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"Alright, hyperspace entry successful," Sabine announced while double checking some of the instrument readings. "With a second jump near Denon to adjust our coordinates, we should arrive at Mandalore in about eighteen hours."
Ezra gave a long sigh, sitting back in his chair and taking in blue maw of hyperspace that swept past the cockpit's window with bewildering speed. "Man, I sure hope that holo table is functioning. I didn't bring much with me to help pass the time."
"You can pass the time by helping me make sure this ship is functioning. Who knows when was the last time some of these systems were tested?"
"C'mon, Sabine, I'm sure she's fine. An outer-rim merchant like that wouldn't neglect to take care of a ship like this."
Sabine threw Ezra a teasing look. "You're already calling it a 'she'?"
"Well yeah," Ezra said as he reclined his seat and put his feet up on the dash to get more comfortable. "I mean, it is much easier to say than that mouthful of a name you gave it. Second Dawn, was it?"
Sabine rolled her eyes. "Oh, do not even start. If you had just remembered to learn the old call-sign I wouldn't have had to make one up."
"Yeah, I get it. It's my fault." Ezra threw his hands up in defense. "But you could have thought of a better name. I mean, Second Dawn? Are we part of a convoy? Where's the First Dawn?"
Sabine didn't respond as she could see Ezra trying his hardest to keep a straight face—the corner of his mouth just barely twitching. He was teasing her again as he had been doing little by little ever since their reunion. And while it was sometimes annoying she didn't completely hate it—which seemed a bit strange as she remembered loathing this kind of behavior in those first couple of years they knew each other. Probably because she only saw him as an annoying kid, she figured. It wasn't until he helped Kanan with her Darksaber training that her opinion of Ezra changed significantly. It was there that she began to see him as an equal, or perhaps even more. And then there was everything afterwards. Rescuing her father, defeating Grand Admiral Thrawn, and of course there was their last mission before the Ghost crew officially disbanded. He had become someone she could completely rely on, and along the way his joking attitude had become tolerable and sometimes even charming to her.
"Uh, sorry… I actually do think it's a good name." Ezra muttered, breaking the long pause Sabine had created in their conversation.
"Hmm? Oh, no it's not that. I was just thinking about something." Sabine tried to assure him after snapping out of her thoughts. She then smiled, realizing how worried Ezra was about being annoying to her.
"Anything important that I should know?" Ezra asked flatly, deciding to drop the humor for now.
"Mmm… yeah, you could say it's important. But it's not really something I can share." Sabine answered, fighting her embarrassment at the idea of revealing that she was thinking of how much she admired him.
"Well then, I can go ahead and get started on some system diagnostics. Which one do you want me to work on first?"
Sabine smiled at Ezra, pleased by his genuineness. "We'll start with the weapons and shielding. Even if the Empire is gone, open space is still a dangerous place."
"You got it."
For the next hour Sabine manned the cockpit, systematically testing the weapon and shield operations while Ezra moved throughout the ship, observing and relaying every important detail of their performance back to Sabine. Everything checked out and for the next couple of hours they continued to do the same for all the other important systems their ship was outfitted with. To Sabine's surprise no system showed a need for repair or replacement. Ezra had done very well with this trade.
"Oh man. I. Am. Beat." Ezra huffed as he tackled one end of the sofa, the other of which Sabine was sitting.
The two had moved to the ship's lounge, where Sabine had prepared some tea and ration bars on the small table before them as a reward for Ezra's hard work. Trying to keep as much of himself on the sofa as possible, Ezra ungracefully stretched out for a helping, but soon ended up rolling off with a loud thud onto the hard, metal floor.
"How ever did someone like you successfully perform recon for four years?" Sabine asked with a teasing tone of pity.
"Id wasm'd eashy, Sabime." Ezra replied, his mouth muffled by the metal floor he was laying face down on. The entire display made it hard for Sabine to suppress a giggle.
"Are you bunking down there tonight?"
Ezra adjusted his head so that he was no longer kissing the floor, but still made no effort to pick himself up.
"I just might be."
"Well, the cabins are just down the hall. Come on, I'll help you over there.
Moving over to Ezra, Sabine helped him to his feet, but before she could throw his arm around herself to support him, he pulled away.
"It's fine Sabinnnnnnnn-eaaaaaaaawwwwww" Ezra started before being interrupted by his own yawn. "I can manage."
Taking a spare tray, Ezra placed onto it a portion of the food Sabine had gone to the trouble of preparing before heading over to the cabins.
"Thanks for the food. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Alright. Sleep well." Sabine answered softly, watching Ezra disappear beyond the curve of the ship's hall.
Hearing Ezra open one of the cabin doors, Sabine figured it was time for her to turn in as well, though maybe she would wait a bit until it was certain that he was completely settled in. If there was one situation Sabine disliked, it was saying goodbye to someone and then running into them a minute later. Her suspicion seemed validated too as she heard the cabin door open a second time, but then it did so immediately a third time, which left Sabine puzzled at what Ezra was up to until his tired sounding voice called out to her.
"Uhh… Sabine."
Springing up from her seat, Sabine cantered down the hall and caught up with Ezra. He was standing in the doorway of the leftmost cabin, tray still in hand, while the other two cabins beside him had their doors opened as well, seemingly explaining the overabundance of door-opening noises.
"What is it, Ezra?"
"Well, uh… the beds…"
Still puzzled, Sabine peeked into the cabin Ezra was looking into and noticed a bunk bed for two people built into its rear wall.
"Well, it doesn't matter which one you pick," Sabine said, unsure of the problem posed by the bunk beds. "I'll just take one in this… next… room?"
Sabine's words trailed into a whisper as she looked inside the next cabin she was talking about. One glaring detail stood out, and upon noticing it she immediately connected the dots behind Ezra's reaction. There were no beds in this room.
Her eyes wide, Sabine quickly went to look inside the third cabin—though from gauging Ezra's reaction, it was clear what she would find. No beds here either.
"Seems like they stripped the furnishings from these two for extra storage." Ezra commented, peeking in from behind Sabine.
"Well, I guess one of us will just sleep on the sofa in the lounge."
"Yeah right," Ezra responded, munching on one of the ration bars from his food tray. "That thing isn't wide enough to sleep on. I'll just roll off again"
"Okay then… we can take one of these mattresses out and put it in the next room."
Sabine went in, attempting to lift out the bottom mattress with several hard tugs but to no avail. She didn't know why or how, but the thing was completely imbedded into the bunk.
"Y'know, maybe I'll try sleeping in the lounge after all," Ezra tried to hide his panicked tone. His efforts were fruitless however as Sabine noticed and saw an opportunity to finally best Ezra in her one-sided maturity contest with him.
"No, you said it yourself, the sofa isn't wide enough to sleep on," Sabine objected, carefully preparing to say her next words with as carefree an attitude as she could manage. "We can just bunk here together. I mean… it's only one night."
The notion of bunking with Ezra caused Sabine some anxiousness, but she figured that it would be worth it to look like the mature one who was indifferent to the obviously scandalous sleeping arrangement.
Ezra rubbed the back of his head, a hesitant look in his eyes. "Well… if you're fine with it then I'll get my things. But really, Sabine… you should be more mindful of these situations."
Ezra shuffled his stance awkwardly, averting his gaze.
"I mean, you are a beautiful woman. You shouldn't be so careless about saying things like that to us guys."
Ezra promptly left the room to gather his belongings from the storage bay, leaving Sabine standing alone with a dumbstruck look on her face. Her plan had completely backfired. He was supposed to be flustered by her suggestion, so why was she the one who was left feeling embarrassed?
"Beautiful…?" Sabine whispered the word Ezra had used to describe herself.
Wait a minute. This had to be a trick. Another way of teasing her again.
"Well played, Bridger." Sabine cursed herself for letting her guard down again, but she was still determined to come out on top before the night was over. Then suddenly an idea came to her.
Sabine hustled out of the room and down the ship's hallway to get her belongings, along the way passing Ezra who was heading back with his own stuff in hand.
"Sabine-"
"You go ahead and get settled, Ezra. I feel like taking a shower first."
Sabine continued her canter down the hall, leaving no time for Ezra to respond. Jubilantly she came upon one of her boxes and brought it with her into the ship's bathing room.
Sabine undressed from her armor and stepped into the shower, hastily scrubbing herself all over. She had to make sure Ezra wouldn't be asleep by the time she finished. Her new plan would surely get her desired reaction out of Ezra, but only if he was still awake.
All cleaned up, Sabine shut off the shower and dried herself off with a towel that was in the box she brought in. Also inside the box laid a somewhat scanty set of workout tops and briefs that she wore regularly when exercising. Sabine put a set on and checked their fit in the mirror. The top started just under her collar and ended a few inches above her navel, while the briefs perfectly defined her hips and stopped shortly down her thigh. To finish her plan off, Sabine wrapped herself in the towel to give the illusion that she was bare underneath it. And with a clever placement of her hands over her top's shoulder straps, it looked pretty convincing. Now all that was left was to walk into the room while Ezra was awake, see his embarrassed reaction before "nonchalantly" revealing her clothes, and tease him for thinking she would actually be naked. It was foolproof.
Satisfied with her plan Sabine left the bathroom and walked sneakily over to the cabin she and Ezra would be sharing for the night, keeping an eye out in case he was wandering the ship. He was nowhere to be found however, and a few muffled sounds from behind the cabin's closed door confirmed to Sabine that he was inside.
Her shoulders shaking with excitement, Sabine focused on calming herself before opening the door. She needed to sell Ezra an indifferent attitude. It was his turn to feel like a kid.
"Get ready, Bridger." Sabine whispered confidently to herself.
Unable to wait any longer Sabine slammed her palm onto the door's switch, where it opened with a loud whoosh.
"Hey, Ezra. Are you still awak- OH MY GOD!"
In the middle of her screaming, Sabine realized that she didn't really think about what would be on the other side of the cabin door. Maybe Ezra would be sitting on his bed, taking off his boots. Maybe he would be knelt on the ground, unpacking some stuff from his luggage. But the last thing… the LAST thing she thought he would be doing is bending down with his bare ass facing the doorway to put on his lounging pants.
"Sabine! What the hell!?"
Ezra tripped over his pants, trying to get a look at the girl who so rudely barged in on him changing. Sabine had already run for it, however. Not even having a chance to put her plan into action.
Running down the hall, Sabine jumped into the bathroom once again—promptly locking its door behind her.
Sabine leaned both her hands out onto the bathroom's sink, getting a close look at herself in the mirror above it. Her expression was blank, and her breathing was heavy and staggered—though whether it was due to sprinting down the ship's hall or a reaction to what she saw, Sabine didn't know for sure. Then the image of Ezra's bare ass flashed in her head again, leading her to slap both her hands onto her face and scream.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ezra and Sabine sat silently in lounge once again, both sitting on opposite ends of the same sofa they had been joking on just minutes ago. Both were fully clothed. Ezra had his full lounging wear on, and Sabine had opted to put on her own, more modest looking sleepwear. Neither of them dared to look at the other, both choosing instead to stare at the opposite wall of the ship. The expressions on their faces were unenthusiastic to say the least. Sabine had a grave look in her eyes, as if she would never again know what happiness was, while Ezra had a much more befuddled look on his face—the face of someone who was now questioning everything they had ever known.
The silence continued, though every now and then Ezra would lean a bit into Sabine's direction as if to say something only to turn back to same piece of wall he had been occupying his attention with since they both sat down. Finally, though, he found the courage to speak.
"Who takes a two-minute shower?"
Sabine turned to Ezra with a disbelieving look on her face.
"I mean… I don't think this is my fault at all…"
"Oh really, Ezra? I have a question. Who doesn't lock the door when they're changing!?"
"You were in the shower! Or you were supposed to be in there. But apparently you've evolved into some super-person who only needs a micro-amount of shower time to clean yourself!"
"All you had to do was lock the door!"
"Well all you had to do was knock!"
"Why would I knock on the door of the room I'm staying in!?"
"Because I'm staying in there too!"
"So, LOCK THE DOOR!"
"You were supposed to be IN. THE. SHOWER!"
The two temporary roommates were now in each other's faces, both feeling the warmth of the other's raging breath fall onto their face. Soon neither was focused on the argument, but rather on how noticeably close their faces were to each other. Sabine felt a rising pressure in her chest that didn't seem to make sense. Her years of experience arguing with Ezra was telling her to turn away like she always had, yet suddenly there was a fuzzy, unfamiliar sensation in her head telling her to stay put—so she did. There was no time for her to dwell on her decision, however, as Ezra pulled himself away first.
"Okay, so maybe we both messed up," Ezra said, visibly distant. "Look, I'll just sleep in the co-pilot's seat for tonight. It's pretty comfortable and it'll make it easier to perform the second hyperspace jump anyway."
"Ezra, you don't have to-"
"It's fine, Sabine. Just… have a good night."
With that, Ezra walked down the hall and disappeared behind the cockpit's door. Sabine remained alone on the lounge sofa, feeling guilty about the whole thing. She knew the entire ordeal was pretty much her fault. All she had to do was apologize, but instead she antagonized Ezra like an obnoxious child.
"I'm such an idiot…"
Sabine left the sofa and started heading back to her cabin. She lingered for a few moments in front of the closed door leading to the cockpit but decided to leave it alone for now. Was Ezra actually mad at her? Or was this just his way of making sure they didn't end up having a serious fight? Sabine sighed, clueless to the answer as she continued on. In that moment she truly regretted her childish plan to seem like the mature one. If nothing else, this outcome proved that she was anything but.
Sabine opened the cabin door, an air of loneliness dwelling inside. Now that she thought about it, it would have been exciting to spend their first reunited night together in the same room. Though they covered a lot of ground in the conversations at the bar, there was still so much more she wanted to talk about with Ezra, and the thought of drifting asleep while talking to each other sounded fun. But now it looked like that wasn't going to happen.
With nothing else to do, Sabine took her spot in the bottom bunk. She only realized now but it was actually quite chilly onboard the ship, which made it a bit more pleasurable when she pulled the blankets up over herself.
As she lay in bed, her thoughts drifted back to Ezra. She'd be sure to properly apologize tomorrow and get rid of this unnecessary tension. He probably wasn't even upset, and instead was only trying to giver her some space. The idea made Sabine feel guilty again, but it didn't compare to the level she felt after realizing he was sleeping in the cold of the cockpit without any kind of blanket. And she was also sure that she didn't see him wearing any kind of socks either.
"He must be freezing…"
Without hesitation Sabine got out of her bed and stripped the spare bunk of it's blanket and pillow to give to Ezra. She then paused for a moment, looking at her own blanket and pillow sprawled out on her bed before making a bold decision.
Meanwhile, in the ship's cockpit, Ezra sat relaxed in the co-pilot's seat with his feet on the dashboard. He watched as the blue tunnel of hyperspace continue to sweep past the ship until his focus was interrupted by the sound of the cockpit's door opening behind him. A moment later he felt something soft but weighty land on his lap. Looking at it, Ezra saw that it was a blanket and pillow, and before he could even look behind him Sabine came into view from the corner of his eye as she took her own spot in the pilot's seat.
"These things recline?"
"…uh, yeah."
Sabine fiddled with the different levers at the base of the seat before finding the one to recline it. After finding a comfortable height, Sabine procured her own blanket and pillow, and nestled herself into the seat so that she was facing Ezra. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, and though neither spoke, both understood and accepted the silent apology the other was giving them.
After exchanging a mutual smile, Ezra decided it was time for him to get settled into his own seat as well. With a press of a few button on the dashboard, he shut off the cockpit's interior lights and dimmed the front window. Though the room was now dark, Ezra could tell that Sabine was still watching him from the reflection of the dashboard's illuminated buttons in her eyes. Sabine noticed the same thing of Ezra's eyes as well as he settled in with the blanket and pillow she had brought him. Soon the two of them were comfortably laid in their respective seats, facing each other with nothing but the soft sound of their breathing and the low hum of the ship's engine to accompany them.
Ezra was the first to close his eyes to get some rest, but not before offering his teammate a softly spoken "goodnight," which she returned.
Sabine, however, kept her gaze fixed on Ezra. And as her eyes adjusted to the darkness she was barely able to make out his sleeping face. Noticing his soft breaths, Sabine's thoughts went back to that moment during the argument when their faces came close together. That feeling she had. The one that kept her from turning away from him. Could it be?
Sabine wasn't stupid. She understood the general idea of being attracted to someone. But there was the small matter of her never really having any experience with it. There was always something going on. War. Missions. Duty. Sabine had always put these things above anything else, so when the time came and a man asked her out, she always rejected them without a second thought. But now the war was over. The missions were over. And there was no duty to attend to. Is that why these feelings were suddenly coming up? Because now there was time to think about them? Or… was it because it's Ezra?
"…"
The question lingered in Sabine's mind as she traced the curve of his face with her eyes. She just didn't know the answer right now. But if she was developing an attraction towards Ezra, she had to make sure it was real and not some fleeting crush that would be gone soon.
For another minute Sabine lay there with her eyes open, though her focus wasn't fixed on anything and her mind was nearly blank.
Make sure it's real.
Her mind echoed.
Make sure…
The thought trailed one last time before her eyes finally fell closed and a deep sleep took her.
