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"Snips?" Anakin quietly called out as he entered his Padawan's quarters, squinting his eyes towards the bunk in the wall at the side of the dimly-lit room.
The door silently sliding shut behind him, Anakin found a fond smile growing on his face as his eyes adjusted to the dark, taking in the image of his sleeping apprentice, who was curled up on her side on the bunk, appearing to be soundly asleep.
Closing the distance across the room, Anakin padded over and kneeled down in front of Ahsoka's bunk. Reaching out with his flesh hand, he gently stroked the side of Ahsoka's left lek, hoping the light motion would be enough to softly ease her awake.
"Snips?" he repeated with a whisper. As much as he didn't want to have to wake her like this, the Resolute had just arrived back on Coruscant, docking at the military shipyard, and Anakin needed to head back to the Jedi temple with his Padawan. Even though it was currently the middle of the night.
Ahsoka began to lightly shift under his palm.
"Hey," he whispered as the young togruta weakly opened her eyes, blinking up at him with a bleary gaze. "I'm sorry to wake you, Snips, but we just got back to Coruscant. We need to leave the ship now."
Ahsoka slowly blinked again, seeming to take in his words before she sleepily closed her eyes again with a soft hum. Anakin stroked her montral.
"Snips," he murmured, "I know it's the middle of the night and you're tired—i'm sorry—but we do need to the leave the cruiser now. We need to head back to the temple."
Ahsoka's eyes stayed closed. But she gave him another soft hum in acknowledgment.
Anakin patiently waited for another few moments, but when the sleepy togruta made no move to get up, he released a quiet sigh.
"Oh, you really must be tired, Snips…" he murmured, his heart twisting at his exhausted Padawan.
Watching her for another moment, Anakin made the decision that he really didn't want to have to make Ahsoka get up and walk while she was exhausted like this, so the only other alternative was that he would have to carry her off the cruiser. But Anakin found that he didn't mind that prospect.
He would do anything for his little Padawan.
Including carrying her home when she was too tired to walk.
"Alright," Anakin whispered, "since you're so sleepy, i'll just have to carry you."
Ahsoka gave him another soft hum in response. Anakin smiled.
"Alright."
Glancing around the room, Anakin spotted Ahsoka's cloak and lightsaber sitting on the small desk built into the wall to his left. Leaving Ahsoka briefly, he walked over and grabbed Ahsoka's lightsaber and cloak before coming back to kneel in front of the bunk, clipping the lightsaber to the spare clip on his own belt before unfolding the cloak in front of him.
"Hey," he whispered softly, holding up the brown fabric, "you can sleep all you want in just a minute, but right now I need you to sit up for me okay, Snips?"
Blearily blinking again, Ahsoka managed a nod. She lifted her head, sluggishly shifted herself up to lean on her elbow before Anakin moved in and helped her sit up the rest of the way, gently pulling her upright.
"There we are," he murmured. "Now let's get your cloak on you, okay?"
Ahsoka's eyes slid shut again, her head drooping forward to bump against Anakin’s chest as he draped the cloak around her shoulders. He helped manoeuvre Ahsoka's arms into the sleeves, tugging the fabric around her nice and snug before lifting the hood over her montrals.
"Okay," he whispered, moving Ahsoka to look up at her face, lightly rubbing her shoulder with his thumb, "let's get you home, Snips."
Standing up, reaching forward, Anakin lifted the sleepy togruta into his arms, settling her above his hip as he guided her head to rest on his shoulder. Ahsoka released a soft sigh, and Anakin sensed a faint wave of appreciation flow through their bond, feeling Ahsoka's montral shift against his cheek through the fabric of her hood.
With a fond smile on his face, Anakin left the room, leaving Ahsoka's quarters and travelling through the hallways of the Resolute with his Padawan nestled snugly in his arms as he made his way towards the hangar bay, where he disembarked the cruiser through the loading ramp.
Walking along the ship dock, Anakin headed for one of the gunships that were waiting to transport everyone to the barracks—or, in his and his Padawan's case, over to the Jedi temple.
Entering the gunship with Ahsoka still snuggled in his arms, Anakin politely nodded to the pilot before making his way over to the back, where he found his captain standing in the corner, bucket in arm.
"Rex," he said, nodding at the clone, moving round to stand beside him, "what are you doing here? Are you coming back to the temple with us?"
"Actually sir," Rex said, reaching up to hold a handle as the gunship began to lift from the platform, "i'm here to give you this." He held out a datapad. "Command needs your report, sir."
Taking the datapad from Rex's hand, Anakin released a shallow sigh.
"Right," he muttered, "…the report."
Eyeing the datapad for a moment, Anakin slipped the device into the pocket of his cloak, before briefly readjusting his grip on Ahsoka again.
"I'll get it done first thing in the morning," he said, looking back at his captain. Rex gave him a sceptical glance, raising an eyebrow.
"Really, sir…?"
Anakin smiled wryly.
"Well…maybe more like by tomorrow evening," he amended. "—But one can never go wrong giving a little bit of false hope."
The man beside him seemed to resist the urge to roll his eyes, shaking his head slightly.
"I don't think that's the truest thing you've ever said, sir."
Anakin breathed out a light chuckle.
"I'll get it done, Rex," he said truthfully, giving Rex an affirming nod, sobering as he reached up to hold one of the handles to steady himself as the gunship swayed slightly as the vehicle took off towards the Coruscant skyline.
"Is she asleep?" Rex asked with a whisper, a few moments later.
Craning his neck, Anakin noticed that Rex had lifted Ahsoka's hood slightly, seemingly trying to get a look at the girl’s face. Smiling fondly, Anakin nodded, sensing the peaceful thrum of slumber radiating from the force presence in his arms.
"Yes," he whispered. "She seemed exhausted when I tried waking her up, and I felt bad having to make her walk so I just carried her instead."
Rex smiled sympathetically in reply, still looking at Ahsoka’s face.
"She practically fell asleep again as soon as I lifted her into my arms," Anakin mused, gently resting his head on his snoozing Padawan's montral as he lightly rubbed her back.
"I'm not surprised she's exhausted," Rex said after another moment, stifling a yawn. "That campaign was rough. I can't wait to get to bed myself."
"Likewise…" Anakin replied.
When the gunship finally arrived at the Jedi temple hangar several minutes later, Anakin waved his captain goodbye before stepping off of the transport and quickly tucking the fabric of Ahsoka's hood in around her head again as a chilly breeze blew past, wanting to make sure that his Padawan was warm as he headed inside with her through the hangar and into the temple.
After a few minutes of walking through hallways, Anakin finally reached the door to his and Ahsoka's quarters, and, with a feeling of relief, he carried the younger Jedi inside with a warm smile on his face.
As soon as he reached the living space though, Anakin was surprised to find that he and his Padawan weren't alone in their quarters, coming to a halt as he took in the image of a certain older Jedi sitting at the table in the middle of the room.
"Oh, hello Anakin."
"Obi-Wan…?" Anakin whispered in question, staring at his former Master in stunned curiosity. "What are you doing in here?"
Obi-Wan smiled at him sheepishly.
"Hold on—You didn't clean my quarters, did you?" Anakin cut in, raising an eyebrow at Obi-Wan in concern. Obi-Wan lightly chuckled, standing up from his chair.
"Oh, don't look so terrified, Anakin," the older man replied in a hushed tone, shaking his head with a grin. "I did you a favour. Now you'll actually be able to walk into your room without stepping on a droid part or dirty laundry."
Anakin rolled his eyes.
"Honestly, Anakin," Obi-Wan continued, "you needed an intervention at some point, and seeing as you two were away and I got back early, I decided that now was as good a time as any to intervene and clean up your mess."
"Hey—it was not a mess—"
"Anakin, it looked like a bantha had swept through your room."
Anakin's mouth went agape. Though, when the memory of how he had left his quarters flashed through his mind, he closed it again. Maybe Obi-Wan wasn't completely wrong with that statement.
Still, he petulantly stuck out his chin.
"Well, i'll have you know that it was an organised mess, Master," Anakin said matter-of-factly. "And I hope you haven't moved things around too much, because I knew where everything was…"
Across the room, Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, well I do sincerely apologise, Anakin, for doing you a favour. I sure hope it hasn't severely inconvenienced you, Padawan."
At the use of that last moniker, Anakin gave the older man a glare, rolling his eyes, before his mind drifted back to the real Padawan in the room, who was still currently bundled up asleep in his arms.
"Well," Anakin said, quieter this time, readjusting his grip on Ahsoka slightly as her head began to slip from his shoulder, "I need to go take Ahsoka to bed now. I'll see you in a minute, Master."
Obi-Wan giving him an understanding nod, Anakin turned around with Ahsoka and headed down the small hallway towards her room. The door quietly sliding open with a gentle whoosh, Anakin stepped inside and walked over to the bed, kneeling down beside the mattress and leaning on his heels as he began to pull Ahsoka's head away from his shoulder.
"We're home now, Snips," he quietly whispered to the sleepy togruta. Ahsoka shifted her head slightly, but otherwise didn't react as Anakin continued to untangle her from his chest. "Let's get this cloak off you…"
Anakin carefully pulled Ahsoka's arms out of the sleeves of her cloak, unravelling it from around her and setting it aside on the floor as he then lifted the girl and gently laid her down onto the mattress, guiding her head to rest comfortably on the pillow.
Pulling the blanket up from where it was sitting folded at the bottom of the bed, Anakin dragged the fabric over her body, up to her chin, tucking it in around her nice and snug.
"Goodnight Snips," he murmured softly, reaching out to stroke Ahsoka's right montral, staying there like that for a few moments as he watched her for a little longer.
She looked so peaceful like this. So young. Anakin felt his heart squeeze.
He would do anything for his little Padawan.
Finally retreating with a warm smile on his face, Anakin picked up Ahsoka's cloak from the floor and folded it up, setting it on the chair in the corner before he unclipped Ahsoka's lightsaber from his belt and sat it neatly on top of the folded fabric. Giving his Padawan one last glance, he left Ahsoka to sleep, quietly withdrawing from the dark room.
When Anakin made his way back to the living space, he found that Obi-Wan was still patiently waiting there for him. Though, the older Jedi was looking at him with an odd smile. Anakin raised an eyebrow in question.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," Obi-Wan replied, faintly shaking his head, refocusing his gaze on Anakin again, as if his mind had been elsewhere. He continued to smile though, which had a certain fondness to it. "It's just…a little sense of deja vu…"
Anakin continued to study the older man curiously, Obi-Wan fondly added, "It wasn't that long ago that I remember carrying you back to our quarters after a long mission…"
At that, Anakin found himself smiling sheepishly, averting his gaze, before he reached up to stifle a yawn that came over him a moment later.
"You don't need me to carry you to bed now, do you?"
Anakin looked up, rolled his eyes.
"You wanna try?" he replied wryly. Obi-Wan only chuckled fondly in reply, moving forward, closing the distance between them.
"Goodnight, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, placing a gentle hand on Anakin's shoulder. "I'm going to go and head to bed myself now. But, Anakin, you really should head to bed now too…" Anakin yawned again, Obi-Wan patted his shoulder, "…though I think you just proved my point."
Anakin rubbed his eyes with his flesh hand before he met Obi-Wan's gaze again, jokingly giving the older man another eye roll, even as the realisation of just how tired he actually was right now crashed right into him like a wayward speeder.
Obi-Wan seemed to silently study him for another moment, before Anakin felt the hand on his shoulder move down to his back and begin to push him forward.
"Come on," Obi-Wan whispered, pushing him into the hallway.
"Master?" Anakin questioned, craning his neck trying to look at the older Jedi’s face. Though he didn't attempt to resist as Obi-Wan continued to guide him down the hall.
"I'm already here," Obi-Wan said quietly, "I might as well make sure you get to bed."
Not finding a reason to argue with that logic—or maybe it was just because of how tired he was—Anakin surrendered and let his former Master guide him over to his bedroom door, rubbing his eyes again as the door gently swooshed open in front of them.
Obi-Wan guiding him inside, Anakin headed over to his drawers to grab a pair of nightclothes while Obi-Wan retreated back towards the doorway.
"I'll leave you to get changed," Obi-Wan said after a moment. Anakin looked up. The older Jedi was giving him a gentle smile from the doorway. "Goodnight, Anakin. I'll see you in the morning."
Anakin gave him a smile in return. "Goodnight, Master."
With an acknowledging nod, Obi-Wan left the room and headed down the hall, leaving Anakin to get changed and ready for bed.
Once Anakin was changed into his nightclothes and finally ready to go to bed, he let himself flop down onto his mattress like a rag doll, lying there like that for several moments debating whether or not he should just fall asleep in that position before he managed to muster enough energy to roll himself onto his back and pull back his covers from where they were tightly tucked in around his bed frame—much to his chagrin.
Obi-Wan really had a gift for housekeeping.
When he had finally managed to untuck his covers, Anakin pulled the maroon fabric up to his chin, turning onto his side as he settled his head on his pillow. Closing his eyes, he stifled one last yawn before he was promptly overtaken by slumber, exhaustion taking the reigns as he drifted off into a deep and peaceful sleep.