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Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars or Frozen characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental.

There is an explanation of how my calendar works and a list of helpful translations for my commonly used Star Wars words in 'Flame of Hope - Everyone' if you're curious. (Where a bit more of this story has already been written.)

A/N: Due to how stories tend to get ignored if they are in the crossover section, this story will float between the Clone Wars page and the Frozen page, depending on which one is most appropriate to the latest chapter posted.

He's Gone

Prologue:

D83/20 BBY, Coruscant

Ahsoka walked down the steps of the Temple as silent tears slithered like shards of melting ice down her cheeks, feeling as if the judgmental weight of the galaxy still sat on her shoulders,.

Leaving Anakin and the Jedi way of life behind was, without question, the hardest thing she'd ever done and the guilt was already eating away at her.

Feeling her Master's pain and sense of betrayal through their Force bond was going to break her heart before she even made it to street level at this rate, but she couldn't bear to shut him out. She was worried that he'd fall into one of his rages if she did, which was never a good thing. And they'd been getting so much worse lately. So she left the bond open and sent as much comfort to him as she could, considering her own state-of-mind.

But she just couldn't stay. Not in a place where no one had trusted her. Not in a place where the Chancellor's influence was so rampant that the Jedi couldn't even believe one of their own over his opinion. Not in a place where the emotionally stilted Master Windu had the final say.

Stars, I still can't believe he and the Council tried to pass all of this off as my Knighthood trials. This wasn't my trial. This was theirs. And they failed.

They failed.

They failed Anakin. And they failed me.

The rift between Anakin and Obi-Wan is only going to grow larger from this, unless they find some way to start telling each other the truth. And I just can't see that happening; they're both too stubborn and determined to make it to the end of the war with their pride intact.

Rex mentioned that Master Krell had foreseen the fall of the Order because of the war. I think I can see it already. The Order is blind to what they have become. What they are driving Anakin into becoming; a soldier falling closer and closer to the Dark side. Barriss was right about that.

The Order is doomed. My Masters are doomed.

I wish I could talk then into leaving as well, but if they haven't done it yet for Padmè or Satine, they're not going to do so for me.

It's all just so... wrong.

Her thoughts had brought her to the bottom of the long staircase and into a big courtyard, which meant she had to make a decision as to what to do next. She had a few things in her room that she wanted to get, but she also didn't want to spend another second at the Temple right now.

And that thought was enough to make the decision for her. Leaving her things for later, Ahsoka turned away from the entrance into the Temple and aimed for another set of stairs that led to one of the smaller Temple hangars. (Fortunately, not the one that Barriss had blown up.)

Upon arrival, she found the hangar mostly deserted, except for a few mechanics working on broken speeders and Rex, who was leaning up against the grey and red GAR issue speeder he'd driven Ahsoka and Anakin in from the military base to the Temple after she'd been released.

Seeing him there, waiting so patiently for word of what was going on, was enough to snap the fragile control she had on her battered emotions. All of the adrenaline fuelled fear, the exhaustion of waiting in cells with an aura of misery and judgement permeating the air, the crushing betrayals from her friends and people she'd looked up to; it finally found an outlet and she couldn't stop it.

"Rex," she sobbed as she started to run.

The startled clone Captain barely had time to open his arms before a bundle of quivering female Togruta was barrelling into his chest. He looked down at her in astonishment as she wrapped her arms around him and gasped terrible sounding sobs into chest armour, and then he closed his arms around her slender frame and hugged her back. "There, there. Shhh. It's okay, little one. Whatever it is. It's okay. I've got you," he murmured against the soft skin covering her hollow boned montral.

What the kriff did they do to my Commander?! I've never seen her cry like this. Never. She's always so fragging strong, even when she's badly injured. Kark, even when she thought she was going to die from that virus, she never shed a tear.

Ahsoka tried to bury herself into Rex's armour as he kept murmuring nonsense to her and patting her back gently, if a little awkwardly, so grateful for his calm strength, she couldn't even express it. She'd needed someone to hug her so much over the past five days, someone to tell her that everything was going to be okay, and she'd had no one.

Okay, that wasn't strictly true. Anakin and Padmè had tried to comfort her as much as they could, but Ahsoka just couldn't collapse like this in front of either of them. They always expected her to be strong, so she was.

But Rex... He was different. He'd always done everything he could to take care of her. And it wasn't just his conditioning to protect the Jedi. None of the other clones were so dedicated to making sure she stayed hydrated and fed while on the battlefield for hours or days at a time. None of the other clones protested when she put herself on the frontline over and over again. None of the other clones made it their personal mission to find her a decent place to sleep while in the field. None of the other clones had let her use their thigh, or chest, or shoulder as a pillow on countless occasions when Anakin wasn't available for sleeping on and she was too tired to go find her bed.

None of the other clones were Rex.

In fact, no one else in the galaxy was Rex.

He'd been her best friend from the day she'd met him on Christophsis, and she knew he'd still be her best friend till the day one of them met their end, probably way before they should.

Rex was her rock and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

At least, not to him.

She sucked in a shuddering breath and made a solid attempt at controlling her emotions again. Ahsoka was only crying a little when she looked up at his concerned face. A face cut deep by lines of stress and laughter so many years before they should have settled there. A rugged face that she wanted to look at for the rest of her life. "I've..." sniff, "Left the..." sniff again. Stupid runny nose. She wiped it as surreptitiously as possible on the stiff armorweave of her vambrace. "The Order, Rex."

His brows furrowed even deeper, and his golden brown eyes shone with sympathy. "Oh, Soka." He used a gloved thumb to gently brush the tears off her face.

"For good."

"Kriff. It was that bad then?"

She nodded and then nestled her cheek into his large hand, closing her eyes at the comfort he radiated, and then leaned her other cheek against his chest armour again. She sighed when he started stroking her back lek gently in a soothing motion, that he knew from experience would either calm her down or put her to sleep if she was already calm. "I don't know what I'm going to do now," she whispered. "I've spent my entire life training to become a Jedi Master, and now I'm just a washed out Padawan. I have no credits and no place to go. I have no purpose anymore."

Rex's heart felt like it was going to shatter in sympathetic pieces from the misery and defeat in her tone. And that just wouldn't do. His little Commander was strong and full of life. He just needed to remind her of that.

Still holding her tight to him with one arm around her back, he used the other hand to tuck under her chin and make her look up at him again. "Of course you have a purpose. You just have to find a new one. You have so many useful skills, it shouldn't be hard to find a job. You can fly anything. You're great with mechanics. You can fight like a Mando even without your lightsabres. You're smart and know half a dozen languages and can read another handful. You should be able to walk up to any job you want and they'd be stupid not to offer it to you."

Ahsoka's breath caught. Because he was right. So very, very right. I CAN do anything I put my mind to. "Rex... Thank you," she breathed as she hugged him tighter again.

He grinned down at her. "Just doing my job as your Captain. And as far as someplace to stay until you can afford your own... I know of a certain Senator who happens to adore you and has an absolutely massive apartment." His mouth quirked up a little higher on one side at the look of dawning relief in her huge sky blue eyes. "I'd offer to hide you in one of the rooms on the base," he joked, "But that's probably more trouble than it's worth since I'm rarely planetside. You'll be much more comfortable with Amidala."

She pulled her arms from his waist and flung them around his neck instead, going on her tiptoes and planting a smacking kiss on his stubbled cheek. (He'd understandably been a little too preoccupied lately to keep up with his grooming.) "Stars, Rex, I love you. You're the best."

And then they froze, staring into each other's eyes, as they both realized what she'd said.

Did I just say that out loud?

She could barely breathe as the weight of knowledge settled on her chest.

She loved Rex. Had probably always loved Rex. And not just like a big brother like she did with Anakin. She loved him like a mate. She'd always thought of him as incredibly handsome and strong. He was dedicated, loyal, determined, and sometimes even more stubborn that herself, which was saying something.

He was a perfect mate for her.

And now... Now she wasn't a Jedi anymore, which meant that she could explore the love and hope she thought she saw in his eyes. And if she was honest with herself, her previously unacknowledged love for Rex might have played a small part in her decision to leave the Order.

She had no desire to be torn apart by conflicting loyalties like Anakin was. Nor to live in denial of love like Obi-Wan did.

Ahsoka was free, and with that feeling, for the first time in her life, she realized that she might have been a slave to the Republic and the Order without knowing it.

Did she just say that?

Rex couldn't believe it, but he basked in the words like a man offered a drink of water after three days in the desert without one.

Because he'd loved Ahsoka since pretty much the first day they'd met.

She'd been such a fearless and feisty little thing that he just couldn't help himself. The dynamic of it had been weird, considering she was technically two or three years older than him, but didn't even come close to looking or acting like it. So he'd found a good place in his head where he called it brotherly love and just accepted it for what it was.

And then, one day about a month or so ago, he'd realized that she was a taller, curvier, and decidedly more grown up fearless and feisty little thing, and his love hadn't been happy with being just the brotherly sort anymore.

He'd had to quash it down with every ounce of determination he had, knowing that she was a Jedi and could never return his affection without fighting against her morals, and that he was a clone owned by the Republic and that he wasn't allowed to love and marry.

But now... Now she'd said it. She'd said she loved him and he just didn't care about what he was allowed or not allowed to do anymore.

His arm tightened around her back, holding her up on her toes, and his other hand cupped the back of her head as he searched her eyes almost desperately. "Do you? Do you really?" Because I really need you to. I need you to love me as much as I love you.

Ahsoka gasped as the faint Force Bond she's always had with Rex leapt and danced and quivered within her soul in excitement, strengthening to something even stronger than what she had with Anakin, and his last thought appeared clearly in her mind. She cupped his face in both of her hands and smiled hopefully. "You love me too?"

He blinked and gulped, hand tightening around the top of her back lek without his knowing it. He'd figured out from observation that she could talk telepathically to Anakin and General Kenobi when she wanted to. He hadn't known that she could hear his thoughts too. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. How long has she been able to do that? There are some things she just shouldn't hear. "You heard that?" he asked to confirm.

She smiled wider, confidence growing as his waned slightly, ignoring the slight discomfort of his hold. "I did. A strong Force bond will do that." His look of horror wasn't what she expected and it hurt her for a moment until she read enough of his emotions to piece together why. She was quick to reassure him. "But only what you want me to hear. Promise. You have to think something at me specifically because you have very good natural shields."

His hand relaxed on her lek, and his expression turned almost wicked as he began stroking it again, but in something that couldn't be called a soothing fashion no matter how you looked at it. He wished he wasn't wearing a glove. "In that case..." His eyes glittered like gems as he lowered his head to hers, touching their foreheads together. "I do love you. I always have. I love you more than anything."

Ahsoka almost felt like crying again. But this time with overwhelming joy. Everything she'd gone though over the last few days almost felt worth it if it meant that it had led to this moment. She didn't need to be a Jedi to have a purpose. She just needed Rex's faith and love. At that moment, it felt like more than enough to last her a lifetime.

She smiled tremulously at him, arms tightening around his neck as little shivers made their way through her body from his caresses. She closed her eyes and sent back, "I love you more than anything too."

"Good. That's good," he thought back in relief and joy as he closed the remaining distance between their lips and kissed her with the tentative pressure of a butterfly landing on a flower, unsure of its welcome.

Her plush lips turned up in a quick smile before she pushed back and kissed him with more confidence than she felt, throwing her heart and soul into it.

Rex groaned and picked her up entirely to get a better angle, using just the one arm. She moaned into his kiss at the show of strength and wrapped her legs around his waist.

They didn't stop kissing for a very, very long time.

After taking Ahsoka out for dinner at Dex's, where she took great comfort in indulging in two whole slices of Sic-Six-Layer cake, Rex dropped her off at the street level entrance to Padme's apartment building. She jumped out of the speeder and then leaned back in to pick up the duffle bag that contained all of her worldly possessions.

He leaned towards her from the driver's seat. "Do you want me to wait, to make sure you'll be welcome here?"

She shook her head and leaned over the side of the grey speeder even further to kiss him quickly. "No, I'm sure she won't kick me out, at least for a few nights anyway. And I'm hoping that she'll like my idea."

Rex smiled at her in a show of confidence, running his bare fingers over the white marking on her cheek. (He'd pulled off his gloves back at the Temple hanger when he couldn't stand the agony of not feeling her satin skin firsthand anymore.) "She'd be stupid not to like it, and the Senator never struck me as stupid."

"No. Padmè's definitely not that," she laughed. She kissed him again and then pulled back, shouldering her bag. "You should get back to the base before they start looking for you. Send me a thought whenever you want to talk and hopefully we'll see each other again before you're sent back to the war with Anakin."

"Will do. And I'll make sure we do. There's no way I can stay away from you for long now that I know what it's like to hold you," he finished off with a little gruffly.

She gave him a knowing look filled with smouldering desire that went straight to his groin. He nearly groaned out loud. "I'm holding you to that, my sweet Rex," she said in the sultriest voice he'd ever heard. And that nearly had him pulling her back into the speeder with him and saying to hell with the rest of the galaxy.

Somehow, Rex kept it together enough to stay in his seat and smile like he didn't need either a freezing cold shower or a fast and desperate wank. "I'm thinking that tomorrow isn't too soon for another date, right?"

Ahsoka laughed softly. "No. Tomorrow is definitely not too soon." She started backing away from the speeder before she gave in to the lust in his eyes. Kriff, he's so hot. I just want to kiss him forever. "Love you, Rexi."

He watched her until she disappeared behind the ornate doors. "Love you more, Soka."

"Not a chance. I definitely love you more."

He grinned to himself as he merged the speeder back into traffic with one hand and adjusted himself to a slightly more comfortable position behind his codpiece with the other. "We can debate that one later. Have a good night, sweetheart."

"You too, babe."

"Babe?!"

"Yep. Cause you're one hot babe of a man."

"That doesn't even make any sense."

"It does to me."

"Can't you come up with something better?"

"Would you rather I called you sugarpie?"

"Uhhhhhhh. That doesn't exactly fit the image of the badass soldier that I'm going for."

She laughed in his mind. "Then babe it is."

"I guess," he capitulated, shaking his head as he half-concentrated on not crashing in the crazy nighttime Coruscanti traffic. Babe. Frag. My brothers will never let me live that one down if they hear it.

Ahsoka was still grinning from her teasing of Rex when the turbolift came to a stop at Padme's floor. It faded as she walked towards her door and was completely replaced with a look of determination as she rang the bell.

About half a minute later, the door was opened and she smiled at Threepio.

"Oh. Hello Commander Tano. You were not expected, but I'm sure you will be welcome. The Mistress always enjoys your company. Please come in. I will take you to her."

"Thank you, Threepio."

She followed the gold protocol droid down a huge hallway, and then they turned left at a junction which led out to the main balcony of the apartment. It was a multileveled and columned affair that Ahsoka had always loved.

The beautiful Senator of Naboo was seated on one of the couches. Or more specifically, seated on Anakin's lap on one of the couches. They were thoroughly engrossed in each other, making out just as passionately as she and Rex had been not that long ago. (Their first date had ended spectacularly well.) Ahsoka had caught them embracing or kissing a few times in the past, but she'd always just exited the area quietly rather than let it be known that she knew about their relationship.

Tonight, she didn't have a choice about the quiet exit until they were done because Threepio calmly said, as if nothing of a personal nature was going on right in front of him, "Commander Tano is here to see you, Mistress Padmè."

Ahsoka wanted to kill the droid and facepalm at the same time. She did neither as the couple disentangled their mouths and looked over with shocked expressions.

"Ahsoka!" they both said as Padmè moved to scramble off of Anakin's lap and Ahsoka couldn't help the giggle that emerged at how completely debauched they looked. They were both flushed and basically panting. Padmè's hair was at least half out of its braid, and his was almost standing up in places. She was just thankful they hadn't started removing articles of clothing yet.

Anakin's rather kiss swollen lips quirked up into a rueful smile as he held Padmè in place, much to her annoyance. Ahsoka had a feeling he was using the poor woman as a shield to hide a common male problem. "Hey, Snips."

"Hey, Master," she snickered.

He gave her a half-assed chiding look. "Fancy meeting you here."

She grinned at him. "Hmmmm. Fancy that."

He flicked his gaze at poor Padmè pointedly. "You don't seem surprised."

"I'm not." Ahsoka casually strolled to the other couch and dropped her bag on it before sitting and drawing her legs up into a cross-legged position on the insanely comfortable piece of furniture.

No one noticed that Threepio had already wandered off at the faint sound of the doorbell again.

He raised a brow at her as Padmè continued to try and wriggle her way free. Both Master and Padawan ignored her grumbles as they stared at each other in amused fascination.

"I take it this is what you meant when you said 'I know' earlier?" he said dryly.

Padmè huffed and settled back into his lap, rolling her eyes at her mate. Which he ignored.

Ahsoka grinned wider. "You take it correctly."

"Lovely." Anakin sighed exaggeratedly and then gave her a sincere smile of appreciation. "Thanks for keeping my secret."

"No problem, Master. You know I always have your back."

"I know." He tilted his head slightly as Padmè turned her focus on Ahsoka. She felt the weight of their curious gazes keenly. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked for both of them.

Ahsoka resisted the urge to pick at her leggings in discomfort, instead meeting their gazes boldly. Sort of. Not doubting for an instant that Anakin hadn't already told his mate what had happened at the Temple, Ahsoka said, "I... I was hoping that you would give me a job as your bodyguard, Padmè. And if not, at least a place to sleep until I can find another job." Despite all of her efforts to the contrary, Ahsoka's voice broke a little at the end. She ended up picking at one of the diamond cut-outs on her leggings anyway.

This time, Anakin let Padmè go when she indicated she wanted up. The Senator crossed the space and sank down on the couch beside the young Togrutan and she wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Of course you can stay here." Ahsoka's head popped back up and she smiled at the older woman thankfully. "And I would love to have you as my permanent bodyguard. You've always done such a good job of protecting me in the past. And I'm sure this would make Anakin very happy."

"It does," he said as he sank onto the couch on the other side of Ahsoka and put an arm around her too. She turned her head and grinned up at him, knowing he'd say that. (Padmè's propensity for finding danger without even trying was one of his favourite things to complain about.)

"I've been so worried about you, Snips," he continued, hugging her into his side a little more. "I didn't know what you were going to do, or where you going to stay. But Padmè had already said that she'd give you a place to live until you found your new place in the world. It makes me ecstatic to know that you want it to be with her." And through her, me.

Ahsoka leaned into his shoulder as exhaustion set in now that she felt safe and warm and loved; she hadn't slept properly for days. "I knew you'd like the idea, Master."

He kissed her montral affectionately. "I'm glad to have you back, Ahsoka."

"You never lost me," she said softly, eyes fluttering closed before she snapped them open again.

"For a few hours, I was sure that I had," he said just as softly, a hint of pain in his tone. Padmè used the arm behind Ahsoka to stroke his dark gold curls reassuringly in a petting motion that he'd always loved, more or less fixing his mussed hair in the process. He smiled at his wife in thanks before turning his attention back to the teenager between them. "Do I even want to know where you've been?"

Ahsoka shrugged slightly, sagging a little more into his warm side. Her eyes fluttered closed again and stayed that way. "I was with Rex," she mumbled sleepily.

"Oh. That's good." He'd been afraid she'd been trudging the streets aimlessly, too depressed to notice if someone snuck up on her to do her harm.

"We're dating now," she mumbled again with a faint smile.

Anakin gawked at her, speechless.

And then she sighed softly, wrapped an arm around his waist, snuggled her head into shoulder even more, basically stage whispered, "And he's a much better kisser than Lux," and then promptly fell into a much needed and long overdue deep sleep.

Anakin nearly choked on his tongue as Padmè giggled silently from Ahsoka's other side. Holding the hand not tangled in his hair over her mouth, she flicked her eyes past Anakin. He turned to find his own Master gazing with clear bemusement at them all from the doorway, a single copper eyebrow raised nearly to his hairline.

"Hi, Obi-Wan."

A/N: Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone! Hugs and chocolate Kisses to all of my readers. :D :D :D