Attached

"A war that nobody even knows the empire is fighting huh ?" Sabine echoed Ezra's words to herself. But something changed in the air as she tried to ponder deeper in to those words. Looking on over the loading bay, She saw it Or even worse, Her. To say Hera was throwing daggers would be the understatement of the century. In the same second their eyes met, Hera was already moving, heavy steps, carnivorous steps. As she got closer maybe through the force or simply experience, Kanan ever so slowly backed away from Ezra and Sabine. Her foot hit the first rung sharp, that was Ezra's cue, eyes widening with each step up. They all knew what was coming. Sabine drew breath as she folded her arms defensively, " yeah right, what's that gonna do" she jabbed at herself. But she was already there and all three knew what was next.

"What were you thinking!" Hera hissed with crack of her twi'leki accent. Sabine knew this was bad, but she far from surprised, what else was going to happen but this? A mission to compromise an imperial antenna, turned explosive much in thanks to the mandalorian, but to be spirited away by the most dangerous man this side of the rebellion. Yup. There's the rub. The captain continued her rant intermittently shifting her vicious glare from Ezra to Sabine. Ezra didn't even try play coy or move his lips into a wry smile. He'd settled for chewing the inside of his cheek and looking away, the last thing he needed was extra punishment hours with Chopper patching up blaster scores. Sabine on the other hand, as the waves of Hera's assault crashed on her, her stance slowly changing. Fed by the left over adrenaline from their escape. She wasn't being worn down and receding in, NO. balling her hands into fist as her gaze shifted from the floor and her brows arched in to meet Hera's eyes.

"Oh..." she let out coated in her own flavour of venom. Hera paused taking a to second lock in, turning and stepping closer into Sabine's space. Having locked horns, Sabine let out the first words of engagement. "Is this a court martial commander Syndulla?" the blow was struck and Hera fell silent, kanan for the first time in while moved about as Ezra shifted his eyes between them. "No…" Hera now more passive was cut off by the Mandalorian "Then! What did we do deserving of anything but praise!" she shouted almost twitching on every syllable. " you have imperial comms down in a sector, a light cruiser and a star destroyer down, hostages free and a huge dent in some power project" she continued, with a sharp sigh and heavy eye roll "but no! Not even a thank you or a well done, Nope just jumping down our throats over SAW! SAW! SAW! SAW!" "everyone knows He gets Di'kut mad, But Hera don't act like you don't have a wild side!" She struck a nerve in Hera, and Hera edged closer head held high moving in for a kill. Only for an arm to come in between them. Sabine recognized the back of Ezra's head and him blocking them off. As She turned back to face Hera she saw kanan holding her shoulder and Hera facing him as he shook his head. Sabine couldn't help but spit back " Well it seems all I have is Ezra huh!?" she let out a little more truth than she'd admit on that.

In that moment, this engagement was over. "Come on Ezra, the paint on your helmet chipped" as she took him by the arm out the loading bay and snatched the scout trooper helmet off the rack by the door. " thicker than I remember" she thought with Ezra in tow.

The pair walked through the galley and into the hall, Sabine gripping him by the arm but the grip loosened with every step they took. If this was just another day he'd quip something at her not right now though, he couldn't even find the words still in shock and trying to process what happened minutes ago. Moving out of the way of his owns thoughts, he noticed was being led somewhere, being loosely tugged into Sabine cabin. This was a first, not the first time he came in, more the first time he was "invited" in. His eyes wandered in a head of him taking in the view as he crossed the door, From experimental graffiti, to murals and half complete portraits covering the walls and the odd mark or two on the ceiling. With a quick sniff "Wow. So this is how non-Zeb air's like" he confirmed to himself.

Sabine let go of him and placed his helmet on the low table hard, drawing his attention back to her. He watched her as she mindlessly slid her gloves off and unclasped her Vambraces. Setting them aside she knelt down to a box and started to rummage through pulling out an aerosol spray and threw it back behind her at Ezra much to his surprise. She continued to rummage through finding more supplies and setting them down over at the table, Ezra wasn't quite sure what was happening at first, as he knelt down to the low table figured "maybe she wants me to help with this", he thought as he struggled to slide off his own gloves, his hands were rarely naked it took a second for his palms to adjust to the open air, surprisingly he was unfamiliar with the lines on his own palms. Ezra drifted off staring into his open palms, remembered the first time he painted with Sabine, "well mostly watched and got bossed around" he chuckled to himself. But that was their first special moment, and which he almost ruined every other minute with his attempts at what he thought was flirting.

His reminiscing was cut short by a silence, Ezra turned over to look Sabine, she bopped her head to the side Let out a curious "hmmmm" and shuffled over to a different box pulling out two bottles of Jet juice. Ezra who'd been unnaturally quiet all the while finally let out "So that's where the Jet juice's been going? Zeb's convinced I've been taking his share" with the trademark dumb smile. Sabine turned and replied "pshh" as she proceeded to hand him a bottle and knelt beside him. "I have another idea Lieutenant Commander Bridger, since we're not likely to get praise round here i suggest we toast to a job well done" She said mimicking a coruscanti accent that drifted from slightly annoyed to playful. She took Her own bottle into her left hand and ready her right arm for a hearty Mandalorian toast. Ezra picked up on this, after a night of receiving tens of toasts after they freed Alrich left him sore. He smiled and went through the motion getting ready to receive her right hand in his for the clasp. She smiled back at him and they swung their arms in and their hands joined in a tight clasp.

And that's where it changed, Despite Sabine having spent a better part of 4 years with Ezra around. She had Never held His hand. No, she'd held her hand out to him before and pulled him up. But she'd never felt his hand. The hand underneath the gloves. It was big, rough and calloused, not anything she imagined Ezra's... No the boy from Lothal's Hands to be like.Wait, whose hand is this? She questioned as she tightened her grip on this strange man's hand and felt deeper into it and around it with her fingers. It...it had a certain softness in it below the crust, it was warm but not sickenly warm, just right. she'd been staring at the strangers hand,but ever so slowly her eyes slowly drifted up its owners arm and met a familiar orange jacket, she pressed on past his shoulder and up his neck and onto his face. Those eyes, those damn sapphire eyes. The same eyes that she landed on years ago. The same ones she laughed at and with. No but they were different now, higher than they used to be, older and looking at something. "What?" she thought as she read deeper into his ultramarine gaze.

His eyes were also caught, caught on something he couldn't put words on, first he was caught on a feeling a few moments ago. Ezra wouldn't believe this if he weren't there himself, there was a hand, A naked hand is his hand. It was slim, slick and smooth, looking for words to describe it, "delicate" seemed off, as that hand moved in his he felt a strength coming out of a tender firmness. " Who is this?" raced through his mind, as felt the force for a stranger. He couldn't find One but traced out this stranger, Leading him to her. His eyes locked in on his target and like deja vu it struck him again. It was her, she had the same olive skin but her shape was different. He moved his gaze deeper to find her, and met eyes somewhere between gold and hazel. Years ago the prettiest he ever seen came out from behind a helmet. Now there was someone else, a woman in front of him so much more beautiful than pretty. "Is she Sabine?"

In this moment when two strangers met, they both called out aloud from within themselves, their voices overlapping. "Sabine?" "Ezra?"

Perhaps she was jarred by something in her own name or how alien it was coming from someone "new", but it was all the same she let go of the Jet juice in her hand. In that same second she woke up and cursed at the coming mess "kirf…" but there was nothing there? Not even a drop. Above the floor there was a bobbing bottle of Jet juice in the air. Her eyes went wide as she backed up, and into something hard. It was Ezra with one hand outstretched in line with the levitating bottle. Then she came to her senses. It was just the force. "He can do that, remember? " she chuckled.

Watching him use the force to set down the bottle, she'd only noticed she had backed up right into his chest, instinctively she turned up to meet his face "umm sorry Ezra, dunno what happened there..." his eyes now moved from the bottle and snaped to her, he let out a "yeah…". She pulled herself up from him and after a brief pause to put herself together, like clockwork her hands shot off to the art supplies. Ezra reached for the helmet from the far side of the table. He unconsciously backed away from the table as sabine set her hands on the helm. Inspecting it and eyeing it from all angles. Set to work on it with the abrasive pads Ezra watching as she went on.

Silence. That was all that was in the room, but not at all Sabine's mind. Rushing with What? How? and whys? While her fingers expertly yet mindlessly did their work. It was an odd 30 minutes for the Mandalorian, this was taking longer than it should have, she knew it and she knew why too. While trying to focus in the helmet in front of her intermittently she found herself thinking things. " Is that really Ezra", "when did he become… this", "his arms are bigger now... ". With every passing thought she lifted her eyes of the helm met and snuck a glance at him. He'd been growing up, it's not like she didn't know or... care. She'd been looking at him some and Fenn Rau caught her once or twice ogling, But "who was she looking at?" The thought hadn't crossed her yet, that all her disjointed thoughts and feelings she'd pushed down, when they came would catch up to her. And how spectacularly her head wasn't ready when They came. There wasn't ever any of "that spark" people talk about between them. That wouldn't happen with her and a kid. She knew today better than any other day "there's no kid anymore" . It wasn't like he wanted her now right? Not anymore, he'd got his head screwed on after failing years ago, right?

The silence ended with a casual but nervous voice " Need any help" Ezra chimed as sabine sat up, her eyes wide. "Yeah, sure… errr.." sabine froze with her lips twitching between syllables, only for her to turn her face and draw breath sharply for calm. She turned back with a straight face or so she thought " yeah try spread the pain back evenly with the spray…" Not breaking eye contact himself he picked the helmet out her hands, he met a slight resistance from her. He swore he saw a flash of red in her face. Actually he'd been seeing flashes come and go or… " it's nothing, right?"

He set the helmet down next to him shook the sprayer and heard the rattle. Sabine crossed her arms on set them on her side of the table leaning in to watch. " Yup just what I need, the ultimate distraction" his aim wouldn't be as bad now, while Ezra was looking on at sabine and the helmet, he couldn't lie that he was more interested in the former rather than the latter. All he thought about in the better part of the half hour was his "crush". Or could he keep saying that? Even to himself it was cringy at best and creepy at worst, she wasn't just another girl anymore . It's different now years ago when he met her, he wanted to be cool and suave like the hero from space wars who got all the ladies, there was all that wanting to be the hero from the Holo-net serial who only needed a cool line and the girl was his. But real life never seemed to work like that " and oh I've tried alright ", he thought as he let out the golden spray and it landed on the white patches.

He'd been questioning his own feelings lately. They were there, but things changed with her through the years, it's not that he'd didn't want to flirt with her anymore more like he'd exhausted all the good lines he had and her patience. He didn't need ice breakers to speak to her, all he'd need was to say her name and she'd listen. She'd always listen "then again she'd listen isn't a guarantee she wouldn't hit me after" . His feelings now where stronger He didn't want just some girl, He wanted Sabine, "Sabine the Mando who blows up stuff and is mean without caf in the morning", the sabine who smiles at cute things and hates sand, the one he thought about at night, the one he wanted in all sorts of ways, Sabine the very same woman that was in front of him now, right?

It had been over an hour since they started, now that the helmet was done and sat between them, Ezra couldn't help but notice Sabine's shifty gaze at his face.After the mental gymnastics he'd put himself through in the last hour he couldn't pick the right words " The face… something ?" he closed his mouth in embarrassment. Sabine was eyeing out a few dried flakes of paint that landed on his cheek, in fact she'd been too busy fixated on it to hear what he said, not that it would make him feel less embarrassed. Sabine had been watching him for too long, she was just too mesmerised by his shape now than her own internal nonsense. The nonsense that was beginning to clear. She didn't think it, she felt it. She wants him. "I want him to know"...

Sabine slowly lifted her arm, stretched it out. Her right hand reached out to Ezra's face as she leaned in. Ezra froze as her thumb gingerly rubbed his cheek, holding his breath. Her hand lingered in place. Her eyes had already moved on to something else, she moved her thumb over Ezra's scars she caressed them slowly but deeply in time with her own was running instinct alone now as she uncurled her fingers over his cheek. Sliding down past his ear and around the back of his head. She was drawn to something she shifted her gaze to it. It was them, Those damn sapphire eyes. This time they weren't strange, they saw something and wanted something too. She felt a Hand lightly snake over her wrist, it pushed her hand deeper into the side of his face. It felt hot, She could feel him breath, and those eyes, they were practically begging for it now, She had to give it to him.

He didn't need the force now. He could feel it right off her, something he'd never felt before, but he knew what she wanted then. Her face was a different shade, he could feel her jumping pulse, her eyes were hungry. She started to move in closer eyes still locked, breathing heavier, lips parted. She kept coming, her fingers at the back his head gripping him tighter and turning his head down to her. The padawan's mind went blank as she drew close, he could feel the heat from her cheeks already. Just as he closed his eyes.

He felt a jerk pushing him off sideways, and the hum of the engines slow. They were out of hyperspace. With his eyes open he saw her again. Her eyes mindful again, but she was Slowly panting. Then her attention was drawn, a clank followed by another clank, steps. They heard steps moving. The steps were coming, coming for them? Unconsciously sabine gripped something in dread. Two solid knocks of the door cut through the silence in the Cabin. "Sabine, Ezra? We're here. Get ready to help those engineers on to base" there was a pause. "Hera's calm now, no to time to rebuild bridges better than the present" he said. As his steps faded away. It struck them that one of them mouthed off the captain and the other seemingly took sides.

Still, in that silent moment neither hand let go of the others hand. Ezra was surprised as he looked down to find their fingers tightly intertwined. Sabine equally so, from her rapidly reddening face. They stood up together and couldn't meet each others eyes. A few seconds later maybe by coincidence they looked up in unison. And words left their mouths in unison without a sutter and clear "Ezra" "Sabine".

For Sabine, she knew this was more than a moment and had her answers. For Ezra, now he knew it was more than a crush and this was more than a simple connection through the force. He was, She was, They were Attached.