Guess who's back? Me! And today was my last day of classes - which means that I'll have this whole eight/nine weeks of summer in front of me! (However, I have yet to take finals...so...) But I'm still happy, because this means I'll have more writing time! And less stress time! Yay!

I came up with this story a few months ago, actually - during April, I believe, but it wasn't until last night did I finish it. And, you know, I think this is kind of fitting. (Who else is also extremely excited for season two? *screaming forever*)

Enjoy!

A Vacation of Sorts

"Relax."

"I can't relax. Those people are a little too close to the kids, Hera."

"Kanan. Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb are fully capable of looking after themselves," Hera reminded gently. "And besides – we've been in more dangerous situations before. This is a piece of cake for them. Now, the only problem is that you won't calm down…" Her voice drifted. Kanan snapped his head over at the Twi'lek. "What?" he asked. "I know that look. And that voice."

Hera smiled, though it was more exasperated than actually happy. "You're still tensed up," she replied simply. Kanan blinked. "What?" he asked, looking down at his legs. "No, I'm not. I'm perfectly fine. See?" He lifted both of his arms, waving them around a few times. Hera ducked once – then grabbed Kanan. Hera's grip was gentle, the smile on her face softening.

"Kanan, I can feel your muscles tightened up," was all what the woman said before she dropped his arms. She nodded at the rest of the Ghost crew standing a little way from them. They were all stretched out on the sand – Ezra was kicking some of it at Zeb, whereas Sabine was slowly inching towards the water. "See?" Hera asked. "They look fine."

"There are too many people near them. Don't tell me I'm not the only one who finds that suspicious."

"For kriff's sake, Kanan," Hera sighed. She stood up and pointed again at the group. "We're on a vacation. There's no mission. There aren't any bombs or terrorists or guards here. So calm down. Just a little bit." Kanan ran a hand through his hair. "I still don't like it," he muttered under his breath. "And you know how important it is for us to remain under cover –"

Hera smiled. Leaning back, she replied smoothly, "I know, love – but you need to take a break once in a while. Relax. We'll be ready to jump into action if anything bad happens."

As if on cue, Ezra shouted, "Are you guys gonna stay there or what?" With that, he started to wade into the water with a wide grin. "Come on!" he added. "It's not even that cold!" Suddenly, he cried out as Zeb created a mini tidal-wave against the boy. "How 'bout now?" the Lasat asked with a smirk.

Ezra narrowed his eyes at Zeb. "That's not fair!" he shouted, and jumped on top of him. The two started wrestling in the water, with Ezra latched over Zeb's shoulders and Zeb, in turn, trying to shake the boy of. Sabine, on the other hand, took one look at Zeb and Ezra, shrugged her shoulders, then scooted away from the water to instead doodle on the sand.

"Never thought you'd be paranoid," Hera commented as she watched the children.

Kanan resisted the urge to kick some sand at Hera. Instead, he settled for, "I never thought I'd see you let your guard down."

"Hate to break it to you, dear, but there's quite the difference between letting my guard down and being calm." Hera responded, stretching out her legs. Kanan puffed out a sigh. He slowly sank back into the ground, staring up at the sky – and then quickly rolled over, because the damn sun was in his eyes.

And then, after a few minutes, Kanan heard the pattering of someone's frantic footsteps running for him. He felt a splatter of cold water – and blinking, the man looked up to see Ezra beaming down at him. "Kanan!" the boy said, hopping excitedly from one foot to the other, "you've gotta join us – the water's great!"

"Er…" Kanan glanced over at Hera, who only smiled and shrugged. Kanan sighed and looked over Ezra's shoulder. "Have you tried asking Sabine? I'm sure she'd –"

"Nah. She's in her own world right now," Ezra replied with a face. "I don't get it." He perked up. "But come on! You're missing out! Plus, I'm pretty tired of being Zeb's water toy." To further emphasize the point, Ezra slammed the heel of his hand against the side of his head, as though that could get the water out. Kanan watched for a few seconds, and then he said, "You know, trying to shake your head isn't gonna work."

Ezra grimaced. "Yeah, well, it'll get out at one point or another. So are you coming in?"

Before Kanan could answer, Hera replied, "Oh, yes, Ezra – Kanan will be right behind you."

"Really?" Ezra asked. "Great! See you in a few!" With that, the boy turned around and scampered back to the waters. Kanan shook his head to himself. Pushing a hand up to his forehead, he muttered to the Twi'lek, "You know, I was going to say yes on my own."

"Mm…" Hera was putting on a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. "Better get going, then. Wouldn't exactly be nice to leave Ezra hanging." The man sighed. As he started to take of his shirt, he asked, "Why aren't you going in?"

"Because I, unlike you, actually plan on going sooner or later," Hera responded loftily, still not moving from her position on the ground.

"I said I was going to go in!"

"Yes, dear. Now hurry – I think Zeb is about to use Ezra as a water toy again."

xXx

Sure enough, when Kanan reached the water, Zeb was lifting Ezra over his head. The boy was squirming around in the Lasat's hands, grunting, "Lemme go! Zeb! Hey! Wait – no, no, no, no!" (The rest of Ezra's cries were drowned out by splashes of water.) When the boy re-surfaced, a small tidal-wave emerged, crashing straight into Zeb.

"Oh, so you wanna play like that, kid?" Zeb growled, trudging forward. "'Cause you're gonna get what's coming for ya!"

"You're gonna have to catch me first!" Ezra laughed, and in a flash, he was ducking behind Kanan with hands outstretched and a mischievous grin on his face. "Come on, Kanan," Ezra said with a grin. "We can take him together, right?"

Kanan stared down at Ezra. The boy's eyes were wider and happier and more excited than Kanan had seen in a long time – there was more sprit and sprightliness that used to be in Ezra's voice before. Somehow, Kanan was reassured by that.

What a kid.

"Yeah, sure," Kanan found himself saying, lifting his arms. "We can take him just fine." Ezra let out a whoop. "Here that, Zeb?" the boy taunted, his voice alight with mirth. "We're ready!" Zeb didn't look at all fazed by Ezra's comment. Instead, the Lasat stretched out his arms – cracked his knuckles, his neck (Ezra asked quietly, "How do people even do that?"), and then grinned over at them.

"I'm hoping you two combined will give me a good fight," Zeb called. "Ezra was pathetic by himself."

Kanan looked down at Ezra, who rolled his eyes and glared. Feeling a smile twitch over his lips, the man replied, "You know, Zeb, we were planning on going easy on you, but I think that now since you said that..." Kanan grinned openly. "I think we change our mind." He heard a small cheer from Ezra – resisted the urge to smile again – and then they all dove forward, ready and open for attack.

The first thing Ezra did was leap on top of Zeb, delicately balancing on the Lasat's head. Laughing, Ezra flashed a thumbs-up at Kanan before hopping back down behind Zeb, pushing him into the water. The victory was short-lived, however, because Zeb almost instantly rose back out of the water, arms stretched out to shove Ezra in. However, before the Lasat could get to the boy, Kanan sent a wave towards Zeb, pushing him further away. At this, both Ezra and Kanan laughed – especially when Zeb started sputtering and coughing out sea water.

"Think this is funny, don't you?" Zeb asked indignantly.

"Just a little bit," Ezra replied jovially. "Your eyes pop out a little whenever you get splashed – did you know that? Like one of those cats –"

In another minute, Zeb had shoved Ezra into the water. Still laughing, Ezra carefully stretched himself out on his back so he'd be floating on the water's surface. He lazily kicked his feet in Zeb's direction – until the Lasat started to growl. "We'll see whose eyes will pop out soon," he was grumbling darkly – and then Kanan launched himself at Zeb, hands latched around his neck.

"Hey!" Zeb cried out in surprise, grabbing hold of Kanan. "What're you doing?"

"Saw Ezra – whoa! – do it – thought it'd be – Zeb! – worth a shot!" Kanan replied, grunting as Zeb tried to shake him off. However, while Kanan was being jerked back and forth, he managed to catch sight of Ezra, who only stuck up both of his thumbs with a grin. "You know," Ezra said, shaking his head. "Gotta admit – this is coming out better than I thought!"

"C'mere!" Zeb shouted, grabbing Ezra. The boy cried out in surprise, and then he was being thrown just beside Kanan. Dazed, Ezra grabbed ahold of the Lasat and said, "Okay, ever mind. This isn't – oh, wait!"

With amusement, Kanan watched Ezra clamber up to the top of Zeb's head, balancing just as he did before – only, whenever Zeb's hands came in his way, Ezra would nimbly duck or jump a little to avoid being knocked off. "Impressive," Kanan remarked as Ezra kept up his pace. The teenager had his eyes narrowed in deep concentration. "Well," he said, "I've been practicing just a little bit – aha!"

Ezra started to tumble backwards, arms flailing in the air and legs shaking as he started to fall – but then Kanan grabbed the teenager and settled him back over Zeb. "Maybe not perfect yet," Kanan said with a small smirk. Ezra gave the man a sheepish smile and lifted his hands above his head. "But hey," the boy pointed out, "we're still here! Let's ride, Zeb!"

"Kid, I allow you to call me a lot of names, but you are not allowed pretend I'm about to give you a ride," Zeb grouched, crossing his arms over his chest. "And you two are heavy. Just thought you needed to know that." Ezra shrugged his shoulders. Leaning forward and propping his head up on a hand, Ezra simply said, "I think that idea actually appeals to me more." (At this, Kanan snorted.)

"Actually, though, Zeb, I suppose this is a bit impressive," Kanan observed. Zeb made a smug scoffing sound. "Well, of course I'd still be holding you two up – I'm stronger than you think, now, ain't I?"

As soon as those words were said, Zeb started to lean backwards – and all crying out at once, the males tumbled back into the water.

Ezra was the first to pop his head out. Spitting some water from his lips, Ezra grimaced. "Yeah, Zeb. Totally stronger than we thought." Kanan cringed, feeling water clogged in his ears. His voice seemed to come out oddly when he asked, "Yeah, Zeb – what was that all about?"

"It wasn't me!" Zeb replied frantically, lifting his hands in surrender. "I was nudged back?"

"What? By who?" Kanan asked, crossing his arms in disbelief.

"By us," a pair of familiar, female voices chimed in.

Kanan turned to see Sabine and Hera sitting on one of the larger rocks, examining their nails casually – but both were wearing equally knowing grins on their faces. "Aww, really?" Ezra asked first, exasperation evident in his voice. "We were having fun!"

"Yes, well, we didn't want to make your egos too big," Sabine replied, cracking her shoulders. "And just for the record, Hera and I would both beat you in balancing on the water. It's easy – at least, easier than you guys seem to make it." Ezra snorted. "Oh, please," the boy enthused. "Kanan and I are Jedi."

"Hmm…I still think we can beat you," Sabine replied impishly.

At this, both Zeb and Ezra surged towards Sabine, mouths already open for a debate. During this heated discussion, Hera jumped off the rock and swam over to Kanan, wearing a wide smile on her face. "So," she said, turning to see the younger ones continue to argue. Ezra was waving his hands in the air, sending up sprays of water in both Zeb and Sabine's faces in the process.

"Are you relaxed now?" Hera asked at last, looking up at Kanan.

Sabine responded to the fight by standing on top of the rock and toppling into a handstand with the picture of perfect ease. Ezra's mouth dropped open a little ways – and then he was back to sputtering out an argument as Sabine continued to 'casually' strike up new gymnastic moves that Ezra had yet to learn.

And though in the next moment, everyone was going back to shouting and splashing and creating a little storm of chaos, Kanan found himself grinning. "You know, Hera," he said pleasantly, looking over at the Twi'lek, "yeah. I think I'm beginning to relax a little bit."

"Great," Hera said enthusiastically, squeezing Kanan's arm. Wading forward, she said over her shoulder, "Now, come on! We have to live up to that challenge Sabine set up for us. We're going to win, by the way."

"Now, with that, I strongly disagree," Kanan laughed after her.

xXx

Hera and Sabine ended up winning.

A/N - In case you didn't know, my laptop's Internet is down. I still have Microsoft Word, but at the moment, my brother has been kind enough to let me use his laptop to post stories like this one. (Thank you, dear brother mine!)

I've also recently reached over 300 followers/faves on my user! *screaming* And I know some of you guys are those followers/favorite-ers. (That's not a word, but it is now.) So, as a thank you, I've decided to do my very, very, very first FanFic giveaway, in which five out of the lucky entrees will be chosen from a random generator and get to request a fanfic from me - more info and details are on my profile page! :)

And, as always, reviews are great! Flames aren't tolerable, but constructive criticism is!