SWR Oneshot: The Parent Chart
Title: The Parent Chart
by Jesterlady
Pairing: Hera/Kanan
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars: Rebels.
A/N: This idea got stuck in my head while watching SWR S1 so picture the timeframe being sometime around there. It became very obvious to me that Hera and Kanan would need to be organized with their parenting. Huge credit for this goes to the incomparable exmanhater who was my beta, wrote 99% of the notes, "played" the role of Hera, formatted the chart, agreed to host the chart image on her site, and is the person who introduced me to Rebels in the first place.
View the actual chart: here
In case you can't read my handwriting, there's a transcript at ao3
The Parent Chart
Ezra loitered outside the door, trying to appear nonchalant. It wasn’t as easy as it looked; after all, the Ghost was a fairly small ship and there were only six beings on board and what possible reason could he have for loitering outside of Hera’s room?
Well, Hera and Kanan’s. Ezra was no idiot and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that while Kanan may have his own room, he didn’t do anything but hide holocrons in it. That was the observation Ezra had made practically day one.
He didn’t mind it, and it was obvious to anyone who had eyes that Hera and Kanan made the best partnership Ezra had ever witnessed. Not that he’d had the chance to witness many duos like them, but he was getting around the galaxy a bit more these days and he lived with them.
He lived with them; he actually lived on a ship with people who had been strangers only a short time before. He was fighting against an evil galactic Empire and learning how to be a Jedi. He had people who cared about him…most of the time, even the somehow able-to-be-evil droid, and he would one day convince everyone that Chopper deliberately did everything to annoy Ezra personally. They were odd and infuriating people and sometimes he found it hard to mesh his loner tendencies to their weird teamwork ways, but when he wasn’t lying to himself, he knew he actually really liked doing so.
So, why was he hanging outside his somehow-in-charge-of him shipmates’ room? Well, lately he’d been a bit confused by some things. For one thing, his input in the team meetings and planning was suddenly taken a lot more seriously. For another, when he’d been meditating with Kanan the other day, his Jedi master had been muttering things like: “Forge the connection, forge the connection,” and that was a bit weird. He could have understood it if Kanan was talking to him and trying to help him meditate, but Ezra was one hundred percent sure Kanan was talking to himself.
Then there was the fact that every single night before they went to their “separate” rooms, Kanan and Hera had a little meeting without the rest of them. When he’d first come aboard, Ezra had suspected it was planning their heists and moves against the Empire, but now he wasn’t so sure. He deliberately listened in if he could and heard phrases like “tell her she’s trusted,” and “give them at least two hours a day apart,” and other things. The final piece of damning evidence was a scrap of paper Ezra had liberated that bore the words: alarming tendency to paint other people’s possessions. The fact that it was on actual paper and not a pad, made him highly suspicious.
Now Ezra had to know. So he loitered, trying to pick up exactly what they were planning without letting them know. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, he actually believed whatever it was, was probably done with good intentions, but still…the thought of anyone documenting things about everyone else and charting them…made him feel uneasy.
“What are you doing?” asked Sabine from behind him.
Ezra jumped and almost hit his head. He was a bit embarrassed he hadn’t sensed her there, wasn’t he supposed to be all knowing with the Force by now?
He turned around and saw Sabine standing there with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. Zeb was behind her, scowling.
“Hi, yeah,” he said, “uh, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“It looks like you’re casing Hera and Kanan’s room,” said Sabine.
“Well, a bit like it looks then,” said Ezra, “but not for the reason you think.”
“What do I think?” said Zeb sarcastically. “I’ve always wondered.”
“They’re planning something,” said Ezra, convinced the other two couldn’t be in on it since he’d found observations on them as well. “About us.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Zeb.
Ezra explained what he’d found and to his utter astonishment and embarrassment, Sabine and Zeb started to laugh, loudly and without mercy. He tried to shush them and they followed him down the length of the ship, laughing as they went.
“What is so funny?” he asked when they were a suitable length away from the subjects of the conversation.
Sabine sucked in a breath and moved a brightly colored strand of hair from her face.
“You,” she said. “Creating some big conspiracy.”
“Yeah,” said Zeb. “Everyone knows what they’re doing in there.”
“Everyone but me, apparently,” said Ezra. “Care to fill me in?”
“It’s the parent chart,” said Sabine as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Huh?” said Ezra, more confused than ever.
“See, the thing is,” explained Zeb. “Hera’s got a big motherly complex, you know? Worries about us.”
“Kanan, he’s all about pleasing Hera,” said Sabine. “They came together and then we all sort of followed. We’re their family and they want to take care of us.”
“So…” said Ezra.
“So, they got a system,” said Zeb. “All worked out for how to deal with the kinks. Fights between ourselves, keeping us on track. All that stuff.”
“Granted, they’re really good at it. I don’t really know what they talk about and only some of their techniques are totally see through,” said Sabine. “It’s taken Zeb and I a long time to figure it out and put it together and we’re still working on it.”
“You’re saying, they’re acting like they’re our parents and trying to figure out how to raise us?” said Ezra in some disbelief, though it did make a certain sort of sense.
“Oh, we’re very much their children,” said Sabine. “Especially you, little brother.”
She started laughing again and Ezra glared, slightly resentful and somewhat annoyed that she thought of him that way. She winked at him and he perked up again a little.
He would rather be her brother on the Ghost and with these people than anywhere else in the galaxy. Fighting the Empire or not, this was the first time he’d ever felt like he belonged anywhere.
After all, what did it matter if they were all a giant family in a spaceship? Stranger things had happened in the galaxy.
***
Kanan and Hera listened to the laughter echoing throughout the ship and smiled at each other.
“Looks like Ezra’s figured it out,” said Kanan.
“He was bound to,” said Hera. “It’s a natural consequence of the tight quarters.”
“That and,” Kanan said, pointing his finger to a line on the chart by their bed, “fostering his sense of inclusion.”
“Well, at least we know it’s working,” said Hera, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning over to review the chart. “Now, we made sure Chopper saw me berating you for something so he doesn’t feel too threatened. Did you tell Sabine you trusted her yet today?”
“Before lunch,” answered Kanan, capturing her hand and swinging her around in front of him. “Zeb got to have some time to himself in his room so he doesn’t feel trapped with Ezra and treated like a kid and Ezra did so well in training today I told him he could help plan the next mission.”
“Without consulting me?” she said archly, putting her arms around his neck.
“It was a spur of the moment call,” he protested. “Besides, our next mission is so dull and boring, I doubt even Ezra could mess it up. You always get final say in the missions, you know that.”
“That’s right, love,” she said, bringing her lips to his and making it so both of them forgot about the parenting portion of their lives and started thinking about the being married part.
Parenting sessions were officially over for the day.
by Jesterlady
Pairing: Hera/Kanan
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars: Rebels.
A/N: This idea got stuck in my head while watching SWR S1 so picture the timeframe being sometime around there. It became very obvious to me that Hera and Kanan would need to be organized with their parenting. Huge credit for this goes to the incomparable exmanhater who was my beta, wrote 99% of the notes, "played" the role of Hera, formatted the chart, agreed to host the chart image on her site, and is the person who introduced me to Rebels in the first place.
View the actual chart: here
In case you can't read my handwriting, there's a transcript at ao3
The Parent Chart
Ezra loitered outside the door, trying to appear nonchalant. It wasn’t as easy as it looked; after all, the Ghost was a fairly small ship and there were only six beings on board and what possible reason could he have for loitering outside of Hera’s room?
Well, Hera and Kanan’s. Ezra was no idiot and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that while Kanan may have his own room, he didn’t do anything but hide holocrons in it. That was the observation Ezra had made practically day one.
He didn’t mind it, and it was obvious to anyone who had eyes that Hera and Kanan made the best partnership Ezra had ever witnessed. Not that he’d had the chance to witness many duos like them, but he was getting around the galaxy a bit more these days and he lived with them.
He lived with them; he actually lived on a ship with people who had been strangers only a short time before. He was fighting against an evil galactic Empire and learning how to be a Jedi. He had people who cared about him…most of the time, even the somehow able-to-be-evil droid, and he would one day convince everyone that Chopper deliberately did everything to annoy Ezra personally. They were odd and infuriating people and sometimes he found it hard to mesh his loner tendencies to their weird teamwork ways, but when he wasn’t lying to himself, he knew he actually really liked doing so.
So, why was he hanging outside his somehow-in-charge-of him shipmates’ room? Well, lately he’d been a bit confused by some things. For one thing, his input in the team meetings and planning was suddenly taken a lot more seriously. For another, when he’d been meditating with Kanan the other day, his Jedi master had been muttering things like: “Forge the connection, forge the connection,” and that was a bit weird. He could have understood it if Kanan was talking to him and trying to help him meditate, but Ezra was one hundred percent sure Kanan was talking to himself.
Then there was the fact that every single night before they went to their “separate” rooms, Kanan and Hera had a little meeting without the rest of them. When he’d first come aboard, Ezra had suspected it was planning their heists and moves against the Empire, but now he wasn’t so sure. He deliberately listened in if he could and heard phrases like “tell her she’s trusted,” and “give them at least two hours a day apart,” and other things. The final piece of damning evidence was a scrap of paper Ezra had liberated that bore the words: alarming tendency to paint other people’s possessions. The fact that it was on actual paper and not a pad, made him highly suspicious.
Now Ezra had to know. So he loitered, trying to pick up exactly what they were planning without letting them know. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, he actually believed whatever it was, was probably done with good intentions, but still…the thought of anyone documenting things about everyone else and charting them…made him feel uneasy.
“What are you doing?” asked Sabine from behind him.
Ezra jumped and almost hit his head. He was a bit embarrassed he hadn’t sensed her there, wasn’t he supposed to be all knowing with the Force by now?
He turned around and saw Sabine standing there with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. Zeb was behind her, scowling.
“Hi, yeah,” he said, “uh, this isn’t what it looks like.”
“It looks like you’re casing Hera and Kanan’s room,” said Sabine.
“Well, a bit like it looks then,” said Ezra, “but not for the reason you think.”
“What do I think?” said Zeb sarcastically. “I’ve always wondered.”
“They’re planning something,” said Ezra, convinced the other two couldn’t be in on it since he’d found observations on them as well. “About us.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Zeb.
Ezra explained what he’d found and to his utter astonishment and embarrassment, Sabine and Zeb started to laugh, loudly and without mercy. He tried to shush them and they followed him down the length of the ship, laughing as they went.
“What is so funny?” he asked when they were a suitable length away from the subjects of the conversation.
Sabine sucked in a breath and moved a brightly colored strand of hair from her face.
“You,” she said. “Creating some big conspiracy.”
“Yeah,” said Zeb. “Everyone knows what they’re doing in there.”
“Everyone but me, apparently,” said Ezra. “Care to fill me in?”
“It’s the parent chart,” said Sabine as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Huh?” said Ezra, more confused than ever.
“See, the thing is,” explained Zeb. “Hera’s got a big motherly complex, you know? Worries about us.”
“Kanan, he’s all about pleasing Hera,” said Sabine. “They came together and then we all sort of followed. We’re their family and they want to take care of us.”
“So…” said Ezra.
“So, they got a system,” said Zeb. “All worked out for how to deal with the kinks. Fights between ourselves, keeping us on track. All that stuff.”
“Granted, they’re really good at it. I don’t really know what they talk about and only some of their techniques are totally see through,” said Sabine. “It’s taken Zeb and I a long time to figure it out and put it together and we’re still working on it.”
“You’re saying, they’re acting like they’re our parents and trying to figure out how to raise us?” said Ezra in some disbelief, though it did make a certain sort of sense.
“Oh, we’re very much their children,” said Sabine. “Especially you, little brother.”
She started laughing again and Ezra glared, slightly resentful and somewhat annoyed that she thought of him that way. She winked at him and he perked up again a little.
He would rather be her brother on the Ghost and with these people than anywhere else in the galaxy. Fighting the Empire or not, this was the first time he’d ever felt like he belonged anywhere.
After all, what did it matter if they were all a giant family in a spaceship? Stranger things had happened in the galaxy.
***
Kanan and Hera listened to the laughter echoing throughout the ship and smiled at each other.
“Looks like Ezra’s figured it out,” said Kanan.
“He was bound to,” said Hera. “It’s a natural consequence of the tight quarters.”
“That and,” Kanan said, pointing his finger to a line on the chart by their bed, “fostering his sense of inclusion.”
“Well, at least we know it’s working,” said Hera, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning over to review the chart. “Now, we made sure Chopper saw me berating you for something so he doesn’t feel too threatened. Did you tell Sabine you trusted her yet today?”
“Before lunch,” answered Kanan, capturing her hand and swinging her around in front of him. “Zeb got to have some time to himself in his room so he doesn’t feel trapped with Ezra and treated like a kid and Ezra did so well in training today I told him he could help plan the next mission.”
“Without consulting me?” she said archly, putting her arms around his neck.
“It was a spur of the moment call,” he protested. “Besides, our next mission is so dull and boring, I doubt even Ezra could mess it up. You always get final say in the missions, you know that.”
“That’s right, love,” she said, bringing her lips to his and making it so both of them forgot about the parenting portion of their lives and started thinking about the being married part.
Parenting sessions were officially over for the day.