Peace and Plenty Chapter 5: The Benefits of Change

Everything belongs to its respective owner(s). I own nothing.

All characters are at least 18.

This story features: Weight gain, reference to drinking, sexual themes, teacher/student relationship, light slob (messy eating)

Note: At 6k this is a shorter chapter than the last two, but still plenty long I'd say! It didn't take me nearly as long as the last one, at least, also because my coursework is done for the year. Thank you so much for your support and interest! I hope you enjoy!

The steps up to the Jedi Temple were are lot more hardgoing than Ahsoka remembered.

She’d become out-of-puff after just four or five of the things, and by the fifteenth she was positively gasping. It had been one year since she and Lux had moved into their newlyweds’ flat, and in all that time she didn’t think she’d used the stairs once. And as for moving around the wider city, well, there were always speeders and transports aplenty, and the only stairs were mechanically moving ones. Ahsoka had to stop, bending forward, plump hands on her bloated, aching knees.

It didn’t help that it was a hot day. Ahsoka was wearing baggy turquoise trousers that flared at her ankles: even so, they were starting to cling to her thunderous calves and vast thighs with how she was sweating now. Across her chest was a matching crop top, which in truth had already been a little too small to contain her weighty, sagging tits, and which deliberately exposed her belly to the roasting air.

Ahsoka managed to straighten up, transferring her hands to rest on her double-wide shelf of an arse, and revealing her gut in all its glory. It stuck out much further than her breasts now, the weight of its lower half dragging the rest of it down in a powerful slope. It oozed out to the sides as well, forming ham-like love handles above her trousers’ waist, above which sat two back rolls big enough to overflow even two strong hands.

The ex-Jedi’s mouth was open as she sucked in gulp after gulp of sweet, sweet oxygen, her engorged face sweatier than any other part of her: the droplets ran over her lardy cheeks and down into her massive second chin, that framed her whole face. Her head-tails were almost as thick as her thighs, and only made the heat more oppressive on her fat face. Two huge, dazzling earrings hung from either side of that face, and she once again wore her bejewelled headdress and precious 501 ring.

She was too far down the steps for anyone looking out for her at the top to see her struggling, she knew. She’d have to rise higher before she could expect any assistance: because she sure as hell wasn’t going to climb these steps all the way to the summit. She smiled to herself through her diminishing pants. That girl who had trained every day at this Temple to be in peak physical condition was long-gone.

Ahsoka succeeded in climbing all the way up to the first landing, before resting again for a couple of minutes. She looked up. She was still so far away.

The morbidly obese Togruta then realised there was another, smarter way of doing this. She didn’t think it would garner the Jedi Order’s approval, even if it did involve using the Force. Falteringly, but with relief, Ahsoka lowered herself onto the white stone of the landing, surprisingly cool beneath her gelatinous buttocks. Once she was firmly planted, she tried to cross her legs in the way she’d been taught, but her belly pooled out in front of her and prevented her from doing it properly. Instead, she held them at comfortable right angles to her massive torso, placed her hands on the soft flesh of her thighs, and closed her eyes.

Ahsoka had actually felt her connection to the Force, to the Living Force at any rate, increase as she’d grown fatter. Physically, she only used it now to fetch morsels of food that were too far away for her to reach without standing, but she had actually spent a decent amount of time meditating in the last year (often while eating, or masturbating, or both, of course). It was as if her embrace of hedonism, of drowning herself in all the pleasures of life, had actually increased her affinity for the Force that bound all that life together. As such, it was child’s play to her to send a message to the man she knew would be the first waiting at the top of the stairs.

Soon, she heard his footsteps thundering down the steps like a particularly impatient waterfall. She opened her eyes just in time to see Anakin Skywalker all but running towards her, and then he was there.

There were no comments on her weight, no shocked expression in his eyes: just love and joy at seeing her. He grinned down at her, trying to be cool and nonchalant, but ultimately unable to disguise how happy her presence made him. ‘Looking good, snips,’ he told her. ‘Need a hand?’

Ahsoka loved it when people were shocked by her weight gain, but there was something so charming, so reliably Anakin, about the fact that he took it so easily in his stride. She patted her exposed belly affectionately, making it jiggle beneath her touch. ‘I doubt even you could lift me now, Anakin,’ she retorted, grinning, knowing that would rile him.

Just as she’d predicted, he placed his hands on his hips and said: ‘What, do you think I’m as old as Obi-Wan? It’ll be a piece of cake… which I would have thought you’d know about.’ There was no criticism in his words; just a friend’s jibe, and Ahsoka snorted with laughter.

In the end, Anakin did manage to lift her, but only about two feet off the ground. He was on one knee, his former Padawan lying across his arms, which were trembling slightly. Finally, he gave up his attempt and let Ahsoka thud gently back onto the stone landing.

‘Force, snips… you’ve been eating real good, haven’t you?’ His face was flushed with effort, but Ahsoka could have sworn there was a hint of something other than exhaustion in his eyes.

‘You shouldn’t feel too bad,’ Ahsoka reassured her old Master. ‘Lux stopped being able to lift me forty pounds ago.’

Anakin let out a momentary chuckle, then withdrew back to his feet. Concentrating, he levitated Ahsoka up into the air, and she threw back her head, letting the air currents wash over her, cooling down her overheated body, as he carried her the rest of the way up the steps.

Ahsoka saw the others who’d come to meet her before too long: Obi-Wan was there, and Master Plo who’d found her as a Youngling. They most definitely did not take her increased weight in their stride as Anakin had: as she got closer she saw how they were trying to hide the looks of shock the Togruta had grown so accustomed to. When Anakin set her down, right in front of them, she put a hand on her mighty, heavy hip and grinned in pleasure at seeing her friends again.

‘Sorry for the disturbance, Masters,’ she said as Anakin jogged up to her side. ‘But as you can see, life as a Senator’s wife has been good to me.’ Obi-Wan quirked an eyebrow, and Plo just stared. Ahsoka took another step forward: thanks to Anakin doing the heavy lifting up the steps, her muscles no longer ached and her lungs weren’t struggling to fuel her overfed frame. ‘It’s so good to see both of you,’ she said, her smile enthusiastic but mature.

That broke the older Jedi out of their shock. Plo came forward and embraced the child he’d found, grown now into an obese, intelligent, courageous and compassionate young woman. Ahsoka hadn’t been expecting that, and eagerly returned the gesture, feeling even the redoubtable Master Plo starting to struggle a little in the full force of her fleshy, enveloping hug.

Plo finally stepped back, and gazed once more at the beyond tubby Togruta before him, quietly thrilled to have her back, even if it was only for today. ‘It is a pleasure to see you again…’ he paused as his normal nickname approached his lips. It was somewhat odd to say now, he supposed, but nonetheless he continued. ‘…Little ’Soka.’

Ahsoka grinned, appreciating the irony, then turned to Obi-Wan. His smile was bright and as pleased as his fellow Council member’s.

‘I have heard tell of all the work you’ve been doing in the Undercity, and for so many other planets,’ he complimented her. ‘Not to mention the help you’ve been providing the Clones. You have made us all very proud, Ahsoka. You have made me very proud. Today, I think it is our turn to try to make you proud.’

Ahsoka smiled, warmth filling her chest. ‘Obi-Wan… your pride means the world to me. All of your pride does.’ She glanced again at Plo, at the beaming Anakin, then back to Obi-Wan. ‘I’ve been through a lot of changes in the last year and a half, inside and out,’ she said with a wry smile worthy of Master Kenobi. She gripped the underside of her hanging orange gut, and shook it, making it wobble. ‘I couldn’t be happier to be back here today… to help the Order that raised me change.’

Obi-Wan smiled, his eyes slightly sad, but mostly pleased and optimistic. Plo turned and held out an arm to indicate the entrance to the Temple. Ahsoka felt nervous at seeing it again, even after everything she’d done, and all the ways she’d grown, since the last time she’d walked down those steps.

‘This way, Little ’Soka,’ he said, and he and Obi-Wan walked ahead. Ahsoka waited a moment, inhaled, exhaled, then followed. Anakin only started moving when she did, and he stayed by her side for the rest of the day.

‘What you propose… is unconventional, citizen.’ Mace Windu’s brow furrowed in that severe way he had. ‘Radical,’ he added.

‘I’m a little surprised to hear you say that, Master,’ Ahsoka countered. ‘Considering you were the one who arrested the Chancellor.’

That had been terrifying. Ahsoka had brought Maul’s warning about the Chancellor just before Anakin had returned from his office to confirm her story. Ahsoka had then told Anakin all the parts that Sidious hadn’t told him: that he’d been manipulating him, molding him, for years, all so he would become his most feared Apprentice. Master Windu had chosen three other Masters to go with him to the Senate, but Ahsoka had insisted he double the numbers, while she stayed behind to console Anakin in his confusion and fear, and hold him back from going down the wrong path as the Sith Lord craved. Sidious had put up a mighty fight, slaying six of the Jedi sent to capture him, including Saesee Tinn, who’d once helped save Ahsoka from the Citadel. But in the end, Masters Windu and Fisto had subdued him, and the latter had prevented the former from executing the conniving mastermind on the spot. Now he spent his days in a tiny room far from all the other prisoners of Coruscant.

After that, the Jedi had started to alter: seeing how they’d let themselves be so expertly deceived by the old Chancellor, even the most conservative voices, like Master Windu, realised the Order had to change. They had become slightly more open, and more willing to voice their dissent to the Senate, although they were still usually in accord with the policies of the new Chancellor, Bail Organa. Yet, still they struggled to fully understand the plight of the Republic’s poor, and their strictures against attachment were as rigid as ever.

Perhaps in reflection of this, the Council chambers were identical to how they’d appeared the day Ahsoka had refused to take back her Padawan braid. The only difference was a sturdy metal chair that had been placed in the centre of the room: visitors to the Council would normally stand respectfully, but Ahsoka would have died from exhaustion if she’d had to stand for that long, and she’d made clear she still respected the Jedi and the Republic with her actions at the end of the war in any case.

As Master Windu appraised her again, his perfectly disciplined gaze never once wavered from her flabby face, although she was sure he was taking that part of her form in very thoroughly. The other Council members had not been so subtle. Kit Fisto had openly gawked, before he donned his trademark toothy grin, still a little weak from the surprise. Master Unduli had politely asked whether Ahsoka had been maintaining her saber-wielding abilities, to which she’d beamed, and loudly proclaimed: ‘No.’ She’d felt Master Billaba staring, stunned, at the width of her arse, although when she’d turned around she was looking in some interest at the nearest wall. Master Mundi hadn’t even gathered his wits enough to do that: his eyes kept dropping to her bare gut as it oozed across her lap and down between her juicy thighs. She’d caught him and smiled in amusement more than once, and he’d blushed – actually blushed – and turned away… but he always ended up staring at her gut once again. Master Yoda was the only one who hadn’t seemed surprised. He’d taken in Ahsoka’s morbidly obese form, chuckled, and told her warmly: ‘Welcome back, Ahsoka.’

Ahsoka loved it. She loved that her new body represented how she’d left all the rules and orders she’d been raised to follow behind, and she was proud to show off what self-pleasure and self-love had done to her. The transformation she’d undergone might just make the Jedi Council consider the benefits of transforming themselves: of opening themselves up to new experiences, and new beliefs.

But Master Windu didn’t give her much time to contemplate it, quickly responding to her point. ‘I will not deny that this Council needs to change,’ he said in a voice that was still loathe to admit it. ‘But what you suggest…’

‘Is the right thing to do,’ Ahsoka insisted. She leaned forward, her size not dampening her enthusiasm, nor her sincerity. ‘The Jedi’s insistence on obeying the Senate, no matter what, is not workable, or just. I know this will pain my friends to hear me bring up, but you can’t have forgotten how quickly you all caved to Tarkin’s demands for my expulsion.’ There were looks of shame all around, most of all from Obi-Wan and Plo. Ki-Adi Mundi finally looked away from Ahsoka’s belly, to gaze instead at the floor. Mace Windu’s face changed only marginally, but there was undeniable regret in his expression.

‘But it’s not just about me; it’s not like I was an isolated case,’ the corpulent young Togruta pressed on. ‘This Order’s blind obedience to the Senate is what turned us all into soldiers. It’s what made us forget the people we were sworn to defend. The innocents, and the weak, and the lowly. To accomplish all that, the Order must be independent once again.’

‘But the new Chancellor is committed to helping those people,’ Master Mundi argued, his eyes returned from the floor. He tried his best to look in Ahsoka’s eyes and not at her belly button. ‘So in obeying him we are fulfilling our duty, are we not?’

‘Not fully,’ Ahsoka said instantly. ‘And only for now. Chancellor Organa is a good and generous man, but what about after his term expires? What about when the memories of Palpatine’s plot have faded? The Senate may sink back into corruption again. And even now there are still scores of Senators out more for themselves than the people they serve.’ Her tone softened. ‘I know none of you is like that. You are all kind, compassionate and just people. If I had not been raised by the Jedi, I would not be the woman I am today, sitting here arguing for that Order to change. The Republic isn’t the Senate: the Republic is its people. And then there are the people of the Confederacy as well! I know you all want to serve them, give them kindness and compassion and justice. To do so, you must stop obeying the Senate’s orders. You must be independent again.’ Ahsoka felt warm, and it wasn’t just because it was a hot day. She was worked up: all those thoughts had been developing in her for a long period, and she was so desperate for the Jedi, for her friends and mentors, to listen. They all sat there in silence now, the gapes and stares at her weight all disappeared. Only Anakin, the lone Jedi Knight on the Council, was looking at her, and his expression did at least fill her with courage. It was smiling: a huge, quiet smile, with pride and something like enlightenment bursting from her old Master’s eyes.

‘Ahsoka is right,’ he declared loudly. The others all turned in their seats to regard their most unpredictable member. He pressed on without hesitation. ‘You all know I was always the first to go on about the loyalty the Jedi owed the Senate, and the Chancellor. I thought of him as the wisest man I knew: a second father. But he turned out to have been manipulating me, and all of us, for years. We can’t risk putting ourselves in the hands of such an individual again.’

It was Ahsoka’s turn to feel proud: a queer feeling, perhaps, when directed towards someone who had been her teacher. But Anakin spoke so impactfully to the Council: he was one of them, without having given up any of his maverick ways. It was then he leaned forward, his voice quietened, and he did something that shocked even Ahsoka.

‘I would also like to say to this Council…’ his mouth grew tight, but he closed his eyes to calm himself, and went on. ‘I would like to remind you that, when I was found, I was a slave. So was my mother. The Republic doesn’t stretch everywhere, and the Jedi need to be able to operate outside of its jurisdiction to help all those it can.’

Ahsoka felt a slight moistness in her eyes, and rubbed away the wetness with her rotund fingers. Anakin had never spoken about his past even to her before: she’d only known he was a slave thanks to Obi-Wan. She caught his eye again, and gave him a grateful, strengthening smile. His own mouth curled upwards again: his memories of his childhood were still weighing on him, but Ahsoka’s support clearly meant the galaxy to him.

Obi-Wan took up the campaign next. ‘My old Padawan speaks with a bravery and wisdom befitting this Council, Masters. My Master Qui-Gon knew the truth of these two young people’s words. We must do as Ahsoka advises.’

Plo Koon nodded seriously. ‘It is difficult to contemplate after so long… but I agree. We cannot forget all the errors this Council made during the war, and long before. We almost came to destruction, and Ahsoka has the truth of why.’ He met his young charge’s gaze again, and even with his eyes covered she knew he was full of sorrow, but also hope.

Ahsoka had been expecting those three to take her side, and she cast her gaze this way and that to see whether anyone else was opening their minds to the idea. To her delight, she could perceive genuine consideration on the faces of almost everybody.

The strict Luminara Unduli lent her voice in support next. ‘I remember my dismay at discovering that my Padawan, Barriss Offee, had betrayed this Council. Yet, misguided as she was, there was truth in what she said. We became warriors in the Clone Wars, and the Senate we served had become corrupt. You need look no further than how they attempted to spear Ahsoka, with such little regard for the evidence.’ She looked at Ahsoka once again. She failed to disguise the continued shock in her eyes, as she quickly looked the enormous former Padawan up and down again, but there was no less warmth and apology to her expression.

‘This would mean we’d be able to support causes of our own volition,’ Shaak Ti pointed out. She alone was being transmitted into the room holographically, still helping the young Clones on Kamino. ‘I’m sure we would all wish to assist more vigorously in the post-war aid for the Clones.’ Ahsoka thought of Rex and the 501st, with their helmets all painted like her face, and she could sense the Council favouring her advice more and more.

Master Mundi, who’d been on the Council longer than any save Master Yoda, supported the tub-of-lard Togruta too. ‘Even though he was an evil man by the end, we know now that Count Dooku was manipulated to be such by Sidious, just as Master Skywalker nearly was.’ He gave Anakin a nod of respect, then turned his attention directly to Ahsoka. True to form, he mostly spoke to her naked, overspilling belly rather than her bloated face. ‘Sidious used Dooku’s desire for a just and incorrupt Republic to convince him that Sith totalitarianism was the only way to achieve that: his original points, I fear, were far more correct than we gave him credit for. I agree with young Tano’s proposal.’

They all came forth for her then: graceful Stass Allie and intelligent Depa Billaba and snake-like Oppo Rancisis. Master Fisto spoke with a winning grin, as always: it was strong and certain now, as he appeared to have overcome his surprise at Ahsoka’s obesity. Finally, only the two most senior and respected Council members, Masters Windu and Yoda, were left.

Ahsoka looked into their eyes, not merely searching for answers within, but striving to make clear to them again the importance of what she’d said. ‘Masters,’ she said, polite but firm. ‘I urge you to think beyond all the boundaries you’ve always lived with.’ She gently patted the oozing slope of her belly. ‘As I have.’

Mace Windu’s was the first voice not entirely in support. ‘I cannot deny the wisdom in your words,’ he admitted. ‘Yet still I am wary. You have pointed out this Council’s mistakes, and I cannot avoid the truth of that. So, what if the Order someday attempted to usurp the power of the Senate?’

‘Existed far longer than the Senate, the Jedi have.’ All, Windu included, turned attentively to the eldest living Jedi. ‘In those days, knew our purpose did we. Before politics, yes. Returning to that, we would be. Correcting ourselves. Returning to the light, yes. Not going down a dark corridor, as we have been doing for thousands of years.’ He leaned forward, addressing everyone: but Ahsoka felt his senses, if not his eyes, were mostly on her.

‘Failed, I did. Failed you all. Not see Palpatine’s true nature, did I. Not see the Senate’s corruption, did I. Almost died, we all did. Almost returned, the Sith Empire did.’ Now his eyes finally did settle on Ahsoka. ‘As true a Jedi as any I have ever met, you are, Ahsoka.’ The ex-Padawan, now citizen of the Republic, champion of the Light Side, and glutton, drunkard, sloth and slut, beamed right across her pudge-ridden face, jowls burning with pride.

Mace Windu inclined his head in acceptance. ‘Then it is decided. This Council shall withdraw its oath of service to the Senate of the Galactic Republic, and once more we shall be an independent Order in the galaxy.’

Ahsoka didn’t need Anakin’s help to rise (yet), but she took it nonetheless; it was easier, after all. All the Council members came and inclined their heads, spoke quiet congratulations, expressed their thanks. Master Ti bowed to her before her hologram flickered off. Obi-Wan and Master Plo stayed longer, and together the three of them caught up, and spoke excitedly of the Jedi’s future.

Then it was just Ahsoka and Anakin: just snips and Skyguy. The Togruta snorted to herself. Force, she hadn’t called him that since their first mission together. He looked at her. ‘Something up, snips?’

‘Nothing,’ she replied happily. ‘Just remembering old times.’

‘Of course.’ She felt Anakin’s eyes go to her stomach: not at all judgemental; just curious. Although… Ahsoka squinted. Perhaps it wasn’t an entirely innocent curiosity. Now she experienced a warmth between her thighs to go with that in her chest. ‘I’m betting you’re hungry after all that?’ Anakin asked.

‘Ravenous,’ Ahsoka confirmed emphatically.

‘There’s this diner Obi-Wan’s been going to for years, if you’d like to have lunch with me,’ he offered. ‘We could remember more old times together.’

‘I’d love that!’ Ahsoka agreed enthusiastically. ‘And we can plan for new times,’ she promised him, more softly.

Anakin struggled to hide his joy. ‘Come on, then; we’ll take a shuttle, so you don’t have to exert your blubber butt too much.’ He gave his old apprentice a mocking grin, then started off in the direction of the Temple hangar.

Ahsoka laughed, and had to waddle faster than normal to catch up. ‘I’ll show you how much I can exert this blubber butt when I’m stuffing my fat face at this diner,’ she retorted, and the reunited pair’s laughter sung through the halls of the Jedi Temple.

When they arrived at the diner, Anakin dropped into the nearest booth, but Ahsoka had to stop.

‘Um, Anakin…’ she began, mouth curling at his obliviousness. He was clearly still used to her being skinny and lithe.

Anakin looked up at her, confused as to why she wasn’t sitting across from him right now. She placed a hand on her mountainous gut, and flicked her eyes pointedly to the narrow space between the table and the seat.

‘Oh,’ he said, grinning like an idiot while Ahsoka beamed fondly. When the female serving droid wheeled over, she turned to it and asked: ‘Hey; do you have any wider booths anywhere? Or maybe a table and chairs?’

The droid looked her up and down, and the Togruta could have sworn there was a hint of judgemental scorn in her eyes. Easy for you, considering your perfectly slim hips will never change an inch, Ahsoka thought to herself. Not that I’d want them myself anyway.

‘Sure we do!’ came a loud, rumbling voice that definitely didn’t originate from the droid. Ahsoka looked past her to see a grizzled four-armed man waddling towards her, his belly big and broad underneath his dirty white shirt: although it was still not so fat and wide as hers, she noted with a sense of pride.

Anakin rose from the failed booth as the diner’s chef raised his two right hands simultaneously. The young Jedi Knight took the higher one, whilst Ahsoka gripped the lower. His hands were calloused and oily, evidence of his hard work in the kitchens, and Ahsoka found it hot to think how soft and pampered hers had become.

‘I’ve been telling Obi-Wan more often than I can remember to bring you two by, but the war always seemed to get in the way,’ the older man announced happily. He appraised Ahsoka with an approving gaze. ‘And considering one of you is now the hero of the Republic, I’m all the more glad to welcome you. Dexter Jettster’s the name, and I can barely fit in those booths myself, so I enlarged a few of them round the back.’

‘It’s good to meet you, Dexter, and it’s even better to hear you say that.’ Ahsoka sniffed the air eagerly. ‘Your food smells too delicious to pass up, and I’d hate to miss out just because you couldn’t handle this much belly.’ She patted her belly firmly and affectionately.

Dexter burst out laughing, and Ahsoka detected both a smile and a faint blush from Anakin. The chef patted his own gut, hanging slightly out of his frayed shirt, and waved a hand to bid his two new customers follow. ‘Call me Dex. This way. Good to meet a Jedi who finally appreciates good cooking.’

‘I’m not a Jedi anymore,’ Ahsoka replied as she and her old Master tailed Dex to a further corner of the diner.

‘As Master Yoda already told you today, snips, you’re as much a Jedi as any in the Order,’ Anakin asserted again, passionately. ‘And I’m sure Dex here would agree with me,’ he continued confidently.

‘You’re right about that, Skywalker,’ Dex confirmed. ‘I’ve been around Jedi all my life, and none of the good ones could stop being Jedi if they tried.’ Ahsoka gave Anakin a grateful smile.

The new booths were nice and spacey: so roomy that Anakin had to almost perch on the edge of his seat. It was just right for Ahsoka, however, and when the food came over, hot and juicy and drizzled in grease, she dug in as if the meat was a long-lost lover.

Anakin wasn’t a small eater himself, but his bacon-wrapped sausages were simply a sufficient meal to fuel his muscular body. He couldn’t help but continue to stare at Ahsoka’s gut as she gorged herself. She had pigs-in-blankets as well, and three burgers and a slab of a steak. That wasn’t even to mention the small hill of chips she had as a side, along with garlic bread that crunched when she ripped chunks off it. There was no disapproval in Anakin’s gaze: merely curiosity… and, he couldn’t deny, a certain level of arousal as it reminded him of how his wife had been rapidly gaining recently.

‘Guess that walk up the stairs really tired you out, huh?’ Anakin teased his former Padawan. She laughed, spraying a few flecks of meat onto her quivering belly.

‘I’m not even sure you can call it that, considering you had to carry me up most of the way,’ she remarked. Anakin laughed back and nodded in agreement.

‘Still, even the few steps I walked up was much more exercise than I’ve been used to lately.’ Ahsoka belched, loudly and completely without shame. ‘So I do need to refuel.’

Ahsoka’s unabashed enjoyment of her new self filled Anakin with pride: he could see how self-assured and free she was. In truth, it also filled him with something else, and he was glad he was sitting, so his old Padawan couldn’t see how hard she was making him. It was partly because she reminded him of Padme, but she was also so very hot in her own right.

As much as Anakin thought himself disguised, Ahsoka could sense his very un-Masterly feelings, without any need to call on the Force. His cheeks were slightly pink, something she’d only previously observed in him when he discussed Padme, and his glances at her naked, slightly dirty belly were frequent and not very subtle.

Ahsoka decided now was as good a time as any to do what she’d promised to Padme. She’d start the conversation gently, so that Anakin wouldn’t be taken utterly unawares.

‘I’ve been seeing Padme quite a lot recently,’ she said as she shovelled a hefty serving of chips into her mouth. She chewed, considered, then ground some more salt onto them. ‘You haven’t seen anything of her, have you?’

Images of his wife flashed through Anakin’s mind then. In the last several months she’d become truly fat, outgrowing even her loosest of dresses. Although, he mused, she’d actually started opting for more daring outfits of late: ones that hugged the curves of her lardy thighs and shelf-like arse, or bared her burgeoning belly like Ahsoka’s current crop top, or showed off her more than ample cleavage. Anakin had held all in his hands, even her belly after Padme had insisted. He absolutely loved how his wife looked and felt now, and how she acted too: she was soft and gluttonous and jiggly and indolent. Her round, double-chinned face was enough to blow Anakin away every time he saw it. Rather, he thought with a sudden realisation, like Ahsoka. And Padme had mentioned more than one meal spent with the tubster of a Togruta. He looked into Ahsoka’s eyes then, perfectly innocent; but he knew there had to be a connection.

‘I’ve seen her a few times,’ he said. Was that technically a lie? He had seen Padme a few times: was it deception to neglect to also say he had seen her more than those few times?

‘She’s certainly changed, hasn’t she?’ Ahsoka pressed on. She seized her gut in one pudgy hand, and shook it hard. Anakin couldn’t tear his gaze away as it wobbled and rippled and bounced. ‘She’s as big as I was when we met up that first time.’

Anakin swallowed in a dry throat. Force; he really shouldn’t be feeling this way about his former Padawan. ‘Yeah; I guess,’ he responded, lacking his usual assertiveness.

‘You’ve always been good friends. Do you think she’ll get as fat as I am now?’ There was a spark in Ahsoka’s eyes now, and in that moment Anakin remembered what she’d said to him the day she’d left the Order.

‘Ahsoka, I know, more than you realise… I know what it’s like to want to walk away from the Order.’

‘I know.’

Anakin blinked, then slumped back in his seat, not quite sure what to do. ‘You know,’ he said, repeating the words from his memory of that terrible day.

Ahsoka smiled, small but strong. She felt the pain of that day too, although the ache was dulled by the fact that she could share a meal with Anakin again. She put down her fork (a rare move for her), and held out her hand across the table. ‘I know,’ she confirmed softly.

Anakin hesitated, then sat forward and put his artificial hand into Ahsoka’s warm, fleshy palm. For a few seconds, they simply sat in each other’s company, Master and Apprentice so happy and relieved to be with each other again. Then Anakin pulled back, and favoured the Togruta with another grin.

‘So, I’m guessing this means I have you to thank for Padme plumping up?’

Ahsoka seized her fork again and scooped another bite of sausage past her lips. The bacon caught on its way through and she sucked it down like it was spaghetti. ‘You can’t possibly tell me you don’t like it,’ she remarked. She lowered her voice a fraction. ‘Especially not after the way you’ve been ogling me while I’ve been glutting myself.’

Anakin grew completely red then, which Ahsoka had never seen on him before. When he’d recovered himself from the shock enough, he said: ‘You, uh… you picked up on that too, huh?’

‘Covert missions were always your least favourite, Anakin,’ Ahsoka told him. She smiled. ‘Mine too.’

Anakin arched an eyebrow, and Ahsoka continued. ‘Padme’s quite taken with me as well, you know, and I’ll gladly admit to thinking you’re both sexy as hell. If you ever want to do more than chat with me… Lux and I are only a transport away.’

Anakin’s head was reeling. He was stunned by his old Padawan’s advances, but as he thought about it more, he realised he wasn’t displeased. Still…

‘Ahsoka… are you sure that’s… appropriate?’ he asked, even as his eyes wandered to the balloons that were her tits.

‘No more ‘appropriate’ than a Jedi Knight getting secretly married,’ the Togruta pointed out blithely. Anakin had to admit she had a point there.

More seriously, Ahsoka continued. ‘Anakin, you were the best mentor I could have asked for, and you will always be my dearest friend. But don’t feel bad about finding me attractive. If we want to expand our relationship, that doesn’t spoil or negate all the other parts of it. That’s something else the Jedi are going to have to do: they’re going to have to accept attachments; celebrate them, like you and me. I didn’t bring that up today: splitting from the Senate was radical enough for the time being. But in time… in time.’ Ahsoka smiled again as Anakin considered the weight of all her words, and as she polished off her sausages, she said: ‘In other words: my door remains open.’

Anakin was still rather dazed, but the lift in his chest was undeniably gladness, pleasure… and excitement. He looked in some wonder at Ahsoka.

‘Since when did you get so incredibly wise?’ he asked, his happiness obvious.

Ahsoka shrugged, and grinned delightedly at her old Master. ‘I didn’t get wise. I just got fat.’