(Sabine Wren POV)
"Looks great to me. And you'll email me those copies so I can pass it along to my housemates?" I smile at the realtor who has been showing me around this house.
"Yes, absolutely. Let me give my assistant a call and she'll send all that over for you." The realtor with obviously bleached blonde hair smiles at me.
"Okay, thank you!" I reply before she leaves me in the kitchen.
I do hope she hurries up…
The house Carrie and Austyn found is a bargain, at least by LA standards. 3 bedroom, 4 bath, two stories. The backyard is a little small but newly renovated with a private entrance. Plus its minutes away from USC.
The soccer fields and Ezra's apartment are nearly on the other side of campus, but that's twenty minutes at worst in each direction.
Roski's never a bad hang anyway, it'll force me to focus.
Oh, that reminds me…I really need to finish Hera and Kanan's painting before I come back here for the semester.
It's coming together well, a snapshot of a pretty beach with a pier in the background. The foreground has some eye candy so the canvas isn't desolate, but the water and the pier are the focus.
Oh come on…
I don't know what he's got going on today, so I want as much time as I can.
It's past one though, so maybe we can do a late lunch or something!
The realtor's heels signal her return, and I turn and smile at her approach before she informs me. "Those documents have been sent to the email we have on file. So can I mark you down as good for the house?"
"Yeah!" I beam at her. "Looks great."
"Wonderful! That's great, I'll put you down for the house so we don't show it to anyone else. It's stated in the email but the deposit will be due on July 20th, which is in almost three weeks and the first month's rent and the security deposit are due August 1st through the 5th. We usually rent these houses to college students so we try and be flexible if something comes up."
"I really appreciate that, and I'm sure my roommates will appreciate that too." I smile again.
"No problem. I'm sure you have other places to be today Sabine but I'm so glad I could show you the house, see what you think, and get you down. Welcome home!"
"Thank you." I laugh.
"You said you flew in just for the next couple of days. Chicago right?"
"Right."
"Well have a safe trip home, and I'm sure we'll talk soon if not on the 20th!"
"Sounds great!" I keep my tone chipper. "Do I need to do anything or…?"
I know she has to lock up the place.
"No no, if you want to take pictures or something that's great. I'm just here to lock up now."
"Oh. Well no, I was going to try and drag a friend to a late lunch." I say lightly, getting the realtor to laugh.
"Go, go!" She waves me away, towards the front door. "That's so thoughtful of you, that sounds amazing!"
"Yeah." I nod. "Thank you again!" I reply while inching towards the door.
"You're welcome. Bye!"
"Bye!" I reply, then walk quickly to the door and back to the car Dad rented out for me.
Thank goodness for ZippyCar. You have to have a car in LA.
Hopping into the teeny box-shaped car, I hit the ignition and pull out into the street.
And the house is close to JJ and Jaicey's…let's start there before going to his apartment.
He's gonna be so surprised.
I mean, how can he know I was coming? I think Jaicey kind of knows because she knows Carrie and Austyn and I are getting a house together this year, and we have to lock it down at some point.
And he's been blindly ignoring all my phone calls and texts. Which, he can say whatever he wants, I know he's seen at least the icons that he's missed me because his undiagnosed OCD causes him to dismiss the icons.
He's the same way with Instagram. He almost always has to tap the little circles at the top to make them go away so they don't bug him anymore.
The light in front of me quickly turns red, leaving me behind two cars at this light.
C'mon cmon cmon…
The radio continues softly playing one of the pop stations that's big here in LA that I never listen to as I strum my fingers on the wheel impatiently.
HURRY UP! COME ON!
Knowing how he is, he's super busy ass always and I have a very narrow window in which to catch him by surprise and rope him into lunch.
If he knows I'm coming he'll probably try ducking me like he has been.
The light finally turns green and traffic proceeds forward for a mile or so before I navigate my way to the right lane and take the turn at a green light.
Almost there!
Few cars impede my path as I drive into the neighborhood and quickly turn onto a familiar side street Jaicey told me about.
So glad to be back. Not that I don't love being home, but…
I missed LA. I missed my friends. I missed everyone.
I missed my life.
I take a left and then can't hold back a gasp.
—
!
"YES!" I scream to myself then slap my hand on the steering wheel. "YES YES YES!"
HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE!
Ezra's HERE! Parked behind JJ's car and beside Matt's Camero!
I quickly pull in and throw the car into park behind Matt's car before leaping out and hustling towards the front steps.
My plan worked! I can't believe it!
I mean, I always hoped it would I did dress up in the event that it did work, but still!
MY PLAN WORKED!
The front door is unlocked as I slip on through then quietly take a step inside. "Hello?" I call out.
I don't want them to think I'm a burglar.
"Hello?" I call out again, this time a little louder before footsteps echo down the hall.
Jaicey!
"I thought I heard your voice!" Jaicey lights up. "Hi! What are you doing here?!"
Jaicey doesn't let me answer before pulling me into a big hug. "I'm here for the house Carrie, Austyn, and I are getting! The showing was today."
"When'd you get here?!" Jaicey asks.
"Flew in last night. Mom got me a hotel, I'm flying out on Monday."
Today's Thursday, so I'll be here for the 4th of July then fly back home for a week.
Then I'll start packing up to come back for fall practices before games start in like a month.
"—c'mon, everybody's here. Matt and Jj are playing Call of Duty like always, and Ezra's in the back, he—"
HE'S HERE!
"Good, he's been ignoring me for like a month." I reveal to Jaicey, who…
Frowns?
"Yeah, remember what I told you about yanking him around? Between that, and your screaming match with his buddy and the text you sent Matt?"
"You know about that?" I blurt out.
Jaicey stops dead, curtain separating the game room from the rest of the house within my sight. "Yes, I know about that! You gotta be careful. We finally succeeded in having him for dinner, tacos, and got him drunk off tequila? Because I daresay, he's tired of your shit. Remember what I said, about yanking him around?"
Yeah.
"Well he finally let it out, at least a little bit of it. He was still him apologized for yelling, but I'm glad he did. He's taken so much shit from you, it's a good thing you're here in person because—"
"Babe, who are you talking to?!" JJ's voice calls out to her.
Jaicey huffs out a sigh then leads me into the game room. "—look what the cat dragged in."
JJ pivots as he and Matt are in pitched combat on the TV screen. "oh. Hey."
"I was just bitching her out about how she and Ezra have been dancing around each other."
"He shouldn't have to dance—FUCKING GRENADE!" Matt yells at the TV as a grenade catches him blind and the screen starts on a forty-five-second timer. "Dammit! I'm grabbing a drink, you want one?" he turns back as he sets the controller down
He's all sweaty. Still wearing last year's USC dri-fit, shorts, and socks.
"Sure." JJ replies before Matt walks past me without a word.
Come to think of it, he's been pretty quiet with me too.
My eyes fall on the controller before drifting to the coffee table beyond, where all of their various keys, wallets, and the contents of their wallets were thrown, presumably when they got back.
"Did you guys work out today?" I ask, scanning the table.
There's a black wallet I don't recognize, a bunch of keys and a fob on a crappy, scrap metal-looking key ring, and a pair of headphones grouped together.
"—Matt's been running some summer workout for football and anybody who wants to join them. So yeah. By the way, if you yell at him—"
"I'm not going to yell at him." I cut JJ off. "I…I overreacted to him losing my beskar, and he's been ducking me for weeks now."
"Yeah, you overreacted. But he keeps saying you really didn't because of how valuable the bescant or whatever the hell it's called is and important to you culturally. Plus he says he's the one who broke your trust. He just keeps taking it. It's ridiculous." Matt says, bypassing me before plopping down heavily and handing JJ's sports drink over to him. "Hello, by the way."
JJ's eyes linger on me for a second before they both resume their warfare. "Told you," Jaicey says when I pivot back to her. "Finally got him drunk, and he got to talking."
"How valuable is that stuff by the way? Because he doesn't seem to think it'll get sold. I googled it and it's valued at well over a million bucks. That can't be right." JJ asks as gunfire starts ringing out.
I—
I look away from the two of them and out into the backyard, where a broad figure that's also clad in USC's distributed athletics gear, but he's wearing white and cardinal socks that go up to his calf is pacing, talking on the phone.
"It is that valuable, it's one of the rarest metals on the planet." I answer JJ's question.
Who is that? Has to be one of the Freshmen football players that came in during the summer to get a head start on training camp.
He's got long hair blueish, black hair that goes past his ears, good muscle definition…
"—that valuable, then why'd you give it to him?"
Focus Sabine.
"Because I thought he would keep it safe over the summer, as a sign of how much I care about him. I didn't want him forgetting about me." I defend myself, then turn to Jaicey. "You said he's in the back of the house?"
Ezra never goes back to JJ's room, I think he likes to give them their personal space. I don't know if he's ever even been back there.
"No, he got a call right before you showed up." Jaicey reveals to me, then points to the backyard.
"That's Ezra?!" I blurt out.
He grew out his hair?!
"Yeah!" Matt blurts out angrily. "Who'd you think it was?"
"I—" I sputter before finding my words. "Dad said that Ezra was really hurt from that attack. That's when I started realizing that I shouldn't have yelled at him." I explain to Jaicey before turning back to…
Ezra?
In the backyard, he continues talking on the phone and absently waving his hand around like he does when he's nervous.
I don't know why…there's no way.
"Dad said he lost seventeen pounds in just over a week."
"Well that was a while ago and he's been eating like he's been starving ever since." JJ informs me before gunning somebody down. "He's been running us ragged at those practices I told you about."
"God he's kicking our ass. But we're gonna be the best-conditioned ones at camp." Matt drives home the point.
"I think it's the Jedi in him. They're so placid and reserved to the public, but probably demanding behind closed doors." Jaicey hypothesizes as Ezra makes that motion again, then seems to hang on his back foot for just a second. Ezra says something into his phone, which has a new case before he makes that same motion again before turning and—
It is him. Oh—
…
Ezra looks at me for a few seconds, then breaks it off and resumes his pacing while continuing his phone call.
"What'd he do?" JJ asks Jaicey, inducing me to glance at JJ, only for him to be looking at his girlfriend.
"I don't think he's happy she's here." Jaicey predicts. "He just looked at her."
"Good." Matt grumbles. "If he rolled over for her again I was gonna have my offensive linemen beat some sense into him—"
Hey!
"You don't need to do that…" I say protectively. "I know I messed up, but that's also why I'm here. I'm hoping that I can take him to lunch and we can talk this out—"
JJ this time cuts me off. "Have you ever considered the idea that he might have things going on? Because he's been extremely busy since that Maul attacked. He might not have time to go to lunch with you. He's been working his damn ass off—"
"Hold up, here he comes." Jaicey announces, only for me to look to the door and see Ezra striding up and—
He's been working out. A lot.
"Sorry about that, I knew that a call was coming but I thought it was coming later today…" Ezra apologizes. "How's it in here?"
Oh my god his voice is deeper too.
"They're chucking grenades again." Matt replies.
JJ doesn't reply as Ezra scoops up the headphones, keys, and wallet I saw earlier. "Hate to go so quickly, but I have to if I wanna beat traffic downtown—"
"Already?" Jaicey says, sounding very sad. "Well, we're still having that party on the 4th if you wanna come. And door's always open. You know that."
Ezra chuckles while filling his pockets—
He hasn't shaved in a few days either. Wait, hold on, he's gonna—
"Hey." I say to him gently, then move to put my hand on his chest to stop him. "—"
Ezra bats my hand down towards my waist before saying "Hi. Excuse me.", brushing right past me and thru the curtain, disappearing from view.
"Hey!" I call out before moving to follow, only for Jaicey to stop me. "I—"
Jaicey!
"I gotta—" I start before Jaicey silences me.
"No, you don't. He's busy, you heard him. I bet he's off to work. He's never around on Thursday's anyway."
He teaches those younglings on Thursdays. They love him. Hang on—
My stomach is in a knot as I pull my phone out of my pocket and for my background of Ryan and me at Lolla to appear.
Thursday, July 1.
"Oh!" Jaicey loudly injects beside me before I notice her looking over my shoulder. "Who, in the hell is that?!"
(Ezra Bridger POV) – 6:00 PM
Zeb pulls open the door for me as I balance the tray of steaks. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Cayle continues behind me as out in the backyard, Jacen and Ahsoka are passing a soccer ball back and forth while Mira is tossing a tennis ball for Ghost to chase after.
The Council broke with tradition and told me, and by extension Hera, Kanan, and Zeb that Cayle is leaving for his trials this weekend. So tonight's the last night we really have a chance to take our time and do dinner.
Hera asked Cayle what he wanted, and he said he wanted me to cook steaks.
So here I am.
"You're tense, Blue."
"Been tense." Cayle follows up as I set the pan off to the side of Kanan's grill, allowing him to start laying out all the ingredients I need to prepare things.
"Thanks." I smile in his direction in an effort to distract him.
I don't really want to talk about it.
"I thought he looked tense." Hera proclaims, just before the back door opens, wine glasses in her hand.
"For me?" Cayle asks hopefully before I glance back in time to see Hera shake her head.
Zeb and I both laugh before Hera gives Cayle a tender look. "Go grab whatever you want dear. I was going to try and get Ezra to talk about it."
"Is it about that summit you had with Palpatine? I just finished reading about that, it sounds like it went really well."
"No." I shake my head then look to Hera. "By the way, one of Palpatine's people from last time called today. They'll be here next week with a Chinese emissary to get things set up. I can talk to 'A' if you want me to."
"I'll talk to him," Hera replies before setting my glass of wine within my grasp. "When next week?"
"I said Thursday, so a week." I answer, getting Hera to nod.
"Oh! Before I forget." Cayle almost jumps, standing near the door. "Padmé really wants to talk to you."
I bet she does.
"Yeah she does!" Ahsoka calls out, inducing me to duck down and grab the lemon juice for the marinade.
The back door closes before the conversation resumes. "Why does Senator Amidala want to talk to you?"
"Have you been avoiding her too? Ezra…" Hera groans.
I can't help but pop back up and answer quickly. "I saw her, at that fundraiser talking to Senator Rush Clovis."
My words immediately get the reaction I want, with Hera looking taken aback and Zeb asking "Isn't he—"
"The guy on the Senate Finance Committee who has been Keith's lever to poke at the Jedi's finances? Yeah, that's him."
"She's known him for years, Ezra." Ahsoka says patiently. "They knew one another when I was Anakin's Padawan."
Hera gives me a look that seems to impart that I should drink my wine before Zeb asks. "Why was she there at that fundraiser? Isn't she on Organa's side?"
"She is." I jump in before anybody.
"She's not really on anyone's side, she's caught in the middle. Palpatine mentored her in Naboo before she arrived in the Senate, then once she got there Organa's been one of her biggest allies and confidants. Padmé trusts him with Leia after all." Ahsoka reasons with everyone. "Also, I talked to her yesterday."
"You did?" Hera queries.
I feel Ahsoka reach to me through the Force as I'm busying myself with the marinade. "Anakin's in Ilum right now preparing for the next youngling pilgrimage in September. So she called me. I don't think she knew Ezra was there."
"Did you talk to her Ezra?" Hera asks me.
"No." I shake my head. "I moved along before they had a chance to blow my cover."
I know she would have come and said hi.
Behind her, Jacen's still firing away at his soccer goal while Mira's with Ghost, who is rolling around in the grass.
"You're being paranoid Ezra," Ahsoka informs me gently as the back door opens again, presumably by Cayle. "She was just doing her job as a Senator."
Yeah, being wined and dined on the dime of the rich and well-to-do.
That's what the whole thing was, one big social event. After I left Palpatine's people I had to find a way to mingle for over three hours until I could reasonably excuse myself to drive back to my apartment and crash.
Woke up early the next morning, worked off all the calories, and still made it home in time for breakfast with Silly Mira.
Who thought it was the funniest thing in the world to mash up her waffle instead of eating it.
"You gotta relax." Cayle chides me while rejoining the group. Hera takes in the forming huddle around me and moves to sit back on the outdoor couch.
Thank you.
"When's the last time you meditated?" Ahsoka asks.
"Monday. It went well."
"Then you shouldn't be this tense." She follows up.
Yeah, well. I am.
"You weren't this tense this morning." Cayle starts running through the process of elimination.
"Well, what's happened between now and then?" Zeb inquires.
…
…
Ahsoka insistently, but with a smile on her face leans down to put half of her head and a head-tail in my line of sight.
Ezra…
"Sabine's back." I mutter, then reach for the pepper.
"Wait—what?!" Cayle asks, been half raised to sip it.
"What'd he say?" Hera asks, popping back to her feet.
"Sabine's back."
"Bee?" I hear Mira say quietly before I turn to her and see her start looking around for Sabine.
"She's not here sweetie." I say, causing Mira to turn and peer up at me.
"Bee?"
Cayle crouches down to her level. "She's not here. Keep on playin."
Mira's face falls into a frown before dashing off into the backyard. On her way she passes her brother, who is coming our way.
"Sabine's here?"
Oh come on…
"She's in town today honey." Hera placates him.
"Can she come for dinner? I miss her, and she can play soccer with me."
"Not tonight bud, she's got stuff going on. I'm sorry." I smile at Jacen, only for his expression to fall too.
"Aww, man. But can she come later?"
"Oh yeah." Cayle smiles and says with some extra energy in his voice. "She's just here for tonight, she's coming back for school here in a few weeks. She'll come to dinner then."
Jacen cheers before Ahsoka toes his soccer ball away from him. "Better go get that."
"Ahh!"
"You'd better hurry!" She calls out before moving to chase after him. Jacen lets out some delirious laughter while running away from Ahsoka.
I can't help but smile at the sight of Ahsoka and Jacen kicking Jacen's soccer ball around before returning my attention to the food.
She thinks it's good for him, not only to get some of his energy out but to help his footwork.
If she's right I'll be surprised.
"What's she got going on? I thought she was in Chicago all summer?" Zeb asks.
I shrug before flipping over a steak. "I don't know."
She looked dressed up for whatever reason.
"You saw her, didn't you." Cayle crosses his arms and peers.
"Yeah, she just appeared at JJ's today. One second I get that call about Insight's expansion, and the next thing I know my Force probe comes back and tells me Sabine's there. I thought I was crazy!"
Before anybody else can speak, I add. "Oh, and by the way her new hair sucks. It looks awful."
It really does.
Why on earth she went from purple to straight white I don't know.
It makes her look like an old lady. It's not that far from white to gray.
"Ouch." Hera laughs off my frustration.
Zeb admits. "I didn't know she messed with her hair."
"I'll show you." Cayle volunteers while going for his phone.
"What does it look like?" Ahsoka returns to the fray.
"White with purple tips."
Hera chimes in from the couch "She's going to have a hell of a time keeping it up, otherwise she's going to destroy her hair."
"I'm surprised you think it looked bad." Cayle comments before passing his phone to Zeb. Ahsoka sidles up to him to get a peek.
"It…no. It didn't look good."
She looked small. Diminutive and dressed in that blue shirt and dark jeans for whatever reason.
"It looks alright." Ahsoka comments before Zeb passes Cayle's phone back. "It's more of a white to purple gradient than purple tips."
"I like the purple and orange more. She really pulled that off." Zeb comments.
She looked great with it. This…
Not so much.
"I take it you really didn't—that's why you were early to the Temple today…" Cayle puts the puzzle pieces together.
"He was?" Master asks her soon-to-be former Apprentice.
Cayle nods. "I found him down in the kitchens, arranging snacks for his younglings today."
"The Council's noticed that by the way." Ahsoka changes gears on us for a moment. "Do you think that it helps them?"
I nod before grabbing the pepper to begin seasoning. "They focus more. I think they're hungry since it's a few hours after their lunch."
"That'd make sense." Zeb nods, before leaning up against the brick pillar that's holding up the roof above the back porch.
"I asked if we could maybe make it a regular thing. I know it's more work and more food, but the payoff is worth it to me." I look to Ahsoka.
"What's some fruit and juice boxes if we get more out of those kids. Especially if they don't even know it." She smiles before Hera darts past all of us.
"Mira! Mira! No Mira!"
I whip around at the same time as everyone else as Mira's at the back fence, accompanied by Jacen with Mom chasing Mira down.
Uh oh.
"Mira, don't touch it, what is—oh!"
Instinctively I move to follow Hera, only for Ahsoka and Cayle to come with me.
"Easy Mom, she just found it." Jacen says softly as Mira—
Mira lets out a protective cry when she sees everyone coming near her before moving to cover-up—
Is that a…
"How'd…" Cayle asks everyone before he trails off. Mira turns back to the fence and verbalizes something that makes no sense.
"Purr…purr…"
How did Mira find a kitten here in the backyard?! There's no holes in the fence that I know of…
"Jacen, where'd she find the kitten?" Hera asks Jacen, who is crouched down next to his sister who is still bodily protecting the kitten.
It can't be that old…it still needs its mother.
"I don't know, I was playing soccer when I looked over and she was petting—"
Ghost insistently pokes his head in between all of us and—
Oh no.
I reflexively grab him by the collar a moment before he straightens right up, clearly having spotted the kitten.
No. He'll absolutely kill it, even if he doesn't mean to.
"No, Ghost! Inside, now!" Hera turns back and points demonstratively towards the house. Ghost gets the point and tries to follow before he's restrained by my hold on his collar.
You're not hurting that kitten.
"I got him." Zeb tells me, then snaps once. "Here, c'mon."
I let go of Ghost's collar and he obediently follows Zeb's direction, pausing only after taking a few steps to peer back— "NO!" Zeb says strongly before snapping again.
"Please don't snap." Kanan says, suddenly at the back door. "What's going on?"
"Sorry, it's how I ordered around my dog as a kid." Zeb apologizes before I take another half step back to clear the way for Kanan.
"Mira found a kitten." Cayle adds before Kanan makes a face.
"A kitten?" I nod before he adds "How'd it get in the backyard?"
"No idea, we—"
"Oh, thank goodness you're here Kanan. Mira found a kitten." Hera turns back and calls out to her husband.
Kanan steps forward to his wife and children and smiles. "Hey…what do we have here…? Did you find a kitten baby?"
"Purr…purr…" Mira continues stroking the kitten's back as its head is finally visible.
Its eyes are huge.
Terrified.
"Can we keep it?" Jacen asks, sounding excited.
"I don't know…for now we can until it's bigger and we can get it looked at." Hera says, indecision evident in her voice.
"I don't see why not." Kanan reasons.
"We don't need a cat, Kanan." Hera frowns at him.
"Mom!" Jacen protests before Mira lets out a wail and the kitten vanishes right back into her body.
The kitten likes her…but the rest of us not so much.
Kanan glances back then says "Everybody back up. Give it some space. Is it a boy or a girl?"
"I'll go get a saucer and some milk." Ahsoka announces.
"Surely there's a blanket or something around the house…" Cayle chases after Ahsoka, thinking aloud.
"It's a boy." Hera declares as I inch back a few feet, still crouching.
How…did Mira find a kitten?!
"Does he have a name? Maybe it already has a home." Kanan hypothesizes.
"No, no collar, no name." Hera disagrees before I hear Mira again.
"Purr…purr…"
For the first time, over all the other noises in the backyard, I hear the kitten purr back at Mira.
Ohh…
"We don't need to name him, Mira already has!" Jacen points out, a big smile on his face. "We have to keep him!"
"We'll think about it." Hera placates her son before Kanan gently approaches Mira's other side and looks at Jacen.
"What do you mean Mira's already named him?"
"I mean, she's already given him a name! His name's Chopper!"