(A/N) Hey everyone I'm back and a day early at that. I'm taking off into the states for about a week in 15 minutes, so I figured I'd get this up before I leave. Enjoy :D

Guest Reviews:

TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: Something like that.

pnew106s: Rachel is an interesting character to say the least. I have some reveals about her coming up in a little bit. I'm not sure how soon they'll be, but I'll be interested to know what you think of her then.

Brandan Palmer: Thank you. Reviews like this are what keep me wanting to write more. I hope that I can keep on delivering an enjoyable story.

Spectre6: Lol

Person: I'm sorry you feel that way. What doesn't make sense to you? Maybe I need to go over a part of it again or can clear something up for you.

5ilverFoxx: Well that's why I wrote it. Glad your enjoying it.

Chapter 20

Sabine was determined not to let Rachel's presence on board the Nightbrother upset the normal way of life for her and Ezra. She got up early as she did every day, though she did make sure to put her armour on, checked the ship's readings and made sure double sure the Nightbrother was actually displaying the correct levels, then went downstairs to start her morning workout. Or at least she would have if she hadn't heard noises coming from the holovision in the common area. Knowing she was normally the first one up, she decided to investigate and was surprised to see Rachel was awake already.

"Wow, you look horrible," Sabine said. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

Rachel slowly turned her head to look at her. There were bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. "Nah." She yawned, "Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind."

Sabine leaned her figure against the door frame. "Like what?"

"No offense, but I don't need someone to someone to tell all my problems to right now." She chuckled sarcastically. "I mean it's not like you know what it's like to be kicked out of your home and have no way back. You don't know what it's like to have everyone you hold dear ripped from your life!"

"Actually, I do."

Rachel turned to her, stunned. "What?"

Sabine sighed, "When I was younger, I joined the imperial academy on Mandalore. I built weapons for them. Weapons I later found out were used against my people. So, I destroyed the weapons and the plans, then left. I hoped to rejoin my clan and hide. Instead I found myself cast out, declared dar'manda, never allowed to come back home again or risk death."

Rachel said nothing, just stared at her.

"Well," Sabine said, "There's space waffles and cereal in the kitchen. Feel free to help yourself. I'll be back in about an hour. And if you ever want someone to talk to, I'm here," Sabine said and left the room.

She went down to the hold, did her workout, and then went upstairs to shower. After she was done, she went back down to the kitchen to get something to eat. When she peeked around the corner, it didn't seem like Rachel had moved at all. She did appear to be a little more awake though, and her hair was arranged a little better now so who knew.

"I'm making myself some space waffles. Want any?" She asked.

Rachel shrugged, but got up and walked into the kitchen to help out. After a few seconds of silence, she decided to speak up. "So, you and the Jedi?"

"There's nothing going on between us," Sabine said as she put some of the waffles in the toaster and turned to grab some toppings from the fridge.

Rachel gave a small smile, "But you like him, don't you?" Sabine said nothing, so she continued goading her on. "Come on, it's just us girls. You can tell me."

"No," Sabine said, desperately trying to keep that can of worms from exploding again.

"So, you wouldn't mind if I took a pass at the Jedi then?"

Sabine rounded on her fast, "What?"

"Well, this is the closest thing I've had to a vacation in about three years. I don't see why I can't enjoy myself while I'm here, and you can't deny he's a bit of a looker. Who knows, things may even end up working out and I'll end up joining your crew," she smirked. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"You will do no such thing," Sabine said with barely controlled fury.

"What's that I'm sensing here? Is that jealousy? No. It can't be jealousy. You don't have any feelings for him."

Sabine glared at her, "You stay away from him. He's mine."

The Space waffles popped.

Rachel grinned, knowing full well she was playing with fire. "You have until Malastare to tell him or I do. Until then, he's free game."

Before Sabine could protest, Rachel grabbed a couple Space waffles out of the toaster, turned, and hurried out of the room and up the ladder as fast as she could.

Sabine was left standing there, trying to figure out whether to call the woman's bluff or just shoot her, when Ezra climbed down the ladder a half a minute later.

"What's with Rachel?" he asked, giving the ladder she'd disappeared up a sideways glance.

"Nothing," Sabine said, a little too quickly.

Ezra gave her a funny look. "Doesn't sound like nothing."

"Just… leave it alone for now ok?"

Ezra shrugged. "Ok," he said. Then seeing that there were space waffles cooling off in the toaster, grabbed them both and bit into them.

"Ezra Bridger! Those were mine!"

"If im my mouf. Ferfore if mime," he teased with his mouth still full of Sabine's waffle.

She swatted him playfully and popped another set of waffles in the toaster. "You better be ready to have your butt kicked today."

Ezra swallowed his food and grinned back at her. "You can try."

o~0~O~0~o

Rachel met Ezra on her way to her room. "Hey there hot stuff," she said, giving him the cutest smile she could muster under the circumstances and then hurriedly retreated into her room and closed the door. She had no real intention of winning the Jedi's heart, but as long as she was here, she'd be making good on her threat to the Mandalorian. She was curious how the other woman would react. But as soon as she was alone her happy façade dropped, replaced with the broken woman she was underneath the mask. She sighed, flopped on her bed, and absentmindedly took a bite of the space waffle she had grabbed. It was like tasteless chalk in her mouth.

She replayed the conversation she'd had with Sabine in her head. It had been amusing to see the look on the Mando's face. Rachel had built the famous warrior race into an image of cold, unshakable, and aloof warriors in her mind's eye. So to see Sabine rendered speechless with one quip about a boy was worth any amount of wrath the Mandalorian could dish out.

It was a shame she couldn't fully enjoy it with thoughts of the noose Davos had tied around her family's neck plaguing her every waking thought.

She needed to figure out where Davos was keeping them and get them to safety, but hiring a bounty hunter to go after them cost money.

She needed to stay on board the Nightbrother in order to keep them alive, but staying under the protection of Ezra and Sabine would cost money.

She could only afford to do one, not both.

Then there were her personal debts. An annoyance that she couldn't spare enough concern to actually worry about right now. Not that they really mattered all that much. If she really needed to, she could easily make up a new persona, fake her death again, and disappear into the empty void of space. She'd done it before, she could do it again.

Faking her death and running wouldn't help her out of her more pressing dilemma right now though. If she disappeared, her dad and sister were as good as dead. She had to actually stick around and face this problem head-on.

Rachel gripped her head in her hands and attempted to will away the headache that was forming. Her life was a mess and she desperately needed a way out. No magic solution presented itself however and she resigned herself to playing Davos' little game… for now.