"I'm very glad you're feeling better, Ahsoka," Barriss said as she took a seat next to Ella and Ahsoka. Ahsoka had been confined to the med bay at the temple, while Ella was with Anakin leading the attacks on the Malevolence. The three of them hadn't seen each other in weeks.
"I was fine this entire time!" Ahsoka shrilled, throwing her hands in the air. "Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"You thought I liked Anakin, Ahsoka!" Ella's eyes were wide with denial. "Obviously you were delirious!"
"Wait," Barriss said, her voice becoming serious, "she thought you like-liked him?"
Ahsoka nodded smirking at Ella for reasons she didn't understand. "Yes! Only an oxygen deprived person would say that-!" Ella shrieked.
"Then you must have really been fine then, Ahsoka," Barriss laughed, cutting Ella off.
"What?!" Ella squeaked, her cheeks turning red again.
"You totally like him," Ahsoka squealed, nudging Ella's shoulder. "It's so obvious."
"No it's not!" Ella argued, scrunching her face up in defense. "I don't feel anything towards him!"
"Oh so you wouldn't mind if I found him right now and kissed him?" Ahsoka giggled, a evil smirk on her face. She was definitely back to full health, being her snarky self again.
"That's not allowed!"
"Because he's your territory?" Barriss teased her making Ahsoka snort.
"No! You can't have attachments!"
"Kissing someone doesn't mean having an attachment-!" Ahsoka's loud chattering was interrupted by someone walking into Ella's room.
"What's this about kissing someone?" Anakin asked as he ducked under the door frame.
Ella's went numb, completely frozen with her eyes wide. Ahsoka and Barriss ducked behind her, laughing hysterically. She bit her lip, trying to find a way to speak without laughing or slapping her two friends. Her cheeks were now bright red.
"N- nothing!" She stammered in a high pitched voice.
"Sure thing, El," Anakin smirked at her, making her heart skip a beat. She really hoped he couldn't sense this from her, that would be terrible.
He wandered over to the spinning chair that was placed by her desk and took a seat, twirling around once with the Force. When he was turned around Ella shot a glare at Ahsoka and Barriss and then whipped herself back into her original stance as he spun back to where he was facing them.
"So..." Ella squeaked, urging him to explain why he was here.
"I have to have a purpose to come hang out with you?" he asked in defense, cocking his head with a smile. She looked at him and for a split second swore she saw a shadow behind his eyes.
"Well- no," Ella said awkwardly, "I just didn't think Masters hung out with their Padawans."
"Well," Anakin said, fiddling with one of her pens that had been askew on her desk, "I thought we were more than just Master and Padawan."
Ella heart literally stopped and skipped several beats. She felt Ella and Barriss freeze on either side of her, their eyes wide and locked on Anakin. Her stomach sunk, while Anakin seemed unphased.
"Right!" Ella managed to choke out, "totally."
Changing the subject as if it were nothing, Anakin spoke once more. "Obi Wan offered to have you tag along with him and Grant today, it'd teach you negotiation. I told them I already had stuffed planned with you," he said making Ella cringe at the thought of spending the day with them. "You're welcome."
"You have stuff planned?" She asked, a tad scared about what he was thinking. This had to be good.
"Flying lessons," he exclaimed proudly, holding his chin up with a smile and straightening his posture. "I'm not sure if this is going to make you even more reckless or not, but it's important in the long run."
"Flying lessons," Ella repeated in disbelief, "so I can, like, fly on my own?"
"I'm not going to be able to fly you around forever, El," he said.
"I think we'll leave you two alone," Ahsoka smirked as she and Barriss stood up at the same time as if they'd been discussing their exit this entire time. They probably had been.
"How nice of you," Ella said sarcastically as they slid out the door. She groaned and fell back into her empty bed. Ella shut her eyes and pretended to sleep. "We just got done destroying the Malevolence, do Jedi ever get breaks?"
Anakin smiled and shook his head as he looked down at her. She opened one eye and looked up at him, wondering if he'd respond. He started to laugh.
And she watched him. Watched the way his eyes lit up, the way he cracked a rare wide smile, the way he looked at her when she said something funny. She realized that she loved the way he laughed and just as quickly that she could never, ever admit it.
She couldn't help but notice the way his shoulders bounced with the rhythm of his stifled laughs, the dimples at the corners of his mouth, the slight tilt of his head, and the glow in his eyes when she made him laugh.
Still chuckling, he grabbed Ella's hand and tugged her up. "Get up, Padawan," he smiled, "we're going flying."
As they walked through the vast corridors of the Jedi Temple, Ella kept noticing Ahsoka and Barriss hiding in various places. Each time she and Anakin would pass the two girls, they would be smirking and giggling. Ella would shoot them a teasing glare, and then look up at Anakin innocently with wide eyes if he looked down to see what the commotion was about.
She followed him all the way to Hangar 4- the restricted one at the very end of the hall. Ships sped in and out of the runway tunnel which was surrounded by glass so people could watch. During her free time the first week she was at the Temple, she'd come down and watch the ships, intrigued by their power and speed. Now a starship gliding down a runway was an ordinary sight she almost ignored.
"Isn't this one restricted?" Ella asked as Anakin stopped them at the metal door that towered above them.
"When have you cared about restrictions Miss I-Was-Going-To-Steal-My-Master's-Freighter?" Anakin asked as he scanned the door's perimeter for the lock pad.
"I'm a Padawan, it's normal for me to break rules," Ella said, "while you on the other hand, well you're the Master that's supposed to be a good influence."
Anakin reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with several identification cards on it. He jangled it in front of Ella's face and then began to flip through the cards. "Ah-hah!" He said happily, holding up the card he was looking for. It had Obi Wan's face on it.
"Good thing we both know that's not true, El," he replied, swiping the stolen card on the pad. The light beamed green and the hangar door rose open.
Anakin pointed finger guns at her as they strolled inside. "Sometimes, I can't believe they're letting you teach me," Ella shook her head at him.
"Now," Anakin said, thoroughly looking around the hanger, "my starship is somewhere in here."
Good luck finding it, Ella scoffed internally. The entire hangar was packed with expensive elaborate starships that belonged explicitly to the Jedi Masters- which Anakin was not.
"I know what you're thinking, how does Anakin have a ship in the private Jedi Master Hangar?" he said, looking like a little kid participating in a scavenger hunt. "Well, when I was a Padawan like you, I had this awesome yellow starship. So, obviously, I used it to chase down this bounty hunter that tried to kill the person I was looking after. Obi Wan confiscated it after he rode along with me."
"Is it that one over there?" Ella asked jokingly , pointing to a shitty yellow starship that stood out among the gleaming ships that surrounded it. It looked so out of place that Ella almost laughed at it. There was no way Anakin Skywalker- an amazing mechanic and the best pilot in the galaxy flew that.
Anakin's face lit up. "Yes!" He exclaimed, shoving passed Ella and sprinting over to the ship. She stared at him in shock as he started rubbing and hugging it like it was his child.
She wandered over after him, making sure to keep her distance from his baby, as he had just addressed it. "You're gonna let me fly it?"
He scoffed, sarcastically laughing at her. "Hell no!" Anakin pointed to a crimson and grey ship next to it. "You get to fly Obi Wan's!"
"You're kidding right?"
"Better his than mine."
"I have to stay on his good side, he's one of the main reasons I'm here in the first place. If he stops defending me at Council meetings I'm done-"
"We'll just fix it, El," he said, "that's what I always do."
"Anakin."
"Ella."
"Anakin!"
"I know you were going to steal the freighter to save Ahsoka and Plo Koon! How would you have done that without me flying, huh?"
"Don't worry about it," replied Ella, stubbornly. "I would use the force."
"That's not how the Force works, kid!" Anakin sighed. "Gosh, I thought I was teaching you!"
"You're teaching me how to break rules, that's for sure." She sassed, putting her hands on her hips.
He faked looking hurt just to guilt trip her into this. She couldn't stand looking at his stupid pouting face anymore, so she gave in. "Just teach me how to go and how to shoot. I can figure out the rest," she sighed.
His face immediately lit up. "Are you ready for the best flying lesson ever from the best teacher ever?" He asked as he helped her climb into Obi Wan's starship. With his legs crossed, he sat in front of the windshield and opened up the cockpit into a convertible style, facing her as she nervously sat in the pilot's seat.
"First of all, don't let Obi Wan find out about this-"
"I guess rule number one has already been broken then, Anakin."
They both froze, their eyes bulging as they stared at each other realizing neither of them had said that. Hoping they could somehow disappear, both of them slowly turned their heads to face Obi Wan who stood before them with his arms crossed. Grant snickered behind him.
"Master!" Anakin squeaked, hopping off of his ship. "You're back early!"
"I never left," Obi Wan said calmly, "I've been wasting my time trying to find my identification cards."
"Oh!" Anakin chirped, "You know, I happen to have that right here-"
Obi Wan lifted up a hand and the ring flew out of Anakin's pocket and into Obi Wan's hand.
They stared at each other for a long time- Anakin with an innocent smile on his sweating face and Obi Wan leaning on one hip with his arms crossed. Ella looked back and forth between them, wondering how many times this had happened before.
"Would now be a good time to tell you I think I figured out how to turn this thing on?" Ella asked as she began to tinker with the controls.
"No!" Obi Wan and Anakin shrieked at the same time, sounding exactly alike.