A/N: Out of the almost 1400 Rebels fics out there, I can only find 2 (?) fics that involve a Kanan/OC romance. So, this is my attempt at one. :) Please read and tell me what you think.
Kanan ran through the halls until he arrived at a locked door. The lock beeped. He growled under his breath, then exhaled and Forced the door open. He glanced around quickly, his eyes landing on a solitary girl reading a data pad. She didn't glance up as she said, "What is it now, Kallus? One of your boys get a hang nail?"
When she didn't receive an answer, she looked up at him. Her eyebrows furrowed, she cautiously began to stand up. "You're not Agent Kallus." He shook his head, slightly in shock. He hadn't expected anyone to be in this room. It was listed on the maps as storage.
Winter scanned the man, determining if he was a threat. He was dressed in a green top and brown slacks, had his hair pulled back in a short ponytail. He somewhat resembled a... bounty hunter? He wielded a basic blaster pistol, which was currently aimed and cocked in her direction. She'd seen the damage those could inflict, and had no interest in being on the receiving end of it. The lines of his face, his eyes, were hard, the same hardness she saw when she looked in her mirror every morning...
"Who are you?" the man barked suspiciously. Winter kept her hands in plain sight, signalling that she had no weapon and was not a threat.
"My name is Winter, Winter Espereth. I'm a medic, taken prisoner by the Empire three months ago." The blaster barrel lowered slightly. She took this as a good sign and continued. "I know my way around this ship. If you get me out of here, I can help you find what you're looking for faster."
He seemed to be debating that, finally lowering his blaster, aiming it instead at the floor. "Fine. But try anything funny and you'll end up right back where you started." She nodded and sprinted over to the closet, digging through the contents and grasping her necessaries: an extra outfit, some medical supplies, her datapad, and an ornately carved box. She stuffed them hurriedly into her pack, slung it over her shoulder, and peered out of the doorway. She could sense the man standing a few feet behind her. Ignoring him, she slid into the welcoming embrace of the Force, searching out any stormtroopers or agents in the area. None. "They must all be looking for you somewhere else." She turned around and stuck her hand out. "I told you my name. What's yours?" He shifted his blaster and took her hand. "Kanan Jarrus." A small smirk spread across his face. "Nice to meet you."
"Where were you headed?" she whispered. "Storage unit 247," he said. "We came for relief supplies and fuel cells." She mentally reviewed what she knew of the ship. "This way."
Side by side, they race down the hallways, finally stopping at another small storage area. After searching for several seconds, Winter came back out holding a small blaster. She smiled brightly. "Good to go. This way."
After grabbing two hovercarts each from unit 247, Winter and Kanan navigated their way to the loading bay. A Lasat, a female Mando, and a human boy rushed into the bay a few minutes later, followed closely by a dozen Troopers. "I thought this was supposed to be a milk run!" yelled the Mandalor. "When has that ever happened?" said the boy. The five found converged and found cover behind some crates, quickly returning fire.
"Do you happen to have an escape plan?" Winter asked Kanan. "We actually do," he said without taking his eyes off of his targets. "She should be here and second." More Trooper reinforcements poured into the hangar, swarming the rebels on every side. Winter heard the boy cry out. "Ezra!" shouted Kanan. Winter glanced toward the boy briefly. She couldn't tell what his injury was, but he had passed out from the pain. A ship landed in the bay and began firing at the soldiers. "That's our ride," yelled Kanan. He ran over and picked up the boy, narrowly avoiding taking a hit himself. Winter fired off a few more shots, covering the rebels escape, before turning around and making a mad dash toward the ship.
The Lasat glared at Winter. "Ease up, buddy," she said, "I don't bite." The Mandalore leaned against the wall and pulled off her helmet. "No, but he'd probably take a chunk out of you." She ran a hand through her short hair. "I'm Sabine." Winter gawked. "Winter. I love your hair! Is that 'Marigold?'" Sabine looked startled for a moment. "No, this one's actually 'Orange Peel'. I thought it went with 'Eminence' the best." "I LOVE Eminence. My bedroom at home is mainly Eminence, accented with Periwinkle." "Sounds epic." "It is, you should come see it sometime. Oh! You could actually help me with something." She set her backpack on the table and began to rifle through it, first pulling out a dark, wood box, then a datapad. "So, in my spare time, I kind of dabble in design; jewelry and weaponry, mostly." She slid her data pad toward Sabine. "So, here's my latest design, but I'm not sure about it." A multi-strand design filled the screen; currently it was only black and white, waiting for color to be chosen and applied. As the girl chattered on about colors and jewelry, the Lasat in the corner groaned, and walked out of the room. "Sabine can handle this one."
After they'd fixed Winter's design dilemma, Sabine turned to the box sitting on the table. "What's in that?" "Oh, that's my crystal collection. Collecting and classifying crystals is another hobby of mine. I like to study them and implement them into my designs." Winter pressed a hidden latch on the box, causing the lid to slide inwards. Neatly laid out in the velvety, bigger-on-the-inside interior were rows of beautiful crystals of various colors and sizes. Winter removed the tray holding the crystals, revealing another tray, this one containing bits and bobs of various machines, guns, and other weapons.
Sabine gasped, her fingers beginning to move toward the case. She stopped. "May I?" Winter smirked and nodded. "Of course." Sabine lightly fingered a beautiful, medium sized orange gem, . "They're beautiful. They must have cost a fortune." Winter shook her head. "Nah, crystals like these go for cheap in most markets. Most people just don't see the value of them."
Half an hour later, Kanan walked into the room. The girls ceased their conversation, which had now moved onto blasters. "How's the kid?" asked Sabine. Kanan shook his head and sighed, sounding exhausted. "He seems to be stabilized, but... I don't know. The only medical anything we have on board is a couple of datapads and what we can find on the holonet. His arm seems to be the worst. It was hit directly by a blaster bolt, and the skin... it doesn't look good."
Winter stood up, immediately forgetting her conversation with Sabine. "Where is he?" she demanded, switching to 'medic mode'. "What?" asked Kanan, stunned. "I'm a medic. Where is he?" Kanan numbly motioned down the hall. Hadn't she mentioned something about being a medic while they were on board the enemy ship. How could he have forgotten such valuable information?
Kanan sat down beside Sabine, leaning his head against the wall behind them and closing his eyes. He let out a breath he felt he'd been holding since he heard Ezra's cry of pain earlier that day. "That was way too close." Sabine nodded, silently agreeing. He glanced at the table, strewn with metals and crystals of various origins. "What is all of this, anyway?" Sabine grinned. "This is what Winter does in her spare time." "Crystals? Where did she ever collect so many?" "Dunno. She said she found them cheap on the market, said that other people didn't see the value of them." "Huh."
Following Kanan's gestured directions, Winter quickly located the med-bay on the small ship. She dropped her bag down beside the berth and scanned the room, determining what she had to work with. The crew seemed to have all of the essentials in stock, even if they didn't know how to properly use them. Winter turned her attention to the patient. She scanned him, first with her eyes, and then with the Force; the verdict was about what Kanan had said: the flesh on his left arm was severely burned. Without medical attention, the wound would fester, growing more and more infected; eventually, amputation and a cybernetic replacement would be required.
Winter knelt, gently placing her hand on the arm, just above the injury. She focused on the wound, mentally reconnecting nerves, veins, and muscles that had been severed and damaged. The additional help of the Force would give the boy's systems a jump start. She applied bacta cream to the external damage, wrapping it securely in sterilized bandages. "That should do it."
The door swooshed open and Kanan walked in, followed closely by his worried teammates. "How' it going?" "Just finished up. He'll be fine in a few days. I would recommend that you keep him off of any heavy duty rebel activity for the next week or two, though." She smirked.
A female Twi'lek squeezed past Kanan and into the small room. She hugged Winter. "Thank you so much! I'm not sure what we would have done if you hadn't come along. I'm usually the fill-in when a medic isn't on hand, and I've never treated anything this serious. I'm Hera Syndulla, pilot of this ship. If there's ever anything that we can do for you, give us a call." Winter returned the hug. "I'm Winter. I'm glad I was able to help. Maybe when this is all over, I can give you some quick and dirty field medic advice."
"Where's your home?" asked Hera sometime later. "I live on Ganymede, a moon in the Shili system." Hera raised an eyebrow. "That's a fair piece off, but we'll make it work." Winter's eyes widened. "Oh, don't worry about it. After freeing me from the Imps, I don't expect you to go so far out of your way to get me home. I'll figure something out. I have a few friends that owe me favors." "If you're sure..." "Positive. Besides, I've been meaning to get out and see more of the galaxy."
There was a knock on the door, which swooshed open to reveal Kanan standing there. "You girls done?" He smirked. He could see how well Winter was getting along with Hera and Sabine, and he was glad that his teammates were able to unwind a little.
Winter glanced from Kanan to Hera and back again. She could sense that they needed time to talk, so she made her exit, saying something about checking on Ezra.
"What do you think?" asked Hera. Kanan sighed and slumped into the seat beside her. "Do we really need another one? Wouldn't the Ghost be awfully tight if we had to make room for another person?" "You've seen her in action. And having an actual medic on board would be... invaluable. Besides, Sabine's got that extra bunk in her room that I don't think she'd object to sharing." "I don't know. Something about her just seems... off." Kanan groaned at the look she gave him. "Fine. I'll go ask her about it."
Winter was back where she'd originally started, seated at the table in the main area of the ship. She'd tidied up and put away her collection, carefully stowing it back in her bag. She was currently revising another of the designs she'd been working on.
She glanced up as a presence entered the room. "Mind if I sit down?" asked Kanan casually. Winter nodded, returning her focus to her pad. Kanan cleared his throat uncomfortably, startling her and causing her to look up at him. He was looking everywhere but at her. "I'm guessing you don't talk to girls much." She smiled. He looked at her. "Obvious, huh?" She leaned back, trying to put him at ease. "What did you need to talk about?" "Got any plans? Once you get home, I mean." She shook her head, saying, "I'll probably return to my medical practice. It's what I'm really good at, what I really feel comfortable doing."
Even after talking with Hera, he was still reluctant to take on another team member, especially so soon after Ezra. They were doing well, Kanan thought, adapting to the new team dynamic. Adding another person would throw the whole thing back off balance. She would have to learn how to take orders, how to live in space for long periods of time, how to work well with the others. They would have to learn to trust her with their secrets, and she would have to learn to do the same. He sighed. He wan't anxious to go revealing his secret to yet another person, one who had the potential to rat them - him - out to the Empire.
"The crew would like me to extend an offer to you," Kanan said suddenly a few minutes later. Winter turned to face him. "What kind of an offer?" "They want you to stay on with us, as our medic, or at least until we can get you home." A chance to take a real bite out of the Empire, to assist in the rebellion first hand? " 'They'? You're against it." Kanan sighed, his shoulders slumped. "Not against, it's just... I'm just not comfortable with the idea. We don't know you. You could go to the Empire at any given moment tell them everything, and that would be the end of us. If you do join, you'll be on probation until I know we - I - can trust you." Winter nodded. "Alright. If you're sure, I'll continue on with you guys." Kanan stuck out his hand, not entirely pleased with the situation, but willing to see what would come of it. "Welcome to the crew of the Ghost." She grinned and took the offered hand.