It's supposed to be a party but even though they just saved Katooni and Sierra, very few people are actually celebrating. Hutch is acting as Disk Jockey. Hero supplies the food. Their daughter is staying close to the two of them, and Soniee can't blame her after all she has been through.

Everyone's under strict instructions to get Sierra's mind off her all-too-recent torment and celebrate Tor's arrest. So Steela grabs Rex's hand and pulls him out to the makeshift dance floor.

Soniee taps her foot to the music. She wishes there was something she could do to break the tension. Sierra can't dance because of her broken leg and Korkie, who is sitting next to Soniee, seems distracted. He notices his aunt Bo go into the other room to talk to Lux about their payment and he follows, squeezing Soniee's hand and telling her he will be right back.

So Soniee sits alone and uncomfortable and waits for him to come back. That is until Steela points out Soniee's lonely state to her brother. Saw's eyes meet Soniee's across the room. She looks to the left and right as if she might not be his object and then back to see him smiling at her.

Steela gives her brother a shove.

"Go ask her!" She whispers.

And of course Saw wants to. He wants it more than anything. It might not be exactly his choice of music but he'll take Glimik if it's her who was swaying next to him to the beat. What he would have preferred was a slow romantic standard. He wants to put his hands on her waist, to swing her around and then to pull her close and feel her whole body pressed against his.

He swallows, already imagining the sensation. Maybe he could ask Hutch for a specific song before he went to ask her. But Steela shoves him again. "Do it now before the other Mandos get back!"

Yeah, he should, he has to do it now. Now or never. So why do his feet seem to be glued to the floor?

Soniee shifts in her seat and looks towards the door where Korkie and Bo had gone. Is it terrible that she wants Saw to ask her to dance? She had seen the way he moved and she could imagine him leading her around the floor in confident steps. She wants to know what it would be like to have his arms around her and maybe even to lay her head against his chest and listen to the deep rumble of his voice. He could probably sing as well as dance. Korkie couldn't carry a tune.

At that thought, she looks back down at the cup in her hand guiltily. She shouldn't be comparing the two of them. It's unfair.

And then when she looks back up she sees that he's coming her way across the room. Her heart skips a beat. And he pauses for just a moment to catch his breath. Then he lengthens his stride to get to her faster. Still he seems to be going in slow motion.

Someone points them out to Hutch and he nods with a grin and searches for the perfect song, one that he knows is a favorite of Saw's even if it wasn't to his personal taste. "Katooni, could you hand me…" but his daughter isn't by his side anymore.

Maybe she had gone to the kitchen to help her mom with something. That's alright. He reaches and picks up the disk he wants and sets it on the player.

With all of eternity seeming to focus on this particular place and time, Soniee stands and Saw nearly reaches her. The words are on the tip of his tongue to ask her to dance and then a smaller figure steps directly between them.

"Uncle Saw, will you dance with me?" The little Tholothian smiles up at him sweetly.

"What?" He almost runs into her before he looks down and notices she is there. A shadow of disappointment covers his features for a moment but how can he possibly say no to the little girl who had been so recently lost and found. "Yeah," he chokes out the word, glancing up again at Soniee for her permission or maybe as an apology. He gives her a slight shrug before he focuses on his current partner. "Yeah, half pint. Let Uncle Saw show you how it's done."

He takes her little hands in his and begins to spin her around. She trills an excited giggle. If Saw can't dance with Soniee (just yet) he can at least give her a show.

She stands there uncomfortably now that she has been passed over. But when Saw catches her eye again over the little girl's head, he seems to be silently telling her she's next. Very well, she can wait and she smiles again, tapping her foot and glancing to see if the others will come back before the song is finished.

Hutch huffs and thinks about calling to his daughter and sending her on some errand so that the couple can have their moment.

While Soniee waits she tries to catch Saw's eye again. She can now see that he is a very good dancer, and she is eagerly anticipating her turn. That is until she hears an unmistakable voice in her head, " You're not one of us ."

It's as if the little girl had whispered the words into her ear. They are that clear and intent. " You should go back to where you came from and leave our family alone ."

But that's impossible. Sure, she'd heard the others say that Katooni had been a Jedi youngling, that she had grown up in the temple and begun her training there. They were supposed to be able to place suggestions in the minds of the weak but was it possible for one so young to speak so clear a direction? She doesn't want to fall back into the Mandalorian predilection for mistrust of the Jedi. Ahsoka isn't anything like she had been raised to believe after all.

Soniee doesn't feel the compulsion to blindly do as she was told just the girl's jealousy and anger, but then Saw turns her and Katooni gives her a look that leaves no doubt that the unspoken words had come directly from her.

Before Hutch can call to his daughter or the song can finish, Soniee turns and leaves the room. She finds Korkie and Bo just finishing up their conversation.

"Unless you'll be needing us for anything else." Bo is studying a holo screen, waiting for the credits to be deposited into her account.

Korkie notices Soniee and holds out a hand for her to join him. "Sorry I left the party. Sounds like it was just getting good."

"Elek." She is shaken by the little Jedi's trick but she tries not to let it show.

And then Saw runs into the room. "Lux! They can't leave yet. I've got an idea for a job when we reach Onderon and we'll need them since Sierra is down for the count."

Lux rakes a hand through his hair, harried. "Saw, I just got off the comm with Dalla. Isn't there enough going on in Iziz?"

Bo looks up from her holo screen and rolls her eyes. "I don't know what this is about but we've got to be getting back." She gives her nephew a pointed look.

"We can hang around here for a little longer, Auntie Bo." Korkie interjects and then gestures to her holo device. "I'm sure they'll make it worth our while."

"We will." Saw holds out placating hands. "I mean it - the job will! And Soniee's the perfect grifter for the job."

"What?" All eyes bore into him.

"I'm not a grifter," Soniee blushes furiously. He had called her perfect, whatever the reason.

But Korkie is all for it before even hearing the details. "Hey, you can do this! And it'll mean we can stay a little longer, maybe look up your family."

"Yes!" Saw agrees readily. "Your family. That's the whole angle. You're Onderonian, right? So this will be right up your hyperspace lane."

Lux looks skeptical but Saw had come up with a few good ideas in the past. The brains of the operation would at least hear him out. And if this job bought them a distraction … well, anything could help at this point.

…

Further down the corridor, Sierra shakes and blinks tears from her eyes.

Soniee's the perfect grifter, Saw had said. Like he didn't even feel the hole in their team caused by Sierra's injury. Logically she knows she can't work while on crutches, but being replaced so easily hurts worse than the broken bone.

She has to get out of here. Sierra wipes her nose with her sleeve. She can't watch her crew celebrate and look at her with pity. She needs to get out and do something and feel like the grifter she used to be.

Her mind made up, she hobbles to her room to get dressed and do her makeup. She styles her new hair the best she can and stuffs a few credits in her pockets.

There's a caf shop a block or so away from their landing spot in Iziz which makes a decent meiloorun spice latte. Call her basic, but nothing is going to stand between Sierra and meiloorun spice.

Except, she realizes when she finally gets to her destination, an old-fashioned door with a swinging hinge.

Getting around on crutches is easy until you have to hold something. Sierra peeks in the windows to see if someone's on their way out, but all the patrons are seated.

Well, she's not going back to the ship empty handed. Sierra balances her weight on one crutch and reaches for the door with her other hand.

She feels her center of gravity shift a second too late and lets out a shriek of alarm and frustration as she loses her balance. Of course Saw wants a new grifter! She can't even get a latte for herself without breaking another bone!

"Gotcha!" Someone catches Sierra around the waist and her ears perk up. That definitely isn't an Onderonian accent.

"Thank you." She turns both to take hold of her rescuer and to get a good look at his face, and her stomach does a flip. He's a blond Imperial officer, cap and all. He's also extremely cute, not that Sierra can dwell on that when he's probably going to arrest her.

"No problem," the officer says, and within a second she knows she doesn't have to worry. The only thing in his eyes is kindness and concern. "Are you alright?"

"I am now." Sierra stares at her crutches lying on the sidewalk.

"I think I can get that." He snags one crutch with the toe of his boot and flips it up. As he straightens his arm brushes against her chest and he blushes. "Pardon me."

"It's fine." All too quickly he's retrieved both crutches and she fits them back under her arms. "This feels so silly. I got these a few days ago and I still haven't gotten the hang of them."

"It's a learning curve," the officer says. "You'll have it soon enough."

"Well, thanks again for getting involved."

"My pleasure. I don't like to see pretty girls fall." He clears his throat and then grabs for the door. "Here, allow me."

…

"I'm not sure how long this will take but it won't be terribly long," Colonel Yularen says into his comlink. "We'll be back by the end of the week. Graf probably won't even notice I'm gone."

His mustache twitches when he hears his wife's reply. "Yes, my star, I'll make sure Officer Kallus has plenty to eat. I'm sure he appreciates your concern"

Kallus raises an eyebrow to the statement while Mrs. Yularen chimes in on her end and the colonel laughs. "I need to let you go but I'll comm later. Goodbye." He terminates the comm and looks over to Kallus with a twinkling eye. "My wife seems to think you'll starve to death if she isn't there to stuff you full of jogan pie."

Kallus fights a wince at the mention of jogan pie. "I'll have to prove her wrong."

"She'll have dinner cooked for us before we can even think of going to the commissary." Yularen looks over to Kallus, who's suddenly looking very pale. "Alexsandr?"

"Yes sir?"

"How are you feeling?" He lays a hand on his trainee's shoulder.

"I'm fine. It's just -" Kallus' gaze flickers to the city walls. "We're staying in the city, right?"

"Yes," Yularen says immediately. "Everything we're looking for is right here; there's no reason for us to venture into the jungle."

Kallus lets out a sigh of relief and Yularen pats him on the back. "Come along, the sooner we reach our speeder pool the sooner we can talk to our witness."

"You never told me how ISB got this lead. Did the local authorities connect the dots?"

"Partly. The sector ranger filed a report upon arrest, but I also received an anonymous tip. It appears a concerned citizen saw fit to bring this directly to my attention." And going off the verbiage in the anonymous tip, he has a pretty good idea who the concerned citizen is. By all means he should have thrown it away as soon as he recognized Ahsoka's writing , but something had called him to open it and once he got started, he couldn't look away.

If it's take Ahsoka's lead or let a sadist run free, Yularen will go with Ahsoka every time.

"The tipster was kind enough to present us with evidence, but it won't be enough if we want this to stick. We're going to need more, and the best way to find a place to start is by speaking to a …" He looks beside him and stops.

Officer Kallus has vanished.

Yularen whips around, scanning the crowd when he spots Alexsandr's cap a few storefronts down. He's in the doorway of a tapcaf with an old-fashioned swinging door, helping a teenage girl balance on her crutches.

"Here," Alexsandr takes the door from her hands and holds it open. "Allow me."

The girl freezes for a second, but then composes herself. "Thank you," she says and hobbles through the door.

"You're welcome. Have a wonderful day." Alexsandr shuts the door behind her and then hurries back to Yularen's side. "Sorry, sir."

"Don't be sorry. It's good to see what a gentleman I have the pleasure of training."

"I noticed her slip when she was trying to open the door." Kallus blushes pink and Yularen hides a smile. Clearly that wasn't the only thing he had noticed.

"Maybe you'd like to stop by that tapcaf on the way back?"

"Could we?"

"Estelle would kill me if I deprived you of pastries." Or a chance to talk with a pretty girl. Yularen would make sure to take the same route back.

…

"You sure this is what Saw wanted her to wear?" Lux asks, unconvinced, looking over the items which Steela had just handed to him. They consisted of a simple white sundress that buttoned down the back and a pair of strappy closed toed sandals that looked like something a classical goddess might have worn.

Neither sibling has seen Sierra wear them in months, she may have even grown out of them and she certainly couldn't wear them now with her cast. Still neither of them are in a hurry to let Sierra know that her temporary stand in is going to be borrowing them for the day.

"He said she was supposed to look like one of those statues down in the crypt of the Unifras temple." Steela shudders slightly. "This was the closest thing I could find."

She glances up and down the corridor hoping that her most recent theft has gone unnoticed. But then… "Have you seen Sierra around today?"

Lux frowns. "I thought maybe she was practicing on her crutches with Mom." It was a small ship. There weren't too many places that one might hide from the rest of the family, but he can't remember seeing his recently recovered sister in a while either.

At that moment Bo Katan marches impatiently towards them and before she can say a word Lux places the bundle of clothes and footwear into her arms. "These are for Soniee. Saw will be ready to take her to the temple soon and Korkie already has his instructions to meet up with Rex for surveillance at Yolahn Square."

"Yes, sir," she salutes ironically and turns back the way she had come to get it over with.

He faces Steela immediately after Bo has gone. "Does it seem odd to you at all that neither of us has heard anything at all from Sierra this morning? No crutches, no spraying spray tan, no hair dryer?"

Realization washes over Steela and she shouts "Ahsoka?"

"What is it?"

"Have you seen Sierra?"

"Isn't she with you?"

That's all it takes. Lux and Steela run toward the boarding ramp, grabbing crew members as they go.

"Hutch, check the street view cameras and see if you can find her. The rest of you, spread out and search."

…

"You people think you're so sneaky," Hutch says to no one in particular while he pulls up the footage from every cam in the city he can get his claws in. "You should know you can't hide from the Cashier from Hell."

Saw and Soniee are the first familiar faces he sees. Interesting yes, but not his quarry, so he sets that one to record while he keeps looking for Sierra. Luckily for him, she sticks out like a sore thumb. And when he realizes where she is, all he can do is roll his eyes.

"Really Sierra? You had to have a latte that bad?"

Sierra's grainy digital figure looks to be regretting her decision when she reaches the door. Hutch can only watch as she topples off her crutches and — "Oh crap, that's an ISB agent!"

But a harmless ISB agent, if such a thing existed. Hutch watches as the young officer helps Sierra through the door, tips his cap, and walks away with a spring in his step.

Relief washed over him as he keyed Steela's comm. "Stee, I've got Sierra at a tapcaf about a block from you. Everyone else, meet back at the ship."

…

"Sierra!" Steela rushes into the tapcaf. "Thank gods I found you. What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell us you were leaving? We were about to call Dalla!"

"I wanted a latte." Sierra looks into her now-empty mug. "And I didn't think anyone would care if I slipped out. Considering you have a working grifter and all."

"Is that what this is about?" Steela drops into the adjacent seat. "Tell me you didn't hear Saw running his mouth."

Sierra shrugs and Steela silently curses her brother.

"He has a crush. Believe me when I say you were the farthest thing from his mind when he was talking."

"Does it matter? I still can't help you guys." She glares at her cast. "I can't even get through an old-timey door by myself."

"You think we only care about what you can do? No. Not even a little bit. If we did, then we wouldn't put up with half the stuff you do around the ship. All I care about is that you're going to be around spraying your stupid body spray in our cabin, and leaving your makeup everywhere, and putting the empty blue milk carton back in the conservator. We want you."

Sierra looks into her sister's eyes and whispers "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. Now come on, let's get out of here."

"Want me to leave a message in case that young officer comes back?" The barista asks while Steela and Sierra gather their things to go.

"What young officer?"

Sierra blushes. "I slipped trying to open the door and he caught me. He was a perfect gentleman."

"Was he cute?"

"Shut up." Sierra turns to the barista. "If he comes back, thank him again for me."

Steela won't let it go so easily. "Tell me all about your boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend."

"Maybe you'll have a little more sympathy for me and Rex now."

"Steela."

…

Rex bursts into the Piece of Crap situation room a.k.a. Main cabin (with Korkie on his heels) and does a mental headcount. Other than Sierra lifting a flimsi cup of caf and smiling guiltily nothing seems to be a miss. "Why did you call us back?"

"Yeah," Korkie is also scanning the room and coming up at a loss. "It sounded from the comm like something was wrong. I thought we were supposed to be running back up for the Temple job."

Steela gives her sister a swat on the arm. "The invalid decided to take a solo trip to the caf shop and run us all on a wild nuna chase."

Sierra barely keeps from spilling her drink. "I thought you all were doing fine without me." She moped.

"Of course we're not fine without you." Hero gives her shoulders a squeeze.

"And now we're not letting you out of our sight." Mina adds with just a touch of the Bonscary to remind her daughter never again do something so foolish.

"I won't, I promise" Sierra crosses her heart with her free hand.

Steela grins. "Not even to go and see your boyfriend."

They were all having a laugh but seem to have forgotten that there was still a job happening on the other side of town.

"Hey!" Korkie calls over the noise. "What about Saw and Soniee? Is anyone keeping tabs on them?"

Hutch stares at his holo screen. "They seemed to be doing just fine the last time I checked." But he turns the screen away when Korkie leans in to get a closer look. "That was a while ago. We should probably check in on them again and make sure…"

But they don't have to look very far. At that moment Soniee herself runs in, barefoot, holding the strappy sandals she had borrowed in her hands. She gives them to Sierra with a muttered, "Sorry I couldn't run in them. They were too tight." Then she looks around at the others. "The job was a bust. The priest caught us and we had to run for it."

"Are you okay?" Korkie asks, checking her over for injury.

She gives him a look like, well, like she thought she'd never see him again. "I thought you guys were going to be there… never mind you're here now. I'm going to go change."

Korkie turns towards Hutch again. "I thought you said they were fine."

"We'll be leaving as soon as she's done," Bo Katan declares.

Rex crosses his arms over his chest. "But then if she's here, where's Saw?"

…

While searching the streets to see which way Soniee has gone, Saw pulls his comm link out of his pocket and speed dials his sister.

"Where are you?" Steela asks before he has the chance to say anything at all. "Hutch lost you in the crowd on the surveillance cams."

"Soniee and I got separated. I had to… take care of something." His breathing gets heavier as he runs.

"I can't believe you let her out of your sight. Not after what happened…"

"Look. Don't remind me. Just tell me if she got there alright."

"She came in just now and… she doesn't look happy. Sawyer Gerrera, what did you do?"

"Good she made it. I've got to stop somewhere and pick something up for her. I'll be back soon."

"Saw, what…" He shuts off the connection before she can ask any more questions.

He has to get Soniee that data disk. He knows right where it is in the storage facility where he'd stuffed a bunch of Dane Tandin's old things and the place was almost sort of on the way back to the landing strip where they'd stashed the Piece of Crap. He could be in and out and on his way to her side in… he checks the chrono on his wrist, less than half a standard hour.

…

"Saw, where have you been?" his sister intercepts him at the hatch.

He tries to push past her to get to Soniee. "I had to stop and get something."

"Something for Soniee?"

"Yeah, where is she? I need to apologize for getting distracted and…"

"She's not here." Steela says more gently to soften the blow. "She and the others are going back to Mandalore."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the job was over, Lux wired the credits they were owed to Bo's account, and they packed up and left."

"When? Where? She can't leave! I've got her mother's journal." Saw feals as if a black hole has opened up inside his chest. When was it that he had fallen in love with her? He couldn't lose her now before he could tell her. But if she has chosen Korkie, if she is determined to go home with him then he would respect her decision. He just can't let her go without her knowing the truth about her past.

Steela reads the range of emotions on her brother's face. "If you hurry you might be able to catch them before they take off. They're in docking bay fifty-seven."

She pats his arm and he gives her a nod of thanks.

Thank Manda or Unifrass or space or whatever is out there! When Saw skids into the proper docking bay the Kom'rk is still resting on its landing gear and the ramp is down. And there she is, Soniee is standing right there.

His heart swells. Here is the only woman he has ever, will ever love. She has changed back into her plain Mandalorian flight suit from the white dress she had borrowed. Of course she has. She was planning on leaving Onderon forever and she wouldn't take something of Sierra's with her.

"Soniee!" He calls out to her but he is sure she has already seen him and heard the squeal of his shoes on the permicrete as he rounded the corner.

She doesn't say anything for a moment but her hand does hover above the button to raise the ramp so they could lift off. He has arrived just in time. Maybe he still has a chance.

"What is it?" He hears Bo Katan calling from the forward cockpit.

"Just give me a minute," Soniee calls back to her.

Saw makes his feet carry him to the ramp. There is so much he wants to tell her and so little time. He holds out the record sleeve with its precious cargo. "This is for you."

"Thanks." She takes it from him gingerly being careful not to make actual contact with his skin.

"Soniee, I… is this what you really want, to leave Onderon?" He has to make sure that no one is pressuring her to make the decision.

"I'm going home." She nods with a finality that still seems to be convincing herself. "I'm glad we could help out your crew but I really think it's for the best."

"I'll miss you, so will Steela and the others."

She gives another nod, unable to return the sentiment.

"We're on a schedule here!" Bo's voice calls once again.

"I have to go," Soniee tells him, dismissing him from the landing bay and from her future.

He backs down the ramp but he can't quite consolidate her words with the look on her face. He wants to tell her not to go, that he will see her soon, that he loves her, but he can't get any of it out, not in the time they have left. He feals his feet hit the hard permicrete of the landing pad once again.

She glances at what he has given her before she raises her hand once again to the ramp control. "Good-bye and… thank you." She holds up the gift even though she can't yet understand its significance. And then the hatch closes.

Saw waves towards the tinted window even though he can't see her through it any longer. Maybe she will find the disk. She will understand what it meant for him to find it for her and make sure she had it in her hands before she left the planet where her parents had met and fallen in love and looked forward to the child they would never get the chance to raise together.

"I love you," Saw says to the empty hanger bay after the Kom'rk has lifted off and probably already left Onderon's atmosphere. He stands there a while longer and then turns back towards his own family's ship. By the time he gets back there, he will be the regular security expert, straight man, that he always has been. But he knows that part of his heart has flown away with that girl, hacker and part time grifter, Soniee Ordo.