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Ahsoka woke up to the sound of their baby crying, but she couldn't muster the will to get up. She was exhausted.
"Rex" she mumbled "Please deal with it"
Rex didn't move, he was just sleeping beside her quietly with his exposed back turned to her. He, like other clones, was really weird with sleep. They were conditioned to wake easily on most occasions, but sleep deeply during long deployments where there was no way to tune out the turmoil of the battle going on.
The birth of their daughter, it seemed, had triggered the "sleep through the battle until it's your turn to risk your life" mode in him, and he wasn't waking up.
She kicked her husband in the butt, hard enough to shove him to the edge of the bed, but not hard enough to hurt him. Or to wake him up, apparently.
"Rex." she said, more firmly this time "The baby is crying. Deal with it."
She kicked him again, much harder this time, but all he did was slowly fall out of bed like a sack of potatoes, dragging the blankets down with him. The audacity.
She glared at him, but decided it was not worth the effort and got up herself. But the moment she sat up, a searing pain shot through her lower abdomen, and she was painfully reminded of her recent ceasarean section and the fact that she her painkillers had worn off overnight.
She couldn't do this. The pregnancy and all the complications that had come from her daughter's unusual genetic make up had taken a toll on her body, and the C-section was no small procedure either.
As much as she wanted to be able to take care of her baby herself, she needed to rest.
She hated it. She hated being weak and in pain. The sleepless nights made it worse. She had been told countless times that it would all be worth it when it's over, but it was clearly not over yet.
But it had only been a week since their daughter was born, and she knew the recovery would take some time. And Rex had volunteered to help her however he could. If only he would wake up, but his old instincts were kicking in and she knew waking him up would be near impossible, unless...
"Attention!" she called out in her best commander voice, and Rex immediately got up and snapped to attention.
"The baby," she said, and Rex seemed to suddenly grasp the situation, gave her a quick nod and hurried over to the to the crib right away.
Ahsoka sagged back down into the cushion. Her stomach was still sore from the surgery, and she was still exhausted. But having Rex awake and helping her already made her feel better.
Rex came back into the room, holding their infant daughter to his chest. She had latched onto his nipple, trying to suck at it, and he just gave her a panicked look. "I think she's hungry."
Ahsoka sighed heavily and gathered herself "Alright," she said, pulling off the tanktop she slept in, ignoring the dull ache in her abdomen.
Rex sat back down next to her, and handed her the baby. Ahsoka cradled the small infant to her chest, where she immediately latched on and started drinking eagerly.
Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief now that everything was quiet again.
"How are you holding up?" Rex asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Tired, and everything hurts," she admitted, not looking up from feeding her baby.
"I know," Rex said "I've noticed the short fuse."
"I'm sorry," she said "I just feel terrible."
"I understand," he said, stroking her lek "You've been through a lot, and this... This is also a lot."
"It is," she said "I just... I feel like I should be able to handle this. I used to be a Commander for crying out loud, I dealt with entire armies of battledroids, and now I can't deal with being a mother to this one, tiny baby."
"No, it's understandable," Rex said "Droid problems an be solved with a blaster or a lightsaber, this is... much more complicated. But you didn't have to do that alone, and you won't have to do this alone either. I'm here to help you, in any way I can.
"Can you get me my painkillers?" she asked "They've worn off."
"Yes, of course," he said, before getting up and walking to the kitchen as fast as he could without starting to actually run.
She smiled to herself. Even after all the loss they had suffered after the Tribunal crashed, she still had Rex, and now their daughter, and it was worth all the suffering. Including this.