Before I start I need to give a BIG thank you to Snipsindisguise! As you know I get REALLY bad writer's block and it was really affecting me today. Thank you SO MUCH !

Ahsoka must have noticed his thinking. After he finished explaining everything to her, Ahsoka looked at him with her weird crooked smile.

"I understand Rex. I have to go and talk to Anakin. Take a rest won't you.” the clone repeated under his breath. That's what she told him, before turning the other way and leaving. Rex could easily tell it was a plain lie. Despite what she said, he could easily tell a lie after being around Fives for all his life. He didn't even know if Anakin was on the ship. He should have told her it was alright. He should have stopped her from leaving. 

 "You're working yourself up Rex." He scolded himself, running a hand through his short hair. He wished Ahsoka hadn't left. There was nothing else to do either way.

Maybe he could stop by the barracks. Make sure no one burns anything to the ground. Give Kix a hard time about working too much. The usual things he did either way. It didn't sound too bad, and without Ahsoka he was probably going to be bored out of his mind. 

He needed an escape. And his brothers could help him with that.

The captain stared down at the grey, sandy and muddy floor of the ship.  He had mixed feelings about Ahsoka and him. He loved her. With all of his heart. The thousand of missions that they worked together on.

The fun they had with his brothers. How she always made war something more than just war.

She was just special. One of the few Jedi that he truly cared about beyond numbers.

But there was always that lingering feeling. That feeling made him question if it was all worth it. He didn't want to break her heart, that would be worse than any blaster wound.

But being caught could be equally as bad. It was always two sides, two ways, two decisions. Ones that deep down he hated making.

Watching his walking pace, Rex listened and immediately heard the loud yelling of his brothers. They certainly we're not quiet.

He shook his head, Fives and Hardcase had probably planned most of the commotion. Or another bed got broken and they were scrambling to fix it. Rex was pretty sure he was going to make Fives stay on the ship, cleaning the freshers for a few cycles if that was the r Maybe that would drain some of his never ending energy.

He had already gotten grilled enough because of his squad's ‘informal and crazy behavior,'even though he couldn't care any less.

His brothers were going to be who they are, and Rex had no place to interfere. Quickly adjusting his pauldron, Rex pressed a button, the bright lights of the barracks pouring out into the dull hallway. He fixed his posture, slowly scanning the room. 

A few of the clones stared at him in surprise then walked off, afraid of getting in trouble for something. Others knew the captain better and continued to goof off.

"Alright," Rex raised his voice. "Where is he?" 

The clone rolled his eyes. "Over there.” Echo responded, pointing towards a small mob of clones surrounding one of the beds. 

"Of course." He smiled, nodding to Echo. Rex looked down and found Jesse on the right side of the room. "They are going to kill each other. Just wait until Fives wakes. up."  The clone continued to read, not even glancing up at Rex. The captain stared at his troop trying to grab his attention out of the book

“I know you're staring at me. AND no,nothing is going to stop me from reading this.” Echo clicked his tongue, continuing to read the reg manual. “Not even Jesse and Fives killing each other. Though that would be an interesting report to read later.”

“You know you could probably have a spider on your head right now and you would never know it.”

 Echo  quickly  put his holo book down and frantaicaly started ranking his hands over his head. While Echo was otherwise occupied, Rex snatched it from Echo's lap.

The former ARC grumbled, swiping at it, but Rex pulled it out of his reach. "Give that back Rex.” Echo complained. 

"I still outrank you. Now I expect you to do something to keep Fives out of trouble and have fun. Without the book.” He handed it back. 

Echo huffed. "Isn't that what I do already?” A smile perked at his lips. "Exactly." Rex replied, patting his back and moving on. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. A small game of darts, respective squads and company's chatting among their close brothers, Fives half-asleep names and drawings all over his face with a black marker. Yep, it was going to be one of those kinds of days. Rex made a mental note to add a drawing of his own to Fives’ face if he was still asleep. 

“Will Captain Rex please come to the med-bay.Captain Rex to the med-bay.” The intercom sounded.

Rex inwardly sighed, either his General got hurt again, Cody broke his leg for all of those stupid spin kicks he keeps doing to the droids,or one of his men did something stupid again. Probably the latter knowing his men.

 Rex made his way to the med-bay swiftly in case it was something that his General had done again. Anakin wasn't the most logical thinker. He liked to make decisions before thinking about them for a second. That resulted in a lot of explosions and being thrown from things. 

Rex was unfortunately usually the one being thrown. Ahsoka liked to tease him about it all the time. She was relentless about finding new ways to make fun of him. Her jokes did tend to be repeated,and harmless but they still stayed funny so he didn’t mind them all that much. That was until his brothers joined. Then the jokes lost their humour. 

But he didn't really mind either way. His eyes watered slightly at the thought of Ahsoka. No matter what he did she always came back to his mind. The way she could always make him smile in the darkest moments, and when she would sit with him in silence when he needed it, mourned with him over his fallen brothers.

Wiping his eyes quickly he hoped it erased any evidence of the tears. Maybe if he was lucky he wouldn’t do that again. Clones weren’t supposed to show emotion. If anyone saw him crying then he would probably lose his rank, or never be able to play it down. The second would probably be worse.

Looking up Rex realized he had arrived at the med-bay. Rex was pretty calm for the most part, but the sound of breaking glass made him flinch. It wasn't the General. He wouldn’t be the one breaking things on purpose and if he did he was automatically apologizing. That was only true in the med-bay anywhere else that statement didn’t count. No jedi would have that kind of behavior even if they were about to be killed by a medic. Especially if it was Kix, he would have knocked you out first. And that narrowed it down even more. It had to be a clone.

For some reason some of them had an irrational fear of medics. Not Kix himself. But just medical in the general. The Kaminoins must have made sure to scare the troublesome clones into not wanting to be in the med bay at any time. Maybe it was to ensure less fights? Or maybe it was a genetic thing, it could have come from their Buir Jango. Rex didn't know for sure,but it sure applied to whoever this was.  

Quickly opening the door Rex observed the now mess of a med bay. Bottles and bandages were everywhere, along with a very tired out looking Kix. “ Who is it? “ Rex looked around the room for the clone who had caused all the commotion. 

Kix rubbed a tired hand over his face. “ Hardcase “ he barely mumbled. Rex looked at Kix slightly confused. “ What's got him so riled up? “ 

Kix shrugged slightly. “ Just trying to give him some pain killers. Guess he’s not a fan of needles. Saw the one syringe and freaked out. Started all of this. '' Kix spun around showing the obvious mess. 

Rex held in a laugh. Hardcase was the most crazy of the 501st next to Fives and could be afraid of something so small? It wasn't terribly uncommon though. One of his men had almost been sliced in half by a Commando droid and had an illogical fear of sharp things ever since. 

“ Alright let's get this over with. Where is he? “ Rex looked around, listing for any clues to where the trooper could be. “ No idea “ Kix replied, rolling his eyes. “ Disappeared right before you showed up. “

Rex snickered, watching a small shadow shift from inside a cabinet. “ You know Hardcase. For going on so many stealth missions you're still terrible at hiding “ Rex got ready swinging the cabinet open. 

Hardcase started Rex straight in the eyes before trying to run for it. “ I don't think so “ Rex caught a hold of his brother like a loose loth cat. “ Rex you traitor, let me go '' he squirmed trying to somehow escape the captain's grasp. 

Rex shot a glare at Kix “ I'm not getting any older over here “ He made clear, barely able to keep a hold of the clone. Kix nodded, grabbing the small syringe.
“ WAIT! Rex don't do it! If he does it I'll tell him about it! I'll tell Fives as well “ Hardcase yelled trying to scoot back. Was that a threat?

Rex felt his blood run cold. Did he know? Would his own brother betray him like that? Did he tell anyone else? How did he know? Questions swam around his mind. The captain scowled. 

“ Give me that “ he took the syringe from Kix. 

“ I don't know what you're talking about,”  he replied in his best liar voice. 

Quickly Rex stabbed the needle into Hardcase’s upper arm, barely able to keep him from moving. 

“ Hey,Oww “ the smaller clone complained like a stubborn toddler. “ I warned you I would get Rex “ Kix picked up a roll of gauze from the floor. 

Hardcase didn't respond. “ Next time, don't make me get involved. “ Rex tossed the needle, letting Hardcase go. “ I'll be seeing you again Captain “ his little brother said, rubbing his sore arm before carefully walking out of the room. 

“ Does he know? “ Rex whispered an ear away from Kix. He stared at the floor for a long second in though again. “ Rex. What was that about? “ Kix looked up from his cleaning to focus on the other clone. 

“ What part? “ Rex nervously chuckled. 

“ The secret part “ he responded. Rex thought silently for a long second. 

“ Just a stupid secret from a long time ago…"