"So..."

Hera looked up, quietly watching Ezra stand there. "We...got the ship." The teen smiled at her, blue eyes warm as he slowly made his way to the co-pilot seat. "Commander Sato is really happy about it, its going to do a lot of good in Rebel hands." He sat down and held out the cup of kaf for her, smiling every so slightly more.

Hera hummed and accepted the cup, holding it tightly in her hands.

"It will, we needed this." She agreed softly. "All modern and a little blow to the Empire's egos." She grinned a bit at him which got a snigger out of the teen before he looked at Hera again. "And...the whole thing with your dad is...well...better?" He tried carefully, trying to be diplomatic.

She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, noting Ezra's nervous deposition. It was clear he didn't want to dig into her affairs but at the same time wanted to assure himself that Hera was doing alright, was feeling...better.

She set the ship on auto and turned to him, taking a slow sip of the caf. Ezra must have made it she noted because Kanan tended to make it a bit stronger. "In a way. Yes...he did say he was proud of me, so there's something. Proud of the captain I had become..." She looked to the lights outside then to him again. "At the same time..."

"At the same time he attacked us. At the same time he set your new family in jeopardy. At the same time the past still happened." Ezra finished for her, watching her to see if he had overstepped his bounds.

The pilot sighed and nodded. "...Were you hurt?" She looked at him, looking over Ezra sharply in realization she hadn't asked them that after the whole debacle. She knew her father hadn't wanted to outright hurt anyone but accidents could happen still.

"No. It was just the normal stunning." Ezra smiled a bit at her. "I...it, him betraying us, didn't hurt me that much because I didn't trust him to begin with, not really. Because...well..."

"Because he was a stranger and I was mad?" She smiled a little at Ezra's explanation.

"Yeah." Ezra nodded a bit. "I...I told you, nothing is more important to me." He shifted and sighed, crossing his arms around himself. "And you were mad, you were actually outright mad at him and cold. And then you explained yourself..." He mulled it over. "...And I kind of listened through the vents when you talked to him." He confessed.

"To my dad?" Hera blinked in surprise.

"I got good ears and you two were loud...beside, did you know you had a accent when you talk to him?" Blue eyes peered at her, grinning a bit. "It was kind of adorable."

Hera laughed at that, her lekku's twitching. "It came from being agitated and talking to him honestly." She sighed and settled back, taking another sip. "...I'm glad you came to check on me Ezra but I do have to say I don't quite appreciate you listening to my private conversations." The padawan shrugged unrepentantly. "Can't help it, I was worried. I'd do it again." He declared before peeking at her hands and smiling at the gloves she was wearing. "They're good? The one I won?"

"Oh yes, very. Comfortable, sturdy and warm." She laughed softly. "I did say thank you for them, right?"

"Yup." Ezra beamed in return, watching her set down her drink then hold out her hand to him. "Huh?"

"Give me your hand, your right one." She smiled. "Without the glove. I'd like to check on it, see that its well healed you know." Ezra blinked at her then shifted to the edge of his chair, holding out his hand to let her gently move his fingers once he pulled of the glove.

Carefully she moved the fingers, testing them, keeping a half eye on Ezra's face to see if he made any grimaces. But all he did was sit there and watch her hands on his, smiling slightly at the touch, his electric blue eyes soft with warm affection and awe at the affection presented back to him, the care. 'Oh sweetie...' She kept a hold of the hand and leaned in, hugging the teen to her. "You know what? I know I make a lot of decisions that are...hard to understand since I'm a Rebel captain...but family comes first too for me." She smiled softly, deep green eyes meeting deep blue.

"I know Hera. You got bigger...um...autonomy?" He frowned to see if that was the right word before smiling and nodding. "Autonomy to do as you want with being a captain. So we're...well not safer but you have more resources should it be necessary to...well..." He smiled sheepishly.

"Rescue a wayward padawan who really needs to keep with the crew and not pick up on his Masters habits of sacrificing himself?" Hera offered dryly before pulling Ezra in and kissing him softly on the forehead, holding the others hands carefully.

"But you're right. I do. And nothing is going to tear this crew, this family, apart." She pulled him out of the co-pilot seat and into the main one with her, wrapping the teen in a hug, feeling how he relaxed against her.

She smiled softly at that, glad that Ezra wasn't flinching away or hiding.

Their little Loth-cat had come far from the trembling and angry creature they had picked up from Lothal. So far from the teen who had hid and argued to cover his own fears and insecurities.

Author note:So...Gotta apologize, things here are...cluttered so updates have been...lacking. And they might continue like that for a while right now. The thing is, since this is the internet and none of you know me to well I can just as well come out and say it. Social service here has taken my brothers baby (I live in the same apartment) and... well we are all kind of off-kilter right now, especially with me so close to my surgery still. What this means for all of you is that updates will be slower as I'm trying to process and move through my work and continue writing. I apologize again for that and I hope you can all understand that I...am not feeling so good but I'm trying. Now enjoy the fic.