Story 2: Secret Santa? (Ghost crew one-shot):

Note: This takes place a week after the final battle.

Jacen walked out of his and Ezra's bedroom. It seemed that everyone, except Zeb, was already awake. Jacen headed toward the crossfire.

He was greeted by the sight of his mom and girlfriend setting food on the table, and Sabine leaning her head against Ezra's shoulder on one of the couches. Kaitlyn looked up to his face from where she was setting down a plate and smiled.

"Morning, sunshine," Kaitlyn laughed.

"How bad?" Jacen winced.

Kaitlyn walked over to him and attempted to straighten his hair out with her hands.

"You should know that doesn't work by now," Jacen smiled at her lovingly.

"It was worth a shot," Kaitlyn sighed.

Hera watched this exchange. She was thrilled for her son and almost-daughter. They were committed, and Hera knew they'd never hurt each other. It made her miss Kanan. If only she could see him alive one last time.

Ezra got up from his position, as well as Sabine, and both sat down next to each other in front of a plate.

"Thanks, Hera." Ezra and Sabine smiled gratefully up at the green twi'lek.

Hera kissed each of them on the forehead, then did the same to Kaitlyn and Jacen. "Alright kids, I am up for this rotation's supply run, so I'll be back a little after lunch." With that, Hera left with the list of supplies that were needed.

Kaitlyn and Jacen joined Ezra and Sabine at the table. They all ate in silence until Ezra broke it:

"So, what do you guys want to do today?"

"I have a few ideas. But I'm open to suggestions," Kaitlyn shrugged.

"Translation: Your ideas are you and Jacen only," Sabine smirked.

"No!" Kaitlyn protested.

"Does anyone have suggestions?" Jacen tried hard to seem mature and not come up with a clever response.

"I do. Here on Lothal, this winter we have a holiday. Called Perayaan. It consists of giving gifts. A family will write their names on a piece of paper, and they'll draw names. Once everyone has someone, they buy a gift for that person. But it's supposed to be secret. The tradition itself is called Perayaan Hadiah," Ezra explained.

"Like Secret Santa!" Kaitlyn realized. The rest of the crew looked at her in confusion. "It's basically what Earth people do during the Christmas season."

"Christmas?" Sabine was puzzled.

"It's a holiday of wintertime." Kaitlyn turned her attention back to Ezra.

"So do you want to do it?" Ezra asked.

"I'm in," Jacen shrugged.

"We don't really have anything better to do," Sabine decided.

"We have to wait for Hera to get back and for Zeb to wake up. What about Chopper?" Kaitlyn laughed.

"The only thing Chop would get any of us is a broken arm, so no." Ezra and Sabine left to go to Ezra and Jacen's room.

"I should probably clean my armor. The mission from yesterday got it coated with mud," Kaitlyn left to go to her room. Jacen shrugged and decided to provoke Zeb since he had nothing else to do.

Meanwhile, at the market:

Hera purchased the last few supplies on the list. She could head back to the Ghost now.

Hera thought of Ezra and Sabine first. They seemed so happy. Of course, at any time one of them could be lost to a mission. She felt sympathy and happiness for those who were in a relationship. Sympathy because one of her kids could die, and the pain she felt after Kanan's death would become the pain of everyone else. Of course, Sabine, Ezra, and Zeb all felt the loss of Kanan, but none more than Hera. Kanan and Hera went back as far as she could remember. The rest of her life without Kanan felt empty.

And her son, Jacen, who never got to meet his father. Jacen had seen him in the force, but that was all. Hera rarely got to see Kanan's force-ghost. But when she did, she talked about how the kids were doing. Especially Jacen. That led to the conversation about Kaitlyn. Hera remembered the day Hera had told Kanan's spirit that Jacen had a girlfriend. Kanan took it better than Hera did. And Hera took it well:

"How is Jacen?" Kanan's ghost had asked.

"Good. Don't freak, but he's got a girlfriend."

"I sensed as much. Have I met this one?"

"I don't know who you speak to through the force."

"Is she a Jedi?"

"Yes."

"I probably have then. Name?"

"Kaitlyn. The one that I told you about last time."

"Oh. I love that girl."

"I do too."

"I'm glad Jacen found someone to control him. He's a powerful Jedi. Kaitlyn's more...meditative and peaceful. She has great capabilities, but she has more discipline, which is essential to taking this path."

"Ezra taught both of them well. Jacen just has an inner turmoil. He's...reckless."

"A common flaw to young Jedi. It will pass in time. He will grow wiser every day."

"You say that, but Ezra is just as reckless now as he was fifteen years ago."

"Ezra is...different. I'll give you that."

"That's an understatement."

"How are Sabine and Zeb? Chopper?"

"They're all fine. Sabine is still creative as ever, and Zeb still has temper issues. Chopper is the same."

"In other words, Chop is still a pain?"

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Easy for you to say. You're the only one he takes seriously."

"Because I'm understanding."

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Are you?"

"I miss you."

"I've never left."

"I know."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Hera looked forward to these conversations with Kanan. She was reassured that he was always by her side, and she didn't want that to ever change. But for now, she needed to take care of the others.

When she got back on the Ghost, she was greeted by the sight of Zeb chasing Jacen. Jacen had climbed into the ventilation shaft. He, Kaitlyn, and Sabine, and maybe Hera, were the only ones that could fit. Jacen got lucky in a way. He'd always been a bit lanky.

Zeb growled and Jacen laughed from his out-of-reach position.

"Jacen, get down," Hera sighed.

"Only if Zeb promises not to kill me."

"Zeb." Hera turned to the lasat.

"Fine." Zeb stalked to the crossfire. Jacen laughed again and got out of the shaft.

"Where's everyone else?" Hera asked her son.

"Kaitlyn's cleaning her armor. Can't blame her. At the end of yesterday's mission, she was covered with mud. It was adorable and hilarious at the same time."

"I don't think she'd like your description."

Jacen shrugged. "Ezra and Sabine are in my and Ezra's room. I don't know what they're doing. And I don't think I wanna know."

Hera sighed and headed to the cockpit. Jacen watched his mom go, and then headed over to Kaitlyn's and Sabine's room. The door was open, and inside was Kaitlyn using the armor-cleaning brush to get the last of the bracken off her chestplate.

"How's it going?" Jacen tried not to laugh, and failed.

Kaitlyn rolled her eyes. "As good as it can be."

Jacen walked into the room and sat down beside his fellow padawan. Kaitlyn stopped what she was doing. "What's up?"

"Mom's back. We should get Ezra and Sabine so we can tell her and Zeb about our idea."

"Why didn't you just get them?"

"I don't wanna know what they're doing."

"So you're telling me to get them for you?"

"Yup."

"You're so annoying."

"Isn't that one of the reasons why you love me?"

"Maybe." With that, Kaitlyn crossed the hall and knocked on the door where Ezra and Sabine were. Ezra, surprisingly, was completely clothed when he answered the door.

"Yeah?"

"Hera's back. Time to pitch your idea, lovebird."

Ezra glared at his apprentice and beckoned Sabine, who was in the process of painting something on the wall.

Everyone was gathered in the crossfire. Ezra decided to speak first.

"It's a holiday season on Lothal, and I figured we'd celebrate Perayaan by playing Perayaan Hadiah."

"That's a good idea," Hera smiled.

"I guess we could do it," Zeb agreed.

"Okay, so I put everyone's name in the container. Everyone pick a paper, but you can't tell anyone who's name you draw. And if you draw yourself, draw again." Ezra held out the container.

After each crew member picked someone but themselves, Ezra continued.

"We'll spend the rest of today shopping in the markets to buy a gift for the person we got. Tonight, we'll give out gifts."

Kaitlyn smiled. "Let's go."

In the market:

Ezra looked around. The person he was shopping for was one of his own padawans, Kaitlyn. He knew she loved books. She liked to hear about stories and ancient Jedi legends.

Ezra stopped in front of a stand with books on display. He decided to get advice from the shopkeeper.

"Do you have any books about ancient legends? Preferably of the Jedi?"

"I have just what you need! Celebrating Perayaan, I assume?"

"Yes."

"Here! This is a collection of almost every Jedi legend ever documented!" The shopkeeper handed Ezra an ornate book with Jedi inscriptions on the cover, and ancient Jedi art. Ezra looked through it. Kaitlyn would love this! He just knew it.

He bought the book for ten credits and headed back to the Ghost.

His shopping trip was done.

Zeb knew what he was looking for.

Meilooruns.

Hera loved them, and that's who Zeb got. He wanted to attempt to make Meiloorun bread.

It was a simple recipe, but meilooruns were hard to find on Lothal. Nevertheless, he managed to swipe two from an imperial shipment.

Problem solved.

Now he just needed to bake, which couldn't be that hard.

Meanwhile, Jacen decided to get a weapon-care kit for Zeb. He approached a stand with so many weapon-care items, it could've been a base.

"Do you happen to have a kit for bow-rifles?" Jacen asked the man.

"Only one! Last in stock! Thirty-five credits!"

"Thirty-five?"

"This kit is rare!"

"Fine." Jacen thrust the credits into the man's hand and took the bow-rifle kit.

Hera examined the SE-14C blaster pistol. It wasn't the newest model, but Ezra had been admiring it the other day when his blaster broke.

"You interested in that?" The man running the stand asked.

"Yes. How much?"

"Twenty credits. We're having a sale."

"I'll take it."

Kaitlyn was wandering around, looking for the art area. Sabine needed a new applicator. She'd been complaining the other day about how her's was garbage, and how she needed to save up to get a new one. At last, she found one.

Paint Applicator 3000. The latest model, on sale for thirty credits! Kaitlyn decided this would be a good purchase.

After buying, she headed back to the Ghost with Sabine's gift.

Sabine had already bought Jacen's gift, a riffball.

Riffballs were basically puzzles and games in a sphere. They were really fun to mess with, and Jacen had told Hera about one he saw the other day.

But Sabine wanted to paint it.

She decided on some grays and blacks, and painted a red starbird in the center.

Perfect.

That night:

The entire crew sat in the crossfire. Ezra decided to get this started.

"I'll go first. I present an Ancient Jedi Legends book that I bought for Kaitlyn!"

Kaitlyn smiled and received the book. She hugged her master in thanks. The crew could tell she was dying to read it, but she needed to stay for the rest of the ceremony.

Kaitlyn grabbed the applicator she purchased and held it out. "I think we can all guess who this is for."

Sabine laughed and took the applicator and admired it. It was beautiful. "Thanks, Kaitlyn."

Sabine held out the hand-painted riffball to Jacen. "There you go!"

"Thanks! Man, this is gonna be fun." Jacen took the riffball and eagerly started to turn it over, examining the art.

Jacen handed Zeb the bow-rifle care kit next. "Thanks, kid." Zeb set the care kit aside reluctantly, it was impossible to deny the longing to use it in his face. Zeb grabbed the loaf of meiloorun bread and handed it to Hera.

"I know you like meilooruns."

"Thanks, Zeb." Hera hugged the lasat and turned to Ezra. She handed him his new blaster.

"Perfect!" Ezra hugged his mom-like figure.

"I think that Perayaan Hadiah was a success!" Kaitlyn laughed.

"It was. That was super fun!" Jacen grinned.

"Good job everyone!" Hera chuckled.

I updated sooner than I expected :)

I hope you guys enjoyed!

May the force be with you all!

~ArchingRebel