Unknown Love

Before I get this started, I just wanted to give a shout out to tython055 for this story suggestion. And before you all start asking, 'What about Love in the Rebellion?' I have a promise to keep for thython055. LITR is not done yet, so I will be working on that. Besides, this might give me a few ideas for the other story anyway. I'll likely be alternating updates between this and LITR.

Sabine Wren has always liked Ezra from the beginning, just not in the way Ezra hoped. While Ezra tries to flirt with her, she never felt anything for him in that way. Sure she worries for him all the time, but she always thought that's what it was like being an older sister.

'He's just like a brother to me,' she'd always tell others.

Yes he was always annoying, and a bit immature, those were aspects in every young boy. But that was the old Ezra. Now he doesn't flirt as much and he's started to mature a little. But this time, was not one of those times. He's running around the Ghost, trying to avoid getting a haircut.

"Ezra, it's Jedi tradition for a Padawan to have short hair!" Kanan yelled.

"No way am I getting a haircut!" Ezra yelled back, his hands raised to keep Kanan away from him.

"If you keep resisting it's only going to get harder for you," the blind Jedi explained.

"My hair is fine how it is, just ask Sabine," he said.

"Ask me what now?" she said, just walking into the room. "What's going on?"

"Sabine, my hair is fine how it is, right? I don't need a haircut," Ezra said.

Sabine thought for a moment, "Oh, I don't know. I mean we've never seen you with short hair before." She started giggling when color drained from Ezra's face.

"Oh no... Please not you, too," he said, now completely terrified. Mandalorians going after you is never a good thing, whether it's to kill you, or give you a haircut.

"Sabine, don't do it. Please don't join them," he pleaded.

"Too late, kid," she said as she jumped at him, trying to hold him steady. He managed to slip out of her grip, but she was hot on his heels.

"Come on, Ezra, it's just a haircut," she called after him.

"You'd only dye my hair a different color!" he yelled.

"So what? It would be funny," she said.

"Exactly why I'm not letting you do it!"

"Or anybody for that matter," Sabine shot back.

Pretty soon, Sabine managed to outmaneuver Ezra and trap him in a corner.

"Come on, Ezra," she said. "Time to see Hera."

Ezra's face paled again. "No... no, no, no. You can't do this to me."

"Hey, it's not like you're in trouble for anything. It's only a haircut."

Sabine managed to get Ezra back to Kanan's quarters and they started cutting his hair, though Sabine had to stun him because he was struggling so much.

He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. Perfect time to dye his hair! She thought to herself. However, Kanan sensed it and said something about it.

"No you are not dying his hair pink, purple, or any other color," he said. Sabine groaned and walked out of the room.

About 30 minutes later, Ezra finally woke up. He didn't remember what happened, but he felt like he needed a shower. His neck and face were itching like crazy. He walked into his refresher and got in the shower. It wasn't until he got out when he realized his head felt lighter. He looked into a mirror and saw his hair was short. Normally he would have been very upset, but now he almost didn't recognize himself.

"Woah..." he said to himself. He inspected every part of his head and didn't see any wounds or anything. Not even a scratch, which was what he was originally afraid of. "Hera really knows how to give a haircut."

There was a chime at his door so he walked over to the panel and opened it, not realizing he was shirtless. Sabine was standing in his doorway.

"Hey are you going to..." she then noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt and turned a light red, but she looked away so he wouldn't notice.

Ezra also realized he wasn't wearing a shirt and he quickly put one on. "I'm... sorry, I wasn't..."

"Don't worry about it. I was just asking you if you were coming out anytime soon," she asked.

"I was just finishing up in here, why?" he asked then.

"There's something you need to help me with," she said.

Sabine asking me for help? That's a new one.

"It's Hera's idea that you help me with this. Not that I needed help anyway but she insisted," Sabine added.

"Ah ok. That makes sense, because you never ask me for help, actually you never ask anybody for help. Not that you need help with anything, I mean... some... things..." he didn't know what he was trying to say. Real smooth, Bridger.

Sabine crossed her arms and stared at him, raising one eyebrow, "Smooth, Ezra. Now hurry up, I can tell you what we're doing on our way there."

"W-Where are we going anyway?" he asked.

"One of our perimeter scanners is offline. We're tasked with finding what's wrong with it and fix it. Not likely those spiders knocking it out because they never go near them, so I need you to keep them calm and relaxed... or whatever you do."

"Sounds like you really do need my help. Nobody can do this alone," Ezra said grinning.

"Yeah well, I suppose you're right, for once," Sabine said, giving him a small smile in return. "Wanna race?"

"I don't know. I mean, you did help give me a haircut, so maybe I could win. Less drag that way," Ezra said.

"And just a half hour ago you were kicking and screaming, trying NOT to get a haircut," she said with a small laugh.

"Yeah yeah, you were right. You, Kanan, and Hera were right," Ezra admitted.

Sabine stuck her tongue out in victory. "Told ya."

"Alright, everything's looking good. Scanner's back online..." Sabine said shutting down her data pad. "How are those spiders doing?"

She turned to see Ezra sitting in the middle of a bunch of spiders, but they didn't seem upset or uncomfortable. Sabine noticed his eyes were closed, which means he likely didn't hear her. She coughed loudly, getting his attention, but he didn't break focus either. He was really getting good at keeping those creatures at bay.

"Sorry, did you say something?" he asked calmly, not wanting to startle the now retreating spiders.

"Yeah, I asked how those spiders were doing, but I could tell they seemed happy around you," she said.

"We were just having a... well, something like a conversation. I understand what Kanan kept telling me about with being able to connect to others," he explained.

"Uh huh, sure. That doesn't make sense and you know it, Ezra," she said, crossing her arms.

"I know," he replied with a grin. "That's why I keep talking about it."

"We should get back to base. Hera would want a report on the scanner."

"After you," Ezra said holding his arm out from his side.

Sabine chuckled. Another one of those gentlemanly things he does to get to her, and it still didn't give her any feelings. But she took the gesture anyway because she's a nice person.

"We got the scanner back online, Hera," Sabine reported when they returned to base. "Ezra did a great job keeping those spiders busy."

Hera gazed at Ezra, "You didn't aggravate them did you?"

"What? N-No I-I just connected with them through the Force, like how Kanan taught me the other day," Ezra stammered.

"Mhmm. Sabine?" she asked, wanting to hear her side of the story.

"Actually that's exactly what he did. They seemed pretty happy to see him after he started meditating," she said.

"Really?" Hera asked, surprised.

"What? Kanan's a good teacher," Ezra said.

"You really are growing up aren't you, Ezra?" Hera then asked.

"I guess I am," Ezra said.

"Told you that skill was important," Kanan said, entering the room.

"Yeah I get it. Don't rub it in," Ezra said. "And thanks for that haircut."

"You look better, too," Sabine said. Ezra turned red, but thanked her for the compliment. He was going to try to flirt again, but he knew he'd be turned down again, so he held his tongue.

"Sabine, maybe you could get Ezra to help you with those files, too," Hera said.

"No I think I can tackle those without any help," Sabine said, not catching on to what Hera is trying to do.

"There's a lot to go through. You sure you don't want his help?" she asked.

"If I want help I'll ask him for it, but I doubt I would need help at all," Sabine said.

"Alright, suit yourself. Just don't stay up too late with the files," Hera said retiring to her quarters. "I'm going to sleep early tonight. Good night everyone."

Sabine turned to the common room and sat down at the holotable. She opened the files and started to sort through them.

"Haar'chak, Hera, you weren't kidding were you?" she asked quietly. There had to be at least 400 files to search through, and there was no way she would finish before dawn. She sighed in frustration. She really didn't like asking for help, but she had to this time.

"When do you think she would feel something?" Kanan asked Hera.

"I don't know. I know there's something, but she just needs to realize it for herself. We're just giving her a helping hand in all of it," Hera explained.

Kanan nodded, "It's going to take a while, then."

Ezra was just finishing getting dressed after a quick shower when his door opened, only this time he was fully clothed.

"Sabine? What's up?" Ezra asked.

"I need your help... again," she said, slightly annoyed.

"With what?"

"Sorting files. I'd be up all night working on them if it was just me, so I need you to do half of them with me," she explained.

"Oh, you mean the files Hera said you had to do?" he asked. She just nodded, already getting tired.

"Come on, Ezra. There's no way I'm doing all of them by myself," she said.

"Alright, fine. I'll help," he said finally.

Sabine ran out of the room and grabbed a couple datapads and downloaded the files to one of them. She returned and handed Ezra a datapad.

"Uh Sabine?" he started to ask when he noticed it was empty. "I thought you needed help with the files."

"Just hold on a second, I'm taking half and uploading it to your pad," she said as she tapped the screen, sending 200 of the original 400 files to him.

"Damn Sabine you have to do 400 of these things?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah... Thanks for agreeing to help," she said.

"I'd gladly help you anytime," he said with a sneaky grin, also making Sabine smile. She knew he was trying to flirt, but this time she didn't care. This time she welcomed it.

Ezra was lying on his back in his bunk trying to sort the files while Sabine sat for towards the foot of the bed, though she, too, is on her back.

"You having much luck over there?" Sabine groaned, barely able to sort everything. It's all very complicated even for her.

"I'm having as much luck as you are," Ezra replied, equally frustrated. If a Mandalorian could barely figure it out, then it was going to be a long night. He glanced at the time and saw it was only 8:00 at night. Ezra sat up so his back was propped on the wall.

"Wouldn't it be a bit easier if I sat next to you? We could try to work together on the whole thing instead of separately," Sabine said.

"Yeah. Sure thing," Ezra said while giving Sabine some room to sit next to him. As she got herself comfortable again, she couldn't help but take in Ezra's scent. For some reason it filled her with warmth, and she didn't know why. She just felt safer when she was next to him.

"Ok, let's see what we can do now," she said, unaware that Ezra was staring. She worked for about a minute before she caught him staring.

"You going to work or what?" she asked.

"Oh... yeah, sorry," Ezra said as he quickly went back to work.

Pretty soon, it was 0030 (12:30 am) when they finished sorting all the files. They had saved their work and just about passed out. Ezra was the first to go as Sabine was a close second behind. She was trying to climb over a sleeping Ezra, but something stopped her. She just stared at Ezra as he slept, still holding his data pad. She gently took his pad, stacked it on top of hers, and placed it on the nearby desk. She knew she couldn't make it back to her room because she was so tired.

'I don't think it would hurt just this once,' she thought to herself as she climbed back into bed with Ezra, not fully conscious of what she was actually doing or thinking.