Chapter Text
Ezra had been with the Ghost crew for a few days, and was still hesitant to share any information with them just yet. He knew the moment they found out his name was Bridger, they would make the connection to his parents. Ezra's parents were prominent outspoken leaders against the Empire. Many rebels were inspired by them, but Ezra had met his fair share of people who hated the Bridger's for the fact that they brought unwanted attention from the Empire.
The crew had explained to Ezra that they each had to take turns watching the ship while the others went out to get more supplies from in town. Because he's the new guy, Ezra was automatically assigned ship duty. He also came to the realization that this was probably a test to see if he would steal their ship or something. Ezra wouldn't let them down. He finally found people who could tolerate him, and he wasn't about to ruin that.
Ezra was extremely bored about two hours in. He had already cleaned, well, mostly cleaned the engines, exhaust ports, and the vents, and now he wanted to find something new to capture his attention. He grabbed a ration bar and sat at the dining area enjoying putting his feet on the table without Hera telling him not to. Once he finished eating, he walked around to see if he could spot any hidden paintings that Sabine tried to make difficult to find. He's unsure if she purposefully makes them hard to find, but he quickly grew to enjoy the challenge, and the fun that came with figuring out what it was supposed to be. After not being able to find any new paintings, he ended up going to Kanan's room, and looked around in his stuff. Ezra doesn't know why being in the omega's presence is comforting, but he doesn't really question it. He thought about seeking out the holocron, but chose to just keep looking until he found something that caught his eye, an old crate shoved far underneath his bed did just that. Ezra bent down and stretched until he could grasp the container. He pulled it out, opened the lid and found a bunch of old junk. A few old robes folded away. A badly sewn tooka cat. A braid was in a little bag. There were a few photos, one of a young Kanan and who he presumes was Kanan's parent, both had giant grins. A couple pictures of Kanan and other kids around his age. A picture of Kanan with a smile, tugging on his braid that had new shiny beads woven in. A picture of Kanan…holding his stomach. Upon closer inspection, his stomach was large. Was Kanan pregnant!? Kanan couldn't have been more than a teenager, sixteen max, and he was most definitely pregnant. Ezra stared in shock until he heard the latch unlock, and the ramp started lowering. He quickly put all of the pictures and items back, but decided to hold on to the picture of pregnant Kanan and the doll for some reason, and shoved the crate back under the bed. He ran from the older man's room and greeted everyone in the hull.
"How was the supply run guys? There's no way you had as much fun as I did cleaning this ship."
Zeb punched his arm, "No. We had way more fun than you. Right Chopper?"
The droid beeped in the affirmative which caused everyone to burst out laughing and Ezra to roll his eyes.
"So Hera, do we have a new mission yet? There's only so much cleaning a guy can take." Ezra asked.
"That eager to leave already?"
"Thanks to you guys, I've been to two planets now. I want to explore the entire galaxy."
"Let me check." Hera said with a smile as she walked off to the cockpit, and as Ezra followed after her, he couldn't help but glance at the omega. He just can't believe that Kanan has a kid, or had. Maybe something happened to the kid and that's why they're not here now. That's probably why Kanan always has this sad air about him. Ezra shook his head then left the room, he entered the cockpit and sat down in the copilot's chair.
"Anything?"
"You're in luck. We just received a mission, but it's to Nal Hutta."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"It'll probably bring up some unwanted memories for Kanan."
"Why's that?"
"It's not my place to tell."
"He'll be alright though, right?" Ezra unknowingly asked Kanan's mate.
"I can't speak for him, but whatever he might go through, we will be there for him."
"Yeah, no yeah, of course. So when do we set out?"
"As soon as everyone is ready, we just picked up more fuel and food, so we have everything we need."
"Well then why don't we leave now?"
"So soon?" She asked with a smirk.
"Hera! I just spent all day cleaning a ship while you guys went out and had fun. I need some action!"
Hera let out a small laugh, "Alright, alright. Since you're already in the seat, how would you like to be my copilot?"
"Really!? Wait. You're not just messing with me this time?"
"Yes Ezra, really."
"Of course I want to!" Ezra clasped his seatbelt buckles closed while Hera made the announcement to the crew that they had a new mission and were heading out.
Hera walked him through what he needed to do and soon enough, the Ghost was in hyperspace. Hera showed Ezra how to engage the autopilot and then unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Where are you going?" Ezra asked.
"We need to debrief the team. You coming?"
"Yeah." Ezra unbuckled his seatbelt and followed after the alpha.
Hera was definitely an alpha who he wanted to be like. She's strong, smart, and a great pilot. She's the best he's ever seen at coming up with a plan, and best of all, she wasn't like the other alphas who are complete assholes. Ezra really wanted to be the same type of alpha as her when he presented. They knew he'd be an alpha for sure.
Zeb was closer to the asshole alphas, but in a good way. He wasn't afraid to toughen Ezra up, not that he wasn't already tough from living on the streets for nearly eight years. Zeb was also caring but he was always quick to make it seem like he didn't care. It puzzled Ezra, but in the short time he's known them, had accepted it.
When he first met her, Sabine had given him mad alpha vibes. Ezra had never been attracted to alphas before, but he wasn't close-minded. Then he found out that she was actually a beta. Ezra doesn't know why he'd felt disappointed that she wasn't an alpha, but it didn't stop his growing crush on her.
And Chopper, Chopper was an annoying rust bucket. He seemed fond of banging Ezra's shins and or zapping him.
They finally arrived at the eating area, and everyone gathered around the table while Hera stood in front of everyone.
"Ok, Vizago gave us a new mission which we all know is probably a trap, like usual. But because we're a huge source of income for him, it probably won't be enough to kill us."
"That's comforting." Zeb mumbled.
"Is this normal for you guys?" Ezra nervously asked.
"What's normal?" Sabine asked, partially joking. Ezra surely did not like the sound of that.
"Alright," Hera cut back in. "We're going to be heading to Nal Hutta. This is an extremely dangerous place that is not controlled by any galactic entity, so if you get into trouble, don't expect the police to show up."
"Is there a chance we'll need the police?" Ezra asked.
"There? Definitely. Now, we are going to be picking up crates of improvised sonic bombs from an informant and bringing them back here to Lothal. The crates are going to be kept in two different locations, so we'll be split into two groups. Ezra and Kanan, you're group one, Sabine and Zeb, you're two. I'll be here to keep the engines running."
"This doesn't sound that bad." Ezra pointed out.
"Oh great. Now you've just jinxed us." Sabine exclaimed.
"Nice going kid." Zeb growled. Ezra rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"We're going to exit hyperspace in about half an hour. The informant will send me the coordinates of the crates, and once I receive them, I'll pass it on to you. Any questions?"
Chopper started complaining so Hera clarified, "Any questions, not complaints?"
Everyone looked around at each other, but no one spoke up. "Well, you're all free until we land."
The members of the Ghost crew dispersed, and only Kanan and Hera remained behind. Hera moved to sit across from Kanan and grabbed his hands, "What wrong love?"
"You know how I feel about Nal Hutta…"
"I do–"
"Then why did you take this bounty?"
"Vizago is offering ten times the usual pay to complete this. We could really use the credits, were running low on medical supplies because they're just so expensive. And we could also use a break. This would be a much needed score for us."
Kanan dropped his eyes to the table. "I already feel my focus slipping."
"You haven't come to terms with what happened there. And until you do, it will haunt you."
"You don't know what you're asking me to do."
"You're right, I don't. But I'm trying to help you. I think this’ll allow you to move on, so we can move on. We're in this together, love."
Kanan gave a small smile and brought their foreheads together. "I'll try."
"That's all I ask for." Hera whispered. "Are you hungry? Or do you want a nice cup of hot cocoa?"
"I'm supposed to be taking care of you alpha."
"Let me take care of my omega, will you?" She said nibbling on his ear.
Kanan laughed but relented, "Hot chocolate sounds nice."
Ezra was listening from the vents. They're mates? He supposed that made sense. They work together well and seemed almost to be in sync with each other most of the time. They were never affectionate like this though in front of the crew. Ezra found it odd that they were more of a secret couple. Did they not trust the crew enough to tell them? Or was he the only one who didn't know?
Ezra crept back to his and Zeb's room and collected his blaster and some tools he thought he might need. He climbed up his bed and relaxed while he checked the calibration of his wrist slingshot. His shots had seemed a little ineffective lately and he wanted to see if it was faulty wiring, or if something needed to be replaced altogether.
By the time Hera announced that they'd be landing soon, Ezra discovered he'd need a new spark turbine. Perhaps he could find one he could buy here, or maybe steal if it was too expensive. He didn't want to trouble the crew with getting things that he wanted, besides, he's taken care of himself thus far.
Ezra was the last of the crew to make it to the hull. "Nice of you to show up, kid." Sabine said, elbowing him in the side.
"Ow, you're not that much older than me, and I was just making sure my slingshot was working."
"And is it?"
"Well enough. Do you have the locations Hera?"
"I do… However–"
"Great, I knew it wouldn't be simple." Kanan mumbled to himself, but everyone still heard.
"–the locations are five clicks apart. So if either team gets into any trouble, help will take a little bit to arrive."
"Let's just get it over with." Kanan reached his hand out and Hera placed a locator in his hand and gave the other to Zeb.
"Good luck guys, keep the comm channels open and check in every half hour."
Everyone filed out and the teams split off to run in opposite directions. Ezra followed behind Kanan because he trusted that the omega would keep them going in the right direction. Ezra focused on the booths lining the streets looking for the much needed spark turbine. After an hour of walking, Ezra still hadn't found the piece, but he had acquired several little trinkets like a fire starter and a knife. A blue fidget toy a couple booths down caught his eyes and he groaned at the slow pace Kanan was going. There was only one and he wanted it before anyone else got it. Kanan paused and looked around and Ezra noticed he was about to turn in the opposite direction of the booth with the toy, so he pretended to stumble into Kanan to throw the man off and then when everyone's focus was on the commotion, he slipped the toy into his pocket. Ezra returned to Kanan's side and apologized, "Sorry, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, just be careful next time Ezra. This place is dangerous."
He nodded his head and started walking next to Kanan. Finally after Ezra didn't know how long, they arrived at their crates location. The informant eventually handed the crate over after putting them through an extensive round of questioning. It was hard because Hera hardly gave them any information to go off of. They'd ended up having to threaten to just have Vizago come retrieve the crate himself and that he wouldn't be happy. At that point, the informant didn't hesitate to hand them the cargo.
Kanan activated the hovering component on the crate and began pushing it back to where the meet up point was. They decided to take a different path than the way they'd come, just in case they'd been followed.
Ezra was about to start up some light conversation with the omega, when someone called his name.
"Ezra?"
Ezra whipped his head around at the sound of the familiar voice, and nearly cried when his eyes landed on his parents. "Oma? Mom?"
The two held their arms out and embraced Ezra as he ran to them. It'd been nearly eight years since he'd seen them, he just couldn't believe it.
Kanan turned when he realized the kid was no longer next to him. When he couldn't locate him by sight, he followed the scent of the pup until he found Ezra in a nearby alleyway embracing two people. He looked on in confusion until the trio separated and Kanan's heart stuttered.
"Kanan, these are my parents, Mira and Ephraim Bridger."
"Oma, mom, this is Kanan. Him and his crew found me a few days ago and took me in."
"Nice to meet you…Kanan." Said Mira, studying him closely.
Kanan opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. The smell of distressed omega started to permeate the air and Ezra realized Kanan had forgotten to wear his suppressant patches. They couldn't be out in the open like this with Kanan letting everybody know what he his. "Kanan, are you ok?"
"I'd recognize that scent anywhere…Caleb." Mira spoke.
"Caleb?" Ezra asked. "Who's Caleb?"
"Him of course." Mira said, nodding to Kanan.
"Oma, what are you talking about? His name is Kanan."
"Whatever you say Ezra." she said with a smirk, still looking at Kanan.
"Do you guys have someplace private we can go?"
"Yes, come with us." Ephraim said.
With Kanan's mind on autopilot, he grabbed the crate and followed after the trio. If Mira Bridger is Ezra's Oma, then Ezra is my… no, no. It can't be… Kanan shook his head and continued following them. Despite not wanting to be anywhere near the Bridger's, Kanan would not leave Ezra alone with them. They made it to a small apartment that looked very run down, and invited Kanan and Ezra in. "Oma, what are you guys doing here? I thought the Empire had taken you."
"They were about to, we had no choice but to run."
"Run!? You left me alone! I was begging on the streets at seven like some lowly loth-rat!"
"Ezra, we didn't want to leave you." Ephraim spoke with a hand extended to try and bring Ezra closer.
"You could've taken me with you."
"This isn't the life we wanted for you, always on the run, looking over your shoulders."
"That's what I've been doing for nearly eight years, by. my. self. I was alone, starving, and scared. No one to watch my back."
His parents at least had the decency to look guilty. "Oh Ezra…, we're sorry, I know we can't possibly–"
"No, you can't! Kanan, let's go." Ezra stormed from the apartment and despite not knowing which way to go, led Kanan away. The elder finally shook himself out of his stupor and caught up to Ezra, taking the lead to steer them in the right direction. They finally arrived at the rendezvous point where Zeb and Sabine were already loading their crate, and an extremely livid Hera was walking down the ramp.
"What the sith, you two!? What part of check in every thirty minutes did you not understand? This is a place where people won't hesitate to kill you just for a loaf of bread."
"Sorry Hera," Ezra said with a conflicted face. "We ran into my parents."
"What? I thought you said you didn't have parents."
"Yeah, me too. I thought they'd been captured by the Empire, but it turns out that they're just cowards."
Hera turned her eyes to Kanan, but the omega was silent, lost in thought. "Everyone inside, now. Load up those crates."
They did as directed, and soon enough, the Ghost was on autopilot heading back to Lothal, and Hera went to go knock on Kanan's door.
"Come in." He said, knowing it was Hera on the other side.
After the door closed, Hera spoke. "What happened today, love?"
Kanan was staring down at a photo, "I think, I think…Ezra is my son."
"What? I don't understand, what aren't you telling me?"
"Ezra's parents are Mira and Ephraim Bridger."
Hera's eyes widened. Back when she had first asked to court Kanan, he had revealed to her that he'd had a baby young, but the baby had been taken from him right after its birth. How the alpha had told Kanan what he'd wanted to hear, but when he'd found out he was pregnant, she became distant and cold. She'd physically and verbally abused him and then had taken the baby and fled Nal Hutta.
"Are you sure Kanan?"
"I am, at least I think so, I don't know."
Hera pulled her omega to her and hugged him. "Well, until you're one hundred percent certain, I don't think you should reveal this to him. It'd be turning his entire world upside down."
"I'd never do that to him. And why would he even want me anyways? He'd think I abandoned him. You should've seen how upset he got when he realized his parents had left him alone on Lothal. I don't think I could handle it if he looked at me the way he looked at them."
Hera was at a loss for words, so she just hugged the omega tighter.
When the ship finally landed, Kanan rushed out of the ship needing fresh air. He was hunched over taking huge gasps of air.
From still inside the ship, Hera felt her omega in distress, but she didn't go after him just yet, knowing that he needed to have some time alone to process his thoughts. She called the others to come with her to deliver the crates to Vizago.
"Ya know Vizago, you could've given us a bit more intel, or at least told your informants who would be coming to get the crates." Sabine said, annoyed. "Causing a ruckus out there could've gotten us killed!"
"Now now, it's not my job to coddle you. It's your job to do what needs to be done to complete the mission."
"I'll show you where you can shove your mission." Zeb growled, taking a step forward.
"Guys enough." Hera removed the lids to show proof of the collection. "Now, you're end of the deal." She said with a raised eyebrow.
Vizago approached the crates and rifled through them for a few seconds. "Hmmm, everything seems to be in order. Very well, ten times the normal rate, as agreed upon." He said, handing a case to Hera. She wasn't foolish, she opened the case right in front of Vizago and counted it.
"Why the lack of trust Ms. Syndulla?"
"You got to inspect what we gave you, it's only fair we do the same."
Vizago nodded his head in respect. When she was satisfied, Hera closed the case and looked back to Vizago.
"You know how to contact us if you have any more bounties."
"Curt as always. See you around Ghost crew."
Hera turned and started making the hike back to the Ghost.
As they were approaching the hill where the Ghost sat, Ezra noticed something off in the distance.
"We weren't expecting any company were we?"
"What do you mean?" Zeb asked.
Ezra pointed up to the sky. "There's a ship inbound."
The Ghost crew watched for a second longer before they broke off in a run to get back to the ship. If they were being ambushed, it wouldn't do them any good to be caught out in the open without any cover.
When they finally reached the top of the hill, they saw Kanan with his lightsaber out, but had yet to ignite it. The approaching ship didn't appear to be an Imperial one, but they couldn't say for sure. The ship landed nearby and they all waited with bated breath as the ramp lowered, guns at the ready.
Mira and Ephraim walked down the ramp and made their way over to the group.
"Mom? Oma? What– what are you guys doing here? How did you find us?"
Kanan's eyebrows rose. "A tracker. You followed us." Kanan walked over to Ezra and began patting the boy down and eventually found a small tracking device attached to the hem of his collar. Kanan crushed the device then turned to the two. "What do you want? Ezra made it clear he didn't want to be around you."
"We've come to take our son back. He's right, we were cowards, but we'd like the chance to fix our mistakes. Ezra honey, please, give us another chance. Come with us."
Kanan stepped in front of Ezra. "He's not going anywhere."
"He's not yours is he?" Mira asked with that smirk Kanan was growing to hate. He knew that she was baiting him to see if he would claim Ezra. Kanan lowered his eyes in thought, then looked up defiantly. "It's not my place to make this choice, and its not yours either." He turned around and addressed Ezra, "Kid, what do you want? I'll support you no matter what."
Ezra looked from his parents to Kanan and then the rest of the Ghost crew. "I need some time to think." Ezra then took off in the direction of his tower so he could be alone.
Kanan desperately wanted to follow him, but he stayed where he was. From behind him he heard Sabine speaking quietly, "Those are Ezra's parents? Wow, to think our little Ezra is related to some of my heros."
Hera decided she would be the moderator, so she stepped forwards in between both parties. "While Ezra is making his decision, I think it wise for all of us to defer from interacting with each other. Come on Ghost crew, it's about dinner time anyways."
When they were on board the Ghost, Hera spoke again, "Sabine, Zeb, can you get started on dinner."
"Sure thing Hera."
"Kanan, come with me."
Kanan quietly followed after his alpha until they were in their quarters. "Talk to me Kanan."
"I don't want to talk."
Hera sighed, "Then I'll talk. Feel free to stop me if or when I'm wrong. I think…, you're scared. You just found a part of your life you thought you'd never have back, and you're about to lose it all over again. You're confused because you don't know if revealing who you are will do more harm than good. You don't want to make a mistake that will make Ezra hate you. You feel manipulated, betrayed, and like everything is against you."
Kanan started running his hands through his hair and just as he was about to start pulling on the strands, Hera grabbed his hands. "I can't even begin to understand what you're going through, but I believe Ezra will make the right choice, you have to trust him. He's also a victim in this. He has to get closure as well."
"You say that like he's going to choose them."
"I'm saying what you need to hear."
Kanan's breathing picked up and he started shaking his head. "No. No, I'm not letting him go. I lost him once and ended up missing out on almost fifteen years of his life. I never thought I'd find him again."
"Kanan, don't take this choice from him. I won't stop you, whatever you choose to do, but know that he'll take everything you do to heart."
Kanan hung his head in defeat and whispered, "I won't do anything."
Hera gave a sad smile that he didn't see and left him alone. Kanan sat on his bed and pulled the photo he kept tucked in his shirt out. It was a photo he'd snuck of him and Mira. She had been looking at something off camera and Kanan had quickly set a timer so he could come stand near her holding his very pregnant belly. Mira didn't want him taking photos of her, especially them together. This had been the only photo he'd been able to get of them somewhat together. He glared at the photo with shaking hands but didn't destroy the picture like he wanted to. Even when Hera had found the picture, she never pressured him into getting rid of it. There were many times when he'd want to tear it up then burn it, but something would always stop him. Just like it was stopping him now. He slid off the bed and reached under to pull out his case. He immediately went to the bottom to look at the only other pictures he had from before. Kanan had a total of six photos he kept in the box so he was a little confused when he only found five. He looked at each photo and noticed that the one missing was the one of him by himself holding his belly. He looked back through the container and realized the tooka cat he'd made was also missing. "What the sith!?"
Kanan would've torn apart his room to look for the missing items, except for the fact that he hardly had any belongings, so they couldn't be anywhere else. Unless someone stole them… He could only think of one person who would've taken them. He thought back to the photo, there was nothing on it that would hint at Ezra being his child, and the tooka cat wouldn't either. He'd have to wait until Ezra made his decision before he could get his things back.
Kanan stayed in his room through dinner, so after everyone was done eating, Hera brought him a bowl of the soup.
"You need to eat Kanan."
"I'm not hungry."
Hera didn't say anything further, just climbed into bed next to Kanan and laid down. The alpha pulled the omega to her chest and breathed in his scent. Kanan tried to roll away but she didn't let him. "You need to at least get some rest." He lay there glaring into the dark until sleep finally claimed him.
The next thing he was aware of was Hera shaking him awake for breakfast. "Let's go Kanan, Zeb made everyone breakfast."
"No, I don't want to die from food poisoning."
Hera rolled her eyes and laughed. "It was one time, and if you'll recall, you were helping him make the food."
"I swear he did something to just my plate while my back was turned."
"Yeah, sure he did. Come on, I'll even switch our plates in front of him so that if he did anything to yours, he'd have to say something…he'd better say something."
"Fine."
Kanan got up and stretched, then put his shirt back on, and followed Hera out to where Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb were. They sat down in their seats and Zeb handed Kanan and Hera their plates. Before Zeb could turn away, she swapped Kanan's and her plates, then looked back up to the Lasat to see if he would do anything, but he just gave them a weird look. Hera gave a pointed look at Kanan and started to eat her food. A couple seconds later, Kanan did the same.
When they finished, Kanan set a plate aside for Ezra and when everyone was ready to go out to hear Ezra's decision, he grabbed the plate.
Ezra, wearing his backpack, met the two sides in the middle. Before the boy could speak, Kanan brought him the plate. "I didn't know if you'd eaten already."
"Thanks Kanan." Ezra looked up and gave him a big smile taking the plate, then Ezra spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "I've decided that I'm going to stay with my parents. I'll give them a second chance." Mira's face lit up and she hugged Ephraim.
Kanan staggered back as if he'd been physically hit. Ezra turned to the Ghost crew. "Thank you all for taking me in when you didn't even know me. You've known me for only a week and you've shown more kindness than most…I'll be out of your hair now." Ezra went to give each of them a hug, and he turned to Kanan last. He gripped the omega tightly and whispered, "Saved the best for last." Ezra tried to break the hug, but Kanan wasn't letting him go. "Kanan, I have to go now."
"Don't leave Ezra."
"You don't even know me, I don't want to be a burden."
Before Ezra knew what was happening, Kanan started singing quietly to him:
Come stop your crying
It will be alright
Just take my hand
And hold it tight
I will protect you
From all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry
For one so small,
You seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
Keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry
'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more
You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart
Always