"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚. 𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙧."

As soon as I got back to Coruscant, I took what money I had and invested in a couple of good grills. I was able to meet up with Dex at his diner and explain what I wanted to do for the clones. He happily provided me with the food and materials I needed to carry out my goal. A mixture of emotions swirled in my stomach. The last time I made burgers at a scale like this was before I even joined the war.

I arrived at the clone barracks on a speeder with the grills and the food in the back. Rows of buildings lined the facility and there was a clearing in front. I continued down the path until I arrived at the common area where the 212th, 104th, and 501st barracks were. I parked the speeder and started unloading my things, earning curious glances from clones passing by. I really had their attention when I got the grills going and the food cooking. The aroma drew troopers out of their barracks and towards my spot. Using my master's technique, I served burgers to every clone who stopped by as fast as I could. Their delighted smiles and endless thanks had me up in the stars. I knew I made the right choice deciding to this.

I saw Trip approach me smiling curiously. I lowered the lid of one of the grills to let the meat cook and turned my focus on the other grill where the buns toasted.

"Sil, what're you doing?" Trip raised an eyebrow and stood at a distance.

"Making food."

"Yeah, but.." he trailed off.

"What?"

"It seems like a lot of work for you to do all by yourself," Trip remarked. "Can I help?"

I stopped what I was doing to glance at Trip who had a sincere look in his eyes, but at the same time he seemed doubtful. He only knew how to do one thing. Trip and all the other clones were told since birth that they only had one function and one purpose. I was going to do whatever I could to subvert that.

"Of course you can help me," I smiled softly. "Come here," I gestured for him to come to my side. I opened the lid of the grill where the meat sizzled. I handed Trip a spatula. "Put the meat on the buns I set aside over there," I pointed to the prep area with all the other toppings and the sauces I made.

I guided him through the process and he slowly got the hang of putting everything together and the timing of when to take things off the grill. Trip's movements became more fluid as he made more and more burgers. A smile bright as the sun radiated off Trip, surrounding him in an aura of purpose and delight. In this moment, I knew he found something he could do with his hands other than firing a gun.

Pretty soon, the boys I was more familiar with started showing up and they couldn't fight the smiles landing on their faces. That was exactly what I had hoped for. Giving these battle worn soldiers something to smile about.

"Sil, how are you so amazing at making these burgers," Fives said with his mouth full and his eyes gleaming.

I laughed lightly thinking about how much I did this even when I didn't have to. "Sometimes I like to make food instead of facing my problems," I joked.

Fives and Jesse chuckled at my response and started shoving each other for no apparent reason.

"Sil, can I have another one?" Jesse asked almost shyly.

My gaze softened as looked at him. "Jesse, I'll give you so many that you'll throw up."

They laughed while Kix shouted in disapproval at Jesse from a distance.

My eyes fell on Wooley, Kiwi, and Tup who sat around not too far away. They talked in low voices with their helmets in their laps, rubbing at their helmet's exteriors.

"What're you three doing spit shining your armor?"

Their heads snapped up and they looked embarrassed.

"Get over here, I got some saved for you," I motioned for them to come over.

They took their food with a smile and thanks. The evening went on and I served many troopers. The looks on their faces gave me the strength to keep up my pace. I needed that stamina especially when the Wolfpack arrived and devoured their burgers in seconds.

"That was great, Sil!" Sinker exclaimed.

"Thanks, Sinker," I smiled.

Wolffe sent me an appreciative nod and they walked away. Trip nudged me. "I think Comet took two extras when we weren't looking."

I scoffed playfully. "It's fine by me. Whatever makes you guys happy."

Boil and Shout arrived a little later with smiles, but sadness was painted behind their eyes.

"Waxer would've loved this," Boil grinned ruefully, taking his food delicately into his hands. Shout nodded glumly in agreement and thanked me for the meal.

"Twist would've been telling everyone to eat slower or they'd all choke," Shout chuckled half-heartedly.

"Don't worry, we have Kix doing that too," Trip brought up making us all laugh.

The sky darkened overhead and my legs began to weaken. I forgot how draining it could be to stand in front of a grill for hours and make such a large quantity of food. I looked to Trip and noticed him becoming weary as well.

"I'm assuming this was what you had in mind when we were talking on the cruiser," Rex said walking up to me with Cody at his side.

I nodded with a grin as I flipped some meat. I gestured to Trip to add more butter on the buns and he went right to it. We couldn't have the commander and captain go without their share as well.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you guys," I said. "You all deserve something special."

"Well, I want you to know that we really appreciate that, Sil," Cody finally said. "Really, I haven't seen the men this happy for a long time."

I blushed in embarrassment and shrugged. "It's fine, it's just something I learned to do on Tatooine," I replied. "I'm happy to share my only talent with you guys."

"The fact that you're doing the very thing you ran away from in the first place is a very brave thing, Sil," Cody said warmly. "Don't forget that."

A swell of brotherly love came over me and I never felt so grateful to have these people in my life. As horrible as the war was, the friends and memories I made were irreplaceable. I finished putting together two more burgers and handed them over to Cody and Rex.

"I hope you guys like it," I sent them a smile and they returned it, nodding at me and Trip and walking away.

It was almost time for lights out and the clones had either gone to bed or sat around laughing in the darkness. I was just about ready to collapse from exhaustion, but I mustered enough energy to put the grills back on the speeder. As Trip helped me load the last of the things, I told him to head back to his barracks. He deserved a well earned rest. I was about to board the speeder, but Trip stopped me.

"You should at least stop by the refresher before you leave," Trip insisted.

I looked at his hand on my arm and I was too tired to argue. I followed him to where the 212th boys slept and freshened up in the refresher. As I walked through the line of sleeping clones, the sounds of their snores had my eyelids dropping. The mixture of quietness and people shifting in their beds lulled me into a walking corpse. Some of the boys were still roaming around, not yet ready for bed. I passed the sleeping troopers and pulled up their blankets wherever it looked like they were falling off. I smiled seeing Cody at the end of the row and remembered hearing Wooley talk about how the commander sometimes preferred to sleep near his men than on his own. I couldn't resist tucking him in and giggled quietly to myself.

I found an empty bunk next to Cody and lifted my gaze, taking notice of the vacant beds left behind by fallen soldiers, sook to be replaced by shinies. These thoughts tired me and I released a sigh. I collapsed onto the bunk and let myself drift off. The last thing I felt was a blanket being draped over my shoulders, giving me a sense of belonging.