No one had to know, that was what he told himself at least.

That no one had to know as he slowly crept through the halls to the medbay where Hera was being kept. The twi'lek looked horrible and Ezra's heart pinged in pain as he touched her hand, watching her bandaged face.

Fenn Rau and his pilots had really done a number on her and Ezra didn't like to see the capable, brilliant woman he had come to know being in this sickbed, looking like...

He took a deep breath through his nose, throwing away the thought and voiding it into the calmness of his mind instead. He then slowly crawled into the narrow bed, laying on his side as he rested his head gingerly on her chest, listening to the beating heart inside of her, felt her warmth.

To know she was going to be alright.

He felt her chest rise and fall with her breaths and felt his own being calm slowly. Seeing her ship in the condition from the command had sent him into a panic, he wasn't ashamed to admit that despite Kanan's teachings. Admitting to what he was feeling was the first step of understanding at least.

And then they bought Hera in...

Ezra bit his lip harshly, keeping in the moisture that had built up in his eyes on the inside. That had hurt, more then he was willing to admit to the others but he could to himself.

So he had been steadily sneaking in to see her every night as long as no one else was there. Because Ezra had already lost one mother, he wasn't ready to lose another, not now, not ever.

He forced himself to settle in again, using his fingertips to stroke Hera's hand, sapphire blue eyes half closed as Hera's chest moved his head up and down slowly in sync with her head. "...I know there's nothing I could have done...but I still feel...not guilty but pained I guess." He whispered softly. "When you came out of hyperspace...when Sabine yelled..."

Ezra shivered a bit against her and then took another deep breath. "I thought you were gone for a few seconds, or that you would be gone if we didn't get you in soon to the medbay." He whispered quietly.

"And...I thought...that moment I remembered all the times you'd smiled at me. All the times you made hot chocolate for me." Ezra stopped his hand, taking a deep breath. "You always remember the cinnamon, Kanan forgets it sometimes." He lets his words die in the silence of the medbay Hera occupied, grateful that she was the only occupant in it.

Or was it the other way around? That there should be more people on the beds, still alive, like Hera was?

Ezra swallowed and pushed away the thoughts, brushing them away like unwelcome cobwebs.

Instead he turned his attention back to Hera, focusing on her, her breathing, her heart, the way her chest rose and fell, the warmth of her body and the lingering smell of engine and the soaps she preferred, he blocked out the smell of sterile medbay that now clung to her like a second skin and instead just focused on what made him feel at peace.

Her heart beating, pumping blood, her lungs drawing air...

Ezra didn't mean to, but against Hera's steady presence, he was gently lulled into a deep sleep, tucked against the woman's side, his head pillowed on her chest.

A slender green hand slowly rose during the night, the arm it belonged to wrapping around the skinny body that had snuck into her bed as the Pilot gave a exhausted but tender smile before falling right back asleep with the boy in her grasp.

()()()()()

"I...don't really know. He wasn't on the Ghost this morning." Zeb confessed to Rex, rubbing his head as he walked with the old clone, sighing quietly to himself. "He hasn't really been handling this all to well, his stint with that...bug thing and then his parents and now this." The Lasat grumbled.

"He's young. He's thrown into a hard life and now a war." Rex offered, keeping his eyes forward. "He hasn't really gone into a lot of details with me but I know enough. Orphan at seven, street child until you all found him at fourteen and now all this...I won't even start to imagine what he had to see and do to survive once his parents were taken away."

Zeb growled quietly at those words, the images of scars and the traders eyes on that boy on Lothal flashing on the inside of his mind.

"But I imagine you know..." Rex glanced at him, taking in the anger.

"He's a brat...but he's our brat." He breathed out through his nose, the air ruffling his own beard as he did. "He's resourceful and a survivalist. He just gets into more jams that he can't get himself out of right now."

Rex chuckled. "Sounds like all the padawan I knew. They were always getting into trouble once they moved up from initiates to actual padawans under a Master."

"You knew them well?" Zeb couldn't help but be curious. This was something Kanan wouldn't speak to much about, only to Ezra usually, to help him understand.

"I worked close with them. I served my General faithfully and did as I was told, what I was made to do." Rex murmured wistfully, stroking the scar on his scalp. "And I never had to do what the clone did. Me, Gregor and Wolffe. We didn't... we never lifted a blaster towards them that day." He let out a deep breath.

"Hmm, can't imagine how it must have been."

"No better then the fall of Lasan my friend...no better then that." The two exchanged tired, battle worn smiles before Zeb opened the medical door.

He stared, ears twitching in surprise before grinning. "Found him."

Rex peered around the others bulk and chuckled quietly. "So that's where he went..."

The two peered in, watching the young boy curled tightly into the Twi'lek's side with his head on her chest, the blanket wrapped around both of them with the green arm wrapped around slender shoulders. Both were still sleeping peacefully, undisturbed by the world around them as they slumbered together.

"She's moved." Rex noted.

"She's been awake." Zeb grinned in delight before looking at Rex. "You...errg...wouldn't happen to have something that could record them would you? They look so...comfortable." His grin widened as Rex reached into his belt, a smirk on the old clones face. "For blackmail purpose or just to show Kanan and the rest?"

"Oh for both hehehe."

Author note: So...the next several chapters might not contain anything but the past after Purrgils because...well I have been on vacation and I haven't had time to watch the series. I'll still be writing and you might all just cry and laugh because I'm once again working well haha. Enjoy!