Title: Capable

Author: Emjen Enla (Fanfiction)/emjen_enla (Wattpad)/emjenenla (Tumblr)

Teaser: Anakin gets sick. Ahsoka tries to help, but it's not as simple as she thought it would be. [Anakin whump, Ahsoka and Anakin friendship.]

Rating: PG-13/T

Canon/Timeline: either; set early in the Clone Wars, probably around the same time as the majority of season 1

Dominant Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker

Pairings: none, though technically everything I write is Anidala (I don't ship other pairings for Anakin and Padmé's characters)

Warnings: vomiting, mentions of eating disorders

Notes: I've been in an Anakin whump mood recently, so this fic happened to help fill the gaping hole in the Fandom that is the lack of such fics. I'm sure you'll be seeing more stuff like this from me soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars.

Rater was a planet of extremes. Rich and poor, hot and cold, Republic and Separatist clashed together across the whole world. The planet's small and extremely wealthy ruling class had been delicately hinting they were thinking about going Dooku, so Ahsoka and Anakin were sent to the planet to negotiate a treaty. The negotiations were originally supposed to be Obi-Wan's job, but then he'd gotten show full of lasers on Dites and had been unable to attend. So the task had fallen on Ahsoka and Anakin with strict orders not to "mess is up."

They hadn't messed it up. They'd gone through the motions as was expected of them, from the tour of the capital city (which pointedly avoided the places were the common people lived) to the long drawn-out meetings that had them both wanting to take their lightsabers to every member of the ruling class. Eventually, their efforts paid off and they got their treaty; Rater would not join the Separatists.

The treaty was celebrated with a huge banquet the night before they were due to return to Coruscant. There was more food than the people in attendance could possibly eat. Ahsoka had grown up in the Jedi Temple and as a result had never lacked food, but the sheer amount of food astonished her. There was hundreds of dishes in course after course. Still, none of the ruling class seemed bothered by it, they just laughed and joked and ignored the hungry eyes of the common class servers. Ahsoka and Anakin had no choice but to eat and ignore the social unfairness, so they did, though the tense edge to Anakin's smile showed that he thought it would be better to just give all the food to the commoners.

It was almost midnight by the time they were able to politely excuse themselves and retire. They didn't speak a work until they reached the room they had been staying in. They had completely debugged that room upon their arrival and kept checking for new listening devises so they knew that there at least it was safe to talk freely.

Once they were barricaded inside, Ahsoka sighed and kicked off her boots. She collapsed onto one of the room's two beds. The room was big compared to the closet she lived in at the Temple, but small compared to the suites they'd stayed in when they'd accompanied Obi-Wan on other diplomatic missions. This suite was a single room with two queen-sized beds, a couch, a holoprojector, a small balcony and an attached refresher. Ahsoka hoped the money that had been saved on this room had been given to the commoners, but from what she'd seen of Rater the extra money had almost certainly been spent on the ruling class's petty luxuries.

"That was torturous," Ahsoka said, staring up at the ceiling.

"Yeah," Skyguy said. The couch let out a small squeak as he sank down onto it. "Let's never do something like this again."

Ahsoka lifted her head a little so she could see him. He was slouched on the couch, studying the ceiling. One hand hung off the side of the couch, the other rested on his stomach. He looked tired and a little pale.

"I'll be happy when we leave tomorrow," he said. "The battle field is less infuriating."

They lapsed back into a silence. Anakin sifted uncomfortably, swallowing heavily. After several minutes, he rose and headed for the balcony, steps just slightly unsteady.

"Skyguy?" Ahsoka asked.

"I just need some fresh air," Anakin said opening the sliding door that lead out onto the balcony. "Go get ready for bed; it's late."

It sounded like he wanted to be left alone to think, so she did as he asked. She took her time washing her face, brushing her teeth and enjoying the luxury of sleep clothes while there wasn't the chance they could be called into battle at any moment.

When she got out the 'fresher, Anakin was still on the balcony. He was now sort of hunched over, his forehead resting against the railing. Frowning with worry, she padded over to the half opened door and leaned against it. "You okay, Master?"

He jumped and straightened up a little, but not much, "Yeah," he said, eyes sliding away from hers. "I'm fine. You should be in bed by now, Snips."

Okay, obviously he was thinking some things through and sinking the strange combinations of anger and sadness that normally gripped him when he was forced to let things he didn't like slide. The social situation on Rater was really bothering him. He would be difficult to actually talk to tonight, so she figured she may as well go to bed and hope he was in a better mood in the morning.

"Night, Skyguy," she said and closed the balcony door all the way to the keep out the chill night air. She turned out most the lights, leaving one lamp on so Anakin could see when he came back in. Then she crossed the room and climbed into the bed nearer to the 'fresher. She pulled the blankets over herself, closed her eyes and tried not to think about anything bad.

Time passed. She was almost asleep, floating away on an ocean of comfortable stillness, when the balcony door was forced open with a loud squeak and fast footsteps sounded on the floor. Half asleep, she struggled to understand what was happening. Why was Anakin running? Were they under attack?

Anakin's feet sounded on the 'fresher floor and half a second later she heard the sound of retching. She sat bolt upright, sleepiness vanishing in an instant. "Master?"

There was no response, just more of that horrible sound. He was throwing up. Ahsoka pursed her lips at the thought. Was there something wrong with the food? They'd been eating the same thing and she felt fine. What was she supposed to do? No one had ever bothered teaching her how to take care for your master when he was sick.

Still, she had to do something. Gathering her courage, she got out of the bed and went to the 'fresher door. "Master? Are you okay?"

Anakin was kneeling on the floor by the toilet, face pale and soaked in sweat. He glared at her. "Does it look like I'm okay, Snips?"

"Well, I-" Before she could say anything else, Anakin's face drained of its remaining color and he leaned over to throw up again. Ahsoka looked away.

"What's wrong?" she asked, turning back when he was done. "Did you eat something bad?"

Anakin grimaced. "No." He leaned forward again, when he was finished with the latest bout of puking, he looked back up at her and took a deep breath. "Ahsoka, you can go back to bed."

"What?" she stared at him. "Master, you're sick. You can't expect me to just leave you!"

Anakin closed his eyes for a second, he looked tired. "We're going to need to get up early. You need sleep."

Ahsoka's fists clenched. "Master, you can't possibly be expecting me to-"

That was as far she got because he extended one hand towards her. An invisible object planted itself on her chest and hurled her out of the 'fresher. She landed hard on the floor and before she could recover the 'fresher door slid closed. She heard a click as it locked.

She leaped up and began to pound on the door. "Skyguy, open the door! You can't just lock me out here!"

Anakin didn't respond, from the sound of it he was too busy puking.

"Master!" Ahsoka kept pounding on the door, but it quickly became obvious that Anakin wasn't going to answer. She tried to open the door with the Force but Anakin had evidently used the Force to jam the locking mechanism in some way she couldn't figure out. She couldn't cut the door open with her lightsaber because they didn't want to anger the ruling class. Finally, she gave up and stomped off to her bed.

She sat on the bed and didn't even try to go to sleep; she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with Anakin throwing up in the bathroom. Instead she turned on the holonet and turned up the volume so she couldn't hear him. That only partially helped, because Anakin's mental shields were starting to slip and she was picking up bursts of nausea through their bond. She tightened her own shields to block him out, it wouldn't do her any good to get sick when she was locked out of the 'fresher.

She gritted her teeth and tried to focus on the pointless holonet show playing. She didn't understand why Anakin felt the need to lock her out. He was obviously sick and most people didn't like being alone when they were sick. Didn't he understand that she just wanted to help? Ahsoka didn't like vomit any more than the next person, but she would have helped him if he'd let her. That was what friends did. What about his blasted hero complex made him think that he had to deal with stuff like this on his own?

She didn't know how long she sat there staring blankly at the hologram in front of her, silently cursing her master. Finally, she heard the 'fresher door open and looked up to see Anakin leaning against the wall near her bed. He was pale and his face was glistened with sweat. He ran a shaking hand through his sweaty hair while he looked at her. "I thought I told you to go back to bed."

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed and she waved a hand to turn off the holoprojector. "And you expected me to be able to sleep with you puking your guts out in the 'fresher?"

Anakin sighed and leaned his head against the wall. He was shaking and looked like he was about to collapse. This was probably not the time to have this conversation. Ahsoka jumped off the bed and hurried to his side. "You should lie down."

She reached for his arm, but he pulled away. She glared at him. "Master."

He sighed and let her help him to his bed. She didn't bother getting his sleep clothes, instead she pulled off his gloves, outer tunic and boots, that would have to be enough. Anakin sat still through her ministrations. He was still shaking and swaying slightly. He was exhausted.

"Do you think you're going to be sick again?" she asked setting his robes aside.

His eyes sank closed for a moment. "No," he said hoarsely. "Stomach's empty."

"Alright," Ahsoka nodded. That was good, it meant there wouldn't be any more vomiting tonight. She turned down the covers on the bed and helped him lay down. He wrapped the blankets tightly around himself.

She tried to remember what the crèche masters had done when she'd gotten the flu as a youngling. "What if I were to get you some kind of clear fizzy drink? Would that help?"

Anakin raised a tired eyebrow. "And where would you get that?"

"I'll just call room service," Ahsoka said. They'd been doing that to get their meals the entire time they'd been on Rater.

Anakin thought about her offer for a minute, then closed his eyes and curled deeper into the blankets. "I'll be okay, Snips. Don't worry about it."

Frustration boiled in Ahsoka's veins. "Have you ever considered that maybe I want to help you?" she snapped. "We're master and padawan; we're supposed to look out for each other!"

Anakin opened his eyes, chewing on his lip. "No, I am the master; it's my job to take care of you, not the other way around."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Just because you're the Jedi Knight and I'm not doesn't mean you have to deal with everything alone. You're just being stubborn and pushing me away when I really want to help you."

"I'm not pushing you away," Anakin said. "You don't need to get so worked up about this."

"I don't even know what's wrong!" Ahsoka shrieked, ignoring him completely. "What if you're poisoned?"

Anakin sighed heavily. "I'm not poisoned."

"How do you know?" Ahsoka demanded.

"That's not why I got sick," Anakin said. "I got sick because of my own oversight. I knew this banquet was coming; I should have tried to ease into it, but I didn't."

Ahsoka felt like she should know what he was talking about, his words tickled something in the back of her mind, but she couldn't figure out what. "What do you mean?"

Anakin looked away, he seemed embarrassed. "I hadn't eaten in a couple days. The food at the banquet was rich and my stomach couldn't handle it."

"Oh," Now Ahsoka understood. Soon after the mission to rescue Jabba's son, Master Obi-Wan had pulled her aside and explain that one her duties as padawan was to make sure Anakin ate.

"I'm not sure if he has a diagnosable eating disorder or not," Master Obi-Wan said, "but he gets stressed and forgets to eat. Unfortunately, once that happens a couple times he starts to feel ill and that just exacerbates the situation. Do you understand?"

She'd nodded and said she did, even though she'd never heard of a Jedi having that kind of problem before. She wanted to ask if Anakin was a bad Jedi because of it, but hadn't been able to figure out how.

"I feel bad about forcing this knowledge onto you," Master Obi-Wan had continued. "But I worry about him," neither of them pointed out that that might constitute as attachment. "It would do wonders for my peace of mind if I knew someone was keeping an eye on him when I'm not around. I'm not asking much; just whenever you eat insist that he comes with you. Can you do that, Ahsoka?"

She'd promised that she would and that had been that. She'd done her best to honor Master Obi-Wan's request, but since they'd come to Rater she hadn't thought of it. She'd been ordering food and eating at regular times, but she'd been so focused on "not messing it up" she'd totally forgotten she was supposed to be keeping an eye on her master's eating habits as well.

Her fists clenched and she stared at Anakin, self-loathing and frustration at her master whirling around inside of her. "Master, what were you thinking?"

"Ahsoka…" Anakin said. "It's fine. Don't get so worked up."

"Worked up?" Ahsoka snarled. "How can I not be worked up? Have you been in another galaxy for the last half hour?"

"Ahsoka, I can take care of myself," Anakin said.

"No you can't!" Ahsoka yelled. "Don't you see? You're in this situation because you forgot to eat. If you were capable of taking care of yourself that wouldn't have happened!"

"Ahsoka!" Anakin pushed himself up into a sitting position and managed to stay that way despite a little bit of wavering. He looked angry, apparently he'd found what she'd just said offensive.

"It's the truth," Ahsoka said, not giving him a chance to argue. "I worry about you, and so does Rex and Master Obi-Wan, because you make it so easy. You claim that you can take care of yourself, but some of your habits are so self-destructive we're all worried that you're going to manage to die before the War ends. If you want us to acknowledge that you can take care of yourself, you need to prove that you actually can. You do that by taking care of yourself no matter how distracted you are, and by accepting help when you really need it."

There was a long silence, Anakin leaned forward and rested his forehead against his raised knees. He was actually thinking about what Ahsoka had said, which she figured was a good thing.

After a while, Anakin lifted his head and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Snips. I didn't mean to make you angry. I just didn't think it was fair to make you do deal with stuff like this when you wouldn't have to with any other master."

"I don't care if something like this would have happened if I'd had a different master," Ahsoka said. "You're my master, and I intend to look out for you whether you like it or not."

Anakin stared down at the blankets then sighed. "I am sorry, Ahsoka."

"I forgive you," Ahsoka replied. "Let's just not do this again, okay?" Anakin nodded, and she sighed in relief. She'd gotten through to him, everything was going to be okay. "Now would you like that fizzy drink?" she asked.

Anakin turned his head and smiled at her. "Sure, Snips."

Would this actually be the last time something like this happened? Knowing our dear friend Anakin and his myriad issues, most definitely not, but let's leave Ahsoka to her wishful thinking shall we?

Please vote and comment!

Emjen