Ezra didn't feel the sun on his face telling him it was morning, but he did feel something tugging his arm off of the bed. Annoyed and groggy, Ezra yanks his arm back and turns on his side, draping his arm over Sabine and the little girl asleep in her arms.
Lu'na had gotten cold during the middle of the night and moved over to sleep in Sabine's arms. And the Mandalorian woman subconsciously accepted the child into her embrace without any hesitation.
Ezra was sleeping peacefully like the woman and child in his arms, until he felt the weight of a person on the mattress and felt someone grab his shoulder and try to shake him awake.
"Come on! Wake up! Wake up!" A little boy's voice growls in frustration.
Ezra groans and rolls to lay on his back, pinching the bridge of his nose as he blinks the sleep from his eyes.
"Icarus what are you doing?" Ezra groans.
"Waking you up Master Bridger." Icarus says.
"What did I say about calling me that?" Ezra groans.
"Oh right. Sorry Master- I mean, Ezra." Icarus mumbles and Ezra smiles, keeping his eyes closed, still reluctant to wake up.
"Why are you waking me up?" Ezra asks.
"You promised you'd do some one on one training with me today!" Icarus says excitedly.
"Oh yeah…right…" Ezra says tiredly, vaguely remembering the promise he made yesterday as he yawns. "What time is it?"
"0600." Icarus says.
"What? Why would you want to get up that early to train? Go back to sleep." Ezra grumbles in annoyance before turning back on his side and pulling Sabine and Lu'na close to him.
"Because exercising early in the morning when it's colder is more efficient because you're sweating less and your heart doesn't have to work as hard." Icarus explains.
"That's bullshit, go back to bed." Ezra grumbles.
"But I'm already up!" Icarus whines.
"Shh…be quiet. Don't wake up your mother and sister." Ezra mumbles sleepily.
"My mother and sister?" Icarus asks.
He was confused as to who Ezra was referring to until he noticed how he was holding Sabine and Lu'na under his arm. Perhaps in his half-awake state, and the fact that he and Sabine were caring for them like parents, Ezra vocalized a subconscious desire of his to have he and Lu'na be his and Sabine's children.
Icarus wasn't quite sure what to make of this information. Which was a new situation for him since he was always so efficient at processing information in the Ascendancy. But matters of the heart, such as a longing for family, were different. But not entirely unheard of. Family was important to the Chiss after all. But it seemed that family for Ezra and Sabine's people meant something different from the Chiss. And somewhere deep down in his heart, Icarus felt like he preferred this new version to the one he was used to. And he also felt like he knew a way to get his new father figure to get out of bed for training.
"If you don't get up to train with me I'll tell Miss Sabine where I learned the word 'bullshit' from." Icarus threatens and Ezra's eyes are suddenly wide open.
He looks down at Sabine as she grunts and adjusts herself in his hold, and nuzzles her head against his chest. She had a content smile. He wanted to keep her smiling and not frowning at him with a blaster aimed at his face. Sure he could hold his own against her now but that didn't mean he was willing to tempt fate. Especially after how mad she got once he called her out for calling him beautiful in mando'a.
"Okay you've convinced me let's go." Ezra says.
Ezra carefully untangles himself from the sleeping girls in the bed. Once he's standing he takes the quilt they were sleeping under and carefully tucks them both back in. Smiling at them, he presses a kiss to Lu'na's forehead and then another soft kiss to Sabine's forehead, causing the Mandalorian to smile softly in her sleep from the feeling of his lips on her skin.
"Alright let's get this over with." Ezra yawns, picks up his tank top off of the back of the couch, and follows Icarus outside.
Sabine eventually woke up with the sun shining in her face, the birds chirping outside, and little Lu'na snuggled in her embrace.
She looks down at the sleeping girl using her chest for a pillow and smiles. Then she frowns when she realizes that there are two people missing from the bed.
"Huh, what?" Sabine mumbles as she sits up and looks around, hoping to locate Ezra and Icarus but she couldn't see them anywhere.
She gently untangles Lu'na from her embrace and places her back in bed. Hoping not to wake her but the child wakes up anyway.
"Mama?" Lu'na sleepily asks Sabine.
"Shh…" Sabine gently hushes. "Just go back to sleep ad'ika (little one)."
"But-" Lu'na protests.
"Shh…sleep." Sabine repeats and tucks her back in under the covers.
Lu'na didn't go back to sleep though. She was worried. She forgot Sabine wasn't her mom. But she still called her "mama" this morning. What if that made Sabine uncomfortable and that's why Sabine was seemingly pushing her away?
But the real reason was that Sabine was wondering where her missing boys were. Until she spotted them both outside doing some lightsaber training. Something Ezra shouldn't be doing given his injuries.
Sabine clenches her fists and growls.
"That little shi-" Sabine grumbles.
"Miss-abine?" Lu'na asks softly and looks at her lap while playing with the sheets.
Sabine instantly puts her anger at Ezra aside to attend to the child's needs.
"What is it Lu'na?" Sabine asks and kneels beside the bed in front of Lu'na.
"I-is it okay to call you mama today too?" Lu'na asks meekly and Sabine feels her heart melt.
"Oh…" Sabine gasps as she tears up both from the little girl's request and the fact that it was the most fluent basic she's heard from the girl ever.
"Oh Lu'na of course you can!" Sabine says without even hesitating.
The way her face lit up when she heard that made Sabine's heart melt even more with love for this child who wanted her to be her mom.
"Mama! Mama!" Lu'na cheers and jumps from the bed into Sabine's outstretched arms.
Sabine catches her and hugs her tight with one arm wrapped around her waist while the other hand holds the back of her head as she stands up, carrying her in her arms.
"Yes Lu'na." Sabine says as she tears up and rests her head against the child's. "I'll be your mother today."
"And can Ezra be papa?" Lu'na asks.
Sabine's heart leapt into her throat and her face was on fire. Sure Lu'na had called them mom and dad last night but Sabine had been too focused on calming Lu'na from her nightmare to really give the implications of that much thought.
Her and Ezra…being parents? Raising children… The thought made her heart race. She never thought that the thought of having children with Ezra would make her feel this way. It was an indescribable feeling. It was only making herself fall in love with him more. He'd already won her with his heart long before he left all those years ago with Thrawn and the purrgil. Although she'd never admit it. Not even to herself. But those good looks he developed in his exile only made it harder to deny what she already knew. And now he just had to go and take it a step further and show her what an amazing future they could have together, with a family.
But it was only for one day. She could hide how this made her feel about Ezra for one day! Right?
"Sure he can. But we should ask him first." Sabine says. "I was planning on heading outside anyway because he's doing something he shouldn't be doing…" Sabine growls as she looks out over the balcony and sees Ezra training.
"Oooo is papa in trouble?" Lu'na asks.
"Yes. Yes he is…" Sabine grumbles before heading outside.
Icarus and Ezra were practicing forms when suddenly Icarus notices his Master freeze in place.
"What is it, Master?" Icarus asks.
"Stop doing your forms." Ezra instructs, holding his hand out in front of Icarus. "Try to focus on the Force for a minute."
Ezra and Icarus both close their eyes as they focus on the Force.
"Do you sense it? The emotion?" Ezra asks.
"Yes. I'm sensing…anger…" Icarus answers.
"That's right. And once you practice your connection to the Force, you'll be able to recognize its source like I can." Ezra explains.
"So what's the source of this anger?" Icarus asks.
"A source that I'm very familiar with." Ezra says and opens his eyes and looks at the angry Mandalorian woman marching across the lawn.
His younger self would have been scared shitless after sensing this. But he was a grown man now who matched her skill as a warrior. He no longer feared her wrath now that he knew he could take her. But he was also wise enough to know that she could probably do some damage if he really pushed her so it was probably best to limit the amount of anger she would have towards him.
The only thing he was worried about was how attractive she looked in the sunlight wearing nothing but those short shorts and tight tank top.
Damn, she could stop traffic wearing that.
But he didn't dare say his thoughts out loud because he valued his life.
"What the kri-" Sabine starts then remembers there's a young child present and looks at Lu'na who was staring at her with big curious eyes and stops herself from cursing. "W-what do you think you're doing out here?!"
"Training, obviously. Icarus wanted an early morning session and we didn't get to make the training sabers yesterday so I figured we'd whittle them up and I'd show him some forms. I don't see how that's a problem, you're not the one who had to get up at the crack of Dawn." Ezra says and yawns.
"But I'm not the one who got their chest torn open by a draygozon yesterday, which is why we couldn't make those sabers in the first place! You should be resting, not training and putting strain on your wounds to make them open up again!" Sabine scolds him.
Ezra just rolls his eyes.
"'Bine you put bacta gel on them yesterday, remember? They're practically all healed up now you even said so yourself last night!" Ezra reminds her and Sabine scoffs in disbelief.
"No they are not!" She disagrees. "I said they were healed enough that I wasn't worried about the kids opening them if they slept with us during the night, training is a much different story!"
"Oh come on a little cardio and saber practice isn't going to hurt them now is it?" Ezra explains to her.
"How do you know that? All it takes is just one swing of that stick a little too hard and that delicate scab will get torn right-" Sabine rants until she's cut off by Ezra removing his tank top and showing her the wounds on his chest.
His sculpted, scratched up, sweaty chest that was heaving with each breath as droplets of sweat glistened on the soft hairs of his chest before dripping down his chest to his abs, and even lower after that.
"Off." Sabine squeaks as that's all she's able to utter at the moment.
Now Icarus was the one rolling his eyes as he watched Sabine gawk at Ezra.
"Go ahead, take a look." Ezra instructs.
"Oh I am looking." Sabine mutters and Lu'na giggles while Icarus gags.
"And do you see any serious wounds that would open up by lightly training?" Ezra asks.
"Abs…olutely Ezra! You need to take it easy! I don't want you to injure yourself any more di'kut!" Sabine saves herself and scolds him. "You couldn't have just meditated with Icarus?"
"We tried." Icarus says. "But Ezra just kept falling asleep."
"Yeah… I was really comfy in that bed… I didn't want to leave." Ezra yawns.
Sabine smiles at him and then her mind starts to wander.
"I didn't want you to leave either…" She says out loud as she envisions what it would be like to wake up in his arms.
To have him hold her like she was the most precious thing in the world to him and give her a kiss good morning- wait what?! Sabine no! You're supposed to be mad at him! Get it together girl!
"Really? You like having me in bed with you?" Ezra asks, feeling his heart swell with joy as his face lights up from what her words could potentially mean.
"What?! Uh…no! I uh…" Sabine stammers as she looks at the very attractive half naked man before her and resists the urge to just throw herself at him. "I just meant that you uh…you should have stayed there! In bed!" Sabine scolds him with a bit less confidence. "You should be resting after what you went through! You can train Icarus another time! It's not worth risking further injury! Now go back to bed you di'kut!"
She gives him a frustrated slap on the shoulder too. Nothing too forceful but enough to show that she was mad at him.
But to her surprise, he grabs her hand before she pulls it back and smiles, thinking of a smooth way to ease her anger.
"Meh ibac mav narir gar mirjahaal, ni mav narir bid gar vercopa. (If that will put your mind at ease, then I will do as you wish.)" Ezra says and kisses the back of her hand.
Lu'na's jaw dropped from the bold move. Even Icarus arched an eyebrow in surprise from his Master's intrepid action of placing his lips on his crush.
Sabine let out a soft gasp as his lips made contact with her skin and made every nerve ending fire off in excitement all at once.
It didn't take a force sensitive to sense the immediate shift from her being furious to flustered. Especially when it was a shift he'd sensed in her many times by now.
Sabine could feel her face heating up as she began to swoon again.
Oh…his words…his lips…his… Sabine trails off as he picks up his head and looks at her with those sapphire eyes of his shining in the sunlight. Everything! She concludes.
Curse this man for making me care about him and then becoming so hot and perfect that I can't stay mad at him anymore like I used to! Sabine thinks as she stares deeper into those sweet sapphire eyes.
The hand that he wasn't holding clenches and unclenches by her side as she seriously considers dragging him away from the kids to jump his bones behind whatever privacy the nearby shrubbery would allow. But the fact that she was seriously considering doing that with Ezra of all people made her anxious enough that she chickened out of it. But at least she wasn't the only one getting jittery about this situation.
Ezra felt himself getting flustered in reaction to Sabine getting flustered. He would never read her mind without her permission so he had no idea what she was thinking. But her emotions were practically screaming into the Force. And by holding her hand he could pick up on them more clearly. And what she felt made him feel flustered and excited too. Because it felt like she wasn't mad that he had done something so flirtatious like kissing her hand. In fact, it felt like she might have actually liked it! And what that could mean made Ezra's heart surge with hope.
His gaze shifted to her lips and his hand clenches and unclenches at his side as he seriously thinks about reaching up to cup her face in his hand and kiss her. He knew it was risky and that it was an insane thought to think that she would ever let him do that. But for some reason he was getting the sense that if he did do that, that she wouldn't object. Which was what made him all the more eager to want to kiss her. To make the dream he's had since he met her finally come true in this rare instance where she might actually allow it…
But the Force didn't intend on allowing that dream to come true just yet.
Said delay came in the form of a tug that Ezra felt on his pants and looked down to see Lu'na at his side.
"Ezra can I call you Papa today?" Lu'na asks.
Ezra seems shocked at first but also happy from her request.
The kids are really growing on him too… Sabine thinks to herself and smiles.
Ezra looks at Sabine and seeing her small smile made him realize he had not only found a way to make Lu'na get more comfortable with him, but also found another way to get back on Sabine's good side and distract her from her anger. There was no way she'd ever try to hurt him while he's holding a kid right?
"Of course Lu'na! I'd love to be your papa for a day!" Ezra exclaims and picks Lu'na up and holds her over his head while she squeals in delight.
"Yay! Now I have mama and papa!" Lu'na cheers.
"Mama and Papa?" Ezra arches an eyebrow. "Whose mama?"
"Me." Sabine says and shyly rubs her arm.
Both of their faces felt hot now.
"Oh." Ezra squeaks out.
"I-I don't want to do this permanently!" Sabine quickly points out. "I-I just thought that since she's a child in need of two adults to take care of her that we could do that for a bit. She seems to like us so maybe that'll ease her nightmares."
"Yeah that's possible." Ezra agrees and tousles Lu'na's hair, earning him another giggle.
"Yeah so maybe we could keep playing along today?" Sabine shyly suggests. "For the kids sake of course!" She quickly adds.
"Oh yeah absolutely, totally for them and only them! I completely agree!" Ezra agrees just as fast.
"You two are hopeless." Icarus grumbles and rolls his eyes.
"Papa! Papa!" Lu'na shouts and tugs on Ezra's hair.
"Ow! Hey, watch the hair!" Ezra replies and rubs the side of his head and pouts while Sabine giggles in amusement.
"What is it, little one?" Ezra asks the child in his arms.
Lu'na's stomach growls.
"I hungry." She says.
Sabine and Ezra chuckle.
"Alright let's go get you some food then." Sabine says and brushes a stray lock of hair from the little girl's face.
"Oh perfect timing! I have just the thing!" Someone shouts in the distance and the four of them turn to see Thelma coming up over the hill carrying baskets. "Some of the fruit in our orchards are finally ripe for picking! Since you four are hungry, why don't you go out and pick some for breakfast?" Thelma suggests.
"Yummy!" Lu'na cheers and Sabine and Ezra laugh.
"Well I guess we're going picking then." Sabine says and takes a basket from Thelma.
"Oh wonderful! That will be such a big help!" Thelma cheers as Ezra shifts Lu'na so he's holding her with one arm so he can take the other basket from Thelma.
"But you two should probably change into some clothes that cover you up a bit more. There are some plants in the orchard that have quite a lot of thorns and the scratches from them can be pretty nasty." Thelma warns.
"Alright then we'll get changed and go picking." Ezra says and looks at Sabine.
Icarus had come over to hold her hand and he gave her a nod of approval for the idea.
"Sounds like a plan." Sabine says.
"Yummy! Yummy! Yummy!" Lu'na cheers as she runs down the orchard path.
"Lu'na slow down!" Icarus calls after her as he runs to catch up. "You'll get lost if you get too far ahead of us!"
Sabine and Ezra leisurely walked behind the kids, keeping them in their sights without rushing to catch up with them.
"You know when Thelma told us we would need to cover up more, I don't think she meant that you'd need your ratty old cape." Sabine teases as she looks over Ezra's choice in attire.
He was wearing his white button down shirt with orange pants but for some reason decided to wear his ratty old cloak that he's had for years on that deserted planet too.
"Well she did say to cover up and this does cover up!" Ezra says and does a twirl to make his cape dramatically twirl with him and Sabine laughs. "Besides it's a little chilly out here anyway I could use the extra layer."
"Well it looks ridiculous!" Sabine teases.
"Oh yeah then why did you bring your helmet with you if we're just picking fruit?" Ezra asks, gesturing to Sabine's helmet that she kept in her basket.
"Because my armor wouldn't be a complete set without it and it felt wrong to wear the rest of my armor without having my helmet around." Sabine explains.
Ezra scoffs and rolls his eyes and Sabine frowns.
"Hey at least my reasoning makes sense!" Sabine retorts.
Ezra still looks down at her and laughs.
"What's so funny?" Sabine asks.
"Nothing really, it's just…seeing you try to insult me from all the way down there…" Ezra says and gently pats the top of her head. "Is kind of funny and cute."
Sabine began fuming at the jab he made at her height. She feared the day would come that he would be taller than her and he would get his revenge on all of the short jokes she made about him when they were teenagers. And now the day has come.
"Oh really?!" She retorts and marches in front of him, staring up at him with a frown on her face while Ezra crosses his arms over his chest and flashes her an amused grin. "Well I'm not that much shorter than you mister!"
Sabine pokes his chest and Ezra bites his bottom lip to hold back a laugh and Sabine notices and gets even more frustrated. And flustered, which made her more frustrated.
"And I doubt you'll think it's so cute when I climb my way up there-" Sabine threatens.
"Well if you have to climb then I'll have some time to prepare to take you down." Ezra says and winks before noticing a ladder and smirks.
"You should probably grab that ladder, I highly doubt you'll be able to reach anything here without it." Ezra teases and Sabine gasps as Ezra winks at her and walks off.
She stomps her foot and growls at him as she practically had steam coming out of her ears at this point. She was not going to let him get away with this. Because if she did then she knew he would never stop teasing her about being taller than her and she would keep getting hot and bothered by him pointing that out to her.
So she runs up to him and jumps onto his back from behind with as much force as she could muster to knock him to the ground while wrapping her arms around him in a loose headlock. Except, he didn't go down. He staggered forward a bit but then he straightened himself up and hooked his arms under her legs to help keep her up as she now rode on his back. Which, judging by how flustered she looked, was clearly not what her plan was.
"W-what…h-how…" Sabine stammers then yelps as Ezra tilts his head back a bit to look at her face since she was a bit higher up than him.
"If you want me to carry you around on my back I'd appreciate it if you gave me some warning next time." Ezra says and flashes her an attractive smirk along with a wink that has her feeling all sorts of things.
Her mind felt like it was going to fry from trying to process how it was possible for this scrawny little boy who used to be throwing himself at her only for her to take him down with the flick of her wrist, to turn into this absolute hunk that she struggled to take down had her swooning with a wink as he carried her on his back.
How the fuck is this Ezra Bridger?! This is the most attractive man I've ever met in my life! This cannot be him! It's impossible! It just can't be! And yet it is! Why did Ezra Bridger of all people have to grow up to be the man of my dreams? Who gave him the audacity to make me feel things I swore I would never feel for anyone! Much less HIM!
"I'm just going to go pick some fruit." Sabine declares and gets off of his back, storming off towards a ladder.
Ezra follows her and she growls.
"What are you doing?" She snaps at him.
"Spotting you in case you fall off the ladder." Ezra tells her and she scoffs as she stands up to pick a fruit off of the tree.
"Ezra, why the hell would you think a Mandalorian like me, with incredible balance, would fall-Ah!" She screams as a weird rodent creature grabs the fruit she was trying to pick.
She throws the creature and the fruit behind her and falls down with them, expecting to hit the ground but instead lands in Ezra's arms, where he held her bridal style. If he read her mind right now, all he would hear is screaming.
"What did I tell you 'bine?" Ezra says and flashes her an arrogant smirk.
Sabine growls in flustered frustration and quickly gets out of his arms and turns around so he can't see how much color was in her face.
"You and your useless new height." She grumbles and kicks the grass.
"Hey, my height does serve a use." Ezra says and picks up Lu'na.
She giggles as Ezra lifts her up and places her to sit on his shoulders.
"There you go Lu'na. You can grab it now." Ezra says and Lu'na cheers and claps before reaching for the fruit.
Sabine's anger faded and she smiled at Ezra, admiring how he interacted with the young girl.
Ezra walks along the rows of trees to let Lu'na pick fruit until she notices Icarus picking new fruits and wants to go help him.
But when Lu'na got to those trees she quickly learned that she was too short to reach them. Especially the one she wanted at the very top of the tree.
Ezra noticed the young Chiss girl looking longingly up at a fruit hanging from the top of the tree. Sabine couldn't reach it, and neither could he, even if he helped Lu'na by putting her on his shoulders again. But thankfully he could help another way.
He closes his eyes and concentrates on the fruit. Within seconds he feels it in his palm and passes it to Lu'na.
"There you go kiddo." Ezra says with a smile.
"Thank you so much!" Lu'na exclaims and turns to Icarus. "Icky look papa got me one from the top of the tree!"
"Whoa it looks so good! Can I have one too?" Icarus asks.
"Sure!" Ezra says and pulls another one down and shows off a bit by rolling it down his arm before he hands it to Icarus.
Sabine scoffs and rolls her eyes at him showing off but she couldn't help but smile anyway. She certainly wasn't as annoyed by his showmanship as she used to be. In fact, she may even be starting to like it. Not that she would ever tell him.
She's pulled from her thoughts by a fruit being placed in her line of sight by Ezra.
"For you, milady." Ezra says and Sabine feels her face heat up as she slowly takes the fruit from his hand.
"Milady?" She asks with a smirk. "Where did that nickname come from?"
"I don't know. I was just being playful and that nickname sort of slipped out." Ezra admits shyly, scratching the back of his head.
"Uh huh, sure." Sabine says while giving him a quick once over, then turning and walking away from him to trick him into panicking over how she feels about the nickname while smirking.
"Y-you don't…sound…sure." Ezra says and follows her, panic evident in his voice.
He wraps his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind and Sabine gasps softly and her face flushes. Thankfully he couldn't see it.
"If we're playing the parts of mom and dad, wouldn't that make you my lady? You know, just to pretend?" Ezra asks.
Sabine chuckles and leans back against him. Her chest felt warm at the thought of her being his, and him being hers. He's really gone from annoying to smooth with those pick up lines. If that's even what they are, she wonders.
"Well…" Sabine says and bashfully looks at the fruit in her hands.
The sound of a crying child caught both of the adults' attention. Sabine runs from Ezra's embrace and takes off towards the little girl sitting in the dirt and crying while Ezra follows her.
"Lu'na!" Sabine shouts as she kneels beside the crying girl and immediately gathers her into her arms.
"Mama!" Lu'na cries and immediately clings to her as soon as she's embraced.
"I told you to watch where you're going!" Icarus scolds her as Sabine bounces her in her arms and rubs her back to soothe her.
"Icarus don't be so hard on her." Sabine says to him sternly. "She's only four."
"Mama my knee hurts!" Lu'na wails and Sabine looks and sees a small scrape on her knee.
"Oh! Oh no Lu'na." Sabine says and scoops up the crying girl in her arms. "Shh. Shh. It's alright ad'ika. Buir ic olar at gotal'ur bic jate'shya. (Mom is here to make it better)"
Ezra felt butterflies in his stomach from watching her soothe this little girl. He didn't know why, or well, he did but he didn't want to dwell on a dream.
But Sabine notices him staring and her cheeks color and she quickly looks away, her face on fire as her mind recalls the picture of the way Ezra was looking at her just now. And she places her hand over her chest plate and clenches it in her hand as she thinks about all of the warm fuzzy feelings it was giving her.
"W-what are you…l-looking at me like….that for?" Sabine stammers.
"Looking at you like what?" Ezra asks.
"Like," Sabine turns to face him and loses her breath again when she sees his handsome face with an almost romantic light around it from the artificial sun.
"L-like that!" Sabine scolds him. "Y-you're looking at me…" like you're in love with me "weird." She says.
"S-sorry I didn't realize I was looking at you a certain way." Ezra says and shyly scratches the back of his neck while giving her his signature cheeky grin.
Another flush of warmth spreads through her chest at the sight and Sabine panics again. Oh come on! Why does that stupid dorky face he makes have to be attractive now too!?
Sabine's heart fills with joy. But she still refused to let it show.
"O-oh. W-well I-I don't really know where that came from." Sabine says shyly and looks away from him while dragging her foot in the dirt. "My mom used to say soothing things to me in mando'a a lot when I would get injured sometimes so I figured I'd do the same for Lu'na."
Sabine steals a glance up at him and sees he's still giving her that adoring look and she quickly looks away bashfully.
"Why are you still staring at me like that?" She asks.
"I don't know…it's just…I've never seen this side of you before yesterday." Ezra says.
"What side of me?" Sabine asks.
Lu'na wraps her arms around Sabine's neck and nuzzles her face into her shoulder and both adults smile warmly at her.
"That side." Ezra says. "I've never seen you interact with kids before. I didn't know you were so good with them."
"Well, children are really important to Mandalorians. They're the future after all." Sabine explains and smiles at Lu'na. "So part of being Mandalorian means caring for children. We were just never around any during the rebellion for you to see that."
"Interesting." Ezra says.
"Yes, very." Icarus adds. "From what Ivant has told me about the Jedi, it seems they viewed raising their younglings the same way. A Mandalorian and a Jedi would make perfect parents then."
Ezra and Sabine stare at each other. Icarus had just given them quite a revelation that gave them both butterflies in their stomach.
"Papa, my knee still hurts." Lu'na sniffles.
"Oh no!" Ezra gasps and takes her from Sabine. "Whatever will I do about that!"
Lu'na squeals in delight as Ezra hoists her into the air and spins her around to distract her from the pain. Then he holds her in his arms against his chest and tickles her, making her laugh.
Sabine felt herself tearing up at the sight. He really would be such a good father…and that might be the last thing I need to make me fall in love with him.
"Well that's a nice thought but since I'm Mandalorian, there's something we'd have to do before we could be proper parents." Sabine says.
"And what's that?" Ezra asks.
"You would have to recite the riduurok." Sabine says.
"What's that?" Ezra asks.
"The Mandalorian marriage vows. According to our people, if you're going to be raising children with someone then you should be committed to them. So all a couple has to do is recite them to each other and then they're married." Sabine explains.
Ezra looks at her quizzically, expecting her to say more.
"Wait…is that it?" He asks while the corner of his lip lifts slightly into a smirk.
"Yeah." Sabine says, smiling when she sees his reaction. "What? Is there something wrong with that?"
"Not really, it's just…it seems so…simple." Ezra says.
"Well it was meant to be simple!" Sabine explains. "During war, you don't have time for a big ceremony so by having it be just reciting an oath it allows for more marriages."
"Makes sense." Ezra says and sets Lu'na down. "What is the oath?"
"Mhi solus tome. (We are one together.)" Sabine says
"Mhi solus tome. (We are one together.)" Ezra repeats.
"Mhi solus dhar'tome. (We are one when parted.)" Sabine says.
"Mhi solus dhar'tome. (We are one when parted.)" Ezra repeats.
"Mhi me'dinui an. (We share all.)" Sabine says.
"Mhi me'dinui an. (We share all.)" Ezra repeats.
"Mhi ba'juri verde. (We will raise warriors.)" Sabine says.
"Mhi ba-" Ezra starts to repeat.
Sabine gasps when she realizes what he's doing would mean, and she slaps her hand over his mouth. Her face felt like it was on fire and poor Ezra just looked confused.
"Ezra! You can't say that!" Sabine shouts in a soft high pitched voice.
"Why not?" Ezra asks, his voice muffled by her hand.
"Because…" Sabine starts and slowly removes her hand from his mouth and places it on his chest. "if you repeat the riduurok back to me, that would make us married…"
Ezra's eyes widen as he takes a step back from Sabine.
"Wait…really?" He asks.
"Yeah…that's how it works." Sabine says.
"So d-did I just marry you!?" Ezra exclaims.
Sabine laughs at his cluelessness but she was still flustered nevertheless.
"No, don't worry. We'd only be married if you recited the whole thing back to me." Sabine explains.
Ezra lets out a short laugh before holding Sabine's hand over his chest.
"So reciting a few words in mando'a is all someone would have to do to marry you?" Ezra asks, flashing Sabine a grin that has her face heating up and her heart racing.
"Y-yeah…" Sabine stutters, barely audible and spreading her fingers out on his chest, pressing her palm over his heart. "Why do you ask?"
The corner of Ezra's lip twitches a bit as he stares into her eyes.
"Just curious…" He replies softly and Sabine's heart starts pounding even more and her mind starts racing.
She didn't know what to think…she should've been offended, appalled even! This was Ezra after all! So her first instinct was to reject him by scolding him or punching him for suggesting a romantic union with her like she did when they were younger.
But instead when she stares into those big blue eyes, she just felt surprisingly happy that he might still have feelings for her…which made her heart race and her mind short-circuit as she realizes what that could mean for how she feels about him! Was this something beyond just infatuation? Does she finally have to face the fact that she might actually be in love with Ezra Bridger?
Meanwhile, from a balcony on the homestead, Thelma looks out over the orchards and smiles.
"I bet they're enjoying themselves out there." She says with a smile before looking at a wheel connected to a control panel on the balcony.
"So I think it's time to put the hose on those kids." Thelma says and turns the wheel.
Sabine opens her mouth, preparing to question him further on what he meant by that but a sudden shower of water falling down on them cuts her short.
All four of them are shocked by the sudden downpour of water. It was so heavy that they could barely see what was in front of them. The kids scream and Sabine and Ezra quickly think to grab them and pull them close before they panic and run out of sight. Ezra puts his cloak over the kids, himself, and Sabine to try to shelter them all from the rain.
"I bet you're glad I brought my cloak now." Ezra jeers and Sabine rolls her eyes.
"What's going on?" Sabine asks. "We're in a cave, how can there be rain!"
"I've seen this happen once before from the homestead." Icarus answers. "It's the irrigation system for the orchard. These plants were used to having constant rainfall every few days before Csilla froze over. So a sprinkler system was set up that melts the show from above and rains it down onto the plants to simulate the rainfall that they need to grow properly."
"Oh okay, so it'll be over soon right?" Sabine asks.
"Uh…actually this usually lasts for 8-10 hours at least." Icarus says.
"Hours?!" Sabine and Ezra exclaim.
"Well then we can't stay out here like this, we'll all get hypothermia or catch a cold. Is there somewhere we can go to take shelter until this is over?" Ezra asks Icarus.
"I don't know. I've never been in the orchards before and neither has Lu'na." Icarus says and Lu'na shakes her head no before burying her face in Sabine's leg.
Sabine looks sad at the scared, wet little girl clinging to her. And the equally frightened and damp little boy clinging to Ezra. She needed to get these kids somewhere safe. If only she could see through this rain-wait! She can!
"Wait a minute! I can use my visor to see through the rain and see if there's somewhere nearby where we can take shelter!" Sabine explains.
She picks her helmet up and puts it on to use her visor to see through the rain.
"There! There's a cottage a few rows down from us. We can take shelter there for now until it stops raining!" Sabine suggests.
"Bet you're glad I brought my helmet now!" She teases back and he smirks.
"Perfect!" Ezra says. "Come on kids, let's go!"
Ezra scoops Lu'na up in his arms and the four of them follow Sabine towards the cottage. But when they arrive at the door, there's only three of them. Icarus was nowhere to be seen.
"Wait, where's Icarus?" Sabine asks when they reach the front door of the cottage and realizes he's not there.
Ezra looks around and confirms he's nowhere to be found.
"He must've gotten separated from us in the rain." Ezra says.
He hands Lu'na to Sabine and her heart sinks, knowing what he wanted to do.
"Get her inside, I'll go find Icarus." Ezra says.
"What? No! You can't go! How are you going to find him and find your way back without my visor? Let me go instead." Sabine insists.
"No. I remember you telling me once that your thermal reader doesn't work well in heavy rain. You won't be able to find him with your helmet but I can find him with the Force." Ezra says.
"But what if there's another dangerous animal out there and it hurts you?" Sabine asks.
"Sabine it'll be fine Ahsoka, Thrawn and Eli checked out the starbird there's no other animals that hitched a ride. There's no danger!" Ezra insists.
"How do you know for sure?" Sabine asks. "What if one snuck out before and is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike?"
Ezra shakes his head and lets out a short laugh from her incessant worrying before pressing his forehead against where hers would be under her helmet. Another keldabe kiss. Sabine wasn't sure how much more of this she could take before her resolve finally breaks and she just kisses him right on the lips.
"I know why you're worried 'bine. But you don't have to be. The Force will lead me back to you and Lu'na once I find Icarus." Ezra assures her.
"Papa promise?" Lu'na asks softly and Ezra smiles at her.
"Papa promises." Ezra says and kisses Lu'na on the forehead before venturing out into the rain to find Icarus.
Sabine sighs, knowing there was no way of talking him out of this.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll be right back with Icarus, now get inside and stay dry." Ezra instructs them and disappears out into the rain.
Sabine watches through her visor until his heat signature disappears.
"Mama." Lu'na says softly. "Papa is coming back? Right?"
Sabine pushes her worries down as best she could for the child's sake.
"Yes. Don't worry Lu'na. He said he'd be right back with Icarus." Sabine says.
Then she uses a laser in her vambrace to cut off the padlock on the cottage door before looking back out at the heavy rain, unable to see anything past it.
"He promised… So he has to come back. He will. I know it." Sabine says, grateful that her helmet kept her from seeing her true emotions on her face as she brushes back the Chiss girl's hair and carries her inside.
Ezra could barely see in front of him. Every time he wiped the rain out of his eyes, he just had to keep wiping more out. And even with his hood up that was an issue. He could barely see. Thankfully, he had a master who found a way to work around that.
"Kanan…I wonder what you'd say to me now. I've had these two students for two days and the only thing I've shown them is that I can get my ass handed to me and lose them in a storm. You'd probably be disappointed in me. But then again, you weren't really much different from me when you first started out teaching me either." Ezra recalls and laughs to himself.
Then he finally picks up on Icarus's presence and follows it.
After carefully weaving his way through the trees he comes across a thorn bush like the ones Thelma warned him about.
"Icarus!" Ezra shouts.
"Ezra!" Icarus shouts back from the bush followed by a boom of thunder.
Ezra could hear Icarus crying from the thorn bush. He must have taken shelter there. He was about to climb in there after him but then he remembered Thelma's warning about the thorn bushes and how sharp they were. This was the only shirt he owned at the moment aside from that old tank top. And he knew it would get all torn up if he went in there wearing it. So he takes it off and stuffs it in his basket and braves the thorns to crawl inside the bush and rescue Icarus.
"Ezra!" Icarus shouts when he sees Ezra crawl inside the bush.
"Hey buddy!" Ezra says. "Ouch! Thelma wasn't kidding about those thorns! They hurt!"
"Yeah. Getting in here wasn't fun." Icarus says.
"Then why did you try to get in here?" Ezra asks.
"Because I sensed something in here!" Icarus says. "And then I found this glowing rock!"
Icarus shows Ezra the kyber crystal he found in his hand.
"Icarus! That's amazing! You found one! I'm so proud of you!" Ezra praises and hugs him.
Icarus laughs and accepts the affection from Ezra until he recoils in disgust.
"What's wrong?" Ezra asks.
Icarus points and Ezra looks down at his chest and finds himself covered in scratches. Some of which were bleeding. But his pants weren't torn up so that was good.
"Welp. Sabine's going to be pissed at me for getting hurt again." Ezra groans and turns to leave the bush.
"Yes, I'm noticing she seems to not want the man she loves to injure himself." Icarus says and Ezra freezes before turning back to Icarus.
"She doesn't love me." Ezra says, swallowing a lump in his throat as he does so.
"Master Bridger, have you seen how Sabine looks at you?" Icarus deadpans.
Ezra scratches the back of his neck and shakes his head.
"It's not what it looks like." Ezra tells him.
"Really? Because to me it looks like she's looking at you like she can't wait to get you alone somewhere." Icarus says.
Ezra's face heats up and he turns to Icarus with a shocked expression.
"How old are you supposed to be again?" He asks.
"Quit dodging the question!" Icarus shouts and grabs Ezra's head in his hands. "We connected through the Force when you reached out to find me so I know you think about her way too much for someone who's claiming they're not in love! And if you used five more of your brain cells you'd see that it's completely obvious that she wants you back!" He concludes while shaking Ezra's head a bit.
Ezra gently takes Icarus's hands and removes them from his face.
Icarus immediately regretted yelling at Ezra when he saw the sad expression on his face.
"You don't know her like I do Icarus." Ezra starts. "When we first met it was like love at first sight. But for me. Not for her. I spent close to a year flirting with her and doing everything I could to try to impress her. But every time I was met with harsh rejection."
He plays with the grass and smiles softly.
"I don't really blame her though. I was kind of a sleazy jerk back then who was just infatuated with her and thought that each 'no' meant that I should just try harder." Ezra says. "I didn't deserve her back then. I'm not even sure if I deserve her now."
"Ezra, do you really think Sabine would spend a decade looking for you if she didn't think you were worth it?" Icarus asks him
Ezra's body language changes and his eyebrows raise at the hopeful thought.
"Remember you said that Sabine was the one person you could count on. The one person you could trust with your life! And she spent all of that time looking for you and keeping your lightsaber at her side because she took your words to heart! She clearly cares about you a lot! Her loving you isn't out of the realm of possibility! She's sending so many signals but you're ignoring them because you're scared she's going to hate you when in reality that possibility is practically zero!" Icarus says.
Ezra smiles and Icarus can see tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
"I know Icarus, I know." Ezra says. "It's just that…I already got rejected by her once before. And it was fine then because I barely knew her so I got over it pretty easily but…now, now that I know her as well as I know myself, and everything we've been through…she's the person I care about the most in the world. I-if she were to reject me now…I…I don't know if I'd ever be happy again."
Icarus felt himself tearing up as he saw the pain in Ezra's eyes.
"I…I just can't risk it. Not unless I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she feels the same. I already lost her once. I can't lose her forever." Ezra explains.
"Okay, so I found some dry clothes at least." Sabine sighs as she comes downstairs with clothes in her hands and folded towels.
Lu'na smiles as Sabine comes back into the kitchen with her findings.
"You and Icarus are going to have your pick of outfits." Sabine notes, placing all of the kids' clothes she found on the table. "Whereas Ezra and I may end up having to split this one."
Sabine looks at the pair of sweatpants and tank top she found upstairs and groans.
"How do I keep getting stuck in situations where I have to deal with him being shirtless?" Sabine asks.
"I thought you like that." Lu'na says and Sabine's cheeks color.
"W-what?" She stammers.
"You smile when he has no shirt. Do you like him without it?" Lu'na asks in her broken basic.
"I uh…well I- I mean uh…" Sabine stammers and looks at the grinning Chiss child. "I smile at him because I think he's very handsome. That's all."
"So you love him?" Lu'na asks.
"What?!" Sabine exclaims at this four year old's audacity to call her out. "I don't love him! I just think he's attractive and we're close friends so I know him very well and he knows me the same. We know how to fight together, protect each other, make each other laugh, comfort each other, just brighten each other's lives by being in it, trusting each other more than anyone else in the world and being willing to do anything for each other..." Sabine says and smiles bashfully.
"So you love him?" Lu'na repeats.
"No! I don't! I don't know! I just-ugh!" Sabine groans and walks over to the kitchen window over the sink.
Sabine thought about Hera's warning.
Tell him while you still can.
She did take that warning to heart. She saw how devastated Hera was after Kanan's death. Ezra had only been around for the initial aftermath. But she and Zeb had been around for the rest. The nights when she would wake up sobbing hysterically and either she or Zeb would have to calm her down along with Jacen who would be woken up by his mother's outbursts of grief.
Sabine didn't want her and Ezra to end up like that. She prayed that she would never lose him permanently but, in this world that wasn't a guarantee. And they'd already lost so much time, she really shouldn't be wasting more but, how could she admit to him that she loves him before she could admit it to herself?
And if he rejected her? After all of these years they spent together? He could very well be the person who means the most to her in the world. She didn't know how she could possibly handle that heartbreak if she lost him by taking a chance too soon.
"I already lost him once. I can't lose him forever." She says and looks out the window.