Rebel Specter 6, this one's for you! I hope this is what you wanted.
Summary: When Ezra suddenly gets sick, Kanan has to leave Rex in charge while he goes to a briefing.
Kanan rubbed Ezra's back as another coughing fit wracked his body. He was shivering and wrapped in a blanket, trying to stay awake while the medical droid, which Sato had been kind enough to lend to Hera, examined him. Kanan felt frustrated at the fact that not only was Ezra sick, but when Hera requested permission from General Jackass to take Ezra to the Liberator's medbay (although why she had to ask was beyond her), the answer was no.
"Breathing is raspy and he has a fever. Respiratory system seems to be the cause."
"Well?" Hera, who was trying to bring down Ezra's fever, asked.
"Not to worry," the droid stated. "He only has Post-Rubrosis Flu."
Kanan shuddered at the term "Rubrosis." About a year back, Ezra had caught the disease and had nearly died. The experience of going after the cure was a nightmare. "How is that a good thing? When he had the Red Fever, it nearly killed him!"
The medical droid gave Kanan the droid equivalent of a dirty look. "This is completely normal for Rubrosis survivors not to mention completely harmless if caught in time, which it has. He's had Rubrosis in the past?"
"He has," Hera mentioned, slightly unnerved. "A year and a half ago."
"What stage?"
"Three..." Kanan murmured, wanting so badly to change the subject. Even though it had been a year and a half since the incident with the Red Fever, the experience still haunted both Kanan and Hera.
"Then it is Post-Rubrosis flu, which occurs about one to two years after recovery. He should only experience stage one symptoms but they should not escalate and will clear up within a couple of days. You are familiar with the symptoms. If he begins displaying symptoms of stage two and higher, report to me immediately. A relapse after this long is rare but not impossible. The cure should have taken the disease out of his system but it does not build immunity."
"W-why is the droid here?" Ezra muttered as he woke up. "I feel fine..." As if on cue, Ezra coughed again.
"Liar," Kanan teased. He turned back to the medical droid and continued, his. "So it's just a flu you get after nearly dying from a deadly-should-be-extinct-disease?"
"I can do without the sarcasm," the droid retorted, "and yes, he should be okay in a few days."
Kanan nodded. "R-right..."
Of course, there was a briefing called, and of course, the rest of the crew, minus Ezra for obvious reasons, was required to go.
Kanan, needless to say, was in a panic, not wanting to leave Ezra alone by himself. He sat on the edge of his bunk, adjusting one of the many blankets covering his padawan. Kanan didn't think Rex was called to the briefing, which made Kanan relieved. At least Ezra would be in trustworthy hands. He pulled out his comlink and spoke. "Rex? You there?"
"I'm here," came the reply. "How's Ezra holding up?"
"He's out cold at the moment, which is good," Kanan replied, rubbing Ezra's arm gently. "Were you called today?"
"No. Why?"
"I was called and I don't want to leave Ezra by himself."
"Do you need me to come look after him?"
"If you could that would be great."
"No problem. I'm on my way."
The connection cut and Kanan sighed in relief.
As promised, Rex was on the Ghost a few minutes later. "Thank you so much for taking care of him," Kanan said as he prepared to leave.
"It's no problem," Rex replied. "I'll contact you if he shows further symptoms."
Kanan knelt next to his padawan, who was sprawled out on the bed, dead to the galaxy. He had kicked off his blanket, so Kanan picked it back up and spread it over him. He then lightly tapped Ezra's face. When he sensed that Ezra was awake, he spoke. "I'm leaving for the meeting. I'll be back in an hour. Rex is here to watch you while I'm gone."
"Okay..." Ezra murmured.
"See you later."
"Okay..."
Rex sighed internally. If Ezra was barely responding, he must have not been feeling well at all.
When Kanan left, Rex sighed, wondering what to do.
Watch the holonet? No good. He already checked and there was nothing on.
Eat some food? Probably not a good idea. He had a hard time keeping food down when he had Red Fever and if this was an aftershock, food needed to wait.
Suddenly, an idea came to Rex. "Did I tell you about the time I ran into a deserter on a mission to Saleucami?"
"No..." Ezra rasped. "What happened?"
"I'm sure you've heard of General Grevious, one of the Separatist leaders during the Clone Wars."
Ezra nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of him."
"General Kenobi's clone batallion was dispatched there and I was sent with them. However, when a group of us went to search an area, we were ambushed and I was injured. My brothers took me to a farmhouse they found ran by another clone named Cut Lawquane and his family."
Ezra listened to the story as best he could, fascinated by it. The deserter, his family, the droids, it was quite the adventure it seemed.
When Kanan returned from the meeting, he heard Rex talking to Ezra. He entered the room and sensed two blue signatures, one slightly stagnant with fatigue and the other bright.
"After that, I left to head back to the others, but meeting Cut and his family is an experience I will never forget." Rex looked up upon hearing the door open. "Oh, hey Kanan."
"Hey," Kanan replied. "Is he asleep?"
"No..." Ezra said softly. "Rex was just telling me a story."
Kanan smiled and sat down on the bed, resting a hand on Ezra's clammy forehead. "Thanks Rex," Ezra murmured before his signature went completely stagnant.
"He seems to be better," Rex explained. "Just tired."
Kanan nodded. "Thanks Rex. I mean it."
Rex stood as he prepared to leave. "Anytime, Kanan."
As Rex left the room, he was shocked at how into the story Ezra was. It was one of Rex's more innocent war stories, the others being too graphic and/or too painful.
Rex was glad he did told the story though. Ever since the war ended, Rex sometimes caught himself wondering where Cut was now? Was he still with his family? He had gone to him before Order 66 and told him to get surgery done to remove the chip, but did he do it?
It was too dangerous to go to Saleucami now to check on the Lawquanes, but maybe once this war ended, he could.
It was just another things for him to look forward to when the Empire finally got what it deserved.
I had a lot of trouble picking out a Clone Wars episode for this story, which is part of the reason this story took so long to do. Clone Wars was my childhood, and I wanted to use an episode that wouldn't be painful for Rex to talk about nor overly graphic. (If you've seen Clone Wars, then you know it got pretty graphic in some episodes.) I figured "The Deserter" from Season 2 was a good one. I was going to do "Carnage of Krell," which is my favorite episode ever by the way, but I decided against it.
Hope I did what you wanted Rebel Specter 6!
One more thing: Saturday's update will be delayed until Tuesday. You'll see why soon.
Until next time everyone!