The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Sixty-Two

"Wow, I wonder what you're thinking about right now, Rex?"

It was a cheeky, sarcastic remark from General Skywalker, meant in the kindest and most supportive way, though the clone commander still felt a rush of heat rise in his cheeks and a small grin slid across his lips.

He'd been caught staring from the porch of their guest house, where he and General Skywalker stood in wait as Lindi and Axel spoke with Etolga, the Chitauri woman who seemed to run things around the village, about ten yards away across the street. Neither men could hear what was being said over the music and cheerful dancing of the villagers; Rex didn't care. He was too busy in his own head, his small grin turning into a full smile when Lindi caught his gaze and returned it with a playful smirk before continuing on with her conversation.

"Oh my kriff, you're absolutely smitten," Anakin chuckled and folded his arms across his chest. The clone commander just let out a low, bashful laugh as his eyes found a suddenly-interesting spot on the ground. There was no point in denying it; Rex wouldn't have sounded convincing enough to even fool himself. "I'm counting this as a win. This is positively, without-a-doubt my biggest accomplishment I've ever achieved."

"What? Getting me my first kiss?" Rex laughed. Anakin's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Your first what? Your first what?" The jedi nearly shrieked as his arms shot forward and his hands clamped down on Rex's shoulders. "Rex, you've already made it to step two?" In an act of pure joy, the jedi pulled the clone into a full, strong embrace. The first time the general had ever hugged the commander in all their years serving at each other's side. "Rex, I've never been more proud of you in my life-"

"Interrupting something, are we?"

Rex wanted to laugh at the general's words; to think that after countless battles and sieges, what gave Anakin Skywalker the most pride was hooking up his right-hand man with a lady-friend. But his laugh was stifled when he heard her voice and looked over Anakin's shoulder to see Lindi and Axel standing before them, a beautiful shining smile gracing her lips like a ray of sunlight after months of winter clouds. At first Rex thought he was going to throw up as his stomach began to clench and unclench, but remembered the general mentioning it and saying that invisible butterflies crawl into your stomach every time you see the person care for most. If he and Lindi had any real chance of making it through this war together, he'd have to get used to the sensation in the center of his torso.

"No, nothing at all," Anakin took a step back and nonchalantly began dusting off the armor on Rex's shoulders. "Looked a bit grimy, that's it." She just rolled her eyes, her smile turning into a mischievous smirk.

"Well if you're done playing around, we think we might've found a way off this planet without going back the way we came." Lindi chuckled; the last bit of her sentence gave the General and his clone commander a bit more hope in the situation. She nodded to Axel and he pulled a rolled piece of yellowed parchment from his back pocket. The four individuals huddled around the paper, Lindi sending Rex a playful elbow when he pretended to accidentally bump into her right shoulder. The suspiciously innocent look on his face turned into a cheeky smirk and General Skywalker did his best to remain focused on the topic at hand.

The parchment before them was weathered after years of use. Drawn carefully with a thick, black ink were the basic landmarks they'd wandered through on their journey starting on the left side of the map. There was a small cave-like structure in the upper left corner where they'd entered this land, then through a stretch of green trees was the grotto where they'd first met the Eletai, followed by another clump of the forest before coming to the village at the very center of the paper. A little higher and off to the right of the tiny cluster of houses was more jungle-like floral that led to a large mountainous structure.