"I found her!"

"Get a medic over here!"

"She's so cold."

"Close to death, she was. Found her in time, you did."

"Ashara, please wake up."

"Ashara!"

Ashara shot up, breathing heavily. She looked around wildly, trying to figure out where she was. There was no open sky overhead, and no tall grass around her. Instead she was in a cot, with bright lights surrounding her. The walls were a gunmetal gray, and there was no one else around. She went to move her legs and froze when something didn't feel right. She slowly looked at her legs, and noticed that the lower half of her left leg was gone. Instead a smooth silver one replaced the flesh. She swung her legs over the side of the cot and took a deep breath before standing up slowly, adjusting to her knee meeting metal, and not more flesh.

She realized as she was standing that she was wearing her underclothes, simple skin-tight shorts and a tank top. She quickly found her black leggings and her gray high low dress. She quickly pulled on her clothes, and quickly looked around for the last two things that went with her outfit. She found her cyan sash that went around her abdomen, and her belt. Her lightsabers were resting nearby. She hooked them onto her belt once she got it wrapped snugly around her hips.

Ashara walked over to the door, limping slightly. She figured the limp would go away with time. She figured now was as good as a time as any to get some answers about what happened to her. Last she saw she was in the tall grass on the lurmen's planet. 

She quickly realized that she was on the Resolute, and made her way to the bridge. The hallways were strangely empty of clones, and Ashara had no idea why. She closed her eyes for a breath moment, letting herself reconnect with the force. She opened her eyes as she turned around a corner, only to bump into the chestplate of a familiar clone. She was grateful she didn't fall back this time, but she quickly realized that the only reason why she hadn't fallen onto her butt was because Rex had wrapped an arm around her back and was holding her up.

"Ashara", Rex whispered, eyes widened as she regained her balance. She stepped away from him and smiled at him.

"Hey, Rex", she said. "I'm surprised you called me by my name; you're normally in the habit of calling me by my rank."

Rex didn't react, he just stared at her. He stepped closer to her, and gently rested a gloved hand against her cheek. He leaned closer to her, and Ashara's breath caught in her throat. She could feel her cheeks start to burn as he moved closer to her. The togruta could feel his breath brushing against her lips, and she automatically closed her eyes, waiting. 

She was surprised when he suddenly pulled away, and when she opened her eyes, and he had gotten all the way down the hallway. A wave of disappointment flashed through her, and she cast her eyes to the ground as she continued to walk toward the bridge. She tried to clear that moment from her head in the short time that she had to get to the bridge.

It didn't work.

The memory of Rex's gentle hand against her cheek, and the feeling of his warm breath tickling her lips was stuck at the forefront of her mind, even as she entered the bridge. She saw Anakin staring at something on the holotable, Ahsoka next to him. It was the padawan who noticed the Jedi Knight first, elbowing her master to get his attention. When he looked up, Ashara offered him a half-smile.

He was instantly by her side, moving so fast she thought he teleported. She wouldn't put it past him to have figured out a way to that.

"Ash", he breathed a sigh of relief. "You're awake."

Ashara nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, tilting her head.

"You've been asleep, Master Ki", Ahsoka said. "For seven months."

The older togruta stumbled back. "I... what? Seven months? Why was I asleep for seven months?!"

Anakin gently grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Come on. Let's go somewhere more private than here."

Ashara let him lead her through the cruiser. She blindly followed as her mind whirled. Even as she sat down, and looked at her two closest friends, she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"What happened?" she finally whispered, as well as letting herself take in her surroundings. She was in her quarters.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Anakin said gently.

Ashara thought about it for a moment. "I was attempting to follow you guys chasing the probe."

Anakin nodded. "We caught up to the probe, and destroyed it. It led us back to the Separatist base of operations. We were going to wait for you, but then we discovered that the Separatists had a new toy so we couldn't wait. We snuck into their base, stole a shuttle and went to go protect the lurmen's from destruction. We won the battle, of course, and after that we went looking for you. We split up to cover more ground. Rex is the one who found you."

"He was really worried about you", Ahsoka added. "I could sense his worry for you and I was really far away from where he was."

Ashara looked away at the mention of Rex and his worry. She didn't want to think about the clone captain right now. "That doesn't explain my new metal appendage."

Anakin sighed softly. "We don't know exactly what happened, but it looked like a large carnivorous creature got to it. Your bone was broken, and you were missing several large chunks of your leg. You were honestly very nearly dead. The doctor thought it would be best to amputate your leg and give you a prosthetic."

The older togruta hummed. "Okay. I understand now."

There was a knock at the door, and Ashara merely wave a hand through the air to use the force to open it. Outside stood Rex, helmet held underneath one of his arms. Ashara looked away, not wanting to see the clone captain. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't quite know why.

"General, we're approaching Coruscant", Rex reported to Anakin. The Jedi general sighed before standing up. Ahsoka followed suit. Ashara stayed sitting.

"I'll come explain more when I get back from talking to the council", Anakin told the older togruta. Ashara nodded, still refusing to look over at Rex. She could feel his eyes bearing into her skull, but she ignored it. Ahsoka glanced between them as she left. Ashara heard her whisper something to someone but she couldn't make out what the younger togruta said nor did she know who the padawan was speaking to.

The door hissed shut, and she let out a breath of relief, thinking that everyone had left. She turned her gaze to the door, only to freeze when she saw Rex still standing there.

"General, I wanted to apologize about earlier", Rex said, keeping his voice level. Ashara looked away from him.

"What about it?" she asked quietly. 

"I shouldn't have attempted to..." he trailed off before continuing what he was saying. "to kiss you. It goes strictly against GAR regulations, and Ahsoka tells me that it goes against the Jedi Code as well."

Ashara bit her lip to keep the tears from falling. She tried to keep her voice level, but she knew it came out shaky.

"It's okay, Captain", she said. "We all make mistakes sometimes."

She wanted him to argue back that it wasn't a mistake, that he wanted to kiss her, but he didn't. He remained silent.

"Is that all, Captain?"

There was a brief moment of silence, one that Ashara wanted to fill with words, but she didn't know what words. Three words crossed her mind, but she pushed them away, knowing that if she said them it would only make it worse.

"Yes, sir", Rex finally said. 

"Then you're dismissed." Ashara heard the door open and then close again and when she turned to look, Rex was gone. It was then that she let the tears fall, and she buried her face in her hands. Muffled sobs broke through, and she shook her head softly as everything came crashing down on her at once. 

Rex stood outside Ashara's door, trying to pretend like he didn't hear her crying in there. He wanted to go back in and comfort her, and tell her that he really did want to kiss her but he was trying to be a good soldier. A couple tears slipped from his eyes and he furiously wiped them away. He finally brought himself to walk away, but each step he took made his heart feel like it was shattering into smaller and smaller pieces.