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It started out as a joke.
Ahsoka would see Anakin make THE eyes at Padme, and would have to suppress a snort. This is the guy who taught her how to get onto and disable a Separatist ship without detection, fool Seperatist authorities, and everything she needed to know about stealth. Anakin could do all that and more, and yet he couldn't even hide his feelings for Padme.
Ahsoka had suspected it from the very beginning, on that mission with Rotta the Hutt. The news had come that Padme was in trouble, and next thing she knew Anakin's so far considerable piloting skills were in disarray, and not only were they being SHOT AT, they were actually getting hit. Pretty bad. Ahsoka had somehow managed to guide the ship to a relatively good landing. After all, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Of course, Ahsoka ignored Anakin's comments that smashing a ship into a sand dune was crashing, not landing.
Ahsoka knew for certain on the Malevolence. The news had come that one Senator Amidala was on the Seperatist flagship, and in danger, and Anakin had freaked. Like, freaked freaked. In a way that could only mean one thing. He had feelings for her. Feelings he couldn't deny or hide. Or change, for that matter.
Anakin couldn’t have gotten to the Malevolence fast enough, craving adventure and excitement, according to Master Plo. Ahsoka called it craving Padme. It sounded to Ahsoka like it was going to be a great mission! Sneaking onto a Separatist ship, seeing Padme, beating Anakin IN AN AVALANCHE by destroying MILLIONS of droids, and maybe even getting the chance to defeat General Grievous himself and end the war. Lucky Obi Wan had the privilege of joining Anakin on the Malevolence and rescuing the Senator. Ahsoka had the privilege of watching Yularen be in command during their absence.
“Whyyyy can’t I go wiiiiiith you?” Ahsoka had whined at Anakin as she ran beside him as he got ready to leave. For the record, she didn’t whine anymore. To be clear. No more whining. At all. Where’d you get that idea from?
“Uh, stealth mission, Snips,” Anakin called back, sounding and looking like he wasn’t really paying any attention to her. That’s fine. He was a little preoccupied with his girlfriend, Padme. At least, that was Ahsoka’s guess. “Can’t have you tagging along.”
“But I won’t get in the waaay!” Ahsoka whined some more. She’s really outgrown that. She’s no longer a whiny fourteen Galactic-Standard-year old Togruta.
“Uh huh,” Anakin said, running into the Twilight. Ahsoka stopped at the base of the ramp with a growl.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I hate it that you don’t think I’m good enough,” she muttered.
Obi Wan hit her lightly on the head. Ahsoka glanced up to meet his stern stare. “Don’t ever let me catch you saying you hate something again,” Obi Wan said. “Remember, There is no emotion-”
“There is peace,” Ahsoka finished. “I know. I’m a Jedi too.”
“Then start acting like it,” Obi Wan reminded her. Obi Wan walked up the ramp and joined Anakin in the Twilight. Ahsoka resisted the temptation to smash her head into something in frustration. No, she was a Jedi. A smart, reasonable, emotionless Jedi.
Ahsoka paused. Calling her emotionless made her sound cold and removed. So she wasn’t emotionless, she was…. Angerless. Yes, that’s better. Ahsoka sighed and walked back to the bridge. She arrived just in time for confirmation that Anakin and Obi Wan had landed on the Malevolence. Ahsoka stared at it dubiously. After Anakin’s successful attack, the ship was barely holding together. If Ahsoka squinted, she could see little bright patches of light that were sealed off corridors after hull breaches. She didn’t need the readout displays to know the Resolute was covered with hull breaches too.
Ahsoka squinted more and tilted her head to catch the whorls of smoke rising from the Malevolence. Damn, that ship was in bad condition.
“Commander Tano, don’t you have somewhere better to be?” Yularen’s voice cut through to Ahsoka. She turned around and gave him a look. She was a commander and a Jedi Padawan! She had every right to be on the bridge! Yularen’s mouth tightened with disapproval, as it so often did, at her, at Anakin........
“I’m fine here, thank you,” was Ahsoka’s reply. She smoothed her face over into what she hoped was a serene expression. Over Yularen’s shoulder she noticed Rex hide a laugh as he watched their exchange. Ahsoka frowned.
“All I’m saying is that instead of spacing out a window into..... space, maybe you could do something productive? Like taking inventory of the ammunition?” Yularen spoke tightly, posture rigid.
“But we have droids for that!” Ahsoka whined, forgetting her supposed serenity.
“But you simply cannot spend the next eight hours staring out a window,” Yularen said stiffly. “It is not productive. Do the inventory.”
Ahsoka stomped past Yularen to the munitions room. Like she told Yularen, there were droids there taking stock. Ahsoka didn’t mind. It was as good an opportunity as any to practice flying. Ahsoka hopped up into the vent and climbed over to the hangar bays. Carefully dropping down behind a stack of crates, Ahsoka checked for clones. There were none, now that the battle was pretty much over. As long as she stayed out of sight of the hidden cameras, she could easily make her way to her ship at the far end of the bays.
Slipping between crates, Ahsoka reached the far end of the long nose of the Resolute. She crept over to her ship, then paused a short distance away. She had just passed Anakin’s ship. And Anakin wasn’t here right now. And he had all sorts of tricks on his ship. And he would never, ever let Ahsoka fly it. And he could be such a jerk sometimes.......
Ahsoka debated a bit more. Sure, she could fly it, but Anakin would inevitably find out, and then she’d be in trouble. Then again, she wasn’t supposed to be flying at all. And this was the only time she’d do it. Plus, it wasn’t like she was flying into a warzone or anything.
That decided it. Ahsoka snuck back to Anakin’s ship and climbed into the cockpit. Her fingers froze over the controls. Anakin had rearranged everything.
“Come on, Ahsoka,” Ahsoka muttered to herself. Shields... always on the right.... Her hand hovered over what she assumed were the shields. “Look for similarities....”
Ahsoka reached out a hand and experimentally flipped a couple switches. The engine roared to life beneath her and the viewscreen lowered. Grinning, Ahsoka went through the lift-off procedure. She coiled her right hand around a lever and eased the ship out into space before pushing ahead full throttle. She was thrown back with a grunt as the ship shot forward at high speed. Any faster, and she’d be in hyperspace. She tried to turn left to the medical station but accidentally turned right towards... the Malevolence.
“Shit!” Ahsoka yelled. She had completely forgotten that the Malevolence was, in fact, there, and that she should not, in fact, be hurtling toward it at full speed. She’d known all along that the Malevolence was there and that it was a Separatist ship but her brain had failed her by not connecting the dots and not warning her she shouldn’t have taken Anakin’s ship into an active warzone.
Ahsoka decelerated as the Malevolence loomed ahead. As she dodged around inactive gun turrets, sensory arrays, and other stuff sticking up off the Malevolence and decidedly not crashing, Ahsoka was actually starting to get the hang of the ship.
Ahsoka pulled away from the Malevolence with a whoop. She glanced over and noticed the engine lights of a small, Twilight-sized ship speeding away from the Malevolence.
“Shit,” Ahsoka repeated. Anakin and Obi Wan would beat her back to the Resolute, and when they found out that not only was she not doing the inventory like she was supposed to, she had taken out Anakin’s ship, like she was not supposed to. She was in very big trouble.
Ahsoka turned back to the Resolute. Anakin may be in the Twilight, and he may have a head start on her, but Ahsoka wasn’t about to lose. She pushed Anakin’s ship forward at full speed, spinning to get extra force. She zipped by the Twilight and caught a brief glimpse of Obi Wan and Anakin’s shocked expressions.
The Resolute grew at an alarming pace ahead of her. Ahsoka didn’t care. She was the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy, and she was not going to let Anakin beat her back. The scanners showed the Twilight hot on her tail. A light by the comms started blinking, signaling she had an incoming call. Ahsoka sighed and switched on her comm system. The Resolute was really worrying, the rate it was growing........
“Ahsoka. Where are you right now,” Anakin’s grumpy, I-don’t-really-want-to-know, what-did-you-do-this-time voice echoed around the inside of his ship.
“I’m flying, Skyguy,” Ahsoka replied simply. She tried to edge her voice with a little do-you-even-need-to-ask energy.
“In MY SHIP?!” Anakin shouted. He got her message.
“Yeah. Why?” Ahsoka asked innocently.
“I told you not to touch it!” Anakin shouted furiously. “You-”
“Anakin!” Padme’s voice joined Anakin’s. “Calm down!” Ahsoka felt glad that Padme made it out okay. “Ahsoka, why did you take Anakin’s ship? You knew you weren’t supposed to.”
“I don’t know,” Ahsoka mumbled. She dropped her gaze to her lap. It was hard to be cocky and innocent when it was Padme asking versus Anakin or Obi Wan. Or Yularen. Or Master Windu. Or anyone annoying. “Guess I was bored.”
“Ahsoka!” Three voices shouted in fear at her. “Look out!” Ahsoka snapped her head back up just in time to see herself pass through the airlock at full speed and smash into the Resolute.
Ahsoka didn’t have any memories of what happened after that. She knew she somehow survived, by the will of the Force. She knew she was fished out of the wreckage of the ship and stuck into a bacta tank.
The next thing she was able to remember, she was opening her eyes in the medical center of the Resolute. A furious Anakin stood beside her.
Ahsoka offered him a guilty smile. His scowl deepened.
She got in huge trouble. She was taken off active duty for the next month. She had to spend that week doing the most menial task in the Temple: cataloging datacards in the Archives. She had to go through each and every section and make absolutely sure every single datacard had been perfectly filed into the right slot. Ahsoka was glad when it was over, and although it was very fun, she doubted she’d take Anakin’s ship out for a spin without his permission again.
Ahsoka slowly opens her eyes as she withdraws herself from her memories. Stretching, she gets to her feet. Anakin was right: meditation’s always nice. She steps out of her room and pauses beside R2, who was keeping watch for her. You can never be too careful in the middle of a war.
“Hey, R2,” Ahsoka greets the plucky droid cheerfully. “Thanks again for this.”
R2 makes a variety of beeps and whistles.
“Yeah, yeah, I got some interesting stuff out of my meditation,” Ahsoka tells him. She hesitates slightly before continuing. “You seen Anakin anywhere?”
R2 makes a noise that could only be interpreted as a snort, before answering Ahsoka’s question.
Ahsoka laughs out loud. “Of course he is. Of course he’s with Padme. When’s he ever not?”