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1- Gregor
The Jedi refectory was buzzing with younglings, children crowding around the steaming tureens of fresh food, desperate to cram as much in as they could before being called back to lessons. The fare was healthy, nutritious and pretty tasty. In other words, the complete opposite of the rations Cody had grown used to during the newly-dubbed Clone Wars.
The Chancellor had fallen around six months previously and left both the GAR and the Republic itself in disarray. It had taken time and countless resources to get society moving again. The realisation that they had come so close to a Sith-run empire was frightening to say the least. It also meant that the vod’e were roped into the numerous GAR rehabilitation projects. After all, the senate wanted to get their money’s worth.
As a freshly appointed General, Cody still felt a little uneasy going into the Jedi temple during his downtime. They had been his superiors for years at war, as well as social superiors for years of conditioning and training. It was hard for all the Vod’e to come to the conclusion that perhaps the Jedi weren’t so different after all.
Cody glanced around the refectory, looking for the person he was supposed to meet, towering over the heads of most of the hungry rabble. The younglings were very sweet and watched him with an open curiosity. He smiled down at a young Wookie child who tilted their head, eyes tracking over his scar.
They knew exactly who he was and Cody was starting to think he might be okay with it. If not now, he would eventually anyway.
“Kriff, he’s hot.”
Cody blinked and wandered over to the machine providing hot beverages, hoping to grab a caf while he waited. He was certain that Obi-Wan had said to meet him here when their lunch breaks coincided but there was no sign of the elusive ginger man.
Reflected in the metal plating of the beverage dispenser, Cody could see two teenagers watching him closely with sparkling eyes, gossiping behind their robes. Beads and braids betrayed them as padawan learners. He pressed the button for caf as they continued to giggle, unaware of his heightened sense of hearing.
“Seriously though, Kilira,” the young Kiffar mumbled. “I mean, look at him.”
Kilara, a Twi’lek with bright purple lekku, frowned, “All the Vod’e look the same.”
“But look at those arms in that shirt!” He hissed.
Cody watched as the boiling hot caf poured from the machine with a hiss, steam billowing across the surface of the countertop. Subtly, he glanced down at his shirt.
It was absolutely too small for him and did make his biceps look larger than usual, he would admit. Apparently he had put one of Obi-Wan’s on that morning in error if the bright orange Jedi crest was anything to go by. On closer inspection, he was pretty sure that the damn piece of fabric wouldn’t even fit Obi-Wan, at least not in length.
Cody was broader, sure, but Obi-Wan was much longer in the torso, so Cody had no clue why the Jedi owned it at all. He’d have to get him to put it on, he mused, see how he looked in a crop top. Cody was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be unhappy with the image it presented.
“Oh yeah, that’s fair,” Kilara conceded. She muttered a little more quietly as Cody picked up the caf cup and took a sip. “Do you even know who he is, Thale?”
Thale nodded vigorously, “Ohhh yes. Pretty sure he’s called Gregor. I’ve been checking out his ass for weeks.”
Cody choked on his caf, hot liquid scalding his throat. Gregor? Honestly.
His discomfort only got worse when it occurred to him that he was going to have to turn around to reach the milk. He could feel the embarrassed flush already scaling up his cheeks. With a sigh, he turned on the spot and watched the colour drain from both teens’ faces as their eyes tracked over his decidedly defining scar.
“Whoops,” Thale mumbled with a vaguely embarrassed grin. “Maybe they do look a bit the same.”
Kilara elbowed Thale in the ribs, apparently unable to look away from Cody who was steadfastly stirring in his milk, “Do you think he heard us?”
The Kiffar boy glanced around them, a nervous air suddenly overcoming her, “I don’t care about that! Imagine if his boyfriend heard us! Force, Master Kenobi would take us into orbit just to throw us out of an airlock.”
Cody couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter form popping out of his mouth. He grinned at the kids, “He would never. I’m sure Obi-Wan would probably find it quite funny.”
In complete synchronisation, their eyes widened and their mouths stretched into awkward smiles. Thale fiddled with his hair and said with far too much false enthusiasm, “Oh, wow. Hello, General. Didn’t know you were here.”
Kilara winced, “Seriously, Thale?”
Cody decided to do the most adult thing he could and that was move the conversation along to save all of them from the mortifying ordeal of prolonging it. He smiled kindly, the one he saved for tubies and cadets, “Have you seen Master Kenobi anywhere, padawans?”
“N-No, sorry,” the Twi’lek mumbled before dragging her friend away by the elbow, hissing thinly veiled threats in his ear.
Sipping his caf, Cody scanned the room again. There was still no sign of Obi-Wan and his self-conscious blush was only just starting to fade.
It was part of finally being considered sentient that Cody hadn’t really accounted for: desire. Sure, he had hooked up with the odd natborn on shore leave and of course there was Obi-Wan, but being perceived by strangers who weren’t anticipating anything in return was unsettling to say the least. He did take it as a compliment, however.
Gregor should too, he thought with another smile.
He picked his way through the throng of chattering younglings, trying to find a table with a couple of seats free so he could save one for Obi-Wan when his comm beeped. Cody’s brow furrowed as he pulled it from his pocket and answered the call from Maiyda.
A perk of his job was having his very own assistant, a sweet Pantoran girl who was endlessly capable and always eager to do more. She was a lot like Cody used to be, really.
He would have employed her in a heartbeat but then Riyo bullied Fox into bullying Cody into giving her the role. He had to pretend like it was a hardship to choose the conscientious worker because he certainly wasn’t going to miss out on Fox owing him a favour, thank you very much.
Either way, being a General without a war apparently came with an office and an assistant and a lot more bureaucracy (if that was even possible).
An office that, according to Maiyda, Obi-Wan currently waiting in with a couple of boxes of takeout food from Dex’s.
“Fuck’s sake,” Cody said with a roll of his eyes. He downed the last dregs of his caf and headed back the way he had come half an hour earlier. “Bloody jetiise.”
2 - Wolffe
The twelve month mark after the Chancellor fell passed in a haze of flimsiwork and meetings for Cody. He found himself incredibly grateful when Wolffe all but kidnapped him from his office and dragged him to 79s. Cody was forced into a booth seat next to Bly with Fox sitting opposite, a collection of empty glasses littering the table. They were already hard at work it seemed.
The club was busier than Cody had anticipated. It was early evening and there was still daylight outside. Apparently the clones who had chosen to stay on Coruscant were unbothered by this fact and were simply celebrating being alive, as was their recently elected right. Cody liked that a lot.
“Rex will be here later, before you ask, Kote,” Fox said, with a knowing stare.
Cody shrugged and grabbed Fox’s half-drunk bottle from his hand and threw it back, ignoring his brother’s protestation. Once he had finished it, he smacked his lips obnoxiously and gestured insistently at Fox, “Get another round in then, vod.”
“That was my fucking drink,” Fox glared.
“Well, you haven’t given me a wedding present so it’s the least you could do,” Cody said matter-of-factly.
Bly elbowed Cody sharply in the ribs, “When the fuck did that happen?”
Cody hummed in thought and picked up Bly’s unfinished bottle before he could protest, knocking that one back too, “Few weeks.”
A clatter drew the attention of the three brothers as Wolffe dumped a tray of shots onto the table, the tiny glasses clinking against one another. There were far too many shots on there for the four of them, but Cody thought he’d give it a go.
Multicoloured lights beamed off the glasses, tinting the clear liquid in a whole spectrum of shades. Cody’s brother’s faces seemed more angular, more similar in this lighting. It was a lot harder to pick them apart than it was on the streets of Coruscant.
“Hear that Wolffey? Kote’s gone and got hitched without inviting us!” Bly cried indignantly as Cody downed his second shot.
He reached across for a third.
Wolffe slapped a hand over Cody’s, grinning, “What’s the rush, Kote? Married life already getting you down?”
Cody rolled his eyes, “Senators are getting me down. My marriage is the only thing that’s keeping me from losing it altogether.”
Fox nodded approvingly, clapping Cody on the shoulder in agreement, “Fucking senators.”
“But Fox…”
“Exactly.”
“I’m still not happy about this,” Bly complained, folding his arms and elbowing Cody again for good measure.
Cody sighed and wrapped his arm around his brother, “If it’s any consolation, we didn’t invite anyone. Just me and Obi-Wan saying the riduurok. And the Force apparently, I don’t know. We’re planning on doing a big ceremony thing once the Council have got their osik together.”
Bly only grumbled more, “I don’t give a kark about you not inviting us. I just wanted to marry my Jedi first, for kriff’s sake, but the Council are being stubborn shabuirs about it.”
Cody cracked a smile while Fox and Wolffe huffed in unison, the latter reaching over to slap Bly gently on the ear, an affectionate tap of some kind. Bly batted the hand away absently, clearly thinking. He was one of those people who had such an intense and obvious thinking face, it seemed like it hurt. Knowing Bly, it probably did.
“Do the Council know?”
“That we’re married? No,” Cody said. “Obi will tell them soon, I guess. It’s up to him. I just did it for us, not for them.” He paused with a grin. “He’s probably waiting for the most dramatic opportunity, you know jetiise.”
Bly nodded sombrely, picking up a shot glass and raising it like a toast, “Jetiise.”
“Can’t wait to heckle at your big wedding, Kote,” Fox said, drinking three shots in rapid succession without so much as a wince. (Fox was always a bit terrifying like that.)
Wolffe scoffed, seemingly unimpressed with the concept of marriage at all. This was confirmed when he said, “Marriage is for di’kuts. Especially jetiise marriage. You two must be kriffing insane. Or just stupid.”
“At least I didn’t want Aalya to try and adopt me,” Bly sniffed.
“Fuck off,” Wolffe snapped.
“Your round, Kote,” Fox said loudly, pulling attention back to him. “Just because you’re married doesn’t mean you get to skip your round. You’re the di’kut who made the choice to get hitched.”
Cody stood on slightly wobbly legs and moved to get out of the booth, “No sign of you popping the question to Riyo then?”
“Who says I haven’t already?”
Bly was instantly inconsolable, “You’re engaged? Fuck me.”
Fox grinned showing far too many teeth, a devilish glint in his eye, “Nah, not when I’m about to be a senator. Too much risk of favouritism. We’ll probably wait a few years. I think that’s more aligned with Pantoran culture anyway, we’ve barely been together long.”
Cody shook his head slowly, looking down on his brother with disbelief, “Still can’t believe you’re going to be a fucking senator.”
“Riyo can be persuasive,” Fox muttered, swallowing yet another shot of liquor.
“I bet she can!” Wolffe crowed.
Fox grumbled something that was probably a curse under his breath and pointed to the bar, “Fuckin- Kote. Get the fucking drinks already. It’s one of my last nights out as someone who isn’t a fucking senator. Little gods, it makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.”
Cody saluted sloppily and ambled towards the bar, just catching Wolffe saying conversationally, “That Riyo must have something really good on you. Either that or she's fucking spectacular in bed.”
The music pulsed as Cody stood at the bar, waiting to catch the attention of the vod serving drinks when a dark haired human woman sidled up next to him. He smiled at her benignly, fiddling with the credit chit in his fingertips. She smiled back at him casually, then spun and slapped him in the face without a word of warning.
The credit chit dropped onto the bar with a clatter and Cody blinked away the stinging pain. It wasn’t too hard of a hit, but it surprised him enough that it smarted, even through the fog of alcohol.
He blinked hazily at her, eyes betraying every ounce of surprise he felt. Cody’s mouth gaped awkwardly as he tried to find the words to ask: what the actual fuck?
She answered him before he even asked the question, dark eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, “That was for sleeping with my sister, sleemo!”
Cody squinted at her through the fast moving lights and said the first thing that popped into his head. It wasn’t particularly intelligent but he was beyond bewildered, “But I’m gay.”
“Oh yeah, that’s likely,” she huffed, slapping him again on the other cheek.
“I- I’m not-” Cody said, trying to explain that he was the wrong damn clone, thank you very much. Instead he said, “Not me, I-I’m married.”
The woman was visibly thrown by the appalling explanation and watched Cody for a moment before saying (albeit a little more uncertainly), “Marriage doesn’t stop men like you from… Wait.”
She grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him away from the bar, closer to the doorway where the light from outside was still filtering in. She took a moment to shake her head free of the alcohol and parse through the poor lighting.
Cody watched as it dawned on her.
“Oh shite, you’re not Wolffe.”
“Kote,” Cody said, pointing to himself and then pointing to the booth that housed his brothers who were watching the exchange with amusement. “Wolffe’s over there.”
The bastard had the gall to wave.
Throwing a minorly apologetic look at Cody, the woman marched over to Wolffe who stood up smirking, as if he was expecting a nice reunion.
Cody thought he was delusional.
And then the woman kneed Wolffe in the groin, hissing something about her sister. He collapsed to the floor, still grinning like a tooka that got the cream. With one hand clutching his injured balls, he gestured to the bar, “Can I buy you a drink to make up for it?”
Fox and Bly burst into incredulous laughter which halted immediately when the woman accepted and Wolffe walked her to the bar.
Cody watched them as the bartender slid over another round of liquor. His hand absently reached up to touch his bruised cheeks. Obi-Wan was going to laugh his pretty little head off about this, Cody was sure.
Still watching Wolffe in his peripherals, Cody took the next round back to the booth, dumping it on the sticky table with little ceremony.
Bly was shaking his head, “Wolffe always attracts the loose cannons.”
“That’s because he’s also a loose cannon. And just plain crazy,” Fox said dryly.
Cody nodded seriously, “This is true.”
“He’ll probably be the next to get married,” Bly muttered darkly, picking up a drink.
Fox and Cody snickered at Bly, who just pouted harder.
Another clone slid into the booth beside them, blonde hair highlighted in the greens and pinks of the club lights.
“Oof! What happened to your face, Codes?” Rex asked with no preamble.
Cody said nothing but pointed at Wolffe who was making out with the formerly angry woman, the couple partially obscured in a darkened corner of the club.
Rex followed Cody’s finger and tilted his head consideringly, “Didn’t think she was your type.”
Grimacing automatically, Cody shook his head and poked at his reddened face, “Definitely not.”
“Yeah,” Fox said, smiling wickedly. “Didn’t you hear? Kote’s a married man now.”
“He’s fucking what?”
Cody sighed.
3- Obi-Wan
Eighteen months after the Chancellor fell, Cody was very much settled into his new way of life. Things weren’t perfect but they were getting easier.
He still woke with a start when he worried that he had slept in, still took it personally when reports showed one of his troops hadn’t made it home, still looked at his helmet on the nightstand with a strange melancholy longing.
Having Obi-Wan beside him made it a lot more simple. It was what they had been fighting for, the chance to have a future, the chance to be normal(ish). It made it real.
It also kept life exciting, so when he woke up blindfolded and cuffed to a bench, Cody let the slow smile spread across his face.
He didn’t put it past Obi-Wan to have planned something completely crazy for his batchday. And maybe even something sexy, who knows? Cody was a pretty lucky guy and Obi-Wan was creative to say the least.
“How much did you have to bribe with Maiyda into order to kidnap me from work?”
“She wouldn’t accept a bribe so I had her distracted instead,” a voice that was decidedly not Obi-Wan’s responded.
Instantly, Cody’s demeanour hardened. He stepped into the role of General as easily as stepping into a pair of well-worn boots.
Cody focused on what he could sense around him; the cool metal of the bench he was cuffed to, the smell of engine coolant, a vague hum of machinery.
He was on a ship.
His head throbbed. That would be the drugs wearing off, he supposed.
Kidnapped. On his batchday too. Fucking typical.
“Did you hurt her?” He asked, jaw clenched.
The response was almost affronted, “Of course not, she wasn’t the target.”
It was a droid, Cody realised. He had been kidnapped by a kriffing beskar’ad. That was embarrassing to say the least.
Cody hadn’t realised that there was an active bounty on him, though. Sure, there had been a handful during wartime, as there were for all the command teams, but he didn’t know there was a current one.
Somehow, he wasn’t all that surprised. Cody wondered if the Hutts had something to do with it perhaps. There had been some recent issues with them regarding militarisation so maybe kidnapping a high-ranking officer was their response.
“I thought I asked you to kidnap General Kenobi,” a different voice said, tone betraying a level of bewilderment.
Cody smiled, despite himself. He was pretty sure he recognised that voice.
“Who the hell is this?”
The droid pulled down his blindfold in a quick motion and Cody blinked at the sudden rush of light around him. He looked up at Cad Bane who was staring down at him with disdain.
“Todo, who the fuck is this?” Bane repeated with a growl.
The droid, Todo, looked as confused as a droid could look, looking from his boss to the kidnapped Cody, “It’s General Kenobi, Mr Bane.”
“This isn’t Kenobi! Kenobi’s a Jedi!”
“I asked around! They pointed me to General Kenobi’s office and it was just this guy.”
Bane pointed an accusing finger at Cody, “This is a clone!”
“He was labelled as General Kenobi,” Todo said, sounding a little unsure.
The bounty hunters turned to look at Cody who smiled benignly back at them, wrists straining against the cuffs.
Bane narrowed his eyes beneath his hat, studying Cody for a moment. He folded his arms across his chest, “Who are you?”
Cody shrugged, “You heard the droid.”
Bane’s eyes somehow grew narrower. Cody’s smile grew wider.
“But you’re a clone.”
“Affirmative”
“A General?”
“Affirmative.”
“Kenobi?” Bane muttered, squinting at Cody as if that would somehow explain things. Suddenly his expression changed and he looked as unimpressed and neutral as ever. “Don’t tell me he adopted you.”
Cody smirked, immediately thinking of Wolffe and the Wolfpack. He shook his head, “Just married me. That and a promotion means I’m General Kenobi now.”
Bane apparently didn’t know how to respond to that as he instead pulled a bounty puck from his pocket. He activated the device and a low-quality hologram of Obi-Wan flared to life, the blue static winking in and out as his figure spun on the spot.
The General, the bounty hunter and the droid watched the grainy image of Obi-Wan float for a few moments in an oddly contemplative silence, until Cody broke it with a hum of faux sympathy.
“Yeah, that’s out of date, buddy. Hope you didn’t pay for that puck.”
Bane threw the puck to the floor and cursed.
Cody grimaced, “Well, I hope you didn’t pay a lot.”
The bounty hunter started to pace, the small ship only allowing a few steps before he had to turn on his heel and stalk back the way he came. Cody watched him studiously, aware that Bane’s frustration may well be his ticket out of captivity.
“Sir,” Todo piped up suddenly. “What do we do with this guy then?”
Bane stopped pacing and looked at Cody with a neutral gaze, something analytical working away behind that mask. His hand hovered over the blaster in his belt, the thinly veiled threat unnecessary from where Cody was sitting. Bane inclined his head, fingers flexing, “Any bounties on you, clone?”
“Don’t think so,” Cody said truthfully. Then he added with equal honesty, “I also wouldn’t tell you if there were.”
A low grunt was all Cody received in return. He could tell that the bounty hunter was trying to work out what to do and Cody was fairly sure that chucking the accidental prisoner into space was top of the list.
He decided to try and nip that one in the bud. Obi-Wan would kill him if he got spaced.
Cody sighed, “Look. If you just return me to where you found me, I won’t tell anyone about this.”
Bane just looked at him blankly.
Thinking quickly, Cody decided to embellish things a little.
Obi-Wan always said, if you can’t beat them with your brilliance, baffle them with your banthashit. It seemed like a good a day as any to put that theory to the test.
“Sure, you could just kill me, but like you said, I’m a clone. I come complete with a tracker and data transmitter,” Cody said, hoping that Bane had no clue about clones. This was a steaming pile of banthashit he was serving and Cody prayed that Bane would be willing to eat it with a spoon. “If you take me somewhere, my husband will know. If you kill me, the transmitter will stop responding and my husband will know. If you keep me, my husband will also know.”
Cody wasn’t sure if he had ever said the word husband so many times in one breath, but he was kind of enjoying the opportunity. It was a bit frustrating, having to use Obi-Wan’s name as a threat. After all, Cody was General Kenobi now, he should be as much of a threat.
But, he wasn’t against pretending his husband was some kind of massif if that meant he would be able to get home in time for latemeal. It was his batchday for kriffs sake.
“I’m guessing you don’t really want Obi-Wan Kenobi chasing you around the cosmos for killing off his favourite husband.” Cody paused and tilted his head. “Well, only husband.”
Bane sighed and looked away from Cody, heading out of the holding room, calling over his shoulder, “Todo, take us back to Coruscant.”
Cody nodded, “Sensible choice.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
(Later that evening, when they were curled on the sofa together and eating a jogan cake bought especially for the batchday celebrations, Obi-Wan asked Cody how his day had been. Cody wasn’t all that sure how to respond and settled on the phrase, “Had my first kidnapping today.”
Obi-Wan replied with the obvious response, eyes all soft with genuine concern, “Oh dear, who was kidnapped?”
Cody looked at his husband and tried a smile, “Funny you should ask that...”
The conversation that followed went about as well as Cody expected it to.)
4 - Cut
For the first time since the death of the former Chancellor nearly 20 months ago, Cody had been granted a period of leave. It wasn’t long, less than a tenday, but it was enough for him to spend some quality time with both his husband and his brothers.
Well, some of his brothers. He had quite a few. Not to mention the other sisters and siblings kicking around the galaxy.
It was a universal truth that Cody had a soft spot for Rex especially. Said soft spot manifested itself in blatant favouritism and had done since marksmanship training on Kamino, but no one ever called Cody out on it. It was nice to see him pretend to be human, according to Bly.
Rex found out about Cody’s leave and after allowing him to spend a solid two rotations in bed with Obi-Wan, he dragged him into a ship on a fun brotherly expedition. Like the good brother Rex was, he steadfastly ignored the sex hair, kiss-bitten lips, and the solid trail of hickeys that ran down Cody’s neck.
Apparently Obi-Wan was very thorough when it came to saying goodbyes.
They landed on Saleucami to no fanfare, just a single shuttle dropping down in a recently harvested field.
“It’s about damn time you meet Cut. He’s a great guy, I think you’ll like him,” Rex said as they trudged through the field to the Lawquane’s farmhouse. “And if you don’t like him, you’ll sure as shit like Suu. The woman’s a proper hardass.”
“Just my type,” Cody said with a laugh as he looked around the planet covered in foliage. It had been years since he had been there and the plant life had only seemed to get wilder.
The sun beat down on the pair and Cody wished he had worn something with shorter sleeves. He debated taking his shirt off altogether, but then he remembered the scratch marks littering his skin and thought better of it.
“Daddy!” A young voice yelled.
Cody looked down at his knees just in time to see a kid barrel into them, squawking in delight, “Daddy! Up, up, up!”
Reacting entirely out of instinct, he hoisted the child up and balanced him on his hip in the way that Obi-Wan often did with Luke and Leia. He hadn't got around to holding them yet. It always felt a bit wrong, after all, he was just some clone that married their uncle.
It wasn't that Cody didn't like children. It was more that he wasn't entirely familiar on what was deemed socially acceptable. He wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to do in this instance. The kid couldn’t have been much older than two standard years and Cody had never been very good with the tiny tubies. He thought they were cute, sure, but how did you talk to them? What was an appropriate topic of conversation? Did you have to use a silly voice?
What were you supposed to do when you had the same face as their father and they were too young to know the difference?
The child stared at Cody with big, bright purple eyes, one hand clasped on Cody’s shoulder and the other playing with their short lekku. Their brows furrowed and Cody watched as their eyes traced his scar. The kid was working it out, he realised, lips quirking as a tiny hand reached out to feel the rough scar tissue.
“Not Daddy,” the kid mumbled, although they seemed less concerned about the stranger that was holding them, and more intrigued than anything else.
Cody smiled, a tiny thing that quirked at his lips, “I’m afraid not, kid. I’m… another uncle. Do you know Uncle Rex?”
He tilted his head towards Rex who was watching the exchange with a strange enjoyment. Rex gave the child a wave, “Hey, N’esa! Remember me?”
N’esa studied Rex, eyes narrowed, “Hmm.”
“She’s got so big,” Rex muttered as if to himself, still smiling at the child. It was sweet, Cody thought. Rex would make a great father someday.
“N’esa?” A distinctly clone voice called from near the farmhouse. “N’esa, you need to wash up before Uncle- Oh.”
Cut came around the corner of a hay bale, grinning at his guests, “Ah, you must be Commander Cody. Nice to finally meet you. I see you’ve already met my youngest, N’esa.”
Cody handed the child to Cut who took her easily, dropping a habitual kiss on the top of her head. She rested her head in the crook of her father’s neck, wrapping tiny arms around him.
“They’re not Daddy,” she mumbled.
Cody tried not to focus too much on the odd feeling of loss and how empty his arms felt. It wasn’t something he had felt before and definitely wasn’t something he had even allowed space to think about. Kids. Huh. Maybe he should talk to Obi-Wan.
“It’s General Cody now,” Rex added with a grin, elbowing Cody in the ribs with enough force to snap him out of his head.
“You don’t say!” Cut grinned back. He turned and started walking towards the house, Rex and Cody trailing behind him. “Sorry about the mistaken identity, by the way. Clone problems, am I right?”
Another voice answered first, “Holy shit! Cody?”
“Language!” Cut yelled, as a body dressed in black sprinted towards the group, tackling Cody for the second time that day.
Three smaller figures brought up the rear, circling Rex and pulling him into the centre of an affectionate huddle.
Hunter held Cody tightly for a second and then pulled away, slapping him fondly on the back, “Hear you’re an honest woman now, Kote.”
Cody rolled his eyes but did nothing to hide his smile at seeing his friend after a rather long time. Instead he held up the hand that had a ring on it with a smirk.
(Cody wasn’t all that sure about the custom. It seemed a bit strange, the exchanging of rings, but Obi-Wan had said something about it being Stewjoni in origin, and it wasn’t like they had any armour to swap in the Mandalorian way of things. Plus, Cody would be lying if he said he didn’t like the way it looked on his finger and the way it matched Obi-Wan's.)
“Yeah, I’m officially taken. You missed your shot, Hunter.”
Hunter laughed, and Cody watched as his eyes drew over to the blonde girl that was chatting animatedly to Rex, hand gestures wild and uninhibited.
Cody bumped their shoulders together, “And I hear you’re a dad now, Sarge.”
“Shit, apparently. Omega’s like a full-time job,” Hunter replied with a vaguely rueful expression. “We can’t all be GAR Generals.”
“Someone has to be,” Cody shrugged. “Make sure that di’kuts like Rex are kept in line.”
“I resent that accusation,” Rex piped up from where he was pretending he wasn't eavesdropping.
They watched Cut corral the kids into the farmhouse where a Twi’lek woman, presumably Suu, stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for them.
Hunter’s protective eyes followed Omega and Rex in through the wooden doorframe. When they had entered, he let out a long, deep sigh, “Fuck, Kote. When did we stop being clones and start being people?”
“We were always people, vod. It just took us some time to realise it.”
5 – Fox
It was around two years after the fall of Chancellor Palpatine when Cody was kidnapped again. He had learnt from his first experience that there was actually a level of enjoyment to be taken from it and he vowed to make his kidnappers as infuriated as possible if there happened to be a next time.
Essentially, he was taking a sheet of flimsi from Obi-Wan who had been returned to the Jedi countless times after annoying his abductors into it. He was a ridiculous man, but Cody thought maybe a bit of ridiculousness could be helpful occasionally.
Hondo Ohnaka was beside himself with anger as he marched around the cage in which Cody had been unceremoniously shoved. Florrum was a relatively nice planet to be held captive on though, Cody had to admit. The night wasn't too cold and it was close enough to hyperspace lanes for a quick getaway. This whole thing could be much worse.
The pirate captain gesticulated wildly as his crew shot each other mildly concerned glances.
Perhaps there was still potential for things to fall apart.
After an hour spent in the cage, Cody realised that they had mistaken him for Senator Fox, an assumption based solely on the number of greys in his hair. Di'kuts, the lot of them. Their plan was to try and ransom Fox back to the Republic or the Vod’e, whichever would pay the most.
It wasn’t a great plan, considering they had picked up the wrong guy.
“Look at the scar!” Hondo yelled for the nineteenth time. “The scar, idiots!”
“It could be new,” one brave (or stupid) pirate interjected.
Hondo halted in his ravings to look at the pirate dryly, “Does that look like a new scar to you?”
The pirate didn’t say anything. A good choice, Cody thought.
Turning back to peer at Cody through the bars, Hondo finally had the sense to talk to Cody and asked, “Who are you?”
“One of the Vod’e,” Cody said obtusely.
“Fucking- What’s your name?” Hondo hissed.
Cody let out a low whistle, standing up and starting to amble around the cage thoughtfully. He channelled his inner Obi-Wan as he said, “That’s a big question, Hondo. Names are very important to the Vod’e as I’m sure you know. But my husband mainly calls me Darling. Starting to forget my actual name, you know?”
Hondo cackled, throwing his head back, “Clone’s got jokes!” He stopped abruptly and gestured to his first mate. “Scan him.”
Cody stuck his arm through the bars of the cage obediently, not quite willing to take his chances with being a complete brat against Hondo’s entire crew. A rigged scanner was pressed against his arm, a jumble of pieces and wires cobbled together.
It served its purpose though, and display flashed up with Cody’s designation.
“It says, CC-2224, Boss.”
“Give me that,” Hondo said, snatching the scanner from his first mate. He looked at the display with a calculating air, trying to piece it together. “Why do I know that number?”
The room quietened as the pirates tried to place Cody. He sat back down in the cage, crossing his legs with an unbothered expression. These guys were shitty kidnappers. He really wasn't all that worried. Cody also had the advantage of knowing Hondo enough to start thinking about escaping.
He sat quietly and plotted while the pirates mumbled amongst themselves.
“Oh fuck. Fuck! It’s him, Boss! He’s the General, one of the ones that took down Palpatine,” a voice cried from the crowd of gathered pirates after nearly another hour of debate.
Cody shrugged with faux-modesty, “It was a team effort. And actually, it’s Commander-in-Chief now.”
Realisation dawned in Hondo’s eyes and he grinned at Cody like they were two old friends, finally reuniting, “Oh, Commander Cody! Hello!”
“Hello Ohnaka,” Cody said, inclining his head. “And don’t forget the ‘in-Chief’ part, it’s very important to me.”
Hondo cackled in that feral way of his, wiping a tear that didn’t exist from the corner of his eye. Kriffing drama queen. No wonder he seemed to get along with Obi-Wan. Hondo smirked at Cody, “Oh you are a funny one. Bet you love to hold that title over those Jedi though, hmm?”
He was clearly trying some sort of angle, perhaps seeing if Cody was of any worth at all, even if he wasn’t Fox. Cody watched Hondo passively. The guy was far from subtle and he wasn’t all that bright.
“Finally you’re rid of them,” Hondo added.
Cody shrugged, “Not really. I live with one.”
Hondo’s face twitched. Any normal person who hadn’t studied micro-expressions for a lifetime wouldn’t have noticed, but Cody did.
Hondo really had no kriffing clue.
“There’s no way you’ll be getting a ransom for me, Ohnaka. There won’t be enough time,” Cody said blandly, picking at a spot of dirt on his trouser leg in that infuriating Kenobi way.
“Time? What are you talking about, Commander-in-Chief Cody?”
Cody’s lips twitched upwards a little, “It’s Commander-in-Chief Cody Kenobi.”
“Kenobi?” Hondo asked, genuinely confused.
Cody stood in the cage, making a big show of stretching out his back, allowing his spine to pop and knees to click. He took a deep breath in and out, and then decided that he’d given himself enough time to be dramatic. He had got his promotion for a reason. He was good at his job and strategy was second nature.
Cody watched Hondo with his usually reticent expression, “If you’re quick about it, we can come to some sort of an agreement before my husband gets here. I know you’ve met.”
“Kenobi,” Hondo groaned in understanding.
“Are you really that far out of the loop?” Cody asked, genuinely curious. It wasn’t as if his marriage was an entirely new development.
“It’s a common name,” Hondo said, striding over to his chair and sitting on it with an exaggerated grunt.
“I’ve never met another one.”
“Neither have I,” Hondo said with a bark of a laugh.
Cody said nothing but raised his eyebrow in the way that Alpha-17 had taught him as a cadet. It was apparently infuriating to be on the receiving end of it, not that Cody knew. He was immune, after all.
Hondo grimaced, sinking lower into his seat, “Shit, I should have guessed. You’re annoying, just like him. Kenobi’s one hell of a dickhead.”
“Ku’ur. That might be true but I’m the only one who can say it,” Cody frowned, stiffening. He paused as a flash of cream behind Hondo’s chair caught his eye and his posture relaxed again. He smirked through the bars, “Not that it matters anymore.”
“What?”
“Silly bastard’s been listening to all of this, haven’t you cyare?”
Surprising everyone except Cody, Obi-Wan stepped out from behind where Hondo was perched, dropping his outer robe on the ground in that dramatic way of his. He swayed sultrily as he walked and Cody knew instantly that it was all to draw attention to the lightsaber on his hip.
Obi-Wan stopped in front of the cage, studying the workmanship. One look told Cody that Obi-Wan was just as unimpressed as he was. Obi-Wan took the hilt off his belt and spun it around in his hand absentmindedly, “I don’t really call you darling that much, do I?”
“You really do,” Cody said, quirking a brow.
Striding closer, Obi-Wan smiled, all teeth and charm like an abnormally flirtatious lothcat, “Oh Kote.” He tilted his head, studying Cody. “Have I ever told you just how delightful you look behind bars. It really does things to me.”
Cody shrugged and leant forward, wrapping his hands around the bars and tensing his forearms just for Obi-Wan’s benefit. He lowered his voice an octave, all gravel in that way he knew Obi-Wan liked, “Be that as it may, I would like to get out of here, cyare.”
Obi-Wan licked his lips, eyes darting to Cody’s arms and back to his face, “Oh?”
“The company is mediocre,” Cody said with a flash of a grin.
Obi-Wan let out a surprised chuckle which morphed into a noise of disagreement, shaking his head in disappointment, “Hondo isn’t all that bad! A bit uncouth I suppose, but his humour is not to be sniffed at.”
“Obi-Wan, his jokes are shit.”
“Ah, this is true,” Obi-Wan sighed. “He could do with learning a thing or two about wit.”
Apparently regaining use of his tongue at long last, Hondo sputtered with incredulous anger, jumping from his seat, “Are you done!”
It wasn’t a question but Obi-Wan nodded anyway, opening the cage with a flick of his fingers. He pulled a blaster out of the back of his robes, a tiny thing that Padme Amidala would have favoured, and handed it to Cody.
“Come along then, darling- Oh dear,” Obi-Wan said, wide-eyed. “I really do say that a lot.”
Cody laughed and shook his head, brimming with fond exasperation. He turned to Hondo aiming the blaster lazily at the pirate’s head, smile dropping as quickly as it had arrived.
He watched with a sick kind of enjoyment as Hondo’s posture began to show just a hint of fear.
“Right,” Cody said, years of Kaminoan training firmly in place. “Are you going to let me go without a fuss, or what’s the plan here Captain Ohnaka?”
Hondo dropped back into his chair, slumping in defeat. He covered his face with a hand as the rest of his crew watched silently. His other hand gave a blasé wave, “Leave. I’m not messing with the two of you. You’re fucking crazy.”
“That’s rather uncalled for,” Obi-Wan bristled.
Cody rolled his eyes, took his husband by the wrist and headed for the exit, picking up the crumpled robe and calling over his shoulder as he went, “If you kidnap Fox, I will not hesitate to put a blaster bolt between your eyes, and that’s if he doesn’t first. Just a little head’s up.”
+1 - Cody
“If you’re that worried darling, we can go together after the Council meeting,” Obi-Wan said, voice soft and low through the comm.
Cody sighed, “It’s fine. I’m a grown man, I should be able to return a book to Senator Amidala without you holding my hand.”
“Kote.”
“Kriff, Padme.”
“Darling- Oh, osik. I have to go. It’ll be fine, darling. We’re all family. Love you,” Obi-Wan said, signing off the call before Cody could respond.
Three years had passed since the sham of a war had ended and Cody was barely comfortable calling Obi-Wan by his given name, let alone the wife of his brother-in-law who also happened to be an esteemed senator.
But, Cody needed to return the silly little romance novel he had borrowed from Padme. It was a real book, printed on flimsi, and he had taken great care when reading it.
Padme had suggested it to him a few weeks earlier at some family dinner (and wasn’t that a bizarre thought?), after he had mentioned never reading anything that wasn’t a training or regulation manual prescribed to him. They had discussed fiction novels for a while after that and Cody had settled on borrowing a war romance novel that had apparently reduced Padme to tears.
It was perhaps a little too close to home in terms of subject matter for both Cody and Padme, but they were far too stubborn to let that stop them.
(He had also wept like a baby several times by the end, but he wasn’t going to let anyone know that, ever.)
Cody looked up at the glamourous apartment building that housed the Skywalker family and straightened his back. He set his jaw and headed inside, gunning straight for the turbolift to the penthouse.
It may have been years, but Cody was still a soldier beneath it all. It felt wrong of him to be part of these people’s lives, let alone have inconsequential conversations about hobbies. He shouldn’t be allowed to chat.
But he was a person now. A real man with legal sentience, a paying job, a nice apartment and a loving husband. Maybe he was allowed to be someone.
Cody steeled himself, took a deep breath and knocked. The door slid open silently before him. Cody frowned as he walked into the living space, looking around for any sign of people.
“Hello? Padme?”
It was oddly silent and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears.
Quietly, Cody slipped his blaster from its holster, holding it in his right hand, left firmly clasped around the book. Even in his civvies, he kept a pistol with him. He’d been kidnapped one too many times to be complacent by now.
Treading lightly, Cody looked around the apartment, hand steady on the blaster.
A slight movement on the balcony, like the tread of quiet footsteps.
Blaster raised, he headed towards the doorway, calling again, “Hello?”
“Cody.”
Pulling up short, he stopped and turned his head towards the voices that came from the kitchen. His golden eyes scanned as much as he could see, but he came up with nothing. Quietly and quickly, Cody moved into the kitchen.
All the cupboards were firmly closed, fresh jawa juice resting on the counter. Everything seemed normal but the Skywalkers were nowhere to be seen.
He frowned.
“Cody!” The voices hissed again.
Cody’s frown deepened and he dropped the pistol incrementally, “Kids?”
There was a disgruntled sigh followed by more hushed whispers, “Uncle Cody, hide! Mom’s seeking.”
His eyes darted around the room as he put the blaster back in its holster. Not a single cupboard was open and he couldn’t see a tiny foot or finger anywhere.
Making a show of it, he shuffled under the kitchen table, hunched more than his aging back could take. His knees creaked in protest, but he hid anyway, lip quirked in a soft smile.
“Are you hiding?”
“Yeah, I’m hidden, Luke,” Cody whispered back.
“Good,” Leia muttered decisively. Cody could almost see her punctuating it with a sharp nod of her little head. He stifled a laugh.
Padme’s feet appeared in his peripheral and he turned to face her as she called out, “Coming, ready or not!”
Cody felt the exact moment that Padme saw him there, crouching under her posh table, hand clenched around her copy of Love in the Time of Gunfire. He winced but smiled sheepishly up at her, giving a slight shrug as if to say, kids.
Her face split into a enormous smile, all perfect white teeth before she covered it with a hand, trying her best to stay quiet. She had to stay on task. Hide and seek was a serious game, after all.
“Where are my children?” She called out dramatically, making a show of looking around. “My goodness. I have no idea where they could be.”
Her eyes jumped back to Cody’s as she mouthed, 'Are they in here?'
Cody grinned and shrugged again. Who was he to betray their secrets?
Padme narrowed her eyes, hand on her hip, “Wait a second…” She said loudly and theatrically. “Cody, is that you? I didn’t know you were playing!”
He scoffed and pulled himself out from under the table, stretching his legs, “Neither did I.”
“Cody, can you help me find Leia and Luke?” Padme asked in a stage whisper, smiling as he dropped the book on the countertop.
“That’s cheating!” An indignant Leia yelped from inside a cupboard.
Padme opened the door with a victorious shout and the twins were revealed, shoving at each other.
Luke glared at his sister, sandy hair falling into his eyes, “You gave it away, Lay!”
Leia folded her arms and said nothing, huffing as she glared at the adults who had considered conspiring against them. For a kid, she had a very strong sense of justice. Although maybe that was to be expected, judging by her parents.
Cody watched them bemused and a little surprised. How they managed to get into a cupboard over the top of the counter, he had no idea. He pulled them both out of their confines, a child on each hip. Luke automatically started fiddling with Cody’s curly hair but Leia was a little less fond, still not over the crime that was nearly committed.
“Could you see me?” He asked softly, carrying the twins towards the living room when Padme inclined her head. Cody knew a suggestion when he saw one.
“No,” they chorused, shaking their heads. Leia started to relax a little into Cody’s grip, looking at the scar around his eye with the usual intrigue it inspired in tubies.
Cody furrowed his brow, breaking into a fond smile when Leia poked at the crease, “Well, how did you know it was me and not Uncle Rex? We sound the same.”
Luke shook his head with all the vehemence of a knowledgeable toddler, chubby fingers knotted into Cody’s scalp, “Always know it’s you, Uncle Cody.”
Perplexed, Cody turned to Padme.
She smiled, apparently understanding everything as she always did, “Ani says they’re strong in the Force already.”
Cody paused, thinking of all of those late night conversations with his husband about cosmic balance and free will and clone armies. He dropped a kiss on Luke’s head absently, “We’re all individuals in the Force.”
“They know you, Cody,” Padme said softly. Her gaze flitted between the twins and their uncle for a moment before she broke into a smile again. “Caf? You can tell me how much you absolutely didn’t cry at the end of Gunfire.”
“Sure, Padme,” Cody said with a nod and a half smile.
The senator glided back into the kitchen and Cody looked at the kids in his arms. He kissed the top of Leia’s head in the name of fairness and she smiled at him, returning it with a vaguely sloppy kiss to his cheek.
Cody grinned fondly and put them both back down on the ground. The pair had toddled off to cause more chaos by the time Padme returned with the caf made exactly how Cody liked it.
It was nice to be known.