Thanks for your kind reviews! I literally finished my coursework and had a few hours to spare! It was a dream come true! Now this fic has run away with me! It's a lot more than 'slightly AU' so that's just a warning for you all. If the characters do seem to OOC please let me know so I can avoid doing so in the future.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot to this story!

"Hera, who is that?" Kanan asked, distracted momentarily, from attempting to Ezra back to consciousness. He groggily looked up at his mentor, who offered him a small sympathetic smile. Kanan felt the ground steady and knew they were safe out of hyperspace, wandering the empty void of space, free of chasers.

"Can you walk?" Kanan asked, pulling Ezra to his feet. Ezra nodded, swaying dangerously. He took one step forward attempting to get out of the tie, but found himself almost meeting the floor instead- Kanan's hand around his middle preventing him from meeting that fate.

"Liar" he teased, scooping the boy up into his arms, much to Ezra's embarrassment. They walked out of the tie and over the ramp. The entire time the kid was attempting to wriggle out of his tight grasp.

"You shouldn't be picking me up in your condition"

"I'm fine and you most certainly are not" Kanan told him sternly, walking through the door that would lead them to the ladder into the next deck aboard the Ghost where he knew Hera and the others would be awaiting them.

" Master, I'm fine I can walk!" Ezra struggled again.

"Sure you can" Kanan rolled his eyes at how difficult his Padawan was being. Eventually Ezra settled feeling exhaustion hit him again. As much as it pained Kanan to do he had to shake him awake.

"WH-what..?"

"Stay awake. You could have a concussion" Kanan told him, his eyes betraying the deep concern he felt. That was enough for Ezra to obey. They made it to the ladder and Kanan was forced to put Ezra down.

The boy stumbled, holding onto the wall for support. They helped each-other in getting up to the top, popping their heads over the circular gap.

Hera's face full of relief and eyes brimming with tears from across the hall was their first sight. Kanan looked over at Ezra who was giving him the look that said' I'm-fine-go-to-her-now. He wanted to chuckle if it wouldn't make it to obvious.

Once they had met each-other halfway Kanan was the first to speak "I owe you all a great debt of gratitude even if what you did was rash and reckless"

"You're welcome dear" Hera said taking his hand and embracing him. Hera closed her eyes and sucked in her tears while Kanan squeezed her tight and bit his own lip to keep his emotions in check. The embrace was broken by Kanan, who looked embrace deep into her green eyes, so glad he could see them again. Then he surprised both of them by capturing his lips with hers. She responded with wrapping her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. They could hear Zeb whistling in the background and the other two cheering. Even their own little jealous astromech looked pleased for the two.

Ezra watched them with a smile, glad they had found each-other. His head began to pound as all the adrenaline washed away. He latched onto the cold bars of the ladder for support and found that if he rested his head against them the coolness eased the fire.

He hadn't realised he'd fallen asleep until he felt hands pat his face and pull him off the ladder and into warm arms. He wriggled out of the heat and found the cool ground and instantly melted.

"Kid…Ezra…" he heard. He tried to reach out to the voices to assure them he was okay, but the pounding and sudden burst of heat prevented him from doing so.

"Is he okay?" Zeb asked, looking down at his roommate and friend in concern. Sabine was beside him, feeling the boys head.

"He's burning up!" she exclaimed.

"You two should go to the medical bay" Hera suggested, seeing the toll this mission had taken out of her Jedi. "Zeb can you carry Ezra?"

Zeb nodded, gently lifting Ezra's form off Hera's knee and into his arms. He took off for the medical bay with Sabine following suit.

"You too"

"No just take care of the kid" Kanan insisted, breathing harshly.

"We're taking care of both of you" she smirked, throwing Kanan's arm around her shoulder as Ezra had done a few hours before and they made their trek to the medical bay.

As it turned out the two needed to visit the medical bay., Ezra's fight and daring rescue had earned him claw scars on the side of his face (Kanan never took his eyes off them), a fractured wrist, burnt shoulder (Inquisitors work),

As well as numerous cuts, bruises but the most prominent of them all was the concussion caused from the great fall off the ledge.

Kanan winced as he heard retching coming from the toilet. With that big of a concussion he was surprised he'd been able to hold down the urge to throw up sooner.

He attempted for the third time to get up but Hera's hand pushed him firmly back down on the bed. "He's in good hands, Kanan" she assured. She was right, much to Ezra's embarrassment he had Sabine and Zeb with him.

She moved over to sit in the chair to the right of the bed and began soaking a cloth then unwrapped some gauze and placed it on his many cuts, bruises and scars. His time in the company of the Inquisitor, Kallus and Tarkin , was another way of leaving scars both mentally and physically.

"What was the worse?" Hera suddenly asked. He lifted his head to look at her, biting her lip and wringing out the cloth. It didn't take the ability to read minds to know what she was asking.

"You don't want to know" he told her. She shook her head, un-accepting.

"But I want to. I need to know what happened to you all that time"

"It was…bad…" he sighed and sat up. Hera didn't protest against him this time, instead opting to prop him up using the bulky pillows on the other bed. *"They…tortured me with shocks…the bastard even enjoyed it…then taunted me with…with Master Luminara's death.." Kanan finished, surpising himself with his venomous tone and language.

"I don't know how it must have felt but I know it was awful. You shouldn't feel any shame or guilt" she told him, already knowing her friend was drowning in a sea of guilt.

"Did they ask you about us?"

Kanan shivered as he recalled the memory "Yes..But I promise I didn't break…they wanted Ezra first then I blocked them out…next…visit was about the other cells…."

"And you didn't break once" she couldn't help the smile that broke through her tone.

"Nope" he brushed off casually. Her smile widened at her friend being his old self and she found herself in his embrace once more, this time for longer. He stroked her lekku back.

"You are a brave man, more than that -a hero. You sacrificed yourself for your friends and crew and that is more than any person would have been able to do" She told him with a smile. His guilt lessened a little but returned at the sound of retching.

She caught his look and frowned "You're both okay now"

"Yeah. The Inquisitors gone"

"You'll have to tell me about that" she insisted. Kanan laughed lightly.

"Yeah, but not yet"

"We will have that talk, love"

"I know" he smiled his old charming smile at her and she laughed.

"I'll go see how the kids are doing" she said, getting up from the chair and kissing Kanan's head. He lay back against the bed glad still finding it difficult to believe they were free. He soaked up the feeling of weightlessness and soon found himself drifting into sleeps comforting embrace.

"This is...disgusting.." Ezra moaned, throwing his head over the bowl of the toilet. Sabine winced in sympathy, holding back Ezra's hair as he continuously retched, having nothing left in his stomach to expel.

"Once it's up, it's up. It's better for ya" Zeb told him attempting to ease the suffering he felt.

"He's already got it up. He's not eaten for days to throw anything back up!" Sabine said.

"Is he asleep?"

"Looks like it"

"He really is like a younger brother isn't he"

"What does that make us, older siblings?" Zeb chuckled, Sabine wasn't denying it.

Kanan awoke to the sound of the automatic door hissing, letting the three 'kids' of the ship enter. He heard Sabine and Zeb muttering quietly, under the impression that he was asleep…and that was how he kept it.

He discreetly watched Zeb place Ezra in a bed next to his, poor kid looked utterly exhausted.

"He can sleep the rest off" he heard them say. "He'll be okay in the morning"

"It's not that it's just…are we to blame for any of this?" Sabine asked, looking up at Zeb and daring him to lie to her.

"What do ya mean?" he asked perplexed by the odd question.

"Well…" she looked behind her to see if they really were in a 'private' discussion. She saw directly through Kanan's façade.

"Nothing…never mind" she muttered, inclining her head toward Kanan. Zeb caught her movement after a moment.

"We should let them sleep" they decided and wandered out of the medical bay before Kanan could 'awaken' and question them on it.

You're not getting out of it easily guys...

Annnddd there we have it the next Chapter! But it still isn't quite finished yet! I count another two or three chapters before it's officially completed. I would be very grateful If you R & R! Constructive Criticism is welcome!

One question though- Is there a limit to how many words can be used in a oneshot? Or what's the world limit appropriate for a chapter?

Thanks again!