Catalyst

Author’s Note: Many thanks to a certain individual [you know who you are] who brought it to my attention that during the whole of “Catalyst”, every adult encounter between Ahsoka and Rex is seen from his POV. This is a look at the last chapter from Ahsoka’s.

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Post Mission

The familiar click of blaster's being readied to fire barely registered in the back of Ahsoka's mind before both of them were suddenly awash in light. She flinched, closing her eyes and turning her head away at the sudden change, even as she threw up one open hand to block it out.

A challenge rang out somewhere beyond the glare.

"Halt! State your business!"

Rex stepped forward, blocking the light, his voice carrying every inch of his command in that moment. "Stand down and point that light elsewhere!"

"Captain!"

"Captain Rex, sir!"

"It's the Captain!"

Relief had a grin starting to form on her lips until the last of the troopers spoke.

"Who's that with you, sir; she's quite-"

"I'd stop there, Trooper."

Rex's protective, instructive growl was familiar and welcome, but it was the curious appreciation she felt from the other trooper, a ripple spreading outwards, saturating their thoughts as she cautiously stepped forward to join him. As she passed the first rank, a ripple of awareness seemed to be gaining momentum, shifting into something primal and potentially dangerous.

"Commander?!"

It was, she realized, swallowing hard as she reached Rex's side, eerily similar to the echoes of arousal and lust she'd been dealing with daily at The Catalyst for the last week. Coupled with that awareness was a new appreciation the boys didn't seem to realize she could sense and she kept her gaze straight ahead on the ramp of the Resolute.

For the first time since joining these men as their Commander, she felt threatened by them. Threatened in a way that only a woman can be by a man; the shift in the view of her to her troops-

Rex's coat dropped around her shoulders, suddenly enfolding her in the specific scent that was just him, his arm heavy across her shoulders as she was drawn into the shelter of his side. Clinging to the slick, soft fabric, Ahsoka ducked her head and turned into Rex’s body, blocking out the cut of his voice even as she attempted to banish the feel of having the other men ogle her.

It made her feel… not bad precisely, but it was different than when Rex did it.

She’d wanted Rex to look at her and want her; she didn’t want that from anyone else. It reminded her too much of be caught, backed into a corner by Rhyn backstage of The Catalyst. She shuddered with the memory. It reminded her far too much of the look he’d given her, like she was a piece of flesh to be bartered with and then absorbed and conquered by his greater size and experience. He’d looked at her as if he wanted to own her, completely; to hurt her.

He would have if Rex hadn’t come along when he did.

With the regard of her men having morphed into something less sinister, but equally disturbing, she tried to keep an outward calm. Even though she managed not to say anything, she felt everything despite withdrawing within herself, shrinking into Rex’s coat. Rex cast her a sidelong look she felt clear to her toes; concern in his eyes for all he was an emotional maelstrom of protective and possessive instinct.

Caught in the sensations and eddies of the shifting reality around her, Ahsoka missed Coric’s offer of medical attention and Rex’s response. She didn’t feel the ramp under her feet even as the sweeping relief of being home and safe conflicted with the reality of it.

Things had changed between her and Rex, shifting into a charged physical and emotional amalgamation of their shared experiences. Experiences that they would be required to cast off as they attempted to resume living the lives they’d left behind. Rules and regulations would once again control their days and dictate their interactions.

Rex would no longer be in the other room the moment she woke or sharing her space. He would no longer be that familiar figure in black, stoically doing what was needed to ensure she could accomplish her mission, no matter his personal discomfort. He would no longer have the right, according to his command structure, to interact so informally with her.

As they reached the door to her quarters, Ahsoka found herself wishing that they’d had more time; even just one more night. Leaving had happened too fast. They’d had no time to accept and absorb, let alone discuss, what had nearly happened on the sofa in her dressing room. No time to see if just one more night alone would have led to a completion of that heated exchange.

For all the excitement to get them out, for all the hardships, embarrassment and frustration they’d faced in learning their roles, she and Rex had still been Ahsoka and Rex. They’d been just themselves; partners in the truest sense of the word. They’d supported one another through the adversity of their temporary reality to conquer and overcome them.

Not that they didn’t in their military roles, but it was different in more ways than she could count.

Staring up at him now, she could do nothing but plead silently with him not to go. Knowing everything of what she felt was likely in her eyes, Ahsoka didn’t care; she loved him completely and was fairly confident he loved her too, despite the fact he didn’t seem to realize what he was feeling.

Rex lifted his hand to touch her and her throat closed, her heart aching as she saw him hesitate before his fingertips settled against her cheek. Rex. It killed her to see him already trying to remove himself from what had happened; to step back as protocol and regulation demanded.

She knew what he was doing, knew they didn’t have a choice, and her fingers curled more firmly around the edge of his jacket. She wished he’d hug her; take her in his arms. Hold her close as he’d done so often this last week and reassure her that everything would be fine. The expanse of his naked and muscled chest in the corner of her gaze did nothing to help the urge to throw herself against it.

But she didn’t; couldn’t.

Rex was right in his attitude and approach; they were home, back on familiar ground, and everything they’d left behind was suddenly reality again. His fingers caressed her skin, his voice rough. "Get some rest, Ahsoka."

Don’t go. The thought rose unbidden as she made no move to turn. Don’t leave me here; take me with you. Swallowing hard, she nodded reluctantly, knowing it was time and wishing there was something, anything, she could do to prolong this moment. To make this moment last and morph into the intimacy they’d shared already.

If they’d been back at the suite they’d shared this past week, they might have been able to recapture it. But here, on the Resolute, caught by regulation and restriction, Ahsoka’s heart sank to her toes, her eyes burning with the heart breaking reality.

There was nothing.

Shrugging out of his coat, she handed it to him wordlessly, the tightness in her throat preventing her from speaking. It was a calculated move; a precursor to leaving when she didn’t want him to go.

Rex, however, didn’t seem to catch onto the fact and reached around her to open the door. Shaking her head, refusing the signal, she reached out to grab his hand as it dropped. Her lips opened but no sound came out as she silently pleaded with him to stay, clutching him tightly. Stay, she wanted to say, though the words wouldn’t come, please don’t leave me yet.

He stared at her for a moment, her heart leaping as she applied pressure to his fingers and tried to draw him close. Only to have her hopes dashed when his hand shifted in hers and he bent, his lips pressing briefly in a poignant caress across the backs of her fingers.

It was over too soon, Rex stepping back. "Goodnight, Ahsoka."

Reaching for him, her hand extended to where he’d been standing in silent supplication, tears burned and pooled her eyes as she fought to find her voice; to call him back. Her heart beat the same tattoo as his footsteps, each one widening the gap between them. Rex, she cried silently, wishing he’d turn to look at her again. If he did, surely he wouldn’t leave her just yet. Please don’t go; don’t leave me alone. Not yet; I need you!

He didn’t hear her, made no move to turn and, as he neared the end of the corridor, she turned and entered her room. Closing and locking the door behind her, between them, with a finality that made her shiver, she wrapped her arms around her waist. Ahsoka leaned back against the portal, closing her eyes as the sudden sense of loneliness closed in, enveloping her with a swiftness that made her swallow hard, fighting sudden and inexplicable tears.

Rex.

She slid to the floor, her arms offering no measure of comfort comparable to his embrace. The echoes of his intense, personal struggle mired and mixed with the emotional disbelief and lust of the men whose trust and respect she’d worked so hard to earn, reverberated painfully within her. Like he’d reached into her chest and grabbed her heart in his hands and squeezed.

He hadn’t wanted to leave; she’d seen the conflict within his gaze, but he had and she was alone. Alone to face the aftermath of their mission, running flight and recovery. Alone to face the questions that would inevitably follow.

Her hands shifted as she started to rub her upper arms, seeking to warm herself, and brushed the fabric of the bandage he’d placed on her arm not so long ago. A bandage that had once been his shirt; the only piece of clothing possible to make a bandage as her own costume had been brief enough to make only the sorriest of scraps.

Gently, as if afraid she’d dislodge it or lose it, she traced the edges of the bandage. The action alone made her feel closer to him; made her imagine she could feel his heat still wrapped within it. That it carried his scent despite being saturated in bacta and blood.

The reminder was a painful one, for with it came not only the memory of them fleeing The Catalyst and their desperate run through the city, but what had come before, casting her back to the cantina itself.

To the mission and why they'd been there in the first place. Having to dance for the Separatist and the method she'd used to be able to do so. The memory was abhorrent; never in her life had she acted to wonton - so disgraceful. She recalled Rex's question, his hurt as he'd demanded to know how she'd been able to complete her mission when she’d been so adamant she hadn’t wanted to be touched. She hadn’t but she’d done what was necessary to accomplish her goal, using his memory in the way the males in the cantina had wanted to use her body.

Feeling suddenly dirty for what she considered a betrayal in using his memory, his presence as a buffer between her and an unsavory task, Ahsoka pushed to her feet with a cry and stumbled towards the 'fresher. Tearing, clawing at her clothing, she stumbled into the room, shreds of cloth littering the trail as her nails slashed it to ribbons.

Ripping it free of her body, she stood naked - but for the black band around her upper arm - in the 'fresher, staring at her reflection in the inadequate surface above the sink. Her eyes were wide, almost haunted, the look on her face wounded and weary; guilty.

I have to get clean.

Turning to the shower, Ahsoka flipped it from sani-steam to the water setting, a voice in the back of her head telling her she shouldn't even as she knew she'd never feel clean if she didn't. She had a week's worth of unused rations and intended to put them to good use.

Turning the water on as hot as she dared, she stepped in without preamble, immediately sluicing water across her skin and ignoring the sting of it as it seeped under her bandage.

Thinking about the Seppie had made her think about Rhyn and how The Catalyst's manager hadn't so much as asked for permission to touch her, simply assumed she would welcome it. Remembering the feeling of his fingers on her thighs was similar to the arrogant touch of the Seppie target and Ahsoka couldn't help herself as she scrubbed her skin.

Time passed without meaning and in a blur as Ahsoka struggled to wipe the feel of the strange men from her body. She careened from wanting to savor the memories of Rex, which changed the glide of her hands from purposeful to caress whenever she picture him, to a violent scrubbing when the memories were interlaced with more unpleasant ones.

Memory traveled further back, to before she'd donned the costume she’s just destroyed, to the dressing room and the sofa; to being on Rex’s lap and dancing just for him, at his request. A request she’d been powerless to resist and ignore with the way he’d been looking at her; with the way she’d sensed his attraction. With the way she’d already come to love him and acknowledge him as her mate, she’d been unable to consider turning away.

The rest of the week was a myriad of images, a collage of ups and downs that all held the same message. Rex had been there for her at every turn. He’d been her rock, her shadow; she’d never have been able to accomplish her goals without his support. Without him, she’d have failed her mission utterly.

Shutting off the water, she stood in the now silent shower, uncertain of just how long she’d been lost in her memories, but clear on one thing.

I can’t do this by myself.

She needed to talk to someone about what had happened during the mission, to work through it and not just about what had nearly happened with her and Rex. There was no one she could talk to except Rex; no one who would know what they’d been through together and the depraved indecency she’d needed to practice to accomplish their goal.

Rex.

Regardless of what had happened on the mission, of the charged attraction between them, of the deep, intensely emotional tie she’d forged to him and couldn’t, as a Jedi, afford, she knew he’d never deny her. Especially not now, not after this last week. She needed to talk to him, to get his advice on how they would and should proceed.

They needed to talk about it to find a way for them both to resume their ‘normal’ lives.

Treating him as she had been during the mission would be impossible in their military roles, but going back to how they’d once been would be impossible too. Somewhere there had to be a happy medium; there had to be middle ground.

Overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the daunting task, she stepped out of the shower, shivering, and wrapped herself in a towel. Stumbling as she entered her room, barely reaching her bed before her legs gave out. Ahsoka fumbled for the comlink she’d left on the bedside table. Clicking it, she clutched the comlink in a death grip as she waited for it to connect.

"Rex here."

His voice washed over her, commanding and in control. Reassuring; familiar and welcome. "Rex...  It's Ahsoka."

"What do you need, Ahsoka?"

He was the rock she needed at that moment and she didn’t even think about her response as the single word slipped free of her lips. "You."

There was a pregnant pause that followed her soft declaration and Ahsoka belatedly realized how that must sound. And while she did want him, that wasn’t in doubt, she needed his company and council more than anything. Of course, she wouldn’t have said ‘no’ to the opportunity of being sheltered in his strong arms at that moment. Being close to him, even if they didn’t talk, would have been enough. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she tried to clarify her request. "That is, can you come to my room?"

"Your room?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Now?"

"It's about the mission, Rex,” which wasn’t a lie, but she needed his presence like a desperate thing, suddenly certain she’d never make it through the night without him. “It's important. Will... will you come?"

There was a moment of silence that felt like an eternity before his voice came back, carrying a resigned note she missed entirely in the context of his reply.

"I'll be there shortly."

The call disconnected with a faint click and Ahsoka realized she was shaking, trembling. Just hearing his voice had helped a little, but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Carefully placing her comlink back on the table, and reassured by his response, Ahsoka sat where she was for a moment, taking a bracing breath.

Rex would be there soon; he would be there to help her, to reassure her.

Pushing to her feet, she crossed to her wardrobe, the towel discarded on the floor as she opened the doors. Reaching automatically for what had been her normal clothes before the mission, she’d pulled the skirt off the hook before realizing what she’d done and paused.

Staring at that leggings and tub top still on the hangar, she couldn’t help but picture some of the stage costumes she’d worn as a part of her role. More covering than the outfit she’d been wearing when they’d arrived back at the Resolute, it was still too... exposed.

After having the men ogle her, she needed to be covered; for all she wanted Rex to look at her, Ahsoka wasn’t sure she’d have been able to handle it at that moment. Her regular clothes were just too close to the reality she’d just left, too similar, and she needed to get away from that.

Emotionally raw and strung out, she hung the top and legging back in the wardrobe before slipping into her skirt, avidly listening for Rex’s presence.

I'll be there shortly.

Reaching for a long, white shirt on another hook, her fingers froze as they curled around it. Rex’s last words suddenly rang true in her mind, reluctance and everything. He wouldn’t deny her, even if it meant hurting himself, but... had his tone meant he didn’t want to be with her now that they were back on the Resolute?

Her fingers trembled as she pulled the shirt off the hook and slipped into it, the fabric sliding against her skin, combining the good and the bad memories of the last week into one. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons, tears stinging her eyes as she couldn’t seem to get them to cooperate, Rex’s final answer echoing through her thoughts; had she been wrong in asking him to come to her?

The shirt clung to her, catching on the still damp patches of her skin and soaking clear through over the wet bandage, as she jerked the sleeves down. Settling it to cover her completely, the feeling of being protected and safe within the fabric helped calm her enough to manage the fasteners.

But her doubts about Rex remained.

Despite everything they’d been through, was being back where they belonged going to cause a rift even the most intense of physical experiences between them hadn’t been capable of forming? Running her hands down her sides to smooth out the fabric, she then adjusted the collar, covering her neck protectively. Crossing her arms, she hugged herself, trying to find a safe position; something that made her feel secure in the light of Rex’s reluctance.

Needing something to do with her hands, she walked around her room lighting candles and incense, seeking some of the vaunted Jedi calm the Masters always spoke about. Yet, even in the dark, her room lit by the comforting flames, her doubts and fears refused to be banished.

Rex had been hesitant to acquiesce to her request, or sounded it - had she lost him to duty and regulation already? Tears stung her eyes again and she inhaled sharply on a sob that sought voice, denying it vehemently to herself.

No. No; Rex wouldn’t… he’d never… Just because we’re back doesn’t mean-

The chime to her door sounded, drawing her around like a puppet on a string. Rex. She could feel his protective, tumultuous presence on the other side of her door and her feet moved, as if given wings, to the portal. Her fingers worked the lock and then-

“Rex.”

His expression was nearly blank, impassive, but it was the banked heat and protective light in his eyes, want and wariness catching her. His eyes were expressive where his posture and expression were not. The heat with which he watched her had nothing to do with the relief that coursed through her with his presence.

Belatedly realizing he was still in the hallway, she stepped back and motioned him inside, knowing they couldn’t have this discussion on the threshold of her room. Rex followed her in and she watched him, still searching his expression for the man she knew him to be; the man behind the Captain.

The urge to throw herself into his arms was strong but now that he stood before her, with her again, Ahsoka resisted. Silently urging him to say something, anything, that would make everything okay; that would make everything they’d endured worth it.

Being with him helped, but she needed some kind of reassurance that everything wasn’t for naught; a sign that her actions during the mission hadn’t changed his opinion of her. That they hadn’t made him think any less of her; that, for all the changes between them, they were still partners in every sense of the word. Still friends, even if they could be nothing more.

I want so much more! I want what we had; I want everything!

It was selfish, un-Jedi, but she didn’t care; she’d only come to the realization of what she felt for him in the last forty eight hours and it left her feeling vulnerable. Uncertain. Especially since she didn’t dare tell him until he said he felt the same way first; she couldn’t afford to pressure him into an admission she wanted to believe, especially when he looked at her as he was now, but couldn’t credit.

A chill swept her.

Biting her lower lip, Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest, low that it was more around her ribs and ran one hand up and over a bicep, plucking at the fabric at the shoulder. The way he was looking at her called to her primitive side, making her head reel, blood surging through her veins in answer. She stuttered, seeking words that were suddenly elusive within the context of his gaze.

“I… Rex; I… I wanted to… ”

 

She’d barely begun to speak before Rex’s hands shot out, grabbing her, spinning her, dislodging her arms from her own body as she hit the wall. Reeling, she was totally unprepared as his fingers dug into her wrists, his plastoid clad body coming down hard on hers, pinning her mercilessly to the wall behind her.

“Wha-” she’d done no more than gasp when his head came down with a kind of savage hunger she’d never tasted before. Her lips parted under the pressure of his, opening to his as he kissed her deeply.

The action was so unexpected, so dominant, her body reacted to the advance before her mind could follow, desire sluicing through her with the impact of turbolaser blast.

There was nothing gentle in his grip, in his action. The strength of his emotional focus, the power behind his need, intoxicated her, buffeting her from all sides, called to her in a way that was primal and visceral. He was all dominance; a mate, her mate, claiming her as was his right.

Her fingers curled into fists, her head tilting to better accommodate his kiss as she returned it, her previous doubts and fears banished and buried within the ferocity of his desire. Whatever she’d been inclined to say disappeared into the recesses of her mind as Rex swept her away to a place of pure sensation. His hands skated down her arms to her body, over her hips and under her shirt before rough, calloused fingertips touched her skin. She jerked involuntarily, breaking their kiss, as he spanned her waist. His fingertips dug into the muscles on either side of her spine as she gasped for breath.

There was no thought involved as she pressed against him, her fingers skimming his armor, tucking into the crevices and seams as she sought the fasteners. All she could feel was resistant, frustrating plastoid and all she wanted to feel was him. To feel him as he’d been the morning when she’d woken up sprawled across him; to feel him as she had earlier that night on the couch at The Catalyst. She wanted him without the shell, all muscles, sinew and fabric under her fingertips.

She wanted.

The sound of tearing fabric barely registered as she found the first closures, the bite of her shirt into her flesh lost to her need to feel him under her hands. Making short work to discard his chest plate, the warm air in her quarters brushed across her own bared flesh.

Rex pushed her back into the wall, his lips claiming hers once again as the fabric of his bodysuit rubbed against her naked torso with delicious friction. The force of his body kept her pinned as she nipped at his lips, free to tug and pull at the fasteners of the plastoid holding him captive.

His hands were none to gentle on her hips as they slid under her skirt, Ahsoka drawing her legs up to allow him the chance to remove it entirely just as her fingers popped the last fastener on his codpiece, inadvertently brushing against a control that would release the rest. Armor hit the ground unheeded as Rex was suddenly freed of his hard shell.

Naked, she arched into his touch, letting out a mewling gasp as he pressed her decisively back, her legs spread on either side of his hips. The proud jut of his erection pressed in an intimate and familiar possessive caress against her core, the fabric of his body suit the only barrier between them. His hips lifted, pressing against her, driving her against the wall in a series of short, sharp thrusts; mimicry of the act they’d never fully completed...

…and then he stopped, tearing himself away.

“Don’t stop!” Ahsoka’s protest was immediate. He couldn’t stop now; couldn’t leave her like this - leave them like this!

His hands were anything but gentle as he held her in place against the hard barrier, holding himself away. The molten gold of his irises, his pupils dilated as far as she’d ever seen them, his nostrils flaring as he took her in for a single series of heartbeats. His breath left his body in a hiss.

Ahsoka reached for him.

She needn’t have worried; Rex pulled her away from the wall, putting her back on her feet as his lips came down on hers again, his earlier kisses a pale comparison to the ferocity of this one. Her legs moved of their own accord as she kissed him back, nipping as he nipped her, tongue dueling with his, tasting blood when her teeth cut into his lip - and not caring when he made no move to stop, seemingly fueled by her savagery.

Her hands tugged and pulled at his body suit, a reaction to the current path of his own as they caressed her breasts, her hip, thighs and belly; anywhere he could reach. He touched her lekku, making her shudder and whimper into his mouth as she tugged his bodysuit down. He was forced to let go of her to haul the fabric over his hands and, as they brushed her skin, Ahsoka stumbled, the hard side of her bunk banging into the backs of her knees. It jostled them enough to tear her lips from his, her balance lost as she started to fall, fingers tangling in his body suit with a startled cry.

Rex’s flesh met her own, warm and smooth, muscled where she was soft, cushioning her as he rolled to take the impact. She barely registered the move as his teeth grazed the tip of one montral, sending waves of pleasure through her body before his cheek brushed the curved of it. Faint stubble sensuously abraded her skin and set off another round of electric fireworks in her bloodstream as she shuddered.

Pressing into his caress, his weight pinning her to the bed, she tried to move and found herself trapped - and instinctively rebelled even as she reveled in it.

His skin was smooth, covered in the smallest of hairs, tickling the sensitive nerves in her fingertips as she traced the firm, flexing lines of his muscles, blindly memorizing him. Her legs slid restlessly against his, one knee curled at his hip, the other trapped between his thighs. Held away, she was only peripherally aware of the turgid length still contained by the lower portion of his body suit.

Rex withdrew again, making her whimper, the firm press of his hands pinning her down as she clawed at his shoulders. Her finger tips slid across and down his chest, over his biceps and back, needing to touch him, to feel his bare flesh against hers, straining to bring him back to her. He resisted before suddenly swooping down to kiss her again, briefly, fiercely, drawing her up off the bed only to be pressed back as his lips left hers, nipping at her lekku and down, across her collar bone.

Gasping his name as he grasped her lekku in a firm grip, she undulated beneath him, the pulsating demand between her legs begging for the same attention as the sensitive flesh contained by his fingers. Her hips lifted, grinding against the firm muscle of his thigh in an effort to alleviate the tension and doing nothing more than aggravating it.

“Rex!”

Her body jackknifed off the bed as his lips closed about one of her nipples, pressing them intimately together from hip to chest for a brief moment. With the full, swollen length of his erection suddenly cradled against her stomach, Ahsoka knew what she wanted; needed. What she craved to have within her with a hunger matched only by Rex’s own.

She didn’t feel the strength in his touch, the bruising force with which he held her, all she could feel was his need and want. For all he was rough, bordering on violent, she could feel the overwhelming power of his desire for more than just her body, for all of her. She could feel his desperation, shared it; wallowed in it.

Writhing beneath him as his hand slid between her legs, finally touching her, she bowed into his hand only to be denied that small measure of relief as he pinned her bodily, forcing her to remain unmoving. His fingers slipped within the confines of her body, brushing against one of the most sensitive parts of her anatomy, sending shock, after shock, of tantalizing pleasure through her veins. She was burning up, at his mercy, completely in his thrall… and unable to move her hips to the penetrating rhythm of his fingers.

“Rex; Rex - please!”

Sobbing his name as her finger bit into his forearms, her head thrashed against the pillow, arcing backwards as she begged for clemency. Her back came off the bed in silent appeal, begging him to finish it; to end the pleasurable torture; to take her and make her his completely.

His mouth came down hard, teeth biting into the exposed vein of her neck as his greater weight drove her back into the covers.  The overwhelming aggressiveness in his response triggered her own and her body bucked, undulating in an attempt to throw him off, to gain the upper hand.

Predator to predator, mate to mate, her instincts called for her to test him; to make him claim her as was his right; as she so desired. To draw him in and claim him the way he’d been claiming her from the outset.

They separated, bodies torn apart, his teeth scraping her skin and down along the vein on her neck as they were the last to break free. He moved with blinding speed, coming back to her in all his naked magnificence, without the barriers of cloth between them.

Ahsoka gloried in the feel of his bare flesh against hers, in being subjugated; in being dominated. Rex’s hand continued to play her, sliding along her tender flesh, in and out in a rhythm she instinctualy tried to follow. Her hips lifted and his free hand shifted, drawing her leg away, pressing tightly into the skin of her inner thigh to move it aside.

She protested, trying to prevent the move only to find her legs caught around his hips, knees curled as her bare feet flattened on the bed, using it for leverage. Passionately overloaded, love and lust mingled as his hand suddenly withdrew and she could feel the blunt head of his erection at the vanguard of her vaginal passage. Her hips strained to move, but were again prevented from doing so and she sobbed her frustration as her neck arched, her head thrashing back and forth in silent denial.

So close! Don’t stop; don’t-

His fingers were rough on her chin, slippery but firm, as he forced their eyes to connect. Golden rings of fire around pupils so large they practically covered his irises held a wild, frantic gleam in their depths. Thus linked, she felt more than heard the growl in his voice, saw his intent within the depths of his gaze; he’d take-

Rex’s hips surged forward, the firm, silken length of him penetrating her body.

It was being impaled on a spire of durasteel. The head of his erection gliding in, aided by the wetness of her excited reaction, she bowed unconsciously into his possession. Every fiber of her being screamed at the rightness of it even as her muscles flexed, clamping down around him, tensing in reflex to the primal act they’d never before experienced.

He throbbed within her, holding still for a series of heartbeats she could feel through the innermost fibers of her being. It was the sensation of being full, filled by Rex, of having him a part of her as he claimed her as his.

Yet, even as he claimed her, Ahsoka knew some primal part of herself also claimed him; this was her mate. His right and her desire; a joining of more than just flesh, it was as if he’d slid not only into her body, but lodged himself irrevocably within her heart as well.

There was no pain, no hesitation, no agony, simply the need to progress; to complete what they’d begun.

With a savage snarl, Rex’s lips came down on hers in another bruising kiss as he began to move. Pinning her to the bed, his fingers digging with bruising intensity into her hips, tilting her even as she moved to match him, Ahsoka clung to him. Clawing for purchase, her hands raked his back and shoulders, finding no purchase on his sweat slick skin.

Rex refused to release her mouth as his hips moved with increasingly erratic thrusts, driving down and into her with fierceness she sought to match. Her fingers dug into his skin, nails finding partial purchase along his back with a plaintive moan, urging him on, feeling the tension in her gut contract further, tightening, building with each surge of his body.

Their lips parted on a ragged grasp as Rex shifted, drawing her up, her world tilting as her nails dug into his waist, pulled upwards without ever being separated from him. He changed the angle of their coupling, leaving her to cling on to him desperately as he drew her up and down, impaling her repeatedly on his pulsating shaft.

The pressure in her body spiked with the new angle, his rubbing firmly against a point within hers that reverberated with an intense pleasure-pain sensation. It was the feel of his hands on her skin; his lips and his teeth marking her as her nails marked him; his body penetrating hers with such deliberation, invasively welcome and tightly embraced - a willing and repeated prisoner.

It was everything all at once and more.

A trio of quick, short thrusts later and she went rigid, lights exploding behind her eyes as her lips parted on an unconscious shriek.

Acceptance.

Denial.

It was everything this last week had been building towards and everything she’d never dared dream they’d achieve. It was pure, mind-numbing bliss; her complete capitulation to the emotional and physical bonds she and Rex had forged.

The purest expression of what she felt as she surrendered all of herself into his caring.

She was folded close, her cry smothered with his lips as Rex clamped one hand to the back of her neck. He swallowed the sound, Ahsoka barely registering his own groan as his body jerked upwards on a powerful lunge. The impact ripped through her sensitized system with enough force to push her further over the edge, propelling her back into the orbit of pleasure.

Sagging into his arms, she was totally unaware of their collapse back to the bed but for the sensation of being in his arms and of their bodies still being joined. She was unaware of anything beyond it, the strength and relief of her release having sent her spiraling swiftly into unconsciousness.

Morning would come quickly and, with it, Ahsoka would find her reality changed; never suspecting those moments of shared passion would bring only heartache and pain and a misunderstanding that would tear them apart.

Fin