Author's Note: Guess I should have worded my last note better. My fault. Don't worry I was never meaning I'd cram an unnecessary character in or do extensive rewrites. I meant at most a subtle reference or mention if it worked out. But I won't even attempt that until it's over. Moving on from that topic...

We finally get the Ghost Crew back! As I've discussed with my wife while working on this project, I think I understand one of the joys of fan-fiction now. The ability to work with fully developed, fleshed out characters that already have a unique voice is very fun. Coming up with good characters is HARD work, and being able to just write a character you already know, that you've spent years with is a blast (and easier than doing the hard work of creation).

With that said I hope you enjoy the Ghost Crews interactions this chapter.

Also another chapter posted early so if you haven't read yesterday's yet make sure and catch up!

Chapter 13
Matters of the Family

Hera nearly ran down the ramp of the Ghost onto the landing pad at Krownest. Today was the day she would see the kids, and it was going to be the best day she'd had in weeks. She stopped short when she noticed there were only a couple of Mandalorian warriors standing guard at the pad that she didn't recognize. "Well, that's a little disappointing," she said to no one in particular.

"Well, where are they at?" Rex asked. "You lure me here with the unbelievable story that we've still got a Jedi here hiding with our Mandalorian, and they're no-shows? Pretty cruel General."

Hera wheeled on him as Chopper rolled down the ramp. She gave the old clone her best withering stare. Rex chuckled and lifted his hands in defense. "Easy there General, it was just a joke. We probably just arrived earlier than they were expecting."

Beside them, Ezra's Nightbrother was setting down. Hera was just relieved that Zeb wasn't late. He had come directly from Yavin IV, while she and Chopper had been out on other business. Hera had secured Rex as an extra hand on the Ghost in case she needed a gunner and as a way to quietly let him in on the secret. She was also hoping to have him permanently reassigned to the Ghost, but she wanted to ask his opinion first before she used her rank to move him against his will.

The Nightbrother's ramp lowered with a hiss, and two figures walked down. Wait, two? She expected Zeb but what was Alexandr Kallus doing here? Hera marched forward towards them, suddenly very angry. "Garazeb Orrelios have you lost your mind? This was not part of the plan."

Zeb paused ears twitching. "What? We're just swapping out the ships. He had no duties today, and I wanted the company. So I asked him to ride along."

Hera pointed a finger in his face. "Have you forgotten the thing we're not talking about? Because I can have you wait on the Ghost if you'd prefer not to have any part of what's going on."

Kallus rubbed his hands together. "General, clearly there is something going on here that I was not aware of. I'll just walk up the ramp to the Ghost, and there'll be no further problem. I apologize for the confusion."

"Aww... Karabast." Zeb stammered. "I'm sorry Hera. I wasn't thinking about it like that. I was just happy to have most of the day off."

Hera looked at Zeb, then Kallus. The truth is she was hoping to have Kallus reassigned to the Ghost as well. The Intelligence Division wanted him badly, but Kallus had been dragging his feet about accepting an intelligence position. Apparently, he had enough of skullduggery in the ISB. Wherever he ended up, he would always be an important asset due to his history with the Empire; but Hera felt a certain kinship with him because of his long history with the Ghost. Once his loyalties had flipped, Kallus had saved her people enough times that she was eternally grateful to him.

In that moment, Hera made up her mind. "Well at this point I trust Alexandr more than you Zeb." She sighed. "Fine, we'll let you in on the secret." She pointed her finger at Kallus. "You're about to learn the most classified thing you've ever known. If you mess up with this, I will personally track you down and throw you out an airlock."

Kallus smiled tightly. "My lips are sealed. Apparently, I will have to keep Garazeb in line too."

Rex laughed. "We all know he could use it."

Zeb's shoulders slumped.

"Well, that's settled," Hera said. "Alright, boys lets go." Boys. All boys now. She'd have to find another woman for her crew.

They walked across the landing pad to where a Mandalorian warrior was waiting for them. He took off his Helmet. "General Syndulla. I'm Tristan Wren."

"Oh, Sabine's brother?"

"Yes," he smiled politely. "They are waiting for you in the Great Hall. Shall we go?"

The group began heading towards the large square building.

"I can't help but notice he said they," Kallus said. "Sabine and... who exactly? Are you going to let me in on what's going on now or do I have to play this by ear?"

"Oh, it's tempting not to tell you anything just to see the look on your face," Hera said with an amused smile. "But I know our oh so serious defector has a stoic image to maintain, so I'll spare you. Ezra's alive."

Kallus' eyes widened. "Bridger lived? How did this happen? How is that even possible?"

"Zeb can fill you in on the details later. I hope you understand the amount of trust I just placed in you, Alexandr. I wasn't kidding about the airlock." She gave him a hard look.

He was quiet for a moment lost in thought. "A living Jedi after the Empire declared the last of the order dead." Kallus stroked his chin. "General, I understand. You can have complete faith that I won't..."

She stopped and faced Kallus, causing the whole group to bunch up. "I'm not asking you for the Alliance. I'm not asking you as a General. I'm asking you as Hera Syndulla. I'm trusting you to keep my family safe."

Kallus was silent for a moment. "I understand Hera. I will carry this secret to my death to keep your loved ones secure."

Hera smiled. "Let's go see the kids then."

As they approached the entrance to the Great Hall, Kallus smiled wryly. "I'll keep Zeb in line too."

"Oh, come on!" the Lasat grumbled. Rex and Kallus laughed heartily.

"Oh, and Alexandr," Hera said. "One more thing."

"Yes, Hera?" Kallus said cautiously.

"Welcome to the family."

He didn't answer. Which was fine with Hera at that moment. She wanted the gravitas of her trust to sink in a bit before they talked more on the subject.

Tristan admitted them to the Great Hall. Hera was impressed. She knew that Clan Wren was wealthy, but this was far more than she had anticipated. At the far end of the room stood the Countess Ursa Wren and who Hera could only assume was her husband Alrich. Behind them on a raised platform, something big was concealed under a clean white sheet. A painting Hera guessed. She knew Alrich was an artist like Sabine.

"General Syndulla, it's good to meet you in person finally." the Countess said as she strode across the room to meet her guests.

"It's an honor to meet you too Countess Wren. I'm not here for the Alliance though, so you can drop the General bit today."

"Very well, Hera. This is my husband, Alrich. He is the chief diplomat of our clan," Alrich bowed.

Hera nodded. "Let me introduce you to my crew. Captain Garazeb Orrelios of the Lasat Honor Guard. Agent Alexandr Kallus, former Imperial Security Bureau, defected to the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Captain Rex, formerly CT-7567 of the Grand Army of the Republic, now also with the Alliance." Chopper bumped into her backside not wanting to be forgotten. "And this is Chopper."

Ursa looked impressed. "And you used to have the Jedi Ezra and our Sabine as well. Hera, you seem to draw quite the diverse crew to yourself. That is a clear testament to your leadership." She paused. "I am sorry about Kanan. He will be remembered by many."

"Thank you, Countess. I'm still grieving, but it gets a little better each day."

Ursa paused for a moment. "Hera, I must thank you for taking in Sabine." She hesitated, and Hera realized this wasn't easy for her. In some ways, Hera and Ursa were rival mothers sharing one daughter. "When Alrich and I failed her as parents, you took up the task and finished what we couldn't. You raised her into the capable young woman she is today, and we couldn't be more grateful to you. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to repay you." Ursa paused briefly, "You were a better mother than I was."

Hera's breath caught in her throat. She had heard the Countess was a hard woman and wasn't expecting this level of frankness. "Countess, It was my honor. I'm just glad she's been able to return home to you now after everything she's been through." Hera laughed. "And in one piece. We might have done a lot of dangerous things with your daughter."

Alrich chuckled. "She would have been doing something dangerous one way or the other. We're just glad she was safe with a family that loved her."

There was silence for a moment before Chopper interrupted, "Whompa Whump Whuuhh."

Hera laughed. "Chopper is done with the pleasantries and wants to know where Ezra and Sabine are."

Alrich clapped his hands together. "They should be here shortly. I wanted to show you something else first. Sabine spent nearly her entire first week here working on this painting. It's something of a masterpiece. Would you like to see it?"

"I guess, sure," Hera said intrigued.

Alrich and Ursa each moved to one corner of the sheet covering the painting and gave it a tug.

Hera gasped as the sheet fell to the ground, revealing Sabine's painting. Now that was not what she was expecting. She felt a slow smile creeping across her face. She knew what this meant.

Zeb muttered something under his breath and chuckled. "I had my suspicions about those two. Rex, you know anything about this?"

"Well, I mean I knew the kid was head over heels for that girl, but I didn't think she would give him the time of day. Haha! Guess I didn't give him enough credit. "

"No," Kallus said. "She pretty clearly has harbored feelings for Ezra for a while now. At least since I defected." The others stared at him. "It was there plain as day for anyone with eyes to observe the subtle details," he said defensively. "I," he said heavily emphasizing the word, "am not blind to such details."

Zeb clapped Kallus hard enough on the back to knock the breath out of him. "Whatever you say, Agent."

Hera felt Chopper tugging at her pant leg. "What's that Chop?"

"Whomp."

She laughed "You did tell me so."

Suddenly she heard the snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber, and she spun around. Behind them stood two fully armored Mandalorians. The male held an emerald green lightsaber above his head and had brilliant sapphire and orange armor. The female stood at his side in sapphire, purple, and orange armor. "I heard you wanted to see us," Ezra said.

Hera was running to them before she knew what she was doing. Ezra barely had time to extinguish his saber before Hera was pulling them into an embrace. The others slowly crowded around the young couple. "So help me understand here," Hera said. "I see Ezra in full Mandalorian armor. Does that mean... Are you...?"

Sabine smiled "Yes. We're married."

Hera nearly squealed with excitement. "How did this happen? When did this happen?"

"The how is kind of a long story," Ezra said smiling. "But let's just accept that it took an awful lot of charm for me to pull off."

Sabine rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, loth-rat." Everyone laughed. "As to the when, well about an hour before I called last week."

Hera laughed. "Well, that explains why you were dressed to kill. I knew you'd been up to something."

"You know what this means!" Zeb said triumphantly. "I was right about there being kits. Told ya you were being defensive, Sabine."

"Oh, you're going to have to wait," Sabine said. "It's going to be a long time."

"Eh, I can be patient. As long as I get to be Uncle Garazeb before I turn grey and wrinkled, I'll be happy." He punched Rex and Kallus in the arms. "You two can be Uncle Rex and Uncle Alexandr."

Rex snapped to a attention. "It'd be an honor," he said with a smile.

Ezra and Sabine both frowned at Kallus. "Wait a minute," Ezra said. "Your name is Alexandr?"

"Of course it's Alexandr. What did you think it was?" Kallus said, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, I kind of just thought Kallus was your only name," Ezra said with a smirk.

"Or that your name was Agent," Sabine added with a playful wink at the ex-imperial.

"Hey, Hera said "lay off you two. Alexandr isn't used to being picked on." She glanced to the side at him, unable to resist pushing it a little further. "He's apparently sensitive about these things."

Kallus's mouth dropped open. "I am..." He stopped short. "Not."

Everyone laughed.

Alrich and Ursa had joined their group. The Countess spoke. "I hope you can stay for the evening. We have a celebration planned in honor of Sabine and Ezra. We hope to have all of you as guests of honor."

Hera laughed, truly happy for the first time since Kanan's death. "As If you could keep me away."

Sabine and Ezra gave their friends the short tour of the Stronghold before the evening's festivities. By mid-afternoon, they were all seated in the Gallery listening to the couple tell the convoluted tale of how they had gotten married.

Hera just stared at them. "You weren't kidding about it being a long story. Honestly, Sabine, that's the..."

"The most ridiculous thing you've ever heard," Sabine said." I know. Trust me you're not the first person to use those exact words. I'm not ever going to live this down."

Zeb laughed. "I'm just glad you two decided to run away before you lost your minds. If you two had brought that level of drama onto the Ghost, I would have seen myself out the airlock. Or better yet, the two of you."

"Ah now, don't be too hard on them," Rex said giving Zeb a push. "Besides, Ezra has even joined the ranks of real men and started to grow a beard! He's one of us now!"

Hera watched as all four of the men in the room reflexively scratched their facial hair. She rolled her eyes. "Men," she said simply.

"If you don't mind me asking, are you planning to stay here on Krownest?" Kallus asked.

Hera perked up. She was curious what their plans were too.

"For now," Ezra said. "Sabine will get stir-crazy eventually, I'm sure."

Sabine shrugged, conceding the point. "Probably, Ezra is dead for all intents and purposes, so we'll be able to leave, we'll just have to change his name."

"I guess even Ezra Wren would be a little obvious to anyone that knew him, wouldn't it," Hera said, thinking it through. "Got a new name in mind yet?"

Ezra looked miserable. "No. I don't know. Names are important. It has to be the right one. I know I'll always be Ezra, but everyone else will call me by this other name, maybe for the rest of my life. It needs to be right."

"I've got an idea," Zeb said with a wink.

"We're not changing his name to Garazeb," Sabine said, heading off the obvious joke.

"Eh, I was going to suggest Zeb Jr."

Sabine stared at Zeb icily. "If you think I'm going to call my husband Zeb Jr., I've met dead mynocks smarter than you."

The others began suggesting names, one after the other. Even Chopper had a horrible suggestion.

"Chopper. Meatbag isn't even a name," Ezra said eyes wide.

Ezra or Sabine, sometimes both, shot down each suggestion. Hera wasn't listening because she already knew the answer, knew the name that Ezra would take for himself.

When it was clear no one else could come up with a satisfactory answer, she cleared her throat, and they all looked at her. Hera stood and walked to the chair where Ezra was sitting and knelt beside him. She took one of his hands in between hers.

"Ezra," Hera said carefully. "Would you take the name, Caleb? Please, for me. For Kanan." The last words were barely a whisper.

Sabine gasped. Ezra looked at her quickly and smiled as she nodded back at him.

"Caleb Wren, huh?" Ezra said turning the name over in his mind a few times "I think I can actually live with that one. Caleb Wren... But only if you're sure, Hera. I don't know that you need to be reminded of Kanan everytime you think of me."

"Hmm," Hera said, her eyes moist. The light shined in them as if they were full of stars. "I'll remember him anytime I think of you anyway. I want you to take Kanan's birth name."

Chopper rumbled something rude, and Hera laughed. "Sorry Chop, I'm going to be a little more emotional than normal for a while. You're going to have to get used to it."

"Well, that settles that. Tomorrow I become Caleb Wren," Ezra said smiling. He nodded to Sabine, who stood and retrieved an item from a shelf across the room. "Speaking of Kanan, Hera. You're taking Kanan's lightsaber with you." She held it out to Hera who merely stared at it. She knew where this was going. She had made up her mind on this already.

"This isn't up for debate," Ezra said.

"Ezra. Sabine," Hera said slowly. "I know the sentiment you're going for here, and it's touching. I promise. But a lightsaber is a tool. And you two are the only ones trained to use it. I think that it's better left with the two of you. You gave the Darksaber away Sabine. Would you take it as a replacement?"

Sabine shook her head and just looked at Ezra.

"You're wrong, Hera," Ezra said gently. "A lightsaber isn't a tool. Kanan always taught me that a lightsaber was a Jedi's life. At least it's supposed to be. For Kanan that wasn't quite true, because you were his life Hera. Kanan would have wanted you to have this lightsaber. It was a part of him, and you're the only one that has any right to it."

And that did her in. What could she say to argue with that?

Hera nodded and took the lightsaber as warm tears slid down her face. They were happy tears this time, without bitterness. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I can't really say no, can I?"