Chapter 6

I'm glad you're liking the story! I'm trying my best.

Yesterday night I had a horrible revelation: I know how the story will end. My mind was always one or two chapters ahead of my writing but suddenly I was like "Oh no, I know how I want it to end!"

Anyway, I wanted to ask you Sparklepool101 or however wants to answer: What has been your favorite chapter? I'm trying to gather information about my writing and that question just popped up.

Enjoy this chapter!

Kanan made sure he put his alarm, not wanting to disappoint Ezra for waking up late. As soon as he heard the noises outside, he stepped out of his room and joined them at the table.

"Who's the sleeping beauty now?" he asked Sabine.

"Still you," she smiled.

"Why?"

"Once the sleeping beauty, always the sleeping beauty."

"Sabine, I hope you're not bothering Mr. Kanan!" Hera's voice came from the kitchen.

"No, mom, I'm just making friends here," Sabine answered. Ezra appeared running down the stairs.

"You woke up!" he said looking at Kanan.

"Of course I did, kid. I couldn't miss your big day!"

"Thank you, Mr. Kanan," he said and sat on his auditorium chair. Zeb appeared at the stairs.

"Mr. Kanan, you really woke up!"

"I know!"

"Why is everyone so surprised?" Kanan wondered.

"Well, it's 7:30, and these kids tell me that yesterday you slept 'till 12:30," Hera said, sitting down on her chair.

"Translation: we thought you were unable to wake up early," Sabine said smiling.

"Hey!" Kanan said as he stood up to spin Sabine's chair. Sabine laughed.

"I want to!" Ezra said excitedly. Sabine let Ezra sit on her chair so Kanan could spin it.

"Weeeeeee!" Ezra shouted. Once he wasn't dizzy anymore, they all sat down to eat. Hera or Zeb had made eggs for everybody, even Kanan, who ate his as fast as he could. Once they were all finished, they went out of the house to get in the cars. Ezra, Zeb, and Sabine got into the passenger seats, and Hera frowned, looking at Kanan.

"I, emm… I could go in my own car," Kanan said. Hera shook her head, although a little hesitant.

"No, it's fine, you can come with us," she said and climbed into the pilot's seat as Kanan got in from the other side. Hera turned on the car and started driving.

"Mr. Kanan, I want to show you our school,"Ezra said excitedly, "You can see my classroom!"

"If the classrooms are open," Sabine said, "They're not always."

"I can always 'convince' Mr. Vizago to let us in," Zeb joined in.

"We could steal his keys!" Ezra said excitedly.

"Cause a distraction!"

"Beat up Mr. Grint!"

"Enter through the air vents!"

"Or we could ask for permission to get in," Hera said.

"But mom, that's no fun!" Ezra whined. Hera sent him a glare.

"I mean, yeah, so fun. Asking for permission," he added quickly. Sabine smiled, containing laughs. Zeb grinned. Kanan smiled too, on his head. This was way more fun than spending the whole day in the garage.

The game was on the school field, deep inside the school. The corridors were small but organized, and Kanan decided he liked them. Hera and the kids led him to the seats next to the field, and they sat nearby a group of moms watching their kids.

"Wish me luck!" Ezra said as he went into the field to find his coach.

"Good luck, kid," Kanan said, although he probably couldn't hear him. Sabine looked at him, then back at Ezra, then at a notebook she had brought to draw.

"Mom, can I go sit with my friends?" Zeb asked, looking at a group of older kids.

"Sure," Hera said. Zeb went to join the other kids, leaving Kanan and Hera alone, as Sabine was distracted with her notebook. Kanan was pretty sure he needed to say something, but he didn't know what.

"Look, Hera has a new boyfriend."

"She probably couldn't pay for the school."

"Thank god we're not Hera." Kanan heard the voices coming from the group of moms and felt the need to tell Hera.

"They're talking about you," he said to her. Hera nodded.

"I know. They always are."

"How do you stand it?" Kanan wondered.

"I ignore them," Hera shrugged, "One gets used to it after a while." Kanan didn't think that was good, but he remained silent.

"She has to work an extra job just to keep her family standing, she must be crazy," one of the moms said. Sabine twitched and grabbed her pencil with her whole hand, looking at the moms with a deadly glare.

"Sabine, don't," Hera warned. Sabine looked back down.

"They're talking bad about you, mom," she said.

"Still, we mustn't prove them right," Hera told her.

"She's crazy, and her children are crazy too. I don't know why in the world she adopted a Mandalorian and a Lasat." At that, Sabine raised her head and stood up, but Hera held her back from going to the moms.

"Don't," she said, "They'll have even more comments if you prove them right. Why don't you go and find Ketsu? She should be here watching Jai." Sabine sighed but left to look for whoever Ketsu was. Kanan was curious now.

"Why did you adopt them?" he asked.

"Again with that, Kanan?"

"Not really. I'm just curious," Kanan said, "It's not always that you meet a Twi'lek with a Mandalorian, a Lasat, and a Lothalite for children."

"Does it bother you?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Then why don't you leave the matter alone? You haven't even told me where you are from," Hera said. Kanan grew silent.

"I'm coruscanti," Kanan murmured. It was true.

"I heard it was a beautiful place," Hera muttered.

"It was. Until the empire."

"You're not with the empire?" Hera asked. Dank farrik, Kanan thought.

"Um… no," he said at last. Hera looked relieved at his answer.

"That's good to know," she said, and turned her attention back to the game. Kanan did too, though he kept the conversation in his head the whole time.

The game was pretty good, even for middle school standards. Since Ezra played defense, he didn't score any goals, but he stopped a few close ones. At the end, he was cheerful and happy.

"Mom, we won! We won!" he shouted.

"I know! I know!" Hera said.

"Congratulations, kid!" Kanan said, high fiving Ezra.

"I think I see a professional player on his way to greatness!" Zeb said, returning to his family.

"Or on his way to the floor for having his shoes untied," Sabine said, then looked at Hera, "Hey, it's true! But good job, Ezra."

"Thanks, Sabine," Ezra said, then turned to Hera, "Mom, can Jai come home with us for lunch?"

"It's 10:30," Sabine said.

"We could go for brunch," Kanan suggested.

"Yes!" Ezra said and started running to a group of kids.

"Only if his mom says yes!" Hera shouted, then turned to Sabine, "You could invite Ketsu too."

"She has archery class," Sabine shrugged.

"How about you, Zeb? You could invite Kallus," Hera said to Zeb.

"Really?" Zeb said, astonished, "I mean, yes, thank you!" Then he ran off.

"Seems like we're having a full house today," Sabine murmured. Kanan agreed.

"You two whine too much," Hera said, though she was smiling, "Take the balls back to the field, please, while I go talk to Jai's mom." Kanan looked at Sabine, then nodded, and once Hera left they started a competition for who gathered more balls. Kanan was pretty sure he won, but Sabine said the opposite.

"There were 34 balls, I delivered 18, so I won!" she said.

"No, I delivered 18!" Kanan said back. He knew it was for fun but he still wanted to win. They were interrupted when the others returned with two extra kids. One looked about Ezra's age, with reddish-brown hair and a proud grin on his face. The other was tall and serious, with long blond hair and yet a curious look on his eyes.

"Jai, this is Kanan, a family friend," Ezra said, signaling to Kanan. The kid with reddish-brown hair waved.

"This is my friend Kallus," Zeb said.

"Hi," Kallus said. Kanan nodded. They got into the car, opening the back seats so that everyone would fit.

"So, where to?" Hera asked.

"Wherever you want to go, Miss Syndulla," Kallus said.

"We could go pick up from Jho's and then go back to the house," Hera said. Everyone agreed.

Later that day, Kanan was sitting on the dining table, eating his brunch, while Sabine drew on her notebook. Zeb and Kallus were off playing basketball, and Jai and Ezra were in the backyard. Kanan looked at what Sabine was drawing, a beautiful landscape covered in snow.

"That's beautiful," Kanan said.

"Thanks."

"What place is it?"

"Krownest."

"Isn't that a state of Mandalore?" Kanan asked. Sabine nodded.

"How did you meet Hera?"

"Mr. Kanan, I'm gonna throw this pencil at you if you don't shut up about that."

"I just wanna know," Kanan said as innocently as he could.

"You haven't even told the others you're a jedi."

"I never told you I was a jedi."

"I never told you I was a Mandalorian."

"Fair enough," Kanan decided to stop the conversation there. He was going to get answers someday, he was sure.

At the end of the day, when Kallus and Jai had gone home, they all sat down to dinner.

"Thank you for coming to my game, Mr. Kanan," Ezra said again.

"No problem, kid."

"And for standing the kids while I took the call from Sato," Hera said.

"And for not telling Kallus how lame he is at basketball," Zeb added.

"And for knowing when to not push conversations too far," Sabine joined.

"All I've done is being here," Kanan said after the kids had gone upstairs.

"You've done much more, Kanan," Hera told him, "And honestly, thank you."

"You're welcome," Kanan said. That night he slept with a grin on his face.