Summary: Kanan and Hera have some emotional balancing to do.

Have some Kanara fluff.

"Didn't your mother ever warn you about your face freezing in a frown if you wear one too long?"

"No."

"Right."

Fingers tapped her beskar plated knee as Sabine searched for the words to cheer her moody parent.

"I should have been with him." Said moody parent mumbled.

She sighed, looking over at Hera who shrugged sadly. It had been an entire day since Ezra had emerged from what remained of the Jedi temple, urgently shouting at her for the answer to seal the entrance. A day since he'd collapsed without a word as to what he'd seen or heard inside. A day for each and every one of them to blame themselves for the situation.

He was alive, that much they knew. His vitals were stable and Kanan claimed his Force signature was in balance. Well as balanced as Ezra got, Sabine thought to herself. If she had to pick five words to describe her younger brother, balance wouldn't be one of them. Manda, it wouldn't be in the top fifteen.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" Hera asked, for the third time in the past hour.

Kanan threw up his hands helplessly and Sabine's gut churned with guilt. She'd been right there, by his side the entire time. If the galaxy hadn't conspired for that one trooper to look in their direction at precisely the wrong moment…

"Kanan I…"

"It wasn't your fault Sabine."

"But-"

"No buts." Kanan ran a hand through his ridiculously short hair, frowning when the unconscious habit didn't feel as it usually did. I'm going to regret cutting it till the day I die. "Can you tell me anything more about what happened?"

"Nothing I haven't told you before. He touched the temple wall and a ring of painted wolves appeared. They started moving in a circle faster and faster and then he was just gone. Then a patrol leader showed up and distracted me. I knocked him out but it was a split second too late for me to follow."

"Knowing Jedi nonsense you probably wouldn't have been able to anyway," Zeb put in. Kanan glared at the lasat but didn't disagree.

"Sitting here won't change what happened." Hera spoke up. "Nor will it make Ezra wake up any faster. The temple aside, our mission to liberate Lothal hasn't changed. We should get back to the next step."

"Here." Kallus approached them, passing mugs around. "I figured you'd be needing more Caf."

"Ah," Hera shifted in her seat, setting hers down without a sip.

"It's not as good as Kanan's but it won't kill you." The captain tried to joke.

"I'm sure."

"Mmm, it is good Hera." Sabine encouraged.

"That's alright. I've had enough today.." Her throat tightened, forcing her to clear it roughly. Lack of any sleep the past 24 plus hours was beginning to weigh on her and the crew staring at her like she'd grown a second head wasn't helping things. Silence dragged out and her eyes began to blur. Of course that didn't escape anyone's notice.

"Are you alright General?"

"Hera, what is it?"

"What's wrong?"

"Excuse me." She did not run from the room, she marched with purpose. Kanan ran. It's the only way he could have caught up when she was two steps from her cabin door.

"Hera." Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her in. The tears spilled out of their own accord.

"Kanan," she hiccupped.

"Shh it's alright. I'm here."

Curse that man. Since when was the sound of his voice alone enough to make her bawl?

"This is impossible."

"What is?" He asked, dropping his volume to match hers.

"This. I thought people exaggerated that pregnant women overreacted to everything. Apparently not."

"Hera, you are not overreacting. And even if that was true, it won't last forever."

"It'll last long enough. I can't be more than," she did a quick count, "four weeks gone at the most. How are we going…I can't fall apart at stupid things. Not if I'm going to get us both through this."

"Hey." Voice still soft, her partner lowered her to her bed, ever so gently. When did we come inside? "There's nothing stupid about worrying about our kid. And there's nothing stupid about being sad or irritated when an element of normalcy is taken from you."

"There is so."

"Is not," he retorted like a child. "Remember what I told you about cutting my Padawan braid? My life literally depended on not being recognized as a Jedi and I would sooner have chopped off my arm than let it go."

She wanted to point out that neither her life nor the baby's depended on giving up anything in particular, but the effort didn't seem worth it. She had to concede he was right for the most part. Dealing with any change in the routine her mental health had depended on for so long was always hard. And this was just the beginning. There was no way she was going to get through it alone.

As if reading her mind, Kanan scooted closer and dug his fingers into the base of her neck. She let out an involuntary hiss as her muscles protested his probing but he persisted and soon the storm - and headache - brewing in her skull began to fade.

"Did you ever think about giving Ezra a braid?" She asked after a while, trying not to slur. Force, she was so tired!

Kanan chuckled. "I told him about them once. Let's just say I didn't have to be his master to know what he thought of the idea. Just as well. I don't think the look would suit him."

"Maybe it'll suit our child."

He cocked a brow. "That's assuming they even have hair."

"I hope they do. I've always loved your hair. Well," she wrinkled her nose. "I used to."

"I get it, I get it." He leaned over to kiss her. "It'll be back to normal before the baby comes, I promise. In the meantime I do have other charms."

"Um hmm." She shoved him back. "If I have my way, your charms are going to be kept to yourself until this child's second birthday. I'm not risking this happening again too soon."

Kanan's mock pouting was as adorable as it was annoying. This time it only lasted a few seconds as he thought through what she said. "So you would do this again someday?"

She blinked slowly, considering. "Well, I don't know. Depends on how nauseous and bloated I get with this one. But I… I don't think I like the idea of an only child. And as you said the other kids could move on from us anytime. I don't know. I just thought…I don't know what I thought. Would you hate the idea?"

He didn't answer for a while, one hand on his chin the other rubbing circles on her knee. When he met her eyes, his were full of such sincerity and love it nearly set her off crying again. Infernal hormone fluctuations!

"I'll be honest, I never thought we would ever get the chance to raise a family of our own. I wanted it, more than anything, but I never saw a way you'd.. I never saw a way that it would work. So as far I'm concerned even if Spectre Seven is as big as our number ever gets I will be the happiest man in the known universe. And if someday there's Eight or Nine or Ten-"

"Stop counting!"

"-then there is nothing that will change that feeling. Except to make it stronger."

Swallowing fresh tears she sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Have I mentioned I love you?"

His smile was obvious in his answer. "You may have. I'm not opposed to hearing it again though."

She smiled back, resting her lips against his prickly jaw. "I would but we really should be getting back." Unable to hold back a laugh at his whine she pecked a kiss to his lips and got to her feet.

"What you really should be doing is resting." He argued, standing and pulling her back against him.

She shook her head determinedly. "Later."

"Hera."

"When we know Ezra's okay," she stated firmly.

He sighed. He loved her but why did she have to be so stubborn? "I'm gonna hold you to that."

"I'm sure you will."

Is writing genuine romantic moments hard for anyone else? I keep wanting to make jokes. Hopefully this little Kanan and Hera interaction was believable. This story was supposed to be about them after all. If anyone wants to read what happened to Ezra in the temple (in this version of the story at least) I'll be posting that as a one (or two?) shot later down the line. It just didn't really fit with the tone I'm trying to maintain here.