(A/N: RIP to a faithful companion of mine from high school, throughout college, and out into adulthood. My laptop of ten years finally had the case break and I was forced to buy anew. Deepest apologies for the gap between updates, things should proceed as normal. Thank you for continuing to read, for your patience with me and I hope you enjoy the chapter.)

My foot remains decisively on the brake as we remain behind another SUV at the gate to Hera and Kanan's neighborhood. Beside me, Sabine turns to peer back at Mira.

"How are we?"

Sabine smiles. "Looking out the window…and I think she was digging in the bags again."

I laugh and dip my head almost onto the steering wheel. "She's sneaky."

"She's smart…and she's sneaky about it." Sabine proclaims before reaching out and presumably grabbing Mira's foot.

Mira enunciates a counter to Sabine's move, only for Sabine to laugh. "Yeah! That's your foot. But maybe I want it. Maybe I like your foot."

Mira protests that and this time I can't help but laugh.

No!

"Gimme that—" Sabine's face scrunches before Mira lets out a high-pitched, laughing scream of complaint.

"That's a new one!" Sabine proclaims while I catch the moment Sabine snares Mira's kicking ankles. "Gotcha!"

Mira wriggles her leg as much as she can while restrained in her car seat before starting to visibly get angry.

Whoa whoa…

"Whoa hey…" Sabine's tone flips in an instant. "See, there. Ankle's back. All yours. I'm sorry."

Impishly I spin around as the car ahead of us is still talking to the gatekeeper. "She's being silly."

Mira's eyes find me as Sabine follows up. "I'm just goofin'…teasing ya. Ya know why?"

Sabine leans forward as I peek back to the front gate.

Oh, we're directing them in a certain direction. Focus Bridger.

"It's your birthday today Mira…" Sabine says, warmth in her voice picking up before Mira makes another, happier noise. "You think we just went shopping. Huh. We got you Skittles and let you mess with all the stuff—"

The car ahead of us pulls up and I follow suit while blindly grabbing for the orange laminated card. Pulling up to the window, I flash the card to the guard, who recognizes me and hits the button before waving us through.

…

…

No comment from Sabine.

"Thanks for doing this. I'm glad you're here." I tell her while winding my way thru the neighborhood.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Thank you guys for inviting me."

I don't know how to quite reply to that.

"Can you she believe she's so old?"

"No," I respond while unable to keep back a chuckle. "I remember the first day I met her."

"Were you at the hospital?"

"No. The Jedi are kind of weird about births and stuff. Making sure Mom and child both come out of it is something they're always very worried about, so most everyone stays at the Temple. But nobody was here then." I explain.

Sabine's confusion is evident in her voice. "Where were you? Georgia?"

"Finishing up." I nod.

We'd just locked down everything Admissions-wise and settled on an apartment instead of a dorm out of sheer practicality.

"Where was everybody else? Hera and Mira and Kanan and all that?"

"There's a facility in New York that the Jedi like to use when a baby we suspect could be special is about to be born." I explain while taking the final turn.

"Special? Mira could be special? Outside her normal obviously." Sabine walks the balance beams metaphorically.

I gesture to the SUV in front of me as I park. "Yeah, well we don't know how things the Jedi do are passed down. And her Dad's a Jedi—"

"And her Mom's super smart and talented too." Sabine amends my statement for me. "

"She is." I say, then poke my head out from my seat and see that Mira is just listening contently to us.

See?

"C'mon. Let's go." I pop out of my seat and start towards Mira's seat. "This is going to be fun."

When I open Mira's door's she is already reaching out for me before saying my name. "I was gone for two seconds…silly."

I unclip Mira's seat belt and scoop her up into my arms, allowing Mira to reach out and grab onto my head and neck before continuing to tell me how happy she is to see me again.

Mira…

I kiss the top of her head and blink three times forcefully. "This is gonna be so fun Mira." I begin as Sabine rounds the front of her SUV and looks for us. "You've never had a birthday before."

"Next year will be the one. She'll know what it is and can get excited about it." Sabine predicts. "That'll be fun."

"This one's fun too." I counter while peering down at Mira as she seems to loosen up with every step.

Probe.

"Ezra I'm just gonna…"

Film something. Yeah.

"All good." I reply casually as Mira motions to point out the front door to me. "Yeah, I know it's the door. We're home. C'mon, let's go."

I make a show out of opening the front door, aiming to give everyone inside of the house plenty of time before walking into the oddly darkened house.

Mira comments on the scene at hand before Sabine chimes "I know, where is everyone?"

"I don't know." I play along while slowly inching towards the kitchen. Once I'm inside, I probe out into the Force, looking for signatures.

Yup. Right up…

Mira exhales shallowly before I feel her hold on me tighten while leaning to look—

NOW!

The light flips on, everyone appears from their hiding places and yells "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRA!"

Mira yells in terror and kicks to get away before recognizing some of the faces she sees before both of her parents approach. "There's my Mira…"

I pass Mira over to Hera as Zeb, Ahsoka and Cayle are all laughing and Sabine drifts back to me. "What'd you get?"

"Not much. Bad angle really. Go say hi, I'll get you something to drink." Sabine instructs me before sliding towards the refrigerator.

"I—" I stop the fridge door as it's opening. "—I'll get it, Sabine. Thank you."

Sabine stops and makes a face at me. "It's your party too."

"No, it's not." I counter.

It's Mira's birthday today.

"You can throw parties for multiple people." A familiar voice educates me before Sabine grins at me.

No way.

Taking my head out of the door, I'm greeted by the smiling faces of Master Anakin Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala. "She's right."

Thanks Sabine.

"Senator. Master." I bow in Master Skywalker's direction before nodding to Senator Amidala.

"Young Bridger."

"How are you?" Padmé asks before catching me in a tight hug. "One week left huh. This time next week and you'll be done!"

"Somehow. How are you here?"

"I heard there was cake." Padmé deadpans her reply before a hint of a smile gives her up. "Plus, it's Mira's birthday, and it's an excuse to escape DC for a weekend. Hello Sabine."

Sabine, who is in conversation with Master Skywalker, turns. "Hi! I need to talk to you about your project."

"There's no rush." Padmé immediately reassures her. I just wanted to see if you're still on. Anakin mentioned something about a delay with Kanan and Hera, pushing us back and…"

"Her professor graded her unfairly on a project. She kind of got on a hamster wheel trying to fix it."

Padmé winces sympathetically. "Getting lost in your brain is the worst."

"Which is usually why that's the best time for…a break." Master Skywalker advises while scooting aside as Hera's directing Jacen before taking Mira from Kanan.

Mira smiles at her older brother, who returns it and pushes her hair out of the way. "—now lift her up a little sweetie and tilt her towards us—that's it."

"Smile!" Ahsoka helps out.

The flash goes off, followed by an insistent jab in the back.

What?

I turn back and see that it's Senator Amidala. "Go sit at the table. We're doing cake first, then presents."

"It's not my birthday though."

"When's the next time everyone's going to get together like this? We don't know! And it's next month!" Padmé reminds me before not so lovingly shoving me towards my destination.

(Four Hours Later)

Grabbing the edge of the trash bag, I shove in the last of the wrapping and tissue paper. Quickly, Master Skywalker pulls the blue plastic tie and begins tying the bag up so it can't spill everywhere. "Thank you, I'll take it from here."

Master Skywalker doesn't initially respond, instead peering back towards the living room. "No, the bottom looks like it could fall out of that. You carry the trash can, I'll hold the top so it keeps its shape…"

"What?" I hiss out.

What is he talking about?

Master Skywalker gives me a moment to follow along, then forcefully motions for me to lift the trash can. Once I've done that, he speaks again. "I'll grab the doors…"

"Okay."

Together we maneuver the trivial-weighing trash can out through the garage to the side of the house where Kanan keeps the exterior trash bins. "Alright." I pronounce the job completed before Master Skywalker puts the lid on the trash can.

"Great. Follow me for one quick second." Master Skywalker instructs me, then starts towards the driveway.

Cayle's passed on to me that one of the biggest lessons Ahsoka took from her Master was to always have a plan.

Of course he pulled me all the way outside, away from Sabine for a reason.

Taking a moment to follow in Master Skywalker's footsteps, I arrive as he is retreating from the backseat of the black SUV parked in front of Sabine's and holding a small-sized black bag.

Looks like a jewelry bag or a store from the mall. Sabine used a birthday gift card from some store called Victoria's Secret. The bag she got from there looks similar, but pink.

"This…" He says delicately. "Is for your summer escapades. Happy birthday."

Peering inside, I see a folder, a mesh-looking material, and a flash drive amongst the wrapping paper other things.

"Oh wow, you shouldn't have…" I monotone, getting a chuckle from the Master Jedi.

"That's not all I have. I have additional intel you'll need. Just came in."

I pull my eyes out of the bag fully and give him my attention. "What is it?"

Master Skywalker looks at me for an instant then begins to pace. "The situation on the campaign trail has become more…complicated."

"How so?"

Again, he hesitates before answering. "We are not sure as to how…but President Palpatine discovered of the plan to put you on the Organa campaign."

What?

"How?"

There can't be that many people who could have leaked it. I could have Twos work the list.

"We do not know." Master Skywalker repeats the point. "And the Supreme Chancellor was most upset upon hearing the news. Asked to speak with Master Yoda on the matter."

He's leading me somewhere.

"What did he have to say? And why do you call him 'the Supreme Chancellor'?"

Master Skywalker's expression hardens before he barrels forward. "From what I heard; he expressed his discontent with being excluded from the process. Asked why the Order is allowing you to do this, especially to a political opponent. Correctly, he pointed out the optics piece of this."

"Oh." I blurt out.

I hadn't thought of that. It looks like either Palpatine is having the Jedi spy on Organa, or the Jedi are putting a known operative on Organa's campaign.

"In the end, he allowed the arrangement to continue, with some minor tweaks to your overall schedule."

"Tweaks to my schedule?" I repeat after him.

Master Skywalker's expression finally softens before his eyes avert mine. "Yes. The Chancellor requested that you be contracted out to his campaign for the equal length of time that you are contracted out to the Organa campaign."

"WHAT?!"

That's—

"This decision has already been made and is final… young Bridger. The initial plan of your final stop being in Chicago, Illinois has altered. Instead, that is where you'll pick up the Organa campaign in nearby Milwaukee."

For—

I'm contracted out for three weeks to the Organa campaign. Three weeks.

That's part of the point of all this! I'm supposed to stick around LA and California and just…keep working!

This is an excursion, not the main portion of my summer!

I want to stay here and be with Jacen, Mira, and my friends!

"So, I'm going to be out on the road until…late June. Early July." I ask.

Tell me my mental math is wrong.

I have one more week of Finals. I'm here for the next week as a final wrap-up.

In my mind, I was going to be spending most of that time here with Jacen and Mira since I was about to leave. Now I'm definitely going to do that.

"Precisely."

…

…

"Well, that changes how I'm going to pack."

Master Skywalker cracks at my joke before shutting the door to the SUV. "For what it's worth…our hands were tied. He went after the same incentive that he went after to secure the meeting with you. The Council is concerned that he believes he's found a leverage point."

It sort of looks like they have. The Council has acquiesced to his demands both times.

"In any event, outside of the President's interference in Jedi affairs, the plan for the mission is the same. You'll need some of the resources inside the bag of course for both to be successful. Same alias, cover story, and everything. He was explicit on keeping that the same throughout to create the cover."

So he's thought about this.

"Sounds like he's been putting some thought into this." I muse.

"ezzraaaa!"

Huh?

The sound of a door opening is followed by yelling "Ezraaaa!" before bouncing off the door frame and pinging right for Master Skywalker and I.

Jacen.

"What buddy?" I ask as Jacen.

"Easy there man." Master Skywalker gives him the brakes sign. "What's the rush? Don't run around the house."

"Mira walked! Mom told me to come get you—"

Mira what?

"Mira did what?!" Master Skywalker's voice pitches up in a way I've never heard before, only for Jacen to dart off and for Skywalker to follow.