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The beauty of the Jedi Temple was unparalleled in Ahsoka’s mind. The way the Coruscant sun trickled in through the windows, highlighting the delicate architecture surrounding her. She walked in peace. The temple unusually quiet today, not that she minded. She smiled as she passed through the beams of light, their warmth settling on her cheeks.
Unfortunately, her moment of bliss was interrupted when her datapad chimed, a small reminder popping up on the screen. She’d been so busy with her studies today she hadn’t had a chance to check back in with her Battalion. Her face ruffled in confusion as re-read the reminder.
“TOP SECRET MEETING - Do NOT tell Ahsoka: @ 1700 Standard”
She clicked the invite to see it had been sent from her Master. Of course, only he could be so ridiculously unsubtle. She noted the room number in the temple from the invite and spun on her heel, keen to catch Anakin in the act of whatever he was trying to keep from her.
Anakin’s email guided her back to the Jedi’s living area of the temple, specifically one of the common rooms that was used for socialising during downtime between studies and battles. Ahsoka kept her steps light as she approached the grand door which was remained slightly ajar. She could hear a medley of voices coming from the room and started to plan how she could best get the jump on them. Grinning, she spotted her perfect vantage point, the fancy door had a large key hole which was just right for her to peer through. The Togruta crouched down and began a visual sweep of the room, starting with her Master.
————
“Anakin, you had one job.” Obi-Wan sighed, running a hand down his face. The man looked rather worn out as he stared his old student down.
“Okay so I may have got slightly sidetracked making this insane playlist, but being the natural leader that I am, I delegated the retrieval of the cake to Fives and Echo.” Anakin replied triumphantly, puffing his chest out in pride at his plan.
“Yes Anakin, you did delegate… an hour before the party” The Jedi Master rolled his eyes before wandering off to talk to Cody, most likely so his Commander could help calm his stress levels.
Across the room, Master Yoda stood alongside Master Plo Koon and Senator Amidala. The three of them chatting pleasantly, that was until a grin formed on the smaller being’s face “Senator, shared with you, have I? The tale of young Skywalker’s 18th Life Day”.
“No, but please do tell me more, Master Yoda” Padmé replied, a mischievous sparkle in her eye as she sipped at her wine.
“Very well. Never before seen, has the Jedi Temple, a worse hangover” the wise Jedi began his story, those around him granting him full attention as he proceeded to embarrass The Chosen One.
Opposite the door, were soldiers of the 501st, 212th and 104th who were attempting to hang a handmade banner of some kind. ”Stop there Hardcase, that’s about right… Jesse, will you for the love of Hutt hold your side straight! Do I need to examine you for some sort of balance deficiency?” The medic in blue sassed his best friend.
“Oh Kriff off Kix, it is straight!”
“Boost, Waxer, hold the middle for these two morons” Ahsoka had to stifle a chuckle at their antics. She loved the clones like brothers and it always warmed her heart when she got to witness their more relaxed side during downtime. Even if it did result in more petty bickering.
Eventually they’d managed to get the banner secured and all the clones gathered to admire their handiwork. Rex, Cody and Wolffe strolled over last, the 104th’s Commander barked out a short laugh and tried to cover it by clearing his throat. Cody leant forward to speak in Rex’s ear, a small smirk on his face. “Uh Rex, hate to break it to you, but I don’t think that’s how you spell Ahsoka”.
The blonde looked confused for a moment before his eyes zeroed in on his men’s mistake. “Oh for the love of- her name starts with an ‘A’!” Wolffe couldn’t hide his laughter anymore, bursting out into full on cackling alongside Cody as they watched Rex look at his Company in despair.
Not long after, Fives and Echo burst into the room, dramatic as ever, the latter cradling a white cardboard box. “Generals, we come baring cake!” Fives’ explosive announcement included an arm gesture to the box which nearly sent the item flying out of Echo’s hands. The more sane Domino twin glared at his brother.
“Fives, I swear if we’ve just gone on an impossible mission for this cake and you make me drop it now, I will personally throw you in the carbonite chamber” the threat was enough to make the ARC shiver in his boots, leaving Echo with a satisfied grin and earning a few chuckles from the people around them.
Ahsoka’s eyes tingled with emotion as she watched on, becoming overwhelmed with a feeling of pure love for the people in that room. However, an unfortunate side-effect of her body's reaction was that it caused her nose to tickle. Realising what was about to happen and with no power to stop it, Ahsoka braced herself as she gave a dainty, but by no means quiet, sneeze. “Aw kark” she cursed.
Everyone in the room paused to stare at the doorway. “Uh… was that the Commander?” Cody asked into the room which had descended into silence.
“Ahsoka you can come out now.” Master Kenobi offered, a small smile playing on his lips. Sheepishly, she emerged to stand before them all, their eyes burning into her as she stroked the bottom of her lekku nervously. “What are you doing, young one?”
“Anakin sent me the invite for the party setup, I was just trying to figure out why you were all meeting up without me,” All eyes turned onto General Skywalker, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed as he rubbed a hand down the back of his neck.
“General, please tell me you didn’t forget to take Ahsoka out of the email list?” Rex questioned, his tone equal to that of when he’s conveying his disappointment at his trooper’s antics.
“I copy her into everything!! It was a force of habit!” Anakin tried and failed to make his case. His reckless behaviour costing them their element of surprise.
Having gotten bored of the awkward staring at his General, Jesse broke the tension with a joyous cheer. “Happy Life Day, Sir!” He moved over to clasp his little sister in a massive bear hug to which she giggled and wrapped her arms around him in return. Eventually they all chimed in and came over to greet her, kicking off the celebration.
————
There had been chatting, dancing and a few games of Sabacc (remind her never to gamble against Master Plo again). Ahsoka was having the best day. In fact, it nearly rivalled the day she joined Anakin and the 501st. Nothing was better than being surrounded by the people she cared for most.
As the activities were winding down and people went back to talking amongst themselves, Anakin came strolling in cradling the white box from before. Her cake! Ever the sweet tooth, Ahsoka’s mouth began to water at the prospect of eating her weight in sugar.
As the General walked in, everyone joined in to sing the Life Day song to the young girl whose cheeks blushed under the attention. Once they finished, everyone cheered and applauded while Anakin sat the cake down on one of the tables in front of Ahsoka. Everyone gathered round for the big reveal as he teased taking the lid off the box ever so slowly. With a dramatic flair he finally removed the offending cardboard to reveal the dessert.
Comically, everyone peered over each other to get a peak at what this grand cake would be. Apparently Anakin had been droning on and on about his genius behind the design, saying it couldn’t be topped. Unfortunately, the cake before them was not what any of them expected. A few heads tilted in an attempt to try and understand what it was.
“Oh my Maker, is that?!-” Padme squealed as the image finally registered in their minds. Masters Yoda, Kenobi and Koon all shared looks among each other, Plo’s eyes crinkling with humour behind his oxygen mask. All the Clones present were nearly on the floor with laughter once the realised exactly what cake the Domino Twins managed to grab.
“Right, that’s it. Party’s cancelled” Anakin stole the cake away from Ahsoka’s innocent eyes and ran off to the far side of the room.
“General Kenobi, I swear I triple checked the order number General Skywalker gave to us” Echo babbled as he handed the crumpled piece of flimsi over to the Jedi, his face redder than the Corrie Guard’s armour.
“Ah, It would appear Anakin wrote down the wrong order number” Obi-wan deduced, his face falling into one of his signature, ‘I can’t believe I actually trained this Padawan’ looks. The General left the group of hysteric identical men to pour himself a rather large glass of Nabooian wine.
Despite being slightly traumatised from the cake, Ahsoka couldn’t help the massive grin that split across her face. These were the people that, despite their disastrous nature, cared enough to try and throw her a party. She’d never experience love like this before and in that moment she felt like the luckiest being in the galaxy. She still couldn’t believe she got to call these people her family.