The transparent glass doors slide open at my approach, causing Alexandre to pivot back and smile before his mop of hair falls into his face. "Master Bridger."

"A." I smile, then move to shake his hand. "It's Ezra."

"Force of habit." He smiles back while appearing uncomfortable all the while. "You find the kitchens?"

I glance down at my hand, where I'm holding a to-go cup of orange juice, lid and all. "I did. I wasn't supposed to get something and missed it did I?"

"Oh no." He quickly answers. "The Jedi Order were nice enough to get me my own coffee press. Although I mostly use it for tea." I smile and laugh, causing him to do the same before, just a few feet away, Mira cruises her way along a table.

"Delightful, she is." He turns to me with a smile.

I smirk then sip my juice. "She's a mess."

"It's fascinating to see how infants' minds work. Trial and error is always the best method of teaching, even as one grows older. But at that age, you do it so natively it hardly counts as thought."

As A and I look on, Mira peers around the room, which is mostly filled with tables taller than she can reach, desks and A's own personnel.

"Don't worry about her, there's nothing in here that she can destroy or damage. And she's not a bother in the least. Rather lightens up the mood if you ask me." He smiles.

Very true.

"So the water main broke?"

"Yeah." I nod, then sip my juice again. "I didn't hear it, although apparently it woke some people up. I just saw the email before I got out of bed."

"Three day weekend." A smiles, clearly on my team on the topic. "All classes cancelled. Everyone deserves a small break from time to time."

"Does that include you?" I tease him.

"Oh no no. I enjoy my work too much. I took a vacation to the Maldives once. Too much for my pale complexion."

Mira's voice suddenly sounding out in my direction gets us both to turn and for Mira to light up in smile before voicing her delight.

Yeah! It's me.

Completely on her own, Mira plops down onto all fours and rapidly crawls over, then pulls herself up using the leg of my robes. "Hey there you! Look at you moving around so well…" I scoop her up.

"Ba Ba…" Mira's face splits into a smile before reaching out and grabbing my robes.

"Dexterity is quite advanced for her age. Nearly ten months old correct?" A asks as I adjust Mira in my arms.

"Yup. Growing up too fast…"

I remember when rolling over was an accomplishment.

Mira turns to see who I'm talking to, then rudely begins to stare and stick her finger in her mouth while eying A. "This is Alexandre." I tell her with a smile. "He works here. Can you say hi?"

"Hello Mira." A smiles quite warmly at her, only for Mira to continue staring.

"Sorry." I laugh.

"Oh no no." A waves away my comment. "It's survival instinct. If humans trusted everyone they met from the moment we met them we would have been hunted to extinction tens of thousands of years ago…"

Mira spontaneously giggles, inducing both of us into more smiles. "You've never heard a voice like his before. Have you?"

"You might be a few pickles short of a sandwich." A tilts his head while beginning to smirk. "But I think you'll get there eventually. Miss Syndulla." A finishes with a loving flick of Mira's nose, getting her to squeal and kick her feet before giggling.

"What's that mean?" I ask A.

Few pickles short of a sandwich?

"Means she's still figuring the world out. I expect her to be quite clever when she grows older. If she's anything like her brother."

"You met her brother?"

"Master Luminara brought some of the younglings down here rather recently." A reveals. "Quite a quick minded for a boy his age."

He processes things quickly.

"Yeah." I nod. "Don't know why."

"No reason to know why, it's just human nature. We're all born with it—oh!"

I glance down at Mira to see that she's in the process is sneaking a sip from my cup.

"No no no, you can't have this yet…" I take my cup away from her, only for Mira to whine at me. "Yeah no. I'm sorry."

I'd love to give you it. But I've read that you're not supposed to have juice until you're over a year old.

"She should be fine." A opts to reassure me as off in the distance I see a flicker of movement. "The primary concern with infants and juice is the sugar. Their bodies don't know how to handle it and they go off the rails."

I don't think I've seen Mira go off the rails. I've seen her on good days, bad days, cranky days and sleepy days.

She's like Jacen was.

Mira squirms, then reaches out for my cup with both hands before letting out a cry of pure complaint. "No, you can't have that."

Kanan.

"She snuck a sip." I confess to him as he and Zeb approach.

Whoa…Zeb.

He's got a full size axe attached to a shotgun.

Wow. I think that's a Mossberg 500.

Damn.

"Yeah you can't have that yet." Kanan tells Mira as he takes her from me. Mira responds by raising her voice and squawking at her father.

"I don't care how loudly you complain. No more."

"Wraaahhhh!"

A takes initiative and begins leading us deeper into his lab. "Shall I show Ezra into my newest improvements?"

"Sure." Kanan answers, not looking away from Mira before A starts leading us.

"Nice shotgun. What's the axe for?" I ask with a smirk.

Zeb sidles right next to me and extends the weapon. "Close quarter combat. Had a bit of a tough time with some drug runners down in Colombia. They tried beating down a door. So I had to improvise."

"With an axe?!"

"Yeah…" Zeb sighs before Mira reaches out for the shotgun.

"No." Kanan repeats himself firmly. Mira squawks once again, getting the attention of a few personnel before Kanan comments. "Yeah that orange juice is going to have you all wound up."

Zeb and I give Kanan some space as I detect his nerves with Mira's volume through the Force. "But yeah, anyway it worked quite well in such a tight spot. Which gave me the idea. So I came down here, talked to 'A' and he came up with this."

A arrives at our destination, a table with some hosiery set out. "It's…a little barbaric for my tastes. But if it saves lives, then I am all for it."

"Saved mine." Zeb smiles. "School going okay? Heard you had to come down here to shower. Water main broke?"

"Yeah." I confirm. "Basically doused the whole area by my apartment in an inch of water."

"That's a lot of water." Kanan chimes in.

"And with the fires up in Northern California…a terrible waste." A says mournfully before clapping his hand. "Anyway. This is what the Council has permitted me to show to you today Ezra. Some of my finest work in stealth and undercover operations technology."

Okay…

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's a photostatic mask using nanotechnology. Essentially, you put it on and you can become the spitting image of whoever you choose to impersonate."

"Voice too." Zeb adds.

Oh this is dangerous tech.

"Are…we the only ones to have this sort of tech?" I ask A.

If we start having a hard time separating friend from foe…

"Yes." He confirms. "A colleague of mine at Berkley alerted me to the project as it was in its earlier stages and was, like you, concerned about its potential for ill. However, I determined that, used sparingly, it can be a tremendous asset."

Zeb adds. "It's already been quite helpful."

"How?"

"You remember Sabine's arrest?" Kanan asks me.

…

"Honestly I'd rather not."

That was a bad night.

"Well when I went to go arrest her that next morning? Master Windu had the idea to test it out." Zeb reveals to me.

Hold on.

"So…she doesn't know that it was you."

"Nope." A smiles, clearly proud of the accomplishment.

And he hasn't really met Sabine, mostly because of that…

Man!

"I…was afraid you'd never really get to know her because of that." I confess.

I kind of wish I'd known this earlier.

Zeb's expression softens before he gives me a squeeze on the shoulder. "That means a lot coming from you Blue."

"We'll invite you to dinner one of the nights we have them over. " Kanan nods. "Jacen's asked about you."

"Well I've been busting up one of the biggest drug rings in South America, so it's a two way street on that one." Zeb admits with a shrug before we all look back to A.

A meanwhile, appears to be giving us space before continuing. "The tech is already fully operational and blends into your skin so that it cannot be detected visually. I'm still fine tuning the design so that it's more comfortable for the wearer, but from everyone who has used it, it's not too bad right now."

"Yeah." Zeb doesn't seem too concerned. "A little hot is all."

"Okay." I smile and nod then turn back to Alexandre. "What do you need from me?"

"Hair sample, scrape off some epithelial cells as well as an oral culture and saliva collection."

Wait—

"What now?" I blurt out anxiously.

…

…

The sound of a gust of wind striking the wind, followed by the consistent patter of rain reaches my ears, coaxing me out of my sleep.

Before my alarm too. Oh well. I'll just check the time and maybe roll and go back to—

A soft hand slides over my back before I detect the other hand which is resting on my stomach, gripping onto me gently.

She's up. Dang it.

I let out a breath before I hear Sabine whisper "You're awake…"

You're not supposed to be.

Sleepily, I open up my eyes and am greeted by the sight of my bedroom, lit dark gray, probably due to the storm outside. "Go back to sleep."

"I've been up for like an hour." Sabine tells me.

An hour?

"Why were you up so early? What time is—." I start, then roll over and glance at my clock.

Which is covered by Sabine's discarded shirt from last night.

"it's just past ten." Sabine informs me.

"Ten?!" I blurt out then move to roll out of bed.

I had alarms set for 8:00, 8:30 and 9!

I was going to cook her breakfast today!

NO!

My movement is stopped by Sabine snaking her arms around me again and holding on tight. "No no, you stay here."

"I—" I start, then sputter before another gust of wind strikes the window. "I had a whole plan for today."

"And what was that?" Sabine asks, sweetness in her voice before I decide to roll over. Sabine's expression slides from a neutral one to a smile, dimple and all.

"I was going to cook breakfast. I set an alarm."

Sabine's smile grows for whatever reason. "Yeah…I shut them off. It's Saturday. You needed to sleep in. You never do."

I sputter again before peering down at Sabine, only for her to keep smiling at me. "We could order breakfast."

This girl and ordering in food.

"I didn't know you knew my phone password."

Sabine turns back to her side of the bed and waves my phone at me before setting it back down on her bedside table. "0429."

She doesn't know.

"I didn't know you knew that." I admit.

Sabine beams again at me. "I know more than you think I know. If it's important to you…it's important to me."

She…no.

"Happy birthday." I deflect, then smile at her.

Sabine opts to duck her head and hide her smile this time. "Thank you…I'm older than you now."

She's 19. I'm 18.

"You've always been older than me."

"Yeah, well…" Sabine trails off.

"I really did have a plan for today." I tell her, pulling her into a hug.

Leaning into the hug, Sabine ever so gently runs her fingers over my abs. "And what was that?"

"Breakfast, then maybe—" I'm cut off by another rather loud splattering of rain against the window. "—maybe go downtown to an art museum. I don't know which ones you've been to or not."

"I haven't really been to any." Sabine admits, tone revealing her slight disappointment.

"I'm sorry."

Sabine cuddles closer to me before answering. "Not your fault. Or anybody's really. I've just always been super busy."

Well not today.

"Well not today." I declare, only for Sabine to giggle and smile up at me. "Any one you've particularly wanted to go to over the others?"

"Hmm…" She ponders. "I've read great things about the Getty. And they've got 'Irises' by Van Gogh."

Van Gogh.

"That name rings a bell." I confess.

Sabine just laughs at me this time. "Yeah…he's one of the most famous artists of the 19th century. Super influential."

"On you?"

"Ehh…I wouldn't say so." Sabine semi-shrugs. "But his brushstrokes were revolutionary and inspired many others."

"Who has influenced you?" I ask on a whim.

I can't believe I've never asked her this before.

It's like not asking me why I prefer Form V or Form II.

It's foundational to me as a person.

"Munch, Manet, Picasso, Gauguin, Cézanne…" Sabine's voice alters slightly with every new name, obviously attempting to say them properly.

She respects them a lot.

"But others you don't know. One of my art teachers at Benet probably has had more influence on me than anything."

"I didn't know that." I confess.

Sabine giggles, then glances up again. "You never had a reason to ask. And art's my thing."

But I still kinda feel like I should have asked.

"Seems kind of important though." I admit. Sabine shrugs, then cuddles back up to me.

"Well now you know…anything else in this grand plan of yours for today?"

Rain and wind lash up against the window before I answer. "I was thinking dinner downtown, at a nice restaurant. Not a chain or anything like that."

I'm sure there are places like that.

"We could dress up…" Sabine's face perks up into a smile. "We never get to do that."

We.

"Yeah. I'm always dressing up for work and that's enough for me." I admit.

Sabine giggles once again. "Your Jedi robes? You're handsome in those…did you bring them home to be washed?"

"Yeah." I nod.

"I wanna look at them before you do it. I bet you have to be careful in how you do it."

Yeah.

"Yeah…Master Dooku kinda went overboard on them. Can't wash anything else with them. Can't dry them either, has to air dry."

"Are there instructions?" She asks.

I shake my head. "I've got an old email with how I'm supposed to do it."

And worst come to worst I've got an old backup still at the temple. Plus I'm sure he would pounce on the opportunity to buy me new robes.

"…He must really like you."

I nod. "I'm really lucky to have him as a mentor."

"Where'd you meet him?"

In my cell at the Temple, the day after Cayle came and ate with me.

"In Georgia. He came by one day and noticed me."

Sabine smiles at the story. "Sounds like a great day."

It was a long day.

The window shutters slightly due to yet more wind. "It doesn't sound like a good day outside."

"Yeah…" Sabine admits. "I checked the radar. It's supposed to be like this until around one in the afternoon. We're in a big green and yellow blob right now."

I laugh at the word 'blob', which induces more laughter out of Sabine. "Maybe we should wait until then to go out to the Getty."

"Sounds good to me." Sabine replies. "In the meantime we can order breakfast."

Yeah.

"Okay. Can you hand me my phone?" I ask her.

We usually do all the ordering off my phone.

"No…before we order food…I think we should do something else to pass the time. Start my birthday off right."

Start her birthday off right…what does she—

Oh.

Sabine adjusts her position in bed, moving to sit on my thighs. "Ahh…now he understands."

"Sabine, I—"

You don't have to do this for me.

Sabine silences me by reaching for the hem of the shirt she slept in, another one of mine before she pulls it over her head. "No no…it's called birthday sex for a reason…silly. C'mere."

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