Malse had been standing guard outside of Lord Vader's shuttle for six hours and was bored out of his mind when the little Togruta girl tried to break into it.

"I need to see Anakin," she whined, grating on his ears. Gods below, he hated small children.

"I dunno who Anakin is, but you can't go in there," he said. The kid was probably lost and looking for her older sibling.

The little girl tried to slip past him, but Malse hadn't been promoted to Lord Vader's personal stormtroopers for nothing. He grabbed her arm, tightening his grip to the point where he was worried he was going to hurt her if she tried to break free.

"Let me go!" she demanded angrily.

"Where are your parents?" he asked.

"Don't have any," she said, glaring at the floor.

Kriff. Kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff, kriff. Malse had absolutely no idea what to do with a lost orphan. He was fairly sure there were orphanages or foster homes or something on Imperial Center, but he didn't even know where to begin looking. Maybe she had guardians somewhere, or other family members who watched over her, who would be really worried that she was missing.

"What about aunts or uncles?" he asked hopefully. "Or any other sort of guardian, do you got one of those?"

She stopped twisting her arm in his grip and said. "Just Anakin. Sometimes Driten watches me though."

Malse recognized that name. "Driten Bele?"

She nodded.

He sighed, wishing for a moment that someone else would show up and take over. Malse hated comming people, hated it with a burning passion stronger than the fires of Mustafar. No one showed though, so he would have to be the one to do it. After all, he needed to get the kid back to her watcher before she tried to break into Lord Vader's ship again.

"Alright. I'm going to comm him for you, let him know you're here," he said.

She stared at him expectantly, so Malse took two deep breaths to push aside his anxiety and dialed Bele's number before he could talk himself out of it. He swallowed uneasily against the sudden dryness of his throat, glad that no one could see his face beneath his helmet.

Thankfully, it didn't take Bele long to answer.

"Bele here."

"Hi Driten!" the little girl chirped before Malse could answer.

"Wha- Ahsoka? Where are you?" Bele asked.

"I'm tryna get on Anakin's ship, but he won't let me." Ahsoka pouted.

"Soka, your… guardian has been frantic with worry ever since you went missing. You are going to stay put, understand?" Bele's hologram pointed his finger at Ahsoka for emphasis before he turned to Malse. "You, trooper, make sure she gets inside and stays there."

Malse instinctively straightened up. "Yessir. Where do you want her, sir?"

"Anywhere should be good, as long as you keep her away from the controls. I need to contact her guardian now. Bele out."

He pulled in a shaky breath of air, then let it out before he keyed in the code to lower the ramp of Lord Vader's shuttle. "Let's find you somewhere to stay until your guardian gets here."

0o0o0

Vader didn't pay attention to where he was going as he pondered the problem of how to locate Ahsoka. He could search for her with the Force, but his Master was bound to notice. Letting his Master find out about Ahsoka was not an option. He could set the local police force on her trail, but that would lead to the Social Services getting involved too. He could just order them to leave Ahsoka with him, but that would lead to awkward questions. Vader would probably have to kill them. Normally, he would have no problem with that, but if he went around killing Social Service people, his Master would inevitably hear about it, which would be bad.

The insistent beeping of his personal commlink pulled him out of his planning and brought him to a halt in the middle of a hallway in the Senate building. Vader didn't even notice the frightened interns ducking around him as he answered.

"Bele here, my Lord. Your ward has been found," Trooper Bele reported.

"Where?"

"She is at your personal shuttle now, my Lord."

Vader closed the connection and left the Senate Building. He grabbed the first speeder he saw that would be able to support his weight and hotwired it.

Strangely enough, his worry only grew the closer he got to Ahsoka. Had she been hurt in the hours since she'd gotten lost? Had it been an accident that she'd gone to his shuttle? Was she trying to steal it, to leave him behind on Coruscant while she returned to the Rebels?

Vader didn't run to his shuttle once he leapt from the speeder, but he did walk faster than normal. The stormtrooper on guard wasn't at his station, but that was of little concern. He was close enough to feel Ahsoka's muted presence in the Force now. It felt like a balmy breeze, soothing away his worry as their bond strengthened. He would have to wall it away behind stronger shields before he spoke with his Master again, but for now Vader felt something that was almost relief.

He nearly ran over the stormtrooper outside the door to his meditation chamber who tried to stutter out an excuse before he dismissed him. The door swished open, revealing Ahsoka curled up on the seat of his hyperbaric chamber, completely asleep.

Ahsoka had come back for him. She hadn't left.

It had been almost fifteen years since Vader had felt the strange, bright little emotion that flickered into being in the depths of his heart. It felt akin to love, but with none of the harsh cruelty. Even just the smallest flicker of it made him feel like he could fly without a ship. Long moments of just watching Ahsoka breath and feeling the quiet murmur of her sleeping mind brush against his passed before he realized what it was. Hope.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who left reviews or favorited! I don't know when I'm going to publish the sequel because I'm going to try and finish it first, but hopefully it will be soonish.