Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 1: THE DISTRACTION

“Why can’t I just go alone?!” Ezra huffed angrily. He was tired of being treated like a child.

“Because, the last time I let someone take a supply run by themselves, we picked up some unwanted attention from the Empire,” Hera responded to his question.

“So Zeb gets in a fight with a couple of bucketheads and somehow that’s my fault?!” Ezra retorted. “I don’t see why I have to pay the price for his mistakes!”

“Either way, I prefer that we travel in pairs just in case. We’re not as inconspicuous as we used to be, considering the Empire knows our faces by now. Ezra, it’s for your safety.”

“Hera, that’s what my lightsaber is for!” Ezra ignited his saber and waved it once in front of himself, smiling mischievously.

“Just get going! And be thankful I’m sending Sabine with you instead of Chopper!” Hera teased. Standing behind Hera, Chopper cackled maniacally, thinking about how much he loved to torture Ezra.

Ezra and Sabine marched down the ramp of the Ghost and started heading for the nearest town. Hera had estimated it to be about two klicks to the south, so they decided to walk. Well, decided might not have been the right word, considering it was their only choice. Zeb had gotten their only speeder bike blown up in the fight with those Stormtroopers.

As they made their way to civilization, Ezra let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t understand why we’re treated like children!” he huffed. “It wasn’t our fault...we didn’t do anything!”

“I know it’s kind of annoying, but it’s for our own safety, Ezra. We have to listen to what Hera says,” Sabine responded calmly.

“Since when are you on board with being bossed around? You’re usually so...independent,” he finished, hoping that his word choice wasn’t offensive.

“Since we started having so many close calls with the Empire. They’ve been watching us more and more closely and it’s getting harder to move around the way we used to. I’m all about independence, but I think it IS best if we travel in pairs. I really don’t want any of us to get hurt or captured again.”

“It’s just hard taking orders that I disagree with, I guess,” Ezra stated.

“Yeah, that happened a lot in the Imperial Academy.”

Ezra’s step faltered for a moment. He never really knew what to say when Sabine brought up her time at the academy. It was rare that she spoke about it, and the things she said were almost never good. He could tell that it was a time in her life that she tried desperately to forget.

“Oh...umm...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” Ezra started, but Sabine cut him off. “It’s okay I know you didn’t mean it like that. It just reminded me of back then.”

“Well, either way, I don't want to bring up painful memories for you,” Ezra responded, trying to sound sympathetic.

“It's alright. Surprisingly, not every memory was bad. I had a few fun times before it got nasty.”

Sabine's response shocked Ezra, and he wasn't sure if he should ask a follow-up question, but she continued.

“I made a few friends. In fact, I had this one really great friend. We did everything together. We ate meals together and studied together. We got into a lot of trouble around the academy for some of our pranks…”

“Pranks?” Ezra asked, shocked. He couldn't seem to imagine there being any “pranking” in an Imperial Academy.

“Yeah! It started out pretty basic, glue on chairs, adding gross things to other cadets’ food, but we did eventually work up to bigger things. We once hacked into the computer system and set the academy’s emergency alarm to go off during an important exam. We actually did that one three separate times and they never figured out who it was. We never did have to take the test.” She smirked satisfactorily.

“That actually sounds like fun!” Ezra replied.

“Oh, it was. Some of my only good memories from my academy days. We were really close, we told each other things that we'd never share with other people -- our secrets, dreams, goals. It was definitely a special friendship.” She smiled as she thought about it. “I wonder where he is now…”

“Who?” Ezra asked, some confusion in his voice.

“My friend. We lost touch when I left and I haven't seen or heard from him since.” Sabine said with a look of disappointment.

“Your friend was a guy?” Ezra inquired, with a curious expression on his face.

“Yeah. He was my best friend, besides Ketsu. I honestly kind of wish I could see him again, except for the fact that he's probably an Imperial. If he were an ally, he could be great in the Rebellion.”

Sabine looked off into the distance, thinking about those few good days at the academy. When she snapped out of her daydream, she glanced at Ezra, who was staring pointedly at the ground as he walked, some unpleasant emotion that she couldn't identify etched in his face.

“What's up?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he replied, trying to erase his feelings from his features.

“You look like you have something on your mind.”

“It's nothing,” he rushed to reply. He realized a moment later that he was too quick to respond, making his answer a lot less believable.

“Clearly, something is wrong, I know you better than that. Did I say something? Just tell me,” Sabine responded.

“Don't worry about it, okay. I'm fine.” Ezra mumbled, continuing to stare at his feet. “Let's just focus on the mission.”

Sabine thought about arguing, but they were approaching the town now and she didn't feel like dealing with Ezra when he was in a mood.

“Okay, I'll go get the mechanical supplies we need, you head to the market to get the groceries. Meet back here in an hour,” she said as their feet met the small city’s main pathway. After giving her instructions, she headed in the opposite direction, eager to leave before Ezra could give a smart reply.

As she walked away, Ezra felt a pang of guilt. He could tell that his current mood was making her upset, and he definitely didn't like making Sabine upset.

He wanted to be honest with her and tell her what was going on, but unfortunately, he wasn't really sure himself. Ezra knew that Kanan wouldn't approve of him holding such irrational and unnecessary feelings, so he tried to dig deeper within himself.

He thought back to what Sabine had said about her friend at the academy. When she was sharing their adventures, he'd just assumed her friend would be a girl. He thought about her relationship with Ketsu and Hera, as well as some of the other women she'd hang out with in the Rebel Alliance.

But, he continued thinking, there’s not really any reason for me to have assumed that. She has guy friends too, like me and Zeb and Kanan.

To be fair though, Zeb and Kanan were less like “friends” and more like older brothers or guardians. She had somewhat befriended some of the boys around her age in the Alliance, but Ezra was the only one that would qualify as a true friend.

I really thought I was her best friend, he quietly reflected in his mind as he headed towards the market. We've shared a lot of big moments -- life-changing moments -- and we share our thoughts and secrets sometimes.

Although, he admitted, we don't share our feelings or secrets or whatever very often. She keeps to herself. As Ezra thought about Sabine’s lack of openness, he was honestly surprised that she'd shared so much with her friend at the academy.

Why doesn't she open up to me like that? We've been through a lot over the past few years, she should trust me.

You're jealous, a little voice in the back of his mind said. Ezra’s eyes opened wide as he came to the realization, stopping in his tracks. He was...jealous.

He wasn't sure why he hadn't realized it right away, he'd been jealous about Sabine’s relationships before. He thought back to the first time the Ghost crew met Lando Calrissian. He was definitely jealous then!

Lando had flirted with Sabine purposefully to get at Ezra, and Ezra had taken every bit of the bait, blowing up a puffer pig in the process.

But this wasn't like that, was it? The last time, Ezra was jealous because he'd had a HUGE crush on Sabine. He had tried to bury that crush over the past few years, and he'd been fairly successful.

After he realized that Sabine wouldn't return his affections, Ezra began to see more of the value in having her as a friend instead. They worked well together on missions, and they related to each other, being close in age. Friendship came naturally. (Much more naturally than a romantic relationship would have.)

Plus, there wasn't really time for romance in the midst of a rebellion. Even Kanan and Hera, with their years of experience and obvious feelings for one another, had a difficult time progressing. Ezra couldn't imagine how hard it would be to start a relationship from scratch! Plus, he'd been trying to focus on Jedi training, which it seemed, had been paying off tremendously. His skills had been very useful in the fight against the Empire, so putting his feelings for Sabine aside had been beneficial to his focus.

Ezra was pretty certain that the jealousy he felt today was because of the fact that this “old friend” of Sabine’s had a different kind of friendship with her than he did. Ezra had always thought that his and Sabine’s bond was special -- she opened up more to him than she did to other members of the Ghost. But now, it turned out that he only knew a fraction of who she was.

To think that some guy, an Imperial no less, had achieved this level of relationship with Sabine so effortlessly that Ezra had worked years to develop was frustrating. He had assumed their dynamic was unique and his assumptions had been proved wrong.

Ezra began picking up the items from the shopping list at the various stands in the market, his thoughts dwelling on Sabine the whole time. She meant so much to him...and now he wasn't sure if he meant nearly as much to her.

He thought back on all their adventures together. Shouldn't those mean something? Why had she never shared her dreams and aspirations with him? He thought he had earned her trust. She had certainly earned his.

While his mind wandered through all the possibilities and questions, Ezra gathered the last of the items and began walking back towards the rendezvous point. He was almost out of the market area when he heard a loud explosion.

Oh no, explosions are almost always related to Sabine. I hope she's okay! His reservations about their friendship momentarily dropped from his mind, he rushed in the direction of the blast. He took a turn down an alleyway that he thought was a shortcut and ran...right into Sabine herself!

The two smacked into each other and stumbled backward, fumbling as they struggled to regain their balance. “Smooth, Ezra,” Sabine said with a smirk.

“Hey, I was just coming to check on you!” he justified. “Was that explosion your doing?”

“Yeah. Some bucketheads were walking around checking identification in my area. They were headed my way and I didn’t want them to figure out who I was, so I created a…umm...distraction.”

“You couldn't have just come up with a cover story?! Like how you left your ID at home or something?!” Ezra said incredulously.

“Explosives are the best cover story there is!” Sabine stated with a smile.

“Well now, we’re going to have some angry Stormtroopers on our tail. It looks like we're going to have to hide out here for a bit.”

“Ugh. I'm sick of running into bucketheads. They make everything so complicated,” Sabine grumbled.

“Huh, I figured you wouldn’t be so concerned about Stormtroopers when your ‘best friend’ is in the Empire. He’d probably get you out of it if we got captured…” Ezra trailed off, frowning.

“Excuse me?” Sabine looked at him incredulously.

A shocked expression filled Ezra’s face. He believed he’d only thought the words, but with how much was on his mind, it seems that he’d said them out loud.

“Uhh...nothing...I didn’t mean…” he started to say.

“Is that what your problem is?! You’re upset because I had a friend in the Empire?!” Sabine felt heat rising in her cheeks as she started to get angry.

“No! It’s not that you made friends at the academy, it’s just that...well, I didn’t expect…” Ezra rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he stumbled through his words. He really didn’t want to have this conversation.

Sabine scanned his face as the words fell out of his mouth. “You didn’t expect what?! That I had friends other than you? That cranky, loner Sabine could make friends with other people?!” She was letting her emotions take over as she let out her pent-up frustration at Ezra’s bad attitude.

“No, it’s not that! I know that you have friends, I was just surprised when you started talking about your relationship with him…”

“Wait a minute…are you...jealous?” Sabine stared at Ezra with the same look she used to give him when he flirted hopelessly with her.

Recognizing that look, Ezra jumped to answer her question. “Maybe I am, but it’s not for the reason you think! I just thought that WE were best friends…”

“And I couldn’t have had a best friend before you?” Sabine replied.

“It’s not that, it’s just, what you described your relationship was like. You and I go on adventures together and pull pranks on the crew and I think we have fun...but we’ve never really talked like you said you and he used to.”

“What do you mean?” Sabine said, a confused expression slowly crossing her face. “Like, you want me to tell you all my secrets?”

“Not really, but while we share moments, we don’t really share feelings.” Ezra finished, finally putting into words what he was thinking in his head.

Sabine laughed. “You do realize I’m not a ‘feelings’ kind of person, right?”

“Yeah, I do. But apparently, you used to be.” Ezra paused for a moment. “Do you not trust me as much as you trusted him?”

Sabine glanced at Ezra’s face and she could see the hurt in his eyes. Suddenly, it dawned on her. This wasn’t because he was jealous that she was friends with a guy; Ezra believed that Sabine thought their relationship was inferior to the one she shared with her friend from the academy.

“Oh, Ezra...of course I trust you!” Sabine responded, searching for the right words. “We've been through a LOT together -- way more than I ever went through with my friend at the academy. I mean, I trust you with my life on a regular basis.”

“Then why don't you open up to me?” Ezra replied.

“Well…” Sabine began. “My time at the Imperial Academy changed me. You know what they did to me. It's hard to trust anybody now, and I've just kind of kept to myself since then.”

Ezra didn't reply, he seemed to be mulling over her words.

“On top of that, Ketsu abandoned me shortly afterward. If I didn't have a hard time trusting people before, that move definitely did me in.” She thought for a moment, before adding, “if it makes you feel better, I became friends with you much quicker than I did with the other members of our crew.”

Sabine hoped her response was enough to make him feel better because this was about as far into “feelings” territory as she wanted to get. She had to admit though, it was kind of sweet that Ezra wanted to be her best friend. It was certainly better than his insufferable flirting that she'd endured during his first few weeks and months on the Ghost.

Friendship was easier, more familiar. Being in a relationship with Ezra would be weird, she thought. I mean sure...he's super thoughtful and selfless, plus he's a good listener and he's funny, but those are all qualities you look for in a friend too.

He’ll certainly make some girl very happy one day, she continued in her mind. He's grown up a lot and he looks so much older with his hair cut short. Sabine took a better look at Ezra in front of her, thinking, and it looks pretty good on him. In fact, he's definitely gotten more attractive as he's gotten older.

Jedi training had started to make Ezra fill out a bit, and his jacket was starting to get tighter in the sleeves from the muscles forming underneath.

Woah, Sabine! Stop that right now! she berated herself. You can't look at him like that, he's your best friend. Sabine shook her head subconsciously and it caught Ezra’s attention.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Me? Uhh, yeah. I'm good.” she stuttered. “I was just having some weird thoughts is all.”

“Weird thoughts?” He asked quizzically. “Yeah, it's nothing,” she replied. “Are you okay?” She asked, turning the conversation on him.

“Yeah. I'm sorry I was being a jerk. It's just weird of me to think of you hanging out with some other guy best friend and having all these big adventures. I kinda thought our friendship was unique.”

“Don't worry, Bridger. Our friendship is definitely unique.” She lifted her helmet off her head to look at him better.

Ezra chuckled to himself lightly, looking into her amber eyes. A small grin formed on his face.

“What?” she asked him.

“I like seeing you with your helmet off. Sometimes it's weird talking to your face without actually talking to it.” Ezra shared. “Plus, you have a nice face.”

Ezra winced at the words as soon as they came out of his mouth, blushing slightly.

“Come on, Ezra, I thought we stopped the cheesy flirting years ago,” Sabine said as she laughed at his comment.

He smiled, attempting to cover up for the awkwardness that had just spewed from his mouth. “Well, I suppose that I have a few dorky lines left behind just in case.”

“Just in case what?” she asked.

Ezra thought for a moment, “I don't know, I guess just in case I get stuck alone with a pretty girl in an alley.” The comment was intentionally flirty, but Ezra knew he could get away with it since Sabine was in a good mood now. He threw a smirky smile in her direction for good measure.

“Oh! So what do you think will happen if you flirt with a pretty girl all alone in an alley? Cause I think she might punch you in the arm.” She raised an eyebrow at him, though in more of a fake chastising way than a real threat.

“Well, I suppose I better keep my true thoughts to myself then!” Ezra smiled back.

Sabine scanned his face with her eyes. I wonder what he means by that...what else is he thinking?

Her mind began racing for another response when she heard the conversation of Stormtroopers nearby.

“She put detonators on two speeder bikes, sir! We traced her in this direction, but we lost the trail,” one said.

“Well, we need to search this whole sector then. The last thing we need is the word to get out of rebel activity. Divide into small groups and sweep both sides of the street.”

As the Stormtroopers were plotting their search, Sabine began to panic. They were too close to exit the alleyway at the one end, and the other end had been the direction from which she fled, so she knew they'd be on that side as well.

“There’s nowhere to hide!” she whispered to Ezra in a panic. “What do we do? I'd prefer not to cause a scene.”

“Well, maybe they'll walk right by us. They don't know what I look like. They'll certainly remember you, though. Here, take this, you'll need to cover up your armor...it kind of stands out.” He said, unzipping his jacket to hand it to her.

“I'll take that as a compliment to my artistic talents!” She replied, watching him shimmy the jacket off his shoulders and down his arms. As he pulled it off, she glanced intentionally at his biceps (for probably the first time ever) and noticed that the hem of his tee was now tight on his upper arms.

He certainly wasn't that scrawny kid they'd picked up on Lothal anymore. His chest had also gotten broader, and the undershirt stretched across it now instead of hanging loosely like it used to. As Sabine was noticing these things, he stretched out his arm to hand the jacket to her, and it snapped her out of her trance.

“Oh...umm...thank you,” she said, still somewhat spaced out and bothered by the fact that she hadn’t noticed how much Ezra had grown.

She put on the jacket and it hung limply from her shoulders. The sleeves were too long and the midsection was hopelessly baggy. Ezra chuckled.

“What?” she asked. “Well, it just looks so big on you.” he smiled.

“That's because you went and grew up on me, we used to be the same size,” she replied.

They made eye contact and smiled, probably staring just a bit too long for people who were supposed to just be friends. After a moment, Ezra cleared his throat and continued the conversation.

“So do you have a plan?” Ezra asked, not sure of what they should do next.

“Okay, well we’re just standing here, so they're definitely going to want to come to ask us questions...unless…” A strange thought popped into Sabine’s mind.

“Unless what?” Ezra asked, alarmed by the shy look on her face. It wasn't one he'd seen before.

“We need to be a couple…”

Ezra’s jaw dropped in shock and confusion.

“...I mean, not really, we just need to fake it. If we pretend like we’re having a...moment...then they'll probably feel uncomfortable and won't give us a second glance. It's our best shot at them ignoring us.”

“So what would we need to do?” Ezra asked, although he had an idea of what Sabine was about to say.

“We'd probably need to pretend like we're kissing.” After the words came out, she immediately stared hard at the ground. Saying the words made her feel awkward, even though she knew it was the best plan they had if they wanted to avoid a confrontation.

“Oh.” It was all Ezra could muster. The thought of almost kissing Sabine was something that made his face redden, and brought back thoughts and feelings to his mind that he'd kept at bay for quite a while.

They could hear more troopers arriving with the ones who were already gathered. Instructions were given and Sabine and Ezra could tell they were about to disperse.

“Come here,” she said, backing against the wall with the jacket cushioning her armor. She put her hands on his waist and pulled him towards her.

Time seemed to slow down in those few seconds for Ezra. As Sabine’s hands touched him, he was pulled closer to her than he'd ever been, their bodies just inches apart. His heart pounded in his chest as he fought back the feelings coming to the surface.

He was breathing in her scent now, a mix between paint and something surprisingly girly that Ezra couldn't identify. It made him freeze on the spot, and he lost all inkling of what he should do next.

“Ezra! They're coming!”

Sabine’s harsh whisper snapped him out of his daydream and he looked down at the ground before tentatively placing hands on her waist. Even though he knew it was coming, the touch sent a feeling of electricity through his fingertips.

Sabine moved a hand around to his lower back, pulling him closer. Their bodies were touching now, something that was unfamiliar to the both of them. Even though their faces were inches apart, they couldn't bear to make eye contact as the heat rose in their cheeks.

So that they wouldn't have to look at each other, they settled on more of a hug. After a moment of discomfort, the two began to relax as Sabine dropped her head to Ezra’s shoulder, turning her face so she could see the end of the alleyway.

Even though the hug felt wonderful, Ezra hoped that this was all they'd need to do to pass as a couple. The hug alone was already making him much more nervous than it should. Growing up on the streets hadn't allowed much time for dating, so this was the first time he'd ever held a girl this way. It didn't help that the girl he was holding was Sabine, the one he'd pined after for so long. He honestly wouldn't have been surprised if she grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully behind his back just for touching her.

“Okay, now we just have to stay like this until they pass.” Sabine leaned up and whispered the sentence into Ezra’s left ear. He felt her warm breath and it sent a shiver down his spine.

Sabine noticed the shiver and secretly a small smile of satisfaction crossed her face. Being this close to a girl was definitely new and unexpected for him, and she had to admit, his reaction was kind of endearing.

While Sabine pondered his reaction, two Stormtroopers ran past the alley, not even glancing their way. She could tell that these troopers were headed to a different part of the sector, so they'd have to wait a little longer for their own search squad to come by.

Sabine was used to teasing him and picking on him, and so she figured that if she was going to be in this situation for a little while, she might as well mess with him a bit. She leaned towards his ear and whispered “well, this is nice and...close,” making sure to breathe on his ear as she spoke.

Ezra’s reaction didn't disappoint her. He let out another small shudder as her breath tickled his ear and squeaked out the word “yeah” with his eyes closed. Inside his head, he was doing his best to calm his heartbeat and his thoughts.

Does Sabine know that she's driving me nuts? I mean, I've literally never stood this close to her before and all of a sudden we're pretending to be a couple, Ezra thought. It's not that I don't like it, (because if he was honest with himself, he really did like it) it's just that this is totally out of the ordinary.

He used some of his Jedi training to relax, but then Sabine started sliding a hand up and down his back. The motion surprised him and he opened his eyes and pulled back his head, noticing that there were no Stormtroopers in sight. He glanced left and right, then looked down at Sabine’s face, and noticed her mischievous grin.

He realized then that she was messing with him, completely aware of what she was doing. Ezra didn't know if he should be upset or just go with it.

Before he could say anything, they heard the voices of troopers approaching their hiding spot, and they assumed their former position, with Sabine’s head resting on his shoulder. From her position, Sabine could see the Stormtroopers at the end of the alleyway, but they had begun whispering to each other, so she couldn't hear what was being said.

She noticed that they motioned in her direction as if to say “let's go ask those two if they've seen anything,” and she knew she had to think fast. “They're coming this way, we have to try something else.” She thought for a moment, then said “I'm sorry about this…”

Before he could ask what she meant, she was doing the unthinkable -- kissing his face! She planted a few on his cheek before moving to kiss his ear and along his jawline.

Ezra froze at that moment, not believing what was going on. She was kissing him! Well, sort of. As close to real kisses as he was going to get from Sabine. He did his best to relax and enjoy the moment because he knew it wouldn't last long. He'd never been kissed by a girl like this before, only in a motherly way from his own mom and Hera.

It was difficult, however, to focus on the moment when Stormtroopers were coming their way. As they marched down the alley, they halted, noticing the display of affection happening in front of them.

It's working! she thought, so she continued, kissing down Ezra's face and toward his neck. She'd never done this before, but she assumed she was doing it properly, because his hands tightened on her waist and he leaned into her, pushing her gently against the wall.

Thanks to excitement from her plan working, Sabine kissed Ezra's neck a little more forcefully than she intended, and he made a noise somewhere between a moan and a sigh. It wasn't a very quiet noise either, because she could tell that the Stormtroopers heard it at the end of the alley.

Thankfully, Ezra’s noise seemed to scare them off and make them think better of interrupting the “couple.” As they walked away, Sabine glanced up to carefully watch them.

Not realizing that the Stormtroopers had left, Ezra believed that he'd scared Sabine away with his involuntary noise. Ashamed, he quickly turned his head away and backed up.

“I'm so sorry...I didn't mean, it just slipped out…” he fumbled.

“Oh no, it wasn't that! I just was watching them turn around. I think we’re clear!” Sabine said.

“Oh, good!” Ezra replied, thankful that it hadn't been him that made her turn away. His mind was still foggy from sharing such an intimate moment with Sabine.

“Yeah, they just left, I think we made them uncomfortable. We...uhh...put on a good show.” She added with a blush.

“Umm...yeah...I'd say it was pretty convincing.” Ezra said bashfully, pulling his hands away from Sabine and rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Ezra looked down at his feet and turned an even darker shade of red than he currently was. “Sorry about that noise, I just, wasn't expecting you to do that.”

“No, it's okay, that's what scared the bucketheads away,” Sabine replied. She chose her next words carefully, “plus, I didn't really mind. I've, uh, never done that before so it was nice to have some...feedback. It let me know that I wasn't doing it wrong.”

A grin crept across his face, “you definitely didn't do anything wrong.” He paused for a moment, before adding “it was...nice.”

Sabine’s cheeks got hot as he said the words, then her mood switched to more intense when she realized what was going on. “But if you tell anyone about this, I'll make you wish you'd never been born! Got it?” she added, poking one finger into his chest.

“Of course! This was just to save our skins!” He replied quickly, wanting to let her know that he didn't intend to share this story with anyone.

“Exactly.” They stood there for a moment, her amber eyes making contact with his striking blue ones. For the second time that day, the eye contact lasted longer than it should have.

“Well…” Sabine finally broke the silence, “...we better get back to the ship. They'll be wondering where we are.”

“Yeah,” Ezra replied, though he'd begun to get the feeling deep inside that he didn't want to return to the ship. He'd be content with just spending the whole day out here with Sabine.

They walked to the end of the alley where the Stormtroopers had passed and halted. “You'd better keep that jacket on to hide your armor. And here, you can put your helmet in here.” Ezra said, handing her the bag with the supplies he'd collected.

She placed her helmet inside, holding the bag in front of her to hide as much of her obvious Mandalorian clothes as possible. It made her nervous to not have her helmet on, but she found comfort in the fact that she was still holding it close.

“Good. Let’s head back. We still need to be cautious until we’re out of town.” she said to Ezra, even though she knew that he already understood that fact.

They traveled stealthily back through the small city and headed back to the ship without any trouble. They didn't talk much along the way, both lost in their thoughts. When they reached the Ghost, they handed the supplies off to Hera and headed back to their individual cabins.

As Sabine shut the door to her room, she fell back against it, sighing. It had certainly been an interesting day, and something about the day’s events kept nagging at her, though she wasn't sure what.

She set her helmet down on the bed; she'd pulled it out of the bag before giving the supplies to Hera. Thinking back to her “disguise,” she remembered that she was still wearing Ezra’s jacket. She unzipped it and took it off, folding it neatly and walking out of her room.

Sabine walked across the hall to Ezra’s room and knocked before hearing him say, “come in.”

She entered the room and found him sitting on the bottom bunk, taking off his shoes. “I forgot to give you this back,” she said, holding the jacket out in front of her.

Ezra stood up and took a step towards her to retrieve the jacket. “Thanks,” he said. “You know how attached I am to it,” he chuckled.

She smiled at him as she handed it over. “Thanks for helping me out. That was some adventure we had!”

“Yeah, I'll say it was…” his voice trailed off as he said it. There was something behind his comment that Sabine couldn't figure out, and before she could glance at his face to discern his meaning, he'd already turned around to sit his jacket down. He then moved to sit back on the bed and continue taking off his shoe.

“Well, I'll see you later,” she said, walking out of his room and back to her own.

As Ezra watched her leave, he smiled. Today had been a great day. Having a partner for the supply run hadn't been so bad.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2: THE PROJECT

The next few days passed slightly awkwardly between Sabine and Ezra. Neither of them acknowledged what had happened in the alleyway, but they hadn't forgotten it either. Their faces would redden when they accidentally made eye contact and they fumbled through sentences during the few times they were alone in a room together. 

It didn't help that the planet they'd landed on was known for rapid temperature and weather changes. They'd spent two full days all cooped up inside the Ghost due to some heavy storms. Two long, awkward, and uncomfortable days. 

Thankfully, today the sun was shining again, however, the humidity left from the rain made the air outside uncomfortably thick. 

Despite the mugginess, everyone was excited to get out of the Ghost. Zeb and Kanan went into town to pick up some parts for Sabine, Hera, and Chopper, who were working on the ship. The storm had caused some minor damage to the outside, and they wanted to hurry and make the repairs before any more unexpected storms halted their plans. 

As Hera was wrapping up her full inspection of the Ghost’s exterior, she turned to Sabine. “Will you go find Ezra? I may need his help with a project today since I'll likely be occupied working here. It involves looking through some files for the Rebellion to check the accuracy of leaked Imperial intel. He'd probably be pretty good at it anyway.”

“Sure thing. Do you know where he went?” Sabine asked. 

“I think he was working on some Jedi stuff today. Check that field on the other side of the hill that he and Kanan have started using for lessons. You might find him there.”

“Okay. I'll get him and bring him back here,” Sabine responded, headed in the direction of Kanan and Ezra’s chosen training grounds. 

It had been four days since their supply run and Sabine was slowly starting to feel a little less jittery around Ezra. She was pretty confident that she'd be able to have this conversation with minimal discomfort, which made her feel a lot better. That is, until she crossed over the top of the hill. 

Ezra was down in the field below, practicing his lightsaber forms, which was nothing out of the ordinary. What was unusual though, was that he was practicing shirtless. Sabine couldn't blame him, it was insanely hot and humid today, but his appearance was distracting nonetheless. 

As she approached him, his back was to her and she watched his shoulder blades as he powerfully swung the lightsaber. The muscles underneath his skin reacted with every movement, and it was difficult for Sabine to look away. With his next move, he turned around in her direction and her jaw dropped involuntarily. He was WAY more muscular than she expected. 

Sure, she'd noticed the biceps under his tee and that his chest had gotten broader, but his rigorous training had sculpted his midsection into a detailed set of abs. Sabine couldn't help but stare in shock as this sudden glimpse was a side of Ezra she hadn't seen. 

She started to sweat a little, and it wasn't because of the humidity. 

“Oh hey, Sabine,” Ezra said casually as he noticed her appearance. He then spotted the look of utter shock on her face, following her gaze to his bare upper half.

“Oh my...I'm so sorry! Here, let me…” Ezra blabbered as he picked up his shirt from a nearby rock and put it back on. “I didn't expect you, or I would've kept that on.”

The addition of Ezra’s shirt snapped Sabine out of her stunned state. Realizing that Ezra had caught her staring at him, she felt her face turn a violent shade of red in embarrassment and she looked pointedly in the opposite direction from where he was standing. 

“Oh, it's no problem. Sorry I interrupted,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Hera just sent me to come to get you. She needs help with a project for the Rebellion since she’ll be working on the ship all day.”

“Okay. Did she say what it was?” Ezra asked as he gathered up the equipment he'd been using to train. 

“She wants you to sort through files and fact-check some leaked Imperial intel,” Sabine replied. She was still avoiding looking in his direction. 

“Sounds riveting,” he said sarcastically as inspected the area to make sure he hadn't left any belongings behind. Once he was satisfied, he nodded to himself, then he turned to walk back towards where the Ghost was landed. 

“Well, I'm sure it's important intel.” Sabine finally looked back in his direction as they walked together, trying to offer him a smile of encouragement. If she was honest, the job didn't sound all that interesting but telling him that wouldn't help. 

“Probably not. If it were that important, Hera would have done it herself. I can't even be trusted to do a supply run by myself.” He flashed a smirk in Sabine’s direction to remind her of their trip to town together. 

“To be fair, it didn't seem like you minded having company…” she retorted. If he was going to bring up uncomfortable topics, then she was going to give it right back to him. 

“What do you mean by that?” Ezra stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Well if I hadn't gone with you, then you'd still be in the ‘never been kissed’ club,” Sabine said, smirking back at him and continuing to walk toward the ship. Ezra walked faster to catch up with her. 

“Well…” Ezra started, thinking hard about what to say as a good comeback. “That hardly counts as a real kiss, it was only on my cheek.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “AND your neck. I wouldn't have thought you'd forgotten about that one, considering how you reacted.” Sabine flashed a victorious grin, knowing that she'd got him on that one. Ezra immediately felt heat rising in his cheeks. 

Even though the conversation was regarding an uncomfortable topic, Sabine was feeling much more comfortable being around Ezra. Picking on him and messing with him was something she was used to, and she was thankful that they were back on joking terms. 

“Either way, it wasn't like it was a kiss on the lips. THAT would've been a real kiss.” Ezra knew it wasn't the wittiest thing to say, but it was the best his flustered brain could come up with. 

“Yeah, well you're not getting that lucky,” Sabine chuckled. “If that's your qualification, it looks like you're stuck in the ‘never been kissed’ club.”

“Well...that's…it's just that…” Ezra's brain couldn't think of an adequate response and Sabine's face was covered in a triumphant smirk. He hated how much better at witty banter she was. “Well, have YOU ever kissed someone for real?” he finally retorted. 

Sabine's eyes grew wide...she hadn't expected that question to come out of his mouth.

Thankfully, she was saved from answering the question because they arrived at the Ghost and Hera popped out from behind the ship. “Oh good, you're back!” Hera said with a smile. 

“Yeah, Sabine said you had a job for me?” Ezra asked, completely dropping his previous conversation. 

“I do, and it's an important one. In fact…” Hera thought for a moment, “Sabine you should help him out. It's a big job and it'll take a while with just one person. The two of you should be able to knock it out in one day.”

“Are you sure you don't need my help out here?” Panic quickly appeared on her face. While Sabine was slowly getting back to being comfortable around Ezra, that didn't mean that she wanted to spend hours alone with him where he could ask all sorts of personal questions and talk about what happened in the alley. 

“I think Chopper and I have it under control,” Hera answered assuredly. “The information you need is on the datapads in the lounge. I left them on the table for you.” 

Clearly, Hera hadn't noticed Sabine pleading with her eyes. 

“Thanks, Hera, we’ll get started right now!” Ezra said, completely oblivious to the fact that Sabine wasn't 100% on board with this plan. 

He marched up the Ghost’s ramp with a little extra pep in his step, while she trudged along behind. They found the datapads where Hera said they were and started on the project, sitting down on opposite sides of the table in the lounge. 

For the most part, they worked in silence, which Sabine was grateful for. She thought back to the way Ezra used to be. A few years ago and he would've been chattering away and getting no work done, but here he was now, taking this assignment seriously and not even stopping his work to look at her. She felt a swell of pride fill her insides -- he really had grown up a lot. 

After about an hour of work, Ezra looked up from his datapad. “Okay, I think I have a few things that seem to check out. We should cross-reference to make sure our research lines up.” 

He stood up and walked around the table to where she was, plopping down beside her on the bench. Sabine noticed that he was closer than they usually got to each other. Well, except in that alleyway, she thought. Ezra seemed oblivious to the matter, he was still fully invested in their project. 

It was shocking how focused he could be when he was actually trying. 

They began comparing their findings, searching for common threads or contradictions. They discussed the data, sharing their theories with each other, no hint of awkwardness in their conversation.

“I think this part here may actually be true, and if so, it could make a BIG difference on what steps the Rebellion takes next,” Sabine said, glancing down at her screen and pointing out some of her findings. 

“May I see?” Ezra asked, leaning close to look at the datapad. As he tilted towards her to read, he reached out his right hand to hold the datapad at a better angle. The whole left side of his body was leaning against her, and their faces were inches apart, but Ezra was so focused that he didn't notice. 

Sabine noticed. With their proximity, she noticed every movement he made and every breath he took. She watched his face as he scanned the data in front of him. He had scrunched his eyebrows in concentration, and the face he formed made her chuckle internally. He took in a deep breath as he read, and she felt his ribcage rise and fall against her side.

Once again, she started to sweat a little. 

“I think you're right! Here, take a look at what I have on that subject and read them together. They make more sense that way.” Ezra handed her his own datapad for her to compare the two sections. 

At that moment, it finally occurred to him how close they were sitting. 

He was tempted to move away, but then, Sabine had probably noticed by now and hadn't backed up, so maybe it didn't bother her. It certainly didn't bother Ezra -- he was quite enjoying being close to Sabine for the second time in the past few days. And, as he savored the moment, those old suppressed feelings threatened to resurface again. 

If he was honest with himself, the main reason he'd buried the feelings was that Sabine didn't return them. That certainly didn't mean that he'd stopped caring for her in that way, he just knew that nothing would happen between the two of them. Thankfully, battling the Empire and training to be a Jedi proved to be good distractions for his emotions, and so moving on hadn't been too hard. 

Plus, he just enjoyed being around her in general. Spending time together was amazing, whether as friends or something more. But now, he'd gotten a glimpse of the “something more” in the alley, and he had to admit that the desire to be close to her (and not in just a friendly way) was growing steadily each day. 

So Ezra didn't move. He stayed right where he was, leaning into Sabine and pretending to read over her shoulder. And the thought occurred to him, what if her mind has changed? What if she isn't opposed to the idea of ‘us’ anymore?  

Once the questions popped in his head, they bugged him. He needed answers, and there was only one way to find out. 

“So what do you think?” Ezra asked the question innocently, but as the words came out, he gently placed a hand on her knee. It was more physical contact than the two of them typically had, but there wasn't anything malicious about the touch. Ezra watched her face out of his peripheral vision to see her reaction. 

Sabine was reading the last bit of information when she noticed Ezra’s hand land on her knee. She wasn't used to having close contact with boys, considering that they usually found her to be intimidating. However, this touch wasn't disturbing, it was comforting, and she let out a small sigh. The tiniest smile started to form on her face, but then she realized Ezra was staring at her. He'd asked her a question and she'd completely missed it while in her daydream -- all because of the hand on her knee. 

“Umm…what...I'm sorry, what did you say? Sabine snapped herself out of her thoughts. 

“I said, what do you think? Do you think this intel checks out?” Ezra responded. 

He smiled to himself, he'd noticed the sigh that escaped her lips when he touched her. His heart was doing little leaps of joy in his chest over this small victory. Ezra decided not to make any further moves, to just enjoy this one little moment. 

“I think it looks good. We should definitely include this section in the report, but we've only finished about 25% of this so far. It looks like we'll be working on this for a while longer together.”

At the word ‘together,’ she looked up at him, neither of them realizing how close their faces had gotten in the past few minutes. She stared into his eyes, at a loss for words and once again losing her train of thought. 

Ezra stared back into her amber eyes. She was breathing more rapidly, and he could hear it clearly. Their faces were inches apart, and the situation was getting tenser each second. He was sure she could feel it too. 

“Well, I don't think that'll be so bad,” Ezra replied, much later than he'd intended to respond. 

“Working on this project all day long?” she asked. 

“Working on this project with you all day long,” Ezra responded, emphasizing the word ‘you’ and watching for her reaction. 

Sabine’s eyes softened and her mouth opened slightly, heart racing faster than normal. She was unsure what to say in this situation. They were just so close. Like they’d been in the alley, except this wasn't a distraction plot, this was all of their own free wills. She wasn't really thinking at the moment, her mind a haze of emotion and confusion, but her body betrayed her, moving her face a fraction of an inch closer to Ezra’s. 

The movement didn't go unnoticed. Ezra saw her inch closer and wondered if it was an invitation to do the thing he'd dreamed of doing years ago when he first met Sabine. His eyes flickered to her lips, watching for any telltale signs. 

But unfortunately, before Ezra could decide what to do, they heard footsteps on the ramp and the loud bickering of Kanan and Zeb. They were arguing about some creature they'd spotted while out running errands, and their sudden appearance startled Ezra, causing him to jump up out of his seat before they entered the room. He didn't want either of them to see him sitting so close to Sabine, the teasing that would follow from both parties was something he didn't want to endure. 

Ezra's sudden movement made Sabine blush, as she realized just how close they'd been and how they nearly… no, you can't think about that. You don't know if he was about to kiss you. It was probably all in your head. She told herself. 

She hid her face behind her datapad to cover her reaction, pretending to be engrossed in her work. And not a moment too soon, because Zeb and Kanan walked into the room in the next second. 

“Hey, you two!” Kanan said as they walked in. “Hera said you're working on a special project. How's it going?”

Both Ezra and Sabine were silent for a moment before Ezra attempted to fumble out a response. “Oh, umm...it's going great...just wonderful, we’re learning a lot...and things are, uh, good.”

Kanan and Zeb looked at him like he'd lost his mind. From behind her datapad, Sabine sent a glare in his direction. Couldn't he have played it cool? He sounds like a bumbling fool. 

“Okay...right then,” Kanan replied, saying the words slowly and unsure. Feeling Ezra’s embarrassment and Sabine’s unusually quiet presence, he started to sense that something was out of the ordinary. “Are you two okay? Something weird is going on…”

The blind Jedi didn't need to see them to feel the tension in the room. The Force was giving it all away.

“Nothing’s wrong, we were just really focused on the assignment!” Sabine interjected before Ezra got the chance to speak again. She didn't need him stumbling through another sentence and making things more awkward. 

“We've got quite a bit left to do, but since everyone’s back now, I think I'm going to go work in my room. It'll be quieter there.” Sabine got up, datapad in hand, and headed to her room. 

“Alright...well I'm starved,” said Zeb, completely unaware of the tension in the room. “We had a long walk back from the town. Do you want anything, Kanan?”

Kanan was still watching Ezra, trying to determine what was going on that they had walked in on. “No, I'm okay,” he said, not taking his eyes off of his padawan. Ezra avoided his gaze, then said “I'm going to go work in my room too. See ya later.”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3: THE TALK

Around 0300 that night, Ezra got up out of bed to go use the refresher. He'd been nervously drinking water every time he thought about what had almost happened with Sabine, and now he was paying the price for that choice. 

After he finished his business and left the refresher, he sleepily bumped his way through the ship back to his cabin. Ezra was almost back to his room when he heard a noise, halting in his tracks, he went to investigate. He followed the sound to the end of the ship, surprised to find the ramp open and Sabine sitting down on it. 

He was unsure if he should approach her or not, but she glanced over her shoulder and Ezra realized that he hadn't been very stealthy in his approach. There was no turning back around and leaving unnoticed now.

“Hey…” he started, not sure what else to say. 

“Hey...I couldn't sleep.” He hadn't asked why she was up, but she knew he was going to, so she gave her answer prematurely. 

“Oh,” he said, startled that she'd already given the answer to the question he was going to ask. It was like Sabine could read his mind. “I just got up to use the ‘fresher and heard a noise.” 

When she didn't say anything, he continued nervously, “I drank too much water today so I had to…” Ezra stopped in the middle of his sentence, realizing that he was babbling. “I'm sorry, you didn't need to know that,” he blushed. 

Sabine smiled to herself -- his awkwardness was entertaining and sometimes charming. She definitely wouldn't admit that to him or anyone else, though. 

“Can I join you?” he asked respectfully, keeping a safe distance until she answered. 

“Sure,” she responded, not even turning her head to look at him as he sat down beside her. 

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ezra spoke again. 

“I'm sorry,” he shared, not adding any details. 

“For what?” she asked, although she had a feeling she knew what he was about to say. 

“Earlier. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable...believe me, that's the last thing I want to do, and I just don't know…”

Sabine cut him off by holding up a hand. “It's okay. You didn't make me uncomfortable.”

“Oh. Umm...okay.”

Sabine could tell that Ezra was uncomfortable and didn't know what to do or say. In an attempt to give him some peace, she reached out and placed a hand on his knee. 

Ezra looked down at her hand, then moved his own off the ground next to him, as if to place it on top of hers. He seemed to think better of it though, and he put it back down on the ramp, fingers tapping on the cold metal nervously. 

Sabine could see his internal struggle, so to alleviate the awkwardness, she looked up at the sky and away from his face, pretending she hadn't witnessed anything. “Sometimes I like to come out here and look up at the stars when I can't sleep. It helps to clear my mind when I'm thinking about things.”

The line seemed to snap Ezra’s senses awake, and he turned to look at her face. “What were you thinking about tonight?” he questioned her, concern etched into his features. 

Sabine drew her hand back from his knee and looked away, not wanting to admit that her thoughts had been stuck on their encounter earlier. 

Ezra noticed her obvious reaction, and it didn't take his Jedi senses to tell him that she was stuck on the day's events. His feelings were making him bolder than usual, and he just had to ask. 

“Were you thinking about what happened earlier? Between us?” He stared her down, even though she wouldn't make eye contact. 

She didn't reply, continuing to look off in the opposite direction. It was all the answer that Ezra needed. Ezra wanted to ask her how she felt about their encounter, but he knew that it wasn't the right time. She had come out here to process her thoughts, and she clearly wasn't finished. 

He was quiet for a bit, and Sabine was thankful that he'd dropped the subject. She wasn't ready to discuss what had almost happened before Kanan and Zeb walked in. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it. 

The moment when they'd nearly kissed had been electrically charged with so many strange emotions, all thanks to their atypical actions during the supply run earlier in the week. She wasn't sure if the desire to kiss Ezra had been authentic or if it had just been the result of a series of unusual events, but she really hoped it was the latter. 

While she thought some more, Ezra flashed back through their day, processing everything that had gone on. “Hey, I just remembered. You never answered my question earlier. I asked if you'd ever kissed anyone,” he suddenly said, giving Sabine a curious glance. 

Sabine was startled by the sudden reappearance of the question she thought she’d avoided. She was, however, grateful that the conversation had turned away from their moments in the lounge. After avoiding so many of Ezra’s other questions, she didn't see how answering this one could hurt. 

“I haven't,” she replied quietly. “I chose not to date at the academy, and I didn't have time for it when I was a bounty hunter or when I joined this crew. There hasn't really been anyone to kiss.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Ezra could say. He was honestly surprised by her response. He expected her to have kissed at least a few boys. 

How on earth has someone not kissed her by now? I mean, she's gorgeous and smart and way cool. She’s the total package, he realized. 

Ezra’s eyes opened wide, surprised by his thoughts. He knew that the past few days’ events were making some of his past feelings about Sabine return, but now it seemed that they were back in full force. Sure, he wanted to kiss her when their faces were inches away and the tension was there back in the lounge, but that seemed like a normal teenage thing. 

What startled him most is that he wanted to kiss her now, or really anytime in the future. He wanted to hold her close and to tell her how he felt, and to spend all his time with her, and BOY, he had it bad. 

It was Ezra’s turn to look off to the side as he tried to hide the redness of his face. So his crush on Sabine had returned...or had it ever really gone away? He'd always carried an admiration for her, he'd just suppressed the other thoughts and feelings because he knew she didn't reciprocate. But now, with how close they'd come to kissing earlier today and all the intimate moments they’d shared, he was beginning to wonder if she might ever return his feelings. 

As Ezra's musings flooded his brain, Sabine sat there, running through her own thoughts. Ezra had been surprised that she hadn't kissed anyone before, and now that she thought about it, she was kinda surprised with herself. Most girls her age had kissed several boys by now. But then again, she had never been the same as other girls. 

Sabine knew that she wanted her kisses to mean something. She wasn't the kind of person who shared intimate details or moments with other people freely, and she wanted the person she kissed to be important to her. Very rarely had there been people in her life that qualified. 

She thought back to her friend at the academy. They'd been close, and she was almost certain that he'd had feelings for her at one point or another. Sabine had been too focused on her work at the time to reciprocate those feelings, so nothing ever happened. 

And since then, she'd only ever been close to another guy...Ezra. She recalled the afternoon. If Kanan and Zeb hadn't walked in, would she have kissed him? Or let him kiss her? 

She wouldn't have made the first move (she didn't want the blame for that). But, if Ezra had tried to kiss her... I probably would've let him. 

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and she sighed involuntarily. She glanced nervously at Ezra, not wanting him to notice her distress, but thankfully, he seemed to be lost in his thoughts and looking off in the opposite direction. 

She turned away from him and looked back at the ground. But surely, I don't like him...that way? I mean, he's my best friend. But then, she started to reminisce on everything from the past few days. 

She'd never thought of him as attractive before, but seeing him shirtless and noticing how tall he was and staring into those gorgeous blue eyes more than once had begun to change her mind on that matter. He really has gotten pretty attractive, she thought. 

She recalled the way he looked with his shirt off, practicing his lightsaber forms. She remembered watching the way his muscles moved and being surprised when he turned around and she saw his toned abs. No, he's not just attractive, he's...hot. 

The thought made heat rise in her face and she shifted uncomfortably where she was sitting. She didn't want to think of Ezra like that, he was just a kid when they picked him up, but now he'd turned into a man right in front of her and she didn't know how to feel about it. 

But just because you think he's hot doesn't mean you like him, she reassured herself. You're allowed to find people attractive and not have feelings for them. 

Before she could process more, Ezra stood up next to her, breaking the silence and crashing her back into reality. “I'm going back to bed. Are you staying here?”  he asked. 

“No, I think it's time that I go get some sleep,” she replied. He reached out a hand, and she took it, standing up. They were standing close together, once again, but Ezra noticed and took a step back. She could tell that he was trying to be respectful of her boundaries, and that realization made her appreciate him so much more.

They walked quietly back to the cabins, each swimming in their own thoughts. They stopped outside the doors across the hallway from each other. “So...goodnight,” he said, unsure of what else to add. 

Sabine could see the uncertainty and confusion on his face, and though she wasn't sure what caused it, she wanted to help. She thought back to how respectfully he'd treated her these past few days, minding her boundaries and backing off when she was uncomfortable. She wanted to do something nice for him to show her appreciation. 

“Ezra, wait.” She wasn't sure what made her say it, or what made her take that next action, but she acted on impulse. She took two steps to where he was standing and placed a hand on each of his shoulders, using the leverage to push herself up slightly and kiss his cheek. 

It was gentle and sweet, two things Sabine usually wasn't, but it perfectly expressed her appreciation for Ezra. After she kissed him, she backed away, noticing the look of surprise on his face, then walking back to her door. “Goodnight,” she said, before walking into her room. 

Ezra stood, bewildered, in the hallway. She'd kissed him on the cheek again, but he could tell that there was something behind it that was different. It wasn't a kiss of attraction, it was her way of thanking him or rewarding him. But for what, he couldn't figure out. 

He opened his own door and stumbled into his top bunk, Zeb snoring loudly on the bottom one. He thought for sure that his brain would never let him rest, after all that had happened. However, it turned out that all the thinking had exhausted him thoroughly, and he was asleep within minutes. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST

The next morning, Ezra was sitting in the lounge, eating breakfast with Zeb, when Sabine walked in. She was mostly ready for the day, showered, and dressed. Her hair was styled as it always was, and she had put on the minimal amount of makeup that she usually wore. The only thing different than usual was that she hadn't yet put on her armor, she was just wearing her bodysuit. 

Ezra had seen her in her bodysuit before, considering they'd lived together for a few years, but today was different. (Likely because of the events of the past few days.) He looked her up and down, admiring how she could be so muscular and tough but also so feminine at the same time. He watched her walk over to the kitchen area to prepare her food, how her hips swayed when she walked, and his eyes lingered a little too long on her backside. Wow, those pants look...good, he thought, then shook his head to snap himself out of it. He turned his attention back to his breakfast. 

Sabine had noticed him staring and was now smiling to herself as she made her food. She'd caught him checking her out! She couldn't be upset at him, after all, she'd been doing the same to him the past few days. Plus, she didn't interact with other guys her age too often, so it was nice to know that at least one guy found her attractive from time to time. 

Oddly enough, breakfast felt pretty normal after that. Sabine, Zeb, and Ezra chatted about their upcoming plans and the project that they were wrapping up today. They were all hopeful that the intel they'd received would be useful.

During their conversation, Hera and Kanan walked in, with Chopper at their heels. “So it looks like today is going to be pretty much the same as yesterday. I'll be working outside on the Ghost, and you two will be wrapping up that project.” She gestured to Sabine and Ezra. 

“What are we doing?” Zeb asked, looking at Kanan, then to Hera. 

“I have some chores for you two. The outside of the Ghost needs some cleaning. I discovered it when I was working the other day, by the time I was done I was covered in all kinds of galactic filth,” Hera replied, shuddering. 

“Chores?! What are we, children?!” Zeb complained. 

“Hey, everybody has to do their part, and this may be the only chance we get to work on this stuff. As soon as Sabine and Ezra sort through all those files, we’ll need to report back to the group with our findings.”

Zeb grumbled, but got up and followed Hera and Kanan outside to start working. Chopper rolled along after them, and once again, Ezra and Sabine were left alone. 

“Alright, well let's get started so we can get this information to the Rebellion,” Sabine said, then walked out of the room and went to her cabin. She picked up the datapad from her bed, then came back and sat down in front of Ezra. He'd brought his datapad with him to breakfast. 

“Are you not going to wear your armor today?” he asked, thinking that she was going to put it on when she went back to her room. 

“No, I just freshened up the paint this morning and I'm letting it dry. I figured that I'd better take the chance to repaint it now, considering we won't be going out today.” Then she added, “plus if I put it back on, I'd ruin your view.”

“What?” Ezra asked with a slight squeak in his voice. Had she noticed him staring?

“I caught you staring during breakfast,” she said. 

Ezra looked up at her face, expecting to see disappointment or disgust all over it, but was shocked to notice that she was wearing a triumphant smile. Is she flirting with me?

Ezra wasn't sure what to say to defend himself, but then a memory popped in his head from the day before. “Well, I was just returning the favor after you were ogling me yesterday.”

“What in the stars are you talking about?” Sabine said, shocked that he was keeping up with her teasing and throwing it right back. 

“When I was training yesterday...shirtless. I noticed you checking me out.” In all honesty, he wasn't sure if she'd been checking him out, but he thought it was fun to pick at her about it. 

Ezra’s teasing was rewarded by Sabine’s face turning red. She had been checking him out, but she didn't think he'd noticed, so she gave her excuse. “I wasn't ogling you, I was just surprised, that's all.”

“Surprised people usually don't stare that long,” Ezra said, flashing her a mischievous grin. 

Sabine was surprised at how suave he was being, perfectly executing this teasing and flirting banter. She started to feel the (by now) familiar heat rising in her face, so she looked down at her datapad. “Whatever, let's just get to work,” she mumbled. 

Ezra continued to stare at her for a moment, mouth agape. Shockingly, he had won this round. Had Sabine just admitted to checking him out when he was shirtless? The thought made a huge grin spread across his face. I guess all that intense Jedi training paid off in more ways than one. 

He turned to his work, sorting through the files to pull out the pertinent information. They worked in silence, both focusing on the task at hand. Every once in a while, Ezra discreetly glanced at Sabine, admiring the look of concentration on her face and the way that he could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she attempted to comprehend the data in front of her. 

Ezra knew she was much smarter than him. She'd been an excellent student at the academy, she was fluent in many languages, and she was nothing short of a genius when it came to art and explosives. Thinking about all her accomplishments and talents just made Ezra admire her more, and he was lost in those thoughts when she looked up at him. 

“Okay, I'm done with my set,” Sabine said, taking one more glance at her screen. 

“You're already done?!” Ezra replied in shock. He was only three-quarters through his files. She really is a genius, he thought. 

“Here, let me help you.” She came over and sat next to him, taking the datapad and dividing the remainder of the workload between them. 

Even though they were once again sitting next to each other, Ezra scooted further over this time, making sure to allow some space. They needed to finish this project, meaning that he didn't have time to be distracted by the fact that they were touching, or that he could once again smell her scent -- the mix of paint and something girly that he was still trying to figure out. 

She handed the datapad back to him and they started working again. For the second time she finished her set before he did, but this time she waited quietly for another 10 minutes while Ezra wrapped up his work. She watched him read, noticing the way that his eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. 

“All done,” he said, moving a little closer so they could compare results. They both managed to ignore the fact that they were sitting so close while they compiled the data and cross-referenced it with their work from the day before. 

“Well, it looks like we have some trends here,” Ezra said. “I think a good bit of this is going to be useful.”

“That's good news, especially since we spent so long sorting through all of it!” Sabine chuckled. 

“At least we had each other. I'd be working on this for three more days if you hadn't helped. Thank you.” Ezra replied, turning and smiling at her. 

“Well, it's not like I had a choice. Hera kind of made me do it.” She smiled back. “But you're welcome.” 

They stood up without another word and took their findings to Hera, who was still working outside. 

“Great work, you guys! As soon as I finish with these repairs, we’ll head out to meet the others. We’re going to rendezvous in space above Atollon because we’ll probably be sent out on a mission as soon as they decide what they want to do with the data. No need to go back to base.” Hera told them. 

“What kind of mission?” Ezra asked. 

“I don't know. It all depends on what you've uncovered here, and how it lines up with other intel we have. We’re probably going to hit the ground running as soon as we meet up with the others, so I suggest that you two take this time to rest. I'll say you've earned it.”

“Thanks, Hera,” Sabine replied, and she and Ezra headed back inside the ship. 

As they made their way up the ramp, Ezra turned to Sabine. “You hungry?” he asked.

“Yeah, I could eat.”

“Good, I'll make us some lunch then.” 

She followed him to the lounge and sat down at the table as he prepared some food for them both. As his back was to her she watched him work, following his movements. She had to admit, it was kind of attractive to watch him do something so...domestic, so...mundane. She was used to seeing him in action wielding a lightsaber and fighting the Empire, so to watch him do something so ordinary showcased a side of him she didn't often see. And she liked it. 

He finished making their lunch and set the plates down on the table. “Thank you,” Sabine said, smiling at him. “You're quite welcome,” he replied. 

They ate in silence, then as they were finishing up, Ezra asked, “so what did you do to your armor? How'd you paint it this time?”

“Oh, it's really cool! You want to come and see?” she asked, her face lighting up with excitement.

“Sure!” Ezra responded enthusiastically. He cleaned up their plates, then followed Sabine to her cabin. 

They walked into the room and Sabine showed him her armor with a fresh coat of paint and new designs all over. “Sabine, it looks amazing!” he told her. He had always admired her work, even if he didn’t know much about art. 

Sabine smiled, thankful that he appreciated her hard work. “Thanks! I thought it was time to switch things up a bit.” She went through the various designs on each piece, explaining them to Ezra. They discussed her unique style and talked about the designs that Mandalorians typically used on their armor. Sabine was grateful to have this conversation with Ezra -- there weren't many people who she could talk to about her art, and even though Ezra didn't fully understand, he'd become a much better listener. 

As they wrapped up their discussion of Mandalorian armor, she picked up a few of the pieces to test and see if the paint was dry. “Well, my pieces are pretty dry, so it looks like I can put them back on...” She thought for a moment, then a devious smile spread across her face. Here was a chance to get back at Ezra for his comments this morning. “...unless you don't want me to.”

Ezra looked up at her and saw the smirk on her face. Somehow, the mischievous look made him more nervous, and he had a hard time getting his words out. “No...it's just...I mean if you...well...it's up to you,” he choked. 

“Are you sure?” She asked with feigned innocence. She took a few steps towards him, knowing it would make him just the right amount of uncomfortable. She stood right in front of him, acting as if she was about to press her body against his. She noticed the look of utter bewilderment on his face and then burst into laughter. 

He realized what was going on, a look of shock coming over his face. “I don't believe you!” He retorted, glaring at her. 

She chuckled and walked away from him, saying over her shoulder, “that's payback for earlier!”

“Well, you're going to pay for that!” Ezra said, marching toward her. Sabine took off, running out of her room and down the hall, and Ezra chased after her. They ran through the Ghost, Sabine barely jumping out of his way when she came to a dead end. As they bolted into the cargo hold, Sabine knocked over some crates to distract him. 

It worked, because by the time Ezra had used the Force to put them back in place, Sabine was gone. He headed off in the direction she ran, but searched most of the ship and couldn't find her. He smirked to himself, realizing that he had a bit of an advantage in this situation. 

He reached out with the Force, searching for answers, and could feel her specific signature in the direction of his cabin. Of course! I wouldn't have thought to look in my own room. She really was clever. 

He walked to his room and he opened the door, standing off to the side so that she couldn't see him from inside. Curiosity got the better of her and she stepped into the doorway. Ezra seized the opportunity and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her so she couldn't escape. 

“Ha! I got you!” Ezra said triumphantly. Realizing she was trapped, Sabine kicked her leg against his to knock him over. The move backfired though, because they both went tumbling to the ground. Ezra stuck his arms out to stop himself from landing on top of her and she hit the ground below him. 

“Sabine! Are you okay?!” he asked with concern. He was now hovering over her with his hands planted on the floor on either side of her shoulders. 

“Yeah, it's going to take more than that to take me down.” She smiled at Ezra. “I guess you got me, though.”

He smiled back, “yeah I did.”

“So what are you going to do?” she asked, staring into his eyes with a look of defiance. 

“I didn't really think that far,” Ezra chuckled. “I guess I thought I wouldn't win.”

He looked back at her and suddenly realized the predicament they were in, her laying on the floor with him perched over her. He wasn't sure whether or not he should move, but even if he wanted to, his body wouldn't let him. 

Sabine's eyes scanned over his face as she too realized their position. She honestly didn't mind Ezra being this close, it was exhilarating. She watched his chest rise and fall above her as he caught his breath from the running and tackling. 

Staring into his eyes, a switch flipped somewhere deep inside, and she suddenly sat up on her forearms, placing her face inches from Ezra’s yet again. She could feel her heart thump-thumping against her chest as she looked back and forth between his eyes, searching them for his reaction. 

Ezra didn't break eye contact, but inside he was screaming. What’s she doing? Why's she so close? I think I'm going to pass out. He used a Jedi trick to calm his heart rate and slow his mind, but he didn't dare close his eyes for fear of scaring her off. 

They stayed there for a moment, just inches away from each other, both wondering what the other was going to do. All caution thrown to the wind, Sabine lifted her head up, incrementally closer to Ezra’s. 

He noticed the movement, at the same time feeling a nudge from the Force -- somewhat like an instinct. He closed the gap between them slowly, tilting his head slightly to the side. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he pressed his lips to hers. 

It was as if electricity shot through both of their bodies. What began as a gentle peck turned more passionate, lips locking with all the pent-up tension from the past few days. 

Both of their heads were spinning and hearts were pounding, and neither wanted the moment to end. The kiss alternated between soft and firm, both of them bursting with desire. After half a minute, they were forced to separate, feeling the need to come up for air. Their lips parted slowly and as they caught their breath, Ezra gently rested his forehead on hers. 

He closed his eyes and meditated just a little to calm himself. As his eyes reopened, he looked at Sabine, whose eyes were now closed as well. He realized that his arms were starting to ache from holding himself up, and he knew that she couldn't be very comfortable either. 

Reluctantly, Ezra pushed himself up and stood. He reached out a hand to Sabine, who took it, and he pulled her up as well. 

They stood a few feet apart from each other, neither one wanting to speak and ruin the moment. Silently, they walked over to the door, and Ezra opened it. Sabine walked out and across the hall to her bedroom, opened her door, and walked in. Ezra leaned in the doorway and watched her go, thankful for some time alone to collect himself. 

He backed out of his doorway and closed the door, then moved to sit on his floor so he could meditate. Before he began, he smiled to himself...he'd just had his first kiss!

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 5: THE AFTERMATH

Sabine paced her room, not sure whether to be upset or elated. On the one hand, she'd just had her first kiss with a boy who she found to be incredibly attractive, and she could still feel the butterflies in her stomach. 

On the other hand, she'd just had her first kiss with Ezra. The boy who had been her best friend for ages and who slept across the hall. If things got weird now, there would be no way to avoid him. 

She muttered to herself, “stupid Sabine! Stupid!” But she didn't truly mean it. She laid down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about the kiss. 

It was...amazing. There was really no other way to describe it. Even though it was the first kiss for both of them, it felt like the 50th -- it was so comfortable and natural. The way he'd kissed her with such passion and longing made her want to melt into a puddle. 

Even now, thinking about it made her body temperature rise. It was a much better experience than she'd anticipated, and it was incredibly difficult to wish it hadn't happened. 

In fact, the only reason why she was truly upset was the feelings the kiss was giving her. She wasn't used to facing them, and she knew that at some point, Ezra would want to talk about it. He'd want to know if the kiss was a one-and-done or if it was indicative of something more meaningful. And honestly, she didn't know. All that she knew at this moment was that she did, at least, think Ezra was pretty handsome and that she had enjoyed the kiss. She wasn't ready to dive any deeper than that.

At some point, Sabine’s thoughts tired her out and she fell asleep. She woke up later, unaware of the time or how long she'd been napping. The rest had done her good, considering she hadn't slept much the night before. 

She sat up on her bed and looked at her armor drying in the corner. She thought about putting it on but then decided that she would wait until the meet-up with the other members of the Rebellion. In the back of her mind, she secretly knew that she liked the way Ezra looked at her when she wasn't wearing it.

Ugh. Stop thinking about him like that, she reminded herself. 

She opened her door and walked out into the hallway, headed for the lounge. By now, it was surely time for dinner, and her stomach was growling a little. She realized as she walked that it didn't feel like the ship was on the ground anymore -- they must have been in transit to meet up with Sato and the others. 

As she came into the lounge, she saw Zeb and Kanan playing a game of holochess, while Chopper stood nearby and taunted them both. 

“Hey Sabine! Haven't seen you in a while,” Zeb said while making his next move. 

“Yeah, I fell asleep and just woke up. What time is it?”

“It's about 1800. We took off around an hour ago, should be there in 3,” Kanan answered. 

“Well I should be wide awake for the briefing when we get there, I must've slept 3 or 4 hours.” Sabine sighed, thinking about the fact that she'd have a hard time going to sleep tonight. 

“Stars, Sabine! What'd you nap that long for?” Zeb asked. 

“I had a hard time sleeping last night.” She paused for a moment, then asked as innocently as possible, “where's Ezra?”

“He was in our room doing that Jedi meditating thing last I saw him,” Zeb shared. 

“Someone ask about me?” Ezra spoke from behind them, suddenly appearing in the doorway. Sabine instinctively stiffened, surprised by his presence. 

“Well, that's freaky. Sabine just asked where you were,” Zeb said. “Was that some weird Force trick?

“Nope, just good timing I suppose,” Ezra answered. He smiled at Sabine, glad to know that she was asking about him. A smile nearly crept across her face in return before she looked away quickly. 

At that moment, they heard Hera call from the cockpit. “Ezra, Sabine, is that you? Can the two of you come up here?”

They headed to the cockpit where they found Hera checking the flight data. She glanced up from their task, looking at them gratefully. “Great, you're both out of your rooms now. I need you to go run diagnostics on the Phantom. It was the only thing we didn't get a chance to do before takeoff, and I wanted to give Zeb and Kanan a break since they scrubbed the ship all day.”

“Sure thing, Hera. We’ll get it done.” Ezra smiled at her assuredly, but he noticed that Sabine didn't share his enthusiasm. They left and made their way to the Phantom alone...and in silence. 

Ezra started the process using the ship’s navicomputer, while Sabine sat down in the copilot seat and stared out the front viewport. As he continued working, she remained eerily quiet, only moving when he asked for her help, then going back to her seat. 

Ezra could tell something was bothering her, and the anxiety in the pit of his stomach grew until he couldn't resist asking her the question on his mind. It fumbled out of his mouth before he could stop the words. 

“Did I make you uncomfortable earlier? I didn't want to do anything wrong, I just thought...you seemed like you wanted...but now you're upset and I just...is it my fault?” 

Sabine looked up at him and saw the concern etched into the features of his face. He was genuinely worried about her feelings. She didn’t know what to say, but she wanted to ease his fears. 

“No, you didn't do anything wrong. I do feel a little weird about what happened earlier, but I kinda pushed you to do it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ezra asked. 

Talking was the last thing she wanted to do. 

“I'm not really ready to. I'm still trying to process my thoughts.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Sabine was surprised that he conceded so easily, but then again, he'd been full of surprises this week. 

They continued to work in silence, Sabine sitting with her thoughts as she worked through the Phantom’s list of necessary repairs. Ezra was unsure of what to say, so he remained quiet out of fear that he might say the wrong thing. 

It took them about an hour to get everything prepped according to the diagnostic’s results. Once completed, Sabine stood up to head back down to the Ghost. As she turned to leave, Ezra reached out and gently grabbed her by the arm. 

She stopped in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder into Ezra’s pleading eyes.

“Can I just ask one thing?” Sabine nodded her head and he continued timidly. “How was it?” 

“How was what?” Sabine asked. 

“The kiss. Was it good or bad?”

Sabine’s heart fluttered. It really was adorable -- how he was so concerned about doing everything the right way. It normally wasn’t a question she would want to answer, but if she wasn’t ready to talk to him about her feelings or their relationship, the least she could do was be honest with him about the kiss. 

Sabine grinned broadly. “Ezra, it was...excellent.” 

His jaw dropped, but then a proud smile spread across every inch of his face. She smirked at him, knowing how much happiness that one comment gave him. 

He stood there, long after she'd left to go tell Hera they were finished, smiling like a fool. He didn't know what conclusion she'd come to about the whole situation, but at least he'd delivered an ‘excellent’ kiss. 

Obviously, Ezra hoped that Sabine would choose to be with him. The kiss they'd shared had only made him like her more, and now he couldn't stop thinking about how he wanted to do it again. Except for next time, he wanted to wrap his arms around her, hold her close, and take his time. The thought sent a pleasant shiver down his spine, and he grinned even broader. 

But I can't try anything, or I'll scare her away. She's already unsure of how she feels, so I need to give her some space. I'll take some time to be her friend, and hopefully, she’ll come around eventually. 

Having formulated his plan, Ezra went back to the lounge where he joined Zeb and Kanan in a few games of holochess. Sabine wasn't in there, and he didn't see her again until she emerged from her room nearly two hours later. Now, she was fully dressed in her armor in preparation for meeting up with the other rebels. 

Not long after Sabine emerged, they docked with the Phoenix Nest and disembarked, heading to their meeting with Sato. Once the Spectres were gathered in the ship’s command center, Hera presented the intel that Ezra and Sabine had gathered. Sabine led the officers through their findings and Ezra watched her every move, admiring her intelligence and leadership skills as she spoke.

After Sabine explained all the important points, it was decided that the Ghost crew would be heading to another system to intercept a weapons shipment for the Empire. It was going to be a challenging job, but if executed properly, they would get some extra weaponry for the Rebellion and could possibly make some allies on the small manufacturing planet that the Empire was most certainly taking advantage of. 

The meeting only lasted about half an hour before Hera and her crew were sent on their way. They needed to leave immediately, considering they'd have about a 10-hour trip. They got back on the Ghost and took off, launching into hyperspace. 

Once they were on their way, everyone began to settle back into their routines. They had a few hours to relax and rest before they'd need to start preparing for the mission. Since it was getting late, each of the Spectres started winding down for the night and getting ready for bed. 

Ezra went to his room and gathered up a new set of clothes to take a shower. He passed Sabine in the hallway on the way to the refresher. He wanted to stop and talk to her but knew that she needed more time, so he just smiled and continued on his way. 

The whole time he was in the shower, Sabine consumed his thoughts. How smart she was, how funny, how much he loved to be around her. He pictured her gorgeous face and stunning eyes and blushed a little thinking about her physique. 

But most of all, he thought about their kiss. It was warm and inviting, but also hot and passionate. It had carried all the tenderness of two longtime friends but at the same time made his insides burn. All he wanted was to kiss her more, to kiss her longer, and to hold her close while doing it. He wanted to put his hands on her waist and press their bodies close together like they were back in the alleyway. 

Suddenly, he felt the water turn cold and it made him jump, knocking all thoughts of Sabine out of his brain. He realized that he'd probably been in the shower too long, so he rinsed off, then stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked over to the sink and stared into the mirror that hung above it, wiping the fog away. Looking at his reflection, he smiled. You've got this, Bridger. She already kissed you, so all you have to do is keep your cool and maybe she’ll fall for you. 

And if not, she still kissed you and it was AWESOME.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6: THE DANCE

The next morning, everyone was up earlier than usual to be prepared for their landing. They were traveling to some planet whose name Ezra couldn't pronounce or spell, and they were due to land in about half an hour. 

Everyone ate breakfast in silence as they all yawned and stretched with sleepiness. Kanan came around and handed steaming cups of caf to each of them in an attempt to make everyone more lively. They knew that today would be a long day -- the weapons drop was supposed to happen at some point this evening, but they didn't know when or where. They would likely be spending most of the day trying to gather more intel. 

A few minutes later, Hera landed the Ghost in the middle of a grassy field outside of the planet’s biggest city. Everything here was lush and green, and the weather was mild with a nice breeze. 

“Wow, if we weren't coming here for a mission, I'd think we were on vacation!” Ezra said as they all stepped off the ship and took a look around. 

“Seriously, this place is beautiful!” Sabine exclaimed. "Look how colorful everything is!"

And she was right...everything on this planet was vivid. The plants were bright green with boldly colored flowers, and the sky was bluer than they'd seen on most planets they'd visited. They were all looking around and admiring the scenery still when Hera walked up behind them. 

“Okay, I just got off a call with Sato. The good news is that we got more intel overnight and we now know where and when the weapons transfer is happening. The bad news is that it looks like we're going to have to do a pretty complicated undercover job...and we only have until tonight to plan for it,” Hera shared with them. 

She motioned for them to follow her back inside the Ghost so their plans wouldn't be overheard. They all sat down in the lounge to go over the information that Sato had sent. 

“So, here’s what we know,” Hera continued. “There's an Imperial Academy located in the main city not far from here. Tonight, they're having a big party to celebrate graduation. Because the party will draw everyone to the main areas of the building and attract the attention of most of the citizens, it’s the perfect distraction for the weapons shipment.”

“Why does there need to be a distraction? It's the Empire. Can't they just ship their weapons in whenever they'd like?” Ezra asked. 

“Well, it turns out that some of these weapons aren't exactly legal,” Hera answered. “We're not entirely sure what they are, but we know they've got to be pretty bad for the Empire to go to all this trouble.”

“All the more reason for us to take them off their hands!” Kanan interjected. 

“Exactly.” Hera continued, “so we need to get inside the academy to find out what's going on, and the best way to do that is to go undercover at this party. Sabine, since you've got the most knowledge of what these places are like, you'll be undercover as a student. Ezra, you'll also be a student, posing as Sabine’s date for the evening.”

Sabine’s face remained calm, but inside she was freaking out a little. The prospect of going on a date with Ezra, even a fake one, intrigued her and made her panic at the same time. She glanced at Ezra to see his reaction to this news, but surprisingly, he didn't do anything out of the ordinary. 

Hera went on, “Kanan will be dressed up like a Stormtrooper. Thankfully, we kept that armor from the last time he went undercover. He’ll be able to help out the two of you on the inside if you need it.” She motioned to Sabine and Ezra. 

“Zeb and Chopper will be with me on the Ghost, hidden nearby. If and when you need help, I'll send them in. Is everything clear?”

Everyone nodded, and Hera smiled. “Now, we've just got about 8 hours to prep for tonight. Let’s get started!” 

They spent the next two hours poring over the schematics and maps for the academy building. Once everyone was familiarized, Hera stood up and said, “Great, looks like we've got this down. Sabine and I need to go into town and do some shopping, so you guys get the comms set up and update Sato on our progress.”

The girls changed into slightly less conspicuous clothing to go into town, meaning that Sabine had to leave her armor behind. She did, however, make sure that she had at least 6 different weapons hidden on her body in various places. No need to travel unprepared. 

The walk into town wasn't very long, and soon they were turning onto the main street. “So, what are we shopping for?” Sabine asked. 

“I think you already know…” Hera smiled knowingly at Sabine, sure that she wouldn't like the answer. 

“A dress?! I don't want to put on a dress!” Sabine complained, rolling her eyes. 

“You know you have to -- this is a fancy party and it's the only way you'll fit in. You can't go marching in there with your armor on, especially this far from Mandalore.”

Sabine had known that she'd have to dress up, but that didn't make her any less uneasy about it. They'd had balls during her time at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore, but she'd never gotten to attend one. She got the gist of what they were like though...a bunch of teenagers dressing up in evening gowns and suits to awkwardly flirt with one another while eating tiny portions of food and dancing uncomfortably. It wasn't really her idea of fun. 

They continued walking down the crowded sidewalk until they made it to a local shop that sold formalwear. They explained to the clerk why they were there, she took one look at Sabine, then pulled out 6 different gowns for her to try on. A very overwhelmed Sabine went to try them on while Hera scanned the racks for a suit in Ezra’s size. 

After about 15 minutes, Hera wandered to the back of the shop where Sabine was trying on dresses behind a curtain. “Sabine, how's it going?” Hera asked.

“Not my favorite thing I've ever done, but I think I've found one that's not entirely terrible.” She pulled back the curtain to show Hera the dress she was wearing. 

“Woah, Sabine you look great!” Hera exclaimed. “And that will match perfectly with the suit I picked out for Ezra. She motioned to the shop’s clerk, who came over to where they were standing. “We'd like to get that dress and this suit.” The clerk nodded, and Hera went to pay for the outfits while Sabine changed back into her disguise, wishing that she could put her familiar armor back on. 

With the clothes in bags, the girls headed back to the ship to finish their preparations for the evening. As a group, everyone spent the next hour and a half discussing their plans, making sure each of them knew exactly what to do, and attempting to cover every possibility in case something went wrong. 

By the time they'd discussed the plan for the third time, Sabine excused herself to go get ready. Ezra assumed she meant that she'd be going to prepare her weapons...until Hera pulled a suit out of a bag and handed it to him. 

“What's this?” he asked. 

“Your outfit for tonight. You didn't think you'd be wearing that did you?” Hera questioned him, eyeing the orange jacket that he always wore. 

“I guess I didn't think about it. I should probably go and shower if I'm going to wear this thing.” He grabbed the suit and made his way down the hall to the refresher. 

An hour and a half later, Ezra was showered and dressed in his suit. He was hanging out in the lounge with Zeb and Kanan, the latter of which was wearing Stormtrooper armor, the helmet sitting on the table in front of him. 

They were double-checking their comlinks to make sure everything was working when Hera and Sabine walked in. Hera was dressed, as usual, in her pilot's outfit, but Sabine was wearing something Ezra never expected to see...a dress. 

Ezra's mouth fell open as he stared in utter shock at Sabine. She was wearing a sleek black gown with straps and a v-neck that made Ezra want to stare at places he'd get in trouble for staring at. It was made of a silky material that hugged her curves, and the skirt flared out slightly past her hips. 

She'd pinned her hair up in a way that Ezra couldn't understand or describe, except that it pulled the hair back away from her face and he could properly see all her features. His eyes traced her face, and he realized that she was wearing much more makeup than she usually did. 

He thought it was odd to see Sabine wearing black, considering she was usually so colorful, but then he started to notice the touches of color in her outfit. Her eyeshadow was bold, made to look like a sunset, and her lipstick was a vivid red. She had dangly earrings that were multiple colors (he could tell she'd painted them herself) and bracelets to match. Somehow, even when wearing something so different than what she usually did, she'd managed to work in her individual touches. 

“Wow...Sabine...you look, uh, amazing.” Ezra was at a loss for words and that was the best he could manage. 

“Well, if Ezra’s really as shocked as I sense that he is, then I'm sure you look stunning Sabine,” Kanan added with a smirk. The blind Jedi’s comment got laughs from the rest of the crew, making Ezra’s face turn red as he fiddled with his necktie. 

“Okay, okay,” Hera began, and Ezra was thankful for a change of subject. “Here is your identification info in case you two need to give proof of anything or get in any trouble. It should also get you basic access to the building.” She handed an ID card to both Sabine and Ezra. 

“We’re going to land as close as we can to the Imperial Academy, and then your ID cards should get you in through all the main doors. Kanan shouldn't be too obviously out of place once he's got the helmet on, but you two aren't supposed to be outside the building, so you'll have to be careful,” Hera said. 

“Aren't we always?” Ezra replied with a chuckle, making Hera smile in return. 

Hera headed to the cockpit and within minutes, they were flying towards their new landing zone. There was another wooded area with a grassy clearing not very far away from the academy, which provided a well-hidden place for Hera, Zeb, and Chopper to wait. 

After one last quick review of the plan, Ezra and Sabine in their formal clothes, plus Kanan in full Stormtrooper armor, headed towards the main building. They made it to the edge of the forest and peered out towards the academy.

“They've got bucketheads guarding every door!” Sabine exclaimed. “We need a distraction if we’re ever going to get inside.” 

Ezra pulled out his comlink and said, “Hey Zeb, we need you to create a distraction. You got something?”

Zeb replied, “Yeah, Sabine left a few distractions for me to use if we need them.” He chuckled and Ezra and Sabine looked at each other, understanding exactly what Zeb meant. 

They waited in the cover of the trees only a few minutes before they saw an explosion erupt on the far right side of the main building. The Stormtrooper guards went running in the direction of Zeb’s distraction, giving Ezra, Sabine, and Kanan the perfect opportunity to make a break for it. 

They ran across the open field and toward the building’s back door. Thankfully, Ezra’s ID card opened the door and they sneakily entered the building. 

“Okay, so we’re on the ground floor, and we need to get to level 10 for the ball. There should be a lift down the hall from here,” Sabine whispered to her companions. 

They headed down the hallway and thankfully didn't run into any more troopers or Imperial officers. They boarded the lift and headed for level 10. 

“Remind me why we need to go to the party if we’re already in the building,” Ezra said, pulling at his uncomfortable shirt collar.

“Because...the guy that we’re spying on will be at the party, and we have to keep an eye out for when he leaves. He'll be the one conducting the transaction.” Sabine looked up at the numbers on the lift’s display, watching them get closer to 10. 

The lift stopped on their floor and the doors opened, only to reveal a pair of Stormtroopers waiting in the hall. One of them looked surprised at Ezra and Sabine’s presence and spoke to Kanan, “Trooper! What are you doing with these cadets? They should be at the party!”

Kanan thought for a moment, then answered. “They were working clean-up in the commissary as punishment for misbehavior. I was tasked with bringing them to the party after they finished to make sure they don't get into more trouble.”

The troopers looked at Ezra and Sabine, giving them a once-over. Then the one on the left spoke again, “Very well. Make sure they don't get into any more mischief tonight.”

“I will sir.” Kanan grabbed Ezra and Sabine by the shoulders and steered them out of the lift and down the hall. Once they were out of sight of the troopers, they stopped. 

“Okay, Ezra and I are going to head to the ball, going in the main entrance with the rest of the cadets. Kanan, you just find a way to blend in with the security detail. We should have some time before our guy leaves the party and we have to trail him.” Sabine looked at the guys to make sure they understood, then the group split up, the younger two heading for the ball.

Ezra offered his arm to Sabine and she took it as they walked -- they had to make this look believable. She had to admit, they were quite the attractive couple tonight, all decked out in their fancy clothes. She didn't really mind seeing Ezra in a suit, and she could tell that he was enjoying the view in return. Her dress was definitely more revealing than what he was used to seeing her in. 

As they approached the double doors to the common area where the ball was being held, they spotted a trooper guarding the entrance with identification scanners. Ezra wasn't worried about his ID card, considering it had already gotten him in the building. However, when Sabine's card was scanned and they were let inside, he released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. 

The inside of the room was stunning. Glittering lights hung from the ceiling and vibrant and luxurious fabrics were draped on the walls. One part of the room was home to a large dance floor, while the other part was covered in tall tables scattered about, big enough for a few people to stand around comfortably. 

The room was filled with a few hundred people, some older officers, but most were cadets from the academy. Many of these cadets Ezra guessed to be around his age, and they were all dressed in fancy clothes the same as he was. Guys in suits and women in elegant dresses filled the room. 

They walked around the main area of the room for a few minutes, taking in their surroundings. “We need to be able to look for our guy without drawing suspicion. If we just walk around like this and stare at people, they’ll know something’s up,” Sabine reasoned. 

“Okay, so what should we do?” Ezra asked her. 

“Wanna dance?” Sabine smiled and grabbed his hand, not waiting for his answer to walk them both towards the dance floor. 

They came to a stop on the edge of the floor, and Sabine pulled Ezra close to her, wrapping her arms around his neck. Ezra tentatively put his hands on her waist, unsure of what he was doing. 

Apparently, he'd made the right move, because they began swaying in time to the music. As they glided around the dance floor, they both kept their eyes and minds alert, looking for the officer they were supposed to be spying on. 

“Well, he's not on this side of the room. Maybe he isn't here yet,” Sabine said dejectedly. 

“Should we go look over by the tables again?” Ezra offered. 

“We’ll head back that way in a minute. We can't leave the dance floor now or it'll draw attention, we better finish this song.”

Ezra may have imagined it, but it seemed that Sabine moved just a little bit closer after that sentence. As they swayed in time to the slow song, she rested her head on his shoulder. 

Ezra smiled and thought to himself, maybe wearing this annoying suit and going undercover isn't so bad after all.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7: THE KISS

What is happening?! Sabine thought to herself. You're wearing a dress and you're snuggling up to Ezra like a lothcat! It's like you're a completely different person tonight!

She frowned slightly as she rested her head on Ezra’s shoulder, but then another thought occurred to her. Well, I'm undercover, I'm not supposed to be myself. Ezra and I are pretending to be a couple and this is what couples do. The idea comforted her, even though she knew deep down that the cover story wasn't the reason she was snuggling him close. 

The past week or so had been a whirlwind. From those cozy moments in the alley to realizing just how much Ezra had changed physically. Then there were the times they almost kissed, followed by the time they did. Things had moved so fast since then that she hadn't had very much time to comprehend what was going on or to decide how she felt about it. 

Sabine knew that she was attracted to Ezra and that she valued his company, but she wasn't quite sure if those two things added up to make her like him…in that way. 

But right now, she could get away with being close to him and claim it was all a part of their ruse. She could enjoy his physical attention without worrying about the “feelings” part. Maybe wearing this annoying dress and going undercover isn't so bad after all. 

A few moments later, the song ended and the “couple” headed back to the tables. They chose a table to camp out at, and Ezra walked away to go get them some beverages and hors d'oeuvres. 

Under the guise of having dropped her purse, Sabine ducked under the table and commed Kanan. “Spectre 5 to Spectre 1, do you read me?” 

Kanan answered on the other end, “This is Spectre 1. I'm outside the main entrance to the party. Watching to see who comes and goes.”

“Good. We’re scoping things out in here, but we haven't seen our guy yet. Let us know if he comes in your entrance.”

“Will do. Gotta get back to my post. Spectre 1 out.”

Sabine tucked the comlink back into the small purse she was carrying and stood up. She continued to scan the room until Ezra returned with their drinks and snacks. 

“Here’s your drink, it's some kind of punch. And as far as snacks go, they had roasted ronto and sliced meiloorun, which were the only things on the table I recognized.”

“You didn't want to be more adventurous?” Sabine teased. 

“You know, I think we’ll get plenty of adventure elsewhere tonight,” Ezra said with a wink. 

“You're probably right. Plus, it's not like we don't get enough in our daily lives.”

“Yeah, especially this last week. A lot has happened in a few days,” Ezra said, staring at the meiloorun slice on his fork. 

Sabine was saved from replying to Ezra’s musings because her comlink buzzed, signaling a call from Kanan. “Cover me,” she said to Ezra, and he blocked her from view as she answered the call. 

“Is he here?” Sabine asked Kanan. 

“Yep, walking in through the main entrance now. Has some other guys with him, probably officers.”

“Thanks for the heads up, we've got it from here. Although it may not be bad if you can get yourself stationed inside the party in case we need assistance,” she shared. 

“I'll do my best.”

Sabine hung up the call and stowed the comlink again. “Do you see him?” she asked Ezra. 

“He's over by the door with a large group of other officers. He's the guy on the far right.”

Sabine looked at where Ezra was describing. Their guy was human, probably in his mid-forties with short-cropped hair and a mustache that was past stubble, but not full enough to look right. He was dressed in a midnight blue suit that looked a tad too small, considering the jacket wouldn't button in front of his round belly. 

His name was Sergeant Misco Ruxton, he was one of the academy’s instructors. From their intel, they knew that he wasn't particularly skilled or talented, but that he'd lied and blackmailed his way into his current position. Based on his background, it seemed fitting that he would be the one in charge of illegal weaponry shipments. 

They watched Ruxton shake hands with about a dozen different officers and instructors for the next 15 minutes, then retreat into a corner of the room closer to the dance floor. He and his colleagues looked to be discussing something suspicious. 

Sabine commed Kanan again. “Hey, we need you to get closer to Ruxton. He's in the corner by the dance floor, but we can't hear what he's saying.”

“I'm already on it! I'm the trooper standing just a few meters away.” Kanan turned his head and discreetly nodded in their direction. “I can hear about half of what they're saying, but I have to stay far enough away to not seem suspicious.”

“Great! We’ll head to the dance floor to get a better visual.” Sabine put the comlink away and grabbed Ezra by the hand, pulling him back to the dance floor. 

Throughout their time watching the Sergeant, they danced three fast songs and two slow ones. Both were too focused on their mission to notice each other until Ezra pulled his eyes away from Ruxton to glance at Sabine during the second slow song. 

“Where'd you learn to dance?” he asked her, realizing how skillfully she'd been moving. 

“I learned a lot of the things that most teens did. I wasn't completely abnormal.” She smiled at him. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“My parents loved to dance. It was all for fun back then, but when I lived on my own, I'd sometimes sneak into various parties in town. I'd watch the people dance and sing and laugh...it helped me forget some of my problems for a little bit.”

Sabine stared into his eyes. His answer was so much more meaningful than she'd expected and it surprised her. 

“You know, you're pretty special,” Sabine said to Ezra, smiling gently. 

“Is that a good special or a bad special?” he chuckled. 

“I think…” Sabine started, but she didn't get to finish. Her comlink buzzed and she pulled it out of her bag, holding it between hers and Ezra’s bodies as she pulled him close to hide it from view. 

“Yes, Kanan?” 

“Ruxton is on the move! You guys follow him directly, I'll try to meet you there but I have to be careful when wearing this disguise.”

Sabine jerked her head up and looked around. Sure enough, Ruxton wasn't where he'd been before, instead she spotted him heading for a back hall exit. 

“Got it!” she hurriedly answered Kanan. She and Ezra made their way as rapidly across the room as they could without arousing suspicion. 

Ruxton disappeared through the back door, and they discreetly followed a moment later, checking to make sure no one was watching. They ended up in a long hallway, and they had to be careful to be quiet so he wouldn’t turn around. 

Tiptoeing down the hall, they noticed Ruxton make a right turn at an intersection ahead of them. However, as they neared the intersection, they heard voices coming from the left hallway...Stormtrooper voices. Likely those sent to patrol the halls and make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. 

Ezra and Sabine knew they would be questioned as soon as the troopers rounded the corner, so they quickly searched for a place to hide. Sabine pulled on a door to their left, but it was locked, and it was the only one nearby. She looked around frantically, then an idea flashed across her face. 

“Looks like we’re going to have to do this again,” she said with a hint of a smile. 

Ezra was about to ask, ‘Do what?’ when she backed against the wall, grabbed him by the waist, and pulled him against her. Ezra understood instantly -- they were going to pull the same distraction from the alleyway, and the troopers would think that they were just two rowdy teens who escaped from the party to make out. 

Except…this time the bucketheads would be walking right past them. They'd need to look more convincing than last time. As the thought crossed Ezra’s mind, he realized that Sabine had already come to the same conclusion. Leaving one hand on his waist, she put the other on the back of his neck and pulled his head down to hers. 

Their eyes locked momentarily before Sabine pressed her lips against his with a hunger that Ezra didn't realize existed. It wasn't going to be enough for them just to share one kiss...they had to look like they were too busy to be bothered. 

As soon as Ezra’s mind registered what was happening, he began to kiss her back with passion and ferocity. It wasn't a moment too soon, because the troopers then turned the corner and headed their way. 

The two teens continued their liplock, closing their eyes to pretend that they didn't know they had company. They heard the troopers snicker and chuckle as they walked down the hall and passed them. “Well somebody’s having a good night!” one of them said to his companions, making them all laugh. 

Despite the three troopers sharing the hall with them, Sabine and Ezra’s moment continued. They became braver with their kisses, opening their mouths a little more and even slowly introducing their tongues. 

As the troopers’ footsteps began to fade, Ezra knew the moment of his dreams was coming to an end. He did something unexpected, nibbling on Sabine's bottom lip gently, then pulling it slightly to his lips to kiss it. The move sparked something in her that he hadn't seen before, and she shivered before practically jumping at him to kiss him harder. 

Well, that worked a lot better than I anticipated , Ezra thought gleefully as Sabine moved away from his mouth to kiss across his face and down to his neck. 

Don't think I don't know what you're doing! Time for a little payback, Bridger, Sabine thought to herself, giving his neck a hard kiss. It caused him to make the same moaning noise that he'd made back in the alley and after it escaped, he seemed startled. 

Sabine smiled at him triumphantly, and when Ezra saw that she'd done it on purpose, he grinned deviously back. Then, he placed his hands on her waist, pushed her against the wall, leaned down, and positioned his lips just an inch from hers. 

The tension was palpable. They both hung there, breathing heavily, Ezra waiting to see what Sabine was going to do. After nearly a minute, she couldn't take it anymore, and she pressed her lips to his again, releasing all the pent-up passion and tension with one move. 

By the time they broke the kiss, they were both panting and starting to sweat. Ezra pulled back slightly, tilting his head towards Sabine's and smiling softly while he caught his breath. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder and down the hallway and noticed that the Stormtroopers were gone. 

“Well it looks like we’re in the clear now,” he said to Sabine, trying to sound casual. “The bucketheads are all gone.”

“They've been gone for a few minutes now…” Sabine replied quietly, blushing and looking at the floor. 

Ezra’s back had been to the hallway, so he hadn't realized where the troopers were located, but Sabine had been able to see them the whole time. She knew when they left, but she hadn't stopped their moment to tell him. 

Ezra’s face turned red to match Sabine’s, but he was ecstatic on the inside. Pride swelled in him as he realized that his kisses must've been pretty intoxicating to distract Sabine from the mission at hand...AND to make her want to continue kissing him long after she had to. 

He didn't want to exit this moment, to disconnect from everything they'd just shared, but he knew they had to get moving. “Come on, we need to catch up to Ruxton. We definitely need to move quickly...we may have already lost him.”

Ezra and Sabine took off down the hallway that Ruxton had turned down. They ran as quietly as possible, Ezra taking the lead. As Sabine ran behind him, she couldn't help but think how maturely he was handling all this. They'd just made out in a hallway for several minutes and he was somehow still level-headed and laser focused on the mission. She had expected him to be bumbling like an idiot. 

Although, she was glad that he was handling it so well. It was much more attractive on his part, and it didn't make her regret what she'd done. (Even though she had definitely expected to.)

Sabine was snapped out of her thoughts as they came to another intersection. “Which way now?” she asked, exasperated that they'd lost the trail. 

Ezra closed his eyes and focused, calming his mind and reaching out with the Force. His senses told him to go left, so he nodded in that direction. “Come on, this way.”

Sabine was surprised and once again impressed. He was really learning how to handle his Jedi powers, and it was darn useful. Hopefully, Ezra’s instincts hadn't steered him wrong. 

This carried on for a few more minutes, running down halls and Ezra using the Force when they arrived at various intersections. They surprisingly didn't run into any more troopers, but they figured it was because they were all guarding the party. 

Finally, they turned one corner and came in view of a large room, what looked to be an old hangar that had been converted into a giant storage facility. They could hear voices nearby, and Sabine could just barely make out what they were saying. 

“Well, our contact is late. Says the guy he picked the shipment up from had quite a few questions and he had to silence him,” said a deep, gravelly voice. 

“As long as he gets here before tonight’s party is over, then we should be okay,” said another voice, this one smooth and assured. 

Ezra and Sabine slowly inched their way into the large room, crouching low to stay out of sight by hiding behind crates. 

The conversation continued. “Either way, we need to prep the crates that we're going to transfer the shipment to. We can't get them out of here right away, and we don't want anything to look suspicious, so we’ll have to hide our crates in these other ones,” the smooth voice said. Ezra and Sabine could tell that he was gesturing to a group of crates, but they couldn't see exactly which group it was. To be safe, they continued to the back of the room, still hunching low to stay hidden. 

As the two of them squatted behind a different group of crates, they heard scraping sounds in the direction of where they'd just been sitting. Looks like we got out of there just in time , Ezra thought. He and Sabine looked at each other, and she seemed to be thinking the same thing. 

After a few minutes of moving things around, they heard the two men coming closer to their new hiding place and they were forced to move again. “We've got to find a better place to hide,” Ezra whispered. 

Sabine nodded and looked around. Located a few feet from their current spot was a door that looked like it led to a closet. She gestured to Ezra to follow her, and they inched closer, making sure the men were distracted with their task. Sabine tried the door, but it wouldn't budge. 

“Here, let me try,” Ezra said quietly, and he approached the door while Sabine turned around to keep an eye on the two men. Pulling a tool from his jacket pocket that he'd brought just in case, he unlocked the door using some tricks he'd learned in his days on the streets of Lothal. 

He quietly pushed open the door, then grabbed Sabine by the hand and pulled her inside with him. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 8: THE MISSION

The room they landed in looked like it used to be a small office, but that it was now used to store supplies and various junk. Thankfully, there was a window facing the hangar, so the two could continue to watch the men. They couldn't make out the conversation, but they would be able to hear any loud noises and watch discreetly. 

“So, it looks like we might be here a while if their contact is late.” Sabine hopped up to sit on a desk pushed against the wall. 

“Yeah. We should probably comm Kanan and let him know what's going on.” 

Sabine attempted to make the call, but Kanan didn't answer. “He must be somewhere where he can't answer us right now. Hopefully, he’ll find his way here.” She then commed Hera and Zeb to let them know their progress.

“Spectre 5 to Spectre 2 and 4, do you copy?”

“Yes, Sabine, we can hear you! What's going on?” Hera answered. 

“We've made it to the place where Ruxton is picking up the shipment, it's an out-of-service hangar bay.” She gave them the description of their location the best she could. 

“Wow, that's pretty far from where you started. Did y'all follow him all the way there?” Hera asked. 

“Yeah. He was only at the ball for a little while, and we trailed him from there. Not long after we left, we almost got caught by some bucketheads on patrol, but that was surprisingly the only time we ran into anyone. Turns out the party is a really good cover for smuggling weapons.”

Ezra smirked as he realized she had mentioned them almost getting caught by those bucketheads. She hadn't told them what they'd done to escape -- not like he'd expected her to, though. Sabine noticed his smirk and flashed him a menacing stare, definitely understanding what he was thinking about. Ezra blushed and turned away quickly to look out the window. 

“Well, I'm glad you two are okay. We were beginning to worry. Is the shipment already there?”

“No, their contact is running late. We’re hiding in an old office nearby waiting for them to show up. I'll make sure to send you a signal when they arrive.” 

“Okay great. You two be careful and stay safe,” Hera said in her trademark motherly tone. 

“We will,” Ezra and Sabine said together before ending the conversation. 

“So now we just wait,” Sabine said, peeking out the window to see what was going on. 

Ezra watched her spy on Ruxton and his partner, and he admired the way she was so dedicated to the mission. She even wore a dress! I know how much she's gotta hate that…

Speaking of the dress, Ezra once again found himself distracted by how good she looked in it. It hugged her tightly, showing off her body in a way that Ezra usually didn't get to see when she was wearing her armor. It also gave him glimpses of her skin that he'd never seen before -- most of her back was exposed and the low-cut neckline he'd noticed earlier was quite distracting. 

He quickly turned his eyes away, realizing that they’d been lingering too long. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable and he certainly didn’t want her to catch him and think he was creepy. That wouldn’t get him anywhere, in fact, it’d probably set him back quite a bit. Besides, she IS gorgeous, sure...but I don’t want her to think that her looks are the only reason why I like her. It’s so much more than that.

It suddenly occurred to Ezra that they were alone in this closet, with nothing to do for a while, and that now might be a good chance for him to talk to her. They were currently sitting in comfortable silence while she continued surveillance, and he racked his brain for what to say. He wanted to ask her about their kissing in the hallway -- why she’d continued kissing him after the Stormtroopers had gone. 

Thinking back to those moments and how well this day had been going for him so far, Ezra was filled with a small surge of bravery. He had the urge to flirt with Sabine a little, but not so much that it would repel her. He thought for a moment about his words, then stepped closer to where she was standing.

Sabine’s eyes flickered towards his movement, but she didn’t turn away from her post. It was as if she was frozen to the spot, anxiously awaiting his next move. Ezra noticed this, so he stood next to her, but refrained from touching her. 

“So...you told them we nearly got caught by bucketheads, but you didn’t tell them what we did to avoid it,” he said, trying to sound smooth.

“They didn’t need to know,” Sabine replied, doing her best to conceal her emotions. 

It worked, because Ezra couldn’t determine any feelings from her tone. He had too much respect for her to violate her privacy and use the Force, so he was on his own here. 

“Well…” he continued. “I just thought it was interesting that you left out that major detail. It was a pretty big part of the story.”

Sabine thought for a minute, then a sarcastic smile spread across her face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you wanted me to tell Hera...” she paused, “AND Zeb...” she paused again, “AND Chopper that we kissed back there.” She looked at him triumphantly.

Ezra’s face turned a dark shade of red as he thought about Chopper and Zeb teasing him for kissing Sabine. They had already bothered him enough when he first had a crush on her a few years ago, but if they knew that the two of them kissed...well, let's just say it would be endless torture.

However, what was much worse would be to have Hera know. He could only imagine the kinds of things she’d say to them, the ‘talks’ she’d want to have. They’d surely never get another moment alone without adult supervision again. It was probably best that none of them knew. 

After a moment, he found his words again. “I guess you’re right. They’d never leave us alone again.” Ezra looked down at the ground.

“And you want to be left alone?” Sabine asked, finally looking at him.

“I never mind being alone with you,” Ezra said, his feelings starting to become more obvious as he stared deep into her eyes.

“That’s not what I meant,” she replied. Even though she tried, she couldn’t break his stare. 

“I know.” Ezra placed his hand on her shoulder, slowly sliding it down her arm and following the movement with his eyes. He stopped at Sabine’s wrist, grabbed her hand with his, and squeezed it. Then he looked back up into her eyes...he had every bit of her attention now. 

She looked at him quizzically. “Who are you?” she asked. “You’re definitely not that same kid we picked up on Lothal so long ago.”

“A lot has changed since then,” he started. He paused for a moment, then decided -- now was the time. “But there’s one thing that hasn’t…”

The words ‘how I feel about you’ hung on his lips, ready to be spoken, but he halted when he noticed a look of panic on her face. 

Sabine’s mind was reeling. She had a feeling she knew what he was about to say and she wasn’t ready to hear it, wasn’t ready to confront it. She had been unsure whether Ezra truly liked her or whether he was just all out of sorts because of the events of the last few days, and she really didn’t want to find out the answer to that question right now. 

To be fair, Sabine had no idea if she felt the same way or not. She wouldn't allow herself to think about it, trying to convince herself that the only thing she felt for Ezra was a physical attraction. It was hard enough to admit that she was physically attracted to him, but she had to have some explanation for her actions the past few days. She’d much rather blame the kissing and the flirting on the fact that she thought he was hot than to discover that it was actually something deeper she felt for him.

Ezra realized that Sabine wasn’t ready to discuss what was going on between them. He released her hand and backed up a few steps, giving her some space. Because he didn’t want to use the Force to pry into her emotions, he couldn’t tell if she was still grappling with her feelings or if she just didn’t like him that way and this was her idea of letting him down easy. 

Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable than he already had, he turned and sat down on one of the room’s crates.

“I'm sorry...I shouldn't have. I mean, we’re on a mission and we need to focus...that was...not the right time,” he mumbled quietly, looking at her apologetically and wishing he'd just kept his thoughts to himself. 

Sabine watched him sit down on the crate, feeling incredibly guilty inside. She hadn’t wanted to reject him like this, she’d just hoped that he wouldn’t bring up the subject. She didn’t really know what to say to Ezra now though, so they just sat in awkward silence. Sabine returned to her former job of watching the window. 

Thankfully, the discomfort didn’t last long because a few minutes later, a small ship landed on the platform outside of the hangar. Ruxton and his associate rushed over to meet it.

“Ezra, they’re here!” Sabine exclaimed, all the thoughts of their previous conversation gone from her mind. He moved over to the window and they watched as the two men waited for the ship’s passengers to disembark. 

Sabine pulled out her comlink and sent the signal to Hera and Zeb, as well as a separate one to Kanan. She hoped that he hadn’t gotten into any trouble, considering they hadn’t heard from him in a while. 

“So next we need to cause a distraction that draws everyone away from the ship while we wait on the others to arrive. Did you bring anything special with you?” Ezra asked.

“Of course!” Sabine pulled up the skirt of her dress to reveal her boots, a pair of leggings, and a host of explosives and other weapons strapped to her legs. 

“Wow.” Ezra was at a loss for words. Even under all of tonight’s girliness, she was still the awesome Mandalorian warrior that he knew. 

“If it’s time for action, I’m going to get a bit more comfortable. Can you unzip this?” Sabine asked, turning her back to Ezra so he would unzip her dress.

With shock on his face and shaky hands, he unzipped the dress for her to remove it. “Now turn around, I don’t want you peeking,” Sabine commanded. 

“I wouldn’t peek!” Ezra defended himself as he turned around to give her privacy. He heard the shuffling of fabric for a few moments before Sabine said, “okay, I’m good.”

Ezra turned around to face her and saw a much more familiar version of Sabine. Her hair and makeup were still done, but she was now wearing the leggings and boots with a black tank top that she must've been keeping in her purse. He silently wished that he’d brought a change of clothes so he wouldn’t be wearing this suit all night. 

“Okay, so I’ve got some detonators we can plant in the back of the storage area and set off from a distance. It would be in our best interest to get close to the ship before we set them off, that way it’s quicker to unload the cargo,” Sabine stated. 

“Let’s do this,” Ezra said confidently. Once again, Sabine was impressed by his professionalism after everything that had happened today. That Jedi training was making him much more disciplined. 

As she rearranged her weapons to make them strap more comfortably on her hips instead of her legs, she felt bad for hurting him earlier. She wanted to let him know that she wasn't upset by his actions and above all, she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable around her now. 

“Man, I wish I'd brought a change of clothes,” Ezra said as Sabine got ready to open the door. 

Sabine thought for a minute, knowing exactly what would give him a confidence boost and make him feel less perturbed by her near-rejection. “Why? That suit makes you look really hot.” She gave him a sultry look as she said the words, then her eyes scanned him up and down as she reached up and adjusted his tie suggestively. 

She sneaked out the door quietly, leaving Ezra rooted to the spot. 

Ezra was dumbfounded. She’d just quite obviously flirted with him! I guess she's not mad at me for making a move on her , he thought. A goofy smile broke across his face -- she'd called him hot! 

Ezra discreetly exited behind Sabine, and thankfully the men didn't spot them. They rushed to hide behind some crates, inching their way towards the back of the hangar. Sabine handed Ezra a few detonators and they split up, scattering them carefully throughout the hangar’s various crates. 

After they placed their weapons, the two met back up and quietly worked their way through the maze of crates to the front of the hangar. The people meeting Ruxton had exited their ship now and there was a group of five standing at the base of the ship’s ramp. 

They watched the group for a few minutes, listening to their conversation as they discussed prices and Ruxton berated the crew for being late. It turned out that Ruxton was the one with the smoother voice, while his Imperial officer associate had the deep, gravelly one. 

The newcomers included a human female in heavy armor (though it was a different style than that of Mandalorian armor), a green-skinned Rodian, and the leader of the crew, an alien who seemed to be male and spoke excellent Basic. Neither Ezra nor Sabine had seen his species before. 

As the two groups continued to argue, Ezra and Sabine moved as close as they dared to the new ship, while still staying hidden. 

“Well I think we need to see the cargo now,” they heard Ruxton say. 

“Not so fast. We need to see the payment first,” the unknown alien said. After a moment’s argument, Ruxton agreed, and the five of them walked back into the hangar. 

Sabine and Ezra didn't hesitate. While the other group was inspecting the contents of a briefcase that Ruxton’s officer friend supplied, the two of them ran up the ramp and onto the ship unnoticed. 

In the cargo bay, they spotted only three crates, all labeled with markings in a language that even Sabine didn't recognize. “These must be them,” she said. “Now we just have to unload them without the crew noticing.” 

“Well, then I guess it's time for a distraction,” Ezra smiled. Sabine smiled back at him, pushed the button on a device strapped to her waist, and they heard a loud “BOOM!” followed by frantic shouting. 

While Sabine prepared the crates to be moved, Ezra peered down the ramp and watched Ruxton and his associates panic. They rushed to the site of the explosion and frantically searched the area for the culprit. 

However, then the one thing they hoped wouldn't happen did. The woman with the gun turned and saw Ezra peeking out of the ship and shouted “they're on the ship!”

Everyone whipped around to face Ezra, and now it was his turn to panic. “We've been spotted!” he called to Sabine. “There's no escape!”

“Close the ramp!” she shouted back, then ran for the cockpit. It was the only thing they could do now -- their only chance was to steal the ship. 

Ezra found the controls and hastily closed the ramp as the heavily armored woman fired shots in his direction. They narrowly missed him, but he didn't want to whip out his lightsaber and reveal his secret. The woman was quickly approaching the ship, but the door closed just in time. 

“Sabine, punch it!”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 9: THE PILOT

Ezra joined Sabine in the cockpit as they took off, and he looked out the viewport to spot Kanan and Zeb approaching the scene, ready to help with the cargo extraction. He watched the comprehension dawn on their faces as they realized who was piloting the ship. 

They continued flying up, pulling away from the academy, and Ezra prayed that Kanan and Zeb would go unnoticed by the angry group of smugglers that they left behind at the hangar. As soon as they were away from imminent danger, he would comm them to tell what had happened. 

As they began to fly over the nearby forests, Ezra ducked under the control panel. “What are you doing?” Sabine asked him.

“I'm disabling the locator beacon,” he replied. 

Of course, why didn't I think about that already?! Sabine thought. She was secretly impressed that Ezra knew how to disable a locator beacon, but she supposed that it was pretty likely he'd be able to, what with the number of ships they'd stolen. 

He cut the proper wires, then popped back up and into the copilot seat. “We need to get pretty far away from here if we’re going to go unnoticed. We can always send our coordinates to the Ghost later,” he reminded her. 

Sabine directed the ship to the upper atmosphere, where there was more cloud cover and a smaller chance that they would be spotted. They flew for quite a while, changing directions every so often to throw anyone following them off their trail. They finally pulled back out of the clouds and headed towards the ground, landing in a forest’s clearing. 

“The ship’s navicomputer says we’re more than 500 klicks from the Imperial Academy. I doubt that they'll find us here anytime soon,” Sabine said as she inspected the controls. 

“We need to call the Ghost and let them know what happened. That way they can find us,” Ezra replied. 

Sabine keyed the Ghost’s information into the ship’s communication system, and soon they heard Hera’s familiar voice. “This is the Ghost, what is your business, Broken Arrow (apparently the name of the ship they'd stolen)?”

“Hera! It's us!” Ezra called to her. “We had to steal the ship AND the weapons because the smugglers spotted us.”

“So I heard from Kanan and Zeb!” she replied. Ezra and Sabine couldn't tell if she was upset or impressed. “Send me your coordinates and we’ll come to pick you up, assuming you're safely landed.”

“We're about 500 klicks away from the academy,” Sabine answered. “I'm transmitting you our coordinates now.” 

“Great, we’ll be there as soon as possible! Sit tight, and try not to get in any more trouble,” she said with a chuckle before ending the call. 

“Do you think she's upset?” Ezra asked Sabine. 

“Probably not. I mean, we accomplished the mission, plus we now have another ship for the Rebel fleet!” Sabine answered. 

She then stood up from her chair, looked at Ezra, and said, “let’s go find out what kind of cargo we’re carrying.” 

They both marched back to the cargo hold. They worked together to pry open the lid on one of the crates and peered inside. “Just what I thought -- disruptors,” Sabine said. 

“You mean like the ones they used on Lasan that we saw before?” Ezra asked. 

“Those were T-7s. Slightly different model than what we have here. These are an earlier edition that's a little less lethal, but no less illegal. They're mostly used for shooting down ships from the ground.”

Ezra counted the number of disruptors in the one crate, then whistled. “Well, they have about 18 of them here. Imagine a squadron of bucketheads armed with these things -- that could do a lot of damage. It's a good thing we got them.”

“For sure,” Sabine replied. They replaced the lid on the crate, then decided to take a look around the new ship.

They found a refresher and two small cabins, along with two storage closets. There was a lounge area with a tiny kitchen behind the cockpit, and Sabine and Ezra took the chance to eat a snack, considering the two of them had been busy and hadn't eaten anything since the small bites they'd had at the party. 

As they were snacking, Ezra attempted to get a bit more comfortable by removing pieces of his suit. He shimmied the jacket off and pulled his lightsaber out of the pocket, setting it on the lounge table.

He then started loosening his tie, but he noticed Sabine watching him. 

“I know I look really hot in this suit, but I've been wearing it for a few hours now and I'm ready to take it off. I'm sorry to disappoint you,” he said, throwing her a flirty smile. 

Sabine didn't want Ezra to think that he was getting the best of her, so she took it up a notch. “Actually, watching you remove it is much more enticing than seeing you wear it.”

Ezra’s face froze in a state of shock. Sabine smiled as she watched him blush and continue to pull at his tie. But, by the time he removed it, she noticed that the look of shock had transformed into sadness. 

Sabine knew that it was her who caused this change in his demeanor. He glanced up at her, as if to say something, but then paused. Sabine really wasn't in the mood to talk, and she didn't know what to say. However, she felt extremely guilty for the way she'd treated Ezra recently, bouncing him back and forth, so she made eye contact with him, letting him know that it was okay to continue. 

“Sabine, what's going on here?” She didn't answer, so he continued, explaining what he meant. 

“Ever since what happened on that supply run, things have been different between us. We nearly kissed a couple of times, and then we actually kissed. You've been flirting with me, which you never did before, and then we kissed again today. I understand it was a distraction and all, but it definitely lasted longer than it had to. You won't let me talk about it, but I just really want to know what's going on so I don't make a fool of myself and do something stupid.”

He stopped his rant and took a deep breath, looking down at the ground as if he was afraid to meet her gaze. Sabine knew she had to choose her words carefully, and she knew she had to participate in the discussion this time. Her stomach started to turn and she felt like she was going to hurl, but she suppressed the feeling out of necessity. 

“Ezra, I never wanted to hurt you,” she began, starting with the thing she felt most of all. “I value our friendship SO much, you know that, and I don't want to push you away. You know you're my best friend.”

Ezra didn't say anything in response, so Sabine continued. “Ever since that alley, I've started to look at you differently. That day made me realize how much you've grown up. You've matured so much and changed as a person. Plus -- and I swear if you ever tell anyone I said this I will END you -- I started to notice that you've grown up physically…” she swallowed before continuing, “...in a really good way.”

At that last remark, Ezra looked back up at her. She was blushing terribly, which was something he wasn't used to seeing her do, but that had happened an unusual amount of times in the last few days. 

“I want to tell you how I feel about everything that has happened, I really do,” she continued, “but I don't actually know yet. It has all been happening so fast and I haven't allowed myself to think about it because I don't want things to be weird between us.”

“So where does that leave us?” Ezra asked. “Do we just pretend none of this ever happened when we get back on the Ghost?”

“Let's be honest, I don't think either of us will be able to pull that off. Especially with Kanan and his freaky Jedi senses checking all of our emotions,” she replied. “Plus...I don't think I want to forget it.”

“What?” Ezra asked, completely confused. 

“This past week has been full of unexpected adventures that'll make some great stories one day. So long as everything that happened doesn't hurt our friendship, there's not really a reason why I want to forget it.” 

She wasn't sure how true that last statement was. It would certainly be easier to forget what had happened -- then there would be nothing to worry about and things would be normal between her and Ezra. But, she knew there was no way she'd forget the events of the last week, so there wasn't any sense in wishing she could. 

“So what do we do now then?” Ezra asked. 

“Well, for starters, we should probably stop doing that thing that we've done twice now.” 

Sabine was so out of her comfort zone with this conversation that saying the word “kiss” didn't even feel possible. Then again, after she avoided using it, she just felt silly and immature. 

Pushing through the awkwardness, Sabine continued her thought. “It's probably just confusing us and making us do and say things that we wouldn't normally do. Neither one of us usually get that kind of attention, so we're probably just worked up because of it.”

Ezra nodded. It wasn't often that either of them were around many people their age unless they were on the Rebel base, and even then, they didn't get to do any dating. He had to admit that part of the thrill of the last week had been that it was a first-time romantic encounter for both of them. 

“Also, we should probably take a break from spending so much time together. Being around each other 24/7 is bound to be messing us up after everything that happened.” 

Ezra thought for a moment, then replied. “Okay. We were friends first, and that's what’s most important to me. I'll do whatever it takes to keep that intact.” He really meant those words, and Sabine knew it. 

The tension relieved, Sabine went back to eating her food and Ezra continued to undress. He undid the buttons on his shirt, then stood up to shrug it off. He was wearing a white tee underneath. 

Sabine discreetly watched as he smoothed out the wrinkles in his tee, his biceps pulling the sleeve fabric taut across his skin. The tee was tucked into his pants, so he pulled it out, and as he did, Sabine caught a glimpse of his toned stomach. Oof, bringing things back to normal was going to be harder than she thought. 

--------------------------

Over the next few days, the Ghost crew delivered the Broken Arrow and the disruptors to the Rebel base, then stayed there to work on some projects and help plan for future missions. Things returned to somewhat normal between Ezra and Sabine, although they both behaved just a little too nicely for it to truly be considered normal. 

When they were assigned to the same project, they worked mostly in silence. They did everything they could to not be stuck alone together, which was difficult, considering how much time they usually spent in close proximity. 

Ezra knew that he needed a more concrete reason to be away from Sabine if he was going to be able to control himself, so he started hanging out more frequently with Wedge and the other young pilots. They'd picked up quite a few pilot recruits in the last few months, and now there was a whole squadron of people around his age. 

He learned a lot about their ships as he helped them with maintenance, and in their downtime, they taught him a few card games. He loved hearing their stories about their life pre-Rebellion, it made him realize that he wasn't the only teenager with a complicated life. 

Sabine noticed Ezra’s newfound friendship with the pilots, and it continued for the next two weeks that they stayed on base. He was eating meals with them, helping them work on their maintenance and training, and hanging out with them late at night. She knew that she was the one to suggest spending time apart, nevertheless, she missed his presence. 

There was, however, one thing about Ezra spending time with the pilots that bothered Sabine most of all. It seemed that Sabine wasn't the only one who had noticed how Ezra had grown up quite a bit. Some of the pilot girls would admire him from a distance, and one of them had even begun to admire him up close. 

Sabine didn't know her name, but she was really starting to get annoyed with this girl. She would sit next to Ezra whenever she got the chance, laugh a little too loudly at his jokes, whisper things in his ear...she even caught the girl feeling up his arm muscles one day! It was such blatant flirtation that it made Sabine want to hurl. 

On day 17 of their time on-base, Sabine was assigned the task of looking over some star charts and files with one of the junior officers in preparation for a possible mission. She was hunched over the table in concentration, poring over the information on her datapad, when a rather annoying giggle made her break her focus.

She snapped her head up and in the direction of the sound, spotting Ezra and his little pilot friend over in the corner of the room. She was laughing just a little too obnoxiously at something he had said. 

Oh great, I thought I had a break from this today. Sabine had expected to not see much of this girl, considering Ezra had also been given a time-sensitive assignment. However, it seemed as though the girl had some free time on her hands and had decided to come and “help” Ezra with his work. Sabine watched in disgust as the pilot girl pulled up a chair next to him and scooted so close that their bodies were touching.

It was taking every ounce of her self-control to not go over there and berate Ezra for being unprofessional and unfocused. Sabine continued to shoot daggers in their direction with her eyes as Ezra started explaining his project to the girl, seemingly unaware of the fact that she didn’t seem to be interested in it at all. 

The breaking point came a moment later when Sabine seethed as the girl leaned even closer to Ezra, putting their faces inches away. Sabine hadn’t even realized that she had picked up a glass of water from off the table in front of her until she heard a loud ‘CRACK’ as the cup shattered in her hand and the water spilled all over the table and ground. 

Ezra, along with everyone else in the room, heard the sound and jerked their heads in her direction. Startled, Sabine quickly looked away from Ezra, hoping that he hadn't noticed her watching him. She looked down at her hand, thankful that her gloves had stopped the sharp shards of glass from puncturing her skin. 

As she cleaned up her mess, she couldn't help but let her thoughts dwell on Ezra and that girl. Sure, Sabine didn't know how she felt about him really, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to be with him, but she had expected that he would give her some time to decide. He was usually very considerate of her feelings (or lack thereof). Had he moved on so quickly?

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 10: THE JEALOUSY

The past two and a half weeks had been very different than what Ezra was used to. He typically spent most of his time with the Ghost crew, even when they were at the base, but for several days now, he hadn't interacted with them much at all. 

He'd been doing his best to not bother Sabine, afraid that he'd do or say something stupid or uncomfortable and lose her friendship on top of any chance for a romantic relationship. Hera and Kanan had been busy working with Sato and those higher up than he was, planning some kind of big move that he wasn't allowed to know about yet. 

Chopper and AP-5 had been getting into their usual arguments while working some of the base’s more mundane tasks, like inventory. Ezra had no interest in joining them. He had, however, spent some time with Zeb, even though Zeb was getting pretty busy with security these days. 

So, in his in-between moments, he'd grown a lot closer to the young crew of pilots. It was refreshing to be around other teenagers beside Sabine. He'd also started to get more attention from the girls in the group, although he hadn't noticed until Wedge pointed it out to him. Ezra wasn't used to being hit on, and the only girl he'd ever really learned how to read was Sabine. (And she was VERY different from these pilot girls.)

One girl in particular, a pilot named Athena, seemed to like him more than the others. Over the course of two weeks, Ezra found that she was becoming increasingly present in his day-to-day activities, usually quite close in proximity. 

It didn't strike him as odd for the first few days, but when she started whispering things in his ear and feeling his biceps, he got the message loud and clear. Ezra didn't truly mind the attention, it was nice for a girl to be interested in him and to obviously show it instead of making him confused. 

However, there was one glaring problem with Athena...she wasn't Sabine. As far as girls go, she was great -- pretty, funny, a talented pilot -- but she didn't capture Ezra’s attention quite as Sabine did. Her personality wasn't as vivid and she wasn't as intelligent or driven. Sabine was so strong and confident, and that's what Ezra had grown to expect.

Ezra considered telling Athena that he wasn't interested, but then the days continued to pass without any new developments or conversations from Sabine. Each day, he grew a little more discouraged. Having Athena around helped boost his self-confidence a little -- at least there was one girl out there who thought he was boyfriend material. 

So, he continued spending time with Athena, doing his best not to lead her on or make her think that he was truly interested. All he wanted was some company. And if she flirted with him along the way, well that was just an added bonus. 

However, just because he was spending time with Athena definitely didn't mean he'd forgotten about or given up on Sabine. On the day when everyone was given individual assignments, he elected to work quietly at a table in the corner where he could have a view of her across the room. She looked great, she always exuded confidence when given these types of tasks...and it made her more attractive. 

He had a hard time making progress on his task as he continued to look up every few minutes, wondering if Sabine had noticed him there. 

He was just getting into a good focus when Athena suddenly showed up beside him. “Hey there!” she said, extra bubbly today. “Want some company?”

“Uhh, sure. I'm just working on an assignment. It'll probably bore you to sleep in the next 10 minutes.”

Athena giggled at his joke, possibly a little too loudly, because Ezra noticed Sabine look up at them out of the corner of his eye. His attention was soon drawn away from her though, as Athena pulled up a chair next to his. 

She scooted it incredibly close, and by the time she sat down, the left side of her body was pressed against the right side of his. He didn't understand why she had to be this close when there was so much table left, but then he realized that this was probably one of her ways of blatantly flirting with him. 

He tried to focus on his work, but Athena was determined to not be ignored. She asked him what he was doing, and he explained the task as shortly as possible. He thought she was done, but then she leaned her face closer to his. Ezra was about to subtly scoot away from her when he heard a loud ‘CRACK!’

Startled, he jerked his head in the direction of the sound and saw Sabine watching him. She had pieces of a broken glass in her hand, and from the looks of it, that cup had been filled with water. When he caught her eye, she quickly looked away, attention turning to clean up the mess. 

He had the strong urge to go check and see if she was okay, but he knew that she was tough and didn't like to be coddled. He also knew that approaching her wasn't exactly “giving her space,” so he refrained. 

Ezra turned back to his datapad, determined to get some work done. However, over the next few minutes, Athena continued to interrupt him with questions and comments. He finally asked her politely if they could chat later instead, considering the fact that his project was time-sensitive. After she left, he managed to complete his work much quicker than he'd anticipated. 

By the time Ezra finished, many people had paused their work, taking off to eat their nighttime meal. He looked around and didn't see Sabine, figuring that she'd be dining with the rest of them. He walked out of the command center and past everyone eating, secretly hoping for some time alone on the Ghost. 

When he got back to the ship, he headed straight to the lounge to get a snack that he could bring back to his room. As he walked in, he was glancing at the floor and didn't even see Sabine and they walked straight into each other. 

“Oh, hey, I'm sorry,” Ezra said as he backed up and regained his balance. 

“It's not your fault, I wasn't watching where I was going.” Sabine looked at Ezra with curiosity, tilting her head to the side. “Why aren't you eating with everyone else?” 

“Just needed some quiet time away from everyone I guess.”

“Oh,” Sabine said quietly. She wouldn't have minded a chance to spend a little time with him, considering they hadn't been hanging out like they usually did, but it seemed like he wanted to be alone. “I'll go to my room so you can have some time by yourself then.”

Sabine stepped around Ezra and started to head back to her cabin when she heard him speak up. “No,” he said, breaking the silence. 

“No?” she asked, turning back to look at him questioningly. 

“I mean, you don't have to go. I don't mind your company...you're a lot quieter than most of them out there,” he said, gesturing towards the base. He looked back at her, meeting her eyes. “You can stay if you'd like.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Sabine didn't really know what to say, but she turned around and walked over to sit down at the table. She folded her arms on top of it and sat, staring at the wall while Ezra started looking for something to eat. 

What Ezra said proved to be true, as Sabine continued to sit in silence while he searched through their food, settling on some cured meat, cheese, and a bit of fruit from a planet they'd recently visited. She continued her vigil while he ate his meat and cheese, only speaking up when he took a bite of the strange fruit and made a face that looked like he was trying to swallow his own lips. 

“What? Is it weird?” she asked, curious about the flavor of the fruit. 

“Here, try it. I don't know how to explain it.” He handed the fruit to Sabine, who took it, bit it, then made a very similar face to Ezra’s. 

“WOW! That's really sour!” She pursed her lips. 

“Give it a second,” Ezra replied. 

Sabine’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Now it's spicy!”

Ezra nodded, and then Sabine continued. “And now it's sweet! It has a sweet aftertaste…”

“Isn't it weird?!” Ezra laughed. That was certainly the strangest experience he'd ever had with fruit. 

“Yeah! I've never had anything quite like that.” 

They both decided they didn't want any more of the fruit, so Ezra cut up what was left and put it in a container to store it away. Then, they returned to sitting in silence. 

After a few minutes of awkwardly looking anywhere but at each other, Ezra finally spoke up. “How was your day?” He figured he'd start with something simple. 

“It was...fine. I got my project done.” 

Ezra paused for a moment, thinking, then figured he'd pry just a little. “How's your hand? That glass didn't cut you, did it?”

Sabine tensed up. Clearly, this subject wasn't her favorite. “No, I'm fine. My gloves kept me from getting cut.”

Sabine saw the look on Ezra’s face and knew he was about to ask her what happened to make the glass bust, so she attempted to switch the subject quickly, landing on the first topic that popped in her brain. “So...you've become pretty good friends with the pilots recently.”

Ezra was caught off-guard by this sudden change in topic. “Uhh, yeah I guess I have. They've taught me a lot about their ships and I've learned some new card games hanging out with them at night.”

“They seem to like you.”

“Yeah, I guess so. They've been really nice.”

“Some seem to be extra nice…” Sabine said, knowing that she was directing the conversation into dangerous territory. She wasn't sure that she would like what she'd learn if she asked about the female pilot, but not knowing if Ezra liked the girl was eating her alive. 

“What do you mean?” Ezra asked, confused at where this was going. 

“That one girl that was with you today. She seems to think you're pretty great.” Sabine didn't want to look at Ezra’s face, so her eyes darted around while she desperately tried to maintain a casual look. 

“Oh, you mean Athena. Yeah, we've been hanging out a lot.”

At those words, Sabine looked quickly up at him, trying to determine what he meant by ‘hanging out.’ His face didn't give anything away, so she took a step further and asked. 

“What kind of hanging out?” Sabine intended for it to sound like an innocent question, but it came out a little too rushed and suspicious. 

“Oh, you know, just basic stuff. Working on projects together, helping her with ship maintenance, just chatting; we've just been spending a lot of time together.”

As he said that last remark, Ezra looked up and made eye contact with Sabine. He saw something flash in her eyes, something he'd never seen before, and it made a triumphant smirk slowly form on his face. 

Sabine noticed a stupid grin start to cover his face, and it annoyed her. “What?! What are you making that face for?”

“You're jealous.”

“What?!” Sabine replied indignantly, nearly shouting. 

“You're jealous of Athena. Jealous that we've been spending so much time together and that she's been flirting with me,” Ezra said triumphantly. 

“You're mental,” Sabine scoffed. 

“Am I?” he smiled. “ That's why you broke that glass today. I caught you staring at the two of us, and you broke it because you were angry that she was there.”

Sabine stood up from the table, starting to get angry. “Quit using your Jedi powers to get in my head!” she shouted. 

Ezra stood up to face her. “I'm not,” he replied calmly. “I just know you.” 

Even though she knew he was telling the truth, Sabine was angry. She was angry at Athena for being all flirty with Ezra and she was angry at Ezra for making her feel this way. She was mostly angry at herself for allowing herself to get jealous and worked up. 

In her anger, she pushed Ezra against the wall behind him, unsure of whether she wanted to slap him or kiss him. He remained frustratingly calm, staring down into her eyes with patience. 

He saw the indecision in Sabine's eyes and knew she was either about to hit him or kiss him, but he couldn't tell which. He knew that either choice would be made because she was angry, and either way, she'd regret it. 

“Don't do it,” he told her. “You'll regret it later.” He looked into her eyes and they came to a silent understanding, Sabine backing away and letting him loose. 

Immediately, she was filled with shame. She'd gotten jealous of some pilot girl and taken it out on Ezra. It was her own fault for letting her emotions get out of control, and she didn't even want to think about what the implications of her jealousy would be. Did she care for Ezra more than she thought?

Ezra wasn't mad at Sabine, he was just more confused. If Sabine didn't like him that way, then why was she getting jealous of another girl giving him attention? 

After she backed away, he turned and went to his cabin to let her deal with her emotions alone -- it was what she needed.

Sitting alone in his room, Ezra made a decision. Tomorrow, he would be honest with Athena and let her know he wasn't interested. If the flirting made Sabine this upset, then the attention wasn't worth it. 

Sure enough, he went through with his plan the next day. Athena didn't take it very well. Even in his limited experience with women, Ezra had found that in general, they didn't like being rejected. For the next few days, several of the female pilots ignored him and shot him dangerous looks whenever they walked by. 

However, there was a bright side. A day after he turned down Athena, he and Sabine were both working in the command center and they happened to make eye contact across the room. She held his gaze and smiled at him, something he hadn't gotten from her in more than two weeks. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 11: THE HONESTY

It had been 3 days since Ezra had rejected Athena’s advances, but he and Sabine still hadn't talked. They'd shared friendly looks and smiles across the room, but they had passed the minutes in awkward silence during the one time they'd been alone in the command center. 

Sabine didn't know what to do, they had been at the base for 20 days now and things between her and Ezra were even more complicated than before. This time spent apart was supposed to help them relax, but it was really just making her miss his companionship. 

That afternoon, Sabine and Hera spent a few hours in the cockpit of the Ghost, performing some maintenance and fine-tuning the ship’s navigation system. Partway through their tune-up, Sabine’s mind started to wander to Ezra again. 

“Sabine, can you hand me that impact wrench?” Hera asked from under the ship’s dashboard. Sabine didn't reply, so Hera asked a second time. And then a third. 

Hera ducked out from under the dash and looked unbelievingly at Sabine. “Stars, Sabine! What's got you so worked up?”

Sabine snapped out of her daydream and looked at Hera. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you're usually pretty focused, but I just asked you for that wrench three times and you kept staring into space.”

“Oh. I'm so sorry. Here you go, Hera.” Sabine handed her the wrench but kept the far-off look on her face. 

Hera set the wrench down on the floor and turned her body to face Sabine’s, sitting up to full attention. “Okay, spill. Something is bothering you.”

“It's nothing. Don't worry about it.”

“Too late. I'm already worried.” Hera studied Sabine’s face for a moment. “It's about Ezra, isn't it? You two have been avoiding each other ever since we completed that mission at the academy.” 

“Well…” Sabine started, but then stopped herself. 

“What is it? Did something happen between you two?”

Sabine looked pointedly down at the ground, not answering Hera’s question. 

Hera stared at Sabine with a heart full of motherly affection. “You can tell me, Sabine. It's been nearly three weeks and you two can't avoid each other forever. Whatever it is, I can do my best to help you fix it.”

“We kissed,” Sabine mumbled under her breath, not quite loud enough for Hera to hear. 

“You what?” Hera asked. 

“We kissed, okay?!” Sabine practically shouted it this time. The sudden volume startled Hera, but it gave Sabine more confidence and she suddenly took off, retelling the story of all that had happened. 

“It all started when we went on that supply run. We almost got caught by bucketheads after I set off a detonator and we had to hide in an alley. We had to pretend to be a couple so that they wouldn't bother us. I kissed him on the face, just to make the Stormtroopers uncomfortable, but then things got all awkward after that because we don't ever do that kind of thing.”

She took a breath before continuing. “Then, I saw him shirtless the next day and it really caught me off guard cause he doesn't look like a scrawny kid anymore and we almost kissed for real when we were working on sorting those files. We kinda talked about it that night, but things just got more complicated because he started to flirt with me and he was surprisingly good at it. It wasn't all weird and uncomfortable like it was when he first joined the crew.”

Sabine stopped and looked at Hera, making sure she was following. Hera nodded to show that she was comprehending so far. 

“Well, the next day I was picking on him and he ended up chasing me around the ship and I tried to trip him up but he fell on me. And when he landed on me, we were so close and I don't know what made me do it, but I moved my face right in front of his. I guess I wanted to see if he'd actually do it...and he did. He kissed me.”

Sabine turned red and looked at the ground, then turned her face to see Hera’s reaction. She was surprised but didn't seem to be upset. 

“Then what happened?” Hera asked. 

“He tried to ask me about it later, but I told him I wasn't ready to discuss it. Then we had the mission at the academy the next day. While we were at the party, we slow danced together, which was kind of nice. We were having a good time, but then when we left to follow Ruxton, we nearly got caught by some Stormtroopers…” 

Sabine stopped and looked away again, embarrassed to continue. Hera noticed this change, asking “and what happened there?”

Well...we figured that if we played the ‘couple’ card again, it would work just like it did on that supply run. Except for this time, I couldn't just kiss his face because they were walking right by. So we kissed again, except a lot longer this time. It did work though, they thought we were just a couple that had escaped from the party to get some privacy.”

Hera knew there was something Sabine wasn't saying. “But that's not all, is it?” she pried. Sabine nodded. 

“I kept kissing him after they left. Long after I had to. He noticed.”

“Did you talk about it?”

“We had to continue with the mission, but we ended up hiding in a storage closet after we caught up with Ruxton in the hangar. While we were waiting, Ezra tried to talk to me about it, and I think he was about to confess his feelings to me, but I was already so confused and embarrassed by what I'd done that I must've looked terrified. He backed off and apologized for bringing it up.”

Hera nodded in understanding and Sabine continued the story. 

“We talked for a bit on the Broken Arrow while waiting for you guys to show up and I basically told him that I was super confused and I thought we needed to spend some time apart, that we were just messed up because of everything going on. So we did just that. He made new friends here on base and we've been kind of awkward ever since.” 

“Wow. That's quite the story,” Hera said. 

“Are you mad?”

“That you and Ezra kissed? No! How could I be?! I just want the two of you to be happy.” She paused for a moment. “If I'm mad about anything, it's the fact that you two are being all weird about it and avoiding each other now.”

“Well, he keeps wanting to have these conversations about feelings and I don't know how I feel. I'm not ready to talk about it,” Sabine said, defending herself. 

“No, I think you're just using that as an excuse to not confront it. You're afraid of how you feel, and you know that you'll have to admit those feelings if the two of you talk.”

“I haven't even admitted my feelings to myself…” Sabine said. “I'm not really a feelings person.”

“Sabine, everyone has feelings and emotions and it's okay to use them. If you keep them bottled up, you're just going to explode,” Hera reasoned. 

“I think I may have already done that,” Sabine said and relayed the story of the broken water cup. 

“See, you even got jealous of another girl. I think you know how you feel and you just don't want the consequences that come with that admission.”

Sabine was quiet for a while, and when she finally spoke, there was anxiety in her voice. 

“What if...what if he doesn't feel the same way? Or worse...what if he does but I mess things up?”

Hera was floored. She'd never seen Sabine this vulnerable before. It was to be expected that the young Mandalorian would have trust issues after all she'd endured, but Hera had never seen them come to the surface in such a raw way. 

“Well Sabine, there's risk in every reward. But, in my experience, you rarely regret the love you give, only the love that you hold back.”

Sabine looked up at Hera, sitting across from her on the floor. She thought about everything Hera had gone through in her life and realized that she was probably right. 

“Thank you, Hera.”

“You're welcome,” Hera replied. “Go do what you need to do, I can finish things here.”

Sabine got up and walked out of the cockpit. She wasn't sure that she was ready to be committed to a full relationship or anything that severe, but she did know that it wasn't fair to continue to hide her thoughts and feelings from Ezra. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 12: THE ADMISSION

Sabine was headed for the ramp of the Ghost, trying to decide whether she should talk to Ezra now or later when she got her answer -- he was approaching the ship. She stopped in her tracks and waited for him to make his way over.  

As Ezra walked up to the Ghost, he spotted Sabine standing on the ramp. From the way she was watching him, he knew that he was what she'd been waiting for. He stopped a few feet in front of her, wanting her to make the first move. He wasn't 100% sure where this was going, and he didn't want to make a fool of himself again. 

As Ezra stood expectantly in front of her, Sabine knew she had to make her decision now, otherwise, she'd continue to put off the conversation for who knows how long. She took a deep breath, hoping it would give her the confidence she needed. 

“Do you want to talk?” The question came tumbling out of her mouth all too quickly to sound casual. 

Ezra smiled at her softly, and it reassured her that he was going to be respectful about this. “Yeah, I would like that.”

Without another word (mostly because she couldn't manage any), Sabine turned around and led the way into the ship and to her own cabin. She opened the door and Ezra walked inside. She followed behind him and closed it. 

Sabine gestured to the bed, and he sat down on the bottom bunk. The bottom section of her bunk converted back and forth between a bed and two benches with a table, but right now Sabine had it set up as a bed. She secretly wished that it was the other way around so that she could sit across from Ezra, instead of right next to him. 

She sat beside him, not too close, but then stood back up and started pacing the room while she gathered her thoughts. The whole time, Ezra sat there in silence, waiting patiently for her to take the lead. 

After a minute or two, she stopped and looked at him. “So…” she started, but didn't continue. 

“So…” he repeated back to her. 

“Umm. We probably need to talk about what's been going on...ya know...between us.” She nearly whispered that last word, almost as if it scared her to think of them as an ‘us.’

Ezra nodded, not wanting to speak and push the conversation in the wrong direction. He still wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say. 

“I've just been really confused,” she admitted. 

“About what?” Ezra asked, although he partially knew the answer. 

“Everything that has happened since we went on that supply run. It's like things changed that day. What we did, pretending to be a couple, it wasn't normal for us and it's like that flipped a switch that made us completely different people.” 

“I don't think we're acting like different people,” Ezra stated straightforwardly. 

“You don't?” Sabine asked, a little surprised. 

“No. I think we’re the same people, just in a new and unfamiliar situation. I think we acted the same way any other people would act when put in a romantic situation that was out of the ordinary. I mean, those were some tense moments we shared, and we never talked about it after the fact...well, for real anyway. On top of that, we had just had some deep emotional conversations too.”

“Yeah, I suppose that's true. I hadn't realized that our friendship meant so much to you, and then I went and made it weird by kissing on your face.” Sabine sighed, looking off at one of the paint-covered walls and reflecting on her past actions. 

“You did what you had to do, and I certainly wasn't complaining about it. Also, you handled that friendship conversation well, for someone who 'isn't good with feelings.’” He put air quotes around the last phrase, knowing that Sabine had more emotions than she let on. 

“Thanks. I had hoped that I did.” 

She switched gears, thinking about their cuddling in the alley again. “But, I think pretending to be a couple made me start to realize that you weren't so little anymore, and that really messed me up. I always thought of you as a kid, but after that day, I realized that you're actually an adult now. The idea of you being in an adult relationship didn't seem so far-fetched anymore.”

Ezra chuckled. “Umm, thanks I think?”

“I guess I didn't believe that you were mature enough to date people before and I hadn't thought about it in a while, but being in the alleyway made the thought cross my mind.”

Ezra nodded, understanding more of what she was trying to say. 

Sabine breathed in again, her heart starting to pound even harder in her chest. She knew what direction she was about to take this conversation, and it was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. She wished she could just stop things right here, but she knew she had to push through. 

“It wasn't until the next day that I started to get really confused,” she continued. “Seeing you without your shirt on was like an electric shock, because I realized that you'd physically grown up right in front of me and I hadn't even noticed.”

Ezra started to blush at this part of her explanation. He knew he'd filled out a little, but he wasn't used to girls staring at his physique...especially Sabine. 

“And after realizing how mature you were and how you weren't like a child anymore, then we sat down to do that project together and we almost kissed for real. That messed me up. It was like my whole world was flipped upside down and things were completely different and I didn't know how to handle it or what was going on.”

“That's why you were up late thinking that night,” Ezra recalled. 

“Yeah. I was trying mostly to convince myself that I was imagining things. That all those romantic moments weren't actually happening. That you hadn't tried to kiss me and I hadn't almost let you. And, I was really hoping that I'd imagined your muscles and killer abs. It didn't make sense -- like, how'd you even get that fit?!”

Ezra laughed out loud. “Well, Jedi training can be pretty physically demanding sometimes. Plus, as a crew we’re not exactly sitting around doing nothing all day, we stay pretty active. I mean, you're in really great shape yourself.”

Now it was Sabine's turn to blush a little, and she quickly moved the conversation forward again. “I was just trying to convince myself that everything was made up in my head, but then you came out and brought it up, and I knew then that it was real.” 

“If it makes you feel better, I had been wondering the same thing. That's why I brought it up. I needed reassurance from you,” Ezra replied. 

“But the big problem at that point was that I still didn't know why it was happening. Especially after we kissed for the first time, my best explanation was that we'd been all caught up in emotional moments and we were just being teenagers. I wouldn't let myself think anything past that, and that's why I didn't want to talk about it.”

Tilting his head to the side, Ezra looked at her with curiosity. “But you want to talk about it now. What's changed?” Ezra asked. 

“Well, I'm starting to realize that avoiding the conversation is doing more harm than good. It's just making us both anxious and it's ruining our friendship.” She paused, then added, “and our friendship is really important to me.”

“It's important to me too. That's why I've been trying to hold back and give you space the past two weeks. I hoped that even if we couldn't talk, that things would eventually just blow over and we'd go back to normal. It wasn't how I really wanted things to go, but it was better than losing you altogether.”

Sabine smiled, realizing that he'd been thinking about her and putting their friendship first even when she'd just been blowing him off and refusing to talk. “I didn't realize that's why you were avoiding me. I thought it was just because I told you we needed time apart.”

“Well, that was part of it, but I knew that we would become friends again eventually if I just let the matter drop. Believe me, it wasn't easy. Especially after that very, umm, passionate distraction at the academy.” 

“Yeah, that was certainly something.”

Ezra looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up at Sabine. “Can I be honest with you?” he asked. She nodded. “That kiss was amazing. I can't stop thinking about it...I stay awake at night thinking about it. I would do that stressful mission over and over again just to relive those few minutes.”

“I think about it too…” she said quietly and honestly. She nervously rubbed her left forearm with her right hand. It wasn't something she wanted to admit, but she knew Ezra wouldn't use the secret to exploit or embarrass her.

“I know that we may never get to do that again, so I just had to tell you.” He then added a thought, “also, I'm certainly not upset that you did, but why'd you keep kissing me? The troopers were gone and you didn't have to. That part has been bothering me.”

Sabine smiled at him. “You said it yourself, the kiss was amazing. I guess I didn't want it to end.”

She started to shake slightly, realizing that this was the moment she'd been building up to. She inhaled. “Also...I really like kissing you. ” She emphasized ‘you’ and Ezra noticed. 

“Oh,” was all that managed to come out of his mouth. He was clearly surprised at her admission. 

“I think that's the thing that bothers me the most. As much as it's weird to have romantic moments with you, I like them. Kissing you didn't feel wrong like I thought it would,” she admitted. 

Sabine stared HARD at the ground, then realized she felt very awkward standing in front of Ezra. She moved to sit down on the bed but sat towards the head of her bunk, a few feet away from him. 

They sat in silence a moment with Sabine continuing to look down at the floor before she felt movement on the mattress. Ezra scooted up next to her, then gently reached down, picked up her hand from where it was sitting on the bed, and held it in his. 

At this gesture, she turned to look into his eyes. They were filled with admiration and joy, two things she'd missed seeing in them for the past few weeks.

“Sabine, you know I liked you when I first joined the crew, but I buried those feelings after a time because I knew you didn't feel the same way. After our moments on that supply run and when we worked on those files together, I could tell they were coming back. I like you, and not just because of the romantic stuff that's been happening, but because you're smart and creative and fun to be around.” Ezra gave her a dazzling smile, and her face softened in response. 

They continued staring into each others’ eyes for a moment, just thankful to be spending time together again. Then, Sabine’s face became distraught, and she looked back at the floor. 

“Ezra, I just don't know if I'm ready…” she began.

He cut her off. “That's okay. You don't have to admit anything or do anything that you're not ready for. I'm just grateful that you've finally been honest with me about everything going on. I don't want things to be weird between us again, so I'm fine with waiting for you to be comfortable.” 

Sabine’s heart swelled, filled with appreciation for this boy...no this man , who cared for her so much. She squeezed his hand and gave him a smile, and he grinned back at her. 

She'd had enough of the emotions today, and even if she wasn't ready to admit anything else, she was grateful that she'd gotten all her other thoughts off her chest. 

Ezra got up to leave, realizing that these kinds of talks were overwhelming for Sabine and she probably wanted to be alone now. She stood up as well and walked him to the door, but before she opened it, she did something that surprised him -- she gave him a little peck on the cheek. It made Ezra smile, and he kept smiling as he walked back into his room and grabbed his things to take a shower. 

He walked to the refresher, running over the details of their conversation in his mind. Things were certainly complicated between them now, but he much preferred this type of complicated to the type where they avoided each other and didn't talk. 

As he stood in the shower and the hot water ran down his body, he thought about what she'd admitted. She hadn't admitted to liking him, but she had shared that she didn't mind their romantic moments. It wasn't a full confession of feelings, but it was a step in the right direction. 

Ezra knew that if he wanted to be with Sabine, the best thing he could do would be to let things run at her pace. He knew what he wanted, but he had to be gracious enough to wait for her to figure all her feelings out. He'd had a crush on her for years, and she'd only just come to think of him as attractive a few days ago. 

Now that thought made him turn red all over again, even though he was alone in the shower. The idea of Sabine checking out his body made him proud and bashful at the same time. He'd have to thank Kanan later for the rigorous training regimen. 

As he finished showering and started drying off, he began to think about his plan for the next few days. He would make sure to be kind and patient with Sabine, and he'd follow her cues for how to act. 

She'd said that she enjoyed the physical contact they'd had, and he thought, I really hope that means I get to kiss her again soon. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 13: THE KIDNAPPING

Things were much more pleasant in the days following Ezra and Sabine's conversation. They were once again spending most of their time together, and it seemed like the Ghost crew was getting to be together more as a whole. 

Everyone on the base was helping to plan for a mission that was coming up rather quickly. They were staging a “kidnapping” for a government official who had been feeding them information for a few months. If they wanted to bring him into the Rebellion without arousing suspicion, they needed to set things up to make it look like he'd been abducted instead of like he'd ran away. 

Much of the information surrounding the mission, including the informant’s identity, was being kept a secret until the last minute to make sure that the plan didn't get leaked. The Ghost crew was in charge of coordinating and directing, so everyone had been incredibly busy for the past few days. 

Since the Spectres were taking the lead, it meant that Sabine and Ezra would be part of the team performing the actual “kidnapping.” Because of this, the two teens got the chance to spend a lot of time preparing together. 

Even though they weren't a couple, things had certainly changed between the two. They were kinder to each other, and Ezra made sure to give Sabine a fair share of compliments on her strategizing and planning genius. Their relationship changed in subtle ways, with hands touching each other “accidentally” during tasks or standing a little closer than was necessary to look at the same datapad. 

At night, after the planning sessions were over and the evening meal had been eaten, the Spectres would head back to the Ghost to enjoy some time together or to just relax. During these times, Ezra and Sabine would often sit next to each other at the table in the lounge. Sometimes their legs would touch under the table or Ezra would discreetly place his hand upon her knee. She didn't mind, especially because he was being so patient with her while she came to grips with her feelings. 

Things continued this way for the rest of the week, with gentle touches, lingering stares from across the room, and simple words that reminded each one how much they meant to the other. It was slow and sweet, two things that Sabine and Ezra didn't often get to experience, considering that their lives were mostly fast and chaotic. 

When it was finally the day of the mission, Ezra made sure to reassure Sabine that her plan was excellent and all would go the way it was intended to. The two of them, as well as some other members of Phoenix Squadron, were dressed like bounty hunters, aiming to make the kidnapping look as typical as possible. 

They flew the Broken Arrow so as not to draw any extra suspicion should one of their ships be recognized. Sabine and Hera sat in the cockpit and Ezra stood behind them as they pulled into the planet's atmosphere. The planet was a vivid shade of red, covered in hard clay and hilly terrain. 

The side of the planet they came in on had one large city, mostly filled with beige and gray buildings that stood out against the vibrantly-colored landscape around them. One building was taller than the rest, with an impressive dome on top. If they were rescuing a government official, Ezra had a feeling that it would be where they were headed. 

Sure enough, they turned towards the impressive tower, landing on the roof of the building next to it, which was still 20 or 30 levels shorter. Before they disembarked the ship, they went over their plan one final time. 

There were six of them on the team, all heavily armed. A guy and a girl who'd traveled with them were to play as snipers and extra support (should they need it) from the tops of some of the shorter buildings nearby. Ezra, Sabine, and a really big and beefy guy affectionately known as “Barrel” were to perform the actual extraction. Hera stayed on the Broken Arrow, ready to take off as soon as their mission was complete. 

It was unusual working with half a team that didn't include the Ghost crew, but considering they wouldn't be allowed to use the Force or lightsabers when playing bounty hunters, Kanan had stayed on the Ghost in space, waiting to assist if necessary. Zeb would've been a great help on the muscle side of things, but considering there were few Lasat left, he was too recognizable and not easily disguised. Therefore, he and Chopper stayed with Kanan. 

The small crew moved into their positions, two snipers on the rooftops and the three others waiting inconspicuously in the streets. They learned on the way there that the government official they were rescuing was this planet's senator, and he was a Clone War veteran with great tactical genius. He had arranged to walk from the capitol building (the giant tower) to a meeting nearby, and would soon be passing through with his guards -- the perfect setup for the crew to enact their plan. 

If all went well, Ezra and Sabine’s team would be able to incapacitate the guards and “kidnap” Senator Reskari without much issue. It was a fairly straightforward plan, similar to those the Spectres had carried out many times before. 

They weren't in place long when the senator and his bodyguards came walking down the street. They had been expecting the senator and about half a dozen guards at most, but were shocked to see nearly 20 people in total! It seemed that two other government officials had decided to tag along, and because of that, the security detail had been greatly increased. 

“Okay. Looks like we’re going to have to kick things up a notch. Everyone stay alert and stick to the plan as best you can,” Sabine said to the crew members over her comlink. 

As the large group of Imperials drew nearer, Sabine signaled the crew to attack, firing one shot at a Stormtrooper on the edge of the mob. In the moment that it took the Imperials to realize what had happened, the attack was on, and the snipers had begun to pick off the guards on the edges. 

The goal was for the three on the ground to stay out of the fight as long as possible, otherwise, they might get in the line of fire. Sabine hid behind some crates nearby, popping up every few seconds to fire a couple more shots with impressive accuracy. Ezra did the same on the other side of the street, ducking behind the corner of a building to shield himself from incoming fire. 

Even though the crew was outnumbered 3 to 1, they quickly narrowed the group down to 6 guards, plus the two other government officials and Senator Reskari. “Moving in!” Sabine shouted over her comm, warning the snipers to stop their fire and giving direction to Ezra and Barrel. The three of them kept their blasters up, shooting and dodging while edging closer to the group. 

Ezra rushed in to take down two of the guards, using some Mandalorian hand-to-hand combat techniques Sabine had taught him. He elbowed one hard in the head and flipped the other over and onto the ground. Two more punches and a strategically placed kick, and both his guys were knocked out. 

Barrel was fighting the biggest guard one-on-one, leaving Sabine to take on three guards at once, one of which was wearing Stormtrooper armor. She delivered a swift kick to one of the regular bodyguards’ heads, knocking him out cold with one move. However, the trooper came up on her from behind and pinned her arms against her back. 

As Ezra finished with his two guys, he turned to help Sabine out, realizing her predicament. He made a move in her direction but was startled by the feeling of someone jumping on his back. One of the government officials traveling with the senator was trying to tackle him! 

It was taking all his self-control not to use the Force, but Ezra held back, not wanting to draw suspicion. The woman who'd jumped on him wasn't light, but he was able to spin around and use her as a battering ram against the Stormtrooper holding Sabine. 

The move worked, knocking out the dignitary and causing the buckethead to release Sabine. She turned her attention back to the other guard, and just as Ezra was about to take down the trooper, he crumpled to the ground, stunned by a blue beam. Ezra turned around to see Barrel with a blaster in his hand, the guard he'd been fighting lying unconscious on the ground. Barrel fired a second stunner at the remaining dignitary just as Sabine delivered a knockout punch to the final guard. 

Standing amidst the heap of bodies in the middle of the street, the crew had earned some curious and rowdy bystanders. Before they could get into more trouble, Barrel grabbed the senator and dragged him away in an attempt to make the kidnapping look convincing. 

The four of them knew they shouldn't attract more attention by entering the building their ship was parked on, so they had to scale it. Thankfully, they were prepared for the occasion with some new equipment Sabine had helped develop. 

Barrel went first, strapping the senator to his back and climbing swiftly. Ezra urged Sabine to go next as he stood guard at the bottom. As soon as Barrel got to the top, he rushed to get Senator Reskari onto the ship. Moments later, Sabine pulled herself safely over the edge of the building and Ezra began to climb. 

As he worked his way up the concrete facade, he didn't notice the female dignitary he'd knocked unconscious starting to stir below. She looked to her left and spotted one of the Stormtroopers’ blasters on the ground. She picked it up, standing and aiming at the young man who attacked her, scaling the building across the street. 

Sabine reached over the edge of the building to grasp Ezra’s wrist and help him up, but as she did, she heard the familiar sound of a blaster. 

Ezra had nearly reached Sabine when he heard the shot of a blaster and then felt a searing pain in his right shoulder. His arm instinctively dropped from its grip, and he heard Sabine scream. 

“Ezra!” she shrieked, grabbing his other arm and pulling with all her strength, adrenaline and fear coursing through her body. As she yanked Ezra up over the edge, she noticed the government official down below with the blaster. 

The kidnappers were getting away, so she fired two more shots, one missing and hitting the wall, but the next one hitting Ezra squarely on his right leg. He let out a shout of pain, collapsing on the roof of the building. 

Having already loaded Senator Reskari, Barrel and the two snipers came rushing from the ship to see what had happened, noticing an injured Ezra, they all worked together to get him back on the Broken Arrow. 

They set Ezra down on the floor of the ship and one of the snipers called to Hera to take off. Sabine fell to her knees on the floor beside Ezra, terrified.

“Ezra! Stay awake! You've got to stay awake!” Sabine urged as she shook him gently. 

Unfortunately, the two blaster wounds were too much and Ezra drifted off into unconsciousness. 

---------------------------------

Ezra woke up, two hours later, dazed and completely confused. He was lying in a bed, but it wasn't his own. He was on a bottom bunk and the underside of the top bunk was covered in a wide variety of colors and shapes. Was he...in Sabine’s bed? But no, that couldn't be?

He turned his head slowly to the left and sure enough, Sabine was sitting on a stool near the bed, touching up the paint on one of her armor plates. As he shifted in the bed, she looked up and realized that he was awake. 

“You're awake! How do you feel?!” she asked anxiously, watching him with concern. 

“Like a bantha just ran over me, honestly,” Ezra said, grunting slightly as he struggled to turn onto his left side and face Sabine. 

“Well, that makes sense. You got shot twice and you hit that concrete wall pretty hard when you did. You'll probably be sore for a few days. The bacta bandages should take care of the blaster wounds.”

The fingers on Ezra’s left hand moved gently to his right shoulder, where he found a large bandage stuck to his skin. In doing so, he realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He slowly worked his way into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

As he placed his feet on the floor, he looked down. His right pants leg had been rolled up so that a second bacta bandage could be applied to his calf. He tried to stretch his leg out straight in front of him, but it made the wound shoot with pain. He winced. 

“Don't exert yourself, you need to rest,” Sabine warned him. Ezra wasn't sure that she was right until he tried to move his leg again and felt the same pain. 

He nodded, agreeing that he may need to relax for a bit so his body could heal. 

“Why am I in here?” he asked, suddenly remembering how strange it was. 

“Well, when you passed out, we hurried to meet up with Kanan and Zeb, considering we didn't have any med supplies on the other ship. Me, Hera, Senator Reskari, and Barrel came on board here with you. The other two are taking the Broken Arrow back to base, but the rest of us got assigned a mission.”

“That doesn't explain why I'm in your bed…”

“Well, the mission is to pick up some supplies and hand-delivered intel, but it's about a 2-day trip from here. Since you're injured, we figured it would be easier for you to stay on a bottom bunk, especially where it's quiet and you can rest. So, Barrel’s taking your bunk, the senator is with Kanan, and I'm staying with Hera for the time being,” Sabine explained. 

“You gave up your room for me?” Ezra asked, shocked and incredibly grateful. 

“Well, I should've been the last to climb the wall since I was in charge, so it's the least I could do for putting you in this situation,” she answered with a hint of guilt. 

“But then you would've gotten shot, that's not any better,” Ezra replied, trying to convince her that this wasn't her fault. 

“Oh please, we both know I would've climbed that wall faster than you did,” she said, letting out a little smirk at the end. 

“Oh, so you think you could've beat me then?” he asked, raising one eyebrow. 

“Yeah I do! When you're not cheating with the Force, you're incredibly slow,” she teased him. 

Ezra made a face of mock shock, placing his hand over his heart. “Wow, I think that hurt more than getting shot,” he said with fake pain in his voice. 

Sabine rolled her eyes, then moved to sit next to him on the bed. “Now that you're awake, I'm going to see if these need to be replaced.” She sat down on his right side and gingerly started to pull back the bandage on his shoulder blade. 

She braced her right hand on his shoulder, with her fingertips grazing his bare upper chest. With her left hand, she pulled the bandage slowly, checking to see if all the bacta had drained. It hadn't yet, and the wound underneath was looking pretty nasty, so she smoothed the bandage back down on his skin. 

As she used both hands to smooth it out, her right hand trailed across his shoulder and down his arm, delicately following the lines of his triceps and biceps. Here she was, again, with a shirtless Ezra. Except for this time, she was getting an up-close view. 

At the feel of her fingers on his muscles, Ezra turned slowly to face Sabine. As his body shifted, her eyes betrayed her, and she eyed his abdomen once again. Even sitting down, the lines on his stomach were well-defined, and taking them in made her body temperature rise. 

Unlike last time, she continued to stare, and Ezra noticed her obvious interest. He had a feeling that they were about to have a moment, and he didn't want to ruin it, so he let her make the next move. 

Sure enough, she scooted inches closer to him on the bed, closing the gap so that their knees and legs were touching. She placed a hand on his thigh, which sent shivers up Ezra’s spine. 

Sabine gave him a once-over, looking him up and down with what could only be described as desire. She stopped at his face, staring into his eyes with intensity. He knew what that look meant, so he raised his left hand to hold the side of her face. 

Within seconds, she'd closed the gap and was kissing him -- passionately, fervently, with the same hunger she had when they kissed in the hallway of the Imperial Academy. His hand fell to her waist, pulling her closer as their kiss got deeper, tongues dancing together in each others’ mouths. 

They only stopped to breathe, then quickly dove back into the moment, kissing as if their lives depended on it. 

This kiss wasn't like the others. It wasn't a shocking one-time deal born from days of tension and it wasn't a distraction to keep Stormtroopers at bay. It was the two of them, enjoying the moment and doing what felt natural. And neither of them wanted it to end…

Suddenly, the door to Sabine’s room opened. 

“Hey Sabine, is Ezra awa...” Kanan trailed off and stopped in his tracks as he realized what was going on. 

He may not have been able to see them in the traditional sense, but the blind Jedi could sense all the emotions in the room: passion, lust, tension, angst, and now, awkwardness. It was enough to key him in to what was going on. Plus, the noises their lips made left little to the imagination.

At the sound of the intrusion, the two teenagers jumped and pulled away from each other, their entire faces turning red with embarrassment. They stared uncomfortably at the floor and didn't speak. 

All three of them remained still, no one daring to break the silence. Ezra suddenly became much more aware of his bare upper body, but without a shirt nearby, he had to settle for folding his arms in front of his chest. 

Sabine was mortified. This very embarrassment was one of the big reasons why she was hesitant to be with Ezra. The idea of the rest of their crew knowing what the two of them had done made her want to melt into a puddle, and here those fears were, coming true right before her eyes. All she wanted to do was shrink back and disappear, blending into the wall behind her. 

After a moment of realizing just how uncomfortable the two teens were at the intrusion, Kanan started chuckling to himself. Startled, Sabine and Ezra looked up at him, instantly curious.

“Well, if he wasn't before, he sure is now!” Kanan laughed, then turned to leave. 

“Wait, Kanan!” Ezra said desperately, jumping up from the bed. He instantly regretted the decision as he felt a pain shoot up his injured leg. 

Kanan stopped in the doorway and Ezra regained his composure, then fumbled for his words, unsure of what to say. “We’re not...it was just a...please don't go telling…”

Kanan cut him off. “Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.” He paused, then added another thought. “But if you keep doing that, it's going to be pretty hard to hide it on this ship with so many people around,” he warned. 

Ezra sat back down on the bed. Both he and Sabine looked ashamed. 

“You need to rest, your leg is clearly not done healing.” Kanan turned and left without saying anything else. 

The two of them sat in silence for a full minute before Ezra spoke. “Well, that was…” Ezra started. 

“...the most embarrassing moment of my life.” Sabine finished, although that wasn't what Ezra had planned to say. 

Ezra looked slightly hurt by her comment, and Sabine quickly corrected herself. “ You're not embarrassing, it was just Kanan’s intrusion. It really killed the mood, and now he's going to treat us differently for sure. Things are going to be weird.”

Ezra nodded. He and Sabine would never live this down. “Well, at least he's the only one who knows. Could've been Zeb, or Hera, or worse...Chopper.” Ezra shuddered. 

“Well, actually...Hera knows. She was the one that convinced me to talk to you before we left the base. She could tell something was up,” Sabine revealed. 

“Oh.” Ezra bowed his head in disappointment and said, “Well, it looks like we don't get the benefit of privacy anymore.”

Sabine sighed. Just when she was starting to be more comfortable with her feelings, things had to go and get all complicated again. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 14: THE MENTORS

Not long after Kanan’s intrusion, Sabine left Ezra alone so he could rest. Other members of the crew, along with their two guests, checked on him the rest of the day. It got her off the hook and she was thankful, since she needed to spend some time alone. 

She spent the evening getting maintenance projects from Hera. If she couldn't paint in her room, working on the ship was the next best distraction. She hustled through the next few hours, completing 8 different repairs before she finally stopped to take a shower and wind down for the night. 

She had to go back into her room to get clothes to wear, and thankfully, Ezra was sleeping. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest as he rested and it brought her an unexplainable sense of peace. Once she'd chosen her sleepwear for the night, she left the room quietly and went down the hall to the refresher. 

Her shower was quick -- it had to be since there were so many people sharing the Ghost right now. Afterward, she dried off and dressed in clothes that were a tad more modest than she typically chose for sleeping. She didn't really feel comfortable wearing her usual shorts and tank top when she wasn't staying in her own room (and when there were two new people on the ship).

She left the refresher and walked down the hall to Hera’s room, finding the pilot already changed and prepping for bed as well. Sabine set her dirty clothes in a pile in the corner and climbed the ladder to the top bunk. As soon as she was settled on the bed, she relaxed her body and let out an involuntary sigh, the pent-up emotions from the day’s events all rolling out in one motion. 

It was crazy to think that just this morning, they'd been rescuing Senator Reskari from that clay-covered planet, and since then SO much had happened. The mission, Ezra getting shot, two hours of chaos and waiting for him to wake, their dramatic kiss, Kanan’s intrusion, and several hours of physical labor to sort it all out. 

Days in the Rebellion were often jam-packed, but today had been different than usual. Even more chaotic and even more emotional.

Almost as if Hera could read her thoughts, Sabine heard her call from the bottom bunk, “We’ve had quite the eventful day, haven't we?” 

“Yeah. I'm exhausted,” Sabine said honestly, letting out another deep breath. 

“Physically or emotionally?” Hera queried. 

“Both.”

Sabine heard rustling noises below and movement on the mattress -- she could tell that Hera was standing up. She turned her head to see the Twi’lek in the middle of the room now, looking up at her on the bunk. 

“How are things between you and Ezra?”

Sabine still wasn't comfortable with these types of conversations, and she considered avoiding the question altogether. However, at this moment, she had so much going on in her head that she just needed to talk to someone. Knowing she could trust Hera, she decided to answer the question honestly. 

“Complicated. Today was difficult.”

“I imagine so...you had to watch him get shot. That couldn't have been easy to handle,” Hera stated. 

“It wasn't. And things were just starting to get a little better after our talk the other day,” Sabine shared, opening up a little more. 

“Ah, so you two did talk, then? I figured you must have because you were being much friendlier than when we first got back to base. What happened when you talked?”

“Well, I admitted to him that I was really confused by everything going on and that I didn't know how to handle it. I basically told him that I enjoyed those romantic moments we had, but I needed more time to figure things out,” she said, rehashing the conversation in her mind. 

“And what did he say?” Hera asked. 

“That I could take all the time I needed. He was really great about it, and super nice to me the last few days.” She frowned. “And the way I repay him is by letting him get shot. All because my plan wasn't good enough.”

“Sabine, don't do that to yourself,” Hera chastised her. “Ezra’s going to be fine and your plan was great. We got the senator and there was no way for you to know that there would be so many extra guards. He's not going to hold this against you.”

“Yeah, I suppose you're right,” Sabine said, staring at the ceiling above her. 

“Did you get to talk to him today? After he woke up?”

Sabine’s cheeks flushed a shade of pink. “Umm...yeah. It was good,” she said unconvincingly. 

“Wait a minute...did something happen?” Hera questioned her, stepping closer and eyeing her suspiciously. 

“Well we talked, and I checked his bandages, and then I, uhh...kissed him.”

“You kissed him again?!” Hera asked in shock, a little too loud for Sabine’s liking. 

She flipped over on her side and propped up on one elbow, looking at Hera. “Shh! Everyone on the ship is going to hear you!” Then she softened, “Yes. I kissed him again, and it was probably the best one yet.”

Sabine immediately blushed again, realizing what she'd just admitted and wishing she could take it back. 

“And then what happened?!” Hera asked eagerly. 

Sabine hid her face in her hands, then mumbled in embarrassment. “Kanan walked in on us.”

“He WHAT?!” Hera’s eyes went wide. “Did he know what you were doing?”

“Yep. With all that tension, it was pretty obvious what was going on. We all just sat awkwardly for a minute, then Kanan made a joke about it,” Sabine said, still feeling the embarrassment. 

“I can't believe he didn't tell me!” Hera said incredulously. “I would've thought he'd come to tell me right away.”

“Before he left, he promised us he wouldn't tell,” Sabine assured her. 

Hera nodded, understanding that Kanan had a promise to keep. Then, a thought occurred to her. “So is that why you've been working maintenance all afternoon? To distract yourself?”

“Yeah,” Sabine admitted.

“Did it work?” Hera asked. 

“Well it helped to distract me a little,” Sabine shared. 

“Are you worried about the kiss or about Kanan interrupting you two?”

“Mostly Kanan’s interruption. I don't regret kissing Ezra today, but Kanan walking in made me realize that I won't be able to keep my feelings private forever. I knew I'd have to confront everything and open up to Ezra eventually, but if that happens, then at some point everyone else will know too.”

Sabine’s words keyed Hera in to the real problem. She thought carefully before she spoke. “Sabine, if at some point you do discuss feelings with Ezra and the two of you become a couple, no one’s going to think less of you. Liking a boy doesn't make you weaker, softer, less skilled, less intimidating, or any less of a warrior. Love is not a weakness,” Hera reassured her. 

Hera seemed to know that Sabine would need to think about that last part for a bit because she settled down back into her bed. Sabine contemplated those words as she began to fall asleep, exhausted from the day’s events and hoping that what Hera said was true. 

--------------------------------

At the same time, Ezra lay awake on Sabine’s bottom bunk, also dwelling on everything that had happened that day. He thought back to the mission, it seemed so long ago. He couldn't believe either that his last kiss with Sabine was just a few short hours ago. 

As he thought about the amazing moment he had shared with Sabine, he was interrupted for the second time that day by Kanan. The door to the room opened and his master walked in, then sat down on the same stool that Sabine had used earlier. 

“Hey. Just thought I'd check to see if there's anything you need before I go to bed,” Kanan explained. 

“Oh, thanks,” Ezra said with surprise. “I'm doing alright. A little uncomfortable still, but that's to be expected when you get shot I suppose.”

Kanan smiled, thankful that Ezra was in a lighthearted mood. He'd been through a lot in one day. 

“Hey, umm, about earlier...I'm sorry for walking in on you and Sabine. I didn't realize that you two were that...close,” Kanan explained awkwardly. He had begun to sense some changes in the two of them, but he had just thought that they were fighting with each other. All thoughts of the two of them becoming a couple had been squashed a long time ago by Sabine’s reaction to Ezra’s flirting. 

“Oh, we’re not really…” Ezra said, though he wasn't entirely sure of his answer. 

“So that was the first time?” Kanan asked. He was about to feel a lot worse if he'd just barged in on his padawan’s first kiss. 

“No, not exactly…” Ezra trailed off. Kanan looked at him with curiosity, and Ezra went on. “We've kissed two other times before.”

“Two other times?! How'd I miss that?!” Kanan said, his tone filled with shock. He'd definitely been interpreting the situation wrong. 

“Well, it's not like we're trying to get walked in on!” Ezra answered, smiling just a bit. 

“So...what's going on then? Are you two a couple?”

“Well, the first time we kissed was on the Ghost when it was just the two of us here. It was after we'd done that supply run and worked on that project, and there was just a lot of tension from spending all that time together, and I just kind of...did it,” Ezra explained. 

“Sabine actually let you kiss her?” 

“Yeah! I was shocked too, but she moved her face really close and gave me this look, and I thought that might be a signal, but in the end, it was her Force sense that gave it away. I could tell it was what she wanted me to do,” Ezra shared. 

Kanan nodded in understanding. “What about the second one?” 

“Well, that was complicated. We were on the mission at the academy and we almost got caught by bucketheads. Since we were supposed to be two cadets on a date, we just pretended like we escaped the party to kiss in the hallway. It worked, and it was really nice, but she ended up kissing me a lot longer than she had to.”

“Really?” Kanan asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. 

“Yeah. The bucketheads had already left and she kept kissing me like she didn't want to stop. It’s never been so hard to focus on a mission as it was after that,” Ezra admitted. 

“So you two have kissed three times, but you're not together in any way?” Kanan asked, confused. “Have you talked about it?”

“Yeah, we've been chatting. Sabine isn't one for emotional stuff, so it has been a bit difficult to convince her to open up. We finally talked for real the other day. We were making progress and taking things slow, but I think me almost dying flipped some kind of switch in her today.”

“Yeah, traumatic events like that tend to make people a bit more reckless,” Kanan replied, nodding his head. 

“It was going really great until you walked in,” Ezra frowned at Kanan. 

Kanan chuckled. “My bad. Believe me, I definitely wouldn't have walked in if I'd known that was happening. I'll never be able to get those sounds out of my head,” he teased. 

Ezra whipped the pillow out from under his head and attempted to whack Kanan with it, but Kanan stopped it with the Force and sent it back to pelt him. Ezra grumbled and put it back under his head. He sometimes forgot that Kanan was so quick with the Force. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, it seems like she keeps initiating this stuff. Maybe she does like you,” Kanan said, having a hard time believing his own revelation. 

“Is that so unbelievable?” Ezra asked. “I'm a pretty likable guy,” he said, smiling with as much confidence as he could muster. 

“Being likable is one thing, convincing a tough Mandalorian girl who's two years older than you and way out of your league to kiss you, is another,” Kanan smirked. 

“I guess you have a point there.” Ezra laid his head down on the pillow and looked up at the bottom of the bunk above him. He smiled to himself victoriously. When Kanan put it that way, it made him feel a whole lot better. 

After a moment of thinking, Ezra continued. “I just want to give her all the time and space that she needs. I can tell that we're making progress and that's good enough for me right now. I don't want her to feel forced into anything. Plus,” he added, “you're one to talk about waiting too long!” 

Kanan raised his eyebrows at Ezra as if he was about to chastise him, then his face softened. “Yeah, I suppose you're right. Hera and I aren't exactly on the fast track,” he chuckled. “Well, whatever works for you and Sabine, you do it. You've managed to make it this far.” He paused, then smiled, “I guess you don't really need my advice.”

Ezra turned on his side to look at Kanan. “I needed someone to talk to. And I'm usually okay to hear your advice...whether or not I take it is another thing.” He smirked and Kanan smirked back, knowing exactly what face Ezra was making even without seeing it. 

Kanan stood up and patted Ezra on the shoulder. “You get some rest. We’ve got some busy days coming up and I know how desperate you are to be involved in the action.” He walked to the door, opened it, and headed back to his own room, leaving Ezra all alone. 

Well, today was certainly eventful , Ezra thought to himself, then drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 15: THE COUPLE

The next morning, Ezra woke up in Sabine’s bed, except this time, he was prepared for it. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, yawning and sitting up. He was so groggy, in fact, that he didn't notice Sabine sitting on her stool in a corner, painting on the wall. 

“Good morning,” she called from across the room. “You slept late.”

“What time is it?” Ezra asked her groggily, still trying to get his bearings. 

“Around 1100. I was sent in here to make sure you were okay about an hour ago, and when I saw you were still sleeping, I figured you probably needed the rest,” she said without turning her eyes away from what she was painting. 

“Oh. Well, thanks,” Ezra replied, unsure of what to say. 

“I brought you some breakfast. It's probably cold by now, but I bet you're hungry.”

Ezra looked on the table near the bed, and sure enough, there was a plate of breakfast food there: space waffles, some fruit, and a cup of juice. He looked up, surprised, at the back of Sabine’s head. Letting him sleep, bringing him breakfast, she was being much nicer to him than usual. 

“Who are you and what have you done with Sabine?” he chuckled. 

She turned to face him, paint in her hand. “A thank you would be appropriate,” she smirked. 

“Thank you. This is amazing,” Ezra said genuinely. 

Sabine returned to her painting while Ezra scarfed down his food. He hadn't eaten much the day before, and because his body was healing rapidly (thanks to the bacta bandages), he was very hungry. 

He finished his food after only a few minutes, then chugged his cup of juice. He was sitting on the bed, making the empty cup float around with the Force, when Sabine got up from the stool and walked towards him. 

“It's probably time to remove your bandages. I think you should be mostly healed by now,” she said. 

Ezra didn't hear much of what she said as she moved across the room -- he was distracted by her body. She was once again wearing only her bodysuit without the armor on the top, and when he glanced around the room, he spotted it sitting in the corner with her belt and other accessories. 

After his luck with the kiss yesterday, he was feeling pretty confident, so he decided to try his hand at flirting. He gave her his best suggestive smile. “Sooo, no armor again today? To what do I owe the pleasure of this view?” 

Sabine watched his eyes flicker down her body, and she felt her cheeks flush a little. She wasn't embarrassed by his reaction, it was quite the contrary. She'd been eyeing him (rather obviously) yesterday and so it was only fair that he'd do the same. 

In all honesty, she'd been thinking about it when she came into the room and removed the extra pieces while he was sleeping. Yesterday, she'd humiliated them both by kissing him in front of Kanan, and on top of that, he'd been so kind to her the past few weeks, so she felt that giving Ezra a peek of her without her armor again was a small way she could pay him back. (Considering she knew that he really liked it.) 

Plus, it showed him that she was comfortable in his presence. She wanted Ezra to know that. Years of friendship had made her feel this way, and she wanted him to understand that even though they were in uncharted territory, she still felt natural being around him. 

She certainly didn't miss the flirty tone in his voice when he asked the question, so she played along and gave him the answer she knew he wanted to hear. “Well, I was checking you out yesterday, so I thought it was only fair for you to return the favor.”

Ezra smiled heartily and looked down at the ground. He had hoped she'd say something like that. That means that she's wearing that on purpose, he thought to himself, quite satisfied. 

Sabine sat on the bed next to him and went through the same motions as the day before. This time, as she peeled back the bandage, she saw a mostly healed wound, and she could tell that the patch was drained of the bacta. She pulled it off slowly, doing her best to not tug too much at the newly healed skin 

As the bandage came off, Ezra looked over his shoulder, attempting to get a better look. “It's nearly good as new,” Sabine assured him. “You may be stuck with a scar though.”

“Ahh, it's okay. Scars are cool.”

Sabine smiled as her eyes flickered across the two scars on Ezra’s cheek. He was right, they were cool. 

She set the first patch aside then tapped Ezra's leg, prompting him to lift it into her lap. She examined the second bandage as she did the first and determined that it was also ready to be removed. 

This one was a bit trickier, and she tried her hardest to not yank out any of Ezra’s leg hair with the adhesive. She noticed him wincing out of the corner of her eye, which made her want to move even slower. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she had pulled the whole thing off. 

Ezra turned his leg a little from side to side, examining the injury, then smiled satisfactorily. He put his foot back on the floor and turned to Sabine. “It looks like you did a great job at fixing me up!”

“I can't take credit for that. Hera helped me apply the patches properly. Plus, I was the one who got you hurt in the first place.”

“Would you stop saying that?!” he pleaded. “It wasn't your fault and it was a risk of the mission. Either way, I'm fine now,” he smiled, putting a hand on her knee. 

She looked down at his hand, and she suddenly felt the urge to kiss him again. Except for this time, it was less an urge of fiery passion and more an urge because of how she genuinely cared for him. 

Then, all at once, it hit her like a ton of bricks...she liked Ezra. 

She'd known the basis of feelings for him had been forming, and she'd probably felt this way deep down for a while, but now she was ready to admit it. It was like something inside Sabine was giving her courage and the push she needed to finally confront the thing she'd been avoiding. 

First things first, if they were about to have this life-changing discussion, she did NOT want to be interrupted again. She stood up abruptly, completely confusing Ezra, and walked over to the door to lock it. 

After the door was locked, she turned around and leaned her back against it, heart beating fast. She wasn't used to these kinds of conversations, and she didn't know where to start. 

Ezra saw the conflict on her face and stood up to meet her by the door. The pain in his leg was mostly gone, so he was able to walk over and stand in front of her with relative ease. He wasn't sure what she was thinking and he didn't want to pry into her feelings with the Force, so he simply reached out and grabbed her hand with his. 

The gentle and careful touch made Sabine smile. Ezra always knew just what to do to make her feel better. In fact, it encouraged her to do something that she rarely did (and pretty much never did with Ezra). She grabbed his other hand, pulled his arms around her, then wrapped her arms around his neck in a comforting hug. 

As Sabine laid her head on his shoulder, Ezra’s eyes went wide. This was almost more shocking than her kissing him! A kiss could be passionate and fiery, just like Sabine, but a hug...those were soft and gentle -- not really her style. Nevertheless, he soaked in every moment, pulling her close to him and squeezing her tighter. 

After a minute or two of standing there in each other's arms, Sabine pulled back slightly and looked up into Ezra’s face. He gave her a reassuring smile, and she sent a similar expression back at him. She stood up on her toes a bit and Ezra got the message. At the same time, they leaned towards each other and their lips touched for the fourth time. 

If Ezra thought yesterday’s kiss was unlike any other, then this one was even more unique. It was soft, gentle, smooth, and slow. They took their time, putting intention into their movements and enjoying holding each other as much as they were enjoying the kiss.

Half a minute later, Sabine pulled her face away from Ezra’s and looked into his eyes once again. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as her face flushed with heat...now was the time. 

She needed to finally let those feelings escape -- it would be good for both of them. She took a deep breath to help herself relax, but it didn't really work. 

“Ezra...I like you,” she stated. She wanted to stop there, but once the words were out, she felt the need to explain herself. “Like, actually like you...as in I'm attracted to you, ya know, more than a friend would…”

Ezra could tell she was spiraling downward, so he placed a hand on the side of her face to quiet her. “I hoped you'd say that,” he said with a comforting smile. 

“I'm sorry it took so long, I just, I didn't want things to change,” she explained. 

“Do you still not want things to change?” Ezra asked, hoping that she was at least okay with a little change. I don't want to lose kissing privileges, he thought to himself. 

“Well, I kinda realized that things had already changed. After what we've been through the past few weeks, we can't really just go back to how things were before.”

He nodded in understanding, then a quizzical look crossed his face. “So what does that mean for us now?” he asked with a mix of curiosity and eagerness. 

“It means I'm done pretending that this ,” she gestured between the two of them, “doesn't exist.”

“Does that mean you want to be with me?” Ezra asked. He had finally reached the breaking point -- he couldn't take the anticipation anymore. Unfortunately, his question came out sounding tentative and nervous. 

Sabine gave him a soft smile, realizing how complicated his emotions must be right now. “I think it does.”

Ezra couldn't contain his excitement. He picked Sabine up by the waist and spun her around, which made her eyes go wide with surprise before she started to laugh. The laughter was cut short as he set her back down, grabbed the sides of her face, and kissed her passionately. 

When he finally pulled away, she chuckled and said “I guess you don't have a problem with that!”

He grinned broadly back at her. “Not a single one.”

They hugged again for a few minutes, just enjoying this uninterrupted time together. Ezra felt relaxed, at peace, the same way he did when he was meditating. 

Sabine felt the strange sensation as well. She wasn't used to being relaxed, but it felt so natural and normal when she was with Ezra. 

Their hug continued in silence until a thought crossed Ezra’s mind. He didn't want to interrupt the moment, but he needed the answer to this question that was now burning in his brain. “So, umm, are we telling people about this?”

“What do you mean by ‘telling people’?” Sabine asked. 

“Like the Ghost crew and the other people here on base. Are they going to know we’re a couple?”

Sabine thought carefully before she spoke. “Well, I think I want it to be a secret between just the two of us for a little while. I mean, we're both new to this relationship thing and I don't know if we should broadcast it right away.” Ezra nodded in understanding, Sabine was probably right. “Kanan and Hera will probably be the first ones we tell though. That is, if they don't figure it out first,” she added. 

“Yeah, they're way too perceptive. Sometimes I wish they ignored us a little more,” Ezra said. They both chuckled at his comment, then smiled, grateful that they had people in their lives who cared so much. 

They returned to their hug, soaking in the quietness of the moment -- it wasn't something they got often in their daily lives. Sabine laid her head on his shoulder and Ezra squeezed her with tenderness in his touch. 

“So right now it's just the two of us?” Ezra asked.

“Just the two of us,” she replied. 

“I like that,” he said. He wasn't sure what a relationship with Sabine was going to be like, but he sure was excited to find out. 

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 16: THE REVEAL

In the next few weeks, the Ghost crew (and sometimes their bonus passengers) traveled around the outer rim, completing missions for the Rebellion, collecting supplies, and gathering intel from allies. The days were exciting and exhausting at the same time. 

However, the moments that were the most thrilling for Ezra and Sabine were those in-between all the action. The moments when they could steal away and hide somewhere apart from the crew. When they were on base, there were plenty of places to get lost and spend time together, but when they were on the Ghost, they had to get more creative. 

The two of them got really good at sneaking around. Ezra learned to tune in to everyone’s Force senses so that he had a better grasp on when they were about to get interrupted. They would often run off by themselves to talk or kiss, but never for too long -- they didn't want to be suspected of anything. 

Their plan was going well until Hera walked into Sabine’s room while the two of them were in there together. They'd decided in the beginning that they wouldn't lock doors when spending time alone because it would seem suspicious, but the downside to that was that people could barge in whenever they felt like it. 

On this particular day, Ezra was sitting on Sabine’s bed while she painted a new mural on her wall. After a while of hanging out, it was time for Ezra to go train with Kanan. He stood up and walked over to Sabine, giving her a kiss before heading towards the door. He didn't break the kiss a moment too soon, because just as he turned to leave, the door slid open and Hera walked in. 

Ezra had gotten a small sense from the Force that Hera was about to walk in, and it gave him just enough warning to act casual. 

“Oh, hey Hera! What's going on?” he asked in what he hoped was a normal voice. 

Hera eyed him a little suspiciously. “Just came to talk to Sabine.”

“Oh. Well have fun, I'm off to train with Kanan.” And with that, he left, hoping he'd given a convincing performance. 

Sabine turned around to face Hera. “What's up?” she asked. 

Hera raised an eyebrow. “I think I should be asking you that question. That's the third time this week I've seen him hanging out in your room with you. You're usually not one to have company,” Hera observed. 

“We’re friends. I let friends visit my room,” Sabine said, though she felt it was a lame explanation. 

Hera must've thought so too. “Are you sure there's not something else going on here?”

“What do you mean?” Sabine asked innocently, even though she had an idea of where this was going. 

“Something... romantic ?” Hera asked, raising an eyebrow again. 

“And where would you get that idea?” Sabine scoffed, trying to make the idea sound ridiculous. 

“Well, for starters, you were totally confused with your feelings two weeks ago, and now you seem to have them completely under control. The two of you are spending a lot more time together, and there's a lot less tension between you in general. Plus, he was definitely checking you out at breakfast yesterday and I know you saw him. You didn't threaten him or yell at him or anything...you smiled, ” Hera finished. 

“So?” Sabine asked, having a hard time thinking of a defense. 

“I think something changed between you and Ezra.” Hera stared Sabine in the eyes as if searching for the answer. “Are you two a couple now?”

Sabine looked away, not wanting to reveal the answer with her eyes. But in doing so, she gave Hera all the confirmation she needed.  

“You ARE!!! I'm so excited for you two!” Hera looked elated, and Sabine had to interrupt before she got any further. 

“You can't tell anyone! We've been keeping it a secret so far,” she pleaded. 

“My lips are sealed,” Hera affirmed. 

“Good,” Sabine said, pretending as though she was going back to her painting. Maybe Hera would drop the conversation. 

Hera definitely wasn't going to drop it. “What happened? Tell me everything!” She walked over and sat down on Sabine’s bed expectantly. 

Realizing this was a conversation she'd be forced to have, Sabine turned slowly on her stool to face Hera. “Well, I talked to him about my feelings, just like you told me to.”

“And?” Hera prompted. It was going to be difficult to get Sabine to spill. 

“And things went pretty well. We decided to try it out, see if this would work.”

“When did you two have this little chat?” Hera asked. 

“It was the day after I talked to you,” Sabine answered. 

“That was two weeks ago! You've been a couple for TWO WEEKS and didn't tell me?!” Hera questioned her incredulously. 

“I didn't want anyone to know. I guess I still don't. It'll make things too complicated,” Sabine said honestly. 

Hera eyed her with suspicion. “I don't think that's it. I think it's that you're still afraid of what other people will think if they know about you and Ezra. You're afraid people will look at you differently.”

Sabine looked at the floor. “I'm a teenage girl with a crush. Just saying it makes me feel silly. How is anyone supposed to respect me?”

“Like I told you two weeks ago -- love does not make a person weak. In fact, if anything it's the opposite. And everyone in the Rebellion has seen you work too hard and accomplish too much to think you're anything less than an amazingly tough warrior.” Hera put a hand on Sabine's shoulder. “Trust me. I know about your feelings, and that's what I think of you.”

Sabine sighed and looked up at Hera, thankful for her wisdom. But then, another thought came into her head. “I couldn't even admit how I felt to Ezra. How in the stars am I going to admit what's going on to everyone else?” 

Hera thought carefully for a moment, then it occurred to her. “If you can't tell them, show them.”

“Sooo...you think I should just, like, kiss Ezra in front of everyone?!” Sabine asked with shock on her face. 

“No! That's not what I mean…” Hera quickly explained. “Just, when you're around everyone else, treat him the way you'd treat him if you two were alone. It'll be easier on Ezra too, proving to him that you aren't ashamed of him or your feelings for him.” 

Sabine thought about Hera’s suggestion for a moment, then nodded. It was probably the best course of action. After all, as nice as it was to have their relationship a secret, it sure was a lot of upkeep. They'd nearly gotten caught a few times already and it would certainly be easier if they didn't have to care about hiding things. 

“Okay,” Sabine concluded. “Thanks, Hera.”

Hera simply smiled and turned to leave. “Oh, and I came to tell you, we've got a call with Sato in 10 minutes. We’re giving an update on our last intel mission.”

“I'll be there, I just need a minute,” Sabine replied. 

Hera nodded in agreement, then left Sabine alone with her thoughts. She sat for the next 8 minutes or so brainstorming ways that she could “show” her love for Ezra that weren't embarrassing or too emotional. This was going to be tricky. 

Their meeting with Sato went well. He was impressed with their progress and he called for them to return to Chopper Base for a full debriefing. The journey back lasted about a day, and Kanan took that time to do some extra training with Ezra, so Sabine didn't get to speak with Ezra much. 

When they landed on Atollon, they headed straight to meet with Sato, and it was a long discussion. By the time they finished, the Ghost crew was exhausted and decided it was time to turn in for some shut-eye. 

It wasn't until Sabine got back to her cabin that she realized she hadn't tried any of the ways to show off her relationship in front of everyone else. It just hadn't been what was on her mind while they were breaking down their last mission. She was going to have to be more intentional tomorrow. 

The intentionality started out slow, with breakfast the next morning. In a move that was pretty out of the ordinary, Sabine made breakfast for both herself and Ezra and poured them both steaming cups of caf. 

When she set the food and drink down in front of him at the table, then took the seat beside him and smiled, a look of disbelief spread across Ezra’s, Zeb’s, and Kanan’s faces. Even Chopper let out a beep of confusion. Sabine simply turned to her own meal and pretended that nothing was out of the ordinary. 

Later that day, Sabine tried out a second move while they were at another briefing. Before Ezra arrived, she saved him a spot next to her at the table and filled him a canteen with water. When he walked in before the start of the meeting, drenched in sweat due to having just finished some Jedi training, she waved at him and motioned to the seat next to her. 

Ezra turned his head to look behind him, making sure that Sabine was indeed gesturing towards him. This was unusual behavior on her part. Even though she was his girlfriend now, she'd never saved him a seat before. 

He walked over to the chair and sat down, turning to her and giving a nervous “hi.”

“Hey there,” she replied with more of a smile than she typically wore. “How was Jedi training?”

“It was good. Intense. I'm definitely going to need to hit the refresher for a shower after this meeting,” he said, pulling at his tee that was damp from sweat. 

“I figured you would've worked up a sweat. Here, I got you this,” she said, handing him the canteen of water that had been sitting on the table. 

Dumbfounded, Ezra took the canteen from her hand, eyeing her with a curious expression. He took a few sips, then realized he hadn't thanked her.

“Thank you, Sabine. This is so thoughtful," he said with genuine appreciation.

“You're very welcome,” she replied, smiling at him gently. 

The interaction wasn't lost on Zeb, who was sitting nearby. He looked as dumbfounded as Ezra by Sabine’s actions. 

These little moves continued over the next few days. Sabine would bring Ezra food and beverages, assist him with undesirable tasks, compliment him in front of the rest of the team -- all things that certainly weren't typical. 

Ezra noticed each time she did something thoughtful, and he wasn't the only one. Zeb, Kanan, and some of the other officers picked up on it as well. Even Chopper began to catch on. 

However, despite realizing that Sabine was being nice to Ezra, no one took the extra step to put two and two together and figure out that they were a couple. It was as if the idea of Sabine and Ezra dating was so foreign that it wouldn't even cross anyone’s mind. 

Sabine really didn't want to have to make some big announcement, it just wasn't her style. She preferred to keep her personal life quiet, but it was getting to the point where keeping the relationship a secret was more trouble than it was worth. 

If no one was going to catch on and figure this out, she'd have to make it obvious. 

At their next briefing, she tried everything -- standing too close to him, putting her hand on his, even laying her head on his shoulder. The others took notice and gawked awkwardly, but nobody said anything to them. She needed the nature of their relationship to be spoken out loud, even if she couldn't do it herself. 

Finally, her moment came. 

She was standing side by side with Ezra, their shoulders pressed together. She was going over some plans with the other officers, but Ezra had this dumb, lovestruck look on his face. 

She caught a glimpse of the way he was looking at her when speaking to the group. Of course he looks like that , she thought to herself, I've been more touchy-feely with him this past hour than I've ever been in my whole life. And somehow, nobody has said anything!

Apparently though, she wasn't the only one who noticed the look. After she detailed her plan for the next mission, Ezra called her ‘brilliant’ and Zeb looked up from across the table. 

Zeb caught one glimpse of the way Ezra was staring at Sabine and he chuckled out loud. “Geez kid, I thought you gave up on chasing Sabine. You may want to stop looking at her like that and give her some space before she knocks you out.”

It finally dawned on Sabine...nobody believed she would be so forward, so they were all assuming that this affection was coming from Ezra. She realized what she had to do. 

Sabine turned to Ezra, grabbed the sides of his face with her hands, and pulled his mouth to hers. As their lips met, sparks went off inside Sabine's mind and she felt relief course through her. She no longer had to keep this massive secret. 

Ezra panicked when Sabine grabbed his face, his mind racing. What is she doing? She's kissing me in front of everyone! Am I supposed to kiss her back?! He settled on kissing her back, but not with as much gusto as he would've liked -- smooching on Sabine in front of everyone was already making him feel insanely bashful. 

After a few moments, she pulled away from his lips and let go of his face. 

“What was that?” Ezra blurted out with shock. “I thought we weren't doing that in front of other people!”

“Keeping it a secret was too exhausting,” she admitted to him. 

Sabine was thankful she had already presented her plan because she needed to go sit down after that public display of her feelings toward Ezra. She gathered her datapad and other belongings and left the room.

Ezra remained, dumbstruck, standing at the spot where Sabine left him. Everyone else was staring at him, mouths agape, waiting for the explanation of what had just happened. 

It took him a moment to realize that they were all waiting, and then he wasn't sure what to say. 

“Umm…well, Sabine and I are together now. I guess she's okay with me telling everyone, considering THAT just happened,” he said without much confidence. 

After his words sank in, the tension in the room started to relax. A few people chuckled, some gave him congratulations. But as soon as the attention started to turn away from him, he left, rushing back to the Ghost to find Sabine. 

She was sitting in the lounge, waiting for him. 

“Oh, uhh...hey,” he said, trying to sound casual but not at all succeeding. 

“Hey,” she replied, smiling at him. “I take it you told everyone after I left.”

“Yeah, uhh, I kinda had to. They were all super confused,” he shared. “And I'm probably more confused than they are. I was not expecting that...like at all.”

“Yeah, I'm sorry. I should've told you how I was feeling, but you know, I'm not very good at doing that.” Sabine stared absentmindedly at the table in front of her. “I knew you wanted to tell people about us, and I was getting tired of the secret. I wanted to share, but I really didn't want to talk about it in front of everyone.”

Ezra chuckled, and Sabine looked at him with slight annoyance. “Well, that's one way to not talk about it -- just shock them and then no one will ask any questions!” Ezra said. 

Sabine smiled. Her plan did seem a little ridiculous now, but at least everything was out in the open. She didn't expect too many questions from most of the people on the base, although she thought Kanan and Zeb would have some things to say. 

“This has been a wild few months,” Ezra stated. Sabine nodded in agreement. 

She thought back on all that had happened between the two of them in the past several weeks, all beginning on the day that they made that supply run and nearly got caught by Stormtroopers. 

“And to think, all this got started because you were jealous of someone I'm not even friends with anymore,” she reminded him. 

“Well, I just wanted to be your best friend. And look where that got me…” Ezra sat down beside her and scooped up her hand in his. “I'll say it worked out in my favor.”

Sabine met his gaze. He was grinning this stupidly triumphant grin, but it made her want to kiss him. She leaned close and did just that, pressing their lips together in a way that was tender and reassuring. 

They exchanged a few more soft and delicate pecks before they pulled away and leaned their foreheads together, eyes closed and concentrating on the moment. 

Ezra could feel her presence in the Force, she was balanced, relaxed, comfortable. It made him incredibly pleased to know that she felt that way in his presence, especially after they kissed. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes until they heard someone clear their throat in the doorway. The two of them broke apart and looked up to see Zeb standing there.  

“So...you two are a couple now?” he asked. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but his presence gave off an air of curiosity. “How'd that happen?”

Ezra looked to Sabine, then back to Zeb. He grinned devilishly. “It's simple. After several years of terrible flirting, I finally wore her down.”

Sabine shoved him playfully. 

“I always just thought you two were best friends. I never really considered that anything else was going on,” Zeb admitted. 

Sabine thought for a moment. “We are best friends…I think that's why it works so well.”