There. Done.
The distinct smell of disinfectant spray hits me as I glance up from the kitchen counter I've been scrubbing for the last…however long—
11:44 PM
Damn. That took longer than I thought it would.
But my whole apartment's clean now. Vacuumed all the carpeted areas, really cleaned my kitchen.
Super fun Friday night.
A mechanical whoosh sounds out from my laundry room, signaling that my comforter is still in the rinse cycle—
I should have thrown that in first, then my sheets before going to Sabine's soccer game.
I went to Sabine's soccer game though. That's something.
She played great. Scored twice, played the whole game. Neither of the goals were super flashy, one of them the ball just found her and she scored, the other was a pileup at the net that she poked in.
I'm glad I went. Even though it was extremely awkward for me without football being there to talk to and blend in with.
I knew more people's parents than students that weren't on the field.
The Mom Collective stopped me and basically forced me to talk to them, but let me go after a few minutes of light interrogation. They were cool at least.
It was a quieter night up in the stands overall. No football, no Phi Kappa Psi and their forced enthusiasm… No Ryan because no Phi Kappa Psi—
Don't…no. Get your mind off that.
Letting my feet guide me, I find my fingers guiding themselves to Instagram, which loads up before the interface greets me.
Somebody's getting pulled into a beauty care pyramid scheme—Sabine's got a new story.
First up and everything.
"No…" I say to myself, then purposefully tap on the second story and begin flipping through them.
Class story, somebody's in the library with homework…there's apparently a party down near the ocean…
I absently tap through six or seven of the stories before swiping down and being greeted by the same format I swiped away from initially.
Sabine's probably not at that party.
Glancing up from my phone for an instant, I find myself in the walkway between my kitchen and living room right next to where Sabine's easel stands empty.
…
Well, let's just see.
Seeing can't hurt.
With a tap, Sabine's story pops up onto my screen before I flip through it.
Soccer game today, yeah, soccer final—
She made it onto the postgame graphic. That's cool.
—
—
She's at that party. With Ryan.
And she threw pink hearts onto the picture they took…42 minutes ago.
Great.
HE WASN'T EVEN THERE SABINE!
I was! The whole time!
But you wouldn't know that because I got out of there shortly after the final horn.
I couldn't make myself linger socially with people I barely know, just on the off chance you'd see me and want to come talk to me.
…
Even though I wish you would.
Not that it'd matter anyway. I was coming here anyway afterward regardless because Padmé's flying in early tomorrow and one of these days she's going to follow through on her desire to see my apartment. And I can't have it looking worn down after a long week.
And now…here we are.
I do the work, Ryan gets the payoff from my hard work.
Wouldn't shock me one bit if that slimeball lied and said he was there all game. Even though he definitely damn well wasn't.
I just…
I don't get it.
…
Well I do get it. She told me. She thinks he's funny and they share a lot of the same interests. He's clearly easy for her to talk to, which helps. She thinks he's attractive, which objectively, yeah I guess…
And he doesn't have any of the baggage I have. Her Mom doesn't hate him like she does me, just because Maul got the jump on me and took that damn beskar from me…
Ryan probably doesn't have an infamous brother with a rap sheet that would be longer than mine if people knew what I covered up for him because I was his older brother and loved him…
And look where that's gotten me.
Her beskar on another continent, most likely. And herself in the arms of an idiot.
After I spent so much time and energy and effort putting her back together last year!
It's my fault though. Maul beat me, first with the slash on my calf, then stabbing me with my own dagger.
Hell, things weren't great even before that.
She went quiet on me after the Vader in DC story broke. That's what really started it.
That, and how boring the end of last semester was.
I didn't think anything of it. I just plowed ahead and wrapped the semester, Sabine at my apartment almost every night.
I thought that was a good thing if anything because it sort of became her safe space to an extent since her dorm room was dominated by her crappy roommate.
But it's clear she likes invigorating people. Parties and excitement and not keeping your head down to avoid Sith Lords and the ilk from finding you.
I mean, she can't stand Vader. She hates him. She's told me as much, to my face.
She likes Kanan, likes the Jedi well enough I guess. Hates the restraints they've put on me, but there's nothing to be done about those.
Those are with me no matter what, due to who I really am.
…
…
Sabine probably wouldn't like who I really am.
She doesn't like me protecting her, even though I've successfully done that.
Almost exposing myself in the process. I mean, Matt figured it out. And thankfully, he's on my side.
And doing an amazing job at it too. Every time we've been to JJ's or a party or anything socially with her he's helped me navigate the situation without too much trouble.
He's been a big help. And nice to have somebody to talk to. Somebody that believes in me that wasn't there and saw me at my worst, right when I surrendered and turned myself in.
I thought I was a monster. I thought I needed to protect everyone from me.
And now…when it's me trying to do the protecting?!
She saw it. Saw your true self, and ran the other way.
—
I need to go work out.
No. You need to listen to me.
Working out will distract me. Force me to focus on something not named Sabine.
And I need to talk to Kanan and Master Skywalker tomorrow.
…
…
I can't be headed over to China with Vader lurking around in my head.
But I'm always here. I am you, you cannot get rid of me.
"Shut up." I mutter to myself, then pivot hard on my heel and start towards my bedroom.
Need my athletic shorts, shoes, new socks and shirt…
When I come back, my sheets will be done and I can just go to sleep afterward.
(Saturday)
Blade high, Kanan keeps his arms close to him while deflecting my test of his defenses harmlessly to the side before stepping up and slicing at me.
Taking a step back, I pull my lightsaber into my left hand and spin, blocking the slice before rotating my blade and chopping down at Kanan.
Kanan blocks it and moves to initiate a blade lock only for me to not engage that far, choosing instead to slip it and knick him on the elbow.
That's three.
Kanan's lightsaber blade extinguishes itself before he lets out a growl of frustration.
He wasn't expecting me to slip it.
"Take a break…" Kanan instructs me, his frustration visible before I hit the button on my hilt and kill my own lightsaber.
"—go give it to him." I hear in the direction of the porch. Turning my head, I see Padmé motioning for Mira to run along, and Mira to dutifully be bounding after me, holding a blue sports drink by the lid.
Mira calls for me, still bouncing my way and I respond by smiling and crouching down. "Hey there. Did you bring that for me?"
Mira nods before vocalizing a reply and extending the drink to me along with a smile.
"Thank you." I say then move to sit down off to the side, enticing Mira to do the same beside me as I open up the drink and take a sip.
Master Skywalker and Padmé finally made it. That's good.
They were aiming to be here hours ago but got held up by something.
Probably a meeting or traffic or something.
Beside them, Ahsoka is joined in the conversation with Master Skywalker, while Cayle listens in.
Mira calls my name, and I turn to see her with a pleasant smile on her face, reaching for my drink.
She wants some.
"Oh, are you thirsty?" I ask rhetorically, only for Mira to extend both hands for my drink and make more noise. "Okay, I got it…."
Giving Mira a sip, she loudly slurps as soon as she finds liquid, then grabs the plastic bottle before I take it from her. "You can't have it all silly."
Mira only turns and dramatically gasps for air before smiling at me. "Was that good?"
A nod gets sent my way before I hear "It sounded good."
Padmé.
"Senator." I turn and smile her way. Padmé gives me a sideways look before plopping down beside me and leaning across to brush a stray piece of grass off Mira.
"Heard you keep beating your Master in Three-Touch."
Yeah.
"He's won a few times." I dumb down my success a bit before she shakes her head and smiles.
"Anakin was advising patience, and Kanan launched into a speech about your leverage and unpredictability."
"Being predictable is boring though." I say, then make a face to Mira that causes her to smile.
Senator Amidala laughs before Mira moves to get to her feet, having spotted Ghost on the porch I think. "How are you?"
"I'm good. Long day. Dulles had a lot of outgoing flights, so Anakin and I taking our time leaving kind of backfired. But we're here now. Thank you for loaning us your bedroom tonight."
"You're welcome." I smile. "No reason to get a hotel and drive all over everywhere when we have the room here."
I'm sleeping in the theater room. Cayle might crash there, he might crash in the spare guest bedroom upstairs.
Don't know.
"Thank you again, by the way. For standing up for me."
Padmé immediately sends a soft smile my way before moving to hug me. "Of course Ezra. Any time."
"Sorry they're moving to primary you and give you all of this trouble. I wasn't expecting all of that to come from this."
"Primaries are a healthy part of the democratic process Ezra." Padmé responds. "My district is a pretty safe one, so the party feels comfortable coming after me for my stance on you without putting their goals of a majority at risk. It's all a calculated play."
That's very similar to what Cayle's podcast said.
"They didn't come for any of my committee seats, or the chairmanship I have on the Ethics Committee. Which, if they really were mad, they would. Most of it is forward-facing."
"Has anybody come talked to you behind the scenes about it?" I ask.
Padmé nods. "Bail's repeatedly badgered me about it, but he was before I said anything publicly. He knew where I stood on all this before I said anything. Leia—"
Oh no.
"—she's really angry with me, but…she doesn't understand Ezra. It's…hard to explain."
"Going by the adopted name Organa doesn't help."
Padmé chuckles. "You know, that alias has really suited her. She goes by it publicly, even though it's known that she's my daughter. But her real name isn't nationally known, which gives her some anonymity which is an asset I wanted her to have. And it helps her with name recognition for her career."
Since she's far more interested in pursuing politics than her abilities as a Jedi.
"For the most part, she understands Ezra. She just doesn't see the benefits of having you walk free. Bail's got her convinced of his position. Which—"
"He's pot-committed to at this point."
"I'm sorry about how badly that meeting went. The whole thing was a disaster. That staffer that accosted you? He's been demoted pretty heavily." She reveals.
I quickly reply. "I hope not for that."
"No, more for the fact that he wasn't doing a good job. But Bail was pretty frustrated with how the Jedi predetermined to give him as little intel on you as possible."
"I'm not sure it was predetermined, or how the schedule worked out." I give the Council the benefit of the doubt.
Padmé only turns and gives me a knowing look before smiling. I sip my drink then slosh the remainder around. "So, how long are you in California?"
"All week. Bouncing around the state, a couple of times for private functions. But there's a big rally in San Diego Bail will be at, plus he's being given an award in his hometown and the key to Alderaan."
Hmm.
"That sounds like a big deal."
"It's more of an opportunity for Bail to give a good speech on whatever he wants to. He's trying to diversify his message." Padmé reveals. "After that he's making a Southern swing. I'm trying to get him to stop by Florida."
"Florida in general, or…?"
No, he won't…
"I'm trying to convince him to take half a day and stop by the cold storage facility where they're keeping your mother's poison. If I can manage to do that, I have some contacts that know the scientists that helped you. I'd like for him to talk to them as well, to try and understand the situation."
Don't…be too harsh.
"He's too committed at this point." I remind her. "If he even goes, and sees the truth then what? He can't backtrack on such an important part of his campaign."
"No," Padmé argues. "But he can soften his language. Alter for a more moderate position."
"He's getting pushed even further by the progressives in the party." I point out. "They want me now, not more moderation out of Organa."
"They'll vote for him regardless. They aren't voting Palpatine." Padmé says dismissively. "If anything, Bail will cede ground on some economic demands of theirs. More electric infrastructure, fewer fossil fuel investments."
Those aren't all bad.
I don't initially reply before Cayle and Master Skywalker's conversation with Master Tano and Kanan ends with Cayle and Skywalker striding out to the middle of the backyard.
Oh. Are they…
Master Skywalker turns to his wife and I before gesturing for us to get up.
Me.
This is probably his way of testing me, seeing if I'm ready for China or not…
"Haven't done this in a while." Master Skywalker says, rotating his lightsaber in his right hand just before Cayle bypasses me, clapping me on the shoulder on the way by.
Like he's wishing me luck.
"Been a little bit, Master."
"Too long." He replies, just before igniting his lightsaber and settling into a ready position.
(Hours Later)
More plates and cutlery from dinner arrives at the countertop beside me, accompanied by the corresponding clinking and clanking. "That should be it. Anakin's scrubbing the grill for Kanan."
He'll appreciate that.
I turn and give Padmé a small smile before adding more dish soap to my brush, splashing it with water, and returning to scrubbing the caramelized bottom of the pan I was using earlier.
I contributed some glazed carrots to tonight's dinner. Kanan grilled pork chops outside, Hera and Ahsoka combined on some delicious scalloped potatoes, Padmé on the fly came up with a way to spice up the broccoli that Mira and Jacen both loved and everyone else helped with the salad.
It was so good nobody wanted any dessert.
And I can't blame them.
"Is that coming up?" Padmé asks me as I tilt the pan and keep scrubbing.
"Yeah." I nod. "Just…the heat burnt the bottom layer and it's taking more work."
I was afraid of that when we were dishing it out, the bottom layer was crispy. Still good, but…
Out of the corner of my eye, the potato dish looms, enticingly with one bite remaining as I rotate the pan again.
I don't know if all this is going to come up…
Ahsoka approaches, holding the empty salad dish and tongs before she and Padmé continue their casual conversation.
Hera did say that I can soak it…
Yeah let's do that.
Moving to soak it, I let the water flow into the dish before impulsively grabbing the last bite of potatoes with the Force and floating it over so I can finish it off.
So good—
A light push hits me in the back before I hear "Use a fork or something…"
"You're going to make a mess!" Ahsoka piles on, both of them smiling at me.
My apology comes out mumbled, due to my mouth still mostly being full. Padmé only shakes her head at me before piping up. "I knew you were going to eat that."
Well Jacen and Mira, especially Mira LOVED those potatoes. So everyone sacrificed a little of their portion to give them both more of that and the broccoli.
Hera's definitely getting Padmé's recipe for the broccoli.
She just…threw it together with things Hera had around the kitchen in the middle of everything. There was a little bit of a cheese glaze on top, so between that and the potatoes not the healthiest dinner ever but…
The bite of potatoes hits my stomach, taking right back to my place of entirely too full before I cut the water off the soaking dish with a flick of my wrist. "I agree, these do need to soak…" Padmé comments before taking the dish without asking and setting it out of the way.
"Thank you." I smile before grabbing a plate and flashing it under the water. As I'm doing that, the back door opens to Cayle and Zeb's voices.
"—see what's what." Zeb says before I feel Cayle approach and peek around me.
"Aww man, you did finish those potatoes." He says mournfully before I glance up and see him frowning.
Padmé just laughs before I glance and see Zeb and she both smiling. "He's had a long week, unlike you. You've been in the Archives all week. You don't need those calories." Ahsoka counters him.
"Hard disagree, Master." Cayle shoots me a smile before drifting away.
"Yeah, what's this about this one hundred plus question study guide for the very first test in Biology that apparently worked on for a month?" Zeb asks me.
Padmé spins right to me. "You what?"
Great…I have to explain this again.
"My Bio class is really tough. The professor starts right on time and talks right until he has to release us. And the first test is coming up, but the guide is a nightmare."
"Why's it so big? It's a Gen Ed!" Padmé argues.
"Did you take Biology in college?" Cayle asks her.
Padmé shakes her head. "No, I tested out of it with my AP scores."
"Ooh…Nerd alert! Nerd alert!" Zeb jokes, sending the whole room into laughter.
After a moment though, I feel Padmé look back to me and I start up again. "I…last spring, when I was signing up for classes my buddy told me to not take this one Biology class. Well, I tried doing that."
"And it didn't work." Padmé surmises.
I nod. "Yeah, and I did what I did in every class last semester and this one: Print out my notes beforehand, write what he thinks is important enough to add on—"
"Good."
"—which I'm glad I did. Many of the answers on my guide have come not just from the slides, but his notes."
Finishing one plate, I slide it into the empty dishwasher as Ahsoka says. "Very wise of you to start on the guide early. There's probably a lot of your classmates that are panicking right now."
"Good discipline." I hear Zeb compliment me, then peer past Ahsoka and Padmé and see that he's seated himself back at the kitchen table.
"Can I see this study guide?" Padmé asks me.
"Yeah, sure. One…sec…" I mutter just before she unseats me at the sink by way of shoving me out of the way using her hips.
OW! Okay…
Ahsoka and Zeb both laugh as I glance at the Senator for a half-second before pulling out my phone using the Force. "Twos…you there?" I say to my new lock screen.
Jacen, Mira, and I took a good picture today at Jacen's soccer game. Jacen and I standing together, Mira deciding that jumping on top of me as I was crouched was a good idea, and Mom captured the moment.
"Yes Ezra. How may I be of assistance?"
"Can you send Senator Amidala a screenshot of the middle portion of my Biology guide? She wants to see it."
"Of course."
"That's handy." Padmé quips before turning to me and passing over a newly-washed plate, ready for the dishwasher.
Thank you…
"It's very helpful, yeah."
Twos listens to every lecture I'm in and transcribes it, freeing me up to actually listen to my professors and then go back later and make my own notes.
"To the Senator's personal email, or in a text message?" Twos asks, phone still in my hand.
"Text message." Padmé beats me to the punch before I turn back to my phone.
"Text will work T. Thank you."
"I heard her…" Twos chastises me. "By the way, an interesting note?"
"What interesting note?" I reply to Twos.
"Sabine Wren's currently in the Google Doc you made for the study guide…altering your answers."
"Altering?" I blurt out. "No no, Twos, make notations of my answers and separate the two. Mine and hers."
"Yes Master Bridger. She's not erasing any of your answers, she's making answers of her own on some of them."
Some of them.
"Great. Thanks Twos. Text me with any further updates."
Stupid Sabine…
Of course you're just now looking at the guide, the Saturday before the test.
OF COURSE YOU ARE!
Silently I take my place back at the sink, Padmé ceding it back without a word as the kitchen is uncharacteristically quiet.
I'm gonna hear about that…
The Force gently presses in on me, feeling like it's Cayle before he apparently deems it safe. "That was snippy."
"Cayle."
"Wonder why she's in the guide." Zeb wonders aloud, filling the air.
Padmé replies "Probably trying to help Ezra finish it."
"It's Saturday night." Cayle points out correctly.
About 9 on a Saturday…I would have guessed she's getting ready for the Phi Kaps latest party.
"Why don't you like Sabine working on the guide?" Ahsoka asks me.
Dammit.
"Yeah, she's…trying to help." Zeb agrees with Ahsoka.
"Because." I give the plate a final scrub and move to set it in the dishwasher. "I'm the one with the photographic memory, and the tech transcribing all of our lectures, and I'm the one who has finished the guide already."
It's already done…Monday's class is going to be to prepare everyone for the test on Wednesday. Friday is an already scheduled canceled class.
Presumably, so he can grade these monster tests.
"It's already done?" Padmé asks, passing me a new plate.
I nod once. "Yeah. Already done."
You don't need to be in there, messing things up. Go party and drink and go hang out with your dolt of a boyfriend…
I scrub away the remnants of what used to be Jacen's plate with the room before beside me, I feel Padmé's brain working. "You can say whatever, Vader's not around right now."
"Right now." Ahsoka seizes upon my word usage.
Padmé in turn spins to Ahsoka and I see her motion with her hands out of the corner of my eye before saying "You're…upset about this, aren't you?"
"This?" I move to set Jacen's plate aside.
"Sabine. And her new boyfriend."
She's got questions.
I sigh and grab the platter we used to distribute the pork chops. "What I think doesn't matter."
"Yes it does." Padmé pushes right back.
"You're thinking in absolutes." Ahsoka diagnosis me from the kitchen counter.
Through the Force, I feel Cayle's next comment coming before he even says it. "He's been stuck on these absolutes, I've been telling you."
"I know." Ahsoka acknowledges her apprentice.
"What absolutes?" Padmé asks them.
Silence falls as I scrub the platter of any remaining juices before I hear. "Ezra, go ahead if you want."
I don't want to talk about this.
But they're not going to give me a choice.
"None of what Sabine does matters until I get her beskar back."
The Force lights up like a beam beside me before Padmé makes a face. "That's…No. No no no. Those are two different issues. I'm not talking about the beskar and Maul and her parents or any of that. I'm talking about this new boyfriend—" Padmé's face comedically contorts into a mocking look. "—and how that happened and what you think about that. Last time I was here, she was here and I thought you two were a thing!"
"Your second part doesn't matter. She likes him, he likes her, blah blah blah they're dating." I deposit the platter on the other side of the dishwasher. "Honestly, none of this matters until I get her beskar back because she's still mad at me for losing it."
"Has she said that?" Padmé follows up.
No.
"She doesn't need to," I reply. "When she gave it to me, she made it very very clear that I could not lose it. That beskar belongs with a Mandalorian. By giving it to me, she trusted me not to lose it. And what did I do?"
I turn to Padmé and await her incoming reply before spotting her husband, lingering by the back door, not saying a word.
Kanan must have snuck upstairs as we were talking.
"I read the report from the Council and talked to Ahsoka and Anakin about that. That wasn't your fault. You need to forgive yourself for that."
"Then I'm sure you read how Mand'alor himself went to Chicago to talk to Sabine's mom. Making her explain how such a large amount of beskar is now completely unaccounted for!"
Millions of dollars worth!
"Yes, I know they're all mad at you. I don't give a damn about any of that." Padmé waves aside. "What matters to me is you." She pokes me in the chest. "You…liked her. Enough to bring her here and show her so much of your real life, not the cover story Dooku and everyone carefully crafted for you."
…
…
"What happened?" Padmé finishes, then leans back and crosses her arms.
She's not going to budge until I reply.
"Before you say anything—" Cayle gestures to me. "I—"
"Now is not the time to cover for him Cayle." Padmé turns her guns on him.
Cayle raises his hands defensively. "I'm…not covering for him. I was just going to say I understand a bit more of what Ezra means about the Mandalorian element of this. He's not wrong, he has to get that beskar back."
"What do you mean by that?" Zeb asks.
"When I was in Izmir, there was a centralized market where you could go shopping, et cetera, all of that. Of course, since there are Mandalorians just about everywhere, there was a Mandalorian portion of the market. So I went and talked to them."
You WHAT?!
"About…?" Ahsoka tees him up.
"Mostly about beskar and the importance of it to their people. Mandalore proper, the state, was founded after they found the first deposits of beskar. In a way, that ore is their state, their home given physical form. Now, you don't see many non-Mandalorians running around with beskar now do you?" Cayle asks rhetorically.
No, you don't.
"Not unless they really like and trust you." Ahsoka agrees, then shifts her posture.
Oh. She's got on her armor plates.
"Exactly." Cayle motions to his Master. "Now I know what you mean about how it doesn't matter with this boyfriend, but Ezra's right. It does. Sabine, at least publicly, can't really be that close to Ezra or risk Force knows what shame from her own people."
That's right. She hasn't posted anything on any of her social channels with me since I lost it.
"She's already close, there's pictures of them on her Instagram." Padmé says while going for her phone.
"No, they're not. They're gone." Cayle reveals.
Wait—what?
"They are?" I ask.
Everyone turns to me. "What do you mean? Like you don't know!" Zeb scolds me.
"I don't check Instagram that much! I don't have time…"
And I definitely don't look at Sabine's page as much as I used to.
Silently, Padmé is scrolling through her phone before Cayle looks at me. "That's not true. I saw you checked it late last night."
"Before I went and worked out. It was five minutes."
"Then don't act like you're too damn busy to even check it." Cayle waves me off. "Macho man…"
CAYLE!
I let out a breath through my nose and glare at him for a half-second before returning to my dishes.
How about you shut the hell up and do something productive instead of spying on me when you're right here and can come talk to me!
"Senator. What have you got?" Zeb calls out to her after a moment of quiet.
Probing with the Force, I feel Ahsoka's apprehension and Cayle's, which is rising rapidly before Padmé replies "…she's deleted most of their pictures together. All I can find now are one from their class assignment last fall, one from around Christmas, one with some jewelry—"
Oh great, that disaster…
"—and one that I know Ezra took on her birthday for dinner. We talked about it." Padmé recalls.
"That could be a social thing." A deep voice rumbles, from way back near the couch.
Oh damn, I completely forgot Master Skywalker was even here.
"Looks bad to have pictures with another guy on your social feed when you're dating someone else." Master Skywalker reasons.
"From the looks of the guy, I doubt he thinks of Ezra as a threat…" Padmé muses while maneuvering on her phone.
"You've seen him?" I turn to her.
Padmé peers up and nods. "Yeah…of course I have. Looks like a meathead frat guy. I don't see the appeal to her."
Cayle makes the sound of a bell being rung three times. "Got it in one. He's an idiot."
"Hey." Ahsoka tilts her head in his direction.
"I'm just calling a spade a spade."
"They actually share a lot of the same interests…same taste in music, he makes her laugh…" I reveal quietly before returning to my chores.
It's really pretty simple.
As soon as I heard Jaicey talking about him on that Spring Break trip, I…
I should have known. I should have trusted my gut feeling.
Yeah, you should have.
SHUT…
Up.
No. Trust your feelings. You know them to be true. She was always going to turn away from you. Just the fact that—
Forcibly, I shake my head and give myself something to do by adding more soap to my brush—"You okay?"
"Yeah." I say brusquely to Cayle, who has rounded me and has his hand on my right shoulder. Footsteps follow behind me out of sight—
Great, and now Skywalker's going to be concerned…
"Like I said to the Council…she's Vader's latest wedge to drive into me. He's trying to wear me down, which won't work."
Cayle exhales heavily while his expression becomes a sad one before Padmé pipes up. "And your answer to that is to brush everything about her aside and ignore it. Focusing on the beskar."
"Well, it's not like I don't have enough going on to keep me busy." I point out to Padmé then turn back to my dishes. "Sabine…"
Doesn't matter right now. Only bad things can come from lingering on her.
It gives Vader power.
I already HAVE power…you're just too afraid to take it.
I let myself pass off my sentence with another shake of the head before adding. "I do know one thing though: I'll have to get rid of him before I go over to China."
He can't be in my head when I'm over there. He got out with Maul.
There's no way he won't try like hell to get out with Elias.
And ruin everything.
"We'll schedule a time." Ahsoka declares.
"Yeah." I hear Master Skywalker agree.
"I want to be there." Padmé adds.
"No—" I blurt out.
We don't need more unnecessary parties to see that nightmare…
Padmé whips around and slams her phone into my chest before stepping right up to me. "Yes. I will. Because I want to be there for you because that guy is an absolute demon inside of you Ezra…"
…
"I've seen you before letting him out, I've seen him, I've seen you afterward. And I've seen you out there—" She gestures out toward the front of the house. "—doing things nobody ever thought you'd ever be able to do. I saw the way those kids look at you! You need all the support you can get when you let that monster out. So I'm going there. Whether you like it or not…" Padmé defiantly makes herself clear, then turns the phone in my chest into a tender hug.
I—uhh…
Given no other choice, I hug her back.
Thanks…I guess.