The Padawan's Padded Therapy. (Private for JustJoe)

[Bellhart]

Anakin couldn't help but smile a little as the Gungan's powers of cuteness overwhelmed his padawan. Though he was also thankful. At least it wasn't him changing a 7 year olds dirty nappy. Evidently Ahsoka and her charge didn't care for it much either. Jar-Rel squirmed slightly when she was set down on the table, inadvertently squishing her mess around. Ahsoka visibly wrinkled her nose as she undid the tabs and revealed the mound of brown muck she had to clean away.

"What can I say, I'm fascinated by Naboo culture." he poked back. He knew Ahsoka new about his little affair with padme, but that didn't mean he wasn't anxious when she brought it up. He was breaking half the rules of the order just by seeing her, and if word got out.....

He tried not to think about it. He was due to see her this evening anyway, so he tried to focus on that.

[JustJoe]

The chamber of the Jedi Council was spartan in design. A ring of different chairs, each shaped for the comfort of the Jedi Council Member to whom had earned it, encircled an audience floor where Ahsoka stood with Anikan. She had allowed her to do the talking, eyes downcast, ashamed by her perceived act of cowardice on the battlefield. The Council members, all of them Jedi Masters, were wise. Where Anikan tried to save his apprentice humiliation by glossing over details, the Masters probed and eventually Anikan was brought around to recounting more of less the ungilded version of events. The judgement of the Council was to place Ahsoka on extended leave, to give her time to recover from her ordeal.

After the debriefing Ahsoka followed her mentor back through the halls of the Jedi Temple in brooding silence until she could hold her tongue no longer.

"Extended leave? What does that even mean? Is that supposed to be the polite way of telling an apprentice they've failed? What, do they think i'm not 'grown up enough' and i'll break down into tears if they just say it too my face? I'm I supposed to go off and book a vacation now only to get a communication later asking me to leave the Jedi order?"

[Bellhart]

Anakin leaned forward and placed a hand gently on her shoulder in reassurance. If he'd had his way, he'd have pulled her in for a hug, but the council tended to frown on such expressions of intimacy and friendship.

"You've failed at nothing Snips, it just means your pushing yourself too far too fast, is all." he explained s they walked down the halls.

"You're not in trouble for anything. You just need to slow down a bit, and at least have some time to recover. You've been doing amazing, holding your own in a war situation, which is far more than I ever had to deal with when I was a padawan. The worst me and Obi-wan had to worry about were 2-bit pirates and the occasional internal dispute."

By now they had arrived where the tunnel opened up into one of the many hangars of the temple.

"I'm proud of everything you've done Ahsoka. I promise you that." He relented against his own judgement and pulled her in for a quick hug.

"Listen, I have some personal matters to attend to this evening, but I'l see you tomorrow, alright? We can go and see the creche again, that always seems to cheer you up, huh? Meantime, I want you to go eat something and get some rest, you need it." He smiled before they parted ways.

An hour or so later, he arrived at his destination, and was quickly welcomed by the droid butler into the personal residence of the Senator for Naboo.

[JustJoe]

Ahsoka was of course allowing her emotions to cloud her judgement and overreacting. The suggestion of the Council amounted to nothing more than rest and relaxation.

Master and Padawan parted ways. Ahsoka retreated to her chambers within the Jedi Temple and Anikan caught a hovercab into Corusant's rivers of traffic.

....

Padme exhaled deeply after rousing herself from a deep warm afterglow. As she raised her upper half of her reclining body she refastened the shoulder clips of her silken dress then twisted and bent kiss the neck of her bedside lover. Where her moves were soft and fluid like a leaf riding the air, her partner was rigid with tension. Padme frowned, Anikan seemed to be constantly lost in worries.

"The Order asks too much of you. You're worn out. You should request leave along side your Padawan. Ahsoka thrives when she's with you, she's already come so far since her training."

Padme paused. Having served as Queen on Naboo and now a Senator of a divided Galactic Republic she was no stranger to stress and she knew that concern for his apprentice was among Anikan's first thoughts.

"You are worried that Ahsoka will reject your mentorship?" Padme ventured based on what she'd been told of Ahsoka's aggressive behavior in a recent sparring duel. Anikan's comments about how the only time his apprentice had appeared pent up in the past couple of days had been when visiting the nursery caused Padme to consider a radical proposal.

"On Naboo we have a Culture of not asking a child to advance beyond where they feel confident in their own abilities. To put it simply, we don't force them to grow up too quickly."
[I happened to write this prior to you posting but I think it still fits in?]

Padme frowned, thinking about the civil conflict and her own conflicted feelings of thrusting a young person, albeit one gifted with the force, into the middle of it.

"...I know you don't like when I criticise the Order but Ahsoka has been placed into circumstances where she's grown up quickly. Maybe too quickly? ...If she was on Naboo we would give her the chance to sort of start over. I'm talking too candidly, sorry, It's a little awkward to explain. I suppose its therapy. Regression therapy."

Feeling somewhat on the spot Padme went on to explain how in her Culture people got the chance to experience childhood again but it wasn't simply playing a children's game or doing something silly as a reprieve in adult life, it was a complete surrender of all things adult. That meant the patient was treated like a child, a small child. They were placed under guardianship since there would be numerous things they would no longer be allowed to do for themselves without assistance. This went down to even very simple things like bathing oneself, feeding oneself or going to the toilet.

"What do you think?" Padme asked with slightly nervous anticipation. An ulterior motive had swept beneath her otherwise purely kindhearted intentions. Due to their situation in life and the rules of the Jedi Order, Anikan and Padme had discussed and agreed they couldn't raise children, but if they became Ahsoka's guardians whilst she was undergoing regression therapy at least they could get a taste for it? A dangerous idea perhaps and Padme felt guiltily exploitive but there was also a good chance the therapy would benefit Ahsoka.

'We could ask Obi-Wan for his opinion?" Padme suggested, knowing the Jedi Master would be able to sway Anikan's mind. Obi-Wan was sympathic towards Padme and Anikan plus he would be able advise on the suitability of introducing such a therapy to a Jedi in training.

[Bellhart]

Anakin listened intently. It sounded rather strange and drastic, but if it had a chance to help his padawan, he was always willing to listen. He didn't admit it, but he was feeling the same feelings of personal motive as Padme. Anakin valued family over everything else, and since the loss of his mother he'd still felt pain over the loss of family. Perhaps here was a chance to try and heal the wound.

"It sounds....interesting." he said. He decided to probe further. "she always did seem more alive in the creche, and she has been forced to grow up rather fast. Let's say we did this, what would it entail for us? I take it you'd preffer doing it on Naboo, right? And what about Logistics? You'd need all sorts of sized up equipment and supplies. Would we need to sort that out first?" Secretly he did hope so. Picking out supplies for someone they were going to care for like this was a taste of fatherhood he had never really dared to hope he'd get.

He went on to explain that he could likely get leave from the council to participate fairly easily. Being a war hero did come with its perks after all. And that they should likely leave Obi Wan out of this. He was a noble knight, sure, but also a paragon of the temples virtues, and likely wouldn't be too keen on this. No, better to keep this to themselves.

"I'l be spending tomorrow in the creche with Ahsoka, so we can see how things go."

[JustJoe]

Naboo was the sensible location to trail the therapy. Not only would the paraphernalia they required be readily available but the people there would be more accustomed to seeing a young teenager dressed as an infant. A tolerant environment would make it easier on Ahsoka.

Naboo was also a place where Anikan and Padme would have some privacy. Padme owned rural estates where, in essence they where able to go into hiding for a while when they felt they needed to spend periods of time together which were questionable for a Senator and a Jedi Knight to do so. Padme didn't like that Anikan wanted to keep this a secret from Obi-Wan but she trusted his judgement and her home world would be the best place to retreat too.

...

Ahsoka awoke to wet sheets again. She was beyond frustration with herself and given how uncomfortable her cold clammy pajamas felt she was shocked she had slept through it without waking.

With a business like mindset she calmed herself emotionally and tidied up her wet things and bedsheets as quickly as possible to minimize the chance of her accident being discovered by anyone else. Then she showered and was pleased to feel clean again.

She would be spending her day at the Jedi creche, that was something to look forward to. The padawan who's nursery duty she'd agreed to cover was almost as pleased as she was and promised to give her some pointers on back handed lightsaber techniques, a combat form she was weak in.

As she walked to the creche Ahsoka was weirdly preoccupied with her bedwetting incident. She couldn't help but think about the fact that some of the children in the nursery were undoubtedly still bedwetters, except they were probably put in diapers for bed to avoid wetting the sheets. Would that be more comfortable? None of tge baby's ever seemed all that uncomfortable when she was changing them out of wet nappies.

Ahsoka vigorously shook the bizarre thoughts out of her head.

'Maybe I really am stressed?'

[Bellhart]

They agreed to sort out the finer details at a later date. Padme would pick out some choices of equipment and items and run them by him later. The rest of the evening was spent, as it typically was, beneath the sheets, with Anakin up and getting ready to go by the time light was breaking on the horizon.

He still wasn't looking forward to helping in the creche, but figured he should work at that. After all, if things went to plan, he'd be changing Ahsoka's nappies before long.

Speaking of which, he soon found himself approaching the togrutan girl, waiting nervously outside the main door to the creche.

"Heya Snips, sleep well?" he asked, trying to start up some small talk.

[JustJoe]

"Eh... Yeah, fine. You?" Ahsoka deflected the question. She'd had an undisturbed sleep, the issue had been with waking up. Once again she had woken to the cold clammy sensation of having wet the bed. It was the third such occurrence in as menu nights, she was anxiously considering speaking to a physician about the embarassing problem.

They entered the creche together and Ahsoka warmly greeted the infant younglings. Losing herself in play and teaching, helped her forget her anxieties for a while. She was glad to be given a duty she found so peaceful and restorative of her spirit.

[Bellhart]

"Yeah, just as normal." he said nonchalantly as they walked.

Entering the creche had a familiar feel to it by now. Anakin could only smile as he watched his padawan come to life in the presence of the youngings. She seemed genuinely happy, getting involved with their activities, helping them, chiding them.

At one point Anakin was caught of guard in his admiration and suddenly stepped back, to make way for a trandoshan chasing a Rhodian girl in a game of tag, as they barrelled past him, yelling as they did so. Judging by the faint crinkling sound and hems of their trousers, both were still in nappies.

At a point, it was evidently nap time, and being familiar with the routine, the children had lined up to be checked. It was standard that they be put into thicker nappies for nap and bed time, both to avoid leaking, and ensure they didn't develop a rash.

He joined ahsoka, who was already checking one soggy boy. Whilst many of them would be wet to various degrees, judging by the smell at least a few were messy as well.

[JustJoe]

Changing multiple nappies wasn't a pleasant task but Ahsoka endeavoured to be kindly and attentive to every young charge who lay down on the changing table for her. Sometimes she liked to coo at the littlest children but as a rule she always stopped short of teasing, lest she upset a child. In the case of the very youngest infants, the ones who couldn't really talk yet, Ahsoka would quietly talk to herself whilst wiping their bottoms.

"My you are a messy boy. You don't seem to mind though. You're being very good and still for me arn't you?"

The boy in question began to dribble urine and Ahsoka quickly brought the front of the nappy up before it became a stream. 'He's so helpless and sweet', Ahsoka thought. 'He can't even tell when he needs the toilet yet. I wonder what that was like?'

Once all the younglings were put down for a nap Ahsoka approached her master, her gait light, she seemed less troubled. "Do you to get lunch?" I could ask someone to cover whilst the little ones are sleeping?"