Chapter Text
"Come on, before someone sees us!"
Ezra grabbed Sabine's gloved hand and pulled her on board one of the many small shuttles in the Chimera's hangar. They were both wearing stolen stormtrooper armor, which fit too tightly on Ezra and too loose on Sabine, but they made it work. As soon as she got the shuttle's navicomputer booted up, Sabine throttled the engines, and they took off as fast as they could.
As soon as they were away and safely in hyperspace, Ezra took off the uncomfortable helmet and chucked it behind him. Sabine did the same with hers, shaking loose her short purple hair. She kept her eyes fixed on the blue light of hyperspace, but Ezra let his wander until they settled on her face.
She had found him about five rotations ago, but it might as well have been five seconds. He still couldn't believe that she was there with him, and they were home.
Well, heading home, anyway. The hard part was over. All that was left was the short ride to Lothal.
Sabine exhaled loudly and turned to find him staring at her.
"What, is there something on my face?" she asked, sending Ezra a pointed look. He chuckled and averted his gaze.
"No, no, you're fine. I just can't believe you're real right now."
"Huh," Sabine kicked her feet up on the dashboard. "Thought you would have gotten used to me by now."
She tilted her head, and in the swimming light of hyperspace Ezra could see a little mark on her neck. He blushed and looked away, his mind going back to that night on Peridea, after she had first found him. They'd both been ecstatic to have been reunited, and, well, Ezra had gotten a little carried away in showing how happy he was to see her again. When Ahsoka had found them both the next day, they had silently sworn to never speak about it, at least not in Sabine's master's presence.
"That's not the problem," Ezra said. "I'm trying to get used to not having to be used to not having you around."
Sabine blinked as she tried to follow that, but ultimately gave up. "Yeah, whatever, you old lothrat."
He smiled at her. "I missed you."
"You've said that already. Like a dozen times."
"Come on, 'Bine," he whined, leaning towards her. "Just say it back."
"You're really not making it easy to like having you back."
"Oh, please, Sabine," Ezra teased. "If you didn't want me back, you wouldn't have spent the past decade looking for me."
Sabine rolled her eyes but couldn't come up with a retort.
"I've done it," Ezra gloated. "I've defeated the mighty Sabine Wren in a battle of words."
"No one said that," she smoothed back a strand of purple hair from her face. "I just didn't think I should have dignified that with a response."
Ezra faked a gasp and held his hand to the plastoid stormtrooper breastplate over his heart. "You wound me, fair Mandalorian."
"Do I?" Sabine asked, sounding mildly interested.
"Your words feel like a blaster bolt."
"Ah," Sabine said, and in the blink of an eye she was standing right in front of Ezra's chair. "Maybe I should kiss you better, then."
"If only that would work on all wounds," Ezra mused, then leaned forward to meet her lips. His hands found her waist, and he pulled her closer to him, so close that she adjusted herself to sit sideways on his lap, her legs dangling off one side of the copilot chair. Sabine's slender fingers wound their way into his dark curls. His thick beard tickled her chin as their mouths pressed together.
Sabine pulled back, and Ezra grinned up breathlessly at her.
"You know, I think your kiss would work on all wounds, after all. Better than any type of bacta."
Sabine rolled her eyes and brushed her thumb against the two thin, red lines on his cheek, left there by the Grand Inquistor's lightsaber. The scars were many years old, but small as they were, they hadn't faded, even if they were now half-covered by his beard.
"I'm guessing you didn't really have a razor on Peridea."
"Hey, I trimmed it with a stone dagger when it got too long," Ezra said. "Do you not like it? I can shave it all as soon as I find a proper razor..."
"No... you should keep it," Sabine smirked. "It makes you look more... mature. Without it, I might just keep seeing fourteen-year-old you."
Ezra shuddered, remembering how dumb his younger self had been. "Yeah. Don't want that."
"Oh, you weren't that bad," Sabine stopped, then remembered that lying was against both the Jedi and Mandalorian codes. "No... yes, you were."
Ezra shook his head. "So, if you didn't like me back then, what changed?"
Sabine shrugged and pecked his lips before standing and returning to her seat. "You grew up. You stopped with the dumb flirting and obvious staring."
"So, theoretically speaking," Ezra leaned back in his chair and idly tapped at the cuff of his robe, "if I started flirting with you again, what would you do?"
"Hey, I've grown up, too," Sabine said with a sly smile. "I think I could handle it. Theoretically speaking."
"Of course."
Sabine laced her fingers together and looked back at him. "What's gonna be the first thing you do when we reach Lothal?"
Ezra grinned. "First, get some clothes that don't make me look like a weird hermit guy. And then take a proper shower."
"You took one on Ahsoka's ship."
"Yeah, and? I'm never taking a refresher for granted again."
She shrugged. "I guess ten years of exile takes a few washes to get out of your hair."
Looking concerned, Ezra reached up and touched his hair. "Is it that bad?"
She could have said yes as a joke, but then thought he might take it the wrong way. "You think I would have kissed you if it was?"
"You're Mandalorian," he said, like that explained everything. "You're tougher than most humanoids."
"Thanks... I think."
"It was a compliment," Ezra said. "But even if I don't smell that much, I am still going to take that shower."
A few hours later, the ship dropped out of hyperspace in front of Lothal. Sabine smiled at the sight of the planet she had called home for ten years and debated calling for Ezra, but he was taking a nap in the bay. After the intense couple of days they'd just had, he sure deserved one. Probably more.
She steered them towards the planet, and a comm channel opened on the dash.
"Imperial transport, we have you on radar. Identify yourself immediately."
"This is Commander Sabine Wren," Sabine said.
"Commander Wren? What are you doing on board an Inperial transport?"
"It's complicated," she said. "Long story short, we stole it."
"We, Commander Wren? Who do you have with you?"
A grin threatened to split Sabine's normally stoic face in two. "I have with me Lieutenant Ezra Bridger of the Jedi Order."
Stunned silence fell across the line.
"P-Proceed to Hangar I-13."
"Copy. Over and out."
She ended the transmission and descended into the planet's atmosphere. Right as they penetrated the clouds, the cockpit door opened and Ezra came in, rubbing lingering sleep from his eyes.
"Are we here?"
"Yup," she said. "Better buckle up, Ez."
He hurried to the copilot's seat and hastily fastened the buckle. If he remembered correctly, Sabine had never been fond of smooth landings.
She landed the ship without too many hitches, although with the pitching and sudden lurches of the craft, Ezra still found himself wishing Hera was piloting instead. Nevertheless, they docked safely, and were welcomed by Governor Ryder Azadi himself.
"Lieutenant Bridger!" the tall, white-haired man greeted, clapping the Jedi on the back. "Good to see you again, my boy."
"It's been a long time, Governor," Ezra agreed. "I trust you took good care of our planet while I was gone."
Azadi chuckled. "I am not to credit with all the progress Lothal has made in the past ten years. Sabine has played a major role."
Sabine shrugged, feeling Ezra's piercing blue gaze once again on her. "Not that major, Governor."
"Come, come," Azadi said to Ezra. "You must be eager to see the city."
Sabine asked for her and Ezra to be taken straight to the comms tower, but Azadi instead insisted on going on a lengthy drive through the streets and pointing out everything that had changed since the days of the Empire. Ezra smiled, laughed, and chatted with the governor, but Sabine's impatience was once more getting to her. She wanted to go home. Who knew how much Murley, her adopted lothcat, had trashed up the place since she'd been gone. She didn't exactly have the strongest faith that Jai Kell had looked after the chaotic little creature like he'd said he would. Then again, she hadn’t had much time to remind him before Ahsoka had showed up.
"That's..." Ezra's shocked voice shook her out of her worries, and she looked out the window. They were driving past Main Square, where a large statue stood proudly right in the center of town.
"Kanan," Sabine affirmed, seeing tears well up in Ezra's eyes. "He deserves this. And so much more."
Ezra tried to be subtle in wiping his face with his sleeve. "Yeah... yeah, he does."
"There'll always be a part of me that misses him," Sabine murmured, only for him to hear, as they rounded a corner and the statue disappeared from view. Ezra craned his head around, as if he could still see the statue through the walls of the buildings they'd passed.
Does he know about Jacen yet? Sabine asked herself. I don't think I mentioned him...
The surprise wasn't hers to tell, she supposed. It would do so much better for Ezra to meet young Syndulla first, or for Hera to tell him herself.
Finally, Azadi and his driver dropped them at the communications tower, a short way out from the city.
"I'll tell Senator Kell you're back," Azadi said to Ezra as he got out of the landspeeder. "He'll be thrilled to see you again."
"Looking forward to it," Ezra said. "I'll see you around, Governor."
Azadi saluted as the speeder turned around and headed back for the city. Ezra turned to look at his old home. Sabine stood next to and a bit behind him, watching his expression carefully. Over the course of ten years, she'd spray-painted part of the base, just to make it feel more like home.
"I like what you've done here," Ezra said, turning to face her with a smile. "Seems very you."
Sabine laughed. "This is only the outside."
Ezra extended his hand, and Sabine took it. He led her towards the door, but then noticed a few score marks on the concrete beneath their feet.
"Hey, what's this?"
Sabine felt a phantom pain in her stomach. Her fight with Shin must have scarred the ground.
"I'll..." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'll tell you later."
"Alright," he relented and went inside. They climbed the stairs up to the loft, where Sabine had lived for the past decade.
Ezra leaned against the railing, looking back at the city. It was as beautiful as ever, but with the air of liberation from the Empire surrounding it, he thought he'd never seen something quite as beautiful.
"Ezra?" a soft voice questioned, and he turned around to face Sabine, immediately taking it back. He had seen something more beautiful than a free Lothal, and her name was Sabine Wren.
He was thankful Sabine wasn't proficient enough in the Force to read his mind. She had unlocked the door with a code typed into the lockpad, and was now holding a tan-and-brown lothcat.
"Where'd he come from?" Ezra asked.
"This is Murley," Sabine said, stroking his furry head. "I adopted him. Well... he kind of made me. Wouldn't stop following me around town until I finally took him home."
Ezra smiled and leaned down to talk to the big-eared fuzzball. "Hey, Murley. You took good care of Sabine while I was gone, yeah?"
"Ezra Bridger, I do not need—"
Ezra extended his hand towards the lothcat, offering friendship through the Force, which surrounded and penetrated all living things, including Murley. Murley accepted Ezra's offer with a quiet purr, then leapt out of Sabine's arms and into his.
The moment he touched him, Ezra knew that the little guy had made a similar connection with Sabine, whether the Mandalorian girl knew it or not. A Force connection between a human and an animal was one of the easiest things to accomplish when it came to Force milestones, especially when said human and animal had been living in close proximity for an extended period of time.
Ezra grinned up at Sabine, stroking Murley's back. "He said he took good care of you."
Sabine rolled her eyes affectionately and stepped into the actual loft. Ezra followed, and immediately he was overcome by a wave of nostalgia. The place looked the same, except for the obvious additions of Sabine's stuff and her art on the walls. Even his helmet collection was still in place on the walls.
"Whoa... Sabine..."
Before, the tower had merely felt like a place he inhabited, a safe spot for him to rest before hitting the streets once more. But now, he could see it being an actual home. A place he longed to return to at the end of the day. A warm, welcoming oasis. Somewhere he loved to be.
And with someone he loved to be with.
"I can wash off the paint," Sabine said quickly, taking his long silence the wrong way. "And I know it's messy- I'll tidy it up, I swear—"
She was cut off by Ezra's laugh and his arms enfolding her into a hug. Murley hissed in annoyance and hopped down to the floor, slinking away to his favorite spot to nap under the table.
"No need, 'Bine," Ezra said. "I love it like this."
Sabine grinned and buried her face in his shoulder.
"Force, I missed you."
Ezra's breath hitched as her smaller but toned arms wrapped around him. He managed a huff of amusement, breathing in the scent of her hair.
"I know you did."
Sabine pulled away and hit his shoulder. "Don't get so ahead of yourself, Bridger. Because I still find you to be extremely fucking annoying.”