Work Text:
Once again Sabine was swearing that next year she was going to prioritize comfort in her Halloween costume. She said that last year (and every year before that since she was about seventeen), yet here she was slighty itchy and a little bit too cold. She looks over at Ezra, slightly jealous of his pirate costume with its long sleeves and the coat casually draped across his arm as they approached Kanan and Hera's house. The drive from campus to here was a good half hour and she'd been running late so she'd forgotten a coat in her haste, it was almost a blow to her pride that Ezra had somehow been more prepared than her.
Her Gamora costume was not as practical as Ezra's puffy white shirt and tri-corn hat. Although it had been convenient to let her roots grow out a bit and dye her ends pink in a style she liked on its own, every other aspect of her outfit was the furthest thing from it — the edges of her pleather vest dug slightly into her shoulders and she was pretty sure the body paint she'd used was going to end in a massive break out. When she'd left the house it had been worth it for the fit, because lets be real, she looked fantastic. However, she was wondering how worth it it would continue to feel as the night drug on.
When they make it up the porch, Ezra reaches out to knock on the door and it is open before his knuckles ever make contact.
"Uncle Ezra!" Jacen bounds out bright eyed and bushy-tailed in his Ferb costume that was tastefully topped off with a head of temporarily green hair. Hera hadn't wanted to go that far, probably remembering the messes Sabine would make in the bathtub with box dye as a teenager, but he'd insisted that no-one would understand it without it. Sabine had made sure to assure her that the spray in kind washed off clothes and skin alike with relative ease.
"Hey kiddo!" Ezra catches Jacen in a hug as the nine year old leaps toward him. It would never not be endearing to Sabine how they could go only days without seeing eachother and act like it had been months.
It was only a matter of seconds before a tiny pair of arms were wrapped around her, "Aunt 'Bine!"
Kanan appears at the door as she wraps her arms around Jacen, "Hey kids!"
Ezra smiles, "Hey, how's Hera?"
"She's good, just resting." He smiles but the slight shadows under his eyes told her he was nervous. She wasn't surprised, the weeks before Jacen was born he was an absolute wreck and with the arrival of their second child so soon, she was sure he was probably constantly worked up. She hoped her and Ezra taking Jacen out for the evening would give the both of them a little time to take a breather and recharge.
"That's good." She would say more, but she is interrupted by Jacen tugging on her arm, trying to drag her down the porch.
"Come on, the sooner we get going to more candy we can get!"
Kanan chuckles, "You heard the boy, get out there."
She smiles and lets him lead her down the porch and Ezra follows suite, Kanan calls out a request to be safe before shutting the door.
The night is pleasantly quiet, a few other families and gaggles of kids dot the streets.
Sabine was already cold.
The first few streets they hit go without a hitch, and by the time they reach the part of the neighborhood where Zeb lives, Jacen's basket is nearly half full of candy. It doesn't slip past Sabine that his basket is considerably smaller than it was last year, probably for the sake of his parents' mental wellbeing.
When they reach Zeb's house, Jacen bounces up to the door and knocks. By the time Ezra and Sabine catch up it is still silent so he rings the doorbell. Still nothing. "Uncle Zeb! I know you're in there!"
"Actually I'm right here!" Zeb's voice sounds out as he leaps out of the bushes. Sabine had told him they were headed his way so he could scare Jacen, and while it was a little predictable to her, it worked on the kid. He screamed and jumped nearly a foot in the air.
The three adults burst out into laughter as Jacen calms back down. The smile on Zeb's face is a little unsettling with the mishmash of paint left on it, the remnants of a zombie costume for a work Halloween party he complained about but Sabine knew he enjoyed.
"You better have me some candy for all that." Jacen put his hand on his hips in a way that was nearly a mirror image of his mother.
Zeb chuckles, "Yeah, yeah."
As they troop on down the next group of houses, Jacen gets more and more independent (shocking really, considering who his parents are) , to the point where he insists on them staying on the street while he goes up to the house alone to knock on the door. It worries Ezra, which, what doesn't worry Ezra, but Sabine is unbothered. They could keep a plenty good eye on him from the sidewalk.
The only downside was it meant she moved a little less, and the cold started to seep into her skin a little easier. It doesn't take long for Ezra to notice. "You cold?"
Yes.
She was not about to admit her unpreparedness, "No I'm fine."
"Sabine, you're shivering."
She shrugs and instead of arguing, he hands her his coat. The sensible part of her wins out over the stubborn and she slips it on as they start walking again. He gives her an unimpressed look, "Told you."
She knocks him with her shoulder, and immediately regrets it because the street is almost too narrow for the two of them to walk side by side, and he nearly stumbles out into the road. Granted it was completely devoid of any cars, but it still sent a jolt of fear down her chest.
As Ezra rights himself he throws his hands up, "I help you out and you try to kill me? What is this?"
She giggles and reaches a hand out to grab his arm, "Sorry, and thank you."
He shrugs, "What are best friends for?"
She drops his arm as they continue to amble down the street, the warm yellow glow of the streetlights casts funny looking shadows on the ground and strains of music from someone's house party reach her ears. Otherwise the world was still and Sabine looks over at the man beside her. The odd lighting and the tricorn hat make his face look a little strange, but the sharp angle of his cheek and nose were still apparent. The years had changed Ezra, he was no longer the scrawny baby-faced fourteen year old who constantly flirted with her and made a fool of himself, he was tall, taller than her much to her frustration, he'd grown into his features and while still the same fool, he was someone she relied on, someone she could trust.
They reach a corner of the street and stop, taking in the neighborhood around them. A couple dressed as Hiccup and Astrid hold hands across the street and a gaggle of teenagers in mismatched costumes laugh as they clearly scheme something. Ezra notices them too, "I feel like it was just yesterday that that was us."
She chuckles, "Yeah."
"So much has changed since then." She turns and faces him and oh, he was close. The dark eyeliner he'd smudged on made the blue of his eyes even more striking, and the yellow light highlights the curve of his mouth perfectly. For some reason the air was charged with something Sabine couldn't put her finger on, but it makes her heart race, he leans closer, and maybe she does too.
Sabine will never know what might have happened in that moment, because then his eyes widen in horror.
"Sabine, where is Jacen?"
Kriff. Panic jolts through her. How long had it been since they'd been paying attention to the kid? How far had they gone? Manda, had they just lost Kanan and Hera's kid?
They take off down the street back the way they'd come, calling out Jacen's name frantically.
Oh kriff oh kriff oh kriff oh kriff.
When they reach the house they'd seen him at last they stop, scanning the area. "Ezra he's not here."
Her voice is tight, she wants to cry but knows she can't. She would die before she ever let harm come to that kid and he might be in danger and it's completely her fault.
"Should we call Zeb?"
They probably should, but she doesn't want to, "No, if he knows he'll tell Kanan and Hera and they'll never trust us with him again. Let's just keep looking."
They split up, intermittently calling for him and knocking on doors to see if anyone has seen him lately. Nobody has. The longer time goes on the more panic that claws up Sabine's throat. Every house is another disappointment, every corner she turns hoping to see him he isn't there. Time starts to not feel real, like this wasn't really happening and hopefully she would wakeup from this nightmare soon.
They search the neighborhood for a quarter of an hour before meeting back up at the same house. By now worried tears had started creeping out of her eyes and her heart is racing so fast she is worried it's going to burst. A few streaky green teardrops stain the collar of Ezra's coat. When they get to each other Ezra reaches out for her hand. "I'm sure he's fine."
She nods, "But what if he isn't?"
"He's a smart kid, we'll find him."
Through her panic riddled mind she does notice how calm Ezra is managing to remain. "I'm going to call Zeb."
She knew they should probably call his parents, but she was holding on to one last hope that they would find him without having to send Kanan and Hera into stress-induced heart attacks. Ezra gets out his phone and quickly pulls up Zeb's contact and pushes call.
He puts the phone on speaker, probably not wanting to face whatever wrath Zeb is going to have alone.
"Hello?" The voice that answers is definitely not Zeb's.
Her knees nearly buckle in relief as Ezra asks "Jacen?"
"Ezra? Where are you?" The kid sounds mostly irritated.
"We are so sorry kid, how did you end up at Zeb's? Are you okay?" Her voice is a little watery and she grips Ezra's hand in hers like a vice.
"I'm fine. Well I couldn't find you so I just followed the street back here. Zeb says you're going to be in big trouble when you get back."
They both give a watery laugh, "We know. Like 'Bine said, we are so sorry we left Jacen, we don't even really know what happened."
Jacen's response carries all of the smooth-talking he inherited from both sides, "The real question is how are you going to make it up to me?"
"When we get there we'll take you to Grove Street where the nicer houses are, I hear they all give out full sized candy bars."
"I think I can work with that. As long as you don't leave me here with Uncle Zeb too long, his tv shows are boring."
Sabine laughs again, it was all she could do to not start maniacally laughing, now that her adrenaline high was coming down she was starting to feel a little delirious.
When they hang up the phone she wraps her arms around Ezra and he pulls her in. She lets them stay like that for a while, she can hear Ezra's heart racing as fast as hers and their heartrates begin to slow as they hold each other. Their hands are still intertwined between them. Despite her coat, she is still a little chilly and his embrace is warm (she ignores the little voice in her head that has started screaming how right being held by him feels every time they hug). When she feels a little closer to normal, she pulls back with an almost sarcastic laugh, "Kriff, only the two of us could lose an entire kid"
They start down the sidewalk and Ezra shakes his head, "Hey but only the two of us could have found him so quickly."
She gives him an unimpressed look, "I wouldn't really call that finding him."
He shrugs, "Let me take the win."
As they head towards Zeb's Sabine's mind is on two things.
One, she was maybe never taking anyone trick or treating again.
Two, Ezra had never dropped her hand, and she realized she didn't want him to.