"Coming" Padme called at the sound of a knock at the main office door. She opened the door to reveal Anakin and Rex in their suits waiting just outside to be let inside.

"You look beautiful" Anakin stepped closer to his wife, momentarily forgetting that Rex was there.

"Thank you Anakin" she smiled before directing her attention elsewhere. "Lyra, our dates are here!" Padmé called out to me.

"One minute!" I shouted, struggling to hide my sabers on my dress. With a groan of frustration I simply held them in my hands and walked out to greet the men. Stepping out of the room Rex's head instantly snapped towards me, taking in my dress that matched his suit perfectly, wearing the representative colour of the 501st.

The first person I noticed was Rex, standing across from me in his dark blue suit watching carefully as I stepped out of the spare room. All of my worry's about my sabers had instantly disappeared as we made eye contact, but both of us quickly looked away with blush dusting our cheeks.

"You look nice, doesn't she, Rex?" Anakin nudged his Captain with a knowing smirk.

"Yes, you look great—good— I mean wonderful" he stuttered out with nerves, refusing to make eye contact after making a fool out of himself.

"You look very handsome yourself, Rex" I smiled up. "You too Skywalker" I looked over as he stood beside his date in a plain black suit.

"Could you not find a place for your lightsabers?" Padmé worried, noticing how you still held them loosely in your grip.

"I'm keeping mine right in here" Anakin proudly pulled it out of the inside of his jacket.

"I meant, Lyra" she corrected, Anakin having though she was talking to him.

"Oh Uh, no. I couldn't find anywhere to hide them"

"I think they might fit in my jacket if you'd like" Rex suggested shyly. "I know that the weapon is your life and all—"

"Thank you Rex, I trust you" I handed him both sabers as he placed them beside his blaster while Padme and Anakin watched the encounter proudly.

"Are we all ready to go?" Anakin cleared his throat after watching Rex put away my lightsabers.

"Yes, sir" Rex nodded in response.

"Ladies, after you" Anakin presented Padmé and I forward as we lead the way out of the door, but on the walk through the hallways fell back into step with our own dates.

"They make a cute couple" Padmé commented, looking back to see Rex watching intently as I explained the conversational methods that Padmé had taught me.

"Yes, they do" Anakin agreed calmly. Entering the large ballroom I was taken aback by all of the politicians and their dates. Padmé sent me a reassuring smile as they walked away from us to scout out the area. I had stood off to the side while Rex walked around to get an idea of any threats. Attempting to look over the large crowd I gave up with a huff only for Rex to join me again.

"Did you find anything?"

"No, it's hard to get through the crowd without dancing" he sighed before an idea popped in his head.

"What are you doing?" I quirked an eyebrow as he held a hand out for me.

"May I have this dance?" He offered.

"Rex" I sighed.

"It's all apart of the plan" he cut me off before I could protest.

"Alright" I gave in, taking his hand as he pulled me into the dance floor. We spun around, dancing through the crowd and surveying the area. "Wait" I told him upon seeing something. "Can you get me closer?" I nodded to a man on the opposite side of the room.

"Yes" Rex agreed, dancing out way towards the man only for me too see he looked tense and was keeping his hands close to his jacket.

"I think I found a suspect" I reported into commlink.

"What is it?" Anakin groaned, forgetting about the mission at hand.

"There's a man by the exit, looks to possibly have a blaster hidden in his jacket" I continued my evaluation.

"I see him" Anakin told me. "I'll keep an eye on him, you two keep looking around"

"Wait, what if Lyra can take him out?" Padmé proposed an idea.

"What do you mean?" Her husband asked with worry for making a scene.

"Well, if she was to stealthily knock him down and take his blaster we would have one less threat to deal with and we could find out if it was only him or if there are others"

"I can do that" I agreed simply.

"What? No" Rex and Anakin both protested at the same time.

"Relax, I've got this" I told them, pushing back slightly from Rex as he watched me make my way towards the man casually, as though he wasn't a threat. I stepped up right in front of him as he quickly moved his hand towards his jacket, Rex doing the same from where I had left him, but neither pulled a blaster, yet.

"Lyra" Rex started in a warning tone, keeping his eyes on me and ready to draw his blaster, knowing I didn't take my sabers with me.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you but I was hoping you could help me find the bathrooms" I spoke to the man innocently.

"Sorry miss, I can't help you"

"You will follow me" I waved a hand in front of his face.

"I will follow you" he repeated blankly. I walked away and he followed right after me, keeping close as I held him under my force control.

"Where are you going? What are you doing?" Rex started to worry, pushing through the crowd as he lost sight of me. He made it to the hall just in time to see me wave a hand on front of the mans face, dropping him unconscious. "What did you do?" Rex questioned as I caught the man and he helped me to hide him in a storage closet.

"Simple Jedi mind trick, we'll actually it's pretty complex but I've studied it quite a bit and it worked well" I explained calmly with pride that my plan had actually worked.

"If you two are done out there we've found another person" Anakin cut off our conversation.

"On it" I replied, leading Rex back into the room to find a waiter droid that Anakin was pointing towards.

"I don't think your mind trick will work on a clanker." Rex said.

"No, but I have a few other tricks up my sleeves" I walked towards the droid with Rex. "Excuse me" I crashed into the droid, cutting a wire to disable it.

"Nice job" Rex commented proudly, pulling me away towards the dance floor to keep up our cover.

"Thanks. I think we are dealing with a crew of bounty hunters" I gave my thoughts to the others.

"I fear you may be right" Anakin agreed, holding Padmé close to him, hating how she would get caught up in this mess. Suddenly the lights flickered out and the red emergency lights lit up the room again. Gasps were heard from the many senators with worry for an incoming threat, you and your small team standing ready to fight, but keeping calm under your cover.

"Attention all senators" a loud booming voice called out as we all searched to see a bounty hunter standing above us all on the second level. I shot a look to Rex who glared up at the bounty hunter sternly, arm still secured around my waist from when we had been dancing only moments ago. "We are here to get a ransoms for all of the Republics precious senators." The man continued, three more bounty hunters crowding everyone close together, surrounding you and preventing your escape.

"Sir?" Rex asked through comms quietly.

"Wait" Anakin urged as he held Padmé close to him in a protective way. Rex was stood behind me defensively while I calmly focused on the situation at hand, mind clear.

"What exactly is the plan, sir?" Rex questioned again with more stress.

"Wait, I want to see where this goes" Anakin told him again.

"I want that woman there, in the navy blue dress" the bounty hunter pointed me out of the group,  my eyes went wide, playing along with the situation. Gasps came from the crowd as a female bounty hunter came towards me. Rex grabbed my bicep strongly, refusing to let me go.

"Rex" Anakin urged again as the woman grabbed me. "Let her go, she can handle this" with that he reluctantly let go of me and I was roughly plucked from the ground and thrown forward as the male bounty hunter who had picked me out was now standing in front of me.

"Such a cute girl now, huh?" He grabbed my jaw and tilted my head to look at him, my face contorted in disgust at his words. "Tell me, what planet do you represent?"

"I am simply the handmaiden of Senator Amidala from Naboo" I replied.

"Oh really?" He pondered, still holding my jaw to force me to look at him. "You're quite pretty for a handmaiden" he commented as Rex clutched his fists tight in the crowd, watching as anger bubbled up inside of him. "Who is the lucky guy you have as your date?"

"My boyfriend" I stated calmly.

"Nice cover up" Anakin commented with a smirk, acting as though you weren't in a life or death situation.

"Bring him forward" the man ordered as another bounty hunter pushed Rex to stand beside you. The man moved his hand to tightly grip my waist and pull me into his side before swiftly pulling out a blaster and aiming it at Rex's head.

"Anakin" I heard Padmés worried tone in your ear.

"Wait, she has a plan" Anakin reminded, knowing me well enough to tell when I had my mind made up.

"Please, don't do this" I begged the man as Rex stood stiffly on the opposite side of the blaster, not knowing what was going to happen to you all.

"I'm afraid I have to" he replied, eyes still trained on Rex who had a slightly nervous expression on his face. I looked around the room, noting the three bounty hunters holding the people in a crowded space and the man who was holding me. Moving quickly to execute my plan I had started by kicking the blaster out of the mans hands before using the force to push the other hunters back into the wall, knocking them out. The man scrambled to grab his blaster again but Rex stepped on it, keeping it on the ground before punching the man unconscious. The other three were now standing to their feet as the crowds were rushed out by the help of Anakin and Padmé.

"Rex!" I called out for him. Pulling the lightsabers from his jacket he tossed them to me and I stood, deflecting blasts as he stunned the three hunters.

"Don't move" a blaster was pressed to the back of my head. The man from earlier had gotten up and was now threatening my life. "She's coming with me" he growled, Rex pointed his blaster at him, but lowered it as I sent him a nod of approval.

"Rex, where's Lyra?" Anakin asked as soon as he had seen his Captain running through the hallways.

"He took her!"

"Oh no" Padmé gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth.

The man had held me close to him, blasted pressed to your head as he guided me to the ledge outside, his speeder waiting. I knew Rex would be coming out any moment know, probably racing through the hallways right now to catch up with me.

"Get in, sweetheart" the man shoved me into his speeder, having taken my lightsabers as a trophy. He sped off, but Rex had raced out just in time to stun him before we had gotten too far.

"Really?" I shouted in frustration as the speeder kept going with no control. I searched his pockets until I pulled out my sabers triumphantly with a proud "yes!" I stood up and grabbed the man, tossing him onto the platform for him to be captured and taken to prison for his crimes.

"Lyra, jump!" Rex called out as the bike was about to crash. "I'll catch you" he promised and with that I had ran to the back of the speeder and jumped onto the platform to crash into Rex, knocking us both down. I defensibly jumped to my feet and ignited my sabers, aiming them towards the man who was stunned and laying before us.

"Hey!" Anakin rushed out to join us, pulling to a stop as he watched me ignite my sabers defensibly.

"It's okay" Rex lowered my hands gently, turning off my sabers.

"Thank you" I nodded to him with honesty.

"Are you alright?" Padmé rushed over and held my arms for me to look her in the eyes.

"Yes, I'm alright" I smiled back and she instantly pulled me in for a hug.

"Let's get your things" she lead us all towards her office again where we walked in silence, this time Anakin and Rex strolling behind while Padmé and I walked ahead of them.

"You really care for her" Anakin noted calmly.

"Excuse me?" Rex looked to his General with confusion.

"Lyra. I saw your reaction when he touched her"

"Yeah" Rex nodded, knowing what Anakin was talking about.

"It's not a bad thing" Anakin pats his back before following into the office where I set off to get changed back into my Jedi robes.

"I'm all ready to go" I announced, exiting the room while clipping my sabers back onto my belt.

"You two go ahead, I have some business to discuss with Senator Amidala" Anakin waved us both out as I sent him a nod.

"I wonder what kind of trouble the men got into while you were away" I thought as we walked through Coruscant towards the Temple and Barracks.

"Nothing I want to deal with tonight" Rex sighed in response. "You looked nice tonight, not that you don't look nice the rest of the time I mean you look very beautiful right now and I'm going to stop talking" he rambled out before scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"It's alright Rex" I smiled to reassure him. "You look very nice in your suit, it's a nice change compared to Jedi robes and armour"

"Yeah, I guess it is"

"Well, that didn't take long" I commented the walk to the Temple where we both stood outside facing each other. "Good luck with your battalion" I waved him off before walking inside to get some much needed rest after the events of tonight.

......................................................

Question of the day: what kind of trouble do you think the 501st would have gotten into in Rex's absence?