Chapter Text
“There they are.” Imp smiled, standing by Ahsoka as they watched the approaching ship.
“You’ll be coming back soon too, right?” Ahsoka asked Thaola.
“Yep!” Thaola nodded cheerfully. “I’m staying two weeks more!”
“I’ll see you when you come back, then!” Ahsoka declared, hugging her tightly.
“Thank you for having us.” Imp told the royals politely, turning to face them.
“It was our pleasure, Commander.” Circe answered with a small smile. “I hope you will come visit us again.”
When the shuttle landed, Anakin strode down the ramp, making his way towards the group waiting for him. “Hi Master!” Ahsoka beamed, waving at him.
“Hello, Ahsoka.” Anakin smiled. “I hope you behaved for the royals.”
“I did!” Ahsoka nodded earnestly.
“Your Padawan was very well-mannered and respectful, Knight Skywalker.” Reluvethel told him. “And a great help to us, as she’s no doubt told you. We would be honored to host her again.”
“Thank you, King Reluvethel. And thank you for looking after her.” Anakin answered, hand resting on Ahsoka’s shoulder.
“It was our pleasure.” Reluvethel nodded. “Take care, Ahsoka. I hope you and Commander Imp will visit us again soon.”
“Let’s go, you two.” Anakin addressed the girls, though Imp was pulled into a hug before she could turn away.
“Take care.” Circe murmured to her, squeezing her shoulders before letting go.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Imp nodded, turning and trotting after Anakin.
“Did you two enjoy your visit?” Anakin asked them, the Garavian Knight leading them onto the small shuttle that would take them back to the warship.
“We did, Master!” Ahsoka nodded cheerfully, pulling a dead rat out of her bag. Anakin raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Where did you get that?”
“When we arrived, it turned out that some of the castle cleaning staff didn’t do their jobs right, and there was an infestation of rats.” Imp explained. “We helped clean up.”
“Do you want one, Master?” Ahsoka asked cheerfully. “There’s still lots of them to eat!”
“Sure.” Anakin agreed. “When we get back, I’ve gotta fly us up first.”
When they made it back to the warship, Imp trotted down the ramp and was immediately scooped up into a tight hug. “Hi, Imp.” Voca purred happily. “Welcome back.”
“Hello.” Imp smiled, snuggling into him and nuzzling her larger brother.
“You have a good visit?” Voca asked. As the two spoke, Anakin looked down at Ahsoka as they approached Rex.
“Would you like to come to the small anniversary party Padmé’s throwing for us, ‘Soka?” He asked as they stopped by the Commander. “It’ll be good for you to meet my wife.”
“Okay!” Ahsoka agreed excitedly, as Rex did a double take.
“You’re married, sir??”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Anakin sounded a bit puzzled.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Huh. Would you like to come too?” He asked Rex.
“..Sure.” Rex shook his head with a slight chuckle. “Thanks.”
A few hours later, Anakin’s comm buzzed, Padmé’s contact on the screen when he looked at it. He answered it immediately, expression brightening. “Hey, Padmé!”
“Hello Ani.” Padmé smiled warmly. “How far are you from Coruscant?”
“‘Bout an hour, last I checked.” Anakin answered. “I’ll come meet you when we get there.”
“Can you pick up the cake on the way over, if you don’t mind?” Padmé asked him.
“Sure thing.” Anakin agreed. “Just send me the address for whichever bakery it’s at.”
“I’ll have Dormé send it to you.” Padmé nodded. “How did your campaign go?”
“Smoothly.” Anakin answered. “I’ll tell you all about it when I see you.”
“Excuse me, I’m here to pick up a cake order for Padmé Amidala.” Anakin told the young woman behind the counter in the bakery.
“Oh yes, I’ll get that out for you.” The woman nodded, heading into the back cooler.
“Thank you.” Anakin smiled, taking the box carefully when the woman returned.
“You’re welcome, sir. Have a good day.”
Just before Anakin walked out of the bakery, his comm buzzed. Answering it, Obi-Wan’s holoprojection appeared. “Anakin.” Obi-Wan offered him a small smile, though it seemed slightly… strained. “Back on Coruscant?”
“I am.” Anakin nodded.
“Good. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it back in time for your celebration, our work on Kamino is still incomplete. But I hope you and Padmé have a good time, and I’ll bring my gift for you two when I come back.”
“Are you okay, Obi-Wan?” Anakin asked, picking up on the slight strain in his friend’s smile.
“I’m alright, Anakin. There’s… been a lot uncovered in a relatively short period of time. I’ll fill you in when we return.”
Anakin frowned slightly, but nodded. “Be safe, Master Kenobi.”
“I will. Enjoy your party, Anakin.”
As Anakin stepped out of the bakery after ending the call, a man ran past, snatching the cake box straight out of his hands. “What the fu- hey! Come back!” Anakin yelled, immediately giving chase. The man pushed himself faster, clutching the box as he fled down the walkway with Anakin not far behind. “Who the hell steals a cake?!” Anakin growled in disbelief and frustration as they both skidded around a corner, racing deeper into the city.
“Is that the General?” Jesse did a double take, him and Fives walking down the walkway on the other side of the gap, seeing Anakin pursue the thief around the corner.
“It is General Skywalker.” Fives nodded.
“Maybe we’d better go help him, it looks like he’s having trouble.”
The two troopers joined the pursuit, quickly gaining on the thief only for him to shove Jesse over the side of the railing when he got close enough. “YOU CAN FLY, IDIOT!” Fives screamed down at him after Jesse had fallen a couple feet without any attempt to catch himself. Hearing that, Jesse beat his wings, shooting back up as fast as he could.
“Idiot!” Fives repeated with an eye roll, taking off after the thief again.
“General, what did he take?” Jesse called, close behind Fives.
“The cake I was picking up!” Anakin sounded more than a little pissed off now, chasing the thief around another bend.
“I think we oughta call in more people, General.” Fives suggested, nearly alongside Anakin now.
“I’ll call Rex.” Anakin agreed, quickly tapping the Commander’s contact on his comm.
“What do you need, General?” Rex asked as he answered the call.
“I need you to bring a couple of the men to help me. I…” Anakin’s ears twitched sheepishly, half realizing how ridiculous this would sound. “A thief stole my anniversary cake as I was leaving the bakery. Fives and Jesse are helping but he’s proving more difficult to catch than I expected.”
Rex paused, digesting that, then struggled to hold back a snort as he replied, “Got it, General. We’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you.” Anakin ignored his laughter for now, ending the call as they continued the pursuit.
About twenty minutes later, more of the 501st caught up to Anakin, Jesse, and Fives, who were still chasing the thief. “I don’t know how he’s moving that fast!” Fives grumbled, the thief somehow always managing to stay a few feet ahead of them.
“What did he steal?” Vill called, flying up behind the three.
“The General’s anniversary cake, apparently!” Jesse answered, trying to tackle the thief and missing, smacking into a pole instead. “Ow!” Vill laughed, unable to help himself, even as he chased after the man.
“Maybe we oughta get Fox’s help, General.” Rex suggested, flying just above Anakin. “He and the Guard are probably going to have more luck at this point if you’ve been chasing this guy for near an hour and haven’t caught him.”
“No!” Anakin immediately protested. “I’ll be put on the wall of shame for a year!”
Rex shook his head. “If you insist, then. Let’s try and catch him.”
Kicker made an attempt at dive-tackling the man, screeching as she missed and smashed straight through a nearby window, landing in a heap on the floor of a warehouse. “You alright, Kicker?” Rex’s voice immediately crackled over her comm as the people in the warehouse startled, jumping back from her. Kicker grunted, sitting up and looking around, immediately pausing.
“...I think I just fell into some kind of smuggling operation.”
“What? I’ll be right there.”
Kicker brushed herself off as she stood, shaking out her hair to get rid of any glass in it, the Kashgar having a long bleeding cut down her cheek. The people in the warehouse, having briefly frozen in their panic, burst into movement as she got up. Some of them started shoving packages back into boxes, but one picked up a blaster, firing a stunner at Kicker that narrowly missed her, zipping past her wing.
“That’s fucking rude.” Kicker noted after a moment, crossing her arms. Rex appeared in the broken window, hovering in place for a moment before pressing his comm.
“Right, General, I think we have to call Fox now.”
“Are you sure?” Anakin sounded reluctant.
“Kicker just discovered a full blown smuggling ring. Yes, I’m sure.”
Anakin groaned, but answered, “Fine, I’ll do that.”
“Try and see if you can corral your thief in here, maybe we can get him cornered if he’s off the street.” Just as Rex said that, the thief bolted into the warehouse, skidding to a stop at seeing the two clones. “Never mind, he did it himself.”
“Right, give that here!” Kicker bolted towards the thief, focused on getting the cake. The thief swore, bolting away again only to be cornered by Jesse’s arrival. The thief grunted when he was punched, tossing the cake away to be caught by Kicker.
“Get it out to the General!” Jesse urged. Before she could, though, Kicker was hit by a series of stunners, collapsing and dropping the box. One of the other smugglers snatched it up, immediately bolting. “Hey!” Jesse shouted, giving chase. The smuggler raced away, tripping over a loose cord and dropping the cake box again. Jesse caught with a grunt and turned to take it back to Anakin, only to get hit square in the back with a stunner when he turned around, yet another smuggler dashing forward to snatch it.
“No you don’t!” Fives snapped, body-slamming into the smuggler and grabbing the box from his hands, beelining towards the exit. Two more smugglers jumped into his path, one of them tackling him and the other nabbing the box from his hands.
“Fuck!” Vill swore, pursuing the smuggler holding the box, who promptly cursed and ran faster upon realizing the Commander was on his tail, bolting up the stairs that led to the fire escape. “Get back here!” Vill yelled, continuing to chase him up the stairs until they emerged onto the roof of the warehouse, just as a group of Coruscant Guards flooded into the building.
Vill skidded to a halt a few feet away from the man as he backed away, glancing around quickly for an escape. “Give the cake back.” Vill growled, advancing on him.
“Never.” The smuggler spat in response. Vill growled again, lunging forward. The smuggler ducked out of the way, losing his grip on the cake box…
And sending it flying straight off the edge of the roof.
“FUCK!!” Vill cursed loudly, wobbling as he barely managed to catch himself just before he followed the cake over the edge.
“Now neither of us have it.” The smuggler growled. “Happy?”
“You motherfucker-” Vill snarled, tackling the smuggler and raising his arm to punch him, before his wrist was caught by a gloved hand.
“Alright, you’ve got him, simmer down before you make more paperwork for us.” Thire grunted, holding Vill back from pummeling the smuggler. Wings arching in frustration, Vill begrudgingly got to his feet, backing away. Thire let go of Vill’s arm, yanking the smuggler to his feet and cuffing his hands behind his back. “Back downstairs with you.”
Once downstairs, Vill trudged towards Anakin. "General, we lost the cake." He sighed.
“What?” Anakin practically deflated, his ears drooping. Vill winced at Anakin's look of disappointment as Fox approached.
“Would you tell me how exactly you came across this now, General Skywalker?” Fox asked, tone businesslike.
Anakin's ears twitched, looking abruptly more embarrassed. Fox tilted his head slightly, folding his arms, and Vill could vividly picture the raised eyebrow behind the Guard Commander’s helmet.
“Weren’t involved in the operation, were you?” Fox asked with a faintly teasing note in his voice.
"Uh, no. One of the smugglers involved stole my anniversary cake."
“..They actually had the gall to steal from a Jedi?” Fox sounded incredulous. Anakin nodded sheepishly. “And… somehow managed to evade you and several of the five-oh-first?”
Anakin's face went red in response to Fox's words. “Jesse almost caught him but ran into a pole.” Vill muttered.
"He ran into a pole. A pole stopped him." Fox's tone was flat, looking unimpressed.
“Yeah.” Vill’s wings twitched awkwardly. “Not his finest moment.”
Imp hummed as she strode down the platform stretching across the level, to go speak to the Guards on the other side, the young Alpha looking up when she heard a noise. A bakery box fell down towards her from out of nowhere, apparently dislodged from the back of a passing speeder. Imp caught it with a grunt, her stride breaking. She stared down at the box, up at where it had fallen from, down at the box, and then back up, obvious confusion on her face. Fox, having witnessed this from the other side of the walkway, absolutely lost it, his laughter echoing back to her.
".... What the actual fuck." Imp muttered, smacking herself slightly with a tendril to check this wasn't a dream.
“What the fuck…” Fox wheezed with laughter, holding himself up on the railing. “How did it get back here?”
Very much confused, Imp resumed walking towards them, still taking glances down at the cake box. “Hey, you’re the five-oh-first fledgling, aren’t you?” Thire greeted her as she reached them. “Ignore him.” He jabbed his thumb over at Fox. “He’s obviously cracked.”
"Do you want this?" Imp gingerly offered him the box. "It's for Senator Amidala.."
“Ah, that.” Thire turned around. “Fox, get a grip! Do we need to test this before we send it after General Skywalker?”
Still snickering, Fox cleared his throat as he straightened up. "Let's have it tested."
“I’ll grab a scanner.” Thire nodded, turning around. Imp looked down at the cake again, still slightly baffled.
“General Skywalker had his anniversary cake stolen while he was picking it up.” Fox explained to her. “The cake got thrown over the roof when they finally cornered the thief.”
"... Who would want to steal a cake?"
“Evidently, the thief was part of a smuggling ring that hid drugs inside of baked goods. Which, points for creativity on that one, but they all get deducted for being stupid enough to literally steal out of the hands of a Jedi.”
Thire returned a minute later with the scanner, stopping before Imp. Waving the scanner over the box, he nodded. "No bombs of any kind in it."
“We’re dealing with a drug ring, check it for that too. Would rather not the General and Senator get that unpleasant surprise.” Fox said dryly.
"We'll need a massiff for that." Thire pointed out.
“Beetle is on his way, he’ll be here in a couple minutes.”
A few minutes later, another Guard arrived, holding the leash of a massiff. “Drug cartel breakup, you said?” Beetle asked Fox. “Scuttle’s ready to go.”
"First, he needs to sniff this cake for any drugs." Fox told Beetle, gesturing to the cake that Imp held.
“..one of the odder instructions you’ve given me, but okay.” Beetle agreed, leading the massiff over. Imp moved to hold the box with her tendrils, scratching Scuttle’s head as he checked the box. “All clear.” Beetle reported after Scuttle seemed to lose interest, starting to sniff around the surroundings instead.
“Thank you.” Imp told him, turning away.
“If you can get that to the Senate in one piece, I think you’ll make your General very happy.” Fox told her, still fighting back laughter at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
Imp knocked on the door of the Naboo suite, holding the box carefully as she waited for someone to answer it. One of Padmé’s handmaidens opened the door a moment later, nodding to her. “Commander Imp, what can we do for you?”
“I’ve got a cake here for Senator Amidala.” Imp answered.
“I sent Imp to get it!” Anakin blurted out further inside the room, the Jedi overhearing this just as he was about to tell Padmé the absolute nonsense that had just occurred. Imp’s expression twitched, the girl almost looking like she wanted to laugh, before she nodded.
“Yes, the General did send me to get it.”
“Oh, thank you, Commander Imp.” Padmé smiled at her as the handmaiden stepped aside to let her in. Anakin looked a mix of utterly relieved and disbelieving, shooting Imp a grateful look. Imp’s lips were pressed together, eyes dancing with mirth as the teenager trotted towards the table set up in the middle of the room, carefully setting down the cake.
“Would you like to stay for our party?” Padmé invited her. “It’s just a small affair, but it’ll be fun.”
“Thank you, Senator.” Imp smiled, trotting over to Ahsoka.
“You’re welcome. Thank you for bringing the cake.”
After a while another knock was heard at the door, and Eirtaé, Padmé’s blonde handmaiden, went to answer it. “Oh, hello.” She smiled at the Garavian man and young girl who stood out in the hall.
“Hello.” The man nodded. “Imre Skywalker, I believe we’re expected.”
“Yes, please come in.” Eirtaé smiled, stepping back and gesturing them in. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Skywalker.”
“You as well.” Imre nodded, leading the little girl inside. Anakin immediately grinned when he saw her.
“Miona!”
“Ani!” The Garavian girl sounded excited, immediately shifting, a small wolf pup slamming into Anakin’s legs with a high pitched growl. Anakin laughed, scooping up the pup and booping her little nose.
“Haven’t gotten to see you in a minute, have I?” Miona yipped in response, licking Anakin’s face as her little tail wagged in a blur. “Padmé, I want you to meet my baby sister.” Anakin told his wife as she walked over. “Miona, this is Padmé. I can’t believe it took so long to introduce you.”
“Hello, Miona.” Padmé smiled, taking the pup and scratching her ears. Miona yipped in excitement again, immediately licking Padmé’s face.
“Anakin.” Imre greeted with a small smile, following Miona over to them. Anakin hugged him, nuzzling his father briefly.
“This is my Adar, Imre.” He told Padmé.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Miss Amidala.” Imre told her, squeezing Anakin’s shoulder slightly.
“Thank you, sir.” Padmé smiled warmly back at him as the pup wriggled free of her arms, shifting back and landing easily on her feet.
“I made you this as a present!” She told Padmé cheerfully, pulling out a small carved wooden statue of Padmé and Anakin.
“Oh, it’s beautiful.” Padmé beamed, kneeling down to take the small statue to study it. “Thank you, Miona.”
“You’re welcome!” Miona told her happily, immediately hugging the young woman. Padmé returned the hug with a small laugh.
“I certainly hope we’ll be seeing more of each other.”
“Me too!” Miona declared, grinning more and waving furiously when she spotted Ahsoka. “Hi ‘Soka!”
“Hi Miona!” Ahsoka beamed, waving back at her former creche mate. Miona let go of Padmé, scampering over to the other little girl.
“Let’s play!”
A while later, Rex arrived, stepping inside and nodding to Anakin. “Rex!” Anakin greeted, swiftly pulling his Commander aside. “I don’t know how, but Imp got the cake.” He whispered quickly. “Padmé knows nothing.”
Rex nodded after a confused pause, eyes widening slightly when the box was removed to reveal the fully intact cake. Not a single speck of frosting was out of place. “What the fuck…” He breathed, vividly replaying every single time that box had been dropped or almost crushed. Anakin stared at it in surprise as well, glancing quickly at Rex, then back at the cake.
“Sorcery.” He decided quietly.
“Well, at least everything turned out alright.” Rex sighed, rubbing his face.
“Guess so.” Anakin agreed. “I owe Imp one hell of a favor.”