Hello everyone. I am here to say this is the last time Commander Pillow will be updated. This is THE. LAST. CHAPTER. I am so happy that so many of you enjoyed this story. It started as a literal joke and look at it now! Thank you so much for all of your support.

This chapter is a Part II to "The Nightmare is Over" (aka, the afterlife) and exists purely to make me feel a little better because GOSH DARN IT, I NEED A REUNION.

Cody was drifting off, the steady breathing of his sleeping General lulling him to sleep. The afterlife was quiet and the Jedi deserved rest after everything the Force put him through.

At least, that had been the plan. The sound of doors sliding open jolted Cody out of his trance. He opened his eyes to find a very familiar clone looking down on the pair, a teasing smile on his face.

Stitch shook his head in that knowing way, "Did the General need his pillow?"

Despite his best efforts, Cody felt tears begin to form in his eyes. "Stitch?"

"Shhh…" Stitch hushed. "Not here. The General needs rest." The clone motioned for Cody to follow him out of the room.

Cody had enough control to gently lift up Obi-Wan and then lay him down, leaving the man to rest. Then he all but bolted out of the room and practically tackled Stitch with a hug. "Stitch!"

"Hey, calm down," Stitch grinned. "I'm not leaving anytime soon." All the same, his grip on Cody tightened. "Missed you, vod."

Cody let a few more tears fall before wiping the rest away. The two smiled at one another for a moment. Then Cody punched Stitch in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You kriffing idiot! I told you to keep your eyes on the enemy! What were you even doing up there? You were supposed to be at camp with the rest of the wounded!"

"Well, excuse me for caring!" Stitch shot back. "I was making sure the General was holding up. And then I saw you drop and went to check on you!"

"I was fine!" Cody snapped back. "The last thing I needed was our head medic on the front lines! You left us to Bacta!"

Stitch frowned, folding his arms across his chest. "Bacta was an excellent medic and did a wonderful job keeping the General healthy. We have had some fun swapping Kenobi horror stories. I am relieved that I never dealt with the dog equivalent of him." Stitch shivered at the thought.

Cody glared back at him.

Stitch returned it. "What do you want me to say? 'I am sorry I got shot through the heart and kriffing died'? It happened. Nothing can change that."

Cody's glare remained for a moment before sliding into a more sorrowful gaze. He sank into a nearby chair burying his face in his hands. "You weren't supposed to die, Stitch," Cody said softly. "You-"

"Cody," Stitch sat down next to him. He put a hand on his brother's shoulder and sighed. "Statistically, one of us had to go before the war ended. Kriff, both of us should have died a lot sooner." He pulled his brother into a hug, "There was nothing you could have done."

Cody didn't answer.

"Well," Stitch stood up. "I didn't come to find you to just make you feel sorry for yourself." He motioned for Cody to follow him. "There are some people who want to see you… but we thought we'd wait until the initial overwhelming 'welcome party' was over."

Cody frowned. "Who?" He asked as the two walked into a different room that looked like a cross between a barrack and a house strangely enough. There was a kitchen in the corner, but the bunks were in the clear sightline. A table sat by with four chairs pulled up around it. Two chairs were occupied by two clones. Another was lying back on a bunk, his eyes fixed on his datapad.

"Now that's just offensive, Commander," Slate sat up from his reading, a smile on his face.

Cody froze in place.

Jun smirked at Merrt. "Told ya he would go speechless. You owe me ten credits."

Merrt rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "We're dead, Jun. There are no credits."

"Well, then you owe me ten… somethings." Jun frowned.

Merrt just shook his head. "I can punch you later if that helps."

"Eh… I'll think of something."

Cody couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. It just wasn't… Well, it was possible because it was the afterlife but… Cody wasn't ready for this. Not at all.

Stitch either didn't notice or didn't care about the horrified look on Cody's face. He just dragged the man deeper into the room and Cody could do nothing but watch his batchmates get to their feet to greet him.

"Good to see you, vod," Slate held out a hand for a handshake.

Cody stared at it, then looked up at Slate. He ignored the outstretched hand and threw his arms around Slate, pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!"

Slate patted Cody's back trying to comfort. "Last I checked you weren't the one to use me as a punching bag. Or as a knife sharpener."

Everyone in the room flinched at that comment with Merrt and Jun growling something very unflattering about their now long dead tormentors.

Slate either chose to ignore it or didn't notice. "Come on Codes, it wasn't your fault."

"I told you that a long time ago," Jun agreed. "We all would have done the same." A large grin broke over his face, "Besides, I never would have wanted to be a CC so consider that a gift to all of us: you got stuck with the worst job."

Merrt nodded. "For once, I agree with Jun. Can you imagine one of us as Commanders?" He shivered. "The General would have died ten minutes into the war."

Cody frowned, finally letting go of Slate. "That's not-"

"Don't finish that sentence," Jun made a negative gesture with his hands. "I will drag you to the ground and put you in a chokehold. And I'm sure the others will help me."

Slate piped up again, "Seriously, Codes. Look how far you got! Helping General Skywalker- the second!"

Cody looked at the three of them suspiciously. "How'd you find out about that?"

"Uh…" Slate looked a little sheepish. "We might have enlisted some of your shinies to help keep tabs through the afterlife. You'd be shocked by what you can learn by talking to specific rebels."

Cody pinched his nose, feigning exasperation. "It was Dodge, wasn't it?"

"It was Dodge," Slate conceded. "That kid's a kriffing good scout. And he knows some crazy dirt on some people. Did you know that Bacta's armor was the reason he got killed? Like, the Empire tried to make him throw it away and he refused to take it off so they kriffing shot him?

Before Cody could respond to that, the door to the barrack slid open to reveal a semi-awake Obi-Wan Kenobi. He leaned against the doorframe, looked around the room a little confused from the sleepy haze on his mind before understanding dawned in his eyes. "I see you decided to have a party without me?"

All the troops came to attention out of pure habit with Slate stammering something incoherent, Jun and Merrt loudly arguing about how one wanted to wake the General while the other wanted to let him sleep. Stitch just marched up to the General, dragged him into the room and pushed him into a chair. "Didn't I tell you to rest?"

"You stole my pillow," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"That's not an excuse."

"Sorry, General," Cody shuffled his feet. "I just-"

"No need to explain, Cody," Obi-Wan smiled at the five clones, "I should have brought you here first. I've enjoyed getting to know your squad over the past few years. Quite the troublemakers. And apparently so were you, once upon a time."

Cody buried his face, his embarrassment and horror rising. "Oh Force, what did they tell you?"

"Well," Merrt elbowed Jun with a knowing smile. "We haven't told him about that time we decided to raid the kitchen after dark and you almost had a panic attack because Ninety-Nine caught us. Or that time you threw Jun across the room because-"

"I'm going to stop you there before I die of embarrassment," Jun interrupted. "But I vote we talk about that time Cody lost a bet and had to dress up as a Jedi. Braid and everything."

Cody's head shot up, eyes wide. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!"

"Eh," Merrt shrugged. "The General can keep a secret. Right, General?"

Obi-Wan's eyes twinkled and Cody felt his heart sink into his feet. "Of course, Merrt. No one outside this room will know…. Except maybe Rex. I'm sure he'd love to hear this."

Cody groaned, burying his face.

Five minutes later, Cody was sitting on the bottom bunk bed, trying not to die from sheer embarrassment. Stich had an arm slung over Cody's shoulder. Slate was sitting on the ground, leaning against the Commander's legs. Jun had decided to situate himself laying down, using Cody's upper left leg as a pillow. Merrt was sitting behind him, leaning against Cody's back. All four were laughing at Cody's bright red face.

General Kenobi chuckled at the sight. They looked a lot like one of those pillow piles Waxer threw together during the war.

Cody was trying to defend himself about the most recent cadet story, protesting quite loudly. "It was Wolfe's fault!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Codes." Merrt flicked Cody's ear.

"It was!"

"Then explain to me why you were the one with the dummy grenade?"

Obi-Wan smiled, watching and feeling in the Force as the hundreds of shards of Cody's heart seemed to fit back together. It wasn't perfect. There was still some guilt, which would have to be addressed at some point. But for now, the Jedi was content to watch as his loyal friend found his space in Blank Squad.

Maybe a rename would be in order. They didn't look so "Blank" anymore.

Not in love with this ending but had no idea what else to do without writing another story so... this is what I got. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this little build-off. Please leave a review of what you thought of the Slaves of the Republic arc. Do you think it added to the story was just a fun read or neither?

I am officially retiring from writing Fanfiction on February 14th, 2020, but will still be reading a few stories here and there and will still be responding to PM's. Thank you all so much for your support and I hope to see you around either as a writer or fellow reader/reviewer.

May the Force be With You All!