Rex couldn't help but grin as Echo threw his arms around him in a hug. "Rex! It's been a while! I'm glad you're safe." Echo stepped back from him, looking him up and down before his gaze turned to Senna. Rex couldn't help but notice that something was wrong. Senna was clearly happy to see them, but her teeth were gouging into her lip. Echo didn't appear to notice as he moved over to hug her.
"It's good to see you again!" Echo said smiling.
Rex stared at the interaction warily, something like a warning bell beginning to sound in the back of his mind. He's behaving as if they just saw each other.
Tech stepped forward, gripping Senna's arm in greeting. "Good to see you again, Senna, although I didn't anticipate it being so soon. You'll be interested to know I've made several adjustments in Echo's hand since we last saw you that I think we can..."
Rex didn't hear the rest of what was being said due to the blood rushing in his ears. Senna whirled to look at him as he came to the realization. She's seen them. It wasn't from a distance. And they didn't tell me. They knew where she was.
Without a word, he turned on his heel, stalking away from the reunion, all of the anger that he'd set aside rushing back to the forefront. I can't be around them right now.
Tech paused in his ramblings to watch the captain retreat. "Is he alright?"
Echo turned to look at Senna. "You didn't tell him, did you?"
Senna stared guiltily at the floor. "No. I hadn't found the right time to. I figured this would be the reaction and was trying to come up with a way to soften the blow, but I'm afraid it's too late for that now." Her teeth dug into her bottom lip and Echo grimaced.
"You'd better go talk to him."
The Jedi nodded. "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit, alright?" With that, she quickly walked off in the direction Rex had gone. It took a bit, but she found him outside the base on the tarmac near his ship, his back to her with his eyes staring out over the forest. She quietly approached, coming to stand next to him. He felt himself pulling away from her, sliding back down the slope to where his anger and grief festered and flourished, blossoming once more in his chest as questions crashed around in his mind. How long ago did she see them? Has it been since the last time I spoke with them? Did they know where she was? How long was she with them?
They stood for a few moments before he broke the silence. "Did everyone know where you were? Was it just me that you hid from?" he asked, his voice low and venomous. The anger that had dissipated in the time since he'd picked her up on Takodana had come surging back with a vengeance, consuming him to the point where he almost couldn't recognize the man he had been just minutes earlier.
"Rex," her voice was barely above a whisper. "I didn't mean to run into them. It was by accident."
He whirled on her. "But they knew where you were, and I know Echo. The only reason he wouldn't have told me that he saw you was because you asked him not to, right?" His golden irises burned into her, and her expression was confirmation enough for him. He scoffed. "Unbelievable." He turned his back to her, the anger and hurt radiating off of him once more. "You let me run around the galaxy like a love-sick pup, turning over every rock trying to find you, all while you watched at a distance, letting me struggle. You watched while I suffered, and then you brought my own brothers into your sick game."
"Is that really what you think?" she snapped, a hint of anger finally dancing at the edge of her voice. "That I did all this to hurt you?" She stormed around in front of him, daring him to ignore her, but this time, his eyes locked on hers, amber coals smoldering against blue flames.
"Why else would you be so cruel?" he demanded.
"TO KEEP YOU SAFE, REX! You think it was easy to leave? I felt like I'd lost a part of me, but I love you, and I couldn't be the reason you got killed."
"And yet you stayed away and hid yourself from me," he snarled, rolling right past the three words he'd craved from her, his pain blinding him. "You told my brothers to lie for you. Hardly the actions of someone who loves me, I'd argue."
"You really want to question that?" she snapped.
"I do." His eyes were glowing in the evening light, his irises fanned back to a steady flame from his anger and his grief.
Senna returned his glare, extending her gloved left hand out to him, and his brows furrowed in confusion slightly as he kept his arms crossed. "Take the glove off, Rex."
Slowly, he reached forward, pinching the leather in between his fingers and tugging. The glove slid off of her wrist, palm, and then fingers, exposing the metal limb. He remembered when she had gotten it, tweaking the design and functions with Tech for weeks before she was satisfied and able to use it effectively. He fought against the smile that threatened to creep across his face at the memory of her undoing her own boots again for the first time with both hands. However, those thoughts were interrupted when she turned her hand over and the etching on her left ring finger caught his eye. He took her hand in his, pulling it closer to his face for inspection.
There, in the twilight, he finally saw that she'd etched a pair of tiny Jaig eyes into the ring finger of her left hand, right where a wedding band would sit. They were painted what was undeniably 501st blue. Rex's heart stuttered in his chest, tears threatening to overwhelm him as his anger dissipated like a fever breaking. All this time. Senna leaned closer to him, the anger still flaring in her eyes.
"Don't you dare question if I love you or not, Rex. Everything I've done has been for you, to keep you safe. You think I wanted to leave you? The person I love most in this galaxy? I did it because I thought there was no other option, no way that I didn't endanger you. You may not like what I did, but don't pretend you don't understand why I did it." She whirled, preparing to storm off until his hand wrapped around her metal arm, holding her in place.
"Don't," was all he could choke out as everything shattered within him. "Don't leave. Not again. Please."
"Rex, I-"
His lips crashed into hers without warning, teeth clicking against hers almost violently as he gripped her tightly, his other hand wrapping in her hair to pull her closer to him. At first her body stiffened in his arms, but she didn't pull away, her hands eventually coming to rest on his chest as they melded together, fitting perfectly as if they'd never been apart. The feeling of her in his arms was the most natural thing to him, and he felt like he could breathe again for the first time since she'd left, inhaling her as if she were the oxygen needed to keep his heart beating. When Rex finally relented, she rested her forehead against his, panting quietly as his heart raced in his chest.
"Please," he whispered hoarsely. "Please stay."
She nodded against him, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Alright."
That single word was all it took to shatter the wall between them. Rex slipped his hand into hers and led her inside his ship quickly. He barely left time for the hatch to close before he was walking her backwards towards the bed, his mouth back on hers. She was yanking at his shirt, pulling it up and over his shoulders as he worked at the tie on her tunic. Her legs bumped back against the bunk, and Rex slid his arms around her once more, cradling her gently as he lowered her onto the bed before kicking off his boots and climbing in after her.
His fingers found the edge of her breastband as his lips trailed along her throat and the scar on her collarbone, pulling gasps from her lips, a sound he hadn't realized how much he'd missed. Rex gave the band a firm yank, undoing it and tossing it aside as he lowered his bare chest to hers. Her fingertips trailed across his spine as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Rex's fingers fumbled with her belt, a race against her own hands, which were working to undo his pants. He let loose a frustrated grunt as his fingers slipped once more before finally taking the worn leather in his hand and ripping it in half at a weak point.
"Hey, I liked that belt!" she protested.
"I'll get you a different one."
He tossed the ruined belt aside, sending her datapad pouch and lightsaber with it. She glared at him playfully.
"The datapad will be fine, and I have it on good authority that General Kenobi dropped his lightsaber from stories up at a time. A few meters won't break it."
She rolled her eyes, but before she could come up with a snarky response, his lips were on hers once more and her retort was forgotten. Senna lifted her hips, allowing Rex to yank her pants and undergarments off as she pushed his down before reaching for a blanket to pull over the two of them, but Rex stopped her. Kneeling above her, he took her body in. They'd been like this before of course, bare to one another, but he never got tired of seeing her like this. He'd dreamt of this more nights than he cared to count, Senna stretched out beneath him, reaching for him. Rex noted the additional scars that scored her flesh, his thumb grazing the large scar on her abdomen left by a blaster bolt on Lothal almost reverently. It had been the first time he'd really kissed her, telling her how he felt after facing the first moment he thought he'd lost her. Her hand slipped over his, pressing his palm to her stomach, and he met her gaze.
Senna's hair laid out underneath her head like a sunburst and her blue eyes glinted like the clearest ocean waters, drawing him in easily since all he wanted to do was drown in her. He leaned down, keeping his hand pressed to her hips and pinning her in place, ensuring she wouldn't evaporate and be lost to him once more. Calloused fingers traced scarred skin as their lips found each other again and Senna pulled him down into her.
Rex made love to her as desperately as he had that first night on Lothal so long ago, but this time, he already knew her secrets, how to make her come undone, and he pulled pleasure from her at a patient pace. Her brows pinched as her back arched and he wished with all he was worth that he'd never forget how she looked right now, laid out below him and wrapped around him, his name falling from her lips like a prayer.
His hand drifted up to cup her cheek as he panted against her neck, and Senna whipped her head around to plant a kiss to his palm. He felt her groan into his skin, and he slid his hand around the back of her head, slipping his fingers into her hair as he pressed his forehead against hers.
"I love you," he breathed. "Please don't ever leave me again. I love you, Senna Aven."
"That's not my name," she replied, and he paused staring at her.
"What?"
Senna wore a smirk on her face that he found infuriating and endearing at the same time. His eyes searched her for a brief moment, trying to find some sort of understanding.
"I changed it a little while ago, after I saw the boys on Naboo. Or just started going by it since I don't technically exist," she said quietly. "'To endure.' That's what it means, right?"
It clicked in his mind.
Atiniir.
The Mando'a word they'd chosen as their future surname that night on Alderaan so long ago. Rex's heart stuttered in his chest and his breath hitched in his throat. Senna's face shifted to an expression of concern, her hands reaching for his face, but he clutched her left hand in his and pressed the etching on her ring finger to his lips.
"Well, I'd say we're certainly living up to the name," he said quietly before kissing her harder.
Rex began moving again with a renewed fervor, any lingering doubts about Senna's intentions crushed by her admission. The realization hit him and he choked on the emotion. She never stopped. Even when she was gone. She always loved me. And I tried to forget her. A tear slipped unbidden down the bridge of his nose, and before he could turn away, she saw it. Senna rose up to meet him, pressing her lips to the moisture before moving to his cheeks, forehead, chin, all of him.
"It was always you, Rex. I meant it when I said I'd always love you. I still do." Her voice broke and he paused once more, but she wrapped her legs around his waist, spurring him on. "I've missed you so much. So damn much."
Rex pressed his body against hers, burying his face in her neck as his movements became more erratic and Senna gasped and writhed beneath him.
"I love you, Rex."
"I love you, Senna. Always will."
She cried out, her back arching to meet him once more as he peaked at the same time, muffling a shout against her shoulder. He tried to roll off of her, but Senna gripped him tighter, burying her face against his neck.
"Just stay like this," she panted. "I've got you."
They laid together for several minutes until both of their pulses slowed and Rex went to find something to clean themselves with before slipping back under the covers with Senna. They lay on their sides facing one another. Rex reached out, brushing some of the hair from her face, and she gave him a small smile.
"Forgive me," he whispered, and her brow furrowed in confusion.
"For what?"
His voice cracked. "I tried so hard to forget you, Senna. It hurt too much to hope. I just couldn't keep looking."
Senna scooted closer to him, cupping his cheek in her left hand as she nuzzled her nose against his. "There's nothing to forgive, Rex. I knew what might happen when I left. I knew you might find someone else, and-"
"No, not like that," he said a little too loudly before recomposing himself. "There was no one else. I just...I gave up on you. I didn't hold true to that surname we chose."
"Rex, I disappeared. I hoped against hope that you might forget me, and that would make it easier to be away from you. My small bit of solace was that perhaps that was what it would take to keep you safe. But you were so determined, so I pushed harder. In the beginning, you almost caught me a few times," she said, a gentle smile playing across her lips.
"Where?"
"I was on Corellia for too long. I saw you in the market one day and ran."
The memory crept into his mind. Blue eyes. The flash of metal at her waist. A datapad blinking on her hip.
"I saw you," he whispered. "I saw you that day."
Her eyes were wet once more. "I thought you did. I almost couldn't move. I felt like my feet had turned to duracrete, and Maker, I almost gave in."
"That was early on. You'd only been gone a few months."
"It was." Her fingers glided down his chest, tracing the twin scars just below his collar bone. One he'd gotten during the war, and one he'd gotten on Lothal with her. He'd almost died, but she'd transferred some of her life force to him, keeping him alive. Rex had often thought of that piece of Senna that he carried with him.
"If anyone should be asking for forgiveness Rex, it's me." Senna's tears were flowing freely now. "I just couldn't...I couldn't let you die because of me, and after what we saw in that freighter. That young boy that Inquisitor killed." He felt her shiver and he pulled her close, pressing his lips to the crown of her head as she buried her face against his chest. "I had to keep you safe, and if that meant me leaving, I had to do it. I know I should have talked to you about it, but I was so afraid you would have stopped me. And I know now that maybe the Inquisitors aren't as attuned to Force sensitives as I thought they might be, but at the time, it was too great a risk. I just couldn't-"
Her sobs wracked her body and Rex clutched her tighter as he rocked her gently back and forth.
"I know why you did it. You were right. I understood that part." He pulled back from her, his hands cradling her face as his thumbs swiped at her tears. "I just wasn't objective enough to accept it. I'm still not. I'd gladly face the risk of death any day rather than live another second wondering where you are and if you're alright, Senna. I will do almost anything you ask of me, but please don't ever ask me to not follow you. I can't do that." He gripped her metal hand, rubbing his thumb over the etching. "Atiniir. 'To endure.' I plan to do that with you forever. I mean that. Can you do the same?"
She sniffled, her fingers grazing his scalp through his short hair. "I can. And I will. I promise."
Rex wrapped his fingers in her hair, pulling her to him and pressing his lips to hers once more. He felt like he'd never get enough of her, never be able to make up for the time that they'd lost, but he'd gladly spend the rest of his life trying. Senna shuddered in his arms, her cheeks wet once more, but this time, he was unsure if the tears were hers or his.
They stayed like that for what must have been hours, holding each other and whispering in the dim light of the ship as if the rest of the universe had fallen away outside. In Rex's mind, it could all wait, the Empire, the rebellion, all of it, as long as he had this time with her.
"We should go find the others," Senna finally whispered. "We've barely seen anyone here."
"I know," he said quietly, running his fingers through her hair as she rested her head on his chest. He tipped his head to press a kiss to the crown of her head, and he felt her squeeze his torso before sitting up. He let his fingers trail down her bare spine as she pulled her hair into a braid once more, her fingers working nimbly to weave the strands together before pulling a tie around the end. She glanced at him over her shoulder, her trademark smirk sending warmth cascading through his chest. Reaching back, she trailed her hand along his arm before gripping his hand. He pulled her knuckles to his lips as he watched her, and she flushed.
"Are you sure they're out here, Echo? I haven't seen them around at all."
Senna's eyes widened, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle a gasp as Rex sat up quickly, a finger pressed to his lips.
"I thought they came out this way, but maybe I was wrong." Echo and Hunter couldn't have been more than a few meters from the ship.
"Awww, I wanted to see them both. Been awhile." Wrecker.
"Yeah, but they had some stuff to work out," Echo replied.
"She didn't tell him, did she?" Hunter asked. "That she'd seen us on Naboo."
Senna's gaze fell to her lap, but Rex crawled to her, pulling her chin up to look at him. He pressed his forehead to hers. He'd never tried to really direct his thoughts at her before, but he tried now, thinking as hard as he could, hoping she'd hear it.
I forgive you. We're past that. I love you, and I forgive you. For all of it.
Senna let loose a shuddering breath, gripping his hand in hers.
Thank you, Rex. She tipped her chin up, grazing her lips over his as her voice echoed in his mind.
"Let's hope that's all she's gonna tell him now. Rex'd kill me if he ever found out-" Hunter paused, seemingly cutting himself off mid-sentence.
"If he found out what, Hunter?" Echo asked, his voice borderline accusatory.
"Nothing. No, wait NO, WRECKER PUT ME DOWN!"
Senna clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a giggle, and Rex raised an eyebrow.
"Come on Sarge, now you have to tell us," Wrecker cackled.
Rex and Senna slid out of bed, dressing quickly and quietly before sneaking closer to the hatch door. Rex carefully pressed her up against the wall, nuzzling into her neck as they listened in on the conversation taking place outside.
"PUT ME DOWN, WRECKER."
"Hold him there, Wreck. Now, I'm curious," Echo teased.
Hunter let loose a loud sigh. "When Senna and I were doing recon the one night on Naboo, we got in a bit of a tight spot. I was being chased and ran down a dead-end, and her brilliant idea was to...uh...to pretend we were...em...doing something in the alley."
"Something?"
"Oh come on, Echo. It was late at night, we were in a seedy part of town, are you really going to make me say it?"
Rex pulled back from Senna's neck to give her another skeptical eyebrow.
I had him pretend I was a prostitute and that he was a paying customer to hide in plain sight. Hands stayed above clothes, but I did have him pick me up and push me against a wall. I had to beg him to get a bit handsy to sell it. He hated every second of it if that helps.
Rex couldn't contain the laugh that burst from within him at the thought of Senna snapping at Hunter to pick her up and be a little intimate with her, particularly with how he was reacting outside. Senna clapped a hand over his mouth, but the damage was done. All three voices went silent outside.
"Oh, kriff," Hunter muttered as Rex slammed the button to open the hatch, illuminating the three clones standing outside in the cool night air. Senna doubled over at the sight in front of her, tears of laughter leaping to her eyes.
Wrecker had Hunter by the ankle, dangling him a meter off the ground while Echo stood with his arms crossed, impatiently tapping a foot with a raised eyebrow. When Wrecker saw Senna, he unceremoniously dropped his commanding officer to the ground, rushing forward to envelope her and Rex in a bone-crushing hug, lifting both of them off the ground. Senna giggled while Rex squirmed. When he finally set them down, Senna rested a hand on his shoulder before striding down the ramp and offering Hunter a hand up.
"The sergeant here was nothing but a perfect gentleman, even if he hated having to do it," she grinned, tweaking his chin. Hunter sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, and she grinned, enveloping him in a hug. "Good to see you, Hunter."
"Yeah, you too." He glanced over her shoulder, extending a hand to Rex as she released him. "Cap, glad to see you're still around, although I have to say I was surprised to hear that you two arrived together." He glanced back and forth between them, and Senna noticed his gaze lingering on Senna's re-fixed hair and missing belt. When their eyes met, he cocked an eyebrow at her, and she shook her head slightly at him. He just smirked at her.
Echo was also giving her an inquisitive look, and as Hunter and Wrecker conversed with Rex, she stepped closer to him, leaning her shoulder against his. "You get all that figured out?" he asked.
"Something like that, yeah," she replied, keeping her eyes down to hide the flush in her cheeks. Echo chuckled softly.
"Good. Rex's shirt is on inside out, by the way."