chair and attacked her in a great, warm hug. Ahsoka laughed wetly and hugged him back.

"Snips, are you crying?" Anakin said.

"No!" she denied, wiping her eyes as he pulled away.

"Oh Force, it's so good to see you!" Anakin swallowed her up in another hug and she laughed again. "How are you? How have you been?"

"Fine, fine, and I've been around."

Anakin froze and pulled back, eyes widening with a new question. "Wait, does this mean you're–" he cut himself off, throat tightening with emotion.

"Yes," Ahsoka said, blinking back happy tears. "I'm coming back. I'm ready now."

Anakin could've burst out crying right then and there. "Welcome home, Ahsoka, welcome back."

"Thank you, Anakin," Ahsoka said. "Now move over. You're not the only one here I've gotta hug, you know!"

And not one person in that room was left with dry eyes that night, but each tear shed was filled with joy.

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Word count: 896

Published: 9 September 2023

I got a little lazy at the end 'cause I wasn't sure how to end it, but I still like it. 

Requests are open, feel free to message me or make a comment if you have an idea!

Hasta la vida, peoples!